| Supplemental Materials | ||
| Printable Summary | ||
| Sample Questions | ||
| Scoring Scale | ||
| Campus Resources | ||
| Activities | ||
| Understanding the Question | ||
| Selecting a Proposal | ||
| Sample Responses |
Understanding the CUNY ASSESSMENT TEST IN WRITINGOverview
The CUNY Assessment Test in Writing is an hour-long test that measures your ability to write a college-level essay.
What's at stake? If you do not pass the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing, you will be placed in a preparatory writing class, and you may not be able to enroll in the courses you want to take until you can pass it. This tutorial explains what is expected for you to do well on this test and gives you the opportunity to practice on your own or with a tutor.
In the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing, you will be asked to write a well-developed, organized essay in the form of a letter to a person or committee. The exam presents you with two different questions, one focused on a school issue and one focused on a community issue. You must choose one to write about.
Then, within the question you have chosen, there will be two proposals for achieving a particular goal. You must choose one of these proposals to support, and then write a letter explaining why the proposal you have chosen is the better option for achieving the goal.
To support your position, you will need to draw on your own experience and creativity by including personal observations, brief stories (real or imagined), examples, and facts.Analyzing the question
Take a minute to read through this sample question.
Each question contains four elements: a situation, two proposals, a decision maker, and a goal. Your response, addressed to the decision maker, should offer reasons why one of the proposals better fulfills the goal in this situation.
The situation usually revolves around a school or community issue and presents either an opportunity for improvement or a problem that needs to be solved. In this example, the situation is stated in the first sentence. It says that New York City received funding to help reduce poverty among low-income families.
The proposals in the question are ideas for addressing or resolving the situation. The two proposals in this example are:
- to provide money to help families pay their rent, and
- to provide money to help families pay the cost of childcare.
The decision maker has a goal, and your job is to convince him or her that one of the proposals will achieve that goal better than the other. In this example, the mayor is interested in reducing poverty among low-income families.
Once you have identified the four parts of the question, you have a good understanding of the topic and are ready to begin planning your response.
“Taking a stand”
As you can see, the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing is different from writing exams you may have taken in the past. In it, you are meant to assume the role of someone who cares deeply about the situation presented and who has a definite opinion about which proposal will best achieve the goal.
While you may not feel as if you know much about the topic or have a good understanding of how the proposals would affect the situation, you must select one of the proposals and be able to support it in your response. Later in this tutorial, we will show you strategies for selecting and supporting a proposal. The better you are able to do this, the better you will do on the exam.
Grading
On the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing, you will be graded on the following:
- Following the directions
- Supporting one of the proposals
- Explaining three or four reasons why you support that proposal
- Writing a well organized response
- Using edited American English—including correct grammar, word usage, and punctuation.
Planning your time
Remember, you only have one hour for the exam. Make sure you read carefully, think about what you are going to write before you begin, and review your response once you are finished. Here is the most commonly recommended strategy for structuring your time: the “10-40-10” plan.
- Spend 10 minutes planning your response.
- Spend 40 minutes writing your response.
- Then spend the last 10 minutes reviewing your response and revising it.
Planning Your Response
Taking time to plan
It is difficult for anyone to write effectively without first planning what to say. Some students feel they don’t have time to brainstorm and plan, especially during timed tests. But time spent planning is time well spent. Making an outline and taking notes on what you want to say can actually save you time because planning helps you write a better organized response that requires fewer edits.
It is recommended that you spend the first 10 minutes of the exam considering the questions, choosing one, deciding which proposal to support, and planning your response. The booklet in which you will be writing your response has two blank pages for notes, which you can use when planning your response.
Selecting one question
When taking the exam, read both questions presented to you, and choose one. Do not overthink your choice; simply choose the question that you would prefer to write about.
Selecting one proposal
In our sample question, two proposals are described: one to provide money to help families pay their rent and another to provide money to help families pay the cost of childcare. The mayor will be making a decision between these two proposals, based on which one will better reduce poverty among low-income families.
After you read the question carefully, you need to decide which of the two proposals you want to support. You might feel, at first, that you do not know enough about the situation to make a decision. But try not to worry. Once you give it some thought, you’ll likely realize that you prefer one of the proposals over the other.
Remember, you only have to write in support of the proposal you choose; you do not have to argue against the other one.
In selecting a proposal to support, ask yourself questions like these:
- Which proposal would bring the most benefit to the community?
- Is one of the proposals similar to something you have experienced or heard about in the past?
- Which proposal seems more real, practical, and worthwhile?
Imagining the program
Let’s say that, in the example above, you choose the second proposal – providing money to help families pay the cost of childcare.
