Paragraph Organization or arranging separate sentences into a coherent

paragraph composition is probably one of the most difficult types of test in the
Civil Service Examination. In this series, I am going to show that it is actually not
that hard.

In this post, I am going to show you how to analyze in details a Paragraph

Organization sample question. The task is to arrange the five sentences below in
correct order. Please read the sentences thoroughly before you continue.

licating the First Sentence

Knowing the first sentence is very crucial in Paragraph Organizaiton questions.

Always remember that the first sentence is a topic introduction. From the
sentences above, B, C, and E cannot be topic introductions because they begin
with “in fact,” “indeed” and “not only that.” These are clauses that refer to
‘something’ that has already been introduced. Therefore, we are only left with A
and C as possible topic introduction.

It looks like A and C are both good candidates for introduction, but notice that all
of the sentences talk about action figures which is obviously the topic. In A, the
subject of the sentence is “small children, adult, and adults” which is not the
topic. In C on the other hand, the sentence talks about collecting action figures.
Therefore, the first sentence is C.

Locating the Second Sentence

The second sentence usually elaborates the first sentence. Looking from the
paragraph, A and B are the only candidates (Why?). However, notice that in the
first sentence, we are talking about many Filipinos. Now, who is ‘closer’ to “many
Filipinos”? The author’s father, or the children, teenagers, and adults? In addition,
observe below that it is a bit “strange” if we place B as the second sentence.
Further, if we place B as the second sentence, we would not find any place for A
later. Therefore, the correct answer is A.
Correct

Collecting action figures has become a popular hobby for many Filipinos nowadays.
Small children, teenagers, and even adults would spend money just to get ahold of
their favorite action heroes.

Incorrect

Collecting action figures has become a popular hobby for many Filipinos nowadays.
In fact, even my father who is already 40 years old has a big Transformer robot.

Third Sentence

In the third sentence, the author may talk about his father (B) or his neighbor (E).
This is logical because we talked about many Filipinos, then children, teenager
adults. Notice that we are talking about a topic from general to specific.

Now, B and E may be interchangeable, but looking at the beginning of the

sentences, the word “in fact” is more appropriate as the third sentence. The
phrase “not only that” if put on the third sentence would reinforce the idea of
“small children, teenagers, and adults” which is not connected to “neighbor.”
Read the paragraphs below and you will see that putting E on the third sentence
makes the flow of the paragraph disconnected. Therefore, the correct answer is
B.

Correct

Collecting action figures has become a popular hobby for many Filipinos nowadays.
Small children, teenagers, and even adults would spend money just to get ahold of
their favorite action heroes. In fact, even my father who is already 40 years old has a
big Transformer robot.

Incorrect

Collecting action figures has become a popular hobby for many Filipinos nowadays.
Small children, teenagers, and even adults would spend money just to get ahold of
their favorite action heroes. Not only that, our rich neighbor who is already in his late
50’s just came back from Japan, bought a life-size statue of Vegeta.

Fourth and Fifth Sentences

It is clear after we have chosen the third sentence that D is the conclusion of the
paragraph. You will also see that the phrase “not only that” in E reinforces the
idea of old people (ages 40 and 50’s) collecting action figures.
Collecting action figures has become a popular hobby for many Filipinos nowadays.
Small children, teenagers, and even adults would spend money just to get ahold of
their favorite action heroes. In fact, even my father who is already 40 years old has a
big Transformer robot. Not only that, our rich neighbor who is already in his late
50’s just came back from Japan, bought a life-size statue of Vegeta.

Therefore, the correct order of the above question is C-A-B-E-D.

This is probably what you are thinking now:

What the heck, you said it is not that hard. This is so freaking hard!

In the previous post, we have discussed in detail some strategies on how to

arrange shuffled sentences into a coherent paragraph. Although I have
mentioned in that post that it was not that hard, it appeared to be the opposite.
This time, we discuss why is it actually not as hard as you think.

In actual examinations, what makes a Paragraph Organization test a bit easy is

the availability of choices. For instance, let us answer the question in the
previous post — this time with choices. Use Sample Choices 1 in the table below.

