SAT Authoring The Project

Our current SAT course diagnostic tests are not as reflective of the real ETS tests as they should be. We are going to overhaul these 4 exams to bring the questions and question distribution more in line with ETS tone, style, and content. This guide explains how to qualify as an author and how the authoring process works.

The Item Creation Process

A test item consists of several parts: Item data. Each item is classified according to the item format, skills or knowledge tested, techniques used to solve it, and difficulty level. Passage (for RC or Imp. Par. questions) or Chart/Graph (for Charts and Graphs questions) Question stem Answer choices for multiple-choice items Correct answer(s). Depending on the item type, the correct answer can be a single answer choice or a value the test taker must enter. Explanation. The explanation walks the test taker through the steps of answering the question using TPR techniques. It explains why the correct answer is correct and why incorrect choices are wrong. RD starts the process by creating the item data. We provide this information to authors so that theyll know what to write. For example, you might be asked to write a problem-solving question that tests the ability to find the area of a circle, can be solved by plugging in, and is of medium difficulty. Next, the writer develops the question stem and, if its a multiple-choice question, the answer choices. The writer indicates which answer choice or value is correct, and he or she writes the explanation(s). If charts, graphs, or figures are needed, the writer can deal with this in one of two ways. If the art is easily drawn in Word, the author may put it directly in the template. If the chart, diagram, etc. is more complicated, the author should write a detailed description of it. If RD doesnt understand or cannot create the figure based on this description, a project manager will be in touch to clarify. The writer submits the item to RD, and it undergoes an initial review. We check to make sure that all parts of the item are present and correctly formatted. If there are major problems with the item, it will be rejected and returned to the author for additional work. If it is initially accepted, we send it to a content reviewer. The content reviewer works the question, verifies the answers, checks that the item matches its data, and evaluates the explanation. The reviewer may make edits to improve the item quality. For some item types, the writer may be responsible for choosing comments, and for others, the reviewer adds the comments. The reviewer sends the item back to RD. RD turns the item over to our Production Editorial department for proofreading and copy editing. A proofreader checks for proper formatting, grammar, spelling, and styles. After any necessary edits are made, the item returns to RD. At this point, it is marked as complete. RD assembles the items into their final delivery formatdiagnostic tests. After assembly, a reviewer checks to see that the test fulfills the test specifications. For example, a reviewer would check to see that a test section has the correct number of items of each type and the proper distribution of topics and

Author Guidelines January 2008

difficulty levels. After this check, the material is ready to be produced. In the case of print material, we turn a manuscript over to the Production department. As we move through the production process, material is checked yet again before going to the printer or being published live to an online server.

Authoring
Well send you a writing assignment on 1/28/08. You may have only one assignment at a time. All assignments are due by 2/4/08 at 5pm, but of course you can and should turn in assignments early. As soon as an assignment is accepted, you are eligible for another. We make assignments on a firstcome, first-served basis. The more quickly you turn in assignments, the sooner you are eligible for another.

Getting Paid
The payment process is a bit cumbersome, but accounting procedures make it necessary. Payment for item writing is handled separately from your normal teacher pay. When you teach, youre paid by your local office(s), but when you write items, youre paid by TPR Management. For this reason, we have to create a separate set of employment data and work records. If you havent worked for RD in the past year, we need to create a record for you in our system. Well send you several forms to complete and return. These forms allow us to enroll you in Managements records. When you receive an assignment, well include information about payment. Pay rates vary by item type and assignment length. Heres what you can expect to earn: Error ID Write 12 Questions Improving Sentences Write 10 Questions Improving Paragraphs Write 1 Passage and 6 Questions Sentence Completions Write 12 Questions Math Prob. Solving Write 10 Questions Math Grid Ins Write 12 Questions Reading Comp Write 6 Questions (passage provided) Write 12 Questions (passage Reading Comp provided) $150 $150 $150 $150 $150 $150 $100 $200

You will only be paid for accepted items. Once an assignment has been accepted, you fill out the blank invoice form you received with your assignment and submit it to RD. We will then send it on to Accounting. The accounting department processes the invoice and cuts a check, which is mailed to you. Depending on where your invoice falls in the accounting cycle, it can take 30 to 45 days for you to receive payment.

