PERT Writing revision questions show you a short draft with numbered sentences and ask how to improve it: which sentence to delete, where one belongs, which transition fits, which detail best supports a claim, how to report a source accurately or which wording suits the reader. You answer them by stating what the draft is trying to do, then choosing the change that serves that purpose without altering its meaning. There is no essay on PERT Writing; every question is multiple choice.
Updated November 5, 2026
PERT Writing Revision Questions at a glance
Detail
What to know
Subject
Writing, one of the three PERT subjects along with Mathematics and Reading
Questions in the subject
30: 25 scored and 5 field-test items. You won’t be told which 5 are unscored, so treat every question as if it counts
Timing
Untimed. There is no official time limit for Writing
How the test runs
Computer-adaptive: you must answer each question to move on, and you cannot go back to a submitted answer
Answer format
Multiple-choice revision and editing questions. There is no essay. The study-guide samples have four choices, A to D
Scoring
Reported on a 50–150 scale. The Florida college-ready Writing score is 103
In our free bank
60 practice questions of this type, written for this course. They are not real PERT items
PERT Writing has no essay. It tests writing through multiple-choice revision and editing questions. The study guide’s Writing sample is a short passage with numbered sentences, followed by questions such as which sentence does not belong, which sentences best support a topic sentence and what order the sentences should go in. Other sample questions ask you to complete a sentence or pick the version that is written correctly; our guide to PERT grammar and sentence editing questions covers those.
Our practice drafts are four to six numbered sentences under a title such as Draft: Testing a Rain Barrel. Most argue for a modest plan: a trial, a pilot or a request. Some add two short sources, labeled Source A and Source B, that the draft must report accurately. Typical stems ask which sentence is least relevant to the draft, where a sentence should be moved, which phrase should begin a sentence, which evidence best supports a claim, which sentence reports a source accurately and which wording best suits the reader.
Every choice is usually grammatical. What separates them is whether the change fits the draft’s purpose, order, evidence and audience. That makes revision questions closer to reading questions than to grammar drills: you have to understand the whole draft before you can judge one sentence.
What they test
Revision questions check the decisions a writer makes about a whole piece. The skills in our lessons and practice follow the study guide’s Writing outline:
Focus and thesis: keeping every sentence on the draft’s specific purpose, and stating that purpose at the right size
Support: choosing the detail or example that proves the particular claim
Organization: putting sentences in an order where each one makes sense when it arrives
Transitions: choosing the word or phrase that names the real relationship between two ideas
Synthesis and attribution: combining sources and reporting each one accurately
Claims and counterclaims: stating a position and representing an opposing concern fairly
Tone, precision and concision: wording that fits the audience and says exactly what is meant
Conclusions: ending on what the draft has shown, without adding a new claim
How to answer PERT Writing Revision questions
Name the draft’s purpose before judging any sentence
Read all the numbered sentences first, then say the draft’s purpose in one line, including its limits. The school should test a bike-repair stand outside the gym for one semester and count how often it is used is a purpose. Bike repair is only a topic. With the purpose in hand, a deletion question is simple: the sentence to cut is the one that develops no part of it, even if it is true and on a related subject. A sentence about the year the gym was built does nothing for a one-semester bike-stand trial.
Thesis questions ask you to replace the first sentence with one that states the full proposal. Check scope in both directions. A thesis that names only one benefit is too narrow; one that calls for the plan everywhere, or permanently, goes beyond what the rest of the draft supports. The best version names the action and the condition the draft keeps returning to, such as a one-semester test, an inspection or a budget limit.
Conclusion questions follow the same rule from the other end. A strong conclusion draws together what the draft has already shown. A choice that announces a new result no sentence has supported, such as more students biking to school, is the trap.
Choose support that proves the specific claim
When a question asks which detail best supports a sentence, read that sentence closely and decide what kind of proof it needs. A claim that the bike rack is too small needs evidence of that, such as a count of bikes locked to the railing on weekday mornings. A note that the rack was freshly painted is pleasant but proves something else.
Sort support into three kinds and keep them apart: evidence of need (there is a problem), evidence of effectiveness (the plan helps) and evidence of feasibility (the plan can be done). The bike-rack draft might show need with that morning count, effectiveness with a later count after a trial rack goes in, and feasibility with a facilities check that the new rack fits without blocking the ramp. A cheaper rack model sounds useful but answers none of the three if it does not fit the space.
Example questions work the same way. If a draft says volunteer tutors check homework but send grading questions to the teacher, the best example shows a tutor doing the first and not the second.
Order sentences by what each one depends on
For a Where should sentence 4 be moved? question, label each sentence with a short verb: states goal, gathers supplies, builds, tests, reports. Then ask what must already have happened for the moved sentence to make sense. You cannot test a model bridge that has not been built, and you cannot report results before the test.
