9 Finally, if your taxes are relatively simple that is, you don’t have itemized deductions or special investments, use the shorter tax form.. 10 It’s only one page, and if your records a
Trang 1First, and most important, is the issue of
language There is a violent assault being
perpetrated on our language Students abuse it
when they speak and when they write
Profanity prevails In addition to their
disrespect for language, students have begun to
violate all the rules of common courtesy and
decency that were once the hallmarks of a
civilized society And last, but not least, they
are committing violence every time they dress
in the morning It is as if they are off to the
beach or a picnic instead of the serious
institution called school
Notice that the biggest difference between
analy-sis/classification and order of importance is that the
lat-ter establishes a pecking order for the issues to be
addressed, i.e., most important, least important, first,
sec-ond Other words that give clues as to order of
impor-tance, are more importantly, moreover, above all, last but
not least, etc.
COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
The final organization pattern is comparison/contrast,
which does exactly what it says; it enables the writer to
use similarities and differences between two things in
order to present information Here’s how the school
vio-lence issue might look presented this way:
At the same time that violence is on the rise in
America’s public schools, there has been no
appreciable rise in parochial schools When the
two school systems are put side by side, it is
easy to see why First, in public school the issue
of dress creates an atmosphere for social
with obscenities written on them, it is no wonder that discipline is difficult Contrast that
to the parochial school student who knows, as
he or she is getting dressed in the morning, that just as the dress for the day is restricted so will be the social conduct
Words which signal comparison/contrast include
on the other hand, however, on the contrary, unlike, but, yet, nevertheless, rather, instead, whereas, although, in con-trast, etc.
It is important to note that a piece of reading can combine many organizational patterns Order of impor-tance and cause and effect, for example, often go hand
in hand When you read, it is important to pay atten-tion to the organizaatten-tional pattern When you write, it
is important to determine which pattern(s) will best serve your purpose as you set out to inform, persuade,
or entertain your reader
TEST YOUR SKILLS
READING COMPREHENSION PRACTICE PASSAGE
Now that you feel comfortable with different strategies and techniques by which authors write, use this new information to read the next paragraph and circle the correct response for the questions that follow Notice that each sentence is numbered for easy reference
TAXES
(1) There are many things you can do to make tax time easier (2) The single most important strategy is to keep accurate records (3) Keep all
– BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE –
Trang 2ready to prepare your form, all of your
paperwork is in one place (4) The second
thing you can do is start early (5) Get your tax
forms from the post office as soon as they are
available and then start calculating (6) This
way, if you run into any problems, you have
plenty of time to straighten them out (7) You
can also save time by reading the directions
carefully (8) This will prevent time-consuming
errors (9) Finally, if your taxes are relatively
simple (that is, you don’t have itemized
deductions or special investments), use the
shorter tax form (10) It’s only one page, and if
your records are in order, it can be completed
in less than an hour
1 The main idea of this passage is expressed in
which sentence?
a 1
b 3
c. 7
d 10
2 This paragraph uses which of the following
organizational strategies?
a cause and effect
b analysis/classification
c. order of importance
d chronology
3 Sentence (2) is a
a fact.
b opinion.
c. both
d neither.
4 Which of the following would be a good
sum-mary of this passage?
a Simple strategies can make tax time less
taxing
b Don’t procrastinate at tax time.
c. Always keep good records
d Get a tax attorney.
5 Which of the following is the most effective
underlining of the passage?
a You can also save time by reading the
directions carefully This will prevent time-consuming errors Finally, if your taxes are relatively simple (you don’t have itemized deductions or special invest-ments), use the shorter tax form It’s only one page, and if your records are in order,
it can be completed in less than an hour
b You can also save time by reading the
directions carefully This will prevent time-consuming errors Finally, if your taxes are relatively simple (you don’t have itemized deductions or special invest-ments), use the shorter tax form It’s only one page, and it your records are in order,
it can be completed in less than an hour
c. You can also save time by reading the directions carefully This will prevent time-consuming errors Finally, if your taxes are relatively simple (you don’t have itemized deductions or special invest-ments), use the shorter tax form It’s only one page, and if your records are in order,
it can be completed in less than an hour
Trang 3d You can also save time by reading the
directions carefully This will prevent
time-consuming errors Finally, if your
taxes are relatively simple (you don’t have
itemized deductions or special
invest-ments), use the shorter tax form It’s only
one page, and if your records are in order,
it can be completed in less than an hour
ANSWERS
1 a
2 c
3 b
4 a
5 c
– BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE –
Trang 4C H A P T E R
SUMMARY
This chapter starts out with examples of the types of
ques-tions commonly found on college placement tests In
gen-eral, you will be evaluated on your knowledge and skills in
the areas of arithmetic, elementary algebra, geometry, and
measurement.
