A reading piece with questions is called a comprehension test and it will test your ability to understand what you read and to answer questions by finding the answers in the reading piece or think logically about it and writing down your own answer. (Some questions will indicate that you need to find a word in the passage and some you will have to answer in full sentences.)
It is important that you understand the theme and the main idea . Everything in a passage is related to the theme and should be seen in context. If there are words you do not understand while reading, you need to look it up or try and figure out the meaning by reading the whole paragraph. You cannot answer questions if you do not understand what you read and know what the main idea of the story is.
You must open your mind and use your deductive skills as well as your logic to think about what you are reading and make sure you understand the theme of the paragraph (what the story is about) so that you can associate with that specific theme.
How do you answer a comprehension?
- Read through the given piece at least twice - if you still are uncertain about certain parts, read it slowly again.
- read through the questions and make sure you understand what is asked
- go back to the piece and underline the answers to the parts you recognise
- highlight or circle the words you do not understand and need to find the meaning - read the sentences without those words and see what the sentence is about and then try and figure out the meaning of the word by looking at it in the context. You can also try and break up the word into shorter words and see if you recognize it
There are different types of questions that will be asked - you need to understand the types of questions in order for you to know how to answer it
- Theme questions - this will test your understanding of the overall meaning of the text
- Content questions - this will test your ability to find the facts in the reading piece
- Explanation questions - you must be able to see a relation between events and causes and explain it in your own words
- Interpretation questions - You must interpret a statement and decide if it is true or false and give a reason for your interpretation
- Language questions - These will be questions on the vocabulary like for instance find a synonym etc.
How to answer the questions
- You must answer very specifically - try and use your own words, unless they clearly state you need to quote from the passage
- You can never answer a question by saying 'It says so in the story.'
- If you have to choose from multiple answers, you can only choose one
Vocabulary used in the questions
Different words will be used in a question that will indicate how you need to answer the specific question. Like for instance if a question says 'Quote' it means you have to write a word or phrase directly from the given passage.
Enrichment - Look at the following vocabulary that can be used and explain in your own words what you need to do if you see it in a question.
- explain
- give a reason
- true or flase
- why, when, what, who
- name
- refer to
- find the opposite
- find the same
- compare
- start like this
