3 English and 3 math
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Question 1 of 6
2025 Practice Test A English, question 12Passage Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”
Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”
by Hilary Wilson
In ancient Egypt, literacy was the key to success. However, contrary to popular belief, not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs. Many relied instead on the simpler hieratic script for the multitude of everyday documents generated by the Egyptian bureaucracy.
Hieroglyphs—“the Words of God”—compose a writing system with more than 1,000 distinct characters, the meanings of which were lost for 1,500 years before they were deciphered by Jean-François Champollion in 1822. Including both ideograms (which convey a whole word or idea, either concrete or abstract, in a single sign) and phonograms (representing either an alphabetic sound or a group of consonants), [the writing system] was used in formal inscriptions on tomb and temple walls as well as on elaborate funerary papyri. For everyday purposes, however, scribes used a shorthand version of the hieroglyphic script known as hieratic, which was quicker to write and more economical of space. The two writings existed side by side for at least 2,500 years.
Scraps of ancient hieratic writing, mostly penned by student scribes on limestone flakes called ostraca, suggest that no matter how humble his origins, an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything. Horemheb (d.1292 B.C.) is a good example. Born of middle-ranking parents, his scribal training led to an army career. From Scribe of Recruits, during the reign of Akhenaten (1353–1336 B.C.), Horemheb rose through the military ranks and, by the rule of Tutankhamun (1332–1323 B.C.), he was commander in chief of the Egyptian forces. As a close adviser of the young Pharaoh, Horemheb was appointed “Deputy of the King throughout the Two Lands,” and might have expected to succeed to the throne should the king die childless. He had to wait a few years, but eventually Horemheb achieved the pinnacle of his career by becoming the last king of the 18th Dynasty, making his mark by instituting dramatic reforms to the organisation of the army, the judiciary and administration in general. The lasting success of these changes owed much to his scribal background. . . .
But education was not available to all. Government departments and major temples supported schools, where boys commenced their training at six or seven, sometimes earlier. To these boarding establishments . . . family or household servants delivered the students’ food and drink rations daily for several years, during which time the student was not contributing to the family’s income. Boys from poorer families could only hope to be educated with support from a wealthier relative or patron, or through apprenticeship to an older scribe, perhaps the local clerk or land agent, who would teach them the basics of the scribe’s craft. This limited the scope for employment but such “on the job” training allowed apprentices to help out at home while learning. . . .
Scribal education began with the elementary principles of the hieratic script. The lowliest scribes, who trained for just five or six years, probably learned only the rudiments of the hieroglyphic script. Students were set exemplar documents and extracts from popular texts to copy, to practice their hieratic handwriting on basic-format letters, reports and contracts, while absorbing the good advice contained in the texts. Surviving examples of copy-work sometimes include tutors’ corrections added in red. Some significant Egyptian literary works survive almost exclusively from student copies.
A schoolboy “dictionary” of hieroglyphs with their hieratic equivalents shows that a knowledge of more than 450 signs was required for everyday writing purposes. Lessons in record-keeping and filing and labelling enabled any half-competent scribe to perform that most essential of all scribal functions: the making and updating of lists. For professions such as those of government official, priest or lawyer, a scribe would train for several more years, increasing his vocabulary to perhaps a thousand or more signs. Those with the best handwriting or drawing skills might follow the craft of creating beautifully illustrated copies of funerary texts, commonly called Books of the Dead. Others could become draughtsmen, artists or architects. Doctors compiled their own collections of medication recipes, treatments and associated incantations, many copied from texts found in the House of Life, the temple library. Lawyers had to be familiar with the corpus of civil and religious laws and precedents found in the official records, which were administered by archivists. Egypt’s bureaucratic society depended on the skills of an army of scribes of all ranks from filing clerk to tax assessor. For young Egyptians, “be a scribe” was the best of career advice.
From “Scribe Like an Egyptian” by Hilary Wilson from HISTORY TODAY, August 8, 2019. Copyright © 2019 by History Today Ltd. Company.
bureaucracy: an administrative staff of government officials
funerary papyri: a sheet or scroll of papyrus containing religious images and hieroglyphs meant to help the deceased be reborn in the afterlife
rudiments: basics
schoolboy: slang that refers to materials used during the course of receiving an education
draughtsmen: people who draw plans of machinery or structures
corpus: a collection of writings
Question
Which claim is best supported by the information presented in paragraphs 3 and 4?
- AEducation was difficult for the common citizens of Egypt to obtain.
- BOnce students began studying to become scribes, their future held more possibilities.
- CIf someone wanted to become a scribe, support from outside sources such as the government or a temple was necessary.
- DBecoming a successful scribe required a student’s family to sacrifice time and money in order to ensure the best education.
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
The question asks for the claim that is best supported by the details in paragraphs 3 and 4.
A. Incorrect. While paragraph 4 does explain that boys from poorer families had more challenges in receiving an education, the paragraph also provides examples of obtaining a patron or getting an apprenticeship as ways that these aspiring scribes could attain an education. Furthermore, the details in paragraph 3 do not provide any support for the claim that “common citizens” had difficulty getting an education because that paragraph focuses on the example of one person who was able to become a king as a result of his background as a scribe.
