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TExES 231 Practice Test

Unofficial practice for TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12, written to exam 331, which replaced the retired 231.

The Texas standards for English language arts and reading are organized in seven integrated strands. Which of these is one of the seven?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

Print covers the next 45 questions. Share this set copies a link to the same questions in the same order.

Exam mode: 45 questions, no time limit.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Texas Education Agency or Pearson. Bank checked October 12, 2026.

Written-response prompts to print 12 lines, made to print

TExES ELAR 7–12: written-response practice

Name ____ Date ____

Choose one prompt. Read its passage and its standard, then write a response that covers the six parts listed first. Unofficial practice prompts; none is from the real exam.

What a response covers

  • A specific learning goal that fits the standard and the passage.
  • How you would find out whether students have met the goal, and which difficulties you expect.
  • The teaching strategies you would use for those difficulties.
  • How students would use this and other texts to build knowledge and connect it to what they know and to life outside school.
  • How you would differentiate the lesson for the needs of all students.
  • How you would measure growth toward the goal and use the results to plan what comes next.

Prompt 1: a literary passage

  • Standard English I, §110.36(c)(6)(D): analyze how the setting influences the theme.
  • Passage The bus let Ines off where the pavement ended. Ahead, her grandmother's orchard stood in rows as straight as the lines of a ledger, every trunk wrapped in white cloth against the frost. Nothing here, she thought, was ever left to chance.

Prompt 2: an informational passage

  • Standard English I, §110.36(c)(7)(D)(i): analyze characteristics and structural elements of informational texts such as clear thesis, relevant supporting evidence, pertinent examples, and conclusion.
  • Passage Every issue of the Lantern begins on a whiteboard. The editors list more stories than the paper can hold, then argue each one down to a single sentence. A story that cannot be said in one sentence, the adviser likes to say, is not ready to be reported.

Prompt 3: an argumentative passage

  • Standard English I, §110.36(c)(7)(E)(ii): analyze characteristics and structural elements of argumentative texts such as various types of evidence and treatment of counterarguments, including concessions and rebuttals.
  • Passage Opponents say that keeping the library open until six would cost money the school does not have, and the cost is real. But a library locked at 3:15 tells students that reading is done on the school's schedule, not their own.

Source: Own prompts and own passages. The real exam has 1 constructed-response question (https://www.tx.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/TX331_TestPage.html); the six parts follow competency 012 of the exam framework (https://www.tx.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/TX_SG_obj_331.htm); the standards are quoted from 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, English I (https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/19-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-110-36); all read 2026-10-12. Checked October 12, 2026.

Next step TExES ESL Supplemental (154)

All 50 questions

Reading instruction and assessment 16

  • A class rereads one 14-line passage three times, each time for a different purpose, and annotates individual words and sentence structure. Which practice is this? Wikipedia, "Close reading", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 003
  • A ninth grader reasons well in discussion but reads slowly, misreads long words and spells poorly. A colleague says the student "just is not very bright." Which statement about dyslexia corrects the colleague? Wikipedia, "Dyslexia", lead section and classification. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 001
  • A seventh grader reads, "Unlike her gregarious brother, Mara kept to herself at parties." Which kind of context, named in the Grade 7 standards, clarifies the unfamiliar word? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.23, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 7 (Legal Information Institute copy), (b)(2)(B). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 002
Show all 50 questions (47 more)

Reading instruction and assessment, continued

  • A student who has just enrolled in a Texas public school is identified as an emergent bilingual student. Under state rules, which body designates the student's language proficiency level? 19 Texas Administrative Code §89.1220, Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (Legal Information Institute copy), (g)(1)(A). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 001
  • A teacher chooses between two articles for English II. According to the Texas standards, which set of features makes a text more complex? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (b)(3). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 003
  • A tenth grader still reads far below grade level after strong classroom instruction. What does the IES practice guide on adolescent literacy recommend for such readers? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices" (2008), recommendation 5. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 001
  • An English department plans to teach reading strands in the fall and to leave composition for the spring. What do the Texas standards say about the strands? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (b)(2). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 001
  • Before a unit on argument, a teacher directly teaches "concede," "refute" and "credible" with plain definitions and has students use the words many times. Which recommendation of the IES guide on adolescent literacy is this? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices" (2008), recommendation 1. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 002
  • Halfway down a dense paragraph, a student notices she has lost the thread. She goes back, rereads and writes a question in the margin. Which comprehension skill from the English I standards is she using? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(4)(I). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 003
  • The IES guide on reading interventions for grades 4 to 9 recommends supported practice with "stretch text." What is stretch text? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9" (2022), recommendation 4. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 003
  • In reciprocal teaching, students take turns leading a discussion of a text with four strategies. Which four? Wikipedia, "Reciprocal teaching", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 003
  • Seventh graders sort "visible," "video," "evidence" and "vista" to find the word part they share. Which Grade 7 standard does the lesson practice? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.23, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 7 (Legal Information Institute copy), (b)(2)(C). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 002
  • Students compare "slender" and "scrawny" as descriptions of one character. The two words share a literal meaning but carry different emotional associations. What are the students analyzing? Wikipedia, "Connotation", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 002
  • Students read a memoir excerpt and a news report about the same flood, then write what they now understand that neither text states alone. Which comprehension skill is this? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(4)(H). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 003
  • The Texas English standards list cognates among the scaffolds that help English learners understand text. What are cognates? Wikipedia, "Cognate", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 002
  • The Texas standards for English language arts and reading are organized in seven integrated strands. Which of these is one of the seven? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (b)(1). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain I, competency 001

