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Practice Test

Reading between the lines

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Question 1 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 7
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

Which quotations from the poem support the theme that nature’s unspoiled beauty is splendid, and which quotations support the theme that human creations detract from natural wonder?

Move each answer to the correct box.

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.

Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is SplendidHuman Creations Detract from Natural Wonder
“Above the dingy city-roofs / Blue-white like angels with broad wings,” (lines 3–4)
“Pillars of the sky at rest / The mountains from the great plateau / Uprise.” (lines 5–7)
“Tunnels their granite cliffs, / Splits down their shining sides,” (lines 11–12)
“Wilderness still untamed, / To which the future is as was the past,” (lines 17–18)
“The south horizon of the sky; / Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice” (lines 24–25)
Show the answer

Correct answer: “Above the dingy city-roofs / Blue-white like angels with broad wings,” (lines 3–4): Human Creations Detract from Natural Wonder; “Pillars of the sky at rest / The mountains from the great plateau / Uprise.” (lines 5–7): Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid; “Tunnels their granite cliffs, / Splits down their shining sides,” (lines 11–12): Human Creations Detract from Natural Wonder; “Wilderness still untamed, / To which the future is as was the past,” (lines 17–18): Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid; “The south horizon of the sky; / Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice” (lines 24–25): Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid

The question identifies two themes and asks which quotations from the poem support each theme. Each quotation should be moved to one of the two boxes: “Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid” or “Human Creations Detract from Natural Wonder.”

“Above the dingy city-roofs / Blue-white like angels with broad wings,” (lines 3–4)

This quotation supports the theme that human creations detract from natural wonder. The lines describe the city-roofs as “dingy,” suggesting that they mar the lovely background of the blue-white mountains, which are compared to angels, a simile that vividly conveys the wonder of nature. The description in the lines primarily serves to create a contrast between the city’s unsightly appearance and the beauty of the mountains, thereby providing support for the theme that human creations (i.e. the city) detract from natural wonder.

“Pillars of the sky at rest / The mountains from the great plateau / Uprise.” (lines 5–7)

This quotation supports the theme that nature’s unspoiled beauty is splendid. By describing the mountains as “pillars of the sky” that “uprise” dramatically from a large plateau, the lines primarily convey a sense of the mountains’ dramatic and impressive size. The description suggests that the mountains are holding up the sky, a powerful image of an unspoiled, natural landscape.

“Tunnels their granite cliffs, / Splits down their shining sides,” (lines 11–12)

The quotation supports the theme that human creations detract from natural wonder. The words “tunnels” and “splits” emphasize that human intervention in nature is destructive, breaking apart the “shining sides” of the mountain. These lines suggest that human creations—such as building a tunnel through a mountain—detract from natural wonder, diminishing its beauty and serenity.

“Wilderness still untamed, / To which the future is as was the past,” (lines 17–18)

The quotation supports the theme that nature’s unspoiled beauty is splendid by indicating that the natural mountainous landscape is both splendid and unspoiled (“wilderness still untamed”). The phrase “to which the future is as was the past” suggests that nature in its unspoiled state is timeless or eternal, further supporting the theme.

“The south horizon of the sky; / Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice” (lines 24–25)

The quotation supports the theme that nature’s unspoiled beauty is splendid. The reference to the “wide floors of blue-green ice” emphasizes that the landscape is beautiful, and the description in the lines conveys the grandiose splendor of nature, conveying an image of the “south horizon of the sky” majestically “welcoming” one’s eye, inviting appreciation of its unspoiled beauty.

Question analysis

This sorting question on the poem “Snowy Mountains” gives two themes, the splendor of unspoiled nature and the way human creations detract from natural wonder, and asks students to place five quotations under them. The quotations come from all three stanzas. Students make five separate judgments, and a line’s most vivid image is not always the best guide to where it belongs.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Matching quotations to a stated theme is routine grade 7 evidence work, and both themes are given. The added demand is volume: five separate judgments on lines from all three stanzas of old-fashioned verse, each of which must land in the right box.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 34 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 tiles sort quickly once a student asks whether people appear in the lines. The first tile is the hard one: its angel simile is pure splendor, yet the “dingy city-roofs” beneath it set the city against the peaks, and only that contrast fits the second theme. The tunneling lines hide their human actor outside the tile. With five placements that must all be right, one hasty tile loses the question.

  1. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

    Five tiles from all three stanzas go into two boxes and every placement must be right, so a student holds both themes in mind while judging each quotation on its own. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Two tiles name no person: in lines 3–4 the human presence is only the “dingy city-roofs,” and in lines 11–12 the subject, “The world,” sits back in line 10, outside the tile. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The splendor is carried by images rather than statements, the mountains as “angels,” “Pillars of the sky” and “wide floors of blue-green ice,” which students must read as praise of untouched nature. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read each quotation to the end and ask whether it shows something people have made or done; then sort it by what the lines as a whole are about, not by one word.

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.
  • Taking figurative language literally: A choice reads a figure of speech or image at face value.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a sorting question. You get two themes. A theme is a big idea a poem keeps coming back to. The first theme says nature that people have not spoiled is splendid, which means grand and beautiful. The second says things people make detract from nature, which means they take away from its wonder. For each quotation, ask: does it show something people made or did?

  2. Sort the lines about the city

    Lines 3 and 4 say “Above the dingy city-roofs / Blue-white like angels with broad wings.” The angel picture is beautiful. But right under the mountains are “dingy city-roofs.” Dingy means dirty and dull. City roofs are something people built. The lines set the dirty city against the shining mountains. So this quotation shows a human creation taking away from nature’s wonder.

  3. Sort the lines about the pillars

    Lines 5 to 7 say “Pillars of the sky at rest / The mountains from the great plateau / Uprise.” Pillars are tall posts that hold something up. A plateau is a high, flat stretch of land. The mountains rise up like giant posts holding up the sky. No people appear here. This quotation shows how splendid untouched nature is.

  4. Sort the lines about tunnels

    Lines 11 and 12 say “Tunnels their granite cliffs, / Splits down their shining sides.” These lines do not say who does this. Look back at line 10: “The world makes war on them.” So “the world,” meaning people, cuts tunnels and splits the mountains. The cliffs shine, but people are breaking them. This quotation shows human creations hurting nature.

  5. Sort the last two quotations

    Lines 17 and 18 say “Wilderness still untamed, / To which the future is as was the past.” Untamed means not controlled or changed by people. The second line means the mountains will stay as they always were. Lines 24 and 25 say “The south horizon of the sky; / Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice.” That is a picture of sky and ice, with no people in it. Both praise unspoiled nature.

  6. Place each quotation in its box

    • Lines 3–4 (the city roofs): Human Creations Detract from Natural Wonder
    • Lines 5–7 (the pillars): Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid
    • Lines 11–12 (the tunnels): Human Creations Detract from Natural Wonder
    • Lines 17–18 (the wilderness): Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid
    • Lines 24–25 (the ice): Nature’s Unspoiled Beauty is Splendid

    Drag each tile into its box. All five must be right to get the point.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

Lines 3 and 4 are the hardest tile. The angel image alone would fit the first box. But that box is about beauty that is unspoiled. These lines put the dingy city right under the shining peaks. The dirty roofs spoil the view, so the tile belongs in the second box.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 7 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 10 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 10, question 7.
The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.

Question 2 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 8
Passage The Best Laid Plans of Ravens

The Best Laid Plans of Ravens

In Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven,” a raven visits a lonely man’s home and responds to the man’s pleading questions with only the word “nevermore.” The poem’s narrator interprets the word as a prediction of doom for his future. A talking, prophetic raven may seem to be the wild imaginings of the poet, but a new study published in the journal Science hints that one particular idea behind the poem might not be as far-fetched as it seems. For most of human history, people assumed that animals do not understand the passage of time in the same way people do. Some people believed that animals might remember events from the past and that instinct might drive them to make preparations in order to guarantee survival, but most people did not think that animals had the ability to plan. At Lund University in Sweden, researchers argue that ravens may be able to think ahead and even plan for the future.

It can be difficult to test an animal’s ability to plan because human observers must be certain they are not mistaking instinctual behavior for intentional planning. For example, many animals hoard food so that they will not run out later, but scientists who study animals would not call hoarding a decision to plan for the future. This action is merely instinctual. Cognitive scientists argue that in order for an animal’s behavior to qualify as preparing for the future, the animal must use specific decision-making skills to solve a problem.

To avoid mistaking instinctual behavior for evidence of decision-making, the Lund University researchers designed two experiments to test ravens’ ability to plan. Ravens belong to the corvid family, a group of birds known for their intelligence. A study in 2007 showed that corvids have the tendency to save only certain types of food, which suggests that they are planning for the future rather than acting on instinct. In order to investigate that theory, the researchers had to design experiments that would achieve results that could not be explained by an instinctual behavior of food hoarding. Therefore, the ravens were taught two behaviors that they do not normally perform in the wild.

For the first experiment, the researchers showed the birds how to use a small stone to open a box and get treats. Once the ravens learned the behavior, the researchers presented the birds with four stones. Only one stone was the right size to open the box. The birds learned to select that stone and set it aside until the researchers presented the box. The second experiment involved bartering. A researcher would trade the ravens a large treat for a bottle cap. Later, the researchers presented the ravens with a group of items, including small treats and the bottle cap. The ravens chose the bottle cap over the treats and waited for the original researcher to trade with them again so that they could get more treats. In both experiments, the ravens waited patiently for up to seventeen hours for the researcher to return.

The results of these experiments are exciting, but more evidence needs to be gathered before scientists can fully conclude that ravens can plan for the future. Some scientists argue that the ravens might be choosing the stone and bottle cap because the ravens have been trained to do so, not necessarily because the ravens are thinking ahead. Regardless, like other recent advances in animal science, these experiments show that ravens could be much smarter than first believed, and scientists now believe that ravens do actually think about their own future.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 1.

At Lund University in Sweden, researchers argue that ravens may be able to think ahead and even plan for the future.

Which sentence from paragraph 4 provides support for this argument?

  • A“Once the ravens learned the behavior, the researchers presented the birds with four stones.”
  • B“A researcher would trade the ravens a large treat for a bottle cap.”
  • C“Later, the researchers presented the ravens with a group of items, including small treats and the bottle cap.”
  • D“The ravens chose the bottle cap over the treats and waited for the original researcher to trade with them again so that they could get more treats.”
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from paragraph 4 supports the argument presented in the sentence from paragraph 1.

A. Incorrect. This sentence from paragraph 4 refers to the ravens’ ability to adapt and learn but not to plan and think ahead.

B. Incorrect. This sentence from paragraph 4 relates the actions of the researcher rather than the actions of the ravens and does not provide evidence in support of the argument that ravens have the ability to think and plan ahead.

C. Incorrect. This sentence from paragraph 4 does not describe a behavior of the ravens that would support the argument in the sentence from paragraph 1; instead it relates the actions of the researchers without giving any information about the ravens’ responses.

D. CORRECT. This sentence from paragraph 4 shows that the ravens seem to make a decision, which involves a thought process. The ravens chose to wait for the researcher rather than take the treats, suggesting that the ravens understood that the researcher would trade a larger treat for the bottle cap.

Question analysis

This evidence question on the science article “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens” quotes the claim from paragraph 1 that ravens may be able to think ahead and plan for the future. Students choose the sentence from paragraph 4, where two experiments are described, that supports it. Every choice comes from the same experiments, so each must be weighed against the claim.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing the sentence that backs a quoted claim is standard grade 7 evidence work. The claim is printed in the question and all four choices come from one paragraph, so the search is short, though each sentence must be tested against the claim.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 599 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 107 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 claim is about what ravens can do, and only one of the four sentences shows the birds deciding anything. Students who read quickly accept any sentence about the experiments, especially the one where the ravens have just learned a skill, because learning sounds like intelligence. Asking who acts in each sentence, the birds or the researchers, settles the question in seconds.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The right sentence never says “plan”; students must see that choosing the cap over the treats and waiting “so that they could get more treats” is acting now for a later reward. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four sentences come from paragraph 4’s experiments, and three of them report what the researchers did, so each must be checked for a decision made by the ravens. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Underline “think ahead” and “plan” in the quoted claim, then ask of each sentence whether it, on its own, would convince a doubter that ravens can do that.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the sentence that best supports a claim. The claim is that ravens “may be able to think ahead and even plan for the future.” To plan is to decide now what you will do later, so you get something you want. You need a sentence from paragraph 4 that shows ravens doing that.

  2. Ask who acts in each sentence

    Only something the ravens do can prove what ravens can do. So check each choice for its doer. In A, B and C, the researchers do most of the acting. They hand out stones, offer a trade and set out items. Only one sentence shows the ravens making a choice of their own.

  3. Find the ravens’ choice

    Paragraph 4 says “The ravens chose the bottle cap over the treats and waited for the original researcher to trade with them again so that they could get more treats.” The ravens could have eaten a small treat right away. Instead they took a bottle cap, which is worthless by itself. They kept it because the researcher would trade a large treat for it later.

  4. Explain why this shows planning

    The words “so that” give the reason for the choice. The ravens gave up something now to get something better later. That is exactly what planning ahead means. You do the same thing when you save your allowance for a bigger toy next month.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The ravens have only learned a skill. The rest of the sentence tells what the researchers did next.
    • B does not fit. It tells what a researcher offered, not what the ravens decided.
    • C does not fit. It is the setup of the test, before the ravens choose anything.
    • D fits. The ravens choose now and wait for a later reward.

    Watch out: A sounds smart because the ravens “learned the behavior.” But being taught a skill is not the same as thinking ahead.

  6. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence shows the ravens making a choice now for a reward later. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice, because learning a skill sounds clever. But learning to open a box shows only that the birds can be taught. It says nothing about the future. In D, the ravens pass up treats today to get more treats later. That is planning.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 8 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 13 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 13, question 8.
The passage “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens” as printed (page 12)The passage “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens” as printed on page 12 of the DOE handbook.

Question 3 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 10

Uses the passage above: “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens”.

Question

In the first experiment described in paragraph 4, which of the ravens’ behaviors provides the strongest evidence for the claim that the birds are capable of planning?

  • AThey accepted treats from the box.
  • BThey set aside the stone that would open the box.
  • CThey learned which stone could open the box.
  • DThey waited for researchers to bring the box.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which of the ravens’ behaviors in the first experiment described in paragraph 4 most strongly supports the claim that the birds are capable of planning.

A. Incorrect. While “the researchers showed the birds how to use a small stone to open a box and get treats” (paragraph 4), the acceptance of the treats does not demonstrate planning.

B. CORRECT. Once the ravens learned which stone would open the box, they consistently selected only that stone.

C. Incorrect. Although the birds learned which stone opened the box, this behavior demonstrates not their ability to plan but rather their intelligence.

D. Incorrect. The birds’ patience shows their anticipation for and understanding of the future gain of a treat but does not provide the strongest evidence of their ability to plan.

Question analysis

This evidence question on “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens” asks which of the ravens’ behaviors in the first experiment, the one with a stone and a box of treats, gives the strongest evidence that the birds can plan. Several behaviors seem to fit, so students must weigh them against the passage’s own idea of what planning is.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 evidence questions usually ask which detail supports a claim. This one asks which of the ravens’ behaviors gives the strongest support, and several seem to fit, so students must apply paragraph 2’s test for planning to paragraph 4.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 599 words; question and choices: about grade 5, 58 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 choice describes something the ravens really did, so the work is ranking, not finding. The passage’s dramatic detail, birds waiting up to seventeen hours, draws attention away from the quieter act of keeping the right stone ready, which is the behavior that most clearly prepares for the future. Students who weigh each behavior against paragraph 2’s idea of decision-making, rather than against how impressive it sounds, separate the two.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    Setting the stone aside and waiting for the box both come from one sentence, “set it aside until the researchers presented the box”; only the first is an action taken now for a later need. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The passage never says which behavior counts as planning, so students must apply paragraph 2’s test, that the animal “must use specific decision-making skills to solve a problem,” to each one. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The waiting that tempts students is stressed at the end of paragraph 4, “up to seventeen hours,” well after the stone sentence, and paragraph 2 holds the standard for judging both. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Use paragraph 2’s description of what counts as planning as a yardstick, then rank the four behaviors by how well each meets it instead of taking the first that seems clever.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks which thing the ravens did in the first experiment, the one with the stone and the box, is the strongest evidence that they can plan. More than one choice really happened. You must rank them and pick the best one.

  2. Decide what counts as planning

    Paragraph 2 gives a test. To count as preparing for the future, “the animal must use specific decision-making skills to solve a problem.” In plain words, planning means doing something now to get ready for something later. Use that as your measuring stick.

  3. Find the key sentence

    Paragraph 4 says “The birds learned to select that stone and set it aside until the researchers presented the box.” To set something aside is to put it away to use later. When the birds did this, the box was not there yet.

  4. Explain why this is planning

    The ravens had nothing to open at that moment. Still, they picked the one stone that would work and saved it. They did this because they expected to need it later. It is like packing an umbrella in the morning because rain is coming in the afternoon. That is a choice made now to solve a future problem.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Taking treats is the reward. Any trained animal does that.
    • B fits. Saving the right stone gets the bird ready for a box that comes later.
    • C does not fit. Learning which stone works shows the birds can be taught. Knowing the right tool is not the same as keeping it ready.
    • D does not fit as well. Waiting shows the birds expected the box. But waiting is doing nothing, so it is weaker proof.

    Watch out: D is tempting because the passage stresses waiting “up to seventeen hours.” Long waiting is impressive, but it is not an action.

  6. Choose the answer

    Setting the stone aside is the clearest act of getting ready for the future. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. Waiting and setting the stone aside come from the same sentence. But while a bird waits, it does nothing. Setting the stone aside is a choice. The bird keeps the right tool ready for a box that is not there yet. That act of getting ready makes B stronger evidence.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 10 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 A English, page 15, question 10.

Question 4 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 12

Uses the passage above: “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens”.

Question

The author conveys a point of view on the study of animal intelligence mainly by

  • Asharing details about experiments that tested the ability of an animal to plan for the future.
  • Bcomparing the results of different experiments that were designed to test animal intelligence.
  • Ccritiquing experiments that aimed to demonstrate that certain animals are capable of planning for the future.
  • Dexplaining how modern experiments show that previously held beliefs about animal intelligence are inaccurate.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the author conveys a point of view on the study of animal intelligence.

A. CORRECT. Paragraphs 3 and 4 focus on the process and details of the experiments that scientists conducted. This detailed information from the author provides a sense of how the ravens demonstrated planning abilities beyond natural instinct. The author supports the claims from the experiments, calling the findings “exciting” and stating in the conclusion that “these experiments show that ravens could be much smarter than first believed” (paragraph 5).

B. Incorrect. Although two experiments are described in the passage, the description presents the experiments as building on each other and does not compare their results. The passage states that “these experiments show that ravens could be much smarter than first believed, and scientists now believe that ravens do actually think about their own future” (paragraph 5).

C. Incorrect. The author presents information from the experiments and the results that were gathered from them; while there is an admission that “more evidence needs to be gathered before scientists can fully conclude that ravens can plan for the future” (paragraph 5), the author does not criticize the experiments that are presented.

D. Incorrect. While the author does discuss some previously held beliefs about animal intelligence in paragraph 1, the focus of the passage is that experiments indicate that there is reason to question these beliefs, since “these experiments show that ravens could be much smarter than first believed” (paragraph 5). The previously held beliefs are not considered inaccurate by the discussion in the passage because only one example—the raven—is provided. The passage does not state that beliefs about animal intelligence as a whole are inaccurate.

Question analysis

This author’s point-of-view question asks how the writer of “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens” mainly conveys a view of research into animal intelligence. Students must look at the article as a whole and decide how it presents that view. The choices describe ways of writing in abstract terms, which makes them easy to blur together.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 point-of-view questions usually ask what an author thinks. This one asks how the author mainly conveys a view across the whole article, and the choices name methods that sound alike, closer to grade 8 work on how authors handle differing views.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 599 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 74 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 right choice sounds too plain to carry a point of view, which is exactly what makes this question hard. Students expect a view to be argued, so they reach for the choice that says the experiments prove old beliefs wrong, an overstatement of the author’s hedged “could be,” or for criticism, which belongs to other scientists. The article persuades by reporting the experiments in detail and calling them exciting.

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    The question asks how the view comes across, not what it is, and the answer is a method: the author lets the detailed account of the experiments in paragraphs 3–4 carry a favorable view. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The author never states an opinion outright; the view must be pieced together from words such as “exciting” and “could be much smarter than first believed” in paragraph 5. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    The choices name ways of writing in abstract terms, sharing, comparing, critiquing and explaining, so each must be held against what the whole article actually does. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Settle first on how the author regards the raven research, then check each choice against what the article actually does from beginning to end, not against a single paragraph.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about the author’s point of view, what the author thinks about studying animal intelligence. It also asks how the author mainly shows that view. Think about the whole article, not one paragraph.

  2. Find the author’s view

    In paragraph 5, the author says the results “are exciting.” The author also says the experiments “show that ravens could be much smarter than first believed.” So the author is interested in this research and hopeful about it.

  3. See how the article is built

    Most of the article explains the experiments. Paragraph 3 tells why the researchers planned two of them. Paragraph 4 gives the details step by step: the stone, the box, the bottle cap, the trades and the long wait. The author lets these details show why the research matters. Then the author calls the results exciting.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The author shares details of experiments that tested whether an animal can plan.
    • B does not fit. The two experiments are told one after the other. Their results are never compared.
    • C does not fit. The doubt comes from “some scientists,” not the author. The author answers it with “Regardless.”
    • D does not fit. It goes too far. The author says ravens “could be” smarter, which means maybe. The article never calls old beliefs wrong.

    Watch out: D is tempting because paragraph 1 describes old beliefs. But “could be” is not the same as “are.”

  5. Choose the answer

    The author shows a view mostly through details of the experiments. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. The author does think ravens may be smarter than people believed. But the author is careful and says they “could be.” D says experiments prove old beliefs wrong, which is too strong. What the author mostly does is share the experiments’ details. That is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 12 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 17 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 17, question 12.

Question 5 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 13

Uses the passage above: “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens”.

Question

With which statement would the author of the passage most likely agree?

  • AScientists are unlikely to be able to conduct an experiment that can genuinely distinguish between instinctual and learned behaviors in animals.
  • BScientists should continue researching to determine whether or not animals can demonstrate advanced intelligence.
  • CScientists should be careful about making conclusions about animal intelligence based on experiments that rely on training animals.
  • DScientists can confirm data on whether animals have the ability to plan by performing experiments on additional species known for their intelligence.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks the reader to choose the statement with which the author of the passage would most likely agree.

A. Incorrect. It is very likely that additional experiments or changes to the experiments presented can help scientists tell the difference between the types of behavior that the animals are showing. The current research supports “other recent advances in animal science” and also shows that ravens are “much smarter” (paragraph 5) than previously believed, making them excellent candidates for further research.

B. CORRECT. As paragraph 5 notes, “more evidence needs to be gathered before scientists can fully conclude that ravens can plan for the future.” The evidence is not yet considered definitive because “some scientists argue that the ravens might be choosing the stone and bottle cap because the ravens have been trained to do so, not necessarily because the ravens are thinking ahead” (paragraph 5). Therefore, more research is needed in order to draw a complete conclusion as to whether or not the animals are demonstrating advanced intelligence or simply the results of training.

C. Incorrect. The passage shows that the scientists did not draw conclusions based on one experiment alone. The passage also states in paragraph 5 that additional research and experiments are necessary in order to obtain conclusive evidence of ravens’ abilities to think and plan ahead.

D. Incorrect. The passage claims that more evidence must be gathered in order to make a claim that animals can definitely plan for the future. The evidence presented helps scientists “believe that ravens do actually think about their own future” (paragraph 5), but more confirmation is needed. The passage does not discuss performing experiments on additional species.

Question analysis

This inference question asks which statement the author of “The Best Laid Plans of Ravens” would most likely agree with. Students must work out the author’s own view of the raven experiments and of research into animal thinking. The article reports more than one viewpoint, so students have to keep track of which ideas belong to the author.

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 Inferring which statement an author would accept is common grade 7 work. The author’s view is stated fairly plainly in the last paragraph, but that paragraph also reports what other scientists argue, so students must separate the author’s position from theirs.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 599 words; question and choices: about grade 15, 87 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 passage reports several opinions, and the hard part is telling which one is the author’s. Students who notice the training objection in paragraph 5 often adopt it as the author’s warning, but “Regardless” shows the author weighing it and moving on to a hopeful view that still calls for more evidence. The other wrong choices either turn “difficult” into “unlikely” or bring in research the article never mentions.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The author’s view is never stated as advice; it has to be read from paragraph 5, where “more evidence needs to be gathered” is followed by “Regardless” and a hopeful conclusion. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about caution with experiments that train animals shares the right one’s careful stance and differs in one detail, training, the objection the author raises only to set aside. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

    The article mixes four voices, what people long assumed, the Lund researchers, “some scientists” who doubt them and the author, and each statement must be traced to the right one. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Find the sentences where the author speaks in their own voice, especially in paragraph 5, and pick the statement that follows from them without adding claims the article never makes.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks which statement the author would most likely agree with. You must find the author’s own view. The article also reports what other people think, so keep those ideas apart.

  2. Sort out the voices in paragraph 5

    Paragraph 5 says “Some scientists argue that the ravens might be choosing the stone and bottle cap because the ravens have been trained to do so.” That is what other scientists think. The author’s own words are “The results of these experiments are exciting, but more evidence needs to be gathered.”

  3. Put the author’s view in plain words

    The author thinks the research is promising but not finished. After the doubt, the author says “Regardless,” which means “even so,” and stays hopeful. So the author wants scientists to keep studying until they can be sure.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The author never says a good test is unlikely. The author finds the results exciting.
    • B fits. The author says more evidence must be gathered.
    • C does not fit. The worry about training belongs to “some scientists.” The author sets it aside with “Regardless.”
    • D does not fit. The article never mentions testing other kinds of animals.

    Watch out: C sounds careful, like a scientist. But it repeats the other scientists’ view, not the author’s.

  5. Choose the answer

    The author wants scientists to keep gathering evidence before anyone decides. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It sounds careful, and the author is careful too. But the warning about training comes from “some scientists.” The author answers it with “Regardless” and stays hopeful. The author’s own point is that “more evidence needs to be gathered.” That matches B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 13 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 18 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 18, question 13.

Question 6 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 15
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 cinders1^1, 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.

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

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

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that Margaret is unaccustomed to traveling to new places by train?

  • A“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.” (paragraph 1)
  • B“Perhaps something was the matter with the engine that detained them and they had forgotten her for the moment.” (paragraph 2)
  • C“Did they not have platforms in this wild Western land, or was the train so long that her car had stopped before reaching it?” (paragraph 3)
  • D“She could dimly see moving figures away up near the engine, and each one evidently carried a lantern.” (paragraph 4)
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for evidence from the excerpt that best supports the idea that Margaret is unfamiliar with traveling to new places by train.

A. Incorrect. Margaret’s actions in the sentence from paragraph 1 are decisive as she gathers her belongings to exit the train; she is familiar with rail travel.

B. Incorrect. In the sentence from paragraph 2, Margaret is using her knowledge about trains to attempt to interpret the actions of others; she is familiar with trains, even if a particular destination has not been mentioned.

C. CORRECT. If Margaret has never traveled to this region by train before, she must guess or attempt to interpret what she sees. This idea is best represented in the sentence in paragraph 3 where she questions whether the stations in the West have platforms.

D. Incorrect. While the sentence from paragraph 4 shows that Margaret is trying to better understand her situation in the darkness, her ability to identify the train’s engine and the figures carrying lanterns indicates some familiarity with her mode of travel.

Question analysis

Students choose the sentence from Grace Livingston Hill’s A Voice in the Wilderness that best supports the idea that Margaret is unaccustomed to traveling to new places by train. The four choices come from paragraphs 1–4, as she steps down from the train into the dark. Each reveals something about her, so students must test them against this one idea.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 A typical grade 7 evidence task: the four quotations come from the opening paragraphs and carry paragraph numbers. The challenge is that several show Margaret unsure of herself, so students must match the specific idea in the claim, not any sign of doubt.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 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

Uncertainty runs through all four quotations, so the general mood of the opening cannot pick the answer. The claim is specific, a traveler new to such places, and only one sentence ties her confusion to the region itself rather than to a delay, the darkness or her haste. Students who match feelings instead of the claim usually settle on her guess about engine trouble.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four quotations, from paragraphs 1 to 4, show Margaret unsure in the dark, so each has to be tested against the narrower idea of someone new to this kind of journey. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    No sentence says Margaret is new to the West; students must infer it from her puzzled question whether stations in “this wild Western land” lack platforms. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate the claim in your own words, then ask of each quotation whether it proves that idea specifically or only shows some other feeling Margaret has at that moment.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the sentence that best supports an idea. The idea is that Margaret is unaccustomed to traveling to new places by train. Unaccustomed means not used to something. So look for a sentence where a new place puzzles her.

  2. Notice what the choices share

    All four sentences come from paragraphs 1 to 4, just after Margaret steps off the train at night. In most of them she is unsure. So feeling unsure is not enough. The right sentence must tie her confusion to the strange place itself.

  3. Look closely at paragraph 3

    Paragraph 3 asks “Did they not have platforms in this wild Western land, or was the train so long that her car had stopped before reaching it?” A platform is the raised floor beside the tracks where people get on and off. Margaret wonders if stations out West even have them. She does not know how things work in this region. That shows she is not used to traveling here.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. She is “hastily gathering up her belongings,” which means in a hurry. She knows what to do when her stop comes.
    • B does not fit. Guessing about engine trouble is how someone who knows trains would think.
    • C fits. She does not know what stations are like in this new land.
    • D does not fit. The dark makes it hard to see. Yet she still picks out the engine and the lanterns.

    Watch out: B begins with “Perhaps,” so it sounds unsure. But her doubt is about the train, not the place.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only the question about platforms shows that this place is unfamiliar to her. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, since Margaret is unsure in it too. But there she reasons like an experienced rider: maybe the engine broke down. In C, she wonders what stations are like in “this wild Western land.” Only C shows a traveler who is not used to new places.

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 A English, page 23, question 15.
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 7 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 17

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness”.

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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?

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Question 8 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 18

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness”.

Question

How does Margaret’s experience in paragraph 9 emphasize a theme of the excerpt?

  • AIt confirms Margaret’s understanding that she cannot rely on help from anyone else.
  • BIt leads Margaret to realize that her desire to change her situation is impractical.
  • CIt causes Margaret to believe that her own actions led to an unfavorable outcome.
  • DIt reinforces Margaret’s frustration about her lack of control over her surroundings.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks about the relationship between the theme and paragraph 9, where Margaret desperately tries to get someone on the train to notice her.

A. CORRECT. One important theme of this excerpt concerns Margaret’s willingness to take action to ensure that she reaches her destination. This determination, described in Option A, is why she gathers her belongings together without help, gets off the train without being assisted by employees, and then attempts to climb back on while the train employees are busy examining the engine.

B. Incorrect. While the narrator describes her screaming as useless, she does not feel that her efforts overall are useless, and she does not give up until paragraph 10.

C. Incorrect. While Margaret is feeling a sense of “failure” in paragraph 9, she does not condemn herself as the train moves away.

D. Incorrect. Margaret expresses “terror” in paragraph 9 over being unable to catch someone’s attention, not frustration about her lack of control over her surroundings.

Question analysis

This theme question asks how Margaret’s experience in paragraph 9 of A Voice in the Wilderness, as she screams and runs while the train pulls away, emphasizes a theme of the excerpt. It is a lightly reworded version of an earlier handbook question. Every choice describes a believable reaction to being left behind, so the answer depends on the excerpt’s larger pattern.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Typical grade 7 theme questions trace a given theme through a text. Here students must decide which theme one frantic paragraph supports, and all four choices describe reactions that fit the scene, so the decision draws on the whole excerpt.
Estimated difficulty
Among the hardest on the SHSAT: a non-obvious approach, heavy reading, or a well-hidden trap.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 981 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 65 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 names a feeling a stranded traveler might have, and two lean on the paragraph’s own words, “useless” and “failure,” so the paragraph alone cannot decide it. Paragraph 9 must be read as the last link in a chain of trainmen, passengers and a departing train that all leave her to herself. Students who judge from that one paragraph often decide she has given up, though she soon picks up her bags and walks toward the dark shaft by the track.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The theme is never stated; it must be drawn from paragraph 9’s cries that no one answers and from the passengers “comfortable and safe inside, unconscious of her need” in paragraph 8. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The pattern begins in paragraph 2, when no trainman helps her off, and runs through the train lurching away “as if it were in league against her” in paragraph 7. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Sum up in a phrase what keeps happening to Margaret from the start of the excerpt to its end, then check which choice paragraph 9’s own words most clearly add to.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about a theme: a big idea a story keeps coming back to. How does what happens in paragraph 9 point to a theme? The right choice should fit a pattern across the whole excerpt.

  2. Read paragraph 9

    Paragraph 9 describes “A moment of useless screaming, running, trying to attract some one’s attention, a sickening sense of terror and failure.” Margaret screams and runs, trying to get someone to notice her. No one does. The last car rolls past “as if it enjoyed her discomfort.”

  3. Find the same thing earlier

    This is not the first time. In paragraph 2, none of the workers “had come to help her off the train.” In paragraph 8, the passengers sit “comfortable and safe inside, unconscious of her need.” That means they don’t know she needs help. Paragraph 9 is one more time when nobody comes. She will have to count on herself.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Her cries go unanswered, just as before. She cannot rely on anyone else.
    • B does not fit. Impractical means not sensible or workable. Her screaming fails, but she never decides that trying to change things is pointless. In paragraph 14 she “picked up her baggage” and set off again.
    • C does not fit. She feels “failure,” but she never blames herself.
    • D does not fit. The paragraph shows terror at being ignored, not frustration about having no control over her surroundings.

  5. Choose the answer

    Paragraph 9 adds one more moment where no one helps Margaret. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because paragraph 9 calls her screaming “useless.” But one failed moment does not mean she gives up. Soon she takes her bags and walks toward the tall dark shape ahead. What stays true from paragraph 2 to paragraph 9 is that no one helps her. That is A.

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 A English, page 26, question 18.

Question 9 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 29
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

Which sentence from the excerpt best explains why Wade reserved Peroxide Jim for “emergency work” (paragraph 1)?

  • A“Are there not superior horses as well as superior men—a Peroxide Jim to complement a Wade?” (paragraph 1)
  • B“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.” (paragraph 10)
  • C“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.” (paragraph 11)
  • D“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.” (paragraph 16)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt best explains why Wade reserved Peroxide Jim for “emergency work” (paragraph 1).

A. Incorrect. While the sentence from paragraph 1 refers to Peroxide Jim as being a superior horse, it does not tell why he would be useful in an emergency. The mention of Peroxide Jim’s superiority does not describe the attributes that would make him an appealing choice for use in an emergency.

B. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 10 does not describe the actions of Peroxide Jim. The sentence describes what Wade and the horse were experiencing, but it does not include any reference to how Peroxide Jim was responding to the situation.

C. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 11 describes Wade’s experiences and does not focus on the actions of Peroxide Jim. It reveals Wade’s awareness of the danger he was in, but the only reference to Peroxide Jim in this sentence is the description of the horse having to work harder to run on the stonier ground as they neared the edge: from “the plunging of the horse,” Wade knew “that the ground was growing stonier, that they were nearing the rocks.” This quotation does not show that Peroxide Jim was the right horse to use for emergency work because it does not indicate, at this point in the text, that he was responding in a way that saved the herd or Wade.

D. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 16 describes Peroxide Jim’s high level of skill and ability to perform in a life-and-death situation. Not only did Peroxide Jim recognize the emergency immediately (“From the flash of the lightning the horse had taken the bit”), but the horse also proved to have the physical capability (“had covered an indescribably perilous path at top speed, had outrun the herd and turned it from the edge of the rim rock”) and the mental toughness (“without a false step or a tremor of fear”) required to respond appropriately to the dangerous situation.

Question analysis

This evidence question on Dallas Lore Sharp’s “The Spirit of the Herd,” a 1914 account of a night stampede on an Oregon cattle drive, asks which sentence best explains why the ranch boss Wade kept his horse Peroxide Jim for “emergency work.” The four quoted sentences come from different parts of the excerpt and are long, so the choice takes careful reading.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Finding the sentence that best explains a detail is regular grade 7 evidence work. The four quotations, though, are long sentences from across a dense excerpt written in 1914, so the reading load is heavier than usual.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 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 question links the start of the excerpt to its end, and the nearest quotation is the most tempting: the narrator’s rhetorical question about “superior horses” sits beside the phrase and seems to explain it. It praises the horse without showing what he can do. The two stampede sentences show the emergency itself, so the point goes to students who look for the horse acting on his own and find it in the final paragraph.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The phrase “emergency work” is in paragraph 1, but the proof of the horse’s worth comes only at the very end, in paragraph 16, after the stampede has been turned. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    Three of the quotations run 33 to 46 words, and two of them describe the stampede in vivid detail without saying what the horse does, so sorting them takes time. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must decide what an emergency horse needs, speed, nerve and judgment without a rider’s guidance, before the last sentence reads as an answer to paragraph 1. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Decide what a horse saved for emergencies would need to be able to do, then pick the quotation that gives the clearest proof that Peroxide Jim can do 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.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence. In paragraph 1, Wade was saving Peroxide Jim for “emergency work.” Which sentence best explains why? You need a sentence that shows what this horse can do when something goes wrong.

  2. Decide what to look for

    An emergency is a sudden, dangerous event. A horse saved for one should be fast, steady and smart. It should act quickly when things go wrong. So look for the sentence that shows the horse himself doing that.

  3. Read the last sentence of the excerpt

    Paragraph 16 says “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.”

  4. Put the sentence in plain words

    The bit is the metal bar in a horse’s mouth that the reins attach to. A horse that “had taken the bit” runs on its own. Perilous means dangerous. A tremor is a small shake. So the moment the stampede began, the horse took charge. He raced along a dangerous path, got ahead of the herd and turned it from the cliff. He never stumbled or showed fear.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It calls him “superior,” but it shows no skill.
    • B does not fit. It shows the stampede, but not how the horse handles it.
    • C does not fit. It is about Wade sensing the rocks ahead.
    • D fits. It shows the horse saving the herd in a real emergency.

    Watch out: A sits right next to “emergency work” in paragraph 1, so it seems to explain it. But praise is not proof.

  6. Choose the answer

    The last sentence shows exactly why the horse was worth saving for emergencies. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. It sits beside the words “emergency work” and praises the horse. But calling a horse “superior” does not say what it can do. D shows the horse in action: fast, sure-footed and fearless in a real emergency. That explains why Wade saved him.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 29 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 42 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 42, question 29.
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 10 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 30

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

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.
What makes it hard
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.”

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

Question 11 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 31

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

Question

How does paragraph 3 convey the effect of the setting on the cattle drive?

  • AIt shows how the growing darkness created challenges for the riders in getting the herd to move.
  • BIt describes how the changing elevation contributed to the dangerousness of the environment.
  • CIt describes how the desert created an uncomfortable feeling of isolation for the riders and the cattle.
  • DIt shows how the steep terrain made it difficult for the cattle to keep moving forward.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how paragraph 3 conveys the effect of the setting on the cattle drive.

A. Incorrect. The riders were not trying to move the herd through the darkness. Instead, the reference to the growing darkness (“overtaken by the dusk”) indicates that the riders had halted the animals for the night because moving the herd across the desert in the darkness would have been much too dangerous because of the sheer drop-off at the edge of the tableland. The riders needed the daylight to navigate the herd safely through the “pass descending to the next lower bench.”

B. CORRECT. Paragraph 3 describes the land where the herd was as being “as level as a floor” but “rimmed by sheer rock, from which there was a drop to the bench of sage below.” The drop was “a perpendicular fall of about three hundred feet”—any animal or person could fall over that edge. It was the change in height, from flat tableland to sheer drop-off, that made the terrain so dangerous.

C. Incorrect. The use of the word “desert” in the first sentence of the paragraph does not highlight the isolation of the setting or indicate that the riders and the herd were uncomfortable being alone. Instead, the word merely establishes the setting where the action occurred: “it lay as level as a floor, rimmed by sheer rock, from which there was a drop to the bench of sage below.”

D. Incorrect. The excerpt does not indicate that the steep terrain made it difficult for the herd to move forward. The herd was not expected to navigate the steep terrain. Instead, the steep terrain presented a danger to the herd that must be avoided. The riders intended to move the herd safely through passes that descended gradually to lower elevations.

Question analysis

This setting question on “The Spirit of the Herd” asks how paragraph 3, which describes the high desert where the herd has stopped for the night, conveys the setting’s effect on the cattle drive. Students must understand unusual landform words, one explained in a footnote, and work out what the land means for the herd. Several choices name a real feature of the scene.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students analyze how setting affects a story, usually from plainly worded description. This paragraph relies on terms such as tablelands, benches and rim rock, and never names the effect, so students must work it out from the description.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 1160 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 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

Paragraph 3 reads like a surveyor’s report, flat land ending in a sheer drop, with no word of fear. Students must turn its landforms into a picture and see that a herd camped a mile from a three-hundred-foot fall is in danger. The strongest wrong answer gets the cliff right but makes it a barrier to the drive, and others seize on the dusk or on the loneliness a desert suggests.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about steep terrain blocking the herd and the right one both rest on the drop at the rim; they differ only in its effect, a hazard to avoid or an obstacle to movement. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    The paragraph’s landforms, “tablelands, or benches,” “rim rock,” a “pass descending to the next lower bench” and a “perpendicular fall,” must be pictured before the danger is clear. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The paragraph never calls the drop dangerous; students must infer it from “sheer rock” and “about three hundred feet,” a danger that becomes real only when the herd stampedes toward the rim. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Make a quick sketch of the land paragraph 3 describes and mark where the herd is halted, then ask what that setting means for the drive and test each choice against it.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about setting, the place and time of a story. How does the land in paragraph 3 affect the cattle drive? A cattle drive is a trip where riders move a large herd of cattle across the land.

  2. Read paragraph 3

    The herd is camped on high, flat land “rimmed by sheer rock, from which there was a drop to the bench of sage below.” The herd “was now halted within a mile of the rim rock on the east, where there was a perpendicular fall of about three hundred feet.”

  3. Picture the land

    The note says tablelands are “flat areas of land sharply elevated from the surrounding area.” A bench is another name for one. Picture giant steps. The herd is on a high step. Its edge is sheer rock, a straight drop. Perpendicular means straight up and down. So the herd has stopped within a mile of a cliff about 300 feet high.

  4. Work out the effect

    Elevation is how high the land is. Here the elevation changes suddenly, from flat ground to a steep cliff. A scared herd could run right over the edge. That makes the place dangerous. Later, this danger comes true when the stampede races toward the rim.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The herd was halted for the night. The riders were not trying to move it.
    • B fits. The sudden drop makes the place dangerous.
    • C does not fit. The paragraph says nothing about feeling lonely.
    • D does not fit. The herd was headed for a pass, an easier way down. The cliff was a danger to avoid.

  6. Choose the answer

    The change in height, from flat land to a sheer drop, makes the setting dangerous. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice, because it also points to the steep drop. But the herd was not trying to climb down the cliff. It was headed for a pass and had stopped for the night. The drop matters because the herd could fall over it. That danger is what B describes.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 31 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 44 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 44, question 31.

Question 12 of 120

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 13 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 38
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

Which sentence from paragraph 2 best supports the idea that Lowell became “a bustling industrial city” (paragraph 1) in a short period of time?

  • A“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.”
  • B“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.”
  • C“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.”
  • D“By the 1850s, 40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers stretched for about a mile along the river.”
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the sentence in paragraph 2 that best supports the idea that Lowell became “a bustling industrial city” (paragraph 1) in a short period of time.

A. Incorrect. While the sentence provides details on when the town of Lowell was founded and the natural features of the area, it does not support the idea that the city became “a bustling industrial city” in a short period of time.

B. Incorrect. Although this sentence indicates that the mill buildings were a noticeable feature of the city and provides details on how the mills worked, it does not specifically show that Lowell had become “a bustling industrial city” in a short period of time.

C. Incorrect. While this sentence lists some recognizable mill buildings along the river and notes when their associated businesses were established, it does not support the idea that Lowell had become “a bustling industrial city” in a short period of time.

D. CORRECT. This sentence indicates that within only a few decades of the city’s founding, it experienced massive industrial growth, with “40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers,” supporting the idea that Lowell became “a bustling industrial city” in a short period of time.

Question analysis

Here students choose which sentence from the second paragraph of an article about Lowell, Massachusetts, best supports the claim that the town became a bustling industrial city in a short period of time. All four sentences describe Lowell's founding, mills or canals, and several carry dates, so students must weigh what each one actually shows about how fast the city grew.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Picking the sentence that best supports a claim is standard grade 7 evidence work. The claim carries a time condition as well as a description, and all four choices come from one short paragraph, so the demand is typical of grade 7.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 14, 131 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The claim has two parts, a bustling industrial city and a short time to get there, and most sentences in paragraph 2 meet only one. The list of mills with their founding dates is the strongest pull, because its dates seem to answer the time half, yet they run into the 1880s and show four buildings, not a busy city. The question rewards pairing the 1850s figures with the 1821 founding.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The 1850s sentence shows speed only beside the founding date in the paragraph's first sentence: getting from 1821 to 40 mills and 10,000 workers took about thirty years, a span students must work out. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four sentences come from paragraph 2 and describe Lowell's mills or canals, and three carry dates, so each must be tested for both the scale and the speed of growth. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Split the claim into its two parts, a busy industrial city and a short span of time, and check each sentence for evidence of both rather than accepting one that fits only half.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Split the claim into two parts

    This is an evidence question. You need the sentence that best supports a claim, and the claim has two parts. First, Lowell became “a bustling industrial city,” a busy factory town. Second, it happened “in a short period of time.” The best sentence must support both parts, not just one.

  2. Find the starting date

    Paragraph 2 opens with the town’s start. The Boston merchants “founded Lowell in 1821.” That gives you a starting point. Now look for a sentence that shows how big Lowell got, and by when.

  3. Work out how long it took

    The last sentence of paragraph 2 says: “By the 1850s, 40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers stretched for about a mile along the river.” From 1821 to the 1850s is only about 30 years. In that time, Lowell went from a new town to 40 mills and over 10,000 workers. That is fast growth, and it is clearly bustling.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It tells why the town was built by the waterfalls. It says nothing about how the city grew.
    • B is wrong. Six miles of canals and “massive five- and six-story brick buildings” do sound busy. But there is no date, so it can’t show speed.
    • C is wrong. It has dates, but they run from 1821 to the 1880s, about 60 years. And it names just four buildings, not a whole busy city.
    • D is right. It shows a big city of mills and workers only about 30 years after Lowell began.

    Watch out: C is tempting because it is full of dates. But dates alone don’t prove speed, and these are spread over decades.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence shows both a busy industrial city and a short time to get there. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, since its dates seem to answer the time part. But they stretch from 1821 to the 1880s, and they cover only four buildings. D gives the size of the whole mill city, 40 mills and over 10,000 workers, about 30 years after the founding.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 53 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 53, question 38.
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 14 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 39

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

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 3.

From the early to mid-1800s, women left the constricted lifestyle of small rural towns and rural areas for independent industrial city life.

Which statement best describes how the sentence fits into the overall structure of the passage?

  • AIt provides a transition from a description of the mills to a description of the workforce in those mills.
  • BIt indicates a shift in tone from positive and hopeful to negative and dissatisfied with working conditions at the mill.
  • CIt summarizes a challenge that led many women to leave their hometown and seek work in urban areas.
  • DIt begins a comparison of the mill workforce between the mid-1800s and the late 1800s.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which statement best describes how the sentence in paragraph 3 fits into the overall structure of the passage.

A. CORRECT. The sentence in paragraph 3 provides a transition from the overall description of the city and the mills to a description of the women who made up the workforce in the mills. The idea that women left domestic life in favor of working in the mills is important in the passage, and the sentence serves to connect that idea to the previous discussion about the mills.

B. Incorrect. While the mill girls’ dissatisfaction with their working conditions is addressed later in the passage (“These wage cuts, deteriorating working conditions, and long workdays led the ‘mill girls’ to protest and organize strikes” [paragraph 4]), the sentence in paragraph 3 does not indicate a shift in tone from positive to negative. The sentence provides a transition to the discussion of the women who worked in the mills.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence in paragraph 3 mentions that women became interested in working in the mills because of the “constricted lifestyle of small rural towns,” structurally the sentence does not function as a summary because, instead of expanding on the idea of the difficulties or challenges of life in small rural towns and rural areas, the paragraph goes on to describe the advantages and disadvantages of life in the city for these women.

D. Incorrect. The sentence in paragraph 3 focuses on the choices women made to leave rural towns to work in the city in the early to mid-1800s, not the mid-1800s to the late 1800s. The sentence does not create a comparison between the workforce in the mid-1800s and that in the late 1800s.

Question analysis

A sentence from the start of paragraph 3 of the Lowell article, about women leaving the limited life of rural towns for the city, is the focus of this text-structure question. Students decide how it fits into the structure of the passage as a whole, so they must place it within the order of all six paragraphs instead of judging it by itself.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 structure questions often ask what a paragraph does. This one asks how a single sentence serves a six-paragraph history and offers four abstract roles, so the student must hold the passage's whole plan in mind, more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 116 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 answer depends on seeing the passage's plan, mills first and then the people who ran them, and placing this sentence at the seam. Its wording invites a content answer instead, since it really does describe a hardship that drove women to the city, and the later strikes tempt students to see a darker tone beginning here. The fit of the key is also imperfect, because the paragraph's opening sentence starts the turn, so students must choose the best description rather than an exact one.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what the sentence does in the passage, and its content, women escaping a “constricted lifestyle,” is easy to restate, which makes a summary of that content feel like an answer. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The sentence's role shows only from its neighbors: paragraph 2 ends with 40 mills and 10,000 workers, and paragraph 3 then follows the women who left rural towns to work in them. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Paragraph 3's first sentence, “The city's female workforce was significant,” already names the new subject, so students must see this second sentence as part of the turn rather than a fresh point. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Sum up each paragraph in a few words, then look at what comes just before and just after this sentence and decide what role it plays at that point in the passage.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a structure question. Structure is how a passage is put together. You need to say what job this sentence does in the whole passage. Don’t just restate what it says. Ask what comes before it and what comes after it.

  2. Look at what comes before

    Paragraph 2 is all about the mills. It ends with “40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers.” Then paragraph 3 begins: “The city’s female workforce was significant in the history of Lowell.” Workforce means the people who do the work. The sentence in the question comes right after that: “From the early to mid-1800s, women left the constricted lifestyle of small rural towns and rural areas for independent industrial city life.”

  3. Look at what comes after

    Constricted means tight and limited. So women left small, limited farm towns to live on their own in the city. After this, the passage stays with the workers. Paragraphs 3 and 4 tell about the mill girls’ wages, rules, strikes and leaving. Paragraphs 5 and 6 tell about the immigrants who replaced them. So the passage turns here, from the mills to the people who worked in them.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The sentence helps carry the reader from the mills to the workforce in those mills.
    • B is wrong. The tone isn’t negative here. “Independent industrial city life” sounds hopeful. The protests and strikes don’t come until paragraph 4.
    • C is wrong. It tells what the sentence says, not what it does. And the paragraph goes on to life in Lowell, not to more about hard times back home.
    • D is wrong. The passage never compares workers of the mid-1800s with workers of the late 1800s.

    Watch out: C sounds right because the sentence really does describe a limited life that women wanted to leave. But the question asks about its role, not its content.

  5. Choose the answer

    Paragraph 3’s first sentence names the new subject. This sentence carries it forward by telling where the workers came from. Together they move the passage from mills to people. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. It is true that women wanted to escape a “constricted lifestyle.” But C describes what the sentence says, not the job it does. The paragraph then moves on to life in Lowell. A names the job: the sentence links the story of the mills to the story of the mill workers.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 39 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 54 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 54, question 39.

Question 15 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 44
Passage The Benefits of Indoor Plants

The Benefits of Indoor Plants

(1) In an age of endless media content, it is easy to see why people might prefer to stay inside. (2) According to a study sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans spend an average of 87 percent of their time indoors. (3) Scientists say that this separation between people and nature puts people at risk for physical and psychological issues.

(4) During the process of photosynthesis, plants convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and remove many harmful toxins from the air. (5) Spending prolonged periods of time indoors, away from plants, deprives people of these benefits. (6) Air that is not regularly detoxified can lead to a condition known as sick building syndrome. (7) This disorder first came to light in the 1970s when many office workers in the United States began to complain of unexplained flu-like symptoms. (8) Researchers determined the cause to be volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. (9) VOCs are harmful chemicals that are emitted by everyday objects such as carpet, furniture, cleaning products, and computers. (10) The NASA Clean Air Study found a simple way to remove a significant number of VOCs within a 24-hour period: add plants to indoor spaces.

(11) Adding plants to indoor spaces has psychological benefits too. (12) Research has long linked time spent in natural environments with increased energy and feelings of contentment. (13) While being outdoors is an excellent option for improving a person’s mental health, recent research has indicated that encountering natural elements while indoors can also help. (14) To experience the maximum benefit of natural elements, experts suggest placing at least one live plant per 100 square feet of home or office space.

(15) Connecting with nature, even just by being near an indoor plant, is a significant factor in a person’s well-being. (16) Sitting in front of an electronic screen all day isn’t natural, and today’s workers need to get up and get outdoors. (17) Richard Ryan, a psychology professor at the University of Rochester, puts it this way: “Nature is something within which we flourish, so having it be more a part of our lives is critical, especially when we live and work in built environments.”

Question

Which transition word or phrase should be added to the beginning of sentence 5 to emphasize the relationship between sentences 4 and 5?

Move the correct answer to the box.

(5) ____ spending prolonged periods of time indoors, away from plants, deprives people of these benefits.

On the test you drag one of the tiles into the box; here, choose it.

  • AAs a result,
  • BPrimarily,
  • CIn contrast,
  • DUnfortunately,
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the transition word or phrase that should be added to the beginning of sentence 5.

“As a result,” is incorrect and should not be added. The transition phrase “As a result” conveys a cause-and-effect relationship that does not exist between the ideas in sentence 4 and sentence 5. Although the plants’ conversion of carbon dioxide into oxygen removes harmful toxins from the air, the process of photosynthesis (sentence 4) does not deprive people of the plants’ benefits (sentence 5).

“Primarily,” is incorrect and should not be added. Although the passage describes why people should spend time nearby or in close proximity to plants, the idea in sentence 5 shifts from the benefits described in sentence 4 to what people lose without them, rather than elaborating on sentence 4. The transition word “Primarily” incorrectly suggests that the sentences describe the same idea.

“In contrast,” is incorrect and should not be added. Although sentence 4 describes a positive idea (plants are beneficial) and sentence 5 describes a negative idea (deprivation), the transition phrase “In contrast” conveys an inaccurate relationship between the ideas in the sentences. Sentence 5 is not arguing against the beneficial effect of plants and should not begin with a transition that implies opposition.

“Unfortunately,” is correct and should be added. The relationship between the ideas in the sentences is correctly conveyed with the transition word “Unfortunately,” which signals the shift from the positive effect described in sentence 4 (plants are helpful) to the emphasis in sentence 5 that the positive effect is dependent on proximity or nearness to plants.

Question analysis

In this revising question, sentence 5 of the indoor-plants passage has a blank at its start, and on the test students move one of four word tiles into the box. They must decide how sentence 5, on what long stretches indoors cost people, relates to sentence 4, on what plants do for the air, since every tile is a common transition that sounds possible.

NYS standards
  • 7W2d transitions in informative writing
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing a transition that shows how two sentences relate is routine grade 7 writing work. The two sentences are short and the four options familiar, but more than one sounds acceptable on a first reading, so the demand is a careful but typical one.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 12, 346 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 48 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The explanation contradicted itself about how sentences 4 and 5 relate; one sentence was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Two of the tiles name relationships that seem to fit at first: sentence 5 does follow from sentence 4, and it does turn from good news to bad. Neither is exact, because spending time indoors is not caused by photosynthesis, and missing out on a benefit does not oppose it. The answer is a word of regret rather than a logical connector, which students trained on cause and contrast words may not consider first.

  1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    Sentence 5's “these benefits” points back to sentence 4's cleaner air, and the link is a downside of what was just praised, people indoors missing out, which neither cause nor opposition captures. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The right tile signals the writer's regret rather than a logical link, so students who look only for cause, contrast or emphasis must infer that a negative turn is what the sentences need. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Say in your own words what sentence 4 states and what sentence 5 adds, name the link between them before looking at the tiles, then reject any tile that claims a relationship the sentences do not have.

Traps

  • Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: Rejecting “Primarily,”, the handbook's explanation says sentence 5 “is actually in opposition to the idea in sentence 4”. Rejecting “In contrast,”, the same explanation says sentence 5 “is not arguing against the beneficial effect of plants and should not begin with a transition that implies opposition”, and it explains the answer as a shift from the benefits to what people lose. The first sentence now describes that shift. The answer, “Unfortunately,”, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need a transition to start sentence 5. A transition is a word or phrase that shows how two ideas connect. On the test, you drag one tile into the box. To choose, first work out how sentence 5 connects to sentence 4.

  2. Read sentences 4 and 5

    Sentence 4 gives good news. Photosynthesis is how plants make food from sunlight, air and water. As they do it, plants “convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and remove many harmful toxins from the air.” Toxins are poisons. Sentence 5 says that spending long stretches indoors, away from plants, “deprives people of these benefits.” To deprive means to keep someone from having something.

  3. Name the link between them

    “These benefits” points back to sentence 4. So sentence 5 doesn’t argue with sentence 4. It agrees that plants help. Then it adds bad news: people stuck indoors miss out on that help. You need a word that turns from good news to a downside.

  4. Learn what each tile signals

    • As a result, shows cause and effect: It rained hard. As a result, the game was canceled.
    • Primarily, means mainly. It ranks one thing above others.
    • In contrast, shows two things that are opposites: Cats like to be alone. In contrast, dogs like company.
    • Unfortunately, signals bad news: The pool is great. Unfortunately, it is closed today.

  5. Test each tile in sentence 5

    • A, As a result, is wrong. Photosynthesis doesn’t cause people to stay indoors. Sentence 4 is not the cause of sentence 5.
    • B, Primarily, is wrong. It shows no link to sentence 4 at all.
    • C, In contrast, is wrong. Sentence 5 doesn’t oppose sentence 4. It builds on “these benefits.”
    • D, Unfortunately, is right. It turns from what plants do for us to what we lose without them.

    Watch out: The ideas do go from good to bad, so “In contrast” is tempting. But missing out on a benefit is not the opposite of the benefit. That is the trap in C.

  6. Choose the answer

    With the tile in place, sentence 5 reads: Unfortunately, spending prolonged periods of time indoors, away from plants, deprives people of these benefits. Prolonged means long. So the answer is D: move the tile “Unfortunately,” into the box.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

“In contrast,” is the closest wrong tile, since sentence 5 does turn from good news to bad. But a contrast needs two ideas that pull against each other. Sentence 5 depends on sentence 4’s “these benefits” and says people miss them. “Unfortunately,” fits that turn exactly.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 62 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 62, question 44. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “The Benefits of Indoor Plants” as printed (page 60)The passage “The Benefits of Indoor Plants” as printed on page 60 of the DOE handbook.

Question 16 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 9
Passage A Miracle Mile

A Miracle Mile

In the 1950s people compared running one mile in four minutes to scaling Mount Everest and nicknamed the feat a “dream mile.” Although such an accomplishment was considered humanly impossible, several elite runners aimed to break that supposedly impenetrable barrier. One of them was a twenty-five-year-old medical student named Roger Bannister.

Roger Bannister had tasted failure during the 1952 Olympics. There, he was favored to win the 1,500-meter competition, a distance slightly shorter than a mile, but he finished in a dismal fourth place instead. Bannister’s performance was a disappointment for him and his country, Great Britain. Determined to redeem himself, Bannister postponed his plans to retire from racing and focused on the ultimate prize—breaking the four-minute-mile barrier.

Bannister attacked the elusive milestone with a positive attitude and logical planning. The amateur athlete decided to use intensive interval training to develop endurance and speed. For these workouts, Bannister ran an interval of ten consecutive laps on a quarter-mile track, aiming for sixty seconds each lap. In between intervals, he let his body recover for two minutes.

By early 1954, Bannister had succeeded in lowering his quarter-mile pace to sixty-one seconds, but he had to shave off at least one more second in order to reach his target. Frustrated by the plateau he had reached, Bannister took a break from training and went mountain climbing for three days. The rest from running permitted his muscles to recuperate and left him feeling refreshed. When Bannister returned to the track, he completed ten quarter-mile-long intervals at fifty-nine seconds each. He finally felt prepared to attempt to break the world record.

As a member of the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), Bannister joined the AAA team for a track meet against Oxford University. The event took place on a cinder track in Oxford on May 6, 1954. Bannister and his two AAA teammates, Chris Chataway and Chris Brasher, were close friends and frequent running partners. Chataway and Brasher agreed to help Bannister accomplish his goal by being his “rabbits.”

In track and field, rabbits are runners who enter the race solely to pace a teammate for a segment of the course. Typically, a runner settles in behind the rabbit and allows the rabbit to set an appropriate tempo. Additionally, by running behind the rabbit, the runner conserves about 15 percent of his or her effort. When the starting pistol fired, Brasher pounced into the lead, and Bannister followed behind his first rabbit.

Propelled by the excitement, Bannister lost his instinctive feel for his pace and shouted “Faster!” at Brasher. Brasher, however, remained composed and maintained his current steady but grueling pace, completing the first two laps in a desirable one minute and fifty-eight seconds. Then Chataway surged forward, leading Bannister at this same punishing rate for another lap and a half. At the beginning of the back straightaway of the track, Bannister bolted past Chataway. Bannister said, “I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come. There was no pain, only a great unity of movement and aim.” Bannister crossed the finish line in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. The ecstatic crowd erupted the moment the timekeeper announced the word “three.”

Soon after Bannister’s achievement, four other athletes matched his performance. A new mindset had taken root among runners. Over the years, the record continued to fall. However, the current record, 3 minutes 43.13 seconds, has stood unbroken since 1999. Some question whether this record represents the limits of human ability. But perhaps there is another Bannister, an athlete who, with willpower and dedication, will accomplish the miraculous.

Question

Read these sentences from paragraph 7.

Bannister said, “I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come. There was no pain, only a great unity of movement and aim.”

The sentences contribute to the development of ideas in the passage by showing that Bannister

  • Aknew that he was about to achieve the goal he had worked toward.
  • Bwas no longer experiencing personal disappointment from his past failure in the Olympics.
  • Cfelt grateful to his teammates for helping him take the lead.
  • Dwas satisfied that his training had helped him perfect his running technique.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the sentences from paragraph 7 contribute to the development of ideas in the passage.

A. CORRECT. The sentences from paragraph 7 show that toward the end of the race, Bannister knew that the goal of breaking the four-minute-mile barrier was within his grasp and that he had the focus necessary to achieve it. The sentence following Bannister’s quotation states that he did indeed meet his goal, crossing “the finish line in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds” (paragraph 7).

B. Incorrect. The feelings Bannister expressed in the sentences from paragraph 7 did not erase those feelings related to his loss at the 1952 Olympics, which were what drove him to the achievement he was about to make.

C. Incorrect. While the quotation states that Bannister felt “unity,” this pertains to his running, not to his work with the team. The sentences from paragraph 7 capture Bannister’s focus on his chance to break the barrier and what he was feeling at that moment.

D. Incorrect. The sentences from paragraph 7 express Bannister’s realization that he was on the verge of reaching a goal. The sentences show that in the seconds before crossing the finish line, Bannister was fully focused on the end goal and was not thinking about his training or his running technique.

Question analysis

This question quotes Roger Bannister’s own words from his famous race, “I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come,” and asks how they contribute to the development of ideas in “A Miracle Mile.” Students interpret an athlete’s description of a feeling and decide what it shows about him. Each choice links the quotation to a different part of his story.

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 what a quoted sentence adds to a passage is everyday grade 7 work, and these two sentences are short. Their abstract phrase “a great unity of movement and aim” takes some interpreting, which keeps the demand typical rather than light.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 587 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 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

Bannister’s words describe a feeling, and each choice explains it by a different part of his story. The right reading comes from where the quotation sits: on the back straight, seconds from the finish, so “the moment of a lifetime” is the record within reach. Students who take “unity of movement” as polished form, or “no pain” as the end of his Olympic hurt, tie the quotation to his training or his past instead of to this race.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The quotation never names the record; students must link “the moment of a lifetime had come” to the four-minute goal and to the finish in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds reported right after it. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    “A great unity of movement and aim” is abstract, and “There was no pain” can be heard as emotional relief, so the words invite readings about technique, teamwork or old disappointment. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read the quotation together with the sentences around it in paragraph 7, put Bannister’s state of mind into your own words, and test each choice against what the quotation itself says.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what Bannister’s words show about him at that moment in the race. To answer, you need to know where the quotation comes. So read the sentences just before it and just after it.

