Before exams, teachers, tutors and parents always remind students, ‘Read the question!’ It’s so important. Before we start answering, we have to make really sure that we know what we are being asked. Do we understand what all the words mean? Do we know what we are being asked to do?
This doesn’t apply only to English. I have just been talking to a Maths tutor friend, and we agreed enthusiastically on the importance of reading questions correctly for both subjects.
Reading accurately, understanding the instructions or brief: this is a vital life skill. In my village, which is on an estuary, there is a road which regularly floods when there is a very high tide. There are signs mentioning ‘tidal flooding.’ The important word here is tidal. The road floods when the tide is high, even if it hasn’t rained for a long time. Leave your car there during a particularly high tide, and you may return to find salt water up to its door handles. The sign includes a QR code so you can look up the tide times. But, in order to take action, and possibly save your car, you need to read the notice correctly, all the way through. This is the kind of eventuality that learning to read exam questions prepares us for.
Of course, very many jobs and careers require careful, thoughtful reading. In some professions, reading accurately may be a matter of life or death. Yours or other people’s.
So if you want to do well in exams, reading the question carefully is essential. Stop. Read carefully. Consider the meaning and implications. Then continue to do this, even when you’ve finished with exams!
