Minnesota NES Essential Academic Skills (EAS) common mistakes
Minnesota NES Essential Academic Skills (EAS) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Reading the passage once at normal speed and then answering questions from memory of the general topic, without returning to the lines that decide the answer.
The Reading subtest rewards locating explicit textual evidence, but candidates trained on content-area tests assume comprehension of the gist is sufficient. Distractor options are written to match the gist while contradicting a specific sentence.
What to do instead
For every question, name the paragraph or sentence that settles it before choosing. If you cannot point to the line, mark the item and return rather than guessing. Practice by covering the options and predicting the answer from the text first.
Treating 'according to the passage' and 'the author implies' as the same instruction and selecting an inference when the question asks for a stated detail.
Candidates skim the stem and answer from overall meaning. Inference items deliberately include a true-but-unstated option and a stated-but-not-asked option.
What to do instead
Underline the stem verb before reading options: 'states', 'according to' means the answer is printed in the text; 'implies', 'suggests', 'can be inferred' means it must follow necessarily. Reject any inference option that requires outside knowledge.
Choosing a reading answer that is factually true in the real world but not supported by the passage.
Adult candidates bring strong prior knowledge, and the test uses familiar topics such as education, health, or environment where outside facts feel safe.
What to do instead
Apply the 'on the page' rule: if the passage does not say it, it is wrong even if you know it is true. Flag any option you like because of personal experience and re-check it against the text.
Spending equal time on every reading question and running out of time on the final passage, leaving answers blank.
Passages vary in difficulty, and candidates grind on one dense item rather than banking easier points. Unanswered items score zero, while a flagged guess has a chance.
What to do instead
Set a per-passage time budget before starting, answer every item, and mark hard ones to revisit. Never leave a blank; eliminate two options and choose. Do timed full-length practice runs to calibrate pace.
Writing an essay or constructed response that lists opinions and personal anecdotes instead of a thesis supported by specific reasons and examples.
Candidates confuse length and enthusiasm with argument. The Writing subtest scores focused development of a clear position, not word count or passion.
What to do instead
Before drafting, write a one-sentence thesis and two or three supporting reasons, each with a concrete example. Use a fixed structure: introduction with thesis, body paragraphs with topic sentence plus evidence, brief conclusion. Practice under the timed condition.
Leaving errors of grammar, usage, and punctuation in the essay, or revising only for content and never proofreading.
Under time pressure, candidates finish the draft and submit immediately. The Writing subtest includes an editing section and evaluates conventions in the essay itself.
What to do instead
Reserve the final minutes for a proofreading pass targeting the highest-frequency errors: subject-verb agreement, pronoun reference, comma splices and run-ons, apostrophes, and capitalization. Read each sentence once for grammar only.
Answering multiple-choice grammar and usage items by ear, choosing the option that 'sounds right' rather than applying the rule.
Spoken English tolerates constructions that written standard English marks wrong, such as 'between you and I' or mismatched pronouns, so intuition misleads.
What to do instead
For each item, identify what is being tested, then apply the rule: find the subject and verb, check pronoun case by removing the other noun, check that modifiers sit next to what they modify. Learn the tested categories explicitly.
Working computation items quickly and selecting the first answer that matches the number obtained, without checking the question asked or estimating the size of the result.
The Mathematics subtest uses distractors built from common slips, such as forgetting to convert units, dropping a negative sign, or solving for the wrong quantity.
What to do instead
Before computing, write what is being asked and estimate the answer's rough size. After computing, compare against the estimate and re-read the final question sentence. Check unit conversions and sign handling explicitly.
Setting up word problems by grabbing numbers and operating on them in the order they appear, instead of translating the relationships into an equation.
Candidates under time pressure pattern-match keywords like 'total' or 'per' without modeling the situation, which fails on multi-step rate, proportion, and percent-change problems.
What to do instead
Define a variable in words, write the relationship as an equation, then substitute. For percent change, always compute change divided by the original. Practice translating sentences into equations before solving.
Assuming the Technology Literacy section is common sense and skipping preparation on digital citizenship, acceptable use, and information evaluation.
Candidates who use technology daily conflate familiarity with tools and knowledge of concepts such as evaluating source credibility, copyright and fair use, netiquette, and data privacy, which are tested explicitly.
What to do instead
Review the conceptual vocabulary: how to judge a website's authority and bias, what plagiarism and copyright permit, safe password and privacy practices, and appropriate digital communication. Practice scenario items that ask what a responsible user should do, not which button to click.