MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing Online Center
This MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
MTEL Writing Practice Center
Each set gives you a summary exercise and a composition, the two written tasks the real subtest contains. You get the source passage, a planning walkthrough, a model response written under time, a weaker response with the reasons it falls short, and a rubric applied line by line.
Opens on this page
MTEL Writing at a glance
The Writing subtest asks for four different things in one sitting, which is what makes it harder than its reputation. Thirty-five multiple-choice questions test the conventions. Seven short-answer items hand you a flawed sentence and ask you to correct it, and there is nowhere to hide on those. Then come two written pieces: a summary of a passage you are given, and a composition arguing a position. Together the two written pieces are half the score.
| Subtest code | 201 (Writing) |
|---|---|
| Part of | MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills, which pairs Writing (201) with Reading (101). The two subtests are scored and passed separately, and both are required. |
| What it contains | 35 multiple-choice questions, 7 short-answer sentence-correction items, one summary exercise, and one composition exercise. |
| Time limit | At a test center, one appointment of 4 hours 15 minutes covers one or both subtests. Taken online proctored on its own, Writing is allotted 3 hours; taken with Reading, Writing is allotted 2 hours 30 minutes. |
| Format | Computer-based at a test center or online proctored |
| Passing score | 240 on a scale of 100 to 300, for this subtest on its own. |
Massachusetts publishes the weights, and they should shape your preparation. The multiple-choice and short-answer group is 50 percent of the score, split as 15 percent for main idea and unity, 10 percent for organization, 10 percent for sentence structure and grammar, and 15 percent for mechanics. The two written pieces are the other 50 percent: the summary is 15 percent and the composition is 35 percent. The composition alone is worth more than any other single thing on the subtest.
The two written tasks, in plain language
The multiple-choice half tests conventions you can drill. These two are the half that decides most scores.
The summary exercise (15 percent)
You are given a passage and asked to summarize it in about 100 to 150 words.
- Capture the source’s main points and leave out the detail
- Write it in your own words rather than stitching quotations together
- Keep the source’s emphasis and proportions
- Add nothing of your own, including your opinion of the argument
- Stay inside the length
The composition exercise (35 percent)
You take a position on an issue and defend it for an audience of educated adults.
- State a clear position and keep it
- Give reasons that are genuinely different from each other
- Develop each reason with something specific
- Organize so a reader always knows where they are
- Control the sentence-level conventions the other half of the test drills
The short-answer sentence corrections (part of the 50 percent)
Seven flawed sentences to repair by writing, not by choosing.
- Fix run-ons, comma splices, and fragments
- Repair faulty parallelism and dangling modifiers
- Correct agreement and pronoun reference
- Change as little as possible while fixing the actual error
A study routine for a four-part subtest
The trap here is spending all your time on grammar because grammar is easy to study, and then meeting the composition cold. It is worth 35 percent on its own.
Complete lesson map
Thirty-seven lessons on the grammar, usage, and punctuation this subtest tests directly and marks in your writing. Each one opens in a new tab.
Sentence Foundations
Sentence Boundaries
Agreement, Verbs, and Pronouns
Punctuation and Capitalization
Spelling and Confused Words
Knowledge of Language
Before test day
Budget the sitting before you start it. The composition is worth 35 percent and the summary 15, so the written half deserves at least half your clock even though the multiple-choice questions come first and feel more urgent. On the summary, resist the pull to explain or to argue with the passage. On the composition, one specific example is worth more than a paragraph of general assertion, and finishing matters more than polishing.
A USEFUL NEXT STEP
MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing: study questions
What can I study in this MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing Online Center?
This MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing Online Center includes practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Topics on the page include MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing Practice Set 1, MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing Practice Set 2, The summary exercise (15 percent).
How should I use the MTEL Communication and Literacy Skills Writing resources?
Choose a topic or practice activity from this Online Center. Review the linked explanation, try the practice, and use the result to decide what to study next. Check each resource’s directions for its format and access requirements.
Resources from Effortless Math · Editorial standards