ACT English & Reading Practice Tests

Passage I — Lessons in the Garage

The summer I turned fourteen, the rear tire on my bicycle went flat for the third time in a month. I was ready to buy a new inner tube and forget about it, but my grandfather had other ideas. He wheeled the bike into his garage, [1] where a pegboard of tools, each one outlined in black marker, covered the back wall.

"Before you fix anything," he said, "you have to find out why it broke." [2] However, we did not patch the tube right away. First we pumped it up and lowered it into a bucket of water, watching for the thin stream of bubbles that would reveal the leak. When the bubbles appeared, I reached for the patch kit, but my grandfather stopped me. He ran his fingers slowly around the inside of the tire[3] , circling all the way around its entire inner edge, until he found the real culprit: a sliver of glass that [4] had hid in the rubber for weeks.

Over the next few weeks, [5] my grandfather and me rebuilt that bicycle nearly from scratch. The first commercially successful "safety bicycle," which had two wheels of similar size and a chain that drove the rear wheel, was introduced in England in the 1880s. [6] He showed me how to true a wheel by tightening its spokes a quarter turn at a time, how to adjust the brake pads so that they met the rim squarely, and [7] cleaning a chain with an old toothbrush.

What I remember most, though, is not any single repair. It is the way my grandfather worked: slowly, patiently, and [8] without ever seeming to be in a rush. When a rusted bolt refused to loosen, he never forced it. He sprayed it with oil, set it aside, and [9] went ahead and moved on to something else. By the time he came back to it, the bolt usually turned with a gentle push. [10] My grandfather still keeps his tools on the same pegboard.

1. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) where a pegboard of tools each one outlined in black marker covered (C) where a pegboard of tools, each one outlined in black marker covering (D) a pegboard of tools, each one outlined in black marker, covered
2. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (F) No Change (G) For example, (H) For that reason, (J) In contrast,
3. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) , circling its inner edge in one full loop, (C) , going around and around the inside of it, (D) Delete the underlined portion.
4. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) had hidden (H) has hidden (J) hiding
5. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) me and my grandfather (C) my grandfather and I (D) my grandfather and myself
6. The writer is considering deleting the preceding sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted? (F) Kept, because it explains how the narrator's grandfather first became interested in bicycles. (G) Kept, because it describes the type of bicycle the narrator and the grandfather were repairing. (H) Deleted, because it contradicts the narrator's statement that the bicycle was rebuilt nearly from scratch. (J) Deleted, because it interrupts the account of the narrator's lessons with a general fact about bicycle history.
7. Which choice best maintains the parallel structure of the sentence? (A) No Change (B) how to clean (C) the cleaning of (D) to be cleaning
8. Which choice best maintains the stylistic pattern established in the sentence? (F) No Change (G) he was calm (H) calmly (J) in a way that seemed calm
9. Which choice best avoids wordiness and redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) moved on (C) moved on ahead and continued (D) proceeded forward, moving on
10. Which choice most effectively concludes the essay by connecting the grandfather's way of working to the narrator's life today? (F) No Change (G) That summer, I rode the rebuilt bicycle almost every day until school started. (H) Many bicycle shops now sell kits that make it easy to patch a flat tire in only a few minutes. (J) Now, when a problem frustrates me, I try to slow down and look for the hidden sliver of glass first.

Passage II — A Small Clip with a Tangled History

Few objects are as ordinary as the paper clip, yet its history is surprisingly tangled. In the second half of the 1800s, inventors in several countries patented wire fasteners for holding papers together. Many of these early designs, however, tore the pages or [11] slipped off, the sheets they were meant to hold.

The familiar double-loop design, known as the Gem clip, was in use by the late 1890s. In 1899, William Middlebrook of Waterbury, Connecticut, patented a machine for bending wire into this [12] shape; the drawings in his application show a clip that looks almost exactly like the ones found in desk drawers today. [13] Oddly, the Gem design itself seems never to have been patented.

Norway, meanwhile, often [14] totally hypes up the paper clip as a national invention. A Norwegian inventor named Johan Vaaler did patent a paper clip around 1900, but his version lacked the Gem's inner loop and was never widely produced. [15] In 1989, a giant Gem-style paper clip was even raised in Vaaler's honor near Oslo.

11. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) slipped off the sheets (C) slipped, off the sheets (D) slipped off: the sheets
12. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) shape, the drawings (H) shape the drawings (J) shape; and the drawings
13. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) As a result, (C) For instance, (D) Similarly,
14. Which choice most effectively maintains the essay's tone? (F) No Change (G) goes wild over (H) celebrates (J) makes a huge fuss over
15. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence:
    
    During World War II, some Norwegians wore paper clips on their clothing as a quiet symbol of unity.
    
    Should the writer make this addition here? (A) Yes, because it helps explain why Norwegians take pride in the paper clip despite the limits of Vaaler's design. (B) Yes, because it shows that the paper clips Norwegians wore during the war were all made from Vaaler's original design. (C) No, because it interrupts the paragraph's explanation of how the Gem clip was manufactured. (D) No, because it repeats information stated earlier in the essay.

