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Question 1 of 75

2026 Practice Test A English, question 4
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

In which two ways does the poet develop the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza (lines 8–14)?

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.

  • Aby describing the mountains’ awe-inspiring size and strength
  • Bby comparing the various methods humans use to control nature
  • Cby criticizing the careless actions of humans that harm the natural environment
  • Dby demonstrating how the mountains and the people are able to benefit from each other
  • Eby depicting the unfortunate plight of the mountains with vivid details
Show the answer

Correct answer: C and E

The question asks for the two ways in which the poet develops the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza (lines 8–14).

A. Incorrect. The speaker’s descriptions of the mountains’ awe-inspiring size and strength mainly occur in the first and third stanzas, while in the second stanza, the speaker focuses on humanity and its negative effect on the mountains.

B. Incorrect. The wording of the second stanza—“makes war” (line 10), “Splits down their shining sides” (line 12), and “Destroys the lonely fragments” (line 14)—communicates the speaker’s position that people’s main impact on the mountains is destructive, but the stanza does not compare the various methods people use to control nature.

C. CORRECT. In the second stanza, the speaker criticizes the careless and destructive actions of society or “the world” (lines 8 and 10) that harm the natural environment. Humans are described as both heedless of the mountains (“heeds them not”) and harmfully warlike (“makes war on them”). The speaker cites the harm done to the mountains when people “[tunnel] their granite cliffs” (line 11) and “[split] down their shining sides” (line 12), thus “[destroying] the lonely fragments of their peace” (line 14).

D. Incorrect. In the second stanza, the speaker does not describe a mutually beneficial relationship between the mountains and the people. Although people clearly derive benefits from the mountains by plastering “their cliffs with soap-advertisements” (line 13), the stanza does not demonstrate that the mountains receive any benefit from the harmful actions of the people.

E. CORRECT. In the second stanza, the speaker depicts the unfortunate plight of the mountains with vivid details. Lines 11–14 feature expressive wording that sharply illustrates the mountains’ misfortune: “Tunnels their granite cliffs, / Splits down their shining sides, / Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements.”

Question analysis

This select-two question on John Gould Fletcher’s poem “Snowy Mountains” asks in which two ways the poet develops the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza, lines 8–14. It reworks a one-answer handbook question, now with five choices. Each choice has to be judged on its own, and a choice that fits the poem as a whole is not enough.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Typical grade 7 point-of-view questions ask for one answer about a longer text. This stanza is only seven short lines with one steady attitude, but students must find two right choices out of five and judge each one separately.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 79 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Most students sense the anger at “the world” in lines 8–14 and find the criticism of people quickly. The point is lost on the second pick, because the other right choice names a technique, vivid details of the mountains’ suffering, and can look like plain description. The choice about comparing methods tempts students who see a list of human actions, and the awe of the first and third stanzas pulls those who drift outside the stanza, while both picks must be right to score.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how the viewpoint is built, and both right choices are methods: a judgment of “the world” that “makes war,” and the vivid verbs “Tunnels,” “Splits” and “Plasters” in lines 11–13. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All five choices must be tested and both picks must be right, so finding the criticism of people is only half the work; the second right choice is about imagery, not message. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    One right choice turns on “plight,” a hard situation; a student who does not know the word cannot see that it names the damage done to the mountains in lines 11–14. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate in your own words what lines 8–14 say and how they say it, then test each of the five choices on its own and keep only the two that fit this stanza rather than the whole poem.

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: how the speaker, the voice talking in the poem, feels about the subject. It also asks how the poet shows that feeling. Stay inside the second stanza, lines 8 to 14. You must pick two answers, so test all five choices one at a time.

  2. Read the second stanza closely

    Line 8 says “But the world heeds them not.” To heed something is to pay attention to it. Here “the world” means people in general. Line 10 says “The world makes war on them.” Lines 11 to 13 list what people do: “Tunnels their granite cliffs, / Splits down their shining sides, / Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements.” Line 14 ends with “Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.”

  3. Name how the speaker feels

    The speaker is on the mountains’ side. People ignore the mountains, yet they keep attacking them. The speaker blames people for this harm. Pointing out what someone does wrong is called criticizing. The speaker also makes you feel sorry for the mountains. Strong action words like “Tunnels,” “Splits” and “Plasters” paint a sharp picture of the damage. Sharp word pictures like these are called vivid details.

  4. Check each of the five choices

    • A does not fit. The mountains’ great size fills the first and third stanzas, as in “Higher and still more high.” In lines 8 to 14 they are only being hurt.
    • B does not fit. The stanza lists several things people do, but it never compares them. They are all part of one “war.”
    • C fits. The speaker criticizes people for careless acts that damage nature.
    • D does not fit. The mountains get nothing good from people. The stanza shows only harm.
    • E fits. A plight is a bad or sad situation. The vivid verbs in lines 11 to 13 show the mountains’ plight.

    Watch out: B is tempting because the stanza names several acts. But a list is not a comparison.

  5. Choose both answers

    The speaker’s view comes through two things: blame for people, and a vivid picture of the mountains’ suffering. Select both choices on the screen. You need both to get the point. So the answers are C and E.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

E is the right answer that is easiest to miss, because it can look like plain description. But those vivid details are how the speaker makes you feel for the mountains. B is the closest wrong choice. The stanza does list several human acts, yet it never weighs one against another. Each act is just one more blow.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 4 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 A English, page 7, question 4.
The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.

Question 2 of 75

2026 Practice Test A English, question 7

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

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

Move each answer to the correct box.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Matching quotations to a stated theme is routine grade 7 evidence work, and both themes are given. The added demand is volume: five separate judgments on lines from all three stanzas of old-fashioned verse, each of which must land in the right box.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 34 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Most tiles sort quickly once a student asks whether people appear in the lines. The first tile is the hard one: its angel simile is pure splendor, yet the “dingy city-roofs” beneath it set the city against the peaks, and only that contrast fits the second theme. The tunneling lines hide their human actor outside the tile. With five placements that must all be right, one hasty tile loses the question.

  1. Much to keep track of moderate Working it out

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

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

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

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

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

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

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • Taking figurative language literally: A choice reads a figure of speech or image at face value.
  • Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Sort the lines about the city

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

  3. Sort the lines about the pillars

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

  4. Sort the lines about tunnels

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

  5. Sort the last two quotations

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

  6. Place each quotation in its box

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

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 7 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 10 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test A English, page 10, question 7.

Question 3 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 23
Passage Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything

Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything

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

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

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

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

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

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

Question

Read lines 5–8 from the poem.

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

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

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

Correct answer: B

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Below typical grade 7 demand: the four lines are quoted in the question and use everyday words, so a single step of interpretation links them to the speaker’s attitude and to the poem’s larger subject.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 76 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The lines move down level by level, molecules, atoms, protons, and then stop at a question, so the speaker’s curiosity is close to the surface. The choice about how the parts work together comes nearest to the right one, helped by the head-note, which says the collider studies how particles “interact.” Students who notice that the lines list what lies beneath what, and never how things interact, settle on curiosity about what matter is made of.

  1. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

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

  2. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

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

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

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Read lines 5–8

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

  3. See what the speaker is doing

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

  4. Check each choice

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

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

  5. Choose the answer

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 23 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 34 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 34, question 23.
The passage “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” as printed (pages 32–33)The passage “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” as printed on page 33 of the DOE handbook.

Question 4 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 24

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

Question

The main purpose of the comparison in lines 23–24 of the poem is to show

  • Athat the particles’ size makes them difficult to see.
  • Bhow the particles move within the tunnel.
  • Cthat the particles have a familiar shape.
  • Dhow the particles can be seen only in darkness.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the comparison in lines 23–24 of the poem is mainly meant to show.

A. Incorrect. While the particles are moving “close to the speed of light” (line 24), which would make them difficult to see, the comparison in lines 23–24 focuses on the movement of the particles, not how visible they are.

B. CORRECT. Lines 23–24 describe “tiny cars / flashing along at close to the speed of light,” which describes how the particles move.

C. Incorrect. Lines 23–24 do not describe the shape of the particles but rather their movement, which is “flashing along at close to the speed of light” (line 24).

D. Incorrect. The word “flashing” in line 24 does not refer to light in darkness but rather to speed, and the word “light” is used to reference a measurement of speed, not brightness in darkness.

Question analysis

This figurative language question asks for the main purpose of a comparison in lines 23–24 of the poem “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything,” where particles in an underground tunnel are likened to tiny racing cars. Students must work out what the image is mainly meant to show about the particles, judging the comparison as a whole rather than word by word.

NYS standards
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Explaining what a simple comparison shows is grade 6 work, and this one likens particles to racing cars in two short lines of familiar words, so a single step of interpretation is enough.
Estimated difficulty
Routine: one familiar step, little to misread.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 46 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 image is built from words about motion, racing cars “flashing along at close to the speed of light,” so most students see its purpose quickly. Each wrong choice seizes one piece of the picture, the cars’ tininess, their shape or the word “light,” and makes it the point. Students who ask what the whole comparison makes them picture, rather than what one word suggests, avoid all three.

  1. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The comparison sits in parentheses, “like racing cars, only very tiny cars / flashing along at close to the speed of light,” and students must see that racing cars stand for speed. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Name the two things being compared in lines 23–24 and ask what a reader is meant to picture, then choose the purpose that the comparison’s own words support.

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 poet makes a comparison in lines 23–24. A comparison shows how two different things are alike. First find the two things. Then ask what the reader is meant to picture.

  2. Read the lines around it

    Lines 20–22 describe building “deep circular tunnels beneath the surface / of this Earth” to race particles. Then lines 23–24 add “(like racing cars, only very tiny cars / flashing along at close to the speed of light)”. The speed of light is the fastest speed there is.

  3. Work out the comparison

    The particles are compared to racing cars. Racing cars zoom around a track, lap after lap, very fast. The particles zoom around the round tunnel the same way. “Flashing along” means moving so fast they are a blur. So the comparison helps you picture how the particles move.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The cars are “very tiny,” but the point is racing, not being hard to see.
    • B fits. Like racing cars, the particles speed around the tunnel.
    • C does not fit. The particles do not look like cars. The comparison is about motion, not shape.
    • D does not fit. “Light” here measures speed. It is not about glowing in the dark.

    Watch out: A is tempting because of the word “tiny.” But a poet picks racing cars to show speed, not size.

  5. Choose the answer

    The racing cars help you picture particles speeding around the tunnel. So the answer is B, “how the particles move within the tunnel.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice, since the poem does call them “very tiny cars.” But the comparison is to racing cars “flashing along at close to the speed of light.” Every word there is about speed and motion. So B, how the particles move, fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 24 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 35 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 35, question 24.

Question 5 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 25

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

Question

Read lines 27–28 from the poem.

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

The imagery in the lines reveals that the speaker

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

Correct answer: C

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

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

B. Incorrect. The speaker describes the particle collision in detail, but the text does not imply that the speaker has personally witnessed a collision. The speaker implies that his or her understanding of the collision is based on the experiences of the physicists observing the phenomenon (“They spin, and it is only down there / in the darkness—in the vast garage / where physicists jot down / what they can, whatever seems most real— / that they let us perceive their wild dancing” [lines 39–43]).

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students infer a speaker’s attitude from imagery, but these two lines turn on the uncommon word “incandescent,” state nothing about the speaker outright, and the choices range over the speaker’s knowledge, experience and feelings, which is harder than typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 55 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

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

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

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

  2. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

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

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

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

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

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Read lines 27–28

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

  3. Decide how the speaker feels

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

  4. Check each choice

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

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

  5. Choose the answer

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 6 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 26

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

Question

Read lines 30–32 from the poem.

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

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

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

Correct answer: D

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

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

Why it is hard

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

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

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

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

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

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

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

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

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Find what their names means

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

  3. Hear the joke

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

  4. Check each choice

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

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

  5. Choose the answer

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 7 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 27

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

Question

Read lines 36–39 from the poem.

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

The poet includes these lines most likely to emphasize that

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

Correct answer: B

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining why a poet includes certain lines is typical grade 7 work. The quoted lines start partway through a sentence, so students must read lines 33–35 to see what the sentence is about, an extra step but not an unusual one.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 75 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The explanation of C reversed cause and effect in the poem; one word was changed.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The quoted lines are the tail of a sentence, and without its start they read like a list of objects. Students who go back to lines 33–35 see that the spin of the particles is what holds things “together and apart,” and the pencil and Jupiter show how far that reaches. Those who read the fragment alone fasten on Jupiter and think of astronomy, while those who read on to the physicists who “jot down / what they can” may decide that little is known.

  1. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    The quoted lines begin mid-sentence with “both together and apart, what keeps,” so students must read back to lines 33–35 to learn that the subject is the particles’ spin, “how gravity / enters our world.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The lines never say “everything”; students must see that a pencil in your hand and a distant planet stand for things near and small and things far and huge, so the effect reaches all matter. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

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

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why the poet includes lines 36–39. The lines start in the middle of a sentence. So read the whole sentence, from line 33, to see what it is about.

  2. Read lines 33–39 as one sentence

    Lines 33–34 say “The one thing we know for sure / is that they spin.” “They” means the tiny particles. Then the poem goes on: “This is how gravity / enters our world, how our world is held / both together and apart, what keeps / together the pencil in your hand right now / as well as separate from, say, / Jupiter.”

  3. Work out what it means

    “This” points back to the spinning. The spinning is how gravity comes into our world. Gravity is the pull that draws things toward each other. So the particles’ spin holds a pencil together and keeps it apart from Jupiter. A pencil is small and close. Jupiter is a huge planet, far away. Together they stand for everything.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The lines say what particles do. They do not say physicists must keep working.
    • B fits. The particles affect everything, from a pencil to a planet.
    • C does not fit. These lines state facts with confidence. The physicists who “jot down / what they can” come later, in lines 41–42.
    • D does not fit. The pencil and Jupiter are things the particles affect. They are not two subjects of study being compared.

    Watch out: D is tempting because Jupiter is in space. But the lines show one force acting on both objects, not two kinds of science.

  5. Choose the answer

    A small pencil and a giant planet show that the particles’ effect reaches everything. So the answer is B, “these particles have a powerful effect on everything.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 8 of 75

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 9 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 36
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

How does the structure of the poem affect the poem’s meaning?

  • AThe lack of a rhyming pattern suggests that the beauty of each passing day is unique.
  • BThe lengths of the sentences represent the complexity of the thoughts being represented.
  • CThe use of complete sentences implies the speaker’s appreciation for the clear beginning and ending of each season.
  • DThe single long stanza reflects the continuous flow of the speaker’s thoughts.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the structure of the poem affects its meaning.

A. Incorrect. Though the poem lacks a rhyming pattern, such a structure is not related to the uniqueness of the passing days. The speaker is savoring “the early edge of fall” (line 7) and describes walks taken on “these days” (line 17), but the beauty the speaker appreciates is attributed to the fall season rather than to a unique day. Further, the poem is primarily concerned with broad seasonal shifts, not the passing of each day, and the absence of rhyme does not suggest that each day is unique in its beauty.

B. Incorrect. The poem includes both long sentences (such as the one in lines 7–12) and short sentences (such as those in lines 5 and 6). However, the sentence lengths are not connected with the complexity of the ideas expressed.

C. Incorrect. A complete sentence serves to present the beginning and the end of a single thought, but the poem is not primarily concerned with the speaker’s thoughts on the “clear beginning and ending of each season.” Though it contrasts the speaker’s feelings and experiences during different seasons, the poem does not present descriptions focused specifically on the beginnings or ends of these seasons.

D. CORRECT. Unlike poems that are broken into stanzas reflecting unified groups of thoughts, this poem is one long stanza. This structure serves to emphasize the uninterrupted flow of the speaker’s thoughts from time to time and experience to experience without a clear break between any specific thoughts.

Question analysis

This poetry question asks how the structure of Jacob Scheier's “Letter from Brooklyn,” a poem about walking through the city in early fall, affects its meaning. Students must look at how the poem is built, its sentences, line breaks, stanzas and lack of rhyme, and decide which feature really shapes what the poem says.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 standards ask how a poem's form shapes its meaning. Here each choice names a feature of form that students must first confirm in the poem and then link to its meaning, a typical grade 7 poetry task on a short poem.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 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

Checking whether a feature exists rules out little here, since the poem is unrhymed, its sentences vary widely and it has one stanza. The decision rests on which feature matches what the speaker does: thoughts move from future to present to memory without a break. The strongest pull ties the lack of rhyme to the uniqueness of each day, which sounds like the poem’s theme of rare moments but is not something rhyme or its absence can show.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question is about form, so students must ask what the single unbroken stanza does: it carries the speaker from the coming cold back to the present walk without a pause. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Three choices name features the poem really has, no rhyme, sentences from five words to six lines, and one stanza, so the meaning each feature is given is what separates them. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Students must know what a stanza and a rhyming pattern are, and that a poem without stanza breaks has no white space marking separate groups of thought. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: For each choice, first check that the poem really has the feature named, then ask whether that feature fits what the speaker is doing throughout the poem, not just in one line.

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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks how the poem’s structure shapes its meaning. Structure means how the poem is built: its stanzas, its sentences and its rhyme. A stanza is a group of lines set apart by a blank line. It is like a paragraph in a poem.

  2. Look at how the poem is built

    The poem has 26 lines and no blank lines, so it is one long stanza. The lines don’t rhyme. The sentences have many lengths. Line 5, “The weather will turn cold,” is short. The sentence in lines 7–12 runs six lines.

  3. Follow the speaker’s thoughts

    The speaker is the voice talking in the poem. Line 1 jumps ahead: “I can already see how this will end.” Line 6 comes back: “But that all happens later.” Then the speaker describes the fall air, then the walk, then a lonely feeling. One thought slides into the next with no stop. One unbroken stanza matches that steady flow.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The poem has no rhyme. But missing rhyme can’t show that each day’s beauty is unique, or one of a kind.
    • B is wrong. The sentences do vary in length. But the poem doesn’t link long sentences to hard thoughts.
    • C is wrong. The poem isn’t about each season’s clear start and end. It describes fall just starting to turn.
    • D is right. The single stanza matches thoughts that flow on with no breaks.

    Watch out: Three choices name real features of the poem. So don’t stop at Is this true? Ask whether that feature really creates the meaning the choice gives it.

  5. Choose the answer

    Continuous means going on without stopping. So the answer is D: “The single long stanza reflects the continuous flow of the speaker’s thoughts.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because the poem does praise a rare moment. But rhyme, or no rhyme, can’t show that each day is unique. One long stanza can show thoughts flowing without a stop. That is how the speaker thinks, from line 1 to line 26.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 36 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 51 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test B English, page 51, question 36.
The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed (page 50)The passage “Letter from Brooklyn” as printed on page 50 of the DOE handbook.

Question 10 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 37

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

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.

Question 11 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 38

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

Read lines 5–6 from the poem.

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

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

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

Correct answer: D

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how particular lines develop a poem's theme is core grade 7 work. These two lines are short and plainly worded, so the demand lies in relating them to the theme of the whole poem, which is typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 63 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

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

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

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

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

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

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

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Read the lines in place

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

  3. Put it in your own words

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

  4. Check each choice

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

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

  5. Choose the answer

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 12 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 39

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

Read lines 7–9 from the poem.

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

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

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

Correct answer: A

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5c connotation and denotation
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how word choice conveys a speaker's feelings is everyday grade 7 work. These three lines are short and concrete, but their meaning rests on the connotations of a few small words, which matches a typical grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 86 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The three lines are short, and every choice builds on something real in them: a change in the weather, a season ending, subtlety. What separates the answer is the time words, “For now,” “early edge” and “still,” which say that something good is present and passing. Students lose the point by stretching a reasonable sense of loss into a claim about the best season, or by turning the speaker’s private notice into what other people miss.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

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

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

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

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

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Mark the time words

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

  3. Hear what the words suggest

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

  4. Check each choice

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

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

  5. Choose the answer

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 13 of 75

2026 Practice Test B English, question 40

Uses the passage above: “Letter from Brooklyn”.

Question

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

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

Correct answer: B

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Interpreting a simile in a poem is routine grade 7 work. This comparison uses a familiar childhood object, and the only complication is the added “but didn't,” which invites a reading that the rest of the lines must confirm or rule out.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 217 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 78 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The core of the simile is easy: a row of brownstones looks like a pop-up picture book, something charming. The difficulty is the closing “but didn’t,” which tempts students toward regret or toward a story about the speaker’s childhood. Students who ask what the comparison says about the houses, rather than about the speaker’s past, see that the lines praise the neighborhood.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

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

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

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

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

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

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

  2. Read the comparison

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

  3. Put it in your own words

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

  4. Check each choice

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

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

  5. Choose the answer

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

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 14 of 75

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 15 of 75

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 16 of 75

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 17 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 21

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

Read lines 12–14 from the poem.

And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them
  that talked most of all and said more than any others
  though speaking the fewest words.

What does the phrase “talked most of all” in line 13 convey?

  • AIt establishes that the speaker thinks the sound of wind in the leaves is the best indication that the season is changing.
  • BIt introduces the idea that the sound of the wind in the leaves remains constant throughout the seasons.
  • CIt suggests that the speaker is overwhelmed by the sounds of nature that emerge as the season changes.
  • DIt emphasizes that the sounds of nature enable the speaker to appreciate each season of the year.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

This question asks for what a phrase reveals about the speaker’s perspective on the change in seasons.

A. CORRECT. The first stanza of the poem establishes the way different parts of the natural world, including both plants and animals, respond to the change in season. These lines reflect the way the wind in the leaves is the best indication of the seasonal change because it is the wind in the leaves that “talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words” (lines 13–14).

B. Incorrect. Although the sound of the wind is the most obvious sign of the seasonal change per the speaker, it is in response to the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3) that the wind speaks through the leaves. The poem does not reveal that this figurative speech occurs throughout the seasons, only that it occurs during the transition to summer.

C. Incorrect. While the language used by the speaker indicates a deep appreciation for the natural phenomenon being witnessed, the language used does not indicate a feeling of being overwhelmed but rather a feeling of awareness.

D. Incorrect. Using the personification of the wind “speaking” (line 14) indicates an appreciation by the speaker for the power and volume of the wind’s voice, but only one instance of the wind’s speech, that which occurs at the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3), is chronicled by the speaker in the poem.

Question analysis

Students interpret the personification in lines 12–14 of “Bird Talk,” where the leaves under a strong soft wind “talked most of all,” and decide what that phrase conveys. Because the leaves also speak “the fewest words,” the line seems to contradict itself, and its meaning depends on how it fits Sandburg’s first stanza about the start of summer.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining what a figurative phrase conveys about a speaker’s view is standard grade 7 work. The three lines are printed with the question, though the phrase still has to be read against the rest of the first stanza.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 119 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The phrase ranks the leaves above the shrilling frogs and chattering birds as voices of the season, but it never says what they are best at, so students must supply the idea of a sign. The tempting wrong readings take the speaker’s pleasure in nature and stretch it to every season, or hear “talked most of all” as noise. The quiet words around the phrase, “strong soft wind” and “fewest words,” point to a calm sound that tells the most.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The leaves are personified, and the line seems to contradict itself: they “talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must turn “said more than any others” into a judgment, that the leaves are the surest sign of summer, which lines 17–19 confirm when the leaves themselves announce “the beginning of summer.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate lines 12–14 in plain words, especially the contrast between saying more and speaking fewer words, then test each choice against the whole first stanza.

Traps

  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what a phrase conveys, or gets across. The phrase is “talked most of all” in line 13. Leaves can’t really talk. Giving a thing human actions, like talking, is called personification. You need to work out what the speaker means by saying the leaves talked the most.

  2. Read lines 12–14

    Lines 12–14 say “And it was the leaves with a strong soft wind over them / that talked most of all and said more than any others / though speaking the fewest words.” The others are the frogs and birds from earlier lines. The leaves “said more than any others,” yet they used “the fewest words.” So the quiet rustle of the leaves tells you more than all the frog and bird calls.

  3. Find what the leaves say

    The stanza ends with the leaves speaking. Lines 17–19 say it was “the leaves on the branches, beginning to be heavy,” who said “This is the beginning of summer.” So the leaves’ message is that the season has changed. The new leaves, rustling in the wind, are the clearest sign that summer has come.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The leaves say the most about the season, so they are the best sign that it is changing.
    • B does not fit. The leaves have just come out of “the gaunt nowhere / of winter.” Gaunt means thin and bare. The leaves do not rustle the same way all year.
    • C does not fit. A “strong soft wind” and “the fewest words” describe a quiet sound. Nothing shows the speaker is overwhelmed, or swamped.
    • D does not fit. The poem watches only one change, the start of summer, not each season.

    Watch out: D is tempting because the speaker clearly enjoys nature’s sounds. But it stretches that to “each season of the year,” which the poem never covers.

  5. Choose the answer

    “Talked most of all” shows that the leaves tell the most about the change of season. So the answer is A, “It establishes that the speaker thinks the sound of wind in the leaves is the best indication that the season is changing.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. The speaker does seem to enjoy the sounds of nature. But the poem covers just one change, the turn to summer. And the phrase does more than show enjoyment. It ranks the leaves above the frogs and birds. They say the most about the change, so they are the best sign of it.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 34 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 34, question 21.

Question 18 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

How does the repetition of “ ‘This is the beginning of summer’ ” in lines 2–3 and lines 18–19 contribute to the meaning of the poem?

  • AIt suggests that the shift to summer occurs in the same way each year.
  • BIt emphasizes the idea that living things are prepared for the change of season.
  • CIt highlights the idea that the first signs of summer are surprising each year.
  • DIt builds expectations about what the natural world looks like during a change of season.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the repetition of a phrase contributes to the meaning of the poem in terms of conveying information about a cyclical event.

A. CORRECT. This phrase is used twice verbatim, in both cases to show the figurative words spoken by the branches (lines 2–3) and the leaves on the branches (lines 18–19). Repetition of this phrase conveys the idea that the transition to summer occurs in the same manner each subsequent year and thus evokes the same response from nature.

B. Incorrect. While living things—branches and leaves—both make identical figurative utterances, they do so not because they have prepared for such an event. Rather, these living things take the change in stride because of the sameness and expectedness of the seasonal shifts, which occur in the same way each time.

C. Incorrect. Even though the branches and leaves have been imbued by the speaker with some degree of consciousness in their figurative ability to speak, they are not surprised by the change in seasons. They say the same thing each year because the same thing occurs each year in the same way.

D. Incorrect. Certain lines of the poem do describe the natural world during the change of seasons, such as lines 8–9: “The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups / reached across the green pastures.” However, this repeated phrase serves to evoke a sense of sameness and inevitability; it is not a phrase related to the physical appearance of the natural world, only the way the natural world responds to the seasonal change with simple acceptance for its sameness. The repeated lines do not hold any sort of expectation or anticipation for the coming of summer; they help relay observations made about the state of the season.

Question analysis

This poetry question asks how the repetition of “This is the beginning of summer,” said by the branches in lines 2–3 and by the leaves in lines 18–19 of Sandburg’s “Bird Talk,” contributes to the poem’s meaning. Students must judge what the repetition does, not only what the words say, and the four choices read the repeated line in quite different ways.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining what a repeated phrase adds to a poem is familiar grade 7 work. Both passages are pointed out by line number, so the task is to judge the effect of the repetition rather than to find it.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 79 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Both quotations are pointed out, so the work is deciding what the echo adds. Students who know that repetition emphasizes may grab a choice that begins “emphasizes,” and those who hear the quoted words as a cry of discovery may pick surprise, even though that choice shares the key’s “each year.” Reading the lead-ins, “once had said” and “one time before,” settles it: the line is an old, expected announcement.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks what repeating the line does for the poem, not what the line says, so students must judge an effect of structure: the same words open the first stanza and close it. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The clue is in the lead-ins, “they once had said” in line 2 and “as they said one time before” in line 18, which present the announcement as words said at this point in earlier years. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread each quoted passage together with the line that leads into it, then decide what the poet gains by having the branches and the leaves say the same words.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks about repetition, which means using the same words more than once. The words “This is the beginning of summer” appear in lines 2–3. They come back in lines 18–19. You need to work out what saying them twice adds to the poem’s meaning.

  2. Read the words that lead in

    Look at the words just before each quotation. Line 2 says “It was the time when they once had said.” Line 18 says the leaves “said as they said one time before.” Both lead-ins point to the past. The branches and leaves have said these words before, at this same time in other years.