  2. Find where the quotation comes

    Paragraph 7 tells the story of the race. Just before the quotation, “Bannister bolted past Chataway.” Bolted means ran off suddenly and fast. Chataway was his second rabbit, a teammate who set the pace. Now Bannister was in front, near the end. Just after the quotation, “Bannister crossed the finish line in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.” That is under four minutes.

  3. Put his words in your own words

    He says “I felt that the moment of a lifetime had come.” The moment of a lifetime is the most important moment a person ever has. For Bannister, that was breaking the four-minute mile. “A great unity of movement and aim” means his body and his goal were working as one. He could feel that he was about to do it.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. He senses that his big goal is about to happen.
    • B does not fit. “There was no pain” means he felt no strain in the race. He is not thinking back to 1952.
    • C does not fit. The unity is of his own “movement and aim,” not of his team. He had just passed Chataway to run alone.
    • D does not fit. The words describe a feeling during the race. They say nothing about his training or his technique, which means his way of running.

    Watch out: D is tempting because “unity of movement” sounds like perfect running form. But Bannister is not judging his training here. He is feeling the big moment arrive.

  5. Choose the answer

    The quotation shows Bannister sensing that his goal was near, and the next sentence shows he reached it. So the answer is A, “knew that he was about to achieve the goal he had worked toward.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. His training did help him, and he was running well. But the quotation is about a feeling: “the moment of a lifetime had come.” It looks ahead to the finish, not back at his practice. A matches that feeling of a goal about to be reached.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 9 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 B English, page 15, question 9.
The passage “A Miracle Mile” as printed (page 13)The passage “A Miracle Mile” as printed on page 13 of the DOE handbook.

Question 17 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 10

Uses the passage above: “A Miracle Mile”.

Question

Which sentence best supports the idea that Bannister needed an alternative to “logical planning” (paragraph 3) in order to accomplish his goal?

  • A“Bannister’s performance was a disappointment for him and his country, Great Britain.” (paragraph 2)
  • B“The amateur athlete decided to use intensive interval training to develop endurance and speed.” (paragraph 3)
  • C“For these workouts, Bannister ran an interval of ten consecutive laps on a quarter-mile track, aiming for sixty seconds each lap.” (paragraph 3)
  • D“Frustrated by the plateau he had reached, Bannister took a break from training and went mountain climbing for three days.” (paragraph 4)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence best supports the idea that Bannister needed an alternative to “logical planning” (paragraph 3) in order to accomplish his goal.

A. Incorrect. The outcome of the 1952 Olympics, referenced in the sentence from paragraph 2, is what prompted Bannister to seek a new goal: “Determined to redeem himself, Bannister . . . focused on the ultimate prize—breaking the four-minute-mile barrier” (paragraph 2).

B. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 3 does not show an alternative to Bannister’s training plan to “develop endurance and speed” (paragraph 3) and his focus on using logical planning in order to accomplish his goal.

C. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 3 focuses on details of his training plan, explaining the “intensive interval training” (paragraph 3) that Bannister used to build his endurance and speed, not an alternative form of preparation.

D. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 4 explains that Bannister reached a point where he could not improve his time despite the strict training plan he had created. Taking a break from his training to spend time mountain climbing “permitted his muscles to recuperate and left him feeling refreshed” (paragraph 4).

Question analysis

This textual evidence question on “A Miracle Mile” asks which sentence best supports the idea that Roger Bannister needed an alternative to the “logical planning” described in paragraph 3. Students must understand what his plan was before they can recognize a departure from it. The four sentences come from paragraphs 2 to 4, which cover his Olympic loss and his training.

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 Matching a sentence to an idea is standard grade 7 evidence work, and the four sentences come from three short, plain paragraphs. The idea itself is worded abstractly, so students must first decide what an alternative to “logical planning” would look like.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 587 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 92 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A wrong paragraph number 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 question turns on one decision: the interval training is the logical plan, so a sentence describing it cannot show an alternative to it. Once that is settled, three days of mountain climbing stand out as the only break from the plan. Students lose the point when they read “alternative” loosely and pick the sentence that introduces the training, or when they treat the Olympic disappointment as the moment his methods had to change.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The stem never says what the “logical planning” was; students must see that it is the interval training of paragraph 3, so the alternative has to be a step away from that training. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The stem points to paragraph 3, where two of the four sentences sit, but the departure from the plan comes in paragraph 4, after Bannister stalls at sixty-one seconds a lap. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: First reread paragraph 3 to see what Bannister’s “logical planning” was, then ask of each sentence whether it shows that plan or something different from 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.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option C begins “The sentence from paragraph 4 focuses on details of his training plan.” Option C quotes a sentence from paragraph 3 (“For these workouts, Bannister ran an interval of ten consecutive laps on a quarter-mile track, aiming for sixty seconds each lap”) and labels it “(paragraph 3),” and the explanation goes on to describe the “intensive interval training” of paragraph 3. The site now says “The sentence from paragraph 3.” The DOE’s 2021–2022 guide, where this question first appeared, has the same slip.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the sentence that best supports an idea. The idea is that Bannister needed an alternative to his “logical planning.” An alternative is a different way of doing something. So first find out what his plan was. Then look for a sentence where he steps away from it.

  2. Find the logical plan in paragraph 3

    Paragraph 3 says “Bannister attacked the elusive milestone with a positive attitude and logical planning.” The next sentence tells what the plan was: “The amateur athlete decided to use intensive interval training to develop endurance and speed.” Interval training means running hard for a set stretch, resting, then running hard again.

  3. Find where the plan stopped working

    Paragraph 4 says he got down to sixty-one seconds a lap, but he needed sixty. Then “Frustrated by the plateau he had reached, Bannister took a break from training and went mountain climbing for three days.” A plateau is a point where you stop getting better. Climbing was not part of his plan. Afterward, he ran each lap in fifty-nine seconds.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It is from paragraph 2. It tells why he chose the goal, before he had any plan.
    • B does not fit. Interval training is the logical plan, not an alternative to it.
    • C does not fit. It is from paragraph 3. It gives details of the same plan: ten laps, sixty seconds each.
    • D fits. He stops training, does something else, and it works.

    Watch out: B is tempting because it describes a choice Bannister made. But that choice was the plan itself.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only D shows Bannister trying something outside his plan. So the answer is D, “Frustrated by the plateau he had reached, Bannister took a break from training and went mountain climbing for three days.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. It names a decision Bannister made. But that decision, interval training, was his logical plan. The question asks for a step away from the plan. Only D shows him leaving training behind. The rest “permitted his muscles to recuperate,” which means recover.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 10 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 B English, page 16, question 10. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 18 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 11

Uses the passage above: “A Miracle Mile”.

Question

Which sentence from the passage indicates that Bannister nearly made a mistake that would have cost him the world record?

  • A“By early 1954, Bannister had succeeded in lowering his quarter-mile pace to sixty-one seconds, but he had to shave off at least one more second in order to reach his target.” (paragraph 4)
  • B“When the starting pistol fired, Brasher pounced into the lead, and Bannister followed behind his first rabbit.” (paragraph 6)
  • C“Propelled by the excitement, Bannister lost his instinctive feel for his pace and shouted ‘Faster!’ at Brasher.” (paragraph 7)
  • D“At the beginning of the back straightaway of the track, Bannister bolted past Chataway.” (paragraph 7)
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks which sentence indicates that Bannister nearly made a mistake that would have cost him the world record.

A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 4 describes a challenge Bannister faced during his training period, when he used “intensive interval training to develop endurance and speed” (paragraph 3). Bannister ran laps on a “quarter-mile track” (paragraph 3) and was able to control his pace at this time—unlike during the actual race to break the record.

B. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 6 describes the start of the race and Brasher’s role as “first rabbit” for Bannister. Bannister was behind Brasher, following their plan for breaking the record.

C. CORRECT. If Bannister had begun running faster than the “steady but grueling pace” (paragraph 7) set by his “rabbit,” he would likely not have had enough energy to finish the race. As paragraph 6 notes, “the runner conserves about 15 percent of his or her effort” by allowing the rabbit to set the pace. Bannister had “lost his instinctive feel for his pace” (paragraph 7) in the excitement of the race. If he had given in to his impulse to run faster and bypassed the rabbit at that point in the race, it would have cost him energy, and, in turn, the record.

D. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 7 describes how Bannister leaped ahead of Chataway, his second “rabbit,” at the appropriate time in the effort to break the record. Chataway had “surged forward, leading Bannister at this same punishing rate for another lap and a half” (paragraph 7) before Bannister moved past him.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question asks which sentence from “A Miracle Mile” shows that Roger Bannister nearly made a mistake that could have cost him the world record. The passage never says outright that he slipped, so students must use what it explains about running a race to judge which moment was a real danger. The four choices span both his training and the race itself.

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 Grade 7 evidence questions usually match a sentence to an idea the text states. This mistake is never named as one, so students must infer which moment put the record at risk, a typical grade 7 inference within a short, clear passage.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 587 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 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 near mistake is easy to miss because it never happens: Brasher ignores the shout, and the race goes on at the planned pace. Students must see that losing his feel for the pace put the record at risk, using what paragraph 6 explains about rabbits. The sudden surge past Chataway sounds rash and the training plateau sounds like a near failure, so students who look for drama or for falling short land on the wrong moment.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The passage never calls the shout of “Faster!” a mistake; students must infer it from “lost his instinctive feel for his pace” and from Brasher’s refusal to change his steady pace. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Why running faster would have cost the record is explained a paragraph earlier, in paragraph 6, where following a rabbit saves a runner about 15 percent of his or her effort. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each sentence shows a setback or a bold move, from the training plateau to the final surge, so each has to be judged against the idea of a near mistake. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: For each quoted sentence, ask whether it shows Bannister doing something that could have hurt his chances, and use what the passage explains about racing to judge how serious it was.

Traps

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for a sentence that shows a near mistake. That is something that almost went wrong. It would have cost Bannister the record. So look for a moment when he did something that could have ruined the race.

  2. Learn how a rabbit helps

    Paragraph 6 explains rabbits. They are teammates who run in front to set the speed. It says “Typically, a runner settles in behind the rabbit and allows the rabbit to set an appropriate tempo.” Tempo means speed. Also, “by running behind the rabbit, the runner conserves about 15 percent of his or her effort.” Conserves means saves.

  3. Find the moment that went wrong

    Paragraph 7 begins “Propelled by the excitement, Bannister lost his instinctive feel for his pace and shouted” at Brasher to go faster. He lost his natural sense of how fast to run. If Brasher had sped up, Bannister could have used up his energy too soon. But Brasher “remained composed,” which means calm. He kept the steady pace, and that saved the race.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The training plateau was a setback, not a mistake. A rest fixed it.
    • B does not fit. Following a rabbit was the plan. Paragraph 6 shows that it saves effort.
    • C fits. Bannister wanted to go faster too early, which could have worn him out.
    • D does not fit. Passing Chataway near the end was the right move. It won him the record.

    Watch out: D is tempting because “bolted” sounds wild. But he waited until his rabbits had paced him for three and a half laps.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only C shows Bannister almost doing something that could have cost him the record. So the answer is C, “Propelled by the excitement, Bannister lost his instinctive feel for his pace and shouted ‘Faster!’ at Brasher.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice, since bolting past Chataway was a bold, sudden move. But it came at the right time, and it led to the record. In C, Bannister lost his sense of pace and wanted to speed up too early. Only his rabbit’s calm saved him. That is a near mistake.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 11 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 17 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 17, question 11.

Question 19 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 15
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 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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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)

  4. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.
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 20 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 16

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

Question

How does the exchange between the professor and the narrator in paragraphs 8–11 contribute to the development of the characters?

  • AIt establishes the conflict between the professor and the narrator concerning the validity of the letter.
  • BIt suggests a theme of collaboration because the narrator and the professor regularly work together.
  • CIt reveals the characters’ traits by contrasting the narrator’s distrust with how easily the professor is deceived by what he reads.
  • DIt hints that the resolution will involve the narrator accepting the professor’s opinion about the content of the letter.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the exchange between the professor and the narrator in paragraphs 8–11 contributes to the development of the characters.

A. CORRECT. Paragraphs 8–11 help develop the characters by revealing the difference between the opinions of the narrator and the professor. The narrator believes without any doubts that Halyard, the man who wrote the letter about the auks, is either “ ‘a liar or a fool’ ” (paragraph 9), while the professor believes in the possibility that the writer of the letter could actually be telling the truth (“I said as much to Professor Farrago, but, to my surprise, he appeared to waver” [paragraph 8]).

B. Incorrect. In paragraph 8, the narrator reacts to the letter writer with “a contemptuous tolerance,” and he is shocked to learn that the professor actually agrees with the man (paragraph 11) whom the narrator has bluntly condemned as a liar or a fool (“ ‘In my opinion,’ said I, ‘he’s one or the other.’ ” [paragraph 10]). The exchange presents an emphatic disagreement between the narrator and the professor, and it does not show them working together in a collaborative manner.

C. Incorrect. Although the narrator initially distrusts the contents of the letter and shows “contemptuous tolerance for the writer” (paragraph 8), the excerpt portrays the professor as experienced and intelligent, not as one who is easily deceived.

D. Incorrect. While the narrator does begin to consider the professor’s perspective at the end of the excerpt, paragraphs 8–11 primarily serve to establish the difference of opinion between the narrator and the professor about the writer of the letter.

Question analysis

This question on the excerpt from In Search of the Unknown asks how a short exchange in paragraphs 8–11, in which the narrator and Professor Farrago discuss a letter about a bird, contributes to the development of the two characters. Students must read what each man says and decide what the exchange adds. Some choices describe the pair accurately in part only.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 The task matches the grade 8 standard on how lines of dialogue reveal character, but the four paragraphs are short and the two speakers’ positions are stated outright, so the demand stays at a typical grade 7 level.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 90 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 four paragraphs are short and the disagreement is plain, so most students see that the men differ about the letter. The difficulty lies in the wording of the choices. One describes the contrast in terms of character, which suits the stem, but calls the professor easily deceived, a judgment only the narrator holds. The right choice speaks of a conflict, which sounds like plot rather than character, so students must trust that the conflict is what reveals the two men.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice that contrasts the narrator’s distrust with an easily deceived professor and the right one both set the men’s views of the letter against each other; they part on whether the professor is fooled. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How, not what minor Working it out

    The stem asks about the characters, while the right choice names a conflict over the letter, so students must see that the disagreement itself is what reveals each man. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The professor’s side is four words, “He isn’t—in mine,” and students must read them as openness to the letter’s truth, set against the narrator’s flat “one or the other.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Sum up in a phrase what each man says and does in paragraphs 8–11, then check every part of each choice against those four paragraphs, since a choice can describe one character correctly and the other not.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what paragraphs 8–11 show about the two characters. Look at what each man says about the letter. Then compare their views.

  2. Find the narrator’s view

    In paragraph 8, the narrator reads the letter with “a contemptuous tolerance for the writer.” Contemptuous means full of scorn. He thinks the writer is “either a very innocent victim or a very stupid swindler.” A swindler is a cheat. In paragraph 10, he says the writer is a liar or a fool: “he’s one or the other.”

  3. Find the professor’s view

    The professor does not agree. In paragraph 8, the narrator notices that “to my surprise, he appeared to waver.” To waver means to be unsure. In paragraph 11, the professor answers, “He isn’t—in mine.” He means that in his opinion the writer is not a liar or a fool. So the two men clash over whether the letter is true. A clash like this is a conflict.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The two men disagree about whether the letter can be trusted. Validity means whether something is true.
    • B does not fit. They do work together, but here they disagree.
    • C does not fit. The narrator’s distrust is right, but the professor is not fooled. He calmly refuses to call the writer a liar.
    • D does not fit. The narrator starts to hope later, in paragraph 34. In paragraphs 8–11 he does not budge.

    Watch out: C is tempting because half of it is true. The narrator does distrust the letter. But the idea that the professor has been fooled is only the narrator’s view.

  5. Choose the answer

    Paragraphs 8–11 set the narrator’s scorn against the professor’s open mind. So the answer is A, “It establishes the conflict between the professor and the narrator concerning the validity of the letter.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It is right about the narrator’s distrust. But it speaks of “how easily the professor is deceived.” Deceived means tricked. The story never shows that. He stays calm and thinks for himself. A describes both men correctly: they disagree about the letter.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 16 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 24 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 24, question 16.

Question 21 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 17

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

Question

The professor’s observations in paragraphs 15–17 create tension in the excerpt by causing the narrator to feel

  • Aflustered by the professor’s criticism of his logic.
  • Bannoyed by the professor’s sarcasm about his inexperience.
  • Cconfused by the professor’s lack of respect for his opinion.
  • Dfrustrated by the professor’s lack of interest in his theory.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the professor’s observations in paragraphs 15–17 create tension in the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. The professor criticizes “ ‘you young fellows’ ” (paragraph 15), suggesting that the ideas of young scientists like the narrator are unsupported (“ ‘like swimming squirrels’ ” [paragraph 17]) and inaccurate (“ ‘but you never land where you hope to—do you?’ ” [paragraph 17] and “ ‘you embark on a theory for destinations that don’t exist’ ” [paragraph 15]). The narrator then becomes “red in the face” (paragraph 18), indicating that the narrator is upset by the professor’s criticism, and asks the professor about the great auk in an attempt to defend himself.

B. Incorrect. While the narrator does experience a negative reaction to the professor’s words, the professor is being genuine, not sarcastic. In fact, the sarcasm comes from the narrator in paragraph 14 (“ ‘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’ ”), not from the professor.

C. Incorrect. The professor’s observations cause the narrator to blush with embarrassment (“rather red in the face” [paragraph 18]), but the narrator understands the point that the professor is making about the narrator’s acceptance of the idea that great auks do not exist. The narrator recognizes that the professor is criticizing his youthful ideas, not his opinion.

D. Incorrect. The professor shows amusement with the narrator’s perspective. The narrator is embarrassed and upset by the professor’s words, but the narrator does not display frustration with the professor’s lack of interest in a commonly held view of the existence of a certain species of bird.

Question analysis

In this question on In Search of the Unknown, Professor Farrago makes remarks about “you young fellows,” comparing them to swimming squirrels that never land where they hope. Students must decide how these remarks in paragraphs 15–17 make the narrator feel and so create tension. The comparison is odd and old-fashioned, and the four choices name similar negative feelings with different causes.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students infer feelings from a character’s reactions, usually from plainly stated emotions. Here the cause is a puzzling figurative jab about “swimming squirrels,” the reaction is shown only through a physical sign, and the choices offer four close negative feelings.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 52 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 professor’s two images are odd, and students must decode them as a comment on how the narrator reasons before they can say why he blushes. Every choice names an unpleasant feeling, so the decision rests on its cause. “You young fellows” makes sarcasm about inexperience the natural guess, but the sarcasm in this scene is the narrator’s own, and the professor smiles “wearily” and speaks in earnest. The narrator’s pointed reply shows he followed the criticism, not that it confused him.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    The criticism comes in images: young men who “embark on a theory for destinations that don’t exist” and who, like swimming squirrels, “never land where you hope to,” a picture of reasoning that goes astray. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about annoyance at sarcasm and the right one both name a bad reaction to the professor’s remarks; they part on the cause, sincere criticism of his logic or mockery of his youth. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The narrator never names his feeling; it shows only in “Rather red in the face” and in the defensive question that follows about whether the great auk is extinct. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Paraphrase what the professor says about “you young fellows” in paragraphs 15–17, find how the narrator reacts in paragraph 18, and choose the feeling and the cause that both fit.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how the professor’s words in paragraphs 15–17 make the narrator feel. Tension is a feeling of strain between characters. Each choice names a feeling and a cause. Both parts must be right.

  2. Read what the professor says

    In paragraph 15 he says, “Oh, you young fellows,” and “you embark on a theory for destinations that don’t exist.” To embark means to set out on a trip. He means young men set out with an idea toward places that are not there. Their reasoning leads them to wrong answers. In paragraph 17 he adds, “Like swimming squirrels, you navigate with the help of Heaven and a stiff breeze, but you never land where you hope to—do you?”

  3. Understand the picture

    A swimming squirrel can’t really steer. It drifts with luck and the wind. The professor is saying the narrator’s thinking drifts the same way and misses the truth. That is a criticism of his logic, or reasoning. In paragraph 18, the narrator is “Rather red in the face.” He is flustered, which means embarrassed and upset.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. He turns red after the professor criticizes his reasoning.
    • B does not fit. Sarcasm is saying the opposite of what you mean in order to mock. The professor means what he says. The sarcastic one is the narrator, in paragraph 14.
    • C does not fit. He is not confused. He fires back a sharp question right away.
    • D does not fit. The professor answers the narrator’s idea closely, so he is interested in it.

    Watch out: B is tempting because “you young fellows” points to the narrator’s youth. But the professor is sincere, not sarcastic.

  5. Choose the answer

    The professor says the narrator’s reasoning goes astray, and the narrator turns red. So the answer is A, “flustered by the professor’s criticism of his logic.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. Both A and B say the narrator feels bad. But B blames sarcasm. Paragraph 14 says the narrator “replied, sarcastically,” so the sarcasm is his own. The professor means his words seriously. A names the real cause: criticism of the narrator’s thinking.

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 B English, page 25, question 17.

Question 22 of 120

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.
What makes it hard
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 23 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 19

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

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt best explains why the professor is eager to send the narrator on an expedition?

  • A“I believe now that Professor Farrago perfectly interpreted my thoughts, but he betrayed neither resentment nor impatience.” (paragraph 25)
  • B“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.” (paragraph 26)
  • C“ ‘What I want you to do is to get those birds here safely.’ ” (paragraph 27)
  • D“ ‘I can’t get away from the idea that we are on the eve of acquiring the rarest of living creatures.’ ” (paragraph 33)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt best explains why the professor is eager to send the narrator on an expedition.

A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 25 says that the professor “perfectly interpreted” the narrator’s thoughts: in paragraph 24, the narrator suspects the professor is losing his ability to reason because his request (to secure the great auk for the society) seems impossible. The professor is excited about the discovery, but the narrator doubts whether the discovery is real. The sentence does not explain why the professor is excited, however.

B. Incorrect. Paragraph 26 shows the professor and the narrator planning the logistics of the trip, but it does not explain why the professor is eager to send the narrator on the expedition.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence from paragraph 27 expresses the professor’s interest in having the narrator bring the birds back safely, it does not show the underlying reason why the safety of the birds is so crucial, which is that the great auk is extremely rare.

D. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 33 reveals the professor’s excitement to get “ ‘the rarest of living creatures,’ ” the great auk. In paragraph 14, the narrator states that “it is generally accepted . . . that the great auk has been extinct for years,” which would make a living auk incredibly rare and explains the professor’s eagerness for the narrator to go on the expedition.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question asks which sentence from In Search of the Unknown best explains why Professor Farrago is eager to send the narrator to collect a pair of great auks from a man who wrote to the zoo. Students must find the sentence that gives the professor’s reason, and the four quotations, from paragraphs 25 to 33, all concern the expedition in some way.

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 Choosing the sentence that best explains a character’s motive is standard grade 7 evidence work. The four quotations are short and labeled, but students must tell a reason for the professor’s eagerness apart from sentences that merely relate to the trip.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 109 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A detail in the explanation was attributed to the wrong paragraph; it 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 quotation concerns the expedition, so the question rests on the difference between a sentence that relates to the trip and one that gives the professor’s reason for wanting it. The order to bring the birds back safely shows his eagerness plainly and draws students who stop there. Only the sentence about “the rarest of living creatures” supplies a motive, and it gains its weight from the narrator’s earlier claim that the great auk is extinct.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The professor’s order to “get those birds here safely” and the right sentence are both his words about the birds; one says what he wants, the other why he wants it. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The right sentence never mentions the expedition, and its force depends on paragraph 14, where the narrator says the great auk “has been extinct for years.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “On the eve of acquiring” is an idiom for being about to obtain, and a student who takes “eve” as evening misses that the professor feels the prize is near. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate the question as “Why does the professor want the narrator to go?” and ask of each quotation whether it gives a reason or only describes part of the plan.

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.
  • Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option A says “In the sentence from paragraph 25, the narrator suspects the professor is losing his ability to reason.” That suspicion is in paragraph 24 (“Clearly, Professor Farrago was on the verge of dotage,” where dotage is “a loss of reasoning brought about by old age”). The sentence from paragraph 25, which is Option A, says that the professor “perfectly interpreted my thoughts” and showed “neither resentment nor impatience.” The site now says: “The sentence from paragraph 25 says that the professor ‘perfectly interpreted’ the narrator’s thoughts: in paragraph 24, the narrator suspects the professor is losing his ability to reason.” The rest of the explanation is unchanged: Option A is still wrong because the sentence does not explain why the professor is eager to send the narrator.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the sentence that best explains why the professor is eager to send the narrator. So look for a reason, not a plan or an order.

  2. Recall what the narrator believes

    In paragraph 14, the narrator says “that the great auk has been extinct for years.” Extinct means no longer alive anywhere on Earth. So a living great auk would be amazingly rare. The letter writer claims to have two of them.

  3. Find the professor’s reason

    In paragraph 33, the professor says, “I can’t get away from the idea that we are on the eve of acquiring the rarest of living creatures.” On the eve of means just about to. Acquiring means getting. He thinks the zoo is close to getting the rarest animal alive. That is why he is eager to send the narrator.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It is from paragraph 25. It says the professor understood the narrator’s thoughts. Those thoughts are in paragraph 24: the professor was “on the verge of dotage,” or losing his reason in old age. A shows the professor’s calm, not his reason.
    • B does not fit. It describes planning the trip, not why.
    • C does not fit. It says what the professor wants done, but not why the birds matter.
    • D fits. It gives his reason: a chance at the rarest of creatures.

    Watch out: C is tempting because the professor is talking about the birds. But it is an order, not a reason.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only D explains what makes the trip so exciting to the professor. So the answer is D, “I can’t get away from the idea that we are on the eve of acquiring the rarest of living creatures.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. In C, the professor says “What I want you to do is to get those birds here safely.” That tells what he wants. D tells why he wants it: the birds may be “the rarest of living creatures.” The question asks for the reason, so D fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 27 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 27, question 19. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 24 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 21

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

Question

Which sentence best demonstrates the professional relationship between the narrator and the professor?

  • A“He disengaged the sheet of paper and handed it to me.” (paragraph 4)
  • B“Clearly, Professor Farrago was on the verge of dotage—ah, what a loss to the world!” (paragraph 24)
  • C“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“ ‘Very well,’ said Professor Farrago, good-humoredly, ‘you shall have all the assistance you may require.’ ” (paragraph 29)
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks which sentence best demonstrates the professional relationship between the narrator and the professor.

A. Incorrect. Although the professor’s handing of the paper to the narrator indicates that they are beginning to discuss the letter about the great auk, the sentence from paragraph 4 does not convey the relationship between a subordinate employee (the narrator) and a superior (the professor).

B. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 24 presents the narrator’s immediate internal reaction to the professor’s words. The sentence emphasizes that the professor’s belief in the great auk’s existence is so outrageous that the narrator initially thinks the professor is starting to lose touch with reality. This is a momentary reaction to the professor’s words, not a demonstration of the professional relationship between the two.

C. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 25 reveals that while the narrator disagrees with the professor (“this fool’s errand was none of my conceiving”), he obeys because he works for the professor (“there was nothing to do but to obey”).

D. Incorrect. The professor’s good-humored offer of assistance in the sentence from paragraph 29 does not best demonstrate the underlying employer-employee relationship between the professor and the narrator. The narrator has to go on the expedition because the professor, his boss, told him to.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question on In Search of the Unknown asks which sentence best demonstrates the professional relationship between the narrator, who answers letters for a zoological society, and Professor Farrago. The four quotations come from different points in their conversation about a letter. Several show the two men dealing with each other, so students must weigh which one shows the relationship most clearly.

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 Picking the sentence that best shows a relationship between characters is typical grade 7 evidence work. The four quotations are short and labeled, and the main step is deciding what a professional relationship would look like in this scene.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 1066 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 84 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

Several quotations show the two men interacting, and the professor’s offer of “all the assistance you may require” even shows him controlling the society’s resources. The best evidence is the sentence in which the employee’s position is plain: he disagrees, yet he must obey. Students who read “professional” loosely as anything that happens at work pick the handing over of the letter, and those who look only at the professor’s authority stop at his offer of help.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must first decide what a professional relationship looks like here, a superior and an employee bound to carry out his orders, before they can see it in “nothing to do but to obey.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four sentences show the two men dealing with each other, from handing over a letter to granting help, so each must be weighed for what it shows about rank. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The right sentence ends “this fool’s errand was none of my conceiving,” old-fashioned wording for saying the pointless trip was not his idea, which shows the disagreement that makes his obedience telling. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Decide first what a professional relationship between these two men involves, then ask of each quotation whether it shows that relationship or only a passing moment between them.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for the sentence that best shows their professional relationship. That means how they relate at work: who is the boss, and who must follow orders. Paragraph 3 calls Professor Farrago the “general superintendent of the Zoological Gardens.” He is the man in charge. The narrator sends him letters for approval.

  2. Look for a sign of boss and worker

    Paragraph 25 says “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.” To obey means to do what you are told. A fool’s errand is a pointless task. “None of my conceiving” means it was not his idea.

  3. Put it in your own words

    The narrator thinks the trip is silly. Still, he must do it, because the professor is his boss. A worker who disagrees but follows orders anyway shows a work relationship clearly. That is what this sentence does.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Handing over a letter starts their talk. It shows nothing about who is in charge.
    • B does not fit. It is the narrator’s private thought that the professor is losing his reason in old age. It is a passing reaction.
    • C fits. The narrator must obey even though he disagrees.
    • D does not fit. It shows the professor in a good mood. It does not show the narrator’s duty to follow orders.

    Watch out: D is tempting because a boss is the one who offers help. But the sentence mostly shows his good humor.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only C shows the narrator following an order he does not agree with. So the answer is C, “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.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. The professor does have the power to offer “all the assistance you may require.” But that sentence mainly shows him being friendly. C shows the heart of the work relationship. The narrator thinks the job is foolish, yet he has “nothing to do but to obey.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 29 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 29, question 21.

Question 25 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 23
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 5–8 from the poem.

So beneath the level of molecules are atoms,
and beneath the level of atoms, we find
protons, electrons, neutrons; and beneath that—
what, exactly?

The lines help develop a central idea of the poem by revealing the speaker’s

  • Ainterest in determining how the parts of matter work together.
  • Bcuriosity about what makes up matter.
  • Cdesire to prove that particles make up matter.
  • Dquestions about what tools are needed to study matter.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what lines 5–8 reveal about the speaker to help develop a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. In lines 5–8, the speaker is demonstrating knowledge about the structure of matter, not demonstrating interest in how matter’s parts work together; for example, “beneath the level of molecules are atoms, / and beneath the level of atoms, we find / protons, electrons, neutrons” (lines 5–7).

B. CORRECT. Lines 5–8 show the connection between the particles by using the words “beneath the level” repeatedly. The progression of particles of matter, from atoms to subatomic particles, “protons, electrons, neutrons” (line 7), ends with a question. By asking, “what, exactly?” (line 8), the speaker questions the mysteries that are still unsolved about the nature of matter, which is a central idea of the poem.

C. Incorrect. The speaker expresses curiosity in line 8 (“what, exactly?”) but does not use language in lines 5–8 that expresses a desire to prove a point. The poem does not show any conflict, either from within or from other scientists, about the concept that particles make up matter.

D. Incorrect. While the poem is about the Large Hadron Collider, which, according to the introductory text before the poem, is a tool that “helps scientists study and understand how the smallest particles of matter interact with one another,” lines 5–8 do not suggest the use of tools but rather question what comes after the “protons, electrons, neutrons” (line 7).

Question analysis

This question on the poem “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything,” about the Large Hadron Collider, quotes lines 5–8, which move from molecules down to atoms and smaller particles. Students decide what the lines reveal about the speaker and how that develops a central idea of the poem. The choices name related attitudes toward matter and science, so precise reading matters.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Below typical grade 7 demand: the four lines are quoted in the question and use everyday words, so a single step of interpretation links them to the speaker’s attitude and to the poem’s larger subject.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 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 lines move down level by level, molecules, atoms, protons, and then stop at a question, so the speaker’s curiosity is close to the surface. The choice about how the parts work together comes nearest to the right one, helped by the head-note, which says the collider studies how particles “interact.” Students who notice that the lines list what lies beneath what, and never how things interact, settle on curiosity about what matter is made of.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The speaker never names a feeling; the curiosity shows in the dash and the question “what, exactly?” that cut off a confident list of layers. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The choice about how the parts of matter work together and the right one both give the speaker an interest in matter; they part on its object, how parts interact or what matter is made of. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Read lines 5–8 as one sentence, describe in a word or two what the speaker is doing in them, and pick the choice that matches those exact lines.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what lines 5–8 show about the speaker, the voice talking in the poem. It also asks how that fits a central idea, a main point of the whole poem. Decide what the speaker is doing in these lines.

  2. Read lines 5–8

    The lines say “So beneath the level of molecules are atoms, / and beneath the level of atoms, we find / protons, electrons, neutrons; and beneath that— / what, exactly?” Matter is the stuff everything is made of. A molecule is a tiny group of atoms joined together. Protons, electrons and neutrons are the even tinier parts of an atom.

  3. See what the speaker is doing

    The speaker goes down layer by layer: molecules, then atoms, then the parts of atoms. Then the list stops with a dash and a question: “what, exactly?” The speaker does not know what lies beneath, and wants to know. That is curiosity. The whole poem keeps asking what everything is made of.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The lines ask what is underneath, not how the parts work together.
    • B fits. The speaker wonders what matter is made of at its smallest.
    • C does not fit. The speaker is not trying to prove a point. The lines end with a question.
    • D does not fit. Ways to search, like tunnels, come later, in lines 17–22. Lines 5–8 do not mention them.

    Watch out: A is tempting because the note before the poem says scientists study how particles “interact,” or act on one another. But lines 5–8 are only about what lies beneath.

  5. Choose the answer

    The question “what, exactly?” shows a speaker who wants to know what matter is made of. So the answer is B, “curiosity about what makes up matter.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice, since it also shows interest in matter. But A is about how the parts work together. Lines 5–8 never talk about that. They go down layer by layer and end with “what, exactly?” That question asks what matter is made of, so B fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 23 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 34 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 34, question 23.
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 26 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 25

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

Question

Read lines 27–28 from the poem.

And there, in the explosion, in the darkness,
briefly incandescent, they appear:

The imagery in the lines reveals that the speaker

  • Aenvies the physicists who research colliding particles.
  • Bhas personally observed colliding particles.
  • Cadmires the powerful reactions that occur when particles collide.
  • Dhas a simplistic understanding of how particles collide.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks what the imagery in lines 27–28 reveals about the speaker.

A. Incorrect. The physicists mentioned in the fifth stanza (lines 33–44) are described as mere observers: they “jot down / what they can” (lines 41–42). In lines 27–28, the speaker is focused on the reaction between the colliding particles, not on the physicists who study them.

B. Incorrect. The speaker describes the particle collision in detail, but the text does not imply that the speaker has personally witnessed a collision. The speaker implies that his or her understanding of the collision is based on the experiences of the physicists observing the phenomenon (“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” [lines 39–43]).

C. CORRECT. The word “explosion” and the phrase “briefly incandescent” create a picture of rapid changes and short bursts of bright light, revealing how powerful the new particles are. The language the speaker uses is positive, revealing that the speaker admires the power of the reaction and stands in awe of the new particles.

D. Incorrect. The poem reveals the speaker’s deep knowledge about subatomic particles. For example, the speaker is able to name the new particles discovered—“the quarks, the leptons, and the bosons; / the baryons and the mesons” (lines 29–30)—and is able to use imagery to create a powerful picture that reveals the complexity of a scientific process that humans have never been able to see.

Question analysis

This imagery question asks what lines 27–28 of “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” reveal about the poem’s speaker, as particles appear “briefly incandescent” in an explosion inside a particle collider. Students must infer what a vivid image says about the person describing it. The word “incandescent” may be unfamiliar, and the choices are about very different things.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students infer a speaker’s attitude from imagery, but these two lines turn on the uncommon word “incandescent,” state nothing about the speaker outright, and the choices range over the speaker’s knowledge, experience and feelings, which is harder than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 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

Nothing in the two lines names a feeling, so students must judge the speaker’s attitude from the image alone, and its key word is uncommon. The vividness is itself a trap: a scene described this sharply can seem to be one the speaker watched, though the poem says the particles are perceived only through the physicists’ work. The choices range over envy, experience, admiration and understanding, so each must be tested against the lines rather than against an overall impression.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The lines describe particles, not the speaker, and contain no word of feeling; admiration has to be inferred from the drama of “the explosion” and the glow of “briefly incandescent.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    “Incandescent,” glowing with heat and light, is the word that makes the image dazzling, and a student who does not know it sees only an explosion in the dark. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The two lines are pure imagery, a burst of light in darkness as the particles “appear,” and the question asks what that picture reveals about the person painting it. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Picture the scene in lines 27–28, including what “incandescent” means, decide what the description suggests about the speaker, and test each choice against these two lines.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what the imagery in lines 27–28 shows about the speaker. Imagery is language that helps you see, hear or feel a scene. The lines describe particles, not the speaker. So you must infer, or figure out from clues, how the speaker feels.

  2. Read lines 27–28

    The lines say “And there, in the explosion, in the darkness, / briefly incandescent, they appear:” Briefly means for a short time. Incandescent means glowing with heat and light. So picture a burst of bright light flashing in the dark. The particles have just crashed into each other, or collided. In that flash, the tiny particles appear.

  3. Decide how the speaker feels

    The words are bold and bright: “explosion,” “incandescent,” “appear.” The speaker makes the moment sound dramatic and amazing. People describe something this way when they are in awe of it. So the speaker admires, or looks up to, the power of the crash.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Physicists come up only later, in line 41. Nothing shows envy, or wanting what they have.
    • B does not fit. Nothing says the speaker was there. Lines 39–42 place the sight “down there,” where “physicists jot down / what they can.”
    • C fits. The glowing burst in the dark shows the speaker’s wonder.
    • D does not fit. Right after, the speaker names quarks, leptons, bosons, baryons and mesons. That is not a simple understanding.

    Watch out: B is tempting because the scene is so vivid. But a writer can picture something without seeing it in person.

  5. Choose the answer

    The bright, explosive picture shows a speaker who is amazed by the crash. So the answer is C, “admires the powerful reactions that occur when particles collide.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because the scene feels like an eyewitness report. But the lines never say the speaker was in the tunnel. What they do show is a feeling. Words like “explosion” and “briefly incandescent” make the moment thrilling. That is admiration, so C fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 25 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 36 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 36, question 25.

Question 27 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 26

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

Question

Read lines 30–32 from the poem.

Their names
sound like dinosaurs or maybe bands
playing terrible music in someone’s garage.

The speaker refers to familiar objects and events in the lines most likely to

  • Aexplain confusing information in simple terms to help the reader understand more about the topic.
  • Bdemonstrate how scientific ideas can be explained by describing situations that many people are familiar with.
  • Cemphasize that the process being used to research particles is still in the early stages of development.
  • Dsuggest that the scientific language used to describe particles seems silly by making a humorous comparison.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks why the speaker refers to familiar objects and events in lines 30–32.

A. Incorrect. In lines 30–32, the speaker only gives an opinion about what the names sound like and does not simplify confusing information about how these newly discovered particles function or exist.

B. Incorrect. In lines 30–32, the speaker is only describing what the names of the particles sound like: “dinosaurs or maybe bands” (line 31). These descriptions illustrate the speaker’s opinion but do not explain specific scientific ideas.

C. Incorrect. In lines 30–32, the mention of the names of the particles sounding like “dinosaurs or maybe bands” (line 31) reveals the speaker’s opinion about the names but does not explain the process of researching the particles.

D. CORRECT. The phrase “their names” (line 30) refers to the scientific names of the particles: “the quarks, the leptons, and the bosons; / the baryons and the mesons” (lines 29–30). In lines 30–32, the speaker expresses the opinion that these scientific terms sound nonsensical, much like the strange scientific names of dinosaurs or silly band names.

Question analysis

In “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything,” the speaker says the names of particles sound like dinosaurs or bands playing in someone’s garage. This question asks why the speaker refers to such familiar things in lines 30–32. Students must read the comparison’s tone and purpose, and the choices offer several reasons poets compare science with everyday life.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining why a speaker includes a comparison is typical grade 7 work on word choice and tone. The three lines are quoted and their images are everyday ones, but the choices state purposes that differ in subtle ways.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 10, 97 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Two choices give the textbook reason for an everyday comparison, to make hard science easier, and they draw students who answer from what comparisons usually do. These lines explain nothing; they say how the particles’ names sound, and “terrible music in someone’s garage” is a joke at the expense of the jargon. Students who trace “Their names” back to the list before it and hear the teasing tone reach the right purpose.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks why the speaker makes the comparison, and two choices offer the usual reason for likening science to everyday things, making it easier to grasp, which these lines do not do. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The humor has to be heard: names that sound like dinosaurs or like bands “playing terrible music in someone’s garage” are being teased, which signals a joke, not an explanation. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    “Their names” points back to the list in lines 29–30, quarks, leptons, bosons, baryons and mesons, and students must see that the lines judge those words, not the particles. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Find what “Their names” refers to in the lines just before, then ask what the comparison says about those names and in what tone, and match the purpose to both.

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.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why the speaker compares the particles’ names to familiar things. Familiar means well known from everyday life. First find what “Their names” points to. Then decide what the comparison says about those names, and in what tone.

  2. Find what their names means

    Lines 29–30 list the particles: “the quarks, the leptons, and the bosons; / the baryons and the mesons.” Then the speaker says “Their names / sound like dinosaurs or maybe bands / playing terrible music in someone’s garage.” So “their names” means these science words.

  3. Hear the joke

    Dinosaurs have long, strange names. A garage band is a group of beginners who practice in a garage. Their music is often loud and bad. The speaker is teasing the science words. They sound odd and a little silly. This is a humorous, or funny, comparison.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The lines explain nothing about particles. They only say how the names sound.
    • B does not fit. No science idea is explained here.
    • C does not fit. “Garage” is part of the band joke. It does not say the research is new.
    • D fits. The joke makes the science names sound silly.

    Watch out: A is tempting because comparisons to everyday things often make science easier. But these lines make fun of names. They do not explain anything.

  5. Choose the answer

    The speaker compares the particle names to dinosaurs and bad garage bands to poke fun at them. So the answer is D, “suggest that the scientific language used to describe particles seems silly by making a humorous comparison.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. Writers often compare science to everyday things to make it simpler. But ask what these lines explain. Nothing about how particles work is made clearer. The lines only say the names sound like “bands / playing terrible music.” That is a joke about the words, so D fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 26 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 37 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 37, question 26.

Question 28 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 27

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

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.
What makes it hard
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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

The wrong answers, classified

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

  1. 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.

  2. 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.”

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Question 29 of 120

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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’.

  6. 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 30 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 29
Passage Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy

Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy

Inside the 40,000-acre Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northern Oklahoma, herds of bison roam on the scenic land that is home to hundreds of different species of plants and animals. While one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire, the use of controlled fires is actually an effective way to protect this idyllic landscape.

Fires that are started by lightning or other natural circumstances are inevitable, and the results can be disastrous. However, hundreds of years ago the American Indian people who inhabited the Great Plains area between Minnesota and Texas realized that these fires could also be helpful. The bison in the area seemed to prefer grazing on tender new grass on the recently burned land rather than on grass in the unburned areas. The American Indian people began to deliberately burn areas of land for bison to graze on, which enticed the herds away from the people’s crops.

Today conservationists at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and farmers in the Great Plains continue to use controlled burns for land management. Intentionally burning a portion of land can dramatically improve the quality of the vegetation that regrows there. The fires burn away weedy undergrowth and help limit the overcrowding of shrubs and trees in the burn area, creating less competition for water and nutrients. Additionally, the process of burning excess plant matter adds nitrogen, an essential element for plant growth, to the soil.

One common target of controlled burns at the preserve and the surrounding area is the invasive red cedar tree. A single red cedar tree can consume up to 40 gallons of water per day, taking this vital resource away from other plant life. These tall trees also cast shade that prevents sunlight from reaching the plants beneath them. The fast-growing red cedar trees tend to crowd out prairie grasses, the primary food source for wild and domestic animals that make the prairie their home. An imbalance in one component of the prairie’s ecosystem affects the entire web of life. Controlled burns help maintain this ecosystem’s delicate balance.

Of course, these controlled fires are intended to burn only a portion of an area. A total burn, which is a risk with an uncontrolled wildfire, would destroy all wildlife as well as the crops farmers plant for income. The key to using controlled fires is knowing which areas of land to burn and when. Conservation experts at the preserve employ the “patch-burn” approach, meaning they rotate which portion of land is burned each year. They study the land to find out which areas would most benefit from being burned, and then they arrange about a dozen burns over one-third of the land. This patch burning contains the fire within a specific area and allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate. The following year, conservationists will burn a different section of the preserve, while the land burned the previous year regrows healthier than before.

Researchers have tracked and studied the variety of plant species and animals that live on the preserve, and their studies show that the patch-burn approach has restored biodiversity to the area by promoting the growth of species that were at risk of being crowded out. The patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land. Burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive, but strategic controlled fires have helped the prairie sustain life for hundreds of years and, with careful management, will continue to do so.

Boxed diagram titled “OVERVIEW OF THE PATCH-BURN METHOD,” introduced by the text “By using a patch-burn method, conservationists and farmers can reduce the risk of unintentional fires and control where grazing animals, such as bison, roam.” Below it, a map of one stretch of land is divided by a branching stream, labeled Stream, into three shaded areas: a dark Unburned Area across the top, a medium gray Previously Burned Area on the left, and a light gray Recently Burned Area on the lower right, where eight bison stand. Three captions under the map read “The unburned area is overrun with weeds and has the greatest risk of catching fire,” “The previously burned area is cleared of weeds, and young trees and crops grow freely and thrive,” and “The recently burned area has been cleared of all plants. Bison prefer to eat the fresh grass that will begin to grow in the recently burned area, and they will generally remain in that area until newer, fresher grass is available elsewhere.”

Question

According to the passage, how did fires started by natural causes prompt American Indians to begin practicing controlled burns?

  • Aby drawing animals in to the area to feed on the new growth sprouting from the burned land
  • Bby destroying tall trees and reducing the shade that had hindered the growth of planted crops
  • Cby burning off excess vegetation and increasing the availability of nutrients for the remaining plants
  • Dby causing changes to the bison’s migration habits as bison herds fled from the wildfires on the prairie
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how observing the effects of the fires started by natural causes prompted American Indians to begin practicing controlled burns.

A. CORRECT. In paragraph 2, the author states that American Indians observed bison “grazing on tender new grass on the recently burned land rather than on grass in the unburned areas.” These observations prompted the practice of controlled burns as a means of enticing “the herds away from the people’s crops.”

B. Incorrect. Although the author mentions in paragraph 4 that the primary targets of a controlled burn are red cedar trees and that “these tall trees also cast shade that prevents sunlight from reaching the plants beneath them,” this detail supports why conservationists use controlled burns today, not what initially prompted the use of controlled burns.

C. Incorrect. While the author states in paragraph 3 that “the process of burning excess plant matter adds nitrogen, an essential element for plant growth, to the soil” and that “intentionally burning a portion of land can dramatically improve the quality of the vegetation that regrows there,” these details do not explain the initial observations that prompted American Indians to practice controlled burning.

D. Incorrect. While paragraph 2 mentions that bison moved to a new area to graze because they preferred the “tender new grass on the recently burned land,” there is no indication in the passage that bison changed their migration habits in order to flee wildfires.

Question analysis

This key-details question about an article on controlled burns at an Oklahoma tallgrass prairie preserve asks how fires started by lightning or other natural causes led American Indians to begin burning land on purpose. Students must find the passage's account of that early practice, and since the article describes several effects of fire, each choice has to be checked against what those first observers actually saw.

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 Finding a stated cause in an informational text is regular grade 7 reading. The answer sits in one short paragraph, but the article describes several effects of fire, old and new, and the choices draw on them, which keeps the demand typical.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 598 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 86 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 stem points to one short paragraph, but the article goes on to list many more benefits of fire, and two wrong choices borrow them: shade cleared from under red cedars and nutrients returned to the soil. Both are true of controlled burns today, not of what the Great Plains peoples first noticed. Students who return to paragraph 2 and restate the bison’s taste for freshly burned grass find the answer quickly.

  1. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Two wrong choices name real benefits of burning from later paragraphs, cedar shade removed in paragraph 4 and nutrients freed in paragraph 3, so each must be tested against what the early peoples saw. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Paragraph 2 never says the bison’s grazing caused the practice; students connect “realized that these fires could also be helpful” to the preference for burned land and the deliberate burns that follow. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Go to the paragraph about the Great Plains peoples of hundreds of years ago, restate in your own words what they noticed after natural fires, and test each choice against that observation.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks about a cause. Long ago, fires started by lightning gave American Indians an idea. They began to burn land on purpose. You need to find what they saw that led them to do it. A controlled burn is a fire that people set and keep inside a planned area.

  2. Find the right paragraph

    Paragraph 2 tells this part of the story. It says the people “realized that these fires could also be helpful.” Then it says what they noticed: “The bison in the area seemed to prefer grazing on tender new grass on the recently burned land rather than on grass in the unburned areas.”

  3. Put it in your own words

    Grazing means eating grass. After a fire, soft new grass grew, and the bison liked it best. So the people began to burn land on purpose. The new grass pulled the herds to that land. That kept the bison away from the crops. The paragraph says the burning “enticed the herds away from the people’s crops.” Enticed means tempted or drew.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The burned land drew animals, the bison, to eat the new grass.
    • B is wrong. The shade of tall trees comes from paragraph 4. It explains why people burn red cedars today, not how burning began.
    • C is wrong. Burning off weeds and adding nutrients come from paragraph 3. Nutrients are what plants need to grow. These are reasons for burning today.
    • D is wrong. The bison moved toward the fresh grass. The passage never says herds fled from fires.

    Watch out: C is true about controlled burns. But the question asks what first gave the people the idea. Paragraph 2 says it was the bison.

  5. Choose the answer

    The early people saw bison come to burned land to eat the new grass. So the answer is A: “by drawing animals in to the area to feed on the new growth sprouting from the burned land.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because it names real good effects of fire. But paragraph 3 gives those as reasons people burn land “today.” The question asks how burning began hundreds of years ago. Paragraph 2 says it began when people watched bison feed on burned land.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 29 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 42 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 42, question 29.
The passage “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy” as printed (page 41)The passage “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy” as printed on page 41 of the DOE handbook.

Question 31 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 30

Uses the passage above: “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy”.

Question

Targeting red cedar trees in controlled burns affects the animals that live on the prairie mostly by

  • Aensuring that the animals’ main food source has the conditions needed for it to thrive.
  • Bendangering the animals that live near the trees scheduled for removal.
  • Cmaking sure that the water supply for the animals is sufficient.
  • Dreducing the animals’ natural source of shade and protection from the elements.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how targeting red cedar trees in controlled burns affects the animals that live on the prairie.

A. CORRECT. According to information in paragraph 4, targeting invasive red cedar trees with controlled burns affects animals that live on the prairie by ensuring that these trees do not “crowd out prairie grasses, the primary food source for wild and domestic animals that make the prairie their home.” The paragraph also states that each red cedar tree consumes “up to 40 gallons of water per day, taking this vital resource away from other plant life.” Removing red cedars thus increases the amount of water available to the prairie grasses and helps maintain favorable conditions for the animals’ main source of food.

B. Incorrect. Although the author mentions the potential danger to wildlife from an uncontrolled burn in paragraph 5, the author emphasizes that patch burning “allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate.” Therefore, the animals that live near trees scheduled for removal are not endangered by the controlled burns.

C. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author states that “a single red cedar tree can consume up to 40 gallons of water per day, taking this vital resource away from other plant life.” However, the author does not suggest that reducing the number of red cedar trees through controlled burns ensures a sufficient water supply for animals that live on the prairie.

D. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author states that “these tall trees also cast shade that prevents sunlight from reaching the plants beneath them.” However, the author does not suggest that using controlled burns to eliminate red cedar trees reduces a natural source of shade for prairie animals. The red cedar trees are invasive; therefore, the author does not consider them a “natural” part of the prairie ecosystem.

Question analysis

This question asks how burning invasive red cedar trees on purpose mostly affects the wild and domestic animals that live on the Oklahoma prairie. Students follow a chain of cause and effect through the paragraph on red cedars, which describes the trees' heavy water use, their shade and their spread, and must pick out the effect that matters most to the animals.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 readers routinely trace how one change leads to another in an informational text. This chain stays within one paragraph, but the paragraph names several things the cedars take from the prairie, and the stem's “mostly” asks for the main effect.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 598 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 66 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 lists three harms the red cedar does, drinking water, casting shade and crowding out grasses, and the wrong choices hand the water and the shade straight to the animals. In the text, all three harms fall on plants, and animals feel them only through the grasses they eat. Students who ask who suffers each harm see that protecting the food supply is the main effect the stem’s “mostly” asks for.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Paragraph 4 never names an effect on animals; students must chain the cedars crowding out “prairie grasses,” the grasses being “the primary food source,” and the burns that remove the cedars. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

    The paragraph names three harms at once, 40 gallons of water a day, shade over the plants below and crowding, and students must track which living things each harm reaches. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right choice speaks of “conditions needed for it to thrive” without naming grass or cedars, while the wrong ones repeat the paragraph’s vivid details of water and shade. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Reread the paragraph about red cedars and list each way the trees harm the prairie, then ask which of those harms reaches the animals and which would matter to them most.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks about cause and effect. People burn red cedar trees on purpose. You need to find how that mostly helps the animals. The word “mostly” means you want the biggest effect, not just any effect.

  2. Find what the red cedars do

    Paragraph 4 is about red cedars. It names three harms. First, one tree can drink “up to 40 gallons of water per day, taking this vital resource away from other plant life.” Second, the trees “cast shade that prevents sunlight from reaching the plants beneath them.” Third, they “tend to crowd out prairie grasses, the primary food source for wild and domestic animals.”

  3. Ask who each harm hurts

    Look at who loses each time. The water is taken from “other plant life.” The shade blocks light from “the plants beneath them.” The crowding pushes out prairie grasses. So every harm falls on plants. The animals feel it through the grass, because grass is their main food. Primary means main. So burning the cedars mostly helps the animals by protecting their food.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The animals’ main food source is prairie grass. With the cedars gone, the grass gets water, sunlight and room to grow.
    • B is wrong. Paragraph 5 says patch burning “allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate.” Relocate means move somewhere else.
    • C is wrong. The cedars take water from plants. The passage never says the animals run short of water.
    • D is wrong. The shade blocks light from plants. The passage never calls it shelter for animals.

    Watch out: The 40 gallons of water is a striking fact, so C is tempting. But that water is taken from “other plant life.”

  5. Choose the answer

    Burning the cedars keeps the grass healthy, and the grass feeds the animals. Thrive means grow well. So the answer is A: “ensuring that the animals’ main food source has the conditions needed for it to thrive.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because paragraph 4 does talk about water. But it says the cedars take water from plants, not from animals. The grass, the animals’ main food, is what suffers from all three harms. So A fits better.

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 B English, page 43, question 30.

Question 32 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 31

Uses the passage above: “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 6.

The patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land.

The author includes this sentence to show that

  • Athe conservationists are better qualified to lead preservation efforts than farmers are.
  • Bthe conservationists are eager to involve others in the preservation of the prairie.
  • Cthe conservationists’ efforts will restore the original beauty and biodiversity of the region.
  • Dthe conservationists’ training program should serve as a model for other conservation organizations.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the author intends to show by using the second sentence in paragraph 6 in the passage.

A. Incorrect. Although the author refers to the conservationists as “experts” in paragraph 5 and states that conservationists “provide training to prairie farmers” (paragraph 6), the second sentence in paragraph 6 does not imply that the conservationists are better qualified to lead preservation efforts than farmers are. Instead, the sentence shows that conservationists believe that prairie farmers are capable of performing the controlled burns that contribute to overall conservation efforts.

B. CORRECT. The conservationists are eager to involve others in the preservation of the prairie, because “studies show that the patch-burn approach has restored biodiversity to the area by promoting the growth of species that were at risk of being crowded out” and that the process has “helped the prairie sustain life for hundreds of years” (paragraph 6). The second sentence in paragraph 6 describes how conservationists are sharing their knowledge about preservation techniques with people who live on the prairie.

C. Incorrect. Although the author points out in paragraph 6 that “studies show that the patch-burn approach has restored biodiversity to the area by promoting the growth of species that were at risk of being crowded out,” the idea that controlled burns may help restore the original biodiversity of the prairie is not the focus of the second sentence in paragraph 6, which notes only that conservationists are providing training to farmers about controlled burns.

D. Incorrect. The author mentions in paragraph 6 that the patch-burn system has been “successful” and suggests in the last sentence of the paragraph that the use of controlled burns will continue to benefit the prairie ecosystem. These details imply that this system will continue to be used and may even become more widespread. However, the second sentence in paragraph 6 merely describes a patch-burn training program that already exists and does not suggest that this program should serve as a model for other organizations.

Question analysis

This question quotes a sentence from the last paragraph of the prairie article, about the preserve's conservationists training farmers to run controlled burns on their own land, and asks why the author includes it. Students must work out what this one sentence contributes, and because every choice sounds like something a successful program might show, the test is whether the sentence itself supports it.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining why an author includes a sentence is everyday grade 7 work. The sentence is short and plainly worded, and the choices stay close to the passage's ideas, so each must be measured against what the sentence itself says.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 598 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 89 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 choice reads something into one plain sentence, so the decision is how far the sentence lets a reader go. Teaching farmers to burn their own land shows a wish to spread the work, which the right choice calls eagerness to involve others. The wrong choices go further: to a ranking of experts over farmers, to restoring the region’s original beauty, or to a model for other organizations, none of which the sentence states.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks why the author includes the training sentence, so students must say what it adds after the studies of restored biodiversity, not merely restate that farmers are trained. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Nothing in the sentence calls the conservationists “eager”; that has to be read from their choosing to teach their method to farmers so that it spreads beyond the preserve. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate the sentence in your own words, then ask what it adds to the paragraph's account of the patch-burn system's success, rejecting any choice that claims more than the sentence says.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks why the author put one sentence in the passage. The sentence says the patch-burn system works so well that the preserve’s experts train farmers. You need to decide what that sentence shows, and no more.

  2. Read the sentence closely

    The sentence says “the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land.” Conservationists are people who work to protect nature. Conducting means carrying out. So the experts teach farmers to do the burns themselves.

  3. Decide what it shows

    Why would experts teach their method to others? Because they want more people to help. Their method works, so they share it. Then the burns can happen on farms too, not only at the preserve. That shows they want others to join in protecting the prairie. Preservation means keeping something safe and healthy.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Teaching farmers shows trust that farmers can do it. It doesn’t say experts should lead instead of farmers.
    • B is right. Training farmers brings more people into caring for the prairie.
    • C is wrong. Restored biodiversity comes from the sentence before. Biodiversity means many kinds of living things. This sentence is about sharing the method.
    • D is wrong. The author never says other groups should copy this program.

    Watch out: The words “so successful” make D sound right. But the sentence only says the preserve trains local farmers. It doesn’t call the program a model for others.

  5. Choose the answer

    The experts share their method so farmers can help too. So the answer is B: “the conservationists are eager to involve others in the preservation of the prairie.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, because “so successful” sounds like high praise. But D adds an idea the sentence never states: that other groups should copy the program. B stays with what the sentence shows, experts teaching farmers so they can help.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 31 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 44 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 44, question 31.

Question 33 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 32

Uses the passage above: “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy”.

Question

Which sentence supports the idea that farmers and people who manage land may be concerned about using fire as a way to benefit the land?

  • A“While one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire, the use of controlled fires is actually an effective way to protect this idyllic landscape.” (paragraph 1)
  • B“The American Indian people began to deliberately burn areas of land for bison to graze on, which enticed the herds away from the people’s crops.” (paragraph 2)
  • C“This patch burning contains the fire within a specific area and allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate.” (paragraph 5)
  • D“The following year, conservationists will burn a different section of the preserve, while the land burned the previous year regrows healthier than before.” (paragraph 5)
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which sentence supports the idea that farmers and people who manage land may be concerned about using fire as a way to benefit the land.

A. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 1 supports the idea that farmers and people who manage land may be concerned about using fire as a way to benefit the land because it acknowledges that “one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire.”

B. Incorrect. Although the sentence from paragraph 2 relates how American Indians “began to deliberately burn areas of land for bison to graze on” and to protect people’s crops, the sentence does not support the idea that farmers and people who manage land may be concerned about using fire as a way to benefit the land. Instead, it focuses on the cause-and-effect relationship between bison and newly burned areas.

C. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 5 provides details about how “patch burning contains the fire” and “allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate,” but it does not adequately support the idea that farmers and people who manage land may be concerned about using fire as a way to benefit the land, because it does not mention that wildfires can be a threat to the prairie.

D. Incorrect. While the sentence from paragraph 5 does explain how “conservationists will burn a different section of the preserve” in order to rotate the process year after year so that the burned land has time to regrow, the sentence does not support the idea that farmers and people who manage land may be concerned about using fire as a way to benefit the land because it does not mention the potential for total burns.

Question analysis

This evidence question asks which sentence from the article on controlled prairie burns supports the idea that farmers and others who manage land may be concerned about using fire to benefit it. The passage never states that concern directly, so students must infer it, and all four quoted sentences, taken from across the article, talk about burning land in some way.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 evidence questions usually ask for support of an idea the text states. This idea, that people who manage land may worry about using fire, is never stated outright, so students must infer which sentence implies it, more than typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 598 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 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 idea to support is about people’s feelings, yet none of the four sentences mentions farmers worrying, so students have to decide what would justify such worry. The opening sentence does it by naming wildfire as a great threat before praising controlled fire, a concession many students read past as background. The strongest pull is the sentence on containing the fire, which implies caution but presents patch burning as the answer, not the concern.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    No sentence mentions worry; students must see that calling wildfire “one of the greatest threats to the prairie” gives landowners a reason to fear fire, and that “actually” answers that fear. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The patch-burn sentence about containing the fire “within a specific area” also hints at fire’s danger; it differs from the right one by describing the safeguard without ever naming a threat. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    The four sentences come from paragraphs 1, 2 and 5, and each is about burning land, so each must be tested for a hint of risk rather than for its topic. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Before rereading the choices, decide what a sentence would need to say to show that landowners have reason to be wary of fire, then test each quoted sentence for exactly that.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is an evidence question. Evidence is the words in a text that back up an idea. The idea here is that farmers might worry about using fire to help land. No sentence says farmers are worried. So look for a sentence that gives them a reason to fear fire.

  2. Decide what the evidence needs

    A sentence that supports this idea must show that fire can be dangerous. If fire can harm land, people have a reason to be careful with it. So test each sentence with one question: does it say fire is a threat?

  3. Look closely at paragraph 1

    Choice A quotes paragraph 1. Its first half says “one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire.” That is a reason to fear fire. Its second half says controlled fires are “actually” helpful. The word “actually” pushes back against that fear. It means: you might expect fire to hurt the land, but here it helps.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. It names wildfire as a great threat. That gives farmers a reason to worry about fire.
    • B is wrong. It tells how early burns drew bison away from crops. It shows no danger from fire.
    • C is wrong. It tells how patch burning keeps the fire in one area. It describes a safety step but never names a threat.
    • D is wrong. It describes burning a new section each year. It shows a benefit: land that “regrows healthier than before.”

    Watch out: C hints that fire must be contained, or kept in, so it sounds careful. But it describes the solution, not the danger.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence names fire as a danger. So the answer is A, the sentence from paragraph 1: “While one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire, the use of controlled fires is actually an effective way to protect this idyllic landscape.” Idyllic means peaceful and lovely.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because keeping fire “within a specific area” suggests caution. But C only explains how patch burning works. It never says fire can harm the prairie. A does, by calling wildfire one of the greatest threats.

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 B English, page 45, question 32.

Question 34 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 34

Uses the passage above: “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy”.

Question

With which statement would the author most likely agree?

  • AIt is important to explain the purposes and the risks of controlled burns to the people living near a proposed burn area.
  • BIt is necessary to thoroughly examine a particular region in order to plan and execute a successful controlled burn.
  • CMonitoring animals’ reactions after a controlled burn on the prairie is a minor part of scientists’ research.
  • DConservationists should consider the helpful aspects of invasive species before executing a controlled burn.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks with which statement the author of the passage would most likely agree.

A. Incorrect. In paragraph 5, the author states that “patch burning contains the fire within a specific area and allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate,” and paragraph 6 states that conservationists “provide [important] training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land.” However, the author does not explicitly take a position about the importance of explaining the purposes and the risks of controlled burns to the people living near a proposed burn area. Therefore, the evidence in the passage does not strongly suggest that the author would agree with this statement.

B. CORRECT. In paragraph 5, the author points out that conservationists “study the land to find out which areas would most benefit from being burned, and then they arrange about a dozen burns over one-third of the land” and “rotate which portion of land is burned each year” so that animals, such as bison, can “safely relocate.” Therefore, the author would most likely agree that it is necessary to thoroughly examine a particular region in order to plan and execute a successful controlled burn.

