PC Practice Test 3: Words in Context and Timed Reading

Answer: B

Correct answer: 1600 hours on December 5. Time words set limits: "by 1600 on December 5" makes that the last time for a request to receive normal review. The other dates in the passage control departure and return, which are different tasks.

• A: December 19 is the earliest day approved soldiers may depart, not the request deadline.
• B (correct): The first sentence sets 1600 on December 5 as the deadline for submitting requests.
• C: This is the latest time soldiers may return from leave, not the time to submit a request.
• D: Late requests are reviewed only if space remains, so this drops the stated deadline and its condition.

Answer: C

Correct answer: newly joined members of the unit. Audience shows in what the writer assumes and asks. The words first drill weekend, collect your uniforms and orientation packet tell you the reader has just joined the company, so the passage addresses new members.

• A: Officers who run the unit would not need to be told where to report or to pick up their first uniforms.
• B: Families are never mentioned, and they would not collect field gear or report to the motor pool.
• C (correct): The passage speaks directly to you about a first drill weekend, collecting gear and getting an orientation packet, which only matters to people just joining.
• D: The supply office is a place readers are sent to; its clerks are not the ones being given directions.

Answer: D

Correct answer: The welding program is shorter, and its graduates test at the school. Build a quick grid. Electrical: four years, paid from day one, tests in the state capital. Welding: eighteen months, unpaid at first, tests on campus. Only the statement that gives welding both the shorter length and the on-campus exam matches the grid.

• A: Both halves are swapped: electrical takes four years, and its apprentices must travel to the state capital to test.
• B: This gives the electrical program's feature to welding; welding students are unpaid during the first six months.
• C: Only the electrical apprentices travel to the capital; welding graduates take their exam on campus.
• D (correct): The passage gives welding eighteen months versus four years for electrical and says welding graduates test in the school's own shop.

Answer: C

Correct answer: careful about spending money. The examples show the category: he packs lunch, fixes instead of replaces, buys used, and saves most of his pay, so frugal means careful about spending money. The word Yet in the last sentence rules out the harsher idea of stinginess, since he gladly helps others.

• A: This is too negative; the last sentence says he is the first to chip in when someone needs help, so he is not stingy.
• B: Saving money is linked to wealth, but the passage never says how much he has; this names an associated idea, not the meaning.
• C (correct): Packing lunch, repairing boots, buying used books and saving most of his pay all show someone who avoids needless spending.
• D: Fixing boots is one example of saving money, but the other examples have nothing to do with repair skill.

Answer: C

Correct answer: It contrasts a modern method with the older one and explains why the older one is still taught. The first paragraph describes the traditional method and its difficulties. The second introduces satellite navigation as a contrast, then qualifies that shift with Even so, explaining that sextant training continues because satellite signals can be lost. The answer must cover both parts of the second paragraph without adding a claim about accuracy.

• A: Satellite navigation is not one of the older tools; it is a different method set against them.
• B: The timing errors are explained in the first paragraph itself; the second turns to a new method.
• C (correct): The second paragraph presents satellite navigation, then uses Even so to explain why sextant skills remain useful as a backup.
• D: The passage never says the sextant is more accurate; it is kept as a backup when satellite signals fail.

Answer: C

Correct answer: A staggered arrival plan has been proposed but not yet approved. Keep the passage at the stage it describes. The committee has only proposed the schedule, its effect is an estimate, and the vote is set for April, so the plan has neither been approved nor produced results.

• A: The halving is only the committee's estimate for a plan that has not been adopted, so this treats a proposal as a result.
• B: Nothing has changed yet; the passage describes the backup as an ongoing problem.
• C (correct): The committee proposed the plan, and the full board will not vote until April, so the plan is still at the proposal stage.
• D: Comments are still being collected, and the passage reports no reaction from families.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Mid-October is a possible finish date, but it is not guaranteed. Modal verbs preserve uncertainty. Could be finished by mid-October states a possibility, and might push the work later names a risk that has not happened. The only paraphrase that keeps both hedges is that mid-October is possible but not certain.

• A: This turns could into will and ignores the warning that late deliveries might push the work later.
• B: The engineers say mid-October is possible; this replaces their hedge with a firm prediction of failure.
• C: The parts are still on order, and late delivery is only something that might happen; no delay has occurred yet.
• D (correct): Could and might mark possibilities, so the engineers offer mid-October as a hope that late parts could change.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Both on-base and off-base housing offer military families benefits and drawbacks. The word However marks a turn from the advantages of base housing to its drawbacks, and the last sentence gives trade-offs for renting as well. Because the author weighs both sides without choosing, the main idea is the balance: each kind of housing has benefits and drawbacks.

• A: The passage never names a winner; this picks one side and ignores the drawbacks it describes.
• B: This is one drawback mentioned after the turn word However, so it covers only part of the passage.
• C (correct): The passage weighs convenience against limited choice and waiting, and then gives the trade-offs of renting too, so the balance itself is the point.
• D: The passage mentions separate utility bills but never compares total costs; this adds a claim it does not make.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Specialist Grant, because Grant signed the truck out. Combine the general rule with the specific case. The rule says a vehicle returned below half a tank must be refueled by whoever signed it out. A quarter tank is below half, and Grant signed out Truck 12, so the duty is Grant's even though Moss drove it back.

• A: This attaches the duty to the wrong person; the rule names the one who signed the truck out, not the one who returned it.
• B (correct): The rule ties the duty to the soldier who signed the vehicle out, and the passage says Grant did; a quarter tank is below the half-tank line.
• C: The rule applies to any return below half a tank, and a quarter tank is below that line.
• D: The passage never assigns refueling to the staff; the rule names the soldier who signed the vehicle out.

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.