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Section 4: Sample Multiple-Choice Questions
WEST–E Middle Level Humanities Subtest 1: English Language Arts and Reading (052)

The sample test questions in this study guide are designed to give you an introduction to the nature of the questions included in the Washington Educator Skills Tests—Endorsements (WEST–E). They represent the various types of questions you may expect to see on an actual test in this test field; however, they are not designed to predict your performance on the test as a whole.

Work through the sample questions carefully before referring to the answers. The correct response and test objective being assessed are provided for each question. When you are finished with the sample questions, you may wish to review the test objectives and descriptive statements provided in the test framework for this test field.

In addition to reading and answering the sample questions, you should also utilize the following preparation materials available in this study guide:

Practice Questions

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Reading Process and Comprehension

Objective 0001: Understand the role of phonology and morphology in the reading process and strategies for developing word identification skills and vocabulary knowledge.

1. As a middle school student reads aloud a story excerpt, the teacher lists words that the student has difficulty identifying, such as could, friend, know, might, their, and which. After the student has finished reading the story excerpt, the teacher asks the student to repeat each word listed and to read aloud again from the story the sentence in which each word appears. By focusing the student's attention on these targeted words, the teacher helps the student develop which of the following word identification strategies?

  1. recognizing high-frequency sight words
  2. using phonics skills
  3. applying knowledge of word structure and syllabication
  4. using semantic cues
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

2. Read the sentence below; then answer the question that follows.

The desperate child asked the television viewers to help find her missing dog.

Which of the following synonyms for the word asked connotes the greatest degree of urgency?

  1. inquired
  2. requested
  3. queried
  4. implored
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

3. After taking a class on a field trip to a natural history museum, a middle school teacher asks the students to say words they read or heard at the museum that were unfamiliar to them. The teacher lists these words on the board, asks the students to say which words they think go together (e.g., condor, raptor, vulture, carnivore), and then has the students identify a name for each group (e.g., birds of prey). By engaging the students in this activity, the teacher is applying which of the following strategies for building and extending vocabulary knowledge?

  1. using prior knowledge of base words, prefixes, and suffixes to deconstruct and determine the meaning of new vocabulary words
  2. selecting vocabulary words that are conceptually related and that can be linked to concrete experiences
  3. using context clues to distinguish the denotative and connotative meanings of new vocabulary words
  4. selecting vocabulary words that provide opportunities for reading across content areas and applying words in new contexts
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

4. Read the sentence below; then answer the question that follows.

During their first visit to Guatemala, the travelers were ________ by stories of the Maya civilization.

Which of the following words, if inserted in the blank, would suggest the greatest degree of interest?

  1. occupied
  2. captivated
  3. entranced
  4. absorbed
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

5. Which of the following sentences contains an error in usage?

  1. During our trip, we enjoyed seeing the sights and visiting sites of historical events.
  2. Frozen desserts are popular in the desert, even though they melt quickly in the heat.
  3. As an imminent professional in her field, she assumed that a promotion was eminent.
  4. The new tenant accepted all the conditions of the lease except the one banning pets.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0002: Apply strategies for developing reading comprehension and fluency.

6. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A middle school teacher discusses with his students a coming-of-age novel that they have all begun reading. The novel is about a girl, Becky, who moves with her family from a small apartment in New York City to a large log cabin in the Alaska wilderness. The story is told from Becky's point of view. As the teacher leads the discussion, he works with the students to create on the chalkboard the graphic organizer below.

Graphic Organizer

A graphic organizer. In the center is a circle labeled Becky open parenthesis main character slash narrator closed parenthesis. An arrow points from the circle to a box labeled Paul open parenthesis Becky's father closed parenthesis. This arrow contains the phrase adores and admires. An arrow pointing away from the box labeled Paul to the circle says sympathizes with. Another arrow points from the circle to a box labeled Jeff open parenthesis Becky's older brother closed parenthesis. This arrow says envies. An arrow pointing from the box labeled Jeff to the circle says teases and protects. Another arrow points from the circle to a box labeled Marcy open parenthesis Becky's mother closed parenthesis. This arrow contains the phrase intimidated by. An arrow pointing from the box labeled Marcy to the circle contains the phrase criticizes and challenges.

By creating this graphic organizer, the teacher helps the students enhance their comprehension of the novel primarily by:

  1. establishing a basic timeline for events that take place in the novel.
  2. analyzing the themes of independence and self-reliance in the novel.
  3. using prior knowledge to imagine the setting of the novel more vividly.
  4. clarifying the relationships between central characters in the novel.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

7. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A middle school teacher is reading a story aloud to her students. The teacher occasionally stops her reading to "think aloud." An excerpt from a transcript of the teacher's reading appears below.

[reading aloud from the story]
"Dick's appearance as he stood beside the box was rather peculiar. His pants were torn in several places, and had apparently belonged in the first instance to a boy two sizes larger than himself. He wore a vest, all the buttons of which were gone except two, out of which peeped a shirt which looked as if it had been worn a month. To complete his costume he wore a coat too long for him, dating back, if one might judge from its general appearance, to a remote antiquity."