C. Incorrect. The author of the passage would be unlikely to agree that monitoring animals’ reactions after a controlled burn on the prairie is a minor part of scientists’ research. In paragraph 5, the author explains that patch burning “allows animals in the burn area to safely relocate” and that conservationists “burn a different section of the preserve” each year to ensure that animals have an abundant area to graze while other areas are being burned.

D. Incorrect. According to the information in paragraph 4, conservationists commonly target invasive red cedar trees because they are tall trees that “crowd out prairie grasses, the primary food source for wild and domestic animals that make the prairie their home.” Since the focus is on the harm that the invasive red cedar can cause, the author would be unlikely to agree that conservationists should consider the helpful aspects of invasive species before executing a controlled burn.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks which statement the author of the prairie-burning article would most likely agree with. Students infer the author's position from details spread through the passage, and since some choices sound like sensible advice in general, each must be traced back to what the article actually supports.

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 Inferring what an author would agree with is typical grade 7 work on point of view. The choices draw on different paragraphs, and the author's views are stated fairly plainly, so careful checking settles it without a long chain of inference.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 598 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

The right statement is close to a paraphrase of paragraph 5, where the experts study the land before choosing where to burn, so careful readers settle this quickly. The risk is a statement that sounds wise in general: explaining a burn’s purposes and risks to its neighbors is good practice, but the article never raises it. The other two contradict the text, which values research on animals and treats red cedars only as a harm.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    The statements touch different parts of the article, research in paragraph 6, invasive species in paragraph 4 and safety in general, so each must be traced to what the author says, if anything. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The author never gives an opinion on planning burns; agreement must be inferred from the report that experts “study the land” before arranging about a dozen burns. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: For each statement, find the paragraph it relates to and ask whether the author says something close to it, says the opposite, or says nothing; choose only a statement the text backs.

Traps

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks which statement the author would most likely agree with. The author doesn’t state an opinion on these ideas outright. So check each statement against what the passage says. Pick the one the passage backs up.

  2. Find what the author stresses

    Paragraph 5 says “The key to using controlled fires is knowing which areas of land to burn and when.” Next it says the experts “study the land to find out which areas would most benefit from being burned.” Only after that do they plan “about a dozen burns over one-third of the land.” A dozen means 12.

  3. Put it in your own words

    The author calls knowing where and when to burn “the key.” A key is the most important part. The experts study the land before they plan a single burn. So the author thinks careful study comes first. A burn works only when people know the land well.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. This sounds like good advice. But the passage never talks about warning neighbors before a burn.
    • B is right. It matches paragraph 5. The experts study the land, then plan the burns.
    • C is wrong. Paragraph 6 says researchers “tracked and studied” the animals. The author treats that research as important, not minor.
    • D is wrong. Paragraph 4 shows the invasive red cedar only as harmful. Invasive means spreading where it doesn’t belong.

    Watch out: A is tempting because it is wise in real life. But you must pick what this author would agree with, based on the passage.

  5. Choose the answer

    The author shows the experts studying the land before they plan. Execute here means carry out. So the answer is B: “It is necessary to thoroughly examine a particular region in order to plan and execute a successful controlled burn.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because explaining a burn to the neighbors is sensible. But the passage never raises it. B matches what paragraph 5 actually says: the experts “study the land” before they plan the burns.

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 B English, page 47, question 34.

Question 35 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 35

Uses the passage above: “Using Fire to Keep a Prairie Healthy”.

Question

How do the diagram and its text provide additional support for the topic presented in the passage?

  • Aby depicting how the landscape in a given area changes as the patch-burn method is applied
  • Bby indicating that patch-burn fires are best suited for use in areas with certain features
  • Cby revealing that the patch-burn method is used primarily on uninhabited areas of land
  • Dby comparing the size of the area burned by the patch-burn method with that of unburned areas
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the diagram and its text provide additional support for the topic presented in the passage.

A. CORRECT. The text of the diagram states that “by using a patch-burn method, conservationists and farmers can reduce the risk of unintentional fires and control where grazing animals, such as bison, roam.” By showing the pattern of controlled burns and the resulting bison migration in a given area, the diagram depicts how the landscape changes as the patch-burn method is applied.

B. Incorrect. Although the text mentions areas “where grazing animals, such as bison, roam,” the diagram does not depict distinctive features of the land such as trees or brush and therefore does not indicate that patch-burn fires are best suited for use in areas with certain features.

C. Incorrect. While the text mentions “grazing animals, such as bison” and the diagram shows the bison grazing in only one area, the diagram and its text do not indicate that the patch-burn method is used on uninhabited land.

D. Incorrect. While the areas of land depicted in the diagram do indicate that the sizes of the areas differ, the text provided does not compare the sizes of the areas burned by the patch-burn method with those of unburned areas or indicate that this factor is important in reducing the risk of uncontrolled fires or controlling “where grazing animals, such as bison, roam.”

Question analysis

This question asks how a diagram titled “Overview of the Patch-Burn Method,” printed with the article on controlled burns at an Oklahoma prairie preserve, supports the passage's topic. The diagram shows a stretch of land divided into three areas, each with a caption, so students must take in what the picture and its text show together and tie that to the article.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how a graphic adds to a text is a grade 7 skill. This diagram is simple and clearly labeled, but students must take in its three areas and captions together and match them to an abstract description, a typical demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 598 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 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

The diagram shows three areas side by side, and the key insight is that they are one piece of land at three moments in the patch-burn cycle. Students who read it only as a map look for spatial claims instead, about land features, people or the sizes of the areas. The caption calling the unburned area “overrun with weeds” is the likeliest snare, since it sounds like advice on which land to burn.

  1. Reading a figure, table or graph moderate Understanding the question

    The diagram’s meaning is split among a map of three shaded areas, an introduction and three captions, which must be read together to see what the picture adds to the passage. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Nothing in the diagram mentions the passing of time; students must infer that the unburned, recently burned and previously burned areas are stages the same land passes through as the burns rotate. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. How, not what minor Working it out

    The stem asks how the diagram supports the passage, a question of function, so describing what is drawn is not enough; it must be tied to the yearly rotation of paragraph 5. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Read the diagram's title, introduction and three captions before the choices, sum up in one sentence what the diagram shows, and check each choice against something you can actually point to in it.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks how the diagram helps the passage. A diagram is a drawing that explains how something works. You need to say what it adds, not just what it shows. So read its title, its short introduction and its three captions. Captions are the short notes under a picture.

  2. Read the diagram

    The title, printed in capital letters, is “Overview of the Patch-Burn Method.” The drawing shows one stretch of land. A stream splits it into three areas, labeled “Unburned Area,” “Recently Burned Area” and “Previously Burned Area.” A herd of bison stands in the recently burned area.

  3. Read the three captions

    • The unburned area “is overrun with weeds and has the greatest risk of catching fire.”
    • The recently burned area “has been cleared of all plants.” Bison come to eat the fresh grass that grows there.
    • The previously burned area “is cleared of weeds, and young trees and crops grow freely and thrive.”

    These are three stages the same land goes through: weedy, burned, then healthy. Paragraph 5 says the experts burn a different section each year, while “the land burned the previous year regrows healthier than before.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The diagram shows land changing from weedy, to burned, to healthy as the method is used.
    • B is wrong. The captions describe each stage. They don’t say some kinds of land suit burning best.
    • C is wrong. Bison live in the drawing, and a caption mentions crops. Uninhabited means with no one living there, and nothing says that.
    • D is wrong. The areas are different sizes in the drawing. But no caption compares sizes.

    Watch out: B is tempting because “overrun with weeds” sounds like a reason to burn. But that caption describes the first stage. It is not a rule for choosing land.

  5. Choose the answer

    Depicting means showing in a picture. So the answer is A: “by depicting how the landscape in a given area changes as the patch-burn method is applied.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because the weedy unburned area does sound like land that needs a fire. But the diagram gives no rules for picking land. It shows one piece of land changing, stage by stage, as the burns rotate. That is what A says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 35 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 48 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 48, question 35.

Question 36 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 37
Passage Letter from Brooklyn

Letter from Brooklyn

by Jacob Scheier

I can already see how this will end.
How I will grow tired of the bridge’s
steep incline, and the absent-minded tourists
wandering into the bicycle path.
The weather will turn cold.
But that all happens later.
For now it is the early edge of fall,
leaves green still while the air narrows,
is slightly crisp, almost grazing
the hair of my arm like a passing stranger,
as though the air has been forced into intimacy
by the brevity of daylight.
But when it starts darkening at 4,
this closeness, I know, will be a felt distance,
like someone drawing your attention
to their lack of intimacy.
These days I am still walking at a cathedral pace
beneath the branches bending across avenues,
brownstones like rows of lived-in chapels,
like a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child,
but didn’t. How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic
for the moment I am walking inside of.
These late afternoons filled
with a loneliness that makes me feel
distinctly myself, and an awareness
of how rare that is.

“Letter from Brooklyn” from LETTER FROM BROOKLYN: POEMS by Jacob Scheier, published by ECW Press. Copyright © 2013 by Jacob Scheier All rights reserved.

brevity: briefness
cathedral: meditative
chapels: private places of prayer or worship
nostalgic: yearning for the past

Question

Which lines support the idea that a change in the weather will lessen the speaker’s appreciation for the city?

  • A“as though the air has been forced into intimacy / by the brevity of daylight.” (lines 11–12)
  • B“But when it starts darkening at 4, / this closeness, I know, will be a felt distance,” (lines 13–14)
  • C“like someone drawing your attention / to their lack of intimacy.” (lines 15–16)
  • D“These days I am still walking . . . / beneath the branches bending across avenues,” (lines 17–18)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which lines from the poem support the idea that a change in the weather will lessen the speaker’s appreciation for the city.

A. Incorrect. These lines focus on the positive way the air feels to the speaker during “the early edge of fall” (line 7). They suggest that the speaker appreciates this experience currently, while being aware that the feeling might not last.

B. CORRECT. In these lines, the speaker describes the shift in the “closeness” of the air as the weather changes and “it starts darkening at 4.” The speaker clearly indicates that the positive emotions surrounding this closeness, with “leaves green still” and the air “slightly crisp” (lines 8–9), will soon be “a felt distance,” suggesting that the turn in the weather will make the city less appealing.

C. Incorrect. Although these lines compare the darkening, changing weather to a person revealing a “lack of intimacy,” that specific comparison does not focus on a diminishing appreciation for the city.

D. Incorrect. These lines describe the “cathedral pace” (line 17) at which the speaker walks, emphasizing a meditative or thoughtful experience. Such a description suggests the speaker still appreciates the city, not that the speaker’s appreciation will lessen.

Question analysis

This evidence question asks which lines from “Letter from Brooklyn” support the idea that a change in the weather will lessen the speaker's appreciation for the city. All four choices come from the middle of the poem, where the speaker describes the feel of the early-fall air through figurative comparisons, so students must read each pair of lines closely for both parts of the idea.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Choosing lines that support an idea is standard grade 7 evidence work. Here the idea is carried by figurative comparisons about the air, and the four choices sit within a few lines of one another, so separating them takes closer reading than is typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 74 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

All four choices come from lines 11–18, and three speak of closeness, distance or intimacy, so the vocabulary of the claim is everywhere. The idea has two parts, a change in the weather and a weaker feeling for the city, and only one pair of lines holds both. The strongest pull is the second half of the same sentence, which puts the loss of intimacy most vividly but leaves the darkening behind in the lines before.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    Lines 13–14 and 15–16 are one sentence split in two: the first half names the darkening at 4 and the coming distance, the second only describes what that distance feels like. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The weaker feeling for the city is never stated; it comes through images, the air’s “closeness” turning into “a felt distance,” like a person pointing out their “lack of intimacy.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must accept “when it starts darkening at 4” as the change in the weather the stem names, since the lines speak of daylight, not of cold or rain. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Split the idea into its two parts, a change in the weather and a weaker feeling for the city, and choose the lines that hold both on their own, without help from the lines around them.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is an evidence question. The idea has two parts. First, the weather will change. Second, the speaker will enjoy the city less. You need the lines that hold both parts by themselves.

  2. Read the lines around the choices

    Lines 9–12 describe the early-fall air now. It is “almost grazing / the hair of my arm like a passing stranger.” Grazing here means lightly touching. The speaker says the air feels close, like “intimacy.” Intimacy means a warm, close feeling between people. Lines 13–16 then look ahead to shorter days.

  3. Find both parts in lines 13–14

    Lines 13–14 say: “But when it starts darkening at 4, / this closeness, I know, will be a felt distance”. Darkening at 4 means the sun setting at 4 o’clock, as days get shorter. That is the change in the weather. “This closeness” is the warm feeling the speaker has now. It will turn into distance. So the good feeling will fade.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Lines 11–12 describe the closeness the speaker enjoys now. Nothing has faded yet.
    • B is right. It names the change, the early dark, and the loss, closeness turning into “a felt distance.”
    • C is wrong. Lines 15–16 finish the comparison: the distance feels like a person pointing out their “lack of intimacy.” But these lines never mention the weather.
    • D is wrong. Lines 17–18 show the speaker enjoying a slow walk now. They say nothing about the weather turning.

    Watch out: C is tempting because “lack of intimacy” sounds like a lost feeling. But the change in weather is back in lines 13–14.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one pair of lines holds both the change and the fading feeling. So the answer is B, lines 13–14, which begin “But when it starts darkening at 4”.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because it shows the good feeling slipping away. But lines 15–16 only describe what that distance feels like. They don’t say what causes it. Lines 13–14 give both parts: the early dark and the fading closeness.

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 B English, page 52, question 37.
The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed (page 50)The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.

Question 37 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 38

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

Read lines 5–6 from the poem.

The weather will turn cold.
But that all happens later.

How do the lines develop a central theme of the poem?

  • AThey highlight a contrast between the different seasons.
  • BThey show the sequence of the changes that are expected to occur.
  • CThey warn about a problem that requires thoughtful preparation.
  • DThey emphasize the importance of valuing the present.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how lines 5–6 develop a central theme of the poem.

A. Incorrect. In this poem, the speaker describes the impressions of one day in one season: “For now it is the early edge of fall, / leaves green still while the air narrows, / is slightly crisp” (lines 7–9). Despite the reference in line 5 to the eventual arrival of cold weather, lines 5–6 primarily emphasize the speaker’s wish to stay focused on the present moment. A contrast between seasons is not a central theme of the poem.

B. Incorrect. The words “The weather will turn cold” in line 5 refer to one change that is expected to occur, but lines 5–6 do not show a sequence of changes. The line that follows returns to the present: “For now . . .” (line 7).

C. Incorrect. Although the statement that the weather “will turn cold” in line 5 could be construed as a warning, there is no support in lines 5–6 for the idea that some problems require thoughtful preparation. The speaker is reflecting on a fleeting experience, not preparing to solve a problem.

D. CORRECT. Immediately after the line “The weather will turn cold” (line 5), the speaker returns to the current moment: “But that all happens later” (line 6). These lines help develop a central theme by emphasizing the speaker’s choice to value and focus on the present moment. The “But” at the start of line 6 shows the speaker pulling back from the future and refocusing on the present, thus emphasizing the importance of savoring “the moment I am walking inside of” (line 22).

Question analysis

This theme question quotes two short lines from early in “Letter from Brooklyn,” where the speaker says the weather will turn cold, and asks how they develop a central theme of the poem. Students must work out what the pair of lines does at that point and connect it to the whole poem, since each choice describes something two lines about the future could plausibly do.

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 Explaining how particular lines develop a poem's theme is core grade 7 work. These two lines are short and plainly worded, so the demand lies in relating them to the theme of the whole poem, which is typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 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

Two short, plain lines carry a theme only when read with their neighbors: the speaker forecasts cold, then dismisses it with “But that all happens later” and returns to “For now.” Students who read line 5 alone take the pair as a forecast and look for contrast, sequence or warning. The tempting contrast choice has some truth, since “But” does mark a turn, yet the turn is from future to present, not from one season to another.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Line 6 never says the present matters; students infer it from “But” pulling back from the forecast and from “For now” in line 7 turning to the early fall around the speaker. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how two lines develop a theme, so students must see their job, setting the future aside, rather than their content, a prediction of cold weather. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Read the lines just before and after lines 5–6, decide what the speaker does with the thought of cold weather, and connect that to what the poem as a whole keeps returning to.

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 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks how lines 5–6 help build a theme. A theme is a big message about life that a poem keeps coming back to. So ask what these two lines do in the poem. Then link that to the whole poem.

  2. Read the lines in place

    Lines 1–5 look ahead. The speaker will grow tired of the bridge and the tourists, and “The weather will turn cold.” Then line 6 says, “But that all happens later.” Line 7 begins “For now it is the early edge of fall.” So the speaker thinks of the future, then pushes it aside.

  3. Put it in your own words

    “But” marks a turn. The speaker turns from later back to now. It is like saying, Sure, winter is coming, but it isn’t here yet. Then the poem spends many lines enjoying the fall walk. Line 22 speaks of “the moment I am walking inside of.” So lines 5–6 help show a big idea: enjoy the present while you have it.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The turn is from later to now, not from one season to another. The poem doesn’t compare seasons.
    • B is wrong. Lines 5–6 name one change, cold weather, and then set it aside. That is not a sequence, or series of steps.
    • C is wrong. The speaker doesn’t get ready for the cold. The speaker simply says it “happens later.”
    • D is right. The lines push the future aside so the speaker can enjoy the present.

    Watch out: A is tempting because “But” signals a contrast. Ask what is being contrasted. It is later and now, not two seasons.

  5. Choose the answer

    Valuing means treating something as precious. So the answer is D: “They emphasize the importance of valuing the present.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because line 6 does turn with “But.” Yet the turn moves from the future back to “For now.” The poem never weighs one season against another. It keeps coming back to the present moment, which is what D says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 53 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 53, question 38.

Question 38 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 39

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

Read lines 7–9 from the poem.

For now it is the early edge of fall,
leaves green still while the air narrows,
is slightly crisp,

The word choice in the lines helps convey the speaker’s belief that

  • Athe beauty of the current season should still be appreciated.
  • Bthe changes in the weather signify the end of the most pleasant season.
  • Cthe transition from one season to another happens swiftly and without warning.
  • Dthe change in the weather is so subtle that people rarely observe or feel it.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what belief of the speaker is conveyed by the word choice in lines 7–9 of the poem.

A. CORRECT. Words and phrases in these lines, such as “leaves green still” and “slightly crisp,” have a positive connotation, indicating that the speaker believes in appreciating this season while it still lasts.

B. Incorrect. Although imagery such as “leaves green still” and “slightly crisp” in these lines suggests that the speaker enjoys the season, the speaker never indicates that the present season is the most pleasant of all seasons.

C. Incorrect. The phrases “the early edge of fall” and “the air narrows” in these lines imply that the season is just beginning to change, but there is no indication from these phrases that the changes will be swift and without warning. In fact, the narrowing of the air could be a warning of a greater, more gradual change in weather.

D. Incorrect. The speaker experiences the change in weather as subtle: “the air narrows, / is slightly crisp.” However, the speaker does not refer to the viewpoints of others. The entire viewpoint in the poem is personal and introspective, as represented by the use of the pronoun “I” throughout.

Question analysis

This word-choice question quotes three lines from “Letter from Brooklyn” describing the early edge of fall, when the leaves are still green and the air is slightly crisp. Students must work out what the connotations of these words reveal about the speaker's belief, and several choices mix an accurate reading of the lines with a claim they do not support.

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 Explaining how word choice conveys a speaker's feelings is everyday grade 7 work. These three lines are short and concrete, but their meaning rests on the connotations of a few small words, which matches a typical grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 86 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 three lines are short, and every choice builds on something real in them: a change in the weather, a season ending, subtlety. What separates the answer is the time words, “For now,” “early edge” and “still,” which say that something good is present and passing. Students lose the point by stretching a reasonable sense of loss into a claim about the best season, or by turning the speaker’s private notice into what other people miss.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The belief lies in connotation: “early edge of fall” and “leaves green still” mark a season only starting to turn, and “the air narrows” describes the change through an image. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    “For now” at the start of line 7 signals that the moment will pass, and students must infer that the speaker values it for that reason, since no line states the belief. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Mark the words in lines 7–9 that describe time and the feel of the air, decide whether each sounds positive, negative or neutral, then choose the belief that fits those connotations and nothing more.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question is about word choice. The exact words a poet picks can show feelings. You need the belief that lines 7–9 show. So look at what each word suggests, not only what it means.

  2. Mark the time words

    The lines say “For now it is the early edge of fall, / leaves green still while the air narrows, / is slightly crisp.” Notice the time words. “For now” means this won’t last. “Early edge” means fall has just begun. “Still” means the leaves have not changed color yet.

  3. Hear what the words suggest

    “Slightly crisp” means a little cool and fresh. It sounds pleasant, not harsh. When the air “narrows,” it seems to tighten and grow cooler. So the speaker enjoys this moment. The time words show the speaker knows it will pass. Put together, they say: this lovely early fall is still here, so enjoy it now.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. “Still” and “For now” show the season is still here to enjoy.
    • B is wrong. The speaker never calls this the most pleasant season. Nothing ranks the seasons.
    • C is wrong. “Early edge” and “slightly” describe a slow, gentle change, not a sudden one.
    • D is wrong. The change is subtle, or hard to notice. But the speaker feels it on “the hair of my arm.” The lines say nothing about other people.

    Watch out: D starts out right, because the change is gentle. But it adds a claim about other people that the lines never make.

  5. Choose the answer

    The words show a pleasant season that is still here, for now. So the answer is A: “the beauty of the current season should still be appreciated.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because the poem does hint that something good is ending. But the lines never call fall the best season. They say only that this pleasant time is here “for now.” That fits A: enjoy the season while it lasts.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 39 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 54 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 54, question 39.

Question 39 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 40

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

Which idea does the comparison of the brownstone houses to “a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child, / but didn’t” in lines 20–21 convey?

  • AIt reveals that some people are still influenced by powerful images from childhood.
  • BIt indicates that the neighborhood the speaker is walking through is charming and appealing.
  • CIt suggests that the speaker has wanted to live in the neighborhood since childhood.
  • DIt suggests that people often experience lingering regret from their past.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the comparison of the brownstone houses to “a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child, / but didn’t” (lines 20–21) conveys.

A. Incorrect. While the lines explain that the neighborhood reminds the speaker of images from childhood pop-up books, those images are not described as very powerful or influential.

B. CORRECT. Pop-up picture books are likely to delight a child with their unique, often beautiful representations of buildings that pop up out of the page. The comparison in these lines helps explain how the speaker views these brownstones with a childlike wonder and appreciation.

C. Incorrect. Though in these lines the speaker compares this neighborhood to scenes in children’s pop-up picture books, there is no clear evidence that the speaker wants to live there, only that the speaker appreciates its appeal.

D. Incorrect. The lines state that the speaker did not have a “pop-up picture book” of the neighborhood’s brownstones as a child, but not in a way that emphasizes regret. Rather, the speaker compares the neighborhood to images from pop-up books in general to suggest that the neighborhood looks beautiful and delightful.

Question analysis

This figurative-language question asks what idea the poem conveys by comparing Brooklyn's brownstone houses to “a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child, / but didn't.” Students must interpret a simile in context, deciding how the closing words “but didn't” fit with the rest of the comparison and with the speaker's mood during the walk.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Interpreting a simile in a poem is routine grade 7 work. This comparison uses a familiar childhood object, and the only complication is the added “but didn't,” which invites a reading that the rest of the lines must confirm or rule out.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 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 core of the simile is easy: a row of brownstones looks like a pop-up picture book, something charming. The difficulty is the closing “but didn’t,” which tempts students toward regret or toward a story about the speaker’s childhood. Students who ask what the comparison says about the houses, rather than about the speaker’s past, see that the lines praise the neighborhood.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The simile likens brownstones to a pop-up picture book, and its point, that the street looks as delightful as a child’s book, has to be drawn from what such books are like. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The tag “but didn’t” invites a reading of regret, so students must decide from the walk at a “cathedral pace” around it that the comparison is about delight, not loss. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Work out what the brownstones and a pop-up picture book have in common, decide what part “but didn't” plays in the comparison, and test each choice against what the lines actually say.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks about a simile. A simile compares two things using like or as. Here the speaker compares brownstones to a pop-up picture book. Brownstones are old row houses built of reddish-brown stone. You need the idea this comparison gives.

  2. Read the comparison

    Lines 19–21 say “brownstones like rows of lived-in chapels, / like a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child, / but didn’t.” A pop-up book has pictures that stand up off the page when you open it. These books often show houses and streets. Children love them.

  3. Put it in your own words

    So the street looks charming and magical, like a page in a child’s favorite book. The words “but didn’t” just mean the speaker never owned such a book. Around these lines the speaker walks at a “cathedral pace.” The glossary says cathedral means “meditative,” or calm and thoughtful. The mood is peaceful and happy, not sad.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The lines describe how the houses look. They don’t claim childhood pictures stay powerful for people.
    • B is right. Comparing the houses to a pop-up book shows they look charming, or delightful.
    • C is wrong. The speaker never says they wanted to live there as a child.
    • D is wrong. “But didn’t” is said in passing. The speaker is enjoying the walk, not full of regret, or sorrow over the past.

    Watch out: “But didn’t” can sound sad, so D is tempting. Ask what the comparison says about the houses, not about the speaker’s past.

  5. Choose the answer

    The comparison praises how the houses look. So the answer is B: “It indicates that the neighborhood the speaker is walking through is charming and appealing.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, because “but didn’t” hints at something missed. But the speaker is enjoying a slow walk under the branches. The simile’s job is to show how lovely the brownstones look. That points to B, not to regret.

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 B English, page 55, question 40.

Question 40 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 42

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

The speaker’s thoughts throughout the poem develop a theme by showing that

  • Aalthough people may hold expectations for the future, some people long for present experiences while they are still happening.
  • Bthough people come from different places, most people feel drawn to the special charm a city holds.
  • Calthough people can make decisions about their life, there will always be some things beyond their control.
  • Dthough general expectations exist, people have no way of knowing what a given day will actually bring.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the speaker’s thoughts throughout the poem develop a theme.

A. CORRECT. The speaker’s thoughts develop some tension because seasonal change will inevitably come: “The weather will turn cold” (line 5). However, the speaker is still able to enjoy the present experience because “that all happens later” (line 6). In lines 21–22, the speaker begins to describe experiences that create a longing for the present, even while it is still happening (“How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of”), developing a theme of the poem.

B. Incorrect. The speaker’s thoughts reveal an appreciation for the city, but this appreciation is highly personal and individual. These thoughts do not indicate that most people will feel drawn to cities.

C. Incorrect. Some things, such as seasons, are beyond human control, as the speaker concedes: “I can already see how this will end” (line 1). However, the theme of the poem is not that certain things are inevitable, but that one can live in the present moment and enjoy that experience before change occurs.

D. Incorrect. The speaker’s thoughts are not showing that people are surprised by what the days bring; the thoughts of the speaker suggest that people experience many seasons in Brooklyn and have reasonable expectations about what these days will bring.

Question analysis

This theme question asks what theme the speaker's thoughts develop across all of “Letter from Brooklyn,” from the opening line about how things will end to the closing lines about loneliness on late afternoons. Each choice is a broad statement about people in two parts, so students must check both halves against the speaker's reflections.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Stating a theme is a grade 7 standard, often tested with one clearly fitting choice. Here every choice is a two-part general statement about people, and students must test both halves of each against a whole poem of abstract reflection, more than typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 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 four themes are broad statements about people, each in two halves, and every one can borrow something from the poem: the seasons are beyond control, the city has charm, the future brings surprises. The right one matches the speaker’s double vision, knowing what is coming and longing for the present while it lasts. The strongest pull is the theme about things beyond control, whose second half fits the turning seasons and whose first half the poem never raises.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The poem never states its theme; it must be built from the speaker’s forecasts in lines 1–6 and the paradox of being “nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Every choice is a two-part “although” or “though” statement about people, and three have one plausible half, so each half must be checked against the poem on its own. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The theme draws on the whole poem, from the opening “I can already see how this will end” to the lonely late afternoons of lines 23–26. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Sum up in a sentence what the speaker keeps thinking about from the first line to the last, then test both halves of each choice against the poem and reject any half it does not support.

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks for the theme of the whole poem. A theme is a big message about life. Each choice has two halves, joined by although or though. Both halves must fit the poem. If one half doesn’t, the choice is wrong.

  2. Trace the speaker’s thoughts

    The poem opens by looking ahead: “I can already see how this will end.” The speaker expects to tire of the bridge, and “The weather will turn cold.” Then the speaker turns to now: “But that all happens later.” Most of the poem enjoys the fall walk. Lines 21–22 sum it up: “How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of.”

  3. Put it in your own words

    Nostalgic means longing for the past. Yet the speaker longs for the present, while it is still going on. So the speaker does two things at once. The speaker expects what the future will bring. And the speaker treasures, or deeply values, the present. That is the theme.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. First half: the speaker expects cold weather and boredom. Second half: the speaker longs for the walk while it is still going on.
    • B is wrong. Only one person speaks in the poem. Nothing says most people feel drawn to cities.
    • C is wrong. The weather is beyond anyone’s control, so its second half fits. But the poem never talks about people making decisions about their lives.
    • D is wrong. The speaker knows what is coming. The future isn’t a mystery here.

    Watch out: C is tempting because the speaker can’t stop the cold. But test both halves. Its first half, about making decisions, isn’t in the poem.

  5. Choose the answer

    So the answer is A: “although people may hold expectations for the future, some people long for present experiences while they are still happening.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because the seasons are beyond the speaker’s control. But the poem never mentions people making decisions about their lives. A matches both halves: the speaker expects what is coming, and longs for the present while it lasts.

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 B English, page 57, question 42.

Question 41 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 44
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

Which word should be added to the beginning of sentence 8 to provide a better transition to the third paragraph (sentences 8–11)?

Move the correct answer to the box.

(8) ____ Opportunity continued to provide valuable data about craters and other surface features.

On the test you drag one of the tiles into the box; here, choose it.

  • AOverall,
  • BFurthermore,
  • CMeanwhile,
  • DConsequently,
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the word that should be added to the beginning of sentence 8 to provide a better transition to the third paragraph (sentences 8–11).

“Overall,” is incorrect and should not be added. While sentence 8 is a more general statement than sentence 7, the word “Overall” would imply that all of the third paragraph features general information about the Opportunity rover. Instead, paragraphs 2 and 3 both describe specific accomplishments of the Opportunity rover (the discovery of possible water on Mars and the distance the rover traveled), so these paragraphs require a word between them that does not transition from the specific to the general.

“Furthermore,” is incorrect and should not be added. The word “Furthermore” would suggest that the author is making an argument in paragraph 2 that is further developed by the statement in sentence 8 and the rest of paragraph 3. Because this is not the case, the word “Furthermore” is not a suitable transition from one paragraph to the next.

“Meanwhile,” is correct and should be added. The word “Meanwhile” is an appropriate transition to add to the beginning of sentence 8, since the actions of the Opportunity rover in paragraph 2 (taking photographs) and in paragraph 3 (traveling long distances) happened at the same time and both served critical functions to the overall mission.

“Consequently,” is incorrect and should not be added. The word “Consequently” would create a cause-and-effect relationship that does not exist between the paragraphs. The passage gives no indication that the rover’s actions in the third paragraph (traveling a far distance) resulted from the actions in the second paragraph (taking photographs).

Question analysis

In this transition question, sentence 8 opens the third paragraph of the Opportunity rover passage with a blank, and on the test students move one of four word tiles into the box. The paragraph before ends with the “blueberries,” small round rocks that hinted at water, so students must decide how the rover's further work relates to that discovery.

NYS standards
  • 7W2d transitions in informative writing
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Choosing a transition is regular grade 7 writing work, but this one links two paragraphs, and two of the four words fit the sentence's grammar and sound natural, so the choice turns on exactly how the paragraphs relate.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 337 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 43 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 tiles sound natural in the blank, and the one most students reach for first is an all-purpose adding word. The key goes a step further: it marks the rover’s work in paragraph 3 as happening alongside the photographs of paragraph 2, a relationship the word “continued” supports. Students who test each tile against how the paragraphs relate, rather than against the sound of the sentence, also rule out a summing-up word and a cause word.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    “Furthermore” and “Meanwhile” both let paragraph 3 add to paragraph 2; only “Meanwhile” also says the rover’s further work went on during the same mission, as “continued” implies. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    The tile must link the “blueberries” of paragraph 2 to the craters and miles of paragraph 3, so students must decide how two paragraphs relate, not just two sentences. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The timing is never stated; it comes from “During the rover’s mission” in sentence 4 and “continued” in sentence 8, which place both kinds of work in the same years. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: State in your own words how what the rover did in paragraph 2 relates to what it did in paragraph 3, then test the relationship each tile signals against that.

Traps

  • Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    On the test, you move one word tile into the box at the start of sentence 8. The word is a transition, a word that shows how two ideas connect. Some transitions add an idea, some show a result, some sum up, and some show time. You need the one that links paragraph 2 to paragraph 3.

  2. Compare the two paragraphs

    Paragraph 2 begins “During the rover’s mission.” It tells how the camera found the round rocks called “blueberries.” Paragraph 3 begins “Opportunity continued to provide valuable data about craters and other surface features.” Craters are bowl-shaped holes in the ground. So paragraph 3 tells about other work the rover kept doing in those same years.

  3. Test each transition

    • Overall sums things up. But paragraph 3 gives new facts, like the 28.06 miles.
    • Furthermore adds one more reason to an argument, as in Dogs are loyal. Furthermore, they are fun. But paragraph 2 isn’t arguing a point. It tells what the rover did.
    • Meanwhile means during that same time. It links things that go on together.
    • Consequently means as a result. But the photos didn’t cause the rover’s later work.

  4. See why “Meanwhile” fits

    While the camera was finding blueberries, the rover was also studying craters and driving many miles. The word “continued” in sentence 8 shows that the work kept going. “Meanwhile” tells the reader these jobs happened during the same mission.

    Watch out: “Furthermore” sounds natural in the blank, so many students choose B. But it only says here is one more point. It doesn’t show two kinds of work going on at the same time.

  5. Choose the answer

    With the tile in place, sentence 8 reads: Meanwhile, Opportunity continued to provide valuable data about craters and other surface features. So the answer is C: move the tile “Meanwhile,” into the box.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B, “Furthermore,” is the closest wrong answer, because it also adds information. But it treats paragraph 2 as one point in an argument. The passage just tells what the rover did. “Meanwhile” links the two paragraphs in time, and it matches the word “continued.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 62 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 62, question 44.
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 42 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 20
Passage Bird Talk

Bird Talk

by Carl Sandburg

And now when the branches were beginning to be heavy,
It was the time when they once had said, “This is the
  beginning of summer.”
The shrilling of the frogs was not so shrill as in the
  first weeks after the broken winter;
The birds took their hops and zigzags a little more
  anxious; a home is a home; worms are worms.
The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups
  reached across the green pastures.
Tee whee and tee whee came on the breezes, and the grackles
  chuzzled their syllables.
And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them
  that talked most of all and said more than any others
  though speaking the fewest words.
It was the green leaves trickling out the gaunt nowhere
  of winter, out on the gray hungry branches—
It was the leaves on the branches, beginning to be heavy,
  who said as they said one time before, “This is the be-
  ginning of summer.”

We shall never blame the birds who come
  where the river and the road make the Grand Crossing
  and talk there, sitting in circles talking bird talk.
If they ask in their circles as to who is here
  and as to who is not here and who used to be here,
Or if instead of counting up last year as against
  this year, they count up this year as against next
  year, and have their bird chatter about who is here
  this year who won’t be here next year,
We shall never blame the birds.

If I have put your face among leaf faces, child,
Or if I have put your voice among bird voices,
Blame me no more than the bluejays.

“Bird Talk” by Carl Sandburg—Public domain.

Question

Read lines 6–7 from the poem.

The birds took their hops and zigzags a little more
  anxious; a home is a home; worms are worms.

What idea from the second stanza do the lines help develop?

  • AThe birds are eager for the return of warmer months.
  • BThe birds are most likely to thrive during the spring.
  • CThe birds naturally adjust to the seasonal changes.
  • DThe birds instinctively prepare for the future.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how lines 6–7 from the poem develop an idea from the second stanza.

A. Incorrect. In lines 2–3, the tree branches exclaim that “ ‘This is the / beginning of summer,’ ” and the birds respond by taking “their hops and zigzags a little more / anxious” (lines 6–7); however, the birds’ eager reaction to the return of warmer weather is not referenced in the second stanza of the poem, which is more about the nature of birds generally than the changing of the seasons.

B. Incorrect. Birds are more likely to thrive in warmer weather as evidenced by some birds’ migration to a warmer climate during winter, and the creatures in the first stanza are responding to the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3) in their own way, such as the birds who are taking “their hops and zigzags a little more / anxious” (lines 6–7). However, the thriving of birds during a particular season is not the focus of the second stanza; rather, it is focused on the general nature of birds.

C. CORRECT. The birds are taking “their hops and zigzags a little more / anxious” (lines 6–7) in light of warmer weather, but they are not making a big to-do of the change because “a home is a home; worms are worms” (line 7) any time of the year. Such a natural adjustment to seasonal changes is reflected in the second stanza, where the birds “count up this year as against next / year” (lines 26–27) because they are well accustomed to the cyclical nature of things.

D. Incorrect. Although the birds’ actions of “hops and zigzags” (line 6) may indicate some sort of preparation, these actions are not preparation but rather the internalized cognizance of the change that has occurred with little conscious thought. As revealed in the second stanza, birds do not ponder much about past or future but rather adapt naturally as things change.

Question analysis

This question on Carl Sandburg’s poem “Bird Talk” quotes lines 6–7, where the birds hop and zigzag “a little more anxious,” and asks which idea from the second stanza they help develop. Students must link two compressed lines in the first stanza to a later stanza about birds gathered at the Grand Crossing, and every choice sounds like a fair claim about birds.

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 Typical grade 7 poetry questions ask what one line or stanza shows on its own. Here two compressed lines from the first stanza must be tied to an idea the second stanza never states, in Sandburg’s loose, unusual phrasing.
Estimated difficulty
Among the hardest on the SHSAT: a non-obvious approach, heavy reading, or a well-hidden trap.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 70 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 stem runs in an unusual direction: two lines from the first stanza must help develop an idea that only the second stanza holds, and the poem never states it. Students who read “next year” as planning are drawn to preparation, a choice built on the key’s own frame, while others answer from the first stanza’s summer or from what they know about birds. The question rewards hearing the birds’ roll call of who is gone as the same matter-of-fact acceptance as “worms are worms.”

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    Neither stanza states the shared idea: students must hear calm acceptance in “a home is a home; worms are worms” and in birds tallying “who won’t be here next year,” then call it adjusting to change. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about instinctive preparation shares the key’s shape, birds acting by nature as time passes; it differs only in what the birds do, prepare for the future rather than adjust to the seasons. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    Lines 6–7 sit in the first stanza and the idea lives in the second, lines 20–29, so students must carry two lines across the poem and match them to the gathering at the Grand Crossing. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  4. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    “A home is a home; worms are worms” says nothing on its surface; its meaning, a shrug that life goes on as it always has, has to be read from the repetition. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Paraphrase the second stanza first: what are the birds doing and saying at the Grand Crossing? Then reread lines 6–7 and ask which idea about birds both passages share.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question points in an unusual direction. Lines 6–7 are in the first stanza. A stanza is a group of lines set apart by a blank line. But the idea you need is in the second stanza, lines 20–29. The question asks which idea in stanza 2 these earlier lines also help build. So find the idea in stanza 2 first. Then see how lines 6–7 support it.

  2. Find the idea in stanza 2

    In stanza 2, birds sit “in circles talking bird talk.” They ask “who is here / and as to who is not here and who used to be here.” They also talk about “who is here / this year who won’t be here next year.” The birds simply count the changes. They are not upset by them. The speaker says, “We shall never blame the birds.” The idea: birds take the changes that time brings as a normal part of life.

  3. Read lines 6–7 closely

    Lines 6–7 say “The birds took their hops and zigzags a little more / anxious; a home is a home; worms are worms.” As summer comes, the birds hop about a little more nervously and busily. That is a small change. Then the speaker shrugs: “a home is a home; worms are worms.” Life goes on as it always does. The birds change a little and carry on, with no fuss.

  4. See what the two parts share

    Both parts show birds meeting change calmly. In lines 6–7, the season turns, and the birds adjust a little. To adjust is to change a little to fit something new. In stanza 2, the birds note who has come and gone, and life goes on. So lines 6–7 help build stanza 2’s idea: birds naturally adjust to the changing seasons.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Stanza 2 never mentions warm weather or being eager for it.
    • B does not fit. Nothing in the poem says birds do best in spring. The poem’s season is the start of summer.
    • C fits. Both parts show birds taking seasonal change calmly, as a matter of course.
    • D does not fit. The birds talk about next year, but they make no plans for it.

    Watch out: D is tempting because “a home is a home” can sound like nest building. But the birds only count who will be missing. They do not get ready for anything.

  6. Choose the answer

    Lines 6–7 and stanza 2 both show birds accepting change as natural. So the answer is C, “The birds naturally adjust to the seasonal changes.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. Like C, it says birds act by nature as time passes. But D says they prepare, or get ready. In stanza 2, the birds talk about next year only to count who “won’t be here next year.” In lines 6–7, they hop about and carry on. They adjust to change. They do not plan for it.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 20 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 33 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 33, question 20.
The passage “Bird Talk” as printed (page 32)The passage “Bird Talk” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.

Question 43 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 21

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

Read lines 12–14 from the poem.

And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them
  that talked most of all and said more than any others
  though speaking the fewest words.

What does the phrase “talked most of all” in line 13 convey?

  • AIt establishes that the speaker thinks the sound of wind in the leaves is the best indication that the season is changing.
  • BIt introduces the idea that the sound of the wind in the leaves remains constant throughout the seasons.
  • CIt suggests that the speaker is overwhelmed by the sounds of nature that emerge as the season changes.
  • DIt emphasizes that the sounds of nature enable the speaker to appreciate each season of the year.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

This question asks for what a phrase reveals about the speaker’s perspective on the change in seasons.

A. CORRECT. The first stanza of the poem establishes the way different parts of the natural world, including both plants and animals, respond to the change in season. These lines reflect the way the wind in the leaves is the best indication of the seasonal change because it is the wind in the leaves that “talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words” (lines 13–14).

B. Incorrect. Although the sound of the wind is the most obvious sign of the seasonal change per the speaker, it is in response to the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3) that the wind speaks through the leaves. The poem does not reveal that this figurative speech occurs throughout the seasons, only that it occurs during the transition to summer.

C. Incorrect. While the language used by the speaker indicates a deep appreciation for the natural phenomenon being witnessed, the language used does not indicate a feeling of being overwhelmed but rather a feeling of awareness.

D. Incorrect. Using the personification of the wind “speaking” (line 14) indicates an appreciation by the speaker for the power and volume of the wind’s voice, but only one instance of the wind’s speech, that which occurs at the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3), is chronicled by the speaker in the poem.

Question analysis

Students interpret the personification in lines 12–14 of “Bird Talk,” where the leaves under a strong soft wind “talked most of all,” and decide what that phrase conveys. Because the leaves also speak “the fewest words,” the line seems to contradict itself, and its meaning depends on how it fits Sandburg’s first stanza about the start of summer.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining what a figurative phrase conveys about a speaker’s view is standard grade 7 work. The three lines are printed with the question, though the phrase still has to be read against the rest of the first stanza.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 119 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 ranks the leaves above the shrilling frogs and chattering birds as voices of the season, but it never says what they are best at, so students must supply the idea of a sign. The tempting wrong readings take the speaker’s pleasure in nature and stretch it to every season, or hear “talked most of all” as noise. The quiet words around the phrase, “strong soft wind” and “fewest words,” point to a calm sound that tells the most.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The leaves are personified, and the line seems to contradict itself: they “talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must turn “said more than any others” into a judgment, that the leaves are the surest sign of summer, which lines 17–19 confirm when the leaves themselves announce “the beginning of summer.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate lines 12–14 in plain words, especially the contrast between saying more and speaking fewer words, then test each choice against the whole first stanza.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what a phrase conveys, or gets across. The phrase is “talked most of all” in line 13. Leaves can’t really talk. Giving a thing human actions, like talking, is called personification. You need to work out what the speaker means by saying the leaves talked the most.

  2. Read lines 12–14

    Lines 12–14 say “And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them / that talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words.” The others are the frogs and birds from earlier lines. The leaves “said more than any others,” yet they used “the fewest words.” So the quiet rustle of the leaves tells you more than all the frog and bird calls.

  3. Find what the leaves say

    The stanza ends with the leaves speaking. Lines 17–19 say it was “the leaves on the branches, beginning to be heavy,” who said “This is the beginning of summer.” So the leaves’ message is that the season has changed. The new leaves, rustling in the wind, are the clearest sign that summer has come.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The leaves say the most about the season, so they are the best sign that it is changing.
    • B does not fit. The leaves have just come out of “the gaunt nowhere / of winter.” Gaunt means thin and bare. The leaves do not rustle the same way all year.
    • C does not fit. A “strong soft wind” and “the fewest words” describe a quiet sound. Nothing shows the speaker is overwhelmed, or swamped.
    • D does not fit. The poem watches only one change, the start of summer, not each season.

    Watch out: D is tempting because the speaker clearly enjoys nature’s sounds. But it stretches that to “each season of the year,” which the poem never covers.

  5. Choose the answer

    “Talked most of all” shows that the leaves tell the most about the change of season. So the answer is A, “It establishes that the speaker thinks the sound of wind in the leaves is the best indication that the season is changing.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. The speaker does seem to enjoy the sounds of nature. But the poem covers just one change, the turn to summer. And the phrase does more than show enjoyment. It ranks the leaves above the frogs and birds. They say the most about the change, so they are the best sign of it.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 34 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 34, question 21.

Question 44 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

How does the repetition of “ ‘This is the beginning of summer’ ” in lines 2–3 and lines 18–19 contribute to the meaning of the poem?

  • AIt suggests that the shift to summer occurs in the same way each year.
  • BIt emphasizes the idea that living things are prepared for the change of season.
  • CIt highlights the idea that the first signs of summer are surprising each year.
  • DIt builds expectations about what the natural world looks like during a change of season.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the repetition of a phrase contributes to the meaning of the poem in terms of conveying information about a cyclical event.

A. CORRECT. This phrase is used twice verbatim, in both cases to show the figurative words spoken by the branches (lines 2–3) and the leaves on the branches (lines 18–19). Repetition of this phrase conveys the idea that the transition to summer occurs in the same manner each subsequent year and thus evokes the same response from nature.

B. Incorrect. While living things—branches and leaves—both make identical figurative utterances, they do so not because they have prepared for such an event. Rather, these living things take the change in stride because of the sameness and expectedness of the seasonal shifts, which occur in the same way each time.

C. Incorrect. Even though the branches and leaves have been imbued by the speaker with some degree of consciousness in their figurative ability to speak, they are not surprised by the change in seasons. They say the same thing each year because the same thing occurs each year in the same way.

D. Incorrect. Certain lines of the poem do describe the natural world during the change of seasons, such as lines 8–9: “The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups / reached across the green pastures.” However, this repeated phrase serves to evoke a sense of sameness and inevitability; it is not a phrase related to the physical appearance of the natural world, only the way the natural world responds to the seasonal change with simple acceptance for its sameness. The repeated lines do not hold any sort of expectation or anticipation for the coming of summer; they help relay observations made about the state of the season.

Question analysis

This poetry question asks how the repetition of “This is the beginning of summer,” said by the branches in lines 2–3 and by the leaves in lines 18–19 of Sandburg’s “Bird Talk,” contributes to the poem’s meaning. Students must judge what the repetition does, not only what the words say, and the four choices read the repeated line in quite different ways.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining what a repeated phrase adds to a poem is familiar grade 7 work. Both passages are pointed out by line number, so the task is to judge the effect of the repetition rather than to find it.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 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

Both quotations are pointed out, so the work is deciding what the echo adds. Students who know that repetition emphasizes may grab a choice that begins “emphasizes,” and those who hear the quoted words as a cry of discovery may pick surprise, even though that choice shares the key’s “each year.” Reading the lead-ins, “once had said” and “one time before,” settles it: the line is an old, expected announcement.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what repeating the line does for the poem, not what the line says, so students must judge an effect of structure: the same words open the first stanza and close it. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The clue is in the lead-ins, “they once had said” in line 2 and “as they said one time before” in line 18, which present the announcement as words said at this point in earlier years. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread each quoted passage together with the line that leads into it, then decide what the poet gains by having the branches and the leaves say the same words.

Traps

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about repetition, which means using the same words more than once. The words “This is the beginning of summer” appear in lines 2–3. They come back in lines 18–19. You need to work out what saying them twice adds to the poem’s meaning.

  2. Read the words that lead in

    Look at the words just before each quotation. Line 2 says “It was the time when they once had said.” Line 18 says the leaves “said as they said one time before.” Both lead-ins point to the past. The branches and leaves have said these words before, at this same time in other years.

  3. Work out what the repetition shows

    The same words come back, just as summer itself comes back. Each year the branches get heavy, the leaves come out, and it is summer again. The change happens the same way every time. So the repeated line works like a yearly announcement that nobody finds strange. It shows that the shift to summer follows a familiar pattern.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The repeated words show summer arriving the same way each year.
    • B does not fit. Saying the words again shows that summer returns. It does not show that living things got ready for it.
    • C does not fit. Something said “one time before” is familiar, not surprising.
    • D does not fit. The line only names a time. Pictures like the yellow dandelions show how the land looks.

    Watch out: C also says “each year,” so it can look right. But the quoted words are calm, like an old saying, not a cry of surprise.

  5. Choose the answer

    The repeated line is an old announcement, made again because summer comes again. So the answer is A, “It suggests that the shift to summer occurs in the same way each year.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because it also points to something that happens each year. But C says the first signs of summer are a surprise. The lead-ins say the opposite. The branches “once had said” these words, and the leaves said them “one time before.” Words said many times before are expected. They show a pattern, not a surprise.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 35 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 35, question 22.

Question 45 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 25

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

Over the course of the poem, a central idea is developed mainly through the speaker’s

  • Asense of eager anticipation as winter ends.
  • Bdescription of the changes in nature as the seasons transition.
  • Cobservation of the birds’ behavior as summer begins.
  • Dprediction of future alterations in the physical landscape.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the central idea about the natural acceptance of change by nature is developed by the speaker of the poem.

A. Incorrect. The speaker is an observer of the changes in nature as propelled by the seasons and shows no personal eagerness for the end of winter. Further, even though nature rejoices at the end of winter as exemplified by “the shrilling of the frogs” (line 4), the speaker merely records this and does not share in this display.

B. CORRECT. The response of nature to the “beginning of summer” (line 3) is the primary focus of the poem as revealed by the speaker through vivid descriptions of the sights, sounds, movements, and attitudes of the natural world.

C. Incorrect. The second stanza of the poem begins a reflection on birds “sitting in circles talking bird talk” (line 22) and taking a sort of attendance of who is present, but this behavioral description is largely figurative and meant to illustrate a point about the way the birds adapt quickly to change, not to develop a central idea of the poem in terms of how nature responds generally.

D. Incorrect. Seasonal changes are inevitable and cyclical per the speaker, but the speaker does not predict future changes to the landscape as a method of developing the central idea. Rather, the speaker describes nature’s response to changes that have already occurred.

Question analysis

Students decide how the speaker of Carl Sandburg’s “Bird Talk” mainly develops a central idea of the poem. The question does not name the idea, so students must work it out across the poem’s three stanzas and then weigh four accounts of what the speaker does, each tied to a different part or feature of the poem.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Tracing how a central idea develops is core grade 7 work. Here the idea is never stated, so students must first infer it from 32 lines of free verse and then judge what the speaker mainly does to build it.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); 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 title “Bird Talk” and the whole second stanza push students toward the birds, and the key differs from that choice only in taking in all of nature. Two other choices credit the speaker with something the poem gives elsewhere: the eagerness belongs to the frogs and birds, and the only look ahead is the birds’ talk of next year. Weighing what the speaker does across all 32 lines points to the description of nature changing.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about the birds’ behavior as summer begins matches the key’s frame, the speaker watching nature at the turn of the season; it differs only in narrowing nature to birds. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The central idea is never stated, so students must first work out that the poem is about nature meeting the year’s turn calmly, then judge which of the speaker’s acts builds it most. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Birds appear in lines 6–7, 10–11, 20–29 and 31–32, so the title and the second stanza make them look central until the branches, frogs, flowers and leaves are counted too. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Put the poem’s central idea into a sentence of your own, then ask which choice describes something the speaker really does and does the most to build that idea.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how a central idea is mainly built. A central idea is a big point the whole poem makes. First, put that idea in your own words. Then ask what the speaker does most, across the whole poem, to build it.

  2. Find the central idea

    The poem shows nature at “the beginning of summer.” The branches grow heavy, the frogs quiet down, the flowers spread and the leaves come out. In stanza 2, the birds calmly count who has come and gone. A central idea is that nature moves through the seasons, and living things accept the change as natural.

  3. See how the speaker builds it

    Most of the poem is description. Stanza 1 fills 19 of the 32 lines with changes in nature. It shows “The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups” and “the green leaves trickling out the gaunt nowhere / of winter.” Trickling out means coming out slowly, a little at a time. Gaunt means thin and bare. Detail by detail, the speaker shows the season turning. That description is the main way the idea is built.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The frogs and birds are stirred up, but the speaker describes them calmly. The poem also starts after winter is over.
    • B fits. The speaker describes nature changing as the seasons turn.
    • C does not fit. Birds are only one part. The poem also covers branches, frogs, flowers and leaves.
    • D does not fit. The speaker predicts nothing about the land. The birds’ talk of next year is about who will be gone.

    Watch out: C is tempting because the poem is called “Bird Talk” and stanza 2 is all about birds. But the central idea is about all of nature.

  5. Choose the answer

    The speaker builds the idea mostly through details of nature changing as summer begins. So the answer is B, “description of the changes in nature as the seasons transition.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It also has the speaker watching nature as summer begins. But it narrows nature to birds. The poem’s changes come from many living things: branches, frogs, dandelions, buttercups and leaves. Only B takes in all of them, so only B describes how the whole poem builds its idea.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 25 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 C English, page 38, question 25.

Question 46 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 30
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 phrases “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious” in lines 16–18 have on the meaning of the poem?

  • AThey indicate that viewing the full size and shape of the mound is difficult.
  • BThey suggest that the location of the mound is unknown to most people.
  • CThey imply that the speaker wants the location of the mound to remain a secret.
  • DThey reveal that the speaker is unfamiliar with the significance of the mound.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what impact the phrases “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious” in lines 16–18 have on the meaning of the poem.

A. CORRECT. The words “all but / invisible” indicate that a person must be close to see the humps in the ground, while the phrase “even less obvious” indicates that a person must be far away to see the overall snake shape of the mound.

B. Incorrect. While the speaker has to lead the museum men to the mound because they did not know the exact location, the words in lines 16–18 are related to the difficulty in viewing the mound from the immediate surrounding area.

C. Incorrect. The speaker is willing to take the museum men out to study the mound, so there is no indication in the poem that the speaker wants the location of the mound to remain a secret. The words in lines 16–18 convey the idea that the mound is difficult to see.

D. Incorrect. While the speaker contemplates the significance of certain elements of the mound, the phrases in lines 16–18 relate to a viewer’s ability to see the physical shape of the mound, not its deeper meaning.

Question analysis

This word-meaning question asks what impact the phrases “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious” in lines 16–18 of “Serpent Mound” have on the poem’s meaning. Students must understand the idiom “all but” and then judge which of four claims about the mound and the speaker the two phrases actually support.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L4a context clues
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Below typical grade 7 demand: both phrases are quoted with their line numbers, in plain modern language, and one careful reading settles the question. The one hurdle is the idiom “all but,” which some readers take literally.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 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

Both phrases are quoted with their lines, and the sentence that holds them goes on to list the body, the coiled tail and the open mouth, so its subject is what can be seen. The wrong choices slide from seeing to knowing: who knows where the mound is, who wants it hidden, and what it means. “Less obvious” is the slippery phrase, since obvious can also mean easy to understand.

  1. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    “All but” is an idiom meaning almost, so “all but / invisible” means nearly unseen; a student who takes it as the opposite, plainly visible, loses the sense that the humps are hard to see. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must keep both phrases about sight and connect them to lines 24–25, where only climbing a tree gives “some idea of the whole thing.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Put both phrases into plain words, starting with the idiom “all but,” then test each choice against what lines 16–25 actually describe.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what two phrases add to the poem’s meaning. They are “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious,” in lines 16–18. Put each phrase in plain words first. Then see what they tell you about the mound.

  2. Read lines 16–18

    Lines 16–18 say “The humps in the ground were all but / invisible until you were right up on them. The figure / was even less obvious.” “All but” means almost. So the humps were almost invisible until you got very close. The figure is the whole snake shape. It was even harder to see than the humps. Here, obvious means easy to see.

  3. Connect the phrases to later lines

    The same sentence goes on to list what you would see: “the sinuous body, / the tail coiled three times around, / and at the other end, the mouth wide open.” So the phrases are about seeing the shape. Later, lines 24–25 say “In winter you could climb / a tree and get some idea of the whole thing.” Only from up high could you begin to see it. The mound is huge, low and hard to take in all at once.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Both phrases show that seeing the whole mound is hard.
    • B does not fit. The phrases are about how hard the mound is to see, not about who knows where it is.
    • C does not fit. The speaker leads the museum men right to the mound. There is no wish to keep it secret.
    • D does not fit. Here “less obvious” is about sight, not about understanding what the mound means.

    Watch out: Obvious can also mean easy to understand. That reading leads to D. But the sentence goes straight on to list parts of the snake you can see.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrases show how hard it is to see the mound’s full size and shape. So the answer is A, “They indicate that viewing the full size and shape of the mound is difficult.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is a close wrong choice, because “invisible” can make you think nobody knows the mound is there. But the phrases describe looking, not knowing. The speaker knows exactly where the mound is. The problem is seeing it. The humps vanish until “you were right up on them,” and the whole shape shows only from a tree.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 30 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 C English, page 45, question 30.
The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed (page 40)The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed on page 40 of the DOE handbook.

Question 47 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 31

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Question 48 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 32

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

How does the speaker’s interaction with Ruth in lines 37–41 convey a central idea of the poem?

  • AIt suggests that the most accurate interpretations of the mound come from knowing the purpose of the mound.
  • BIt emphasizes that there are multiple interpretations of the mound based on feelings and experiences.
  • CIt reveals the benefit of considering different interpretations of the mound’s significance.
  • DIt implies that scientific study of the mound’s purpose will affect what the mound symbolizes to people.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the interaction between the speaker and Ruth in lines 37–41 conveys a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. While there are many different interpretations of the mound’s meaning, there is no way to determine which of the interpretations is most accurate, and there is no way to know the mound’s true purpose.

B. CORRECT. The interaction references Ruth’s interpretation of the open-mouth shape as a serpent singing to the sun. This interpretation creates a joyful mood. The speaker contrasts this perspective with the idea that the mound is swallowing the sun, which creates a more aggressive feeling. These various interpretations of a physical shape arise out of what the individuals feel when they look at the mound.

C. Incorrect. The speaker does not describe any benefit to considering what different people imagine when they see the mound. Instead, the speaker is simply describing different interpretations.

D. Incorrect. Ruth’s interpretation of the mound’s shape is fanciful and symbolic. It is unlikely that scientific study would change the minds of people such as Ruth about the meaning of the mound.

Question analysis

This central idea question asks how the speaker’s conversation with a sister, Ruth, in lines 37–41 of “Serpent Mound” conveys a central idea of the poem. Ruth explains the serpent’s open mouth in her own way, and students must connect this short exchange to the rest of the poem before choosing among four claims about what it shows.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Linking a short exchange between two characters to a poem’s central idea is standard grade 7 work. The language is plain, though the choices differ in what they claim the exchange shows, so each must be checked closely.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 10, 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

Ruth’s “Not swallowing, singing” makes the disagreement plain, so most students see that the mound is read in more than one way. The difficulty is in what the choices add to that: a lesson about the benefit of differing views, a ranking of readings by the mound’s purpose, or a role for science. The poem only sets the readings side by side, each rooted in what its speaker has lived or felt.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about the benefit of considering different interpretations shares the key’s subject, several readings of the mound, and differs only in adding a lesson, that weighing them is worthwhile. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The exchange is a plain disagreement, swallowing against singing, and students must infer the central idea it serves, that people see the mound through their own feelings and experiences. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Ruth’s reading answers earlier ones, Pa’s egg from the henhouse in lines 29–31 and the museum man’s sun in line 32, so her lines must be read against them. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Sum up what Ruth says and how the speaker reacts, compare it with the earlier ideas about the oval mound, and pick the claim the poem shows rather than one it might only suggest.

Traps

  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how the talk between the speaker and Ruth, in lines 37–41, shows a central idea. A central idea is a big point the whole poem makes. Compare Ruth’s idea about the mound with the speaker’s, and with the ideas that come before.

  2. Read the talk with Ruth

    The speaker liked a museum man’s idea that the snake was “swallowing the sun.” But when the speaker told Ruth, “she disagreed. It is singing to the sun, / she insisted.” Ruth explains, “That is why its mouth / is wide open.” Then she says, “Sometimes I think / I hear it on summer nights. Not swallowing, singing.”

  3. See where each idea comes from

    Each person sees the same oval mound in a different way. Pa always said it was like a snake about to swallow an egg, as snakes did in the family’s henhouse. A museum man saw it swallowing the sun. Ruth hears it singing on summer nights. Each idea grows out of that person’s own feelings and experiences, or what they have lived through. That is a central idea: people see the mound in many ways.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. No one in the poem knows the mound’s purpose, and no idea is called the most accurate.
    • B fits. Ruth and the speaker see the mound differently, each from what they feel and have lived.
    • C does not fit. The poem never says that thinking about other ideas helps anyone. Ruth and the speaker just disagree.
    • D does not fit. Nobody says the men’s study will change what the mound means to people.

    Watch out: C starts out right, since there are different ideas. But it adds a lesson, a “benefit,” that the poem never gives.

  5. Choose the answer

    The disagreement shows more than one way to see the mound, each rooted in a person’s own feelings and experiences. So the answer is B, “It emphasizes that there are multiple interpretations of the mound based on feelings and experiences.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It also says there are different ideas about the mound. But it claims there is a benefit, or gain, in thinking them over. The poem shows no one gaining anything. Ruth keeps her own idea, and the poem never says who is right. It simply sets the ideas side by side, each from a person’s own life.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 32 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 C English, page 47, question 32.

Question 49 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 33

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

The poet contrasts the speaker’s and Ruth’s points of view regarding the mound by using dialogue to

  • Aimply that Ruth is worried that her interpretation of the mound will be seen as too abstract.
  • Bindicate that Ruth hopes her interpretation of the mound will be shared by the men from the museum.
  • Csuggest that Ruth wants the speaker to agree with her interpretation of the mound.
  • Dshow that Ruth has already decided on her interpretation of the mound.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the poet uses dialogue to contrast the points of view of the speaker and Ruth regarding the mound.

A. Incorrect. The interpretation Ruth offers of the mound as a snake singing is abstract, but Ruth does not seem concerned that it is an overly metaphorical or figurative interpretation. The dialogue serves to highlight that Ruth is firm in her belief.

B. Incorrect. There is no indication that the museum men are considering Ruth’s interpretation of the mound or that Ruth wants them to share her interpretation. Ruth’s interpretation is meant to convey an abstract idea, while the museum men would be looking for a firm academic explanation of the mound. Ruth is persistent in her belief, and the dialogue does not suggest that she is concerned with the museum men’s interpretation or findings.

C. Incorrect. Ruth merely states her interpretation and says that she thinks she hears the Serpent Mound singing sometimes. She does not seek to make the speaker agree with her.

D. CORRECT. Beginning in line 37, after the speaker suggests the mound is swallowing the sun, Ruth disagrees. The poet uses the word “insisted” in line 39 to show that Ruth firmly believes in her own interpretation of the mound.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how the poet of “Serpent Mound” uses dialogue to contrast the speaker’s and Ruth’s views of the mound in the poem’s closing lines. Students must read Ruth’s few words closely, since each choice credits her with a different attitude toward her own interpretation.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Analyzing how a writer contrasts two characters’ points of view is exactly what the grade 7 standard describes. The dialogue is only a few lines long, but each choice describes Ruth’s attitude in a different way.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 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 dialogue is only a few lines, and every choice is about Ruth’s attitude toward her own reading. “Insisted” is the hinge: it can sound like pressing someone to agree, but nothing follows that asks the speaker anything. The hedge “Sometimes I think” can also be misread as worry, though it introduces what she hears, not doubt about her view.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about Ruth wanting agreement and the key both rest on “she insisted”; they differ in whether insisting aims to win the speaker over or shows her mind is already made up. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Ruth’s attitude is never named, so students must read it from “she disagreed,” “she insisted” and the clipped “Not swallowing, singing,” and from what she does not do: ask for agreement. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread lines 37–41 and describe Ruth’s attitude in a few words of your own before looking at the choices, then pick the one the lines themselves show.

