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Learn efficient strategies to tackle the ICE Writing Exit Exam. From planning to editing, follow step-by-step guidance for exam success. Enhance your skills and boost confidence with practical tips and sample prompts.
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ICE: The Writing Exit Exam Strategies for Tackling the ICE Presented by the Learning Center
What Can I Do to Pass the Test? • Relax and have a plan. • Use what you know. • Make sure your essay is logical and clear. • Pre-write! This step will take about 30 minutes. • Manage your time wisely. • Come to the test prepared. Let’s Practice!
Sample PromptRead the article that was distributed to you, as well as the prompt that follows the article.
When you have finished reading the prompt, what is your next step?
Step to Success #1 Understanding the Prompt (5 minutes) Ask these questions: • What do I focus on? • What is the prompt asking me to write about? • What are my actions? • Decide what I think. But how?
Step to Success #2 Brainstorm (10 minutes) • What are my actions? • Decide what I think. Do I agree or disagree? Why? • Try a Pro & Con list to help you decide. • Think of at least 2 reasons why I have my position. • Next, think of many ideas to support your main point. • Examples • Logical Reasons • Facts • Sensory Details
Brainstorm Freeze? • If you get stuck, be a journalist: • Ask why, who, what, where, and how? • Think about relationships, causes, and consequences.
Step to Success #3 Evaluating your Brainstorm • Cross out main ideas I cannot support with much detail. • Do I have enough detail to create a paragraph? • Have I matched details to main ideas correctly? • If it doesn’t belong, scrap the detail or move it to another main idea. • Is one of my details really a main idea?
Step to Success #4: Outline (15 minutes) • Write a thesis statement. • What do all my main ideas have in common? • What do I want my reader to know? • The thesis will be my guide. • Order my main ideas (Hint: I have already started an outline by grouping ideas). • Write a topic sentence for each main idea. • A sentence that represents the purpose of that particular paragraph
Step to Success #5:Write (1 Hour) • Skip the “rough draft.” (Re-copying can cost you. It takes lots of time, and doubles your opportunity to make mistakes!) • While you’re writing, draft your essay fully, without stopping. • Skip lines and cross through any mistakes once (no white out).
Step to Success #6:Edit & Proofread (30 Minutes) • Edit for clarity first: topic control, clarity, transitions, etc. Read the paper (silently) and as if reading aloud. • Be extra careful with “red flag” areas: sentences/paragraphs that cross pages, any place you changed something, and your known weak points. • Proofread: look for a specific error type. • To check spelling, read backwards.
You Can Succeed. We Can Help. Stop by your El Centro College Learning Center (A350) for more information on success skills and subject-specific tutoring. Monday – Thursday 8:00am – 7:00pm Friday 8:00am – 4:30pm Saturday 10:00am – 2:00pm