Have your child sum up each text on its own before comparing them.
Practice test 1 is free. No card needed.
A comparing-texts question asks what two texts on one topic share and where they differ. The handbook doesn't say the ASET pairs texts, so treat this as close-reading practice before the test on 6 March 2027.
Checked by the SelectiveReady team on 12 October 2026 · Updated 27 October 2026 · How we check facts
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The handbook doesn't say the ASET sets texts side by side. We use a pair in our examples, because comparing makes your child read each text closely.
These three are ours, on two short texts about the night sky. Text 1 is a story about seeing the Emu in the Sky on a farm; Text 2 is an information text about skyglow over cities.
Each shows the answer and the working. Read them together and ask your child which text each part of an option came from. Mixing the texts up is the slip these questions are built to catch.
Text 1
Grandpa Ray woke me at midnight, and we walked out past the last fence post, where the farmhouse lights couldn't reach. "Now look up," he said. At first I saw only stars, more than I had ever seen in the city, thick as spilled sugar. Then he traced a shape with his finger. It was not made of stars at all, but of the dark patches between them, stretching along the Milky Way: a head, a long neck, a body. "The Emu in the Sky," he said. "Many First Nations peoples have known that shape for thousands of years." I stared until my neck ached. At home, I had never even noticed the Milky Way was there.
Text 2
Over the past century, the night sky above our cities has been growing brighter. Streetlights, floodlit buildings and lit-up signs send light upwards, where it scatters off tiny particles in the air and creates a glow known as skyglow. Skyglow washes out all but the brightest stars, and many people who live in large cities have never seen the Milky Way. The problem is not only one for stargazers. Artificial light can confuse animals such as newly hatched sea turtles, which head for the brighter horizon over the sea to find their way to the water. Some towns are now fitting streetlights with shields that point the light downwards, and dimming lights late at night. These changes save energy as well as bringing back the stars.
Which idea is found in both texts?
Answer: A
Answer: A
Check each option against both texts. Text 1 sees 'more than I had ever seen in the city' on the farm; Text 2 says city skyglow 'washes out all but the brightest stars'. B is wrong because the Emu is made of dark patches. C goes further than Text 2, which suggests shields and dimming, not switching off.
How is the purpose of Text 1 different from the purpose of Text 2?
Answer: B
Answer: B
Notice how each text is written. Text 1 uses 'I' and tells one night with Grandpa Ray; Text 2 explains skyglow, its effects and what towns are doing. Option A has the right two purposes but swaps them round, a common slip when comparing texts quickly.
Text 2 says that shielded and dimmed lights are 'bringing back the stars'. Based on Text 1, how would its narrator most likely feel about this?
Answer: D
Answer: D
Use what Text 1 shows about the narrator: amazed by the farm sky, staring 'until my neck ached', and struck that they had never noticed the Milky Way at home. Text 2's changes could bring that sky to the city, so D fits. A is wrong because the Emu lies along the Milky Way, which skyglow hides. Nothing in Text 1 suggests B or C.
The ASET's texts can be fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama, with diagrams, tables, charts or maps. A story and an information text on one topic is a fair way to cover that range.
Understand each text on its own first, then put them side by side. A short summary of each, jotted in the margin, keeps them apart when the questions start mixing them.
Before comparing, say in a sentence what each text is about and why it was written.
For a 'found in both' question, an option has to be in Text 1 and in Text 2.
Label each note with its text. Swapping the texts round is an easy slip.
For a 'how would the narrator feel' question, use what the story shows about that person.
These traps come from the worked questions on the night sky. Talk them through once you have read the questions together, and ask which text each wrong option leaned on.
Right ideas, swapped round: one option names both purposes correctly but gives each to the wrong text.
Going further than the passage: Text 2 suggests shields and dimming, not switching streetlights off.
A feeling with no evidence: nothing in Text 1 suggests the narrator would be worried. Their wonder at the farm sky points to pleased.
Pairs of texts are easy to find: a story and a fact page on the same animal. Ask what both say, then what only one says.
Three worked explanations show the method. A full Reading Comprehension test, 35 questions in 35 minutes, shows how closely your child reads each kind of text with the clock running.
Practice test 1 is free, and the results by skill show which kinds of question cost the most marks. For more, see our ASET reading sample questions and the guide to ASET Reading.
The handbook doesn't say so. It lists the kinds of text, not how they're set out, so this page teaches close reading rather than previewing the test.
Year 6 children in Perth metro, Bunbury and Albany sit it on 6 March 2027. Dates for regional WA and interstate sittings are on the ASET dates page.
Practice test 1 marks every answer and shows results by skill: what your child already does well and the three skills to work on next.
Practise for the real test
Practice test 1 is free. Then packs from A$109 for 12 months, or A$9 a week, per exam.