25 Reading Practice Questions & Answers

1. 1. Read the passage and answer the question. Teodora had spent the summer sweeping her grandfather's repair shop, certain that the real work (the tiny gears, the tweezers, the magnifying loupe) would never be hers. When he finally slid a broken pocket watch across the bench, she waited for instructions. None came. He simply went back to his own work, humming. For an hour she stared at the case, afraid to open it. Then she noticed that the screwdriver he had left beside the watch was the smallest one he owned, the one he never lent to anyone. She picked it up. By closing time the watch was ticking, and her grandfather, without looking up, said only, "Tomorrow, bring your own apron." What does the grandfather's final remark most strongly suggest?

   • A.He expects Teodora to go back to sweeping the floors.
   • B.He now considers Teodora a working member of the shop.✓ Answer
   • C.He doubts that the repaired watch will keep running.
   • D.He is annoyed that Teodora got her clothes dirty today.

   An apron is what a person wears to work at the bench, so telling Teodora to bring her own means he expects her to keep doing repair work. In other words, he now treats her as one of the shop's workers. Nothing in the passage suggests he is annoyed or wants her back at sweeping, and the watch is ticking, so a doubt about the repair has no support.

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2. 2. Read the passage and answer the question. Teodora had spent the summer sweeping her grandfather's repair shop, certain that the real work (the tiny gears, the tweezers, the magnifying loupe) would never be hers. When he finally slid a broken pocket watch across the bench, she waited for instructions. None came. He simply went back to his own work, humming. For an hour she stared at the case, afraid to open it. Then she noticed that the screwdriver he had left beside the watch was the smallest one he owned, the one he never lent to anyone. She picked it up. By closing time the watch was ticking, and her grandfather, without looking up, said only, "Tomorrow, bring your own apron." The detail about the smallest screwdriver mainly serves to

   • A.suggest that the watch was too delicate to repair
   • B.reveal a trust the grandfather never states aloud✓ Answer
   • C.explain why Teodora was afraid to open the case
   • D.show that the grandfather forgot to give instructions

   The passage stresses that this was the tool he "never lent to anyone," so leaving it by the watch is a quiet gesture of trust. That gesture is what finally gets Teodora to start working. His silence looks deliberate rather than forgetful, the watch does get repaired, and her fear comes before she notices the screwdriver, so the detail cannot be what explains that fear.

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3. 3. Read the passage and answer the question. On a summer afternoon, a city block paved with asphalt can be several degrees hotter than a nearby park. Dark pavement and rooftops absorb sunlight during the day and release the stored heat slowly after sunset, so neighborhoods with little shade stay warm long into the night. Trees counter this effect in two ways: their canopies block sunlight before it reaches the ground, and their leaves give off water, which cools the surrounding air as it evaporates. Because planting has been uneven, however, the hottest blocks in many cities are often the ones with the fewest trees, and with the residents least able to afford air conditioning. Which of the following is the best summary of the passage?

   • A.Trees cool the air mainly by storing daytime heat in their leaves and releasing it after sunset, unlike paved blocks.
   • B.Asphalt blocks are hotter than parks because dark surfaces absorb sunlight by day and release the heat slowly at night.
   • C.Pavement traps heat and trees cool by shade and evaporation, yet trees are often scarcest where heat is worst.✓ Answer
   • D.Trees cool cities so well that asphalt should be replaced with parks, which would end the need for air conditioning.

   A good summary covers every main point in proportion: why paved areas stay hot, the two ways trees cool the air, and the uneven spread of trees. The asphalt-only option covers just the opening sentences. The parks option adds a recommendation the author never makes, and the leaf-storage option reverses the cooling mechanism the passage describes.

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4. 4. Read the passage and answer the question. On a summer afternoon, a city block paved with asphalt can be several degrees hotter than a nearby park. Dark pavement and rooftops absorb sunlight during the day and release the stored heat slowly after sunset, so neighborhoods with little shade stay warm long into the night. Trees counter this effect in two ways: their canopies block sunlight before it reaches the ground, and their leaves give off water, which cools the surrounding air as it evaporates. Because planting has been uneven, however, the hottest blocks in many cities are often the ones with the fewest trees, and with the residents least able to afford air conditioning. According to the passage, why do neighborhoods with little shade stay warm after sunset?

