GSP Instructions

It's a good idea to read these before you go to Testing Services to take the exam, so you'll know what to expect.

You are trying to accumulate 14 correct answers on each of the three parts (grammar, spelling and punctuation), which equals 70 percent for each part.

On each of the three parts, the 20 questions are worth 5 points each. For every wrong answer, one point will be deducted. This is how part of an answer sheet might be scored:

Question 1    Correct        5 points
Question 2    Skipped    0 points
Question 3    Correct        5 points
Question 4    Incorrect    -1 point

We urge you not to guess at an answer unless you can narrow down the possible choices. For instance, if you can narrow down the possible choices to two, this gives you a 50 percent chance at getting it right and earning 5 points. Guessing when your chances are only 25 percent (1 in 4) does not give you very good odds and if you are wrong, you’ll lose a point. A score of 75 is required to pass, not 74 or anything less.

Here is a sample question:

1.     “Him and his wife are the happiest couple I have ever known,” she said.

        A. Him should be changed to He
        B. have should be changed to has
        C. known should be changed to knowed
      D. The sentence is correct as written.

Notice these things:
•    The italicized words are what you should consider on the grammar and spelling answers.
•    Words will not be capitalized unless they are capitalized in the sentence.
•    There will not be a period at the end of the answer, except for the final answer, which is always “The sentence is correct as written.”
•    The possible answers are presented in the order in which they appear in the sentence.
•    There may be errors inside direct quotations. Errors may be found in any part of a sentence. Do not assume that because something is in quotation marks that it is correct.
•    Punctuation answers may also have italicized words, but the directions on what to do with punctuation will not be italicized:

Example:

                    A. the comma after Johnson should follow the quotation marks
                    B. the comma after said should be changed to a semi-colon
                    C. the question mark should precede the quotation mark
                  D. The sentence is correct as written.

•    Look very carefully at the punctuation answers. There may be very little difference among then – perhaps just the placement of a hyphen or comma.