If you do only one thing for your child’s education, make it reading. It’s the skill that quietly underpins every NSW test — Selective, OC and NAPLAN all lean heavily on comprehension and vocabulary — and the good news is that improving it doesn’t require anything fancy.
Read widely, every day
Aim for around 20 minutes of varied reading a day. Two words matter there: varied and daily.
- Varied — mix fiction, non-fiction, poetry, articles, even recipes and instructions. Different text types build different muscles, and breadth is exactly what the reading sections reward.
- Daily — short and regular beats long and occasional. Consistency builds both the habit and the skill.
Let your child choose a good chunk of what they read. Enjoyment is what keeps them turning pages, and a child who wants to read will out-improve one who’s made to.
Build vocabulary in context
Resist the temptation of word lists. Vocabulary sticks best in context — met inside a real story or article, where the meaning is alive. When your child hits an unfamiliar word, encourage them to guess from the surrounding text first, then look it up together. Words learned this way are understood, not just memorised.
Talk about what you read
This is the part that grows inference — the deeper comprehension that tests prize and that catches many children out. Chat about books together:
- Why did a character do that?
- What do you think happens next, and what’s your evidence?
- What’s the author really saying here?
These conversations teach a child to read beneath the surface, which is exactly what questions about implied meaning demand. It’s relevant well beyond English — see OC Reading questions.
Keep it joyful
The throughline is simple: consistency beats intensity, and enjoyment beats pressure. Twenty unhurried minutes a day, a wide diet of texts, and real conversation will do more for comprehension than any worksheet — and it serves your child for life, not just one exam.