TASC English Literature case studies
TASC English Literature · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The TASC English Literature subtest is one component of the broader Test Assessing Secondary Completion, a high school equivalency credential used in some U.S. states in place of a traditional diploma. The TASC English Literature case studies are 5 cases and about 2,102 words.
1The Unreliable Narrator in a Boarding-School Letter
A student reads a passage in which a 16-year-old narrator, Clara, describes her first week at a new boarding school. Clara writes that the dormitory is 'cozy' and the dining hall 'charming,' but she also reports that she has eaten alone at every meal, that her roommate moved out after two days, and that she has written four letters home and received none.
433 words, about 2 min2The Sonnet That Argues With Itself
Students examine a 14-line poem in iambic pentameter. The first eight lines describe a winter field as 'a page erased of every name,' and the speaker calls the cold 'honest.' The final six lines turn: 'But I have learned to love the thaw, / the messy green, the mud, the flaw.' The poem ends by calling winter 'the lie I told to keep me warm.' A student says the poem 'changes its mind for no reason' and that the turn is confusing.
460 words, about 2 min3Stage Directions and the Unsaid in a One-Act Play
A class reads a one-act play in which two sisters divide their late mother's belongings. The dialogue is polite and practical-who takes the piano, who takes the dishes.
413 words, about 2 min4Tone Shift in a Literary Nonfiction Essay
Students read a short personal essay about the author's father, a factory worker. The opening paragraph is warm and comic, describing his lunchbox 'like a small tin cathedral.' The middle paragraphs turn clinical, listing dates, wages, and the exact number of years he worked the same shift.
419 words, about 2 min5Vocabulary and Connotation in a Single Sentence
A class examines one sentence from a short story: 'She was frugal with her praise, and the room grew thin around her.' A student defines 'frugal' as 'careful with money' and concludes the sentence is about budgeting. Another student notices that 'frugal' is applied to 'praise,' not money, and that 'thin' describes a room.
377 words, about 2 min