AP English Language and Composition Practice Tests

Set 1 — Reading: questions 1–13

The following passage is excerpted from “An Apology for Idlers,” an essay by the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1877 and later collected in Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers (1881). Stevenson wrote at a time when Victorian Britain prized hard work, respectable careers, and self-improvement.

An Apology for Idlers

¹ JUST now, when every one is bound, under pain of a decree in absence convicting them of lèse-respectability, to enter on some lucrative profession, and labour therein with something not far short of enthusiasm, a cry from the opposite party who are content when they have enough, and like to look on and enjoy in the meanwhile, savours a little of bravado and gasconade. And yet this should not be. Idleness so called, which does not consist in doing nothing, but in doing a great deal not recognised in the dogmatic formularies of the ruling class, has as good a right to state its position as industry itself. It is admitted that the presence of people who refuse to enter in the great handicap race for sixpenny pieces, is at once an insult and a disenchantment for those who do. A fine fellow (as we see so many) takes his determination, votes for the sixpences, and in the emphatic Americanism, it “goes for” them. And while such an one is ploughing distressfully up the road, it is not hard to understand his resentment, when he perceives cool persons in the meadows by the wayside, lying with a handkerchief over their ears and a glass at their elbow. Alexander is touched in a very delicate place by the disregard of Diogenes. Where was the glory of having taken Rome for these tumultuous barbarians, who poured into the Senate house, and found the Fathers sitting silent and unmoved by their success? It is a sore thing to have laboured along and scaled the arduous hilltops, and when all is done, find humanity indifferent to your achievement. Hence physicists condemn the unphysical; financiers have only a superficial toleration for those who know little of stocks; literary persons despise the unlettered; and people of all pursuits combine to disparage those who have none.

² But though this is one difficulty of the subject, it is not the greatest. You could not be put in prison for speaking against industry, but you can be sent to Coventry for speaking like a fool. The greatest difficulty with most subjects is to do them well; therefore, please to remember this is an apology. It is certain that much may be judiciously argued in favour of diligence; only there is something to be said against it, and that is what, on the present occasion, I have to say. To state one argument is not necessarily to be deaf to all others, and that a man has written a book of travels in Montenegro, is no reason why he should never have been to Richmond.

³ It is surely beyond a doubt that people should be a good deal idle in youth. For though here and there a Lord Macaulay may escape from school honours with all his wits about him, most boys pay so dear for their medals that they never afterwards have a shot in their locker, and begin the world bankrupt. And the same holds true during all the time a lad is educating himself, or suffering others to educate him. It must have been a very foolish old gentleman who addressed Johnson at Oxford in these words: “Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task.” The old gentleman seems to have been unaware that many other things besides reading grow irksome, and not a few become impossible, by the time a man has to use spectacles and cannot walk without a stick. Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for life. It seems a pity to sit, like the Lady of Shalott, peering into a mirror, with your back turned on all the bustle and glamour of reality. And if a man reads very hard, as the old anecdote reminds us, he will have little time for thought.

⁴ Extreme busyness, whether at school or college, kirk or market, is a symptom of deficient vitality; and a faculty for idleness implies a catholic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity. There is a sort of dead-alive, hackneyed people about, who are scarcely conscious of living except in the exercise of some conventional occupation. … They have been to school and college, but all the time they had their eye on the medal; they have gone about in the world and mixed with clever people, but all the time they were thinking of their own affairs. As if a man’s soul were not too small to begin with, they have dwarfed and narrowed theirs by a life of all work and no play; until here they are at forty, with a listless attention, a mind vacant of all material of amusement, and not one thought to rub against another, while they wait for the train. … This does not appeal to me as being Success in Life.

