Till date, the 11 PLUS exam (Grammar School Entrance Test) is a paper pencil tests for students wanting to secure the coveted year 7 seats in various grammar schools or independent schools of the country. 11 PLUS examis conducted every year by these schools or group of schools and it scores the candidates using four sections, namely Math, Non Verbal ability, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension as well as English grammar.

Among these sections, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension form a major chunk of the 11 PLUS exam as it has almost 40-50% presence in 11 PLUS exams. Also, developing good verbal skills is extremely helpful not just for acing 11 PLUS but also after the admission while doing your further education. So this article focuses on some important preparation tips for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension so that you can best prepare for both the 11 PLUS exam and beyond!!!

Pattern for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension in 11 PLUS

To devise an overall strategy for the VARC section in 11 PLUS, it is important to first understand its overall pattern and some questions on unexpected topics.

The different tips to handle all the topics are given as follows:

1. Reading Comprehension

RCs form the majority of the question paper.. The problem that most people encounter in this section is reading comprehensions of genres that they are not comfortable with. So, for that remember the magic word RAVAMAP: READ AS VARIED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Make it a point of solving at least two RCs daily. When you finally sit for 11 PLUS solving RCs should have become muscle memory.

Try to understand that RCs are not a jumble of random words, but a flow of thought illustrated in the paper. So all you need to do is try and 11 understand that flow. Take any scenario, like even while having a conversation you have a certain thought process which you are expressing. The trick is comprehension and not speed, understanding what is being conveyed is important. Many aspirants start reading the passage but due to lack of concentration and unfamiliar domain their mind wanders, and they are unable to retain what they have read and have to re-read it. So, what you need to master is reading without losing concentration and keeping up with the thought process of the writer.

2. Vocabulary based question

These form a bigger section of the English and Verbal Ability section as they can come in form such similar meaning, opposite meaning, relevant word to sentence, cloze passage.

You can not avoid these and shouldn’t neglect while preparing. If your vocabulary is good, then these questions take no time to solve as you already know the answer and don’t have derive it like RC.

There is no alternative to reading and building the vocabulary. Keep a dictionary with you while reading. Find a meaning of the word which is difficult to understand. Find other meanings of the same word and try to use them in various sentences.

Though it seems to be a big task, it isn’t. Even if you do 5 words per day which are difficult to you, you will be ending having more than 1500 words known to you which seem to be difficult at start.

3. Summary Based questions

The tips for this section are the same as that for RCs with just a minor addition. While reading any editorial or a passage make it a point of summarizing it. What you need to do while summarizing it is include the idea, writer’s opinion, what are the different ways of summarizing it. Always look for at least two ways different ways you could summarize the passage. Doing this activity daily will help you ace this section.

4. Para jumbles

This is a recent addition to 11 Plus exam since last two years for some of the schools.

Always use elimination. If you are stuck in Para jumbles make use of all information that is provided and note that it’s not the sentences… it’s the options. Always find the combination that you know will definitely come together and then use options to eliminate the ones that don’t have that combination together.

Instead of finding the entire passage find groups of lines that will come together, this way you will have chunks of that passage, which will help you view the big picture faster.

5. Sentence exclusion

Sentence exclusion is similar to solving para jumbles. All you need to do is find what sentences can be grouped together and what cannot.

Second approach to these types of questions is getting the idea of the passage the sentences would form and finding the sentence that does not conform to that idea.

Some General Tips for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension

These are some general tips you can follow while preparing for these sections of 11 PLUS:

  • The most important tip for 11 PLUS reading comprehension is doing 2 RCs daily. For this, you can refer to any source you want.
  • You should remember while attempting mocks and paper, that you need do ALL THE QUESTIONS as there in negative marking to wrong answers. This is a major problem encountered by most students. They attempt the questions which they know the answer of. Remember, don’t pick options that appear right but rather those that you know are right.
  • Try speed reading and try to attempt all the questions in an RC.
  • Try to get the gist of the RCs while reading it, it will help in summary-based questions and descriptive answers.
  • Develop a healthy reading habit, take out 30 mins of your day for reading a novel and another half to one hour (depending on your speed) to read at least the news or general knowledge from reliable sources.
  • There has been a shift from questions that focus on just grammar or vocab to the ones that require reading a large amount of information, processing it and answering questions. Which is why almost all the points above mention focussing on improving your reading habits and English usage.
  • The most important difference between VARC and other sections of 11 PLUS is that this section is not about finding the right answers but rather finding the wrong ones and eliminating them. Many options might appear correct so you need to develop logic and understand why they are wrong and not the other way around.

How to Implement these Tips in 11 PLUS Preparation

All the tips that are provided above for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension preparation can be utilized to prepare for the intricacies of the 11 PLUS exam and eventually ace it! To implement it even more efficiently, Champs Learning brings you the 11 PLUS Preparation Course. This is a year long course comprising of more than 32 books and 40 tests on all the four sections of the 11 PLUS exam. Champs also provide an intensive summer course for a month who wish to revise with their preparation at the last minute or who wish to prepare in last one month before the actual exam.