Part 4: Reading for Viewpoints
Format
- 10 questions in total with 12 minutes to complete the part.
- You will read an article expressing a viewpoint on the left side of the screen.
- On the right side, you will answer 5 sentence-stem questions about the article using dropdown menus.
- You will then read a reader comment that responds to the article and fill in 5 blanks by choosing the best word from dropdown menus.
- The article and comment often present different or opposing viewpoints, so you need to track who said what.
- This is the hardest reading part — plan your time carefully.
- Example topics include financial literacy education, remote work policies, urban planning, and environmental regulations.
Strategies
Example
The debate over requiring financial literacy courses in high schools is gaining momentum across Canada, as educators, parents, and financial experts weigh in on the best approach to preparing young people for the financial realities of adulthood.
Dr. Anya Sharma, a professor of education policy at the University of Toronto, is a strong advocate for making these courses mandatory. "Financial literacy is not just about balancing a checkbook," she argues. "It's about empowering young people to make informed decisions about student loans, credit cards, investing, and saving for the future. These are fundamental life skills that every student deserves to learn before graduating."
However, not everyone agrees. Michael Chen, a high school principal in Calgary, warns that adding another required course could overwhelm an already demanding academic schedule. "Our students are already stretched thin," he explains. "We need to think carefully about what we add and what we're willing to take away."
- This question tests whether you can identify a specific person's position within a multi-viewpoint article.
- Strategy 1 (Identify each writer's position): Separate Dr. Sharma's pro-mandatory stance from Michael Chen's cautious objection.
- Strategy 2 (Main argument vs supporting details): "Fundamental life skills" and "empowering young people" represent her primary argument, while specific examples like "student loans" and "credit cards" are supporting details.