How to Read the Newspaper Editorial for Bank Exams: A 20-Minute Daily Method

Reading comprehension decides your English score in bank exams, and editorials are the best practice material — they are written in the same formal style exam passages use. But reading an editorial passively for an hour helps far less than reading it actively for twenty minutes. Here is a method that works.

The 20-minute method

1. Skim (3 minutes): read the title, the first paragraph and the last paragraph. Write the main argument in one line.
2. Read closely (8 minutes): read the full editorial, underlining the author's view, the evidence, and any counter-point.
3. Vocabulary (5 minutes): pick five new words or phrases, write their meaning and use each in your own sentence.
4. Summarise (4 minutes): write a 60–80 word summary without looking. This trains both RC and descriptive writing.

Questions to ask while reading

• What is the central issue, and what does the author want to happen?
• Which facts support the argument?
• What is the tone — critical, supportive, cautionary, neutral?

Exam RC questions ask exactly these things: the main idea, the tone, inference and vocabulary in context.

Build your own word bank

Keep a single notebook or notes file for words from editorials. Revise it every Sunday. Within two months you will notice familiar words in exam passages.

Start today

PrepZen publishes a daily editorial analysis with vocabulary and exam notes. Recent editorials:

• Safeguarding Electoral Integrity: A Call for Accountability
• Orbital Armaments: The Perilous New Frontier in Space
• A Critical Examination of India's Drug Quality Control

See all: Daily Editorial.

Practise daily: daily editorial vocabulary and RC practice — free on the PrepZen app.