The best entrance exam reading strategy is a simple routine: preview the passage, read the questions, read closely while marking only what matters, then go back to the text to find evidence for every answer. Students who follow the same steps each time stay calmer and waste less time. This guide shows you how to teach that routine at home, step by step, and how to practise it so it becomes automatic by exam day.
Every school sets its own entrance exam, so formats differ. The strategies below rest on official Canadian guidance for reading tests (Ontario and Quebec). They carry over well to the reading sections your child is likely to meet.
TL;DR
- Preview first: look at the title, any graphics and the questions before reading the passage closely.
- Mark only key words and ideas. Over-highlighting slows your child down and hides what matters.
- Every answer must come from the text. Go back to it, search for the question’s key words and confirm.
- Plan the time for each passage and question set before the exam starts, so no section is left blank.
- Practise with timed passages and keep a short mistake log. That is how reading skills actually improve.
Table of Contents
- Why a routine matters more than speed
- The five-step reading routine
- Finding the main idea and the structure of a passage
- Annotating without slowing down
- Finding evidence: literal, inferred and opinion questions
- Multiple-choice and short-answer questions
- Managing time across several passages
- Adapting strategies to grade level and exam format
- Practising and learning from mistakes
- Our perspective
- How a tutor can help
- Exam-day reminders
- FAQ
- Sources
Why a routine matters more than speed
Many children lose marks on reading sections for reasons that have nothing to do with ability. They start reading without a purpose, get stuck on one unknown word, or choose an answer that sounds right but isn’t in the text. A routine removes most of these problems because your child always knows what to do next.
Think of the routine as a game with simple rules. Your child plays the same moves on every passage: preview, read, mark, check. With practice, the moves take no thought, which leaves energy for the actual thinking.
Official test guidance in Canada points the same way. An Ontario reading guide derived from EQAO materials recommends reading the questions first, skimming the selection, and then reading it closely.
The five-step reading routine
Teach these steps in order. Practise them on short passages first, then lengthen the texts.
- Preview. Read the title, any short introduction and look at images or graphs. Ontario curriculum guidance recommends previewing texts and activating prior knowledge before reading. Ask your child: “What do I already know about this topic?”
- Read the questions. A Toronto District School Board workbook for the Ontario literacy test advises reading the questions before the passage. Your child doesn’t need to answer yet. They only need to know what to look for.
- Skim, then read closely. One quick pass for the overall subject, a second slower pass for details.
- Mark as you go. Brief notes and a few marks beside details linked to the questions.
- Answer by returning to the text. Never from memory alone.
A good first exercise: choose a one-page article, give your child three minutes for steps 1 to 3, and ask for the main idea in one sentence. If they can say it, the preview and skim are working.
Finding the main idea and the structure of a passage
The main idea is what the whole passage is about, not a detail from one paragraph. Help your child find it by looking at how the text is built. Ontario curriculum guidance lists text structure, visual features, context and grammatical structures as tools for understanding a text.
In practice, this means:
- Title and first paragraph: they usually announce the subject.
- First sentence of each paragraph: often the paragraph’s point.
- Last paragraph: often a conclusion or a restatement.
- Headings, captions and graphics: they show how the author organizes information.
A simple check for your child: “If I had to tell a friend what this text is about in ten words, what would I say?” If the answer only covers one paragraph, it is a detail, not the main idea.
Annotating without slowing down
Marking a text well is a skill. Done badly, it eats time and leaves a page full of yellow. The Toronto District School Board workbook advises marking only key words, phrases, vocabulary and ideas central to understanding, and not highlighting more than necessary.
Give your child a short list of what deserves a mark:
- Names, dates, numbers and places.
- Words that signal contrast or cause (but, however, because, therefore).
- Any word or phrase that a question mentions.
- A word they don’t know (circle it and keep going).
Set a rule: no more than one or two marks per paragraph. In margins, a three-word note is plenty (“cause of delay”, “author’s opinion”). Ontario guidance also says students should monitor their comprehension and record ideas while reading, which is exactly what these brief notes do.
A mini-checklist for annotation
- Did I mark fewer than two things per paragraph?
- Can I find each mark’s reason in one second?
- Did I keep moving instead of rewriting the text in the margin?