  3. Work out what the repetition shows

    The same words come back, just as summer itself comes back. Each year the branches get heavy, the leaves come out, and it is summer again. The change happens the same way every time. So the repeated line works like a yearly announcement that nobody finds strange. It shows that the shift to summer follows a familiar pattern.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The repeated words show summer arriving the same way each year.
    • B does not fit. Saying the words again shows that summer returns. It does not show that living things got ready for it.
    • C does not fit. Something said “one time before” is familiar, not surprising.
    • D does not fit. The line only names a time. Pictures like the yellow dandelions show how the land looks.

    Watch out: C also says “each year,” so it can look right. But the quoted words are calm, like an old saying, not a cry of surprise.

  5. Choose the answer

    The repeated line is an old announcement, made again because summer comes again. So the answer is A, “It suggests that the shift to summer occurs in the same way each year.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because it also points to something that happens each year. But C says the first signs of summer are a surprise. The lead-ins say the opposite. The branches “once had said” these words, and the leaves said them “one time before.” Words said many times before are expected. They show a pattern, not a surprise.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 35 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 35, question 22.

Question 19 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 23

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

Which lines from the poem best contrast with the idea of winter’s scarcity and bleakness?

  • A“The shrilling of the frogs was not so shrill as in the / first weeks after the broken winter;” (lines 4–5)
  • B“The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups / reached across the green pastures.” (lines 8–9)
  • C“Tee whee and tee whee came on the breezes, and the grackles / chuzzled their syllables.” (lines 10–11)
  • D“Or if instead of counting up last year as against / this year, they count up this year as against next” (lines 25–26)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the identification of a description that contrasts with the scarcity and bleakness of winter.

A. Incorrect. These lines indicate that the frogs are first very excited about the shift from winter to spring, which causes them to make a loud “shrilling,” yet their sounds lessen after a time and grow weaker. As such, these lines contrast two periods of spring (early vs. later) and the response of the frogs to these two periods; the lines do not contrast the bleakness of winter with the abundance of spring or summer.

B. CORRECT. During winter, there is scarcity of plant life and a bleak landscape: trees lose their leaves, snow covers the ground, and nature appears dark and shuttered. In contrast, these lines reveal the bright “yellow spreads” of flowers and the verdant “green pastures” that are signs that winter has abated.

C. Incorrect. This description contrasts the sounds of “the breezes” of warmer air and the sounds made by grackles—a type of bird—rather than the bleakness and scarcity of winter and the abundance of the “ ‘beginning of summer’ ” (line 3).

D. Incorrect. These lines show the contrast between the two ways of looking at things in terms of past vs. present or present vs. future; in this instance, the lines reveal the way birds naturally expect and adapt to the passing of time and the change of seasons. The lines do not present a contrast between winter and spring.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question on Carl Sandburg’s poem “Bird Talk” asks which lines best contrast with the idea of winter’s scarcity and bleakness. Students compare four quotations about frogs, flowers, birdsong and the birds’ yearly counting, and the challenge is finding the one whose images most fully show the opposite of a bare, bleak season.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing lines that fit an idea is routine grade 7 evidence work. The twist is that students look for the opposite of an idea, winter’s scarcity and bleakness, rather than support for it, though the quoted images are concrete.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 85 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 the usual evidence task around: students picture a scarce, bleak winter and then look for its opposite. The line that names winter outright is a trap, since it only compares the frogs’ noise in two stretches of spring, and the grackles’ calls show life without plenty. The flowers spreading “across the green pastures” are the one image of abundance and color.

  1. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Every quotation carries some sign of the season, frogs, flowers, birdsong and the birds’ yearly count, so each must be tested for images of plenty and color set against a bare winter. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The stem’s “scarcity” and “bleakness” define what to look for; a student unsure of them cannot tell that yellow and green spreading across pastures is their opposite. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: First picture what a scarce, bleak winter looks like, then read each quotation for images that show the plain opposite of that picture.

Traps

  • Word match: Repeats striking words or phrases from the text, so it looks supported, but its meaning does not fit the question.
  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks you to find lines that show the opposite of winter. Scarcity means not having enough of something. Bleakness means looking bare, cold and gloomy. So picture winter: bare branches, no flowers, gray and brown fields. Then look for the lines that show plenty and bright color instead.

  2. Read lines 8–9

    Lines 8–9 say “The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups / reached across the green pastures.” Dandelions and buttercups are small yellow flowers. Pastures are grassy fields. A spread is a wide area covered with something. Here, yellow flowers stretch across green fields. That is a picture of color everywhere and plenty of growth. It is the exact opposite of a bare, gray winter.

  3. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. It mentions “the broken winter,” but it only compares how shrill, or sharp and high, the frogs sounded at two times. Nothing in it shows plenty.
    • B fits. Yellow flowers spread over green fields, full of color and life.
    • C does not fit. The birdsong shows that life is back. But it gives no picture of plenty or color to set against a bare winter.
    • D does not fit. These lines compare one year with another in the birds’ talk. There is no winter and no growth in them.

    Watch out: A is the only choice that names winter, so it can seem to fit. But mentioning winter is not the same as contrasting with it.

  4. Choose the answer

    Only lines 8–9 show plenty and bright color, the opposite of a scarce, bleak winter. So the answer is B, lines 8–9: “The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups / reached across the green pastures.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is a close wrong choice, since birdsong is a sign that life is back. But the question asks for a contrast with scarcity, or not having enough. Sounds alone do not show plenty. Lines 8–9 show flowers spreading wide across green fields. That picture of color and plenty is the clearest opposite of a bare, gray winter.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 23 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 C English, page 36, question 23.

Question 20 of 75

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 21 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 25

Uses the passage above: “Bird Talk”.

Question

Over the course of the poem, a central idea is developed mainly through the speaker’s

  • Asense of eager anticipation as winter ends.
  • Bdescription of the changes in nature as the seasons transition.
  • Cobservation of the birds’ behavior as summer begins.
  • Dprediction of future alterations in the physical landscape.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the central idea about the natural acceptance of change by nature is developed by the speaker of the poem.

A. Incorrect. The speaker is an observer of the changes in nature as propelled by the seasons and shows no personal eagerness for the end of winter. Further, even though nature rejoices at the end of winter as exemplified by “the shrilling of the frogs” (line 4), the speaker merely records this and does not share in this display.

B. CORRECT. The response of nature to the “beginning of summer” (line 3) is the primary focus of the poem as revealed by the speaker through vivid descriptions of the sights, sounds, movements, and attitudes of the natural world.

C. Incorrect. The second stanza of the poem begins a reflection on birds “sitting in circles talking bird talk” (line 22) and taking a sort of attendance of who is present, but this behavioral description is largely figurative and meant to illustrate a point about the way the birds adapt quickly to change, not to develop a central idea of the poem in terms of how nature responds generally.

D. Incorrect. Seasonal changes are inevitable and cyclical per the speaker, but the speaker does not predict future changes to the landscape as a method of developing the central idea. Rather, the speaker describes nature’s response to changes that have already occurred.

Question analysis

Students decide how the speaker of Carl Sandburg’s “Bird Talk” mainly develops a central idea of the poem. The question does not name the idea, so students must work it out across the poem’s three stanzas and then weigh four accounts of what the speaker does, each tied to a different part or feature of the poem.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Tracing how a central idea develops is core grade 7 work. Here the idea is never stated, so students must first infer it from 32 lines of free verse and then judge what the speaker mainly does to build it.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 48 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The title “Bird Talk” and the whole second stanza push students toward the birds, and the key differs from that choice only in taking in all of nature. Two other choices credit the speaker with something the poem gives elsewhere: the eagerness belongs to the frogs and birds, and the only look ahead is the birds’ talk of next year. Weighing what the speaker does across all 32 lines points to the description of nature changing.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about the birds’ behavior as summer begins matches the key’s frame, the speaker watching nature at the turn of the season; it differs only in narrowing nature to birds. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The central idea is never stated, so students must first work out that the poem is about nature meeting the year’s turn calmly, then judge which of the speaker’s acts builds it most. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Birds appear in lines 6–7, 10–11, 20–29 and 31–32, so the title and the second stanza make them look central until the branches, frogs, flowers and leaves are counted too. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Put the poem’s central idea into a sentence of your own, then ask which choice describes something the speaker really does and does the most to build that idea.

Traps

  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how a central idea is mainly built. A central idea is a big point the whole poem makes. First, put that idea in your own words. Then ask what the speaker does most, across the whole poem, to build it.

  2. Find the central idea

    The poem shows nature at “the beginning of summer.” The branches grow heavy, the frogs quiet down, the flowers spread and the leaves come out. In stanza 2, the birds calmly count who has come and gone. A central idea is that nature moves through the seasons, and living things accept the change as natural.

  3. See how the speaker builds it

    Most of the poem is description. Stanza 1 fills 19 of the 32 lines with changes in nature. It shows “The yellow spreads of the dandelions and buttercups” and “the green leaves trickling out the gaunt nowhere / of winter.” Trickling out means coming out slowly, a little at a time. Gaunt means thin and bare. Detail by detail, the speaker shows the season turning. That description is the main way the idea is built.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The frogs and birds are stirred up, but the speaker describes them calmly. The poem also starts after winter is over.
    • B fits. The speaker describes nature changing as the seasons turn.
    • C does not fit. Birds are only one part. The poem also covers branches, frogs, flowers and leaves.
    • D does not fit. The speaker predicts nothing about the land. The birds’ talk of next year is about who will be gone.

    Watch out: C is tempting because the poem is called “Bird Talk” and stanza 2 is all about birds. But the central idea is about all of nature.

  5. Choose the answer

    The speaker builds the idea mostly through details of nature changing as summer begins. So the answer is B, “description of the changes in nature as the seasons transition.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It also has the speaker watching nature as summer begins. But it narrows nature to birds. The poem’s changes come from many living things: branches, frogs, dandelions, buttercups and leaves. Only B takes in all of them, so only B describes how the whole poem builds its idea.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 25 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 38 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 38, question 25.

Question 22 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 26
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

How does the poem’s form contribute to the poem’s meaning?

  • AThe use of one continuous stanza and the pattern of the lines mimic the long and winding shape of the mound.
  • BThe uneven line lengths emphasize the variety of ways people interpret the meaning of the mound.
  • CThe dashes throughout the poem highlight the speaker’s changing thoughts about the significance of the mound.
  • DThe lack of a regular rhyme scheme and meter convey that the speaker struggles to comprehend the vastness of the mound.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the poem’s form contributes to the poem’s meaning.

A. CORRECT. The poem is structured as one long stanza. The line lengths throughout the poem and the line indents (such as those in lines 7–10) create a visual effect so that the poem itself mimics the shape of the Serpent Mound.

B. Incorrect. The uneven line lengths in the poem do not indicate the different interpretations of the mound; separate stanzas or other stopping points would more effectively point to contrasting ideas.

C. Incorrect. The dashes in the poem lead to further explanation of a thought, not a change of thought.

D. Incorrect. The lack of regular rhyme and meter is intended to create a conversational tone rather than show the speaker’s struggle to grasp how large the mound is.

Question analysis

This question about poetic form asks how the form of “Serpent Mound,” a poem set in 1846 at the ancient earthwork in Adams County, Ohio, contributes to its meaning. Students must consider features such as the single stanza, the uneven lines, the dashes and the lack of rhyme, and decide which feature the poem actually puts to work, and how.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Asking how a poem’s form adds to its meaning is a grade 7 standard. Each choice names a feature that is easy to check on the page and pairs it with a meaning that must also be tested, a 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: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 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

Every choice names something really on the page, so the work is in the meaning each attaches. The strongest pull pairs the uneven lines with the poem’s real ending, three readings of the oval mound, and the free-verse choice can lean on line 25’s “some idea of the whole thing.” Seeing the key takes a step back from the words to the poem’s outline, which on the test means scrolling through all 41 lines.

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    This is a form question: students must see that the single stanza and the indents stepping right and back, as in lines 6–12, draw a winding body on the page, an effect of layout, not of words. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about uneven line lengths names nearly the same feature as the key, the shape of the lines, but gives it another meaning: the mound’s many interpretations instead of its long, winding form. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The choices assume “stanza,” “rhyme scheme” and “meter,” and the idea that a poem’s outline can picture its subject, which the poem never explains. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Test each choice in two steps: confirm that the feature it names is really in the poem, then ask whether the poem supports the meaning the choice attaches to it.

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.

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 form. Form is how a poem is built and how it looks on the page. It includes stanzas, which are groups of lines set apart by blank lines. It also includes line lengths, indents, rhyme and rhythm. An indent is space at the start of a line that pushes it to the right. You need the choice that ties a real feature of form to the poem’s meaning.

  2. Look at the shape on the page

    Don’t read the words yet. Just look. The poem is one long block of 41 lines with no blank lines. So it is one continuous stanza. Its lines do not all start at the left edge. Some are pushed in one step, some two, and some three. The steps go in and come back out, again and again.

  3. Follow the lines in and out

    Take lines 6–12. Line 6 starts one step in. Lines 7 and 8 start two steps in. Lines 9 and 10 start three steps in. Line 11 comes back to two steps, and line 12 is back at the left edge. The same swing out and back happens again in lines 19–27 and in lines 33–41. Look down the whole poem. Its left edge curves out and back like a snake winding down the page.

  4. Connect the shape to the mound

    The poem is about a giant earth mound shaped like a snake. Line 18 calls it “the sinuous body.” Sinuous means full of curves. Line 26 shows “the serpent’s body undulating, slithering.” Undulating means moving in waves. The one long stanza is like the snake’s long body. The lines curving in and out are like its winding shape. The poem looks like what it describes.

  5. Check each choice

    • A fits. The single stanza and the winding lines copy the mound’s long, curving shape.
    • B does not fit. The lines are uneven. But the different ideas about the mound come only at the end, in lines 29–41. The line lengths are not tied to them.
    • C does not fit. The dashes in lines 9, 29 and 31 lead into more detail. They do not show the speaker’s thoughts changing.
    • D does not fit. The poem has no rhyme scheme, or pattern of rhymes, and no meter, or steady beat. But the speaker never struggles to grasp how big the mound is.

    Watch out: B is tempting because both of its parts are true. But nothing links the line lengths to the different ideas about the mound.

  6. Choose the answer

    The poem’s one long stanza and its in-and-out lines draw a winding snake on the page. So the answer is A, “The use of one continuous stanza and the pattern of the lines mimic the long and winding shape of the mound.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice. It also points to how the lines look, and the poem does give different ideas about the mound. But the uneven lines run through the whole poem, while those ideas come only at the end. The in-and-out pattern draws a shape, not a set of opinions. That shape is the mound’s long, winding body.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 26 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 41 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 41, question 26.
The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed (page 40)The passage “Serpent Mound” as printed on page 40 of the DOE handbook.

Question 23 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 27

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

Which lines reveal how the setting affects the speaker and the men from the museum?

  • A“It being winter, / there was little underbrush to speak of—” (lines 8–9)
  • B“but the winter silence of the creek pressed / down on all of us like a weight.” (lines 14–15)
  • C“The humps in the ground were all but / invisible until you were right up on them.” (lines 16–17)
  • D“In the summer the creek bottom was crowded / with so much life that you could trip” (lines 21–22)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks which lines reveal how the setting affects the speaker and the men from the museum.

A. Incorrect. The words “being winter” (line 8) work to establish the setting, but lines 8 and 9 do not describe the effect the winter setting has on the speaker and the men.

B. CORRECT. The imagery in lines 14 and 15 describes how the winter silence makes the speaker and the men feel emotional heaviness: it “pressed / down on all of us like a weight.”

C. Incorrect. Although the words “the humps in the ground were all but / invisible” describe how the setting appears to the speaker and the men, lines 16 and 17 do not describe how the setting affects them.

D. Incorrect. Although lines 21 and 22 do describe the setting, the lines do not describe how the setting affects the speaker and the men. The lines describe the setting in the summer, which is before the men from the museum show up.

Question analysis

This evidence question on the poem “Serpent Mound” asks which lines reveal how the setting, a creek in the Ohio winter of 1846, affects the young speaker and the museum men. All four quotations come from the poem’s description of the creek and the land around the mound, in winter and in summer, so the four choices look much alike at first glance.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 A routine grade 7 evidence task: the four quotations are short, numbered and in plain modern language. What takes care is that all of them describe the setting, while the question asks about its effect on particular people.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 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

Every quotation describes the setting, so a student who checks only for setting can defend almost any of them. The question turns on the people: only one quotation says what the place does to them, in the words “on all of us.” The summer lines tempt with someone tripping over the ridges, but they describe another season, not the winter day of the visit.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four quotations describe the creek and the land, so each must be asked whether it shows the place acting on the speaker and the men or only tells what the place is like. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The answer is a simile, silence that “pressed / down on all of us like a weight,” and students must read the weight as a mood the winter quiet puts on the group. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Paraphrase each quotation, then ask whether it shows the setting acting on the speaker and the museum men or only tells what the place is like.

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 about setting. Setting is where and when a story or poem takes place. Here it is a creek in Ohio, in winter. You need the lines that show how this place affects the speaker and the museum men. In other words, what does the place do to them or make them feel?

  2. Read the lines that mention people

    Lines 14–15 say “but the winter silence of the creek pressed / down on all of us like a weight.” The words “all of us” mean the speaker and the museum men together. This is a simile, a comparison using “like.” The quiet felt like something heavy pressing down on them. So the silent winter creek made the whole group feel heavy and gloomy.

  3. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Lines 8–9 say there was little underbrush, or low bushes. That describes the ground, not how anyone felt.
    • B fits. The silence “pressed / down on all of us,” so the place acts on the whole group.
    • C does not fit. Lines 16–17 tell how hard the humps are to see. They describe the land, not its effect on the group.
    • D does not fit. Lines 21–22 describe the creek in summer. The museum men came in winter.

    Watch out: D says “you could trip,” which sounds like an effect on people. But it describes another season, not the day of the visit.

  4. Choose the answer

    Only lines 14–15 show the winter creek acting on the speaker and the men. So the answer is B, lines 14–15: “but the winter silence of the creek pressed / down on all of us like a weight.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is a close wrong choice, because it has a person in it: the humps stay hidden “until you were right up on them.” But it only reports what the land looks like. B is different. The silence “pressed / down on all of us like a weight.” Only B shows the place changing how the speaker and the men feel.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 27 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 42 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 42, question 27.

Question 24 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 28

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

Lines 1–2 contribute to the development of ideas in the poem by

  • Asuggesting that the men are too busy with their work to talk to the speaker.
  • Bhelping establish the reason for the men’s visit and purposeful behavior.
  • Chinting that the men have hidden motives for studying the mound.
  • Dindicating why the speaker is fascinated by the men and wants to help them.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how lines 1–2 contribute to the development of ideas in the poem.

A. Incorrect. The idea that the men are too busy with their work to talk to the speaker is not conveyed in the poem, and, in fact, one of the museum men discusses the oval mound with the speaker (“as if swallowing the sun, one of the museum / men suggested” [lines 32–33]).

B. CORRECT. The lines, with their mention of measuring tapes and sketchbooks, indicate that the reasons the museum men came were to measure the mound and to draw sketches of it.

C. Incorrect. There is little indication in the poem that the museum men have a hidden motive for studying the mound. Lines 1–2 present a straightforward description of the men and their equipment, which emphasizes the men’s academic interest in studying the mound.

D. Incorrect. While the speaker displays some curiosity about the work the museum men are doing (“one of the museum / men suggested, taking notes with his quill pen, / an old-style inkhorn slung at his side. / I liked that” [lines 32–35]), lines 1–2 focus on introducing the idea that the mound is a formation that is worth formal study and examination by experts.

Question analysis

This question asks how the opening lines of “Serpent Mound,” in which museum men arrive at a low winter creek with measuring tapes and sketchbooks, contribute to the development of ideas in the poem. The lines are short and plain, but the choices credit the men or the speaker with motives and feelings, and students must check each against the rest of the poem.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Below typical grade 7 demand: the two opening lines are short and concrete, and checking the choices takes one reading of the poem, much like grade 6 questions on how a single sentence fits into a text.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 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 opening lines are short and concrete, and their tools, measuring tapes and sketchbooks, plainly say why the men came. The wrong choices each add something: men too busy to talk, a hidden motive, or a fascinated speaker, and the last borrows the speaker’s later delight in “swallowing the sun.” Checking each against the rest of the poem, rather than against first impressions of strangers arriving, is what the question rewards.

  1. How, not what minor Working it out

    The stem asks what lines 1–2 do in the poem, so students must see the measuring tapes and sketchbooks as setting up the visit’s purpose, not only as a description of the men. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Ruling out two wrong choices takes later lines: a museum man offers the speaker an idea in lines 32–33, and the speaker leads the men in line 7 because Ma says to. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Say in your own words what lines 1–2 tell you about the men, then reject any choice that depends on something the poem never shows.

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.

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 1–2 do for the poem’s ideas. They are the poem’s first lines, so they set things up. You need to decide what they tell you about the museum men, and why that matters.

  2. Read lines 1–2

    Lines 1–2 say “Brush Creek stood low when the museum men came / with their measuring tapes and sketchbooks.” A measuring tape is for measuring lengths. A sketchbook is for drawing. So the men came to measure the mound and draw it. They have a job to do. Purposeful means acting with a clear goal. Their tools show that goal from the very start.

  3. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Nothing says the men were too busy to talk. Later, one of them shares an idea: “as if swallowing the sun.”
    • B fits. The tools show why the men came and that they came to work.
    • C does not fit. The men carry their tools in plain view. The poem never hints at a hidden motive, or secret reason.
    • D does not fit. The speaker leads the men because “Ma told me to lead the men.” The speaker’s liking for a man’s idea comes much later, in line 35.

    Watch out: D borrows a feeling from later in the poem, “I liked that.” In lines 1–2, the men have only just arrived.

  4. Choose the answer

    Lines 1–2 use the men’s tools to show why they came and what they plan to do. So the answer is B, “helping establish the reason for the men’s visit and purposeful behavior.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice. The speaker does later like a museum man’s phrase, “swallowing the sun.” But that comes in line 35. Lines 1–2 say nothing about the speaker’s feelings. They name only the men’s tools. Tapes and sketchbooks tell you why the men came: to measure and draw the mound.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 28 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 43 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 43, question 28.

Question 25 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 29

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

Read line 28 from the poem.

At the mouth end, there was an oval mound

How does the line contribute to the development of ideas in the poem?

  • AIt describes a feature of the mound that the men from the museum need to document.
  • BIt introduces a comparison of the body of the mound with the head of the mound.
  • CIt introduces a feature of the mound that has a different meaning to different people.
  • DIt describes a part of the mound that is difficult to see from far away.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how line 28 contributes to the development of ideas in the poem.

A. Incorrect. Although the museum men are documenting the shape of the mound in line 33, lines 29–32 and 35–41 focus on what the oval mound represents as interpreted by the museum men, the speaker, and the speaker’s sister.

B. Incorrect. While the lines preceding line 28 describe the body of the snake in detail (“you could climb / a tree and get some idea of the whole thing: / the serpent’s body undulating, slithering / silently across the ancient / earth” [lines 24–28]), the purpose of line 28 is to begin the development of the ideas about the oval shape at the end of the mound: the serpent’s mouth.

C. CORRECT. Line 28 introduces the presence of the oval mound at the mouth of the snake. The meaning of this oval is of great interest to the museum men and the speaker. Line 28 leads to the idea that there is speculation about the oval mound (“as if the snake were about to swallow an egg” [line 29], “as if swallowing the sun” [line 32], and “It is singing to the sun” [line 38]).

D. Incorrect. The speaker does not say that the oval shape near the end of the mound is difficult to see. Earlier, the speaker says that the ridges of earth are difficult to see unless you are near them, but the speaker does not say this about the oval shape.

Question analysis

Students explain how line 28 of “Serpent Mound,” which introduces an oval mound at the serpent’s mouth end, contributes to the development of ideas in the poem. The line is a plain piece of description in a poem about museum men surveying the mound, so students must work out what part it plays in the poem as a whole.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how one line contributes to a poem is standard grade 7 structure work. The line is a plain description, but its role depends on how it connects to the lines around it.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 89 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Because the museum men came to measure and sketch, a line naming a new feature looks like a note for their records, and that reading is the strong pull. Others see a comparison with the serpent’s body described just before, or carry over the earlier point about humps that are hard to see. The line’s job shows in what follows it: the oval is where Pa, a museum man and Ruth each see something different.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The documenting choice and the key both say line 28 presents a feature of the mound; they differ in what follows, the men’s records or the egg, sun and singing readings in lines 29–41. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The line is plain description, so its role shows only in what it sets up: the oval becomes the egg, the swallowed sun and the open singing mouth that the rest of the poem weighs. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The readings are spread over thirteen lines and three people, Pa in lines 29–31, a museum man in lines 32–33 and Ruth in lines 37–41, so students must gather them. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Read line 28 together with the lines on either side of it, then test each choice against what those lines actually show.

Traps

  • True but not the answer: A choice says something accurate about the text that does not answer this question.
  • Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
  • 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 one line helps build the poem’s ideas. Line 28 is a plain description: “At the mouth end, there was an oval mound.” Oval means egg-shaped. To see the line’s job, look at what comes right after it.

  2. Read what follows line 28

    The next lines give three ideas about the oval mound.

    • Pa always said it was “as if the snake were about to swallow an egg,” as snakes did in the family’s henhouse (lines 29–31).
    • A museum man says “as if swallowing the sun” (line 32).
    • Ruth says “It is singing to the sun” (line 38).

  3. Name the line’s job

    Line 28 brings in the oval mound. Then each person sees something different in it: an egg, the sun being swallowed, or a song. Each idea comes from that person’s own life. Pa thinks of his henhouse. Ruth thinks of what she seems to hear on summer nights. So the line sets up a feature that means different things to different people.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The men did come to measure and sketch. But the lines after 28 are about what the oval means, not about recording it.
    • B does not fit. Line 28 moves on from the body to the mouth. It never compares the two.
    • C fits. The oval gets three different meanings from three people.
    • D does not fit. Lines 16–17 say the humps are hard to see. The poem never says that about the oval.

    Watch out: A is tempting because the men came “with their measuring tapes and sketchbooks.” But the poem spends its last 13 lines on meanings, not measurements.

  5. Choose the answer

    Line 28 brings in the oval mound that Pa, a museum man and Ruth each see in their own way. So the answer is C, “It introduces a feature of the mound that has a different meaning to different people.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong choice. The museum men are there to document, or record, the mound, and one is taking notes. But the lines after 28 are not about notes. They give an egg, a swallowed sun and a singing snake. That is a feature with a different meaning to different people, just as C says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 29 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 C English, page 44, question 29.

Question 26 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 30

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

What impact do the phrases “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious” in lines 16–18 have on the meaning of the poem?

  • AThey indicate that viewing the full size and shape of the mound is difficult.
  • BThey suggest that the location of the mound is unknown to most people.
  • CThey imply that the speaker wants the location of the mound to remain a secret.
  • DThey reveal that the speaker is unfamiliar with the significance of the mound.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what impact the phrases “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious” in lines 16–18 have on the meaning of the poem.

A. CORRECT. The words “all but / invisible” indicate that a person must be close to see the humps in the ground, while the phrase “even less obvious” indicates that a person must be far away to see the overall snake shape of the mound.

B. Incorrect. While the speaker has to lead the museum men to the mound because they did not know the exact location, the words in lines 16–18 are related to the difficulty in viewing the mound from the immediate surrounding area.

C. Incorrect. The speaker is willing to take the museum men out to study the mound, so there is no indication in the poem that the speaker wants the location of the mound to remain a secret. The words in lines 16–18 convey the idea that the mound is difficult to see.

D. Incorrect. While the speaker contemplates the significance of certain elements of the mound, the phrases in lines 16–18 relate to a viewer’s ability to see the physical shape of the mound, not its deeper meaning.

Question analysis

This word-meaning question asks what impact the phrases “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious” in lines 16–18 of “Serpent Mound” have on the poem’s meaning. Students must understand the idiom “all but” and then judge which of four claims about the mound and the speaker the two phrases actually support.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L4a context clues
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Below typical grade 7 demand: both phrases are quoted with their line numbers, in plain modern language, and one careful reading settles the question. The one hurdle is the idiom “all but,” which some readers take literally.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 76 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Both phrases are quoted with their lines, and the sentence that holds them goes on to list the body, the coiled tail and the open mouth, so its subject is what can be seen. The wrong choices slide from seeing to knowing: who knows where the mound is, who wants it hidden, and what it means. “Less obvious” is the slippery phrase, since obvious can also mean easy to understand.

