Comprehension: Non-Fiction Set 7
Comprehension: Non-Fiction Set 7 is an 11+ non-fiction comprehension task built around a biographical profile report, testing whether pupils can identify key facts, follow a chronological sequence of events, and explain how a writer uses specific detail to build admiration for a subject, alongside vocabulary questions.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Skim the passage first to establish who or what it is about and what achievement or event it focuses on.
- Notice the order events are presented in, since biographical or profile writing is often organised chronologically, in time order.
- Return to the exact sentence a question names rather than answering from a general impression of the person's achievements.
- For 'find and copy' questions, use the exact wording; for 'in your own words' questions, rephrase the idea.
- Look for specific facts and figures, such as ages, costs and timescales, since these are often used to make an achievement feel more impressive or credible.
- Match your answer's length and number of points to the marks available.
Worked example
Extract: 'When the floods receded, seventeen-year-old engineering student Zainab Hassan noticed that clean water, not the flood itself, was making more people ill in the weeks that followed. Working from a shed behind her family's shop, she spent six months building a water filter from sand, gravel and charcoal that cost less than a bus fare to make.' Question: How does the writer make Zainab's achievement seem impressive in this extract? (3 marks)
- Identify the detail of her age, 'seventeen-year-old', which is unusually young for such an achievement, making it seem more remarkable.
- Identify the humble setting, 'a shed behind her family's shop', which contrasts with the impressive result, suggesting she achieved a lot with very little.
- Comment on the specific cost, 'less than a bus fare to make', which uses an everyday comparison to make the low cost easy to picture and appreciate.
- Explain the effect: combining her young age, modest surroundings and low-cost, effective solution makes her achievement feel especially impressive and inspiring.
- Final answer: The writer emphasises Zainab's young age, the humble shed she worked in, and the strikingly low cost of her filter, all of which combine to make her achievement feel unusually impressive given her limited resources.
Practice questions
Type your answer and press Check to be marked straight away, or reveal the answer and mark yourself.
Q1How old was Zainab when she built the water filter, according to the extract?Show answer
Answer: Seventeen.
Q2Give one word from the extract that means 'went down' or 'reduced', referring to the floods.Show answer
Answer: receded
Q3True or False: According to the extract, Zainab built her filter in a professional laboratory.Show answer
Answer: False (she built it in a shed behind her family's shop)
Q4What three materials does the extract say the water filter was made from?Show answer
Answer: Sand, gravel and charcoal.
Q5'clean water, not the flood itself, was making more people ill' - what does this sentence suggest about the real danger after a flood?Show answer
Answer: It suggests that dirty or contaminated water afterwards can be a bigger health risk than the flooding itself.
Q6Explain in one sentence why the writer compares the filter's cost to a bus fare rather than just giving a price.Show answer
Answer: Comparing the cost to something familiar and everyday helps the reader immediately understand how cheap the filter is.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Extract: 'Local health workers tested the filtered water and found it safe to drink in nine cases out of ten.' Find and copy the phrase that shows how effective the filter was. Then explain what this phrase tells the reader. (2 marks)
Show mark scheme
Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 2 available
Extract: 'Engineers from a nearby university offered to fund a factory-made version, but Zainab insisted on first teaching ten other families how to build the filter themselves from materials found nearby.' Explain what this sentence suggests about Zainab's priorities and character. (4 marks)
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Extract: 'Two years on, the design has spread to dozens of further villages, most of them told about it by families who built their own with Zainab's guidance rather than by any official campaign.' Explain how the writer shows the wider impact of Zainab's invention in this sentence. (5 marks)
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the comprehension: non-fiction set 7 worksheet pack - 10 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
This topic is chapter 21 of 11+ English Workbook 1, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
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