Test Prep Workbook Grade 8

New Mexico Language Arts Test Prep Workbook Grade 8 Copyright © Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Warning: No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Holt McDougal unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to the following address: Permissions Department, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 10801 N. MoPac Expressway, Building 3, Austin, Texas 78759. HOLT MCDOUGAL is a trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, registered in the United States of America and/or other jurisdictions. Printed in the United States of America If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Holt McDougal retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited. Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format. ISBN-10: 0-554-00767-3 ISBN-13: 978-0-554-00767-0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1421 13 12 11 10 09 Table of Contents To the Student .............................................................................................................................. iv Reading Practice ........................................................................................................................... 1 Reading Test Tips..............................................................................................................2 Reading Practice: Selections with Questions ..................................................................10 Writing Practice.......................................................................................................................... 54 Writing Test Tips.............................................................................................................55 Graphic Organizers for Writing.......................................................................................59 Writing Prompts ..............................................................................................................63 Writing Conventions Practice........................................................................................135 English/Language Arts Grade 8 Practice Test..................................................................... 142 Reading Practice Test ....................................................................................................143 Writing Practice Test.....................................................................................................166 Answer Sheets ........................................................................................................................... 172 Reading Practice Answer Sheets ...................................................................................173 Writing Practice Answer Sheet......................................................................................175 English/Language Arts Grade 8 Practice Test Answer Sheets......................................177 Copyright © Holt McDougal. All rights reserved. iii Language Arts Test Prep Workbook, Grade 8 Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date___________________ To the Student This booklet provides you with reading and writing test practice as well as one English/Language Arts Grade 8 Practice Test. This test preparation booklet also includes tips on answering the types of questions that appear in the English/Language Arts Grade 8 Practice Test. There are suggestions for answering multiple- choice and open-ended questions and for responding to writing prompts. Copyright © Holt McDougal. All rights reserved. iv Language Arts Test Prep Workbook, Grade 8 Name _____________________________ Class _________________ Date___________________ Reading Practice Reading Test Tips Standardized Tests for Reading In the Reading Practice section, you will practice for Standardized Reading Tests. You will read some general strategies for answering multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions. Then, you will be asked to read a number of selections. Each selection will be followed by a series of questions covering comprehension and reading skills and interpretation and analysis of text (fiction and nonfiction). Scoring the English/Language Arts Grade 8 Practice Test In the English/Language Arts Grade 8 Practice Test provided at the end of this workbook, you will answer sixty-four selection questions. Forty-eight selection questions will be in a multiple-choice format. Sixteen selection questions will be in an open-ended format. Each of these open-ended questions will require a short written response and should take about ten minutes to answer completely. Some of the open-ended questions require a more in-depth response. You will receive one point for each multiple-choice question you answer correctly, for a possible 48 points. The open-ended questions will be scored on a 0–3 point scale, for a possible 48 points. Scoring Open-Ended Reading Questions: Score of 3: This response has a correct answer as well as text-based support. It also has specific, appropriate, and accurate details or examples. Score of 2: This response has only a partial answer. It shows awareness of what is to be answered, and has at least one text-based detail. Although this response attempts to provide sufficient details or examples, it may contain minor inaccuracies. Score of 1: This response is incomplete, indicating that either the question was misunderstood or that no text-based details were included in the response. The details or examples are insufficient or inappropriate, and there may be major inaccuracies. Score of 0: This response has too little information to be scored or is inaccurate in many ways. The following conditions will also cause a response to receive a score of 0. • The response is blank or too short to be scored. • The response is off-topic. • The response is written in a language other than English. • The handwriting in the response is unable to be read. Copyright © Holt McDougal. All rights reserved. 2 Language Arts Test Prep Workbook, Grade 8 Reading Test Tips, continued The primary goal of the Reading Practice section is to help you prepare for taking Standardized Tests for reading. These strategies and tips can help you succeed on this type of test. Strategies for Reading Comprehension Understanding Main Ideas and Supporting Details The most important point expressed in a reading passage is the main idea. The main idea must relate to the entire passage, not just to a portion of it. Follow these steps in order to identify a selection’s main idea. Step 1: Read the selection and determine the topic. Step 2: Look at what all the details have in common. The details should point to the main idea. Hint: Pay attention to the first and last sentences. You may find a sentence that states the main idea. Step 3: State the main idea in your own words. Then, look for an answer that closely matches your own. Be careful not to select a detail that merely supports the main idea as your answer. Step 4: Check to make sure that the details in the selection support your answer. Identifying Author’s Purpose There are four general purposes authors have for writing. Use the steps below for help in answering questions about purpose: Step 1: Look in the text for clues such as the ones below. • illustrations, diagrams, maps, charts, headings, and bulleted or numbered items (to inform) • words like should and must, and words that assign value such as worst and best (to influence, to persuade, or to convince) • frequent use of the word I and emotional words (to express) • use of vivid descriptions, dialogue, rhymes, drama, or humor (to entertain) Step 2: Look for the response that most closely matches the general purpose you have identified. Copyright © Holt McDougal. All rights reserved. 3 Language Arts Test Prep Workbook, Grade 8 Reading Test Tips, continued Using Context Clues As you read a selection in a reading test, you may discover that the author uses unfamiliar words. One way to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to use context clues. A word’s context is made up of the words and sentences around it. Use the following steps to answer questions about context clues in a selection: Step 1: Look at the context of the unfamiliar word. See if the words and sentences around it provide clues to the word’s meaning. Step 2: Use the context clues to make a guess at the unfamiliar word’s meaning. Step 3: Check your definition by inserting it in the passage in place of the unfamiliar word. Identifying Point of View or Bias Follow these steps to answer questions about the author’s point of view or biases: Step 1: Determine whether the writer uses more positive words or more negative words. Step 2: Try to answer the question in your own words. Step 3: Look for the choice that best matches your own answer. Summarizing a Text Follow these steps to choose the best answer to a summary question: Step 1: Look for the main idea and the most important supporting details as you read the passage slowly and carefully. Step 2: Consider every answer choice, eliminating those that restate a single detail from the passage, make a general statement about

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