Setting Up Your Computer

If you do not already have Equation Editor installed, you will need to install it. If you originally installed your Microsoft Office program from a network file server or from a shared folder, you must install or remove components from that location. If you installed your Office program from a CD-ROM and you've mapped your CD-ROM drive to a new drive letter since installing the Office program, reinstall from the CD-ROM. Go to the Control Panel and click Add or Remove Programs. Scroll down the programs list until you find your version of office and do the following:

For Windows XP and 2000 and Windows Millennium Edition: If you installed your Office program as part of Microsoft Office, click Microsoft Office in the Currently installed programs box, and then click the Change button.

Author Guidelines January 2008

If you installed your Office program individually, click the name of your program in the Currently installed programs box, and then click the Change button. For Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0: If you installed your Office program as part of Microsoft Office, click Microsoft Office on the Install/Uninstall tab, and then click the Add/Remove button. If you installed your Office program individually, click the name of your program on the Install/Uninstall tab, and then click the Add/Remove button. You should look for Office Tools listed in the program list in the window that opens. Look for Equation Editor, click on it and select Install or Run from My Computer. Equation editor should install.

Accessing Equation Editor

Once Equation Editor is installed, you can find the feature using the menu options: Insert/Object/Microsoft Equation 3.0. It is a drag having to click thought the multiple menus every time you want to insert an equation, so in Office XPand 2000, we believeyou can add a button to your tool bar that links you directly to Equation Editor. Go to View/Toolbars/Customize. Click on Insert in the left window, and scroll down the right window until you find the Equation Editor symbolit looks like . Now, just right click on that icon and drag it to the location on your tool bar that youd like to place it. Once it is in place, give it a click and have fun writing your equation. If you have MathType installed on your computer, please revert to Equation Editor 3.0 for this project so that we can make any necessary edits to your work on our machines.

Using Equation Editor

There are several characters that you cannot find on the keyboard. If you can find a particular character on the keyboard, then it is okay to use it. The first place to check for characters that arent on your keyboard is in the ASCII Code table on the next page. To create any of these characters, simply hold down the Alt key and type the four digit number into the number keypad that appears next to it (Note: Do not use the numbers above the QWERTY keys).

0124 0131 0132 0133 0134 0135 0136 0137 0138 0139 0140 0145 0146 0147 0148 0149 0150 0151 0152 0153 0154

0155 0156 0159 0161 0162 0163 0164 0165 0166 0167 0168 0169 0170 0171 0172 0174 0175 0176 0177 0178 0179

0180 0181 0182 0183 0184 0185 0187 0191 0192 0193 0194 0195 0196 0197 0198 0199 0200 0201 0202 0203 0204

0205 0206 0207 0208 0209 0210 0211 0212 0213 0214 0215 0216 0217 0218 0219 0220 0221 0222 0223 0224 0225

0226 0227 0228 0229 0230 0231 0232 0233 0234 0235 0236 0237 0238 0239 0240 0241 0242 0243 0244 0245 0246

0248 0249 0250 0251 0252 0253 0254 0255

Author Guidelines January 2008

Some of the ASCII codes you will be using more often are: Bullets () 0149 Multiplication () 0215 En- and Em-ashes (,) 0150, 0151 Smart quotes (,) 0147, 0148 Smart apostrophe () 0146 Degree symbol () 0176 Ellipsis () 0133 Copyright () 0169

When to Use Equation Editor

Equations can be created by either Equation Editor/MathType or with regular characters on the keyboard in Word. The rule is that if you are able to type an equation using the keyboard, then do so. (Make sure you use the correct multiplication symbol <ALT> 0215.) For any fraction that is stacked, or if an equation contains a root symbol , you must use Equation editor. When not using Equation editor, please remember to italicize all variables. Also, remember to use the en-dash for the negative symbol and the subtraction symbol. For example: Incorrect: Mike ate the pizza.

