Rules Concerning the Test
• No dictionaries;
• Students may use blank
scratch paper;
• No information on the walls;
• Students may write on the
• Teachers may clarify words
test;
and phrase but not define;
• Unanswered items are wrong. • Breaks are allowed;
• Students have four hours
to complete the questions.
Grade 8
Understanding the Parts of the Item
Prompt
Distractors
Answer
Question
Stem
Question Stems
What is the
main idea of
the reading?
Equality/
Desegregation
The key is in
the date!
Battle of
Yorktown or
end of the war.
Prompts
• Reading (Excerpts)
• Quotes or primary sources
• Bulleted list
• Secondary sources
• Sequenced information
• Charts or Tables
• Images (paintings or photos)
• Fill – in Graphics
• Maps
• Graphics
Be prepared to read!
Take a
Breath!
R Read the entire prompt, question stem, and distractors
E Examine what you already know about the topic
A Adopt a strategy that will lead you to the answer
D
ecide
on
the
best
answer
and
D
ouble-check
later
D
The Internal Dialogue
• To answer each item you must have an
Internal Dialogue:
• What is the stem asking?
• What information does the prompt
supply?
• What information do I know about the
topic?
• What is the best/correct answer?
• If I do not recognize the correct answer,
how can I make the best possible
choice?
Study Sheet Prompt
• Obviously you cannot bring in a
study aid to the test.
• After the test has started you can
write down important information
you have memorized on a piece of
paper to help you as you analyze
the questions.
•
•
•
•
•
Dates*
Names
Events
Amendments
Draw a map.
Dates
Grade 8 (1)(C) explain the
significance of the following
dates: 1607, founding of
Jamestown; 1620, arrival of
the Pilgrims and signing of
the Mayflower Compact;
1776, adoption of the
Declaration of Independence;
1787, writing of the U.S.
Constitution; 1803, Louisiana
Purchase; and 1861-1865,
Civil War.
STRATEGIES
The following five
strategies will help
while you are taking the
test and if you are
unsure of the correct
answer.
Strategy #1: Cover up the Distractors/Answer!
• Have a blank sheet of paper for
the test and cover all
distractors/answer.
• BEFORE you look for the answer,
thoroughly study the stem and the
prompt (if applicable)
• Internal Dialogue: What does the
question want from you? What do
I know? What is in the Prompt?
• What is a corridor?
• What are the responsibilities of the
AZ game and Fish Dept. ?
• Is this about movement!
What is the BEST answer?
Qualifier!
So there
might be
multiple
logical
choices.
Strategy #2: If I don’t know what it is …
What is it NOT!
What goal
sound most
logical?
Where is Oregon? Visual Map!
Not in Southwest!
Not in South!
Strategy #3:
Ranking Possible Answers
+++
+/-/+
---
=
=
=
=
Good Choice
Maybe/Can’t rule out
Probably Not But …
Not possible.
+++
+/-/+
---
You should create your own
ranking key!
Yes! you can write on the test!
Strategy #4: Brain Dump!
Write down everything you know about
the topic or the words you see.
Monroe was an early president
Doctrine is a policy or idea
Start Internal Dialogue between what you know
and the choices.
As a policy, we
never discouraged
immigration to the
USA
That’s familiar …
but Washington said
“No alliances”
Now that is something we
would find important.
This is the
Nullification
Crisis Issue
US History
Strategy #5: Key Words/Phrase
• Look for key
words and
phrases which
might hold the
key to the
questions.
• What do you
know about
those words?
-/+
+
-+++
Atomic bombs
were how WWII in
the Pacific ended.
Grade 8
Strategy #5: Key Words
• Look for key words and phrases
which might hold the key to the
questions.
• What do you know about those
words?
Temperance? What
does temperance mean
and what did the
society want?
Prompts
• Reading (Excerpts)
• Quotes or primary sources
• Bulleted list
• Secondary sources
• Sequenced information
• Charts or Tables
• Images (paintings or photos)
• Fill – in Graphics
• Maps
• Graphics
Grade 8
Chart/Graph Prompts
What is the
relation
between the
Prompt and
the Question?
Read the
Title!
What
information
is being
provided?
US History
Chart/Graphs Prompts
Trap!
Un-needed
information
• Many times charts and
graphs will give you
extraneous information.
• Internal Dialogue!
•
•
•
•
Berlin
Airplanes
1948 or Post WWII/Cold War
Which best describes the
Berlin Airlift?
What
happened in
Berlin in 1948
involving
airplanes?
Grade 8
Maps
More rote
knowledge than
geographical
understanding
Internal Dialogue
• What happened in
Seneca Falls?
