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CUNYAssessmentTestinWriting(CATW)

Practice Exercises for Students

OfficeofAssessment

OfficeofAcademicAffairs

TheCityUniversityofNewYork

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ThemostuptodateCATWinformationmaybefoundat

www.cuny.edu/academics/testing/cunyassessmenttests.

Copyright2010TheCityUniversityofNewYork

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Practice Exercises for Students

How to Understand the Reading and Get Started

Beforeyou start towriteyour response,we recommendyou spend20minutes readingand

underliningsignificant

ideas

and

10

minutes

planning

and

prewriting.

The

more

time

you

spend

understandingthereadingandgettingideasbeforeyouwrite,theeasieritwillbetowrite.

1. Below is a practice reading, How to Do One Thing at a Time. Read it and underline

significantideas. Makenotesofhowyouplantoorganizeyourresponse.

How to Do One Thing at a Time

By now, we all know that multi-tasking can be a losing proposition. Talking on the

phone while driving? Dumb idea. Texting while driving? Reallydumb idea. But even

seemingly harmless multi-taskinglike chatting with a friend while sending out an office

e-mailisnt as harmless or efficient as wed like to believe. A recent article published

in the science journal NeuroImage revealed that when we attempt demanding tasks

simultaneously, we end up doing neither as well as we should because our brains have

cognitive limits.

Whats more, were also less efficient afterweve shut down e-mail and turned off

our phones. In a recent experiment at Stanford University, a group of students was

asked to spend 30 minutes simultaneously compiling a music playlist, chatting, and

writing a short essay. A second group focused on each task individually for 10 minutes

each. Afterward, they were given a memory test. The single-taskers did significantly

better than their multi-tasking peers.

A tremendous amount of evidence shows that the brain does better when its

performing tasks in sequence rather than all at once, says Clifford Nass, Ph.D., a

professor of communication at Stanford University. We still dont know the long-term

effects of chronic multi-tasking, but theres no question were bad at it, and its bad for

us.

Many experts believe, however, that its possible to repair your power of

concentration. Through solutions such as yoga and acupuncture, experts believe we

can break our multi-tasking habit and sharpen our focus.

Adapted from Womens Health Magazine, May 2010

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2. Belowisanexampleofhowastudentannotatedthereadingandplannedaresponse. Compare

yourannotationswiththeexample. Didyouunderlinethesamesentences? Noticehowthis

studentmadeaTcharttoorganizetheideas.

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How to Develop Your Response

In theWritingDirections for theCATWassignment,youareasked todevelopyouressayby

identifyingone ideaandexplaining its significance. Youarealso told tosupportyour ideas

with evidenceor examples from what youhave read, learned in school, and/or personally

experienced.

Below

is

a

portion

of

a

response

to

the

passage,

How

to

Do

One

Thing

at

a

Time.

1. Readthepartialresponsebelowandidentifytheideathewriterhaschosentofocuson.

Howdoesthewriterdeveloptheidea? Doesthewriteruseexamplesanddetailsfrom

his/herreading,previousschoollearning,orpersonalexperience? Noticealsowhatthe

writerdoesinthefirstparagraph.

SampleResponse

The article says were less efficient even after we stop emailing and get off thephone. This conclusion was based on an experiment where students were asked to

do three things at once for 30 minutescreate a playlist of music, chat on email,

and write an essay. A second group was asked to do the same three things but one

at a time, for ten minutes each. At the end, students in the second group

performed better on a memory test than those who tried to multitask.

I am not surprised the second group performed better. I can imagine chatting

on email at the same time Im fooling around with an iPod, but I certainly couldnt

write an essay as well. Writing an essay takes (me) a lot of time and concentration.

I once had a teacher who made us practice writing 10-minute essays so we would be

ready for a timed test. We did it every class for a couple of weeks before thetest, and it was effective for training the class to concentrate and write fast

enough to do a 50 minute test. He called it special case writing, something to do

for a timed test to get ideas down quickly. He never said it was the way to really

write. Writing an essay involves reading, thinking, and revising, not while doing

other things. Thats why we have libraries and quiet study areas. I envy the person

who can write an essay while doing other thingsbut only if the person gets an A on

the essay. Otherwise, Ill stick to my slow, single-minded approach.

