MCAS ELA Grade 3 cheat sheet

Literary analysis: a theme is a message about life the whole text supports; a topic is only a subject word (e.g., "friendship"), so a theme statement must be a full sentence the text can prove.

Characterization: traits are shown through what a character says, does, thinks, and how others react; feelings are temporary states, traits are lasting qualities, so answers must match evidence type.

Point of view: first person uses I/we and gives one narrator's limited knowledge; third-person limited follows one character's thoughts; third-person omniscient reveals multiple characters' inner lives.

Structure and purpose: an author's purpose is to inform, persuade, explain, or entertain; the same passage can do two at once, so choose the answer covering the dominant purpose with the strongest textual support.

Figurative language: a simile uses like/as, a metaphor states one thing is another, personification gives human qualities to nonhuman things, and hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration; idiom meaning cannot be decoded word by word.

Central idea versus detail: the central idea is a statement covering the whole passage, while a supporting detail is one fact, example, or quotation; a detail-only answer is always wrong for a main-idea question.

Text evidence: a valid answer must be supported by words actually in the passage; a true statement from outside the text is not evidence, and a paraphrase must preserve the original meaning.

Word meaning in context: use surrounding sentences to choose among multiple meanings of a word (e.g., "bank" of a river versus a money bank); prefixes and suffixes (un-, re-, -less, -ful) shift the base word's meaning predictably.

Text structure: cause/effect answers why something happened, compare/contrast shows similarities and differences, problem/solution names an issue and a fix, and chronological order follows time words such as first, then, finally.

Argument: a claim is the position the writer takes, a reason explains why the claim is valid, and evidence is the fact, statistic, example, or quotation backing the reason; an opinion alone is not evidence.

Informational text features: headings, captions, bold words, diagrams, and glossaries carry meaning; a question about a graphic must be answered from what the graphic itself shows, not from memory.

Vocabulary strategy: context clues include definitions stated in the sentence, examples, contrasts signaled by but/unlike, and cause-effect links signaled by because/so.

Writing revision: combining short choppy sentences with a conjunction, replacing vague words with precise ones, and keeping verb tense consistent are the most common revision targets on test items.

Grammar and usage: subject-verb agreement ignores words between subject and verb, pronouns must match their antecedent in number, and commas separate items in a series and follow introductory phrases.

Narrative technique: sensory details, dialogue, and precise verbs create imagery; suspense comes from pacing and withheld information, while flashback interrupts the present to show an earlier event.

Poetry and drama: a stanza is a grouped set of lines, a line break controls pace, rhyme and repetition create rhythm, and stage directions in a script tell actors how to move or speak.