Transcription
CHSPE TestStudy GuideCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.1
Table of ContentsCHSPE TEST RESOURCES. 4READING COMPREHENSION. 5STRATEGY 1: FLYING OVER THE PASSAGE . 5STRATEGY 2: CREATING A TENTATIVE SUMMARY . 6STRATEGY 3: OPENINGS AND ENDINGS . 7STRATEGY 4: USING KITCHEN LOGIC . 7STRATEGY 5: GETTING INTO THE AUTHOR’S MIND . 8STRATEGY 6: EMOTIONAL WORDS . 8STRATEGY 7: FINDING THE KEY WORDS . 9STRATEGY 8: MAKING PROPER INFERENCES . 11STRATEGY 9: APPLYING IDEAS FOR GENERALIZATIONS . 12STRATEGY 10: USING CONTEXT CLUES . 12STRATEGY 11: BREAKING DOWN PASSAGE ORGANIZATION . 13STRATEGY 12: FIRST WORD ANALYSIS . 15STRATEGY 13: UNDERSTANDING THE INTIMIDATION. 15STRATEGY 14: FINDING YOUR OPTIMAL PACE . 16STRATEGY 15: DON’T BE A PERFECTIONIST. 18STRATEGY 16: FACTUALLY CORRECT, BUT ACTUALLY WRONG . 19STRATEGY 17: DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS . 19STRATEGY 18: EXTRANEOUS INFORMATION . 20LANGUAGE . 21STRATEGY 1: APOSTROPHES . 21Possessive Nouns . 21Possessive Personal Pronouns vs. Contractions . 21STRATEGY 2: COMMA ERRORS . 22STRATEGY 3: PROBLEMS WITH REFERENCES . 24STRATEGY 4: PROBLEMS WITH AGREEMENT . 26STRATEGY 5: LACK OF PARALLELISM . 29STRATEGY 6: MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS . 30MATHEMATICS. 35NUMBER TYPES . 35Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.2
Integers, Odd and Even Numbers, Prime Numbers, Digits. 35ADDITION AND MULTIPLICATION OF ODD AND EVEN NUMBERS . 35PERCENT . 36Percent less than 100 . 36Percent Greater than 100 . 36Percent less than 1 . 36Percent Increase/Decrease. 37AVERAGE . 37WEIGHTED AVERAGE . 38Average Speed . 39PROPERTIES OF SIGNED NUMBERS . 39FACTORING. 40PROBABILITY . 40GEOMETRIC FIGURES . 41GEOMETRIC SKILLS AND CONCEPTS . 43Properties of Parallel Lines . 43Angle Relationships . 44Side Relationships. 45AREA AND PERIMETER . 47Rectangles. 47Circles . 47Triangles . 48VOLUME . 48COORDINATE GEOMETRY . 49WRITING TASK. 51STRATEGY 1: PLANNING STAGE . 51STRATEGY 2: STICKING TO THE PLAN. 51STRATEGY 3: REVIEWING THE PLAN . 52STRATEGY 4: BRAINSTORMING SMART . 52STRATEGY 5: MAKING THE CUTS . 54STRATEGY 6: ENDING AT THE START . 55STRATEGY 7: STAYING CONSISTENT . 56STRATEGY 8: MAINTAINING THE FLOW. 57STRATEGY 9: BACKING UP YOUR POINTS . 57STRATEGY 10: USING PROPER GRAMMAR . 58Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.3
STRATEGY 11: WATCHING YOUR VOCABULARY . 59STRATEGY 12: AVOIDING TUNNEL VISION . 60STRATEGY 13: JUST DO IT . 61STRATEGY 14: CONCLUSION IS REVIEW . 62STRATEGY 15: COMMUNICATING REASON, NOT PASSION. 62STRATEGY 16: ANSWERING THE WHY?. 63CHSPE Test ResourcesFree CHSPE Practice Testshttp://www.testprepreview.com/chspe practice.htmFinancial Aid Factshttp://www.finaidfacts.orgScholarship Helphttp://www.scholarshiphelp.orgStudy Tips and Informationhttp://www.studyguidezone.com/resource tips.htmCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.4
Reading ComprehensionThe Reading Comprehension test measures a test taker’s ability tounderstand, analyze and evaluate written passages. The passages willcontain material that will be from a variety of sources and on anumber of different topics.Each of the passages and statements in the Reading Comprehensiontest will be followed by a series of questions covering the content ofthe passage or statement, in which you will have to answer questions,which will demonstrate how well you understand the passages and areable to draw conclusions about the material.Strategy 1: Flying Over the PassageA topic that is hotly debated among test taking circles is whether ornot you should read the reading passages before you read thequestion. One theory is that you can save time if you read thequestions first and then go back and read over the passage. Anothertheory is that you should read the passage first and then go into thequestions. Both theories have their own individual merit and due tothe differences in ability and preferences among test takers, onemethod may work better than another for you.Our recommended theory is the flyover. You want to spend some timeon the passage, at a bare minimum so that you have a general ideaabout what the questions are going to ask and get your mind into theproper mindset for the series of questions. However, you don’t wantto waste too much time on reading the passage, because much of theCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.5