B. CORRECT. In paragraph 3, the author provides an example of a person who used his skills as a scribe to rise through the ranks of society by describing the achievements of Horemheb to support the idea that “no matter how humble his origins, an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything.” The author continues in paragraph 4 to explain that with the proper support, some young Egyptians could become educated, thereby opening more opportunities for themselves.
C. Incorrect. Paragraph 4 explains that schools were supported by the government and religious institutions, but it also explains that apprenticeships were a method of learning the craft of the scribe. As the paragraph indicates, boys could also be helped in their education by support from “a wealthier relative or patron.”
D. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author details the sacrifices that families made to keep their sons at the schools, while boys from poorer families could only hope for a patron or an apprenticeship. Paragraph 4 also explains that apprentices could help out at home while learning, so the sacrifice of time and money was not required of every family.
Question analysis
This inference question asks which claim is best supported by paragraphs 3 and 4 of “Scribe Like an Egyptian,” which tell the story of the scribe Horemheb and describe who could get a scribal education in ancient Egypt. Students must weigh each claim against both paragraphs together, and several claims echo a single sentence closely enough to look supported.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Choosing the claim a passage best supports is core grade 7 work. Here the claim must fit two paragraphs that do different jobs, one telling a single man’s story and one explaining access to schooling, and some choices fit only part of that.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly evaluate
- What makes it hard
- Evidence in several places moderate
- The right answer is reworded moderate
- Reading between the lines minor
- Evidence
- Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 75 words.
- Corrected from the DOE handbook
- A misdescription of the passage in the explanation of one wrong answer was corrected.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The trap is a claim that paragraph 4 seems to state almost word for word, which makes it feel safer than the right one. But the question asks for support from both paragraphs, and Horemheb’s story points the other way, toward what schooling made possible. The two other wrong claims harden paragraph 4’s details into rules, a necessary sponsor or a required family sacrifice, so words like “necessary” and “required” are the ones to test.
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The claim must fit two paragraphs that do different work: paragraph 3 follows Horemheb from army scribe to king, and paragraph 4 explains who could pay for schooling and what the alternatives were. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The right claim restates paragraph 3’s “an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything” in new words, while the most tempting wrong one nearly copies paragraph 4’s opening, “education was not available to all.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reading between the lines minor Working it out
Students must connect Horemheb’s rise with paragraph 4’s account of who got schooling to see that both paragraphs are about education opening doors, a link the author leaves implicit. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Strategy: Sum up paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 in a sentence each, then test every claim against both summaries, watching for words that make a claim stronger than the text.
Traps
- Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
- Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
The wrong answers, classified
A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Rests on paragraph 4’s opening, “education was not available to all,” and ignores paragraph 3, whose Horemheb shows an educated man rising from modest origins to the throne.
C Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Makes the government and temple schools of paragraph 4 “necessary,” overlooking its other routes: help from “a wealthier relative or patron,” or apprenticeship to a working scribe.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Turns the rations and lost income that some families bore in paragraph 4 into a requirement for every successful scribe, and adds “the best education,” which the paragraph never mentions.
What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why
- Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of D said paragraph 4 details sacrifices “necessary for some poorer families,” and that paragraph 3’s Horemheb, born of middle-ranking parents, shows the sacrifice was not required of all families. In paragraph 4 the rations and lost income are those of families whose sons were at the schools; poorer boys could only hope for a patron or an apprenticeship; and paragraph 3 says nothing about what Horemheb’s family gave up. The explanation now says so: D is wrong because apprentices could help out at home while learning, so not every family made the sacrifice.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks which claim is best supported by paragraphs 3 and 4 together. A claim is a statement that someone says is true. The right claim must fit both paragraphs. Watch for strong words, like “necessary,” that go further than the text.
Sum up paragraph 3
Paragraph 3 tells about Horemheb. His parents were middle-ranking, not rich or powerful. His training as a scribe led to a job in the army. He rose to lead the army, then to serve the young king, and in the end he became king himself. The author uses him to show that “no matter how humble his origins, an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything.” Humble origins means an ordinary family background.
Sum up paragraph 4
Paragraph 4 opens by saying that not everyone could get an education. Government offices and big temples ran schools. Families sent food and drink for years, while the boy earned nothing for them. Poorer boys could hope for help from “a wealthier relative or patron.” A patron is someone who pays for another person’s training. Or they could learn on the job from a working scribe. That path led to fewer jobs.
Put the two paragraphs together
Both paragraphs are about what schooling could do for a boy. Paragraph 3 shows a man rising all the way to king because he trained as a scribe. Paragraph 4 shows that, with the right support, boys could get that schooling. It even notes that the on-the-job path led to fewer jobs. So education opened doors. That is what choice B says.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. It matches only the start of paragraph 4. Paragraph 4 also gives ways in for poorer boys, and paragraph 3 shows a man from an ordinary family rising to the top.
- B fits. Both paragraphs show schooling leading to more possibilities.