[thinking aloud]
"I wonder what remote antiquity means. People use remote controls to run a television or a toy from far away, without actually touching them. Maybe remote here has something to do with being far away, too. I don't know about antiquity, though, except that it sort of sounds like the word antique, which is anything really old and beat-up."

Which of the following reading comprehension strategies is the teacher demonstrating for students through this activity?

  1. summarizing the central theme and plot line in a story
  2. recognizing high-frequency sight words in a story
  3. connecting ideas and expressions in a story with prior knowledge
  4. predicting what characters' actions will be in a story
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

8. Which of the following activities would best promote the development of a fifth-grade student's literal comprehension skills?

  1. reading a mystery story and writing an alternate ending
  2. reading an encyclopedia entry and identifying key words
  3. reading a biography and creating a timeline of the subject's life
  4. reading an editorial and responding with a counterargument
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0003: Apply strategies for reading expository texts.

9. Read the excerpt below; then answer the question that follows.

The nineteenth century was perhaps the most productive period in the history of American literature. The writers of this period, unfettered by old European influences, began developing a distinctly American voice. Despite having this one voice, the style and subject matter of their works varied greatly, which facilitates organizing these writers into four basic groups. First, writers such as Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe took a romantic view of the growing nation, writing about nature and the strange and fantastic aspects of human experience. Second, there was the New England Renaissance, which introduced the poetry of the "Brahmins," namely James Russell Lowell and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the philosophical works of the Transcendentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Third, writers such as Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe addressed in their works the divisive social and political issues that led to the American Civil War, and then after the war, to the urgent need for reconciliation. And finally, there were the realists, regionalists, and humorists, such as Stephen Crane, Bret Harte, and Mark Twain, who wrote variously about urban squalor, the American West, and "local color."

Which of the following patterns of organization is used to present the information in this excerpt?

  1. classification and division
  2. cause and effect
  3. comparison and contrast
  4. problem and solution
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

10. Read the excerpt below; then answer the question that follows.

Need to blow off steam after a stressful workday? Have difficulty falling asleep at night? Feel as though you are always out of breath when performing basic household chores? Exercise may be the remedy. The benefits of exercise are difficult to ignore. For instance, exercise stimulates various chemicals in the brain, which can leave you feeling happier and more relaxed than before you exercised. In addition, five to six hours after exercising, you undergo a natural decrease in body temperature, which makes it easier to fall asleep quickly and to sleep deeply. Further, regular exercise promotes better circulation of blood through your heart and blood vessels and delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your body tissues, raising your cardiovascular fitness level and giving you more physical endurance. Exercise can also help you manage high blood pressure and "bad" cholesterol and prevent some forms of diabetes and cancer. Finally, do not forget that exercise can actually be fun!

Which of the following conclusions can be reasonably drawn from the information in this excerpt?

  1. The most harmful effect of sleep deprivation is decreased mental awareness.
  2. Exercise can help a person feel better, have more energy, and maybe even live longer.
  3. The main causes of heart disease are work-related stress, a poor diet, and physical overexertion.
  4. Exercise can help a person achieve both financial independence and lasting personal happiness.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

11. A sixth-grade teacher is selecting several informational texts for students to read in class. Which of the following factors would most likely have the most significant influence on the students' comprehension of the text?

  1. word count of the text
  2. complex sentences in the text
  3. students' familiarity with the text's genre
  4. students' background knowledge of the text's topic
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

12. Read the excerpt below; then answer the question that follows.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a prominent journalist, activist, and researcher in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In her lifetime, she battled sexism, racism, and violence. As a skilled writer, Wells-Barnett also used her skills as a journalist to shed light on the conditions of African Americans throughout the South.

Ida Bell Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862. She was born into slavery during the Civil War. Once the war ended Wells-Barnett's parents became active in Reconstruction Era politics. Her parents instilled into her the importance of education. Wells-Barnett enrolled at Rust College but was expelled when she started a dispute with the university president. In 1878, Wells-Barnett went to visit her grandmother. While she was there Wells-Barnett was informed that a yellow fever epidemic had hit her hometown. The disease took both of Wells-Barnett's parents and her infant brother. Left to raise her brothers and sister, she took a job as a teacher so that she could keep the family together. Eventually, Wells-Barnett moved her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee. There she continued to work as an educator.

The excerpt is most characteristic of which of the following types of expository texts?

  1. memoir
  2. newspaper article
  3. personal essay
  4. biography
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0004: Apply strategies for reading persuasive and functional texts.

13. Which of the following statements best describes the characteristics of a thesaurus?

  1. A thesaurus provides word definitions and pronunciation keys but does not include examples of words in context.
  2. A thesaurus provides synonyms and antonyms for words but does not distinguish between their connotative meanings.
  3. A thesaurus provides word histories but does not include explanations of archaic or obsolete spellings of words.
  4. A thesaurus presents sets of commonly misused words but does not distinguish between their denotative meanings.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

14. Read the excerpt below from a marketing brochure; then answer the question that follows.

Many people have the dream of owning a beach house, but only a few are lucky enough to realize that dream. You can be one of the lucky ones who own a beach house if you act now. Our beachfront properties offer the most breathtakingly beautiful ocean views on the coast. Each night, you will enjoy a gorgeous sunset while waves lap gently and soothingly against the shore.

