Part 2 — Reading to Apply a Diagram

What you'll learn: how Part 2's diagram and email work together, and a systematic way to fill the email's dropdown blanks from the diagram without mixing up rows or missing an exception.

What Part 2 gives you

Part 2 has two pieces. The first is a diagram: a real-world document such as a class schedule, a price list, a set of program options or a floor plan, usually with a few lines of small print. The second is an email written by someone who has looked at that diagram. The email has blanks, each with a dropdown menu, and you complete it by choosing the option that fits both the sentence and the diagram.

The email is where the constraints live. The writer mentions what they need ("she's at daycare until noon," "we're away the first week of July"), and each blank asks you to apply that need to the diagram. This part tests careful cross-referencing more than vocabulary.

Why this part feels different

Unlike Parts 1, 3 and 4, Part 2 isn't really reading comprehension in the narrative sense. It's closer to a logic puzzle laid over a real document. The diagram holds the facts. The email holds the conditions. Each blank is answered by combining one with the other, so neither can be skimmed past.

A systematic reading order

1. Look at the diagram's headings and labels first, before any detail. Know what each row and column, or each box, represents.
2. Read the diagram's small print. It often holds an exception that overrides the main table (a minimum age, a registration deadline, a "not available on holidays").
3. Read the email once from the top to learn who is writing, to whom, and what they're trying to decide.
4. For each blank, find every condition the email has stated so far: days, times, ages, budget, preferences.
5. Look up the diagram entry that meets all of those conditions, then check it against the small print once more before choosing.

Worked example

The diagram is a flyer for children's swimming lessons:

Small print: Children under 6 must have a parent or guardian in the water. Registration closes May 15.

The email, from a parent to a friend:

Hi Dana, thanks for sending the swim flyer! Leo turns five next month and he's at daycare until noon on weekdays, so the only class that fits is [ blank 1 ]. The catch is that, at his age, [ blank 2 ], so I'll need to bring my swimsuit. I'd better sign him up soon, too, because registration closes in mid-May.

Blank 1 options: Little Fins · Splash Start · Wave Riders · Deep End

Blank 2 options: the class is held outdoors · a parent has to be in the pool with him · he needs his own lifejacket · the fee is higher

Step through blank 1. The email gives two conditions: Leo is four, about to turn five, and weekday mornings are out. Little Fins fits his age but runs Tuesday at 10:00, during daycare. Deep End is on a weekday afternoon, but Leo is too young. Wave Riders is on Saturday, but it starts at age 6. Only Splash Start (Saturday, ages 4–6) meets both conditions.

Blank 2 can't be answered from the table at all. The small print says children under 6 need a parent in the water, and the email's next words ("I'll need to bring my swimsuit") confirm it. The answer is a parent has to be in the pool with him. The other three options sound reasonable for a swimming class, but nothing in the diagram supports them.

Part 2 checklist

• Read the diagram's headings before its details
• Read the small print before answering anything; exceptions live there
• For each blank, listed every condition the email has stated so far
• Chose the entry that meets all the conditions, not just the first one I checked
• Checked that the words after the blank agree with my choice

Common mistakes

• Reading only the table and skipping the small print, missing an age rule, deadline or exclusion.
• Matching one condition and stopping: the right age but the wrong day, or the right day but the wrong age.
• Picking a dropdown option that sounds sensible in general but has no support in the diagram.
• Ignoring the rest of the email's sentence, which often confirms or rules out an option.

Recap

Part 2 pairs a diagram with an email that has dropdown blanks. The diagram holds the facts and the small print holds the exceptions, while the email holds the conditions. Fill each blank by finding the one entry that meets every condition the writer has given, then check the small print and the rest of the sentence before you lock it in.