1. How to Answer CRQ’s

2. What is a CRQ? A CRQ stands for a Constructed Response Question.
It is a type of open-ended essay question that demonstrates cognitive knowledge and reasoning.

3. What is a CRQ?
The answer must be provided using information that can be found in a particular text or other essay prompt (map, picture, graphic organizer, etc.), and is not meant to demonstrate opinion, but to show how you are able to extract information and use this as the basis for forming a complete answer.

4. What is a CRQ?
Constructed response essays are increasingly used on standardized tests ranging from the statewide assessments that usually begin in third grade all the way up to the college placement exams such as the SAT and ACT.

5. How to Score Well on a CRQ
To understand and answer the constructed response essay question, the easiest way is to memorize the acronym "RACE" - this stands for reword, answer, cite and explain.

6. Reword/restate the question Cite evidence from the text
“R.A.C.E.”
Reword/restate the question
provide an Answer
Cite evidence from the text
Explain how the evidence supports your answer

7. Reword the Question (the "R" in "RACE")
Reword the question means that you are to restate the question and make it into a statement as a part of the answer you provide.
If you were to be asked "What color is the sky?", you would not simply answer "blue" - instead, the correct answer would be "The color of the sky is blue," or words to that effect.

8. Answer the Question (the "A" in "RACE")
In order to answer the question, you need to understand what you are being asked, and then make sure you provide the answer to that specific question.
The answer, as in the previous example, may come in the first sentence as you reword the question into a statement, but in an essay question you will then need to show how/why you arrived at your answer.

9. Cite the Evidence (the "C" in "RACE")
Most constructed response questions will require you to support your answers with details from the reading passage. You can do this in a few ways:
with a direct quotation
with a paraphrase
with a specific reference

10. Citing Evidence with Direct Quotations
When you give a direct quotation from the passage to back up your ideas, you must place the text in quotation marks.
Example: The narrator says, “As men busied themselves about their various concerns. . .”
Other phrases to set up your direct quotations include: “According to the text,” “The Author states,” and “According to the passage.”

11. Citing Evidence with Paraphrases
You may put a few lines from the passage into your own words, as long as you make it clear that you are doing so. Be careful not to pass off another writer’s ideas as your own.
Example: The narrator says that people where going about their usual lives at the time of the attack.

12. Citing Evidence with a Specific Reference
You can point your reader to a part of the passage with a very specific text reference.
Example: In the second sentence of the first paragraph, the author states/the narrator says/etc. . .

13. Explain how the Evidence Supports your Answer (the "E" in "RACE")
In addition to the evidence you've cited from the text, you will need to supply your own reasoning for why you think your answer is correct and how your evidence supports your answer.

14. Example – Describe the main character from the passage: The main character from the passage is an angry person because the narrator says, “She threw the phone into the wall.” When someone is angry, they usually release their frustration by damaging things around them, and that is exactly what the main character did with her phone.

15. Scoring Constructed Responses
If your answer to the constructed response essay question displays an understanding of the question in all its complexity, uses information from the prompt (either information directly presented to you or that you've inferred) and provides a complete explanation of how the answer was arrived at that demonstrates your use of logic or reasoning, you may receive the highest score (usually a 4) on your answer.

16. If your answer addresses some of the question or uses evidence that only partially supports your conclusion or does not directly connect to it, you may receive a somewhat lower grade of 2.

17. If you attempt to answer the question but your essay demonstrates that you may have misunderstood it, or your answer lacks any relevant or meaningful supporting evidence to support your conclusion, you may receive an even lower grade of 1.

18. If you do not answer at all, or if your answer is incorrect or irrelevant, you may receive the lowest grade of 0. 
Remember, constructed response questions make up a huge portion of your score, so answer them to the best of you ability with evidence from the text that supports your answer.

19. Example of a “1” Response

20. Example of a “2” Response

21. Example of a “4” Response
Juan could have prevented all of his problems if he didn’t dress up the pig. In paragraph 4, line 5, the story says that people laughed at the sight of “pigs in dresses.” People were so amused by their outfits they didn’t bother to buy the pig; which is why Juan was poor. In addition, people thought Juan was weird for dressing up farm animals. “The townsfolk gave Juan a strange look…” If Juan has sold his pigs without clothes, he would have money, and it would have prevented him from the ensuing issues.