Traps

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what the poet shows by using dialogue, the words people say to each other. The speaker and Ruth have different points of view about the mound. You need to decide what Ruth’s words show about her attitude, or how she feels about her own idea.

  2. Read the dialogue in lines 37–41

    The speaker tells Ruth the idea of “swallowing the sun.” The poem says “she disagreed. It is singing to the sun, / she insisted. That is why its mouth / is wide open.” Then she says, “Sometimes I think / I hear it on summer nights. Not swallowing, singing.”

  3. Look closely at the word insisted

    To insist is to say something firmly and refuse to back down. Ruth doesn’t say “maybe.” She doesn’t ask what the speaker thinks. She ends with three short words: “Not swallowing, singing.” That sounds final. She has her own reason, too: what she hears on summer nights. Her mind was made up before this talk began.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. “Sometimes I think” is about a sound she hears. It is not worry that her idea is too abstract, or too far from real things.
    • B does not fit. Ruth talks only to the speaker, later. She never mentions the museum men.
    • C does not fit. Ruth states her view, but she never asks the speaker to agree.
    • D fits. “Insisted” and her firm last words show that her mind is made up.

    Watch out: “Insisted” can sound like pushing someone to agree, which leads to C. But nothing in her words asks for agreement.

  5. Choose the answer

    Ruth’s firm words show she is sure of her own idea. So the answer is D, “show that Ruth has already decided on her interpretation of the mound.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. Both C and D rest on the word “insisted.” But insisting can show that you are sure without trying to win anyone over. Ruth never asks whether the speaker agrees. She just states her view and what she hears. That shows her mind is already made up, which is what D says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 33 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 48 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 48, question 33.

Question 50 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 35
Passage Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming”

Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming”

by Melanie Canales

The author, Melanie Canales, is a first-generation Peruvian American farmer and beekeeper based in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, on lands of the indigenous Monacan and Manahoac tribes. Her work focuses on creating healthy relationships between people and their surrounding ecosystems.

Unburdened by the constraints of gravity, red and green peppers jut out at 45-degree angles inside the Advanced Plant Habitat (APH), a sort of space terrarium not much larger than a microwave. Four chile pepper plants stand effortlessly upright, despite the dozens of glossy fruits weighing them down. These plants have lived entirely in space; their leaves have never been chewed on by insects or rustled by a summer breeze, [and] their stems are unfamiliar with bending toward the sun’s arc across the sky. Scissors glint under the tank’s white and blue lights as astronaut Mark Vande Hei and his team snip the stems of those that are ready for harvest. The peppers whirl around their heads until the astronauts catch them and tape them against a board to photograph.

Back on Earth, the Plant Habitat-04 team of engineers and plant scientists are observing and conferring with the astronauts. Of the 26 peppers in this batch, only the 14 finest will stay on the International Space Station [ISS] for consumption. The rest will be wrapped in foil, sealed in a Ziploc bag, then frozen at a brisk −80 degrees, until they can come roaring back to Earth in the next cargo capsule to be studied later. Now, after a 137-day growth cycle, the astronauts remove the plants from the module and trash them. Project Plant Habitat-04 is complete. It’s taco night on the ISS.

Since 2014, NASA1 has experimented with growing lettuces, brassicas,2 and zinnias3 in space, an endeavor that relies on highly specialized technology over 50 years in the making. [Fall 2021’s] two successful pepper harvests . . . will provide data on the nutritional and psychological benefits of growing vegetables on-craft, as well as a crop’s ability to reliably produce long-term in microgravity. While controlled environmental agriculture is not new, the APH experiment represents an evolution in specialized growth habitats. It doesn’t aim to re-create Earth’s conditions, but to perfect each isolated variable of plant growth in the clinical environment of a spaceship.

“The Advanced Plant Habitat is the most complex plant growth system on orbit today,” says Lashelle Spencer, a plant scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Its more than 180 sensors control and monitor temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide. The astronauts can adjust the color and intensity of the light, and how much moisture the plants’ roots are getting. It waters itself.

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and Spencer has been at Kennedy since 5 a.m. to facilitate the peppers’ final harvest. As part of the project team, she played a crucial role in preparing the seeds that were sent hurtling into space in June and guiding the astronauts through maintaining the plants in orbit. . . . Though astronauts can spend upwards of 100 days in space, their on-mission meals come dehydrated and pre-packaged; their vitamins and minerals are isolated in supplements, which lose nutritional value the longer they’re stored. Spencer’s goal is to create the conditions necessary for cultivating healthy plants in space, so those plants can sustain healthy astronauts on long-term missions. Astronaut food is great, she says—“especially the shrimp cocktail. But you’re missing that crunch. You’re missing that fresh pop of flavor, the green flavor that’s not there in that packaged food.”

The sensory experience of growing productive crops can also help mitigate4 the psychological effects of long-term space travel. . . . Spencer says the team cracked open the door of the APH every day to observe their vegetable companions with all the tenderness of home gardeners. When harvest day came, they batted their bounty around the ISS, taking selfies and delighting in watching the fruits pirouetting around the spacecraft. . . .

“We were thinking no heat, so that [the peppers] wouldn’t be dangerous, but maybe the astronauts need a little spice in their life,” says Paul Bosland, who along with his colleagues at the Chile Pepper Institute genetically engineered5 the NuMex Española Improved chile pepper seeds grown in Plant Habitat-04. . . .

Working with NASA, Bosland cultivated a variety that could accommodate both the nutritional needs of astronauts as well as the logistics of growing a plant in space. . . .

. . . The experiment is helping gather the data necessary to determine the nutritional content of crops grown in space, and therefore how many people they can feed, and for how long. Though much is still unknown, Spencer is certain of one thing that future astronauts will need to do: “I think in an optimal world, a scientist like me would say that they would be growing plants from day one. From the day they left to the day they came back, they would be growing them.”

From “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming” by Melanie Canales from WIRED, December 21, 2021. Copyright © 2021 Condé Nast. All rights reserved.

1NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

2brassicas: a large genus of herbs, such as broccoli and cabbage

3zinnias: a genus of herbs and low shrubs that have flowers at their heads

4mitigate: to make something less severe or harmful

5genetically engineered: combined parts of DNA from different plants to produce a new plant

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 5.

Though astronauts can spend upwards of 100 days in space, their on-mission meals come dehydrated and pre-packaged; their vitamins and minerals are isolated in supplements, which lose nutritional value the longer they’re stored.

The sentence contributes to the overall meaning of the excerpt by

  • Aindicating that the attempt to grow crops aboard the ISS is an important endeavor.
  • Bdescribing the health effects of spending a significant length of time in space.
  • Crevealing why certain kinds of foods are more appealing in space than on Earth.
  • Demphasizing the difficulty of preserving the nutrients in the crops grown in space.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how a sentence from paragraph 5 contributes to the overall meaning of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. The sentence explains that astronauts’ current food supply consists of dehydrated foods along with vitamin and mineral supplements that lose nutritional value over time. These details support the idea that growing fresh crops in space, as described in the excerpt, is important for astronauts’ nutrition during long missions.

B. Incorrect. While the sentence mentions food and nutrients and astronauts spending “upwards of 100 days in space,” it does not describe the overall health effects of being in space for this long. Instead, the sentence focuses on the limitations of the food available to astronauts.

C. Incorrect. While the sentence does mention that astronauts eat packaged and dehydrated food while in space and that the food and supplements provided are limited in nutritional value, it does not mention the appeal of foods eaten in space compared with foods eaten on Earth.

D. Incorrect. The sentence explains that supplements can lose their nutritional value over time, but it does not mention whether crops grown in space might also lose nutrients.

Question analysis

This question quotes a sentence from paragraph 5 of the space-farming excerpt about the dehydrated, pre-packaged meals astronauts eat on missions of 100 days or more and the vitamin supplements that lose value in storage. Students explain how the sentence contributes to the overall meaning of the excerpt, which means looking past what it says to the job it does in the article.

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 how one sentence adds to a text’s overall meaning is a core grade 7 skill. The quoted sentence is long but plainly worded, and the paragraph around it is easy to follow, so the task matches typical grade 7 reading.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 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 easy to understand but easy to misuse: its last clause about supplements losing value invites a choice about nutrients fading, and its “100 days” invites one about health. Students who ask what problem the sentence sets up, and notice that the next sentence answers it with Spencer’s goal, see that it explains why growing food in orbit matters.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what the sentence does for the whole excerpt, so its facts about dehydrated meals and fading supplements matter only as the problem that crops grown aboard the ISS would solve. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The key names none of the sentence’s facts, while the nutrient choice echoes “lose nutritional value the longer they’re stored” and so looks better supported by the quoted words. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The sentence never says why its facts matter; the reason appears only in the next one, Spencer’s goal of plants that “sustain healthy astronauts on long-term missions.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Put the sentence into your own words, note exactly what it says loses value, and then decide what role that fact plays in the excerpt as a whole, not just within the sentence.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks about the job one sentence does in the whole article. Don’t just restate the sentence. Ask why the author put it here. What bigger idea does it help explain?

  2. Read the sentence closely

    The sentence is in paragraph 5. It says astronauts can spend “upwards of 100 days in space.” Upwards of means more than. Their meals “come dehydrated and pre-packaged.” Dehydrated means dried out. Their vitamins and minerals come in pills called supplements. And those pills “lose nutritional value the longer they’re stored.” So they get less healthy the longer they sit.

  3. See what comes right after it

    The next sentence shows why this matters: “Spencer’s goal is to create the conditions necessary for cultivating healthy plants in space, so those plants can sustain healthy astronauts on long-term missions.” To sustain means to keep going. So the sentence sets up a problem. Food on long trips is dried, packaged and weak. Fresh crops grown in space would solve it. That makes the pepper project worth doing.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The sentence shows the problem that fresh crops would fix. So it shows that growing crops on the ISS is important.
    • B is wrong. It mentions “100 days,” but it tells about food, not what space does to the body.
    • C is wrong. It never compares how food tastes in space and on Earth.
    • D is wrong. The things that lose value are the stored supplements, not crops grown in space.

    Watch out: D uses words close to the sentence’s own. But it moves the problem to the wrong thing.

  5. Choose the answer

    The sentence explains why fresh food grown in space matters. So the answer is A, “indicating that the attempt to grow crops aboard the ISS is an important endeavor.” An endeavor is a serious effort.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, because the sentence does say that something loses value over time. But it is the supplements in storage that “lose nutritional value.” The sentence never says crops grown in space lose nutrients. Fresh crops are the fix, not the problem. That is why A fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 35 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 53 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 53, question 35.
The passage “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming”” as printed (pages 50–51)The passage “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming”” as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming”” as printed on page 51 of the DOE handbook.

Question 51 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 36

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming””.

Question

Which statement best explains why Lashelle Spencer is a relevant source of information for the excerpt?

  • AShe works at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
  • BShe is part of the APH project team.
  • CShe is sensitive to the astronauts’ need for healthy food in space.
  • DShe witnessed how astronauts aboard the APH responded when harvesting their food.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which statement best explains why Lashelle Spencer is a relevant source of information for the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. While paragraphs 4 and 5 do mention that Lashelle Spencer works at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, that fact does not explain her direct expertise on growing plants in space.

B. CORRECT. In paragraph 4, Spencer is identified as a “plant scientist” at NASA, and paragraph 5 states that she is directly involved with the Advanced Plant Habitat as “part of the project team,” making her a relevant source of information for the excerpt’s discussion of growing plants in space.

C. Incorrect. Although the details in paragraph 5 do indicate that Spencer is interested in providing better food choices to astronauts, her empathy toward the astronauts’ needs does not make her a relevant source of information for the excerpt.

D. Incorrect. Paragraph 5 does mention that Spencer helped facilitate the harvest from the Kennedy Space Center, so she likely did witness the astronauts’ reactions as they harvested the peppers; however, this inference does not explain Spencer’s relevance as a source of information for the excerpt.

Question analysis

Why is Lashelle Spencer, the NASA plant scientist quoted throughout the article on growing peppers in space, a relevant source of information? This question asks students to judge what qualifies a person quoted in an informational text to speak on its subject. Several choices state facts about her, so students must decide which one actually explains her value as a source.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 readers often judge whether evidence is relevant, though asking why a quoted expert deserves trust is a less common form of the task. The facts about Spencer sit in two neighboring paragraphs, so the reading demand itself is typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 55 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A wrong paragraph number 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 pull of this question is that the first thing the excerpt says about Spencer, her job at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, sounds like a credential. Paragraph 5 gives the stronger one: she helped prepare the seeds and guided the crew, so she knows this experiment firsthand. Students lose the point by stopping at the job title, or by treating her sympathy for the astronauts or a harvest she supposedly watched as expertise.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Her Kennedy workplace, her concern for well-fed astronauts and her role on the project all come from paragraphs 4 and 5, so truth rules out little; each must be weighed as a qualification. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The excerpt never says why Spencer is quoted; a reader must connect “part of the project team” and “guiding the astronauts” to her firsthand knowledge of this particular experiment. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Spencer is introduced in paragraph 4 as a NASA plant scientist, but her place on the pepper project appears only in paragraph 5, after a sentence about Thanksgiving. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Find every detail paragraphs 4 and 5 give about Spencer, then ask of each choice whether it explains why her statements about this experiment deserve a reader’s trust.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option A says “paragraphs 5 and 8 do mention that Lashelle Spencer works at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.” Spencer is introduced in paragraph 4 as “a plant scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center,” and paragraph 5 says she “has been at Kennedy since 5 a.m.” Paragraph 8 is about Paul Bosland and does not mention her. The site now says “paragraphs 4 and 5.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    A source is a person whose words an article uses. A relevant source is one who really knows the topic. This question asks why Lashelle Spencer is worth quoting in an article about growing peppers in space. Several choices are true facts about her. You need the one that shows why she knows this subject.

  2. Find what the article says about her

    Paragraph 4 introduces her as “a plant scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.” Paragraph 5 says she “has been at Kennedy since 5 a.m. to facilitate the peppers’ final harvest.” To facilitate means to help make something happen. Then comes the key sentence: “As part of the project team, she played a crucial role in preparing the seeds that were sent hurtling into space in June and guiding the astronauts through maintaining the plants in orbit.”

  3. Explain what that tells you

    Spencer didn’t just watch this project from far away. She helped run it. She got the seeds ready. She coached the astronauts as they cared for the plants. So she has firsthand knowledge, meaning she learned it by doing it herself. That is what makes her a good source for this article.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It is true, and paragraphs 4 and 5 both say it. But many people work at Kennedy. A job there doesn’t make someone an expert on growing plants in space.
    • B is right. Being on the project team means she helped plan and guide this exact experiment.
    • C is wrong. She does care about healthy food for astronauts. But caring is not the same as knowing.
    • D is wrong. The article never says she watched how the crew reacted. Even if she did, watching a harvest wouldn’t make her an expert.

    Watch out: A is the first fact you learn about her, so it feels like her main qualification. Paragraph 5 gives a stronger one.

  5. Choose the answer

    Spencer helped prepare and guide the pepper experiment herself. So the answer is B, “She is part of the APH project team.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Working at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center sounds impressive, and it is true. But a job at a big space center doesn’t prove she knows this experiment. B does. Being on the project team means she prepared the seeds and guided the crew.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 36 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 54 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 54, question 36. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 52 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 38

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming””.

Question

Which two sentences in paragraphs 5–9 best support the idea that the astronauts working in space enjoyed participating in the food-growing experiment?

Select the two correct answers.

On the test you click the words in the text; here, choose them below. The DOE has not published how answers with several parts are scored; this site counts one right only when every part is right.

  • ABut you’re missing that crunch. You’re missing that fresh pop of flavor, the green flavor that’s not there in that packaged food.”
  • BSpencer says the team cracked open the door of the APH every day to observe their vegetable companions with all the tenderness of home gardeners.
  • CWhen harvest day came, they batted their bounty around the ISS, taking selfies and delighting in watching the fruits pirouetting around the spacecraft.
  • D“We were thinking no heat, so that [the peppers] wouldn’t be dangerous, but maybe the astronauts need a little spice in their life,” says Paul Bosland
  • E“I think in an optimal world, a scientist like me would say that they would be growing plants from day one.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B and C

The question asks which two sentences in paragraphs 5–9 best support the idea that the astronauts working in space enjoyed participating in the food-growing experiment.

Incorrect. Choice 1. “But you’re missing that crunch. You’re missing that fresh pop of flavor, the green flavor that’s not there in that packaged food” is incorrect because it illustrates an opinion on fresh foods of Lashelle Spencer, a plant scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Although astronauts are likely to enjoy fresh food, the statement does not describe the enjoyment of the astronauts participating in the experiment.

CORRECT. Choice 2. “Spencer says the team cracked open the door of the APH every day to observe their vegetable companions with all the tenderness of home gardeners” is a correct response. The details about the attitude of the astronauts toward the plants and their desire to observe them every day support the idea that they enjoyed participating in the experiment.

CORRECT. Choice 3. “When harvest day came, they batted their bounty around the ISS, taking selfies and delighting in watching the fruits pirouetting around the spacecraft” is a correct response. That the astronauts were taking selfies with the peppers and “delighting in watching the fruits pirouetting around the spacecraft” suggests that the astronauts enjoyed being part of the experiment.

Incorrect. Choice 4. “ ‘We were thinking no heat, so that [the peppers] wouldn’t be dangerous, but maybe the astronauts need a little spice in their life,’ says Paul Bosland” is incorrect because the quotation only gives information about the variables taken into account in the selection of peppers by a scientist at the Chile Pepper Institute. Although the observation suggests that the spicy heat of peppers might be enjoyed by astronauts in space, the sentence does not address the attitude of the astronauts toward the experiment.

Incorrect. Choice 5. “ ‘I think in an optimal world, a scientist like me would say that they would be growing plants from day one’ ” is incorrect because it emphasizes the opinion of Lashelle Spencer, a plant scientist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, regarding the growth of plants in space. Although she suggests growing plants is a good idea, the quotation does not support the idea that the astronauts enjoyed participating in the experiment.

Question analysis

This select-two evidence question asks which two sentences in paragraphs 5–9 of the space-farming excerpt best show that the astronauts enjoyed taking part in the pepper-growing experiment. On the test students click two of five sentences highlighted in the passage, and credit comes only when both picks are right. Each sentence mentions food, peppers or plants, so each must be checked against the idea itself.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing evidence for an idea is everyday grade 7 work. This item asks for two sentences out of five and gives credit only for a fully right pair, but the sentences come from a few neighboring paragraphs and the idea to support is concrete.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 143 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 harvest-day sentence, with its selfies and delight, is the easy pick. The second takes more care, because “the team” that opened the habitat every day seems at first to be Spencer’s team on Earth, and both picks must be right for credit. Students who look for the word “astronauts” or a cheerful phrase are pulled to Bosland’s “a little spice in their life” or to Spencer’s longing for crunch, which report the views of the scientists.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The second right sentence says “the team” opened the habitat’s door, right after paragraph 5 called Spencer “part of the project team,” so students must see that only the crew aboard could do it. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All five sentences mention food, peppers or plants, and credit needs both picks, so each must be traced to its speaker: Spencer, the crew or Bosland. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The enjoyment is shown in images rather than stated: “vegetable companions,” “the tenderness of home gardeners” and fruits “pirouetting around the spacecraft.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read each of the five sentences in its paragraph and work out whose actions or opinions it reports, then keep the two that show both parts of the idea: astronauts in space, and their enjoyment.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need two sentences from paragraphs 5–9 that show the astronauts enjoyed the experiment. Each one must do two things. It must be about the astronauts in space, not the scientists on Earth. And it must show they liked the work. On the test you click two sentences in the passage. Here, you choose two of the five choices. Both must be right.

  2. Find who each sentence is about

    • A is Spencer, a scientist on Earth, talking about packaged food.
    • B says “the team” opened the habitat every day.
    • C says “they” played with the peppers on harvest day.
    • D is Paul Bosland, the scientist who made the seeds, talking about spice.
    • E is Spencer again, giving her own opinion.

    So only B and C could be about the astronauts. But who is “the team” in B?

  3. Work out who the team is

    Paragraph 5 calls Spencer “part of the project team,” and she works on Earth. So the team in paragraph 6 might seem to be the scientists. But look at what the team did. They “cracked open the door of the APH every day.” The APH is a plant box on the space station, so only the crew could open it. The next sentence says they batted the peppers “around the ISS,” so they were on board. Paragraph 1 also calls the crew Mark Vande Hei’s “team.” “Spencer says” only means she is telling us what they did.

  4. See how they show enjoyment

    In B, the team checked on “their vegetable companions with all the tenderness of home gardeners.” Companions are friends. Tenderness is gentle, loving care. They treated the plants almost like pets. In C, the same team “batted their bounty around the ISS, taking selfies.” Bounty means a big harvest. They were “delighting,” or taking great joy, in watching the peppers spin like dancers.

  5. Rule out the other three

    • A is wrong. Spencer is saying packaged food lacks crunch. That is her view of the food, not the crew enjoying the work.
    • D is wrong. “A little spice in their life” sounds fun. But it is Bosland explaining why the peppers have some heat.
    • E is wrong. Spencer says crews should grow plants “from day one.” That is a scientist’s advice, not the crew’s feelings.

    Watch out: D names the astronauts and sounds cheerful. But the speaker is a scientist on Earth.

  6. Choose the answers

    Both sentences show the crew in space caring for and playing with their plants. So the answers are B and C: B, “Spencer says the team cracked open the door of the APH every day to observe their vegetable companions with all the tenderness of home gardeners.” And C, “When harvest day came, they batted their bounty around the ISS, taking selfies and delighting in watching the fruits pirouetting around the spacecraft.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

The hard part is B. It says “the team,” and Spencer was on a team too. But only the crew on the station could open the habitat every day, so B is about the astronauts. D sounds fun, but Bosland is a scientist explaining spice. It says nothing about how the crew felt.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 56 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 56, question 38.

Question 53 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 39

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming””.

Question

The description in paragraph 5 of Lashelle Spencer’s goal develops a central idea of the excerpt by

  • Aillustrating that certain types of packaged foods available in space lack particular flavors.
  • Bsupporting the notion that spending more than 100 days in space is detrimental to astronauts’ health.
  • Coffering an example of how the limited selection of on-mission meals becomes less appealing over time.
  • Dmaking an important point about the astronauts’ current reliance on supplements for vitamins and minerals.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the description of Lashelle Spencer’s goal in paragraph 5 develops a central idea of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Although Spencer mentions how astronauts miss certain eating experiences like the “fresh pop” and “green flavor” not found in packaged and dehydrated food, a central idea of the excerpt is that there is a need to provide fresh, healthy foods for long missions, not that food flavor should be improved.

B. Incorrect. While the excerpt focuses on how spending more than 100 days in space affects nutrition, it does not discuss specific ways in which spending long periods of time in space is detrimental to the health of astronauts.

C. Incorrect. Although paragraph 5 states that astronauts “can spend upwards of 100 days in space,” the excerpt does not develop a central idea that existing meals in space become less appealing over time.

D. CORRECT. The paragraph explains that astronauts currently rely on supplements for vitamins and minerals, which lose their nutritional value over time. Spencer’s goal for growing plants in space is to “sustain healthy astronauts,” supporting a central idea that astronauts need more nutritionally valuable food to sustain them while in space for long periods of time.

Question analysis

Lashelle Spencer’s goal for growing plants in space is described in paragraph 5 of the WIRED excerpt, and this central-idea question asks how that description develops a central idea of the whole excerpt. Students must connect a single sentence about a scientist’s aim to the article’s larger point, and every choice draws on details from that same paragraph.

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 develops, usually through a plainly stated example. Here the goal’s connection to the central idea runs through the sentences around it, and the choices are abstract restatements, which asks more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 75 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 choice draws on paragraph 5, and none mentions growing plants, which leaves students looking for the goal without finding it. The flavor quotation that follows the goal is the most memorable detail and the easiest wrong pick. The key works only through context: the goal answers the problem the previous sentence sets out, crews depending on supplements that weaken in storage, which is why it serves the article’s case for fresh food on long missions.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Spencer’s goal names healthy plants and healthy astronauts but no supplements; its link to the key runs through the sentence before it, where vitamins sit in supplements that “lose nutritional value the longer they’re stored.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    No choice restates the goal of growing plants itself, so none can be matched at a glance; each must be tested for whether it ties the goal to the excerpt’s concern with nutrition on long missions. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. How, not what minor Working it out

    The question asks how the description develops a central idea, its role in the article, so knowing what Spencer wants is only the first step toward the answer. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  4. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The central idea must come from the whole excerpt: paragraph 3’s “nutritional and psychological benefits,” paragraph 8’s “nutritional needs of astronauts” and paragraph 9’s “nutritional content of crops.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: State a central idea of the whole excerpt in your own words, reread Spencer’s goal with the sentences around it in paragraph 5, and pick the option that connects the goal to that central idea.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    A central idea is a main point the whole article keeps coming back to. This question asks how Spencer’s goal, in paragraph 5, helps build one of those main points. So first, find the goal. Then connect it to the big idea.

  2. Find the goal and the sentence before

    Paragraph 5 says: “Spencer’s goal is to create the conditions necessary for cultivating healthy plants in space, so those plants can sustain healthy astronauts on long-term missions.” Cultivating means growing. The sentence just before it shows why she has this goal. Astronauts’ “vitamins and minerals are isolated in supplements, which lose nutritional value the longer they’re stored.”

  3. Connect the goal to the big idea

    Today astronauts get vitamins from pills, called supplements. Those pills lose their health value as they sit. Spencer wants fresh plants grown in space to keep astronauts healthy instead. So her goal points to a problem: relying on weak pills. The article returns to food and health again and again. Paragraph 8 mentions “the nutritional needs of astronauts.” Nutritional means having to do with healthy food.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The “fresh pop of flavor” line comes after the goal. It is about taste, a side point.
    • B is wrong. The article never says long trips in space harm astronauts’ health.
    • C is wrong. It is the stored supplements that lose value over time, not meals that get less tasty.
    • D is right. The goal answers a problem: astronauts depend on supplements that weaken in storage. That ties to the article’s idea that astronauts need healthy fresh food on long trips.

    Watch out: Spencer’s flavor quote is the most memorable line nearby, so A pulls hard. But her goal is about health, not taste.

  5. Choose the answer

    Spencer wants healthy plants because pills are not enough. So the answer is D, “making an important point about the astronauts’ current reliance on supplements for vitamins and minerals.” Reliance means depending on something.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Spencer really does miss the crunch and flavor of fresh food. But her goal is to “sustain healthy astronauts,” which is about health. Health is the big idea the article keeps returning to. D connects the goal to that idea through the supplements that lose value.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 39 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 C English, page 57, question 39.

Question 54 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 41

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming””.

Question

How is the quotation from Lashelle Spencer at the end of paragraph 9 relevant to the discussion of the peppers referred to in paragraph 2?

  • AThe quotation indicates that larger batches of peppers need to be grown during future missions and suggests a slight criticism of the astronauts discussed in paragraph 2 for not dedicating more of their time to growing peppers during their mission.
  • BThe quotation explains why the 137-day growth cycle mentioned in paragraph 2 is necessary and provides a suggestion on how to grow more peppers during the same growth cycle in future missions.
  • CThe quotation helps explain why some of the peppers discussed in paragraph 2 needed to be sent back to Earth and that increasing the overall number of peppers grown in space will be important in future missions.
  • DThe quotation provides context for understanding why the peppers discussed in paragraph 2 must be sealed and frozen prior to their return to Earth and suggests how this method might be improved in upcoming missions.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the quotation from Lashelle Spencer at the end of paragraph 9 is relevant to the discussion of the peppers referred to in paragraph 2.

A. Incorrect. The quotation from Spencer in paragraph 9 suggests that astronauts should spend more time on growing larger and more continuous batches of peppers during long missions, but it does not criticize astronauts for discarding plants and ending the experiment after the 137-day growth cycle.

B. Incorrect. While the quotation from Spencer in paragraph 9 stresses the value of spending more time growing plants in space, it does not provide specific details about the 137-day growth cycle or offer specific methods for producing more peppers within the same time frame.

C. CORRECT. The quotation from Spencer in paragraph 9 is relevant to the discussion of the peppers on the ISS in paragraph 2 because it emphasizes the importance of expanding plant-growing efforts on future space missions. Spencer suggests that rather than ending the experiment after the 137-day growth cycle, astronauts could continually replant and replenish their food supply from the beginning to the end of a long mission.

D. Incorrect. Although the quotation from Spencer in paragraph 9 conveys the importance of dedicating more time to growing plants in space, it does not explain why the peppers were sealed and frozen, nor does it suggest how this method for preserving them might be improved.

Question analysis

This question asks how Lashelle Spencer’s quotation at the end of the space-farming excerpt, her view of what future astronauts will need to do, relates to the account in paragraph 2 of how the pepper harvest was handled. Students must connect the article’s ending to its opening, and every choice is a long two-part statement whose halves have to be checked separately.

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 readers explain how parts of a text relate, usually neighboring ones. This item links the last paragraph to the second, and its four choices run about forty words each in two parts, so it asks more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 16, 163 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 has one half that sounds connected to the quotation, so students must test both halves of all four. The criticism choice is the hardest to reject, since it correctly hears a call for more growing and only then misreads Spencer’s tone. The key itself is not airtight: its first half leans on the sentence before the quotation, about gathering nutrition data, so the answer is best confirmed by ruling out the others.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Spencer’s quotation never mentions paragraph 2; the link is that plants grown “from day one” to “the day they came back” contrast with one 137-day batch harvested and thrown away. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The criticism choice shares the key’s call for more growing on future missions and differs in its other half, a slight criticism of the crew that Spencer’s hopeful “in an optimal world” never makes. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. A lot to read moderate Understanding the question

    The four choices run 32 to 40 words, and each joins two claims with “and,” so eight separate statements must be checked against the quotation and paragraph 2. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  4. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The two parts to connect are the excerpt’s second paragraph and its last sentence, with six paragraphs on the habitat, Spencer and Bosland in between. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Put Spencer’s closing quotation into your own words and recall how the pepper project ended in paragraph 2, then weigh both halves of every choice and keep the one the quotation and its paragraph best support.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question links the end of the article to its beginning. Spencer speaks at the end of paragraph 9. Paragraph 2 tells what happened to the peppers. You need the choice that best explains how her words connect to those peppers. Each choice has two parts, and both must be true.

  2. Recall the peppers in paragraph 2

    Paragraph 2 says only “the 14 finest” peppers stay on the ISS to eat. The rest are frozen and sent “back to Earth in the next cargo capsule to be studied later.” Then, “after a 137-day growth cycle, the astronauts remove the plants from the module and trash them.” So the crew grew one batch, ate some, sent some home and threw the plants away.

  3. Read the end of paragraph 9

    Just before Spencer speaks, paragraph 9 says: “The experiment is helping gather the data necessary to determine the nutritional content of crops grown in space, and therefore how many people they can feed, and for how long.” Then Spencer says that in “an optimal world,” meaning the best possible world, astronauts “would be growing plants from day one.” She adds: “From the day they left to the day they came back, they would be growing them.”

  4. Connect the two parts

    The peppers sent home are studied. That gives the data paragraph 9 describes: how healthy space crops are and how many people they can feed. Spencer’s plan needs that data. You must know what a crop can feed before you plan meals for a whole trip. Her words also point to the future. Instead of one batch that ends in the trash, crews would grow plants all trip long. That means many more peppers.

  5. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Spencer wants more growing, but she doesn’t criticize the crew. “In an optimal world” describes a hope, not a complaint.
    • B is wrong. She never says why the cycle took 137 days. She doesn’t suggest squeezing more peppers into it, either.
    • C is right. The returned peppers give the data, and growing “from day one” means more peppers in the future.
    • D is wrong. She says nothing about freezing the peppers or a better way to store them.

    Watch out: A gets the first half right. The criticism in its second half is what makes it wrong.

  6. Choose the answer

    Her words explain why some peppers went home to be studied and why more growing matters next time. So the answer is C, “The quotation helps explain why some of the peppers discussed in paragraph 2 needed to be sent back to Earth and that increasing the overall number of peppers grown in space will be important in future missions.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like C, it hears Spencer calling for more plants on future trips. But A also says she criticizes the astronauts. She doesn’t. She calmly describes a perfect world. C keeps the right half and adds a link the paragraph supports: the peppers sent home give the data.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 41 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 59 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 59, question 41.

Question 55 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 42

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming””.

Question

How is the discussion of the genetic engineering of the peppers consumed on the ISS (paragraphs 7–8) important to the excerpt as a whole?

  • AIt provides a detail that helps the reader identify a particular variety of pepper consumed on the ISS.
  • BIt indicates that the peppers eaten on the ISS resulted from a collaboration between scientists and astronauts.
  • CIt allows the reader to understand how the peppers consumed on the ISS differ from most peppers grown on Earth.
  • DIt suggests that the peppers consumed on the ISS are of a type that could be grown in natural conditions.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the discussion of the genetic engineering of the peppers consumed on the ISS (paragraphs 7–8) is important to the excerpt as a whole.

A. Incorrect. Although paragraph 7 names the NuMex Española Improved chile pepper as the variety grown on the ISS, this detail is not further developed and does not play a significant role in the overall focus of the excerpt. The passage emphasizes the process and purpose of developing the pepper rather than the pepper itself.

B. Incorrect. While paragraph 7 notes that Paul Bosland collaborated with colleagues to develop the seeds for the experiment, this fact alone is not the reason why the discussion of genetic engineering is important to the excerpt. The key point is that the pepper variety in the experiment was specifically modified to meet the needs of both astronauts and space cultivation. Who participated in the development of the peppers is secondary.

C. CORRECT. Paragraph 7 explains how specialists selected a pepper variety and genetically engineered the seeds for the experiment, while paragraph 8 adds that the variety developed also needed to provide astronauts with proper nutrition and be capable of growing in space. These details are important to the excerpt as a whole because they illustrate how the peppers grown on the ISS differ from most peppers cultivated on Earth in both purpose and design.

D. Incorrect. The details about the genetic engineering of the pepper seeds highlight that the variety was modified to suit specific space-related requirements. However, the excerpt does not discuss whether this type of pepper could be grown in natural conditions on Earth or if doing so is even a goal. Instead, these paragraphs are important because they explain how the pepper was adapted to address astronauts’ nutritional needs and the constraints of space farming.

Question analysis

Paragraphs 7–8 of the ISS pepper excerpt explain that a scientist at the Chile Pepper Institute genetically engineered the seeds grown aboard the space station. This text-structure question asks why that discussion matters to the excerpt as a whole. Students must look past what the two paragraphs say to what they add to the article’s larger account of farming in space.

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 section contributes to a whole text is standard grade 7 reading. The two paragraphs in question are short and the four choices are brief single sentences, so the demand matches ordinary grade 7 structure questions.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 98 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 paragraphs are short, but the question asks what they add, not what they say, and the key states something the article leaves implicit. The trap is the collaboration choice: “Working with NASA” and Bosland’s colleagues suggest teamwork, and the excerpt as a whole does pair scientists with astronauts, but the peppers were developed on the ground. Students who instead pick the named variety have found a true detail without a purpose.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks why paragraphs 7–8 matter to the excerpt as a whole, so naming what they say, a variety bred at Bosland’s institute, is not enough; their contribution to the account must be stated. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The excerpt never says the space peppers differ from Earth peppers; that follows from a variety bred for “the nutritional needs of astronauts” and “the logistics of growing a plant in space.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    Paragraph 8 turns on “cultivated,” “accommodate” and “logistics,” and paragraph 7 needs its footnote for “genetically engineered,” words a reader must decode to see why the variety is special. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate what paragraphs 7 and 8 say about how the pepper was developed and why, then ask what that information adds to the excerpt’s account of farming in space as a whole.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks why paragraphs 7 and 8 matter to the whole article. Those paragraphs tell how the peppers’ seeds were made. Don’t just repeat what they say. Ask what they add to the article’s story of farming in space.

  2. Find what paragraphs 7 and 8 say

    Paragraph 7 says Paul Bosland and his colleagues “genetically engineered the NuMex Española Improved chile pepper seeds grown in Plant Habitat-04.” The footnote explains that they “combined parts of DNA from different plants to produce a new plant.” Paragraph 8 says Bosland developed “a variety that could accommodate both the nutritional needs of astronauts as well as the logistics of growing a plant in space.”

  3. Put it in plain words

    A variety is one special kind of a plant. To accommodate means to meet the needs of. Logistics are the practical details of getting a job done. So this pepper was made for space. It had to feed astronauts well. It also had to grow in a small box in orbit. The scientists even chose how hot it would be: “maybe the astronauts need a little spice in their life.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The pepper’s name is a true detail. But knowing its name is not why these paragraphs matter.
    • B is wrong. Bosland worked “with NASA” and his colleagues, not with the astronauts. The crew only grew the seeds he made.
    • C is right. The paragraphs show that this pepper was designed for space. Most peppers on Earth were never made to meet astronauts’ needs or to grow in orbit.
    • D is wrong. The paragraphs never say this pepper could grow in a normal field. They show it was made for space.

    Watch out: “Working with NASA” can sound like teamwork with the crew. That is the trap in B.

  5. Choose the answer

    These paragraphs show that the space peppers were specially made, unlike ordinary peppers. So the answer is C, “It allows the reader to understand how the peppers consumed on the ISS differ from most peppers grown on Earth.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, since the article does show scientists and astronauts working together. But paragraphs 7 and 8 are about seeds made on the ground by Bosland’s team. What they add is that the pepper was designed for astronauts’ needs and for space. That is how it differs from most peppers, as C says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 42 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 60 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 60, question 42.

Question 56 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 43

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming””.

Question

With which statement would the author most likely agree?

  • ASome plants are better adapted for growing in space than on Earth, and focus should be placed on them.
  • BAttempting to grow plants in space the same way they are grown on Earth would not result in success.
  • CPlants grown in space provide better nutritional value than plants grown on Earth.
  • DSuccessfully growing plants in space is a challenge, so more research must first be completed on plants grown on Earth.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which statement the author would most likely agree with.

A. Incorrect. Although paragraphs 7 and 8 discuss plants that have been genetically engineered to “accommodate . . . the logistics of growing a plant in space,” the passage does not indicate that the plants are better adapted for growing in space rather than on Earth. Thus, the author is not likely to agree with this statement.

B. CORRECT. In paragraph 3, the author points out that growing plants in space “relies on highly specialized technology over 50 years in the making,” and in paragraph 4, the author explains that the Advanced Plant Habitat requires specialized controls and adaptations for light, moisture, and temperature. The author’s acknowledgment of the special conditions required to grow plants in space indicates that she would agree that growing methods used on Earth are unlikely to succeed in space.

C. Incorrect. Although paragraph 8 mentions that pepper plants were genetically engineered to meet “the nutritional needs of astronauts,” the passage gives no indication that astronauts have greater nutritional needs in space than they do on Earth or that plants grown in space are engineered to provide better nutrition than their counterparts on Earth. Thus, the author would not be likely to agree with this sentence.

D. Incorrect. Although the discussion in paragraph 4 of the rigorously controlled conditions indicates that growing plants in space is, indeed, challenging, the article indicates in paragraph 3 that NASA has been experimenting with growing plants in space “since 2014.” Because plant-growing experiments have already been under way in space for a number of years, it is unlikely that NASA or the author would agree that additional experiments on earth are necessary.

Question analysis

This inference question asks which statement the author of the space-farming excerpt, a Virginia farmer writing for WIRED about NASA’s pepper experiment, would most likely agree with. The author never states her view outright, so students must infer it from the way she reports the experiment, and every choice touches on a topic the article raises.

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 Inferring which statement an author would accept is regular grade 7 work, but this author mostly reports facts and quotes scientists, so her own view has to be pieced together from several paragraphs of technical description, more than grade 7 usually asks.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 890 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 80 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A misquotation of the excerpt in the explanation was corrected.
  • A grammatical error 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

Because the article reports facts and quotes scientists, students must build the author’s view from her descriptions, and the key is a prediction she never makes outright. The half-right choice is the main trap: it begins with a view she does hold, that space farming is hard, then adds a demand for research on Earth that ignores NASA’s work in orbit since 2014. The other two turn the engineered variety and the nutrition theme into comparisons the article never draws.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The author never states an opinion; her view must be drawn from how she describes the work, a habitat that “doesn’t aim to re-create Earth’s conditions” and technology “over 50 years in the making.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The support is in paragraph 3’s description of the habitat and paragraph 4’s sensors and controls, while the wrong choices draw on paragraph 8’s engineered variety and paragraph 5’s supplements. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The key’s “the same way they are grown on Earth would not result in success” restates paragraph 3 in new words, while wrong choices reuse “nutritional” and growing “in space.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Find the sentences where the author speaks in her own voice rather than quoting a scientist, then choose the statement those sentences support most directly, without adding claims the article never makes.

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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option A says the plants were genetically engineered “to accommodate the logistics of growing a plant in space.” Paragraph 8 says Bosland “cultivated a variety that could accommodate both the nutritional needs of astronauts as well as the logistics of growing a plant in space”: “to” is not in the excerpt, and eight words are left out without an ellipsis. The site now says genetically engineered to “accommodate . . . the logistics of growing a plant in space.”
  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option B says “The author’s acknowledgment of the special conditions required to grow plants in space indicate that she would agree.” The subject is “acknowledgment,” so the site now says “indicates.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need to figure out the author’s view. She never states it outright. She mostly reports facts and quotes scientists. So look at how she describes the work. Then pick the statement her own words support best, without adding ideas she never gives.

  2. Find the author’s own words

    In paragraph 3, the author says growing plants in space “relies on highly specialized technology over 50 years in the making.” She also says the habitat “doesn’t aim to re-create Earth’s conditions, but to perfect each isolated variable of plant growth in the clinical environment of a spaceship.” In paragraph 4, she adds that its “more than 180 sensors control and monitor temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide.”

  3. Explain what she means

    Specialized means made for one special job. To re-create means to copy. A variable is one thing that can change, like light or heat. Clinical means very clean and controlled, like a hospital. So she is saying that space is not like a garden on Earth. Plants there need special tools that control every condition, one by one. Simply copying Earth’s way of growing would not be enough.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Paragraphs 7 and 8 show a pepper bred to “accommodate” growing in space. But nothing says some plants grow better in space than on Earth.
    • B is right. She stresses special technology and says the habitat doesn’t copy Earth. So Earth’s usual methods alone would fail.
    • C is wrong. She never says space plants are healthier than Earth plants.
    • D is wrong. She does show that growing in space is hard. But NASA has grown plants in space “since 2014.” Nothing says Earth research must come first.

    Watch out: D starts with an idea she holds, that space farming is hard. Then it adds a demand she never makes.

  5. Choose the answer

    The author shows that space farming needs special tools, not Earth’s usual ways. So the answer is B, “Attempting to grow plants in space the same way they are grown on Earth would not result in success.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Its first half fits the author: growing plants in space takes complex tools. But its second half says more research on Earth must come first. The article shows the opposite: NASA has grown plants in space for years. B sticks to what her words show.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 43 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 61 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 61, question 43. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 57 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 2
Passage A Memory Revolution

A Memory Revolution

A high school senior logs on to a computer at the library to double-check the application due date listed on a college admissions website. Nearby, a librarian helps a group of biology students use a database to search for recent studies about mammals. In the past few decades, the Internet has become an integral component of daily life for many people. The seemingly limitless power of search engines made the Internet search extremely common, and today people increasingly rely on the Internet’s vast accumulation of sources to access all types of information. Scientists are beginning to examine how this reliance is modifying the strategies people use to store and prioritize information in their mind.

A Dependable and Valuable Asset

Psychologist Benjamin Storm from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and researchers Sean Stone and Aaron Benjamin devised an experiment to study students’ tendency to depend on the Internet for facts. To begin, the scientists divided sixty participants into multiple groups, including an “Internet” group and a “memory” group, and placed them in front of computers. The Internet group was required to use the search engine Google to answer eight challenging trivia questions. In contrast, participants in the memory group were permitted to use only their personal knowledge to answer the questions. In the second round, the researchers administered notably easier questions. This time, they allowed each group the option of using Google as they answered. Their results showed that 83 percent of the Internet group continued to consult Google in the second round, while only 63 percent of the memory group chose to do so.

People’s growing inclination to rely on the Internet in order to retrieve information, particularly facts and figures, is called cognitive offloading. Canadian researcher Evan F. Risko and British researcher Sam Gilbert, who have written extensively about the topic, say a similar process has been taking place for centuries. In the past, people used resources like encyclopedias to assist their memories; however, today the Internet, serving as a vast extended memory, allows people to digitally access and retrieve much larger volumes of information. Consequently, people’s minds are free for other cognitive feats, such as connecting data, learning new information, or solving problems.

Filing Information Away

The use of the Internet also appears to be modifying the strategies people use to store information in their mind. Researchers Betsy Sparrow from Columbia University, Jenny Liu from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Daniel Wegner from Harvard University conducted several studies to discover how people efficiently manage their information intake.

To begin, the researchers examined how people evaluate which information deserves their effort to remember. For this experiment, participants read forty trivia facts, such as “An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain,” and typed the statements into a computer file. Half the participants had been previously told the file would be saved, while half believed it would be erased. Next, the participants wrote down every fact they could recall. Those who believed the information would be erased and no longer available could recall 40 percent more facts than those who thought the information would be saved.

In another experiment, the same researchers tested the ability of study participants to remember where to access information. For this trial, participants read and typed trivia statements, which they saved in folders with generic names such as “Facts” and “Items.” After spending ten minutes writing down all the facts they could recall from memory, participants were asked which folder contained a particular fact based on a keyword. For example, “Which folder has the fact about ostriches?” Overall, participants recalled the information’s location more often than the content itself, correctly identifying 49 percent of the folders for specific facts while remembering only 23 percent of the actual trivia. The researchers concluded that our memory is adapting to the Internet age by prioritizing where to locate information even when the specific details are forgotten. According to Sparrow, the Internet has become an important form of transactive memory, an external source of the recollections and associative networks that constitute memory.

As the Internet’s resources continue to expand our “external” memory, some question whether the process may cause people to depend too heavily on technology. However, Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, says, “Knowledge is increasing exponentially; human brainpower and waking hours are not. Fortunately, the Internet and information technologies are helping us manage, search and retrieve our collective intellectual output at different scales, from Twitter and previews to e-books and online encyclopedias. Far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart.”

Flow diagram titled “HOW MEMORY WORKS”: an arrow labeled “New Information” points down into a box labeled “Sensory Memory,” and an arrow labeled “Attention” leads down from that box to a box labeled “Short-Term Memory.” From Short-Term Memory, an arrow points right to the note “Unrehearsed information is forgotten,” and on its left a curved arrow labeled “Rehearsal” loops from the bottom of the box back into its top, beside the note “Information is maintained through repetition.” An arrow labeled “Storage” leads down from Short-Term Memory to a box labeled “Long-Term Memory,” a curved arrow labeled “Retrieval” leads from Long-Term Memory back up into Short-Term Memory, and an arrow points right from Long-Term Memory to the note “Some information may be forgotten over time.”

Question

How do the details about the experiment described in paragraph 5 convey a central idea of the passage?

  • AThey suggest that the act of repeating information by typing it on a keyboard may improve a person’s memory.
  • BThey explain that a person will forget information faster if the information is considered unimportant.
  • CThey indicate that a person may start to forget details when the amount of information becomes overwhelming.
  • DThey suggest that memory is affected by whether a person expects to have access to the information in the future.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the details of the experiment described in paragraph 5 convey a central idea of the passage.

A. Incorrect. Although paragraph 5 states that participants read the trivia facts and then “typed the statements into a computer file,” it does not explain the impact of repetition on memory, nor does this convey a central idea of the passage.

B. Incorrect. Paragraph 5 acknowledges that people evaluate which information is important enough to remember, but it does not describe the rate at which people forget unimportant information. According to the paragraph, information is considered less important to remember if a person believes that he or she will be able to retrieve that information easily in the future. This does not mean the information is unimportant but rather that it is readily available for future access.

C. Incorrect. Paragraph 5 specifies the number of trivia facts that study participants were given to read (forty), but it does not describe the amount of information as a factor in the participants’ memory performance. According to the paragraph, it was not the amount of information but rather the expectation of future availability that affected how much information participants were able to recall.

D. CORRECT. A central idea of the passage is that the way the human memory stores information is changing because of the Internet. The details of the experiment support this idea by indicating that study participants remembered different amounts of information based on whether they “thought the information would be saved” (paragraph 5). Those who “believed the information would be erased and no longer available” (paragraph 5) remembered 40 percent more than those who expected to be able to access the information again in a saved computer file. Therefore, paragraph 5 conveys the central idea that the expectation of future access to information is a key element in “how people evaluate which information deserves their effort to remember.”

Question analysis

Paragraph 5 of “A Memory Revolution” describes an experiment in which people typed forty trivia facts, such as one about an ostrich’s eye, into a computer file and then wrote down all they could recall. This central-idea question asks how the experiment’s details convey a central idea of the passage. Each choice offers a different lesson about memory, so the experiment’s actual result must decide.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining what an experiment’s results show is common grade 7 reading. The experiment in paragraph 5 is told in plain words and its result is a single comparison, so the main demand is restating that result as an idea.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 14, 763 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 88 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 experiment is short and its result fits in one sentence, so most students find the idea once they ask what differed between the two groups. The trap is the paragraph’s framing, “which information deserves their effort to remember,” which invites talk of important and unimportant facts and leads to the choice about forgetting. Others reach for what they know about studying, such as writing things down, instead of the one condition the researchers changed.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Paragraph 5 never names the cause; students must see that both groups read and typed the same forty facts, so only what they were told about the file can explain the 40 percent gap. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The choice about forgetting unimportant information shares the key’s idea that how people regard information affects memory; it differs in the reason, importance rather than expected access, and adds a speed nobody measured. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Restate the experiment in paragraph 5 and its result in one sentence of your own, then reject any choice that rests on something the experiment did not set up or measure.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a central idea question. It asks what the experiment in paragraph 5 shows. It also asks how that result supports a main point of the article. The article’s main point is that the Internet is changing how people remember.

  2. Find the experiment in paragraph 5

    In paragraph 5, participants, the people in the study, “read forty trivia facts” and “typed the statements into a computer file.” Then: “Half the participants had been previously told the file would be saved, while half believed it would be erased.” The result: “Those who believed the information would be erased and no longer available could recall 40 percent more facts than those who thought the information would be saved.”

  3. Work out what the result means

    Both groups read the same forty facts. Both typed them the same way. Only one thing was different: what each group expected to happen to the file. People who thought the facts would be gone remembered more. People who thought the facts would be saved remembered less. So your memory depends on whether you expect to look the facts up later. This fits the article’s point. When people know they can find facts again, they work less to remember them.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Both groups typed the facts, so typing cannot explain why one group remembered more.
    • B does not fit. Nobody called the saved facts unimportant. They were just expected to stay available. The study also never measured how fast people forget.
    • C does not fit. Both groups read forty facts, so the amount was the same for everyone.
    • D fits. What people expected about later access changed how much they remembered.

    Watch out: B is tempting because the paragraph talks about “which information deserves their effort to remember.” But the saved facts were not judged unimportant. They were judged easy to find later.

  5. Choose the answer

    The only difference between the groups was whether they expected the file to be saved. So the answer is D, “They suggest that memory is affected by whether a person expects to have access to the information in the future.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. Like D, it says that how people see information affects memory. But B gives the wrong reason and adds a speed of forgetting. The study never tested importance or speed. The one thing it changed was whether people expected to see the facts again. That is exactly what D says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 2 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 6 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 6, question 2.
The passage “A Memory Revolution” as printed (pages 3–4)The passage “A Memory Revolution” as printed on page 3 of the DOE handbook.The passage “A Memory Revolution” as printed on page 4 of the DOE handbook.

Question 58 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 6

Uses the passage above: “A Memory Revolution”.

Question

Which evidence from the passage is most relevant to the claim in paragraph 7 that “ ‘far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart’ ”?

  • Athe revelation that most people opted to use the Internet to answer relatively easy trivia questions rather than relying on their own brainpower (paragraph 2)
  • Bthe assertion that the storage of information on the Internet frees people to focus on higher-order tasks such as problem solving (paragraph 3)
  • Cthe connection between how people organize information in their mind and their ability to recall that information (paragraph 5)
  • Dthe description of transactive memory as an expansive external source that people can use to store information (paragraph 6)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the evidence from the passage that is most relevant to the claim in paragraph 7 that “ ‘far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart.’ ”

A. Incorrect. Whether the participants decided to use the Internet to answer easy trivia questions varied based on the options that the participants were given during the first part of the experiment and, therefore, cannot be relevant to the claim in paragraph 7. Even when given the option of using the Internet, some participants chose to recall information from memory instead.

B. CORRECT. The assertion made in paragraph 3 that states that cognitive offloading allows for “people’s minds [to be] free for other cognitive feats, such as connecting data, learning new information, or solving problems” is relevant to the claim in paragraph 7 because it indicates that the ability to store large amounts of information within the brain does not necessarily make someone smart. It also suggests that if people did not have to use so much effort simply organizing and storing information, their brain would be free to conduct higher-order tasks: “the Internet, serving as a vast extended memory, allows people to digitally access and retrieve much larger volumes of information. Consequently, people’s minds are free for other cognitive feats, such as connecting data, learning new information, or solving problems” (paragraph 3).

C. Incorrect. The discussion in the passage connecting how people organize information in their mind and their ability to recall that information focuses on the process of organizing information within human memory rather than on how technology helps keep people’s minds available for complex thoughts.

D. Incorrect. Although the passage provides an accurate description of transactive memory, it provides no indication of how using such memory would advance a person’s ability to maintain or improve intelligent thought.

Question analysis

This evidence question on “A Memory Revolution” quotes the claim, made by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker at the end of the article, that technologies such as the Internet are the only things that will keep us smart. Students choose the finding from earlier in the passage that is most relevant to it. Each choice summarizes a point about technology or memory, so relevance, not accuracy, decides.

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 Judging which evidence is most relevant to a claim is standard grade 7 argument work. The claim is short and quoted in the question, and each choice names its paragraph, but students must recall what each paragraph actually showed.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 14, 763 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

Every choice reports something the article really says, so the question turns on relevance: which finding would persuade a reader that technology keeps us smart. The transactive-memory finding is the trap, because Pinker himself speaks of retrieving “our collective intellectual output,” and an outside store of facts sounds like his point. That finding shows only that technology holds information; paragraph 3 adds what people do with the freed space, and that step is the claim.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The transactive-memory choice and the key both describe the Internet storing information for people; only the key adds the result, minds free for “connecting data, learning new information, or solving problems,” which is what keeps us smart. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The key never says smart; students must see that freeing minds for “other cognitive feats” is exactly what Pinker means by technology that keeps us smart rather than stupid. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The four findings come from paragraphs 2, 3, 5 and 6, and each choice’s summary has to be matched back to what its paragraph actually showed before its relevance can be judged. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Restate Pinker’s claim in your own words, then ask of each finding whether it would persuade a doubter of that claim itself or only of something related 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.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the detail that best supports a claim. The claim comes from Steven Pinker in paragraph 7: “Far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart.” Put it in your own words first. Pinker says the Internet does not make us dumb. It helps us think better.

  2. Ask what would prove the claim

    To support this claim, a detail must show technology helping people think. A detail that only shows people using the Internet is not enough. Neither is one that only shows the Internet storing facts. Look for a result: something people can do better because of the Internet.

  3. Find that result in paragraph 3

    Paragraph 3 says the Internet, “serving as a vast extended memory, allows people to digitally access and retrieve much larger volumes of information.” The next sentence gives the result: “Consequently, people’s minds are free for other cognitive feats, such as connecting data, learning new information, or solving problems.” Consequently means “as a result.” Cognitive feats are hard thinking tasks. Since the Internet holds the facts, your mind has room for harder work.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. People choosing Google for easy questions sounds more like the worry Pinker answers. It does not show anyone getting smarter.
    • B fits. Higher-order tasks are harder kinds of thinking. Freeing minds for them is how technology could keep us smart.
    • C does not fit. It is about how well people recall facts. In paragraph 5, people even recalled fewer facts when a computer would save them.
    • D does not fit. It shows only that the Internet can store information. It does not say what people gain from that.

    Watch out: D is tempting because transactive memory sounds like the “external” memory in paragraph 7. But storing facts outside your head is only half the idea. B adds the payoff: room for harder thinking.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only paragraph 3 shows the Internet freeing people for harder thinking. So the answer is B, “the assertion that the storage of information on the Internet frees people to focus on higher-order tasks such as problem solving” (paragraph 3).

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. It is true that the Internet works as an outside store of facts. But that alone does not show anyone getting smarter. B goes one step further. Because the Internet holds the facts, minds are free for “connecting data, learning new information, or solving problems.” That step is what Pinker’s claim needs.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 6 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 10 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 10, question 6.

Question 59 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 7

Uses the passage above: “A Memory Revolution”.

Question

The effect of the Internet on a person’s memory is illustrated in the passage through the presentation of studies that

  • Aexamine how the use of search engines changes the way people evaluate and store information for future access.
  • Bhighlight the difference between the capacity of the Internet and the ability of the human brain to locate information.
  • Ccompare the type of information that can be obtained from the Internet with the type of information that is stored in the human brain.
  • Demphasize the ease of obtaining information through search engines rather than remembering it without assistance.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the studies presented in the passage are used to illustrate the effect of the Internet on a person’s memory.

A. CORRECT. The study described in paragraph 5 examined the effect of computer use on the way people evaluate information, specifically “which information deserves their effort to remember,” and determined that “those who believed the information would be erased and no longer available could recall 40 percent more facts than those who thought the information would be saved.” The study described in paragraph 2 established that the use of Internet search engines increases the “inclination to rely on the Internet in order to retrieve information” (paragraph 3), and the study in paragraph 6 examined how this reliance on technology affects the way people store information: “Overall, participants recalled the information’s location more often than the content itself.”

B. Incorrect. Although a difference in the ability of the human brain and the capacity of the Internet to locate information might seem evident, the studies cited in the passage did not examine the ability or the capacity of either. The studies did not measure what the human brain is capable of but rather how memory is affected by the use of the Internet.

C. Incorrect. While the studies explored the Internet’s effect on the way information is stored in human memory, the type of information was not described or compared. Instead, the studies indicated that location is the main difference between the information stored in the Internet and the information stored in human memory, noting that the Internet has become “an external source of the recollections and associative networks that constitute memory” (paragraph 6).

D. Incorrect. Although it is increasingly common to use the Internet to obtain information (paragraph 2) rather than try to memorize information (paragraph 5), the studies did not examine the difficulty or ease of obtaining/recalling information using either method.

Question analysis

This evidence question asks how the studies described in “A Memory Revolution” illustrate the Internet’s effect on a person’s memory. Students must recall three experiments, one with trivia questions and Google, one with trivia typed into a computer file, and one with named folders, and decide what they examine together. Each choice sounds like a fair claim about the Internet and the brain.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Summing up what a text’s evidence shows is everyday grade 7 work. Here the evidence is three studies spread over paragraphs 2, 5 and 6, which adds recall, but each one is described in plain terms.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 14, 763 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 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 question asks what the article’s studies show together, so a student needs a one-line summary of three experiments before reading the choices. The key is slightly loose, since only the first study uses a search engine, which can make a careful reader hesitate. The strongest pull comes from paragraph 2, where most people turned to Google even for easy questions; it sounds like proof that searching is easier, but no study weighed the effort of looking up against remembering.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The three studies sit in paragraphs 2, 5 and 6, and the key gathers them: turning to Google even for easy questions, recalling less from a saved file, and remembering folders better than facts. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    No sentence says what the studies share; students must abstract it, that expecting later access changes what people bother to store, from experiments built on Google, a computer file and named folders. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each wrong choice names something the studies might plausibly have measured, the Internet’s capacity, kinds of information or ease of searching, and only a check of the three experiments shows that none did. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Sum up in a phrase what the studies in paragraphs 2, 5 and 6 each tested, then pick the option that describes what they examined rather than a point made elsewhere in the article.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what the studies in the article have in common. How do they show the Internet’s effect on memory? There are three studies, in paragraphs 2, 5 and 6. Sum up each one in a few words. Then find the choice that fits all three.

  2. Sum up the three studies

    • Paragraph 2: People who had used Google kept using it, even for easy questions. In fact, “83 percent of the Internet group continued to consult Google in the second round.”
    • Paragraph 5: People who thought a file of facts would be erased remembered more. They decided which facts deserved “their effort to remember.”
    • Paragraph 6: People remembered where facts were kept better than the facts themselves.

  3. Find what the studies share

    Each study looks at how people treat information when a computer or search engine can hold it for them. People decide what is worth the effort to remember. Judging the value of something like this is called evaluating. People also change what they store in their minds, such as where a fact is instead of the fact. That is the effect on memory.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The studies show people judging what to remember and storing where to find it.
    • B does not fit. No study measured how much the Internet can hold or what the brain can do.
    • C does not fit. No study sorted information into types.
    • D does not fit. No study compared how easy it is to search and to remember.

    Watch out: D is tempting because most people in paragraph 2 kept using Google. That might seem to show searching is easier. But the study never measured ease. It only counted who used Google.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one choice describes what the studies actually tested. So the answer is A, “examine how the use of search engines changes the way people evaluate and store information for future access.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. It sounds like a fair reason people use Google. But none of the studies timed or rated the effort of searching or remembering. They tested what people chose to remember and what they stored. A describes that. Only the first study used a search engine, but the other two show the same pattern with a computer file and folders.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 7 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 11 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 11, question 7.

Question 60 of 120

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 61 of 120

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 62 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 10

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

Question

The photograph mentioned in paragraph 4 is significant because it

  • Adocuments that the machine rose into the air as soon as the tethering wire was released.
  • Bprovides proof of the critical moment the machine took flight.
  • Cdocuments that the wind reduced the speed of the plane at the start of the flight.
  • Dprovides proof that the pilot had to gradually increase the height of the plane in the air.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks why the photograph mentioned in paragraph 4 is significant.

A. Incorrect. According to paragraph 4, the photograph was not taken immediately after the tethering wire was released but rather after an intervening period during which “Wilbur ran at the side of the machine, holding the wing to balance it on the track.” The picture was not taken until “the machine had reached the end of the track,” which occurred after a “forty-foot run” (paragraph 4).

B. CORRECT. The photograph mentioned in paragraph 4 is significant because it provides proof that the machine did, in fact, take flight: “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.”

C. Incorrect. The photograph mentioned in paragraph 4 is described as showing the plane moving forward through the air at a height of two feet, but while the effect of the wind may be visible, it is not why the photo is significant. Instead, the photograph provides proof that the plane is, in fact, moving through the air (“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”).

D. Incorrect. Although the plane is shown at a height of two feet in the photograph mentioned in paragraph 4, the picture documents only one moment of the plane’s flight and does not provide proof that the pilot had to gradually increase the height of the plane in the air.

Question analysis

This question on Orville Wright’s account of the first airplane flight asks why the photograph mentioned in paragraph 4, taken by one of the Life Saving men, is significant. The photograph itself is not printed with the excerpt, so students must work from Orville’s description of the moment it was taken. Several choices describe the machine’s movement, so each must be checked against that description.

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 Grade 7 readers often explain why a detail matters. This photograph is not printed, so students must picture it from Orville’s description, which uses “attitude” in an old sense meaning posture, and then judge why the picture mattered.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 68 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 photograph is not printed, so students work from three sentences of description, and the last two tell what Orville thinks the picture shows: the machine’s slow speed, visible in Wilbur’s easy pace. That stated detail is the strongest lure. The question asks for significance instead, which the excerpt leaves unstated; students must link the moment captured, the machine just off the track at the end of its run, to paragraph 5’s closing claim that this was the first such flight in history.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Orville never says why the picture matters; students must notice it was taken “just as the machine had reached the end of the track and had risen to a height of about two feet,” the instant of lift-off. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The key’s “critical moment the machine took flight” appears nowhere, while the wrong choices echo the paragraph’s released wire, the slow speed Orville says the picture shows, and the “height of about two feet.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    Orville says the slow speed shows “by Wilbur’s attitude,” using attitude in an old sense, Wilbur’s posture as he keeps pace, which students must decode to follow the description of the picture. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Reread the three sentences about the picture in paragraph 4, note when it was taken and what Orville says it shows, then weigh which choice explains why such a picture would matter.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why the photograph in paragraph 4 matters. The photograph is not printed with the excerpt. You have to picture it from Orville’s words. Find when it was taken. Then ask why a picture of that moment would be important.

  2. Read the description of the photograph

    Paragraph 4 says “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 next sentences say “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.”

  3. Work out what the picture shows

    The machine had just left the track and was two feet in the air. So the picture caught the moment it lifted off. Here “attitude” means the way Wilbur held his body. He kept up with the machine easily, so it was moving slowly. Paragraph 5 says this flight was “the first in the history of the world” of its kind. A photo of that lift-off is proof that it really happened.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The machine did not rise at once. It lifted “after a forty-foot run.”
    • B fits. The picture caught the moment the machine first took flight.
    • C does not fit. The picture does show the slow speed. But that is a detail in the photo, not why the photo matters.
    • D does not fit. One picture shows one moment. It cannot show a steady climb. In fact, paragraph 5 says the machine rose and dropped suddenly.