detail will be forgotten by the time you get to the questions anyway.Therefore, you should fly over the passage. You should read it veryquickly for a high-level overview (hence the flyover) understanding ofwhat is contained in the passage.In part, this is a compromise between the theories that gains most ofthe benefits of each. You won’t waste time on the details and yet willhave a general idea of what the passage is about and what to expect.Strategy 2: Creating a Tentative SummaryAfter you’ve finished your flyover of the passage, take a few secondsand compose a tentative mental summary of what you’ve just read.Try to sort out the details you picked up on and arrange them into aloose organizational pattern that describes the passage. Rememberthat your goal in the flyover is not to check it off of a test-taking list ofthings to do. You want there to be some purpose behind the flyoverand having the definite goal of being able to put together a briefmental summary will allow you to maintain some focus and gainbenefit from the flyover – as opposed to just skimming it for the sakeof skimming it without actually picking up on anything.As you begin going through the questions and answer choices, if youget good enough at putting together your mental summaries frompractice, you should be able to eliminate a number of answer choicesthat are immediately contrary to your summary. Note, however that ifyou find yourself without any good answer choices remaining (becauseyou’ve eliminated them all) you obviously had to have eliminated theright answer choice. Don’t hesitate to reopen an answer choice thatCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.6
you’ve already “eliminated” from consideration and reconsider it as apossibility. If you think an answer choice contradicts your initialsummary, you’re probably right, but are not infallible.Strategy 3: Openings and EndingsA main focus of this flyover will be the opening and ending sentencesin each paragraph. These are likely to contain the main ideas of theparagraphs and should be mentally tagged for future reference. Try toremember a vague idea of what the different paragraphs are about,because this will save you time when answering questions later.For the most part, make sure you never try to just answer thequestions from this first flyover. Always try to go back and confirmthe answer, as your memory will play tricks on you and the writers ofthe test questions may deliberately have planted a trap for you –remember that they don’t exactly have your best interests at heart.Strategy 4: Using Kitchen LogicWhen a question asks the test taker to identify a main idea, youshould first focus on the opening and ending sentences of the passageand each individual paragraph. If you can’t find the main idea fromthese key sentences, then ask yourself how you would describe thepassage to someone who had never read it. Which words and phraseswould you use to explain the principle ideas of the passage?This is called “Kitchen Logic” - when you explain something the wayyou would if you were talking to your friends and family, while sittingCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.7
at your kitchen table. So, when faced with identifying the main idea ofa difficult passage, make it easier on yourself by backing away fromthe passage and thinking about it in terms of using easy “kitchenlogic”.Strategy 5: Getting into the Author’s MindA number of questions become much easier when you place yourselfinto the mind of the author of the passage. Ask yourself a fewdifferent questions:“Why did the author write this passage?”“What was the author trying to say?”What angle is the author taking?”“What is the single most important point the author is trying tomake?”Put yourself in the shoes of the author and imagine that you wrote thepassage and try to identify what you were trying to describe and howyou were trying to describe it. If you take on the opinions and ideasexpressed by the author as your own, then it becomes easier toanswer questions that would be easy for the author to answer.Strategy 6: Emotional WordsEach question will be about a different angle of the passage. Forquestions asking about the author’s emotions, find words in thepassage that are adjectives describing emotions.Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.8
So, if a question asks what sort of attitude an author had towards thepassage or subject, then look throughout the passage for attitudewords that might convey a positive or negative attitude. Are wordssuch as brilliant, excited, delightful used, or are words such asdepressive, gloomy, disappointing used?A lot of questions could be answered correctly simply by going throughand circling all the adjectives in a passage. Without looking atanything else except for the adjectives in a passage, most questionsabout attitude or emotion could be answered correctly.Another way of handling these situations is to arrange all of theanswer choices in a list going from most negative to most positive.Example:Question: The author’s attitude on this topic is best described as:A. indignationB. eagernessC. impartialityD. fearNow arrange these in order from negative to positive:( - ) indignation, fear, impartiality, eagerness ( )This will help sort out the different choices and keep you fromoverlooking an answer choice and making an easy mistake.Strategy 7: Finding the Key WordsCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.9