- C does not fit. A government or temple school was not “necessary.” A relative, a patron or an apprenticeship could also work.
- D does not fit. Apprentices could help out at home while they learned, so not every family gave up time and money. And the paragraphs never mention “the best education.”
Choose the answer
The claim that fits both paragraphs is that schooling gave a boy more possibilities. So the answer is B.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong choice, because paragraph 4 begins by saying not everyone could get an education. But the question asks about paragraphs 3 and 4. Paragraph 3 tells of a scribe from an ordinary family who became king. Paragraph 4 shows ways around the cost. Both point to what education made possible, which is B.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the test
Question 2 of 6
2026 Practice Test B English, question 33Passage Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy
Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy
Inside the 40,000-acre Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northern Oklahoma, herds of bison roam on the scenic land that is home to hundreds of different species of plants and animals. While one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire, the use of controlled fires is actually an effective way to protect this idyllic landscape.
Fires that are started by lightning or other natural circumstances are inevitable, and the results can be disastrous. However, hundreds of years ago the American Indian people who inhabited the Great Plains area between Minnesota and Texas realized that these fires could also be helpful. The bison in the area seemed to prefer grazing on tender new grass on the recently burned land rather than on grass in the unburned areas. The American Indian people began to deliberately burn areas of land for bison to graze on, which enticed the herds away from the people’s crops.
Today conservationists at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and farmers in the Great Plains continue to use controlled burns for land management. Intentionally burning a portion of land can dramatically improve the quality of the vegetation that regrows there. The fires burn away weedy undergrowth and help limit the overcrowding of shrubs and trees in the burn area, creating less competition for water and nutrients. Additionally, the process of burning excess plant matter adds nitrogen, an essential element for plant growth, to the soil.
One common target of controlled burns at the preserve and the surrounding area is the invasive red cedar tree. A single red cedar tree can consume up to 40 gallons of water per day, taking this vital resource away from other plant life. These tall trees also cast shade that prevents sunlight from reaching the plants beneath them. The fast-growing red cedar trees tend to crowd out prairie grasses, the primary food source for wild and domestic animals that make the prairie their home. An imbalance in one component of the prairie’s ecosystem affects the entire web of life. Controlled burns help maintain this ecosystem’s delicate balance.
Of course, these controlled fires are intended to burn only a portion of an area. A total burn, which is a risk with an uncontrolled wildfire, would destroy all wildlife as well as the crops farmers plant for income. The key to using controlled fires is knowing which areas of land to burn and when. Conservation experts at the preserve employ the “patch-burn” approach, meaning they rotate which portion of land is burned each year. They study the land to find out which areas would most benefit from being burned, and then they arrange about a dozen burns over one-third of the land. This patch burning contains the fire within a specific area and allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate. The following year, conservationists will burn a different section of the preserve, while the land burned the previous year regrows healthier than before.
Researchers have tracked and studied the variety of plant species and animals that live on the preserve, and their studies show that the patch-burn approach has restored biodiversity to the area by promoting the growth of species that were at risk of being crowded out. The patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land. Burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive, but strategic controlled fires have helped the prairie sustain life for hundreds of years and, with careful management, will continue to do so.
Question
Read this sentence from paragraph 6.
Burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive, but strategic controlled fires have helped the prairie sustain life for hundreds of years and, with careful management, will continue to do so.
The words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the sentence convey the idea that
- Athe safest methods are sometimes the least effective at solving complex challenges.
- Bthorough investigation of uncommon methodologies can lead to beneficial results.
- Cdetailed planning can ensure that a potentially destructive action has a positive impact.
- Dplans that entail a certain amount of risk almost always result in success.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks which idea the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” convey in the last sentence in paragraph 6 in the passage.
A. Incorrect. Though the author states in paragraph 6 that conservationists have used safe and “strategic” methods, those methods have not been ineffective, since “the patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land” (paragraph 6). Therefore, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 do not convey the idea that the safest methods are sometimes the least effective at solving complex challenges.
B. Incorrect. Although the author points out in paragraph 6 that researchers’ studies have shown “that the patch-burn approach has restored biodiversity to the area by promoting the growth of species that were at risk of being crowded out,” the author does not suggest that the methodologies conservationists used to conduct the patch burns are uncommon, since the methods were used by “the American Indian people [who] began to deliberately burn areas of land for bison to graze on” (paragraph 2). Therefore, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 do not convey the idea that thorough investigation of uncommon methodologies can lead to beneficial results.
C. CORRECT. In paragraph 1, the author states that “one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire,” so the idea of conducting controlled burns suggests risk and runs “counter,” or contrary, to people’s common expectations, or “intuition,” about the dangers of fires. Thus, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 convey the idea that detailed planning can ensure that a potentially destructive action has a positive impact.
D. Incorrect. The author states in paragraph 6 that “the patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers.” This statement supports the idea of the action being “strategic” in order to achieve success. However, the statement does not suggest that because the process is “counterintuitive,” or unexpected, it involves a certain amount of risk to achieve that success. Therefore, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 do not convey the idea that plans that entail a certain amount of risk almost always result in success.
