How to do an unseen

HOW TO DO AN

UNSEEN

Reading Strategies

Pirchy Dayan

TEXT STRUCTURE

Title – gives us a clue about what the text is about. We

know what information to expect when we read the title.
It’s important to understand ALL the words in the title.

Introduction / First paragraph – presents the topic of the

text.

Body of the text (1-4 paragraphs) – presents explanations,

examples, facts, details, opinions and arguments to support
the topic presented in the first paragraph.

Conclusion / Last paragraph – the last paragraph

summarizes the topic or presents solutions.

PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

Topic sentence – presents the main idea of the paragraph.

In most cases it is the first (or last) sentence.

Supporting sentences – support the main idea and

develop it by giving explanations, examples, facts, opinions
and arguments.

TWO TYPES OF READING

Skimming and Scanning – this is a quick reading in order

to understand the main idea of the text, and to look for eye
catchers. It should take about 5-6 minutes.

Reading for Specific Information – this is reading the text

carefully in order to answer the questions. (Reading a
question and going back to the text in order to find the
correct answer.)

It is important to organize your time! Doing the

whole unseen should take 35-50 minutes.

BEFORE READING

…

 Read the questions BEFORE reading the text in order to know

what to look for and underline the lines that are relevant for
each question.

 Understand which type of question it is:

multiple choice, open

question, complete the sentence, charts, YES/NO with justification.

 Mark questions you can do after reading a paragraph, and

questions you can answer after reading the whole text according
to line numbers.

 Pay attention to the subject of the question and answer exactly

what is required. Don't add unnecessary information.

WHILE READING

…



Look for Visual Clues / Eye Catchers – subtitles, headings,
different fonts, illustrations, names, numbers, quotation marks…

 Highlight the main idea in each paragraph – first or last

sentence in a paragraph.

 Circle sentence connectors – show relationships between

ideas, such as problem/solution, question/answer,
compare/contrast, cause/effect, points of view, explanation and
examples.

 Underline names, places, numbers and dates.

 Write a question mark (?) on difficult words (words you don’t

know their meaning).

PAY ATTENTION

…

Use a dictionary ONLY when a word or a phrase prevents

your understanding of the text. Try to understand words
from the context when possible.

Remember that words or ideas are usually explained or

exemplified between two dashes (-

-).

Follow instructions! If the question asks for ONE example/

reason, DON’T give two!

Never answer a question without understanding all the

words in it!

Don’t copy the question into your answer.

1

. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

 There are 4 answers and you have to choose the 1 best answer.

 There are 6 answers and 2 are correct.

 Try to…

 Make sure you can find a proof in the text for your answer.

 Translate the question into Hebrew when necessary.

 Try to have an answer in mind before looking at the choices.

 Eliminate completely ridiculous choices. When left with two

options, try to decide which one is more correct.

2

. COMPLETE THE SENTENCE

You are given the beginning of the sentence and you must

complete it based on the text.

Try to…

Pay attention to content, grammar and punctuation.

Pay attention to the changes made in the sentence, such as

positive/negative, active/passive, synonyms, different
phrasing, sentence connectors, etc.

3

. OPEN

-

ENDED QUESTIONS

 You are asked a WH question OR to name a list of items based on the

text.

 Try to…

 Make your answer short, clear and to the point. Start with a CAPITAL

LETTER.

 Pay attention to grammar in the question: tenses, subject-verb

agreement.

 Not to write more than the lines given to you.

 Answer the question in these 3 ways:

Subject + verb: The text shows that…
Infinitive: To show that…
Gerund: Showing that…

4

. TRUE / FALSE WITH JUSTIFICATION

You need to decide whether the statement you are given is

correct or not.

Then, find a proof in the text.

Try to…

Copy exactly as required – words, phrases or sentences.

Pay attention to details, such as positive/negative (some,

any/ either, neither), numbers, places, times, subject-verb
agreement.

5

. GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS

Graphic Organizers ask you to organize information from

the text in a table or a flowchart.

Types of Graphic Organizers include: sequence of events,

cause & effect, advantages & disadvantages, examples &
generalizations, problem & solution.

Try to…

Pay close attention to the complete boxes:

content & form (full sentences or phrases) & grammatical

structures (past or present tenses, active-passive)

THESE WORDS CAN HELP YOU TO

…



Identify the writer

’

s opinion:

support, agree/disagree, approve/disapprove
regret, luckily/unluckily, fortunately/unfortunately,
surprisingly, recommends, criticize, criticism, point of view,
perspective.



Identify contrast:
But, yet, in spite of, despite, although, though, even though,
however, nevertheless, even so, on the one hand, on the
other hand, on the contrary

THESE WORDS CAN HELP YOU TO

…



Identify examples and additions:
for example, for instance, such as, including,
in addition (to), moreover, furthermore, besides, also.



Identify reason, cause and purpose:
Because (of), as, since, seeing that, on account of, owing to,
due to, in order to, to, so (that).



Identify results and consequences:
Therefore, as a result (of), consequently, for this reason,
thus.



Identify sequence and connection:
First of all, first, firstly, at first, to begin with, second,
secondly, eventually, meanwhile, finally, to sum up, in
conclusion.

KNOW THE MEANING OF THESE WORDS

םימרוג

Elements/ factors יפל

According to

תויאר

Evidence יפלתוארוהה

As instructed

םיאתמ / קיפסמ/

קיפסמ אל

Sufficient / suitable
insufficient

החנה/חינהל

To assume / An
assumption

קידצהל /הקדצה

To justify /
justification

גיצהל

To present

גיצהל /ןייפאמ

To feature / a
feature

תונקסמ קיסהל

To draw
conclusions

ףתושמב

In commonרשקה

Context

רכזומ /ריכזהל

Mentioned /
to mention

רידגהל /הרדגה

To define /
definition

דקפתל /דיקפת

To function / a
function

םש / םשב אורקל

לש / ...תונמל

A name /
to name

עיגהלהנקסמל

To inferתועפשה,תואצות

effects

REMEMBER!

Doing unseens successfully is a skill!

Good luck!