English paper - reading time

[newatthis]

Hi all. I am hoping some of the parents who had children taking the new format paper last year may be able to help. Does anyone know if you are allowed to annotate/ write/ underline the text during the 10 minute reading time?

thanks

[pushymother]

I would suggest you call CSSE. I am sure they will be happy to give you that answer.

The lines are numbered on the reading passage and the questions tell you to find the answer on lines 1-4 etc.

I personally, did not suggest my DD do anything but read the passage during the reading time. I think if one is second guessing what words or sentences may or may not be important before knowing the actual questions, one may interrupt the flow of the reading passage.

[newatthis]

Thanks Pushymother.

I wasn't thinking about second guessing questions, it was more to encourage "active" reading eg to underline key words, dates, character names etc. I understand your point though.

[Daogroupie]

I would absolutely recommend that students underline key parts of the passage as they read. If they have prepared well they will notice parts of the text that are likely to come up.

You might want to check that this is allowed. DG

[pushymother]

Thanks Pushymother.

I wasn't thinking about second guessing questions, it was more to encourage "active" reading eg to underline key words, dates, character names etc. I understand your point though.

Did you order last years test? It would be good to have your child sit the test as a mock and see what needs to be improved.

I had my DD sit some mocks with a tutoring company that was specific to the CSSE test and found that where my DD needed to highlight text was the actual questions, for example "choose two answers that mean the same as enchanted" My DD would only tick one answer instead of two because she rushed the reading of the question.

It was the silly errors we had to worry about, plus the fact that she is always away with the fairies! Didn't help that she was only 10 years 2 months old when she took the test

My DD loves reading so I always sold the reading part as the best part of the test because she gets to read something interesting and go into her own little book world

[shakingmum]

I'm no expert and this is only my personal opinion but I wonder whether the child might be distracted from concentrating fully on the passage if they are trying to think what to underline, highlight etc. Perhaps more worthwhile would be to spend the time fully concentrating on the text and re-reading it if time allows so that recall will be easier when answering questions and needing to find a certain passage that's relevant. My DS did quite well in last years English paper and he just read and re-read the passage during the reading time. I know people work differently but I wonder if a child that age might find it too demanding to be trying to work out which bits are important.

[felgate]

Students are not allowed to write anything or highlight anything during the 10 minute reading time at the start of the English test. The 10minutes is just for reading only. They can read all parts of the English paper though including the continuous writing section and the comprehension text

[fausto]

Email from the CSSE - as Felgate said....


With regard to the ten minutes reading time, the children are only allowed to read during this time and will not be allowed to write anything. They will be told when the ten minutes is up. The candidates can read any part of the English paper during this ten minutes.

Regards
CSSE Admin