The DSE English Exam Paper 1 (Reading) consists of two parts. Students are given 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete the compulsory Part A and they can choose to attempt either Part B1, the easier section or Part B2, the more difficult section.

In Paper 1, questions are often asked to test candidates’ ability to interpret the writer’s tone and attitude in a text. The English Language Curriculum and Assessment Guide (Secondary 4 – 6) suggests that in order to be an effective reader, learners should be able to recognise ‘the tone, mood and intention of the writer and his or her attitude to the theme or topic’.

Summary cloze (撮要填充) is a common question type in Paper 1. It is a reading comprehension task in which some words are omitted (刪去) from a paragraph and candidates are required to fill in the blanks with the information from the original text.