English SA2 Revision: Ways to Tackle Comprehension OE

The Comprehension Open-ended component makes up 20 marks of Booklet B in Paper 2making it the highest-weighted component and one where students often lose marks due to common pitfalls. These include miscomprehension of the text, incomplete answers, and grammatical errors. To tackle this component effectively, students must develop a systematic approach that includes understanding the passage, identifying question types, highlighting key words, and thoroughly checking their responses. For a comprehensive guide on mastering all aspects of Paper 2, including the Comprehension OE section, please refer to our Primary 5 English Paper 2 tips.

1. Main reasons why students are losing marks with the Comprehension OE

1.1 Lack of comprehension of the text given

In P5 and P6, texts become more complex and are based on subjects that students may not be familiar with, such as adrift at sea, world war 2 and mountain climbing. Students may miscomprehend the text and thus answer the questions inaccurately.

1.2 Not fully understanding the questions asked

Students may not be familiar with question types. They may also miss out on certain keywords in the questions. Thus, questions are answered inaccurately.

1.3 Incomplete answers

This reason occurs more often than you would think. Sometimes, students may understand the text and the questions but when writing out the answer, miss out a whole part of it, even if it is a continuation of the sentence.

1.4 Grammatical mistakes

With the change of format for English, marks were not supposed to be subtracted for grammatical mistakes in Comprehension OE. This, however, is not always true for certain schools. Students can lose half to one mark for tenses and spelling mistakes.

2. What should students remember when tackling the Comprehension OE questions?

2.1 Understanding your text

Read to understand your text. At the side of each paragraph, jot down simple notes to help you understand a complex text

2.2 Question types

Identify your question types & remember the ways to tackle different question types:

• Factual
• Inference
• Reference
• Sequencing
• True or False
• Cause and Effect
• Vocabulary in Context

2.3 Highlight & circle key words in your questions

Every question has keyword (s) to help you answer accurately. Highlight the key words and take note of these important words or clues in each question.

2.4 Highlight the key words/phrases or clues in your passage.

Then number the answers according to the question number. This will allow you to re-check your answers more easily at the end. This will also allow you to be sure that you have not missed out on any parts of the answer

2.5 Check your answers

Have you answered your questions accurately?

Are your answers complete?

Did you make any grammar or spelling mistake?

At TF, we use the 4-step technique below every time that we work on Comprehension with our students. While it can take more time, we encourage all our students to use this technique for the Comprehension OE component. This will allow them to develop the habit of understanding the passage before proceeding on to finding the keywords in the questions and then looking for the accurate answers in the passage. By organising the techniques in this way, we hope that our students can understand that the comprehension OE component requires understanding and accuracy to score.