QUESTION TYPESON

COMMON COREEXAMS

MULTIPLE CHOICE

ELA

CHAPTER 1

IntroductionIn ELA, the state exam is all about close reading.

But that’s not all: The Common Core-based assess-ments feature passages that are longer and more chal-lenging than in the past.

Because of these two trends, successful test prep builds reading stamina in students.

If students can’t maintain their concentration through these long and difficult passages, all the test-taking strategies in the world won’t help them answer the questions correctly.

Reading and responding to excerpts of classic litera-ture and demanding nonfiction at least two grades above the student’s grade level is recommended to de-velop reading stamina.

In addition to this, practicing questions of all types is a core component of test prep. This booklet will help with that.

RULES OF THE ROAD

1. Help students lengthen their attention spans by teaching them to use visualization when reading fiction and active note-taking when reading nonfiction.

2. Develop the critical thinking skills of your students by constantly asking higher-order thinking questions and engaging them in dialogues about nuances of the text.

3. Model academic sentence structure and academic vocabulary in your classroom everyday.

4. Nutrition and sleep are essential factors in successful test-taking. Communicate with parents about the importance of both. Bring apples the days of the exams as they provide the most stable blood sugar levels which supports focus.

Test Prep: The Big PictureWhen we look at testing data, we often look at how students are performing skill by skill. However, the determining factor in student scores is often not student proficiency at various skills. Rather, it is the language difficulty of the question. Stu-dents who do not understand the often convoluted wording of the question will not know what is being asked of them and therefore cannot answer the question correctly. This booklet will help you unpack the wording of questions so that students can understand them more easily.

In a changing testing climate, there is no surefire way to pre-dict exactly what sorts of questions students will be asked. The questions that appear in this booklet have appeared on release questions, past exams, Rally and Ready practice tests and on the MCAS. There is a good chance that these question types will appear on this year’s test.

However, it is important that students develop enough flexibil-ity to be able to interpret questions beyond those in this book-let. Reviewing the questions and strategies in this booklet is a good place to start in helping students develop sophistication in question analysis.

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MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

The Two-Step Question

This book focuses on the multiple choice questions that are likely to appear on the ELA exam. It aims to familiarize teach-ers with the main question types that students will be tested on.

The focus on question-type rather than on skill or standard is intentional. Often, it is not the standard that a student or class is weak in---it is the question-type that caused them to per-form poorly. There are many reasons why a question type can prove challenging. One reason may be the wording of the question. Another reason may be the distractors.

While this book will help you deal with those issues, it will also focus on how to teach and practice each of the top 20 question types.

The new exams typically feature questions that don’t just ask students to perform one step; they require two or more skills performed in unison.

Here’s an example: Which sentence best tells what happens in the story?

In this question, the student needs to

1. know what is happening in the story.

2. find the answer that best matches what is happening in the story--with the suggestion that at least one distractor will come close to telling what is happening in the story .

The two-step question requires good working memory and the ability to process complex information reasonably fast.

To prepare students for this challenge, my recommendations are:

1. Do not have students read questions before they read the passage. It will overwhelm them and impair their ability to focus on the story. Their ability to attend to the passage is the most critical skill in their test-taking arsenal.

2. Build reading stamina by having students practice their visualization skills while reading both fiction/ nonfiction passages of longer length and higher difficulty than what will be on the exam.

3.Familiarize students with each of the top 20 question types so that the wording does not elude or intimidate them.

4.Encourage students to think of each question as a puzzle. We can all get better at puzzles with practice and patience.

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Basic Steps in answering multiple choice

1. Read the story/passage with full attention. Visualize it!

2.Read the question twice with care.

3.Generate the answer in your MIND. Do NOT check the an-swer choices. (Note: there are a few exceptions to this: question types which require us to look at answer choices in order to answer the question)

4.Once you have thought up the answer, check the answer choices.

5. When you find an answer choice that matches the answer you came up with, it is very likely to be correct.

What if you can’t find a match? Chances are you made a mis-take.