Students who think they can multitask are in for a big surprise when they get to

difficult subjects and demanding assignments. This carries beyond school to many

activities in life, driving, parenting, getting promoted for doing a job well.

[Note:Thisresponseisnotfinished. Itneedsfurtherdevelopmentandanending.]

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2. Belowisthesampleresponseshowingitsdevelopment. Refertothecodebelow.

Development of Sample Response

1

The article says were less efficient even after we stop emailing and get offthe phone. This conclusion was based on an experiment where students were

asked to do three things at once for 30 minutescreate a playlist of music,

chat on email, and write an essay. A second group was asked to do the same

three things but one at a time, for ten minutes each. At the end, students

in the second group performed better on a memory test than those who

tried to multitask.2I am not surprised the second group performed better. 3I can

imagine chatting on email at the same time Im fooling around with an iPod,

but I certainly couldnt write an essay as well. Writing an essay takes (me) a

lot of time and concentration.4

I once had a teacher who made us practicewriting 10-minute essays so we would be ready for a timed test. We did it

every class for a couple of weeks before the test, and it was effective for

training the class to concentrate and write fast enough to do a 50 minute

test. He called it special case writing, something to do for a timed test to

get ideas down quickly. He never said it was the way to really write. Writing

an essay involves reading, thinking, and revising, not while doing other things.

Thats why we have libraries and quiet study areas. 5I envy the person who

can write an essay while doing other thingsbut only if the person gets an A

on the essay. Otherwise, Ill stick to my slow, single-minded approach.6

Students who think they can multitask are in for a big surprisewhen they get to difficult subjects and demanding assignments. This carries

beyond school to many activities in life, driving, parenting, getting promoted

for doing a job well.

Code:1Summary of passage2Personal response overall to summary3One idea writer wants to develop4Personal experience that develops idea5Conclusion/lesson of personal experience6Continuing development

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How to Demonstrate Connect ions Between Ideas

IntheCATWanalyticscoringrubric,thecategoryStructureoftheResponselooksathowwellyou

organize your response and demonstrate connections between ideas. In other words, it is

importantthatyoursentencesandparagraphconnectonetothenext,sothereadercanfollowyour

thinking. Youdontwantthereadertofallintoaholebetweensentencesorparagraphs.

Asan

example,

here

are

two

sets

of

sentences:

A

and

B.

In

which

set

are

the

two

connected?

Explainyouranswer.

A. 1It is safe to say that advertisements are a persons guideline in life. 2After the Industrial

Revolutionalmosteveryonewantstotransfigureintoamodernizedindividual.

B. 1Although itmaybe irritating to see anad comeon in themiddleofyour favorite show, the

informationsuppliedbythatadmaynotbeavailabletoyouanywhereelse. 2Corporationscreate

adstokeepusupdatedonwhatisnew.

Answer: ThesentencesinBareconnected. Thesecondsentenceprovidesaspecificdetail/example

asarestatementofthefirst. Itopensupthefirstsentence. Incontrast,thesentencesinAseem

unconnected.You

cannot

be

sure

of

the

connection,

and

the

meaning

is

not

clear.

FurtherExamples

1. LookattheSampleStudentPaper#1,paragraphs5and6below. (Thecompleteresponseison

pp.1112) Noticehowthewriterconnectseachsentenceandparagraphtothenextone.

I suppose Ive written all of this to show, as the author points out, how advertisingpermeates our entire society. Theres a chemical term which I think would apply to this,the Point of Saturation. Basically, when you have mixed so much solute (e.g. sugar)into a solvent (e.g. water) to the point that the solvent can hold no more of the solute (Inmy example, any further sugar crystals would just drop to the bottom), it had reached itsP.O.S. Somehow, I think this aptly describes our minds when it comes to advertising. Iwonder if we can take much more without any adverse effects. The author starts to

delve into this when they mention how children watch ads in the classroom, and in thelast sentence [kid singing the song]. Actually, most advertisements target children.They want children to see the ads, desire the product, and then beg their parents to buyit. As an additional bonus, this constant message of consumerism at such a young agewill ensure that many children wanting (overspending) all sorts of products intoadulthood. To illustrate, one study found that Polish families spend the most family timewhen shopping together. Maybe facts like this, and the rising number of families inperpetual credit card debt, can be taken as evidence of the adverse effects ofadvertising.

