The purpose of this study was to provide increased understanding of the process and testing of the comprehension of certain kinds of expository and argumentative prose. A criterion-related reading test was constructed using as a criterion the Finder-Cochrane Task Analysis for Comprehending Exposition and Argument. A panel of three experts ruled on the suitability and the validity of the test passages and items. After an interview try-out with typical members of the population, the test was revised and then administered to 36 ninth-grade inner city students. Profiles were drawn for each student. These presented a student's performance and his strong and weak areas as revealed by the test. Comparisons were made between the investigator's test and two reading ability tests. Spearman Rank-Order Correlation Coefficients of .79 and .84 resulted. Some of the conclusions and implications were: (1) the skills identified in the task analysis are testable and teachable behaviors; (2) the process of comprehension explained by the task analysis may be coherently and systematically tested; and (3) after a learner's needs are identified, proper instruction in comprehension may be carried forward. (Author/WR)