6. Reread the question. You may have misunderstood it.

7. If you need to, look back in the passage for the answer.

8. Follow steps 3-5. If you still can’t find a good match, make your best guess and then, move on. Do not spend too much time on any one question.

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Rationale for Basic Steps

1. The most precious skill a student has is their concentration. When we focus on picturing the passage, we concentrate best and vividly understand the passage...leading to better an-swers.

2.Students often read the question too quickly. Then they mis-understand the question and that leads to errors. They need to practice reading each question twice before attempting to answer it.

3. Students tend to zone out while answering multiple choice questions. Then they start just filling answers in without con-viction. To avoid this, students should always generate the an-swer to the question themselves. This ensures that they are awake, alert and focused.

4 and 5. This step makes test-taking fun. When students find their answer among the options, they have a pretty good idea that they got the answer correct and that re-energizes them. 6. When students can’t find a match, it can alert them that they

“zoned out” and can jolt them back into paying attention. This step lets them “check themselves before they wreck themselves.”

7. To correct their answer, they re-read the question and if they need to, they look back in the passage for the answer. Notice that we don’t recommend that they look back unless they feel they need to. If a student has read attentively, they will often not need to look back.

8. Last thought: this approach turns test-taking into a game with feedback. Test-taking should be enjoyable and fun; a creative problem-solving outlook will actually improve per-formance!

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question requires student to a) know what a simile is and b) understand why an author used a simile in this context.

2. If you have not yet taught simile and metaphor, take this opportunity to introduce figurative language.

3. Many students will not know what “glistened” means. The sentence therefore tests how well students can infer what the simile “like sugar” means ---even if they don’t know what the verb next to the simile means.

4. Ask students to picture “the snow lay in waves...like sugar”

5. Ask: “In what way does snow sometimes look like sugar?”

6. Students will say, “Both are white.” Push them to think more specifically. “What else? What else is similar about the way sugar and snow looks?” If you have a smartboard, display a picture of sugar.

7. Students might say “both are made of crystals” or “both sparkle.” Now, review the answer options.

QUESTION TYPE 1

Function of Simile

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REVIEW 1.1 Grade 3 ELA exam Sample Items 2013

Check Answer

Read the following sentence from the first para-graph:

“The snow lay in waves and glistened like sugar.”

The author uses the word sugar to show that

A. the hare was thinking about food

B. the snow looked sparkly

C. sugar was on the snow

D. the snow tasted sweet

TEACHING POINTS

1. EXCEPT questions use a negative construction. These often trip up students who find negative constructions confusing.

2. Train students to notice the EXCEPT keyword. Ask: What word jumps out at you? Elicit that EXCEPT is in all caps because we need to pay attention to it.

3. Point out that exam makers (who are not our friends) are HOPING that some of us will overlook the EXCEPT in the question. We won’t let that happen to us! The moment, we see EXCEPT in a question, we need to be on guard.

4. The best way to answer an EXCEPT question is to rephrase it as : “Which answer does NOT...etc?”

5. By rephrasing the question, we can clarify the task. It is easier to answer Which answer does NOT explain aspects of James Naismath’s original game? than to answer an EXCEPT question.

6. Many students will not know what “aspects” or “original” means. This vocabulary is used to make the question harder. Do not explain the vocabulary for students. Develop the following strategy to help students grapple with unfamiliar words.

7. Ask students to replace “aspects” with “blanks” and reread the question. Then have them guess what “aspects” might mean. Do the same with “original.” Typically students can “fill in the blank” of the unfamiliar word with an accurate synonym.

8. Now have students slash and trash the answer choices for aspects which the article DOES explain. Students should look back in the article to ensure accuracy.

9. The choice still standing is the correct answer.

Skills: Process of Elimination, looking back, vocabulary in context

QUESTION TYPE 2

“All of these EXCEPT...”

