JEPET
PREPARATION TIPS
Junior English Proficiency Essay Test
JEPET is a graduation requirement at SFSU.
Read the JEPET information sheet distributed when you sign-up for the test
or printed from JEPET web page. Practice a timed
test using the example on the information sheet. The Composition Office in Hum
209 offers information sessions the
week of each JEPET. EOP and C.A.R.P. offer workshops prior to each JEPET. Sign-up
for a workshop in the EOP Tutorial Room (Student Services Center Room 201, or
phone 415-338-1646). Go to the C.A.R.P. workshops in HSS 346. Stop by or phone
415-405-0316 for C.A.R.P.'s schedule.
Books on
preparation for timed essay examinations are on reserve in the Library and are sold in the
Bookstore. For books on reserve request call numbers LB1631 .B62 1990x or PE1471 .C36 1991 or
PE1411.027 1998. Only the Barron's book is available for purchase.
NOTE:
Since the publication of the books, JEPET time has been extended from 1
hour to 1.5 hours.
PREPARING FOR JEPET
Provided by Composition Teachers of SFSU
The
best preparation for an essay examination is a good lower division composition course. Studying
grammar books is not useful because one merely learns rules without getting practice and help in
applying them. But two books do address strategies for timed writing proficiency tests: The
Writing Proficiency Exam Preparation, Bobrow & Orton, A Cliff Notes book; Write in Time: Essay
Exam Strategies, Campanelli and Price, pub. Holt, Rinehart, Winston. (These two books are on
reserve and the call numbers are given above. Neither book is in print or available for purchase.)
The two biggest mistakes students can make in taking this test are to write below their
natural ability or to try to write above it. The student who decides to write too simplistically
in order not to make any mistakes will fail-we are testing for college-level ability, not
eighth-grade ability. On the other hand, students who try to impress the readers with
polysyllabic words and pretentious sentences ("It has been observed by many authorities in the
field that . . .") will often fail because they have misused their big words and gotten tangled up
in their sentences and, as a result, haven't said anything coherent. The best thing to do is write
in your own normal style, keeping in mind the principles of organization and development that you
learned in your last composition class. Don't try to do things you aren't used to doing. Don't be
afraid to begin sentences with "And" or "But" or to end them with prepositions. Don't be afraid to
use "I" or to use contractions, concrete nouns and strong verbs in your sentences.
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