Pointing words are clues. A sentence that begins This result or With those numbers needs an earlier sentence that supplies the result or the numbers. A sentence that introduces a person by full name belongs before one that refers to she. After you choose a position, reread the whole paragraph in the new order; a sentence can fit its new neighbors and still break the larger sequence.
Choose transitions by the relationship, not the sound
Before you look at the choices, say in plain words how the two sentences connect. Is the second a result of the first, a contrast, an example, a later step or an application? Then pick the transition that names exactly that. Therefore claims a consequence. However and although mark a contrast or limit. For example signals a case. Then or after the forms are signed marks a step in time.
Test your choice by paraphrasing it. If a draft reports a parking survey and then notes that it covered only weekday mornings, As a result would present that limit as a consequence of the survey, which is wrong. A phrase that marks a limit, such as Even so or Still, fits. Many wrong transitions are perfectly common phrases attached to the wrong relationship.
Report sources and opposing views at their real size
When a draft uses Source A and Source B, write one accurate sentence about each before you consider a combined claim. Note who was studied, what was measured and what was left out. A gym’s sign-in sheet records visits, not workouts finished. A poll of fifteen members describes those fifteen members, not everyone. An accurate attribution names the right source and keeps its scope; a wrong one switches the source, enlarges the group or turns a possibility into proof.
Synthesis questions ask what both sources together support. Usually that points to further study, not a settled conclusion. Careful words like suggest can be right, but a cautious word cannot rescue a sentence that misreports what a source found.
Counterclaim questions test fairness. A good acknowledgment names the real basis of an objection, such as the cost of a new bus route, and answers it with reasoning or a way to measure it. A choice that attacks the critics’ motives, or declares the objection already defeated, fails the draft even when it sounds confident.
Fit tone and wording to the reader without changing the facts
Tone questions usually involve a letter, email or public notice. Professional tone can still be firm: The dryer in the laundry room stops mid-cycle and leaves clothes wet is a stronger request than The laundry room is a disaster, because it gives the reader something specific to fix. Welcoming tone can still be clear about limits, as in Beginners are welcome; bring your own racket.
Precision and concision questions ask for the clearest or shortest version that keeps the meaning. Cut repetition and vague phrases, but check that the shorter version still says who does what, when and under what condition. A tidy sentence that swaps two details, drops a condition or promises a refund when the original said refunds may be available is not an improvement.
Common mistakes
Revision questions are built around a few predictable traps. Each card shows one, with the fix and the reason.
Mistake: Keeping a sentence because it is true and on the same general subject.
Better: Delete any sentence that develops no part of the draft’s specific purpose.
Why: Focus means serving this draft’s point, not the broad topic.
Mistake: Choosing a thesis or conclusion that promises more than the draft supports.
Better: Match the claim to the draft’s scope, including words like trial or pilot.
Why: A thesis that goes beyond the support, or a conclusion that announces a new result, weakens the argument.
Mistake: Picking support that is about the same place or program but a different question.
Better: Decide whether the claim needs evidence of need, effectiveness or feasibility, and choose that kind.
Why: Relevant-sounding detail is not support unless it makes the specific claim more believable.
Mistake: Choosing the transition that sounds smoothest.
Better: Name the relationship in plain words first, then pick the phrase that expresses it.
Why:Therefore and however both sound formal, but they say opposite things about how ideas connect.
Mistake: Letting a combined source sentence claim more than either source found.
Better: Keep each source’s population, measure and limits, and attribute each finding to the right one.
Why: A poll of fifteen members does not speak for every member, and a sign-in sheet does not show what anyone did once inside.
Mistake: Answering an objection by attacking the people who raise it.
Better: State the real concern and show how the plan addresses or measures it.
Why: A fair acknowledgment strengthens an argument; dismissing critics leaves the concern unanswered.
Working without a clock
No PERT subject has an official time limit, but the testing center still keeps hours. Colleges’ own estimates range from about two hours to more than three for all three subjects, and our PERT test dates and registration guide lists them by college. In 2015, FDOE reported that the Writing subtest took about 30 minutes on average; that is a historical figure, not a limit.
Revision questions take longer than single-sentence edits because you need the whole draft. Read every numbered sentence once and state the purpose before the first question; that work carries over to each question on the same draft.
Avoid over-checking. Before you submit, reread the draft with your choice in place, just once. If the paragraph now reads in a sensible order, stays on its purpose and says nothing the draft cannot support, submit. A submitted answer is final, so make that one reread count.
Two questions from our practice bank. The first asks where a sentence belongs; the second asks you to report a source accurately.
