SHSAT Sunset

Practice Test

Above grade 7

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Question 1 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 10
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

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.
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 2 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 3 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 17
Passage Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness

Excerpt from A Voice in the Wilderness

by Grace Livingston Hill

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

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

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

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

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

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.
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 4 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 5 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 31
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

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.
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 6 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 7 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 37
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

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

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

Correct answer: C

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students trace how a central idea is developed, usually through a few supporting details. Here the strands to weigh run through six dense paragraphs of dates, mills and worker groups, and the stem is long and passive, so it asks more than typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 63 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A grammatical error in the explanation was corrected.
  • An inaccurate detail in the explanation was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

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

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The workforce choice is the key with one half removed: both describe the people who worked the mills, but only the key also names the development of the mills, which paragraph 2 builds with dates and numbers. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The industrial picture is built in two stages, the canals and mills of paragraph 2 and the successive workforces of paragraphs 3 to 6, so each choice must be measured against the whole passage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    Six paragraphs pack in mill names, dates from 1821 to the 1950s and a string of worker groups, from Yankee mill girls to Irish, French-Canadian and Greek immigrants. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  4. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The stem is a long passive sentence that quotes paragraph 1 inside it and holds the real question, “primarily through a description of the,” until its last words. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

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

Traps

  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This is a central idea question. A central idea is a main point that the whole passage builds. The point here is that Lowell was “one of America’s most significant industrial cities.” Significant means important. You need the description that does the most to show this.

  2. Map the six paragraphs

    • Paragraph 1: Lowell grows from a farm town into a famous industrial city.
    • Paragraph 2: The mills: canals, huge brick buildings, mills started across the 1800s, and by the 1850s, “40 textile mills employing over 10,000 workers.”
    • Paragraphs 3 and 4: The Yankee “mill girls” who worked in the mills.
    • Paragraphs 5 and 6: The Irish and other immigrants who took their place.

  3. See how the picture is built

    The passage shows Lowell’s importance in two parts. First it describes the mills: how they were built and how big they grew. Then it follows the workers who ran them, group after group. Together, the mills and the workforce show a major industrial city. Workforce means all the people who do the work. Either part alone tells only half the story.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Paragraph 5 does say the Irish built the canals, mills and boardinghouses. But that is one fact in one sentence, not the main description.
    • B is wrong. The mill girls and immigrants fill paragraphs 3 to 6. But this choice leaves out the mills themselves, the heart of paragraph 2.
    • C is right. It covers both parts: how the mills grew and the workers who kept them running.
    • D is wrong. Lowell did become an “ethnic melting pot.” But a mix of cultures doesn’t show that a city was an industrial leader.

    Watch out: Four of the six paragraphs are about workers, so B looks like the main thread. It is only half of it.

  5. Choose the answer

    The central idea is carried by the growth of the mills plus the workforce gathered to run them. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 37 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 52 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 52, question 37. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
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 8 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 9 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 41

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

Question

Which sentence best summarizes the mill girls’ experience as the dominant workforce in Lowell?

  • AThe mill girls were eager to leave their domestic duties and small towns behind, so they went to work in the mills of Lowell.
  • BOriginally, the mill girls were satisfied to work in Lowell, but as they left their jobs at the Lowell mills, immigrants arrived to fill the empty positions.
  • CYoung women left home to work in the Lowell mills, but the mill girls soon became dissatisfied with the working conditions and rigid boardinghouse rules.
  • DThe mill girls embraced city life when they came to work in Lowell’s mills, but when their protests about unfavorable working conditions went unanswered, they left.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the sentence that best summarizes the mill girls’ time as the dominant workforce in Lowell.

A. Incorrect. While the passage explains that mill girls were initially eager to leave the domestic duties of life in rural areas, the summary sentence does not address the details about the mill girls’ time working in the mills or the changes that led the mill girls to leave the industry.

B. Incorrect. Mill girls initially found satisfaction in the mill work and lifestyle, and when they did leave, immigrants filled the empty jobs. This summary sentence, however, does not address the details about the mill girls’ time as the primary workforce in Lowell or the circumstances that led them to leave their jobs in the mid-1800s.

C. Incorrect. Mill girls did leave home to work in the Lowell mills, and they did grow dissatisfied over time, but this summary sentence does not include details about the mill girls’ actions to improve the working conditions.

D. CORRECT. This sentence summary best captures the mill girls’ experience as outlined in paragraphs 3 and 4. The sentence concisely summarizes both the women’s initial excitement about the opportunity to live independently (“Women found that Lowell’s mills offered monthly wages for their services and provided them room and board” [paragraph 3]) and their eventual inability to secure better working conditions (“When their demands went unheard, the women left Lowell, and immigrant groups replaced them in the workforce” [paragraph 4]).

Question analysis

This summary question asks which sentence best sums up the experience of the Yankee mill girls during the years they were Lowell's main workforce. Students must pull together the account spread over paragraphs 3 and 4, and every choice is a two-part sentence that sounds accurate, so each must be checked for what it includes, what it leaves out and what it gets slightly wrong.

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 Summarizing part of a text is a grade 7 standard, usually tested with one clearly complete choice. Here all four summaries are long, two-part and largely accurate, so ranking them by completeness and precision 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 15, 764 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 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

This is a completeness question: every summary is built from true pieces of paragraphs 3 and 4, and the right one is the only one that runs from arrival to departure with the cause in between. Students who stop at dissatisfaction feel they have the whole arc, because the turn against working conditions is the story's middle. Writing a one-line summary first, with a beginning, a turning point and an end, makes the gaps in the others easy to see.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four summaries are two-part sentences of 24 to 27 words that sound accurate, so each has to be checked for what it leaves out: the arrival, the wage cuts and protests, or the departure. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The dissatisfaction summary shares the key's shape, women coming to the mills and then turning against their working conditions; it differs only in the ending, where the key has unanswered protests and the women leaving. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The mill girls' story runs from paragraph 3, on why they came and how they lived, to paragraph 4, on wage cuts, strikes and their departure in the 1840s. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Write your own one-sentence summary of paragraphs 3 and 4 before reading the choices, then compare each choice with it claim by claim, including its words about timing and cause.

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.

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 best summary. A summary retells the main events in a few words. It covers the beginning, the middle and the end. Here you sum up the mill girls’ time as Lowell’s main workforce. Their story is in paragraphs 3 and 4.

  2. Find the beginning of their story

    Paragraph 3 says the women came for “independent industrial city life.” They found that the mills “offered monthly wages for their services and provided them room and board.” Room and board means a place to live and meals. So at first, they were glad to come. Their days were long, though, and the rules were strict.

  3. Find the middle and the end

    Paragraph 4 gives the turning point. In the 1840s, profits fell and the mills cut wages. “These wage cuts, deteriorating working conditions, and long workdays” led the women to protest and strike. Deteriorating means getting worse. Then comes the end: “When their demands went unheard, the women left Lowell.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It tells only why they came. It stops before their years at work and their leaving.
    • B is wrong. It has the start and the end. But it skips the middle: the wage cuts and protests that made them leave.
    • C is wrong. It has the start and the unhappy middle, but no protests and no leaving. Also, “soon” is off, since the trouble came years later, in the 1840s.
    • D is right. It covers all three parts: they embraced city life, protested bad conditions, and left when no one listened. Embraced means happily welcomed.

    Watch out: C feels complete because it ends with the women unhappy. But their story doesn’t end there. They protested, and then they left.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one summary runs from the mill girls’ arrival to their leaving, with the cause in between. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. Like D, it starts with the women coming to the mills and then growing unhappy. But it stops there. It leaves out the protests and the women leaving Lowell, which is how their time as the main workforce ended. D tells the whole story.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 41 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 A English, page 56, question 41.

Question 10 of 120

2026 Practice Test A English, question 45
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 sentence could best follow sentence 13 to support the ideas in the third paragraph (sentences 11–14)?

  • AA global study of 7,600 workers from sixteen countries revealed that employees who worked in spaces with natural elements, such as indoor plants, were more creative and productive than employees who worked in spaces without natural elements.
  • BSpecifically, a study suggests that one well-known hotel is popular among guests because its owners have made a significant investment in landscaping and indoor plants known to have a relaxing effect.
  • CIn fact, one recent study suggested that people who are routinely exposed to natural elements seem to increase their compassion for others, perhaps because that exposure generates compassion for the environment in which they live.
  • DAccording to a study that was conducted in 2003, plants can reduce the amount of noise that people perceive in indoor spaces with hard surfaces, just as adding carpet can make a room seem quieter.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the sentence that could best follow sentence 13 to support the ideas in the third paragraph (sentences 11–14).

A. CORRECT. The sentence could best follow sentence 13 because it directly supports the main idea of the third paragraph that indoor plants provide “psychological benefits” (sentence 11) by presenting the findings of a relevant research study. The details about the study provide a concrete example of the mental benefits of indoor plants: the employees in the study who worked near plants “were more creative” and accomplished more than those who worked in spaces without plants.

B. Incorrect. Although the sentence describes a study in which indoor plants were found to have a positive effect, it does not clearly support the ideas in sentences 11–14, because the sentence focuses on the popularity of the hotel rather than psychological benefits. Therefore, this sentence does not best follow sentence 13 to support the ideas in the third paragraph.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence suggests that being “routinely exposed to natural elements” can increase the positive emotion of compassion, it could not best follow sentence 13, because the reference to “natural elements” is too vague to sufficiently support the ideas in the third paragraph. The sentence does not logically follow the idea from sentence 13, which refers specifically to “encountering natural elements while indoors.”

D. Incorrect. The sentence develops the idea that indoor plants are helpful by comparing them to carpeting and stating that they can reduce the amount of noise that people perceive. Noise cancellation, though convenient, is irrelevant to the topic of the third paragraph, which is specific to the psychological benefits of indoor plants. Therefore, this sentence does not best follow sentence 13 to support the ideas in the third paragraph.

Question analysis

This supporting-details question asks which sentence could best follow sentence 13 to back up the third paragraph (sentences 11–14) of the indoor-plants passage. All four options report a study or finding about plants or nature, so students must check each against what the paragraph is about and where sentence 13 leaves off.

NYS standards
  • 7W2b developing a topic
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 writers choose relevant evidence for a point. Here each option is a long sentence describing a plausible study, and the best fit depends on matching the paragraph's exact point, a finer judgment 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: about grade 12, 346 words; question and choices: about grade 15, 151 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 option cites a study about plants or nature, and two name feelings, a relaxing effect and compassion, which sound more psychological than the key's creativity and productivity. The decision rests on two conditions from the paragraph: the benefit must be psychological, and the nature must be indoors. Students who test only one condition end up with the compassion study, which is not about indoor spaces, or the hotel, whose finding is about popularity.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The compassion choice and the key both report a study tying natural elements to a mental effect; the compassion study drops the indoor setting that sentence 13 specifies and turns to caring for others. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    The added sentence sits between sentence 13's research on “encountering natural elements while indoors” and sentence 14's one plant per 100 square feet, so it must give evidence about nature indoors. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    The options run 31 to 37 words, each describing a different study, so four separate findings must be read and held against the paragraph's point. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate sentences 11 and 13 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it gives evidence for that exact point or for a related benefit the paragraph does not discuss.

Traps

  • Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.

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 revising question asks for a supporting detail. A supporting detail is a fact or example that backs up a paragraph’s point. The new sentence goes after sentence 13, in the third paragraph. So first pin down that paragraph’s exact point.

  2. Find the paragraph’s point

    Sentence 11 states it: “Adding plants to indoor spaces has psychological benefits too.” Psychological benefits are good effects on the mind and feelings. Sentence 13 adds that “encountering natural elements while indoors can also help.” Natural elements are bits of nature, like plants.

  3. Set two tests

    So the new sentence must pass two tests. First, it must show a benefit for the mind. Second, it must be about nature indoors. Think of a paragraph about how bedtime reading helps kids sleep. A study about bedtime reading would fit. A study about reading on the bus would not.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. Workers near “natural elements, such as indoor plants,” were “more creative and productive.” Creative means good at new ideas. Productive means getting more done. Both are benefits for the mind, and the plants are indoors.
    • B is wrong. The finding is that a hotel is popular with guests. That is about business, not people’s minds.
    • C is wrong. It is about being “routinely exposed to natural elements” anywhere, not indoors. Its benefit is caring for others.
    • D is wrong. Making a room seem quieter is about sound, not the mind.

    Watch out: C names a feeling, compassion, so it sounds like a benefit for the mind. But it drops the indoor setting that sentence 13 is about.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one choice shows a benefit for the mind from nature indoors. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because compassion is a feeling. But its study is about natural elements in general, not inside a building. Sentence 13 is about nature indoors, and sentence 14 tells how many plants to put in a room. A fits right between them.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 63 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 63, question 45.
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 11 of 120

2026 Practice Test A Math, question 8

Question

Liam and Kevin each collect stamps. Liam has twice as many stamps as Kevin. Liam gives 8 of his stamps to Kevin. Liam now has 12 more stamps than Kevin.

How many stamps did Liam start with?

Select the correct answer from each drop-down to complete the sentences.

An equation that relates the number of stamps originally in Liam’s and Kevin’s collections is L=L = KK.

After Liam gives 8 stamps to Kevin, the equation becomes L−8=L - 8 = .

By solving the equation, it can be determined that Liam started with stamps.

Choose an answer from each menu, 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.

Show the answer

Correct answer: blank 1: 2; blank 2: K + 20; blank 3: 56

Liam originally has twice as many stamps as Kevin, so the equation is L=2KL = 2K.

After Liam gives 8 stamps to Kevin, the equation becomes L−8=(K+8)+12L - 8 = (K + 8) + 12, which simplifies to L−8=K+20L - 8 = K + 20.

Substitute L=2KL = 2K into the equation: 2K−8=K+202K - 8 = K + 20.

Solve for K:

2K−K=20+82K - K = 20 + 8

K=28K = 28

Substitute to find L: L=2K=2×28=56L = 2K = 2 \times 28 = 56.

So, Liam started with 56 stamps.

Question analysis

This word problem about two stamp collections is answered with three drop-down menus: an equation for the starting counts, an equation for after Liam gives Kevin 8 stamps, and the number Liam started with. Students turn "twice as many" and "12 more" into algebra and solve. Tracking both boys' counts before and after the gift is the tricky part, and every menu must be right.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.8c systems in real-world problems
  • 7.EE.4 equations and inequalities from problems
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve one equation in one unknown. The menus lay out the equations, but the problem still ties two unknowns together before and after a gift, a grade 8 system, and all three menus must be right.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
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 menus do much of the setting up, since each sentence already shows the shape of its equation. The second menu is the hard one: the 8 stamps leave Liam and join Kevin before the gap of 12 is measured. Solving gives Kevin's 28 first, and K + 20 then equals 48, Liam's count after the gift, which waits on the last menu beside his starting 56. Testing each starting count against the story is a quick check on the last menu.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    The gift changes both counts, so "Liam now has 12 more stamps than Kevin" compares Liam's L − 8 with Kevin's K + 8, and the second menu's K + 20 holds a 20 that appears nowhere in the stem. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

    Each boy has a count before and after the gift, four numbers in all, and all three menus must be right; the last asks for Liam's start, not the 48 he has after giving 8 away. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Let K be Kevin's starting count, write each boy's count after the gift in terms of K, and set Liam's 12 above Kevin's; testing each number in the last menu is a fast check.

Traps

  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.
  • Follows a key word: Picks the operation from a single word rather than the situation: "removed" so subtract, "of" so multiply, "more" so add, when the situation needs something else.
  • Equation written backwards: Writes a comparison the wrong way round, word for word: "six times as many students as professors" as 6S = P. The bigger quantity gets the bigger number.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Twice as many as
L=2KL = 2K
L is the number of stamps Liam starts with, and K is the number Kevin starts with. Twice as many means 2 times as many, so Liam’s count is 2 times Kevin’s. Because L and 2K are equal, you can put 2K in place of L in any equation.
Doing the same to both sides
if a=b, then a+c=b+c\text{if } a = b \text{, then } a + c = b + c
a and b are the two sides of an equation, and c is any number or term. An equation is like a balanced scale. Add the same thing to both sides, or take the same thing away from both, and the scale stays level. This is how you move a term to the other side.

  1. Sort out the question

    Let L be Liam’s stamps at the start and K be Kevin’s. You know three facts:

    • Liam has twice as many stamps as Kevin.
    • Liam gives 8 of his stamps to Kevin.
    • After that, Liam has 12 more stamps than Kevin.

    The first menu finishes the starting equation. The second finishes the equation after the gift. The third is Liam’s count at the start.

  2. Fill in the first menu

    Twice as many means 2 times as many. Liam has twice as many as Kevin, so:

    L=2KL = 2K

    Pick 2 in the first menu.

    Watch out: the 0.5 in the menu turns the fact around. L=0.5KL = 0.5K would give Liam half as many as Kevin. Liam has more, so his count must be the bigger one.

  3. Write both counts after the gift

    The gift changes both counts. Liam loses 8 stamps, and Kevin gains those same 8.

    • Liam now has L−8L - 8 stamps.
    • Kevin now has K+8K + 8 stamps.

    Liam has 12 more than Kevin. So Liam’s count equals Kevin’s count plus 12:

    L−8=(K+8)+12=K+20L - 8 = (K + 8) + 12 = K + 20

    Pick K + 20 in the second menu.

    Watch out: the 12 goes on Kevin’s count, not Liam’s. Picking L + 12 adds it to the wrong boy.

  4. Solve for K

    Now use the first equation. Since L=2KL = 2K, put 2K in place of L:

    2K−8=K+202K - 8 = K + 20

    Subtract K from both sides. Then add 8 to both sides. Each move keeps the scale level.

    K−8=20K - 8 = 20

    K=28K = 28

    Kevin started with 28 stamps.

  5. Find Liam’s starting count

    Liam started with twice as many as Kevin:

    L=2K=2×28=56L = 2K = 2 \times 28 = 56

    Liam started with 56 stamps.

    Watch out: K+20=48K + 20 = 48 is Liam’s count after the gift. The menu offers 48, but the question asks about the start.

    So the menus read 2, K + 20 and 56.

Check your answer

At the start, Liam has 56 stamps and Kevin has 28, and 56 is twice 28. After the gift, Liam has 48 and Kevin has 36. 48−36=1248 - 36 = 12, so Liam has 12 more. Every fact fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 8 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 79 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A Math, page 79, question 8.

Question 12 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 13 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 14 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 15 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 22

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

Question

How does the author develop the contrast between the narrator’s point of view and the professor’s point of view?

  • Aby providing both the narrator’s and professor’s thoughts on how age and experience influence each other’s reasoning
  • Bby using the conversation between the narrator and the professor to emphasize their reactions to the letter
  • Cby describing the professor’s persistent efforts to change the narrator’s mind about the letter
  • Dby including dialogue that explains why the professor is the supervisor and the narrator is his subordinate
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the author develops the contrast between the narrator’s point of view and the professor’s point of view.

A. Incorrect. The excerpt does not describe the narrator’s thoughts about how age and experience influence the professor’s reasoning in enough detail to fully contrast them against the thoughts about the narrator that the professor expresses in paragraphs 15–17. The narrator’s idea that the professor might be “on the verge of dotage” (paragraph 24) is meant in a humorous way.

B. CORRECT. The primary conflict of the excerpt revolves around the narrator’s disagreement with the professor about whether the letter about the great auks could be true. As the two men converse, their contrasting attitudes toward the letter become clear: the narrator dismisses the possibility of great auks out of hand (“ ‘of course the man is mistaken’ ” [paragraph 5]; “ ‘here is a man . . . who wants you to send somebody to take charge of a bird that doesn’t exist!’ ” [paragraph 12]), while the professor calmly admits that although “ ‘nine hundred and ninety-nine men in a thousand would throw that letter aside and condemn the writer’ ” (paragraph 9), he himself believes that the writer could be telling the truth (“ ‘How do you know,’ asked Professor Farrago, ‘that the bird in question does not exist?’ ” [paragraph 13]).

C. Incorrect. The professor explains why he disagrees with the narrator (paragraphs 19–21), but he does not make persistent efforts to convince the narrator to change his mind about the letter. Instead he states that the narrator will go on an expedition to retrieve “ ‘whatever it is that our correspondent has’ ” (paragraph 23), thereby requiring the narrator to go collect the great auks whether the narrator believes in them or not.

D. Incorrect. The point of the dialogue is not to explain the subordinate-supervisor relationship between the narrator and the professor but rather to contrast what each character believes about the contents of the letter.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how Robert W. Chambers develops the contrast between the narrator’s outlook and Professor Farrago’s in the excerpt from In Search of the Unknown. Students must step back from single lines and judge the author’s method across the whole excerpt. The choices describe techniques in general terms, and several connect to real moments in the story.

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 Analyzing how an author contrasts two characters’ points of view is the grade 7 standard itself, but here students must judge the main method across the whole excerpt, and each choice names an abstract method that touches something in the text.
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 9, 1066 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 right choice is plain enough to seem too obvious, so students look for something more specific. The excerpt offers a candidate: the professor teases “you young fellows,” and the narrator decides the old man is near “dotage,” which makes age look like the method. Those remarks are passing jokes, while the men’s opposite reactions to Halyard’s letter run through the whole conversation. The question rewards judging what carries the contrast from start to end rather than what is most striking.

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    The question asks for the author’s method across the whole excerpt, and every choice names an abstract technique, so students must step back from single lines to see that the dialogue carries the contrast. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about age and experience and the right one both describe the two men’s opposed views as they come out in the excerpt; they part on the subject, their ages or the letter. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The contrast builds from the narrator’s “of course the man is mistaken” in paragraph 5 to the professor’s appeal to “instinct” in paragraph 33, so no single passage shows the method. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: For each choice, find where the excerpt does what the choice describes, and ask whether that method carries the contrast through the whole excerpt or appears only once or twice.

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.
  • 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 method. How does the author show that the two men see things differently? Look at how the whole excerpt is built, not just one line.

  2. Notice how the excerpt is told

    Most of the excerpt is a conversation. The two men talk back and forth about the letter. Each answer shows how one man reacts to it. So their reactions to the letter are where the contrast shows up. A contrast is a clear difference between two things.

  3. Find the two reactions

    The narrator says “of course the man is mistaken” (paragraph 5). He laughs at the idea of “a bird that doesn’t exist!” (paragraph 12). The professor stays open. In paragraph 13 he asks how the narrator can be sure “that the bird in question does not exist.” In paragraph 23, he is “daring to believe” it is the great auk.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Age comes up only twice: “you young fellows” and the narrator’s thought about “dotage.” Two short remarks do not build the contrast.
    • B fits. The talk about the letter shows their opposite reactions.
    • C does not fit. The professor asks a few calm questions and then simply sends the narrator. He does not keep trying to change his mind.
    • D does not fit. No line explains how either man got his job.

    Watch out: A is tempting because those remarks about age are real. But they are passing moments, not the author’s main method.

  5. Choose the answer

    The author builds the contrast through the two men’s talk about the letter. So the answer is B, “by using the conversation between the narrator and the professor to emphasize their reactions to the letter.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. The professor does tease “you young fellows,” and the narrator does think of “dotage.” But those are two quick remarks. From paragraph 5 to paragraph 33, the two men keep reacting to the letter in opposite ways. That steady back-and-forth builds the contrast, so B fits.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 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 B English, page 30, question 22.

Question 16 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 25
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 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.
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 17 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 18 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 32
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

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.
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 19 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 33

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

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 6.

Burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive, but strategic controlled fires have helped the prairie sustain life for hundreds of years and, with careful management, will continue to do so.

The words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the sentence convey the idea that

  • Athe safest methods are sometimes the least effective at solving complex challenges.
  • Bthorough investigation of uncommon methodologies can lead to beneficial results.
  • Cdetailed planning can ensure that a potentially destructive action has a positive impact.
  • Dplans that entail a certain amount of risk almost always result in success.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks which idea the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” convey in the last sentence in paragraph 6 in the passage.

A. Incorrect. Though the author states in paragraph 6 that conservationists have used safe and “strategic” methods, those methods have not been ineffective, since “the patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers about conducting controlled burns on their own land” (paragraph 6). Therefore, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 do not convey the idea that the safest methods are sometimes the least effective at solving complex challenges.

B. Incorrect. Although the author points out in paragraph 6 that researchers’ studies have shown “that the patch-burn approach has restored biodiversity to the area by promoting the growth of species that were at risk of being crowded out,” the author does not suggest that the methodologies conservationists used to conduct the patch burns are uncommon, since the methods were used by “the American Indian people [who] began to deliberately burn areas of land for bison to graze on” (paragraph 2). Therefore, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 do not convey the idea that thorough investigation of uncommon methodologies can lead to beneficial results.

C. CORRECT. In paragraph 1, the author states that “one of the greatest threats to the prairie is wildfire,” so the idea of conducting controlled burns suggests risk and runs “counter,” or contrary, to people’s common expectations, or “intuition,” about the dangers of fires. Thus, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 convey the idea that detailed planning can ensure that a potentially destructive action has a positive impact.

D. Incorrect. The author states in paragraph 6 that “the patch-burn system is so successful that the conservationists at the preserve provide training to prairie farmers.” This statement supports the idea of the action being “strategic” in order to achieve success. However, the statement does not suggest that because the process is “counterintuitive,” or unexpected, it involves a certain amount of risk to achieve that success. Therefore, the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” in the last sentence of paragraph 6 do not convey the idea that plans that entail a certain amount of risk almost always result in success.

Question analysis

This vocabulary question takes the last sentence of the prairie article, which says burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive, and asks what the words “counterintuitive” and “strategic” convey together. Students need the meaning of a hard word built from a prefix, then must match the pair to a general statement, and the choices are worded abstractly.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L4b Greek and Latin affixes and roots
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 A typical grade 7 vocabulary question asks what one word means in context. This one pairs a hard word, “counterintuitive,” with “strategic” and asks for the idea they express together, with four abstract general statements to weigh.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
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, 97 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students first need the meaning of “counterintuitive,” then must see what it says here: that burning land to heal it seems backward because fire destroys. “Strategic” supplies the other half, careful planning. The most tempting wrong answer gets the planning right but misreads the first word as “uncommon,” and others turn the pair into a rule about risk or a warning about safe methods. The question rewards translating each word before reading the abstract choices.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about “thorough investigation of uncommon methodologies” follows the key’s pattern, planning that leads to a good result, and differs only in calling the method uncommon instead of potentially destructive. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    “Counterintuitive,” contrary to what one would expect, is an uncommon word, and the choices add “methodologies” and “entail,” so the options are as hard to read as the sentence. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Combines ideas minor Working it out

    The two words point different ways, one to burning that seems harmful and one to careful planning, and the answer must join both into a single general statement. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

Strategy: Break “counterintuitive” into its parts, counter and intuitive, decide what each of the two words says about burning land, then find the statement that joins both meanings without adding claims of its own.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

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 two words in the last sentence: “counterintuitive” and “strategic.” You need the idea the two words give together. So first figure out what each word means here.

  2. Break down “counterintuitive”

    Counter means against. Intuitive means what you would naturally expect. So counterintuitive means the opposite of what you would expect. The sentence says “Burning land to make it healthy may seem counterintuitive.” Fire usually destroys things. So burning land to help it seems backward. Paragraph 1 even calls wildfire “one of the greatest threats to the prairie.”

  3. Figure out “strategic”

    Strategic means carefully planned to reach a goal. Paragraph 5 shows that planning. The experts “study the land to find out which areas would most benefit from being burned.” Then they burn only part of the land each year. Put the two words together. Fire seems harmful, but careful planning makes it helpful.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The sentence doesn’t say safe methods fail. It praises a method that works.
    • B is wrong. It treats counterintuitive as if it meant uncommon. But burning isn’t new. Paragraph 2 says people did it “hundreds of years ago.”
    • C is right. Strategic matches detailed planning. Counterintuitive matches an action that could destroy, fire, which turns out to help.
    • D is wrong. “Almost always” is far too strong. The sentence is about prairie fires, not all risky plans.

    Watch out: B gets strategic right, since the experts study the land. But counterintuitive doesn’t mean uncommon. It means against what you would expect.

  5. Choose the answer

    Fire seems destructive, but a careful plan makes it helpful. So the answer is C: “detailed planning can ensure that a potentially destructive action has a positive impact.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, because its first part, careful study, fits strategic. But its second part calls the method uncommon, and people have burned the prairie for hundreds of years. C fits both words: careful planning, and an action that seems harmful but helps.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
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 B English, page 46, question 33.

Question 20 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 21 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 41

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

Read these lines from the poem.

I can already see how this will end. (line 1)

How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic
for the moment I am walking inside of. (lines 21–22)

The lines develop a central idea of the poem by

  • Asuggesting the speaker’s desire to find a way to break free from the repetitive pattern of daily life.
  • Brevealing the speaker’s feelings of disappointment over the predictable change in season.
  • Cemphasizing the speaker’s awareness of the future significance of the present moment in the setting.
  • Dshowing the speaker’s anticipation of specific emotions caused by an intimate knowledge of the setting.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how line 1 and lines 21–22 develop a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. Although these lines suggest that life is governed by repetitive patterns, such as the change of seasons, they do not suggest that the speaker wishes to break free from these natural cycles of change, and a desire for freedom is not a central idea of the poem.

B. Incorrect. Although the speaker acknowledges that colder weather will inevitably bring disappointment, the speaker does not suggest in these lines that the predictability of changing weather is itself disappointing. Rather, the speaker recognizes the value of enjoying the present moment.

C. CORRECT. These lines connect the present warmer weather with the future colder weather and develop the central idea that the present “moment I am walking inside of” must be embraced because the speaker will be “nostalgic” for it in the future.

D. Incorrect. In these lines, the speaker is aware that specific emotions will occur in the future, during cold weather, but this awareness is only part of the more complex central idea of the poem, which is that current emotions and feelings must be recognized, experienced, and appreciated.

Question analysis

This central-idea question pairs the first line of “Letter from Brooklyn” with lines 21–22, where Brooklyn makes the speaker nostalgic “for the moment I am walking inside of,” and asks how they develop a central idea of the poem. Students must link excerpts from opposite ends of the poem, untangle a paradoxical image and choose among four abstract statements.

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 analyze how lines develop a central idea. Here two excerpts twenty lines apart must be read together, one of them built on a paradox, and the four choices are long and abstract, well beyond typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Among the hardest on the SHSAT: a non-obvious approach, heavy reading, or a well-hidden trap.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 99 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

This is among the hardest questions in the set because the two excerpts must be joined through a paradox and then matched to four long, abstract statements. Line 1 foresees an ending; lines 21–22 miss a moment while it is still happening, so both look at now from the future. Students who see only the foresight pick the choice about anticipated emotions, while those who hear gloom in “how this will end” settle on disappointment or a wish to escape.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    Lines 21–22 are a paradox: “nostalgic,” glossed as yearning for the past, is aimed at “the moment I am walking inside of,” so the speaker already feels the present as a future memory. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about anticipating “specific emotions” shares the key’s link between future and present; it differs by tracing those feelings to knowing the setting well, which neither excerpt says. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The excerpts are the poem’s first line and lines 21–22, twenty lines apart, and what joins them, the speaker looking ahead at the present, shows only when they are read side by side. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Paraphrase each excerpt on its own, using the glossary's meaning of “nostalgic,” then decide what the first line and the last two share and match that to a choice.

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

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 gives two pieces of the poem: line 1 and lines 21–22. You need the central idea they build together. A central idea is the main point the poem keeps working toward. Read each piece alone first, then join them.

  2. Read line 1

    Line 1 says “I can already see how this will end.” The speaker looks ahead. Lines 2–5 then list what will come: growing tired of the bridge, and the cold. So the speaker already pictures the future while living in the present.

  3. Read lines 21–22

    The lines say “How Brooklyn makes me nostalgic / for the moment I am walking inside of.” The glossary says nostalgic means “yearning for the past.” Yearning means longing. But the speaker longs for now, a moment still happening. That is a paradox, an idea that seems impossible but makes sense. The speaker knows this walk will be a precious memory.

  4. Join the two pieces

    Both pieces look at the present from the future. In line 1, the speaker sees the end coming. In lines 21–22, the speaker already misses the walk. So the speaker knows this present moment will matter later. Significance means importance.

  5. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The speaker never wants to break free from daily routine.
    • B is wrong. Line 1 can sound gloomy. But the speaker isn’t upset with the seasons. The speaker treasures the walk.
    • C is right. The speaker sees that this moment in Brooklyn will be precious later.
    • D is wrong. The speaker does foresee feelings. But neither piece says they come from knowing the place well.

    Watch out: D gets the looking-ahead part of line 1 right. But lines 21–22 long for the moment itself, not for feelings caused by knowing the city.

  6. Choose the answer

    So the answer is C: “emphasizing the speaker’s awareness of the future significance of the present moment in the setting.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, because line 1 does show the speaker foreseeing feelings. But D says they come from an “intimate knowledge of the setting.” Neither piece says that. Lines 21–22 miss the moment while it is still happening. C captures that: the present will matter in the future.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 41 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 B English, page 56, question 41.

Question 22 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 23 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 24 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 45

Uses the passage above: “The End of an Era”.

Question

Which revision of sentence 11 best maintains the formal style established in the passage?

  • AHowever, in 2018, a dust storm covered the planet, bringing the rover’s progress to a standstill.
  • BHowever, in 2018, a dust storm shrouded the planet, impermanently halting the rover’s progress.
  • CHowever, in 2018, a dust storm enveloped the whole of the planet, arresting the rover’s progress for a time.
  • DHowever, in 2018, a dust storm covered up the whole planet, which quickly brought a stop to the progress of the rover.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for the revision of sentence 11 that best maintains the formal style established in the passage.

A. CORRECT. This sentence uses clear and formal writing throughout. The phrase “covered the planet” is accurate and formal without being overly poetic, and “standstill” is a precise word for putting something “on hold,” as expressed by the original sentence, while maintaining the formal style of the passage.

B. Incorrect. Although the sentence is formal in style, the word “shrouded” is overly poetic, and the phrase “impermanently halting” is too stilted and formal for the style and tone of the passage.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence is formal in style, the words “enveloped” and “arresting” are overly poetic, especially when used in the same sentence, and the phrases “the whole of the planet” and “for a time” are needlessly wordy and imprecise, compared with the formal scientific language of the passage.

D. Incorrect. The phrases “covered up the whole planet” and “quickly brought a stop to the progress of the rover” are less formal and unnecessarily wordy, compared with the formal style established by the rest of the passage.

Question analysis

This style question asks which revision of sentence 11, about the 2018 dust storm that covered Mars and stopped the Opportunity rover, best maintains the formal style of the passage. All four versions say the same thing, so students must compare word choice and wordiness and decide which one reads like the rest of the passage.

NYS standards
  • 7W2f informative writing style
  • 7L3a precise and concise language
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Keeping a formal style is grade 7 writing work, usually tested by spotting slang or casual wording. Here all four revisions keep the meaning and differ in register by degrees, so students must judge the passage's own style closely, 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, 337 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 80 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The question turns on what “formal” means. Many students equate it with impressive words and choose the revision with “enveloped” and “arresting,” or the one with “shrouded,” missing that both are more poetic than a passage that reports dates and distances. The casual revision is easy to reject, so the real test is preferring the plainest formal sentence to the grandest one.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    Students must know that a formal informational style is plain and precise, so words such as “shrouded,” “enveloped” and “arresting” are too ornate for a passage that reports miles and dates. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four revisions keep the meaning of sentence 11 and differ only in register and length, so each must be heard against the passage’s voice rather than checked for errors. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Impermanently,” “shrouded” and “arresting,” in its sense of stopping, are uncommon words, and students must judge how they sound in the passage, not only what they mean. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Reread a few sentences around sentence 11 to hear the passage's voice, then check each revision for casual phrasing, needless words and words that would sound out of place in that voice.

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 which version of sentence 11 keeps the passage’s formal style. Formal writing is serious and clear, like a textbook. It avoids slang and casual words. But formal doesn’t mean fancy. Formal writing about science uses plain, exact words. For example, The game got called off is casual. The contest was halted indefinitely is too fancy. The game was canceled is formal and plain.

  2. Hear the passage’s voice

    Sentence 9 says “the rover traveled a total of 28.06 miles across Mars’ surface.” Sentence 12 says minor storms “deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels.” The words are exact and plain. The passage gives dates and numbers. It doesn’t paint poetic pictures.

  3. Check each revision

    • A is right. “Covered the planet” is plain and exact. A standstill is a complete stop, a clear way to say “on hold.”
    • B is wrong. “Shrouded” is poetic. A shroud is a cloth wrapped around a body. “Impermanently halting” sounds stiff and odd.
    • C is wrong. “Enveloped” and “arresting” are fancy words. Here arresting means stopping. “The whole of the planet” and “for a time” add extra words.
    • D is wrong. “Covered up” is casual. “Brought a stop to the progress of the rover” is wordy, or longer than it needs to be.

    Watch out: Many students think formal means big words, so they choose C. But a passage of dates and miles calls for plain words.

  4. Choose the answer

    Only A is both formal and plain, like the rest of the passage. So the answer is A: “However, in 2018, a dust storm covered the planet, bringing the rover’s progress to a standstill.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because it has no slang and sounds serious. But “enveloped” and “arresting” are poetic, and “the whole of the planet” is wordy. The passage reports facts in plain words. A says the same thing in the plainest formal way.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 63 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 63, question 45.

Question 25 of 120

2026 Practice Test B English, question 47

Uses the passage above: “The End of an Era”.

Question

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

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

Correct answer: D

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
  • 7L3a precise and concise language
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Combining two sentences is grade 7 work, usually with one version clearly better. These four are long, keep the same facts and differ in order and wording, so students must weigh clarity and concision across nearly identical sentences, more than typical.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: about grade 11, 337 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 129 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • Two grammar terms in the explanation were corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

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

  1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    “Prior to this planet-wide dust storm” points back to sentence 11, so the best version keeps it first; three versions move it later, which loosens the link between the two sentences. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four versions keep every fact of sentences 12 and 13 and run 29 to 32 words, so none can be ruled out by content; order, pronouns and repetition decide. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    Each version is one long sentence built around a participial phrase or a “because” clause, and at that length a stranded “it” or a doubled “the rover” is easy to miss. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

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

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks for the best way to join sentences 12 and 13 into one sentence. The best version keeps the meaning, uses few words and is clear. It should also connect smoothly to sentence 11, the sentence before.

  2. Read the sentences in order

    Sentence 11 tells about the giant 2018 dust storm. Sentence 12 begins “Prior to this planet-wide dust storm.” Prior to means before. That phrase points back to sentence 11, so it works best at the start. Sentence 12 says small storms put dust on the solar panels. Sentence 13 gives the result: “These prevented it from charging its batteries.”

  3. Learn the tool: a participial phrase

    A participial phrase is a group of words built on a verb form, often an -ing word. It describes something, but it has no subject and can’t stand alone. Example: The dog ran to the door. It wagged its tail. becomes The dog ran to the door, wagging its tail. Choice D does this. It turns “These prevented” into “preventing.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It starts with the result. It moves “prior to this planet-wide dust storm” to the end, far from sentence 11. It also says “the rover” twice.
    • B is wrong. Its long opening phrase hides the rover. Then “it” comes after “minor dust storms,” so it is hard to tell what “it” means.
    • C is wrong. It adds “because,” puts the result first and says “the rover” twice. It is wordier than D.
    • D is right. It keeps the link to sentence 11 first, gives the cause, then adds the result as a short participial phrase.

    Watch out: C looks clear because “because” names the cause. But it is longer, and it puts an extra phrase between “Minor dust storms” and its verb.

  5. Choose the answer

    So the answer is D: “Prior to this planet-wide dust storm, minor dust storms had periodically deposited a layer of dust onto the solar panels of the rover, preventing it from charging its batteries.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 26 of 120

2026 Practice Test B Math, question 24

Question

A chemical decays in such a way that the amount left at the end of each week is 20% less than the amount at the beginning of that same week. What percentage of the original amount is left after two weeks?

  • A40%
  • B60%
  • C64%
  • D80%
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

Let x be the original amount of the chemical. It loses 20% after each week, which means 80% of the chemical remains at the end of each week. End of first week: 0.80x0.80x

At the end of the second week, 80% of the amount left at the end of the first week remains.

End of second week: 0.80(0.80x)=0.64x0.80(0.80x) = 0.64x or 64%

Question analysis

A chemical loses 20% of the amount present at the start of each week, and students find what percentage of the original amount is left after two weeks. It tests applying a percent decrease more than once. The question turns on which amount each week's loss is measured against.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 A typical grade 7 percent task applies one increase or decrease to one amount. This one applies a weekly decrease twice in a row, an early form of exponential decay that goes beyond typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 8, 40 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 equal decreases in a row feel like one decrease of twice the size, and that is the trap: 20% and 20% suggest 40% gone. The stem states the rule, each loss measured from that week’s start, in one quick phrase. Working week by week from 100 shows the second loss is 16, not 20, which separates the answer from the choice four points away, while stopping after one week or reporting the loss costs the point more simply.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The choices 60% and 64% sit four percentage points apart, so a rough estimate cannot choose between them; only seeing that the second 20% is taken from 80, not 100, does. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    The phrase “the amount at the beginning of that same week” sets each week’s base, so the second week’s 20% is measured from what was left after the first week. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  3. Variables instead of numbers minor Understanding the question

    No starting amount is given, so students must pick one, such as 100 grams, or work with a percent of a percent, 0.8 × 0.8. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Use a starting amount of 100 so that percents become units, find what remains after the first week, then apply the same 20% loss to that remainder.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Percent of an amount
part=p100×amount\text{part} = \frac{p}{100} \times \text{amount}
p is the percent, and amount is the whole you take the percent of. Percent means out of 100, so 20% is 20/100. Multiply to find the part. Be sure the amount is the right whole. Here, each week uses the amount at the start of that week.
Percent left after a loss
percent left=100%−percent lost\text{percent left} = 100\% - \text{percent lost}
The whole amount is 100%. If 20% goes away, the rest stays. So 80% of each week’s starting amount is left at the end of that week. Keeping 80% is the same as multiplying by 0.8.

  1. Sort out the question

    Each week the chemical loses 20% of what it has. The key words are “the amount at the beginning of that same week.” So each week’s 20% comes from that week’s starting amount. No amount is given. You need the percent of the original amount that is left after two weeks.

  2. Pick an easy starting amount

    Pretend the chemical starts at 100 grams. With 100, the number of grams left is the same as the percent left. Any starting amount gives the same percent, so choose the easiest one.

  3. Work out the first week

    Use the percent formula. The first week starts with 100 grams:

    20100×100=20\frac{20}{100} \times 100 = 20

    The chemical loses 20 grams, so 100−20=80100 - 20 = 80 grams are left. That is 80% after one week.

    Watch out: 80% is only the first week. Stopping here gives choice D.

  4. Work out the second week

    The second week starts with 80 grams, not 100. So take 20% of 80:

    20100×80=16\frac{20}{100} \times 80 = 16

    This time the chemical loses only 16 grams, so 80−16=6480 - 16 = 64 grams are left.

    Watch out: taking away 20 grams again uses the original amount. That gives 60%, choice B. Choice A, 40%, adds the two losses. But the question asks what is left, and only 36% was lost.

  5. Read the answer as a percent

    WeekStart (grams)Loss (grams)Left (grams)
    11002080
    2801664

    Another way: each week keeps 80%, or 0.8, of its start. Two weeks gives 0.8×0.8=0.640.8 \times 0.8 = 0.64, which is 64%.

    64 grams out of the original 100 grams is 64%. So the answer is C, 64%.

Check your answer

Think about the size of the second loss. The second week starts with less, so it loses less than 20 grams. That means more than 60% is left. It does lose something, so less than 80% is left. Of the four choices, only 64% is between 60% and 80%.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 24 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 96 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B Math, page 96, question 24.

Question 27 of 120

2026 Practice Test B Math, question 31

Question

A pizza shop offers a choice of 3 sizes (small, medium, and large) and 7 different toppings. Different pizzas can be created by changing the size and the choice of toppings. If Cody wants to order a pizza with exactly 2 different toppings, how many different pizzas can he create?

  • A6
  • B21
  • C63
  • D126
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

Figure out how many different topping pairs are possible. Use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 to represent the toppings, and create a list of possible pairs:

1,2; 1,3; 1,4; 1,5; 1,6; 1,7
2,3; 2,4; 2,5; 2,6; 2,7
3,4; 3,5; 3,6; 3,7
4,5; 4,6; 4,7
5,6; 5,7
6,7

So there are 21 different topping combinations for one pizza.

Since there are 3 pizza sizes, multiply the total number of combinations by 3 to get the total number of different pizzas Cody can create: 3×21=633 \times 21 = 63.

Question analysis

Cody orders a pizza with exactly 2 of 7 toppings in one of 3 sizes, and students count how many different pizzas he could create. It tests counting combinations, where the order of the toppings does not matter, combined with a second choice. The challenge is to count every possible pizza exactly once.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.8b sample spaces for compound events
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 In grade 7, compound events are usually ordered pairs, such as a coin with a number cube. Here an unordered pair of toppings is chosen from seven and then matched with three sizes, a combination count 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
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 8, 47 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 packs two counts into one sentence, each with its own trap. Order does not matter among the toppings, while the size multiplies every pair, and students tend to remember one of these and forget the other. Listing pairs systematically, each topping matched only with later ones, keeps the first count honest, and the stem’s “changing the size and the choice of toppings” is the reminder that size counts too.

  1. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    Two counts are joined: the unordered pairs of toppings from 7, then the 3 sizes each pair can come in, and a mistake in either count changes the total. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Students must know that a pizza with mushroom and onion is the same as one with onion and mushroom, so the ordered count 7 × 6 has to be halved. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Number the toppings 1 to 7, list each pair once by matching every topping only with higher-numbered ones, count the list, then bring in the choice of size.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

The counting principle
total=m×n\text{total} = m \times n
m is the number of ways to make one choice, and n is the number of ways to make a second choice. Every first choice can go with every second choice, so you multiply. Here, every pair of toppings can come in every size.
Pairs when order does not matter
pairs=n×(n−1)2\text{pairs} = \frac{n \times (n - 1)}{2}
n is the number of items to choose from. There are n ways to pick a first item and n − 1 ways to pick a different second one. That counts each pair twice, once in each order. Dividing by 2 counts each pair once.

  1. Sort out the question

    Each of Cody’s pizzas has one size and exactly 2 different toppings. There are 3 sizes and 7 toppings. Pizzas differ by “changing the size and the choice of toppings.” So a small and a large with the same toppings are two different pizzas. You need to count every pizza once.

  2. List the topping pairs

    Order does not matter: onion with peppers is the same pizza as peppers with onion. So number the toppings 1 to 7, and pair each one only with bigger numbers. Then no pair shows up twice.

    ToppingPairs withPairs
    12, 3, 4, 5, 6, 76
    23, 4, 5, 6, 75
    34, 5, 6, 74
    45, 6, 73
    56, 72
    671

    6+5+4+3+2+1=216 + 5 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 21

    There are 21 different pairs of toppings.

  3. Check the pairs with the formula

    Use the pairs formula with 7 toppings:

    7×62=422=21\frac{7 \times 6}{2} = \frac{42}{2} = 21

    Watch out: 7 × 6 = 42 counts every pair twice, once as 1 then 2 and once as 2 then 1. Keeping 42 leads to 42×3=12642 \times 3 = 126, choice D.

  4. Bring in the sizes

    Each of the 21 topping pairs can come in any of the 3 sizes. Use the counting principle:

    21×3=6321 \times 3 = 63

    Watch out: stopping at 21 leaves out the sizes, which gives choice B. Choice A, 6, multiplies the 3 sizes by the 2 toppings on one pizza. That does not count pizzas.

  5. Give the answer

    There are 21 topping pairs, and each one comes in 3 sizes. Cody can create 63 different pizzas. So the answer is C, 63.

Check your answer

Count one size at a time. A small pizza can have any of the 21 pairs, so there are 21 small pizzas. There are also 21 medium and 21 large ones: 21+21+21=6321 + 21 + 21 = 63. That is more than the 21 pairs but fewer than 126, so it is reasonable.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 31 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 103 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B Math, page 103, question 31.

Question 28 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 8
Passage Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”

Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”

by Rupert Brooke

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

The American Falls do not inspire this feeling in the same way as the Canadian. It is because they are less in volume, and because the water does not fall so much into one place. By comparison their beauty is almost delicate and fragile. They are extraordinarily level, one long curtain of lacework and woven foam. Seen from opposite, when the sun is on them, they are blindingly white, and the clouds of spray show dark against them. With both Falls the colour of the water is the ever-altering wonder. Greens and blues, purples and whites, melt into one another, fade, and come again, and change with the changing sun. Sometimes they are as richly diaphanous1^1 as a precious stone, and glow from within with a deep, inexplicable light. Sometimes the white intricacies of dropping foam become opaque and creamy. And always there are the rainbows. If you come suddenly upon the Falls from above, a great double rainbow, very vivid, spanning the extent of spray from top to bottom, is the first thing you see. If you wander along the cliff opposite, a bow springs into being in the American Falls, accompanies you courteously on your walk, dwindles and dies as the mist ends, and awakens again as you reach the Canadian tumult. And the bold traveller who attempts the trip under the American Falls sees, when he dare open his eyes to anything, tiny baby rainbows, some four or five yards in span, leaping from rock to rock among the foam, and gambolling beside him, barely out of hand’s reach, as he goes. One I saw in that place was a complete circle, such as I have never seen before, and so near that I could put my foot on it. It is a terrifying journey, beneath and behind the Falls. The senses are battered and bewildered by the thunder of the water and the assault of wind and spray; or rather, the sound is not of falling water, but merely of falling; a noise of unspecified ruin. So, if you are close behind the endless clamour, the sight cannot recognise liquid in the masses that hurl past. You are dimly and pitifully aware that sheets of light and darkness are falling in great curves in front of you. Dull omnipresent foam washes the face. Farther away, in the roar and hissing, clouds of spray seem literally to slide down some invisible plane of air.

