3 English and 3 math
Here are 6 random questions to try. Takers earning below 75% are unlikely to receive an offer. You have 1 minute 48 seconds per question on the real exam.
Question 1 of 6
2026 Practice Test D English, question 19Passage Wolves of the Sea
Wolves of the Sea
The cool and misty landscape of the Great Bear Rainforest can be found along the coast of British Columbia, Canada, and its nearby islands, from Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border. Within this protected area, wolves roam the forests, islands, and beaches. When biologist Chris Darimont began to study these wolves, he wanted to confer with local First Nations groups, as aboriginal Canadians are known, in order to learn what they knew about these wolves. He spoke with Chester Starr, an elder of the Heiltsuk Nation that has occupied the Great Bear Rainforest for thousands of years. What Starr had to say about the wolves changed Darimont’s perception of the animals.
Starr asked Darimont which wolves he and his team were going to study—the timber wolves (mainland wolves) or the coastal wolves on the islands. The question took Darimont by surprise. Biologists had always believed that the wolves that are sometimes spotted swimming between islands and eating salmon are the same wolves that live on the mainland. Darimont was intrigued by Starr’s classification of the wolves as two different groups. At first, he was hesitant to accept the idea. The distances between the mainland and the islands are small, less than a mile. Why would the wolves on the islands be any different from the wolves on the mainland? To find out, Darimont and his research team studied the wolves on the islands and in the densely forested territory of the Great Bear Rainforest for ten years.
Throughout the study, Darimont recorded several significant, observable differences between the “sea wolves,” as they are nicknamed, and the mainland wolves. Compared with the mainland wolves, the sea wolves are smaller in size and are strong swimmers. In 1996 sea wolves were spotted on an island nearly eight miles from any other land formation. While mainland wolves almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals, sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish. Sea wolves regularly swim between islands and have been known to sneak up on a seal sunning itself on a rock and make a leaping attack from the water. Some salmon-eating mainland wolves come and go from the islands with the fish-spawning season, but the sea wolves are full-time island residents. Darimont suspects that some sea wolves live their entire life on the islands.
The sea wolves displayed not only physical and behavioral differences but also genetic variations from the mainland wolves. After collecting and analyzing the DNA in 800 samples of gray fur and wolf waste, researchers could produce hard biological evidence that sea wolves had genetic markers that made them distinct from the mainland wolves. A genetic marker is a variation in a DNA sequence that can be used to identify individuals or a species because it is passed down to offspring. Darimont hypothesizes that a change in habitat led to the eventual genetic differences between sea wolves and mainland wolves. Many years ago, loss of habitat and food sources forced some mainland wolves out to the islands. They learned to eat everything from kelp and fish eggs to the remains of sea creatures that washed up on the beach. Wolves living on the islands and mainland wolves became more isolated and rarely mated with each other. Over time the two types of wolves became more distinct.
It turned out that Chester Starr was right all along. “It sounded totally bizarre at first,” admits Darimont, “that there could be two versions of the species.” But he now realizes that this skepticism “definitely reflected my ignorance of indigenous knowledge at the time.” Learning to trust the wisdom of the Heiltsuk people opened Darimont up to knowledge accumulated over millennia and positioned him so that he could gather new scientific evidence about one of British Columbia’s most elusive species, the sea wolf.
Question
Which sentence from the passage best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands?
- A“While mainland wolves almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals, sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.” (paragraph 3)
- B“Sea wolves regularly swim between islands and have been known to sneak up on a seal sunning itself on a rock and make a leaping attack from the water.” (paragraph 3)
- C“Darimont suspects that some sea wolves live their entire life on the islands.” (paragraph 3)
- D“Darimont hypothesizes that a change in habitat led to the eventual genetic differences between sea wolves and mainland wolves.” (paragraph 4)
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The question asks for the sentence from the passage that best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands.
