Title: PSSA Test Taking Strategies for Multiple Choice and Constructed Response
1PSSA Test Taking Strategies for Multiple Choice
andConstructed Response
2Prepare Physically and Mentally
3Be Physically Ready
- Get a good nights sleep before the test.
- The morning of the test, eat a breakfast that
includes protein eggs, bacon, peanut butter,
cheese, yogurt, tofu, etc. - BE ON TIME.
- Stretch during testing breaks.
- Wear comfortable clothes! ?
4Be Mentally Prepared
- Being nervous or not caring ruins your
performance.
- Be competitive with the test
- makers, not intimidated by them.
- Remember, the passages were not chosen to
entertain you. Keep yourself engaged through
active reading, highlighting, and writing margin
notes.
5Before Reading Strategies
- The test is on your desk.
- What do you do now?
6Open the Proper Mental Files
- Scan the test and look at the task ahead of
you, but only after you have been told to start,
and only the test that you are going to work on
in that session
- Identify the genres and subgenres of the
passages. Activate what you know about these
types of reading. What kinds of questions do you
expect for an informational vs. a narrative vs.
a poem?
7Scavenger Hunt
- Read the multiple choice and open-ended questions
before you read the passage. - Dont read the answer choices. Doing so will take
too long and confuse you later.
- In each question, highlight the key words that
tell you what the test maker is looking for-main
idea, compare, or in the beginning of the
passage.
- Highlight unusual or very specific
words/phrases that you can look for while
reading. -
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11ANSWERING Best Questions
- Sample questions Which best explains? or
Which best supports? - When you see the word best
- One choice is OK/good
- One choice is better
- One choice is BEST
- One choice is a total distraction
- Dont choose the FIRST OK answer you come across-
read all choices!!!
12The Constructed Response
- Give them what they want!
13Constructed Response
- Read the constructed response or essay question
before you start reading the passage. - Highlight or underline things you are asked to
do, statements like - Explain the main idea...
- Describe the character...
- Use 3 examples from the passage...
- Keep the constructed response prompt in the back
of your mind while you are reading.
14The Constructed Response
- The most important thing to know is that your
comprehension is whats being evaluated here
they want to know if you understood the reading. - You must answer ALL PARTS of the question.
- You must include the right number of specific
details from the text to support your answer. - You must tell why your text details support your
answer. - You should not include things that have little to
do with the passage, like your personal
experiences, unless they tie DIRECTLY to the
question.
15- AREA
- Answer
- Reasons (Give context!)
- Evidence
- Answer Again
16Writing Your Constructed Response Essay
- You will be given scratch paper during the PSSA,
but you will NOT be told what to do with it. - Thats up to you.
- You should automatically think
Venn Diagram
Graphic Organizer
Write Tools Essay Organizer
- Decide what works best for your ideas.
17Use the words In the prompt to Form your topic
Sentence.
The word that I would use to describe both the
student and the school representative is logical.
An example of the student being logical is that
he said that cell phones are needed for safety.
A parent might need to get in touch with a child
in an emergency.
Example of logic from 1st one
The school representative is also logical when he
says that cell phones ringing in class will cause
disruptions since kids will forget to turn them
off.
Example of logic from 2nd one
18Writing Your Constructed Response Essay
- Transfer your response from your scratch paper to
the test booklet when you feel that it answers
the prompt completely. - Use your best writing skills (even though your
writing ability is not being scored on the PSSA
Reading Test.) - Use high level vocabulary, clearly expressed
and organized ideas to create paragraphs. - Proofread.
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20When youre finished, remember
- DONT TRUST YOUR MEMORY
- GO BACK TO THE TEXT.
- Its not cheating you have the time, and why
else did you highlight?
21During Reading Strategies
22Active Reading Strategies
- RESEARCH SHOWS YOU ABSORB INFORMATION BETTER WHEN
YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING!! - Read with a pencil in your hand, underlining key
phrases, and/or use a highlighter to mark
important parts of the passage
23ACTIVE READING STRATEGIES
- Always read the text in the box at the top of the
first page and any footnote. The main idea and
more are often stated in the box, and the genre
or source is often revealed in the footnote. - Read in chunks, stopping frequently (every
paragraph or sub section) to question the author.
Ask yourself, What did the author give me in
this chunk of text? Make notes in the margin!
24- Silently restate the main idea/key point of that
chunk in your mind. - If you cant restate it, REREAD IT until you can.
This way youll catch where you stopped
understanding, and youll be more willing to
reread a chunk than the whole piece.
25- Label it. Highlight or make a margin note of the
main idea/key point. This will help you locate
relevant parts of the passage when youre
answering the questions, including the
constructed response.
26Highlighting Strategies
- We all know to highlight whats important as we
read, - but what is important here?
- Highlight only main ideas/key points (yellows)
and text that match the questions.
- Dont worry about vocabulary words they will
already be underlined in the text.
- As you read, highlight any sentence that
contains the unusual words that you
highlighted in the questions. The answer is
probably right there.
- Highlight areas that address the inferential
questions about main idea, theme, conflict,
character traits, etc.
Caution Too much highlighting defeats the
purpose of highlighting.
27Answering Word Identification Questions
- You will be asked to identify meaning of a word
based on context in passage - Re-read sentence
- Before sentence with word
- With Word
- After sentence with word
- Pay special attention to all words underlined,
italicized, or boldfaced
28Genre
Main idea clue
Hes for cell phones
3 Shakypics can Help with vandalism
1st reason safety
4 Fla did it.
2nd reason simplify life for everyone
Concl. the times Are changing
293 Cheating
Against cells
Reason 1 fisrupt class kids forget to turn
off
Conc No for safety and learning env.
2 Shaky-May cause danger
30Eliminate those that Dont match text.
Go There
Highlighted Go there!
Go There and Read context.
Substitute each
31Find the one that recognizes the other side
2 possible answers!
If you dont know what 1st person POV is good
for, you wont get this one.
32This is an authors purpose. The answer has to
apply to BOTH
33After ReadingStrategies
34Ive Tried All That And Still Dont Have A Clue
- Research shows that first instincts are often
correct, but we tend to second guess ourselves.
- If you cannot figure out the answer by using the
text and strategies within a few minutes, go with
your first impression. Dont leave it blank. You
run the risk of incorrectly numbering the rest of
the test.
- Circle the questions youre unsure of, even
though youve answered them. Go back when youre
done with the section and take a fresh look.
Sometimes, later questions help to answer
earlier ones.
35- Bubbling Advice
- A dull pencil works best its faster and does
not snap off or tear the paper. - DO NOT press so hard that you cant completely
erase the bubble. - Make sure that the center of the bubble is filled
in the scanner reads from the center of the
bubble. - Erase all stray marks and smudges. They may be
read as answers.
36The PSSA Format
- Knowing the tests design can help you
strategically. - There are 6 tests on this years PSSA
- 3 Math
- 3 Reading
- You will alternate, starting with Math.
- On the 3 Reading sections, you will answer a
total of - 58 Multiple Choice Questions
- 5 Constructed Response Questions