analytical reading for high school students:

The WordMasters Challenge

Contest Mechanics

The contest for high school students is offered in two divisions:  The Blue Division is for 9th and 10th graders, the Gold Division for 11th and 12th.  Separate statistics are kept for each grade level--so even though 9th and 10th graders take the same Blue Division test, they compete separately, compared only with other students of the same grade level.  The same is true for 11th and 12th graders competing in the Gold  Division.  For students of any grade level, the materials will be challenging.  The Gold Division tests are particularly appropriate for students preparing for A. P. exams.

Within each Division, there will be four “meets” per year, all held at your school—either during regular class time or after school.  They are scheduled for October, December, February, and April.    All of your students may participate, but only the scores of your top ten students at each grade level count officially.  The sum of those top ten scores is your team’s score.

After each meet you report your students’ names and scores to us.   We send back to you a report revealing the median team score and other statistics for your contest and announcing the names of the highest-scoring schools and individuals nationwide.  (These statistics enable you to assess your own students’ achievement, and can also help you set realistic goals for the following meets.)  We also send press releases to schools which have excelled.  After all four meets, we will publish cumulative statistics and recognize about 25 of the most outstanding high schools and about 100 individual student winners.

At the end of the year we will also send you one medal and ten certificates for each team you have enrolled.  You can award these to your in-school champions.

 

The WordMasters Challenge is not only a competition, however.  With each meet we provide vocabulary lists for optional pre-test preparation as well as post-test discussion and essay questions.  Sometimes we include cartoons that bear on the passage the students have just read.  In general, though the contests themselves will average no more than 30 minutes in length, each test and related discussion can productively occupy one or two full periods of class time, if you choose.

            Would you like us to send you list of sample texts and questions from past high school Challenges?   Click here.

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            Click here to learn about the WordMasters Challenge for elementary and middle schools.

Word Masters Challenge
213 E. Allendale Avenue
Allendale, NJ 07401
(201) 327-4201 phone
(201) 327-6219 fax