Can you rebuild a timeline and keep each arrow pointing the right way? This test gives you 28 original Paragraph Comprehension items that ask what happened immediately before, what caused what, whether a purpose was achieved, and which conditions were required.
The Harbor Street community garden held its first harvest festival on a warm Saturday in September. Months before, in early spring, volunteers had cleared broken glass and weeds from the empty lot. Once the ground was clean, a local nursery donated soil and seedlings, and the volunteers planted rows of tomatoes, beans and squash. Through the summer, neighbors took turns watering the beds each evening. By late August, the vegetables were ready to pick, and the group began planning the festival.
According to the passage, which event happened first?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Volunteers cleared broken glass and weeds from the lot. The passage opens with the festival but then flashes back. Months before, in early spring, volunteers cleared the lot; only once the ground was clean did the nursery donate plants, and watering followed through the summer. The cleanup is the earliest event.
A (correct): The phrase months before, in early spring places the cleanup at the start of the timeline, and the donation came only once the ground was clean.
B: Watering happened through the summer, after the seedlings had been planted.
C: The donation came once the ground was clean, so it followed the cleanup.
D: The festival is mentioned first, but it took place in September, after everything else in the passage.
Question 2 of 28 · easy
Keisha volunteers at an animal shelter on Saturday mornings. After she signs in at the front desk, she puts on gloves and an apron. Before any dog is walked, she checks its kennel card for special instructions, such as whether the dog pulls on the leash. She then takes the dogs out one at a time. Once all the walks are done, she refills the water bowls and writes notes about each dog's behavior for the staff.
Which task does Keisha complete only after all the walks are done?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: Refilling the water bowls. The marker once all the walks are done points forward from the walks. The tasks tied to it are refilling the water bowls and writing notes; gloves, kennel cards and signing in all come earlier.
A: The passage says she checks the card before any dog is walked, not after.
B: Signing in is the first task of her morning, so it comes before the walks.
C (correct): The passage says once all the walks are done, she refills the water bowls, so this task comes after the walks.
D: She does this right after signing in, well before any dog is walked.
Question 3 of 28 · easy
The Riverside branch library will close its second floor for the rest of the month. Earlier this week, a pipe above the reading room burst during the night, soaking the carpet and several shelves of reference books. Staff moved the damaged books to a drying room downstairs. Because the carpet must be replaced and the ceiling repaired, the second floor cannot be used safely until the work is complete. The first floor, including the children's room and computer lab, remains open during regular hours.
According to the passage, why is the library closing its second floor?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Repairs to the carpet and ceiling have to be finished first. Look for the cause signal. The sentence beginning with because says the carpet must be replaced and the ceiling repaired, so the second floor cannot be used safely until that work is done.
A (correct): The signal word because introduces exactly this reason for the closure.
B: The children's room is on the first floor and is named only as staying open, not as a reason for anything.
C: The passage says the first floor stays open during regular hours; no cut in hours is mentioned.
D: The books went to a drying room downstairs, and the passage never mentions a new building.
Question 4 of 28 · easy
Last spring, the Oak Valley school district began offering free bus rides to students who stay after school for tutoring. Officials said they started the program so that students who live far from school could attend tutoring sessions without needing a ride from a parent. The buses leave at 5 p.m., when the sessions end, and follow three routes through the rural parts of the district. The district plans to review the program at the end of the year.
According to district officials, what was the purpose of the bus program?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: To let students who live far away attend tutoring without a parent's ride. Purpose words such as so that mark what someone intended. Officials said the program was started so that students living far from school could attend tutoring without needing a parent to drive them.
A: The 5 p.m. time is when the buses leave, not a stated goal about traffic.
B (correct): The purpose marker so that introduces this goal directly in the officials' statement.
C: Test scores are never mentioned; this goal is imported from outside the passage.
D: The review is a later plan, not the reason the program was started.
Question 5 of 28 · easy
Before opening the snack bar at the ballpark, Marco follows the same routine every game day. He unlocks the side door and switches on the lights. Next, he starts the popcorn machine so it can warm up. While it heats, he stocks the cooler with bottled water. He then counts the cash in the register drawer, and finally he raises the front window to greet the first customers.
What does Marco do immediately before raising the front window?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: He counts the cash in the register drawer. Lay out the routine: unlock door and lights, start popcorn machine, stock cooler while it heats, count cash, then finally raise the window. The step adjacent to raising the window is counting the cash.
A: Unlocking the door is the very first step, not the one right before the window.
B: Stocking the cooler happens earlier, while the popcorn machine heats, so it is not the adjacent step.
C: This is an early step in the routine and is separated from the window by two other tasks.
D (correct): Counting the cash is the step right next to raising the window, which the passage marks with finally.
Question 6 of 28 · easy
On Saturday, members of the Pine Lake fire department held a training day at the old quarry. The morning began with a safety briefing. During the briefing, two volunteers set up the portable water tank at the edge of the quarry. When the briefing ended, the crew practiced laying hose lines up a steep slope. Meanwhile, the chief timed each team with a stopwatch and recorded the results. The day ended with a review of the times and a shared lunch.
According to the passage, what took place at the same time as the safety briefing?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: A pair of volunteers got the portable water tank ready. Overlap words show events that share a time window. The passage says during the briefing, two volunteers set up the water tank. The timing overlapped the hose drills instead, which followed the briefing.
A: The review and lunch ended the day, long after the briefing.
B: The word meanwhile links the timing to the hose drills, which began after the briefing ended.
C: The hose practice started when the briefing ended, so it came afterward.
D (correct): The word during ties the tank setup to the same time window as the briefing.
Question 7 of 28 · easy
Last month the town of Millbrook replaced the old traffic signals at its busiest intersection with new signals that sense waiting cars. Installation took four days, and during that time police officers directed traffic by hand. The new signals began operating on the first of the month. Town engineers expect the change to shorten the average wait at the light, and they plan to measure wait times again in the spring.
Which statement describes something the passage reports as having actually happened?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The new signals went into service on the first of the month. Separate reported events from predictions and plans. The signals starting on the first of the month is reported as fact, while shorter waits are only expected and the spring measurement is only planned.
A: Engineers only expect shorter waits; the passage reports no measured result.
B: Accidents are never mentioned, so this claim has no support in the passage.
C (correct): The passage states this as a completed event in the past tense.
D: Measuring in the spring is a plan for the future, not a reported event.
Question 8 of 28 · medium
The storm knocked out power to the Elm Ridge neighborhood just after 8 p.m. By the time the utility crew reached the area, Mr. Alvarez had already started his portable generator so his freezer would stay cold. The crew found a fallen branch resting on a power line, removed it, and replaced a damaged fuse. Power was restored shortly before midnight, and Mr. Alvarez shut off his generator once the lights came back on.
Which list puts these events in the order in which they happened?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: Power goes out; generator is started; crew arrives; power is restored. By the time the crew reached the area sets a reference point, and had already started places the generator earlier than that point. The crew then made repairs, and power was restored shortly before midnight. Order: outage, generator, crew arrival, restoration.
A: Power was restored only after the crew removed the branch and replaced the fuse, so the crew arrived before restoration.
B: This reverses the generator and the crew; by the time the crew arrived, the generator had already been started.
C: The crew came to the area because of the outage, so the outage must come first.
D (correct): Had already places the generator before the crew's arrival, and the repairs that restored power came after the crew arrived.
Question 9 of 28 · medium
When the Westfield Youth Orchestra played its first concert in the new music hall last June, every seat was filled. The hall itself had a long history. It all started eight years earlier, when a retired teacher named Ruth Baines left part of her savings to the town for a music building. The town spent three years searching for a site and finally chose an empty factory near the river. Renovation began the following spring and took four more years. The orchestra, formed while the work was under way, rehearsed in a school gym until the hall was ready.
Which of these events happened first?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: A retired teacher left money to the town for a music building. Treat it all started eight years earlier as the start of a flashback. The gift came first, then the three-year site search, then renovation (during which the orchestra formed and rehearsed in a gym), and finally the concert.