1 Correct: Mike ate 2 the pizza.

No MathType needed: 4,800 32x = 500 (62)

8( 4 3 ) = 16 2 MathType needed:

3 cm 2

Style Settings
In order to make sure that your work is compatible with our Publishing Software, we ask that you set up your styles in the following way: Go to Tools/Options/Spelling and Grammar. Click the Settings button in the Grammar section. For commas required before last list item, choose always. Choose inside for the punctuation required with quotes option. For spaces between sentences, choose 1. Click OK to close the grammar settings box.

Next, go to Tools/Autocorrect. Under the AutoCorrect tab, set your options as shown below, and click OK.

With the Tools box still open, choose the AutoFormat As You Type tab. Set your options as shown below, and click OK.

Do not close that box yet! Click the AutoFormat tab. Set your options as shown below, and click OK.

Spiraling Questions and Answer Choices

Spiraling refers to writing a new question based on an existing question. In some cases, you may be asked to spiral existing questions. Keep in mind that you cannot copy questions word for word. If you follow the three-word rule that no three significant consecutive words can remain the same, you should be fine. The exception to this rule is boilerplate test language, word and phrases used repeatedly within one test or in many tests. For example, rounding to the nearest hundred and which of the following are phrases that you can use. You and TPR are subject to copyright laws, so do not copy anything verbatim. There are different levels of spirals. A very close spiral maintains just about everything from the model. The format of the question stem is exactly the same and the types of answer choices are the same. Even the correct answer is in the same position. You should not create any very close spirals for this project. A close spiral maintains the ideas tested in the original question. However, the elements and wording of the question are slightly modified. Changing something such as Estimate by rounding the value of x to the nearest tenth into If Fred is going to estimate by rounding the value of x to the nearest tenth. The idea is the same, but the question is worded differently. Additionally, the answer choices do not have to be in the same format as the original question and the correct answer should be in a different position. A distant spiral tests skills and techniques similar to those tested in the model, but it has greater differences. First, the stem can be of a longer or shorter length. The level of difficulty may be higher or lower than the original question and the wording of the stem is significantly different. In our previous example, Estimate by rounding the value of x to the nearest tenth might become If Fred is going to estimate the amount of tax he owes to the nearest dollar. The tested idea is similar, but the wording and rounding value are a bit different.

Resources for Spiraling

Most assignments have a specific ETS question that we would like you to spiral from. For example, if your assignment is to spiral question AEOS-S6-Q23, you would want to check out the October 2005 form AEOS, look up section 6, question 23, and create a close to distant spiral of that question. We dont expect that you have all these tests on hand. There are many resources available to you in the SAT section of Teacher Suite Resources under 09 SAT: Diag week Resources: 1. The ETS Database This Excel document has a Reading, a Writing, and a Math sheet for each of 8 ETS test. Use this to: o Look up the categorization, difficulty level, length of question (lines in math, words in verbal), etc. for the question you are spiraling a new question from. o Sort the data to quickly and easily identify other questions that are similar to the one you are spiraling to see more closely other ways ETS tests the same concept. o See the range of difficulties for the questions that test the same topic and look these questions up in the tests to see how ETS creates a 2 versus a 4, for example. 2. 8 Real ETS Tests There are 8 separate PDFs that include the questions you are to spiral from. The 8 tests represented in the Database are all available for you to investigate with your own eyes. 3. Extra-Special Resources For Math there are 4 Word documents that have images of each question from the 8 ETS tests for Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry and Misc., organized by the subcategories of each content area and in order of difficulty from low to high. There is Critical Reading has a word document that has Mad-Libs type skeletons of ETS questions organized by category type that may help inspire.

Questions

If you have questions about the qualification or authoring processes, please send them to BrianaG@review.com.