Revising and editing item types on the Grade 10 ELA MCAS: how revising and editing are tested through multiple-choice, multiple-select, and technology-enhanced formats (selecting the best revision, choosing the correct edit, hot-text to mark an error, drag-and-drop to reorder), and a method for each, including the value of reading the whole draft for context.

What this skill is asking

The revising and editing item types are the formats in which the Grade 10 ELA MCAS tests the skills in this module, and knowing them lets you respond efficiently. On the computer-based test these include multiple-choice (choose the best revision or the correct edit from options), multiple-select (choose more than one correct change), and technology-enhanced items such as hot text (click a word or sentence in the draft, for example the off-topic sentence or the error) and drag-and-drop (reorder sentences for logic). The skill students lose ground on is answering from the underlined sentence alone, ignoring the surrounding draft that often determines the answer, or misreading what a format is asking. This page covers the common formats and a method for each, plus the habit of reading for context. The transferable skill is recognizing the question type and the task it sets, then applying the right revising or editing move.

The common formats

The first move is to recognize what each format asks you to do.

Recognizing the format tells you how to respond: a multiple-choice item wants you to compare options and pick the best; a hot-text item wants you to click within the text; a drag-and-drop item wants you to sequence. The content is the same set of revising and editing skills, so once you know the format, you apply the matching move (delete the off-topic sentence, fix the agreement error, reorder for logic). Practicing with the computer-based practice tests linked by DESE makes the interactions familiar so they do not slow you down on the real test.

Reading for context and matching the move

These two habits, reading for context and naming the task, make every format manageable, because they connect the unfamiliar interaction to the familiar skill. A hot-text item asking for the off-topic sentence is a focus (revising) task; a multiple-choice item asking for the correct verb is an agreement (editing) task; a drag-and-drop is an organization (revising) task. The technology-enhanced formats here are the same ones used across the reading sessions, so the item-type fluency you build transfers to the whole test. Match the format to the move, read the context, and the revising and editing items become reliable points.

Working any revising or editing item

Try this

Q1. What should you always do before answering a revising or editing item, and why? [Recall]

• Cue. Read the surrounding draft for context, because the correct edit or revision often depends on it (the tense set by a nearby sentence, the transition the ideas need, the off-topic sentence, the logical order).

Q2. A computer-based item asks you to drag four sentences into a logical order. Is this a revising or an editing task, and how do you approach it? [Short explanation]

• Cue. It is a revising task (organization). Approach it by reading all four sentences for their ideas, finding the logical sequence (a topic sentence first, supporting details in order, a closing sentence last), and dragging them so the paragraph flows clearly.