Passage III — Hedy Lamarr's Hidden Invention

[1]
In the late 1930s and the 1940s, Hedy Lamarr was one of Hollywood's most famous film stars. Born Hedwig Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, in 1914, she [16] had began acting as a teenager and later signed a contract with the MGM studio. [A] Audiences knew her for glamorous roles, but few people knew that she spent much of her free time [17] working on inventions of her own design that she had thought up herself.

[2]
During World War II, Lamarr became interested in a serious weakness of radio-controlled torpedoes. A torpedo steered by a signal on a single frequency could be sent off course if an enemy [18] jammed, or blocked, that frequency. Lamarr wondered what would happen if the signal jumped rapidly from one frequency to another in a pattern known only to the sender and the receiver. [B]

[3]
To develop the idea, she teamed up with George Antheil, an avant-garde composer [19] whom had once written music for several player pianos playing in sync. Antheil suggested that a mechanism similar to a piano roll could keep the transmitter and the receiver hopping between frequencies in perfect step. [C] Fittingly, their design called for 88 frequencies, the same as the number of keys on a piano. In 1942, Lamarr and Antheil received a patent for their "Secret Communication System." [20]

[4]
The U.S. Navy, [21] however, did not adopt the system during the war, and for decades Lamarr's role in the invention was largely forgotten. [D] Engineers eventually built on the principle of frequency hopping, and versions of it [22] is now used in technologies such as Bluetooth. In 1997, Lamarr and Antheil were honored with a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and in 2014 both were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. [23] Lamarr's story is a reminder that the woman audiences saw on the screen was only part of who she really was.

Questions 24 and 25 ask about the preceding passage as a whole.

16. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) begun (H) began (J) has began
17. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) personally working on self-designed inventions of her own (C) working on inventions that she herself had designed on her own (D) working on inventions of her own design
18. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) jammed or, blocked, (H) jammed, or blocked (J) jammed or blocked,
19. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) who (C) which (D) whose
20. If the writer were to delete the preceding sentence, the essay would primarily lose: (F) an explanation of how a piano-roll mechanism kept the transmitter and receiver in step. (G) a description of the kind of music Antheil was known for composing. (H) evidence that the U.S. Navy tested the system before deciding not to use it. (J) a detail indicating that Lamarr and Antheil's idea was officially recognized as an invention.
21. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) therefore, (C) for example, (D) similarly,
22. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) are (H) was (J) has been
23. Which choice most effectively concludes the essay by returning to an idea introduced in the first paragraph? (A) No Change (B) Bluetooth is now built into many phones, headphones, and speakers. (C) Antheil continued to compose music until his death in 1959. (D) Today, navies use many kinds of guided torpedoes.
24. Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to describe how a person known mainly for one kind of work made an important contribution in a very different field. Would this essay accomplish that purpose? (F) Yes, because it explains how a famous film actress helped invent a communication technology that is still in use. (G) Yes, because it shows that Lamarr's acting success depended mainly on her reputation as an inventor. (H) No, because it focuses mainly on the films that made Lamarr famous. (J) No, because it suggests that the invention was never put to practical use.
25. The writer wants to add the following sentence to the essay:
    
    A signal that never stayed on one frequency long enough to be found, she reasoned, would be nearly impossible to jam.
    
    The sentence would most logically be placed at: (A) Point A in Paragraph 1. (B) Point B in Paragraph 2. (C) Point C in Paragraph 3. (D) Point D in Paragraph 4.

Passage IV — Faith Ringgold's Story Quilts

Faith Ringgold (1930–2024) began her career as a painter, but she is best remembered for [26] her story quilts; large works that combine painted canvas with pieced fabric. Ringgold, who grew up in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, [27] learned about sewing from her mother, a fashion designer and dressmaker. Each of Ringgold's story quilts [28] include handwritten text, often on strips of fabric sewn around the edges, so that viewers can read a story while they study the pictures.

Her best-known quilt, "Tar Beach" (1988), shows a girl named Cassie lying on a blanket on the roof of her family's apartment building on a summer night. In the story written along the quilt's border, Cassie imagines flying [29] up above and over the top of the George Washington Bridge, and she declares that the bridge now belongs to her. Ringgold later turned the story into a [30] childrens' book, which was named a Caldecott Honor Book in 1992. The original quilt is now in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

26. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) her story quilts. Large (H) her story quilts: large (J) her story quilts, and large
27. Given that all the following choices are accurate, which one most clearly indicates that Ringgold's mother directly helped produce one of Ringgold's works? (A) No Change (B) often visited museums with her mother, (C) lived for many years near her mother, (D) created her first quilt in 1980 with her mother, Willi Posey,
28. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) includes (H) are including (J) have included
29. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) up and above over (C) over (D) above, over the top of
30. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) children's (H) childrens (J) childrens's

Passage V — The Water Bear's Secret

In 1773, the German naturalist Johann August Ephraim Goeze described a tiny, eight-legged animal that he called a "little water bear." The name fit: under a microscope, the animal seemed to lumber along on its stubby legs like a tiny bear. Today, these creatures are known as tardigrades, and they [31] have been found almost everywhere on Earth, from mountain peaks to deep-sea mud. Most are less than a millimeter long[32] , making them very small in size. Yet tardigrades are famous for surviving conditions that would kill nearly any other animal.

