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CSET English Subtest 1 Practice Test

Unofficial practice for CSET: English Subtest I (test code 105): literature, informational texts, composition and rhetoric.

Ezra Pound's maxim "Make it new" sums up which literary movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries?

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Exam mode: 50 questions, 90 minutes.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing or Pearson. Bank checked October 14, 2026.

Study outline: the eleven competencies 16 lines, made to print

CSET: English Subtest I study outline

The eleven competencies of CSET: English Subtest I, test code 105, restated in our own words from the subtest description read October 14, 2026. Unofficial summary; the description itself is the final word.

The subtest

  • Test code 105, the first of the four subtests of CSET: English.
  • Questions 50 multiple-choice questions and no constructed-response questions.
  • Time 1 hour and 30 minutes, plus 15 minutes for a nondisclosure agreement and tutorial.
  • Passing score 220 per subtest.
  • Where At a test center by appointment, or with an online proctor in a session of its own.

Reading Literature and Informational Texts: 40 questions

  • 0001 Reading Literature American, British and world literature, mythology and oral tradition; the major literary movements by period; young adult literature; close reading, textual evidence and theme.
  • 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature Genres and the elements of literature; forms of drama such as comedy and tragedy; figurative and connotative meaning, word choice and tone; structure and point of view.
  • 0003 Reading Informational Texts Evidence and inference, central ideas and objective summary in nonfiction; print and non-print media; consumer, workplace and public documents; texts in their contexts.
  • 0004 Craft and Structure of Informational Texts Figurative, connotative and technical meanings; how well a structure serves an exposition or argument; text features; an author's point of view, purpose and rhetoric.
  • 0005 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas in Informational Texts Sources in different media and formats; the reasoning of seminal U.S. texts; foundational U.S. documents of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
  • 0006 Text Complexity Quantitative measures and qualitative dimensions of a text; grade band ranges; matching a reader and a task to a text.

Composition and Rhetoric: 10 questions

  • 0007 Writing Processes Freewriting, planning, revising and editing for a purpose and an audience; graphic organizers, outlines, notes and summaries.
  • 0008 Text Types and Purposes Argument, informative and narrative writing; audience, purpose and context; text structures; ways of developing an idea; appeals to logic, emotion and ethical belief.
  • 0009 Production and Distribution of Writing Diction, voice, style and tone; joining clauses; modifiers that control flow and emphasis; devices that control focus; technology for producing and sharing writing.
  • 0010 Conventions of Oral and Written Language Sentence structure, preferred usage, spelling, capitalization and punctuation in standard English; formal English where the task calls for it.
  • 0011 Research to Build and Present Knowledge Research questions and methods of inquiry; finding and judging print and digital sources; using findings without plagiarism; citation, footnotes and endnotes.

Source: Subtest description https://www.ctcexams.nesinc.com/content/docs/CSET_Prep/CS_105subtestdescription.pdf, test structure https://www.ctcexams.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/CA_SG_obj_105.htm and test page https://www.ctcexams.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/CA_CSET105_TestPage.html of the California Educator Credentialing Assessments, read 2026-10-14. Checked October 14, 2026.

Next step Next: CSET English Subtest II

All 50 questions

Reading literature 12

  • A New England movement of the late 1820s and 1830s held that people and nature are inherently good and that a person is at their best when self-reliant. What is it called? Wikipedia, Transcendentalism (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • Autobiographical accounts written by people who had been enslaved, Frederick Douglass's among them, form which American literary genre? Wikipedia, Slave narrative (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • Beowulf, the Old English epic of a Geatish hero who comes to the aid of the Danish king, builds its 3,182 lines on which sound device? Wikipedia, Beowulf (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • Ezra Pound's maxim "Make it new" sums up which literary movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries? Wikipedia, Literary modernism (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • The First Folio of 1623 sorted Shakespeare's plays into three kinds. Which three? Wikipedia, First Folio (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
Show all 50 questions (45 more)

Reading literature, continued

  • Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales between 1387 and 1400. In which language did he write them? Wikipedia, The Canterbury Tales (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • The Iliad and the Odyssey, the ancient Greek epics attributed to Homer, were written in which meter? Wikipedia, Iliad (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • John Dryden and Alexander Pope are generally said to have perfected the heroic couplet. What is a heroic couplet? Wikipedia, Heroic couplet (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • Librarians developed the category of young adult literature to bridge children's and adult literature. For readers of what ages is it written? Wikipedia, Young adult literature (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • Lyrical Ballads (1798) is generally taken to mark the start of English Romanticism. Samuel Taylor Coleridge gave it only four poems. Which famous one was among them? Wikipedia, Lyrical Ballads (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • The spider Anansi of West African tales and Coyote of many Native American tales are both examples of which archetype? Wikipedia, Trickster (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).
  • The title of Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, set among the Igbo of colonial Nigeria, is taken from a poem by which writer? Wikipedia, Things Fall Apart (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0001 Reading Literature (SMR 1.1).