A. CORRECT. This sentence from paragraph 3 describes a significant difference in the diets of the mainland and sea wolves: the mainland wolves “almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals,” whereas the sea wolves had adapted to the point where they derive “as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.” This sentence emphasizes the dietary difference between the two groups of wolves and best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands.
B. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 3 describes one technique that the sea wolves used to hunt, it does not offer evidence as strong as that provided by the preceding sentence, which explains that sea wolves were able to derive “as much as 90 percent” (paragraph 3) of their sustenance from the sea alone (versus the mainland wolves, which “almost exclusively eat meat” from land animals [paragraph 3]).
C. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 3 states that “some sea wolves live their entire life on the islands,” it does not provide strong evidence of the necessary adaptations—namely, how these wolves were able to successfully live their whole lives on the islands. Living on the islands was not necessarily an adaptation in and of itself; the adaptation was the sea-based diet that enabled the sea wolves to live on the islands without access to land animals.
D. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 4 presents Darimont’s hypothesis that “a change in habitat led to the eventual genetic differences” between the wolves, the sentence does not describe any of the sea wolves’ adaptations nor best support the idea that the sea wolves successfully adapted to living on the islands.
Question analysis
This evidence question on “Wolves of the Sea” asks which sentence best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands. Three choices come from paragraph 3’s list of differences between sea wolves and mainland wolves and one from paragraph 4, so students must rank closely related sentences by how directly each shows the wolves thriving there.
- NYS standards
- 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 evidence questions often have one clearly relevant sentence. Here three neighboring sentences all describe the sea wolves’ island life, so students must decide what counts as successful adaptation and rank strong evidence against nearly as strong.
- 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
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Every choice must be checked minor
- Evidence
- Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 10, 662 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 131 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
All four sentences are about sea wolves, and three describe their island lives, so the question turns on ranking evidence rather than spotting it. The seal attack is one of the passage’s most vivid images and shows a real island skill, which makes it hard to give up for a sentence about diet. The key wins because it shows a whole way of life changing, most food from the sea and the young taught to fish, while the other sentences offer one habit, a hedged guess or a cause.
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The seal-hunting sentence sits right after the key in paragraph 3 and also shows sea wolves living off the sea; it differs in showing one hunting trick instead of up to 90 percent of their food. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
No sentence uses the word “adapted,” so students must first decide what would prove an animal thrives in a new place, such as getting its food there and teaching that skill to its young. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
Three of the four sentences come from paragraph 3’s list of island habits, and all four mention sea wolves or their habitat, so none can be dismissed at a glance. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Strategy: Before reading the choices, decide what would prove that an animal has adapted well to a new place, then rank the four sentences by how fully each one shows that, not merely whether it fits.
Traps
- Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
- True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
The wrong answers, classified
B Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Is impressed by the leaping attack on a seal, a real island skill, but one hunting technique shows less than wolves getting up to 90 percent of their food from the sea.
C Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Matches “live their entire life on the islands” to the claim’s “living on the islands,” but it is Darimont’s guess about where the wolves stay, not how they manage there.
D True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Sees “change in habitat” and thinks of adaptation, but the sentence gives Darimont’s theory of what caused the genetic differences, not evidence that the wolves thrive.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks for evidence: the sentence that best supports a claim. The claim is that sea wolves “had successfully adapted to living on the islands.” To adapt is to change so you can live well in a new place.
Decide what strong proof looks like
Before you read the choices, ask what would prove an animal is doing well somewhere new. It can find its food there. It can also teach its young to live there. One clever trick is weaker proof. A guess is weaker still. So look for a sentence that shows a whole way of life built around the new home.
Test the diet sentence
Choice A comes from paragraph 3. It says “sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.” Nutrition is the food a body needs. So almost all their food comes from the sea. They also pass those skills on to their pups. Mainland wolves, by contrast, “almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk.” Exclusively means only.
Check the other choices
- B shows one hunting trick, a leap at a seal. It is a real island skill. But it shows less than a diet that is up to 90 percent from the sea.
- C uses the word “suspects,” so it is only Darimont’s guess. It also tells where some wolves live, not how they manage there.