Question analysis
This vocabulary question takes the last sentence of the prairie article, which says burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive, and asks what the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” convey together. Students need the meaning of a hard word built from a prefix, then must match the pair to a general statement, and the choices are worded abstractly.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 A typical grade 7 vocabulary question asks what one word means in context. This one pairs a hard word, “counterintuitive,” with “strategic” and asks for the idea they express together, with four abstract general statements to weigh.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
- What makes it hard
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Hard words moderate
- Combines ideas minor
- Evidence
- Answered from one sentence or line
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 11, 598 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 97 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
Students first need the meaning of “counterintuitive,” then must see what it says here: that burning land to heal it seems backward because fire destroys. “Strategic” supplies the other half, careful planning. The most tempting wrong answer gets the planning right but misreads the first word as “uncommon,” and others turn the pair into a rule about risk or a warning about safe methods. The question rewards translating each word before reading the abstract choices.
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The choice about “thorough investigation of uncommon methodologies” follows the key’s pattern, planning that leads to a good result, and differs only in calling the method uncommon instead of potentially destructive. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Hard words moderate Understanding the question
“Counterintuitive,” contrary to what one would expect, is an uncommon word, and the choices add “methodologies” and “entail,” so the options are as hard to read as the sentence. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Combines ideas minor Working it out
The two words point different ways, one to burning that seems harmful and one to careful planning, and the answer must join both into a single general statement. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)
Strategy: Break “counterintuitive” into its parts, counter and intuitive, decide what each of the two words says about burning land, then find the statement that joins both meanings without adding claims of its own.
Traps
- Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
- Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
- Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
The wrong answers, classified
A Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reads “counterintuitive” as a hint that the safe choice fails, but the sentence praises carefully managed fire and never says safer methods are less effective.
B Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Matches “strategic” to thorough investigation, since the experts “study the land,” but takes “counterintuitive” to mean uncommon, though the passage traces burning back hundreds of years.
D Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Hears risk in “counterintuitive” and success in “strategic” but turns them into a rule that risky plans “almost always” succeed, far more than one sentence about the prairie claims.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This question asks about two words in the last sentence: “counterintuitive” and “strategic.” You need the idea the two words give together. So first figure out what each word means here.
Break down “counterintuitive”
Counter means against. Intuitive means what you would naturally expect. So counterintuitive means the opposite of what you would expect. The sentence says “Burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive.” Fire usually destroys things. So burning land to help it seems backward. Paragraph 1 even calls wildfire “one of the greatest threats to the prairie.”
Figure out “strategic”
Strategic means carefully planned to reach a goal. Paragraph 5 shows that planning. The experts “study the land to find out which areas would most benefit from being burned.” Then they burn only part of the land each year. Put the two words together. Fire seems harmful, but careful planning makes it helpful.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The sentence doesn’t say safe methods fail. It praises a method that works.
- B is wrong. It treats counterintuitive as if it meant uncommon. But burning isn’t new. Paragraph 2 says people did it “hundreds of years ago.”
- C is right. Strategic matches detailed planning. Counterintuitive matches an action that could destroy, fire, which turns out to help.
- D is wrong. “Almost always” is far too strong. The sentence is about prairie fires, not all risky plans.
Watch out: B gets strategic right, since the experts study the land. But counterintuitive doesn’t mean uncommon. It means against what you would expect.
Choose the answer
Fire seems destructive, but a careful plan makes it helpful. So the answer is C: “detailed planning can ensure that a potentially destructive action has a positive impact.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
B is the closest wrong answer, because its first part, careful study, fits strategic. But its second part calls the method uncommon, and people have burned the prairie for hundreds of years. C fits both words: careful planning, and an action that seems harmful but helps.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy” as printed (page 41)
Question 3 of 6
2026 Practice Test D English, question 26Passage Ode to Fireworks
Ode to Fireworks
In autumn my mother drove us to the edge of the field
where the fair was set up year after year:
the carousel, the bumper cars, the long, low sheds
filled with prizewinning animals.
We—my sister, my cousin, and I—were ready for bed,
already in our pajamas. This was a treat we waited
all year for. We waited in the darkness
for the first low, dull thwumps, like someone
beating an old, filthy rug hung on a wash line.
Then we counted the seconds between the lightning
and thunder, as we also used to do, until the sky
lit up: red, blue, green, gold. In my mind’s eye
I can still see the straggly, ancient oak whose branches
reached up past the exhibition halls, silhouetted
against the spectrum of stars that cascaded behind it.
It was one thing to look up into the sky
and imagine yourself in it or to make out pictures
among the clouds, which my sister liked to do.
No, I would tell her, that cloud
does not look like an elephant, a hat, an umbrella.
But it was another thing to see
the sky at night written upon
with those jewels. (We lived in the country:
night was night.) All around us, crickets
stridulated in the stubble of what had been
somebody’s cornfield, their song rising and falling.
You could smell winter on the air’s edge.