  1. Hard words moderate Understanding the question

    “All but” is an idiom meaning almost, so “all but / invisible” means nearly unseen; a student who takes it as the opposite, plainly visible, loses the sense that the humps are hard to see. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must keep both phrases about sight and connect them to lines 24–25, where only climbing a tree gives “some idea of the whole thing.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Put both phrases into plain words, starting with the idiom “all but,” then test each choice against what lines 16–25 actually describe.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what two phrases add to the poem’s meaning. They are “all but / invisible” and “even less obvious,” in lines 16–18. Put each phrase in plain words first. Then see what they tell you about the mound.

  2. Read lines 16–18

    Lines 16–18 say “The humps in the ground were all but / invisible until you were right up on them. The figure / was even less obvious.” “All but” means almost. So the humps were almost invisible until you got very close. The figure is the whole snake shape. It was even harder to see than the humps. Here, obvious means easy to see.

  3. Connect the phrases to later lines

    The same sentence goes on to list what you would see: “the sinuous body, / the tail coiled three times around, / and at the other end, the mouth wide open.” So the phrases are about seeing the shape. Later, lines 24–25 say “In winter you could climb / a tree and get some idea of the whole thing.” Only from up high could you begin to see it. The mound is huge, low and hard to take in all at once.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Both phrases show that seeing the whole mound is hard.
    • B does not fit. The phrases are about how hard the mound is to see, not about who knows where it is.
    • C does not fit. The speaker leads the museum men right to the mound. There is no wish to keep it secret.
    • D does not fit. Here “less obvious” is about sight, not about understanding what the mound means.

    Watch out: Obvious can also mean easy to understand. That reading leads to D. But the sentence goes straight on to list parts of the snake you can see.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrases show how hard it is to see the mound’s full size and shape. So the answer is A, “They indicate that viewing the full size and shape of the mound is difficult.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is a close wrong choice, because “invisible” can make you think nobody knows the mound is there. But the phrases describe looking, not knowing. The speaker knows exactly where the mound is. The problem is seeing it. The humps vanish until “you were right up on them,” and the whole shape shows only from a tree.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 30 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 45 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 45, question 30.

Question 27 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 31

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

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

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

Correct answer: A

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students often explain what sensory words add to a description. These three words sit inside a long sentence that runs across several lines, so their effect has to be worked out from the lines around them, beyond typical grade 7 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 61 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

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

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The variety choice is literally true, since a beaver, a chickadee and a hawk are three kinds of animal; it differs from the key in missing why the sounds are named, as a contrast with winter. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The speaker listens for these sounds and does not hear them, so students must infer that they stand for the creek’s life in warmer months, which lines 21–22 call “crowded / with so much life.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The three words sit in one sentence that runs from “I listened” in line 11 to “like a weight” in line 15 and turns on “but,” so their point arrives only at its end. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

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

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what three sound words do in the poem. They are “swish,” “chitter” and “cry,” in lines 12–13. Read the whole sentence they sit in. It starts at “I listened” in line 11 and ends with “like a weight” in line 15.

  2. Read the full sentence

    Lines 11–15 say “I listened / for the swish of a beaver’s heavy tail, / the chitter of a chickadee, or the cry of a hawk, / but the winter silence of the creek pressed / down on all of us like a weight.” A chickadee is a small bird, and a chitter is its quick, chirping sound. The speaker listens for these sounds. But the word “but” tells you they never come. Only silence answers.

  3. Work out why the sounds are named

    A beaver, a chickadee and a hawk are signs of a creek full of life. The speaker hears none of them in winter. Later lines tell you when the creek is lively. Lines 21–22 say “In the summer the creek bottom was crowded / with so much life.” So the missing sounds remind you how lively the place is in summer. They also make the winter silence feel even emptier.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The sounds stand for the busy life around the mound in the warm months.
    • B does not fit. The quiet comes from the season: “the winter silence of the creek.” The mound does not cause it.
    • C does not fit. There are three kinds of animals, but the point is that their sounds are missing.
    • D does not fit. These lines are about sounds. The speaker says nothing about liking how the mound looks in winter.

    Watch out: C is true as far as it goes. But it misses why the speaker names the sounds at all: to set them against the silence.

  5. Choose the answer

    The sounds the speaker listens for, and doesn’t hear, show how lively the creek is in summer. So the answer is A, “They illustrate how lively the mound’s surroundings are during the summer.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 28 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 32

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

How does the speaker’s interaction with Ruth in lines 37–41 convey a central idea of the poem?

  • AIt suggests that the most accurate interpretations of the mound come from knowing the purpose of the mound.
  • BIt emphasizes that there are multiple interpretations of the mound based on feelings and experiences.
  • CIt reveals the benefit of considering different interpretations of the mound’s significance.
  • DIt implies that scientific study of the mound’s purpose will affect what the mound symbolizes to people.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the interaction between the speaker and Ruth in lines 37–41 conveys a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. While there are many different interpretations of the mound’s meaning, there is no way to determine which of the interpretations is most accurate, and there is no way to know the mound’s true purpose.

B. CORRECT. The interaction references Ruth’s interpretation of the open-mouth shape as a serpent singing to the sun. This interpretation creates a joyful mood. The speaker contrasts this perspective with the idea that the mound is swallowing the sun, which creates a more aggressive feeling. These various interpretations of a physical shape arise out of what the individuals feel when they look at the mound.

C. Incorrect. The speaker does not describe any benefit to considering what different people imagine when they see the mound. Instead, the speaker is simply describing different interpretations.

D. Incorrect. Ruth’s interpretation of the mound’s shape is fanciful and symbolic. It is unlikely that scientific study would change the minds of people such as Ruth about the meaning of the mound.

Question analysis

This central idea question asks how the speaker’s conversation with a sister, Ruth, in lines 37–41 of “Serpent Mound” conveys a central idea of the poem. Ruth explains the serpent’s open mouth in her own way, and students must connect this short exchange to the rest of the poem before choosing among four claims about what it shows.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Linking a short exchange between two characters to a poem’s central idea is standard grade 7 work. The language is plain, though the choices differ in what they claim the exchange shows, so each must be checked closely.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 10, 78 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Ruth’s “Not swallowing, singing” makes the disagreement plain, so most students see that the mound is read in more than one way. The difficulty is in what the choices add to that: a lesson about the benefit of differing views, a ranking of readings by the mound’s purpose, or a role for science. The poem only sets the readings side by side, each rooted in what its speaker has lived or felt.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about the benefit of considering different interpretations shares the key’s subject, several readings of the mound, and differs only in adding a lesson, that weighing them is worthwhile. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The exchange is a plain disagreement, swallowing against singing, and students must infer the central idea it serves, that people see the mound through their own feelings and experiences. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Ruth’s reading answers earlier ones, Pa’s egg from the henhouse in lines 29–31 and the museum man’s sun in line 32, so her lines must be read against them. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Sum up what Ruth says and how the speaker reacts, compare it with the earlier ideas about the oval mound, and pick the claim the poem shows rather than one it might only suggest.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how the talk between the speaker and Ruth, in lines 37–41, shows a central idea. A central idea is a big point the whole poem makes. Compare Ruth’s idea about the mound with the speaker’s, and with the ideas that come before.

  2. Read the talk with Ruth

    The speaker liked a museum man’s idea that the snake was “swallowing the sun.” But when the speaker told Ruth, “she disagreed. It is singing to the sun, / she insisted.” Ruth explains, “That is why its mouth / is wide open.” Then she says, “Sometimes I think / I hear it on summer nights. Not swallowing, singing.”

  3. See where each idea comes from

    Each person sees the same oval mound in a different way. Pa always said it was like a snake about to swallow an egg, as snakes did in the family’s henhouse. A museum man saw it swallowing the sun. Ruth hears it singing on summer nights. Each idea grows out of that person’s own feelings and experiences, or what they have lived through. That is a central idea: people see the mound in many ways.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. No one in the poem knows the mound’s purpose, and no idea is called the most accurate.
    • B fits. Ruth and the speaker see the mound differently, each from what they feel and have lived.
    • C does not fit. The poem never says that thinking about other ideas helps anyone. Ruth and the speaker just disagree.
    • D does not fit. Nobody says the men’s study will change what the mound means to people.

    Watch out: C starts out right, since there are different ideas. But it adds a lesson, a “benefit,” that the poem never gives.

  5. Choose the answer

    The disagreement shows more than one way to see the mound, each rooted in a person’s own feelings and experiences. So the answer is B, “It emphasizes that there are multiple interpretations of the mound based on feelings and experiences.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. It also says there are different ideas about the mound. But it claims there is a benefit, or gain, in thinking them over. The poem shows no one gaining anything. Ruth keeps her own idea, and the poem never says who is right. It simply sets the ideas side by side, each from a person’s own life.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 32 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 47 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 47, question 32.

Question 29 of 75

2026 Practice Test C English, question 33

Uses the passage above: “Serpent Mound”.

Question

The poet contrasts the speaker’s and Ruth’s points of view regarding the mound by using dialogue to

  • Aimply that Ruth is worried that her interpretation of the mound will be seen as too abstract.
  • Bindicate that Ruth hopes her interpretation of the mound will be shared by the men from the museum.
  • Csuggest that Ruth wants the speaker to agree with her interpretation of the mound.
  • Dshow that Ruth has already decided on her interpretation of the mound.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the poet uses dialogue to contrast the points of view of the speaker and Ruth regarding the mound.

A. Incorrect. The interpretation Ruth offers of the mound as a snake singing is abstract, but Ruth does not seem concerned that it is an overly metaphorical or figurative interpretation. The dialogue serves to highlight that Ruth is firm in her belief.

B. Incorrect. There is no indication that the museum men are considering Ruth’s interpretation of the mound or that Ruth wants them to share her interpretation. Ruth’s interpretation is meant to convey an abstract idea, while the museum men would be looking for a firm academic explanation of the mound. Ruth is persistent in her belief, and the dialogue does not suggest that she is concerned with the museum men’s interpretation or findings.

C. Incorrect. Ruth merely states her interpretation and says that she thinks she hears the Serpent Mound singing sometimes. She does not seek to make the speaker agree with her.

D. CORRECT. Beginning in line 37, after the speaker suggests the mound is swallowing the sun, Ruth disagrees. The poet uses the word “insisted” in line 39 to show that Ruth firmly believes in her own interpretation of the mound.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how the poet of “Serpent Mound” uses dialogue to contrast the speaker’s and Ruth’s views of the mound in the poem’s closing lines. Students must read Ruth’s few words closely, since each choice credits her with a different attitude toward her own interpretation.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Analyzing how a writer contrasts two characters’ points of view is exactly what the grade 7 standard describes. The dialogue is only a few lines long, but each choice describes Ruth’s attitude in a different way.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 354 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 78 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The dialogue is only a few lines, and every choice is about Ruth’s attitude toward her own reading. “Insisted” is the hinge: it can sound like pressing someone to agree, but nothing follows that asks the speaker anything. The hedge “Sometimes I think” can also be misread as worry, though it introduces what she hears, not doubt about her view.

  1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The choice about Ruth wanting agreement and the key both rest on “she insisted”; they differ in whether insisting aims to win the speaker over or shows her mind is already made up. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Ruth’s attitude is never named, so students must read it from “she disagreed,” “she insisted” and the clipped “Not swallowing, singing,” and from what she does not do: ask for agreement. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Reread lines 37–41 and describe Ruth’s attitude in a few words of your own before looking at the choices, then pick the one the lines themselves show.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what the poet shows by using dialogue, the words people say to each other. The speaker and Ruth have different points of view about the mound. You need to decide what Ruth’s words show about her attitude, or how she feels about her own idea.

  2. Read the dialogue in lines 37–41

    The speaker tells Ruth the idea of “swallowing the sun.” The poem says “she disagreed. It is singing to the sun, / she insisted. That is why its mouth / is wide open.” Then she says, “Sometimes I think / I hear it on summer nights. Not swallowing, singing.”

  3. Look closely at the word insisted

    To insist is to say something firmly and refuse to back down. Ruth doesn’t say “maybe.” She doesn’t ask what the speaker thinks. She ends with three short words: “Not swallowing, singing.” That sounds final. She has her own reason, too: what she hears on summer nights. Her mind was made up before this talk began.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. “Sometimes I think” is about a sound she hears. It is not worry that her idea is too abstract, or too far from real things.
    • B does not fit. Ruth talks only to the speaker, later. She never mentions the museum men.
    • C does not fit. Ruth states her view, but she never asks the speaker to agree.
    • D fits. “Insisted” and her firm last words show that her mind is made up.

    Watch out: “Insisted” can sound like pushing someone to agree, which leads to C. But nothing in her words asks for agreement.

  5. Choose the answer

    Ruth’s firm words show she is sure of her own idea. So the answer is D, “show that Ruth has already decided on her interpretation of the mound.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice. Both C and D rest on the word “insisted.” But insisting can show that you are sure without trying to win anyone over. Ruth never asks whether the speaker agrees. She just states her view and what she hears. That shows her mind is already made up, which is what D says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 33 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 48 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test C English, page 48, question 33.

Question 30 of 75

2026 Practice Test D English, question 21
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 comparison in lines 8–9 of the poem is used to convey

  • Athe muffled pounding of explosions in the distance.
  • Bthe way lightning streaks through the clouds.
  • Cthe echoes of thunder on an autumn night.
  • Dthe glow of sparks falling from the sky.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what the comparison in lines 8–9 of the poem is used to convey.

A. CORRECT. In lines 8–9 the speaker compares the deep thumping noises at the start of a fireworks show to the muffled thumping sound made when beating a rug to clean it. The imagery of “low, dull thwumps” (line 8) (onomatopoeia) describes a sound that is not clear or powerful. To the speaker, these low, distant explosions are the signal that the fireworks display is starting and that the loud, cracking sound of fireworks will be heard soon (“Then we counted the seconds between the lightning / and thunder” [lines 10–11]).

B. Incorrect. The comparison in lines 8–9 deals with the low sound of the first fireworks shooting off rather than the streaks of light they emit. To the speaker, the low thwumps (onomatopoeia) are the signal that fireworks are about to explode overhead, much like the way a streak of lightning during a storm indicates that a crash of thunder will follow in a few seconds.

C. Incorrect. The thwump (onomatopoeia) sounds are the start of the fireworks show, not thunder. As a comparison, the speaker says the initial thwumps of the fireworks signal anticipation for the full explosion that will come, much like the way the speaker would watch for lightning and count the seconds before an impending thunderclap (lines 10–11).

D. Incorrect. The muffled thwump (onomatopoeia) sounds occur before the dazzling explosion of lights and before sparks start to fall from the sky. The comparison focuses on the sounds of the experience, not the sight of the experience.

Question analysis

This figurative language question asks what the comparison in lines 8–9 of “Ode to Fireworks” conveys. In the poem an adult speaker remembers waiting with family, already in pajamas, for the fireworks at a country fair. Students must interpret an old-fashioned household image and decide what part of the show it describes, since the nearby lines mention sights as well as sounds.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Interpreting a simile is taught from grade 6, and this one takes up two lines of concrete words. The household chore it pictures may be unfamiliar, but the task is a single step, lighter than typical grade 7 poetry work.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 3, 42 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 comparison is about sound, and once students notice that, the sight-based choices about lightning and sparks fall away. The pull comes from the next lines, where the children count “the seconds between the lightning / and thunder,” a storm game that makes thunder seem like the thing being described. The question rewards staying inside lines 8–9, where “low, dull” and the beaten rug describe the first faint booms of the show.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    Lines 8–9 pair the made-up sound word “thwumps” with a simile, someone beating an old rug on a wash line, so students must hear a dull, distant thud in an image about housework. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The simile works only for readers who can imagine the flat whack of a rug being beaten clean on a line, a chore many students have never seen or heard. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Reread lines 8–9 slowly and ask which sense the comparison appeals to, sight, sound or touch, then pick the choice that describes that same experience.

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 comparison helps you picture. Lines 8–9 compare one thing to another using “like.” That kind of comparison is called a simile. First ask which sense it describes: sight, sound or touch.

  2. Find the comparison

    The family waits in the dark. Lines 8–9 say they wait “for the first low, dull thwumps, like someone / beating an old, filthy rug hung on a wash line.” Thwumps is a made-up word that sounds like the noise it names. So the comparison is about a sound. It comes before the sky lights up.

  3. Picture the rug

    People used to hang a dusty rug on a line and hit it with a stick. Each hit makes a flat, soft thud, not a sharp bang. The words “low” and “dull” say the same thing. So the first fireworks sound like soft booms far away. Muffled means soft, as if wrapped in cloth.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. Dull thuds heard in the dark are the muffled pounding of explosions far off.
    • B is wrong. Lightning is something you see. Lines 8–9 describe a sound heard before anything lights up.
    • C is wrong. The thunder in lines 10–11 is part of a counting game. It compares the show to a storm. The rug image is about the fireworks.
    • D is wrong. Sparks are something you see. The colors don’t come until line 12.

    Watch out: Lines 10–11 mention “lightning” and “thunder.” That can make C look right. But the rug comparison comes first and is about the fireworks.

  5. Choose the answer

    The rug-beating simile makes the first fireworks sound like soft, faraway thuds. So the answer is A, “the muffled pounding of explosions in the distance.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because thunder is a low boom too. But lines 10–11 only compare the show to a storm in a counting game. The rug image in lines 8–9 describes the fireworks themselves: dull, muffled thuds from far away. That is A.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 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 D English, page 33, question 21.
The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed (page 32)The passage “Ode to Fireworks” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.

Question 31 of 75

2026 Practice Test D English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “Ode to Fireworks”.

Question

Read lines 22–23 from the poem.

the sky at night written upon
with those jewels.

What does the word choice in these lines convey about the speaker?

  • AThe speaker values material possessions.
  • BThe speaker imagines that the fireworks are magical.
  • CThe speaker believes that the country setting is distinctive.
  • DThe speaker cherishes the memory of seeing fireworks as a child.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks what the word choice in lines 22–23 of the poem conveys about the speaker.

A. Incorrect. The word “jewels” is used figuratively to indicate the sentimental value that the experience of watching the fireworks holds for the speaker. There is no indication in the poem that the speaker values material possessions.

B. Incorrect. The use of the word “jewels” highlights the importance of the memory in the speaker’s mind. The imagery in the words “written upon” expresses the way the bright streaks of light curve and fly across the night sky, not that the speaker views the fireworks display as magical.

C. Incorrect. The speaker describes the elements of the fireworks display that stand out most clearly. The view of the bright, colorful fireworks streaking across the sky is distinct, but it is not unique to the country setting.

D. CORRECT. The word “jewels” creates a picture of watching shining and sparkling explosions in the night sky and suggests that this experience holds sentimental and emotional value for the speaker. The speaker cherishes the memory of the experience.

Question analysis

This question quotes lines 22–23 of “Ode to Fireworks,” in which the night sky is “written upon / with those jewels,” and asks what this word choice conveys about the speaker. Students must move from a striking metaphor for fireworks to what it reveals about the person describing them, and every choice names a different value or belief.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5c connotation and denotation
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Reading a speaker’s feelings through connotation is standard grade 7 work. The two lines are short and quoted, but the metaphor is compressed and the choices name abstract attitudes, so one careful inference is needed, as in typical grade 7 poetry.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 59 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The quoted lines are short, but the answer depends on what “jewels” suggests about the speaker, so students must move from an image to an attitude. The strongest pull comes from the words right after, where the speaker stresses that night in the country was truly dark, a real point but one about the setting, not about the jewel image. Students who take the gems literally or as magic stop at the surface of the metaphor instead of asking why someone would call a memory precious.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    Lines 22–23 turn fireworks into “jewels” and the sky into a page “written upon,” a metaphor whose meaning lies in what jewels are worth to a person, not in what they are. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The lines name no feeling; that the speaker cherishes the memory must be inferred from calling the fireworks “jewels” and from the speaker still craning upward for them years later in the city. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Ask what “jewels” suggests beyond its literal meaning, picture the sky “written upon,” and then pick the attitude that fits both these lines and the poem as a whole.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what a word choice shows about the speaker. The speaker is the “I” who tells the poem. Look past what the words say. Ask what feeling they show.

  2. Find the lines

    In stanza 2, the speaker says “it was another thing to see / the sky at night written upon / with those jewels.” A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph. The jewels are the fireworks. The sky is like a page they write on.

  3. Think about what jewels mean

    Calling fireworks jewels is a metaphor: a comparison without “like” or “as.” Jewels are rare, bright and precious. People keep them safe and treasure them. So the word shows how much the sight meant to the speaker. Even now, in the city, the speaker says “I find myself / craning my neck upward at odd moments.” Craning means stretching your neck to look.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The jewels are fireworks, not things the speaker owns.
    • B is wrong. The speaker watched real fireworks from a field with family. Nothing calls them magic.
    • C is wrong. The next words, “We lived in the country,” do stress the setting. But the jewel image itself is about how precious the sight was.
    • D is right. To cherish is to treasure and hold dear. Jewels are treasures.

    Watch out: C is tempting because the country comes up right after the jewels. Keep your eyes on lines 22–23 themselves.

  5. Choose the answer

    Calling the fireworks jewels shows a treasured childhood memory. So the answer is D, “The speaker cherishes the memory of seeing fireworks as a child.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. The poem does say they lived in the country, where night was truly dark. But that is the next thought, not the jewel image. Jewels are treasures. They show how much the speaker valued the sight. D says just that: the speaker treasures the memory.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 22 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 34 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 34, question 22.

Question 32 of 75

2026 Practice Test D English, question 23

Uses the passage above: “Ode to Fireworks”.

Question

The use of italics on the word “night” in line 24 is most likely intended to emphasize the

  • Asense of mystery in the darkness.
  • Bsense of absolute darkness.
  • Cspeaker’s fear of night.
  • Dspeaker’s certainty about that night.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the use of italics on the word “night” in line 24 is most likely intended to emphasize.

A. Incorrect. The purpose of italicizing the word “night” is not to convey mystery. While the speaker refers to not knowing the exact location where the firework viewing took place (“in the stubble of what had been / somebody’s cornfield” [lines 25–26]), the emphasis on “night” is meant to highlight the darkness and contrast the bright light from the fireworks soaring across the sky.

B. CORRECT. The italics are intended to place emphasis on one key aspect of nighttime—total darkness. The speaker is making a point that night in the country was truly dark, unlike the night the speaker currently experiences in a city, where light emitted from buildings and vehicles prevents complete darkness.

C. Incorrect. The tone in the second stanza is positive, showing admiration for the beauty visible in true darkness rather than fear: “But it was another thing to see / the sky at night written upon / with those jewels” (lines 21–23).

D. Incorrect. The speaker is talking about the general experience of watching fireworks on several occasions, not focusing on the events of a specific night. The use of italics on the word “night” emphasizes the speaker’s memory of the persistent darkness.

Question analysis

In “Ode to Fireworks,” the word “night” is printed in italics in line 24, inside the speaker’s aside about living in the country. This craft question asks what the italics are most likely meant to emphasize, so students must think about what stressing one ordinary word does and choose among moods and meanings the word could carry.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 students explain how word choice shapes meaning; here the device is italics on one everyday word, which is studied less often. The surrounding lines are plain, so a single careful inference settles it, a typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 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

One plain word in a parenthesis carries the question, and its meaning comes from the stress, not the dictionary. Darkness is easy to see; the harder step is choosing what the italics add to it, and mystery is a familiar partner for darkness that the stanza never develops. Students who read on to the brightly lit city of the third stanza see that the speaker is insisting on how complete the country dark was.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what italics do, not what a word means, so students must hear the stress in “night was night” as insisting that the country night was fully dark, as night should be. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The mystery choice and the key both tie the italics to darkness; they differ only in what the darkness carries, a sense of mystery or its sheer completeness. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    The point of the stress becomes clear from the third stanza, where “The city sky is always lit up” and the speaker now lives “awash in light / of every hue.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Read line 24 aloud, stressing “night” as the italics do, and ask what the speaker insists on about nights in the country; then check whether the rest of the poem backs that reading.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Wrong purpose or structure: Names a purpose, structure or effect that the part does not serve, or describes what a part says when the question asks what it does.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks why one word is in italics. Italics are slanted letters. Writers use them to stress a word, the way you would say it louder. So ask what the speaker insists on.

  2. Read the line aloud

    Lines 23–24 say “(We lived in the country: / night was night.)” Read it aloud and lean on the second “night.” It means night was really night. It was as dark as night should be, with no city lights.

  3. Use the rest of the poem

    Stanza 3 shows the opposite. “The city sky is always lit up.” The speaker now lives “awash in light / of every hue.” Awash means flooded. A hue is a color. So the italics stress how completely dark the country night was. That darkness made the fireworks stand out.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Darkness can feel mysterious. But nothing in the stanza is hidden or puzzling.
    • B is right. Absolute means total. The italics stress that the dark was total.
    • C is wrong. The speaker shows wonder, not fear. The sky is full of “jewels.”
    • D is wrong. “That night” would mean one evening. The speaker means country nights in general, at a fair held “year after year.”

    Watch out: A pairs darkness with mystery, which feels natural. But the speaker stresses how dark it was, not that it felt strange.

  5. Choose the answer

    The italics insist that country nights were fully dark. So the answer is B, “sense of absolute darkness.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, since both A and B link the italics to darkness. But the stanza never treats the night as strange or secret. The bright city sky in stanza 3 shows what the stress is for: country nights were completely dark. That is B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 23 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 35 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 35, question 23.

Question 33 of 75

2026 Practice Test D English, question 24

Uses the passage above: “Ode to Fireworks”.

Question

What is the purpose of the repeated words “rising and falling” in lines 26 and 37?

  • Ato create a distinction between solitude and meaningful interaction
  • Bto demonstrate a connection between the speaker’s past and present
  • Cto emphasize the speaker’s attention to the surrounding sounds
  • Dto compare the fireworks to common sights and sounds
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks what the purpose is of the repeated words “rising and falling” in lines 26 and 37.

A. Incorrect. These lines do not provide insight into the speaker’s interactions or feelings of solitude. The speaker mentions the emptiness of the country and the crowds in the city, but these repeated words are meant to draw a connection between the locations rather than show differences between them.

B. CORRECT. The first mention of these words occurs during a recollection of the speaker’s past, and the second takes place during a description of the speaker’s present. The speaker looks to the connections between the country setting (“All around us, crickets / stridulated in the stubble of what had been / somebody’s cornfield, their song rising and falling” [lines 24–26]) and the city setting (“And the music around me is the music of people, / their voices rising and falling in a hundred languages” [lines 36–37]) as a source of comfort.

C. Incorrect. Even though the lines call out specific sounds, the purpose of the repetition of the words in the two parts of the poem is to show how the speaker connects the two settings. The “rising and falling” of the sounds is one detail the speaker highlights.

D. Incorrect. The repetition of the words “rising and falling” is used to compare the different locations in the speaker’s life, not to compare fireworks to the sounds of crickets in the country or to the sounds of people moving and talking in the city.

Question analysis

The phrase “rising and falling” appears twice in “Ode to Fireworks,” in line 26 for the crickets’ song and in line 37 for people’s voices. This question asks for the purpose of repeating it, so students must compare the two places where it appears and decide what the echo does for the poem as a whole.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 students analyze how a poem’s structure develops its meaning. The repeated words are easy to spot, but they sit eleven lines apart in different stanzas, and the four purposes offered each sound possible, a typical grade 7 structure task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 51 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The DOE printed this question’s explanation after a different question; the site matches the question with its own explanation.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The repeated words are easy to find; the work is seeing that they sit on either side of the poem’s turn from childhood memory to city life. The strongest pull is the accurate observation that both lines describe sounds, which tells what the lines say rather than why the poet repeats them. The country and city are contrasted elsewhere in the poem, so a choice built on a contrast also tempts, though repeating the same words joins the two scenes instead of separating them.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks for the purpose of a repetition, so it is not enough to see that both lines describe sounds; students must say what echoing “rising and falling” does for the poem. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The two uses sit eleven lines apart in different stanzas, the crickets’ song in the remembered country field and city voices “in a hundred languages” in the present, and must be read together. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: Reread the lines around each use of “rising and falling,” describe each scene in a phrase, and ask what echoing the same words in both scenes accomplishes for the poem.