   • A.Nearby parks send their warm air into the surrounding blocks.
   • B.Air conditioners in those blocks push hot air into the street.
   • C.Pavement and roofs release heat they stored during the day.✓ Answer
   • D.Water given off by leaves traps warm air near the ground.

   The passage states the cause directly: dark pavement and rooftops store heat by day and release it slowly after sunset, "so" low-shade neighborhoods stay warm. Air conditioners venting heat may be true in real life, but the passage never says it. Water from leaves cools the air rather than trapping heat, and the passage describes parks as cooler.

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5. 5. Read the passage and answer the question. (1) Last year the Riverton Public Library stopped charging late fines. (2) Critics predicted that without the threat of a penalty, borrowers would keep books for months. (3) That has not happened: the share of items returned within two weeks of their due date is essentially unchanged. (4) Meanwhile, the library has welcomed back hundreds of cardholders whose accounts had been blocked over small unpaid balances. (5) The fines brought in less than one percent of the library's budget, and staff spent hours each week collecting them. (6) Other libraries should follow Riverton's lead. How does the author respond to the critics' prediction in sentence (2)?

   • A.By questioning the motives of the critics who made the prediction
   • B.By citing return data showing the predicted behavior did not occur✓ Answer
   • C.By arguing that fines are unfair whatever their effect on returns
   • D.By conceding that some borrowers now keep their books much longer

   Sentence (3) answers the counterclaim with evidence: the share of items returned on time is "essentially unchanged," so the predicted hoarding did not happen. The author never concedes the critics' point and never discusses their motives. The author also does not set the return data aside in favor of a fairness argument, because the reply rests on that data.

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6. 6. Read the passage and answer the question. (1) Last year the Riverton Public Library stopped charging late fines. (2) Critics predicted that without the threat of a penalty, borrowers would keep books for months. (3) That has not happened: the share of items returned within two weeks of their due date is essentially unchanged. (4) Meanwhile, the library has welcomed back hundreds of cardholders whose accounts had been blocked over small unpaid balances. (5) The fines brought in less than one percent of the library's budget, and staff spent hours each week collecting them. (6) Other libraries should follow Riverton's lead. The recommendation in sentence (6) depends on which unstated assumption?

   • A.Riverton's results are likely to be repeated at other libraries.✓ Answer
   • B.Late fines were once the library's largest source of income.
   • C.Every blocked cardholder has now returned all overdue items.
   • D.Riverton's borrowers are more responsible than those elsewhere.

   The argument generalizes from one library to all others, so it only works if other libraries would get similar results. If Riverton's borrowers were unusually responsible, the recommendation would be weaker, not stronger. Sentence (5) says fines were under one percent of the budget, which contradicts the income option. The argument never needs every blocked cardholder to have returned their items.

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7. 7. Read the two passages and answer the question. Passage 1 Several rural school districts have moved to a four-day week, lengthening each of the remaining school days. Supporters point to concrete benefits. Districts spend less on bus fuel and building utilities, and teachers can schedule medical appointments on the day off instead of missing class, which reduces spending on substitutes. Some districts that once struggled to fill positions say the schedule now draws applicants from neighboring towns. For a district with a tight budget and a shrinking pool of teachers, the four-day week can be a practical solution. Passage 2 The savings from a four-day week are usually modest, often a small fraction of a district's budget, and the costs fall largely on families. Parents who work five days must find and pay for child care on the fifth day, and students who depend on school meals lose those meals one day each week. Studies comparing otherwise similar districts have found small but measurable declines in student achievement, especially in math. Before adopting the schedule, a district should ask whether a narrow budget gain is worth those losses. How would the author of Passage 2 most likely respond to the claim at the end of Passage 1?

   • A.The savings are too small to justify the costs to families and learning.✓ Answer
   • B.The schedule works only if districts also cut bus routes on all days.
   • C.The savings are actually much larger than Passage 1 suggests they are.
   • D.The schedule mainly fails because it makes hiring teachers even harder.

   Passage 1 ends by calling the schedule "a practical solution" for tight budgets. Passage 2 calls the savings "modest" and asks whether "a narrow budget gain is worth those losses" to families and achievement, so its author would answer that the savings do not justify the costs. Passage 2 never discusses hiring, it treats the savings as smaller rather than larger, and it proposes nothing about bus routes.

