English Language Arts, Social Studies, and World Languages
English language arts
Beyond the early grades, expect disciplinary literacy: reading and writing arguments, explanations, and narratives in each content area. Text structures - chronological, cause-effect, compare-contrast, problem-solution, description - drive comprehension and summary writing. Know the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, publishing) and that revision addresses content and organization while editing addresses conventions. Grammar questions test ability to explain a usage, not to recite jargon. Vocabulary instruction should be rich and contextual, not list memorization.
Social studies
Distinguish primary sources (created in the period by participants: letters, photographs, artifacts, statutes) from secondary sources (analysis written later). Historical thinking means sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, and corroborating. Civics questions turn on separation of powers, federalism, checks and balances, and rights in the Bill of Rights. Economics: scarcity forces choice; opportunity cost is the next-best alternative forgone; supply and demand shift versus movement along a curve. Geography: place vs. region, human-environment interaction, movement.
World languages
Use ACTFL's three modes. Interpretive = understanding input (reading or listening). Interpersonal = unrehearsed two-way negotiation of meaning. Presentational = planned, one-way production for an audience. Proficiency levels run Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, Distinguished, and level descriptions are task-based, not grammar-based. Comprehension-based instruction favors target-language input and reduced translation.
Rule of thumb
For any statement in a source question, ask: who made it, when, for what audience? A wartime newspaper is a primary source and still a biased one - both facts matter.