ICAS English study guide
ICAS English · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
ICAS English is an annual academic competition that assesses school students' English language and literacy skills. It is offered for Year 2 through Year 12: an Introductory paper for students in the equivalent of Year 2, then Papers A to J for Years 3 to 12. The ICAS English study guide has 5 sections and about 1,504 words.
01Vocabulary
Vocabulary items test more than a dictionary definition. You need context clues - the words around a gap that narrow its meaning (definition, contrast, cause, example) - plus word parts : prefixes (bene-, mal-, circum-), roots (cred, dict, spect) and suffixes that reveal part of speech.
294 words, about 1 min02Comprehension
Comprehension questions ask you to locate, link and judge information. Distinguish main idea from supporting detail , and recognise stems that target inference (a conclusion the text implies but does not state), purpose (why the writer wrote it: to inform, persuade, entertain, warn), tone (the writer's attitude), sequence , and cause and effect .
321 words, about 2 min03Structure
Structure covers how sentences and paragraphs are built. At sentence level, know the difference between a phrase (no subject–verb pair) and a clause ; between simple, compound and complex sentences; and the rules for subject–verb agreement (watch collective nouns, indefinite pronouns, and phrases sitting between subject and verb), pronoun agreement , and parallelism in lists and comparisons.
285 words, about 1 min04Syntax
Syntax is the order and function of words in a sentence. Be able to label subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial , and to recognise clause types: independent clauses can stand alone; subordinate clauses ( because, although, when ) cannot; relative clauses ( who, which, that ) modify a noun and may be defining or non-defining.
293 words, about 1 min05Voice
Voice works at two levels. Grammatically, active voice puts the doer first ("The team tested the sample"); passive voice puts the receiver first and uses be + past participle ("The sample was tested by the team").
311 words, about 2 min