Reading Practice Questions

Hummingbird Passage: When you think of a hummingbird, you most likely think of a very small creature with rapidly beating wings. It's no surprise that the hummingbird family contains the smallest bird in the world. Somewhat more surprising is the fact that there are more than 400 kinds of hummingbirds, 19 of which are found in the United States. It turns out that plenty of diversity can be packed into small packages; one thing all hummingbirds have in common is their ability to amaze. The smallest hummingbird is no longer than an adult bumblebee; the largest, the giant hummingbird, grows from 8 to 9 inches in length. Despite their diminutive stature, these birds can do many incredible things: they are the only birds that can fly backward, and their wings beat faster than those of any other bird, from 60 to 70 times per second. In the eastern United States, the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only kind commonly found north of Florida. While both male and female have a coat of brilliant metallic green, only the male has a bright red throat. The male is very aggressive in defending food sources, often taking on enemies much larger than himself. A mature ruby-throated hummingbird is only about 3 to 4 inches long. When newly hatched, three of the birds can fit inside a nest the size of a large thimble. The birds eat insects and extract nectar from flowers for their diet. Many people hang hummingbird feeders containing sugar water, and hummingbirds flock to them; these feeders are an important supplement to their natural diet. Although they weigh as little as a penny, hummingbirds have long migration routes to follow in spring and fall. They are truly marvels of speed, agility, and beauty. Which of the following best supports the author's point of view that hummingbirds are "marvels of speed, agility, and beauty"?

The judge was fallible during deliberation. "Fallible" most nearly means:

Everyday life can be filled with a long list of things that need to be done. Without the necessary skills to meet these demands, it is easy to lose track of deadlines, forget appointments, or misplace important information. By consistently implementing the skills of effective time management and organization, even the most hectic of schedules can become more manageable. The most important aspect of practicing effective time management is learning to create a schedule that provides the time you need to complete necessary tasks. An effective way to do this is to determine whether you will have time to add a new task to your schedule. Digital calendars, task management applications, and paper agendas are all widely available tools to manage time and keep track of obligations. By making a habit of recording tasks and events as soon as you receive them, you will maintain a constant record of what time you have available. By effectively managing your time through diligent scheduling, you will always know what needs to be done and when you have time to do it. Maintaining an organized environment is an important part of finishing tasks quickly and effectively. One way to do this is by creating designated locations for different types of information. Whether the information is in the form of physical file folders, books, or digital materials, organization will reduce the time you spend searching for the resources and information you need. Only with consistent practice do the skills of time management and organization become effective tools for managing your everyday schedule. When practiced on a regular basis, these skills provide you with more control as well as a more orderly approach to whatever kind of schedule you might have. The passage is an example of which of the following types of writing?

Clouds: One way of classifying types of clouds is by the way in which they are formed. Two categories are cumulus and stratus. Cumulus clouds are formed when areas of moist air are warmed and rise quickly; cumulus clouds are puffy or billowy and resemble piles of cotton. Stratus clouds are formed when warm moist air rises over cold air; stratus clouds resemble a blanket spread out across the sky. Which of the following is the main idea of the paragraph?

Sleepwalking is a common phenomenon; estimates suggest there are millions of sleepwalkers in the United States. Yet for many, this odd ailment remains a baffling and potentially dangerous problem. For instance, a woman from the Midwest went sleepwalking one June night and made national headlines. Dressed in her pajamas, she wandered from her home and climbed a nearby tree to pick leaves some 20 feet above the ground. Soon a crowd of fascinated neighbors gathered to watch her sleepwalking acrobatics. While they watched, her husband climbed the tree, wrapped a jacket around her, tapped her gently on the shoulder to wake her, and then lowered her, somewhat shaken by her nighttime roving, into a net that firemen had spread below. This woman's feat may have been the most spectacular sleepwalking performance that June night, but it was far from the only one. That same night, in homes across America, thousands of others were sleepwalking. Authorities estimate there are some 4 million sleepwalkers in this country, so it is far from surprising that we all know of cases of it, even in our own families. Despite the fact that sleepwalking, or noctambulation, occurs frequently, this odd ailment remains a baffling, uncanny, if not frightening phenomenon. One of the chief reasons for this is the marked tendency of newspapers and other media to play up, as they did in this woman's case, only the most bizarre sleepwalking antics. Reports have claimed that sleepwalkers perform remarkable feats of memory, climb onto steep roofs, write letters, solve intricate mathematical problems, play the piano or another musical instrument, compose music, and commit robbery, suicide, or murder. There is simply no end to the stories of the weird feats that sleepwalkers are allegedly capable of performing. Which of the following best rephrases the author's point of view about media coverage of sleepwalking?