Example 1 · Medium · Writing sequence
Draft: Testing a Rain Barrel
[1] A community garden wants to test whether a rain barrel can supply water for its seedlings.
[2] The gardeners will first decide which roof can collect water and where the barrel can stand safely.
[3] They will record rainfall and the amount of water withdrawn during a four-week trial.
[4] They will install the barrel after checking the chosen site.
[5] They will judge whether the collected water covers a useful share of the garden’s needs.
[6] The trial will not show how the system performs in every season.
Where should sentence 4 be moved?
A.After sentence 5
B.Before sentence 3
C.Before sentence 1
D.After sentence 6
Answer: B (Before sentence 3)
How to solve it
Label each sentence with a verb: 1 states the goal, 2 chooses the site, 3 records water during the trial, 4 installs the barrel, 5 judges the results, 6 notes a limit.
Find what sentence 4 depends on and what depends on it. It says installation happens after checking the chosen site, so it comes after sentence 2. Recording water withdrawn from the barrel needs an installed barrel, so it must come before sentence 3.
That places sentence 4 between sentences 2 and 3, which is Before sentence 3, choice B.
Check the alternatives. After sentence 5 would install the barrel after its records were evaluated; before sentence 1 would install it before the site was chosen; after sentence 6 would end the draft on a step that belongs in the middle. Reread the new order: goal, site, install, record, evaluate, limit.
Why it works: Installation follows site selection and precedes recording a functioning system’s withdrawals. It belongs between planning and trial observation.
Example 2 · Medium · Writing source attribution
Draft: Study Room Demand
Source A: A library’s room-booking log shows that small study rooms were reserved most often between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. during the spring term. The log records reservations, not actual attendance.
Source B: A spring survey of twenty student users found that several avoided group work in the open reading area because conversation disturbed nearby readers. The survey did not ask users whether they could find an available study room.
Draft:
[1] The library should examine whether additional small group-study space is needed.
[2] Its booking log and a student survey offer useful but different evidence.
[3] Both sources prove that students cannot find a room in the evening.
[4] Further information about attendance and unsuccessful requests would help identify the size of any shortage.
Which sentence accurately attributes Source B’s finding?
A.The booking log records student opinions about the reading area’s noise.
B.In a survey of twenty users, several said group conversation could disturb readers in the open area.
C.The library’s booking log states that twenty groups were denied evening rooms.
D.A survey of all library users proved that group rooms were unavailable after 4 p.m.
Answer: B (In a survey of twenty users, several said group conversation could disturb readers in the open area.)
How to solve it
Write one sentence for Source B before reading the choices: a spring survey of twenty student users found that several avoided group work in the open area because conversation disturbed readers. It did not ask about room availability.
Check that each choice names the right source. A and C attribute their claims to the booking log, which is Source A, so both are out.
Check scope. D says all library users and claims the survey proved rooms were unavailable, which enlarges the group and invents a finding the survey never asked about.
Choice B is the only one that names the right source and keeps its scope: twenty surveyed users, several of whom linked group conversation to disturbing readers in the open area.
Why it works: The key identifies survey scope and the reported concern. Alternatives misattribute, inflate population, or invent availability findings.
Practice revision and organization questions
Here are 20 more revision and organization questions from our practice bank. The set is untimed. Submit it when you are done to see the answer and a full explanation for every question. Unlike the real PERT, this practice set lets you move back and forth between questions. For mixed sets from every part of the test, use the question bank.
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Lessons on this question type
Each lesson teaches one idea with a worked example, then gives you a question to try.
Grammar and sentence editing: Editing protects the intended meaning through standard sentence structure, grammar, usage and punctuation. Identify the sentence’s clauses and grammatical roles before comparing alternatives. A fluent-sounding option can still attach a modifier to the wrong noun or change who performed an action.
No. PERT Writing has no essay. It uses multiple-choice revision and editing questions, so you prepare by practicing how to improve drafts and correct sentences, not by writing timed essays.
Revision questions are about the draft as a whole: focus, support, order, transitions, sources and tone. Editing questions are about one sentence: agreement, pronouns, tense, punctuation, modifiers and parallel structure. Both appear on PERT Writing, and our grammar and sentence editing guide covers the second kind.
Writing has 30 questions: 25 count toward your placement score and 5 are field-test items. You won’t be told which 5 are unscored, so treat every question as if it counts.
Florida’s college-ready Writing score is 103 on the 50–150 scale, set by State Board of Education Rule 6A-10.0315. Colleges also use scores below 103 to choose a developmental course, so check how your college places students.
Work through short numbered drafts and, before you answer, say the draft’s purpose in one sentence. After each set, sort your misses into focus, support, order, transitions, sources and tone, and review the lesson for the type you miss most.