Pacing

1. Pacing • Look at each question. • Quickly decide what you will do with the question: • Skip it because it is difficult • Spend a little bit of time figuring it out, then answer it • Answer it right away because it is easy • If you have time, go back and work on the more difficult questions.

2. Narrow Your Choices • Read the question and answer choices. • Eliminate answer choices that you know do not make sense. Mr. Pascascio was the 87th President of the United States The capital of the United States is Mars. One bazillion, two hundred seventy-five gazillion, eight jillion

3. Figuring Out Unfamiliar Words • If possible, break down the word to a root word and a prefix or suffix. • Ask yourself how the prefix or suffix affects the meaning of the word. un- = non (unbelievable) pre- = before (preview) re- = again (rewrite) bi- = two (bicycle) un- pre- re- bi- -er -ness -ful -ous -er = doer (teacher) -ness = state of being (happiness) -ful = full of (wonderful) -ous = full of (dangerous)

4. Figuring Out Unfamiliar Words Look for clues in the word’s sentence or in nearby sentences. Noxious must mean harmful or dangerous! The river was full of noxiousmaterials such as cleaning agents from factories and pesticides from nearby farms. The river was full of noxiousmaterials such as cleaning agents from factories and pesticides from nearby farms.

5. MainIdea • The main idea of a passage is the one idea that includes all of the other ideas in that passage. • Where do I find it? • Sometimes it will be in the topic sentence. • Sometimes you will have to figure it out on your own. • Note: When you are asked to select a title for a passage, the title should include the main idea.

6. Drawing Conclusions • Use your own experiences • Think about what you’ve experienced in life • Think about stories you’ve heard from other people • Think about what you’ve read in books • Use that information to understand what the author is telling you.

7. Drawing Conclusions Sarah waited nervously. She knew the nurse would call her next. She looked at the models of healthy teeth. She hoped her own teeth would be healthy. Where is Sarah? What do I know? • People usually get nervous when they’re somewhere unfamiliar. • Nurses are usually at hospitals or doctor offices. • There are teeth in the story. A dentist is like a doctor for teeth. • Sarah must be at a dentist’s office.

8. Drawing Conclusions Try this one: John and Mary are on the floor. There are pieces of broken glass and a puddle of liquid on the floor. What happened? John, a cat, knocked over the fishbowl holding Mary, a goldfish.

9. Ordering Ideas Putting sentences in the correct order is as simple as 1, 2, 3. • Look for the sentence that goes first. Usually, it is the only one that makes sense by itself. • Look for words that are clear only if you’ve read some other sentence. • Look for “time words” in any of the sentences. her she he or him but them it next after finally first Secondly then

10. rounding Use these rules for rounding • Round up when the final digit is 5 or more (nearest ten) or when the final two digits are 50 or more (nearest hundred) • Round downwhen the final digit is less than 5 (nearest ten) or when the final two digits are less than 50 (nearest hundred) • Use rounding to estimate answers for math problems 87 90 8 2 0

11. Interpreting Data • Make sure that you read all of the information on graphs. TITLE Tells you what the graph is about SCALES Tell you the value of each unit in the graph LABELS Tell you what is represented by different parts of the graph Sometimes you’ll need to use ESTIMATION to figure out the value on a graph.