The completely unofficial, unauthorized, and unrelated to the NCDPI web site for the English I End of Course test.

Breaking News!

Now that the beast is nearing its demise, and I have entries for most days ready to go on the Daily EOC site, I'm bored. So I started up a new English teacher site:

HARD CORE ENGLISH TEACHER

Check it out and let me know if you like it!


Who We Are

~~You have just joined the resistance group for the North Carolina End of Course EOC for English I. Welcome to the fight. We are committed to freeing our students from the tyranny of The Test by equipping them with with the right skills for victory.

~~We plan to do this by sharing as much information with each other as possible to provide us with as many practice sheets, tips and tricks, and whatever else you find that will help you get your students to be able to perform at a higher level on the EOC.

~~Please feel free to use all the information you find. To our knowledge, the materials here are 100% legal and have no copyright violations. If you have something to contribute or just want to say hey, please e-mail me at: marcus.alford@orange.k12.nc.us. It is our hope that you will provide your tools to ours to make us all stronger.

Check out our forum! Join the cause and leave a post!

EOC Underground Forum

 

THE TEST

Here is the 2007 release from the NCDPI on what the test is all about.

Here are the highlights:

The test will count at least 25% of student's final grade.

Goals that are tested are:

  1. The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non print text and personal experiences
  2. The learner will explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions to inform an audience.
  3. The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions.
  4. The learner will create and use standards to critique communication.
  5. The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.
  6. The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

And best of all, here is an amazing quote from the document:

"The selections chosen are ones that would
generally be read by students, would be interesting to the students, and have appropriate content for a reading comprehension test at grade 9."

 

The Retest -
The method for retesting is different this year than last year. Everyone is given the opportunity to retest once. However, the student MUST attend a review session before taking the test. The federal government says retest if the student makes a 79 or lower.

A Little Originality, Please?

The End of Course test has a lousy name. Come on! EOC? You can't even pronounce it as a word. Now, some other states, while they also have crappy standardized tests, at least have some spiffy names for it. Take these for instance:

  • STaR - Standardized Testing and Reporting (California - think of the great Mario or Dora gags that could go with that one)
  • LEAP - Louisiana Educational Assessment Program - (on testing day, you know that there are teachers who say, "Hey kids, go take a LEAP!")
  • NECAP - New England Common Assessment Program (New Hampshire and Rhode Island - get it, /knee cap/ because that is what it feels like to be sure)
  • And the best... SOL for Virginia's Standards of Learning test.

 

Writing Test Items

Here are the standards used by NCDPI for writers of the English I EOC.

Writing questions for the test

 

Other Possibly Helpful Links

State Board of Education Says EOCs Don't Work

 

 ~~


What does this mean?

Downloads and Useful Links

The 2009 Released Test
This is a full test with stats that was released in the fall of 2009. This COULD be a great choice for a benchmark; however, the NCDPI enjoys messing with our minds and has password protected this file so that it cannot be copied or printed. This begs the question, why release it? Anyway, where there is a will there is a way, so I am providing it here for you to use as you see fit. I am also providing the released EOG for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade that might be useful as a practice test or broken into pieces for daily practice.

The 2008 EOC English I Sample Items -
These sample items were found on the NCDPI web site for use in practicing for the EOC. They are not marked by difficulty.

2004 January Sample Passages -
I only have two of these and do not know if more exist or not.

2004 February Sample Passages

 

The 1997 English I EOC Testlets Edition A-
These testlets were produced by NCDPI in 1997. They have a slightly different look today's version, but pretty much test the same materials. You can download the PDF as one big monster (147 pages) or download them separately. The really nice thing about these testlets is that they are marked by difficulty level.

"Sometimes it is not enough to do our best; we must do what is required." - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965).

Other Reading Tests
North Carolina is not the only state doing testing on this level. These practice tests are aimed at the state standards for other states, but can still be useful for practice, emergency lesson plans, etc.

