Exam-Week Day 2 of 7: Grade 6 English Mini-Paper

Built for KPSEA pitch. KPSEA starts on Monday 26 October, so this is a quick check, not a cram.

Finished? Tell a parent your score: “I did Day 2 of 7 on CBC Guides: 10 English questions.” Missed Day 1? Do the Day 1 Grade 6 Maths mini-paper. Next is Day 3: Grade 6 Integrated Science (Wednesday 21 October). Full-length papers: Grade 6 English.

Questions 1 to 4 test reading: finding a stated reason, spotting a cause, describing a character’s idea and working out what a sentence shows about people’s feelings. Questions 5 to 10 test grammar from the Grade 6 English design: phrasal quantifiers (a number of, a great deal of), forming an adverb from an adjective, question words (how far, how long), prepositions of time, the conjunction although, and indefinite pronouns such as someone and anyone.

Read the questions first, then the passage once, slowly. Underline the sentence that answers each question before you look at the choices. In KPSEA-style comprehension, the right answer is almost always supported by words in the passage. A choice that sounds sensible but is not in the text is a trap. Question 4 asks what the last sentence shows, so you have to think one step beyond the words.

• Can I count it? Learners, books and bottles take a number of, many and a few. Milk, water and time take a little, much and a great deal of.
• Does it describe an action? Then you usually need an adverb: spoke gently, wrote neatly.
• What does the answer tell you? If the reply is a distance, the question is How far; if it is a time, How long.
• Do the two ideas clash? Tired but still finished the homework: that is a job for although.

Write down any grammar item you got wrong, then make up two sentences of your own using the right form, ideally about your own school or home. Read them aloud to someone at home. Then sit one section of a full Grade 6 English practice paper this week under the timer. For the dates, see KPSEA past papers.

Scored 8 or more out of 10? Read the explanations anyway. Sometimes a right answer is a lucky guess, and the explanation shows you the rule to use next time. Scored 5 or less? Do not panic. Revise quantifiers and conjunctions tonight in ten minutes; they come up often and are quick to fix.

Junior school sibling at home? Send them the Day 2 Grade 9 English mini-paper. Back to the exam-week hub.