Eight Minutes Left: Allocating the End of a Grade Pre-1 Reading Paper

Rank by expected points per minute, not by passage order.

1. Three 'closest in meaning' items, Passage 3 (about 2 minutes). She has already read the text and the target words are underlined, so the evidence is a single sentence she can find by scanning for the word itself. At 35 to 40 seconds each and roughly 70% accuracy, this is about 1.2 points per minute, the best return on the paper.
2. Two skipped detail items, Passage 3 (about 1.5 minutes). Same passage and same memory, slightly slower because she must locate the line; still in the 70% band.
3. Two summary items, Passage 4 (about 4 minutes). Do not read 600 words. Skim paragraph one, the final paragraph, and the first sentence of each body paragraph, because the author's claim almost always sits in one of those places. Both summary items normally turn on the same thesis, so one 90-second skim serves both; then eliminate options that are true but minor, or too extreme.

The arithmetic: about 4 minutes on the five Passage 3 items buys roughly 3.5 expected points, and the remaining 4 minutes on Passage 4 is a coin flip worth under 1 point. A full read of Passage 4 would consume the whole budget for the passage she has already paid for.

The plan feels safe because reading is the activity she is confident in, not because it maximises her score.

• The arithmetic. Five items at about 70% is roughly 3.5 expected points. A 'quick' read of a 600-word passage at her measured speed is 3.5 to 4 minutes even when she skips back; two summary items at 45% is about 0.9 points, and that 45% figure was earned when she had time to scan options carefully, which she would not have here.
• What 'safe' hides. It protects her against the regret of an unread passage, not against lost points. The test is scored on total items, so abandoning near-certain points to chase uncertain ones is the actual risk.
• The scanning pitfall. Option-first scanning works on summary questions only when she first anchors herself in the first and last paragraphs; otherwise she tends to choose the option that repeats words from the text rather than the one that paraphrases the thesis.
• The hidden cost is the last minute. Reading Passage 4 first leaves no time for the two Passage 3 items, which she would have answered in 30 seconds each.

The decision rule: when time is short, spend it where the passage is already read. Unread text is worth entering only if one skim unlocks two or more items.

One change: replace 'read the passage, then answer' with timed single-item drills plus a seconds log.

• Why not simply 'read faster'? Her 95 seconds per item comes from re-reading whole paragraphs, not from slow decoding. Re-reading is a habit triggered by uncertainty about the question, so drilling speed on full passages entrenches it.
• The drill. Take ten items from passages she has already read. Give each a 40-second cap with the question and the four options in front of her. On the buzzer she writes the answer and the line number she used. Anything over 40 seconds counts as a loss even if correct, because on the real paper that minute came out of another item.
• The move to rehearse. For summary questions on unread text: a 90-second skim of paragraph one, the last paragraph, and the first sentences of body paragraphs; write the author's claim in six words; then eliminate. That is a skill, not a reading speed.
• How to measure it. After three weeks the target is under 60 seconds on average, no item over 75 seconds, and no full re-read. Track accuracy separately so she can see for herself that the faster protocol has not lowered her score.
• The finish drill. Every practice paper ends with her writing an 8-minute plan before starting, so the endgame is decided in advance rather than under pressure.