Craft and structure of literature 12

  • A cautious, plain-spoken brother appears beside a reckless, boastful hero, and the contrast makes the hero's traits stand out. What is the brother, in literary terms? Wikipedia, Foil (narrative) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • A chapter breaks off from the present action to show a scene from the narrator's childhood, then returns. What is the inserted scene called? Wikipedia, Flashback (narrative) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • A chapter gives a character's thoughts and feelings as they pass through her mind, in a disjointed interior monologue with irregular punctuation. Which narrative method is this? Wikipedia, Stream of consciousness (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • A news report says "the Crown has appealed the ruling", meaning the monarch's government. Which figure of speech is at work? Wikipedia, Metonymy (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • A novel is told by a character whose account the reader slowly learns not to believe. What is such a narrator called? Wikipedia, Unreliable narrator (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • Chapter one of a novel shows the reader that the bridge has washed away. In chapter two the hero rides hard for it, sure of an easy crossing. Which kind of irony is this? Wikipedia, Irony (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • "Curious" and "nosy" can both describe a person who asks many questions, yet one word approves and the other blames. In what do the two words differ? Wikipedia, Connotation (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • In a novel's first chapter a character remarks that the old dam "won't hold another spring". Near the end, it bursts. What is the early remark an example of? Wikipedia, Foreshadowing (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • In a story, a traveler named Everyone crosses the Swamp of Doubt to reach the City of Truth, and each place stands for an idea. What is such a narrative called? Wikipedia, Allegory (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • In discussions of Greek tragedy, what does the term hamartia name? Wikipedia, Hamartia (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • In literary analysis, what does the tone of a work express? Wikipedia, Tone (literature) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).
  • Robert Burns's 1794 song says that his love "is like a red, red rose". Which figure of speech is this? Wikipedia, Simile and A Red, Red Rose (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0002 Craft and Structure of Literature (SMR 1.2).

Informational texts and text complexity 16

  • A historian studying a war reads a diary that a soldier kept while it was being fought. What kind of source is the diary? Wikipedia, Primary source (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0003 Reading Informational Texts (SMR 1.3).
  • A manual written for licensed plumbers uses trade terms that a homeowner may not know. What is such specialized vocabulary called? Wikipedia, Jargon (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0004 Craft and Structure of Informational Texts (SMR 1.4).
  • A memoir tells true events through scenes, dialogue and figurative language. To which genre does it belong? Wikipedia, Creative nonfiction (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0003 Reading Informational Texts (SMR 1.3).
  • A park notice reads: "Gates are locked at dusk." A reader concludes that a car left inside overnight cannot be driven out until morning. What has the reader done? Wikipedia, Inference (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0003 Reading Informational Texts (SMR 1.3).
  • A readability formula rates a novel as easy, yet its plain sentences carry several levels of meaning. Of the standards' three factors of text complexity, which one takes account of levels of meaning? California Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts (2013), Standard 10, Measuring Text Complexity: Three Factors (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0006 Text Complexity (SMR 1.6).
  • A report argues for a crosswalk by giving the count of collisions at the corner in each of the last five years. On which rhetorical appeal does it lean? Wikipedia, Modes of persuasion (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0004 Craft and Structure of Informational Texts (SMR 1.4).
  • A travel article spends a paragraph picturing a harbor at dawn: its colors, smells and sounds. Which of the four traditional modes of discourse is that paragraph? Wikipedia, Modes of discourse (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0004 Craft and Structure of Informational Texts (SMR 1.4).
  • An editorial calls a tax proposal a "scheme" where a neutral report would say "plan". What is the editorial using? Wikipedia, Loaded language (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0004 Craft and Structure of Informational Texts (SMR 1.4).
  • At the Second Virginia Convention in 1775, Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Which rhetorical device sets two opposites side by side in a balanced structure? Wikipedia, Antithesis (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0004 Craft and Structure of Informational Texts (SMR 1.4).
  • By the end of grade 12, California's standards expect students to read literature at the high end of which text complexity band? California Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts (2013), Reading Standards for Literature 6–12, standard 10 (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0006 Text Complexity (SMR 1.6).
  • The first sentence of the Declaration of Independence says that "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind" requires the colonies to do what? National Archives, Declaration of Independence: A Transcription (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0005 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas in Informational Texts (SMR 1.5).
  • Frederick Douglass's 1852 speech "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" is noted for its biting irony. What does it set against the nation's praise of liberty? Wikipedia, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0005 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas in Informational Texts (SMR 1.5).
  • In his 1849 essay "Resistance to Civil Government", also called "Civil Disobedience", what does Henry David Thoreau argue a person should put first? Wikipedia, Civil Disobedience (essay) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0005 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas in Informational Texts (SMR 1.5).
  • In the standards' three-factor model of text complexity, reader variables are paired with which other set of variables? California Common Core State Standards: English Language Arts (2013), Standard 10, Measuring Text Complexity: Three Factors (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0006 Text Complexity (SMR 1.6).
  • The Preamble to the Constitution lists the purposes for which the document is ordained. Which of these is one of them? National Archives, The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0005 Integration of Knowledge and Ideas in Informational Texts (SMR 1.5).
  • Which of these belongs in an objective summary of an article? Purdue Online Writing Lab, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0003 Reading Informational Texts (SMR 1.3).

