PERT Reading case studies
PERT Reading · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The PERT Reading subtest is one component of the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test, the placement instrument used within Florida's public postsecondary system to gauge whether an incoming student is ready for college-level reading coursework. It is typically taken by students entering a Florida College System institution, by high school students dual-enrolling or demonstrating college readiness, and by others who need a placement decision before registering for classes. Rather than measuring recall of literary terms, the subtest asks you to work with passages: locating stated and implied main ideas, tracing how an argument develops, interpreting vocabulary in context, recognizing an author's purpose and tone, and evaluating evidence and reasoning across texts. Because placement results can determine whether you begin in introductory composition and literature courses or in developmental reading, preparation is worth the effort. The PERT Reading case studies are 5 cases and about 2,654 words.
1The Shade Audit
A city council packet includes this memo, and a student is annotating it for a summary assignment. When Riverton planted 400 silver maples along Third Street in 2009, the goal was shade.
562 words, about 3 min2Two Ways of Saying the Same Thing
A student is comparing two reviews of a documentary about a declining aquifer. Explain what the reviewer's movement from 'tidy' to 'tiptoes around' reveals about her overall stance toward the film.
505 words, about 3 min3The Four-Day Week File
A school board asks for a one-page synthesis from two documents in its packet. State test scores were statistically flat.
543 words, about 3 min4Laptops, Notebooks, and a Careful Caveat
A student is reading a summary of a study for a research paper and must decide how much weight to give it. Laptop users transcribed more-about 310 words versus 190-but a week later, notebook users scored higher on quiz questions asking them to apply concepts (72 percent versus 58 percent).
513 words, about 3 min5The Too-Clean Story
A student is analyzing how a paragraph from a science essay is built. She must explain how the structure conveys the author's position, not just what the paragraph says.
531 words, about 3 min