Their secret is a state called cryptobiosis, a word meaning "hidden life." When a tardigrade's surroundings dry out, the animal pulls in its legs and head and shrivels into a dry, barrel-shaped form called a "tun." In this state, [33] it's metabolism slows to less than 0.01 percent of its normal rate. A tardigrade can remain a tun for [34] years, when water returns, it swells back to its usual shape and walks away as if nothing had happened.

[35] Tardigrades in the tun state have survived remarkable tests. Scientists have [36] introduced them to temperatures close to absolute zero and to doses of radiation far greater than a human could survive. In 2007, tardigrades were carried into orbit on an uncrewed satellite as part of a European experiment and exposed directly to the vacuum of space. Most survived the [37] vacuum, a few even survived the sun's harsh ultraviolet radiation.

Researchers are now studying the molecules that make this toughness possible. One of them, a protein called Dsup, [38] appear to protect a tardigrade's DNA from radiation damage. Other proteins form a glasslike material that protects the animal's cells as they dry out. [39] For example, discoveries like these might help scientists find ways to store medicines without refrigeration.

Question 40 asks about the preceding passage as a whole.

31. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) has been found (C) are finding (D) had found
32. Which choice is least redundant in context? (F) No Change (G) , so they are quite small (H) , which is tiny (J) Delete the underlined portion.
33. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) their (C) its (D) its'
34. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) years. When (H) years, then when (J) years when
35. Which choice most effectively creates a connection between the preceding paragraph and this paragraph? (A) No Change (B) Tardigrades have eight legs, each of which ends in tiny claws. (C) Some tardigrades eat plant cells, while others eat smaller animals. (D) Goeze was not the only scientist of his time to study tiny animals.
36. Which choice most precisely describes what the scientists did to the tardigrades? (F) No Change (G) treated them to (H) gave them (J) subjected them to
37. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) vacuum, and a few (C) vacuum a few (D) vacuum, while, a few
38. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) appearing (H) have appeared (J) appears
39. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) Instead, (C) In time, (D) Similarly,
40. Suppose the writer's primary purpose had been to explain how scientists first discovered tardigrades. Would this essay accomplish that purpose? (F) Yes, because it names the naturalist who first described tardigrades, gives the year, and reports what he called them. (G) Yes, because it explains how scientists carried tardigrades into orbit. (H) No, because it mentions the first description only briefly and focuses mainly on how tardigrades survive extremes. (J) No, because it focuses mainly on the ways medicines are stored without refrigeration.

Passage VI — Let Teenagers Sleep

At many American high schools, the first bell rings before 7:30 a.m. For students who ride a bus, that can mean waking up at 6:00 or even earlier. Many of them spend their first class of the day struggling to keep their eyes open. Many adults assume that teenagers who are tired in the morning simply stayed up too late, and they expect students to adjust. The science of sleep, [41] though, tells a different story.

During adolescence, the body's internal clock shifts. The brain begins releasing melatonin, the hormone that signals the body to prepare for sleep, later at night than it did in childhood. As a result, many teenagers cannot fall asleep until around 11:00 p.m., no matter how early they go to [42] bed, sleep experts recommend that teenagers get eight to ten hours of sleep a night, [43] but a student who falls asleep at 11:00 and wakes up at 6:00 gets only seven.

Losing an hour or more of sleep every night [44] really messes students up big-time. Sleep-deprived students have more trouble paying attention, remembering what they have learned, and [45] they control their moods. Drowsy teenage drivers are also more likely to be involved in car crashes. [46] For these reasons, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2014 that middle and high schools start classes no earlier than 8:30 a.m.

Critics argue that later start times would be too costly, since districts [47] would of had to redraw bus routes and reschedule after-school activities. These challenges are real, but they can be overcome. [48] California has more public school students than any other state. If California can make the change, other states [49] can also do so too. [50] After all, school buses are expensive to operate.

41. Which transition word or phrase is most logical in context? (A) No Change (B) therefore, (C) for instance, (D) likewise,
42. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (F) No Change (G) bed sleep (H) bed, being that sleep (J) bed. Sleep
43. Given that all the following choices are accurate, which one most effectively supports the writer's point that early start times keep many teenagers from getting enough sleep? (A) No Change (B) and many teenagers like to sleep late on weekends. (C) although some adults need less sleep than that. (D) and the amount of sleep a person needs changes over a lifetime.
44. Which choice most effectively maintains the essay's tone? (F) No Change (G) has serious consequences (H) is super bad news (J) totally wrecks students
45. Which choice best maintains the parallel structure of the sentence? (A) No Change (B) to control their moods (C) controlling their moods (D) their moods are controlled
46. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence:
    
    Car insurance rates for teenage drivers vary widely from state to state.
    
    Should the writer make this addition here? (F) Yes, because it provides evidence that drowsy teenage drivers cause most car crashes. (G) Yes, because it explains why many teenagers drive themselves to school. (H) No, because it introduces a detail about insurance costs that is unrelated to the effects of lost sleep. (J) No, because it contradicts the paragraph's claim that drowsy teenage drivers are more likely to be involved in crashes.
47. Which choice makes the sentence most grammatically acceptable? (A) No Change (B) would have to (C) would had to (D) would of have to
48. Given that all the following choices are accurate, which one most effectively supports the writer's claim that these challenges can be overcome? (F) No Change (G) Some parents in California worried at first that later schedules would make mornings harder for families with younger children. (H) Many schools in other states still begin classes before 8:00 a.m. (J) In 2019, California required most public high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m., and they switched in 2022.
49. Which choice best avoids redundancy in context? (A) No Change (B) can, in addition, also do so (C) can do so as well (D) also can do so as well
50. Which choice most effectively concludes the essay by restating its main argument? (F) No Change (G) Letting teenagers sleep in step with their biology is one of the simplest ways schools can help students learn. (H) Of course, some students will always prefer to take classes early in the morning. (J) Many adults also say that they do not get enough sleep.