Text comprehension and analysis 10

  • A council member proposes one car-free street on Sundays. An opponent replies, "My colleague wants to ban cars from the whole city." Which fallacy, named in the English I standards, is this? Wikipedia, "Straw man", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 005
  • A long dramatic speech is written in unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. What is this verse form called? Wikipedia, "Blank verse", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 004
  • A poet ends two lines with "shape" and "keep." The final consonant sounds match, but the vowel sounds do not. Which kind of rhyme is this? Wikipedia, "Perfect and imperfect rhymes", section on half rhyme. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 004
  • A speaker says, "We came to build, not to break; to listen, not to lecture." Which rhetorical device, named in the English II standards, sets opposites side by side for contrast? Wikipedia, "Antithesis", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 005
  • A speech begins, "I have nursed patients on this ward for twenty years." Which rhetorical appeal is the speaker making? Wikipedia, "Modes of persuasion", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 005
  • An editorial reads: "Critics are right that the program costs more this year. Over ten years, however, it saves the city twice that sum." Which treatment of a counterargument, named in the English I standards, does this show? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(7)(E)(ii). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 005
  • During a crowded banquet scene, a character turns and tells the audience his plan in one line that the other characters on stage do not hear. What is this convention called? Wikipedia, "Aside", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 004
  • In a play, the audience watches a servant hide a letter in a drawer. In the next scene the heroine tells her sister, "No letter ever came." Which device is at work? Wikipedia, "Irony", section on types of irony. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 004
  • In a poem, a sentence does not stop at the end of a line; its meaning runs on into the next line with no punctuation at the break. What is this called? Wikipedia, "Enjambment", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 004
  • Students track word choice in a story to describe the writer's attitude toward the subject and the audience. Which element are they analyzing? Wikipedia, "Tone (literature)", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain II, competency 004

Oral and written communication 16

  • A student is writing about farm life during a drought in the 1930s. Which item is a primary source for the paper? Wikipedia, "Primary source", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 007
  • A student moves her strongest paragraph to the end and rewrites three choppy sentences as one with parallel construction. Which stage of the writing process in the English I standards is this? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(9)(C). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 006
  • A student researching "social media" finds thousands of sources on unrelated topics. Which step in the English I research standards fits this problem? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(11)(D). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 007
  • A student restates a critic's idea in her own words and asks whether it still needs a citation. What do the English I standards require? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(11)(H). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 007
  • A teacher reads a set of first drafts, finds that most lack commentary after quoted evidence, and plans a mini-lesson on commentary before the next draft. Which recommendation of the IES guide on secondary writing is this? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively" (2016), recommendation 3. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 006
  • A teacher thinks aloud while drafting a counterclaim paragraph, has students use the same strategy on their own drafts, then has them judge how well it worked. Which cycle from the IES guide on secondary writing is this? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively" (2016), recommendation 1. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 006
  • A teacher writes a rubric for student presentations from the English I standards. Which set of delivery features belongs on it? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(1)(C). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 008
  • A web page about a sports drink is published by the company that sells it and leaves out every study that found no benefit. Which problem, named in the English I standards, should students flag? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(11)(G)(i). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 007
  • After reading a poem, students spend twenty minutes debating what its last line means, pointing to lines that support each reading. Which recommendation of the IES guide on adolescent literacy does this follow? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices" (2008), recommendation 3. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 008
  • Before groups plan a class debate, the teacher has each group agree on how it will reach decisions. Which expectation of the English I standards is this? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(1)(D). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 008
  • Before students write an editorial, a teacher has them read two published editorials and mark how each one opens, cites evidence and closes. Which recommendation of the IES guide on secondary writing is this? Institute of Education Sciences practice guide "Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively" (2016), recommendation 2. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 006
  • The English I standards ask students to edit for appropriate use of active and passive voice. Which revision puts "The award was won by Dana" in the active voice? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(9)(D)(ii). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 006
  • Five groups each study one rhetorical device. The class then regroups so that every new group holds one student from each first group, who teaches the others. Which technique is this? Wikipedia, "Jigsaw (teaching technique)", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 008
  • In a debate on school start times, one student says, "Do not listen to Jordan; he is late to class every day." Which kind of faulty reasoning, named in the English I standards, is this? Wikipedia, "Ad hominem", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 007
  • In a seminar on a short story, the teacher does not lecture. She probes each claim with questions and clarifications until students examine their own reasoning. Which method is this? Wikipedia, "Socratic method", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 008
  • To generate ideas, students write without stopping for five minutes and do not worry about spelling or structure. What is this prewriting technique called? Wikipedia, "Free writing", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain III, competency 006

