SAT Reading Test Oakland Schools 2015 The College

SAT Reading Test Oakland Schools © 2015 The College Board

A Closer Look at the Reading Test ► 65 minutes to answer 52 questions ► Reading across 500 – 750 words per passage or paired set ► Some questions require the reader to look across two passages ► U. S. and World Literature (20%) 1 passage; 10 -11 Questions ► History/Social Studies (40%) 2 passages, or 1 passage and 1 pair; 10 -11 Questions each ► Science (40%) 2 passages, or 1 passage and 1 pair; 10 -11 Questions each ► Readers will have to read graphs with high data density in History/Social Studies and/or Science 2 © 2015 The College Board

Rhetorical Question Types Analyzing word choice author’s choice of words, phrases, and language patterns to influence meaning, tone, and style Analyzing text structure describing how author shapes and organizes a text and how the parts of the passage contribute to the whole text Analyzing point of view recognizing point of view and how affects the content and style of the passage Analyzing purpose determining main rhetorical aim of a passage or a part of passage Analyzing arguments examining claims, counterclaims, reasoning, and evidence 3 © 2015 The College Board

Analyzing Word Choice– Question Types A. Students will determine the meaning of vocabulary in context B. Students will analyze word choice rhetorically--focus less on definitions and more on the rhetorical purpose, effect, or impact that particular words, phrases, and language patterns (such as repetition) have on the meaning, style, and tone of a passage. General Vocabulary Information ► Vocabulary is important in all subjects ► Tier 2 vocabulary on SAT– saunter vs. walk ► Text Complexity– ranges between 9 th - first-year college level I 4 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Analyzing Words in Context But it’s not only linguistic differences that make this transition hard. The way a person speaks is just a small part of the social currency that determines who is privileged and who is not. When Lisa Faison, 15, started at her elite private school, she quickly learned that it wasn’t “normal” in her school community to have no Internet at home. “We can’t afford it, ” she shrugs -- an unfamiliar concept in this world of luxury cars, high-end vacations, and school tuition that costs upwards of $20, 000 a year. Based on the context, the word currency most probably means… A. Money B. Exchange C. Community D. Expression 5

Sample Question: Analyzing Words Rhetorically “My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution. ” The main rhetorical effect of the series of three phrases in lines 5 -6 reprinted above (the diminution, the subversion, the destruction) is to A) convey with increasing intensity the seriousness of the threat Jordan sees to the Constitution. B) clarify that Jordan believes the Constitution was first weakened, then sabotaged, then broken. C) indicate that Jordan thinks the Constitution is prone to failure in three distinct ways. D) propose a three-part agenda for rescuing the Constitution from the current crisis. 6 © 2015 The College Board

Analyzing Text Structure Question type spans from easy to difficult. Two basic forms: Easy: reader is asked to characterize in some way the overall structure of the passage. (e. g. cause-effect, sequence, or problem-solution). Difficult: reader is asked to track how the structure shifts over course of the passage, requiring the answer to be in two or more parts of the passage. 7 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Analyzing Text Structure “Teenagers… might not be needing their social networks in the way that you or I as adults might really need our social networks, ” Emily White, author of the book “Lonely: Learning to Live With Solitude, ” told Op-Talk. When she and her spouse separated, she said, “I needed help in all sorts of ways, and if that help hadn’t been there I would’ve felt lonely, whereas if I was 16 and you asked me after drama class whether my social support network mattered a lot to me, my answer might have been no. ” She also floated a potential explanation for the finding that students’ self-reported loneliness dropped even as social network isolation increased. Environmentalists, she said, sometimes use the term “environmental amnesia. ” “What it means is that every generation is born into a more degraded ecosystem, ” she explained, “and they take that degraded ecosystem as their baseline, and they adjust to it. ” Maybe teenagers today have a sort of “social amnesia” — “I’m wondering if these high-school students have had weaker support networks their whole lives, and so they’re reporting less loneliness because that’s what they’re used to. ” 8

