Minnesota NES Essential Academic Skills (EAS) cheat sheet

Main idea: the claim the whole passage supports; supporting details answer who, what, when, where, why, how about that claim.

Inference rule: a valid inference must be forced by stated evidence; if the passage could support two opposite conclusions, the inference is not warranted.

Fact vs. opinion test: a fact can be verified by an outside source; an opinion expresses judgment, value, or preference and often carries evaluative adjectives.

Author's purpose categories: to inform (expository), to persuade (argument), to entertain (narrative), to instruct (procedural); tone words signal which.

Sequence/chronology signals: first, then, after, finally, meanwhile; cause-effect signals: because, therefore, as a result, consequently, since.

Comparison-contrast signals: however, whereas, although, similarly, in contrast, on the other hand; these flag a shift in the passage's direction.

Context clues for vocabulary: definition (appositive or dash), example (such as, for instance), contrast (but, unlike), and restatement (in other words).

Evaluating an argument: identify the claim, the evidence offered, hidden assumptions, and whether evidence is relevant, sufficient, and representative.

Subject-verb agreement: a singular subject takes a singular verb; intervening phrases (along with, as well as, together with) do not change the number of the subject.

Pronoun-antecedent agreement: a singular antecedent (each, everyone, neither, somebody) takes a singular pronoun; ambiguous reference must be repaired by repeating the noun.

Comma splice fix options: replace the comma with a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

Restrictive vs. nonrestrictive clauses: essential clauses take no commas; nonessential clauses are set off by commas, dashes, or parentheses.

Dangling modifier rule: an introductory participial phrase must describe the grammatical subject of the main clause; otherwise rewrite the sentence.

Parallel structure: items in a series, paired comparisons (either/or, not only/but also), and lists must share the same grammatical form.

Apostrophe rules: singular possessive adds 's; plural possessive ending in s adds only the apostrophe; it's means it is, its is possessive.

Paragraph unity and coherence: one controlling idea per paragraph, topic sentence up front, and transitions that name the logical relationship between sentences.

Active vs. passive voice: prefer active for clarity and directness; passive is appropriate when the actor is unknown or unimportant.

Order of operations: parentheses, exponents, multiplication and division left to right, addition and subtraction left to right.

Percent change = (new value − old value) ÷ old value × 100; a 20% increase then a 20% decrease does not return to the original value.

Percent of a number: part = percent × whole; convert percent to decimal by dividing by 100 before multiplying.

Ratios and proportions: set up a/b = c/d and cross-multiply; scale factors apply to every linear dimension, while area scales by the square and volume by the cube.

Slope = (y₂ − y₁) ÷ (x₂ − x₁); slope-intercept form y = mx + b, where m is slope and b is the y-intercept.

Area formulas: rectangle A = lw; triangle A = ½bh; circle A = πr²; circumference C = 2πr; trapezoid A = ½(b₁ + b₂)h.

Volume: rectangular prism V = lwh; cylinder V = πr²h; sphere V = (4/3)πr³; cone V = (1/3)πr²h.

Mean = sum ÷ count; median = middle value of an ordered set; mode = most frequent value; range = maximum − minimum.

Probability of an event = favorable outcomes ÷ total equally likely outcomes; independent events multiply: P(A and B) = P(A) × P(B).

File formats: .docx/.txt for text, .pdf for fixed-layout sharing, .jpg/.png for images, .csv for tabular data, .mp4 for video.

Networking basics: IP address identifies a device on a network; DNS translates domain names to IP addresses; HTTP/HTTPS governs web page transfer.

URL anatomy: protocol (https), domain name, top-level domain (.org), path, and query string; a padlock icon indicates HTTPS encryption, not site trustworthiness.

Search operators: quotation marks force an exact phrase, minus sign excludes a term, site: restricts to a domain, and filetype: restricts to a file format.

Evaluating web sources: check author credentials, publication date, cited evidence, domain type, and whether the page is advertising or sponsored content.

Spreadsheet references: relative references (A1) shift when copied; absolute references ($A$1) stay fixed; formulas begin with = and functions include SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT.

Digital citizenship: copyright applies automatically on creation; fair use and public-domain or Creative Commons licensing are limited exceptions requiring attribution.

Data security: strong passwords are long and unique, phishing exploits urgency and mismatched links, and two-factor authentication adds a second verification step.

Accessibility: alternative text describes images for screen readers, headings structure documents, and sufficient color contrast improves readability.