PARCC Practice!

Vocabulary in Context

100

I prefer the occasional disturbance of ear-splitting thunder to the incessant dripping of our kitchen sink. Incessant most like means... A. harmless B. exciting C. nonstop D. dull

C. nonstop

200

“The little log house, with its chimney of sticks, its roof of warping clapboards supported and weighted with traversing poles and its "chinking" of clay, had a single door and, directly opposite, a window." Traversing most closely means… A. traveling B. crossing C. shifting D. holding

B. crossing

300

As soon as I made a flippant remark to my boss, I regretted sounding so rude. Flippant most closely means... A. serious B. disrespectful C. upsetting D. meaningless

B. disrespectful

400

Hiking in the evening helps my mind to be placid after a long and stressful day at work. Placid most closely means... A. contemplating B. forgetful C. busy D. peaceful

D. peaceful

500

Her obdurate attitude during the group work made it difficult to work with her. She wasn't open to others ideas or willing to listen, and she kept insisting that her ideas were best. Obdurate most closely means... A. stubborn B. rude C. angry D. manipulative

A. stubborn

Vocabulary in Context

100

“I know only that with what was probably a sense of the fitness of things the body was buried near the cabin, alongside the grave of his wife, who had preceded him by so many years that local tradition had retained hardly a hint of her existence.” As seen in the sentence above, retained most nearly means… A. romanticized B. commended C. preserved D. illustrated

C. preserved

200

“Something besides years had had a hand in his aging. His hair and long, full beard were white, his gray, lusterless eyes sunken, his face singularly seamed with wrinkles which appeared to belong to two intersecting systems.” Lusterless most closely means… A. dull B. broken C. barren D. alarming

A. dull

300

“The whole region was sparsely settled by people of the frontier--restless souls who no sooner had hewn barely habitable homes out of the wilderness and attained to that degree of prosperity which today we would call indigence, than, impelled by some mysterious impulse of their nature, they abandoned all and pushed farther westward, to encounter new perils and privations in the effort to regain the meager comforts which they had voluntarily renounced.” Indigence most closely means… A. sustenance B. wealth C. influence D. poverty

D. poverty

400

Many of us have ambivalent feelings about our politicians, admiring but also distrusting them. Ambivalent most closely means... A. appreciative B. critical C. approving D. mixed

D. mixed

500

“There were evidences of "improvement"--a few acres of ground immediately about the house had once been cleared of its trees, the decayed stumps of which were half concealed by the new growth that had been suffered to repair the ravage wrought by the ax.” In the above passage, suffered most closely means… A. endured B. allowed C. instructed D. agonized

B. allowed

Author's Purpose

100

"The funeral was just stretching on and on that sweaty Sunday in the middle of the summer. I took a look at my fingers, clammy and swollen from the dizzy heat, and ached to be splashing around in the creek behind the church. Daddy promised that the rain from Friday would cool everything down, but the sun just sucked up all that water just the same as it did year after year. All the women, dressed in black with funny-looking hats, whispered at each other and blew their noses into hankies as they tried to fan themselves cooler with the paper bulletin old lady Mathers had typed up just for this occasion. Preacher Tom yammered on and on in his booming voice like it was just another boring Sunday and no one had even died, while tiny little rivers of sweat made their way down the middle of my back. Miss Patterson, my favorite Sunday school teacher, whispered ‘cross the aisle to Daddy that “It’s a cryin’ shame, ya know.” Daddy shrugged his big old coal-mining shoulders and said, “The good Lord knows what’s best.” I knew he wasn’t really sad because he was a “hard-hearted man with no sense and no decency,” like Momma used to say when he’d come home smelling like whiskey." The author most likely used the phrase "tiny little rivers of sweat made their way down the middle of my back" in order to: A. contrast the hot interior of the church during the funeral with the coolness of the creek. B. compare the hot interior of the church during the funeral with the coolness of the creek. C. identify the main reason the narrator was uncomfortable during the funeral. D. intensify the description of the heat during the funeral.

D. intensify the description of the heat during the funeral.

200

"The next day, the 22ndof March, at six in the morning, preparations for departure were begun. The last gleams of twilight were melting into night. The cold was great; the constellations shown with wonderful intensity. In the zenith glittered that wondrous Southern Cross – the polar bear of Antarctic regions. The thermometer showed 12 degrees below zero, and when the wind freshened it was most biting. Flakes of ice increased on the open water. The sea seemed everywhere alike. Numerous blackish patches spread on the surface, showing the formation of fresh ice. Evidently the southern basin, frozen during the six winter months, was absolutely inaccessible. What became of the whales in that time? Doubtless they went beneath the icebergs, seeking more practicable seas. As to the seals and morses, accustomed to life in a hard climate, they remained on these icy shores." The author's description of the temperature in lines 43–46 primarily serves to... A. explain the hardships the boatmen were about to go through. B. intensify the setting, so the reader can experience the boatmen's difficult journey. C. compare the differences between boatmen who have experienced hardships and those who haven't. D. identify the causes of the temperature decrease.

B. intensify the setting, so the reader can experience the boatmen's difficult journey.

300

"The true way of looking at Gothic art is to regard it not as a definite style bound by certain formulas—for the spirit is infinitely various,—but rather as the expression of a certain temper, sentiment, and spirit which inspired the whole method of doing things during the Middle Ages in sculpture and painting as well as in architecture. It cannot be defined by any of its outward features, for they are variable, differing at different times and in different places. They are the outward expression of certain cardinal principles behind them, and though these principles are common to all good styles, Gothic among them, the result of applying them to the buildings of each age, country, and people will vary as the circumstances of that country, that age, and that people vary." The author most likely wrote the passage about Gothic art in order to... A. suggest that Gothic art is not a style with specific characteristics as much as it is a sentiment from a particular time. B. intensify the description of Gothic art's sentiment and spirit. C. explain the definition of Gothic art as an art form that has no definable characteristics. D. compare Gothic art to the art of the Middle Ages

A. suggest that Gothic art is not a style with specific characteristics as much as it is a sentiment from a particular time.

