Why technique beats hard work alone
Reading every word carefully takes too long. A strategy saves time and wins marks.
Most students who struggle in Paper 1 are reading the passage the same way they read a novel β every word, start to finish, hoping the answer appears. This costs time and creates confusion.
The professional reader's approach:
- Preview β Glance at the title, subheadings, images, and first sentence of each paragraph. (30 seconds.)
- Read the questions. Know what you are hunting for BEFORE you dive in.
- Skim the passage once for gist.
- Scan for the answer location (paragraph number, key word, name).
- Close read only the targeted sentence(s) β and the ones immediately around it for context.
This five-step approach is used by professional translators, journalists, and lawyers. Cambridge examiners design questions that reward it.
- Preview β questions β skim β scan β close read.
- Questions first = you know what matters before you read.
- Only close-read the section containing the answer.