Passage I — Literary Narrative

Passage A is adapted from the memoir-style essay "Market Saturdays" by Marisol Reyes. Passage B is adapted from the memoir-style essay "Closing Time" by Theo Park. (Both essays were written for 7ESL.)

Passage A

The summer I was fifteen, Mr. Halvorsen hired me to sell peaches from his orchard at the Saturday market downtown. He was a tall, quiet man who had been growing fruit for forty years, and on the first morning he ⁵explained my duties in exactly three sentences: set out the baskets, make correct change, and never let a customer walk away without tasting a slice.

I had no trouble with the baskets, and the change came easily once I stopped trying to count in my head and ¹⁰began counting out loud, the way my grandmother did at the bank. The tasting was harder. I was not the kind of person who spoke to strangers. For most of that first morning I stood behind the table with a paring knife in one hand and a peach in the other, waiting for someone ¹⁵to ask me for a sample. Almost nobody did.

Around eleven, Mr. Halvorsen, who had been unloading crates from his truck, came and stood beside me. He cut a peach into thin crescents, arranged them on a paper plate, and held the plate out toward a woman who was ²⁰hurrying past with a stroller. "Redhavens," he said. "Picked yesterday." She stopped. She tasted. She bought half a basket. He handed me the knife without a word and went back to his truck.

By August, I could hardly remember being afraid. I ²⁵learned the names of the regulars, and I learned which of them liked their peaches firm for baking and which wanted them soft enough to eat over the sink. I learned that people will tell you the whole story of their week if you hand them something sweet and wait.

³⁰At the end of each Saturday, Mr. Halvorsen paid me in cash, in a small brown envelope with my name printed on it in pencil. The first envelope held forty-eight dollars. I did not open it in front of him; that seemed impolite, somehow, like reading a birthday card at the ³⁵party. At home I counted the bills twice, put them back in the envelope, and put the envelope in my desk drawer.

I didn't spend that money for most of the summer. It wasn't that I was saving for anything. It was simply that, as long as the envelope sat there full, it was ⁴⁰proof of something I could not quite name. Spending it would have turned it into ordinary money, the kind that disappears into movie tickets and bus fare. I wanted to keep it the way it was: the first thing I had ever earned.

Passage B

⁴⁵My first real job was at the snack bar at the Linden Park pool, where I spent the summer before my junior year selling frozen lemonade and soft pretzels to kids with wet hair and damp dollar bills. The pay was the minimum wage, and the uniform included a red visor that ⁵⁰never quite fit. The work was not complicated. There were eleven items on the menu, and after the first week I could have made any of them with my eyes closed.

My manager, Dana, was a college student home for the summer. She had worked at the snack bar for four years ⁵⁵and had opinions about everything, from the correct way to fold a napkin to the exact moment to take the pretzels out of the warmer. For my first month, she checked my work constantly, and I did not like her much; it seemed to me that she was looking for mistakes. She ⁶⁰recounted my cash drawer at the end of every shift, and more than once she wiped down a counter I had already cleaned.

My paychecks went straight into a bank account my father had helped me open. Every two weeks, a number appeared ⁶⁵on my phone (the first one, I remember, was $231.40), and I looked at it the way you look at the temperature on a weather app. It was information. It did not feel like anything.

What I remember feeling was the evening in late July ⁷⁰when Dana had to leave early. She tossed me the ring of keys and said, "You close tonight." Then she was gone. I stood there holding the keys for a long moment. Then I counted the drawer twice, wrote the total on the deposit slip in my neatest handwriting, turned off the warmer, ⁷⁵and pulled the metal shutter down over the window. I checked the lock three times before I walked home.

Nobody thanked me. Nobody, as far as I know, even noticed. But the next day Dana did not recount my drawer, and she never did again.

