GED TEST REASONING - EBSCO Information Services

1 12/29/16 3:21 PMGED TEST REASONING THROUGH LANGUAGE ARTS (RLA) REVIEW 22/29/16 3:21 PM Other titles of interest from LearningExpress GED Test Preparation GED Test Mathematical REASONING Review GED Test Flash Review: Mathematical REASONING GED Test Flash Review: REASONING through Language Arts GED Test Flash Review: Science GED Test Flash Review: Social Studies 32/29/16 3:21 PM GED TEST REASONING THROUGH LANGUAGE ARTS (RLA) REVIEW NEW YORK 42/29/16 3:21 PM Copyright 2016 LearningExpress. All rights reserved under International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, New York. ISBN-13: 978-1-61103-048-8 Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For more Information on LearningExpress, other LearningExpress products, or bulk sales, please write to us at: 224 W. 29th Street 3rd Floor New York, NY 10001 52/29/16 3:21 PM CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Introduction to the GED RLA Test 1 About the GED RLA Test 2 Question Types 2 How to Use This Book 7 Test Taking Tips 7 Eliminating Answer Choices 9 Keeping Track of Time 10 Preparing for the Test 11 The Big Day 12 Good Luck!

2 12 CHAPTER 2 Diagnostic Test 13 Part I 17 Part II 29 Answers and Explanations 30 CHAPTER 3 Reading Comprehension: Big Picture Tools 37 Reading the Passages 38 Tips for Fiction Passages 40 Tips for Nonfiction Passages 41 Author s Purpose 42 Point of View 45 Theme 47 Synthesis 51 Reading More Closely 55 v 62/29/16 3:21 PM CONTENTS Interpreting What You Read 57 Quiz 59 Answers and Explanations 62 Review 65 CHAPTER 4 Reading Comprehension: Close-Reading Skills 67 Make Connections 67 Main Idea and Supporting Details 68 Reading Comprehension Review 73 Summarizing 77 Fact and Opinion 79 Organizational Structure 81 Inferences 87 Making Comparisons between Passages 89 Quiz 90 Answers and Explanations 97 Review 101 CHAPTER 5 Language and Grammar: Reading Skills 103 Word Parts 103 Parts of Speech 106 Context Clues 118 multiple Meaning Words 119 Frequently Confused Words and Homonyms 120 Literary Devices 121 Language and Grammar Review 123 Answers and Explanations 125 Review 128 CHAPTER 6 Language and Grammar: Grammar Skills 129 GED Test Strategies 129 Sentence Construction 130 Capitalization 136 Using Apostrophes to Create Possessive Nouns and Contractions 140 Sentence Punctuation 142 Sentence Structure 145 Usage 145 Mechanics 146 Organization 146 Quiz 148 Answers and Explanations 149 Review 151 vi 72/29/16 3:21 PM C ONTENTS CHAPTER 7 The Extended Response Essay: Tips and Scoring 153 About the GED Test Extended Response Question 153 Before You Write Your Essay 154 What s in an Essay 155 How Your Essay Will Be Scored 160 Extended Response Practice 163 Extended Response Practice Sample Essays 169 CHAPTER 8 The Extended Response Essay.

3 Planning and Revising 173 How to Write a Powerful Essay 173 Thinking Styles 174 Organization of Your Essay 179 Example of an Extended Response Essay 181 Revising an Essay 189 Sample Extended Response Question 189 Practice Essay 191 The Final Steps 195 Quiz 195 Answers and Explanations 198 A Final Word 206 Review 208 CHAPTER 9 GED RLA Practice Test 1 209 Part I 210 Part II 226 Answers and Explanations 232 CHAPTER 10 GED RLA Practice Test 2 249 Part I 250 Part II 267 Answers and Explanations 275 vii 82/29/16 3:21 PMBlank 92/29/16 3:21 PMGED TEST REASONING THROUGH LANGUAGE ARTS (RLA) REVIEW 102/29/16 3:21 PMBlank 12/29/16 3:22 PM CHAPTER1 INTRODUCTION TO THE GED RLA TEST This book is designed to help people master the basic reading skills and concepts required to do well on the GED REASONING through Language Arts (RLA) test. Many people who are preparing for this par-ticular GED test have not been in a school setting for some time.

4 This means reading skills have gotten rusty or have been forgotten altogether. Others may have been in a school setting, but have not mastered various essential reading skills. By focusing on basic reading skills, this book will give its readers a better grasp of key reading concepts. This book is not designed to prepare people to take the GED test immediately afterward. Instead, its goal is to provide the necessary foundation of reading skills required for the GED REASONING through Language Arts test. Without these fundamental skills, it would be difficult for a person to prepare for the test effectively, much less earn a passable score. However, once these basic reading skills are understood, a person is then on the right path toward learning the concepts needed to succeed on this particular GED test. 1 22/29/16 3:22 PM INTRODUCTION TO THE GED R L A T E S T About the GED RLA Test In previous versions of the GED test, the Language Arts section was divided into two separate tests : Reading and Writing.