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Check Answer

The article explains the aspects of James Naismath’s original game EXCEPT

A. how high the baskets were

B. how many players were on each team

C. what happened if a team made three fouls in a row

D. what Naismith did to remind play-ers to pass the ball.

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question tests close reading skills.

2. The words “According to_____” tell us that this question will test our close reading of information or content in the text.

3. Point out to students that whenever they see the words “according to” in the question format, they should prepare to look back in the passage.

4. Students should first read the question carefully to ensure they understand exactly what is being asked.

5. Next, they should look back, find the relevant content and generate an answer.

6. Then, they should look for a match among the options.

7. Last, they should select the answer.

8. See the additional practice question on next page.

QUESTION TYPE 3

According to the Passage (Basic Recall)

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Check Answer

According to the article, what is the purpose of scooping snow out of the fishing hole?

A. to make the hole lighter

B. to stop the hole from closing up

C. to allow more people to fish in the hole

D. to make it easier to see how far down the hook is

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REVIEW 1.4 From G3 SAMPLE QUESTIONS 2013

Check Answer

According to the passage, by squeezing soil, you can tell if

A. it has been raining

B. there are animals living in it

C. someone has been playing with it

D. it comes from Arizona or Texas

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question format asks students to answer a question based on two sources.

2. Students need to check BOTH of the two sources to get the correct answer. If they check just one, they will get the wrong answer.

3. Explain to students that test makers (who are not our friends) are counting on many students looking at one source only. In fact, distractors are there to ensnare students who check one source only.

4. Point out that a distractor is probably waiting to ensnare someone who looks at the photo or text alone.

5. Point out that by looking at BOTH the photo and the text, we can get the answer right.

6. Looking back at both sources is a must for this sort of question.

7. Once the student has referred to both sources, they often must synthesize, or put together, the information they have found in each source to arrive at the correct answer.

Skills needed to answer this question correctly: thoroughness, close reading, following directions, synthesizing

QUESTION TYPE 4

According to... (2 things)

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Check Answer

According to the text and photo on page 19, what does the photo show about the stu-dents?

A. how they felt when the trip was al-most called off

B. what they wore to stay warm and dry

C. how some of the kids had never ice fished

D. what they learned about ice fishing

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question addresses the logic that connects one sentence to the next. There are a limited number of logical relationship between two sentences:

• Compare and Contrast

• Problem and Solution

• Cause and Effect

• Steps in a Process

• Statement and Reason

• Statement and Qualification

• Fact and Opinion

2. Sometimes the answer choice requires a student to identify what each sentence does in the relationship. This is where most students make a mistake.

3. Students should label the first sentence by writing a 1 next to it and the second sentence by writing a 2 next to it.

4. Next, students should read the sentences together and think about logic that connects the first sentence to the second. Is it cause and effect? Steps in a process? Or other?

5. Once students have generated the answer, they should find the answer choice that matches.

QUESTION TYPE 5

Relationship between 2 sentences

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REVIEW 1.6 From G3 Sample questions 2013 RI. 3.8

Check Answer

Read these two sentences from paragraph 5:“Soil in a forest might be gritty, which means more sand.”“Soil in a meadow might be smooth, which means more silt.”Which of the following describes the relationship be-tween these two sentences?

A. The sentences make a comparison.

B. The sentences describe two steps in a process.

C. The first sentence explains the reason for the second.

D. The second sentence gives the cause of the first.

REVIEW 1.7 Rally G3 Page 13

Check Answer

Read these two sentences from paragraph 6.

“There were no holes in the bottoms of the peach baskets. So when a ball went into the basket, it stayed there.”

Which of the following describes the relationship between these two

A. The sentences make a comparison.

B. The sentences describe two steps in order.

C. The second sentence explains the cause of the first.

D. The second sentence describes the effect of the first.

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This question type has two parts:

1. The first is figuring out the relationship between the two sen-tences.

2. The second is identify-ing the role of each sentence in the rela-tionship.

Notice how the answer choices make this tricky by defining the second sentence only.

This is a perfect exam-ple of how important working memory is to answering these ques-tions.

