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| Writing Skills Testing |  The ASSET Writing Skills Test is a 36-item, 25-minute test that evaluates the student's understanding of the conventions of standard written English in punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, strategy, organization, and style. Spelling, vocabulary, and rote recall of rules of grammar are not tested. The test consists of three prose passages, every accompanied by a sequence of 12 multiple-choice test items. To provide a variety of rhetorical situations, a range of passage types is employed. Items that evaluate usage and mechanics propose alternative responses. The student must make a decision which alternative employs the conservative practice in usage and mechanics that is conventional to the sense of the context. Items that determine rhetorical skills may refer to an underlined portion of the text or may ask about a section of the passage or the passage as a whole. The student must choose which alternative reply is most suitable in a given rhetorical situation. The elements of the Writing Skills Test and the approximate proportions of the test dedicated to each are given.
 Punctuation
Such conventions as the use and placement of commas, colons, semicolons, dashes, parentheses, apostrophes, question marks, and exclamation points are tested in this exam.
Grammar
Adjectives and adverbs, conjunctions, and agreement between subject and verb and between pronouns and their antecedents are tested as well.
Sentence Structure
The test evaluates the knowledge of relationships between or among clauses, placement of modifiers, and shifts in construction.
Organization
The organization of ideas and the application of statements in context are assessed.
Strategy
The suitability of expression concerning audience and purpose, the strengthening of writing with suitable supporting material, and the efficient option of statements of theme and reason is tested.
Style
The precision and appropriateness in the choice of words and images, rhetorically effective organization of sentence elements, avoidance of ambiguous pronoun references, and economy in writing is tested.
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