Cloze Test
🔒 Log in to trackWhat a cloze test is and how to attack it
🔒 Log in to trackA cloze test is one short passage — usually 100–150 words — in which 5 words have been removed and numbered. Each question asks you to restore one blank. The passage is a network: every sentence you read constrains what the blanks can be, which is why cloze rewards a fixed method far more than raw vocabulary.
The 5-step SSC method:
- Read the whole passage once, ignoring the blanks as far as possible. Fix the theme and the time frame (past narrative? general present? future plan?).
- Note the tense anchor: the opening sentences usually fix the tense that most verb blanks must follow.
- For each blank, predict your own word from the sentence's meaning before looking at the options.
- Match options against your prediction; when none match, fall back to elimination by grammar (number, tense, part of speech) and logic.
- After marking all five, read the completed passage once — it must sound like ordinary prose. Any jarring blank is usually a wrong choice.
| Blank type | What decides the answer | First check |
|---|---|---|
| Verb form / tense | time anchors in surrounding sentences + subject number | find the anchor word (yesterday, every day, since, by evening) |
| Connector | the logical relation between the two clauses it joins | ask: contrast, cause, result or addition? |
| Preposition / phrasal verb | fixed collocation of the neighbouring word | identify the governing verb/adjective/noun |
| Noun / vocabulary | meaning that fits the sentence AND the passage theme | predict your own word before reading options |
| Article / determiner | sound of the next word + which-inference (specific or not) | say the phrase aloud |
Time budget: under two minutes for the full read, 20–30 seconds per blank, 30 seconds for the final read-through. Attempt cloze in one sitting — the passage lives in your short-term memory only while the set is open.
Never solve blanks in isolation. An option that fits its own sentence but contradicts the passage's tense or theme is a planted trap; the final read-through exists to catch exactly this.
What is a cloze test?
A cloze test is a short passage — usually 80 to 150 words — in which several words are removed and numbered (1), (2), (3)… For every blank you get four options, and you pick the word that best fits both the grammar and the meaning of that place. SSC, Railway and Banking papers commonly ask 5 blanks from one passage, each blank as a separate question that shares the same story.
A cloze passage is like a wall with a few bricks missing. You cannot choose a brick by looking at the hole alone — you must look at the wall around it.
The five-step routine
- Read the whole passage once, ignoring the options. Fix the theme (a village lake, a new rule, an old memory) and the time frame (past story, present habit, future plan).
- Read the sentence with the blank twice — the part before the blank and the part after it. The clue usually sits on one of these two sides.
- Try every option inside the full sentence, never as a word alone. A word may look right on its own and break the sentence.
- Reject in two rounds. First cut options that break a rule (wrong verb form, wrong agreement). Then cut options that are grammatical but do not fit the meaning.
- Re-read the finished passage with your answers filled in. The whole thing must sound like natural English from the first line to the last.
The four kinds of blanks
| Blank type | What decides the answer |
|---|---|
| Grammar (verb form, agreement, article, pronoun) | A rule: subject number, time frame, linking verb |
| Vocabulary (noun, verb, adjective choice) | Meaning and collocation |
| Connector (but, because, moreover) | The direction between two clauses |
| Preposition / phrasal verb | A fixed usage or the particle's meaning |
Most papers mix all four kinds in one passage, so one passage tests four small skills.
Order of solving
Answer the easiest blank first, even if it is blank (5). A solved blank often makes its neighbours easier, because one more slot of the story is filled. Leave a stubborn blank for the last round; with most of the passage filled, it usually resolves itself. Mark skipped blanks on the question paper so you do not lose count.
A worked blank
Blank: "The morning walk costs nothing and demands no equipment, (1) ______ very few people manage to continue it beyond a fortnight." Options: because / yet / hence / so. The first clause praises the walk (+), the second says few continue it (−). Opposite directions need a contrast word: yet. So and hence would wrongly make failure a result of the walk's simplicity, and because reverses the logic. This is the connector decision in action.