400

"Until the early 1900's, Americans were not extremely concerned about their futures as they became older. The major source of economic security was farming, and the extended family cared for the elderly. However, the Industrial Revolution brought an end to this tradition. Farming gave way to more progressive means of earning a living and family ties became looser; as a result, the family was not always available to take care of the older generation. The great Depression of the 1930's exacerbated these economic security woes. So in 1935, Congress, under the direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, signed into law the Social Security Act. This act created a program intended to provide continuing income for retired workers at least 65 years old, partially through the collection of fund from Americans in the work force. Much organization was required to get the program underway, but the first monthly Social Security checks were issued in 1940.Over the years the Social Security Program has metamorphosed into benefits not only for workers but also for the disabled and for survivors of beneficiaries, as well as medical insurance benefits in the form of Medicare." The author most likely mentions the Depression in order to... A. identify the primary purpose for Social Security. B. criticize FDR's adoption of a program that would run out of money. C. contrast the effectiveness of the Social Security Program with that of family care. D. list another factor that contributed to the need for the Social Security Program.

D. list another factor that contributed to the need for the Social Security Program.

500

"The funeral was just stretching on and on that sweaty Sunday in the middle of the summer. I took a look at my fingers, clammy and swollen from the dizzy heat, and ached to be splashing around in the creek behind the church. Daddy promised that the rain from Friday would cool everything down, but the sun just sucked up all that water just the same as it did year after year. All the women, dressed in black with funny-looking hats, whispered at each other and blew their noses into hankies as they tried to fan themselves cooler with the paper bulletin old lady Mathers had typed up just for this occasion. Preacher Tom yammered on and on in his booming voice like it was just another boring Sunday and no one had even died, while tiny little rivers of sweat made their way down the middle of my back. Miss Patterson, my favorite Sunday school teacher, whispered ‘cross the aisle to Daddy that “It’s a cryin’ shame, ya know.” Daddy shrugged his big old coal-mining shoulders and said, “The good Lord knows what’s best.” I knew he wasn’t really sad because he was a “hard-hearted man with no sense and no decency,” like Momma used to say when he’d come home smelling like whiskey." The author most likely used the phrase "tiny little rivers of sweat made their way down the middle of my back" in order to... A. contrast the hot interior of the church during the funeral with the coolness of the creek. B. compare the hot interior of the church during the funeral with the coolness of the creek. C. identify the main reason the narrator was uncomfortable during the funeral. D. intensify the description of the heat during the funeral.

D. intensify the description of the heat during the funeral.

Mood & Tone

100

What is the tone in the following passage? “And the trees all died. They were orange trees. I don’t know why they died, they just died. Something wrong with the soil possibly or maybe the stuff we got from the nursery wasn’t the best. We complained about it. So we’ve got thirty kids there, each kid had his or her own little tree to plant and we’ve got these thirty dead trees. All these kids looking at these little brown sticks, it was depressing.” A. sarcastic B. angry C. frustrated D. pessimistic

D. pessimistic

200

“There was no moon, and everything beneath lay in misty darkness: not a light gleamed from any house, far or near all had been extinguished long ago: and those at Wuthering Heights were never visible…” The mood of the above passage can best be described as... A. peaceful B. gloomy C. scary D. anxious

B. gloomy

300

"I couldn’t forgive [Tom] or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." The tone of the above passage can best be described as... A. condescending B. uninterested C. frustrated D. disillusioned

D. disillusioned

400

"The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison." What is the tone of the above passage? A. thoughtful B. skeptical C. angry D. nervous

B. skeptical

500

"He rolled in his bed, twisting the sheets, grappling with a problem years too big for him, awake in the night like a single sentinel on picket. And sometime after midnight, he slept, too, and then only the wind was awake, prying at the hotel and hooting in its gables under the bright gimlet gaze of the stars." Which is the mood of the above passage? A. scary B. frustrated C. suspenseful D. horrifying

C. suspenseful

Characterization

100

“I yawned, trying to keep my eyes open in the meeting. I reached for my coffee cup and was disappointed to realize it was empty.” In the passage above, the character can best be described as... A. bored B. lazy C. exhausted D. disinterested

C. exhausted

200

“I yawned, trying to keep my eyes open in the meeting. I reached for my coffee cup and was disappointed to realize it was empty.” In the passage above, which two phrases best demonstrate the character's exhaustion? A. "trying to keep my eyes open," "in the meeting" B. "I yawned," "it was empty" C. "I yawned," "trying to keep my eyes open" D. "I reached for my coffee cup," "it was empty"

C. "I yawned," "trying to keep my eyes open"

300

“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” What do we learn about Atticus, the character speaking, from the above passage? A. his advice to Scout demonstrates his compassion for others B. he is condescending in his tone when giving Scout advice C. he likes to disguise himself as other people D. he sometimes feels as though he can't understand other people, but he tries his best

A. his advice to Scout demonstrates his compassion for others

400

“First of all,” he said, “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” Which phrase from the passage above best demonstrates Atticus's character? A. "climb into his skin" B. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view" C. “if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks" D. "You never really understand a person"

B. "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view"