Composition and rhetoric 10

  • A fundraising letter opens with the story of one family that lost its home in a flood. Which appeal is the writer making first? Wikipedia, Modes of persuasion (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0008 Text Types and Purposes (SMR 3.2).
  • A student wants an article whose methods and findings were checked by other scholars in the field before publication. Which label should she look for? Wikipedia, Scholarly peer review (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0011 Research to Build and Present Knowledge (SMR 3.5).
  • An essay argues that the town should plant street trees. The writer then states the objection that roots will crack the sidewalks, and answers it. What is the answer to an objection called? Wikipedia, Counterargument (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0008 Text Types and Purposes (SMR 3.2).
  • Before drafting, a writer lists her main points and sets the supporting points under each one, indented, to show which ideas belong to which. What has she made? Wikipedia, Outline (list) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0007 Writing Processes (SMR 3.1).
  • Each of the forty essays a teacher has marked this term cites a website. She concludes that her students always cite websites. Which kind of reasoning moves from particular cases to a general conclusion? Wikipedia, Inference (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0008 Text Types and Purposes (SMR 3.2).
  • To explain how a cell works, an essay likens it to a factory: one part gives orders, another supplies power, another ships goods. Which method of developing an idea is this? Wikipedia, Analogy (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0008 Text Types and Purposes (SMR 3.2).
  • When revising a draft, which of these is a higher order concern, the kind to settle before sentence-level fixes? Purdue Online Writing Lab, Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) and Lower Order Concerns (LOCs) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0007 Writing Processes (SMR 3.1).
  • "When the vase fell on the glass table, it cracked." What is the fault in this sentence? Purdue Online Writing Lab, Using Pronouns Clearly (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0010 Conventions of Oral and Written Language (SMR 3.4).
  • Where does an endnote appear, as against a footnote? Wikipedia, Note (typography) (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0011 Research to Build and Present Knowledge (SMR 3.5).
  • Which transitional word tells the reader that one more point is being added to the last? Purdue Online Writing Lab, Transitional Devices (read 2026-10-14). Outline: CSET: English Subtest I subject matter requirements, 0009 Production and Distribution of Writing (SMR 3.3).

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the published subject matter requirements of CSET: English Subtest I, test code 105, read 2026-10-14 on the program site of the California Educator Credentialing Assessments (test page https://www.ctcexams.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/CA_CSET105_TestPage.html; test structure https://www.ctcexams.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/CA_SG_obj_105.htm; subtest description https://www.ctcexams.nesinc.com/content/docs/CSET_Prep/CS_105subtestdescription.pdf). The structure gives Subtest I 50 multiple-choice questions, 40 on Reading Literature and Informational Texts and 10 on Composition and Rhetoric, and this bank keeps those two counts. It prints no count for each of the eleven competencies, so the 40 are spread as 12, 12, 4, 5, 4 and 3 over competencies 0001 to 0006 and the 10 as 2, 4, 1, 1 and 2 over competencies 0007 to 0011. Each fact was read on 2026-10-14 in the source named under its question: a Wikipedia article, a page of the Purdue Online Writing Lab, a National Archives transcript or the California Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. The example sentences are ours. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

This free CSET English Subtest 1 practice test asks 50 questions of our own: 40 on literature and informational texts, 10 on composition and rhetoric. Unofficial, and not affiliated with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing or Pearson.

Read the full guide

A study guide in eleven competencies

The subject matter requirements list eleven competencies: six on reading, from literary traditions to text complexity, and five on writing, from the writing process to research.

Where the answers come from

Each fact was read in the source named under its question: a Wikipedia article, a Purdue Online Writing Lab page, a National Archives transcript or California's reading standards.

  • Subtest III asks for two essays on these same two domains, so the terms practiced here serve both subtests.

Questions and answers

Is this CSET English Subtest 1 practice test free?

Yes: all 50 questions and explanations, with no sign-up. Each was written here from the published subject matter requirements. None comes from the real subtest, its sample questions or the official practice test, and no score is predicted.

What is on CSET English Subtest I (105)?

Two domains, by the test structure: Reading Literature and Informational Texts, with 40 multiple-choice questions, and Composition and Rhetoric, with 10. Subtest I has no written questions; those are in Subtests III and IV.

Is there a CSET English Subtest 1 study guide?

The program's free test guide holds the subtest description. This page restates its competencies as a study outline to print, and each practice question names the competency it was written to.

How long is CSET English Subtest 1?

1 hour and 30 minutes, by the test page, plus 15 minutes for a nondisclosure agreement and tutorial. Subtest II is 1 hour, Subtest III is 2 hours and Subtest IV is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

What is the passing score for CSET English Subtest 1?

220 per subtest, by the test page. With 50 questions on the subtest, 220 cannot be a count of right answers, so this page shows how many you got right and gives no verdict.

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