A: The orchestra formed while renovation was under way, which was years after the gift.
B (correct): The flashback phrase it all started eight years earlier marks this gift as the beginning of the timeline.
C: The concert is told first, but it happened last, once the hall was finished.
D: The site was chosen after three years of searching that followed the gift.
Question 10 of 28 · medium
On Tuesday afternoon, part of the roof over the Lakeside warehouse sagged and then gave way. No one was injured. Inspectors found that the wooden beams under that section had been weakened by water leaking through a cracked seal for several years. The final load came that morning, when workers stacked a pallet of roofing materials on the roof for a repair job scheduled later in the week. The company has closed the building until the roof is rebuilt.
According to the passage, what was the underlying cause of the roof collapse?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: Years of water leaking through a cracked seal had weakened the beams. An underlying cause is a deeper condition; an immediate cause is the last event that set off the result. Here, beams weakened by years of leaking are the underlying cause, while the pallet stacked that morning was the immediate trigger.
A: The closure came after the collapse; it is an effect, not a cause.
B: The repair job explains why materials were on the roof, but the job itself had not happened and did not weaken the beams.
C (correct): This long-standing condition is what made a collapse likely, which is what an underlying cause means.
D: The pallet was the final load that morning, which makes it the immediate cause, not the underlying one.
Question 11 of 28 · medium
Over the past two years, fewer people have been riding the Route 9 bus. A survey by the transit agency found that many former riders had bought cars or started working from home. Because ridership dropped, the agency reduced Route 9 service from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes in March. Some remaining riders now say the longer waits make the bus harder to use.
Which statement correctly describes a cause-and-effect relationship stated in the passage?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: The drop in ridership led the agency to reduce service. Restate the passage as X led to Y: falling ridership led to the service cut. Any choice that makes the service cut or longer waits the cause of falling ridership points the arrow the wrong way.
A (correct): The passage says because ridership dropped, the agency cut service, so the arrow points from ridership to the service cut.
B: This reverses the arrow; ridership fell first, and the longer waits came afterward as a result.
C: The survey only found what riders had done; it did not cause their choices.
D: Riders had already bought cars before the March cut, and the passage links the cut to ridership, not the reverse.
Question 12 of 28 · medium
This fall, Grant High School added a quiet study room in its library during lunch periods. The principal said the room was created to give students a calm place to finish homework before afternoon classes. Two teachers volunteer to supervise the room each day, and students must sign in at the door. Cell phones must be silenced, and group projects are not allowed. The school has not yet released any information about how many students use the room.
Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The school intended the room as a calm place for students to finish homework. The word to in created to give students a calm place marks intention. The passage adds no reported results and says usage numbers have not been released, so only the stated goal is supported.
A: This treats the goal as an achieved result; the passage reports no outcome.
B: The school has released no information about how many students use the room.
C (correct): The principal's statement uses the purpose marker to, which tells the goal without claiming a result.
D: The cafeteria is never mentioned; the stated purpose is about finishing homework.
Question 13 of 28 · medium
Last August, a fire burned about 300 acres of grassland east of Dunmore. The summer had been the driest on record, and the tall grass had turned brown and brittle by midsummer. Steady winds that week also helped the flames move quickly. Investigators later determined that the fire began when sparks from a dragging trailer chain struck the gravel shoulder of the highway and landed in the grass.
According to the passage, what started the fire?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Sparks from a trailer chain dragging along the highway shoulder. A trigger sets off an event, while an enabling condition makes it possible or worse. The passage says the fire began with sparks from a dragging trailer chain; the dry grass and wind only helped it spread.
A (correct): Investigators say the fire began when these sparks landed in the grass, which makes them the trigger.
B: The winds helped the flames move quickly; they affected the spread, not the start.
C: The dry grass allowed the fire to burn, but it is an enabling condition, not what set it off.
D: Lightning is never mentioned; this cause comes from outside the passage.
Question 14 of 28 · medium
The Cedar County bookmobile follows a simple policy. If a patron has a book that is more than two weeks overdue, the patron is not allowed to borrow new books until that book is returned. The driver also limits each patron to five books per visit because shelf space in the van is small. Patrons can request titles in advance by calling the main library.
Which statement follows from the bookmobile's policy?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: A patron whose book is three weeks overdue cannot borrow until it is returned. The rule is one-way: if a book is more than two weeks late, then borrowing stops until it is returned. A book returned three weeks late meets that condition. The rule cannot be reversed, and meeting it does not cancel other limits.
A: Calling ahead lets patrons request titles; nothing exempts them from the late-return rule.
B: This reverses the if-then rule; the rule does not say a late return is the only reason a patron could be refused.
C (correct): Three weeks is more than two weeks overdue, so the rule applies and borrowing stops until the book comes back.
D: Being on time avoids the late rule, but the five-book limit per visit still applies.
Question 15 of 28 · medium
Members of the Northside Rowing Club can take a boat out on the river only if a certified coach has signed off on their swim test. The club also posts daily water conditions at the boathouse door, and the head coach may close the river to all boats when currents are strong. New members usually take the swim test during their first week.
Priya passed her swim test, and a certified coach signed off on it. What does the passage allow you to conclude?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: She has met a requirement, but that alone does not guarantee she can take a boat out. Q only if P means P is required, not that P is enough. Priya meets the swim-test requirement, but the head coach can still close the river, so a boat outing is not guaranteed.
A (correct): Only if names a necessary condition, and the passage also says the head coach may close the river on strong-current days.
B: The first week is only when the test usually happens; it is not a waiting period.
C: The coach must be certified, not the member; Priya only needs the coach's sign-off.
D: This treats a requirement as a guarantee; the head coach can still close the river to all boats.
Question 16 of 28 · medium
The Fairview farmers market runs every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot behind city hall. The market stays open in light rain, but it will be canceled unless the temperature is above freezing at 7 a.m. Vendors are told of any cancellation by text message, and a notice is posted on the city hall door. Shoppers can also call the market office for updates.
On one Saturday, the temperature at 7 a.m. was 28 degrees Fahrenheit, which is below freezing. Based on the passage, what happens to the market that day?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: It is canceled for the day. Rewrite unless as if not: the market is canceled if the temperature is not above freezing at 7 a.m. A reading of 28 degrees F is below freezing, so the market is canceled and vendors are notified.
A: The passage mentions only a notice on the city hall door, not moving the market indoors.
B: The rule depends on the temperature at 7 a.m. and says nothing about a delayed opening.
C (correct): Unless means if not: if the 7 a.m. temperature is not above freezing, the market is canceled.
D: Light rain does not cancel the market, but the freezing rule applies regardless of rain.
Question 17 of 28 · medium
The Hillcrest community pool is hiring lifeguards for the summer. Applicants must be at least 16 years old and must hold a current lifeguard certificate. Those who also have first-aid training will be paid a higher hourly rate. Interviews will be held in May, and new guards begin work on Memorial Day weekend. The pool manager said she hopes to fill all eight open positions before the end of the school year.
Which applicant meets both of the stated requirements for the job?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: A 17-year-old with a current lifeguard certificate. The word and means both conditions are required: age 16 or older and a current lifeguard certificate. Only the 17-year-old with a current certificate meets both; first-aid training is a bonus, not a substitute.
A: The age is fine, but the certificate is required too, and first-aid training cannot replace it.
B (correct): This applicant is over 16 and holds a current certificate, so both AND conditions are met.
C: The certificate must be current; an expired one fails the second requirement.
D: First-aid training only raises pay; the applicant is still under the minimum age of 16.
Question 18 of 28 · medium
A city health office compared records from twenty neighborhoods. It found that neighborhoods with more public parks also had lower rates of childhood asthma. The report noted that the neighborhoods with the most parks were also farther from the city's major highways and factories. The office did not study why the two patterns appeared together and said more research is needed.
Which statement is best supported by the passage?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: Neighborhoods with more parks tended to have less childhood asthma, but the cause was not shown. The passage shows two things occurring together, not that one causes the other. Distance from highways and factories is mentioned as a possible third factor, and the office says more research is needed.
