June 2019 ELA Regents: A Beginner's Deep Dive

The June 2019 ELA Regents exam can feel daunting, but breaking it down into manageable parts makes it much less intimidating. This guide will provide a beginner-friendly exploration of the exam, focusing on key concepts, common pitfalls, and practical examples. We'll dissect the exam's structure and offer strategies to approach each section with confidence.

Understanding the Exam Structure

The ELA Regents exam is designed to assess your reading comprehension, writing skills, and ability to analyze literature. It's divided into three parts:

  • Part 1: Reading Comprehension (24 multiple-choice questions): This section presents you with various passages – fiction, nonfiction, and sometimes poetry – followed by multiple-choice questions testing your understanding of the text. These questions assess your ability to identify main ideas, infer meaning, analyze literary devices, and understand the author's purpose.

  • Part 2: Argumentative Essay (One Essay): You're given a central claim and several texts related to that claim. Your task is to write an argumentative essay that takes a position (agree, disagree, or somewhere in between), supports your position with evidence from the provided texts, and acknowledges a counterargument.

  • Part 3: Text-Analysis Response (One Essay): This section presents you with a literary text (usually a short story or excerpt from a novel). You need to write an essay analyzing how the author uses specific literary devices (like imagery, symbolism, characterization, etc.) to develop a central idea or theme.

    • Part 1: Conquering Reading Comprehension

    Key Concepts:

  • Main Idea: The central point the author is trying to convey. Look for repeated ideas, topic sentences, and the overall message of the passage.

  • Supporting Details: Information that backs up the main idea. These details provide evidence and elaboration.

  • Inference: Drawing a conclusion based on the information provided in the text, even if it's not explicitly stated. "Reading between the lines."

  • Author's Purpose: The reason the author wrote the text (e.g., to inform, persuade, entertain).

  • Literary Devices: Techniques used by the author to enhance their writing (e.g., metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, irony).

    • Common Pitfalls:

  • Choosing answers that are partially correct: Read all answer choices carefully. One word can make an answer completely wrong.

  • Making assumptions: Stick to the information presented in the text. Don't add your own knowledge or opinions.

  • Ignoring the question: Make sure you understand exactly what the question is asking.

  • Rushing through the passage: Take your time to read and understand the text before attempting the questions.

    • Practical Examples (Based on hypothetical short passage):

    Let's say a passage describes a character named Sarah who is hesitant to try a new food.

  • Question: "What can be inferred about Sarah's personality?"

  • Correct Answer: "Sarah is cautious and resistant to change." (This is inferred from her hesitation to try the new food.)

  • Incorrect Answer: "Sarah is a picky eater." (This is an assumption. The passage only mentions her hesitation with *one* food.)

    • Strategies for Success:

    1. Preview the questions: Quickly skim the questions before reading the passage. This gives you an idea of what to look for.
    2. Read actively: Highlight or underline key information as you read. Pay attention to main ideas, supporting details, and literary devices.
    3. Eliminate incorrect answers: Start by eliminating answers that you know are wrong.
    4. Refer back to the text: Always double-check your answers by referring back to the passage.
    5. Pace yourself: Manage your time effectively to ensure you have enough time to answer all the questions.

    Part 2: Mastering the Argumentative Essay

    Key Concepts:

  • Claim: Your main argument or point of view. It should be clear, concise, and arguable.

  • Evidence: Information from the provided texts that supports your claim.

  • Reasoning: Explaining *how* your evidence supports your claim. Connect the dots for the reader.

  • Counterargument: Acknowledging the opposing viewpoint. This shows you understand the complexity of the issue.

  • Rebuttal: Explaining why the counterargument is not as strong as your argument.

    • Common Pitfalls:

  • Simply summarizing the texts: Your essay needs to present *your* argument, not just regurgitate information from the texts.

  • Not citing evidence: You *must* cite the texts using proper citation methods (e.g., "(Source 1)").

  • Weak reasoning: Failing to explain the connection between your evidence and your claim.

  • Ignoring the counterargument: Failing to acknowledge the opposing viewpoint weakens your argument.

    • Practical Example (Hypothetical Argumentative Prompt - "Is social media beneficial or harmful to teenagers?"):

  • Claim: While social media offers potential benefits like connecting with others, it is ultimately more harmful to teenagers due to its negative impact on mental health and sleep patterns.

  • Evidence (from a hypothetical source): "A recent study found that teenagers who spend more than three hours per day on social media are twice as likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety."

  • Reasoning: This statistic directly supports the claim that social media negatively impacts mental health. The increased rates of depression and anxiety demonstrate the potential harm of excessive social media use on teenagers.

  • Counterargument: Some argue that social media allows teenagers to connect with friends and family, especially those who live far away.

  • Rebuttal: While connecting with others is a valid benefit, the negative impacts on mental health and sleep outweigh these advantages, particularly when considering the potential for cyberbullying and unrealistic social comparisons.

    • Strategies for Success:

    1. Read the prompt and texts carefully: Understand the central claim and the different perspectives presented in the texts.
    2. Plan your essay: Create an outline before you start writing. This will help you organize your thoughts and ensure a logical flow.
    3. Use strong evidence: Select evidence that directly supports your claim and is relevant to the prompt.
    4. Provide clear reasoning: Explain *how* your evidence supports your claim.
    5. Address the counterargument: Acknowledge the opposing viewpoint and explain why it is not as strong as your argument.
    6. Proofread carefully: Check for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

    Part 3: Decoding the Text-Analysis Response

    Key Concepts:

  • Central Idea/Theme: The underlying message or insight the author is trying to convey.

  • Literary Devices: Techniques used by the author to enhance their writing (e.g., imagery, symbolism, characterization, setting, point of view, metaphor, simile, personification).

  • Analysis: Explaining *how* the literary devices contribute to the development of the central idea/theme.

    • Common Pitfalls:

  • Simply identifying literary devices: You need to *analyze* how the devices contribute to the meaning of the text.

  • Summarizing the plot: Focus on analyzing the literary devices, not just retelling the story.

  • Making unsupported claims: Back up your analysis with specific examples from the text.

  • Ignoring the prompt: Make sure you address the specific question asked in the prompt.

    • Practical Example (Hypothetical Passage - A short story about a character who feels isolated in a crowded city):

  • Prompt: Analyze how the author uses imagery and symbolism to develop the central idea of isolation.

  • Analysis: The author uses vivid imagery to depict the crowded city as a chaotic and overwhelming place. For example, the description of "a sea of faces blurring together" creates a sense of anonymity and depersonalization. This imagery contributes to the central idea of isolation by highlighting the character's inability to connect with others despite being surrounded by people. The recurring symbol of the character's closed apartment window further reinforces this theme. The window represents a barrier between the character and the outside world, symbolizing their emotional distance and unwillingness to engage with their surroundings.

Strategies for Success:

1. Read the passage carefully: Pay attention to the literary devices used by the author.
2. Identify the central idea/theme: What is the underlying message of the text?
3. Choose relevant literary devices: Select devices that are significant and contribute to the development of the central idea/theme.
4. Provide specific examples: Use direct quotes or paraphrases from the text to support your analysis.
5. Explain the connection: Explain *how* the literary devices contribute to the development of the central idea/theme.
6. Organize your essay: Use a clear and logical structure to present your analysis.

By understanding the structure of the ELA Regents, mastering the key concepts, avoiding common pitfalls, and practicing with examples, you can approach the exam with confidence and achieve success. Remember to read carefully, plan your essays, and support your claims with evidence from the texts. Good luck!