Practice Exam Answers

Read the excerpt from Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down This Wall" speech. Where four decades ago there was rubble, today in West Berlin there is the greatest industrial output of any city in Germany—busy office blocks, fine homes and apartments, proud avenues, and the spreading lawns of park land. Where a city's culture seemed to have been destroyed, today there are two great universities, orchestras and an opera, countless theaters, and museums. Where there was want, today there's abundance. Which statement best explains the use of rhetoric in this paragraph?

Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 1, scene 2. CASSIUS: 'Tis just; And it is very much lamented, Brutus, (60) That you have no such mirrors as will turn Your hidden worthiness into your eye, That you might see your shadow.I have heard Where many of the best respect in Rome— Except immortal Caesar—speaking of Brutus, (65) And groaning underneath this age’s yoke, Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes. Which summary of the passage is the most accurate?

Read the passage from "Two Kinds.” She walked over and stood in front of the TV. I saw her chest was heaving up and down in an angry way. "No!” I said, and I now felt stronger, as if my true self had finally emerged. So this was what had been inside me all along. "No! I won’t!” I screamed. She yanked me by the arm, pulled me off the floor, snapped off the TV. She was frighteningly strong, half pulling, half carrying me toward the piano as I kicked the throw rugs under my feet. She lifted me up and onto the hard bench. I was sobbing by now, looking at her bitterly. Her chest was heaving even more and her mouth was open, smiling crazily as if she were pleased I was crying. "You want me to be something that I’m not!” I sobbed. "I’ll never be the kind of daughter you want me to be!” "Only two kinds of daughters,” she shouted in Chinese. "Those who are obedient and those who follow their own mind! Only one kind of daughter can live in this house. Obedient daughter!” Which statement best explains the motivation for the actions of the narrator’s mother?

From what perspective is this story being told?

Read the excerpt from Julius Caesar , act 1, scene 1. FLAVIUS: It is no matter; let no images Be hung with Caesar’s trophies. I’ll about, And drive away the vulgar from the streets: So do you too where you perceive them thick. (70) These growing feathers plucked from Caesar’s wing Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Who else would soar above the view of men And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt] What does the symbol of growing feathers represent in this excerpt?

To summarize the central idea in a text, readers should identify the topic and then identify

What is logical evidence?

How are prefixes and suffixes alike? Choose two correct answers.

What kind of evidence should be presented in an argument? Choose two correct answers.

Read this prompt. Create a multimedia presentation about the risk to farmers using standard farming methods such as pesticides, as compared to organic farming techniques. Use research and evidence to support your opinion. Use persuasive techniques and a variety of visual aids in your presentation. What would be the most effective visual aid for this prompt?

What is the definition of anecdotal evidence?

Eva wants to apply for a summer job teaching swimming lessons. She loves kids and has experience as a lifeguard. Which writing tasks would be most helpful for finding work she enjoys? Choose three correct answers.

Read the sentence. Gregor watched, assessing how Sasha reacted to his news . Which statement best explains how the underlined clause conveys meaning?

Read the poem "Sonnet in Primary Colors” by Rita Dove. How does this poem resemble an Elizabethan sonnet?

Read the excerpt from "Water Flowing from Toilet to Tap May Be Hard to Swallow." As California scrambles for ways to cope with its crippling drought and the mandatory water restrictions imposed last month by Gov. Jerry Brown, an array of ideas that were long dismissed as too controversial, expensive or unpleasant are getting a second look. One is to conserve more water; another is to turn nearby and abundant sources of water, like the Pacific Ocean, into drinking water through desalination. Yet another is to recycle the water Californians have already used. And therein lies a marketing challenge that can be even greater than the technological one. Which statement best summarizes the writer’s claim?

Which statement best explains why the argument is logical?