A: This turns a correlation into a causal claim the passage never makes.
B: This invents a reversed causal link; the passage makes no causal claim in either direction.
C (correct): The passage reports an association and says the office did not study why the patterns appeared together.
D: The report only notes where the parks were located; it proves nothing about what causes asthma.
Question 19 of 28 · medium
The Brookside apple orchard picked about half its usual crop this year. Owner Dale Morris said a hard frost in late April damaged many of the blossoms. In addition, a shortage of honeybees during the spring meant that fewer of the surviving blossoms were pollinated. Morris also pointed to a hailstorm in July that bruised some of the fruit, making it unfit for sale. He hopes next year will bring better weather.
According to Morris, what explains the smaller crop?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: A late frost, a bee shortage and a July hailstorm all contributed. Words like in addition and also signal more than one cause. Morris names the April frost, the spring bee shortage and the July hailstorm, so an answer naming just one of them overstates the evidence.
A (correct): Morris names three factors, linked by in addition and also, so each is a contributing cause.
B: Morris mentions a shortage of honeybees, not of workers.
C: The hail bruised some fruit; the passage does not say it alone caused the loss.
D: The frost is one factor, but in addition and also signal that Morris named other causes.
Question 20 of 28 · medium
In early March, a week of heavy snowmelt raised the level of Miller Creek. The rising water washed out a section of County Road 12 near the old mill. With the road closed, the school district had to send its buses on a longer detour through Ashby. As a result, students from the north end of the district arrived at school about twenty minutes late for two weeks.
According to the passage, what directly caused the students to arrive late?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The buses had to take a longer detour through Ashby. Map the chain: snowmelt raised the creek, the creek washed out the road, the closed road forced a detour, and the detour made students late. The direct cause is the last link before the effect, the detour.
A: The passage never mentions changing the start time.
B (correct): As a result links the late arrivals to the detour described in the sentence just before it.
C: The rising creek washed out the road; it is an earlier link, not the direct cause.
D: The snowmelt started the chain, but several steps separate it from the late arrivals.
Question 21 of 28 · hard
When the Corner Bakery first opened, it sold only a few dozen loaves a day. The owner used the small profits to buy a second oven, which let her bake bread earlier each morning. Fresh bread at opening time drew more early customers on their way to work, and those added sales paid for a third oven. Each new oven brought in more customers, and each wave of customers paid for further improvements. Within five years, the bakery was also supplying three local restaurants.
Which statement best describes the relationship the passage presents?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: Sales paid for better equipment, which in turn brought in more sales. Track each link: small profits bought a second oven, earlier bread drew more customers, those sales paid for a third oven, and the cycle repeated. That is a feedback loop, not a single straight chain.
A: The restaurant business is mentioned only at the end, after five years of growth; it did not draw the early customers.
B: The second oven came first, paid for by early profits; the third oven was bought with later sales.
C: The passage says each new oven and each wave of customers kept the cycle repeating, so it did not stop.
D (correct): The passage describes a loop: profits bought ovens, ovens drew customers, and customers paid for more ovens.
Question 22 of 28 · hard
Although the weather service had predicted clear skies, the Fourth of July fireworks show at Lake Arden was postponed until the following night. Shortly before the show, the barge carrying the fireworks lost engine power and drifted toward shore, where it ran aground on a sandbar. Despite the efforts of two rescue boats, the barge could not be freed before dark. Organizers said the forecast for the next evening also called for clear skies.
Why was the fireworks show postponed?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The fireworks barge lost power and ran aground before the show. Contrast words such as although and despite signal surprise, not cause. The real reason is the barge: it lost engine power, ran aground on a sandbar and could not be freed before dark.
A: The rescue boats worked to free the barge; nothing says they were called away.
B (correct): The passage explains that the barge drifted onto a sandbar and could not be freed before dark, which kept the show from going on.
C: Although signals contrast: the show was postponed in spite of the good forecast, not because of it.
D: The next evening's forecast is the same clear skies, so it gives no reason to wait a day.
Question 23 of 28 · hard
In January, the Westgate office building switched to a new cleaning company. Over the next three months, the number of employees calling in sick dropped by nearly a third compared with the same months the year before. During the same period, the company also began letting employees work from home two days a week, and the region had an unusually mild flu season. The building manager's report lists these changes but does not say which, if any, explains the drop.
Which conclusion does the passage support?
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Answer: D
The drop came after the cleaning switch, but sequence alone does not prove cause. The passage lists remote work and a mild flu season in the same period and says the report does not identify which, if any, explains the drop.
A: The mild flu season is one of several changes listed; the passage does not name it as the sole cause.
B: The passage never links these two changes; the cleaning switch came in January on its own.
C: This treats after as because; the report does not say which change explains the drop.
D (correct): The passage gives the order of events and lists other changes in the same period without naming a cause.
Question 24 of 28 · hard
Late Thursday night, the Pine River rose nearly to the top of its banks after two days of steady rain. Volunteers worked through the night stacking sandbags around the Main Street pharmacy, which had flooded twice in the past ten years. By Friday morning, water covered the street outside, but the sandbag wall held and the pharmacy's floor stayed dry. The hardware store next door, which had no sandbags, took in about a foot of water.
What does the passage say about the pharmacy?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The sandbags kept floodwater out of the pharmacy on Friday. Prevention describes something that did not happen. The sandbag wall held and the pharmacy's floor stayed dry, while the unprotected hardware store took in water. Flooding is mentioned, but it was avoided at the pharmacy.
A: This flips the outcome; the wall held and the floor stayed dry.
B (correct): The passage says the sandbag wall held and the pharmacy's floor stayed dry, so flooding was prevented.
C: It had flooded twice before, but this time the floor stayed dry, so there was no third flood.
D: The foot of water went into the hardware store next door, not the pharmacy.
Question 25 of 28 · hard
Plans for a new skate park in Rosedale passed through several hands. A group of high school students first collected 600 signatures asking for the park. The parks department then drew up a design and estimated its cost. After reviewing the estimate, the city council voted to fund the project, and the mayor signed the funding measure a week later. Finally, a local construction firm chosen by the parks department built the park over the summer.
According to the passage, which statement correctly matches an action with the person or group who performed it?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The parks department chose the construction firm. List who did what: students collected signatures, the parks department designed the park, estimated its cost and chose the builder, the council voted to fund it, the mayor signed the measure, and the firm built the park.
A: The city council voted to fund it; the mayor signed the measure a week later.
B: The council voted, while the mayor was the one who signed the measure.
C: The students collected signatures; the parks department drew up the design.
D (correct): The passage describes the builder as a local construction firm chosen by the parks department.
Question 26 of 28 · hard
At the Valley water treatment plant, a sensor that measures chlorine levels stopped sending readings early Monday. At about the same time, one of the two main pumps began making a grinding noise. Because operators could not tell whether the water was being treated properly, they switched the plant to backup supply from a storage tank. This allowed technicians to replace the sensor by noon. The pump, which they inspected afterward, needed only a minor adjustment.
In the sentence "This allowed technicians to replace the sensor by noon," what does the word This most likely refer to?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The operators' switch to backup supply from the storage tank. Trace the pronoun to the nearest idea that fits. The sentence just before says operators switched the plant to backup supply; having the plant on backup is what let technicians replace the sensor by noon.
A: The failure is what needed fixing; it did not allow the repair to happen.
B: A noisy pump would not make a sensor repair possible, and the pump is discussed separately afterward.
C: The pump adjustment came after the sensor repair, so it cannot be what allowed it.
D (correct): This points back to the action in the sentence just before it, the switch to backup supply, which made the repair possible.
Question 27 of 28 · hard
The Harper family's hardware store has changed a great deal over the years. It moved to its current location on Fifth Avenue in 2016. That move came three years after the family added a garden center at the old shop, which had first opened its doors in 1988. In 2020, the store began taking online orders, and in 2023 it hired its first delivery driver. The family's grandson, who joined the business in 2010, now manages day-to-day operations.