Really???????

Practice Exercises
These are exercises that practice some things that the test covers, but may or may not be set up in a reading passage format:

Coach
This workbook is no longer in print, but Triumph Publishing still makes a nice EOC Workbook called Ladders (see the book resources to the right). Here are a few pages from the out of print book reprinted here with permission from Triumph.


Teacher Submissions

This is a spot for teacher created materials that might help us out with the EOC

A Call to Arms

If you have practice materials that help prepare students for the test, please send them to me. You can e-mail me at:
marcus.alford@orange.k12.nc.us

The more we help each other, the better we all get.

 

 

 

 ~~

Check out our forum! engieoc.proboards.com

Take a gander at our daily practice blog!
Daily EOC

Try out our new English teacher blog!
Hard Core English Teacher


Collected Wisdom about The Beast

The following information is not 100%. Not being affiliated with the NCDPI, I do not have access to all test materials. This information was compiled by searching through samples that the NCDPI has given out. If you have other insights, please share! You can e-mail at the address at the bottom of the second column.

What is covered on the EOC Grammar and Editing section (listed in order from most often seen to least):

  • Verb Tense/Subject-Verb Agreement
  • Comma
  • Word Choice (replace this word with that word)
  • Spelling
  • Homophones
  • Clarity
  • Fragment
  • Apostrophe related (plurals or possessive)
  • Semicolons (usually in relation to clause combining)
  • Capitalization
  • Plurals
  • How does the author/What effect/Purpose/Why did the author
  • What should be added to _______
  • Context clues
  • Recognize the run-on
  • Pronoun case or agreement
  • What detail does _______
  • Combine sentences to reduce wordiness
  • Hyphens (spelling related mostly)
  • Parallel structure
  • Colons

These other things listed seem to be hit or miss items. In other words, useful to know to get that 4, but may not be on all tests:

  • Double negatives
  • adjective/adverb (choose which to use)
  • End mark punctuation
  • Quotation Marks
  • Contractions
  • Who/Whom
  • Transition words
  • Audience
  • Abbreviations

 

What is covered on the Textual Analysis (Reading Comprehension) listed from most seen to least seen:

  • Literary Terms
  • Reading between the lines / Inferring
  • Purpose / Why does the author______
  • Plot level meaning (not plot line – answers straight from text)
  • Theme
  • Context Clues
  • What is the effect of _____
  • Tone
  • relationship between lines or title
  • Compare / Similarities
  • Contrast
  • Predict what will happen next
  • Dialogue (effect of)
  • Audience

Here are the types of literary terms students should know (mind you that this list is not comprehensive and your student may see other terms):

  • simile (by far the most popular)
  • symbolism
  • irony (sometimes listed as ironic, sometimes specific to dramatic, situational, and verbal)
  • mood
  • point of view
  • repetition
  • hyperbole
  • imagery
  • foreshadowing
  • personification
  • paradox
  • conflict
  • analogy (as a word – not as in old SAT)
  • anecdote
  • pun
  • dialect
  • metaphor
  • allusion
  • rhyme scheme
  • archetype

It seems that the EOC is not interested in a student being able to identify a simile (or other term) as much as being able to understand why an author uses it or what effect it has on the reading passage.

 

Book Resources

Here are some books that offer EOC practice worksheets. If you have used any of these books, please comment on their usefulness in our forum. I am not recommending them nor am I not recommending them. They are here for your own perusal.


Ladders to Success: Reading
Triumph Reading
Sample Passages - Used here with permission from Triumph Learning


North Carolina Elements of Literature Test Preparation Instruction and Practice, Third Course
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
No permission for samples


Passing the North Carolina English I End of Course Test
American Book Company
Sample Pages

hit counter dreamweaver
hit counter script

The Onion's Take on Standardized Testing

(May not be suitable for at-school viewing)


In The Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students Who Don't Give A ****?