If the person who constructed the test used Sample Choices 1, then it is very
easy to answer because once you know that C is the first sentence, then you
don’t have to read the whole paragraph. There is only one choice which has C as
the first sentence; that is, b.
Now, suppose the person who constructed the example used Sample Choices 2.
In the choices, there are only two sample choices which begins with C (b and d),
so still, you eliminate the three wrong answers.

Sample Choices 3 is well-thought because each choice might be equally likely to

be chosen. A and C are good candidates as the first sentene and D is a very good
candidate for a conclusion. Still, even though Sample Choices 3 is better made
(on the perspective of the examinee), knowing the first sentence will still
eliminate three choices.

That is the reason why I was saying that Paragraph Organization is not that hard.
This is because in Paragraph Organization questions, once you know the first
sentence (or sometimes the last), it is possible for you to eliminate the other
wrong answers. The more wrong answersyou eliminate, the higher is the chance
of getting the correct answer.

Let’s Do the Math!

If you know the first sentence in a Paragraph Organization question, then

 you have a 100% chance of getting the correct answer in Sample Choices
1

 you have a 50% chance of getting the correct answer in Sample Choices 2

 you have a 33.33% chance of getting the correct answer in Sample

Choices 3.

In other types of exams with 5 choices where you don’t know the answer and
you just guess, you only get 1/5 chance of getting the correct answer or 20%.
Since it is likely that you will know the introduction sentence in a Paragraph
Organization test based on the tips that I have given you, I think it is quite
reasonable to use the calculation above.

That is why Paragraph Organization is easier than many multiple-choice type

exams.

This is the third part and the conclusion ofHow to Answer Paragraph Organization
Tests Series. In the first part, we have learned how to strategically order random
sentences into a coherent paragraph, and, in the second part, we have learned
how to make use of the choices in Paragraph Organization questions to increase
the chance of getting the correct answer.

In this post, I will share with you a personal strategy, the things I usually do when
I answer Paragraph Organization questions. Note, however, that different
strategies work for different persons, so be careful. You should try out the
strategy first before using it in actual exams.

Let us use the question below for discussion.

Choices a. A-C-B-E-D b. C-A-B-E-D c. C-E-B-A-D d. D-B-A-E-C e. E-D-B-A-C

This is what I do when I answer Paragraph Organization questions:

1. I read the question thoroughly by reading all the sentences.

2. I look for the sentence that might be a candidate as a first sentence in

the paragraph. This is usually easy to see since it introduces the topic.

3. I look at the choices and see which of them has my choice as first
sentence. For example, in the paragraph above, if I know that the first
sentence is C, then I only have to consider b and c. This narrows the
 choices to 2 instead of 5.

4. Once I already narrowed the choices, I look for the sentence that might
be a conclusion. In the case above it’s D. Note that both b and c has D as
the last sentence, so I have now to choose between b and c.

5. I read the paragraph in the order of b and c and see check which is more
coherent.

Note that the strategy above happens very fast because of time constraint. You
have to read as fast as you can.

Now, all you have to do is to practice it and see if it works for you. Remember,
just knowing the first sentence already increases your chance of getting the
correct answer.

This is the summary of the last three posts about answering paragraph
organization tests.

The first part discusses strategies on how to order random sentences into a
coherent paragraph. The sentences that can easily be seen in terms of order is
the first sentence which usually introduces the topic and the last sentences
which is the conclusion. As for the second sentence, it usually explains, supports,
or elucidates the first sentence.

The second part discusses what makes paragraph organization easy. Although
in the first part, ordering the sentence are somewhat difficult, this is
complemented by the available choices. Reading all the sentences and looking at
the options will likely narrow the choices for the correct answer. This gives you a
higher probability of getting the correct answer.

The third part concludes the advantages of paragraph organization over other
multiple choice questions. Knowing the beginning of the paragraph, which is
likely to happen, reduces the chance of getting the wrong answer. In this part, I
have also given some personal tips on how I answer questions. Note that these
tips are based on my own experience and may or may NOT work with others.
There is no harm in trying though, but you have to practice it first before using in
actual examinations