Now try to imagine how this proposal would work. Who would receive the money in this program? Would there be certain requirements? How would this money benefit the people who received it? The better you can envision a program like this, the more likely you will be able to write an effective response.
Structuring your response
A quick note before you begin brainstorming. Most responses follow one of three models: multiple reasons, before and after, and counterargument.
In the multiple-reasons model, you provide multiple reasons (sometimes called “arguments”) why the proposal you have chosen is better than the other one. For example, you might think of two reasons why giving low-income families money for childcare is a good way to reduce poverty: parents are more likely to work full-time, and parents are more likely to go back to school and become able to get better jobs. In your essay, both of these reasons would have its own paragraph, and in each paragraph you would provide supporting information, such as examples, brief stories (real or imagined), facts, or personal observations, to support that reason.
In the before-and-after model, you first describe the problems that currently exist, and then give multiple reasons for the proposal that you have chosen, with each reason strengthened by supporting information.
In the counterargument model, you provide reasons why the proposal you have chosen is the better option, including supporting information, and also give a reason why the other proposal is not a good option.
Because most students choose the first model, this tutorial will use the “multiple reasons” structure for our example.
Brainstorming
Now you are ready to brainstorm a list of possible reasons to use in your response. Each of these reasons should show how the proposal you have chosen would achieve to the desired goal.
Why do you think the proposal you selected would be the better choice? You can begin brainstorming by thinking about the positive consequences of giving families money to pay for childcare. What would be the benefits for individuals, families, and the community? Perhaps families could use money they are currently putting toward childcare to pay for other expenses, such as rent or healthcare. Maybe more young parents would go to college if they could afford childcare. Perhaps low-income neighborhoods would have higher quality child-care facilities because families would have more money to afford them.
When brainstorming, take advantage of your own observations and experiences. For example, maybe you have observed that, in many families, only one parent works because the other needs to stay home with the children until they are old enough to go to school. Perhaps if childcare were more affordable, more parents would be able to hold full-time jobs.
Think about whether you have heard about or experienced any similar programs. Perhaps you come from a country or community where a similar program is in effect. If it was successful, why was it successful? What did you like about it?
Supporting information
Now that you’ve created a list of possible reasons to use in your response, you need to make your reasons convincing. It’s not enough to simply list one reason after another. Your response will be strengthened if you provide additional supporting information for each reason.
Such supporting information can come in many forms, including personal observations and experiences, facts and statistics, examples, or brief stories (real or imagined).
Remember, when writing your response, you are taking on the role of someone who is recommending and supporting a specific proposal for action. Imagine yourself as someone who is highly interested in the issue and feels personally involved with the outcome. In this kind of writing, it is helpful to use supporting information that draws on your own knowledge and personal experiences.
When brainstorming supporting information for the reasons you have chosen to use—for example, more parents would hold full-time jobs if they had money for childcare—ask yourself, “Do I know anyone who would be more likely to have a full-time job if they could afford childcare?” Maybe you have an aunt who could not pay for childcare and, therefore, had to reduce her hours to part-time to stay home with her children in the afternoons. If so, you could use this example in your response.
You could also write about the high cost of childcare, which makes it necessary for many parents to stay home with their children. You might not know exact costs for childcare, but you may be able to make an estimate, based on what you have read or heard people talking about. In your response, make sure you indicate that your estimate is an educated guess, using phrases such as: “According to my estimates…” or “I would imagine that…”
After coming up with two or three pieces of supporting information for one reason, you will want to select a second reason to develop. For the second reason, perhaps you will want to discuss how being able to afford childcare would enable more parents to go to college. Again, you would need to come up with supporting information. Maybe you want to write about how much time it takes to attend college classes and how parents of young children often have difficulty finding time to attend. You can also write about how important it is for these parents to further their education so that they can support themselves and their children and bring themselves out of poverty. You can repeat this process with a third and even a fourth reason, if time allows.
When you are finished with the planning process, you should know which reasons you want to write about and the supporting information you have for each. It is a good idea to take notes on the blank pages provided in your test booklet.
Planning your paragraphs
Finally, before you finish the planning process, think about how you would like to divide your response into paragraphs. You might have come up with only one reason, but have five or six pieces of supporting information, or you might have brainstormed three different reasons, each with one or two pieces of supporting information. Either way, you need to create paragraphs that make sense.
One way to make sure your paragraphs make sense is to examine what you are going to write about in each. Ask yourself: Are any of those pieces of supporting information similar? Can they be placed in the same paragraph? Is one piece of supporting information a story? Does it need its own paragraph? Which reason do you want to use in the beginning of your response? Which one will you choose to use at the end?