    Watch out: C is tempting because Orville himself says the slow speed is “clearly shown in the picture.” But the question asks why the picture is significant, which means important.

  5. Choose the answer

    The photo captured the very moment the first flight began. So the answer is B, “provides proof of the critical moment the machine took flight.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. Orville does say the picture shows the machine’s slow speed. But slow speed is not what makes this photo special. It was taken just as the machine “had risen to a height of about two feet” at the end of the track. That is proof of the first moment of flight, as B says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 10 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 17 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 17, question 10.

Question 63 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 11

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

Question

How do the details in paragraph 5 about the uneven nature of the flight convey a central idea of the excerpt?

  • Aby explaining how the flawed design of the machine caused it to turn unpredictably in the air and brought the first flight by a person to an abrupt end
  • Bby indicating that the difficulty in controlling the flight was caused by the rudimentary instruments of the machine and the inexperience of the pilot
  • Cby explaining how the pilot and the plane overcame adverse conditions in order to complete the first piloted flight
  • Dby indicating that the gradual change in wind velocity created an extreme environment in which to maneuver the plane and maintain its flight
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the details in paragraph 5 about the uneven nature of the flight convey a central idea of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Paragraph 5 explains that the rudder was unbalanced and the effect that this issue had on the flight, but the rudder was only part of the reason for the short flight. The length of the flight is not a central idea of the excerpt.

B. Incorrect. Although paragraph 5 does explain that the equipment contributed to the difficulty of controlling the plane’s flight, the lack of control over the flight is not a central idea of the excerpt, which focuses instead on the Wright brothers’ achievement of a successful flight despite the challenges involved.

C. CORRECT. The details in paragraph 5 describe the difficulties that the weather conditions and mechanical issues presented and how Orville’s flight was successful despite those problems. The Wright brothers’ ability to overcome difficult circumstances and complete the first flight is a central idea of the excerpt.

D. Incorrect. While paragraph 5 does emphasize the difficulty caused by the wind, it does not describe a “gradual change” in the wind, only that it was irregular.

Question analysis

This central-idea question asks how the details in paragraph 5 of Orville Wright’s “How We Made the First Flight,” which describe the machine darting up and down because of uneven air, a hard-to-control front rudder and the pilot’s inexperience, convey a central idea of the excerpt. The paragraph also includes speeds and distances, and students must decide what its details mean for the account as a whole.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Linking a paragraph’s details to a central idea is regular grade 7 work. This paragraph is long and technical, with a rudder problem and a calculation of speeds, and most choices restate its problems accurately, so students must decide what the details add up to.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 7, 816 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 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 paragraph 5 is about trouble, the uneven air, a rudder balanced too near the center, an inexperienced pilot and a dart that ended the flight, and two wrong choices describe that trouble accurately. What turns the details into a central idea is the paragraph’s last sentence, which calls the 12-second flight the first of its kind in history. Students who stop before it, or who take the problems as the point, miss that the excerpt is a story of success.

  1. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The key’s “overcame adverse conditions” sums up the paragraph in new words, while the wrong choices repeat its own: the rudder’s “tendency to turn itself,” the dart that “ended the flight,” the “lack of experience” and “the velocity of the wind.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    Paragraph 5 runs about 250 words, and its problems and a 61-word speed calculation all come before the closing sentence, the only one that presents the flight as a success. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The paragraph never says anyone overcame anything; students must set its problems beside its last sentence, a machine that “sailed forward” and landed “as high as that from which it started,” to see success despite them. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Note what each part of paragraph 5 describes, from its first sentence to its last, then decide what the excerpt as a whole is about and choose the option that ties the two together.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a central idea question. A central idea is a main point of the whole excerpt. Paragraph 5 describes an uneven, bumpy flight. The question asks how those details support a main point. So read the whole paragraph, including its last sentence.

  2. Find the problems in paragraph 5

    Paragraph 5 begins “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.” Erratic means jumpy and hard to predict. The front rudder, a part that steers, was hard to control. The machine “would rise suddenly to about ten feet, and then as suddenly dart for the ground.”

  3. Read the last sentence

    Then the paragraph turns. It says “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.” Nevertheless means “even so.” The wind, the hard steering and the pilot’s inexperience all worked against him. Even so, the flight worked. Conditions that work against you are called adverse.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The rudder problem and the sudden end are real. But A stops there and misses that the flight was a first.
    • B does not fit. Paragraph 5 does blame the rudder and the pilot’s inexperience. But the excerpt is about success, not about the lack of control.
    • C fits. The problems show what Orville overcame to make the first flight.
    • D does not fit. The paragraph never says the wind changed gradually, or slowly. It speaks of “the irregularity of the air.”

    Watch out: B is tempting because it repeats the paragraph’s own reasons for the bumpy flight. But true details are not the same as the main point.

  5. Choose the answer

    The problems in paragraph 5 make the success at the end more impressive. So the answer is C, “by explaining how the pilot and the plane overcame adverse conditions in order to complete the first piloted flight.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. It is true that the rudder and the pilot’s “lack of experience” made the flight hard to control. But that is only the first part of paragraph 5. The last sentence calls the flight the first of its kind. The problems show what had to be overcome. C ties the details to that success.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 11 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 18 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 18, question 11.

Question 64 of 120

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.
What makes it hard
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.”

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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 65 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 13

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

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that the Wright brothers had to adapt their plans for the flight in order to accommodate the weather conditions?

  • A“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.” (paragraph 1)
  • B“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.” (paragraph 1)
  • C“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.” (paragraph 4)
  • D“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.” (paragraph 5)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that the Wright brothers had to adapt their plans for the flight in order to accommodate weather conditions.

A. Incorrect. Although the sentence from paragraph 1 mentions the rainy weather and frozen puddles, it does not specifically explain how these weather conditions forced the brothers to adapt their plans for the flight.

B. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 1 reveals that the Wright brothers adapted by making a risk calculation, based on the wind speed, before the flight. The high speed of the wind could cause difficulties in flight while simultaneously allowing for a slower, more controlled landing.

C. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 4 does mention wind, but it describes what Orville was doing during the attempted flight, not the factors he considered before the flight in order to adapt the plan.

D. Incorrect. Although the sentence from paragraph 5 mentions the “irregularity of the air” during the flight, the sentence does not describe how the brothers adapted their plans for the flight based on the weather.

Question analysis

This evidence question on Orville Wright’s account of the first flight asks which sentence best supports the idea that the Wright brothers had to adapt their plans for the flight to the weather conditions. The four quotations come from paragraphs 1, 4 and 5 and all mention ice, wind or air, so students must look past the weather words to what each sentence shows the brothers doing.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing the sentence that best supports an idea is core grade 7 evidence work. The four quotations are printed in full with their paragraph numbers, and the idea has two parts, weather and a change of plans, so the check is careful but typical.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 7, 816 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 idea has two parts, the weather and a change in the brothers’ plans, and every quotation carries the first. Students who look only for weather words can be drawn to the erratic flight or the launch into the wind. Only one sentence shows the brothers thinking about the wind before they flew and deciding how to proceed, and once the second half of the idea is in view the choice is quick.

  1. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four quotations mention ice, wind or air, so the weather half of the idea rules nothing out; each must be checked for the other half, a decision the brothers made because of it. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The key never says plan or adapt; students must see that weighing “the added dangers in flight” against “the slower speed in landing” is the brothers fitting their decision to the wind. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Split the idea into its two parts, the weather and a change in the brothers’ plans, and keep only a quotation that shows both, not one that shows the weather alone.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for the sentence that best supports an idea. The idea has two parts. First, there was bad weather. Second, the brothers had to adapt, or change, their plans because of it. All four choices mention ice, wind or air. So look for the one that also shows a decision.

  2. Check each sentence for both parts

    • A shows the weather: icy puddles. But no one decides anything.
    • B shows the wind and the brothers’ thinking about it before the flight.
    • C describes the launch. It tells what Orville did, not a change of plans.
    • D explains why the flight was bumpy once it was in the air. It shows no plan.

  3. Read the sentence that fits

    Paragraph 1 says “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.” To estimate is to make a careful guess. Compensated for means “made up for.” The brothers knew the strong wind made flying harder. They weighed that against a good effect: a slower landing. Then they decided to fly anyway.

  4. Explain how this shows adapting

    The brothers did not just notice the wind. They thought about how it would change the flight, the bad and the good. They also planned on “facing the flyer into a strong wind.” Making plans that fit the weather is what adapting means.

    Watch out: D is tempting because it links “the irregularity of the air” to the flight. But it tells what happened during the flight, not how the brothers planned for it.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence shows the brothers fitting their decision to the wind before they flew. So the answer is B, “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.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. It does connect the weather to the flight. But it describes what happened in the air, after the plans were made. The idea needs the brothers changing plans because of the weather. Only B shows them thinking through the wind’s dangers and benefits before they decided to fly.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 13 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 20 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 20, question 13.

Question 66 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 15
Passage Wolves of the Sea

Wolves of the Sea

The cool and misty landscape of the Great Bear Rainforest can be found along the coast of British Columbia, Canada, and its nearby islands, from Vancouver Island to the Alaskan border. Within this protected area, wolves roam the forests, islands, and beaches. When biologist Chris Darimont began to study these wolves, he wanted to confer with local First Nations groups, as aboriginal Canadians are known, in order to learn what they knew about these wolves. He spoke with Chester Starr, an elder of the Heiltsuk Nation that has occupied the Great Bear Rainforest for thousands of years. What Starr had to say about the wolves changed Darimont’s perception of the animals.

Starr asked Darimont which wolves he and his team were going to study—the timber wolves (mainland wolves) or the coastal wolves on the islands. The question took Darimont by surprise. Biologists had always believed that the wolves that are sometimes spotted swimming between islands and eating salmon are the same wolves that live on the mainland. Darimont was intrigued by Starr’s classification of the wolves as two different groups. At first, he was hesitant to accept the idea. The distances between the mainland and the islands are small, less than a mile. Why would the wolves on the islands be any different from the wolves on the mainland? To find out, Darimont and his research team studied the wolves on the islands and in the densely forested territory of the Great Bear Rainforest for ten years.

Throughout the study, Darimont recorded several significant, observable differences between the “sea wolves,” as they are nicknamed, and the mainland wolves. Compared with the mainland wolves, the sea wolves are smaller in size and are strong swimmers. In 1996 sea wolves were spotted on an island nearly eight miles from any other land formation. While mainland wolves almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals, sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish. Sea wolves regularly swim between islands and have been known to sneak up on a seal sunning itself on a rock and make a leaping attack from the water. Some salmon-eating mainland wolves come and go from the islands with the fish-spawning season, but the sea wolves are full-time island residents. Darimont suspects that some sea wolves live their entire life on the islands.

The sea wolves displayed not only physical and behavioral differences but also genetic variations from the mainland wolves. After collecting and analyzing the DNA in 800 samples of gray fur and wolf waste, researchers could produce hard biological evidence that sea wolves had genetic markers that made them distinct from the mainland wolves. A genetic marker is a variation in a DNA sequence that can be used to identify individuals or a species because it is passed down to offspring. Darimont hypothesizes that a change in habitat led to the eventual genetic differences between sea wolves and mainland wolves. Many years ago, loss of habitat and food sources forced some mainland wolves out to the islands. They learned to eat everything from kelp and fish eggs to the remains of sea creatures that washed up on the beach. Wolves living on the islands and mainland wolves became more isolated and rarely mated with each other. Over time the two types of wolves became more distinct.

It turned out that Chester Starr was right all along. “It sounded totally bizarre at first,” admits Darimont, “that there could be two versions of the species.” But he now realizes that this skepticism “definitely reflected my ignorance of indigenous knowledge at the time.” Learning to trust the wisdom of the Heiltsuk people opened Darimont up to knowledge accumulated over millennia and positioned him so that he could gather new scientific evidence about one of British Columbia’s most elusive species, the sea wolf.

Question

The details in paragraph 1 contribute to a central idea of the passage by showing that Darimont

  • Abelieved the Great Bear Rainforest was an ideal location to study wolves in their natural habitat because it is a protected area.
  • Bvalues different perspectives, because the information that Starr provided influenced the focus of Darimont’s research.
  • Cthought the Great Bear Rainforest would provide opportunities to study different groups of wolves because the area includes forests and islands.
  • Dunderstands the importance of respecting local community members, because Darimont sought permission from an elder of the Heiltsuk Nation before starting his research.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the details about Darimont in paragraph 1 contribute to a central idea of the passage.

A. Incorrect. Although paragraph 1 includes the detail that the Great Bear Rainforest is a protected area, finding an ideal location to study wolves is not a central idea of the passage. Additionally, the paragraph does not describe Darimont’s beliefs about the Great Bear Rainforest.

B. CORRECT. Paragraph 1 explains why Darimont wanted to consult with Chester Starr, an elder of the Heiltsuk Nation: “When biologist Chris Darimont began to study these wolves, he wanted to confer with local First Nations groups, as aboriginal Canadians are known, in order to learn what they knew about these wolves.” The details in paragraph 1 show that Darimont valued Starr’s perspective (“What Starr had to say about the wolves changed Darimont’s perception of the animals”), even though it was different from Darimont’s own perspective at that time.

C. Incorrect. Paragraphs 1 and 2 show that Darimont did not initially believe that the mainland wolves and the coastal wolves were different groups. Therefore, the details in paragraph 1 do not provide evidence that Darimont chose the Great Bear Rainforest because of an expectation that there were separate groups of island wolves and timber wolves. Instead, he chose the Great Bear Rainforest for the opportunity to study what he had presumed to be one group of wolves.

D. Incorrect. Although Darimont sought out Chester Starr, an elder of the Heiltsuk Nation, before beginning his research, Darimont’s purpose in doing so was not to request Starr’s permission to study the wolves but to learn from Starr’s expert knowledge of the area and its wolves (“When biologist Chris Darimont began to study these wolves, he wanted to confer with local First Nations groups, as aboriginal Canadians are known, in order to learn what they knew about these wolves” [paragraph 1]).

Question analysis

This central idea question on “Wolves of the Sea,” an article about the coastal wolves of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, asks what the details in paragraph 1 show about the biologist Chris Darimont. Students must connect an introductory paragraph to the idea the whole passage develops, and each choice pairs a claim about Darimont with a reason that has to be checked.

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 an opening paragraph’s details to a central idea is standard grade 7 work. Paragraph 1 is plainly written, but each choice is a two-part claim about Darimont with a reason attached, so both halves must be checked against the text.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 662 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 97 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A missing word 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

Every choice pairs a claim about Darimont with a reason, so students who check only the first half can talk themselves into the respect choice, whose motive, asking permission, is a real-world custom the paragraph never mentions. The paragraph’s setting details, a protected area of forests and islands, invite readers to build beliefs about the study site that Darimont never states. The question rewards reading paragraph 1 as the opening of the passage’s larger story: a scientist learning from local knowledge.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Paragraph 1 never says Darimont values other views; that has to be drawn from his wish “to learn what they knew” and from Starr changing “Darimont’s perception of the animals.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The respect choice shares the key’s picture of Darimont turning to the Heiltsuk and differs only in its reason: asking an elder’s permission instead of learning what the Heiltsuk knew about the wolves. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The central idea the paragraph serves is stated only in paragraph 5, where trusting “the wisdom of the Heiltsuk people” opens Darimont to knowledge “accumulated over millennia.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Sum up what paragraph 1 says Darimont did and why, recall what the passage as a whole is about, and test both parts of each choice, the claim and its reason, against the paragraph’s own words.

Traps

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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option C says Darimont “chose Great Bear Rainforest.” The passage, and the next sentence of the same explanation, say “the Great Bear Rainforest,” so the site adds “the.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a central idea question. A central idea is a main point the whole passage builds. You need to see how paragraph 1 helps build that point. Each choice has two parts: something about Darimont, and a reason. Both parts must match the paragraph.

  2. Find the passage’s central idea

    The last paragraph spells it out. Starr “was right all along.” Then it says, “Learning to trust the wisdom of the Heiltsuk people opened Darimont up to knowledge accumulated over millennia.” Millennia means thousands of years. So a central idea is that a scientist learned from the long knowledge of the local people.

  3. Read what paragraph 1 shows

    Paragraph 1 says Darimont “wanted to confer with local First Nations groups, as aboriginal Canadians are known, in order to learn what they knew about these wolves.” To confer is to talk and share ideas. The paragraph ends, “What Starr had to say about the wolves changed Darimont’s perception of the animals.” His perception is the way he saw and understood them. So Darimont listened to a different point of view, and it changed how he saw the wolves.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The paragraph calls the area protected. But it never says what Darimont thought of it as a place to study.
    • B is right. A perspective is a point of view. Darimont wanted to hear what the First Nations knew. Starr’s words changed how he saw the wolves and what he set out to study.
    • C is wrong. Darimont did not expect two groups of wolves. In paragraph 2, Starr’s question “took Darimont by surprise.”
    • D is wrong. Darimont never asks for permission. He went “to learn what they knew about these wolves.”

    Watch out: D sounds kind and respectful, so it pulls hard. But asking an elder’s permission is a custom you may know from real life. The paragraph never mentions it.

  5. Choose the answer

    Paragraph 1 shows Darimont seeking out what Starr knew and letting it change his view. That fits the passage’s central idea about trusting local knowledge. So the answer is B, “values different perspectives, because the information that Starr provided influenced the focus of Darimont’s research.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Like B, it shows Darimont turning to a Heiltsuk elder. But its reason is wrong. Paragraph 1 says he wanted “to learn what they knew about these wolves,” not to get permission. B gives the reason the passage gives: what Starr knew changed Darimont’s view.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 15 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 D English, page 25, question 15. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “Wolves of the Sea” as printed (pages 23–24)The passage “Wolves of the Sea” as printed on page 23 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Wolves of the Sea” as printed on page 24 of the DOE handbook.

Question 67 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 16

Uses the passage above: “Wolves of the Sea”.

Question

Why does the author include details about the conversation between Starr and Darimont in paragraph 2?

  • Ato explain why Starr had closely observed the relationship between the two groups of wolves Darimont wanted to study
  • Bto show that Darimont was hoping to work with Starr and to study both groups of wolves in the area
  • Cto highlight that Darimont was unfamiliar with the area and expected Starr to help him find wolves to study
  • Dto emphasize that the question asked by Starr caused Darimont to review his initial assumption about the wolves
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks why the author includes details about the conversation between Starr and Darimont in paragraph 2.

A. Incorrect. The details in paragraph 2 do not explain why Starr had closely observed the two groups of wolves. Instead, they convey that Starr believed the wolves to be separate groups (“Starr asked Darimont which wolves he and his team were going to study—the timber wolves (mainland wolves) or the coastal wolves on the islands”), a supposition that intrigued Darimont and ultimately changed the course of his research study.

B. Incorrect. Although paragraph 1 indicates that Darimont did hope to work with Starr (“he wanted to confer with local First Nations groups, as aboriginal Canadians are known, in order to learn what they knew about these wolves”), Darimont did not initially plan to study both groups of wolves in the area because, as the conversation in paragraph 2 indicates, he did not initially know they were two distinct groups of wolves.

C. Incorrect. The details about the conversation in paragraph 2 highlight that Darimont was eager to learn from Starr’s knowledge of the wolves (“Darimont was intrigued by Starr’s classification of the wolves as two different groups”), but they do not indicate that Darimont expected Starr’s help to find the wolves.

D. CORRECT. According to paragraph 2, Starr wanted to know which group of wolves Darimont planned to study—“the timber wolves (mainland wolves) or the coastal wolves on the islands.” The author states that the question “took Darimont by surprise,” adding that “Darimont was intrigued by Starr’s classification of the wolves as two different groups.” The author adds that Darimont was initially “hesitant to accept the idea” that the wolves were separate groups but ultimately spent years studying the two groups of wolves. These details indicate that the question Starr posed to Darimont forced Darimont to reevaluate his initial assumption “that the wolves that are sometimes spotted swimming between islands and eating salmon are the same wolves that live on the mainland” and investigate Starr’s observation that the wolves had separated into two distinct groups.

Question analysis

In paragraph 2 of “Wolves of the Sea,” the Heiltsuk elder Chester Starr asks Darimont whether his team will study the timber wolves or the coastal wolves on the islands. This question asks why the author includes the details of that conversation, so students must explain what a short exchange does for the passage, not just what was said.

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 why an author includes a detail is everyday grade 7 structure work. The paragraph in question is short and plainly written, and each choice can be checked against it directly, so the demand is typical of grade 7.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 662 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 91 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The paragraph is short and the turn in it is clear: a question surprises Darimont, he doubts it, and he sets out to test it. The main risk is the choice that mixes a true fact from paragraph 1, that Darimont wanted to learn from Starr, with a plan to study two groups he did not yet know existed. Students who keep the order of events straight, what Darimont believed before and after Starr spoke, rule it out.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks why the conversation is there, so students must say what Starr’s question about “the timber wolves … or the coastal wolves” does to Darimont’s research, not just repeat it. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Paragraph 2 never says Darimont rethought anything; the review of his assumption is pieced together from “took Darimont by surprise,” “hesitant to accept” and the ten-year study that followed. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read all of paragraph 2, not just Starr’s question, and say in your own words why the conversation matters to the research; then reject choices that add facts the paragraph never gives.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about the author’s purpose. Why did the author put the talk between Starr and Darimont into paragraph 2? Don’t just retell the talk. Ask what it does to Darimont and his research.

  2. Find the conversation

    Paragraph 2 opens with Starr’s question. He asked which wolves the team would study, “the timber wolves (mainland wolves) or the coastal wolves on the islands.” Next, “The question took Darimont by surprise.” Why? “Biologists had always believed” that the island wolves were “the same wolves that live on the mainland.”

  3. Follow what happens next

    Darimont “was intrigued,” which means curious. Still, “At first, he was hesitant to accept the idea.” Hesitant means unsure and slow to agree. Then, “To find out,” his team studied the wolves for ten years. So Starr’s question made Darimont rethink his first belief. He had assumed, or believed without checking, that all the wolves were one group.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The paragraph gives Starr’s question. It never says how or why Starr watched the wolves.
    • B is wrong. Darimont did hope to learn from Starr. But he could not plan to study both groups before he knew there were two.
    • C is wrong. Nothing says Darimont needed Starr to help him find wolves.
    • D is right. The question surprised Darimont and sent him to test his first idea. His initial assumption means that first idea.

    Watch out: B mixes a true fact from paragraph 1 with a plan Darimont did not have yet. Keep the order of events straight.

  5. Choose the answer

    The talk shows Starr’s question changing how Darimont thought about the wolves. So the answer is D, “to emphasize that the question asked by Starr caused Darimont to review his initial assumption about the wolves.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. It is true that Darimont wanted to work with Starr. But before Starr spoke, Darimont thought all the wolves were one group. So he had no plan to study two groups. D fits the order of events: Starr asks, Darimont is surprised, and then he tests his old idea.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 16 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 D English, page 26, question 16.

Question 68 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 17

Uses the passage above: “Wolves of the Sea”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 4.

After collecting and analyzing the DNA in 800 samples of gray fur and wolf waste, researchers could produce hard biological evidence that sea wolves had genetic markers that made them distinct from the mainland wolves.

The phrase “hard biological evidence” conveys that the goal of the research team was to

  • Adevelop a procedure in order to ensure their study yielded plentiful data about the wolves.
  • Bseek definitive scientific proof of the number of wolf species present in the area of the study.
  • Cconduct a study to evaluate multiple theories about the diets of different wolf species.
  • Ddiscover if the new data would provide information different from that of previous studies.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the phrase “hard biological evidence” in the sentence from paragraph 4 conveys about the goal of the research team.

A. Incorrect. Although the research team followed a labor-intensive procedure, the phrase “hard biological evidence” refers to the product of their scientific research (the genetic markers revealed within the DNA samples), not the process by which they collected it. Their goal was not to develop a procedure for data collection but to determine precisely how many species of wolf were present in the area.

B. CORRECT. The research team wanted to prove or disprove the theory that two separate groups of wolves were present in the area, an idea that was already supported by the observations of scientists and local indigenous people. The phrase “hard biological evidence” conveys that the scientists wanted to bolster their observations of the wolves with concrete scientific data about the wolves’ biological makeup. The goal of the researchers was to use the data to prove how many species of wolf were present in the area of the study.

C. Incorrect. The research team gathered extensive data during their study (“After collecting and analyzing the DNA in 800 samples of gray fur and wolf waste” [paragraph 4]), and their goal in doing so was to evaluate a single theory about the wolves: that the wolves had evolved into two separate and genetically distinct species. The research team did not conduct the study in order to evaluate multiple theories about the diets of the wolves.

D. Incorrect. The phrase “hard biological evidence” does not suggest that the research team was hoping to discover if the new data would provide information that was different from previous studies. In fact, the goal of the research team was to use the genetic data to supplement their initial sources of information about the wolves and their own observations from the field.

Question analysis

This word-in-context question quotes a sentence from paragraph 4 of “Wolves of the Sea” about DNA taken from 800 samples of gray fur and wolf waste, and asks what the phrase “hard biological evidence” shows about the research team’s goal. Students must work out what the phrase says about the evidence and then turn that into a statement of purpose, choosing among four plausible aims for a study.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L4a context clues
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students regularly interpret a phrase in context. Here the phrase must be turned into a claim about the team’s purpose, which the passage never states outright, and the four choices are abstract research goals that each sound reasonable.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 662 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 114 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 asks for a purpose, but the phrase it quotes describes a result, so students have to reason from the kind of evidence produced to what the team wanted it for. Readers who take “hard” as difficult drift toward a goal about procedure, and those who remember that biologists had long thought the wolves were one group are drawn to a goal of overturning earlier studies. The key’s “number of wolf species” is looser than the passage’s “two versions of the species,” which can make careful readers hesitate.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The passage never states the team’s goal, so students must work back from “hard biological evidence” to the question paragraph 2 set up: whether island and mainland wolves are really two groups. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    “Hard” here means solid and conclusive, as in hard evidence, not difficult; students who know only the everyday sense connect it to the labor of analyzing 800 samples of fur and waste. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The goal the phrase points to lies two paragraphs back, in Starr’s two-group question and Darimont’s ten-year study “to find out,” not in the sentence the stem quotes. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Replace “hard” with a word that fits evidence produced by DNA analysis, then ask what the team wanted that kind of evidence for, recalling the question Darimont set out to answer.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what a phrase shows about the team’s goal. A goal is what you are trying to get. The phrase names the kind of evidence the team got. Work back from that to what they wanted it for.

  2. Read the sentence with the phrase

    In paragraph 4, the team studied “800 samples of gray fur and wolf waste.” Then they “could produce hard biological evidence that sea wolves had genetic markers that made them distinct from the mainland wolves.” A genetic marker is a small difference in the DNA that parents pass to their young. Distinct means clearly different.

  3. Work out what “hard” means

    Here “hard” does not mean difficult. Hard evidence is solid proof that is tough to argue with. Biological means it comes from living things and their bodies. So the team wanted firm proof from the wolves’ own bodies.

  4. Connect the proof to the question

    What did they want to prove? Go back to paragraph 2. Starr said there were two groups of wolves. Darimont was unsure. “To find out,” his team studied the wolves. The DNA gave a firm answer: the sea wolves really are a separate group. So the goal was solid proof of how many groups of wolves live there.

  5. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It reads “hard” as hard work. The phrase is about how firm the proof is, not about a procedure.
    • B is right. Definitive means final and settled. The team wanted settled proof of how many groups of wolves live there. B says “species,” which goes further than the passage. Darimont speaks only of “two versions of the species.”
    • C is wrong. Diets come up in paragraph 3. The DNA work tested whether there were two groups.
    • D is wrong. The phrase says nothing about earlier studies.

    Watch out: D is tempting because biologists “had always believed” the wolves were one group. But “hard” evidence is about firm proof, not about beating old studies.

  6. Choose the answer

    “Hard biological evidence” shows the team wanted firm, scientific proof. So the answer is B, “seek definitive scientific proof of the number of wolf species present in the area of the study.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Biologists had thought the wolves were one group, so D can seem to fit. But the phrase “hard biological evidence” is about how firm the proof is. It says nothing about earlier studies. B matches that: the team wanted settled proof of how many groups there were.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 17 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 27 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 27, question 17.

Question 69 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 19

Uses the passage above: “Wolves of the Sea”.

Question

Which sentence from the passage best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands?

  • A“While mainland wolves almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals, sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.” (paragraph 3)
  • B“Sea wolves regularly swim between islands and have been known to sneak up on a seal sunning itself on a rock and make a leaping attack from the water.” (paragraph 3)
  • C“Darimont suspects that some sea wolves live their entire life on the islands.” (paragraph 3)
  • D“Darimont hypothesizes that a change in habitat led to the eventual genetic differences between sea wolves and mainland wolves.” (paragraph 4)
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the sentence from the passage that best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands.

A. CORRECT. This sentence from paragraph 3 describes a significant difference in the diets of the mainland and sea wolves: the mainland wolves “almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals,” whereas the sea wolves had adapted to the point where they derive “as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.” This sentence emphasizes the dietary difference between the two groups of wolves and best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands.

B. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 3 describes one technique that the sea wolves used to hunt, it does not offer evidence as strong as that provided by the preceding sentence, which explains that sea wolves were able to derive “as much as 90 percent” (paragraph 3) of their sustenance from the sea alone (versus the mainland wolves, which “almost exclusively eat meat” from land animals [paragraph 3]).

C. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 3 states that “some sea wolves live their entire life on the islands,” it does not provide strong evidence of the necessary adaptations—namely, how these wolves were able to successfully live their whole lives on the islands. Living on the islands was not necessarily an adaptation in and of itself; the adaptation was the sea-based diet that enabled the sea wolves to live on the islands without access to land animals.

D. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 4 presents Darimont’s hypothesis that “a change in habitat led to the eventual genetic differences” between the wolves, the sentence does not describe any of the sea wolves’ adaptations nor best support the idea that the sea wolves successfully adapted to living on the islands.

Question analysis

This evidence question on “Wolves of the Sea” asks which sentence best supports the idea that sea wolves had successfully adapted to living on the islands. Three choices come from paragraph 3’s list of differences between sea wolves and mainland wolves and one from paragraph 4, so students must rank closely related sentences by how directly each shows the wolves thriving there.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 evidence questions often have one clearly relevant sentence. Here three neighboring sentences all describe the sea wolves’ island life, so students must decide what counts as successful adaptation and rank strong evidence against nearly as strong.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 662 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 131 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

All four sentences are about sea wolves, and three describe their island lives, so the question turns on ranking evidence rather than spotting it. The seal attack is one of the passage’s most vivid images and shows a real island skill, which makes it hard to give up for a sentence about diet. The key wins because it shows a whole way of life changing, most food from the sea and the young taught to fish, while the other sentences offer one habit, a hedged guess or a cause.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The seal-hunting sentence sits right after the key in paragraph 3 and also shows sea wolves living off the sea; it differs in showing one hunting trick instead of up to 90 percent of their food. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    No sentence uses the word “adapted,” so students must first decide what would prove an animal thrives in a new place, such as getting its food there and teaching that skill to its young. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Three of the four sentences come from paragraph 3’s list of island habits, and all four mention sea wolves or their habitat, so none can be dismissed at a glance. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, decide what would prove that an animal has adapted well to a new place, then rank the four sentences by how fully each one shows that, not merely whether it fits.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the sentence that best supports a claim. The claim is that sea wolves “had successfully adapted to living on the islands.” To adapt is to change so you can live well in a new place.

  2. Decide what strong proof looks like

    Before you read the choices, ask what would prove an animal is doing well somewhere new. It can find its food there. It can also teach its young to live there. One clever trick is weaker proof. A guess is weaker still. So look for a sentence that shows a whole way of life built around the new home.

  3. Test the diet sentence

    Choice A comes from paragraph 3. It says “sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.” Nutrition is the food a body needs. So almost all their food comes from the sea. They also pass those skills on to their pups. Mainland wolves, by contrast, “almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk.” Exclusively means only.

  4. Check the other choices

    • B shows one hunting trick, a leap at a seal. It is a real island skill. But it shows less than a diet that is up to 90 percent from the sea.
    • C uses the word “suspects,” so it is only Darimont’s guess. It also tells where some wolves live, not how they manage there.
    • D gives Darimont’s idea about what caused the genetic differences. It does not show the wolves doing well.

    Watch out: The seal attack in B is the most exciting picture. But one exciting hunt is weaker proof than a whole new diet.

  5. Choose the answer

    Sentence A shows sea wolves getting most of their food from the sea and training their young to do the same. So the answer is A, the sentence “While mainland wolves almost exclusively eat meat, such as deer and elk, and teach their young to hunt for land animals, sea wolves get as much as 90 percent of their nutrition from the sea and teach their young to dig for clams and to catch fish.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. It comes right after A in paragraph 3 and also shows sea wolves living off the sea. But B shows one way of hunting. A shows where nearly all their food comes from, and that they teach it to their young. That is stronger proof that they adapted well.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 29 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 29, question 19.

Question 70 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “Wolves of the Sea”.

Question

How did a change in habitat most affect the wolf population of the Great Bear Rainforest over time?

  • AIt caused some of the wolves to learn new hunting techniques in order to catch increasingly scarce prey.
  • BIt caused the wolves to form smaller packs and eventually separate, establishing distinct territories.
  • CIt caused some of the wolves to gradually become a new, genetically distinct species as they adapted behaviorally.
  • DIt caused the wolves to adapt their diet as different food sources became available in the area.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how a change in habitat most affected the wolf population of the Great Bear Rainforest over time.

A. Incorrect. Although the island wolves learned new hunting techniques (“dig for clams and to catch fish,” “sneak up on a seal sunning itself on a rock and make a leaping attack from the water” [paragraph 3]), there is no evidence in the passage that these hunting techniques were developed in response to scarcity of prey. The most significant effect of the change in habitat was not an influence on hunting techniques but the behavior differences that evolved because of the isolation of the groups of wolves from each other.

B. Incorrect. The change in habitat did not cause the wolves to form smaller packs but rather served to create distinctive behaviors because of the isolation of one pack from another, eventually causing the groups of wolves to become distinct species.

C. CORRECT. The change in habitat caused the wolves to gradually become two distinct species. Though the “sea wolves regularly swim between islands” and “some salmon-eating mainland wolves come and go from the islands,” the “sea wolves are full-time island residents” (paragraph 3). This behavioral adaptation to their environment caused the sea wolves to become “more isolated” from the mainland wolves; as a result, the two groups “rarely mated with each other,” and “over time the two types of wolves became more distinct” (paragraph 4).

D. Incorrect. Only the sea wolves adapted their diet. They did this not because different food sources became available in the area but because they were in an entirely different area from the mainland wolves.

Question analysis

This cause-and-effect question asks how a change in habitat most affected the wolf population of the Great Bear Rainforest over time, in the article “Wolves of the Sea.” Students must follow the account in paragraphs 3 and 4 of how some wolves came to live on the islands and pick the result the passage treats as the main one, among several that sound possible.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Tracing how one event leads to another is core grade 7 informational reading. The effects here are spread over two paragraphs of science writing, and several choices mix real details with causes the passage never gives, which keeps the demand typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 662 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 85 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • Two grammar slips 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

Several effects of the move are real, and the strongest wrong answer names one of them, a change of diet, but gives it the wrong cause by having food appear nearby instead of wolves being forced out to the islands. Students who stop at the first effect they recognize miss that the question asks what happened over time. The key’s “new, genetically distinct species” overstates the passage, which calls the wolves “two versions of the species,” though it is still the only choice that follows the chain to its end.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The chain of effects runs across two paragraphs: the island habits of paragraph 3, then paragraph 4’s loss of habitat, isolation, rare mating and the two types becoming “more distinct” over time. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The word “most” and the phrase “over time” point past the first changes, a new diet and new skills, to the end of the chain, genetic difference, which students must rank as the main effect. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Trace the chain of events in paragraphs 3 and 4 from the wolves’ move to the islands onward, then test each choice for who changed, why, and with what result.

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.
  • 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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option B says “eventually causing the groups of wolves to became distinct species”; the site says “to become.” Its explanation of Option C says the change “caused the sea wolves to ‘became more isolated’ from the mainland wolves,” putting paragraph 4’s past-tense “became” after “to”; the site now reads “caused the sea wolves to become ‘more isolated’ from the mainland wolves.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a cause-and-effect question. The cause is a change in habitat. A habitat is the place where an animal lives and finds food. You need the biggest effect it had “over time.” So follow the whole chain of events to its end.

  2. Find the cause in paragraph 4

    Paragraph 4 says, “Many years ago, loss of habitat and food sources forced some mainland wolves out to the islands.” There, “They learned to eat everything from kelp and fish eggs to the remains of sea creatures that washed up on the beach.” Kelp is a kind of seaweed.

  3. Follow the chain to its end

    Next, the two groups “became more isolated and rarely mated with each other.” Isolated means cut off. Then, “Over time the two types of wolves became more distinct.” Distinct means clearly different. Darimont thinks the change in habitat “led to the eventual genetic differences.” Genetic means in the DNA, passed from parents to young. So the chain ends with the two groups becoming different in their DNA.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Lost food sent wolves to the islands. The passage never says they learned tricks to catch scarce, or hard-to-find, prey.
    • B is wrong. The passage never mentions packs or territories.
    • C is right. Some wolves changed how they live, then grew apart in their DNA. One caution: C says “species.” The passage is more careful. It speaks of “two versions of the species.”
    • D is wrong. Only the island wolves changed their diet. They did not find new food nearby. Lost food forced them to move.

    Watch out: D names a real effect, a new diet. But that is only an early step, and D gives the wrong reason for it.

  5. Choose the answer

    The biggest effect over time was that the island wolves grew different in their DNA from the mainland wolves. So the answer is C, “It caused some of the wolves to gradually become a new, genetically distinct species as they adapted behaviorally.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, because the diet really did change. But D says new food “became available in the area.” The passage says the opposite: lost food forced some wolves out to the islands. A new diet is also only an early step. C follows the chain all the way to the change in their DNA.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 20 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 30 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 30, question 20. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 71 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 22
Passage Ode to Fireworks

Ode to Fireworks

In autumn my mother drove us to the edge of the field
where the fair was set up year after year:
the carousel, the bumper cars, the long, low sheds
filled with prizewinning animals.
We—my sister, my cousin, and I—were ready for bed,
already in our pajamas. This was a treat we waited
all year for. We waited in the darkness
for the first low, dull thwumps, like someone
beating an old, filthy rug hung on a wash line.
Then we counted the seconds between the lightning
and thunder, as we also used to do, until the sky
lit up: red, blue, green, gold. In my mind’s eye
I can still see the straggly, ancient oak whose branches
reached up past the exhibition halls, silhouetted
against the spectrum of stars that cascaded behind it.

It was one thing to look up into the sky
and imagine yourself in it or to make out pictures
among the clouds, which my sister liked to do.
No, I would tell her, that cloud
does not look like an elephant, a hat, an umbrella.
But it was another thing to see
the sky at night written upon
with those jewels. (We lived in the country:
night was night.) All around us, crickets
stridulated in the stubble of what had been
somebody’s cornfield, their song rising and falling.
You could smell winter on the air’s edge.

Now, in the city, when the sky dips into shadow
at New Year’s or on the Fourth of July, I find myself
craning my neck upward at odd moments.
The city sky is always lit up. This is where we live now,
and it is how we live now, awash in light
of every hue. Everything is a constant celebration:
picking up washing at the cleaner’s or stopping by
the corner market for a loaf of heavy bread.
And the music around me is the music of people,
their voices rising and falling in a hundred languages.
But beneath the yellowish glow deep in the sky
of all our city lights pelting out into the universe,
I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping
across the ridged field, as I kept waiting for those
childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.

Question

Read lines 22–23 from the poem.

the sky at night written upon
with those jewels.

What does the word choice in these lines convey about the speaker?

  • AThe speaker values material possessions.
  • BThe speaker imagines that the fireworks are magical.
  • CThe speaker believes that the country setting is distinctive.
  • DThe speaker cherishes the memory of seeing fireworks as a child.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what the word choice in lines 22–23 of the poem conveys about the speaker.

A. Incorrect. The word “jewels” is used figuratively to indicate the sentimental value that the experience of watching the fireworks holds for the speaker. There is no indication in the poem that the speaker values material possessions.

B. Incorrect. The use of the word “jewels” highlights the importance of the memory in the speaker’s mind. The imagery in the words “written upon” expresses the way the bright streaks of light curve and fly across the night sky, not that the speaker views the fireworks display as magical.

C. Incorrect. The speaker describes the elements of the fireworks display that stand out most clearly. The view of the bright, colorful fireworks streaking across the sky is distinct, but it is not unique to the country setting.

D. CORRECT. The word “jewels” creates a picture of watching shining and sparkling explosions in the night sky and suggests that this experience holds sentimental and emotional value for the speaker. The speaker cherishes the memory of the experience.

Question analysis

This question quotes lines 22–23 of “Ode to Fireworks,” in which the night sky is “written upon / with those jewels,” and asks what this word choice conveys about the speaker. Students must move from a striking metaphor for fireworks to what it reveals about the person describing them, and every choice names a different value or belief.

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 Reading a speaker’s feelings through connotation is standard grade 7 work. The two lines are short and quoted, but the metaphor is compressed and the choices name abstract attitudes, so one careful inference is needed, as in typical grade 7 poetry.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); 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 quoted lines are short, but the answer depends on what “jewels” suggests about the speaker, so students must move from an image to an attitude. The strongest pull comes from the words right after, where the speaker stresses that night in the country was truly dark, a real point but one about the setting, not about the jewel image. Students who take the gems literally or as magic stop at the surface of the metaphor instead of asking why someone would call a memory precious.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    Lines 22–23 turn fireworks into “jewels” and the sky into a page “written upon,” a metaphor whose meaning lies in what jewels are worth to a person, not in what they are. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The lines name no feeling; that the speaker cherishes the memory must be inferred from calling the fireworks “jewels” and from the speaker still craning upward for them years later in the city. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Ask what “jewels” suggests beyond its literal meaning, picture the sky “written upon,” and then pick the attitude that fits both these lines and the poem as a whole.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what a word choice shows about the speaker. The speaker is the “I” who tells the poem. Look past what the words say. Ask what feeling they show.

  2. Find the lines

    In stanza 2, the speaker says “it was another thing to see / the sky at night written upon / with those jewels.” A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph. The jewels are the fireworks. The sky is like a page they write on.

  3. Think about what jewels mean

    Calling fireworks jewels is a metaphor: a comparison without “like” or “as.” Jewels are rare, bright and precious. People keep them safe and treasure them. So the word shows how much the sight meant to the speaker. Even now, in the city, the speaker says “I find myself / craning my neck upward at odd moments.” Craning means stretching your neck to look.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The jewels are fireworks, not things the speaker owns.
    • B is wrong. The speaker watched real fireworks from a field with family. Nothing calls them magic.
    • C is wrong. The next words, “We lived in the country,” do stress the setting. But the jewel image itself is about how precious the sight was.
    • D is right. To cherish is to treasure and hold dear. Jewels are treasures.

    Watch out: C is tempting because the country comes up right after the jewels. Keep your eyes on lines 22–23 themselves.

  5. Choose the answer

    Calling the fireworks jewels shows a treasured childhood memory. So the answer is D, “The speaker cherishes the memory of seeing fireworks as a child.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. The poem does say they lived in the country, where night was truly dark. But that is the next thought, not the jewel image. Jewels are treasures. They show how much the speaker valued the sight. D says just that: the speaker treasures the memory.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 34 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 34, question 22.
The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed (page 32)The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.

Question 72 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 25

Uses the passage above: “Ode to Fireworks”.

Question

Read lines 41–42 from the poem.

I kept waiting for those
childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.

How does this memory affect the speaker?

  • AThe speaker believes it is impossible to ever return to a place in the past.
  • BThe speaker is still amused by the impatience felt during fireworks displays.
  • CThe speaker now regrets abandoning the rural way of life.
  • DThe speaker feels a sense of comfort when reflecting on the past.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the memory in lines 41–42 affects the speaker.

A. Incorrect. The speaker does not express concern in these lines about the impossibility of returning to childhood or the past. For the speaker, the past and the memories associated with it are a source of comfort and a way to remember simpler times (“I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field” [lines 40–41]).

B. Incorrect. While the speaker recalls anticipation before the start of a fireworks display, there is no hint that the speaker is impatient. Particularly in lines 41–42, the speaker is reminded of the expectation of hearing and seeing fireworks and the sense of simple contentment felt in the experience (“I find myself / craning my neck upward at odd moments” [lines 29–30]).

C. Incorrect. The speaker is reflecting on past experiences and pointing out the elements of the city that remind the speaker of these past experiences. The speaker acknowledges the differences between the country and city settings but does not convey regret for leaving the rural area (“This is where we live now, / and it is how we live now, awash in light / of every hue” [lines 31–33]).

D. CORRECT. The memory of watching the fireworks on the way home creates a sense of comfort that stays with the speaker (“escorted us home”). The speaker looks forward to moments when the youthful experience (“childhood bursts”) of being excited by something like a fireworks display can be a source of happiness.

Question analysis

This question quotes the last lines of “Ode to Fireworks,” where the adult speaker, now living in the city, recalls waiting for the “childhood bursts” that “escorted us home,” and asks how this memory affects the speaker. Students must read the feeling in a brief closing image and check each choice against the whole final stanza about city life.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Inferring how an experience affects a speaker is regular grade 7 work. The two quoted lines are plain, but the feeling behind them is implied rather than named, and the choices offer four believable reactions to a memory.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 74 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The DOE printed this question’s explanation after a different question; the site matches the question with its own 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

The memory is warm, but warm memories of a lost place are easy to read as sadness, and the choice about regretting the move to the city draws students who hear nostalgia as complaint. The other wrong choices turn the anticipation of “kept waiting” into impatience or make the past impossible to reach, both stronger than anything the lines say. Students who read the whole sentence from “But beneath the yellowish glow” see a speaker carried home by the memory, not mourning it.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Lines 41–42 name no feeling, so the comfort must be read from fireworks that “escorted us home” and from the grown speaker still waiting for “those / childhood bursts” in the city. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Ruling out regret takes the rest of the third stanza, where city life is “a constant celebration” and “This is where we live now” is said without complaint. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    “Escorted us home” makes the fireworks companions guarding the family’s drive across the field, a personification that carries the sense of safety the question asks about. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read lines 38–42 as one sentence, starting from “But beneath the yellowish glow,” and ask how the speaker feels about the city and about the memory, using the whole third stanza, before choosing.

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.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In the DOE’s explanations appendix, the explanation printed after this question belongs to question 24 (“what the purpose is of the repeated words ‘rising and falling’ in lines 26 and 37”) and marks B correct, and this question’s explanation (“how the memory in lines 41–42 affects the speaker”) is printed after question 24, marking D correct. Read page by page, the appendix gives this question the answer B. The site gives the question the explanation that restates it, and the answer follows that explanation: D, because the memory of the fireworks that “escorted us home” is a source of comfort to the speaker.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how a memory makes the speaker feel. The lines don’t name a feeling. So you have to infer it, which means figure it out from clues.

  2. Read the whole sentence

    The sentence starts in line 38: “But beneath the yellowish glow deep in the sky / of all our city lights pelting out into the universe, / I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field, as I kept waiting for those / childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.” The bursts are the fireworks.

  3. Work out the feeling

    To escort is to go along with someone to guide or protect them. So the speaker pictures the fireworks keeping the family company on the way home. That is a safe, warm picture. The memory comes back even under the bright city sky. It works like a favorite old song that still makes you feel good.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The speaker never says it is “impossible to ever return.” The memory is still alive.
    • B is wrong. The waiting was eager, not impatient. Nothing is treated as funny.
    • C is wrong. Regret means wishing you had done something else. The speaker never wishes the move undone. The city is “a constant celebration.”
    • D is right. The fireworks that “escorted us home” give the speaker a sense of comfort.

    Watch out: Missing the past is not the same as regret. C reads a complaint into the poem that is not there.

  5. Choose the answer

    The memory of the fireworks bringing the family home warms the speaker. So the answer is D, “The speaker feels a sense of comfort when reflecting on the past.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because the speaker clearly misses the country. But stanza 3 says “This is where we live now” with no complaint. It even calls city life “a constant celebration.” The memory warms the speaker. It does not make the speaker wish to undo the move. That is comfort, choice D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 25 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 37 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 37, question 25. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 73 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 38
Passage Martial Arts for the Mind and Body

Martial Arts for the Mind and Body

(1) The martial arts blend a series of physical movements with strategic mental discipline so that practitioners can defend themselves, physically defeat an opponent, or both. (2) Historians are unsure of exactly when and where martial arts were first used. (3) Martial arts have been practiced by several different societies for many centuries. (4) Martial arts such as karate, kung fu, tae kwon do, and judo are still taught and practiced as methods of self-defense, but they offer students more than that. (5) The study of martial arts can provide students with a way to enhance their mental discipline as well as their physical fitness.

(6) Discipline, focus, and respect are important qualities for everyone to have. (7) However, for most people these qualities are not innate; they must be learned and practiced. (8) The study of martial arts can provide an opportunity to develop these skills. (9) Students are rewarded for their dedication by passing tests and advancing to higher ranks or levels. (10) For example, in a typical tae kwon do class, students learn discipline by diligently practicing moves, improve focus by listening carefully, and demonstrate respect by bowing to the instructor and following directions.

(11) For teenagers, martial arts classes provide a safe and structured environment for gaining physical skills, building confidence, and enjoying a sense of community. (12) A lot of teens go through hard situations as they try to do well in school and in life. (13) A martial arts class can provide teens with a physical outlet for stress while also challenging them mentally. (14) Participating in a martial arts program also helps children and teens focus on self-improvement rather than on competition. (15) Progressing through levels of achievement involves mastering more physically demanding techniques. (16) It requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals. (17) Students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks.

(18) Adults who practice martial arts can experience many of the same benefits that younger people do, but perhaps the greatest of these is health and fitness. (19) Adult martial arts students often see changes in their body within weeks of beginning a program.

(20) For people interested in studying a martial art, there are many ways to learn and practice. (21) In addition to private studios, community recreation centers often offer low-cost or free martial arts classes. (22) There are even online videos that introduce students to the basic concepts. (23) People should study martial arts.

Question

Which transitional phrase should be added to the beginning of sentence 17?

  • AOver time,
  • BIn fact,
  • CEven so,
  • DFor instance,
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the transitional phrase that should be added to the beginning of sentence 17.

A. CORRECT. This option is correct because it best shows the chronological progression between the ideas in sentence 16—progressing through levels of achievement “requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals”—and the ideas in sentence 17—“students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks.” The transitional phrase “over time” shows the gradual nature of the relationship between the cause in sentence 16 and the effect in sentence 17.

B. Incorrect. Though the ideas in sentences 16 and 17 are related, “in fact” does not show the correct relationship between the ideas. The transitional phrase “in fact” emphasizes an idea by giving a detail or example of greater intensity, but the ideas in sentence 16—progressing through levels “requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals”—and the ideas in sentence 17—“students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks”—are related by cause and effect rather than by (degree of) intensity.

C. Incorrect. The transitional phrase “even so” is used to connect opposing ideas, but the ideas in sentence 16—progressing through levels “requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals”—do not contrast with the ideas in sentence 17—“students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks.”

D. Incorrect. Although the transitional phrase “for instance” connects an idea with a related example, it does not show the cause-and-effect relationship between the ideas in sentence 16—progressing through levels “requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals”—and the ideas in sentence 17—“students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks.”

Question analysis

This transition question asks which phrase should begin sentence 17 of the martial arts passage, which says students gain confidence and companionship with others progressing through the ranks. Students must work out how it relates to sentences 15 and 16, on mastering harder techniques and meeting set goals, because all four phrases are common openers that sound natural.

NYS standards
  • 7W2d transitions in informative writing
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing a transition that fits the link between sentences is routine grade 7 writing work. The sentences are short and plain, but more than one phrase sounds acceptable on a first reading, so careful but typical reasoning is needed.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 402 words; question and choices: about grade 3, 19 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

All four phrases are common transitions, and “In fact” in particular sounds natural in front of almost any sentence that adds a point. The question rewards naming the link first: sentence 17 describes what students gain as they move up, a result that comes with time, not a stronger restatement, a contrast or an example. Students who read sentences 15 to 17 as one progression find the time phrase; those who test each phrase by sound tend to stop at the emphatic one.

  1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    Sentence 16 says moving up the levels makes students responsible for “achieving set goals”; sentence 17 gives what they gain while “progressing through the ranks,” a result that builds up gradually. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    No word in either sentence says time passes or that one thing causes another, so students must infer that confidence and companionship come from the effort described in sentences 15 and 16. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate sentences 16 and 17 in your own words and name the link between them, such as example, contrast, emphasis or time, before trying each phrase in front of sentence 17.

Traps

  • Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option C says “the ideas in sentence 16 … does not contrast with the ideas in sentence 17.” The subject is “ideas,” so the site now says “do not contrast.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for a transition to start sentence 17. A transition is a word or phrase that shows how two ideas connect. First figure out the link between sentences 16 and 17. Then pick the phrase that names it.

  2. Read sentences 15 to 17

    Sentence 15 says moving up “involves mastering more physically demanding techniques.” Sentence 16 says, “It requires students to take responsibility and be accountable for achieving set goals.” Being accountable means you must answer for your own results. Sentence 17 says, “Students gain confidence and experience companionship with other students who are progressing through the ranks.” Companionship means friendship.

  3. Name the link

    Confidence and friendship don’t come in one day. They grow as students keep working and moving up the ranks. So sentence 17 is a result that builds slowly. A time phrase fits. For example: I practiced piano every day. Over time, I could play the whole song.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. “Over time” shows the rewards grow as students keep working.
    • B is wrong. “In fact” adds a stronger version of the same point. Sentence 17 makes a new point.
    • C is wrong. “Even so” means in spite of that. Confidence comes because of hard work, not in spite of it.
    • D is wrong. “For instance” starts an example. Confidence is a result of taking responsibility, not an example of it.

    Watch out: “In fact” sounds natural in front of almost any sentence. Name the link before you test the phrases by sound.

  5. Choose the answer

    With the phrase added, sentence 17 begins Over time, students gain confidence. So the answer is A, “Over time,” added to the beginning of sentence 17.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, since “In fact” is a common way to add a point. But “In fact” signals a stronger restatement. Sentence 17 doesn’t restate sentence 16. It tells what students gain as they keep moving up. That gain builds slowly, so “Over time” fits best.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 56 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 56, question 38. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “Martial Arts for the Mind and Body” as printed (page 52)The passage “Martial Arts for the Mind and Body” as printed on page 52 of the DOE handbook.

Question 74 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 9
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.

From “Scribe Like an Egyptian” by Hilary Wilson from HISTORY TODAY, August 8, 2019. Copyright © 2019 by History Today Ltd. Company.

A pyramid diagram titled “ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SOCIAL CLASS STRUCTURE,” divided into five horizontal levels, each with a small drawing of figures in ancient Egyptian style and a labeled box. From top to bottom the levels are labeled: Pharaoh (a single standing figure); Nobility and priests (a kneeling figure and a standing figure); Traders, shopkeepers, scribes, and artisans (two seated figures working); Animal herders and farmers (a man standing beside a group of cattle); and Unskilled workers (three figures bending forward).

bureaucracy: an administrative staff of government officials
funerary papyri: a sheet or scroll of papyrus containing religious images and hieroglyphs meant to help the deceased be reborn in the afterlife
rudiments: basics
schoolboy: slang that refers to materials used during the course of receiving an education
draughtsmen: people who draw plans of machinery or structures
corpus: a collection of writings

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt best supports the idea that there were different levels of education for a scribe?

  • A“However, contrary to popular belief, not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs.” (paragraph 1)
  • B“For everyday purposes, however, scribes used a shorthand version of the hieroglyphic script known as hieratic, which was quicker to write and more economical of space.” (paragraph 2)
  • C“This limited the scope for employment but such ‘on the job’ training allowed apprentices to help out at home while learning.” (paragraph 4)
  • D“For professions such as those of government official, priest or lawyer, a scribe would train for several more years, increasing his vocabulary to perhaps a thousand or more signs.” (paragraph 6)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for a sentence from the excerpt that best supports the idea that different levels of education were available to scribes.

A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 1 provides evidence that Egyptian scribes used two different forms of writing, but it does not address the topic of education or the different levels of education that were available to scribes.

B. Incorrect. The advantages and purposes of hieratic script are described in this sentence from paragraph 2, but this explanation of the advantages and purposes does not suggest that there were different levels of education for scribes.

C. Incorrect. The fact that scribes could learn their trade through apprenticeships as discussed in this sentence from paragraph 4 does provide evidence that another method of learning to be a scribe was possible, but this process was for a limited entry into becoming a scribe, not the continued education scribes would need in order to work in specific areas.

D. CORRECT. By explaining that certain professions required additional years of training, this sentence from paragraph 6 supports the idea that different levels of education existed for scribes.

Question analysis

This evidence question on Hilary Wilson’s “Scribe Like an Egyptian,” a magazine article about how ancient Egyptian scribes learned their trade, asks which quoted sentence best supports the idea that scribes received different levels of education. The four sentences come from paragraphs 1, 2, 4 and 6, and more than one seems to touch on the idea, so close reading of each decides it.

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 Choosing the sentence that best supports an idea is routine grade 7 evidence work. Here several quotations touch on ways scribes differed, and the article’s dense, technical wording makes those differences harder to sort than usual.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 110 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Two of the wrong sentences are not off topic: one says not all scribes understood hieroglyphs, the other that apprenticeship narrowed a scribe’s job prospects, and both imply that scribes differed. The question rewards asking what the idea actually claims, that schooling itself came in stages, and only the sentence about professions that required more years of training says so outright. Students who stop at the first sentence suggesting a difference lose the point.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The right sentence never says “levels”; students must see that training “for several more years” for official, priest or lawyer posts means a higher tier of schooling than the basic course. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Two other quotations also hint at differences among scribes, paragraph 1’s “not all Egyptian scribes understood hieroglyphs” and paragraph 4’s “limited the scope for employment,” so each must be weighed, not just scanned. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    Terms such as “hieratic,” “economical of space” and “scope for employment” slow the reading of the quotations, and the shorthand sentence is hard to dismiss until hieratic is understood as a script. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Ask what a sentence would have to say to prove that scribal education came in levels, then test each quotation against that and prefer a direct statement over a hint.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for the sentence that best supports one idea: scribes could get “different levels of education.” A level is a stage. Some scribes studied for a short time, and others went on to study more. You need a sentence that shows a difference in schooling, not just any difference between scribes.

  2. Find what each level looked like

    Paragraphs 5 and 6 describe the training. Paragraph 5 says the lowest scribes studied for only five or six years. They learned just the basics of hieroglyphs. Paragraph 6 says that more than 450 signs were needed for everyday writing. Then choice D adds a higher level: “For professions such as those of government official, priest or lawyer, a scribe would train for several more years, increasing his vocabulary to perhaps a thousand or more signs.”

  3. Work out what choice D means

    A profession is a job that needs special training. Choice D says some jobs needed more years of study and more signs, perhaps over a thousand. A basic scribe stopped sooner and knew fewer signs. So schooling came in stages: a basic course, and then more years for the top jobs. That is what the question means by levels of education.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It says not all scribes understood hieroglyphs. That is a difference in what scribes knew. It says nothing about how they were taught.
    • B does not fit. It explains hieratic, a faster shorthand way of writing. That is about writing, not schooling.
    • C does not fit. It is about apprentices, who learned on the job from an older scribe. That is a different way into the work, not a higher or lower stage of study.
    • D fits. Some jobs needed several more years of training.

    Watch out: A is tempting because it shows that scribes were not all alike. But it never mentions school.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence shows some scribes studying for years after the basic course. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. It shows that some scribes knew hieroglyphs and others did not. But it doesn’t say why, or how long anyone studied. D says plainly that some jobs needed several more years of training. That is a level of education above the basic one.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 9 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 9.
The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the testThe passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 1 of 6.The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 2 of 6.The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 3 of 6.The passage “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian”” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 4 of 6.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 75 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 12

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian””.

Question

Which claim is best supported by the information presented in paragraphs 3 and 4?

  • AEducation was difficult for the common citizens of Egypt to obtain.
  • BOnce students began studying to become scribes, their future held more possibilities.
  • CIf someone wanted to become a scribe, support from outside sources such as the government or a temple was necessary.
  • DBecoming a successful scribe required a student’s family to sacrifice time and money in order to ensure the best education.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the claim that is best supported by the details in paragraphs 3 and 4.

A. Incorrect. While paragraph 4 does explain that boys from poorer families had more challenges in receiving an education, the paragraph also provides examples of obtaining a patron or getting an apprenticeship as ways that these aspiring scribes could attain an education. Furthermore, the details in paragraph 3 do not provide any support for the claim that “common citizens” had difficulty getting an education because that paragraph focuses on the example of one person who was able to become a king as a result of his background as a scribe.

B. CORRECT. In paragraph 3, the author provides an example of a person who used his skills as a scribe to rise through the ranks of society by describing the achievements of Horemheb to support the idea that “no matter how humble his origins, an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything.” The author continues in paragraph 4 to explain that with the proper support, some young Egyptians could become educated, thereby opening more opportunities for themselves.

C. Incorrect. Paragraph 4 explains that schools were supported by the government and religious institutions, but it also explains that apprenticeships were a method of learning the craft of the scribe. As the paragraph indicates, boys could also be helped in their education by support from “a wealthier relative or patron.”

D. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author details the sacrifices that families made to keep their sons at the schools, while boys from poorer families could only hope for a patron or an apprenticeship. Paragraph 4 also explains that apprentices could help out at home while learning, so the sacrifice of time and money was not required of every family.

Question analysis

This inference question asks which claim is best supported by paragraphs 3 and 4 of “Scribe Like an Egyptian,” which tell the story of the scribe Horemheb and describe who could get a scribal education in ancient Egypt. Students must weigh each claim against both paragraphs together, and several claims echo a single sentence closely enough to look supported.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Choosing the claim a passage best supports is core grade 7 work. Here the claim must fit two paragraphs that do different jobs, one telling a single man’s story and one explaining access to schooling, and some choices fit only part of that.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 75 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A misdescription of the passage in the explanation of one wrong answer was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The trap is a claim that paragraph 4 seems to state almost word for word, which makes it feel safer than the right one. But the question asks for support from both paragraphs, and Horemheb’s story points the other way, toward what schooling made possible. The two other wrong claims harden paragraph 4’s details into rules, a necessary sponsor or a required family sacrifice, so words like “necessary” and “required” are the ones to test.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The claim must fit two paragraphs that do different work: paragraph 3 follows Horemheb from army scribe to king, and paragraph 4 explains who could pay for schooling and what the alternatives were. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The right claim restates paragraph 3’s “an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything” in new words, while the most tempting wrong one nearly copies paragraph 4’s opening, “education was not available to all.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must connect Horemheb’s rise with paragraph 4’s account of who got schooling to see that both paragraphs are about education opening doors, a link the author leaves implicit. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Sum up paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 in a sentence each, then test every claim against both summaries, watching for words that make a claim stronger than the text.

Traps

  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of D said paragraph 4 details sacrifices “necessary for some poorer families,” and that paragraph 3’s Horemheb, born of middle-ranking parents, shows the sacrifice was not required of all families. In paragraph 4 the rations and lost income are those of families whose sons were at the schools; poorer boys could only hope for a patron or an apprenticeship; and paragraph 3 says nothing about what Horemheb’s family gave up. The explanation now says so: D is wrong because apprentices could help out at home while learning, so not every family made the sacrifice.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks which claim is best supported by paragraphs 3 and 4 together. A claim is a statement that someone says is true. The right claim must fit both paragraphs. Watch for strong words, like “necessary,” that go further than the text.

  2. Sum up paragraph 3

    Paragraph 3 tells about Horemheb. His parents were middle-ranking, not rich or powerful. His training as a scribe led to a job in the army. He rose to lead the army, then to serve the young king, and in the end he became king himself. The author uses him to show that “no matter how humble his origins, an educated Egyptian could achieve almost anything.” Humble origins means an ordinary family background.

  3. Sum up paragraph 4

    Paragraph 4 opens by saying that not everyone could get an education. Government offices and big temples ran schools. Families sent food and drink for years, while the boy earned nothing for them. Poorer boys could hope for help from “a wealthier relative or patron.” A patron is someone who pays for another person’s training. Or they could learn on the job from a working scribe. That path led to fewer jobs.

  4. Put the two paragraphs together

    Both paragraphs are about what schooling could do for a boy. Paragraph 3 shows a man rising all the way to king because he trained as a scribe. Paragraph 4 shows that, with the right support, boys could get that schooling. It even notes that the on-the-job path led to fewer jobs. So education opened doors. That is what choice B says.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It matches only the start of paragraph 4. Paragraph 4 also gives ways in for poorer boys, and paragraph 3 shows a man from an ordinary family rising to the top.
    • B fits. Both paragraphs show schooling leading to more possibilities.
    • C does not fit. A government or temple school was not “necessary.” A relative, a patron or an apprenticeship could also work.
    • D does not fit. Apprentices could help out at home while they learned, so not every family gave up time and money. And the paragraphs never mention “the best education.”

