FCAT Tips Short Response (SR) & Extended Response (ER)

Error Analysis 1. A. A two-part question requires a two part answer. B. If the question asks for benefits, reasons, the response should include more than one. 2. Students should not quote page & paragraph numbers in their response, the text must be included. 3. Students should not put personal opinions in responses, strictly text based information only. 4. Students should not restate the prompt or question in the ER or SR. Some students use too many lines restating and dont leave enough room to answer the question.

Error Analysis (cont.) 5. Students are to answer the questions and not summarize the entire passage. 6. Students do not have to fill up every line of ER or SR box. 7. Students need to use quotes and support judiciously. 8. This is not an FCAT writes activity; the answer does NOT require an introduction, body, and conclusion

Specific Suggestions

LA.A (Vocabulary) Use context clues in the item being questioned, not prior knowledge If given lines to interpret, use support from the passage to explain the lines dont get creative If given poemsdont jump in to creatively interpret. The poems questions will be concrete.

LA.A (compare/contrast) Make sure it is clear what is being compared or contrasted name it or them

LA.A ( Organizational Patterns) Questions will direct the student to specific text pieces (i.e. intro., whole article, side bar, etc) Students may be asked to identify the organizational pattern

LA.A (Authors Purpose) The answer is not just to inform, to persuade, to entertain… Question why did the author write this particular pieceuse text specific examples (Ex. To entertain – he used humor to…)

LA.A (Locates, gathers…) If told to use different sources (i.e. text, graphic, picture) students need to use all sources that are stated. Differentiate between the sources.

LA.A (Analyzes validity, reliability…) There will be specific information and/or evidence in the passage that makes the author a reliable source or the article valid. Think about what made this person or study a reliable source

LA.A (Synthesizes information from Multiple Sources) Information will come from 2 or more sources, differentiate between sources. (Dont just quote or paraphrase. Use support from all to draw conclusions.

LA.E (Cause – Effect) Look for more than one cause and more than one effect Be aware of plurals

LA.E (Literary elements – complexities of plot) Explain how character X changed and what caused the changed Typically what the character is like at the beginning of the story and how the character is at the end of the story, but leave change out.

Did you know: –Answers to all FCAT reading questions can be found in the text –All answer choices are also text based

This Years FCAT Approximately 20% of the tenth grade assessment was determined by responses to short and extended response items. Statewide, tenth graders are not performing as well as they should on the short and extended response items.