What is in the selective Reading test?

Reading has 17 multiple-choice questions (3 have more than one part) in 45 minutes, and is worth 25% of the test. Every question comes with texts to read first, so much of the 45 minutes goes on reading, not on choosing answers. It is one of four sections, each worth the same share: The Selective High School Placement Test is a computer-based test with 4 sections: Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, Thinking Skills and Writing.

There are more answers than questions because some questions have several parts. In Reading, students give 38 answers across the 17 questions in 45 minutes. So a question can look like one item on screen but ask for a separate answer for each part. This matters for the clock, which the section on time below explains.

All Reading texts are read on screen. Your child scrolls through each text on the test computer rather than marking up a printed page. The wider test, from the ticket to the breaks, is covered on how the selective test works.

Your child reads a mix of made-up and factual writing, from stories and poems to reports. The Department's parent page lists the genres:

• Reading uses different types of text: non-fiction, fiction, poetry, magazine articles and reports.

The Department's page for students puts it a little differently, and adds that a text can be a section of a longer book. The student page says Reading texts can include sections of novels or non-fiction books, poems, magazine articles and reports. In plain terms, your child may start reading in the middle of a story or a chapter, without the pages before it. They need to work out who is who and what is going on from the extract alone.

The mix also means a change of gear between texts. A poem asks for slow reading and attention to single words. A report asks your child to find facts and follow how they are organised. Reading widely at home, across all of these kinds of writing, is the plainest way to get used to that change.

Every Reading question is multiple choice, but the questions come in a few shapes, and the Department names one of them: the comparison question. The Department says the questions test a range of reading skills and does not publish a full list of question types, so the table below describes the shapes in our own words.

The Department's example Reading question is a comparison: students read 2 short extracts on the same theme and answer multiple-choice questions comparing them. The Department's own example questions are in its practice tests, which we link rather than copy.

Parts are scored one by one. In the online practice tests each response is worth 1 mark; questions that ask for several responses are worth more. That is the Department's rule for its online practice tests. It means a part your child is unsure of is still worth an answer, because each part counts on its own.

Read each extract once for its main idea, then read the question, then go back to the extracts for the detail the question needs. The example below is our own, with no text from a real test.

The same habit helps on every Reading question: find the line in the text that backs up the answer. If no line does, the option is probably wrong, however sensible it sounds.

The time works out at a little over a minute per answer, and that minute includes the reading, so your child needs to keep moving. In Reading, students give 38 answers across the 17 questions in 45 minutes.

• Skim a text for its gist first, then read the questions, then go back for detail. That is faster than reading every line twice.
• Watch for questions with several parts. They hold more answers, so they deserve more of the time than a single-answer question.
• Don't stall on one hard question. Pick the answer the text supports most and come back later if there is time.

The Department's online practice tests simulate the real test, so a timed practice there lets your child feel the pace on screen.

The Department publishes practice tests for every section, including Reading, on its selective practice test page. The Department offers 2 types of practice test: online computer-based tests and PDF tests.

• The online practice tests simulate the real test, so your child can get used to the test software and its tools.
• The Department publishes 3 PDF sample tests, each with Reading, Mathematical Reasoning, Thinking Skills and a Writing sample question.
• For students with disability, practice materials are available in large print, black-and-white or braille.

On preparation, the Department is clear: The Department says coaching or tutoring for the placement test is not necessary, and that extra paid coaching will not give a child an advantage. Reading is built from everyday school skills, so regular reading and a look at the practice tests are what the Department points families to.

The opportunity class (OC) Reading test works the same way but is shorter, for younger children, and it counts for a bigger share because the OC test has no Writing section. The OC test has 3 sections (Reading, Thinking Skills and Mathematical Reasoning). Unlike the selective test, there is no Writing section.

More on the OC version is on the OC Reading test. The other selective sections each have a page: Mathematical Reasoning, Thinking Skills and Writing. The main selective guide covers applying, results and offers.