CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.3
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
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read procedural directions closely, track the required order, and notice conditions, warnings, and exceptions. They use those details to complete a lab, measurement, or technical task accurately.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given unfamiliar directions, a student completes each step in order, uses the stated tools and units, and adjusts when a condition applies. The student can point to the direction that supports each choice.
Common Misconceptions
- Students often skim, skip diagrams, or treat the steps as suggestions. They may overlook words such as “if,” “unless,” and “except,” or confuse units, timing, and sequence.
How to Assess It
- Exit task: “Place two books 15 cm apart, bridge them with one sheet of paper, then add coins one at a time and record the last total before the paper touches the desk. If it touches before five coins, fold the paper lengthwise once and restart.” Check the setup, sequence, stopping point, and use of the exception.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Pairs follow a printed procedure to build and test a paper bridge, highlighting each step as they complete it.
Ask: Which direction would most change the result if ignored, and what evidence from the procedure supports your choice?
Teams arrange shuffled microscope setup cards, draw a condition card, and revise the sequence before explaining their choice.
Students examine a furniture assembly guide and identify where ignoring a warning or exception would cause the assembly to fail.
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Printable RST.9-10.3 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.3, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: Science & Technical Subjects progression map.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.3
Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.9-10.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions.
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