Practice Test

Complex sentences

Question 1 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 17

Passage Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness

Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness

by Grace Livingston Hill

With a lurch the train came to a dead stop and Margaret Earle, hastily gathering up her belongings, hurried down the aisle and got out into the night.

It occurred to her, as she swung her heavy suit-case down the rather long step to the ground, and then carefully swung herself after it, that it was strange that neither conductor, brakeman, nor porter had come to help her off the train, when all three had taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station; but she could hear voices up ahead. Perhaps something was the matter with the engine that detained them and they had forgotten her for the moment.

The ground was rough where she stood, and there seemed no sign of a platform. Did they not have platforms in this wild Western land, or was the train so long that her car had stopped before reaching it?

She strained her eyes into the darkness, and tried to make out things from the two or three specks of light that danced about like fireflies in the distance. She could dimly see moving figures away up near the engine, and each one evidently carried a lantern. The train was tremendously long. A sudden feeling of isolation took possession of her. Perhaps she ought not to have got out until some one came to help her. Perhaps the train had not pulled into the station yet and she ought to get back on it and wait. Yet if the train started before she found the conductor she might be carried on somewhere and he justly blame her for a fool.

There did not seem to be any building on that side of the track. It was probably on the other, but she was standing too near the cars to see over. She tried to move back to look, but the ground sloped and she slipped and fell in the cinders $^1$ , bruising her knee and cutting her wrist.

In sudden panic she arose. She would get back into the train, no matter what the consequences. They had no right to put her out here, away off from the station, at night, in a strange country. If the train started before she could find the conductor she would tell him that he must back it up again and let her off. He certainly could not expect her to get out like this.

She lifted the heavy suit-case up the high step that was even farther from the ground than it had been when she came down, because her fall had loosened some of the earth and caused it to slide away from the track. Then, reaching to the rail of the step, she tried to pull herself up, but as she did so the engine gave a long snort and the whole train, as if it were in league against her, lurched forward crazily, shaking off her hold. She slipped to her knees again, the suit-case, toppled from the lower step, descending upon her, and together they slid and rolled down the short bank, while the train . . . ran giddily off into the night.

The horror of being deserted helped the girl to rise in spite of bruises and shock. She lifted imploring hands to the unresponsive cars as they hurried by her—one, two, three, with bright windows, each showing a passenger, comfortable and safe inside, unconscious of her need.

A moment of useless screaming, running, trying to attract some one’s attention, a sickening sense of terror and failure, and the last car slatted itself past with a mocking clatter, as if it enjoyed her discomfort.

Margaret stood dazed, reaching out helpless hands, then dropped them at her sides and gazed after the fast-retreating train, the light on its last car swinging tauntingly, blinking now and then with a leer in its eye, rapidly vanishing from her sight into the depth of the night.

She gasped and looked about her for the station that but a short moment before had been so real to her mind; and, lo! on this side and on that there was none!

The night was wide like a great floor shut in by a low, vast dome of curving blue set with the largest, most wonderful stars she had ever seen. Heavy shadows of purple-green, smoke-like, hovered over earth darker and more intense than the unfathomable blue of the night sky. It seemed like the secret nesting-place of mysteries wherein no human foot might dare intrude. It was incredible that such could be but common sage-brush, sand, and greasewood wrapped about with the beauty of the lonely night.

No building broke the inky outlines of the plain, nor friendly light streamed out to cheer her heart. Not even a tree was in sight, except on the far horizon, where a heavy line of deeper darkness might mean a forest. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the blue, deep, starry dome above and the bluer darkness of the earth below save one sharp shaft ahead like a black mast throwing out a dark arm across the track.

As soon as she sighted it she picked up her baggage and made her painful way toward it, for her knees and wrist were bruised and her baggage was heavy.

A soft drip, drip greeted her as she drew nearer; something plashing down among the cinders by the track. Then she saw the tall column with its arm outstretched, and looming darker among the sage-brush the outlines of a water-tank. It was so she recognized the engine’s drinking-tank, and knew that she had mistaken a pause to water the engine for a regular stop at a station.

$^1$ cinders: track bed made from the residue of burnt coal

From A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS by Grace Livingston Hill—Public Domain

Question

How do Margaret’s earlier interactions with the conductor, brakeman, and porter affect the plot?

AThey prompt Margaret to get off the train without further assistance.
BThey cause Margaret to think that she knows what to do once she gets off the train.
CThey compel Margaret to wonder whether the train has not pulled all the way into the station.
DThey lead Margaret to believe that train stations in rural areas lack platforms.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how Margaret’s earlier interactions with the conductor, brakeman, and porter affect the plot.

A. CORRECT. Because the conductor, brakeman, and porter have all “taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station” (paragraph 2), Margaret assumes that the next time the train stops, she will have reached her station. This assumption causes Margaret to get off the train at the next stop without waiting for help or confirmation, but the stop turns out to be just “a pause to water the engine” (paragraph 15). This mistaken assumption creates the main problem that Margaret confronts in the passage.

B. Incorrect. Although Margaret’s earlier interactions with the three railroad employees cause her to think that she knows when to get off the train, it is clear from paragraph 4 that Margaret is deeply confused and does not know what to do once she has exited the train car. She muses uneasily, “Perhaps she ought not to have got out until some one came to help her. Perhaps the train had not pulled into the station yet and she ought to get back on it and wait” (paragraph 4).

C. Incorrect. Margaret wonders in paragraph 3 whether the train is “so long that her car had stopped before reaching [the station]” and speculates in paragraph 4 that “the train had not pulled into the station yet.” These thoughts reflect her assumption (based on her interactions with the three railroad employees) that the next stop is her station. However, Margaret’s speculation that the train has not fully pulled into the station does not significantly affect the plot.

D. Incorrect. Margaret wonders in paragraph 3 whether they “have platforms in this wild Western land” and is expecting to see a platform because her interactions with the three railroad employees have led her to believe that she has reached a station. However, it is unclear whether Margaret really believes that rural stations all lack platforms, and her speculation on this point is not further developed in the passage and does not affect the plot.

Question analysis

This plot question on A Voice in the Wilderness asks how Margaret’s earlier dealings with the conductor, brakeman and porter, mentioned only in passing in paragraph 2, affect what happens to her. Students must connect that brief remark to later events in the excerpt. Several choices describe things that do happen, so students must judge which one those conversations truly cause.

NYS standards: 7R3 plot elements and ideas
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 plot questions ask how story elements affect one another, usually through an event and its result. Here the cause is a clause inside a long sentence of century-old prose, and students must trace its effect across the excerpt rather than within one paragraph.
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: Evidence in several places moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from the whole text
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 72 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 talks with the trainmen are mentioned once, in the middle of a long sentence, and the question asks students to see them as the start of the whole plot. Several choices describe thoughts Margaret really has right after she steps down, which makes them feel connected, but those thoughts change nothing. The point goes to students who trace cause to consequence: told her stop was next, she gets off alone at a water tank.

Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The cause sits in paragraph 2, where all three men had told her “hers was the next station,” and the effect shows only in paragraph 15, when the stop proves to be a water tank. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The excerpt never says the men’s words made her step off; students must infer that their assurance is why she left the train at the first stop without waiting for anyone. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The interactions appear in a 66-word sentence in paragraph 2, tucked into a “when” clause after a run of commas, so they read as a passing detail rather than a cause. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Reread paragraph 2 to find what the three men told Margaret, then trace how that information shapes the events that follow, and choose the effect that matters most to the plot.

Traps

True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
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.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Rightly links the men’s words to her confidence about when to get off, but stretches it to knowing what to do afterward, when paragraph 4 shows her at a loss.
C True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Names a real result of the men’s words, her guess in paragraphs 3 and 4 that the train has not yet reached the station, but that passing worry changes nothing in the plot.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Turns her puzzled question about platforms in “this wild Western land” into a firm belief about rural stations, an idea the excerpt never develops.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how something from earlier affects the plot. The plot is the chain of events in a story. What did the three train workers tell Margaret, and what did that cause?
Find what the workers told her
Paragraph 2 says it was strange that “neither conductor, brakeman, nor porter had come to help her off the train, when all three had taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station.” A conductor, a brakeman and a porter are all people who work on a train.
Trace what happened because of it
Three workers told her that her stop was next. So when the train stopped, she was sure she had arrived. She got off alone, without waiting for anyone to help. But in paragraph 15 she learns it was only “a pause to water the engine.” Their words set off the whole problem: she is left alone in the dark.
Check each choice
- A fits. Their words led her to get off by herself.
- B does not fit. They told her when to get off, not what to do next. In paragraph 4 she is lost: “Perhaps she ought not to have got out until some one came to help her.”
- C does not fit. She does wonder this, but the thought changes nothing in the story.
- D does not fit. She only asks a question about platforms. She never decides anything about country stations.
Choose the answer
The workers’ words made Margaret step off the train on her own at the wrong stop. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. The workers’ words do make her guess that the train has not reached the station yet. But that guess goes nowhere. What changes the story is that she gets off alone at a stop that is not a station. That is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 17 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 25 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 25, question 17.

The passage “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness” as printed (pages 128–129)

The passage “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness” as printed on page 128 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness” as printed on page 129 of the DOE handbook.

Question 2 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 30

Passage Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”

Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”

by Dallas Lore Sharp

In this excerpt, published in 1914, author and professor Dallas Lore Sharp describes a summer cattle roundup in Oregon. The heat and dust had been relentless for three days. The cowboys were exhausted, and the cattle were restless. The ranch boss, Wade, had led the drive to a watering place, only to find it empty.

Along with the wagon had come the fresh horses—one of them being Peroxide Jim, a supple, powerful, clean-limbed buckskin, a horse, I think, that had as fine and intelligent an animal-face as any creature I ever saw. Wade had been saving this horse for emergency work. And why should he not have been saved fresh for just such a need as this? Are there not superior horses as well as superior men—a Peroxide Jim to complement a Wade?

The horse knew the cattle business and knew his rider perfectly; and though there was nothing like sentiment about the boss of the P Ranch riders, his faith in Peroxide Jim was complete. . . .

The desert, where the herd was camped, was one of the highest of a series of tablelands, or benches; it lay as level as a floor, rimmed by sheer rock, from which there was a drop to the bench of sage below. The herd when overtaken by the dusk had been headed for a pass descending to the next lower bench, but was now halted within a mile of the rim rock on the east, where there was a perpendicular fall of about three hundred feet. . . .

In the taut silence of the stirless desert night, with the tension of the herd at the snapping-point, any quick, unwonted sight or sound would stampede them. The sneezing of a horse, the flare of a match, would be enough to send the whole four thousand headlong—blind, frenzied, trampling—till spent and scattered over the plain.

And so, as he rode, Wade began to sing. The rider ahead of him took up the air and passed it on until, above the stepping stir of the hoofs rose the faint voices of the men, and all the herd was bound about by the slow plaintive measures of some old song. It was not to soothe their savage breasts that the riders sang to the cattle, but rather to preempt the dreaded silence, to relieve the tension, and so to prevent the shock of any sudden startling noise.

So they sang and rode and the night wore on to one o’clock, when Wade, coming up on the rim-rock side, felt a cool breeze fan his face, and caught a breath of fresh, moist wind with the taste of water in it.

He checked his horse instantly, listening as the wind swept past him over the cattle. But they must already have smelled it, for they had ceased their milling, the whole herd standing motionless, the indistinct forms close to him in the dark showing their bald faces lifted to drink the sweet wet breath that came over the rim. Then they started on again, but faster, and with a rumbling now from their hoarse throats that tightened Wade’s grip on the reins.

The sound seemed to come out of the earth, a low, rumbling mumble, as dark as the night and as wide as the plain, a thick, inarticulate bellow that stood every rider stiff in his stirrups. . . .

Then the breeze caught the dust and carried it back from the gray-coated, ghostly shapes, and Wade saw that the animals were still moving in a circle. He must keep them going. He touched his horse to ride on with them, when across the black sky flashed a vivid streak of lightning.

There was a snort from the steers, a quick clap of horns and hoofs from far within the herd, a tremor of the plain, a roar, a surging mass—and Wade was riding the flank of a wild stampede. Before him, behind him, beside him, pressing hard upon his horse, galloped the frenzied steers, and beyond them a multitude borne on, and bearing him on, by the heave of the galloping herd.

Wade was riding for his life. He knew it. His horse knew it. He was riding to turn the herd, too, back from the rim, as the horse also knew. The cattle were after water—water-mad—ready to go over the precipice to get it, carrying horse and rider with them. Wade was the only rider between the herd and the rim. It was black as death. He could see nothing in the sage, could scarcely discern the pounding, panting shadows at his side. He knew that he was being borne toward the rim, how fast he could not tell, but he knew by the swish of the brush against his tapaderos and the plunging of the horse that the ground was growing stonier, that they were nearing the rocks.

To outrun the herd was his only chance for life. If he could come up with the leaders he might not only escape, but even stand a chance of heading them off upon the plain and saving the herd. There were cattle still ahead of him; how many, what part of them all, he could not make out in the dark. But the horse knew. The reins hung on his straight neck, where his rider had dropped them, as, yelling and firing over the wild herd, he had given this horse the race to win, to lose.

They were riding the rim. Close on their left bore down the flank of the herd, and on their right, under their very feet, was a precipice, so close that they felt its blackness—its three hundred feet of fall! . . .

. . . Then Wade found himself racing neck and neck with a big white steer, which the horse, with marvelous instinct, seemed to pick out from a bunch, and to cling to, forcing him gradually ahead, till, cutting him free from the bunch entirely, he bore him off into the swishing sage.

The steers coming on close behind followed their leader, and in, after them, swung others. The tide was turning from the rim. More and more were veering, and within a short time the whole herd, bearing off from the cliffs, was pounding over the open plains.

Whose race was it? It was Peroxide Jim’s, according to Wade, for not by word or by touch of hand or knee had the horse been directed in the run. From the flash of the lightning the horse had taken the bit, had covered an indescribably perilous path at top speed, had outrun the herd and turned it from the edge of the rim rock, without a false step or a tremor of fear.

From “The Spirit of the Herd” by Dallas Lore Sharp—Public Domain

tablelands: plateaus, flat areas of land sharply elevated from the surrounding area
tapaderos: leather covers for stirrups

Question

Paragraphs 1–2 contribute to the development of the central idea of the excerpt by

Arevealing the respect Wade had for his horse.
Bemphasizing Wade’s high expectations of his horse and himself.
Cindicating that Wade and his horse understood the cattle business.
Ddemonstrating Wade’s ability to gauge a horse’s competence.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how paragraphs 1–2 contribute to the development of the central idea of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. The description of Peroxide Jim in paragraph 1 indicates that the horse was a fine animal (“Along with the wagon had come the fresh horses—one of them being Peroxide Jim, a supple, powerful, clean-limbed buckskin, a horse, I think, that had as fine and intelligent an animal-face as any creature I ever saw” [paragraph 1]). The statement in paragraph 2 that Wade’s “faith in Peroxide Jim was complete” supports the central idea of the excerpt that Wade believed in Peroxide Jim’s abilities even before the horse turned the herd and saved the cattle.

B. Incorrect. Paragraphs 1–2 do not emphasize Wade’s high expectations for himself, nor are these expectations a central idea of the excerpt. The narrator expresses a high opinion of Wade’s abilities in his comparison of Peroxide Jim and Wade, referring to the horse as a “complement” (paragraph 1) for Wade; however, Wade showed complete trust in the horse’s ability to save the herd without his help, as evidenced by Wade dropping the reins to allow the horse to control the situation (paragraph 12).

C. Incorrect. The paragraphs refer to Peroxide Jim’s ability to handle cattle; in fact, paragraph 2 says that “the horse knew the cattle business.” It can be inferred that Wade had this knowledge as well, but this idea is not the focus of paragraphs 1–2 and is not the central idea of the excerpt.

D. Incorrect. Wade’s ability to judge a horse’s competence is not a central idea of the excerpt. The event described in the text is proof that Wade knew how to judge a horse’s ability: Wade trusted Peroxide Jim, and Peroxide Jim did not let him down. The option puts the focus on Wade and one of his strengths, when the central idea and focus of the excerpt is Peroxide Jim’s abilities and strengths, not Wade’s.

Question analysis

This central-idea question asks how the first two paragraphs of “The Spirit of the Herd,” which introduce the buckskin horse Peroxide Jim and the ranch boss Wade, contribute to the excerpt’s central idea. Students connect these opening details to the story of the stampede that follows. The narrator’s old-fashioned rhetorical questions can make the paragraphs’ point hard to pin down.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how opening paragraphs build a central idea is typical grade 7 work. The two paragraphs are short, but the narrator’s rhetorical questions and old-fashioned phrasing must be decoded, and the central idea must come from the rest of the excerpt.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Reading between the lines moderate
How, not what moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 48 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 opening paragraphs talk about both Wade and his horse, so every choice can find a foothold in them. The question turns on the excerpt as a whole, which ends by giving the race to Peroxide Jim, and only Wade’s regard for the horse points toward that ending. Students lose the point by picking a skill of Wade’s own, which his trust only implies, or by repeating “knew the cattle business,” a line said of the horse alone.

Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Respect is never named; it must be read from Wade “saving this horse for emergency work” and from his “faith in Peroxide Jim” being “complete” in paragraph 2. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks how two opening paragraphs serve the excerpt’s central idea, so students must know where the story ends, with the race credited to the horse, before judging them. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 1 makes its point through two old-fashioned rhetorical questions, beginning “And why should he not” and “Are there not superior horses,” whose answers students must supply. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Restate paragraphs 1 and 2 in plain words, decide what the excerpt as a whole is mainly about, and pick the option that links the two.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

B Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Takes “superior horses as well as superior men” as Wade’s demands on both, but the paragraphs show only his trust in the horse, never his expectations of himself.
C Word match (Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Repeats “knew the cattle business,” which paragraph 2 says of the horse alone, and treats that background detail as the point the excerpt builds toward.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Credits Wade with a talent for judging horses, which his trust implies, but the paragraphs show faith in one horse, and the excerpt’s focus is that horse’s deeds.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how paragraphs 1 and 2 help build the central idea. The central idea is the most important idea of the whole excerpt. So first find the central idea. Then see how the opening leads to it.
Find the central idea
The excerpt ends in paragraph 16: “Whose race was it? It was Peroxide Jim’s, according to Wade.” The horse saved the herd on his own, and Wade gives him the credit. The central idea is that Peroxide Jim is a remarkable horse who earns Wade’s trust.
Read paragraphs 1 and 2
Paragraph 1 says “Wade had been saving this horse for emergency work.” Paragraph 2 says “though there was nothing like sentiment about the boss of the P Ranch riders, his faith in Peroxide Jim was complete.”
Work out what they show
Sentiment means soft, tender feelings. Wade was a tough boss, not a soft one. Faith means trust. Even so, he trusted this horse completely. Saving the horse for the hardest jobs shows the same respect. The rest of the excerpt proves that respect was deserved.
Check each choice
- A fits. The paragraphs show how much Wade respected his horse.
- B does not fit. They never say what Wade expects of himself.
- C does not fit. “The horse knew the cattle business” is said about the horse, and it is only background.
- D does not fit. His trust may hint that he judges horses well. But the paragraphs show faith in one horse, and the excerpt is about what that horse does.
Choose the answer
The opening shows Wade’s respect, and the ending shows the horse deserved it. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. Wade’s trust does hint that he knows good horses. But paragraphs 1 and 2 show his faith in one horse, not a skill at judging horses. The excerpt is about that horse. Wade’s respect points straight to the end, where he gives the race to Peroxide Jim. That is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 30 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 43 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 43, question 30.

The passage “Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”” as printed (page 41)

The passage “Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”” as printed on page 41 of the DOE handbook.

Question 3 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 32

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd””.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 13.

Close on their left bore down the flank of the herd, and on their right, under their very feet, was a precipice, so close that they felt its blackness—its three hundred feet of fall!

The phrase “bore down the flank of the herd” conveys that Wade

Astruggled to see the front of the herd.
Bhad to ride quickly to keep up with the herd.
Cwas forced to ride between the edge of the cliff and the herd.
Dknew that the drop of the cliff would frighten the herd.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks what the phrase “bore down the flank of the herd” (paragraph 13) conveys about Wade.

A. Incorrect. While Wade struggled to see the front of the herd, the words “bore down the flank of the herd” (paragraph 13) are meant to convey the intensity of the situation Wade was in, not the way the herd is blocking his vision.

B. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 13 states that the herd was “close on their left” and includes the phrase “bore down.” Both of these phrases indicate that Wade was trapped between the stampeding herd and the steep cliff. Wade and Peroxide Jim were struggling to reach the very front of the herd to turn it away from the edge.

C. CORRECT. The phrase “bore down the flank of the herd” from paragraph 13 conveys the overwhelming strength of the herd. The herd was forcing Wade toward the cliff. The wording in the quotation emphasizes the immediate danger of the situation and conveys the idea that Wade and Peroxide Jim were almost forced over the edge of the precipice by the stampeding herd.

D. Incorrect. The phrase “bore down the flank of the herd” (paragraph 13) does not indicate anything about the fear felt by the herd. The phrase is about Wade’s position between the edge of the stampeding herd and the drop-off. Wade was aware of the danger the herd was in if he and Peroxide Jim could not turn the cattle from the edge.

Question analysis

This vocabulary-in-context question quotes a sentence from paragraph 13 of “The Spirit of the Herd,” at the height of the stampede, and asks what the phrase “bore down the flank of the herd” conveys about Wade. Students need the meaning of “bore down” and “flank” as they are used here. Some choices describe real moments of the stampede, so students must stick to what this phrase shows.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L4a context clues
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Working out a phrase’s meaning from its sentence is routine grade 7 work. The words “bore down” and “flank” are less common, but the full sentence is quoted with the question, so the task stays within one sentence.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 3, 94 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

Once the sentence is untangled, the herd pressing in on the left and the cliff on the right, the answer is a picture of Wade squeezed between them. The trouble is the word order and the phrase itself: students who read “bore down” as speed think about keeping pace, and those who recall the darkness of the paragraph before pick a detail this sentence never mentions.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The sentence is inverted: “the flank of the herd” is the subject of “bore down,” placed after its verb, so a quick reader may think Wade bore down along the herd instead. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
Both “flank,” the side of the herd, and “bore down,” pressed in hard, are uncommon in this sense, and the stem asks about exactly those words. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Read the whole quoted sentence rather than the phrase alone, picture the scene it describes, and pick what this sentence itself shows about Wade.

Traps

Dictionary meaning, not meaning here: A common meaning of the word that does not fit its use in this text.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Recalls from paragraph 12 that Wade could not tell how many cattle were ahead of him, which is true there, but this sentence says nothing about what he could see.
B Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Takes “bore down” in its sense of rushing forward and gives the speed to Wade, when in this sentence it is the herd’s flank pressing in on his left.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Assumes the cliff would scare the cattle, but they are “water-mad” and ready to go over the edge, and the phrase describes Wade’s position, not their fear.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what the phrase “bore down the flank of the herd” shows about Wade. To answer, read the whole sentence, not just the phrase.
Learn the hard words
A flank is the side of an animal or of a group. To bear down, here “bore down,” means to press in hard on something. A precipice is a cliff, a very steep drop.
Untangle the sentence
The sentence puts its words in an unusual order. In everyday order it would say: The flank of the herd bore down close on their left. So the side of the herd pushed in on Wade and his horse from the left. On the right, “under their very feet, was a precipice.”
Picture where Wade is
Wade is squeezed. Thousands of running cattle press in on one side. A 300-foot drop sits on the other side. He has no room to move away from either one. He is forced to ride in the narrow space between the herd and the cliff edge.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. Paragraph 12 says he could not tell how many cattle were ahead, but this sentence is about the sides.
- B does not fit. Here the herd does the bearing down, not Wade.
- C fits. He rides between the herd and the cliff.
- D does not fit. The cattle were “water-mad,” ready to go over the edge. Nothing says the cliff scared them.
Choose the answer
The phrase shows the herd pushing Wade toward the edge. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because “bore down” can mean rushing forward fast. But in this sentence the herd does the bearing down, not Wade. The herd presses in from the left while the cliff waits on the right. That squeeze is what C describes.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 32 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 45 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 45, question 32.

Question 4 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 33

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd””.

Question

Read these sentences from the excerpt.

He was riding to turn the herd, too, back from the rim, as the horse also knew. (paragraph 11)

It was Peroxide Jim’s, according to Wade, for not by word or by touch of hand or knee had the horse been directed in the run. (paragraph 16)

How do these sentences develop a central idea in the excerpt?

AThey suggest that Wade would have been unable to save the herd without Peroxide Jim.
BThey imply that Wade spent many hours training Peroxide Jim to herd cattle.
CThey show that Peroxide Jim was able to understand a situation and take action.
DThey indicate that Peroxide Jim was unafraid of the dangers presented by the stampede and the cliff.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the sentences from paragraph 11 and paragraph 16 develop a central idea in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. While Peroxide Jim’s presence was critical to saving the herd, the details in paragraph 11 and paragraph 16 do not focus on this idea. The primary idea is that the horse was so intelligent and aware that he acted on his own.

B. Incorrect. The excerpt does not tell who trained Peroxide Jim. It can be inferred that Peroxide Jim had been well trained and was knowledgeable of working cattle; however, there is no indication that Wade was the person who trained Peroxide Jim, only that Wade knew of Peroxide Jim’s abilities, respected the skilled horse, and was “saving this horse for emergency work” (paragraph 1). Because the reader cannot infer from the excerpt that Wade was the trainer, this idea cannot be considered central to the excerpt.

C. CORRECT. Wade recognized that Peroxide Jim knew to turn the herd without any instruction from him. Throughout the excerpt, Wade exhibited confidence in his horse, Peroxide Jim. For example, the narrator says that Wade’s “faith in Peroxide Jim was complete” in paragraph 2. After Wade let go of the reins (paragraph 12), the horse took over, doing exactly what needed to be done to save Wade, the herd, and himself: “a big white steer, which the horse, with marvelous instinct, seemed to pick out from a bunch, and to cling to, forcing him gradually ahead, till, cutting him free from the bunch entirely, he bore him off into the swishing sage” (paragraph 14).

D. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 11 and the sentence from paragraph 16 show that Peroxide Jim acted skillfully and with the knowledge that the ride was dangerous (“Wade was riding for his life. He knew it. His horse knew it” [paragraph 11]). Neither sentence indicates whether Peroxide Jim was afraid. The excerpt does say, later in paragraph 16, that the horse turned the herd “without a false step or a tremor of fear,” but these two sentences focus on his awareness of the danger and his ability to act on his own, not on his lack of fear.

Question analysis

This question quotes two sentences from “The Spirit of the Herd,” one from the middle of the stampede and one from its end, and asks how together they develop a central idea of the excerpt. Students must see what the two sentences share and connect it to the story as a whole. Each choice sounds reasonable for this story, which makes the exact wording of the two sentences decisive.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 central-idea questions usually ask about one paragraph or the whole text. Here students must find what two sentences five paragraphs apart have in common and link it to the excerpt’s central idea, among choices that all sound believable.
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: Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences moderate
Evidence in several places moderate
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 121 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: An inaccurate statement in the explanation 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

Each choice says something a reader could believe about this story, so the exact content of the two quoted sentences decides it. What they share is knowledge and independence: the horse knew the goal and ran the race undirected. Fearlessness is stated in the very next sentence of paragraph 16, which makes it easy to credit to these two, and the claim that Wade could not have managed alone sounds like a fair summary of the ending.

Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Neither sentence says the horse understood; that has to be read from “as the horse also knew” and from the race being his because he was not directed “by word or by touch.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The second sentence is an inverted negative passive, “not by word or by touch of hand or knee had the horse been directed,” and the first tucks its point into a trailing clause. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The two sentences sit five paragraphs apart, and the detail that tempts students most, “without a false step or a tremor of fear,” follows the second one in paragraph 16. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Note what the two quoted sentences have in common, then pick the option that states that shared point, making sure it comes from these sentences and not from elsewhere in the excerpt.

Traps

Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Goes a step past the sentences: the horse clearly mattered, but they stress what he knew and did on his own, not that Wade would have failed without him.
B Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Assumes a rider trains his own horse, a common idea, but the excerpt never says who trained Peroxide Jim, and these sentences stress what he did undirected.
D Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Draws on “without a false step or a tremor of fear,” which comes after the quoted sentence in paragraph 16; the two sentences show his understanding, not his courage.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option D says “There is no indication that Peroxide Jim was not afraid; in fact, it is likely the awareness of the danger and the fear associated with that knowledge contributed to the horse’s motivation to turn the herd.” Paragraph 16 says the opposite: the horse turned the herd “without a false step or a tremor of fear” (the handbook’s explanation of question 29 cites these words as his mental toughness). The site now says that neither of the two quoted sentences indicates whether Peroxide Jim was afraid, which is still why Option D is wrong: they focus on his awareness of the danger and his ability to act on his own.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what two quoted sentences have in common and how they build a central idea, the main idea of the excerpt. Focus on what these two sentences say, not on other parts of the story.
Read the first sentence
Paragraph 11 says “He was riding to turn the herd, too, back from the rim, as the horse also knew.” To turn the herd is to make it change direction. The words “as the horse also knew” mean the horse understood the goal too.
Read the second sentence
Paragraph 16 says the race was the horse’s, “for not by word or by touch of hand or knee had the horse been directed in the run.” Directed means told where to go. Riders guide a horse with their voice, their hands on the reins and their knees. Wade did none of that. The horse ran the race on his own.
Put the two together
Both sentences show the same thing. The horse understood what was happening. Then he acted on his own, with no one telling him what to do. This builds the central idea that Peroxide Jim is a smart horse who saves the herd by himself.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. The sentences do not say whether Wade could have done it alone. They focus on what the horse knew and did.
- B does not fit. The excerpt never says who trained the horse.
- C fits. The horse understood the situation and took action.
- D does not fit. The horse was fearless, but neither quoted sentence says so.
Choose the answer
The two sentences show a horse that understood the danger and acted on his own. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice, because the horse really was fearless. But that comes from a later sentence in paragraph 16: “without a false step or a tremor of fear.” The two quoted sentences say nothing about fear. They show that the horse knew the goal and acted with no one guiding him. That is C.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 33 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 46 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 46, question 33. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 5 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 34

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd””.

Question

How do the details in paragraphs 14–16 help convey a central idea of the excerpt?

AThey highlight Peroxide Jim’s natural ability to control the herd.
BThey emphasize the danger of the situation from which Peroxide Jim rescued the herd.
CThey show that Peroxide Jim’s physical strength allowed him to force the herd to turn.
DThey indicate that Peroxide Jim anticipated the herd’s stampede before the men did.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the details in paragraphs 14–16 help convey a central idea of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. Paragraphs 14–16 describe how Peroxide Jim’s “marvelous instinct” headed off the herd and drove it away from the cliff. Wade acknowledged that without his instruction, Peroxide Jim knew to find the leader of the herd, cut him off from the rest of the herd, and then lead him to safety, confident that the remainder of the herd would follow. Paragraph 16 confirms this: “Whose race was it? It was Peroxide Jim’s, according to Wade, for not by word or by touch of hand or knee had the horse been directed in the run.” This reinforces a central idea of the excerpt regarding the horse’s amazing intellect and ability.

B. Incorrect. Although paragraphs 14–16 mention the “rim,” the “cliffs,” and the “indescribably perilous path,” these details are not the focus of the paragraphs. They are descriptions of the setting where Peroxide Jim’s able and effective actions saved the stampeding herd, and it is these actions that are the central idea being conveyed.

C. Incorrect. Although Peroxide Jim is called “powerful” in paragraph 1, his physical strength is neither a central idea of the excerpt nor the focus of paragraphs 14–16. His success at turning the herd was attributed to his intellect and instinct, not his physical strength.

D. Incorrect. The excerpt does not suggest that Peroxide Jim anticipated the herd’s stampede before the men did. In fact, the excerpt indicates that Wade led the men in singing to cover sudden noises that might cause the herd to stampede, indicating that Wade was alert to that possibility. Paragraph 7 also indicates that Wade anticipated the stampede, as he “checked his horse instantly” and “tightened [his] grip on the reins” as soon as he smelled water on the wind and heard the low rumbling of the herd that preceded the lightning strike. The narrator notes Wade’s actions well before the horse’s actions. Paragraphs 14–16 describe how Peroxide Jim acted after the stampede began.

Question analysis

This central-idea question asks how the details in the last three paragraphs of “The Spirit of the Herd,” where the stampede is finally turned away from the cliff, help convey a central idea. Students must decide what those details mainly show about Peroxide Jim. Several choices touch on something real in the story, so the paragraphs’ main emphasis decides it.

NYS standards: 7R2 theme or central idea
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Linking a passage’s final paragraphs to its central idea is a familiar grade 7 task. Paragraphs 14–16 are short and vivid, but several choices mention something those paragraphs touch on, so students must judge what the details mainly emphasize.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: How, not what moderate
The right answer is reworded minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 66 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: Details in the explanation that are not in the excerpt were 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 three paragraphs mix danger with skill, so a choice about danger can quote them and still miss what they emphasize. The detail that carries the central idea is that no word or touch directed the horse: he picked out the lead steer himself and the herd followed. Students who remember that Peroxide Jim was called “powerful” credit his strength, and a few reverse the order of events, putting his reaction before Wade’s.

How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks what the details in paragraphs 14–16 do, so students must see that the rim and the “perilous path” are background and the horse’s choices are the point. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer
The right choice calls the horse’s skill a “natural ability,” a plain paraphrase of “marvelous instinct,” while a wrong choice repeats the danger words the paragraphs use. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 14 tells how the horse turns the herd in one 50-word sentence full of commas, “which the horse, with marvelous instinct, seemed to pick out from a bunch, and to cling to.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Note what paragraphs 14–16 mostly focus on, then test each choice by asking whether it names that focus or only a detail mentioned along the way.

Traps

True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
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.
Reversed relationship: Cause and effect, or the order of events, turned around.

The wrong answers, classified

B True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Notices the “rim,” the “cliffs” and the “indescribably perilous path,” but these details set the scene; the paragraphs dwell on how the horse turned the herd.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Gets right that the horse turned the herd, perhaps recalling “powerful” from paragraph 1, but the paragraphs credit his “marvelous instinct,” not his strength.
D Reversed relationship (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Puts the horse’s reaction before the men’s, but Wade sensed trouble in paragraph 7 when the wind changed, and the horse took the bit only at the lightning.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option D says Wade reacted “as soon as he smelled the rain and heard the low rumble of thunder that preceded the lightning strike.” The excerpt has no rain and no thunder. In paragraph 6 Wade catches “a breath of fresh, moist wind with the taste of water in it,” and in paragraph 7 the rumbling comes “from their hoarse throats,” the cattle’s; that rumbling is what “tightened Wade’s grip on the reins.” The site now says “as soon as he smelled water on the wind and heard the low rumbling of the herd that preceded the lightning strike.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how the details in paragraphs 14 to 16 help show a central idea, a main idea of the excerpt. What do these last three paragraphs mostly focus on?
Read paragraphs 14 to 16
In paragraph 14, the horse, “with marvelous instinct, seemed to pick out from a bunch” a big white steer. Paragraph 15 says “The steers coming on close behind followed their leader.” Paragraph 16 says the race was the horse’s, “for not by word or by touch of hand or knee had the horse been directed in the run.”
Work out what the details show
An instinct is a natural sense of what to do, without being taught or told. A steer is one of the cattle. The horse picked out one big steer and pushed it off into the sage, away from the cliff. The rest followed it as their leader. No one guided the horse. So the horse controlled the whole herd using his own natural skill.
Check each choice
- A fits. The details show the horse’s natural ability to control the herd.
- B does not fit. The “rim” and the “cliffs” set the scene. The focus is how the horse turned the herd.
- C does not fit. The horse does not overpower the herd. He picks the leader, and the others follow.
- D does not fit. In paragraph 7, Wade sensed trouble first. The cattle’s rumbling “tightened Wade’s grip on the reins.” The horse took charge only “From the flash of the lightning.”
Choose the answer
The last three paragraphs show the horse’s natural skill at turning the herd. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because the paragraphs do mention the rim and a “perilous,” or dangerous, path. But the danger is the background. The paragraphs mostly show what the horse did: he chose the lead steer and turned the herd with no one guiding him. That natural skill is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 34 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 47 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 47, question 34. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 6 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 36

Passage Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park

Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park

During the first half of the 19th century, Lowell, Massachusetts, quickly transformed itself from a farm town to a bustling industrial city. In time, Lowell became a model of industry, gaining global recognition for its state-of-the-art technology, innovative canal and dam system, mill architecture, boardinghouses, churches, and ethnic neighborhoods. Young Yankee women, immigrant families, and European tourists all flocked to Lowell to find work at one of the many textile mills, or visit the industrious city that was becoming a popular tourist destination. As one Scottish traveler observed during his visit to America, “Niagara and Lowell are the two objects I will longest remember in my American journey, the one the glory of American scenery, the other of American industry.” Today, Lowell National Historical Park welcomes visitors to enjoy the sights of Lowell and learn about the history of one of America’s most significant industrial cities.

The Boston merchants who founded Lowell in 1821 and named it after Francis Cabot Lowell chose to locate the town along Massachusetts’s Merrimack River to take advantage of the kinetic energy offered by the Pawtucket waterfalls. Over six miles of canals powered the waterwheels of Lowell’s mills, whose massive five- and six-story brick buildings dominated the city’s landscape. . . . The most recognized of these buildings are the Lowell Manufacturing Company chartered in 1821, the Suffolk or Wannalancit Mill completed around the 1880s, the Boott Mill Company established in 1835, and the Boott Mill Boardinghouse that opened in 1838. By the 1850s, 40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers stretched for about a mile along the river. . . .

The city’s female workforce was significant in the history of Lowell. From the early to mid-1800s, women left the constricted lifestyle of small rural towns and rural areas for independent industrial city life. Most were young single Yankee girls, who were tired of the limited opportunities offered by their domestic work. Women found that Lowell’s mills offered monthly wages for their services and provided them room and board. Although these women gained economic independence in Lowell, the mill boardinghouse keepers constantly supervised their social activities, for which they hardly had any time, considering their daily 12- to 14-hour work schedules. At the end of the day, the factory bell signaled the “mill girls” to return to their boardinghouses. They were expected to adhere to the strict code of conduct respecting curfew and attending church.

Yankee “mill girls” continued to dominate the Lowell workforce until the 1840s, when the city began to find it difficult to compete with the growing industrial development in other New England communities. As profits fell, the mill industry cut wages. These wage cuts, deteriorating working conditions, and long workdays led the “mill girls” to protest and organize strikes. When their demands went unheard, the women left Lowell, and immigrant groups replaced them in the workforce. Despite the low wages and unhealthy work conditions, immigrants were eager to find work.

The immigrants replacing the Yankee “mill girls” during the 1840s were predominantly Irish Catholics, who traveled to America during the Great Potato Famine. Although Lowell received an influx of Irish families during this time, the Irish were a part of the city’s history from its birth, and before the “mill girls” arrived, they built Lowell’s historic canals, mills, and boardinghouses. Initially, Lowell’s Protestant community was slow to welcome Irish immigrants, but the hostility between Yankee Protestants and Irish Catholics eventually disappeared. Irish immigrants dominated the industrial scene until the Civil War, when other immigrant groups began to work in the city mills.

Like the Irish, the French-Canadians, Greeks, Poles, Portuguese, Russian Jews, and Armenians who came to work in Lowell’s mills faced long work hours, low wages, and poor living conditions in the city’s crowded tenements. By the time Lowell’s industry declined, the city had become an ethnic melting pot, where each group claimed its own distinct neighborhood, like the Irish immigrants’ “New Dublin” or “Acre,” and the French-Canadians’ “Little Canada.” The city officially began to close down its mills in the 1920s and ’30s after Lowell’s outdated mills could no longer compete against the state-of-the-art cotton mills in other communities and working conditions continued to decline as Lowell’s companies stopped reinvesting in their mills. . . . Despite a brief resurgence during World War II, the city shut down its last surviving mill by the mid-1950s.

From “Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park”—Public Domain/National Park Service

Yankee: native to New England
Niagara: a town in northwestern New York State well known as the location of Niagara Falls, a series of waterfalls on the Canadian border
domestic work: household duties like cooking and cleaning

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 1.

As one Scottish traveler observed during his visit to America, “Niagara and Lowell are the two objects I will longest remember in my American journey, the one the glory of American scenery, the other of American industry.”

The author most likely includes the quotation from the Scottish traveler in order to

Asuggest that people around the world saw the direct contribution of nature and industry to the United States.
Bcompare the natural and industrial attractions in the United States at that time.
Cconvey the idea that the United States offered both natural and industrial attractions.
Dimply that the natural resources in the United States contributed to the development of industry.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks why the author most likely includes the quotation from the Scottish traveler in paragraph 1 of the passage.

A. Incorrect. While it is likely that people outside the United States recognized that both the natural landscape and the bustling industry were significant, the quotation from the Scottish traveler is meant to convey the variety of the types of attractions in the U.S., not to make a general statement about their contribution.

B. Incorrect. The Scottish traveler mentions both “American scenery” and “American industry” in the quotation, but the intent is to highlight that they are each points of interest. The quotation does not provide a comparison of the two attractions.

C. CORRECT. The quotation emphasizes the idea that the United States offers different attractions. The Scottish traveler highlights the two places in the United States that he will most remember: first, the beautiful natural formation of Niagara Falls (“ ‘the glory of American scenery’ ”) and second, the industrial city of Lowell (“ ‘the glory . . . of American industry’ ”).

D. Incorrect. The Scottish traveler mentions both “American scenery” and “American industry” in the quotation but does not imply that the natural resources contributed to the development of industry.

Question analysis

This reading question asks why the author of a National Park Service article about Lowell, Massachusetts, quotes a Scottish traveler who named Niagara and Lowell as the sights he would remember longest from his American journey. Students must work out the job a quotation does in an opening paragraph, and the traveler's compressed, old-fashioned wording has to be untangled first.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Grade 7 readers regularly explain why an author includes a quotation. This one adds a sentence in older English built on a compressed “the one…, the other…” pattern, but it is a single sentence in a plainly organized opening paragraph, so the demand stays typical.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: A very close wrong answer moderate
How, not what moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 115 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

Most of the work is translating the traveler's compressed remark into plain words: Niagara stands for American scenery, Lowell for American industry, and both are high points of his trip. Students who see the two placed side by side often take the pairing for a comparison, while others read more into it, a worldwide verdict or a link between waterfalls and mills. The question rewards stating only what the remark does in the paragraph, which is to set Lowell beside Niagara as a sight worth the journey.

A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The comparison choice names the same pair as the key, Niagara's scenery and Lowell's industry; it differs only in the verb, “compare” instead of conveying that the country offered both kinds of attraction. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
How, not what moderate Working it out
The stem asks why the author placed the traveler's remark in paragraph 1, so its job, backing the sentence before it about tourists visiting the industrious city, matters more than its content. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 37-word sentence ends in the compressed, old-fashioned “the one the glory of American scenery, the other of American industry,” where the verb and the second “glory” are left out. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Put the traveler's remark into plain modern words, reread the sentence before it about who came to Lowell, and pick the purpose that fits both without reading more into the remark than it says.

Traps

Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.

The wrong answers, classified

A Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Stretches one Scottish visitor's memory into what “people around the world” saw, perhaps from the paragraph's “global recognition,” and adds a “direct contribution” that the remark never claims.
B Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Takes the remark's side-by-side pattern, “the one … the other,” for a comparison, though the traveler weighs neither against the other and simply names each as a highlight.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Connects Niagara's waterfalls to the Pawtucket falls that powered Lowell's mills in paragraph 2, a link between nature and industry that the traveler's remark never draws.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This question asks about the author’s purpose. You need to say why the author put the Scottish traveler’s words into paragraph 1. Don’t just restate what he says. Ask what job his words do in the paragraph.
Find the quotation and its neighbor
The traveler’s words are in paragraph 1: “Niagara and Lowell are the two objects I will longest remember in my American journey.” He ends with “the one the glory of American scenery, the other of American industry.” Now look at the sentence just before it. It says European tourists came to “visit the industrious city that was becoming a popular tourist destination.”
Put his words in plain English
The old-fashioned ending leaves words out. “The one” means the first place he named, Niagara. “The other” means the second place, Lowell. Glory means the finest thing, the pride. Industry means factories and the work done in them. So he is saying: Niagara Falls is the best of America’s natural beauty, and Lowell is the best of its industry. Both are the sights he will remember longest.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. One visitor is not “people around the world.” He also never says nature or industry made a “direct contribution” to the country.
- B is wrong. He names the two places side by side, but he never weighs one against the other.
- C is right. He names a natural wonder and an industrial wonder as the two highlights of his trip. So America offered both kinds of attraction.
- D is wrong. He never says nature helped industry grow. The waterfalls that powered the mills come up in paragraph 2, not in his words.
Watch out: “The one” and “the other” set the two places side by side. That can feel like a comparison, which leads to B. But he praises both. He does not compare them.
Choose the answer
The author uses the quotation to show that America had two kinds of sights worth the trip: natural ones like Niagara and industrial ones like Lowell. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. It names the same pair, nature and industry. But to compare is to show how two things are alike or different. The traveler doesn’t do that. He simply names Niagara and Lowell as two highlights. C says just that: the country offered both kinds of attraction.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 36 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 51 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 51, question 36.

The passage “Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park” as printed (page 50)

The passage “Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park” as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.

Question 7 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 37

Uses the passage above: “Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park”.

Question

A central idea that Lowell was “one of America’s most significant industrial cities” (paragraph 1) is conveyed in the passage primarily through a description of the

Acanals, mills, and boardinghouses that were built by immigrants.
Bmill girls and immigrants who comprised Lowell’s workforce.
Cdevelopment of the mills and the workforce established to support them.
Dcultural diversity of the people who lived in the area.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks which description conveys the central idea that Lowell was “one of America’s most significant industrial cities” (paragraph 1).

A. Incorrect. While the passage does state that the city’s canals, mills, and boardinghouses were built by early immigrants from Ireland, these details do not contribute to the development of the overall idea that Lowell was a significant industrial city.

B. Incorrect. The details about the women and immigrants who worked in the mills are important to the passage, but these details alone do not show that Lowell was a significant industrial city.

C. CORRECT. The details throughout the passage about the development of the mills and the people who worked in them convey the significance of Lowell in early American industry. Paragraph 2 shares details about the businesses that started in the 1800s and contributed to the development of industry in the region (“The most recognized of these buildings are the Lowell Manufacturing Company chartered in 1821, the Suffolk or Wannalancit Mill completed around the 1880s, the Boott Mill Company established in 1835, and the Boott Mill Boardinghouse that opened in 1838”). Then paragraphs 3–6 provide specific details about the people who worked in the mills at different points in time.

D. Incorrect. Although the passage references Lowell’s culturally diverse community (“Young Yankee women, immigrant families, and European tourists all flocked to Lowell to find work at one of the many textile mills” [paragraph 1]), these groups alone are not what marked Lowell as a significant industrial city.

Question analysis

This central idea question asks which kind of description in an article about the Massachusetts mill city of Lowell does most to show that it was one of America's most significant industrial cities. Students need a map of all six paragraphs, because every choice names something the passage really describes, and the question turns on which description does the main work.

NYS standards: 7R2 theme or central idea
7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students trace how a central idea is developed, usually through a few supporting details. Here the strands to weigh run through six dense paragraphs of dates, mills and worker groups, and the stem is long and passive, so it asks more than typical.
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: A very close wrong answer major
Evidence in several places moderate
A lot to read minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from the whole text
Reading level: Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 63 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A grammatical error in the explanation was corrected.
An inaccurate detail in the explanation 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

Every choice names something the passage really describes, so truth rules nothing out; the question turns on which description carries the claim that Lowell mattered as an industrial city. Because four of the six paragraphs follow the workers, the workforce alone looks like the passage's main thread, and students who forget paragraph 2's mills take the half for the whole. Diversity and the immigrant builders are real themes too, but neither says anything about Lowell's industrial standing.

A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer
The workforce choice is the key with one half removed: both describe the people who worked the mills, but only the key also names the development of the mills, which paragraph 2 builds with dates and numbers. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The industrial picture is built in two stages, the canals and mills of paragraph 2 and the successive workforces of paragraphs 3 to 6, so each choice must be measured against the whole passage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
A lot to read minor Understanding the question
Six paragraphs pack in mill names, dates from 1821 to the 1950s and a string of worker groups, from Yankee mill girls to Irish, French-Canadian and Greek immigrants. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The stem is a long passive sentence that quotes paragraph 1 inside it and holds the real question, “primarily through a description of the,” until its last words. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Note in a phrase what each of the six paragraphs is about, then test each choice against the stem's claim: would that description make a reader see Lowell as a major industrial city?

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.
True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Seizes on paragraph 5's clause that Irish workers built the canals, mills and boardinghouses, one fact about construction rather than the account of mills and workers that shows Lowell's importance.
B Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Sees that paragraphs 3 to 6 follow the mill girls and the immigrants who replaced them, but leaves out the mills themselves, the heart of paragraph 2's industrial picture.
D True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Recalls paragraph 6's “ethnic melting pot” and paragraph 1's “ethnic neighborhoods,” which are real, but the city's diversity says nothing about its standing as an industrial city.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option B says “The details about the women and immigrants who worked in the mills is important to the passage.” The subject is “details,” so the site now says “are important.”
Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option C says paragraph 2 describes “the businesses that started in the early 1800s,” but the sentence it then quotes includes “the Suffolk or Wannalancit Mill completed around the 1880s,” late in the century. The site now says “the businesses that started in the 1800s.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a central idea question. A central idea is a main point that the whole passage builds. The point here is that Lowell was “one of America’s most significant industrial cities.” Significant means important. You need the description that does the most to show this.
Map the six paragraphs
- Paragraph 1: Lowell grows from a farm town into a famous industrial city.
- Paragraph 2: The mills: canals, huge brick buildings, mills started across the 1800s, and by the 1850s, “40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers.”
- Paragraphs 3 and 4: The Yankee “mill girls” who worked in the mills.
- Paragraphs 5 and 6: The Irish and other immigrants who took their place.
See how the picture is built
The passage shows Lowell’s importance in two parts. First it describes the mills: how they were built and how big they grew. Then it follows the workers who ran them, group after group. Together, the mills and the workforce show a major industrial city. Workforce means all the people who do the work. Either part alone tells only half the story.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Paragraph 5 does say the Irish built the canals, mills and boardinghouses. But that is one fact in one sentence, not the main description.
- B is wrong. The mill girls and immigrants fill paragraphs 3 to 6. But this choice leaves out the mills themselves, the heart of paragraph 2.
- C is right. It covers both parts: how the mills grew and the workers who kept them running.
- D is wrong. Lowell did become an “ethnic melting pot.” But a mix of cultures doesn’t show that a city was an industrial leader.
Watch out: Four of the six paragraphs are about workers, so B looks like the main thread. It is only half of it.
Choose the answer
The central idea is carried by the growth of the mills plus the workforce gathered to run them. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. It matches the second half of C, the people who worked in the mills. But it drops the mills, with their six miles of canals and, by the 1850s, 40 mills. Workers alone don’t make a city an industrial giant. C keeps both halves, so it fits the whole passage.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 37 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 52 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 52, question 37. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 8 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 40

Uses the passage above: “Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.

Although Lowell received an influx of Irish families during this time, the Irish were a part of the city’s history from its birth, and before the “mill girls” arrived, they built Lowell’s historic canals, mills, and boardinghouses.

How does this sentence contribute to the development of ideas in the passage?

AIt implies that Lowell was founded by early Irish immigrants.
BIt emphasizes the important role Irish immigrants played in Lowell’s history.
CIt suggests that the new Irish immigrants were readily accepted into the community.
DIt highlights the working relationship between the mill girls and the new Irish immigrants.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the sentence in paragraph 5 contributes to the development of ideas in the passage.

A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 5 does not imply that Lowell was founded by early Irish immigrants. The sentence explains how Irish immigrants had been settling in Lowell since the city was established and that they contributed to the construction of the city, which allowed it to become an industrial center several decades later.

B. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 5 shows that early Irish immigrants were critical to the success of Lowell as an industrial city. This information supports the development of the idea that the work of Irish immigrants and immigrants from other places is an important element in the historical significance of industry in Lowell.

C. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 5 does not suggest that new Irish immigrants were readily accepted into the community. Paragraph 5 states that “initially, Lowell’s Protestant community was slow to welcome Irish immigrants, but the hostility between Yankee Protestants and Irish Catholics eventually disappeared.”

D. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 5 does not highlight the relationship between the mill girls and the new Irish immigrants. Paragraph 4 explains how the mill girls left Lowell, and paragraph 5 states that the mill girls were replaced by “predominantly Irish Catholics, who traveled to America during the Great Potato Famine” but does not discuss a relationship between them.

Question analysis

This question quotes a sentence from paragraph 5 of the Lowell article about Irish families, who arrived in large numbers in the 1840s but had been part of the city since its birth. Students explain how the sentence contributes to the development of the passage's ideas, and because it packs several groups and periods into one line, they must keep straight who did what and when.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how one sentence develops a passage's ideas is a core grade 7 skill. The sentence is long but its meaning is direct, and the text around it settles most of the choices, so the demand is typical.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences minor
Evidence in several places minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 103 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

Once the long sentence is untangled, its point is plain: the Irish were in Lowell from the start and built its canals, mills and boardinghouses. The likeliest slip is reading “from its birth” as founding the city, which paragraph 2 credits to Boston merchants. The other wrong choices invent a welcome or a partnership that the surrounding sentences contradict or never mention, so a quick check of paragraph 5 settles them.

Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 37-word sentence moves through three times at once, the influx “during this time,” the city's birth and the years before the mill girls arrived, so who did what and when must be sorted out. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Evidence in several places minor Working it out
Ruling out the founding choice needs paragraph 2's “Boston merchants who founded Lowell,” and ruling out a warm welcome needs the next sentence's “slow to welcome Irish immigrants.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Put the quoted sentence into your own words, then check each choice against the sentences around it in paragraph 5 and against what earlier paragraphs say about the city's beginnings.

Traps

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.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

A Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads “part of the city's history from its birth” and building the canals as founding the city, though paragraph 2 says Boston merchants founded Lowell in 1821.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals a slip Expected pull: weak
Remembers that the hostility toward Irish Catholics “eventually disappeared” and overlooks “Initially, … slow to welcome,” turning a gradual change into a ready acceptance.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Sees the Irish and the mill girls named in one sentence and assumes they worked side by side, a relationship the passage never describes; the Irish later replaced them.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This structure question asks what one sentence adds to the passage’s ideas. First you need to understand the sentence. It is long and jumps between three times, so take it apart piece by piece.
Break the sentence into parts
The sentence is in paragraph 5. Here are its three parts:
- “Although Lowell received an influx of Irish families during this time”: an influx is a big wave of people arriving, and “this time” means the 1840s.
- “the Irish were a part of the city’s history from its birth”: its birth means the city’s very beginning.
- “they built Lowell’s historic canals, mills, and boardinghouses”: this happened before the mill girls came.
Say it in your own words
Put together, the sentence says: Many Irish families came in the 1840s, but the Irish had been in Lowell from the start. They built its canals, mills and boardinghouses. Without those canals and mills, there would be no industrial city. So the sentence shows how much the Irish mattered to Lowell’s story.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Being there “from its birth” is not the same as founding the city. Paragraph 2 names the founders: “The Boston merchants who founded Lowell in 1821.”
- B is right. The Irish were there from the start and built the city’s mills and canals. That is an important role.
- C is wrong. The very next sentence says “Lowell’s Protestant community was slow to welcome Irish immigrants.” So they were not readily, or easily, accepted.
- D is wrong. The passage never says the Irish and the mill girls worked together. Later, the Irish replaced them.
Watch out: “From its birth” can sound like they started the city, which leads to A. Check paragraph 2 to see who founded Lowell.
Choose the answer
The sentence makes clear that the Irish helped build Lowell from its first days. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because the sentence links the Irish to the city’s “birth.” But being part of a city from the start is different from founding it. Boston merchants founded Lowell. The Irish built its canals and mills. B fits, because it names that important role without stretching it.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 40 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 55 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 55, question 40.

Question 9 of 70

2026 Practice Test A English, question 42

Uses the passage above: “Massachusetts: Lowell National Historical Park”.

Question

The reason Lowell lost its status as an industrial leader is best illustrated through the

Adescription of poor living and working conditions.
Bexplanation for why some immigrant groups struggled to live together.
Ccomparison with other mills that used modern methods.
Dinformation about the mills opening temporarily during World War II.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the reason that best illustrates why Lowell lost its status as an industrial leader.

A. Incorrect. While the passage discusses the “long work hours, low wages, and poor living conditions in the city’s crowded tenements” (paragraph 6) in Lowell, these details highlight the living and working conditions of immigrant groups. The author does not state that poor living and working conditions are the reason Lowell lost its status as a “model of industry.”

B. Incorrect. Paragraph 5 in the passage acknowledges that there was some tension between the different ethnic and religious groups in Lowell, but this idea is not what led to Lowell’s decline as a “model of industry.”

C. CORRECT. When Lowell was initially established, the mills in the city thrived because of their advanced manufacturing methods (“gaining global recognition for its state-of-the-art technology, innovative canal and dam system, [and] mill architecture” [paragraph 1]). However, manufacturing technology changed and improved over time, and many mill owners chose to close the mills rather than modernize them, resulting in Lowell’s loss of status as a “model of industry” (“The city officially began to close down its mills in the 1920s and ’30s after Lowell’s outdated mills could no longer compete against the state-of-the-art cotton mills in other communities” [paragraph 6]).

D. Incorrect. The details about the temporary revival of the mills during World War II do not show why Lowell is no longer considered a “model of industry.” The mills were used briefly during wartime because of an increased need for supplies, but this use of the mills was short-lived.

Question analysis

Why did Lowell lose its place as an industrial leader, a decline that ended with its last mill closing by the mid-1950s? This evidence question asks which part of the article best illustrates the reason, so students must find where the passage explains the cause and match it to a choice worded in general terms, while other late details compete for attention.

NYS standards: 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Using a text to explain a cause is typical grade 7 work. The reason is stated directly near the end of the passage, but the choices name it in abstract terms, so a careful match is needed, as in ordinary grade 7 reading.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
What makes it hard: The right answer is reworded moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence in several places minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 50 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 reason is stated, but in a sentence that pairs it with worsening working conditions, and conditions get far more space in the passage, from paragraph 4's wage cuts to paragraph 6's crowded tenements. Students who match the choices to familiar words land on the conditions, which the passage presents as a result of companies not reinvesting. The key has to be recognized in new wording, as a comparison with modern mills elsewhere.

The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The key's “comparison with other mills that used modern methods” rewords “could no longer compete against the state-of-the-art cotton mills,” while wrong choices repeat the text's “poor living conditions,” “working conditions” and “World War II.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 47-word sentence that gives the reason joins two clauses under one “after,” outdated mills that “could no longer compete” and working conditions that “continued to decline,” so both can look like causes. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Evidence in several places minor Working it out
The cause echoes earlier hints, paragraph 1's “state-of-the-art technology” and paragraph 4's trouble competing with “other New England communities,” which confirm that competition is the passage's explanation. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Find the sentence that tells why Lowell's mills shut down, restate the cause in your own words, then choose the description that matches that cause rather than a detail that merely appears nearby.

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.
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 Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Finds the sentence about the closings but takes its declining working conditions as the reason, though they follow from companies no longer reinvesting, the same neglect that left the mills outdated.
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Recasts paragraph 5's hostility between Yankee Protestants and Irish Catholics, which “eventually disappeared,” as a struggle among immigrant groups, though the passage never ties it to the decline.
D True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Picks the World War II detail because it belongs to the mills' last years, but a “brief resurgence” describes a short revival, not why Lowell fell behind.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This evidence question asks why Lowell lost its place as an industrial leader. First find where the passage gives the reason. Then pick the choice that matches it, even if it uses different words.
Find the reason in paragraph 6
Look near the end of the passage, where the mills close. Paragraph 6 says the city began to close its mills “after Lowell’s outdated mills could no longer compete against the state-of-the-art cotton mills in other communities.” This is the reason the passage gives.
Put the reason in plain words
Outdated means old-fashioned. State-of-the-art means the newest and best. To compete is to keep up with rivals. So mills in other places had newer machines, and Lowell’s old mills couldn’t keep up. That is a comparison: Lowell’s mills next to more modern mills elsewhere. It is a big change, too. In paragraph 1, Lowell was famous for its own “state-of-the-art technology.”
Rule out the working conditions
Choice A is the hard one to rule out. The same sentence says working conditions got worse “as Lowell’s companies stopped reinvesting in their mills.” Reinvesting means putting money back in, for repairs and new machines. Mills that get no new money also fall out of date. So the worse conditions came along with the decline. Falling behind modern mills elsewhere is what cost Lowell its lead. The passage’s longer descriptions of poor conditions, in paragraphs 4 and 6, tell how hard life was for workers. They don’t explain why the mills closed.
Check the other choices
- B is wrong. The passage tells of tension between Yankee Protestants and Irish Catholics, which “eventually disappeared.” It never links this to the mills closing.
- C is right. It matches the reason: Lowell’s mills fell behind more modern mills.
- D is wrong. The World War II “brief resurgence” was a short comeback. It doesn’t explain why Lowell fell behind.
Watch out: A repeats words from the passage, so it feels safe. But matching the words is not the same as matching the reason.
Choose the answer
The passage says Lowell’s outdated mills could not keep up with modern mills in other places. Choice C names that comparison. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because the closing sentence also says “working conditions continued to decline.” But the passage ties that to the companies no longer spending on their mills. A leader loses its place when others get ahead. C names that: other mills used modern methods, and Lowell’s did not.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 42 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 57 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 57, question 42.

Question 10 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 14

Passage Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown

Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown

by Robert W. Chambers

It was at that time the policy of the trustees and officers of the Zoological Gardens neither to employ collectors nor to send out expeditions in search of specimens. The society decided to depend upon voluntary contributions, and I was always busy, part of the day, in dictating answers to correspondents who wrote offering their services as hunters of big game, collectors of all sorts of fauna, trappers, snarers, and also to those who offered specimens for sale, usually at exorbitant rates.

To the proprietors of . . . mangy lynxes, moth-eaten coyotes, and dancing bears I returned courteous but uncompromising refusals—of course, first submitting all such letters, together with my replies, to Professor Farrago.

One day towards the end of May, however, just as I was leaving Bronx Park to return to town, Professor Lesard, of the reptilian department, called out to me that Professor Farrago wanted to see me a moment; so I . . . retraced my steps to the temporary, wooden building occupied by Professor Farrago, general superintendent of the Zoological Gardens. The professor, who was sitting at his desk before a pile of letters and replies submitted for approval by me, pushed his glasses down and looked over them at me with a whimsical smile that suggested amusement, impatience, annoyance, and perhaps a faint trace of apology.

“Now, here’s a letter,” he said, with a deliberate gesture towards a sheet of paper impaled on a file—“a letter that I suppose you remember.” He disengaged the sheet of paper and handed it to me.

“Oh yes,” I replied, with a shrug; “of course the man is mistaken—or—”

“Or what?” demanded Professor Farrago, tranquilly, wiping his glasses.

“—Or a liar,” I replied.

After a silence he leaned back in his chair and bade me read the letter to him again, and I did so with a contemptuous tolerance for the writer, who must have been either a very innocent victim or a very stupid swindler. I said as much to Professor Farrago, but, to my surprise, he appeared to waver.

“I suppose,” he said, with his near-sighted, embarrassed smile, “that nine hundred and ninety-nine men in a thousand would throw that letter aside and condemn the writer as a liar or a fool?”

“In my opinion,” said I, “he’s one or the other.”

“He isn’t—in mine,” said the professor, placidly.

“What!” I exclaimed. “Here is a man living all alone on a strip of rock and sand between the wilderness and the sea, who wants you to send somebody to take charge of a bird that doesn’t exist!”

“How do you know,” asked Professor Farrago, “that the bird in question does not exist?”

“It is generally accepted,” I replied, sarcastically, “that the great auk has been extinct for years. Therefore I may be pardoned for doubting that our correspondent possesses a pair of them alive.”

“Oh, you young fellows,” said the professor, smiling wearily, “you embark on a theory for destinations that don’t exist.”

He leaned back in his chair, his amused eyes searching space for the imagery that made him smile.

“Like swimming squirrels, you navigate with the help of Heaven and a stiff breeze, but you never land where you hope to—do you?”

Rather red in the face, I said: “Don’t you believe the great auk to be extinct?”

“Audubon saw the great auk.”

“Who has seen a single specimen since?”

“Nobody—except our correspondent here,” he replied, laughing.

I laughed, too, considering the interview at an end, but the professor went on, coolly:

“Whatever it is that our correspondent has—and I am daring to believe that it is the great auk itself—I want you to secure it for the society.”

When my astonishment subsided my first conscious sentiment was one of pity. Clearly, Professor Farrago was on the verge of dotage—ah, what a loss to the world!

I believe now that Professor Farrago perfectly interpreted my thoughts, but he betrayed neither resentment nor impatience. I drew a chair up beside his desk—there was nothing to do but to obey, and this fool’s errand was none of my conceiving.

Together we made out a list of articles necessary for me and itemized the expenses I might incur, and I set a date for my return, allowing no margin for a successful termination to the expedition.

“Never mind that,” said the professor. “What I want you to do is to get those birds here safely. Now, how many men will you take?”

“None,” I replied, bluntly; “it’s a useless expense, unless there is something to bring back. If there is I’ll wire you, you may be sure.”

“Very well,” said Professor Farrago, good-humoredly, “you shall have all the assistance you may require. Can you leave to-night?”

The old gentleman was certainly prompt. I nodded, half-sulkily, aware of his amusement.

“So,” I said, picking up my hat, “I am to start north to find a place called Black Harbor, where there is a man named Halyard who possesses, among other household utensils, two extinct great auks—”

We were both laughing by this time. I asked him why on earth he credited the assertion of a man he had never before heard of.

“I suppose,” he replied, with the same half-apologetic, half-humorous smile, “it is instinct. I feel, somehow, that this man Halyard has got an auk—perhaps two. I can’t get away from the idea that we are on the eve of acquiring the rarest of living creatures. It’s odd for a scientist to talk as I do; doubtless you’re shocked—admit it, now!”

But I was not shocked; on the contrary, I was conscious that the same strange hope that Professor Farrago cherished was beginning, in spite of me, to stir my pulses, too.

“If he has—” I began, then stopped.

The professor and I looked hard at each other in silence.

“Go on,” he said, encouragingly.

But I had nothing more to say, for the prospect of beholding with my own eyes a living specimen of the great auk produced a series of conflicting emotions within me which rendered speech profanely superfluous.

From IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN by Robert W. Chambers—Public Domain

Audubon: John James Audubon, an ornithologist and artist who created scientific illustrations of birds
dotage: a loss of reasoning brought about by old age

Question

Read paragraph 2 from the excerpt.

This paragraph helps develop the plot by establishing that the narrator

Adislikes writing refusal letters for the animals offered to the zoological society.
Battempts to predict what the professor would say in the refusal letters.
Cbelieves that many of the animals offered are not acceptable for the zoological society.
Dresents the professor’s insistence on reviewing the refusal letters.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how paragraph 2 helps develop the plot.

A. Incorrect. As paragraph 1 indicates, writing such letters is one of the main parts of the narrator’s job (“and I was always busy, part of the day, in dictating answers to correspondents”), and he shows no indication of disliking this work. The letters are to inform people whether the zoo will accept their animals.

B. Incorrect. Paragraph 2 indicates that the narrator offers his letters to the professor merely for official approval. At the start of the excerpt, the narrator is confident in his reply and does not anticipate that his response will differ from that of the professor, so he has no need to “predict what the professor would say.”

C. CORRECT. The phrase “uncompromising refusals” in paragraph 2 indicates the confidence that the narrator initially has in his belief that the animals described in the letters are not of value to the society. This confidence is badly shaken as the plot unfolds, as when Professor Farrago states that “ ‘I am daring to believe that it is the great auk itself’ ” (paragraph 23). The narrator’s transition from an attitude of dismissive doubt to one of budding hopefulness is a major part of the plot (“But I was not shocked; on the contrary, I was conscious that the same strange hope that Professor Farrago cherished was beginning, in spite of me, to stir my pulses, too” [paragraph 34]).

D. Incorrect. The narrator does not resent the professor’s review of the letters; instead, the phrase “of course” in paragraph 2 shows that he expects to submit the letters to the professor as part of his job.

Question analysis

In this plot question on an excerpt from Robert W. Chambers’s novel In Search of the Unknown, students read paragraph 2, in which a zoo employee describes answering people who offer animals for sale. The question asks what the paragraph establishes about the narrator. Its old-fashioned vocabulary and its long, dash-broken sentence make the narrator’s attitude harder to pin down.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how one paragraph develops a plot is regular grade 7 work, and this one is quoted in full. Its early-1900s wording, with words such as “proprietors” and “uncompromising,” adds some load but no unusual reasoning.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Hard words moderate
Complex sentences minor
The right answer is reworded minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 94 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 paragraph’s attitude sits in its adjectives: lynxes that are “mangy,” coyotes that are “moth-eaten” and refusals that are “uncompromising.” Students who read that scorn as the narrator’s mood about his job, or who hear grumbling in “of course,” choose a feeling about the work instead of a judgment of the animals. The plot point is that the narrator starts out sure the offers are worthless, the confidence the great auk letter is about to test.

Hard words moderate Understanding the question
“Proprietors,” “uncompromising,” “mangy” and “moth-eaten” carry the meaning: the owners of shabby animals get firm refusals, and a student who misses these words cannot tell what the narrator thinks of the offers. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The paragraph is one inverted sentence that opens with “To the proprietors of,” reaches “I returned” only midway and ends with a dash clause about the professor’s review. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer
Three wrong choices repeat the paragraph’s “refusals” and “letters,” while the right one restates the scorn for the animals as a judgment that they do not suit the society. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Paraphrase paragraph 2 in plain modern words, noting what each descriptive word reveals about the narrator, then keep only a choice those words actually support.

Traps

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.
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 Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Moves the scorn of “mangy” and “moth-eaten” from the animals to the task, though the refusals are “courteous” and paragraph 1 presents answering letters as routine daily work.
B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Builds a guessing game from his sending each reply to Professor Farrago, though he expects his refusals simply to be approved and nothing shows him second-guessing the professor.
D Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Hears irritation in the dash and “of course,” but the phrase marks the review as routine, and his clash with the professor begins only with the great auk letter.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what paragraph 2 tells you about the narrator, the person telling the story. It also asks how that sets up the plot, the chain of events in a story. The paragraph is one long, old-fashioned sentence. So put it in plain words first.
Put paragraph 2 in plain words
Proprietors are owners. People wrote offering animals to the zoo. The narrator lists some: “mangy lynxes, moth-eaten coyotes, and dancing bears.” Mangy means with patchy, sick-looking fur. Moth-eaten means old and worn out. He sent the owners “courteous but uncompromising refusals.” Courteous means polite. Uncompromising means firm, with no chance of changing his mind.
Decide what it shows about him
The words “mangy” and “moth-eaten” show what he thinks of the animals. To him, they are shabby and not good enough for the zoo. He turns them all down. This sets up the plot. When the letter about the great auk comes, he is ready to reject it too. That is where the story’s conflict begins.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. His refusals are polite, and paragraph 1 shows that answering letters is his everyday job. Nothing says he dislikes it.
- B does not fit. He sends his replies to the professor to be approved. He is not guessing what the professor would say.
- C fits. He judges that the animals offered are not good enough.
- D does not fit. “Of course” shows that the review is normal. He does not resent it, or feel bitter about it.
Watch out: A is tempting because the narrator sounds scornful. But his scorn is for the animals, not for the job.
Choose the answer
Paragraph 2 shows the narrator turning down animals he thinks are unfit. So the answer is C, “believes that many of the animals offered are not acceptable for the zoological society.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. The narrator’s words do sound scornful. But the scorn is aimed at the animals, “mangy” and “moth-eaten,” not at the job of writing letters. His refusals are even “courteous.” C names his real judgment: these animals are not right for the zoo.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 14 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 22 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 22, question 14.

The passage “Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown” as printed (page 21)

The passage “Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown” as printed on page 21 of the DOE handbook.

Question 11 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 15

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 3.

The professor, who was sitting at his desk before a pile of letters and replies submitted for approval by me, pushed his glasses down and looked over them at me with a whimsical smile that suggested amusement, impatience, annoyance, and perhaps a faint trace of apology.

What does the phrase “a faint trace of apology” convey about the professor?

AIt indicates that the professor feels bad that he has to call the narrator to his office after work.
BIt shows that the professor is hesitant to share his opinions with the narrator.
CIt implies that the professor is uncomfortable criticizing the narrator’s work.
DIt suggests that the professor knows that the conversation will be frustrating for the narrator.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what the phrase “a faint trace of apology” in paragraph 3 conveys about the professor.

A. Incorrect. The fact that the narrator had intended to leave the office for the day is not the source of the professor’s faintly apologetic manner, which is instead caused by the professor’s understanding that their conversation about the letter and the expedition is likely to cause an argument (“with a whimsical smile that suggested amusement, impatience, annoyance” [paragraph 3]). In paragraph 29, the professor asks the narrator if he can leave on an expedition that same evening, which indicates that the professor does not feel bad about taking up the narrator’s time after work.

B. Incorrect. The paragraphs that follow the sentence from paragraph 3 show the professor sharing his opinions without pause, even when his opinion of the narrator is unflattering (“ ‘Like swimming squirrels, you navigate with the help of Heaven and a stiff breeze, but you never land where you hope to—do you?’ ” [paragraph 17]).

C. Incorrect. The professor knows that the narrator will push back regarding the letter, but the professor is not uncomfortable challenging the narrator. Professor Farrago seems perfectly at ease and comfortable as he begins the discussion with the narrator.

D. CORRECT. The professor is both amused and annoyed by the narrator’s dismissal of the possibility that great auks still exist, and the professor knows that the narrator is likely to react negatively to being sent on what the narrator considers a “fool’s errand” (paragraph 25).

Question analysis

This question focuses on a single phrase in the excerpt from Robert W. Chambers’s In Search of the Unknown: as the professor looks up from a pile of letters, his whimsical smile shows “a faint trace of apology.” Students must work out what that hint of apology says about him. The phrase is brief and old-fashioned, and several explanations for it seem natural.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often infer a character’s feelings from a description. Here the phrase ends a 46-word sentence of early-1900s prose, follows three other moods, and has to be interpreted from the scene as a whole, 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: Reading between the lines major
A very close wrong answer moderate
Evidence in several places moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 123 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 phrase comes before a word of the conversation is spoken, so the reason for the apology lies ahead in the text. Two natural guesses compete with it: the professor has called the narrator back just as he was leaving, and he is about to question one of the narrator’s replies. Only a reader who follows the scene to the narrator’s scorn for the letter and the errand sees that the professor, at ease throughout, is sorry for what he is about to put the narrator through.

Reading between the lines major Working it out
Nothing explains the apology; students must reason from the talk that follows, in which the professor sends the narrator after birds the narrator believes extinct, that the professor expects resistance. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The choice about criticizing the narrator’s work and the right one both tie the apology to the coming talk about a letter; one places discomfort in the professor, the other frustration in the narrator. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
What the professor anticipates appears only later: the narrator’s scorn for the letter in paragraphs 5–14 and his view of the trip as a “fool’s errand” in paragraph 25. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The phrase closes a 46-word sentence, after a clause about the pile of letters and a run of three other moods, “amusement, impatience, annoyance.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read the full sentence and then the conversation it opens, and test each choice against how the professor actually speaks and acts in that conversation.

Traps

Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
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 Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Ties the apology to the timing, since Professor Lesard stopped the narrator as he was leaving Bronx Park, but the professor later asks him to leave on the trip that same night.
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Reads the apology, and the “embarrassed smile” of paragraph 9, as reluctance to speak, though the professor states his belief in the letter plainly and even teases the narrator.
C Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly senses that the professor is about to challenge the narrator’s reply to a letter, but he does it “placidly” and “coolly,” with no sign of discomfort.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what one phrase shows about the professor: “a faint trace of apology.” Faint means slight, and a trace is a small sign. So his smile looks a little bit sorry. Why would he feel sorry? You find out from the talk that follows.
Read the whole sentence
Paragraph 3 says the professor looked at the narrator “with a whimsical smile that suggested amusement, impatience, annoyance, and perhaps a faint trace of apology.” Whimsical means playful. He is amused by the narrator and a bit annoyed with him. Then he picks up a letter the narrator has already turned down.
See what the professor is about to do
The professor is about to defend that letter. Then he sends the narrator after the birds in it. The narrator thinks the birds are extinct, or all dead. In paragraph 25 he calls the trip “this fool’s errand,” a pointless job. The professor seems to know the narrator will hate this. That is why his smile looks a little sorry.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. He later asks, “Can you leave to-night?” (paragraph 29). He is not sorry about taking the narrator’s time.
- B does not fit. He shares his opinion plainly: “He isn’t—in mine” (paragraph 11).
- C does not fit. He does challenge the narrator, but calmly. He speaks “placidly” and “coolly,” with no sign of being uneasy.
- D fits. He knows the talk will annoy the narrator.
Watch out: C is tempting because the professor is about to disagree with the narrator. But nothing shows that he is uncomfortable about it.
Choose the answer
The slight apology shows that the professor expects the narrator to be frustrated. So the answer is D, “It suggests that the professor knows that the conversation will be frustrating for the narrator.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. Both C and D link the apology to the talk about the letter. But C puts the bad feeling in the professor, as if he were nervous. He is not. He speaks “placidly,” which means calmly. D puts the bad feeling in the narrator, and the narrator does get upset.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 15 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 23 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 23, question 15.

Question 12 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 18

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown”.

Question

How does the interaction between the narrator and the professor in paragraphs 26–28 contribute to the development of the theme?

AIt illustrates the professor’s patience as the narrator argues against making the expedition.
BIt reveals the narrator’s frustration with his limited role in making decisions for the zoological society.
CIt emphasizes the professor’s desire to acquire new specimens for the zoological society at any cost.
DIt shows the narrator’s acceptance of his assignment despite his personal objections.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the interaction between the narrator and the professor in paragraphs 26–28 contributes to the development of the theme.

A. Incorrect. Paragraphs 26–28 do not show the narrator arguing against making the expedition. He instead argues that it is unnecessary for the professor to pay to send extra men on the expedition. The narrator points out that he can ask for assistance if he does, in fact, find great auks (“ ‘None,’ I replied, bluntly; ‘it’s a useless expense, unless there is something to bring back. If there is I’ll wire you, you may be sure’ ” [paragraph 28]).

B. Incorrect. When the professor criticizes the narrator’s blind acceptance of the theory about the existence of the auks, the narrator is frustrated and embarrassed. This frustration does not stem from his inability to make decisions for the zoological society.

C. Incorrect. The professor states that “ ‘what I want you to do is to get those birds here safely’ ” (paragraph 27), which indicates that his main priority is the birds’ safety rather than acquiring specimens regardless of the consequences (i.e., at any cost).

D. CORRECT. Paragraph 26 describes the professor and the narrator making practical plans for the expedition (“we made out a list of articles necessary for me and itemized the expenses I might incur”), indicating the narrator’s acceptance of his assignment while also revealing that he does not anticipate a “successful termination to the expedition.” Paragraph 28 further describes the personal objections of the narrator, who believes that adding extra men to the expedition is pointless (“ ‘a useless expense’ ”), since he does not expect to find any great auks to bring back.

Question analysis

This theme question on In Search of the Unknown asks how paragraphs 26–28, in which the narrator and Professor Farrago talk over supplies, expenses and how many men to bring, contribute to the development of the theme. Students must decode formal, old-fashioned phrasing, then judge what the interaction shows. Every choice sounds like something the excerpt might say.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 theme questions trace an idea through clear events. Paragraphs 26–28 are dense with formal phrasing such as “allowing no margin for a successful termination,” and each choice pairs a real detail with a claim, which pushes the task above grade 7.
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 analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
How, not what minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 76 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

Each choice pairs a real feature of the scene with a claim, and the claims must be checked against three short paragraphs of formal prose. The narrator does object, bluntly, so the choice that has him arguing against the trip draws strongly; what he rejects is the cost of extra men, while he plans the trip itself. Students who decode “allowing no margin for a successful termination” see the whole picture: he is going, and he expects to fail.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
Paragraph 26 is a 36-word sentence that ends “allowing no margin for a successful termination to the expedition,” formal wording for planning as if the search will fail. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The narrator never says he accepts the trip; his acceptance shows in the planning, and his objection in the blunt “None” and “a useless expense” of paragraph 28. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
How, not what minor Working it out
The stem asks about the theme, yet every choice describes a character’s attitude, so students must judge which attitude these paragraphs show rather than look for a stated theme. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Translate each of paragraphs 26–28 into plain modern words, then check each choice’s claim about the narrator or the professor against exactly what those three paragraphs show.

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.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

A Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Gets the professor’s patience right, since he answers “Never mind that,” but the narrator never argues against going; he refuses only to take men along.
B Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Carries over the grudging obedience of paragraph 25, “nothing to do but to obey,” though in paragraphs 26–28 the narrator sets his own return date and decides how many men to take.
C Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Inflates the professor’s wish for the birds into a desire for specimens “at any cost,” though the two men itemize expenses and he asks for the birds to arrive safely.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how paragraphs 26–28 build the theme. A theme is a big message of a story. Read the three paragraphs. Decide what the narrator does and what he thinks.
Read paragraph 26
Paragraph 26 says “Together we made out a list of articles necessary for me and itemized the expenses I might incur.” Articles are supplies, and itemized means listed one by one. So the narrator is planning the trip. But he sets a return date “allowing no margin for a successful termination to the expedition.” A margin is extra room. He leaves no extra time in case he finds the birds. He plans as if he will find nothing.
Read paragraphs 27 and 28
The professor asks how many men he will take. The narrator answers bluntly, which means in a short, plain way. He takes none. Extra men would be “a useless expense, unless there is something to bring back.” He still thinks the birds are not real. Yet he does not refuse to go. He accepts the job while doubting it.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. The professor is patient, but the narrator never argues against going. He only refuses to take men.
- B does not fit. Here the narrator makes decisions himself, like his return date and how many men to take.
- C does not fit. They count the costs, and the professor wants the birds safe. That is not “at any cost.”
- D fits. He plans the trip but shows he thinks it is pointless.
Watch out: A is tempting because the professor does stay calm. But the narrator is planning the trip, not fighting it.
Choose the answer
The narrator does the job while making his doubts clear. So the answer is D, “It shows the narrator’s acceptance of his assignment despite his personal objections.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. The professor does answer calmly, “Never mind that.” But A says the narrator argues against making the trip. He does not. He helps plan it and only objects to taking men. D captures both parts: he goes, and he still doubts.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 18 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 26 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 26, question 18.

Question 13 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from In Search of the Unknown”.

Question

How does paragraph 34 help develop the plot of the excerpt?

AIt shows that the narrator is beginning to consider the possibility of finding the great auks.
BIt demonstrates that the narrator is struggling to understand why the professor thinks the great auks exist.
CIt establishes that the narrator is willing to let the professor overrule him about the great auks.
DIt emphasizes that the narrator feels a sense of urgency to complete the expedition to locate the great auks.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how paragraph 34 helps develop the plot of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. Despite his initial disbelief, the narrator admits in paragraph 34 that he is starting to feel the “same strange hope” the professor feels, which is to find the great auks (paragraph 33).

B. Incorrect. While the narrator does make an effort in paragraphs 11–22 to understand the professor’s thinking, paragraph 34 reveals that the narrator has been affected by the professor’s “strange hope” for the auks and is beginning to share this hope “in spite of” himself.

C. Incorrect. The narrator describes a feeling of hope in paragraph 34 that would not be present if he had simply been overruled by the professor and did not share any of the professor’s belief in the possibility that the auks exist. In addition, it was established before paragraph 34 that the narrator was willing to be overruled (“I drew a chair up beside his desk—there was nothing to do but to obey, and this fool’s errand was none of my conceiving” [paragraph 25]).

D. Incorrect. The narrator does not express a sense of urgency in paragraph 34 to complete the expedition. Instead, he expresses hope that the great auks might really exist.

Question analysis

This plot question on In Search of the Unknown asks how paragraph 34, a single long sentence near the end of the excerpt, helps develop the story of the narrator’s assignment to bring back two great auks. Students must put its formal phrasing into plain words and connect it to the conversation that comes before it.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how a paragraph moves a plot forward is regular grade 7 work, and paragraph 34 is a single sentence. Its formal wording, such as “in spite of me” and “stir my pulses,” has to be put into plain words first.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences minor
Figurative or literary language minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 79 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

Put into plain words, the paragraph has the narrator admitting that the professor’s hope is starting to take hold of him, which is the turn the question asks about. The losses come from reading it through earlier scenes: his obedience in paragraph 25 makes giving way to the professor look like the point, and the word “strange” makes puzzlement look likely. The paragraph records a change in what he believes, not in what he does.

Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 34 is one 31-word sentence that turns on “on the contrary” and breaks its main clause with “in spite of me,” so its point, a hope beginning to stir, arrives late. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question
“To stir my pulses” means to excite, and a student who reads it as a racing heart may take it for haste to leave rather than hope that the birds exist. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate paragraph 34 in plain modern words, then test each choice against what this paragraph itself says about the narrator.

Traps

Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
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

B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Takes “the same strange hope” as the narrator puzzling over the professor’s belief, though the sentence says that hope is now stirring in the narrator himself.
C Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Brings in paragraph 25, where the narrator draws up a chair because he must obey, but paragraph 34 shows him starting to share the hope, not yielding to an order.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Reads stirring pulses as eagerness to finish the trip quickly, though the excitement is about the chance that the birds exist, and the paragraph says nothing of speed.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how paragraph 34 moves the story forward. Read that paragraph closely. Then decide what has changed for the narrator.
Read paragraph 34 closely
Paragraph 34 says “But I was not shocked; on the contrary, I was conscious that the same strange hope that Professor Farrago cherished was beginning, in spite of me, to stir my pulses, too.” On the contrary means the opposite is true. Cherished means held dear. To stir his pulses means to make his heart beat faster with excitement.
Put it in your own words
The professor hopes the great auks are real. Now the narrator feels that same hope starting in himself. “In spite of me” means he did not want to feel it, but he does. Before, he called the letter writer a liar or a fool. Now he is starting to think the birds might really be found.
Check each choice
- A fits. He begins to hope that the birds could be found.
- B does not fit. He is not puzzling over the professor’s belief. He is starting to share it.
- C does not fit. Giving in to the professor came earlier, in paragraph 25: “there was nothing to do but to obey.” Paragraph 34 is about hope, not obeying.
- D does not fit. Nothing in the paragraph is about hurrying.
Watch out: D is tempting because a racing pulse can sound like rushing. But the excitement is about the birds, not about speed.
Choose the answer
Paragraph 34 shows the narrator’s doubt starting to turn into hope. So the answer is A, “It shows that the narrator is beginning to consider the possibility of finding the great auks.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. The narrator did agree to obey the professor. But that happened in paragraph 25, and he was not happy about it. In paragraph 34, something new happens. He feels “the same strange hope” as the professor. A names that change.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 20 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 28 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 28, question 20.

Question 14 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 27

Passage Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything

Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything

Located underground near Geneva, Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) helps scientists study and understand how the smallest particles of matter interact with one another. The LHC propels atomic particle beams along a 17-mile-long ring.

There are the things the world is made of,
things we can see and feel, and then
there are the things even smaller, things that seem
to exist only when we are looking right at them.

So beneath the level of molecules are atoms,
and beneath the level of atoms, we find
protons, electrons, neutrons; and beneath that—
what, exactly? Because we are talking about
everything here: your fingernail,
the candy at the back of your mouth,
the coffee your teacher drank this morning,
your little sister, and the stuffed dog
she used to carry around with her everywhere.
And everywhere.

Everything and everywhere
are made up of the same stuff, whatever
it is. How do we find it? We can listen for it
in the wavelengths from deep space,
talking back to us from unimaginable
distances. Or we can build long,
deep circular tunnels beneath the surface
of this Earth and race particles
(like racing cars, only very tiny cars
flashing along at close to the speed of light)
until everything we think we know
bangs against everything else we know.

And there, in the explosion, in the darkness,
briefly incandescent, they appear:
the quarks, the leptons, and the bosons;
the baryons and the mesons. Their names
sound like dinosaurs or maybe bands
playing terrible music in someone’s garage.

The one thing we know for sure
is that they spin. This is how gravity
enters our world, how our world is held
both together and apart, what keeps
together the pencil in your hand right now
as well as separate from, say,
Jupiter. They spin, and it is only down there
in the darkness—in the vast garage
where physicists jot down
what they can, whatever seems most real—
that they let us perceive their wild dancing,
combusting to the music they make.

Question

Read lines 36–39 from the poem.

both together and apart, what keeps
together the pencil in your hand right now
as well as separate from, say,
Jupiter.

The poet includes these lines most likely to emphasize that

Ait is important for physicists to continue their research about particles.
Bthese particles have a powerful effect on everything.
Cthe discoveries about particles provide little information.
Dthe study of particles and the study of objects in space are similar.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the most likely reason the poet includes lines 36–39 in the poem.

A. Incorrect. While the poem implies that the research is important, lines 36–39 do not point to a need for more research. Instead, the lines explain the power of the particles in the universe.

B. CORRECT. The particles that are “Everything and everywhere” (line 15) make up the objects mentioned in lines 36–39: a “pencil in your hand” and the planet “Jupiter.” Even though these objects are different from each other and extremely far apart in the universe, they are made up of and affected by these particles. The “powerful effect” is that the particles keep the objects “both together and apart” (line 36).

C. Incorrect. While the physicists can only “jot down / what they can, whatever seems most real” (lines 41–42), the discoveries about particles are ongoing and informative. The speaker shares that the particles are “everything and everywhere” (line 15) and that they “spin” (line 34), and that “this is how gravity / enters our world” (lines 34–35).

D. Incorrect. The speaker states that particles keep together objects in space, such as Jupiter, as well as objects on Earth, such as “the pencil in your hand right now” (line 37). However, in lines 36–39, the speaker is not comparing the study of subatomic particles with the study of objects in space (astronomy); the speaker is implying that because particles are “everything and everywhere” (line 15), the study of particles affects our understanding of everything in the universe, regardless of location.

Question analysis

This question asks why the poet of “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” includes lines 36–39, about what keeps a pencil in your hand together and separate from the planet Jupiter. The quoted lines begin partway through a sentence, so students must read the lines before them to see what the sentence is about before judging the poet’s purpose.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining why a poet includes certain lines is typical grade 7 work. The quoted lines start partway through a sentence, so students must read lines 33–35 to see what the sentence is about, an extra step but not an unusual one.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
Reading between the lines minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 75 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: The explanation of C reversed cause and effect in the poem; one word was changed.
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 quoted lines are the tail of a sentence, and without its start they read like a list of objects. Students who go back to lines 33–35 see that the spin of the particles is what holds things “together and apart,” and the pencil and Jupiter show how far that reaches. Those who read the fragment alone fasten on Jupiter and think of astronomy, while those who read on to the physicists who “jot down / what they can” may decide that little is known.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The quoted lines begin mid-sentence with “both together and apart, what keeps,” so students must read back to lines 33–35 to learn that the subject is the particles’ spin, “how gravity / enters our world.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines minor Working it out
The lines never say “everything”; students must see that a pencil in your hand and a distant planet stand for things near and small and things far and huge, so the effect reaches all matter. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read lines 33–39 as one sentence, work out what the subject of “what keeps” is, and then ask what point the two examples in lines 37–39 are meant to make.

Traps

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.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
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)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Assumes the lines push for more research, a common message in writing about science, but they state what the particles do, not what physicists should go on doing.
C Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Draws on “The one thing we know for sure” in line 33 and the physicists who “jot down / what they can” in lines 41–42, but lines 36–39 state confidently what the particles do.
D Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Sees a planet next to a pencil and builds a comparison between particle physics and astronomy, though the lines show one force acting on both objects, not two fields of study.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: Rejecting C, the handbook's explanation says the particles “spin” “because ‘this is how gravity / enters our world’”. The poem says it the other way round: “The one thing we know for sure / is that they spin. This is how gravity / enters our world”, so the spinning is how gravity enters. It now says the particles “spin”, and that “this is how gravity / enters our world”. The answer, B, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks why the poet includes lines 36–39. The lines start in the middle of a sentence. So read the whole sentence, from line 33, to see what it is about.
Read lines 33–39 as one sentence
Lines 33–34 say “The one thing we know for sure / is that they spin.” “They” means the tiny particles. Then the poem goes on: “This is how gravity / enters our world, how our world is held / both together and apart, what keeps / together the pencil in your hand right now / as well as separate from, say, / Jupiter.”
Work out what it means
“This” points back to the spinning. The spinning is how gravity comes into our world. Gravity is the pull that draws things toward each other. So the particles’ spin holds a pencil together and keeps it apart from Jupiter. A pencil is small and close. Jupiter is a huge planet, far away. Together they stand for everything.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. The lines say what particles do. They do not say physicists must keep working.
- B fits. The particles affect everything, from a pencil to a planet.
- C does not fit. These lines state facts with confidence. The physicists who “jot down / what they can” come later, in lines 41–42.
- D does not fit. The pencil and Jupiter are things the particles affect. They are not two subjects of study being compared.
Watch out: D is tempting because Jupiter is in space. But the lines show one force acting on both objects, not two kinds of science.
Choose the answer
A small pencil and a giant planet show that the particles’ effect reaches everything. So the answer is B, “these particles have a powerful effect on everything.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice, since it also notices Jupiter. But D is about studying particles and studying space. The lines are not about study. They say the spin is “what keeps / together the pencil in your hand” and keeps it apart from Jupiter. Small and near, huge and far: that means everything, so B fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 27 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 38 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 38, question 27. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

The passage “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” as printed (pages 32–33)

The passage “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” as printed on page 33 of the DOE handbook.

Question 15 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 28

Uses the passage above: “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything”.

Question

Read lines 39–44 from the poem.

They spin, and it is only down there
in the darkness—in the vast garage
where physicists jot down
what they can, whatever seems most real—
that they let us perceive their wild dancing,
combusting to the music they make.

The lines reveal the speaker’s

Afrustration with the research facilities physicists use.
Bbelief that physicists are frantically working toward a new discovery.
Cinterest in physicists and their study of particles.
Dcertainty that physicists are working in secrecy.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks what lines 39–44 reveal about the speaker.

A. Incorrect. While the discoveries are made “in the darkness” (line 40), the imagery conveys the speaker’s positive tone through descriptions like “perceive their wild dancing” (line 43) and “combusting to the music they make” (line 44), not frustration.

B. Incorrect. In lines 39–44, the imagery of energetic movement (“They spin,” “their wild dancing,” and “combusting to the music they make”) is used to describe the particles, not the physicists.

C. CORRECT. The speaker uses the phrases “only down there” (line 39), “physicists jot down … whatever seems most real” (lines 41–42), and “they let us perceive” (line 43) to convey that the physicists have a rare role in studying the mysteries of the universe and that the speaker appreciates and is interested in their work.

D. Incorrect. While the description of the experiments occurring “in the darkness” (line 40) may create a sense of secrecy, the secrets that the darkness refers to are the mysteries of subatomic particles, not the work processes that the physicists use.

Question analysis

The final six lines of “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” describe particles spinning in the darkness of a “vast garage” where physicists work. This question asks what those lines reveal about the speaker. The long sentence is broken by dashes and mixes images of the particles with images of the scientists, so students must sort out which words describe which.

NYS standards: 7R6 point of view and author position
7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students infer a speaker’s attitude, usually from a clear statement. These six lines form one sentence broken by dashes, students must keep track of who does what, and the attitude is never stated, so the task is above 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 analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences major
Figurative or literary language moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 82 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 sentence is the hardest part: the physicists appear in a clause set off by dashes, and the two uses of “they” around them refer to different subjects. Students who attach “wild dancing” to the physicists see frantic work, and those who stop at “in the darkness” see secrecy. The right choice is mild and general, so it is easy to pass over, yet it fits because the speaker lingers on the scene with evident fascination and nothing in the lines expresses frustration or certainty.

Complex sentences major Understanding the question
Lines 39–44 are one sentence broken by a dash clause, and its two uses of “they” point different ways: “what they can” means the physicists, “they let us perceive” the spinning particles. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The particles’ “wild dancing,” “combusting to the music they make,” and the lab as “the vast garage” are images whose tone, delight rather than complaint, students must judge. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
No line states the speaker’s attitude; interest has to be read from how closely the speaker follows the work of physicists who “jot down / what they can, whatever seems most real.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Untangle the sentence in lines 39–44 by finding who spins, who jots things down and who lets us perceive, then decide what the description reveals about how the speaker regards the scene.

Traps

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.
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 Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Links “the vast garage” to the garage bands’ “terrible music” of line 32 and hears a complaint, though the lines end on the delighted image of “wild dancing.”
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Gives the particles’ “wild dancing” and “combusting” to the physicists, misled by the pronouns around them, though the physicists only “jot down / what they can.”
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Reads “only down there / in the darkness” as a sign of hidden work, though the darkness belongs to the underground tunnel, and nothing in the lines suggests secrecy.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what lines 39–44 show about the speaker. The lines are one long sentence. It uses the word “they” for two different groups. So first sort out who is doing what.
Sort out who does what
- “They spin” means the particles spin.
- “physicists jot down / what they can” means the physicists write down what they can. Here “they” is the physicists.
- “they let us perceive their wild dancing” means the particles let us see their dance. Perceive means notice or see. Here “they” is the particles again.
Put the sentence in plain words
The part between the dashes describes the place. It is the huge tunnel, “the vast garage,” where physicists take notes. Without that part, the sentence says this: only down there do the particles let us see their wild dance. Combusting means bursting into flame. It is a lively, joyful picture.
Decide what it shows about the speaker
The speaker brings the physicists into the scene and shows their careful work. They write down “whatever seems most real.” The speaker also shows that all of us see the particles only through this research. The speaker cares about the physicists and what they study. That is interest.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. “The vast garage” is playful, and the lines end in delight. There is no complaint.
- B does not fit. The wild motion belongs to the particles. The physicists only “jot down / what they can.”
- C fits. The speaker follows the physicists’ work and the particles they study.
- D does not fit. It is dark because the tunnel is underground. Nothing suggests the work is secret.
Watch out: B is tempting because the lines sound frantic, or wild and rushed. But “they let us perceive” means the particles, so the dancing is theirs, not the physicists’.
Choose the answer
The lines show the speaker paying close attention to physicists and the particles they study. So the answer is C, “interest in physicists and their study of particles.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. The words “wild dancing” and “combusting” do sound frantic. But they describe the particles. In “they let us perceive,” “they” means the particles. The physicists just “jot down / what they can.” So the lines do not show physicists rushing. They show the speaker’s interest, which is C.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 28 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 39 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 39, question 28.

Question 16 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 47

Passage The End of an Era

The End of an Era

(1) In 2004, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) landed a rover, or robotic vehicle, named Opportunity on the surface of Mars. (2) The rover’s mission was to search for evidence of water and life on the planet. (3) The rover was designed to gather data on Mars for about 90 days, but Opportunity’s assignment did not come to an end until nearly 15 years later in 2019.

(4) During the rover’s mission, a high-resolution camera on the rover’s robotic arm took magnified photographs of the surface of Mars. (5) The photographs revealed small round rocks scattered across the surface of the planet. (6) The scientists nicknamed these rocks “blueberries” based on the rocks’ resemblance to the fruit. (7) These rocks were important because their spherical shape suggested that liquid water may have flowed over them for a substantial amount of time.

(8) Opportunity continued to provide valuable data about craters and other surface features. (9) Throughout the mission, the rover traveled a total of 28.06 miles across Mars’ surface. (10) When Opportunity had traveled nearly the length of a marathon, scientists celebrated the accomplishment by naming the valley that the rover was in Marathon Valley. (11) However, in 2018, a dust storm spread all over the planet, putting the rover’s progress on hold.

(12) Prior to this planet-wide dust storm, minor dust storms had periodically deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover. (13) These prevented it from charging its batteries. (14) Scientists then had to rely on the passing winds and dust devils to clean off the solar panels. (15) After the massive 2018 dust storm subsided, scientists expected to be able to reestablish communication with Opportunity. (16) They made repeated attempts but to no avail. (17) In 2019, NASA finally declared Opportunity’s mission complete.

(18) Opportunity was an important asset in scientists’ study of Mars; it returned valuable data about our neighbor planet and survived powerful dust storms. (19) NASA described the mission of Opportunity as “one of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration.” (20) Even though this rover’s journey ended, other rovers still roam the surface of Mars.

Question

What is the best way to combine sentences 12 and 13?

APreventing the rover from charging its batteries, minor dust storms had periodically deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover prior to this planet-wide dust storm.
BPeriodically depositing a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover prior to this planet-wide dust storm, minor dust storms had prevented it from charging its batteries.
CMinor dust storms, prior to this planet-wide dust storm, prevented the rover from charging its batteries because they had periodically deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover.
DPrior to this planet-wide dust storm, minor dust storms had periodically deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover, preventing it from charging its batteries.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the best way to combine sentences 12 and 13.

A. Incorrect. The phrase “this planet-wide dust storm” in the original sentence 12 makes a direct reference to sentence 11 and therefore acts as a transition that should be kept at the beginning. In this sentence, the transition phrase is placed at the end of the sentence, making the phrase confusing. In addition, the sentence is unnecessarily repetitive and wordy.

B. Incorrect. This combination unnecessarily turns sentence 12 into an overly long participial phrase, making the connection between “it” and its antecedent, “the rover,” unclear and distracting from the subject of the sentence, “minor dust storms.”

C. Incorrect. Not only does this combination move the reference to “this planet-wide dust storm” farther from sentence 11, but it is also unnecessarily wordy, adding “because” and repeating “the rover.”

D. CORRECT. This sentence efficiently and accurately adds sentence 13 to sentence 12 as a participial phrase by changing “These prevented” to “preventing,” while also retaining the meanings of the original sentences 12 and 13.

Question analysis

This sentence-combining question asks for the best way to join two sentences from the rover passage: one saying minor dust storms had periodically coated the rover's solar panels, the other saying this kept it from charging its batteries. The four versions keep the same facts in different orders, so students must judge which is clearest and most concise in context.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
7L3a precise and concise language
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Combining two sentences is grade 7 work, usually with one version clearly better. These four are long, keep the same facts and differ in order and wording, so students must weigh clarity and concision across nearly identical sentences, more than typical.
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 evaluate
What makes it hard: How sentences fit together moderate
Every choice must be checked moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 11, 337 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 129 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: Two grammar terms in the explanation were 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

None of the versions is plainly ungrammatical, so the ear gives little help, and the version with “because” looks best to students who value a clearly stated cause. Its cost is wordiness and a weaker link: the result comes first and the reference back to sentence 11 is buried mid-sentence. The question rewards keeping the original order, cause then effect, and folding sentence 13 in as a short closing phrase.

How sentences fit together moderate Working it out
“Prior to this planet-wide dust storm” points back to sentence 11, so the best version keeps it first; three versions move it later, which loosens the link between the two sentences. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer
All four versions keep every fact of sentences 12 and 13 and run 29 to 32 words, so none can be ruled out by content; order, pronouns and repetition decide. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Each version is one long sentence built around a participial phrase or a “because” clause, and at that length a stranded “it” or a doubled “the rover” is easy to miss. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read sentence 11 first, then compare the versions on how smoothly each connects to it, how many words it uses, and whether every pronoun has a clear antecedent.