Finding evidence: literal, inferred and opinion questions
Most reading questions fall into a few types. Knowing the type tells your child how to search.
The EQAO framework for the Ontario literacy test distinguishes explicit comprehension, implicit comprehension through local and global inference, and connections between the text and personal knowledge or experience. Here is how to turn that into habits.
| Question type | What it asks | How your child answers |
|---|---|---|
| Explicit | A fact stated in the text | Find the sentence and match the wording |
| Inference | Something the text suggests but doesn’t say | Combine clues from one or several sentences |
| Connection | How the text relates to what you know | Use the text first, then add your own experience |
Inference: the answer is still in the text
Children often think inference means guessing. It doesn’t. The EQAO framework says that for inference questions, students use implicit evidence in the selection, and all the information needed must be in the selection. So the question to teach is: “Which words in the text make me think that?”
Try this with a short story. Read a passage where a character slams a door and says “Fine.” Ask: “How does she feel, and which clues tell you?” Your child names the feeling and points to the clues. The pointing is the skill.
Going back to the text
The TDSB workbook recommends searching for the exact keywords from the question, or words with a similar meaning, when returning to the selection. Teach your child to say the keyword, scan for it, and read the sentences around it.
Vocabulary in context
Unknown words are normal, and they shouldn’t cause panic. The same Ontario guide suggests using roots, prefixes, suffixes and surrounding sentences to work out what an unknown word means. It also suggests rereading or paraphrasing a confusing long sentence.
A three-step method for a mot-piège (trap word):
- Read the sentence before and after the word.
- Replace the word with a simple one that fits and check that the sentence still makes sense.
- Look at the word’s parts (root, prefix, suffix) for a hint.
On French reading sections, this matters just as much. The Quebec education ministry specifies that a Secondary V enriched French written-comprehension exam tests locating and inferring ideas or information and determining the meaning of words or expressions from context. For more French-specific practice, see our guide on how to improve French reading skills.
Multiple-choice and short-answer questions
Multiple choice: eliminate, then confirm
The EQAO-derived guide recommends rereading the question, eliminating incorrect answers, and rereading the relevant part of the selection before choosing the best answer. Turn it into a checklist your child can run in about twenty seconds:
- Read the question again, slowly. What exactly is it asking?
- Cross out answers that contradict the text or aren’t mentioned.
- Compare the two that remain against the passage.
- Choose the one the text supports, not the one that merely sounds familiar.
Short answers: extract, don’t copy
Short-answer questions reward precision. Quebec’s enriched French guidance says short answers must respect the requested number of elements and be complete and understandable, and that copying an entire passage instead of extracting the needed words or sentence earns no credit.
Teach your child to underline the number in the question (“name two reasons”) and to write exactly that many items, each one short and clear.
Managing time across several passages
Time pressure is one of the biggest sources of exam stress. A plan made in advance removes most of it. The Ontario guide recommends managing time so every section is completed, reading questions first and skimming before close reading.
To give you a sense of scale, the Ontario literacy test is built around two sessions: Session A is designed for approximately 65 minutes and Session B for approximately 75 minutes, each completed in one sitting. Quebec’s base French Secondary V exam, meanwhile, includes a 30-minute introductory discussion followed by a two-and-a-half-hour written comprehension block. These are different exams from a school’s own entrance test, but they show how reading sections are often long and divided into several parts.
A simple time plan your child can adapt:
- Count the passages and question sets when the exam starts.
- Divide the total time by the number of passages, keeping a few minutes at the end.
- Write the target finish time next to each passage.
- If a question stalls them for more than a minute, mark it, move on and return later.
- Leave the last minutes for checking that every question has an answer.
Our guide on managing time during exams goes further, and you can pair it with our advice on stress management for high school entrance exams.
Adapting strategies to grade level and exam format
A Grade 6 student sitting a secondary entrance exam doesn’t need the same approach as a Secondary V student. Adjust the routine to the format.
- Shorter texts, younger readers: focus on previewing, finding the main idea and answering with evidence. Build stamina with short daily reading. Our practical guide to reading in primary school can help.
- Different text types: the Ontario literacy test framework lists real-life narrative, information paragraph, news report and dialogue among its selection types, with selected-response questions plus an open-response question. Practise with a mix of stories, articles and dialogues, not just one kind.