You may think that you cannot afford a beach house, but what you really cannot afford is to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Many people enjoy spending a week or two over the summer at the beach. But wouldn't you like to be able to spend all year at the beach? All it takes is one phone call, and your beach-house dream can come true.

Which of the following sentences from the excerpt states a fact rather than an opinion?

  1. Our beachfront properties offer the most breathtakingly beautiful ocean views on the coast.
  2. Each night, you will enjoy a gorgeous sunset while waves lap gently and soothingly against the shore.
  3. Many people enjoy spending a week or two over the summer at the beach.
  4. All it takes is one phone call, and your beach-house dream can come true.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

15. Read the excerpt below from a speech; then answer the question that follows.

I am a woman's rights. I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that? I have heard much about the sexes being equal; I can carry as much as any man, and can eat as much too, if I can get it. I am as strong as any man that is now. As for intellect, all I can say is, if woman have a pint, and man a quart—why can't she have her little pint full? You need not be afraid to give us our rights for fear we will take too much,—for we can't take more than our pint'll hold. The poor men seem to be all in confusion, and don't know what to do. Why children, if you have woman's rights, give it to her and you will feel better.

In the excerpt, the author uses a metaphor to convey which of the following ideas?

  1. Physical labor both strengthens the body and expands the mind.
  2. Women's exercise of their rights will not encroach on men's rights.
  3. Equality of the sexes is a laudable goal that may never be achieved.
  4. Individuals have the potential to contribute to society in diverse ways.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

16. An encyclopedia can best be described as a:

  1. resource that describes significant historical events and is organized chronologically.
  2. collection of writing by scholars and philosophers that is organized thematically.
  3. collection of informational articles on a range of topics that is organized alphabetically.
  4. resource that defines specialized terms and is organized by academic discipline.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

17. Read the excerpt below from an essay; then answer the question that follows.

There is one fundamental issue which faces America as it faces no other nation. It is an issue peculiar to America and peculiar to America in the 20th Century—now. It is deeper even than the immediate issue of War. If America meets it correctly, then, despite hosts of dangers and difficulties, we can look forward and move forward to a future worthy of men, with peace in our hearts.

If we dodge the issue, we shall flounder for ten or 20 or 30 bitter years in a chartless and meaningless series of disasters.

The purpose of this article is to state that issue, and its solution, as candidly and as completely as possible. But first of all let us be completely candid about where we are and how we got there.

Where are we? We are in the war. All this talk about whether this or that might or might not get us into the war is wasted effort. We are, for a fact, in the war.

If there's one place we Americans did not want to be, it was in the war. We didn't want much to be in any kind of war but, if there was one kind of war we most of all didn't want to be in, it was a European war. Yet, we're in a war, as vicious and bad a war as ever struck this planet, and, along with being worldwide, a European war.

In the excerpt, Luce uses which of the following rhetorical techniques to emphasize the serious consequences of denying the fact of U.S. involvement in a European war?

  1. hyperbole
  2. testimonial
  3. euphemism
  4. repetition
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0005: Apply strategies for reading literary texts.

18. Read the excerpt below from a work of fiction; then answer the question that follows.

So far, I had not opened my eyes. I felt that I lay upon my back, unbound. I reached out my hand, and it fell heavily upon something damp and hard. There I suffered it to remain for many minutes, while I strove to imagine where and what I could be. I longed, yet dared not to employ my vision. I dreaded the first glance at objects around me. It was not that I feared to look upon things horrible, but that I grew aghast lest there should be nothing to see. At length, with a wild desperation at heart, I quickly unclosed my eyes. My worst thoughts, then, were confirmed. The blackness of eternal night encompassed me. I struggled for breath. The intensity of the darkness seemed to oppress and stifle me. The atmosphere was intolerably close. I still lay quietly, and made effort to exercise my reason.

The style and subject matter of this excerpt suggest that it most likely belongs to which of the following literary genres?

  1. action/adventure
  2. historical fiction
  3. mystery/suspense
  4. science fiction
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

19. Which of the following events from a novel would be most likely to occur during the resolution of the novel's plot?

  1. The main character receives a letter informing her that she has inherited a large sum of money and that she must claim the inheritance in person.
  2. In the middle of a torrential downpour, the main character takes shelter in an abandoned house.
  3. On a train trip, the main character meets a fellow traveler who bears a strong physical resemblance to the main character's mother.
  4. The main character is reunited with siblings for whom she has been searching for many years.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

20. Read the excerpt below from a work of fiction; then answer the question that follows.

"Alas," said the mouse, "the whole world is growing smaller every day. At the beginning it was so big that I was afraid. I kept running and running, and I was glad when I saw walls far away to the right and left, but these long walls have narrowed so quickly that I am in the last chamber already, and there in the corner stands the trap that I must run into."

"You only need to change your direction," said the cat, and ate it up.

The style and subject matter of the excerpt are most characteristic of which of the following forms of literature?