Traps

Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.
Unclear pronoun: A pronoun whose reference is vague or ambiguous, or one in the wrong case.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Opens with the effect as a participial phrase, which pushes “prior to this planet-wide dust storm,” the link to sentence 11, to the end and names “the rover” twice.
B Unclear pronoun (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Packs sentence 12 into a 19-word opening phrase, so “it” follows “this planet-wide dust storm” and no longer points clearly to the rover buried inside the phrase.
C Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Likes the clear cause word “because,” but the result now comes first, “the rover” appears twice, and “prior to this planet-wide dust storm” splits the subject from its verb.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option B says the combination turns sentence 12 into “an overly long dependent clause,” and its explanation of Option D says Option D adds sentence 13 to sentence 12 “as a dependent clause” by changing “These prevented” to “preventing.” Neither is a clause: “Periodically depositing a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover prior to this planet-wide dust storm” (Option B) and “preventing it from charging its batteries” (Option D) have no subject or finite verb of their own. Both are participial phrases, and the site now calls them that. The reasoning and the answer, Option D, are unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This question asks for the best way to join sentences 12 and 13 into one sentence. The best version keeps the meaning, uses few words and is clear. It should also connect smoothly to sentence 11, the sentence before.
Read the sentences in order
Sentence 11 tells about the giant 2018 dust storm. Sentence 12 begins “Prior to this planet-wide dust storm.” Prior to means before. That phrase points back to sentence 11, so it works best at the start. Sentence 12 says small storms put dust on the solar panels. Sentence 13 gives the result: “These prevented it from charging its batteries.”
Learn the tool: a participial phrase
A participial phrase is a group of words built on a verb form, often an -ing word. It describes something, but it has no subject and can’t stand alone. Example: The dog ran to the door. It wagged its tail. becomes The dog ran to the door, wagging its tail. Choice D does this. It turns “These prevented” into “preventing.”
Check each choice
- A is wrong. It starts with the result. It moves “prior to this planet-wide dust storm” to the end, far from sentence 11. It also says “the rover” twice.
- B is wrong. Its long opening phrase hides the rover. Then “it” comes after “minor dust storms,” so it is hard to tell what “it” means.
- C is wrong. It adds “because,” puts the result first and says “the rover” twice. It is wordier than D.
- D is right. It keeps the link to sentence 11 first, gives the cause, then adds the result as a short participial phrase.
Watch out: C looks clear because “because” names the cause. But it is longer, and it puts an extra phrase between “Minor dust storms” and its verb.
Choose the answer
So the answer is D: “Prior to this planet-wide dust storm, minor dust storms had periodically deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover, preventing it from charging its batteries.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because “because” makes the cause very clear. But C puts the result first and repeats “the rover.” D keeps the original order, cause then result. It also keeps the link to sentence 11 up front, in fewer words.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 47 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 65 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 65, question 47. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

The passage “The End of an Era” as printed (page 60)

The passage “The End of an Era” as printed on page 60 of the DOE handbook.

Question 17 of 70

2026 Practice Test B English, question 48

Question

In September 2016 the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened as part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum is already the Smithsonian’s third most popular site. Experts say that they expect this newest Smithsonian facility to welcome nearly 4 million visitors a year. The museum features more than 30,000 objects, including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves and a dress sewn by Rosa Parks. A commemorative copy of the Emancipation Proclamation, written in 1863 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, is also on display at the museum.

Which part of the paragraph contains an error in sentence structure?

Select the one error.

On the test you click the words in the text; here, choose them below.

AInstitution, the
Byear. The
Cobjects, including
DProclamation, written

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which part of the paragraph contains an error in sentence structure.

Choice 1: “Institution, the” contains an error in sentence structure. The comma between these two words creates a type of run-on sentence known as a comma splice because both clauses—“In September 2016 the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened as part of the Smithsonian Institution” and “the museum is already the Smithsonian’s third most popular site”—are independent clauses, and must be separated with either a period or semicolon. If a comma is used to join the clauses together, a conjunction such as and would need to be added after the comma [converting the comma splice into a correct compound sentence].

Choice 2: “year. The” is correctly constructed, with independent clauses on both sides of the period (“Experts say that they expect this newest Smithsonian facility to welcome nearly 4 million visitors a year” and “The museum features more than 30,000 objects, including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves and a dress sewn by Rosa Parks”).

Choice 3: “objects, including” is correctly constructed. The sentence is correct as written with the nonrestrictive prepositional phrase (“including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves and a dress sewn by Rosa Parks”) properly preceded by a comma.

Choice 4: “Proclamation, written” is correctly constructed. The sentence is correct, with the nonrestrictive participial phrase (“written in 1863 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln”) properly offset by a comma on either side.

Question analysis

This sentence-structure question shows a short paragraph about the 2016 opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, with four short phrases underlined. On the test students click the one part that contains an error in sentence structure, and the long names and the commas in the paragraph can make every spot look suspicious.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Finding run-ons and fragments is taught before grade 7, and here students check four short underlined spots in one paragraph for a single error in sentence structure. Long institution names add reading load but no extra grammar.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Every choice must be checked minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 10, 107 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: Two grammar terms in the explanation were 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

Students no longer have to supply the fix, only find the faulty spot, so the question rests on recognizing a comma splice. The error sits in the first sentence behind a long museum name, while the phrases “including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves” and “written in 1863” look more suspicious to anyone unsure about phrases set off by commas. Testing each spot for a full sentence on both sides finds it quickly.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
A comma alone joins two full clauses at “Institution, the,” and because the long museum name delays the break, the comma reads as a pause rather than a missing period. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The first clause runs 19 words, most of them the museum’s name, so by the time “the museum is already” arrives it sounds like a continuation, not a new sentence. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
Each of the four clickable phrases straddles a comma or a period, so students must check, at every one, whether the words on each side could stand as a sentence. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Find the subject and main verb of each sentence and count how many complete thoughts it holds, then check whether the punctuation at each underlined spot suits what comes on either side.

Traps

Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.

The wrong answers, classified

B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Suspects the break after “year” because two sentences meet there, though a period already separates two complete sentences correctly, each with its own subject and verb.
C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Believes a phrase opening with “including” after a comma is a fragment, though it correctly attaches examples to “more than 30,000 objects” within a complete sentence.
D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Thinks “written in 1863” cannot describe the copy without “which was,” though the sentence already has its verb “is” and the participial phrase is correctly set off.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of choice 3 calls “including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves and a dress sewn by Rosa Parks” a “nonrestrictive appositive phrase.” An appositive renames a noun; this phrase gives examples of the objects, and “including” followed by a noun phrase works as a preposition, so it is a prepositional phrase. The explanation of choice 4 calls “written in 1863 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln” a “nonrestrictive clause”; it has no subject or finite verb of its own, so it is a participial phrase. The site now says “nonrestrictive prepositional phrase” and “nonrestrictive participial phrase.” Both parts are still correctly constructed, and the answer, “Institution, the,” is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This question asks you to find the one error in sentence structure. Sentence structure is how a sentence is built. On the test, you click the part with the mistake. At each part, ask: could the words on each side stand as a sentence?
Learn the rule: no comma splice
An independent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that can stand alone as a sentence. You can’t join two of them with just a comma. That mistake is called a comma splice. Example: I ran home, the rain started. Fix it with a period: I ran home. The rain started. You could also add and after the comma.
Test “Institution, the”
Before the comma: “In September 2016 the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened as part of the Smithsonian Institution.” That is a full sentence. After the comma: “the museum is already the Smithsonian’s third most popular site.” That is a full sentence too. Only a comma joins them, so this is a comma splice. Fix: put a period after Institution and start The museum with a capital.
Check “year. The” and “objects, including”
- “year. The” is correct. A period already separates two full sentences.
- “objects, including” is correct. A preposition is a linking word like with or for, and “including” works like one here. A prepositional phrase is that word plus the words after it. “Including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves and a dress sewn by Rosa Parks” is a prepositional phrase. It gives examples of the objects, and a comma correctly attaches it.
Check “Proclamation, written”
“Written in 1863 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln” is a participial phrase. That is a group of words built on a verb form, here written, with no subject of its own. It tells when the Proclamation was written. Commas correctly set it off, and the sentence keeps its main verb, “is.”
Watch out: Phrases starting with “including” and “written” can’t stand alone, so they may look like errors. But each one is attached to a full sentence. That is correct.
Choose the answer
Only the first part joins two full sentences with just a comma. So the answer is A: “Institution, the” contains the error. On the test, you would click that phrase.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

“Objects, including” is the closest wrong answer, because the words after its comma can’t stand alone. But they don’t need to. That phrase only adds examples to a full sentence. At “Institution, the,” both sides are full sentences, so a comma alone is not enough.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 48 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 68 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 68, question 48. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 18 of 70

2026 Practice Test C English, question 11

Passage Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”

Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”

by Rupert Brooke

The real secret of the beauty and terror of the Falls is not their height or width, but the feeling of colossal power and of unintelligible disaster caused by the plunge of that vast body of water. If that were taken away, there would be little visible change, but the heart would be gone.

The American Falls do not inspire this feeling in the same way as the Canadian. It is because they are less in volume, and because the water does not fall so much into one place. By comparison their beauty is almost delicate and fragile. They are extraordinarily level, one long curtain of lacework and woven foam. Seen from opposite, when the sun is on them, they are blindingly white, and the clouds of spray show dark against them. With both Falls the colour of the water is the ever-altering wonder. Greens and blues, purples and whites, melt into one another, fade, and come again, and change with the changing sun. Sometimes they are as richly diaphanous $^1$ as a precious stone, and glow from within with a deep, inexplicable light. Sometimes the white intricacies of dropping foam become opaque and creamy. And always there are the rainbows. If you come suddenly upon the Falls from above, a great double rainbow, very vivid, spanning the extent of spray from top to bottom, is the first thing you see. If you wander along the cliff opposite, a bow springs into being in the American Falls, accompanies you courteously on your walk, dwindles and dies as the mist ends, and awakens again as you reach the Canadian tumult. And the bold traveller who attempts the trip under the American Falls sees, when he dare open his eyes to anything, tiny baby rainbows, some four or five yards in span, leaping from rock to rock among the foam, and gambolling beside him, barely out of hand’s reach, as he goes. One I saw in that place was a complete circle, such as I have never seen before, and so near that I could put my foot on it. It is a terrifying journey, beneath and behind the Falls. The senses are battered and bewildered by the thunder of the water and the assault of wind and spray; or rather, the sound is not of falling water, but merely of falling; a noise of unspecified ruin. So, if you are close behind the endless clamour, the sight cannot recognise liquid in the masses that hurl past. You are dimly and pitifully aware that sheets of light and darkness are falling in great curves in front of you. Dull omnipresent foam washes the face. Farther away, in the roar and hissing, clouds of spray seem literally to slide down some invisible plane of air.

Beyond the foot of the Falls the river is like a slipping floor of marble, green with veins of dirty white, made by the scum that was foam. It slides very quietly and slowly down for a mile or two, sullenly exhausted. Then it turns to a dull sage green, and hurries more swiftly, smooth and ominous. As the walls of the ravine close in, trouble stirs, and the waters boil and eddy. These are the lower rapids, a sight more terrifying than the Falls, because less intelligible. Close in its bands of rock the river surges tumultuously forward, writhing and leaping as if inspired by a demon. It is pressed by the straits into a visibly convex form. Great planes of water slide past. Sometimes it is thrown up into a pinnacle of foam higher than a house, or leaps with incredible speed from the crest of one vast wave to another, along the shining curve between, like the spring of a wild beast. Its motion continually suggests muscular action. The power manifest in these rapids moves one with a different sense of awe and terror from that of the Falls. Here the inhuman life and strength are spontaneous, active, almost resolute. . . . A place of fear.

One is drawn back, strangely, to a contemplation of the Falls, at every hour, and especially by night, when the cloud of spray becomes an immense visible ghost, straining and wavering high above the river, white and pathetic and translucent. The Victorian lies very close below the surface in every man. There one can sit and let great cloudy thoughts of destiny and the passage of empires drift through the mind; for such dreams are at home by Niagara. I could not get out of my mind the thought of a friend, who said that the rainbows over the Falls were like the arts and beauty and goodness, with regard to the stream of life—caused by it, thrown upon its spray, but unable to stay or direct or affect it, and ceasing when it ceased. In all comparisons that rise in the heart, the river, with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life, whether of an individual or of a community. A man’s life is of many flashing moments, and yet one stream; a nation’s flows through all its citizens, and yet is more than they. In such places, one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood. Some go down to it unreluctant, and meet it, like the river, not without nobility. And as incessant, as inevitable, and as unavailing as the spray that hangs over the Falls, is the white cloud of human crying. . . . With some such thoughts does the platitudinous $^2$ heart win from the confusion and thunder of a Niagara peace that the quietest plains or most stable hills can never give.

From LETTERS FROM AMERICA by Rupert Brooke—Public Domain

$^1$ diaphanous: sheer, translucent

$^2$ platitudinous: clichéd, common

Question

In paragraph 4, the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way is illustrated mainly through

Athe discussion of how the rainbows visible in the Falls are like the art and beauty created by humankind.
Bthe comparison between the movement of water in the Falls and the human experience.
Cthe inclusion of details that show that every observer’s experience with the Falls is different.
Dthe acknowledgment that contemplating the Falls at night sparks an awareness of humankind’s destiny.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how paragraph 4 of the excerpt mainly illustrates the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way.

A. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author compares the rainbows visible in the Falls to “the arts and beauty,” which share the rainbows’ dependence on “the stream of life”—that is, they are “caused by it, thrown upon its spray, but unable to stay or direct or affect it, and ceasing when it ceased.” This comparison does not illustrate the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way but rather that art and beauty, like human beings, are unable to “stay or direct or affect” their ultimate fate.

B. CORRECT. The author concludes in paragraph 4 that the movement of the Falls can be compared to people and history when he writes, “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.” This comparison illustrates the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way.

C. Incorrect. Although in paragraph 4 the author states that “One is drawn back, strangely, to a contemplation of the Falls” and provides an account of “a friend, who said that the rainbows over the Falls were like the arts and beauty and goodness, with regard to the stream of life,” the author does not provide details to show that every observer’s experience with the Falls is different. Rather, the author explains that “the Victorian lies very close below the surface in every man” (paragraph 4).

D. Incorrect. While the setting at night does provide a place of contemplation, the author notes the “dark flood” as the overall illustration of the human experience.

Question analysis

In this question on the closing paragraph of Rupert Brooke’s “Niagara Falls,” students identify the main way the author illustrates the idea that human life and history ultimately end in the same way. It is a lightly reworded version of a 2018 Test B question. The paragraph is long and reflective, mixing several images with abstract thoughts, so students must decide which of them actually illustrates this particular idea.

NYS standards: 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Most grade 7 work asks how an idea is shown in plain modern prose. This paragraph is a century-old reflection in long sentences with words like “certitude” and “unavailing,” and several of its images could each seem to carry the idea.
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 analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences major
The right answer is reworded moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 987 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 81 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

Paragraph 4 offers three pictures, the spray as a night ghost, the friend’s rainbows and the river as a life, and only one of them shows people and nations meeting an end. The 2026 stem’s “ultimately end” makes the rainbows’ “ceasing when it ceased” more tempting, and the night-time “thoughts of destiny” sound like the idea itself. Students who ask what the paragraph uses to show the idea, rather than where it mentions endings or destiny, land on the dark flood.

Complex sentences major Understanding the question
The idea sits inside a hedged sentence, “one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending,” and the comparison comes last: “as inevitably as this dark flood.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The key sums up the paragraph’s river-and-life likeness in its own words, “movement of water” and “human experience,” while the other choices borrow the paragraph’s vocabulary: “rainbows,” “art and beauty,” “night” and “destiny.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Multitudinous,” “certitude,” “insupportable” and “unavailing” all sit in the lines that carry the idea, and the footnoted “platitudinous” closes the paragraph, so the comparison has to be read through them. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Find the sentence in paragraph 4 that actually states the idea about life and history ending, then ask how that very sentence makes its point and match a choice to it.

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.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Settles on the friend’s rainbows because they end “ceasing when it ceased,” which echoes the stem’s ending, but the likeness is about art and beauty, not the lives of men and nations.
C Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Relies on the common idea that every visitor sees the Falls in a personal way, but the paragraph speaks of “one” and “every man” in general and records no differences.
D Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Joins the night view to “thoughts of destiny,” both real in paragraph 4, but they tell when and where the reflecting happens, not which picture shows lives and nations sharing an end.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how an idea is shown in paragraph 4. The idea is that people’s lives and whole nations end in the same way: they all come to an end. You need the picture the author mainly uses to show that idea. Paragraph 4 has several pictures, so find the one tied to this idea.
Find the sentence with the idea
Paragraph 4 says “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.” Men means people. Nations means countries and their history. Inevitably means in a way that can’t be stopped. The “dark flood” is the river’s dark water rushing over the Falls.
See how the comparison works
Just before, the author says “the river, with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life.” Multitudinous means very many. A current is water flowing one way. Likens itself to means seems like. A life has many moments but moves one way, like the river. And just as the water must rush on, people and nations rush toward their end. So the idea is shown by comparing moving water with human life.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. A friend compares the rainbows to “the arts and beauty and goodness.” That picture is about art, not about lives and nations ending.
- B fits. The river’s movement stands for human lives and history.
- C does not fit. The paragraph never says that each visitor sees the Falls differently.
- D does not fit. The night view and the “thoughts of destiny” tell when and where the author thinks. They do not show how lives end.
Watch out: D is tempting because destiny, or what happens in the end, sounds like the idea itself. But the question asks what illustrates the idea, and that is the river.
Choose the answer
The author pictures people and nations rushing to their end like the river’s water. So the answer is B, “the comparison between the movement of water in the Falls and the human experience.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. Paragraph 4 really does say the Falls at night stir “great cloudy thoughts of destiny.” But that only tells you the author was thinking about such things. The picture that shows lives and nations ending is the river. They are “hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 11 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 19 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 19, question 11.

The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed (pages 134–135)

The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed on page 134 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed on page 135 of the DOE handbook.

Question 19 of 70

2026 Practice Test C English, question 31

Passage Serpent Mound

Serpent Mound

The Great Serpent Mound, located in Adams County, Ohio, is a human-made mound of earth that researchers believe was created between 300 B.C. and A.D. 1100 by an indigenous culture.

Ohio, 1846

Brush Creek stood low when the museum men came
with their measuring tapes and sketchbooks.
It was winter. Fringed with ice,
the creek doubled back on itself
as if it had forgotten something.
Pa was in Cincinnati, or else on his way home,
so Ma told me to lead the men
into the marshy low grounds. It being winter,
there was little underbrush to speak of—
in the summer there would have been
briars, poison ivy, biting flies. I listened
for the swish of a beaver’s heavy tail,
the chitter of a chickadee, or the cry of a hawk,
but the winter silence of the creek pressed
down on all of us like a weight.
The humps in the ground were all but
invisible until you were right up on them. The figure
was even less obvious: the sinuous body,
the tail coiled three times around,
and at the other end, the mouth wide open.
In the summer the creek bottom was crowded
with so much life that you could trip over
the ridges of earth before you saw
anything at all. In winter you could climb
a tree and get some idea of the whole thing:
the serpent’s body undulating, slithering
silently across the ancient
earth. At the mouth end, there was an oval mound
as if the snake were about to swallow an egg—
as snakes sometimes did in our rickety
henhouse—my Pa always said, or
as if swallowing the sun, one of the museum
men suggested, taking notes with his quill pen,
an old-style inkhorn slung at his side.
I liked that: swallowing the sun,
just the sort of thing a snake might do,
might want to do. When, later, I told my sister Ruth,
she disagreed. It is singing to the sun,
she insisted. That is why its mouth
is wide open. She said, “Sometimes I think
I hear it on summer nights. Not swallowing, singing.”

Question

What impact do the words “swish,” “chitter,” and “cry” in lines 12–13 have in the poem?

AThey illustrate how lively the mound’s surroundings are during the summer.
BThey show how the mound disrupts natural life in the marsh.
CThey indicate the variety of wildlife found in the area around the mound.
DThey suggest that the speaker prefers the mound’s appearance in winter.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what impact the words “swish,” “chitter,” and “cry” in lines 12–13 have in the poem.

A. CORRECT. The words highlight the sounds of the animals that visit the mound in the summer: the “swish of a beaver’s heavy tail” (line 12), the “chitter of a chickadee” (line 13), and the “cry of a hawk” (line 13). These words help contrast the quiet stillness of the setting around the mound in the winter.

B. Incorrect. While the words in lines 12–13 convey the sounds certain animals make in the summer, the sounds of the animals that live near the mound are a natural part of life in the area, not a disruption.

C. Incorrect. The speaker is contrasting the sounds of the animals around the mound during the rest of the year with the silence of the winter months, not merely indicating the variety of wildlife.

D. Incorrect. The speaker expresses the idea that the mound is more visible in the winter because of the lack of brush (“It being winter, / there was little underbrush to speak of” [lines 8–9]). Then lines 12–13 describe sounds, not the appearance of the mound in winter.

Question analysis

This question about word choice asks what impact the sound words “swish,” “chitter” and “cry” in lines 12–13 of “Serpent Mound” have in the poem. They belong to a beaver, a chickadee and a hawk near the creek, and more than one choice sounds like a fair account of them, so students must read the surrounding lines closely.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often explain what sensory words add to a description. These three words sit inside a long sentence that runs across several lines, so their effect has to be worked out from the lines around them, 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 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: A very close wrong answer major
Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 61 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

Three vivid animal sounds invite the easy reading that the poem is showing off the creek’s wildlife, and that choice is true as far as it goes. The words matter because they are missing: the speaker listens for them, and “the winter silence” answers. Students must also accept that the key’s “during the summer” comes from the poem’s later picture of a crowded summer creek, not from lines 12–13 themselves.

A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer
The variety choice is literally true, since a beaver, a chickadee and a hawk are three kinds of animal; it differs from the key in missing why the sounds are named, as a contrast with winter. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The speaker listens for these sounds and does not hear them, so students must infer that they stand for the creek’s life in warmer months, which lines 21–22 call “crowded / with so much life.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The three words sit in one sentence that runs from “I listened” in line 11 to “like a weight” in line 15 and turns on “but,” so their point arrives only at its end. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read the full sentence that holds these words, from “I listened” in line 11 to the end of line 15, then decide what the three sound words add to the scene.

Traps

True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Notices that the beaver, chickadee and hawk go unheard but blames the mound for the hush, though line 14 calls it “the winter silence of the creek.”
C True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly counts three different animals in lines 12–13, but the speaker listens for them in vain, so the point is their absence in winter, not the range of species.
D Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Remembers from lines 8–9 and 24–25 that winter makes the mound easier to see, but lines 12–13 are about sounds and state no preference for either season.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what three sound words do in the poem. They are “swish,” “chitter” and “cry,” in lines 12–13. Read the whole sentence they sit in. It starts at “I listened” in line 11 and ends with “like a weight” in line 15.
Read the full sentence
Lines 11–15 say “I listened / for the swish of a beaver’s heavy tail, / the chitter of a chickadee, or the cry of a hawk, / but the winter silence of the creek pressed / down on all of us like a weight.” A chickadee is a small bird, and a chitter is its quick, chirping sound. The speaker listens for these sounds. But the word “but” tells you they never come. Only silence answers.
Work out why the sounds are named
A beaver, a chickadee and a hawk are signs of a creek full of life. The speaker hears none of them in winter. Later lines tell you when the creek is lively. Lines 21–22 say “In the summer the creek bottom was crowded / with so much life.” So the missing sounds remind you how lively the place is in summer. They also make the winter silence feel even emptier.
Check each choice
- A fits. The sounds stand for the busy life around the mound in the warm months.
- B does not fit. The quiet comes from the season: “the winter silence of the creek.” The mound does not cause it.
- C does not fit. There are three kinds of animals, but the point is that their sounds are missing.
- D does not fit. These lines are about sounds. The speaker says nothing about liking how the mound looks in winter.
Watch out: C is true as far as it goes. But it misses why the speaker names the sounds at all: to set them against the silence.
Choose the answer
The sounds the speaker listens for, and doesn’t hear, show how lively the creek is in summer. So the answer is A, “They illustrate how lively the mound’s surroundings are during the summer.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because a beaver, a chickadee and a hawk really are three kinds of wildlife. But the speaker listens for them and hears nothing. The word “but” turns the sentence to “the winter silence.” The sounds matter because they are missing. They show the creek in its lively season, which line 21 names as summer.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 31 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 46 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 46, question 31.

The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed (page 40)

The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed on page 40 of the DOE handbook.

Question 20 of 70

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 40

Question

In basketball, a player can earn 1 point for making a free throw and 2 points for making another basket. Marcus makes a mean of 8 free throws per game, and he scores a total of at least 25 points per game. The inequality below shows this relationship, where b represents the number of 2-point baskets Marcus makes.

$2b + 8 \geq 25$

What is the number of 2-point baskets Marcus needs to make if he wants to score at least his minimum total points for a game and make his mean number of free throws?

A $b \leq 8$
B $b \geq 9$
C $b \geq 16$
D $b \leq 25$

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

Solve the inequality $2b + 8 \geq 25$ .

$2b + 8 - 8 \geq 25 - 8$

$2b \geq 17$

$\frac{2b}{2} \geq \frac{17}{2}$

$b \geq 8.5$

Since the number of baskets made must be a whole number, the fewest 2-point baskets, b, he must make is 9.

Question analysis

In basketball, Marcus makes a mean of 8 one-point free throws a game and wants at least 25 points, shown by the inequality 2b + 8 ≥ 25. Students find how many 2-point baskets he needs. It tests solving a two-step inequality and interpreting the solution in context, since a player cannot make part of a basket.

NYS standards: 7.EE.4b two-step inequalities
Grade level: Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Solving a two-step inequality from a word problem is a grade 7 standard. Here the inequality is already written, so the extra demand is interpreting its solution as a count of baskets, typical of grade 7 tasks.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
What makes it hard: An answer in an unexpected form minor
Complex sentences minor
Solution: 3 steps
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 5, 92 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 inequality is handed over, so the solving is two routine moves; the judgment comes after. Dividing 17 by 2 leaves a half, and since a basket cannot be split, the boundary has to move up to 9: eight baskets give 2(8) + 8 = 24 points, one short of 25. Students who flip the symbol while dividing, or who move the 8 without changing its sign, still find a choice to match.

An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer
Solving gives b ≥ 8.5, which no choice shows; it has to be recognized as b ≥ 9, because Marcus cannot make half a basket. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 33-word question restates the given inequality as “at least his minimum total points” and “make his mean number of free throws”, wording harder than the math it describes. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Undo the added 8 and then the 2 to solve for b, then ask which whole numbers of baskets actually reach 25 points, testing the boundary value in the original inequality.

Traps

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.)
A faulty procedure: A systematic but wrong procedure: adding fractions straight across, applying an exponent to each term of a sum, dropping a sign when moving a term.
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 Negatives and direction (Brown & Burton, 1978)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Reverses the inequality when dividing by 2, as if dividing always flipped it, so b ≤ 8.5, and whole baskets give b ≤ 8.
C A faulty procedure (Brown & Burton, 1978; Tatsuoka, 1983)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Moves the 8 to the right without changing its sign, so 2b ≥ 33 and b ≥ 16.5, then drops the half to match b ≥ 16.
D Numbers taken from the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Takes the 25-point total from the inequality as a limit on baskets and writes at most, a number copied from the question rather than solved for.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Solving an inequality: $\text{if } A \geq B, \text{ then } A - C \geq B - C \text{ and } \frac{A}{2} \geq \frac{B}{2}$; A and B are the two sides. The sign ≥ means greater than or equal to. Taking the same amount C from both sides keeps the sign the same. Dividing both sides by a positive number, like 2, also keeps it the same. Only a negative number flips it.

Sort out the question
A free throw is worth 1 point, and each other basket is worth 2 points. Marcus makes 8 free throws, which give 8 points. The letter b is the number of 2-point baskets, so they give 2b points.
He wants at least 25 points in all. That is the inequality $2b + 8 \geq 25$ . An inequality compares two amounts. The sign ≥ means greater than or equal to. You need the values of b that work.
Subtract 8 from both sides
Undo the added 8 first:
$2b + 8 - 8 \geq 25 - 8$
$2b \geq 17$
Watch out: adding 8 instead gives $2b \geq 33$ . That leads to choice C, which is wrong.
Divide both sides by 2
2b means 2 times b. Divide both sides by 2. Since 2 is positive, the sign stays the same:
$\frac{2b}{2} \geq \frac{17}{2}$
$b \geq 8.5$
Watch out: do not flip the sign here. Flipping it gives $b \leq 8.5$ , which leads to choice A.
Think about whole baskets
Marcus cannot make half a basket. So test the whole numbers near 8.5:
$2 \times 8 + 8 = 24$
$2 \times 9 + 8 = 26$
Eight baskets give 24 points, one short of 25. Nine baskets give 26 points, which is enough. So he needs 9 or more baskets.
Give the answer
The number of baskets is 9 or more, written $b \geq 9$ . Choice D, $b \leq 25$ , just copies the 25 from the points.
So the answer is B, $b \geq 9$ .

Check your answer

Try a bigger number, such as b = 12. Then $2 \times 12 + 8 = 32$ points, which is at least 25. Any number of baskets above 9 also works, and that is what ≥ says. Below 9, the total stays at 24 points or fewer.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 40 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 113 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 113, question 40.

Question 21 of 70

2026 Practice Test D English, question 8

Passage Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

by Orville Wright

In 1903 brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted experiments related to flying machines. These experiments would eventually lead to air travel becoming a reliable form of transportation.

During the night of December 16, 1903, a strong cold wind blew from the north. When we arose on the morning of the 17th, the puddles of water, which had been standing about camp since the recent rains, were covered with ice. The wind had a velocity of 10 to 12 meters per second (22 to 27 miles an hour). We thought it would die down before long, and so remained indoors the early part of the morning. But when ten o’clock arrived, and the wind was as brisk as ever, we decided that we had better get the machine out and attempt a flight. We hung out the signal for the men of the Life Saving Station.¹ We thought that by facing the flyer into a strong wind, there ought to be no trouble in launching it from the level ground about camp. We realized the difficulties of flying in so high a wind, but estimated that the added dangers in flight would be partly compensated for by the slower speed in landing.

Final Preparations

We laid the track on a smooth stretch of ground about one hundred feet north of the new building. The biting cold wind made work difficult, and we had to warm up frequently in our living room, where we had a good fire in an improvised stove made of a large carbide² can. By the time all was ready, J. T. Daniels, W. S. Dough and A. D. Etheridge, members of the Kill Devil³ Life Saving Station; W. C. Brinkley of Manteo, and Johnny Moore, a boy from Nags Head,⁴ had arrived.

We had a “Richard” hand anemometer with which we measured the velocity of the wind. Measurements made just before starting the first flight showed velocities of 11 to 12 meters per second, or 24 to 27 miles per hour. . . .

Audacity—and Calculation

Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me. After running the motor a few minutes to heat it up, I released the wire that held the machine to the track, and the machine started forward in the wind. Wilbur ran at the side of the machine, holding the wing to balance it on the track. Unlike the start on the 14th, made in a calm, the machine, facing a 27-mile wind, started very slowly. Wilbur was able to stay with it till it lifted from the track after a forty-foot run. One of the Life Saving men snapped the camera for us, taking a picture just as the machine had reached the end of the track and had risen to a height of about two feet. The slow forward speed of the machine over the ground is clearly shown in the picture by Wilbur’s attitude. He stayed along beside the machine without any effort.

Flight

The course of the flight up and down was exceedingly erratic, partly due to the irregularity of the air, and partly to lack of experience in handling this machine. The control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center. This gave it a tendency to turn itself when started; so that it turned too far on one side and then too far on the other. As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about ten feet, and then as suddenly dart for the ground. A sudden dart when a little over a hundred feet from the end of the track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air, ended the flight. As the velocity of the wind was over 35 feet per second and the speed of the machine over the ground against this wind ten feet per second, the speed of the machine relative to the air was over 45 feet per second, and the length of the flight was equivalent to a flight of 540 feet made in calm air. This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.

From “How We Made the First Flight” by Orville Wright—Public Domain/Federal Aviation Administration

¹Life Saving Station: one of the rescue stations along the Atlantic coastline that provided assistance to mariners in distress

²carbide: a very hard material composed of carbon and other heavy metals

³Kill Devil: the town of Kill Devil Hills in eastern North Carolina

⁴Nags Head: a town in eastern North Carolina

Question

How does paragraph 1 introduce the idea that the Wright brothers knew that their flight attempt was risky?

Athrough the mention of a signal to notify lifesaving experts that the flight attempt was about to begin
Bby providing specific details about the speed of the wind and the Wright brothers’ response to the windy conditions
Cby suggesting that a slower landing would be necessary at the end of the flight in order to maintain safety
Dthrough the indication that the Wright brothers waited indoors for most of the morning because of the poor weather

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how paragraph 1 introduces the idea that the Wright brothers knew that their flight attempt was risky.

A. CORRECT. Paragraph 1 describes the Wright brothers hanging out “the signal” to notify the lifesaving crew to stand by as they attempted flight; the need for lifesaving experts to be available in case of an accident introduces the idea that the attempted flight might crash.

B. Incorrect. The specifics on the speed of the wind by themselves do not emphasize the danger of the flight. While the brothers admitted that the strong wind posed certain risks, they also noted that the windy conditions might make landing safer (“estimated that the added dangers in flight would be partly compensated for by the slower speed in landing” [paragraph 1]).

C. Incorrect. A slower landing was expected as a result of the windy conditions, but it was not part of a plan to increase the safety of the flight.

D. Incorrect. While the Wright brothers’ initial decision to wait to see whether the wind would die down does suggest they were concerned about the safety of the flight, the explanation of their decision to proceed with the flight shows that they expected one benefit from the poor weather: “the slower speed in landing” (paragraph 1).

Question analysis

This question on Orville Wright’s account “How We Made the First Flight” asks how the opening paragraph, which describes a cold, windy December morning at the brothers’ camp, introduces the idea that the Wright brothers knew their flight attempt was risky. Students must judge which of four details from the paragraph does that work, and the paragraph mentions both dangers and reasons for confidence.

NYS standards: 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Finding how a paragraph introduces an idea is grade 7 work, but this paragraph is long and old-fashioned, every choice points to something it mentions, and students must decide which detail most clearly signals that the brothers saw a risk.
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
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 93 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

Paragraph 1 states the danger outright only in its last sentence, and that sentence then weighs it against a gentler landing, so the choice built on the brothers’ response to the wind is the strongest pull. The key rests on a quieter detail whose meaning comes from a footnote: men from a rescue station were signaled before the attempt. Students must decide which detail shows the brothers preparing for trouble, not just noticing the weather, and that test is narrower than most expect.

Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The key never says danger: students must connect “the signal for the men of the Life Saving Station” to footnote 1, rescue stations for “mariners in distress,” and see that summoning rescuers means expecting trouble. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer
All four details come from paragraph 1, and its plainest admission of danger, “We realized the difficulties of flying in so high a wind,” sits inside a wrong choice, so each detail must be weighed for what it shows. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The paragraph’s last sentence sets danger against benefit, “the added dangers in flight would be partly compensated for by the slower speed in landing,” and students must untangle it to see the brothers playing the risk down. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Locate each of the four details in paragraph 1, reread the sentence it sits in, and ask what that detail on its own reveals about what the brothers feared could go wrong.

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.
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

B Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Seizes on the wind speeds and “We realized the difficulties of flying in so high a wind,” but the response the paragraph describes is a calculation that a slower landing would offset the danger.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Turns the slower landing, a side effect of facing a strong wind, into a safety step the brothers needed, when the paragraph counts it as a partial offset to the added danger.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Reads the wait for calmer air as fear and stretches “the early part of the morning” into most of it, though at ten o’clock they decided to fly in the same brisk wind.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how paragraph 1 first shows that the Wright brothers knew their flight was risky. Risky means it could end badly. All four choices name details from paragraph 1. Your job is to find the detail that shows them getting ready for trouble.
Find the signal in paragraph 1
Paragraph 1 says “We hung out the signal for the men of the Life Saving Station.” The small number 1 after “Station” points to footnote 1 at the end of the excerpt. Read it. A Life Saving Station was “one of the rescue stations along the Atlantic coastline that provided assistance to mariners in distress.” Mariners are sailors. Distress means danger or trouble.
Work out what the signal means
The brothers called rescue workers before they tried to fly. People call rescuers only when someone might get hurt. So the signal shows the brothers knew the flight could go wrong. They wanted help close by in case of a crash.
Check each choice
- A fits. Signaling rescuers shows the brothers planned for trouble.
- B does not fit. The wind speeds are only numbers. The brothers’ response was to fly anyway, thinking “there ought to be no trouble in launching.”
- C does not fit. The slower landing was a side effect of the wind. They counted it as a plus, not as a safety step they needed.
- D does not fit. They stayed inside only “the early part of the morning,” hoping the wind would die down. Then they went out in the same wind.
Watch out: B is tempting because the paragraph says “We realized the difficulties of flying in so high a wind.” But that same sentence weighs those dangers against a slower landing. It plays the risk down.
Choose the answer
The call to the rescue station is the detail that shows the brothers preparing for danger. So the answer is A, “through the mention of a signal to notify lifesaving experts that the flight attempt was about to begin.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. The paragraph does admit the wind made flying harder. But the brothers then argue the danger down: a slower landing would partly make up for it. A shows them acting on the risk. They called in rescuers before they flew. You only do that if you think something could go wrong.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 8 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 15 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 15, question 8.

The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed (pages 13–14)

The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed on page 13 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed on page 14 of the DOE handbook.

Question 22 of 70

2026 Practice Test D English, question 9

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight””.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 4.

Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me.

The sentence contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt by

Ademonstrating the challenge of the extreme winter conditions during the flight.
Brevealing how many tries it took for Wilbur Wright to finally get the machine to take flight.
Cdemonstrating that both Orville and Wilbur Wright were eager to pilot what could potentially be the first flight.
Dsuggesting a sense that both brothers felt confident they would soon succeed in completing the first flight.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the sentence from paragraph 4 contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 4 does not refer to the challenge of the winter conditions during the flight attempt.

B. Incorrect. While the sentence from paragraph 4 specifically references a previous flight several days earlier, it does not state how many attempts came before Wilbur’s attempt on December 14.

C. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 4 indicates that the Wright brothers had agreed to take turns attempting to achieve the first flight, which suggests their eagerness to each be the first to successfully fly the machine.

D. Incorrect. Orville’s trial came about simply because the brothers took turns, which would suggest that there was no greater likelihood of success or reason to be more confident at that moment than there had been for previous attempts.

Question analysis

This question quotes the sentence that opens the “Audacity—and Calculation” section of Orville Wright’s account, in which he explains that the first trial on December 17 was his because Wilbur had used his turn on the 14th. Students decide how the sentence contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt. Several choices bring in other parts of the story, so students must stay with what this one sentence shows.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining what one quoted sentence adds is routine grade 7 work. This sentence is short but opens with an old-fashioned “Wilbur having used his turn” construction, and its point about the brothers is implied rather than stated.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: A very close wrong answer moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 102 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 sentence is about whose turn it is, and the question asks what that arrangement says about the brothers. A quick reader may lose the subject in the opening phrase and think Wilbur is still trying, or may carry the cold of earlier paragraphs into a sentence that never mentions it. The harder call is between eagerness and confidence: the heading “Audacity—and Calculation” makes confidence sound right, but a failed attempt three days earlier gives no reason for it.

A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The choice about confidence matches the key’s frame, both brothers feeling something about the first flight; it differs in one word, confident instead of eager, and only eagerness follows from taking turns. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The sentence names no feeling; eagerness has to be read from the turn-taking itself, the brothers alternating for “the right to the first trial,” a chance each wanted to be his. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The sentence opens with an absolute phrase, “Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th,” whose subject is not the subject of the main clause, so a reader can lose track of who flies. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Untangle the sentence first: say who used a turn, when, and who goes next. Then ask what the arrangement it describes suggests about the two brothers, and test each choice against that.

Traps

Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
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.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Carries the frozen puddles and “biting cold wind” of paragraphs 1 and 2 into this sentence, which says nothing about the weather and is only about whose turn it was.
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals a slip Expected pull: weak
Loses the subject of the opening phrase and has Wilbur keep trying until he flies, though the sentence mentions one failed attempt and gives this trial to Orville.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads “the right to the first trial” and the heading “Audacity—and Calculation” as confidence, but taking turns says nothing about their odds, and the attempt on the 14th had failed.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what one sentence adds to the excerpt. The sentence is short, but it starts in an old-fashioned way. First untangle who did what. Then ask what the sentence tells you about the two brothers.
Untangle the sentence
The sentence is “Wilbur having used his turn in the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th, the right to the first trial now belonged to me.” The first part gives a reason. In plain words: Wilbur already had his turn on the 14th. Unsuccessful means it failed. The second part says: so now it is my turn. The “me” is Orville, who wrote the excerpt. A trial here is a try.
Ask what taking turns shows
The brothers took turns trying to fly. Each one had a “right” to a turn. You take turns when both people want the same chance. Each brother wanted to be the pilot. This could be the first flight in history, so both were eager. Eager means they really wanted it.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. The sentence says nothing about the cold or the wind.
- B does not fit. It mentions only one failed try by Wilbur. And this trial was Orville’s, not Wilbur’s.
- C fits. Taking turns shows that each brother wanted to fly the machine.
- D does not fit. Nothing in the sentence shows confidence. The last try had failed, and it was simply Orville’s turn.
Watch out: D is tempting because the section heading is “Audacity—and Calculation.” Audacity means boldness. But taking turns shows eagerness, not a belief that they would succeed.
Choose the answer
The turn-taking shows that both brothers wanted to fly. So the answer is C, “demonstrating that both Orville and Wilbur Wright were eager to pilot what could potentially be the first flight.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. Both C and D describe how the brothers felt about the first flight. But the sentence gives no reason to feel sure of success. It even mentions “the unsuccessful attempt on the 14th.” What it does show is that each brother wanted his own turn. That is eagerness, so C fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 9 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 16 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 16, question 9.

Question 23 of 70

2026 Practice Test D English, question 12

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight””.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.

As the velocity of the wind was over 35 feet per second and the speed of the machine over the ground against this wind ten feet per second, the speed of the machine relative to the air was over 45 feet per second, and the length of the flight was equivalent to a flight of 540 feet made in calm air.

How does the sentence help convey Orville Wright’s perspective about this first flight?

AIt suggests that he was frustrated by the poor flying conditions on the day of the flight.
BIt emphasizes that he believed the flight was successful despite its short distance.
CIt provides a comparison between flight distances under calm and high wind conditions.
DIt highlights the importance of such calculations in the success of future flights.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the sentence from paragraph 5 helps convey Orville Wright’s perspective about the first flight.

A. Incorrect. Although the sentence from paragraph 5 refers to the velocity of the wind during the flight, there is no indication that Orville felt a sense of frustration with the windy conditions. Instead, the sentence emphasizes the “speed of the machine relative to the air” and presents the equivalent flight length if the machine had flown through calm air (“the length of the flight was equivalent to a flight of 540 feet made in calm air”), details that emphasize the importance of the Wrights’ accomplishment.

B. CORRECT. In the sentence from paragraph 5, Orville uses the wind velocity and the machine speed to highlight the distance that the plane covered while in the air and to determine the distance that it would have flown on a day with calm winds, which emphasizes the magnitude of the accomplishment.

C. Incorrect. Since Orville does not suggest in the sentence from paragraph 5 how far the plane traveled under the actual conditions of high winds, the comparison is incomplete. Additionally, this statement does not address the reason that he would make such a comparison, which allowed him to describe the flight in more impressive terms (540 feet versus 120 feet).

D. Incorrect. Unlike the wind velocity calculations made in preparation for the flight, which might help in determining the success of future flights, the comparative calculations that Orville provides in the sentence from paragraph 5 help interpret the results of the first flight (by describing how fast and far the machine flew relative to the flying conditions) and thereby communicate its success. The calculations of the first flight’s relative speed and equivalent distance would not affect the success of future flights, but the information does provide context for understanding the Wright brothers’ accomplishment.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question quotes the long sentence from paragraph 5 in which Orville Wright works out the machine’s speed through the air and the length of an equivalent flight in calm air. Students must decide how this sentence helps convey his perspective on the first flight. The sentence is mostly numbers, from 35 feet per second to 540 feet, which makes its purpose easy to miss.

NYS standards: 7R6 point of view and author position
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 point-of-view questions usually rest on words that show feeling. This sentence is a chain of speeds and distances with no feeling words, so students must work out why Orville bothers with the arithmetic, a step 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: How, not what moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 132 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

Point-of-view questions usually turn on feeling words, and this sentence has none, only speeds and a distance. Students must ask why Orville bothers with the arithmetic, and the answer is that 540 feet in calm air makes a 12-second hop look like the achievement he believed it was. The strongest pull describes the sentence’s content accurately, a comparison of calm and windy flight, without saying what it reveals, so students who answer what instead of why lose the point.

How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks why Orville includes this calculation, so students must see that converting a short hop into “a flight of 540 feet made in calm air” is his way of showing that it counted. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The sentence holds no word of feeling or judgment; his view that the flight succeeded must be read from his choice to restate about 120 feet over the ground as 540 feet through the air. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 61-word sentence chains four measurements, a wind over 35 feet per second, a ground speed of ten, an airspeed over 45 and the 540-foot equivalent, joined by “As,” “and” and commas. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Work out what the speeds and distances in the sentence describe, then ask why Orville includes them at this point and what that choice tells you about his view of the flight.

Traps

Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
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.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Links the high wind to the cold, hard morning of paragraphs 1 and 2 and assumes Orville resented it, though here he uses the wind’s speed to make the flight count for more.
C Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Describes what the sentence contains, a flight measured against one in calm air, without saying what that comparison shows about Orville’s view of the flight, which is what the question asks.
D Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Assumes careful calculations must be meant to guide later flights, a reasonable idea about early aviation, but this sentence measures the flight just made and looks no further ahead.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about Orville Wright’s perspective, or point of view. How did he feel about the first flight? The quoted sentence is full of numbers, not feelings. So ask why Orville bothered to do this math.
Sort out the numbers
The wind blew against the machine at over 35 feet per second. The machine moved over the ground at 10 feet per second. It was flying into the wind, so the air rushed past it even faster. Add them: it moved through the air at over 45 feet per second. The flight lasted 12 seconds. Over the ground, that is 10 × 12 = 120 feet. Through the air, it is 45 × 12 = 540 feet. That is how Orville gets “a flight of 540 feet made in calm air.”
Ask why Orville does this math
Paragraph 5 says the flight ended “a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air.” That sounds short. But Orville shows it was really much more. In calm air, the same flight would have gone 540 feet. He wants you to see that the short hop was a real flight. So his view is that the flight was a success.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. There is no sign of frustration. Orville uses the wind to make the flight count for more.
- B fits. The math turns a short flight into an impressive one.
- C does not fit. The sentence does compare calm and windy air. But that only says what the sentence contains, not what Orville thinks.
- D does not fit. The math measures the flight that just happened. It does not look ahead to future flights.
Watch out: C is tempting because it describes the sentence correctly. But the question asks about his perspective. C never says how he felt about the flight.
Choose the answer
Orville does the math to show that his short flight was a real success. So the answer is B, “It emphasizes that he believed the flight was successful despite its short distance.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It is true that the sentence compares a windy flight with one “made in calm air.” But C only tells what the sentence says. The question asks why Orville says it. He turns about 120 feet into 540 feet to show the flight was a real achievement. B gives that reason.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 12 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 19 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 19, question 12.

Question 24 of 70

2026 Practice Test D English, question 49

Question

Read this sentence.

Robert Cornelius is credited with taking the first, official selfie as a daguerreotype, an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver, using a process that was more complicated than photos of today which are digitized or printed from film and do not require subjects to sit for nearly fifteen minutes to avoid blurring the image.

Which two edits should be made to correct the sentence?

Select the two correct answers.

Choose every answer that is correct, then check. The DOE has not published how answers with several parts are scored; this site counts one right only when every part is right.

ADelete the comma after first.
BDelete the comma after daguerreotype.
CDelete the comma after silver.
DAdd a comma after today.
EAdd a comma after film.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A and D

The question asks which two edits should be made to correct the sentence.

A. CORRECT. The comma after “first” must be deleted to correct the sentence. The adjectives “first” and “official” are not coordinate adjectives that independently modify the noun “selfie.” Cornelius did not take the “first selfie” and also the “official selfie.” Rather, he took the first selfie that was considered official. Placing a comma between the words “first” and “official” incorrectly separates two adjectives that work together to describe the selfie.

B. Incorrect. The comma after “daguerreotype” must not be deleted, because it is used correctly to introduce an explanation. The phrase “an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver” is an appositive—a noun phrase that defines “daguerreotype.”

C. Incorrect. The comma after “silver” is placed correctly, marking the end of the phrase “an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver” that defines “daguerreotype.” Because the sentence continues to explain the process Robert Cornelius used, the comma after “silver” is needed to end the appositive and separate it from the phrase that follows.

D. CORRECT. A comma is needed after “today” because the following phrase, “which are digitized or printed from film,” is a nonrestrictive clause that gives nonessential information about the “photos of today” preceding it.

E. Incorrect. No comma is needed after “film,” because the words “and do not require subjects to sit” are part of the same relative clause that begins with “which are digitized…”. The conjunction “and” joins two predicates within the same clause. Both actions belong to the same clause and the same subject (which); they are not separate independent clauses that need to be punctuated with a comma.

Question analysis

This punctuation question gives one long sentence about Robert Cornelius, credited with one of the earliest selfies, and the daguerreotype, an image made on a silver-coated copper plate, and asks which two of five comma edits correct it. Five words are underlined, and each needs its own decision about a comma, with credit only when both chosen edits are right.

NYS standards: 7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 The comma rules tested appear in the grade 6 and 7 standards, but the sentence runs 57 words, two of the rules are subtle ones, and both selections must be right, which makes this harder than typical grade 7 editing.
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: A rule that doesn't sound wrong major
Much to keep track of moderate
Complex sentences moderate
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 7, 100 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A grammar term in the explanation 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 sentence is long, two of its five decisions turn on subtle comma rules, and the site counts the answer right only when both edits are right. The comma before “and do not require” is the strongest trap, because a comma before “and” is a habit many students apply without checking whether a new clause begins. The paired commas around “an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver” are already correct, and deleting either one breaks the pair.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong major Working it out
Both needed edits rest on rules students rarely hear: “first, official” are not coordinate adjectives, so no comma, and “which are digitized” adds nonessential detail about photos of today, so it needs one. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Much to keep track of moderate Working it out
There are five comma decisions in one sentence and both selections must be right to score, so each edit is judged on its own while the rest of the sentence is held in mind. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The sentence runs 57 words and stacks an appositive, a participial phrase beginning “using a process,” and a relative clause with two verbs, so finding where each phrase starts and ends is itself the task. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Take the five underlined words one at a time: name what the phrase after each one does in the sentence, decide whether a comma belongs there, and choose only the two edits you are sure of.

Traps

Punctuation: A comma, semicolon, colon, dash or apostrophe used where it does not belong, or missing where it does.

The wrong answers, classified

B Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Deletes the comma that opens the appositive “an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver,” which defines daguerreotype and must be set off from it.
C Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Deletes the comma that closes the same appositive, perhaps feeling the sentence has too many commas, though a phrase set off mid-sentence needs a comma on each side.
E Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Applies the habit of a comma before “and,” though here “and” joins two verbs that share one subject, “which,” inside one clause, not two complete clauses.
A Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Left out by students who think a comma always separates two adjectives, though “first” describes “official selfie” as a unit, so the adjectives are not coordinate.
D Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Left out by students who read “photos of today which are digitized” as one essential phrase, missing that the which-clause adds nonessential detail and needs a comma.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option C says the comma after “silver” “is needed to separate the clauses.” Neither side of that comma is a clause. Before it is the appositive “an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver,” as the explanations of Options B and C say; after it is the phrase “using a process that was more complicated…,” a participial phrase with no subject of its own. The comma ends the appositive. The site now says the comma “is needed to end the appositive and separate it from the phrase that follows.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks which two comma edits fix the sentence. Five words are underlined. Decide about each comma one at a time. You must pick both right edits.
Check the comma after first
A comma goes between two describing words only if each one describes the noun on its own. Test it: can you put “and” between them? A long and hard test works, so you write a long, hard test. But the first and official selfie sounds wrong. “First” describes “official selfie” as a unit. So delete the comma after first. That is A.
Check the commas around silver
“An image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver” tells what a daguerreotype is. A phrase that renames the noun just before it is called an appositive. An appositive in the middle of a sentence needs a comma on each side. Example: My dog, a small beagle, loves walks. So keep the commas after daguerreotype and silver. B and C are wrong.
Check the comma after today
A clause is a group of words with its own verb. “Which are digitized or printed from film” is a clause that adds extra facts about photos of today. A “which” clause that adds extra facts gets a comma before it. Example: I read that book, which is very long. So add a comma after today. That is D.
Check the comma after film
The words “and do not require subjects to sit” are part of the same “which” clause. “Which” is the subject of both verbs, “are digitized or printed” and “do not require.” When “and” joins two verbs that share one subject, no comma goes before it. Example: She sings and dances. So E is wrong.
Watch out: Many students put a comma before every “and.” That leads to E. A comma goes before “and” when it joins two full sentences, not two verbs.
Choose the answers
Delete the comma after first, and add a comma after today. So the answers are A and D. Be sure to select both of them.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

E is the closest wrong answer, because a comma before “and” is a common habit. But after film, “and” joins two verbs that share one subject, “which.” No new sentence starts there, so no comma belongs. A and D fix the two real errors.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 49 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 71 of its printable version. — As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 71, question 49. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 25 of 70

2025 Practice Test A English, question 10

Passage 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.