1. The main purpose of the first paragraph of Passage A (lines 1–7) is to: (A) introduce Mr. Halvorsen and the brief instructions he gave the narrator on her first day. (B) explain why the narrator needed to earn money that summer. (C) describe the different kinds of fruit sold at the Saturday market. (D) contrast the narrator's first impression of Mr. Halvorsen with her later opinion of him.
2. It can most reasonably be inferred from Passage A that when Mr. Halvorsen "handed me the knife without a word" (line 22), he meant for the narrator to: (F) see that he was unhappy with her sales. (G) learn from his example and begin offering samples herself. (H) cut the peaches more thinly from then on. (J) stop offering samples and let him take over the tasting.
3. In Passage A, the narrator compares opening the envelope in front of Mr. Halvorsen to "reading a birthday card at the party" mainly to suggest that she: (A) was disappointed by the amount of money she had been paid. (B) was afraid that Mr. Halvorsen had made a mistake in counting. (C) felt it would be rude to look at her pay in front of her employer. (D) wanted to save the envelope for a special occasion later in the year.
4. According to Passage B, during the narrator's first month at the snack bar, Dana: (F) asked him to close the snack bar by himself on weekends. (G) taught him how to make each of the eleven items on the menu. (H) helped him open a bank account for his paychecks. (J) recounted his cash drawer at the end of every shift.
5. In Passage B, the narrator compares seeing his pay on his phone to looking at "the temperature on a weather app" (lines 66–67) mainly to suggest that he: (A) checked his bank balance many times each day. (B) regarded his pay as a plain fact that stirred little emotion. (C) was confused about how much money he had earned. (D) worried that the amount of his pay would change without warning.
6. It can most reasonably be inferred from the last paragraph of Passage B (lines 77–79) that when Dana stopped recounting the narrator's drawer, it showed that she: (F) had come to trust the narrator to handle the money correctly. (G) was too busy with her own work to check the drawer. (H) had forgotten that the narrator closed the snack bar the night before. (J) was planning to leave her job at the snack bar soon.
7. Which of the following statements best describes a difference between how the two narrators regard their first earnings? (A) Narrator A spends her pay at once, while Narrator B saves his. (B) Both narrators feel that they were paid too little for the work they did. (C) Narrator B values his pay more because he earns more than Narrator A. (D) Narrator A treats her first pay as a keepsake, while Narrator B feels little about his pay.
8. Both narrators describe a moment in which a supervisor: (F) criticizes the narrator's work in front of waiting customers. (G) offers the narrator a higher wage for extra hours. (H) gives the narrator responsibility for a task with very few words and then leaves. (J) explains in detail why a job must be done in one particular way and no other.
9. In Passage A, the pay envelope becomes a sign of what the narrator has achieved. In Passage B, which object plays the most similar role? (A) The ring of keys Dana gives the narrator (B) The menu of eleven items (C) The phone on which the narrator sees his pay (D) The napkins Dana folds a certain way

Passage II — Informational

SOCIAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the article "How We Got the Weekend" by Daniel Whitcomb (written for 7ESL).

Ask people to name the most important inventions of the past two centuries, and few will mention the weekend. Yet the two days of rest that many workers now take for granted did not arise naturally. They were invented ⁵slowly, unevenly, and often through conflict by workers, employers, and lawmakers who had very different reasons for wanting them. No one person can claim credit for it, and no single law created it.

For most of human history, rest came in single days. ¹⁰Many societies set aside one day each week, or certain festival days during the year, on which ordinary work stopped. But the idea of a regular two-day break at the end of every working week would have puzzled nearly everyone before the nineteenth century.

¹⁵In fact, some workers in eighteenth-century England had already arranged their own time off, though not on the days we might expect. Many skilled artisans, such as weavers and shoemakers, were paid by the piece rather than by the hour, and they could set their own ²⁰schedules. Large numbers of them chose to take Monday off, a custom known, half jokingly, as "Saint Monday." They spent the day visiting friends, attending sporting events, or simply recovering from Sunday. To make up the lost time, they often worked late into the night toward ²⁵the end of the week, when their finished goods were due.

The factory system left little room for such independence. Factory owners had invested in expensive machines that earned money only while they were running, and they needed workers to arrive together and stay ³⁰until the whistle blew. A worker who arrived late might be fined or locked out, and clocks and bells, rather than the rhythm of the task, now set the pace of the day. Days of twelve hours or more, six days a week, became common in the textile mills of early industrial ³⁵Britain. Workers and reformers pushed back, and Parliament gradually passed laws limiting the working hours of women and children. The Factory Act of 1850 required that such workers in textile mills stop work at two o'clock on Saturday afternoon. The law was itself a ⁴⁰compromise: it slightly lengthened the working day from Monday to Friday in exchange for the shorter Saturday.

The Saturday half-holiday soon spread to other industries, and employers discovered that it had an unexpected advantage. Some historians have argued that ⁴⁵many employers came to support it as a kind of bargain: workers who had Saturday afternoons free were less likely to disappear on Mondays. The old custom of Saint Monday gradually faded, replaced by a shorter but more predictable break.

⁵⁰Businesses quickly found ways to fill that break. Railways offered cheap Saturday excursions to the seaside, and football clubs scheduled their matches for Saturday afternoons, when working people were free to attend. Music halls, theaters, and seaside resorts all ⁵⁵competed for the new customers. By the late 1870s, the word "weekend" had entered the English language.

In the United States, the full two-day weekend took hold only in the twentieth century. In 1926, the automaker Henry Ford announced that workers in his factories would ⁶⁰work five days a week instead of six. Other manufacturers soon followed his example, though many people in shops, on farms, and in offices went on working Saturdays for years. Ford was not motivated by generosity alone. People with more leisure time, he ⁶⁵reasoned, would spend more money on goods, including automobiles. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, shorter workweeks also gained support as a way to spread scarce jobs among more workers. Then, in 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, which soon required ⁷⁰employers to pay extra for work beyond forty hours a week. The law did not require a weekend, but it made the long workweek expensive, and the pattern of five eight-hour days followed by two days off became the norm for many American workers.

