Answer the question asked.

Unpack the prompt so you never score a zero.

One sentence answers the prompt, and that sentence is the roadmap for your whole essay.

A wooden signpost. The top board reads AQA, Answer the question asked. Three arrow boards point the way: uses all keywords from the prompt, gives reasons from the text, is one sentence. AQA AQA Answer the question asked Answer the question asked Uses all keywords from the promptUses all keywords from the promptGives reasons from the textGives reasons from the textIs one sentenceIs one sentence

Miss any one of these and the response is off prompt, and off prompt is the one thing good writing cannot fix. Everything below is seven steps that get a student to all three.

Pick your level to start

Same passage and the same seven steps at every level. The reading gets a little longer, and the prompt uses the words your grade is tested on.

Teachers: share this link exactly as it is. No codes, no student accounts, nothing installed, nothing collected. Students show you their score screen at the end.

Mini lesson

Practice story

The Great Snack Swap

First, the big question. Pick a side.

Leo and Ava have the same argument every day at lunch. Leo says Takis are the best snack ever made. Ava says Hot Cheetos win, no contest.

On Friday, Ava opens her Hot Cheetos too fast. The bag rips, and every single chip lands on the cafeteria floor. Ava stares at the orange mess.

Leo looks at his Takis for a long time. Then he slides the whole bag across the table.

“Don't get used to it,” he says.

1Read the prompt
Explain why Leo gives Ava his Takis.
2Make it a question
Why does Leo give Ava his Takis?
3
Leo gives Ava his Takis because her chips spilled and she is his friend.

Just a topicTakis.
A questionWhy does Leo give them away?
The prompt copiedExplain why Leo gives Ava his Takis.
The prompt's words and a reason.

?No questions
I, you, weNo I, you, or we
maybeNo maybe
always, neverNo always or never

Mini lesson

Seven steps down the road.

On prompt meter020406080100000
On prompt meter
Parked
Prompt, STAAR format
Finished

out of points

Show your teacher this screen, or copy your results below.

Teachers: this activity, with automatic scores.

  • With a WRITE it! teacher account, Prompt Analysis runs on every passage and prompt in the library, for grades 3 through English II, and every student's analysis lands in your class report with a suggested on-prompt read in TEA rubric language.
  • The same seven steps feed the Writing Coach, so the central idea, controlling idea, or thesis statement a student builds here becomes the first line of a real essay.
  • No proof codes and no screen checks. Assign it any day, not just this week.
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