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 the DOE’s explanations appendix, the explanation printed after this question belongs to question 25 (“how the memory in lines 41–42 affects the speaker”) and marks D correct, and this question’s explanation (“what the purpose is of the repeated words ‘rising and falling’ in lines 26 and 37”) is printed after question 25, marking B correct. Read page by page, the appendix gives this question the answer D. The site gives the question the explanation that restates it, and the answer follows that explanation: B, because the words join the crickets’ song of the speaker’s country childhood (line 26) to the voices of the city in the present (line 37).

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 purpose: why the poet repeats the words “rising and falling.” Don’t just say what the lines describe. Ask what repeating the same words does for the poem.

  2. Find both uses

    The first is in line 26, in the country of the speaker’s childhood. Crickets “stridulated in the stubble of what had been / somebody’s cornfield, their song rising and falling.” To stridulate is to chirp by rubbing body parts together. The second is in line 37, in the city today: “their voices rising and falling in a hundred languages.”

  3. See what the repeat does

    The two uses sit on either side of the poem’s big turn. Stanza 2 is the past in the country. Stanza 3 is the present in the city. The crickets’ song then and people’s voices now rise and fall alike. Using the same words in both places links the two times. So the repeat ties the speaker’s past to the present.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Solitude means being alone. But the speaker was with family in the country. And the repeat joins the scenes. It does not set them apart.
    • B is right. The same words join a childhood scene to a scene from now.
    • C is wrong. Both lines do describe sounds. But that is what the lines say, not why the words repeat.
    • D is wrong. The words describe crickets and voices. Neither is compared to fireworks.

    Watch out: C is true, which makes it tempting. But a purpose question asks why, not what.

  5. Choose the answer

    The repeated words link the country past to the city present. So the answer is B, “to demonstrate a connection between the speaker’s past and present.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. It is true that both lines describe sounds the speaker hears. But the question asks for the purpose. The crickets belong to the speaker’s past, and the voices to the present. Repeating “rising and falling” joins the two times. That connection is B.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 24 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 D English, page 36, question 24. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 34 of 75

2026 Practice Test D English, question 25

Uses the passage above: “Ode to Fireworks”.

Question

Read lines 41–42 from the poem.

I kept waiting for those
childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.

How does this memory affect the speaker?

  • AThe speaker believes it is impossible to ever return to a place in the past.
  • BThe speaker is still amused by the impatience felt during fireworks displays.
  • CThe speaker now regrets abandoning the rural way of life.
  • DThe speaker feels a sense of comfort when reflecting on the past.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the memory in lines 41–42 affects the speaker.

A. Incorrect. The speaker does not express concern in these lines about the impossibility of returning to childhood or the past. For the speaker, the past and the memories associated with it are a source of comfort and a way to remember simpler times (“I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field” [lines 40–41]).

B. Incorrect. While the speaker recalls anticipation before the start of a fireworks display, there is no hint that the speaker is impatient. Particularly in lines 41–42, the speaker is reminded of the expectation of hearing and seeing fireworks and the sense of simple contentment felt in the experience (“I find myself / craning my neck upward at odd moments” [lines 29–30]).

C. Incorrect. The speaker is reflecting on past experiences and pointing out the elements of the city that remind the speaker of these past experiences. The speaker acknowledges the differences between the country and city settings but does not convey regret for leaving the rural area (“This is where we live now, / and it is how we live now, awash in light / of every hue” [lines 31–33]).

D. CORRECT. The memory of watching the fireworks on the way home creates a sense of comfort that stays with the speaker (“escorted us home”). The speaker looks forward to moments when the youthful experience (“childhood bursts”) of being excited by something like a fireworks display can be a source of happiness.

Question analysis

This question quotes the last lines of “Ode to Fireworks,” where the adult speaker, now living in the city, recalls waiting for the “childhood bursts” that “escorted us home,” and asks how this memory affects the speaker. Students must read the feeling in a brief closing image and check each choice against the whole final stanza about city life.

NYS standards
  • 7R3 plot elements and ideas
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Inferring how an experience affects a speaker is regular grade 7 work. The two quoted lines are plain, but the feeling behind them is implied rather than named, and the choices offer four believable reactions to a memory.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 379 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 74 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The DOE printed this question’s explanation after a different question; the site matches the question with its own explanation.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The memory is warm, but warm memories of a lost place are easy to read as sadness, and the choice about regretting the move to the city draws students who hear nostalgia as complaint. The other wrong choices turn the anticipation of “kept waiting” into impatience or make the past impossible to reach, both stronger than anything the lines say. Students who read the whole sentence from “But beneath the yellowish glow” see a speaker carried home by the memory, not mourning it.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Lines 41–42 name no feeling, so the comfort must be read from fireworks that “escorted us home” and from the grown speaker still waiting for “those / childhood bursts” in the city. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

    Ruling out regret takes the rest of the third stanza, where city life is “a constant celebration” and “This is where we live now” is said without complaint. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    “Escorted us home” makes the fireworks companions guarding the family’s drive across the field, a personification that carries the sense of safety the question asks about. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read lines 38–42 as one sentence, starting from “But beneath the yellowish glow,” and ask how the speaker feels about the city and about the memory, using the whole third stanza, before choosing.

Traps

  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Too broad or too strong: A choice overstates, generalizes, or uses absolute words the text does not support.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In the DOE’s explanations appendix, the explanation printed after this question belongs to question 24 (“what the purpose is of the repeated words ‘rising and falling’ in lines 26 and 37”) and marks B correct, and this question’s explanation (“how the memory in lines 41–42 affects the speaker”) is printed after question 24, marking D correct. Read page by page, the appendix gives this question the answer B. The site gives the question the explanation that restates it, and the answer follows that explanation: D, because the memory of the fireworks that “escorted us home” is a source of comfort to the speaker.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how a memory makes the speaker feel. The lines don’t name a feeling. So you have to infer it, which means figure it out from clues.

  2. Read the whole sentence

    The sentence starts in line 38: “But beneath the yellowish glow deep in the sky / of all our city lights pelting out into the universe, / I remember the feel of the pickup truck bumping / across the ridged field, as I kept waiting for those / childhood bursts, watching as they escorted us home.” The bursts are the fireworks.

  3. Work out the feeling

    To escort is to go along with someone to guide or protect them. So the speaker pictures the fireworks keeping the family company on the way home. That is a safe, warm picture. The memory comes back even under the bright city sky. It works like a favorite old song that still makes you feel good.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The speaker never says it is “impossible to ever return.” The memory is still alive.
    • B is wrong. The waiting was eager, not impatient. Nothing is treated as funny.
    • C is wrong. Regret means wishing you had done something else. The speaker never wishes the move undone. The city is “a constant celebration.”
    • D is right. The fireworks that “escorted us home” give the speaker a sense of comfort.

    Watch out: Missing the past is not the same as regret. C reads a complaint into the poem that is not there.

  5. Choose the answer

    The memory of the fireworks bringing the family home warms the speaker. So the answer is D, “The speaker feels a sense of comfort when reflecting on the past.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer, because the speaker clearly misses the country. But stanza 3 says “This is where we live now” with no complaint. It even calls city life “a constant celebration.” The memory warms the speaker. It does not make the speaker wish to undo the move. That is comfort, choice D.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 25 as shown on the DOE’s digital test, page 37 of its printable version.
As printed in the DOE’s printable version of 2026 Practice Test D English, page 37, question 25. This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 35 of 75

2026 Practice Test D English, question 26

Uses the passage above: “Ode to Fireworks”.

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.

Question 36 of 75

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 37 of 75

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 38 of 75

2024 Test A English, question 19
Passage At Dusk

At Dusk

by Natasha Trethewey

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

“At Dusk” from NATIVE GUARD by Natasha Trethewey, published by Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © 2006 by Natasha Trethewey. All rights reserved.

1wheedling: speaking in a flattering manner

Question

Which lines from the poem best support the idea that the neighbor’s efforts to call the cat home directly affect the speaker?

  • A“At first I think she is calling a child, / my neighbor” (lines 1–2)
  • B“the high-pitched wheedling we send out / to animals who know only sound” (lines 5–6)
  • C“I listen as my neighbor’s voice trails off. / She’s given up calling for now” (lines 20–21)
  • D“left me to wonder that I too might lift / my voice, sure of someone out there” (lines 25–26)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the best textual support for the idea that the neighbor’s actions in calling the cat directly affect the speaker of the poem.

A. Incorrect. Lines 1–2 show that the speaker has noticed the neighbor’s calling and guessed the reason for it. The speaker at first believes that the neighbor is “calling a child,” but then the speaker notices a sound associated with the time of day—the “street lamps just starting to hum / the backdrop of evening” (lines 3–4). However, the poem does not describe any direct effects on the speaker’s own opinions or behavior caused by these aspects of the surroundings.

B. Incorrect. The “high-pitched wheedling” sound the speaker mentions in line 5 might be assumed to have an annoying effect. However, the poem includes no indication that the sound has any direct effect on the speaker or that the speaker has any personal reaction to the sound. Instead, in lines 6–7, the speaker concentrates on explaining the reason people make the sound: to communicate with “animals who know only sound, not / the meanings of our words.”

C. Incorrect. In lines 20–21, the speaker actively listens “as my neighbor’s voice trails off,” which could be interpreted as an effect of the neighbor’s call. However, the speaker’s listening soon comes to an end because the neighbor has “given up calling for now,” and the poem does not describe any direct effects on the speaker’s own opinions or behavior caused by listening. Therefore, lines 20–21 do not best support the idea that the neighbor’s actions directly affect the speaker of the poem.

D. CORRECT. In lines 25–26, after observing the neighbor calling the cat, the speaker begins to reflect on the speaker’s own behavior and motivations, wondering if, like the neighbor, the speaker “might lift” the speaker’s voice to call someone who is surely “out there.” The speaker’s description of being left “to wonder” indicates that the speaker’s thoughts are a direct effect of observing the neighbor’s efforts to call the cat.

Question analysis

This reading question asks which lines from Natasha Trethewey's poem At Dusk best support the idea that a neighbor's efforts to call her cat home directly affect the speaker. Every option quotes lines connected to the calling, so students must tell lines that merely describe the scene from lines that show its effect on the person watching.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Choosing lines that support an idea is grade 7 evidence work. The quotations are short and the poem's language is plain, but each must be checked against a specific claim, a typical grade 7 task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 79 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Every quotation shows the speaker noticing the call in some way, so the question is how strong a connection “directly affect” requires. The listening lines are the trap: they stop one line short of “left me,” where the effect begins. Students who ask what the calling makes the speaker think or want find the lines in which the speaker imagines calling out too.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Students must decide what counts as an effect on the speaker: hearing and listening are reactions, but only lines 25–26 show the calling changing what the speaker thinks or wants. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four quotations involve the speaker and the calling, from “I think” to “we send out” to “I listen,” so each has to be tested for an effect, not just a connection. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: For each quotation, ask what the speaker does, thinks or feels because of the calling; lines that only report a sound or an event show no effect.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need the lines that best show the neighbor’s calling has a direct effect on the speaker. The speaker is the “I” who tells the poem. An effect here is a change in what the speaker thinks, feels or does.

  2. Find where the effect begins

    In line 20 the neighbor’s voice “trails off.” She has given up calling, and that “left me” with new thoughts. First it “left me / to imagine her inside the house waiting” (lines 21–22). Then it “left me to wonder that I too might lift / my voice, sure of someone out there” (lines 25–26).

  3. Work out what the lines mean

    “I too” means the speaker now thinks of doing what the neighbor did. The speaker imagines calling out to someone, the way the neighbor called the cat. Watching her call has changed the speaker’s own thoughts and wishes. That is a direct effect.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Lines 1–2 show only the speaker’s first guess about the sound. Nothing changes for the speaker.
    • B is wrong. Lines 5–6 explain how people in general call animals. They show no reaction from the speaker.
    • C is wrong. Lines 20–21 show the speaker listening as the calling stops. The effect starts after them, with “left me.”
    • D is right. The speaker wonders about lifting “my voice” too.

    Watch out: C is tempting because “I listen” is a reaction. But hearing a sound is not the same as being changed by it.

  5. Choose the answer

    Lines 25–26 show the calling making the speaker want to call out too. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. In it the speaker does listen to the neighbor. But the lines only report her voice fading and the calling ending. The speaker’s own response begins with “left me to wonder,” in line 25. There the speaker thinks of calling someone too. That is the direct effect.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 19 as printed on page 49 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 49, question 19. Open page 49 of the handbook (PDF)
The passage “At Dusk” as printed (page 48)The passage “At Dusk” as printed on page 48 of the DOE handbook.

Question 39 of 75

2024 Test A English, question 20

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

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.

Question 40 of 75

2024 Test A English, question 21

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

Question

The details in lines 10–17 about the cat convey a central idea of the poem by

  • Ashowing that returning home after experiencing independence is challenging.
  • Bsuggesting that caring for others means allowing them to grow and to roam freely.
  • Cimplying that expecting to feel at home in the natural world leads to disappointment.
  • Demphasizing the conflicting desires to return to the familiar and to explore the unknown.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the details in lines 10–17 convey a central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. In lines 10–17, the speaker says that the cat’s actions—she “turns first / toward the voice, then back”—make the cat seem “as if she can’t decide” whether to return home or to explore “the constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head.” However, while the cat is indecisive, it is not the experience of independence that causes this conflict for the cat but rather the “luminous / possibility . . . flitting before her” (lines 17–19).

B. Incorrect. The neighbor’s calling of the cat indicates that she does allow it to roam outside regularly. However, the details in these lines focus not on whether allowing the cat to roam is an expression of caring but on the cat’s reaction to the neighbor’s calls, “as if she can’t decide” (line 13) whether to return home “into the steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17) or stay and enjoy the “luminous / possibility” (lines 17–18) that the night offers. Furthermore, the neighbor’s “wheedling” (line 5) and the timing of her call, “at dusk” (line 3), introduce the possibility that encouraging others to come home expresses more caring than allowing them to roam freely.

C. Incorrect. Lines 10–17 describe the reactions of the cat, who is exploring the natural world, including a “constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head,” when the neighbor calls to her. The poet describes the cat’s conflict by saying that “It’s as if she can’t decide” whether to stay outdoors or return “into the steady circle / of light” at home with the neighbor. However, the cat’s indecision demonstrates that, rather than being a disappointment, the natural world is as appealing as home.

D. CORRECT. Lines 10–11 describe how the cat “turns first / toward the voice, then back,” indicating that the cat is experiencing a conflict. To the speaker, the cat seems “as if she can’t decide” (line 13) between exploring “the constellation of fireflies” (line 12) outdoors and returning to the familiar “steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17) indoors. This central idea that someone might experience a conflict between exploring and returning to the familiar is suggested again in lines 28–29 when the speaker wonders whether “the sounds I make / are enough to call someone home.”

Question analysis

This reading question asks how the lines describing a cat in another yard, as the neighbor calls from her doorway, convey a central idea of Natasha Trethewey's poem At Dusk. Students must turn a concrete picture of an animal's behavior into a general idea and check each proposed lesson against what the cat actually does in these lines.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Showing how specific lines convey a central idea is grade 7 work. The cat's behavior is concrete and easy to picture, so the step from image to idea is a typical grade 7 poetry task.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 66 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A grammar slip in the explanation was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The lines show a cat turning toward the voice and back to the fireflies, then hesitating between the porch light and the night, so the idea is a pull in two directions. The most tempting wrong answer also describes trouble going home but explains it by time spent away, a cause these lines never give. Other choices bring in lessons about caring for pets or about nature letting us down, which the bright images of the night contradict.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The two pulls are images, “the constellation of fireflies flickering” for the unknown and “the steady circle / of light” on the porch for the familiar, and both must be read that way. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Students must turn one cat's hesitation in a yard into an idea about people, a step these lines leave to the reader until the speaker's own wish at the end of the poem. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Describe in plain words what the cat does in lines 10–17 and why, then choose the general idea that matches that behavior without adding causes the lines never give.

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: In rejecting choice A, the handbook reads “the cat’s actions—she “turns first / toward the voice, then back”—makes the cat seem.” It now reads “make,” to agree with “actions.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    Lines 10–17 are about the cat. A central idea is a main message of the poem. You need the idea that these details about the cat show.

  2. Read what the cat does

    The cat “lifts her ears, turns first / toward the voice, then back / to the constellation of fireflies flickering / near her head” (lines 10–13). Then the speaker says, “It’s as if she can’t decide” (line 13). She could leap “onto the porch, into the steady circle / of light” (lines 16–17). Or she could “stay where she is” (line 17).

  3. Work out what it means

    The porch light is home. It is familiar, something the cat knows well. The fireflies are like a “constellation,” a group of stars. They stand for the unknown night and its wonders. The cat is pulled both ways. Part of her wants home. Part of her wants to stay out and explore.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Going home is hard for the cat. But the reason is the fireflies near her now. The lines never say she got used to being free.
    • B is wrong. These lines are about the cat’s choice. They say nothing about caring for her or letting her roam.
    • C is wrong. Nature is not disappointing here. The fireflies make the outdoors glow.
    • D is right. The cat is torn between the familiar porch and the unknown night.

    Watch out: A sounds close, because the cat really does have trouble going home. But A adds a cause the poem never gives.

  5. Choose the answer

    The cat turns toward home and then back to the fireflies. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer. It is right that going home is hard for the cat. But A blames a taste of freedom from time spent away. The poem says nothing about that. It shows two pulls at once: the voice and light of home, and the fireflies close by. D names both desires.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 21 as printed on page 49 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 49, question 21. Open page 49 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 41 of 75

2024 Test A English, question 22

Uses the passage above: “At Dusk”.

Question

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

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

Correct answer: C

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

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

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

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

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

Question analysis

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

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how word choice affects a poem is grade 7 work. These phrases are abstract and broken across lines, which adds some challenge, but the lines around them are concrete, so the task stays within typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 236 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 63 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The phrases belong to the speaker but describe what tempts the cat, and the choices exploit that by offering the speaker's interest or approval, or the cat's indifference to its owner. The words “all that would keep her / away from home” imply that home still pulls at the cat, so only an attraction strong enough to hold her outside fits. Students who first settle whose experience the phrases describe can rule out most choices at once.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    “Luminous possibility” is abstract, an unnamed promise glowing in the dusk, and students must see it as what draws the cat, the counterweight to “the steady circle / of light” at home. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The phrases are the speaker's words about the cat, so students must work out that they convey the cat's pull, not the speaker's opinion or the neighbor's feelings. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The phrases are broken across lines 17–19 and set off by dashes, so “flitting before her” is separated from “possibility” by the inserted “all that would keep her / away from home.” (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

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

Traps

  • Wrong tone or attitude: Misjudges the tone, attitude or point of view, such as reading admiration as criticism, or taking a character's or subject's feelings for the author's.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    You need to know what two phrases do in the poem. First decide who they describe. Here they describe the cat and what pulls at her.

  2. Find the phrases in lines 17–19

    The cat could go home, “or stay where she is: luminous / possibility—all that would keep her / away from home—flitting before her.”

  3. Work out what the words mean

    “Luminous” means glowing with light. “Possibility” means what might happen. “Flitting” means darting quickly about, like the fireflies near her head. So the glowing night is full of exciting chances. It is everything that “would keep her / away from home.” That sense of wonder is what holds the cat outside.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. “All that would keep her / away from home” means home pulls at her too. She isn’t uncaring.
    • B is wrong. The phrases describe what draws the cat, not how the speaker feels.
    • C is right. The night’s glow and wonder tempt the cat to stay out. “Compelled” means strongly pulled.
    • D is wrong. The speaker never says the cat is right to stay out.

    Watch out: B is tempting because “luminous possibility” is the speaker’s own beautiful wording. But the speaker uses it to show what the cat sees.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrases show a wonder strong enough to hold the cat outdoors. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

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

More questions like this

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

Question 42 of 75

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 43 of 75

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 44 of 75

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 45 of 75

2024 Test B English, question 44
Passage Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

by John Gould Fletcher

Higher and still more high,
Palaces made for cloud,
Above the dingy city-roofs
Blue-white like angels with broad wings,
Pillars of the sky at rest
The mountains from the great plateau
Uprise.

But the world heeds them not;
They have been here now for too long a time.
The world makes war on them,
Tunnels their granite cliffs,
Splits down their shining sides,
Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements,
Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.

Vaster and still more vast,
Peak after peak, pile after pile,
Wilderness still untamed,
To which the future is as was the past,
Barrier spread by Gods,
Sunning their shining foreheads,
Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,
The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

“Snowy Mountains” by John Gould Fletcher—Public Domain

Question

Which line from the poem best supports the idea that people have sacrificed priceless natural beauty in order to make a profit?

  • A“Above the dingy city-roofs” (line 3)
  • B“The world makes war on them,” (line 10)
  • C“Tunnels their granite cliffs,” (line 11)
  • D“Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements,” (line 13)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the line from the poem that best supports the idea that people have sacrificed natural beauty for profit.

A. Incorrect. While city roofs may spoil the natural beauty, they do not directly symbolize financial gain or profit in line 3.

B. Incorrect. Although making a profit might have been the root cause of the damage that was done to the mountains, making war on the mountains is not a direct message about profit or financial gain in line 10.

C. Incorrect. Although tunneling through the mountains affects the natural beauty of the mountains, it does not directly symbolize financial gain or profit in line 11.

D. CORRECT. Advertisements are often used as a means to gain a profit, as implied by the soap advertisements in line 13. Additionally, the word “Plasters,” in line 13, communicates a negative connotation for the use of advertisements on the priceless natural beauty of the mountains.

Question analysis

In this textual evidence question on John Gould Fletcher’s poem “Snowy Mountains,” students pick the line that best backs the claim that people traded priceless natural beauty for profit. Most of the quoted lines show damage of some kind, so the deciding question is which one also shows why the damage was done.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Matching a claim to a quoted line is standard grade 7 evidence work, and these four lines are short and numbered. The images are concrete, so little inference is needed once the claim is read carefully.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 45 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 of the four quoted lines show damage to the mountains, which meets the first half of the claim and makes the question a test of the second half. Students who look only for harm tend to settle on the loudest image of attack, “makes war on them.” The one line that contains a product for sale is the only one showing beauty traded for money, and once that is seen the choice is quick.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Lines 10, 11 and 13 all show people harming the mountains, so each must be held against the claim’s second half, making a profit, which only one of them carries. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    No line names money; profit has to be read from “soap-advertisements,” which exist to sell a product, while “Plasters” supplies the spoiling of the cliffs’ beauty. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Underline the two things the claim needs, harm to the mountains’ beauty and a money motive, then read each quoted line and cross out any that shows only one of 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.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for evidence: the line that best supports an idea. Notice that the idea makes two claims. People have spoiled the mountains’ beauty, and they did it to make money, or a profit. The best line must show both parts, not just one.

  2. Read the four lines in the poem

    Choice A, “Above the dingy city-roofs,” comes from the first stanza, where the poem praises the peaks. Dingy means grimy and gloomy. The other three choices come from the second stanza, where people attack the mountains. In order, they are “The world makes war on them” (line 10), “Tunnels their granite cliffs” (line 11) and “Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements” (line 13).

  3. Test each line for harm and money

    An advertisement is a sign that tries to get you to buy something. Soap ads are there to sell soap, so they are about profit. To plaster something is to cover it thickly and messily, like paste on a wall. Picture the bright cliffs smeared with ugly signs, all to sell a product.

    LineHarms the mountains?Shows money?
    3NoNo
    10YesNo
    11YesNo
    13YesYes

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Line 3 only places the dirty city below the peaks. It shows no harm to the mountains and no money.
    • B does not fit. The words “makes war” show an attack, but not the reason for it.
    • C does not fit. Tunnels do damage the cliffs. You may know that tunnels are dug for trains or mines, but the line itself never mentions money.
    • D fits. It shows the beauty spoiled and a product being sold.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only line 13 shows both the harm and the money behind it. So the answer is D, line 13.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the strongest trap, because “makes war” is the fiercest image of harm in the poem. But the idea also needs a reason: making a profit. War on the mountains could happen for any reason. Only the soap ads show something being sold, so only D backs up both parts of the idea.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 as printed on page 190 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 190, question 44. Open page 190 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).
The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.

Question 46 of 75

2024 Test B English, question 45

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How does the poet develop the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza (lines 8–14)?

  • Aby describing images of the mountains’ awe-inspiring size and strength
  • Bby illustrating the differences among the various ways humans can affect the natural environment
  • Cby criticizing society for taking careless, harmful courses of action against nature
  • Dby demonstrating how the mountains and the people are able to benefit from each other
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the poet develops the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza.

A. Incorrect. The speaker’s descriptions of the mountains’ awe-inspiring size and strength mainly occur in the first and third stanzas, while in the second stanza, the speaker focuses on humanity and its negative effect on the mountains.

B. Incorrect. The wording of the second stanza—“makes war” (line 10), “Splits down their shining sides” (line 12), and “Destroys the lonely fragments” (line 14)—communicates the speaker’s position that people’s main impact on the mountains is destructive; the wording does not illustrate different ways people impact the natural environment.

C. CORRECT. In the second stanza, the speaker criticizes the destructive actions of “the world” (lines 8 and 10) against the mountains—actions such as tunneling “their granite cliffs” (line 11) and destroying “the lonely fragments of their peace” (line 14).

D. Incorrect. In the second stanza, the speaker does not describe a positive relationship between the mountains and the people.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question on the poem “Snowy Mountains” asks how the poet develops the speaker’s outlook in the second stanza, lines 8–14. Students must read the stanza on its own, decide what attitude its images and verbs express, and then find the choice that names both that attitude and the way it comes across.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Below typical grade 7 demand. Grade 7 point-of-view questions often require weighing subtle or shifting attitudes; this stanza is seven short lines with one consistent stance, carried by strong action words, so it suits grade 6.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 10, 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

The speaker’s anger in lines 8–14 is plain, and most students sense that the stanza blames people. Points are lost to choices that describe the poem’s admiration of the peaks, which belongs to the stanzas around this one, or that list the stanza’s actions without their hostility. Staying inside the seven lines and reading the attitude in verbs such as “makes war” and “Destroys” settles it quickly.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how the viewpoint is built, and the answer lies in what the world does in lines 10–14: it “makes war,” “Tunnels,” “Splits,” “Plasters” and “Destroys.” (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The stanza personifies the mountains as victims, ignored and robbed of “the lonely fragments of their peace,” so the criticism of people comes through sympathy for the peaks. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Read lines 8–14 by themselves and put the speaker’s attitude into a few words of your own before looking at the choices.

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. That is how the speaker, the voice talking in the poem, feels about the subject. It also asks how the poet shows that feeling. Look only at the second stanza, lines 8 to 14.

  2. Read the second stanza closely

    The stanza opens with “But the world heeds them not” (line 8). To heed something is to pay attention to it. Then “the world” starts to act. It “makes war on them,” “Tunnels their granite cliffs,” and “Splits down their shining sides.” It covers them with ads. Finally, in line 14, it “Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.”

  3. Decide what the speaker thinks

    Here “the world” means people in general. People ignore the mountains, yet keep hurting them. Each action is an attack: making war, tunneling, splitting, plastering, destroying. The speaker is clearly on the mountains’ side. By listing these acts, the speaker blames people for being careless and harmful. Blaming someone for what they do wrong is called criticism.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. Size and strength fill the first and third stanzas, as in “Higher and still more high” and “Vaster and still more vast.” In lines 8 to 14, the mountains are only victims.
    • B does not fit. The stanza lists several acts, but it does not compare them. They are all part of one “war.”
    • C fits. The stanza blames society for ignoring and harming the mountains.
    • D does not fit. The stanza shows no give-and-take. People only harm the mountains, and the mountains get nothing back.

  5. Choose the answer

    The speaker’s view comes through a list of careless, harmful acts that the poem plainly condemns. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong choice, because the stanza really does name several ways people affect the mountains. But the speaker is not studying how they differ. Each one is another blow in the same attack, and the speaker is upset by all of them. C names that anger as criticism, which is what the stanza does.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 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 45. Open page 191 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 47 of 75

2024 Test B English, question 47

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 21–22 from the poem.

Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,

How do the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view?