Now, in the city, when the sky dips into shadow
at New Year’s or on the Fourth of July, I find myself
craning my neck upward at odd moments.
The city sky is always lit up. This is where we live now,
and it is how we live now, awash in light
of every hue. Everything is a constant celebration:
picking up washing at the cleaner’s or stopping by
the corner market for a loaf of heavy bread.
And the music around me is the music of people,
their voices rising and falling in a hundred languages.
But beneath the yellowish glow deep in the sky
of all our city lights pelting out into the universe,
I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping
across the ridged field, as I kept waiting for those
childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.
Question
The fireworks in the poem represent the speaker’s
- Awish to return to a simpler way of living.
- Bbittersweet feelings about leaving the past behind.
- Chigh expectations for everyday life.
- Dreflections on past interactions with relatives.
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
The question asks what the fireworks in the poem represent about the speaker.
A. Incorrect. While the speaker misses elements of the past, the speaker is also positive about the present, with comparisons to a “constant celebration” (line 33) and descriptions of “the music of people” (line 36). The speaker does not indicate a desire to return to a simpler way of living.
B. CORRECT. The speaker misses the experience of watching the fireworks display with family and friends but understands that time has progressed and that life is now different. The lines “This was a treat we waited / all year for” (lines 6–7) highlight the significance of the memory of waiting for and watching the fireworks. In the speaker’s present, the lines “I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field” (lines 40–41) emphasize the key details from the experience that stand out in the speaker’s mind when something in the current environment reminds the speaker of the past.
C. Incorrect. While the speaker does share details about the present and the tone is generally positive, the fireworks do not suggest that the speaker has high expectations for how everyday life should be. The third stanza (lines 28–42) describes the speaker’s daily life in the city, but the speaker does not form expectations from these everyday moments.
D. Incorrect. While the speaker does mention discussing cloud shapes with a family member in lines 19–20, the fireworks serve as a more general reminder of the speaker’s past life. Viewing the bright lights of the city makes the speaker recall memories of the speaker’s past and the feelings of anticipation before the fireworks show.
Question analysis
This question about symbolism asks what the fireworks represent in “Ode to Fireworks,” a 42-line poem in which an adult speaker remembers watching fireworks at a country fair as a child. Students must weigh all three stanzas to decide what the central image stands for, and the choices name abstract feelings and wishes that are close to one another.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students interpret symbols, usually where the text makes their meaning fairly clear. Here they must hold a 42-line poem in mind and choose among four abstract feelings, two of them very close, which goes beyond typical grade 7 work.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- Figurative or literary language moderate
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Evidence in several places moderate
- Evidence
- Answered from the whole text
- Reading level
- Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 35 words.
- Corrected from the DOE handbook
- The explanation of C misdescribed the third stanza; one sentence was corrected.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
This symbol question asks students to hold the whole 42-line poem in mind and weigh two feelings at once: the speaker misses the fireworks of childhood but speaks warmly of city life. Readers who notice only the longing choose a wish to go back, and readers who fix on one detail choose the relatives or the city’s “constant celebration.” The key’s “bittersweet” is the one word that holds both halves, which is why it is easy to pass over for a choice that states only one.
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The fireworks are never explained; they are “jewels” in stanza 2 and the “childhood bursts” that “escorted us home” in stanza 3, so their meaning as a symbol must be built from images. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The wish-to-return choice and the key both read the fireworks as feelings about the past; they differ in whether the speaker wants that past back or has accepted leaving it. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The answer needs all three stanzas: the treat “we waited / all year for,” the dark country night, and the city stanza’s “This is where we live now,” which shows acceptance beside longing. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Strategy: Note how the speaker describes the fireworks in each stanza and how the speaker feels about the present in the last one, then choose the feeling that fits all three stanzas, not only the first.
Traps
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
- Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.
- Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
The wrong answers, classified
A Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Takes the poem’s fond memories of the country as a wish to go back, though the speaker accepts “where we live now” and never asks to return.
C Word match (Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Links the fireworks to line 33’s “Everything is a constant celebration,” then turns that into high expectations for daily life, which the poem never mentions.
D Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Fixes on the mother, sister and cousin of the first stanza, real details, but the fireworks stand for a whole period of the speaker’s life, not time with relatives.
What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why
- Explanation: Rejecting C, the handbook's explanation calls the third stanza (lines 28–42) “the speaker’s imaginings” and “fantasies”. The stanza describes the speaker's real life in the city now: “This is where we live now”, picking up washing at the cleaner's, stopping by the corner market. It now says the stanza describes the speaker's daily life in the city. The answer, B, is unchanged.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks what the fireworks represent, or stand for. A thing in a poem that stands for a bigger idea is called a symbol. Look at the fireworks in all three stanzas. Then see how the speaker feels about the past and the present.
Look at the past
Stanza 1 shows how special the fireworks were: “This was a treat we waited / all year for.” Stanza 2 calls them “jewels.” In stanza 3 the speaker still remembers them: “I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field.” So the speaker misses that time.
