Where should limited practice time go?
No student has enough time before an exam series. It is fair to ask whether reading or writing deserves the bigger share.
“Both, equally” is not much help. A better answer starts by finding where this student loses marks they could keep. Then the practice goes there.
A student who reads well but writes without shape gains little from more reading. A student who writes fluently but never explains a writer’s effect gains little from polishing prose. Focus should follow the leak.
The board’s syllabus sets how much each side counts, and it is worth knowing. But the more urgent question is where your child, specifically, is dropping marks.
The case for focusing on reading
The reading side rewards precise understanding of a text, both stated and implied. It also rewards explaining how a writer creates an effect, not just naming a technique.
Students must also summarise accurately in their own words. Capable students often lose marks here because school essays rarely drill these skills.
Focus on reading when your child writes fluently but keeps analysis on the surface. The same applies when they spot a metaphor without saying what it does, or when summaries copy the writer’s words and lose marks. More composition practice adds little for these students.
A few weeks of disciplined work on effect and summary can unlock marks that were just out of reach. Reading closely also improves writing, because a student who notices why a sentence works writes better sentences.
The case for focusing on writing
The writing side rewards controlled, purposeful composition. Directed writing needs the right form and register.
Descriptive, narrative, discursive and persuasive pieces each have their own craft. Marks are lost here through weak shape, accuracy or control, not misunderstanding.
Focus on writing when your child understands texts well but compositions wander, lose control before the end, or collect careless errors in the final minutes. It also fits a student who plans a story without an ending, or tells a story when asked for a description.
More reading practice will not help these students. Work on planning, structure and accuracy will, and a checking habit often lifts writing marks more than extra text analysis.
If this question is on your mind, a paid one-hour trial with an experienced teacher is the simplest way to see how we teach.
Why focusing on the wrong side backfires
Practising a strength feels productive but achieves little. A confident reader who keeps doing comprehension while compositions stay shapeless will not move their grade. A fluent writer polishing prose while analysis stays shallow hits the same ceiling.
There is a second trap: treating the two sides as separate. Even a student who needs to focus on one side benefits from keeping a little of the other, because the skills reinforce each other.
Diagnosing where marks are leaking
Marked work usually shows the leak:
- Understands texts but writes without shape? Writing is the priority.
- Writes fluently but analysis stays shallow, or summaries copy the text? Reading is the priority.
- Careless errors in the last few minutes? Build a checking habit into writing practice.
- Plans stories with no ending, or describes by telling a story? Target composition craft.
- Marked work too vague to tell? A diagnostic lesson on real answers settles it.
Once you see where the avoidable marks go, the balance of practice becomes clear.
Our take
We would rather find the leak than split time evenly out of caution. In the first lesson, the teacher reads a real piece of your child’s writing and sets a short reading task.
Within the hour, it is usually clear which side holds the bigger opportunity. We then weight the course toward it and keep enough of the other side to keep both improving.
We offer reading-paper focus and writing-paper focus as targeted routes. Our qualification pages set out how each board counts the sides.
Tuition starts from RM70/hr. Message us on WhatsApp with your child’s year and board, and a recent piece of marked work if you have one.
We will tell you honestly where the practice time should go. Our parent guide on what a good English tutor does is a useful read, and you can check our pricing.
Marks improve fastest where they are being lost. To find that spot for your child, Book a Trial Class. The one-hour paid trial is with the teacher who would continue.