Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC) Reading (English Language Arts - Reading) Syllabus

Reading (English Language Arts - Reading) syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Reading (English Language Arts - Reading) in Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Reading Informational Text

   5 topics

   • Determining Central Ideas and Supporting Details
     • Identifying the main idea of a passage
     • Distinguishing major from minor supporting details
     • Tracing how a central idea develops across paragraphs
   • Summarizing and Paraphrasing
     • Objective summary without personal opinion
     • Condensing multi-paragraph text accurately
   • Text Structure and Organization
     • Cause and effect, problem and solution
     • Compare and contrast, sequence, description
     • Effect of structure on meaning and emphasis
   • Author's Purpose and Point of View
     • Distinguishing purpose: to inform, persuade, explain
     • Recognizing rhetorical stance and tone
   • Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions
     • Using explicit textual evidence to support inferences
     • Predicting implied outcomes
2. 2

   Reading Literary Text

   5 topics

   • Theme and Central Message
     • Identifying theme through character and plot
     • Tracing theme development over a text
   • Character, Setting, and Plot Analysis
     • Character motivation and change
     • Conflict types and resolution
     • Role of setting in shaping events
   • Point of View and Narration
     • First-person, third-person limited, and omniscient
     • Effect of narrator reliability and perspective
   • Figurative Language and Literary Devices
     • Metaphor, simile, personification, symbolism
     • Imagery, irony, and foreshadowing
   • Word Choice and Connotation in Literature
     • Denotation versus connotation
     • How diction shapes mood and tone
3. 3

   Vocabulary and Language in Context

   4 topics

   • Context Clues
     • Definition, synonym, antonym, and example clues
     • Inferring meaning from surrounding sentences
   • Word Parts and Morphology
     • Common Greek and Latin roots
     • Prefixes and suffixes and their effect on meaning
   • Multiple-Meaning Words and Nuance
     • Selecting the correct meaning for context
     • Shades of meaning among related words
   • Figurative versus Literal Meaning
     • Idioms and figurative expressions
     • Distinguishing literal from non-literal usage
4. 4

   Analyzing Arguments and Evaluating Evidence

   4 topics

   • Identifying Claims and Reasoning
     • Locating the central claim or thesis
     • Mapping reasons that support a claim
   • Evaluating Relevance and Sufficiency of Evidence
     • Distinguishing strong from weak support
     • Identifying unsupported assertions
   • Recognizing Logical Fallacies and Bias
     • Overgeneralization and false cause
     • Loaded language and emotional appeals
   • Distinguishing Fact from Opinion
5. 5

   Integrating and Comparing Multiple Texts

   3 topics

   • Comparing Two Texts on the Same Topic
     • Conflicting accounts and emphasis
     • Differing authorial conclusions
   • Synthesizing Information Across Sources
   • Interpreting Visual and Quantitative Information in Text
     • Reading charts, tables, and diagrams within passages
     • Connecting graphics to the written argument

Reading (English Language Arts - Reading) flashcards for Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC)

19 of 63 cards from the Reading (English Language Arts - Reading) deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is the central idea (main idea) of a text?

   The most important point or overarching message the author wants to communicate about the topic; the controlling thought that the supporting details develop and explain.

2. What are supporting details, and what role do they play relative to the central idea?

   Specific facts, examples, statistics, reasons, or descriptions that explain, prove, or develop the central idea; they answer who, what, where, when, why, and how.

3. What is a useful strategy for determining the central idea of an informational passage?

   Identify the topic, note what is repeated or emphasized, examine the title and topic sentences, and ask what single point all the details together support.

4. How does a central idea differ from a topic?

   A topic is the general subject stated in a word or phrase (e.g., 'pollution'), while a central idea is a complete statement making a point about that topic (e.g., 'Pollution threatens urban water supplies').

5. What is a summary?

   A brief, objective restatement of a text's main idea and most important supporting points in your own words, leaving out minor details, examples, and personal opinion.

6. How does paraphrasing differ from summarizing?

   Paraphrasing restates a specific passage in your own words at roughly the same length to clarify meaning, while summarizing condenses a whole text to its essentials and is much shorter than the original.

7. What three qualities should an effective summary have?

   It should be accurate (faithful to the original), concise (shorter than the source), and objective (free of the summarizer's own opinions or added information).

8. Why must paraphrasing use both new words and new sentence structure?

   Changing only a few synonyms while keeping the original syntax is considered plagiarism; true paraphrase reworks the wording and structure while preserving the original meaning.

9. What is text structure?

   The organizational pattern an author uses to arrange ideas and information in a text, such as cause-effect, compare-contrast, chronological, problem-solution, or description.

10. List five common informational text structures.

    Chronological/sequence, cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, and description/main idea with details.

11. What signal words indicate a cause-and-effect text structure?

    Because, since, therefore, as a result, consequently, due to, thus, so, leads to, and reasons why.

12. What signal words indicate a compare-and-contrast text structure?

    Similarly, likewise, both, in the same way (comparison); however, on the other hand, whereas, unlike, in contrast, but (contrast).

13. What signal words indicate a chronological or sequential structure?

    First, next, then, after, before, finally, meanwhile, later, and specific dates or times.

14. What is the author's purpose, and what are the three broad categories?

    The reason an author writes a text; the three main purposes are to persuade, to inform, and to entertain (often remembered as PIE).

15. What is an author's point of view in an informational text?

    The author's attitude, perspective, or stance toward the subject, revealed through word choice, tone, and which details are emphasized or omitted.

16. How can a reader determine an author's purpose?

    Examine the text type, tone, and word choice; ask whether the author is giving facts (inform), trying to change opinion or action (persuade), or telling a story for enjoyment (entertain).

17. What is an inference?

    A logical conclusion a reader draws by combining explicit textual evidence with prior knowledge to understand something the author implies but does not directly state.

18. What two ingredients combine to produce a sound inference?

    Textual evidence (clues stated in the passage) plus the reader's background knowledge or reasoning; the conclusion must be supported by the text, not merely guessed.

19. How does a conclusion differ from an inference?

    An inference is an implied meaning read between the lines during reading; a conclusion is a broader judgment or decision reached after weighing all the evidence and inferences in the text.

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