All things considered, we suffer. We are victims of a malady known asoverabundant advertising. Maybe one day, a commission will be formed to limit theamount, and location of advertisements companies can use. But until then, one thing iscertain. It is only a matter of time before we all begin hearing that Oscar Meyer song inour heads.

Explanation: Paper#1,paragraph5beginswitha summarizing sentence:I suppose Ive

writtenallofthistoshow,astheauthorpointsout,howadvertisingpermeatesourentire

society. Thissentenceconnectseverythingwrittenbefore,aswellasthereading,tothis

writers restatement of the main point. Paper #1, paragraph 6 begins: All things

considered,wesuffer. Onceagain, thewriter remindsusofall thatsbeenwritten (All

thingsconsidered)anddrawsaconclusion.

2. LookatPaper#4,paragraph3belowtoseeifthewriterissuccessfulinconnectingonesentence

tothenext. (ThecompletePaper#4response isonpp.1617.) Readparagraph3andpickout

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thesentenceyouthinkbestexpressesthemainpointoftheparagraph. Isitthefirstorthelast

one? Or is itnotstated? Ifnotstated,writeasentencestatingamainpointand reviseother

sentencesintheparagraphtofitit.

The media itself sends us thousands of marketing messages per day. Themedia explores on the issue of obesity America is suffering with but in the nextminutes a fast food restaurant commercial is acknowledged. Followed by videogame commercials leading into a weight loss commercial. Advertisementsdoesnt have a valid message because its advocating to eat while playing videogames or watching TV. Although on the contrary it is advised to lose weightbecause the previous commercials could cause medical problems. The vastamount of advertisements shown are implying on how we should live are livesand most of the population is agreeing with this patetic lifestyle.

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___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

SampleRevision:Paper#4,Paragraph3

Themediasendsthousandsofinconsistentandcontradictorymessageseverydaytelling

ushow to liveour lives. Oneminute, themediaexplores the issueofobesity thatmany

Americanssufferfrom,butinthenext,itshowsacommercialaboutafastfoodrestaurant.

A commercial of a video game is followed by a weight loss commercial. The message

appearstoadvocateeatingwhileplayingvideogamesorwatchingTV. Onthecontrary, it

couldbeadvisingus to loseweightbecause theprevious commercials showwhat causes

medicalproblems.

Most

of

the

population

that

takes

in

these

commercials

ends

up

agreeingwiththispatheticlifestyle.

Whatdoyouthinkofthisrevision? Dothesentencesseemconnected? Whatsentencewould

you say controls the paragraph? As you review your own writing, check to see that your

sentencesandideasareconnectedandleadfromonetoanother.

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How to Write a Summary for the CATW Response

IntheWritingDirectionsfortheCATWresponse,youarerequiredtosummarizethepassageinyour

ownwords, stating the authorsmost important ideas. It is important that youdonot copy the

authors ideasdirectly fromthepassagewhenwritingyoursummary. Yourgoal in thispartofthe

CATWwritingtaskistodemonstratehowwellyouunderstandthereadingpassage,usingyourown

words.

Write the followingkey ideas from thesample reading,How toDoOneThingataTime, inyour

ownwords:

1. When we attempt demanding tasks simultaneously, we end up doing neither as well as weshould because our brains have cognitive limits.

2. Whats more, were less efficient after weve shut down e-mail and turned off ourphones.

3. The single-taskers did significantly better than their multi-tasking peers.

4. A tremendous amount of evidence shows that the brain does better when itsperforming tasks in sequence rather than all at once.

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5. We still dont know the long-term effects of chronic multi-tasking, but theres noquestion were bad at it, and its bad for us.

6. Through solutions such as yoga and acupuncture, experts believe we can break ourmulti-tasking habit and sharpen our focus.

On the following page youwill find examples of how to paraphrase these key ideas in the

reading passage. Study them and seehow closely yourown answers resemble the sample

answers.

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Answers: Summar izing Key Ideas in a CATW Reading Passage

1. Whenweattemptdemandingtaskssimultaneously,weendupdoingneitheraswellaswe

shouldbecauseourbrainshavecognitivelimits.