Which event happened immediately before the store moved to Fifth Avenue?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: A garden center was added while the store was still at the old shop. Anchor each event to a year: shop opened 1988, grandson joined 2010, garden center added 2016 minus 3 = 2013, move 2016, online orders 2020, delivery driver 2023. The event right before 2016 is the garden center in 2013.
A (correct): Three years before 2016 is 2013, which is the closest earlier date to the move.
B: The grandson joined in 2010, which is earlier than the garden center, so it is not the adjacent event.
C: The shop opened in 1988, the earliest event, far from the move on the timeline.
D: Online orders began in 2020, after the 2016 move.
Question 28 of 28 · hard
Because many drivers complained about long lines at its downtown office, the state motor vehicle agency began requiring appointments for license renewals last year. The agency said the change was meant to spread visits more evenly across the day. In its annual report, the agency states that the appointment system caused average waits to fall from 50 minutes to 20 minutes. Some drivers, however, say appointments are hard to get on short notice.
Which statement most accurately reflects what the passage establishes?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The agency reports that its appointment system caused average waits to fall. Separate the pieces: complaints were the cause of the change, spreading visits evenly was its purpose, and the reported outcome is the agency's claim that waits fell from 50 to 20 minutes. The passage reports who makes that claim but offers no outside proof.
A: Those complaints came after the change and are presented as a contrast, not as a cause of shorter waits.
B (correct): The passage attributes this causal claim to the agency's annual report, so reporting it as the agency's claim matches the text.
C: No independent study is mentioned; the passage gives only the agency's own claim.
D: The stated goal was to spread visits more evenly across the day, not to cut renewals.
Corporal Dana Reyes's car stalled on the shoulder of Highway 40 on her way back to base. By the time the tow truck reached her, she had already set out three warning flares and called her unit to say she would be late. The tow driver hooked up the car and hauled it to a garage in Lakeview, where a mechanic found that the fan belt had snapped. Reyes caught a ride back to base with a friend that evening.
Which of these events happened first?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: Reyes set out warning flares on the shoulder. "By the time" sets a reference point (the tow truck's arrival), and "had already set out" places the flares before that point. The rest follows in order: arrival, towing to Lakeview, then the mechanic's discovery, so the flares came first among these choices.
A: The truck's arrival is the reference point in the "by the time" clause; the flares were already out when it came.
B: The mechanic worked on the car only after it was towed to Lakeview, near the end of the sequence.
C (correct): "By the time the tow truck reached her, she had already set out" the flares, so placing the flares came before the truck's arrival and everything after it.
D: Towing happened after the truck arrived, which was already after the flares were set out.
Practice 2 of 38 · easy
When the furnace in her apartment began blowing weak, dusty air, Ana decided to change the filter herself. She switched the furnace off at the wall switch and slid the old, gray filter out of its slot. Next, she checked the arrow printed on the edge of the new filter to see which way the air should flow. She pushed the new filter into the slot and then turned the furnace back on.
What did Ana do immediately before pushing the new filter into the slot?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: She checked the arrow on the new filter. List the steps in order: switch off, remove old filter, check the arrow, push in new filter, switch on. "Immediately before" asks for the adjacent earlier step, which is checking the arrow.
A (correct): Checking the arrow is the step right next to inserting the new filter on the timeline.
B: Removing the old filter came earlier, but checking the arrow happened between it and inserting the new one.
C: Switching off the furnace was the first step, not the adjacent one.
D: Turning the furnace on came after the new filter was in place, not before.
Practice 3 of 38 · easy
The livestock barn at the Garfield County Fair opened two hours late on Saturday morning. According to the fair manager, a truck carrying fresh straw for the animal pens had been held up at a highway weigh station, and the barn could not open until the straw was spread in every pen. Once the bedding was in place, the doors opened and the judging of the dairy goats began just before noon.
According to the passage, why did the livestock barn open late?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The straw needed for the pens arrived late. The manager explains the delay: the straw truck was held up, and the barn could not open until straw was spread in every pen. Name the cause the passage states, not a cause that merely sounds reasonable.
A: The goats are never described as late; judging simply started after the barn opened.
B (correct): The manager says the straw truck was held up and the barn could not open until the straw was spread.
C: The weigh station delayed the truck; it gave no order about the barn, so this assigns the action to the wrong actor.
D: Crowd size is never mentioned, so this cause is not in the passage.
Practice 4 of 38 · hard
On a long climb through the mountains last July, Jamal's pickup truck began to overheat, and he had to pull onto the shoulder. A mechanic in the next town found that the rubber radiator hose had been slowly drying out and cracking for months as it aged. The mechanic explained that a steep grade makes an engine work harder and raises the pressure in the cooling system, and on Jamal's climb the weakened hose finally split open and sprayed out its coolant.
Which was the underlying cause of the overheating, rather than the immediate cause?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The months of aging and cracking that weakened the radiator hose. An immediate cause is the last event that directly produced the result; an underlying cause is the deeper condition that made it likely. Here the split hose losing coolant on the steep climb is the immediate cause, while the months of aging that weakened the hose are the underlying cause.
A: The split was the final event that directly produced the overheating, so it is the immediate cause.
B (correct): The slow deterioration is the long-standing condition that made a failure likely, which is what an underlying cause is.
C: Pulling over was Jamal's response to the overheating, an effect rather than a cause.
D: The passage never says the weather played a role; this brings in an outside explanation.
Practice 5 of 38 · hard
At the Westbrook machine shop, an apprentice may run the metal lathe only if a journeyman machinist is present in the shop and the apprentice has logged at least 40 hours of supervised practice. Even when both conditions are met, the shop foreman can refuse use of the lathe on days when it is reserved for a rush order. On Monday, apprentice Leah Park had 52 logged hours, and a journeyman worked in the shop from opening until closing.
Which conclusion about Monday is best supported by the passage?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: Park met both requirements, but the passage does not say she actually ran the lathe. "Only if" lists what must be present: a journeyman in the shop and at least 40 logged hours. Park had both, so she was eligible, but the foreman's rush-order power means eligibility does not guarantee use, and the passage never reports whether she ran the lathe.
A: This treats necessary conditions as sufficient; the foreman could still refuse the lathe for a rush order.
B: The rule says "at least 40 hours," so 52 hours satisfies it rather than blocking her.
C (correct): Both necessary conditions were met, yet "only if" names requirements, not a guarantee, and the foreman could still refuse.
D: The passage only says the foreman can refuse on such days; it never says Monday was one of them.
Practice 6 of 38 · hard
In March, the Harmon County ambulance service moved its main station from downtown to a site beside the new highway interchange. In the six months that followed, the average response time to rural addresses fell by about two minutes. During the same period, the county also hired four more paramedics and added a second overnight crew, and the state finished repaving two of the county's busiest rural roads.
Which statement is best supported by the passage?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: Rural response times improved after the move, but the passage does not show which change caused it. The improvement came after the move, but other changes happened in the same months: more paramedics, a second night crew and repaved roads. Order alone does not prove cause, and the passage never says which change mattered, so the best answer reports the improvement without naming a cause.
A: This treats "after" as "because" and ignores the new staff, the extra crew and the repaved roads.
B: This picks a different single cause; the passage gives no evidence that singles out the new staff either.
C: The passage reports only rural response times, so this claim about downtown has no support.
D (correct): The passage reports the improvement along with several changes made in the same period and never identifies the cause.
Practice 7 of 38 · medium
Starting this month, the Navy Exchange at Port Ellis will stay open until 10 p.m. on Fridays instead of closing at 7 p.m. The store manager said the later hours are meant to give sailors who return from late training exercises a chance to buy groceries and supplies before the weekend. The manager added that she will review Friday sales figures at the end of the quarter before deciding whether to keep the new hours.
What does the passage establish about the later Friday hours?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: They are meant to serve sailors returning from late training. "Meant to" marks a purpose, which is an intention, not a measured result. The passage reports no sales figures yet and says the hours will be reviewed, so it supports only the stated goal of serving sailors back from late training.
