11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi all,
Please can anyone clarify these for me. In the real test,

1. How long are the comprehension passages?
2. How many comprehension passages?
3. How many questions in total for comprehension?

Thanks!

Can't remember for certain, but think it was one passage of a couple of pages. It may have been ten questions for comprehension, with five each for spelling, punctuation and completing sentences.

Sparklecat wrote:Can't remember for certain, but think it was one passage of a couple of pages. It may have been ten questions for comprehension, with five each for spelling, punctuation and completing sentences.

Great! Thank you

You're welcome. For my daughter, the issue was working too fast and not referring back to the text. Once she learned to take care, her marks improved. You begin to recognise types of comprehension questions. Even if their spelling is not perfect, you can see patterns. There will always be one question with no spelling mistake and the incorrect spellings are not always the long words.

Yes, my impression is that there is time to spare for checking in the English ( unlike the other papers) unless one is a slowish reader.

Tell me about it!

When we first looked at comprehensions, she completed them in a half or third of the time allowed, very pleased with herself and most questions wrong. Need to be a little cautious as our practice tests were often just a few paragraphs and real exam pieces might be two or three pages. But once she learned to read the piece twice and keep referring back to the text, her marks rose.

This kind of technique is the stuff schools don't teach, but can make the difference between pass and fail.