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

One is drawn back, strangely, to a contemplation of the Falls, at every hour, and especially by night, when the cloud of spray becomes an immense visible ghost, straining and wavering high above the river, white and pathetic and translucent. The Victorian lies very close below the surface in every man. There one can sit and let great cloudy thoughts of destiny and the passage of empires drift through the mind; for such dreams are at home by Niagara. I could not get out of my mind the thought of a friend, who said that the rainbows over the Falls were like the arts and beauty and goodness, with regard to the stream of life—caused by it, thrown upon its spray, but unable to stay or direct or affect it, and ceasing when it ceased. In all comparisons that rise in the heart, the river, with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life, whether of an individual or of a community. A man’s life is of many flashing moments, and yet one stream; a nation’s flows through all its citizens, and yet is more than they. In such places, one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood. Some go down to it unreluctant, and meet it, like the river, not without nobility. And as incessant, as inevitable, and as unavailing as the spray that hangs over the Falls, is the white cloud of human crying. . . . With some such thoughts does the platitudinous2^2 heart win from the confusion and thunder of a Niagara peace that the quietest plains or most stable hills can never give.

From LETTERS FROM AMERICA by Rupert Brooke—Public Domain

1^1diaphanous: sheer, translucent

2^2platitudinous: clichéd, common

Question

Read this sentence from paragraph 3.

These are the lower rapids, a sight more terrifying than the Falls, because less intelligible.

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

  • AIt signals a change from the positive aspects of the Falls to the negative aspects.
  • BIt indicates a progression from the literal description of the water to a discussion of timeless truths.
  • CIt reinforces a shift from the qualities of the Falls to the qualities of the river.
  • DIt introduces a contrast between the obvious and the hidden features of the rapids.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the statement that best describes how the sentence from paragraph 3 fits into the overall structure of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. Although in paragraph 2 the author describes the beauty of the Falls as both an “ever-altering wonder” and an “assault of wind and spray,” in paragraph 3 the author does not signal a change from the positive aspects of the Falls to the negative aspects. Instead, the author provides a description of the river and the rapids below the Falls.

B. Incorrect. While the author compares the water of the river to “a slipping floor of marble, green with veins of dirty white, made by the scum that was foam” in paragraph 3, the statement that the lower rapids are “more terrifying than the Falls, because less intelligible” does not indicate a progression from the literal description of the water to a discussion of timeless truths. Instead, the author is merely describing all aspects of the rapids, both literally and figuratively.

C. CORRECT. The first sentence of paragraph 3 moves the description “beyond the foot of the Falls” to “the river” and then the paragraph begins to describe this location in further detail (“a dull sage green,” “hurries more swiftly,” “smooth and ominous,” “waters boil and eddy”) before reinforcing this shift by confirming it again with the words “These are the lower rapids, a sight more terrifying than the Falls.”

D. Incorrect. Although the author states that the waters of the rapids “boil and eddy” and suggests that the rapids are “less intelligible,” these statements do not introduce a contrast between the obvious and the hidden features of the rapids. They merely describe a feature and the sight of the lower rapids.

Question analysis

This text structure question quotes a sentence from paragraph 3 of Rupert Brooke’s “Niagara Falls,” in which the lower rapids are called “more terrifying than the Falls,” and asks how it fits the excerpt’s overall organization. It rewords a question from the 2018 handbook’s Test B. Every choice describes a turn the essay could plausibly take, so students need a clear picture of what each paragraph covers.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 A typical grade 7 structure question asks what one paragraph adds. This one asks where a sentence from the middle of paragraph 3 fits in the whole essay, which means summing up four long paragraphs of century-old prose.
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, 987 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 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

A sentence that compares the rapids with the Falls is easy to misplace, because both of its subjects appear elsewhere in the excerpt. The strongest pull is a real turn in the essay, from describing water to musing on destiny, that comes a paragraph later, while “more terrifying” draws students who forget that terror runs through the excerpt from its first sentence. The 2026 verb “reinforces” rewards those who saw that paragraph 3 had already left the Falls with “Beyond the foot of the Falls the river.”

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    The task is to place one sentence in the essay’s plan, and the sentence pulls the wrong way: it mentions “the Falls” and “more terrifying,” though its job is to confirm that paragraph 3 has already moved downstream to the rapids. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

    Placing the sentence takes a summary of all four long paragraphs at once: the Falls’ power, the two Falls’ beauty and the trip behind them, the river below, and the night thoughts on destiny. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

  3. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    “Less intelligible” means harder to make sense of; a student who takes it as harder to see is led toward a contrast between obvious and hidden features of the rapids. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Sum up each of the four paragraphs in a few words, find where this sentence sits in that outline, and choose the description of the essay’s movement at exactly that point.

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 is a text structure question. Structure is the plan of a piece of writing: what each part does and how the parts connect. You get one sentence from paragraph 3. You must decide what job it does in the plan of the whole excerpt. So first sum up what each of the four paragraphs is about.

  2. Sum up the four paragraphs

    • Paragraph 1: the real secret of the Falls is “the feeling of colossal power.” Colossal means huge.
    • Paragraph 2: the two Falls, their colors, the rainbows, and the scary trip behind the water.
    • Paragraph 3: the river below the Falls and its wild rapids.
    • Paragraph 4: the author goes back to the Falls at night and thinks about life and destiny, or what happens in the end.

  3. See where paragraph 3 begins

    Paragraph 3 opens with “Beyond the foot of the Falls the river is like a slipping floor of marble.” Beyond the foot means past the bottom. So the author has already left the Falls. He follows the river as it “hurries more swiftly” and the waters “boil and eddy,” or swirl. Then comes the sentence: “These are the lower rapids, a sight more terrifying than the Falls, because less intelligible.” Rapids are a stretch of fast, rough water. Less intelligible means harder to make sense of.

  4. Decide what the sentence does

    The sentence names the new place: the lower rapids. It also sets the rapids against the Falls. That tells you again that the essay has moved from the Falls to the river below them. To reinforce something is to make it stronger. The sentence reinforces a shift, or change of subject, that the paragraph’s first sentence began.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Terror is not new here. Paragraph 1 already speaks of “unintelligible disaster,” and paragraph 2 calls the trip behind the Falls “a terrifying journey.”
    • B does not fit. The essay does turn to big, timeless ideas, but in paragraph 4, not here.
    • C fits. The sentence confirms the move from the Falls to the river.
    • D does not fit. The rapids are in plain sight. “Less intelligible” means harder to understand, not hidden.

    Watch out: B names a real turn in the essay. But it comes one paragraph later, with “thoughts of destiny and the passage of empires.”

  6. Choose the answer

    The sentence names the rapids and compares them with the Falls. That confirms the essay has moved downstream. So the answer is C, “It reinforces a shift from the qualities of the Falls to the qualities of the river.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because the essay really does move from describing water to big ideas about life. But that move comes in paragraph 4, at night. The sentence in paragraph 3 is still describing water. Its job is to name the rapids and confirm that the essay has left the Falls for the river.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 8 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 C English, page 16, question 8.
The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed (pages 134–135)The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed on page 134 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls”” as printed on page 135 of the DOE handbook.

Question 29 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 11

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Niagara Falls””.

Question

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

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

Correct answer: B

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Most grade 7 work asks how an idea is shown in plain modern prose. This paragraph is a century-old reflection in long sentences with words like “certitude” and “unavailing,” and several of its images could each seem to carry the idea.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: about grade 9, 987 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 81 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

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

  1. Complex sentences major Understanding the question

    The idea sits inside a hedged sentence, “one is aware, with an almost insupportable and yet comforting certitude, that both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending,” and the comparison comes last: “as inevitably as this dark flood.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The key sums up the paragraph’s river-and-life likeness in its own words, “movement of water” and “human experience,” while the other choices borrow the paragraph’s vocabulary: “rainbows,” “art and beauty,” “night” and “destiny.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Multitudinous,” “certitude,” “insupportable” and “unavailing” all sit in the lines that carry the idea, and the footnoted “platitudinous” closes the paragraph, so the comparison has to be read through them. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

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

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

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 an idea is shown in paragraph 4. The idea is that people’s lives and whole nations end in the same way: they all come to an end. You need the picture the author mainly uses to show that idea. Paragraph 4 has several pictures, so find the one tied to this idea.

  2. Find the sentence with the idea

    Paragraph 4 says “both men and nations are hurried onwards to their ruin or ending as inevitably as this dark flood.” Men means people. Nations means countries and their history. Inevitably means in a way that can’t be stopped. The “dark flood” is the river’s dark water rushing over the Falls.

  3. See how the comparison works

    Just before, the author says “the river, with its multitudinous waves and its single current, likens itself to a life.” Multitudinous means very many. A current is water flowing one way. Likens itself to means seems like. A life has many moments but moves one way, like the river. And just as the water must rush on, people and nations rush toward their end. So the idea is shown by comparing moving water with human life.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. A friend compares the rainbows to “the arts and beauty and goodness.” That picture is about art, not about lives and nations ending.
    • B fits. The river’s movement stands for human lives and history.
    • C does not fit. The paragraph never says that each visitor sees the Falls differently.
    • D does not fit. The night view and the “thoughts of destiny” tell when and where the author thinks. They do not show how lives end.

    Watch out: D is tempting because destiny, or what happens in the end, sounds like the idea itself. But the question asks what illustrates the idea, and that is the river.

  5. Choose the answer

    The author pictures people and nations rushing to their end like the river’s water. So the answer is B, “the comparison between the movement of water in the Falls and the human experience.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 30 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 31 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 24

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

Throughout the poem, the poet conveys the speaker’s point of view by

  • Agradually moving the speaker’s attention from one element of nature to another.
  • Bproviding the speaker’s motivation for describing the landscape in great detail.
  • Chighlighting the speaker’s emotional response as each season passes.
  • Dshifting the speaker’s focus from external observations to personal reflection.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

This question asks for an explanation of how the poet conveys the speaker’s point of view on the natural world and the change of seasons as presented in the poem.

A. Incorrect. Though in the first stanza the speaker describes various elements of nature such as branches, frogs, birds, flowers, and leaves, these elemental shifts are not precisely gradual and occur only in the first stanza. Further, the first stanza, though appreciative of the natural world, is primarily descriptive and does not develop the speaker’s perspective to the degree that other parts of the poem do.

B. Incorrect. While it may be inferred that the speaker describes the landscape to such a degree because it has revealed a seasonal shift, that this is indeed the speaker’s motivation is never explicitly conveyed by the poet.

C. Incorrect. Multiple seasons do not pass in the poem; only the shift to the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3) occurs in an endless cycle. Further, the speaker does not reveal an emotional response; it is the responses of nature that the speaker describes.

D. CORRECT. The first stanza is the speaker’s observations of the natural world embracing a new season. In the second stanza, the speaker begins to reflect on how the natural world, as embodied by the birds, calmly accepts seasonal change in its perpetual sameness. The reflection continues in the third stanza, where it is revealed that the speaker has been addressing these observations to a child.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how the poet of “Bird Talk” conveys the speaker’s point of view throughout the poem. Students must keep in mind the long opening description of early summer and the two shorter stanzas after it, and decide which description of the poet’s method holds from the first line to the last.

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 often ask what a speaker thinks. This one asks how the poet conveys that view across all three stanzas of a long free-verse poem, and the choices name methods in general terms, closer to grade 8 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: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 10, 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 first stanza takes up 19 of the poem’s 32 lines and moves steadily from branches to frogs, birds, flowers and leaves, so a choice that describes it alone feels right. The point of view shows only when the poem turns to “We” and then to “I” addressing a child, and that third stanza is three hard lines. Students must keep the whole poem’s course in mind and choose the method that holds from first line to last.

  1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The answer depends on all three stanzas at once: the long catalog of the season in lines 1–19, the shift to “We shall never blame the birds,” and the closing “If I have put your face … child.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about moving from one element of nature to another and the key both describe a shift in the speaker’s attention; they differ in what shifts, nature to nature or the outside world to the speaker’s own thoughts. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how the poet conveys a point of view, a method, so a choice must describe what the speaker does across the poem, not what the speaker sees. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  4. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The last stanza is cryptic, “Blame me no more than the bluejays,” and students who miss that the speaker is now talking about putting a child into the poem lose the move to reflection. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Write one phrase for what the speaker attends to in each stanza, then keep only a choice that describes the whole sequence, not one stanza.

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.
  • 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, sees things. It also asks how the poet shows that view across the whole poem. So look at what the speaker pays attention to in each of the three stanzas. A stanza is a group of lines set apart by a blank line.

  2. Follow the speaker through the stanzas

    • Stanza 1, lines 1–19: the speaker describes the world outside. There are branches, frogs, birds, flowers and leaves at the start of summer.
    • Stanza 2, lines 20–29: the speaker starts to judge and think. “We shall never blame the birds.”
    • Stanza 3, lines 30–32: the speaker says “I” and talks to a child: “If I have put your face among leaf faces, child.”

  3. Name the change in focus

    The poem starts with external observations, or things the speaker sees and hears outside. It ends with personal reflection, or the speaker’s own thoughts. In the last stanza, the speaker admits to putting a child’s face and voice into the poem. The speaker asks to be blamed “no more than the bluejays.” Since “We shall never blame the birds,” that means not at all. This move from looking outward to looking inward is how the speaker’s view comes through.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Moving from branches to frogs to birds happens only in stanza 1. It misses the turn to “We” and “I.”
    • B does not fit. The speaker never says why the landscape is described.
    • C does not fit. Only one change of season happens, the start of summer. The anxious feelings belong to the birds, not the speaker.
    • D fits. The speaker moves from describing nature to thinking about it.

    Watch out: A describes stanza 1 very well. But the question says “Throughout the poem,” so the answer must cover all three stanzas.

  5. Choose the answer

    The speaker starts by watching nature and ends by thinking aloud to a child. So the answer is D, “shifting the speaker’s focus from external observations to personal reflection.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. Stanza 1 really does move from one part of nature to another. But that is only 19 of the 32 lines. In stanzas 2 and 3, the speaker turns to “We” and then “I,” and shares personal thoughts. Only D describes the speaker’s path from the first line to the last.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 24 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 C English, page 37, question 24.

Question 32 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 31
Passage Serpent Mound

Serpent Mound

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

Ohio, 1846

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

Question

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

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

Correct answer: A

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often explain what sensory words add to a description. These three words sit inside a long sentence that runs across several lines, so their effect has to be worked out from the lines around them, beyond typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
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.
The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed (page 40)The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed on page 40 of the DOE handbook.

Question 33 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 39
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

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.
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 34 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 35 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 36 of 120

2026 Practice Test C English, question 45
Passage New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry

New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry

(1) Residents of New York City cannot help but notice that the buildings they are surrounded by are predominantly made of brick. (2) Indeed, one author described the bricks that make up some of New York City’s most recognizable landmarks, including the Empire State Building and the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge, as “an inescapable presence.” (3) Nearly 65 million people visit New York City every year to see these and other attractions. (4) Why was so much brick used in buildings constructed during the century before World War II? (5) The answer involves an explosion in New York City’s population that caused an increase in demand for bricks starting in the mid-1800s and lasting into the 1940s that affected the area more than 100 miles up the Hudson River Valley toward Albany. (6) When demand later declined, the industry would entirely disappear.

(7) New York City’s appetite for brick was fueled by surging population and demand for safer building materials. (8) The city’s population ballooned from about 313,000 people in 1840 to more than 7 million a century later. (9) Following large, destructive fires in the 1830s, the city had enacted laws requiring the use of fire-resistant materials. (10) Bricks turned out to be an inexpensive way for builders to quickly throw together a lot of structures while keeping building owners and safety inspectors happy.

(11) The brickmaking industry in the Hudson Valley skyrocketed. (12) At the industry’s peak, approximately 130 brick factories crammed themselves into a 120-mile stretch along the Hudson River. (13) These factories employed much of the region’s population. (14) Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid-1800s was substantial, though percentage increases were smaller than those in New York City. (15) Even though the factories operated only during the summers, their production was immense. (16) Hudson Valley factories shipped over a billion bricks on barges down the river to New York City annually. (17) In fact, The New York Times declared, “It’s fairly safe to assume that any brick building constructed between 1800 and 1950 includes some form of sediment from the banks of the Hudson River.”

(18) History has proven, however, that boom times eventually end. (19) Shifting architectural trends halted not only the Hudson Valley’s brickmaking boom, but its entire industry. (20) Starting early in the twentieth century, architects and builders increasingly favored steel, glass, and concrete instead of brick. (21) By 1979, reduced demand for brick had driven every Hudson Valley brick factory out of business.

(22) The Hudson Valley’s brickmaking legacy lives on in the architecture of New York City. (23) Throughout the city, famous and ordinary buildings stand as evidence of the remarkable productivity achieved by the Valley’s brickmakers. (24) The brick buildings surrounding New Yorkers today serve as a reminder that, as one amateur brick historian put it, “The skyline of New York City used to be the landscape of the Hudson River Valley.”

Question

Which two sentences present information irrelevant to the ideas in the passage and should be deleted?

Move the two correct answers to the box.

Should Be Deleted

On the test you drag tiles into the box; 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.

  • A“Nearly 65 million people visit New York City every year to see these and other attractions.” (sentence 3)
  • B“The city’s population ballooned from about 313,000 people in 1840 to more than 7 million a century later.” (sentence 8)
  • C“Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid-1800s was substantial, though percentage increases were smaller than those in New York City.” (sentence 14)
  • D“History has proven, however, that boom times eventually end.” (sentence 18)
  • E“Throughout the city, famous and ordinary buildings stand as evidence of the remarkable productivity achieved by the Valley’s brickmakers.” (sentence 23)
Show the answer

Correct answer: A and C

The question asks which two sentences present information irrelevant to the ideas of the passage and should be deleted.

CORRECT. “Nearly 65 million people visit New York City every year to see these and other attractions” (sentence 3) presents irrelevant information and should be deleted. While the statistic is interesting, it focuses on tourism, which is not relevant to either the topic of the passage—the growth and decline of the brickmaking industry—or to the ideas in the first paragraph (sentences 1–6), which focus on the prominence of brick in New York City’s buildings.

Incorrect. “The city’s population ballooned from about 313,000 people in 1840 to more than 7 million a century later” (sentence 8) is relevant to the ideas of the passage and should not be deleted. The numerical details in sentence 8 about the rapid growth in New York City provide relevant evidence that supports a central idea of the passage: that the brickmaking industry of the Hudson River Valley expanded quickly to supply the demands of builders who were, in turn, meeting the demands of a booming population.

CORRECT. “Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid-1800s was substantial, though percentage increases were smaller than those in New York City” (sentence 14) presents irrelevant details and should be deleted. The information in sentence 14 comparing population growth rates between the region and New York City is not needed to develop the passage’s central focus on the rise and decline of the Hudson River Valley’s brickmaking industry. The sentence also does not support ideas in the third paragraph (sentences 11–17). Although it mentions that brick factories employed much of the Hudson River Valley population, the productivity of the factories, rather than the Valley’s population, is the topic of the paragraph.

Incorrect. “History has proven, however, that boom times eventually end” (sentence 18) is relevant to the ideas of the passage and should not be deleted. Sentence 18 effectively introduces the central idea of the passage: the decline of the Hudson River Valley brickmaking industry. The sentence also serves as a clear transition from the third paragraph (sentences 11–17), which provides evidence of the industry’s boom, to the fourth paragraph (sentences 18–21), which provides details about how the industry came to an end.

Incorrect. “Throughout the city, famous and ordinary buildings stand as evidence of the remarkable productivity achieved by the Valley’s brickmakers” (sentence 23) is relevant to the ideas of the passage and should not be deleted. The mention of famous and ordinary buildings provides an effective link to introductory sentences 1 and 2, strengthening the passage’s conclusion, while also emphasizing the productivity of the Hudson Valley brickmaking industry detailed in the third paragraph (sentences 11–17).

Question analysis

This revising question asks which two of five sentences from the passage on the Hudson Valley brickmaking industry present irrelevant information and should be deleted. On the test students move two sentence tiles into a box labeled Should Be Deleted, and both must be right. The five sentences come one from each paragraph, so each must be judged against its own paragraph and the whole passage.

NYS standards
  • 7W2b developing a topic
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 revision usually asks for one off-topic sentence within one paragraph. Here students check five sentences spread over the whole passage, must find two, and get credit only if both are right, a broader demand 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 12, 465 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 114 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A missing hyphen in a quotation in the explanation was restored.
  • 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

Sentence 3 announces itself: tourism has nothing to do with brick. The second deletion is the trap, because sentence 14 sits after a sentence about factories employing the region’s population and looks like a continuation. Students who reject population as a topic often delete sentence 8 instead, which measures a cause the passage names, and students who judge by sound cut the general “boom times eventually end,” which turns the passage toward the industry’s decline.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    Sentences 8 and 14 are both population statistics; what separates them is that sentence 8 measures the “surging population” sentence 7 names as a cause, while the Valley’s growth in sentence 14 explains nothing. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    Each kept sentence earns its place by its links: sentence 18 turns from boom to decline, sentence 23 echoes the landmarks of sentences 1–2, and sentence 14 merely follows sentence 13’s “region’s population.” (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  3. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

    Five tiles, one from each paragraph, are judged against both their paragraph and the whole passage, and both picks must be right, so two relevance tests run side by side. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Sum up the passage’s topic in one phrase, then read each of the five sentences in its paragraph and ask whether removing it would leave a gap in the ideas around it; delete only sentences that leave none.

Traps

  • Fixes what isn't broken: Changes a part of the sentence that was already correct, while the real error stays; or, where the question asks which sentence has an error or should go, picks one that is correct and belongs.
  • Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation quotes sentence 14 as “Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid 1800s was substantial.” The passage and the tile say “mid-1800s,” so the site now quotes it that way.
  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation says “The information in sentence 14 comparing population growth rates between the region and New York City are not needed.” The subject is “information,” so the site now says “is not needed.”

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 find two sentences that don’t belong. A sentence is irrelevant when it has nothing to do with the main ideas. You can delete it without leaving a gap. On the test you drag two tiles into the Should Be Deleted box. Here, you choose two of the five. Both must be right.

  2. Name the topic of the passage

    The passage explains why New York City has so many brick buildings. It tells how the Hudson Valley brick industry grew to meet that demand, then died out. Each paragraph has its own job. Paragraph 1 asks why so much brick was used. Paragraph 2 gives the causes. Paragraph 3 shows how much the factories made. Paragraph 4 tells how the industry ended. Paragraph 5 sums up.

  3. Test sentences 3 and 14

    Sentence 3 says: “Nearly 65 million people visit New York City every year to see these and other attractions.” That is about tourists, not bricks. Sentence 14 says: “Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid-1800s was substantial, though percentage increases were smaller than those in New York City.” Paragraph 3 is about how much the factories made, “over a billion bricks” a year. How fast the Valley grew explains nothing about bricks.

  4. Test the other three sentences

    • Sentence 8 stays. Sentence 7 says the hunger for brick was “fueled by surging population.” Sentence 8 gives the numbers that show it.
    • Sentence 18 stays. It turns the passage from the boom to the decline. A boom is a time of fast growth.
    • Sentence 23 stays. It links back to the famous buildings in sentences 1 and 2 and praises the brickmakers.

    Watch out: Sentence 14 comes right after one about factories that “employed much of the region’s population.” So it seems to fit. But it changes the topic from factories to population.

  5. Choose the answers

    Sentences 3 and 14 add facts that don’t help explain the brick industry. So the answers are A and C. Move these two tiles into the Should Be Deleted box. A is “Nearly 65 million people visit New York City every year to see these and other attractions.” (sentence 3). C is “Population growth in the Hudson River Valley after the mid-1800s was substantial, though percentage increases were smaller than those in New York City.” (sentence 14).

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer, since sentences 8 and 14 are both about population. But sentence 8 measures the “surging population” that sentence 7 names as a cause of the demand for brick. Sentence 14 explains nothing about bricks. So delete 14 and keep 8.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 66 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 66, question 45. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry” as printed (page 64)The passage “New York City and the Hudson Valley Brickmaking Industry” as printed on page 64 of the DOE handbook.

Question 37 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 10

Question

Two parallel lines, n and p, rise from lower left to upper right, and both cross a horizontal line m. Where line n crosses line m, the angle above line m, between the left part of m and the upper part of n, is marked r°. Farther right, a vertical segment runs from line p down to line m, meeting m at a right angle (marked with a small square); the angle at the top, between line p and the vertical segment, is marked 73°.

In the figure above, n∥pn \parallel p. Straight line m intersects both line n and line p. What is the value of r?

  • A17
  • B117
  • C163
  • D173
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The triangle formed by line p, line m, and the line segment connecting the two contains a 73° angle, a right angle (90°), and a missing angle measuring x°. The sum of the interior angles of a triangle is 180°, so begin by finding the value of x:

180∘=73∘+90∘+x180^{\circ} = 73^{\circ} + 90^{\circ} + x

180∘=163∘+x180^{\circ} = 163^{\circ} + x

17∘=x17^{\circ} = x

Line m is a straight line, so it has a measure of 180°. The 17° angle from the triangle and the adjacent angle outside the triangle are supplementary, so they have a sum of 180°. Let s represent the measure of the adjacent angle outside the triangle. The value of s can be determined by subtracting:

s=180∘−17∘s = 180^{\circ} - 17^{\circ}

s=163∘s = 163^{\circ}

Given that n and p are parallel lines and that they have been cut by a transversal, line m, then corresponding angles are congruent. Angles r and s are corresponding angles, so the value of r is congruent to the value of s, which is 163°.

Question analysis

Two parallel lines, n and p, cross a straight line m, and a segment drawn at a right angle to m forms a small triangle with lines m and p, where a 73° angle is marked. Students find the angle r at line n. It combines a triangle's angle sum, a straight angle and parallel lines, and the angle wanted sits away from the marked ones.

NYS standards
  • 8.G.5 angle sums, transversals, angle-angle similarity
  • 7.G.5 angle relationships and equations
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 angle problems use supplementary, vertical and adjacent angles. This one also needs the angle sum of a triangle and the angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal, grade 8 facts, chained across a busy figure.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 3, 21 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 fact needs only a subtraction, but the student has to plan a route from the 73° angle at line p over to r at line n. The first number the route gives, the triangle's 17° angle, is listed, and it is the acute partner of r rather than r itself. The figure helps here: r is drawn plainly obtuse, and 163 is also 90 + 73, the triangle's exterior angle, which confirms it.

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

    The 73° sits between line p and the vertical segment, not between p and m, and r is the obtuse angle above m on the left of line n, far from every marked angle. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    Three facts chain together: the triangle's angles sum to 180°, the angles along straight line m sum to 180°, and corresponding angles at the parallel lines n and p are equal. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The angle pairs formed by a line crossing two parallel lines are a grade 8 topic, and the question uses them without naming them. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Find the third angle of the right triangle, use the straight line m to get the angle beside it, then carry that angle over to line n using the parallel lines.

Traps

  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • An arithmetic slip: The right method with a plausible arithmetic error: a digit, a place value or a times-table fact.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Angles of a triangle
a+b+c=180∘a + b + c = 180^{\circ}
a, b and c are the three angles inside any triangle. They always add up to 180°. If you know two of them, subtract their sum from 180° to find the third.
Angles on a straight line
a+b=180∘a + b = 180^{\circ}
a and b are two angles side by side on a straight line. Together they make a half turn, which is 180°. Use it to find the angle next to one you already know.
Corresponding angles
n∥p⇒corresponding angles are equaln \parallel p \Rightarrow \text{corresponding angles are equal}
The symbol ∥ means is parallel to. When line m crosses two parallel lines, it makes the same angles at each crossing. Angles in the same position at the two crossings are called corresponding angles. They are equal.

  1. Sort out the question

    Lines n and p are parallel, and line m crosses both. Near line p, a straight-up segment meets line m. The small square shows a right angle, 90°. Line p, line m and that segment make a small triangle. Its top angle is 73°.

    You need r, the wide angle where line n crosses line m.

  2. Find the triangle’s third angle

    The third angle is where line p crosses line m. Call it x. Use the triangle rule:

    73+90+x=18073 + 90 + x = 180

    x=180−163=17x = 180 - 163 = 17

    So that angle is 17°.

    Watch out: this is not r. Stopping here gives choice A, 17.

  3. Use the straight line m

    The 17° angle sits above line m, on the right of line p. Beside it, on the left of line p, is a wide angle. Call it s. The two angles fill the straight line m, so they add to 180°:

    s=180−17=163s = 180 - 17 = 163

    So s is 163°.

    Watch out: borrow carefully. 180 − 17 is 163, not 173, choice D.

  4. Carry the angle to line n

    Angle s is above line m and to the left of line p. Angle r is above line m and to the left of line n. They are in the same position, so they are corresponding angles. Since n and p are parallel:

    r=s=163r = s = 163

    So the answer is C, 163.

Check your answer

Look at the figure. Angle r is wider than a right angle, so it must be more than 90°. That rules out 17. Also, the narrow angle beside r, on the right of line n, matches the 17° angle at line p. And 163+17=180163 + 17 = 180, as it should on a straight line.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 10 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 83 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 83, question 10.

Question 38 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 15

Question

A grocery store sells 1-gallon containers of milk for $3.99. The store also sells orange juice in a 6-pack of 5.5-fluid-ounce bottles for $1.79. Suppose the store wants to sell its orange juice in gallon containers instead. To the nearest dollar, how much more would a gallon of orange juice cost than a gallon of milk?

Enter your answer in the space.

Fill-in question: work out the answer and type it as a number.

Show the answer

Correct answer: 3

To determine the cost of a gallon of orange juice, begin by finding the total number of ounces in the 6-pack of bottles:

5.5 oz×6=33 oz5.5\text{ oz} \times 6 = 33\text{ oz}

So, 33 oz of orange juice costs $1.79.

There are 128 oz in 1 gallon. Set up a proportion using the $1.79 cost per 33 oz of orange juice and the unknown cost (x) per 1 gallon of orange juice:

33 oz$1.79=128 ozx\frac{33\text{ oz}}{\$1.79} = \frac{128\text{ oz}}{x}

Cross multiply to solve for x in the proportion:

(33)×(x)=($1.79)×(128)(33) \times (x) = (\$1.79) \times (128)

33x=$229.1233x = \$229.12

x≈$6.94x \approx \$6.94

So, the orange juice costs $6.94 per gallon, and the milk costs $3.99 per gallon.

Subtract the cost per gallon of milk from the cost per gallon of orange juice.

$6.94−$3.99=$2.95\$6.94 - \$3.99 = \$2.95

Round the difference to the nearest dollar.

$2.95 rounds to $3.

Question analysis

A store sells milk by the gallon for $3.99 and orange juice in six-packs of 5.5-fluid-ounce bottles for $1.79. Students work out what a gallon of the juice would cost at the same price per ounce and how much more that is than the milk, to the nearest dollar. The ounces in a gallon must be known, and several steps involve decimals.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.RP.3d converting measurement units
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Unit prices are grade 6 and 7 work, but this chains five steps with decimals and needs a fact the question does not give, the number of fluid ounces in a gallon. Typing a rounded difference, with no choices, adds risk.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
5 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 60 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A rounded value in the explanation is now marked as approximate (≈ instead of =).
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 calculation is long, and its key fact is missing from the page. Students who know the 128 fluid ounces still face a division by 33 that does not come out evenly, which tempts them to round the price per ounce to 5 cents and lose about 50 cents a gallon. Keeping the exact quotient to the end, or scaling 33 ounces up by about 3.9, keeps the difference near $2.95, which rounds to 3.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    The question never says that a gallon holds 128 fluid ounces, yet the whole comparison depends on it; the 6-pack holds only 6 × 5.5 = 33 ounces. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Many steps moderate Working it out

    Five moves follow one another: the ounces in a pack, the scale-up to 128 ounces, the division by 33, the subtraction of $3.99 and the rounding to a whole dollar. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. Error-prone arithmetic minor Working it out

    1.79 × 128 = 229.12 and 229.12 ÷ 33 are long decimal calculations without a calculator, and a slip in either moves the price of a gallon. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

  4. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    The rounded difference is typed with no choices, so an unrounded $2.95, or a figure rounded too soon, looks just as finished as the whole-dollar answer. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Find the ounces in one six-pack, scale its price up to the 128 fluid ounces in a gallon, subtract the milk's price, and round only at the end.

Traps

  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • Rounds too early: Rounds a value partway through, or rounds the wrong way, so the final answer drifts from the exact one.
  • Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation goes from 33x = $229.12 to “x = $6.94”. But 229.12 ÷ 33 = 6.9430…, so $6.94 is the cost per gallon rounded to the cent. The site writes x ≈ $6.94. Nothing else changes: $6.94 − $3.99 = $2.95, which rounds to $3, and the unrounded cost gives the same answer.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Fluid ounces in a gallon
fluid ounces=128×gallons\text{fluid ounces} = 128 \times \text{gallons}
A gallon holds 128 fluid ounces. This is a fact you must know, because the question does not give it. A fluid ounce measures an amount of liquid. Multiply gallons by 128 to change them into fluid ounces.
Cross-multiplying a proportion
ab=cd means a×d=b×c\frac{a}{b} = \frac{c}{d} \text{ means } a \times d = b \times c
A proportion says two ratios are equal. Here each ratio is ounces over dollars. a and c are the tops, and b and d are the bottoms. Multiply each top by the other bottom, and the two products are equal. That turns the proportion into an equation.

  1. Sort out the question

    Milk costs $3.99 for 1 gallon. Orange juice comes in a 6-pack of 5.5-fluid-ounce bottles for $1.79. You need how much more a gallon of juice would cost than a gallon of milk. Round to the nearest dollar.

    The question doesn’t say how big a gallon is. You must know this fact: 1 gallon is 128 fluid ounces.

  2. Find the ounces in a 6-pack

    Each of the 6 bottles holds 5.5 fluid ounces:

    6×5.5=336 \times 5.5 = 33

    So $1.79 buys 33 fluid ounces of juice.

  3. Set up a proportion

    Let x be the cost in dollars of a gallon, 128 fluid ounces, of juice. The price per ounce stays the same. So ounces over dollars is the same for the pack and the gallon:

    331.79=128x\frac{33}{1.79} = \frac{128}{x}

    Cross-multiply:

    33×x=1.79×128=229.1233 \times x = 1.79 \times 128 = 229.12

  4. Find the cost of a gallon

    Divide both sides by 33:

    x=229.12÷33≈6.94x = 229.12 \div 33 \approx 6.94

    The sign ≈ means about equal. The exact value is 6.943…, so a gallon of juice costs about $6.94.

    Watch out: don’t round too early. One ounce costs about $0.054. Rounding that to $0.05 makes a gallon $6.40, and your answer becomes 2.

  5. Subtract the milk’s price

    Find how much more the juice costs:

    6.94−3.99=2.956.94 - 3.99 = 2.95

    A gallon of juice costs $2.95 more than a gallon of milk.

    Watch out: entering 7, the juice’s price, forgets to subtract the milk.

  6. Round and enter it

    The question asks for the nearest dollar. $2.95 is between $2 and $3. Its cents, 95, are 50 or more, so it rounds up to $3. Do not enter 2.95.

    Type only the number in the box. So you would enter 3.

Check your answer

Estimate. 128 ounces is almost 4 packs, since 4×33=1324 \times 33 = 132. Four packs cost 4×1.79=7.164 \times 1.79 = 7.16 dollars, so a gallon costs a bit less than that. Milk costs about $4. About $7 minus $4 is $3, which matches.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 15 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 88 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 88, question 15. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 39 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 18

Question

I. s−ts - t
II. st2st^{2}
III. sts^{t}

If s is a positive integer and t is a negative integer, which of the above expressions must be a positive number?

  • AII only
  • BI and II only
  • CII and III only
  • DI, II, and III
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

Each of the three expressions must be considered:

Expression I: s−ts - t, where s is a positive integer and t is a negative integer:

Subtracting a negative integer is the equivalent of adding a positive integer, so s−ts - t is equivalent to finding the value of s+(−t)s + (-t), which must result in a positive number.

Expression II: st2st^{2}, where s is a positive integer and t is a negative integer:

Squaring a negative integer results in a positive integer, so s(−t)2s(-t)^{2} is equivalent to finding the value of st2st^{2}, which must result in a positive number.

Expression III: sts^{t}, where s is a positive integer and t is a negative integer:

A negative exponent results in the reciprocal of the same exponential expression, so sts^{t} is equivalent to finding the value of 1s(−t)\frac{1}{s^{(-t)}}, which must result in a positive number.

Therefore, Expressions I, II, and III must all result in a positive number.

Question analysis

Three expressions, s − t, s times t squared, and s to the power t, are listed, and students decide which must be positive when s is a positive integer and t is a negative integer. It tests sign rules for subtraction and multiplication and the meaning of a negative exponent. Each expression has to be judged for every possible pair, not just one example.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.1 integer exponent properties
  • 7.NS.1c rational number subtraction
  • 7.NS.2a rational number multiplication
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students learn sign rules for subtracting and multiplying signed numbers. Here they reason about letters rather than numbers, decide what must always hold, and handle a negative exponent, a grade 8 idea.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 42 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • Two steps of the explanation that treated t as a positive number were corrected.
  • A punctuation 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

The three expressions test three different sign facts: subtracting a negative, squaring a negative, and raising to a negative power. The last is the trap, since a negative exponent seems to promise a negative result when it really gives a fraction, and that belief alone leads to a listed choice. Trying s = 2 and t = −3 gives 5, 18 and 1/8, all positive, and the rules show why no other pair can change that.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    No values are given for s and t, only their signs, and must means each expression has to be positive for every such pair, not just for one example. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    Expression III needs the meaning of a negative exponent, s to the power t equals 1 over s to the power −t, a grade 8 rule the question does not state. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each of the three expressions is judged on its own and the choices combine the verdicts, so one wrong judgment anywhere points to a wrong combination. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Try a pair such as s = 2 and t = −3 in each expression, then explain why its sign could or could not change for any other positive s and negative t.

Traps

  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The question makes t the negative integer, but two steps of the DOE’s explanation write the negative integer as −t, as if t were positive. For Expression I it says “s − (−t) is equivalent to finding the value of s + t, which must result in a positive number”: s − (−t) is not Expression I, and with the question’s t, s + t need not be positive (s = 1 and t = −2 give −1). For Expression III it says “s^(−t) is equivalent to finding the value of 1/s^t”, about s^(−t) rather than Expression III. The site now says that s − t is equivalent to s + (−t), and that s^t is equivalent to 1/s^(−t). Since t is negative, −t is a positive integer, so s + (−t) is the sum of two positive integers and 1/s^(−t) is the reciprocal of a positive integer: both positive, and the answer, I, II and III, is unchanged. The step for Expression II, s(−t)² = st², is true for any t and is unchanged.
  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation introduces Expression III as “s^t. where s is a positive integer and t is a negative integer”, with a period where Expressions I and II (and the 2022–23 guide, which first printed this explanation) have a comma. The site has the comma.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Subtracting a number
s−t=s+(−t)s - t = s + (-t)
s and t are integers, and −t is the opposite of t. Subtracting a number is the same as adding its opposite. When t is negative, −t is positive. So subtracting t adds a positive amount.
A negative exponent
st=1s−ts^{t} = \frac{1}{s^{-t}}
s is the base and t is the exponent. When t is negative, −t is positive. So a negative exponent means 1 over the base to a positive exponent. For example, 2 to the power −3 is 1 over 2³, which is 1/8.

  1. Sort out the question

    An integer is a whole number or its opposite, such as −2, 0 or 5. Here s is a positive integer, like 1, 2 or 3. And t is a negative integer, like −1, −2 or −3. Must means always. An expression counts only if it is positive for every such pair.

  2. Try one pair of numbers

    Try s = 2 and t = −3 in each expression:

    • I: 2−(−3)=2+3=52 - (-3) = 2 + 3 = 5
    • II: 2×(−3)2=2×9=182 \times (-3)^{2} = 2 \times 9 = 18
    • III: 2−3=123=182^{-3} = \frac{1}{2^{3}} = \frac{1}{8}

    All three are positive this time. Now see why that always happens.

  3. Explain expression I

    Use the rule for subtracting:

    s−t=s+(−t)s - t = s + (-t)

    t is negative, so its opposite, −t, is positive. So s − t is a positive plus a positive. That is always positive.

    Watch out: subtracting does not always make a number smaller. Subtracting a negative makes it bigger. Missing this leads to choice C.

  4. Explain expression II

    t2t^{2} means t × t. A negative times a negative is positive, so t2t^{2} is always positive. Then s×t2s \times t^{2} is a positive times a positive. That is always positive too.

  5. Explain expression III

    Use the rule for a negative exponent:

    st=1s−ts^{t} = \frac{1}{s^{-t}}

    −t is a positive integer, so s−ts^{-t} is a positive integer. So sts^{t} is 1 over a positive number. That is a positive fraction.

    Watch out: a negative exponent does not make the answer negative. It makes a fraction. Thinking it does leads to choice B, I and II only.

  6. Choose the answer

    Each of the three expressions is positive for every positive s and negative t. None of them can ever be zero or negative.

    So the answer is D, I, II, and III.

Check your answer

Try the values closest to 0: s = 1 and t = −1. I gives 1−(−1)=21 - (-1) = 2. II gives 1×(−1)2=11 \times (-1)^{2} = 1. III gives 1−1=11=11^{-1} = \frac{1}{1} = 1. All three are still positive.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 18 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 91 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 91, question 18. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 40 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 28

Question

If z+3w4=5w\frac{z+3w}{4} = 5w, what is the value of z in terms of w?

Enter your answer in the space provided. Enter only your answer.

On the test you build the answer on an on-screen keypad; here, type it. Use ^ for a power, sqrt( ) or √ for a root, pi for π, and <= or >= for ≤ and ≥.

Show the answer

Correct answer: z = 17w

The goal is to isolate the variable z by using inverse operations.

First, multiply both sides by 4:

z+3w4=5w\frac{z+3w}{4} = 5w

z+3w=20wz + 3w = 20w

Then subtract 3w3w from both sides:

z=17wz = 17w

Question analysis

This algebra question gives an equation in which z plus 3w, all divided by 4, equals 5w, and students type z in terms of w after a printed "z =". It tests solving a literal equation with inverse operations. The 4 divides the whole sum, so undoing the steps in the right order, with the right signs, is the tricky part.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.7b linear equations with rational coefficients
  • 7.EE.4a two-step equations
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve two-step equations with numbers, such as (x + 3)/4 = 5. Solving for one letter in terms of another is grade 8 work, and the typed answer gives no choices to check against.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 4, 23 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 equation takes only two inverse operations, but their order is the trap: the 4 divides the whole sum z + 3w, so it has to be cleared first. Students who subtract 3w from 5w straight away, or who move 3w to the right without changing its sign, reach a tidy multiple of w that looks as finished as the right one. Substituting w = 1, which needs z = 17 to make (z + 3)/4 equal 5, checks any entry.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    With w on both sides and no numbers to substitute, the result has to stay a multiple of w, and a slip such as 23w gives no sign that it is wrong. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    The answer is typed after a printed “z =”, with no choices to compare, so the entry must be a single term in w, not an equation or a number. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Treat w like a known number: undo the division by 4 first, multiplying the whole of each side, then undo the added 3w, keeping the terms in w together.

Traps

  • A faulty procedure: A systematic but wrong procedure: adding fractions straight across, applying an exponent to each term of a sum, dropping a sign when moving a term.
  • Order of operations: Working left to right, or distributing a minus sign wrongly, gives a choice.
  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Doing the same thing to both sides
if A=B, then 4A=4B and A−C=B−C\text{if } A = B, \text{ then } 4A = 4B \text{ and } A - C = B - C
A and B are the two sides of an equation, so they are equal. C is any amount. An equation is like a balanced scale. If you multiply both sides by the same number, or take the same amount from both, it stays balanced. That is how you get one letter alone.

  1. Sort out the question

    The equation is z+3w4=5w\frac{z + 3w}{4} = 5w. You need z in terms of w. That means getting z alone on one side. The other side will use only w and numbers.

    Treat w like a number you do not know yet. The answer box already shows z =, so you type only what comes after it.

  2. Undo the division first

    The fraction bar means the whole top, z + 3w, is divided by 4. So undo that first. Multiply both sides by 4, because multiplying undoes dividing:

    z+3w4×4=5w×4\frac{z + 3w}{4} \times 4 = 5w \times 4

    z+3w=20wz + 3w = 20w

    Watch out: do not subtract 3w first. The 3w sits inside the fraction, so it is divided by 4 too. Subtracting it from 5w first leads to the wrong answer 8w.

  3. Undo the adding

    Now 3w is added to z. Subtract 3w from both sides:

    z+3w−3w=20w−3wz + 3w - 3w = 20w - 3w

    z=17wz = 17w

    Think of w as a thing, like apples. 20 apples take away 3 apples leaves 17 apples.

    Watch out: moving 3w to the other side without changing its sign gives 20w+3w=23w20w + 3w = 23w. That is wrong.

  4. Enter it after the printed z =

    On the test, the box already shows z =. Press 1, then 7, then the w key. You do not need a times sign between 17 and w. Do not type z = again. On this site, type 17w in the box.

    So you would enter 17w, which makes z = 17w.

Check your answer

Pick a number for w, such as w = 1. Then z = 17. Put both into the first equation. The left side is 17+34=204=5\frac{17 + 3}{4} = \frac{20}{4} = 5. The right side is 5×1=55 \times 1 = 5. The two sides match, so 17w works.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 28 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 101 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 101, question 28.

Question 41 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 32

Question

A box plot titled MONTHLY HIGH TEMPERATURES IN NEW YORK above a number line labeled Temperature (°F), from 36 to 88 with a labeled tick every 4. The left whisker starts at about 39, just left of the tick for 40. The box runs from 48 to about 78, between the ticks for 76 and 80, with the median line at 64. The right whisker ends at 84.

The box plot shows the average monthly high temperatures in New York City for 12 months. What is the difference between the range and the interquartile range of the temperature data?

Enter your answer in the space.

Fill-in question: work out the answer and type it as a number.

Show the answer

Correct answer: 15

Determine the range by subtracting the minimum value on the box plot from the maximum value on the box plot:

Maximum value =84∘ F= 84^{\circ}\text{ F}, Minimum value =39∘ F= 39^{\circ}\text{ F}

84∘ F−39∘ F=45∘ F84^{\circ}\text{ F} - 39^{\circ}\text{ F} = 45^{\circ}\text{ F}

Determine the interquartile range by subtracting the lower quartile value on the box plot from the upper quartile value on the box plot:

Upper Quartile Value =78∘ F= 78^{\circ}\text{ F}, Lower Quartile Value =48∘ F= 48^{\circ}\text{ F}

78∘ F−48∘ F=30∘ F78^{\circ}\text{ F} - 48^{\circ}\text{ F} = 30^{\circ}\text{ F}

Determine the difference between the range (45° F) and the interquartile range (30° F):

45∘ F−30∘ F=15∘ F45^{\circ}\text{ F} - 30^{\circ}\text{ F} = 15^{\circ}\text{ F}

Question analysis

A box plot of New York City's average monthly high temperatures for 12 months sits above a number line labeled every 4 degrees. Students type the difference between the range and the interquartile range of the data. Two of the plot's values fall between labeled ticks, so careful reading of the scale decides the answer.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.1 box plots and interquartile range
  • 6.SP.5c range, center, and overall pattern
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Reading a box plot and finding its interquartile range are grade 7 skills. Here two of the five values fall between ticks spaced 4 apart, and the range, the IQR and their difference must all be found and typed with no choices.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 36 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 method is standard, but the key rests on reading the scale between its labels. The axis is ticked only every 4 degrees, and the minimum and the upper quartile land off the ticks, so rounding either one to the nearest label moves the result by a degree or two with nothing to flag it. Students who find the range correctly can also stop there, entering 45, the larger of the two spreads, instead of the difference the question asks for.

