Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

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ciaowood
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:46 pm

Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by ciaowood »

Hi, may I ask any teachers/tutors/parents how you would 'teach' children, sitting the 11 plus, to read and answer a comprehension text? From everything I've read, it would suggest to read the text first, potentially twice, and then look at the answers. I'm only asking as my daughter tends to look at the questions first and then read/scan the text for the answers.

I'm only asking as, essentially, I agree with the reading the text first method but the 11 plus is so tight timewise, do tutors etc prefer going by the questions first? I don't want to push on a method that will waste her time.

I hope that makes sense!

Many thanks.
olucares
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 10:55 am

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by olucares »

ciaowood wrote:Hi, may I ask any teachers/tutors/parents how you would 'teach' children, sitting the 11 plus, to read and answer a comprehension text? From everything I've read, it would suggest to read the text first, potentially twice, and then look at the answers. I'm only asking as my daughter tends to look at the questions first and then read/scan the text for the answers.

I'm only asking as, essentially, I agree with the reading the text first method but the 11 plus is so tight timewise, do tutors etc prefer going by the questions first? I don't want to push on a method that will waste her time.

I hope that makes sense!

Many thanks.

Read the text first. Although you could have a look at question 1 before reading the text and more often than not, the answer to question 1 is in the first paragraph. But generally, it is best to read the entire text first.
yoyo123
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Location: East Kent

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by yoyo123 »

Definitely read the text first, by scanning for the relevant bits she may miss some of the nuances.

Refer back to the text constantly. So many pupils read it and then put it to one side as if it was a memory test.
Deb70
Posts: 340
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:00 pm

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by Deb70 »

Time is tight. Scan the text first but quickly. The questions follow the text so after each question, mark the corresponding text to avoid re reading things for the subsequent questions. If unsure, guess and mark the question paper then if time, go back and think about it/read again.
choceyes
Posts: 76
Joined: Wed May 08, 2019 2:16 pm

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by choceyes »

In the CPG cem tests the questions dont always follow the order of the information in the text....anyone encounter this? Is this not the same as the actual test?
olucares
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri May 20, 2016 10:55 am

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by olucares »

choceyes wrote:In the CPG cem tests the questions dont always follow the order of the information in the text....anyone encounter this? Is this not the same as the actual test?
Yes, many questions do not follow the order of the text, hence why it is important to read the text first, also majority of the questions are inference based, not just retrieval. A good point mentioned earlier from another post regarding referring back to the text, as it isn't a test of memory.
ciaowood
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Jun 30, 2018 12:46 pm

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by ciaowood »

Thank you for your advice, reading first it is! Will focus our reading on more inference type questions too. Thanks.
peroni
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu May 06, 2021 8:50 pm

Re: Comprehension - read text first, or questions?

Post by peroni »

olucares wrote:
choceyes wrote:In the CPG cem tests the questions dont always follow the order of the information in the text....anyone encounter this? Is this not the same as the actual test?
Yes, many questions do not follow the order of the text, hence why it is important to read the text first, also majority of the questions are inference based, not just retrieval. A good point mentioned earlier from another post regarding referring back to the text, as it isn't a test of memory.
Thanks for the advice
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