- Independent work: Quebec’s base French guide notes that students receive a text collection and a question booklet and must read the texts independently while answering all the questions. Practise without help for the last weeks.
- Exam in French or English: ask the school which language and format its test uses, then practise on texts of that kind.
For a full preparation timeline, see our high school entrance exam preparation plan.
Practising and learning from mistakes
Reading improves with regular, focused practice, and mistakes are the most useful information your child has. Here is a weekly rhythm we suggest.
A simple weekly plan
- Three short sessions (15 to 20 minutes): one passage each, using the full routine, no timer at first.
- One timed session: a longer passage or two, using the time plan above.
- One review session: go through the mistakes together.
Vary the texts. Use short articles, stories and dialogues, and add French or English material to match the exam. Our article on exercises to improve reading comprehension offers ideas for each age.
The mistake log
After each practice, have your child note every wrong answer in a small notebook with three columns:
| Question | Why I missed it | What I’ll do next time |
|---|---|---|
| Inference about the character | Chose an answer that wasn’t in the text | Underline the clue before choosing |
| Vocabulary in context | Skipped the surrounding sentences | Reread the sentence before and after |
| Short answer, “name two” | Gave only one element | Circle the number in the question |
After two or three weeks, patterns appear: perhaps misreading the question, perhaps rushing the last passage. Each pattern has a simple fix, and your child gains confidence by seeing the same mistakes shrink. Stay encouraging during review: the goal is to find the habit, not to judge the score.
Our perspective
Parents often tell us their child “reads fine” yet loses marks on reading sections. In our experience, the gap is rarely about intelligence. It is about method: knowing what to look for, where to look and how long to spend.
That is why every plan we build starts with the individual student. We look at strengths, challenges, learning pace and goals, then design a customised plan. One child needs help with inference. Another needs to stop over-marking the text. Another just needs a time plan and the confidence to follow it.
With more than 25 years of educational experience, we have seen that a short, repeatable routine, practised with feedback, builds both skill and calm. Our university-level tutors work with your child on this routine, track progress session after session and adjust as needed.
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How a tutor can help
If your child would benefit from guided practice, our online tutoring is built for this. Tutors work one-on-one, using a customised learning plan, continuous progress monitoring and material matched to your child’s level. Our exam preparation sessions are designed for students getting ready for secondary school entrance exams, and our French tutoring programs strengthen reading in French. Sessions are $30-35 per hour, with a one-off registration fee of $65 listed on our rates page.
We offer a satisfaction guarantee: if you are not satisfied, the first session is refunded. To get started, visit our registration page.
Exam-day reminders
The night before and the morning of the exam, keep things light. Review the five-step routine together and then stop. A few reminders your child can keep in mind:
- Read the instructions and the questions first.
- Mark little, and mark only what matters.
- If you’re stuck, move on and come back.
- Check that every question has an answer.
- Take a breath between passages.
For revision in the final days, see our last-minute revision techniques and revision strategies for secondary school exams.
FAQ
Should my child read the questions before the passage?
Yes. Official Ontario test guidance recommends reading the questions first, then skimming and reading closely. Your child doesn’t need to answer them yet: knowing what to look for makes the reading more purposeful and the search for evidence faster.
How much should my child highlight or underline?
Very little. Guidance from a Toronto District School Board workbook says to mark only key words, phrases, vocabulary and central ideas. One or two marks per paragraph is a good rule, with details linked to the questions given priority.
What if my child doesn’t know a word in the passage?
Stay calm and keep reading. Use the sentences around the word, and look at its root, prefix or suffix for a clue. Official guidance recommends this approach. Replacing the word with a simpler one and checking that the sentence still makes sense also helps.
How often should we practise reading before the exam?
Short, regular sessions work better than one long one. Three sessions of 15 to 20 minutes a week, plus one timed session and one review of mistakes, is a manageable rhythm for most families. A tutor can adjust the plan to your child’s pace.
Sources
- EQAO-derived Ontario reading tip sheet (TDSB)
- OSSLT Preparation Workbook (TDSB)
- Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test framework (EQAO)
- Ontario curriculum, English Grade 12
- Français, langue seconde, programme enrichi, 5e secondaire (Québec)
- Guide for parents, Français, langue seconde, programme de base, Secondary V (Québec)