  6. Choose the answer

    The claim that fits both paragraphs is that schooling gave a boy more possibilities. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice, because paragraph 4 begins by saying not everyone could get an education. But the question asks about paragraphs 3 and 4. Paragraph 3 tells of a scribe from an ordinary family who became king. Paragraph 4 shows ways around the cost. Both point to what education made possible, which is B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 12 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 12. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 76 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 13

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian””.

Question

Hieratic script was particularly valuable in a bureaucratic government because

  • Ausing hieratic script was an efficient way for scribes to produce large amounts of documentation.
  • Bmany members of the general public could comprehend information that was written in hieratic script.
  • Cknowledge of hieratic script prepared scribes to serve their society in increasingly challenging roles.
  • Dpeople from different professional backgrounds could easily communicate with one another in hieratic script.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks why hieratic script was especially valuable in a bureaucratic government.

A. CORRECT. Hieratic script is described in paragraph 1 as being simpler for the “multitude of everyday documents” generated by the government and as “quicker to write and more economical of space” in paragraph 2. The logical conclusion based on these details is that hieratic script was more efficient for the large amounts of documentation produced by the government.

B. Incorrect. In paragraph 4, the author explains that “education was not available to all,” suggesting that only people who were educated could read and write. The excerpt as a whole does not provide sufficient information to indicate what portion of the general public would be able to comprehend material written in hieratic script.

C. Incorrect. The idea that becoming a scribe could lead to taking different positions in society is addressed in paragraphs 3, 4, and 6. However, the use of hieratic script in the fields of medicine, law, or religion does not necessarily explain the value of the script for the bureaucratic government referenced in the question.

D. Incorrect. Although different professions such as doctors and lawyers used hieratic script, the author uses these professions as examples of different job opportunities for scribes in paragraph 6. There is no discussion in the excerpt about different professions communicating with each other, and these professions were not necessarily part of the bureaucratic government.

Question analysis

This inference question on “Scribe Like an Egyptian” asks why hieratic, one of the two scripts of ancient Egypt, was especially valuable to a bureaucratic government. The article never gives the reason in a single sentence, so students must connect what it says about Egypt’s bureaucracy with what it says about the script itself. Each choice offers a reasonable-sounding benefit.

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 Drawing a conclusion from two neighboring paragraphs is typical grade 7 inference work. The word “bureaucratic” and the article’s formal style add some load, but the details needed are close together and plainly stated.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 68 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 facts that answer the question sit a few lines apart in the first two paragraphs, so the work is mostly connecting them. The wrong reasons all sound like advantages a simpler script might bring, public readability, career preparation, communication across professions, and each rests on a guess or on the excerpt’s talk of scribal careers rather than on what it says hieratic was used for. Students who return to the description of hieratic itself avoid them.

  1. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The reason is split between paragraph 1, where hieratic serves the “multitude of everyday documents,” and paragraph 2, where it is “quicker to write and more economical of space.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The stem turns on “bureaucratic,” a word students must connect to a government that runs on paperwork; without it, the link to large amounts of documentation is hard to see. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    No sentence says why hieratic helped the government; students must combine speed and compactness with the sheer volume of records to reach efficiency. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Find the sentences that describe hieratic script and what it was used for, then pick the choice those sentences support rather than one that only sounds like an advantage.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why hieratic script was so useful to a bureaucratic government. A bureaucracy is a government run by many officials, with lots of paperwork. Hieratic is the quick, simple form of Egyptian writing. Look for what the article says about hieratic and what it was used for.

  2. Find the evidence in paragraphs 1 and 2

    Paragraph 1 says many scribes used hieratic for the “multitude of everyday documents” that the government produced. Multitude means a huge number. Paragraph 2 says hieratic was “quicker to write and more economical of space.” Economical of space means it took up less room on the page.

  3. Connect the two facts

    Put the facts together. The government made a huge number of papers. Hieratic was fast to write and used less space. So scribes could turn out lots of papers quickly. Getting a lot done with little time and effort is called being efficient.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Hieratic let scribes make large amounts of paperwork quickly.
    • B does not fit. Paragraph 4 says “education was not available to all.” The article never says ordinary people could read hieratic.
    • C does not fit. Training did lead to careers, but that explains a scribe’s chances, not why the government valued the script.
    • D does not fit. Paragraph 6 lists jobs like doctor and lawyer as careers for scribes. It never says those workers wrote to each other in hieratic.

    Watch out: B sounds sensible, since a simpler script seems easier for anyone to read. But that is a guess, not something the article says.

  5. Choose the answer

    Hieratic was fast and compact, and the government needed a huge number of documents. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because a simpler script does sound easier to read. But the article says only some Egyptians got an education. It never says the public could read hieratic. A rests on two facts the article states: the government made a “multitude of everyday documents,” and hieratic was quicker to write.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 13 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 13.

Question 77 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 15

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian””.

Question

Based on the excerpt, which statement would the author most strongly agree with?

  • ABoys in Egypt were encouraged to enter the same profession as older male relatives.
  • BKnowledge of hieroglyphs was helpful to Egyptians who were interested in becoming scribes.
  • CHieratic script was more practical to ancient Egyptians than hieroglyphs were.
  • DBoys in Egypt who studied for only a few years were unlikely to find employment as scribes.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for a statement with which the author would most strongly agree.

A. Incorrect. The author only addresses boys who entered the profession of scribes. While the author does address the role of the family in supporting a boy’s education or securing an apprenticeship, the author does not provide any discussion to support the idea that boys were only encouraged to follow the professions of their male relatives.

B. Incorrect. The author explains that communication using hieroglyphs was not widely practiced in everyday correspondence and that hieratic script was the more popular form of writing. While being able to read and use hieroglyphs would have been helpful, it was not common for citizens to use this formal form of communication. In addition, scribes were trained to learn hieroglyphs and hieratic script as part of their education, so prior ability to read or compose hieroglyphs was not a requirement.

C. CORRECT. As described in paragraph 2, hieratic script was more efficient and economical than hieroglyphs. Because this script was used for “everyday purposes,” it was the more practical of the scripts as hieroglyphs were reserved for “formal inscriptions.”

D. Incorrect. In paragraph 6, the author indicates that “any half-competent scribe” could become employed in making and updating lists. While the paragraph later indicates that scribes would need to study several more years to be employed in a wider range of professions, there is no indication that employment as a scribe would be unavailable to a boy who studied for only a few years.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks which statement the author of “Scribe Like an Egyptian” would most strongly agree with. The four statements deal with family careers, knowledge of hieroglyphs, Egypt’s two scripts and the length of training, so students must test each one against the article and separate what the author says from what merely sounds likely.

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
At grade 7 Inferring which statement an author would accept is typical grade 7 work. The four statements draw on different parts of a dense article, and some sound sensible without being backed by it, so each must be checked carefully.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 12, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 68 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 right statement is a comparison the author never makes in so many words, while the statement about hieroglyphs sounds like something any author on scribes would accept. The question rewards asking which statement the excerpt itself backs most firmly, and paragraph 2’s contrast between everyday and formal writing does that directly. The two statements about boys rest on assumptions, sons following relatives and short training leaving boys jobless, that the excerpt never makes and partly contradicts.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    The four statements cover four topics, family careers, hieroglyphs, the two scripts and length of training, so each has to be traced to its own paragraph before they can be compared. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The author never ranks the scripts; “more practical” has to be drawn from paragraph 2, where hieratic is for “everyday purposes” and quicker to write, while hieroglyphs go on “formal inscriptions.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: For each statement, find the paragraph that deals with its topic and decide whether the author says it, implies it or never addresses it; keep the one with the firmest support.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks which statement the author would most strongly agree with. The author may not say it in the same words, but the excerpt must clearly back it. The four choices cover four topics, so find the paragraph for each one.

  2. Find what the author says about the scripts

    Paragraph 1 says many scribes used the simpler hieratic script for everyday papers. Paragraph 2 says hieroglyphs went on “formal inscriptions,” such as tomb and temple walls. Hieratic was used for “everyday purposes.” It was faster to write and took less space. Formal means used for special, serious occasions.

  3. Work out what that means

    Practical means useful for real, everyday needs. The author shows hieratic doing the daily work, such as letters, reports and contracts. Hieroglyphs were kept for special uses. So the author would agree that hieratic was more practical than hieroglyphs. The author never uses the words “more practical,” but the facts point there.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The excerpt never says boys were pushed into a relative’s job.
    • B does not fit. Boys learned the signs at school, starting at six or seven. The excerpt never says knowing hieroglyphs beforehand helped. Paragraph 1 even says not all scribes understood them.
    • C fits. Hieratic was quicker, smaller and used for everyday work.
    • D does not fit. Paragraph 6 says “any half-competent scribe” could keep lists. Half-competent means only partly skilled. The lowest scribes studied only five or six years and still worked.

    Watch out: B sounds like something any author would accept. But the excerpt does not back it.

  5. Choose the answer

    The excerpt shows hieratic doing the everyday work, faster and in less space. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. Knowing hieroglyphs sounds helpful for a future scribe. But boys learned their signs at school, and paragraph 1 says not all scribes understood hieroglyphs at all. C rests on paragraph 2, where hieratic is quicker to write and used for “everyday purposes.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 15 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 15.

Question 78 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 16
Passage Excerpt from Winter Wheat

Excerpt from Winter Wheat

by Mildred Walker

Ellen, the narrator, is preparing to leave her parents and the family farm for college the next day.

I love Dad’s way of talking that makes him seem different from other ranchers. He’s lived here twenty-three years, but he still says “back East where I come from.” He’s the one who gets excited when I do about spring coming or a serial running in the magazine we’re both reading, but it’s what Mom says that I depend on. When Mom used to say “Don’t worry” about my pet chicken or dog or new calf, it always got well. Dad is always talking of going some place, not now, but next year, maybe. Mom seems to think of nothing farther away than today or perhaps yesterday or tomorrow morning.

Mom folded the ironing board and put it inside their bedroom that was just off the kitchen. She carried in the freshly ironed clothes. Dad went back to his paper. When Mom came back she took beans from the cupboard to soak for tomorrow. Dad always said Mom could make all the dishes he’d had back in Vermont as well as though she were a New Englander herself, instead of a Russian. All of a sudden, I realized that tomorrow when those beans would be ready to eat I’d be going away. It gave me a funny feeling.

“I’ll be taking the train tomorrow night,” I said aloud, more to hear it myself.

“We can drive you into town in the afternoon,” Dad said, dropping his paper on the floor.

“There’s no need to go to town; she can catch the train at Gotham just as well. We haven’t nothing to take us into town for,” Mom said.

“Well, we don’t have to decide tonight,” Dad said, but I knew he wanted to go into Clark City. It wouldn’t be so flat as just seeing me go off on the train from Gotham. My going away was hard on both of them; they were so different—and I was part of them both. It made me uncomfortable to think of leaving them.

While I was getting ready for bed in my room that’s off the front room, I saw how it would be if I left from town. We’d go in right after dinner and go around to the stores, Dad going one way and Mom and I another. Dad would probably have his hair cut at the barbershop and stop in the bank and meet someone he knew to talk to. Then we’d meet at the big store on the corner and go to the cafeteria for supper. The train stops ten minutes or so at the station in town and there are other people and excitement and you have time to wave from the platform and then again from your window by your seat. We went to the station in Clark City to see the Goodals off when they went back to Iowa.

If I left from Gotham, we’d just drive down in the truck and wait till the train came. It only stops long enough for you to get on and you hardly have time to taste the flavor of going away.

I sat on the bed in my pyjamas with my arms around my knees. I couldn’t keep from thinking of that time Dad went back East. I tried to, and then I just sat still and looked straight at it. Sometimes that’s better than working so hard to keep from looking at what’s in your mind.

Dad went all the way back to Vermont. . . . It was in November and it was already dark when the train came through Gotham. Even now, I could feel how cold and dark it was. I held Mom’s hand. Dad was so dressed-up he seemed strange. . . . We stood there without saying anything until Dad told Mom to remember to call Mr. Bardich, our neighbor, if the cow didn’t calve tomorrow.

“I’ll manage,” Mom snapped back.

“I wish you could go, Anna,” Dad said to Mom, “and we could take Ellen.” . . .

“Good-by, Anna Petrovna,” he said, looking at Mom. I had never heard him call her by two names before.

“Good-by,” Mom said, standing still, without smiling.

Then he was gone and the crossroads were darker than ever. The train light shone on the high window in the top of the grain elevator for a moment and then that too was dark. We got into our old Ford and Mom drove back to the house. My throat ached all the way. The name Dad had called Mom kept saying itself in my ears: “Anna Petrovna, Anna Petrovna.” . . .

Our house seemed lonely when we came back to it. It seemed to be hiding under the coulee. I went with Mom to put the truck in the barn that was bigger than the house. I think Mom was prouder of our barn than the house, anyway. We walked back to look at the cow that was going to calve. She was just a big light blob in the dark, waiting. I had thought she was exciting this morning, but now she seemed sad, too.

The wind blew when we walked across the open space to the house and I couldn’t help shivering with the cold. Inside the house it was warm, but empty.

“Bring your nightgown in here and I heat you some milk,” Mom said.

I drank the milk sitting on a stool in front of the stove. It tasted good, but the lonely ache in my throat was still there. I picked up my clothes and hung them neatly behind the stove and put my cup on the sink board. Mom was fixing oatmeal for tomorrow morning.

“Good night, Mom,” I said almost timidly, standing beside her. She seemed wrapped around in a kind of strangeness. Then she turned around and drew me to her. The front of her dress was warm from the stove. I felt the comfortable heat through my gown. She laid her hand against my face and it felt rough and hard but firm. I dared ask her something I wanted to know.

“Mom, was that really your name—what Dad called you?”

Her voice sounded surprised. “Why, Yeléna, you know that; Anna Petrovna. You know I am born in Russia, in Seletskoe.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know your other name,” I said.

“Anna Petrovna Webb.” She pronounced it slowly. “Once I think what a funny name Ben Webb is!” She laughed. Her laugh was warm and low like our kitchen, and comfortable. The house seemed natural and right again. . . .

But now that I am grown, I feel the wall of strangeness between them, more than when I was a child. I wondered how they would get along without me.

From WINTER WHEAT by Mildred Walker, published by University of Nebraska Press. Copyright © 1944 by Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc. Copyright renewed 1971 by Mildred Walker. All rights reserved.

serial: story published in short segments at regular intervals
coulee: small gulch or ravine

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt supports the idea that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking, and which sentence supports the idea that Ellen and her father share similar interests?

Move the correct answer to each box.

Supports the idea that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking

Supports the idea that Ellen and her father share similar interests

On the test you drag tiles into the boxes; here, choose each box’s tile from its menu. Each tile can be used once. The DOE has not published how answers with several parts are scored; this site counts one right only when every part is right.

Show the answer

Correct answer: blank 1: “Well, we don’t have to decide tonight,” Dad said, but I knew he wanted to go into Clark City.” (paragraph 6); blank 2: “He’s the one who gets excited when I do about spring coming or a serial running in the magazine we’re both reading” (paragraph 1)

The question asks for the identification of one sentence that supports the idea that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking, and one sentence that supports the idea that Ellen and her father share similar interests.

A. Incorrect. (“I love Dad’s way of talking that makes him seem different from other ranchers.” [paragraph 1]) This sentence from paragraph 1 presents a unique quality that Ellen loves about her father, but it does not provide evidence for the idea that Ellen and her father share similar interests or that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking.

B. CORRECT. (“He’s the one who gets excited when I do about spring coming or a serial running in the magazine we’re both reading” [paragraph 1]) This sentence from paragraph 1 shows that Ellen and her father both get excited about the coming of spring and share an enthusiasm for reading magazine serials (stories published in serial installments). Thus, it provides clear evidence for the idea that Ellen and her father share similar interests.

C. CORRECT. (“ ‘Well, we don’t have to decide tonight,’ Dad said, but I knew he wanted to go into Clark City.” [paragraph 6]) This sentence from paragraph 6 provides evidence that Ellen and her father share the same unspoken wish to go to Clark City rather than for Ellen to catch the train at Gotham, as suggested in paragraph 5 by Ellen’s mother. This quotation reveals that Ellen understands the true preference that her father is not expressing aloud, thereby providing evidence for the idea that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking.

D. Incorrect. (“We’d go in right after dinner and go around to the stores, Dad going one way and Mom and I another.” [paragraph 7]) Although this sentence from paragraph 7 indicates that Ellen can predict how her father would behave in a particular scenario, it does not show that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking, nor does it provide evidence for the idea that Ellen and her father share similar interests.

Question analysis

This evidence question on an excerpt from Mildred Walker’s 1944 novel Winter Wheat asks for one quotation showing that Ellen understands what her father is really thinking and another showing that the two share interests. On the test students drag two of four sentence tiles into labeled boxes, so each quotation’s exact wording decides where it belongs, if anywhere.

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 Matching quotations to ideas about a character is grade 7 evidence work, and the novel’s language is plain. Placing two of four tiles, with credit only when both are right, adds a step, and every tile mentions Ellen’s father.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 61 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A repeated word 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 box has a tile that matches it closely, so the question is less about finding evidence than about not being drawn by the near misses. Ellen’s detailed picture of the town trip in paragraph 7 shows she knows her father’s habits, which can pass for knowing his mind, and the tiles about shared excitement and a shared wish can each seem to fit the other box. Because credit needs both placements, one doubtful tile costs the whole question.

  1. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

    Two boxes must both be right, and all four tiles mention Dad, so each tile has to be held against two different ideas before the two that fit neither can be set aside. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The first box turns on the gap between what Dad says and what Ellen knows: “Dad said, but I knew he wanted” marks a wish he does not speak aloud. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Treat the boxes as two separate evidence questions: restate each idea in your own words, then test all four tiles against it before placing one, since two tiles fit neither box.

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

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option D says the sentence does not “provide evidence for the idea that that Ellen and her father share similar interests,” with “that” printed twice. The site prints it once.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question has two boxes, and each needs a different idea. Box 1: Ellen knows what Dad is really thinking, even when he doesn’t say it. Box 2: Ellen and Dad like the same things. On the test you drag a tile into each box. On this site you pick each box’s tile from a menu. Two tiles are left over.

  2. Find a hidden thought for box 1

    In paragraph 5, Mom says Ellen can catch the train at Gotham, the nearby stop. Then paragraph 6 says “ ‘Well, we don’t have to decide tonight,’ Dad said, but I knew he wanted to go into Clark City.” Dad’s words put off the choice. But Ellen knows his real wish, the trip into town. The word “but” marks the gap between what he says and what she knows.

  3. Find a shared interest for box 2

    Paragraph 1 says Dad is “the one who gets excited when I do about spring coming or a serial running in the magazine we’re both reading.” A serial is a story printed in parts, one part in each issue of a magazine. Ellen and Dad look forward to spring together, and they read the same story. Those are shared interests.

  4. Rule out the other two tiles

    • “I love Dad’s way of talking that makes him seem different from other ranchers.” (paragraph 1) This is Ellen’s feeling about how Dad talks. It is not a hidden thought, and it is not an interest they share.
    • “We’d go in right after dinner and go around to the stores, Dad going one way and Mom and I another.” (paragraph 7) Ellen pictures how a trip to town would go. Knowing Dad’s habits is not knowing his unspoken wish. And here they split up.

    Watch out: Don’t swap the two right tiles. Dad shows his excitement openly, so it is not a hidden thought.

  5. Fill in both boxes

    • Box 1, Ellen understands what her father is really thinking: “Well, we don’t have to decide tonight,” Dad said, but I knew he wanted to go into Clark City.” (paragraph 6)
    • Box 2, Ellen and her father share similar interests: “He’s the one who gets excited when I do about spring coming or a serial running in the magazine we’re both reading” (paragraph 1)

    Both boxes must be right to get the point.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

The town-trip tile is the closest wrong choice for box 1. In paragraph 7, Ellen can picture just what Dad would do in town. But that shows she knows his habits. In paragraph 6, Dad says one thing, and Ellen knows he wants another. That is knowing what he is really thinking.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 16 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 16. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the testThe passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 1 of 7.The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 2 of 7.The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 3 of 7.The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 4 of 7.The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 5 of 7.The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 6 of 7.The passage “Excerpt from Winter Wheat” as shown on the DOE’s digital test, screen 7 of 7.

Question 79 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 17

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

Read these sentences from paragraph 2.

Dad always said Mom could make all the dishes he’d had back in Vermont as well as though she were a New Englander herself, instead of a Russian. All of a sudden, I realized that tomorrow when those beans would be ready to eat I’d be going away. It gave me a funny feeling.

The sentences help develop a theme of the excerpt by

  • Asuggesting that life presents people with many challenges.
  • Bimplying that the stress of major life events can cause confusion.
  • Cdemonstrating that moving on from the familiar is a common human experience.
  • Demphasizing the idea that people can easily learn the routines of being part of a new culture.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the sentences in paragraph 2 help develop a theme of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Although the sentences from paragraph 2 describe Ellen’s “funny feeling” upon realizing that she will no longer be home when the beans that her mother is making are ready to eat, the details do not show that life presents many challenges. Additionally, the theme that life presents people with many challenges is not a theme found in the excerpt.

B. Incorrect. The sentences from paragraph 2 state that Ellen has “a funny feeling” while awaiting a major life event, but they do not indicate that she is confused or stressed. The details in the sentences convey a sense of wistfulness, but the theme that the stress of major life events causes confusion is not found in the excerpt.

C. CORRECT. The sentences from paragraph 2 show that Ellen’s mother has moved on from the familiar and left her childhood home behind, just as Ellen is about to do. This information links the experiences of parent and child and helps develop the theme that moving beyond the familiar is a common human experience.

D. Incorrect. Although the sentences from paragraph 2 show that Ellen’s mother has learned to cook New England food very well (“as though she were a New Englander herself”), they do not provide information about how easy or difficult it was for Ellen’s mother to learn a new way of cooking. The theme that people can easily learn the routines of a new culture is not a theme found in the excerpt.

Question analysis

This theme question quotes three sentences from paragraph 2 of the Winter Wheat excerpt, about Mom’s cooking and Ellen’s sudden realization that she is leaving, and asks how they help develop a theme. Students must connect a small kitchen moment to an idea that runs through the whole excerpt, choosing among theme statements that range from narrow to very general.

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 Explaining how details develop a theme is a grade 7 standard. These sentences never state the idea, so students must infer it from a remark about Mom’s cooking and Ellen’s passing feeling, then link it to the whole excerpt, more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 117 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 sentences seem to be about cooking and a passing mood, and the link to a theme hides in where the parents come from. Students who miss that Dad and Mom both left homes far away read the passage as being about Mom’s skill or Ellen’s nerves, and pick a theme built on one of those. The vague choice about life’s challenges catches students who sense that leaving is hard but cannot pin the theme to these details.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The theme is never stated: students must notice that “back in Vermont” and “instead of a Russian” mean both parents left their first homes, just as Ellen realizes she will be “going away.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    A theme of the excerpt must hold beyond paragraph 2, so the choice has to be checked against Dad’s trip back East in the flashback and Mom’s Russian name in paragraph 22. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. How, not what minor Working it out

    The stem asks how the sentences develop a theme, so a remark about cooking has to be read for what it reveals about the parents’ pasts, not for its subject. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Note what each quoted sentence tells you about the person in it, then pick the theme that these details and the rest of the excerpt both support.

Traps

  • 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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how three sentences from paragraph 2 help build a theme. A theme is a big idea about life that a story keeps showing. Look at what each sentence tells you about the people in it, not just at its subject, cooking.

  2. Read the sentence about Mom and Dad

    The first sentence says “Dad always said Mom could make all the dishes he’d had back in Vermont as well as though she were a New Englander herself, instead of a Russian.” Vermont is a state far to the east, in New England. Dad grew up there. Mom came from Russia. So both parents left the places where they grew up.

  3. Read the sentences about Ellen

    The next sentences say “All of a sudden, I realized that tomorrow when those beans would be ready to eat I’d be going away. It gave me a funny feeling.” The beans are soaking for tomorrow’s meal. Ellen sees that she won’t be home to eat them. She is about to leave her own home, just as her parents once left theirs.

  4. Find the theme

    Put the two parts together. Dad left Vermont, Mom left Russia, and now Ellen is leaving the farm. Each of them moves on from a familiar place. So the sentences show that leaving what you know is something many people go through. Ellen’s “funny feeling” is wistful, a quiet sadness, like missing home before you go.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It is so broad it could fit almost any story. These sentences show leaving home, not many challenges.
    • B does not fit. Ellen’s feeling is quiet and wistful. Nothing shows her stressed or confused.
    • C fits. Parents and daughter all move on from a familiar home.
    • D does not fit. Dad praises Mom’s cooking, but the sentence never says learning it was easy.

  6. Choose the answer

    The sentences link Ellen’s leaving to her parents’ own leaving long ago. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because a “funny feeling” before a big change could sound like stress. But Ellen is not mixed up or panicked. She simply realizes she will be gone tomorrow. The sentences tie that moment to her parents’ moves from Vermont and Russia. That shared experience of leaving is C.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 17 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 17.

Question 80 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 18

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 3.

“I’ll be taking the train tomorrow night,” I said aloud, more to hear it myself.

This remark contributes to the conflict in the excerpt by

  • Arevealing Dad’s reasons for wanting to drive to the city.
  • Bcausing tension between Mom and Dad.
  • Cleading Ellen to distance herself from both Mom and Dad.
  • Dshowing Mom’s reluctance to plan that far in advance.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the sentence from paragraph 3 contributes to the conflict in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Although Ellen’s father does want to drive to the city, this sentence does not reveal his reasons for wanting to do so. Ellen’s father’s wish to drive to the city is important to the conflict of the excerpt not because of his underlying reasons but because his wish differs from Ellen’s mother’s wish to take Ellen to the train at Gotham—a difference of opinion that introduces tension between the parents.

B. CORRECT. The sentence causes Ellen’s parents to propose competing options for taking her to the train, and the resulting conversation recalls fraught memories of an earlier leave-taking in the family. The disagreement between Ellen’s mother and father over where to take Ellen to catch the train heightens the tension between them. Because the primary conflict of the excerpt is Ellen’s anxiety about the effect her leaving will have on the relationship between her parents, this remark contributes to the conflict by bringing her parents’ disagreement into view.

C. Incorrect. Although Ellen will put physical distance between herself and her parents on the following day, the remark she makes does not lead her to emotionally distance herself from her parents. Moreover, the emotional distance between Ellen and her parents is not the primary source of conflict in the excerpt.

D. Incorrect. While paragraph 1 states that Ellen’s mother “seems to think of nothing farther away than today or perhaps yesterday or tomorrow morning,” the sentence in paragraph 3 does not show any reluctance to plan far in advance. Moreover, planning for the future is not a source of conflict in the excerpt.

Question analysis

This plot question quotes Ellen’s remark in paragraph 3 of the Winter Wheat excerpt, said aloud mostly so she can hear it herself, and asks how it contributes to the excerpt’s conflict. Students must first work out what the conflict is, since the story has no fight or villain, and then follow what the remark leads to.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Analyzing how a line of dialogue drives a plot matches the grade 8 wording of the standard. The remark is short and plain, though, and what it sets off plays out in the next few paragraphs, which keeps the demand typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 5, 65 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 remark itself is plain, and neither parent raises a voice in reply, so the tension it causes is easy to miss. Students who do not see that the excerpt’s real problem is Ellen’s worry about her parents look for a more visible effect, such as Dad’s wish to drive her or Mom’s habit of thinking no farther than tomorrow. The question rewards reading the remark together with the quiet exchange it starts in paragraphs 4 to 6.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The excerpt never names its conflict; students must infer from paragraph 6 and the closing paragraph that Ellen worries about her very different parents getting along once she leaves. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The remark’s effect unfolds over the next three paragraphs: Dad offers to drive into town, Mom says the Gotham train will do, and Dad puts off the decision. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. How, not what minor Working it out

    The question asks what the remark does for the plot, not what it says; a plain statement of travel plans matters only for the disagreement it sets off. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Name the excerpt’s central problem in your own words first, then reread the remark with the paragraphs right after it and pick the choice that shows how the remark feeds that problem.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how Ellen’s remark adds to the conflict, the main problem in the story. The remark itself is plain. It just says when she will leave. So look at what happens right after she says it.

  2. Name the story’s conflict

    In paragraph 6, Ellen says her going away was hard on both parents. They were very different, and she was part of them both. In paragraph 25, she says she feels a distance between them. She wonders how they will get along without her. So the conflict is Ellen’s worry about her two very different parents once she is gone.

  3. See what the remark sets off

    Right after Ellen speaks, her parents disagree. In paragraph 4, Dad offers to drive her into town. In paragraph 5, Mom says there is no need, because Ellen can catch the train at Gotham. In paragraph 6, Dad puts off the choice, though Ellen knows he wants to go to town. Neither parent shouts, but they want different things.

  4. Connect the remark to the conflict

    Ellen’s simple remark brings her parents’ differences into the open. Their quiet disagreement shows the tension between them. Tension is a tight, uneasy feeling between people. That tension is just what worries Ellen about leaving. So the remark feeds the conflict by causing tension between Mom and Dad.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Dad offers to drive, but no one explains why he wants to.
    • B fits. The remark leads straight to the parents’ disagreement.
    • C does not fit. Ellen doesn’t pull away from her parents. She worries about them.
    • D does not fit. Paragraph 1 says Mom doesn’t think far ahead. But here Mom answers at once with a plan of her own.

    Watch out: D borrows a detail from paragraph 1. The remark itself shows nothing of the kind.

  6. Choose the answer

    The remark starts a quiet disagreement about how Ellen will leave. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice, because the remark does lead to Dad’s offer to drive. But Dad never gives his reasons. What matters is that Mom wants something else. Their different wishes show the tension between them, and that tension is what Ellen worries about. That is B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 18 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 18.

Question 81 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 19

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 9.

I tried to, and then I just sat still and looked straight at it.

How does the phrase “looked straight at it” contribute to the meaning of the excerpt?

  • AIt shows that Ellen is willing to deal with a problem directly instead of ignoring it.
  • BIt suggests that Ellen studies all parts of an issue and not just its surface.
  • CIt illustrates that Ellen examines both sides of an argument.
  • DIt implies that Ellen is eager to seek wisdom from past experiences.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the phrase “looked straight at it” in paragraph 9 contributes to the meaning of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. The phrase shows Ellen deciding to directly confront the memory even though she initially wanted to ignore it (“I couldn’t keep from thinking of that time Dad went back East. I tried to” [paragraph 9]). Though the memory is emotionally fraught for Ellen, the phrase “looked straight at it” shows that she is willing to face problems—such as a painful family memory—head-on.

B. Incorrect. The phrase in paragraph 9 does not show Ellen studying all parts of an issue but rather forcing herself to focus on something she would have preferred not to think about.

C. Incorrect. In looking “straight at” the memory, Ellen is not considering both sides of an argument. Instead, she is making herself think about an uncomfortable memory that she had been trying to avoid revisiting. The phrase indicates that she is finally willing to directly confront an unsettling recollection.

D. Incorrect. Given the detail in paragraph 9 that Ellen initially attempted to keep from thinking about her father’s trip to Vermont, the phrase “looked straight at it” indicates a willingness, but not an eagerness, to seek wisdom from reflecting on past experiences.

Question analysis

This word-meaning question quotes a sentence from paragraph 9 of the Winter Wheat excerpt, where Ellen sits on her bed the night before she leaves home, and asks how the phrase “looked straight at it” contributes to the excerpt’s meaning. Students must work out what “it” refers to and read the phrase figuratively, using the sentences around it.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Interpreting a figurative phrase in context is routine grade 7 work. The phrase is short and quoted with its sentence, but its meaning depends on the sentence before it, so students cannot judge it from the quotation alone.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 87 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 “it” is traced to the memory of Dad’s leaving, the phrase reads naturally as facing something hard, and the sentence that follows it in paragraph 9 says as much. The wrong choices make the act more intellectual than it is, studying every part or weighing two sides, or make Ellen eager when she has just tried not to think about it. Students who read the phrase only by itself are likeliest to slip.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    Nothing is literally looked at: “it” is a memory, so “looked straight at it” means facing the painful thought of Dad’s trip back East instead of pushing it away. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    What “it” refers to, and what “I tried to” leaves out, both sit in the sentence before, “I couldn’t keep from thinking of that time Dad went back East.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread the sentence before the quoted one to find what “it” is, picture what looking straight at that would mean, and test each choice against the whole of paragraph 9.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what the phrase “looked straight at it” adds to the meaning of the excerpt. First you need to know what “it” is. Then picture what looking straight at that thing would mean.

  2. Find what “it” means

    Paragraph 9 says “I couldn’t keep from thinking of that time Dad went back East. I tried to.” So “it” is a memory of the night Dad left on a trip. “I tried to” means Ellen tried not to think about it. The memory is painful, so she tried to push it away.

  3. Picture the phrase

    Ellen can’t look at a memory with her eyes. So “looked straight at it” is a figure of speech, words that mean more than they literally say. It means she stopped running from the memory and faced it. The next sentence in paragraph 9 agrees. It says facing a thought is sometimes better than working hard to avoid it.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Ellen faces a hard memory instead of ignoring it.
    • B does not fit. She is not studying every part of an issue. She is making herself think about one painful memory.
    • C does not fit. No one is arguing, so there are no two sides to weigh.
    • D does not fit. Ellen first tried hard not to think about the memory, so she isn’t eager.

    Watch out: D is half right, since Ellen does turn to the past. But eager means wanting to do something, and at first she didn’t want to.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrase shows Ellen choosing to face a painful memory head-on. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice, because Ellen does think about a past experience. But paragraph 9 says she first tried to keep from thinking about it. Only then did she sit still and face it. She is willing, not eager. That makes A the better fit: she deals with the problem directly.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 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 19.

Question 82 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

The words “cold” and “dark” affect the tone in paragraph 10 by

  • Ahighlighting the feeling of unpredictability among the family members.
  • Bshowing the feelings of anger and resentment Ellen directs toward her parents.
  • Cexaggerating the feeling of regret Dad experiences when leaving his family.
  • Demphasizing the feelings of separation and loss that Ellen feels.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the words “cold” and “dark” affect the tone in paragraph 10.

A. Incorrect. The mood of paragraph 10 is primarily one of sadness as Ellen says goodbye to her father at the train station. The words “cold” and “dark” do not convey unpredictability but rather emphasize Ellen’s feeling of loss over the departure of her father.

B. Incorrect. Although the father’s departure causes tension with his wife (“ ‘I’ll manage,’ Mom snapped back” [paragraph 11]), Ellen does not display anger or resentment toward her parents.

C. Incorrect. Although Ellen’s father states that he wishes his family could come with him on the trip to Vermont (“ ‘I wish you could go, Anna,’ Dad said to Mom, ‘and we could take Ellen’ ” [paragraph 12]), the words “cold” and “dark” describe Ellen’s perspective on her father’s departure. They create a tone of sadness from Ellen at being left behind rather than a tone of regret from her father because he has to leave.

D. CORRECT. In paragraph 10, Ellen states, “I could feel how cold and dark it was.” The words “cold” and “dark” highlight her emotional response to the departure of her father, emphasizing the almost physical sense of grief she feels at being separated from someone so precious to her.

Question analysis

This tone question asks how the words “cold” and “dark” affect the tone of paragraph 10 of the Winter Wheat excerpt, where Ellen remembers waiting for the train one November night as her father set off for Vermont. Students must decide what the two words add beyond describing the night itself.

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 Explaining how word choice shapes tone is regular grade 7 work. The two words are named in the question and sit in one short paragraph, so the main step is seeing that they carry feeling as well as describing a November night.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 53 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 words are named in the stem and appear together in a single sentence of paragraph 10, so the main step is seeing that they describe a feeling as well as the weather. The wrong choices shift the feeling to someone else or swap it for another, borrowing Mom’s sharp reply and Dad’s wish from the paragraphs just after. Students who keep their attention on Ellen waiting for the train in paragraph 10 have little trouble.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    “Cold” and “dark” describe a November night, yet the grown narrator says she “could feel how cold and dark it was,” so the weather words carry her sense of loss as Dad leaves. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Paragraph 10 never names a feeling; the sadness comes from details such as Ellen holding Mom’s hand and Dad seeming strange in his good clothes. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread paragraph 10 and ask what Ellen is going through at that moment, then choose the option that names the feeling the two words strengthen and the person who has it.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how two words, “cold” and “dark,” affect the tone of paragraph 10. Tone is the feeling the writing gives off. Ask whose feeling it is and what that feeling is.

  2. Find the words in paragraph 10

    Paragraph 10 begins Ellen’s memory of the night Dad left for Vermont. It was November, and dark when the train came. Ellen says that even now, years later, “I could feel how cold and dark it was.” She held Mom’s hand. Dad looked strange in his good clothes. They stood there without talking.

  3. Work out the feeling

    Cold and dark describe a November night. But Ellen can still feel them years later, so the words carry her feelings too. Cold and dark are lonely, sad words. Her father is leaving, and she feels cut off from him. The words stress her sense of separation and loss.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Nothing is uncertain. Dad’s trip is planned, and the words make the scene sad, not unpredictable.
    • B does not fit. Ellen holds Mom’s hand. She blames no one, so there is no anger.
    • C does not fit. Dad says in paragraph 12 that he wishes they could come. But the cold and dark are what Ellen feels, not Dad.
    • D fits. The words deepen Ellen’s sadness at being separated from her father.

    Watch out: C borrows Dad’s wish from a later paragraph and gives him the feeling.

  5. Choose the answer

    “Cold” and “dark” show how lonely and sad Ellen felt as her father left. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because Dad does wish his family could come with him. But that wish is in paragraph 12. In paragraph 10, Ellen says “I could feel how cold and dark it was.” The feeling belongs to her. The words stress her sense of being separated from her father, which is D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 20 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 20.

Question 83 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 21

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

Read these sentences from the excerpt.

Mom seems to think of nothing farther away than today or perhaps yesterday or tomorrow morning. (paragraph 1)

Mom was fixing oatmeal for tomorrow morning. (paragraph 19)

The sentences help develop a central idea of the excerpt by

  • Asuggesting that practical people focus on current needs rather than worrying about the future.
  • Bshowing that parents tend to consider the needs of their children before thinking of themselves.
  • Crevealing that it is sometimes important to plan ahead.
  • Dillustrating that dreaming about the future is a waste of time.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the sentences from paragraph 1 and paragraph 19 help develop a central idea of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. The sentences illustrate a practical aspect of Ellen’s mother’s personality and show that she is concerned with an immediate task that needs to be completed. The details in these sentences help develop the central idea that practical people focus on current needs—such as preparing food for the following day—rather than worrying about the future.

B. Incorrect. These sentences do not show Ellen’s mother focusing on her daughter’s needs before her own, and the idea that parents consider their own needs only after considering those of their children is not a central idea of the excerpt.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence from paragraph 19 shows Ellen’s mother planning a few hours ahead by preparing the next morning’s breakfast, the idea that it is sometimes important to plan ahead is not a central idea of the excerpt, nor is it supported by the sentence from paragraph 1.

D. Incorrect. The details in the sentences do not show that it is a waste of time to dream about the future. The sentences highlight the tendency of Ellen’s mother to focus her attention on the practical necessities of the moment, but the idea that dreaming about the future is a waste of time is not a central idea of the excerpt.

Question analysis

This central-idea question quotes two sentences about Ellen’s mother from paragraphs 1 and 19 of the Winter Wheat excerpt, far apart in the story, and asks how they help develop a central idea. Students must see what the two sentences have in common and decide which general statement about people they actually support.

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 Connecting repeated details about a character to a central idea is typical grade 7 work. Both sentences are short and plain, but they sit eighteen paragraphs apart, and the choices are broad statements that must be checked for overreach.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 91 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Read alone, the oatmeal sentence looks like a lesson in getting ready for tomorrow, which is why the planning choice tempts. Paired with paragraph 1’s description of Mom, though, it shows a mind fixed on the next practical task, the opposite of thinking far ahead. The other wrong choices go past the sentences, into parents’ sacrifices or a verdict on daydreaming, and students who keep both sentences in view can set them aside.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Neither sentence states an idea; students must see what they share, Mom’s attention stopping at today and tomorrow morning, and then decide what general statement that habit supports. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The sentences come from paragraphs 1 and 19, and paragraph 1 sets Mom’s present-minded talk against Dad’s plans for next year, a contrast that frames the idea. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Three choices speak of the future, planning or dreaming, so each must be tested against both sentences, not just the oatmeal for tomorrow morning. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Say in your own words what both sentences show about how Mom thinks and acts, then choose the statement that follows from that without going further than the sentences do.

Traps

  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • 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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how two sentences about Mom help build a central idea, a main idea the story develops. Find what the two sentences have in common. Then pick the idea that follows from both, without going further.

  2. Read the first sentence

    Paragraph 1 says “Mom seems to think of nothing farther away than today or perhaps yesterday or tomorrow morning.” Just before this, Ellen says Dad is always talking about going places next year. So Mom is different. Her mind stays on the here and now.

  3. Read the second sentence

    Paragraph 19 says “Mom was fixing oatmeal for tomorrow morning.” This is the night Dad left on his trip, and Ellen is sad. But Mom does the next useful job, making breakfast. Again her mind goes no farther than tomorrow morning.

  4. Find the shared idea

    Both sentences show Mom as practical. Practical means focused on real, useful tasks. She deals with what needs doing now and next, not with far-off plans or dreams. So the sentences develop the idea that practical people focus on current needs instead of worrying about the future.

  5. Check each choice

    • A fits. Both sentences show Mom focused on today’s needs.
    • B does not fit. Neither sentence weighs Mom’s needs against Ellen’s.
    • C does not fit. Oatmeal for the next morning is a small step, not planning ahead. Paragraph 1 says Mom doesn’t think far ahead at all.
    • D does not fit. The story never says dreaming is a waste of time. It doesn’t judge Dad’s talk of travel.

    Watch out: Read alone, the oatmeal sentence looks like planning ahead. Read it together with paragraph 1.

  6. Choose the answer

    Both sentences show Mom paying attention to what is needed now, not to the far future. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because making oatmeal for tomorrow does look like planning. But paragraph 1 says Mom thinks no farther ahead than tomorrow morning. The oatmeal is just the next job, not a long-range plan. Together the sentences show a practical mind fixed on present needs, which is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 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 21.

Question 84 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 23

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt provides evidence that Mom wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage?

  • A“Mom folded the ironing board and put it inside their bedroom that was just off the kitchen.” (paragraph 2)
  • B“ ‘There’s no need to go to town; she can catch the train at Gotham just as well.’ ” (paragraph 5)
  • C“We’d go in right after dinner and go around to the stores, Dad going one way and Mom and I another.” (paragraph 7)
  • D“ ‘Why, Yeléna, you know that; Anna Petrovna.’ ” (paragraph 22)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt provides evidence that Mom wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage.

A. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 2 describes a domestic moment that takes place within the family home, it does not relate to the heritage of either parent and therefore does not provide evidence that her mother wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage.

B. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 5 provides the name of the train station closest to Ellen’s family’s farm, the train stop at Gotham is not related to the family’s heritage. Therefore, this sentence does not provide clear evidence that her mother wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage.

C. Incorrect. Although this sentence from paragraph 7 describes an aspect of the family dynamic (Ellen predicts that while browsing in stores in town, “Dad [would go] one way and Mom and I another”), their shopping habits do not provide clear evidence that her mother wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage.

D. CORRECT. In this sentence from paragraph 22, Ellen’s mother addresses her by the Russian version of her name (Yeléna) and repeats her own Russian name (Anna Petrovna). The choice to call her daughter Yeléna instead of Ellen follows immediately after Ellen asks, “Mom, was that really your name—what Dad called you?” (paragraph 21), and the mother’s surprised response provides evidence that she both wants and expects Ellen to understand the family’s Russian heritage.

Question analysis

This evidence question asks which quoted sentence from the Winter Wheat excerpt shows that Mom wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage. The four sentences, from paragraphs 2, 5, 7 and 22, all involve Mom, so students must reread each one in its paragraph to see what it really shows about her.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Finding the sentence that supports a stated idea is everyday grade 7 work. The quotations are short and plainly worded and the idea is concrete, so one careful rereading of each in context is enough, a lighter task than usual.
Estimated difficulty
Routine: one familiar step, little to misread.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 83 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 one of the four sentences touches the family’s origins at all, so a student who knows what heritage means can rule out the others at a glance. The small risk lies with students who match “Mom wants” to any line where Mom states a preference, or who do not recognize the Russian names, since the quotation stops before Mom mentions Russia.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The quoted line never mentions heritage; students must see that Mom calling Ellen “Yeléna” and repeating “Anna Petrovna,” as things Ellen should already know, shows her wish to pass on their Russian roots. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The names’ Russian origin is clearest outside the quotation, in the rest of paragraph 22, where Mom names her birthplace, and in paragraph 2’s “instead of a Russian.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Define heritage in your own words, then reread each quoted sentence in its paragraph and ask whether it shows Mom handing something about the family on to Ellen.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks which sentence shows that Mom wants Ellen to understand the family’s heritage. Heritage is the history and traditions a family passes down, such as where it came from. Look for a sentence where Mom shares something about the family’s roots.

  2. Look at the conversation

    At the train, Dad called Mom Anna Petrovna, a name Ellen had never heard him use. In paragraph 21, Ellen asks, “Mom, was that really your name—what Dad called you?” In paragraph 22, Mom answers, “Why, Yeléna, you know that; Anna Petrovna.” Then she reminds Ellen that she was born in Russia.

  3. Work out what Mom’s answer shows

    Mom calls her daughter Yeléna, the Russian form of Ellen. She repeats her own Russian name. She also says “you know that,” as if Ellen should already know. Mom is surprised that Ellen doesn’t. That shows Mom wants and expects Ellen to know where the family comes from.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Folding the ironing board is housework. It says nothing about the family’s past.
    • B does not fit. Mom does want something here, the train at Gotham. But that is about travel, not heritage.
    • C does not fit. Shopping in town shows family habits, not family roots.
    • D fits. Mom uses Russian names and expects Ellen to know them.

    Watch out: B tempts because it shows what Mom wants. But the question asks what she wants Ellen to understand about the family.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence has Mom passing on the family’s Russian roots. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because Mom states a wish in it: Ellen can catch the train at Gotham. But that wish is about the trip, not the family’s past. In D, Mom uses the Russian names Yeléna and Anna Petrovna. She is surprised that Ellen doesn’t know them. That shows she wants Ellen to understand her heritage.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 23 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 23.

Question 85 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 24

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

What is Ellen’s primary mood at key points in the excerpt?

Move the correct answer to each box in the table.

Paragraphs Ellen’s Primary Mood
1–2
7–8
9–10

On the test you drag tiles into the boxes; here, choose each box’s tile from its menu. Each tile can be used once. The DOE has not published how answers with several parts are scored; this site counts one right only when every part is right.

Show the answer

Correct answer: blank 1: Affectionate; blank 2: Wishful; blank 3: Worried

The question asks for identification of Ellen’s primary mood in key points in the excerpt—paragraphs 1–2, paragraphs 7–8, and paragraphs 9–10.

B. Affectionate: CORRECT. Ellen’s primary mood in paragraphs 1–2 is affectionate. She states in the first sentence of paragraph 1 that she loves her father’s way of talking and then describes with affection her mother’s reassuring certainty and her father’s appreciation of her mother’s cooking.

E. Wishful: CORRECT. Ellen’s primary mood in paragraphs 7–8 is wishful as she pictures the two departure scenarios available to her. She expresses in detail her longing for the “other people and excitement” at the train station in town, along with her wish to have plenty of “time to wave from the platform and then again from your window by your seat,” and her dislike of the idea of leaving from Gotham, where the train “only stops long enough for you to get on and you hardly have time to taste the flavor of going away.”

C. Worried: CORRECT. Ellen’s primary mood in paragraphs 9–10 is worried. Her worry is suggested by the description of her posture in the first sentence of paragraph 9 (“I sat . . . with my arms around my knees”). In the next sentence, she reveals that she “couldn’t keep from thinking,” or worrying, about her concern that her departure will be as tense as the time her father left for a trip to Vermont.

A. Calm: Incorrect. Ellen’s mood is not primarily calm in any of the paragraphs in the table. In paragraphs 1–2, her reflections might seem to focus on calm times, but any mood of calm is shattered by her sudden realization that she’d “be going away” the next day. Similarly, although paragraph 7 describes what might be a calm or routine day of shopping in town, she is imagining the scene in great detail as a way of making a difficult decision about where she would prefer to catch the train. Finally, in paragraphs 9–10, Ellen is far from calm as she forces herself to look “straight at” an upsetting childhood memory of seeing her father off on a long train trip.

D. Jealous: Incorrect. Ellen’s mood is not primarily jealous in any of the paragraphs in the table. In paragraphs 1–2, she admires and enjoys the positive atmosphere created by her father’s praise of her mother, rather than expressing jealousy. The contrast in paragraphs 7–8 between her narration of the two possible departure plans might seem to suggest that Ellen is jealous of the family whom she and her parents once watched depart from the town, but instead, her narration reflects Ellen’s wishful desire to recreate that pleasurable town visit as part of her own departure. In paragraphs 9–10, her flashback memory is focused on the stiffness of her parents’ behavior and includes no indications that she feels jealousy of either parent.

Question analysis

This question on the Winter Wheat excerpt asks students to identify Ellen’s primary mood at three points in the story: paragraphs 1–2, 7–8 and 9–10. On the test students drag mood words from five tiles into a table, and each stretch of the story mixes more than one feeling, so they must judge which feeling dominates each one.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Tracking how a narrator’s feelings change across a story is grade 7 work, and the writing is plain. Placing three tiles with all-or-nothing credit, where each stretch holds mixed feelings, raises the demand only somewhat.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 24 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The punctuation of an ellipsis in a quotation 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 stretch of the story holds more than one feeling, so the word “primary” does the work. The quiet evening of paragraphs 1–2 and Ellen sitting still in paragraph 9 both invite Calm, though the first is full of her fondness for her parents and the second shows her forcing herself to face a painful memory. With three placements that must all be right, a student who settles for the setting’s mood in either row loses the question.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    No mood is named: affection must be read from “I love Dad’s way of talking,” wishfulness from Ellen picturing waving from the platform, and worry from her arms around her knees. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

    Three rows, five tiles that cannot be reused, and credit only when all three are right: each stretch must be judged on its own while the two leftover moods are kept out. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Reread each stretch of paragraphs by itself and name Ellen’s main feeling in your own words before looking at the tiles, then place the closest tile; two tiles will be left over.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of “Worried” quotes the first sentence of paragraph 9 as “I sat. . . with my arms around my knees,” with the first dot set against “sat,” as if a sentence ended there. The words are left out from the middle of the sentence, so the site spaces the ellipsis as the DOE’s explanations do elsewhere: “I sat . . . with my arms around my knees.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This table asks for Ellen’s primary mood, her main feeling, in three parts of the story. Each part may hold more than one feeling, so pick the strongest. On the test you drag a tile into each box. On this site you pick from a menu in each row. Each tile is used once, so two are left over.

  2. Read paragraphs 1–2

    Ellen begins by saying she loves the way Dad talks. She likes that he gets excited about the same things she does. She admires how sure Mom is that things will turn out well. She tells how Dad praises Mom’s cooking. These details are warm and loving. Affectionate means showing love and fondness. So the mood is Affectionate.

  3. Read paragraphs 7–8

    Ellen pictures leaving from Clark City. The family would shop and eat supper in town. At the station there would be “other people and excitement.” She would have “time to wave from the platform and then again from your window by your seat.” At Gotham, the train “only stops long enough for you to get on.” She longs for the big send-off. So the mood is Wishful.

  4. Read paragraphs 9–10

    Paragraph 9 begins “I sat . . . with my arms around my knees.” People often curl up like that when they feel uneasy. Ellen “couldn’t keep from thinking” of the night Dad left on a trip. That parting was sad and tense. She fears her own leaving may be like it. So the mood is Worried.

  5. Rule out the two extra tiles

    • Calm does not fit any row. In paragraph 9, Ellen sits still. But she is bracing herself to face a painful memory, not resting. And the quiet evening of paragraphs 1–2 is full of warm feeling for her parents.
    • Jealous does not fit any row. Ellen remembers seeing another family off at the town station. She wants a send-off like theirs, but she doesn’t resent them.

    Watch out: Sitting still is not the same as feeling calm.

  6. Fill in the table

    • Paragraphs 1–2: Affectionate
    • Paragraphs 7–8: Wishful
    • Paragraphs 9–10: Worried

    All three rows must be right to get the point.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

Calm is the closest wrong tile, for paragraphs 9–10. Ellen sits still, and that can look calm. But she has just tried and failed to stop thinking about Dad’s leaving. Her arms are wrapped around her knees. She is facing a memory that upsets her, so Worried fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 24 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 24. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 86 of 120

2025 Practice Test B English, question 44
Passage Letter from Brooklyn

Letter from Brooklyn

by Jacob Scheier

I can already see how this will end.
How I will grow tired of the bridge’s
steep incline, and the absent-minded tourists
wandering into the bicycle path.
The weather will turn cold.
But that all happens later.
For now it is the early edge of fall,
leaves green still while the air narrows,
is slightly crisp, almost grazing
the hair of my arm like a passing stranger,
as though the air has been forced into intimacy
by the brevity of daylight.
But when it starts darkening at 4,
this closeness, I know, will be a felt distance,
like someone drawing your attention
to their lack of intimacy.
These days I am still walking at a cathedral pace
beneath the branches bending across avenues,
brownstones like rows of lived-in chapels,
like a pop-up picture book I could have had as a child,
but didn’t. How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic
for the moment I am walking inside of.
These late afternoons filled
with a loneliness that makes me feel
distinctly myself, and an awareness
of how rare that is.

“Letter from Brooklyn” from LETTER FROM BROOKLYN: POEMS by Jacob Scheier, published by ECW Press. Copyright © 2013 by Jacob Scheier All rights reserved.

brevity: briefness
cathedral: meditative
chapels: private places of prayer or worship
nostalgic: yearning for the past

Question

The details in lines 9–12 convey a central idea of the poem by

  • Ashowing that the cool weather makes the speaker reflect more deeply on life.
  • Bsuggesting that the speaker feels uncomfortable with what the coming weather signifies.
  • Cimplying that the sensations the speaker experiences during the fall season are fleeting.
  • Dsuggesting that the thought of fall approaching increases the loneliness the speaker feels.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how lines 9–12 convey a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. Although the speaker discusses the very beginning of cool weather in these lines, the speaker does not reflect on life in these lines.

B. Incorrect. Although the description in these lines likens the movement of crisp air to “a passing stranger,” that comparison does not have a negative connotation in this context; it does not suggest that the speaker is uncomfortable. Rather, it is used to describe the subtle physical sensation of cool air on the speaker’s arm.

C. CORRECT. By using a description of the crisp air as “a passing stranger” and the daylight as being brief, these lines express the poem’s central idea that the joy of early fall is temporary or fleeting.

D. Incorrect. Although the speaker acknowledges the coming fall in these lines, there is no mention of loneliness. The speaker reveals a loneliness in lines 23–26 but gives no hint of that feeling in lines 9–12. Further, this loneliness is not a central idea of the poem.

Question analysis

This central-idea question on Jacob Scheier’s poem “Letter from Brooklyn” asks how lines 9–12, where the crisp early-fall air grazes the speaker’s arm, convey a central idea of the poem. Students must interpret a simile and a personification packed into four short lines and connect what they suggest to the poem as a whole, while each choice names a different feeling or idea.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students explain how particular lines develop a central idea. These four lines make their point only through a simile and a personification about air and daylight, and linking them to the whole poem takes more interpretation than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 217 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 four lines describe a sensation, cool air almost grazing an arm, and the central idea sits in two small words, “passing” and “brevity.” The strongest pull hears the stranger and the air “forced into intimacy” as unwelcome, borrowing the unease the poem saves for the darkening of lines 13–16. Other choices bring in moods from elsewhere, the meditative walk and the loneliness of the last lines, so students must judge only what lines 9–12 themselves suggest.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    The lines never say the moment is short: the air almost grazes the speaker’s arm “like a passing stranger” and is “forced into intimacy / by the brevity of daylight,” so “passing” and “brevity” carry the idea. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must tie the brief touch and the short days to a central idea the poem never states, that early fall is slipping away, framed by “For now” in line 7 and “But when it starts darkening” in line 13. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right choice says “fleeting” where the lines say “passing” and “brevity,” while a wrong choice borrows the poem’s own word “loneliness” from line 24, which makes it look supported. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Paraphrase lines 9–12 in plain words, checking the glossary for unfamiliar words, then decide what the comparison suggests about the speaker’s experience and test each choice against these four lines.

Traps

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how lines 9–12 help build a central idea. A central idea is a main point the poem keeps coming back to. First work out what the four lines say. Then see how they connect to the rest of the poem. Test each choice against these four lines.

  2. Read lines 9–12

    The sentence is about the air, named in line 8. Lines 9–12 say it “is slightly crisp, almost grazing / the hair of my arm like a passing stranger, / as though the air has been forced into intimacy / by the brevity of daylight.” Crisp means cool and fresh. Grazing here means lightly touching. Intimacy means closeness. The glossary says brevity means “briefness.”

  3. Work out the comparisons

    “Like a passing stranger” is a simile, a comparison that uses like or as. A stranger who passes you on the street is there for a moment, then gone. So the cool air touches the speaker lightly and briefly. The next lines treat the air like a person pushed into closeness by the short daylight. Giving human feelings to something that isn’t human is called personification. Both “passing” and “brevity” point to the same thing: this feeling won’t last.

  4. Connect the lines to the poem

    The rest of the poem agrees. Line 7 begins “For now it is the early edge of fall.” Lines 13–14 look ahead: “But when it starts darkening at 4,” this closeness “will be a felt distance.” Lines 21–22 say Brooklyn makes the speaker “nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of.” So a central idea is that this early-fall moment is precious and passes quickly. Fleeting means lasting only a short time.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. These lines describe a touch on the skin, not thoughts about life.
    • B does not fit. The touch is light, and the speaker enjoys the closeness now. The worry comes later, in lines 13–16.
    • C fits. “Passing” and “brevity” show that the feelings of early fall won’t last.
    • D does not fit. Lines 9–12 never mention loneliness, which comes in line 24. And line 7 says fall has already begun.

    Watch out: B is tempting because “stranger” and “forced into intimacy” can sound unpleasant. But the stranger only passes by, and the touch is light.

  6. Choose the answer

    The brief touch and the short daylight show that this early-fall moment slips away fast. Sensations are feelings you get through your senses, like touch. So the answer is C, “implying that the sensations the speaker experiences during the fall season are fleeting.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because “forced” and “stranger” can sound unpleasant. But line 14 calls this feeling “this closeness,” and losing it is what will feel bad. So the closeness is welcome now. What lines 9–12 stress is how brief it is, which is C.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 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 44.
The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed (page 50)The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.

Question 87 of 120

2025 Practice Test B English, question 48

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

The poet develops the speaker’s point of view by

  • Aproviding details about the speaker’s longing to be in a different place.
  • Bshowing the speaker’s sense of unease about the passing seasons.
  • Cincluding details about the speaker’s hope that life will remain unchanged.
  • Dshowing the speaker’s desire to treasure and appreciate the changes taking place.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the poet develops the speaker’s point of view.

A. Incorrect. The speaker concedes that at some point, Brooklyn will become tiresome (lines 2–4). However, the bulk of the poem reveals the speaker’s appreciation for experiencing Brooklyn, not a desire to be in some other place.

B. Incorrect. Cold weather is inevitable, and the speaker is well aware of this future shift as well as the change in attitude it will bring. Nevertheless, the speaker does not focus on this future but rather embraces the current season, describing it in vivid detail.

C. Incorrect. The speaker is not hopeful that life will remain unchanged. Rather, the speaker accepts and appreciates the seasonal changes that occur.

D. CORRECT. The speaker’s point of view is largely positive and appreciative of the shift in seasons. This point of view is developed by language that shows a close connection between the speaker and the setting. For example, the speaker uses words such as “intimacy” (line 11) and “closeness” (line 14) and the description of the “pop-up picture book” (line 20). Finally, the conclusion emphasizes the point of view: “These late afternoons filled / with a loneliness that makes me feel / distinctly myself, and an awareness / of how rare that is” (lines 23–26).

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how the poet develops the speaker’s point of view in “Letter from Brooklyn,” in which the speaker walks through the city at the start of fall knowing that colder, darker days lie ahead. The speaker’s thoughts move between the present and the future, so students must weigh the whole poem, and each choice names a different attitude.

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 Typical grade 7 point-of-view questions focus on one passage or stanza. This one asks for the speaker’s attitude across a whole poem of shifting moods, and several choices rest on real lines, so judging the overall view takes more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 54 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 poem opens by predicting its own end and returns to the coming dark in lines 13–16, so a reader who weighs those lines heavily finds unease, and the speaker does feel some. But the speaker turns back to the present each time, with “But that all happens later” and “These days I am still walking,” and the closing lines call the moment rare. The point of view is a wish to savor what is passing, and only a choice that fits the whole poem, not its most anxious lines, matches it.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The point of view has to hold from line 1 to line 26 while the poem swings between the future, tiring of the bridge and darkening at 4, and the present walk under the branches. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    No line names the speaker’s attitude; it has to be drawn from “For now,” the walk “at a cathedral pace,” the nostalgia “for the moment I am walking inside of” and “how rare that is.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Three wrong choices rest on real lines, tiring of the bridge’s “steep incline,” the “felt distance” of line 14 and the nostalgia of lines 21–22, so each must be weighed against the whole poem. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Sum up in one sentence how the speaker feels about the present walk and about the season ahead, then pick the choice that holds true from the first line to the last.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about point of view: how the speaker, the voice talking in the poem, feels about what is happening. The question is about the whole poem, not a few lines. So follow the speaker’s feelings from line 1 to line 26. The right choice must fit all of it.

  2. Follow the speaker’s thoughts

    The poem moves back and forth in time. Lines 1–5 look ahead: “I can already see how this will end.” The speaker will tire of the bridge, and “The weather will turn cold.” Line 6 turns back: “But that all happens later.” Lines 7–12 describe the cool air of early fall. Lines 13–16 look ahead again, to days that get dark at 4 o’clock. Line 17 returns to now: “These days I am still walking at a cathedral pace.”

  3. See how the speaker treats now

    The glossary says cathedral means “meditative,” or calm and thoughtful. The speaker walks slowly to take everything in. Brownstones look “like a pop-up picture book.” Lines 21–22 say “How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of.” Nostalgic means “yearning for the past.” Yet the speaker longs for right now. In the last lines, even the loneliness of late afternoon is welcome. It makes the speaker feel “distinctly myself,” and aware “of how rare that is.”

  4. Put the point of view in words

    The speaker knows this season will end. That is why each moment matters. The speaker notices the first signs of fall, like the crisp air, and savors them. To treasure something is to value it highly. So the speaker wants to treasure and appreciate the changes happening now.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Lines 2–4 say the speaker will tire of the bridge someday. But the speaker enjoys Brooklyn now and never wishes to be elsewhere.
    • B does not fit. Lines 13–16 show some unease about the dark days ahead. But each time, the speaker turns back to the present.
    • C does not fit. The speaker knows from line 1 that this will end, and treasures the moment because it will pass.
    • D fits. The speaker savors the early-fall walk while it lasts.

    Watch out: B rests on real lines: the closeness the speaker feels now “will be a felt distance” (line 14). But that is one part of the poem, not the whole view.

  6. Choose the answer

    The speaker knows the season will change and holds on to each moment of it. So the answer is D, “showing the speaker’s desire to treasure and appreciate the changes taking place.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because lines 13–16 do show unease. But each time the poem looks ahead, the speaker turns back to now: “But that all happens later” and “These days I am still walking.” The poem ends by calling the moment rare. The main feeling is a wish to treasure the present, which is D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 48 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 48.

Question 88 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 8
Passage The Free College Debate

The Free College Debate

(1) A college degree has become an essential tool in an increasingly competitive job market. (2) Yet the price of higher education, at both private and public universities, continues to rise. (3) Helping students cover the cost of attending college is an important issue.

(4) Many people agree that a college education should be a financially realistic option for those who aspire to obtain a degree. (5) For example, in 2017, the New York State legislature passed a bill creating a program to cover the tuition costs for nearly one million students. (6) The state of Tennessee also has a program that offers all students scholarships and mentoring services if they attend one of the state’s community colleges. (7) Proponents generally believe that these programs are a step in the right direction for making college affordable for students who would have had to take out loans or who would have decided not to pursue higher education at all.

(8) On the other hand, some people oppose bills like the ones in New York and Tennessee because they believe “free” college programs are unsustainable. (9) In order to implement these types of programs, a state pays the college on behalf of the students using funds from the state’s budget, which primarily comes from state taxes. (10) As more students choose to attend college, more funds will be needed to cover the costs. (11) Additionally, many students do not finish college within four years because they switch majors or because they have to work. (12) Critics believe that these circumstances will inevitably lead to an increase in taxes, a decline in the quality of the education offered by the schools, or both. (13) They think narrower college-affordability efforts that target the students who need the most support, such as first-generation college students, may be more effective and viable solutions.