Central Park Although the name "Central Park" suggests that it has a clear organizing feature, New York City's famous green space has no official center. There is no formal walkway that cuts through the park, nor a monument that marks its middle. Instead of symmetry, Central Park contains winding paths and an ever-changing landscape that appears random and rustic. Despite appearances, the park is an achievement of planning and engineering. Years of citizens campaigning for a park on New York City's Manhattan Island convinced the state to purchase 750 acres of land in 1853. After a chance meeting with the project organizer, Frederick Law Olmsted, who was raised in Connecticut and had been deeply impressed by the public parks of England, applied for the job of Park Superintendent in 1857. Olmsted was appointed Superintendent, and workers began clearing the land for construction. The park now needed a design. Calvert Vaux, a British architect who had helped design the grounds of the White House and the Smithsonian Institution, asked Olmsted to collaborate with him. The two developed a plan that would give city dwellers a tranquil, growing space. After a vote by park commissioners, Vaux and Olmsted became the official designers of Central Park. Creation of the park required years of construction. Thanks in part to the use of 166 tons of gunpowder, the swampy land was transformed into gentle slopes and scenic vistas through the movement of 2.5 million cubic yards of earth. By the time construction finished, the park included 58 miles of walking paths and 7 man-made bodies of water. Today, Olmsted and Vaux's work of art welcomes about 40 million visitors each year. Without having a single orientation itself, Central Park's natural and open design made it a central escape from the noise and unyielding grid of the city that surrounds it. Which of the following describes the author's main purpose in the passage?

She spent the rest of the day at home after consuming food that was contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus at lunch. Italics are used in the sentence above because the italicized words are:

When you think of a hummingbird, you most likely think of a very small creature with rapidly beating wings. No surprise that the hummingbird family contains the smallest bird in the world. Somewhat more surprising is the fact that there are more than 400 kinds of hummingbirds, 19 of which are found in the United States. It turns out that plenty of diversity can be stuffed in small packages; one thing that all hummingbirds have in common is their ability to amaze. The smallest hummingbird is no longer than an adult bumblebee; the largest, the Giant Hummingbird, grows from 2 to 4 inches in length. Despite their diminutive stature, these birds can do many incredible things: they are the only birds that can fly backward, and their wings beat faster than those of any other bird, from 60 to 70 times per second. In the eastern United States, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is the only kind commonly found north of Florida. While both males and females have a coat of brilliant metallic green, only the male has a bright red throat. The male is very aggressive in defending food sources, often taking on enemies much larger than himself. A mature Ruby-throated Hummingbird is only about 3 or 4 inches long. When newly hatched, three of the birds can fit inside a nest the size of a large thimble. The birds eat insects and extract nectar from flowers for their diet. Many people hang hummingbird feeders containing sugar water, and hummingbirds flock to them. Feeders are an important supplement to their natural diet. Although they weigh as little as a penny, they have long migration routes to follow in spring and fall. They are marvels of speed, agility, and beauty. Which of the following statements from the passage provides evidence that hummingbirds have the "ability to amaze"?

