Writing Skills and Knowledge for Praxis II ParaPro Test Prep Study Guide

The practice quiz for this study guide can be found at:

Writing for Praxis II ParaPro Test Prep Practice Problems

Every question on the reading section of the ParaPro Assessment is multiple-choice, with four answer choices. The answer choices will always be a, b, c, and d.

About eight of the first problems on the Writing and Knowledge section of the ParaPro will ask you to identify an error in the sentence. The error could be related to grammar, punctuation, or word usage. Four parts of the sentence will be underlined with the letters a, b, c, or d. under them. You need to select the part that contains the error. There will always be exactly one error in these sentences. Look at the following problem:

giant squids can to be more than 40 feet long, in such deep water that few people ever seen one.

The subject of the sentence is giant squids, which is plural. Therefore, it lives should be they live. The underlined words it lives contain an error, so choice c is the correct answer.

Other questions on the test may look like the following problems:

Even though it is now the world's largest desert, the Sahara was once home to crocodiles during its wetter past.

What is the subject of the sentence?

desert
the Sahara
crocodiles
past

This question tests your knowledge of the parts of a sentence. Review the writing glossary beginning on page 166 to ensure that you remember each part. The subject of the sentence is the Sahara, so choice b would be correct.

Approximately four questions will test your spelling, as in the following example.

Which of the following words is NOT spelled correctly?
1. poisonous
2. separate
3. interior
4. mamal

For this type of question, you simply need to find the word that is NOT spelled correctly. The word that is NOT spelled correctly is the correct choice. The words in choices a, b, and c are spelled correctly. The word mammal should be spelled mammal, so choice d is correct.

Test-Taking Tips For Writing Skills and Knowledge Questions

Below are a handful of specific tips for the Writing Skills and Knowledge section of the ParaPro Assessment.

Sound It Out!

Don't bother the other test takers, but sometimes sounding out a word or a sentence is the best way to determine the best grammar to use or the proper word to fit the sentence. For example, you may not be sure whether kick is in singular or plural form. But if you say to yourself, The boy kick the ball and The boys kick the ball, you can usually use the one that sounds correct to answer the question. In this case, kick sounds better with boys, so it is plural.

Look for Simpler Way to Say Something

Can you spot the error in the following sentence?

After she had been running to the library, she realized that it was closed on Mondays.

You may not notice an obvious error in the sentence. You may even try to convince yourself that something is wrong with a part of the sentence that is correct. But the sentence could be written, "After she ran to the library, she realized that it was closed on Mondays." The verbs ran and realized should be in the same tense. Even if you couldn't put your finger on that reason, the fact that the sentence could be shortened and made to sound better could have tipped you off that something was wrong with the verb tense.

When All Else Fails, Trust Your Instinct

It may be hard to explain why a word looks misspelled. As you'll see later, there are a lot of spelling rules—and just as many exceptions to all those rules. But if you look at a word and something about it seems wrong to you at first glance, trust your initial reaction.

This is a good guide to use throughout the writing section of the ParaPro Assessment. It may be difficult to explain, for example, why one underlined part of a sentence seems like it has an error in it. But if you cannot find any error in the other choices, you should fall back on your instinct. Remember that every sentence with four underlined parts will have one error.

The practice quiz for this study guide can be found at:

Writing for Praxis II ParaPro Test Prep Practice Problems

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Writing Skills and Knowledge for Praxis II ParaPro Test Prep Study Guide