- D gives Darimont’s idea about what caused the genetic differences. It does not show the wolves doing well.
Watch out: The seal attack in B is the most exciting picture. But one exciting hunt is weaker proof than a whole new diet.
Choose the answer
Sentence A shows sea wolves getting most of their food from the sea and training their young to do the same. So the answer is A, the sentence “While mainland wolves almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals, sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
B is the closest wrong answer. It comes right after A in paragraph 3 and also shows sea wolves living off the sea. But B shows one way of hunting. A shows where nearly all their food comes from, and that they teach it to their young. That is stronger proof that they adapted well.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Wolves of the Sea” as printed (pages 23–24)
Question 2 of 6
2025 Practice Test A English, question 9Passage 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 sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that there were different levels of education for a scribe?
- A“However, contrary to popular belief, not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs.” (paragraph 1)
- B“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.” (paragraph 2)
- C“This limited the scope for employment but such ‘on the job’ training allowed apprentices to help out at home while learning.” (paragraph 4)
- D“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.” (paragraph 6)
Show the answer
Correct answer: D
The question asks for a sentence from the excerpt that best supports the idea that different levels of education were available to scribes.
A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 1 provides evidence that Egyptian scribes used two different forms of writing, but it does not address the topic of education or the different levels of education that were available to scribes.
B. Incorrect. The advantages and purposes of hieratic script are described in this sentence from paragraph 2, but this explanation of the advantages and purposes does not suggest that there were different levels of education for scribes.
C. Incorrect. The fact that scribes could learn their trade through apprenticeships as discussed in this sentence from paragraph 4 does provide evidence that another method of learning to be a scribe was possible, but this process was for a limited entry into becoming a scribe, not the continued education scribes would need in order to work in specific areas.
D. CORRECT. By explaining that certain professions required additional years of training, this sentence from paragraph 6 supports the idea that different levels of education existed for scribes.
Question analysis
This evidence question on Hilary Wilson’s “Scribe Like an Egyptian,” a magazine article about how ancient Egyptian scribes learned their trade, asks which quoted sentence best supports the idea that scribes received different levels of education. The four sentences come from paragraphs 1, 2, 4 and 6, and more than one seems to touch on the idea, so close reading of each decides it.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Choosing the sentence that best supports an idea is routine grade 7 evidence work. Here several quotations touch on ways scribes differed, and the article’s dense, technical wording makes those differences harder to sort than usual.
- 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
- Reading between the lines moderate
- Every choice must be checked moderate
- Hard words minor
- Evidence
- Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 110 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 of the wrong sentences are not off topic: one says not all scribes understood hieroglyphs, the other that apprenticeship narrowed a scribe’s job prospects, and both imply that scribes differed. The question rewards asking what the idea actually claims, that schooling itself came in stages, and only the sentence about professions that required more years of training says so outright. Students who stop at the first sentence suggesting a difference lose the point.
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The right sentence never says “levels”; students must see that training “for several more years” for official, priest or lawyer posts means a higher tier of schooling than the basic course. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer
Two other quotations also hint at differences among scribes, paragraph 1’s “not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs” and paragraph 4’s “limited the scope for employment,” so each must be weighed, not just scanned. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
Terms such as “hieratic,” “economical of space” and “scope for employment” slow the reading of the quotations, and the shorthand sentence is hard to dismiss until hieratic is understood as a script. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Strategy: Ask what a sentence would have to say to prove that scribal education came in levels, then test each quotation against that and prefer a direct statement over a hint.
Traps
- Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
- True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
The wrong answers, classified
A Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reads “not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs” as proof of different levels of schooling, but it reports a difference in knowledge without saying anything about how scribes were taught.
B True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Picks the sentence on hieratic as a faster everyday shorthand, which describes how scribes wrote, not how long or how far any of them studied.
C Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Sees that on-the-job training “limited the scope for employment” and takes it for a lower level of education, though the sentence contrasts two routes into the trade, not stages of study.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks for the sentence that best supports one idea: scribes could get “different levels of education.” A level is a stage. Some scribes studied for a short time, and others went on to study more. You need a sentence that shows a difference in schooling, not just any difference between scribes.
Find what each level looked like
Paragraphs 5 and 6 describe the training. Paragraph 5 says the lowest scribes studied for only five or six years. They learned just the basics of hieroglyphs. Paragraph 6 says that more than 450 signs were needed for everyday writing. Then choice D adds a higher level: “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.”
Work out what choice D means
A profession is a job that needs special training. Choice D says some jobs needed more years of study and more signs, perhaps over a thousand. A basic scribe stopped sooner and knew fewer signs. So schooling came in stages: a basic course, and then more years for the top jobs. That is what the question means by levels of education.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. It says not all scribes understood hieroglyphs. That is a difference in what scribes knew. It says nothing about how they were taught.
- B does not fit. It explains hieratic, a faster shorthand way of writing. That is about writing, not schooling.
- C does not fit. It is about apprentices, who learned on the job from an older scribe. That is a different way into the work, not a higher or lower stage of study.
- D fits. Some jobs needed several more years of training.
Watch out: A is tempting because it shows that scribes were not all alike. But it never mentions school.
Choose the answer
Only one sentence shows some scribes studying for years after the basic course. So the answer is D.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong choice. It shows that some scribes knew hieroglyphs and others did not. But it doesn’t say why, or how long anyone studied. D says plainly that some jobs needed several more years of training. That is a level of education above the basic one.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the test
Question 3 of 6
2026 Practice Test B English, question 41Passage Letter from Brooklyn
Letter from Brooklyn
by Jacob Scheier
I can already see how this will end.
How I will grow tired of the bridge’s
steep incline, and the absent-minded tourists
wandering into the bicycle path.
The weather will turn cold.
But that all happens later.
For now it is the early edge of fall,
leaves green still while the air narrows,
is slightly crisp, almost grazing
the hair of my arm like a passing stranger,
as though the air has been forced into intimacy
by the brevity of daylight.
But when it starts darkening at 4,
this closeness, I know, will be a felt distance,
like someone drawing your attention
to their lack of intimacy.
These days I am still walking at a cathedral pace
beneath the branches bending across avenues,
brownstones like rows of lived-in chapels,
like a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child,
but didn’t. How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic
for the moment I am walking inside of.
These late afternoons filled
with a loneliness that makes me feel
distinctly myself, and an awareness
of how rare that is.
“Letter from Brooklyn” from LETTER FROM BROOKLYN: POEMS by Jacob Scheier, published by ECW Press. Copyright © 2013 by Jacob Scheier All rights reserved.
brevity: briefness
cathedral: meditative
chapels: private places of prayer or worship
nostalgic: yearning for the past
Question
Read these lines from the poem.
I can already see how this will end. (line 1)
How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic
for the moment I am walking inside of. (lines 21–22)
The lines develop a central idea of the poem by
- Asuggesting the speaker’s desire to find a way to break free from the repetitive pattern of daily life.
- Brevealing the speaker’s feelings of disappointment over the predictable change in season.
- Cemphasizing the speaker’s awareness of the future significance of the present moment in the setting.
- Dshowing the speaker’s anticipation of specific emotions caused by an intimate knowledge of the setting.
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
The question asks how line 1 and lines 21–22 develop a central idea of the poem.
A. Incorrect. Although these lines suggest that life is governed by repetitive patterns, such as the change of seasons, they do not suggest that the speaker wishes to break free from these natural cycles of change, and a desire for freedom is not a central idea of the poem.
B. Incorrect. Although the speaker acknowledges that colder weather will inevitably bring disappointment, the speaker does not suggest in these lines that the predictability of changing weather is itself disappointing. Rather, the speaker recognizes the value of enjoying the present moment.