A: The sales review will not happen until the end of the quarter, so no result has been reported yet.
B: No petition or request appears in the passage; this invents a cause.
C: The manager will decide whether to keep them after reviewing sales, so their future is still open.
D (correct): The manager says the later hours are "meant to" give those sailors a chance to shop, which states the purpose.
Practice 8 of 38 · hard
A dry spring left the hay fields around Millerton thin and short, so local farmers baled far less hay than usual in June. With hay scarce across the region, the price at the Millerton feed store nearly tripled by late summer. In October, several cattle ranchers who could not afford enough hay to carry their herds through the winter sold part of their cattle at the county auction.
According to the passage, what most directly led the ranchers to sell part of their cattle?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: They could not afford enough hay at its higher price. Map the chain: dry spring, then a small hay harvest, then a sharp price rise, then ranchers unable to afford hay, then the cattle sale. A question about the most direct cause wants the link right before the sale, which is that the ranchers could not afford the expensive hay.
A: The dry spring started the chain, but it led to the sale only through the poor harvest and the price rise.
B (correct): This is the last link in the chain, the step right before the sale, and the passage connects the sale to it directly.
C: The small harvest is a middle link; it raised prices, and the high price is what the ranchers could not afford.
D: The passage says nothing about cattle prices; this cause is invented.
Practice 9 of 38 · medium
The hangar at Bayfield Air Station needed work before the spring inspection. While the paint crew sprayed primer on the tall hangar doors, the electricians worked inside, replacing the old overhead light fixtures with brighter LED units. When both crews had packed up their equipment, the base inspector walked through the hangar with a checklist, tested the lights and signed off on the work.
Which statement about the order of events is accurate?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: The priming and the light replacement took place during the same period. "While" signals overlapping events, so the priming and the light replacement shared a time window. The inspection came "when both crews had packed up," which puts it last, and the passage never compares how long the two jobs took.
A (correct): "While" shows the two jobs overlapped in time rather than one following the other.
B: "While" means the jobs overlapped, so the lighting work did not come strictly before the painting.
C: The inspector walked through after both crews packed up, and he even tested the new lights.
D: The passage gives no information about how long either job lasted; this invents an elapsed time.
Practice 10 of 38 · medium
The rental shop at Clearwater Marina posts this rule beside its kayak racks: if the weather service issues a small-craft advisory, all rental kayaks stay on the dock for the rest of the day. On Sunday, the weather service issued a small-craft advisory for the lake at 11 a.m. because of strong gusts. At 2 p.m., a family of four arrived at the shop hoping to rent kayaks for the afternoon.
If the shop followed its rule, which statement must be true?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The rental kayaks stayed on the dock when the family arrived. The rule runs one way: an advisory means kayaks stay docked for the rest of the day. The advisory came at 11 a.m., so at 2 p.m. the kayaks were still on the dock. The rule does not say advisories are the only reason kayaks stay docked, so reversing it is not supported.
A: The rule keeps kayaks docked for the rest of the day, and the passage never says the wind eased.
B (correct): An advisory was issued at 11 a.m., and the rule keeps kayaks on the dock for the rest of that day, which includes 2 p.m.
C: This reverses the rule; an advisory guarantees the kayaks stay docked, but they might stay docked for other reasons too.
D: The rule mentions only rental kayaks, so this extends it beyond what the passage says.
Practice 11 of 38 · medium
The outdoor rifle range at Camp Talbot opens at 0700 each weekday unless the wind gauge on the range tower shows a speed above 25 miles per hour. Range staff check the gauge at 0645 and post the decision on the range website. On Tuesday, the gauge read 12 miles per hour at 0645, and the sky was overcast with light drizzle.
Based on the passage, what will happen on Tuesday morning?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: The range will open at 0700 as usual. "Unless" means "if not." The rule says the range opens at 0700 if the wind is not above 25 miles per hour. The gauge read 12, so the exception does not apply and the range opens on schedule; the drizzle is not part of the rule.
A (correct): "Unless" means the range opens if the wind is not above 25 mph; at 12 mph the exception does not apply.
B: The wind is far below the 25 mph limit, so the only stated reason for closing is absent.
C: Drizzle is not a condition in the rule; only the wind speed can keep the range closed.
D: This flips the rule; wind above 25 mph is what keeps the range closed.
Practice 12 of 38 · medium
The Ashford High robotics team finished last at its regional competition this year after placing third the season before. Team captain Priya Shah explained that the team lost two weeks of build time when a burst pipe flooded its workshop in January. She said a key drive motor also arrived late from the supplier, and that three of the team's most experienced members had graduated the previous spring.
Which statement best reflects the passage?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: Several problems contributed to the team's last-place finish. The captain lists three separate problems: lost build time from the flood, a late motor, and the loss of experienced members. When a passage names several causes, the best answer treats them as contributing factors rather than naming one as the sole cause.
A: This picks one of three named factors and calls it the sole cause, overstating the evidence.
B: Other teams' budgets are never mentioned; this brings in a cause from outside the passage.
C: The passage reports causes for this year only and never mentions repairs or next season.
D (correct): The captain names three factors, the flood, the late motor and the graduated members, so the poor result had more than one cause.
Practice 13 of 38 · medium
Early Tuesday, a worker at the Granby Airfield fuel farm reported fuel dripping from a cracked fitting on a supply line. Within minutes, the crew shut the main valve to stop the flow and laid absorbent booms around the base of the tank. The airfield's environmental officer later wrote that the quick response kept the spilled fuel from reaching the storm drain that empties into Cedar Creek.
According to the passage, what was the outcome of the crew's response?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The spilled fuel did not reach the storm drain or the creek. Words like "kept from," "prevented" and "stopped" describe something that did not happen. The officer says the response kept the fuel from reaching the drain, so the outcome is that neither the drain nor Cedar Creek was reached.
A: This reverses the prevention; the passage says the response stopped the fuel before it reached the drain.
B: The crack was reported before the valve was shut, and the valve was closed to stop the leak, so this reverses cause and effect.
C: The passage reports no closing of the fuel farm; this adds an event.
D (correct): "Kept the spilled fuel from reaching" describes prevention, so the drain and the creek stayed free of the fuel.
Practice 14 of 38 · easy
A display at the Fort Kessler museum traces the post's history. The museum itself opened in 1975 inside the old officers' club. The post's first hospital, a wooden building with forty beds, was built in 1921. An airstrip for training pilots opened on the east side of the post in 1943, and in 1958 the wooden hospital was torn down and replaced by a modern brick clinic.
Which event happened second?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The airstrip for training pilots opened. Use the dates as anchors and ignore the order of the sentences: 1921 hospital, 1943 airstrip, 1958 clinic, 1975 museum. The second event is the airstrip, even though the museum is described first.
A: At 1921, the hospital is the earliest date, so it came first, not second.
B: The clinic dates to 1958, which makes it third in the order.
C (correct): Ordered by year: hospital (1921), airstrip (1943), clinic (1958), museum (1975), so the airstrip is second.
D: The museum is mentioned first, but 1975 is the latest year, so it happened last.
Practice 15 of 38 · medium
A housing study in Ridgeport compared 120 apartment buildings. It found that buildings with on-site laundry rooms had fewer tenants move out each year than buildings without laundry rooms. The study also noted that the buildings with laundry rooms tended to be newer, were more likely to have a full-time manager living on site, and were more often located near bus lines.
Which statement does the study, as described, support?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: On-site laundry rooms were linked with lower tenant turnover. The study reports a correlation: buildings with laundry rooms had lower turnover. Those buildings also differed in age, management and location, so any of these could play a part. Without words like "because" or "caused," the passage supports only the association.
A (correct): The study reports that the two went together, which is an association, and this choice claims nothing more.
B: The study shows only that the two occurred together; it never says laundry rooms caused tenants to stay.
C: This swaps in a different single cause; the study does not single out managers any more than laundry rooms.
D: Repairs are never mentioned; this invents a reason the study does not give.