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

    Two of the five values fall between ticks spaced 4 degrees apart: the left whisker ends just short of the 40 tick, at 39, and the box’s right edge sits midway between 76 and 80, at 78. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Many steps minor Working it out

    Four values are read and combined in three subtractions, the range, the interquartile range and then their difference, so one misread value changes the final entry. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Neither measure is defined on the page: the range spans the whiskers, and the interquartile range is the width of the box, the upper quartile minus the lower. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  4. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    The result is typed with no choices to compare, so an entry one or two degrees off, from rounding a value to the nearest tick, looks just as finished as the right one. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Read the minimum, both quartiles and the maximum, judging where each mark falls between the ticks, then subtract for the range and for the IQR, and subtract those two results.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Range
range=maximum−minimum\text{range} = \text{maximum} - \text{minimum}
The maximum is the greatest value, at the right end of the right whisker. The minimum is the least value, at the left end of the left whisker. The range tells how far the whole set of data spreads.
Interquartile range (IQR)
IQR=Q3−Q1\text{IQR} = Q_3 - Q_1
Q3 is the upper quartile, the right edge of the box. Q1 is the lower quartile, the left edge of the box. The IQR is the width of the box. It tells how far the middle half of the data spreads.

  1. Sort out the question

    A box plot shows data with five numbers. The two whiskers are the lines on each side of the box. Their ends are the minimum, the least value, and the maximum, the greatest. The box runs from the lower quartile to the upper quartile. These are the middles of the lower half and the upper half of the data. The line inside the box is the median, the middle value.

    You need the range minus the interquartile range (IQR), in degrees.

  2. Read the values between the ticks

    The ticks on the number line are 4 degrees apart. So each degree is one quarter of the space between two ticks. Three values sit right on ticks: the box’s left edge at 48, the median at 64, and the right whisker’s end at 84.

    • The left whisker starts just left of the 40 tick. It sits about one quarter of the way back toward 36. So the minimum is 40−1=3940 - 1 = 39 degrees.
    • The box’s right edge is halfway between 76 and 80. Halfway is 78 degrees.

  3. Find the range

    Use the range formula:

    range=84−39=45\text{range} = 84 - 39 = 45

    The data spread over 45 degrees.

    Watch out: rounding the minimum to the 40 tick gives a range of 44. Then the final answer comes out 14, which is wrong.

  4. Find the IQR

    Use the IQR formula with the two edges of the box:

    IQR=78−48=30\text{IQR} = 78 - 48 = 30

    The middle half of the data spreads over 30 degrees.

    Watch out: reading the box’s right edge as 76 gives an IQR of 28. Then the final answer comes out 17.

  5. Subtract the IQR from the range

    The question asks for the difference between the two:

    45−30=1545 - 30 = 15

    Watch out: 45 is only the range. Do not stop there. Type only the number, with no degree sign.

    So you would enter 15.

Check your answer

The range covers the whole plot, and the IQR covers only the box. So their difference is the two whiskers added together. The left whisker is 48−39=948 - 39 = 9 degrees long. The right whisker is 84−78=684 - 78 = 6 degrees long. 9+6=159 + 6 = 15, which matches.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 32 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 105 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 105, question 32.

Question 42 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 35

Question

If 4(a+2b)=28b+2a4(a + 2b) = 28b + 2a, what is the value of a in terms of b?

Enter your answer in the space provided. Enter only your answer.

On the test you build the answer on an on-screen keypad; here, type it. Use ^ for a power, sqrt( ) or √ for a root, pi for π, and <= or >= for ≤ and ≥.

Show the answer

Correct answer: a = 10b

To find the value of a in terms of b, solve 4(a+2b)=28b+2a4(a + 2b) = 28b + 2a for a. Begin by distributing 4 on the left side of the equation:

(4×a)+(4×2b)=28b+2a(4 \times a) + (4 \times 2b) = 28b + 2a

4a+8b=28b+2a4a + 8b = 28b + 2a

Then, get the a terms on one side and the b terms on the other:

4a−2a=28b−8b4a - 2a = 28b - 8b

Solve for the value of a in terms of b by combining like terms and then dividing each side by 2:

2a=20b2a = 20b

a=10ba = 10b

Question analysis

An algebra question gives an equation with a and b on both sides, one side written as 4 times a sum in parentheses, and students type a in terms of b after a printed "a =". It tests the distributive property and solving linear equations. The answer is typed, so a slip in distributing or moving terms is not caught by any choices.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.7b linear equations with rational coefficients
  • 7.EE.1 linear expressions with rational coefficients
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve equations like 4(x + 2) = 28 with numbers. This one has letters on both sides, needs the distributive property and like terms, and asks for a in terms of b, which is grade 8 algebra.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 4, 23 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 step is routine, yet there are four of them, each with a classic slip, and the typed answer catches none. Multiplying the 4 into only the a, or carrying 8b across without changing its sign, gives another whole multiple of b that looks finished. Testing b = 1, where 4(a + 2) and 28 + 2a must come out equal, confirms an entry quickly.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    Both letters appear on both sides, and the answer must stay a multiple of b, so there is no number to check an entry against unless students invent one. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. Many steps moderate Working it out

    Four moves run in a chain, distributing the 4, gathering the a terms, gathering the b terms and dividing by 2, and an error at any one carries into the typed result. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    The answer is typed after a printed “a =”, with no choices, so 20b, the line before dividing by 2, can be entered without anything on screen questioning it. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Distribute the 4 to both terms in the parentheses, gather the a terms on one side and the b terms on the other, then divide by the coefficient of a.

Traps

  • A faulty procedure: A systematic but wrong procedure: adding fractions straight across, applying an exponent to each term of a sum, dropping a sign when moving a term.
  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Distributive property
k(x+y)=kx+kyk(x + y) = kx + ky
k is the number outside the parentheses. x and y are the terms inside. The number outside multiplies every term inside, not just the first one. It works because 4 groups of (x + y) hold 4 x’s and 4 y’s.
Doing the same thing to both sides
if A=B, then A−C=B−C and A2=B2\text{if } A = B, \text{ then } A - C = B - C \text{ and } \frac{A}{2} = \frac{B}{2}
A and B are the two equal sides of an equation. C is any amount. Taking the same amount from both sides, or dividing both by the same number, keeps them equal, like a balanced scale.

  1. Sort out the question

    The equation is 4(a+2b)=28b+2a4(a + 2b) = 28b + 2a. You need a in terms of b. That means a alone on one side, with only b and numbers on the other.

    The answer box already shows a =, so you type only what comes after it.

  2. Multiply out the parentheses

    Use the distributive property. The 4 multiplies both terms inside:

    4×a+4×2b=28b+2a4 \times a + 4 \times 2b = 28b + 2a

    4a+8b=28b+2a4a + 8b = 28b + 2a

    Watch out: multiplying only the a by 4 gives 4a + 2b. That leads to the wrong answer 13b.

  3. Gather the a terms

    Like terms are terms with the same letter, such as 4a and 2a. Put the a terms on the left. Subtract 2a from both sides:

    4a−2a+8b=28b4a - 2a + 8b = 28b

    2a+8b=28b2a + 8b = 28b

  4. Gather the b terms

    Now subtract 8b from both sides:

    2a=28b−8b2a = 28b - 8b

    2a=20b2a = 20b

    Watch out: moving 8b without changing its sign gives 28b+8b=36b28b + 8b = 36b. That leads to 18b, which is wrong.

  5. Divide both sides by 2

    2a means 2 times a. Divide both sides by 2 to get a alone:

    a=20b2=10ba = \frac{20b}{2} = 10b

    Watch out: 20b is equal to 2a, not a. Do not stop there.

  6. Enter it after the printed a =

    On the test, the box already shows a =. Press 1, then 0, then the b key. You do not need a times sign. Do not type a = again. On this site, type 10b in the box.

    So you would enter 10b, which makes a = 10b.

Check your answer

Pick b = 1, so a = 10. The left side is 4(10+2)=4×12=484(10 + 2) = 4 \times 12 = 48. The right side is 28+2×10=4828 + 2 \times 10 = 48. The sides match, so 10b works.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 35 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 108 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 108, question 35.

Question 43 of 120

2026 Practice Test C Math, question 38

Question

This formula can be used to determine p, the number of pages that will be in a book that contains w words, with an average of r words per page, and f extra pages in the front for the title and publishing information.

p=1rw+fp = \frac{1}{r}w + f

If the formula is solved for w, it can be used to find the number of words in a book with p pages. What will the formula be if it is solved for w?

  • Aw=r(p−f)w = r(p - f)
  • Bw=1rp+fw = \frac{1}{r}p + f
  • Cw=f+rpw = f + rp
  • Dw=r+p+fw = r + p + f
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

Apply the properties of equality to solve for w.

p=1rw+fp = \frac{1}{r}w + f

Subtract f from both sides of the equation.

p−f=1rwp - f = \frac{1}{r}w

Multiply both sides by r.

r(p−f)=r(1rw)r(p - f) = r\left(\frac{1}{r}w\right)

r(p−f)=wr(p - f) = w

w=r(p−f)w = r(p - f)

Question analysis

A formula gives the number of pages p in a book from its number of words w, the average words per page r, and the extra front pages f. Students choose the formula solved for w. It tests rearranging a formula with inverse operations, and with only letters there are no numbers to check, so the order of the steps matters.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.7 linear equations in one variable
  • 7.EE.4a two-step equations
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve two-step equations such as 5 = x/4 + 2 with numbers. Rearranging a formula with four letters to solve for a different one is grade 8 work, with no numbers to check against.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 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 formula is short, but solving it for w means undoing two operations in reverse order, with letters only. The tempting shortcut multiplies p by r and leaves the f untouched, which yields a formula that looks as finished as the right one. Swapping p and w without undoing anything is the other quick trap. Substituting a small book, 5,000 words at 250 a page with 4 front pages, shows which formula gives back 5,000.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    Four letters and no numbers mean each choice has to be judged by its structure, unless students pick values such as r = 250, w = 5,000 and f = 4 to test it. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. Many steps minor Working it out

    Two inverse operations must come in order, subtracting f before multiplying by r; multiplying first means the f would have to be multiplied by r as well. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Treat it like a two-step equation with numbers: undo what was done to w last, then the step before, applying each operation to the whole of the other side.

Traps

  • A faulty procedure: A systematic but wrong procedure: adding fractions straight across, applying an exponent to each term of a sum, dropping a sign when moving a term.
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Multiplying by the reciprocal
r×1r=1r \times \frac{1}{r} = 1
r is any number except 0. The reciprocal of r is 1/r, the number flipped upside down. A number times its reciprocal is always 1. So multiplying by r undoes the 1/r in front of w and leaves w by itself.

  1. Sort out the question

    The formula is p=1rw+fp = \frac{1}{r}w + f. Here p is the number of pages, w the number of words, r the words on each page, and f the extra front pages.

    You need the formula solved for w. That means w alone on one side of the equal sign.

  2. See what happens to w

    Read the formula like a recipe. Start with w. First it is multiplied by 1r\frac{1}{r}, which is the same as dividing by r. Then f is added.

    To get w back, undo the steps in reverse order. Take away f first. Then undo the 1r\frac{1}{r}.

  3. Subtract f from both sides

    Taking f from both sides keeps them equal:

    p−f=1rwp - f = \frac{1}{r}w

    Now the only thing left to undo is the 1r\frac{1}{r}.

  4. Multiply both sides by r

    Use the reciprocal rule. Multiply both whole sides by r:

    r(p−f)=r×1rw=wr(p - f) = r \times \frac{1}{r}w = w

    So w=r(p−f)w = r(p - f).

    Watch out: w=f+rpw = f + rp, choice C, multiplies only p by r. The f must be taken away before you multiply. Or, if you multiply first, every term gets multiplied by r.

  5. Give the answer

    Choice B only trades the places of p and w, and it undoes nothing. Choice D just adds the letters.

    So the answer is A, w=r(p−f)w = r(p - f).

Check your answer

Try a book with 5,000 words, 250 words a page and 4 front pages. The first formula gives p=5,000÷250+4=24p = 5{,}000 \div 250 + 4 = 24 pages. Choice A gives back the words: 250×(24−4)=5,000250 \times (24 - 4) = 5{,}000. Choice C gives 4+250×24=6,0044 + 250 \times 24 = 6{,}004, which is wrong.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 111 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C Math, page 111, question 38.

Question 44 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 3
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

Read this sentence from paragraph 7.

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.

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

  • AIt presents a claim about the risks of relying on the Internet that prompted the research described in paragraphs 2 and 6.
  • BIt contrasts a disadvantage of relying on the Internet with the benefits of Internet use that are described in paragraphs 2 and 6.
  • CIt signals a shift from a neutral viewpoint in paragraphs 2 and 6 to a presentation of an argument and a counterargument.
  • DIt introduces a counterargument and marks a transition from an optimistic tone in paragraphs 2 and 6 to a cautious tone as the counterargument is developed.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the sentence from paragraph 7 contributes to the structure and development of ideas in the passage.

A. Incorrect. Although the studies showed, in part, that reliance on the Internet is increasing (“participants recalled the information’s location more often than the content itself” [paragraph 6]), the studies were not conducted in order to determine the risks of Internet use. The claim in the sentence did not prompt the research described in paragraphs 2 and 6.

B. Incorrect. While the sentence in paragraph 7 poses a question about the disadvantages of relying on the Internet, paragraphs 2 and 6 present the study data on Internet use and memory in a neutral tone (“correctly identifying 49 percent of the folders for specific facts while remembering only 23 percent of the actual trivia” [paragraph 6]). Neither study describes the availability of information on the Internet as an advantage or a disadvantage.

C. CORRECT. Paragraphs 2 and 6 describe the results of experiments related to the Internet’s effect on memory without commenting on the advantages or disadvantages of relying on that technology, and the sentence in paragraph 7 presents a questioning viewpoint that moves away from the neutral perspective of the broader passage. The opinion in the sentence is directly argued against in the three sentences that follow it, which present an extended quote from Steven Pinker, a psychology professor at Harvard University. Pinker refutes the idea expressed by the sentence, stating that “knowledge is increasing exponentially; human brainpower and waking hours are not.” He adds that technologies such as the Internet “are the only things that will keep us smart.”

D. Incorrect. Although the sentence in paragraph 7 expresses caution about the possible effects of the Internet on memory, the passage does not shift from an optimistic tone to a cautious tone. Actually, paragraph 6 provides the data on Internet use and memory in a neutral tone. The argument expressed by the sentence is also not elaborated on in the sentences that follow, but is immediately argued against by Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology. The last sentence of paragraph 7 in fact refutes the culled sentence: “ ‘Far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart.’ ”

Question analysis

This text-structure question quotes the sentence that opens the last paragraph of “A Memory Revolution,” where some people question whether the Internet may make us depend too heavily on technology. Students decide how it contributes to the structure and development of ideas in the article. Every choice also describes the experiments in paragraphs 2 and 6, so students must judge how the article presents them and what follows.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 structure questions often ask what one sentence does in its paragraph. This one asks how a sentence turns the whole article, and every choice also characterizes paragraphs 2 and 6, closer to grade 8 work on opposing viewpoints.
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 14, 763 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 129 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 is the article’s only worried note, and the question asks what it does there. Students must judge two things at once: how the earlier studies sound, plain numbers such as 49 and 23 percent with no verdict, and what follows, Pinker’s “However” and a confident rebuttal. The near miss rightly calls the sentence an opposing view but hears the studies as cheerful and expects caution to follow, so only students who read on to the end of paragraph 7 can rule it out.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what the sentence does in the article, and its job is a turn: from studies reported without judgment to a worry that Pinker’s quotation rebuts in the same paragraph. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about a counterargument and a cautious tone shares the key’s frame, a shift away from paragraphs 2 and 6 toward opposing views; it differs in calling those paragraphs optimistic and the ending cautious. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    Every choice also characterizes paragraphs 2 and 6, so students must recall how the Google study and the folder study were reported, as percentages with no praise or blame, before judging the sentence. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  4. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The choices judge structure in abstract words, “neutral viewpoint,” “counterargument,” “optimistic tone” and “cautious tone,” which students must match to how the article actually sounds. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Describe in a word or two how paragraphs 2 and 6 present their studies and what the rest of paragraph 7 does with the quoted sentence’s idea, then test both halves of every choice.

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.
  • 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 structure question. Structure is how the parts of an article fit together. The question asks what the sentence does at the start of paragraph 7. Each choice also describes paragraphs 2 and 6. So you must check two things: how those paragraphs sound, and what comes after the sentence.

  2. Look at paragraphs 2 and 6

    Paragraph 2 reports 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.” Paragraph 6 reports “correctly identifying 49 percent of the folders for specific facts while remembering only 23 percent of the actual trivia.” These paragraphs give numbers. They do not say the results are good or bad. Writing that takes no side like this is called neutral.

  3. Read the sentence and what follows

    The sentence says “some question whether the process may cause people to depend too heavily on technology.” That is a worry, an argument against relying on the Internet. The very next word is “However.” Then Steven Pinker answers the worry. He ends, “Far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart.” An answer to an argument is called a counterargument. So the article moves from neutral reports to an argument and a counterargument.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The worry comes after the studies. Nothing says it caused the research.
    • B does not fit. Paragraphs 2 and 6 do not describe benefits. They only report numbers.
    • C fits. The sentence shifts from neutral reports to an argument, and Pinker’s answer follows.
    • D does not fit. Paragraphs 2 and 6 are not optimistic, or hopeful. And the end is not cautious. Pinker answers the worry with confidence.

    Watch out: D is tempting because the sentence does raise an opposing view. But D gets both tones wrong.

  5. Choose the answer

    The sentence turns the article from plain reports to a debate. So the answer is C, “It signals a shift from a neutral viewpoint in paragraphs 2 and 6 to a presentation of an argument and a counterargument.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. Both C and D see the sentence bringing in an opposing view. But D calls paragraphs 2 and 6 optimistic, when they only give percentages. D also says a cautious tone follows. Instead, Pinker rejects the worry and ends with “keep us smart.” Only C describes both sides of the turn correctly.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 3 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 7 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 7, question 3.
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 45 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 5

Uses the passage above: “A Memory Revolution”.

Question

How does the diagram provide additional support for the topic presented in the passage?

  • AIt reveals why human brains must adapt to obtaining information from the Internet as opposed to other sources.
  • BIt indicates how people can use the Internet to help improve their long-term recollection of information.
  • CIt shows how study participants’ brains distinguished between important and unimportant details.
  • DIt depicts the idea that repetition and rehearsal are necessary to recall information when tools such as search engines are unavailable.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the diagram provides additional support for the topic presented in the passage.

A. Incorrect. While the diagram indicates that the human brain has the ability to maintain different types of memory, the diagram does not show the need for the brain to adapt to obtaining information from the Internet rather than from other sources.

B. Incorrect. The diagram enhances the reader’s understanding of how long-term memories are formed, but it does not provide details about how the Internet can be used to improve long-term recollection of information.

C. Incorrect. The diagram provides an understanding of how details that are important to people can become stored because of an effort made to recall them. However, the diagram does not show how people decide which information is important and which is not.

D. CORRECT. The diagram depicts the connections that the human brain maintains between the different forms of memory. It also illustrates the idea that repetition and rehearsal are important steps in creating memories, as unrehearsed information will be forgotten. This supports the passage by highlighting the idea that access to search engines and other tools leads people to skip rehearsal and repetition steps that create memories, because people know that the information is readily accessible.

Question analysis

This question pairs “A Memory Revolution” with its flow diagram, “How Memory Works,” which follows new information from sensory memory through short-term and long-term memory, and asks how the diagram supports the topic of the passage. Students must read the diagram’s boxes, arrows and notes and relate them to an article about the Internet that never refers to the diagram, so the connection has to be worked out.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students regularly connect a diagram to a text. This flow diagram of memory never mentions the Internet, so students must build the bridge to the article’s studies themselves, and every choice claims something the diagram alone cannot show.
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 14, 763 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 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 diagram is a general model of memory, and every choice, even the right one, goes beyond it by bringing in the Internet, search engines or the study participants. The way through is to ask which choice rests on something the diagram really shows, and only one names its rehearsal loop and the forgetting of unrehearsed information. The strongest pull uses the diagram’s long-term memory and retrieval but claims the Internet improves recollection, the opposite of what paragraph 5’s experiment found.

  1. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    The diagram never mentions the Internet and the article never mentions the diagram, so students must join its rehearsal loop to paragraph 5’s finding that people who expected the facts to be saved remembered fewer. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

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

    Students must follow the arrows from “Attention” into short-term memory and find the “Rehearsal” loop beside “Information is maintained through repetition,” with “Unrehearsed information is forgotten” on the other side. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Three choices tie the diagram to the Internet, adaptation or the study participants, and even the key mentions search engines, so each claim must be held against the boxes and arrows actually drawn. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Trace the diagram’s arrows from new information to long-term memory and say what each label shows, then ask which choice links that process to the studies without crediting the diagram with ideas it never shows.

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 diagram supports the article. The diagram is the flow chart called “HOW MEMORY WORKS” at the end of the passage. It never mentions the Internet. So you must find what it shows, then link that to the article.

  2. Follow the arrows in the diagram

    Start at the top. An arrow labeled “New Information” goes into the box “Sensory Memory.” The “Attention” arrow leads to “Short-Term Memory.” From there, two things can happen. On the left, a loop labeled “Rehearsal” sits beside the note “Information is maintained through repetition.” On the right, a note says “Unrehearsed information is forgotten.” A “Storage” arrow leads down to “Long-Term Memory,” and a “Retrieval” arrow leads back up.

  3. Explain what the diagram means

    To rehearse information is to repeat it, the way you practice lines for a play. To maintain something is to keep it. So the diagram says that information you repeat stays with you. Information you don’t repeat is lost. Repeating takes effort.

  4. Link the diagram to the passage

    Paragraph 5 describes people who typed forty facts. Some thought the file would be saved. Others thought it would be erased. Those who thought it would be erased “could recall 40 percent more facts.” They knew they could not look the facts up later. So they made the effort to remember. The diagram shows that effort: rehearsal. When search engines are at hand, people may skip it.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The diagram never mentions the Internet. It does not say brains must adapt.
    • B does not fit. The diagram shows nothing about using the Internet. Paragraph 5 even found that people remembered less when they expected the facts to be saved.
    • C does not fit. The diagram shows memory in general. It shows no study participants and no sorting of important facts.
    • D fits. The “Rehearsal” loop shows that repeating information keeps it. Without a tool to look things up, that repeating is what lets you recall.

    Watch out: B is tempting because the diagram has “Long-Term Memory” and “Retrieval,” and the article calls the Internet an outside memory. But the diagram is about the brain, not the Internet.

  6. Choose the answer

    The diagram shows rehearsal keeping information and unrehearsed information being forgotten. That explains why people who can’t look facts up must work to remember them. So the answer is D, “It depicts the idea that repetition and rehearsal are necessary to recall information when tools such as search engines are unavailable.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. It uses the diagram’s “Long-Term Memory” and “Retrieval” labels. But the diagram never shows the Internet improving recall. The passage says the opposite: expecting the facts to be saved made people remember fewer. D rests on what the diagram really shows, the “Rehearsal” loop and the note “Unrehearsed information is forgotten.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 5 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 9 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 9, question 5.

Question 46 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 47 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 48 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 49 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 17
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

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.
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 50 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 51 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 26
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

The fireworks in the poem represent the speaker’s

  • Awish to return to a simpler way of living.
  • Bbittersweet feelings about leaving the past behind.
  • Chigh expectations for everyday life.
  • Dreflections on past interactions with relatives.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the fireworks in the poem represent about the speaker.

A. Incorrect. While the speaker misses elements of the past, the speaker is also positive about the present, with comparisons to a “constant celebration” (line 33) and descriptions of “the music of people” (line 36). The speaker does not indicate a desire to return to a simpler way of living.

B. CORRECT. The speaker misses the experience of watching the fireworks display with family and friends but understands that time has progressed and that life is now different. The lines “This was a treat we waited / all year for” (lines 6–7) highlight the significance of the memory of waiting for and watching the fireworks. In the speaker’s present, the lines “I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field” (lines 40–41) emphasize the key details from the experience that stand out in the speaker’s mind when something in the current environment reminds the speaker of the past.

C. Incorrect. While the speaker does share details about the present and the tone is generally positive, the fireworks do not suggest that the speaker has high expectations for how everyday life should be. The third stanza (lines 28–42) describes the speaker’s daily life in the city, but the speaker does not form expectations from these everyday moments.

D. Incorrect. While the speaker does mention discussing cloud shapes with a family member in lines 19–20, the fireworks serve as a more general reminder of the speaker’s past life. Viewing the bright lights of the city makes the speaker recall memories of the speaker’s past and the feelings of anticipation before the fireworks show.

Question analysis

This question about symbolism asks what the fireworks represent in “Ode to Fireworks,” a 42-line poem in which an adult speaker remembers watching fireworks at a country fair as a child. Students must weigh all three stanzas to decide what the central image stands for, and the choices name abstract feelings and wishes that are close to one another.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students interpret symbols, usually where the text makes their meaning fairly clear. Here they must hold a 42-line poem in mind and choose among four abstract feelings, two of them very close, which goes beyond typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 35 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The explanation of C misdescribed the third stanza; one sentence was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

This symbol question asks students to hold the whole 42-line poem in mind and weigh two feelings at once: the speaker misses the fireworks of childhood but speaks warmly of city life. Readers who notice only the longing choose a wish to go back, and readers who fix on one detail choose the relatives or the city’s “constant celebration.” The key’s “bittersweet” is the one word that holds both halves, which is why it is easy to pass over for a choice that states only one.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The fireworks are never explained; they are “jewels” in stanza 2 and the “childhood bursts” that “escorted us home” in stanza 3, so their meaning as a symbol must be built from images. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The wish-to-return choice and the key both read the fireworks as feelings about the past; they differ in whether the speaker wants that past back or has accepted leaving it. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The answer needs all three stanzas: the treat “we waited / all year for,” the dark country night, and the city stanza’s “This is where we live now,” which shows acceptance beside longing. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Note how the speaker describes the fireworks in each stanza and how the speaker feels about the present in the last one, then choose the feeling that fits all three stanzas, not only the first.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.
  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: Rejecting C, the handbook's explanation calls the third stanza (lines 28–42) “the speaker’s imaginings” and “fantasies”. The stanza describes the speaker's real life in the city now: “This is where we live now”, picking up washing at the cleaner's, stopping by the corner market. It now says the stanza describes the speaker's daily life in the city. The answer, B, is unchanged.

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 fireworks represent, or stand for. A thing in a poem that stands for a bigger idea is called a symbol. Look at the fireworks in all three stanzas. Then see how the speaker feels about the past and the present.

  2. Look at the past

    Stanza 1 shows how special the fireworks were: “This was a treat we waited / all year for.” Stanza 2 calls them “jewels.” In stanza 3 the speaker still remembers them: “I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field.” So the speaker misses that time.

  3. Look at the present

    The speaker also accepts city life: “This is where we live now, / and it is how we live now.” The city is “a constant celebration,” full of “the music of people.” So the speaker is not unhappy now. The speaker misses the past but has moved on. That feeling is bittersweet: happy and sad at the same time.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The speaker never says they want to go back to the country.
    • B is right. The fireworks stand for a loved past the speaker has left behind. The feeling is both warm and sad.
    • C is wrong. The “constant celebration” describes city life. Nothing shows high expectations.
    • D is wrong. Relatives appear in stanza 1. But the fireworks stand for a whole time of life, not just time with family.

    Watch out: A notices only the longing. It misses that the speaker accepts “where we live now.”

  5. Choose the answer

    The fireworks hold both the joy of the past and the sadness of leaving it. So the answer is B, “bittersweet feelings about leaving the past behind.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Both A and B are about feelings for the past. But A says the speaker wants to return, and the poem never says that. The speaker calls the city “a constant celebration” and accepts “where we live now.” Missing the past while accepting the present is bittersweet. That is B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 26 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 D English, page 38, question 26. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed (page 32)The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.

Question 52 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 40
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 concluding sentence should replace sentence 23 to best support the topic presented in the passage?

  • AWith so many ways to begin studying martial arts, people can easily discover how the skills needed to progress in rank may help them in life.
  • BBy taking advantage of opportunities to practice martial arts, people can experience the satisfaction of achieving goals while also improving themselves.
  • CBecause people are eager to reap the mental and physical benefits of studying martial arts, enrollment in martial arts courses has increased.
  • DWhile taking martial arts classes can improve health for both young people and adults, the effects are clearly more immediate for adults.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the concluding sentence that best replaces sentence 23 and supports the topic presented in the passage.

A. Incorrect. The phrase “the skills needed to progress in rank” is vague, and progressing in rank is not related to the overall topic of the passage, which is the benefits of studying martial arts. The topic of the passage is not the “many ways to begin studying martial arts” or how “people can easily discover” the benefits of martial arts.

B. CORRECT. This option is correct because it best supports the topic of the passage—the benefits of studying martial arts—by stating two reasons why people should study martial arts: to “experience the satisfaction of achieving goals while also improving themselves.”

C. Incorrect. Some readers may choose this option because it refers to the benefits of martial arts, but the word “because” and the detail that “enrollment in martial arts courses has increased” make this sentence unrelated to the overall topic of the passage, which is about the benefits of studying martial arts, not the number of people who participate.

D. Incorrect. Although the benefits of studying martial arts are described for both teens (in the third paragraph) and adults (in the fourth paragraph), the topic of the passage is the overall benefits of studying martial arts, which include mental discipline (discussed in the first, second, and third paragraphs) in addition to health benefits. Furthermore, the passage does not compare the health effects of studying martial arts across age groups.

Question analysis

This conclusion question asks which sentence should replace sentence 23, the bare closing line “People should study martial arts,” to best support the topic of the passage. Students must keep all five paragraphs in view, from mental discipline to fitness to ways of getting started, because every choice sounds like a reasonable final line when read on its own.

NYS standards
  • 7W2e concluding informative writing
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 writers choose conclusions that follow from a passage’s topic. This passage covers mental and physical benefits for different ages, and each long choice picks up a real thread, so judging the best fit 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: about grade 11, 402 words; question and choices: about grade 12, 106 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

Every ending borrows something real from the passage: ways to begin, ranks, mental and physical benefits, or adults’ quick results. The work is deciding what the whole passage is about, the benefits of martial arts for mind and body, and then noticing which ending adds a new claim or shrinks the topic. The rank-based ending is hardest to reject because it is shaped like the key and promises help “in life,” but its focus is how easily people discover rank skills.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The rank choice is built like the key, a phrase about ways or chances to train followed by what people gain; it differs in resting on the vague “skills needed to progress in rank.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The topic is pieced together from all five paragraphs, from the opening’s mind-and-body claim through teens, adults’ fitness and ways to learn, so a fitting ending must cover both kinds of benefit. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    Each choice is a two-part sentence of 21 to 26 words, and each picks up a real thread of the passage, so all four must be held against the topic. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: State the passage’s topic in a few words using all five paragraphs, then test each ending: does it sum up that topic, or does it narrow it or add a new claim?

Traps

  • Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.

The wrong answers, classified

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 39 (“the sentence that would best follow and support sentence 18”) and marks C correct, and this question’s explanation (“the concluding sentence that best replaces sentence 23 and supports the topic presented in the passage”) is printed after question 39, marking B correct. Read page by page, the appendix gives this question the answer C. The site gives the question the explanation that restates it, and the answer follows that explanation: B, because it sums up the passage’s topic, the benefits of studying martial arts.

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 better last sentence. A good concluding sentence sums up the topic of the whole passage. Sentence 23, “People should study martial arts,” is short and plain. It doesn’t remind the reader why.

  2. Find the passage’s topic

    Sentence 5 states the topic. Martial arts can help students “enhance their mental discipline as well as their physical fitness.” Enhance means improve. Paragraph 2 covers discipline, focus and respect. Paragraph 3 covers teens and goals. Paragraph 4 covers adults and fitness. Paragraph 5 lists ways to start. So the topic is how martial arts help both mind and body.

  3. Name the rule

    A conclusion should sum up the main point. It should not shrink the point or add a brand-new claim. For example, after a report on why sleep matters, a good ending is Getting enough sleep helps both your body and your mind. A poor one is More people buy pillows now.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. It rests on vague “skills needed to progress in rank,” one small part of the passage.
    • B is right. “Opportunities to practice” follows paragraph 5. “Achieving goals” and “improving themselves” sum up the benefits.
    • C is wrong. Enrollment is the number of people who sign up. The passage never says it has gone up.
    • D is wrong. The passage never says adults see results sooner than young people. D also leaves out the benefits to the mind.

    Watch out: A is built like B and promises help “in life.” But it shrinks the topic to rank skills.

  5. Choose the answer

    B sums up what the whole passage says martial arts offer. So the answer is B, “By taking advantage of opportunities to practice martial arts, people can experience the satisfaction of achieving goals while also improving themselves.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like B, it starts with ways to begin and ends with what people gain. But its gain is vague “skills needed to progress in rank.” That is only one thread of the passage. B sums up the whole topic: reaching goals and improving yourself.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 40 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 58 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 58, question 40. 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 53 of 120

2026 Practice Test D English, question 49

Question

Read this sentence.

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

Which two edits should be made to correct the sentence?

Select the two correct answers.

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

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

Correct answer: A and D

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7L2 capitalization, punctuation, and spelling
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 The comma rules tested appear in the grade 6 and 7 standards, but the sentence runs 57 words, two of the rules are subtle ones, and both selections must be right, which makes this harder than typical grade 7 editing.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 100 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A grammar term in the explanation was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The sentence is long, two of its five decisions turn on subtle comma rules, and the site counts the answer right only when both edits are right. The comma before “and do not require” is the strongest trap, because a comma before “and” is a habit many students apply without checking whether a new clause begins. The paired commas around “an image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver” are already correct, and deleting either one breaks the pair.

  1. A rule that doesn't sound wrong major Working it out

    Both needed edits rest on rules students rarely hear: “first, official” are not coordinate adjectives, so no comma, and “which are digitized” adds nonessential detail about photos of today, so it needs one. (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  2. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

    There are five comma decisions in one sentence and both selections must be right to score, so each edit is judged on its own while the rest of the sentence is held in mind. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

  3. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    The sentence runs 57 words and stacks an appositive, a participial phrase beginning “using a process,” and a relative clause with two verbs, so finding where each phrase starts and ends is itself the task. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

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

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks which two comma edits fix the sentence. Five words are underlined. Decide about each comma one at a time. You must pick both right edits.

  2. Check the comma after first

    A comma goes between two describing words only if each one describes the noun on its own. Test it: can you put “and” between them? A long and hard test works, so you write a long, hard test. But the first and official selfie sounds wrong. “First” describes “official selfie” as a unit. So delete the comma after first. That is A.

  3. Check the commas around silver

    “An image recorded on a copper plate coated in silver” tells what a daguerreotype is. A phrase that renames the noun just before it is called an appositive. An appositive in the middle of a sentence needs a comma on each side. Example: My dog, a small beagle, loves walks. So keep the commas after daguerreotype and silver. B and C are wrong.

  4. Check the comma after today

    A clause is a group of words with its own verb. “Which are digitized or printed from film” is a clause that adds extra facts about photos of today. A “which” clause that adds extra facts gets a comma before it. Example: I read that book, which is very long. So add a comma after today. That is D.

  5. Check the comma after film

    The words “and do not require subjects to sit” are part of the same “which” clause. “Which” is the subject of both verbs, “are digitized or printed” and “do not require.” When “and” joins two verbs that share one subject, no comma goes before it. Example: She sings and dances. So E is wrong.

    Watch out: Many students put a comma before every “and.” That leads to E. A comma goes before “and” when it joins two full sentences, not two verbs.

  6. Choose the answers

    Delete the comma after first, and add a comma after today. So the answers are A and D. Be sure to select both of them.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 54 of 120

2026 Practice Test D Math, question 13

Question

A right triangle with the right angle marked at its bottom left vertex. The angle at the top vertex is labeled (2x + 9)°, and the angle at the bottom right vertex is labeled (3x − 14)°.

In the right triangle shown above, what is the measure of the smallest angle?

  • A43°
  • B44°
  • C46°
  • D47°
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

Since the three angles of a triangle have a sum of 180°, and since one angle is a right angle, the other two angles have a sum of 90°. By writing an equation and using inverse operations, the value of x can be found.

(2x+9)+(3x−14)=90(2x + 9) + (3x - 14) = 90

5x−5=905x - 5 = 90

5x=955x = 95

x=19x = 19

Now, use substitution to find the measure of the two angles to determine the smallest angle of the triangle.

2x+9=2(19)+9=472x + 9 = 2(19) + 9 = 47

3x−14=3(19)−14=433x - 14 = 3(19) - 14 = 43

The smallest angle is 43°.

Question analysis

A right triangle has its two other angles labeled (2x + 9)° and (3x − 14)°, and students find the measure of the smallest angle. It tests the angle sum of a triangle and solving a linear equation. Finding x is not the end: both angles must be worked out and compared to see which one is smallest.

NYS standards
  • 8.G.5 angle sums, transversals, angle-angle similarity
  • 7.G.5 angle relationships and equations
  • 7.EE.4a two-step equations
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students write equations for unknown angles using complementary and supplementary angles. This also needs the angle sum of a triangle, which New York places in grade 8, plus substituting back and comparing, though each step is short.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 6, 14 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

Setting the sum of the two labeled angles to 90° is the decision; the algebra after it is routine. The trap waits at the end: x = 19 is not an angle, and the expression at the top vertex, 2x + 9, gives the larger acute angle, 47°. Evaluating both expressions and checking that they add to 90° takes seconds and shows which one is smaller.

  1. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    The angle facts and the algebra meet in one equation: the right angle means the two labeled angles add to 90°, and only that sum makes (2x + 9) + (3x − 14) solvable. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  2. Many steps minor Working it out

    After solving 5x − 5 = 90, both angle expressions must be evaluated and compared, because the question wants an angle, not x, and not the first angle found. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The 180° angle sum of a triangle is not printed, and only the small square at the bottom left shows that one angle is 90°. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Use the right angle to see that the other two angles add to 90°, solve that equation for x, then substitute into both expressions and compare them.

Traps

  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.
  • A formula you must know: Needs a formula the test does not give: area, circumference, volume, probability rules.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Angles in a triangle
a+b+c=180a + b + c = 180
a, b and c are the three angles of any triangle, in degrees. They always add up to 180 degrees. If you tear off the three corners and set them side by side, they make a straight line.
The two other angles of a right triangle
a+b=90a + b = 90
a and b are the two angles that are not the right angle. A right angle is 90 degrees, so the other two share what is left of the 180: 180 − 90 = 90.

  1. Sort out the question

    The small square at the bottom left corner marks a right angle, which is 90°. The top angle is (2x + 9)°, and the bottom right angle is (3x − 14)°. You need the smallest of the three angles. First find x, then find each angle.

  2. Write an equation

    The three angles add to 180°. The right angle uses 90° of that, so the other two angles add to 90°:

    (2x+9)+(3x−14)=90(2x + 9) + (3x - 14) = 90

  3. Solve for x

    Combine the x terms, 2x + 3x = 5x. Combine the numbers, 9 − 14 = −5:

    5x−5=905x - 5 = 90

    Add 5 to both sides, then divide both sides by 5:

    5x=955x = 95

    x=95÷5=19x = 95 \div 5 = 19

  4. Find both angles

    Put x = 19 into each expression:

    2x+9=2×19+9=38+9=472x + 9 = 2 \times 19 + 9 = 38 + 9 = 47

    3x−14=3×19−14=57−14=433x - 14 = 3 \times 19 - 14 = 57 - 14 = 43

    The three angles are 47°, 43° and 90°.

    Watch out: x = 19 is not an angle. And the first angle you find, 47°, is not the smallest one. Stopping there gives choice D.

  5. Pick the smallest angle

    Compare 47°, 43° and 90°. The smallest is 43°. The figure is not drawn to scale, so do not judge the angles by how they look. Use the numbers.

    So the answer is A, 43°.

Check your answer

Add the three angles: 47 + 43 + 90 = 180. That is the right total for a triangle. Also, 47 + 43 = 90, so the two smaller angles fill exactly what the right angle leaves.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 13 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 86 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D Math, page 86, question 13.

Question 55 of 120

2026 Practice Test D Math, question 19

Question

A store manager purchases a piece of furniture for $456.00. To determine the selling price, the manager increases the purchase cost by 125%. A customer buys the furniture and pays an additional 8% sales tax. How much does the customer pay for the furniture?

  • A$615.60
  • B$627.48
  • C$1,108.08
  • D$1,846.80
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

Given a purchase price of $456.00, the 125% increase in price is calculated as:

456×1.25=570456 \times 1.25 = 570

The selling price equals the purchase price plus the increase, or:

456+570=1,026456 + 570 = 1{,}026

The sales tax on the selling price is:

1,026(0.08)=82.081{,}026(0.08) = 82.08

The customer pays the selling price plus the sales tax:

1,026+82.08=1,108.081{,}026 + 82.08 = 1{,}108.08

Question analysis

A store manager buys a piece of furniture for $456.00 and raises the price by 125% to set the selling price, and the customer also pays 8% sales tax. Students find the total the customer pays. It tests percent increase and sales tax in sequence, and reading an increase of more than 100% correctly is the main challenge.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 7.NS.3 four operations with rational numbers
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students find markups and sales tax, usually with increases under 100%. An increase of more than 100% is unusual and easy to misread, and two percent changes must be applied in order, which goes beyond routine grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 41 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

A percent above 100 is unusual in grade 7 work, and it is the center of the question: the markup more than doubles the price. Students who treat “by 125%” as “125% of” still find a listed answer after adding tax, and so do students who add $125. A rough check helps: the selling price must be more than twice $456, about $1,000, and the tax adds less than a tenth of that.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    “Increases the purchase cost by 125%” adds 125% of $456 to the $456 itself, a multiplier of 2.25; reading it as 125% of the cost leaves the original price out. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. Many steps moderate Working it out

    Four steps in a row, the increase, the selling price, the tax and the total, each depend on the one before, and two of them are easy to merge or skip. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. Error-prone arithmetic minor Working it out

    Taking 8% of $1,026 means multiplying by 0.08, and a decimal point one place off, 0.8, makes the tax ten times too large. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

Strategy: Turn each percent change into a multiplier, remembering that an increase by a percent is added to the original amount, apply the markup and then the tax, and estimate to check the size.

Traps

  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • An arithmetic slip: The right method with a plausible arithmetic error: a digit, a place value or a times-table fact.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Percent of a number
p% of n=p100×np\% \text{ of } n = \frac{p}{100} \times n
n is the starting amount, and p is the percent. Percent means out of 100, so 125% is 125/100 = 1.25 and 8% is 8/100 = 0.08. Multiply n by that decimal to find the part.
Price after an increase
new price=old price+increase\text{new price} = \text{old price} + \text{increase}
The old price is what you start with. The increase is the amount added on. To increase by a percent, find that percent of the old price, then add it to the old price. Sales tax is added the same way.

  1. Sort out the question

    The manager pays $456.00 for the furniture. The selling price is that cost increased by 125%. The customer then pays 8% sales tax on top. Sales tax is an extra charge, a percent of the price. You need the total the customer pays.

  2. Find the increase

    Find 125% of $456. As a decimal, 125% is 1.25, which is 1 and a quarter. A quarter of 456 is 114:

    456×1.25=456+114=570456 \times 1.25 = 456 + 114 = 570

    The increase is $570.

  3. Find the selling price

    Increases by means the increase is added to the cost:

    456+570=1,026456 + 570 = 1{,}026

    The selling price is $1,026.

    Watch out: $570 is only the increase. Using it as the price gives $615.60, choice A. And 125% is a percent, not $125. Adding $125 leads to $627.48, choice B.

  4. Find the sales tax

    As a decimal, 8% is 0.08. Find 8% of the selling price:

    1,026×0.08=82.081{,}026 \times 0.08 = 82.08

    The tax is $82.08.

    Watch out: 8% is 0.08, not 0.8. Using 0.8 makes the tax ten times too big and gives $1,846.80, choice D.

  5. Add the tax to the price

    The customer pays the selling price plus the tax:

    1,026+82.08=1,108.081{,}026 + 82.08 = 1{,}108.08

    So the answer is C, $1,108.08.

Check your answer

Estimate. The price more than doubles: $456 plus $570 is about $1,000. Tax of 8% adds about $80. So the total should be a bit over $1,080, and only $1,108.08 is close. Or multiply in one go: 456 × 2.25 × 1.08 = 1,108.08.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 92 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D Math, page 92, question 19.

Question 56 of 120

2026 Practice Test D Math, question 35

Question

XYZ Corporation hired 6 people as summer workers. Of these 6 people, 3 will be hired as permanent employees in the fall. If 2 of the 6 people are male, how many of the possible groups of 3 people hired in the fall will include only 1 male?

  • A4
  • B6
  • C12
  • D24
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

An organized list can be used to determine the number of groups of 3 people that include only 1 male.

Let the letters A, B, C, and D represent the females, and let the numbers 1 and 2 represent the males.

Then, create a list of all possible combinations of 3 people with only 1 male.

AB1, AB2, AC1, AC2, AD1, AD2

BC1, BC2, BD1, BD2

CD1, CD2

There are 12 possible groups with only 1 male.

Question analysis

A company hired 6 summer workers, 2 of them male, and will keep 3 as permanent employees in the fall. This counting question asks how many possible groups of 3 include only 1 male. Students count combinations where order does not matter, and the bold word only, with two kinds of workers to combine, makes careful listing essential.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.8b sample spaces for compound events
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students list outcomes with organized lists and tree diagrams, usually ordered ones. Counting unordered groups of three under an "only one" condition, built from two kinds of people, goes beyond that typical work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 41 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The question hides a two-stage count in a hiring story. Students tend to get one stage right and forget the other: they count the pairs of women and stop, or they count ordered picks and so find every group twice. Naming the women A to D and the men 1 and 2, then listing the pairs of women alphabetically with each man attached, makes every group visible and checkable.

  1. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    Two counts are joined: the 6 ways to pick 2 of the 4 women, then the 2 ways to pick the man, and the total is their product. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Students must already know that a group is the same whichever order its members are named, so picking one woman and then another repeats the reverse pick. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Turning words into math minor Understanding the question

    The bold word only means exactly one man, so the other two places in each group of 3 must go to two of the 4 women, a step the stem leaves unsaid. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

Strategy: Name the women A to D and the men 1 and 2, list every pair of women without repeats, then attach each man to each pair and count the groups.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Counting with two choices
number of groups=ways to pick the man×ways to pick the women\text{number of groups} = \text{ways to pick the man} \times \text{ways to pick the women}
Each way of picking the man can go with each way of picking the two women. So you multiply the two counts. It is like outfits: 2 shirts with 6 pairs of pants make 12 outfits.

  1. Sort out the question

    Six people work for the summer. Two are male, so the other 4 are female. Three will be hired in the fall.

    You need the number of groups of 3 with only 1 male. That means exactly 1 man and 2 women. In a group, order does not matter. Ann, Bea and Carl is the same group as Carl, Ann and Bea.

  2. Give each person a name

    Call the women A, B, C and D. Call the men 1 and 2. Every group you want has 2 letters and 1 number, like AB1.

  3. List the pairs of women

    List each pair once. Start with A, then pair B only with letters after it, and so on:

    • AB, AC, AD
    • BC, BD
    • CD

    That is 6 pairs. BA is not new, since it is the same pair as AB.

    Watch out: counting the order gives 4×3=124 \times 3 = 12 pairs, each one twice. Then doubling for the men gives 24, choice D.

  4. Add a man to each pair

    Each pair of women can go with man 1 or man 2. Use the counting rule:

    6×2=126 \times 2 = 12

    Watch out: stopping at the 6 pairs of women leaves out the men. That gives 6, choice B.

    So the answer is C, 12.

Check your answer

Write out every group. With man 1: AB1, AC1, AD1, BC1, BD1, CD1. With man 2: AB2, AC2, AD2, BC2, BD2, CD2. Each list has 6 groups, and 6+6=126 + 6 = 12. No group repeats, and each has just one man.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 35 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 108 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D Math, page 108, question 35.

Question 57 of 120

2026 Practice Test D Math, question 36

Question

Leah has set a goal to read a total of 500 pages of a textbook. The table shows the book page numbers for the reading she did during three days.

DAILY READING LOG

Day Pages Read
1 pages 45–90, inclusive
2 pages 100–135, inclusive
3 pages 145–190, inclusive

What percentage of her 500-page goal did Leah read on these three days? Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Enter your answer in the space.

Fill-in question: work out the answer and type it as a number.

Show the answer

Correct answer: 25.6%

First, determine the number of pages read each day. Since the pages per assignment are inclusive, subtract the first page from the last page assigned and then add 1 to determine the pages read for each day.

Day 1: (90−45)+1=46(90 - 45) + 1 = 46 pages

Day 2: (135−100)+1=36(135 - 100) + 1 = 36 pages

Day 3: (190−145)+1=46(190 - 145) + 1 = 46 pages

Leah read a total of 128 pages, since 46+36+46=12846 + 36 + 46 = 128.

To determine the percent, express 128 pages out of 500 pages as a fraction.

