We are here for our first lesson. And we have the se t here with evidence based reading and writing. That's what they call it. It's reading comprehension. And what you see in front of you is the first page of a practice test. So let's go over what they're testing you on, it is vital that you understand what they're testing you on and what it's going to look like.

So the evidence based reading and writing, also known as reading comprehension, is a sizable part of the test. There are 47 questions total, you get 60 minutes. And the Testing Service for whatever reason is focused on letting you know that you cannot use a calculator that it should not be on your desk actually can't be on your desk. And so, okay, for reading comprehension, you can't use your calculator. I'm just letting you know what they are going to tell you and why you shouldn't be surprised. And the questions are the ones that are going to be the kind that direct you to To the relevant parts of the passages.

So we're going to take a look at the questions. I'm not going to read the passage to you, you can look at it while we talk about it. And the reading test is the kind of exam where they're going to give you a mix of passages. And they're also going to have some kind of graph, some kind of informational graph or chart. They're going to be between 500 and 750 words long. And you're going to get a range of passages.

You see the one in front of you is an excerpt from Ethan frome. That's by Edith Wharton written over 100 years ago. So that's going to be different than the other kinds of passages which range from historical passages, nonfiction, and then stuff that they call the great global conversation and I'm going to translate that for you and let you know what that means is modern, much more boring texts. That's how they say it. So you're going to get a range from literature excerpts that could be reasonably entertaining. And it will go all the way through to modern, quite dull nonfiction texts.

So that's what they're going to be looking at and testing you on. A couple of other things. They are their goal. And this is the word These are the words that they use are to make sure that you're clear on literature from the past social science. There'll be one of each, there'll also be to science passages. And then there will also be two passages accompanied by one or more graphs.

So they'll have a varied kind of text for you to analyze. So know that going in. They're testing you on and I'm going to use their terms and translate them for you to some degree. command of evidence. That's finding evidence. It's identifying how authors use or don't use evidence and locating the data in the graphic, pretty standard stuff, words and context.

They will, in a way still test you on vocabulary. They're going to ask you how to figure out the meaning of words or phrases in context. And they're also going to ask you how do those words shape the text meaning things like tone, things like feeling and these kind of secondary things connotations, that they're always wondering if you know, and then the analysis of history or social studies that they're talking about also the science stuff that they're seeing if you can analyze that style of text. So the idea is that you have a good grasp of the passage, you can cover some exact style kinds of points, some exacting standards that they've put in for you. Can you see and interpret those And then can you again, they're going to ask you questions on that and you have to choose the right one. So you're going to get an up here in front of you the Ethan frontal passage and let me give you an example of the older style of passage and how you can identify and what you're going to be looking for.

Here you have the first sentence of this olden days passage again over 100 years ago, 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 far now that's just one sentence. That's the introductory sentence to the passage. That's a long sentence. It's grammatically correct commas, semi colons Separating phrases independent and dependent. So you have here and you can tell right away that's an olden days passage from back when they wrote English in a complex and difficult way.

And that's why they're giving you this to read on your test. Very few paragraphs. As a matter of fact, this entire page is only three paragraphs. So you have a couple of choices, you can go through the passage and read it first. That's one way to do it. And the other way is to go to the questions and we'll take a look at those excuse me, folks actually hit the wrong thing there.

And let's get back to Adobe Reader. And let's go to reading comp two because we have here questions. So let's take a look at all of the questions. There are four, and then we'll analyze each one at a time. Question one over the course of the passage, the main focus of the narrative shifts from the and it gives you choices. So main focus is Something that you need to underline number two in the context of the passage, the author's use of the phrase per light step flying to keep time with his long stride.

Lines, five, six, is primarily meant to convey the idea that now the key part of that question is to convey the idea, you need to know what that means underline that part. And then question number three, the description in the first paragraph indicates that what Ethan values most about Maddie is her. And that question is, where will you have to notice it's the description? And then number four, so underlined description in question number three. And then Question number four, you've got which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question. So those are these combo questions that they have in sa T. And this one here, you need to actually be pretty clear with number three.