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8. 8. Read the two passages and answer the question. Passage 1 Several rural school districts have moved to a four-day week, lengthening each of the remaining school days. Supporters point to concrete benefits. Districts spend less on bus fuel and building utilities, and teachers can schedule medical appointments on the day off instead of missing class, which reduces spending on substitutes. Some districts that once struggled to fill positions say the schedule now draws applicants from neighboring towns. For a district with a tight budget and a shrinking pool of teachers, the four-day week can be a practical solution. Passage 2 The savings from a four-day week are usually modest, often a small fraction of a district's budget, and the costs fall largely on families. Parents who work five days must find and pay for child care on the fifth day, and students who depend on school meals lose those meals one day each week. Studies comparing otherwise similar districts have found small but measurable declines in student achievement, especially in math. Before adopting the schedule, a district should ask whether a narrow budget gain is worth those losses. On which point do the authors of both passages agree?

   • A.A four-day week helps districts attract new teaching applicants.
   • B.A four-day week produces at least some savings for a district.✓ Answer
   • C.A four-day week gives families a useful extra day at home.
   • D.A four-day week leads to lower student achievement in math.

   Passage 1 lists savings on fuel, utilities and substitutes. Passage 2 grants that savings exist but calls them modest, so both accept that there are some savings. The math decline appears only in Passage 2, and the hiring benefit appears only in Passage 1. Neither passage presents the day off as good for families, and Passage 2 describes it as a burden.

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9. 9. Read the passage and answer the question. The research committee welcomed the early results but was careful to temper its enthusiasm. Only forty patients had been followed, and for just six months, so members agreed that any public announcement should stress how much remained unknown. As used in the passage, "temper" most nearly means

   • A.moderate✓ Answer
   • B.harden
   • C.reveal
   • D.provoke

   The context clues (a small sample, a short study and the decision to stress what was unknown) show that the committee held back its excitement, so "temper" means moderate. "Harden" is the metalworking sense of temper, as in tempering steel. "Provoke" comes from the familiar noun meaning anger. "Reveal" contradicts the committee's caution.

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10. 10. Read the passage and answer the question. Before lending money to the bakery, the credit union reviewed three years of its records. The loan officer concluded that the business was sound: its sales were steady, its debts were small, and it had never missed a payment to its suppliers. As used in the passage, "sound" most nearly means

    • A.popular
    • B.rested
    • C.stable✓ Answer
    • D.noisy

    The colon introduces the evidence for the officer's judgment: steady sales, small debts and on-time payments. Together these describe a financially stable business, so "sound" means stable. "Noisy" borrows the familiar noun sense of sound, and "rested" comes from the phrase "sound sleep." Popularity is never mentioned.

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11. 11. Read the passage and answer the question. The old wooden bridge was rated for light traffic only. When the county began allowing loaded gravel trucks to cross it, inspectors warned that the beams would eventually yield, and within a year two of them had cracked. As used in the passage, "yield" most nearly means

    • A.break under the load✓ Answer
    • B.let others go first
    • C.produce a harvest
    • D.bring in a profit

    The beams were overloaded by heavy trucks and two of them later cracked, so "yield" here means to give way or break under strain. "Let others go first" is the familiar traffic-sign meaning. "Produce a harvest" and "bring in a profit" are other common senses of yield that do not fit a failing bridge beam.

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12. 12. Read the passage and answer the question. The engineers' estimate of eight months for the repairs was deliberately conservative. They had built in extra time for bad weather and late deliveries of parts, so city officials expected the work to finish early rather than late. As used in the passage, "conservative" most nearly means

    • A.politically traditional
    • B.kept as short as possible
    • C.old-fashioned in style
    • D.intentionally cautious✓ Answer

    The engineers padded the schedule with extra time so the work would finish early, which makes the estimate cautious on purpose. "Kept as short as possible" is the opposite, since the estimate was lengthened. "Politically traditional" and "old-fashioned in style" are common meanings of conservative that have nothing to do with a time estimate.

