Practice Test

Why it is hard

Every option cites a study about plants or nature, and two name feelings, a relaxing effect and compassion, which sound more psychological than the key's creativity and productivity. The decision rests on two conditions from the paragraph: the benefit must be psychological, and the nature must be indoors. Students who test only one condition end up with the compassion study, which is not about indoor spaces, or the hotel, whose finding is about popularity.

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

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

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

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

3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

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

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

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Spots indoor plants and a “relaxing effect,” but the finding is that a hotel is popular with guests, a business result rather than evidence about people's well-being.

• C Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sees compassion as a psychological benefit, but the study covers exposure to “natural elements” in general, not the indoor encounters of sentence 13, and its benefit is caring for others.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Accepts any benefit of indoor plants, but rooms that seem quieter are an acoustic advantage, not the psychological effects that sentence 11 names as the paragraph's subject.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Three of the endings sound like conclusions: one praises plants as “vital,” one offers practical first steps, and one cites a striking statistic. Only one, though, restates the passage's whole argument, that people should bring nature indoors for their health. Students lose the point when an ending repeats a single fact, such as photosynthesis or toxin removal, or adds new specifics, and the question rewards weighing each ending against all four paragraphs.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   A fitting ending must gather the air-cleaning benefits of sentences 4–10, the psychological benefits of 11–14 and the closing case for keeping nature near, ideas that lie across three paragraphs. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

   The key speaks of “natural elements” and “an indoor-centered society,” new wording for the passage's argument, while two wrong endings repeat its carbon dioxide, oxygen and toxins. (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: List what each paragraph contributes, then choose the ending that sums up the passage's message rather than repeating a single fact or adding a new one.

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.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Likes the conclusive “vital to our wholeness and wellness,” but the ending rests on one air-quality fact from sentence 4 and leaves out the psychological benefits.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Likes ending on a practical first step, but naming a Boston fern, a spider plant and aloe vera adds new details and says nothing about why plants help.

• D Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Returns to the toxin-removal finding of paragraph 2 with a new figure, “almost 90 percent,” narrowing the ending to air quality and dropping the mental-health benefits.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Sentence 3 already tells a striking story, a 90-day mission that lasted nearly fifteen years, and the most tempting continuation simply repeats it in new words. The other near misses each pick one part of the passage, the water evidence or the dust problems, and make it the whole. The question rewards skimming every paragraph first and choosing the sentence that covers both the achievements and the hardships, the pairing the final paragraph makes.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The topic only emerges from the later paragraphs: the “blueberries” of sentences 4–7, the 28.06 miles of paragraph 3, the dust storms of paragraph 4 and NASA’s praise in sentence 19. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   The new sentence follows sentence 3’s surprise that a 90-day mission lasted nearly 15 years, so it must turn from that fact to what the mission achieved. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Skim the opening sentence of each later paragraph to see what the passage covers, then ask which choice would prepare a reader for all of it.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• B Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Picks the water finding of paragraph 2, a real result, but it covers one paragraph and leaves out the rover’s travels, its endurance and the dust storms.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak

  Builds on the dust that blocked the solar panels in paragraph 4, but the passage never blames flaws in the rover’s design and dwells on its achievements.

• D Says it twice (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Follows sentence 3 smoothly, but saying the mission “surpassed the original timeline” only restates the 90 days that became 15 years instead of introducing what comes next.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

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

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

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

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

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

3. Much to keep track of minor Working it out

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

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

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• B Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sees a population figure in a passage about bricks and cuts it, missing that sentence 7 names “surging population” as a cause of demand and sentence 8 measures it.

• D Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Hears “boom times eventually end” as a cliché that adds nothing, though sentence 18 opens the fourth paragraph and turns the passage from the industry’s growth to its decline.