The strategy of finding certain “give-away” words does not only applyto adjectives in questions about emotions or attitude. Many questionsabout specific details will have key words that hold the “key” to findingthe right part of the passage to look in for the answer.Rather than answering based on your memory of the passage, youalways want to have support for your answer choice rooted in aspecific part of the passage. To gain that support, it follows that youhave to identify which part of the passage to look in. While readingback over the entire passage may be the most foolproof method offinding that important part of the passage, it definitely is not the mosttime economical method of finding that part of the passage.A better route is to find key words in the question or answer choicesthat are likely to stand out in the passage and will enable you toquickly narrow your search down. These key words will be nouns orverbs in the question or answer choices. Once you’ve identifiedpossible key words, then you should scan through the passage quicklylooking for either those key words to be repeated in the passage, ortheir synonyms to appear in the passage. Once you find a particularpart of the passage that either has the exact key word repeated or asynonym of the key word, you have probably identified the particularpart of the passage that will contain the support or justification thatyou need to correctly answer the question and will allow you to beconfident in your answer choice selection.One warning that should be made here is that often question writersmay use the exact same word or wording in their answer choices thatare used in the passage, but have done so in such a way as to misleadCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.10
you. So, simply because a particular word or phrase appears in ananswer choice and also appears exactly the same in a passage doesnot make that answer choice correct. Be sure that you reread theanswer choice and consider the context that it is in, to ensure that youare not misled by a cheap trick.In conclusion, always try to connect the question to the right words inthe passage that will allow you to save time in finding the right part ofthe passage to look in for the answer and will give you the key to thecorrect answer choice.Strategy 8: Making Proper InferencesQuestions that ask you to make an inference from the passage willrequire you to use your own personal judgment. Anything directlystated by the author is not an inference. You will need to understandthe main idea of the passage in order to make a proper inferenceabout the author’s intent and mindset.The obvious will not be enough to answer an inference question. Youmust logically deduce what follows from what the author has stated inthe passage. You are looking for what can be inferred by the passage,not what is directly stated in the passage.Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.11
Strategy 9: Applying Ideas for GeneralizationsGeneralization questions are similar to inference questions in that youhave to go beyond what is directly stated in the passage by theauthor. It helps to put yourself again in the author’s shoes. If youwere the author and believed in what you had just written, how wouldyou feel about another similar situation? What would eitherstrengthen or weaken your argument. How would you apply theinformation you have just expressed to a completely differentsituation?Strategy 10: Using Context CluesContext clues are a valuable aide in helping you understand difficultphrases or words in the passage. A number of questions will ask youabout the meaning of words as they are used in a given passage.If you already know the definition of the word, or have somefamiliarity with it, a common mistake is to go with your first impulseand choose the answer that you immediately recognize. However, thereason the test writers may have chosen that particular vocabularyword is because it is used in an unusual context. Therefore, return tothe passage and find where the word is used and make sure that youunderstand how it is being used in the passage.Once you’ve made your choice of a good definition go back again tothe passage and reread that particular section, but mentally replacethe answer choice you’ve chosen for the word being asked about.Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.12
