OC Reading: how to build skill and speed

The OC Reading section has 14 questions with 33 answers in 40 minutes. Children read several different texts, so reading stamina and understanding matter as much as speed.

What the questions test

• Finding information: the answer is stated in the text.
• Inference: working out what the text suggests but does not say directly.
• Vocabulary in context: what a word or phrase means in that sentence.
• Figurative language: what a simile or metaphor shows.
• Text structure: which sentence fits a gap, using clue words such as “instead”, “then” or “finally”.
• Comparing texts: which of several short texts matches a statement.

Habits that help

1. Read widely every day: novels, poems, news written for children, and non-fiction on topics your child enjoys.
2. Talk about books: ask “How do you know?” and “Why do you think the character did that?”
3. Collect interesting phrases: discuss what they mean and why the writer chose them.
4. Practise missing-sentence tasks: they train children to use the clues before and after a gap.

In the test

• Read the questions for a text first, then read the text with those questions in mind.
• For each answer, find the evidence in the text.
• Do not spend too long on one question; flag it and come back.

Practise with our original texts: a story, a poem and a missing-sentences text.