Practice 16 of 38 · easy
Valley Tire and Brake had advertised a holiday sale on all-season tires for Friday. Although the shop's lot was full of customers by mid-morning, the owner closed the shop at noon, five hours early. In a sign taped to the door, she explained that the shop's computer system had crashed and staff could not process any payments, and she promised to extend the sale through Saturday.
According to the passage, why did the shop close early on Friday?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: Its computer system crashed, so payments could not be processed. "Although" signals contrast: the shop closed despite a full lot. The actual cause appears in the owner's sign, which says the computer system crashed and staff could not take payments.
A: The sale was extended through Saturday, not ended; and "although" marks the busy lot as a contrast, not a cause.
B: The passage never says staff wanted to leave; this adds a reason that is not given.
C (correct): The owner's sign gives the crash and the inability to take payments as the reason for closing.
D: The lot was full of customers; "although" shows the shop closed despite the crowd, not because of it.
Practice 17 of 38 · medium
The Pell Island ferry made its final run of the season on October 30, carrying a crowd of riders who had come to wave goodbye to the old boat. The service's story began in 1962, when island families pooled their savings to buy a used fishing vessel and refit it to carry passengers. Twenty years later, after the wooden hull began to leak, the families replaced it with the steel boat still in use today. In 2005 the county took over the service and added a second daily trip. Next spring, a new electric ferry is scheduled to replace the steel boat.
Which event in the passage happened most recently?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The steel ferry made its last run of the season. The passage opens with the latest event and then flashes back: 1962 purchase, steel boat about twenty years later, county takeover in 2005, and the October 30 final run. The electric ferry is only scheduled for next spring, so it has not happened. The most recent real event is the season's final run.
A: This happened in 2005, well before the October 30 run described at the start of the passage.
B: The passage says this is scheduled for next spring, so it is a plan, not an event that has happened.
C (correct): The passage opens with this event, but it is the latest event that has actually taken place; everything else is a flashback or a future plan.
D: This happened twenty years after 1962, in the early 1980s, long before the final run of the season.
Practice 18 of 38 · medium
Sergeant Lin Torres led a convoy of four supply trucks to a desert training site. The convoy left the motor pool at 0500. Two hours into the drive, the radio in the lead truck stopped working, so Torres switched to a handheld radio. By the time the convoy reached the training site, an advance team had already set up the fuel point and marked the parking area. The trucks unloaded water and rations, and Torres then reported to the site commander.
According to the passage, which statement about the order of events is correct?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The fuel point was ready before the convoy arrived. By the time sets the convoy's arrival as a reference point, and had already places the advance team's work before it. So the fuel point and parking area were ready first, the convoy arrived, the trucks unloaded, and then Torres reported.
A: The words had already show the fuel point was finished before the convoy even arrived, so it could not come after the unloading.
B: The word then shows Torres reported after the water and rations were unloaded.
C: This reverses the by the time clause; the parking area was already marked when the convoy arrived.
D (correct): By the time the convoy reached the site, the team had already set up the fuel point, so that work came first.
Practice 19 of 38 · hard
Late Wednesday, the Hollis County emergency dispatch center lost all of its computer screens for nearly an hour. A summer thunderstorm caused a brief flicker in the building's power. The backup battery unit, which is supposed to keep the computers running until the generator starts, shut down within seconds. A technician later found that the unit's batteries were eleven years old, well past their rated life. Their replacement had been requested in each of the last three yearly budgets, but the request was never approved. Dispatchers took calls on paper until power was steady again.
Which choice best describes the underlying cause of the outage?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Worn-out batteries that were never replaced because funding was not approved. An immediate cause is the last event that directly produces a result; an underlying cause is a deeper condition that made the result likely. Here the storm's flicker triggered the outage, but the batteries had been past their rated life for years and their replacement was never funded. That neglected condition is the underlying cause.
A (correct): This is the deeper condition: years of aging, with replacement repeatedly denied, left the backup unit unable to do its job when it was needed.
B: The flicker is the immediate cause, the final event that set off the outage, not the long-standing condition behind it.
C: Taking calls on paper was a response to the outage, so naming it as the cause reverses the arrow.
D: The passage never says the generator failed; it says the batteries gave out before the generator's role came into play.
Practice 20 of 38 · easy
The Lincoln High marching band held its rehearsals in the school cafeteria for the first two weeks of October. The band normally practices in the gym, but the gym floor was being sanded and coated with a new finish, and the workers asked that no one walk on it until the finish had fully hardened. The band director said the cafeteria's low ceiling made the drums sound very loud, but the students got used to it quickly.
Why did the band rehearse in the cafeteria?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The gym floor was being refinished and could not be used. Find the sentence that explains the change of location. The band normally uses the gym, but the gym floor was being refinished and could not be walked on, so rehearsals moved to the cafeteria. The comment about the low ceiling describes a result of the move, not its cause.
A: The passage mentions the low ceiling only as a drawback that made the drums too loud, not as a reason for the move.
B: The louder drums were a side effect the students had to adjust to, not a goal of the director.
C: The passage never mentions the football field, so this reason comes from outside the text.
D (correct): The passage says the band normally uses the gym but could not walk on its floor while the new finish hardened.
Practice 21 of 38 · medium
This summer, the maintenance staff at Brightwater Apartments installed motion-sensor lights in all of the building's stairwells. The property manager said the change was made to lower the building's electric bill and to make sure no stairwell is ever completely dark at night. The new lights switch on when someone enters a stairwell and turn off after two minutes without movement. In December, the manager plans to compare this year's electric bills with last year's.
Which statement is supported by the passage?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The lights were installed partly to reduce electricity costs. Words like made to and so that signal a purpose, which is what someone intends, not what has been measured. The passage gives two purposes and no reported result, since the bill comparison is still planned. Only the statement about the intended savings is supported.
A: Lowering the bill is the stated goal, but no result is reported; the comparison of bills has not happened yet.
B: The passage says nothing about tenant requests; the reasons given come from the manager.
C (correct): The manager said the change was made to lower the electric bill, which is a stated purpose.
D: The comparison is only planned for December, so no findings exist yet.
Practice 22 of 38 · medium
At Fort Delmar, soldiers may sign out night-vision goggles from the company supply room only if their platoon leader has signed the request form. The supply sergeant also checks that each set of goggles has fresh batteries before handing it over, and he may hold back any set that needs repair. On Thursday afternoon, Private Kelly finished his night-navigation training class and brought his request form to the supply room. His platoon leader had been in meetings all day and had not yet signed it.
Based on the passage, what can be concluded about Private Kelly on Thursday afternoon?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: He cannot sign out goggles until the platoon leader signs his form. Only if names a necessary condition: without the platoon leader's signature, no goggles can be signed out. Kelly's form was unsigned, so the requirement is not met. Note that even with a signature he would not be guaranteed goggles, because the sergeant may still hold back a set that needs repair.
A: The opening hours do not matter; the required signature is missing, so the rule blocks him.
B: The passage never makes the training class a condition, and finishing it does not replace the required signature.
C: The passage does not say the batteries were a problem; this invents a reason the text never gives.
D (correct): Only if makes the signature a requirement, and Kelly's form was still unsigned, so he cannot get goggles yet.
Practice 23 of 38 · medium
Campers at Fox Hollow State Park may keep a campfire burning in the steel fire rings as long as an adult remains at the campsite. Rangers remind visitors that a fire left alone, even for a few minutes, can spread if the wind picks up. The park also bans all fires on days when the posted fire danger is extreme. On Friday evening, the posted danger was moderate. The Nguyen family lit a fire after dinner, and around 9 p.m. both parents decided to walk to the lake to watch the stars while their children, ages 12 and 14, stayed at the site.
According to the park's rule, what should have happened before the parents left?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The fire should have been put out. As long as sets a condition that keeps a permission going: the fire may burn only while an adult remains at the campsite. Both adults were leaving and the children are 12 and 14, so no adult would remain. The permission ends, and the fire should be put out before they go.