1. Which of the following best describes the writer’s exigence as presented in paragraph 1? (A) A recent legal decree that requires young people to enter a respectable profession or face punishment (B) A prevailing expectation that everyone pursue a profitable career, which makes any defense of idleness sound like mere boasting (C) A public quarrel among physicists, financiers, and literary persons over which of their professions deserves the most public respect (D) A growing movement of idle people who demand that society stop rewarding hard work
2. In paragraph 1, the writer’s description of “Idleness so called” primarily serves to (A) concede that people who are idle accomplish nothing of practical value (B) suggest that the ruling class is itself the most idle group in society (C) distinguish the harmless idleness of youth from the harmful idleness of old age (D) redefine idleness as unrecognized activity rather than mere inactivity
3. The phrase “the great handicap race for sixpenny pieces” (paragraph 1) primarily serves to (A) portray the pursuit of wealth as a strenuous competition for trivial rewards (B) suggest that idlers avoid the competition because they know they would certainly lose it (C) praise a society in which everyone is free to compete for wealth (D) describe a popular sporting event of the writer’s own time
4. In paragraph 1, the references to Alexander and Diogenes and to the barbarians who took Rome function primarily to (A) prove that idleness has historically produced wiser leaders than ambition has (B) warn that idle societies are eventually conquered by industrious ones (C) illustrate the resentment achievers feel when others ignore their triumphs (D) demonstrate that the writer’s learning is superior to that of his critics
5. The sentence that ends paragraph 1 (“Hence physicists condemn … those who have none”) serves primarily to (A) introduce a counterargument that the writer goes on to refute in paragraph 2 (B) show that the professions are more hostile to one another than to idlers (C) concede that idlers deserve the contempt that working people feel for them (D) generalize the preceding examples of resentment to all occupations
6. In paragraph 2, the writer suggests that the greatest risk he faces in defending idleness is that (A) readers will shun him if his argument seems foolish (B) authorities will punish him for criticizing industry (C) idle readers will be offended by his description of them (D) readers will mistake his essay for a book of travels
7. The writer’s reminder that “this is an apology” (paragraph 2) primarily serves to (A) express regret in advance to the industrious readers whom the essay’s praise of idleness may offend (B) signal that the essay is a deliberate defense of one side, not an impartial weighing of both (C) admit that his case for idleness is weaker than the case for diligence (D) ask readers to forgive idle people for failing to work
8. The final sentence of paragraph 2 relies on an analogy primarily to (A) suggest that travel teaches more than formal education does (B) contrast the adventurous life of the idler with the narrow life of the worker (C) show that making one argument does not mean rejecting all others (D) illustrate how difficult it is to write well about any subject
9. In paragraph 3, the writer responds to the old gentleman’s advice to Johnson chiefly by (A) noting that many pursuits besides reading also grow difficult with age (B) agreeing that reading becomes an irksome task for the elderly (C) citing Johnson’s own reply to the old gentleman who addressed him at Oxford (D) arguing that reading is harmful to the health of the young
10. The detail that busy people at school and college “had their eye on the medal” (paragraph 4) recalls which earlier claim in the passage? (A) That idleness has as good a right to state its position as industry itself (paragraph 1) (B) That people of all pursuits combine to disparage those who have none (paragraph 1) (C) That to state one argument is not necessarily to be deaf to all others (paragraph 2) (D) That most boys pay dearly for school honours and begin the world bankrupt (paragraph 3)
11. The writer’s attitude toward the “dead-alive, hackneyed people” described in paragraph 4 is best described as (A) wistful and nostalgic (B) scornful and pitying (C) detached and clinical (D) admiring and envious
12. The image of busy people waiting for a train (paragraph 4) most directly supports which of the following claims? (A) Busy people are usually less competent at their jobs than idle people are. (B) Railway travel is especially tedious for people over the age of forty. (C) Work-centered lives can leave people unable to enjoy idle time. (D) People should retire from their professions well before middle age.
13. The final sentence of the passage (“This does not appeal to me as being Success in Life”) is best described as (A) an ironic understatement that mocks the conventional idea of success (B) a concession that the busy man has achieved a kind of success worth envying (C) a summary of the evidence about education presented in paragraph 3 (D) an abrupt shift to a new subject that the writer will go on to develop later

Set 2 — Reading: questions 14–24

The following passage is adapted from an essay by Daniel Mercer, a fictional writer created for this 7ESL practice test. The essay, written in 2024 for a general-interest magazine, reflects on why repairing things matters.

The Art of Maintenance

¹ Every Saturday from April to October, my neighbor Walter Briggs sets up a folding table at the end of his driveway and props a piece of cardboard against one of its legs. The sign reads, in careful block capitals, REPAIRS — NO CHARGE. Walter spent forty-one years as a machinist, and in retirement he has become the unofficial mechanic of our street. People bring him toasters that no longer toast, lamps that flicker, a child’s scooter with a wheel that wobbles like a loose tooth. Most of these he fixes before the owner has finished a cup of the coffee he keeps in a thermos. The ones he cannot fix, he opens anyway. “At least,” he tells their owners, “you’ll know what was inside.”

² I have come to think of Walter’s table as a small act of rebellion. Ours is a culture that celebrates making and ignores mending. We give prizes to inventors and headlines to launches; we cut ribbons on new bridges and new libraries. No one has ever cut a ribbon on a repainted bridge. No mayor holds a press conference to announce that the storm drains have been cleared. And yet the unglamorous truth is that most of the work that keeps a society running is not creation but care: the patient, repetitive, largely invisible labor of keeping what already exists from falling apart.

³ Consider the systems you depended on this morning. The water in your tap moved through pipes that someone inspected, flushed and patched. The road you drove on was resurfaced, or should have been. Even the phone in your pocket asked you, probably more than once this month, to accept an update—a quiet repair to software that was never quite finished. A city engineer I once interviewed described her job this way: “Everyone wants to build the thing. Nobody wants to own the thing. But the day after the ribbon is cut, the thing starts falling apart, and it never stops.” Her department, she said, treated deferred maintenance as a loan taken out at a ruinous rate of interest: every year of neglect makes the eventual bill larger.