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13. 13. Read the passage and answer the question. In many regions, electricians must complete an apprenticeship before they can take a licensing exam. Apprentices work under a licensed electrician, often for four or five years, while attending classes on electrical theory and safety codes several evenings a month. Unlike students in many college programs, apprentices are paid from their first day on the job, and their wages rise at set points as they log more hours of work. Because the training combines income with instruction, some programs receive several applications for every opening. According to the passage, how do apprentices' wages change during training?

    • A.They stay the same until the apprentice is licensed.
    • B.They depend on the apprentice's licensing exam score.
    • C.They rise at scheduled points as work hours add up.✓ Answer
    • D.They begin only after the first year of classes ends.

    The passage says outright that wages "rise at set points as they log more hours of work." It also says apprentices are paid "from their first day," which rules out a delayed start and a flat wage. The licensing exam comes after the apprenticeship, so wages during training cannot depend on its score.

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14. 14. Read the passage and answer the question. When the historical society opened the donated trunk, it found the letters inside tied in bundles by year, each bundle labeled in the same careful handwriting. The earliest bundles were thick; the later ones grew steadily thinner, until the last held a single envelope, still sealed, addressed to a sister in another state and stamped "Return to Sender." Which inference is best supported by the passage?

    • A.The historical society has read every letter in the trunk.
    • B.Whoever stored the letters arranged them with deliberate care.✓ Answer
    • C.The sister refused to read the final letter out of anger.
    • D.The bundles were labeled by several different people.

    Letters sorted by year and labeled in "the same careful handwriting" strongly imply deliberate organization. A returned, sealed envelope shows only that the letter came back. Saying the sister refused it out of anger goes beyond the evidence. The sealed envelope contradicts the claim that every letter was read, and "the same" handwriting contradicts several labelers.

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15. 15. Read the passage and answer the question. Before the late 1800s, most towns set their clocks by the sun, so noon in one town might arrive several minutes before noon in a town a short distance to the west. For travelers on horseback, the difference hardly mattered. Railroads changed that. A single line might pass through dozens of local times, and timetables became so confusing that missed connections, and even collisions, grew more likely. To solve the problem, railroad companies divided the country into a few time zones, each keeping one standard time. Many towns adopted railroad time for daily life long before any law required it. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

    • A.Railroads' need for coordinated schedules led to standard time zones.✓ Answer
    • B.Collisions were the most common danger of nineteenth-century travel.
    • C.Laws forced towns to replace solar time with railroad time zones.
    • D.Travelers on horseback preferred local solar time to railroad time.

    The passage moves from a problem (many local times confusing railroad schedules) to its solution (railroad-made standard time zones), so the central idea links the two. The passage says the difference "hardly mattered" to riders on horseback, not that they preferred solar time. Towns adopted railroad time "long before any law required it," which contradicts the law option. Calling collisions the "most common" danger goes beyond what the passage says.

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16. 16. Read the passage and answer the question. Hot-air balloons and airships both float because they hold a gas that is lighter than the surrounding air, but they differ in how they move. A balloon has no engine; its pilot can only rise or sink, searching for winds that blow in the desired direction. An airship carries engines and a rudder, so its crew can travel against the wind and hold a chosen course. That control comes at a price: an airship needs a large ground crew and a hangar, while a balloon can be packed into a trailer. According to the passage, how do the two aircraft differ?

    • A.Only a balloon requires a hangar and a large ground crew.
    • B.Only a balloon relies on a gas lighter than the surrounding air.
    • C.Only an airship is small enough to be packed into a trailer.
    • D.Only an airship can be steered on a course against the wind.✓ Answer

    The contrast signal "but they differ in how they move" introduces the key difference: an airship's engines and rudder let it travel against the wind, while a balloon can only rise or sink. The passage says both aircraft use a lighter-than-air gas, so that is a similarity, not a difference. The trailer and hangar options swap the two aircraft's features.

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17. 17. Read the passage and answer the question. For decades, ranchers in the Calder Valley hunted wolves until almost none remained. With few predators, the valley's deer multiplied and began spending long hours feeding along the streams, where they stripped young willow shoots faster than the shrubs could regrow. Without willow roots to hold the soil, stream banks crumbled during spring floods, and the water turned muddy for weeks at a time. Which sequence of events does the passage describe?

