Section 1: Multiple Choice, Includes 5 sets of questions:
23-25 Reading questions that ask students to read and analyze nonfiction texts.
20-22 Writing questions that ask students to "read like a writer" and consider revisions to stimulus texts.
Section 2: Free Response
Students write essays that respond to 3 free-response prompts from the following categories:
Synthesis Question: After reading 6-7 texts about a topic (including visual and quantitative sources), students will compose an argument that combines and cites at least 3 of the sources to support their thesis.
Rhetorical Analysis: Students will read a nonfiction text and analyze how the writer's language choices contribute to the intended meaning and purpose of the text.
Argument: Students will create an evidence-based argument that responds to a given topic.
1. Rhetorical Situation--Reading: Explain how writers’ choices reflect the components of the rhetorical situation.
2. Rhetorical Situation--Writing: Make strategic choices in a text to address a rhetorical situation.
3. Claims and Evidence--Reading: Identify and describe the claims and evidence of an argument.
4. Claims and Evidence--Writing: Analyze and select evidence to develop and refine a claim.
5. Reasoning and Organization--Reading: Describe the reasoning, organization, and development of an argument.
6. Reasoning and Organization--Writing: Use organization and commentary to illuminate the line of reasoning in an argument.
7. Style--Reading: Explain how writers’ stylistic choices contribute to the purpose of an argument.
8. Style--Writing: Select words and use elements of composition to advance an argument.