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PC Practice Test 5: Author Purpose and Organization

How a passage is built is the theme of Paragraph Comprehension Practice Test 5. Author purpose and point of view and passage organization head the topic list, followed by main idea, supporting details, inference, sequence and cause and effect, words in context, and compare and contrast. The timed evidence-based reading lesson is not drawn on here, so the focus stays on structure and intent.

10 questions
27 minutes
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Paragraph Comprehension

10 questions · 27 min on the real test

Question 1 · PC · easy

The supply sergeant issued field gear to a newly formed platoon of 32 soldiers. Each soldier received 2 pairs of boots, 4 sets of uniforms, and 1 sleeping bag. The sergeant also ordered 10 extra canteens to keep in the supply room in case any were lost or damaged during training.

How many sets of uniforms did each soldier receive?

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Answer: D

Correct answer: 4. Find the number attached to the label "sets of uniforms." The passage says each soldier received 4 sets of uniforms. The other numbers belong to boots, soldiers, and canteens.

A: Two is the number of pairs of boots each soldier received, not sets of uniforms.
B: Thirty-two is the number of soldiers in the platoon, not a count of uniforms.
C: Ten is the number of extra canteens ordered for the supply room.
D (correct): The passage says each soldier received 4 sets of uniforms.

Question 2 · PC · 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.

Question 3 · PC · medium

(1) Some common household cleaners can become dangerous when they are combined. (2) For this reason, safety experts advise using only one cleaning product at a time and rinsing a surface well before switching to another. (3) They also recommend opening a window or running a fan while cleaning in a small room. (4) Anyone who feels dizzy or short of breath while cleaning should move to fresh air right away.

Where would this sentence fit best in the passage?

"For example, mixing chlorine bleach with a glass cleaner that contains ammonia gives off a harmful gas."

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Answer: D

Correct answer: After sentence 1. A sentence that begins with for example needs a general claim right before it that it illustrates. Sentence 1 says some cleaners become dangerous when combined, and the bleach-and-ammonia case is exactly such a combination. Placed there, it also leads naturally into the advice in sentence 2.

A: Sentence 2 gives advice, not a general claim about danger, so an example of a harmful mixture would come too late and interrupt the advice.
B: Sentence 3 is about ventilation; an example of mixing two cleaners does not illustrate it.
C: Sentence 4 tells what to do if someone feels sick, so ending with an example of the original danger would break the passage's order.
D (correct): Sentence 1 makes the general claim about dangerous combinations, and the bleach example illustrates it directly.

Question 4 · PC · medium

The Ridgeline Hiking Club asks every member to carry three small items on any trip, even a short afternoon walk: a whistle, a headlamp, and an extra warm layer. The whistle can be heard much farther than a shout, the headlamp helps if a hike runs past sunset, and the extra layer guards against a sudden drop in temperature. Two winters ago, a member who slipped and twisted her ankle used all three while waiting through a snowy night for rescuers. Club leaders now check for the items at every trailhead.

Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

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Answer: D

Correct answer: The club requires a few simple safety items because they can help hikers in trouble. A vivid event sticks in memory, but ask whether the passage is about that event or uses it as an example. Here the rescue story illustrates why the club requires a whistle, headlamp, and warm layer; the main idea is the rule and its safety purpose.

A: This is the most dramatic sentence, but it serves as an example of why the gear matters rather than as the point of the whole passage.
B: This explains the reason for one item only and leaves out the other items and the club's rule.
C: The passage says nothing about hiking alone; this adds advice the paragraph does not give.
D (correct): This ties together the rule, the reasons for each item, the rescue story, and the trailhead checks.

Question 5 · PC · medium

A notice from Fairview County reads: "The household hazardous waste site accepts only the following items: used motor oil, car batteries, leftover paint and household cleaners. Residents must show a driver's license or utility bill with a county address. The site is open from 8 a.m. to noon on the first Saturday of each month. Items in leaking containers should be sealed in a plastic bag before drop-off."

A county resident wants to drop off an old car battery and an empty propane tank. Based on the notice, what can be concluded?

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Answer: D

Correct answer: The site will accept the battery but not the propane tank. Usually silence tells you nothing, but here the notice claims to be complete by saying the site accepts "only" the listed items. Car batteries appear on the list, and propane tanks do not, so the site takes the battery and refuses the tank.

A: The propane tank is not on the list, and the list is introduced with "only," so the site will not take it.
B: Car batteries are named on the list of accepted items.
C: This reverses the list: car batteries are named as accepted, while propane tanks are left off a list introduced with "only."
D (correct): Batteries are listed, and the word "only" makes the list complete, so an unlisted item such as a propane tank is excluded.

Question 6 · PC · medium

Each summer, heavy rains wash fertilizer from nearby farm fields into Clearwater Lake. The fertilizer feeds a rapid growth of algae that turns the water bright green. When the algae die, bacteria break them down and use up much of the oxygen in the water in the process. Last August, oxygen levels fell so low that hundreds of fish died along the north shore.

Which statement correctly describes a cause-and-effect link in the passage?

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Answer: A

Correct answer: Low oxygen in the water led to the fish deaths. Follow the arrows in the order the passage gives them: rain carries fertilizer into the lake, fertilizer feeds the algae, decaying algae use up oxygen, and low oxygen kills the fish. Any statement that runs one of these arrows backward is wrong.