⁴ I do not want to romanticize repair. Some things should be replaced. An aging refrigerator can quietly waste more electricity than it is worth; a car without modern brakes is not an heirloom but a hazard. Nostalgia is not an engineering principle. But the problem I am describing is not that we sometimes choose the new over the old. It is that we have increasingly forgotten there was a choice to make at all. When a blender stops working, the first question most of us ask is not “What broke?” but “Where can I buy another?”

⁵ Part of the reason is design. Many products are now sealed with glue rather than screws, or stamped with the warning NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE. The message is clear: you may use this object, but you may not understand it. We have become less like owners of our possessions than like tenants, permitted to occupy them until the landlord decides they are obsolete. I am hardly an expert myself. The first time I tried to rewire a lamp, I blew a fuse and plunged half my apartment into darkness. But I also learned, for the first time, how electricity actually travels from the wall to the bulb, and I have never looked at a lamp in quite the same way since.

⁶ That, finally, is what maintenance offers that replacement cannot: a relationship. To repair something, you have to pay attention to it—to notice the rattle before it becomes a break, to learn how the parts depend on one another. The same is true, I suspect, of the things that cannot be bought at all. Friendships, neighborhoods and institutions rarely collapse in a single dramatic moment. They erode, slowly, through small neglects that no one thought worth fixing.

⁷ Walter’s table is not really about toasters. By late morning there are usually five or six people standing around it, trading advice and holding flashlights, and I have met more of my neighbors there than anywhere else. He is teaching us, one loose screw at a time, that the things we already have deserve our care. The new will always dazzle us; that is its job. But the world we actually live in is held together by the people who show up on Saturday to tighten the bolts.

14. The writer begins the passage with the anecdote about Walter Briggs (paragraph 1) primarily to (A) establish that retired machinists are better qualified than engineers to maintain public systems (B) criticize neighbors who rely on others to fix their belongings (C) suggest that most household appliances are poorly made and should be avoided (D) introduce, through a concrete example, the practice of repair that the essay goes on to defend
15. The juxtaposition of “we cut ribbons on new bridges” with “No one has ever cut a ribbon on a repainted bridge” (paragraph 2) primarily serves to (A) suggest that ribbon-cutting ceremonies are a waste of public money (B) highlight the imbalance in how society honors creation and maintenance (C) argue that newly built bridges are less safe than older, repainted ones (D) mock politicians for taking credit for work done by others
16. The examples of tap water, the road, and the phone update in paragraph 3 primarily support the writer’s claim that (A) technology companies should stop releasing unfinished software (B) most public infrastructure is on the verge of collapse (C) most of the work that keeps a society running is maintenance rather than creation (D) individuals should learn to repair their own plumbing
17. The writer includes the city engineer’s remarks in paragraph 3 most likely in order to (A) add expert testimony that neglecting upkeep increases its eventual cost (B) introduce a counterargument that the writer then refutes in paragraph 4 (C) show that engineers resent the officials who plan new projects (D) provide precise statistics about the cost of repairs in one city
18. Paragraph 4 functions primarily to (A) abandon the writer’s earlier position in favor of a more practical one (B) concede that replacement is sometimes wise while refining the central claim (C) prove with new evidence that repair is always cheaper than replacement (D) shift the essay’s focus from household objects to large public infrastructure
19. The writer’s account of blowing a fuse while rewiring a lamp (paragraph 5) contributes to the argument primarily by (A) warning readers that home electrical repairs are risky and should be left to trained professionals (B) establishing the writer’s authority as an experienced electrician (C) illustrating the dangers of products that are sealed with glue (D) casting the writer as an amateur whose failed attempt still taught him something
20. The comparison of people to “tenants” (paragraph 5) primarily emphasizes that (A) most people can no longer afford to buy the products they use (B) manufacturers now rent their products to consumers instead of selling them (C) people who cannot repair their possessions lack real control over them (D) consumers treat carelessly the things that they do not truly own
21. In context, the word “erode” (paragraph 6) suggests that friendships, neighborhoods and institutions (A) decline gradually through accumulated small failures of attention (B) are destroyed chiefly by sudden, dramatic conflicts among their members (C) are worn down chiefly by forces beyond human control (D) grow stronger when they are tested by hardship
22. In paragraph 6, the writer’s reasoning moves from (A) a general principle about relationships to a specific example of a broken appliance (B) an argument for replacing things to an argument for repairing them (C) a description of Walter’s table to an analysis of modern product design (D) the attention repair demands to a claim about relationships and communities
23. The writer most likely assumes that his audience (A) consists mainly of engineers and officials responsible for public infrastructure (B) shares the common habit of replacing broken things rather than fixing them (C) already repairs most of its belongings and needs only encouragement to continue (D) distrusts new technology and must be persuaded to accept it
24. Which of the following best describes the writer’s purpose in the passage as a whole? (A) To explain step by step how common household appliances can be repaired (B) To profile a retired machinist whose skills are no longer in demand (C) To persuade readers to value maintenance as care for objects and communities (D) To argue that governments should spend less money on building new public projects

Set 3 — Writing: questions 25–32

The following is a draft of a student’s essay for a school newspaper. The student is writing about a proposal to change the city rules on backyard beekeeping.