  • AThey suggest that the speaker wants to remove the obstacles that prevent others from experiencing the wonders of nature.
  • BThey reveal the speaker’s opinion that some people are too busy to appreciate natural beauty.
  • CThey 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)

Question 48 of 75

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 49 of 75

2024 Test B English, question 49

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 23–26 from the poem.

The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

The personification in these concluding lines of the poem suggests that the mountains are

  • Agracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.
  • Bunaware of their coming destruction.
  • Clively entertainers who are amused by the everyday concerns of people.
  • Dtoo proud to reveal their pain.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what the personification in the concluding lines of the poem suggests about the mountains.

A. CORRECT. Line 25’s use of the word “Welcoming” suggests that the mountains are kind hosts. Lines 23 and 26, with language such as “The mountains swing along” and “The mists that dance and drive before the sun,” imply the carefree nature of the mountains as they resist the destructive work of humanity.

B. Incorrect. The personification in the lines conveys a sense of optimism and endurance, with no language to suggest coming destruction.

C. Incorrect. Although the lines mention that “the mountains swing along” (line 23) and “the mists . . . dance” (line 26), the personification is used to describe the mountains’ perseverance, rather than to suggest that the mountains are amused by the concerns of others.

D. Incorrect. Although the second stanza develops the idea that the mountains have been mistreated by humans, which might be a source of pain, the concluding lines emphasize the joy and perseverance of the mountains as they “swing along” (line 23) despite significant adversity.

Question analysis

Students interpret the personification in the closing lines of “Snowy Mountains,” lines 23–26, and decide what it suggests about the mountains on the south horizon. They need to see which human actions the poet gives the mountains and what kind of character those actions create, and then choose among four quite different personalities.

NYS standards
  • 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 readers routinely interpret personification, and here the four lines are printed with the question. The images are concrete and the choices give the mountains clearly different roles and moods, so careful matching settles it.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
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 6, 77 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The closing lines are calm and generous, and the task is to turn their personification into a character. Students who give the mists’ dancing to the mountains see performers, but the performer choice also has the mountains amused by people’s concerns, which nothing here supports, so a careful reader rejects it. The remaining losses come from carrying the second stanza’s damage into lines that show only ease and welcome.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The human traits must be sorted by who has them: the mountains “swing along” and are “Welcoming,” while the mists are the ones that “dance and drive before the sun.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    In “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice / The mists,” the object of “Welcoming” comes after a long phrase and a line break, so who welcomes whom is easy to lose. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Underline each verb or describing word in lines 23–26 that gives the mountains a human trait, then check every choice against all of them.

Traps

  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

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 personification. That is when a writer describes a thing as if it were a person, with human actions or moods. You need to decide what kind of character the mountains seem to be in lines 23 to 26.

  2. Find who does each action

    The four lines are one sentence. In line 23, “The mountains swing along” the edge of the sky. Line 25 shows them “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice.” The guests arrive in line 26: “The mists that dance and drive before the sun.” The mountains do two things here, swing along and welcome. The dancing belongs to the mists.

  3. Decide what the actions suggest

    Welcoming guests is what a host does. A host invites others in and makes them comfortable. Gracious means warm and polite. To swing along is to move in a relaxed, easy way. The second stanza was full of harm, yet here the mountains seem calm. They are untroubled, or not worried or upset.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The mountains welcome the mists like gracious hosts, and they move at ease.
    • B does not fit. Nothing in these lines hints at harm to come. The mood is calm and bright.
    • C does not fit. Line 26 gives the dancing to the mists. And nothing shows the mountains laughing at people’s daily worries.
    • D does not fit. There is no sign of pride or hidden pain. The mountains seem relaxed and open.

  5. Choose the answer

    Like kind hosts, the mountains greet their guests and stay calm. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C may tempt you, because swinging and dancing both sound lively. But check who dances: line 26 gives the dancing to the mists. The mountains are the ones “Welcoming” them, so they are hosts, not entertainers. C also says the mountains are amused by people, and these lines never show that.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 49 as printed on page 192 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2025 Admissions, page 192, question 49. Open page 192 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 50 of 75

2023 Test B English, question 36
Passage Cross-Purposes

Cross-Purposes

What I am is built: concrete and steel.
I defy gravity. I am what every athlete
wants: to remain at the apex of the leap,
up in the air. And yet I am useful, too:
cars, trucks, people, even trains
make their way across my broad back.
Swallows and ospreys1^1 nest in my trusses.

What I am is motion. I am water, and I am older
than anything else you know. No human
built me. I am gravity’s best friend; I pool
and flow wherever gravity takes me.
I am the blood flowing in the runner’s chest,
and I catch everything: from the hills,
the mountains. It all washes down through me.

What you are is an accident,
what happens to rain when rain gives in
to Earth’s gravitational pull.
You are some tears dribbling from a mountain’s
eye, running down the pavements
of small towns, into the cities, to the sea.
You are the path of least resistance.

What I am is power. You, of course,
have none: you are a static lump, an artifact
slowly decaying. But my regal flow
nourishes grasses, permits empires to rise.
Those who made you will break you,
in time, replacing you with yet another
clumsy structure. I have seen. I know.

“Clumsy”? Being rebuilt makes me
a friend of time, does it not? And it means
that I have siblings—those “clumsy” structures,
my sisters and brothers.
We stitch across the rip you make.
We are steel thread to the human needle.
We bind you up. We sew you.

And I sow into you; in every cranny
of your superstructure my vapors cling.
They bring out your softness, your rust.
Boast your best, and boast better yet.
I am listening to the bright hum
of the wind in your wires. Because I am,
above all else, patient. I will wait for you.

1^1ospreys: large birds

Question

How does the similar construction of line 1 and line 8 contribute to the meaning of the poem?

  • AIt introduces the intended permanence of the structure and the ever-changing fluidity of the water.
  • BIt shows that the structure can bridge the gap caused by the water.
  • CIt suggests that the inflexible structure has more limitations than the adaptable water does.
  • DIt contrasts the stability of the structure with the instability of the water.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the similarity in the construction of lines 1 and 8 contributes to the meaning of the poem.

A. CORRECT. In line 1, the first speaker asserts, “What I am is built: concrete and steel,” and in line 8 the second speaker states, “What I am is motion. I am water, and I am older.” The similarity in the construction of these lines contributes to the meaning of the poem by establishing each speaker’s defining feature.

B. Incorrect. The focus of the lines is defining the speakers’ individuality, not how one speaker resolves a problem created by the other.

C. Incorrect. The structure is not stating in line 1 that it is limited because it was built to stand in place; on the contrary, the structure is stating that this sense of purpose and permanence is its strength.

D. Incorrect. Although in these lines the first speaker asserts “I am . . . built: concrete and steel” (line 1) and the second speaker asserts “I am . . . motion” (line 8), the construction of these lines does not contrast the stability and instability of the speakers. Rather, each speaker highlights its own features.

Question analysis

In “Cross-Purposes,” a poem in which a human-made structure and a body of water take turns speaking, line 1 and line 8 open the first two stanzas with the same words, “What I am is.” This question asks how that similar construction contributes to the poem’s meaning, and several choices describe the two speakers in nearly the same terms, so every word counts.

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 A typical grade 7 poetry question asks what a repeated phrase emphasizes. This one asks what two parallel lines from personified speakers set up, and the choices turn on abstract words with fine shades of meaning, which goes beyond 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: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 71 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students who notice that both lines begin “What I am is” usually see the opposition between something built and something moving, and then face two choices that state it in near-synonyms. The deciding question is whether either speaker is being judged, and lines 1 and 8 only declare, each speaker naming its nature with pride. Words like “instability,” “limitations” and “bridge the gap” bring in criticism or later stanzas, so every word of a choice has to be weighed against the two lines alone.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    The right choice and the one about stability both set the built structure against moving water; they part only on “instability,” which turns the water’s motion into a weakness the proud water never admits. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what the shared opening “What I am is” contributes, so students must see that it gives each speaker a matching self-definition, “built” in line 1 and “motion” in line 8. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The structure never says it is a bridge; students must infer that from “concrete and steel” and the traffic crossing its “broad back,” then read both personified speakers’ boasts as self-portraits to compare. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  4. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The choices turn on abstract words the poem never uses, “permanence,” “fluidity,” “instability,” “inflexible” and “adaptable,” and their shades of judgment decide the question. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Set line 1 beside line 8 and name, in a word of your own, what each speaker says it is; then test every word of each choice against those two lines alone.

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 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 is about the poem’s structure, or how it is put together. Lines 1 and 8 are built the same way. You need to see what that matching pattern adds to the poem’s meaning.

  2. Set the two lines side by side

    Line 1: “What I am is built: concrete and steel.”
    Line 8: “What I am is motion. I am water, and I am older”

    Both lines begin with the same four words: “What I am is.” Line 1 opens the first stanza, and line 8 opens the second. (A stanza is a group of lines, like a paragraph in a poem.) So each speaker begins by naming what it is.

  3. Name what each speaker is

    The first speaker is a structure, most likely a bridge, since traffic and trains “make their way across my broad back.” It is “built” of concrete and steel, so it is meant to stand for many years. The second speaker is water. It is “motion,” always flowing and changing shape. The matching lines introduce the two speakers side by side: one made to last, one always moving.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is right. Permanence means lasting without change. Fluidity means flowing easily. These words fit “built” and “motion.”
    • B is wrong. A gap first shows up in line 33: “We stitch across the rip you make.” Lines 1 and 8 say nothing about it.
    • C is wrong. Inflexible means unable to bend. Adaptable means able to change. But lines 1 and 8 never call either speaker more limited. In line 2, the structure even brags, “I defy gravity.”
    • D is wrong. Instability means being shaky or likely to fail. It turns the water’s motion into a flaw. Yet the water boasts that it is “older / than anything else you know.”

    Watch out: D sets up the same pairing as A. The one word that sinks it is “instability.”

  5. Choose the answer

    The matching openings introduce a structure built to last and water that never stops moving. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong answer. It also pairs the steady structure with the moving water. But “instability” suggests the water is weak or can’t be trusted. The water is proud of its motion. A describes both speakers the way they see themselves.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 36 as printed on page 177 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 177, question 36. Open page 177 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 “Cross-Purposes” as printed (pages 72–73)The passage “Cross-Purposes” as printed on page 72 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Cross-Purposes” as printed on page 73 of the DOE handbook.

Question 51 of 75

2023 Test B English, question 38

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

The use of the words “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32 conveys the idea that the

  • Aforms water can take are less diverse than the types of structures that exist.
  • Bnumber of human-made structures is rapidly increasing.
  • Cwater passes under many similar-looking structures as it flows.
  • Dstructure is powerful because it is one of many.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks which idea the use of the words “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32 conveys in the poem.

A. Incorrect. Although in line 29 the structure refers to itself as “being rebuilt” or taking on new forms, this idea is expressed to reinforce the idea that the structure’s presence is eternal (“a friend of time,” line 30). The use of the words “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32 does suggest that a variety of structures exist, but no comparison is drawn to suggest that the varieties of structures are more diverse than the forms of water.

B. Incorrect. While the use of the words “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32 conveys the idea that structures can be replicated by being built, it does not convey the idea that the number of human-made structures is rapidly increasing.

C. Incorrect. Although in line 33 the structure states, “We stitch across the rip you make,” suggesting that water passes under structures, the use of the words “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32 does not convey the idea that the structures that the water passes under are similar-looking.

D. CORRECT. The use of the words “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32 conveys the idea that the structure is powerful because it is one of many and because these structures “stitch across the rip” (line 33) that water makes.

Question analysis

This figurative-language question asks what idea the structure in “Cross-Purposes” conveys when it calls other structures its “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers” in lines 31–32. The words come in the fifth stanza, where the structure takes up the water’s word “clumsy,” so students must decide what this family language adds to the structure’s side of the exchange.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Interpreting a metaphor in a poem is standard grade 7 work, and the family words themselves are simple. Students must still decide what the comparison means coming from a personified structure in the middle of an argument, a typical grade 7 step.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 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

The family words answer the water’s taunt in the stanza before, that the structure’s makers will replace it with “yet another clumsy structure,” and the structure turns replacement into kinship. Students who read lines 31–32 alone may stop at the picture of a family, and the strongest wrong choice reads that family as look-alikes. The point arrives only in the next lines, where the structures act as one to bind the water, which makes their number a source of strength.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The structure calls other structures “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers,” a family metaphor followed at once by a sewing one, “We stitch across the rip you make,” so two figures must be read together. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Nothing in lines 31–32 says the structure is powerful; students must infer it from the switch to “We” in the lines that follow, where the many structures together “bind” and “sew” the water. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The choice about similar-looking structures shares the right one’s idea of many structures; it differs in what their number means, a matter of looks rather than strength. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Reread the whole fifth stanza, not just lines 31–32, and say what the structure is arguing there; then choose the idea that the family words add to that argument.

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 figurative language, words that mean more than their plain meaning. In lines 31–32 the structure calls other structures “siblings” and “my sisters and brothers.” You need to decide what idea those family words give.

  2. Read what the water said first

    The family words answer an insult. In lines 26–28 the water says, “Those who made you will break you, / in time, replacing you with yet another / clumsy structure.” Clumsy means awkward and poorly made. The water means the structure won’t last.

  3. Read the structure’s reply

    In lines 29–32, the structure turns the insult around. Being rebuilt makes it “a friend of time.” It has “siblings,” other structures, which it calls “my sisters and brothers.” Then, in lines 33–35, it switches from “I” to “We.” It says, “We stitch across the rip you make.” It adds, “We bind you up. We sew you.” To stitch is to sew. The rip is the gap water cuts through the land.

  4. Work out the idea

    A family is a group that sticks together. Working as one, the many structures “bind” the water, like thread holding cloth. One bridge may be replaced, but the family goes on. So being one of many is what makes the structure strong.

  5. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The lines never compare kinds of structures with forms of water.
    • B is wrong. Being rebuilt swaps one structure for another. It doesn’t mean their number is growing fast.
    • C is wrong. Real siblings may look alike, but that isn’t the point here. The family words show the structures are many and connected.
    • D is right. The “We” lines show the many structures acting together, which gives them power.

    Watch out: C is tempting if you picture siblings who look alike. Read on to line 35 to see what the family does.

  6. Choose the answer

    The family words show the structure gets its strength from being one of many. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong answer. It also sees many structures, and in line 33 they do cross the water. But C makes the family words about looks. Lines 33–35 make them about strength: “We bind you up.” That is why D fits better.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as printed on page 178 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 178, question 38. Open page 178 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 52 of 75

2023 Test B English, question 42

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

How does the poet develop the points of view of the structure and the water?

  • Aby giving an account of a discussion between them about the future of human civilization
  • Bby narrating a debate they have over their impact on the environment
  • Cby illustrating the unique power they each possess over nature
  • Dby using personification to allow them to debate who is more important
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the poet develops the two points of view.

A. Incorrect. While the poem relates how the water views the structure as “an artifact / slowly decaying” (lines 23–24) and the structure refers to itself as “a friend of time” (line 30), the poet does not give an account of a discussion about the future of human civilization.

B. Incorrect. While the speakers do discuss their impact on the environment, there is no narrator speaking for them.

C. Incorrect. Although the structure states it is made of “concrete and steel” (line 1) and is a “steel thread to the human needle” (line 34), only the water claims to possess power over nature, stating that “all washes down through me” (line 14) and “what I am is power” (line 22).

D. CORRECT. The poet develops the speakers’ points of view by personifying (giving human characteristics to something nonhuman such as an object or animal) the structure and the water, allowing them to debate by criticizing each other and declaring their own importance.

Question analysis

This point-of-view question asks how the poet of “Cross-Purposes” develops the viewpoints of its two speakers, a human-made structure and a body of water, across six alternating stanzas. Each answer pairs a way of presenting the voices with a subject for their exchange, so students must check both halves against the poem, since a choice can be right about one and wrong about the other.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 This is exactly the grade 7 standard on how a writer develops and contrasts the points of view of different speakers. The choices are short, but each joins a way of presenting the voices to a subject, so two things must be checked at once.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 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 poem is a direct exchange: stanzas alternate between two speakers who address each other as “you,” with no voice outside them. Most students sense the argument, which makes the narrated-debate choice the strongest pull, since its subject, the speakers’ effects on the land, does come up in the poem. The question is decided by the method half of each choice, and only one names a device the poet actually uses, letting the two speak for themselves about which matters more.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how the poet develops the two viewpoints, so the right choice must name a method, speakers given voices to argue for themselves, and a choice that only reports what they say falls short. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The right choice relies on the term “personification,” which the poem never names, so students must recognize concrete and water that speak and boast as that device. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each choice pairs a way of presenting the voices, an account, narration, illustration or personification, with a subject, so both halves must be tested against all six stanzas. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Go through the six stanzas noting who is speaking and what each speaker claims, then judge each choice twice: once for how it says the voices are presented, once for what it says they discuss.

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.

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 poet’s method: how the poet shows what each speaker thinks. Each choice names a method and a topic. The right choice must get both parts right.

  2. Notice who is speaking

    The poem has six stanzas, or groups of lines. The structure speaks in stanzas 1, 3 and 5. The water speaks in stanzas 2, 4 and 6. Each one says “I” about itself and “you” to the other. No outside voice tells the story. A voice like that is called a narrator, and this poem has none.

  3. Name the poet’s method

    In real life, concrete and water have no voices. The poet lets them speak like people anyway. This is called personification: treating a thing as if it were a person. Then the two argue. The structure calls the water “an accident” (line 15). The water answers, “What I am is power. You, of course, / have none” (lines 22–23).

  4. See what they argue about

    Each speaker brags about itself and puts the other down. The structure says it is useful, carrying “cars, trucks, people, even trains” (line 5). The water says it is older and stronger. It ends by saying it will outlast the structure: “I will wait for you” (line 42). Their real fight is over which of them matters more.

  5. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Empires come up only once, in line 25. The speakers argue about themselves, not the future of civilization.
    • B is wrong. The speakers do mention their effects on the land. The water says it “nourishes grasses” (line 25). But “narrating” means a narrator tells the debate, and no one does. The two speak for themselves.
    • C is wrong. It names what the speakers brag about, not how the poet presents them. Also, only the water claims power over nature: “It all washes down through me” (line 14).
    • D is right. Personification lets the two argue about who is more important.

  6. Choose the answer

    The poet uses personification so the structure and the water can argue over who matters more. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest wrong answer. It is right that there is a debate, and the speakers do talk about their effects on the world around them. But B says the debate is narrated. In the poem, the structure and the water speak in their own voices. D names that method.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 42 as printed on page 179 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2024 Admissions, page 179, question 42. Open page 179 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 53 of 75

2022 Test A English, question 48
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

How do lines 23–28 contribute to a central idea of the poem?

  • AThey suggest that the speaker is aware of what has been lost in the winter.
  • BThey imply that the birds sing the most in the summer.
  • CThey reveal that the birds are subject to the cycles of nature.
  • DThey emphasize that the speaker enjoys observing nature.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

This question asks how the description of the “bird talk” contributes to the central idea of the poem.

A. Incorrect. The birds’ conversations may center around “who is here” and “who is not here and who used to be here” (lines 23–24), but the lines do not convey that the speaker feels a sense of loss, only that the birds have such figurative conversations in a direct way.

B. Incorrect. Though the birds are described by the speaker as “talking bird talk” (line 22), it is not suggested that this talk occurs more frequently in one season versus another, only that it occurs year after year because birds encounter seasonal changes as a constant.

C. CORRECT. In these lines, the birds gather, and some birds are not present but “used to be here” (line 24). These birds have likely succumbed to another of nature’s cycles: death, which affects all living things.

D. Incorrect. Though the description in these lines is a vivid one and includes anthropomorphism in the birds asking about “who is here” (line 23) and “counting up last year as against / this year” (lines 25–26), it gives no indication of the speaker’s level of enjoyment in observing nature.

Question analysis

This poetry question points to lines 23–28 of Carl Sandburg’s “Bird Talk,” where birds sitting in circles talk over who is here, who is not here and who won’t be here next year, and asks how those lines contribute to a central idea of the poem. Students must untangle Sandburg’s long, loosely joined lines and connect the birds’ chatter to the rest of the poem.

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 students often explain what a stanza adds to a poem. Here six lines of loosely punctuated free verse must first be decoded and then tied to a central idea the question leaves unnamed, more than typical grade 7 poetry 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: 296 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 5, 57 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • The explanation said a quoted phrase was in the lines the question asks about, though it comes just before them; that 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

The lines are hard to untangle, and the meaning that matters, that some birds have died or gone and others will by next year, is only implied. Students who catch the sense of loss can still go wrong by handing it to the speaker and tying it to the first stanza’s winter, while others fall back on safe statements about enjoying nature or summer birdsong. The question rewards reading the birds’ count of last year, this year and next year as a cycle that repeats.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    The lines never name death or the seasons; students must work out that birds “who used to be here” and birds “who won’t be here next year” stand for losses that come round year after year. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    Lines 23–28 are one unfinished sentence of stacked “if” clauses, “as to who is here / and as to who is not here,” with a count of “this year as against next” broken across two lines. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  3. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The birds are pictured as a meeting that will “ask in their circles” and keep a yearly tally, so the census has to be read as the speaker’s playful image of what nature does. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  4. How, not what minor Working it out

    The stem asks what the lines add to “a central idea” without naming one, so students must first decide which idea of the poem the birds’ tally serves. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Put lines 23–28 into plain words, noting who is talking and what they keep track of, then ask what that adds to the poem as a whole before you look at the choices.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The question asks about lines 23–28. The DOE’s explanation of Option B begins “Though the birds are described in these lines by the speaker as ‘talking bird talk’ (line 22).” That phrase is in line 22, just before the lines the question asks about, as the explanation’s own line number shows. The site drops “in these lines,” so the sentence now says that the speaker describes the birds as “talking bird talk” (line 22). The reason Option B is wrong is unchanged: the poem does not suggest that the birds talk more in one season than in another. The answer, C, 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 lines 23–28 add to a central idea of the poem. A central idea is a big message the whole poem gets across. So you need to do two things. First, put the six lines into plain words. Then see how they connect to the rest of the poem.

  2. Read lines 20 to 29

    Lines 20–22 show birds that “talk there, sitting in circles talking bird talk.” Lines 23–24 say they ask “as to who is here / and as to who is not here and who used to be here.” Lines 25–28 say they count “this year as against next / year.” They talk “about who is here / this year who won’t be here next year.” Line 29 ends: “We shall never blame the birds.”

  3. Put the lines in plain words

    The birds are pictured like people at a meeting, taking a count. Some birds from last year are missing. They may have died or flown off. And some birds here now won’t be back next year. This happens again every year. Some birds arrive and some are lost. A pattern that repeats like this is called a cycle. The seasons are a cycle too.

  4. Connect the lines to the poem

    The first stanza (group of lines) shows a pattern that repeats too. Winter is over, and the leaves say again that summer is beginning. Line 18 says they spoke “as they said one time before.” So a central idea is that nature moves in cycles that come back again and again. Lines 23–28 show that the birds’ lives follow those cycles too. To be “subject to” something is to be ruled by it.

  5. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The birds keep the count, not the speaker (the voice talking in the poem). The lines never mention winter, and they look ahead to next year too.
    • B does not fit. Line 22 calls it “talking bird talk,” but lines 23–28 never compare seasons or say when birds sing most.
    • C fits. Birds come and go year after year, as part of nature’s cycles.
    • D does not fit. These lines are about the birds’ count. They show nothing about whether the speaker enjoys watching.

  6. Choose the answer

    Watch out: A is the most tempting, because “who used to be here” does hint at loss. But the birds are the ones counting, and the count goes on every year. The lines show a cycle, not one sad winter. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest wrong answer, because the lines do hint at loss. But it is the birds who count who is missing, not the speaker. The lines also look ahead to next year instead of back at winter. That yearly count of who comes and who goes shows birds living by nature’s cycles, which is C.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 48 as printed on page 70 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2023 Admissions, page 70, question 48. Open page 70 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 “Bird Talk” as printed (page 32)The passage “Bird Talk” as printed on page 32 of the DOE handbook.

Question 54 of 75

2022 Test B English, question 41
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

The break between the second stanza (lines 5–14) and the third stanza (lines 15–26) serves as a transition from

  • Aidentifying common physical objects to explaining how the particles that make up all physical things are observed.
  • Bsuggesting that the visible world is made up of simple materials to revealing why invisible materials make the world complicated.
  • Cdiscussing the methods used to study particles in space to describing how matter is researched on Earth.
  • Ddescribing an environment that feels comfortable to characterizing an environment that seems unstable.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the break between the second stanza (lines 5–14) and the third stanza (lines 15–26) serves as a transition between ideas.

A. CORRECT. The second stanza describes physical objects, including “your fingernail, / the candy at the back of your mouth, / the coffee your teacher drank this morning” (lines 9–11) and even “the stuffed dog” that “your little sister” (line 12) carries around. In the third stanza, the speaker introduces the topic of observation by asking, “How do we find it?” in line 17. Lines 17–18 offer one possible method for finding “it” (“We can listen for it / in the wavelengths from deep space”), while lines 20–22 describe a second method (“Or we can build long, / deep circular tunnels beneath the surface / of this Earth and race particles”). With these details, the focus of the poem shifts toward explaining how the particles that make up everything are observed.

B. Incorrect. While the speaker does list common items such as “candy” and “coffee” (lines 10–11) that many people are familiar with and that seem to be simple in composition or structure, the speaker does not imply in the third stanza that invisible objects complicate the world. In fact, the speaker claims that everything is “made up of the same stuff” (line 16), which simplifies the invisible world.

C. Incorrect. The second stanza focuses on the structure of matter (“beneath the level of molecules are atoms, / and beneath the level of atoms, we find / protons, electrons, neutrons” [lines 5–7]) and does not discuss the methods used to explore this structure in space. The third stanza mentions space (“We can listen for it / in the wavelengths from deep space” [lines 17–18]) and how we can “race particles” (line 22) on Earth but does not compare the methods of study used in these different locations.

D. Incorrect. While the second stanza describes items that are familiar to readers, including “your fingernail, / the candy at the back of your mouth, / the coffee your teacher drank this morning” (lines 9–11), the familiarity of these items does not necessarily mean they are part of a comfortable environment. The third stanza discusses studying the parts of matter “until everything we think we know / bangs against everything else we know” (lines 25–26). The “banging” the speaker refers to is not related to an unstable environment but rather to the mysteries of atomic structure.

Question analysis

This structure question on the poem “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything,” about the Large Hadron Collider, asks what shift the break between the second stanza (lines 5–14) and the third stanza (lines 15–26) marks. Students must sum up what each stanza is doing and check that both halves of a two-part choice fit, each matched to the right stanza.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Explaining how a stanza break shifts a poem’s focus is regular grade 7 structure work. Both stanzas use everyday language, and each two-part choice must be checked half by half, a typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 12, 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 shift is easy to hear: stanza 2 closes with a list running from a fingernail to a stuffed dog and “everywhere,” and stanza 3 asks how the shared stuff can be found. The wrong choices fail on one half or put content in the wrong stanza, the most tempting being the one that splits stanza 3’s two methods, deep space and underground tunnels, across the break. Checking each half against its own stanza separates them.

  1. How, not what minor Working it out

    The stem asks what the stanza break marks, so students must sum up what stanza 2 does, listing everyday things made of particles, and what stanza 3 does, asking “How do we find it?” (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Every choice has a “from” half and a “to” half, and each half must be matched to its own stanza, so a choice can fail on either side or by moving content across the break. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Write a few words for what stanza 2 does and a few for what stanza 3 does, then choose the pair that matches both, in the right order.

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 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. Understand the transition question

    This asks what changes at the break between stanza 2 and stanza 3. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph. A transition is a move from one idea to the next. Each choice has a “from” part and a “to” part, and both must match.

  2. Sum up stanza 2, lines 5–14

    Stanza 2 goes smaller and smaller: molecules, then atoms, then “protons, electrons, neutrons.” Then it turns to everyday things made of that tiny stuff: “your fingernail, / the candy at the back of your mouth, / the coffee your teacher drank this morning.” It ends with a little sister and her stuffed dog. These are common physical objects, things you can touch.

  3. Sum up stanza 3, lines 15–26

    Stanza 3 says all things are “made up of the same stuff.” Then line 17 asks, “How do we find it?” The rest of the stanza gives two answers. We can listen “in the wavelengths from deep space.” Or they can build tunnels and race particles, the tiny bits that make up matter. So stanza 3 is about how people observe, or study, those particles.

