AP English Language Multiple Choice 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.