Book excerpt: Practice and Preparation for the PSSA English Language Arts Tests! This book is focused on developing student's language and vocabulary skills. It includes revising and editing exercises that require students to apply skills, as well as quizzes that focus on the language and vocabulary skills that Pennsylvania students are expected to have. It has been created to match the skills listed in the Pennsylvania Core Standards, and will also prepare students for the language and vocabulary questions on the PSSA assessments. Section 1: Revising and Editing Quizzes - 20 individual quizzes test editing and revising skills - Allows students to apply language skills in context - Prepares students for the language questions on the PSSA assessments Section 2: Language, Vocabulary, and Grammar Quizzes - Covers the writing skills listed in the Pennsylvania Core Standards - Individual quizzes allow students to focus specifically on each writing skill - Quizzes cover language, vocabulary, writing conventions, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling Preparation for the PSSA English Language Arts Tests Students take the PSSA English Language Arts assessments each year. Questions testing language and vocabulary skills make up about a third of the total score. These skills are assessed in two ways. The test includes standalone multiple-choice questions where students identify writing errors, determine how to best complete sentences, or choose the best revision to a passage. Language and vocabulary skills are also assessed as part of the reading tasks, with some of the questions following passages covering language and vocabulary use. This book will prepare students for both types of questions, as well as ensure that students have the specific language skills that are assessed.