Time plan
Five blanks should take four to five minutes. Never spend more than a minute on one blank in the first round.
Question types you will see
Each type: how to recognise it, the method step by step, and one question to try.
Blank whose answer needs the passage's overall theme
Several options are grammatical and each could fit some sentence; only one continues the passage's controlling idea or metaphor.
Read the whole passage and name its theme in five words.
Ask which option keeps that theme running in this sentence.
Cut options that are real words but belong to a different world (an office word in a farming story).
Why it works: a cloze passage is one connected story; the writer keeps one metaphor or topic alive, and the blank is part of it.
Passage about a night market: "The market sells food, but what it really (1) ______ is company." (a) paints (b) sells (c) measures (d) imports
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The passage's metaphor is selling. "Sells company" continues it. Answer: (b) sells.
All four options grammatical — meaning decides
Every option is the same part of speech in the correct form, so no rule can cut them.
Read the sentence and say its meaning in your own words.
Put each option in the blank and read the full sentence.
Keep the one that says what the sentence actually says; cut options that are merely about the same topic.
Why it works: when grammar is equal, the setter is testing careful reading, not vocabulary size.
"Students check the taps after (1) ______ and repair dripping ones the same day." (a) applause (b) assembly (c) gravity (d) thunder
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Only assembly is a school event that happens before students could check taps. Answer: (b) assembly.
The clue sits in a neighbouring sentence
The blank's own sentence feels incomplete; the word that fits is confirmed one sentence earlier or later.
Read the sentence before AND after the blank.
Look for a repeated idea or word pair (tankers, then a single tanker again).
Choose the option that completes that cross-sentence link.
Why it works: cloze passages are short, so writers deliberately repeat or answer ideas one line apart.
"The school used to buy tankers of water every summer. … This summer it did not order a single (1) ______." (a) ticket (b) book (c) tanker (d) rule
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Sentence 1 sets the pair buy tankers → order a single tanker. Answer: (c) tanker.
Option fits the sentence but clashes with the passage
Two options seem to fit the blank; re-reading another line shows one of them contradicts the story.
Do not answer on the first plausible option.
Re-read the full passage with each survivor filled in.
Drop the option that clashes with a later or earlier line.
Why it works: the setter places a 'local' option that ignores the whole story; the final re-read catches it.
"The tank taught them what the (1) ______ never did — that water is counted." The passage is about school students. (a) plumber (b) syllabus (c) generator (d) noticeboard
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Only a syllabus is something that teaches in a school. Re-reading shows the lesson is academic, not a plumbing job. Answer: (b) syllabus.
Shortcuts that save time
Before touching any blank, underline the time expressions: 'Every morning...', 'Last month...', 'by evening'. Verb blanks and even prepositions obey these anchors.
Passage opens 'Every morning, before the city fully ___' — options: awaken / awakens / awakened / is awaken.
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Anchor 'every morning' = habitual present; subject 'city' = singular → awakens.
Cover the options with your hand, read the sentence, and whisper your own word. Options are written to include your word's exact meaning — anything far from it is usually wrong.
After answering all five, read the passage silently as if it were written by someone else. Grammar errors and logic breaks become audible — re-check any blank where you stumble.
Mistakes to avoid
Where most students lose marks on this subtopic.
Answering blank by blank without reading the full passage first — you lose every cross-blank clue.
Changing tense midway: a past-tense narrative forces past forms on later verb blanks.
Choosing a word that fits the sentence's topic but not its logic (e.g. a cause-word where a contrast is needed).
Spending equal time on every blank; easy grammar blanks take 15 seconds, bank that time for the vocabulary blank.
Quick revision
Read this the night before the exam.
Read the full passage before touching the options.
Try each option inside the full sentence.
Grammar blanks → rule; vocab blanks → meaning; connectors → clause direction; prepositions → fixed usage.
Solve easy blanks first, re-read at the end.
Two rounds of elimination: form first, then meaning.
Practice: 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Every answer has a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 9 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.