Excellent writing skills are essential for getting high marks on standardized tests, succeeding in a wide range of jobs, and effectively communicating with others-but writing well isn't a skill you're born with-it must be practiced and applied in order to achieve optimal success. Writing Skills Success in 20 Minutes a Day helps you realize that success with a simple 20-step guide to improve writing skills through quick, comprehensive lessons that can easily fit into your busy schedule. Each step takes just 20 minutes a day. Inside you'll find: A Pretest to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses Hundreds of exercises in test format to help you acquire or refresh essential writing skills A Posttest-to show you the progress you've made Additional resources and tips for preparing for important standardized tests Writing Skills essentials inside include: Capitalization Commas and Sentence Parts Semicolons and Colons Apostrophes and Dashes Quotation Marks Verb Tenses Using Verbs to Create Strong Writing Subject-Verb Agreement Using Pronouns Problem Verbs and Pronouns Modifiers Easily Confused Word Pairs Communicating Ideas Diction