Example:A passage states: “He was notorious for making decisions on the spurof the moment ”Question: Which of the following words, if substituted for the word“notorious” would introduce the LEAST change in the meaning of thesentence?A. evilB. disturbedC. famousD. despisedIf you knew that the most common definition for “notorious” meantbeing known in an unfavorable sense, then you might be tempted tochoose choice A, “evil.”But once you review back over the passage, choice C, “famous” fits inbetter into the context of the sentence of passage. Read the sentenceagain and substitute your chosen answer choice for the word itreplaces. This gives you:““He was famous for making decisions on the spur of the moment ,”which makes sense and is correct.Strategy 11: Breaking Down Passage OrganizationIn trying to understand the author’s perspective, you will sometimesbe asked about how the passage is organized. Many times, theCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.13
simplest way to find the answer is to note how the opening sentence ina passage or paragraph relates to the rest of the passage. How doesthe author’s main idea get developed and broken down into supportingideas and statements?As you go through the answer choices for these organization problems,quiz yourself on each answer choice.Example:Question: Which of the following best describes the organization of theauthor’s discussion of this topic?A. He provides an example – Ask yourself, is there an example inthe question? Don’t work exclusively from your memory. Makesure you can go back and actually find the example in thepassage.B. He makes a comparison – Ask yourself, is there a comparison inthe question? Again, go back to the passage and actually findthe comparison being made and verify that it exists.C. He makes an acknowledgement – Ask yourself, where is theacknowledgement made and to whom?D. He discusses a theory – Ask yourself, which theory is beingdiscussed?After each of these initial questions, remember that it is not enoughfor them simply to be true, they have to answer the question. Simplybecause the author provided an example, doesn’t make choice Acorrect. The example provided may have been to support acomparison that he was making and the comparison may be the mainmethod of organization, which in this case would make answer choiceCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.14
B correct. So always read all the answer choices and only choose theone that is the best, not just the first one you read that is factuallycorrect.Strategy 12: First Word AnalysisWhen asked for main ideas that best summarize the passage, an easystrategy is to look at the first words in each answer choice and withoutlooking at the rest of the answer choice, see if you could make adecision based on those first words alone.Example:Question: Which of the following best explains the author’s primarypurpose?A. dispute B. describe C. condemn D. convince If you know that the passage is fairly neutral about the subject, theneven if you know nothing else, you can probably eliminate the strongerverbs used in answer choices A, C, and D, leaving you with “describe”or answer choice B as being correct.Strategy 13: Understanding the IntimidationThe test writers will generally choose passages that will be completelyforeign to most test takers. You can’t expect the passages to be on atopic with which you have any familiarity. If you do happen to comeCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.15
across a passage that you are familiar with, consider yourself lucky,but don’t plan on that happening.The passages will also frequently be drawn from longer passages inbooks, articles, journals, etc. Therefore, the passage that you will faceon the test may almost seem out of context and as though it begins inthe middle of a thought process. You won’t have a nice title overheadexplaining the general topic being covered but will immediately bethrown into the middle of a strange format that you don’t recognize.Also, while the topics chosen may have originally been interestingreading in their original state, after a particular section is pulled andused for the test passage, it will likely be dry and boring.Getting hit by strange reading topics that you don’t recognize, of whichyou may only have a small part of the original selection, and that aredry and boring can be a bit intimidating if you’re not adequatelyprepared. Just remember that the passages themselves will containall the information necessary to answer the questions and you don’tneed any prior knowledge of the topic in order to succeed and do wellon the test.Strategy 14: Finding your Optimal PaceEveryone reads at a different rate. It will take practice to determinewhat is the optimal rate at which you can read fast and yet absorb andcomprehend the information. This is true for both the flyover that youshould initially conduct and then the subsequent reading you will haveto do as you go through and begin answering the questions. However,Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.16