You have flexibility in how you organize your paragraphs, as long as each paragraph has a specific purpose and “fits in”—or is linked to – the one before and the one after it.
Once you have finalized your plan, you are ready to begin writing.
Writing Your Response
The introduction
Because you only have 60 minutes to write your response, and you want to spend 10 minutes at the beginning planning it and 10 minutes at the end reviewing and revising it, you probably won’t want to spend too much time on your introduction. Remember, the body of your response is where you will be including most of your information, so the introduction can be fairly brief.
When you begin your response, start with the greeting, which is given to you in the last sentence of the question. In our example, the greeting would be “Dear Mayor:”.
In writing the introduction, you will want to refer to the proposal you are supporting and state your awareness of the goal.
Here are two effective introductions that could be written for our example.
I am writing you in support of a proposal to provide low-income families money to help with childcare. Based on my knowledge and personal experience with this issue, I feel confident that this proposal will help many New Yorkers bring themselves out of poverty, and I am very excited to hear that you are considering it. I ask that you take a few minutes from your busy day to give my letter your attention and think about the issues I am raising.
Dear Mayor:
On behalf of the low-income families in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I want to ask that you support the proposal to help struggling families pay for childcare. This is an issue that is very important to me and to many people I know, who have been forced to cut back on their jobs and postpone their education while they care for their children. If this proposal is passed, it would be a great benefit to my community and to all New Yorkers.
Body paragraphs
The body of your response - everything between your introduction and your conclusion—is where you should spend the most time. This is where you will present the reader with your reasons for supporting the proposal you’ve chosen. Here are the reasons mentioned earlier in this tutorial:
- More parents could hold full-time jobs
- More young parents would go to college
If you have time, it is a good idea to also include a third reason with supporting information.
When writing a body paragraph, it is good to begin with a topic sentence, a sentence that summarizes the reason or idea you will be discussing in that paragraph. Let’s look at the first reason: More parents could hold full-time jobs.
An effective topic sentence for the paragraph that discusses this reason would be “If this proposal was approved, more parents would be able to afford childcare and, therefore, be able to hold full-time jobs.” After this sentence, you could spend the rest of the paragraph discussing the cost of childcare – which currently prevents many parents from working full-time – and the connection between working more and pulling the family out of poverty. In your discussion, you should use supporting information to make your reason more convincing.
Here is a sample body paragraph that uses the supporting information discussed above.
Take a closer look at this paragraph. First, notice how the topic sentence summarizes the entire reason: “If this proposal is approved, more parents would be able to afford childcare and, therefore, be able to hold full-time jobs.” Everything else in the paragraph supports this topic sentence.
Second, note how the writer provided supporting information throughout the paragraph. Instead of just saying that childcare is expensive, the writer explains that “daycare facilities charge hundreds of dollars a month” and that babysitters are “often too expensive for lower-income families to afford.” Again, notice the effectiveness of using estimates. Even if you do not know specific numbers, you can make estimates like this that will go a long way in strengthening your argument.
Finally, notice that the paragraph is sufficiently long and detailed to give the impression of a full, rich argument. The amount of supporting information you include will strongly influence the reader’s assessment of your response.
Next, y ou will need to go through the same process for the other body paragraph s you have planned to include in your response.
The conclusion
Once you have finished writing all of your body paragraphs,
you should write a short conclusion, reminding the reader of your position, restating one or more of your reasons, and requesting the decision maker’s support for the proposal you have chosen. Here are two sample conclusions that could be written for our example.
Sincerely,
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I hope that it has helped you to understand the difficult decisions facing today’s parents. As you make your final decision on this proposal, please keep these ideas in mind. You have the opportunity to make a huge difference to people throughout the city, reducing poverty for millions of New Yorkers; and I’m sure you will make the right decision.
Thank you,
Reviewing and Revising
Once you’ve finished writing, remember to take time to proofread your response. It is perfectly acceptable for you to cross out words or sentences you want to change and write new text above it. People make edits like this all the time on the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing; such edits will not reduce your grade, and in fact can improve it.
CONCLUSION
CUNY, Democracy, and You
The CUNY Assessment Test in Writing models an important form of democratic participation—many people write such letters to politicians, newspaper editors, and government committees, in the hope of creating a positive change. You may have already written similar letters yourself, and CUNY hopes that you will continue to do so as an active member of the university and the larger community.
Conclusion
You have now completed CUNY’s Guide to the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing. If you would like additional information, please visit our bonus features section.
Thank you for your time, and good luck on the exam!