Why do Common Core questions seem so hard?

Common Core questions (Florida FSA questions) focus on the why and the how within stories or articles.  Identifying the various parts of the passage - who, what,  and when - must now be explained.  Questions want to know why the character feels or acts as they do.  Questions want you to connect information from throughout the passage.

And remember ALL the answers come from the story or article.  It does not matter what you learned in class or read elsewhere - only what is included in the passage on the test.  

Sample questions

1. A) How does the author develop the theme of sympathy for others throughout the text?   B) Which detail from the text supports this conclusion?

2. A) How does the main character change?  B)  How does the change affect the plot?

3.  Explain how the author describes Character A. Then, explain how this affects the tone.

April is FSA month in Florida

As Spring arrives in Florida, testing arrives in Florida.  April is the primary month for the Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) in English Language Arts (ELA) and in Mathematics for grades 3 - 12.  The FSA ELA mostly covers reading, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  

The biggest difference with the FSA from previous tests is the interactive nature of the test.  For example,  Part A of the question asks for the main idea of the passage.  Part B asks the student to highlight the sentence or sentences in the passage that support their answer.  There is NO partial credit, so if Part B is blank or wrong, the question is wrong.  Some questions will give a list of events from the passage and students must put them in order.  It might be chronological order or order of importance as related to the story's development or to a character's decision.

There is a practice test available, which allows you to see how the questions may be asked as well as what the questions may require the student to do for the answer.  The test is no longer just multiple choice or short answer.

http://fsassessments.org/students-and-families/practice-tests/

1. Click on the Take the Computer-based Practice Test block.

2. Click Sign In.

3.  Choose your grade level and click Yes.

4. Choose the practice test you want to take.

5.  You then have options that are available to students during the actual test, such as font size and text/background color.  You do not have to choose any of the options.  Click Select.

6. Click Yes on the next screen.

7.  Then follow the instructions.  Moving to the next question is controlled by the Next button at the top of the screen.