8th Grade CRT Study Guide

Prefixes and Suffixes

Prefix Meaning Examples

anti- against antibody, antidote, antacid
com- together common, complete, compare, company, combine, community
con- together connect, continue, converse, consider, convince, conjunction, contact
dis- apart from, away disappear, discuss, distract, distort, dispute, dismiss, disprove
inter- between international, interfere, intervene, interrupt, interject
intr- into, inward introduce, introvert, introduction
non- not nonstop, nonprofit, none, nonsense, nonfat, nonexistent
pro- forward product, protect, progress, produce, provide, pronounce, program
super- over, more supervisor, superior, supernatural, supreme
trans- across, beyond transport, transmit, transfusion, transoceanic

Suffix Meaning Examples

-en make of, make wooden, frighten, frozen, happen, lighten
-ess female actress, princess, goddess, lioness, governess
-ish origin, nature, resemble finish, foolish, Irish, clownish, selfish, smallish, greenish
-ism system, manner, condition alcoholism, heroism, Communism, capitalism
-ize make realize, organize, recognize, harmonize
-let little booklet, omelet, piglet, coverlet
-ness quality of, state of greatness, kindness, carelessness, softness, darkness
-ous full of, having various, dangerous, glorious
-ship skill, state, quality friendship, relationship, companionship
-tude state of multitude, gratitude, solitude

Literary Devices

Simile: A comparison between two things using the words “like” or “as.” (Love is like a journey)
Metaphor: A comparison in which one thing becomes the other. (Love is a journey)
Symbolism: An object is used to represent something beyond itself. (American flag symbolizes freedom)
Theme: The lesson that the author wants you to learn from the story.
Foreshadowing: Giving hints about what’s going to happen in the story.
Flashback: Explaining events that happened previously in a story.
Setting: The place, time, and customs in a story.
Conflict: The problem in a story.
Climax: The turning point of a story, the most intense part.
Connotation: The implied meaning of a word.
Free verse: A form of poetry in which there is no rhythm or rhyme pattern.
Rhythm: The beat of a poem, a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables

Conventions

Punctuation ALWAYS goes inside the quotation marks! (“I told him yesterday,” Billy said.)
Remember that verb tense (past, present, future) has to remain the same throughout the work.
Pronouns have to agree with their antecedents in both number and gender. (Each of the students had his or her
book.)
Pronouns with “one” at the end are SINGULAR: anyone, everyone, no one
Pronouns with “body” at the end are SINGULAR: everybody, nobody, anybody
Capitalization: Only capitalize titles of specific courses (I took History 202.)
Who vs. whom: Who is used as a subject, whom is used as an object
Kelly is the girl WHO won the race. (Who is the subject of won)
Is Bobby the boy WHOM you met? (Whom is the object of met)

Confused Words

Capital/capitol Loose/lose
Farther/further Knew/new
Choose/chose Their/they’re/there
Week/weak Quiet/quite/quit
Emigrate/immigrate Cell/sale/sell
Passed/past

Informational Text

Look at text features (graphs, charts, sidebars, bolded words, etc.) to determine what is important. Text features
can give you information that’ not in the story.
Fact vs. opinion: A fact can be proven to be true; an opinion cannot.
Primary source: A work written at the time the event was happening by an authority or someone who had first-
hand knowledge.
Secondary source: A work written after the event happened.
Make sure that you get your information from reliable sources. Ask these questions about sources:
Who wrote the information?
What was the author’s intention?
Who is sponsoring (or publishing) the information?
Reference books: These books give information. There are several different types listed below.
Atlas: Book of maps
Dictionary: Gives definitions, parts of speech, and pronunciations of words.
Encyclopedia: Includes short articles that give information on certain subjects.
Thesaurus: Lists synonyms and antonyms for words.
Almanac: Lists important events that happened during specific years.

Reading/Writing Strategies

Connections: text-to-text, text-to-self, text-to-world

Sequencing: Putting events in the order they happened.
Determine what information is most important using text features and
Thesis statement: Expresses the author’s opinion about a subject.
Topic sentences: Express what each paragraph is going to be about.
Explicit information: Information that is directly stated. (Your mom tells you to clean your room.)
Implicit information: Information that is implied, but not said. (Your mom says your room is messy, meaning
she wants you to clean it even though that’s not what she said.)
Look at the implicit information in texts. Read between the lines!

General Tips

Get plenty of rest.

Eat breakfast. Your brain works better when it’s well-fed.
Don’t stress over a question. If you don’t know the answer, skip it and come back.
The test isn’t timed, so you have as much time as you need. Don’t rush!
Read the questions very carefully!
Do your best!