Before you can of course answer number four This is what the SA t, this latest version of it does, they've got these two questions that are connected at the hip, and you need one for the other. And so that puts the importance of number three, quite high, because without it, you're going to struggle, of course with number four. So let's cover question number one together. And you have the big picture question, what we call these because it says over the course of the passage, the main focus of the narrative shifts from the what, to what? So what we're going to do here is and let me get the writing tool going here. So we can do this together.

Um, we have a, let's see, we have a big picture question. And so we've got two to look at it as a whole these can be kind of a pain. So what you have here is the main focus of the passage. Hold on a minute, some technical difficulties here. I want to make sure I get this right. And I want to make sure that you can see what I'm trying to do.

Pick blue. Okay, main focus. Alright, so the writing is a little weird, but we'll get it done further as we go on that that terrible bit of underlining is what I want you to underline in question because the main focus is one of these big picture questions. Now, if you don't want to do that question first. If you want to go to something more specific, I'd recommend you go to number two, where you can go and hit the lines that they're talking about right away. So I'm going to go through these in just numerical order.

But I want you to think about your test strategy for you personally. If you want to catch the smaller picture, the more detailed questions first, where they give you a line number. And I've done that in my AC t class, the AC T, I do that a lot more. The sh t not so much because the time is more friendly. But the AC t I go to the lines, especially in the reading comprehension, the questions that asked you to go to certain lines, I go to those first. So you could do that here.

There just aren't as many. And the time isn't as serious. And it's not as much pressure on the CT as a CT. So that's up to you. You need to figure out which way you go as a test taker. So this big picture, question the narrative, right?

The narrative shifts from and they give you a couple of things going on, right? They give you reservations, and appreciation. I want you to look at these key words in the answers. They give you ambivalence. Notice it's kind of a vocabulary test right? ambivalence is not an easy word.

And it goes to recognition. So this is, you know, recognized the they're talking about the main focus shifts from what to what? Number three, or I should say choice C, shift from the intensity of feeling to concern. So there, I'm just laying out for you how they have built the answers, the value of character, all the way to switch to rejection. So look at the two opposing things they've got. Over the course of the passage, the main focus goes from what to what?

And each one I've underlined for you the things that they're talking about when it comes to the answers. So this one isn't necessarily super easy. It's a mid level medium question. And the answer after you go through and take a look at the passage, the answer is C. So you've got here the intensity of feeling of character has for another person to the characters concerned that the intensity is not reciprocated. And where you can find that if you go back to the passage and look at lines seven and eight, where it says, quote, like the lightning of a fire on a cold hearth. And you have also the part that we had looked at at the beginning had taken to the girl from the first day.

It's very exciting, very intense to use the word of the test. And he's happy and elated, that they're together. And then what happens is in the last paragraph, there's a change and he sees Maddie with other people with other men, and he's wondering why she's reacting the same way to them. As she did to him. He thought that they had something special and the key line to look at is lying. 62 where it says he sees her happiness as the plane proof of indifference toward him, right?

If she acts like that with others, how would she, you know, she's not being particularly special with him. And then also in line 6566 through 67, two or three gestures, which in his fatuity had thought she kept for him and it's the same thing, even if you don't know what fatuity means. What you have is the idea that he thinks that she's acting excited and fun just for him. And that's not the case. And so he it switches from intensity of feeling to concern that she's not unique to him, and her feelings towards him, or not just for that. Question number two, is in the context of the passage, the author's use of the phrase her life Step flying to time find to keep time with as long stride.

And that's early on, right that we saw that one early in the passage before. And what we've got here is, the key part of the question is convey the idea. So let's do my handy writing tool. You guys, of course, are going to mark your PDFs up, which I've supplied for you in a much better way. And I do this because it's important to look at the key words in the question. And I do this with tutoring clients everywhere, all the time.

If you can identify the keywords in the question. You really can get rid of the traps, you can have a much, much better chance at answering the question correctly, because you can marry you can match you can connect you can link the words in the question to both the words in the passage and the words in the answer. answers, there's always going to be some kind of relationship between those that are correct. You have to follow what I'm saying here. This is the stuff that is separating the people who take the test prepared from those who don't. If you realize there is a relationship synonymous relationship with the words in the question to the ones that are current, the answers that are correct, and the words that are also in the passage, it gives you a clear leg up, it's just the level of difficulty once you understand that part.

