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For many prospective California Highway Patrol (CHP) candidates, the portion of the CHP testing regimen known as the Cloze Test presents the greatest challenge when developing a winning preparation plan. For the uninitiated, the Cloze Test consists of paragraphs of information that are missing numerous words. The paragraphs are to be read, analyzed, and the correct missing words added to complete the sentences.
Like any challenge, the Cloze Test is simple to master once its various elements are identified. You study what makes it tick, and you gain control of your success with it.
First of all, what is this over 50 year old test evaluating about you and your capabilities?
Briefly, the Cloze Test was named for a psychological term for 'closure', meaning the ability to perceive the whole of a thing once given certain parts of it. The purpose of the Cloze Test is to determine your ability to perceive what is being said in one sentence using the words surrounding it. The whole being perceived is not only the particular sentence, but the entire paragraph it within.
Your capability to comprehend what you are reading, to deduce the missing words through review of known 'facts' - the other words in the test paragraph, and to make correct choices based only on the information presented - without embellishment or opinion is being evaluated throughout the Cloze Test.
There is no 'trick' to success in this process and there are no 'trick' deleted words. The deleted words can always be determined by studying and correctly comprehending the context of the paragraph. The deleted word will not be impossible to determine or require any 'guessing' on the part of the Cloze test taker. Your ability to understand sentence and paragraph structure and comprehend the overall - the whole - of what is being communicated will do a lot to help you ace the Cloze Test.
Let's look at a few simple points that may break the whole down and clarify the 'pieces' of the Cloze Test.
Each missing word is indicated by a specific number of dashes. Each dash represents a missing letter in the missing word. The word you choose must have the same number of letters as there are dashes.
Pick your words to fit the entire context, not just the sentence. If the context addresses a narrow topic, then pick words that relate directly to the context. If the context is broader, then there may be several words that can be scored as correct.
The English language has certain characteristics that are exploited in the Cloze Test:
1. Redundancy - core phrases make up an informative sentence, once the core phrase is identified, the redundant words in the sentence that support it are easily identified.
2. Transitional Probability - certain words are commonly used in certain situations: the phrase "_ _ _ _ _ birthday, Bob" has a high probability of "happy" being the missing word, as opposed to "merry", due to its degree of common use.
3. Reading Hypothesis - combining acquired information (reading) with accumulated information (stored knowledge) to draw a correct conclusion automatically. Stored knowledge is applied to whatever is being read and confirming words are accepted with ease, however, conflicting words or concepts will stop the reading process until they can be validated. This makes reading familiar subjects more easy to comprehend - and unfamiliar ones more difficult.
Is there any kind of Cloze Test strategy? This can depend on the individual processes you have developed for comprehending what you read, but you might keep the following in mind:
1. Read the entire passage before entering any deleted words. This ensures that you get the main focus of the passage information.
2. Next, go back through and enter the words that immediately come to mind.
3. Return to these entered words and ensure that the number of letters match the number of dashes.
4. Look at the remaining deleted words and the surrounding words to determine is the missing word is a noun, verb, adjective, etc.
5. Next, check again to determine if the deleted word should be in past or present tense and if it is singular or plural.
6. Still stumped? Review the context of the passage before and after the deleted word again. How does the sentence relate to the passage? What information is the focus in this portion of the passage? Remember, the deleted word will be either a redundancy of the core phrase or will directly relate to the passage context.
7. Do your best and understand that the Cloze Test is difficult and it is doubtful that you be certain every word choice you have made is correct.
A final tip is simply this: read, read, read. Take every opportunity to read passages on subjects with which you are familiar and unfamiliar and your reading comprehension will improve - as will your chance to ace the Cloze Test!
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