128500=128÷4500÷4=32125\frac{128}{500} = \frac{128 \div 4}{500 \div 4} = \frac{32}{125}

32÷125=0.256=25.6%32 \div 125 = 0.256 = 25.6\%

Question analysis

Leah's daily reading log lists three ranges of textbook pages, each marked inclusive, and her goal is 500 pages. This percent question asks what percentage of the goal she read over the three days, rounded to the nearest tenth and typed in. Counting the pages in each inclusive range correctly is the tricky step before the percent.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.RP.3c percent as a rate per 100
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Finding what percent one number is of another is grade 6 and 7 work. This adds three inclusive page ranges to count, which takes more care than subtracting, then a rounding step, all typed with no choices to check against.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 3, 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

Counting pages in a range is the whole difficulty; the percent at the end is routine once the total is right. Subtracting first from last feels natural, and here it even rewards the student with a round 25%, so nothing looks wrong. Checking the rule on a tiny range, pages 1 to 3, which is 3 pages and not 2, fixes the count, and the instruction to round to the nearest tenth hints that the answer is not a whole number.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    Every row says inclusive, but nothing says that pages 45 to 90 hold 90 − 45 + 1 = 46 pages; subtracting alone loses one page on each of the three days. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Many steps moderate Working it out

    Three page counts, a sum, a division by 500 and a change to a percent come in sequence, and a one-page error in each count carries through to the end. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    The answer is typed with no choices, and the miscounted total, 125 pages, gives a tidy 25% that looks more finished than the right value with its tenth. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Count each day's pages carefully, testing your method on a short range such as pages 1–3, add the three days, divide by 500, and write the result as a percent to the nearest tenth.

Traps

  • Counting the ends: Inclusive or exclusive ends, fence posts, consecutive numbers: an answer that is one too many or too few, or an endpoint drawn open where it belongs closed (or the reverse).
  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Counting pages in an inclusive range
pages=last page−first page+1\text{pages} = \text{last page} - \text{first page} + 1
Inclusive means the first and last pages are both read. Subtracting counts the steps from the first page to the last. That misses one page, so add 1. Test it: pages 1 to 3 are 3 pages, and 3 − 1 + 1 = 3.
Percent of a total
percent=partwhole×100\text{percent} = \frac{\text{part}}{\text{whole}} \times 100
The part is the amount you have, here the pages read. The whole is the amount you compare with, here the 500-page goal. Dividing gives a decimal. Multiplying by 100 turns it into a percent, a number out of 100.

  1. Sort out the question

    Leah’s goal is 500 pages. The log shows three days:

    • Day 1: pages 45 to 90
    • Day 2: pages 100 to 135
    • Day 3: pages 145 to 190

    Each range is inclusive. You need the percent of 500 pages she read, rounded to the nearest tenth.

  2. Count the pages each day

    Use the rule for an inclusive range: last page minus first page, plus 1.

    90−45+1=4690 - 45 + 1 = 46

    135−100+1=36135 - 100 + 1 = 36

    190−145+1=46190 - 145 + 1 = 46

    Watch out: subtracting alone gives 45, 35 and 45 pages. That is 125 pages, which is exactly 25%. A round answer like that can hide the mistake.

  3. Add the three days

    Add the pages from all three days to get her total:

    46+36+46=12846 + 36 + 46 = 128

    Leah read 128 pages in all. This is the part you compare with the goal.

  4. Change to a percent

    Divide the pages read by the goal, then multiply by 100:

    128500×100=0.256×100=25.6\frac{128}{500} \times 100 = 0.256 \times 100 = 25.6

    Leah read 25.6% of her goal. That already ends in tenths, so no rounding is needed.

    Watch out: 0.256 is a decimal, not a percent. And 26 rounds to a whole number, not to the nearest tenth.

  5. Enter the answer

    The box has no % sign, but the question asks for a percentage, so the number in the box is the percent. Type it with its decimal point. Typing 25.6% also counts on this site. So you would enter 25.6.

Check your answer

Estimate. 10% of 500 pages is 50 pages. 128 pages is a bit more than 2 × 50 = 100, so the answer is between 20% and 30%. Then check exactly: 0.256×500=1280.256 \times 500 = 128 pages. It matches.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 36 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 109 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D Math, page 109, question 36.

Question 58 of 120

2026 Practice Test D Math, question 48

Question

The perimeter of square W is twice the perimeter of equilateral triangle X. What is the ratio of the length of one side of square W to the length of one side of equilateral triangle X?

  • A3:8
  • B2:3
  • C3:2
  • D2:1
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

First, set up the ratio of the perimeter of the square to the triangle as 2:1 because the question states that the perimeter of the square is twice the perimeter of the triangle.

Recognizing that the square has 4 equal sides and that an equilateral triangle has 3 sides, use division to find the ratio of the sides.

Perimeter: 2:1=212 : 1 = \frac{2}{1}

Sides:

2413=24÷13=\frac{\frac{2}{4}}{\frac{1}{3}} = \frac{2}{4} \div \frac{1}{3} =

24×31=64=\frac{2}{4} \times \frac{3}{1} = \frac{6}{4} =

32=3:2\frac{3}{2} = 3 : 2

Question analysis

The perimeter of square W is twice the perimeter of equilateral triangle X, and students find the ratio of a side of the square to a side of the triangle. This ratio question uses perimeters of regular shapes with no lengths given. Turning a comparison of perimeters into one of sides, and keeping the ratio in the order asked, are the tricky parts.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 7.EE.4 equations and inequalities from problems
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 ratio problems usually supply numbers to work with. This one gives only a relationship between two perimeters, so students must bring in the number of sides of each shape themselves and keep the ratio in the order asked.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 9, 36 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 turns a statement about perimeters into a ratio of sides, and the natural guess, that the sides keep the perimeters’ 2 to 1, ignores that the square shares its perimeter among 4 sides and the triangle among 3. Choosing a triangle perimeter such as 12 makes the comparison concrete. The order of the ratio still has to be checked at the end, because its reverse is listed too.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    “The perimeter of square W is twice the perimeter of equilateral triangle X” must become 4s = 2 × 3t, with the 2 on the triangle’s side; written backward, it gives the triangle the larger perimeter. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    No side length is given, so students must either work with letters for the two sides or choose a convenient perimeter themselves, such as 12 for the triangle. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The ratios 3:2 and 2:3 use the same two numbers, so only keeping the square’s side first, as the question orders it, separates the answer from its reverse. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Pick an easy side length for the triangle, find its perimeter, double that for the square, divide by the square's number of sides, and write square to triangle.

Traps

  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).
  • Equation written backwards: Writes a comparison the wrong way round, word for word: "six times as many students as professors" as 6S = P. The bigger quantity gets the bigger number.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Perimeter of a square
P=4sP = 4s
P is the perimeter, the distance around the shape. s is the length of one side. A square has 4 equal sides, so its perimeter is 4 times one side.
Perimeter of an equilateral triangle
P=3tP = 3t
An equilateral triangle has 3 equal sides. t is the length of one side. So its perimeter is 3 times one side.
Ratio
a:ba : b
A ratio compares two amounts in order. a : b means a compared with b. The order matters, so write the amounts in the order the question names them.

  1. Sort out the question

    Square W has a perimeter twice as long as the perimeter of triangle X. Equilateral means all 3 sides of X are equal.

    You need the ratio of one side of the square to one side of the triangle, in that order. No lengths are given, so you can pick a size to try.

  2. Pick a size for the triangle

    Choose an easy side length for the triangle, such as 2 units. All 3 sides are 2, so its perimeter is:

    P=3×2=6P = 3 \times 2 = 6

  3. Find the square’s side

    The square’s perimeter is twice the triangle’s:

    2×6=122 \times 6 = 12

    The square has 4 equal sides, so divide by 4:

    s=12÷4=3s = 12 \div 4 = 3

    Each side of the square is 3 units.

  4. Write the ratio in order

    The square comes first, then the triangle. Their sides are 3 and 2, so the ratio is 3 : 2.

    Watch out: 2 : 1, choice D, compares the perimeters, not the sides. The square splits its perimeter into 4 sides, the triangle into only 3. Choice B, 2 : 3, puts the triangle first. Choice A, 3 : 8, comes from giving the triangle the bigger perimeter.

    So the answer is C, 3:2.

Check your answer

Try a different size. Give the triangle sides of 4. Its perimeter is 12, so the square’s is 24. Each side of the square is 24÷4=624 \div 4 = 6. The ratio 6 : 4 simplifies to 3 : 2. The size does not change the ratio.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 48 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 121 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D Math, page 121, question 48.

Question 59 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 60 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 11

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Scribe Like an Egyptian””.

Question

Which statement summarizes the process that schools used to train scribes?

  • ABoys had to memorize around 450 hieratic signs. Once they had learned these, they were expected to copy literary texts that contained valuable lessons.
  • BBoys spent at least five years learning hieratic signs, which they practiced by copying texts. During this period, they were also introduced to basic hieroglyphs.
  • CBoys spent five or six years learning the basics of hieratic script. After this period, they could become apprentices and begin learning hieroglyphics.
  • DBoys were taught two different scripts. They practiced both types by copying lists and eventually progressed to writing letters, reports, and contracts.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the best summary of the process that schools used to train scribes.

A. Incorrect. This summary incorrectly explains that scribes were expected to learn 450 hieratic signs instead of 450 hieroglyphs along with their hieratic versions as explained in paragraph 6. In paragraph 5, the author explains that scribes copied texts as part of the process of learning the scripts rather than as practice after the signs had already been memorized.

B. CORRECT. Paragraph 5 explains that students began by learning hieratic script and studied for about five or six years by using “exemplar documents and extracts from popular texts to copy, to practice their hieratic handwriting.” The paragraph also explains that during this time, they learned only the basics of hieroglyphic script.

C. Incorrect. Although paragraph 5 does explain that the scribes spent five or six years learning hieratic script, it does not suggest that hieroglyphs were learned only during apprenticeships.

D. Incorrect. This summary correctly explains that scribes learned two types of scripts, but the second sentence of the summary is incorrect. In paragraph 5, the author explains that the students copied from exemplar texts, but the author clearly states that the purpose of this copy work was “to practice their hieratic handwriting” and does not suggest that the copy work was used to practice hieroglyphs. Paragraph 6 explains that scribes could make lists as part of their professional skills but does not suggest that copy work was used to help them learn this task. Paragraph 5 mentions letters, reports, and contracts as the formats students practiced on while copying, not as a later stage of their training.

Question analysis

This summary question on “Scribe Like an Egyptian” asks which statement sums up how ancient Egyptian schools trained young scribes. Each choice is a two-sentence summary that combines years of study, kinds of script and copying practice, so students must check every detail against what the article says about scribal education.

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 Summarizing a process is a grade 7 standard, but these four summaries are long, two-part and mostly accurate, and the details they mix up come from three different paragraphs, so judging them 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, 810 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 104 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A detail in the explanation that misdescribes the excerpt 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 wrong summary opens with something true or nearly true, so a quick reading of first sentences cannot separate them. Most of the errors concern order: one makes copying follow memorizing, one turns apprenticeship into a later stage where hieroglyphs begin, and one makes the copied letters, reports and contracts a later step. Students who check the order of training against paragraph 5, not just the facts, find the only summary with nothing out of place.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The apprenticeship summary repeats the right one’s opening, years of hieratic study, and parts from it on one phrase: hieroglyphs come “After this period” instead of “During this period.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The details sit in three paragraphs: the five or six years, the copying and the hieroglyph basics in paragraph 5, apprenticeship in paragraph 4, and the 450-sign dictionary and list-making in paragraph 6. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right summary puts the text in new words, “at least five years” and “basic hieroglyphs,” while wrong ones repeat its own details: “five or six years,” the “450” signs, “letters, reports, and contracts.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Note what the article says students learned, for how long and by what method, then check both sentences of each summary against those notes; one wrong detail rules a summary out.

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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation of Option D ends: “Paragraph 6 explains that scribes could make lists and write letters as part of their professional skills but does not suggest that copy work was used to help them learn these tasks.” Paragraph 6 mentions the making and updating of lists, but not letters. Letters come up in paragraph 5, where students copy texts “to practice their hieratic handwriting” on basic-format letters, reports and contracts, so the excerpt does tie the copy work to letters. The site now says that paragraph 6 explains that scribes could make lists as part of their professional skills but does not suggest that copy work was used to help them learn this task, and that paragraph 5 mentions letters, reports, and contracts as the formats students practiced on while copying, not as a later stage of their training. Option D is still wrong, and 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 for the best summary of how schools trained scribes. A summary retells the main steps in a few words. Each choice has two sentences. Both must match the article, including the order of the steps. One wrong detail rules a choice out.

  2. Find the training in paragraph 5

    Paragraph 5 says training began with the basics of hieratic script. The lowest scribes studied for five or six years, and others studied longer. In that time they learned only the basics of hieroglyphs. Students were given “exemplar documents and extracts from popular texts to copy, to practice their hieratic handwriting.” Exemplar means model. Extracts are short pieces. So they learned by copying good examples.

  3. Sort out paragraphs 4 and 6

    Two other paragraphs hold details that look alike. Paragraph 4 describes apprenticeship. An apprentice learns on the job from a skilled worker. It was another way in for boys from poorer families, not a step after school. Paragraph 6 mentions a list of hieroglyphs with their hieratic forms. It says more than 450 signs were needed for everyday writing. It never says students memorized them before copying.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The 450 signs were hieroglyphs paired with their hieratic forms. And copying was how students learned, not a step after memorizing.
    • B fits. Students spent at least five years on hieratic, practiced by copying, and learned basic hieroglyphs along the way.
    • C does not fit. Apprenticeship was a different route, not a later stage. Hieroglyphs were not saved for apprentices.
    • D does not fit. The copying was to practice hieratic. Lists come up in paragraph 6 as a job skill, not as practice. Letters, reports and contracts were what students copied, not a later stage.

  5. Choose the answer

    Watch out: C starts out right, with five or six years of hieratic. Then it says hieroglyphs came “After this period” instead of during it. That one change makes it wrong.

    Only B gets every detail and the order right. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It gets the five or six years of hieratic right. But it says hieroglyphs came afterward, through apprenticeship. Paragraph 5 says students learned the basics of hieroglyphs during their schooling. Apprenticeship was a separate path for poorer boys. B says “During this period,” which matches.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 11 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 11. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 61 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 62 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 17
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

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.
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 63 of 120

2025 Practice Test A English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from Winter Wheat”.

Question

The flashback in paragraphs 10–24 affects the plot by

  • Ashowing that the departure of one member of the family makes extra work for those left on the farm.
  • Bshowing that the bond within the family persists even when its members are apart.
  • Cexplaining why Ellen fears that leaving her parents will be too difficult.
  • Dillustrating the close connection Ellen has with both of her parents.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the flashback in paragraphs 10–24 affects the plot of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. The flashback does not show that Ellen and her mother faced extra work as a result of the father’s trip to Vermont. Although paragraph 19 describes Ellen’s mother making oatmeal for the next day’s breakfast, this task was not extra work.

B. Incorrect. Although the flashback highlights Ellen’s fondness for each of her parents, it describes her father’s initial departure only and does not show what happened to the familial bond while he is away.

C. Incorrect. Although Ellen describes the memory of her father’s departure as something she wanted to avoid thinking about, she does not fear that it will be too difficult to leave her parents. Instead, she is concerned about what will happen to her parents’ relationship when she is no longer there.

D. CORRECT. The flashback illustrates the close connection that Ellen has with her parents by describing her sadness over the departure of her father (“My throat ached all the way” [paragraph 15]) and presenting a moment of comfort and reassurance between Ellen and her mother (“She laid her hand against my face and it felt rough and hard but firm” [paragraph 20]).

Question analysis

This text-structure question asks how the long flashback in paragraphs 10–24 of the Winter Wheat excerpt, Ellen’s memory of the night her father left by train for Vermont, affects the plot. Students must hold fifteen paragraphs in mind, see why the narrator recalls that night just before her own departure, and choose among several believable effects.

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 students study how a flashback shapes a story. This one runs through most of the excerpt, so students must sum up a long stretch of narrative and then tell apart choices that are close in meaning, more than 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 the whole text
Reading level
Passage: about grade 4, 1179 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 64 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The flashback is most of the excerpt, and it carries several things at once: grief at Dad’s leaving, the parents’ stiffness with each other, Mom’s comfort, the mystery of her Russian name. The two strongest wrong choices sound like plot effects, a bond lasting through absence or a fear of leaving, while the key describes a relationship, so students looking for an event to point to may pass it by. Students must sum up the whole memory and test each choice against what it actually shows.

  1. Evidence in several places major Working it out

    The support for “both of her parents” lies in two separate stretches of a fifteen-paragraph flashback: Ellen’s aching throat after Dad’s train leaves in paragraph 15, and Mom’s hand on her face in paragraph 20. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about the family bond persisting while members are apart shares the right one’s subject, family closeness, and differs in one claim, that the bond lasts through a separation the flashback never follows. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how the flashback affects the plot, yet the keyed effect is about character, so students must accept that the memory works by showing Ellen’s ties to each parent before she leaves. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Summarize what happens in the flashback and how Ellen feels at each stage, then compare it with the present-day scenes before and after it and decide what the memory adds.

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.
  • 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 flashback in paragraphs 10–24 affects the story. A flashback is a scene from the past that interrupts the present. Here Ellen, about to leave for college, remembers the night Dad left for Vermont years ago. Sum up what the memory shows, then test each choice.

  2. Sum up the flashback

    Ellen and Mom see Dad off at the train in the cold dark. On the drive home, Ellen says “My throat ached all the way.” At home, Mom comforts her: “She laid her hand against my face and it felt rough and hard but firm.” Later, Mom laughs warmly about her name, and the house feels right again.

  3. See what the memory shows

    An aching throat is the tight, sore feeling you get when you hold back tears. That shows how much Ellen loves her father. Mom’s firm hand and warm laugh show how close Ellen is to her mother. So the flashback shows Ellen’s strong tie to both parents.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The flashback never shows Ellen and Mom with extra farm work.
    • B does not fit. The memory ends the night Dad leaves. It never shows the family while he is away.
    • C does not fit. Ellen’s worry is about how her parents will get along without her, not about whether leaving will be too hard.
    • D fits. It shows Ellen’s love for Dad and her closeness to Mom.

    Watch out: B also talks about family closeness. But it says the bond lasts through time apart, which the flashback never shows.

  5. Choose the answer

    The flashback shows how close Ellen is to her father and to her mother. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because it also describes a strong family bond. But B says the bond lasts while family members are apart. The flashback stops on the night Dad leaves, so it never shows that. It does show Ellen grieving for Dad and comforted by Mom. That is D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 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 22.

Question 64 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 65 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 66 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 67 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 11
Passage Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”

Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”

by Zitkala-Sa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BEADWORK IN SOUTH DAKOTA

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

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.
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 68 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 16

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “Impressions of an Indian Childhood””.

Question

Which sentence best summarizes the process of beading that is described in the excerpt?

  • ATake a buckskin bag full of beads and spread them out on a mat in different colors like a paint palette; take a double sheet of buckskin and smooth it out on a table; take a sinew and awl and thread the beads onto the buckskin in a desired pattern.
  • BCut the double sheet of buckskin into a shape; take a skein of sinew and pierce the buckskin with an awl; thread the sinew with beads of many different colors in a simple or complex pattern; twist the sinew to keep it tight after every stitch into the buckskin.
  • CArrange the beads into groups of colors on a mat; smooth out a double sheet of buckskin and cut it to shape; take a single thread of sinew; pierce the buckskin with an awl; thread the buckskin with the sinew and string it with beads, carefully twisting after every stitch.
  • DGather beads, buckskin, sinew, and awl and place them on a mat; cut the buckskin into the desired shape; decide on a pattern for the beads and create it using the sinews and the awl; thread the beads onto the sinew in the desired pattern and twist it tight.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks which sentence best summarizes the process of beading that is described in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. In paragraphs 2 and 3, the author describes how at the beginning of the process her mother “smoothed out a double sheet of soft white buckskin” on a lapboard (paragraph 2) and how she strings the beads into a pattern. However, this sentence does not describe the steps that take place between the preparation and the stringing of the beads. Thus, this sentence does not best summarize the beading process.

B. Incorrect. In paragraphs 2 and 3, the author describes the process her mother uses to string the beads with “the point of her thread, always twisting it carefully after every stitch” (paragraph 3). While this sentence includes some of the steps in the beading process, it does not describe the necessary preparation, namely spreading the beads out on a mat and smoothing out the buckskin on a lapboard. Thus, this sentence does not best summarize the beading process.

C. CORRECT. This sentence best summarizes the process of beading that is described in the excerpt because it includes details about each step in the process. In paragraph 2, the author explains how her mother “spread upon a mat beside her bunches of colored beads” and how “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.” The author continues her description in paragraph 3, stating, “From a skein 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.”

D. Incorrect. In paragraphs 2 and 3, the author describes the process her mother uses as she “smoothed out a double sheet of soft white buckskin” (paragraph 2) on a lapboard before stringing the beads. While this sentence includes most of the steps in the beading process, it excludes the step of piercing the buckskin. This sentence also provides few details about the process of beading and uses vague wording to describe each step. Therefore, the sentence does not best summarize the beading process.

Question analysis

This reading question asks which sentence best summarizes the beadwork process Zitkala-Sa watches her mother carry out, from laying out the materials to stringing the beads. Each choice is a long list of steps, so students must compare them detail by detail with the excerpt and notice what each one adds, leaves out or misplaces.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Summarizing a process is grade 7 reading, but the four summaries are long and nearly alike, and checking them against two paragraphs of 1900 prose with words like awl, sinew and skein is heavier 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 8, 946 words; question and choices: about grade 16+, 212 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • An inaccurate detail about 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

This question is won by bookkeeping, not insight: list the mother's steps from the two paragraphs, then hold each long summary against the list. The most tempting wrong summary reads like a sensible craft routine in a sensible order, yet it never has the buckskin pierced and puts every tool on the mat. Others open with a familiar image or close with precise stitching while skipping steps, so students who check only the beginning or only the end are caught.

  1. Every choice must be checked major Choosing the answer

    Each summary is a chain of four to six steps, so all four must be checked step by step against paragraphs 2 and 3 for steps missing, added or out of order. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. A lot to read moderate Understanding the question

    The four choices together run to about 200 words of semicolon-linked steps, and the text they summarize is two paragraphs of dense 1900 prose. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    Words like awl, sinew, skein and lapboard name the tools and materials, and a student unsure of them cannot tell which steps a summary has dropped. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: List the mother's steps from paragraphs 2 and 3 in order, then check each choice against your list for a missing step, an invented detail or a step out of place.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In rejecting choice B, the handbook says the choice leaves out the preparation, “namely spreading the beads and the buckskin out on a table.” The excerpt mentions no table: in paragraph 2 the mother spreads the beads on a mat and smooths out the buckskin on a lapboard. The explanation now says so. (Choice A’s “on a table” is part of a wrong answer and is left as printed.)

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 summary that best matches the beading steps in the excerpt. A summary is a short retelling of the main points. The best one keeps every main step, in order, and adds nothing new.

  2. List the steps from paragraphs 2 and 3

    Paragraphs 2 and 3 give the mother’s steps in order. The last one ends with her “always twisting it carefully after every stitch.”

    1. Spread the beads on a mat.
    2. Smooth out a double sheet of buckskin on a lapboard (a board held on the lap).
    3. Trim the buckskin into shape with a blade.
    4. Pull out a single sinew, a strong thread.
    5. Pierce (poke a hole in) the buckskin with an awl, a pointed tool.
    6. Thread the sinew through the buckskin.
    7. String the beads, twisting the thread after every stitch.

  3. Check each choice against the list

    • A is wrong. It skips trimming, piercing and twisting. It also says “on a table,” but she used a lapboard.
    • B is wrong. It starts with cutting. It skips spreading the beads and smoothing the buckskin.
    • C is right. It has every step, in the same order.
    • D is wrong. It never says to smooth the buckskin or pierce it. It also puts every tool on the mat, but only the beads went there.

    Watch out: D sounds like a sensible plan in a sensible order. But a summary must match the excerpt, not just sound right. Check it step by step.

  4. Choose the answer

    Only C follows the mother’s steps from start to finish. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. It is neat and keeps most of the steps. But it skips smoothing the buckskin and never says to pierce it with the awl. It also piles every tool onto the mat. C matches the excerpt step for step, so it is the best summary.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 16 as printed on page 45 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 45, question 16. Open page 45 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 69 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 20
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

The isolation of the words “—here here—” in line 7 contributes to the meaning of the poem mainly by

  • Ademonstrating how people try to communicate in familiar ways but are still sometimes misunderstood.
  • Bshowing how people can feel desperate to connect with others but give up quickly when their first attempts are ignored.
  • Cusing the unspoken bond between the neighbor and her cat to highlight the understanding people have with their pets.
  • Dillustrating the use of a simple expression to call home those who are loved and missed.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the isolation of the words “—here here—” in line 7 mainly contributes to the meaning of the poem.

A. Incorrect. The words “—here here—” do interrupt the speaker’s observation in lines 7–8 that “our words . . . / . . . sometimes fall short.” However, in lines 5–7, the speaker observes that the neighbor accompanies her words with a “high-pitched wheedling” that people “send out” because they are aware that animals “know only sound, not / the meanings of our words,” indicating that the neighbor does not actually expect her words to be understood. The description of the cat’s response in lines 10–11 (“the cat lifts her ears, turns first / toward the voice, then back”) does not suggest that the neighbor’s message is misunderstood but rather suggests that the cat prefers not to respond to it.

B. Incorrect. In lines 20–21, the “neighbor’s voice trails off,” and she does give up calling the cat. However, rather than any desperation to connect, the neighbor’s use of a “high-pitched wheedling” (line 5) simply indicates her understanding that the cat, like other animals, understands “only sound, not / the meanings of our words” (lines 6–7) such as “here here.” Furthermore, the neighbor does not give up quickly. In lines 21–22, the speaker says the neighbor has “given up calling for now” but is still “waiting” for the cat.

C. Incorrect. In lines 4–7, the speaker describes the neighbor calling to the cat with a “high-pitched wheedling.” The sound may indicate a bond between the neighbor and the cat because the neighbor does understand that animals “know only sound, not / the meanings of our words” (lines 6–7). However, the use of the words “here here” in line 7 does not indicate that bond, because they are used as an example of the type of words that animals do not understand.

D. CORRECT. The speaker’s initial thought in line 1 that the neighbor is calling a child, rather than a cat, suggests that the neighbor loves and misses the cat. Lines 4–7 then present the speaker’s observation that the neighbor uses a “high-pitched wheedling,” to emphasize the simple words of her call, “—here here—.” The idea that the words are an example of a simple expression used to call home a missed loved one is reinforced in lines 25–29, when the speaker is “left . . . to wonder” whether the speaker, too, “might lift / [his or her] voice” and be able “to call someone home.”

Question analysis

This reading question asks how setting off the words here here with dashes in line 7 adds to the meaning of At Dusk, Natasha Trethewey's poem about a neighbor calling her cat at nightfall. Students must work out what two plain, isolated words contribute to the whole poem, choosing among four readings about how people and animals communicate and connect.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students explain how a line adds to a poem, but here the feature is a tiny typographic choice, and its meaning has to be built from the whole poem rather than nearby lines, which goes 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 the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 87 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 words sit inside a sentence about animals not knowing the meanings of our words and about words that “sometimes fall short,” so the nearest lines point toward miscommunication. The poem's frame points elsewhere: it opens with a call that sounds like a parent's, ends with the speaker hoping a voice can “call someone home,” and even repeats “here” in line 27. Students who read only around line 7 choose the misunderstanding; those who connect the isolated call to the first and last lines see what it is for.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The misunderstanding choice and the right one agree that “here here” is a familiar way of calling; they part only on what it shows, failed communication or a call home to someone missed. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The right reading rests on lines far from line 7: the speaker's first guess that a child is being called, and the last line's wish “to call someone home.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what setting two words apart with dashes and italics does for the poem, a typographic choice whose purpose the poem never explains. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Ask what the two words are meant to do and whom they are aimed at, then keep the choice that the poem's other lines confirm.

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.
  • 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 C, the handbook reads “the use of the words “here here” in line 7 do not indicate that bond.” It now reads “does not,” to agree with “use.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    In line 7 the words here here are set apart by dashes and slanted letters (italics). The question asks what this does for the poem’s meaning. Think about what the words are for and who they are aimed at.

  2. Look at line 7

    Line 7 reads “the meanings of our words—here here—.” These are the words the neighbor calls to her cat. Setting them apart lets you hear them, as if spoken aloud. They are simple words that mean “come here.” Lines 6–7 say animals know “only sound, not / the meanings of our words.”

  3. Connect to the start and end

    In line 1 the speaker first thinks the neighbor “is calling a child.” So the call sounds like a parent calling someone they love. The poem ends with the hope that a voice can be “enough to call someone home” (line 29). So here here is a simple call to bring a loved one home.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The cat isn’t confused. She “lifts her ears” and turns “toward the voice.” She just doesn’t come yet.
    • B is wrong. The neighbor isn’t shown as desperate. She stops only “for now,” and the speaker pictures her waiting inside.
    • C is wrong. Here here is spoken out loud. The poem treats it as words animals don’t understand, not a silent bond.
    • D is right. It is a simple call to someone loved and missed.

    Watch out: Line 8 says words “sometimes fall short,” which points toward A. But read the first and last lines too.

  5. Choose the answer

    The two words stand for the simple call people use to bring loved ones home. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because line 8 says our words “sometimes fall short.” But the cat does hear the call and turn toward it. And the poem ends by hoping the sounds “are enough to call someone home.” D links the two words to that wish, and to the first guess that a child is being called.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 20 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 20. 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). This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.
The passage “At Dusk” as printed (page 48)The passage “At Dusk” as printed on page 48 of the DOE handbook.

Question 70 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 71 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 72 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 25

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

Question

The poet develops a theme about making connections with others mainly through the

  • Aexploration of the desires of the speaker and the neighbor.
  • Bspeaker’s observations of the sights and sounds in the neighborhood.
  • Cspeculations the speaker makes about what the neighbor does inside her house.
  • Dspeaker’s explanation of the cat’s thoughts and actions.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks for an explanation of how the poet develops a theme about making connections with others.

A. CORRECT. The speaker first describes the neighbor calling the cat in a “high-pitched wheedling” (line 5) voice before giving up and returning indoors. The neighbor’s desire to have the cat return home prompts the speaker to wonder whether the speaker could call out and be “certain the sounds . . . / are enough to call someone home” (lines 28–29). These final lines most develop the theme of connection by conveying a desire to be able to prompt someone’s return.

B. Incorrect. Line 1, in which the speaker at first thinks the sound in the neighborhood is the neighbor “calling a child,” might be assumed to introduce a theme of making connections with others. However, other descriptions of the sights and sounds of the neighborhood, including the time of day—“at dusk, street lamps just starting to hum / the backdrop of evening” (lines 3–4) and “constellation of fireflies flickering” (line 12) near the cat—have no relationship to a theme of connection.

C. Incorrect. In lines 22–24, the speaker imagines the neighbor’s activities inside her house: “perhaps in a chair in front of the TV, / or walking around, doing small tasks.” Although the speaker does imagine the neighbor is doing these things to pass time while “waiting” (line 22) for the cat, the neighbor’s actions—and even the speaker’s imagining—are carried out alone, so they do not develop a theme of connection.

D. Incorrect. Lines 10–19 present the speaker’s observations of the cat, which “turns first / toward the voice, then back” when the neighbor calls, then appears “as if she can’t decide” whether to return to the neighbor or stay outside. Although the cat’s indecision about whether to heed the neighbor’s call might seem to develop a theme about making connections, lines 10–19 focus more on the relative appeal of the cat’s two options—returning to “the steady circle / of light” at home or pursuing the “luminous / possibility . . . flitting before her”—than on any connection between the cat and its owner or between the speaker and the neighbor.

Question analysis

This reading question asks which element of Natasha Trethewey's poem At Dusk mainly develops its theme about making connections with others. All four choices describe something that really happens in the poem, from neighborhood sights to a cat's hesitation, so students must weigh how much each part contributes to that theme.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Analyzing how a theme develops is grade 7 work, but here the student must rank four genuine features of the poem by how much each builds the theme, a comparison that 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 the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 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 question asks what mainly carries the theme, and every choice is a real part of the poem, so ruling choices out means ranking them, not spotting errors. The cat takes up the most lines and is the one being called home, which makes it the strongest lure, though its lines are about her choice between two places. What builds the theme is the neighbor's wish to bring the cat home, echoed by the speaker's wish to call someone home.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four choices name something that really fills the poem, so each must be weighed by how much it builds the theme of connection, not by whether it is there. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The theme is built from the two ends of the poem: the neighbor calling and then waiting in lines 1–8 and 20–22, and the speaker's wish in lines 25–29 to send a voice out. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right choice speaks of “desires,” a word the poem never uses, while the wrong ones echo its sounds, the neighbor's house and the cat. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: For each choice, find the lines it refers to and ask how directly they bear on making connections with others; keep the choice whose lines do so most fully.

Traps

  • Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    A theme is a big message about life. This poem has a theme about making connections, or reaching out to others. You need the part of the poem that mainly builds that theme.

  2. Look at what the neighbor wants

    The neighbor wants her cat to come home. She calls out at dusk with a “high-pitched wheedling” (line 5). Wheedling means sweet-talking. When she stops, the speaker pictures her “inside the house waiting” (line 22). Her wish is to reach the cat and bring her back.

  3. Look at what the speaker wants

    Her calling “left me to wonder that I too might lift / my voice” (lines 25–26). The speaker hopes the sounds “are enough to call someone home” (line 29). So the speaker wants to reach someone too. Both people wish to call someone back to them. That shared wish builds the theme of connection.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. The desires, or wishes, of the neighbor and the speaker carry the theme.
    • B is wrong. The humming street lamps and the fireflies set the scene. They don’t show anyone reaching out.
    • C is wrong. The guesses about the neighbor inside fill only three lines, and they show her alone.
    • D is wrong. The cat lines weigh home against the night. They don’t show one person reaching another.

    Watch out: D is tempting because the cat fills many lines. But they are about her choice, not about a connection.

  5. Choose the answer

    The poem builds its theme through what the neighbor and the speaker both want. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer, since the cat takes up lines 10–19. But those lines weigh the porch light against the glowing night. The theme of connection comes from two wishes. The neighbor wants to call the cat home. The speaker wants to “call someone home” too. A names those desires.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 25 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 25. Open page 50 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 73 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 28
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

Which statement describes how the author’s use of a problem-and-solution structure in paragraph 5 contributes to the development of ideas in the passage?

  • ADetailing the challenges presented by the cold channel waters highlights the effectiveness of Ederle’s training.
  • BDescribing Ederle’s physical difficulties during her swim provides evidence of the team effort required to ensure her safety.
  • CExplaining the difficulties that arose early in the effort helps predict the additional obstacles that occurred during Ederle’s attempt.
  • DIllustrating Ederle’s process of blocking out her discomfort shows that swimming the channel was both a mental and a physical challenge.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how a problem-and-solution structure in paragraph 5 contributes to the ideas presented in the passage.

A. Incorrect. The details in paragraph 5 do not provide a connection between the cold temperature of the water and the effectiveness of Ederle’s training.

B. Incorrect. The difficulties Ederle encountered were only partially relieved by her team, and her team’s efforts to ensure Ederle’s safety are not explained in the passage.

C. Incorrect. The paragraph does not focus on the relationship between the problems Ederle encountered at the start of her swim and the problems she encountered during or near the end of her swim.

D. CORRECT. The paragraph describes how the water’s temperature made Ederle uncomfortable and made it difficult for her to regulate her stroke. The paragraph continues with the explanation of how she overcame these issues by focusing her mind on the sea and tuning out the distractions in her surroundings (“the sea became her only companion and the shrieks of gulls and the humming of boat engines faded away” [paragraph 5]).

Question analysis

Gertrude Ederle's cold, stiff first hours in the English Channel are told as problem and solution, and this text-structure question asks what that pattern adds to the passage's ideas. Students must spot the troubles she met in the cold water and how she handled them, then pick the abstract statement that accounts for both halves of the pattern.

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 A problem-and-solution question about one paragraph is familiar grade 7 fare, yet these four answers are general claims about the swim, each tied to a real hardship, so students need a clear map of the paragraph before judging them.
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 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 14, 95 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The opening halves of the choices are all accurate, which moves the whole decision onto their second halves. Readers who notice only the physical side of the paragraph, the cold and the stiffness, reach for training, teamwork or foreshadowing to explain it. The paragraph's turning point is a mental one, clearing her mind until the noise faded, and only the statement that names both a mental and a physical challenge accounts for the problem and the solution together.

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    The question asks what paragraph 5's pairing of problems (bone-chilling water, stiff limbs, irregular strokes) with solutions (finding her “sphere”, the American crawl) does for the passage, so retelling the hardships earns nothing. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Each choice opens with a fair description of paragraph 5, the cold water, her physical difficulties, the early struggle, so only what each claims that description shows can be tested. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The mental half of the solution is told in images, a place where “the sea became her only companion” and gulls and engines “faded away”, which must be read as blocking out discomfort. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Sort paragraph 5 into two lists, what went wrong for Ederle early in the swim and what she did about it, then ask what that pairing shows about the swim as a whole.

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

    A problem-and-solution structure tells about a difficulty and then how someone deals with it. The question asks what this pattern in paragraph 5 adds to the ideas of the passage. So first sort the paragraph into problems and solutions.

  2. List the problems in paragraph 5

    When Ederle waded in, “she shivered in the bone-chilling water.” Next, “Her limbs felt stiff. Her strokes were irregular.” Limbs are arms and legs. Irregular means uneven, not steady. All of these are troubles with her body.

  3. List her solutions

    Ederle “fought to clear her mind.” She looked for what she called her “sphere.” There, “the sea became her only companion and the shrieks of gulls and the humming of boat engines faded away.” In other words, she shut out the noise and her discomfort. Then, using the American crawl, she “settled into a steady pace.”

  4. Connect problems and solutions

    The problems were physical, which means of the body. A big part of the fix was mental, which means of the mind. She calmed her thoughts so her body could keep working. So the paragraph shows that the swim tested her mind as well as her body.

  5. Check each choice

    • D fits: blocking out her discomfort shows the swim was “both a mental and a physical challenge.”
    • A is wrong because paragraph 5 never mentions her training.
    • B is wrong because her team on the tugboats appears in paragraph 6, and her safety is never discussed.
    • C is wrong because the early troubles are solved inside this paragraph instead of setting up later ones.

    Watch out: A storm does hit in paragraph 7, so C may look right. But paragraph 5 does not point ahead to it.

  6. Choose the answer

    Only D explains both the problem and the way Ederle solved it. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is tempting, since a storm really does strike in paragraph 7. But paragraph 5 never hints at it. The paragraph ends with its problem solved, as Ederle is “briskly breaking through waves.” D explains both halves of the pattern: troubles of the body, eased by the mind.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 28 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 28. 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 74 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 34

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

Question

The table builds on the information in the passage mainly by

  • Aemphasizing that people have continued to swim across the channel and have significantly improved the speed record.
  • Bsuggesting that Ederle inspired many women to swim across the channel to attempt to break the current speed record.
  • Crevealing that other women competed with Ederle to set a record time for swimming across the English Channel.
  • Dproviding a comparison between the earliest channel-swimming records and the current record times.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the table mainly builds on the information in the passage.

A. CORRECT. The table supports the information in the passage by showing that people have continued to swim the channel and have significantly improved on past records. The information in the table about records set by those who came after Ederle builds on the idea that “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” (paragraph 9).

B. Incorrect. Even though paragraph 9 states that Ederle “inspired [everyday American citizens] to be more active” and the table presents the time for the current female record holder, there is no indication in the passage or in the table that the subsequent female record holders were inspired to swim across the channel by Ederle.

C. Incorrect. Although paragraph 3 mentions that Ederle had a female rival and the table includes the speed record of another female swimmer, the passage does not provide information about other female swimmers competing with Ederle to set the channel-swim record.

D. Incorrect. Although paragraph 1 mentions that Ederle “broke the men’s record by two hours” and the table allows for comparisons between the earliest speed records and those of the present day, the passage mentions no channel-swim records set after Ederle’s swim, so it says nothing about current record times. The table allows for comparison, but this aspect of the table does not build on the information presented in the passage.

Question analysis

This question asks how a table of English Channel speed records, from Matthew Webb's 1875 crossing to a 2012 record, builds on the passage about Gertrude Ederle. Students must read times from two eras and decide what the table adds to the text, while the choices mix accurate observations about the table with claims neither source supports.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Relating a table to a passage is within grade 7 standards, but here the student must compare records from two eras, connect them to ideas in the text and choose among closely worded statements, well above typical grade 7 demand.
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 9, 790 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 78 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A self-contradictory 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

This is one of the hardest questions on the test because a wrong choice describes the table exactly, in its own words. The passage stops with Ederle's 1926 record, and what the table adds is the rest of the story: swimmers kept crossing, and the record fell to under seven hours. Students who describe what the table contains, rather than what it tells a reader who has finished the passage, lose the point.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The comparison choice repeats the table's own headings, “Earliest Speed Records” and “Current Speed Records”, and is literally true; only the stem's “builds on the information in the passage” and “mainly” separate it from the choice about the falling record. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

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

    The student must compare times across the table's two sections, from Webb's 21 hours 45 minutes in 1875 and Ederle's 14 hours 31 minutes to Grimsey's 6 hours 55 minutes in 2012. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what the table adds to a passage that ends in 1926, so the student must say what its later rows extend, not what its layout holds. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Read both sections of the table and say what it adds to Ederle's story, then keep only a choice that the table shows and that connects to an idea the passage itself develops.

Traps

  • Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • 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 notes that paragraph 1 says Ederle “broke the men’s record by two hours,” and then says “there is no mention in the passage of past, present, or future channel-swim records.” Paragraph 1 does mention a past record: the one Ederle broke. What the passage never mentions is a record set after hers, which is what the table’s “Current Speed Records” add. The explanation now says the passage mentions no channel-swim records set after Ederle’s swim, so it says nothing about current record times. The reason for rejecting D is otherwise unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Understand the question

    To build on something means to add to it. So this asks what the table adds to what the passage already tells you. Don’t just describe what is in the table. Ask what a reader learns from it after finishing the passage.

  2. Read the table’s two parts

    The table has two parts, “Earliest Speed Records” and “Current Speed Records.” These rows matter most:

    YearSwimmerTime
    1875Matthew Webb21 hours, 45 minutes
    1926Gertrude Ederle14 hours, 31 minutes
    2012Trent Grimsey6 hours, 55 minutes

  3. Compare the times

    Ederle swam for 14 hours and 31 minutes. Half of her time would be about 7 hours and 15 minutes. Grimsey’s 2012 time, 6 hours and 55 minutes, is even faster than that. So people kept swimming the channel after 1926, and the record got much faster.

  4. See what the passage leaves out

    The passage does mention one record. In paragraph 1, Ederle “broke the men’s record by two hours.” But the passage stops in 1926. It never tells of any record set after her swim. The table adds that later part of the story: swimmers kept crossing, and the record kept falling.

  5. Check each choice

    • A fits: people kept crossing and “significantly improved the speed record,” and significantly means by a lot.
    • B is wrong because nothing links any later woman to Ederle, and the table lists only one later woman.
    • C is wrong because Ederle is the only woman of her time in the table, and Hlavacova swam 80 years later, in 2006.
    • D is wrong because it only names what the table holds, not what the comparison adds to Ederle’s story.

    Watch out: D uses the table’s own headings, so it sounds right. But the question asks what the table adds, not how it is laid out.

  6. Choose the answer

    The table carries the story past 1926 and shows the record falling far below Ederle’s time. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D comes closest, because the table really does set the earliest and current records side by side. But D stops at describing the table. A says what that comparison shows a reader who has finished the passage: the record kept falling, from Ederle’s 14 hours and 31 minutes to under 7 hours.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 34 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 34. Open page 56 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 75 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 76 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 38

Uses the passage above: “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books”.

Question

How does paragraph 7 fit into the overall structure of the passage?

  • AIt indicates where the author changes the purpose of the writing.
  • BIt introduces the author’s opinion on the issue.
  • CIt signals a shift in the position of the author.
  • DIt begins the author’s commentary on the preceding information.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for an explanation of the role of paragraph 7 in the overall structure of the passage.

A. Incorrect. The purpose of paragraphs 2–6 is to present reasons physical books might be better than e-books, and paragraph 7 offers summarizing “take-away” advice based on those reasons. As a result, it may seem as though the author’s purpose for writing the entire passage has shifted. However, the author’s advice in paragraph 7, that readers who want to learn from reading “might want to go for a physical book,” makes it clear that paragraph 7, like paragraphs 2–6, continues to serve the same purpose for the passage that the writer expresses in paragraph 1: to inform readers that printed books “may actually be a better choice for some readers” than e-books.

B. Incorrect. In paragraph 7, the author does offer the advice that readers who want to absorb material “might want to go for a physical book” rather than an e-book. Even though the author makes the statement favoring physical books for those who want to learn from their reading, the author is not sharing a personal opinion. Instead, the author offers the advice as a summary of the information presented in paragraphs 2–6, which explore various studies about the advantages of physical books over e-books. Furthermore, the idea that physical books are sometimes a better option is not introduced for the first time in paragraph 7. Instead, it is introduced early in the passage, when the author states in paragraph 1 that physical books “may actually be a better choice for some readers.”

C. Incorrect. Paragraph 7 presents a clear shift in style and content from paragraphs 2–6. Paragraphs 2–6 are each preceded by a heading stating a reason physical books might be a better choice than e-books, and each paragraph provides research evidence. Paragraph 7 shifts to stating a “take-away message”—the author’s advice—which is based on the reasons in paragraphs 2–6. Paragraph 7’s different style and content do not, however, signal a change in the author’s position. Instead, the author’s advice in paragraph 7 (“if you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book”) actually reinforces the position first introduced in paragraph 1 that physical books “may actually be a better choice for some readers.”

D. CORRECT. The author uses paragraphs 2–6 to present “five ways e-books might be inferior” (paragraph 1) to physical books. Each of paragraphs 2–6 presents one reason for the inferiority of e-books, based on a scientific study. Paragraph 7 indicates a shift because it describes neither a reason e-books might be inferior nor a scientific study. Instead, it presents personal commentary: the “take-away,” or conclusion, the author draws from the studies and evidence presented in paragraphs 2–6. That commentary consists of the author’s own practical advice to readers who want to retain information that they read (“you might want to go for a physical book”) and to those who are “going to be up all night studying” (“turn off the backlight”).

Question analysis

This text-structure question asks how paragraph 7, a two-sentence paragraph that follows the five research sections, fits into the overall structure of an article arguing that printed books might be better than e-books. Students must compare it with the opening claim and the paragraphs around it, and the four choices use similar abstract wording about the author's purpose, opinion and position.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students analyze how sections contribute to a text, but here all four choices are abstract statements about the author's purpose and position, and telling them apart means tracking the argument from the first paragraph to the last.
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 10, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 8, 49 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

All four choices are abstract claims about the author's purpose and position, so none can be checked against a single sentence. Paragraph 7 does feel like a turn, from studies to advice, which makes the choices about a changed purpose or position tempting, but the advice repeats the view the first paragraph set out. The real hedge comes one paragraph later, and the closest call is whether paragraph 7 introduces a view or comments on evidence already given.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The right choice and the one saying paragraph 7 introduces the author's opinion both find the author's own voice there; they part on whether that view is new, and paragraph 1 already said print “may actually be a better choice”. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what paragraph 7 does in the article, a short take-away after five research sections, so its advice about physical books and backlights matters only for its role. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Judging the claims of a shift or a change needs both ends of the article, the stance of paragraph 1 and the “However” that opens paragraph 8. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Compare what paragraph 7 does with what paragraphs 1–6 do: where was the author's view first stated, and what is new in paragraph 7? Then match that role to a choice.

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 the structure of the passage, which means how its parts fit together. You need to name the job paragraph 7 does compared with the paragraphs around it.

  2. Map the passage first

    Paragraph 1 states the author’s view: print “may actually be a better choice for some readers.” Paragraphs 2 through 6 each sit under a bold heading. Each one reports research on one way e-books might be worse than print.

  3. Read paragraph 7

    It begins, “The take-away message?” A take-away is the lesson you carry away. Then the author advises, “If you’re really trying to absorb material, you might want to go for a physical book.” The author also says to “turn off the backlight” when studying late. Both tips come from the studies just before. So paragraph 7 is the author commenting on that evidence.

  4. Check each choice

    • D fits: it “begins the author’s commentary on the preceding information,” and preceding means coming before.
    • A is wrong because the purpose doesn’t change, since the advice still shows print may be better.
    • B is wrong because the author’s opinion first appears in paragraph 1, not paragraph 7.
    • C is wrong because the author softens the view only later, in paragraph 8, with “all this may not mean.”

    Watch out: B is tempting because paragraph 7 really is the author’s own voice. But it is not the first time you hear it.

  5. Choose the answer

    Paragraph 7 turns the research in the five sections into advice, which is commentary on what came before. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B comes closest, since paragraph 7 really is the author speaking. But the author’s view already appeared in paragraph 1. Paragraph 7 doesn’t introduce it. It sums up the research before it and turns that research into advice. That is commentary on the preceding information, as D says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as printed on page 61 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 61, question 38. Open page 61 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 77 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 40

Uses the passage above: “5 Reasons Physical Books Might Be Better Than E-Books”.

