At Zinc, we know that the key to achieving strong scores on standardized assessments is raising student reading levels. Zinc's suite of programs and "a la carte" activities support year-long reading growth for middle and high school students at all levels.

Many teachers and schools have dedicated curricular time for test prep. Our Test Prep Implementation Guide outlines suggestions for using Zinc as part of a month-long test prep unit.

Read more about each of our suggested test prep activities below:

We recommend Ignition, Zinc's two-week instructional skills program, as a foundational first step for reading growth. Many teachers assign Ignition in the fall to assess reading levels and provide a back-to-school reading boost. Ignition can be assigned again in the spring as a jumping-off point for a test prep unit.

Ignition is choice-based and auto-differentiated to each student's level, allowing teachers to deliver effective reading instruction to every student in a class. It's also a great way to build stamina as students interact with increasingly challenging short texts as they progress through each skill.

In addition to content (reading comprehension and analytical skills), students need an effective method for moving through a test. Zinc teaches students to approach multiple-choice reading questions by using four steps:

We've created 10-minute mini-lessons you can use to introduce these four steps and other test-taking tips to your classes. Feel free to adapt these lessons by including actual test questions from the assessment you're preparing for. Use the links below to download the customizable slides:

Mini-Lesson 1: Read + Predict

Mini-Lesson 2: Maybe or No

Mini-Lesson 3: Every Word Matters

Mini-Lesson 4: Skip and Come Back

Our Test Prep Close Reading Experiences provide guided practice on using Zinc's four-step method to answer multiple-choice reading questions.

Each experience presents a sample passage and prompts students to use Zinc-ing and Tracking to read and understand it well before moving on to the question. Students are then guided to predict the right answer, rule out wrong answers by giving each answer choice a "maybe" or "no," and then carefully evaluate their "maybes" to arrive at the correct response.

We suggest starting with our introductory "4 Steps to Test Success" experiences:

Start Here: 4 Steps to Test Success - Middle School (level 2)

Start Here: 4 Steps to Test Success - High School (level 4)

For more test prep Close Reading Experiences, navigate to the Close Reading Experiences page, then use the "Test Prep" filter or type directly into the search bar. We currently feature general and dSAT-focused Test Prep Close Reading Experiences, and plan to add more test types throughout the 2024-25 school year.

Help students build confidence by expanding their vocabulary knowledge and teaching key test-taking terms. Zinc Vocabulary offers SAT/ACT Power Words, key terms for the MAP, SBAC, and STAAR assessments, and more. You can also build your own custom test-prep sets using Zinc's vocabulary bank.

From the Vocabulary page, use the search bar to discover pre-made test-prep themed sets, or create your own!

*Zinc Tip: Assign vocabulary with spaced repetition to ensure long-term retention.

In addition to the test-prep-themed activities we've suggested here, consider using Zinc year-round to help your students continue to grow as readers.

For a choice-based follow-up to Ignition, assign Lift Off, our four-week, auto-differentiated independent reading journey. In just minutes, you can assign four weeks of vocabulary, articles, and close reading practice, all delivered at each student's level. You customize the workload, and students choose the themes and topics they want to read about.

You can also assign Zinc Articles and Close Reading Experiences as "a la carte" activities throughout the year. Search for topics that support your current curricular unit or areas of student interest. Consider assigning the same article or CRE to everyone in a class, or assign 3-4 different articles (you can assign articles at different levels to meet the needs of a range of learners) and encourage students to share what they've learned in a class-wide discussion.