Look at the present
The speaker also accepts city life: “This is where we live now, / and it is how we live now.” The city is “a constant celebration,” full of “the music of people.” So the speaker is not unhappy now. The speaker misses the past but has moved on. That feeling is bittersweet: happy and sad at the same time.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The speaker never says they want to go back to the country.
- B is right. The fireworks stand for a loved past the speaker has left behind. The feeling is both warm and sad.
- C is wrong. The “constant celebration” describes city life. Nothing shows high expectations.
- D is wrong. Relatives appear in stanza 1. But the fireworks stand for a whole time of life, not just time with family.
Watch out: A notices only the longing. It misses that the speaker accepts “where we live now.”
Choose the answer
The fireworks hold both the joy of the past and the sadness of leaving it. So the answer is B, “bittersweet feelings about leaving the past behind.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer. Both A and B are about feelings for the past. But A says the speaker wants to return, and the poem never says that. The speaker calls the city “a constant celebration” and accepts “where we live now.” Missing the past while accepting the present is bittersweet. That is B.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed (page 32)
Question 4 of 6
2024 Test B Math, question 52Question
Five numbered balls are placed in two boxes as shown in the figure above. Davina picks one ball at random from Box B and places it in Box A. Then Yusuf picks one ball from Box A without looking. What is the probability that Yusuf will pick a ball with an odd number?
- A
- B
- C
- D
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The probability of Davina picking an odd-numbered ball from Box B is . If Davina places an odd-numbered ball in Box A, then the probability of Yusuf picking an odd-numbered ball from Box A is . The probability of both of these events happening is the product of the two probabilities.
Question analysis
Two boxes hold five numbered balls, and Davina moves one ball at random from Box B into Box A before Yusuf draws one from Box A. Students find the probability that Yusuf's ball shows an odd number. It tests two-stage probability, and the tricky part is that the second draw depends on which ball was moved.
- NYS standards
- Grade level
- Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 compound probability lists outcomes for independent stages such as coins or spinners. Here the first random move changes what is in the second box, so students must follow two linked stages, a dependence typical grade 7 work does not include.
- Estimated difficulty
- Among the hardest on the SHSAT: a non-obvious approach, heavy reading, or a well-hidden trap.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly analyze
- What makes it hard
- Solution
- 3 steps
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 4, 57 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
Two chance events are hidden in what reads like a question about a single draw. Every listed wrong answer is a reasonable single-stage answer, either one of the two factors on its own or a count of odd balls across both boxes. Listing the nine equally likely pairs, Davina's ball and then Yusuf's, shows that only two of them end with an odd ball and makes the structure visible without any formula.
No obvious method major Working it out
The stem asks one question about Yusuf's draw, but the answer depends on Davina's earlier random pick; the key is that Box A starts with only even balls, so Yusuf can draw odd only by drawing the ball she moved. (Schoenfeld, 1985)
Something you must already know minor Working it out
Multiplying the chances of the two stages, 2/3 for an odd ball moving and 1/3 for Yusuf then drawing it, is a rule students must bring themselves. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reading a figure, table or graph minor Understanding the question
The numbers appear only in the figure, Box A holding 2 and 6 and Box B holding 3, 4 and 5, so the odd balls have to be spotted there. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Strategy: List every equally likely pair of a ball moved by Davina and a ball picked by Yusuf, and count the pairs that end with an odd ball.
Traps
- Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
- Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.
The wrong answers, classified
B Stops one step early (King et al., 2004; Gierl et al., 2017)
Finds Yusuf's chance of drawing the odd ball once one is in Box A, 1 out of 3, leaving out the chance that Davina moves an odd ball at all.
C Numbers taken from the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Counts the odd balls in the figure, 3 and 5, over all five balls, 2/5, ignoring that Yusuf draws only from Box A.
D Stops one step early (King et al., 2004; Gierl et al., 2017)
Gives the chance that Davina moves an odd ball, 2 out of 3, the first stage only, without multiplying by Yusuf's 1/3 chance of drawing it.
Worked solution, step by step
Formulas used
- Probability
- P is the probability, the chance that something happens. It is a number from 0 to 1. The top counts the results you want. The bottom counts all the results that can happen. It works when every result is equally likely.
- Chance of events in a row
- A and B are two events that happen one after the other. P(A) is the chance of the first. P(B after A) is the chance of the second, counting only what is left after the first. You multiply because the second must also happen inside the share of times the first did.
Read the figure
Box A holds balls numbered 2 and 6. Box B holds balls numbered 3, 4 and 5.
An odd number does not divide evenly by 2. So the only odd balls are 3 and 5, and both start in Box B. Box A starts with no odd balls at all.
Spot the two chance events
Two things happen by chance, one after the other:
- Davina picks one of the 3 balls in Box B and moves it to Box A.
- Then Yusuf picks one of the 3 balls now in Box A.
Yusuf gets an odd ball only if both go right. Davina must move an odd ball. Then Yusuf must pick that very ball.
The question asks only about Yusuf. But his chance depends on Davina’s pick, which comes first.
Find the chance for Davina’s pick
Box B has 3 balls, and 2 of them, the 3 and the 5, are odd.