C. CORRECT. These lines connect the present warmer weather with the future colder weather and develop the central idea that the present “moment I am walking inside of” must be embraced because the speaker will be “nostalgic” for it in the future.
D. Incorrect. In these lines, the speaker is aware that specific emotions will occur in the future, during cold weather, but this awareness is only part of the more complex central idea of the poem, which is that current emotions and feelings must be recognized, experienced, and appreciated.
Question analysis
This central-idea question pairs the first line of “Letter from Brooklyn” with lines 21–22, where Brooklyn makes the speaker nostalgic “for the moment I am walking inside of,” and asks how they develop a central idea of the poem. Students must link excerpts from opposite ends of the poem, untangle a paradoxical image and choose among four abstract statements.
- Grade level
- Grade 8 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students analyze how lines develop a central idea. Here two excerpts twenty lines apart must be read together, one of them built on a paradox, and the four choices are long and abstract, well beyond typical grade 7 work.
- 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
- Figurative or literary language major
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Evidence in several places moderate
- Evidence
- Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
- Reading level
- Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 99 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 among the hardest questions in the set because the two excerpts must be joined through a paradox and then matched to four long, abstract statements. Line 1 foresees an ending; lines 21–22 miss a moment while it is still happening, so both look at now from the future. Students who see only the foresight pick the choice about anticipated emotions, while those who hear gloom in “how this will end” settle on disappointment or a wish to escape.
Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question
Lines 21–22 are a paradox: “nostalgic,” glossed as yearning for the past, is aimed at “the moment I am walking inside of,” so the speaker already feels the present as a future memory. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The choice about anticipating “specific emotions” shares the key’s link between future and present; it differs by tracing those feelings to knowing the setting well, which neither excerpt says. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The excerpts are the poem’s first line and lines 21–22, twenty lines apart, and what joins them, the speaker looking ahead at the present, shows only when they are read side by side. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Strategy: Paraphrase each excerpt on its own, using the glossary's meaning of “nostalgic,” then decide what the first line and the last two share and match that to a choice.
Traps
- Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
- Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
- Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
The wrong answers, classified
A Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Links “how this will end” and growing tired of the bridge to a dull routine and imagines a wish to escape it, which the poem never expresses.
B Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Hears resignation in “I can already see how this will end” and reads it as disappointment with the seasons, missing that the speaker treasures the present walk.
D Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Rightly sees the speaker foreseeing feelings in line 1, but traces them to an “intimate knowledge of the setting,” while lines 21–22 long for the present moment itself.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This question gives two pieces of the poem: line 1 and lines 21–22. You need the central idea they build together. A central idea is the main point the poem keeps working toward. Read each piece alone first, then join them.
Read line 1
Line 1 says “I can already see how this will end.” The speaker looks ahead. Lines 2–5 then list what will come: growing tired of the bridge, and the cold. So the speaker already pictures the future while living in the present.
Read lines 21–22
The lines say “How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of.” The glossary says nostalgic means “yearning for the past.” Yearning means longing. But the speaker longs for now, a moment still happening. That is a paradox, an idea that seems impossible but makes sense. The speaker knows this walk will be a precious memory.
Join the two pieces
Both pieces look at the present from the future. In line 1, the speaker sees the end coming. In lines 21–22, the speaker already misses the walk. So the speaker knows this present moment will matter later. Significance means importance.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The speaker never wants to break free from daily routine.
- B is wrong. Line 1 can sound gloomy. But the speaker isn’t upset with the seasons. The speaker treasures the walk.
- C is right. The speaker sees that this moment in Brooklyn will be precious later.
- D is wrong. The speaker does foresee feelings. But neither piece says they come from knowing the place well.
Watch out: D gets the looking-ahead part of line 1 right. But lines 21–22 long for the moment itself, not for feelings caused by knowing the city.
Choose the answer
So the answer is C: “emphasizing the speaker’s awareness of the future significance of the present moment in the setting.”
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
D is the closest wrong answer, because line 1 does show the speaker foreseeing feelings. But D says they come from an “intimate knowledge of the setting.” Neither piece says that. Lines 21–22 miss the moment while it is still happening. C captures that: the present will matter in the future.