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

Read this sentence from paragraph 2.

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.

The author’s purpose for including the sentence is to

Aexplain that hieroglyphs were reserved for royal and religious purposes.
Bdemonstrate the methods experts use to interpret hieroglyphs.
Cclarify the significance of hieroglyphs in language and literature.
Ddescribe the basic features of hieroglyphs and how they were typically used.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for an explanation of the author’s purpose for including a sentence in paragraph 2 that describes the two types of hieroglyphs and the main uses of this particular writing system.

A. Incorrect. The sentence explains that hieroglyphs were used for formal inscriptions, but it does not suggest that these inscriptions were limited to royal and religious contexts.

B. Incorrect. The sentence describes the two basic types of hieroglyphs, ideograms and phonograms, but it does not address how experts interpret the ancient writing system. A sentence earlier in the paragraph explains that the hieroglyphs were deciphered by Champollion, but it does not explain how he deciphered them.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence explains that the hieroglyphs were typically used for formal inscriptions, it does not provide an explanation of the significance or importance of hieroglyphs in the Egyptian language.

D. CORRECT. The sentence explains that hieroglyphs included both phonograms and ideograms that were used in formal inscriptions and funeral papyri; therefore, this sentence achieves the purpose of describing the basic features of hieroglyphs as conveying either words and ideas or sounds, in addition to explaining the common uses for the writing system.

Question analysis

This author’s-purpose question quotes a long, technical sentence from paragraph 2 of “Scribe Like an Egyptian” about the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system, and asks why the author includes it. Students must make sense of its specialist vocabulary before they can say what the sentence contributes to the paragraph and to the article.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining why an author includes a sentence is regular grade 7 work. This one is long, with definitions in parentheses and a bracketed insert, but it is quoted in full, so the task stays within one sentence.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
Hard words minor
How, not what minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 103 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

Once the parentheses are set aside, the sentence says two simple things: what kinds of signs hieroglyphs were, and where they appeared. The wrong purposes each go one step beyond that, turning tombs and temples into an exclusive royal and religious use, borrowing Champollion’s deciphering from the sentence before, or claiming a significance the sentence never weighs. Students who untangle the syntax first find the matching purpose quickly.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The quoted sentence runs fifty words, two parenthetical definitions come before the verb, and its subject, the bracketed “[the writing system],” appears only after thirty words of description. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Ideograms,” “phonograms” and “funerary papyri” are specialist terms; the parentheses define the first two, but students who stall on them may not reach the sentence’s plain point about where the signs were used. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
How, not what minor Working it out
The stem asks why the author includes the sentence, so students must match the job it does in paragraph 2 to a purpose, and only one purpose stays within what the sentence actually covers. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Restate the quoted sentence in plain words, setting the parentheses aside at first, then choose the purpose that fits everything the sentence says and nothing more.

Traps

Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.

The wrong answers, classified

A Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads “formal inscriptions on tomb and temple walls” and “funerary papyri” as royal and religious only, though the sentence names where hieroglyphs usually appeared, not a rule reserving them.
B Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Remembers that Champollion deciphered the signs, which the sentence before reports, and takes this sentence for an account of how experts read them, though it never mentions interpreting.
C Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Chooses an important-sounding purpose, the significance of hieroglyphs in language and literature, though the sentence never says why the script mattered or mentions any literature.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks why the author put this sentence in paragraph 2. In other words, what job does the sentence do? First work out what the sentence says. Then pick the purpose that matches all of it and adds nothing extra.
Untangle the long sentence
The sentence is long, so set the parentheses aside at first. The main part says the writing system “was used in formal inscriptions on tomb and temple walls as well as on elaborate funerary papyri.” An inscription is writing carved or painted on something. Funerary means having to do with burials. Papyri are scrolls made from papyrus, a kind of early paper.
Read the parentheses
Now add back the two kinds of signs. Ideograms “convey a whole word or idea” in one sign. Phonograms stand for “either an alphabetic sound or a group of consonants.” Consonants are letter sounds like b, t and m. So one kind of hieroglyph shows a meaning, and the other shows a sound.
Sum up the sentence’s job
Put the two parts together. The sentence tells what hieroglyphs were made of: signs for ideas and signs for sounds. It also tells where people usually used them: on tombs, temples and burial scrolls. So its job is to describe what hieroglyphs were like and how they were used.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. The sentence says where hieroglyphs usually appeared. It never says they were reserved, or kept only, for kings and religion.
- B does not fit. The sentence before it says Champollion figured out the signs. This sentence never says how experts read them.
- C does not fit. The sentence never says why hieroglyphs mattered, and it never mentions literature.
- D fits. It names both parts: the basic features and the usual uses.
Watch out: Tombs and temples sound royal and religious, so A tempts. But “used in” is not the same as “reserved for.”
Choose the answer
The sentence describes the two kinds of signs and where they were usually used. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. Tombs and temples do suggest kings and religion. But the sentence only lists where hieroglyphs were used. It never says they were kept for those uses alone. D matches everything the sentence says and adds nothing it doesn’t.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 10 as shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test. — As shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test: 2025 Practice Test A English, question 10.

The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the test

The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 1 of 6.

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The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 3 of 6.

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The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 5 of 6.

The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 6 of 6.

Question 26 of 70

2025 Practice Test A English, question 37

Passage Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”

Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”

by Dallas Lore Sharp

The horse knew the cattle business and knew his rider perfectly; and though there was nothing like sentiment about the boss of the P Ranch riders, his faith in Peroxide Jim was complete. . . .

The sound seemed to come out of the earth, a low, rumbling mumble, as dark as the night and as wide as the plain, a thick, inarticulate bellow that stood every rider stiff in his stirrups. . . .

From “The Spirit of the Herd” by Dallas Lore Sharp—Public Domain

tablelands: plateaus, flat areas of land sharply elevated from the surrounding area
tapaderos: leather covers for stirrups

Question

How does paragraph 9 fit into the overall structure of the excerpt?

AIt hints at the change in the setting that caused Wade to suddenly become alert.
BIt creates a false sense of calm that shows how unprepared the men were for what was about to happen.
CIt introduces the idea that Wade was a skillful leader in unpredictable circumstances.
DIt presents the incident that caused the main conflict Wade and Peroxide Jim addressed.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how paragraph 9 fits into the overall structure of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Wade was alert long before the events of paragraph 9. In paragraph 5, he began singing to the cattle because he knew that they were on the verge of stampeding. He was even more alert when he “caught a breath of fresh, moist wind with the taste of water in it” (paragraph 6) and heard the low rumbling of the herd in paragraph 8: “The sound seemed to come out of the earth, a low, rumbling mumble.”

B. Incorrect. Wade and the other riders were not calm; rather, they were alert and attempting to keep the cattle calm by singing to them. They were as prepared as they could be for what was about to happen, as shown in paragraph 1, through the selection of fresh horses and, specifically, Wade’s choice to ride Peroxide Jim in the face of possible danger: “Wade had been saving this horse for emergency work.”

C. Incorrect. Although Wade’s leadership is implied in paragraph 9 (“He must keep them going. He touched his horse to ride on with them”), his leadership is revealed in earlier portions of the excerpt as well (“Wade had been saving this horse” [paragraph 1]; “Wade began to sing” [paragraph 5]), so this is not new information being introduced in paragraph 9 of the excerpt.

D. CORRECT. Paragraph 9 describes the lightning strike that made the cattle panic and stampede. The stampede is the main conflict Wade and Peroxide Jim addressed in the excerpt; and therefore, paragraph 9 fits into the overall structure of the excerpt by presenting the incident that caused the main conflict.

Question analysis

This text-structure question asks how paragraph 9 of “The Spirit of the Herd,” Dallas Lore Sharp’s account of a cattle drive through the Oregon desert at night, fits into the overall structure of the excerpt. Students must judge what the paragraph does at that moment in the story, and several choices describe something real in the scene around it.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how a paragraph fits a story’s structure is typical grade 7 work. The 1914 prose is dense, but this paragraph is short and its role is clear once the paragraphs around it are read.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: How, not what moderate
Evidence in several places moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from the whole text
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 73 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A paragraph number and a detail that is not in the excerpt were corrected in the explanation.
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

Paragraph 9 is short and its turning point comes in its final words, so a student who reads it as a pause in the night’s tension, or as a portrait of Wade, can miss that it sets off everything after it. The wrong choices each describe something that happens around this point in the story, which is why checking what came earlier matters: Wade was already alert and already leading. Seeing the paragraph as the hinge between suspense and stampede settles it.

How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks what paragraph 9 does in the sequence of events, and its job is carried by its last clause, the lightning that the next paragraph turns into a stampede. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
Ruling out the choices about alertness and leadership means looking back: Wade starts the singing in paragraph 5, reins in his horse at the moist wind in paragraph 7, and had saved Peroxide Jim in paragraph 1. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The paragraph’s key event arrives at the end of a long sentence in inverted order, “across the black sky flashed a vivid streak of lightning,” after Wade’s plan to keep riding. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Sum up what happens before, during and after paragraph 9 in a few words each, then pick the choice that describes the paragraph’s role in that sequence.

Traps

Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
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.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Connects the breeze that clears the dust in paragraph 9 to Wade’s alertness, but the change that alerted him was the moist wind of paragraph 6, and he was watchful even earlier.
B Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Takes the clearing dust and the herd’s steady circling as a lull, then calls the riders unprepared, though they were tense and ready, singing to the herd on fresh horses.
C Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Sees leadership in Wade’s resolve that “He must keep them going,” which is there, but paragraph 9 does not introduce it: he had saved his best horse and started the singing earlier.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option A says “In paragraph 4, he began singing to the cattle.” Wade begins to sing in paragraph 5 (“And so, as he rode, Wade began to sing”), as the explanation of Option C itself says; paragraph 4 describes the tension that makes the singing necessary. The same explanation says Wade “heard thunder in paragraph 8,” but the excerpt has no thunder: the sound in paragraph 8 is the herd’s “thick, inarticulate bellow,” the rumbling that comes “from their hoarse throats” in paragraph 7. The site now says “In paragraph 5, he began singing” and “heard the low rumbling of the herd in paragraph 8.” Option A is still wrong, and the answer, D, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how paragraph 9 fits into the structure of the excerpt. Structure is the order of events and how the parts connect. Ask what happens before paragraph 9, in it, and right after it.
Sum up what comes before
Before paragraph 9, the night is tense. In paragraph 1, Wade had been saving Peroxide Jim, his best horse, for an emergency. In paragraph 5, “Wade began to sing” to keep the herd from being startled. In paragraph 6, he caught a moist wind. In paragraph 8, the herd’s low rumbling “stood every rider stiff in his stirrups.” Everyone is alert.
Read paragraph 9
Paragraph 9 says the breeze cleared the dust, and Wade saw that the animals “were still moving in a circle.” He decided “He must keep them going.” Then the paragraph ends with the key event: “across the black sky flashed a vivid streak of lightning.” Vivid means very bright.
See what comes right after
Paragraph 10 begins with a snort from the steers and a roar. Then “Wade was riding the flank of a wild stampede.” A stampede is a sudden wild run by a frightened herd. The rest of the excerpt is Wade and Peroxide Jim racing to turn the herd from the cliff. So the lightning in paragraph 9 sets off the main conflict.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. Wade was alert long before. He began singing in paragraph 5, caught the moist wind in paragraph 6 and heard the herd rumbling in paragraph 8.
- B does not fit. The riders were not calm or unprepared. They were singing to the herd, and Wade had a fresh horse ready.
- C does not fit. Wade’s leadership shows earlier, when he saved his best horse and started the singing.
- D fits. The lightning causes the stampede that Wade and Peroxide Jim must stop.
Choose the answer
Paragraph 9 ends with the lightning that starts the stampede, the problem the rest of the excerpt is about. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because Wade does lead in paragraph 9 when he decides “He must keep them going.” But C says the paragraph introduces his leadership. We already saw it in paragraph 1, when he saved his best horse, and in paragraph 5, when he started the singing. What is new in paragraph 9 is the lightning.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 37 as shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test. — As shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test: 2025 Practice Test A English, question 37. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

The passage “Excerpt from “The Spirit of the Herd”” as printed (page 41)

Question 27 of 70

2025 Practice Test A English, question 55

Question

Which revision corrects the error in sentence structure in the paragraph?

The land on Earth has not always been separated into the seven continents, at one time a massive supercontinent, known as Pangaea, covered one-third of Earth’s surface. Additionally, the supercontinent was surrounded by ocean waters called Panthalassa, much of which were in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. Geologists believe that the supercontinent split apart over millions of years because of the movement of the tectonic plates that form Earth’s crust. In fact, experts predict that over the next 250 million years the movement of the plates will cause the seven continents to merge into a supercontinent again.

Acontinents. At
Bsurface; additionally,
CPanthalassa. Much
Dcrust, in fact,

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the revision that corrects the error in sentence structure in the paragraph.

A. CORRECT. The first sentence of the paragraph is a run-on because both clauses—“The land on Earth has not always been separated into the seven continents” and “at one time a massive supercontinent, known as Pangaea, covered one-third of Earth’s surface”—are independent clauses. Independent clauses are complete sentences, and two complete sentences should not be combined with just a comma. The revision is correct because it separates the two sentences by placing a period where it is needed after “continents” and by capitalizing the word “At.”

B. Incorrect. While adding a semicolon after “surface” can be considered a correct way to separate the independent clauses “at one time a massive supercontinent, known as Pangaea, covered one-third of Earth’s surface” and “Additionally, the supercontinent was surrounded by ocean waters called Panthalassa, much of which were in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere,” this change does not address the sentence structure error in the paragraph (the run-on sentence). The use of a period separating the independent clauses (complete sentences) is correct as is.

C. Incorrect. Adding a period after “Panthalassa” would separate the dependent clause “much of which were in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere” from its antecedent: “ocean waters called Panthalassa.” The dependent clause cannot stand on its own, because it shares elements with the main clause. A dependent clause is not a complete sentence and must be joined with an independent clause. The clause beginning with “much of which” is an adjective clause that modifies “ocean waters.” Changing the comma to a period creates a new error (a sentence fragment) and does not address the existing sentence structure error at the beginning of the paragraph (the run-on sentence).

D. Incorrect. Removing the period after “crust” would create a run-on sentence because the period is needed to separate two complete sentences—“Geologists believe that the supercontinent split apart over millions of years because of the movement of the tectonic plates that form Earth’s crust” and “In fact, experts predict that over the next 250 million years the movement of the plates will cause the seven continents to merge into a supercontinent again.” A comma after “crust” would combine these sentences into a run-on, creating a new error in the sentence without fixing the existing sentence structure error (the run-on sentence) at the beginning of the paragraph.

Question analysis

This editing question shows a short paragraph about Pangaea, the supercontinent that once covered a third of Earth’s surface, and the ocean around it, with four underlined spots, and asks which revision corrects the error in sentence structure. Each revision changes only punctuation and capitals at one spot, so the decision rests on how the clauses around each spot fit together.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Fixing run-ons and fragments is taught well before grade 7, and this item tests that basic skill in one short paragraph. The sentences are long, with an appositive and a clause beginning “much of which,” but the grammar involved stays simple.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Every choice must be checked minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 9, 114 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: Two grammar terms in the explanation were 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 error is in the first sentence, but it hides behind a comma that sounds like an ordinary pause, while the later spots carry features that look riskier: a transition word, a clause beginning “much of which,” the phrase “in fact.” Students who test each spot for a complete sentence on both sides find the splice at once. Those who look for a revision that merely sounds polished are drawn to the semicolon, which is correct but fixes nothing.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
The comma after “continents” joins two complete sentences, and because “at one time” sounds like an introductory phrase continuing the thought, the splice reads as a natural pause. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
Each revision changes only punctuation at one underlined spot, and the semicolon one is correct English, so students must ask whether each spot was wrong to begin with, not only whether the change looks right. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The paragraph’s sentences are long, with the appositive “known as Pangaea” and the clause “much of which were,” whose odd-sounding verb draws suspicion to a spot that is correctly punctuated. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: At each underlined spot, read the words on both sides and ask whether each side could stand as a sentence, then pick the revision that leaves every sentence correctly joined or separated.

Traps

Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.
Fragment or run-on: Creates or keeps a sentence fragment, a run-on sentence or a comma splice.

The wrong answers, classified

B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Knows a semicolon can join two clauses before “additionally” and picks that tidy-looking change, though the period it replaces was already correct and the comma splice up front remains.
C Fragment or run-on (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Treats the long second sentence as a run-on and splits it after “Panthalassa,” leaving “Much of which were in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere” as a fragment with no main clause.
D Fragment or run-on (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Thinks “in fact” belongs inside the sentence before it, set off by commas, which joins two complete sentences with only a comma and creates the error the paragraph already has.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option C says a period after “Panthalassa” would separate the dependent clause “much of which were in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere” “from its subject: ‘ocean waters called Panthalassa.’” The clause has a subject of its own, “much”; “ocean waters called Panthalassa” is its antecedent, the noun phrase that “which” refers to. The explanation also calls the clause “an adjective for ‘ocean waters’”; a clause is not an adjective but an adjective (relative) clause, which modifies the noun. The site now says “from its antecedent” and “an adjective clause that modifies ‘ocean waters.’” The reasoning and the answer, A, are unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Learn the rule for joining sentences
An independent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that can stand alone as a sentence. Two of them can’t be joined with only a comma. That mistake is a run-on sentence, also called a comma splice. For example: I love soccer, my brother loves chess. Fix it with a period: I love soccer. My brother loves chess.
Test each underlined spot
At each spot, read the words on both sides. Ask: could each side stand alone as a sentence?
- After “continents”: both sides are complete. A comma joins them, so this is an error.
- After “surface”: a period already separates two sentences. That is correct.
- After “Panthalassa”: the words after the comma can’t stand alone. The comma is correct.
- After “crust”: a period already separates two sentences. That is correct.
Look closely at the first sentence
The first part says “The land on Earth has not always been separated into the seven continents.” That is a full sentence. The second part says “at one time a massive supercontinent, known as Pangaea, covered one-third of Earth’s surface.” Its subject is “supercontinent,” and its verb is “covered.” So it is a full sentence too. The words “At one time” start a new sentence.
Show the fix
Change the comma to a period, and capitalize the next word: The land on Earth has not always been separated into the seven continents. At one time a massive supercontinent, known as Pangaea, covered one-third of Earth’s surface. Now each sentence stands on its own. That is the revision continents. At.
Check each choice
- A is right. It splits the run-on into two sentences.
- B is wrong. A semicolon could join those two sentences, but the period there was already correct. It fixes nothing.
- C is wrong. “Much of which were in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere” is a dependent clause, a group of words with a verb that can’t be a sentence by itself. “Which” points back to “ocean waters called Panthalassa,” its antecedent. So the clause must stay attached.
- D is wrong. A comma after “crust” would join two full sentences. That makes a new run-on.
Choose the answer
Only the comma after “continents” joins two complete sentences. So the answer is A, continents. At.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because a semicolon can correctly join two sentences. But the spot after “surface” already had a period, which was correct. Changing it does not fix the real error. The comma splice after “continents” would still be there. Only A fixes it.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 55 as shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test. — As shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test: 2025 Practice Test A English, question 55. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 28 of 70

2025 Practice Test B English, question 8

Passage Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”

Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”

by Emma Marris

The author of this opinion article attended a symposium, or conference, in Missoula, Montana, at which biologists and other scientists discussed species of plants and animals that are not native to the areas in which they live.

Invasive species are scary. It was ecologist Charles Elton, back in the 1950s, who introduced the militaristic “invasion” metaphor to describe exotic plants and animals—but there’s no question some can be extremely destructive.

The brown tree snake has eaten a dozen kinds of forest birds in Guam to extinction; zebra mussels clog pipes around the Great Lakes; the common house cat turns out to be, in Australia, a mercilessly effective killer of cute, fluffy marsupials like the bilby and the numbat.

As scientists have sounded the alarm about these pests, the public has gotten the message. Citizen groups rip out non-native plants. Native gardens have become increasingly popular, both as ways to celebrate the unique flora of each region and as tiny hot spots of diversity. Native trees provide food for native bugs, which feed native birds. Food chains developed over thousands of years of co-evolution unfold in our backyards. . . .

So we’ve learned, scientists and laypeople alike, that native species are good and non-natives are bad.

Julian Olden, a biologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, who co-organized the symposium, recently polled nearly 2,000 ecologists. Among his findings: a substantial number of them said they would immediately eradicate a hypothetical non-native forest plant, even if it were shown to have no effect on the forest. Olden calls this the “guilty even when proven innocent” approach.

That kind of approach is not very useful on a rapidly changing planet.

Exotics Are Everywhere

Climate change is making it harder even to decide who the invaders are.

How, scientists at the symposium wondered, do you define “native” on a warming planet, when plants and animals are already moving toward the poles or up mountainsides in search of climate conditions they can tolerate? Should we consider them “invasive” in their new homes? Regardless of what we label them, conservationists will be reluctant to remove them from their new environs—to do so would stymie¹ their chances of adapting to the warmer future we’re creating.

And then there are the non-natives that we actually like. Most domestic crops are exotic in most of the places they’re grown, but there are even wild exotics that “do good,” forming useful relationships with native species.

Edwin Grosholz of the University of California, Davis, told the recent symposium about one such relationship. On beaches in his state, non-native spartina grass has become important habitat for the endangered California clapper rail, a plump shorebird with a downward curving bill more at home on land than in the air. A project to rip out and poison the spartina—which grows in dense swaths that exclude many other shorebirds—saw clapper rail numbers go tumbling downward.

There are other examples like that. The endangered southwestern willow flycatcher nests in “invasive” tamarisk shrubs. Many native (and beautiful) Hawaiian flowers are now pollinated by the Japanese white-eye bird—because the native pollinators have been driven extinct by other non-native species.

Should we impose further risk on already endangered natives by severing these relationships? Or should we admire the resilience of nature and let such “well-behaved” exotics stay? . . .

Leave them alone, more and more conservationists are arguing, and stop focusing obsessively on categorizing species as native or non-native. Mark Davis, an ecologist at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, once considered himself an “invasion biologist”—but not anymore. “I am actively trying to get the field to retire the invader narrative,” he said in Missoula.

A Good Thing, Not the Only Thing

After all, nativeness is just one environmental value, and arguably not as important as preventing extinctions and preserving biodiversity. In some cases we can best serve biodiversity by leaving the non-natives alone or even—brace yourself, now—introducing them on purpose.

This is the thinking behind, for example, installing the Aldabra tortoise on the islands of Mauritius. The islands lost their own large tortoises, and the fruiting plants that formerly had their seeds moved around by these fruit-loving reptiles have been on the decline. A tortoise that’s related to the island’s large tortoises—a non-native from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean that was intentionally introduced in 2004—is now handling some of that work.

Most of the time, for the time being, conserving species still means focusing on supporting them in their historical habitats, planting natives and removing non-natives. We can and should do that in places where it is feasible and important to us.

¹stymie: hinder or interfere with

Question

Determine whether each sentence from the excerpt presents a claim or presents evidence to support a claim.

Select all the correct answers.

Choose one answer in each row, then check. The DOE has not published how answers with several parts are scored; this site counts one right only when every part is right.

	Presents a Claim	Presents Evidence
“That kind of approach is not very useful on a rapidly changing planet.” (paragraph 6)
“A project to rip out and poison the spartina—which grows in dense swaths that exclude many other shorebirds—saw clapper rail numbers go tumbling downward.” (paragraph 10)
“In some cases we can best serve biodiversity by leaving the non-natives alone or even—brace yourself, now—introducing them on purpose.” (paragraph 14)
“A tortoise that’s related to the island’s large tortoises—a non-native from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean that was intentionally introduced in 2004—is now handling some of that work.” (paragraph 15)

Show the answer

Correct answer: “That kind of approach is not very useful on a rapidly changing planet.” (paragraph 6): Presents a Claim; “A project to rip out and poison the spartina—which grows in dense swaths that exclude many other shorebirds—saw clapper rail numbers go tumbling downward.” (paragraph 10): Presents Evidence; “In some cases we can best serve biodiversity by leaving the non-natives alone or even—brace yourself, now—introducing them on purpose.” (paragraph 14): Presents a Claim; “A tortoise that’s related to the island’s large tortoises—a non-native from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean that was intentionally introduced in 2004—is now handling some of that work.” (paragraph 15): Presents Evidence

The question asks which quotations from the excerpt present a claim and which present evidence in support of a claim. (A claim is a statement made as part of an argument that can be supported or proved with evidence. Supporting evidence can include facts, figures, details, quotations, or other sources of data and information that can be evaluated by others.)

Row 1: Presents a claim [“That kind of approach is not very useful on a rapidly changing planet.” (paragraph 6)]. The phrase “is not very useful” indicates that the sentence expresses a claim—an arguable statement, or in this case an opinion, for which the author must provide proof.

Row 2: Presents evidence [“A project to rip out and poison the spartina—which grows in dense swaths that exclude many other shorebirds—saw clapper rail numbers go tumbling downward.” (paragraph 10)]. Despite its figurative language (“tumbling downward”), this sentence does not present a claim that must be supported by evidence. Instead, the sentence provides factual information—that numbers of clapper rail birds decreased when spartina grass was removed—that is evidence for another claim, that non-native plants can be welcome sometimes.

Row 3: Presents a claim [“In some cases we can best serve biodiversity by leaving the non-natives alone or even—brace yourself, now—introducing them on purpose.” (paragraph 14)]. The wording “we can best serve” signals that this sentence presents a claim—a statement being made as part of an argument that needs proof in order to be accepted—regarding the best way to achieve biodiversity.

Row 4: Presents evidence [“A tortoise that’s related to the island’s large tortoises—a non-native from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean that was intentionally introduced in 2004—is now handling some of that work.” (paragraph 15)]. Although this sentence does not provide statistics, quotations, or other obvious markers that signal evidence, it does provide a factual example—non-native tortoises are now moving the seeds of fruiting plants in a way that preserves the diversity of plant life on the islands of Mauritius—that is used to support the author’s claim that non-native species can help preserve diversity.

Question analysis

This table-grid question on the opinion article about non-native species gives four sentences, from paragraphs 6, 10, 14 and 15, and asks whether each presents a claim or presents evidence to support a claim. Students make four separate decisions, and credit comes only when every row is right, so each sentence must be judged by the job it does in the author’s argument.

NYS standards: 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Telling a claim from the evidence for it is core grade 7 argument work. The four sentences come labeled with their paragraphs, but they are long and broken by dashes and asides, and all four must be sorted correctly, a typical demand overall.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Much to keep track of moderate
How, not what minor
Complex sentences minor
Figurative or literary language minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 11, 815 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 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

The two claims carry the author’s judgment in a few words, “not very useful” and “we can best serve,” while the two evidence rows report what happened. Students go wrong when they sort by surface: dramatic wording makes the spartina report sound like opinion, and the tortoise sentence, with no number or quotation, can pass for the author’s assertion. Asking whether a sentence judges or reports settles each row, but all four must be right for credit.

Much to keep track of moderate Working it out
Sentences from paragraphs 6, 10, 14 and 15 are judged one at a time, and the question is scored right only when all four rows are, so one doubtful row costs the point. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)
How, not what minor Working it out
Each row asks what a sentence does in the argument, not what it is about: rows 3 and 4 both concern bringing in non-natives on purpose, but one argues for it and one reports it. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
In the two evidence rows, 17 and 22 words separate the subject from its verb, “A project … saw” and “A tortoise … is now handling,” most of them inside dashes. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question
Row 2 reports a result in vivid words, a project to “rip out and poison” the grass and clapper rail numbers that “go tumbling downward,” so a report can sound like an opinion. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: For each sentence, ask whether it states a judgment the author must argue for or reports something that happened or was found, and sort it by that test alone.

Traps

Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
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.

The wrong answers, classified

1:B Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Takes “a rapidly changing planet” as plain fact, the climate change the next section describes, and misses that “not very useful” is the author’s own verdict on the approach Olden describes.
2:A Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Hears opinion in the vivid “rip out and poison” and “go tumbling downward,” though the sentence reports what happened to clapper rail numbers once a project removed the spartina.
3:B Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Sees that the sentence backs the case for leaving non-natives alone and so calls it support, missing that “we can best serve” is itself a claim, which the tortoise example then backs.
4:A Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Expects evidence to come as numbers, studies or quotations, so takes the plain report that a tortoise brought in during 2004 “is now handling some of that work” as an assertion.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
Decide the job each of the four sentences does in the argument. A claim is a statement the author wants you to accept, such as an opinion or a judgment. People could disagree with it, so it needs support. Evidence is a fact, an example or an event that backs up a claim. Ask: does the sentence judge, or does it report what happened?
Sort the sentence from paragraph 6
Row 1 says “That kind of approach is not very useful on a rapidly changing planet.” The approach is the one in paragraph 5. There, many ecologists said they would wipe out a non-native plant even if it had no effect on the forest. The words “not very useful” are the author’s judgment. Someone could disagree, so the article has to argue for it. This sentence presents a claim.
Watch out: “A rapidly changing planet” sounds like a fact. But the point of the sentence is the judgment about the approach.
Sort the sentence from paragraph 10
Row 2 is long, so set aside the part between the dashes. What is left says “A project to rip out and poison the spartina” saw clapper rail numbers fall. Spartina is a grass that is not native to California. The clapper rail is an endangered shorebird that lives in it. So the sentence reports what happened: the grass was removed, and the birds declined. It backs the claim in paragraph 9 that some non-natives “do good.” This row presents evidence.
Watch out: Vivid words like “go tumbling downward” can sound like an opinion. But they only mean the numbers fell fast. Strong wording does not turn a report into a claim.
Sort the sentence from paragraph 14
Row 3 says “In some cases we can best serve biodiversity by leaving the non-natives alone or even—brace yourself, now—introducing them on purpose.” Biodiversity is the variety of living things in a place. The words “we can best serve” show the author’s judgment about what is best. “Brace yourself” shows she expects you to be surprised. A surprising idea needs proof. This sentence presents a claim.
Sort the sentence from paragraph 15
Row 4 also has a long part between dashes. Without it, the sentence says “A tortoise that’s related to the island’s large tortoises” is “now handling some of that work.” The sentence before explains the work. The islands lost their own large tortoises, which used to spread the seeds of fruiting plants. Now a non-native tortoise, brought in on purpose in 2004, does part of that job. It is a real example. It backs row 3’s claim. This row presents evidence.
Watch out: Evidence does not need numbers or quotations. An example of what happened counts.
Fill in the table
- Row 1 (paragraph 6): Presents a Claim
- Row 2 (paragraph 10): Presents Evidence
- Row 3 (paragraph 14): Presents a Claim
- Row 4 (paragraph 15): Presents Evidence
On the test and on this site, click one circle in each row. All four rows must be right to get the point.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

Row 2 is the hardest. “Rip out and poison” and “tumbling downward” sound strong, like an opinion. But the sentence reports a project and its result: the bird numbers fell. Nobody judges what is best. So it is evidence for the claim that some non-natives “do good.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 8 as shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test. — As shown on the screen of the DOE’s digital test: 2025 Practice Test B English, question 8.

The passage “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”” as printed (pages 68–70)

The passage “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”” as printed on page 68 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”” as printed on page 69 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”” as printed on page 70 of the DOE handbook.

Question 29 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 3

Question

Which edit should be made to correct the sentence?

The Colosseum in Rome, Italy which is considered one of the “new” Seven Wonders of the World, is the largest amphitheater ever built and once could hold up to 50,000 spectators.

ADelete the comma after Rome.
BInsert a comma after Italy.
CDelete the comma after World.
DInsert a comma after built.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the correction needed for an error in the sentence.

A. Incorrect. When a place name has more than one element, a comma is used to separate the elements for clarity.

B. CORRECT. The sentence needs a comma to set off the clause “which is considered one of the ‘new’ Seven Wonders of the World,” because the clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence (nonrestrictive clause). This option is correct because it places a comma where it is needed, after “Italy,” to set off the nonrestrictive clause that follows.

C. Incorrect. This edit would remove the comma at the end of the nonrestrictive clause, which should be set off by commas at the beginning and the end.

D. Incorrect. A comma after “built” would separate the predicate “and once could hold up to 50,000 spectators” from the subject of the main clause. The predicates “is the largest amphitheater ever built” and “once could hold up to 50,000 spectators” both relate to the same subject (“The Colosseum in Rome, Italy”), so a comma should not be used to separate the second predicate from that subject.

Question analysis

This editing question gives one long sentence about the Colosseum in Rome and asks which comma edit corrects it. Students must know how commas work with a city and its country, with a descriptive clause beginning with which, and with two verbs that share one subject, because every choice adds or removes a comma.

NYS standards: 7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Comma rules for place names and for extra information set off in a sentence are taught by grade 6. Here they are tested in one sentence with four marked spots, lighter than typical grade 7 editing of a whole paragraph.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 1, recall and reproduction · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 6, 59 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 which-clause has a closing comma after “World” but no opening one, and the sentence still sounds natural, so many students see the lone comma as the mistake instead of noticing its missing partner. Bracketing the extra description first, from “which” to “World,” exposes the gap quickly. The remaining choices fall to two rules students usually know: city and country are separated, and a second verb sharing the subject takes no comma.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
“Rome, Italy which is considered” reads smoothly aloud, yet the comma after “Italy” is needed twice over: to close the city-and-country pair and to open the nonessential which-clause. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Thirty-one words hold a two-part place name, a which-clause wedged between subject and verb, and two verbs, “is” and “once could hold,” sharing one subject, so each comma must be judged against that frame. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Strip the sentence down to its main subject and verb, then check every marked spot against that core: what is the comma, or the missing comma, doing there?

Traps

Punctuation: A comma, semicolon, colon, dash or apostrophe used where it does not belong, or missing where it does.

The wrong answers, classified

A Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Treats “Rome, Italy” as a single name that should not be broken, not knowing that a comma always separates a city from the country that follows it.
C Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Applies the sound rule against a comma between a subject and its verb to the comma before “is,” missing that it closes the which-clause and must stay.
D Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Adds a pause before “and once could hold” because the sentence is long, though that second verb shares the subject, the Colosseum, and takes no comma.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a punctuation question. Punctuation means marks like commas and periods. Four spots are underlined, at “Rome,” “Italy,” “World” and “built.” One edit fixes the sentence. Two comma rules decide it.
Learn the rule for extra information
Some groups of words just add an extra fact. If you take them out, the sentence still works. This is called a nonessential clause. A clause is a group of words with its own verb. A nonessential clause needs a comma before it and a comma after it, like a pair of brackets.
Example: Our school, which is very old, has a new gym. Without the middle part: Our school has a new gym.
Find the extra part
The extra part here starts at “which is considered” and ends at “of the World.” It adds a fun fact. Take it out and the sentence still works: The Colosseum in Rome, Italy, is the largest amphitheater ever built.
The comma after “World” closes the extra part. But nothing opens it. A comma is missing after “Italy.”
Learn the rule for places
A comma goes between a city and its country, as in “Rome, Italy.” If the sentence keeps going, put a comma after the country too. Example: She flew from Lima, Peru, to Miami.
So the comma after “Italy” is needed for two reasons. One comma does both jobs.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The comma after “Rome” splits the city from the country. It must stay.
- B is right. It adds the missing comma that opens the extra part.
- C is wrong. The comma after “World” closes the extra part. Without it, neither end would be marked.
- D is wrong. The Colosseum “is the largest amphitheater” and “once could hold” many people. These are two verbs with one subject. No comma goes before the second verb. Example: Max swam fast and won a medal.
Watch out: C is tempting. A comma between a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and its verb is usually wrong. Here it is fine, because it is the second comma of a pair.
Choose the answer
With a comma after “Italy,” the extra part has a comma at each end. So the answer is B: insert a comma after Italy.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. It treats the comma before “is” as the mistake. But that comma ends the extra part about the Seven Wonders. Delete it and nothing marks either end. B adds the missing opening comma, so both ends are marked.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 3 as printed on page 37 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 37, question 3. Open page 37 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 30 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 4

Question

Which pair of revisions need to be made in this paragraph?

(1) Both Italian gelato and American ice cream are delightful treats to have on a hot summer day, but many people wonder: what is the difference between the two? (2) To start with, the butterfat content is much higher in ice cream than it is in gelato, making the Italian treat a wiser decision for people looking to make healthier choices. (3) Additionally, the mixing process, which adds less air to the frozen treat, makes gelato denser than ice cream. (4) Finally, gelato is served 10 to 15 degrees warmer than ice cream, which enhances the texture and flavor of the gelato, and allow it to melt more quickly.

ASentence 1: Delete the colon after wonder AND change is to are.
BSentence 2: Delete the comma after with AND change it is to they are.
CSentence 3: Delete the comma after process AND change makes to make.
DSentence 4: Delete the comma after gelato AND change allow to allows.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the revisions that are needed to correct errors in the paragraph.

A. Incorrect. The revisions introduce new errors. The colon after “wonder” is needed to set off the question “what is the difference between the two?” from the rest of the sentence. In addition, changing the verb “is” to “are” would be incorrect with the use of the singular noun “difference,” which is the subject of the question.

B. Incorrect. The revisions introduce new errors. The comma following the introductory phrase “To start with” helps with clarity and is needed to separate the phrase from the rest of the sentence. Changing “it is” to “they are” would be incorrect with the use of the singular noun “butterfat content,” which is what the words “it is” refer to in the sentence.

C. Incorrect. The revisions introduce new errors. The comma following “process” is necessary to set off the nonrestrictive clause “which adds less air to the frozen treat” from the rest of the sentence. This clause is considered a nonrestrictive clause because it provides additional, but not essential, information about the mixing process. Changing the verb “makes” to “make” would be incorrect with the use of the singular noun “mixing process,” which is the subject of the sentence.

D. CORRECT. Deleting the comma after “gelato” would include the clause “and allow it to melt more quickly” with the first part of the clause “which enhances the texture and flavor of the gelato.” The word “and” between the two verb phrases (“enhances the texture and flavor of the gelato” and “allow it to melt more quickly”) indicates that the two verb phrases share a subject, “which” (referring to the act of serving gelato 10 to 15 degrees warmer than ice cream). The two ideas should not be separated by a comma within the clause. The entire clause “which enhances the texture and flavor of the gelato and allow it to melt more quickly” should be separated from the main clause only by the comma after “cream” because the entire clause is a nonrestrictive clause. This clause provides additional, but not essential, information about the purpose of serving gelato at a warmer temperature than ice cream. Changing the verb “allow” to “allows” is also necessary to match the use of the singular pronoun “which.”

Question analysis

This editing question gives a four-sentence paragraph comparing Italian gelato with American ice cream and asks which pair of revisions it needs. Students must check subject-verb agreement, what a pronoun refers to and whether each comma or colon belongs, and since every choice bundles two edits in one sentence, a single right-sounding change is not enough.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Subject-verb agreement and commas around added clauses are grade 7 conventions. Eight marked spots across four long sentences make this a fuller check than a one-sentence item, but the demand is still typical of grade 7 editing.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Every choice must be checked moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 9, 160 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 paragraph's only real errors sit at the end of its longest sentence, where a plural noun pair just before the faulty verb hides the mismatch. Students who do not hear “allow” as wrong start doubting correct marks instead, such as the colon before an embedded question or the comma after “To start with.” Every wrong pair also changes a verb or pronoun that already agrees, so reading each edit back into its sentence rules those pairs out.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
In sentence 4 the plural pair “texture and flavor” sits just before “and allow,” so the verb sounds right, but it belongs to “which,” the warmer serving, and must match “enhances.” (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer
Each pair proposes two edits in one sentence, eight in all, and a pair is right only if both of its edits fix real errors, so every edit has to be tried in place. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Sentence 4 hangs a which-clause with two verbs onto the main clause, and the comma before “and allow” splits that clause's compound predicate in a way few students hear as wrong. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, find each verb's true subject and test every marked comma yourself; then look for the choice whose two edits both fix errors you found.

Traps

Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.
Agreement: A verb that does not agree with its subject, or a pronoun that does not agree with the word it stands for.
Punctuation: A comma, semicolon, colon, dash or apostrophe used where it does not belong, or missing where it does.

The wrong answers, classified

A Agreement (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Hears “the two” as the subject and wants “are,” and distrusts a colon before a question, though “the difference” is singular and the colon is correct.
B Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Believes a short opener like “To start with” needs no comma and accepts “they are,” though the pronoun stands for the singular “butterfat content.”
C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Picks edits to a sentence that is already correct, unbalancing the commas around the which-clause and giving the singular “mixing process” a plural verb.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
Each choice offers two changes to one sentence. Both changes must fix real mistakes. If even one change breaks something that was right, the choice is wrong. So test every change in its own sentence.
Learn the rule for two verbs
A verb (an action word) must match its subject (who or what does the action). One thing takes allows. Two or more things take allow.
When one subject does two actions joined by “and,” no comma goes before “and.” Example: The sun warms the air and dries the grass. Both verbs end in s, because one sun does both.
Find the mistakes in sentence 4
Sentence 4 says gelato is served warmer than ice cream, “which enhances the texture and flavor of the gelato, and allow it to melt more quickly.”
“Which” stands for one thing: serving gelato warmer. That one thing does two actions. It “enhances” (improves) the texture and flavor. It also lets the gelato melt faster. So “allow” should be “allows,” to match “enhances.” And the comma before “and” must go.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The colon (:) after “wonder” correctly leads into the question. And “is” matches “the difference,” which is one thing.
- B is wrong. The comma after “To start with” sets off an opening phrase. And “it is” stands for “the butterfat content,” which is one thing.
- C is wrong. The commas around “which adds less air to the frozen treat” come in a pair. And “makes” matches “the mixing process,” one thing.
- D is right. Both changes fix real mistakes.
Watch out: “The texture and flavor” comes right before “allow.” Those two things make “allow” sound right. But the subject is “which,” not “texture and flavor.”
Choose the answer
The fixed sentence ends: which enhances the texture and flavor of the gelato and allows it to melt more quickly. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. “The two” sits near “is,” so “are” can sound right. But the question asks what “the difference” is. A difference is one thing, so “is” is correct. A would add a mistake. In D, both changes fix mistakes that are really there.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 4 as printed on page 37 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 37, question 4. Open page 37 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 31 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 11

Passage Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”

Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”

by Zitkala-Sa

Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) was a Native American writer, musician, teacher, and political activist who was raised on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. In 1900 she published “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” (the term Indian was commonly used at the time to refer to Native American people) to expose readers to what life is like on a reservation.

Soon after breakfast Mother sometimes began her beadwork. On a bright, clear day, she pulled out the wooden pegs that pinned the skirt of our wigwam¹ to the ground, and rolled the canvas part way up on its frame of slender poles. Then the cool morning breezes swept freely through our dwelling, now and then wafting the perfume of sweet grasses from newly burnt prairie.

Untying the long tasseled strings that bound a small brown buckskin² bag, my mother spread upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads, just as an artist arranges the paints upon his palette. On a lapboard she smoothed out a double sheet of soft white buckskin; and drawing from a beaded case that hung on the left of her wide belt a long, narrow blade, she trimmed the buckskin into shape. Often she worked upon small moccasins for her small daughter. Then I became intensely interested in her designing. With a proud, beaming face, I watched her work. In [my] imagination, I saw myself walking in a new pair of snugly fitting moccasins. I felt the envious eyes of my playmates upon the pretty red beads decorating my feet.

Close beside my mother I sat on a rug, with a scrap of buckskin in one hand and an awl in the other. This was the beginning of my practical observation lessons in the art of beadwork. From a skein³ of finely twisted threads of silvery sinews my mother pulled out a single one. With an awl she pierced the buckskin, and skillfully threaded it with the white sinew. Picking up the tiny beads one by one, she strung them with the point of her thread, always twisting it carefully after every stitch.

It took many trials before I learned how to knot my sinew thread on the point of my finger, as I saw her do. Then the next difficulty was in keeping my thread stiffly twisted, so that I could easily string my beads upon it. My mother required of me original designs for my lessons in beading. At first I frequently ensnared many a sunny hour into working a long design. Soon I learned from self-inflicted punishment to refrain from drawing complex patterns, for I had to finish whatever I began.

After some experience I usually drew easy and simple crosses and squares. These were some of the set forms. My original designs were not always symmetrical nor sufficiently characteristic, two faults with which my mother had little patience. The quietness of her oversight made me feel strongly responsible and dependent upon my own judgment. She treated me as a dignified little individual as long as I was on my good behavior; and how humiliated I was when some boldness of mine drew forth a rebuke from her!

In the choice of colors she left me to my own taste. I was pleased with an outline of yellow upon a background of dark blue, or a combination of red and myrtle-green. There was another of red with a bluish-gray that was more conventionally used. When I became a little familiar with designing and the various pleasing combinations of color, a harder lesson was given me. It was the sewing on, instead of beads, some tinted porcupine quills, moistened and flattened between the nails of the thumb and forefinger. My mother cut off the prickly ends and burned them at once in the centre fire. These sharp points were poisonous, and worked into the flesh wherever they lodged. For this reason, my mother said, I should not do much alone in quills until I was as tall as my cousin Warca-Ziwin.

Always after these confining lessons I was wild with surplus spirits, and found joyous relief in running loose in the open again. Many a summer afternoon a party of four or five of my playmates roamed over the hills with me. We each carried a light sharpened rod about four feet long, with which we pried up certain sweet roots. When we had eaten all the choice roots we chanced upon, we shouldered our rods and strayed off into patches of a stalky plant under whose yellow blossoms we found little crystal drops of gum. Drop by drop we gathered this nature’s rock-candy, until each of us could boast of a lump the size of a small bird’s egg. Soon satiated with its woody flavor, we tossed away our gum, to return again to the sweet roots.

From “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” by Zitkala-Sa—Public Domain

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEADWORK IN SOUTH DAKOTA

Date	Event
1500s	The Dakota use beads made from bones, shells, stones, and animal teeth. European traders bring glass beads to North America.
Late 1600s	The Dakota begin trading with the French in Minnesota.
1830s	The Dakota begin using glass beads in clothing, artwork, and decorations in place of Native-made beads.
1862–1865	The Dakota are expelled from their homelands in Minnesota as a result of the U.S.-Dakota War.
1900s–1920s	The Dakota create items to sell outside their community.

Source: MNopedia

¹wigwam: hut with an arched framework of poles covered with bark, mats, or animal hides

²buckskin: leather made from the skin of a male deer

³skein: coiled length of yarn or other thread loosely wound on a reel

Question

The author’s use of sequence in paragraphs 1 and 2 contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt by

Alisting the many steps that are involved in the process of beading in order to explain its difficulty and complexity.
Bconveying the importance of following the steps of the beading process in a precise order to work most efficiently.
Cemphasizing the time required to fully prepare for and execute the many large and small tasks in the activity of beading.
Ddetailing each step in preparation for beading in order to highlight the author’s enthusiasm for the work.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the author’s use of sequence in paragraphs 1 and 2 contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. In paragraph 2, the author does list the steps her mother takes in preparation to do beadwork, such as “untying the long tasseled strings” of the bag of beads, spreading the beads beside her on a mat, and using “a long, narrow blade” to trim the buckskin into shape. However, the language used to describe this sequence does not indicate that preparing to work with beads is difficult or complex.

B. Incorrect. Although the author’s description of untying the bag of beads, spreading the beads upon a mat, smoothing out a sheet of buckskin, and trimming the buckskin into shape in paragraph 2 indicates that the mother follows a certain routine, it does not place any emphasis on working most efficiently by following the steps of the beading process in a precise order.

C. Incorrect. In paragraph 2, the author describes her mother “untying the long tasseled strings that bound a small brown buckskin bag,” “spread[ing] upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads,” “smooth[ing] out a double sheet of soft white buckskin; and drawing from a beaded case that hung on the left of her wide belt a long, narrow blade” to trim the buckskin. Although these descriptions do outline the steps in her process for creating beadwork, they do not emphasize the time required to do so, since the author does not mention in the excerpt how long it took her mother to fully prepare for and complete the large and small tasks in the activity of beading.

D. CORRECT. In paragraph 1, the author describes how the morning begins with her mother rolling up the canvas of the wigwam and allowing the breeze to come in. In paragraph 2, the author uses sensory language and precise sequencing to describe the way her mother prepares the beading materials by untying “the long tasseled strings that bound a small brown buckskin bag,” spreading the “bunches of colored beads” beside her, and smoothing out “a double sheet of soft white buckskin.” This combination of sequence and sensory language highlights the author’s enthusiasm for beadwork by emphasizing that the author pays close attention to her mother’s preparations.

Question analysis

This reading question asks how the step-by-step description of a mother preparing her beadwork, in the opening paragraphs of Zitkala-Sa's memoir, contributes to the excerpt's ideas. Every choice agrees that steps are listed, so students must judge which purpose the text actually supports and resist reasons that only sound likely for a craft.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 structure questions usually ask what a paragraph adds to a topic. This one asks what an ordered description achieves, in dense 1900 prose where the purpose is never stated outright, 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: How, not what major
A very close wrong answer moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 946 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 95 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A misquotation of the excerpt in the explanation 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

All four choices agree that the paragraphs lay out steps, so the question turns entirely on purpose, and three of the purposes sound like natural reasons to describe a craft. Nothing in paragraphs 1 and 2 calls the work hard, slow or a matter of efficiency; what they do show is a child following every move and becoming intensely interested. Students who look for the narrator's own reaction find the purpose, while those who reason from the steps alone drift to difficulty or time.

How, not what major Working it out
The stem asks what the ordered account of untying the bag, spreading the beads, and smoothing and trimming the buckskin does for the excerpt, a purpose the author never states. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The difficulty choice shares the right one's frame, steps laid out in order to show something, and differs only in what they show: how hard beading is, or how eagerly the girl watched. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The enthusiasm has to be pieced together from the close attention to each step and from “intensely interested” and “a proud, beaming face” in paragraph 2. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 2 uses literary word order, as in “my mother spread upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads,” which slows the reading of the very steps in question. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: For each choice, look in paragraphs 1 and 2 for words that would prove its purpose; a purpose that no sentence states or shows can be ruled out.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

A Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly sees that paragraph 2 lists many preparation steps, then decides the list must show that beading is difficult and complex, which nothing in these paragraphs says.
B Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Reads the sequence as instructions about doing the steps in a precise order for efficiency, a purpose a watching child's memories never suggest.
C Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reasons that so many steps must take a long time, perhaps recalling the “many a sunny hour” of paragraph 4, but paragraphs 1 and 2 never mention time.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: In rejecting choice C, the handbook quotes paragraph 2 as “spread[ing them] upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads.” In the excerpt, the bunches of colored beads are what the mother spreads (“my mother spread upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads”). The inserted “them” refers to nothing and turns the beads into a place. The quotation now reads “spread[ing] upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads,” which is how the handbook itself reads the sentence in its reason for rejecting choice A (“spreading the beads beside her on a mat”).

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
Sequence means the order in which things happen. Paragraphs 1 and 2 tell the steps of a morning in order. The question asks why the author tells them step by step. What does that careful order help show?
List the steps
In paragraphs 1 and 2, the mother:
1. rolls up the side of the wigwam to let in the breeze,
2. unties a bag made of buckskin (soft deer leather),
3. spreads her beads on a mat,
4. smooths out a sheet of buckskin, and
5. trims it into shape with a blade.
Find the author’s reaction
Right after the steps, the author tells how she felt. “Then I became intensely interested in her designing. With a proud, beaming face, I watched her work.” Intensely means very strongly. A beaming face has a big, happy smile. She noticed every little step because she was so excited. The details show her enthusiasm, or eager interest.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The steps are listed, but nothing says beading is hard or complex.
- B is wrong. Nothing says the steps must go in a set order to save effort.
- C is wrong. Paragraphs 1 and 2 never say how long anything takes.
- D is right. The careful details show how closely the girl watched, with eager interest.
Watch out: A is tempting because there are many steps. But many steps don’t prove a task is hard. The author never calls it difficult.
Choose the answer
The step-by-step order shows a child following every move her mother makes. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like D, it says the steps are listed to show something. But no word in paragraphs 1 and 2 calls beading hard. The author does say she was “intensely interested” and had “a proud, beaming face.” That shows enthusiasm, so D fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 11 as printed on page 44 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 44, question 11. Open page 44 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

The passage “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”” as printed (pages 42–43)

The passage “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”” as printed on page 42 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”” as printed on page 43 of the DOE handbook.

