new york state component retest english component a … · 6 in a well-developed paragraph of three...

NEW YORK STATE COMPONENT RETEST

ENGLISH

COMPONENT A MODULE 4

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009

SCORING KEY

AND RATING GUIDE

Multiple Choice Key

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Component A

(used for 2-point responses that refer only to the text)

Score Point 2

• presents a well-developed paragraph • provides an appropriate explanation • supports the explanation with the information from the text • uses language that is appropriate • may exhibit errors in conventions that do not hinder comprehension

Score Point 1 • provides an explanation

or • implies an explanation

or • has an unclear explanation

AND • supports the explanation with partial or overly general information from the text • uses language that may be imprecise or inappropriate • exhibits errors in conventions that may hinder comprehension

Score Point 0 • is off topic, incoherent, a copy of the task and/or text, or blank • demonstrates no understanding of the task/text • is a personal response

Component A

(used for 2-point responses that refer to the text and the graphic)

Score Point 2

• presents a well-developed paragraph addressing the task • demonstrates a basic understanding of the text and graphic • supports the explanation with the information from both the text and graphic • uses language that is appropriate • may exhibit errors in conventions that do not hinder comprehension

Score Point 1

• provides an explanation

or • implies an explanation or • has an unclear explanation

AND

• supports the explanation with partial or overly general information from the text and/or graphic • uses language that may be imprecise or inappropriate • exhibits errors in conventions that may hinder comprehension

Score Point 0

• is off topic, incoherent, a copy of the task and/or text, or blank • demonstrates no understanding of the task/text • is a personal response

English Component A Retest – Module 4 – May ’09 2

Directions: Read the passage and study the graphic on the following pages. Write your answer to each multiple-choice question on your answer sheet. Then write your responses to questions 6 and 7 in the space provided on your answer sheet. You may use the margins to take notes as you read.

Trillions of Cicadas

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After a 17-year nap, trillions of red-eyed insects are crawling their way above ground in 14 states and the nation’s capital.

Loudmouthed and ugly, the cicadas will fly clumsily into pets, bushes and unwitting pedestrians as they engage in a frenetic1 mating ritual that lasts well into June.

Then they’ll disappear for another 17 years. Keith Clay, a biologist and cicada researcher at Indiana

University in Bloomington, said the appearance of cicadas is “an amazing biological phenomenon” that nonetheless produces a “yuck factor” for some people.

“They’re not scared but see them as disgusting,” he said. The 1 1/2 inch-long black bugs with iridescent2 wings buzz

around, but are basically harmless. They don’t bite, and they don’t sting. They live above ground as adults for about 2 1/2 weeks to reproduce all they can before dying.

The adult males begin the mating ritual with a long buzzing sound that attracts the females. The chorus from one colony’s male insects is so loud that the insects can drown out outdoor wedding events, graduation ceremonies and golf tournaments, researchers say.

Scientists say this year’s [2004] batch, the largest of the cicada groups that appear at various intervals, offers researchers a rare opportunity to study the insect’s impact on the nation’s forests. Recent studies indicate cicadas are growing in numbers due in part to deforestation.

Cicadas tend to thrive in sunlit forest edges, which often provide the warmer weather and younger trees most ideal for them to lay their young. That’s because younger tree roots can sustain the 17-year feeding cycle of nymphic3 cicadas until they mature.

There are more than a dozen broods4 of 17-year cicadas, along with several 13-year varieties. This year’s group, Brood X, is the largest and is concentrated in the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic.

Found only in the United States east of the Great Plains, the periodical cicadas burrow into the ground after hatching, some digging as far as 8 feet under. Below the earth, the nymphs slowly

1 frenetic: marked by wild, disordered activity 2 iridescent: displaying a rainbow-like range of colors that change with the angle of observation 3 nymphic: describing the nymph, or larva, stage of an insect’s development 4 brood: a group having a common nature or origin


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suck the sap from tree roots for nourishment. After 17 years, they emerge and climb trees and shrubs, where

they shed their crunchy skins and harden into maturity. Sheer numbers is what ensures locusts’5 survival. The insects

are a treat for robins and other birds, and even some pets, who are at risk for diarrhea or constipation if they eat too many. But many cicadas escape death because there are simply too many in the swarm for even the hungriest to devour.

“Their numbers simply overwhelm,” said John Odland, a geographer at Indiana University.

Once the bugs mate, the females cut slits into tree branches, where they deposit 400 to 600 eggs. The adults quickly die, but the eggs hatch in a few weeks. The young cicadas dig into the ground and won’t emerge until 2021.

The states which will see cicadas this summer include: Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

—Associated Press

Reprinted with permission of The Associated Press.

5 locust: a term that can refer not only to grasshoppers with huge appetites, but also to cicadas

4 English Component A Retest – Module 4 – May ’09

Graphic

Source: www.nationalgeographic.com; Maryland Department of Agriculture; University of Maryland; University of Massachusetts Amherst; and the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Insect Division. / © 2008 Measurement Incorporated.


Multiple-Choice Questions

Directions (1–5): Select the best suggested answer to each question and write its number in the space provided on the answer sheet. The questions may help you think about ideas and information you might want to use in your written responses. You may return to these questions any time you wish.

I141G10160012 1 Why do cicadas emerge from the ground

every 13 or 17 years?

(1) to migrate long distances (2) to mate and reproduce (3) to get nourishment (4) to nest in trees

I141G10160053 2 In line 9, the appearance of cicadas is

described as a “biological phenomenon” because cicadas

(1) are repulsive (2) breed in 14 states (3) appear periodically (4) live beneath the soil

I141G10360042 3 According to the passage, how does

deforestation affect cicadas? (1) It allows for cooler temperatures suitable to

cicadas. (2) It creates an environment that supports

cicadas. (3) It interferes with the feeding cycle of

cicadas. (4) It destroys the trees that cicadas need.

I141G10160031 4 Despite the fact that they have many

predators, cicadas can survive because their predators

(1) cannot eat them all (2) do not know where to find them (3) can become sick from eating them (4) have difficulty chewing their hard shell

I141G10370023 5 According to the graphic, what happens when

cicadas shed their skins?

(1) They begin to eat tree roots. (2) They emerge by the millions. (3) They leave behind their shells. (4) They adjust to the temperature.


Short-Response Questions Directions (6–7): Write your responses to questions 6 and 7 in the space provided on the answer sheet. I141G1018002S

6 In a well-developed paragraph of three to five sentences, explain why cicadas

have a high survival rate. Support your answer with information from the text.

I141G1028003S

7 In a well-developed paragraph of three to five sentences, explain why forests

are good habitats for cicadas. Support your explanation with information from the text AND the graphic.

Component A - Module 4 - Question # 6

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new york state component retest english component a … · 6 in a well-developed paragraph of three...

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