All California public school students, except eligible students with disabilities, must satisfy the
CAHSEE requirement, as well as all other state and local requirements, to receive a high school diploma.
The ELA portion of the CAHSEE includes 79 multiple-choice questions (seven of which are field-test questions and are not scored) and one writing task (essay). The writing task score counts for 20 percent of the total English–language arts score. There is not a separate passing score for the essay.
The CAHSEE is an untimed test, but untimed does not mean unlimited time. Students should be allowed to take the time they need within the school day to finish the examination. Students may only have time beyond the regular school day if their IEP or Section 504 plan specifies the need for such extra time.
However, administration instructions include the following direction: Students must NOT look ahead to the second session while taking the first session, or look back at the first session while taking the second session.
All students may use their test booklet and the blank pages in the answer document for scratch work. They are to use only a number 2 pencil on the exam. Students may not use pens, colored pencils, crayons, or markers on their answer documents.
Sample Essay Question:
Including art, dance, drama, and music in a student’s education is a topic of national debate. Some people believe that these subjects are not a necessary part of a student’s education. Others believe that these subjects are not only needed but are vital to a well- rounded education.
Write a persuasive essay explaining whether or not art, dance, drama, and music are an important part of a student’s education. Be sure to provide reasons and evidence for your position.

Combined with a student's academic record, this test is an indicator of college success.
Essay: 25 minutes
Multiple-choice: 35 minutes
Sample Essay Question: (25 minutes)
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
Again and again we hear the complaint that we have no heroes anymore. Heroes—people who should be admired for their great courage or noble achievements—are no longer recognized in our modern world. Many people, in fact, believe that heroes existed only in the past. But this belief is wrong. Because more praise is given to the latest technological innovation than to one individual's heroic achievements, we may not be aware of our heroes, but we do have them.
Assignment: Is it possible to be a hero in the modern world? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Combined with a student's academic record, this test is an indicator of college success.
Essay: 30 minutes
Multiple-choice: 45 minutes
Sample Essay Question:
Educators debate extending high school to five years because of increasing demands on students from employers and colleges to participate in extracurricular activities and community service in addition to having high grades. Some educators support extending high school to five years because they think students need more time to achieve all that is expected of them. Other educators do not support extending high school to five years because they think students would lose interest in school and attendance would drop in the fifth year. In your opinion, should high school be extended to five years?
In your essay, take a position on this question. You may write about either one of the two points of view given, or you may present a different point of view on this question. Use specific reasons and examples to support your position.

CSU requires students to take the English Placement Test (EPT) and the Entry-Level
Mathematics Test (ELM) before they enroll. Their scores will determine which math and English courses they should take to begin their career at CSU. The EPT consists of a 45-minute essay and two half-hour multiple-choice sections.
Sample Essay Question (45 minutes)
"For many Americans, the concept of success is a source of confusion. As a people, we
Americans greatly prize success. We are taught to celebrate and admire the one who gets the highest grades, the one voted most attractive or most likely to succeed. But while we often rejoice in the success of people far removed from ourselves — people who work in another profession, live in another community, or are endowed with a talent that we do not especially want for ourselves — we tend to regard the success of people close at hand, within our own small group, as a threat."
— Adapted from Margaret Mead, The Egalitarian
Explain Mead's argument and discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with her analysis. Support your position by referring to the passage and providing reasons and examples from your own experience, observations or reading.
Reading Skills (60 minutes)
The Reading Skills section consists of 45 multiple-choice questions. Some questions, based on short passages, ask you to identify or interpret ideas stated directly or indirectly in the text. Other questions assess your ability to determine the word that best fits the meaning of a sentence. Still other questions ask you to identify the logical relationship between sentences .
The EAP tests are augmented California Standards Tests (CSTs) in 11th-grade English and mathematics; these tests are part of California's public school testing and accountability system and are required of all students. The augmented tests are developed by CSU faculty, who make sure the CSU placement standards are covered. After they take the test, they receive a score report that tells them whether they need additional preparation for college-level work or meet CSU's requirements for freshman math and English courses.

University of California requires students to demonstrate command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing Requirement (formerly known as the
Subject A requirement). Students who have not met the Entry Level Writing Requirement must take the UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam. During the examination, students are required to read a passage and then write an essay responding to a single topic based on the content. The passage difficulty is of the level encountered in beginning university level courses and may be drawn from any number of disciplines.
Sample Essay Topic (2 hours)
(This exam includes a reading passage, usually 1 ½ pages long.)
According to Donaldson, what circumstances encourage people to become “effective, competent, and independent” learners? What do you think of her views? Write an essay responding to these two questions; to develop your essay, be sure to discuss specific examples drawn from things you have read—including “The Desire to Learn itself—or from your observation and experience.