How to Answer Constructed Response Questions

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How to Answer Constructed Response Questions
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What is a Constructed Response?

• A constructed response is a type of open-ended
  essay question that demonstrates cognitive
  knowledge and reasoning. The answer must be
  provided using information that can be found in a
  particular text or other essay prompt (map,
  picture, graphic organizer, etc.), and is not
  meant to demonstrate opinion, but to show how you
  are able to extract information and use this as
  the basis for forming a complete answer.
  Constructed response essays are increasingly used
  on standardized tests ranging from the statewide
  assessments (WKCE) that usually begin in third
  grade all the way up to the college placement
  exams such as the SAT and ACT.

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How to Score Well on a CR

• To understand and answer the constructed response
  essay question, the easiest way is to memorize
  the acronym "RACE" - this stands for reword,
  answer, cite and explain. If you are able to
  restate a question, provide an answer using
  evidence cited from the text(s) given, and then
  explain how that evidence does, in fact, support
  the answer, you will probably score well on the
  constructed response essay section of any exam
  you take.

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R.A.C.E.

• Reword/restate the question
• provide an Answer
• Cite evidence from the text
• Explain how the evidence supports your answer

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Reword the Question (the "R" in "RACE")

• Reword the question means that you are to restate
  the question and make it into a statement as a
  part of the answer you provide. If you were to be
  asked "What color is the sky?", you would not
  simply answer "blue" - instead, the correct
  answer would be "The color of the sky is blue,"
  or words to that effect.

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Answer the Question (the "A" in "RACE")

• In order to answer the question, you need to
  understand what you are being asked, and then
  make sure you provide the answer to that specific
  question. The answer, as in the previous example,
  may come in the first sentence as you reword the
  question into a statement, but in an essay
  question you will then need to show how/why you
  arrived at your answer.

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Cite the Evidence (the "C" in "RACE")

• Most constructed response questions will require
  you to support your answers with details from the
  reading passage. You can do this in a few ways
• with a direct quotation
• with a paraphrase
• with a specific reference

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Citing Evidence with Direct Quotations

• When you give a direct quotation from the passage
  to back up your ideas, you must place the text in
  quotation marks.
• Example The narrator says, As men busied
  themselves about their various concerns. . .
• Other phrases to set up your direct quotations
  include According to the text, The Author
  states, and According to the passage.

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Citing Evidence with Paraphrases

• You may put a few lines from the passage into
  your own words, as long as you make it clear that
  you are doing so. Be careful not to pass off
  another writers ideas as your own.
• Example The narrator says that people where
  going about their usual lives at the time of the
  attack.

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Citing Evidence with a Specific Reference

• You can point your reader to a part of the
  passage with a very specific text reference.
• Example In the second sentence of the first
  paragraph, the author states/the narrator
  says/etc. . .

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Explain how the Evidence Supports your Answer
(the "E" in "RACE")

• In addition to the evidence you've cited from the
  text, you will need to supply your own reasoning
  for why you think your answer is correct and how
  your evidence supports your answer.

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• Example Describe the main character from the
  passage The main character from the passage is
  an angry person because the narrator says, She
  threw the phone into the wall. When someone is
  angry, they usually release their frustration by
  damaging things around them, and that is exactly
  what the main character did with her phone.

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Scoring Constructed Responses

• If your answer to the constructed response essay
  question displays an understanding of the
  question in all its complexity, uses information
  from the prompt (either information directly
  presented to you or that you've inferred) and
  provides a complete explanation of how the answer
  was arrived at that demonstrates your use of
  logic or reasoning, you may receive the highest
  score (usually a 3) on your answer.

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• If your answer addresses some of the question or
  uses evidence that only partially supports your
  conclusion or does not directly connect to it,
  you may receive a somewhat lower grade of 2.

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• If you attempt to answer the question but your
  essay demonstrates that you may have
  misunderstood it, or your answer lacks any
  relevant or meaningful supporting evidence to
  support your conclusion, you may receive an even
  lower grade of 1.

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• If you do not answer at all, or if your answer is
  incorrect or irrelevant, you may receive the
  lowest grade of 0. ?
• Remember, constructed response questions make up
  20 of your WKCE score, so answer them to the
  best of you ability with evidence from the text
  that supports your answer.

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Example of a 1 Response
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Example of a 3 Response