  1. myth
  2. fable
  3. legend
  4. tall tale
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

21. Read the excerpt below from a work of fiction; then answer the question that follows.

Darya Alexandrovna, in a dressing jacket, and with her now scanty, once luxuriant and beautiful hair fastened up with hairpins on the nape of her neck, with a sunken, thin face and large, startled eyes, which looked prominent from the thinness of her face, was standing among a litter of all sorts of things scattered all over the room, before an open bureau, from which she was taking something. Hearing her husband's steps, she stopped, looking towards the door, and trying assiduously to give her features a severe and contemptuous expression. She felt she was afraid of him, and afraid of the coming interview. She was just attempting to do what she had attempted to do ten times already in these last three days—to sort out the children's things and her own, so as to take them to her mother's—and again she could not bring herself to do this; but now again, as each time before, she kept saying to herself, "that things cannot go on like this, that she must take some step" to punish him, put him to shame, avenge on him some little part at least of the suffering he had caused her. She still continued to tell herself that she should leave him, but she was conscious that this was impossible; it was impossible because she could not get out of the habit of regarding him as her husband and loving him. 

In the excerpt, the phrase "now scanty, once luxuriant" is used primarily to:

  1. reveal Darya Alexandrovna's lack of personal vanity.
  2. suggest that Darya Alexandrovna is in declining health.
  3. illustrate Darya Alexandrovna's disregard for social status.
  4. convey the toll taken by Darya Alexandrovna's marriage.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

22. Read the excerpt from a work of fiction; then answer the question that follows.

And she was sitting. She did not sit down, but simply found herself sitting in a comfortable armchair that had surely not been there a moment before. Another trick, she thought resentfully—like the grayness, like the giant on his throne, like her own sudden appearance here. Everything was just one more effort to amaze and frighten her. And, of course, it was working. She was amazed and badly frightened. Worse, she disliked the giant for manipulating her, and this frightened her even more. Surely he could read her mind.

In the excerpt, a first-person point-of-view is used to establish a mood of:

  1. melancholy.
  2. amusement.
  3. foreboding.
  4. discomfort.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

23. Read the excerpt from a work of fiction; then answer the question that follows.

There was a covered bridge here once, but it was too far north to be quaint. They tore it down three years before I left, to improve the dam, and replaced it with the concrete bridge which is here now, enormous, monumental, dwarfing the village. It’s the dam that controls the lake: sixty years ago they raised the lake level so that whenever they wanted to flush the logs down the narrow outflow river to the mill they would have enough water power. But they don’t do much logging here any more.

In the excerpt, the author uses a description of setting to establish a tone of:

  1. despair.
  2. ambivalence.
  3. nostalgia.
  4. condescension.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Writing Processs and Applications

Objective 0006: Understand the writing process.

24. Read the excerpt below; then answer the question that follows. Note that each sentence in the excerpt has been individually numbered and that errors have been intentionally included.

1During our summer road trip, my family and I spotted a large herd of elk in a field driving down a Colorado highway. 2Next, in Utah, my mother described to my sister and me the plant life at the bottom of the Great Salt Lake. 3Passing through Idaho, we saw the Rocky Mountains looming on the horizon to our right outside the car window. 4Then, at the end of the trip, in Port Angeles, Washington, my father agreed to let me swim in the ocean.

Which of the following versions of sentences from this excerpt has been edited correctly to eliminate a misplaced or dangling modifier?

  1. Sentence 1: During our summer road trip, driving down a Colorado highway, my family and I spotted a large herd of elk in a field.
  2. Sentence 2: Next, in Utah, at the bottom of the Great Salt Lake, my mother described to my sister and me the plant life.
  3. Sentence 3: Passing through Idaho, looming on the horizon, we saw the Rocky Mountains outside the car window to our right.
  4. Sentence 4: Then, in the ocean, my father agreed to let me swim in Port Angeles, Washington, at the end of the trip.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

25. One writer is providing another writer with comments on that writer's first draft of a short story. Which of the following comments from the first writer would be most helpful to the second writer in improving the next draft of the story?

  1. "The plot is very suspenseful. I can't wait to find out what happens next."
  2. "The narrator sounds a lot like the narrator of a story I read by Sandra Cisneros."
  3. "The characters seem a little flat. Adding more dialogue would give them dimension."
  4. "The description of the setting is very detailed. I like the way it appeals to all five senses."
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

26. Read the paragraph below; then answer the question that follows. Note that each sentence in the paragraph has been individually numbered and that errors have been intentionally included.

1All morning, Maurice the cat had been watching a gray squirrel that seemed to have quite a busy schedule. 2As the squirrel dash between the arbor vitae on the north side of the house and the huge maple tree that shaded the front lawn, Maurice wondered what could be so urgent. 3Running across the lawn with its cheeks packed with acorns and up the trunk of the maple tree. 4Maurice marveled at the squirrel's twitchy nose and tiny paws; squirrels were such nervous creatures.

Which of the following versions of a sentence from the excerpt has been edited correctly to eliminate a sentence fragment?