(14) Faculty and students at higher-education institutions can work to keep costs down. (15) In light of increased access to computers, mobile devices, and the Internet, there are more opportunities for students to take courses online, thus reducing the need for and cost of maintaining physical classrooms. (16) Additionally, colleges should account for experience by allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge in order to avoid having to pay to sit through classes on subjects they have already mastered. (17) Similarly, college-bound high school students need to be prepared for college-level work so that they do not have to spend money on remedial classes.

(18) The solutions to the problems associated with rising college costs are not simple. (19) Passing legislation that boosts college affordability will take time, input from experts with different ideas, and careful planning.

Question

Which phrase should be added before sentence 14 to best transition to the ideas in the fourth paragraph (sentences 14–17)?

  • ABecause college affordability is a complicated issue,
  • BWith so many opinions about how to make college affordable,
  • CUntil college becomes more affordable,
  • DAlthough some college affordability programs have been successful,
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks which phrase should be added before sentence 14 to best transition to the ideas in the fourth paragraph (sentences 14–17).

A. Incorrect. Sentence 13 summarizes the viewpoint of opponents, who believe that targeted approaches to funding education “may be more effective and viable solutions,” and sentence 14 serves to introduce how “faculty and students at higher-education institutions can work to keep costs down.” Affordability is “a complicated issue,” but the use of the word “Because” suggests that the ideas that follow in sentences 14–17 will explain a cause-and-effect relationship. However, sentences 14–17 discuss ways faculty and students should work together to keep the cost of college down while waiting for a long-term solution to the problem, not a causal relationship.

B. Incorrect. Sentences 4–13 provide information about the viewpoint of proponents, who believe that “a college education should be a financially realistic option for those who aspire to obtain a degree” (sentence 4), and opponents, who believe free college programs are “unsustainable” (sentence 8). Although the phrase in this option mentions “opinions,” it indicates that the fourth paragraph will discuss why the number of opinions makes affordability a debatable issue. Instead, the fourth paragraph discusses ways faculty and students can help keep costs down until a solution is reached.

C. CORRECT. Sentence 13 summarizes the viewpoint of opponents, who believe that targeted approaches to funding education “may be more effective and viable solutions,” while proponents “generally believe that these [government] programs are a step in the right direction for making college affordable” (sentence 7). However, sentences 14–17 offer three possible solutions that could alleviate the problem in the meantime. Therefore, the phrase in this option should be added before sentence 14 to best transition to the ideas in the fourth paragraph because it suggests that until the issue of affordability is resolved, alternatives are available to help make a college education more affordable.

D. Incorrect. This phrase mentions “college affordability,” a topic discussed in the fourth paragraph. However, the ideas introduced in the phrase do not logically lead into the ideas discussed in sentences 14–17, because the phrase mentions “programs [that] have been successful,” whereas the paragraph states that “faculty and students at higher-education institutions can work to keep costs down” (sentence 14) and that colleges “should account for experience by allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge in order to avoid having to pay to sit through classes on subjects they have already mastered” (sentence 16). Use of the words “can” and “should” in these sentences indicates that the actions or programs mentioned in the paragraph have not been completed.

Question analysis

This revising question asks which introductory phrase should begin the fourth paragraph of a passage on college affordability, linking the debate over state tuition programs to the cost-saving ideas that follow. All four phrases sound natural, so students must work out the relationship between the paragraphs and choose the phrase that signals it accurately.

NYS standards
  • 7W2d transitions in informative writing
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 transition work usually links two sentences with a word such as however. Here the choices are whole phrases that set up an entire paragraph, and judging them needs a grasp of the full argument, which asks more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 12, 427 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 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

Every phrase sounds like a reasonable bridge, and the right one can even seem odd at first, since cutting costs is itself a way to make college affordable. The key is seeing paragraph 4 as what campuses can do while the debate over state programs goes on, a reading the passage confirms only at its end. Students who link back to the many opinions, or accept a causal “Because,” have found real ideas from the passage but not the relationship between these two paragraphs.

  1. How sentences fit together major Working it out

    The phrase must link paragraph 3's case against state programs to paragraph 4's steps that “can work to keep costs down,” steps that make sense only as help in the meantime. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Nothing says paragraph 4's ideas are stopgaps; that has to be inferred from sentences 18 and 19, which say the solutions “are not simple” and “will take time.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four phrases are grammatical and about affordability, so each must be read into sentence 14 and judged by the relationship its first word signals. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Sum up paragraphs 3 and 4 in a few words each, decide how the second relates to the first, then test the relationship each phrase's opening word signals.

Traps

  • Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need a phrase to start sentence 14. It should work as a transition: a word or phrase that shows how two ideas connect. Words like “because,” “although” and “until” each show a different link. So first work out how paragraph 4 connects to what came before.

  2. Compare paragraphs 3 and 4

    Paragraph 3 ends with the critics’ view of state programs. People still disagree, so there is no fix everyone accepts yet. Paragraph 4 then says “Faculty and students at higher-education institutions can work to keep costs down.” Faculty means teachers. The paragraph lists ways to do it: online classes, skipping classes you’ve mastered, and getting ready in high school.

  3. Use the ending as a clue

    Sentences 18 and 19 say the solutions “are not simple” and “will take time.” So a big fix is still far off. That makes paragraph 4’s ideas things to do in the meantime, while people wait. The phrase “Until college becomes more affordable” says exactly that.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. “Because” shows a cause. The issue being complicated is not the reason teachers can cut costs.
    • B is wrong. It makes the many opinions the reason for the steps. The passage never links them that way.
    • C is right. “Until” shows these are steps to take while waiting for a bigger fix.
    • D is wrong. The passage never says any program has been successful.

    Watch out: B looks back at the many opinions, which really are in the passage. But it doesn’t show how paragraph 4 relates to paragraph 3.

  5. Choose the answer

    Sentence 14 would read: Until college becomes more affordable, faculty and students at higher-education institutions can work to keep costs down. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because the passage does share many opinions. But “With so many opinions” makes the opinions sound like the reason for the cost-cutting steps. They are not. C shows the steps are help for now, while the bigger problem waits to be solved.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 8 as printed on page 40 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 40, question 8. Open page 40 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 “The Free College Debate” as printed (page 38)The passage “The Free College Debate” as printed on page 38 of the DOE handbook.

Question 89 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 10
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

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

In paragraph 1, the phrases “cool morning breezes swept freely” and “wafting the perfume of sweet grasses” affect the tone of the excerpt by suggesting

  • Athe sadness that the author feels reflecting upon her former way of life.
  • Bthe enthusiasm with which the author approached her work indoors.
  • Cthe fond feelings that the author has toward her childhood experiences.
  • Dthe mix of emotions that the author feels toward her work and her mother.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the phrases “cool morning breezes swept freely” and “wafting the perfume of sweet grasses” affect the tone of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Although the author describes in paragraph 1 the setting of her childhood experiences, the positive wording of the phrases the author uses in the paragraph (“swept freely” and “perfume of sweet grasses”) does not suggest a tone of sadness the author feels when she reflects on her former way of life.

B. Incorrect. Although the phrases “cool morning breezes swept freely” and “wafting the perfume of sweet grasses” used in paragraph 1 create a positive tone, the phrases do not suggest an enthusiasm for the author’s work but rather suggest an appreciation of the peaceful beauty of her childhood.

C. CORRECT. In paragraph 1, the phrases “cool morning breezes swept freely” and “wafting the perfume of sweet grasses” are used to describe where the author’s childhood experiences took place. The phrases create a tone of fondness and evoke a feeling of happiness through their lyrical sensory detail: “swept freely” suggests a sense of joyful possibility, while “perfume,” “sweet,” and “cool” convey delight.

D. Incorrect. Although the author describes her mother’s beadwork lessons as “confining” in paragraph 7, the phrases in paragraph 1 do not suggest that the author feels conflicting or mixed emotions toward her work and her mother. Instead, the phrases convey a positive tone by affectionately describing the author’s childhood home.

Question analysis

This reading question asks how two sensory phrases about cool morning breezes and the scent of sweet grasses shape the tone of Zitkala-Sa's 1900 memoir of life on a Sioux reservation. Students must read the feeling behind descriptive language and decide what that feeling is directed at, since the choices pair different emotions with different subjects.

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 Judging how sensory words shape tone is grade 7 reading work. Both phrases are quoted in the question, so little searching is needed, but the 1900 prose keeps the demand at a typical grade 7 level.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 946 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 72 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A misstatement of the question 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 phrases are so clearly pleasant that the real decision is what the pleasant feeling is about. They describe the wigwam on a clear morning, so the warmth belongs to the author's memory of her childhood, not to the beadwork the rest of the excerpt follows. Students who know the excerpt is about lessons tend to attach the mood to the work, and a few read sadness into any memoir.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The tone comes from sensory images, breezes that “swept freely” and “the perfume of sweet grasses,” which describe air and scent and leave the author's feeling to be read from them. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The phrases describe the dwelling, not the author, so her fondness for her childhood has to be inferred from how lovingly she remembers the setting. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Wafting” and “perfume,” used for the smell of grasses from newly burnt prairie, are unusual words that must be understood before the tone they create can be judged. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Decide what feeling the quoted words create on their own, then check what they describe: the right choice must match both the feeling and what it is about.

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

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation begins by saying the question asks how the two phrases “affect the tone of paragraph 1 in the excerpt.” The phrases are in paragraph 1, but the question asks how they affect the tone of the excerpt, and the answer is about the author’s feelings toward her childhood as a whole. The explanation now reads “affect the tone of the excerpt.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about tone. Tone is the feeling or attitude that a writer’s words show. You need the feeling that two phrases from paragraph 1 give the whole excerpt. An excerpt is a part taken from a longer piece.

  2. Find the phrases in paragraph 1

    Paragraph 1 describes a clear morning at home. The mother rolls up the side of the wigwam (a hut made of poles and covers). “Then the cool morning breezes swept freely through our dwelling.” A dwelling is a home. The breezes were “now and then wafting the perfume of sweet grasses.”

  3. Work out the feeling

    “Wafting” means gently carrying through the air. “Perfume” is a sweet smell. Cool air, sweet smells and breezes moving freely are all pleasant. The author is remembering her childhood home with love. That feeling is fondness, a warm liking for something.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Nothing in these words is sad. They are bright and pleasant.
    • B is wrong. The phrases describe air and smells, not her work.
    • C is right. The loving details show warm feelings about her childhood.
    • D is wrong. Mixed feelings, like the “confining” lessons, come later, in paragraph 7. These phrases have nothing negative in them.

    Watch out: B is tempting, since the excerpt is mostly about beadwork lessons. But these two phrases describe the morning, not the work.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrases make her childhood home feel cool, sweet and free. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because the phrases do sound happy. But a choice must match both the feeling and what the feeling is about. These phrases describe breezes and the smell of grass at her home. That shows fond memories of her childhood, not eagerness to work.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 10 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 10. Open page 44 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 “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 90 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 11

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood””.

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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)

  4. 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

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

  1. 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?

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Question 91 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 13

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood””.

Question

The details in paragraph 3 convey a central idea of the excerpt by suggesting that

  • Athe author was interested in the work because she knew her mother was making something for her.
  • Bthe author had difficulty learning through observation but wanted to help her mother.
  • Cthe author was determined to behave according to her mother’s standards and sought her approval.
  • Dthe author had great admiration for her mother’s precision and mastery of her craft.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the details in paragraph 3 convey a central idea of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. In paragraph 2, the author mentions how her mother “worked upon small moccasins for her small daughter” and when she did, the author “became intensely interested in her [mother’s] designing.” However, in paragraph 3, the author is interested in her mother’s work mainly as part of her “lessons in the art of beadwork,” not because she knew her mother was making something for her.

B. Incorrect. In paragraph 3, the author receives “practical observation lessons in the art of beadwork” and describes how “from a skein of finely twisted threads of silvery sinews my mother pulled out a single one” and “pierced the buckskin, and skillfully threaded it with the white sinew.” The author describes the process in such detail that she provides no indication that she had difficulty learning through observation. The author also does not give any indication in the paragraph that she wanted to help her mother; she was there merely to observe and learn.

C. Incorrect. Although the author refers to her beading lessons with her mother as “practical observation lessons in the art of beadwork” and indicates that she sat “close beside” her mother while observing her beadwork, the author provides no indication in the paragraph that she was determined to behave according to her mother’s standards or that she sought her mother’s approval.

D. CORRECT. In paragraph 3, the author describes her mother’s artistry and craftsmanship by using language such as “skillfully threaded,” “picking up the tiny beads one by one,” and “twisting it carefully after every stitch.” These close observations indicate that the author greatly admired her mother’s mastery of her craft and the precision that went into every detail of her work.

Question analysis

This reading question asks how the details in the paragraph where young Zitkala-Sa sits beside her mother, watching her pierce buckskin and string tiny beads, point to a central idea of the excerpt. Several choices name feelings found elsewhere in the memoir, so students must stay with what this one paragraph shows.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Linking a paragraph's details to a central idea is grade 7 reading. The answer rests on one short paragraph, but the student must turn its concrete details about thread and beads into an idea, a typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 946 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 73 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 short and concrete, but the feelings named in the choices come from all over the excerpt, so the danger is answering about the excerpt rather than this paragraph. The girl's interest in moccasins made for her belongs to paragraph 2, her struggles to paragraph 4, and good behavior to paragraph 5. Rereading paragraph 3 alone, and noticing how it describes the mother's hands at work, points to the right idea.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Admiration is never named; it has to be inferred from the words chosen for the mother's work: “skillfully threaded,” beads picked up “one by one,” thread twisted “carefully after every stitch.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right choice says “precision and mastery,” words absent from paragraph 3, while wrong choices echo the excerpt's own “observation” lessons, its “difficulty” with thread, and the moccasins made for the daughter. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Reread paragraph 3 by itself and note what its verbs and describing words emphasize, then match that emphasis to a choice and reject ideas drawn from other paragraphs.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    Look only at paragraph 3. A central idea is an important message of the whole excerpt. You need the idea that the details in paragraph 3 show.

  2. Find the details in paragraph 3

    The girl sits “close beside” her mother and watches. The mother “skillfully threaded it with the white sinew.” Sinew is a strong cord made from an animal’s body. She picks up “the tiny beads one by one.” She keeps “twisting it carefully after every stitch.”

  3. Work out what the details show

    Words like “skillfully” and “carefully” show the mother is an expert. She works with precision, which means being exact. Her mastery, or great skill, shows in every small move. The girl notices each one. You watch someone this closely when you admire them, or think highly of them.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The moccasins made for her come from paragraph 2. Paragraph 3 is about her lessons.
    • B is wrong. Her trouble with thread comes in paragraph 4. Nothing says she wants to help.
    • C is wrong. Good behavior comes up in paragraph 5, not paragraph 3.
    • D is right. The careful details show admiration for her mother’s skill.

    Watch out: A, B and C all use ideas from other paragraphs. Stay inside paragraph 3.

  5. Choose the answer

    Paragraph 3 shows a girl who watches her mother’s expert hands with wonder. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because the girl really was “intensely interested” when her mother made moccasins for her. But that is in paragraph 2. Paragraph 3 calls the watching “the beginning of my practical observation lessons.” Its details praise how skillfully and carefully the mother works. That fits D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 13 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 13. Open page 44 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 92 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 17

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood””.

Question

The idea that mastering moccasin design and creation requires experience is best illustrated in the excerpt through

  • Athe information about the advanced technique of incorporating porcupine quills into a design.
  • Bthe descriptions of the special materials that must be used to make decorated moccasins.
  • Cthe descriptions of the various color combinations that make an attractive moccasin design.
  • Dthe example of the author successfully and independently using a sharpened rod.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the idea that mastering moccasin design and creation requires experience is best illustrated in the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. In paragraph 6, the author states that when she became more familiar with elements of design, “a harder lesson was given me.” According to the author, sewing on porcupine quills is a much more difficult task to master because it requires experience in handling the poisonous porcupine quills, which is why her mother told her not to “do much alone in quills” until she was older (paragraph 6). This information best illustrates the idea that mastering moccasin design and creation requires experience.

B. Incorrect. Although the author provides detailed descriptions of the materials used to make decorated moccasins (“colored beads” [paragraph 2]; “a skein of finely twisted threads of silvery sinews” [paragraph 3]; “tinted porcupine quills, moistened and flattened between the nails of the thumb and forefinger” [paragraph 6]), these descriptions do not illustrate the experience that is needed to gain mastery of moccasin design and creation.

C. Incorrect. Although the author describes the color combinations she used in making moccasins (“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” [paragraph 6]), this information mainly illustrates the author’s satisfaction with her moccasin design, not the importance of experience in mastering the creation and design of moccasins.

D. Incorrect. In paragraph 7, the author tells of using a sharpened rod to dig for roots. She explains that she and her playmates used the rods to “[pry] up certain sweet roots,” which they ate before going off to gather gum from a stalky plant. The detail of the sharpened rod is from a recollection about the playtime that followed the “confining lessons” of moccasin making. However, the sharpened rod was not used to create moccasins.

Question analysis

This reading question asks which part of Zitkala-Sa's account of learning to bead moccasins best illustrates the idea that mastering the craft takes experience. The choices point to materials, color combinations, a technique and outdoor play, so students must find the detail that ties skill to practice rather than one that simply describes the craft.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing the detail that best illustrates an idea is grade 7 evidence work. The idea is stated plainly in the question and each paragraph of the excerpt keeps to one topic, so the demand matches typical grade 7 tasks.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 946 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 69 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • An inaccurate account 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

The idea of experience is spelled out in paragraph 6, where quillwork is a harder lesson given only after some practice and kept from the girl until she is older. The wrong choices describe things the excerpt really contains, materials, colors and a tool, so they look supported until each is asked whether it shows a learner needing practice. Students who put that one question to every choice find this a quick item.

  1. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The stem names no paragraph, so students must find where each choice's detail sits, from the beads and sinew of paragraphs 2 and 3 to the rods of paragraph 7. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The link to experience is implied in paragraph 6: quills come as “a harder lesson” once she is “a little familiar with designing,” and she must wait until she is “as tall as my cousin.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: For each choice, find the part of the excerpt it refers to and ask whether it shows a learner needing practice before doing something, not just what the craft involves.

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

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In rejecting choice D, the handbook says the author used a sharpened rod “to spear gum from trees” and that the children pried up sweet roots “to find the gum.” In paragraph 7 the rods are used to pry up sweet roots, which the children eat; afterwards they stray off to a stalky plant and find drops of gum under its yellow blossoms. Nothing is speared and no trees are mentioned. The explanation now says the rods were used to dig for roots, sweet roots the children ate before going off to gather gum from a stalky plant. The reason for rejecting D, that the rod was not used to make moccasins, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need the part of the excerpt that best shows one idea. The idea is that you need experience to master making moccasins. Experience means practice over time. Look for a learner who must practice before doing something harder.

  2. Find the evidence in paragraph 6

    Paragraph 6 says: “When I became a little familiar with designing and the various pleasing combinations of color, a harder lesson was given me.” The harder lesson was sewing on porcupine quills. Then her mother said “I should not do much alone in quills until I was as tall as my cousin Warca-Ziwin.”

  3. Work out what it means

    Quills are the sharp spines of a porcupine. Their points were “poisonous,” so they were dangerous. The girl got this lesson only after she knew the basics. Even then, she could not do much alone with quills until she was as tall as her cousin. That shows skill grows with experience.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. Quillwork is a harder skill she must earn through practice.
    • B is wrong. The materials show what moccasins are made of, not how skill is gained.
    • C is wrong. The colors show her own taste. Her mother “left me to my own taste.”
    • D is wrong. The rods were for digging up sweet roots during play. They had nothing to do with moccasins.

    Watch out: C comes right before the quills in paragraph 6, so it is easy to pick. But the colors show what she liked, not a skill she had to build up.

  5. Choose the answer

    The quill lesson comes only after practice, and working alone comes only once she has grown. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, since the colors come just before the quill lesson. But the girl was free to pick the colors she liked. That shows her taste, not a need for experience. The quills are called “a harder lesson,” given only once she knew the basics. That fits A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 17 as printed on page 46 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 46, question 17. Open page 46 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 93 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 18

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood””.

Question

The table after paragraph 7 expands on a central idea in the excerpt because it shows that

  • Athe craft the author was learning was a tradition that endured through many generations and changes.
  • Bthe author’s family incorporated traditional materials into their craft as a way of resisting the influence from European traders.
  • Cthe uniqueness of the cultural tradition that the author learned as a child was eventually recognized in Europe.
  • Dthe author was able to incorporate color into her craftwork as a result of trade with other peoples.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the table after paragraph 7 expands on a central idea in the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. The table provides the chronology from the 1500s, when the Dakota created beadwork using “beads made from bones, shells, stones, and animal teeth,” to the 1830s, when the Dakota began “using glass beads,” and the 1900s, when they created items to “sell outside their community.” Thus, the table helps expand on a central idea by showing that the craft the author was learning is a tradition that has endured through many generations.

B. Incorrect. Although the table shows that the Dakota used “beads made from bones, shells, stones, and animal teeth” in the 1500s and that by the 1830s began “using glass beads in clothing, artwork, and decorations in place of Native-made beads,” it does not provide any information about the type of materials used by the author’s family.

C. Incorrect. While the information included in the table states that “European traders [brought] glass beads to North America” in the 1500s and that by the 1920s the Dakota created “items to sell outside their community,” there is no mention of whether the uniqueness of Dakota beadwork was recognized in Europe.

D. Incorrect. The table indicates that by the late 1600s the Dakota began trading with French traders from Europe who brought glass beads to the Americas and that by the 1830s the Dakota were “using glass beads in clothing, artwork, and decorations in place of Native-made beads.” However, the table provides no information about whether this work incorporated color. Therefore, the table does not show that the author was able to incorporate color into her craftwork as a result of trade with other peoples.

Question analysis

This reading question asks how a table titled A Brief History of Beadwork in South Dakota, printed after Zitkala-Sa's excerpt, expands on one of its central ideas. Students must read a short timeline of beads, trade and war and connect it to a girl learning beadwork, while avoiding choices that sound historically likely but go beyond the table.

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 Connecting a table to a text's central idea is grade 7 work. The table is short and plainly worded, and linking a people's history to one girl's lessons is a typical grade 7 step.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 8, 946 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 87 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A date in the explanation was corrected to match the table.
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 table holds plenty of tempting raw material: European traders, glass beads, sales outside the community. Wrong answers build unsupported stories out of it, about resistance, European recognition or the arrival of color, and the last is the hardest to resist because the excerpt is full of colored beads. Students who sum up the table in one phrase, a craft carried on through centuries of change, can check each choice against what the rows actually say.

  1. Reading a figure, table or graph moderate Understanding the question

    The table runs from the 1500s to the 1920s, and its point appears only when the five rows are read as a timeline: new beads, trade, war and expulsion, yet the beadwork goes on. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    Students must join the table's history of the Dakota to one girl's lessons in paragraphs 3–6 and see that the craft she learns belongs to that long line. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Endurance is never stated; it has to be drawn from a beadwork history that spans four centuries, from bone and shell beads to items made for sale, through every change between. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read the table from top to bottom and say in a few words what it shows over time, then pick the choice that fits that pattern and also connects to the excerpt.

Traps

  • 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.
  • 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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In rejecting choice D, the handbook says that “by 1830” the Dakota were using glass beads in clothing, artwork and decorations. The table places that change in the 1830s (“The Dakota begin using glass beads …”), and the handbook’s own reason for rejecting choice B says “by the 1830s.” The explanation now reads “by the 1830s.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    The excerpt ends with a table, a chart of facts in rows. You need to see how the table adds to a central idea of the excerpt. A central idea is an important message.

  2. Read the table as a timeline

    • 1500s: the Dakota make beads from bones, shells, stones and teeth.
    • Late 1600s: they begin trading with the French.
    • 1830s: they use glass beads “in place of Native-made beads.”
    • 1862–1865: a war forces them out of their homelands.
    • 1900s–1920s: they make items to sell outside their community.

  3. Find the pattern

    The beads change. Trade begins. A war drives the people from their land. But through all of it, the beadwork goes on for hundreds of years. The girl in the excerpt is learning this same craft from her mother. So the table shows her craft is a tradition, a custom passed down through many generations.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The craft lasted through many changes over hundreds of years.
    • B is wrong. The table shows the Dakota took up glass beads, not that they resisted traders.
    • C is wrong. No row says Europe ever praised the craft.
    • D is wrong. The table never mentions color.

    Watch out: D is tempting because the excerpt is full of colored beads, and traders brought glass beads. But the link to color is a guess. The table doesn’t say it.

  5. Choose the answer

    The table shows beadwork lasting through centuries of change, just like the craft the girl learns. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Traders did bring glass beads, and the girl’s beads are colorful. But no row of the table says trade gave the Dakota color. Nothing ties it to the author’s own work either. A sums up what the rows actually show: a craft that went on through change.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 18 as printed on page 46 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 46, question 18. Open page 46 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 94 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 19
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.

“At Dusk” from NATIVE GUARD by Natasha Trethewey, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © 2006 by Natasha Trethewey. All rights reserved.

1wheedling: speaking in a flattering manner

Question

Which lines from the poem best support the idea that the neighbor’s efforts to call the cat home directly affect the speaker?

  • A“At first I think she is calling a child, / my neighbor” (lines 1–2)
  • B“the high-pitched wheedling we send out / to animals who know only sound” (lines 5–6)
  • C“I listen as my neighbor’s voice trails off. / She’s given up calling for now” (lines 20–21)
  • D“left me to wonder that I too might lift / my voice, sure of someone out there” (lines 25–26)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the best textual support for the idea that the neighbor’s actions in calling the cat directly affect the speaker of the poem.

A. Incorrect. Lines 1–2 show that the speaker has noticed the neighbor’s calling and guessed the reason for it. The speaker at first believes that the neighbor is “calling a child,” but then the speaker notices a sound associated with the time of day—the “street lamps just starting to hum / the backdrop of evening” (lines 3–4). However, the poem does not describe any direct effects on the speaker’s own opinions or behavior caused by these aspects of the surroundings.

B. Incorrect. The “high-pitched wheedling” sound the speaker mentions in line 5 might be assumed to have an annoying effect. However, the poem includes no indication that the sound has any direct effect on the speaker or that the speaker has any personal reaction to the sound. Instead, in lines 6–7, the speaker concentrates on explaining the reason people make the sound: to communicate with “animals who know only sound, not / the meanings of our words.”

C. Incorrect. In lines 20–21, the speaker actively listens “as my neighbor’s voice trails off,” which could be interpreted as an effect of the neighbor’s call. However, the speaker’s listening soon comes to an end because the neighbor has “given up calling for now,” and the poem does not describe any direct effects on the speaker’s own opinions or behavior caused by listening. Therefore, lines 20–21 do not best support the idea that the neighbor’s actions directly affect the speaker of the poem.

D. CORRECT. In lines 25–26, after observing the neighbor calling the cat, the speaker begins to reflect on the speaker’s own behavior and motivations, wondering if, like the neighbor, the speaker “might lift” the speaker’s voice to call someone who is surely “out there.” The speaker’s description of being left “to wonder” indicates that the speaker’s thoughts are a direct effect of observing the neighbor’s efforts to call the cat.

Question analysis

This reading question asks which lines from Natasha Trethewey's poem At Dusk best support the idea that a neighbor's efforts to call her cat home directly affect the speaker. Every option quotes lines connected to the calling, so students must tell lines that merely describe the scene from lines that show its effect on the person watching.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing lines that support an idea is grade 7 evidence work. The quotations are short and the poem's language is plain, but each must be checked against a specific claim, a typical grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 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

Every quotation shows the speaker noticing the call in some way, so the question is how strong a connection “directly affect” requires. The listening lines are the trap: they stop one line short of “left me,” where the effect begins. Students who ask what the calling makes the speaker think or want find the lines in which the speaker imagines calling out too.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must decide what counts as an effect on the speaker: hearing and listening are reactions, but only lines 25–26 show the calling changing what the speaker thinks or wants. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four quotations involve the speaker and the calling, from “I think” to “we send out” to “I listen,” so each has to be tested for an effect, not just a connection. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: For each quotation, ask what the speaker does, thinks or feels because of the calling; lines that only report a sound or an event show no effect.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need the lines that best show the neighbor’s calling has a direct effect on the speaker. The speaker is the “I” who tells the poem. An effect here is a change in what the speaker thinks, feels or does.

  2. Find where the effect begins

    In line 20 the neighbor’s voice “trails off.” She has given up calling, and that “left me” with new thoughts. First it “left me / to imagine her inside the house waiting” (lines 21–22). Then it “left me to wonder that I too might lift / my voice, sure of someone out there” (lines 25–26).

  3. Work out what the lines mean

    “I too” means the speaker now thinks of doing what the neighbor did. The speaker imagines calling out to someone, the way the neighbor called the cat. Watching her call has changed the speaker’s own thoughts and wishes. That is a direct effect.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Lines 1–2 show only the speaker’s first guess about the sound. Nothing changes for the speaker.
    • B is wrong. Lines 5–6 explain how people in general call animals. They show no reaction from the speaker.
    • C is wrong. Lines 20–21 show the speaker listening as the calling stops. The effect starts after them, with “left me.”
    • D is right. The speaker wonders about lifting “my voice” too.

    Watch out: C is tempting because “I listen” is a reaction. But hearing a sound is not the same as being changed by it.

  5. Choose the answer

    Lines 25–26 show the calling making the speaker want to call out too. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. In it the speaker does listen to the neighbor. But the lines only report her voice fading and the calling ending. The speaker’s own response begins with “left me to wonder,” in line 25. There the speaker thinks of calling someone too. That is the direct effect.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 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 19. Open page 49 of the handbook (PDF)
The passage “At Dusk” as printed (page 48)The passage “At Dusk” as printed on page 48 of the DOE handbook.

Question 95 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 21

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

Question

The details in lines 10–17 about the cat convey a central idea of the poem by

  • Ashowing that returning home after experiencing independence is challenging.
  • Bsuggesting that caring for others means allowing them to grow and to roam freely.
  • Cimplying that expecting to feel at home in the natural world leads to disappointment.
  • Demphasizing the conflicting desires to return to the familiar and to explore the unknown.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the details in lines 10–17 convey a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. In lines 10–17, the speaker says that the cat’s actions—she “turns first / toward the voice, then back”—make the cat seem “as if she can’t decide” whether to return home or to explore “the constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head.” However, while the cat is indecisive, it is not the experience of independence that causes this conflict for the cat but rather the “luminous / possibility . . . flitting before her” (lines 17–19).

B. Incorrect. The neighbor’s calling of the cat indicates that she does allow it to roam outside regularly. However, the details in these lines focus not on whether allowing the cat to roam is an expression of caring but on the cat’s reaction to the neighbor’s calls, “as if she can’t decide” (line 13) whether to return home “into the steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17) or stay and enjoy the “luminous / possibility” (lines 17–18) that the night offers. Furthermore, the neighbor’s “wheedling” (line 5) and the timing of her call, “at dusk” (line 3), introduce the possibility that encouraging others to come home expresses more caring than allowing them to roam freely.

C. Incorrect. Lines 10–17 describe the reactions of the cat, who is exploring the natural world, including a “constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head,” when the neighbor calls to her. The poet describes the cat’s conflict by saying that “It’s as if she can’t decide” whether to stay outdoors or return “into the steady circle / of light” at home with the neighbor. However, the cat’s indecision demonstrates that, rather than being a disappointment, the natural world is as appealing as home.

D. CORRECT. Lines 10–11 describe how the cat “turns first / toward the voice, then back,” indicating that the cat is experiencing a conflict. To the speaker, the cat seems “as if she can’t decide” (line 13) between exploring “the constellation of fireflies” (line 12) outdoors and returning to the familiar “steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17) indoors. This central idea that someone might experience a conflict between exploring and returning to the familiar is suggested again in lines 28–29 when the speaker wonders whether “the sounds I make / are enough to call someone home.”

Question analysis

This reading question asks how the lines describing a cat in another yard, as the neighbor calls from her doorway, convey a central idea of Natasha Trethewey's poem At Dusk. Students must turn a concrete picture of an animal's behavior into a general idea and check each proposed lesson against what the cat actually does in these lines.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Showing how specific lines convey a central idea is grade 7 work. The cat's behavior is concrete and easy to picture, so the step from image to idea is a typical grade 7 poetry task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 66 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

The lines show a cat turning toward the voice and back to the fireflies, then hesitating between the porch light and the night, so the idea is a pull in two directions. The most tempting wrong answer also describes trouble going home but explains it by time spent away, a cause these lines never give. Other choices bring in lessons about caring for pets or about nature letting us down, which the bright images of the night contradict.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The two pulls are images, “the constellation of fireflies flickering” for the unknown and “the steady circle / of light” on the porch for the familiar, and both must be read that way. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must turn one cat's hesitation in a yard into an idea about people, a step these lines leave to the reader until the speaker's own wish at the end of the poem. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Describe in plain words what the cat does in lines 10–17 and why, then choose the general idea that matches that behavior without adding causes the lines never give.

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.
  • 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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In rejecting choice A, the handbook reads “the cat’s actions—she “turns first / toward the voice, then back”—makes the cat seem.” It now reads “make,” to agree with “actions.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    Lines 10–17 are about the cat. A central idea is a main message of the poem. You need the idea that these details about the cat show.

  2. Read what the cat does

    The cat “lifts her ears, turns first / toward the voice, then back / to the constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head” (lines 10–13). Then the speaker says, “It’s as if she can’t decide” (line 13). She could leap “onto the porch, into the steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17). Or she could “stay where she is” (line 17).

  3. Work out what it means

    The porch light is home. It is familiar, something the cat knows well. The fireflies are like a “constellation,” a group of stars. They stand for the unknown night and its wonders. The cat is pulled both ways. Part of her wants home. Part of her wants to stay out and explore.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Going home is hard for the cat. But the reason is the fireflies near her now. The lines never say she got used to being free.
    • B is wrong. These lines are about the cat’s choice. They say nothing about caring for her or letting her roam.
    • C is wrong. Nature is not disappointing here. The fireflies make the outdoors glow.
    • D is right. The cat is torn between the familiar porch and the unknown night.

    Watch out: A sounds close, because the cat really does have trouble going home. But A adds a cause the poem never gives.

  5. Choose the answer

    The cat turns toward home and then back to the fireflies. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. It is right that going home is hard for the cat. But A blames a taste of freedom from time spent away. The poem says nothing about that. It shows two pulls at once: the voice and light of home, and the fireflies close by. D names both desires.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 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 21. Open page 49 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 96 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.”

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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).

Question 97 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 23

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

Question

Read lines 11–13 from the poem.

toward the voice, then back
to the constellation of fireflies flickering
near her head

Which idea from the poem does the imagery in these lines help convey?

  • AThe cat lacks a preference for going in or staying out.
  • BThe cat is eager to see what will happen next.
  • CThe cat wants to understand the unpredictable behavior of the fireflies.
  • DThe cat is fascinated by the natural world and finds the indoors unremarkable.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which idea the imagery in lines 11–13 helps convey.

A. Incorrect. Line 13 includes the speaker’s observation that the cat seems “as if she can’t decide” whether to stay outside or go to the neighbor. However, the imagery of the “constellation of fireflies flickering” in line 12 suggests that the cat does have a preference for exploring the more exciting “luminous / possibility” (lines 17–18) of the outdoors.

B. Incorrect. The imagery in lines 10–11 of the cat turning “first / toward the voice, then back” might seem to suggest that the cat is eagerly watching both the neighbor and the fireflies to see what will happen next. However, line 13, in which the cat seems “as if she can’t decide,” indicates that what will happen next is actually under the cat’s control.

C. Incorrect. The imagery in lines 12–13 of the “fireflies flickering / near her head” does indicate the fireflies’ unpredictable behavior. However, the imagery in lines 10–11 of the cat turning “first / toward the voice, then back” establishes that the cat’s attention is split between the fireflies and the “high-pitched wheedling” (line 5) of the neighbor’s voice, rather than being fully captured by wanting to understand the fireflies.

D. CORRECT. The imagery in line 12 of “the constellation of fireflies flickering” suggests that the outdoors holds fascinating attractions, an idea supported by the description in lines 17–18 of the cat’s current location outdoors as one filled with “luminous / possibility.” The imagery in lines 10–11 of the cat turning “first / toward the voice, then back” indicates that the cat has considered but rejected the option of returning indoors, and the description in lines 16–17 of the indoors as offering only a “steady circle / of light” suggests that the indoors seems unremarkable to the cat in comparison to the outdoors.

Question analysis

This reading question quotes three lines from At Dusk in which a cat turns from a calling voice back to fireflies flickering near her head, and asks which idea the imagery helps convey. Students must interpret a visual image in light of the lines around it and judge how far the poem supports each reading of the cat's attention.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students explain what imagery conveys, but this image is brief and the four ideas offered for it differ in subtle ways, so ruling them out takes closer reading than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 236 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 answer is the best available rather than a perfect one: its first half is plain in the image of the cat turning back to the fireflies, while its second half rests on the comparison with a steady porch light. Meanwhile the very next words say she “can't decide,” which makes indifference look like the safe reading. The question rewards seeing that being torn is not the same as having no preference, since the image shows which way she turns.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The quoted lines never mention the indoors, so the claim that the cat finds it unremarkable has to be drawn from the contrast with “the steady circle / of light” in lines 16–17. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    “The constellation of fireflies flickering” turns insects into a field of stars beside the cat's head, and that image of wonder is what students are asked to interpret. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The words right after the quotation say “It's as if she can't decide,” and the evidence that tips the balance sits in lines 16–19, outside the three lines quoted. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Picture the cat's movements in these three lines, then test each choice against the words of lines 10–19 and drop any idea the image does not actually show.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    Imagery is language that helps you see, hear or feel a scene. You need the idea that the images in lines 11–13 help show.

  2. Picture lines 10–13

    The cat “turns first / toward the voice, then back / to the constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head.” A constellation is a group of stars that forms a picture. So the fireflies are like little stars blinking around her. She hears the call, but she turns back to them.

  3. Compare outdoors and indoors

    Outside, the night sparkles like stars. Lines 17–18 call it “luminous / possibility,” full of glowing chances. Home is “the steady circle / of light” on the porch (lines 16–17). Steady means it does not change. Next to the flickering stars, that light is plain. Unremarkable means not special.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The cat “can’t decide,” but that means she feels two pulls. The image shows her turning back to the fireflies.
    • B is wrong. She is not waiting for something to happen. Her attention is split between two pulls.
    • C is wrong. She is drawn to the fireflies’ glow, not trying to figure out how they act.
    • D is right. She is fascinated by the night, and the porch light is plain next to it.

    Watch out: A is tempting because of line 13. But being torn is not the same as having no preference.

  5. Choose the answer

    The poem never says the cat has made up her mind. But the images make the night magical and home ordinary. That fits D best. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, since the next words say “It’s as if she can’t decide.” But a cat with no preference would not care either way. This cat turns back to the fireflies, which shows a strong pull. D fits that pull, and the plain “steady circle / of light” shows why home seems less special.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 23 as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 50, question 23. Open page 50 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 98 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 24

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

Question

How does the setting affect the events of the poem?

  • AIt enables the speaker to regularly overhear the neighbor calling for her cat at dusk.
  • BIt allows the speaker to observe the neighbor quietly without interacting with her.
  • CIt shows how living in close proximity helps the speaker feel connected to the neighbor.
  • DIt shows how feeling isolated causes the speaker to imagine interactions with the neighbor.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the setting affects the events discussed in the poem.

A. Incorrect. In line 2, the speaker refers to the woman calling for her cat as “my neighbor,” which clearly suggests that the speaker lives next door to the woman. However, although the two live next door to each other, line 1 suggests that perhaps the speaker does not regularly overhear the neighbor because the speaker initially thinks that the neighbor is “calling a child” and only later realizes the neighbor is calling to a cat. Although the setting places the speaker and the neighbor in close proximity, the poem does not indicate the frequency or regularity with which the speaker overhears the neighbor.

B. CORRECT. In the first four lines, the speaker observes the actions of the neighbor as the neighbor leans out to call for the cat at dusk. Despite the speaker’s observation of the neighbor, there is no indication that the neighbor notices the speaker. The reader can conclude that because of the time of day and the speaker being in the house next door, the speaker can observe the neighbor without being observed by her or having to interact with her.

C. Incorrect. The setting of the poem is a neighborhood at nightfall, as indicated by “at dusk” in line 3, the reference to “another yard” in line 9, and the flickering fireflies in line 12. However, while the speaker is close enough to the neighbor to overhear her calling to the cat, there is no indication that the speaker feels connected to the neighbor. Instead, the speaker expresses curiosity about the neighbor after the neighbor goes inside, and the speaker is “left . . . / to imagine her inside the house waiting” (lines 21–22). The fact the speaker initially thought that the neighbor was calling a child indicates that the speaker is not familiar with the neighbor and her habits, and there is no indication that the speaker feels connected to the neighbor.

D. Incorrect. In lines 22–24, the speaker imagines what the neighbor may be doing while the neighbor is waiting inside for the cat to return, but the speaker is imagining the neighbor’s solitary experience after the neighbor has momentarily “given up” on calling to the cat (line 21). The speaker does not imagine personally interacting with the neighbor but rather briefly imagines what the neighbor is doing at home while the cat is away.

Question analysis

This reading question asks how the setting of At Dusk, a neighborhood at nightfall where a woman leans from her doorway to call her cat, affects the events of the poem. Because so little happens, students must infer the setting's role from small details, and several choices sound reasonable without being supported by the poem.

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 students analyze how setting shapes events, usually in a story with a clear plot. This poem has almost no action, so the student must reason from a handful of details about place and time, which is harder than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 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

Little happens in this poem, so the setting's role must be built from small details: a neighbor at her doorway at dusk, a cat in another yard, a speaker who hears and watches but never speaks. The strongest wrong answer is right about overhearing and wrong only in claiming it happens regularly, which the speaker's first mistaken guess argues against. The other choices supply a feeling of closeness or of isolation that the poem never states.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The overhearing choice describes what the setting allows almost as well as the right one and fails on a single word, “regularly,” since the poem records one evening and the speaker first mistakes the call. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The setting's effect is never stated; it has to be inferred from the speaker hearing and watching from nearby while the neighbor, “leaning through her doorway,” never seems to notice anyone. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Picture the scene from the speaker's position, then check each choice word by word against the poem and reject any that claims something the poem never states.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    The setting is where and when a story or poem takes place. You need to see how the setting shapes what happens in the poem.

  2. Picture the setting

    It is “dusk” (line 3), the dim time just after sunset. The neighbor is “leaning through her doorway” (line 2). The cat is “In another yard” (line 9). The speaker is close enough to hear and watch it all. But the speaker never speaks to the neighbor. Nothing shows the neighbor notices the speaker.

  3. Work out the effect

    Living next door puts the speaker close by. In the fading light, the speaker can watch quietly. So the speaker sees the neighbor and the cat without joining in. The whole poem is what the speaker sees, hears and imagines from there.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The word “regularly” is the problem. The poem shows one evening.
    • B is right. The speaker watches from nearby and never talks with the neighbor.
    • C is wrong. The speaker never says they feel close to the neighbor.
    • D is wrong. The poem never says the speaker feels lonely. The speaker pictures the neighbor alone inside, not the two of them talking.

    Watch out: A is almost right, since living nearby does let the speaker overhear. One word makes it wrong.

  5. Choose the answer

    The setting lets the speaker watch quietly from close by. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Living next door does let the speaker hear the call. But nothing says it happens often. The poem tells about one evening. At first the speaker even thinks a child is being called. B fits what the poem shows: the speaker watches without ever talking to the neighbor.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 24 as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 50, question 24. Open page 50 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 99 of 120

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.”

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 100 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 29

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

Question

Which sentence best supports the idea that Ederle succeeded in swimming across the channel because of her innovative approach to the challenge?

  • A“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.” (paragraph 1)
  • B“At first she shivered in the bone-chilling water even though she had covered her body in eight layers of grease for insulation.” (paragraph 5)
  • C“Using a new overhand stroke called the American crawl, Ederle eventually settled into a steady pace, briskly breaking through waves.” (paragraph 5)
  • D“The other [tugboat], displaying a sign that read ‘This way, ole kid!’ with an arrow pointing forward, transported her coach, family, and friends.” (paragraph 6)
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the best support for the idea that Ederle’s swim across the channel was successful because of her innovative approach to the challenge.

A. Incorrect. The sentence from paragraph 1 shows that Ederle’s performance was groundbreaking but not necessarily innovative.

B. Incorrect. The layers of grease mentioned in the sentence from paragraph 5 primarily served to insulate Ederle (keep her warm) by helping her maintain her body temperature in the cold water; neither the sentence in paragraph 5 nor the surrounding text evidence establishes that this was an innovative practice. Furthermore, the sentence does not show that she succeeded as a result of this approach.

C. CORRECT. The sentence from paragraph 5 explains that Ederle employed a newly developed, or innovative, type of stroke that allowed her to maintain her pace through the rough water.

D. Incorrect. The tugboat carrying Ederle’s supporters referenced in the sentence from paragraph 6 likely provided encouragement during Ederle’s swim, but the sentence does not show that this approach was innovative or that it enabled Ederle’s success.

Question analysis

In this textual-evidence question, students look for the sentence that best backs up a claim about Gertrude Ederle's English Channel swim: that an innovative approach is what made her succeed. The quotations come from four different moments in her story, so each must be checked for something genuinely new and for a real effect on the outcome.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Finding the sentence that backs a claim is the standard grade 7 evidence task, set here at a typical level: four short quotations labeled by paragraph and a claim with two parts, what was new and what it achieved.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 117 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 claim joins two ideas, an innovative approach and the success it produced, and only one quotation carries both. The record-breaking sentence proves success with no method, the grease is a technique the passage never calls new and that did not stop her shivering, and the tugboat sign shows her supporters, not her approach. The adjective “new” before the American crawl is the clue that settles it.

  1. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each quotation describes a real moment of the crossing, so each has to clear two tests: a method that was new, and a method that moved her toward the English shore. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Even the right sentence never says the crawl won the swim; the student must take “settled into a steady pace, briskly breaking through waves” as what carried her across. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Test each quotation twice: does it describe a method that was new or original, and does it show that method helping her finish? Keep only a sentence that passes both tests.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Break the idea into two parts

    This asks you to find evidence. Innovative means new and original, a fresh way to do something. The idea has two parts. Ederle used a new approach, and that approach helped her succeed. The best sentence must show both.

  2. Look for something new

    Only one choice uses the word “new.” Choice C says she used “a new overhand stroke called the American crawl” (paragraph 5). A stroke is the way you move your arms to pull through the water. So this is a new method.

  3. See whether it helped her

    The same sentence says she “settled into a steady pace, briskly breaking through waves.” Briskly means quickly and with energy. A steady, quick pace moved her forward through the rough water. So the new stroke helped her succeed.

  4. Check each choice

    • C fits: it shows a new stroke and the steady pace it gave her.
    • A is wrong because it proves she succeeded but shows no new method.
    • B is wrong because the passage never calls the grease new, and she still “shivered in the bone-chilling water.”
    • D is wrong because the sign on the tugboat cheered her on but was not a new way of swimming.

    Watch out: B may sound clever, since the grease was meant to keep her warm. But it shows neither something new nor a reason she won.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only C shows a new method that helped Ederle get across. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the strongest pull, since grease to keep warm sounds like a smart trick. Yet the passage never presents the grease as new, and it did not stop her shivering. C names a method the passage calls “new” and shows it paying off in a steady, quick pace.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 29 as printed on page 55 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 55, question 29. Open page 55 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 101 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 33

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

Question

The idea that many people were interested in Ederle’s attempt to swim the channel is illustrated in the passage mainly through the

  • Ainformation about Ederle’s competition with another female swimmer who was also attempting to cross the channel.
  • Bdetails about the reports of Ederle’s progress during the swim and the celebration of her successful completion of the swim.
  • Cdetails about how Ederle’s historic swim contributed to an increase in the number of people learning how to swim.
  • Dinformation about the resources Ederle used throughout her swim to maintain her motivation and stamina.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the idea that many people were interested in Ederle’s attempt to swim the channel is mainly illustrated in the passage.

A. Incorrect. While paragraph 3 states that “a rival female swimmer was preparing to make her second attempt at the crossing as well,” which suggests that Ederle’s competitor was interested in Ederle’s attempt to swim the channel, this information does not establish that many people were interested in Ederle’s attempt.

B. CORRECT. Paragraph 6 includes the detail that newspaper reporters followed Ederle on a tugboat and “wired dispatches of her progress to shore,” which suggests that an audience was waiting for news about Ederle’s progress. Paragraph 8 states that when Ederle reached the shore, “the waiting crowd roared, honked their automobile horns, blasted their tugboat whistles, and set off flares that flashed in the sky.” Further, paragraph 9 states that when Ederle returned to New York, “thousands of people” attended a parade in her honor. These details describing the celebration of Ederle’s feat further illustrate the idea that many people were interested in what she had accomplished.

C. Incorrect. While paragraph 9 states that “more than 60,000 people credited [Ederle] with motivating them to earn their American Red Cross swimming certificates,” this detail describes how Ederle’s historic swim influenced people after the fact but does not illustrate the level of public interest during the attempt itself.

D. Incorrect. Paragraph 6 provides details about how Ederle’s “coach, family, and friends” displayed signs, played songs, and “passed her baby bottles of broth” to help her maintain her motivation and stamina. However, these resources do not suggest the idea that people beyond Ederle’s immediate support team were interested in her attempt to swim the channel.

Question analysis

Public interest in Gertrude Ederle's 1926 English Channel swim is the focus of this reading question, which asks which details in the passage mainly illustrate that many people cared about her attempt. Students must gather signs of attention from several paragraphs, and every choice points to real details that involve other people in her story.

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 Matching an idea to the details that develop it is standard grade 7 work. The supporting details are spread across several late paragraphs and must be gathered before the choices can be judged, a typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 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 idea has two parts, many people and interest in the attempt itself, and each wrong choice satisfies one at most. The strongest pull is the 60,000 swimming certificates, a huge number tied to Ederle but describing what people did in the years afterward. Students who hold both parts in mind, and who remember that paragraph 6 carries reporters as well as family, find the details that answer it.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The right details sit in three places: reporters wiring dispatches from a tugboat in paragraph 6, the roaring crowd and flares in paragraph 8, and the New York parade in paragraph 9. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    No sentence says people were interested; the student must infer an eager audience from reporters sending news to shore and a crowd already “waiting” when she landed. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Hold each choice to both parts of the idea in the stem: the details must involve many people, and they must show interest in the attempt itself, not some other link to Ederle.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Find the two parts of the idea

    This asks you to find the details that best show an idea. The idea has two parts. Many people, not just a few, cared about Ederle. And they were interested in the attempt itself, the swim as it happened. The right choice must show both.

  2. Look for news and crowds

    Paragraph 6 says reporters on a tugboat “wired dispatches of her progress to shore.” Dispatches are news reports. In paragraph 8, “The waiting crowd roared” as she stepped onto the English shore. In paragraph 9, “thousands of people shouted” her name at a parade in New York.

  3. See what these details show

    Reporters send news only when readers want it. So people on land were following the swim as it happened. The crowd was “waiting” before she even arrived. Then thousands cheered her at home. These details show that a great many people cared about her swim.

  4. Check each choice

    • B fits: the reports of her progress and the celebration show many people following the swim.
    • A is wrong because the rival swimmer in paragraph 3 is one person, not many people.
    • C is wrong because the swimming certificates came in later years, after the swim.
    • D is wrong because her coach, family and friends were a small group, not the wider public.

    Watch out: C has the biggest number, more than 60,000 people. But it tells what people did after the swim was over.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only B shows many people paying attention while Ederle swam and when she finished. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, since 60,000 is a huge number of people. But they earned their certificates “over the next few years,” long after the swim. That shows her influence, not interest in the attempt. B shows people following the swim as it happened and cheering when she finished.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 33 as printed on page 56 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 56, question 33. Open page 56 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 102 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 36
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.

“5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books” by Shaunacy Ferro from MENTAL FLOSS, October 2, 2015. Copyright © 2015 Mental Floss, Inc.

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 evidence from the passage best supports the claim that “print definitely isn’t dead” (paragraph 1)?

  • AMost college students prefer using paper books to using e-books.
  • BScientists are still studying the effects of reading on a screen.
  • CPaper books are less disruptive to sleep patterns than e-books are.
  • DReading on a screen can affect both the eyes and the brain.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which evidence from the passage best supports the claim in paragraph 1 that “print definitely isn’t dead.”

A. CORRECT. In paragraph 5, the author points out that “while e-book textbooks are often cheaper (and easier to carry) than traditional door-stop textbooks, college students often don’t prefer them.” The author adds that “in some surveys of college kids, the majority of students have reported preferring print books.” As a result, this evidence from the passage supports the claim in paragraph 1 that “print definitely isn’t dead.”

B. Incorrect. In paragraph 1, the author notes that “scientists are still trying to tease out exactly how digital reading affects us differently.” This detail shows that research on reading on a screen is still going on, but it says nothing about whether people still choose print, so it does not support the claim in paragraph 1 that “print definitely isn’t dead.”

C. Incorrect. Although the main idea of paragraph 6 is supported by the 2014 study that showed that “people who used e-readers with LED screens at night slept worse and were more tired the next day,” this detail does not support the claim in paragraph 1 that “print definitely isn’t dead.”

D. Incorrect. The author states in paragraph 6 that “staring at a lit screen can be tiring for the eyes and the brain” and that “reading digitally required a higher cognitive workload.” Although these details illustrate how using e-readers can have negative physical and mental effects, they do not support the claim in paragraph 1 that “print definitely isn’t dead.”

Question analysis

This evidence question takes the claim “print definitely isn't dead” from the opening of an article comparing printed books and e-books and asks which evidence from the passage best supports it. Students must pin down exactly what the claim says before judging the evidence, since all four choices come from the article and sound related.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students judge whether evidence is relevant to a claim, but this claim is a short idiom whose precise meaning must be settled first, and every choice paraphrases a real finding, which makes the comparison finer than typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 6, 59 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The explanation of one wrong choice discussed a different detail; it now explains that choice.
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 right after the claim says print “may actually be a better choice”, and the two wrong choices about sleep and tired eyes support exactly that, which makes them feel like the answer. The claim itself is narrower: print is still alive, still chosen by readers. Only one choice reports people choosing print, and its wording overstates the surveys, so students must accept an imperfect paraphrase over accurate findings that prove a different point.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The article never ties any evidence to “Print definitely isn't dead”; the student must read it as print still being chosen and find that in paragraph 5's surveys, four paragraphs away. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    “Isn't dead” is an idiom, and its exact sense, still bought and read rather than still worthwhile, decides between the survey of college students and the findings about sleep and tired eyes. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right choice turns “in some surveys of college kids, the majority” into “Most college students prefer”, a looser paraphrase careful readers may distrust, while another choice echoes “the eyes and the brain”. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Put the claim “print definitely isn't dead” into your own words first, then ask whether each choice proves that exact point or a different one made nearby in paragraph 1.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: Choice B is “Scientists are still studying the effects of reading on a screen,” from paragraph 1 (“scientists are still trying to tease out exactly how digital reading affects us differently”). The handbook's explanation of B instead discusses the iPad reading-comprehension study of paragraph 2, apparently left over from an earlier version of the choice. The explanation now addresses B: ongoing research says nothing about whether people still choose print. The answer, A, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Pin down the claim

    This asks you to find evidence for a claim. “Print definitely isn’t dead” is an idiom, a saying that doesn’t mean exactly what its words say. Books can’t really die. The claim means printed books are still being bought and read. People still choose them.

  2. Watch for the nearby claim

    The very next sentence makes a different claim. It says print “may actually be a better choice for some readers.” Being better is not the same as being alive. So you need evidence that people still choose print, not evidence that print is good for you.

  3. Find people choosing print

    Paragraph 5 says that “in some surveys of college kids, the majority of students have reported preferring print books.” A majority means more than half. They pick paper even though e-books are “often cheaper (and easier to carry).” So many readers still choose print, which shows it is still alive.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits: most college students in those surveys prefer paper books.
    • B is wrong because research still going on says nothing about whether people still choose print.
    • C is wrong because better sleep is a reason print may be better, not proof that people still use it.
    • D is wrong because tired eyes and brains are also a reason print may be better.

    Watch out: C and D support the “better choice” sentence, not “isn’t dead.”

  5. Choose the answer

    Only A shows that many readers still choose paper books today. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the most tempting wrong answer. The finding that lit screens hurt sleep is real, and it favors paper. But it shows print may be better, not that it is still alive. A shows readers still choosing print. It says “Most college students” when the passage reports only “some surveys,” but it is still the best fit.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 36 as printed on page 60 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 60, question 36. Open page 60 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 “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 103 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 37

Uses the passage above: “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books”.

Question

Which sentence from the passage suggests that people in the future will likely choose e-books over print books?

  • A“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.” (paragraph 2)
  • B“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.” (paragraph 2)
  • C“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.” (paragraph 3)
  • D“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.” (paragraph 5)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from the passage suggests that people in the future will likely choose e-books over print books.

A. Incorrect. While this sentence from paragraph 2 implies high engagement with the interactive features of e-books, it does not provide explicit evidence indicating that engagement with e-books is a reason for choosing them over print books.

B. Incorrect. While this sentence from paragraph 2 highlights some of the benefits of e-books, such as the potential to “enhance comprehension,” those benefits are not explicitly linked to readers choosing e-books over print books.

C. Incorrect. This sentence from paragraph 3 provides evidence that shows both benefits and drawbacks of reading e-books, including higher engagement but a decreased ability to recall details. Therefore, the sentence does not clarify why readers would choose e-books over print books.

D. CORRECT. In this sentence from paragraph 5, the author cites a 2012 study that found that over 50 percent of 8- to 16-year-olds “reported preferring screen reading.” Since this specific age group will one day influence the future of reading and the results of the study point to a significant percentage preferring screen reading, this sentence provides compelling evidence for what readers will prefer in the future.

Question analysis

Based on a magazine article about e-books and printed books, this question asks which quoted sentence suggests that people in the future will likely choose e-books over print. Students must reason from a present-day research finding to a likely future, while each quoted sentence reports research on children and e-books.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Drawing a logical inference from a quoted finding is typical grade 7 evidence work. The sentences are printed in the choices, so the reading load is light, but the student must still reason from a study's results to readers' future choices.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 15, 138 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 asks for a prediction, but the article only reports studies of the present, so the student has to decide what kind of finding could point to the future. Preference is the link: what children choose now hints at what readers will choose later. Sentences about engagement and well-designed features sound favorable to e-books, yet they describe how e-books work, not whether anyone prefers them.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    No sentence mentions the future; the student must see that children of 8 to 16 who prefer screens today are tomorrow's readers, a step the article leaves unstated. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    Each choice is a full quoted sentence of 26 to 34 words, three of them packed with study details, so comparing the four takes more reading than the short stem suggests. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Decide what kind of evidence could predict what people will choose later, then check each sentence for that kind of evidence instead of general praise or criticism of e-books.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Understand the prediction

    This asks for evidence that points to the future. But the article reports only studies of the past and present. So you need a clue about today that hints at what readers will choose later.

  2. Think about what predicts a choice

    What people will choose later depends on what they like now. So look for a sentence about preference, which means the thing a person likes better. It helps if those people are young, because young readers are the readers of the future.

  3. Find the preference sentence

    Choice D quotes a 2012 study of “kids ages 8 to 16.” It found that “more than 50 percent of children reported preferring screen reading.” So more than half of these young readers already like screens better. As they grow up, many of them may keep choosing e-books.

  4. Check each choice

    • D fits: young readers already prefer screens, which hints at the future.
    • A is wrong because skipping text is called “detrimental,” or harmful, and it shows no one choosing e-books.
    • B is wrong because it tells what some features might do, not what readers like.
    • C is wrong because the study measured how much kids remembered, not which books they liked.

    Watch out: B and C sound good for e-books. But neither one says what readers choose.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only D tells what young readers prefer, which points to later choices. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B comes closest, since features “designed to enhance comprehension” sound like a reason e-books might win. But the sentence only says what some features are meant to do. It says nothing about what readers choose. D reports what more than half of young readers already prefer, and that hints at the future.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 37 as printed on page 60 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 60, question 37. Open page 60 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 104 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 41

Uses the passage above: “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books”.

Question

Which evidence in the passage is most relevant to the author’s claim that “our expectations of e-book reading . . . might affect how we approach the text” (paragraph 9)?

  • AStudies found that students used their study time less productively with e-books than with print books.
  • BA study found that e-books enhanced with multimedia engaged children to interact physically with the e-books.
  • CAdult readers recalled more details from a story read in a print book than in an e-book.
  • DOne study found that people who read e-books had poor recall of chronological events.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which evidence in the passage is most relevant to the author’s claim that “our expectations of e-book reading . . . might affect how we approach the text” (paragraph 9).

A. CORRECT. According to information in the passage, “kids sometimes skipped text in favor of interactive features” (paragraph 2) and they “remembered fewer narrative details” (paragraph 3). Additionally, a study found that “participants didn’t regulate their study time with digital books like they did with paper texts, leading to worse performances” (paragraph 9). This information directly demonstrates the author’s claim that expectations of e-book reading might affect how people approach the text.

B. Incorrect. In paragraph 3, the author states that e-books may be physically engaging, but they are also “distracting,” and readers who used them “remembered fewer narrative details.” While this evidence is important in helping readers understand why children who read e-books may comprehend less information than children who read print text, the evidence does not as strongly relate to the author’s claim as the idea in the correct answer does.

C. Incorrect. The author states that one “study of adults also found that e-books can be hard to absorb” (paragraph 4) and that “if you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book” (paragraph 7). Although the evidence presented here provides support for the idea that retaining information from an e-book is more difficult than from a print book, it does not as strongly relate to the author’s claim as the idea in the correct answer does.

D. Incorrect. The author points out in paragraph 4 that adults “who read the story on a Kindle performed worse on the chronology test than the book readers.” Although this evidence shows how well adults can recall a series of events read in an e-book versus how well adults can recall a series of events read in a print book, the evidence does not as strongly relate to the author’s claim as the idea in the correct answer does.

Question analysis

Near the end of an article about e-books, the author claims that readers' expectations might affect how they approach a text, and this evidence question asks which finding is most relevant to that claim. Students must see exactly what the claim is about, since all four choices report research from the article.

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 Matching evidence to a specific claim is typical grade 7 argument work. The claim sits in the article's densest sentence, cut by an ellipsis, so students must reread it in full, but the evidence itself is short and plainly stated.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 10, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 89 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A reversed statement of the author’s claim 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 claim is about cause, what readers expect shaping how they read, so evidence about results, such as weaker recall, does not reach it. The key evidence sits in the same paragraph as the claim, just before it, but the right choice rewords it and generalizes it to “studies” and “students”. The most tempting wrong answer describes children interacting with e-books, a behavior, but one driven by the e-books' features rather than by readers' expectations.

  1. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The right choice turns paragraph 9's “didn't regulate their study time with digital books like they did with paper texts” into “used their study time less productively”, while another choice echoes paragraph 4's chronology test. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The student must see that how readers manage their study time is a way of approaching a text, and that it reflects what they expect from a screen. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Put the quoted claim into your own words, naming what does the affecting and what is affected, then ask which choice is evidence of exactly that relationship.

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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook ends its explanation of choice A by saying the evidence demonstrates “the author’s claim that expectations of e-book reading might be affected by how people approach the text.” The claim in paragraph 9, quoted in the question, runs the other way: “our expectations of e-book reading . . . might affect how we approach the text.” The sentence now reads “might affect how people approach the text.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Put the claim in plain words

    Expectations are what you think something will be like. How you approach a text is the way you go about reading it. So the claim says that what we expect from e-books may change how we read them. The cause is our expectations. The effect is how we read.

  2. Find evidence about how people read

    Look just before the claim, in paragraph 9. In one test, “participants didn’t regulate their study time with digital books like they did with paper texts, leading to worse performances.” To regulate means to control or plan. So people handled their study time differently with e-books, and they did worse.

  3. Connect the evidence to the claim

    Planning your study time is part of how you approach a text. People planned differently on a screen, perhaps because they expected screen reading to be different. That is the very link the claim describes: what you expect shapes how you read.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits: using study time “less productively,” or less well, is a way of approaching the text.
    • B is wrong because the kids played with the e-books because of the books’ features, not their own expectations.
    • C is wrong because it misstates the adult study, where e-book readers did worse only at putting events in order.
    • D is wrong because poor memory of events is a result, not a way of approaching the text.

    Watch out: B and D tell what happened with e-books. But the claim is about readers’ habits and where they come from.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only A shows readers going about their reading differently with e-books. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B comes closest, because touching and playing with an e-book is a kind of behavior. But paragraph 3 credits the books’ interactive features for that, not what readers expected. A shows readers managing their study time differently with screens, which is how they approached the text.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 41 as printed on page 62 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 62, question 41. Open page 62 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 105 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 44
Passage Excerpt from The Highest Tide

Excerpt from The Highest Tide

by Jim Lynch

The narrator’s summer job is collecting marine specimens in Puget Sound, Washington. In this excerpt, he is looking for specimens in the mudflats before daybreak. Mudflats, or flats, are coastal landforms created when sediment and silt from tides are deposited as the tides recede.

