CONTENTS

Greetings from the Author ii

PART I THE BASICS: GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE WRITING TEST 1

Overview of the Writing Test 3

The Essay 5

Multiple-Choice Questions 7

PART II DRESS REHEARSAL: A SAMPLE TEST 13

Sample Test 16

Answer Key 31

Performance Evaluation Chart 38

Conversion Table 39

Answer Explanations 40

PART III HOW TO WRITE AN ESSAY IN TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES 49

The Essay-Writing Process 51

Pre-Writing: Getting Set to Write 52

Reading and Analyzing the Topic Carefully 52

Narrowing the Topic Mercilessly 53

Choosing a Main Idea 55

Gathering and Arranging Ideas Purposefully 57

Composing: Putting Words on Paper 59

Writing a Gripping Introduction 59

Building an Essay with Paragraphs 62

Using Plain and Precise Language 72

Varying Sentence Structure 77

Ending Your Essay 83

Editing and Proofreading: The Final Touches 85

Editing for Clarity 85

Editing for Interest 91

Checking for Standard Usage and Mechanics 99

Review 105

Answer Key to Practice Exercises 105

PART IV ESSAYS FOR EVALUATION 115

How Essays Are Judged and Graded 117

Guidelines for Evaluation 117

Essays for Evaluation 118

Essay Topics for Practice 129

PART V MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 131

Introduction 133

Improving Sentences Questions 133

Sample Sentence Improvement Questions 134

Problems in Style and Expression 136

Problems in Sentence Structure 139

Problems in Standard Usage 152

Identifying Sentence Errors 165

Errors in Expression and Style 166

Errors in Grammar and Usage 176

Improving Paragraphs Questions 183

Answering the Questions 184

How to Answer Improving Paragraphs

Questions 186

Answer Key to Practice Exercises 195

PART VI TESTS FOR PRACTICE 201

Practice Test A 203

Answer Key 219

Performance Evaluation Chart 222

Conversion Table 223

Answer Explanations 224

PracticeTest B 231

Answer Key 247

Performance Evaluation Chart 250

Conversion Table 251

Answer Explanations 252

Practice Test C 259

Answer Key 275

Performance Evaluation Chart 278

Conversion Table 279

Answer Explanations 280

Practice Test D 287

Answer Key 303

Performance Evaluatio