Question

The studies described in paragraph 6 are important to the author’s observations in paragraphs 7 and 8 because the findings

  • Ashow that the author has personal opinions to share beyond the ideas included in the studies.
  • Bgive the author the opportunity to reach practical conclusions about reading that are based on scientific evidence.
  • Chighlight the author’s statement that digital reading experiences vary based on the individual and the device.
  • Dsupport the author’s inference that more studies on more types of devices are needed.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the findings from the studies described in paragraph 6 are important to the author’s observations in paragraphs 7 and 8.

A. Incorrect. The evidence from the studies mentioned in paragraph 6 is not substantially supported by the personal opinions the author shares in paragraph 7 (“And if you’re going to be up all night studying, turn off the backlight”) or in paragraph 8 (“melt your brain” and “digital distractions”).

B. CORRECT. In paragraph 6, the author cites studies from 2005 and 2014 that found that LED screens can “disrupt sleep patterns” and that “people who used e-readers with LED screens at night slept worse and were more tired the next day.” Then, in paragraph 7, the author suggests that “if you’re going to be up all night studying, turn off the backlight,” and in paragraph 8, the author explains some differences between reading e-books on various devices. This information is not based on a personal opinion; instead, it is based on practical conclusions drawn from scientific evidence.

C. Incorrect. In paragraph 6, the author cites a 2005 study in which researchers found that “reading digitally required a higher cognitive workload than reading on paper.” Then, in paragraph 8, the author concludes that “reading an e-book on a computer is a much different experience than reading on a Kindle, which is specifically designed for consuming books.” Although the findings in paragraph 6 are important, they do not highlight the information presented by the author that digital reading experiences vary based on the reader and the device.

D. Incorrect. The author states in paragraph 8 that “reading an e-book on a computer is a much different experience than reading on a Kindle” and mentions how the same thing is true for “an interactive e-book on an iPad” compared with an e-book on “a simpler e-book device.” Readers may conclude that this statement is meant to indicate the author’s belief that more studies on more types of devices are needed. However, the author does not state or imply this belief in the passage.

Question analysis

This question asks why the studies on screen fatigue and sleep in paragraph 6 of an article about e-books matter to the observations the author makes in the next two paragraphs. Students must trace the connection between the research and the later paragraphs, and each choice describes that link in abstract terms that are easy to confuse.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R8 evaluating arguments and claims
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Tracing how evidence leads to an author's conclusions is grade 7 argument work, but this item spans three paragraphs, and the four explanations of the link are abstract and close in wording, more demanding 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, 829 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 80 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Every choice describes a link between evidence and commentary, so the student has to know both what paragraph 6 found and what paragraphs 7 and 8 do with it. The tempting wrong answer borrows paragraph 8's real point that devices differ and wrongly credits the sleep and workload studies with it. Seeing that the backlight advice comes straight from the Harvard study is what makes the general wording of the right choice convincing.

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    The question asks how paragraph 6's findings function for the paragraphs after them, a relationship between evidence and conclusion, so knowing what the sleep and workload studies found is only the first step. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The links run across three paragraphs: the Harvard backlight finding becomes “turn off the backlight” in paragraph 7, and the tired brain returns as “melt your brain” in paragraph 8. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

    The right choice names no study, screen or device, speaking only of “practical conclusions” and “scientific evidence”, while two wrong choices echo paragraph 8's talk of devices. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Note what the paragraph 6 studies found, then find the sentences in paragraphs 7 and 8 that draw on those findings and describe what the author does with them.

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.
  • 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. Understand the link asked about

    This asks how evidence connects to the author’s comments. First see what the studies in paragraph 6 found. Then see what the author does with those findings in paragraphs 7 and 8.

  2. Read the studies in paragraph 6

    A 2005 study found that “reading digitally required a higher cognitive workload.” Cognitive workload means how hard your brain has to work. A 2014 study found that people who read on lit screens at night “slept worse and were more tired the next day.”

  3. See how the author uses them

    In paragraph 7 the author advises, “if you’re going to be up all night studying, turn off the backlight.” That tip comes straight from the sleep study. Paragraph 8 then warns you not to take the findings too far. It says they “may not mean that reading on a Kindle is really going to melt your brain.” Both are practical, real-life conclusions drawn from science.

  4. Check each choice

    • B fits: the studies let the author reach “practical conclusions” based on “scientific evidence.”
    • A is wrong because the advice in paragraphs 7 and 8 grows out of the studies, not out of opinions beyond them.
    • C is wrong because nothing says reading changes from person to person, and the studies compare screens with paper.
    • D is wrong because the author never says more studies are needed.

    Watch out: C is half right. Paragraph 8 does say devices differ, but the part about each person is never stated.

  5. Choose the answer

    The findings in paragraph 6 lead straight to the author’s practical advice. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C comes closest, because paragraph 8 does say a computer and a Kindle feel different. But the studies in paragraph 6 compare screens with paper, and no one says reading changes from person to person. B fits the clear link: a sleep study turned into the advice to turn off the backlight.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 40 as printed on page 61 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 61, question 40. Open page 61 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 78 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 46
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

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.
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 79 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 49

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from The Highest Tide”.

Question

Read these sentences from paragraph 8.

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.

The sensory language “spangled my vision,” “I saw fragments, pieces,” and “tried to fuse them in my mind” conveys the narrator’s

  • Aextreme excitement about making a great discovery.
  • Breluctant acceptance that he needs to leave the mudflats.
  • Cterrified confusion about the creature in the mudflats.
  • Dsudden concern about his personal safety.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks what the sensory language in the sentences from paragraph 8 conveys about the narrator.

A. Incorrect. While the narrator does not leave the mudflats and is curious about what has been found, the main emotions described in paragraph 8 are fear and confusion as the narrator tries to comprehend the size of the animal.

B. Incorrect. The language focuses on the narrator’s inability to organize what he sees into useful thoughts and conclusions, and while the narrator feels fear in paragraph 8—“I was afraid” and “I would have run”—the narrator refuses to leave the mudflats out of curiosity.

C. CORRECT. The phrase “spangled my vision” illustrates that the narrator cannot fully recognize what has appeared on the mudflats. The sight is so amazing, the narrator is trying to “fuse” together “fragments” and “pieces” because seeing the creature has created so much emotion in the narrator that he feels confused.

D. Incorrect. While the narrator is feeling some fear, as expressed in paragraph 8, the phrases actually indicate that the narrator’s amazement causes him to struggle to take in the view of the creature before him.

Question analysis

This question about sensory language asks what three phrases, including “spangled my vision,” convey about the narrator as he stares at a huge creature in the mud in an excerpt from The Highest Tide. Students must interpret unusual imagery and choose among emotions that all seem possible at such a startling moment.

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 Interpreting sensory language for a character's state of mind is grade 7 work, but spangled is an unusual verb, and the paragraph partly supports several of the emotions offered, so the choice must be matched precisely to the quoted phrases.
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 6, 902 words; question and choices: about grade 7, 92 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The quoted phrases are about perception, not feeling: the narrator sees fragments and cannot assemble them, while his heart pounds hard enough to blur his sight. The fear is clear from the surrounding sentences, where he is afraid to look away and ready to run, and that context makes the choice about personal safety very tempting. The answer must cover both the terror and the confusion, and the word “spangled” can mislead readers into hearing excitement.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    The phrases describe seeing in pieces, “looking at it and not looking at it”, a heart that “spangled” his vision, “fragments” he cannot “fuse”, and the emotion has to be read from that broken sight. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The right choice and the one about concern for his safety both name fear; they part on what the quoted phrases show, a mind unable to piece the creature together or a worry about its reach. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Spangled”, to scatter with glittering spots, is a rare word, and its sparkle can suggest delight, which opens a reading of excitement to students who miss the fear around it. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Ask what the three quoted phrases together say about how the narrator is seeing and thinking at this moment, then choose the emotion that accounts for all three, not just one.

Traps

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

    Sensory language describes what a character sees, hears or feels. This asks what feeling the three quoted phrases show. Your answer must explain all three phrases, not just one.

  2. Explain the hard words

    To spangle means to cover with glittering spots. His heart pounds so hard that his sight seems to sparkle and blur. Fragments are small broken pieces. To fuse means to join together.

  3. Put the phrases together

    He sees only “fragments, pieces.” He tries “to fuse them in my mind” but “couldn’t be certain of the whole.” So he is confused, unable to tell what the creature really is. The sentences around them show he is also terrified. He is “afraid to pry my eyes off” its arms, and his heart is racing.

  4. Check each choice

    • C fits: “terrified confusion” covers both his fear and his broken, puzzled seeing.
    • A is wrong because “spangled” may sound happy, but he is frightened, not thrilled.
    • B is wrong because he never decides to leave, and he would run only if the arms moved.
    • D is wrong because the phrases show confused seeing, and his fear has been growing since paragraph 6.

    Watch out: D is close, since he is afraid. But it leaves out the confusion the phrases show.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrases show a frightened narrator who cannot piece together what he sees. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D comes closest, because the narrator truly fears for his safety. But the quoted phrases are about how he sees: in pieces he can’t join. That is confusion. C names both the fear and the confusion, so it fits all three phrases.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 49 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 49. Open page 67 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 80 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 53
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

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)
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 81 of 120

2024 Test A English, question 55

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “It’s Time to Stop Thinking That All Non-Native Species Are Evil””.

Question

The details in the section “A Good Thing, Not the Only Thing” convey a central idea of the excerpt by suggesting that

  • Asome non-native species can replace native species that are unable to survive on their own.
  • Bdecisions about whether to keep non-native species should be considered on an individual basis.
  • Cthe scientists who study rapidly changing ecosystems agree that non-native species enhance biodiversity.
  • Da natural habitat that is healthy should be able to support a blend of native and non-native species.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the details in the section “A Good Thing, Not the Only Thing” convey a central idea of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. While paragraph 15 does discuss introducing non-native Aldabra tortoises to replace native tortoises that no longer exist, the real point of this section is to show that non-native species can sometimes help support native species that still exist but are struggling. In this case, the Aldabra tortoises are now moving seeds around for the fruiting plants on the islands where the tortoises have been introduced.

B. CORRECT. This section discusses situations in which non-native species should be kept (as in the example of the Aldabra tortoises in paragraph 15) but also asserts that “most of the time . . . conserving species still means focusing on supporting them in their historical habitats, planting natives and removing non-natives” (paragraph 16). This section makes the point that the issue of non-natives needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

C. Incorrect. This section does not claim that non-native species always or even usually enhance biodiversity; rather, it states that “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), later adding that “most of the time . . . conserving species still means focusing on supporting them in their historical habitats, planting natives and removing non-natives” (paragraph 16).

D. Incorrect. While the section happens to give a good example of a habitat that supports both native and non-native species (the islands of Mauritius), it never suggests that being able to do so is a defining characteristic of healthy habitats.

Question analysis

This central-idea question asks how the details in the final section of an article on non-native species, titled “A Good Thing, Not the Only Thing,” convey a central idea of the excerpt. Students must sum up the section as a whole, including its example of a tortoise brought to the islands of Mauritius, and match it to the article's larger argument.

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 a section conveys a central idea is grade 7 work, but this section mixes an argument, an example and a closing paragraph, and the choices differ in how far they generalize from it, which demands more than typical.
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, 815 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 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 section's most memorable content is an example, the Aldabra tortoise doing the work of the islands' lost tortoises, and a choice built on it is the strongest pull. The central idea sits instead in the qualifiers at the start and end of the section: some cases favor non-natives, most still call for removing them. Students who summarize all three paragraphs in a sentence, including the last, arrive at the case-by-case reading.

  1. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The right choice's “on an individual basis” appears nowhere in the section, while the wrong choices echo it: a non-native standing in for natives, “biodiversity”, natives alongside non-natives. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The case-by-case idea comes only from joining paragraph 14's “In some cases” to paragraph 16's “Most of the time” and “where it is feasible and important to us”. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Sum up the section's three paragraphs in one sentence of your own, including its example and its final paragraph, then compare that sentence with each choice.

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Know what the question asks

    A section is a part of an article under its own heading. This one runs from paragraph 14 to paragraph 16. You need to sum up the whole section, including its last paragraph. Then match that summary to a central idea.

  2. Read paragraph 14

    It says that “in some cases” we help nature most “by leaving the non-natives alone.” We might even bring them in “on purpose.” The words “in some cases” are the key. They mean sometimes, not always.

  3. Read the example and the ending

    Paragraph 15 gives an example. A non-native tortoise was brought to Mauritius to spread the seeds of fruiting plants. Then paragraph 16 says that “most of the time,” saving species still means “planting natives and removing non-natives.” We should do that “where it is feasible and important to us.” Feasible means possible.

  4. Put the section together

    Sometimes it is best to keep a non-native species. Most of the time it is best to remove it. So each case has to be judged on its own. That is what “on an individual basis” means.

  5. Check each choice

    • B fits: deciding case by case matches both “in some cases” and “most of the time.”
    • A is wrong because the tortoise is one example, and the section ends by saying removal is still the usual choice.
    • C is wrong because the section never says scientists agree, and “in some cases” is far from always.
    • D is wrong because the section never says what a healthy habitat should hold.

    Watch out: A is built on the section’s most memorable detail. But the main idea comes from the words that limit the claim.

  6. Choose the answer

    The section says to keep non-natives in some cases and remove them in others. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A comes closest, because the Aldabra tortoise really does take over work the lost tortoises once did. But that is one case. The section ends by saying that most of the time we still remove non-natives. B covers both sides: some cases call for keeping them, and others call for removing them.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 55 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 55. Open page 71 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 82 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 5

Question

RESULTS FROM SURVEY OF 110 FAMILIES

Number of Children in the Family Number of Families
0 45
1 32
2 19
3 8
4 6

The table above shows the number of children in each of 110 families. What is the median number of children in these families?

Grid-in question: work out the answer and enter it as a number.

Show the answer

Correct answer: 1

Since 110 families were surveyed, the median will have 55 values less than or equal to it, and 55 values greater than or equal to it.

If the values in the table were listed in order, they would look like this:

0,…,0⏞45,1,…,1⏞32,2,…,2⏞19,3,…,3⏞8,4,…,4⏞6\overbrace{0,\ldots,0}^{45},\overbrace{1,\ldots,1}^{32},\overbrace{2,\ldots,2}^{19},\overbrace{3,\ldots,3}^{8},\overbrace{4,\ldots,4}^{6}

The first row of the table indicates that 45 families had 0 children.

The second row of the table indicates that 32 families had 1 child.

So 77 families had either 0 children or 1 child, and 45 families had 0 children.

Since 55 is between 45 and 77, the median must be a value in the second row of the table.

So the median is 1.

Question analysis

This statistics grid-in gives a frequency table from a survey of 110 families, showing how many families have each number of children from none to four. Students find the median number of children per family. The table lists counts rather than the 110 data values themselves, so locating the middle value takes a running total of the families.

NYS standards
  • 6.SP.5c range, center, and overall pattern
  • 6.SP.5a number of observations
Grade level
Grade 6 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 median problems usually list a dozen or so values. Here 110 values are hidden in a frequency table, so students must reason about positions with a running count, a less familiar and more error-prone task.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 35 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students know a median as the middle of a list, but here the list is never written out. Treating the table's columns as the data gives quick, confident answers, 2 from the middle of the children column or 19 from the middle of the family counts, and neither can be checked against choices. The question rewards counting positions: 45 families have no children, so the 55th and 56th families both fall among the 32 with one child.

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

    The table hides 110 data values in five rows: the 0 to 4 column lists the possible values, and 45, 32, 19, 8 and 6 say how many families have each. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. No obvious method moderate Working it out

    The median of 110 values lies between the 55th and 56th; finding them takes a running count of families, 45 and then 77, a method seldom practiced with tables. (Schoenfeld, 1985)

  3. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    As a grid-in there are no choices to compare, so a student who takes the middle row's 2 has nothing on the page to suggest it is wrong. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: With 110 values the median sits between the 55th and 56th; add the family counts row by row until the running total passes 55, and read that row's number of children.

Traps

  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Spot of the median
middle spot=n+12\text{middle spot} = \frac{n + 1}{2}
The median is the middle value when all the values are put in order. n is how many values there are. This gives the spot of the middle value, with the same number of values before and after it. If it ends in a half, the median is halfway between the two values on either side.

  1. Sort out the table

    The table covers 110 families. The left column is a number of children. The right column says how many families have that many children. For example, 45 families have 0 children. You need the median number of children. The median is the middle value when all the values are in order.

  2. Picture the values in order

    Think of a list with one number for each family: how many children it has. The list has 45 zeros, then 32 ones, then 19 twos, then 8 threes, then 6 fours. It is already in order, from least to most.

    45+32+19+8+6=11045 + 32 + 19 + 8 + 6 = 110

    There are 110 values. Watch out: the median is not the middle row, 2. Each row stands for a different number of families.

  3. Find the middle spot

    Use the median rule with n = 110.

    middle spot=n+12\text{middle spot} = \frac{n + 1}{2}

    110+12=55.5\frac{110 + 1}{2} = 55.5

    The middle is halfway between the 55th and 56th values. So you need those two values in the list.

  4. Count down the list

    Keep a running total of families, row by row. The zeros fill spots 1 to 45. Now add the 32 families with 1 child.

    45+32=7745 + 32 = 77

    So the ones fill spots 46 to 77. Spot 55 and spot 56 are both in that range. So both values are 1.

  5. Give the median

    The 55th and 56th values are both 1. Halfway between 1 and 1 is 1. So the median is 1 child. Watch out: the median is a number of children, not of families. Gridding 19, from the families column, is wrong. So is the mean, or average, which is about 1.07. So you would grid 1.

Check your answer

Half of 110 is 55. Families with 0 children: 45, which is less than half. So the median is not 0. Families with 0 or 1 child: 77, which is more than half. So the median is not more than 1. It must be 1.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 62 as printed on page 76 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 76, question 62. Open page 76 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 83 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 6

Question

Mr. Jones has 550 goats, which is 10% more than Mr. King has. How many more goats does Mr. Jones have than Mr. King?

  • A50
  • B55
  • C495
  • D500
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

First, set up a proportion to determine x, the number of goats Mr. King has.

KingJones=x550\frac{\text{King}}{\text{Jones}} = \frac{x}{550}

x550=100%100%+10%\frac{x}{550} = \frac{100\%}{100\% + 10\%}

Then solve the proportion for x.

x550=100%100%+10%\frac{x}{550} = \frac{100\%}{100\% + 10\%}

550(100%)=x(100%+10%)550(100\%) = x(100\% + 10\%)

550(100%)=x(110%)550(100\%) = x(110\%)

550(1)=x(1.10)550(1) = x(1.10)

550=1.10x550 = 1.10x

550÷1.10=(1.10÷1.10)x550 \div 1.10 = (1.10 \div 1.10)x

500=x500 = x

Finally, determine the difference between the number of goats Mr. Jones has, 550, and the number of goats Mr. King has, 500.

550−500=50550 - 500 = 50

Mr. Jones has 50 more goats than Mr. King.

Question analysis

A percent word problem: Mr. Jones has 550 goats, which is 10% more than Mr. King has, and students find how many more goats Mr. Jones has. It asks students to work with a percent increase when only the larger amount is known. The tricky part is deciding which amount the 10% is taken of.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.RP.3c percent as a rate per 100
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students usually find a percent increase from a known original amount. This runs the task backward: the increased amount is given, and the original must be recovered before the difference can be found, a step many do not expect.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 1, 22 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The arithmetic is one division and one subtraction, so the question is really about the base of a percent. The sentence gives the bigger number and calls it 10% more, and the reflex is to take 10% of the number on the page. That shortcut lands on a listed choice five goats from the answer. Students who find King's herd first, 550 ÷ 1.1, still have to remember that the question wants the difference, not the herd.

  1. Turning words into math major Understanding the question

    The clause "which is 10% more than" makes King's unknown herd the base of the 10%, so 550 is 110% of his number rather than the amount the 10% is taken of. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choices 50 and 55 are only 5 goats apart, and both are 10% of a herd; only taking the percent of King's 500 rather than of 550 separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Mr. Jones's 550 is 110% of Mr. King's number, so divide 550 by 1.10 to find Mr. King's goats, then subtract that from 550.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Percent increase
new=original×(1+p100)\text{new} = \text{original} \times \left(1 + \frac{p}{100}\right)
The original is the amount you start from, the one the percent is taken of. p is the percent of increase. The new amount is all of the original, which is 100%, plus p% more. For 10% more, you multiply by 1.10.

  1. Sort out the question

    Mr. Jones has 550 goats. That is “10% more than Mr. King has”. You need how many more goats Mr. Jones has than Mr. King. That is the difference between the two herds, not the size of a herd.

  2. Decide what the 10% is of

    The words “10% more than Mr. King” mean the 10% is a part of Mr. King’s herd. So Mr. King’s herd is the original. Mr. Jones has all of Mr. King’s goats, 100%, plus 10% more. That is 110% of Mr. King’s herd. Watch out: do not take 10% of 550. That gives 55, choice B. It uses the wrong herd. Taking those 55 away from 550 gives 495, choice C, which is also wrong.

  3. Find Mr. King’s herd

    Call Mr. King’s number of goats K. Use the percent increase formula with p = 10. The new amount is 550.

    new=original×(1+p100)\text{new} = \text{original} \times \left(1 + \frac{p}{100}\right)

    550=K×1.10550 = K \times 1.10

    K=550÷1.10=500K = 550 \div 1.10 = 500

    Mr. King has 500 goats. Watch out: 500 is Mr. King’s herd, choice D. It is not the difference.

  4. Find the difference

    550−500=50550 - 500 = 50

    Mr. Jones has 50 more goats than Mr. King. So the answer is A, 50.

Check your answer

Check the 10%. 10% of 500 is 0.10×500=500.10 \times 500 = 50, and 500+50=550500 + 50 = 550, Mr. Jones’s herd. So 550 really is 10% more than 500. If King had 495, then 10% more would be about 545, not 550.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 63 as printed on page 77 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 77, question 63. Open page 77 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 84 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 16

Question

A truck rental company charges a one-time fee of $40 plus $1 per mile driven. Dalia rented a truck and used a coupon for 20% off the total rental cost. After the coupon was applied, she spent a total of $60. How many miles did she drive?

  • A8
  • B20
  • C32
  • D35
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

Let m equal the miles driven during Dalia’s rental. The total cost, c, can be expressed as an equation.

c=40+mc = 40 + m

Dalia spent a total of $60, which included a 20% off coupon. Find the cost before the coupon by dividing the final cost ($60) by the percentage paid (80%):

6080%=600.80=75\frac{60}{80\%} = \frac{60}{0.80} = 75

Use $75 as the total cost to find m.

40+m=7540 + m = 75

m=35m = 35

Dalia drove 35 miles.

Question analysis

A multistep word problem about a truck rental that costs a $40 fee plus $1 per mile, with a 20% off coupon applied to the total. Given that Dalia paid $60 after the coupon, students find how many miles she drove. Undoing the discount correctly before removing the fixed fee is the hard part.

NYS standards
  • 7.EE.4a two-step equations
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve two-step equations and work with discounts, usually separately. This combines them and makes students undo a 20% discount starting from the price paid, a reversal many grade 7 students have not practised.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 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 ordinary skills, undoing a discount and solving a two-step equation, are stacked, and the first runs in reverse. The natural way to undo 20% off is to add 20% back, which gives $72 instead of $75 and a choice three miles from the answer. Students who check by applying the coupon to the full cost of 40 + 35 = 75 dollars see at once that 80% of it is 60.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    The sentence "After the coupon was applied, she spent a total of $60" makes 60 the price after 20% off, so it is 80% of the full cost, 40 + m. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    A percent discount has to be undone before the fee-plus-mileage equation can be solved: 60 ÷ 0.8 = 75, then 75 − 40 = 35 miles. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  3. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choices 32 and 35 are three miles apart, too close to tell apart by estimate; only dividing 60 by 0.8, rather than adding 20% of 60, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Since $60 is 80% of the full cost, divide 60 by 0.80 to find the cost before the coupon, then subtract the $40 fee to get the miles.

Traps

  • Percent of the wrong amount: Finding the whole from a part, or a percent change measured from the wrong starting amount.
  • Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Rental cost
c=40+1×mc = 40 + 1 \times m
c is the full cost in dollars, before any coupon. 40 is the one-time fee, paid once no matter how far you drive. m is the number of miles, and each mile costs 1 dollar.
Price after a discount
price paid=full cost×(1−p100)\text{price paid} = \text{full cost} \times \left(1 - \frac{p}{100}\right)
The full cost is the price before the discount. p is the percent taken off. You pay what is left: 100% minus p%. For 20% off you pay 80%, so you multiply by 0.80.

  1. Sort out the question

    The truck costs a $40 fee, plus $1 for each mile. Dalia’s coupon took 20% off the total. After the coupon, she paid $60. You need how many miles she drove. The $60 is the price after the discount, not the full cost.

  2. Write what she paid

    20% off means she paid what was left of the full cost.

    100%−20%=80%100\% - 20\% = 80\%

    As a decimal, 80% is 0.80.

    price paid=full cost×(1−p100)\text{price paid} = \text{full cost} \times \left(1 - \frac{p}{100}\right)

    60=full cost×0.8060 = \text{full cost} \times 0.80

  3. Undo the discount

    To undo times 0.80, divide by 0.80. Move the decimal point one place in both numbers to make it easier.

    full cost=60÷0.80=600÷8=75\text{full cost} = 60 \div 0.80 = 600 \div 8 = 75

    The full cost was $75. Watch out: the 20% was taken off the full cost, not off $60. Adding 20% of $60 gives $72 and leads to 32 miles, choice C. Taking 20% off $60 again leads to 8 miles, choice A.

  4. Find the miles

    c=40+1×mc = 40 + 1 \times m

    75=40+m75 = 40 + m

    m=75−40=35m = 75 - 40 = 35

    She drove 35 miles. Watch out: do not skip the coupon. Using $60 as the full cost gives 20 miles, choice B. So the answer is D, 35.

Check your answer

Go forward. 35 miles cost $35. Add the $40 fee to get $75. The coupon takes off 20% of $75, which is 0.20×75=150.20 \times 75 = 15 dollars. Then 75−15=6075 - 15 = 60. That is exactly what she paid.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 73 as printed on page 79 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 79, question 73. Open page 79 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 85 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 18

Question

Each number in a sequence is formed by doubling the previous number and then adding 1. If the 9th number in the sequence is 63, what is the 10th number minus the 7th number?

  • A96
  • B111
  • C112
  • D127
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

First, write an equation based on the rule described in the item. Let x be the previous number in the sequence and y be the number in the sequence. The ninth number in the sequence is 63.

2x+1=y2x + 1 = y

Determine the 10th number in the sequence, y, by making x=63x = 63 and solving:

2(63)+1=y2(63) + 1 = y

126+1=y126 + 1 = y

127=y127 = y

Determine the 8th number in the sequence, x, by making y=63y = 63 and solving:

2x+1=632x + 1 = 63

Subtract one from both sides of the equation.

2x+(1−1)=63−12x + (1 - 1) = 63 - 1

2x=622x = 62

2x2=622\frac{2x}{2} = \frac{62}{2}

x=31x = 31

Determine the 7th number in the sequence, x, by making y=31y = 31 and solving:

2x+1=312x + 1 = 31

2x+(1−1)=31−12x + (1 - 1) = 31 - 1

2x=302x = 30

2x2=302\frac{2x}{2} = \frac{30}{2}

x=15x = 15

Subtract the 7th number in the sequence from the 10th number:

127−15=112127 - 15 = 112

The difference is 112.

Question analysis

A sequence question: each number is found by doubling the one before it and adding 1, and the 9th number is 63. Students find the 10th number minus the 7th. That means running the rule forward once and backward twice, while keeping track of which position each number holds.

NYS standards
  • 7.EE.4a two-step equations
  • 6.EE.2c evaluating expressions and order of operations
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve two-step equations but rarely have to run a rule backward through a sequence. This mixes forward and backward steps with position counting, so it asks for more planning than a typical grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 32 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A misplaced parenthesis in the explanation’s working 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

Applying the rule forward is routine; running it backward is not, and the question needs both. Students must also count positions carefully, since the 9th number is given and the 7th is two steps back, not one. Each listed wrong answer stops or slips at a different stage, so writing the four numbers in a row, 15, 31, 63 and 127, before subtracting is the reliable way.

  1. No obvious method moderate Working it out

    The rule is stated only forward, double and add 1, but the 7th and 8th numbers come before the given 9th, so the rule must be undone: subtract 1, then halve. (Schoenfeld, 1985)

  2. Many steps moderate Working it out

    One forward step reaches the 10th number, 127, two backward steps reach the 8th and 7th, 31 and 15, and a final subtraction finishes. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

    Four positions and their values, 7th to 10th, have to be kept straight, and the 8th number is easy to mistake for the 7th. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Apply the rule to 63 to get the 10th number; to go back a position, subtract 1 and halve, doing it twice to reach the 7th; then subtract.

Traps

  • Counting the ends: Inclusive or exclusive ends, fence posts, consecutive numbers: an answer that is one too many or too few, or an endpoint drawn open where it belongs closed (or the reverse).
  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: Finding the 7th number, the handbook writes “2x + (1 − 1 = 31 − 1)”, with the closing parenthesis after the whole equation, so the line reads as an equation inside an expression (and 1 − 1 = 31 − 1 is false). The site now reads 2x + (1 − 1) = 31 − 1, the same step the handbook writes correctly for the 8th number (2x + (1 − 1) = 63 − 1). It leads to 2x = 30 and x = 15 as before.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

The sequence rule
y=2x+1y = 2x + 1
A sequence is a list of numbers that follows a rule. x is a number in the list, and y is the next number. To get the next number, double x and then add 1.
Going back one number
x=(y−1)÷2x = (y - 1) \div 2
y is a number in the list, and x is the one just before it. To go back, undo the rule in reverse order. The rule doubles and then adds 1. So first subtract 1, then divide by 2.

  1. Sort out the question

    Each number is “formed by doubling the previous number and then adding 1”. Previous means the one just before. The 9th number is 63. You need the 10th number minus the 7th number. So you go forward one number and back two numbers.

  2. Find the 10th number

    Use the rule with x = 63.

    y=2x+1y = 2x + 1

    y=2×63+1=126+1=127y = 2 \times 63 + 1 = 126 + 1 = 127

    The 10th number is 127. Watch out: remember to add 1. Doubling only gives 126 and leads to 111, choice B.

  3. Plan how to go back

    The 7th number comes before the 9th, so you must undo the rule. The rule doubled, then added 1. Undo the last step first: subtract 1. Then undo the doubling: divide by 2.

    x=(y−1)÷2x = (y - 1) \div 2

  4. Find the 8th number

    x=(63−1)÷2=62÷2=31x = (63 - 1) \div 2 = 62 \div 2 = 31

    The 8th number is 31. Watch out: 31 is the 8th number, not the 7th. Using it gives 127−31=96127 - 31 = 96, choice A.

  5. Find the 7th number

    Step back once more, from the 8th number. Use the same rule with y = 31.

    x=(31−1)÷2=30÷2=15x = (31 - 1) \div 2 = 30 \div 2 = 15

    The 7th number is 15.

  6. Subtract the 7th from the 10th

    127−15=112127 - 15 = 112

    Watch out: 127 alone is choice D. You still have to subtract the 7th number. So the answer is C, 112.

Check your answer

Go forward from 15 using the rule. 2×15+1=312 \times 15 + 1 = 31, then 2×31+1=632 \times 31 + 1 = 63, then 2×63+1=1272 \times 63 + 1 = 127. You land on 63 as the 9th number, so the list is right. And 127−15=112127 - 15 = 112.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 75 as printed on page 80 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 80, question 75. Open page 80 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 86 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 20

Question

A piece of wood that is 4124\frac{1}{2} feet long is cut into 2 pieces of different lengths. The shorter piece has a length of x feet. Which inequality expresses all possible values of x?

  • A0<x<2140 < x < 2\frac{1}{4}
  • B0≤x≤2140 \leq x \leq 2\frac{1}{4}
  • C0<x<4120 < x < 4\frac{1}{2}
  • D214<x<4122\frac{1}{4} < x < 4\frac{1}{2}
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The original piece of wood is 4124\frac{1}{2} feet long.

The shorter piece is x feet long, and it must be less than half the length of the original piece of wood.

Since half of 4124\frac{1}{2} is 2142\frac{1}{4}, it follows that x<214x < 2\frac{1}{4}.

The shorter piece of wood cannot be 0 feet long, so it follows that 0<x0 < x.

This gives the compound inequality 0<x<2140 < x < 2\frac{1}{4}.

Question analysis

An inequality question: a piece of wood 4½ feet long is cut into two pieces of different lengths, and the shorter piece is x feet long. Students choose the inequality that gives every possible value of x. They must turn each condition in the words into a boundary and decide whether each end of the range is included.

NYS standards
  • 7.EE.4 equations and inequalities from problems
  • 6.EE.8 writing simple inequalities
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve and graph simple inequalities. Writing a compound inequality from a description, where the words decide whether each end is strict, is less familiar and calls for careful reading of every condition.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 37 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

Halving 4 1/2 feet is the only computation; the rest is deciding whether each end of the range can actually happen. A shorter piece of 2 1/4 feet would make the two pieces equal, and a piece of 0 feet is no piece at all, so both ends are excluded. Students who find the right bounds but never test the ends are drawn to the version with the inclusive symbols.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    Two phrases set the two ends: "cut into 2 pieces" means x is more than 0, and "of different lengths" with "the shorter piece" means x is less than half of 4 1/2. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The inequalities 0 < x < 2 1/4 and 0 ≤ x ≤ 2 1/4 share both bounds and differ only in their symbols; only checking whether each end can happen separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Variables instead of numbers minor Understanding the question

    The question asks for every possible length of the shorter piece, a range rather than one length, so students must picture the cut moving along the board. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Picture cutting the board in different places, find the largest and smallest values the shorter piece could take, and check whether each boundary value is actually possible.

Traps

  • Counting the ends: Inclusive or exclusive ends, fence posts, consecutive numbers: an answer that is one too many or too few, or an endpoint drawn open where it belongs closed (or the reverse).
  • Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".
  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Two pieces make the whole board
x+L=412x + L = 4\frac{1}{2}
x is the length of the shorter piece, and L is the length of the longer piece, both in feet. Together they make the whole board. Since x is smaller than L, x must be less than half of the board.
Inequality signs
a<b and a≤ba < b \text{ and } a \leq b
a < b says a is less than b. a ≤ b says a is less than or equal to b, so a can also equal b. A chain like 0 < x < 5 means x is more than 0 and less than 5.

  1. Sort out the question

    A board is 4124\frac{1}{2} feet long. It is cut into 2 pieces of different lengths. The shorter piece is x feet long. You need an inequality for every possible value of x. An inequality uses signs like <, less than, to show a range of numbers.

  2. Find the top end for x

    If you cut exactly in the middle, each piece is half the board.

    412÷2=92×12=94=2144\frac{1}{2} \div 2 = \frac{9}{2} \times \frac{1}{2} = \frac{9}{4} = 2\frac{1}{4}

    But the pieces have different lengths, so the cut is not in the middle. The shorter piece must be less than half.

    x<214x < 2\frac{1}{4}

  3. Find the bottom end for x

    The shorter piece can be very small, like 0.1 foot. But it can’t be 0 feet. Then nothing would be cut off, and there would not be 2 pieces.

    0<x0 < x

  4. Put the two ends together

    0<x<2140 < x < 2\frac{1}{4}

    This says x is more than 0 and less than 2142\frac{1}{4}. Watch out: choice B uses ≤, which allows x = 0 or x=214x = 2\frac{1}{4}. Neither can happen. Choice C lets x be more than half, so it would not be the shorter piece. Choice D describes the longer piece. So the answer is A, 0<x<2140 < x < 2\frac{1}{4}.

Check your answer

Test values. Cut off 1 foot: the pieces are 1 foot and 3123\frac{1}{2} feet. The shorter one is 1, and 1 is between 0 and 2142\frac{1}{4}. If x were 3, the other piece would be 1121\frac{1}{2} feet, so x would not be the shorter one. Choice A leaves 3 out, as it should.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 77 as printed on page 81 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 81, question 77. Open page 81 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 87 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 25

Question

Points M, N, P and Q, each marked with a dot, lie in that order from left to right on a line. A dimension arrow from M to N is labeled x cm, and a longer dimension arrow from M to P is labeled y cm. No lengths are marked for NP, PQ or MQ.

In the figure above, N is the midpoint of MQ\overline{MQ}. Which segment has length (2x−y)(2x - y) centimeters?

  • APQ\overline{PQ}
  • BNP\overline{NP}
  • CMQ\overline{MQ}
  • DMP\overline{MP}
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

These facts are given:

  • N is the midpoint of MQ\overline{MQ}.
  • MN\overline{MN} has a length of x centimeters.
  • MP\overline{MP} has a length of y centimeters.

Use the first two facts to determine that MQ\overline{MQ} has a length of 2x2x centimeters. So (2x−y)(2x - y) can be represented by MQ−MPMQ - MP, which is PQ\overline{PQ}.

Question analysis

A geometry and algebra question with a labeled figure: points M, N, P and Q lie on a line, MN is x cm, MP is y cm, and N is the midpoint of MQ. Students find which segment has length 2x − y. They must turn the midpoint fact into an expression and read a difference of lengths on the figure.

NYS standards
  • 7.EE.2 rewriting expressions to show relationships
  • 6.EE.6 variables representing unknown numbers
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students evaluate and rewrite expressions but rarely read one as a length on a figure. Combining the midpoint idea from geometry with a difference of expressions, and no numbers, makes this more abstract than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 9, 20 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 reverses the usual task: instead of finding a length, students match an expression to a segment. The midpoint fact turns into MQ = 2x, and taking away the y of MP leaves the piece from P to Q. The wrong choices reward stopping at 2x, reading only the labeled arrows, or matching the letter y; picking x = 5 and y = 7 lets students check with numbers.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    Every length is a letter: MN is x, MP is y, and the target is the expression 2x − y, so the matching segment cannot be found by measuring. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

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

    The figure marks only MN and MP with arrows; the length of MQ comes from the stem's midpoint fact, not from the drawing, and has to be written as 2x. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Use the midpoint to write the length of the whole segment in terms of x, or pick sample values for x and y, then see which segment's length matches 2x − y.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Midpoint
MQ=2×MNMQ = 2 \times MN
N is the midpoint of segment MQ, the point exactly in the middle. MN is the half from M to N, and MQ is the whole segment. The whole is two equal halves, so it is 2 times MN.
Adding segments
MP+PQ=MQMP + PQ = MQ
When points lie in order on a line, the short segments add up to the long one. MP runs from M to P, and PQ runs from P to Q. Put end to end, they make MQ.

  1. Sort out the figure

    Points M, N, P and Q lie in that order on a line. Segment MN is x cm long, and segment MP is y cm long. N is the midpoint of MQ\overline{MQ}, the point exactly halfway from M to Q. You need the segment that is 2x−y2x - y cm long.

  2. Find the length of MQ

    MN is half of MQ, so MQ is twice as long.

    MQ=2×MN=2xMQ = 2 \times MN = 2x

    MQ is 2x cm long. Watch out: 2x is only part of the expression. Stopping here gives MQ, choice C.

  3. Take MP away from MQ

    Subtracting y from 2x means taking MP away from MQ. MP covers the part from M to P. What is left of MQ is the piece from P to Q.

    MP+PQ=MQMP + PQ = MQ

    PQ=MQ−MP=2x−yPQ = MQ - MP = 2x - y

    So PQ is 2x−y2x - y cm long. Watch out: do not pick MP just because y appears. MP is y, choice D. NP is y−xy - x, choice B. So the answer is A, PQ\overline{PQ}.

Check your answer

Try numbers. Say x = 5, so MN = 5 and MQ = 10. Say y = 7, so MP = 7. Then PQ is 10−7=310 - 7 = 3. And 2x−y=10−7=32x - y = 10 - 7 = 3. They match. NP would be 7−5=27 - 5 = 2, which does not.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 82 as printed on page 82 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 82, question 82. Open page 82 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 88 of 120

2024 Test A Math, question 39

Question

Triangle with its two slanted sides each labeled 13 in. and its base labeled 10 in. Beside it, a vertical arrow as tall as the triangle, from its base to its top vertex, is labeled 12 in.

Raquel is cutting out pieces of cardboard to make a pyramid. She will use a square piece for the base and identical triangular pieces for the sides. The figure above shows the dimensions of the triangle for each side. What will be the total surface area, in square inches, of the pyramid, including the square base?

  • A280
  • B295
  • C340
  • D360
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

Surface area is found by calculating the area of each side, including the base, and adding them all together.

The base of the pyramid measures 10 inches on each side, so the area of the base is

10×10=10010 \times 10 = 100

Each triangular face has a base of 10 inches and a height of 12 inches, so the area of each face is

12×10×12=60\frac{1}{2} \times 10 \times 12 = 60

There are 4 triangular faces (because the square base has 4 edges, each of which will have a triangular face). So the total surface area of the pyramid is the sum of the areas of 4 triangles and 1 square.

(4×60)+100=240+100(4 \times 60) + 100 = 240 + 100

So the total surface area is 340 square inches.

Question analysis

This surface area word problem shows one triangular face, with sides of 13 inches, a base of 10 inches and a height of 12 inches, that Raquel will use to build a cardboard pyramid with a square base. Students find the total area of the base and all the triangular sides. Picturing the solid and choosing the right measurements from the figure are the tricky parts.

NYS standards
  • 7.G.6 area, surface area, and volume
  • 6.G.4 nets and surface area
  • 6.G.1 area of polygons
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students find the surface area of a pyramid from a drawn net or solid. Here only one triangular face is shown, so students must picture the whole pyramid, count its faces, and choose which labeled length belongs in the area formula.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 6, 56 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A wrong unit in the explanation was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students have to build the pyramid in their heads from one flat triangle, then choose the right measurement from three labels. The 13-inch sides look like the natural height, and using them gives a listed total; picturing a pyramid with three sloping faces gives another. Sketching the square base with a triangle on each edge, and marking 12 as the height, settles both the face count and the formula.

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

    The figure gives one triangle with three length labels, 13, 13 and 10, and puts its height, 12, on a separate arrow beside it, where it is easy to overlook. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    The solid is never drawn: students must see that the square's side equals the triangle's 10-inch base, count four triangles, and add triangle and square areas. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    A triangle's area uses its perpendicular height, not a slanted side, and a pyramid on a square base has four triangular faces; neither fact is given. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Sketch the pyramid: a square base whose side is the triangle's base, and one triangular face on each side of the square. Find each area with the matching formula, then add them all.

Traps

  • Misreads the figure: Reads a value, label or tick spacing in a figure, table or graph wrongly.
  • Information you don't need: The question gives numbers or facts that play no part in the answer.
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook ends “So the total surface area is 340 square feet.” The triangle’s dimensions are in inches and the question asks for square inches, so the site now reads “340 square inches.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Area of a triangle
A=12×b×hA = \frac{1}{2} \times b \times h
A is the area. b is the base, the side the triangle sits on. h is the height: the straight-up distance from the base to the top corner, at a right angle to the base. You take half because a triangle is half of a rectangle with the same base and height.
Area of a square
A=s×sA = s \times s
A is the area and s is the length of one side. All four sides of a square are equal, so the area is side times side.
Surface area
surface area=sum of the areas of all the faces\text{surface area} = \text{sum of the areas of all the faces}
A face is one flat side of a solid shape. The surface area is the total area of the outside. Picture unfolding the solid into flat pieces. Then add up the area of every piece.

  1. Sort out the question

    Raquel’s pyramid has a square base. Each side is a triangle like the one in the figure. The triangle’s base is 10 in. Its two slanted sides are 13 in. Its height, the arrow beside it, is 12 in. You need the total surface area, including the square base, in square inches.

  2. Picture the pyramid

    Surface area is the total area of all the flat sides, called faces. Each triangle stands on one edge of the square. So each edge of the square is 10 inches, the same as the triangle’s base. A square has 4 edges, so the pyramid has 4 triangles.

    surface area=sum of the areas of all the faces\text{surface area} = \text{sum of the areas of all the faces}

    Here that is 4 triangles plus 1 square. Watch out: counting only 3 triangles gives 280, choice A.

  3. Find the area of one triangle

    A=12×b×hA = \frac{1}{2} \times b \times h

    A=12×10×12=60A = \frac{1}{2} \times 10 \times 12 = 60

    Each triangle is 60 square inches. Watch out: the height is 12 in., the straight-up arrow. It is not 13 in., the slanted side. Using 13 gives 65 for each triangle and 360 in all, choice D.

  4. Find the area of the base

    The base is a square with sides of 10 inches, the same as each triangle’s base.

    A=s×sA = s \times s

    A=10×10=100A = 10 \times 10 = 100

    The square base is 100 square inches.

  5. Add all five faces

    surface area=4×60+100=240+100=340\text{surface area} = 4 \times 60 + 100 = 240 + 100 = 340

    The four triangles and the square together cover 340 square inches.

    So the answer is C, 340 square inches.

Check your answer

Each triangle is half of a 10 by 12 rectangle, which has an area of 120. So two triangles make 120, and four make 240. Add the base: 240+100=340240 + 100 = 340. The units fit too: inches times inches gives square inches.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 96 as printed on page 86 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 86, question 96. Open page 86 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D). This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 89 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 1

Question

What is the best way to combine these sentences to clarify the relationship between ideas?

(1) The International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000.

(2) Tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station.

(3) Because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.

  • AThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, but tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station, which cost $52–$58 million round trip, so few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
  • BThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000 and will soon allow tourists to pay for visits, but because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
  • CThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, but tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station, though the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, so few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
  • DThe International Space Station has been inhabited by crew members since 2000, and tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits to the space station because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip, therefore few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to have a vacation in outer space.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the best way to combine the sentences.

A. Incorrect. Although the option combines the sentences in a way that accurately reflects the meaning of each individual sentence, the combined sentence is a string of clauses that do not effectively cohere. Because it is poorly structured, the combined sentence does not clarify the relationship of ideas as effectively as the correct response does. The sentence incorrectly uses “but tourists,” and “which cost” modifies “the space station” but does not modify the trip. Compared with the correct response, the combined sentence in this option is also imprecise and unnecessarily wordy.

B. CORRECT. The option uses a complex sentence to present ideas clearly and precisely, and it shows the relationship between the ideas in the original sentences. In the first part of the sentence, the conjunction “and” correctly joins the first and second sentences by indicating a relationship, rather than a contrast, between the two. In the second part of the sentence, the conjunction “but” adds additional emphasis to the fact that while tourists will be allowed to visit the space station, the cost of the trip will likely prohibit most people from visiting.

C. Incorrect. Although the option combines the sentences in a way that accurately reflects the meaning of each individual sentence, the combined sentence is a string of clauses that do not effectively cohere. Because it is so poorly structured, the combined sentence does not clarify the relationship of ideas as effectively as the correct response does. Compared with the correct response, the combined sentence in this option is also imprecise and unnecessarily wordy.

D. Incorrect. The combination of the sentences contains an illogical relationship between ideas with the statement that tourists will be allowed to pay for visits to the space station because the cost is $52–$58 million round trip. The connection between the idea that “tourists will soon be allowed to pay for visits” and the subsequent “therefore few people will be able to take advantage of the opportunity” is also illogical.

Question analysis

This sentence-combining question gives three sentences about the International Space Station, its crew and the high price of a tourist trip, and asks for the best way to join them into one. Every version keeps the same facts, so students must judge which connecting words show how the ideas relate while the sentences stay long and nearly identical.

NYS standards
  • 7L1 grammar and usage conventions
  • 7L3a precise and concise language
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students practice joining two short sentences with a fitting conjunction. Here three sentences become one long sentence in four nearly identical versions, so students must weigh every connecting word and clause rather than spot one error.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 15, 261 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

None of the wrong versions drops a fact, and two of them are loose rather than plainly ungrammatical, so the ear is little help. Students lose the point by accepting the smoothest chain of clauses without asking what each connector claims: whether the crew and the tourists really contrast, what the price belongs to, and what the price explains. The question rewards deciding the three links before reading the versions, then checking them one connector at a time.

  1. How sentences fit together major Working it out

    Sentence 2 simply adds to sentence 1, while sentence 3’s price works against the tourist plan and explains why few will go, so every “but,” “though,” “because” or “so” in a version must fit one of those links. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  2. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    Each version is one sentence of 48 to 53 words with four clauses, and at that length a “which cost” hanging on the wrong noun or a comma before “therefore” is easy to read past. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  3. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four versions keep the same facts in the same order and share most of their words, so none can be ruled out by content; each connecting word has to be tested in turn. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, decide how each sentence relates to the next: added fact, contrast, or cause and result. Then check every connecting word in each version against those links.

Traps

  • Misplaced modifier: A describing word or phrase that attaches to the wrong word, or to nothing in the sentence.
  • Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.
  • Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.

The wrong answers, classified

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 join three sentences into one. The best version shows clearly how the ideas connect. Joining words do that job. A conjunction is a joining word, like and, but, so or because. Each one tells the reader something. And adds a fact. But shows a contrast (two ideas that pull against each other). Because and so show a cause and its result.