Sample Question: Analyzing Text Structure, Cont. How does Emily White explain the fact that teenagers face increased social isolation yet report less loneliness? A. She argues that there is no connection between social isolation and loneliness B. She gives the example of separating from her spouse to demonstrate that teens don’t feel loneliness the way adults do C. She claims students do not need social networks to get over loneliness D. She uses a cross-disciplinary example to demonstrate that teens don’t understand loneliness and support the way older generations do 9

Analyzing Point of View ü Question goes beyond just recognizing whether in first or third person omniscient. ü Includes the idea of stance or perspective of the author, narrator, or speaker (e. g. attitude, bias). ü Question does NOT just happen with literary passages BUT also informational passages. ü Question usually has embedded stem such as perspective or point of view. 10 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Analyzing Point of View Every day seems to turn up opportunities to abuse science in new and perverse ways, especially when it comes to health. You open a newspaper or news site, and you read about a health claim making the rounds: a diet that will give you the energy of a teenager, an exercise routine that will elongate your legs, a policy that will protect Americans from scary viruses. Many of these claims — even the ones that come from the lips of the most esteemed doctors and public officials — aren't backed by any good evidence. Some even run in the opposite direction of what the best-available evidence tells us. In the interest of the correcting the record, we rounded up the most egregious abuses of health science in 2014. 11

Sample Question: Analyzing Point of View, Cont. The author’s perspective in this piece is that of… A. A social reformer on a crusade B. A medical professional dispensing advice C. A scholar exposing bedrocks of hypocrisy D. An observer interested in scientific integrity 12

Analyzing Purpose Questions focus on text structure asking the reader to think abstractly about the text—NOT just understanding what the text says BUT also what the author is trying to achieve. Consider main purpose/function of the whole passage or of a significant part of the passage (multiple paragraphs). Question stem usually contains “purpose” or “function” and answer choices often begin with rhetorically focused verbs (criticize, support, present, or introduce). 13 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Analyzing Purpose And then there are the issues of quality and value, which are similarly complex. As you know, when deciding whether it’s worth sending their girls to school, parents aren’t just asking themselves, will this be a good experience for my daughter, they’re calculating what those school fees will mean for their family’s food budget, they’re contemplating the loss of household help that is critical to the survival of that family. So they want to see real evidence that their daughter is learning real, marketable skills –- things like literacy, numeracy, vocational skills that will help her provide for herself and, ultimately, her family. That’s the kind of bar that we need to clear as we move forward. Because in our work to educate girls, especially adolescent girls, we’re often asking families to do what seems to be in the exact opposite of their daughters’ and their families’ best interests. Often, we’re asking them to change or disregard some of their most strongly held values and traditions. So, yes, we need more infrastructure. We need more resources. And, yes, we need more good laws and policies -– those are absolutely the necessary building blocks for change. But we also need buy-in from those families and those communities. We need parents to actually believe that their daughters are as worthy of an education as their sons, and that sending girls to school is a good investment for their future. And that might take some real effort on the ground to actually understand people’s concerns, to gain their trust, to determine what resources they need to make the sacrifice of educating their daughters. 14

Sample Question: Analyzing Purpose, Cont. What is First Lady Obama’s purpose in giving this talk at the Brookings Institute in December 2014? A. To inform the nation about a major problem facing girls and women worldwide B. To criticize the mishandling of an international crisis C. To spur greater involvement among key players poised to redress the issue of girls’ neglected educations worldwide D. To persuade the members of this institute to contribute funds for the amelioration of this issue 15