(1) In Riverton, it is currently illegal to keep honeybees on any residential lot smaller than one acre. (2) Because most homes in the city sit on lots a quarter of that size, the rule amounts to a near-total ban. (3) Next month, the city council will vote on a proposal to replace the ban with a permit system that would allow up to two hives on smaller lots. (4) The council should approve it.

(5) Honeybees pollinate many of the fruits and vegetables that people grow in home and community gardens. (6) Riverton’s community gardens have reported smaller harvests of squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes in recent summers, and several longtime gardeners blame a shortage of pollinators. (7) A few hives scattered around the city could help. (8) Honey is also delicious, and my family stirs it into our tea almost every morning.

(9) Some residents worry that backyard hives will lead to more stings. (10) Honeybees are generally not aggressive. (11) They sting mainly when their hive is disturbed, and a bee collecting nectar in a flower bed has little reason to bother anyone. (12) The proposal also includes several safety rules. (13) Hives would have to sit at least ten feet from property lines, and beekeepers would need to provide a water source so that bees do not gather at neighbors’ pools and birdbaths. (14) Beekeepers would also have to complete a short training course before receiving a permit. (15) Finally, the city could revoke a permit if a hive caused repeated problems.

(16) Other cities have allowed backyard beekeeping for years without serious problems. (17) Riverton can do the same.

25. The writer wants to add a sentence before sentence 1 that would capture the audience’s interest and introduce the problem the proposal is meant to address. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal? (A) Last summer, tomato plants in Riverton’s community gardens flowered but bore little fruit. (B) Bees have existed on Earth for millions of years, long before the first human cities were built. (C) Many people are afraid of bees, and until recently I was one of them. (D) The Riverton City Council has seven members, who meet on the first Tuesday of each month.
26. The writer wants to revise sentence 4 (reproduced below) so that it presents a clear, specific claim for the rest of the essay to support. Which version best accomplishes this goal? The council should approve it. (A) The council should think carefully about the proposal before making any decision. (B) The council should approve it, since bees are an interesting topic that many people care about. (C) The council should approve the permits, which would aid gardens and still protect neighbors. (D) The council should approve it, even though there are many good arguments on both sides.
27. In sentence 7 (reproduced below), the writer wants to state more precisely how the hives would address the problem described in sentence 6. Which version of the portion (“could help”) best accomplishes this goal? A few hives scattered around the city could help. (A) could help Riverton in a variety of important ways (B) could help the city become a better place for all of its residents (C) could help with many of the problems that the city is facing (D) could help restore the pollination that these gardens depend on
28. The writer is considering deleting sentence 8 (reproduced below). Should the writer keep or delete this sentence? Honey is also delicious, and my family stirs it into our tea almost every morning. (A) Keep it, because it adds a personal detail that makes the writer’s argument about bees more relatable to readers. (B) Keep it, because it offers an additional benefit of beekeeping that would help persuade the city council to act. (C) Delete it, because it shifts from the gardens’ need for pollinators to a personal preference. (D) Delete it, because it contradicts the claim that bees help gardens produce food.
29. The writer wants to revise sentence 9 (reproduced below) to acknowledge that the concern is reasonable without weakening the argument. Which version best accomplishes this goal? Some residents worry that backyard hives will lead to more stings. (A) Some residents foolishly worry that backyard hives will lead to more stings. (B) Some residents, especially those with allergies, understandably worry that hives will mean more stings. (C) Many residents are right that backyard hives will lead to far more stings. (D) Some residents worry about stings, but their opinions should not matter to the council.
30. Which of the following words or phrases, if added to the beginning of sentence 10 (adjusting the capitalization as needed), would provide the most logical transition from sentence 9? (A) However, (B) Similarly, (C) As a result, (D) For example,
31. The writer wants to add a sentence after sentence 16 that provides specific evidence for the claim in that sentence. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal? (A) Beekeeping has been practiced by humans for thousands of years, dating back at least to ancient Egypt. (B) Many beekeepers say that caring for bees is a relaxing and rewarding hobby. (C) Honeybees can fly as far as three miles from their hive in search of flowers. (D) Carlton, a nearby city of similar size, has issued 150 hive permits since 2015 with few complaints.
32. The writer wants to replace sentence 17 with a conclusion that reinforces the main argument and connects to the essay’s central concerns. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal? (A) Riverton can do the same, and perhaps someday the city will even host its own honey festival. (B) By approving the permit system, the council can help Riverton’s gardens flourish while keeping neighbors safe. (C) In conclusion, bees are some of the most important insects in the world. (D) The council should also consider banning certain garden pesticides, which is a separate issue that deserves its own public vote.

Set 4 — Writing: questions 33–40

The following is a draft of a student’s feature article for a school newspaper. The student is writing about the history of the library card catalog.

