Reading about study habits: details and word meaning
Reading questions at this level ask for three things. A detail question has its answer in one sentence: find the sentence first, then choose the option that says the same thing in other words. An attitude question asks how a person feels: look at the verbs, the adjectives and what the person does. A word-meaning question asks about a word in its context: read the sentence before and after the word, and test your meaning in the sentence. When you choose an answer from a text, cross out options that are not in the text, and be careful with strong words such as always, never and only: they are often wrong. Your book has a passage on page 10 about balancing study, social life and personal growth. Read it after this lesson, and use the same skills on its five questions.
| Question type | What to do |
|---|---|
| Detail | Find the sentence in the text, then match the option. |
| Attitude | Look at feeling words and at what the person does. |
| Word meaning | Read the sentences around the word and test your meaning. |
| Choosing an answer | Cross out options that are not in the text or are too strong. |
Omar is seventeen, and this term his week is full. On Mondays he plays in the school chess team, on Thursdays he helps younger pupils to read in the library, and every evening he studies for his final exams. In October he felt anxious because a chemistry test, a history project and a chess match fell in the same week. His sister suggested a weekly planner: a board with coloured cards, one card for each task. Omar moves a card to the “done” column when he finishes the task, and the board shows him at once what is left. At first he forgot to move the cards, but after two weeks the board became part of his routine. He also learned from a mistake. Once he wrote the wrong date for the history project and nearly missed the deadline. He laughed about it, checked every date twice and added a reminder at the top of the board. Omar says that the library work is enriching, because explaining a story to a six-year-old helps him to see his own studies from a different perspective. He is still busy, but he is more motivated and less worried than before.
Question maker. Choose a short text of six to eight sentences from a school book or a magazine. Write one detail question, one attitude question and one word-meaning question with the answers. Give the questions to a grown-up and check the answers together.