Have students practice this format a lot. They should be taught to num-ber and label each sen-tence.

TEACHING POINTS

1. This is a familiar question format. It is often made more difficult by the presence of several unfamiliar words. These days the target word is often just one of difficult words in the sentence.

2. Whereas VIC questions used to require only an understanding of the target sentence, in the age of the Common Core, VIC questions now often require comprehension of the entire passage.

3. Notice how, in the example, “vault” is the target word. However, the word “qamultlit” is also in the sentence---and this word isn’t even in the English language! This word has been included to make the question more rigorous.

4. Ask students to replace “vault” with “blank”. Have students develop a guess as to what “vault’ might mean. Help them to develop awareness of context clues by asking “What context clues in the sentence can help you figure out the meaning of vault?” Point out “over the sides” is a big help.

5. Notice that answer cboice B would sound correct if placed in the sentence. Point out that students have to use their understanding of the passage in order to answer the question correctly. A simple knowledge of the sentence alone won’t do---even if they know what “vault” means. It may be a polysemous word (and often in this format, it is).

6. Once they have the answer, they should reread the sentence with the answer choice in the place of “vault” to ensure it sounds correct.

QUESTION TYPE 6

Vocabulary in Context

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Check Answer

Read this sentence from paragraph 6 of the article. “Boys and girls vault over the sides of the qamultlit.”

What does the word vault mean?

A. leap

B. peek

C. grab

D. trip

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question tests how well students can evaluate details and their function in a text.

2. Students often need to make inferences to answer this question type.

3. Students should look back in the passage to generate the correct answer. Then they should review the answer choices to find a match between the answer they generated and the options.

4. In this question example, an elephant who lives near the highway begins to mimic the sounds of the highway.

5. While answer choice A is logical---it alone does not fully answer why she was making the strange sounds.

6. Answer choice C answers the question more precisely than A. Answer choices B and D are easy to rule out.

QUESTION TYPE 7

Discriminating Details

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REVIEW 1.9 COPYCAT ELEPHANTS RI3.1

Check Answer

Which detail about Mlaika helps explain the strange sounds she was making?

A. She was an African elephant.

B. She lived in Kenya.

C. She lived near a highway.

D. She was ten years old.

TEACHING POINTS

1. Questions that contain the word “most” suggest that students will have to exercise judgment in choosing the correct answer. More than one answer choice will be plausible.

2. The sample question on this page is a good example of how convoluted wording adds difficulty to the test.

3. Students can cut through the convoluted wording by asking themselves: How ARE people most like animals? This will allow them to generate a mental picture of the ways that people are most like animals. By doing this, they will be better able to focus on selecting a paragraph that shows this the most.

4. Students should review each of the paragraphs listed as an answer option to find out which one shows how people are most like animals.

5. Students cannot select an answer before they have reviewed each of the four paragraphs listed as an option.

6. Then, they must exercise their judgment in deciding which paragraph shows how people are most like animals.

7. The plus side of a question like this is that the answer options tell you exactly where to look!

Skills: Looking back, parsing difficult language, generating prior knowledge, evaluating text, making judgments

QUESTION TYPE 8

Questions with “most”

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REVIEW 1.10 COPYCAT ELEPHANTS

Check Answer

Which paragraph in the article shows how people are most like animals?

A. paragraph 2

B. paragraph 3

C. paragraph 5

D. paragraph 7

TEACHING POINTS

1. The sample question tests a student’s ability to identify the main idea of a passage or section of passage.

2. Note the wording of the question. The question is testing whether students are reading carefully. If they are, they will focus on the section under discussion. If they are not, they will overlook that “Playing Fair” is a section and assume the question is about the article as a whole. Notice that a distractor is lying in wait for students who make that mistake

3. Students should reread the section, generate the main idea of the section,and then check the distractors for a match.

Skills: Close reading of the question, identify main idea, distinguish between main idea and details, looking back

QUESTION TYPE 9

Questions with “mainly”

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Check Answer

What is the section called “Playing Fair” mainly about?