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The original DOE question
The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed (page 50)
Question 4 of 6
2024 Test B Math, question 17Question
A bowl contains 12 green candies, 4 yellow candies, and some red candies. The probability of choosing a green candy at random is twice as great as the probability of choosing a red candy at random. What is the probability of choosing a yellow candy at random?
- A
- B
- C
- D
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The probability of choosing a green candy is twice as great as the probability of choosing a red candy. There are 12 green candies. Let r = the number of red candies.
So there are 6 red candies. 12 green candies + 4 yellow candies + 6 red candies = 22 total candies.
There are 4 yellow candies out of a total of 22 candies. So the probability of choosing a yellow candy is
.
Question analysis
A probability question about a bowl of 12 green candies, 4 yellow candies and an unknown number of red ones. A green candy is twice as likely to be picked as a red one, and students find the chance of picking a yellow candy. The missing red count has to be worked out before any probability can be found.
- Grade level
- Grade 6 content, by NYS standard
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Simple probability is grade 6 content in New York, and grade 7 problems usually give every count. Working backward from a comparison of two probabilities to a missing count, then forward to a third probability, is more 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 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
- What makes it hard
- Turning words into math moderate
- Combines ideas moderate
- Solution
- 3 steps
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 7, 49 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 withholds the red count, and everything depends on recovering it from the comparison of probabilities. Students who cannot make that step tend to leave red out altogether, while those who find 6 red candies can still slip at the end by using the wrong total or the wrong color. Writing all three counts and the total of 22 before forming any fraction prevents both endings.
Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question
“Twice as great as the probability of choosing a red candy” must become 12 = 2 × the red count, which works only because both probabilities share one total. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)
Combines ideas moderate Working it out
An unknown count has to be found from a ratio before any probability can be written, joining proportional reasoning with probability as a part over the total. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)
Strategy: Turn twice as likely into a statement about numbers of candies to find the red count, add all three colors for the total, then put the yellow count over that total and simplify.
Traps
- Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.
- 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 Misunderstands the concept (Smith, diSessa & Roschelle, 1993; De Bock et al., 1998; Ni & Zhou, 2005)
Finds the 6 red candies but compares the 4 yellow with the 18 green and red ones, 4/18, a part-to-part ratio instead of part to whole.
C Numbers taken from the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Leaves out the red candies, whose number is not given, and divides the 4 yellow by the 16 green and yellow candies.
D Answers a different question (King et al., 2004; Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Finds the 6 red candies and the total of 22 correctly but gives the chance of red, 6/22 = 3/11, instead of yellow.
Worked solution, step by step
Formulas used
- Probability
- P is the probability, the chance that something happens. The top is how many candies are the kind you want. The bottom is how many candies there are in all. Each candy is just as likely to be picked, so this fraction gives the chance.
Sort out what you know
The bowl has 12 green candies, 4 yellow candies and some red candies. You are not told how many are red. Let r be the number of red candies.
The chance of picking green is twice the chance of picking red. You need the probability (the chance) of picking yellow.
Compare green and red
Write each chance with the probability formula.
Green and red have the same bottom number, the total number of candies. So if the chance of green is twice the chance of red, there are twice as many green candies as red ones.
Find the red candies and the total
There are 6 red candies. Now add up all the candies.
There are 22 candies in all. Watch out: do not leave out the red candies just because their number was not given. Using 16 as the total gives 1/4, choice C.
Find the chance of yellow
There are 4 yellow candies out of 22.
Divide the top and the bottom by 2 to simplify. Watch out: the question asks for yellow, not red. 6/22 = 3/11 is the chance of red, choice D. The bottom must be all 22 candies. Using 18 gives 2/9, choice B.
So the answer is A, .
Check your answer
Check the clue. The chance of green is , and the chance of red is . Twelve is twice 6, so green is twice as likely. Also, the three chances add up to 1: .
