Five Tricky ELA Exam Questions Your Students Need to Master

Some questions are easier than others on the ELA state exam. Here are five of the trickiest questions that appear and reappear on the ELA exam. We explain why they are tricky and how to help your students master them. 

FREQUENT QUESTION 1: How do a character’s actions most contribute to the development of the theme or central idea? 

WHY IT’S DIFFICULT:  1. Most adults would find it difficult to explain how a character’s actions contribute to the story’s overall message. Teach this skill through a concrete example. Let’s take the story,  Thank You Ma’m. The woman in the story feeds the young boy who tried to rob her instead of taking him to jail. This character’s merciful action contributes to the story’s theme of forgiveness and second chances. Practice having students connect character’s  actions to themes with several familiar stories until they have the hang of it. 

Secondly, this question is challenging because It’s a three-step question. First, a student must find the theme or central idea. Then, a student must  find the character’s actions. Last, a student must figure out how those actions contribute to the development of the theme or central idea. 

Making it even more complicated is the fact that we tend to oversimplify  “theme” as “lesson learned”. Especially after grade 4, we would be better off defining it as the story’s overall message or meaning. This is important because students may be looking for a “moral of the story” where there is none. In many stories, the theme is not a “moral” but instead an observation about life or human nature.

And finally, the question’s use of “most” means that there is more than one logical answer choice. 

MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS CAN:

1. Connect a character’s actions to the overall meaning of the story. Ask: What is the problem? What is the solution? How does the problem get solved? And so...how do the character’s actions contribute to the overall meaning of the story? Connecting the dots in this way will help students make the intellectual leaps required by this question. 

2.  Recognize that questions worded in this way require two or three steps to answer.

3.  Complete each step in the right order. (They can learn this by practice). 

4. Define “theme” as what the overall story means or what its message is. 

5. Compare one logical answer choice against another to arrive at the best answer choice. This skill requires careful rereading of the wording of the question and/or passage.  Often students will make a logical, but wrong choice because they have not given sufficient attention to the wording of the question/passage. Again, this skill can be developed with targeted practice.

FREQUENT QUESTION 2: What does this sentence suggest about ___________? 

WHY IT’S DIFFICULT: 1.   “Suggest” is a sophisticated word that intimidates students. 2. This type of question requires an inference. A common error is that students look for a literal answer when they should be making an inference.

MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS CAN REPHRASE THIS QUESTION AS: 

What is this sentence telling you about __________---even if it doesn’t come out and “say it”?

Give students lots of practice making inferences. This does not always need to be done with texts. It can be done with paintings and photographs, as well, for a fun and interesting way to do test prep without yet another passage. Keep in mind that many children are not confident about making inferences and so we have to actively help them develop this skill. We also need them to develop metacognitive awareness, ie: How do you know that when a person enters the classroom soaking wet that it is probably raining outside? Have children verbalize connecting the dots that allow them to make an inference---even if the inference seems obvious. 

FREQUENT QUESTION 3: What do paragraphs 9 and 10 most contribute to the article? 

Which can also be worded this way:  Which important idea does the author develop in paragraphs 9 and 10?

WHY IT’S DIFFICULT:  It’s requiring the student to synthesize the paragraphs it refers to  and generate one main idea for the paragraphs under discussion---not  a main idea for just one paragraph. Students often need lots of practice being able to do this. (Quick jots can really help here! Ask them to put their quick jots for the paragraphs together and voila: the main idea of the paragraphs!)

MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS CAN REPHRASE THIS QUESTION AS: 

What is the main point of these paragraphs? How do they connect to the central idea of the entire article?

FREQUENT QUESTION 4: Which detail would be most important to include in a summary of the story/article? 

WHY IT’S DIFFICULT:  1. Many students have trouble identifying the key points in a story or article. They get lost in the details. 2. Many students are not able to distinguish between a summary and a retelling.

MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS CAN: 

1. Generate short and sweet summaries of passages they’ve read. Summaries should be no longer than four or five sentences. The best way to get them to summarize effectively is to practice it often---limiting them to 3-5 sentences. 

2. Identify key points in an article or story and distinguish them from details. 

3. In fiction, a summary can simply be the problem, the solution and the lesson learned.  

4. Understand the difference between a summary and a retelling.  Summaries are brief and cover main points only. A retelling is telling the story all over again in your own words. Have them practice doing both a summary and a retelling so that they get the hang of the distinctions between them.

FREQUENT QUESTION 5: How does the author most develop Grandma’s point of view in the story? Which can also be worded this way: How is the point of view of a certain character revealed?

WHY IT’S DIFFICULT:  1. Students have to recognize which definition of POV is intended here: is it the narrative voice? Is it the attitude of the character toward an event , person or issue?  2. Students need to know HOW an author might develop a character’s point of view. (Answer: through their actions and words/thoughts) 3. The inclusion of “most” means that there is more than one logical answer choice.

MAKE SURE YOUR STUDENTS CAN: 

1. Figure out which definition of POV is meant by analyzing the context of the question and the story. (They will only be able to do this if you practice this skill with them on several passages)  

2. Identify the different techniques an author has at her disposal for conveying POV. These include: a) what a character says to other characters b) showing what the character is thinking through presenting an interior monologue c) using third person limited narration d) descriptions of what the character thinks, says and does.