I rounded the oyster beds, to the far side. . . . It was low tide by then, and I saw the water hesitating at its apex, neither leaving nor returning, patiently waiting for the gravitational gears to shift. Dozens of anxious clams started squirting in unison like they did whenever vibrating grains of sand warned them predators were approaching. I stopped and waited with them, to actually see the moment when the tide started returning with its invisible buffet of plankton for the clams, oysters, mussels and other filter feeders. It was right then, ankle deep in the Sound, feet numbing, eyes relaxed, that I saw the nudibranch.1

In all my time on the flats I’d never seen one before. I’d read about them, sure. I’d handled them at aquariums but never in the wild, and I’d never even seen a photo of one this stunning. It was just three inches long but with dozens of fluorescent, orange-tipped hornlike plumes jutting from the back of its see-through body that appeared to be lit from within.

Nudibranchs are often called the butterflies of the sea, but even that understates their dazzle. Almost everything else in the northern Pacific is dressed to blend with pale surroundings. Nudibranchs don’t bother, in part because they taste so lousy they don’t need camouflage to survive. But also, I decided right then, because their beauty is so startling it earns them a free pass, the same way everyday life brakes for peacocks, parade floats. . . .

The dark mudflats loomed like wet, flattened dunes stretching deep into Skookumchuck Bay in front of our house. From a distance, they looked too barren to support sea life. Up close, they still did, unless you knew where to find the hearty clams, worms and tiny creatures that flourish in mud. . . . I’m not sure why I decided to take a look. It was still an hour before sunrise, and I knew exactly what the bars2 looked like in the moonlight, but for some reason, I couldn’t resist.

I heard it long before I saw it. It was an exhale, a release of sorts, and I instantly wondered if a whale was stranded again. We had a young minke3 stuck out there two summers prior, and it made similar noises until the tide rose high enough for rescuers to help free it. . . . I looked for a hulking silhouette but couldn’t find one. I waited, but there were no more sounds. Still, I went toward what I thought I’d heard, avoiding stepping into the mud until I had to. I knew the flats well enough to know I could get stuck just about anywhere. The general rule was you didn’t venture out past the shells and gravel with an incoming tide. I sank up to my knees twice, and numbing water filled my boots.

. . . I kept stepping toward the one sound I’d heard, a growing part of me hoping I’d find nothing at all. When I stopped to rest and yank up my socks, my headlamp crossed it. My first thought? A giant octopus.

Puget Sound has some of the biggest octopi in the world. They often balloon to a hundred pounds. Even the great Jacques Cousteau4 himself came to study them. But when I saw the long tubular shape of its upper body and the tangle of tentacles below it, I knew it was more than an octopus. I came closer, within fifty feet, close enough to see its large cylindrical siphon5 quiver. I couldn’t tell if it was making any sounds at that point, because it was impossible to hear anything over the blood in my ears. . . .

The creature’s body came to a triangular point above narrow fins that lay flat on the mud like wings, but it was hard to be sure exactly where it all began or ended, or how long its tentacles truly were, because I was afraid to pry my eyes off its jumble of arms for more than half a second. I didn’t know whether I was within reach, and its arms were as big around as my ankle and lined with suckers the size of half-dollars. If they even twitched I would have run. So, I was looking at it and not looking at it while my heart spangled my vision. I saw fragments, pieces, and tried to fuse them in my mind but couldn’t be certain of the whole. I knew what it had to be, but I wouldn’t allow myself to even think the two words. Then I gradually realized the dark shiny disc in the middle of the rubbery mass was too perfectly round to be mud or a reflection.

It was too late to smother my scream. Its eye was the size of a hubcap.6

From THE HIGHEST TIDE by Jim Lynch. Copyright © 2005 by Jim Lynch. Used by permission of Bloomsbury USA. All rights reserved.

1nudibranch: type of sea slug

2bars: sandbars

3minke: species of small whale

4Jacques Cousteau: renowned French oceanographer

5siphon: tube-like organ that is used for drawing in or removing fluids

6hubcap: removable cap over the end of a wheel axle

Question

Read these sentences from paragraph 4.

I’m not sure why I decided to take a look. It was still an hour before sunrise, and I knew exactly what the bars looked like in the moonlight, but for some reason, I couldn’t resist.

The sentences contribute to the overall structure of the excerpt by

  • Aintroducing the mysterious creature that the narrator discovers.
  • Bindicating a shift from the narrator recalling the past to the narrator reflecting on the present.
  • Cestablishing a struggle with fear that the narrator must overcome.
  • Dbuilding tension through indicating that the narrator is going to see something unexpected.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for an explanation of how selected sentences from paragraph 4 contribute to the overall structure of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. These sentences set a tense and mysterious tone for what is about to happen in the excerpt, but they do not introduce the creature the narrator discovers.

B. Incorrect. While the narrator reveals that he is familiar with the terrain (“I knew exactly what the bars looked like in the moonlight”), this does not show the narrator recalling the past or reflecting on the present; it demonstrates the narrator’s knowledge of the mudflats.

C. Incorrect. These sentences reveal the narrator’s curiosity, which is his prime motivation for venturing out to the mudflats, and his familiarity with the terrain shows that at this point, he does not feel afraid.

D. CORRECT. The narrator creates a feeling of mystery and suspense with language that shows how the situation is unknown. Phrases such as “I couldn’t resist” and “I’m not sure why” reveal the narrator’s curiosity, as well as the tension of feeling drawn to explore the mudflats in the moonlight.

Question analysis

This text-structure question quotes the narrator's admission that he cannot say why he decided to walk out onto the dark mudflats, and asks how these sentences contribute to the structure of the excerpt from The Highest Tide. Students must judge what the sentences do at this point in the story, not just what they say, and the choices name four quite different jobs.

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 piece of narration shapes a story's structure is grade 7 literary work. The sentences are quoted and short, but the student must look past what they say to the effect they create, a typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 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

The sentences say little on their own, the narrator going out before dawn to a place he knows well, so their purpose shows only from where they sit, right before the sound in paragraph 5. Students who know the ending tend to read the fear and the creature back into this moment, which is why the choices about fear and about introducing the creature pull. The narrator's own puzzlement about why he went is what builds the suspense.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what the two sentences do in the story, so their content, an early hour and a familiar view of the sandbars, matters only as a setup for what comes next. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Nothing is said to be coming; the tension must be inferred from an unexplained pull, “I'm not sure why” and “for some reason, I couldn't resist”, just before the strange sound. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Place the two sentences in the order of events, what came before and what comes right after, and ask what job they do for a reader at that point in the story.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    This asks about structure: what job these two sentences do in the story. Think about where they sit. Then ask how they make a reader feel about what will happen next.

  2. Look at the sentences closely

    The narrator says, “I’m not sure why I decided to take a look.” He knows “exactly what the bars looked like in the moonlight.” The bars are sandbars, so there should be nothing new to see. Yet “for some reason, I couldn’t resist.” He can’t explain why he feels pulled out onto the flats.

  3. See what comes right after

    The next paragraph begins, “I heard it long before I saw it.” A strange sound leads him to a giant creature. So his mysterious pull comes just before something unexpected. Tension is the nervous feeling of waiting to find out what happens. These sentences build that feeling.

  4. Check each choice

    • D fits: the sentences build tension by hinting that something unexpected is coming.
    • A is wrong because the creature doesn’t appear yet, since he first hears it in paragraph 5.
    • B is wrong because “I’m not sure” is a short comment, and the story stays in the past.
    • C is wrong because he is curious here, and fear comes later, when he hopes he will “find nothing at all.”

    Watch out: C reads his later fear back into this moment. Right now he is drawn forward, not scared.

  5. Choose the answer

    The sentences make you wonder what is waiting out on the flats. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C comes closest, because the narrator is badly scared by the end. But in these sentences he feels pulled by a curiosity he can’t explain. That unexplained pull, just before a strange sound, builds suspense. D names that job.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 as printed on page 66 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 66, question 44. 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).
The passage “Excerpt from The Highest Tide” as printed (pages 64–65)The passage “Excerpt from The Highest Tide” as printed on page 64 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from The Highest Tide” as printed on page 65 of the DOE handbook.

Question 106 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 45

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from The Highest Tide”.

Question

The narrator’s actions in paragraph 5 reveal that he is

  • Aexpecting to see the familiar sight of a stranded minke.
  • Bconfident about exploring farther into the mudflats.
  • Cunconcerned about becoming stuck in the mudflats.
  • Ddetermined to discover the source of the sound.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what the narrator’s actions in paragraph 5 reveal about him.

A. Incorrect. The paragraph begins with the narrator wondering “if a whale was stranded again” because of one that had gotten stuck before and had “made similar noises.” However, the narrator explains that he “looked for a hulking silhouette but couldn’t find one” before he “went toward what [he] thought [he’d] heard,” so readers can conclude that he continues to walk through the dangerous mudflats not because he expects to find a whale but because he is curious to find out what made the noise.

B. Incorrect. The fact that the narrator knows about a whale that was stranded on the mudflats “two summers prior” indicates that he is familiar with the area, and he does mention that he has some knowledge of the mudflats. However, in the paragraph, he reveals that his knowledge is of the dangers there: “I knew the flats well enough to know I could get stuck just about anywhere.” He also explains that as he moves, he avoids “stepping into the mud until [he] had to.” The fact that he acknowledges the danger and tries to avoid it indicates that he is cautious rather than confident.

C. Incorrect. In the paragraph, the narrator’s recollection that even though he could not see the silhouette of a whale, “still, [he] went toward what [he] thought [he’d] heard” might make him seem unconcerned about getting stuck. However, even as he continues, he moves carefully, avoiding “stepping into the mud until [he] had to” because he knows the mudflats “well enough to know [he] could get stuck just about anywhere.”

D. CORRECT. In the paragraph, the narrator describes the dangers of walking on the mudflats by stating that he “knew the flats well enough to know [he] could get stuck just about anywhere,” but he continues walking toward the sound. Despite knowing the dangers, he still “went toward what [he] thought [he’d] heard,” and this shows that he is determined to find out what made the sound.

Question analysis

This inference question asks what the narrator's actions reveal about him when he hears a strange sound on the mudflats before dawn and sets off toward it. Students must read what he does alongside what he says he knows about the flats, and several choices fit one detail of the paragraph but not the whole of it.

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 Inferring a character's trait from actions is core grade 7 literary reading. The evidence sits in one paragraph and the actions are concrete, so the item is typical, though the long paragraph mixes memory, rules and movement.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 41 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Paragraph 5 shows two things at once, a narrator who knows exactly how dangerous the flats are and one who keeps walking toward a sound anyway. Choices that see only the walking call him confident or unconcerned, and the one that sees only his first thought has him expecting a whale. The word “Still”, after his search for a silhouette comes up empty, is the hinge that shows determination.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The trait is never named; it must be drawn from what he does, especially “Still, I went toward what I thought I'd heard” after seeing nothing and hearing nothing more. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

    The paragraph mixes a memory of the stranded minke, a rule about incoming tides and his own steps, and the student must keep his caution and his persistence in view together. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: List what the narrator does in paragraph 5, step by step, and note what he knows while doing it; then ask what those actions, taken together, say about him.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    This asks you to make an inference about a character. You judge what the narrator is like from what he does. The text never names the trait, so look closely at his actions.

  2. List his actions in paragraph 5

    He hears a sound and wonders if a whale is stranded. He “looked for a hulking silhouette but couldn’t find one.” He waits, but hears nothing more. Then he says, “Still, I went toward what I thought I’d heard.” He sinks to his knees twice, and cold water fills his boots.

  3. Notice what he knows

    He knows the danger. He says, “I knew the flats well enough to know I could get stuck just about anywhere.” The word “Still” matters here. It means even so. Even with no whale in sight and no more sounds, he keeps heading toward the noise.

  4. Check each choice

    • D fits: he keeps going toward the sound despite the danger, so he is determined to find its source.
    • A is wrong because he finds no whale and keeps going, and one stranding two summers ago is not a familiar sight.
    • B is wrong because knowing he could get stuck anywhere makes him careful, not confident.
    • C is wrong because he avoids “stepping into the mud until I had to,” so he does worry about getting stuck.

    Watch out: B and C notice only that he keeps walking. They miss how carefully he moves.

  5. Choose the answer

    He presses on toward the sound even though he knows the mud is dangerous. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B comes closest, because he says he knows the flats well. But what he knows is how easily he could get stuck, so he is careful, not confident. Pressing on anyway, after seeing nothing and hearing nothing more, shows determination.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 as printed on page 66 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 66, question 45. Open page 66 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 107 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 46

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from The Highest Tide”.

Question

How does the setting affect the plot of the excerpt?

  • AThe darkness of the mudflats before sunrise causes the narrator to pay close attention to his surroundings.
  • BThe rugged terrain of the mudflats makes it more difficult for the narrator to do his job.
  • CThe slow return of the tide along the mudflats forces the narrator to be patient during his journey.
  • DThe barren appearance of the mudflats creates a sense of mystery that unsettles the narrator.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the setting affects the plot of the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. In paragraph 4, the narrator says that it is an hour before sunrise. It is difficult to see because the mudflats are dark, so the narrator, while familiar with the terrain of the mudflats, is cautious.

B. Incorrect. While the terrain of the mudflats is challenging because of the “wet, flattened dunes” (paragraph 4), the narrator is familiar with the terrain and moves carefully. In addition, the excerpt focuses on the narrator’s curiosity and enjoyment as he explores the mudflats, not on his work collecting specimens.

C. Incorrect. In paragraph 1, the narrator watches the water “hesitating at its apex” and “patiently waiting for the gravitational gears to shift.” This illustrates that the narrator is already familiar with the changes in his surroundings, that the tide is slow to move in, and that he can move carefully through the mudflats without the threat of rising water.

D. Incorrect. While the narrator is on the mudflats for the entire excerpt, the phrase “eyes relaxed” in paragraph 1 indicates that the narrator feels comfortable there. The narrator does not show fear until paragraph 6, when a growing fear about the unknown creature arises.

Question analysis

Set on the mudflats of Puget Sound before daybreak, this excerpt from the novel The Highest Tide is the basis for a question about how setting affects plot. Students must link features of the place and time to what the narrator does across the whole excerpt, and each choice pairs a real feature of the setting with an effect that may or may not be in the text.

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 Analyzing how setting shapes plot is a grade 7 literary standard, but the excerpt never states the link: the effect must be inferred from scattered details, and every choice names a genuine feature of the flats, which is beyond typical work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 77 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A statement in the explanation that contradicted the excerpt’s introduction 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 a real feature of the mudflats, so the question turns on which feature the excerpt actually shows shaping events. The darkness never gets a sentence of its own; it is felt in a sound heard before anything is seen, a silhouette that cannot be found and a headlamp beam. The barren look of the flats is the strongest pull, because the scene is eerie, but the narrator knows life hides in the mud and his unease comes from the creature.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The excerpt never says the darkness changes anything; the effect must be assembled from the hour before sunrise, the sound heard “long before I saw it”, the missing silhouette and the headlamp that finally finds the creature. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The right choice uses no words from the text, while the wrong ones echo it: the “barren” look of the flats, the water “patiently waiting”, the narrator's summer job. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The darkness is established in paragraph 4 and felt in paragraphs 5, 6 and 8, so no single passage shows the setting at work. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Collect the details of time, place and conditions across the excerpt, then for each choice ask whether the text shows that feature of the setting actually changing what the narrator does.

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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In rejecting choice B, the handbook says “the excerpt shows that the narrator explores the mudflats for curiosity and enjoyment, not work.” But the introduction says the narrator’s summer job is collecting marine specimens and that “in this excerpt, he is looking for specimens in the mudflats before daybreak.” The explanation now says the excerpt focuses on his curiosity and enjoyment as he explores the mudflats, not on his work collecting specimens. That keeps the handbook’s point (the excerpt is not about the terrain making his job harder) without contradicting the introduction.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what setting and plot mean

    The setting is where and when a story happens. The plot is the chain of events. This asks which part of the setting changes what happens or what the narrator does.

  2. Find the time of day

    Paragraph 4 says, “It was still an hour before sunrise.” The narrator is out on the mudflats in the dark. The only light comes from the moon and his headlamp.

  3. See how the dark shapes events

    Because it is dark, he must rely on sounds and small clues. He says, “I heard it long before I saw it.” He looks for “a hulking silhouette,” a dark outline, but can’t find one. He spots the creature only when “my headlamp crossed it.” Then he stares hard, trying to make out its shape. The darkness keeps him alert and watching closely.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits: the dark makes him pay close attention to everything around him.
    • B is wrong because the excerpt follows a strange sound and never shows the ground making his job harder.
    • C is wrong because in paragraph 1 he chooses to stop and watch the tide, and nothing forces him.
    • D is wrong because he knows life hides in the mud, and what scares him is the creature.

    Watch out: D feels right because the scene is eerie. But the flats’ empty look never troubles him.

  5. Choose the answer

    The darkness before sunrise is what keeps the narrator listening and looking so carefully. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D comes closest, because the dark flats do feel spooky. But the narrator says they only look “too barren to support sea life” from far away, and he knows better. His fear comes from the creature. The darkness, though, shapes every step: he hears before he sees and must watch closely.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 46 as printed on page 66 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 66, question 46. 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). This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 108 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 47

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from The Highest Tide”.

Question

Which sentence from paragraph 5 supports the idea that the narrator is taking a risk?

  • A“It was an exhale, a release of sorts, and I instantly wondered if a whale was stranded again.”
  • B“I looked for a hulking silhouette but couldn’t find one.”
  • C“I waited, but there were no more sounds.”
  • D“I knew the flats well enough to know I could get stuck just about anywhere.”
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from paragraph 5 supports the idea that the narrator is taking a risk.

A. Incorrect. In this sentence, the narrator is describing the exhale of a creature and his concern that the sound might be coming from a whale in danger. At no point does the narrator suggest that this is a dangerous situation.

B. Incorrect. This sentence describes a “hulking silhouette” because the narrator is searching for a whale that might be stranded. This expression refers to the size of the whale and not to any danger the narrator might face.

C. Incorrect. The narrator’s words “no more sounds” are used to illustrate his listening for what may be a whale. At this point, the narrator is still concerned about the possibility that a whale may be stranded, not the possibility of being in danger.

D. CORRECT. The idea that the narrator could become stuck in the mud of the flats means that the surroundings pose some danger or difficulty.

Question analysis

Students choose which sentence from one tense paragraph of The Highest Tide shows that the narrator is taking a risk as he follows a strange sound across the mudflats. In this evidence question, all four sentences come from the same scene, so students must tell real danger to the narrator apart from a mood of suspense.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Choosing the sentence that supports an idea is a grade 6 and 7 skill. Here all four choices come from one paragraph and only the idea of danger needs matching, a lighter task than typical grade 7 evidence work.
Estimated difficulty
Routine: one familiar step, little to misread.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 5, 65 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 one of the four sentences mentions anything that could happen to the narrator himself, so this is among the easiest questions on the test. The other three build suspense, a strange exhale, a missing silhouette, a silence, and a student who confuses suspense with danger may pick one. Asking who is at risk in each sentence settles it at once.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The right sentence states only what the narrator knows, that he could get stuck; it shows a risk because the sentences around it have him walking out onto the mud anyway. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Decide what taking a risk would mean for the narrator in this place, then test each sentence for a danger to him rather than a feeling of suspense.

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.
  • 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    This asks you to find evidence. Taking a risk means doing something that could hurt you. So look for a sentence that shows a danger to the narrator himself.

  2. Think about the danger on the flats

    Mudflats are soft and wet. A person can sink into the mud and get stuck as the water rises. Paragraph 5 even gives a rule: “The general rule was you didn’t venture out past the shells and gravel with an incoming tide.”

  3. Find the sentence about danger

    Choice D says, “I knew the flats well enough to know I could get stuck just about anywhere.” So the narrator knows he could get stuck. Yet he keeps walking out toward the sound. That means he is taking a risk.

  4. Check each choice

    • D fits: getting stuck is a danger to him, and he goes on anyway.
    • A is wrong because a stranded whale would be in danger, not the narrator.
    • B is wrong because “hulking silhouette,” a huge dark shape, describes the whale he expected, not a threat.
    • C is wrong because waiting in silence builds suspense but puts him in no danger.

    Watch out: A, B and C create a spooky mood. But a spooky mood is not the same as a risk.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one sentence names something that could happen to the narrator himself. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, because a stranded whale sounds serious. But the danger in that sentence belongs to the whale. Only D names something that could happen to the narrator: getting stuck in the mud.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 47 as printed on page 66 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 66, question 47. Open page 66 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 109 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 48

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from The Highest Tide”.

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 6.

I kept stepping toward the one sound I’d heard, a growing part of me hoping I’d find nothing at all.

How do the narrator’s actions develop a central idea of the excerpt?

  • AThe narrator’s concern about the origin of the noise shows dedication to helping preserve sea life in the mudflats.
  • BThe narrator’s curiosity about the sea life in the mudflats outweighs any fear about the situation.
  • CThe narrator’s knowledge about a variety of sea life encourages a search for more specimens to study.
  • DThe narrator’s eagerness about new specimens of sea life outweighs the reality that the area is an unlikely place to find them.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the narrator’s actions, as described in the sentence from paragraph 6, develop a central idea of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. The sentence highlights the narrator’s concern about sea life and the creatures living within the flats. However, these ideas do not develop what is being described in the excerpt.

B. CORRECT. The narrator “kept stepping toward the one sound,” indicating a sense of curiosity. However, the words “a growing part of me hoping I’d find nothing” suggest a rising fear or concern. Ultimately, the narrator’s curiosity outweighs his growing fear and is a central idea in the excerpt, as shown by the fact that the narrator does not run away when finally encountering the creature.

C. Incorrect. While the narrator’s descriptions of the nudibranch and other sea life demonstrate a knowledge of these creatures, as well as a desire to discover more in the mudflats, the knowledge the narrator exhibits is not what is being illustrated in the excerpt.

D. Incorrect. The excerpt does describe the narrator’s enjoyment at seeing a nudibranch in paragraph 2, and in paragraph 4, the narrator clearly states that there is an abundance of life in the seemingly barren mudflats, including “hearty clams, worms and tiny creatures that flourish in mud.” However, the sentence demonstrates the narrator’s curiosity in spite of fear, not an eagerness about or fascination with the mudflats.

Question analysis

This central-idea question quotes a sentence in which the narrator keeps walking toward a mysterious sound while part of him hopes to find nothing, and asks how his actions develop a central idea of the excerpt. Students must read the mixed feelings packed into one sentence and connect them to the larger story of his walk on the flats.

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 Connecting a character's actions to a central idea is grade 7 work. The quoted sentence states both the action and the feeling, so the task is typical, though the four choices are long and each names a different motive.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 111 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 holds both halves of the answer, an action and a wish that pulls against it, but neither is named. The wrong choices each supply a motive the sentence does not show, a rescue, a hunt for specimens, an eagerness for new finds, and two of them borrow real details from elsewhere in the excerpt. Students who split the sentence into what he does and what he hopes avoid all three.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The sentence names neither feeling: curiosity must be read from “kept stepping toward the one sound” and fear from “a growing part of me hoping I'd find nothing at all”. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    To count as a central idea, the pull between curiosity and fear has to recur, from “I couldn't resist” in paragraph 4 to “If they even twitched I would have run” in paragraph 8. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Split the quoted sentence into what the narrator does and what part of him feels, then ask which motive behind those actions runs through the rest of the excerpt.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    This asks how the narrator’s actions build a central idea, a main point that runs through the whole excerpt. Start by splitting the sentence into what he does and what he feels.

  2. Split the sentence in two

    What he does: “I kept stepping toward the one sound I’d heard.” He keeps moving forward. What he feels: “a growing part of me hoping I’d find nothing at all.” Part of him is afraid of what he might find, and that fear is growing.

  3. Weigh the two feelings

    He is scared, but he keeps going anyway. So his curiosity, his wish to know, is stronger than his fear. This pull runs through the excerpt. In paragraph 4 he “couldn’t resist” going out. In paragraph 8 he stays and stares at the creature, though he admits, “If they even twitched I would have run.”

  4. Check each choice

    • B fits: his curiosity “outweighs any fear,” since his steps forward win out over his wish to find nothing.
    • A is wrong because nothing shows he wants to protect sea life, and he even hopes to find nothing.
    • C is wrong because he is following one strange sound, not hunting for specimens to study.
    • D is wrong because paragraph 4 says the flats only look empty from far away.

    Watch out: D copies B’s pattern of one thing outweighing another. But its details don’t match the excerpt.

  5. Choose the answer

    The narrator’s steps show curiosity winning out over a growing fear. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, because two summers earlier a stranded whale had needed help. But in this sentence the narrator hopes to find nothing at all. Someone set on a rescue would not hope that. B explains both halves: he is afraid, yet his curiosity keeps him walking.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 48 as printed on page 67 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 67, question 48. Open page 67 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 110 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 50

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from The Highest Tide”.

Question

The author develops the narrator’s point of view when the narrator sees the creature by

  • Adescribing the narrator’s movements as he approaches the creature.
  • Bemphasizing the odds of finding the creature in an area inhabited by a rival species.
  • Cshowing the narrator’s growing realization of the creature’s identity.
  • Dcomparing the size of the creature to the size of a vehicle.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the author develops the narrator’s point of view when the narrator sees the creature.

A. Incorrect. The author’s description of how the narrator moves toward the creature has to do with the terrain and the narrator’s sense of awe. The narrator’s perspective is not represented through how he approaches the creature; it is presented later in the excerpt when the narrator is studying the creature.

B. Incorrect. In this excerpt, while the narrator does discuss other large animals (minke whale, paragraph 5; octopi, paragraph 7) that have appeared on the mudflats, these are examples to show the variety of animal life that can be discovered on the mudflats, not rivals of the creature discovered at the end of the excerpt.

C. CORRECT. In paragraph 7, the narrator describes the largest octopi in the world and then states that this creature is “more than an octopus.” The narrator then states that it is “impossible to hear anything over the blood in my ears,” and in paragraph 8, he describes the creature’s body in detail, as well as his growing fear and amazement as he begins to realize what the creature really is.

D. Incorrect. While the narrator observes that the creature’s eye is as large as a hubcap in paragraph 9, a comparison to an entire car is never made. This detail is for description but does not give the narrator’s point of view.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how the author develops the narrator's perspective at the moment he comes upon a huge, unknown sea creature at the end of the excerpt from The Highest Tide. Students must track the narration over the last paragraphs and decide which technique shapes what readers see through his eyes.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Analyzing how an author develops a narrator's point of view is a grade 7 standard. The key paragraphs are dense with description and suspense, but the choices are fairly distinct, so the overall demand is typical of grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 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 narrator's guesses change from paragraph to paragraph, octopus, then something more, then a name he refuses to say, and the answer is that progression rather than any single detail. The wrong choices fasten on details, his approach across the mud, the octopi of Puget Sound, the hubcap, and each misdescribes or misplaces it. Readers who track what he believes at each step see the growing realization.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks how the author builds the narrator's point of view, so the student must name a technique, a step-by-step realization, rather than any single thing he sees or does. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The realization unfolds across paragraphs 6 to 9: “A giant octopus” becomes “more than an octopus”, then “I knew what it had to be”, and finally an eye the size of a hubcap. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The creature is never named; “the two words” the narrator will not let himself think have to be understood as a name he already suspects. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread paragraphs 6 through 9 and track what the narrator notices, thinks and feels at each step, then pick the choice that describes the technique the author uses across those steps.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    Point of view here means how the narrator sees and understands what is happening. The question asks how the author shows his view once the creature appears. Look for a method the author uses across several paragraphs.

  2. Track his guesses

    Follow what the narrator thinks the creature is:

    • Paragraph 6: “My first thought? A giant octopus.”
    • Paragraph 7: “I knew it was more than an octopus.”
    • Paragraph 8: “I knew what it had to be, but I wouldn’t allow myself to even think the two words.”
    • Paragraph 9: “Its eye was the size of a hubcap.”

  3. See the pattern

    Each step brings him closer to knowing what the creature is. First comes a guess, then a doubt, then a name he won’t let himself think. Finally a huge eye makes him scream. The author shows his growing realization, his slow understanding, one step at a time.

  4. Check each choice

    • C fits: “growing realization of the creature’s identity” matches his changing guesses, and identity means what something is.
    • A is wrong because his steps closer reveal little, while his thoughts change from paragraph to paragraph.
    • B is wrong because the octopus is only his first guess, not a rival, and he never talks about odds.
    • D is wrong because only the eye is compared to a hubcap, a cover on a car wheel.

    Watch out: D uses a real detail but gets it wrong. A hubcap is part of a wheel, not a whole vehicle.

  5. Choose the answer

    The author builds the narrator’s view by showing him slowly work out what he is looking at. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, because the narrator does move closer after he sees the creature, to “within fifty feet.” But his steps tell little about how he sees it. What changes from paragraph to paragraph is his thinking: his guesses grow until he understands. That is C.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 50 as printed on page 67 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 67, question 50. Open page 67 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 111 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 51
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.

From “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil” by Emma Marris from NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, July 24, 2014. Copyright © 2014 by National Geographic Society.

Chart titled “Possible Management of Non-Native Species, Based on Extent of Invasion,” plotting Area Affected by Non-Native Species (vertical axis) against Time (horizontal axis) as an S-shaped curve that stays low, then rises steeply and levels off high, where it is labeled “Widespread and abundant throughout range.” The time line is divided into four shaded stages, left to right: Prevention, “Species absent”; Eradication, “Few, localized populations”; Containment, “Rapid increase in populations”; and Local Control and Management Only, “Eradication no longer feasible; can only protect small areas based on economic and ecological need.” Markers on the curve show “Species introduced” at the end of Prevention, “Detection” within Eradication and “Public awareness begins” near the end of Containment, and two large arrows read “Management = simple; eradication likely” across Prevention and Eradication and “Management = difficult and costly; eradication unlikely or impossible” across Containment and Local Control and Management Only.

1stymie: hinder or interfere with

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt supports the conclusion that Elton’s “militaristic ‘invasion’ metaphor” (paragraph 1) has influenced scientific understanding of non-native species?

  • A“Among [Olden’s] 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.” (paragraph 5)
  • B“Regardless of what we label them, conservationists will be reluctant to remove them from their new environs—to do so would stymie their chances of adapting to the warmer future we’re creating.” (paragraph 8)
  • C“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)
  • D“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)
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt supports the conclusion that Elton’s “militaristic ‘invasion’ metaphor” (paragraph 1) has influenced scientific understanding of non-native species.

A. CORRECT. This sentence shows that of the 2,000 ecologists Olden polled, many said they think it is right to “immediately eradicate” non-native plants even if they are demonstrably harmless in their new environment. The response of these ecologists supports that Elton’s metaphor discussed in paragraph 1 has influenced scientific understanding.

B. Incorrect. Rather than supporting the idea that the militaristic metaphor has influenced scientists, this sentence shows that conservationists, at any rate, are happy to let non-native species thrive wherever they can, given global warming.

C. Incorrect. While this sentence does refer to efforts to eradicate a non-native species, the main point of it is that these efforts ended up harming a native species (the clapper rail shorebird).

D. Incorrect. In contrast to supporting the idea that the militaristic invasion metaphor has influenced scientific understanding of non-native species, this sentence puts forth the bold idea of treating non-native species as something to be welcomed.

Question analysis

This evidence question asks which sentence from an opinion article about non-native species supports the conclusion that ecologist Charles Elton's war-like “invasion” metaphor has shaped how scientists think. Students must work out what attitude the metaphor implies and then judge which quotation shows that attitude at work in science.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Finding evidence for a stated conclusion is grade 7 work. This conclusion is abstract, about a metaphor's influence on thinking, and the vocabulary, such as eradicate and environs, adds load, but the choices are fairly distinct.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 815 words; question and choices: about grade 16, 135 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A wording 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

The conclusion is abstract, that a figure of speech shaped how scientists think, so the student has to translate it into behavior: treating every non-native as an enemy to destroy. The spartina sentence describes exactly that kind of attack, which makes it tempting, but its point is the harm the attack did to a native bird. Two other sentences show conservationists and the author moving away from the invasion view, the opposite of what is asked.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The right sentence never mentions Elton or war; eradicating a plant even when it is “shown to have no effect” must be recognized as the invasion mindset, which Olden calls “guilty even when proven innocent”. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Militaristic”, “eradicate”, “environs” and “stymie” all appear in the stem or the choices, and only “stymie” is footnoted. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Work out what attitude the invasion metaphor encourages toward non-native species, then test each sentence for evidence that scientists hold that attitude.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook reads “many said they think it is right to “immediately eradicate” non-native species plants.” Paragraph 5 is about “a hypothetical non-native forest plant,” so the explanation now reads “non-native plants.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Unpack the conclusion

    A metaphor describes one thing as if it were another. In paragraph 1, Elton called the spread of non-native species an “invasion,” as if they were an enemy army. Militaristic means having to do with war. So the conclusion says this war-like way of talking has shaped how scientists think about non-native species.

  2. Picture that way of thinking

    If you see a species as an invader, you treat it as an enemy. You want to get rid of it, whether or not it does any harm. So look for a sentence that shows scientists thinking this way.

  3. Find the scientists’ answers

    Paragraph 5 describes a poll of nearly 2,000 ecologists, scientists who study living things and where they live. Many said they would “immediately eradicate,” or wipe out, a non-native plant. They would do it “even if it were shown to have no effect on the forest.” The plant would do no harm, yet they would destroy it. Olden calls this “guilty even when proven innocent.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits: scientists would destroy a harmless plant just because it is non-native, which is the invasion way of thinking.
    • B is wrong because conservationists being reluctant, or unwilling, to remove species is the opposite attitude.
    • C is wrong because its point is that removing the grass hurt a native bird, not what scientists believe.
    • D is wrong because the author argues for leaving non-natives alone, which goes against the invasion idea.

    Watch out: C describes an attack on a plant, so it sounds war-like. But it tells what happened, not how scientists think.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only A shows scientists treating a non-native species as an enemy, even when it is harmless. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C comes closest, because ripping out and poisoning a plant looks like the war the metaphor describes. But the sentence reports that this harmed the clapper rail. It doesn’t show what scientists believe. A shows many ecologists ready to destroy even a harmless plant, which is the invasion way of thinking at work.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 51 as printed on page 70 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 70, question 51. Open page 70 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
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 112 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 53

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil””.

Question

The author’s use of cause and effect in paragraphs 10–11 mainly emphasizes the idea that

  • Asome non-native species have helped their environments while others have had harmful impacts.
  • Battempts to remove non-native species have seldom produced desired results.
  • Csome endangered native species have flourished because of the presence of non-native species.
  • Dinteractions between endangered native species and non-native species must be carefully monitored.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks what the author’s use of cause and effect in paragraphs 10–11 mainly emphasizes.

A. Incorrect. The examples of cause and effect discussed in paragraphs 10–11, such as the spartina grass helping the clapper rail and the Japanese white-eye bird pollinating Hawaiian flowers, are all instances in which non-native species have helped their new environments.

B. Incorrect. While paragraph 10 does mention that efforts to eradicate the non-native spartina grass hurt the native clapper rail shorebird, the main emphasis in both paragraphs 10–11 is on the fact that certain non-native species have helped native species.

C. CORRECT. Paragraphs 10–11 focus on several examples of non-native species that have helped endangered native species flourish: non-native spartina grass providing “important habitat for the endangered California clapper rail” (paragraph 10), non-native tamarisk shrubs providing nesting places for the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher (paragraph 11), and the non-native Japanese white-eye bird pollinating Hawaiian flowers (paragraph 11).

D. Incorrect. While paragraphs 10–11 describe several interactions between non-native and native species, they never discuss monitoring these interactions.

Question analysis

This text-structure question asks what the cause-and-effect examples in two paragraphs of an article about non-native species mainly emphasize. The paragraphs describe a shorebird, a flycatcher and Hawaiian flowers, and students must decide what the examples have in common rather than fixing on any one of them.

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 Analyzing what a cause-and-effect structure emphasizes is grade 7 work, but these examples involve unfamiliar species and endangered status, and more than one choice is partly supported by the paragraphs, which raises the demand above typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 815 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 62 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 paragraphs mention harm as well as help, so a balanced statement about both looks accurate and even fair-minded. What the cause-and-effect pairs stress, though, is endangered natives depending on non-natives, and the right answer captures that while overstating it, since a bird whose numbers held up only with spartina's help can hardly be said to have flourished. Students must prefer the statement of the main emphasis to one that is partly supported but off the point.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The right choice and the help-and-harm choice both say non-natives have aided their surroundings; they part on harm, which the paragraphs do mention, spartina crowding out shorebirds and other non-natives killing Hawaii's pollinators, but only in passing. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Paragraph 10 states its cause and effect backwards, removing spartina sent clapper rail numbers “tumbling downward”, and the student must turn that around into the grass's presence helping the bird. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. An unfamiliar subject minor Understanding the question

    Five unfamiliar species crowd two paragraphs, spartina grass, the California clapper rail, tamarisk shrubs, the southwestern willow flycatcher and the Japanese white-eye, and each one's role must be kept straight. (Recht & Leslie, 1988; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: List each cause-and-effect pair in paragraphs 10 and 11, the species involved and what happened to them, then pick the statement that holds for the examples taken together.

Traps

  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    In a cause-and-effect pattern, one thing makes another happen. You need the main idea that the causes and effects in paragraphs 10 and 11 stress. Start by listing each pair.

  2. List each cause and effect

    • Paragraph 10: non-native spartina grass gives the endangered clapper rail a home, so when people ripped out the grass, clapper rail numbers went “tumbling downward.”
    • Paragraph 11: the endangered willow flycatcher nests in non-native tamarisk shrubs.
    • Paragraph 11: native Hawaiian flowers are now pollinated by a non-native bird, the Japanese white-eye.

  3. Find the common thread

    Endangered means at risk of dying out. Pollinated means a bird or bug carries pollen between flowers so they can make seeds. In every pair, a native species depends on a non-native one. The newcomer gives it a home, a place to nest or a pollinator. Two of the natives, the clapper rail and the flycatcher, are endangered. So the paragraphs stress that some endangered natives do better because non-natives are there.

  4. Check each choice

    • C fits: some endangered natives have “flourished,” or done well, because non-natives are present.
    • A is wrong because harm comes up only in passing, while every example stresses a native getting help.
    • B is wrong because one removal project is not enough to say removal “seldom” works.
    • D is wrong because the paragraphs never mention monitoring, or watching over, these relationships.

    Watch out: The paragraphs do mention harm. Spartina crowds out some other shorebirds, and other non-natives wiped out Hawaii’s native pollinators. So A sounds balanced, but it misses the main point.

  5. Choose the answer

    The causes and effects show struggling natives, two of them endangered, helped by non-natives. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, because the paragraphs mention harm as well as help. But the harm is only a side note. Every cause and effect shows a native relying on a non-native, and two of those natives are endangered birds. C names that main point, even though “flourished” is a strong word for birds that are still endangered.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 53 as printed on page 71 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 71, question 53. Open page 71 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 113 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 54

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil””.

Question

Which sentence from the excerpt supports the idea that some species are able to adjust to change?

  • A“Native gardens have become increasingly popular, both as ways to celebrate the unique flora of each region and as tiny hot spots of diversity.” (paragraph 3)
  • B“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.” (paragraph 11)
  • C“After all, nativeness is just one environmental value, and arguably not as important as preventing extinctions and preserving biodiversity.” (paragraph 14)
  • D“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.” (paragraph 15)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt supports the idea that some species are able to adjust to change.

A. Incorrect. This sentence discusses native gardens, featuring native species, which presumably have no need to adjust to change.

B. CORRECT. This sentence demonstrates that some species—in this case, Hawaiian flowers—have adapted well to change: the flowers thrive thanks to new pollinators.

C. Incorrect. This sentence focuses on the importance of “preventing extinctions and preserving biodiversity” but does not address the fact that being able to adjust to change is one thing that helps achieve those goals.

D. Incorrect. Far from demonstrating that some species can adjust to change, this sentence discusses species that were not adjusting to the loss of large tortoises and were therefore “on the decline.”

Question analysis

Using an article that argues not every non-native species is harmful, this evidence question asks students to pick the sentence showing that some species are able to adjust to change. Students must decide what adjusting to change would look like in nature, then find a quotation that actually shows a species doing it.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Selecting a sentence that supports an idea is typical grade 7 evidence work. The quotations are labeled, but the idea is stated generally and must be recognized inside a specific ecological example, a small inference that keeps the item at grade level.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 815 words; question and choices: about grade 14, 117 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 idea is general and every choice is specific, so the student must recognize adjustment inside an ecological example. The Mauritius sentence is the trap: the paragraph it comes from ends with a new tortoise taking over, which is adjustment, but the quoted sentence stops at the decline. Judging only the words quoted, and asking whether a species carried on after a change, separates the two.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The right sentence never says “adjust”; Hawaiian flowers now pollinated by a newcomer after their native pollinators died out must be recognized as species coping with a change. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The Hawaiian sentence and the Mauritius sentence both describe plants losing the animals that served them; they part on the outcome, a new pollinator or a decline. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: For each quotation, ask whether a species faces a change and whether the sentence shows it carrying on successfully; judge only the words quoted.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    To adjust to change means to keep going when something important in your world changes. You need a sentence that shows a species facing a change and carrying on. Judge only the words in each quoted sentence.

  2. Look for a change

    Choice B says the native pollinators of some Hawaiian flowers “have been driven extinct.” Extinct means gone forever. Pollinators are animals that carry pollen between flowers so the plants can make seeds. Losing them is a huge change for the flowers.

  3. Look for the adjustment

    The same sentence says the flowers “are now pollinated by the Japanese white-eye bird.” A new bird does the job the old pollinators used to do. So the flowers carried on after the change. That is adjusting.

  4. Check each choice

    • B fits: the flowers lost their pollinators and gained a new one.
    • A is wrong because native gardens are about what people like to plant, and no species adjusts to anything.
    • C is wrong because it states the author’s values and shows no species at all.
    • D is wrong because the plants “have been on the decline,” which means they are getting fewer, not adjusting.

    Watch out: Later in paragraph 15, a new tortoise takes over some of the lost tortoises’ work. But the sentence in D stops at the decline.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only B shows a species carrying on after a big change. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D comes closest, because it also shows plants losing the animals that helped them. But D’s sentence ends with the plants in decline. B’s sentence goes further: a new bird now does the work, so the flowers carry on. That is a species adjusting to change.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 54 as printed on page 71 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 71, question 54. Open page 71 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 114 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 56

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil””.

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.
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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)

  3. 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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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).

Question 115 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 16
Passage Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language”

Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language”

by Gretchen Reynolds

Many scientists suspect that exercise alters the biology of the brain in ways that make it more malleable and receptive to new information, a process that scientists refer to as plasticity.

But many questions have remained unanswered about movement and learning, including whether exercise is most beneficial before, during or after instruction and how much and what types of exercise might be best.

So for a new study, which was published recently in PLOS One, researchers in China and Italy decided to home in on language learning and the adult brain.

Language learning is interesting. As young children, almost all of us picked up our first language easily. We didn’t have to be formally taught; we simply absorbed words and concepts.

But by early adulthood, the brain generally begins to lose some of its innate language capability. It displays less plasticity in areas of the brain related to language. As a result, for most of us, it becomes harder to learn a second language after childhood.

To see what effects exercise might have on this process, the researchers first recruited 40 college-age Chinese men and women who were trying to learn English. The students had some facility with this second language but were far from proficient.

The researchers then divided the students into two groups. Those in one group would continue to learn English as they had before, primarily while seated in rote vocabulary-memorization sessions.

The others would supplement these sessions with exercise.

Specifically, the students would ride exercise bikes at a gentle pace (about 60 percent of their maximum aerobic capacity) beginning 20 minutes before the start of the lessons and continuing throughout the 15 minutes or so of instruction.

Both groups learned their new vocabulary by watching words projected onto large screens, together with comparable pictures, such as “apple” and a Red Delicious. They were shown 40 words per session, with the sequence repeated several times.

Afterward, the students all rested briefly and then completed a vocabulary quiz, using computer keys to note as quickly as possible whether a word was with its correct picture. They also responded to sentences using the new words, marking whether the sentences were accurate or, in the case of “The apple is a dentist,” nonsensical. Most linguists1 feel that understanding sentences shows greater mastery of a new language than does simple vocabulary improvement.

The students completed eight vocabulary sessions over the course of two months.

And at the end of each lesson, the students who had ridden bikes performed better on the subsequent vocabulary tests than did the students who sat still.

They also became more proficient at recognizing proper sentences than the sedentary students, although that difference did not emerge until after several weeks of instruction.

Perhaps most interesting, the gains in vocabulary and comprehension lingered longest for the cyclists. When the researchers asked the students to return to the lab for a final round of testing a month after the lessons—without practicing in the meantime—the cyclists remembered words and understood them in sentences more accurately than did the students who had not moved.

“The results suggest that physical activity during learning improves that learning,” says Simone Sulpizio, a professor of psychology and linguistics at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, Italy, and a study co-author.

These improvements extend beyond simply aiding in memorization, she added. The exercise also deepened language learners’ grasp of how to use their newly acquired words.

This study involved college students performing relatively light exercise, though, and cannot tell us whether other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results.

It also offers no clues about what is occurring inside the brain that might be contributing to the benefits of the exercise. But many past studies have shown that exercise prompts the release of multiple neurochemicals in the brain that increase the number of new brain cells and the connections between neurons, Dr. Sulpizio says. These effects improve the brain’s plasticity and augment the ability to learn.

From a real-world standpoint, the study’s implications might seem at first to be impractical. Few classrooms are equipped with stationary bicycles. But specialized equipment is probably unnecessary, Dr. Sulpizio says.

“We are not suggesting that schools or teachers buy lots of bicycles,” she says. “A simpler take-home message may be that instruction should be flanked by physical activity.”

From “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language” by Gretchen Reynolds from THE NEW YORK TIMES, August 16, 2017. Copyright © 2017 The New York Times Company.

1linguists: scientists who study language

Question

How does the author’s use of comparison in paragraphs 4 and 5 contribute to the development of ideas in the excerpt?

  • AIt identifies why many adults are never able to learn a second language.
  • BIt demonstrates why the study of adult language learning tries to include physical activity.
  • CIt highlights why more is known about language learning in children than about language learning in adults.
  • DIt explains why adults were the subjects of the study rather than children.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the author’s use of comparison in paragraphs 4 and 5 contributes to the development of ideas in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Paragraph 5 does not claim that adults are never able to learn a second language, only that “it becomes harder to learn a second language after childhood.”

B. Incorrect. The issue of physical activity is never addressed in these paragraphs. They compare the relative ease with which children and adults learn languages.

C. Incorrect. Paragraph 4 does not claim that more is known about language learning in children; in fact, it says that children simply absorb language easily and does not attempt to explain how.

D. CORRECT. Because adult brains lose the “innate language capability” of children and have less plasticity when it comes to language learning, the study chose to focus on adults and how exercise might help them learn new languages.

Question analysis

This text structure question asks how the comparison in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Gretchen Reynolds’s article about exercise and learning a new language moves the article forward. Students must connect what those paragraphs say about children’s and adults’ language learning to the study that follows, and judge four explanations of why the comparison matters.

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 section fits into an article is grade 7 work. Here students must link a comparison of children and adults to the study described later, and the article never states that link outright, which keeps it a solid grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 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

Paragraphs 4 and 5 are easy to summarize, children pick up a language easily and adults do not, but the question asks what that contrast sets up. Students who connect it to the article’s opening, about exercise and plasticity, decide it explains the exercise, while paragraph 6 shows it explains the choice of subjects. Reading the sentence right after the comparison, which recruits college-age learners to study “this process,” is the decisive step.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The article never says why the study used adults; the reader must join paragraph 5’s point that adult brains lose plasticity for language to paragraph 3’s “adult brain” and paragraph 6’s “this process.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what the comparison of children and adults does in the excerpt, so a fair summary of paragraphs 4 and 5 is not enough; its job in setting up the study must be named. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Sum up what paragraphs 4 and 5 compare, then read the paragraphs just before and after them and ask what that comparison sets up for the rest of the article.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why the author compares two things in paragraphs 4 and 5. A comparison shows how two things are alike or different. You need to say what this comparison does for the rest of the article. So find what is compared. Then see what comes next.

  2. Find the comparison

    Paragraph 4 is about children: “As young children, almost all of us picked up our first language easily.” Paragraph 5 is about adults: “by early adulthood, the brain generally begins to lose some of its innate language capability.” Innate means something you are born with. Then it says “it becomes harder to learn a second language after childhood.” So children learn languages easily, and adults find it harder.

  3. See what the comparison sets up

    In paragraph 3, “language learning and the adult brain” is named as the study’s focus. Right after the comparison, paragraph 6 says: “To see what effects exercise might have on this process, the researchers first recruited 40 college-age Chinese men and women.” This process means the way adults lose some of that easy learning. So the comparison explains why the study used adults. Adults are the ones who need the help.

  4. Check each choice

    • D fits. Adults lose some of their skill with language, so the study tested adults.
    • A says adults are “never able” to learn. Paragraph 5 only says it “becomes harder.”
    • B brings in exercise. But paragraphs 4 and 5 never mention exercise.
    • C says scientists know more about children. Paragraph 4 says nothing about what scientists know.

    Watch out: B is tempting because the whole article is about exercise. But the reason to try exercise comes from paragraphs 1 and 2, not from this comparison.

  5. Pick the answer

    The comparison shows that adults struggle with new languages more than children do. That is why the researchers studied adults. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because exercise is the study’s big idea. But paragraphs 4 and 5 compare only children and adults. They never mention exercise. Their job is to show why adults, not children, were the people studied. That is D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 16 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 2025 Admissions, page 173, question 16. 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 Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language”” as printed (pages 171–172)The passage “Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language”” as printed on page 171 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language”” as printed on page 172 of the DOE handbook.

Question 116 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 19

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language””.

Question

In the study described in the excerpt, researchers asked English learners to assess the sense of words in context because that task is

  • Abetter at determining the capability learners have of language than simple vocabulary recall.
  • Bconsistent with the way earlier research was conducted on adult language learners.
  • Ca better way for learners to absorb the meaning of individual vocabulary words.
  • Dmore difficult for learners to perform after an extended period of time has passed.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks why the researchers in the excerpt asked the English learners to assess whether the new words made sense in the context of actual sentences.

A. CORRECT. As stated in paragraph 11, “Most linguists feel that understanding sentences shows greater mastery of a new language” than mere memorization of new words, so the researchers realized that asking learners to assess words in context would be a better measure of how well they learned the new words.

B. Incorrect. The excerpt never addresses how earlier research on adult language learners was conducted.

C. Incorrect. Having learners respond to the new words in context was used not as a teaching tool but rather to assess learners’ mastery (paragraph 11).

D. Incorrect. The excerpt describes how proficiency at assessing words in context began to emerge “after several weeks of instruction” (paragraph 14) and never suggests that the task became more difficult after an extended period of time.

Question analysis

This key-details question asks why the researchers in the exercise and language-learning study had students judge whether sentences using their new English words made sense. Students must find the reason the article gives and recognize it in reworded form, while weighing choices that each sound like a sensible reason to use such a task.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Finding a reason the text states outright is routine grade 7 reading. The stem rewords the sentence task as judging “the sense of words in context,” so students must match ideas across different wording, which keeps it at grade level.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 75 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 stem rewords the sentence task as assessing “the sense of words in context,” so students first have to recognize it as the quiz with lines like “The apple is a dentist.” Once that paragraph is found, its last sentence supplies the reason. The common error is to forget that the sentences came in the quiz, not the lessons, and so treat them as a way of teaching words.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The article never says why the researchers added sentences; the reason is the linguists’ view that closes paragraph 11, “understanding sentences shows greater mastery,” placed right after the task. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Find the paragraph that describes the quiz with sentences such as “The apple is a dentist,” and read to the end of it for the reason the article gives.

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why the researchers had students judge whether sentences made sense. The question calls this “assess the sense of words in context.” Context means the words around a word. So find where the article describes this task. Then look for the reason it gives.

  2. Find the task in the passage

    Paragraph 11 describes the quiz. The students “responded to sentences using the new words.” They marked whether each sentence was right or “nonsensical,” which means it makes no sense. One example was “The apple is a dentist.” The very next sentence gives the reason for this task.

  3. Read the reason

    Paragraph 11 ends by saying most linguists feel that “understanding sentences shows greater mastery of a new language than does simple vocabulary improvement.” Linguists are scientists who study language. Mastery means real skill. So knowing how to use a word in a sentence shows more skill than just remembering it. That is why the researchers tested sentences.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Judging sentences shows more about a learner’s skill than recalling words. Recall means remembering.
    • B: the article never says how earlier studies were done.
    • C: the sentence task came in the quiz after each lesson. It tested learning. It was not a way to teach words.
    • D: paragraph 14 says the cyclists’ lead on sentences took “several weeks” to show up. That doesn’t mean the task got harder.

    Watch out: C is tempting if you forget when the sentences came. The words were taught with pictures on screens.

  5. Pick the answer

    The researchers used sentences because they show deeper skill than word recall. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because sentences can help people learn words. But in this study the sentences came in the quiz, after the lesson. They measured what students knew. A matches the reason the article gives: understanding sentences “shows greater mastery” than knowing words.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 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 2025 Admissions, page 174, question 19. Open page 174 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 117 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language””.

Question

Read these sentences from paragraph 17.

These improvements extend beyond simply aiding in memorization, she added. The exercise also deepened language learners’ grasp of how to use their newly acquired words.

Which sentence from the excerpt best explains why Sulpizio feels confident in the conclusion stated in these sentences?

  • A“They were shown 40 words per session, with the sequence repeated several times.” (paragraph 10)
  • B“They also responded to sentences using the new words, marking whether the sentences were accurate or, in the case of ‘The apple is a dentist,’ nonsensical.” (paragraph 11)
  • C“And at the end of each lesson, the students who had ridden bikes performed better on the subsequent vocabulary tests than did the students who sat still.” (paragraph 13)
  • D“They also became more proficient at recognizing proper sentences than the sedentary students, although that difference did not emerge until after several weeks of instruction.” (paragraph 14)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which sentence from the excerpt best supports Sulpizio’s assertion in paragraph 17 that exercise went beyond helping with memorization to deepen the language learners’ ability to use new vocabulary.

A. Incorrect. This sentence merely describes what the language-learning sessions were like, without making any claims about how the exercise affected the subjects’ understanding of how to use new words.

B. Incorrect. While this sentence does address the fact that learners were required to think about how the new words should be used rather than just memorizing the words, it does not discuss results such as how the exercise affected their ability to do this.

C. Incorrect. This sentence establishes only that exercise helped with the memorization of new words, not that exercise deepened learners’ grasp of how to use the new words.

D. CORRECT. The fact that learners who exercised were better at identifying when the new words were used correctly in sentences directly supports Sulpizio’s assertion that the exercise deepened their grasp of how to use the new words.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question quotes Simone Sulpizio’s conclusion that exercise did more than help learners memorize new English words. Students choose the sentence from the article that best explains why she can be confident of it. All four choices come from the article’s account of the study, so students must match evidence to the exact claim rather than to its general topic.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 evidence questions usually match a quotation to a stated claim. This claim has two parts, gains beyond memorizing and a better grasp of usage, and two quotations touch it closely, a sharper test than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 142 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

Sulpizio’s claim has two parts, gains beyond memorizing and a better grasp of using words, and two of the quotations each touch one part. The vocabulary result is real evidence that exercise helped, but of the very memorizing she says the gains went beyond, and the sentence-task description mentions using words but reports no result. Only a result about sentences proves the claim, so the question rewards asking of each line what it shows, not what it is about.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The vocabulary-test result in paragraph 13 and the sentence result in paragraph 14 are worded alike, cyclists outperforming students who sat still; only the skill measured, memorizing words or using them, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must map the claim’s two halves onto the study’s two measures: vocabulary tests show memorization, and recognizing proper sentences shows the “grasp of how to use” new words. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The four quotations come from paragraphs 10, 11, 13 and 14, and each must be weighed against a claim made later, in paragraph 17. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Pin down what the quoted claim says the exercise achieved, then test each sentence by asking whether it reports a result that proves that specific achievement.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    Sulpizio says the exercise did more than help students memorize words. It “deepened language learners’ grasp of how to use their newly acquired words.” A grasp is an understanding. You need the sentence that best proves this claim. Proof should be a result, not just a description.

  2. Break the claim into two parts

    • Part 1: the gains went “beyond simply aiding in memorization.” Memorization is learning words by heart.
    • Part 2: the cyclists got better at using the words.

    So the proof must show the bike riders did better with words in sentences. A test that only checks memory won’t prove it.

  3. Check each choice

    • A (paragraph 10) tells how many words were shown. It gives no result.
    • B (paragraph 11) describes the sentence task. But it doesn’t say who did better.
    • C (paragraph 13) is a result. But it is about “vocabulary tests,” which check memory. That is the part she says the gains went beyond.
    • D (paragraph 14) says the cyclists “became more proficient at recognizing proper sentences than the sedentary students.” Proficient means skilled. Sedentary means sitting still. That is a result about using words.

  4. Pick the answer

    Watch out: C is very tempting. It shows that exercise helped. But it proves the wrong kind of help. Only one choice shows the cyclists did better at using words in sentences. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. Both C and D say the bike riders beat the students who sat still. The difference is the skill that was tested. C’s vocabulary tests show memory. D’s sentence test shows the learners knew how to use the words, which is exactly Sulpizio’s claim.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 20 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 2025 Admissions, page 174, question 20. Open page 174 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 118 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 21

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language””.

Question

Paragraph 18 shows that the author’s perspective toward the study described in the excerpt is that

  • Athough the study allowed some conclusions to be drawn, these conclusions are limited.
  • Bwhile the study focused on moderate exercise, it would have been better to focus on difficult exercise.
  • Cwhile the study was performed appropriately, it is doubtful the results can be duplicated.
  • Dthough the study was about learning language, its conclusions can be applied to learning in general.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what paragraph 18 reveals about the author’s perspective toward the study in the excerpt.

A. CORRECT. As paragraph 18 says, the study cannot address “whether other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results” as college students riding bikes.

B. Incorrect. While paragraph 18 mentions that the students performed “relatively light exercise,” it never suggests that more rigorous exercise should have been studied, only that it is still unknown what the impact on language learning would be for other populations doing other types of exercise.

C. Incorrect. Paragraph 18 points out only that the study’s results cannot be generalized to other populations performing other types of exercise and never speculates on whether the study’s results could be duplicated.

D. Incorrect. Far from claiming that the study’s results could be applied more broadly to learning in general, paragraph 18 points out the ways in which the study’s results cannot be applied more broadly.

Question analysis

This author’s perspective question asks what paragraph 18 of the article on exercise and language learning shows about how the author views the study. The paragraph is a single sentence, so the difficulty lies in the four choices, each of which pairs a fair-sounding statement about the study with a judgment that must be checked against the paragraph.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Identifying how an author judges a study is grade 7 work on author’s position. Paragraph 18 is a single plain sentence, but the choices make fine distinctions about what research can and cannot show, which keeps the task at grade level.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 75 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 18 is a single plain sentence, but its “though” marks a turn from reporting the study to limiting it. Every choice frames the author’s view as a concession followed by a doubt or a hope, so students must test the second half against what the sentence says cannot be known. Confusing results that may not apply to other people with results that may not be repeatable is the main trap.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The right choice and the one about duplicating the results both grant the study something and then cast doubt; they differ only in the doubt, about applying the results to others or about repeating the study. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Paragraph 18 states a fact, that the study “cannot tell us whether other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results,” and the author’s judgment must be read from it. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate paragraph 18 in your own words before looking at the choices, then pick the choice that says the same thing, checking each word of it against the paragraph.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how the author feels about the study, based on paragraph 18. The author’s perspective is the author’s point of view. Paragraph 18 is just one sentence, so read it closely.

  2. Read paragraph 18

    It says: “This study involved college students performing relatively light exercise, though, and cannot tell us whether other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results.” The word though signals a turn. Up to now, the author has reported good results. Here the author points out a limit.

  3. Put it in your own words

    The study tested only one kind of person doing one kind of exercise. So we know what happened to college students on bikes. We don’t know if older people, or people who run or swim, would get the same results. The study tells us something, but not everything. Its conclusions are limited, which means they only go so far.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The study gave some answers, but they are limited.
    • B says the study should have used hard exercise. The author never wishes for that. “Relatively light” is just a fact about the study.
    • C says the results may not be duplicated, which means done again with the same results. The author doubts something else: whether the results apply to other people and exercise.
    • D says the results apply to all learning. Paragraph 18 says the opposite.

  5. Pick the answer

    Watch out: C sounds doubtful, just like paragraph 18. But it doubts the wrong thing. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because paragraph 18 does raise a doubt. But the doubt is not about repeating the study. It is about whether “other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results.” That means the conclusions are limited, which is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 as printed on page 175 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 175, question 21. Open page 175 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 119 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “How Exercise Could Help You Learn a New Language””.

Question

Which evidence from the excerpt is most relevant to the author’s claim that there are many unanswered questions about the relationship between movement and learning?

  • Athe method of the study using one type of exercise and people from one age group
  • Bthe statement from Sulpizio explaining past studies on neurochemicals in the brain
  • Cthe finding of the study that exercise helps people recall information over a long period of time
  • Dthe statement from Sulpizio describing how the results of the study can be applied
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which evidence from the excerpt is most relevant to the author’s claim that there are many unanswered questions about the relationship between movement and learning.

A. CORRECT. While the study revealed that the college students who used exercise bikes did better in their language learning, paragraph 18 indicates that we cannot know “whether other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results,” suggesting that there are many unknowns about the relationship between movement and learning.

B. Incorrect. Rather than supporting the claim that there are many unanswered questions about the relationship between movement and learning, this statement offers a possible explanation as to why exercise might improve learning.

C. Incorrect. The finding that exercise helps people retain their language learning longer (paragraph 15) adds to our understanding of the relationship between movement and learning rather than supporting the claim that there are still many unanswered questions.

D. Incorrect. Sulpizio’s statement that the study suggests that “ ‘instruction should be flanked by physical activity’ ” (paragraph 21) does not in any way address the issue of unanswered questions about movement and learning.

Question analysis

This evidence question asks which part of the exercise and language-learning article is most relevant to the author’s early claim that many questions about movement and learning remain unanswered. The choices describe parts of the article in general terms rather than quoting them, so students must locate each one and judge how it bears on that claim.

NYS standards
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students trace claims and judge whether evidence is relevant. Here the claim appears early, the evidence is described in summary rather than quoted, and students must see an indirect link across the article, which demands more than usual.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 84 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 choices describe evidence instead of quoting it, so each must first be located and then weighed against a claim made near the start of the article. The trap is the neurochemical statement: its paragraph begins by admitting what the study cannot show, but the statement itself offers an answer from past research. The key is easy to undervalue because it sounds like a plain description of the method, until it is linked to paragraph 18’s account of what the study cannot tell us.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The right choice names a method, not a question; students must see that one light exercise tried on college students leaves open paragraph 2’s “what types of exercise might be best,” as paragraph 18 says. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The claim sits in paragraph 2, and the choices are short labels that must be traced to paragraphs 15, 18, 19 and 21 before any of them can be judged. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Reread the claim in paragraph 2, then find where each choice’s material appears in the article and ask how directly it bears on that claim.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    The author claims there are many unanswered questions about movement and learning. You need the evidence that best supports that claim. Evidence is the facts that back up a point. So look for something that shows a question is still open, not something that answers one.

  2. Find the claim

    Paragraph 2 says “many questions have remained unanswered about movement and learning.” It names some. One is whether exercise helps most “before, during or after instruction.” Another is “how much and what types of exercise might be best.” Instruction means teaching.

  3. Find what the study left open

    The study used one kind of exercise, light biking. It also used one age group, college students. Paragraph 18 says the study “cannot tell us whether other people completing other types of exercise would achieve the same results.” So the question of “what types of exercise” work best is still open. That is what choice A describes.

  4. Check the other choices

    • B: in paragraph 19, Sulpizio says past studies show exercise releases “neurochemicals,” or brain chemicals, that help learning. That offers an answer, not an open question.
    • C: the finding in paragraph 15, that cyclists remembered words longer, answers a question.
    • D: Sulpizio’s advice in paragraph 21 says how to use the results. It says nothing about what is still unknown.

    Watch out: Paragraph 19 begins with something the study can’t explain, so B is tempting. But Sulpizio’s statement itself gives an explanation.

  5. Pick the answer

    Only the study’s narrow method shows that big questions remain. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because its paragraph starts by admitting the study “offers no clues” about the brain. But Sulpizio then fills that gap with what past studies found. A points to what is truly still unknown: whether other people and other kinds of exercise would get the same results.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 as printed on page 175 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 175, question 22. Open page 175 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 120 of 120

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.
What makes it hard
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.

  1. 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)

  2. 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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.