  4. Check both halves of each choice

    • A fits. Stanza 2 names common things. Stanza 3 explains how particles are found.
    • B does not fit. Stanza 3 says everything is the same stuff. It never says hidden materials make the world complicated.
    • C does not fit. Stanza 2 has no methods at all. Both ways of searching, in space and on Earth, come in stanza 3.
    • D does not fit. Candy and a stuffed dog are familiar, but no comfortable place is described. The banging in line 26 is particles crashing in a tunnel.

  5. Choose the answer

    Watch out: C is tempting because the poem does mention deep space and the Earth. But both come after the break, so C splits stanza 3 in two. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C comes closest, because space and the Earth are both in the poem. But they sit side by side in stanza 3, as two ways to search. Stanza 2 searches for nothing; it lists things from a fingernail to a stuffed dog. A matches each stanza: everyday objects first, then how scientists find the particles inside them.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 41 as printed on page 185 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2023 Admissions, page 185, question 41. Open page 185 of the handbook (PDF)
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 55 of 75

2022 Test B English, question 43

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

Question

Read lines 25–26 from the poem.

until everything we think we know
bangs against everything else we know.

The lines help develop a central idea in the poem by suggesting that

  • Acreative methods for researching particles are frequently being invented.
  • Bongoing research continues to add to our knowledge of particles.
  • Cour understanding of particles is limited by the equipment available to study them.
  • Dcompeting theories about particles provoke scientific debate.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how lines 25–26 help develop a central idea in the poem.

A. Incorrect. Lines 25–26 illustrate the collision of old and new information about particles, but they do not describe “creative methods” that are currently being invented to research subatomic particles.

B. CORRECT. The lines “until everything we think we know / bangs against everything else we know” (lines 25–26) are about how the old knowledge about particles interacts with newfound knowledge.

C. Incorrect. While lines 20–22 describe the Large Hadron Collider as “long, / deep circular tunnels beneath the surface / of this Earth” where scientists “race particles,” lines 25–26 refer to the collision of old and new ideas about particles, not the limitations of the Large Hadron Collider.

D. Incorrect. Lines 25–26 focus on what “we think we know” about subatomic particles and how new discoveries challenge “everything else we know.” However, the challenge is not a result of scientists debating one another but rather what the Large Hadron Collider reveals about particles.

Question analysis

Lines 25–26 of the poem “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” end a long sentence about racing particles through underground tunnels: “until everything we think we know / bangs against everything else we know.” This question asks what central idea the lines help develop. Students must interpret a figurative collision, and several choices offer reasonable-sounding ideas about how science works.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 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 interpret figurative lines and connect them to a central idea, but these two lines play on the collisions in a particle accelerator, state nothing directly, and end a seven-line sentence, 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 9, 69 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A missing period in the explanation was restored.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The lines use the collider’s own action, a crash, as a picture of what the research does to knowledge, and nothing in them says plainly what that is. The strongest pull reads the crash as people clashing, rival theories in a debate, which turns the image into a quarrel the poem never describes. Students who follow the sentence into the next stanza, where new particles appear in the explosion, see that the collisions add to what we know.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    “Bangs against” moves the collision from the particles racing in the tunnel to “everything we think we know,” so the lines must be read as a picture of knowledge being tested, not of machines. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    What the collision does to knowledge is never stated; it follows from “until,” which makes the crash the goal of the work, and from the next stanza, where the quarks and leptons “appear.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    Lines 25–26 close a seven-line sentence that starts at “Or we can build long,” runs through a parenthesis about racing cars, and only then reaches its “until” clause. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Read lines 20–26 as one sentence, decide what is literally colliding in the tunnels, then ask what the poet suggests is happening to “everything we think we know.”

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

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option B ends “…are about how the old knowledge about particles interacts with newfound knowledge” with no closing period. The site adds the period.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Make sense of the question

    This asks what lines 25–26 add to a central idea of the poem. The lines use a picture, not plain facts. So first see what is really happening in the lines before them. Then ask what the picture means.

  2. Read the whole sentence

    Lines 25–26 end a long sentence that starts in line 20: “Or we can build long, / deep circular tunnels beneath the surface / of this Earth and race particles.” The racing goes on “until everything we think we know / bangs against everything else we know.” In the real machine, particles speed around and smash into each other.

  3. Work out the picture

    The poet swaps the particles for “everything we think we know.” So it is our knowledge that crashes. Picture old ideas being tested against new findings. The word “until” shows the crash is the goal of the racing. The next stanza shows the result. In the explosion, tiny particles “appear,” and the poet names them. Each crash teaches scientists more.

  4. Check each choice

    • A does not fit. The ways of searching come earlier, in lines 17–22. Nothing says new methods are often invented.
    • B fits. The research keeps going, and each crash adds to what we know about particles.
    • C does not fit. The tunnels are shown as a way to find things out, not as a limit.
    • D does not fit. The banging stands for particles colliding. No scientists argue, and no sides compete.

  5. Give the answer

    Watch out: D is tempting, because things banging together can sound like people clashing in a debate, an argument between sides. But the poem never shows anyone arguing. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest wrong choice, since “bangs against” can sound like an argument. But the crash copies what the particles do in the tunnel. Right after it, particles appear in the explosion. The lines picture knowledge growing as the experiments go on, which is B, not a fight between theories.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 43 as printed on page 186 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s NYC Guide to the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for 2023 Admissions, page 186, question 43. Open page 186 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 56 of 75

2022 Test B English, question 47

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

Question

The last stanza (lines 33–44) concludes the poem by emphasizing which central idea?

  • AThe exciting work that physicists conduct provides information about fundamental aspects of the universe.
  • BThe unusual work of physicists is carried out in unconventional locations and in special conditions.
  • CPhysicists are learning about the unpredictable behavior of particles that break up matter in the universe.
  • DPhysicists enthusiastically share the discoveries their research yields because most people can relate to their findings.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks which central idea is emphasized in the last stanza (lines 33–44).

A. CORRECT. Throughout the poem, the speaker describes how everything in our universe and in our everyday lives is made up of these tiny particles. The last stanza allows us to picture the scientists working “in the darkness” (line 40), jotting down notes. Phrases like “wild dancing” (line 43) and “combusting to the music” (line 44) describe the activity of the particles and communicate the idea that the findings are exciting.

B. Incorrect. While the Large Hadron Collider is in an unconventional location that is important in the poem, it is the only location described in the poem: “it is only down there / in the darkness—in the vast garage” (lines 39–40). While the darkness is a special condition, the poem does not describe other conditions where the same type of research is being carried out. The poem does mention that “we can listen for it / in the wavelengths from deep space, / talking back to us from unimaginable / distances” (lines 17–20), but this description implies the use of a tool (a satellite), not a location.

C. Incorrect. The last stanza states that “The one thing we know for sure / is that they spin” (lines 33–34). This detail is one aspect of the particles’ behavior that is known; therefore, the particles are not completely unpredictable. In addition, the poem never describes the particles breaking up matter in the universe; the poem describes only their movements and collisions.

D. Incorrect. While the “physicists jot down / what they can, whatever seems most real” (lines 41–42), the research they share with the world is complicated and difficult to understand, making it unlikely that their findings are relatable to most people.

Question analysis

This central-idea question asks which idea the last stanza of “Looking for the Smallest Spark of Everything” (lines 33–44) emphasizes as it concludes the poem. The stanza moves from the particles’ spin and gravity to a pencil and Jupiter, then to physicists in an underground “vast garage,” so students must follow long, winding sentences and decide what the ending stresses.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Identifying the central idea a closing stanza emphasizes is grade 7 work. This twelve-line stanza mixes physics with images of dancing and music in long sentences, but each choice can be tested against it directly, a typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 346 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 13, 73 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The stanza joins two ideas: what the particles do for the whole world, holding a pencil together and apart from Jupiter, and the excitement of glimpsing them. The wrong choices each seize a vivid piece: the dark garage becomes the point, the wild dancing becomes unpredictable destruction, the pencil becomes findings people can relate to. Students who ask what the stanza says the research reveals, and how it sounds, pair the importance with the excitement.

  1. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    The stanza’s second sentence runs from “This is how gravity” through three clauses to “Jupiter,” and its last builds to “it is only down there … that they let us perceive,” broken by a clause between dashes. (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” have to be read for excitement and wonder, not as reports of chaos or of a strange workplace. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    The choice about physicists learning how particles behave mirrors the right one, physicists gaining knowledge of the universe, and parts from it only on what is learned, unpredictable particles breaking matter up. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Paraphrase the last stanza sentence by sentence, ask which idea it shares with the rest of the poem, and check every part of each choice against the lines.

Traps

  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.
  • Too 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.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Find what the question wants

    This asks which central idea the last stanza stresses as the poem ends. A central idea is a main message of the whole poem. The stanza is lines 33–44. Put it in plain words a piece at a time. Then see which choice matches all of it.

  2. Read lines 33–39

    The stanza opens, “The one thing we know for sure / is that they spin.” “They” are the tiny particles. Their spin is “how gravity / enters our world.” Gravity is the pull that keeps your feet on the ground. The spin keeps “the pencil in your hand” in one piece. It also keeps it separate from the planet Jupiter. So these particles shape how the whole universe works.

  3. Read lines 39–44

    We can see the particles only “down there / in the darkness,” in the huge underground lab the poet calls “the vast garage.” There, physicists, scientists who study matter and energy, “jot down / what they can.” The particles show “their wild dancing, / combusting to the music they make.” Combusting means bursting into flame. These images are lively and thrilling.

  4. Put the stanza in one sentence

    The stanza joins two ideas. The particles explain basic facts about the universe, such as gravity and why things hold together. And the physicists who study them get to glimpse something exciting. Fundamental means basic, at the root of everything. So the stanza stresses exciting work that reveals fundamental parts of the universe.

  5. Check each choice

    • A fits. It joins the exciting work with what the work reveals about the universe.
    • B does not fit. The dark lab is just the setting. Most of the stanza is about what spin does and how thrilling the sight is.
    • C does not fit. The one sure fact is that particles spin. “Apart” in line 36 means kept separate, like the pencil and Jupiter, not broken into pieces.
    • D does not fit. The physicists only take notes. The stanza never shows them sharing findings or says most people relate to them.

  6. Settle on the answer

    Watch out: C is tempting because “wild dancing” and “combusting” sound out of control. But those words show excitement, not particles breaking matter apart. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest wrong choice, because the particles do seem wild. But the stanza begins with what is known for sure: they spin, and that spin holds our world together and apart. C turns a thrilling dance into destruction. A keeps both parts of the stanza: exciting research that shows how the universe is put together.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 47 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 2023 Admissions, page 188, question 47. Open page 188 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 57 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 42
Passage Cross-Purposes

Cross-Purposes

What I am is built: concrete and steel.
I defy gravity. I am what every athlete
wants: to remain at the apex of the leap,
up in the air. And yet I am useful, too:
cars, trucks, people, even trains
make their way across my broad back.
Swallows and ospreys1^1 nest in my trusses.

What I am is motion. I am water, and I am older
than anything else you know. No human
built me. I am gravity’s best friend; I pool
and flow wherever gravity takes me.
I am the blood flowing in the runner’s chest,
and I catch everything: from the hills,
the mountains. It all washes down through me.

What you are is an accident,
what happens to rain when rain gives in
to Earth’s gravitational pull.
You are some tears dribbling from a mountain’s
eye, running down the pavements
of small towns, into the cities, to the sea.
You are the path of least resistance.

What I am is power. You, of course,
have none: you are a static lump, an artifact
slowly decaying. But my regal flow
nourishes grasses, permits empires to rise.
Those who made you will break you,
in time, replacing you with yet another
clumsy structure. I have seen. I know.

“Clumsy”? Being rebuilt makes me
a friend of time, does it not? And it means
that I have siblings—those “clumsy” structures,
my sisters and brothers.
We stitch across the rip you make.
We are steel thread to the human needle.
We bind you up. We sew you.

And I sow into you; in every cranny
of your superstructure my vapors cling.
They bring out your softness, your rust.
Boast your best, and boast better yet.
I am listening to the bright hum
of the wind in your wires. Because I am,
above all else, patient. I will wait for you.

1^1ospreys: large birds

Question

How does the similar construction of the sentence in line 1 and the sentence in line 8 contribute to the meaning of the poem?

  • AIt introduces the intended permanence of the structure and the ever-changing fluidity of the water.
  • BIt shows that the structure can bridge the gap caused by the water.
  • CIt suggests that the structure has more limitations than the water.
  • DIt contrasts the stability of the structure with the instability of the water.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The answer is (A)

The question asks how the similarity in the construction of lines 1 and 8 contributes to the meaning of the poem. By beginning lines 1 and 8 with “What I am is,” each speaker establishes its defining feature, both of which are stated in Option A.

Option B is incorrect because the focus of the lines is defining the speakers’ individuality, not how one speaker resolves a problem created by the other.

Option C is incorrect because the structure is not stating in line 1 that it is limited because it was built to stand in place; on the contrary, the structure is stating that this sense of purpose and permanence is its strength.

Option D is incorrect because, in these lines, each speaker is trying to establish its stability, which for the structure is based on strength and for the water is based on longevity.

Question analysis

In the poem “Cross-Purposes,” a built structure and a body of water speak in turn, and both of their opening stanzas begin “What I am is.” This question asks how that matching sentence pattern adds to the poem's meaning. Students must judge precisely how each speaker describes itself, since the choices differ in small but important words.

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 poetry questions often ask what a repeated phrase emphasizes. Here the repetition sets up two opposed speakers, and the choices hinge on fine distinctions of connotation, which pushes the task above 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: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 74 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

Two choices describe the same contrast, built versus moving, and differ only in the judgment their words carry. Students who see the contrast quickly can still lose the point by choosing the version that calls the water unstable, since nothing in the water's stanza treats motion as a weakness; it boasts of being older than anything. The question rewards weighing the connotation of each word in a choice, not just its overall direction.

  1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

    A and D describe the same contrast in near-synonyms, permanence and stability against fluidity and instability; they differ only in the word “instability,” a weakness the proud water never claims. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what the shared opening “What I am is” does, so students must see that it sets up two self-definitions, “built” and “motion,” as rival claims. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The speakers are personified and the structure is never named, so students must infer from “concrete and steel” and the trains on its “broad back” that a bridge is speaking. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  4. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The choices turn on abstract words such as “permanence,” “fluidity” and “instability” that never appear in the poem. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Read the opening sentences of the first two stanzas side by side, name each speaker's defining quality in a word, and test every choice's wording against what the speakers actually claim.

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook reads “how the similarity in the construction of lines 1 and 8 contribute”. It now reads “contributes”, to agree with “similarity”.

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 question about the poem’s structure. Lines 1 and 8 are built the same way. You need to see what that sameness does for the meaning.

  2. Compare lines 1 and 8

    Line 1 opens the first stanza (a group of lines in a poem): “What I am is built: concrete and steel.”

    Line 8 opens the second stanza: “What I am is motion. I am water.”

    Both start with the same words, “What I am is.” Each speaker is telling you the one thing that defines it.

  3. Work out who is talking

    Two things talk in this poem. The first is a structure, most likely a bridge. It is made of “concrete and steel,” and trains cross its “broad back.” The second is water. Giving human traits, like speech, to things that are not human is called personification.

    The bridge is “built”: made to stay in place for a long time. The water is “motion”: always moving and changing.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. “Built” suggests permanence (lasting). “Motion” suggests fluidity (flowing like a liquid).
    • B The bridge closing a gap comes later, in lines 33–35. Lines 1 and 8 mention no gap.
    • C The bridge is proud of being built. It admits no limits here.
    • D “Instability” makes moving sound like a weakness. The water is proud of its motion.

  5. Choose the answer

    The matching lines set the structure’s lasting strength against the water’s constant flow. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap, because it describes the same contrast. But instability means being shaky or weak. The water never sees itself that way. It brags that it is “older / than anything else you know.” A uses “fluidity,” which treats motion as a strength.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 42 as printed on page 73 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 73, question 42. Open page 73 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 “Cross-Purposes” as printed (pages 72–73)The passage “Cross-Purposes” as printed on page 72 of the DOE handbook.The passage “Cross-Purposes” as printed on page 73 of the DOE handbook.

Question 58 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 43

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

Read lines 2–4 and lines 12–14 from the poem.

I am what every athlete
wants: to remain at the apex of the leap,
up in the air.

I am the blood flowing in the runner’s chest,
and I catch everything: from the hills,
the mountains.

How do the lines contribute to the development of a central idea of the poem?

  • AThey establish that both the structure and the water have endurance and control.
  • BThey highlight that both the structure and the water are powerful and impressive.
  • CThey suggest that the structure and the water are unaware of how similar they are.
  • DThey reveal that the structure and the water are surprised that they are interrelated.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The answer is (B)

The question asks how the lines contribute to the development of a central idea in the poem. The lines “I am what every athlete / wants” (lines 2–3) and “I am the blood flowing in the runner’s chest” (line 12) communicate that each speaker is an object of admiration and a powerful force, so Option B is correct.

Option A is incorrect because nothing in the language of the lines communicates control.

Option C is incorrect because the lines describe opposing characteristics: the structure’s description conveys stillness—remaining “up in the air” (line 4)—while the water’s description conveys movement—“flowing in the runner’s chest” (line 12). Additionally, the idea that the speakers fail to recognize similarities is not part of a central idea.

Option D is incorrect because there is no evidence in the poem that the two speakers understand that they are interrelated.

Question analysis

Students compare two sets of lines from the poem “Cross-Purposes” in which the structure and the water each describe themselves through athletes, one leaping and one running. The question asks how these lines develop a central idea, which means comparing two images that seem opposite and deciding what the pairing adds.

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 Typical grade 7 work asks what one image suggests. This question pairs images from two speakers in a two-voice poem and asks for a shared idea, with abstract choices that all sound plausible, which is above grade 7.
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: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 113 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The athlete images point in opposite directions, one frozen in the air and one in motion, so students may look for a contrast when the question wants what the two share. Both speakers are borrowing the glamour of athletes to boast, which is what makes them powerful and impressive. The other choices either add a quality, control, that neither image carries, or credit the speakers with feelings the poem never shows.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    Both claims are metaphors: the bridge is the athlete's dream of staying “at the apex of the leap,” and the water is “the blood flowing in the runner's chest,” so each image must be translated into a quality. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Combines ideas moderate Working it out

    The two sets of lines come from rival speakers in different stanzas, and the answer has to name one idea true of both, not of either alone. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

  3. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    A and B share the frame “both the structure and the water” plus two qualities; A's endurance is close to B's power, and only its added “control” finds no support in the lines. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: For each set of lines, ask what the speaker claims about itself through the athlete image; then keep only a choice that fits both speakers and these exact words.

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks how two sets of lines build a central idea. The structure speaks one set, and the water speaks the other. You need one idea that fits both.

  2. Read both sets of lines

    The structure says, in lines 2–4: “I am what every athlete / wants: to remain at the apex of the leap, / up in the air.”

    The water says, in lines 12–14: “I am the blood flowing in the runner’s chest, / and I catch everything.”

  3. Work out what each speaker claims

    The apex is the very top. Every athlete wishes they could stay at the top of a jump. The structure stays up there all the time. So it brags that it does what athletes dream of.

    The water says it is the blood that keeps a runner going. Both speakers compare themselves to strong athletes. Both are showing off how powerful and impressive they are.

  4. Check each choice

    • A Endurance (lasting a long time) could fit. But nothing in the lines shows control.
    • B fits. Both speakers boast of being powerful and impressive.
    • C The poem never says they don’t notice how alike they are.
    • D Neither speaker shows surprise. Their tone is proud.

  5. Choose the answer

    Both sets of lines show the speakers bragging about their power. So the answer is B.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest choice. Like B, it says something good about both speakers. But A adds “control,” and neither set of lines shows either speaker controlling anything. Every part of B fits both sets of lines, with nothing extra.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 43 as printed on page 73 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 73, question 43. Open page 73 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 59 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 44

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

Read line 7 from the first stanza.

Swallows and ospreys nest in my trusses.

How does the line contribute to the development of ideas in the stanza?

  • AThe line supports the structure’s claim that it is beneficial to nature.
  • BThe line reveals that the structure secretly envies the water’s importance in nature.
  • CThe line emphasizes that the structure is more valuable to nature than the water is.
  • DThe line reveals the kinship that nature shares with the structure.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The answer is (A)

The question asks how the line contributes to the development of ideas in the stanza. The line mentions swallows and ospreys, birds that use the structure’s trusses as their home; this reference supports the claim that the structure is beneficial to nature, so Option A is correct.

Option B is incorrect because the line doesn’t hint at jealousy in the tone or language, but rather the line is promoting the structure’s helpful characteristic.

Option C is incorrect because, in the line, the structure is not making a comparison with the water.

Option D is incorrect because, in the line, the structure is not implying that it is related to nature but rather that it is helpful to nature.

Question analysis

This question focuses on the first stanza of “Cross-Purposes,” in which a built structure describes itself, and asks what the line about swallows and ospreys nesting in its trusses adds. The line is short and plain, but students need to read it as part of the whole stanza and know that trusses are a structure's load-bearing framework.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Explaining what one line adds to its own stanza matches the grade 6 standard on how a sentence fits into a text. The line is plain and the stanza short, so this is below typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 316 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 line is plain and follows directly from the stanza's claim that the structure is useful, so most students who read the stanza in order find the key. The wrong choices import the poem's later rivalry with the water, or a sense of family that comes later and refers to other structures. Students who keep to the first stanza, where the water has not yet spoken, avoid them.

  1. How, not what minor Working it out

    The line follows “And yet I am useful, too,” so its job is to extend the structure's usefulness from cars and trains to birds. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The speaker is a personified bridge boasting about itself, and the birds in its “trusses” are offered as one more reason to admire it. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

    A and C both say the line shows the structure's value to nature; C differs only in adding “than the water is,” a comparison the first stanza, where the water has not yet spoken, never makes. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Read the stanza's sentences in order and note what each says about the speaker; then ask what the line about the birds adds to that picture.

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.

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 line adds to the first stanza. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, a bit like a paragraph. Read the whole stanza to see where the line fits.

  2. Read the stanza in order

    Line 4 says: “And yet I am useful, too.” Lines 5–6 list who uses the structure: “cars, trucks, people, even trains.” Then line 7 says: “Swallows and ospreys nest in my trusses.”

    The footnote says ospreys are large birds. Swallows are small birds. Trusses are the frame of beams that holds up a bridge.

  3. Work out what the line adds

    Lines 4–7 list ways the structure is useful. First it helps people and their cars and trains get across. Line 7 adds that it helps animals too: birds make their homes in it. So the line shows the structure is good for nature, not just for people.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Birds nesting there support the claim that the structure helps nature.
    • B The water isn’t even mentioned yet, and the tone is proud, not jealous.
    • C This stanza makes no comparison with the water.
    • D Kinship means being family. The line shows help, not family. The “siblings” come later, and they are other structures.

  5. Choose the answer

    The line backs up the structure’s claim that it is good for nature. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest trap. Like A, it says the structure helps nature. But C adds “than the water is.” In the first stanza the water has not spoken yet, so no comparison is made. A says only what the line shows.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 as printed on page 73 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 73, question 44. Open page 73 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 60 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 45

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

Read lines 18–20 from the poem.

You are some tears dribbling from a mountain’s
eye, running down the pavements
of small towns, into the cities, to the sea.

What impact do the phrases “some tears dribbling” and “running down” have on the meaning of the poem?

  • AThey suggest that naturally flowing water is a problem in populated areas.
  • BThey highlight the different types of naturally flowing water.
  • CThey imply that the flow of water is weak and influenced by the landscape.
  • DThey highlight that the flow of water from the mountains is minimal compared with that of the seas.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The answer is (C)

The question asks for the impact that the phrases have on the meaning of the poem. The phrases “some tears dribbling” and “running down” (lines 18–19) imply weakness in form and being influenced by the landscape, making Option C correct.

Option A is incorrect because, while the lines do describe the water in populated areas, they do not describe the water as a problem for the people living there.

Option B is incorrect because the lines do more than bring attention to different types of water; the lines make a judgment about the strength and importance of the water.

Option D is incorrect because a comparison is not made based on the volume of water streaming from the mountains and the volume of water in the seas.

Question analysis

In this question about figurative language in “Cross-Purposes,” students explain the impact of the phrases “some tears dribbling” and “running down,” used to describe the water. They must first work out which of the poem's two speakers is talking, then judge the connotations of the words rather than only the picture they paint.

NYS standards
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
  • 7L5c connotation and denotation
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Judging the connotation of a few words is standard grade 7 work. The two-voice format adds one step, since the speakers are never named, but the lines are quoted and short, so the demand stays typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 98 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The lines can be read as a simple picture of water running from mountains to the sea, and that reading leads to choices about kinds of water, flooding or volume. The phrases matter for what they say about the water's strength: it dribbles, it runs downhill, it goes where the land sends it. Students who ask how the speaker feels about the water, and remember the stanza's “path of least resistance,” arrive at the key.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    “Some tears dribbling from a mountain's eye” turns a river into a weak trickle of tears, so the judgment lies in the connotation of “some” and “dribbling,” not in the picture. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    C and D both say the water's flow is weak, D's “minimal” matching “dribbling”; they differ in the second part, where D adds a comparison with the seas that the lines never make. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    The stanza is unlabeled, so students must work out from its roman type and its “you” that the structure is speaking and belittling the water. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Compare “dribbling” with a neutral word such as “flowing,” and ask what the difference suggests about how this stanza's speaker regards the water.

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 word-choice question. It asks what two phrases suggest about the water. Notice how the words make the water seem.

  2. Work out who is speaking

    Lines 15–21 are spoken by the structure. It talks to the water as “you.” It starts: “What you are is an accident.” It ends: “You are the path of least resistance.” The path of least resistance is the easiest way, the one that takes no effort.

  3. Look closely at the phrases

    Lines 18–19 say the water is “some tears dribbling from a mountain’s eye, running down the pavements.”

    To dribble is to drip a little at a time. “Some tears” sounds small and weak. “Running down” means the water just goes downhill, wherever the land sends it. So the structure is putting the water down. It calls the water weak and pushed around by the land.

  4. Check each choice

    • A The lines mention towns, but they never call the water a problem for people.
    • B The lines do more than list kinds of water. They judge the water.
    • C fits. The water is weak and goes where the landscape sends it.
    • D The lines never compare how much water is in mountains and in seas.

  5. Choose the answer

    The phrases make the water seem weak and controlled by the land. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap, since “dribbling” does sound small, like “minimal.” But D adds a comparison with the seas. The sea is just where the water ends up. C keeps the weakness and adds the land, which matches “running down” and “the path of least resistance.”

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 as printed on page 74 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 74, question 45. Open page 74 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 61 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 46

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

The comparison to sewing in lines 33–35 helps show that the structure

  • Aenhances the beauty of the natural landscape.
  • Bbrings people together more effectively than nature does.
  • Cprovides clear boundaries for natural environments.
  • Dserves as a means for people to overcome an obstacle created by nature.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The answer is (D)

The question asks what the comparison in lines 33–35 shows about the structure. The speaker states, “We are steel thread to the human needle” (line 34), which illustrates that the structure (and others like it) is a tool used by humans to “bind . . . up” (line 35) or overcome “the rip” (line 33) that the water creates in the earth, making Option D correct.

Option A is incorrect because the language in the lines is used only to imply the flaw that the water creates—“the rip you make” (line 33).

Option B is incorrect because, while the water states that it enables “empires to rise” (line 25), implying that it is needed for society to thrive, it never shares a purpose of bringing people together through its existence.

Option C is incorrect because the language used for sewing (“We stitch across the rip you make” [line 33]) indicates the repair of a flaw and not the establishment of boundaries.

Question analysis

This figurative language question asks what the comparison to sewing, “We stitch across the rip you make,” shows about the structure in the poem “Cross-Purposes.” Students must work out what the speaker and the rip stand for, since the poem never names either, before the thread-and-needle metaphor makes sense.

