KS2 SAT comprehension

[Cherritomato]

During the test, can they read the questions before reading the text?

Apparently so - this was a recent change. I wouldn't be encouraging this as a good strategy, personally.

I was a ' reader' for a child last year. We weren't allowed to read the questions out, or explain words in the reading and comprehension test, only the SPAG test and 'problem-solving ' maths tests

Oh embarrassing I didn't read that properly!!!

At our school we encourage them to read the text first, and answer questions after.

Feenie I'm interested why not? I have just gone through a practice SATS comprehension test with DS with no guidance from the teacher other than to complete it as holiday homework.

I advised him to look what page the question refers to, find that page, read the question and with the question in mind read the page/pages then write his answer.

Its the way I would do it if I was sitting the test. Why wouldn't you advise it?

Yes, I am interested in why not as well. I know that's how my ds does it.
Need to stop if that's not good ways to do it!

Any idea what is the official standing on this. Can they prevent/forbid the child to look at questions first?

They are allowed to do this - they weren't until recently.

I think it's better to read a text then read/answer the questions about it by returning to the relevant part. I'm not sure better understanding can be achieved by reading the questions then the text once.

Feenie I get where you are coming from although you could argue SATS are not about understanding the text but attempting to pass the test in the time given which in my DS's case wouldn't be possible if he read the entire text first as he is a slow reader.

I understand that. They used to give children 15 minutes to read the text then 45 minutes to answer the questions - children were able to answer questions about what they'd read, but I appreciate that the texts are now much harder. I'm still not convinced the strategy described would be more successful though, sorry.

There are no set rules now but I really encourage my class to read the first text first and answer the questions, then do the same for the second and third text,

If they read the questions first or at the same time, it's often too tempting to start answering the questions straight away whilst they are readying!

As above, we encourage the children to read one section then answer the questions on that section. They can open the reading booklet and the answer paper at the same time.

Feenie it's a well regarded strategy as the children know what they're looking for before reading the whole text. However, it won't work for slower readers as the SAT timings are tight.

Well regarded by whom? Certainly no one I've come across would recommend it as good practice.

I think I leaned it as exam tactics when I was a student in my native country.
I can see the both sides, reading first and answering the question is good in on way, but also can see the benefit of reading question first as well.
It maybe come down to preference, maybe?
At least my ds re-read both text and questions several times if needed and time permits.

Feenie - the teaching community. The teachers I know who've been on literacy courses over last couple of years have been using this strategy. It's certainly the one I'm using with my class as then the children aren't reading aimlessly. They know what they are looking for. However, like I said, it won't work for slower readers so there's a bit of common sense too.

I think the child needs to read right through the full text first as that is the only way to gain understanding of the sense and development of the text.
Reading the questions first could result in errors in answers as the child may focus too much on a single page or paragraph and miss its relevance to the full text.
I marked KS2 English, then Reading, for many years. I stopped when the requirements of the papers became progressively less relevant to the true education. The aim has now descended to jumping through hoops to enable the ticking of boxes.

Waiting - I consider that Feenie is right and am appalled that recent literacy courses are advocating reading questions first then looking for answers during the initial reading of the full text.

I was taught to read the text first then the question which allows you to skim and scan to find the answer otherwise you’re wasting time.