Reading for College Success

Watch out, PERT.

  • Course Length: 18 weeks
  • Course Type: Basic
  • Category:
    • College Prep
    • English
    • High School

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Let's face it: the PERT—Postsecondary Educational Readiness Test—isn't easy. Not only do you have to wake up in the morning to take the test, but there's analysis, critical reading, and a lot of fancy-vocab-word-deciphering.

Luckily, you Floridian high school teens of the internet, Shmoop is here to make sure you rock that PERT. This course goes over the most essential PERT-mastering skills. Not only will it make you a savvier test-taker, but a savvier reader as well.

The eighteen weeks of this course go over the following critical reading skills:

  • Determining word meanings using the morphemes, prefixes, and suffixes inside a word
  • Determining word meanings using various context clue strategies
  • Learning text structures and the different forms and purposes of writing
  • Analyzing for theme, tone, purpose, and rhetoric
  • Breaking down writing into arguments, claims, and evidence
  • Analyzing nonfiction, mostly using our BFF, context

On top of that, you'll get ready for the quirks of the PERT, through test-taking strategies and high-interest multiple-choice drills. We've modeled all of our questions to have the same content, question types, and even the same look as the PERT, so you'll emerge from this course with total readiness.

So look out, PERT. We'll be ready for you next time. Shmoop guarantees it.


Unit Breakdown

1 Reading for College Success - The World of Words

Words: They can be little or long; one syllable or made up of many tiny different parts. What's the difference between "ant" and "antidisestablishmentarianism"? In this unit we'll examine morphemes, prefixes, and suffixes—not to mention dictionary use, figurative language, synonyms, antonyms, denotation, connotation, and context clues like whoa. You won't even need a dictionary to tell us that antidisestablishmentarianism means something oppositional and a pain in the butt—you'll just get it using context and literacy skills.

2 Reading for College Success - Tackling the Text

The PERT features many informational texts to decipher and draw meaning from—some are simple and straightforward, and others quite complex. This unit will develop basic comprehension, through summary techniques and text structure review (chronological, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and problem/solution).

3 Reading for College Success - Tone and Purpose

While Shmoop's tone is pretty standardly "conversational and jovial," others aren't so clear to read. During this unit, we'll analyze rhetorical strategies from political speeches and other types of information documents, so tone and author's purpose become crystal clear.

4 Reading for College Success - Analyzing Arguments

What's an argument? During this unit, we'll learn that the best arguers aren't your younger siblings—they're writers who utilize claims, evidence, warrants, and argument structure in their work. This unit will conclude with analyzing a speech for rhetorical strategies and arguments: Unit 3/Unit 4 power combo, for the win!

5 Reading for College Success - Reading Historical Nonfiction

Guess what? The PERT's filled with nonfiction passages. You'll have to learn to love them, and this unit is the perfect start. Unit 5 is focused on context to analyze author purpose and structure. By the end of the unit, you'll be closely reading and debating over Amendments like you're a pro White House lobbyist. (A lobbyist who loves studying for the PERT, of course.)

6 Reading for College Success - Prepare for PERT

What's practice without hijinks-filled review? While each other unit has PERT prep sprinkled throughout, we'll go hardcore in our concluding unit. We'll review test-taking strategies (hint: eat breakfast and get sleep), take diagnostics, and make personal action plans for what we need to review most. Flashcards or fake multiple-choice test-writing? It's your call, but it's all helpful.


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 3.02: Say What You Mean

When you're feeling a bit crummy, what do your texts and Facebook statuses sound like? Are you able to find just the right words to convey how you're feeling?

ALT_TEXT
My shrink charges too much, but his couch is really comfortable.
(Source)

We're not talking about those statuses that announce minute-by-minute updates:

  • I'm walking into the kitchen. 
  • I'm taking a spoon out of the drawer. 
  • Look at my engagement ring! #jenandjonbestdayofmylife

We mean the ones with emotion.

  • I'm ok. 
  • I am not happy. 
  • I'm miserable.

You might struggle to find just the right words, even if you've got a million-dollar vocabulary, because words have millions of shades of meaning. The dictionary definitions are known as denotations. But the reason we love words so much is that they also represent feelings, events, and other stuff outside of what the dictionary says. Sometimes they have a good or warm feel, and sometimes a rude or ugly feel.

These shades of meaning are the word's connotations, which isn't news to you unless you've been snoozing through the past few units (coffee dude, that's all we're saying). It also isn't news to you that words' connotations affect diction. But wait, there's more! Diction creates tone, which is basically a text's emoticon—in other words, it reveals the author's attitude or feelings toward her subject.

Yup. Authors have feelings, too. In this lesson, you'll help some authors of pop music get a handle on theirs. But don't try to charge by the hour for it: That privilege belongs to the shrinks of Beverly Hills.


Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 3.3.02: Let's Talk About Tone

You've already met diction (word choice, remember? or maybe you really do have amnesia...). But what's tone? We're glad you asked.

Our voices can be playful, dour, cynical, or optimistic. The same thing goes for authors, and that's where tone comes in. Tone is an author's attitude—the emotions and feelings conveyed by the writing.

But don't confuse tone with style. Tone refers to attitude, while style refers to the techniques the author uses in writing. One book can be optimistic in tone and another pessimistic, but they could both be written in a stream-of-consciousness style. Or one book may be written in a sparse style and another in a rich, lush style, but they both could be nostalgic in tone.

How do writers create tone? With diction. We promise, Shmoopers—it's really that simple. When trying to figure out the tone of a text, just ask yourself what kind of words the author's using, and that's your answer.

Does the author say,

Marla leapt down the stairs, two at a time, flew into the living room, threw open the window, and basked in the glory of the freshly fallen snow.

or,

Then Marla plodded downstairs to the living room, where she reluctantly opened the window to find that the sticky, freezing white stuff was falling from the sky for the first time that year. Ugh.

Well, which is it? The exact same thing happens in each of these sentences, but they have wildly different tones. Let's analyze 'em, side by side, shall we? Here are the different words the writer could use to convey somewhat similar meanings:

  • leapt—plodded: These words both refer to motion, but "leapt" connotes energy and vigor, while "plodded" connotes heaviness and slowness.
  • threw open—reluctantly opened: The same thing happens in both of these sentences: Marla opens the window. But "threw open" suggests energy and excitement, while "reluctantly opened" suggests just the opposite.
  • freshly fallen snow—sticky, freezing white stuff: Ah, freshly fallen snow. It's light. It's fluffy. It's happy. But" sticky, freezing white stuff" is the snow we have to scrape off our car at five a.m. It's the stuff that makes us wet, cold, and miserable. Not happy.

So overall, how would we describe the tone of these two passages? The first passage has an exuberant, energetic tone. The second passage's tone is sour and depressed.


Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 3.02a: That's the Power of Love

You know how you feel about the power of love, especially if you're Huey Lewis and the News. But how do other popular musicians feel about it? We're pretty obsessed with music here at Shmoop, so we found a few keepers from over the ages whose tone (read: mood) is just ready and waiting to be analyzed.

Step One

Take a minute (okay, fifteen minutes) to watch the videos for these songs on YouTube. Pay attention to how you feel while listening to each song. What mood do the lyrics create? Focus on the way the songwriters emphasize certain phrases, images, or comparisons, and the words they choose to repeat. In other words, focus on diction.

Step Two

Fill out this handout, grouping the songs into categories based on their tone.

Would it help you to read the lyrics? Find 'em here by typing the song title into the search box.


Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 3.02b: U2 Can Rock Diction

We're heading back to the '80s to experience one of the best love songs ever. Before Beyoncé, before Beiber, and before R. Kelly...all the way back to a pre-globalized U2. Grab some tissue. Back in 1987, this was everybody's "song."

  1. Watch the music video for "With or Without You." On your first watch, pay attention to the basic story elements. On a second listen, follow along with the lyrics here.

    1. Who is the speaker addressing?

    2. What do you think has happened?

    3. What do you think the message, or theme, is?

  2. Break out the fine-tooth comb, because it's time to go over the lyrics of "With or Without You" to figure out how they make this song go. Specifically, you're looking to examine some key phrases:

    • stone set
    • thorn twist
    • sleight of hand
    • twist of fate
    • bed of nails
    • storm
    • shore
    • hands are tied
    • body bruised
    1. Choose three of the above lines to work with, and for each one, brainstorm 3–5 sentences. Yep, that's right: When you're done you'll have 9–15 sentences.

      Keeping your brainstorming in mind, listen to the song a third time. But this time, you're listening for the words U2 uses to create the song's tone. Think:

      • Why this word? Why not another word? How does it affect the listener? What does the word make you think of? What are its connotations? What types of images or ideas do we usually associate it with?
      • How do the words fit together? Do they change one another's meaning? Do they go well together or are they in contrast with one another?
      • How do they reflect the songwriter's frame of mind?

      Now, write:

    2. How would you describe this song's tone? In your 8–10 sentence response, use the thinking you've done about specific words or phrases from the song to support your answer.

    3. What's your favorite love song? Describe its diction and tone. Anything with clean lyrics is fair game.

      Use the same process you did for "With or Without You": First, think about the connotation and impact of specific words and phrases, then use your thoughts on individual words to justify your choice of a particular tone. See? U, 2, can rock diction! (Yes, we can hear you groaning.) (8–10 sentences)

    4. How did careful thinking about your song's words open up its meaning for you? Has your understanding of the song changed? Why or why not? (2–3 sentences)