on the flyover, you are looking for only a surface level knowledge andare not trying to comprehend the minutia of details that will becontained in the passages.You can practice with any form of reading material. Read an article atyour normal pace and then after you’re finished, ask yourself somequestions about what you just read and see how well you cancomprehend. Experiment with reading articles faster and slower andalways gauge how well you comprehended what you read at the end.Train your brain to remember the details and absorb the facts.With practice, you will find the pace that you should maintain on thetest while going back through passages. It should be a comfortablerate. This is not a speed reading exercise. If you have a good pace,and don’t spend too much time on any question, you should have asufficient amount of time to read the different sections of the passagesat a comfortable rate. The two extremes you want to avoid are thedumbfounded mode, in which you are lip reading every wordindividually and mouthing each word as though in a stupor, and theoverwhelmed mode, where you are panicked and are buzzing back andforth through the passage in a frenzy and not comprehendinganything.You must find your own pace that is relaxed and focused, allowing youto have time for every question and give you optimal comprehension.Note that you are looking for optimal comprehension, not maximumcomprehension. If you spent hours on each word and memorized thepassage, you would have maximum comprehension. That isn’t thegoal though, you want to optimize how much you comprehend withCopyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.17
how much time you spend reading. Practice will allow you todetermine that optimal rate.Strategy 15: Don’t be a PerfectionistIf you’re a perfectionist, this may be one of the hardest strategies, andyet one of the most important. The test you are taking is timed, andyou cannot afford to spend too much time on any one question.If you are working on a problem and you’ve got your answer splitbetween two possible answer choices, and you’re going back throughthe passage and reading it over and over again in order to decidebetween the two, you can be in one of the most frustrating situationspossible. You feel that if you just spent one more minute on theproblem, that you would be able to figure the right answer out anddecide between the two. Watch out! You can easily get so absorbedin that problem that you loose track of time, get off track and end upspending the rest of the test playing catch up because of all thewasted time, which may leave you rattled and cause you to miss evenmore questions that you would have otherwise.Therefore, unless you will only be satisfied with a perfect score andyour abilities are in the top .1% strata of test takers, you should notgo into the test with the mindset that you’ve got to get every questionright. It is far better to accept that you will have to guess on somequestions and possibly get them wrong and still have time for everyquestion, than to work on every problem until you’re absolutelyconfident in your answer and then run out of time on the last fewproblems.Copyright StudyGuideZone.com. All rights reserved.18
Strategy 16: Factually Correct, but Actually WrongA favorite ploy of question writers is to write answer choices that arefactually correct on their
the test questions may deliberately have planted a trap for you – remember that they don’t exactly have your best interests at heart. Strategy 4: Using Kitchen Logic When a question asks the test taker to identify a main idea, you should first focus on the opening and ending sentences of the passage and each individual paragraph.File Size: 376KBPage Count: 65Explore further100 CHSPE Practice Test Questions (Practice and increase .www.test-preparation.caCHSPE Practice Test Questions (Prep for the CHSPE Test)www.testprepreview.comCHSPE Practice Test Questions (Prep for the . - Mometrixwww.mometrix.comCHSPE Math - 100 practice questions . - Test Preparationwww.test-preparation.caWhat is the CHSPE? And Should My Kid Take It? Hometown .hometowntohollywood.comTake a CHSPE Practice Test & CHSPE Test Prep - Study.comstudy.comRecommended to you b
