Reading Under the Computer-Adaptive Rules
The rules of the new digital test as machinery: one-way doors, a branching question tree, a 180 minute bar you split yourself, and the on-screen tools.
11 topics · 39 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
Answering Only From the Text
- How it worksHow do you tell a fact the words actually stated from one your own memory quietly supplied?
- Worked exampleWalk me through rejecting a true outside fact about bird migration that the text never mentions.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a choice correct when it is true in the real world but missing from the text itself?
- Going furtherWhat changes about that rule when a chart or photograph is printed alongside the words?
Your turneasy1 of 3
Read the passage.
The Arctic tern breeds in the far north and winters in the far south. A tagging study of 66 birds recorded the round trip and found that the route is not a straight line: the birds follow winds that add distance and save effort. The study did not measure how long the birds live.
Which choice must be rejected even though it is true in the real world?Working a Passage Set You Can Still Change
- How it worksHow does a set of questions stay open for revision until you submit it and then lock behind you?
- Worked exampleWalk me through ordering six questions about one text when you may revisit any of them before submitting.
- Going furtherWhat happens to your first pass when a later question quietly hands you the clue an earlier one needed?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't marking a question for review the same thing as leaving it unanswered?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A reading set has 7 questions attached to one article. A student may change any answer in the set until the set is submitted.
What does that allow?No Skipping, and the Educated Guess
- How it worksHow does crossing out two choices turn a one-in-four guess into a coin flip worth taking?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't leaving a brutal question blank an option when nothing is deducted for being wrong?
- Worked exampleWalk me through what to do at 90 seconds on one item with exactly one choice eliminated.
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student faces a brutal item with 123 seconds already spent and nothing is deducted for a wrong answer.
Why is leaving it blank not an option?How the Adaptive Test Picks Your Next Question
- How it worksHow does answering a moderately challenging item correctly send you a more difficult one next?
- Common mistakeWhy doesn't a stretch of easy-feeling questions prove that you are winning?
- Going furtherWhat changes about pacing when every student answers the same number of items no matter how they do?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't it worth trying to guess your score from how hard the questions feel?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student notices that the math items have felt harder since about question 27.
What does that most likely mean?Dividing 180 Minutes Between ELA and Math
- How it worksHow does one 180 minute block split into two subjects you can never return to once submitted?
- Worked exampleWalk me through a plan giving 95 minutes to 50 reading and editing items and 85 to 50 math items.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't an even 90 and 90 split automatically the right plan for every student?
- Going furtherWhat do you do when your planned English time runs out with eight questions still ahead?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student plans to give 95 of the 180 minutes to the 50 ELA items and 85 to the 50 math items, and finds after 23 math items that the pace is behind.
What does the plan give per math item?Table Grid Items
- How it worksHow does resolving a checkbox grid one row at a time stop one shaky row from sinking the rest?
- Worked exampleWalk me through a two column grid asking which statements describe the researcher and which describe the birds.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a grid answered correctly by checking every box that sounds true on its own?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A table grid item lists 6 statements in rows and two columns headed 'describes the researcher' and 'describes the birds'. One box must be checked in each row.
How should it be worked?Hot Text Items
- How it worksHow does a hot text item turn every sentence of a paragraph into a candidate answer at once?
- Worked exampleWalk me through deciding which of four sentences states the claim and which only support it.
- Going furtherWhat changes when a clickable-sentence item asks you to select two sentences instead of one?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A hot text item shows this paragraph and asks you to click the one sentence that states the writer's claim.
(1) The town spends 687 thousand dollars a year on the ferry. (2) Ridership has risen in each of the last three years. (3) The town should keep the ferry running. (4) A replacement bus route would cost more and take longer.
Which sentence should be clicked?Glossed Words and Pop-Up Definitions
- How it worksHow does a pop-up definition give you the dictionary meaning and still leave the context work to you?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't an underlined glossed word a hint that it holds the answer to something?
- Worked exampleWalk me through using a pop-up gloss for 'pitch' and then testing it against the sentence around it.
Your turneasy1 of 3
In a passage of 7 paragraphs, the word 'pitch' is underlined with a dotted line and a pop-up gives its definition as 'a thick dark substance used to seal boats'.
The sentence reads: The crew heated pitch over a fire on the beach and worked it into the seams.
What should a student do with the gloss?The Highlighter and the Notepad
- How it worksHow does a notepad that survives from one text to the next change what is worth writing down?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't the right answer guaranteed to come from a stretch you marked while reading?
- Worked exampleWalk me through the three notes worth taking on a five paragraph article about a sleep study.
- Going furtherWhat changes about note-taking once you know a text is gone for good when its set is submitted?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student highlights about 61 percent of a reading passage while working through it.
Why does that work as badly as highlighting nothing?The Line Reader Mask and the Bookmark
- How it worksHow does a bookmark let you answer a question now and still come back to it inside the same set?
- Going furtherWhat happens to every bookmark you placed the moment you submit the set it belongs to?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't bookmarking every uncertain question a workable plan on a timed section?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student uses the line reader mask on a sentence of 49 words in a dense paragraph.
What does the mask do?Pacing One Passage Set
- How it worksHow does a per-set budget divide between reading once properly and answering the questions attached?
- Worked exampleWalk me through budgeting 12 minutes for a 600 word article with six questions attached.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't skimming and hunting for answers faster than reading the text carefully one time?
- Going furtherWhat changes about that budget when a set carries three questions rather than six?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student has 12 minutes for a 709 word article with six questions attached.
How should the budget divide?