PERT Writing is 30 untimed, adaptive multiple-choice questions on revising short drafts and editing sentences. There is no essay. Florida’s college-ready Writing score is 103. This guide covers the skills, works two sample questions, lists the grammar and revision traps and links free practice and lessons.
Test Ninjas Research · Updated November 5, 2026 · 9 min read
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PERT Writing at a glance
PERT Writing format
Detail
What to know
Questions
30 multiple-choice questions
Scored and unscored
25 scored questions and 5 unscored field-test questions. You won’t be told which 5 are unscored, so treat every question as if it counts
Timing
Untimed: no official time limit
Navigation
Computer-adaptive; you must answer each question to move on and cannot go back
Format
Multiple-choice revision and editing questions
Essay
None
What it reports
One Writing score from 50 to 150, used for placement on its own
Writing is one of three PERT subjects, with Math and Reading. Each is scored and used for placement separately. The PERT exam guide covers the rules that apply to all three.
Because there is no essay, you never write a paragraph of your own on PERT Writing. You choose among the answer options. That makes it closer to editing someone else’s work: deciding which sentence belongs, which transition fits, and which version of a sentence is correct and clear. ACCUPLACER, by contrast, offers a separate WritePlacer essay; see PERT vs ACCUPLACER.
The test is adaptive, so the next question depends on your earlier answers, and you cannot return to a submitted question. In 2015, FDOE reported that the Writing subtest averaged about 30 minutes. That is a historical average, not a limit.
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What PERT Writing tests
The FDOE-linked PERT study guide lists fourteen Writing skills, from sustaining focus, establishing a thesis and synthesizing sources to recognizing effective transitions, commonly confused words, modifiers, parallel structure, shifts in verb tense and pronouns, and pronoun agreement. The table is our grouping of the study guide’s skill list into five areas: the first three are about the draft as a whole, the last two about individual sentences.
PERT Writing skills (our grouping of the study guide’s skill list) and the matching free lessons
Skill area (grouped from the study guide)
What the questions ask
Free lessons
Focus, thesis, support and sequence
Which sentence is off topic, which thesis states the full proposal, which detail supports a claim, where a sentence belongs
The PERT sentence and revision reference puts the rules from the last two rows on one page, with an example for each: independent clauses, agreement, pronoun case, tense, modifiers, parallel structure and apostrophes.
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Two sample PERT Writing questions
These practice questions were written by Test Ninjas in the four-choice format of the public study-guide samples. They are not real PERT questions. Choose an answer before you read the steps.
Example 1 · Easier · Writing focus
Draft: The School Roof
[1] Our school could use part of its flat roof as a supervised outdoor learning area.
[2] Science classes could observe weather there, while art classes could sketch the surrounding buildings.
[3] Before students visit, an engineer would need to assess load limits, railings, and safe access.
[4] The oldest school in the county opened more than a century ago.
[5] A small pilot area would let teachers evaluate the educational value before proposing a larger conversion.
[6] The plan should combine useful instruction with a careful safety review.
Which sentence most weakens the draft’s focus?
A.Sentence 2
B.Sentence 3
C.Sentence 4
D.Sentence 5
Answer: C (Sentence 4)
How to solve it
State the draft’s job in one line: it proposes using part of the school roof as a supervised outdoor learning area.
Test each sentence against that job. Sentence 2 gives uses, sentence 3 a safety step and sentence 5 a pilot.
Sentence 4, about the county’s oldest school, says nothing about this roof or this plan.
The answer is C. A sentence can be true and interesting and still break the focus.
Why it works: The county’s oldest school is not connected to this roof proposal. Uses, safety, and a pilot all develop the specific plan.
Example 2 · Medium · Writing modifiers
Sentence editing: modifiers
Draft: After reading the instructions, the device was easy for Jo to assemble. Jo read the instructions.
Which revision corrects the dangling modifier?
A.After reading the instructions, the device assembled easily for Jo.
B.After reading the instructions, Jo assembled the device easily.
C.After reading the instructions, the device was assembled easily.
D.After reading the instructions, easy assembly was possible for Jo.
Answer: B (After reading the instructions, Jo assembled the device easily.)
How to solve it
Ask who did the action in the opening phrase. The person who read the instructions is Jo.
An opening phrase describes the subject that comes right after the comma, so Jo must come next.
Only B does that: “After reading the instructions, Jo assembled the device easily.”
A, C and D leave the device or the assembly as the subject, which says the device read the instructions.
Why it works: The introductory phrase describes the reader, so Jo should be the following subject. A device or assembly cannot read instructions.
Key point: Neither question asks you to name a grammar rule. Both ask which version says what the writer means. If you can explain why a choice changes or blurs the meaning, you can rule it out.
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The two PERT Writing question types
Our practice bank sorts PERT Writing into two question types, each with a full guide and its own practice set.
Revision and organization
These questions use a short draft with numbered sentences. They ask which sentence to delete, add or move, which thesis or conclusion fits, which transition connects two ideas, which wording suits the audience, and how to use sources accurately. The roof question above is this type. Read the writing revision guide or start revision practice.