Three candidates showed up for an interview, but only one was to be hired for the job. The first candidate arrived promptly and was dressed professionally. She spoke articulately and seemed like a good fit for the organization. The second candidate was also on time, but his dress shirt was stained, his tie was crooked, and he seemed to struggle with the standard interview questions; his performance was not as impressive as the first candidate's. The final candidate, dressed in a T-shirt and ripped jeans, arrived a full hour past the scheduled interview time; because of her tardiness, she was not interviewed. Which of the following inferences can the reader draw according to the passage?

Central Park Although the name "Central Park" suggests that it has a clear organizing feature, New York City's famous green space has no official center. There is no formal walkway that cuts through the park or monument that marks its middle. Instead of symmetry, Central Park contains winding paths and an ever-changing landscape that appears random and rustic. Despite appearances, the park is an achievement of planning and engineering. Years of citizens campaigning for a park on New York City's Manhattan island convinced the state to purchase 750 acres of land in 1853. After a chance meeting with the project's organizer, Frederick Law Olmsted who was raised in Connecticut and had been deeply impressed by the public parks of England applied for the job of Park Superintendent in 1857. Olmsted was appointed Superintendent, and workers began clearing the land for construction. The park now needed a design. Calvert Vaux, a British architect who had helped design the grounds of the White House and the Smithsonian Institution, asked Olmsted to collaborate with him. The two developed a plan that would give city dwellers a tranquil, growing space. After a vote by park commissioners, Vaux and Olmsted became the official designers of Central Park. Creation of the park required years of construction. Thanks in part to the use of 166 tons of gunpowder, the swampy land was transformed into gentle slopes and scenic vistas through the movement of 2.5 million cubic yards of earth. By the time construction finished, the park included 58 miles of walking paths and 7 man-made bodies of water. Today, Olmsted and Vaux's work of art welcomes about 40 million visitors each year. Without having a single orientation itself, Central Park's natural and open design made it a central escape from the noise and unyielding grid of the city that surrounds it. Which of the following statements is a logical conclusion a reader could draw from this passage?

Time Management: Everyday life can be filled with a long list of things that need to be done. Without the necessary skills to meet these demands, it is easy to lose track of deadlines, forget appointments, or misplace important information. By consistently implementing the skills of effective time management and organization, even the most hectic of schedules can become more manageable. The most important aspect of practicing effective time management is learning to create a schedule that provides the time you need to complete necessary tasks. An effective way to do this is to determine whether you will have time to add a new task to your schedule. Digital calendars, task management applications, and paper agendas are all widely available tools to manage time and keep track of obligations. By making a habit of recording tasks and events as soon as you receive them, you will maintain a constant record of what time you have available. By effectively managing your time through diligent scheduling, you will always know what needs to be done and when you have time to do it. Maintaining an organized environment is an important part of finishing tasks quickly and effectively. One way to do this is by creating designated locations for different types of information. Whether the information is in the form of physical file folders, books, or digital materials, organization will reduce the time you spend searching for the resources and information you need. Only with consistent practice do the skills of time management and organization become effective tools for managing your everyday schedule. When practiced on a regular basis, these skills provide you with more control as well as a more orderly approach to whatever kind of schedule you might have. Which of the following individuals exemplifies a recommendation made by the passage?

The Kepler spacecraft was designed to investigate humanity's last unexplored frontier: the far reaches of space. The NASA space telescope looks deep into the Milky Way galaxy for signs of habitable planets where humans could potentially thrive. Of the thousands of planets it has identified, three are in livable orbits similar to Earth's. The planet most similar to Earth is Kepler-186f, known as "Earth's cousin." Over 490 light years away, all that NASA knows is that Kepler-186f's size and distance from its star are comparable to Earth's. As technology advances, hopefully we will learn more about Kepler-186f's ability to nurture life. Perhaps someday our descendants will cross the insurmountable distance to explore the surface of Earth's cousin, maybe even make contact with life on another world. Which of the following best describes the main idea of the second paragraph?