A. why students enjoyed playing the game

B. what the rules were for the game

C. how the game changed over time

D. why the players needed to be fit

TEACHING POINTS

1. The sample question requires students to identify a sentence that summarizes a story that they have read.

2. The presence of “best” in the question suggests that other answer options will be plausible.

3. Therefore, students will have to a) generate an accurate summary of the story and b) not be distracted by sentences that come close to a good summary of the story--but not as close as the answer option.

4. With the question at right, students should quickly reread the passage. Then they should generate their own one-sentence summary of the story.

5. Next, they should look among the options for a strong match.

6. If they feel confused between two options, that’s a good sign. It shows they have probably identified the correct answer and a distractor.

7. Students should quickly re-skim the passage, thinking about which answer of the two is best.

8. Then students should select which of the two answers most accurately summarizes the story.

QUESTION TYPE 10

Questions with “best”

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Check Answer

Which sentence best tells what happens in the story?

A. Sarah finds that she shares an in-terest in music with her neighbor.

B. Sarah wishes she did not have to practice the violin so often.

C. Sarah learns that Czech music is fun to play.

D. Sarah worries that she has nothing in common with an older Czech lady.

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question tests the student’s ability to distinguish between detail and main idea.

2. The sample question is a good example of convoluted wording---or a question structure that can confuse a student.

3. Notice that the question gives the students the main idea. Now students have to find the detail that best supports that main idea.

4. It sounds easy enough, right? Not so fast! Notice the inclusion of the word “keen” in the question. This word is unfamiliar to most students. The inclusion of an unfamiliar word is done to make an easy question harder.

5. Have students replace “keen” with “blank”. Then they should reread the sentence. Together with their knowledge of the passage, students should be able to come up with the idea that keen means eager.

6. Now they simply have to find the answer that best proves their eagerness. The inclusion of best means that more than one answer option will be plausible.

7. Students have to exercise their judgment to figure out which option is the best.

8. Skills: Parsing difficult question language, details/main idea

QUESTION TYPE 11

Details Supporting Main Idea

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Check Answer

Which sentence from “Going Fishing” best supports the idea that students were keen to catch fish?

A. “Everyone has a jig---a wooden handle rigged with yards of fishing line.”

B. “The children take turns fishing in the holes.”

C. “Everyone runs to see what he caught.”

D. “Their friends show them how to unroll their lines into the holes.”

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question uses a complex structure to confuse students. We are used to thinking of sentences supporting the main idea of a paragraph, not a paragraph supporting a sentence.

2. Teach students to replace “sentence” in this instance with “statement”.

3. Next, students should read paragraph 7 and determine its main idea. They should write this down quickly in the margin of their test booklet. Why? Because this question has many moving parts, requiring a lot of working memory. If they don’t write down the main idea of paragraph 7, they may forget it.

4. Now, they should look at the sentence in the question. Looking back and forth between the main idea they wrote for paragraph 7 and the target sentence, students should be able to determine the relationship between the two.

5. Now, they can review the answer choices for the best match.

6. For the COPYCAT ANIMALS passage, go to

http://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachments/grade_3_ela_released_questions.pdf

QUESTION TYPE 12

Paragraph Supporting a Sentence

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REVIEW 1.14 COPYCAT ANIMALS

Check Answer

Read the sentence from the article.

It turned out that Mlaika was copying the sounds of the trucks driving by. (paragraph 3).

How does paragraph 7 support this sentence?

A. It gives a new example of Mlaika copy-ing sounds.

B. It shows how Mlaika enjoyed study-ing the trucks.

C. It gives a possible reason for Mlaika copying sounds.

D. It shows how Mlaika learned to make the truck sounds.

TEACHING POINTS

QUESTION TYPE 13

Mood

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REVIEW 1.15 G3, RALLY 10

Check Answer

The way the narrator of the poem de-scribes the events makes the poem seem

A. scary

B. serious

C. dull

D. funny

1. Look at how many elements are in this question: 1) the Nar-rator 2) events in the poem 3) the mood of the poem or how the poem “seems.”