Grammar and sentence editing
These questions give one sentence or a short context and ask for the correct version: agreement, pronoun case, verb tense, sentence boundaries and punctuation, modifier placement and parallel structure. The modifier question above is this type. Read the grammar and sentence editing guide or start editing practice.
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How to approach PERT Writing
Revision and editing questions need different first steps, but the same check before you submit.
For revision questions, read the whole draft first
Before you look at the question, read the whole draft and say the draft’s purpose in one line. Focus, thesis, support and conclusion questions all come back to that line. A sentence that does not serve it is off topic, however well written.
Name the relationship before choosing a transition
Decide how the two sentences connect: contrast, cause and effect, sequence, example or addition. Then pick the transition that signals that relationship. Choosing by sound leads to however where the writer meant therefore.
For editing questions, compare the choices
Read the versions side by side and find what changes between them: a verb, a comma, a pronoun, the word order. That difference tells you which rule is being tested. Then find the subject and verb of each clause, because agreement, run-ons and dangling modifiers all depend on them.
Keep the meaning, then prefer the clearer version
The right answer is correct, keeps the writer’s meaning and is usually the clearest version. Do not pick a longer or more formal choice because it sounds advanced. If two choices are both correct, the more concise one usually wins.
Read your choice back in full
Before you submit, reread the whole sentence with your choice in place, and for revision questions the sentences around it too. You cannot return to it later, so this is your last check.
Try PERT Writing on this page.
Build a free Writing set below, then review a full explanation for every question.
Better: Practice choosing the best revision or edit among four options.
Why: PERT Writing is multiple-choice revision and editing. There is no essay.
Mistake: Joining two complete sentences with only a comma: “The exhibit opened on time, the labels were unfinished.”
Better: Add a conjunction after the comma, use a semicolon, or make two sentences: “The exhibit opened on time, but the labels were unfinished.”
Why: A comma alone cannot join two independent clauses.
Mistake: Making the verb agree with the nearest noun when it is inside a phrase: “The box of files are…”
Better: Find the real subject: “The box of files is…”
Why: The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun inside a phrase that comes between them.
Mistake: Writing “Ada and me carried the display.”
Better: Drop the other name and test it: “I carried the display,” so “Ada and I carried the display.”
Why: A pronoun in the subject needs subject case.
Mistake: Leaving an opening phrase without the person it describes: “After reading the instructions, the device was easy to assemble.”
Better: Put the person right after the comma: “After reading the instructions, Jo assembled the device.”
Why: An opening modifier describes whatever comes right after it.
Mistake: Choosing a source sentence that says more than the sources do.
Better: Credit each finding to the right source and keep its limits.
Why: Synthesis questions test accurate attribution, not the boldest claim.
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What a 103 in PERT Writing means
Under State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.0315, a PERT Writing score of 103 or higher shows readiness for college-level writing. The PERT is not pass/fail: the score places you in a course. If you have more than one score, the rule uses your highest. If you meet it and enroll at a Florida college within two years, you can’t be required to retest; PERT scores explained covers score validity in full.
Below 103, a student who is not exempt must take developmental education in that subject; what is a good PERT score explains who is exempt. The college has to explain the developmental options it offers, and you choose after advising. Colleges use the exact score to choose the course. At Palm Beach State College, for example, Writing scores of 90–102 place you into the developmental course ENC0052 and 103 or higher into ENC1101. That is one college’s chart, not a statewide rule; the full chart is on PERT scores explained.
Santa Fe College also uses 103 as its college-level Writing score, and the 2026-27 Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars award uses the same PERT minimum. Other measures can show writing readiness, including an ACT English score of 17, a digital SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score of 490, or an unweighted high school GPA of 3.0 with a B or better in English 4 or English 4 Honors. Each college decides which measures it accepts.
Choose how many questions you want and a difficulty level, then work the set. When you submit the set, every question shows its explanation and a link to its lesson. Practice scores show which skills need work; they do not convert to a PERT score. For more, try the free PERT practice test, build a set in the PERT question bank, or answer today’s PERT questions.
No. PERT Writing is multiple choice: you revise short drafts and edit sentences by choosing among the options.
30 multiple-choice questions. 25 are scored and 5 are unscored field-test questions. You won’t be told which 5 are unscored, so treat every question as if it counts.
No. There is no official time limit, but the testing center’s hours still apply. FDOE reported in 2015 that the Writing subtest averaged about 30 minutes.
The study guide lists the conventions of standard written English, including commonly confused words, modifiers, coordination and subordination, parallel structure, shifts in verb tense and pronouns, pronoun agreement, case forms, adjectives and adverbs, spelling, capitalization and punctuation. Other skills cover focus, thesis, support, transitions, tone and the use of sources.
Florida’s college-ready Writing score is 103 on the 50–150 scale. Below that, the score decides which developmental course you take if you are not exempt.
No. You must answer each question to move on and cannot change a submitted answer, so reread your choice in the full sentence before you submit.
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Sources
PERT rules are set by Florida law and by each college. These are the pages this guide relies on; your testing center’s current instructions take priority.