NYS standards
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Interpreting an extended metaphor is standard grade 7 work, and the sewing words are concrete and familiar. One inference about what the speaker really is comes first, which keeps the task typical rather than hard.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 45 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A misstatement of the question in the explanation was corrected.
  • Two small typos in the explanation were corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students who see that the structure is a bridge usually find the metaphor's sense: a river tears the land, and bridges stitch it closed for people to cross. The danger is the choice that also talks about connecting people, which matches the general idea of bridges but slips in a comparison with nature. The other choices treat stitching as decoration or as drawing lines, which a reader who pictures a needle closing a tear will not accept.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    The sewing image runs over three lines: the river is a “rip,” bridges are “steel thread,” builders are “the human needle,” so each part must be mapped before the meaning appears. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The poem never says the structure is a bridge or the rip a river gorge; students must infer both from earlier clues such as trains crossing its “broad back.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Use the earlier stanzas to work out what kind of structure is speaking and what the rip is, then translate the thread-and-needle comparison into plain terms.

Traps

  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.
  • Twists what the text says: Uses the text's topic and ideas but changes what it says: who did it, how much, when, or why.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook says the question asks what the comparison “shows about the structure of the poem.” The question asks what it shows about the structure that speaks in the poem, not about the poem’s form, so “of the poem” was removed.
  • Explanation: “(lines 25)” now reads “(line 25)”, and a stray closing parenthesis after “establishment of boundaries.” was removed.

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 comparison means. In lines 33–35 the structure compares itself to sewing. You need to turn that picture into plain words.

  2. Read the sewing lines

    The lines say: “We stitch across the rip you make. / We are steel thread to the human needle. / We bind you up. We sew you.”

    “We” means the structure and its “siblings,” other structures like it. “You” is the water.

  3. Match each part to the real thing

    • The “rip” stands for the gap a river cuts through the land.
    • The “steel thread” stands for the bridges.
    • The “human needle” stands for the people who build them.

    When you sew a rip, you pull the two sides back together. Bridges do the same. They join the land on both sides of a river, so people can cross.

  4. Check each choice

    • A The lines are about fixing a tear, not about adding beauty.
    • B Bridges do bring people together, but the lines never say they do it better than nature.
    • C Stitching across a rip pulls the sides together. It does not mark boundaries (lines that divide).
    • D fits. The structure helps people get past the gap the water made.

  5. Choose the answer

    The sewing picture shows the structure helps people get past an obstacle the water created. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest trap, because bridges really do connect people. But B says they do it “more effectively than nature does.” The lines never compare the two that way. D sticks to what the picture shows: a tear made by water, closed by the structure so people can cross.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 46 as printed on page 74 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 74, question 46. Open page 74 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 62 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 47

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

The last stanza (lines 36–42) conveys a central idea of the poem by

  • Ademonstrating that both the structure and the water depend on each other to fulfill their functions.
  • Bimplying that a stronger structure would be able to resist the degradation caused by the water.
  • Crevealing that the passage of time will render both the structure and the water obsolete.
  • Dsuggesting that the water will eventually weaken the structure and will continue to exist after the structure is gone.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The answer is (D)

The question asks how the last stanza conveys a central idea of the poem. In lines 36–38, the speaker (the water) describes how its “vapors cling” to the structure, bringing out the structure’s “softness” and “rust,” thus destroying the structure over time. Also, in line 42, the speaker says it is “patient” and “will wait for you,” suggesting that the speaker will be around after the structure is gone. These phrases in the last stanza indicate that Option D is correct.

Option A is incorrect because the last stanza includes no indication that the structure and the water depend on each other.

Option B is incorrect because the last stanza refers to the opposing speaker (the structure) and not to any other structure.

Option C is incorrect because the last stanza addresses only the idea that the structure will grow weak and obsolete over time.

Question analysis

Students must explain how the final stanza of “Cross-Purposes,” spoken by the water, conveys a central idea of the poem. The stanza mixes a pun on sewing and sowing, images of vapor and rust, and a taunt about boasting, so students must read past the wordplay to the stanza's main claim.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Linking a stanza to a poem's central idea is standard grade 7 work. The stanza's wordplay takes some decoding, but each choice can be checked against the stanza itself, so the overall demand is typical.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 78 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The stanza's meaning is a quiet threat: moisture works into the structure, rusts it, and the water simply waits. Students who decode the rust and the waiting usually reach the key, but one wrong choice gets the decay right and then sweeps the water into it too. The taunt to “boast better yet” is the other snare, since read straight it sounds like an invitation to build a stronger structure.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    The stanza works through wordplay and images: “I sow into you” puns on the structure's “We sew you,” vapors cling to bring out “your rust,” and “I will wait for you” is a threat. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    C and D agree that time will wear the structure down; they differ only in the water's fate, which D says outlasts the structure and C says becomes obsolete too, against “above all else, patient.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Cranny” and “superstructure” in the stanza, and “degradation” and “obsolete” in the choices, are words a seventh grader may not know. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Paraphrase each sentence of the last stanza in plain words, then check both halves of every choice, since a choice can fit one speaker and not the other.

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 last stanza shows a central idea. The water is speaking. You need to work out what it is really saying to the structure.

  2. Read the last stanza

    Lines 36–38 say: “And I sow into you; in every cranny / of your superstructure my vapors cling. / They bring out your softness, your rust.”

    Lines 41–42 end the poem: “Because I am, / above all else, patient. I will wait for you.”

  3. Work out the hidden threat

    A cranny is a small crack. Vapors are tiny drops of water in the air, like mist. The superstructure is the main body of the structure. So the water’s mist creeps into every crack and makes the steel rust and weaken.

    “Sow” sounds like “sew,” but it means to plant seeds. The water plants rust. Then it says it will wait. It expects to still be here after the structure is gone.

  4. Check each choice

    • A The stanza shows the water harming the structure, not needing it.
    • B No stronger structure is mentioned. “Boast better yet” is a dare, not advice.
    • C The structure will wear down, but the water won’t. It is patient and waiting.
    • D fits. The water will rust the structure and outlast it.

  5. Choose the answer

    The water will slowly weaken the structure and still be around after it is gone. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the closest trap. C and D agree that time will wear down the structure. But C says the water will become obsolete, or useless, too. The water says the opposite: “I will wait for you.” Only D gets both speakers right.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 47 as printed on page 74 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 74, question 47. Open page 74 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 63 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 48

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

Read lines 41–42 from the poem.

Because I am,
above all else, patient. I will wait for you.

Which of the following supports what is implied in these lines?

  • A“I am older / than anything else you know.” (lines 8–9)
  • B“No human / built me.” (lines 9–10)
  • C“It all washes down through me.” (line 14)
  • D“Those who made you will break you,” (line 26)
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The answer is (A)

The question asks how the implication in lines 41–42 is supported by other lines in the poem. The words “patient” and “wait” in line 42 suggest that the speaker (the water) has the ability to outlast the other speaker because the water doesn’t weaken as it ages, making Option A (lines 8–9) the correct response.

Option B is incorrect because the promise made in line 42 is not affected by whether the water was built by humans (lines 9–10).

Option C is incorrect because, in line 14, the water’s ability to wait longer than the structure is not enhanced by what flows through the water.

Option D is incorrect because, in line 26, the water’s knowledge does not make its ability to wait any stronger—rather, its seemingly unending lifespan does.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question gives the water's closing words in “Cross-Purposes,” that it is patient and will wait, and asks which earlier line supports what they imply. Students must first state the implication in their own words, then choose among four lines spoken by the water that each say something true about it.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Most grade 7 evidence items back up a claim the text states outright. Here the claim is only implied, and all four lines come from the same speaker, so students must reason about what patience would achieve, 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: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 1, 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

The difficulty is in the first step: putting “I will wait for you” into words as a claim about time, that the water will still be there after the structure is gone. Students who read it as a prediction about the structure's end pick the line about humans breaking it, and those who read it as a contrast with built things pick the line about no human building the water. Only age directly supports a promise to outwait.

  1. Reading between the lines major Working it out

    Lines 41–42 never say the water will outlast the structure; students must state that implication of “patient” and “wait for you” before they can judge which earlier line supports it. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    All four lines are the water's own boasts from different stanzas, each true of it, so every one must be tested against the specific claim of lasting longer. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Put the implied claim of the final two lines into your own words, then ask which earlier line gives a reason to believe that claim rather than just describing the water.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

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. First, figure out what lines 41–42 hint at. Then find the earlier line that best supports that hint.

  2. Work out the hint

    The water says: “Because I am, / above all else, patient. I will wait for you.” Patient means able to wait calmly for a long time.

    The water is telling the structure that it will still be here after the structure is gone. So the hidden claim is that the water will outlast the structure.

  3. Find a line that supports it

    To outlast something, you need a very long life. So look for a line about the water’s age. In lines 8–9 the water says: “I am older / than anything else you know.” It has already lasted longer than anything else. So it makes sense that it can outlast a bridge too.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Great age backs up the claim that the water can wait the structure out.
    • B “No human / built me” tells who made the water, not how long it lasts.
    • C “It all washes down through me” tells what the water carries, not how long it lasts.
    • D shows the structure will end, but not that the water will still be here.

  5. Choose the answer

    The water’s great age supports its promise to outwait the structure. So the answer is A.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap, because “Those who made you will break you” also points to the structure’s end. But the hint in lines 41–42 is about the water lasting. D says nothing about the water. Only A gives proof of the water’s long life.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 48 as printed on page 74 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 74, question 48. Open page 74 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 64 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 49

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

How does the poet develop the points of view of the structure and the water?

  • Aby relating a discussion between them about the future of human civilization
  • Bby narrating a debate they have over their impact on the environment
  • Cby illustrating the unique power they each possess over nature
  • Dby using personification to allow them to debate who is more important
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The Answer is (D)

The question asks how the poet develops the two points of view. The poet develops the two speakers’ points of view by personifying (giving human characteristics to something nonhuman, such as an object or animal) the structure and the water, allowing them to debate by criticizing each other and declaring their own importance. Thus, Option D is correct.

Option A is incorrect because future civilizations do not play a significant role in the development of points of view.

Option B is incorrect because, while the speakers do discuss their impact on the environment, there is no narrator speaking for them.

Option C is incorrect because these details do not convey points of view.

Question analysis

This question asks how the poet of “Cross-Purposes” develops the points of view of its two speakers, a structure and the water. Students must decide both how the poet presents the two voices and what the exchange between them is mainly about, and each choice sounds partly true.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7L5a interpreting allusions
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Analyzing how a writer develops and contrasts two speakers' points of view is exactly what the grade 7 standard describes. The choices are short, though each mixes a method with a topic, so the demand is typical for grade 7.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 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

Each choice joins a way of presenting the speakers with a subject for their exchange, and most get one half right. The poem gives no narrator and no neutral voice, only two personified things arguing about which of them matters more, so students must check the method and the topic separately. The close miss is the debate described as narrated and as being about the environment.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks for the poet's method, so a choice must name how the voices are built, personified speakers trading boasts and insults, not just what they talk about. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    The key uses the literary term “personification,” which the poem never names, so students must recognize talking concrete and water as that device. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  3. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each choice pairs a method with a topic, a discussion, a debate, an illustration, so both halves must be checked against the six stanzas. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Reread the stanzas in order and note who speaks, to whom, and what each speaker says; then test both halves of each choice against those notes.

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.

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 poet’s method. How does the poet show us what each speaker thinks? The right choice must name both the method and the topic correctly.

  2. Notice who speaks

    Read the stanzas in order. The structure speaks first, then the water, and they take turns. There is no narrator (a storyteller outside the action). Each one talks to the other as “you” and brags about itself. The structure says, “I am useful, too.” The water says, “What I am is power.”

  3. Name the method

    A bridge and water can’t really talk. The poet gives them human voices. That is personification: giving human traits to things that are not human.

    Through those voices, they argue. Each tries to prove it matters more. The water calls the structure “a static lump,” which means a lump that doesn’t move. The structure calls the water “an accident.”

  4. Check each choice

    • A Empires come up only once. The speakers argue about themselves, not the future.
    • B There is a debate, but no narrator tells it. And it is about who matters more, not the environment.
    • C This names powers the speakers claim. It does not say how the poet builds their views.
    • D fits. Personification lets them argue about who is more important.

  5. Choose the answer

    The poet uses personification so the two can argue about who matters more. So the answer is D.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest trap, because there really is a debate. But “narrating” means a storyteller tells it, and no one does. The speakers talk for themselves. B also gets the topic wrong. D gets both the method and the topic right.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 49 as printed on page 75 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 75, question 49. Open page 75 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 65 of 75

2018 Test A English, question 50

Uses the passage above: “Cross-Purposes”.

Question

How does the form of the poem contribute to its meaning?

  • AThe use of an equal number of lines in each stanza emphasizes that both speakers are equally important.
  • BThe use of italics in some of the stanzas indicates the increasing tension between the structure and the water.
  • CThe alternating positions of the stanzas highlight the opposing points of view of the speakers.
  • DThe lack of a regular rhyme scheme or meter reflects the way the water changes the structure and the way the water itself changes.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The answer is (C)

The question asks how the form of the poem contributes to its meaning. The alternating positions of the stanzas create the appearance of a conversation in which the speakers share their opposing points of view, making Option C correct.

Option A is incorrect because the number of lines for each stanza does not emphasize the importance of the two speakers.

Option B is incorrect because italics are used mainly to designate the voice of the second speaker (the water).

Option D is incorrect because the lack of rhyme scheme or meter is intended to create a conversational tone, rather than reflect the changes the water causes or experiences.

Question analysis

This question about poetic form asks how the shape of “Cross-Purposes” on the page contributes to its meaning. Students must consider features such as stanza length, placement, italics and the lack of rhyme, and decide which one the poem actually uses to create meaning.

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 standards ask how genre features such as stanza form shape meaning, but most classroom questions point to one feature. Here students must weigh four features of the poem and the meaning each choice assigns, which 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 the whole text
Reading level
Passage: 316 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 9, 87 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

All four choices point to something true about how the poem looks, so checking features against the page eliminates nothing. The real test is whether the meaning each choice assigns follows from the poem: equal stanzas do not make the rivals equal, italics mark the water's voice from its first stanza, and free verse is not a picture of erosion. Only the alternating placement maps directly onto two opposed speakers taking turns.

  1. How, not what major Working it out

    The question is about form, not content: students must ask what the page layout, indented italic stanzas against flush roman ones, does for the meaning. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Each choice names a feature that really exists, seven lines in every stanza, italics, alternating positions, no rhyme or meter, so every feature and the meaning given to it must be tested. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  3. Something you must already know minor Working it out

    Terms such as “stanza,” “rhyme scheme” and “meter” are assumed, and a student unsure what meter means cannot judge the choice about free verse. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: For each feature named in the choices, first confirm it is really in the poem, then ask whether the meaning the choice gives it fits what happens in the poem.

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.

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 form: how the poem looks on the page, not just what it says. You need the feature that adds to the meaning.

  2. Look at the page

    Notice four things about the form.

    • Every stanza has seven lines.
    • Stanzas 2, 4 and 6 are in italics (slanted letters).
    • Those italic stanzas are pushed to the right. The others sit on the left.
    • The lines don’t rhyme and have no steady beat. That beat is called meter.

  3. Work out what the layout shows

    The stanzas on the left are the structure speaking. The italic stanzas on the right are the water. The two sides take turns, like two people arguing face to face. The back-and-forth placement makes it easy to see two opposite points of view.

  4. Check each choice

    • A The stanzas all have seven lines. But the speakers argue that they are not equal.
    • B The italics mark the water’s voice from its first stanza to its last. They don’t show tension growing.
    • C fits. The switching positions show the two opposing views.
    • D Nothing suggests the missing rhyme stands for the water’s changes.

  5. Choose the answer

    The stanzas switch sides to show the speakers’ opposite views. So the answer is C.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest trap, because every stanza really does have seven lines. But the speakers spend the whole poem arguing that they are not equal. Each one says it matters more. So equal stanzas can’t mean equal importance. C links the layout to what really happens: two sides taking turns.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 50 as printed on page 75 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 75, question 50. Open page 75 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 66 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 38
Passage Snowy Mountains

Snowy Mountains

by John Gould Fletcher

Higher and still more high,
Palaces made for cloud,
Above the dingy city-roofs
Blue-white like angels with broad wings,
Pillars of the sky at rest
The mountains from the great plateau
Uprise.

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

The description in the first stanza (lines 1–7) helps establish a central idea of the poem by

  • Acomparing the length of time the mountains have existed with the length of time the city has existed.
  • Bcontrasting the grandeur of the mountains with the structures in the city below them.
  • Cimplying that the mountains are a source of inspiration to the people in the city below.
  • Dsuggesting that the mountains are larger than the people in the city realize.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the description in the first stanza helps establish a central idea of the poem. The poem is mostly about the grandeur of the mountains in spite of the spread of civilization. The first stanza contrasts these two elements, which is stated in Option B.

Option A is incorrect because it is a detail that is referenced later in the poem.

Option C is incorrect because the poem actually communicates the message that people do not recognize the greatness of the mountains.

Option D is incorrect because, although the first stanza mentions the size of the mountains, it does not imply that people cannot see how large the mountains are.

Question analysis

This question about John Gould Fletcher’s poem “Snowy Mountains” asks how the first stanza’s description helps establish a central idea of the poem. Students must interpret images such as palaces, pillars and angels, decide what the opening lines do with them, and judge which choice states that role without adding ideas.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Linking one stanza to a poem’s central idea is a common grade 7 task, and these images are vivid and concrete. The inverted, century-old syntax adds a little challenge but no unusual demand.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 77 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The first stanza sets its majestic images directly against “the dingy city-roofs,” so students who read it as a picture find the contrast without much trouble. The losses come from importing ideas from later in the poem, people’s neglect in stanza 2 or the passing of time, into seven lines that contain neither. The inverted word order slows a first reading but does not hide the meaning.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The contrast is carried by images, not statements: “Palaces made for cloud” and “angels with broad wings” rise “Above the dingy city-roofs,” and students must read grandeur and drabness from those pictures. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    The stanza is one inverted sentence: five lines of images come before its subject, “The mountains,” in line 6 and its verb, “Uprise,” in line 7. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Reread lines 1–7 and sum up in a phrase what the stanza does, then check each choice against those seven lines.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This question asks how the first stanza helps build a central idea of the poem. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, like a paragraph. A central idea is a main message. Only lines 1 to 7 matter here, from “Higher and still more high” to “Uprise.”

  2. Read the pictures in lines 1–7

    The mountains are called “Palaces made for cloud” in line 2. In line 4 they are “Blue-white like angels with broad wings.” In line 5 they are “Pillars of the sky at rest.” Palaces, angels and pillars are all grand, high and beautiful. But line 3 places them “Above the dingy city-roofs.”

  3. Explain what the pictures show

    “Dingy” means dull and dirty. So the stanza sets two things side by side. Up high are the shining, noble mountains. Down below are the drab roofs of the city. This is a contrast: two things put together to show how different they are. Grandeur means greatness and splendor. The stanza shows the mountains’ grandeur next to the plain city.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Time is not in lines 1–7. It first comes up in line 9, “They have been here now for too long a time.”
    • B fits. Grand mountains rise over dingy city roofs.
    • C is wrong. The stanza never shows people being inspired. In fact, line 8 says “the world heeds them not,” or pays them no attention.
    • D is wrong. Line 1 says the mountains are high. But nothing says the city misjudges their size.

  5. Choose the answer

    The first stanza puts splendid mountains above a dull city. So the answer is B, “contrasting the grandeur of the mountains with the structures in the city below them.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap. It mixes line 1 with an idea from later in the poem, that people ignore the mountains. But the question is about lines 1–7 only. Those lines show a contrast in looks: high and splendid against low and dingy. They say nothing about what people think.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 38 as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 142, question 38. Open page 142 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).
The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed (page 142)The passage “Snowy Mountains” as printed on page 142 of the DOE handbook.

Question 67 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 39

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read line 1 and line 15 from the poem.

Higher and still more high,

Vaster and still more vast,

The parallel structure of the two lines

  • Aemphasizes how the sense of wonder the speaker has at the beginning of the poem changes to a fear of the mountains.
  • Breinforces the sense of awe the speaker experiences when considering the magnificence of the expansive mountains.
  • Creveals that the mountains are continually expanding both in height and land mass.
  • Dstresses a contrast between the height of the mountains and the area of land the mountains cover.
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks how the parallel structure of lines 1 and 15 affects the poem. Lines 1 and 15 communicate the feeling that the mountains are even higher and vaster than can be comprehended upon first view. This observation reflects the awe that the speaker feels, which is reinforced by the parallel structure of the lines, as stated in Option B.

Option A is incorrect because the speaker never hints at fear when describing the mountains.

Option C is incorrect because it reflects a literal interpretation of the figurative language in the two parallel lines: the mountains do not actually grow larger but are simply larger than can be understood at first.

Option D is incorrect because the parallel structure of lines 1 and 15 is not meant to stress any sort of contrast between height and area but to reinforce the speaker’s feeling by complementing each other.

Question analysis

Students analyze the effect of parallel structure in the poem “Snowy Mountains,” where line 1, “Higher and still more high,” and line 15, “Vaster and still more vast,” echo each other. The question asks what that repeated pattern adds to the poem, so noticing the echo is only the first step.

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
At grade 7 Analyzing how a poetic device such as parallelism shapes meaning is solid grade 7 work. The lines are short and quoted, but students must move from a structural pattern to what it contributes to the poem.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 92 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

Seeing the parallel lines is easy because the stem quotes them; deciding what the echo achieves is the real task. The strongest wrong answer rests on a true difference between height and breadth, and another takes the comparative phrases literally. Students who ask how the speaker feels in both stanzas, rather than what each line measures, arrive at awe.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks what the shared pattern of lines 1 and 15 does, so students must move from noticing “still more” twice to naming the feeling the echo strengthens. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    “Still more high” and “still more vast” express how the mountains seem to an awed viewer, not a measurement, and a literal reading makes them sound like mountains that keep growing. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Say what each line describes and what it suggests, then ask what using the same pattern twice adds, and check every part of each choice against the poem.

Traps

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook writes “how the parallel structure of lines 1 and 15 affect the poem.” The subject “structure” takes “affects,” as the site now reads.

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 parallel structure. That means using the same pattern of words twice. Here, line 1 says “Higher and still more high,” and line 15 says “Vaster and still more vast.” You need to say what repeating this pattern does.

  2. Look at where the lines sit

    Line 1 opens the first stanza. Line 15 opens the third stanza. In between, stanza 2 shows people harming the mountains. Line 1 is about height. Line 15 is about vastness, which means huge size that spreads far. “Still more” means even more. Each line seems to say the mountains are bigger than you can take in.

  3. Name the feeling the pattern shows

    Both lines sound like a person staring up in amazement. That feeling is awe: wonder mixed with deep respect. Repeating the pattern brings the feeling back after the angry second stanza. So the echo reinforces, or makes stronger, the speaker’s awe. It is not a measurement. The mountains are not really growing.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The speaker never shows fear. Line 15 brings back the same wonder as line 1.
    • B fits. The repeated pattern stresses the speaker’s awe at the huge mountains.
    • C is wrong. It reads the lines literally, as if the mountains keep growing. The words express a feeling, not a fact.
    • D is wrong. Height and spread are different. But the matching pattern joins them in one feeling. It does not set them against each other.

  5. Choose the answer

    The same pattern, used twice, repeats the speaker’s sense of wonder. So the answer is B, “reinforces the sense of awe the speaker experiences when considering the magnificence of the expansive mountains.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is tempting because it is half true: one line is about height and one is about spread. But parallel structure makes two things sound alike, not opposite. Matching words link ideas. That is why B, which names one shared feeling, fits better than a contrast.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 39 as printed on page 143 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 143, question 39. Open page 143 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 68 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 40

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read line 5 from the poem.

Pillars of the sky at rest

The line helps develop the theme of the poem by suggesting that the mountains

  • Aserve a noble and supportive purpose in the world.
  • Battract the clouds with their strength and permanence.
  • Cremain untamed through the ages.
  • Dprovide protection for the people.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the line from the poem helps develop the theme of the poem. Line 5 helps develop the theme that the mountains are more important than people realize by suggesting that the mountains serve a noble, foundational purpose in the world, as explained in Option A.

Option B is incorrect because, while the poem does describe the strength and permanence of the mountains, the line does not suggest that these traits attract the clouds.

Option C is incorrect because, while the line states that the highest peaks are “at rest,” that phrase describes stillness, not wildness; the poem calls the mountains “still untamed” only later (line 17), and line 5 does not suggest it.

Option D is incorrect because, while pillars are strong and may indicate shelter, there is no suggestion in the line that the mountains are protecting the people. Additionally, this concept is not a theme of the poem.

Question analysis

This figurative language question asks how the metaphor “Pillars of the sky at rest” in “Snowy Mountains” helps develop the poem’s theme. Students must work out what calling mountains pillars of the sky suggests about them, and it is tricky because every choice sounds like something this poem could say.

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 metaphors, but here they must also connect a short image to the poem’s theme and choose among abstract options, a step closer to grade 8 work on figurative meaning and theme.
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: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 3, 52 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A claim in the explanation that the poem contradicts 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 hard because every choice says something the poem could plausibly mean, and two of them borrow real phrases from other lines. Students who test choices against the poem as a whole find support for the wrong ones; the question rewards testing them against the single image of pillars holding up the sky. Seeing that pillars both support and ennoble a structure leads directly to the key.

  1. Figurative or literary language major Understanding the question

    The answer depends on unpacking one metaphor: pillars hold up a roof, so “Pillars of the sky” casts the mountains as supports of the heavens, and “at rest” adds a calm, dignified strength. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. The right answer is reworded moderate Choosing the answer

    The key uses words the poem never does, “noble” and “supportive,” while wrong choices echo “cloud” from line 2 and “untamed” from line 17 and so look anchored in the text. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  3. Combines ideas minor Working it out

    Students must interpret the image and then link it to the poem’s theme, that the mountains matter more than the world below recognizes. (Embretson, 1998; Daniel & Embretson, 2010)

Strategy: Ask what a pillar is and why a poet might call mountains “pillars of the sky,” then test each choice against line 5 alone before thinking about the rest of the poem.

Traps

  • Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.
  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook rejects Option C by saying the mountains “do not remain untamed or untouched,” but line 17 calls them “Wilderness still untamed,” and the handbook’s own explanation of the third-stanza question relies on that line. The site now says that “at rest” describes stillness, not wildness, and that the poem calls the mountains “still untamed” only later, in line 17, so line 5 does not suggest it.

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 image, line 5, adds to the poem’s theme. A theme is the big message of a poem. Here the theme is that the mountains are great and important, even though people ignore them. You need to decide what “Pillars of the sky” says about the mountains.

  2. Look closely at line 5

    Line 5 reads “Pillars of the sky at rest.” It is part of the first stanza’s list of grand pictures. The list also has “Palaces made for cloud” in line 2. Line 5 is a metaphor. A metaphor calls one thing by the name of another to compare them, without using “like” or “as.”

  3. Explain what pillars do

    A pillar is a tall, strong column that holds up a roof. Big, important buildings, like temples and courthouses, have pillars. So calling the mountains “Pillars of the sky” makes them seem to hold up the sky. That is a supporting job. It is also a grand, noble one. “At rest” adds calm. The pillars stand still and steady.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Holding up the sky is a noble, supportive job.
    • B is wrong. Clouds come from line 2. Line 5 says nothing about pulling clouds in.
    • C is wrong. “Wilderness still untamed” is line 17, not line 5. Pillars “at rest” suggest calm, not wildness.
    • D is wrong. Pillars hold up roofs, and roofs can shelter people. But the line never shows the mountains protecting anyone.

  5. Choose the answer

    Pillars hold things up and make a building grand. So the answer is A, “serve a noble and supportive purpose in the world.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the strongest trap, because the poem really does call the mountains untamed. But that is line 17. Test each choice against line 5 alone. A pillar is a support, and a pillar of the sky is a grand one. Only A comes straight from that picture.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 40 as printed on page 143 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 143, question 40. Open page 143 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 75

2018 Test B English, question 41

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How does isolating the word “Uprise” in line 7 affect the meaning of the poem?

  • AIt creates a contrast between the great plateau and the city buildings.
  • BIt reveals the similarity between the tall buildings in the city and the tall mountains on the horizon.
  • CIt creates a vision of the region before people developed the land.
  • DIt emphasizes that the mountains dominate the landscape.
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks how the isolation of the word affects the meaning of the poem. The isolation of the word “Uprise” powerfully emphasizes the first stanza’s description of the magnificent mountains standing tall above the land below, as expressed in Option D.