Read the excerpt from act 2, scene 1, of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar . BRUTUS: It must be by his death: and for my part I know no personal cause to spurn at him But for the general. He would be crowned: How that might change his nature, there's the question. It is the bright day that brings forth the adder, And that craves wary walking. Crown him that, And then I grant we put a sting in him That at his will he may do danger with. Th' abuse of greatness is when it disjoins Remorse from power. And to speak truth of Caesar, I have not known when his affections swayed More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof That lowliness is young ambition’s ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend. So Caesar may. Then lest he may, prevent. And since the quarrel Will bear no colour for the thing he is, Fashion it thus: that what he is, augmented, Would run to these and these extremities; And therefore think him as a serpent's egg Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell. What moral dilemma does this excerpt express?

Read the excerpt from act 2, scene 1, of Julius Caesar . CASCA: You shall confess that you are both deceived. Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises, Which is a great way growing on the south, Weighing the youthful season of the year. Some two months hence up higher toward the north He first presents his fire, and the high east Stands, as the Capitol, directly here. BRUTUS: Give me your hands all over, one by one. CASSIUS: And let us swear our resolution. BRUTUS: No, not an oath. If not the face of men, The sufferance of our souls, the time’s abuse— If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed. What effect does Cassius's request to swear an oath have on Brutus?

Which rhetorical devices does President Trump use in this excerpt? Choose two correct answers.

Read the excerpt from Justice Sotomayor's speech "A Latina Judge's Voice." For me, a very special part of my being Latina is the mucho platos de arroz, gandules y pernir —rice, beans and pork—that I have eaten at countless family holidays and special events. My Latina identity also includes, because of my particularly adventurous taste buds, morcilla , pig intestines; patitas de cerdo con garbanzo , pigs' feet with beans; and Ia lengua y orejas de cuchifrito , pigs' tongue and ears. I bet the Mexican-Americans in this room are thinking that Puerto Ricans have unusual food tastes. Some of us, like me, do. How does the speaker’s use of Spanish names for food most affect the tone and meaning of this excerpt?

Read the excerpt from act 4, scene 3, of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar . [ BRUTUS: ] Messala, I have here receivèd letters, That young Octavius and Mark Antony Come down upon us with a mighty power, Bending their expedition toward Philippi. MESSALA: Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor. BRUTUS: With what addition? MESSALA: That by proscription and bills of outlawry, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus Have put to death an hundred senators. BRUTUS: Therein our letters do not well agree. Mine speak of seventy senators that died By their proscriptions, Cicero being one. CASSIUS: Cicero one! MESSALA: Ay, Cicero is dead, And by that order of proscription. How does this interaction affect the plot?

Read the excerpt from act 3, scene 1, of Julius Caesar . ANTONY: Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed Swayed from the point by looking down on Caesar. Friends am I with you all, and love you all, Upon this hope: that you shall give me reasons Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous. What is the central idea of this excerpt?

The sentence "This moment brought to you by dad” can best be described as which type of appeal?

Read the excerpt from act 5, scene 1, of Julius Caesar . MESSENGER: Prepare you, generals. The enemy comes on in gallant show. Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, And something to be done immediately. ANTONY: Octavius, lead your battle softly on, Upon the left hand of the even field. OCTAVIUS: Upon the right hand, I; keep thou the left. How does the use of the word gallant add to the meaning of the sentence?

Read the excerpt from "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. ” It might be contended, of course, that the attitude to the African in Heart of Darkness is not Conrad's but that of his fictional narrator, Marlow, and that far from endorsing it Conrad might indeed be holding it up to irony and criticism. Certainly, Conrad appears to go to considerable pains to set up layers of insulation between himself and the moral universe of his history. He has, for example, a narrator behind a narrator. The primary narrator is Marlow, but his account is given to us through the filter of a second, shadowy person. But if Conrad's intention is to draw a cordon sanitaire between himself and the moral and psychological malaise of his narrator, his care seems to me totally wasted because he neglects to hint, clearly and adequately, at an alternative frame of reference by which we may judge the actions and opinions of his characters. It would not have been beyond Conrad's power to make that provision if he had thought it necessary. Conrad seems to me to approve of Marlow, with only minor reservations—a fact reinforced by the similarities between their two careers. What is Achebe’s purpose in this passage?