CAASPP CAASPP Informational Text 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What does it mean to 'trace and evaluate an argument' in an informational text on the CAASPP?
- Copy the argument word for word
- Follow the author's claims and assess whether evidence logically supports them (Correct answer)
- Ignore details and focus only on the conclusion
- Rewrite the argument in a different genre
Correct answer: Follow the author's claims and assess whether evidence logically supports them
Tracing and evaluating arguments requires following the logical progression of claims and assessing the quality and relevance of supporting evidence.
Question 2: In informational text, what is the difference between explicit information and inferred information?
- Explicit is hidden; inferred is obvious
- Explicit is directly stated; inferred is concluded from clues in the text (Correct answer)
- Both are directly stated in the text
- Inferred information is always wrong
Correct answer: Explicit is directly stated; inferred is concluded from clues in the text
Explicit information is stated directly, while inferred information requires the reader to draw conclusions from textual evidence.
Question 3: A CAASPP question asks students to identify how an author uses evidence to support a claim. What should students look for?
- Sentences that are the longest
- Facts, statistics, examples, or expert opinions that back up the author's claim (Correct answer)
- Sentences that appear in italics only
- The opening and closing sentences of the article
Correct answer: Facts, statistics, examples, or expert opinions that back up the author's claim
Supporting evidence includes facts, statistics, examples, and expert opinions that validate the author's central claim.
Question 4: What is 'domain-specific vocabulary' in informational text, as assessed by California's ELA standards?
- Slang words used casually
- Specialized terms related to a particular field or subject area (Correct answer)
- Words that appear in every text
- The most common words in the English language
Correct answer: Specialized terms related to a particular field or subject area
Domain-specific vocabulary consists of technical or specialized terms used in a specific field, and understanding them is key to comprehending informational texts.
Question 5: If a student reads an informational text and the author includes a graph, what should the student do?
- Skip the graph and read only the words
- Integrate information from the graph with the written text to build full understanding (Correct answer)
- Assume the graph and text always contradict each other
- Copy the graph into their notebook
Correct answer: Integrate information from the graph with the written text to build full understanding
Integrating visual data like graphs with written content deepens comprehension and is explicitly tested in California's informational reading standards.
Question 6: Which of the following is an example of a primary source document that students might analyze in a CAASPP informational text task?
- A textbook summary of the Civil War
- A letter written by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War (Correct answer)
- A documentary film about the Civil War
- An encyclopedia entry about the Civil War
Correct answer: A letter written by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War
Primary sources are original documents created at the time of the event, such as letters, speeches, and diaries, and are a key focus of California's history/ELA standards.
CAASPP CAASPP Informational Text 2
What does it mean to 'trace and evaluate an argument' in an informational text on the CAASPP?