Reading Competencies Tested on the CBEST
The reading test covers three major skill areas with each skill area addressing a number of sub-skills. An outline showing these skill areas and their major sub-skills is shown below.
Critical Analysis and Evaluation
- Compare/contrast ideas or information presented in different sections of a reading selection or from different sources.
- Identify the reasons, examples, details, or facts in a reading selection that support the author's main idea.
- Make predictions about the outcome of an event based on information from a reading selection.
- Recognize the attitude, opinion, or viewpoint expressed by the author toward his or her subject.
- Determine whether facts or ideas are relevant to an argument in a reading selection.
- Recognize statements that strengthen or weaken arguments in a reading selection.
- Recognize the various persuasive techniques used by an author in a reading selection.
- Distinguish between facts and opinions in a reading selection.
- Identify logical assumptions upon which the author bases the argument of a reading selection.
- Challenge the statements and opinions presented in a reading selection.
- Identify inconsistencies or differences in points of view within one reading selection or between two or more selections.
- Recognize the audience that a reading selection addresses.
- Recognize language that creates an inappropriate or inconsistent tone, given the intended audience and purpose.
Comprehension and Context
- Identify the relationships between general and specific ideas in a reading selection.
- Determine the sequence of events or steps in a process from a reading selection.
- Arrange the ideas in a reading selection into an outline or another form of graphic organization.
- Recognize the main idea or purpose of a reading selection.
- Identify accurate paraphrases or summaries of ideas in a reading selection.
- Identify facts and details presented in a reading selection.
- Draw conclusions or generalizations from material presented in a reading selection.
- Make inferences and recognize implications based on information from a reading selection.
- Recognize implied relationships between people, ideas, or events in a reading selection.
- Use context clues, syntax, and structural analysis (e.g., affixes, prefixes, roots) to determine the meaning of unknown words.
- Determine the meanings of figurative or colloquial language in a reading selection.
- Recognize and identify different interpretations that can be made of the same word, sentence, paragraph, or reading selection.
- Recognize how the meaning of a word, sentence, or paragraph is affected by the context in which it appears.
- Understand the function of key transition indicators in a reading selection (e.g., "however," "by contrast," "in conclusion").
Research and Reference Skills
- Use the table of contents, section headings, index, and similar sections of a book to locate information.
- Locate the place in a reading selection (e.g., book, chapter, paragraph, article, or report) where a specific kind of information can be found.
- Understand how a reading selection is organized.
- Identify logical conclusions, generalizations, or implied relationships that are supported by information in a table or graph.
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