  2. Decide how the three sentences connect

    Sentence 1 says crews have lived on the station since 2000. Sentence 2 adds a new fact: tourists will soon be able to visit. That is not a contrast, so it needs and. Sentence 3 works against sentence 2. The trip costs “$52–$58 million round trip.” That price is also the reason few people will go. So you need a contrast and a reason. Example: The pool is open to all, but because it costs $90, few kids swim there.

  3. Test each choice

    • B uses “and will soon allow tourists” to add the new fact. Then “but because the cost is” shows the contrast and the reason. Every link is right.
    • A joins sentence 2 with “but tourists,” as if crews and tourists were opposites. Also, “which cost” comes right after “the space station.” So it sounds like the station costs that much, not the trip.
    • C stacks “but,” “though” and “so” in one long chain. The price turns into a side note instead of the clear reason.
    • D says tourists may visit “because the cost is” so high. That makes no sense. And “therefore” after a comma joins two sentences the wrong way.

  4. Pick the answer

    Watch out: A is the most tempting. It keeps the price as the reason, with “so.” But its “but” and its “which” send the reader the wrong way. Only one choice links every idea correctly. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like B, it says the price keeps most people away. But A sets crews against tourists with “but tourists.” Its “which cost” also seems to give the price of the station. B uses and for the added fact and but because for the price, so each link is clear.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 1 as printed on page 159 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 159, question 1. Open page 159 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 90 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 8
Passage Find Time to Volunteer

Find Time to Volunteer

(1) Many people believe that they gain a greater sense of purpose by giving their time to serve others. (2) These are the people who spend their free time volunteering at various places within the community. (3) Those who are served benefit from the work of these volunteers. (4) However, research shows that those who volunteer also receive benefits.

(5) For many students, this proposition may sound impossible. (6) Schoolwork can require hours of study each week. (7) Volunteering at a retirement center or homeless shelter requires both time and energy. (8) Extracurricular activities fill up after-school time. (9) Family obligations and part-time jobs often have to be worked into the schedule, too. (10) However, if students can find time to volunteer, even for a few hours a month, they may find that the benefits outweigh the scheduling difficulties.

(11) To begin with, students who engage in volunteer activities acquire valuable skills and experience, which can help them focus on potential fields of study and career options. (12) Furthermore, when students list volunteer work on college applications, admissions counselors see applicants who care about making their community and college campus a better place.

(13) Volunteerism benefits more than students applying to college. (14) This type of experience is equally important for students moving directly into the workforce after high school. (15) Volunteering demonstrates initiative, dedication, and a strong work ethic, qualities that companies value in a potential employee. (16) In a CareerBuilder study, 60 percent of managers regarded volunteerism as a significant asset when considering applicants.

(17) Students who volunteer undoubtedly make a positive investment in their future, but they also affect their present quality of life. (18) Studies have shown that volunteering is good for both the mind and the body. (19) Volunteering can boost mood levels and reduce anxiety. (20) According to the Mayo Clinic,1 the feeling of doing something meaningful and the appreciation received from that action can reduce stress.

(21) Even the busiest of students can find a way to donate some time to a worthy cause. (22) Though managing different commitments may seem overwhelming at times, students are sure to feel a sense of fulfillment in volunteerism.

1Mayo Clinic: a nonprofit medical organization dedicated to treatment and research

Question

Which of these would best follow sentence 12 and support the ideas presented in the third paragraph (sentences 11–12)?

  • AThese students show that they are likely to be responsible, reliable, and helpful young adults. Admissions counselors know that character traits like these will benefit the applicants as well as whomever they interact with.
  • BVolunteering can help students meet new people who can provide references and advice to the students when they are applying to colleges. It can also be an invaluable opportunity for students to meet possible future employers.
  • CThe counselors hope that young adults who demonstrate this behavior will go on to volunteer during their college years, working on campus in student government and leadership programs or serving in the community at hospitals, schools, and homeless shelters.
  • DMany colleges are looking for students who are not just academically successful but who also work well with others and care about improving and serving surrounding communities.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which option would best follow sentence 12 to support the ideas presented in the third paragraph (sentences 11–12).

A. Incorrect. The subject of the main clause in sentence 12 is “admissions counselors.” Although the second sentence in the option mentions “admissions counselors,” it does not support the ideas in the paragraph, because the statement that “admissions counselors know that character traits like these will benefit the applicants” focuses on how students benefit, while sentence 12 focuses on how these traits benefit the community.

B. Incorrect. While sentence 11 discusses the potential academic and professional connections that can be made through volunteering, sentence 12 moves on to the topic of college admissions. Since the sentences in the option revert back to the topic of connections, they do not support and logically follow a sentence about how college admissions counselors view students with volunteering experience.

C. Incorrect. Although the sentence in the option continues on the subject of admissions counselors and follows the idea in sentence 12 that these counselors tend to favor students who “care about making their community and college campus a better place,” the sentence focuses on what students will do while in college rather than on how volunteering helps them get into college. Therefore, the sentence does not best follow sentence 12 and support the ideas presented in the third paragraph.

D. CORRECT. In sentence 12, the author states that college admissions counselors view students who list volunteer work on admissions applications as “applicants who care about making their community and college campus a better place.” The sentence in the option best follows sentence 12 and supports the ideas in the third paragraph because it provides additional details about why admissions counselors look beyond academics when considering students for admissions and the positive qualities assigned to those who have volunteering experience.

Question analysis

This supporting-details question asks which addition would best follow the volunteering essay’s sentence about how college admissions counselors view applicants who list volunteer work. Every option mentions college and sounds reasonable on its own, so students must decide which one develops the paragraph’s point rather than drifting to a related idea.

NYS standards
  • 7W1b supporting claims with evidence
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students choose evidence that supports a claim. Here the options are one or two full sentences, all of them about college, and the right fit depends on the precise idea in sentence 12, a finer judgment than usual.
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 11, 354 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 153 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 option stays on the subject of college, so the work is matching sentence 12’s exact idea: counselors see applicants who care about making their community a better place. The near miss also explains what counselors value, but it swaps caring for the community for a new set of traits and ends on what those traits do for the applicants. Students who restate sentence 12 before reading the options can hear that the right one simply widens it, from community service to what colleges want beyond grades.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The right sentence and the two-sentence option about responsible, reliable, helpful students both explain why volunteers impress admissions; only the right one keeps sentence 12’s point, caring about improving communities. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

    The new sentence must extend sentence 12’s specific idea, what admissions counselors see in volunteers, rather than return to sentence 11’s skills and careers or move on to college life. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

    The options run 27 to 39 words, two of them two sentences long, and all four are about college, so topic alone rules none of them out. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate sentence 12 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it explains or extends that exact point about what admissions counselors value.

Traps

  • Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

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 sentence that best follows sentence 12. A good next sentence adds to the same idea. It does not jump to a new point. Example: after Dogs make loyal pets, the sentence They stay by their owners’ side fits. Dogs come in many colors drifts away. So first put sentence 12 in your own words.

  2. Restate sentence 12

    Sentence 12 says that “when students list volunteer work on college applications, admissions counselors see applicants who care about making their community and college campus a better place.” Admissions counselors are the people who choose which students get into a college. So the idea is this: colleges like volunteers because volunteers care about their communities.

  3. Check each choice

    • D says colleges want students who are “not just academically successful.” That means more than good grades. They also want students who “care about improving and serving surrounding communities.” That explains sentence 12 and builds on it.
    • A swaps in new traits: “responsible, reliable, and helpful.” Then it says those traits help the applicants and the people around them. It drops caring for the community.
    • B brings in a new benefit: meeting people who can give advice or jobs. Neither sentence 11 nor sentence 12 talks about that.
    • C jumps ahead to what students might do in college. It doesn’t explain how volunteering helps them get in.

  4. Pick the answer

    Watch out: A is the most tempting. It is about what counselors value, just like the right answer. But it changes the reason they value it. Only D keeps sentence 12’s idea of caring for the community. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. Like D, it explains why admissions counselors like volunteers. But A’s reasons are new ones, such as being responsible and reliable. D keeps sentence 12’s exact idea, caring about the community, and adds that colleges want more than good grades. So D supports the paragraph best.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 8 as printed on page 165 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 165, question 8. Open page 165 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 “Find Time to Volunteer” as printed (page 163)The passage “Find Time to Volunteer” as printed on page 163 of the DOE handbook.

Question 91 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 18
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

Which sentence is the best summary of the research procedure used in the study in the excerpt?

  • AResearchers had a group of non-English-speaking students learn new English vocabulary by matching words and images on a computer screen, and also by analyzing words in context; some students exercised and some students sat still while learning.
  • BResearchers first divided non-English-speaking students into two groups, with one group exercising before and while studying English and the other group studying English without exercising; then, after instruction, student learning was assessed.
  • CResearchers first had non-English-speaking students sit on stationary bikes and pedal for 20 minutes before instruction and 15 minutes during instruction; then, after a rest period, students indicated whether English sentences made sense.
  • DResearchers asked non-English-speaking students to study English while sitting or biking; then the students’ vocabulary skills were assessed after a short break period and also after a break of a full month without their having studied any of the materials.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the best summary of the research procedure used in the study in the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. This summary says that students learned new words by matching words and images and “also by analyzing words in context,” but this last method was how the researchers assessed students, not how the students learned words; the summary is therefore inaccurate.

B. CORRECT. The summary includes the most important information, which is that one group of non-English-speaking students exercised before and during the English lessons, while the other group did not, and that the students’ learning was assessed afterward.

C. Incorrect. This summary is incomplete because it never mentions the control group—that is, the students who studied English without exercising—which was essential to the study so that results could be compared.

D. Incorrect. This summary includes unnecessary details, such as that students were assessed after a short break and also assessed after a month of no studying; it also neglects to mention important points: that one group exercised both before and during learning, while the other group did not exercise at all.

Question analysis

This summary question asks which of four long sentences best sums up how the researchers ran the study of exercise and English vocabulary learning. Each choice packs in real details about bikes, screens, quizzes and timing, so students must check both whether every detail is accurate and whether anything essential to the study’s design has been left out.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students summarize texts, usually choosing among short summaries. Here each choice runs about forty words packed with accurate details from several paragraphs, and students must judge which keeps the study’s essential design, not merely which details are true.
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 16+, 157 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 what the wrong summaries say is true, which makes this a test of completeness and weight rather than of accuracy. One summary describes only the cyclists, another slips the sentence quiz into how words were taught, and the most tempting one is accurate but leaves out that the cyclists pedaled before the lesson as well as during it. The right summary is plainer than its rivals: two groups, one exercising, then a test.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The sitting-or-biking summary is accurate and names both conditions, as the right one does, but it spends its words on the short rest and the month-later test instead of when the cyclists rode. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The procedure runs from the recruiting in paragraph 6 through the groups, bikes, lessons and quiz in paragraphs 7–12 to the final test in paragraph 15, so it must be gathered before any summary is judged. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. A lot to read moderate Understanding the question

    Each summary is a 32- to 40-word sentence packed with real details, the 20 minutes of pedaling, the rest period, the month without study, so the four together form a dense passage of their own. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, note in a few words how the study was set up and how learning was checked. Then test each summary for accuracy and for anything essential it leaves out.

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.

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 best summary of how the study was done. A summary gives the main parts in a few words. It must be accurate, and it can’t leave out anything important. Small details can be skipped.

  2. Find the main parts of the study

    • Paragraph 7: “The researchers then divided the students into two groups.”
    • Paragraphs 8 and 9: one group rode bikes “beginning 20 minutes before the start of the lessons and continuing throughout the 15 minutes or so of instruction.” The other group sat still.
    • Paragraph 11: then all the students took a quiz.

    So the key parts are two groups, one that exercised, and a test afterward. The group that sat still matters. It lets the researchers compare.

  3. Check each choice

    • B has it all: two groups, one exercising “before and while studying,” then a test.
    • A says students learned by “analyzing words in context.” But judging sentences was part of the quiz, not the lessons.
    • C describes only the bike riders. It leaves out the group that sat still, so nothing gets compared.
    • D spends its words on small details: the short break and the test a month later. It leaves out that the bike riders started 20 minutes before the lesson.

  4. Pick the answer

    Watch out: D is tempting because everything in it is true. But a summary should give the main parts, not the side details. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. Its facts are accurate, and it names both groups. But it builds the summary around the break and the month-later test. It never says the cyclists rode before the lessons too. B gives the main plan plainly: two groups, one exercising, then a test of learning.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 18 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 18. 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 92 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 93 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 94 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 27
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

How do paragraphs 11–13 affect the plot of the excerpt?

  • AThey establish a feeling of mystery by presenting different points of view about the arriving people.
  • BThey contribute to the rising action by developing the idea that the arriving people could present a problem.
  • CThey lead to a turning point by describing the moment that the crowd realizes why the strangers have come.
  • DThey explain the cause of the main conflict by providing background information about the strangers.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how paragraphs 11–13 affect the plot of the excerpt.

A. Incorrect. The paragraphs contain questions about the arriving people. They do not present differing points of view.

B. CORRECT. The paragraphs ask questions in which the characters wonder whether the arriving people are friends or enemies, or whether they might be bringing good news or bad news. By suggesting that the arriving people could present problems such as these, the paragraphs contribute to the rising action.

C. Incorrect. The paragraphs do not lead to a turning point. Instead, they lead to the climax—the moment the characters discover who the visitors are. This means the paragraphs contribute to the rising action.

D. Incorrect. Paragraphs 11–13 ask questions. They do not provide background information about the strangers; instead, they ask for it.

Question analysis

This plot question asks how paragraphs 11–13, a series of questions the villagers ask as riders approach their camp, affect the plot of the Nez Perce narrative. Students must know terms such as rising action and turning point and apply them precisely, since several choices describe these paragraphs in ways that sound right but place them wrongly in the story.

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 plot questions usually ask what one event causes. Here students apply terms such as rising action and turning point to three short paragraphs of questions, which matches the grade 8 focus on how parts of a story propel the action.
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 5, 885 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 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

Paragraphs 11–13 contain nothing but questions, so the answer depends on what questions do in a plot. Friends or enemies, good news or bad, they raise the chance of trouble and build toward the arrival. The trap is that they also create mystery, and the choice that says so fails only on one phrase about differing viewpoints. A second risk is jumping ahead: at this point no one even knows who the riders are, let alone why they came.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The right choice and the one about mystery both see the questions building uncertainty about the riders; only the claim of “different points of view,” when the questions are “in every mind,” separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what paragraphs 11–13 do for the plot, so students must place a run of unanswered questions in the story’s shape rather than retell them. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The choices rely on plot terms the excerpt never explains, rising action, turning point and main conflict, and judging them means knowing what each one names. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Note what the villagers know and do not yet know in paragraphs 11–13, then compare that with what happens later in the excerpt to place these paragraphs in the plot.

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.
  • 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 how paragraphs 11–13 move the story along. You need some plot words. The plot is the order of events in a story. The rising action is the part where tension builds. Tension is the feeling that something big may happen. A turning point is the moment when things change.

  2. Read paragraphs 11 to 13

    These paragraphs are all questions. Paragraph 11 asks: “Were they friends or enemies? Did they bring good news or bad?” In paragraph 12, “Who can it be?” is one of “the questions in every mind.” Paragraph 13 asks if the riders are the hunters who left “two summers past.”

  3. Decide what the questions do

    The words “enemies” and “bad” news show the camp is worried. The riders might bring trouble. No one knows yet. So the questions build tension as the riders get closer. That is rising action. The answers come later. The crowd knows the hunters in paragraph 18. They learn who the woman is in paragraphs 22 and 23.

  4. Check each choice

    • B fits. The questions raise the chance of a problem and build tension.
    • A: there is mystery, but not “different points of view.” Everyone asks the same questions.
    • C: in these paragraphs, no one knows who the riders are yet, let alone why they came. So nothing here is the moment the crowd realizes anything.
    • D: the paragraphs ask about the strangers. They give no background facts about them.

  5. Pick the answer

    Watch out: A is very close. The questions do create mystery. But one wrong phrase, “different points of view,” rules it out. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because the questions do make the scene mysterious. But the questions are “in every mind,” so there are no different points of view. B names what the questions do for the plot: they hint that the riders could bring trouble, and they build tension.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 27 as printed on page 180 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 180, question 27. Open page 180 of the handbook (PDF)
The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed (pages 177–178)The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed on page 177 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from Do Them No Harm!” as printed on page 178 of the DOE handbook.

Question 95 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 40
Passage Invention of the Telegraph

Samuel Morse, an American inventor, is credited with creating the electronic telegraph, a communication device that allows users to send messages using a system of short and long pulses that represent letters, numbers, and punctuation. In 1843 the United States Congress passed the Telegraph Bill, which provided Morse with the funds to build an electric telegraph system.

Invention of the Telegraph

Earlier Signal Systems

Long before Samuel F. B. Morse electrically transmitted his famous message “What hath God wrought?” from Washington to Baltimore on May 24, 1844, there were signaling systems that enabled people to communicate over distances. Most were visual or “semaphore” systems using flags or lights. In the eighteenth century, such systems used an observer who would decipher a signal from a high tower on a distant hill and then send it on to the next station. The young American republic wanted just such a system along its entire Atlantic coast and offered a prize of $30,000 for a workable proposal. The framers of this legislation1^1 had no way of knowing that when they used the word “telegraph” to refer to this visual semaphore system, they would be offered an entirely new and revolutionary means of communication—electricity.

The Growth of an Idea

The idea of using electricity to communicate over distance is said to have occurred to Morse during a conversation aboard ship when he was returning from Europe in 1832. Michael Faraday’s recently invented electromagnet was much discussed by the ship’s passengers, and when Morse came to understand how it worked, he speculated that it might be possible to send a coded message over a wire. While a student at Yale College years before, he had written his parents a letter about how interesting he found the lectures on electricity. Despite what he had learned at Yale, Morse found when he began to develop his idea that he had little real understanding of the nature of electricity, and after sporadic attempts to work with batteries, magnets, and wires, he finally turned for help to a colleague at the University of the City of New York, Leonard D. Gale.

Gale was a professor of chemistry and familiar with the electrical work of Princeton’s Joseph Henry, a true pioneer in the new field. Well before Morse had his shipboard idea about a telegraph, Henry rang a bell at a distance by opening and closing an electric circuit. In 1831, he had published an article, of which Morse was unaware, that contained details suggesting the idea of an electric telegraph. Gale’s help and his knowledge of this article proved crucial to Morse’s telegraph system because Gale not only pointed out flaws in the system but showed Morse how he could regularly boost the strength of a signal and overcome the distance problems he had encountered by using a relay system Henry had invented. Henry’s experiments, Gale’s assistance, and, soon after, hiring the young technician Alfred Vail were keys to Morse’s success.

Obstacles and Opportunities

By December 1837, Morse had enough confidence in his new system to apply for the federal government’s appropriation, and during the next year he conducted demonstrations of his telegraph both in New York and Washington.

However, when the economic disaster known as the Panic of 1837 took hold of the nation and caused a long depression, Morse was forced to wait for better times. It was during this period that Morse visited Europe again and tried not only to secure patent protection overseas but to examine competing telegraph systems in England. . . .

By 1843, the country was beginning to recover economically, and Morse again asked Congress for the $30,000 that would allow him to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, forty miles away. The House of Representatives eventually passed the bill containing the Morse appropriation, and the Senate approved it in the final hours of that Congress’s last session. With President Tyler’s signature, Morse received the cash he needed and began to carry out plans for an underground telegraph line.

Realizing a Great Invention

Morse had hired the ingenious construction engineer Ezra Cornell to lay the pipe carrying the wire, and although Cornell did his job superbly, one of Morse’s partners, Congressman F. O. J. Smith, had purchased wire with defective insulation. Too much time had been wasted laying bad wire, and with the project on a rigid deadline, something had to be done quickly. Cornell suggested that the fastest and cheapest way of connecting Washington and Baltimore was to string wires overhead on trees and poles. The desperate Morse gave the go-ahead, and the line was completed in time for the dramatic and spectacularly successful link between the Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol building and the railroad station in Baltimore.

Soon, as overhead wires connected cities up and down the Atlantic coast, the dots-and-dashes method2^2 that recorded messages on a long moving strip of paper was replaced by the operator’s ability to interpret the code in real time. . . . Telegraph lines soon extended westward, and within Morse’s own lifetime they connected the continents of Europe and America.

“Invention of the Telegraph”—Public Domain/Library of Congress

1^1legislation: Telegraph Bill

2^2dots-and-dashes method: the short and long pulses of Morse code that are sent and received by telegraph operators

World map titled “British All-Red Telegraph Line, 1902,” with a compass rose (N, S, E, W) and a key showing a thick black line as an electric telegraph line. The line runs from London across the Atlantic Ocean and Canada to Vancouver, then west into the Pacific Ocean off the map’s left edge; from London and from Canada’s east coast to Bermuda, then to Barbados, across the Atlantic to Cape Town, and across the Indian Ocean to Perth, which a second line links to India; and from Perth across Australia to Brisbane and Norfolk, with branches to New Zealand and east into the Pacific off the map’s right edge. Washington, D.C., in the United States, is marked with a dot but no line reaches it.

The first transatlantic electric telegraph message was sent in 1858, and by 1902 the British All-Red Line connected most of the world.

Bar graph titled “Telegraph Messages Transmitted, 1870–1920,” with the number of messages transmitted, in millions, on the vertical axis (0 to 180 in steps of 20) and the years 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, 1910 and 1920 on the horizontal axis. The bars show about 10 million messages in 1870, 30 million in 1880, 55 million in 1890, 65 million in 1900, 75 million in 1910 and 155 million in 1920.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial Edition, Part 2. Washington, D.C., 1975.

Question

How does the map provide additional support for a central idea of the passage?

  • Aby demonstrating that Morse’s telegraph system greatly exceeded the limitations of previous long-distance communication systems
  • Bby indicating that Morse was lacking foresight by seeking a patent only in North America
  • Cby proving that Gale’s advice helped Morse extend the telegraph’s range much farther than first thought possible
  • Dby showing that the Morse telegraph had a surprisingly immense influence across the world
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the map provides additional support for a central idea of the passage.

A. CORRECT. The map shows the telegraph line crossing continents in 1902, just forty-four years after the first transatlantic message was sent in 1858. This is a much greater distance than the first line Morse built between “the Supreme Court chamber of the Capitol building and the railroad station in Baltimore” (paragraph 7).

B. Incorrect. The map shows the distance the line covers; it does not indicate Morse’s lack of foresight in seeking patents only in North America.

C. Incorrect. While Gale’s advice was crucial to Morse’s success, the map shows the physical line stretching across continents many years later, after their initial work.

D. Incorrect. While it can be inferred that the telegraph had influence across the world, the amount of influence cannot be determined.

Question analysis

This question pairs “Invention of the Telegraph” with a map of the British All-Red Telegraph Line in 1902 and asks how the map adds support for a central idea of the passage. Students must read a world map with a key and a caption, connect what it shows to the story of Samuel Morse’s invention, and sort through four claims about the map that vary in how far they go.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Linking a graphic to a text is familiar grade 7 work. Here students must pin down a central idea of the passage and work out how a 1902 world map, made decades after Morse’s first line, bears on it, a step beyond typical demand.
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, 910 words; question and choices: about grade 11, 75 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • An inaccurate detail in the explanation was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Lines on a map can prove how far the telegraph reached, and the question turns on how much more than that each choice claims. The key depends on a link back to paragraph 1, where a message went only as far as the next hilltop tower, read many minutes before the map. The influence choice skips that link and states the map’s message in bigger terms, so students who do not ask what a map of routes can show are drawn to it.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The influence choice, a telegraph with “a surprisingly immense influence across the world,” sounds like a fair reading of lines circling the globe; it differs from the key in claiming impact and surprise rather than reach beyond earlier systems. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The earlier systems the key measures against are in paragraph 1, towers on distant hills passing flag and light signals from station to station, far from the map at the end of the passage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

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

    The map shows a 1902 British line from London to Canada and Vancouver, south through Bermuda and Barbados to Cape Town, and on to India, Australia and New Zealand, with Washington left unconnected. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Look at what the map and its caption actually show, sum up a central idea of the passage in your own words, and keep only a choice that both of them back up.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook says the 1902 line came “forty-four years after the first message was sent in 1858.” The first telegraph message was Morse’s in 1844 (paragraph 1); 1858 is the year of the first transatlantic message, as the map’s caption says. The site now says “the first transatlantic message.”

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 a graphic adds to the passage. You need two things. First, what does the map really show? Second, which central idea, a main point the whole passage builds, does it back up?

  2. Read the map and its caption

    This map is a picture of one British network of telegraph wires, as it stood in 1902. In its key, a thick black line stands for an electric telegraph line. From London, a line crosses the Atlantic Ocean and Canada to Vancouver. Other lines reach Bermuda, Barbados, Cape Town, India, Australia and New Zealand. According to the caption, by 1902 this network “connected most of the world.”

  3. Recall the older ways of signaling

    Next, compare that with paragraph 1. Before electricity, people signaled with flags or lights. An observer would “decipher a signal from a high tower on a distant hill and then send it on to the next station.” So a message could only jump as far as a person could see. Even Morse’s first line, in paragraph 6, reached Baltimore, just “forty miles away.”

  4. Connect the map to that idea

    The caption says the first message across the Atlantic was sent in 1858. Only 44 years later, in 1902, lines crossed several oceans and linked much of the globe. Paragraph 8 adds that telegraph lines “connected the continents of Europe and America” before Morse died. So the map supports a central idea: electric telegraph lines went far beyond the reach of older signal systems.

  5. Check each choice

    • A fits. Lines that span oceans go far past the limits of hilltop towers.
    • B does not fit. A map of lines shows nothing about patents. Also, paragraph 5 says Morse sought patent protection in Europe, too.
    • C does not fit. The map names no inventors, so it cannot prove what Gale’s advice did decades before.
    • D does not fit. The map shows where lines went, not how much they changed the world, and nothing on it shows surprise.

  6. Choose the answer

    The map shows telegraph lines reaching around the globe, far past what flags and towers could do. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap, because lines around the world seem to prove a huge effect. But a map of routes shows only how far messages could travel. It cannot measure influence, and it cannot show that anyone was surprised. A sticks to what a map of lines can prove: the telegraph reached much farther than earlier systems.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 40 as printed on page 188 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 188, question 40. Open page 188 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 “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed (pages 146–148)The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed on page 146 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed on page 147 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Invention of the Telegraph” as printed on page 148 of the DOE handbook.

Question 96 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 47
Passage Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

by John Gould Fletcher

Higher and still more high,
Palaces made for cloud,
Above the dingy city-roofs
Blue-white like angels with broad wings,
Pillars of the sky at rest
The mountains from the great plateau
Uprise.

But the world heeds them not;
They have been here now for too long a time.
The world makes war on them,
Tunnels their granite cliffs,
Splits down their shining sides,
Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements,
Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.

Vaster and still more vast,
Peak after peak, pile after pile,
Wilderness still untamed,
To which the future is as was the past,
Barrier spread by Gods,
Sunning their shining foreheads,
Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,
The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

“Snowy Mountains” by John Gould Fletcher—Public Domain

Question

Read lines 21–22 from the poem.

Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,

How do the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view?

  • AThey suggest that the speaker wants to remove the obstacles that prevent others from experiencing the wonders of nature.
  • BThey reveal the speaker’s opinion that some people are too busy to appreciate natural beauty.
  • CThey reflect the speaker’s dismay that people destroy the natural landscape without understanding the ramifications of their actions.
  • DThey explain that the speaker is confident that nature will never be fully destroyed by people.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how lines 21–22 help convey the speaker’s point of view.

A. Incorrect. The word “barrier” (line 21) refers to the speaker’s opinion that the mountains were “spread by Gods” (line 19) and not to an obstacle that the speaker thinks should be removed.

B. Incorrect. While the lines indicate that people have lost the need to connect with nature, they do not reveal that the speaker thinks that the cause of this loss is busyness.

C. CORRECT. The words “those who do not need / The joy” in lines 21–22 reflect the speaker’s sadness that people do not realize that they are destroying something wonderful and irreplaceable.

D. Incorrect. Although the speaker does say that the stone is “time-resisting” (line 22), this belief is only a small detail of the speaker’s point of view.

Question analysis

Two lines from the final stanza of “Snowy Mountains” describe a barrier broken down by people who do not need “The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” and students must explain how these lines convey the speaker’s point of view. The phrasing is compact and old-fashioned, with an unusual use of “need,” so working out the plain meaning comes before choosing among close descriptions of the speaker’s feelings.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often infer a speaker’s attitude from clear statements. Here the attitude must be drawn from a compressed sentence broken across two lines, and the choices differ in fine shades of feeling and cause.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 99 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Before any choice can be judged, the compressed, inverted verse has to be put into plain English: people with no use for the old stone’s joy have broken the barrier down. Once that paraphrase is in hand, the speaker’s sorrow is clear, yet two wrong choices offer nearby readings. One supplies a cause the lines never give, busyness, and the other turns the stone’s endurance into a promise that the same sentence contradicts.

  1. Complex sentences major Understanding the question

    The lines break mid-phrase, “those who do not need / The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” inside a sentence whose subject arrives only in line 23, so who breaks what must be untangled first. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Neither dismay nor ignorance is stated; both must be inferred from describing the people as not needing “The joy” of the stone they break down. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Barrier” here means the mountain range as a great wall, not an obstacle, and the key turns on “ramifications,” a word many seventh graders will not know. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Read lines 21–22 with the lines just before them, restate the sentence in your own words, and then decide what the speaker thinks of the people it describes.

Traps

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: what the speaker thinks and feels. Read lines 21 and 22, and decide what they show about the speaker’s attitude toward the people in them.

  2. Read the lines with the ones before

    Two lines earlier, the poem names the mountains a “Barrier spread by Gods” (line 19). A barrier is a wall, and here the wall is the mountain range itself. Line 21 says this barrier is “broken down by those who do not need” something. Line 22 says what that something is: “The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone.”

  3. Put the lines in plain words

    Time-resisting means the stone has held out against ages of time. Storm-worn means storms have rubbed it down. So this stone is very old and very tough. In plain words: the mountains are being torn down by people who have no use for the joy this ancient stone can give. The speaker sounds sad and troubled that something so lasting is wrecked by people who do not value it.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Here “Barrier” means the mountains, not something blocking the way. The speaker is sorry it was broken, not eager to remove it.
    • B does not fit. The lines never give a reason, such as being too busy. That idea comes from outside the poem.
    • C fits. Dismay is a mix of sadness and alarm. Ramifications are the effects an action leads to later on. The speaker is dismayed that people wreck the mountains with no thought for what they are losing.
    • D does not fit. The stone is “time-resisting,” but the same lines show it broken down. They express sorrow, not confidence.

  5. Choose the answer

    The lines show the mountains being broken by people who see no value in them, and the speaker is upset. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the strongest trap, because being too busy for nature sounds like a fair reason. But lines 21 and 22 never explain why these people do not need the stone’s joy. B adds a cause from outside the poem. C stays with what the lines show: damage to the mountains, done by people who do not value them, and the speaker’s distress.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 47 as printed on page 191 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 191, question 47. Open page 191 of the handbook (PDF)
The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.

Question 97 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 48

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How do the details in the third stanza (lines 15–26) most contribute to the development of a theme of the poem?

  • Aby reflecting nature’s capacity to resist change
  • Bby showing that nature is capable of influencing human will
  • Cby exposing how a lack of awareness leads to nature’s ruin
  • Dby explaining why people must respect nature
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the details in the third stanza most contribute to the development of a theme of the poem.

A. CORRECT. In the third stanza, phrases such as “Wilderness still untamed” (line 17), “time-resisting storm-worn stone” (line 22), and “The mountains swing along” (line 23) convey the message that in spite of the destruction described in the second stanza, the mountains manage to maintain their wild magnificence.

B. Incorrect. While the phrase “Barrier broken down” (line 21) conveys the idea that people can have some effect on the natural landscape, it does not convey how nature affects people.

C. Incorrect. The phrase “those who do not need” (line 21) implies a choice to damage nature and not a lack of awareness or understanding.

D. Incorrect. The third stanza is not a call to humanity to respect the mountains but a description of the untamed, welcoming mountains and the joy they provide for those who appreciate them.

Question analysis

Students trace how the details of the third and final stanza of “Snowy Mountains,” lines 15–26, most contribute to developing a theme of the poem. Because the stanza is a single sentence that runs from line 15 to the poem’s last word, students must keep its whole movement in mind before deciding what it adds.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 theme questions usually rest on a few clear details. Here students must hold a twelve-line stanza of inverted, piled-up phrases in mind and pick among four reasonable lessons about nature, a heavier load closer to grade 8.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 55 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The final stanza holds both endurance and damage, and the stem’s “most” asks which of the two its details build. Students who fix on the broken barrier choose ruin, a reading the second stanza seems to confirm, while those who tally the stanza’s details find untamed wilderness, time-resisting stone and mountains swinging at ease. Because the stanza is one long, inverted sentence, that tally is slow, which is what makes the question hard.

  1. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    Lines 15–26 are one sentence in which phrase after phrase, from “Vaster and still more vast” to “storm-worn stone,” comes before its subject, “The mountains,” in line 23. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The message of endurance is carried by personification: the peaks have “shining foreheads,” are “spread by Gods,” and “swing along” the horizon welcoming the mists. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The theme has to be assembled from details scattered over twelve lines, “Wilderness still untamed,” “the future is as was the past,” “time-resisting,” and weighed against the single line of damage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Read lines 15–26 as one long sentence, find its main subject and verb, and sum up its message in a phrase; then check each choice against the whole stanza, not a single line.

Traps

  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
  • Reversed relationship: Cause and effect, or the order of events, turned around.

The wrong answers, classified

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 theme, the big message of the poem. You need to see what the details of the third stanza, lines 15 to 26, add to that message. The word “most” matters. Pick the idea that most of the details support, not just one line.

  2. Gather the details in lines 15 to 26

    The peaks grow “Vaster and still more vast” (line 15). They are a “Wilderness still untamed” (line 17). For them, the future is “as was the past” (line 18). Their stone is “time-resisting” (line 22). In the last four lines, “The mountains swing along” the sky and welcome the mists. Only line 21 shows damage: the barrier is “broken down.”

  3. Find what the details share

    Untamed means still wild, not controlled by people. If the future is the same as the past, the mountains are not changing. Time-resisting means they hold out against the years. And at the end of the stanza, they are still moving along at ease. Nearly every detail shows the same thing. The mountains last and stay wild, which is nature’s power to resist change.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Wild, unchanging, time-resisting mountains show nature holding out against change.
    • B does not fit. It turns things around. In this stanza, people affect the mountains. Nothing shows the mountains changing what people want.
    • C does not fit. Line 21 shows damage, but it is one line out of twelve. The stanza does not end in ruin either: the mountains still swing along and welcome the mists.
    • D does not fit. These lines paint a picture of the peaks. They give readers no orders and no reasons to behave a certain way.

  5. Choose the answer

    Most of the third stanza shows mountains that stay wild and lasting. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest trap, because line 21 does show the barrier “broken down,” and the second stanza is full of harm. But this question is about the third stanza, and it asks what the details most add. Most of the other lines there show mountains that are vast, wild and lasting. That builds A, not ruin.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 48 as printed on page 192 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 192, question 48. Open page 192 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 98 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 55
Passage Excerpt from “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees”

Excerpt from “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees”

by Alex Ross

About forty-five hundred years ago, not long after the completion of the Great Pyramid at Giza, a seed of Pinus longaeva, the Great Basin bristlecone pine, landed on a steep slope in what are now known as the White Mountains, in eastern California. The seed may have travelled there on a gust of wind, its flight aided by a winglike attachment to the nut. Or it could have been planted by a bird known as the Clark’s nutcracker, which likes to hide pine seeds in caches; nutcrackers have phenomenal spatial1 memory and can recall thousands of such caches. This seed, however, lay undisturbed. On a moist day in fall, or in the wake of melting snows in spring, a seedling appeared above ground—a stubby one-inch stem with a tuft of bright-green shoots.

Most seedlings die within a year; the mortality rate is more than ninety-nine percent. The survivors are sometimes seen growing in the shadow of a fallen tree. The landscape of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, as this area of the White Mountains is called, is littered with fragments of dead trees—trunks, limbs, roots, and smaller chunks. Pinus longaeva grows exclusively in subalpine regions of the Great Basin, which stretches from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the Wasatch Range, in Utah. Conditions are generally too arid for the dead wood to rot; instead, it erodes, sanded down like rock. The remnants may harbor nutrients and fungi that help new trees grow. Bristlecones rise from the bones of their ancestors—a city within a cemetery.

Coast redwoods and giant sequoias, California’s gargantuan world-record-holding trees, can grow fifty feet or more in their first twenty years. Bristlecones rise agonizingly slowly. After four or five years, the seedling on the steep slope would have been just a few inches higher, sprouting needles in place of the embryonic shoots. The needles are a deep green, tough, resinous, and closely bunched in groups of five. On a mature tree, they live for fifty years or more. Decades may have passed before the tree was human height, and decades more before it resembled a conventional pine. Bristlecone saplings grow straight up, with relatively sparse foliage, looking like undernourished Christmas trees. After a few hundred years—by which time the Old Kingdom of Egypt had fallen—it was probably forty or fifty feet in height.

Many tree species live for hundreds of years. A smaller but not inconsiderable number, including the sequoias and certain yews, oaks, cypresses, and junipers, survive for thousands. Once a bristlecone has established itself in the unforgiving conditions of the White Mountains, it can last almost indefinitely. The trees tend to grow some distance from one another, so fires almost never destroy an entire stand. Because only a few other plant species can handle the dry, cold climate, the bristlecones face little competition. Unlike most plants, they tolerate dolomite soil, which is composed of a chalky type of limestone that is heavily alkaline and low in nutrients. As for insect threats, bristlecone wood is so dense that mountain-pine beetles and other pests can rarely burrow their way into it.

Empires rose and fell; wars raged; . . . and the tree from 2500 B.C. continued its implacable slow-motion existence, adding about two-hundredths of an inch to the diameter of its trunk each year. Minute changes in the tree-ring record make bristlecones an exceptionally useful source of data about changing conditions on Earth. When rains are heavier than normal, the rings widen. When volcanic eruptions cause global cooling, frost rings make the anomaly2 visible. . . .

As the millennia go by, bristlecones become contorted and wraithlike.3 The main stem, or leader, dies back. Entire branches, even the trunk itself, become fossils. At first glance, the tree may look dead. Such is the case of the forty-five-hundred-year-old tree that clings to life near the tourist path that now runs through the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. Spears of dead wood jut into the air. The trunk is a marbled hulk stripped of bark, like driftwood thrown from a vanished ocean. A ribbon of live bark runs up one side, funneling water and nutrients to clumps of green needles high above. All told, the tree is an unprepossessing specimen; most people march past it without giving it a second glance. . . .

. . . No two super-elderly trees look alike, to the point where they have acquired the characteristics of individuals. Trees are prone to anthropomorphism; we project our dreams and our anxieties onto them. Bristlecones have been called elders, sentinels, sages. The possibility that climate change will cause their extinction has inspired a spate4 of alarmed news stories, although tree scientists tend to discount the idea that the bristlecones are in immediate danger. They have survived any number of catastrophes in the past; they may survive humanity.

From “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees” by Alex Ross from THE NEW YORKER, January 20, 2020. Copyright © 2020 by Condé Nast. All rights reserved.

1spatial: relating to physical space

2anomaly: oddity

3wraithlike: ghostly

4spate: sudden abundance

Question

The details in paragraph 7 convey a central idea of the excerpt by suggesting that

  • Athe success of the bristlecone pine lies in its ability to resist climate change.
  • Bthe uncommon appearance of the bristlecone pine is related to its ability to survive.
  • Cthe attachment that humans have to the bristlecone pine is understandable.
  • Dthe longevity of the bristlecone pine continues to encourage experts.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which central idea of the excerpt is supported by the details in paragraph 7.

A. Incorrect. While paragraph 7 mentions the pines’ ability to survive climate change, the central idea is about the trees’ longevity. Surviving climate change is a part of the pines’ longevity, but just surviving climate change does not fully encompass the central idea of the excerpt.

B. Incorrect. Although the paragraph mentions that the “super-elderly trees” are each unique in appearance, their appearance does not directly connect to their ability to survive. The details in paragraph 7 emphasize the durability and longevity of the trees.

C. Incorrect. While the beginning of paragraph 7 expresses the idea that each bristlecone pine appears to be a unique individual and supports the idea that humans relate to the pines, the paragraph expresses a stronger central idea in the last two sentences about the pines’ survival.

D. CORRECT. The longevity of bristlecone pines is a central idea of the excerpt. Experts are encouraged that bristlecone pines have survived many catastrophes, and the details in the second half of paragraph 7 draw direct attention to the trees’ longevity.

Question analysis

Students explain how the details in paragraph 7, the closing paragraph of Alex Ross’s excerpt on bristlecone pines, convey a central idea of the whole piece. The paragraph moves from people seeing old trees as individuals to alarmed news stories and the views of tree scientists, so students must decide which thread ties to the excerpt’s main idea.

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 central idea questions often ask what a passage is mostly about. Here students must connect one closing paragraph that touches several topics to an idea of the whole excerpt, reading its details for what they imply as well as what they say.
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, 851 words; question and choices: about grade 10, 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

Paragraph 7 moves through several topics, trees that look like individuals, people projecting feelings onto them, alarmed news and calm scientists, and only its last two sentences connect to the excerpt’s main idea. The strongest lure states a true point about human attachment that the paragraph does make, while the key has to be inferred from the scientists’ calm and the trees’ record of survival. Naming the central idea first, the trees’ extraordinary age, shows which thread of the paragraph serves it.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    Nothing in paragraph 7 says experts are encouraged; it has to be read from “tree scientists tend to discount the idea that the bristlecones are in immediate danger,” set against the “alarmed news stories.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The key speaks of “longevity” and of experts being encouraged, words the paragraph never uses, while two wrong choices repeat its “climate change” and “survive” and so look better anchored. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Recognizing longevity as a central idea draws on the whole excerpt: the tree from the time of the Great Pyramid in paragraph 1, its endurance in paragraph 4 and its ring record in paragraph 5. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Name the central idea of the whole excerpt first, then reread paragraph 7 and find the sentences that connect to 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 asks how paragraph 7 connects to a central idea, a main point of the whole excerpt. So first name that idea. Then find which details in paragraph 7 point to it.

  2. Name the excerpt’s central idea

    The excerpt follows a tree that has lived about 4,500 years. Paragraph 1 starts its story near the time of the Great Pyramid. A settled bristlecone “can last almost indefinitely” (paragraph 4). Paragraph 5 shows a tree living on while empires “rose and fell.” So a central idea is the bristlecone’s amazing longevity, or long life.

  3. Find the matching details in paragraph 7

    Paragraph 7 first says people treat the old trees almost like persons. Then it turns to climate change. News stories sound alarmed, “although tree scientists tend to discount the idea that the bristlecones are in immediate danger.” To discount an idea is to doubt it. The last sentence gives the reason: “They have survived any number of catastrophes in the past; they may survive humanity.”

  4. Explain what the details suggest

    A catastrophe is a terrible disaster. The trees have lived through so many disasters that scientists are not very worried. In other words, the trees’ long record of survival gives the experts hope. That ties paragraph 7 to the central idea of longevity.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Climate change comes up only as a fear in the news. The paragraph never says the trees succeed by resisting it.
    • B does not fit. Paragraph 7 says no two old trees look alike, but it never links their looks to their survival.
    • C does not fit. People do call the trees “elders, sentinels, sages,” but that feeling is a side point, not a central idea.
    • D fits. Experts take comfort from how long the trees have survived.

  6. Choose the answer

    Paragraph 7 ends on the trees’ long survival and the experts’ calm about their future. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the strongest trap, because paragraph 7 really does say people feel close to the trees. But the question asks for a central idea of the whole excerpt. Long life runs through every paragraph, and the last two sentences of paragraph 7 tie into it. That is why D fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 55 as printed on page 196 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 196, question 55. Open page 196 of the handbook (PDF)
The passage “Excerpt from “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees”” as printed (pages 193–194)The passage “Excerpt from “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees”” as printed on page 193 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Excerpt from “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees”” as printed on page 194 of the DOE handbook.

Question 99 of 120

2024 Test B English, question 56

Uses the passage above: “Excerpt from “The Past and the Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees””.

Question

What is the best summary of the bristlecone pine’s life cycle?

  • AThe bristlecone pine takes root as a stubby seedling in the mountains. Over time, it grows slowly in a hostile environment with alkaline soil that ensures little competition from other trees.
  • BThe bristlecone pine grows up slowly from the fragments of its dead ancestors. Over time, it begins to become contorted in appearance but continues to funnel water and nutrients to its stem.
  • CThe bristlecone pine grows slowly in an environment hostile to other trees. Over time, its trunk and some branches fossilize, but it funnels water and nutrients to other parts that are still alive.
  • DThe bristlecone pine grows only in one location in the mountains. Over time, it develops sparse foliage that fossilizes slowly, but the trunk and branches stay alive, as revealed by ribbons of live bark.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks for the best summary of the bristlecone pine’s life cycle.

A. Incorrect. Though the summary in this option covers key points in the life cycle, it focuses on minor details (“stubby seedling” and “alkaline soil”) while leaving out major details of the life cycle (for example, the fact that parts of the trees become fossilized over time).

B. Incorrect. This option addresses the unique quality of the pine growing from “fragments of its dead ancestors”; however, it does not address the fossilization phase, which is a major part of the life cycle. In addition, this option incorrectly states that the tree continues to funnel nutrients to its stem.

C. CORRECT. The option describes the key phases of the pine’s life cycle without focusing on minor details. The organization of the summary is chronological, and the information presented is accurate.

D. Incorrect. The option focuses more on the location and the appearance of the pine than on the phases of the pine’s life cycle. The option also describes the pine’s appearance inaccurately: it says that the foliage fossilizes and the trunk and branches stay alive, but paragraph 6 says that “entire branches, even the trunk itself, become fossils.” It provides little information about the main phases of the pine’s life cycle.

Question analysis

This summary question asks students to choose the best summary of the life cycle of the Great Basin bristlecone pine, as described across Alex Ross’s excerpt about the Earth’s oldest trees. Each choice is two sentences long and sounds accurate, and the differences lie in which stages of the tree’s long life each one includes and how faithfully it reports them.

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 Summarizing a process is regular grade 7 work, but this life cycle unfolds across six paragraphs of dense description, and each choice is a two-sentence summary with accurate-sounding details, so spotting small omissions and errors takes more than typical care.
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, 851 words; question and choices: about grade 9, 141 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

A good summary of this life cycle has to reach old age, when the trunk and branches turn to fossil while a strip of bark keeps the tree alive, and it has to get that stage right. One wrong choice never gets past youth, another reaches old age but keeps the wrong part alive, and a third mixes up which parts fossilize. Recalling paragraph 6 exactly, with every choice two sentences long, is what makes the question slow.

  1. Every choice must be checked major Choosing the answer

    Each two-sentence summary sounds accurate, and its flaw is an omission or a wrong detail, such as nutrients sent to a stem that dies back or foliage that fossilizes, so every clause must be checked. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The life cycle runs across six paragraphs: the seedling in paragraph 1, the dead ancestors in 2, slow growth in 3, harsh conditions in 4, and fossilized wood with a live ribbon of bark in 6. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The ancestors-and-stem summary has the key’s shape, slow growth, then decline, then water and nutrients still funneled; it differs in where they go, the stem, which paragraph 6 says “dies back.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, list the stages of the tree’s life from seed to old age with one detail each, then check every sentence of each summary against the passage.

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.
  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook says Option D “contains an accurate description of the pine’s appearance.” It does not: Option D says the foliage fossilizes and the trunk and branches stay alive, but paragraph 6 says that “entire branches, even the trunk itself, become fossils,” as the correct answer, Option C, also says. The site now says that the option describes the pine’s appearance inaccurately.

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 best summary of the bristlecone’s life cycle. A life cycle is the stages of a living thing’s life, from its start to old age. A good summary covers the main stages in order and gets each one right.

  2. List the stages from the excerpt

    1. Young: the seedling grows “agonizingly slowly” (paragraph 3).
    2. Settled: it lives where few plants “can handle the dry, cold climate” (paragraph 4).
    3. Old: “The main stem, or leader, dies back,” and “Entire branches, even the trunk itself, become fossils” (paragraph 6).
    4. Still alive: “A ribbon of live bark runs up one side, funneling water and nutrients to clumps of green needles high above” (paragraph 6).

