Lesson · R.3.3

Text structure and organisation

How to recognise the five common text structures on the HESI A2 Reading section, chronological, compare and contrast, cause and effect, problem and solution, and description, and use each one to predict what comes next.

ObjectiveR.3.3Read3 minExam weightReasoning and Integration ≈ 32% of Reading

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What you will be able to do

Name the five text structures a HESI A2 passage is likely to use.
Spot the signal words that give each structure away before you finish reading.
Use the structure of a passage to predict its main idea and locate details faster.

What the lesson concludes

A passage's structure is the skeleton the author built the ideas on, find it and the details fall into place.
Signal words such as first, however, because, and unlike each point to a specific structure.
Sequence structures answer when, cause and effect structures answer why, and compare and contrast structures answer how two things differ.
Problem and solution passages are the easiest to summarise, since the passage does the summarising for you.
Identify the structure in the first paragraph and you will read the rest of the passage faster.