(1) For most of the twentieth century, anyone looking for a book in a library began at a large wooden cabinet filled with small drawers. (2) Inside each drawer were hundreds of index cards, each one describing a single book. (3) Today, most of these cabinets have disappeared, replaced by computer searches. (4) The card catalog was an important invention.

(5) Before card catalogs, many libraries listed their books in bound volumes. (6) These printed lists had a serious drawback. (7) Whenever the library bought a new book, there was no room to add it in the right place, so the lists quickly became outdated. (8) Librarians in the late 1700s and 1800s began writing entries on separate slips of paper and later on cards, which could be rearranged endlessly.

(9) In 1876, Melvil Dewey published a system for organizing books by subject. (10) Dewey also helped standardize the size of catalog cards. (11) The standard card measured roughly three by five inches, close to the size of the index cards students still buy today. (12) Dewey was also known for his strong opinions about simplifying English spelling. (13) With cards of the same size, libraries could buy cabinets from a single supplier, and things got way easier for everybody.

(14) Starting in the 1980s, libraries began replacing their card catalogs with computer databases. (15) Online catalogs are faster, and they can be searched from home. (16) Some libraries got rid of their cabinets in various ways, and many drawers ended up in antique shops. (17) Yet the basic ideas behind the card catalog survive. (18) Every time someone searches a library database by author, title, or subject, that person is using categories that librarians developed for paper cards.

33. The writer wants to revise sentence 4 (reproduced below) so that it clearly conveys the main purpose of the essay. Which version best accomplishes this goal? The card catalog was an important invention. (A) The card catalog was an important invention that everyone should know more about. (B) Many people today have never seen a card catalog in person. (C) Although it has mostly vanished, the card catalog changed how people find information, and its ideas still shape the way we search today. (D) Card catalogs were made of wood, and some were very large.
34. Which of the following is the most effective way to combine sentences 6 and 7 (reproduced below)? These printed lists had a serious drawback. Whenever the library bought a new book, there was no room to add it in the right place, so the lists quickly became outdated. (A) These printed lists had a serious drawback: whenever the library bought a new book, there was no room to add it in the right place, so the lists quickly became outdated. (B) Having a serious drawback, whenever the library bought a new book, there was no room in these printed lists to add it in the right place, so they quickly became outdated. (C) These printed lists, which had a serious drawback whenever the library bought a new book, had no room to add it, and they quickly became outdated. (D) Because these printed lists had a serious drawback, the library bought new books, and there was no room to add them in the right place, so the lists quickly became outdated.
35. Which of the following words or phrases, if added to the beginning of sentence 8 (adjusting the capitalization as needed), would provide the most logical transition? (A) In addition, (B) To solve this problem, (C) Nevertheless, (D) For instance,
36. The writer wants to add a sentence after sentence 8 that provides a specific historical example supporting the claim in that sentence. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal? (A) Paper was expensive in the 1700s, and many ordinary people could not afford to own books. (B) Today, many students use sticky notes rather than slips of paper to keep track of information. (C) Some librarians preferred bound volumes, which were harder to lose or misplace than individual cards were. (D) In 1791, for example, officials in revolutionary France recorded the titles of confiscated books on the backs of playing cards.
37. In sentence 13 (reproduced below), the writer wants to revise the portion (“and things got way easier for everybody”) so that it matches the tone of the essay and states the benefit more precisely. Which version best accomplishes this goal? With cards of the same size, libraries could buy cabinets from a single supplier, and things got way easier for everybody. (A) and cards made in one library would fit the drawers of any other (B) and things got easier for everybody in a lot of different ways (C) and the whole library world was basically transformed almost overnight (D) and librarians no longer had to do very much work at all
38. The writer wants to add the following sentence to the essay.Because it grouped books on related topics together, a reader who found one useful book could often find several more nearby.Where would the sentence best be placed? (A) After sentence 2 (B) After sentence 7 (C) After sentence 9 (D) After sentence 15
39. The writer is considering deleting sentence 12 (reproduced below). Should the writer keep or delete this sentence? Dewey was also known for his strong opinions about simplifying English spelling. (A) Keep it, because it provides a detail that helps explain why Dewey standardized catalog cards. (B) Keep it, because it shows that Dewey’s influence extended beyond libraries. (C) Delete it, because it repeats information already stated in sentence 10. (D) Delete it, because it strays from the paragraph’s focus on standardizing catalog cards.
40. In sentence 16 (reproduced below), the writer wants to replace the portion (“got rid of their cabinets in various ways”) with wording that is more precise. Which choice best accomplishes this goal? Some libraries got rid of their cabinets in various ways, and many drawers ended up in antique shops. (A) did different things with their old cabinets (B) sold their old cabinets at public auctions (C) disposed of the cabinets in one way or another (D) said goodbye to their cabinets in their own ways

Set 5 — Writing: questions 41–45

The following is a draft of a student’s proposal to the local school board. The student is arguing that the district should collect rainwater at its schools.

