Practicing for Assessment

Reading and writing tests measure important learning skills. You can do your best on such tests by reading and writing every day. You can also get a better score if you practice for assessment.

How Can I Practice for Assessment?

© Thoughtful Learning 2016

The best way to practice for a reading and writing assessment is to take a practice test. This unit asks you to closely read information and write about it, just as you will do on actual assessments.

You’ll find interesting articles to read and respond to. You’ll also get to watch a video. In the end, you’ll need to take the information you discover and use it to write an informational essay of your own.

If you would like more help with close reading and informational writing, see the unit “Reading and Writing for Assessment.”

Reading a Practice Assessment

Some tests ask you to closely read and respond to explanatory articles and then use them to write an essay. One technique for reading closely is SQ3R:

• Survey the headings, illustrations, beginning, and ending of the text.
• Question what the text is about and what you expect to learn from it.
• Read the text carefully.
• Recite the main points covered in the text.
• Review the material, thinking about how it relates to other things you have learned.

Source 1

Writing On-Demand Essays

A writing assessment gives you a short time to write a response to a prompt.

To do so, you should use a shortened form of the writing process:

Prewriting (5 Minutes)

Answer the PAST questions.

Purpose? Explain how it’s made

Audience? New person

Subject? A favorite food

Type? Essay

Write a focus statement.

Most Americans like tacos, but they haven’t had Mexican tacos.

List supporting details.

—Using cilantro, goat cheese, homemade white corn tortilla

—Making tortillas

—Cooking meat, cutting cilantro

—Putting taco together

Analyzing Writing Prompts

Often tests contain writing prompts that you must respond to. Your first step is to understand the writing prompt. You can use the PAST questions:

• Purpose? Why am I writing? (To explain? To demonstrate?)
• Audience? Who will read my writing? (Tester? Classmates?)
• Subject? What subject should I write about? (Games? Pizza?)
• Type? What type of writing should I create? (Essay? Letter?)

Sample Writing Prompt

Answers to PAST Questions

• Purpose?

  To explain the meaning of the sayings and give examples

• Audience?

  A person who is learning English

• Subject?

  Animal sayings

• Type?

  Essay

Understanding Vocabulary

When you read an unfamiliar word, you need to figure out its meaning based on how it is used. You can use the following context clues to guess a meaning.

Finding Supporting Details

Each controlling sentence in a text is supported with different types of details. Note how the following focus statement is supported by different details.

Understanding Controlling Sentences

As you read, watch for two types of controlling sentences:

A focus statement tells what an essay or article is about. It usually appears at the end of the first paragraph.

A topic sentence tells what a paragraph is about. It usually appears at the start of a middle paragraph.

Closely Reading Nonfiction

To read closely, remember SQ3R—Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review.

1. Survey the text: Highlight the title, author, and headings.
2. Question the topic and purpose: Write comments on the document.
3. Read the text: Underline the focus statement and topic sentences.

Warm-Up for Reading and Writing Assessments

© Thoughtful Learning 2016

Reading helps you learn any subject. Writing helps you share what you've learned. That's why these two skills are critical in all your classes. That's also why major assessments test your ability to read and write.

What Is Assessment?

Assessment is another word for test. Some assessments will test your ability to read and write. The reading and writing you do every day at school and home will help you get ready for these assessments. This unit will also help.

In the following activities, you’ll learn about close reading—reading to understand the focus statement, topic sentences, details, and vocabulary of the nonfiction texts you’re assigned. You’ll also learn about on-demand writing—writing to develop your own ideas during an assessment. Strong reading skills help you write and vice versa.

In this unit, you’ll learn the reading and writing skills that you need to succeed in nonfiction assessment. If you’d like to try out these skills, see the unit “Practice Test for Reading and Writing.”

Thinking About Close Reading

To read closely, you need to think about the ideas in a text. You can do this by asking and answering questions. For starters, use the 5 W’s and H.

Editing for the Future Tense

When you write about something that hasn’t happened yet, you should add will before the base form of the verb. This will change the sentence to the future tense, expressing action that will happen later. In a problem-solution essay, use the future tense to predict what will result if a solution goes into action.

In this example, the helping verb will shows that the verbs clean and beautify happen in the future.

1. I caught a butterfly.

   I will catch a butterfly.

2. I walk home from my neighbor’s house.
3. We clean the kitchen.
4. Workers painted the walls white.
5. My family goes to vacation in Florida.
6. My classmates and I perform in a play at the end of the year.
7. The rain cools down the pool water.
8. What happens next?

Revising Problem-Solution Essays

After you write a first draft, you'll be ready to start reviewing and revising. When you revise, you think about the "big picture," including the overall structure of your writing (beginning, middle, and ending) and the focus, main ideas, and supporting details you use. These activities will help you revise.

Revising to Choose Strong Support

In your problem-solution essay, strong reasons and supporting details will help you convince readers to care about the problem and agree with your solution. The best reasons and details are specific and tell something important about your subject.

Strong

A service project will make the park safer for play.

Weak

Cleaning will make the park better.

1. ___ Canceling gym class will be bad for kids.
   ___ Canceling gym class will make it harder for kids to stay in shape.   X  Canceling gym class will make it harder for kids to stay in shape.
2. ___ Kids will lose a safe place to play if the rec center closes.
     X  Kids will lose a safe place to play if the rec center closes.
   ___ Kids will lose out if the rec center closes.
3. ___ Reading books introduces you to new people and ideas.
     X  Reading books introduces you to new people and ideas.
   ___ You should learn about new people and ideas.
4. ___ Swimming lessons make your life better and help you a lot.
   ___ Swimming lessons help you stay afloat if you fall into water.   X  Swimming lessons help you stay afloat if you fall into water.
5. ___ The playground equipment is no good.
   ___ The playground equipment is rusty and unsteady.   X  The playground equipment is rusty and unsteady.
6. ___ Learning a second language teaches you about another culture.
     X  Learning a second language teaches you about another culture.
   ___ Learning a second language helps you learn about another language.