⁷⁵Today, the weekend can seem as fixed as the calendar itself. Its history suggests otherwise. It was shaped by workers who wanted rest, by employers who wanted reliability, and by businesses that wanted customers. As some companies now experiment with four-day workweeks, ⁸⁰that history offers a useful reminder: the shape of the working week has always been something that people decide.

10. Which of the following statements most effectively summarizes the main point of the passage? (F) The weekend was created all at once by a single British law that Parliament passed in 1850. (G) The two-day weekend developed gradually as workers, employers, and lawmakers pursued different goals. (H) Employers opposed the weekend at every stage because it reduced the number of hours their machines could run. (J) The custom of Saint Monday shows that workers have always preferred long weekends.
11. The main purpose of the first paragraph (lines 1–8) is to: (A) list the most important inventions of the past two centuries. (B) argue that the weekend should be extended to three days. (C) challenge the idea that the weekend is a natural part of life by presenting it as an invention. (D) explain why workers in the nineteenth century were puzzled by the very idea of taking a day of rest.
12. According to the passage, artisans who took Saint Monday off made up for the lost time by: (F) working on Sundays instead. (G) asking their employers to start paying them by the hour instead. (H) hiring apprentices to finish their goods. (J) working late at night toward the end of the week.
13. It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that factory owners wanted workers to keep regular hours mainly because: (A) the law required British factories to stay open six days a week. (B) workers who skipped Mondays were paid more than those who did not. (C) Saturday excursions were drawing workers away from the cities. (D) the owners' machines produced income only when workers were there to run them.
14. As it is used in line 45, the word bargain most nearly means: (F) a purchase made at a lower price than usual. (G) an exchange that benefits both sides. (H) a disagreement between two groups. (J) a risky gamble.
15. According to the passage, one reason Henry Ford gave for adopting a five-day workweek was that: (A) workers with more free time would buy more goods. (B) a new federal law required it. (C) his factories did not have enough machines. (D) his workers had begun observing Saint Monday.
16. The author mentions railway excursions and Saturday football matches mainly to: (F) suggest that most workers preferred watching sports to traveling on trains. (G) explain why Parliament passed the Factory Act of 1850. (H) illustrate how businesses took advantage of workers' new free time. (J) show that employers opposed the Saturday half-holiday.
17. Based on the passage, the Fair Labor Standards Act helped the two-day weekend spread in the United States by: (A) requiring all businesses in the country to close on Saturdays and Sundays. (B) making it expensive for employers to schedule long workweeks. (C) banning work on Mondays in factories. (D) setting the length of the Saturday half-holiday.
18. Based on the passage, the Saturday half-holiday in Britain and Ford's five-day week in the United States were similar in that both: (F) were supported at least partly because they served the interests of employers. (G) were required by national laws from the moment they were first put into practice. (H) began in the textile mills of early industrial Britain. (J) led directly to the end of the custom of Saint Monday.

Passage III — Informational

HUMANITIES: This passage is adapted from the essay "Saving the Silent Screen" by Rosalind Achebe-Hart (written for 7ESL).

When film historians talk about the silent era, which lasted from the 1890s until the late 1920s, they often begin with a sobering fact: most of the films made during those years no longer exist. A study published by ⁵the Library of Congress in 2013 found that only about a quarter of the feature-length films made in the United States between 1912 and 1929 survive in complete form. The rest have been lost entirely or survive only in incomplete copies.

¹⁰Some of these losses were accidents of chemistry. Until the early 1950s, most motion pictures were printed on cellulose nitrate film, a material that is highly flammable and that slowly breaks down over time. As nitrate film decays, it can become sticky, then brittle, ¹⁵and finally turn into a brownish powder. Fires in storage vaults destroyed entire collections.

Other losses were the result of neglect. Once sound films became popular in the late 1920s, studios saw little reason to keep silent pictures, which could no ²⁰longer earn money in theaters. Some prints were melted down to recover the silver they contained; others were simply thrown away. Few people imagined that audiences a century later might want to see them.

Today, the work of saving what remains falls to ²⁵archivists and restorers, and their job resembles detective work as much as technical repair. A single film may survive in several incomplete copies scattered across archives on different continents, each missing different scenes. One copy might have been trimmed by a ³⁰local censor, another damaged by water, a third reedited for a foreign market with translated title cards. Restorers must track down as many copies as possible, compare them frame by frame, and assemble the most complete version they can.

³⁵The most famous example of this process involves Fritz Lang's 1927 science-fiction film Metropolis. Soon after its premiere in Berlin, the film was shortened considerably, and the missing footage was long thought to be gone forever. Then, in 2008, a copy containing ⁴⁰much of the lost material was discovered at a film museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The print was badly scratched and had been copied onto a smaller film format, but it allowed restorers to put back roughly twenty-five minutes of footage. The version released in ⁴⁵2010 was the closest audiences had come in more than eighty years to the film Lang had intended. Because the recovered scenes remain visibly scratched, viewers can easily tell which footage was rediscovered.

Assembling the pieces is only the first step. Restorers ⁵⁰must also decide how the film should look and move. Silent films were often shot at speeds slower than the twenty-four frames per second that became standard with sound, and when they are shown at that modern speed, the people on screen seem to rush about in a comic hurry. ⁵⁵Restorers try to determine the correct speed from surviving documents, such as the instructions studios sent to projectionists. Many silent films were also not purely black-and-white: whole scenes were tinted with color, such as blue for night, amber for lamplight, and ⁶⁰red for fire. Recovering these colors often requires studying notes left on the original film or comparing surviving prints. Sound, too, is part of many restorations: because most silent films were shown with live music, restored versions often include newly ⁶⁵recorded orchestral scores.