If she moves the 4 instead, Box A holds only even balls. Then Yusuf can’t get an odd ball at all.
Find the chance for Yusuf’s pick
Say Davina moved an odd ball. Box A now holds 3 balls: the 2, the 6 and that one odd ball.
Watch out: alone is choice B. It forgets that Davina might move the 4.
Multiply the two chances
Both events must happen, so use the rule for events in a row.
Watch out: alone, choice D, stops after Davina’s pick. , choice C, counts 2 odd balls out of all 5. But Yusuf picks only from Box A.
So the answer is A, .
Check your answer
List all 9 equally likely outcomes. Davina can move 3, 4 or 5. Then Yusuf picks one of 3 balls.
| Ball moved | Box A then | Odd picks |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2, 6, 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 2, 6, 4 | 0 |
| 5 | 2, 6, 5 | 1 |
That is 2 odd picks out of 9, or .
More questions like this
The original DOE question
Question 5 of 6
2024 Test B Math, question 28Question
A community center has two 30-member exercise groups. The director recorded the ages of each group’s members in the box plots.
Which statement about the two groups can be verified based on the box plots?
- ABoth groups have at least one member who is exactly 29 years old.
- BGroup P has more members who are at least 17 years old than Group Q has.
- CBoth groups have an equal number of members who are between 21 and 24 years old.
- DGroup Q has fewer members who are between 19 and 27 years old than Group P has.
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
Groups P and Q have an equal number of members. All the members of Group P are 17 or older, but only about of the members of Group Q are 17 or older.
Question analysis
Box plots show the ages of the members of two 30-member exercise groups at a community center, Group P and Group Q. Students decide which statement comparing the groups can be verified from the plots alone. The challenge is knowing what a box plot guarantees about individual ages and counts, and what it leaves unknown.
- NYS standards
- Grade level
- Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students read box plots and compare medians and spreads. Deciding which claims two box plots can prove, from what the five key values guarantee about counts, is a harder reasoning task than typical grade 7 work.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 3, strategic thinking · mainly evaluate
- What makes it hard
- Every choice must be checked major
- Something you must already know moderate
- Reading a figure, table or graph moderate
- Solution
- 3 steps
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 5, 91 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
This is a question about evidence: the right statement is the only one the box plots guarantee, while the others may or may not be true. Students who treat the plots as pictures of every member, assuming ages fill each whisker or spread evenly through each box, find support for claims that cannot be checked. Asking what must hold for any 30 ages with these summaries separates the verifiable claim from the merely plausible ones.
Every choice must be checked major Choosing the answer
Three of the statements are not false but unverifiable, so each must be tested against what the five-number summaries guarantee, and none can be dismissed at a glance. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Something you must already know moderate Working it out
Students must know that the minimum and maximum are actual ages, that each quarter of a plot holds about a quarter of the 30 members, and that a whisker shows nothing in between. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reading a figure, table or graph moderate Understanding the question
The scale is labeled only every 3 years, so values such as 17, 19, 26 and 29 have to be read from unlabeled ticks on two separate plots. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Strategy: List each group's minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile and maximum, then test every statement against only what those five values guarantee about the 30 ages.
Traps
- Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
- Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.
The wrong answers, classified
A Misunderstands the concept (Smith, diSessa & Roschelle, 1993; De Bock et al., 1998; Ni & Zhou, 2005)
Sees that Group Q's maximum is exactly 29 and that 29 also lies in Group P's upper whisker, assuming someone in Group P is that age.
C Numbers taken from the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Matches the two medians, 21 and 24, and assumes the stretch between them holds the same number of members in both groups.
D Misunderstands the concept (Smith, diSessa & Roschelle, 1993; De Bock et al., 1998; Ni & Zhou, 2005)
Knows Group P's box from 19 to 27 holds half its members, then assumes ages spread evenly so Group Q has fewer there, which its plot cannot show.
Worked solution, step by step
Formulas used
- Members in each part of a box plot
- n is the number of members in a group, here 30. A box plot splits the data into four parts at the minimum, Q1, the median, Q3 and the maximum. Each part holds about one fourth of the data. It does not show how the ages spread out inside a part.
Read the two box plots
A box plot shows five numbers. The minimum is the youngest age, and the maximum is the oldest. Q1 is the left edge of the box, and Q3 is the right edge. The median is the line inside the box.
Group Min Q1 Median Q3 Max P 17 19 24 27 33 Q 15 17 21 26 29 Each group has 30 members.
Know what can be verified
To verify a statement means to know for sure that it is true. A box plot shows only five numbers, not every age. The minimum and maximum are real ages of real members. The other ages are hidden inside the box and whiskers.
Check choice B
In Group P, the youngest member is 17. So all 30 members are at least 17. In Group Q, the youngest member is 15, and 15 is under 17. So at most 29 members of Group Q are at least 17.
Group P has 30 such members, and Group Q has 29 or fewer. So choice B is true for sure.
Rule out choices A and C
A: Group Q’s oldest member is 29, so Group Q has a 29-year-old. But in Group P, 29 is inside the right whisker. A whisker does not show single ages. Watch out: 29 is in Group P’s range, but maybe no one in Group P is exactly 29.
