7 Strategies to Use on DRP

1. 7 Strategies to Use on DRP

2. DRP = Degrees of Reading Power It is a test with several reading passages. The passages get progressively harder with each passage. Each passage has 7 lines that replace missing words. On the right hand side of each page are 5 words for each blank. Your job is to select the word that best fits into each blank.

3. Strategy #1: Using Context • Getting the answer from reading the whole selection • The word context means “surroundings” • Use the information surrounding the blank to indentify the correct answer

4. Strategy #2: Using Reading Past the Missing Word • Sometimes the part of a selection before the blank doesn’t contain enough information to fill in the blank right away • Always read the sentence after the blank to get all the information you need to make the right choice

5. Strategy #3: Reading Selections with Difficult Words • Keep reading. Try to get a general idea of what the selection is about. • Look at the words you do know. That may be most of the selection. • Eliminate any incorrect choices. • Guess from the remainder.

6. Strategy #4: Who or What is Being Talked About We often call the same thing by different names • People in Chicago or men, women, and children of Chicago • Population of New York or city-dwellers of New York or inhabitants of New York • Newborn elephants or baby elephants

7. Strategy #5: Action Words • Often you have to choose a word that names or describes an action • Sometimes all the words are possible, but only one fits best • Read the entire selection again and try and match the action description with one word

8. Strategy #6: Words that Describe • When you have to select a descriptive word to fill in the blank many choices are also possible • Identify phrases in the passage that match one of the words best • Example of phrases describing shady • ‘to hide from the sun’ • ‘out of the reach of the sun’s fierce rays’ • ‘little praks came into being’

9. Strategy #7: Turn-Around Words • Contrast words let you know the new information is different, a contrast, from what is being said. • Contrast Words • but • however • yet

10. Seven Strategies • Using Context • Reading Past the Missing Word • Reading Selections with Difficult Words • Who or What is Being Talked About • Action Words • Words that Describe • Turn-Around Words

11. Example A: The primordial cave entrances, garbed in their immemorial stony growths, seemed like prehistoric Mesozoic relics transported to modern times. Elaine almost expected to see dinosaurs moving behind the tall trees. She felt she had entered a very __old__ world. • pretty • safe • old Reading Selections with Difficult Word • silly • wet Which type of example does this selection represent?

12. Example B: After years of poorly rewarded labor, Chester Carlson made a fortune from the invention of the copying machine. This single idea earned more than $100 million for the inventor. Even simpler concepts like the ubiquitous safety pin, or the eraser on the back of a pencil, made their inventions rich. In contrast, most inventors have received little money for their work. • fake • little • extra Turn-Around Words • foreign • unusual Which type of example does this selection represent?