Chapter 6
Informational Passages
In this chapter, we'll look at informational texts and then guide you through active reading strategies to help you crack the questions.
Think about it—what do you spend more time reading and listening to in a typical day? News reports, advertisements, political speeches and similar nonfiction material, or literary stories? Nonfiction, right? Life is filled with informational material that you need to deal with in some way (even if only to decide to tune it out), so that's what the GED® test emphasizes. In fact, 75 percent of the six to eight reading passages are classified as informational.
The critical thinking and active reading skills you'll gain in preparing for the reading passages will help you sort through the informational material that fills your life outside the test, too. With those skills, you'll learn to question, identify flaws in reasoning, recognize a legitimate argument when you see it, and in short, become a wiser, more discriminating consumer of information.