Types of Questions on Part I

Construction Shift

Approximately 20% of the questions on Part I of the Language Arts Writing Test are in the construction shift format.

Some construction shift items require the student to completely recast a sentence or pair of sentences. These items include a stem that must be rewritten, using an alternative structure.

Other construction shift items change the structure of a document. Construction shift items that assess a student’s organization skills may require the student to combine paragraphs, separate paragraphs, or insert a topic sentence at the beginning of a paragraph.

Click here to see a sample question.