• E Fixes what isn't broken (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Thinks sentence 23 only repeats the conclusion around it, though it ties the brickmakers’ output back to the famous buildings of sentences 1–2.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Left unchosen by students who link it to factories that “employed much of the region’s population,” though the paragraph is about the factories’ output, not the Valley’s growth.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The paragraph’s logic has a gap between a change in taste and the closing of the factories, and only one option fills it. The Flatiron example is the strongest lure because it follows naturally from steel in sentence 20, and the shipping-costs option tempts students who see that the paragraph explains a decline. Both are reasonable sentences; they fail because they do not link the new materials to fewer bricks.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 20 says builders favored steel, glass and concrete; sentence 21 says reduced demand closed every factory. The missing step, that the new materials cut brick purchases, is what the added sentence must supply. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

   All four options concern building materials or brickmaking, and three would be true and on topic somewhere in the passage, so each must be judged at this exact spot. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Restate the point of sentences 18–21 in one sentence, then ask of each option whether it would help a reader see how that point follows from sentence 20, not just whether it is true and related.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Follows the new materials into public taste, whether they looked as strong as brick, but never connects that shift to fewer bricks, the link the paragraph needs.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Offers a believable second reason for the decline, rising shipping and labor costs, but the paragraph blames shifting architectural trends, and this sentence does nothing to explain them.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Gives the Flatiron Building as an early steel-framed example, which suits sentence 20 alone, but turns to one landmark instead of showing how the new materials cut demand for brick.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

• Explanation: The handbook’s explanation of Option D ends “It also supports, with a detail about the closing of the last factory, the idea in sentence 18 that the entire Hudson Valley brickmaking industry was ended.” Option D (“The more that New York City builders chose to use these materials, the fewer bricks they bought.”) contains no detail about a factory closing; the closing of every factory is sentence 21, already in the passage. The idea that the entire industry ended is in sentence 19 (“Shifting architectural trends halted not only the Hudson Valley’s brickmaking boom, but its entire industry”); sentence 18 says only that “boom times eventually end.” The site now says “It also supports the idea in sentence 19 that shifting architectural trends ended the entire Hudson Valley brickmaking industry.” Option D is still the answer.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Sentence 18 states its focus plainly, so the question mostly tests whether students hold to it. Two choices drift back to the mental side of the passage, discipline, focus and other skills, which paragraphs 2 and 3 have already covered. The closest wrong answer stays on physical health but describes the people who train, so it adds nothing about how training improves fitness; the key is the only one to list effects on the body.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 18 names one benefit, “perhaps the greatest of these is health and fitness,” so the next sentence must give details of that benefit, not of the mental ones the passage covered earlier. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. A very close wrong answer minor Choosing the answer

   The choice about health-minded trainees and the key both concern training and physical health; the key says what the exercise does for the body, the other only what trainees care about. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Reread sentence 18 and note which benefit it singles out, then ask of each choice whether it gives specific details about that benefit or shifts to another one.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Lists discipline, focus, self-control and respect, qualities from paragraph 2, and adds careers, but sentence 18 singles out health and fitness for adults.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Starts with adults training “to get exercise,” which sounds on topic, but its point is the other skills they gain without realizing it, a turn away from fitness.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Stays on physical health but says what trainees care about, not what training does for them, so it gives no detail about the benefit sentence 18 names.

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 40 (“the concluding sentence that best replaces sentence 23 and supports the topic presented in the passage”) and marks B correct, and this question’s explanation (“the sentence that would best follow and support sentence 18”) is printed after question 40, marking C 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: C, because sentence 18 names health and fitness as the greatest benefit for adults, and Option C gives specific ways that training improves fitness.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

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

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

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

2. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

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

3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

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

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

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Follows on from the last paragraph’s many ways to start, but rests the ending on vague “skills needed to progress in rank,” one thread of paragraphs 2 and 3, not the benefits overall.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Names the passage’s “mental and physical benefits,” which fits, but ends on rising enrollment, a claim about numbers of students that the passage never discusses.

