Reading for specific information means finding one exact fact in a text and answering only what the question asks. The text may be a notice, an email, an advert or an article. The skill supports reading tasks in both English as a Second Language routes, 0510 and 0511.
Check the current Cambridge syllabus page for your code and exam year for the task formats and assessment details. Our English as a Second Language learning guide shows where this module sits among the others.
What should you already know?
You should be able to follow the main idea of a short text and know common words for time, quantity, reason and condition. If full passages still feel hard, start with reading for main ideas and return here.
You do not need advanced vocabulary. Most errors in this module come from how a sentence is read, not from unknown words.
An orienting example
Tickets can be collected from 5 June until 12 June. Refunds are not possible after 8 June.
Question: A student asks for a refund on 10 June. What is the answer?
Three habits are at work.
First, the question word is “refund”, so the collection dates are a distraction. Second, “after 8 June” is a limit, so 10 June is too late.
Third, the sentence gives a date for a rule, and that is not the same as an event date. The answer is that the refund is not possible.
In what order should you study the lessons?
- Scan a notice for a condition: start here, because small words like only and unless change the answer.
- Separate a date from a deadline: notices with many dates need a labelling routine.
- Track a reference across two sentences: this teaches you to follow it, they and this back to the right noun.
- Identify a correct detail when distractors reuse words: this covers the multiple-choice pattern where wrong options copy the text.
- Explain why a plausible option is not supported: this finishes the route by teaching you to name evidence and gaps.
Then take the mixed practice set, and keep your errors in the mistake log and retest queue.
What are the common traps?
- Stopping at the main fact and missing the limit after but, only or unless.
- Choosing the most important-looking date instead of the one the question asks for.
- Picking the nearest noun for a pronoun.
- Matching words, not meaning: an option can copy the passage and still answer another question.
- Using general knowledge: a statement can be sensible and still not be in the text.
How should you use the practice set?
Do the questions on paper before opening any answer. Compare your reasoning, not only your final choice. Then follow the table at the end of the set to the lesson that matches your error.
The summary selection studio helps with choosing only the relevant points, and the writing revision compare view helps you compare two versions of your own wording.
If the traps above are familiar, a teacher in online one-to-one English as a Second Language tuition can use your own past answers to find which habit costs you the most.