Blog 6: Personal Directions for The CATW

 

Section 1:

Before the test I must have about 9 hours of sleep. On the day of the test I cannot be late, and if I am late I will not be permitted to take the CATW test. I must arrive at the class room early. I cannot use a pencil on the test because the scanners for the test will not be able to scan pencil writing. At the day of the test I must have a pen. As the test begins I will read the given passage carefully and underline important ideas from the text. As I begin writing on the scrap paper, I will pick one idea from the text that I think will be the most significant idea of the text and I will begin writing a response to that idea. In the opening paragraph I will write an opening sentence and I will write the name of the passage and author to show what I am referring to and what I will be talking about in my essay. Right after I do this I will continue by writing a summary of the given passage, and I will follow up with a thesis that helps me respond to the most significant idea I have selected to discuss in my essay. As I continue with the second paragraph I will start developing the essay by explaining the significance of the idea I have selected for the essay. I will claim whether I agree or if I disagree and I will give examples to support my own claims. The examples I give have to be from a book I read, something I learned in school or something I have experienced. I will then finish my essay with a conclusion. After I have finished my essay I will go over it again and see whether or not I am missing something. I will make sure there are no grammatical mistakes and I will make sure all the requirements from the instructions of the test have been fulfilled.

Section 2:

As I can see from my previous practice tests, I have almost no grammatical or spelling mistakes. I do not have a problem with anxiety or timing myself either, but I have problems with developing the essay. The problem I mainly encounter is repetition of ideas, no matter they be mine or from the text. I can also get stuck on explaining the same thing over and over throughout the entire essay. Another problem I encounter in the development of my essays is the lack of consistency with my examples. I give examples but at times I do not think they are to be met with the situation I am talking about. I have to help myself out with these things and make sure I don’t make these mistakes.

Section 3:

I plan to help myself go through these problems by writing on a scrap paper first some ideas of how the essay should go and then read over it seeing if there is any inconsistency of any kind or any form of repetition. After I find some, I will make sure to get rid of them and to replace them with sentences that make better sense and are not repetitive but more consistent.