AZ Merit Preparedness
What Our Students Said About the AZ Merit ELA Sample Tests
Students Feel Prepared to…




Utilize the computer-based navigation tools
Analyze complex text
Write an essay
Answer standard multiple choice questions
Common Concerns





Selecting or ordering evidence
Multiple-selection response
Writing based on a given passage
Response to audio and video passages
Sample Editing Question
Comments on Test Format
“The tools are nice to have at the tips of your fingers, able to highlight and take notes during the
passage. But some of the questions revolved around the central idea of the text, making comparisons
and searching for themes have proven to be difficult in the text. But I like the questions that make me go
look in the text or simple reflective short answers. It was useful to not have to flip back to the text but
harder to out your thoughts into words for some of the questions. It was similar formatting almost with
Galileo but made it that much easier to navigate through it all.”
“Tools seen in the test include questions buttons that help me find a question, save button that saves
my answer, pause and end test buttons for when I’m finished with my test, line reader button that
highlights a line of the text, a notes buttons that opens a note pad that allows me to take notes, a
writing guide button that opens the AZ Merit writing guide, and a dictionary/ thesaurus button for when
I need to look up a word. I encountered questions that had a document on the left and a prompt based
AZ Merit Preparedness
What Our Students Said About the AZ Merit ELA Sample Tests
on that document, the prompt asked me to use the ideas and concepts present in the article. I
encountered questions that mentions supporting details and inferences, summaries of the text, fix the
phrase and questions solely based on the text. The dictionary, the line reader and the writing guide
buttons were very helpful during the course of the test. The end and pause test buttons were similar to
Galileo.”
“I noticed that there were several different types of questions. Unlike most online tests it wasn’t just
multiple choice--there was matching and a lot of other formats to questions. I thought the sample test
was really helpful, and now I know that the formatting and types of questions are different compared to
other tests. Now I have more of an idea about what I should expect.”
“The multiple choice seemed very simple at first sight. But, later into it there was audio comprehension
test and things like that. It was a lot easier to read the passage because you could highlight the parts
that are important. Over all the multiple choices will not be too difficult.”
“I noticed how you had to answer the question, and then provide text evidence for it. I liked how you
got to choose your own response (for example highlighting text evidence) instead of it all being multiple
choice like most online tests. I also liked how you got to fill in grammatical errors on certain paragraphs.
In the writing portion, there was a 2-3 paragraph essay about what you read. There was pause buttons,
detailed instructions and an overall organized test.”
Reading
 A sample text is provided and one can
highlight important details.
 A spot for notes and a line reader are
provided.
 The questions seem to generally make one
infer inner meaning of the text.
 The paragraphs are numbered for the
reader so that they can clearly refer back to
the text for the given questions.
Writing
 MLA format citations.
 A “Writing Guide” is presented which states
the rubric and how one must write the
essay.
 A sample text is provided and one can
highlight important details.
 A dictionary is provided along with a spot for
notes, a spot to actually write the
assignment, and a line reader.
 Options for zooming in and out are also
available.
 Within the text box to write, regular writing
options that could be found on the home
page of a Microsoft Word.
 The sample question given was not really
like anything that I have ever actually taken
a test on, because it referred to one
historical analyzing the text, which isn’t
really seen in a language arts course.
AZ Merit Preparedness
What Our Students Said About the AZ Merit ELA Sample Tests
More from Students on Preparedness
“I am prepared for the examining of phrases and excerpts, but I don’t feel ready for finding the
corrections in the highlights. I would like to have some examples before taking the test to understand
what it is asking for.”
“Overall, I don’t feel as prepared for AZ Merit as I thought I would. I am honestly quite scared. I am
prepared for a few definitions and theme based questions but the audio, corrections, and Venn
Diagrams make me nervous. The 2-3 paragraphs make me feel overwhelmed. I hope to go over basic
fast writing DBQ style writing so I can do the multiple paragraphs in numbered minutes. But, going over
all of it would be super beneficial. I am not as confident as I was before I went over the practice
problems.”
“I believe that I can easily take the AZ Merit because of its conveniences. It has questions that are not
too complicated but still require your learning. In English class we learn how to analyze a lot and that is
exactly what you must do. You must find the effect of characters on other characters, compare, and a
lot of times match the phrases as well. I can prepare for the test by actually taking the practice test
multiple times.”
“This test definitely challenges your critical thinking and analyzing skills. I think I am not very prepared
for this test because the level of analyzing required is very high. The writing portion will take me some
time because I am a slow writer and thinker. The texts being read were a little difficult for me to
understand. The reading part for me will be relatively easy because grammatical errors are my strength,
but I think this test is a great way to test students’ knowledge and ability.”
“A student might feel as though they have been more prepared after the assignment was given. One
way as though the assignment helped prepare a student for the test is how it is on the computer. The
assignment showed the student how the AZ Merit test is taken on the computer and how the different
functions work that were on the written test work on the computer to work through the different
questions. For instance, one can highlight the text on the computer similar to how they can highlight the
text on a piece of paper. However, the way that a student can be more prepared for the upcoming test,
is by being more exposed to the questions that might come up on the test. In the classroom, a student
can be more prepared for the test if they were exposed to more questions that are similar to one on the
test such as questions that require the individual to pull information from the text and infer about the
text. One way that this can occur is by writing essays which prompts might be present on the text, such
as historical analyzing ones. Thus the assignment that was presented has helped the student to further
understand how the test will be taken, but one can be more prepared if they are exposed more to the
questions.”