(1) Every time it rains, water pours off the roof of Lincoln Middle School, runs across the parking lot, and disappears into storm drains. (2) Meanwhile, the school pays for treated city water to keep its athletic fields and vegetable garden green all summer long. (3) The district should install rainwater-harvesting tanks at its schools.

(4) A rainwater-harvesting system collects runoff from a roof through gutters and stores it in large tanks. (5) The stored water can then be used for irrigation, which does not require water that is safe to drink. (6) The tanks also reduce the amount of runoff that floods streets during storms and carries oil, fertilizer, and litter into local streams.

(7) Installing the tanks and connecting them to the gutters would cost money at first. (8) Over time, however, the savings on water bills could pay for them. (9) Science classes could also use the tanks to measure rainfall, track water use, and study the water cycle.

41. The writer is considering adding the following sentence after sentence 1.Honestly, it is kind of ridiculous that nobody in charge has thought of this before.Should the writer make this addition? (A) Yes, because it emphasizes how urgent and long-ignored the problem described in sentence 1 is. (B) Yes, because its conversational tone makes the proposal more engaging. (C) No, because it repeats information already given in sentence 1. (D) No, because its dismissive tone could alienate the board members the proposal aims to persuade.
42. The writer wants to revise sentence 3 (reproduced below) to make the proposal more persuasive to school board members who are especially concerned about the district’s budget. Which version best accomplishes this goal? The district should install rainwater-harvesting tanks at its schools. (A) To lower water bills and conserve water, the district should install rainwater-harvesting tanks at its schools. (B) The district should install rainwater-harvesting tanks at all of its schools, no matter what they end up costing. (C) Because rain is interesting to study, the district should install rainwater-harvesting tanks at its schools. (D) The district should install rainwater-harvesting tanks at its schools, as many students have suggested.
43. Which of the following is the most effective way to combine sentences 4 and 5 (reproduced below)? A rainwater-harvesting system collects runoff from a roof through gutters and stores it in large tanks. The stored water can then be used for irrigation, which does not require water that is safe to drink. (A) A rainwater-harvesting system collects runoff from a roof through gutters and stores it in large tanks, and irrigation is when water is used that does not require being safe to drink. (B) Collecting runoff from a roof through gutters, large tanks store it, and the stored water can then be used for irrigation, which does not require water that is safe to drink. (C) A rainwater-harvesting system collects runoff from a roof through gutters and stores it in large tanks for irrigation, which does not require drinkable water. (D) A rainwater-harvesting system, which does not require water that is safe to drink, collects runoff from a roof through gutters and stores it in large tanks for irrigation.
44. The writer wants to add a sentence after sentence 8 that provides specific evidence to support the claim in that sentence. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal? (A) Rain barrels are sold at most hardware stores in a variety of colors and sizes. (B) Harwood High School, in a neighboring district, installed a similar system in 2019 and recovered its cost within five years through lower water bills. (C) Many students would enjoy helping to decorate the tanks with murals. (D) Water bills have become a common topic of conversation among parents in the district.
45. The writer wants to add a concluding sentence after sentence 9 that brings together the main benefits discussed in the proposal. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal? (A) Rain is one of the most important parts of the water cycle. (B) The school could also install solar panels on its roof in the future. (C) Some schools in dry regions may not receive enough rain for tanks to be useful. (D) By capturing the rain that already falls on our roofs, the district can save money, protect local streams, and give students a working lesson in conservation.

Question 1 — Synthesis Essay

Many American schools now restrict students’ use of cell phones during the school day. Some states and districts require students to lock their phones in pouches or cabinets from the first bell to the last, while others allow phones between classes or at lunch but not during instruction. Supporters of strict limits argue that they improve learning and school social life; critics raise concerns about safety, communication with families, and whether students ever learn to manage their devices on their own.

Carefully read the following six sources, including the introductory information for each source. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on whether schools should ban student phones for the entire school day.

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.
• Select and use evidence from at least three of the provided sources to support your line of reasoning. Indicate clearly the sources used through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary. Sources may be cited as Source A, Source B, etc., or by using the description in parentheses.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

Source A (Ashford article)
Ashford, Dana. “The Quiet Hallway: What Happened When Our School Put the Phones Away.” Lakeshore Educator, 9 Sept. 2025.

The following is excerpted from an article published in a monthly magazine for teachers and school administrators in the Great Lakes region. The author is a high school English teacher. (The author and publication are fictional, created for this 7ESL practice test.)

For eleven years I taught ninth-grade English in a building where the loudest sound between classes was silence—and not the good kind. Students walked the hallways with their heads bowed over glowing screens, thumbs moving, earbuds in. When the bell rang, I spent the first five minutes of every period asking, then pleading, then bargaining for their attention. I lost more of those negotiations than I won.