A: A moderate rating only means fires are not banned that day; the adult-present rule still applies.
B (correct): The fire may burn only as long as an adult stays at the site; once both parents left, that condition ended, so the fire had to be put out.
C: Rechecking the rating would not satisfy the separate requirement that an adult stay at the campsite.
D: The rule says nothing about wind as a condition; this adds a requirement the passage does not state.
Practice 24 of 38 · medium
The Harbor City Port Authority is hiring seasonal crane operators. Every applicant must hold a current crane operator certification. In addition, applicants must show either two years of paid crane experience or completion of the port's twelve-week apprentice program. Applicants who speak a second language are encouraged to apply, but this is not required. Interviews will be held at the main terminal during the first week of April.
Which applicant meets all of the stated requirements?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: Ortiz, with a current certification and a completed apprentice program but no paid experience. Treat the rule as an AND joined to an OR: a current certification AND (two years of experience OR the apprentice program). Check each applicant against both parts. Only Ortiz has the certification and one of the two accepted paths.
A: Lee's experience is enough for the second requirement, but a current certification is required of everyone, and his has expired.
B (correct): Ortiz has the required current certification and meets the either-or requirement through the apprentice program, which is enough without paid experience.
C: Grant satisfies the either-or requirement twice over but lacks the certification that every applicant must have.
D: Baker has the certification, but one year of experience falls short and he has not completed the apprentice program; the second language is not required.
Practice 25 of 38 · hard
A regional health study followed 2,000 adults for one year. Participants who wore step-counting watches reported walking about 1,500 more steps a day than participants who did not wear them. The researchers pointed out that the people who chose to wear the watches were also, on average, younger and more likely to have belonged to a gym before the study began. No one was assigned a watch; each participant decided whether to wear one.
Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Wearing a watch was linked with walking more, but the study did not show that the watches caused it. The study found that two things went together: wearing a watch and walking more. Because people chose for themselves and the wearers also differed in age and gym history, other factors could explain the gap. The passage supports only an association; it proves neither that the watches nor that gym membership caused the extra steps.
A (correct): The passage reports that the two went together and points out other differences between the groups, which is an association without proof of cause.
B: The study reports a difference between groups, not that the watches produced it; the researchers themselves note other differences between the groups.
C: Gym membership is mentioned as a possible other factor, but the passage does not prove it was the cause either.
D: This reverses the direction of the link, and the passage gives no evidence that walking caused people to choose watches.
Practice 26 of 38 · hard
In February, an ice storm cut power to a factory that makes a special glass vial used to package medicine. Without power, the plant's glass furnaces cooled and had to be shut down for three weeks. The shortage of vials forced several drug makers to slow the packaging of a popular allergy medicine. As a result, pharmacies across the region received smaller shipments of the medicine, and many stores posted signs limiting customers to one box each.
According to the passage, what directly led stores to limit customers to one box each?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Pharmacies were receiving smaller shipments of the medicine. Map the chain: ice storm, then power loss, then factory shutdown, then vial shortage, then slower packaging, then smaller shipments, then purchase limits. A question about the direct cause wants the step right before the result. That step is the smaller shipments; the storm only began the chain.
A (correct): This is the last link in the chain before the limits: with less medicine arriving, stores rationed what they had.
B: The storm started the chain, but several steps separate it from the purchase limits.
C: Slower packaging led to smaller shipments, which then led to the limits, so this step is one link too early.
D: The passage never mentions higher demand; it explains the limits through reduced supply.
Practice 27 of 38 · easy
Before a weekend camping trip, Rosa and her brother set up their new tent in the backyard to practice. First they spread a plastic ground cloth on the grass. Next they unrolled the tent on top of it and staked down its four corners. They then slid the two long poles through the sleeves on the tent and raised it. Finally, they draped the rain fly over the top and clipped it to the poles.
What did Rosa and her brother do immediately before raising the tent?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: They put the poles through the tent sleeves. List the steps in order: ground cloth, unroll and stake, poles through sleeves, raise the tent, rain fly. Immediately before means the adjacent earlier step, which is putting the poles through the sleeves.
A: Spreading the ground cloth was the first step, several steps before the tent was raised.
B (correct): Sliding the poles through the sleeves is the step right next to raising the tent on the timeline.
C: Staking happened before the poles went in, so it is earlier but not adjacent to raising the tent.
D: The word finally shows the rain fly came after the tent was raised.
Practice 28 of 38 · easy
The Carver Street fire station has served the east side of Maple Falls for decades. The station's newest ladder truck arrived in 2021. The building itself was built in 1954, and a second garage bay was added in 1978 so the station could hold a larger engine. In 1999, the crew's sleeping quarters were remodeled after a roof leak. Today the station houses six firefighters on each shift.
Which event happened last?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: A new ladder truck arrived at the station. Use the dates as anchors and arrange them from earliest to latest: 1954, 1978, 1999, 2021. The latest year belongs to the arrival of the ladder truck, so it happened last, even though the passage mentions it second.
A (correct): The truck arrived in 2021, the latest year in the passage, even though it is mentioned early.
B: The remodeling took place in 1999, which is earlier than 2021.
C: The garage bay was added in 1978, more than forty years before the newest truck arrived.
D: The building dates from 1954, making it the first event, not the last.
Practice 29 of 38 · medium
Every Friday night, the kitchen crew at Rosie's Diner gets ready for the Saturday breakfast rush. As soon as the last dinner customer leaves, Hector mixes the pancake batter and stores it in the walk-in cooler. While he does this, Mae scrubs the grill and refills the syrup bottles. After both jobs are done, the two of them mop the floor together, and Mae locks the back door on her way out.
Which statement about the crew's Friday routine is supported by the passage?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: Hector makes the batter during the same time that Mae cleans the grill. While marks events that overlap, so Hector's batter work and Mae's grill and syrup work happen in the same window. After both jobs are done, they mop together, and Mae locks up last. Only the statement describing the overlap fits that timeline.
A: While shows the two jobs overlap; nothing says Mae waits for Hector to finish before she starts.
B: The passage says they mop together, and only after both earlier jobs are done.
C: Mae locks the door on her way out, after the mopping is finished.
D (correct): The word while signals that the batter and the grill cleaning share the same time window.
Practice 30 of 38 · easy
When the Ridgeway paper mill added a night shift last spring, about 80 more workers began arriving for work at 10 p.m. Many of them stopped for coffee and snacks on the way in. Because of this new stream of late-night customers, the gas station across the road began staying open all night instead of closing at 11 p.m. The owner also hired two extra clerks for the overnight hours.
Which statement correctly describes a cause-and-effect relationship in the passage?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The mill's night shift led the gas station to stay open all night. Picture an arrow from cause to effect: night shift, then late-night customers, then the station staying open all night. The word because points from the new customers to the longer hours. Any choice that flips the arrow or invents a purpose does not match the passage.
A: This reverses the arrow; the night shift came first and brought the customers that led to the longer hours.
B (correct): The night shift brought late-night customers, and because of them the station began staying open all night.
C: The passage gives no reason for the night shift, and helping the gas station is never named as a purpose.
D: The 80 figure describes new mill workers, not anyone the gas station hired.
Practice 31 of 38 · medium
The Delmar County highway department finished repaving a twelve-mile stretch of Route 6 in September. Crews replaced the cracked asphalt, widened both shoulders by two feet and painted new reflective lane lines. Department officials expect the wider shoulders to reduce accidents involving stalled cars, and they say the smoother surface should cut down on complaints about tire damage. The department will review accident reports for the stretch next year.
According to the passage, which of the following has actually happened?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The shoulders along the stretch were made wider. Separate reported events from predictions. The repaving, the wider shoulders and the new lane lines are described as finished work. Words like expect, should and will mark hopes and plans, so fewer accidents, fewer complaints and the review have not been reported as happening.
A: Officials only expect this; expect marks a prediction, not a reported result.
B: Should cut down is a forecast, and the passage reports no change in complaints.
C (correct): The passage reports that crews widened both shoulders by two feet as part of the finished work.
