60-second revision
- Read the whole passage once before filling any blank; the theme and tone guide every choice.
- Every blank needs two checks: grammar (part of speech, tense, agreement) and meaning (fits the passage).
- Words that naturally go together (collocations) often settle a blank: pay attention, heavy traffic, take part.
- Connectors like but, yet, so and because decide whether the blank continues or contrasts an idea.
- Look-alike options (adapt/adopt, eminent/imminent) are common traps; check meaning, not shape.
- After filling all blanks, re-read the passage to confirm it flows.
- Bank exams may ask whether a printed word fits or must be replaced; treat it as one more blank.
What a cloze test is
A short passage has five to ten words removed. For each blank you choose from four or five options. Unlike a single fill-in-the-blank sentence, the clue may lie two sentences away, so you must read the passage as a whole.
Method
- Skim the full passage first, ignoring the blanks. Decide the topic and the writer's attitude (positive, critical, neutral).
- Go blank by blank. Read the full sentence and the sentence after it.
- Grammar check: what part of speech fits? Does a preposition after the blank demand a certain word (afraid of, urge someone to)?
- Meaning check: does the word agree with the passage's direction and tone?
- If stuck, mark your best guess and move on; later blanks often clarify earlier ones.
- Re-read the completed passage.
Two checks for every blank
| Check | Question to ask | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | Is a noun, verb, adjective or adverb needed? | 'a new ____ in himself' needs a noun |
| Preposition fit | Which word goes with the preposition after the blank? | 'She insisted ____ paying the bill' needs on |
| Tense and number | Does the form match the rest of the sentence? | 'Yesterday the river ____' needs a past form |
| Direction | Does a connector signal contrast or continuation? | 'small, but ...' contrasts |
| Tone | Does the word suit the passage's attitude? | a hopeful passage will not end with despair |
Collocations worth knowing
| Pattern | Examples |
|---|---|
| verb + noun | make a mistake, do homework, take a decision, pay attention, keep a promise, catch a cold, deliver a speech, commit a crime |
| adjective + noun | heavy rain, heavy traffic, strong tea, high temperature, deep sleep, bitter truth, narrow escape |
| noun + preposition | interest in, demand for, reason for, solution to, effect on, increase in |
| phrasal verbs | give up (stop trying), carry on (continue), put off (postpone), look after (care for), turn down (reject), break out (start suddenly), set up (establish) |
Worked example (fresh)
'The festival was meant to draw tourists, ____ heavy rain kept most visitors away.' Options: so, but, because, and. The first half states a hope and the second a disappointment, so the connector must show contrast: but. 'So' and 'because' show cause, and 'and' simply adds.
'Prices have risen sharply, and many families are struggling to make ends ____.' The idiom is make ends meet; the fixed phrase settles the blank even before you think about meaning.
Variants in bank exams
Bank cloze tests sometimes print a word in each blank and ask whether it fits or should be replaced by one of the options. Treat the printed word as just another option: test it with the same two checks. Some papers also give a sentence with two blanks and ask which pair of words fits both; solve the easier blank first and use it to cut the options.
Timing: a five-blank SSC cloze should take around three to four minutes. Reading the passage first may feel slow, but it saves time because most blanks become obvious once you know the theme.
Test yourself: 10 questions, 40 s each
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