Reading Practice Test 3

1. Read the following text and answer the following question.Jonathon was born with a gift and creativity for art. As a little boy, he would draw and color for hours. He tried to teach his older sisters how to see the shapes within objects to help them with their sketches. Even now as an adult, Jonathon always carries a sketch pad with him everywhere he goes.

What is the Author's Purpose?

2. Choose the main idea sentence in the paragraph below.Have you ever wondered about the bread on your sandwich? Chances are, it might be either whole wheat or white bread. But there are many different kinds of bread that are made throughout the world. One type of bread that you probably have never made a sandwich with is called Naan, a flatbread that is baked on the side of an oven. Another type you probably have not used for a sandwich is called Matza, which is more like a cracker than fluffy bread.

3. Choose the main idea sentence in the paragraph below.For centuries, people have had different ways of trying to cure their hiccups. Many people drink water to get rid of their hiccups. Other people hold their breath until their hiccups go away. Some people even have their friends or their family spook them to scare away the hiccups. What are some ways that you know of to rid of your hiccups?

4. Choose the main idea sentence in the paragraph below.Last summer, I went to Disney World with my family. I was so excited to meet all of the characters that I purchased an autograph book, and when the day was over, I had around 50 signatures! But then a terrible thing happened - I lost the book. My parents told me to be calm, that someone probably found it and brought it to the lost and found. My mom called and told the lost and found office my name. Turns out, they had the book! I almost had a horrible vacation, but thanks to the lost and found office, I did not.

5. Read the text and answer the question. Goodbye Pencil, Hello KeyboardLook around a modern-day classroom today and you will certainly note many changes from the classrooms of the past. Overhead projectors and chalkboards have been replaced; desks rarely feature a piece of paper, but rather sport a computer monitor. In addition, the days of taking notes, filling out tests, and writing reports with a pen or pencil in hand is utterly obsolete, exchanged for keyboards.

In more than 40 states throughout the country, cursive writing and penmanship are no longer considered an essential part of the curriculum, and none of the major standardized tests require any type of handwriting. Instead, keyboarding skills have taken precedence. The ability to form clear curves and loops on the paper is now outdated; the ability to avoid the painfully slow “hunting and pecking” and type at least 50 words per minute has taken precedence.

The age-old tradition of handwriting is not going quietly in some parts of the nation as at least four states have gone to their legislatures with bills mandating instruction in cursive writing in public schools. Advocates of keeping penmanship skills as part of a curriculum point to a plethora of evidence to support their stance. According to their studies, handwriting training helps young students develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and even improve overall memory retention. Additional studies have indicated that students who wrote by hand not only wrote faster than on a standard keyboard, but also wrote higher quality sentences.

Opponents to cursive in the classroom, however, point out that today’s generations of students have been keyboarding since before they attended kindergarten. This form of communication is part of how their brains operate, and many find the feel of a pen or pencil in their hands uncomfortable, unwieldy, and generally unpleasant. Keyboarding is quicker, freeing up precious time to work on other projects, and is, inarguably, the preferred communication method of the modern student.

What factor do these two viewpoints have in common?

6. Read the following text and answer the following question.When my brother, Nathan, was a baby, he would take all of the books off the shelf at the library. My mom dreaded taking him to the library as he would run through the children's section and trample over the books he knocked down. One day, a librarian finally asked her to leave and not bring him back. When I was born, I was the perfect toddler. My mother loved taking me to the library and she would leave Nathan at home with Dad. All of the librarians loved me. They begged my mom to bring me back again and again.

What is the Author's Purpose?

7. Read the text and answer the question.In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are - but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation" - a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shank from this responsibility - I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it -- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.

JFK does not address the American people. Who else does he address?

8. A recent study produced groundbreaking results related to teens and social media use.                , teens spend less time using social media than previously thought.

Which transition word best connects the evidence with the analysis of the evidence?

9. Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey certain laws or to pay taxes and fines and is a peaceful form of political protest. Just because something is the law doesn’t mean it is right. For example, segregation used to be legal in this country, and it was only changed by many years of dedicated civil disobedience by people who wanted to do what was right, not just what was legal. Civil disobedience makes the government more accountable and is sometimes the only way that laws that are deeply rooted in damaging customs (like segregation) can be changed. Some Americans that are famous for their civil disobedience are Rosa Parks, who refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery Alabama, and Martin Luther King Jr. who advocated peaceful civil disobedience as a way to advance the rights of black Americans. Our country is what it is today largely thanks to acts of civil disobedience by brave and thoughtful Americans.

Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to:

10. It is true that the powers of Europe may carry on maritime wars with the Union, but there is always greater facility and less danger in supporting a maritime than a continental war. Maritime warfare only requires one species of effort. A commercial people who consent to furnish its government with the necessary funds are sure to possess a fleet. And it is far easier to induce a nation to part with its money, almost unconsciously, than to reconcile it to sacrifices of men and personal efforts. Moreover, defeat by sea rarely compromises the existence or independence of the people which endures it. As for continental wars, it is evident that the nations of Europe cannot be formidable in this way to the American Union. It would be very difficult to transport and maintain in America more than 25,000 soldiers; an army which may be considered to represent a nation of about 2,000,000 men. The most populous nation of Europe contending in this way against the Union is in the position of a nation of 2,000,000 of inhabitants at war with one of 12,000,000. Add to this, that America has all its resources within reach, whilst the European is at 4,000 miles distance from his; and that the immensity of the American continent would of itself present an insurmountable obstacle to its conquest.

What evidence in the text supports your answer in question 1?