Digital tools have transformed this work. Films can now be scanned at very high resolution, and software can remove scratches, dust, and flicker frame by frame. Yet the new technology has created new dilemmas. How much ⁷⁰cleaning is too much? If a restorer removes every flaw, the result may look sharper than the film ever did when it was new. Most archivists follow a principle of restraint: the goal is to show the film as its first audiences saw it, not to improve upon it.

⁷⁵That principle reflects a larger idea about what restorers are trying to preserve. A silent film is not only a story; it is also a record of how people once made and watched movies. The flicker of a hand-cranked camera, the particular glow of a tinted scene, even the ⁸⁰grain of the original film stock are all part of the historical evidence. A restorer who erases them may create a beautiful image but lose something of the past.

19. Which of the following statements most effectively summarizes the main point of the passage? (A) Digital technology has made it possible to recover every silent film once thought lost. (B) Most silent films were lost because studios deliberately destroyed them to make room for sound films. (C) Restorers of silent films must research and judge carefully, since their aim is to show films as first audiences saw them. (D) The restoration of Metropolis proved that silent films look best when digital tools make them sharper than the original prints.
20. According to the passage, as nitrate film decays, it can: (F) change from color to black-and-white. (G) shrink until it can be shown only on a smaller film format. (H) lose the title cards between scenes. (J) become sticky, then brittle, and finally turn to powder.
21. It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that studios got rid of many silent films in the late 1920s mainly because the studios: (A) no longer expected the films to earn money. (B) thought the films were too damaged. (C) were legally required to recycle nitrate. (D) wanted tinted versions instead.
22. The main purpose of the fourth paragraph (lines 24–34) is to: (F) argue that censors caused most of the losses of silent films. (G) describe the digital technology that is now used to scan old film at very high resolution. (H) explain why restorers must find and compare several surviving copies of a film. (J) list the archives on different continents that hold silent films.
23. According to the passage, the copy of Metropolis found in 2008 was: (A) a complete, undamaged print of the version of the film that audiences saw at the Berlin premiere. (B) a digital scan made by the film museum in Buenos Aires. (C) a shortened copy with no scenes that were not already known. (D) a badly scratched print on a smaller film format that included much of the missing footage.
24. As it is used in line 73, the word restraint most nearly means: (F) confinement. (G) moderation. (H) prohibition. (J) hesitation.
25. According to the passage, silent films shown at twenty-four frames per second can look comic because the films: (A) were tinted with bright colors that distract viewers from the movements of the actors. (B) were edited by foreign distributors to be shorter. (C) were often shot at slower speeds, so people on screen appear to move too quickly. (D) were filmed with cameras that flickered constantly.
26. The author includes the question "How much cleaning is too much?" (lines 69–70) mainly to: (F) introduce a problem that digital restoration tools have created. (G) suggest that restorers should stop using digital tools on old films altogether. (H) show that audiences prefer films with visible flaws. (J) criticize the restorers who worked on Metropolis.
27. Based on the passage, a restorer who follows the principle of restraint would most likely avoid: (A) using projectionists' instructions to set a film's speed. (B) making a film's images sharper than they were when the film was new. (C) restoring the blue tint of a night scene. (D) combining footage from several incomplete copies to fill the gaps in a film.

Passage IV — Informational

NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage is adapted from the article "Shade Where It's Needed" by Anika Sorensen (written for 7ESL). The figure presents hypothetical data for illustration.

On a hot summer afternoon, a walk across a city can feel like a tour of different climates. A treeless parking lot radiates heat through the soles of your shoes, while a shaded street a few blocks away feels noticeably ⁵cooler. Scientists have long known that cities as a whole tend to be warmer than the countryside around them, a pattern called the urban heat island effect. More recently, they have discovered how much temperatures can vary within a single city, and how ¹⁰closely those differences follow the presence or absence of trees.

The heat island effect has several causes. Asphalt, concrete, and dark rooftops absorb a large share of the sunlight that strikes them and store it as heat. Tall ¹⁵buildings trap warm air and block breezes, and cars, air conditioners, and factories release waste heat of their own. In the countryside, by contrast, much of the ground is covered by plants and moist soil. When sunlight falls on these surfaces, a good portion of its energy goes ²⁰into evaporating water rather than warming the air. Dry pavement has no such outlet for the energy it absorbs, and a dark rooftop can become far hotter than the air around it on a sunny afternoon.

For air temperature, the difference between a city and ²⁵its surroundings is often greatest at night. During the day, urban surfaces soak up heat; after sunset, they release it slowly, keeping city air warm long after the surrounding fields have cooled. This nighttime heat can be especially hard on people, because bodies that cannot ³⁰cool down overnight get little relief from the heat of the day.

Trees counteract the effect in two main ways. The first is shade. A tree's canopy intercepts sunlight before it reaches the pavement, so the surfaces beneath stay ³⁵cooler and store less heat to release later. The second is evapotranspiration, the process by which plants draw water from the soil and release it as vapor through tiny pores in their leaves. Just as evaporating sweat cools a person's skin, the water that evaporates from leaves ⁴⁰carries heat away from the surrounding air. Because shade and evapotranspiration work together, a street lined with mature trees can feel very different from a bare street only a block away.

