Essay Structure & Writing
Reading Skills & Strategies
Figurative Language & Literary Devices
Test-Taking Strategies
MCAS Tools & Tips
100
The length of your essays on the MCAS.
What is 4 to 5 paragraphs?
100
What the text is mostly about.
What is the main idea?
100
A figure of speech in which an animal, object, force of nature, or an idea is given human-like qualities.
What is personification?
100
The strategy you should use to ensure you comprehend the reading.
What is reading the passage more than once?
100
What you should do the night before the MCAS test.
What is getting enough sleep and relaxing?
200
The number of reasons your thesis statement should include.
What are 2 reasons (for 4 paragraphs) or 3 reasons (for 5 paragraphs)?
200
A conclusion based on text clues and what you already know.
What is an inference?
200
Directly compares two seemingly unlike things without using like or as.
What is a metaphor?
200
The step you should take to ensure that all of your multiple choice answers are correct.
What is using process of elimination?
200
The purpose of this tool on the MCAS exam platform.
What is removing answer choices for process of elimination?
300
The elements that should be included in a body paragraph (in order).
What is a topic sentence, context, evidence, reasoning, and a concluding sentence?
300
The author’s central message and what they have to say about a topic.
What is the theme?
300
When the actual meaning is the complete opposite from the literal meaning.
What is irony?
300
The first step you should complete after beginning the MCAS test.
What is annotating and breaking down the essay prompt on your scrap paper?
300
The purpose of the highlighter tool.
What is to mark important evidence for your essay and key information for your multiple-choice questions.
400
The main difference between a thesis statement and a topic sentence.
What is a thesis statement is your overall argument, while a topic sentence focuses on one paragraph?
400
The author’s attitude versus how a reader feels
What is tone and mood?
400
The use of signs, shapes, or objects to represent ideas.
What is symbolism?
400
After annotating and breaking down your essay prompt, you should …
What is turn the question around and create an outline?
400
The two sections of the MCAS writing rubric that you should focus on while writing are called this.
What is idea development and standard English conventions?
500
The questions that your reasoning should answer.
What are how and why the evidence supports the claim?
500
The five elements of plot structure.
What is exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution?
500
A brief, indirect reference to a famous person, place, event, or literary work (like a myth or the Bible) that an author expects the reader to recognize.
What is allusion?
500
The information from the prompt that your thesis should include.
What are the title, type of work, author, and key task?
500
The mistake students make when using MCAS tools, and how they can fix it.
What are highlighting too much or not using elimination, and students should be more selective and strategic?