Reading comprehension
Notices, messages, articles and stories in simplified characters, with the questions in English and your answers in English.
Learn
Reading comprehension, explained point by point
Everything the GCSE specification expects you to be able to do, and how to actually do it - the same lesson a signed-in student studies from.
Know how AQA's reading paper works
With AQA, reading is Paper 3 and a quarter of the GCSE, worth 60 marks at both tiers: 45 minutes at Foundation and an hour at Higher. Section A, worth 51 marks, asks questions in English about notices, adverts, messages, emails, web pages, articles and literary extracts, and you answer in English or by ticking or choosing. Section B, worth 9, is a translation into English. The texts are in simplified characters, an unusual word may be glossed in English, and some questions appear on both tiers.
Know how Pearson Edexcel's reading paper works
With Pearson Edexcel, reading is Paper 3, worth 50 marks: 50 minutes at Foundation and 1 hour 5 minutes at Higher. There are ten questions: nine in Section A, set in English and answered in English or by choosing, then a translation into English in Section B. Four questions are shared by the tiers. The paper prints every text twice, once in traditional and once in simplified characters, and you answer from one version only. Most texts are set in China or another Chinese-speaking place.
Find the words in a line with no spaces
Chinese is printed without gaps between words, so part of reading is grouping characters. Look for words you know and let them split the line: 我们学校有一个很大的图书馆。 is 我们 学校 有 一个 很 大 的 图书馆. Many words are two characters long, and small words like 的, 了 and 很 are good places to break.
Use radicals and familiar parts
Part of a character often hints at its meaning: 氵 for water (河, 海, 游泳), 口 for the mouth (吃, 喝, 唱) and 讠 for speech (说, 请, 谁). Familiar characters also turn up in new words, so knowing 电 (electric) helps with 电脑, 电视, 电影 and 电话. Put these hints together with the context to make a sensible guess.
Read the question first, then find the place
Each question tells you what to look for. Find the part of the text it points to by spotting a name, a number, a time word or a word from the question, then read that part closely. The questions usually follow the order of the text.
Watch the small words that change the meaning
不 and 没 make a sentence negative, 也 means also and 都 all or both, and 以前 set against 现在 marks a change: 以前我不喜欢吃鱼，现在很喜欢。 One character can turn an answer round, so read every sentence to its end.
Weigh opinions: positive, negative or both
Opinions come with 喜欢, 觉得, 有意思, 没意思, 好吃 or 太……了, and reasons follow 因为. Some questions ask whether an opinion is positive, negative or both, and a sentence like 这个手机很漂亮，可是太贵了。 is both.
Answer in English, with the detail asked for
Write every answer in English: characters copied from the text earn nothing. Give one answer per mark, with no slashes or alternatives in brackets: a second answer is ignored or cancels out the first. Keep to what the text says, not what you would expect.
Reading comprehension key terms
The words the specification and the mark schemes use, each defined the way an examiner wants it.
- Skimming
- Reading quickly through a text for its general idea.
- Scanning
- Searching a text for one detail, such as a time, a price or a name.
- Inference
- Working out something a text suggests but doesn't say outright.
- Radical
- A part of a character that often hints at its meaning, such as 氵 for water.
- Compound word
- A word of two or more characters whose parts help with its meaning: 大 (big) and 学 (study) make 大学, a university.
- Gloss
- A word printed with its English meaning beside the text, because it is off the list. It is there to help, so use it.
- Distractor
- A detail in a text that looks like the answer but isn't.
- Not mentioned
- An option in some questions for a statement the text doesn't cover at all, so it is neither true nor false.
Common mistakes in Reading comprehension
The slips that cost marks year after year, and what to do instead.
Reading a word one character at a time, so 东西 (things) becomes east and west.
Read characters in groups. Many words mean more than their parts, so look for a word you know before you split it up.
Missing a 不 or 没 in a sentence.
Read every sentence to its end and look just before each verb: 我没去 means I didn't go.
Giving two answers to a one-mark question, joined by a slash.
A second answer is ignored or cancels out the first, so choose one. Give two details only when the question is worth two marks.
Answering from what you would expect rather than from the text.
Base every answer on what the text says. If it says the canteen food is cheap but not tasty, don't write that it is good.
Copying Chinese from the text into your answer.
Answers must be in English. A copied Chinese word earns no mark, even when it is the right word.