Eleven Plus Comprehension

We may need, sometimes, to help our eleven plus child with understanding the question. It is easy to say:

“Read the question.

Then re-read the question slowly and carefully.

What is the question asking?”

One type of verbal reasoning question may require re-reading of the question – but a different question may demand more than a simple re-read of the question.

What type of reading could be demanded if we had a fairly typical question along the lines of?

Make a new word by taking out one letter:

Example: Trust becomes Rust

Butter

We can not answer this question by literal comprehension where all we have to do is refer to the text. In literal comprehension the answer is usually stated in the text.

A different type of comprehension is where the question involves classifying or collecting and organising information.

A third type is inferential comprehension – this demands thinking and deductions.

As you sit with your child you are no doubt aware of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. In the question shown above – is it the technique of understanding which letter to take out – does you child have a reasonably systematic method of approaching the question? Could a problem lie in vocabulary? Taking away the `t’ of the word trust offers us rust.

Re-reading the question can help – but may not be the whole solution!