To measure these effects, researchers in a number of ⁴⁵cities have organized heat-mapping campaigns. Volunteers attach temperature sensors to cars or bicycles and travel planned routes at set times of day, recording thousands of readings in a few hours. Some campaigns repeat their routes in the morning, the afternoon, and ⁵⁰the evening to see how the pattern changes over the course of a day. When the readings are mapped, the results are often striking: neighborhoods only a mile or two apart can differ by several degrees, and the hottest areas are usually those with the fewest trees.

⁵⁵These patterns matter because heat is not only uncomfortable; it can be dangerous. High temperatures place stress on the body, especially for older adults, young children, and people who work outdoors. Hot neighborhoods also use more electricity for air ⁶⁰conditioning, which raises costs for residents and can strain power grids during heat waves. Research has also found that tree cover is often unevenly distributed, with lower-income neighborhoods frequently having fewer trees than wealthier ones.

⁶⁵In response, many cities have launched programs to plant trees along streets and in schoolyards, often focusing on the hottest neighborhoods first. Such programs are not a quick fix. A newly planted tree may take a decade or more to grow a canopy wide enough to shade a ⁷⁰sidewalk, and city trees face hardships of their own, from compacted soil to damaged roots. Planting must be followed by years of watering and care, and residents are sometimes asked to help by watering young street trees during dry spells. Some cities have also set goals ⁷⁵for increasing the share of their land covered by tree canopy. Other strategies, such as cool roofs coated in light colors that reflect sunlight, can work more quickly. But trees offer benefits that paint cannot, from cleaner air to habitat for birds, and many urban ⁸⁰planners regard them as one of the best long-term investments a city can make.

Bar graph: Average Summer Air Temperature by Tree Canopy Cover. Horizontal axis: Percent of neighborhood covered by tree canopy. Vertical axis: Average air temperature (°F). Afternoon (3 p.m.): Under 10% 97, 10–19% 95, 20–29% 94, 30–39% 92, 40% or more 90 | Night (11 p.m.): Under 10% 85, 10–19% 83, 20–29% 81, 30–39% 79, 40% or more 76. Hypothetical data for illustration.

28. Which of the following statements most effectively summarizes the main point of the passage? (F) Cities should replace their trees with cool roofs, which lower temperatures more quickly and cost much less. (G) Heat-mapping campaigns show that cities are generally cooler than the countryside that surrounds them. (H) The heat island effect is caused mainly by the waste heat released by cars, air conditioners, and factories in cities. (J) Cities are often hotter than their surroundings, and trees can reduce that heat, though planting them takes time.
29. According to the passage, one reason the difference in air temperature between a city and its surroundings is often greatest at night is that: (A) urban surfaces that absorbed heat during the day release it slowly after sunset. (B) trees in cities release extra water vapor at night. (C) heat-mapping campaigns are usually conducted after dark. (D) cars and factories produce more waste heat at night than by day.
30. As it is used in line 33, the word intercepts most nearly means: (F) reflects. (G) blocks. (H) seizes. (J) summarizes.
31. The author compares evaporating sweat to water evaporating from leaves mainly to: (A) urge people to spend more time outdoors in hot weather. (B) suggest that trees and humans need the same amount of water. (C) show that evapotranspiration works only on very hot days. (D) explain an unfamiliar process by relating it to a familiar experience.
32. According to the passage, researchers in heat-mapping campaigns gather data by: (F) having volunteers travel planned routes with temperature sensors at set times of day. (G) measuring the height and width of the trees growing in each of the city's neighborhoods. (H) asking residents to report how hot their homes feel. (J) comparing satellite photographs of rooftops.
33. The passage suggests that tree-planting programs are "not a quick fix" mainly because: (A) cool roofs are much more popular with city residents than new trees are. (B) young trees take years to grow wide canopies and need ongoing care. (C) cities have no space left for new trees. (D) trees release heat of their own at night.
34. According to the figure, the average nighttime air temperature in neighborhoods with 20–29% tree canopy cover was: (F) 76°F. (G) 79°F. (H) 81°F. (J) 94°F.
35. Based on the figure, from the neighborhoods with under 10% canopy cover to those with 40% or more, the average air temperature decreased by: (A) 9°F in the afternoon and 7°F at night. (B) 7°F both in the afternoon and at night. (C) 7°F in the afternoon and 9°F at night. (D) 12°F both in the afternoon and at night.
36. The temperature difference between the least-shaded and most-shaded neighborhoods in the figure is larger at night than in the afternoon. Which idea from the passage best helps explain this pattern? (F) Tall buildings trap warm air and block cooling breezes. (G) Volunteers record thousands of readings in a few hours. (H) Cool roofs coated in light colors can work more quickly than trees. (J) Surfaces beneath a canopy stay cooler and store less heat to release later.

Part 1 — Writing Test — Mandatory Community Service

There is no word limit; strong essays are usually 500–750 words. The essay is not marked automatically: compare it with the Score 12, 10 and 8 samples, or, if you are a 7ESL Pro member, get a four-domain AI estimate.