United States
Hong KongCompetency 2: Craft and structure
Competency 2 has five skills: interpreting words and phrases in text, analyzing how word choices shape meaning or tone, analyzing organization and text structure, contrasting the point of view of two or more authors, and analyzing how point of view and purpose shape content and style.
Competency 1 asks what a passage says. Competency 2 asks how it was built, and why the author built it that way.
The five skills as the rule states them
1. Interpret the meaning of words and phrases as used in text (e.g., figurative language, connotative language, technical meanings). 2. Analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. 3. Analyze how the author uses organization and text structure(s) to convey meaning. 4. Contrast the point of view of two or more authors on the same topic by analyzing their claims, reasoning, and evidence. 5. Analyze how point of view and purpose shape the content and style of text.
Section 82, Reading, incorporated into Rule 6A-4.0021, F.A.C.
Every one of them starts with interpret or analyze. Nothing in this competency can be answered by locating a line, which is what makes it feel harder than Competency 1 even though the passages are the same.
Size
| Competency | Skills | Our estimated questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Key ideas and details | 8 | 14 |
| 2. Craft and structure | 5 | 9 |
| 3. Integration of information and ideas | 4 | 7 |
FLDOE publishes 30 questions for the Reading subtest and no split beneath it. We apportion the 30 across the three competencies in proportion to the skills the rule states under each, which puts this one at about nine. The five is the state's figure; the nine is ours.
Skill 4 is the paired-passage skill
Read it again: "Contrast the point of view of two or more authors on the same topic by analyzing their claims, reasoning, and evidence." That is the only place in the Reading competencies where the phrase "two or more authors" appears, and it tells you the format exists.
It also tells you what a paired-passage question will ask. Not which author you agree with. What each one claims, how each reasons, and what each offers as evidence. Comparing two passages works through the shapes.
Where this competency overlaps English Language Skills
Skill 1 here is close to skill 1 of the vocabulary competency on subtest 826, and skill 2 here is close to that subtest's diction and tone skill. Two separately registered subtests, at USD 32.50 each, testing overlapping ground.
That is worth exploiting when you plan. If you are sitting both, do vocabulary in context once and it counts twice. Most of this test does not work that way, so take the transfer where it exists.
What each skill actually asks
| Skill | The question in plain terms | Our page |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What does this word mean here? | Vocabulary in context |
| 2 | What does this word choice do to the tone? | Tone and word choice |
| 3 | How is this passage put together? | Text structure and organization |
| 4 | How do these two authors differ? | Comparing two passages |
| 5 | Who is the author and what are they trying to do? | Author's purpose and point of view |
Figurative language, and how far it goes
Skill 1 names figurative language explicitly. Expect metaphor, simile, personification, hyperbole and idiom to appear as things to interpret rather than things to label.
The distinction matters. A question asking "what does the author mean by describing the policy as a patchwork" is a comprehension question. A question asking "the phrase is an example of which device" would be a terminology question, and the skill statement points at the first kind: it says interpret the meaning, not identify the device.
Our view on how to prepare it
This competency rewards slowing down, which is affordable here in a way it is not on English Language Skills. Reading gets 1.83 minutes a question on our division against 1.33 for subtest 826, and craft questions are where that extra half minute goes.
The concession: of the three Reading competencies this is the one where we would least trust our own question estimate. Craft items often attach to a passage as a set, so a single long passage could carry more or fewer of them than a proportional split predicts. FLDOE publishes nothing that would settle it.
Common questions
What is Competency 2 on the FTCE Reading subtest?
Knowledge of craft and structure based on text selections. Five skills sit under it: interpreting words and phrases, analyzing how word choice shapes tone, analyzing organization and text structure, contrasting two or more authors, and analyzing point of view and purpose.
Does the FTCE Reading subtest use paired passages?
The rule implies it. Skill 4 of Competency 2 asks you to contrast the point of view of two or more authors on the same topic, and Competency 3 covers synthesis across a range of texts, so multi-text items are part of the stated design.
Do I need to name literary devices?
The skill statement asks you to interpret the meaning of words and phrases, including figurative language, rather than to identify devices. Expect questions about what a metaphor conveys more often than questions asking you to label it as a metaphor.
How many craft and structure questions are there?
FLDOE publishes 30 for the subtest and no breakdown. Our estimate is about nine, apportioning the total by the number of skills stated under each competency. Craft items often cluster around one passage, so the real number could vary either way.