CA POST study plan
CA POST · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Spelling & Vocabulary
Write out the 40 words you personally misspell most often and mark the 12 you miss twice in a row
Apply the i-before-e, consonant-doubling, and silent-e rules to 60 words and score at least 90%
Build a 60-card vocabulary deck of academic and workplace words with definitions written in your own words
Complete 3 untimed dictation sets of 20 words each and log every error by rule type
Your checkpoint
A one-page spelling error log sorting every missed word by rule, plus a 60-card vocabulary deck with self-written definitions.
Spelling & Vocabulary
Write one correct sentence for each of 20 homophone pairs (their/there, affect/effect, principal/principle)
Derive the meaning of 30 unfamiliar words from prefixes, roots, and suffixes, and check each guess against a dictionary
Cut your dictation error rate by at least 50% versus Week 1 across 3 new 20-word sets
Split the vocabulary deck into leeches and retired cards, retiring 15 words you now know cold
Your checkpoint
A timed 25-word spelling test scored at 88% or better, plus a one-page homophone reference sheet.
Vocabulary & Cloze
Label 30 cloze blanks by clue type (definition, contrast, cause-effect, example) before looking at the answer options
Complete 5 cloze passages of 10 blanks each at 80% accuracy or better by reading context first
List 40 transition and signal words alongside the logical relationship each one signals
Rework every missed cloze item by writing the sentence out in full with the correct word inserted
Your checkpoint
Five completed cloze passages with each blank annotated by clue type and a written justification for the chosen answer.
Cloze & Spelling
Complete 6 full cloze sets at a pace of 1.5 minutes per blank or faster
Retake 3 previously missed cloze sets and limit errors to 1 or fewer per 10 blanks
Run a 10-minute daily spelling drill using only your leech list
Draft a one-page decision checklist for choosing between similar-sounding answer options
Your checkpoint
Two full cloze sets scored at 85% accuracy or better under timing, plus the finished decision checklist.
Reading Comprehension
Summarize 8 passages of 300 to 500 words in two sentences each and grade each summary against a self-made rubric
Label every question in 4 practice sets by type (main idea, detail, inference, tone) before answering it
Complete 4 timed reading sets at 1.5 minutes per question with 80% accuracy or better
Annotate 5 passages for structure (topic sentence, support, conclusion) to shorten the time needed to locate answers
Your checkpoint
A question-type log covering 40 questions that shows accuracy per type and flags any type below 70%.
Reading Comprehension & Writing (sentence clarity)
Answer 40 inference and author's-purpose questions and cite a line reference supporting each answer
Find and fix dangling modifiers, run-ons, fragments, and faulty parallelism in 15 sentences you wrote yourself
Rewrite 10 wordy sentences to remove at least 25% of the words without losing meaning
Complete 3 timed mixed sets that pair a reading passage with sentence-correction items in 35 minutes each
Your checkpoint
A before-and-after rewrite portfolio of 10 sentences plus a 40-question reading log with accuracy broken out by question type.
Writing (sentence clarity) & Cloze
Combine 12 sets of short choppy sentences into clear compound and complex sentences without altering meaning
Correct subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, and modifier placement errors in 30 sentences
Write 5 workplace emails of about 120 words each and self-score each on a 4-point clarity rubric
Complete 4 timed cloze sets with a built-in 3-minute proofreading pass at the end
Your checkpoint
A five-email writing sample with scored clarity rubrics and a list of your recurring sentence-level errors.
Spelling & Vocabulary & Reading Comprehension & Cloze & Writing (sentence clarity)
Take 3 full-length timed mixed tests of 60 questions each, using one constant pace across all domains
Categorize every missed item by domain and by cause (knowledge gap, misread, ran out of time)
Re-drill only the top 20 leeches drawn from spelling, vocabulary, and cloze
Write a one-page exam-day strategy sheet covering pacing, answer elimination, and a final proofreading routine
Your checkpoint
A three-test score tracker showing domain-level accuracy and an error-cause summary that compares Week 8 results against the Week 1 baseline.
Milestones
Week 2: Score 88% or better on a timed 25-word spelling test, and hold at least 120 vocabulary cards with no more than 20 flagged as leeches.
Week 4: Reach 85% or better cloze accuracy under timed conditions, and shrink the spelling leech list to under 10 words.
Week 6: Reach 85% or better reading accuracy across every question type, and make zero grammar or mechanics errors on a 15-sentence proofreading set.
Week 8: Average 85% or better across three full-length mixed tests with no single domain below 80%.