Our amazing, brand new 10 minute Comprehensions for the 7+
/We have provided FREE sample papers on our website for nearly two years. They have been accessed by thousands of parents throughout the country and we have no doubt that they have supported thousands of children with their preparations for the 7+. We use them with our own students from around September time before the Assessments as they are a little more advanced.
There are a few reasons why I created these incredible 10 minute comprehensions:
There aren’t many resources available for the 7+ Assessment preparation. There are the usual 7+ past papers which have been available for nearly 20 years but these are now very outdated.
Many comprehensions that I do find are very long. Whilst these work well with some students, other students prefer shorter comprehensions and these work more effectively with them. Of course, we cannot predict whether the comprehension in the Assessments will be long or short so it is important to prepare for both eventualities.
Many of the comprehensions that you do find online are not at the level or the standard currently expected in the 7+ Assessments.
I needed comprehension texts that challenged my students and supported them to boost their vocabulary.
Many of the comprehensions that I do find are quite boring and I needed something fresh, new and exciting that would make my students actually want to read it and engage them in a way that will get the best out of them when it comes to answering the questions.
When you purchase my 10 minute Comprehensions for the 7+ Assessments (available until October 2023 @only £10) you will have access to 5 comprehensions. Answers are provided for each comprehension. After you have purchased the 10 minute comprehensions, you can also email our Company Director with any questions that you may have about the comprehensions or your child’s answers to any of the questions. She will be in touch with you immediately to answer any of your questions.
All of the comprehensions have been written by our Company Director, Maria Mazarese and have been written to reflect the level and standard expected in the 7+ Assessments. These are the comprehensions:
The Ice Cave
The Avalanche
Lost
The path
An amazing discovery
The Ice cave is a story about a boy who needs to seek shelter from the snow and discovers an ice cave. The questions that I ask require the children to show a strong understanding of what they have read, give reasons, answer true or false type questions, answer ‘why’ questions and give the meaning of more complex vocabulary.
The Avalanche is about a boy who witnesses an avalanche and is so stunned that he doesn’t know what to do. Tho only think that he needs to do is to get to safety and away from the dangers of the avalanche. The reason I chose this title is because many children may not know what an avalanche is. There have been many occasions in these last 16 years where titles have come up in the assessments that children may never have heard of. This can throw them off. If they are not adequately prepared and taught that it is absolutely not a problem if they do not know the meaning of the title, they may just decide that the comprehension is far too hard for them. However, you can easily take a guess at what an avalanche is just by reading the first few lines of the text. This is the same with any comprehension title.
Lost is about a girl who discovers she has no idea where she is whilst on a trip with her parents in Tanzania. That’s when she notices an old, decrepit boat and is filled with hope that she has been found. Incredible vocabulary in this comprehension. Questions include word meaning and prediction.
The Path is about a boy who remembers a trip to Australia and a path that he had discovered. He had never seen this path before and he wondered where this path might lead. Questions include ‘How do you know’ questions, phrase spotting, word meanings and why questions.
An amazing discovery is about a girl who discovers a miniscule wooden door that she has never seen before. Questions include phrase analysis, inference and prediction questions.
Another point that I’d like to make is for parents to really NOT underestimate the importance of vocabulary in the 7+ Assessments. Your child will need to have very strong vocabulary. I don’t mean that they need to understand every single word that they read. They won’t. But they do need to have developed the skill to be able to infer the meaning of the word within the context of the sentence. This is what we work on in our lessons. We do not work on memorising words. This is not an effective use of our lesson time. We work on inferring meaning by reading sentences that include words that my students might not have ever seen. The vocabulary will be advanced and that’s ok.
Here are some ways to help boost your child’s vocabulary:
Read, read and read some more. I encourage my students to read everyday for at least 20 minutes.
Create a glossary and add new words into the glossary together with their meanings. Dip into the glossary each day and ask your child what a certain word means or even to spell that word.
Read a variety of comprehension types.
Why I wrote these 10 minute comprehensions for the 7+
We continue to offer FREE comprehension papers. These Brand New 10 minute comprehensions (releasing end of this week!) were primarily written because I wanted to have slightly shorter texts which are very high quality but are quicker to read. Specifically for my students who currently aren’t super keen on reading very long texts. These are very hard to find specific to the 7+.
I also believe that there isn’t much material available out there for students preparing for the 7+ Assessments. Considering I teach children each year in preparation for the 7+, it is vital that I always have fresh and up to date material which reflects the current standard expected in the 7+ Assessments.
I want my students to be prepared for any type of text that they may experience in their 7+ Assessment. The only way to do this is to expose them to a variety of texts and to practise frequently.
Four Top tips when teaching comprehension:
Allow your child to try by themselves Try not to get too involved. Try not to intervene (as much as possible). Give them a chance to give it a good try by themselves first.
Read the questions together first and really ensure that they understand what the questions are asking. Let them tell you what the question is asking them to do. It’s not about you telling them. Trust me they won’t learn as much if you do this. Put the ownership of them. They will remember far more if it comes from them.
Encourage your child to underline new and unfamiliar vocabulary and discuss together. Make it safe and ok if your child doesn’t know something. Discuss these words and get to boosting their vocabulary.
Let your child attempt the question first themselves. You will be amazed how much more your child will learn when they try first by themselves Even if they get it wrong, they will be learning so much more than if you are telling them the answer.
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