  1. Sentence 1: The cat Maurice had been watching a gray squirrel that seemed to have quite a busy schedule all morning.
  2. Sentence 2: Maurice wondered, as the squirrel dashed between the arbor vitae on the north side of the house and the huge maple tree that shaded the front lawn, what could be so urgent.
  3. Sentence 3: Its cheeks packed with acorns, the squirrel ran across the lawn and up the trunk of the maple tree.
  4. Sentence 4: Maurice considered the squirrel's twitchy nose and tiny paws, and squirrels were such nervous creatures.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

27. Read the paragraph below from a personal essay; then answer the question that follows.

I remember singing along to cassette tapes in my sister's red convertible on our way to or from the health-food store that smelled of yogurt-covered pretzels and sunshine. My favorite singer was Minnie Riperton, ________ . I belted out the songs off key while my sister hit the highest notes perfectly.

Which of the following phrases, if inserted in the blank, would most effectively develop the narrator's tone in the paragraph?

  1. whose thrilling yet gentle soprano made me feel like I was nestled in a lovely secret
  2. who was a member of Stevie Wonder's backup group Wonderlove before beginning her solo career
  3. whose daughter Maya Rudolph grew up to become a singer and a television and film actor
  4. who sounded wonderful even when the car hit a bump and the cassette player skipped a few notes
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

28. Which of the following questions would provide a writer with the most effective starting point for an essay that will tell a personal story?

  1. What are the primary sources of income for residents of Spokane, Washington?
  2. What is it like to eat in the revolving restaurant at the top of Seattle's Space Needle?
  3. Why does the Quileute tribe ask visitors to La Push to avoid removing driftwood, shells, and sand from the beaches?
  4. Why are Niagara Falls more famous than Snoqualmie Falls even though Snoqualmie Falls have a deeper plunge?
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

29. Read the excerpt below from a research paper; then answer the question that follows.

1Vantage Forest, otherwise known as the Gingko Petrified Forest, is located along the Columbia River. 2Named after the Gingko trees discovered on the land in 1932, the Petrified Forest has an eerie beauty unequaled anywhere. 3Petrified wood is the state gemstone, and the forest is full of precious jewels. 4The trees are not the forest's only treasure: diverse birds and wildlife make their home among more than thirty specimens of ancient Gingko trees.

Which of the following sentences from the excerpt should be removed to eliminate a cliché?

  1. Sentence 1
  2. Sentence 2
  3. Sentence 3
  4. Sentence 4
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0007: Understand the elements of effective composition.

30. Which of the following sentences contains an error in subject–verb agreement?

  1. On the lake and close to shore were several canoes.
  2. The wheels on my brother's bike is much too small.
  3. Beside the brook in the woods was a single deer.
  4. The cowhand with the black boots is a skilled rider.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

31. Which of the following sentences contains an error in noun–pronoun agreement?

  1. Robert read the book and returned it to the shelf.
  2. That little yellow bird must have hurt its wing.
  3. Please wash the car thoroughly and then wax it.
  4. My sister told us about its trip to the dentist.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

32. For which of the following topics would it be most effective for a writer to organize ideas spatially in a text?

  1. the history of the settlement of Bellingham, Washington
  2. the view from the top of Mount Rainier in the Cascade Range
  3. the marriage customs of the Salish people of coastal Washington
  4. the main agricultural products of the Columbia River Basin
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

33. An office worker is developing a short memorandum on the subject of the disposal of wastepaper at her company and the potential for recycling it. The worker plans to send the memorandum to the company's senior management team. Given this audience, which of the following versions of the memorandum would be most appropriate for the worker to send?

  1. It's so incredible how much paper we waste around here! I mean, I've been working here for, what, like two years, and it just knocks me out to see how much we chuck. What about the rain forests? And what about all those dumps that are jammed full? Why don't we recycle some of this paper we use? It'd be pretty easy to do, don't you think? I mean, we could just put clean wastepaper in one pile and other junk in another pile. Then, the cleaning crew could pick it up separately, and the garbage guys could take the "clean" stuff to a recycling place.
  2. Have you ever noticed how much paper accumulates in your trash basket each day? Well, it seems like a lot to me, and most of it could be recycled with little effort, I guarantee. In short, all we'd have to do is situate a special box or bag in our cubicles, near our desks, and deposit all clean wastepaper in it. Okay, our cubicles are cramped enough already, I know, without adding something else to them. But just think of the huge benefits we could provide to the environment by enduring a little more cramping in our work space.
  3. In my two years of employment here, I have observed that we throw away an inordinate amount of potentially recyclable paper each day. Considering the depletion of our forests' resources and the strain on landfills that paper causes, we could make a significant positive impact on our environment by beginning to recycle the paper that we use here at the office. Employees could simply separate clean wastepaper from other trash at their desks, the maintenance staff could be asked to collect the trash in two receptacles, and the trash hauler could make separate pickups.
  4. I am shocked and appalled by the amount of potentially recyclable paper that we throw away each day at this office. It is outrageous, and frankly, there is no excuse for it. These irresponsible business practices of ours take an enormous toll on the environment. We must change course immediately. Let each one of us commit now to separating clean wastepaper from other refuse in our work spaces. Our housekeeping staff and waste management workers should likewise be instructed to keep recyclable paper separate from other garbage. It is the only decent thing to do.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

34. A memoir would be the most appropriate form of writing to use for which of the following purposes?

  1. educating readers about the geographic complexities of Puget Sound
  2. sharing a first-person story of backpacking in the Cascade Mountains
  3. arguing for the preservation and continued study of Mount St. Helens
  4. celebrating the history of Washington State's extensive ferry system
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

35. A student develops the notes below in preparation for writing an informative essay about the harbor seals of the San Juan Islands.

