Practice Test One
Section 1: Short Reading Comprehension
Questions 11–13 are based on the following passage.
(5)
(10)
When Rob became interested in electricity, his clear-headed father considered the boy’s fancy to be instructive as well as amusing; so he heartily encouraged his son, and Rob never lacked batteries, motors, or supplies of any sort that his experiments might require. He fitted up the little back room in the attic as his workshop, and from thence, a network of wires soon ran throughout the house. Not only had every outside door its electric bell, but every window was fitted with a burglar alarm; moreover, no one could cross the threshold of any interior room without registering the fact in Rob’s workshop. The gas was lighted by an electric fob; a chime, connected with an erratic clock in the boy’s room, woke the servants at all hours of the night and caused the cook to give warning; a bell rang whenever the postman dropped a letter into the box; there were bells, bells, bells everywhere, ringing at the right time, the wrong time and all the time. And there were telephones in the different rooms, too, through which Rob could call up the different members of the family just when they did not wish to be disturbed. His mother and sisters soon came to vote the boy’s scientific craze a nuisance; but his father was delighted with these evidences of Rob’s skill as an electrician and insisted that he be allowed perfect freedom in carrying out his ideas.
11. Which is the best selection describing the social commentary inferred in the passage? A. B. C. D. E.
Father knows best. Father makes the decisions as head of household. Mother provides input taken into consideration by father. Mother has half decision-making authority over the children. Sisters have a vote in the family business as do all family members.
13. Paragraph three, lines (12–14), performs which of the following functions? A. B. C. D. E.
shows that mother and sister’s input is valuable and heralded shows father is willing to listen and alter decisions if warranted postulates the notion that perhaps the experiments have gone too far demonstrates the continuing grip father has over the entire household warrants a rethinking of the continuous supplying of materials to Rob
12. The author’s purpose for the second paragraph lines (4–11) is A. B. C. D. E.
to show how ingenious Rob was. to evidence that Rob lacked for no supplies. to represent just how far Rob’s experiments went. to fully develop the latitude father gave and the control he had. to show just how intrusive the experiments were, much to the chagrin of all inhabitants.
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Practice Test One
The passages below are followed by questions based on their content; questions following a pair of related passages may also be based on the relationship between the paired passages. Answer the questions on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passages and in any introductory material that may be provided.