ELA Test Prep Resources

ela test prep resources

Ah, ELA test prep resources. Let’s help our students, shall we?

Note: I am part of Test Prep Palooza: the one & only virtual test prep event to help Middle School Reading + Writing Teachers review for “The Test” without feeling like you’re actually reviewing. You can grab your ticket to watch videos, get tips, and be inspired.

No standardized test is perfect, and one test is not capable of explaining everything about a student. Still, colleges use those tests and recently, colleges announced that even though they had considered test scores to be an optional submission, they would be requiring those scores again.

Which means for English teachers, we need ELA test prep resources. If you are similar in thought to me, you understand the complexity of standardized tests. On one hand, you acknowledge they are imperfect and have a bad history. Then, you also acknowledge that your students will be taking an assessment that can influence their futures. Parents and many students depend on scholarships for college costs.

In addition to those factors, we teachers don’t want to “drill and kill” for the test. We want our classes to be prepared, but we care more about critical thinking and the depth of content than the standard test prep.

Does that sound like your thought process concerning testing with your classes? If so, you might find this post helpful. As a high school English teacher, my classes and I do not drill and kill; however, we do prepare for assessments.

How can we make ELA test prep resources meaningful?

The worst part of preparing for a test is the “drill and kill” and negative associations with that concept. As a high school teacher, “standardized tests” correlate to college entrance exams. In this post, I’ll use those terms interchangeably while covering how to make prep meaningful.

 

ela test prep resources

Vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and writing.

The depth of language arts is reflected on tests. The ACT, for example, has five components, and three belong to us. You could also argue that the science portion is largely analytical reading, which ties back to our content as well.

Which—might stress us educators as we consider ELA test prep resources. Luckily, we already work on these components. Adding preparatory material with a sensible approach to assessment is within our reach.

Punctuation and errors: spiral bundle.

Yes: Part of college prep is understanding the language and being able to communicate clearly. Grammar (as the study of language) may not be everyone’s top activity; however, an understanding of language is necessary for many reasons.

That message, the idea that grammar is more than “what is wrong and what is right” carries far with older classes. Messages of grammar should be empowering, that knowing the many uses of language can help with reading, writing, and speaking. ELA language standards require this holistic look and honestly, working on those standards means that you are prepping students for these standardized exams.

However, spend time specifically on confusing areas which might be punctuation rules and common errors. Again, I would argue that high school English teachers already focus on these concepts, making test prep less of an issue. We can simply add additional focus to what we are already doing.

For example, as we work with young writers, we will process through the recursive writing process which contains editing and revising—major focuses of the English portion of standardized tests.

To tackle specific questions dealing with punctuation and errors, spiral grammar allows freedom to emphasize and review as necessary. The nature of spiraled learning allows for flexibility and review where necessary. For instance, before reviewing comma use, work on joining compound sentences. If your students already understand that concept, move to complex and compound-complex sentences.

Literacy: inferences, worksheets, and Google.

In English language arts classes, all our work (in some way) ties back to literacy. When addressing the reading portion, we can pull out paper practice tests.

Different ways to work on inferences exist. Have students read individually. Then, in a small group, have students work on the questions together.

If students need an overall review of all components concerning language arts, perhaps from a few years ago, the eighth grade spiral review covers common concepts that will allow you to build to more difficult concepts.

Finally, worksheets are excellent resources for practice, and a simple Google search may provide a simple way to access older exams. These documents can be shared with parents and students for additional work outside of the classroom.

By implementing these resources and strategies, we can enhance our students’ readiness and confidence when facing the ELA test.

Vocabulary: inferencing and understanding prefixes and connotations.

Naturally, we incorporate vocabulary into our classroom curriculum to meet language standards and to help with reading comprehension. To specifically focus on standardized material, I again use a spiral approach to discuss concepts that will help students infer meaning of unknown words. Those activities revisit concepts like:

  • Parallelism
  • Prefixes and suffixes
  • Sentence structure
  • Patterns of words
  • Denotations and connotations
  • Change in language
  • Word choice and effect on meaning

Because so many concepts concerning vocabulary were covered in previous grades, the nature of spiral review allows for practice of previously taught vocabulary tools.

Reasons for standardized tests.

Years ago, I wrote about talking with high school students about standardized testing. That post aimed to make the approach with student review palpable. Years later, my experiences could allow me to add to that post.

One, the tests, while not perfect, do allow test-takers to understand what is expected in college. For some teenagers, they might be unsure if they will be attending college or not. Preparing for whatever test allows them to understand collegiate expectations.

Two, most careers require test taking. As a teacher, for example, I must watch videos and read dense texts about medical conditions, laws, and theories—and then pass a test. Personally, I am not familiar with epilepsy or fire prevention terminology. I still must learn about those concepts for my job and pass a test. Many jobs require such training.

Third, the information on college entrance exams is what our juniors should know: active and passive voice, vocabulary, and transitions.

With compassion and support, we English teacher can explain the reasons for these standardized tests alongside recognizing their imperfections.

Overall design.

The overall design of my English and reading test prep it to integrate it into my classroom. Help your students with ELA test prep resources that are not drill and kill and speak to the bigger aspects of language arts.

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