More questions like this
The original DOE question
Question 5 of 6
2018 Test B Math, question 44Question
The hash marks on the number line above are evenly spaced. What is the coordinate of point ?
- A
- B
- C
- D
Show the answer
Correct answer: C
There are 5 sections between M and T. To find the length of one of these sections, find the distance between M and T and divide by 5:
R is 3 sections away from M, so add:
R is located at .
Question analysis
Students find the fraction at point R on a number line with evenly spaced hash marks, where M is at −1/4 and T is at 5/8. It tests fraction arithmetic with negative numbers. Working out the size of one gap and counting gaps from M to R takes several careful steps.
- NYS standards
- Grade level
- Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 students place fractions and negatives on number lines, but here they must subtract a negative fraction, divide by five, and then add back. Four fraction steps with unlike denominators make it harder than typical classwork.
- 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
- Error-prone arithmetic major
- Reading a figure, table or graph moderate
- Solution
- 4 steps
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 6, 22 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
Fractions, a negative starting point and a count of spaces all have to come out right together. Students lose points by counting tick marks instead of spaces, by subtracting −1/4 as if it were positive, or by measuring R from 0 instead of from M. Converting both labels to fortieths first, −10/40 and 25/40, makes each gap a whole number of fortieths.
Error-prone arithmetic major Working it out
The gap length needs 5/8 − (−1/4) = 7/8, then 7/8 ÷ 5 = 7/40, then −10/40 + 21/40: negatives and three different denominators meet in one problem. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)
Reading a figure, table or graph moderate Understanding the question
The hash marks have to be counted as spaces: five from M to T, with R three spaces past M, while the unlabeled marks outside M and T play no part. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Strategy: Find the distance from M to T by subtracting their coordinates, divide it by the number of equal gaps, then step from M toward T by the right number of gaps.
Traps
- Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
- Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)
The wrong answers, classified
A Stops one step early (King et al., 2004; Gierl et al., 2017)
Finds the length of one gap, 7/8 ÷ 5 = 7/40, and gives it as R's coordinate without stepping from M.
B Negatives and direction (Brown & Burton, 1978)
Subtracts as 5/8 − 1/4 = 3/8 instead of adding, gets gaps of 3/40, and counts three gaps from 0.
D Stops one step early (King et al., 2004; Gierl et al., 2017)
Multiplies the 7/40 gap by 3 to get the distance from M to R, then forgets to add it to M's −1/4.
Worked solution, step by step
Formulas used
- Distance on a number line
- The right number is the point farther to the right on the number line. The left number is the other point. Subtracting tells how many units apart they are. Taking the left from the right keeps the answer positive.
- Dividing a fraction by a whole number
- a over b is the fraction, and c is the whole number you divide by. Splitting a fraction into c equal parts makes each part c times smaller. So you multiply the bottom number, b, by c.
Read the number line
M is at and T is at . The hash marks are evenly spaced, so every space is the same length. Count the spaces. From M to T there are 5 spaces. From M to R there are 3 spaces. You need the number at point R.
Find the distance from M to T
Use the distance formula. First write in eighths, as .
Taking away a negative is the same as adding. M and T are apart.
Find the length of one space
The 5 spaces are equal, so divide by 5.
Each space is long.
Watch out: this is the length of one space, not where R is. Stopping here gives choice A.
Step from M to R
R is 3 spaces to the right of M.
Now add that to M. Write as .
Watch out: is how far R is from M, not where R is. Choosing it gives choice D.
Give the answer
Point R is at , a little to the right of 0. So the answer is C, .
Check your answer
Go backward from T instead. T is 2 spaces past R, and . So R is at . Both ways give the same point.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
Question 6 of 6
2018 Test A Math, question 21Question
In a sample of 10 cards, 4 are red and 6 are blue. If 2 cards are selected at random from the sample, one at a time without replacement, what is the probability that both cards are not blue?
