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Paragraph Comprehension Practice Test 6: Focused Set

The sixth Paragraph Comprehension form is deliberately narrow. It draws on just five lessons: main idea, sequence and cause and effect, author purpose and point of view, passage organization, and timed evidence-based reading. Supporting details, inference, words in context, and compare and contrast are left out, which makes this a targeted drill on big-picture reading.

10 questions
27 minutes
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Paragraph Comprehension

10 questions · 27 min on the real test

Question 1 · PC · 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.

Question 2 · PC · easy

Planting native shrubs and flowers can make a yard easier to care for. Because these plants are adapted to the local rainfall and soil, they usually need little extra watering once they are established. They also attract local bees and butterflies, and they tend to resist the pests of the region, so homeowners can often skip chemical sprays and spend less time on yard chores.

Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage, rather than just naming its topic?

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Answer: C

Correct answer: Native plants make yards easier to care for in several ways. The topic is native plants, but the main idea must say something about them. The first sentence makes the claim (they make yards easier to care for), and the details about watering, pollinators, and pests support it.

A: This names the topic only; it answers "about what?" but does not say what the passage claims about native plants.
B: This is one supporting detail and leaves out the watering and pest benefits.
C (correct): This is a full statement that names the subject and the claim, and each later sentence gives one way native plants reduce yard work.
D: The passage says nothing about where to buy plants; this is unsupported.

Question 3 · PC · medium

Some homeowners insist that gas-powered lawn mowers are the only serious choice, since they run as long as there is fuel in the tank and cut thick grass with ease. Battery mowers did struggle with heavy lawns when they first appeared. Newer models, though, carry larger batteries that can mow a typical suburban yard on a single charge, and they start with the push of a button. They are also far quieter and need no oil changes or spark plugs. For most yards, a battery mower is now the more practical tool.

Which statement best expresses the author's own view?

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Answer: A

Correct answer: Battery mowers are now the better choice for most yards. Separate reported views from the author's view. The first sentence gives what some homeowners believe, the second concedes a past weakness, and though turns to the author's side. The final sentence states the author's own conclusion in favor of battery mowers.

A (correct): The closing sentence states the author's conclusion that a battery mower is now the more practical tool for most yards.
B: This is the view the author reports from some homeowners and then argues against.
C: The author admits early models struggled, but the word though introduces the claim that newer models do not.
D: The author does not call them equal; the last sentence clearly favors battery mowers.

Question 4 · PC · medium

The base housing office has proposed turning the old rifle range behind Building 40 into a fenced dog park. Although the land is flat, already fenced and would cost very little to convert, decades of target practice have left lead from spent bullets in the soil. Dogs dig, and children often follow their pets into the dirt. The range should not open as a dog park until the soil has been tested and, if needed, cleaned up.

Which statement best expresses the author's position?

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Answer: B

Correct answer: The range should not become a dog park until its soil is shown to be safe. Concession words such as although signal a turn. The author first grants the site's advantages, then states the problem after the turn and closes with a recommendation to wait for soil testing. The main stance is the part after the turn, limited to that condition.

A: The low cost appears in the conceded part before the turn; the author grants it and then argues against opening right away.
B (correct): After the turn word although, the author raises the lead problem and ends with a clear should not until, which is the author's stance.
C: The author disagrees with the timing, not with the office's character; no words accuse anyone of bad faith.
D: This is a scope error; the author asks only for testing and cleanup first, not a permanent ban.

Question 5 · PC · medium

Every fall, the streets of the Harbor Hill neighborhood flooded during heavy rains. Fallen leaves piled up on the storm drain grates, and water had nowhere to go, so it pooled across intersections and seeped into basements. The city could not afford to send crews to every drain before each storm. In response, it asked residents to adopt the drain nearest their homes and rake it clear whenever rain was forecast. More than 200 drains were adopted in the first season, and flooding complaints from the neighborhood dropped by more than half.

Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

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Answer: C

Correct answer: Recruiting residents to clear leaf-clogged drains cut flooding in the neighborhood. This is a problem-and-solution passage: leaves blocked drains and caused flooding, and the city answered by having residents adopt and clear drains, after which complaints fell by more than half. The main idea must connect the problem to the fix and its result.

A: This states only the problem and leaves out the volunteer program and its results.
B: This is a true number, but it is a supporting detail rather than the point it supports.
C (correct): This links the problem (drains blocked by leaves) to the solution (resident volunteers) and its result (fewer flooding complaints), covering both halves.
D: The passage says the city could not afford more crews; it never recommends hiring, so this adds a judgment.

Question 6 · PC · medium

Last spring, every security guard at the Eastfield shopping mall completed a one-day course in CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator, or AED. Guards practiced chest compressions on training dummies and learned to follow the voice prompts an AED gives. The mall also mounted AEDs near both food courts and the main entrance. In August, a guard used those skills to help a shopper who collapsed near a shoe store, keeping him breathing until paramedics arrived. Mall managers now plan to repeat the training every year so new guards are prepared as well.

Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

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Answer: A

Correct answer: The mall trained and equipped its guards to respond to medical emergencies. A vivid event can steal attention, so ask whether the whole passage is about it or uses it as an example. The passage is built around the mall's training program and equipment; the rescue illustrates the program working, so the main idea is that guards were prepared to handle medical emergencies.

A (correct): This covers the training, the new AEDs, the rescue that shows the training at work, and the plan to repeat it.
B: This is the most dramatic detail, but the passage uses the rescue as one example of why the training matters.
C: This is an accurate detail about equipment, but it covers only one sentence of the passage.
D: The passage never makes this claim; it is a broad, unsupported generalization drawn from one incident.

Question 7 · PC · medium

At 6 a.m. the thermometer inside the restaurant's walk-in cooler read 48 degrees. A puddle of water had spread across the floor beneath the fan unit, and the fan made a grinding sound each time it started. The rubber seal along the bottom of the door was torn, letting warm kitchen air seep in. The morning cook moved the milk and raw chicken into a reach-in refrigerator and called the manager.

Which statement best expresses the implied main idea of the passage?

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Answer: B

Correct answer: The walk-in cooler is not working properly and cannot safely hold food. No sentence states the point, so ask what all the details share: a warm reading, a leak, a grinding fan, a torn seal, and food being moved elsewhere. Together they show the cooler is failing and cannot be trusted with food, which is the implied main idea stated without exaggeration.

A: This adds a judgment about the cook that the passage never makes; the details describe the cooler, not anyone's mistake.
B (correct): No sentence says this directly, but the high temperature, leak, noisy fan, torn seal, and moved food all point to it.
C: The passage lists several problems and never says which one caused the warm reading, so this claims more than it shows.
D: This rule comes from outside knowledge; the passage never states a temperature limit.

Question 8 · PC · 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.

Question 9 · PC · hard

The Point Hollis lighthouse was first lit in 1912, when schooners still carried lumber along this coast. Its keepers lived in the brick cottage beside the tower until the light was automated in 1968, and the original lens now sits in the county museum. Today the tower still guides fishing boats past the reef at the harbor mouth. Last spring, however, inspectors found that seawater has rusted the iron stairs and widened cracks in the tower's base. The repairs are estimated at $640,000, and the inspectors warned that the cost will rise quickly as the damage spreads. The county should set aside repair money in next year's budget, before the tower has to be closed.

What is the primary purpose of the passage?

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Answer: B

Correct answer: to persuade the county to pay for repairs to the lighthouse. Rank the purposes. The history (1912, keepers, automation) and the inspection findings (rust, cracks, $640,000) all lead to the last sentence, which says the county should set aside repair money. An explicit recommendation outranks the facts that support it, so the passage's main job is to persuade the county to fund repairs.

A: The history fills the opening sentences, but it is background; the passage builds toward the budget recommendation at the end.
B (correct): The final sentence makes an explicit should recommendation, and the history and inspection details serve as support for it.
C: The passage says the tower still guides boats; the risk it raises is future closure, and the advice is aimed at the county, not at boaters.
D: The passage reports what inspectors found but never explains an inspection process.

Question 10 · PC · hard

Last spring, the Dalton warehouse replaced its overhead fluorescent lights with brighter LED panels. In the three months after the change, the number of picking errors, meaning orders packed with the wrong item, fell from about 90 per month to about 55. The warehouse manager highlighted the new lights in her quarterly report. The same report noted that during those months the company also began requiring workers to scan each item's barcode before placing it in a box, a step that had often been skipped, and that two experienced supervisors returned from extended leave.

Which statement is best supported by the passage?

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Answer: A

Correct answer: Picking errors fell after the lighting change, but other changes happened during the same period. The passage reports a sequence (new lights, then fewer errors) but also names two other changes in the same months, so no single cause is established. Checking the numbers, 90 minus 55 is 35, and 35 is under half of 90, so "more than half" is also wrong. Only the statement that keeps sequence separate from cause is fully supported.

A (correct): The passage gives the order of events and lists barcode scanning and returning supervisors in the same months, so this stays within the evidence.
B: The passage shows only that the drop came after the new lights; it never says the lights caused it, and other changes occurred at the same time.
C: This picks a different cause and adds a claim about how much it contributed, which the passage never states.
D: A drop from about 90 to about 55 is a decrease of about 35, which is less than half of 90.

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About this test

The test runs 10 questions in 27 minutes, with 2 easy, 6 medium and 2 hard items. Every question is original and written only for this form; none repeats in another practice test.

Use Test 6 when you want to tighten up on what a passage is mainly about and how its events connect, both of which matter for the AFQT. Take it under timed conditions, summarizing each passage in a few words before you look at the choices. Afterward, study the explanations and check whether your summary matched the intended main idea. For the skills this form skips, return to Tests 1 through 5. The final percentage is practice accuracy, not an ASVAB score.

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