2. If you haven’t done so yet, this is the moment to teach your students about what a narrator of a poem is. It is not neces-sarily the poet himself. The narrator is the speaker of the poem. Often, it is a character the poet has created. Note however: the narrator is not necessarily the main character in the poem!

3. Then teach students what mood or tone means.

4. Then ask: how are the events described? Have students identify adjectives and phrases. What qualities do these words/phrases have? What feeling does the poem carry with regard to the events that happen?

5. Students should generate an answer.

6. Then students should review the answer options, looking for a match.

Skills: understanding elements of a poem, word choice, identi-fying tone/mood, word choice

TEACHING POINTS

1. Call your students’ attention to the use of the word “best.” This suggests that there will be more than one plausible answer option and our task is to find the “best” one.

2. Review who the “narrator” of the poem is. It is the speaker of the poem. Sometimes that is also the main character of the poem. Sometimes it’s not.

3. Students should reread the poem and generate a word that describes the narrator.

4. Then students should look for a match between the answer they generated and the answer choices. What if they can’t find an exact or even very close match? Students should use process of elimination to rule out any answers that are clearly wrong.

5. Then, with the viable answer options in mind, they should reread the poem.

6. Now they need to make a judgment call: which of the remaining answer options best describes the narrator?

7. Help students distinguish between the funny spirit of the poem and the character of the narrator himself. Ask them to focus on the actions the narrator and what it shows about him. What sort of person has a pet snake?

8. Observe that while the narrator seems smart and kind, the word that BEST describes him is daring.

QUESTION TYPE 14

Describing the Narrator

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Check Answer

Which word best describes the narrator of the poem?

A. daring

B. kind

C. smart

D. sly

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question type tests students’ grasp of genre conventions. Please check the CCLS for the list of genres that must be taught in your grade. Students need to know the main features of each genre/ medium.

2. Have students analyze the question. Students should restate the question in their own words. This will ensure that they really understand what is being asked.

3. Notice that the question is testing to see who is reading the question slowly and carefully. By reading quickly , a student might misunderstand the wording and think that the question is asking how is this poem most like a letter or might think that the question is asking how a letter is most like a poem. Either misunderstanding due to haste would result in a wrong answer.

4. It is a good idea to practice questions like this that force students to draw distinctions between a wide range of genres: plays, newspapers, poems, nonfiction articles, novels, diaries, etc.

QUESTION TYPE 15

Genre Conventions

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Check Answer

Which statement best explains how the poem is different from a letter?

A. It is written in first person point of view.

B. It begins by addressing someone.

C. It is divided into rhyming lines.

D. It describes a series of events.

TEACHING POINTS

1. We tend to teach author’s purpose as limited to: to inform/to entertain/to persuade/to express.

2. This question shows us that we need to prepare students to think more nimbly about author’s purpose.

3. Notice that there are really two steps to this question:

1. the first is to find the main idea of the article and/or its genre

2. the second is to infer the author’s purpose for writing it.

4. Students should quickly scan the article and generate their own answer for the author’s purpose.

5. Then they should look for an answer among the options.

6. The inclusion of “most likely” signals that there may be plausible distractors.

QUESTION TYPE 16

Author’s Purpose .

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Check Answer

Why did the author most likely write this ar-ticle?

A. to teach people the rules of basket-ball

B. the describe the history of basket-ball

C. to make people want to play basket-ball

D. to explain why basketball is popu-lar

TEACHING POINTS

1. This simple-looking question tests close reading. The question was includes as one of the last questions on an exam. Students are tired and probably bored by the story (which was so tedious that it seemed to test students’ ability to focus). Many students will be sufficiently bored by the story that they will not remember how the bear differed from the horse and the reindeer.