So this one here is the convey the idea to show the idea that, um, that you know, the, those words are meant to produce what kind of feeling and so what you've got is her light step flying to keep time, right, so you can have this idea, this imagery, it's English class. So you have to understand imagery and things that are involved in literary techniques and tools. You have Ethan And with Maddie, and she is flying to keep time with his long stride. So they're sharing something special. And so the best choice is going to be something that is in the same tone as what we have here. And those lines so you see God right frustrates that's that's a bad word.

It doesn't doesn't mix with the idea that they're flying to keep time right she's trying to stay with him. It doesn't have the tone of being frustrated or anything bad. I'm Maddie strives to match the speed at which Ethan works well works is kind of a weird word maybe walks but striving and pushing it doesn't fit the happy tone of the passage. And then you have Maddie and Ethan playfully competing with each other, which is decent. But Ethan and Maddie sharks Very powerful enthusiasm is the best answer. And you have that choice A for number two, because that's exactly what it is primarily meant to convey this idea that they are enthusiastic and together.

Alright, so let's go to question three right now remember three and four are in a combo. So we're going to look at them that way. The number three, remember the key words that we were talking about before, we have the description as a key word to use. And we're also looking at the first paragraph. So have the PDF there in front of you. And you can use it and mark up the text all you want.

I highly recommend marking up the text, especially if it's got notes from the way we talk together. The things I mentioned to you little bits and little clues that can help you on test day. Remember what you're also building here is a study sheet. For lack of a better description for lack of a better word, you're building a study sheet with this. So the description in the first paragraph, and is going to indicate that Ethan values most what Ethan values most about me. And here you have, one of the things I like to do is look at the first word of each answer.

So they're all pretty good. Sometimes there's four. Sometimes of the four you'll have three positive words and one terrible one. Um, you have some ones that don't make sense to her fitness for farming. We're like, oh, like she's a like, she's an ox. Like she's cattle.

And she's good for farmland. Well, she'll be she'll be good behind a plow. That that's kind of silly. Um, vicious youth by vicious is a good word. active and lively. Okay, B has potential see receptive name.

Feature and I think that one is also pretty good. Freedom from worry is not so good freedom from worry is kind of just too Cavalier like it's too It's not serious. So you get rid of A and D. When you look at the first paragraph nine a is silly a is absurd. D freedom from worry does not fit what he would value in her. What does work best is choice C, receptive nature and what you have in that first paragraph and you like the ones that say you know where exactly to look. And so you could have done this one first if it were your nature on the test.

It's not the not the craziest idea. It's actually a pretty good one. But it mentions that her her qualities it mentions that she's friendly, right, it actually says smiled and waved. It also mentions how she's an eager young lady jumped up and down with her bundles. And so it also mentions that, and this is a long sentence in the passage where it says, and I believe it's line 17. So take a look at your PDF and see what you've gotten underline this part.

She had an eye to see 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. Now, it's a long way of saying that she is receptive that she's someone who will look and listen and learn from where she is, and from who she's with. And that's really the best one. That's where the receptive word comes in. And the description here, right as we underlined description, in our question, is the key word in the question.

So once you've gone through that carefully, you have to because Question four is dependent upon question three. So here, you have Now some you've got to look at where you have which choice for number four, which choice provides the best evidence for the answer to the previous question. So the previous one number three has to be done carefully because they want the best evidence for it. Okay, let's give them what they want. So now you have arm Where are you going to look and see it best. And you know, we already had looked at the best places to look for it, where if she is receptive.

You can see in lines 17 through 21, which is the tail end of the paragraph, the quote that I had read to you, and that's really the key that what is valued most is not her happiness or vibration or feeling free or any of these things. It is her ability to learn and see and listen and hear and all of these wonderful things that go on with Maddie. So This is the stuff that they're taking a look at and checking out to see if you got it. So that's the first passage with the four questions. We'll continue with passage two in just a second.