Analyzing Arguments ü Argumentative passages usually including 1 or more claims, use of reasoning, evidence, and stylistic/persuasive elements. ü Questions are much like questions asking about main idea or theme: have to decide on primary claim (main point) and distinguish that claim from secondary assertions (minor points) and details. ü Question stems use words and concepts such as: claim, counterclaims, reason, and evidence. 16 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Analyzing Arguments In a way, to be indifferent to. . . suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony. One does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a beginning; it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor -- never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees -- not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own. Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. And this is one of the most important lessons of this outgoing century's wide-ranging experiments in good and evil. 17

Sample Question: Analyzing Arguments, Cont. What is the reasoning behind Elie Weisel’s claim that indifference is the greatest evil? A. Indifference is a sin and a punishment B. Indifference denies the humanity of others C. Indifference benefits the aggressor D. Indifference is more dangerous than anger and hatred 18

Command of Evidence – Reading Test ü Understand use evidence in reading, writing, and math in a broad array of contexts ü Determine the best textual support for the answer to another question ü For every passage students will have to answer at least 1 question requiring a quote from the text passage that best supports the answer. ü Some passages will be paired with informational graphics, requiring students to integrate info from both the text passage and graphic in order to answer question. 19 © 2015 The College Board

Reading Test – Command of Evidence He had taken to the girl from the first day, when he had driven over to the Flats to meet her, and she had smiled and waved to him from the train, crying out, “You must be Ethan!” as she jumped down with her bundles, while he reflected, looking over her slight person: “She don’t look much on housework, but she ain’t a fretter, anyhow. ” But it was not only that the coming to his house of a bit of hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth. The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her. She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will. 1. The description in the first paragraph indicates that what Ethan values most about Mattie is her (A) fitness for farm labor. (B) vivacious youth. (C) receptive nature. (D) freedom from worry. 20 © 2015 The College Board

Reading Test – Command of Evidence, Cont. Mattie Silver had lived under Ethan’s roof for a year, and from early morning till they met at supper he had frequent chances of seeing her; but no moments in her company were comparable to those when, her arm in his, and her light step flying to keep time with his long stride, they walked back through the night to the farm. He had taken to the girl from the first day, when he had driven over to the Flats to meet her, and she had smiled and waved to him from the train, crying out, “You must be Ethan!” as she jumped down with her bundles, while he reflected, looking over her slight person: “She don’t look much on housework, but she ain’t a fretter, anyhow. ” But it was not only that the coming to his house of a bit of hopeful young life was like the lighting of a fire on a cold hearth. The girl was more than the bright serviceable creature he had thought her. She had an eye to see and an ear to hear: he could show her things and tell her things, and taste the bliss of feeling that all he imparted left long reverberations and echoes he could wake at will. 2. Which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question? (A) Lines 1 -4 (“Mattie. . . farm”) (B) Lines 4 -8 (“He had. . . anyhow”) (C) Lines 8 -9 (“But it. . . hearth”) (D) Lines 11 -13 (“She had. . . will”) CONTENT: Information and Ideas / Citing Textual Evidence 21 © 2015 The College Board

Command of Evidence – Reading Test ü Retain, add, revise, or delete information and ideas in a text ü Interpret graphics and correct errors in the accompanying passages (possibly across multiple graphics) ü Selected response questions only – no actual writing 22 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Command of Graphic Evidence [. . . ] Transportation planners perform critical work within the broader field of urban and regional planning. As of 2010, there were approximately 40, 300 urban and regional planners employed in the United States. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts steady job growth in this field, projecting that 16 percent of new jobs in all occupations will be related to urban and regional planning. Population growth and concerns about environmental sustainability are expected to spur the need for transportation planning professionals. 23 © 2015 The College Board

Sample Question: Command of Graphic Evidence, Cont. Which choice completes the sentence with accurate data based on the above graph? A) NO CHANGE B) warning, however, that job growth in urban and regional planning will slow to 14 percent by 2020. C) predicting that employment of urban and regional planners will increase 16 percent between 2010 and 2020. D) indicating that 14 to 18 percent of urban and regional planning positions will remain unfilled. 24 © 2015 The College Board