RACE Strategy

An approach to answering constructed

response questions. These are the types
of essay/writing questions that youll get
on the Georgia Milestones EOCT for this
course.
RACE is an acronym that stands for
RESTATE
ANSWER
CITE
EXPLAIN

RACE--RESTATE
Turn the question around to be a statement.
Constructed Response Question for The Cask of
Amontillado: How does the author of the story use
literary elements in a nontraditional way, and what
purpose does this approach serve?
RESTATE: In The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan
Poe uses literary elements in a nontraditional way.
Random tip: always make sure you include the title of
the work and the name of the author at the beginning of
your response

RACE--ANSWER
This ones pretty simple. Now you answer the
question. You want to be specific here, but the
majority of the details for your answer will be in
the cite/explain part of your response, so dont
feel like you have to move the world with your
answer.
Constructed Response Question for The Cask of
Amontillado: How does the author of the story use
literary elements in a nontraditional way, and what
purpose does this approach serve?
Answer: Poes choice of using a villain as the
protagonist of the story makes the story more
eerie and creepy.

RACE--CITE
This step is crucial! Here is where you use
evidence from the text. Find lines or passages
from the text that support your
points/assertions, and put them in here.
How many pieces of evidence do you need? Id
say 3-5.
How long should these pieces of evidence be?
Id say between 1-15 words.
Do you have to use internal citation to cite
these pieces of evidence? Always err on the
side of caution and cite.

RACE--CITE
Set up your evidence with a little bit of context.
Constructed Response Question for The Cask of
Amontillado: How does the author of the story
use literary elements in a nontraditional way,
and what purpose does this approach serve?
CITE--In the first lines of the story,
Montresor tells us, I must not only punish
but punish with impunity (Poe).

RACE--EXPLAIN
Here is where you analyze or comment on the
piece of evidence that you just provided.
Tip: make sure youre not just paraphrasing or
restating the piece of evidence that you just
provided. Go farther, show your insight.
Constructed Response Question for The Cask of
Amontillado: How does the author of the story use
literary elements in a nontraditional way, and what
purpose does this approach serve?

EXPLAINWhen Monstresor says that he will

punish with and get away with it, we get a
glimpse into his evil character.

RACEPut it all
together!
Constructed Response Question for The Cask of
Amontillado: How does the author of the story use literary
elements in a nontraditional way, and what purpose does
this approach serve?
In The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe uses literary
elements in a nontraditional way. Poes choice of using a
villain as the protagonist of the story makes the story more
eerie and creepy. In the first lines of the story, Montresor
tells us, I must not only punish but punish with impunity
(Poe). When Monstresor says that he will punish with and
get away with it, we get a glimpse into his evil character.
(Then just keep going with more pieces of evidence and
more analysis of that evidence.)