• D Half right (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Rightly says training can improve health for young people and adults, but adds that adults clearly benefit sooner, a comparison the passage never makes, and drops the mental benefits.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

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

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The replacement must cover a passage that argues both sides of free college and then turns to campus cost-cutting, so a sentence about any one part falls short. Students most often take the state scholarship programs for the topic, because those programs fill the two middle paragraphs. Summing up each paragraph in a few words before reading the choices shows that only a sentence about the debate over how to make college affordable fits them all.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The topic shows only across all five paragraphs: supporters of state programs in sentences 4–7, critics in 8–13, campus cost-cutting in 14–17, and the closing warning that solutions are not simple. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. The right answer is reworded minor Choosing the answer

   The right sentence says “complex issue” and “differing opinions,” words the passage never uses, while wrong ones echo its “scholarship,” “community colleges” and “helping students cover.” (Freedle & Kostin, 1993; Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

Strategy: Note in a few words what each of the five paragraphs does, then choose the sentence that would prepare a reader for all of them rather than for one paragraph's details.

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.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Picks the state scholarship programs, which do fill paragraphs 2 and 3, but they are what the two sides argue about, not a topic that also covers paragraph 4.

• C Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak

  Takes paragraph 4's cost-cutting ideas, such as not paying for classes already mastered, as the topic, though they are one approach among several and leave out the debate over state programs.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate

  Echoes the original sentence's “helping students cover” and sounds like a thesis, but it makes the passage about quality, which comes up once, among the critics' fears in sentence 12.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

• Explanation: In its reason for rejecting choice C, the handbook reads “which is a idea discussed in sentences 14 and 15.” It now reads “an idea.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The strongest wrong ending is a fair summary of the passage's middle, the state programs and their critics, so it feels like a conclusion. It falls short because it drops the campus steps and the closing point that solutions are slow and complicated. Other endings echo the final paragraph's words or bundle two solutions into a promise, and students who keep the passage's caution in mind reject those quickly.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   Judging an ending means holding the whole passage: the debate over state programs in sentences 4–13, the campus cost-cutting in 14–17, and the warning in 18–19 that solutions take time. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   The new sentence follows “will take time,” so an ending that looks ahead to when the problem “is resolved” continues the thought, while a confident promise of affordability contradicts it. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: State the passage's topic and its final point in your own words, then test each ending: does it follow from both, or does it bring in a claim the passage never supports?

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• A Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak

  Bundles paragraph 4's online courses with the state scholarships and promises they “will make colleges more affordable,” a certainty the passage rejects just before by calling solutions “not simple.”

• B Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sums up paragraphs 2 and 3 fairly, programs that help and the problems critics foresee, but leaves out the campus cost-cutting and the closing point about time and planning.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate

  Borrows “the problems associated with” rising costs from sentence 18 and adds a prediction about students choosing other paths, which the passage never makes.

What was corrected from the DOE handbook, and why

• Explanation: In rejecting choice A, the handbook says the topic of the passage is that “state and federal governments, not faculty and students, must resolve the issue of college affordability.” The passage never mentions the federal government, and sentences 14–17 are about what faculty and students can do. The topic, as question 5's answer puts it, is that making college affordable is a complex issue with differing opinions about how to approach it. The explanation now says so, and that choice A instead states that technology and scholarships will make college more affordable.
• Explanation: In rejecting choice B, the handbook says “the idea that these types of programs may lead to new problems is not thoroughly discussed in the passage.” Sentences 8–13 discuss exactly that: critics expect higher taxes or lower-quality education. Choice B falls short because it covers only the statewide programs and their critics, leaving out sentences 14–17 (what faculty and students can do) and the closing point that solutions take time and planning. The explanation now says that. The answer, D, is unchanged.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Three of the four sentences sound like a thesis, and two contain “high school students should,” so tone decides nothing. Students go wrong when they choose a sentence that only repeats the research point of sentence 4, or one that urges a different action. The question rewards stating the essay’s claim first, that students should volunteer because it pays off for them, and then finding the sentence that says exactly that.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The essay never states its claim in one sentence; it has to be pieced together from the benefits for college, work and health in paragraphs 3 to 5 and sentence 21’s “Even the busiest of students can find a way.” (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The right sentence and the one about strengthening communities both open with a linking phrase and “high school students should”; they part only on what students should do, volunteer or learn about communities. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

3. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   The new sentence follows sentence 4’s “those who volunteer also receive benefits,” so it must turn that research point into what students should do about it. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Skim the body paragraphs and state in a few words what the essay wants its readers to believe. Then choose the sentence that says exactly that and follows naturally from sentence 4.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• B Too broad or too strong (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Follows the word “benefits” from sentence 4 but overstates them as “guaranteed” and never says what students should do, so no claim is introduced.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Likes the research-sounding “studies have confirmed,” but it restates sentence 4 as a fact rather than a claim and widens the benefits to families and the community.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sees the thesis-like “high school students should,” but it asks students to learn about strengthening communities, a point the essay never develops, instead of urging them to volunteer.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Every option stays on the subject of college, so the work is matching sentence 12’s exact idea: counselors see applicants who care about making their community a better place. The near miss also explains what counselors value, but it swaps caring for the community for a new set of traits and ends on what those traits do for the applicants. Students who restate sentence 12 before reading the options can hear that the right one simply widens it, from community service to what colleges want beyond grades.

1. A very close wrong answer major Choosing the answer

   The right sentence and the two-sentence option about responsible, reliable, helpful students both explain why volunteers impress admissions; only the right one keeps sentence 12’s point, caring about improving communities. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The new sentence must extend sentence 12’s specific idea, what admissions counselors see in volunteers, rather than return to sentence 11’s skills and careers or move on to college life. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

3. A lot to read minor Understanding the question

   The options run 27 to 39 words, two of them two sentences long, and all four are about college, so topic alone rules none of them out. (Kintsch, 1998; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Freedle & Kostin, 1993)

Strategy: Restate sentence 12 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it explains or extends that exact point about what admissions counselors value.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Follows the admissions counselors from sentence 12 but replaces caring for the community with new traits, responsibility and reliability, and turns to how those traits help the applicants.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Is drawn by “applying to colleges,” but networking for references and future employers is a new benefit that neither sentence 11 nor sentence 12 develops.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Stays with the counselors and picks up “college campus” from sentence 12, but jumps ahead to what students might do in college instead of explaining admission decisions.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

All four endings sound final, and the strongest wrong one is a fair-sounding list of benefits that opens with “Clearly.” The right ending wins on fit: its three reasons are the essay’s own, college, work and stress, and it keeps the opening idea that volunteers help others as well as themselves. Students who sketch the essay’s reasons paragraph by paragraph before reading the endings can see which one gathers them and which adds a point of its own.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The reasons a conclusion must gather sit in three body paragraphs, college admission in paragraph 3, the workforce in paragraph 4 and stress in paragraph 5, well before sentence 22. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The right ending and the “host of benefits” ending both list what volunteers gain; they part on whether the list matches the essay’s own reasons and keeps the help volunteers give others. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: List the essay’s reasons for volunteering, one phrase per paragraph, then pick the ending that pulls them together without bringing in a new point.

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.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Likes the concrete list of shelters, pantries and campaigns, but naming groups that need young volunteers sums up none of the essay’s reasons for volunteering.

• B Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sums up only what students gain, adding “meeting interesting people,” which the essay never mentions, and drops the point that volunteers help others too.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Carries on sentence 21’s point that busy students can find time, then adds students recruiting their peers, so it ends on scheduling instead of the reasons to volunteer.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Sentence 20 hands every ending a ready link, the rovers still on Mars, so each choice sounds like a natural next line. The question is which one returns to the subject the passage built over twenty sentences, and only one connects today’s rovers to what Opportunity found. The near-twin that names Curiosity draws students who check smoothness rather than focus, while the other two drift to a spacecraft and to the planet’s harsh conditions.

1. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The ending that names Curiosity and the right one both say today’s rovers will help answer questions about Mars; they differ only in whether the sentence ties those rovers back to Opportunity’s discoveries. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

2. Evidence in several places minor Working it out

   The passage’s subject, Opportunity, runs through all five paragraphs, from its 2004 landing to the “blueberries,” the 28.06 miles and the dust storms, so judging an ending means holding that whole thread in mind. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

3. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   Sentence 20 turns to “other rovers” that “still roam the surface of Mars,” and all four endings pick up from it, so fit with the last sentence alone rules none of them out. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Say in a few words what the whole passage is about, then read each ending after sentence 20 and ask whether it closes that subject or turns to something the passage never covered.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Continues smoothly from “other rovers” in sentence 20 and looks ahead as a conclusion should, but it names Curiosity and never returns to Opportunity, the rover the passage is about.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Is drawn by a specific new fact, the orbiting Mars Odyssey, which the passage never mentions; after the wordy “And in conjunction with,” the ending leaves Opportunity behind.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Builds on the dust storms Opportunity survived and adds rocky ground and freezing cold, but it ends on the hardships facing today’s rovers rather than on what Opportunity achieved.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The claim is clearest at the very end, where sentence 20 says anyone can benefit from understanding code without becoming an expert. Each wrong option grows out of one paragraph, the industries of paragraph 3 or the students and schools of paragraph 4, so it sounds supported but speaks to too few people or asks for the wrong action. The question rewards naming the whole argument before reading the options.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The first paragraph only explains what code is, so the claim must be pieced together from later parts: coding’s value at work in paragraph 3, the ways to learn in paragraph 4 and sentence 20’s benefits for non-experts. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. Every choice must be checked minor Choosing the answer

   All four options are “should” statements built from real material in the passage, so each has to be checked for whom it addresses and what it asks them to do. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

Strategy: Before reading the choices, note in a phrase what each paragraph adds, then say in one sentence what the whole passage wants its readers to do, and pick the option that matches all of it.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• B Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Builds on the stock-market and medical programs of paragraph 3, but asks people only to understand how code serves industries, never to learn it, and leaves out the ways to learn.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak

  Takes the schools of sentence 15 as the heart of the argument and turns the claim into a duty for schools, a demand the passage never makes of them.

• D Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Joins the higher-paying jobs of sentence 13 to the students of paragraph 4, but limits the claim to students preparing for jobs, while the passage addresses everyone and promises benefits beyond pay.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Three of the four versions end with the original sentence 10, so the choice lies entirely in the opening words and the link they claim. A concession about difficulty sounds like a natural essay move, and sentence 20 even calls coding challenging, but nothing in paragraphs 2 or 3 sets difficulty against importance. Students who first name the real link between the paragraphs, that coding knowledge is worth having because many fields need it, can test each opening against that.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The new opening must look back to paragraph 2, which ends on the “infinite” possibilities of knowing coding rules, and ahead to the stock-market and medical examples, so two paragraphs have to be tracked at once. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The concession version shares the key’s first words, “Learning a coding language,” and its whole closing clause; only the middle differs, “may be difficult, but” against “is useful because.” (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Sum up paragraph 2 and paragraph 3 in a few words each, then test every version of sentence 10 against both summaries, paying close attention to what its opening words claim.

Traps

• Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Wrong transition (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Borrows sentence 20’s point that coding “can seem challenging” and sets it against importance with “but,” though neither paragraph 2 nor paragraph 3 raises difficulty, so the contrast connects nothing.

• C Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak

  Picks up sentence 13’s higher salaries and speaks for employers, so the opening covers only the paragraph’s last point and gives no link back to paragraph 2 on coding languages.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Takes paragraph 2’s technical account of code as proof that programming is “its own unique field,” an idea the passage never develops, and sets it against wider use with “Even though.”

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The paragraph makes two claims, that coding matters in many fields and that coding jobs pay more, and the best addition must serve both while following the sentence about pay. The $100,000 figure is the main trap, since it seems to back the pay claim but turns attention to computing careers, the opposite of the paragraph’s point. The hospital and industry-experience options each touch one idea of the paragraph and drift away from the rest.

1. Every choice must be checked moderate Choosing the answer

   All four options are believable facts about coding and work, two of them with salary figures, so each must be tested against sentence 13’s pay comparison and sentence 10’s claim about many fields. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987)

2. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The added sentence comes right after sentence 13, so it should carry on the point that coding jobs pay more while still serving the paragraph’s opening claim that coding matters in many occupations. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

3. Reading between the lines minor Working it out

   Seeing why the job-market statistic fits takes a step of reasoning: if almost half of jobs paying over $58,000 call for coding, coding is both widespread and tied to better pay. (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994; Kintsch, 1998)

Strategy: Restate sentence 10 and sentence 13 in your own words, then ask of each option whether it is evidence for what those two sentences claim, not just a fact on the same topic.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Matches sentence 13’s talk of pay with a striking salary, but it turns to computing careers such as software engineering instead of the many fields the paragraph describes, and compares nothing.

