Read the question first, then go hunting
The Short Answer
A reading information question gives a short block of facts, a table or a timetable, and asks for specific details from it. The information is not there to be read from top to bottom — it is there to be searched. Read the question first so you know what shape of answer you want, then find the right row and the right column, and check both before writing anything down.
Information is searched, not read
A short block of facts, a table, a timetable, a price list. It looks like something to read, and it is not. It is something to search.
So the order of work is the other way round from a story:
Read the question first. Decide what shape of answer you want — a name, a number, a day, a time. Then go hunting, with your eye looking for that one shape and letting everything else past.
Reading the table through before the question means reading it twice, and only the second reading was doing any work.
Every answer is a crossing point
In a table, an answer sits where one row meets one column. Both have to be right, and children usually check only one.
Check the headings and the units
Before answering, look at what the numbers actually are. Metres or kilometres. Minutes or hours. Pounds or pence. A table that mixes two units in one column is not being unfair — it is testing whether the headings were read.
Two lookups, not one
Some questions look like one search and are not.
Who swam furthest across the whole week? — four totals, three numbers each. Twelve lookups. How much further did Ana swim than Cara? — two totals, then a subtraction. On which day did they swim furthest in total? — three column totals.
The lookups are the part children rush, because they feel like the easy bit. One wrong lookup makes every calculation after it worthless.
How this differs from a comprehension question
The skill is the same; the shape is different.
A passage is searched with Scan and Check: pick two or three unusual words from the question, sweep for them, then read the whole sentence you land on.
A table is searched by row and column, and the read-on step becomes checking the heading and the units instead.
What they share is the first move: read the question first.
Where do pupils lose marks?
Right row, wrong column — or the reverse.
Reading across when the question asked about a column.
Missing a unit in the heading.
Answering after one lookup when the question needed several.
Reading the whole table first, which costs time and finds nothing.
Try it yourself
Read each question before you look at the table. Say what shape of answer you want — a name, a number, a day — before you start searching.
- The table shows how far four children swam, in metres. Monday: Ana 400, Ben 300, Cara 500, Dev 200. Wednesday: Ana 250, Ben 300, Cara 150, Dev 450. Friday: Ana 600, Ben 450, Cara 350, Dev 500. How far did Ben swim on Friday?
- Who swam furthest on Wednesday?
- Who swam furthest across the whole week?
- How much further did Ana swim than Cara across the week?
- On which day did the four children swim furthest in total?
- 450 metres. One row, one column — Ben's row, Friday's column. This is the only question here that needs a single lookup.
- Dev, with 450 metres. Read down the Wednesday column, not across a row. Answering Ben is what happens if you read the wrong direction — Ben's 300 is the number that looks tidy.
- Ana, with 1250 metres. Four totals: Ana 1250, Ben 1050, Cara 1000, Dev 1150. Every one of them needs three numbers added, so this is twelve lookups, not one.
- 250 metres. Ana 1250, Cara 1000. A difference question always needs two totals before it needs a subtraction.
- Friday, with 1900 metres. Monday makes 1400 and Wednesday 1150. Adding columns rather than rows is the whole question.
How much practice does this type need at home?
Almost none of it needs to be a worksheet. Bus timetables, football tables, recipe quantities, a menu — all of them are the same question type, and asking one question about one of them takes ten seconds.
The useful phrasing is "which row, and which column?" rather than "what's the answer?" Getting a child to say both out loud is the entire skill.
Free: a Verbal Reasoning workbook
Questions across the Verbal Reasoning question types, with the method printed at the top and full answers at the back. One workbook for the whole strand, not a sheet per question type.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why read the question before the information?
Because a table is not a passage — nobody gains anything from reading it through. Knowing that the question wants a day, or a name, or a number of metres tells your eye exactly what to look for and stops it wandering. Reading the table first means reading everything twice, and the second reading is the only one that was doing any work.
What is the commonest mistake with a table?
Landing on the right row and the wrong column, or the other way round. It produces a number that is genuinely in the table, which is why it survives a check — the answer looks like it came from somewhere, because it did. Putting a finger on the row and another on the column, and meeting in the middle, sounds childish and prevents almost all of it.
How is this different from a comprehension retrieval question?
The skill is the same and the shape is different. A prose passage is searched with Scan and Check — hunt for two or three unusual words, then read the whole sentence you land on. A table is searched by row and column, and the reading-on step is replaced by checking the heading and the units. The habit both share is reading the question first.
Do these questions need any arithmetic?
Often, and it is easy to miss. A question asking who did most across a week needs several totals before any comparison, and a difference question needs two totals before the subtraction. The lookups are the part children rush, because they feel like the easy bit — and a single wrong lookup makes all the arithmetic that follows worthless.
Sources
- GL Assessment — 11+ familiarisation materials and question type descriptions Published 2025.
- Clever Clogs Academy — our own Year 4 and Year 5 lesson records, Winslow Published September 2025 to July 2026.
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to GL Assessment or Buckinghamshire Council. Test arrangements change; always check the council's own pages for the current year's dates.
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