Question 32 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 22

Passage At Dusk

At Dusk

by Natasha Trethewey

At first I think she is calling a child,
my neighbor, leaning through her doorway
at dusk, street lamps just starting to hum
the backdrop of evening. Then I hear
the high-pitched wheedling¹ we send out
to animals who know only sound, not
the meanings of our words—here here—
nor how they sometimes fall short.
In another yard, beyond my neighbor’s
sight, the cat lifts her ears, turns first
toward the voice, then back
to the constellation of fireflies flickering
near her head. It’s as if she can’t decide
whether to leap over the low hedge,
the neat row of flowers, and bound
onto the porch, into the steady circle
of light, or stay where she is: luminous
possibility—all that would keep her
away from home—flitting before her.
I listen as my neighbor’s voice trails off.
She’s given up calling for now, left me
to imagine her inside the house waiting,
perhaps in a chair in front of the TV,
or walking around, doing small tasks;
left me to wonder that I too might lift
my voice, sure of someone out there,
send it over the lines stitching here
to there, certain the sounds I make
are enough to call someone home.

¹wheedling: speaking in a flattering manner

Question

The phrases “luminous possibility” and “all that would keep her / away from home” (lines 17–19) affect the poem by

Ahighlighting the cat’s lack of concern for the neighbor.
Bimplying that the speaker finds the cat’s current situation interesting.
Csuggesting that the cat is compelled by its sense of wonder to remain outdoors.
Dindicating that the speaker supports the cat’s decision to ignore the neighbor.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the phrases “luminous possibility” and “all that would keep her / away from home” (lines 17–19) affect the poem.

A. Incorrect. In lines 20–21, the neighbor’s voice “trails off,” and the speaker states that “she’s given up calling for now,” which could be interpreted as a lack of concern. However, these lines describe the neighbor rather than the cat. The phrases from lines 17–19 are used to explain that what keeps the cat from returning home is the allure of “luminous possibility.” The use of the phrase “all that would keep her” suggests that the cat would likely return home to the security of “the steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17) if not for the possibilities offered by the night, implying that the cat usually prefers to be at home with the neighbor. The phrases do not highlight a lack of concern for the neighbor on the part of the cat.

B. Incorrect. While the phrase “luminous possibility” does convey a high degree of interest, it is used to describe why being outside at night appeals to the cat. It does not describe the speaker’s interest in the cat. The speaker observes the cat as it tries to decide between returning home and staying out and then concludes that it is only “luminous / possibility . . . that would keep [the cat] / away from home.”

C. CORRECT. The phrases are used to explain that the cat, though tempted to return home, is also tempted or compelled by “luminous possibility” to remain outdoors. The phrases convey a sense of wonder about what the night may offer, and it is the powerful effect of this sense of wonder (“all that would keep her / away from home”) that ultimately tempts the cat to remain outdoors rather than return to the comforts of home.

D. Incorrect. Lines 17–19 present the speaker’s observations about the cat as it tries to decide whether to stay where it is or return home. The speaker explains that it is only “luminous possibility” that can convince the cat to stay rather than return to the comforts of home. While the speaker then imagines the neighbor indoors, there is no indication that the speaker supports the cat’s decision. The speaker merely notes that the neighbor stops calling to the cat “for now” (line 21), and then the speaker reflects on the possible results of calling someone home.

Question analysis

This reading question asks how the phrases luminous possibility and all that would keep her away from home, which describe what surrounds a cat in a nearby yard, affect the poem At Dusk. Students must interpret abstract, figurative wording and work out whose feelings it conveys: the cat's, the neighbor's or the speaker's.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how word choice affects a poem is grade 7 work. These phrases are abstract and broken across lines, which adds some challenge, but the lines around them are concrete, so the task stays within typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language moderate
Reading between the lines minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 63 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 phrases belong to the speaker but describe what tempts the cat, and the choices exploit that by offering the speaker's interest or approval, or the cat's indifference to its owner. The words “all that would keep her / away from home” imply that home still pulls at the cat, so only an attraction strong enough to hold her outside fits. Students who first settle whose experience the phrases describe can rule out most choices at once.

Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
“Luminous possibility” is abstract, an unnamed promise glowing in the dusk, and students must see it as what draws the cat, the counterweight to “the steady circle / of light” at home. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Reading between the lines minor Working it out
The phrases are the speaker's words about the cat, so students must work out that they convey the cat's pull, not the speaker's opinion or the neighbor's feelings. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The phrases are broken across lines 17–19 and set off by dashes, so “flitting before her” is separated from “possibility” by the inserted “all that would keep her / away from home.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Decide first who or what the phrases describe, then keep only choices about that same subject and check that the phrases themselves show what each one claims.

Traps

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)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reads the cat's staying out as indifference to its owner, though “all that would keep her / away from home” implies home would win without the night's attractions.
B Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Notices that “luminous possibility” is the speaker's lyrical phrase and takes it as the speaker's own interest, when it describes the wonder drawing the cat.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Assumes that describing the night so warmly means the speaker approves of the cat ignoring the neighbor, an opinion the poem never states.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
You need to know what two phrases do in the poem. First decide who they describe. Here they describe the cat and what pulls at her.
Find the phrases in lines 17–19
The cat could go home, “or stay where she is: luminous / possibility—all that would keep her / away from home—flitting before her.”
Work out what the words mean
“Luminous” means glowing with light. “Possibility” means what might happen. “Flitting” means darting quickly about, like the fireflies near her head. So the glowing night is full of exciting chances. It is everything that “would keep her / away from home.” That sense of wonder is what holds the cat outside.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. “All that would keep her / away from home” means home pulls at her too. She isn’t uncaring.
- B is wrong. The phrases describe what draws the cat, not how the speaker feels.
- C is right. The night’s glow and wonder tempt the cat to stay out. “Compelled” means strongly pulled.
- D is wrong. The speaker never says the cat is right to stay out.
Watch out: B is tempting because “luminous possibility” is the speaker’s own beautiful wording. But the speaker uses it to show what the cat sees.
Choose the answer
The phrases show a wonder strong enough to hold the cat outdoors. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. The speaker does choose these glowing words. But they describe the night that is “flitting before her,” the cat. They explain what keeps her “away from home.” C fits, because the phrases show the cat drawn by wonder to stay outside.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 22 as printed on page 49 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 49, question 22. Open page 49 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “At Dusk” as printed (page 48)

The passage “At Dusk” as printed on page 48 of the DOE handbook.

Question 33 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 26

Passage Champion of the Channel

Champion of the Channel

In 1926 an editor at the London Daily News predicted that Gertrude Ederle, an American swimmer with eighteen world records and three Olympic medals, would fail in her attempt to swim across the English Channel. He claimed that “even the most uncompromising champion of the rights and capacities of women must admit that in contests of physical skill, speed and endurance they must remain forever the weaker sex.” Yet, at only nineteen years old, Ederle not only became the first woman to accomplish this feat, she also broke the men’s record by two hours. Gertrude Ederle’s triumphant swim across the English Channel was a testimony to her determination, innovative spirit, and passion for swimming.

Crossing the English Channel is a daunting task for any swimmer. At its narrowest point, the channel measures twenty-one miles across. Its icy waters hover around sixty degrees Fahrenheit, and its unruly tides and currents toss swimmers about like bobbing corks. Stinging jellyfish, seaweed, and floating debris from shipwrecks and lost cargoes present added hazards.

For decades the channel’s perils have defeated countless swimmers. Ederle, too, failed in her first attempt to cross the channel in 1925. Just six miles short of finishing, she became ill, and her coach had to haul her out of the water. Undeterred, Ederle decided to try again. Ederle knew that if she did not complete the challenge this time, she might never get the opportunity to set this record, because a rival female swimmer was preparing to make her second attempt at the crossing as well.

To prepare for the marathon swim, Ederle found ways to improve her equipment. She and her sister Meg discovered that melted candle wax perfectly sealed goggle edges, effectively waterproofing Ederle’s goggles against hammering waves. The sisters also designed a two-piece silk swimsuit for Ederle. During her first channel-crossing attempt she had worn a standard one-piece swimsuit that, after the lengthy hours of swimming across the channel, had stretched out, filling with water and creating drag, making an already challenging task almost insurmountable. Unlike the cumbersome typical bathing suit, this silk invention weighed little and allowed for easy movement.

On August 6, 1926, Ederle waded into the channel near Cape Gris-Nez, France. At first she shivered in the bone-chilling water even though she had covered her body in eight layers of grease for insulation. Her limbs felt stiff. Her strokes were irregular. Driving forward, she fought to clear her mind and find what she called her “sphere,” a place where the sea became her only companion and the shrieks of gulls and the humming of boat engines faded away. Using a new overhand stroke called the American crawl, Ederle eventually settled into a steady pace, briskly breaking through waves.

Throughout Ederle’s swim, two tugboats accompanied her. One carried newspaper reporters who wired dispatches of her progress to shore. The other, displaying a sign that read “This way, ole kid!” with an arrow pointing forward, transported her coach, family, and friends. Her coach played songs, such as “Yes, We Have No Bananas,” on a phonograph so that Ederle could time her strokes to the rhythm. Using a net, her coach also passed her baby bottles of broth for nourishment.

For hours Ederle swam, dodging debris with an amused smile. However, as she neared the English shore, a sudden fierce storm erupted. The tides and waves forced Ederle backward, and she fought the stubborn swells for several hours. The salty water caused her tongue to swell and inflamed her ears. Yet Ederle felt indescribably happy as she churned through the sea. Finally, as she neared the English shore, the storm abated, and the tide turned. No longer fighting against her, the sea pushed her toward the shore and victory.

After fourteen hours and thirty-one minutes, Ederle, on wobbly legs, stepped onto the English shore. The waiting crowd roared, honked their automobile horns, blasted their tugboat whistles, and set off flares that flashed in the sky. Ederle had swum into history.

When Ederle returned to New York, she received a parade, where thousands of people shouted “Trudy!” Not only were everyday American citizens proud of Ederle, but she also inspired them to be more active. Over the next few years, more than 60,000 people credited her with motivating them to earn their American Red Cross swimming certificates. Gertrude Ederle’s accomplishment proved to the world that with determination and passion, it was possible for a person to achieve his or her goals.

SOLO SWIMS ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

Earliest Speed Records
Year	Swimmer	Time
1875	Matthew Webb (M)	21 hours, 45 minutes
1923	Enrico Tiraboschi (M)	16 hours, 33 minutes
1926	Gertrude Ederle (F)	14 hours, 31 minutes
1926	Arnst Vierkotter (M)	12 hours, 38 minutes
Current Speed Records
Year	Swimmer	Time
2012	Trent Grimsey (M)	6 hours, 55 minutes
2006	Yvetta Hlavacova (F)	7 hours, 25 minutes

Question

What do the newspaper editor’s comments in paragraph 1 reveal about the challenges Ederle faced in attempting her feat?

ARegardless of her ability, being an American put Ederle at a serious disadvantage over a Londoner, who would be more familiar with the English Channel.
BAt the time, Ederle still needed more training in order to succeed in the daunting task of swimming the English Channel.
CWhile Ederle could participate in athletic competition, some people were not comfortable with her attempt to swim the channel because no woman had ever attempted it before.
DIn spite of her previous achievements, Ederle still experienced social as well as physical obstacles in attempting to swim the channel.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what the newspaper editor’s comments in paragraph 1 reveal about Ederle’s challenges leading up to her attempt to swim across the channel.

A. Incorrect. The idea that Ederle was at a disadvantage because she was American rather than English, and thus less familiar with the channel, was not the basis for the newspaper editor’s comments about the outcome of her swim.

B. Incorrect. The passage establishes that Ederle was a highly accomplished swimmer who had won major world competitions (“Gertrude Ederle, an American swimmer with eighteen world records and three Olympic medals” [paragraph 1]).

C. Incorrect. The newspaper editor’s point was that Ederle would be unsuccessful in her attempt to complete the swim because she was a woman, not that people were uncomfortable with the idea since no woman had attempted it before.

D. CORRECT. The comments reveal a lack of social support since many people believed that a woman, no matter how skilled a swimmer, did not have the strength to overcome the physical challenges that the dangerous channel waters presented (“He claimed that ‘even the most uncompromising champion of the rights and capacities of women must admit that in contests of physical skill, speed and endurance they must remain forever the weaker sex.’ ” [paragraph 1]).

Question analysis

In 1926 a London newspaper editor predicted that Gertrude Ederle would fail to swim the English Channel, and this reading question asks what his comments in the first paragraph reveal about the challenges she faced. Students must infer from the editor's own words what stood in her way, and the wrong choices offer believable obstacles that the passage never connects to him.

NYS standards: 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Reading an opinion for what it shows about a person's situation is everyday grade 7 inference. This question points to both of the editor's sentences rather than quoting just one, so the evidence is in plain view and the work is weighing four readings.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
What makes it hard: A very close wrong answer moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 14, 112 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

Pointing to both of the editor's sentences puts his reason in plain view, so the work lies in naming what kind of obstacle a sexist prediction is. Students who see prejudice but not its stated basis fall for the near miss, which blames the lack of earlier female attempts, though Ederle herself had tried in 1925. The right answer is the only one that pairs that prejudice with the channel's physical dangers, and it rewards reading his words as a judgment about women, not about her.

A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The right choice and the one about people being uncomfortable both find a social obstacle despite her skill; they part on its cause, the editor's claim that women are “the weaker sex” or the idea that no woman had tried. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Neither of the editor's sentences names an obstacle, so a prediction of failure and a remark about women's “physical skill, speed and endurance” must be read as prejudice she faced on top of the channel's own dangers. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The editor's quoted claim runs 30 words, opening with “even the most uncompromising champion of the rights and capacities of women” and holding its point, “the weaker sex”, until the end. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Put the editor's reasoning into your own words before looking at the choices, then reject any choice whose reason for doubting Ederle is not the one he actually gives.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.

The wrong answers, classified

A Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Imagines a rivalry between an American and Londoners who know the channel, a plausible reason for doubt that the editor never gives, since his claim is about women.
B Word match (Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Picks up “daunting task” from paragraph 2 and reads a prediction of failure as a sign she was undertrained, though the same sentence credits her with eighteen world records.
C Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly sees people doubting a woman's attempt but gives the wrong reason; the editor cites women's supposed weakness, and Ederle had already tried the crossing in 1925.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Understand what the question asks
This question asks you to make an inference. An inference is a conclusion you reach from clues when the text does not say it outright. The editor’s comments are in paragraph 1. You need to work out what they show about the problems Ederle had to face.
Find the editor’s two comments
Paragraph 1 says the editor “predicted that Gertrude Ederle, an American swimmer with eighteen world records and three Olympic medals, would fail in her attempt to swim across the English Channel.” Then it gives his reason. He said that women “must remain forever the weaker sex.”
Put his reason in your own words
The editor’s full sentence is long, and its point comes at the very end. He meant that even people who support women must agree that women will always be weaker in sports. His reason had nothing to do with Ederle’s own skill, which her records proved. He doubted her only because she was a woman. That is a social obstacle: a problem that comes from what other people believe.
Add the dangers of the swim
On top of that, the swim itself was dangerous. Paragraph 2 calls the crossing “a daunting task for any swimmer.” Daunting means scary and hard. The paragraph lists “icy waters,” rough tides and “stinging jellyfish.” So Ederle had two kinds of trouble: people’s doubts and the hard swim itself.
Check each choice
- D fits: “in spite of her previous achievements” matches her records, and “social as well as physical obstacles” matches the editor’s doubts plus the rough water.
- A is wrong because the editor never mentions her being American or Londoners knowing the channel.
- B is wrong because nothing says she needed more training, and her eighteen world records show she was well prepared.
- C is wrong because the editor’s reason was that women are weaker, not that no woman had tried.
Watch out: C also spots people doubting her, so it is tempting. But it gives the wrong reason for the doubt. Paragraph 3 even says Ederle herself had tried in 1925.
Choose the answer
The editor’s words show that Ederle faced prejudice against women on top of a dangerous swim. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the choice most likely to fool you. It also sees that some people doubted Ederle. But it blames the doubt on no woman having tried before. The editor’s real reason was his belief that women are “the weaker sex.” D names that social obstacle and adds the physical ones, so D fits best.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 26 as printed on page 54 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 54, question 26. Open page 54 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Champion of the Channel” as printed (pages 56–57)

The passage “Champion of the Channel” as printed on page 56 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Champion of the Channel” as printed on page 57 of the DOE handbook.

Question 34 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 27

Uses the passage above: “Champion of the Channel”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 4.

During her first channel-crossing attempt she had worn a standard one-piece swimsuit that, after the lengthy hours of swimming across the channel, had stretched out, filling with water and creating drag, making an already challenging task almost insurmountable.

The word “insurmountable” is used to highlight

Ahow the bathing suit made it impossible for Ederle to make it across the channel.
Bhow Ederle and her sister decided to improve Ederle’s swimming equipment in a creative way.
Cthat the flaws in Ederle’s bathing suit made a difficult task even more complicated.
Dthat the swimming equipment Ederle used needed to be custom made for her attempt.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks about the effect of the word “insurmountable,” which means “incapable of being overcome,” in paragraph 4.

A. Incorrect. Ederle did not complete her first swim because she became ill (“Just six miles short of finishing, she became ill, and her coach had to haul her out of the water.” [paragraph 3]), not because the suit made it impossible for Ederle to complete her swim.

B. Incorrect. The author uses the word “insurmountable” to draw attention to the increased difficulty caused by the suit, not to draw attention to the sisters’ creativity in solving the problem.

C. CORRECT. The suit Ederle wore during her first attempt to swim the channel “stretched out, filling with water and creating drag” (paragraph 4), which likely contributed to her failed attempt to swim across the channel.

D. Incorrect. The passage does not address whether the original suit was custom made, simply that the suit created additional difficulties for Ederle in a situation that was already difficult.

Question analysis

This vocabulary-in-context question quotes a sentence about the stretched-out swimsuit Gertrude Ederle wore on her first attempt to swim the English Channel and asks what the word insurmountable is used to highlight. Students must decide what point the word stresses in this sentence rather than simply define it, and the choices range from the old suit's effects to the sisters' new equipment.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L4a context clues
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining what a strong word emphasizes in context is standard grade 7 vocabulary work. The sentence is printed in the question, which saves a search, but it is long, with several phrases stacked between the swimsuit and the key word.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Hard words moderate
A very close wrong answer moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 108 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 phrase to weigh is “an already challenging task almost insurmountable”, and two small words carry it: “already” says the swim was hard to begin with, and “almost” stops short of impossible. Students who know only the dictionary meaning blame the suit for a failure that paragraph 3 pins on illness. Those who look past the sentence to the sisters' new gear answer a different question, about the fix rather than the problem the word stresses.

Hard words moderate Understanding the question
The question hinges on “insurmountable”, impossible to overcome, which is softened by the “almost” in front of it and set against the “already challenging task” it describes. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The right choice and the one saying the suit made the crossing impossible both blame the old suit; they differ only in degree, which is exactly what “almost” decides. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The stem prints all 38 words of the sentence, but between the swimsuit and “insurmountable” come an inserted time phrase, the verb “had stretched out” and two “-ing” phrases, so the link is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Say in your own words what the quoted sentence claims about the old swimsuit, then choose the statement that restates that claim, checking each choice against the sentence word by word.

Traps

Dictionary meaning, not meaning here: A common meaning of the word that does not fit its use in this text.
Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

A Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Gives “insurmountable” its full dictionary force and drops “almost”, so the suit seems to have made the crossing impossible, though paragraph 3 says she stopped in 1925 because she became ill.
B Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Describes what the paragraph goes on to do, the sisters' creative silk suit and waxed goggles, when the quoted sentence and its key word dwell on the old suit's flaws.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reasons that because a standard suit failed, her gear had to be custom made, a conclusion the passage never draws and the word does not point toward.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out the word’s job
This question asks why the author chose one word, “insurmountable,” in paragraph 4. First you need to know what the word means. Then you can see which idea it helps the sentence stress.
Break the word into parts
To surmount something is to get over it or on top of it, the way a climber gets to the top of a cliff. The start in- means not, and the end -able means can be. So something insurmountable cannot be gotten over. It is too hard to beat.
Read the words around it
The old suit “had stretched out, filling with water and creating drag.” Drag is a force that pulls back on you and slows you down. This made “an already challenging task almost insurmountable.” Two small words matter a lot. Already tells you the swim was hard even before the suit caused trouble. Almost tells you it came close to impossible, but not all the way.
Decide what the word stresses
Put together, the phrase stresses how much worse the old suit made things. A task that was hard to begin with became even harder. The word does not say the suit by itself made the swim impossible.
Check each choice
- C fits: the suit’s flaws made “a difficult task even more complicated,” just like “already challenging” plus “almost insurmountable.”
- A is wrong because it drops “almost,” and paragraph 3 says her first try ended when she “became ill.”
- B is wrong because the sisters’ clever new gear comes in other sentences, while this word is about the problem.
- D is wrong because the passage never says her gear had to be custom made.
Watch out: A uses the word’s dictionary meaning. Always read the small words around a key word.
Choose the answer
The word shows how the old suit turned a hard swim into a nearly hopeless one. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, since “insurmountable” alone does mean impossible. But the author wrote “almost” in front of it. And paragraph 3 says illness, not the suit, ended her first try. C keeps the exact amount the sentence gives: a hard task made even harder.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 27 as printed on page 54 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 54, question 27. Open page 54 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 35 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 39

Passage 5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books

5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books

by Shaunacy Ferro

Though e-book¹ readers have become a more common sight around town, traditional books still have their evangelists.² According to The New York Times, e-book sales have been falling in 2015. Print definitely isn’t dead. In fact, according to some research, it may actually be a better choice for some readers. While scientists are still trying to tease out exactly how digital reading affects us differently, here are five ways e-books might be inferior to their dead-tree cousins.

E-books can reduce reading comprehension.

In a study of middle schoolers, West Chester University researchers found that students who read on iPads³ had lower reading comprehension than when they read traditional printed books. They discovered that the kids sometimes skipped text in favor of interactive features in the e-books, suggesting that certain multimedia in children’s e-books can be detrimental to the practice of reading itself. However, the researchers noted that some interactive features in e-books are designed to enhance comprehension, and that those might be more helpful than game-type interactive graphics.

Young kids can get distracted by e-books.

Similar results were found by a small study by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center that consisted of 32 kids reading e-books and print books with their parents. It found that “enhanced” e-books might be distracting. Kids who read enhanced e-books—ones with interactive, multimedia experiences—were more engaged with them physically, but in the end they remembered fewer narrative details than those who read print books or basic e-books.

You remember less about a book’s timeline.

Another study of adults also found that e-books can be hard to absorb. The researchers asked 25 people to read a 28-page story on a Kindle⁴ and 25 to read the story in paperback, then asked the readers to put 14 events from the story in chronological order. Those who read the story on a Kindle performed worse on the chronology test than the book readers, though they performed about the same as print readers in other tests. Earlier research by the same scholars, from Stavanger University in Norway, found that Norwegian 10th graders also remembered more about texts if they read them in print rather than on a computer screen.

They’re not great as textbooks.

While e-book textbooks are often cheaper (and easier to carry) than traditional door-stop⁵ textbooks, college students often don’t prefer them. In some surveys of college kids, the majority of students have reported preferring print books. However, a 2012 study from the UK’s National Literacy Trust of kids ages 8 to 16 found that more than 50 percent of children reported preferring screen reading.

They’re tiring.

Staring at a lit screen can be tiring for the eyes and the brain. A 2005 study from Sweden found that reading digitally required a higher cognitive workload than reading on paper. Furthermore, staring at LED⁶ screens at night can disrupt sleep patterns. A 2014 Harvard study found that people who used e-readers with LED screens at night slept worse and were more tired the next day. So, if you’re going to go for an e-book, go for one without the backlight.

The take-away message? If you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book. And if you’re going to be up all night studying, turn off the backlight.

However, all this may not mean that reading on a Kindle is really going to melt your brain. For instance, reading an e-book on a computer is a much different experience than reading on a Kindle, which is specifically designed for consuming books. So, too, is playing with an interactive e-book on an iPad, compared to using a simpler e-book device that only presents the text, with no opportunities to click away into digital distractions.

And some studies have found that part of the difference between the way people absorb information from e-books versus paper might be due to approaching e-books differently—in one test, participants didn’t regulate their study time with digital books like they did with paper texts, leading to worse performances. It’s possible that our expectations of e-book reading—as well as the different designs of the digital reading experience on a computer or iPad or Kindle—might affect how we approach the text and how much effort we put into studying them. As generations of e-book readers evolve, and people become more accustomed to the idea of sitting down with a digital textbook, these factors could change—for better or for worse.

¹e-book: an electronic book, a publication made available digitally for reading on a computer or other device

²evangelists: advocates or supporters

³iPads: tablet computers

⁴Kindle: device for reading e-books

⁵door-stop: a reference to the idea that some textbooks are large and heavy enough to hold a door open

⁶LED: Light-emitting diode; LEDs are often used as a backlight for electronic devices such as smart phones and tablets.

Question

Which sentence from the passage best reveals the author’s point of view about e-books?

A“While scientists are still trying to tease out exactly how digital reading affects us differently, here are five ways e-books might be inferior to their dead-tree cousins.” (paragraph 1)
B“While e-book textbooks are often cheaper (and easier to carry) than traditional door-stop textbooks, college students often don’t prefer them.” (paragraph 5)
C“For instance, reading an e-book on a computer is a much different experience than reading on a Kindle, which is specifically designed for consuming books.” (paragraph 8)
D“So, too, is playing with an interactive e-book on an iPad, compared to using a simpler e-book device that only presents the text, with no opportunities to click away into digital distractions.” (paragraph 8)

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which sentence from the passage best reveals the author’s point of view about e-books.

A. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 1 best reveals the author’s point of view because it introduces the author’s argument that “e-books might be inferior,” which is illustrated throughout the text.

B. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 5 provides a small detail about college students preferring traditional books over e-books despite the fact that e-books may seem ideal by being “cheaper (and easier to carry).” This statement supports one point made in the text but not the author’s broader point of view about e-books in general.

C. Incorrect. In the second sentence from paragraph 8, the author discusses answers to why “all this may not mean that reading on a Kindle is really going to melt your brain” and compares reading on a Kindle with reading on a computer to explain how they are different. The sentence focuses on the experiences with using two types of e-book devices rather than on the author’s broader opinion about e-books.

D. Incorrect. In the last sentence from paragraph 8, the author uses the previous comparison between reading on a Kindle and reading on a computer to illustrate the differences between “playing with an interactive e-book on an iPad” and using “a simpler e-book device that only presents the text” and limits distractions. However, similar to the sentence in Option C, this sentence focuses on the experiences of using two types of e-book devices rather than on the author’s broader point of view about e-books.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks which sentence best reveals the author's own view of e-books in a magazine article weighing them against printed books. Students must separate a sentence that states the author's position from sentences that support or qualify it, and the article's later hedging about e-books can blur the picture.

NYS standards: 7R6 point of view and author position
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Identifying an author's point of view in an informational article is standard grade 7 work. The quotations are labeled by paragraph and the article's stance stays consistent, so the demand matches a typical grade 7 point-of-view item.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: How, not what minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from the whole text
Reading level: Passage: about grade 10, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 14, 122 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 article announces its stance in the first paragraph, so the question rewards recognizing the sentence where the author sets up the whole list of reasons. The pull comes from a sentence about college students passing up cheaper e-book textbooks, which agrees with the author but reports one finding. The two sentences from paragraph 8 compare devices, and their mention of “digital distractions” can sound like a verdict without being one.

How, not what minor Working it out
Point of view must be told apart from reported fact: three sentences describe students' habits or devices, and only one carries the author's verdict, “might be inferior”. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The right sentence holds its point behind a long “While scientists are still trying to tease out” clause, and paragraph 8's “So, too, is playing with” sentence borrows its meaning from the one before. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: First decide in a few words what the author thinks about e-books overall, then find the sentence that states that view rather than one piece of support for it.

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.
True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

B Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Takes the finding that college students pass up cheaper e-book textbooks, one supporting detail for one of the five reasons, as the author's overall view of e-books.
C True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Picks paragraph 8's contrast between reading on a computer and on a Kindle, an accurate comparison of two devices that passes no judgment on e-books as such.
D True but not the answer (King et al., 2004; Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Hears criticism in “digital distractions”, but the sentence explains how an interactive iPad e-book differs from a text-only device, part of the article's hedge, not its verdict.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Know what point of view means
An author’s point of view is what the author thinks about a topic. You need the sentence that shows how the author sees e-books overall. One small fact, or a comparison of two devices, isn’t enough.
Sum up the author’s view
The title says physical books “Might Be Better Than E-Books.” The article then gives five reasons, one under each bold heading. So the author thinks e-books may be worse than print for some kinds of reading.
Find where the author says it
Choice A comes from paragraph 1. It ends, “here are five ways e-books might be inferior to their dead-tree cousins.” Inferior means worse. “Dead-tree cousins” is a joke name for paper books, since paper is made from trees. This sentence states the author’s view and sets up the whole list.
Check each choice
- A fits: it states the author’s overall view that e-books “might be inferior.”
- B is wrong because it reports one finding about college students, which supports just one reason.
- C is wrong because it compares a computer and a Kindle without judging e-books.
- D is wrong because it explains how an iPad e-book differs from a simpler device, not what the author thinks.
Watch out: B agrees with the author, so it seems right. But it is one small piece of support, not the view itself.
Choose the answer
Choice A is where the author announces the opinion behind the whole article. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B comes closest, because it fits the author’s view. But it reports what college students prefer, one detail in one section. A is where the author states the opinion the whole article supports: e-books “might be inferior” to print.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 39 as printed on page 61 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 61, question 39. Open page 61 of the handbook (PDF)

The passage “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books” as printed (pages 58–59)

The passage “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books” as printed on page 58 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books” as printed on page 59 of the DOE handbook.

Question 36 of 70

2024 Test A English, question 56

Passage Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”

Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”

by Emma Marris

So we’ve learned, scientists and laypeople alike, that native species are good and non-natives are bad.

That kind of approach is not very useful on a rapidly changing planet.

Exotics Are Everywhere

Climate change is making it harder even to decide who the invaders are.

Should we impose further risk on already endangered natives by severing these relationships? Or should we admire the resilience of nature and let such “well-behaved” exotics stay? . . .

A Good Thing, Not the Only Thing

¹stymie: hinder or interfere with

Question

Climate change has affected efforts to manage invasive species mainly by causing ecologists to

Acall upon the public to be more tolerant of the presence of non-native species.
Badmit that past attempts to eliminate non-native species have damaged the environment.
Cfind ways of ensuring that native species are not harmed by the arrival of new species.
Dacknowledge that it is not realistic for some species to remain in their native habitats.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

This question asks how climate change has mainly affected efforts to manage invasive species.

A. Incorrect. While ecologists are now arguing for some non-native species to be left alone (paragraph 13), they are arguing specifically on behalf of “well-behaved” non-native species (paragraph 12), not non-native species in general.

B. Incorrect. While paragraph 10 describes how removing a non-native species negatively affected a native species, the excerpt never discusses the idea that attempts to eliminate non-native species might have damaged the environment.

C. Incorrect. While the excerpt refers to climate change causing plants and animals to move to more tolerable environments (paragraph 8), it does not specifically discuss ways to ensure that the arrival of these non-native species does not harm native species.

D. CORRECT. As paragraph 8 says, “plants and animals are already moving toward the poles” because of climate change, and ecologists recognize that those species need to do so to adapt “to the warmer future we’re creating.”

Question analysis

This question asks how climate change has mainly affected efforts to manage invasive species, according to an article arguing that not all non-native species are harmful. Students must locate the article's brief discussion of a warming planet and recognize its point when it is restated in different words.

NYS standards: 7R3 plot elements and ideas
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Tracing how one factor shapes an idea is grade 7 work. The relevant discussion is a single paragraph, but it is built from long questions rather than statements, and the choices restate it abstractly, so the item sits at a typical grade 7 level.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
What makes it hard: The right answer is reworded moderate
Complex sentences minor
Reading between the lines minor
Evidence: Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level: Passage: about grade 11, 815 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 71 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

Climate change is discussed in only one paragraph, and that paragraph mostly asks questions, so the student has to work out what the scientists concluded from what they wondered. The wrong choices borrow ideas from later in the article, leaving well-behaved exotics alone and the spartina project, or bring in a common conservation goal, and none of them is tied to a warming planet. Finding paragraph 8 first makes the rest straightforward.

The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The right choice's “not realistic for some species to remain in their native habitats” shares no words with paragraph 8, which speaks of plants and animals “moving toward the poles or up mountainsides”. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 8 makes its point through questions, the first broken by “scientists at the symposium wondered”, so what ecologists accept has to be pulled out of what they ask. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines minor Working it out
The acknowledgment is implied: reluctance to remove species that would otherwise lose their chance of “adapting to the warmer future” shows that staying put is no longer an option. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Find where the article actually discusses a warming planet and what the scientists there are wondering about, then match a choice to that discussion.

Traps

Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Borrows paragraph 13's plea to leave non-natives alone, which concerns well-behaved exotics and is made within the field, not to the public, and has no link to climate.
B Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Stretches one failed removal, the spartina project of paragraph 10, into ecologists admitting that past removals harmed the environment, and that example has nothing to do with climate.
C Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Assumes the rule the article questions, that newcomers threaten natives, so protecting natives seems the obvious response, but paragraph 8 talks of letting moving species adapt.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Know what the question asks
This asks how climate change has changed the way scientists handle non-native species. First find the part of the article that talks about climate. Then see what the scientists there accept.
Find the climate paragraph
Paragraphs 7 and 8 are about climate change. Paragraph 8 says that on “a warming planet,” plants and animals “are already moving toward the poles or up mountainsides.” They are looking for “climate conditions they can tolerate,” which means weather they can survive.
See what the scientists accept
Paragraph 8 says conservationists “will be reluctant to remove them.” Reluctant means unwilling. Removing them “would stymie” their “chances of adapting to the warmer future.” The footnote says stymie means to hinder, or hold back. In other words, scientists accept that these species can’t stay where they were. To survive, they have to move.
Check each choice
- D fits: ecologists admit that some species can’t realistically stay in their native homes.
- A is wrong because the call to leave non-natives alone in paragraphs 12 and 13 is about “well-behaved” ones, not climate.
- B is wrong because the one failed removal in paragraph 10 has nothing to do with climate.
- C is wrong because paragraph 8 talks about letting moving species adapt, not shielding natives from newcomers.
Watch out: A sounds close because it is also about putting up with non-natives. But it comes from a part of the article that never mentions climate.
Choose the answer
Climate change has made ecologists accept that some species must leave their old homes. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, because the article does argue for leaving some non-natives alone. But that argument is about helpful newcomers, and it never mentions climate. Paragraphs 7 and 8 are where climate change comes up. There, scientists accept that many species must leave their old homes to survive, which is D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 56 as printed on page 72 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 72, question 56. Open page 72 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil”” as printed (pages 68–70)

Question 37 of 70

2024 Test B English, question 1

Question

What is the best way to combine these sentences to clarify the relationship between ideas?

(1) The International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000.

(2) Tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station.

(3) Because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.

AThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, but tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station, which cost $52–$58 million round trip, so few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
BThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000 and will soon allow tourists to pay for visits, but because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
CThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, but tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station, though the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, so few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
DThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, and tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, therefore few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the best way to combine the sentences.

A. Incorrect. Although the option combines the sentences in a way that accurately reflects the meaning of each individual sentence, the combined sentence is a string of clauses that do not effectively cohere. Because it is poorly structured, the combined sentence does not clarify the relationship of ideas as effectively as the correct response does. The sentence incorrectly uses “but tourists,” and “which cost” modifies “the space station” but does not modify the trip. Compared with the correct response, the combined sentence in this option is also imprecise and unnecessarily wordy.

B. CORRECT. The option uses a complex sentence to present ideas clearly and precisely, and it shows the relationship between the ideas in the original sentences. In the first part of the sentence, the conjunction “and” correctly joins the first and second sentences by indicating a relationship, rather than a contrast, between the two. In the second part of the sentence, the conjunction “but” adds additional emphasis to the fact that while tourists will be allowed to visit the space station, the cost of the trip will likely prohibit most people from visiting.

C. Incorrect. Although the option combines the sentences in a way that accurately reflects the meaning of each individual sentence, the combined sentence is a string of clauses that do not effectively cohere. Because it is so poorly structured, the combined sentence does not clarify the relationship of ideas as effectively as the correct response does. Compared with the correct response, the combined sentence in this option is also imprecise and unnecessarily wordy.

D. Incorrect. The combination of the sentences contains an illogical relationship between ideas with the statement that tourists will be allowed to pay for visits to the space station because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip. The connection between the idea that “tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits” and the subsequent “therefore few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity” is also illogical.

Question analysis

This sentence-combining question gives three sentences about the International Space Station, its crew and the high price of a tourist trip, and asks for the best way to join them into one. Every version keeps the same facts, so students must judge which connecting words show how the ideas relate while the sentences stay long and nearly identical.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
7L3a precise and concise language
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students practice joining two short sentences with a fitting conjunction. Here three sentences become one long sentence in four nearly identical versions, so students must weigh every connecting word and clause rather than spot one error.
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 evaluate
What makes it hard: How sentences fit together major
Complex sentences moderate
Every choice must be checked moderate
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 15, 261 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

None of the wrong versions drops a fact, and two of them are loose rather than plainly ungrammatical, so the ear is little help. Students lose the point by accepting the smoothest chain of clauses without asking what each connector claims: whether the crew and the tourists really contrast, what the price belongs to, and what the price explains. The question rewards deciding the three links before reading the versions, then checking them one connector at a time.

How sentences fit together major Working it out
Sentence 2 simply adds to sentence 1, while sentence 3’s price works against the tourist plan and explains why few will go, so every “but,” “though,” “because” or “so” in a version must fit one of those links. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
Each version is one sentence of 48 to 53 words with four clauses, and at that length a “which cost” hanging on the wrong noun or a comma before “therefore” is easy to read past. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer
All four versions keep the same facts in the same order and share most of their words, so none can be ruled out by content; each connecting word has to be tested in turn. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, decide how each sentence relates to the next: added fact, contrast, or cause and result. Then check every connecting word in each version against those links.

Traps

Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.
Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.
Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

A Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Keeps the price as the reason few can go, marked by “so,” but misses that “which cost” hangs on “the space station” and that “but” sets crew against tourists.
C Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Keeps every fact in order, but stacking “but,” “though” and “so” in one sentence turns the price into an aside instead of plainly the reason few people will go.
D Wrong transition (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Keeps sentence 3’s “because the cost is” word for word, but here it explains why tourists are allowed, and “therefore” after a comma splices on the result.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
You need to join three sentences into one. The best version shows clearly how the ideas connect. Joining words do that job. A conjunction is a joining word, like and, but, so or because. Each one tells the reader something. And adds a fact. But shows a contrast (two ideas that pull against each other). Because and so show a cause and its result.
Decide how the three sentences connect
Sentence 1 says crews have lived on the station since 2000. Sentence 2 adds a new fact: tourists will soon be able to visit. That is not a contrast, so it needs and. Sentence 3 works against sentence 2. The trip costs “$52–$58 million round trip.” That price is also the reason few people will go. So you need a contrast and a reason. Example: The pool is open to all, but because it costs $90, few kids swim there.
Test each choice
- B uses “and will soon allow tourists” to add the new fact. Then “but because the cost is” shows the contrast and the reason. Every link is right.
- A joins sentence 2 with “but tourists,” as if crews and tourists were opposites. Also, “which cost” comes right after “the space station.” So it sounds like the station costs that much, not the trip.
- C stacks “but,” “though” and “so” in one long chain. The price turns into a side note instead of the clear reason.
- D says tourists may visit “because the cost is” so high. That makes no sense. And “therefore” after a comma joins two sentences the wrong way.
Pick the answer
Watch out: A is the most tempting. It keeps the price as the reason, with “so.” But its “but” and its “which” send the reader the wrong way. Only one choice links every idea correctly. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like B, it says the price keeps most people away. But A sets crews against tourists with “but tourists.” Its “which cost” also seems to give the price of the station. B uses and for the added fact and but because for the price, so each link is clear.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 1 as printed on page 159 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 159, question 1. Open page 159 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 38 of 70

2024 Test B English, question 2

Question

Which sentence contains an error in its construction and should be revised?

(1) In 1976, the National Basketball Association (NBA) absorbed several teams of the American Basketball Association (ABA), including the New York Nets, who played in the Long Island area at the time. (2) The owner of the Nets decided to take the team to New Jersey after the team had financial troubles, where the team played for thirty-five seasons. (3) The New Jersey Nets had sixteen playoff appearances, including two appearances in the NBA finals. (4) In 2012, the team changed ownership and returned to New York, where the team now plays under the name the Brooklyn Nets.

Asentence 1
Bsentence 2
Csentence 3
Dsentence 4

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the identification of the sentence that has an error in its construction and should be revised.

A. Incorrect. There are no errors in the structure of sentence 1. The clause “who played in the Long Island area at the time” correctly modifies the noun “New York Nets.” “Who” is the correct relative pronoun to serve as the subject of the modifying clause because it refers to people rather than objects or things.

B. CORRECT. Sentence 2 contains a structural error. The current placement of the clause “where the team played for thirty-five seasons” suggests that the clause is modifying the term “financial troubles,” which is illogical. The clause “where the team played for thirty-five seasons” should immediately follow the location, “New Jersey.” A revised version of the sentence might read, “After the team had financial troubles, the owner of the Nets decided to take the team to New Jersey, where the team played for thirty-five seasons.”

C. Incorrect. There are no errors in the structure of sentence 3. The phrase “including two appearances in the NBA finals” is a nonrestrictive phrase that provides further detail about the team’s “sixteen playoff appearances.” The phrase is set off by a comma because it is not essential to understanding the meaning of the sentence.

D. Incorrect. There are no errors in the structure of sentence 4. The clause “where the team now plays under the name the Brooklyn Nets” is a nonrestrictive clause that provides further detail about the team after its move back to New York in 2012. The clause is set off by a comma because it is not essential to understanding the meaning of the sentence.

Question analysis

This editing question gives a four-sentence paragraph tracing the Nets basketball team from Long Island to New Jersey and back to Brooklyn, and asks which sentence is built incorrectly. The sentences are long, with commas, parentheses and describing clauses, so students must check what each clause actually describes instead of trusting how smoothly it reads.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Placing clauses so they describe the right word is a grade 7 grammar standard. The paragraph is short and plain, but the correct sentences also carry commas and describing clauses, which matches a careful grade 7 editing task.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Every choice must be checked minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 7, 108 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 faulty sentence is easy to understand, because the reader supplies the link between New Jersey and the thirty-five seasons without noticing the clause is in the wrong place. Students who go by sound skip it and suspect a busier sentence instead, most often the first, with its parentheses and a “who” that refers to a team. The question rewards asking, for each describing clause, which word it actually sits beside.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
Sentence 2’s “where the team played for thirty-five seasons” follows “financial troubles,” not “New Jersey,” but readers silently attach it to the state, so the misplaced clause does not sound wrong. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
The stem names no kind of error, and every sentence carries a describing clause or phrase, from “who played” to “including two appearances” to a second “where” clause, so all four must be tested. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Sentence 1 runs 31 words with two abbreviations in parentheses and a “who” clause, which makes a correct sentence look like the likeliest home for an error. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: In each sentence, find every describing clause or phrase and the word just before it. Ask whether the clause can logically describe that word; a mismatch marks the sentence to revise.

Traps

Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.

The wrong answers, classified

A Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Believes “who” cannot refer to a team, or distrusts the long sentence with two abbreviations, though “who played in the Long Island area” correctly describes the New York Nets.
C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Takes “including two appearances in the NBA finals” for a fragment tacked on with a comma, though the phrase correctly adds detail to “sixteen playoff appearances.”
D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Hears the shift from “returned” to “now plays” as a tense error, though “now” marks the present, and this “where” clause sits right after New York, the place it describes.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks which sentence is built wrong. The facts may all be true. The problem is how the parts of a sentence fit together. The question doesn’t say what kind of error to look for. So you need to test all four sentences.
Learn the rule about describing clauses
A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. Some clauses describe a word. They often start with who or where. A describing clause must sit right next to the word it describes. If it lands next to the wrong word, the sentence says something silly. Example: We went to the beach after the storm, where we swam all day. That says we swam in the storm! Fix: After the storm, we went to the beach, where we swam all day.
Test sentence 2
Sentence 2 ends “after the team had financial troubles, where the team played for thirty-five seasons.” The clause starting with “where” sits right after “financial troubles.” So the sentence says the team played inside its money problems. The clause should describe New Jersey, the place. Fix: After the team had financial troubles, the owner of the Nets decided to take the team to New Jersey, where the team played for thirty-five seasons.
Test sentences 1, 3 and 4
- Sentence 1: “who played in the Long Island area at the time” comes right after “the New York Nets.” A team is a group of people, so who works.
- Sentence 3: “including two appearances in the NBA finals” comes right after “sixteen playoff appearances.” It adds a detail about them, so it fits.
- Sentence 4: “where the team now plays” comes right after “New York,” a place. The word “now” makes the present tense right.
Watch out: Sentence 1 looks busy, with two names in parentheses. That makes choice A tempting. But long is not the same as wrong.
Pick the answer
Only sentence 2 puts a describing clause next to the wrong words. So the answer is B, sentence 2.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

Sentence 1 is the closest wrong answer, because it is long and uses who for a team. But its clause sits right next to the Nets, the team it describes. In sentence 2, the “where” clause sits next to “financial troubles,” not New Jersey. That is why B is right.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 2 as printed on page 160 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 160, question 2. Open page 160 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 39 of 70

2024 Test B English, question 23

Passage Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!

Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!

by Zoa L. Swayne

This narrative is about the Nez Perce, an American Indian tribe, in what is now northern Idaho. The tribe is preparing for a gathering before the coming winter.

In the moon of Ta-Yum, the hottest days of summer, when salmon spawn in the little streams and huckleberries ripen in the high mountains, people from many villages of the Chopunnish Nation gathered in the Oyaip Prairie for the work and festivities of their annual camas¹ harvest.

From far and near The People came. . . .

Should a stranger enter their homeland and ask, “Where are you from?” the reply was always, “We are Nee-mee-poo, The People who live here in this place.”

It was a time of Lawtiwa-mah-ton—a time of being friends together—when The People came for this last chance to enjoy being together before the Cold Moons kept them close to their fires. The visiting and trading, the foot racing and horse racing, and the gambling and stick games would be remembered and talked about long after they had forgotten the drudgery of digging and roasting camas, picking berries, or drying meat and fish. Lawtiwa-mah-ton! It was good to be friends together.

As was their custom since wahk-kee-ma, a time far back beyond the memory of man, they set up their camps in the same locations their parents and grandparents had occupied before them. Red Bear’s people, from Kamiah, made their camp near the trail that came out of the mountains. Their neighbors in Kamiah Valley, The People from Tee-e-lap-a-lo, had their camp close by. Across the wide meadow, by the great roasting pits, the camps of the Te-wap-poo and Ask-kah-poo were located. The tepees and ish-nash, brush shelters, of other groups nestled in their accustomed areas in and among the pines in such numbers that they encircled the entire meadow land.

Red Bear’s people had traveled all summer with neighboring bands, gathering and preparing roots, picking and drying berries, drying and smoking meat and fish for their winter food supply. Now they were at the Oyaip camp. The women worked hard to dig and cure as many bags of roots as they could during the warm, sunny days, for the sharp night air brought warnings that WARM was going and COLD was coming.

Everyone helped in some way. Most of the men fished or hunted for meat. While many of the women dug and roasted camas, other women and older children picked and dried berries.

And the younger children played. They played at hunting. They played with the babies. They played with their horses and puppies. They learned how to live through their play.

This sun, happiness, peace, and quiet blessed the Red Bear camp. All were busy with their daily tasks, until sudden cries came from the children playing by the trail.

“People coming! People coming! People coming on the trail from the high mountains!” they called as they ran to their elders, who looked sharply at the figures of approaching horsemen.

Were they friends or enemies? Did they bring good news or bad?

“Who can it be? What brings them here?” were the questions in every mind.

“Could they be the four hunters who had gone to Buffalo Country two summers past? Would they have news of the families who had gone long ago to Buffalo Country and never returned?”

It was customary for a hunting party to be gone for more than one season.

“Looks like hunters,” the older men agreed. “Looks like they had good hunting. Maybe our four hunters. [They have] been gone many moons.”

“Looks like five people—not four,” others observed.

Excitement grew as the riders came close enough to be recognized.

“A-a-a-a-a, they are our four hunters! But who is the fifth person?” they asked.

“Looks like a woman. Who is she?”

The hunters rode up to the welcoming crowd, proud to show off the loads of meat, hides, and other trophies of their hunt. They paraded around the encampment for all to see how strong their Hunting Power had been—what great hunters they, themselves, were.

Red Bear’s people rejoiced at their hunters’ success. Good hunters brought good to everybody. The meat meant plenty of food and the hides meant soft-tanned robes to give comfort through the Cold Moons. But it was the sight of the frail figure of the woman that aroused their curiosity. Who was she? Where had she come from? . . .

“Belongs to Red Bear people. Gone then come back,” the hunters said, as they dismounted and unloaded their packs. . . .

Now they could see! She was the daughter of the family gone so long ago! The girl-child who had left came back now—a grown woman.

“Wat-ku-ese!” the women cried. “Gone-from-Home-then-Come-Back. Wat-ku-ese!” And Wat-ku-ese was her name from that time on.

Gentle arms lifted Wat-ku-ese from her horse. The women brought her food and made a place for her to rest. For many suns they cared for her until she became stronger.

One evening Wat-ku-ese told her story for all to hear.

From DO THEM NO HARM!: Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce by Zoa L. Swayne. Published by Caxton Press. Copyright © 1990 by Zoa L. Swayne. Orofino, Idaho and Legacy House, Inc. Orofino, Idaho. All rights reserved.

¹camas: a wild, edible plant

Question

Paragraph 1 contributes to the setting of the excerpt by establishing that

Athe story’s location is a plentiful place that allows The People to enjoy a comfortable gathering.
Bthe events in the story occurred in the past and are being remembered by The People.
Cthe camp in the story is changing and that the changes are causing problems for The People.
Dthe story’s plot begins as The People are observing their land and what it offers them.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how paragraph 1 contributes to the setting of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. Paragraph 1 describes summer “when salmon spawn,” “huckleberries ripen,” and The People gather for “their annual camas harvest.” These descriptions show the abundance of food in the place where the excerpt occurs.

B. Incorrect. Although the setting refers to past events, the narration is not by The People. In addition, the voice narrating the excerpt is not an element of the setting.

C. Incorrect. Nothing in paragraph 1 suggests that the camp is changing in any way. The People gather annually in this place. In addition, the language used to describe the setting does not suggest any problems.

D. Incorrect. The People are not making observations about the setting in paragraph 1. They are described as performing actions, such as gathering “for the work and festivities of their annual . . . harvest.”

Question analysis

This setting question asks what the opening paragraph of Zoa L. Swayne’s narrative Do Them No Harm! establishes about the time and place of the Nez Perce camas harvest. The paragraph is one long sentence crowded with unfamiliar names, so students must look past them to the details and decide what kind of place and season they describe.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Seeing how an opening paragraph sets the scene matches the grade 6 standard, which names setting directly. The paragraph is one long sentence with unfamiliar Nez Perce names, but its details are concrete and the task is a single inference.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Reading between the lines moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 5, 885 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 76 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 paragraph is crowded with names, but its details are concrete: fish, berries, a harvest, festivities. Students who add them up see abundance and a happy gathering; those who look past them reach for ideas about who tells the story or about changes to come. The choice about The People observing their land is the subtle one, because the land’s gifts are there but no one in the paragraph is watching them.

Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Paragraph 1 never calls the place plentiful; that has to be inferred from salmon that “spawn in the little streams,” huckleberries that “ripen,” and many villages gathering for the camas harvest. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 1 is a single sentence that opens with “In the moon of Ta-Yum,” a second time phrase and a “when” clause, so its subject, “people from many villages,” arrives only halfway through. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Underline every detail in paragraph 1 about time, place and activity, then decide what overall impression of the setting they create before reading the choices.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
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.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

B Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Rightly notes that the story is set in the past, then adds that The People are remembering it, though an outside narrator tells the story.
C Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Senses change in the coming cold of later paragraphs and reads trouble into the opening, though paragraph 1 describes a yearly gathering with no hint of problems.
D Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Sees what the land offers, salmon, berries and camas, but has The People surveying it, when paragraph 1 shows them gathering to work and celebrate, not observing.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
The setting of a story is where and when it takes place. This asks what paragraph 1 tells you about the setting. The paragraph is one long sentence with many new names. Look past the names to the details.
Find the details
Paragraph 1 says it is “the hottest days of summer.” It is a time “when salmon spawn in the little streams and huckleberries ripen in the high mountains.” To spawn means to lay eggs. To ripen means to get ready to eat. People from many villages come to the Oyaip Prairie “for the work and festivities” of their yearly harvest. Festivities are celebrations.
Decide what the details show
Fish, berries and a harvest all mean food. So this is a place with plenty to eat. Many villages come together to work and to celebrate. So it is a happy gathering, too. The paragraph shows a rich, friendly place.
Check each choice
- A fits: a plentiful place where The People gather in comfort. Plentiful means having a lot.
- B: the story does happen in the past. But a narrator tells it. A narrator is the voice telling the story. The People are not remembering it.
- C: nothing in paragraph 1 is changing or causing problems. The gathering happens every year.
- D: The People are not studying the land. They have come to work and celebrate.
Watch out: D mentions what the land offers, which is in paragraph 1. But no one in the paragraph is watching the land.
Pick the answer
Paragraph 1 sets up a place full of food and good company. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is a close wrong answer, because the land’s gifts, fish, berries and camas, are all in paragraph 1. But D says The People are observing the land. They are not. They have come “for the work and festivities” of the harvest. A sums up what the details show: plenty of food and a happy gathering.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 23 as printed on page 179 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 179, question 23. Open page 179 of the handbook (PDF)

The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed (pages 177–178)

The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed on page 177 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed on page 178 of the DOE handbook.

Question 40 of 70

2024 Test B English, question 47

Passage Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

by John Gould Fletcher

Higher and still more high,
Palaces made for cloud,
Above the dingy city-roofs
Blue-white like angels with broad wings,
Pillars of the sky at rest
The mountains from the great plateau
Uprise.

But the world heeds them not;
They have been here now for too long a time.
The world makes war on them,
Tunnels their granite cliffs,
Splits down their shining sides,
Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements,
Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.

Vaster and still more vast,
Peak after peak, pile after pile,
Wilderness still untamed,
To which the future is as was the past,
Barrier spread by Gods,
Sunning their shining foreheads,
Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,
The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

“Snowy Mountains” by John Gould Fletcher—Public Domain

Question

Read lines 21–22 from the poem.

Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,

How do the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view?

AThey suggest that the speaker wants to remove the obstacles that prevent others from experiencing the wonders of nature.
BThey reveal the speaker’s opinion that some people are too busy to appreciate natural beauty.
CThey reflect the speaker’s dismay that people destroy the natural landscape without understanding the ramifications of their actions.
DThey explain that the speaker is confident that nature will never be fully destroyed by people.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how lines 21–22 help convey the speaker’s point of view.

A. Incorrect. The word “barrier” (line 21) refers to the speaker’s opinion that the mountains were “spread by Gods” (line 19) and not to an obstacle that the speaker thinks should be removed.

B. Incorrect. While the lines indicate that people have lost the need to connect with nature, they do not reveal that the speaker thinks that the cause of this loss is busyness.

C. CORRECT. The words “those who do not need / The joy” in lines 21–22 reflect the speaker’s sadness that people do not realize that they are destroying something wonderful and irreplaceable.

D. Incorrect. Although the speaker does say that the stone is “time-resisting” (line 22), this belief is only a small detail of the speaker’s point of view.

Question analysis

Two lines from the final stanza of “Snowy Mountains” describe a barrier broken down by people who do not need “The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” and students must explain how these lines convey the speaker’s point of view. The phrasing is compact and old-fashioned, with an unusual use of “need,” so working out the plain meaning comes before choosing among close descriptions of the speaker’s feelings.

NYS standards: 7R6 point of view and author position
7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often infer a speaker’s attitude from clear statements. Here the attitude must be drawn from a compressed sentence broken across two lines, and the choices differ in fine shades of feeling and cause.
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 analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences major
Reading between the lines moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 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

Before any choice can be judged, the compressed, inverted verse has to be put into plain English: people with no use for the old stone’s joy have broken the barrier down. Once that paraphrase is in hand, the speaker’s sorrow is clear, yet two wrong choices offer nearby readings. One supplies a cause the lines never give, busyness, and the other turns the stone’s endurance into a promise that the same sentence contradicts.

Complex sentences major Understanding the question
The lines break mid-phrase, “those who do not need / The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” inside a sentence whose subject arrives only in line 23, so who breaks what must be untangled first. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Neither dismay nor ignorance is stated; both must be inferred from describing the people as not needing “The joy” of the stone they break down. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Barrier” here means the mountain range as a great wall, not an obstacle, and the key turns on “ramifications,” a word many seventh graders will not know. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Read lines 21–22 with the lines just before them, restate the sentence in your own words, and then decide what the speaker thinks of the people it describes.

Traps

Dictionary meaning, not meaning here: A common meaning of the word that does not fit its use in this text.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.

The wrong answers, classified

A Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Hears “Barrier” in its everyday sense of something blocking the way, but here it is the mountain range itself, “spread by Gods,” and the speaker regrets its breaking.
B Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Supplies a familiar modern explanation, people too busy for nature, though the lines say only that some people do not need this joy and never say why.
D Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Stretches “time-resisting” into certainty that nature can never be destroyed, overlooking that these lines show the barrier already “broken down” by people.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about point of view: what the speaker thinks and feels. Read lines 21 and 22, and decide what they show about the speaker’s attitude toward the people in them.
Read the lines with the ones before
Two lines earlier, the poem names the mountains a “Barrier spread by Gods” (line 19). A barrier is a wall, and here the wall is the mountain range itself. Line 21 says this barrier is “broken down by those who do not need” something. Line 22 says what that something is: “The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone.”
Put the lines in plain words
Time-resisting means the stone has held out against ages of time. Storm-worn means storms have rubbed it down. So this stone is very old and very tough. In plain words: the mountains are being torn down by people who have no use for the joy this ancient stone can give. The speaker sounds sad and troubled that something so lasting is wrecked by people who do not value it.
Check each choice
- A does not fit. Here “Barrier” means the mountains, not something blocking the way. The speaker is sorry it was broken, not eager to remove it.
- B does not fit. The lines never give a reason, such as being too busy. That idea comes from outside the poem.
- C fits. Dismay is a mix of sadness and alarm. Ramifications are the effects an action leads to later on. The speaker is dismayed that people wreck the mountains with no thought for what they are losing.
- D does not fit. The stone is “time-resisting,” but the same lines show it broken down. They express sorrow, not confidence.
Choose the answer
The lines show the mountains being broken by people who see no value in them, and the speaker is upset. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the strongest trap, because being too busy for nature sounds like a fair reason. But lines 21 and 22 never explain why these people do not need the stone’s joy. B adds a cause from outside the poem. C stays with what the lines show: damage to the mountains, done by people who do not value them, and the speaker’s distress.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 47 as printed on page 191 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 191, question 47. Open page 191 of the handbook (PDF)

The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)

The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.

Question 41 of 70

2024 Test B English, question 48

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How do the details in the third stanza (lines 15–26) most contribute to the development of a theme of the poem?

Aby reflecting nature’s capacity to resist change
Bby showing that nature is capable of influencing human will
Cby exposing how a lack of awareness leads to nature’s ruin
Dby explaining why people must respect nature

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the details in the third stanza most contribute to the development of a theme of the poem.

A. CORRECT. In the third stanza, phrases such as “Wilderness still untamed” (line 17), “time-resisting storm-worn stone” (line 22), and “The mountains swing along” (line 23) convey the message that in spite of the destruction described in the second stanza, the mountains manage to maintain their wild magnificence.

B. Incorrect. While the phrase “Barrier broken down” (line 21) conveys the idea that people can have some effect on the natural landscape, it does not convey how nature affects people.

C. Incorrect. The phrase “those who do not need” (line 21) implies a choice to damage nature and not a lack of awareness or understanding.

D. Incorrect. The third stanza is not a call to humanity to respect the mountains but a description of the untamed, welcoming mountains and the joy they provide for those who appreciate them.

Question analysis

Students trace how the details of the third and final stanza of “Snowy Mountains,” lines 15–26, most contribute to developing a theme of the poem. Because the stanza is a single sentence that runs from line 15 to the poem’s last word, students must keep its whole movement in mind before deciding what it adds.

NYS standards: 7R2 theme or central idea
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 theme questions usually rest on a few clear details. Here students must hold a twelve-line stanza of inverted, piled-up phrases in mind and pick among four reasonable lessons about nature, a heavier load closer to grade 8.
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: Complex sentences moderate
Figurative or literary language moderate
Evidence in several places moderate
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 55 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 final stanza holds both endurance and damage, and the stem’s “most” asks which of the two its details build. Students who fix on the broken barrier choose ruin, a reading the second stanza seems to confirm, while those who tally the stanza’s details find untamed wilderness, time-resisting stone and mountains swinging at ease. Because the stanza is one long, inverted sentence, that tally is slow, which is what makes the question hard.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
Lines 15–26 are one sentence in which phrase after phrase, from “Vaster and still more vast” to “storm-worn stone,” comes before its subject, “The mountains,” in line 23. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The message of endurance is carried by personification: the peaks have “shining foreheads,” are “spread by Gods,” and “swing along” the horizon welcoming the mists. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The theme has to be assembled from details scattered over twelve lines, “Wilderness still untamed,” “the future is as was the past,” “time-resisting,” and weighed against the single line of damage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Read lines 15–26 as one long sentence, find its main subject and verb, and sum up its message in a phrase; then check each choice against the whole stanza, not a single line.

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.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
Reversed relationship: Cause and effect, or the order of events, turned around.

The wrong answers, classified

B Reversed relationship (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Turns the influence around: in this stanza people break down the barrier while the peaks endure, and nothing shows the mountains shaping what people want.
C Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Builds on line 21’s “Barrier broken down,” the stanza’s one line of damage, and lets it stand for twelve lines that mostly celebrate the mountains as wild and lasting.
D Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
States the lesson a nature poem is expected to teach, that people must respect nature, but the stanza describes the mountains and never tells readers what to do.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about theme, the big message of the poem. You need to see what the details of the third stanza, lines 15 to 26, add to that message. The word “most” matters. Pick the idea that most of the details support, not just one line.
Gather the details in lines 15 to 26
The peaks grow “Vaster and still more vast” (line 15). They are a “Wilderness still untamed” (line 17). For them, the future is “as was the past” (line 18). Their stone is “time-resisting” (line 22). In the last four lines, “The mountains swing along” the sky and welcome the mists. Only line 21 shows damage: the barrier is “broken down.”
Find what the details share
Untamed means still wild, not controlled by people. If the future is the same as the past, the mountains are not changing. Time-resisting means they hold out against the years. And at the end of the stanza, they are still moving along at ease. Nearly every detail shows the same thing. The mountains last and stay wild, which is nature’s power to resist change.
Check each choice
- A fits. Wild, unchanging, time-resisting mountains show nature holding out against change.
- B does not fit. It turns things around. In this stanza, people affect the mountains. Nothing shows the mountains changing what people want.
- C does not fit. Line 21 shows damage, but it is one line out of twelve. The stanza does not end in ruin either: the mountains still swing along and welcome the mists.
- D does not fit. These lines paint a picture of the peaks. They give readers no orders and no reasons to behave a certain way.
Choose the answer
Most of the third stanza shows mountains that stay wild and lasting. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest trap, because line 21 does show the barrier “broken down,” and the second stanza is full of harm. But this question is about the third stanza, and it asks what the details most add. Most of the other lines there show mountains that are vast, wild and lasting. That builds A, not ruin.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 48 as printed on page 192 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 192, question 48. Open page 192 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 42 of 70

2024 Test B English, question 49

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 23–26 from the poem.

The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

The personification in these concluding lines of the poem suggests that the mountains are

Agracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.
Bunaware of their coming destruction.
Clively entertainers who are amused by the everyday concerns of people.
Dtoo proud to reveal their pain.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what the personification in the concluding lines of the poem suggests about the mountains.

A. CORRECT. Line 25’s use of the word “Welcoming” suggests that the mountains are kind hosts. Lines 23 and 26, with language such as “The mountains swing along” and “The mists that dance and drive before the sun,” imply the carefree nature of the mountains as they resist the destructive work of humanity.

B. Incorrect. The personification in the lines conveys a sense of optimism and endurance, with no language to suggest coming destruction.

C. Incorrect. Although the lines mention that “the mountains swing along” (line 23) and “the mists . . . dance” (line 26), the personification is used to describe the mountains’ perseverance, rather than to suggest that the mountains are amused by the concerns of others.

D. Incorrect. Although the second stanza develops the idea that the mountains have been mistreated by humans, which might be a source of pain, the concluding lines emphasize the joy and perseverance of the mountains as they “swing along” (line 23) despite significant adversity.

Question analysis

Students interpret the personification in the closing lines of “Snowy Mountains,” lines 23–26, and decide what it suggests about the mountains on the south horizon. They need to see which human actions the poet gives the mountains and what kind of character those actions create, and then choose among four quite different personalities.

NYS standards: 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Grade 7 readers routinely interpret personification, and here the four lines are printed with the question. The images are concrete and the choices give the mountains clearly different roles and moods, so careful matching settles it.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 77 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 closing lines are calm and generous, and the task is to turn their personification into a character. Students who give the mists’ dancing to the mountains see performers, but the performer choice also has the mountains amused by people’s concerns, which nothing here supports, so a careful reader rejects it. The remaining losses come from carrying the second stanza’s damage into lines that show only ease and welcome.

Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The human traits must be sorted by who has them: the mountains “swing along” and are “Welcoming,” while the mists are the ones that “dance and drive before the sun.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
In “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice / The mists,” the object of “Welcoming” comes after a long phrase and a line break, so who welcomes whom is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Underline each verb or describing word in lines 23–26 that gives the mountains a human trait, then check every choice against all of them.

Traps

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.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Takes the mountains’ carefree swinging as ignorance and adds the earlier stanzas’ damage to it, but these four lines are serene and hint at no destruction to come.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Gives the mists’ dancing to the mountains and so makes them performers, then adds amusement at people’s concerns, though here the mountains only swing along and welcome the mists.
D Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Imagines a brave face hiding the wounds of the second stanza, but the lines show the mountains at ease and welcoming, with no sign of pride or pain.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about personification. That is when a writer describes a thing as if it were a person, with human actions or moods. You need to decide what kind of character the mountains seem to be in lines 23 to 26.
Find who does each action
The four lines are one sentence. In line 23, “The mountains swing along” the edge of the sky. Line 25 shows them “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice.” The guests arrive in line 26: “The mists that dance and drive before the sun.” The mountains do two things here, swing along and welcome. The dancing belongs to the mists.
Decide what the actions suggest
Welcoming guests is what a host does. A host invites others in and makes them comfortable. Gracious means warm and polite. To swing along is to move in a relaxed, easy way. The second stanza was full of harm, yet here the mountains seem calm. They are untroubled, or not worried or upset.
Check each choice
- A fits. The mountains welcome the mists like gracious hosts, and they move at ease.
- B does not fit. Nothing in these lines hints at harm to come. The mood is calm and bright.
- C does not fit. Line 26 gives the dancing to the mists. And nothing shows the mountains laughing at people’s daily worries.
- D does not fit. There is no sign of pride or hidden pain. The mountains seem relaxed and open.
Choose the answer
Like kind hosts, the mountains greet their guests and stay calm. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C may tempt you, because swinging and dancing both sound lively. But check who dances: line 26 gives the dancing to the mists. The mountains are the ones “Welcoming” them, so they are hosts, not entertainers. C also says the mountains are amused by people, and these lines never show that.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 49 as printed on page 192 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 192, question 49. Open page 192 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 43 of 70

2023 Test A English, question 1

Question

Which edit should be made in the sentence?

On May 8, 2018, Boston University student Zach Prescott ran a mile in 4 minutes 43.2 seconds while juggling three lacrosse balls, breaking the 32-year-old world record in joggling a sport that combines jogging and juggling.

ADelete the comma after 2018.
BInsert a comma after student.
CDelete the comma after lacrosse balls.
DInsert a comma after joggling.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which edit should be made to correct the sentence.

A. Incorrect. This edit incorrectly deletes the comma that is necessary to set off the year in a date from the remainder of the sentence.

B. Incorrect. This edit introduces an unnecessary comma into the sentence by needlessly separating the adjective phrase “Boston University student” from the noun it modifies, “Zach Prescott.”

C. Incorrect. This edit would delete the comma needed to separate the participle phrase “breaking the 32-year-old world record in joggling” and its companion appositive “a sport that combines jogging and juggling” from the rest of the sentence. This complete element is nonessential, which means it requires separation from the rest of the sentence with a comma because its removal would not fundamentally change the meaning of the sentence.

D. CORRECT. The appositive “a sport that combines jogging and juggling” further describes the word “joggling.” An appositive requires separation with a comma because it is nonessential, meaning that its removal would not change the overall meaning of the sentence.

Question analysis

This punctuation question gives one long sentence about a Boston University student who ran a mile while juggling and broke a world record, and asks which comma edit it needs. Students weigh four marked spots, at a date, between a title and a name, and at two places near the end, deciding at each whether a comma belongs.

NYS standards: 7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Commas with dates and with extra information added to a sentence are grade 6 punctuation rules. This item tests them in a single 36-word sentence with one edit to choose, lighter than grade 7 work on phrases, clauses and modifiers.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 1, recall and reproduction · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Hard words minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 7, 60 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 one missing comma sits at the end of a long sentence, right after an unfamiliar word, and the sentence still sounds acceptable without it. The strongest pull applies the appositive rule one spot too early, between a descriptive title and the name it introduces, while the other two wrong edits remove commas that the date and the added phrase about the record both need. Bracketing each piece of added information, from where it starts to where it ends, exposes the gap after the sport’s name.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
Two quiet rules decide the question: the closing appositive “a sport that combines jogging and juggling” must be set off from “joggling,” while a title placed straight before a name, as in “Boston University student Zach Prescott,” takes no comma. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Joggling” is a word few students have met, and without the comma “in joggling a sport” can read like a verb and its object rather than the name of a sport followed by its definition. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 36-word sentence strings together a date, a title and name, a “while” phrase, the phrase “breaking the 32-year-old world record” and a closing appositive, so every comma has to be judged against where these parts begin and end. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Find the main subject and verb, then take the four underlined spots in order and ask what the words on each side are doing and whether a comma belongs between them.

Traps

Punctuation: A comma, semicolon, colon, dash or apostrophe used where it does not belong, or missing where it does.

The wrong answers, classified

A Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Treats the comma after “2018” as extra, not knowing that a full date takes a comma after the year as well as between the day and the year.
B Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Applies the appositive rule to “student Zach Prescott,” but a title placed directly before a name is not set off, and a lone comma there would cut the title off from the name.
C Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Deletes the comma before “breaking the 32-year-old world record” as if the phrase belonged to the juggling, though without it the lacrosse balls seem to break the record instead of Prescott.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a punctuation question. Punctuation means marks like commas and periods. The sentence has four underlined spots. Each choice adds or takes away one comma. Only one edit fixes the sentence. To find it, ask what each group of words is doing.
Learn the rule for renaming words
Sometimes a sentence names a thing and then tells you what it is. The words that rename it are called an appositive. An appositive gets a comma to set it off from the rest of the sentence.
Example: My uncle plays the tuba, a big brass horn. The words a big brass horn tell you what a tuba is, so a comma comes before them.
Find where a comma is missing
Look at the end of the sentence: “breaking the 32-year-old world record in joggling a sport that combines jogging and juggling.” Joggling is the name of a sport. The words “a sport that combines jogging and juggling” tell you what joggling is. So they are an appositive. But nothing sets them off from “joggling.” A comma belongs right after “joggling.”
Check each choice
- A is wrong. When more of the sentence follows a full date, the year needs a comma after it too. Example: On June 2, 2020, we moved.
- B is wrong. A title that comes right before a name takes no comma. You write Coach Rivera with no comma. In the same way, “Boston University student” is a title for Zach Prescott.
- C is wrong. The comma before “breaking” sets off the part about the record. Without it, the lacrosse balls seem to break the record, not Zach.
- D is right. It adds the comma that sets off the appositive.
Watch out: B is tempting, because “student” does describe Zach. But a title placed right before a name stays joined to it.
Choose the answer
With the new comma, the end reads: breaking the 32-year-old world record in joggling, a sport that combines jogging and juggling. So the answer is D: insert a comma after joggling.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. It puts one comma between a title and a name. That comma would cut “Boston University student” off from “Zach Prescott.” D fixes a real gap. It puts a comma before “a sport that combines jogging and juggling,” the words that tell what joggling is.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 1 as printed on page 36 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 36, question 1. Open page 36 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 44 of 70

2023 Test A English, question 3

Question

How should this sentence be revised?

To promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team on Wednesday.

ATo promote their club, on Wednesday a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
BOn Wednesday, to promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
CTo promote their club, members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale on Wednesday.
DMembers of the debate team, on Wednesday to promote their club, will sponsor a bake sale.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the correct revision of the sentence in the box.

A. Incorrect. The revisions do not fix the error that “to promote their club” modifies “a bake sale.”

B. Incorrect. The revisions do not fix the error that “to promote their club” modifies “a bake sale.”

C. CORRECT. The revision is correct because it includes the phrase “to promote their club” clearly modifying “members of the debate team.”

D. Incorrect. While the revision clarifies that “to promote their club” relates to the “members of the debate team,” the rest of the sentence is poorly written because the insertion of “on Wednesday to promote their club” in the middle of the sentence interrupts the main clause, “Members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale.”

Question analysis

This sentence-structure question gives one sentence about a debate team’s bake sale, planned for Wednesday to promote their club, and asks how it should be revised. The four rewrites shuffle the same three phrases into different orders, so students must check which word each phrase modifies and whether the whole sentence still reads naturally.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Placing a phrase so that it describes the right word is part of the grade 7 language standards, and this one-sentence item is a classic case. Choosing the rewrite that is both logical and smooth is typical grade 7 editing.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Every choice must be checked minor
A very close wrong answer minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 7, 92 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 sentence makes sense on a first reading, which is exactly why its error slips past students who edit by ear. Asking who is promoting the club exposes it and removes both rewrites that keep the bake sale as the subject, however neatly they are punctuated. What is left is a judgment of style, and the smoother rewrite keeps the subject and verb together instead of interrupting them with two phrases.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
“To promote their club” has to describe whatever comes right after its comma, and that is “a bake sale”; the meaning is so plain that few students notice the sale doing the promoting. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The original is passive, “a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team,” which places the people who act after the verb, far from the phrase that should describe them. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
Each rewrite rearranges the opening phrase, the time phrase and the main clause, so each has to be read through to see what follows “To promote their club” and whether anything splits a subject from its verb. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer
Two rewrites make the team members the subject of “will sponsor” with identical words; they part only on where the two phrases go, at the edges of the sentence or wedged between subject and verb. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Ask who is really doing the promoting, then read each rewrite aloud in full, checking which words follow the opening phrase and whether the sentence reads smoothly from start to finish.

Traps

Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.

The wrong answers, classified

A Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Moves “on Wednesday” ahead of the bake sale as if the time phrase were the misplaced part, but the sentence stays passive and the sale is still what “To promote their club” describes.
B Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Is drawn by the tidy commas around both fronted phrases, yet “a bake sale” still comes straight after them, so the sale remains the thing promoting the club.
D Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Rightly makes “Members of the debate team” the subject but parks “on Wednesday to promote their club” between it and “will sponsor,” a clumsy break the smoother rewrite avoids.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
You need the best way to rewrite the sentence. This is about a modifier. A modifier is a group of words that describes something else in the sentence. Here the opening words, “To promote their club,” are the modifier. Your job is to check what they describe.
Learn the rule for opening phrases
A sentence may start with a describing phrase and a comma. Then the phrase describes whatever comes right after the comma. So the one doing the action should come next.
Wrong: To get good seats, the line was joined early by Ana. A line can’t want good seats.
Right: To get good seats, Ana joined the line early.
Find the problem in the sentence
To promote a club means to get people interested in it. In the sentence, the words right after the comma are “a bake sale.” So the sentence seems to say the bake sale is promoting the club. But a bake sale doesn’t have a club. The club belongs to the “members of the debate team.” They should come right after the comma, and they should do the action: they “will sponsor a bake sale.”
Check each choice
- A is wrong. It moves “on Wednesday” forward. But the bake sale is still what the opening phrase describes.
- B is wrong. It puts “On Wednesday,” at the front. The commas look neat, but “a bake sale” still follows “to promote their club.”
- C is right. “Members of the debate team” comes right after the comma. They are the ones promoting their club.
- D is wrong. The members come first. But “on Wednesday to promote their club” is stuck between the subject (who does the action) and the verb (the action word).
Watch out: D is tempting, since the members do the promoting. But its long middle part breaks up the main idea.
Choose the answer
C fixes the modifier and reads smoothly: To promote their club, members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale on Wednesday. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Like C, it makes the members the ones who promote the club. But D pushes a long phrase between “Members of the debate team” and “will sponsor.” C keeps the subject and the verb side by side, so it is easier to read.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 45 of 70

2023 Test B English, question 1

Question

Which revision should be made to correct the sentence?

To surprise her dad for his birthday on Friday, Yolanda ordered tempting savory sandwiches from a deli in her neighborhood, prepared his favorite chocolate cake, and invited his best friends over for the evening.

ADelete the comma after Friday.
BInsert a comma after tempting.
CInsert a comma after deli.
DDelete the comma after neighborhood.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which edit should be made to correct the sentence.

A. Incorrect. A comma is needed to separate the introductory infinitive phrase “to surprise her dad for his birthday on Friday,” which modifies Yolanda’s action, from the remainder of the sentence.

B. CORRECT. A comma is needed between two adjectives of equal importance preceding a noun. In this case, the adjectives “tempting” and “savory” are of equal importance, modifying the noun “sandwiches.” Their equal importance can be determined by inserting the word “and” between them (“tempting and savory sandwiches”).

C. Incorrect. This edit would introduce an error into the sentence by needlessly breaking up the two prepositional phrases “from a deli” and “in her neighborhood” with a comma. No comma is needed when prepositional phrases are joined together in this way to indicate a singular idea. In this sentence, these two phrases work together to show where the sandwiches are from.

D. Incorrect. Deleting this comma would introduce an error into the sentence. A comma is needed to separate the first and second items in the series of three actions Yolanda undertook: “ordered tempting savory sandwiches from a deli in her neighborhood,” “prepared his favorite chocolate cake,” and “invited his best friends over for the evening.”

Question analysis

This punctuation question gives one long sentence about Yolanda’s birthday surprise for her dad, with sandwiches from a neighborhood deli, his favorite chocolate cake and his best friends invited over, and asks which comma revision corrects it. Two choices delete a comma and two insert one, so students must decide what each comma does, or would do, in the sentence.

NYS standards: 7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Comma rules are taught across grades 6 and 7, and one sentence with four marked spots is a typical grade 7 editing task. The sentence reads smoothly as printed, so the needed change has to be found by rule rather than by ear.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 1, recall and reproduction · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 8, 63 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

Every marked spot but one already follows a rule, and the sentence reads smoothly as printed, so students who edit by ear go hunting for a pause to add or a comma to remove. The strongest pull inserts a comma between “from a deli” and “in her neighborhood,” two phrases that work as one, and another deletes the series comma because it sits right before a verb. Testing the two adjectives with “and” settles the question in seconds.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
“Tempting savory sandwiches” sounds complete without a comma, so the error is invisible to the ear; only putting “and” between the two adjectives, or swapping them, shows that they are coordinate and need one. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 34-word sentence opens with a nine-word infinitive phrase and then lists three actions, the first running ten words to “neighborhood,” so each marked comma must be judged against where these parts begin and end. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Take the four marked spots one at a time and name the comma rule that applies there; change only the spot where the sentence breaks a rule, not one that already follows it.

Traps

Punctuation: A comma, semicolon, colon, dash or apostrophe used where it does not belong, or missing where it does.

The wrong answers, classified

A Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Treats the comma after “Friday” as an interruption, though the nine-word opening phrase “To surprise her dad for his birthday on Friday” has to be set off from “Yolanda.”
C Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Treats “in her neighborhood” as extra information to set off, but the phrase identifies the deli and works with “from a deli” as one unit, so no comma goes between them.
D Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Stretches the rule against separating a subject from its verb to the comma before “prepared,” though that comma ends the first of Yolanda’s three actions in a series.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a punctuation question. The sentence has four underlined spots. Two choices take a comma away, and two add one. Only one change fixes a real mistake. So go spot by spot. Ask what job a comma does there, or would do.
Learn the rule for paired describing words
An adjective is a describing word, like red or soft. Sometimes two adjectives describe the same noun (a naming word) equally. Then a comma goes between them. Here is a test: put and between the two words. If it still sounds right, use a comma.
Example: a long, boring movie. You could say a long and boring movie, so the comma belongs.
Find the spot that breaks the rule
Look at “tempting savory sandwiches.” Tempting means making you want it. Savory means salty or spicy, not sweet. Both words describe the sandwiches. Try the test: tempting and savory sandwiches. That sounds fine. You could even swap them: savory, tempting sandwiches. So a comma is missing. The sentence should say tempting, savory sandwiches.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The sentence opens with a long phrase: “To surprise her dad for his birthday on Friday.” A comma must separate it from the main part, “Yolanda ordered.” So that comma stays.
- B is right. It adds the missing comma between the two adjectives.
- C is wrong. The words “in her neighborhood” tell which deli. They work as a team with “from a deli,” so no comma goes between them.
- D is wrong. Yolanda does three things: she ordered sandwiches, made a cake and invited friends. The comma after neighborhood ends the first item in that list. It must stay.
Watch out: C is tempting because a pause after deli may sound natural. But a pause is not a rule, and no rule puts a comma there.
Choose the answer
With the fix, Yolanda orders tempting, savory sandwiches, and every other comma stays as it is. So the answer is B: insert a comma after tempting.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. It adds a comma too, but it splits two phrases that together tell where the deli is. B adds a comma where a rule needs one. The and test proves it: “tempting” and “savory” each describe the sandwiches in the same way.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 1 as printed on page 152 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 152, question 1. Open page 152 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 46 of 70

2023 Test B English, question 32

Passage Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”

by Orville Wright

In 1903 brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright conducted experiments related to flying machines. These experiments would eventually lead to air travel becoming a reliable form of transportation.

Final Preparations

Audacity—and Calculation

Flight

From “How We Made the First Flight” by Orville Wright—Public Domain/Federal Aviation Administration

¹Life Saving Station: one of the rescue stations along the Atlantic coastline that provided assistance to mariners in distress

²carbide: a very hard material composed of carbon and other heavy metals

³Kill Devil: the town of Kill Devil Hills in eastern North Carolina

⁴Nags Head: a town in eastern North Carolina

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.

A sudden dart when a little over a hundred feet from the end of the track, or a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air, ended the flight.

How does the sentence contribute to the paragraph?

AIt details the need for the pilot to have quick reflexes while flying the machine.
BIt presents the idea that the difficulty of operating the machine shortened the flight.
CIt describes the shift in wind speed that made flying nearly impossible.
DIt provides an overview of the flight’s progression from takeoff to landing.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the sentence contributes to paragraph 5.

A. Incorrect. The sentence focuses on the “sudden dart” of the plane, which ended the flight. According to the paragraph, this sudden dart was caused by the difficulty of controlling the front rudder “on account of its being balanced too near the center.” The sentence does not detail the need for the pilot to have quick reflexes.

B. CORRECT. The sentence presents the idea that the difficulty of operating the machine brought the flight to a quicker end than it might otherwise have had. According to paragraph 5, “control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center. This gave it a tendency to turn itself when started.” These sentences show that one such “dart” shortened the flight.

C. Incorrect. Although it describes the abrupt end of the flight, the sentence does not describe the shift in wind speed. The word “dart” refers instead to a change in the height, or altitude, of the machine.

D. Incorrect. Although it includes the detail that the flight ended “a little over 120 feet from the point at which it rose into the air,” the sentence does not provide an overview of the entire flight’s progression. The sentence from paragraph 5 omits the flight’s takeoff and only describes its rather abrupt ending.

Question analysis

This question on “How We Made the First Flight,” Orville Wright’s account of the first airplane flight in 1903, quotes the sentence from paragraph 5 reporting that a sudden dart ended the flight a little over 120 feet from where the machine rose into the air. Students must decide what the sentence contributes to the paragraph, which also traces the machine’s erratic course and its speed against the wind.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining what one sentence adds to its paragraph is regular grade 7 work. This sentence is long, measured in feet and written in early twentieth-century prose, and its role becomes clear only within the paragraph, which keeps the task typical but careful.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: How, not what moderate
Complex sentences minor
Reading between the lines minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 100 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

Read alone, the sentence is just a report of where the flight stopped, so its contribution has to come from the paragraph around it. The two distances, from the end of the track and from the point of liftoff, make it look like a start-to-finish summary, which is the strongest pull. Students who reread the sentences about the badly balanced rudder see that the dart ending the flight was one of those control problems, so the sentence shows the flight cut short by them.

How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks what the sentence does in paragraph 5, and its role shows only beside the sentences before it: the rudder balanced “too near the center,” its tendency to turn itself, and the darts toward the ground. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The sentence’s subject, “A sudden dart,” and its verb, “ended,” are 29 words apart, separated by two distance phrases joined by “or,” so a reader can lose sight of the main statement. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines minor Working it out
The sentence names no cause; students must infer from “As a result the machine would rise suddenly … and then as suddenly dart for the ground” that this dart came from the hard-to-control rudder. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread the sentences on either side of the quoted one, say in your own words what this sentence adds to them, and reject any choice that claims details the sentence does not contain.

Traps

Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
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 Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reasons from the erratic course and the “lack of experience” that piloting needed quick reflexes, but the sentence reports only how the flight ended and says nothing about the pilot’s reactions.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Connects the dart with the “irregularity of the air” and the wind figures that follow, but the dart was the machine diving toward the ground, and the sentence mentions no wind.
D Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Sees the end of the track and the point of liftoff named in the sentence and takes it for an overview of the whole flight, though both serve only to locate where it ended.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what one sentence does for its paragraph. The sentence says a “sudden dart” ended the flight. To see its job, read the sentences just before it.
Read the sentences before it
Paragraph 5 explains why the flight was hard to control. “The control of the front rudder was difficult on account of its being balanced too near the center.” A rudder is a flat part that swings to steer. Because it was badly balanced, it turned too far one way, then too far the other. “As a result the machine would rise suddenly to about ten feet, and then as suddenly dart for the ground.”
Work out what the sentence adds
Here, a dart is a quick dive toward the ground. The sentence says one of these dives, a little over 120 feet from where the machine took off, “ended the flight.” So the dart was not just bad luck. It came from the steering problem just described. The sentence shows the result: the hard-to-control machine cut its own flight short.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Reflexes are quick, automatic reactions. The sentence never mentions the pilot or how fast he reacts.
- B is right. The dart came from the hard steering, and it ended the flight early.
- C is wrong. The sentence says nothing about wind. The dart was the machine diving, not the wind changing.
- D is wrong. The sentence tells only how the flight ended. The two distances just show where it stopped.
Watch out: D is tempting because the sentence names both the end of the track and the point where the machine “rose into the air.” But those places only measure where the flight ended.
Choose the answer
The sentence shows that the machine’s steering problem brought the flight to a quick end. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, since the sentence gives two distances that seem to cover the whole flight. But it skips the takeoff and the time in the air. B explains why the sentence matters in paragraph 5: it shows the result of the hard-to-control rudder.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 32 as printed on page 173 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 173, question 32. Open page 173 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight”” as printed (pages 13–14)

Question 47 of 70

2023 Test B English, question 33

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How We Made the First Flight””.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.

This flight lasted only 12 seconds, but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in full flight, had sailed forward without reduction of speed and had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.

The words “only,” “nevertheless,” and “finally” most clearly convey the idea that

Aeven a flight of such minor duration had taken a long time to achieve.
Bthe short flight gave the Wright brothers hope for longer ones in the future.
Cthe flight proved that the machine was, at last, capable of becoming airborne.
Dalthough it was brief, the flight was a remarkable accomplishment.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what idea is most clearly conveyed by the words “only,” “nevertheless,” and “finally” in the sentence from paragraph 5.

A. Incorrect. Although the duration of the flight was short and a successful flight had taken a long time to achieve, the words in the sentence from paragraph 5 are used to emphasize the remarkable nature of the flight, not the length of time it had taken the Wright brothers to be successful.

B. Incorrect. While it is easy to imagine that the Wright brothers had hope for longer flights, the words in the sentence from paragraph 5 do not relate directly to this sentiment; instead, they describe the groundbreaking success of their flight.

C. Incorrect. While the capabilities of the aircraft were demonstrated during the flight, the words in the sentence from paragraph 5 apply not only to the machine but also to the efforts of the people who designed it, built it, and actually made it fly.

D. CORRECT. The words in the sentence from paragraph 5 suggest that, though the first flight may not have lasted very long or taken the pilot very far, the Wright brothers accomplished something no one had been able to do before: successfully pilot an airplane in flight.

Question analysis

This word-choice question quotes the 60-word closing sentence of Orville Wright’s account of the first airplane flight, the sentence that begins by saying the flight lasted only 12 seconds. Students must decide what idea the words “only,” “nevertheless” and “finally,” spread across the sentence, most clearly convey, and the choices offer four readings of the flight’s significance.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L4a context clues
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Explaining how word choice shapes meaning is grade 7 work, and these three words are familiar. The demand comes from the 60-word, old-fashioned sentence around them and from reading each word as it is used here, a typical grade 7 challenge.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: A very close wrong answer moderate
Reading between the lines minor
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 127 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

“Only” and “nevertheless” work as a pair, a concession followed by a claim of importance, and seeing that pair is most of the question. The trap is “finally,” which most students know as “at last,” a sense that suggests years of trying or a machine that at last left the ground. Here it simply means the flight ended with a level landing, so the choices built on the everyday meaning fall away for students who read it in its place.

A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The “minor duration” choice and the right one both open by granting that the flight was brief; they part on the second half, a long road to success or a remarkable accomplishment. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Reading between the lines minor Working it out
“Finally” here marks the last stage of the flight, the landing “at a point as high as that from which it started,” and students must infer that from its place after “raised itself” and “sailed forward.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The 60-word sentence places “only” fourth, “nevertheless” tenth and “finally” 48th, inside a chain of three “had” clauses, so the three words must be gathered from across it before their combined idea appears. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read the sentence with each of the three words left out in turn and notice what changes; then choose the idea the three create together, not one that a single word suggests alone.

Traps

Dictionary meaning, not meaning here: A common meaning of the word that does not fit its use in this text.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads “only” correctly as stressing the short flight but takes “finally” as “after a long wait,” so it concludes that even 12 seconds in the air took a long time to achieve.
B Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Supplies a natural next chapter, the brothers hoping for longer flights, which is easy to imagine, but none of the three words looks beyond this flight to future ones.
C Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Matches “finally” with “at last” and fixes on the machine leaving the ground, ignoring how “only” and “nevertheless” set the flight’s brevity against its importance.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
Here the question is about the author’s word choice. Three words, “only,” “nevertheless” and “finally,” are spread across one long sentence. You need the idea they create together. Look at what each word means right where it sits.
Look at only and nevertheless
The sentence begins, “This flight lasted only 12 seconds.” The word “only” stresses how short that is. Next comes “but it was nevertheless the first in the history of the world.” Nevertheless means even so, or in spite of that. Together these two words say: yes, it was short, but it still mattered greatly.
Look at finally
The sentence lists three things the machine did. It “had raised itself by its own power into the air,” then “had sailed forward without reduction of speed.” Last, it “had finally landed at a point as high as that from which it started.” Here, finally means as the last step. It does not mean after a long wait. It shows the flight was complete from start to finish.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. It reads “finally” as meaning after years of trying. The sentence says nothing about how long the brothers worked.
- B is wrong. None of the three words looks ahead to future flights.
- C is wrong. It leans on one word, “finally.” It skips how “only” and “nevertheless” work as a pair.
- D is right. Brief matches “only.” Remarkable, or amazing, matches “nevertheless the first in the history of the world.”
Watch out: A is tempting because most people know finally as “at last.” Always check what a word means in its own sentence.
Choose the answer
Together the three words say the flight was short but still a historic first. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like D, it starts by saying the flight was brief. But A then claims the flight took a long time to achieve, which needs “finally” to mean “at last.” Here it marks the landing, the last step. D keeps the real idea: short, yet a world first.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 33 as printed on page 174 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 174, question 33. Open page 174 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 48 of 70

2023 Test B Math, question 45

Question

The Barnes family and the Ramirez family each have a pizza of equal size. The first pizza is cut into 18 equal slices, and the second pizza is cut into 15 equal slices. If the Barnes family eats 11 slices from the first pizza, what is the greatest number of whole slices from the second pizza that the Ramirez family can eat without eating a greater percentage of a pizza than the Barnes family ate?

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The fraction of the pizza that the Barnes family eats is $\frac{11}{18}$ . Let x represent the number of slices of pizza that the Ramirez family eats. Then the fraction of the pizza that the Ramirez family eats is $\frac{x}{15}$ . Write an inequality and solve for x:

$\frac{x}{15}\leq\frac{11}{18}$

$x\leq\frac{11\times 15}{18}$

$x\leq\frac{165}{18}$

$x\leq 9\frac{1}{6}$

So, the greatest number of whole slices of pizza the Ramirez family can eat is 9.

Question analysis

Two pizzas of the same size are cut into 18 and 15 equal slices, and one family eats 11 slices of the first. Students find the most whole slices of the second pizza the other family can eat without eating a larger share. It tests comparing fractions with different denominators and rounding to a whole number in the right direction.

NYS standards: 7.EE.4b two-step inequalities
6.RP.3 ratio and rate reasoning
Grade level: Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 inequality problems usually ask for the greatest whole number that fits a budget. This one wraps that idea in a long stem about shares of two pizzas sliced differently, with several conditions to keep straight at once.
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: Complex sentences moderate
Turning words into math moderate
Error-prone arithmetic minor
Solution: 3 steps
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 11, 72 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 math is one inequality between fractions, but the long final sentence hides it, so students who skim fall back on comparing slice counts. Reasoning that the second pizza has 3 fewer slices, so the Ramirez family should eat 3 fewer, is the strongest pull. Comparing 11/18 with x/15, or turning 11/18 into about 61% and taking 61% of 15, keeps the comparison about shares of a pizza.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The question is one 42-word sentence ending in a nested condition, “without eating a greater percentage of a pizza than the Barnes family ate”, a reading hurdle rather than more math. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question
The limit of no “greater percentage of a pizza” must become the inequality x/15 ≤ 11/18, comparing fractions of two pizzas cut into different numbers of slices, not slice counts. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)
Error-prone arithmetic minor Working it out
Solving gives x ≤ 11 × 15 ÷ 18 = 165/18, a division by 18 that leaves 9 1/6, which must then be cut back to whole slices. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

Strategy: Write the Barnes family's share as a fraction of their pizza, then find the largest whole number of fifteenths that does not exceed it, by cross-multiplying or by converting to decimals.

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.
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.

The wrong answers, classified

A Answers a different question (King et al., 2004; Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals a slip Expected pull: weak
Finds that 9 slices is the limit but gives the slices left on the second pizza, 15 − 9 = 6, answering a different question.
B Numbers taken from the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Subtracts the stem’s numbers, 18 − 11 = 7, the slices left on the Barnes family’s pizza, without comparing shares of the two pizzas.
C Misunderstands the concept (Smith, diSessa & Roschelle, 1993; De Bock et al., 1998; Ni & Zhou, 2005)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Reasons that the second pizza has 3 fewer slices, so the Ramirez family should eat 3 fewer, 11 − 3 = 8, comparing by subtraction instead of by fractions.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Fraction of a pizza: $\text{fraction eaten} = \frac{\text{slices eaten}}{\text{slices in the pizza}}$; The top counts the slices eaten. The bottom counts all the equal slices the pizza was cut into. The fraction tells how much of the whole pizza was eaten. Use fractions to compare pizzas cut into different numbers of slices.

Sort out the question
The two pizzas are the same size. The Barnes pizza has 18 slices, and they eat 11. The Ramirez pizza has 15 slices, so its slices are bigger. You need the most whole slices the Ramirez family can eat without eating a bigger share of their pizza.
Find the Barnes family’s share
Their share is the slices they ate out of all the slices in their pizza. Use the fraction formula.
$\text{fraction eaten} = \frac{11}{18}$
The Barnes family ate $\frac{11}{18}$ of their pizza.
Write an inequality
Let x be the number of Ramirez slices. Their share is $\frac{x}{15}$ . It must be no more than the Barnes share. The sign ≤ means less than or equal to.
$\frac{x}{15} \leq \frac{11}{18}$
Solve for x
Multiply both sides by 15 to get x by itself.
$x \leq \frac{11 \times 15}{18} = \frac{165}{18}$
Now divide. 18 goes into 165 nine times, since 18 × 9 = 162. There are 3 left over.
$x \leq 9\frac{3}{18} = 9\frac{1}{6}$
Pick the whole number
x must be a whole number no bigger than $9\frac{1}{6}$ . So the most is 9 slices. 10 slices would be too many.
Watch out: The Ramirez pizza has 3 fewer slices, but that does not mean they eat 3 fewer. Their slices are bigger. Eating 11 − 3 = 8 slices is choice C, which is not the most they can eat.
So the answer is D, 9.

Check your answer

Use decimals. The Barnes share is $11 \div 18 \approx 0.611$ . Nine Ramirez slices are $9 \div 15 = 0.6$ , just under it. Ten slices are $10 \div 15 \approx 0.667$ , too much. So 9 is the most.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 102 as printed on page 204 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 204, question 102. Open page 204 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 49 of 70

2018 Test A English, question 3

Question

Read this paragraph.

(1) Walking dogs, cleaning kennels, hand-feeding newborn kittens, and supporting the pet-adoption process, the animal shelter is looking for volunteers to help with a variety of tasks. (2) Working at the animal shelter is a great way for young people, especially those who aspire to care for and protect animals, to gain valuable work experience. (3) In addition to hands-on training with animal care, volunteers will learn important job skills, such as punctuality, responsibility, and personal initiative. (4) Caring for animals can also help volunteers develop empathy, which is the awareness and understanding of the feelings of others.

Which sentence contains an error in its construction and should be revised?

Asentence 1
Bsentence 2
Csentence 3
Dsentence 4

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The answer is (A)

The question asks for the identification of the sentence in the paragraph that has an error in its construction and should be revised.

Option A (sentence 1) is the correct response because sentence 1 contains a structural error. The sentence begins with a list of modifying phrases: “Walking dogs, cleaning kennels, hand-feeding newborn kittens, and supporting the pet-adoption process.” As written, this list modifies the closest noun phrase, “the animal shelter,” which is illogical because the list describes tasks at the animal shelter, not the shelter itself. The list should follow the word “tasks” at the end of the sentence, so that it is closer to the word that it modifies.

Option B, Option C, and Option D are incorrect responses because sentence 2, sentence 3, and sentence 4 do not contain structural errors.

For Option B, the phrase “especially those who aspire to care for and protect animals” in sentence 2 correctly modifies “young people.”

For Option C, the structure of sentence 3 allows the words “In addition to hands-on training with animal care” to correctly modify “volunteers will learn.”

For Option D, the phrase “which is the awareness and understanding of the feelings of others” in sentence 4 correctly modifies the word “empathy.”

Question analysis

This editing question gives a paragraph inviting young people to volunteer at an animal shelter and asks which sentence is built incorrectly and should be revised. The error is in sentence structure, not spelling or punctuation, and every sentence contains long descriptive phrases, so students must check what each phrase actually describes.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Spotting a misplaced or dangling modifier is the grade 7 grammar skill tested here. The faulty sentence reads smoothly and the correct sentences also hold long modifying phrases, so it matches a careful grade 7 editing task.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong major
Every choice must be checked moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 10, 113 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 faulty sentence is the first one and the smoothest-sounding, because the mind supplies the missing volunteers who walk the dogs. Students who judge by ear pass over it and then flag a correct sentence that merely sounds busy. The question rewards asking, for every opening phrase, which noun it actually attaches to.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong major Working it out
Sentence 1's opening list, “Walking dogs, cleaning kennels, hand-feeding newborn kittens”, grammatically describes “the animal shelter”, an error that sounds natural because readers know volunteers will do those tasks. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer
The stem names no kind of error, so all four sentences must be checked, and sentences 2, 3 and 4 each contain a long phrase that could look misplaced. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Every sentence carries a lengthy modifier, from the interrupting “especially those who aspire to care for and protect animals” to the closing definition of empathy, so the faulty one does not stand out. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: In each sentence, find every descriptive phrase and ask which noun sits next to it. Any phrase placed beside a noun it cannot logically describe marks the sentence to revise.

The wrong answers, classified

B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Flags the interruption “especially those who aspire to care for and protect animals” as an error, though it correctly describes “young people” and the sentence is complete.
C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Suspects the opening phrase “In addition to hands-on training with animal care” dangles like sentence 1's, but it leads straight into “volunteers”, who receive the training.
D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Picks the “which is the awareness and understanding of the feelings of others” clause as misplaced, though it sits right after “empathy”, the word it defines.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks which sentence is built wrong. The words may be fine, but the parts are in the wrong order or don’t fit together. The question doesn’t say what kind of error to look for. So you need to check all four sentences.
Learn the rule about describing phrases
A modifier is a word or phrase that describes something. It must sit right next to the thing it describes. If it sits next to the wrong word, the sentence says something silly. Example: Barking loudly, the mail carrier ran from the dog. This says the mail carrier was barking! Fix: The mail carrier ran from the dog, which was barking loudly.
Test sentence 1
Sentence 1 begins with a list: “Walking dogs, cleaning kennels, hand-feeding newborn kittens, and supporting the pet-adoption process.” Right after the comma comes “the animal shelter.” So the sentence says the shelter is walking dogs and feeding kittens. A shelter is a place. It can’t do those things. The list really describes the “tasks” at the end of the sentence. One fix moves the list after that word: …volunteers to help with a variety of tasks, such as walking dogs, cleaning kennels…
Test sentences 2, 3, and 4
- Sentence 2: “especially those who aspire to care for and protect animals” comes right after “young people.” It describes them, so it is in the right place. (To aspire means to hope or aim.)
- Sentence 3: “In addition to hands-on training with animal care” leads straight into “volunteers.” The volunteers get the training, so it fits.
- Sentence 4: “which is the awareness and understanding of the feelings of others” comes right after “empathy.” It explains that word, so it fits.
Watch out: Sentence 3 also starts with a phrase and a comma, so choice C can look like sentence 1. Ask who gets the training. The volunteers do.
Pick the answer
Only sentence 1 puts a describing phrase next to the wrong noun. So the answer is A, sentence 1.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

Sentence 3 is the closest trap, because it also opens with a phrase and a comma. But the word after its comma is “volunteers,” and the volunteers really do get the training. In sentence 1, the words after the comma are “the animal shelter,” and a shelter can’t walk dogs.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 3 as printed on page 47 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 47, question 3. Open page 47 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 50 of 70

2018 Test A English, question 16

Passage Champion of the Channel

Champion of the Channel

SOLO SWIMS ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

Earliest Speed Records
Year	Swimmer	Time
1875	Matthew Webb (M)	21 hours, 45 minutes
1923	Enrico Tiraboschi (M)	16 hours, 33 minutes
1926	Gertrude Ederle (F)	14 hours, 31 minutes
1926	Arnst Vierkotter (M)	12 hours, 38 minutes
Current Speed Records
Year	Swimmer	Time
2012	Trent Grimsey (M)	6 hours, 55 minutes
2006	Yvetta Hlavacova (F)	7 hours, 25 minutes

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 1.

What does the editor’s comment reveal about the challenges Ederle faced in attempting her feat?