2. Students who look back will easily be able to find the difference.

3. So this question rewards thoroughness at a point in the exam where most are tired and impatient to be done.

4. Point out to students how important stamina is to not losing points unnecessarily. They need to anticipate questions toward the end of the exam that require looking back and attention to detail. The students who will keep looking back and working hard on the final answers in an exam will shoot ahead of their competitors.

5. Practicing techniques for refreshing themselves mid-test is a smart idea to delay exhaustion. When students know that questions like this one toward the end of an exam test their stamina, it should give them added incentive to keep working hard to the end of the test.

QUESTION TYPE 17

Compare and Contrast

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Check Answer

How is the bear different from the horse and the reindeer?

A. He enjoys cold weather.

B. He chooses to help Ukko.

C. He is able to swim.

D. He needs more to eat.

TEACHING POINTS

1. This is a Grade 3 question. At grade 3, a theme is typically a moral or a lesson. At older grades, themes can be more abstract. Make sure that your students are aware that themes can be a moral, a lesson, an observation about human nature or life, or simply an idea.

2. Notice the use of “main” in “main theme”. This signals that some answer options are plausible---but we are looking for the main theme of the story. Can students pull out the big idea from the story?

3. Encourage students to find the theme of the story on their own.

4. Then have them look for a match among the answer options.

QUESTION TYPE 18

Identify Theme

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Check Answer

Which statement describes the main theme of the story?

A. You should try to look on the bright side.

B. Everyone should look after themselves.

C. It is important to prepare for the future.

D. Good deeds will be re-warded.

TEACHING POINTS

1. This question is a good reminder that questions on the new ELA exams require a full understanding of the passage as a whole. You cannot answer this question just by inferring something about the sentence in quotation marks.

2. Students must look back in the article, find the target sentence and read around it.

3. Next, they can identify what idea the detail supports.

4. Once they’ve done that, they can review the answer options for a good match.

5. It’s wise to practice detail-based questions a lot as there are likely to be several of these on the exam. Their purpose is to test students’ critical thinking about what individual details reveal---and why they are necessary to the success of the passage as a whole.

QUESTION TYPE 19

Critical Details

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Check Answer

Read this sentence from the interview. “I had a chocolate-bacon tart when I was in New York.”Why does Lisbeth mention this detail?

A. to show that her job allows her to travel

B. to show that unusual food ideas can work

C. to explain where she gets her ideas from

D. to explain why her job is never bor-ing

HOW TO SUPPORT STUDENTS

ON TEST DAY

1. Provide apples for the whole class (after checking first for students with allergies) and encourage students to eat an apple before taking the test. This will ensure a stable, steady blood sugar level enabling students to do their best throughout a long exam.

2. Encourage your students to stretch thoroughly before the exam. Invite a student-athlete to lead the class in stretching.

3. Perform a comedy routine before the exam. Seriously. Studies show that laughter before the exam produces better test results.

4. Plan something fun for the class immediately following the exam---such as an extra long gym period, an after-test party or an art project. Having something to look forward to will help

TIME TO SHINE

Game Day TipsReach Out to Parents

About 4 to 6 weeks before the exam, make a dedicated effort to communicate with parents about how they can support test prep efforts. Ask them to make a special effort to ensure their student gets a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night. Ask them to get in the habit of sending an apple or some other fruit with their child to school each day. Explain how this bene-fits their blood sugar level which supports their ability to con-centrate.

Introduce Stretching or Yoga into Your Test Prep

You don’t have to be a yoga guru. Chances are there will be at least one student-athlete or student-yogi in your class who would love to lead the class in a simple 5 minute stretch be-fore and after test prep. The difference in focus during the les-son will more than make up for the time spent on this.

Make it Fun

Taking a test can be enjoyable. Preparing to take a test can be enjoyable, too. Use your creativity to make test prep a fun, lively, enjoyable activity in your class. The more students en-joy taking tests, the better they will do on them.

Look Beyond the Test

The best way to minimize test prep stress is to plan something for immediately after the test---a treat as well as a project---that students can look forward to. This will give them---and you---much-needed perspective.

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