- A
- B
- C
- D
Show the answer
Correct answer: A
The probability that both cards are not blue is the same as the probability that both cards are red. There are 4 red cards out of the 10, so the probability of the first card being red is
Now there are 9 cards left, and 3 of those are red, so the probability of the second card being red is
Multiply the two probabilities to find the probability that both cards are red (not blue):
Question analysis
This probability question draws 2 cards, one at a time and without replacement, from 10 cards: 4 red and 6 blue. Students find the chance that neither card drawn is blue. The second draw has one fewer card, and the word not changes which color to count.
- NYS standards
- Grade level
- Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
- Compared with grade 7
- Above grade 7 Grade 7 compound probability is usually found with a list or tree of equally likely outcomes. Dependent draws without replacement, plus a negative phrasing to translate, go 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
- Something you must already know moderate
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Turning words into math minor
- An answer in an unexpected form minor
- Solution
- 3 steps
- Reading level
- Question and choices: about grade 5, 39 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 ideas stack here: restating not blue as red, and changing the second draw's numbers after a card is removed. Students who know to multiply but forget the removal reach a listed choice, and so do students who compute both blue. Writing the second fraction explicitly as 3 red out of 9 cards, before multiplying, is what separates right from nearly right.
Something you must already know moderate Working it out
Multiplying the first draw's chance by the second draw's, with the second adjusted for the card already taken, is a rule the test assumes and does not give. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
2/15 and 4/25 are about 0.13 and 0.16, too close to tell apart by estimate; only the second draw's fraction, 3 red of 9 cards rather than 4 of 10, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Turning words into math minor Understanding the question
"Both cards are not blue" has to be restated as both cards red, and the bold not also invites computing the chance that both are blue. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)
An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer
The product comes out as 12/90, and it has to be reduced to lowest terms before it matches any of the listed fractions. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)
Strategy: Restate not blue as red, then multiply the chance of red on the first draw by the chance of red on the second, with one card fewer.
Traps
- Without replacement: In a second pick there is one fewer item, which changes the probability.
- Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".
The wrong answers, classified
B Without replacement (Fischbein & Schnarch, 1997)
Multiplies 4/10 × 4/10 = 16/100 = 4/25, as if the first red card were put back before the second draw.
C Little reason to choose it (Haladyna & Downing, 1993; Rodriguez, 2005)
No standard working gives 3/10: it is not the chance of red or of blue on one draw or on two, so it mostly catches guesses.
D Misreads the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Computes the chance that both cards are blue, 6/10 × 5/9 = 30/90 = 1/3, missing the bold word not.
Worked solution, step by step
Formulas used
- Probability
- P is the probability, the chance that something happens. Favorable is the number of ways to get what you want, here a red card. Total is the number of all possible picks, here all the cards you can pick from. It works when every pick is equally likely.
- Two events in a row
- A is the first event and B is the second. P( ) means the probability of what is inside. The chance that both happen is the first chance times the second. For the second chance, count only what is left after the first event.
Sort out the question
There are 10 cards: 4 red and 6 blue. You pick 2 cards “one at a time without replacement”. That means the first card is not put back. “Both cards are not blue” means both are red, since red is the only other color. You need the probability, or chance, of that.
Find the chance the first card is red
4 of the 10 cards are red. Each card is equally likely to be picked. Use the probability formula.
Find the chance the second card is red
One red card is gone now, and it is not put back. So 9 cards are left, and 3 of them are red.
Watch out: using 4/10 again acts as if the card went back. That gives 4/25, choice B.
Multiply the two chances
Both cards must be red. So multiply the first chance by the second. To multiply fractions, multiply the tops, then multiply the bottoms.
Simplify the fraction
None of the choices is 12/90, so simplify it. Divide the top and the bottom by 6, the biggest number that goes into both.
Watch out: the chance that both are blue is , choice D. The question says not blue. So the answer is A, .
Check your answer
Count the ways. There are ways to pick two cards in order. Red then red has ways. That gives 12/90, or 2/15. The answer is small, which makes sense, because there are fewer red cards than blue ones.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
