Multiple choice, gridded response, short-response performance task and extended-response performance task questions and answers will be on the FCAT so it is imperative that you familiarize yourself with each type so that you are giving yourself enough time to answer the questions appropriately. The Florida Department of Education FCAT Handbook has given typical response times for each type of answer with multiple choice taking 1 minute, gridded responses taking 1 1/2 minutes, short-response task taking 5 minutes and long-response task taking 15 minutes to complete.
Multiple-choice questions require you to choose the appropriate response from a choice of three or four answers and fill in the corresponding bubble on your answer booklet for reading, mathematics and science. The gridded questions are for mathematics questions only in 10th grade and require you to mark a bubble on your answer booklet that corresponds to a numeric answer. Response task ask you to explain the answer in your own words in either a short or extended format for mathematics and reading using the prompts of "Read-Think-Explain," "Think-Solve-Explain" and "Read-Inquire-Explain."
Carefully review the grade 10 writing rubric for the FCAT so that you fully understand what you are expected to include in your essay. Practice writing to topics that you may find on the writing portion of the FCAT with prompts like the ones provided by Polk County Public Schools. Review the essays yourself checking to see if you have included the information listed in the rubric. After reviewing the essay yourself, ask a teacher, other adult or trusted peer to review and edit your work so that you may refine your essay writing skills before completing the writing portion of the FCAT exam.
If your math and English instructors have not provided you with log-in information for the Florida Department of Education FCAT Explorer website, ask them to provide you with the information so that you can practice the math and reading strategies necessary to succeed on the FCAT exam. The FCAT explorer website provides 10th grade students with an interactive activity for math called "Math Timeline" and an interactive activity for reading called "Reading Timeline." The math activity includes more than 140 problems that tie in the subjects of science, history, culture and careers and the reading activity includes 23 reading passages tied to over 200 questions covering the topics of science, history and culture to provide adequate practice on the problems that will be presented on the test.
To ensure that you are comfortable with the question and answer formats as well as how to properly pace your time while taking the FCAT it is advised that you take practice FCAT exams. There are websites that provide timed practice test or you can download the practice test books and answer keys from the Florida Department of Education. Studying the answer key after taking the practice test can provide useful in helping you to understand why the answer was chosen and what strategies you could use to answer a similar question while taking the FCAT.