Sample paraphrase: The reading passage mentions an article in the journal

NeuraImage that says when we try to do too many things at once, we end up notdoing any of them well because our brains cant handle it.

2. Whatsmore,werealsolessefficientafterweveshutdownemailandturnedoffour

phones.

Sample paraphrase: Furthermore, the reading says that even after we stop multi-tasking, were not as efficient as we could be.

3. Thesingletaskersdidsignificantlybetterthantheirmultitaskingpeers.

Sample paraphrase: In addition, a study showed that students who did one thing ata time did better than students who did many things at once.

4. Atremendousamountofevidenceshowsthatthebraindoesbetterwhenitsperforming

tasksinsequenceratherthanallatonce.

Sample paraphrase: In the reading, a researcher is quoted as saying that theres alot of evidence that the brain works better doing one thing at a time.

5. We

still

dont

know

the

long

term

effects

of

chronic

multi

tasking,

but

theres

no

question

werebadatit,anditsbadforus.

Sample paraphrase: The reading passage also mentions that even though multi-tasking is bad for us, the long-term effects arent known.

6. Throughsolutionssuchasyogaandacupuncture,expertsbelievewecanbreakourmulti

taskinghabitandsharpenourfocus.

Sample paraphrase: Experts say that we can use things like yoga and acupunctureto break the habit of multi-tasking and learn to focus better.

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How to Refer to the Reading Passage in Your CATW Response

ThefirsttwoscoringcategoriesontheCATWscoringrubricevaluateyourabilitytounderstand

thereadingpassage,andtouseyourownideasandexperiencestowriteaboutspecificideasin

the readingpassage.Youare required tomake specific references to the readingpassage in

yourCATW response.Therefore, it is important thatyouknowhow tocorrectly refer to the

text.

Therearetwowaysinwhichyoucanrefertothereadingpassage:

1. Indirectreference,orparaphrase: Thisiswhenyoutakeanideafromthereadingpassage

andputitintoyourownwords.

For example, in the sample passageHow toDoOne Thing at a Time, the authorwrites: A

tremendousamountofevidenceshowsthatthebraindoesbetterwhenitsperformingtasksin

sequenceratherthanallatonce. Ifyouwantedtoparaphrasethisidea,youcouldwrite:

In the reading, Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University, is

quotedassayingthatthebraindoesbetterwhenithandlesonetaskatatime.

2. Direct reference,ordirectquotation: This iswhenyouuse theauthorswordsexactlyas

theyarewritteninthereadingpassage. Youmustusequotationmarksaroundtheauthors

exactwords.

Forexample,ifweusethesamequoteasabove,adirectquotationwouldbewrittenlikethis:

In

the

reading,

Clifford

Nass,

a

professor

of

communication

at

Stanford

University,

states,

Atremendousamountofevidenceshowsthatthebraindoesbetterwhenitsperforming

tasksinsequenceratherthanallatonce.

Noticethat inbothcasesrecognitionisgiventotheauthorofthe idea,regardlessofwhether

director indirect reference isused. Youmustalwaysgivecreditto theoriginalwriterof the

idea taken from thereadingpassage ifyoudecidetouse it inyourCATW response,and it is

importanttoalwaysmakeadistinctionbetweenyour ideasand ideastakenfromthereading

passage.

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How to Proof read and Edit Your CATW Response

TheWritingDirectionsinstructyouto:Remembertoreviewyouressayandmakeanychanges

orcorrectionsthatareneededtohelpyourreaderfollowyourthinking. Thismeansthatyou

should spend about10minutes at the endof theexamperiod lookingover yourwork and

correctingerrorsingrammar,spelling,andpunctuation. Youshouldalsoreadoveryourentire

responseto

determine

ifthere

are

any

sentences

that

are

unclear

or

incomplete.

Are

all

of

your ideas clearly and fully explained? Have you made specific references to the reading

passagethroughoutyourresponse? Isthereasummaryofthekeypointsinthereading? Have

youusedtransitionswheretheyarenecessarytoconnectrelatedthoughtsandexamples?

Practice Exercise

Below ispartofawrittenresponsetothereadingpassageHowtoDoOneThingataTime.