ollege placement tests include these formats: pencil and paper
tests, computer versions of these pencil and paper tests, and
adaptive computer tests (Adaptive computer tests adjust your
test’s difficulty level as you take it.) Your test may be timed, in
which case you should expect it to be about half an hour long, but make
sure you check all the particulars with your school in advance Specifically,
you should ask for the test format, time constraints, subject matter being
assessed, and if you may bring a calculator In fact, the best idea is to find
out all of this information prior to reading this chapter This way you will
know which areas to study (and which ones to skip), and you will be
prac-ticing under simulative testing conditions
With this done, read through the sample questions These examples
walk you through the common questions on a topic-by-topic basis Then
ESSENTIAL PRACTICE
C
Trang 5any skills you feel need work If you have trouble with
any of the Skill Builder questions, go back to the
sam-ple questions and make sure that you really understand
the individual topics
To recap, the game plan is: review (sample
ques-tions), practice and assess (Skill Builder), and go back
(rereview topics as necessary) This is the best way to
assure a solid foundation before attempting the
sam-ple test in the next chapter or the real test
OPERATIONS WITH WHOLE
NUMBERS
1 Janice has started a wholesale jewelry making
business She makes 36 bracelets a day, and sells
them to local shops for $18.00 a dozen How
much does Janice make per week if she works 5
days a week?
a $220
b $270
c. $54
d $378
2 At a baseball game, Deanna bought food for
her-self and her sister Jamie: 1 jumbo box of
pop-corn to share at $7 a box, 2 hot dogs for each of
them (4 total) at $3 a dog, and one soda for each
at $4 apiece Jamie paid for their tickets at $13
a ticket Who spent the most money and by how
much?
a Deanna, by $1
b Deanna, by $3
c. Jamie, by $2
d Jamie, by $4
OPERATIONS WITH FRACTIONS
3 Jack is retiling his kitchen floor Each tile he has
is 118foot by 135foot What is the area of each tile?
a. 430square feet
b 138square feet
c. 145square feet
d 135square feet
4 Divide 59by 59
a. 95
b 1
c. 2851
d 159
OPERATIONS WITH DECIMALS
5 Lauren and Jenna want to buy a present for their
mom, a bracelet that costs $50 Lauren has $5 from her allowance and $13.73 saved in her piggy bank Jenna has $2.50 from her allowance,
$7.19 in her piggy bank, plus she found $2 out-side If their dad gives them $10 towards the gift, how much more money do they need?
a $30.42
b $19.58
c. $40.42
d $ 9.58
6 Zoey needs to build a deck in her backyard that
is 12.84 feet by 14.3 feet How many square feet will the deck be?
a 233.89 square feet
b 1,836.12 square feet
– BASIC SKILLS FOR COLLEGE –
Trang 6RATIO AND PROPORTION
7 If it takes 27 nails to build 3 boxes, how many
nails will it take to build 7 boxes?
a 64
b 72
c. 56
d 63
8 In Mrs Sam’s first grade class, the ratio of boys
to girls is 3 to 4 There are 28 students total How
many are girls?
a 12
b 20
c. 16
d 4
PERCENTS
9 Change 35% into a decimal.
a 3.5
b .35
c. 35.0
d .035
10 75 people were invited to the Frazzettas’wedding.
All but 9 were able to attend What percent
couldn’t come?
a 8.33%
b 7.5%
c. 12%
d 9%
ABSOLUTE VALUE
11 What is | 47 64 |?
12 Find | 23|.
a. 23
b. 32
c. 112
d. 23
EXPONENTS
13 Calculate 432 4
a 172
b 129
c. 7,396
d 1,849
14 Calculate (15)3
a. 1125
b. 15
c. –1125
d –135
SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
15 What is the correct way to write 3,600,000 in
sci-entific notation?
a 3,600 100
b 3.6 106
c. 3.6 106
d 36 106
16 7.359 multiplied by 106is equal to
a 0.0007359
b 0.00007359
c. 0.000007359
d 0.0000007359