Last fall our district adopted what it called a “bell-to-bell” policy. Every student now locks his or her phone in a magnetic pouch at the front door and unlocks it at dismissal. I expected a revolt. What I got instead, after about three weeks of grumbling, was noise: the sound of students talking to one another in the cafeteria, arguing about a basketball game, laughing at a joke that did not come from a video.

The change in my classroom was just as striking. Discussions lasted longer. Students who used to sneak glances at their laps now sneak glances at the clock, which is at least a sign that they are present. By the end of the first semester, the number of discipline referrals for phone-related conflicts—fights that started over a posted photo, cheating by text during quizzes—had fallen from 61 the previous fall to 14.

Critics call bans like ours old-fashioned, even authoritarian. I understand the objection, but I think it misreads the problem. A smartphone is not a pencil or a calculator; it is a device engineered by teams of very smart adults to hold the attention of anyone who picks it up. Asking a fifteen-year-old to ignore it for seven hours through willpower alone is like asking him to study in a room with a television playing his favorite show. Many adults cannot manage it. Why should we expect it of children?

A ban does not solve everything. We still have students who are anxious, distracted, or bored, and the pouches do nothing for a teenager who scrolls until two in the morning. But the school day is one of the few places left where we can guarantee young people several hours of undivided time with books, with ideas, and with each other. That guarantee is worth a little grumbling.

Source B (Midvale survey)
Midvale Center for Family and School Research. “Phones and the School Day: A National Survey of Teachers, Parents, and Students.” Midvale Center, 2025.

The following graph is adapted from a report by a nonprofit research organization that surveyed 1,200 high school teachers, 1,500 parents of high school students, and 1,800 high school students in the United States. Each group was asked which phone policy it would prefer for a local public high school. (The organization is fictional, created for this 7ESL practice test.)

Source C (Denholm column)
Denholm, Marcus. “Before You Lock Up the Phones, Talk to the Parents.” Riverbend Courier, 22 Jan. 2025.

The following is excerpted from an opinion column published in a daily newspaper in a mid-sized American city. The author is the parent of two high school students and a volunteer emergency medical technician. (The author and publication are fictional, created for this 7ESL practice test.)

My daughter has type 1 diabetes. The sensor on her arm sends her blood-sugar readings to an app on her phone every five minutes, and the app sends an alert to me and to the school nurse when her numbers drop. Under the “phone-free day” policy our school board is now considering, that phone would spend seven hours sealed in a pouch in her backpack. The board assures me that exceptions will be made for “documented medical needs.” I believe them. I also know how exceptions work in a building of 1,400 teenagers: the child with the exception becomes the child everyone watches.

I am not arguing that phones belong on desks during chemistry. They don’t. Teachers have every right to demand attention, and most parents I know support rules that keep devices out of sight during class. What worries me is the leap from “not in class” to “not at all,” as though the only choice were between chaos and a vault.

Parents of my generation remember the pay phone by the school office. Our children live in a different world, and so, unfortunately, do we. Many families now think first of the worst day—a lockdown, a fire, a bus that breaks down on a county road in January. Safety experts rightly caution that during an emergency, students should follow instructions from adults rather than fumble with their phones, and I take that seriously. But I have answered enough emergency calls to know that information matters, and that a parent who cannot reach a child for hours will fill the silence with fear.

There are also ordinary reasons. Many high school students work after school, care for younger siblings, or depend on rides that change at the last minute. Their lives do not stop at the classroom door, and those lives are coordinated by text.

A sensible policy would treat teenagers as people learning to manage a powerful tool, not as suspects. Keep phones silent and out of sight during class. Let students check them at lunch. Punish misuse firmly. That approach asks more of students than a locked pouch does—and preparing them for adult life is, after all, the point of school.

Source D (Everly policy brief)
Everly, Ruth. “What the Evidence Can and Cannot Tell Us About School Phone Bans.” Policy Brief no. 14, Northgate Institute for Learning Policy, Mar. 2025.

The following is excerpted from a policy brief published by an independent education research institute. The author is an education researcher who studies how adolescents use technology. (The author and publication are fictional, created for this 7ESL practice test.)

Few school policies have spread as quickly, or with as much public enthusiasm, as restrictions on student phones. Before districts commit to a particular model, however, it is worth being honest about what the research actually shows.

The strongest findings concern learning. In several studies of schools that introduced strict bans, test scores rose modestly in the following years, and the gains were largest among students who had previously been lowest-achieving. One plausible explanation is that phones are most distracting for the students who are already struggling to stay engaged; removing the distraction helps them most. These effects are real but small, roughly equivalent to a few additional days of instruction per year.

The findings on well-being are less clear. Teachers and principals consistently report calmer hallways and fewer conflicts, and some surveys show that students in phone-free schools feel less pressure from social media during the day. Yet studies that follow students over time have not found consistent improvements in anxiety or depression. This should not surprise us. Most adolescent phone use happens outside school hours, beyond the reach of any school policy.

