Exam Review Guide – English 12A- Mizerak
First Semester (2012-2013)
Exam Breakdown:
Part 1:
General questions: 22
Vocabulary: 30
Tuesdays with Morrie: 6
Freedom Writers: 6
Essay Formatting: 10
(this includes Compare and Contrast,
Cause and Effect, and Argument Essays)
Grammar: 26
Total: 170
Part 2:
Essay: 70
Your exam questions will be drawn from the following material:
A. General Questions: These general questions are reading comprehension and
writing type questions that you will see (and probably have seen before) on your SOLs.
There is no real way to study for this section.
B. Vocabulary: Make sure you know the definitions for each word in Units 1, 2, 3 and 4.
You will need to be able to use the words in a sentence and know their definitions! Try
making flashcards to help study for this portion!
C. Tuesdays with Morrie: In this book, we realize that Morrie is best and most fondly
remembered as a ____________________. Morrie was a great person who had a great
depth of insight into other characters.
One of Morrie’s “obsessions” was with keeping the _________________________ on
the windowsill so that he would be able to constantly see the renewal of life. One of
Morrie’s most famous aphorisms was
__________________________________________. People often allude to this
quote/aphorism. When someone refers to another piece of work it is called an
_______________________.
Remember that the author’s use of the large shade tree throughout the novel is an
example of a ____________________ (a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially
in a literary, artistic, or musical work).
Mitch and his brother Peter are a great example of a ____________ in the book
because
______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________.
Two other examples of this literary term would be (and why):
1.
2.
List/Explain at least 4 symbols that show up in the book (at least one of these must be
what the food symbolizes)
1.
2.
3.
4.
D. Freedom Writers:
Throughout the entire novel the students compare their lives to a ______________.
This is an example of an ____________________________________.
When Zlata is asked if she is Croatian, Muslim or Serbian, she says
_______________________________; this is important because it directly relates to
which main theme of the story? __________________________________________
List at least three themes of the novel:
1.
2.
3.
Give an example for each of the following conflicts:
Man vs. Self-
Man vs. Man-
Man vs. Society-
E. Essay Formatting:
You should use Compare and Contrast Essays to help explain your subject by helping
readers see the ____________________ and _______________________ between it
and another subject.
You would use a cause and effect essay when you are trying to tell readers the reasons
for or consequences of your subject.
You can write Cause and Effect Essays using either ___________________ or
____________________. For instance, when writing a Cause and Effect essay about
the reasons you choose to skip a class, this would be an example of a Cause and Effect
Essay using ____________________. On the other hand, if you wrote about the
reactions your body has to alcohol or drugs, this would be an example of a Cause and
Effect Essay using ____________________________.
It is important to remember that you must organize your thoughts so that the body
paragraphs are arranged in __________________________________ but it does not
matter if it is least important to most important or most important to least important.
You use Argument essays when you want to have readers consider your opinion about
your subject.
The three different ways to move the reader are to _____________________________,
___________________________________________, and
_________________________________________.
When appealing to reason, there are two ways of developing an argument. The first one
is when you begin with a premise and end with examples that support this (The Tom
and Jerry example); this is called ____________________________________. The
second way is when you begin with examples and end by drawing a conclusion (The
not studying for a test and failing example); this is called
________________________________________________.
The thing that is the MOST important to remember when writing Argument essays is
______________________________________________________________________
_____________.
F. Grammar: Review semi-colon and comma usage. Be able to identify FANBOYS.
What do FANBOYS stand for?
When would you use a comma? (there are many rules so make sure you study these!!)
Write 5 sentences using commas:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
When/how do you use a semi-colon?
Write 5 sentences using semicolons:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.