IHETC School
Reading a question through to the end
Reading a question means answering three things in order: what is given, what is asked, in what form. A great many marks hinge on that, in every subject and at every level: a pupil who answers the question next to the one set loses marks without making any reasoning error.
What this habit consists of
Reading a question means answering three things in order: what is given, what is asked, in what form. A great many marks hinge on that, in every subject and at every level: a pupil who answers the question next to the one set loses marks without making any reasoning error.
- The question answered is the one that was set
- Every piece of given data is used, or the gap becomes visible
- The expected form is spotted before writing
- Two-step questions stop losing one of the steps
- Start-up time in front of a paper drops noticeably
The four steps
- 01
Underline what is given
The data, the units, the constraints. Unused data almost always signals a forgotten step.
- 02
Circle what is asked
The verb in the instruction states the task: calculate, show, justify, compare. Those are not the same papers.
- 03
Say the situation aloud
A one-sentence restatement. If it does not come, the question is not understood, and no calculation will fix that.
- 04
Choose the form of the answer
A numerical answer, a proof, a paragraph. The form is decided before the first line.
How the tutor installs it
The tutor declines to move on until the pupil has stated the situation in their own words, including when they already have a calculation ready. It then has the instruction's verb named, because that verb governs the whole paper. On a mistake, it sends them back to the question rather than to the method: nine times out of ten, the missing information was written there. The pupil takes the reflex for themselves, and keeps it through to exam papers.
Parents' questions
Does this habit apply to mathematics too?
It is in fact the subject where it pays most: a maths question fits in a few lines, every word counts, and a pupil who skips the reading attacks the wrong question with a perfectly sound method. The tutor works this habit on maths and science questions first, before extending it to essay subjects.