THE IOWA TESTS
Language: Revising Written Materials
(9th Grade)
Provided by Home Ed (Home Educators of Greater Little Rock)

This test provides information about the student's skills in recognizing correct and effective use of standard American English in writing. In the context of a variety of written materials, the test asks students to make revision choices concerning focus, organization, diction and clarity, sentence structure, usage, mechanics, and spelling -- much as they do in the editing of near-final drafts of their own writing.

All test questions are based on four relatively long, complete texts (ranging from 125 to 450 words) that are patterned after student writing in content and style. These texts -- in the form of letters, essays, personal accounts, and reports written for various courses -- are presented as drafts in which certain portions have been underlined to indicated a possible need for revision. The corresponding questions pose alternatives that may correct or improve the underlined portions. In some cases, there is a clear-cut error in mechanics or usage, sometimes the consideration is one of fluency or clarity, and occasionally it is the appropriateness of the content for the task that is at issue.