Locating facts stated directly in the text: scanning for names, numbers and details, checking answer options against the text, and putting events in the order they happened.
Where your child meets this in real life: Finding the time on a bus timetable, checking the details of a school letter, or looking up a fact for a project
Questions 16 to 28 of the English section are all about one reading passage: 7 multiple-choice questions, then 6 short written answers. That is nearly half the English marks.
SEAGReady breaks finding information in the text into 3 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Scan the text for a key word from the question (a name, number, place or detail) and lift the answer directly from the sentence where it appears.
Answer multiple-choice retrieval questions by testing each option against the text, rejecting distractors that use words from the passage but do not answer the question.
Work out the order in which events happened, using time words like 'before', 'after', 'while' and 'later' - even when the text does not tell events in that order.
These four questions come from “The Wrong Shadow”, our free sample reading passage. Each one shows the lines of the story it needs. To practise like the real test, read the whole story and answer all its questions on the full sample page.
- Line 16: First, Nia compared her blue number with the director's copy; they matched.
- Line 17: Next, she confirmed the cardboard moon remained clipped flat in its frame.
- Line 18: Finally, she checked the lamp base against strips of tape on the floor.
- Line 19: It had not shifted from its marked position.
- Line 20: She had now tested three possible causes, yet none explained the bird.
Refer to: Lines 16–20
- Line 12: The director raised one hand, quietly pausing the rehearsal.
- Line 13: Nia checked the number.
Refer to: Lines 12–13
- Line 1: Nia arrived for final rehearsal and sat at the lighting desk beside the stage.
- Line 2: Her job was to turn a floor-level lamp towards a cardboard moon on cue.
- Line 3: She had marked the cue in blue pencil.
- Line 4: She knew the scene and could hear the next line in her head.
- Line 5: Still, her thumb pressed a fold into the corner of the cue sheet.
This question is about the whole story, so read all of it before you answer. Read the whole of “The Wrong Shadow”
Refer to: the whole passage
- Line 25: Something narrow was swaying on a low prop hook between the lamp and the cloth sky.
- Line 26: A folded black umbrella hung there after the afternoon rain.
- Line 27: One loose strap lifted whenever air moved under the door.
- Line 28: The umbrella's shadow was a black bird, stretched enormous by the lamp.
- Line 29: Its handle formed the beak, and its strap made the tail flick.
Refer to: Lines 25–29
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Read lines 1–3 from a story. (1) At 10.20, Maya began repairing a model boat. (2) The repair took thirty-five minutes. (3) She replaced two wooden strips and used six small nails.
How long did the repair take?
The key idea is 'repair', and 'How long' means the answer must be a length of time.
Step 1 of 4
Read lines 1–3 from a story. (1) At 10.20, Maya began repairing a model boat. (2) The repair took thirty-five minutes. (3) She replaced two wooden strips and used six small nails.
How long did the repair take?
The repair took thirty-five minutes, as line 2 states directly.
The key insight: The question phrase tells you what kind of detail to select. For 'How long', keep a duration and reject clock times or counts.
Common mix-up: Answering '10.20'. 10.20 tells when the repair began, not how long it lasted. This confuses a clock time with a duration; check the answer type before lifting a nearby number.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in finding information in the text, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Sitting the SEAG test this November? Read our last-month revision plan, Paper 1 vs Paper 2 and test day guide.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.
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