The Shortcut — Reading Comprehension — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 9 reading comprehension comprehension exercise.
Year 9 · English · Reading Comprehension
The Shortcut — Reading Comprehension — Answers
Part A — Locating details
Find each answer in the story.
Answer: Twenty minutes (twenty instead of forty).
- Aswimming
- Briding bikes and spray-painting the walls
- Cfishing
- Dhiding from teachers
Answer: riding bikes and spray-painting the walls
The text says kids 'rode their bikes and sprayed their names on the walls'.
Answer: A letterbox.
- ARen shouting at him
- Bthe water becoming too deep
- Ca branch knocking against his shin
- Da truck passing on the highway
Answer: a branch knocking against his shin
A branch 'knocked against Diego's shin, and the decision was made for him'.
Answer: Fifty minutes, because the footpath flooded and they had to climb the embankment.
Answer: Two pies, one for each of them.
Part B — Reading between the lines
Support each answer with evidence from the story.
Answer: He does not want to be 'the one left behind'. Diego's challenge 'you coming or not' makes refusing feel like a 'verdict' or judgement on him, so he follows out of fear of looking weak.
Answer: It shows that Diego also has doubts and knows the drain is dangerous, but he hides them behind his grin because he does not want to back down.
Answer: Diego is not deciding whether the drain is safe, because he already knows it is not. He is deciding whether he can turn back without it looking like he has lost or been proved wrong.
Answer: They are not able to say directly that Ren was right or that Diego is grateful, but the shared pies and the agreement to wait for dry weather show the friendship is intact and that something has shifted between them.
Part C — Language and technique
- Abright and clear
- Bdark purple and threatening
- Corange like sunset
- Dpale grey
Answer: dark purple and threatening
A bruise is dark purple and suggests something painful or damaged, creating a threatening mood.
- Aa reward
- Ba judgement or decision, as in a court
- Ca race
- Da joke
Answer: a judgement or decision, as in a court
A verdict is a court's decision; here it means Ren would feel judged as a coward.
Answer: 'A grey coin of light at the far end'. A coin is tiny, so the exit seems very small and distant, making the tunnel feel long and dangerous.
Part D — Extended response
Model answer: The author builds tension first through the setting and weather. The storm is introduced as a sky 'the colour of a bruise', and the rain grows from single drops 'testing paint' to a downpour that 'hammered on his bag', so the danger increases as the story goes on. Foreshadowing adds to this: the memory of the drain carrying 'shopping trolleys and tree branches and once, famously, a letterbox' warns the reader what the water can do, so when a branch 'thick as an arm' actually appears, it feels inevitable. Finally, the short, clipped dialogue, such as 'Diego.' and 'Seriously?', and the long sentence of Ren's thoughts at the edge of the drain, slow the pace at the moment of decision and make the reader wait with him.
Success criteria:
- Identifies at least three techniques used to build tension
- Supports each technique with a quotation from the story
- Explains the effect of each technique on the reader
- Links techniques to the story's climax or turning point
- Organised in clear paragraphs
- Accurate spelling, punctuation and use of quotation marks
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.