A (correct): The passage says oxygen fell so low that fish died, so low oxygen is the cause and the deaths are the effect.
B: This reverses the link; the oxygen dropped first, and the fish died as a result.
C: This reverses the link; fertilizer washing in is what fed the algae.
D: The algae grew because of fertilizer; low oxygen came later, when bacteria broke down the dead algae.

Question 7 · PC · medium

The safety meeting ran long on Wednesday, and the shop foreman still had three items left on the agenda. Because two of the welders needed to leave for a job across town, he decided to table the discussion of new ventilation fans until Friday's meeting, when everyone could attend. The remaining items, a new sign-in sheet and the holiday schedule, were settled in five minutes before the meeting ended.

As used in the passage, what does table most nearly mean?

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Answer: D

Correct answer: put off until later. First check word class: "decided to table the discussion" uses table as a verb. Then use the time clue: until Friday's meeting, because some workers had to leave. Substitute: "decided to put off the discussion until Friday" keeps the sentence's meaning.

A: This is a noun meaning; table is used as a verb in the sentence, so it cannot fit the slot.
B: This is another noun meaning and has nothing to do with moving a discussion to another day.
C: The foreman did not record the discussion; he moved it to Friday's meeting.
D (correct): The foreman moved the fan discussion to Friday because people had to leave, so table here is a verb meaning to postpone.

Question 8 · PC · medium

Starting this summer, a night at a tent site in Cedar Ridge State Park will cost $38, up from $24 last year, and the state has added a new $12 reservation fee on top of that. Officials say the money will cover rising maintenance costs, yet the shower houses still have no hot water and half the picnic tables are broken. It seems the state has decided that families who camp here are a cash cow, to be squeezed a little harder every season.

The author's use of the phrases cash cow and squeezed mainly shows that the author:

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Answer: A

Correct answer: disapproves of the higher camping fees. Loaded words carry feeling beyond their literal meaning. Calling campers a cash cow that is squeezed harder every season frames the fee increase as unfair, so the phrases reveal disapproval even though the fee numbers themselves are reported accurately.

A (correct): Both phrases carry strong negative feeling and suggest the state is taking money unfairly, which reveals the author's critical attitude.
B: The state's explanation is about maintenance costs; cash cow and squeezed are the author's own words, not attributed to officials.
C: The loaded words criticize the increase, so this reverses the author's attitude.
D: The author does not dispute the dollar amounts; the loaded words express attitude, not proof that any number is wrong.

Question 9 · PC · hard

To the Hospital Board: I am a nurse on the night shift at St. Anne's, and I am writing to ask you to add a security guard to the staff parking garage between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The garage's lower level has three broken lights, and in the past year two staff members have had their cars broken into while on duty. Many of us walk to our cars alone after midnight. A guard during those hours would cost far less than losing experienced nurses who no longer feel safe coming to work.

Editor's note: The board is scheduled to discuss this letter at its June meeting.

Which statement is best supported by the passage?

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Answer: A

Separate what a text tries to do from what it achieves. The letter states a clear request and supports it with facts, which shows a persuasive purpose. The editor's note reports only that a discussion is planned, so any answer claiming the board agreed, or that the writer distrusts the board, goes beyond the passage.

A (correct): The letter asks for a guard and gives reasons, while the editor's note shows only that the board will discuss it, so the outcome is unknown.
B: This treats intent as proof of success; the note says only that the board will discuss the letter in June.
C: Some readers may feel uneasy, but the letter is addressed to the board and built to request a change, so frightening nurses is an effect, not the purpose.
D: The writer asks politely and offers a cost argument; nothing accuses the board of indifference or mentions earlier complaints, so this reads hostility into a request.

Question 10 · PC · hard

Two years ago, the Brookfield school district switched from a five-day to a four-day school week. The superintendent says the change "has not hurt learning at all," pointing to steady test scores. In this column, I grant that the shorter week has cut the district's bus and heating costs by about $300,000 a year. Even so, the state has not yet released test results for either year since the switch, and many working parents now pay for a fifth day of child care. Until real scores are available, I believe the district should return to the five-day schedule.

Which statement best describes the columnist's comparison of the two schedules?

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Answer: C

Correct answer: The columnist admits that the four-day week saves money but still favors the five-day week. The columnist concedes a point (the four-day week saves money) and then makes the stronger claim (return to five days). The steady-scores claim belongs to the superintendent, and the columnist even questions it because no state scores have been released.

A: This mistakes the concession for the main point; the columnist ends by calling for a return to five days.
B: The claim about steady scores is the superintendent's, and the columnist points out that state scores have not been released.
C (correct): The phrase I grant marks the cost savings as a concession, and the closing sentence states the columnist's real position.
D: This swaps the features; the passage says the four-day week is the one that cut bus and heating costs.

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About this test

You get 10 original questions with 27 minutes on the clock. The mix is 2 easy, 6 medium and 2 hard. These questions are unique to this form and do not appear in any other practice test.

PC feeds the AFQT, and organization questions often hide in plain sight: look for signal words like however, as a result and for example. Take the form timed, then review every explanation to see how the passage structure pointed to the answer. Note the lessons behind your misses and revisit them. Your result shows practice accuracy and is not an ASVAB or AFQT score.

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