Finally, the details matter more than the headline. A ban that exists on paper but is enforced unevenly—strictly in one teacher’s room, loosely in another’s—may produce more conflict than no ban at all, because students experience it as arbitrary. Schools that saw the best results tended to share three features: a clear rule applied to everyone, a simple storage system, and early communication with families about how to reach students in an emergency.

None of this means that phone restrictions are a mistake. It means that they are a tool rather than a cure. A district that locks away phones and considers its work finished may be disappointed. A district that pairs clear limits with teaching—how attention works, how apps are designed, how to set one’s own boundaries—is more likely to see lasting change, both in the classroom and after the final bell.

Source E (Gilchrist essay)
Gilchrist, Nora. “I Hated the Pouch. Then I Didn’t. Then I Did Again.” Youth Forum Quarterly, Spring 2025.

The following is excerpted from a personal essay published in a national magazine that features writing by high school students. The author was a senior at a public high school that adopted a phone-pouch policy during her junior year. (The author and publication are fictional, created for this 7ESL practice test.)

On the first day of the pouch policy, a boy in my history class tried to open his with a pair of scissors. By October he had stopped trying. By November, so had I.

I want to be honest about what changed, because the adults who talk about phone bans usually describe us either as addicts who needed rescuing or as victims of an unfair rule. Neither is quite right. The first month was miserable. I felt a phantom buzz in my pocket all day. Then something shifted. At lunch, I started sitting with people I had known since elementary school but hadn’t really talked to in years. I read an entire novel during study hall, which I had not done since middle school. I was, I admit, happier.

But the pouch also taught me something the school did not intend. It taught me that the adults did not trust us to make decisions, and that when they did not trust us, they did not bother to teach us. We never had a single lesson about why apps are so hard to put down or how to set limits for ourselves. The pouch did the work, so we never had to. When I unlocked it at 3:05, I scrolled harder than ever, as if to make up for lost time.

Next fall I will live in a college dorm, and no one will lock my phone in a pouch. I will have to decide, every hour, what my attention is worth. I wonder whether my school prepared me for that moment or simply postponed it.

If I could rewrite the policy, I would keep the quiet lunches. I would also give seniors a chance to earn their phones back during free periods, with real consequences if they misuse them. Freedom you never practice is freedom you never learn.

Source F (Holloway photo)
Holloway, Jess. Photograph. Harbor Valley Gazette, 2 Oct. 2024.

The following photograph accompanied a newspaper story about a suburban public high school that requires students to store their phones in locked wall cabinets from the first bell to the last. (The photographer and newspaper are fictional; the image was created for this 7ESL practice test.)

Image: Documentary-style color photograph of a high school hallway. A large gray metal cabinet of small numbered, lockable compartments, many with their doors standing open, is mounted on the wall beside a classroom door. A short line of teenagers with backpacks waits to use it: one student slides a phone into a compartment, the student behind her takes a last look at her own screen, and two boys behind them wait their turn, smiling and talking. A teacher wearing a lanyard and holding a clipboard and a ring of keys stands beside the cabinet, watching. Farther down the hallway, other students with backpacks walk past a bulletin board.

Question 2 — Rhetorical Analysis Essay

On April 10, 1899, Theodore Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, delivered the following speech to the Hamilton Club, a Republican men’s club in Chicago whose members were largely business and professional men. Roosevelt spoke less than a year after the United States’ victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898, at a time when Americans were debating what role their nation should play in the world. The passage below is an excerpt; portions of the speech, including a long section on foreign policy, have been omitted.

Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Roosevelt makes to convey his message that a life of effort and struggle is more worthy than a life of ease.

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that analyzes the writer’s rhetorical choices.
• Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

from “The Strenuous Life”

¹ In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who pre-eminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

² A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what every self-respecting American demands from himself and from his sons shall be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you would teach your boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in their eyes—to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? … You men of Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you neither preach nor practice such a doctrine. You work yourselves, and you bring up your sons to work. … We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort. …

³ In the last analysis a healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk. …

⁴ As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. If, in 1861, the men who loved the Union had believed that peace was the end of all things, and war and strife the worst of all things, and had acted up to their belief, we would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, we would have saved hundreds of millions of dollars. … We could have avoided all this suffering simply by shrinking from strife. And if we had thus avoided it, we would have shown that we were weaklings, and that we were unfit to stand among the great nations of the earth. …

⁵ We of this generation do not have to face a task such as that our fathers faced, but we have our tasks, and woe to us if we fail to perform them! …

⁶ I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the life of ease but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by, and will win for themselves the domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified, for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.

Question 3 — Argument Essay

In Walden (1854), the American writer Henry David Thoreau describes the two years he spent living in a small cabin he built near Walden Pond, outside Concord, Massachusetts. In the chapter “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” he writes:

“Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand …”

Thoreau’s call for simplicity has been quoted for more than 150 years, often by people who believe that modern life has become too complicated.

Write an essay that argues your position on the value of simplicity.

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.
• Provide evidence to support your line of reasoning.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand … — Henry David Thoreau