5 The new GED test combines these into a single test. Questions in this section will ask you to do things like identify the main idea or theme in a reading passage or determine the mean-ings of words within a passage. The RLA section also tests your knowledge of grammar, sentence structure, and the mechanics of language. Sharpening your reading and writing skills is important for the GED test, and not only for the REASONING through Lan-guage Arts section: The GED Social Studies test and the GED Science test also measure your ability to understand and communicate ideas through writing. The REASONING through Language Arts test will contain a number of reading passages, each 400 to 900 words in length. Approximately 75% of these passages will be nonfiction, and the other 25% will be fiction. Because the new GED test is all given on the computer, you will see a number of different question types that are more interactive than the usual multi-ple- choice questions.

6 How Is the Test Delivered? You will take your GED test on a computer. Although you absolutely do not need to be a com-puter expert to take the GED test, you should be comfortable using a mouse and typing on a keyboard. How Long Is the Test? You can choose to take all four GED tests at once, or you can take each test separately. The entire exam will take about seven hours to complete. The timing for each subject area alone is as follows: n Mathematical REASONING 115 minutes n REASONING through Language Arts 150 minutes (including a 10-minute break) n Science 90 minutes n Social Studies 90 minutes Question Types The traditional multiple - choice questions will still be the main type you will see on the RLA test, and each item will have four possible answer choices to select from. This is a change from previous GED tests , which had five choices for each multiple - choice item. There is still only one correct answer choice for each item.

7 This eliminates the possibility of answer choices such as All of the above or Both A and B, and allows you to focus on selecting the one correct answer. On the RLA test, all multiple - choice items will refer to a reading passage; each passage will be followed by six to eight items. The layout for multiple - choice items related to a passage will be split-screen the passage will appear on the left, and the multiple - choice items will appear on the right. 22 32/29/16 3:22 PM INTRODUCTION TO THE GED R L A T E S T Drag and Drop For these questions, you will need to click on the cor-rect object, hold down the mouse, and drag the object to the appropriate place in the problem, diagram, chart, or graph that you re given. Of course, within this book you can t drag and drop items. For the purposes of GED Test REASONING through Language Arts (RLA) Review, you will choose from a list of items, as you would on a typical drag-and-drop question, and write the correct answer(s) in the appropriate spot.

8 Drop Down In drop-down questions, you will need to select the answer or phrase to complete a sentence or problem from a menu that drops down with the click of a button. 33 42/29/16 3:22 PM INTRODUCTION TO THE GED R L A T E S T Drop-down questions are very similar to multiple - choice questions, so you will not see them in the two tests within this book. Fill-in-the-Blank These questions ask you to manually type in answer(s) to a problem rather than choose from sev-eral choices. The fill-in-the-blank questions in this book look almost exactly like the ones you ll encounter in the online test, but here you will of course have to write in your answer instead of typing it. Hot Spot For hot-spot questions, you will be asked to click on an area of the screen to indicate where the correct answer is located. For instance, you may be asked to plot a point by clicking on the corresponding online graph or to click on a certain area of a map.

9 44 52/29/16 3:22 PM INTRODUCTION TO THE GED R L A T E STIn this book, you will be asked to draw a dot on a spe-cific point or to circle a certain part of a diagram. Short Answer Short-answer questions are similar to fill-in-the-blank questions you must type your response on the provided lines. However, these questions require you to write a paragraph instead of a word or two, usually in response to a passage or an image. Each should take about 10 minutes to answer. Like fill-in-the-blank questions, short-answer ques-tions in this book look as they will online you will just write in your answer instead of typing it. Extended Response For extended response questions on the RLA exam you will be given 45 minutes to read one or two infor-mational articles (a total of 550 to 650 words) and type a response on a computer using a simple word-processing program. This question requires you to read the prompt (the passage provided), create an argument based on it, and write a strong essay with evidence and examples.

10 When using this book, you can choose to either hand-write your essay or type it on a computer. When and Where Can I Take the Test? There are three testing opportunities per year in each subject area. To find a GED test center, visit the link below, choose your location, and enter your zip code: locate-a-testing-center. 55 62/29/16 3:22 PM INTRODUCTION TO THE GED R L A T E S T You can sign up for any or all of the GED tests online at this link, depending on the availability of spots in your area. How Much Will the Test Cost? Each of the four GED tests costs $30, for a total of $120 for all four tests . You can pay for any or all parts of the test you are ready to take. There may be addi-tional fees, depending on the state in which you take the test. Check the official GED test website for complete test Information . How Are the tests Scored? A minimum score of 145 is required to pass each test.