Option A is incorrect because the word describes the mountains and, therefore, does not create a contrast between the plateau and the city buildings, but rather between the mountains and the plateau.

Option B is incorrect because the word contrasts the mountains with the plateau; it does not compare the mountains to the buildings in the city.

Option C is incorrect because the first stanza describes the already developed land over which the mountains rise.

Question analysis

In “Snowy Mountains,” the opening stanza builds a long sentence about the mountains and saves its verb, “Uprise,” for a line of its own. This poetry structure question asks how isolating that single word affects the poem’s meaning, so students need to think about how a line break shapes what the reader notices, as well as about what the stanza describes.

NYS standards
  • 7R5 structure and genre features
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Grade 7 poetry questions often ask about word choice; this one asks about a structural choice, a one-word line, which is less familiar, though the stanza’s images make the intended effect fairly easy to sense.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 8, 64 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Students who see that “Uprise” is the verb the whole stanza has been building toward recognize the effect quickly: the mountains rise over everything else in the picture. Those who treat the word as one more image look for a comparison instead and find several, because the stanza is full of buildings, roofs and a plateau. The real test is sorting which contrast belongs to the mountains.

  1. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    The stanza is one long sentence that withholds its subject until line 6 and its verb until line 7, so “Uprise” lands as the payoff of five lines of images. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The question asks about a line break, a structural choice, rather than a word’s meaning, and students must judge what setting one verb on its own line makes the reader notice. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

Strategy: Read the stanza aloud and notice where the long sentence finally reaches its verb, then ask what ending on that single word makes the reader see.

Traps

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 choice the poet made in how the poem looks. Line 7 is only one word: “Uprise.” You need to say what setting that word alone on its line does to the meaning.

  2. Find the sentence the word ends

    The whole first stanza is one long sentence. Lines 1 to 5 are a string of pictures: palaces, angels, pillars. The subject, “The mountains from the great plateau,” does not come until line 6. Line 7 then gives the verb, or action word, which is “Uprise.” A plateau is a wide area of high, flat land.

  3. Think about the effect

    “Uprise” means rise up. The reader waits six lines for this action. Then it stands by itself, like the mountains standing alone over the land. The short line makes you stop and picture them rising above everything, even “the dingy city-roofs.” So the mountains dominate the scene. To dominate is to tower over and be the main thing you notice.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. “Uprise” is about the mountains rising. It does not set the plateau against the city buildings.
    • B is wrong. The stanza does not show the city and the mountains as alike. The city roofs are “dingy,” while the mountains are like palaces.
    • C is wrong. Line 3 already shows a city, so this is not the land before people.
    • D fits. The lone word makes the mountains tower over the whole picture.

  5. Choose the answer

    Ending the long sentence on one lone word makes the mountains stand out over everything. So the answer is D, “It emphasizes that the mountains dominate the landscape.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

A is the closest trap, because the stanza does contain a contrast. But it is between the mountains and everything below them. “Uprise” is the mountains’ own action, so its effect must be about the mountains. Only D keeps the focus there.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 41 as printed on page 143 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 143, question 41. Open page 143 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 70 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 42

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How does the poet develop the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza (lines 8–14)?

  • Aby describing images of the mountains’ awe-inspiring size and strength
  • Bby illustrating the differences among the various ways humans can impact the natural environment
  • Cby criticizing society for taking careless, destructive courses of action against nature
  • Dby demonstrating how the mountains and the people are able to benefit from each other
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the poet develops the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza. In the second stanza, the speaker criticizes the destructive actions of “the world” (lines 8 and 10) against the mountains—actions such as tunneling “their granite cliffs” (line 11) and destroying “the lonely fragments of their peace” (line 14)—as described in Option C.

Option A is incorrect because the speaker’s descriptions of the mountains’ grandeur mainly occur in the first and third stanzas, while in the second stanza, the speaker focuses on humanity and its negative effect on the mountains.

Option B is incorrect because the wording of the second stanza—“makes war” (line 10), “Splits down their shining sides” (line 12), and “Destroys the lonely fragments” (line 14)—communicates the speaker’s position that people’s main impact on the mountains is destructive; the wording does not illustrate different ways people impact the natural environment.

Option D is incorrect because no benefit to the mountains is described by the speaker in the second stanza.

Question analysis

Students explain how the poet develops the speaker’s point of view in the second stanza of the poem “Snowy Mountains,” the seven lines about what “the world” does to the mountains. The main challenge is staying focused on these lines and their word choice while the four choices range across the poem’s ideas.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 6 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Below grade 7 Easier than typical grade 7 work: the stanza is short and its attitude comes through plainly in its verbs, so the task resembles grade 6 questions that ask how a point of view is developed.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
What makes it hard
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 10, 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

The speaker’s disapproval is loud in lines 8–14, so most students identify the criticism quickly. The wrong choices work by describing the poem rather than this stanza, or by describing the stanza’s list neutrally and missing its anger. The question rewards staying inside the seven lines and reading the attitude in their verbs.

  1. How, not what moderate Working it out

    The stem asks how the point of view is built, and the answer is in the verbs: the world “makes war,” “Tunnels,” “Splits,” “Plasters” and “Destroys,” each casting people as attackers. (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001)

  2. Figurative or literary language minor Understanding the question

    The stanza personifies the mountains as victims, with “the lonely fragments of their peace,” so the speaker’s criticism of people comes through sympathy for the mountains. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Underline the verbs in lines 8–14 and ask what attitude toward people they show, then match both that attitude and the way it is expressed to a choice.

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 poet shows the speaker’s point of view in lines 8 to 14, the second stanza. Point of view here means the speaker’s attitude, or feelings and opinion. Stay inside these seven lines.

  2. Find the action words

    Line 8 says, “But the world heeds them not.” “Heeds” means pays attention to. Then come the verbs, the action words. The world “makes war on them,” “Tunnels their granite cliffs,” “Splits down their shining sides,” and “Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements.” Line 14 ends, “Destroys the lonely fragments of their peace.”

  3. Name the speaker’s attitude

    Every verb shows people attacking the mountains. “War” is a strong, angry word. The mountains even seem to have feelings. They are lonely, and their peace is broken. So the speaker is criticizing people, or pointing out what they do wrong. People hurt the mountains without caring. That is careless and destructive.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Awe at the mountains’ size is in stanzas 1 and 3, not stanza 2.
    • B is wrong. The stanza lists several harms, but they are all part of one “war.” It does not compare different kinds of impact.
    • C fits. The speaker blames people for destroying the mountains.
    • D is wrong. No one benefits here. People attack, and the mountains lose their peace.

  5. Choose the answer

    The second stanza blames people for attacking the mountains. So the answer is C, “by criticizing society for taking careless, destructive courses of action against nature.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest trap, because the stanza does list several actions. But a list of differences would treat them calmly, side by side. These lines are angry. Words like “war” and “Destroys” show blame, which is exactly what C says.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 42 as printed on page 144 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 144, question 42. Open page 144 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 71 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 43

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Which line from the poem best supports the idea that people have forfeited priceless natural beauty in order to make a profit?

  • A“Above the dingy city-roofs” (line 3)
  • B“The world makes war on them,” (line 10)
  • C“Tunnels their granite cliffs,” (line 11)
  • D“Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements,” (line 13)
Show the answer

Correct answer: D

The question asks for the line from the poem that best supports the idea that people have forfeited natural beauty for profit. Advertisements are often used as a means to gain a profit, as implied by the soap advertisement in line 13 (Option D). Additionally, the word “Plasters,” in line 13, communicates a negative connotation for the use of advertisements on the priceless natural beauty of the mountains, making Option D the correct response.

Option A is incorrect because, while city roofs may spoil the natural beauty, they do not directly symbolize financial gain or profit in line 3.

Option B is incorrect because, although making a profit might have been the root cause of the damage that was done to the mountains, making war on the mountains is not a direct message about profit or financial gain in line 10.

Option C is incorrect because, although tunneling through the mountains affects the natural beauty of the mountains, it does not directly symbolize financial gain or profit in line 11.

Question analysis

This textual evidence question asks which line of the poem “Snowy Mountains” best supports the idea that people have given up priceless natural beauty in order to make money. Several lines show people harming or crowding the mountains, so students must find the one detail that also points to profit.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 A typical grade 7 evidence question: the lines are quoted with their numbers, and the task is matching a two-part claim to the right line, with one concrete clue separating it from the others.
Estimated difficulty
Straightforward: two steps or one careful reading.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 45 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

Most of the second stanza supports half of this claim, which is why the question is a test of the other half. Students who look only for harm to the mountains have three good candidates and often settle on the most forceful, “makes war on them.” The one line with a commercial product in it is the only one that shows beauty given up for money.

  1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

    Lines 10, 11 and 13 all show people harming the mountains, so each must be tested against the second half of the claim, making a profit, which only one line carries. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

  2. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

    Profit is never named: it has to be inferred from “soap-advertisements,” which exist to sell a product, while “Plasters” supplies the defacing of natural beauty. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    The stem’s word “forfeited,” meaning gave up or lost, carries half the claim, and a student unsure of it may look only for damage instead of a trade of beauty for gain. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Split the claim into two parts, lost natural beauty and making a profit, and choose the line that clearly shows both rather than only the first.

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 for evidence, a line that proves an idea. The idea has two parts. First, people gave up natural beauty. To forfeit means to give up or lose something. Second, they did it to make a profit, which means to earn money. The right line must show both parts.

  2. Test each line for harm

    Lines 10, 11 and 13 all show people harming the mountains. Line 10 says “The world makes war on them.” Line 11 says the world “Tunnels their granite cliffs.” Line 13 says it “Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements.” Line 3, “Above the dingy city-roofs,” shows no harm to the mountains at all.

  3. Test the lines for money

    Now look for the money part. Advertisements are signs that try to get people to buy something. Soap ads exist to sell soap and make money. “Plasters” means covers thickly, like smearing paste on a wall. So line 13 shows beautiful cliffs covered with ads to earn money. War and tunnels show harm, but no money.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. City roofs set the scene. They show no profit and no harm to the mountains.
    • B is wrong. “War” shows harm, but nothing in the line points to money.
    • C is wrong. Tunnels harm the cliffs, but the line gives no reason. Guessing about mines or trains uses outside ideas.
    • D fits. Ads mean money, and plastered cliffs mean lost beauty.

  5. Choose the answer

    Only line 13 shows beauty traded for money. So the answer is D, “Plasters their cliffs with soap-advertisements,” from line 13.

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

Watch out: B feels strongest, because war is the harshest word in the stanza. But it only proves half the idea, the harm. The idea also needs a reason that involves money. A soap ad is the only thing in these lines that is about selling.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 43 as printed on page 144 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 144, question 43. Open page 144 of the handbook (PDF)

Question 72 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 44

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Which detail from the poem reflects the speaker’s view that people often fail to appreciate what is familiar?

  • A“The mountains from the great plateau” (line 6)
  • B“They have been here now for too long a time.” (line 9)
  • C“Splits down their shining sides,” (line 12)
  • D“To which the future is as was the past,” (line 18)
Show the answer

Correct answer: B

The question asks for the detail from the poem that reflects the speaker’s view that people often fail to appreciate that which is familiar.
Line 9 (Option B) most directly supports this idea by implying that the mountains have been here for so long that people are accustomed to seeing them and no longer appreciate their beauty and value, making Option B the correct response.
Option A is incorrect because line 6 describes the mountains’ location, rather than their longevity or familiarity.
Option C is incorrect because, in line 12, the mention of harm that has been done to the mountains does not connect to a sense of overfamiliarity.
Option D is incorrect because, although line 18 alludes to the longevity of the mountains, it does not connect the longevity with a sense of overfamiliarity or the failure of people to appreciate the mountains’ worth.

Question analysis

Students pick the detail from the poem “Snowy Mountains” that reflects the speaker’s view that people often fail to appreciate what is familiar. The idea is never stated outright, so students must read each quoted line in its context and decide which one implies both familiarity and a loss of appreciation.

NYS standards
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Evidence questions like this are typical grade 7 work, but the support here is implied rather than stated, which adds an inference step beyond simple matching of words.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 3, 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 claim joins two ideas, long familiarity and failing to appreciate, and the right line shows them only together with the line before it. Students who match the idea of time pick the line about the future and the past, and those who match neglect pick a line of damage. Reading line 9 as the explanation for line 8 is the key move.

  1. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    The line never says “familiar”; its meaning comes from its place right after “But the world heeds them not,” where being here “too long” reads as the reason for that neglect. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

    Each quoted line has to be read in its stanza, because out of context lines 9 and 18 both sound like statements about time. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Restate the claim as “people stop valuing something because they are used to it,” then check each quoted line within its stanza for a reason people might stop noticing the mountains.

Traps

  • Supports only part of the claim: In a question about evidence: a line that backs one half of the claim but not the other, or a related point rather than the claim itself.

The wrong answers, classified

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks for a line that shows one of the speaker’s views: people often fail to appreciate what is familiar. Familiar means something you know well and see all the time. To appreciate is to value something. So the line must show people no longer valuing the mountains because they are used to them.

  2. Read each line in its place

    Line 9 says, “They have been here now for too long a time.” Read it with line 8 just before it: “But the world heeds them not.” “Heeds” means pays attention to. So the world ignores the mountains. Line 9 gives the reason. They have been around so long that people are used to them.

  3. Explain what line 9 means

    The mountains have not done anything wrong by being old. The words “too long” show how people feel about them. Something you see every day starts to seem plain. You stop noticing it. That is exactly the idea in the question: people stop valuing what is familiar.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. Line 6 only tells where the mountains are, above “the great plateau.”
    • B fits. It explains that people ignore the mountains because they have seen them for so long.
    • C is wrong. Line 12 shows harm, but it does not say familiarity is the cause.
    • D is wrong. Line 18 means the mountains do not change over time. It is about how long they last, not about people getting used to them.

  5. Choose the answer

    Line 9 explains why the world ignores the mountains: people are too used to them. So the answer is B, “They have been here now for too long a time.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

D is the closest trap, since lines 9 and 18 both talk about time. But line 18 praises the mountains for lasting. Line 9 follows “the world heeds them not” and explains it. Only line 9 links long familiarity to people not caring.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 44 as printed on page 144 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 144, question 44. Open page 144 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 73 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 45

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

How do the details in the third stanza (lines 15–26) contribute to the development of the theme of the poem?

  • Aby reflecting nature’s capacity to resist change
  • Bby showing that nature is capable of influencing human will
  • Cby exposing how a lack of awareness leads to nature’s ruin
  • Dby explaining why people must respect nature
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks how the details in the third stanza contribute to the development of the theme of the poem. In the third stanza, phrases such as “Wilderness still untamed” (line 17), “time-resisting storm-worn stone” (line 22), and “The mountains swing along” (line 23) convey the message that in spite of the destruction described in the second stanza, the mountains manage to maintain their wild magnificence. This message is communicated in Option A.

Option B is incorrect because, while the phrase “Barrier broken down” (line 21) conveys the idea that people can have some effect on the natural landscape, it does not convey how nature affects people.

Option C is incorrect because the phrase “those who do not need” (line 21) implies a choice to damage nature and not a lack of awareness or understanding.

Option D is incorrect because the third stanza is not a call to humanity to respect the mountains but a description of the untamed, welcoming mountains and the joy they provide for those who appreciate them.

Question analysis

This theme question asks how the details in the third stanza of “Snowy Mountains” contribute to the poem’s message. The stanza piles up images of peaks, gods, ice and mist alongside a line about a barrier broken down, so students must weigh all of its details and decide which idea about nature and people they add up to.

NYS standards
  • 7R2 theme or central idea
  • 7R1 textual evidence and inferences
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Grade 7 students trace how a theme develops, but this stanza is one long, layered sentence that mixes praise with loss, and the choices offer different, believable messages about nature, which makes it closer to grade 8 work.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
Evidence
Answered from one paragraph or stanza
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 7, 54 words.
Corrected from the DOE handbook
  • A misquotation of the poem in the explanation was corrected.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The third stanza holds both endurance and damage, and the question asks which one its details mostly build. Students who fix on the broken barrier choose ruin, which the poem’s second stanza seems to confirm, while those who count the stanza’s details find untamed wilderness, time-resisting stone and mountains swinging along the horizon. The long, inverted sentence makes that count slow, which is why the question is hard.

  1. Complex sentences moderate Understanding the question

    Lines 15–26 form one sentence in which a string of descriptive phrases precedes the subject, “The mountains,” in line 23, so the stanza’s overall point is hard to hold together. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The mountains are given “shining foreheads,” said to be “spread by Gods,” and shown to “swing along” and welcome mists, and these personifications carry the stanza’s message of endurance. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

    The theme has to be built from details scattered through twelve lines, “Wilderness still untamed,” “the future is as was the past,” “time-resisting storm-worn stone,” and weighed against the one line of damage. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

Strategy: List what the third stanza says about the mountains and what it says about people, then pick the choice that fits most of those details, not just one line.

Traps

  • Too narrow: A single detail offered as the central idea or a summary, or a summary that keeps minor details and leaves out an essential part.
  • Outside knowledge: A choice is plausible in the real world but not supported by this text.
  • Reversed relationship: Cause and effect, or the order of events, turned around.

The wrong answers, classified

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

  • Explanation: The handbook quotes line 21 as “those who do not heed.” The line reads “Barrier broken down by those who do not need,” so the site now quotes “those who do not need.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Working it out, step by step

  1. Figure out what the question asks

    This asks what the third stanza, lines 15 to 26, adds to the poem’s theme, or big message. You need to look at all the details in those twelve lines and see what most of them say. Don’t build your answer on just one line.

  2. Collect the stanza’s details

    The stanza calls the mountains a “Wilderness still untamed” in line 17. Line 18 says “the future is as was the past,” so they do not change. Line 22 speaks of “time-resisting storm-worn stone.” Line 23 says “The mountains swing along.” Only line 21 shows harm: “Barrier broken down.”

  3. Explain what the details add up to

    “Untamed” means still wild and not controlled by people. “Time-resisting” means holding out against time. “Storm-worn” means worn by storms but still standing. Even after the harm in stanza 2, the mountains are still wild. They still swing along the edge of the sky. So the stanza shows that nature can resist change. Capacity means ability.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. Most details show the mountains lasting and staying wild.
    • B is wrong. It flips who acts. People act on the mountains. The mountains do not change what people want.
    • C is wrong. Line 21 shows some damage, but it is one line. The rest of the stanza shows the mountains enduring, not ruined.
    • D is wrong. The stanza describes the mountains. It never tells people what they must do.

  5. Choose the answer

    Most of the third stanza shows the mountains staying wild and strong over time. So the answer is A, “by reflecting nature’s capacity to resist change.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is the strongest trap, because stanza 2 really is about harm. But this question is about stanza 3. Count its details. Untamed wilderness, an unchanging future, time-resisting stone and mountains swinging along all show endurance. Only one line shows damage, so A fits the stanza as a whole.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 45 as printed on page 144 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 144, question 45. Open page 144 of the handbook (PDF) This is the DOE’s version, before the corrections listed in the analysis.

Question 74 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 46

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 21–22 from the poem.

Barrier broken down by those who do not need
The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,

How do the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view?

  • AThey suggest that the speaker wants to remove the obstacles that prevent others from experiencing the wonders of nature.
  • BThey reveal the speaker’s opinion that some people are too busy to appreciate natural beauty.
  • CThey suggest the speaker’s dismay that people destroy the natural landscape without understanding the ramifications of their actions.
  • DThey explain that the speaker is confident that nature will never be fully destroyed by people.
Show the answer

Correct answer: C

The question asks how the lines help convey the speaker’s point of view. The words “those who do not need / The joy” in lines 21–22 suggest the speaker’s sadness that people do not realize that they are destroying something wonderful and irreplaceable, as expressed in Option C.

Option A is incorrect because the word “barrier” (line 21) refers to the speaker’s opinion that the mountains were “spread by Gods” (line 19) and not to an obstacle that the speaker thinks should be removed.

Option B is incorrect because, while the lines indicate that people have lost the need to connect with nature, they do not reveal that the speaker thinks that the cause of this loss is busyness.

Option D is incorrect because, although the speaker does say that the stone is “time-resisting” (line 22), this belief is only a small detail of the speaker’s point of view.

Question analysis

Students explain how lines 21–22 of the poem “Snowy Mountains” convey the speaker’s point of view about people who break down the mountains’ barrier. The lines are hard to parse because a phrase runs across the line break and “need” is used in an unusual way, so students must first work out what the sentence says before judging the speaker’s feeling.

NYS standards
  • 7R6 point of view and author position
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 8 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
Above grade 7 Reading a speaker’s attitude is grade 7 work, but this sentence runs across a line break with unusual phrasing, and the choices require fine distinctions between feelings and reasons, which pushes it above typical grade 7 demand.
Estimated difficulty
Hard: combines ideas, needs a plan, and has more than one tempting wrong answer.
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

Two lines of compressed, inverted verse must be untangled before any choice can be judged, and the meaning of “need” in them is unusual. Once the lines are paraphrased as people who do not value the old stone breaking it down, the speaker’s sorrow is clear, but two wrong choices offer neighboring readings. One supplies a reason the poem never gives, and the other carries the stanza’s idea of endurance into a certainty the lines contradict.

  1. Complex sentences major Understanding the question

    The sentence breaks mid-phrase, “those who do not need / The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” and has no main verb of its own, so students must first work out who breaks what. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

  2. Reading between the lines moderate Working it out

    Neither dismay nor ignorance is stated; both have to be inferred from describing people as not needing “the joy” of what they break down. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  3. Hard words minor Understanding the question

    “Barrier” here means the mountain range as a wall, not an obstacle, and the key uses “ramifications,” a word many students will not know. (Perfetti, 2007; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Rephrase the two lines in plain words, starting with who breaks the barrier and what they do not need, then decide which feeling of the speaker that wording reveals.

Traps

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 21 and 22 show about the speaker’s point of view, or feelings and opinion. The lines are tangled, so first you need to put them in plain words.

  2. Read the lines in their place

    The two lines are “Barrier broken down by those who do not need / The joy of time-resisting storm-worn stone,” in the third stanza. Two lines earlier, line 19 calls the mountains a “Barrier spread by Gods,” or a wall made by the gods. So the barrier is the mountain range itself. It is not an obstacle in someone’s way.

  3. Put the lines in plain words

    Here is the meaning. The mountains are being broken down by people who feel no need for the joy that old, strong stone gives. These people do not value what they are destroying. The speaker is sad and upset about this. That feeling is dismay. Ramifications are the results that follow from an action. People break the mountains without seeing what they lose.

  4. Check each choice

    • A is wrong. The “barrier” is the mountains, which the speaker loves. The speaker does not want them removed.
    • B is wrong. The lines never say why people don’t value the stone. Being too busy is a reason brought in from outside.
    • C fits. The speaker is dismayed that people destroy the mountains without seeing their worth.
    • D is wrong. The same lines show the barrier being “broken down.” They show worry about harm, not confidence that nature is safe.

  5. Choose the answer

    The lines show sorrow at people breaking down something they do not value. So the answer is C, “They suggest the speaker’s dismay that people destroy the natural landscape without understanding the ramifications of their actions.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

B is the closest trap. It also says people fail to value nature. But it adds a reason, being busy, that the poem never gives. The lines only say these people “do not need” the joy. C stays with what the lines show: harm done by people who don’t see its cost.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 46 as printed on page 145 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 145, question 46. Open page 145 of the handbook (PDF) The handbook letters this question’s choices E–H; here they are A–D (E = A, F = B, G = C, H = D).

Question 75 of 75

2018 Test B English, question 47

Uses the passage above: “Snowy Mountains”.

Question

Read lines 23–26 from the poem.

The mountains swing along
The south horizon of the sky;
Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice
The mists that dance and drive before the sun.

The personification in these concluding lines of the poem suggests that the mountains are

  • Agracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.
  • Bunaware of their coming destruction.
  • Clively entertainers who are not bothered by the everyday concerns of people.
  • Dtoo proud to reveal their pain.
Show the answer

Correct answer: A

The question asks what the personification in the lines suggests in the poem. Line 25’s use of the word “Welcoming” suggests that the mountains are kind hosts. Lines 23 and 26, with language such as “The mountains swing along” and “The mists that dance and drive before the sun,” imply the carefree nature of the mountains as they resist the destructive work of humanity. Therefore, Option A is correct.

Option B is incorrect because the wording in the lines is positive and victorious, with no language to suggest coming destruction.

Option C is incorrect because, although the lines mention that “the mountains swing along” (line 23) and “the mists . . . dance” (line 26), the personification is used to describe the mountains’ perseverance, rather than to suggest that the mountains are entertaining others.

Option D is incorrect because the lines refer to the joy of the mountains as they “swing along” (line 23) and do not suggest pride.

Question analysis

This personification question asks what the final four lines of the poem “Snowy Mountains” suggest about the mountains, which “swing along” the south horizon of the sky. Students must interpret human qualities given to nature, and the trick is that several choices assign the mountains feelings or roles that only partly match the lines.

NYS standards
  • 7L5 figurative language and word relationships
  • 7R4 word meaning and choice
Grade level
Grade 7 reading and task
Compared with grade 7
At grade 7 Interpreting personification is a familiar grade 7 skill, and these lines are short and quoted. The challenge is choosing among character descriptions that each match part of the imagery, a typical rather than unusual demand.
Estimated difficulty
Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
Evidence
Answered from one sentence or line
Reading level
Passage: 161 words (a poem; reading level not measured); question and choices: about grade 6, 78 words.
Students, last 30 days
Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)

Why it is hard

The closing lines are calm and generous, and the question asks students to turn their personification into a character. The trap is assigning actions to the wrong actor: the dancing belongs to the mists, and taking it for the mountains’ makes them performers rather than hosts. Students who carry the destruction of earlier stanzas into these lines also misjudge the mountains’ ease.

  1. Figurative or literary language moderate Understanding the question

    The personification has to be sorted by actor: the mountains “swing along” and are “Welcoming,” while it is the mists that “dance and drive before the sun.” (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

  2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

    The hosts choice and the entertainers choice share one frame, mountains unbothered by people; they differ only in the role, and line 26 settles it, since the mists, not the mountains, “dance.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

  3. Complex sentences minor Understanding the question

    In “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice / The mists,” the object comes after a long phrase and a line break, so who welcomes whom is easy to miss. (Abedi & Lord, 2001; Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Messick, 1989)

Strategy: Note each human action in lines 23–26 and who performs it, then choose the description that fits every one of those actions.

Traps

  • Half right: One half of a two-part choice is right and the other is not.
  • Reads too much in: A reasonable-sounding conclusion that goes further than the text allows.

The wrong answers, classified

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 personification in lines 23 to 26. Personification means giving human actions or feelings to something that is not human. You need to decide what kind of person the mountains seem to be.

  2. Sort the actions by who does them

    Line 23 says “The mountains swing along.” Line 25 says the mountains are “Welcoming with wide floors of blue-green ice.” Whom do they welcome? Line 26 answers: “The mists that dance and drive before the sun.” So the mountains swing and welcome. The mists are the ones that dance.

  3. Explain what the actions suggest

    To swing along is to move in an easy, carefree way. Welcoming guests onto your floors is what a host does. A host is a person who has guests over. The mountains are kind hosts to the mists. Gracious means kind and polite. They also seem calm. After all the harm in stanza 2, they are untroubled, or not bothered.

  4. Check each choice

    • A fits. The mountains welcome guests and stay calm.
    • B is wrong. These lines say nothing about harm still to come.
    • C is wrong. The mists dance, not the mountains. The mountains are hosts, not entertainers.
    • D is wrong. The lines show ease and welcome. Nothing hints at pride or hidden pain.

  5. Choose the answer

    The mountains swing along and welcome the mists like hosts. So the answer is A, “gracious hosts who are untroubled by the actions of people.”

Why this answer and not the closest wrong one

C is very close, since it also says the mountains don’t worry about people. The difference is the role. An entertainer performs for others. A host welcomes others in. In line 26 it is the mists that “dance,” and the mountains are “Welcoming” them. That makes the mountains hosts.

More questions like this

The original DOE question
Question 47 as printed on page 145 of the DOE handbook.
As printed in the DOE’s Specialized High Schools Student Handbook 2018–2019, page 145, question 47. Open page 145 of the handbook (PDF)