Read the responsecarefullyand identify thegrammaticaland contenterrors. Thencircleor

underline theerrorsandwrite the correctionsabove them. Heresahint:Thereare fifteen

grammar,spelling,andpunctuationerrorsintheresponse.

Nowthink

about

what

kinds

of

additional

details

and/or

examples

might

be

added

to

make

the

writersparagraphsstrongerandclearerforareader. Isthereanadequatesummaryofthekey

points inthereading? Is itclearwhich ideafromthereadingthewriter istryingtoexplain in

theresponse? Istheresponsewellorganized,anddoesthewriterusetransitionstoconnect

ideas?

*****

1The article have some good point. 2It talks about why its a bad idea to do too many

things at one time because we end up doing everything wrong. 3Because our brain has

limits. 4The author says that when you try to do many things simultaneous, we end up

not doing any of them good. 5The article also says it better for our brain to do one thing

at a time and many researches show this is true.

6Like the Stamford University expriment. 7The reading says we can repair our multi-

tasking through experts and concentration. 8I think this is true I go to yoga class every

weak. 9In conclusion, multi-tasking is bad for you and we should stop doing it.

*****

Now,write a few additional details thatwouldmake thiswriters response clearer and

morespecific:

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Answers : Proof reading and Ed it ing Exerc ise

Sentence1hasonesubjectverbagreementerror:articlehaveshouldbearticlehas.

Sentence2iscorrect.

Sentence 3 is an incomplete sentence. There are two ways to correct this error: Join the

incompletesentencetothesentencebeforeit,usingacommabeforebecause;ORaddwhats

missingtotheincompletesentencesothatitisacompletesentence,inthiscaseasubjectanda

verb. Forexample,itshouldread:Thisisbecauseourbrainshavelimits.

Sentence4hasthreegrammaticalerrors. Theadjectivesimultaneousisincorrect;thecorrect

word form istheadverbsimultaneously. Secondly,good is thewrongwordtouse inthis

case;itshouldbewell. Finally,thereisapronounagreementerror:Thewriterusesbothwe

andyou inthesentencebutshoulduseonepronounortheother,notboth. So,thecorrect

waytowritethesentenceis,Whenwetrytodotoomanythingssimultaneously,weendupnot

doinganyofthemaswellaswecan.

Sentence 5 has three grammatical errors. The verb is ismissing at the beginning of the

sentence;itbettershouldbeit isbetter. Also,there isaplural/singularagreementerror:

ourbrain shouldbewritten ourbrains. Lastly, many researches show is incorrect since

research isanuncountablenoun; therefore, theclause shouldbewrittenas,and research

showsthisistrue.

Sentence

6has

three

errors.

It

is

an

incomplete

sentence

because

it

is

missing

averb.

In

addition there are two spelling errors: Stamford University should be written Stanford

University, and expriment should be written experiment. One way to correct the

incompletesentence,orsentence fragment, istoaddwhat ismissing, inthiscaseaverb. An

example of how the corrected sentencemight bewritten is, One experimentwas done at

Stanford University. By adding the verb was done, the sentence is now complete and

grammaticallycorrect.

Sentence7isincorrectbecauseitdoesntmakegrammaticalsenseandthewritersmeaningis

unclear. Thewaytocorrectthissentence istorewrite itsothat it isclearandgrammatically

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correct. Forexample,thewritersoriginalsentenceThereadingsayswecanrepairourmulti

taskingthroughexpertsandconcentrationcouldberewrittentoread:Thereadingsaysthat

byusingexpertsandincreasingourconcentration,wecanstopmultitasking.

Sentence8has two grammaticalerrors. First, the sentence isa runon; this iswhen twoor

moresentencesarewrittentogetherwithoutthepunctuationoruseofconjunctionsnecessary

toseparatethedifferent ideastheycontain. Inthiscase,This istrueIgotoyogaclassevery

weakshouldinsteadbewritten:ThisistruebecauseIgotoyogaclasseveryweak. Secondly,

weakisthewrongwordtousehere;itshouldbeweek.

Sentence9hasapronounagreementerror: multitasking isbadforyouandweshouldstop

doingitshouldbewrittenmultitaskingisbadforusandweshouldstopdoingit.

So,howdidyoudo?

Copyright2010TheCityUniversityofNewYork