D: The review will take place next year, so it has not happened yet.
Practice 32 of 38 · hard
In April, the Glenwood town council hired a new recreation director. Over the summer, enrollment in the town's youth soccer league rose from 240 players to 310. Although the league's fee went up by $10 this year, more families signed up than in any earlier season. Two new housing developments also opened in Glenwood last winter. The council's season report lists the enrollment numbers but does not explain why they changed.
Which statement is best supported by the passage?
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Answer: A
Correct answer: Enrollment rose after the new director was hired, but the passage does not say what caused the rise. Look for a stated cause. The passage gives sequence (a hiring, then higher enrollment), a contrast (although the fee rose) and an unlinked fact (new housing), but no because or as a result. It even notes that the report does not explain the change. The only supported statement keeps the order and leaves the cause open.
A (correct): The passage gives the order of events and the numbers, while stating that the report does not explain the change, so no cause is established.
B: The rise of 70 came after the hiring, but coming after is not the same as being caused by; no causal link is stated.
C: Although signals contrast: more families joined in spite of the higher fee, not because of it.
D: The developments are mentioned, but the passage never connects them to enrollment, so naming them as the cause adds unsupported reasoning.
Practice 33 of 38 · medium
On a February morning, a large avalanche swept down the north face of Granite Peak and buried a closed section of a ski trail. No one was hurt. Forecasters later explained that a thin layer of loose, poorly bonded snow had formed near the ground during a cold, dry spell in December. Heavy storms in January then piled several feet of new snow on top of that weak layer. The avalanche itself began when an overhanging ledge of snow, called a cornice, broke off the ridge and dropped onto the slope below.
According to the forecasters, what made it possible for so much snow to break loose?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: A weak snow layer buried under several feet of new snow. Separate the trigger from the enabling condition. The cornice falling set off the avalanche, but the weak layer buried under several feet of new snow is what allowed an avalanche that large. The question asks what made it possible, so the enabling condition is the answer.
A: The falling cornice is the trigger that started the avalanche, not the condition that allowed one so large.
B (correct): The weak December layer under heavy January snow set up the slope to fail, which is the enabling condition.
C: The passage never mentions skiers on the slope; the section was closed and the avalanche began with the cornice.
D: The cold, dry spell happened in December, not on the morning of the avalanche, and it built the weak layer rather than starting the avalanche.
Practice 34 of 38 · hard
Planning for the Ashby Middle School science fair took most of the winter. In December, the PTA voted to pay for the prizes, and the principal then chose a date in March. The science teachers wrote the judging rules in January, after which the student council designed the posters advertising the fair. On the day of the fair, volunteers from the local college served as judges, while the PTA president handed out the prizes at the closing ceremony.
Which statement about the fair is accurate?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The PTA voted to fund the prizes, and its president later handed them out. List who did what and when: PTA votes on prizes (December), principal picks the date, teachers write rules (January), student council designs posters, college volunteers judge, PTA president hands out prizes. Each wrong choice pairs a real action with the wrong actor. Only the PTA statement matches both actor and order.
A: The PTA voted to pay for the prizes; the principal's role was choosing the date afterward.
B: The science teachers wrote the judging rules; the student council only designed the posters.
C: The teachers wrote the rules, but the judging was done by college volunteers.
D (correct): The PTA voted in December to pay for prizes, and the PTA president handed them out at the closing ceremony.
Practice 35 of 38 · easy
On Monday afternoon, a concrete crew finished pouring a new sidewalk in front of the Oakdale post office. Heavy rain was forecast for that night, and fresh concrete can be pitted and weakened if rain strikes it before it hardens. Before leaving, the crew covered the entire sidewalk with plastic sheeting and weighed down the edges with boards. Rain fell for most of the night, but when the crew returned Tuesday morning, the new sidewalk was smooth and undamaged.
What happened to the new sidewalk during the night?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: The plastic sheeting protected it from rain damage. This is a prevention passage: rain fell, but the sheeting kept it off the fresh concrete. The outcome is the absence of damage, shown by the smooth, undamaged surface on Tuesday. A choice saying the concrete was harmed contradicts the passage even though the risk is mentioned.
A: The passage describes this only as a risk; on Tuesday the sidewalk was found smooth and undamaged.
B: Nothing in the passage says the sidewalk was redone; it was undamaged.
C (correct): Rain fell all night, yet the covered sidewalk came through undamaged, so the sheeting prevented harm.
D: The passage says rain fell for most of the night, so it did not stop early.
Practice 36 of 38 · medium
Dr. Amara Bello, a wildlife biologist, studies sea turtles that nest on a beach in Georgia. Each summer her team marks every nest with a numbered stake. After a nest is marked, the team records the date and places a wire screen over the sand to keep raccoons from digging up the eggs. The hatchlings eventually dig their way out and crawl toward the ocean, and the team then opens the nest to count the empty shells.
Which statement about the timing of the team's work is supported by the passage?
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Answer: B
Correct answer: The wire screen goes on after the nest is marked with a stake. The passage gives order (mark, record and screen, hatchlings leave, then count shells) but never states how long any gap lasts. Choices that name an interval, such as several weeks or two months, go beyond the text. The supported choice states only order.
A: The passage says the screen goes on after marking but gives no interval, so several weeks is invented.
B (correct): The word after places the screening later than the marking, which is all the passage says about their timing.
C: The passage says only that hatchlings eventually emerge; any specific time span comes from outside knowledge.
D: The word then shows the nest is opened after the hatchlings leave, not before.
Practice 37 of 38 · hard
During a winter storm in the North Atlantic, a fuel filter on the main engine of the cargo ship Cape Mira clogged with sludge stirred up from the bottom of the fuel tank. The engine lost power, and without it the ship swung sideways to the waves and began rolling heavily. This caused several stacks of containers on the deck to shift, and two containers broke loose and fell overboard. Engineers changed the filter within an hour, and the ship continued on to port, arriving a day late.
In the passage, the word "This" refers to which event that caused the containers to shift?
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Answer: D
Correct answer: The ship turning sideways to the waves and rolling. Trace the pronoun back to its referent. The sentence before This ends with the ship swinging sideways to the waves and rolling heavily, and that motion is what shifted the containers. The clogged filter began the chain, while the lost containers and the filter change came afterward.
A: The clogged filter started the chain, but This points back to the sentence just before it, which describes the ship's motion.
B: Containers falling overboard is an effect named after This, so treating it as the cause reverses the arrow.
C: The filter was replaced after the cargo shifted, so it cannot be what This refers to.
D (correct): This refers to the event in the sentence just before it: the powerless ship swinging sideways and rolling heavily, which shifted the cargo.
Practice 38 of 38 · easy
Starting in May, the Sunnyvale parks department will lend fishing rods and tackle boxes from its nature center to anyone with a park pass. Department staff said they began the program in order to help families try fishing without having to buy expensive gear first. Rods may be borrowed for one week at a time, and a local bait shop has donated hooks and sinkers for the tackle boxes.
What is the main purpose of the fishing-rod program?
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Answer: C
Correct answer: To let families try fishing without first buying gear. Purpose words such as in order to tell what someone intended. The staff said they began the program in order to help families try fishing without buying expensive gear first, so that is its main purpose.
A: The passage says the gear is lent out and never mentions fees or fundraising.
B: The bait shop donated hooks and sinkers; the passage does not say the program is meant to boost its sales.
C (correct): In order to marks the purpose, which is helping families try fishing without paying for expensive equipment first.
D: Protecting fish populations is never mentioned as a goal of the program.
About this test
Each answer has a written explanation tracing the evidence through the passage. As you review, sort mistakes into order errors, reversed cause and effect, goals mistaken for results, and conditional mix-ups such as treating only if as if. Each group lines up with a section of the Sequence, Cause and Effect lesson; a quick arrow sketch of a missed passage often shows the gap faster than rereading.
Once you have reviewed, 38 extra practice questions for this lesson offer fresh passages on the same skills. The percentage you see is practice accuracy, not an ASVAB or AFQT score.
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