  • Harbor seals "pup" in early summer—typically, June and July.
  • Seals can dive anywhere between 30 and 500 feet.
  • Harbor seals are the most populous marine mammal on the San Juan Islands.
  • Seals sleep and sun on San Juan's rocky beaches.
  • Tourists need to give seals space—a frightened seal mother could be separated from her pups if there is a stampede.

Given the information provided in the notes, the student will best be prepared to develop the essay using which of the following organizational patterns?

  1. extended definition
  2. problem and solution
  3. general to specific
  4. chronological order
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

36. Which of the following sentences contains an error in capitalization?

  1. My family celebrates the Fourth of July on the fourteenth, which is my mother's birthday.
  2. Several Presidents have had a cup of coffee and a slice of pie at the town's only Diner.
  3. A trip to New Zealand is not complete without a visit to its many famous film locations.
  4. Washington's state bird is the willow goldfinch, also known as the American goldfinch.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

37. A student council member is writing a short op-ed for the school newspaper, advocating for adding meditation to the school's schedule. Given the student's purpose and audience, which of the following paragraphs would be most appropriate for the student to include in the article?

  1. Meditation offers the comfort we need. School pressures are manifold, while daily meditation's healing powers are near limitless. We must not succumb to negative thinking. Meditation offers a reprieve from our travails.
  2. For thousands of years, people have meditated. Meditation provides physiological and psychological benefits. We all need a chance to jump off our ceaselessly spinning hamster wheels, take deep breaths, and center our minds.
  3. Numerous studies tout meditation's benefits. For example, eight thousand people meditating together can radically shift a community's climate. Where large meditation groups have formed, crime rates have decreased, and overall wellbeing has increased.
  4. In Washington, D.C., and Fairfield, Iowa, meditation practice has benefited school communities. Administrators, teachers, and students thrive as a result of daily meditation practice. Creativity soars, communication is more amicable, and stress dissipates.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0008: Apply strategies for writing to describe, inform, explain, or learn.

38. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A writer is conducting research for a paper about how people listen to music. During his research, he finds the excerpt below from an essay and copies it down in his notes.

Listening to music is such a muddle that one scarcely knows how to start describing it. The first point to get clear in my case is that during the greater part of every performance I do not attend. The nice sounds make me think of something else. I wool-gather most of the time, and am surprised that others don't. Professional critics can listen to a piece as consistently and as steadily as if they were reading a chapter in a novel. This seems to me an amazing feat, and probably they only achieve it through intellectual training; that is to say, they find in the music the equivalent of a plot; they are following the ground bass or expecting the theme to re-enter in the dominant, and so on, and this keeps them on the rails. But I fly off every minute: after a bar or two I think how musical I am or of something smart I might have said in conversation; or I wonder what the composer—dead a couple centuries—can be feeling….

—from "Not Listening to Music," E. M. Forster

As the writer begins developing the paper, he decides to summarize the excerpt above and use the summary in the paper. Which of the following summaries of the excerpt would be most appropriate for him to use in the paper?

  1. For E. M. Forster, who has an untrained ear for music, it is difficult to keep his mind from wandering while listening to a performance. However, for others with more practiced ears, listening to a piece of music is a very deliberate and focused activity.
  2. Amateurs such as E. M. Forster scarcely know how to listen to music, and because of this they rarely attend concerts. Professional musicians, though, can find in music the equivalent of a plot.
  3. For E. M. Forster, who is usually restless and easily distracted, novels are more interesting to study than a piece of music. He does admire, though, the ability of musicians to sit through a performance.
  4. Most casual listeners of music, such as E. M. Forster, find concert performances too long and boring, so they do not like to pay attention to them. However, expert musicians receive rigorous training in listening to music, so they are able to tolerate lengthy performances.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

39. Which of the following sentences would be most effective for a writer to use as a thesis statement in an informative essay?

  1. While few theatres remain in Belltown today, the black-and-white exchanges that comprised "Film Row" changed silent cinema forever.
  2. Home to The Melvins' Matt Lukin and Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, Aberdeen is connected to many famous musicians.
  3. Pike Place Market opened on August 17, 1907, and it's more than a fishmonger: it's what a public farmers' market should be.
  4. The film character Tugboat Annie was inspired by Tacoma's Thea Foss, who founded the largest tugboat company in the western United States.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

40. A writer is developing an essay about the salmon of the Puyallup River. Which of the following paragraphs from the essay uses imagery most effectively?

  1. A good salmon season means fish in the hundreds of thousands. Yet, while generations have fished the Puyallup River for years, much could be changing. Biologists in Pierce County have seen drastic drops in fish forecasts.
  2. To wade into the Puyallup River and see a Chinook—the majestic Wild King Salmon—is to behold silvery scales freckled with dark diamonds on the dorsal, roseate streaks, a gleaming white underbelly: a true wonder of nature.
  3. Every fall, Chinooks, Coho, and Pink Salmon can be easily found in the Puyallup River. Sockeye salmon, though indigenous, are harder to find. Much has changed about the estuarine habitat—not least of which has been the straightening out of the Puyallup.
  4. The Puyallup was shaped by the glaciers of Mount Rainier. When the glaciers melted, they brought sediment and silt that accumulated in the riverbed. The Puyallup formed its winding, twisty character, which is especially hospitable to many species of salmon.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0009: Apply strategies for writing to persuade, analyze, or evaluate.

41. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A writer is developing a literary analysis of the excerpt below.

The first rhythm they became used to was the slow swing from dawn to quick dusk. They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air, as a time when play was good and life so full that hope was not necessary and therefore forgotten. Toward noon, as the floods of light fell more nearly to the perpendicular, the stark colors of the morning were smoothed in pearl and opalescence; and the heat—as though the impending sun's height gave it momentum—became a blow that they ducked, running to the shade and lying there, perhaps even sleeping.

—from Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

In the analysis, the writer would like to have a thesis statement that focuses on how an element of the setting is used in the excerpt to create a particular mood. For which of the following thesis statements does the excerpt provide the most support?

  1. The dark, turbulent sea creates a mood of apprehension and fear.
  2. The steady blowing of a breeze creates a mood of unbridled optimism.
  3. The intense, unrelenting heat creates a mood of helplessness and despair.
  4. The predictable cycling of the sun creates a mood of quiet complacency.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

42. Read the paragraph below from an editorial; then answer the question that follows.

1My journey to becoming the outgoing, gregarious activist that I am today was not all rallies and protests. 2 ________, it wasn't easy at all. 3I was shy but opinionated—a perplexing combination. 4While other kids were out playing tag, I was in my room, drafting little screeds that I'd slip in my mother's briefcase. 5 ________, I realized that if I wanted my message to go further, I would have to speak up.

Which of the following words or phrases, if inserted in order into the blanks in Sentences 3 and 5, would provide the most effective transitions between ideas?

  1. Let's see, However
  2. By the way, Unfortunately
  3. In fact, Eventually
  4. Needless to say, Although
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

43. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A writer is developing a literary analysis of the excerpt below from a novel about a governess who believes the children in her charge communicate with ghosts.

I had then expressed what was vividly in my mind: the truth that, whether the children really saw or not—since, that is, it was not yet definitely proved—I greatly preferred, as a safeguard, the fullness of my own exposure. I was ready to know the very worst that was to be known. What I had then had an ugly glimpse of was that my eyes might be sealed just while theirs were most opened ...

How can I retrace today the strange steps of my obsession? There were times of our being together when I would have been ready to swear that, literally, in my presence, but with my direct sense of it closed, they had visitors who were known and were welcome. Then it was that, had I not been deterred by the very chance that such an injury might prove greater than the injury to be averted, my exultation would have broken out. "They're here, they're here, you little wretches," I would have cried, "and you can't deny it now!" The little wretches denied it with all the added volume of their sociability and their tenderness, just in the crystal depths of which—like the flash of a fish in a stream—the mockery of their advantage peeped up.

—from The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James

The writer's analysis will focus on how the author uses a first-person point of view to develop the narrator's character. The excerpt provides the strongest support for which of the following claims?

  1. The rhetorical question "How can I retrace today the strange steps of my obsession?" suggests that the narrator has little interest in revisiting the past.
  2. Repetition of the phrases "they're here" and "little wretches" reveals conflict between the narrator's need for validation and her desire to protect the children.
  3. References to the children's "sociability" and "tenderness" reflect the narrator's belief in their innate goodness.
  4. The simile "flash of a fish in a stream" highlights the narrator's dedication to pursuing the elusive truth.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Oral and Visual Communication

Objective 0010: Apply strategies for effective listening and speaking.

44. A large group of middle school students gathers in the school's auditorium to listen to a health and fitness expert deliver a speech about the dangers of student athletes using steroids to enhance their performance on the field. After the speech, several of the students comment to one another as they leave the auditorium. Which of the following student comments shows that selective listening has occurred?

  1. "I was really surprised to hear the speaker say that as many as 35 percent of student athletes have used performance-enhancing drugs at least once."
  2. "I don't agree with the speaker's idea that student athletes should be expelled from school for using steroids, but I do agree that they should be kicked off their sports teams."
  3. "I thought that the scary stories the speaker told us about student athletes using steroids and ending up in the hospital were a little extreme, but they did help prove how serious this issue is."
  4. "I don't even play school sports, but if I did, I would think twice about taking advice from a speaker who talks so fast and looks like he's never played a sport in his life."
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

45. In which of the following speech excerpts is repetition used as a rhythmic device to emphasize a point?

  1. "For instance, there's the story of a 45-year-old man who owned a nice house and a car and who held an advanced degree in engineering but who nonetheless found himself homeless within a year of being laid off, all because the job market was very poor and he had to sell off his material possessions to survive."
  2. "All I hear today from our political leaders about workers' rights is a lot of blah-blah-blah and yackety-yak, which, unfortunately, causes most workers to pooh-pooh the occasional good policy decision these leaders sometimes make."
  3. "By 2007, the loss of manufacturing jobs in Michigan had caused that state's unemployment rate to rise to the highest in the nation—higher than Montana's, higher than Missouri's, higher than Maine's, higher even than Mississippi's."
  4. "Despair not for the corporate executive who loses her job and, with it, her million-dollar salary—despair for the factory worker who loses her job and, with it, her minimum wage and family health care! Hope not for small steps forward in workers' rights—hope for a revolution!"
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

46. A student is developing a presentation opposing the school administration's decision to replace natural grass with artificial turf on the school's athletic field. Which of the following multimedia elements, if incorporated into the presentation, would most effectively support the student's argument?

