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TDA Text-Dependent Analysis VIP Practice Exam
TDA — Text-Dependent Analysis (TDA) is a constructed-response writing task embedded in Pennsylvania's PSSA (grades 3–8) and Keystone Literature exam (grades 9–11), scored on a 4-point rubric assessing evidence use, analysis depth, and writing quality; this practice set mirrors the analytical skills, passage-based reasoning, and scoring criteria of those assessments.
31
Questions
90m
Time Limit
70.00%
To Pass
Question 1 of 31👑 VIP
A student is writing a TDA response to the prompt: 'How does the author use the setting to develop the theme in the passage?' The student writes only: 'The setting is a dark forest. Dark forests are scary. This shows the theme of fear.' What is the PRIMARY weakness of this response? Passage excerpt (for reference): 'The trees pressed in on all sides, their gnarled branches blocking the moon. Mira clutched her lantern — the only warmth in a world that had gone entirely cold.'
Questions 2–31 and full explanations are VIP-exclusive.