Educating all learners 8

  • A campus uses a three-tier system of support for reading. Which students receive Tier 1? Wikipedia, "Response to intervention", section on the tiers. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 011
  • A district reading test reports each ninth grader's percentile rank against a national sample of ninth graders. What kind of test is it? Wikipedia, "Norm-referenced test", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 011
  • A neighbor asks an English teacher how a certain student is doing and whether the student "has an IEP." What does the Code of Ethics for Texas educators require? 19 Texas Administrative Code §247.2, Code of Ethics and Standard Practices for Texas Educators (Legal Information Institute copy), Standard 3.1. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 009
  • A parent asks to see the scored essays and test results kept in her child's school file. Which federal law gives parents the right of access to their children's education records? U.S. Department of Education, Student Privacy Policy Office, "What is FERPA?", answer. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 011
  • A student with a reading disability takes English II in a general education class with supports. Which federal requirement does this placement reflect? 34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.114, LRE requirements (Legal Information Institute copy), (a)(2)(i). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 009
  • An English learner in English I drafts notes for an essay in Spanish before writing in English. What do the Texas standards say about a student's first language? 19 Texas Administrative Code §110.36, Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, English I (Legal Information Institute copy), (b)(4). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 010
  • For an argument unit, an English teacher lets students choose which of four local issues to write about, so that each works on a topic that matters to them. Which principle of Universal Design for Learning is this? Wikipedia, "Universal Design for Learning", lead section. Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 009
  • Under the federal special education regulations, dyslexia is named as a condition within which category of disability? 34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.8, Child with a disability (Legal Information Institute copy), (c)(10). Written to TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331), Domain IV, competency 009

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the exam framework of TExES English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331) in Section 3 of the preparation manual on the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program website, https://www.tx.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/TX_SG_obj_331.htm (copyright Texas Education Agency), read 2026-10-12: 90 selected-response questions and 1 constructed-response question in five domains, Reading Instruction and Assessment about 25%, Text Comprehension and Analysis 17%, Oral and Written Communication 25%, Educating All Learners and Professional Practice 13% and Constructed Response 20%. This bank holds 50 selected-response questions in the proportions of the first four domains: 16, 10, 16 and 8. Each question rests on one public page, named and linked under it and opened 2026-10-12: sixteen on the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading (19 Texas Administrative Code §§110.23 and 110.36, Legal Information Institute copies), seven on three practice guides of the Institute of Education Sciences, five on state and federal rules and a U.S. Department of Education page, and twenty-two on Wikipedia articles for literary and teaching terms. Every sentence, line of verse and scene quoted in a question was written for this bank. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

A free TExES 231 practice test: 50 questions of our own, with the source named under each answer. Unofficial, not affiliated with the Texas Education Agency or Pearson.

Read the full guide

Exam 231 is retired

The program's page for exam 231 gives August 30, 2024 as the last day to register and September 1, 2024 as the last exam date, and names English Language Arts and Reading 7–12 (331) as the replacement.

How exam 331 is weighted

Reading Instruction and Assessment is about 25% of the exam, Text Comprehension and Analysis 17%, Oral and Written Communication 25%, Educating All Learners and Professional Practice 13%, and the one written response 20%.

What is on this page

50 questions in the proportions of the first four domains: 16, 10, 16 and 8. For the written response, three prompts of our own print from under the questions, each with a short passage written for this page.

  • The retired exam 231 was longer: 100 selected-response and 2 constructed-response questions.

Questions and answers

Is this online TExES 231 practice test free?

Yes. All 50 questions run in the browser, free and with no account, and a question sheet with its answer key prints from the page.

How many questions are on the TExES ELAR 7-12 exam?

Exam 331 has 90 selected-response and 1 constructed-response question, by its page on the program site. The appointment is 5 hours, of which 4 hours 45 minutes is testing time.

What score passes TExES ELAR 7-12?

240, by the exam's page. The score is scaled and the written response is about a fifth of the exam, so a count of right answers here cannot be turned into that figure.

Are these real TExES ELAR questions?

No. Each was written for this page from one competency of the exam 331 framework and one public source. Every quoted line and scene is our own, and the manual's sample questions were not used.

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