HERE IS OUR SAMPLE RESPONSE

8.

Here is our sample response:

In the passage above the author would rather live in the country than in the city. Two impor-

tant reasons are that loud noises make people nervous, and in the city, people do not treat others with

respect and dignity. The author would rather live in a place where people treat each other with dig-

nity and compassion and where there is peace and quiet.

This short written response, also called a short-constructed response, is often graded on a four-point scale.

To get four points you have to answer the question completely, accurately, and correctly. The short answer

above would get four points.

But the following answer would only get one point.

The author says he’d rather live in the country because it is a nicer place.

The writer will get one point for correctly identifying that the author would prefer the country to the

city. However, each reason is worth one point, and the writer did not identify any reasons, such as loud noise,

air pollution, overpopulation, or waste removal, that were specifically stated in the passage so he lost two

points; he lost the fourth point because he did not provide any explanation other than the overly general state-

ment that the country is “nicer.”

Now try this question based on the passage that follows. This passage is longer and more specific but it

is also a text-based response question. It requires two short, open-ended responses, which are just short writ-

ten answers rather than one longer essay. Most of the new high school exit exams—the ones you need to pass

in order to graduate from high school—use both types of text-based questions. They include both short and

long texts with the question format that asks you to answer scaffold questions and then write your response.

These questions measure not only your ability to write but also your ability to read and identify important

information in a fiction or non-fiction text.

Question 2

The pyramid for healthy food choices is an important tool for helping us maintain healthy bodies. Read the

passage below and answer the questions that follow.

foods. At the base of the food pyramid are grains and fiber. You should eat six to eleven servings of

bread, cereal, rice, and pasta everyday. Next up the pyramid are vegetables and fruit; five to nine daily

servings from this group are recommended. The next pyramid level is the dairy group. Two to three

servings a day of milk, yogurt, or cheese help maintain good nutrition. Moving up the pyramid, the

next level is the meat, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts group, of which everyone should eat only two

to three servings a day. At the very top of the pyramid are fats, oils, and sweets; these foods should be

eaten only infrequently.

You don’t have to shop in health food stores to follow the guidelines. One easy way to plan menus

that follow the food pyramid is to shop only in the outer aisles of the grocery store. In most supermarkets,

fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy, fresh meat, and frozen foods are in the outer aisles of the store. Grains,

like pasta, rice, bread, and cereal, are located on the next aisles, the first inner rows. Finally, the far-

thest inside the store is where you’ll find chips and snacks, cookies and pastries, soda pop and drink

mixes. These are the kinds of foods that nutritionists say everyone should eat rarely, if at all. If you

stay in the outer aisles of the grocery store, you won’t be tempted to buy foods you shouldn’t eat, and

you will find a wide variety of healthy foods to choose from. Another benefit of shopping this way is

that grocery shopping takes less time.