The half-yearly results are in, or nearly — and alongside the usual parent-teacher conversation about marks, there's sometimes an odd little undertone: "does well in English, but doesn't really read for pleasure." It's not a red flag exactly. It's just a nagging feeling that something's missing, even when the marks look fine.
If it helps even slightly: the textbook itself is a bit of a moving target right now too. Class 6 NCERT English recently swapped out the long-familiar Honeysuckle for a new book called Poorvi, part of a broader curriculum revision rolling out class by class. If you feel like you can't quite keep up with what your child is even being taught this year, you're not imagining it — the syllabus itself is mid-change.
What the exam is actually testing for
Comprehension passages in classes 6 to 8 don't really test whether a child can read the words. They test whether a child can infer what a character is feeling without being told outright, follow how a story's pieces fit together, and notice when something they just read doesn't quite add up. Those specific skills — inference-making, tracking story structure, catching your own confusion — turn out to be trainable and largely separate from vocabulary or decoding ability. Jane Oakhill and Kate Cain's four-year longitudinal study of young readers found these skills predict comprehension over and above word-reading and vocabulary — and that they develop through exactly the kind of sustained, independent reading a single textbook chapter doesn't give much practice in.
Which is the honest answer to "shouldn't more grammar worksheets help": not really, for this particular skill. Worksheets drill word-level accuracy. The comprehension that classes 6-8 exams ask for gets built by reading enough connected stories that inference becomes automatic.
So what's actually worth putting in front of them
At this age, the goal isn't "harder" books, it's longer, plot-driven ones they'll actually finish — mystery and adventure series work especially well because they practically force inference (who did it, what happens next) as part of the fun, not as a quiz. A chapter or two of something they chose themselves, most days, does more for this specific skill than an extra worksheet squeezed in after homework.
One small thing to try this week: instead of a new worksheet, hand them a book one notch above what they'd pick for pure comfort, in a genre they already like, and don't ask comprehension questions about it afterward. Let the inference happen on its own.
Related reading: What Should My Child Be Reading in CBSE Classes 1–5? A Grade-by-Grade Guide, More Worksheets Won't Build Your Child's Reading Comprehension — More Reading Will, and Does Reading for Pleasure Actually Help with CBSE English Exams?
Not sure what to hand them next? Take the 2-minute reading assessment and we'll help you find books that fit your 11- or 12-year-old right now.