    • A.Fewer wolves, more deer, fewer willows, then eroding banks✓ Answer
    • B.Fewer willows, more deer, fewer wolves, then eroding banks
    • C.Heavier floods, fewer willows, more deer, then fewer wolves
    • D.Fewer wolves, fewer deer, more willows, then clearer streams

    Each step causes the next. Hunting removed the wolves, so the deer multiplied ("with few predators"). The deer stripped the willows, and without willow roots to hold the soil, the banks crumbled. The flood option runs the chain backward. The option starting with fewer willows puts the willow loss before its cause. The option with fewer deer gets wrong what happens when predators disappear.

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18. 18. Read the passage and answer the question. Many students prepare for an exam by rereading their notes the night before. Research on memory points to a different approach. When study sessions are spread over several days, learners must work harder to recall the material at each session, and that effort strengthens memory. Cramming produces a feeling of mastery because the material is fresh, but much of it fades within a week. Spacing feels less productive in the moment, yet it leads to better recall weeks later. Which of the following is the best summary of the passage?

    • A.Rereading notes is the most effective method when it is done over several days.
    • B.Spaced study feels harder than cramming but produces memories that last longer.✓ Answer
    • C.Students should never study the night before an exam under any circumstances.
    • D.Cramming fails because students reread notes instead of rewriting them by hand.

    The passage contrasts the two methods: spacing takes more effort and feels less productive, but it lasts, while cramming feels like mastery but fades. The best summary keeps both halves of that contrast. Rewriting notes by hand is never mentioned, "never" turns the passage into an absolute rule, and the passage does not rank rereading as the most effective method.

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19. 19. Read the passage and answer the question. My first job was washing dishes at a diner where the cook, Mr. Abara, never raised his voice. On my second night I dropped a full rack of plates, and I braced for him to yell. Instead he handed me a broom, waited while I swept, and then showed me how to load the rack so the weight sat low. "Everybody drops one," he said. "Only some people learn why." I washed dishes there for two summers and never dropped another rack, but what I remember most is how much easier it was to work hard for someone who assumed I could improve. Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

    • A.Small mistakes at a first job are best forgotten as soon as possible.
    • B.Strict supervisors produce the most careful and reliable workers.
    • C.A mentor's patient faith in a learner can motivate more than fear.✓ Answer
    • D.Kitchen work teaches practical skills better than a classroom can.

    The narrator expects to be yelled at, gets patient teaching instead, and concludes that it was easier to work hard "for someone who assumed I could improve." That shows the theme: trust motivates better than fear. The passage never compares kitchens with classrooms. The cook is gentle rather than strict, and the narrator learns from the mistake instead of forgetting it.

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20. 20. Read the passage and answer the question. The city's new "smart" parking meters accept payment by card, phone, or app. What they cannot do, it seems, is tell whether a space is occupied: last week one meter cheerfully issued twelve tickets to an empty curb. Officials describe the system as "still learning." Drivers might be forgiven for hoping it learns on someone else's street. The word "cheerfully" mainly contributes to which tone?

    • A.Sincere praise for the meter's efficiency
    • B.Quiet sympathy for the meter's designers
    • C.Wry amusement at the system's failure✓ Answer
    • D.Bitter outrage at the city's officials

    Giving a cheerful mood to a machine while it makes an absurd mistake is ironic personification that pokes gentle fun at the failure. The quotation marks around "smart" and the closing joke keep the same wry tone. The writer is mocking, not praising, and the humor is too light to count as bitter outrage. Nothing in the passage expresses sympathy for the designers.

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21. 21. Read the passage and answer the question. Hospitals throw away a surprising amount of unused surgical supplies. Before an operation, staff open a sealed kit containing every item the surgeon might need, and once the kit is opened, anything left over must be discarded, even if it was never touched. Some hospitals have begun tracking which items surgeons actually use in each type of procedure and removing the rarely used ones from the kits. At one hospital that took this step, the amount of discarded supplies fell by about a third within a year. Which choice best describes the overall structure of the passage?

    • A.It states a claim, then presents objections to that claim.
    • B.It traces the history of surgical kits from past to present.
    • C.It compares two hospitals' methods for packing surgical kits.
    • D.It describes a problem, then a response to it and its result.✓ Answer

    The first two sentences set out a problem: unused supplies are thrown away. The third sentence gives a solution (tracking usage and trimming the kits), and the last gives a measured result (waste fell by about a third). That is a problem-solution structure. No two hospitals' methods are compared, no history of the kits is traced, and no objections are raised.

