What does a child have to do to sequence passage events in the 11+?

Put explicitly described events in passage order. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the reading strand, and this page carries 2 interactive exercises that practise it.

What is the trap in an 11+ sequence passage events question?

The second option simply follows the order the sentences appear on the page. A passage may tell its events in any order it likes, and the first thing mentioned here is one of the last things to happen. The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.

What is not part of sequence passage events in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: Excludes causal inference. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.

Which other 11+ skills should we practise alongside sequence passage events?

The reading strand holds 11 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to sequence passage events are distinguish fact and opinion, identify a main idea and identify textual mood. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.

How can my child practise sequence passage events for free?

Use Story Sequencer and Story Untangler, embedded on this page. They are the exercises the skill map attaches to sequence passage events, they run in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. Each also has its own link, so you can send one to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

English · Reading

Sequence passage events

Put explicitly described events in passage order.

Free to use and free to share. There is no sign-up, no score, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere.

Practise it now

These four moments from the school trip are jumbled. Drag them into the order they happened, or tap two cards to swap them.

Loading the interactive exercise. Nothing you do here is saved or scored.

A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

The order things happened, not the order they are told

Read the passage, then choose the option that puts the four events in the order they actually happened.

By the time the fireworks started, Leah had already lost her glove. She had pulled it off to open the flask at the top of the hill, an hour after the family set out from the car park. She found it again on the way back down, trodden into the mud by the gate.

Set out from the car park, pulled off the glove, fireworks started, found the glove
Fireworks started, pulled off the glove, set out from the car park, found the glove
Pulled off the glove, set out from the car park, found the glove, fireworks started
Set out from the car park, fireworks started, pulled off the glove, found the glove

Answer: Set out from the car park, pulled off the glove, fireworks started, found the glove

How you get there

The passage does not tell these events in order, so the time words have to do the work. "An hour after the family set out from the car park" puts the flask, and the glove coming off, after the walk began. "By the time the fireworks started, Leah had already lost her glove" puts the fireworks after the glove came off. "On the way back down" puts finding it last. Put those pairs together and the order is fixed.

Why the other answers tempt

The second option simply follows the order the sentences appear on the page. A passage may tell its events in any order it likes, and the first thing mentioned here is one of the last things to happen.

If they are stuck, say this

Underline every time word: already, an hour after, on the way back. Each one fixes the order of two events, and putting those pairs together gives the whole sequence.

Now do it live in Story Sequencer

How each of these 2 exercises teaches it

Story Sequencer

These four moments from the school trip are jumbled. Drag them into the order they happened, or tap two cards to swap them.

Sequencing questions are won by hunting for time connectives rather than by re-reading the story. Words such as "at first", "later", "after lunch", "meanwhile" and "finally" are signposts the writer has left for you, and they usually settle the order on their own. Here "At first" and "Finally" fix the two ends immediately, and "Later that morning" must come before "After lunch" because morning comes before the afternoon. When two beats carry no time words, fall back on cause and effect: Priya can only find the fossil after the class has arrived at the museum, because she cannot search a place she has not reached yet.

What to say if they get stuck

Read the opening words of every card. Most of them tell you when the moment happened.
Sort the obvious ends first: one card says "At first" and one says "Finally". Lock those in place.
For the middle two, think about the day itself. Morning comes before lunch, so "Later that morning" comes before "After lunch".

Open Story Sequencer on its own page to share it

Story Untangler

The story has come apart. Drag the cards until it reads properly, then press Read the story.

Connectives are signposts. Every card except the opening one carries a join-clue, and each clue points back at the card before it: "Once the class were inside" needs the thing it refers to to have already happened, and "When the book had been stamped" only works once, at the end. When you order a story you are not guessing what feels right, you are checking that every join actually holds.

What to say if they get stuck

Find the beginning first. One card does not point back at anything, and that is where the story starts.
Every other card carries a join-clue that points back at the card before it. "When the book had been stamped" can only belong at the finish.
Read two cards together, out loud. If a clue like "Once the class were inside" does not make sense pointing back at the card before it, they are not neighbours.

Open Story Untangler on its own page to share it

Related english skills

All english 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about sequence passage events

Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.

: Put explicitly described events in passage order. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the reading strand, and this page carries 2 interactive exercises that practise it.
: The second option simply follows the order the sentences appear on the page. A passage may tell its events in any order it likes, and the first thing mentioned here is one of the last things to happen. The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.
: Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. Underline every time word: already, an hour after, on the way back. Each one fixes the order of two events, and putting those pairs together gives the whole sequence.
: The skill map draws the line here: Excludes causal inference. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The reading strand holds 11 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to sequence passage events are distinguish fact and opinion, identify a main idea and identify textual mood. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
: Use Story Sequencer and Story Untangler, embedded on this page. They are the exercises the skill map attaches to sequence passage events, they run in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. Each also has its own link, so you can send one to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation are four different problems

A free diagnostic separates them, so practice goes where the gap actually is rather than on whichever one is easiest to set.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic