Help Your Child Build Elite Reading Skills
Strong readers do better in every subject, every exam and throughout life. Here is what good reading looks like, what your child needs to get there, and the practice that gets results.
Why Reading Matters
Reading is the foundation of every English exam your child will sit, from P1 spelling tests through to HKDSE.
We read for pleasure and we read for information. Both kinds matter. Most Hong Kong English exams put heavy weight on reading comprehension, and the gap between strong and weak readers shows up in marks across every other section too.
The principle is simple. The more your child reads, and the more practice they get with reading comprehension tasks, the better their chances of doing well in exams and beyond. Reading and writing go hand in hand. Children who read often write fluently and use a wider vocabulary almost without trying.
Children who avoid reading tend to have narrower vocabularies and find it harder to express themselves in writing. As a parent, you have more influence on this than you might think. Here are practical ways to encourage your child to read more.
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See Practice Materials →Signs of an Elite Reader
- Excels in reading comprehension tasks, the heart of every English exam.
- Approaches new texts with confidence and locates information quickly.
- Acquires knowledge easily from textbooks and other learning materials.
- Has a broad and growing vocabulary.
- Reads for pleasure and entertainment, not only for school.
- Writes well as a natural result of reading widely.
What a Good Reader Needs
- Solid phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words.
- The ability to identify and understand the main idea of a text.
- Skim and scan techniques for locating specific information.
- The ability to bring life experience to a text and make connections.
- The ability to interpret meaning and connect with what is being read.
- The ability to read between the lines, infer meaning and deduce hidden ideas.
"The key to becoming an elite reader is to read as much as possible and practice comprehension tasks regularly."
Reading for Information
This question type appears in nearly every Hong Kong primary English exam, and it is where students lose the most marks. The format involves reading a leaflet, ticket, notice or advertisement, then answering questions about it. The questions are deliberately tricky.
The way to build this skill is steady practice and learning to spot the clues. Watch for asterisks (*), small print and footnotes, which often signal a tricky question is coming. See the example below.
Practice on real exam-style materials is the fastest route to improvement on this question type.
Practice Reading Comprehension at Exam Standard
Elite Kids reading comprehension workbooks are written for the exact question style HK schools and elite assessments use, including Reading for Information. PDF download. Full marking scheme. Sample available before you buy.