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22. 22. Read the passage and answer the question. I have coached high school debate for eleven years, and I have watched the habit of reading speeches straight from laptops spread to nearly every tournament. Judges call it efficient. To me it looks like students reading to their screens instead of persuading the people in front of them. Last spring I asked my team to compete with a single index card each. Their scores dipped for a month, then rose above where they had been. Which choice best describes the point of view from which the passage is written?

    • A.An experienced insider arguing from personal observation✓ Answer
    • B.A tournament judge defending the current use of laptops
    • C.A neutral reporter summarizing the opinions of judges
    • D.A former debater recalling years of tournament competition

    The first-person narrator has coached for eleven years, offers a personal judgment ("To me it looks like"), and backs it with an experiment run on their own team. That makes the narrator an experienced insider arguing from what they have seen. The narrator takes a side, so they are not a neutral reporter. The passage never says they once competed, and they dispute the judges' view rather than defend it.

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23. 23. Read the passage and answer the question. (1) Many people assume that a bigger brain means a smarter animal. Elephants and whales do have enormous brains, and both show remarkable memory and complex social behavior. (2) Yet crows and ravens, whose brains are about the size of a walnut, solve puzzles that stump many larger-brained mammals. Their brain cells are packed far more tightly than those of most mammals, so a small bird brain can hold a surprising number of them. What is the main purpose of paragraph (2)?

    • A.To add more evidence that larger brains produce greater intelligence
    • B.To explain why elephants and whales outperform birds on puzzles
    • C.To describe how crows and ravens use memory within social groups
    • D.To challenge the first paragraph's assumption with a counterexample✓ Answer

    Paragraph (2) opens with "Yet," which signals a turn. It then presents small-brained birds that outsolve larger-brained mammals, a counterexample to the assumption that bigger brains mean smarter animals. It does not support that assumption, it says nothing about memory in social groups, and it shows the birds doing better on puzzles, not worse.

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24. 24. Read the passage and answer the question. A compost pile turns kitchen scraps and yard waste into rich soil, but only under the right conditions. It needs a balance of "greens," such as fruit peels and grass clippings, and "browns," such as dry leaves and shredded paper. Greens supply nitrogen, browns supply carbon, and the microbes that break down the pile need both. The pile must also stay about as damp as a wrung-out sponge and be turned every week or two so that air reaches its center. A pile that smells sour usually has too many greens or too little air. What is the primary purpose of the passage?

    • A.To persuade readers to stop throwing their food scraps in the trash
    • B.To criticize gardeners who add too many greens to their piles
    • C.To compare home composting with citywide yard-waste collection
    • D.To explain the conditions a compost pile needs in order to work✓ Answer

    After the opening phrase "only under the right conditions," the passage lists those conditions (balanced greens and browns, moisture and air) and how to spot a problem. Its verb is "explain." It never urges readers to change their behavior, so it is not trying to persuade. It mentions no city collection program. A sour pile is described as a diagnostic sign, not as a criticism of anyone.

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25. 25. Read the passage and answer the question. The town council claims that the new bike lane on Elm Street has made the road more dangerous, pointing out that police recorded more bicycle accidents there this year than last year. But the number of cyclists riding on Elm Street roughly tripled after the lane opened, while the number of accidents rose by only a few. The council's figures, in other words, do not show what it thinks they show. What is the author's main criticism of the council's reasoning?

    • A.It assumes that cyclists, not drivers, cause most of the accidents on Elm Street.
    • B.It relies on police accident records, which are usually incomplete and inaccurate.
    • C.It compares Elm Street with a different street that has much less traffic overall.
    • D.It ignores that more riders would mean more accidents even if each ride got safer.✓ Answer

    The author points out that ridership roughly tripled while accidents rose only slightly, so the accident rate per rider probably fell. The council's raw count ignores that change in exposure. The author never questions the accuracy of police records and never discusses who causes the accidents. The only comparison in the passage is Elm Street this year against Elm Street last year, not against a different street.

    Ref QB-GQYW9WSource: College Board Next-Generation ACCUPLACER Test Specifications — Reading: Rhetoric, Analyzing arguments (use of evidence and soundness of reasoning)Report a problem with this question

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