This book is designed to help you pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test CBEST®.. There are three components to your success on the CBEST: this book, a sample CBEST CD-ROM, an
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Contents
v
Trang 3This book is designed to help you pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST®) It
con-tains all the information you’ll need to help you improve your chances of achieving a good score—
in the shortest amount of time possible There are three components to your success on the CBEST:
this book, a sample CBEST CD-ROM, and most importantly, you yourself.
T h e B o o k
As you will discover in subsequent chapters, one of the most important skills for a test-taker to have is that of being a good reader Good readers often begin with an overview of the text they are about to read So, if you haven’t done so yet, you may want to look at the Table of Contents By doing this, you will know what to expect Since time is of the essence, knowing what to expect offers you the freedom and opportunity to focus on what you think is most relevant to your goals
After having browsed the Table of Contents, you can then turn to Chapter 1, “What is the CBEST?”
This chapter tells you what the CBEST is; it provides you with the Who, What, When, Where, and How, those
How to Use This Book
C H A P T E R S U M M A R Y
So you have to take the CBEST, and you’re wondering if this book can help you The answer is YES! Read on to see how
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Trang 4all-important details such as who must take the test, what it’s like, when and where it’s given, how it’s scored, and how to register
Once you know this basic information, you can skip right to Chapter 2, our innovative LearningExpress Test
Preparation System It is packed full of test-taking tips and advice developed by leading test experts exclusively for
LearningExpress This chapter shows you how to get prepared—physically, emotionally, and mentally—to take the CBEST It also shows you how to use this book to set up your own study plan
Chapter 3 is the first of three sample CBEST exams in this book You can take this first exam as a diagnos-tic exercise to see where your strong and weak points are Remember, in conjunction with this, you have access
to a CD-ROM—that you can take and score at any time—to give you additional test-taking experience
Next is Chapter 4, the “CBEST Mini-Course.” This Mini-Course—successfully used for CBEST test prep classes in California—reviews everything you need to know to pass the CBEST Conveniently divided into 24 les-sons, you can cover it effortlessly in just half-hour pieces The first pages of Chapter 4 give you an outline of the topics covered in each of the 24 lessons You can work through the whole Mini-Course from start to finish, or you can pick out the areas that you need to work on most and just concentrate on those If you’re still having trou-ble after working through the lessons in a given area, check out the last section of Chapter 4, “More Help with Reading, Writing, and Math.” This section lists other books you can turn to for more in-depth advice
Then, in Chapters 5 and 6, you have two complete, three-section, sample CBEST exams, to help you prac-tice your test-taking skills Once finished with your pracprac-tice test, you will be able to self-evaluate your progress with the answer and scoring explanations included at the end of each of these two chapters Answer explanations are written in a friendly, informative, yet conversational tone, so you can quickly diagnose your weakest areas and see where you might need more work
There’s nothing like having a lot of practice under your belt to make you feel confident when you go in to take the real exam!
T h e C D - R O M
The CD-ROM that comes free with this book includes hundreds of practice questions You may choose to take one or more of your practice exams using your computer rather than writing the exam on paper (You should take at least one practice exam on paper, though, since that’s the format you will have to use when you take the real exam.) Or you may simply want to try some practice questions in Reading, Math, or Writing You can do it either way; the CD-ROM gives you the option to take a complete test or select as many practice questions as you want The CD-ROM will score your practice test or practice questions and let you know how you did It will also,
if you choose, show you the correct answer for each question and tell you why the answer is correct
You have the option, when using the CD-ROM, of writing your essay either on paper or on the computer using a pop-up word processor Either way, you should take your essay to a teacher or other professional you know
to help you score it, using the scoring criteria the CD-ROM will distribute for you (Unfortunately, computers aren’t yet smart enough to grade a written piece!)
– H O W T O U S E T H I S B O O K –
v i i i
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The most important factor in your success on the CBEST is you You can’t put this book under your pillow at night
and expect to improve your score But you can use this book, and the test scores from the CD-ROM, to find out
where you need to improve and what you need to know If you carefully follow all the steps in the
LearningEx-press Test Preparation System, you’ll be fully prepared for the CBEST, and you will go into the exam knowing how
to conquer this all-important test
– H O W T O U S E T H I S B O O K –
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