C: The plots do not show how many members are between 21 and 24 in either group.
Rule out choice D and answer
Group P’s box, from 19 to 27, is two of its four parts.
So about 15 members of Group P are between 19 and 27. But 19 and 27 fall in the middle of Group Q’s parts, and ages inside a part can bunch up in any way. Group Q could have more or fewer. Watch out: D assumes the ages are spread out evenly, and a box plot never tells you that.
So the answer is B.
Check your answer
Choice B uses only the two minimums, which are real ages. Group P’s youngest member is 17, and Group Q’s is 15. That alone proves it. Each other choice needs ages inside a box or whisker, which a box plot does not show.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
Question 6 of 6
2026 Practice Test D Math, question 35Question
XYZ Corporation hired 6 people as summer workers. Of these 6 people, 3 will be hired as permanent employees in the fall. If 2 of the 6 people are male, how many of the possible groups of 3 people hired in the fall will include only 1 male?
- A4
- B6
- C12
- D24
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
An organized list can be used to determine the number of groups of 3 people that include only 1 male.
Let the letters A, B, C, and D represent the females, and let the numbers 1 and 2 represent the males.
Then, create a list of all possible combinations of 3 people with only 1 male.
AB1, AB2, AC1, AC2, AD1, AD2
BC1, BC2, BD1, BD2
CD1, CD2
There are 12 possible groups with only 1 male.
Question analysis
A company hired 6 summer workers, 2 of them male, and will keep 3 as permanent employees in the fall. This counting question asks how many possible groups of 3 include only 1 male. Students count combinations where order does not matter, and the bold word only, with two kinds of workers to combine, makes careful listing essential.
- NYS standards
- 7.SP.8b sample spaces for compound events
- Grade level
- Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students list outcomes with organized lists and tree diagrams, usually ordered ones. Counting unordered groups of three under an "only one" condition, built from two kinds of people, goes beyond that typical work.
- Estimated difficulty
- Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
- What makes it hard
- Combines ideas moderate
- Something you must already know minor
- Turning words into math minor
- Solution
- 3 steps
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 7, 41 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
The question hides a two-stage count in a hiring story. Students tend to get one stage right and forget the other: they count the pairs of women and stop, or they count ordered picks and so find every group twice. Naming the women A to D and the men 1 and 2, then listing the pairs of women alphabetically with each man attached, makes every group visible and checkable.
Combines ideas moderate Working it out
Two counts are joined: the 6 ways to pick 2 of the 4 women, then the 2 ways to pick the man, and the total is their product. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)
Something you must already know minor Working it out
Students must already know that a group is the same whichever order its members are named, so picking one woman and then another repeats the reverse pick. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Turning words into math minor Understanding the question
The bold word only means exactly one man, so the other two places in each group of 3 must go to two of the 4 women, a step the stem leaves unsaid. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)
Strategy: Name the women A to D and the men 1 and 2, list every pair of women without repeats, then attach each man to each pair and count the groups.
Traps
- Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
- Overlapping groups: Things in two groups at once are counted twice, or not subtracted.
The wrong answers, classified
A Numbers taken from the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Multiplies the 2 men by the 2 places left for women, 2 × 2 = 4, using numbers from the question without listing a single group.
B Stops one step early (King et al., 2004; Gierl et al., 2017)
Counts the 6 pairs of women correctly but stops before pairing each one with either of the 2 men, which doubles the count.
D Overlapping groups (King et al., 2004)
Counts ordered picks of the two women, 4 × 3 = 12 instead of 6, so each group appears twice, then doubles for the men to reach 24.
Worked solution, step by step
Formulas used
- Counting with two choices
- Each way of picking the man can go with each way of picking the two women. So you multiply the two counts. It is like outfits: 2 shirts with 6 pairs of pants make 12 outfits.
Sort out the question
Six people work for the summer. Two are male, so the other 4 are female. Three will be hired in the fall.
You need the number of groups of 3 with only 1 male. That means exactly 1 man and 2 women. In a group, order does not matter. Ann, Bea and Carl is the same group as Carl, Ann and Bea.
Give each person a name
Call the women A, B, C and D. Call the men 1 and 2. Every group you want has 2 letters and 1 number, like AB1.
List the pairs of women
List each pair once. Start with A, then pair B only with letters after it, and so on:
- AB, AC, AD
- BC, BD
- CD
That is 6 pairs. BA is not new, since it is the same pair as AB.
Watch out: counting the order gives pairs, each one twice. Then doubling for the men gives 24, choice D.
Add a man to each pair
Each pair of women can go with man 1 or man 2. Use the counting rule:
Watch out: stopping at the 6 pairs of women leaves out the men. That gives 6, choice B.
So the answer is C, 12.
Check your answer
Write out every group. With man 1: AB1, AC1, AD1, BC1, BD1, CD1. With man 2: AB2, AC2, AD2, BC2, BD2, CD2. Each list has 6 groups, and . No group repeats, and each has just one man.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
