Basic Skills Courses

 

WHAT ARE BASIC SKILLS COURSES? 

Basic Skills courses are reading and writing courses (CSE095/99 Reading and ENA099 Writing) that make you better readers and writers. If you score below a 70 on the CUNY-ACT Reading Test or below a 56 on the CUNY ASSESSMENT TEST OF WRITING (CATW), you must take these courses. Kim Lucas, your academic adviser, will schedule you for these tests when you first come for advisement.

The Basic Reading Course -- CSE095/99 

In the basic reading course, you discuss, read and write about various themes, using a variety of books, news articles, and essays. An Internet research project is part of all courses. You will learn to outline, summarize, respond to as well as question your reading. You will also learn how to use a dictionary to figure out the meaning of words you do not know. The lab component of this course prepares you to take the CUNY-ACT reading test.

The Basic Writing Course -- ENA099 

The basic writing course prepares you to write college-level essays - the kind of writing expected in Freshman Composition (English 101). You should expect to write about 11 essays, some of which will be practice essays for the CUNY-ACT writing test. Grammar instruction is heavily emphasized, as is learning to use readings to develop ideas for essays and to support points made in proving a thesis.