CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.3

ELAGrades 9–10Key Ideas and Details

The Standard

Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks, attending to special cases or exceptions defined in the text.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6—12

What This Standard Means

Students need to read a detailed procedure and carry it out exactly as written. They must track sequence, materials, measurements, safety notes, conditions, and exceptions. They also need to notice wording like “unless,” “only if,” “do not,” and “repeat until.”

Mastery looks like a student using the text, not memory or guessing, to complete the task correctly. Strong students mark steps, check off actions, and adjust when the directions give a special case. Common trouble spots are skipping small warnings, mixing up order, rounding measurements too soon, and ignoring exception statements.

Ways to Teach It

  • Give pairs a printed lab procedure, highlighters, and materials, then have them mark warnings, measurements, and exception words before starting.
  • Ask students to write which step in a technical procedure is easiest to misread and explain the possible result.
  • Hand students a three-step procedure with one exception, then ask them to choose the correct next action from four options.
  • Use a recipe, bike repair guide, or phone setup directions to show how one ignored exception can change the whole outcome.

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What This Unlocks

Mastery here sets students up for these next.

Related Standards

Standard text verified against corestandards.org on July 10, 2026.

Page updated July 10, 2026.

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