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Virginia Standards

12th Grade English SOL

All 18 Virginia English standards for 12th grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Virginia Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

18 standards

Developing Skilled Readers and Building Reading Stamina

1 standard
12.DSR
Read texts at the toughest end of the grades 11 to 12 range fluently, answer literal to critical questions with traced evidence, read text sets, and repair confusion.

Reading and Vocabulary

1 standard
12.RV.1
Decode advanced words with context, roots and etymology, separate near-synonyms like firm and stubborn, analyze idioms, and interpret allusions and figurative language.

Reading Literary Text

3 standards
12.RL.1
Analyze universal themes in British literature across eras, explain how subplots and parallel episodes build tension, trace complex characters, and evaluate soliloquies.
12.RL.2
Evaluate how figurative language in poems and prose deepens mood and theme, interpret how diction sets tone, and judge how satire and irony signal unstated meaning.
12.RL.3
Compare old and new works, especially poems from many cultures, that share themes or character types, trace one theme across works, and tie authors' views to their era.

Reading Informational Text

3 standards
12.RI.1
Complete job or college applications, sum up workplace papers, evaluate how structure and rhetoric advance an argument, and expose faulty reasoning and false premises.
12.RI.2
Analyze how informational and technical writing is structured and how that differs from storytelling, and how word choices build up the author's attitude and mood.
12.RI.3
Evaluate texts that clash over the same event or issue by weighing claims, reasoning and evidence, and analyze how an author orders, develops and connects ideas.

Writing

3 standards
12.W.1
Write sourced explanatory essays, technical pieces like a cover letter, questionnaire or business email for a clear audience, and blended short and long pieces.
12.W.2
Build essays on a clear thesis with evidence from several texts that supports it or shows a counterargument, introduce and cite each quote, and vary syntax and diction.
12.W.3
Revise for clear, accurate, deep content, use peer and self review to name strengths and fixes, edit for formal and informal settings, and meet college and job standards.

Language Usage

2 standards
12.LU.1
Combine independent, dependent, noun, relative and adverbial clauses to vary sentence patterns, keep readers engaged and make meaning more precise and purposeful.
12.LU.2
Punctuate and format quotations by MLA or APA rules, like putting the citation before the closing period, and confirm spelling with dictionaries or other references.

Communication and Multimodal Literacies

4 standards
12.C.1
Join and lead discussions by answering differing views with evidence, summarizing agreement, choosing tools to build shared presentations, and evaluating the work.
12.C.2
Present ideas with rhetorical devices and rebuttals to opposing views, adjust delivery as audience attention shifts, self-evaluate, and perform a memorized monologue.
12.C.3
Create interactive multimodal presentations alone and in groups, vet media sources for bias and reliability, synthesize them into a position, and credit borrowed content.
12.C.4
Defend a theory about the values behind a media message, critique its effectiveness, analyze its symbolism and bias, and explain how coverage shapes public opinion.

Research

1 standard
12.R.1
Pursue a revisable research question, vet sources for accuracy and bias, synthesize evidence for claims and counterclaims, cite in MLA or APA, and use AI honestly.

The official Virginia documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Virginia's standards, not the official wording, which Virginia Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.