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DEMONSTRATION ONLY: This demonstration presents an abbreviated version of the complete PLACE course. Click 'Next' at the bottom of the screen or make a selection from the links on the left to begin. Not all links are available for the demo.
Writing Competencies Tested on the PLACE
The PLACE Writing Test consists of two parts: a 42 item selected-response (multiple-choice) test and a written performance assignment (essay).
Each part includes one or more objectives and is expanded upon by descriptive statements. Descriptive statements provide examples of the range, type, and level of content that may appear on the test for questions measuring the objective.
An outline showing the objectives and descriptive statements is shown below.
Selected-Response
Recognize purpose and audience
- recognizing the appropriate purpose, audience, or occasion for a piece of writing,
- recognizing writing that is appropriate for various purposes, audiences, or occasions
Recognize unity, focus, and development in writing
- recognizing unnecessary shifts in point of view or distracting details that impair the development of the main idea in a piece of writing,
- recognizing revisions that improve the unity and focus of a piece of writing
Recognize effective organization in writing
- recognizing methods of paragraph organization and the appropriate use of transitional words or phrases to convey text structure
- reorganizing sentences to improve cohesion and the effective sequence of ideas
Recognize effective sentences
- recognizing ineffective repetition and inefficiency in sentence construction
- identifying sentence fragments and run-on sentences
- identifying standard subject-verb agreement
- identifying standard placement of modifiers, parallel structure, and use of negatives in sentence formation
- recognizing imprecise and inappropriate word choice
Recognize edited American English usage
- recognizing the standard use of verb forms and pronouns
- recognizing the standard formation and use of adverbs, adjectives, comparatives, superlatives
- plural and possessive forms of nouns
- recognizing standard punctuation
Revision Strategies
- Apply Revision Strategies to Topic Sentences
- Apply Revision Strategies to the Thesis Sentence
Written Expression (Essay)
Write an organized, developed composition for a specified audience and purpose in response to a given prompt.
- The composition of about 300 to 600 words should communicate a whole message to a specified audience for a stated purpose and should display appropriate language and style, unity and focus, development of details, organization of ideas, sentence structure, usage, and mechanical conventions.
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