  3. Explain the hard words

    Hostile means unfriendly or harsh. To fossilize here means to turn into hard, dead wood, almost like stone. To funnel is to carry something along a narrow path. Contorted means twisted out of shape. Nutrients are the things a plant needs to grow. Foliage means leaves, which for a pine are its needles.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It stops while the tree is young. It never reaches old age, when parts of the tree turn to fossil.
    • B does not fit. The main stem “dies back,” so water is not sent to the stem. B also leaves out the fossil stage.
    • C fits. It gives slow growth in a harsh place, then a fossilized trunk and branches, with water still carried to the living parts.
    • D does not fit. Paragraph 2 says bristlecones grow in high areas across the Great Basin, a region that stretches into Utah. That is not one location. D also mixes up the parts: the trunk and branches turn to fossil, not the foliage.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only one summary reaches old age and gets every stage right. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B looks the most like the right answer. Like C, it moves from young growth to old age and has water and nutrients still flowing. But it sends them to the stem, and paragraph 6 says the stem “dies back.” C sends them to the parts still alive, which matches the ribbon of live bark.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 56 as printed on page 196 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 196, question 56. Open page 196 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 100 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 8

Question

If 92x=3y8\frac{9}{2x}=\frac{3y}{8}, where x≠0x\neq 0 and y≠0y\neq 0, what is the product of x and y?

  • A4
  • B6
  • C12
  • D16
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

92x=3y8\frac{9}{2x}=\frac{3y}{8}

9∙8=729\bullet 8=72

2x∙3y=6xy2x\bullet 3y=6xy

72=6xy72=6xy

12=xy12=xy

Question analysis

An algebra question gives a proportion with x in one denominator and y in one numerator, 9 over 2x equal to 3y over 8, and asks for the product of x and y. Neither variable can be found on its own, so students must clear the fractions and treat the product as a single quantity.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.7 linear equations in one variable
  • 6.EE.2b parts of an expression
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students cross-multiply numeric proportions to find one unknown. Here two variables sit in the proportion and the question wants their product, a literal-equation idea from grade 8 that many grade 7 students have not met.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 8, 14 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 looks harder than it is, because it asks for a product rather than for x or y. Cross-multiplying turns the proportion into 72 = 6xy, and dividing by 6 finishes it, so the only real hurdle is trusting that xy can be solved for as one quantity. The wrong choices come from grabbing numbers along the way, not from a nearly complete solution.

  1. No obvious method moderate Working it out

    Neither x nor y can be found alone, so students must see that cross-multiplying gives 72 = 6xy, where the product xy appears as one block to solve for. (Schoenfeld, 1985)

  2. Variables instead of numbers minor Understanding the question

    Both unknowns stay letters and only their product is asked for, so there is no value of x or y to check a result against. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Cross-multiply to clear both fractions, collect the numbers on one side and x and y together on the other, then divide so that only the product is left.

Traps

  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.
  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Cross-multiplying
ab=cd means a×d=b×c\frac{a}{b} = \frac{c}{d} \text{ means } a \times d = b \times c
a, b, c and d are numbers or letters, and b and d are not zero. When two fractions are equal, multiply each top by the other bottom. The two products are equal. It works because it is the same as multiplying both sides by b and by d.

  1. Sort out the question

    The equation says that two fractions are equal:

    92x=3y8\frac{9}{2x} = \frac{3y}{8}

    Here 2x means 2 times x, and 3y means 3 times y. You need the product of x and y. A product is the answer to a multiplication. So you need x×yx \times y, written xy. You do not need x or y alone.

  2. Cross-multiply the fractions

    An equation without fractions is easier to work with. So cross-multiply.

    ab=cd means a×d=b×c\frac{a}{b} = \frac{c}{d} \text{ means } a \times d = b \times c

    9×8=2x×3y9 \times 8 = 2x \times 3y

    Watch out: do not just set the bottoms equal. Writing 2x = 8 gives x = 4, choice A. That is x, not the product.

  3. Multiply out both sides

    On the left, 9×8=729 \times 8 = 72. On the right, multiply the numbers and keep the letters together.

    2x×3y=2×3×x×y=6xy2x \times 3y = 2 \times 3 \times x \times y = 6xy

    So the equation is now:

    72=6xy72 = 6xy

    The xy is the product you want, all in one piece.

  4. Divide both sides by 6

    xy is being multiplied by 6. To undo that, divide both sides by 6.

    xy=72÷6=12xy = 72 \div 6 = 12

    Watch out: 6 is just the number in front of xy. Choosing it gives B.

    So the answer is C, 12.

Check your answer

Pick x = 4. Then y must be 3, so that xy = 12. Left side: 92×4=98\frac{9}{2 \times 4} = \frac{9}{8}. Right side: 3×38=98\frac{3 \times 3}{8} = \frac{9}{8}. The two sides match, so a product of 12 works.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 65 as printed on page 200 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 200, question 65. Open page 200 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 101 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 14

Question

Karen reads at the rate of 60 pages per day. Martina reads 25% more pages per day than Karen. If the two students begin 1,500-page reading assignments on the same day, how many days sooner will Martina complete the assignment than Karen?

  • A4
  • B5
  • C7
  • D15
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

First, determine the rate at which Martina reads, in pages per day, using the rate at which Karen reads, 60 pages per day.

60+60∙25100=60+60\bullet\frac{25}{100}=

60+60∙0.25=60+60\bullet 0.25=

60+15=7560+15=75

Next, determine the number of days it will take each person to complete the 1,500-page reading assignment.

Karen: 1,500 pagesk days=60 pages1 day\frac{1{,}500\text{ pages}}{k\text{ days}}=\frac{60\text{ pages}}{1\text{ day}}

60k=1,50060k=1{,}500

(60÷60)k=1,500÷60(60\div 60)k=1{,}500\div 60

k=25 daysk=25\text{ days}

Martina: 1,500 pagesm days=75 pages1 day\frac{1{,}500\text{ pages}}{m\text{ days}}=\frac{75\text{ pages}}{1\text{ day}}

75m=1,50075m=1{,}500

(75÷75)m=1,500÷75(75\div 75)m=1{,}500\div 75

m=20 daysm=20\text{ days}

Finally, determine the difference between the two numbers of days.

25−20=525-20=5

So Martina will complete the assignment 5 days sooner than Karen.

Question analysis

A reading-rate word problem: Karen reads 60 pages a day, and Martina reads 25% more pages a day. Both start a 1,500-page assignment on the same day, and students find how many days sooner Martina finishes. It combines a percent increase with rates and times, and asks for a difference in days.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.RP.3b unit rate problems
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 percent problems usually stop after one increase or decrease. This one turns the percent into a new rate, finds two finishing times and compares them, four steps that go beyond a typical grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 6, 40 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 step is easy on its own; the difficulty is in carrying the chain to the end. Three of the choices are numbers a student meets or makes along the way: the extra pages per day, a quotient of two rates, or a rate built on 25 pages instead of 25%. Writing both finishing times down before subtracting keeps the target, a number of days, in view.

  1. Many steps moderate Working it out

    Four operations chain together: 25% of 60, Martina's 75 pages, the two finishing times 1,500 ÷ 60 and 1,500 ÷ 75, and finally their difference. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    A percent increase in a daily rate has to be turned into a change in days, and 25% more pages a day does not mean 25% fewer days. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  3. Turning words into math minor Understanding the question

    “25% more pages per day than Karen” makes Martina's rate 1.25 × 60, and “how many days sooner” asks for a difference of two times, not of two rates. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

Strategy: Increase 60 by 25% to get Martina's daily pages, divide 1,500 by each girl's daily rate to get her number of days, then subtract the two numbers of days.

Traps

  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Percent increase
new=old+p100×old\text{new} = \text{old} + \frac{p}{100} \times \text{old}
Old is the starting amount, and p is the percent it grows by. First find p percent of the old amount. That is the extra. Then add the extra to the old amount to get the new amount.
Time from a rate
days=total pages÷pages per day\text{days} = \text{total pages} \div \text{pages per day}
Total pages is the whole assignment. Pages per day is how fast someone reads. Dividing tells how many days of reading fit into the whole job.

  1. Sort out what you know

    Karen reads 60 pages per day. Martina reads 25% more pages per day than Karen. Each girl must read 1,500 pages. You need how many days sooner Martina finishes. That is the difference between their numbers of days.

  2. Find Martina’s pages per day

    25% more means Karen’s 60 pages plus 25% of 60.

    new=old+p100×old\text{new} = \text{old} + \frac{p}{100} \times \text{old}

    60+25100×60=60+15=7560 + \frac{25}{100} \times 60 = 60 + 15 = 75

    Martina reads 75 pages per day. Watch out: 15 is extra pages, not days. Stopping here gives 15, choice D. Adding 25 pages instead of 25% gives 85 pages and leads to 7, choice C.

  3. Find each girl’s number of days

    Divide the whole assignment by each girl’s pages per day.

    days=total pages÷pages per day\text{days} = \text{total pages} \div \text{pages per day}

    Karen: 1,500÷60=25\text{Karen: } 1{,}500 \div 60 = 25

    Martina: 1,500÷75=20\text{Martina: } 1{,}500 \div 75 = 20

    Karen needs 25 days, and Martina needs 20 days.

  4. Subtract the days

    “How many days sooner” asks for the difference.

    25−20=525 - 20 = 5

    Martina finishes 5 days sooner. Watch out: dividing 60 by 15 mixes two rates and gives 4, choice A.

    So the answer is B, 5.

Check your answer

Multiply back. Karen: 25×60=1,50025 \times 60 = 1{,}500 pages. Martina: 20×75=1,50020 \times 75 = 1{,}500 pages. Both read all 1,500 pages, and 25 days is 5 days more than 20 days.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 71 as printed on page 202 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 202, question 71. Open page 202 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 102 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 17

Question

A bowl contains 12 green candies, 4 yellow candies, and some red candies. The probability of choosing a green candy at random is twice as great as the probability of choosing a red candy at random. What is the probability of choosing a yellow candy at random?

  • A211\frac{2}{11}
  • B29\frac{2}{9}
  • C14\frac{1}{4}
  • D311\frac{3}{11}
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The probability of choosing a green candy is twice as great as the probability of choosing a red candy. There are 12 green candies. Let r = the number of red candies.

12=2r12=2r

r=6r=6

So there are 6 red candies. 12 green candies + 4 yellow candies + 6 red candies = 22 total candies.

There are 4 yellow candies out of a total of 22 candies. So the probability of choosing a yellow candy is

422=211\frac{4}{22}=\frac{2}{11}.

Question analysis

A probability question about a bowl of 12 green candies, 4 yellow candies and an unknown number of red ones. A green candy is twice as likely to be picked as a red one, and students find the chance of picking a yellow candy. The missing red count has to be worked out before any probability can be found.

NYS standards
Grade level
Grade 6 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Simple probability is grade 6 content in New York, and grade 7 problems usually give every count. Working backward from a comparison of two probabilities to a missing count, then forward to a third probability, is more than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 7, 49 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The question withholds the red count, and everything depends on recovering it from the comparison of probabilities. Students who cannot make that step tend to leave red out altogether, while those who find 6 red candies can still slip at the end by using the wrong total or the wrong color. Writing all three counts and the total of 22 before forming any fraction prevents both endings.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    “Twice as great as the probability of choosing a red candy” must become 12 = 2 × the red count, which works only because both probabilities share one total. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    An unknown count has to be found from a ratio before any probability can be written, joining proportional reasoning with probability as a part over the total. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

Strategy: Turn twice as likely into a statement about numbers of candies to find the red count, add all three colors for the total, then put the yellow count over that total and simplify.

Traps

  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.
  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Probability
P=number of the kind you wanttotal numberP = \frac{\text{number of the kind you want}}{\text{total number}}
P is the probability, the chance that something happens. The top is how many candies are the kind you want. The bottom is how many candies there are in all. Each candy is just as likely to be picked, so this fraction gives the chance.

  1. Sort out what you know

    The bowl has 12 green candies, 4 yellow candies and some red candies. You are not told how many are red. Let r be the number of red candies.

    The chance of picking green is twice the chance of picking red. You need the probability (the chance) of picking yellow.

  2. Compare green and red

    Write each chance with the probability formula.

    P=number of the kind you wanttotal numberP = \frac{\text{number of the kind you want}}{\text{total number}}

    Green and red have the same bottom number, the total number of candies. So if the chance of green is twice the chance of red, there are twice as many green candies as red ones.

    12=2×r12 = 2 \times r

  3. Find the red candies and the total

    r=12÷2=6r = 12 \div 2 = 6

    There are 6 red candies. Now add up all the candies.

    12+4+6=2212 + 4 + 6 = 22

    There are 22 candies in all. Watch out: do not leave out the red candies just because their number was not given. Using 16 as the total gives 1/4, choice C.

  4. Find the chance of yellow

    There are 4 yellow candies out of 22.

    P=422=211P = \frac{4}{22} = \frac{2}{11}

    Divide the top and the bottom by 2 to simplify. Watch out: the question asks for yellow, not red. 6/22 = 3/11 is the chance of red, choice D. The bottom must be all 22 candies. Using 18 gives 2/9, choice B.

    So the answer is A, 211\frac{2}{11}.

Check your answer

Check the clue. The chance of green is 1222\frac{12}{22}, and the chance of red is 622\frac{6}{22}. Twelve is twice 6, so green is twice as likely. Also, the three chances add up to 1: 1222+422+622=2222=1\frac{12}{22} + \frac{4}{22} + \frac{6}{22} = \frac{22}{22} = 1.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 74 as printed on page 203 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 203, question 74. Open page 203 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 103 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 25

Question

Which number line represents the values of x that satisfy the inequality −5≤1−3x≤4-5\leq 1-3x\leq 4?

  • ANumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Open circles at −1 and 2, with the segment between them shaded.
  • BNumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Closed circles at −1 and 2, with the segment between them shaded.
  • CNumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Open circles at −1 and 2, with the line shaded from −1 to the left and from 2 to the right.
  • DNumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. A closed circle at −1 and an open circle at 2, with the line shaded from −1 to the left and from 2 to the right.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

Split the compound inequality into two inequalities.

−5≤1−3x-5\leq 1-3x and 1−3x≤41-3x\leq 4

For each inequality, subtract 1 from each side.

−6≤−3x-6\leq -3x and −3x≤3-3x\leq 3

For each inequality, divide both sides by −3. Note that dividing each side of an inequality by a negative number changes the direction of the inequality.

2≥x2\geq x and x≥−1x\geq -1

Combining the pieces gives the compound inequality −1≤x≤2-1\leq x\leq 2.

The solution is that x is greater than or equal to −1 and less than or equal to 2, so choose the number line with filled circles at −1 and 2, with the filled segment between the circles.

Question analysis

An inequality question: choose the number line that shows the solutions of the compound inequality −5 ≤ 1 − 3x ≤ 4. Students solve an inequality whose x term has a negative coefficient, then match the endpoints, open or closed circles, and shading to one of four graphs.

NYS standards
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve and graph two-step inequalities one at a time. This compound inequality needs two solved together and a division by a negative number, which reverses the signs, a step many grade 7 classes only touch on.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 12, 13 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 stacks two classic traps: reversing the inequality signs when dividing by −3, and matching filled or open circles to ≤. All four graphs use the endpoints −1 and 2, so finding those numbers proves little; the choice turns on the circles and the direction of the shading. Testing x = 0, x = 3 and the endpoint x = 2 in the original inequality checks both decisions in under a minute.

  1. Error-prone arithmetic moderate Working it out

    Dividing all three parts of −6 ≤ −3x ≤ 3 by −3 reverses both signs and the order, giving 2 ≥ x ≥ −1, which must be rewritten as −1 ≤ x ≤ 2. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    Two graphs share the endpoints −1 and 2 and the shading between them; only the circles, filled for ≤ and open for <, separate them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Reading a figure, table or graph minor Understanding the question

    Each graph must be read for three things at once: the endpoints, the fill of each circle, and whether the shading runs between them or outward. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Subtract 1 from all three parts, divide all three by −3 while reversing both inequality signs, then rewrite the result from smallest to largest before matching circles and shading.

Traps

  • Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)
  • Counting the ends: Inclusive or exclusive ends, fence posts, consecutive numbers: an answer that is one too many or too few, or an endpoint drawn open where it belongs closed (or the reverse).

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Subtracting from every part
if a≤b, then a−c≤b−c\text{if } a \leq b \text{, then } a - c \leq b - c
a and b are the two sides of an inequality, and c is any number. Subtracting the same number from every part keeps the inequality true. The sign does not change.
Dividing by a negative number
if a≤b, then a÷(−c)≥b÷(−c)\text{if } a \leq b \text{, then } a \div (-c) \geq b \div (-c)
a and b are numbers, and c is a positive number, so −c is negative. When you divide both sides by a negative number, the inequality sign flips. For example, 2 is less than 3, but −2 is greater than −3.

  1. Sort out the question

    The inequality −5≤1−3x≤4-5 \leq 1 - 3x \leq 4 says that 1−3x1 - 3x is between −5 and 4. The sign ≤ means less than or equal to. So −5 and 4 themselves are allowed. You need the number line that shows every x that works. To find them, get x alone in the middle.

  2. Subtract 1 from every part

    First take away the 1 in the middle. Subtract 1 from all three parts.

    if a≤b, then a−c≤b−c\text{if } a \leq b \text{, then } a - c \leq b - c

    −5−1≤1−3x−1≤4−1-5 - 1 \leq 1 - 3x - 1 \leq 4 - 1

    −6≤−3x≤3-6 \leq -3x \leq 3

  3. Divide by −3 and flip

    Now x is multiplied by −3. Divide all three parts by −3. Dividing by a negative number flips each sign.

    if a≤b, then a÷(−c)≥b÷(−c)\text{if } a \leq b \text{, then } a \div (-c) \geq b \div (-c)

    −6−3≥−3x−3≥3−3\frac{-6}{-3} \geq \frac{-3x}{-3} \geq \frac{3}{-3}

    2≥x≥−12 \geq x \geq -1

    Watch out: if you forget to flip, x seems to lie outside −1 and 2. That leads to choices C and D, which are shaded outward.

  4. Read the result

    Turn it around so the smaller number is on the left. It means the same thing.

    −1≤x≤2-1 \leq x \leq 2

    So x can be any number from −1 to 2. The ends, −1 and 2, are included, because the signs are ≤.

  5. Pick the number line

    On a number line, a closed (filled-in) circle means the end number is included. An open circle means it is not. So you need closed circles at −1 and 2, with the part between them shaded. Watch out: choice A has the right shading but open circles, which leave out −1 and 2.

    So the answer is B.

Check your answer

Test a few numbers in 1−3x1 - 3x. For x = 0 you get 1, which is between −5 and 4, and 0 is shaded. For x = 2 you get −5, which is allowed, so the circle at 2 is filled in. For x = 3 you get −8, which is too small, so 3 is not shaded.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 82 as printed on page 206 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 206, question 82. Open page 206 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 104 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 28

Question

A community center has two 30-member exercise groups. The director recorded the ages of each group’s members in the box plots.

Two box plots titled AGES OF GROUPS over one number line from 15 to 33, with a tick at every whole number and labels at 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30 and 33. Group P: whiskers from 17 to 33, box from 19 to 27, median line at 24. Group Q: whiskers from 15 to 29, box from 17 to 26, median line at 21.

Which statement about the two groups can be verified based on the box plots?

  • ABoth groups have at least one member who is exactly 29 years old.
  • BGroup P has more members who are at least 17 years old than Group Q has.
  • CBoth groups have an equal number of members who are between 21 and 24 years old.
  • DGroup Q has fewer members who are between 19 and 27 years old than Group P has.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

Groups P and Q have an equal number of members. All the members of Group P are 17 or older, but only about 34\frac{3}{4} of the members of Group Q are 17 or older.

Question analysis

Box plots show the ages of the members of two 30-member exercise groups at a community center, Group P and Group Q. Students decide which statement comparing the groups can be verified from the plots alone. The challenge is knowing what a box plot guarantees about individual ages and counts, and what it leaves unknown.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.1 box plots and interquartile range
  • 7.SP.4 comparative inferences about populations
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students read box plots and compare medians and spreads. Deciding which claims two box plots can prove, from what the five key values guarantee about counts, is a harder reasoning task than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 91 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

This is a question about evidence: the right statement is the only one the box plots guarantee, while the others may or may not be true. Students who treat the plots as pictures of every member, assuming ages fill each whisker or spread evenly through each box, find support for claims that cannot be checked. Asking what must hold for any 30 ages with these summaries separates the verifiable claim from the merely plausible ones.

  1. Every choice must be checked major Choosing the answer

    Three of the statements are not false but unverifiable, so each must be tested against what the five-number summaries guarantee, and none can be dismissed at a glance. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    Students must know that the minimum and maximum are actual ages, that each quarter of a plot holds about a quarter of the 30 members, and that a whisker shows nothing in between. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

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

    The scale is labeled only every 3 years, so values such as 17, 19, 26 and 29 have to be read from unlabeled ticks on two separate plots. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: List each group's minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile and maximum, then test every statement against only what those five values guarantee about the 30 ages.

Traps

  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Members in each part of a box plot
members in each part≈14×n\text{members in each part} \approx \frac{1}{4} \times n
n is the number of members in a group, here 30. A box plot splits the data into four parts at the minimum, Q1, the median, Q3 and the maximum. Each part holds about one fourth of the data. It does not show how the ages spread out inside a part.

  1. Read the two box plots

    A box plot shows five numbers. The minimum is the youngest age, and the maximum is the oldest. Q1 is the left edge of the box, and Q3 is the right edge. The median is the line inside the box.

    GroupMinQ1MedianQ3Max
    P1719242733
    Q1517212629

    Each group has 30 members.

  2. Know what can be verified

    To verify a statement means to know for sure that it is true. A box plot shows only five numbers, not every age. The minimum and maximum are real ages of real members. The other ages are hidden inside the box and whiskers.

  3. Check choice B

    In Group P, the youngest member is 17. So all 30 members are at least 17. In Group Q, the youngest member is 15, and 15 is under 17. So at most 29 members of Group Q are at least 17.

    Group P has 30 such members, and Group Q has 29 or fewer. So choice B is true for sure.

  4. Rule out choices A and C

    A: Group Q’s oldest member is 29, so Group Q has a 29-year-old. But in Group P, 29 is inside the right whisker. A whisker does not show single ages. Watch out: 29 is in Group P’s range, but maybe no one in Group P is exactly 29.

    C: The plots do not show how many members are between 21 and 24 in either group.

  5. Rule out choice D and answer

    Group P’s box, from 19 to 27, is two of its four parts.

    members in each part≈14×30=7.5\text{members in each part} \approx \frac{1}{4} \times 30 = 7.5

    So about 15 members of Group P are between 19 and 27. But 19 and 27 fall in the middle of Group Q’s parts, and ages inside a part can bunch up in any way. Group Q could have more or fewer. Watch out: D assumes the ages are spread out evenly, and a box plot never tells you that.

    So the answer is B.

Check your answer

Choice B uses only the two minimums, which are real ages. Group P’s youngest member is 17, and Group Q’s is 15. That alone proves it. Each other choice needs ages inside a box or whisker, which a box plot does not show.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 85 as printed on page 207 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 207, question 85. Open page 207 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 105 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 34

Question

The volume of a cube is 512 cubic centimeters. What is the length, in centimeters, of one edge of this cube?

  • A8
  • B422342\frac{2}{3}
  • C851385\frac{1}{3}
  • D128
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The volume of a cube is V=s3V=s^{3}, where s is the length of one edge.

So 512=s3512=s^{3}, and s=5123s=\sqrt[3]{512}.

If you are not sure how to find the cube root, you can estimate.

We know 10×10×10=103=1,00010\times 10\times 10=10^{3}=1{,}000, so 1,0003=10\sqrt[3]{1{,}000}=10.

Since 512 is less than 1,000, the answer must be less than 10. The only given option less than 10 is 8. Double-check to make sure this is correct: 83=8×8×8=5128^{3}=8\times 8\times 8=512.

Question analysis

A cube has a volume of 512 cubic centimeters, and students work backward to find the length of one edge. It tests the volume formula for a cube and the idea of a cube root. The tricky part is going from a volume to a length, the reverse of the usual volume problem.

NYS standards
  • 8.EE.2 square and cube roots
  • 6.G.5 perfect squares and perfect cubes
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 volume work goes from edge lengths to a volume. Going backward needs a cube root, a grade 8 idea, and 512 is beyond the perfect cubes students are expected to know, though checking a guess by multiplying keeps it short.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 22 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

This is a one-fact question: a cube's volume is its edge used three times as a factor. Students who remember that need only the number whose cube is 512, and the choices help, because only one is under 10 while 10 × 10 × 10 = 1,000. The wrong choices divide 512 by numbers tied to other measures of a cube or a square, so they catch students who do not recall the formula.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    Neither V = s³ nor the cube root of 512 is given, so students must recall the formula and know, or find by trial, that 8 × 8 × 8 = 512. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Write the volume as edge × edge × edge, then find the number that, multiplied by itself three times, gives 512, and confirm it by multiplying.

Traps

  • Wrong formula: Uses a related but wrong formula: perimeter for area, diameter for radius, area for volume, or a misremembered one.
  • A formula you must know: Needs a formula the test does not give: area, circumference, volume, probability rules.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Volume of a cube
V=s3V = s^3
V is the volume, the space inside, in cubic units. s is the length of one edge. s³ means s × s × s. A cube’s length, width and height are all s, so length × width × height becomes s × s × s.

  1. Sort out the question

    The cube’s volume is 512 cubic centimeters. Volume is the space inside a solid. You need the length of one edge.

    A cube has 12 edges, and they are all the same length. So one edge tells you all of them.

  2. Write the volume formula

    V=s3V = s^3

    512=s×s×s512 = s \times s \times s

    You need a number that gives 512 when you multiply it by itself three times. That number is called the cube root of 512.

  3. Try numbers to find the edge

    Start with an easy one: 10×10×10=1,00010 \times 10 \times 10 = 1{,}000. That is too big, so the edge is less than 10. Try 8.

    8×8×8=64×8=5128 \times 8 \times 8 = 64 \times 8 = 512

    It works. Each edge is 8 centimeters.

  4. Rule out the other choices

    Watch out: The volume is not shared out among the faces or the edges. Dividing 512 by the 6 faces gives 851385\frac{1}{3}, choice C. Dividing by the 12 edges gives 422342\frac{2}{3}, choice B. Dividing by 4 gives 128, choice D.

    So the answer is A, 8.

Check your answer

Test the biggest choice. 128×128×128128 \times 128 \times 128 is over 2 million, far more than 512. Only an edge less than 10 can work, and 8 is the only choice less than 10. And 83=5128^3 = 512.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 91 as printed on page 209 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 209, question 91. Open page 209 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 106 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 35

Question

The high temperature on Monday was x° F. On Tuesday, the high temperature was 84° F, which was a 5% increase from Monday’s high temperature. On Wednesday, the high temperature was 10% lower than it was on Monday. How much lower was the high temperature on Wednesday than the high temperature on Monday?

  • A4.0° F
  • B8.0° F
  • C8.4° F
  • D8.8° F
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The temperature on Tuesday was 84° F, which was 5% higher than the temperature on Monday.

This can be represented by the equation 84=1.05x84=1.05x.

Dividing both sides of this equation by 1.05 gives x=80x=80.

Therefore, the temperature on Monday was 80° F.

Since the temperature on Wednesday was 10% lower than the temperature on Monday, the difference between the two temperatures would equal (10%)(80)=8.0∘ F(10\%)(80)=8.0^{\circ}\text{ F}.

Question analysis

Tuesday's high temperature is given along with its percent increase over Monday's, and Wednesday's high is a percent below Monday's. Students find how many degrees cooler Wednesday was than Monday. It tests percent increase and decrease, and the difficulty is working back to Monday, the base for both percents, rather than starting from Tuesday's number.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.EE.7 one-step equations
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 percent problems usually apply a percent to a known amount. Here Monday's temperature must first be recovered from a percent increase and then a second percent applied to it, a reverse step most grade 7 students find unfamiliar.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 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 question turns on noticing that both percents are measured from Monday, a temperature the stem never states. Students who take 10% of the only temperature given, 84, land on a listed choice just 0.4 degree off. Working back from 84 is forgiving: the exact 84 ÷ 1.05 = 80 and even the rougher 84 × 0.95 = 79.8 lead to the same choice, so the real test is not skipping Monday.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    "84° F, which was a 5% increase from Monday’s high temperature" makes 84 the result of the increase, so Monday comes from solving 1.05x = 84, not from 5% of 84. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choices 8.0, 8.4 and 8.8 lie within a degree of each other, so only the base of the 10%, Monday's 80 rather than Tuesday's 84, separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

    Three days and two percents have to be kept apart: the 5% compares Tuesday with Monday, and the 10% compares Wednesday with Monday. (Sweller, 1988; Carpenter, Just & Shell, 1990)

Strategy: Let Monday's temperature be x, write Tuesday's 84 degrees as 1.05 times x and solve, then take 10 percent of Monday's value.

Traps

  • Percent of the wrong amount: Finding the whole from a part, or a percent change measured from the wrong starting amount.
  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.
  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Percent increase
new=old×(1+p100)\text{new} = \text{old} \times \left(1 + \frac{p}{100}\right)
old is the starting amount. p is the percent it goes up. new is the amount after. The 1 keeps all of the old amount, and p over 100 adds the extra part. So a 5% rise means multiply by 1.05.
Percent of a number
part=percent100×whole\text{part} = \frac{\text{percent}}{100} \times \text{whole}
The whole is the amount the percent is taken of. The percent tells how many out of every 100. The part is the piece you get, here a number of degrees.

  1. Sort out the question

    Monday’s high is unknown. Call it x degrees. Tuesday’s high was 84°F, which is 5% more than Monday. Wednesday’s high was 10% less than Monday.

    You need how many degrees lower Wednesday was than Monday. Both percents compare with Monday. So find Monday first.

  2. Write an equation for Tuesday

    Tuesday is Monday plus 5% of Monday. That is 105% of Monday. Use the percent increase formula with p = 5.

    84=x×(1+5100)=1.05x84 = x \times \left(1 + \frac{5}{100}\right) = 1.05x

  3. Solve for Monday

    Divide both sides by 1.05 to undo the multiplying.

    x=84÷1.05=80x = 84 \div 1.05 = 80

    Monday’s high was 80°F. Watch out: 84 is the result of the increase, not the start. Adding 5% to 84 gives about 88.2°F. Then 10% of that is about 8.8, choice D.

  4. Find Wednesday’s drop

    Wednesday was 10% lower than Monday. So the drop is 10% of Monday’s 80°F.

    part=10100×80=8\text{part} = \frac{10}{100} \times 80 = 8

    Wednesday was 8 degrees lower. Watch out: Taking 10% of Tuesday’s 84 gives 8.4, choice C. The 10% is of Monday’s high. Also, 84 − 80 = 4, choice A, is Tuesday’s rise, not Wednesday’s drop.

    So the answer is B, 8.0°F.

Check your answer

Work forward from 80°F. 5% of 80 is 4, and 80 + 4 = 84. That matches Tuesday. Then 80 − 8 = 72, so Wednesday’s high was 72°F. That is 8 degrees below Monday.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 92 as printed on page 209 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 209, question 92. Open page 209 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 107 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 40

Question

The value of a particular car decreases at a constant rate. If the car is worth $15,000 three years after its original purchase date and $10,000 five years after its original purchase date, what was the value of the car on its original purchase date?

  • A$18,000
  • B$20,000
  • C$22,500
  • D$25,000
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The value of the car decreased $5,000 in two years: $15,000 to $10,000.

5,000÷2=2,5005{,}000\div 2=2{,}500

Therefore, the value of the car decreases $2,500 each year. After the first 3 years, the car’s value had decreased $7,500.

So 7,500+15,000=22,5007{,}500+15{,}000=22{,}500.

Question analysis

A car loses value at a constant rate, and its worth three years and five years after purchase is given. Students find what the car was worth on the day it was bought. It tests rate of change and initial value in a linear relationship, and the tricky part is counting the right number of years when working back.

NYS standards
  • 8.F.4 modeling with linear functions
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Finding a starting value from two later values of a steady change is grade 8 linear-function work. A grade 7 student can reason with a yearly rate, but extending it back to the purchase date goes beyond typical grade 7 problems.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 10, 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

The question is a straight-line pattern read backward, and its numbers are friendly; the difficulty is counting years correctly. The $5,000 drop happens over 2 years, not 5, and the purchase lies 3 years before the $15,000 value, not 2. Each miscount gives a listed answer, so sketching a timeline from year 0 to year 5 before computing pays off.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    The phrases "three years after its original purchase date" and "five years after" must become points at year 3 and year 5 on a timeline whose start, year 0, holds the unknown value. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. Many steps minor Working it out

    Three moves are chained: the $5,000 drop over 2 years, the $2,500 yearly rate, and three years of that rate added back to $15,000. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Find the yearly drop from the change between the two given years, then add that drop back once for each year between the purchase and year 3.

Traps

  • Counting the ends: Inclusive or exclusive ends, fence posts, consecutive numbers: an answer that is one too many or too few, or an endpoint drawn open where it belongs closed (or the reverse).
  • Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".
  • Numbers taken from the question: Combines the numbers in the question without a model of the situation, or is simply a number that appears in the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Rate of change
rate=change in valuechange in time\text{rate} = \frac{\text{change in value}}{\text{change in time}}
change in value is how many dollars the value went up or down. change in time is how many years passed. rate is the change for one year. A constant rate means the change is the same every year.

  1. Sort out the question

    The car’s value “decreases at a constant rate.” That means the car loses the same number of dollars each year. Year 0 is the day it was bought.

    YearValue
    0?
    3$15,000
    5$10,000

    You need the value at year 0.

  2. Find the drop for one year

    From year 3 to year 5 is 2 years. In that time, the value fell by 15,000−10,000=5,00015{,}000 - 10{,}000 = 5{,}000 dollars.

    rate=5,0002=2,500\text{rate} = \frac{5{,}000}{2} = 2{,}500

    The car loses $2,500 each year. Watch out: Divide by the 2 years between the values, not by 5. Dividing by 5 leads to $18,000, choice A.

  3. Go back to year 0

    From year 0 to year 3 is 3 years. The car lost $2,500 in each of them. So add that amount back 3 times.

    15,000+3×2,500=15,000+7,500=22,50015{,}000 + 3 \times 2{,}500 = 15{,}000 + 7{,}500 = 22{,}500

    Watch out: Adding back only one $5,000 gives $20,000, choice B. That is the value at year 1, not year 0.

    So the answer is C, $22,500.

Check your answer

Count forward from $22,500, taking off $2,500 each year. Year 1 is $20,000. Year 2 is $17,500. Year 3 is $15,000. Year 4 is $12,500. Year 5 is $10,000. Both given values match.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 97 as printed on page 210 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 210, question 97. Open page 210 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 108 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 41

Question

A bag contains 2 green, 4 blue, and 3 yellow disks. Alana selects 4 disks from the bag at random, one at a time, without replacing them. What is the probability that she selects all 4 blue disks?

  • A82,187\frac{8}{2{,}187}
  • B1126\frac{1}{126}
  • C2566,561\frac{256}{6{,}561}
  • D169\frac{16}{9}
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

If Alana picks 4 blue disks in a row, the number of blue disks and the total number of disks will both decrease by 1 after each selection.

For the first selection, there are 4 blue disks out of 9 total disks, so the probability of selecting the first blue disk is 49\frac{4}{9}.

The probabilities of selecting blue for the next three selections are 38\frac{3}{8}, 27\frac{2}{7}, and 16\frac{1}{6}.

49×38×27×16=243,024=1126\frac{4}{9}\times\frac{3}{8}\times\frac{2}{7}\times\frac{1}{6}=\frac{24}{3{,}024}=\frac{1}{126}

Question analysis

A bag holds green, blue and yellow disks, and Alana draws four of them one at a time without putting any back. Students find the probability that all four disks are blue. It tests the probability of dependent events, and the difficulty is keeping track of how the bag changes after each draw.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.8a compound event as fraction of outcomes
  • 7.SP.8b sample spaces for compound events
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 compound probability is usually found with lists or tree diagrams for two stages. Four dependent draws, each changing the counts, are too many to list and need the multiplication rule, which grade 7 does not formally teach.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 37 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students who know the multiplication rule for successive draws still have two adjustments to make on every draw, and each wrong choice skips at least one of them. Leaving the bag at 9 disks, or putting each disk back, both produce fractions over 6,561 that look as exact as the right one. Writing the four fractions in a row before multiplying, and cancelling as you go, keeps the arithmetic small.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    The rule for successive draws without replacement is assumed: each draw's chance is multiplied in, with both the blue count and the total lowered by one. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Error-prone arithmetic moderate Working it out

    The product 4/9 × 3/8 × 2/7 × 1/6 = 24/3,024 has to be reduced to 1/126, and two wrong choices hide behind 9 to the fourth power, 6,561. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

Strategy: Write the chance of blue for each of the four draws in turn, lowering both the blue count and the total by one each time, and multiply.

Traps

  • Without replacement: In a second pick there is one fewer item, which changes the probability.
  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Probability
P=number of wanted outcomestotal number of outcomesP = \frac{\text{number of wanted outcomes}}{\text{total number of outcomes}}
P is the probability, the chance that something happens. It is a number from 0 to 1. The top counts the results you want. The bottom counts all the results that can happen. It works when every result is equally likely.
Chance of events in a row
P(A then B)=P(A)×P(B after A)P(A \text{ then } B) = P(A) \times P(B \text{ after } A)
A and B are two events that happen one after the other. P(A) is the chance of the first. P(B after A) is the chance of the second, counting only what is left after the first. You multiply because the second must also happen inside the share of times the first did.

  1. Sort out the question

    The bag holds 2 green, 4 blue and 3 yellow disks. That is 9 disks in all. Alana takes 4 disks, one at a time.

    “Without replacing them” means a disk she takes does not go back in the bag. You need the chance that all 4 disks are blue.

  2. Find the chance for each pick

    For all 4 to be blue, each pick must be blue. After each blue pick, one blue disk is gone. One disk is gone from the total, too. So the top and the bottom each go down by 1.

    PickBlue disks leftDisks leftChance of blue
    1st4949\frac{4}{9}
    2nd3838\frac{3}{8}
    3rd2727\frac{2}{7}
    4th1616\frac{1}{6}

  3. Multiply the four chances

    All four picks must go right, one after another. Use the rule for events in a row and multiply.

    49×38×27×16=4×3×2×19×8×7×6=243,024\frac{4}{9} \times \frac{3}{8} \times \frac{2}{7} \times \frac{1}{6} = \frac{4 \times 3 \times 2 \times 1}{9 \times 8 \times 7 \times 6} = \frac{24}{3{,}024}

  4. Simplify the fraction

    Divide the top and the bottom by 24. That keeps the value the same.

    24÷243,024÷24=1126\frac{24 \div 24}{3{,}024 \div 24} = \frac{1}{126}

    Watch out: Using 49\frac{4}{9} for every pick gives 2566,561\frac{256}{6{,}561}, choice C. That is right only if each disk goes back in. Keeping 9 on the bottom each time gives 82,187\frac{8}{2{,}187}, choice A. Choice D is more than 1, and no chance can be more than 1.

    So the answer is B, 1126\frac{1}{126}.

Check your answer

Cancel before you multiply. On top, 4×2=84 \times 2 = 8 cancels the 8 on the bottom. That leaves 39×7×6=3378\frac{3}{9 \times 7 \times 6} = \frac{3}{378}. Divide the top and bottom by 3 to get 1126\frac{1}{126} again.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 98 as printed on page 211 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 211, question 98. Open page 211 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 109 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 44

Question

Which inequality is equivalent to 6x−20<5x−2(5−3x)6x-20<5x-2(5-3x)?

  • Ax<16x<16
  • Bx<52x<\frac{5}{2}
  • Cx<−2x<-2
  • Dx>−2x>-2
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

6x−20<5x−2(5−3x)6x-20<5x-2(5-3x)

Distribute the coefficient −2 on the right-hand side:

6x−20<5x+(−2)(5)+(−2)(−3x)6x-20<5x+(-2)(5)+(-2)(-3x)

6x−20<5x−10+6x6x-20<5x-10+6x

Subtract 6x6x from both sides:

−20<5x−10-20<5x-10

Add 10 to both sides:

−10<5x-10<5x

Divide both sides by 5:

−2<x-2<x

This is equivalent to

x>−2x>-2

Question analysis

Students choose the simplest equivalent form of a linear inequality that has x on both sides and a negative number multiplied into parentheses. It tests distributing, combining like terms and solving inequalities. Sign errors in the distribution, and reading the direction of the final inequality, are where most mistakes happen.

NYS standards
  • 7.EE.4b two-step inequalities
  • 8.EE.7b linear equations with rational coefficients
  • 7.EE.1 linear expressions with rational coefficients
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 inequalities have the form px + q < r. This one has x on both sides and a negative factor to distribute across a subtraction, steps that belong to grade 8 equation work, so it is harder than typical grade 7 practice.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
4 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 16+, 10 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 move is standard algebra, but the inequality is built so that small slips change the answer completely. The −2 has to reach both terms in the parentheses, and once the boundary −2 is found its direction still has to be read correctly, since the variable ends up on the right as −2 < x. Rewriting that as x > −2, or substituting x = 0 into the original, catches the trap.

  1. Error-prone arithmetic moderate Working it out

    Distributing −2 over (5 − 3x) gives −10 + 6x, two sign decisions in one move, and the x terms then sit on both sides of the inequality. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    x < −2 and x > −2 share the boundary and differ only in direction, which depends on reading −2 < x correctly or flipping the sign when dividing by a negative. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Many steps minor Working it out

    Four moves follow one another, distributing, collecting 5x + 6x, moving the x terms and dividing by 5, and a slip at any of them changes the result. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Distribute the −2 to both terms in the parentheses, combine the x terms on the right, then gather the x terms on the side that keeps their coefficient positive.

Traps

  • Order of operations: Working left to right, or distributing a minus sign wrongly, gives a choice.
  • Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)
  • A faulty procedure: A systematic but wrong procedure: adding fractions straight across, applying an exponent to each term of a sum, dropping a sign when moving a term.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Distributive property
a(b+c)=a×b+a×ca(b + c) = a \times b + a \times c
a is the number outside the parentheses. b and c are the terms inside. Multiply a by each one. A minus sign inside counts as a negative term, so 5 − 3x is 5 + (−3x). A negative times a negative is positive.
Keeping an inequality true
if a<b, then a+c<b+c\text{if } a < b \text{, then } a + c < b + c
a and b are the two sides, and c is any number. Adding or subtracting the same number on both sides keeps the inequality true. Dividing both sides by a positive number also keeps it true. Only multiplying or dividing by a negative number flips the sign.

  1. Sort out the question

    An inequality compares two sides with a sign like <, which means is less than. To solve it, you get x alone on one side.

    You need the short inequality that has the same answers as the long one.

  2. Distribute the −2

    Multiply −2 by both terms inside the parentheses, 5 and −3x.

    −2(5−3x)=(−2)×5+(−2)×(−3x)=−10+6x-2(5 - 3x) = (-2) \times 5 + (-2) \times (-3x) = -10 + 6x

    A negative times a negative is positive, so the second part is +6x. Watch out: If the −2 multiplies only the 5, you end up with x<52x < \frac{5}{2}, choice B.

  3. Combine the x terms

    The right side is now 5x − 10 + 6x. Put the x terms together: 5x + 6x = 11x.

    6x−20<11x−106x - 20 < 11x - 10

  4. Gather the x terms on one side

    Subtract 6x from both sides. That leaves the x terms on the right, where they stay positive.

    6x−20−6x<11x−10−6x6x - 20 - 6x < 11x - 10 - 6x

    −20<5x−10-20 < 5x - 10

  5. Get x by itself

    Add 10 to both sides. Then divide both sides by 5.

    −10<5x-10 < 5x

    −2<x-2 < x

    You divided by a positive 5, so the sign does not flip.

  6. Read it with x first

    −2<x-2 < x says −2 is less than x. That is the same as saying x is greater than −2, just as 3 < 5 means 5 > 3.

    x>−2x > -2

    Watch out: x<−2x < -2, choice C, has the same number but points the wrong way.

    So the answer is D, x>−2x > -2.

Check your answer

Test x = 0, which is greater than −2. The left side is 6(0)−20=−206(0) - 20 = -20. The right side is 5(0)−2(5−0)=−105(0) - 2(5 - 0) = -10. And −20 < −10 is true. Now test x = −3. The left side is −38 and the right side is −43. That is false, as it should be.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 101 as printed on page 211 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 211, question 101. Open page 211 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 110 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 48

Question

Two triangles. Triangle MNP has N at the top and base MP labeled 10 cm; sides MN and NP each have a tick mark, showing they are equal. The smaller triangle XYZ has Y at the top, base XZ labeled 6 cm, and sides XY and YZ each labeled 9 cm.

Triangle MNP is similar to triangle XYZ, and MN=NP\mathrm{MN}=\mathrm{NP}. What is the perimeter of triangle MNP?

  • A25 cm
  • B30 cm
  • C36 cm
  • D40 cm
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

Similar geometric figures have sides that are proportional.

106=x9\frac{10}{6}=\frac{x}{9}

53=x9\frac{5}{3}=\frac{x}{9}

x=(5)(9)3=15x=\frac{(5)(9)}{3}=15

Because MN=NP\mathrm{MN}=\mathrm{NP}, both unknown sides are equal to 15. Therefore, the three sides of MNP are 15, 15, and 10. The perimeter of a triangle is the sum of its three side lengths.

15+15+10=4015+15+10=40

Question analysis

Two isosceles triangles are drawn, one with all its side lengths labeled and the other with only its base labeled, and the triangles are similar. Students find the perimeter of triangle MNP in centimeters. It tests similar figures and proportional sides, and the catch is that two sides must be found from the scale and the equal-sides marks.

NYS standards
  • 8.G.4 similarity and dilations
  • 7.G.1 scale drawings
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Similar triangles are grade 8 geometry, though grade 7 scale drawings use the same proportional reasoning. Students also need the equal-sides marks to find a missing side, a combined step beyond routine grade 7 scale work.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 3, 20 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 chains a scale factor to a perimeter, and both links have a trap. Some students scale by adding, since the base grew by 4, and others find the 15 cm leg correctly but then add only some of the sides. Writing all three sides of the large triangle, 15, 15 and 10, before adding is what the question rewards.

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

    The figure carries every number: tick marks show MN = NP, the base MP is 10 cm, and triangle XYZ has 9 cm legs on a 6 cm base. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Students must know that corresponding sides of similar triangles share one scale factor, here 10/6 = 5/3, though the stem never says so. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Error-prone arithmetic minor Working it out

    The scale factor 5/3 is a fraction, and 9 × 5/3 = 15 is easier to get right by dividing 9 by 3 first. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

Strategy: Compare the two bases to get the scale factor, multiply a leg of the small triangle by it, then use the equal sides to add up the perimeter.

Traps

  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Similar triangles
MNXY=MPXZ\frac{\mathrm{MN}}{\mathrm{XY}} = \frac{\mathrm{MP}}{\mathrm{XZ}}
Similar triangles have the same shape but can differ in size. MN matches XY, and MP matches XZ. Each side of the big triangle is the same number of times as long as its matching side. So these two fractions are equal.
Perimeter of a triangle
P=a+b+cP = a + b + c
P is the perimeter, the distance all the way around. a, b and c are the lengths of the three sides. Add them to go once around the shape.

  1. Sort out the question

    In triangle MNP, the base MP is 10 cm. The tick marks on MN and NP show those two sides are equal. In triangle XYZ, the base XZ is 6 cm, and XY and YZ are each 9 cm.

    Similar means the same shape, with every side scaled by the same amount. You need the perimeter of MNP, the sum of its three sides.

  2. Match the sides

    The letters line up in order: M with X, N with Y, and P with Z. So the base MP matches the base XZ. The side MN matches XY, and NP matches YZ.

  3. Find the scale factor

    The scale factor is how many times bigger MNP is. Compare the two bases.

    MPXZ=106=53\frac{\mathrm{MP}}{\mathrm{XZ}} = \frac{10}{6} = \frac{5}{3}

    Every side of MNP is 53\frac{5}{3} times as long as its matching side in XYZ.

  4. Find the equal sides

    Use the similar triangles formula with XY = 9.

    MN9=53\frac{\mathrm{MN}}{9} = \frac{5}{3}

    MN=9×53=3×5=15\mathrm{MN} = 9 \times \frac{5}{3} = 3 \times 5 = 15

    Divide 9 by 3 first to keep the numbers small. MN is 15 cm. Since MN = NP, NP is 15 cm too.

    Watch out: The base grew by 4 cm, but adding 4 cm to each side is wrong. That gives 13 cm sides and 36, choice C. Similar shapes grow by multiplying.

  5. Add the three sides

    P=15+15+10=40P = 15 + 15 + 10 = 40

    The perimeter is 40 cm. Watch out: Leaving out one 15 cm side gives 25, choice A. Leaving out the base gives 30, choice B.

    So the answer is D, 40 cm.

Check your answer

The small triangle’s perimeter is 9 + 9 + 6 = 24 cm. Perimeters grow by the same scale factor as the sides. So 24×53=4024 \times \frac{5}{3} = 40. It matches.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 105 as printed on page 212 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 212, question 105. Open page 212 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 111 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 49

Question

Suppose that w, x, y, and z are integers, none of which are zero. Under which set of conditions would the product x2yz3|w|x^{2}yz^{3}|w| always be positive?