• Seneca Falls
Convention
• Seneca Falls
Declaration of Rights
for Women
• Written by Eliz.
Stanton
US History
Maps
Take a
Breath!
“… best support the
conclusion .”
What information does the
map/chart provide?
• Title
• Key
• Information
Analyze each possible answer
to the graphic to see which
one holds true.
Maps
Internal Dialogue:
Where are these three
cities and what do they
have in common?
You must be able to
visualize the map in
your head.
Grade 8
Unfamiliar words
Use context clues to determine the meaning
of words and phrases.
US History
Strategy: Unfamiliar Words
Use context clues to determine the meaning
of words and phrases.
Interpreting the Visual
• Read the stem - what does the
question require of you?
• What information is provided
with the visual, such as a title,
date, artist, etc.?
• Study all of the visual:
• Type of visual
• Objects
• Action
• Identify the correct choice
Grade 8
Read the
Title!
Internal
Dialogue:
What did
each of these
deal with
elections?
Take a
Breath!
US History
Internal
Dialogue:
What is the effect of
the people, the
shadows, and the
captions when put
together?
Define each of
the possible
answer and
which has the
most to do with
stopping
immigration?
Why are the
shadows
different
from the real
people?
What does
the caption
imply?
Strategy : Reading the Excerpts
• Pause and take a breath!
• What information is provided
in the prompt?
• What does the stem ask you to
do with the reading?
• Read for the Main Idea
• Re-read for details and specific
information/key words
Grade 8
Reading Prompts
Mark unfamiliar words
Take a
Breath!
Who Said it?
Title of the
Document or
Source
Date
Grade 8
Looks/sounds important but it is not!
• Take a breath!
• Grab your pen/
highlighter
• READ!!!!
Wait!!! We never studied
the New York City Drafts
Riots of 1863?
What should I do?
It is telling
a specific
story but it
represents
a broad
topic.
Strategy: Take each answer individually
Does it match with what the reading is
talking about?
Trap
US History
What is the main
idea of the three
bullet points?
Completion questions
• Sequencing
• Cause and Effect
• Similar Characteristics
• Fill in each
distractor/answer to
the ?
• Which is correct?
Grade 8
Completion Questions
The Trap!
You know it should be a
compromise, but which one?
US History
Completion Questions
Internal
Dialogue:
Which of the
options make
the most sense?
Which can I rule
out?
Which are
causes and
which are
effects?
Grade 8
Trap: No Direct Route to the Answer
15
14
Now that slaves
were free, what
can they do?
Abolished
Slavery
Often there
is NOT a
direct route
from the
stem to the
correct
answer.
Grade 8
Trap: Qualifiers
Watch for Qualifiers which
means that all the answer
might be correct.
All possible answers are
pull factors:
Which answer is best for
Chinese Immigrants?
Trap: Misdirection
“Religious
University”
jumps out
at you but
“forced”
make the
answer
incorrect!
First amendment: The
Freedom of Speech, Press,
and Freedom of Religion
“Antiwar Rally” jumps out at
you, but being “arrested” is
not positive
Looking for
positive
action!
The
correct
answer
is the
positive
action
US History
Trap: Read the Whole Distractor
The first part of
the distractor is
correct!
The second part of the
distractor is incorrect and
nullifies this as a possible
answer.
Grade 8
Trap: Read the Whole Distractor
The first
part of the
distractor
is correct!
The second part of the
distractor is incorrect and
nullifies this as a possible
answer.
Grade 8
Trap: Saying the Same Thing in a Different Way
Potato!
Good answer; but not
the best answer for
the 1840s!
Trap: Lack of Chronology of the Test
2014 Grade 8 STAAR
Item Number
Topic
27
Colonial America
28
New Republic
29
1863: New York City Draft Riots
30
Civil War
31
Colonial America: Thomas Hooker
32
Sectionalism: Compromise of 1850
Recap!
• Take your time!
• READ all the parts of the
question.
• Engage in an Internal
Dialogue
• What for Traps!
• Check your work.
Where to find
Practice Test
Questions?
Where to find Questions
• Released STAAR Test
• http://tea.texas.gov/Student_Testing_and_Accountability/Testing/State_of
_Texas_Assessments_of_Academic_Readiness_(STAAR)/STAAR_Released_T
est_Questions/
• New York State Regents Test
• http://www.nysedregents.org/USHistoryGov/home.html
• TAKS Test
• http://tea.texas.gov/student.assessment/taks/released-tests/
Information Check: Section 2- Strategies
• Rank the five strategies according to
which you feel would be most helpful
to you on the TEST:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Covering the Distractors
Identifying what the answer is NOT
Ranking the Answers
Brain Dump
Key Word Identification
• Compare what you think with a
person/group around you.