How do you budget your time across the two parts so the reading items and the extended response both get the time they need?
Pacing the Ohio English II test: budgeting time across the two parts so the machine-scored reading items and the hand-scored extended response both get enough time, reserving sustained time for planning and writing the essay, using a flag-and-return strategy for hard items, and reading passages efficiently without rushing comprehension.
How to pace the Ohio English II test: budgeting time across the two parts, reserving sustained time for the extended response, flagging and returning to hard reading items, and reading passages efficiently. Pacing protects both the reading items and the essay so neither runs out of time.
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What this skill is asking
Time is part of the test on Ohio's State Test for English Language Arts II, and pacing is the skill of spending it well. The danger is uneven: students often pour time into the reading items and arrive at the extended response with too little left to plan and write a full essay that carries many points. Good pacing reserves a sustained block for the essay, uses a flag-and-return strategy so a single hard reading item does not swallow the clock, and reads passages efficiently without sacrificing comprehension. This page covers how to budget time across the two parts, how to handle hard items, and how to read passages at a pace that leaves room for the writing. None of this requires knowing exact minute counts; it requires a plan for where your time goes.
Budgeting time across the parts
The first pacing decision is making sure the essay is not starved of time.
The extended response is the single largest piece of work, so it should be planned for, not left to chance. A reliable habit is to decide before you begin roughly how much of the part's time the essay needs, and to protect that block. If the essay shares a part with reading items, do the reading items at a steady pace and stop in time to give the essay its full block, including the planning that the work in developing and organizing the response depends on.
Handling hard items
The second pacing skill is keeping a single hard question from breaking your rhythm.
Flagging works because not all items cost the same. Some are quick; some need rereading. By taking the quick ones first, you bank marks and reduce pressure, then bring your remaining time to the hard ones. This also helps the two-part evidence items from technology-enhanced item types, where rushing the alignment of Part A and Part B is a common, avoidable error.
Reading passages efficiently
The third pacing skill is reading at the right speed: active, but not reckless.
Try this
Q1. Why should you reserve time for the extended response before starting the reading items? [Recall]
- Cue. Because the essay carries many points and needs sustained time to plan, draft, and check. Reserving its block first prevents it from being rushed or left unfinished if the reading items run long.
Q2. You have answered most reading items but flagged three hard ones, and a fair amount of time remains before the essay block. What do you do? [Short explanation]
- Cue. Return to the three flagged items now, while you still have time and before the reserved essay block, giving each a fresh look. Then stop in time to plan and write the extended response. This recovers the flagged marks without sacrificing the essay's time.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of ODEW exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Ohio English II EOC (style)1 marksA part of the test contains several reading items and an extended response. What is the best pacing approach? (1) Spend all the time on the reading items and write the essay only if time remains. (2) Reserve a sustained block for planning and writing the essay, and use a flag-and-return strategy for hard reading items. (3) Write the essay first without reading the passages. (4) Skip the hardest items and never return.Show worked answer →
Answer: (2). The extended response needs sustained time to plan, draft, and check, so you reserve a block for it rather than leaving it to chance. For the reading items, flagging a hard one and returning later keeps a single tough question from eating your time.
Option (1) risks running out of time for the essay, which carries many points; (3) ignores the text-based requirement; (4) abandons recoverable marks. Good pacing protects both the reading items and the essay.
Ohio English II EOC (style)1 marksYou hit a reading item you cannot answer quickly. What is the most efficient move?Show worked answer →
Flag it and move on, then return after you have answered the items you can do quickly. This keeps one hard question from consuming time that several easier questions need.
When you return, you often see the answer with fresh eyes, and you have not sacrificed the easy marks. The poor alternatives are stalling on it (losing time) or skipping it permanently (losing a recoverable mark). Flag and return is the standard strategy for a computer-delivered test.
Related dot points
- The two-part structure of the Ohio English II test: how the test is delivered in two parts on computer, what each part contains (reading passages with machine-scored items and at least one hand-scored extended response), how the reporting categories of Reading Literary Text, Reading Informational Text, and Writing map onto it, and how knowing the structure helps you plan.
How the Ohio English II test is organized: two parts delivered on computer, each with unseen reading passages and machine-scored items, plus at least one hand-scored extended response. How the reporting categories of Reading Literary Text, Reading Informational Text, and Writing map onto it, and how the structure shapes your plan.
- Technology-enhanced item types on the Ohio English II test: multiple-choice, multi-select, and the technology-enhanced formats, drag-and-drop, drop-down menus, hot-text selection, and evidence-based selected-response two-part items where a second part asks for the supporting line, and how to read and answer each format accurately.
The item types on the Ohio English II test: multiple-choice, multi-select, and technology-enhanced formats, drag-and-drop, drop-down menus, hot-text selection, and evidence-based two-part items where Part B asks for the supporting line. How to read and answer each format accurately.
- Reading the prompt and the rubric on the Ohio English II test: using the extended-response prompt and Ohio's grades 6-12 writing rubric together as a strategy, reading the prompt to fix the mode and task and writing deliberately toward the three rubric domains, Purpose Focus and Organization, Evidence and Elaboration, and Conventions, so the essay earns marks in each.
How to use the extended-response prompt and Ohio's grades 6-12 writing rubric together as a strategy on the Ohio English II test: read the prompt to fix the mode and task, then write toward the three rubric domains on purpose. Knowing both the prompt and the rubric is the surest way to earn writing marks.
- Performance levels and graduation on the Ohio English II test: the five performance levels (Limited, Basic, Proficient, Accelerated, Advanced), the competency score of 684 that counts toward graduation for the classes of 2023 and beyond, how it relates to the Proficient level, and the support, retake, and approved alternatives for students who do not reach it.
How the Ohio English II test reports results and counts toward graduation: the five performance levels (Limited, Basic, Proficient, Accelerated, Advanced), the competency score of 684 for the classes of 2023 and beyond, how it relates to the Proficient level, and the support, retake, and approved alternatives if a student falls short.
- Developing and organizing the extended response on the Ohio English II test: building an introduction that frames the claim or controlling idea, body paragraphs that each make a point with evidence and explanation, logical sequencing with transitions, and a conclusion that follows from the response, so the essay is coherent and easy to follow. This drives the Purpose, Focus, and Organization domain.
How to develop and organize an Ohio English II extended response: an introduction that frames the claim, body paragraphs that each make a point with evidence and explanation, transitions that connect ideas, and a conclusion that follows from the essay. Logical structure and development drive the Purpose, Focus, and Organization domain.
Sources & how we know this
- ELA II course resources — ODEW (2025)
- Assessments for English Language Arts — ODEW (2025)