• B Supports only part of the claim (King et al., 2004; Thissen, Steinberg & Fitzpatrick, 1989)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Extends sentence 12’s point about doctors to hospitals and drug companies, but it backs only the medical example and says nothing about pay, so it does not build on sentence 13.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Sees support for coding’s value in companies wanting “knowledge of basic coding,” but the sentence adds a second demand, experience in one industry, which the paragraph never discusses.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Every version keeps the original sentence 10 as its ending, so the decision rests on a few opening words and the relationship they announce. A concession about difficulty is a familiar essay move, and sentence 20 does say coding “can seem challenging,” but neither paragraph 2 nor paragraph 3 weighs difficulty at all. Naming the actual connection first, that coding is worth learning because so many jobs now use it, makes each opening quick to test.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The new opening has to reach back to sentence 9, where knowing coding rules makes the possibilities “infinite,” and forward to the stock-market and patient-monitoring examples of sentences 11 and 12. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The concession version matches the key word for word except in its middle, “may be difficult, but” in place of “is useful because,” so only the link each one claims sets them apart. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Since all four versions end the same way, focus on their opening words, and ask which opening looks back to the second paragraph and ahead to the third.

Traps

• Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Wrong transition (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Carries sentence 20’s “can seem challenging” back to sentence 10 and sets difficulty against importance with “but,” though the two paragraphs it joins never mention difficulty, so the contrast links nothing.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: weak

  Sees that paragraph 3 is about jobs and opens with what employers in “most industries” realize, a viewpoint the passage never develops, leaving no link back to paragraph 2’s coding rules.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Reads paragraph 2’s account of letters, numbers and symbols as proof that programming is “its own unique field,” an idea the passage never takes up, and builds a contrast on it.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Most students find the descriptive sentence once they ask what a reader needs right after the tunnel is first named. Points are lost to sentences that follow on smoothly from the word “completion” or that name a real benefit, but which set up a passage about something else. The right sentence even adds facts the passage never states, so students should judge fit rather than hunt for repeated words.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The topic the new sentence must introduce only emerges across all four paragraphs: what the Gotthard Base Tunnel is, how it was dug, and what it will do for travel. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   The added sentence follows sentence 5, which names the tunnel only as what eased the burdens, so it should present the tunnel itself before paragraph 2 turns to its construction. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Skim the first sentence of each paragraph to see what the passage as a whole covers, then pick the sentence that would prepare a reader for all of it.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Picks voter approval in 1992 and funding by tolls, fuel taxes and loans, background that would set up a passage about financing, which this one never discusses.

• B Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Follows naturally from “the completion of the Gotthard Base Tunnel” in sentence 5, but an opening ceremony with European leaders is not what the passage goes on to describe.

• D Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Offers one result, fewer freight trucks on Alpine roads, which echoes the difficult roads of sentence 4 but does not present the tunnel before the passage explains it.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

All four choices are about tunnel-boring machines, so topic alone settles nothing. The right sentence shows how the machines work and leads into their size in sentence 8, while the strongest wrong one wanders into geology. Some students also distrust the cheese-grater comparison as too casual, though a vivid analogy is exactly the kind of support a definition needs.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   The new sentence sits between sentence 7, which defines the machines, and sentence 8, which gives their size, so it has to keep describing the machines that dug this tunnel. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Reread sentence 7 and note exactly what it describes, then test each choice by asking whether it tells the reader more about that same thing or starts a new point.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
• Wordy, vague or informal: A revision is grammatical but wordy, imprecise or too casual for the passage.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Wordy, vague or informal (Connors & Lunsford, 1988)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Accepts a general claim that the machine is “helpful to tunnel builders in the modern era”, which praises it without adding any detail about how it works.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Explains why the tunnel could not be built earlier, turning from what the machines are to the project's history, a topic the paragraph never takes up.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Builds on the term “cutter head” from sentence 7, but varying heads for different geology starts a new subject that the paragraph never returns to.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

The conclusion has to return to the idea the passage opened with, which sits at the far end of the text from where the new sentence goes. Students who have forgotten the proverb about necessity tend to choose by tone, and three choices sound like fitting final lessons or benefits. What the question rewards is matching the conclusion to the opening's own words, ingenuity and obstacles.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   The passage's point is set out in sentences 1 to 3, the proverb about necessity and “human ingenuity in the face of obstacles”, about fifteen sentences before the spot where the conclusion goes. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer

   The right conclusion and the teamwork one share a frame, the tunnel as proof of what people can do, and differ only in the lesson: ingenuity against obstacles, from sentences 1 to 3, or teamwork, which the passage never mentions. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)

Strategy: Say in one sentence what the whole passage is about, then choose the conclusion that restates that idea without adding claims the passage never makes.

Traps

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

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate

  Ends on a claim of “proof” that tunnels help local economies, a benefit that sounds right for a conclusion but that the passage never discusses.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sees that the ending should state a broad human lesson but picks teamwork, which the passage never raises, instead of the ingenuity against obstacles it opened with.

• D Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Seizes on the $12 billion cost, mentioned once in sentence 10, and adds a government opinion the passage never reports, narrowing the ending to one detail.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

Every choice says something favorable about libraries, so a student who asks only whether a sentence fits the essay will find all four acceptable. The question rewards narrowing the test to sentence 8’s own idea, the loneliness of a digital age and the need for company. The teen book clubs, toddler story times and exercise classes for seniors are what make the right sentence a support rather than a new topic.

1. How sentences fit together moderate Working it out

   Sentence 8 ends on “human connection and companionship,” so the sentence after it must give an example of people meeting each other, not just another good thing about libraries. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Restate sentence 8 in a few words, then ask of each choice whether it gives a concrete example of that exact idea or just says something good about libraries.

Traps

• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
• Wrong part of the text: A choice is true of another paragraph, stanza or speaker than the one asked about.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: moderate

  Offers a pleasant general fact about libraries preserving community history, which matches the word “community” but says nothing about loneliness or human connection.

• B Wrong part of the text (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Describes hearings and town halls, which belong with paragraph 4’s “town meetings” and civic engagement, and concern leaders running events rather than people finding companionship.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Brings in funding from local, state and federal dollars, a new topic that neither illustrates sentence 8’s need for connection nor advances the essay’s claim.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it

Why it is hard

All four endings open with a word that sounds conclusive, “Therefore,” “Clearly,” “After all” or “In fact,” so the opening word is no guide. Students lose the point when they accept a closing line that is true to one part of the essay, or one that introduces something new such as a date or a task for community leaders. The right ending turns the essay’s reasons into a call to keep using and supporting the library.

1. Evidence in several places moderate Working it out

   To judge whether an ending covers the whole argument, students must recall that the free Internet access and the tutoring sit in paragraphs 3 and 4, far from the last sentence. (Kirsch & Mosenthal, 1990; Gorin & Embretson, 2006)

2. How sentences fit together minor Working it out

   Sentence 19 already calls the library “an important part of a community,” so the added line has to build on it, moving from praise to what readers should do. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

Strategy: Jot down the essay’s main reasons in a phrase each, then choose the ending that ties them together without bringing in a new fact or a new claim.

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.
• Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.

The wrong answers, classified

• A Too narrow (King et al., 2004)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: strong

  Sounds conclusive with “Therefore” and restates the social and community-engagement benefits, but omits the free services and resources that make up half the argument.

• C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals a surface strategy Expected pull: weak

  Is drawn by the authoritative “After all” and a historical date, but a founding in 1833 appears nowhere in the essay and supports none of its reasons.

• D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)

  Reveals partial knowledge Expected pull: moderate

  Knows a persuasive essay often ends with a call to action, but this one assigns a new task to community leaders instead of urging readers to use the library.

How the questions are analyzed, and the research behind it