  • Ax is positive and w is positive.
  • Bx is negative and w is negative.
  • Cy is negative and z is negative.
  • Dx and y are negative, and z and w are positive.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

First, analyze the role of each variable in the expression x2yz3|w|x^{2}yz^{3}|w|.

x2x^{2} will always be a positive number.

y can be a positive or a negative number.

z3z^{3} can be a positive or a negative number.

|w||w| will always be a positive number.

The expressions x2x^{2} and |w||w| will always be positive. Therefore, making the values of y and z negative would result in the expression yz3yz^{3} being positive, since a negative multiplied by a negative is positive. Thus the given product would always be positive.

Question analysis

Four nonzero integers appear in a product that includes a square, a cube and an absolute value. Students choose the set of conditions that makes the product positive every time. It tests the sign rules for multiplication together with exponents and absolute value, and the trap is judging the sign by counting negative variables without looking at what is done to each.

NYS standards
  • 7.NS.2a rational number multiplication
  • 6.EE.1 whole-number exponent expressions
  • 6.NS.7c absolute value as distance
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students learn sign rules for products of signed numbers. Here they must reason about four unknown integers under an even power, an odd power and an absolute value, and decide what is always true, which is more abstract than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 6, 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

One insight decides the question: x² and |w| are positive whatever x and w are, so only the signs of y and z³ matter. Students who count negative letters instead of negative factors pick conditions that look balanced but leave y as the only negative factor. Students who test a single set of values can be fooled by a choice that leaves y and z unspecified.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    There are four variables and no numbers, and always positive must hold for every allowed value, so one test case can rule a choice out but never confirm it. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Each set of conditions has to be checked against all four factors; the first two fix only x and w and leave y and z free to make the product negative. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Students must know that a nonzero square and an absolute value are always positive, while an odd power such as z³ keeps the sign of z. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Work out, factor by factor, which signs each part of the product can take, then test each set of conditions against every factor rather than counting negatives.

Traps

  • Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Signs in multiplication
(−a)×(−b)=a×b(-a) \times (-b) = a \times b
a and b are positive numbers, so −a and −b are negative. A negative times a negative is positive. A negative times a positive is negative. So a product is positive when it has an even number of negative factors.

  1. Sort out the question

    w, x, y and z are integers, meaning whole numbers or their negatives. None of them is 0. The product x2yz3|w|x^2 y z^3 |w| means x2×y×z3×|w|x^2 \times y \times z^3 \times |w|.

    You need the conditions that make the product positive every time, for every number that fits them.

  2. Look at x squared and |w|

    x2x^2 means x × x. Two positives or two negatives multiply to a positive. So x2x^2 is always positive.

    |w||w| is the absolute value of w, its distance from 0. It is always positive, since w is not 0.

    So x and w never change the sign of the product. Their signs do not matter.

  3. Look at y and z cubed

    y can be positive or negative. z3z^3 means z × z × z, and it has the same sign as z. For example, (−2)3=−8(-2)^3 = -8.

    So the sign of the whole product is the sign of y×z3y \times z^3. It depends only on y and z.

  4. Test each choice

    • A and B say nothing about y and z. If y = −1 and z = 1, the product is negative. So they do not always work.
    • C: y is negative, and z3z^3 is negative. A negative times a negative is positive. This always works.
    • D: y is negative and z is positive. So the product is always negative.

    Watch out: D has two negative letters, x and y. But x2x^2 is positive anyway, so y is the only negative factor.

    So the answer is C, y is negative and z is negative.

Check your answer

Try numbers for C. Let x = −2, y = −3, z = −1 and w = −5. Then x2×y×z3×|w|=4×(−3)×(−1)×5=60x^2 \times y \times z^3 \times |w| = 4 \times (-3) \times (-1) \times 5 = 60, which is positive. Even with x and w negative, the product stays positive.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 106 as printed on page 213 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 213, question 106. Open page 213 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 112 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 50

Question

Chris has 1 red shirt, 2 white shirts, and 3 black shirts. Chris picks a shirt at random. Without putting the first shirt back, he picks a second shirt at random. What is the probability that the first shirt is black and the second shirt is red?

  • A112\frac{1}{12}
  • B110\frac{1}{10}
  • C15\frac{1}{5}
  • D710\frac{7}{10}
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

Use the joint probability formula: P (black shirt first) • P (red shirt second, given black shirt first).

Initially there are 3 black shirts out of 6 total shirts, so the probability of picking a black shirt first is 36\frac{3}{6}.

Once a black shirt is picked first, there is 1 red shirt out of 5 total shirts remaining.

So the probability of picking a red shirt second, given that a black shirt was picked first, is 15\frac{1}{5}.

Then P (black shirt first) • P (red shirt second, given black shirt first)
=36∙15=330=110=\frac{3}{6}\bullet\frac{1}{5}=\frac{3}{30}=\frac{1}{10}.

Question analysis

Chris has red, white and black shirts and picks two at random, one after the other, without putting the first back. Students find the probability that the first shirt is black and the second is red. It tests the probability of two dependent events, where the second pick has one fewer shirt to choose from.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.8a compound event as fraction of outcomes
  • 7.SP.8b sample spaces for compound events
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 compound probability is usually found with a list or tree of equally likely outcomes. Only two picks are involved, but adjusting the second pick for the shirt already taken goes beyond typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 3, 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

Two dependent picks with small numbers make this a textbook question, but the choices punish each half-step. Students who leave the first shirt in the drawer get a fraction just below the right one, students who find only the second pick's chance stop at a listed value, and students who add the two chances get a probability far too large. Writing both fractions, 3/6 and 1/5, and multiplying is the whole method.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    The rule for two dependent picks, the first pick's chance times the second's given the first, is assumed, along with the drop to 5 shirts for the second pick. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    1/10 and 1/12 differ only in the second pick's denominator, 5 shirts or 6, so estimating cannot separate them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Turning words into math minor Understanding the question

    "Without putting the first shirt back" sets the second pick's total at 5 shirts, and the order, black first then red, fixes which fraction comes first. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

Strategy: Find the chance of black on the first pick, then the chance of red on the second pick with one shirt fewer, and multiply the two.

Traps

  • Without replacement: In a second pick there is one fewer item, which changes the probability.
  • Stops one step early: A choice is a number from partway through the solution.
  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Probability
P=number of wanted outcomestotal number of outcomesP = \frac{\text{number of wanted outcomes}}{\text{total number of outcomes}}
P is the probability, the chance that something happens. It is a number from 0 to 1. The top counts the results you want. The bottom counts all the results that can happen. It works when every result is equally likely.
Chance of events in a row
P(A then B)=P(A)×P(B after A)P(A \text{ then } B) = P(A) \times P(B \text{ after } A)
A and B are two events that happen one after the other. P(A) is the chance of the first. P(B after A) is the chance of the second, counting only what is left after the first. You multiply because the second must also happen inside the share of times the first did.

  1. Sort out the question

    Chris has 1 red, 2 white and 3 black shirts. That is 6 shirts. He picks one and keeps it out. Then he picks a second shirt.

    You need the chance that the first shirt is black and the second is red. Both must happen, in that order.

  2. Find the chance of black first

    3 of the 6 shirts are black. Each shirt is equally likely to be picked.

    P(black first)=36P(\text{black first}) = \frac{3}{6}

    That is one half.

  3. Find the chance of red second

    A black shirt is now out and not put back. That leaves 5 shirts: 1 red, 2 white and 2 black.

    P(red second)=15P(\text{red second}) = \frac{1}{5}

    Watch out: The bottom is 5, not 6. Using 6 gives 112\frac{1}{12}, choice A, as if the shirt went back.

  4. Multiply the two chances

    Use the rule for events in a row. The second pick must go right too, inside the half of the time the first one did.

    P(black, then red)=36×15=330=110P(\text{black, then red}) = \frac{3}{6} \times \frac{1}{5} = \frac{3}{30} = \frac{1}{10}

    Watch out: Adding the chances gives 710\frac{7}{10}, choice D. Stopping at 15\frac{1}{5} gives choice C.

    So the answer is B, 110\frac{1}{10}.

Check your answer

Count every ordered pair of picks. There are 6 choices for the first and 5 for the second, so 6×5=306 \times 5 = 30 pairs. Pairs with black then red: 3 black shirts times 1 red shirt is 3. So the chance is 330=110\frac{3}{30} = \frac{1}{10}.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 107 as printed on page 213 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 213, question 107. Open page 213 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 113 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 52

Question

Two open boxes, labeled A and B. Box A holds two balls, numbered 2 and 6. Box B holds three balls, numbered 3, 4 and 5.

Five numbered balls are placed in two boxes as shown in the figure above. Davina picks one ball at random from Box B and places it in Box A. Then Yusuf picks one ball from Box A without looking. What is the probability that Yusuf will pick a ball with an odd number?

  • A29\frac{2}{9}
  • B13\frac{1}{3}
  • C25\frac{2}{5}
  • D23\frac{2}{3}
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The probability of Davina picking an odd-numbered ball from Box B is 23\frac{2}{3}. If Davina places an odd-numbered ball in Box A, then the probability of Yusuf picking an odd-numbered ball from Box A is 13\frac{1}{3}. The probability of both of these events happening is the product of the two probabilities.

23×13=29\frac{2}{3}\times\frac{1}{3}=\frac{2}{9}

Question analysis

Two boxes hold five numbered balls, and Davina moves one ball at random from Box B into Box A before Yusuf draws one from Box A. Students find the probability that Yusuf's ball shows an odd number. It tests two-stage probability, and the tricky part is that the second draw depends on which ball was moved.

NYS standards
  • 7.SP.8a compound event as fraction of outcomes
  • 7.SP.8b sample spaces for compound events
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 compound probability lists outcomes for independent stages such as coins or spinners. Here the first random move changes what is in the second box, so students must follow two linked stages, a dependence typical grade 7 work does not include.
Estimated difficulty
Among the hardest on the SHSAT: a non-obvious approach, heavy reading, or a well-hidden trap.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 4, 57 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Two chance events are hidden in what reads like a question about a single draw. Every listed wrong answer is a reasonable single-stage answer, either one of the two factors on its own or a count of odd balls across both boxes. Listing the nine equally likely pairs, Davina's ball and then Yusuf's, shows that only two of them end with an odd ball and makes the structure visible without any formula.

  1. No obvious method major Working it out

    The stem asks one question about Yusuf's draw, but the answer depends on Davina's earlier random pick; the key is that Box A starts with only even balls, so Yusuf can draw odd only by drawing the ball she moved. (Schoenfeld, 1985)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Multiplying the chances of the two stages, 2/3 for an odd ball moving and 1/3 for Yusuf then drawing it, is a rule students must bring themselves. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Reading a figure, table or graph minor Understanding the question

    The numbers appear only in the figure, Box A holding 2 and 6 and Box B holding 3, 4 and 5, so the odd balls have to be spotted there. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: List every equally likely pair of a ball moved by Davina and a ball picked by Yusuf, and count the pairs that end with an odd ball.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Probability
P=number of wanted outcomestotal number of outcomesP = \frac{\text{number of wanted outcomes}}{\text{total number of outcomes}}
P is the probability, the chance that something happens. It is a number from 0 to 1. The top counts the results you want. The bottom counts all the results that can happen. It works when every result is equally likely.
Chance of events in a row
P(A then B)=P(A)×P(B after A)P(A \text{ then } B) = P(A) \times P(B \text{ after } A)
A and B are two events that happen one after the other. P(A) is the chance of the first. P(B after A) is the chance of the second, counting only what is left after the first. You multiply because the second must also happen inside the share of times the first did.

  1. Read the figure

    Box A holds balls numbered 2 and 6. Box B holds balls numbered 3, 4 and 5.

    An odd number does not divide evenly by 2. So the only odd balls are 3 and 5, and both start in Box B. Box A starts with no odd balls at all.

  2. Spot the two chance events

    Two things happen by chance, one after the other:

    1. Davina picks one of the 3 balls in Box B and moves it to Box A.
    2. Then Yusuf picks one of the 3 balls now in Box A.

    Yusuf gets an odd ball only if both go right. Davina must move an odd ball. Then Yusuf must pick that very ball.

    The question asks only about Yusuf. But his chance depends on Davina’s pick, which comes first.

  3. Find the chance for Davina’s pick

    Box B has 3 balls, and 2 of them, the 3 and the 5, are odd.

    P(odd ball moved)=23P(\text{odd ball moved}) = \frac{2}{3}

    If she moves the 4 instead, Box A holds only even balls. Then Yusuf can’t get an odd ball at all.

  4. Find the chance for Yusuf’s pick

    Say Davina moved an odd ball. Box A now holds 3 balls: the 2, the 6 and that one odd ball.

    P(Yusuf picks it)=13P(\text{Yusuf picks it}) = \frac{1}{3}

    Watch out: 13\frac{1}{3} alone is choice B. It forgets that Davina might move the 4.

  5. Multiply the two chances

    Both events must happen, so use the rule for events in a row.

    P(odd)=23×13=29P(\text{odd}) = \frac{2}{3} \times \frac{1}{3} = \frac{2}{9}

    Watch out: 23\frac{2}{3} alone, choice D, stops after Davina’s pick. 25\frac{2}{5}, choice C, counts 2 odd balls out of all 5. But Yusuf picks only from Box A.

    So the answer is A, 29\frac{2}{9}.

Check your answer

List all 9 equally likely outcomes. Davina can move 3, 4 or 5. Then Yusuf picks one of 3 balls.

Ball movedBox A thenOdd picks
32, 6, 31
42, 6, 40
52, 6, 51

That is 2 odd picks out of 9, or 29\frac{2}{9}.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 109 as printed on page 214 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 214, question 109. Open page 214 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 114 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 53

Question

Which graph represents the solution to |x+1|≥2|x+1|\geq 2?

  • ANumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Closed dots at −3 and 1. The line is shaded from −3 to the left, ending in an arrow, and from 1 to the right, ending in an arrow.
  • BNumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Closed dots at −1 and 1. The line is shaded from −1 to the left, ending in an arrow, and from 1 to the right, ending in an arrow.
  • CNumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Closed dots at −3 and 1, with the segment between them shaded.
  • DNumber line from −3 to 3 with a tick at every integer. Closed dots at −3 and 3. The line is shaded from −3 to the left, ending in an arrow, and from 3 to the right, ending in an arrow.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

Since |x+1|≥2|x+1|\geq 2, either x+1≤−2x+1\leq -2 or x+1≥2x+1\geq 2.

Solving x+1≤−2x+1\leq -2 for x gives x≤−3x\leq -3.

Solving x+1≥2x+1\geq 2 for x gives x≥1x\geq 1.

A filled circle on a number line represents “or equal to.” So the correct number line representation has filled circles at −3 and 1, with the number line filled to the left of −3 for “less than” and to the right of 1 for “greater than.”

Question analysis

Students choose the number line graph that shows every solution of an inequality in which x + 1 sits inside absolute value bars. It tests absolute value as distance and graphing inequalities. The tricky part is turning one absolute value statement into two pieces and placing each boundary point and shaded ray correctly.

NYS standards
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students solve and graph two-step inequalities and know absolute value as distance. An inequality with an absolute value has to be split into two cases, which is outside the grade 6 to 8 standards and well above typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 9, 7 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

Reading |x + 1| as the distance from x to −1 makes this quick: the points 2 units away are −3 and 1, and greater than or equal means outside them. Students who solve only one case and mirror it across 0 land on graphs centered on 0, and students who find both endpoints may still shade between them. The graphs differ in just one dot or one shading choice, so each must be read carefully.

  1. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    Solving |x + 1| ≥ 2 needs two cases, x + 1 ≤ −2 or x + 1 ≥ 2, joined by or; absolute value inequalities go beyond grade 7, and the stem gives no hint. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The right graph and the segment from −3 to 1 share both filled endpoints, so only deciding between outside and between the boundaries separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Reading a figure, table or graph minor Understanding the question

    Four number lines must be read for filled dots and arrow directions, and two of them differ from the right one only in where a single dot sits. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Read the absolute value as distance from −1 on the number line, find the points exactly 2 units away, and decide whether the solutions lie between or outside them.

Traps

  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Absolute value as distance
|x−a|=distance from x to a|x - a| = \text{distance from } x \text{ to } a
x and a are points on the number line. The bars mean absolute value. |x − a| is how far apart the two points are, which is never negative. Since x + 1 = x − (−1), |x + 1| is the distance from x to −1.

  1. Sort out the question

    You need the graph of every x that makes |x+1|≥2|x + 1| \geq 2 true. The sign ≥ means greater than or equal to. The bars mean absolute value.

    On a number line, a filled dot means that point counts. A thick line with an arrow means all the numbers that way count too.

  2. Read it as a distance

    Adding 1 is the same as subtracting −1, so x+1=x−(−1)x + 1 = x - (-1). By the formula, |x+1||x + 1| is the distance from x to −1.

    So the inequality says that x is at least 2 units away from −1.

  3. Find the two boundary points

    Start at −1 and go 2 units each way.

    −1−2=−3-1 - 2 = -3

    −1+2=1-1 + 2 = 1

    At −3 and at 1, the distance is exactly 2. The words or equal to let them count, so they get filled dots.

  4. Decide which side to shade

    Being at least 2 away means being farther out. Numbers between −3 and 1 are too close to −1. For example, 0 is only 1 unit away. So shade to the left of −3 and to the right of 1.

    In algebra, that is x+1≤−2x + 1 \leq -2 or x+1≥2x + 1 \geq 2. These give x≤−3x \leq -3 or x≥1x \geq 1.

  5. Match the graph

    Choice A has filled dots at −3 and 1, with arrows going outward. That matches.

    Watch out: Choice C shades between −3 and 1. Those are the points within 2 of −1, the answer to |x+1|≤2|x + 1| \leq 2. Choices B and D are centered on 0, but the center here is −1.

    So the answer is A, the graph shaded outward from −3 and 1.

Check your answer

Test a point from each part. For x = 2, |2+1|=3|2 + 1| = 3, and 3 is at least 2. For x = 0, |0+1|=1|0 + 1| = 1, which is less than 2. For x = −3, |−3+1|=2|-3 + 1| = 2, which counts. Graph A agrees with all three.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 110 as printed on page 214 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 214, question 110. Open page 214 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 Math, question 56

Question

A rectangular field had a length of 80 meters and a width of 50 meters. The field was recently enlarged, with the length increased by 15% and the width increased by 10 meters. By what percentage was the area of the field increased?

  • A26.5%
  • B35%
  • C38%
  • D42.5%
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The original area of the field was 4,000 square meters.

80×50=4,00080\times 50=4{,}000

When the field was enlarged, the length increased by 15%, so the new length is 92 meters.

80×15%80\times 15\%

80×0.15=1280\times 0.15=12

80+12=9280+12=92

The width increased by 10 meters, so the new width is 60 meters.

50+10=6050+10=60

The new area of the field is 5,520 square meters.

92×60=5,52092\times 60=5{,}520

The percent increase is found by finding the difference between the two areas and dividing the increase by the original area.

5,520−4,000=1,5205{,}520-4{,}000=1{,}520

1,520÷4,000=0.38=38%1{,}520\div 4{,}000=0.38=38\%

Question analysis

A rectangular field 80 meters long and 50 meters wide has its length increased by 15 percent and its width by 10 meters. Students find the percent by which the field's area grew. It tests percent increase with rectangle area, and the tricky part is that one side changes by a percent and the other by a fixed length.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.G.1 area of polygons
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 percent problems usually apply one percent change to one quantity. This changes a length by a percent and a width by a fixed amount, then asks for the percent change in area, a five-step chain with two kinds of change.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
What makes it hard
Solution
5 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 6, 39 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Each step is ordinary, but the two changes are stated in different units, one a percent and one in meters, which tempts students to force them into the same form. Adding the two percents is the most natural shortcut and lands close to the right value, because it misses only the small extra area where both changes overlap. Computing the old and new areas directly is slower but leaves nothing to chance.

  1. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    Percent change has to be combined with area: the length grows by a percent and the width by meters, and the question asks for the percent change of their product. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  2. Many steps moderate Working it out

    Five computations are chained: the new length 92, the new width 60, the areas 4,000 and 5,520, and the increase 1,520 as a share of 4,000. (Daniel & Embretson, 2010; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  3. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The 35% from adding 15% and 20% sits only 3 points below 38%, so a rough estimate of the new area cannot rule it out. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Compute the new length and the new width, find the old and new areas, and divide the increase in area by the original area.

Traps

  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.
  • Units or scale: The answer is wanted in other units, or a rate or scale must be converted first.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Area of a rectangle
A=l×wA = l \times w
A is the area, the flat space inside. l is the length and w is the width. Multiplying counts how many unit squares fit, row by row.
Percent increase
percent increase=new−oldold×100\text{percent increase} = \frac{\text{new} - \text{old}}{\text{old}} \times 100
old is the starting amount, and new is the amount after. new − old is how much it grew. Dividing by old compares the growth with the start. Multiplying by 100 turns that into a percent.

  1. Sort out the question

    The field was 80 meters long and 50 meters wide. The length grew by 15%, a percent. The width grew by 10 meters, a number of meters. These are two different kinds of increase.

    You need the percent by which the area grew.

  2. Find the old area

    You need the old area to compare with the new one.

    A=80×50=4,000A = 80 \times 50 = 4{,}000

    The old field covered 4,000 square meters.

  3. Find the new length and width

    15% of 80 is 0.15×80=120.15 \times 80 = 12. So the new length is 80+12=9280 + 12 = 92 meters.

    The new width is 50+10=6050 + 10 = 60 meters.

    Watch out: 10 meters is not 10%. Treating it as 10% leads to 26.5%, choice A. Treating 15% as 15 meters leads to 42.5%, choice D.

  4. Find the new area

    Multiply the new length by the new width.

    A=92×60=5,520A = 92 \times 60 = 5{,}520

    The new field covers 5,520 square meters. That is 5,520−4,000=1,5205{,}520 - 4{,}000 = 1{,}520 square meters more.

  5. Find the percent increase

    percent increase=5,520−4,0004,000×100=1,5204,000×100=38\text{percent increase} = \frac{5{,}520 - 4{,}000}{4{,}000} \times 100 = \frac{1{,}520}{4{,}000} \times 100 = 38

    The area grew by 38%. Watch out: The width grew by 20%, since 10 is 20% of 50. Adding 15% + 20% = 35% gives choice B. That misses the extra corner piece where both new strips meet.

    So the answer is C, 38%.

Check your answer

Use growth factors. The length is multiplied by 1.15. The width goes from 50 to 60, so it is multiplied by 1.2. The area is multiplied by 1.15×1.2=1.381.15 \times 1.2 = 1.38, which is 38% more.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 113 as printed on page 215 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 215, question 113. Open page 215 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 116 of 120

2024 Test B Math, question 57

Question

If x and y are both negative integers with x<yx<y, which expression has the least value?

  • Ax2yx^{2}y
  • Bxy2xy^{2}
  • C−x2y-x^{2}y
  • D−xy2-xy^{2}
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

Since x and y are both negative integers, both x2x^{2} and y2y^{2} are positive.

Therefore, both x2yx^{2}y and xy2xy^{2} are negative, and both −x2y-x^{2}y and −xy2-xy^{2} are positive.

Because x<yx<y and both x and y are negative, |y|<|x||y|<|x| and y2<x2y^{2}<x^{2}. So |y2|<|x2||y^{2}|<|x^{2}|.

Since |y|<|x||y|<|x| and x and y are integers, |xy2|<|x2y||xy^{2}|<|x^{2}y|.

So x2y<xy2x^{2}y<xy^{2}.

−xy2=|xy2| and −x2y=|x2y|-xy^{2}=|xy^{2}|\text{ and }-x^{2}y=|x^{2}y|

Therefore, x2y<xy2<−xy2<−x2yx^{2}y<xy^{2}<-xy^{2}<-x^{2}y.

Question analysis

Two negative integers x and y, with x less than y, appear in four expressions built from squares and minus signs. Students find the expression with the least value. It tests multiplying negative numbers and comparing their sizes, and the difficulty is tracking how each minus sign and each square changes both the sign and the size of the result.

NYS standards
  • 7.NS.2a rational number multiplication
  • 6.NS.7d absolute value versus order
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students multiply negative numbers, but this asks them to compare four variable expressions for any pair of negative integers. Deciding how the squares compare when x is less than y goes beyond typical grade 7 sign practice.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 8, 20 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 facts settle the question: squares of negatives are positive, and the more negative number has the larger square. Students who track the minus signs carelessly think a leading minus makes an expression negative, and students who assume the larger y has the larger square choose the wrong negative expression. Substituting x = −3 and y = −2 gives −18, −12, 18 and 12, which orders all four at once.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    No values are given, only that x and y are negative integers with x < y, so students must reason about signs or invent a pair such as −3 and −2. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    x²y and xy² use the same letters with the exponent moved; both are negative, and only comparing x² with y² separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    All four expressions have to be placed in order, because the minus signs in front of the last two turn those expressions positive. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Pick two negative integers with x less than y, such as −3 and −2, evaluate all four expressions, and confirm the order with a second pair.

Traps

  • Negatives and direction: Arithmetic with negative numbers, the order of a subtraction, or direction on a number line. (Moving a term across the equals sign without changing its sign is a faulty procedure.)
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Signs in multiplication
(−a)×(−b)=a×b(-a) \times (-b) = a \times b
a and b are positive numbers, so −a and −b are negative. A negative times a negative is positive. A negative times a positive is negative. So a product is positive when it has an even number of negative factors.
Squaring a number
x2=x×xx^2 = x \times x
x is any number. x² (x squared) means x times itself. The square of a number other than 0 is always positive, because two negatives or two positives multiply to a positive.

  1. Sort out the question

    x and y are negative integers, such as −3 and −2. Since x < y, x is to the left of y on the number line. So x is more negative, farther from 0.

    You need the expression with the least value. That is the most negative one.

  2. Find the sign of each expression

    Squares are positive, so x2x^2 and y2y^2 are positive.

    • x2yx^2 y is a positive times a negative, so it is negative.
    • xy2x y^2 is a negative times a positive, so it is negative.
    • −x2y-x^2 y and −xy2-x y^2 are the opposites of these, so they are positive.

    So the least value must be A or B. Watch out: The minus sign in front of C and D does not make them negative. It turns a negative into a positive.

  3. Compare A and B with numbers

    Try x = −3 and y = −2, since −3 < −2.

    x2y=(−3)2×(−2)=9×(−2)=−18x^2 y = (-3)^2 \times (-2) = 9 \times (-2) = -18

    xy2=(−3)×(−2)2=(−3)×4=−12x y^2 = (-3) \times (-2)^2 = (-3) \times 4 = -12

    Since −18 < −12, A is smaller.

  4. See why it always works

    Both expressions contain x × y, which is positive. x2y=(xy)×xx^2 y = (xy) \times x and xy2=(xy)×yx y^2 = (xy) \times y. Multiplying the same positive number by the more negative x gives the more negative result.

    Watch out: y is bigger than x, but y2y^2 is smaller than x2x^2: 4 is less than 9. Thinking y² is bigger leads to choice B.

    So the answer is A, x2yx^2 y.

Check your answer

Try another pair, x = −5 and y = −1. Then A is 25×(−1)=−2525 \times (-1) = -25, B is (−5)×1=−5(-5) \times 1 = -5, C is 25 and D is 5. A is still the least.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 114 as printed on page 215 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 215, question 114. Open page 215 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 117 of 120

2023 Test A Math, question 4

Question

Line l is vertical and line n is horizontal, and a small square marks the right angle where they meet. Line m rises from the lower left to the upper right; it crosses line l below line n and crosses line n to the right of line l. Where m crosses l, the angle between the lower part of l and the lower-left part of m is marked 35°. Where m crosses n, the angle between the right part of n and the upper-right part of m is marked x°.

In the figure above, line l is perpendicular to line n. What is the value of x?

Grid-in question: work out the answer and enter it as a number.

Show the answer

Correct answer: 55

Since vertical angles are congruent, the right triangle in the figure has acute angles with measures of 35° and x°. The interior angles of a triangle sum to 180°, so set up an equation to solve for x:

90+35+x=18090 + 35 + x = 180

125+x=180125 + x = 180

x=55x = 55

Question analysis

Three lines cross in a figure: line l is perpendicular to line n, and a slanted line m meets them at a marked 35° angle and an unknown angle x. This geometry grid-in asks for the value of x. Students must see the right triangle the lines form and carry the marked angles into it using vertical angles.

NYS standards
  • 8.G.5 angle sums, transversals, angle-angle similarity
  • 7.G.5 angle relationships and equations
Grade level
Grade 8 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 angle problems use vertical, supplementary and complementary angles. This one also needs the angle sum of a triangle, which New York places in grade 8, and the triangle is not drawn as a separate shape, so students must spot it.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 4, 17 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 figure hides a small right triangle between the three lines, and the question is easy once students see it. Its angles are the right angle, the vertical partner of the 35° angle and the vertical partner of x, so x is what the right angle and 35° leave of 180°. Students who never spot the triangle tend to guess a direct relationship between the two marked angles, which no angle fact supports.

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

    Neither marked angle is inside the right triangle that lines l, m and n form: the 35° opens below the point where m crosses l, and x opens above line n, so each must be carried in as a vertical angle. (Lesh, Post & Behr, 1987; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  2. Something you must already know moderate Working it out

    The stem states only that l is perpendicular to n; students must supply that vertical angles are equal and that the three angles of a triangle add to 180°. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. An answer in an unexpected form minor Choosing the answer

    As a grid-in it offers no choices, so 125, the right angle plus the 35° angle, can be gridded with nothing to signal the missing subtraction. (Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

Strategy: Find the triangle formed by the three lines, use vertical angles to move the 35° and x° angles inside it, and apply the triangle's angle sum with the right angle.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Vertical angles
angle a=angle b\text{angle } a = \text{angle } b
When two lines cross, they make an X. The angles straight across from each other in the X are called vertical angles. a and b are one such pair. They are always equal, because each one plus the angle between them makes a straight line.
Angles of a triangle
A+B+C=180A + B + C = 180
A, B and C are the three angles inside any triangle, in degrees. They always add up to 180°. Use it when you know two of the angles and need the third.

  1. Sort out the figure

    Line l is perpendicular to line n. Perpendicular means they meet at a right angle, 90°. The small square in the figure marks it. Line m crosses both lines. The three lines make a triangle with a right angle. You need x, the angle marked x° where m crosses n.

  2. Move the 35° angle into the triangle

    The 35° angle is below the point where m crosses l. So it is outside the triangle. Lines l and m make an X there. The triangle’s angle is straight across from the 35° angle. They are vertical angles, so they are equal. The triangle’s angle at that corner is 35°.

  3. Move the x° angle into the triangle

    The x° angle is above line n, so it is outside the triangle too. Lines m and n make another X. The triangle’s angle at that crossing is straight across from x°. So the third angle of the triangle is also x°. Watch out: line m does not cross l and n at the same angle. Lines l and n are not parallel, so x is not 35.

  4. Use the triangle’s angle sum

    The triangle’s three angles are 90°, 35° and x°.

    A+B+C=180A + B + C = 180

    90+35+x=18090 + 35 + x = 180

    125+x=180125 + x = 180

    x=180−125=55x = 180 - 125 = 55

    Watch out: 125 is only the two known angles added together. You still subtract it from 180. Gridding 125 is wrong. So you would grid 55.

Check your answer

In a right triangle, the two smaller angles add up to 90°. That is because the right angle uses 90° of the 180°. Check: 35+55=9035 + 55 = 90. Also, in the figure the x° angle looks a bit bigger than the 35° angle, and 55 is.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 61 as printed on page 76 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 76, question 61. Open page 76 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 118 of 120

2023 Test A Math, question 12

Question

If n is an integer and 3n+33n + 3 is an even number, which expression must also represent an even number?

  • A5n+15n + 1
  • B4n+54n + 5
  • C2n+32n + 3
  • Dn+2n + 2
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The expression 3n+33n + 3 is equal to 3(n+1)3(n + 1), and it is given that this is an even number. The expression (n+1)(n + 1) must also represent an even number, because 3 is an odd number: if (n+1)(n + 1) were odd, 3(n+1)3(n + 1) would be the product of two odd numbers, which is an odd number. If (n+1)(n + 1) is an even number, then n must be an odd number. Choose an odd number to substitute for n in the answer options to find which expression represents an even number:

Let n=3n = 3.

Option A:

5n+1=5(3)+1=165n + 1 = 5(3) + 1 = 16

Option B:

4n+5=4(3)+5=174n + 5 = 4(3) + 5 = 17

Option C:

2n+3=2(3)+3=92n + 3 = 2(3) + 3 = 9

Option D:

n+2=3+2=5n + 2 = 3 + 2 = 5

Since 16 is the only even number, the correct answer is option A.

Question analysis

This number properties question says that 3n + 3 is even for an integer n and asks which of four expressions must also be even. Students reason about odd and even numbers written with a variable. The hidden step is deciding what the given fact says about n itself before testing the expressions.

NYS standards
  • 7.EE.2 rewriting expressions to show relationships
  • 6.NS.4 common factors and multiples
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students rewrite and evaluate expressions, but rarely reason about whether an expression is odd or even for every value of a variable. Here that reasoning comes in two layers: first about n, then about each choice.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 9, 23 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The explanation gave the wrong reason why n + 1 must be even; the reason 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 hides its key step: 3n + 3 = 3(n + 1), and since 3 is odd, n + 1 must be even, so n is odd. A student who skips that step and tests a convenient even value never checks the condition and lands on a wrong expression. Once n is known to be odd, any odd test value, such as 1, picks out 5n + 1 at once.

  1. Variables instead of numbers moderate Understanding the question

    No value of n is given; the only fact is that 3n + 3 is even, and it has to be turned into a fact about n itself, that n is odd, before any choice is judged. (Koedinger & Nathan, 2004; Enright, Morley & Sheehan, 2002)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The parity rules are assumed, not stated: an odd number times an odd number is odd, and an even number plus an odd number is odd. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each expression has to be tested with an odd n or by parity rules; three of the four come out odd whenever n is odd, so none can be dismissed on sight. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: First work out what 3n + 3 being even says about n, by factoring out 3 or testing small integers, then check each expression with a value of n that fits.

Traps

  • Misreads the question: Misses or misreads a condition or a word in the question: "at least", "each", "remaining", "not".
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The DOE’s explanation said that n + 1 must be even “because 3 is an odd number and the product of an odd number and an even number is an even number.” That fact does not show that n + 1 is even; the reason is that if n + 1 were odd, 3(n + 1) would be the product of two odd numbers, which is odd, and it is given as even. The site now gives that reason. The answer, A, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Pulling out a common factor
a×b+a×c=a(b+c)a \times b + a \times c = a(b + c)
a is a factor, a number being multiplied, that both terms share. b and c are what is left. This is the distributive property run backward. It turns a sum into a product, which is easier to reason about.
Multiplying odd numbers
odd×odd=odd\text{odd} \times \text{odd} = \text{odd}
An even number splits into pairs, like 2, 4 or 6. An odd number has one left over, like 1, 3 or 5. An odd number of odd groups always leaves one extra. So the product is odd.
Adding odd and even numbers
odd+odd=even,even+odd=odd\text{odd} + \text{odd} = \text{even}, \quad \text{even} + \text{odd} = \text{odd}
Two odd numbers each have one left over. Together the two extras make a pair, so the sum is even. An even number plus an odd number still has one left over, so the sum is odd.

  1. Sort out the question

    n is an integer, a whole number that can be positive, negative or 0. You are told that 3n+33n + 3 is even. You need the expression that must be even too. Must means it is even every time. First find out what the fact tells you about n.

  2. Pull out the 3

    Both terms in 3n+33n + 3 have a factor of 3. Pull it out.

    3n+3=3(n+1)3n + 3 = 3(n + 1)

    So 3 times (n+1)(n + 1) is an even number.

  3. Decide whether n is odd or even

    3 is odd. If n+1n + 1 were odd, 3(n+1)3(n + 1) would be odd times odd. That is always odd. But we are told it is even. So n+1n + 1 must be even. One less than an even number is odd. So n is odd. Watch out: don’t test n = 2. Then 3n+3=93n + 3 = 9, which is odd. With n = 2, only n+2n + 2 comes out even, choice D.

  4. Test each choice with an odd n

    Pick an odd number, n = 3. It fits, since 3×3+3=123 \times 3 + 3 = 12 is even.

    • A: 5n+1=5×3+1=165n + 1 = 5 \times 3 + 1 = 16, even
    • B: 4n+5=4×3+5=174n + 5 = 4 \times 3 + 5 = 17, odd
    • C: 2n+3=2×3+3=92n + 3 = 2 \times 3 + 3 = 9, odd
    • D: n+2=3+2=5n + 2 = 3 + 2 = 5, odd

    Only A is even.

  5. Make sure A always works

    Must means every odd n, not just 3. If n is odd, 5n is odd times odd, so it is odd. Odd plus 1 is even. So 5n+15n + 1 is always even. Watch out: 4n is even, but adding the odd 5 makes 4n+54n + 5 odd, choice B. In the same way, 2n+32n + 3 is always odd, choice C. So the answer is A, 5n+15n + 1.

Check your answer

Try another odd number, n = 1. Then 3n+3=63n + 3 = 6, which is even, so n = 1 fits. And 5n+1=65n + 1 = 6 is even too. The other three choices give 9, 5 and 3, all odd. Choice A wins again.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 69 as printed on page 78 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 78, question 69. Open page 78 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 119 of 120

2023 Test A Math, question 17

Question

A customer wants to buy a pair of hiking boots.

  • The original price of the boots is $85.75.
  • The store is offering a 15% discount on all boot purchases.
  • The customer has a coupon for an additional 25% off the sale price.
  • The tax rate is 8.5%.

What is the final cost of the boots, including the tax, to the nearest cent?

  • A$55.82
  • B$59.08
  • C$59.32
  • D$63.17
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

First, determine the sale price after the 15% discount is applied.

Since the customer is saving 15%, this means they are paying 85% (100−15)(100 - 15), so multiply the original price by 85% (0.85) to find the discounted price:

$85.75×0.85≈$72.89\$85.75 \times 0.85 \approx \$72.89

Next, find the price after the 25% coupon has been applied:

Since the customer is saving 25% off the sale price, this means they are paying 75% (100−25)(100 - 25), so multiply the price found in the first step by 75% (0.75) to find the second discounted price:

$72.89×0.75≈$54.67\$72.89 \times 0.75 \approx \$54.67

Last, find the final cost after an 8.5% tax is added to the second discounted price.

Since the customer is paying 8.5% tax, this means they are paying 108.5% (100+8.5)(100 + 8.5), so multiply the second discounted price by 108.5% (1.085) to find the final cost:

$54.67×1.085≈$59.32\$54.67 \times 1.085 \approx \$59.32

Question analysis

A pair of hiking boots costs $85.75, goes on sale at 15% off, gets an extra 25% off with a coupon, and is then taxed at 8.5%. Students find the final cost to the nearest cent. Each percent applies to the price left after the step before, so the discounts cannot simply be added, and the decimals call for careful multiplication.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 7.NS.3 four operations with rational numbers
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 A discount followed by sales tax is standard grade 7 percent work. This item stacks two discounts and a tax, with cents to keep at every stage, so it takes about twice the steps and decimal multiplication of a typical problem.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
3 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 4, 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

The question tests whether students treat successive percents as successive multipliers, and then holds them to three long multiplications. Adding the 15% and 25% into one discount is the tempting shortcut, and a tax read as a dollar amount is the other. The key rounds to the cent at each stage, as a register would; carried exactly, the result is $59.31, so the nearest choice, $59.32, still stands.

  1. Error-prone arithmetic major Working it out

    Three products of cents and decimals are worked by hand: 85.75 × 0.85 = 72.8875, then 72.89 × 0.75 = 54.6675, then 54.67 × 1.085 ≈ 59.32, each rounded to the cent. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

  2. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    The phrase "an additional 25% off the sale price" means 25% of the already discounted $72.89, not of the $85.75 original, so the two discounts multiply rather than add. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  3. Slow to do carefully moderate Choosing the answer

    A reliable method needs three long decimal multiplications without a calculator, well past the minute and a half a question allows, which tempts students to combine the percents. (Lu & Sireci, 2007)

Strategy: Multiply by 0.85 for the sale, by 0.75 for the coupon on the sale price, and by 1.085 for the tax, rounding to the cent at each stage as a register would.

Traps

  • Percent of the wrong amount: Finding the whole from a part, or a percent change measured from the wrong starting amount.
  • Misunderstands the concept: A wrong belief about a concept: that percents can be added, that area grows like length, that averages can be averaged, that a bigger denominator means a bigger fraction.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Price after a discount
new price=price×(1−p100)\text{new price} = \text{price} \times \left(1 - \frac{p}{100}\right)
p is the percent off. A discount is money taken off the price. If you save p percent, you pay the rest, 100 − p percent. For 15% off you pay 85%, so multiply by 0.85.
Price with tax
total=price×(1+t100)\text{total} = \text{price} \times \left(1 + \frac{t}{100}\right)
The price is the cost before tax. t is the tax rate, a percent. Tax is extra money added on top. You pay the whole price, 100%, plus t percent more. So for 8.5% tax you multiply by 1.085.

  1. Sort out the question

    The boots cost $85.75 at first. The store takes 15% off. Then a coupon takes 25% off the sale price. The sale price is the price after the first discount. Then 8.5% tax is added. You need the final cost to the nearest cent. A cent is $0.01, the second place after the decimal point.

  2. Take off the 15% discount

    You save 15%, so you pay 85%. That is 0.85 of the price.

    new price=price×(1−p100)\text{new price} = \text{price} \times \left(1 - \frac{p}{100}\right)

    new price=85.75×(1−15100)=85.75×0.85=72.8875\text{new price} = 85.75 \times \left(1 - \frac{15}{100}\right) = 85.75 \times 0.85 = 72.8875

    A price can’t have part of a cent, so round to two decimal places. The third digit is 7, which is 5 or more, so round up.

    72.8875≈72.8972.8875 \approx 72.89

    The sign ≈ means about. The sale price is $72.89.

  3. Take 25% off the sale price

    The coupon takes 25% off $72.89, so you pay 75% of it.

    72.89×0.75=54.6675≈54.6772.89 \times 0.75 = 54.6675 \approx 54.67

    The price is now $54.67. Watch out: take the coupon off the sale price, not the first price. Adding 15% and 25% to get 40% off $85.75 leads to $55.82, choice A.

  4. Add the 8.5% tax

    You pay the price plus 8.5% more, which is 108.5% of it.

    total=price×(1+t100)\text{total} = \text{price} \times \left(1 + \frac{t}{100}\right)

    total=54.67×1.085=59.31695≈59.32\text{total} = 54.67 \times 1.085 = 59.31695 \approx 59.32

    Watch out: 8.5% is a percent of the price, not $8.50. Adding $8.50 gives $63.17, choice D.

  5. See why rounding each time matters

    A store rounds to the cent after each step, as you just did. The test’s answer is worked the same way. Keep every digit and round only at the end, and you get this:

    85.75×0.85×0.75×1.085=59.3122…≈59.3185.75 \times 0.85 \times 0.75 \times 1.085 = 59.3122\ldots \approx 59.31

    That is $59.31, which is not a choice. The first two roundings each went up by a tiny part of a cent. That was just enough to push the total from $59.31 to $59.32. So here, round at each step, as a store would. So the answer is C, $59.32.

Check your answer

Check the tax a second way. 8.5% of $54.67 is 0.085×54.67=4.646950.085 \times 54.67 = 4.64695, about $4.65. Then 54.67+4.65=59.3254.67 + 4.65 = 59.32. Also estimate: two discounts leave a bit less than two-thirds of $86, near $55. Tax adds under $5, so about $59 or $60 makes sense.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 74 as printed on page 79 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 79, question 74. Open page 79 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

2023 Test A Math, question 21

Question

A soccer coach purchased 15 pairs of cleats for team members and spent a total of $805.95, including tax. If the tax rate is 8%, what is the price of each pair of cleats before tax?

  • A$49.43
  • B$49.75
  • C$53.73
  • D$58.03
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

Since the total cost of $805.95 includes an 8% tax, this means that the cost of 15 pairs of cleats before tax was multiplied by 1.08 to find the total cost of the cleats including the tax. So, first, use division to find the cost of the 15 pairs of cleats before tax:

$805.95÷1.08=$746.25\$805.95 \div 1.08 = \$746.25

Then, divide that quotient by 15 to find the price of 1 pair of cleats:

$746.25÷15=$49.75\$746.25 \div 15 = \$49.75

Question analysis

A soccer coach pays $805.95, tax included, for 15 pairs of cleats, and the tax rate is 8%. Students find the price of one pair before tax. The total already includes the tax, so students must work backward from a percent increase, and a common shortcut lands very close to the right price.

NYS standards
  • 7.RP.3 multistep ratio and percent problems
  • 6.RP.3b unit rate problems
Grade level
Grade 7 content, by NYS standard
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Typical grade 7 tax problems add tax to a price. This one works backward from a total that already includes the tax, a reverse percent step many students find unfamiliar, and then shares the cost among 15 pairs.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Solution
2 steps
Reading level
Question and choices: about grade 5, 33 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A repeated word in the question 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

Removing a tax is harder than adding one, because the 8% was taken of an amount the problem never states. Taking 8% off the $805.95 total feels natural and lands within 32 cents of the answer, which is why this question is hard. A quick check exposes it: 15 pairs at $49.75 cost $746.25, and adding 8% of that gives exactly $805.95.

  1. Turning words into math moderate Understanding the question

    The phrase "spent a total of $805.95, including tax" makes $805.95 equal to 108% of the pre-tax cost, so the tax is removed by dividing by 1.08, not by taking 8% off. (Hegarty, Mayer & Monk, 1995; Koedinger & Nathan, 2004)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    $49.43 and $49.75 are 32 cents apart, and taking 8% off the total lands on the lower one; no estimate separates them, only dividing by 1.08. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Error-prone arithmetic moderate Working it out

    805.95 ÷ 1.08 = 746.25 and 746.25 ÷ 15 = 49.75 are long decimal divisions by hand; dividing by 15 first, to 53.73, and then by 1.08 is no easier. (Brown & Burton, 1978; Junker & Sijtsma, 2001)

Strategy: Treat the total as 108% of the pre-tax cost: divide $805.95 by 1.08, then divide by 15 pairs, and check by adding 8% back.

Traps

  • Percent of the wrong amount: Finding the whole from a part, or a percent change measured from the wrong starting amount.
  • Answers a different question: A choice is right for another quantity: the other unknown, the rest instead of the part, the part instead of the whole.
  • Wrong operation: Adds instead of multiplying, divides the wrong way round, turns a ratio or rate upside down, or undoes a step in the wrong direction (subtracts what should be added back).

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Stem: The handbook’s question reads “what is the the price of each pair of cleats before tax?”, with “the” printed twice (p. 80, question 78). The site now reads “what is the price of each pair of cleats before tax?”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Worked solution, step by step

Formulas used

Price with tax
total=price×(1+t100)\text{total} = \text{price} \times \left(1 + \frac{t}{100}\right)
The price is the cost before tax. t is the tax rate, a percent. Tax is extra money added on top. You pay the whole price, 100%, plus t percent more. So for 8% tax you multiply by 1.08.
Undoing a multiplication
if a×b=c, then a=c÷b\text{if } a \times b = c \text{, then } a = c \div b
a is the unknown, b is the number it was multiplied by, and c is the result. Dividing by b undoes multiplying by b. Use it to work backward to the amount before tax.

  1. Sort out the question

    The coach bought 15 pairs of cleats, which are sports shoes. He paid $805.95 in all, and that includes 8% tax. Tax is extra money added to the price. You need the price of one pair before tax.

  2. Write the total with tax

    The tax is 8% of the cost before tax. So the coach paid 100% + 8% = 108% of that cost. 108% is 1.08. Call the pre-tax cost of all 15 pairs c.

    total=price×(1+t100)\text{total} = \text{price} \times \left(1 + \frac{t}{100}\right)

    c×1.08=805.95c \times 1.08 = 805.95

  3. Divide to remove the tax

    To undo multiplying by 1.08, divide by 1.08. Move both decimal points two places right first.

    c=805.95÷1.08=80,595÷108=746.25c = 805.95 \div 1.08 = 80{,}595 \div 108 = 746.25

    All 15 pairs cost $746.25 before tax. Watch out: don’t take 8% of $805.95 and subtract it. The tax was 8% of the smaller pre-tax cost. That way leads to $49.43, choice A.

  4. Find the price of one pair

    All 15 pairs cost the same, so share the cost equally.

    746.25÷15=49.75746.25 \div 15 = 49.75

    Watch out: dividing $805.95 by 15 without removing the tax gives $53.73, choice C. That price still includes the tax. So the answer is B, $49.75.

Check your answer

Work forward. 15 pairs at $49.75 cost 15×49.75=746.2515 \times 49.75 = 746.25 dollars. The tax is 0.08×746.25=59.700.08 \times 746.25 = 59.70 dollars. Then 746.25+59.70=805.95746.25 + 59.70 = 805.95, the total in the question.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 78 as printed on page 80 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 80, question 78. Open page 80 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.