  1. photographs of each step involved in the process for installing artificial turf
  2. a video showing pieces of artificial turf floating into gutters during a rainstorm
  3. audio clips of athletes discussing the pros and cons of playing on artificial turf
  4. a map showing locations of professional sports venues that use artificial turf
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

47. Which of the following strategies would best help seventh-grade students manage anxiety about giving a presentation in class?

  1. rehearsing multiple times
  2. memorizing a prepared script
  3. learning icebreaker jokes
  4. watching a famous speech
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0011: Apply strategies for delivering effective presentations.

48. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

An eighth-grade student is planning a five-minute presentation to his class on the topic of pet care.

Which of the following statements would provide the student with the narrowest, most specific topic for the presentation?

  1. The purpose of my presentation is to highlight the importance of respecting and caring for animals.
  2. The purpose of my presentation is to inform the audience about the advantages and disadvantages of owning a dog.
  3. The purpose of my presentation is to list the top ten characteristics of a happy and healthy pet.
  4. The purpose of my presentation is to explain three effective ways to housebreak a young puppy.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

49. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A political scientist is developing a presentation on the importance of voting for an audience of college students who will graduate soon. To better organize the presentation, the presenter distributes a closed questionnaire to the students beforehand. A sample of the questions appears below.

Of which U.S. political party are you a member?
______ Democratic ______ Republican ______ Independent/Other

Which area of U.S. policy do you feel is currently most important?
______ Health Care ______ Education ______ Economy
______ Social Security ______ Foreign Affairs ______ Other

Did you vote in the last U.S. presidential election?
______ Yes ______ No

Do you think that the Electoral College is a fair and an effective system for electing the U.S. president?
______ Yes ______ No

The questions will be most effective for the presenter to use for which of the following purposes?

  1. developing a better understanding of who is in the audience
  2. providing audience members with an opportunity to rank their feelings on a scale or continuum
  3. allowing audience members to express their opinions fully and freely
  4. assessing whether the feelings of audience members are based on their cultural or religious backgrounds
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0012: Apply strategies for analyzing and evaluating visual images in various media.

50. Use the image and text below to answer the question that follows.

Cartoon

An editorial cartoon. In the bottom left is a child carrying a book bag. The child's eyes and mouth are tightly closed. A thought bubble says sigh. In the top left are calendar pages for July and August. Each page contains four squares numbered 1 2 3 4. The young person is walking toward a calendar page that fills the right side of the panel. The page is labeled September and contains squares numbered from 1 to 471.

Which of the following statements describes the message that this image and text are most likely attempting to convey?

  1. For many children, summer vacation passes by much too quickly, whereas the school year seems to march on almost endlessly.
  2. Because there are more hours of daylight in July and August than in September, children are able to stay outside longer and play more often during the summer.
  3. For many children, the upcoming school year holds the promise of making new friends, whereas summer vacation remains the time for visiting old friends.
  4. Because there is less time for birthday celebrations in September after school starts, children mainly celebrate in July and August.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Acknowledgments

Item 12: Norwood, Arlisha R. (2017). Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931). Available: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett opens in a new window

Item 17: Henry R. Luce, editor: Michael H. Hunt, East Asia, The American Century, 2012, 23, 2, 321–353. Reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

Item 20: Excerpt(s) from THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA: STORIES AND REFLECTIONS by Franz Kafka, translated by Willa Muir and Edwin Muir, copyright © 1936,1937 by Heinr. Mercy Sohn, Prague. Copyright © 1946, copyright renewed 1974 by Penguin Random House LLC. Used by permission of Schocken Books, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. A Little Fable by Franz Kafka (Copyright © Franz Kafka) Reproduced by permission of A.M. Heath & Co Ltd.

Item 22: Octavia E. Butler, excerpt from "The Book of Martha" from Bloodchild and other Stories. Copyright 1996, 2005 by Octavia E. Butler. Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Seven Stories Press.

Item 23: From SURFACING by Margaret Atwood. Copyright © 1972, 1973 by Margaret Atwood. Reprinted with the permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Excerpt(s) from SURFACING by Margaret Atwood, Copyright © 1972 O.W. Toad Ltd. Reprinted by permission of Emblem/McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. All rights reserved.

Item 38: Forster, E.M. Not Listening to Music. The Provost and Scholars of King's College, Cambridge and The Society of Authors as the E.M. Forster estate.

Item 41: Excerpt(s) from LORD OF THE FLIES: (PENGUIN GREAT BOOKS OF THE 20TH CENTURY) by William Golding, copyright 1954, renewed © 1982 by William Gerald Golding. Used by permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Item 50: TAB. School Calendar Image 41508. www.politicalcartoons.com opens in a new window