ARegardless of her ability, being an American put Ederle at a serious disadvantage over a Londoner, who would be more familiar with the English Channel.
BAt the time, Ederle still needed more training in order to succeed in the daunting task of swimming the English Channel.
CWhile Ederle could participate in athletic competition, some people were not comfortable with her attempt to swim the channel because no woman had ever attempted it before.
DIn spite of her previous achievements, Ederle still experienced social as well as physical obstacles in attempting to swim the channel.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

This is the answer (D)

The question asks what the sentence reveals about Ederle’s challenges leading up to her attempt to swim across the channel.

Option D is correct because the sentence implies a lack of social support since many people believed that a woman, no matter how skilled a swimmer, did not have the strength to overcome the physical challenges that the dangerous channel waters presented (paragraph 1: “He claimed that ‘even the most uncompromising champion of the rights and capacities of women must admit that in contests of physical skill, speed and endurance they must remain forever the weaker sex.’”).

Option A is incorrect because the idea that Ederle was at a disadvantage because she was American rather than English, and thus less familiar with the channel, was not the basis for the newspaper editor’s prediction about the outcome of her swim.

Option B is incorrect because the passage establishes that Ederle was a highly accomplished swimmer who had won major world competitions (paragraph 1: “. . . Gertrude Ederle, an American swimmer with eighteen world records and three Olympic medals . . .”).

Option C is incorrect; the newspaper editor’s point was that it would be impossible for Ederle to complete the swim because she was a woman, not because people were uncomfortable with the idea since no woman had attempted it before.

Question analysis

This reading question quotes a 1926 newspaper editor's prediction that swimmer Gertrude Ederle would fail to cross the English Channel and asks what it reveals about the challenges she faced. Students must infer what lay behind the editor's prediction, and one tempting choice gets the attitude partly right but the reason wrong.

NYS standards: 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Inferring what a quoted opinion reveals is standard grade 7 work. The demand is typical, though the editor's full reasoning, with words like uncompromising, comes in the sentence after the one quoted in the question.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
What makes it hard: Reading between the lines moderate
A very close wrong answer moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 148 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 quoted sentence on its own suggests only that someone doubted Ederle, so students who stay inside it guess at why. Those who read the editor's next sentence find the reason, his belief that women are the weaker sex, and can see social prejudice as an obstacle. The near miss gets the prejudice right but invents its cause, and the right answer adds the physical challenge that the second paragraph details.

Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
The quoted sentence gives only a prediction; its reason, women as “the weaker sex”, comes in the next sentence and must be read as a social obstacle alongside the channel's physical ones. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The right choice and the one about people being uncomfortable both find a social obstacle in spite of her ability, and they part only on its cause: the editor's view of women, or no woman having tried. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The editor's claim is one long, formal sentence beginning “even the most uncompromising champion of the rights and capacities of women”, with its point delayed to the end. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read the editor's full claim in the sentence that follows, then ask what his reasoning was based on and what it suggests about the challenges she faced.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Reads a London editor doubting an American as national rivalry and local knowledge of the channel, a plausible guess that the editor's own words about women rule out.
B Word match (Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Borrows “daunting task” from paragraph 2 and assumes a predicted failure means too little training, despite the eighteen world records and three Olympic medals in the same sentence.
C Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly senses social doubt but gives the wrong reason: the editor says women are weaker, and women, including Ederle in 1925, had already attempted the crossing.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
The editor predicted that Ederle would fail. You need to work out what his prediction shows about the challenges she faced. This is an inference: a smart guess based on clues in the text.
Read the editor’s reason
The very next sentence gives his reason. He said that “even the most uncompromising champion of the rights and capacities of women must admit that in contests of physical skill, speed and endurance they must remain forever the weaker sex.”
Put his words in plain English
A champion here means a supporter of a cause. Uncompromising means not giving in at all. Capacities means abilities. So he said: even the strongest supporter of women must admit that women will always be weaker in sports. He expected her to fail just because she was a woman.
See the two kinds of challenge
The editor ignored her skill. She had “eighteen world records and three Olympic medals.” So she faced a social obstacle, one that comes from what other people think. People doubted her because she was a woman. She also faced physical obstacles. Paragraph 2 describes the icy water, the tides, and the jellyfish.
Check each choice
- D: in spite of her past wins, she faced “social as well as physical obstacles.” This matches.
- A: the editor never mentions her being American or knowing the channel.
- B: her records show she was well trained. Training was not the editor’s reason.
- C: people did doubt her, but not because no woman had tried. Ederle herself had tried in 1925 (paragraph 3).
Watch out: C spots the social problem but gives the wrong reason for it.
Pick the answer
The editor’s view of women was a social obstacle, added to the hard swim itself. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, since it also points to a social problem. But the editor’s reason was that women are “the weaker sex,” not that no woman had tried. In fact, Ederle tried in 1925. D names the real social obstacle and the physical ones too.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 16 as printed on page 57 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 57, question 16. Open page 57 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Champion of the Channel” as printed (pages 56–57)

Question 51 of 70

2018 Test A English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “Champion of the Channel”.

Question

In paragraph 4, the word “insurmountable” is used to highlight

Ahow the bathing suit made it impossible for Ederle to make it across the channel.
Bhow Ederle and her sister decided to improve Ederle’s swimming equipment in a creative way.
Cthat the flaws in Ederle’s bathing suit made a difficult task even more complicated.
Dthat the swimming equipment Ederle used needed to be custom made for her attempt.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The answer is (C)

The question asks about the effect of the word “insurmountable,” which means “incapable of being overcome,” in paragraph 4.

Option C is correct because the suit Ederle wore during her first attempt to swim the channel “stretched out, filling with water and creating drag” (paragraph 4), which likely contributed to her failed attempt to swim across the channel.

Option A is incorrect; Ederle did not complete her first swim because she became ill (paragraph 3: “Just six miles short of finishing, she became ill, and her coach had to haul her out of the water.”), not because the suit made it impossible for Ederle to complete her swim.

Option B is incorrect because the author uses the word “insurmountable” to draw attention to the increased difficulty caused by the swimsuit, not to draw attention to the sisters’ creativity in solving the problem.

Option D is incorrect because the passage does not address whether the original swimsuit was custom made, simply that the swimsuit created additional difficulties for Ederle in a situation that was already difficult.

Question analysis

This vocabulary-in-context question asks what the author highlights by using the word insurmountable in a passage about Gertrude Ederle's English Channel swim. Students must read the word as it is used in its sentence about her first swimsuit and decide what point it stresses, which takes close attention to the surrounding words.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L4a context clues
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Working out the effect of a difficult word from its context is standard grade 7 work. The word is advanced, but the sentence around it explains the situation clearly, so the overall demand is typical.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Hard words moderate
Complex sentences moderate
A very close wrong answer moderate
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 67 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

Knowing what insurmountable means is necessary but not sufficient, because the phrase is “almost insurmountable” and the point is how much harder the old suit made a hard swim. The commonest error takes the word at full strength and blames the suit for a failure that paragraph 3 attributes to illness. Choices about the sisters' fix describe the paragraph's next move rather than what this word stresses.

Hard words moderate Understanding the question
The question turns on “insurmountable”, impossible to overcome, and on the “almost” in front of it, which turns impossible into extremely hard. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The word ends a 38-word sentence whose “that” clause is interrupted by “after the lengthy hours of swimming across the channel”, so its link to the swimsuit is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The right choice and the one saying the suit made crossing impossible make the same point about the old suit and differ only in degree, which turns on the word “almost”. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Read the whole sentence containing the word, along with the sentences around it, then ask what point about the old swimsuit the author is stressing.

Traps

Dictionary meaning, not meaning here: A common meaning of the word that does not fit its use in this text.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.

The wrong answers, classified

A Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Applies the word's full sense, impossible to overcome, and ignores “almost”; the suit made the swim harder, and paragraph 3 says illness ended the first attempt.
B Wrong purpose or structure (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Answers with the paragraph's main point, the sisters' creative new gear, when the word stresses the problem the old suit caused, not the solution.
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Leaps from the old suit's failure to a claim that her equipment had to be custom made, a conclusion the word itself does not carry.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks why the author used the word “insurmountable.” First you need to know what the word means. Then you need to see what point it helps the author make.
Find the word in its sentence
Paragraph 4 says her old suit “had stretched out, filling with water and creating drag, making an already challenging task almost insurmountable.” Drag is a pull that slows you down in the water.
Work out what the word means
To surmount something means to get over it, like climbing over a wall. So insurmountable means impossible to get over or beat. But the author wrote “almost insurmountable.” Almost means not quite. Also notice “already challenging.” The swim was hard to begin with. So the suit made a hard job even harder. It did not make it fully impossible.
Check each choice
- C: the suit’s flaws made “a difficult task even more complicated.” This matches “already challenging” plus “almost insurmountable.”
- A says the suit made the swim “impossible.” That ignores “almost.” Also, paragraph 3 says her first try ended because “she became ill.”
- B: the sisters’ creative fix is in other sentences. This word describes the problem, not the fix.
- D: the passage never says her gear had to be custom made.
Watch out: A uses the dictionary meaning of the word. But always read the words around it, like “almost.”
Pick the answer
The word stresses how much harder the old suit made the swim. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because it uses the word’s full meaning, impossible. But the author wrote “almost,” and Ederle’s first try ended when she got sick, not because of her suit. C keeps the right amount: a hard task made even harder.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 20 as printed on page 59 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 59, question 20. Open page 59 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 52 of 70

2018 Test A English, question 28

Passage Excerpt from A Tramp Abroad

Excerpt from A Tramp Abroad

by Mark Twain

Now and then, while we $^1$ rested, we watched the laborious ant at his work. I found nothing new in him—certainly nothing to change my opinion of him. It seems to me that in the matter of intellect the ant must be a strangely overrated bird. During many summers now I have watched him, when I ought to have been in better business, and I have not yet come across a living ant that seemed to have any more sense than a dead one. I refer to the ordinary ant, of course; I have had no experience of those wonderful Swiss and African ones which vote, keep drilled armies, . . . and dispute about religion. Those particular ants may be all that the naturalist paints them, but I am persuaded that the average ant is a sham.

I admit his industry, of course; he is the hardest working creature in the world—when anybody is looking—but his leather-headedness is the point I make against him. He goes out foraging, he makes a capture, and then what does he do? Go home? No; he goes anywhere but home. He doesn’t know where home is. His home may be only three feet away; no matter, he can’t find it. He makes his capture, as I have said; it is generally something which can be of no sort of use to himself or anybody else; it is usually seven times bigger than it ought to be; he hunts out the awkwardest place to take hold of it; he lifts it bodily up in the air by main force, and starts—not toward home, but in the opposite direction; not calmly and wisely, but with a frantic haste which is wasteful of his strength; he fetches up against a pebble, and, instead of going around it, he climbs over it backwards, dragging his booty after him, tumbles down on the other side, jumps up in a passion, kicks the dust off his clothes, moistens his hands, grabs his property viciously, yanks it this way, then that, shoves it ahead of him a moment, turns tail and lugs it after him another moment, gets madder and madder, then presently hoists it into the air and goes tearing away in an entirely new direction; comes to a weed; it never occurs to him to go around it. No; he must climb it, and he does climb it, dragging his worthless property to the top—which is as bright a thing to do as it would be for me to carry a sack of flour from Heidelberg to Paris by way of Strasburg steeple; when he gets up there he finds that that is not the place; takes a cursory glance at the scenery, and either climbs down again or tumbles down, and starts off once more—as usual, in a new direction. At the end of half an hour he fetches up within six inches of the place he started from, and lays his burden down. Meantime, he has been over all the ground for two yards around, and climbed all the weeds and pebbles he came across. Now he wipes the sweat from his brow, strokes his limbs, and then marches aimlessly off, in as violent a hurry as ever. He traverses a good deal of zig-zag country, and by and by stumbles on his same booty again. He does not remember to have ever seen it before; he looks around to see which is not the way home, grabs his bundle, and starts. He goes through the same adventures he had before; finally stops to rest, and a friend comes along.

Evidently the friend remarks that a last year’s grasshopper leg is a very noble acquisition, and inquires where he got it. Evidently the proprietor does not remember exactly where he did get it, but thinks he got it “around here somewhere.” Evidently the friend contracts to help him freight it home. Then, with a judgment peculiarly antic (pun not intentional), they take hold of opposite ends of that grasshopper leg and begin to tug with all their might in opposite directions. Presently they take a rest, and confer together. They decide that something is wrong, they can’t make out what. Then they go at it again, just as before. Same result. Mutual recriminations follow. Evidently each accuses the other of being an obstructionist. They warm up, and the dispute ends in a fight. They lock themselves together and chew each other’s jaws for a while; then they roll and tumble on the ground till one loses a horn or a leg and has to haul off for repairs. They make up and go to work again in the same old insane way, but the crippled ant is at a disadvantage; tug as he may, the other one drags off the booty and him at the end of it. Instead of giving up, he hangs on, and gets his shins bruised against every obstruction that comes in the way. By and by, when that grasshopper leg has been dragged all over the same old ground once more, it is finally dumped at about the spot where it originally lay. The two perspiring ants inspect it thoughtfully and decide that dried grasshopper legs are a poor sort of property after all, and then each starts off in a different direction to see if he can’t find an old nail or something else that is heavy enough to afford entertainment and at the same time valueless enough to make an ant want to own it. . . .

Science has recently discovered that the ant does not lay up anything for winter use. . . . He does not work, except when people are looking, and only then when the observer has a green, naturalistic look, and seems to be taking notes. This amounts to deception, and will injure him for the Sunday schools. He has not judgment enough to know what is good to eat from what isn’t. This amounts to ignorance, and will impair the world’s respect for him. . . . He cannot stroll around a stump and find his way home again. This amounts to idiocy, and once the damaging fact is established, thoughtful people will cease to look up to him. It is strange beyond comprehension that so manifest a humbug as the ant has been able to fool so many nations and keep it up so many ages without being found out.

we $^1$ : the author and his fictional travel companion

From A TRAMP ABROAD by Mark Twain—Public Domain

Question

In paragraph 2, how do the words “grabs,” “yanks,” and “tearing away” contribute to the meaning of the excerpt?

AThey highlight the ant’s belief that his work is important.
BThey illustrate that the ant is more efficient working on his own.
CThey indicate the speed with which the ant completes his tasks.
DThey emphasize the ant’s anxious efforts to be productive.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The answer is (D)

The question asks for an explanation of how the words “grabs,” “yanks,” and “tearing away” (paragraph 2) contribute to the meaning of the excerpt.

Option D is correct because these words convey sudden movements as the ant becomes more upset in his efforts to transport the grasshopper leg.

Option A is incorrect because the ant is never described in the excerpt as believing his work to be important.

Option B is incorrect because the ant’s inability to make progress while transporting the grasshopper leg by himself demonstrates the ant’s inefficiency (paragraph 2: “At the end of half an hour he fetches up within six inches of the place he started from”).

Option C is incorrect because the ant does not complete his tasks despite moving in a hurried and determined way (paragraph 2: “not calmly and wisely, but with a frantic haste which is wasteful of his strength”).

Question analysis

This word-choice question asks how three action words from Mark Twain's ant story, “grabs,” “yanks” and “tearing away,” add to the excerpt's meaning. The verbs are buried in one very long sentence that lists dozens of actions, so students must find them and decide what their connotations add to the picture of the ant.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5c connotation and denotation
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Grade 7 word-choice items usually ask about one word in a short passage. This one asks for the shared effect of three verbs scattered through a very long sentence, though their tone is fairly clear once found, which keeps it at grade 7.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
Figurative or literary language moderate
A very close wrong answer minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 1099 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 60 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A wrong option letter in the explanation was corrected.
A missing comma in the explanation was restored.
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 verbs themselves are easy words; the difficulty is deciding what they add. Their speed is obvious, which is why the choice about how fast the ant finishes his tasks catches readers who stop at speed and miss that nothing gets finished. The key reads the verbs together with “in a passion” and “madder and madder” around them, so it rewards looking at the words' surroundings rather than the words alone.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
All three verbs are buried in one 183-word sentence of paragraph 2, strung through semicolons among about twenty other actions, so students must find them before judging them. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The verbs' force reads as a comic tantrum, “grabs his property viciously” soon after he “jumps up in a passion,” so their connotation of agitation, not skill, carries the meaning. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer
A and D both tie the verbs to the ant caring about his work; they differ in one part, since the verbs show his anxious efforts, as D says, but never reveal a belief, as A claims. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Locate the three verbs in paragraph 2, read the clauses around each one, and describe their effect in your own words before looking at the choices.

Traps

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.
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)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reads the ant's vigor as proof that he thinks his work important, a belief the excerpt never gives him; the verbs show agitation, not conviction.
B Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Hears the forceful verbs as signs of a capable worker and contrasts him with the bickering pair, though alone he ends six inches from where he began.
C Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly senses speed in “tearing away,” but the ant completes nothing; Twain calls it “a frantic haste which is wasteful of his strength.”

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook’s last reason begins “Option H is incorrect because the ant does not complete his tasks despite moving in a hurried and determined way”, but H is its correct answer. The reason is about G, “They indicate the speed with which the ant completes his tasks,” so this site reads Option C (G relettered). This was already corrected on the site before this review.
Explanation: The handbook quotes the words as “grabs” “yanks,” and “tearing away”. The comma after “grabs” is restored, as in the question.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a word-choice question. It asks what three action words add to the excerpt. Think about how the words feel, not just what they mean.
Find the words in paragraph 2
All three words are in the very long sentence in paragraph 2. Look at the words around them. The ant “jumps up in a passion,” then “grabs his property viciously, yanks it this way, then that.” Soon he “gets madder and madder” and goes “tearing away in an entirely new direction.”
Work out what the words show
“In a passion” means in a fit of anger. “Viciously” means fiercely. So the words show a worked-up, frantic ant. He moves fast and rough, like a kid having a tantrum. He badly wants to get his job done.
But Twain also says the ant moves “with a frantic haste which is wasteful of his strength.” All that rushing gets him nowhere.
Check each choice
- A The excerpt never tells us what the ant believes about his work. The words show he is upset, not what he thinks.
- B Working alone, he ends up six inches from where he started. That is not efficient (getting a lot done without waste).
- C The words do show speed. But the ant never finishes anything.
- D fits. The words show anxious, frantic effort to get the job done.
Choose the answer
The rough, fast verbs show an upset ant trying hard to be productive. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest trap, because “tearing away” does sound fast. But C says the ant completes his tasks, and he never does. D keeps the speed and the worry but does not claim success. That is why D fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 28 as printed on page 64 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 64, question 28. Open page 64 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D). This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

The passage “Excerpt from A Tramp Abroad” as printed (pages 62–63)

The passage “Excerpt from A Tramp Abroad” as printed on page 62 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Excerpt from A Tramp Abroad” as printed on page 63 of the DOE handbook.

Question 53 of 70

2018 Test A English, question 34

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from A Tramp Abroad”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 3.

The two perspiring ants inspect it thoughtfully and decide that dried grasshopper legs are a poor sort of property after all, and then each starts off in a different direction to see if he can’t find an old nail or something else that is heavy enough to afford entertainment and at the same time valueless enough to make an ant want to own it.

How does the word choice in the sentence contribute to the overall meaning of the excerpt?

AIt creates a humorous critique of the ants’ intense attitude toward their pointless work.
BIt illustrates the ants’ confusion over their lack of positive results compared with their level of effort.
CIt highlights the ants’ frustration as they repeatedly chose a difficult task over one that could be accomplished more easily.
DIt illustrates the ants’ stubborn determination to hold on to the worthless object.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The answer is (A)

The question asks for an explanation of how the word choice in the sentence adds to the meaning of the excerpt. The image the author creates of two sweating ants abandoning the grasshopper leg to look for “an old nail,” which an ant would want because it is “valueless,” is comical, as suggested in Option A.

Option B is incorrect because it is a misinterpretation of the excerpt, as the ants are not confused but are acting decisively (paragraph 3: “Then they go at it again, just as before”).

Option C is incorrect because the ants find moving heavy objects to be an amusing way to spend their time and are not aware enough to feel frustrated (paragraph 3: “something else that is heavy enough to afford entertainment and at the same time valueless enough to make an ant want to own it”).

Option D is incorrect because the ants are willingly giving up on their object (paragraph 3: “decide that dried grasshopper legs are a poor sort of property after all”).

Question analysis

This question asks how Mark Twain's word choice in one long sentence, where two sweating ants give up on a grasshopper leg and go looking for something else to carry, shapes the excerpt's meaning. Students must judge the tone of words such as “thoughtfully,” “entertainment” and “valueless” and relate it to the excerpt as a whole.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Grade 7 students regularly judge how word choice shapes tone, so the skill is familiar. What adds demand is one very long sentence whose effect depends on reading its adjectives against the situation they describe.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language major
Complex sentences moderate
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 1099 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 149 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 sentence comes after a brawl, so readers expect frustration or confusion, and two wrong choices supply exactly those moods from earlier in paragraph 3. Here, though, the ants are calm and deliberate, and the joke is that their calm reasoning picks the heaviest, most worthless thing to haul. Students who judge the words of this sentence, not the paragraph's general mood, see that it mocks the ants' earnest attitude toward pointless work.

Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question
The humor is ironic logic: the ants inspect “thoughtfully,” then seek something “heavy enough to afford entertainment” and “valueless enough” to own, praising the very qualities that make their work pointless. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The effect builds across one 67-word sentence whose key phrases come at the very end, after a chain of clauses about inspecting, deciding and setting off. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Underline the words that describe the ants' thinking and goals, decide what effect they have in this sentence, and then compare that effect with each choice.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

B Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Carries over “they can't make out what” from earlier in the paragraph, but in this sentence the ants inspect the leg thoughtfully and decide calmly.
C Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Correctly sees the ants choosing heavy loads, but the frustration belongs to the earlier fight; here they want heavy things “to afford entertainment,” not out of anger.
D Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals a slip Expected pull: weak
Recalls the crippled ant who “hangs on” earlier in the paragraph, missing that here both ants drop the leg as “a poor sort of property.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a word-choice question. It asks how the words in one sentence add to the meaning of the excerpt. Pay attention to the tone, which is the feeling the words give.
Find the key words
The sentence ends paragraph 3. First the ants “inspect it thoughtfully.” Then each one looks for “an old nail or something else that is heavy enough to afford entertainment and at the same time valueless enough to make an ant want to own it.”
Work out the joke
“Afford entertainment” means give them fun. “Valueless” means worth nothing. Twain makes the ants sound careful and wise. Then they decide to look for something heavy and worthless.
That is the joke. The very things that make their work pointless are what they want most. Twain is making fun of how seriously the ants take their silly work.
Check each choice
- A fits. The words make a funny critique (a judgment) of the ants’ serious attitude toward pointless work.
- B In this sentence the ants are not confused. They think it over and decide calmly.
- C They do pick heavy things, but for fun, not out of frustration.
- D They give the leg up. They decide it is “a poor sort of property after all.”
Choose the answer
The sentence pokes fun at how hard the ants work at nothing. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest trap, since the ants really do choose heavy loads. But the anger came earlier in the paragraph, during the fight. In this sentence the ants are calm. They want something heavy to have fun with. Fun, not frustration, is the point, and Twain makes it funny. That matches A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 34 as printed on page 66 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 66, question 34. Open page 66 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 54 of 70

2018 Test A Math, question 25

Question

Which of the following numbers has factors that include the smallest factor (other than 1) of 91?

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

To find the smallest factor of 91, list the factors:

1, 7, 13, and 91

The smallest factor (other than 1) is 7.

Of the options listed (30, 35, 39, and 44), only 35 is a multiple of 7.

Question analysis

A number properties question about factors: students find the smallest factor of 91 other than 1, then pick the number that shares it. Because 91 looks like a prime number, many students skip the factoring, and the choices include numbers built from factors that 91 might seem to have.

NYS standards: 6.NS.4 common factors and multiples
Grade level: Grade 6 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Factors and divisibility are grade 4 to 6 skills, and this takes two quick checks. It is easier than typical grade 7 work, though recognizing that 91 is not prime catches many students.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
Something you must already know moderate
Solution: 2 steps
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 8, 15 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 tests a grade 6 skill inside a hard-to-parse sentence. Once the stem is unpacked, the work is finding the smallest prime factor of 91 and checking the choices for it. Students lose points in two ways: 91 looks prime or divisible by 3, so they guess at its factors, or they find 13 before 7 and accept the choice that shares it.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The stem nests three ideas, "has factors that include the smallest factor (other than 1) of 91", so it has to be unpacked before any math; this is reading difficulty, not number difficulty. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Something you must already know moderate Working it out
Students must find that 91 = 7 × 13, and 91 is a number many students wrongly take to be prime or a multiple of 3. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Test 91 against the small primes in order, starting with 2, until one divides it evenly, then check which choice is a multiple of that prime.

Traps

Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".

The wrong answers, classified

A An arithmetic slip (Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)
Reveals a slip Expected pull: moderate
Wrongly takes 91 as a multiple of 3, as 90 is, and picks 30, which 3 divides; in fact 91 ÷ 3 is not a whole number.
C Misreads the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Factors 91 as 7 × 13 but matches 39 = 3 × 13, which shares the larger factor, overlooking the word smallest.
D Little reason to choose it (Haladyna & Downing, 1993; Rodriguez, 2005)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Neither of its prime factors, 2 and 11, divides 91, an odd number, so no common working leads to 44; it mostly draws guesses.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

What a factor is: $b = a \times c$; a, b and c are whole numbers. If b = a × c, then a and c are factors of b. That means a divides b evenly, with no remainder. Every whole number has 1 and itself as factors.

Unpack the long sentence
A factor of a number divides it evenly, with nothing left over. For example, 3 is a factor of 12, because $12 \div 3 = 4$ . The question has two steps. First, find “the smallest factor (other than 1) of 91”. Then find the choice that also has that factor.
Test small numbers on 91
Try dividing 91 by 2, 3, 5 and so on, until one works.
- 2: no. 91 is odd. That also rules out 4 and 6, which are even.
- 3: no. A number is a multiple of 3 only if its digits add to a multiple of 3. Here 9 + 1 = 10, which is not.
- 5: no. 91 does not end in 0 or 5.
- 7: yes!
$91 = 7 \times 13$
So 7 is the smallest factor of 91 other than 1.
Avoid the 3 trap
Watch out: 91 is close to 90, and 3 goes into 90. But $91 \div 3$ is 30 with 1 left over. So 3 is not a factor of 91. That trap leads to 30, choice A.
Check each choice for 7
Now look for a multiple of 7 among the choices.
- 30: no. $7 \times 4 = 28$ and $7 \times 5 = 35$ .
- 35: yes. $35 = 7 \times 5$ .
- 39: no. $39 = 3 \times 13$ .
- 44: no. $7 \times 6 = 42$ .
Watch out: 39 shares 13 with 91, but 13 is the larger factor, not the smallest. That is choice C. So the answer is B, 35.

Check your answer

Multiply to be sure: $7 \times 13 = 91$ and $7 \times 5 = 35$ . So 7 goes into both numbers evenly. No number from 2 to 6 goes into 91, so 7 really is the smallest.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 82 as printed on page 86 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 86, question 82. Open page 86 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 55 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 1

Question

Read this sentence.

The Colosseum in Rome, Italy which is considered one of the “new” Seven Wonders of the World, is the largest amphitheater ever built and could hold more than 50,000 spectators.

Which edit should be made to correct the sentence?

ADelete the comma after Rome.
BInsert a comma after Italy.
CDelete the comma after World.
DInsert a comma after built.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the correction needed for an error in the sentence. The sentence needs a comma to set off the clause “which is considered one of the ‘new’ Seven Wonders of the World,” because the clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence (nonrestrictive clause).

Option B is correct because it places a comma where it is needed, after “Italy,” to set off the nonrestrictive clause that follows.

Option A is incorrect because when a name has more than one element, a comma is used to separate the elements for clarity.

Option C is incorrect because it would remove the comma at the end of the nonrestrictive clause, which should be set off by commas at the beginning and the end.

Option D is incorrect because a comma after “built” would separate the phrase “could hold more than 50,000 spectators,” which is part of a compound predicate that uses the subject from the main clause and so needs to stay connected to the rest of the sentence.

Question analysis

This punctuation question gives one long sentence about the Colosseum in Rome and asks which single comma edit makes it correct. Students apply the comma rules for place names and for nonessential clauses. The long subject makes it tricky, because every comma has to be weighed: added, removed or left alone.

NYS standards: 7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Comma rules for place names and for extra information in mid-sentence are grade 6 punctuation, tested here in one short sentence with a single edit. Grade 7 editing usually moves on to clauses, modifiers and sentence combining.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 1, recall and reproduction · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 6, 61 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A grammar term in the explanation 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

Most students who miss this question can find the which-clause but treat its two edges differently: they see the closing comma after “World” as an error and never notice that the opening comma is missing. The question rewards marking where the extra description begins and ends before judging any single comma. Knowing that a city and its country are always separated settles the rest quickly.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
The missing comma after “Italy” does two jobs at once, closing the city–country pair and opening the which-clause, and “Rome, Italy which is considered” reads smoothly enough that few students hear the gap. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The sentence packs a place name, a nonessential which-clause and a compound predicate (“is the largest amphitheater ever built and could hold”) into 30 words, so every comma has to be placed within that structure. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Mark where the extra description of the Colosseum begins and ends, then ask of each comma whether it separates a city from its country, sets off that description, or splits subject from verb.

The wrong answers, classified

A Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Treats Rome and Italy as one name that needs no comma between them, not knowing that a comma always separates a city from its state or country.
C Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Applies the real rule against a comma between subject and verb to the comma after “World,” missing that it closes the which-clause and must stay.
D Punctuation (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Adds a comma wherever the long sentence seems to pause, before “and could hold,” though that second verb shares the subject and takes no comma.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook calls “could hold more than 50,000 spectators” a dependent clause. It has no subject of its own: it is the second half of a compound predicate (the Colosseum “is the largest amphitheater ever built and could hold…”), which is why no comma goes before it. The site now calls it “part of a compound predicate.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This is a punctuation question. Punctuation means marks like commas and periods. The sentence has one comma mistake. You need the one edit that fixes it. Two comma rules decide it.
Learn the rule for extra information
Some groups of words just add an extra fact. The sentence still makes sense without them. Grammar books call this a nonessential clause. Put a comma before it and a comma after it, like a pair of brackets.
Example: My dog, which is brown, likes to swim. Take out the middle part and you still have My dog likes to swim.
Find the extra part in this sentence
Here the extra part starts with “which is considered” and ends with “of the World.” It gives a fun fact about the Colosseum. Without it, the sentence still works: The Colosseum in Rome, Italy, is the largest amphitheater ever built.
There is a comma at the end of the extra part, after “World.” But there is no comma at the start, after “Italy.” That is the mistake.
Learn the rule for places
When you name a city and then its country, put a comma between them. If the sentence keeps going, put another comma after the country. Example: We flew to Paris, France, last May.
So “Rome, Italy” needs a comma after “Italy” too. Here one comma does both jobs.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The comma between “Rome” and “Italy” must stay. It splits the city from the country.
- B is right. It adds the missing comma at the start of the extra part.
- C is wrong. The comma after “World” closes the extra part, so it must stay.
- D is wrong. “Could hold” shares its subject, “The Colosseum,” with “is.” No comma goes before a second verb like that. Example: Sam ran home and ate lunch.
Watch out: C is tempting. A comma between a subject (who or what the sentence is about) and its verb (the action word) is usually wrong. Here it is fine, because it is the second comma of the pair.
Choose the answer
With the new comma, the extra part has a comma on each side. So the answer is B: insert a comma after Italy.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. It treats the comma after “World” as a mistake. But that comma ends the extra part. If you delete it, the extra part has no comma at either end. B adds the missing first comma, so both ends are marked.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 1 as printed on page 116 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 116, question 1. Open page 116 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 56 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 2

Question

Read this paragraph.

Which revision corrects the error in sentence structure in the paragraph?

AInstitution, and the
Byear, and the
Cobjects, which include
DProclamation, which was written

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the correction of an error in sentence structure in the paragraph.

The first sentence is a run-on sentence because both clauses—“In September 2016 the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened as part of the Smithsonian Institution” and “the museum is already the Smithsonian’s third most popular site”—are independent clauses, and independent clauses should not be combined without the use of a conjunction and a comma. The revision in Option A adds the word “and” after the comma, which corrects the run-on.

Option B, Option C, Option D are incorrect responses because the corresponding underlined portions in the paragraph are not structural errors. No edits are needed to correct those portions of the text.

Question analysis

This sentence-structure question gives a short paragraph about the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Students must find which of four spots holds a real error, such as a run-on, a fragment or a misplaced phrase, and pick the revision that fixes it. Long names stretch the sentences, and the spots that need no change can look just as suspicious.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level: Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Below grade 7 Fixing run-ons and fragments is taught before grade 7, and here students check four short spots in one paragraph for a single structural error. Long institution names add reading load but no extra grammar.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly apply
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Every choice must be checked minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 10, 111 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A misdescribed detail in the explanation 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

Students who miss this one usually look for the error in the wrong place: the phrases “including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves” and “written in 1863” look suspicious, while the real splice hides behind the long museum name. The question rewards checking each spot for a subject and verb on both sides of its punctuation. Two choices offer the same “, and the” fix, so knowing the fix is not enough without finding where it belongs.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
The error is a comma splice after “Institution,” where a comma alone joins two complete clauses, and a comma sounds like a natural pause when the sentence is read aloud. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The eight-word museum name stretches the first clause, so by the time “the museum is already” arrives, it reads like a continuation rather than a new subject and verb. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
The four underlined spots fall in four different sentences, and each has to be tested for whether a complete sentence sits on both sides of its punctuation. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Check each sentence for a subject and main verb and count its complete thoughts, then decide whether the spot each choice changes actually breaks a rule before picking a fix.

The wrong answers, classified

B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Recognizes “, and the” as the usual run-on fix but applies it where a period already separates two complete, correctly punctuated sentences.
C Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Believes a phrase opening with “including” after a comma is a fragment, so turns it into a which-clause, though the phrase already attaches correctly to “objects.”
D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Thinks “written in 1863” cannot describe the copy without “which was,” though the sentence already has its verb “is” and the phrase is correctly set off.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook says the correct revision “adds the word ‘and’ before the comma.” In “Institution, and the,” the word “and” comes after the comma, so the site now says “after the comma.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This question is about sentence structure, or how a sentence is built. One of the four underlined spots has a mistake. You need the change that fixes it.
Learn the run-on rule
A complete sentence has a subject (who or what it is about) and a verb (the action). It can stand alone. You cannot join two complete sentences with only a comma. That mistake is called a run-on.
Wrong: I was hungry, I ate an apple.
Fixed: I was hungry, and I ate an apple.
A period would also work: I was hungry. I ate an apple.
Find the run-on
Look at the first sentence. The words before the comma can stand alone: “In September 2016 the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened as part of the Smithsonian Institution.” So can the words after it: “the museum is already the Smithsonian’s third most popular site.” Only a comma joins them. That is a run-on.
Check each choice
- A is right. “Institution, and the” adds the joining word “and” after the comma. That fixes the run-on.
- B is wrong. A period already splits those two sentences correctly.
- C is wrong. “Including Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves” already describes the objects. It needs no change.
- D is wrong. “Written in 1863” already describes the copy. The sentence already has its verb, “is.”
Watch out: C and D are not bad sentences. But they change spots that were already correct, and the run-on stays.
Choose the answer
Now the first sentence says the museum opened, and it is already very popular. Those are two complete ideas, joined the right way. So the answer is A: Institution, and the.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is a tempting choice, because “which was written” also sounds fine. But a change that sounds fine is not a fix. The question asks you to correct the error. Only A changes the first sentence, where the run-on is.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 2 as printed on page 117 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 117, question 2. Open page 117 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D). This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 57 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 3

Question

Read this sentence.

To promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team on Wednesday.

How should the sentence be revised?

ATo promote their club, on Wednesday a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
BOn Wednesday to promote their club, a bake sale will be sponsored by members of the debate team.
CTo promote their club, members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale on Wednesday.
DMembers of the debate team, on Wednesday to promote their club, will sponsor a bake sale.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the correct revision of the sentence in the box.

The sentence is incorrect because, as written, the phrase “to promote their club” refers to the closest noun to the phrase, which is “a bake sale,” and that does not match logically.

Option C is correct because the revision has the phrase “to promote their club” clearly modifying “members of the debate team” and adds the idea that the bake sale is on Wednesday to the end of the sentence.

Option A and Option B are incorrect because the revisions do not fix the error that “to promote their club” modifies “a bake sale.”

Option D is incorrect; while the revision clarifies that “to promote their club” relates to the “members of the debate team,” the rest of the sentence is poorly written because the insertion of “on Wednesday to promote their club” in the middle of the sentence interrupts the main clause, “Members of the debate team will sponsor a bake sale.”

Question analysis

This sentence-structure question shows a sentence about a debate team’s bake sale and asks how it should be revised. Students choose the rewrite that places each phrase where it logically belongs. The rewrites move the same phrases into different orders, so students must judge both the logic and how naturally each version reads.

NYS standards: 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Placing phrases so they modify the right words is named in the grade 7 language standards, and this one-sentence item is a typical classroom example. Students must also judge whether each rewrite reads smoothly, not just whether it is logical.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
What makes it hard: A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate
Complex sentences minor
Every choice must be checked minor
A very close wrong answer minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 6, 95 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 original sentence is easy to understand, which is exactly why its dangling modifier slips past students who judge by sound. Rewrites that only move “on Wednesday” keep the passive voice and the error, so asking who is doing the promoting rules them out at once. Among the rewrites that put the team members first, the remaining decision is about smoothness: whether a phrase should sit between the subject and its verb.

A rule that doesn't sound wrong moderate Working it out
“To promote their club” has no logical doer in the original, since a bake sale cannot promote anything, but the meaning is so clear that the dangling modifier is hard to hear. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The passive “will be sponsored by members of the debate team” pushes the real actors to the end, which is why the opening phrase lands on “a bake sale.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer
All four rewrites shuffle the same three phrases, so each must be read whole to see which noun follows the opening phrase and whether the main clause is interrupted. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer
The interrupted rewrite uses the same words as the right one and also makes the team members the subject; only where “on Wednesday to promote their club” sits, between subject and verb, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Ask who is actually promoting the club, then read each rewrite to see which words the to-phrase attaches to and how smoothly the whole sentence reads.

Traps

Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.

The wrong answers, classified

A Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Moves “on Wednesday” as if the time phrase were the problem and keeps the passive voice, so “To promote their club” still describes the bake sale.
B Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Shuffles both phrases to the front without a comma between them, yet “a bake sale” still follows, so the club-promoting phrase still describes the sale.
D Misplaced modifier (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Correctly makes “Members of the debate team” the subject but misplaces “on Wednesday to promote their club” between subject and verb, an awkward interruption the best revision avoids.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This question is about a modifier. A modifier is a group of words that describes something. You need the version where the describing words go with the right noun (a person, place or thing).
Learn the rule for opening phrases
Sometimes a sentence starts with a describing phrase and a comma. That phrase describes whoever comes right after the comma. So the one doing the action must come right after the comma.
Wrong: To win the race, every day was spent training. A day can’t win a race.
Fixed: To win the race, Maya trained every day.
Find the problem in the sentence
The sentence starts with “To promote their club.” To promote something means to get people interested in it. Right after the comma comes “a bake sale.” So the sentence says the bake sale is promoting the club. That makes no sense. The people promoting the club are the “members of the debate team.” They should come right after the comma.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. After the comma comes “on Wednesday a bake sale.” The bake sale is still doing the promoting.
- B is wrong. It moves “On Wednesday” to the front, but “a bake sale” still follows the comma.
- C is right. “Members of the debate team” comes right after the comma. They are the ones who “will sponsor a bake sale.”
- D is wrong. It names the members first. But it stuffs “on Wednesday to promote their club” between the subject and its verb. That breaks up the sentence.
Watch out: D also makes the members the ones promoting the club, so it is tempting. But C says the same thing in a smooth, clear order.
Choose the answer
In C, the members promote their club, and “on Wednesday” comes at the end, where it reads smoothly. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Like C, it puts the members of the debate team first. But D splits the subject from its verb with a long phrase: “Members of the debate team, on Wednesday to promote their club, will sponsor.” C keeps the main idea together, so it reads clearly.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 3 as printed on page 117 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 117, question 3. Open page 117 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 58 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 16

Passage Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness

Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness

by Grace Livingston Hill

With a lurch the train came to a dead stop and Margaret Earle, hastily gathering up her belongings, hurried down the aisle and got out into the night.

She gasped and looked about her for the station that but a short moment before had been so real to her mind; and, lo! on this side and on that there was none!

As soon as she sighted it she picked up her baggage and made her painful way toward it, for her knees and wrist were bruised and her baggage was heavy.

$^1$ cinders: track bed made from the residue of burnt coal

From A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS by Grace Livingston Hill—Public Domain

Question

In paragraph 2, how does the phrase “when all three had taken the trouble to tell her” affect the tone in the first part of the excerpt?

AIt creates an accusatory tone by suggesting that Margaret believes that others are responsible for her problem.
BIt introduces a defiant tone by suggesting that Margaret left the train early to prove a point.
CIt suggests a frustrated tone by showing that Margaret feels confused by the inconsistent help offered by the railroad employees.
DIt establishes an appreciative tone by showing that Margaret feels cared for by the railroad employees.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the phrase affects the tone in the first part of the excerpt. The phrase includes the words “all three” and “taken the trouble,” emphasizing Margaret’s early frustration as she recalls with some confused irritation that the men thought she needed an abundance of help earlier, but none of them is around to help when the train stops, as indicated in Option C.

Option A is incorrect because when Margaret recalls the interaction, there is no indication that she blames the men for her current problem.

Option B is incorrect because, while the description of how Margaret “hastily [gathers] up her belongings” and “[hurries] down the aisle” (paragraph 1) gives the appearance of being defiant, there is no evidence that she intentionally put herself in this vulnerable position just to make a point.

Option D is incorrect because when Margaret recalls the interaction, there is no evidence that she appreciates the care shown to her, but rather she seems a bit offended that the men do not think she could take care of herself, as shown by the author’s description of the forceful way she exits the train without assistance when it stops.

Question analysis

This tone question looks at a phrase from the opening of Grace Livingston Hill’s novel A Voice in the Wilderness, as Margaret Earle steps off a train at night. Students decide what attitude the phrase about the three railroad men creates. The wording is low-key and old-fashioned, which makes the attitude behind it easy to misjudge.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5c connotation and denotation
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 tone questions usually rest on clearly charged words; this one hinges on an understated phrase in century-old prose. Students must read how Margaret feels about the trainmen from context, without help from any strongly worded clue.
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 analyze
What makes it hard: A very close wrong answer major
Complex sentences moderate
Reading between the lines moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 96 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 phrase is understated, and old-fashioned wording hides how Margaret feels. Students who sense criticism of the trainmen often push it too far into blame, which she does not reach until paragraph 6, while those who take “taken the trouble” at face value hear gratitude. The question rewards reading the whole sentence: “it was strange” and her quick excuse about engine trouble show puzzlement and mild irritation, not accusation.

A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer
The accusatory choice and the frustrated choice both find a negative attitude toward the railroad employees; only the degree separates them, since Margaret calls their absence “strange” and excuses it rather than blaming them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The phrase sits deep inside a 66-word sentence that opens with her swinging the suit-case down and closes with voices up ahead, so its contrast is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Margaret never says she is annoyed; the feeling comes from the contrast between “all three had taken the trouble to tell her” and none of them coming to help. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
Each choice turns on a tone word, “accusatory,” “defiant,” “frustrated,” “appreciative,” and students unsure of these labels cannot match them to the scene. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Reread the full sentence the phrase sits in, ask how Margaret feels about the three men at this moment, and match both the feeling and its reason to a choice.

Traps

Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
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.

The wrong answers, classified

A Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly hears criticism of the three trainmen but inflates puzzlement into blame; she even excuses them with possible engine trouble, and only in paragraph 6 thinks “They had no right.”
B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Builds a story of defiance from her hasty exit in paragraph 1, though nothing suggests she left the train early to prove anything to anyone.
D Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Takes “taken the trouble” as gratitude for the men’s care, reading the phrase on its own and missing the sentence’s point that none of them came to help.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about tone: the feeling or attitude that the words give. What does one phrase show about how Margaret feels toward the train workers?
Read the whole sentence
In paragraph 2, Margaret thinks “it was strange that neither conductor, brakeman, nor porter had come to help her off the train, when all three had taken the trouble to tell her that hers was the next station.”
Work out the feeling
A conductor, a brakeman and a porter are train workers. To take the trouble means to make an effort. All three made an effort to tell her about her stop. But now none of them comes to help. That doesn’t add up, and she calls it “strange.” She feels puzzled and a bit annoyed. That is frustration.
She even makes excuses for them: “Perhaps something was the matter with the engine.” So she is not blaming them.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. “Accusatory” means blaming. Margaret makes excuses for the workers instead.
- B is wrong. “Defiant” means boldly refusing to obey. Nothing shows she left the train to prove a point.
- C is right. The workers were helpful at first and then vanished. She is confused and frustrated.
- D is wrong. “Appreciative” means thankful. The point is that nobody came to help.
Watch out: A is tempting because she does find the workers’ absence odd. But odd is not the same as their fault.
Choose the answer
The phrase shows Margaret puzzled by help that came and then disappeared. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because both A and C find something negative in her thoughts. But A goes too far. Margaret does not blame the workers. She guesses they “had forgotten her for the moment.” She is puzzled, not accusing, as C says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 16 as printed on page 129 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 129, question 16. Open page 129 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness” as printed (pages 128–129)

Question 59 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 18

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 4.

Yet if the train started before she found the conductor she might be carried on somewhere and he justly blame her for a fool.

How does the sentence contribute to the development of the plot?

AIt shows how Margaret’s reliance on the guidance of others leads to the external conflict she faces.
BIt reveals how Margaret’s concern about the opinions of others causes the external conflict she faces.
CIt highlights how Margaret’s indecision results in the external conflict being prolonged.
DIt illustrates how Margaret’s confusion makes it difficult for her to fully understand the external conflict.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence correctly explains the connection between the sentence from paragraph 4 and the overall plot of the excerpt. The train’s need to stop for water is not evident to Margaret, which causes the external conflict. The sentence from paragraph 4 reveals how Margaret’s confusion over her best course of action prevents her from recognizing the nature of the external conflict; therefore, Option D is correct.

Option A is incorrect because Margaret’s reliance on others is not demonstrated in the sentence, and her reliance on others does not contribute to the external conflict.

Option B is incorrect because her concern for the opinion of others is not the main cause for her external conflict.

Option C is incorrect because Margaret’s indecision has no effect on the cause of the conflict.

Question analysis

This plot-development question quotes one sentence from A Voice in the Wilderness in which Margaret worries the train will carry her off and the conductor will think her a fool. Students explain how that sentence connects her state of mind to the story’s external conflict. Every choice links a believable trait to the conflict, which makes this one of the trickier questions on the excerpt.

NYS standards: 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 plot questions usually link one event to its result. This one asks how a single sentence of Margaret’s private worry bears on the external conflict, which students must first pin down using the whole excerpt.
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: Every choice must be checked major
A very close wrong answer moderate
Complex sentences moderate
Evidence in several places moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from the whole text
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 101 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 one of the hardest questions on the excerpt because every choice is half plausible: Margaret does want the conductor, does fear being called a fool, and does waver. The decisive half is the second one, what the trait does to the conflict, and judging it requires knowing the conflict is a water stop she mistook for a station. Students who check only the first half will usually choose the worry about others’ opinions.

Every choice must be checked major Choosing the answer
Every choice pairs a trait, reliance, worry about opinion, indecision or confusion, with an effect on the conflict, so each must be tested twice: is the trait in the sentence, and does it do that? (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The indecision choice is nearly the right one: “indecision” and “confusion” name almost the same state in paragraph 4, so only the effect, prolonging the conflict versus making it hard to understand, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The sentence is old-fashioned and elliptical: “he justly blame her for a fool” silently shares the “might” of “she might be carried on,” which makes its meaning hard to parse. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The nature of the external conflict, a stop to water the engine rather than a station, is revealed only in the excerpt’s last paragraph, far from paragraph 4. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
The choices rely on the literary term “external conflict,” and students unsure what it means cannot judge how a thought in Margaret’s head relates to it. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Check each choice in two halves: is the trait really shown in this sentence, and does that trait truly cause or change the trouble Margaret ends up in?

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.

The wrong answers, classified

A Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reads her wish to find the conductor as dependence on others, but the sentence shows her weighing a risk, and nothing makes reliance the cause of her being stranded.
B Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Gets the first half right, since she fears the conductor will think her “a fool,” but that worry does not cause the conflict; the train leaves after a water stop.
C Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Spots her wavering in paragraph 4, with its two “Perhaps” sentences and a “Yet,” but the indecision does not stretch out the conflict, which arrives when the train pulls away.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how one sentence helps build the plot, the events of the story. The choices use the term external conflict: a problem between a character and something outside her. Margaret’s problem is that she got off where there is no station, and the train leaves her behind.
Read the sentence in plain words
The sentence is: “Yet if the train started before she found the conductor she might be carried on somewhere and he justly blame her for a fool.” In plain words: If the train leaves with me still on it, I might miss my stop. Then the conductor could rightly call me foolish.
See where it fits in paragraph 4
Just before, she thinks “Perhaps she ought not to have got out” and “Perhaps the train had not pulled into the station yet.” Her thoughts go back and forth. She cannot tell whether she is at her station or not. She is confused.
Learn what is really happening
At the end of the excerpt, she learns the truth. She “had mistaken a pause to water the engine for a regular stop at a station.” Because she is confused, she worries about the wrong danger. She fears being carried too far. The real danger is being left behind.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The sentence doesn’t show her depending on others, and that is not what strands her.
- B is wrong. She does worry about being called a fool. But that worry doesn’t cause her problem. The water stop does.
- C is wrong. Her back-and-forth doesn’t make the problem last longer. The trouble comes when the train pulls away.
- D is right. Her confusion keeps her from seeing what is really going on.
Watch out: B is half right, since she fears looking foolish. But the question asks what that does to the conflict, and her worry does not cause it.
Choose the answer
The sentence shows Margaret’s mixed-up thinking about a problem she does not understand yet. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. Its first half is true: Margaret worries the conductor will think she is a fool. But B says this worry causes her problem. It doesn’t. The train stopped for water, and she got off. D fits better, because the sentence shows how confused she is.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 18 as printed on page 130 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 130, question 18. Open page 130 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 60 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness”.

Question

Read paragraph 9 from the excerpt.

The imagery in this sentence conveys the

Agrowing irritation Margaret feels as she is ignored by people on the train.
Beffort Margaret is making despite being physically unable to keep up with the train.
Canger that Margaret is experiencing as she watches the train leave without her.
Dvulnerability Margaret feels as the train leaves her behind.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for an explanation of what the imagery in the excerpt from paragraph 9 conveys. The words “useless” and “failure” in the sentence indicate that Margaret’s best efforts do not help her. The phrase “the last car slatted itself past” shows that Margaret is helpless to stop the train from departing, which leaves her completely vulnerable, as described in Option D.

Option A is incorrect because describing Margaret’s “sickening sense of terror” indicates that she is extremely afraid of being left behind rather than increasingly irritated with the other passengers.

Option B is incorrect because Margaret spends her time “screaming, running, trying to attract some one’s attention” in an effort to be noticed so that the train will stop, not attempting to run as fast as the train.

Option C is incorrect because while Margaret’s screaming and running could easily suggest feelings of anger, descriptions of her “sickening sense of terror and failure” indicate otherwise.

Question analysis

This imagery question quotes paragraph 9 of A Voice in the Wilderness, a single long sentence describing the moment the last car of the train rattles past Margaret. Students decide what feeling the imagery conveys. The scene is full of action and noise, so it is easy to name an emotion that fits her behavior but not the words used.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Reading imagery for a character’s feelings is everyday grade 7 work. Paragraph 9 is a single sentence with strong emotional words, so the task stays inside one sentence rather than ranging across the story.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language moderate
Complex sentences minor
A very close wrong answer minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 97 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A misspelling of the main character’s name in the explanation 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 sentence names Margaret’s feelings outright, “terror and failure,” and calls her screaming “useless,” so the question is mostly about trusting those words over the noisy action around them. Students who read the actions alone tend to name anger or irritation. Seeing that a train which seems to enjoy her distress makes her look powerless, not angry, is what leads to the right reading.

Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The last car “slatted itself past with a mocking clatter, as if it enjoyed her discomfort,” and students must see that the personified mockery stresses her helplessness, not her temper. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 9 is one 36-word sentence that lists fragments, “useless screaming, running” and “a sickening sense of terror and failure,” before its only main verb arrives. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer
The anger choice shares the right one’s frame, a feeling as the train leaves her behind, and differs only in the feeling named, which the sentence’s “terror and failure” settle. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Pick out the words in the sentence that name feelings, along with what the personified train seems to do, and match the choice to those words.

Traps

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.
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 Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Rightly sees that no one notices her, but names irritation, a mild and growing annoyance, where the sentence speaks of a “sickening sense of terror.”
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Treats her running as a race to keep pace with the train, though she runs and screams only “to attract some one’s attention” so the train will stop.
C Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads the screaming and the train’s “mocking clatter” as signs of anger, overlooking “terror and failure,” the words the sentence uses for what she feels.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook spells the name “Margret” once, in the reason Option C is wrong. The passage and the rest of the explanation spell it “Margaret,” as the site now does.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about imagery: words that help you see, hear or feel a scene. What do the images in paragraph 9 show about Margaret?
Find the key words
Paragraph 9 describes “useless screaming, running, trying to attract some one’s attention.” She feels “a sickening sense of terror and failure.” Then “the last car slatted itself past with a mocking clatter, as if it enjoyed her discomfort.”
Work out what the words mean
“Useless” and “failure” tell you nothing she does works. “Terror” is great fear. The train even seems to mock her, like a mean person laughing. Giving human traits to a thing is called personification. All of this shows she is helpless. That feeling is vulnerability: being open to harm, with no way to protect yourself.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Irritation is mild annoyance. The sentence says “terror.”
- B is wrong. She runs to get someone’s attention, not to keep up with the train.
- C is wrong. Screaming might suggest anger, but the sentence names “terror and failure.”
- D is right. She is helpless as the train leaves her behind.
Watch out: The train is “mocking,” which might make you think of anger. But it is the train that seems mean. Her own feelings are fear and failure.
Choose the answer
The images show a girl who can do nothing as the train leaves. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because screaming and a mocking train can suggest anger. But the sentence names her feelings directly: “a sickening sense of terror and failure.” Those are the feelings of someone who is helpless, not angry. D matches those words.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 20 as printed on page 131 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 131, question 20. Open page 131 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D). This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 61 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness”.

Question

Read paragraph 10 from the excerpt.

What does the figurative language in this sentence emphasize?

Athe sense of doubt that Margaret experiences when she is deciding what to do next
Bthe anger that Margaret feels toward the people on the train who she expected to help her
Cthe embarrassment that Margaret feels when she imagines what others will think of her
Dthe hopelessness that Margaret feels when she accepts that the train is continuing on

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for what the figurative language illustrates in the sentence. As Margaret stands and reaches out “helpless hands,” the language used to describe the train as “swinging tauntingly” and having “a leer in its eye” confirms Margaret’s fears of being left alone and feeling foolish; there is nothing she can do to change the situation, as expressed in Option D.

Option A is incorrect because, while the image of Margaret’s helpless hands dropping at her sides could suggest a sense of doubt, the figurative language in the sentence emphasizes a different feeling about her situation and does not indicate her intentions.

Option B is incorrect because, while the figurative language seems to give a malevolent quality to the train, it is not referring to the people onboard, who are described in paragraph 8 as “comfortable and safe inside, unconscious of her need.”

Option C is incorrect because, while Margaret is worried in paragraph 4 about embarrassing herself, she now feels “dazed” because she is overwhelmed with the seriousness of what has just happened.

Question analysis

This figurative-language question quotes paragraph 10 of A Voice in the Wilderness, where Margaret watches the train disappear and its light seems to taunt her. Students decide what the personification of the train emphasizes about her situation. The image is vivid but brief, so students need to link it to the feeling the whole paragraph builds.

NYS standards: 7R4 word meaning and choice
7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Interpreting personification is part of grade 7 work on figurative language. This sentence gives the train a leer and a taunting light, so students must decide whose feeling the image reflects, a step beyond naming the figure of speech.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 122 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 figurative language belongs to the train, so students have to translate a taunting, leering light into a statement about Margaret’s state. Some read the taunt as the cause of an emotion, embarrassment or anger, instead of as a picture of how powerless she is. Her “helpless hands,” dropped to her sides as the light vanishes, confirm that she has accepted the train is gone.

Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The train’s light is personified, “swinging tauntingly, blinking now and then with a leer in its eye,” and students must decide what a mocking machine says about Margaret rather than about the train. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
Paragraph 10 is a single 48-word sentence that strings together participle phrases, “reaching out,” “swinging tauntingly,” “rapidly vanishing,” so the figurative part arrives only after her gestures. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Find the phrases that give the train human traits, then ask what they add to the picture of Margaret standing by the track, using only this sentence.

Traps

Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
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 Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Reads “dazed” and the dropped hands as doubt about her next step, though the sentence shows her watching the train vanish, not weighing what to do.
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Transfers the train’s taunting leer to the people aboard, though paragraph 8 says the passengers were “unconscious of her need,” and nothing here shows anger at them.
C Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Carries over paragraph 4’s worry that the conductor would “blame her for a fool,” a feeling the taunting light seems to echo, though she is now dazed rather than embarrassed.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about figurative language: words that mean more than their plain meaning. What feeling does it stress in paragraph 10?
Find the figurative language
Paragraph 10 describes the train’s last light “swinging tauntingly, blinking now and then with a leer in its eye.” Margaret stands “reaching out helpless hands, then dropped them at her sides.”
Work out what it means
“Tauntingly” means in a teasing, mean way. A leer is a nasty, sly look. A light can’t really tease anyone. The author gives the train human traits to show it is leaving her, and she can do nothing. When she drops her hands, she stops trying. She accepts that the train is gone. That feeling is hopelessness.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. She is not deciding what to do next. She is just watching the train go.
- B is wrong. The mean look belongs to the train, not the people. The passengers did not even know she needed help.
- C is wrong. She worried about looking foolish back in paragraph 4. Now she is “dazed.”
- D is right. Her dropped hands and the mocking light show she has lost hope.
Watch out: The teasing light may remind you of her fear of being called a fool. But that was earlier. Here she has lost all hope of stopping the train.
Choose the answer
The figurative language shows Margaret giving up as the train disappears. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because a teasing train seems to fit embarrassment. But Margaret is not thinking about what others will say. She stands “dazed” and drops her “helpless hands.” The mocking light shows the train is gone for good. That is hopelessness, so D fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 22 as printed on page 131 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 131, question 22. Open page 131 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 62 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 30

Passage Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”

Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”

by Rupert Brooke

From LETTERS FROM AMERICA by Rupert Brooke—Public Domain

$^1$ diaphanous: sheer, translucent

$^2$ platitudinous: clichéd, common

Question

In paragraph 4, the idea that human life and history travel toward the same ending is illustrated mainly through

Athe discussion of how the rainbows visible in the Falls are like the art and beauty created by humankind.
Bthe comparison between the movement of water in the Falls and the human experience.
Cthe inclusion of details that show that every observer’s experience with the Falls is different.
Dthe acknowledgment that contemplating the Falls at night sparks an awareness of humankind’s destiny.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the discussion of human life and history is illustrated in paragraph 4 of the excerpt. The author concludes in paragraph 4 that the Falls can be compared to people and history by writing, “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood,” making Option B correct.

Option A is incorrect because the discussion of rainbows in paragraph 4 focuses on the fate of art and beauty, not of humanity (“I could not get out of my mind the thought of a friend, who said that the rainbows over the Falls were like the arts and beauty and goodness, with regard to the stream of life—caused by it, thrown upon its spray, but unable to stay or direct or affect it, and ceasing when it ceased”).

Option C is incorrect because, in paragraph 4, the author talks about people in general when discussing “men and nations” and provides no evidence of the differences in specific individuals’ experience of the Falls.

Option D is incorrect because, while the setting at night does provide a place of contemplation, the author notes the “dark flood” as the overall illustration of the human experience.

Question analysis

In this question about the closing paragraph of Brooke’s “Niagara Falls,” students identify the main way the author illustrates the idea that human lives and history move toward the same ending. The paragraph is dense and philosophical and holds several images and reflections, so students must find the one that carries this particular idea.

NYS standards: 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often trace how an idea is illustrated in a modern text; this paragraph is abstract reflection in long, formal sentences, with words like “certitude” and “multitudinous,” and offers several competing images to sort through.
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 analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences major
The right answer is reworded moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 987 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 80 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

Paragraph 4 holds three images, the night spray as a ghost, the friend’s rainbows, and the river as a life, and the question asks which one carries the idea of a shared ending. Students who recognize the stem’s idea in the word “destiny” or in rainbows “ceasing when it ceased” can stop too soon. The test is the word “illustrated”: only the comparison of the dark flood to men and nations shows them traveling to an end.

Complex sentences major Understanding the question
The key sentence buries its point in qualifiers: “one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The right choice sums up the river-as-life comparison in plain words, “movement of water” and “human experience,” while wrong choices reuse the paragraph’s own “rainbows,” “art and beauty,” “night” and “destiny.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Multitudinous,” “certitude,” “insupportable” and “unavailing” all fall in the sentences that carry the idea, so students must read through them to reach the comparison. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Locate the sentences in paragraph 4 about what happens to people and nations, then decide which choice best describes how those sentences make their point.

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.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Picks the friend’s rainbow comparison, which is in paragraph 4 and does end “ceasing when it ceased,” but the ending it shows belongs to art and beauty, not people and nations.
C Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak
Brings in the commonsense idea that every visitor sees the Falls differently, but the paragraph speaks of “one” and of men and nations in general, never of differences.
D Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Combines the night view with “thoughts of destiny,” both in the paragraph, but those describe when reflection happens, not the image that shows lives and nations sharing an end.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks how paragraph 4 shows one idea: that people and nations all move toward the same ending. You need the main way the author makes that point.
Find the sentences about people and nations
Paragraph 4 says the river, “with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life, whether of an individual or of a community.” Later it says “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.”
Put the comparison in plain words
“Multitudinous” means very many. The river has many waves but one current. In the same way, a life has many moments but one path. “Inevitably” means in a way that cannot be stopped. The water rushes over the Falls no matter what. Every person and every nation reaches an end, too. The author shows this by comparing the moving water to human life.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The rainbows stand for art and beauty, not for people and nations.
- B is right. The river’s rush to its end is compared to human lives and history.
- C is wrong. The author speaks of people in general. He never shows observers seeing the Falls differently.
- D is wrong. Night is when the thinking happens. It is not the picture that shows the shared ending.
Watch out: D uses real details from paragraph 4, night and destiny. But they tell when the author thinks, not how he shows the idea.
Choose the answer
The idea is shown through the river and its comparison to people. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, because paragraph 4 does mention night and “thoughts of destiny.” But those details only set the scene for thinking. The shared ending is shown through the river: people and nations are hurried onward like the dark flood. That comparison is B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 30 as printed on page 137 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 137, question 30. Open page 137 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed (pages 134–135)

Question 63 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 31

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls””.

Question

With which statement would the author of this excerpt most likely agree?

AA sense of ease and assurance comes with accepting one’s fate.
BNo matter where one’s path goes in life, one will always have regrets.
CThe best way to overcome fear is to recognize it and then defy it.
DReason will die out with humanity, but art will remain immortal.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the statement the author would agree with most. In paragraph 4, the author states that the Falls make a person feel “with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending.” Later, the final sentence says, “With some such thoughts does the platitudinous heart win from the confusion and thunder of a Niagara peace.” This sentence supports the author’s belief that a person can find peace in accepting the certainty of his or her own ending, as expressed in Option A.

Option B is incorrect because the author does not discuss regrets in the excerpt.

Option C is incorrect because, while the excerpt discusses fear when looking at the power of the Falls, the excerpt does not support the idea that one should defy fear.

Option D is incorrect because the excerpt states in paragraph 4 that art and beauty are “caused by” the stream of life and end with it, “ceasing when it ceased.”

Question analysis

This question asks students to infer which statement about life the author of “Niagara Falls” would most likely agree with, based on the reflections that close his essay. It is hard because the evidence sits in long, abstract sentences of century-old prose and must be pieced together from more than one place in the final paragraph.

NYS standards: 7R6 point of view and author position
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 9 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 point-of-view questions usually rest on a clearly stated opinion. Here the author’s view must be pieced together from abstract reflection on lives, nations and the river, with words like “insupportable” and “platitudinous,” which is closer to high school reading.
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: Reading between the lines major
Complex sentences major
The right answer is reworded moderate
Hard words moderate
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 9, 987 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 61 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A misreading of a word in the passage was corrected in the explanation.
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 question asks for the author’s outlook, which he reaches only in the closing sentences of a long, abstract paragraph. The mood there is gloomy, with ruin, a dark flood and human crying, so students who read the mood but not the argument choose regret. The comfort and peace he finds in that certainty are easy to miss in the inverted final sentence, and they are exactly what the answer rests on.

Reading between the lines major Working it out
The author never states a belief; students must combine “comforting certitude,” people who meet their end “unreluctant” and “not without nobility,” and the closing “peace” into an attitude of accepting fate. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences major Understanding the question
The last sentence inverts normal order, “With some such thoughts does the platitudinous heart win from the confusion and thunder of a Niagara peace,” so its subject and object are hard to find. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer
The right statement uses none of the passage’s words, turning “certitude” into “assurance” and “peace” into “ease,” while wrong choices pick up “fear” and “art.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Hard words moderate Understanding the question
“Certitude,” “unreluctant,” “unavailing” and “platitudinous” carry the author’s attitude, and the glossary defines only the last of them. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Reread the second half of paragraph 4 slowly, translating each long sentence into plain words, then choose the statement those lines support without adding ideas the author never mentions.

Traps

Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads “the white cloud of human crying” and the dark flood as a claim about lifelong regret, though the author never mentions regret and finds comfort in the end.
C Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate
Falls back on familiar advice about facing fears, prompted by the excerpt’s talk of terror, but the author recommends accepting what is inevitable, not defying it.
D Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Reverses the friend’s rainbow comparison: art and beauty are “caused by” the stream of life and end with it, “ceasing when it ceased,” so art is not immortal.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook rejects Option D because paragraph 4 says art is “unable to stay.” In the passage, art and beauty are “unable to stay or direct or affect” the stream of life: “stay” means to stop or hold back the stream, not to last. What shows that art is not immortal is that it is “caused by” the stream of life and ends with it, “ceasing when it ceased,” which the site now quotes.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks which statement the author would most likely agree with. He never states his belief outright, so you must infer it from his words, especially at the end of paragraph 4.
Find what he says about endings
In paragraph 4, he says that at Niagara one feels “with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude” that people and nations reach an end. He adds: “Some go down to it unreluctant, and meet it, like the river, not without nobility.” His last sentence says the heart can “win from the confusion and thunder of a Niagara peace.”
Put his words in plain English
“Certitude” means being sure. “Insupportable” means too hard to bear. So knowing that everything ends is hard, yet it is also comforting. “Unreluctant” means willing. Some people meet their end willingly, with dignity. And the Falls give the heart peace. Put together: accepting what must happen brings calm.
Check each choice
- A is right. He finds comfort and peace in accepting fate. That is “ease and assurance.”
- B is wrong. He never mentions regrets.
- C is wrong. He talks about accepting what must happen, not about fighting fear.
- D is wrong. Art and beauty are “caused by” life and end with it, “ceasing when it ceased.” So art does not last forever.
Watch out: “The white cloud of human crying” sounds sad, so B may tempt you. But sadness is not regret, and the author ends on peace.
Choose the answer
The author finds calm and comfort in accepting what must come. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because paragraph 4 mentions human crying and ruin. But the author never talks about regret. He calls the certainty of an ending “comforting,” and the essay closes on the word “peace.” Feeling calm by accepting fate is what A says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 31 as printed on page 137 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 137, question 31. Open page 137 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 64 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 38

Passage Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

by John Gould Fletcher

Higher and still more high,
Palaces made for cloud,
Above the dingy city-roofs
Blue-white like angels with broad wings,
Pillars of the sky at rest
The mountains from the great plateau
Uprise.

“Snowy Mountains” by John Gould Fletcher—Public Domain

Question

The description in the first stanza (lines 1–7) helps establish a central idea of the poem by

Acomparing the length of time the mountains have existed with the length of time the city has existed.
Bcontrasting the grandeur of the mountains with the structures in the city below them.
Cimplying that the mountains are a source of inspiration to the people in the city below.
Dsuggesting that the mountains are larger than the people in the city realize.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the description in the first stanza helps establish a central idea of the poem. The poem is mostly about the grandeur of the mountains in spite of the spread of civilization. The first stanza contrasts these two elements, which is stated in Option B.

Option A is incorrect because it is a detail that is referenced later in the poem.

Option C is incorrect because the poem actually communicates the message that people do not recognize the greatness of the mountains.

Option D is incorrect because, although the first stanza mentions the size of the mountains, it does not imply that people cannot see how large the mountains are.

Question analysis

This question about John Gould Fletcher’s poem “Snowy Mountains” asks how the first stanza’s description helps establish a central idea of the poem. Students must interpret images such as palaces, pillars and angels, decide what the opening lines do with them, and judge which choice states that role without adding ideas.

NYS standards: 7R2 theme or central idea
7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Linking one stanza to a poem’s central idea is a common grade 7 task, and these images are vivid and concrete. The inverted, century-old syntax adds a little challenge but no unusual demand.
Estimated difficulty: Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 77 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 first stanza sets its majestic images directly against “the dingy city-roofs,” so students who read it as a picture find the contrast without much trouble. The losses come from importing ideas from later in the poem, people’s neglect in stanza 2 or the passing of time, into seven lines that contain neither. The inverted word order slows a first reading but does not hide the meaning.

Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The contrast is carried by images, not statements: “Palaces made for cloud” and “angels with broad wings” rise “Above the dingy city-roofs,” and students must read grandeur and drabness from those pictures. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The stanza is one inverted sentence: five lines of images come before its subject, “The mountains,” in line 6 and its verb, “Uprise,” in line 7. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Reread lines 1–7 and sum up in a phrase what the stanza does, then check each choice against those seven lines.

Traps

Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

A Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Brings in time, which the poem raises only in line 9 and line 18; the first stanza sets mountains against city by height and splendor, not by age.
C Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
Assumes that majestic mountains inspire the people below them, a common idea about nature, but the stanza shows no reaction from the city, and the next stanza says the world “heeds them not.”
D Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Combines line 1’s “Higher and still more high” with the poem’s later charge that people ignore the mountains, but nothing in lines 1–7 says the city misjudges how large they are.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This question asks how the first stanza helps build a central idea of the poem. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph. A central idea is a main message. Only lines 1 to 7 matter here, from “Higher and still more high” to “Uprise.”
Read the pictures in lines 1–7
The mountains are called “Palaces made for cloud” in line 2. In line 4 they are “Blue-white like angels with broad wings.” In line 5 they are “Pillars of the sky at rest.” Palaces, angels and pillars are all grand, high and beautiful. But line 3 places them “Above the dingy city-roofs.”
Explain what the pictures show
“Dingy” means dull and dirty. So the stanza sets two things side by side. Up high are the shining, noble mountains. Down below are the drab roofs of the city. This is a contrast: two things put together to show how different they are. Grandeur means greatness and splendor. The stanza shows the mountains’ grandeur next to the plain city.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Time is not in lines 1–7. It first comes up in line 9, “They have been here now for too long a time.”
- B fits. Grand mountains rise over dingy city roofs.
- C is wrong. The stanza never shows people being inspired. In fact, line 8 says “the world heeds them not,” or pays them no attention.
- D is wrong. Line 1 says the mountains are high. But nothing says the city misjudges their size.
Choose the answer
The first stanza puts splendid mountains above a dull city. So the answer is B, “contrasting the grandeur of the mountains with the structures in the city below them.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap. It mixes line 1 with an idea from later in the poem, that people ignore the mountains. But the question is about lines 1–7 only. Those lines show a contrast in looks: high and splendid against low and dingy. They say nothing about what people think.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 38 as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 142, question 38. Open page 142 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)

Question 65 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 41

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How does isolating the word “Uprise” in line 7 affect the meaning of the poem?

AIt creates a contrast between the great plateau and the city buildings.
BIt reveals the similarity between the tall buildings in the city and the tall mountains on the horizon.
CIt creates a vision of the region before people developed the land.
DIt emphasizes that the mountains dominate the landscape.

Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the isolation of the word affects the meaning of the poem. The isolation of the word “Uprise” powerfully emphasizes the first stanza’s description of the magnificent mountains standing tall above the land below, as expressed in Option D.

Option A is incorrect because the word describes the mountains and, therefore, does not create a contrast between the plateau and the city buildings, but rather between the mountains and the plateau.

Option B is incorrect because the word contrasts the mountains with the plateau; it does not compare the mountains to the buildings in the city.

Option C is incorrect because the first stanza describes the already developed land over which the mountains rise.

Question analysis

In “Snowy Mountains,” the opening stanza builds a long sentence about the mountains and saves its verb, “Uprise,” for a line of its own. This poetry structure question asks how isolating that single word affects the poem’s meaning, so students need to think about how a line break shapes what the reader notices, as well as about what the stanza describes.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Grade 7 poetry questions often ask about word choice; this one asks about a structural choice, a one-word line, which is less familiar, though the stanza’s images make the intended effect fairly easy to sense.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
How, not what moderate
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 64 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 who see that “Uprise” is the verb the whole stanza has been building toward recognize the effect quickly: the mountains rise over everything else in the picture. Those who treat the word as one more image look for a comparison instead and find several, because the stanza is full of buildings, roofs and a plateau. The real test is sorting which contrast belongs to the mountains.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The stanza is one long sentence that withholds its subject until line 6 and its verb until line 7, so “Uprise” lands as the payoff of five lines of images. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
How, not what moderate Working it out
The question asks about a line break, a structural choice, rather than a word’s meaning, and students must judge what setting one verb on its own line makes the reader notice. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Read the stanza aloud and notice where the long sentence finally reaches its verb, then ask what ending on that single word makes the reader see.

Traps

Taking figurative language literally: A choice reads a figure of speech or image at face value.
Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.

The wrong answers, classified

A Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Rightly senses a contrast in the stanza but pairs the wrong things: “Uprise” sets the mountains against the land below them, not the plateau against the city’s buildings.
B Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Notices that the mountains are compared to “Palaces” and “Pillars,” but those grand buildings are set against the “dingy city-roofs,” so the stanza contrasts mountains and city rather than likening them.
C Taking figurative language literally (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: weak
Takes “Uprise” at face value, as mountains pushing up out of the plateau long ago, but line 3’s “dingy city-roofs” place the scene in a land already built on.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about a choice the poet made in how the poem looks. Line 7 is only one word: “Uprise.” You need to say what setting that word alone on its line does to the meaning.
Find the sentence the word ends
The whole first stanza is one long sentence. Lines 1 to 5 are a string of pictures: palaces, angels, pillars. The subject, “The mountains from the great plateau,” does not come until line 6. Line 7 then gives the verb, or action word, which is “Uprise.” A plateau is a wide area of high, flat land.
Think about the effect
“Uprise” means rise up. The reader waits six lines for this action. Then it stands by itself, like the mountains standing alone over the land. The short line makes you stop and picture them rising above everything, even “the dingy city-roofs.” So the mountains dominate the scene. To dominate is to tower over and be the main thing you notice.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. “Uprise” is about the mountains rising. It does not set the plateau against the city buildings.
- B is wrong. The stanza does not show the city and the mountains as alike. The city roofs are “dingy,” while the mountains are like palaces.
- C is wrong. Line 3 already shows a city, so this is not the land before people.
- D fits. The lone word makes the mountains tower over the whole picture.
Choose the answer
Ending the long sentence on one lone word makes the mountains stand out over everything. So the answer is D, “It emphasizes that the mountains dominate the landscape.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest trap, because the stanza does contain a contrast. But it is between the mountains and everything below them. “Uprise” is the mountains’ own action, so its effect must be about the mountains. Only D keeps the focus there.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 41 as printed on page 143 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 143, question 41. Open page 143 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 66 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 45

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How do the details in the third stanza (lines 15–26) contribute to the development of the theme of the poem?

Aby reflecting nature’s capacity to resist change
Bby showing that nature is capable of influencing human will
Cby exposing how a lack of awareness leads to nature’s ruin
Dby explaining why people must respect nature

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the details in the third stanza contribute to the development of the theme of the poem. In the third stanza, phrases such as “Wilderness still untamed” (line 17), “time-resisting storm-worn stone” (line 22), and “The mountains swing along” (line 23) convey the message that in spite of the destruction described in the second stanza, the mountains manage to maintain their wild magnificence. This message is communicated in Option A.

Option B is incorrect because, while the phrase “Barrier broken down” (line 21) conveys the idea that people can have some effect on the natural landscape, it does not convey how nature affects people.

Option C is incorrect because the phrase “those who do not need” (line 21) implies a choice to damage nature and not a lack of awareness or understanding.

Option D is incorrect because the third stanza is not a call to humanity to respect the mountains but a description of the untamed, welcoming mountains and the joy they provide for those who appreciate them.

Question analysis

This theme question asks how the details in the third stanza of “Snowy Mountains” contribute to the poem’s message. The stanza piles up images of peaks, gods, ice and mist alongside a line about a barrier broken down, so students must weigh all of its details and decide which idea about nature and people they add up to.

NYS standards: 7R2 theme or central idea
7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Grade 7 students trace how a theme develops, but this stanza is one long, layered sentence that mixes praise with loss, and the choices offer different, believable messages about nature, which makes it closer to grade 8 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: Complex sentences moderate
Figurative or literary language moderate
Evidence in several places moderate
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 54 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A misquotation of the poem in the explanation 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 third stanza holds both endurance and damage, and the question asks which one its details mostly build. Students who fix on the broken barrier choose ruin, which the poem’s second stanza seems to confirm, while those who count the stanza’s details find untamed wilderness, time-resisting stone and mountains swinging along the horizon. The long, inverted sentence makes that count slow, which is why the question is hard.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
Lines 15–26 form one sentence in which a string of descriptive phrases precedes the subject, “The mountains,” in line 23, so the stanza’s overall point is hard to hold together. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The mountains are given “shining foreheads,” said to be “spread by Gods,” and shown to “swing along” and welcome mists, and these personifications carry the stanza’s message of endurance. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Evidence in several places moderate Working it out
The theme has to be built from details scattered through twelve lines, “Wilderness still untamed,” “the future is as was the past,” “time-resisting storm-worn stone,” and weighed against the one line of damage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: List what the third stanza says about the mountains and what it says about people, then pick the choice that fits most of those details, not just one line.

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.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
Reversed relationship: Cause and effect, or the order of events, turned around.

The wrong answers, classified

B Reversed relationship (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Reverses who acts on whom: the stanza shows people breaking down the barrier and the mountains enduring, with no sign that nature shapes what people want.
C Too narrow (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Builds on line 21’s “Barrier broken down,” a single line of damage among many lines of endurance, and so mistakes one detail for the stanza’s contribution.
D Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: moderate
States a familiar environmental lesson, that people must respect nature, but the stanza describes the mountains and never argues or explains what people should do.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook quotes line 21 as “those who do not heed.” The line reads “Barrier broken down by those who do not need,” so the site now quotes “those who do not need.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what the third stanza, lines 15 to 26, adds to the poem’s theme, or big message. You need to look at all the details in those twelve lines and see what most of them say. Don’t build your answer on just one line.
Collect the stanza’s details
The stanza calls the mountains a “Wilderness still untamed” in line 17. Line 18 says “the future is as was the past,” so they do not change. Line 22 speaks of “time-resisting storm-worn stone.” Line 23 says “The mountains swing along.” Only line 21 shows harm: “Barrier broken down.”
Explain what the details add up to
“Untamed” means still wild and not controlled by people. “Time-resisting” means holding out against time. “Storm-worn” means worn by storms but still standing. Even after the harm in stanza 2, the mountains are still wild. They still swing along the edge of the sky. So the stanza shows that nature can resist change. Capacity means ability.
Check each choice
- A fits. Most details show the mountains lasting and staying wild.
- B is wrong. It flips who acts. People act on the mountains. The mountains do not change what people want.
- C is wrong. Line 21 shows some damage, but it is one line. The rest of the stanza shows the mountains enduring, not ruined.
- D is wrong. The stanza describes the mountains. It never tells people what they must do.
Choose the answer
Most of the third stanza shows the mountains staying wild and strong over time. So the answer is A, “by reflecting nature’s capacity to resist change.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the strongest trap, because stanza 2 really is about harm. But this question is about stanza 3. Count its details. Untamed wilderness, an unchanging future, time-resisting stone and mountains swinging along all show endurance. Only one line shows damage, so A fits the stanza as a whole.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 45 as printed on page 144 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 144, question 45. Open page 144 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 67 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 46

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 21–22 from the poem.

Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,

How do the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view?

AThey suggest that the speaker wants to remove the obstacles that prevent others from experiencing the wonders of nature.
BThey reveal the speaker’s opinion that some people are too busy to appreciate natural beauty.
CThey suggest the speaker’s dismay that people destroy the natural landscape without understanding the ramifications of their actions.
DThey explain that the speaker is confident that nature will never be fully destroyed by people.

Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view. The words “those who do not need / The joy” in lines 21–22 suggest the speaker’s sadness that people do not realize that they are destroying something wonderful and irreplaceable, as expressed in Option C.

Option A is incorrect because the word “barrier” (line 21) refers to the speaker’s opinion that the mountains were “spread by Gods” (line 19) and not to an obstacle that the speaker thinks should be removed.

Option B is incorrect because, while the lines indicate that people have lost the need to connect with nature, they do not reveal that the speaker thinks that the cause of this loss is busyness.

Option D is incorrect because, although the speaker does say that the stone is “time-resisting” (line 22), this belief is only a small detail of the speaker’s point of view.

Question analysis

Students explain how lines 21–22 of the poem “Snowy Mountains” convey the speaker’s point of view about people who break down the mountains’ barrier. The lines are hard to parse because a phrase runs across the line break and “need” is used in an unusual way, so students must first work out what the sentence says before judging the speaker’s feeling.

NYS standards: 7R6 point of view and author position
7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: Above grade 7 Reading a speaker’s attitude is grade 7 work, but this sentence runs across a line break with unusual phrasing, and the choices require fine distinctions between feelings and reasons, which pushes it above typical grade 7 demand.
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 analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences major
Reading between the lines moderate
Hard words minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 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

Two lines of compressed, inverted verse must be untangled before any choice can be judged, and the meaning of “need” in them is unusual. Once the lines are paraphrased as people who do not value the old stone breaking it down, the speaker’s sorrow is clear, but two wrong choices offer neighboring readings. One supplies a reason the poem never gives, and the other carries the stanza’s idea of endurance into a certainty the lines contradict.

Complex sentences major Understanding the question
The sentence breaks mid-phrase, “those who do not need / The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” and has no main verb of its own, so students must first work out who breaks what. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
Reading between the lines moderate Working it out
Neither dismay nor ignorance is stated; both have to be inferred from describing people as not needing “the joy” of what they break down. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
Hard words minor Understanding the question
“Barrier” here means the mountain range as a wall, not an obstacle, and the key uses “ramifications,” a word many students will not know. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Rephrase the two lines in plain words, starting with who breaks the barrier and what they do not need, then decide which feeling of the speaker that wording reveals.

Traps

Dictionary meaning, not meaning here: A common meaning of the word that does not fit its use in this text.
Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.

The wrong answers, classified

A Dictionary meaning, not meaning here (Perfetti, 2007)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Takes “Barrier” in its everyday sense of an obstacle to clear away, but here it is the mountain range itself, “spread by Gods,” which the speaker values.
B Outside knowledge (King et al., 2004; Recht & Leslie, 1988)
Reveals a misconception Expected pull: strong
Supplies a familiar modern explanation, that people are too busy for nature, though the lines say only that some people do not need this joy, not why.
D Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Stretches “time-resisting” into certainty that nature can never be destroyed, though the same sentence shows the barrier being broken down by people.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks what lines 21 and 22 show about the speaker’s point of view, or feelings and opinion. The lines are tangled, so first you need to put them in plain words.
Read the lines in their place
The two lines are “Barrier broken down by those who do not need / The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” in the third stanza. Two lines earlier, line 19 calls the mountains a “Barrier spread by Gods,” or a wall made by the gods. So the barrier is the mountain range itself. It is not an obstacle in someone’s way.
Put the lines in plain words
Here is the meaning. The mountains are being broken down by people who feel no need for the joy that old, strong stone gives. These people do not value what they are destroying. The speaker is sad and upset about this. That feeling is dismay. Ramifications are the results that follow from an action. People break the mountains without seeing what they lose.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. The “barrier” is the mountains, which the speaker loves. The speaker does not want them removed.
- B is wrong. The lines never say why people don’t value the stone. Being too busy is a reason brought in from outside.
- C fits. The speaker is dismayed that people destroy the mountains without seeing their worth.
- D is wrong. The same lines show the barrier being “broken down.” They show worry about harm, not confidence that nature is safe.
Choose the answer
The lines show sorrow at people breaking down something they do not value. So the answer is C, “They suggest the speaker’s dismay that people destroy the natural landscape without understanding the ramifications of their actions.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest trap. It also says people fail to value nature. But it adds a reason, being busy, that the poem never gives. The lines only say these people “do not need” the joy. C stays with what the lines show: harm done by people who don’t see its cost.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 46 as printed on page 145 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 145, question 46. Open page 145 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 68 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 47

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 23–26 from the poem.

The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

The personification in these concluding lines of the poem suggests that the mountains are

Agracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.
Bunaware of their coming destruction.
Clively entertainers who are not bothered by the everyday concerns of people.
Dtoo proud to reveal their pain.

Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what the personification in the lines suggests in the poem. Line 25’s use of the word “Welcoming” suggests that the mountains are kind hosts. Lines 23 and 26, with language such as “The mountains swing along” and “The mists that dance and drive before the sun,” imply the carefree nature of the mountains as they resist the destructive work of humanity. Therefore, Option A is correct.

Option B is incorrect because the wording in the lines is positive and victorious, with no language to suggest coming destruction.

Option C is incorrect because, although the lines mention that “the mountains swing along” (line 23) and “the mists . . . dance” (line 26), the personification is used to describe the mountains’ perseverance, rather than to suggest that the mountains are entertaining others.

Option D is incorrect because the lines refer to the joy of the mountains as they “swing along” (line 23) and do not suggest pride.

Question analysis

This personification question asks what the final four lines of the poem “Snowy Mountains” suggest about the mountains, which “swing along” the south horizon of the sky. Students must interpret human qualities given to nature, and the trick is that several choices assign the mountains feelings or roles that only partly match the lines.

NYS standards: 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level: Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Interpreting personification is a familiar grade 7 skill, and these lines are short and quoted. The challenge is choosing among character descriptions that each match part of the imagery, a typical rather than unusual demand.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly understand
What makes it hard: Figurative or literary language moderate
A very close wrong answer moderate
Complex sentences minor
Evidence: Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level: Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 78 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 closing lines are calm and generous, and the question asks students to turn their personification into a character. The trap is assigning actions to the wrong actor: the dancing belongs to the mists, and taking it for the mountains’ makes them performers rather than hosts. Students who carry the destruction of earlier stanzas into these lines also misjudge the mountains’ ease.

Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question
The personification has to be sorted by actor: the mountains “swing along” and are “Welcoming,” while it is the mists that “dance and drive before the sun.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The hosts choice and the entertainers choice share one frame, mountains unbothered by people; they differ only in the role, and line 26 settles it, since the mists, not the mountains, “dance.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
In “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice / The mists,” the object comes after a long phrase and a line break, so who welcomes whom is easy to miss. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Note each human action in lines 23–26 and who performs it, then choose the description that fits every one of those actions.

Traps

Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

B Reads too much in (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Reads the mountains’ carefree “swing along” as obliviousness and adds the earlier stanzas’ damage, but these lines are serene and say nothing about destruction to come.
C Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Gets the mountains’ unconcern about people nearly right, but takes “swing” and “dance” as entertaining when the mists do the dancing and the mountains welcome them as hosts.
D Wrong tone or attitude (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Imagines hidden suffering behind the calm, perhaps from “storm-worn stone,” but the lines show the mountains at ease and welcoming, with no hint of pride or pain.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about personification in lines 23 to 26. Personification means giving human actions or feelings to something that is not human. You need to decide what kind of person the mountains seem to be.
Sort the actions by who does them
Line 23 says “The mountains swing along.” Line 25 says the mountains are “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice.” Whom do they welcome? Line 26 answers: “The mists that dance and drive before the sun.” So the mountains swing and welcome. The mists are the ones that dance.
Explain what the actions suggest
To swing along is to move in an easy, carefree way. Welcoming guests onto your floors is what a host does. A host is a person who has guests over. The mountains are kind hosts to the mists. Gracious means kind and polite. They also seem calm. After all the harm in stanza 2, they are untroubled, or not bothered.
Check each choice
- A fits. The mountains welcome guests and stay calm.
- B is wrong. These lines say nothing about harm still to come.
- C is wrong. The mists dance, not the mountains. The mountains are hosts, not entertainers.
- D is wrong. The lines show ease and welcome. Nothing hints at pride or hidden pain.
Choose the answer
The mountains swing along and welcome the mists like hosts. So the answer is A, “gracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is very close, since it also says the mountains don’t worry about people. The difference is the role. An entertainer performs for others. A host welcomes others in. In line 26 it is the mists that “dance,” and the mountains are “Welcoming” them. That makes the mountains hosts.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 47 as printed on page 145 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 145, question 47. Open page 145 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 69 of 70

2018 Test B English, question 49

Passage Invention of the Telegraph

Samuel Morse, an American inventor, is credited with creating the electronic telegraph, a communication device that allows users to send messages using a system of short and long pulses that represent letters, numbers, and punctuation. In 1843 the United States Congress passed the Telegraph Bill, which provided Morse with the funds to build an electric telegraph system.

Invention of the Telegraph

Earlier Signal Systems

Long before Samuel F. B. Morse electrically transmitted his famous message “What hath God wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore on May 24, 1844, there were signaling systems that enabled people to communicate over distances. Most were visual or “semaphore” systems using flags or lights. In the eighteenth century, such systems used an observer who would decipher a signal from a high tower on a distant hill and then send it on to the next station. The young American republic wanted just such a system along its entire Atlantic coast and offered a prize of $30,000 for a workable proposal. The framers of this legislation $^1$ had no way of knowing that when they used the word “telegraph” to refer to this visual semaphore system, they would be offered an entirely new and revolutionary means of communication—electricity.

The Growth of an Idea

The idea of using electricity to communicate over distance is said to have occurred to Morse during a conversation aboard ship when he was returning from Europe in 1832. Michael Faraday’s recently invented electromagnet was much discussed by the ship’s passengers, and when Morse came to understand how it worked, he speculated that it might be possible to send a coded message over a wire. While a student at Yale College years before, he had written his parents a letter about how interesting he found the lectures on electricity. Despite what he had learned at Yale, Morse found when he began to develop his idea that he had little real understanding of the nature of electricity, and after sporadic attempts to work with batteries, magnets, and wires, he finally turned for help to a colleague at the University of the City of New York, Leonard D. Gale.

Gale was a professor of chemistry and familiar with the electrical work of Princeton’s Joseph Henry, a true pioneer in the new field. Well before Morse had his shipboard idea about a telegraph, Henry rang a bell at a distance by opening and closing an electric circuit. In 1831, he had published an article, of which Morse was unaware, that contained details suggesting the idea of an electric telegraph. Gale’s help and his knowledge of this article proved crucial to Morse’s telegraph system because Gale not only pointed out flaws in the system but showed Morse how he could regularly boost the strength of a signal and overcome the distance problems he had encountered by using a relay system Henry had invented. Henry’s experiments, Gale’s assistance, and, soon after, hiring the young technician Alfred Vail were keys to Morse’s success.

Obstacles and Opportunities

By December 1837, Morse had enough confidence in his new system to apply for the federal government’s appropriation, and during the next year he conducted demonstrations of his telegraph both in New York and Washington.

However, when the economic disaster known as the Panic of 1837 took hold of the nation and caused a long depression, Morse was forced to wait for better times. It was during this period that Morse visited Europe again and tried not only to secure patent protection overseas but to examine competing telegraph systems in England. . . .

By 1843, the country was beginning to recover economically, and Morse again asked Congress for the $30,000 that would allow him to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, forty miles away. The House of Representatives eventually passed the bill containing the Morse appropriation, and the Senate approved it in the final hours of that Congress’s last session. With President Tyler’s signature, Morse received the cash he needed and began to carry out plans for an underground telegraph line.

Realizing a Great Invention

Morse had hired the ingenious construction engineer Ezra Cornell to lay the pipe carrying the wire, and although Cornell did his job superbly, one of Morse’s partners, Congressman F. O. J. Smith, had purchased wire with defective insulation. Too much time had been wasted laying bad wire, and with the project on a rigid deadline, something had to be done quickly. Cornell suggested that the fastest and cheapest way of connecting Washington and Baltimore was to string wires overhead on trees and poles. The desperate Morse gave the go-ahead, and the line was completed in time for the dramatic and spectacularly successful link between the Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol building and the railroad station in Baltimore.

Soon, as overhead wires connected cities up and down the Atlantic coast, the dots-and-dashes method $^2$ that recorded messages on a long moving strip of paper was replaced by the operator’s ability to interpret the code in real time. . . . Telegraph lines soon extended westward, and within Morse’s own lifetime they connected the continents of Europe and America.

“Invention of the Telegraph”—Public Domain/Library of Congress

$^1$ legislation: Telegraph Bill

$^2$ dots-and-dashes method: the short and long pulses of Morse code that are sent and received by telegraph operators

The first transatlantic electric telegraph message was sent in 1858, and by 1902 the British All-Red Line connected most of the world.

Bar graph titled “Telegraph Messages Transmitted, 1870–1920,” with the number of messages transmitted, in millions, on the vertical axis (0 to 180 in steps of 20) and the years 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910 and 1920 on the horizontal axis. The bars show about 10 million messages in 1870, 30 million in 1880, 55 million in 1890, 65 million in 1900, 75 million in 1910 and 155 million in 1920.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial Edition, Part 2. Washington, D.C., 1975.

Question

Which statement describes how the author’s use of sequencing in paragraph 3 contributes to the overall structure of the passage?

AIt shows that several people were simultaneously attempting to create an electric telegraph.
BIt shows how the invention of the electric telegraph depended on information and techniques discovered by others.
CIt shows that multiple means of long-distance communication were being used at the same time.
DIt shows how quickly long-distance communication changed from visual signals to electrical signals.

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the use of sequencing, or arranging in chronological order, in paragraph 3 contributes to the overall structure of the passage. Paragraph 3 outlines the information that Gale knew who Henry was (“Well before Morse had his shipboard idea about a telegraph, Henry rang a bell at a distance by opening and closing an electric circuit”) and that Gale told Morse. Gale’s input was “crucial to Morse’s telegraph system,” and hiring Vail was an additional and necessary help.

Therefore, Option B is correct because the creation of Morse’s telegraph involved a series of steps that each built upon earlier ideas and inventions from others, such as Henry, Gale, and Vail.

Option A is incorrect because, although the inventions and advancements of others assisted in the development of the telegraph, the passage does not suggest that the other men were attempting to create their own telegraph systems.

Option C is incorrect because the only other long-distance communication system mentioned in the passage is the outdated semaphore system discussed in paragraph 1.

Option D is incorrect because the telegraph system was in development for more than ten years because of the lack of funding and the need for further experimentation.

Question analysis

Students explain how the sequence of events in paragraph 3 of “Invention of the Telegraph” contributes to the passage’s overall structure. The paragraph names several people and their roles in a few long sentences, and the choices make claims about the invention’s history that must each be checked against it.

NYS standards: 7R5 structure and genre features
7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level: Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7: At grade 7 Sequencing is familiar grade 7 structure work. This paragraph packs several people and dates into long sentences, but once the order is clear the role of the sequence is fairly direct, so the demand is typical.
Estimated difficulty: Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Thinking it demands: Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly analyze
What makes it hard: Complex sentences moderate
How, not what moderate
Much to keep track of minor
Evidence: Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level: Passage: about grade 11, 910 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 77 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

Paragraph 3 is dense, but its last sentence nearly states the answer: Henry’s experiments, Gale’s help and Vail were “keys to Morse’s success.” Students lose the point when Henry’s telegraph-like article makes them imagine a race, or when the stem’s “overall structure” sends them back to the semaphore towers of paragraph 1. The question rewards reading the time markers as a chain of borrowed knowledge.

Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question
The key facts sit in embedded sentences, such as “an article, of which Morse was unaware, that contained details suggesting the idea,” and a 53-word sentence on what Gale showed Morse. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)
How, not what moderate Working it out
The stem asks what the order of events contributes to the passage’s structure, so students must see the time words, “Well before,” “In 1831,” “soon after,” as showing Morse building on others’ work. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)
Much to keep track of minor Working it out
Four people, Henry, Gale, Vail and Morse, and two of Henry’s inventions have to be kept straight to see who supplied what to whom. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Put the events of paragraph 3 in order, noting who did what and when, then ask what that order shows about Morse’s invention.

Traps

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.
Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

A Twists what the text says (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Reads Henry’s article “suggesting the idea of an electric telegraph” as a rival effort, but the paragraph places Henry’s work “well before” Morse’s and shows it helping him.
C Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Brings back the flag and light systems of paragraph 1, which came before the telegraph; paragraph 3 describes no other means of communication in use alongside it.
D Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Follows the passage’s overall move from semaphore to electricity but adds “how quickly,” though Morse’s idea of 1832 did not become a working line until 1844.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

Figure out what the question asks
This asks about sequencing in paragraph 3. Sequencing means putting events in time order. You need to say what that order shows about Morse’s invention.
Put paragraph 3’s events in order
Paragraph 3 uses time words. “Well before Morse had his shipboard idea about a telegraph, Henry rang a bell at a distance.” It adds that “In 1831, he had published an article” that hinted at an electric telegraph. Then Gale showed Morse “a relay system Henry had invented.” Last, Morse hired Alfred Vail “soon after.”
See what the order shows
A relay is a device that boosts a signal so it can travel farther. Each event in the order is someone else’s work that helped Morse. Henry’s work came first. Gale passed it on. Vail added his skill. The last sentence sums it up: these were all “keys to Morse’s success.” So Morse built his telegraph on what others had found.
Check each choice
- A is wrong. Henry’s work came “well before” Morse’s and helped him. Nobody was racing at the same time.
- B fits. The order shows Morse depending on earlier work by Henry, Gale and Vail.
- C is wrong. Paragraph 3 talks only about electric work. Flags and lights are in paragraph 1.
- D is wrong. Nothing here shows speed. Morse’s idea came in 1832, and his line opened in 1844.
Choose the answer
The time order shows one person’s work feeding the next, all leading to Morse. So the answer is B, “It shows how the invention of the electric telegraph depended on information and techniques discovered by others.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the strongest trap, because Henry’s article had details “suggesting the idea of an electric telegraph.” That can sound like a rival. But the time words show Henry came first, and Gale used his work to help Morse. Earlier work that helps is what B describes.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 49 as printed on page 149 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 149, question 49. Open page 149 of the handbook (PDF)

The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed (pages 146–148)

The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed on page 146 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed on page 147 of the DOE handbook.

The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed on page 148 of the DOE handbook.

Question 70 of 70

2018 Test B Math, question 46

Question

In a sample of 50 cars at a local dealership, there are 12 red cars and 10 cars with backup cameras. Of the 12 red cars, 4 have backup cameras. If a car is selected at random from the given sample, what is the probability that both of the following are true: the car is not red and does not have a backup camera?

A $\frac{3}{5}$
B $\frac{16}{25}$
C $\frac{19}{25}$
D $\frac{4}{5}$

Show the answer

Correct answer: B

Create a chart using the given information and use subtraction to figure out how many cars are not red and do not have a back-up camera:

	Red	Not Red	TOTAL
Back-up Camera	4	6 (10-4)	10
No back-up Camera		32 (38-6)
TOTAL	12	38 (50-12)	50

The probability of selecting a car that meets both conditions from the total of 50 cars at the dealership is $\frac{32}{50}=\frac{16}{25}$ .

Question analysis

In a sample of 50 cars, 12 are red, 10 have backup cameras, and 4 of the red cars have cameras. Students find the probability that a randomly chosen car is neither red nor equipped with a camera. It tests compound probability with overlapping groups, and the overlap between red cars and camera cars is what makes it tricky.

NYS standards: 7.SP.8a compound event as fraction of outcomes
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 compound probability usually uses a ready-made table or tree. Here students must build the two-way table from words, handle an overlap, and use a "not this and not that" condition, several steps beyond 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: Much to keep track of major
Many steps moderate
A very close wrong answer moderate
Complex sentences minor
Solution: 4 steps
Reading level: Question and choices: about grade 6, 63 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook: A grammar slip in the explanation 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 is an overlap problem dressed as probability: the hard part is counting the cars that avoid both features, not the division by 50. A two-way table makes it routine, but students working in their heads often keep only one of the two conditions. The question rewards placing the 4 red cars with cameras in the table before doing any subtraction.

Much to keep track of major Working it out
Three overlapping counts, 12 red, 10 with cameras and 4 that are both, must be sorted into four groups before the wanted one, neither red nor with a camera, can be found. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)
Many steps moderate Working it out
Find the non-red cars with cameras, 10 − 4 = 6, and the non-red cars, 50 − 12 = 38, subtract to get 32, then simplify 32/50. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
19/25, or 38/50, has the same denominator as the right 16/25 and sits just above it; only removing the 6 non-red cars that have cameras from the 38 separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Complex sentences minor Understanding the question
The last sentence stacks "both of the following are true", a colon and two negatives, "not red" and "does not have"; untangling it is reading work, not extra math. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Draw a two-way table with red and not red across, camera and no camera down, fill in the given counts, and complete the missing cells by subtraction.

Traps

Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".
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.

The wrong answers, classified

A Answers a different question (King et al., 2004; Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak
Finds the 6 non-red cars with cameras and divides by the 10 camera cars, 6/10 = 3/5, a different probability from the one asked.
C Misreads the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong
Uses only the 38 cars that are not red, 38/50, and ignores the second condition that the car also lacks a backup camera.
D Misreads the question (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995)
Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate
Counts only the 40 cars without backup cameras, 40/50, dropping the requirement that the car must not be red as well.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

Explanation: The handbook says “a car that meet both conditions”; the site says “a car that meets both conditions.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Probability: $P = \frac{\text{number you want}}{\text{total number}}$; P is the probability, the chance that something happens. The top counts the results you want. The bottom counts every possible result. Use it when each result is equally likely, like picking one at random.

Sort out what you know
There are 50 cars. Of these, 12 are red and 10 have backup cameras. Of the red cars, 4 have cameras. You pick one car at random. You need the chance that “both of the following are true”: the car is not red, and it has no camera.
Set up a two-way table
A two-way table sorts each car by two things at once: its color and its camera. Put in the numbers you know.
Red Not red Total
Camera 4 ? 10
No camera ?
Total 12 ? 50
Fill in the missing numbers
Not red with a camera: $10 - 4 = 6$ cars.
All cars that are not red: $50 - 12 = 38$ cars.
Not red with no camera: $38 - 6 = 32$ cars.
Watch out: the 38 cars that are not red include 6 with cameras. Using 38 gives $\frac{38}{50} = \frac{19}{25}$ , choice C. Using all 40 cars with no camera gives $\frac{40}{50} = \frac{4}{5}$ , choice D.
Write the probability
Use the probability formula. There are 32 cars you want out of 50 cars in all.
$P = \frac{32}{50}$
Divide the top and bottom by 2.
$\frac{32}{50} = \frac{16}{25}$
So the answer is B, $\frac{16}{25}$ .

	Red	Not red	Total
Camera	4	?	10
No camera		?
Total	12	?	50

Check your answer

Finish the table. Red cars with no camera: $12 - 4 = 8$ . Now add the four inside boxes: $4 + 6 + 8 + 32 = 50$ . That is every car, so the numbers fit. Also, the cars with no camera are $8 + 32 = 40$ , and $50 - 10 = 40$ too.

More questions like this

The original DOE question

Question 103 as printed on page 162 of the DOE handbook. — As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 162, question 103. Open page 162 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.