TELPAS Reading and Writing, Grades 10–12 Practice Tests

Part 1

Plants release oxygen as a ________ of photosynthesis, the process they use to make food from sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) container (B) measurement (C) byproduct (D) habitat

Part 2

After the railroad reached the small prairie town in 1881, farmers could ship their crops to distant cities; ________, new stores, banks, and schools opened within a few years.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) nevertheless (B) instead (C) consequently (D) otherwise

Part 3

The three angles of a triangle always add up to 180 degrees, so if two angles measure 50 degrees and 60 degrees, the third angle must ________ 70 degrees.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) exceed (B) divide (C) estimate (D) equal

Part 4

Before she could start her new job at the clinic's front desk, Hannah had to ________ a form listing her address, her work schedule, and an emergency contact.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) complete (B) repair (C) predict (D) borrow

Part 5

Although the desert looks empty in the heat of the day, many ________ animals, such as owls, foxes, and kangaroo rats, become active after sunset.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) aquatic (B) domestic (C) nocturnal (D) extinct

Part 6

The museum's collection of old letters and diaries provides valuable ________ about daily life on Texas farms in the 1800s.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) furniture (B) evidence (C) permission (D) weather

Part 7

The team's first boat design was too heavy to float; ________, the engineers replaced the steel frame with a lighter aluminum one.

1. Which word or phrase best completes the sentence? (A) unless (B) although (C) therefore (D) whereas

Part 8 — Night Partners

On warm nights in the desert Southwest, some agave plants depend on an unusual partner: bats. Many agaves grow for years before they send up a single flower stalk, and in some kinds this stalk grows more than 15 feet tall. The flowers open at night and make sweet nectar. Nectar-feeding bats, such as the lesser long-nosed bat, push their long snouts and tongues into the flowers to drink. As they feed, yellow pollen sticks to the fur on their faces. When a bat flies to the next plant, it carries that pollen along, helping the agave make seeds. In return, the flowers give the bats the energy they need for their long migration north each spring.

1. What is the author's main purpose in this paragraph? (A) to warn readers that desert bats can be dangerous (B) to explain how bats and agaves help each other (C) to describe how farmers grow agave plants for food (D) to compare the long-nosed bat with other kinds of bats

Part 9 — Westbrook High School Job Fair

Westbrook High School Job Fair — Friday, March 6, 3:30–5:30 p.m., in the school library. More than twenty local employers, including a veterinary clinic, a construction company, and the city parks department, will be looking for part-time and summer workers. Students who plan to attend must sign up with Ms. Carter in the counseling office by Wednesday, March 4. Bring at least three printed copies of your résumé. If you do not have a résumé yet, counselors will help you write one during lunch on Monday and Tuesday. Please dress as you would for a real job interview.

1. According to the notice, what can a student do if he or she does not have a résumé? (A) Ask one of the employers for a copy at the fair (B) Get help writing one from counselors at lunch (C) Sign up for a different job fair later in the spring semester (D) Bring three copies of a report card to the fair

Part 16 — Read the news story. Then answer the questions.

Welding Class Builds Bike Racks for Downtown Harlow

[1] HARLOW, Texas — Downtown Harlow has eleven new places to park a bicycle, and every one of them was made by students at Harlow High School. On Saturday morning, city workers bolted the last of the new steel bike racks to the sidewalk outside the public library, finishing a project that the school's advanced welding class began last fall.

[2] The idea started with a problem. Last summer, the city repaved Main Street and widened its sidewalks, hoping to bring more people downtown. More people did come, and many of them arrived by bicycle. But there were only two old bike racks on the whole street. Riders locked their bikes to benches, trees, and even stop-sign poles. Shop owners complained that bikes were blocking their doorways.

[3] Grace Whitfield, the city's planning director, priced new racks from a manufacturer and found that eleven of them would cost more than the city had budgeted. Then she remembered touring the welding shop at Harlow High. "I thought, these students already know how to cut and join metal," she said. "Maybe we could solve two problems at once — get the racks we need and give students real work for a real customer."

[4] Welding teacher Owen Parker agreed right away, but he set one condition: the students would treat the city exactly like a paying client. That meant writing a proposal, meeting deadlines, and accepting criticism. "In industry, nobody gives you a grade for trying," Parker explained. "You deliver a product that is safe and meets the specifications, or you do it over."

[5] The twelve students in the class divided into teams. One team measured the sidewalks and studied city rules about how far a rack must stand from the curb. Another team sketched designs. The class voted on a shape based on Harlow's old water tower, a landmark that appears on the town's welcome sign. The final design is a steel hoop about three feet high, with a small outline of the tower welded into the top.

[6] Building the racks took longer than anyone expected. Much of the steel was donated scrap from a local fence company, and it had to be cleaned of rust and cut to exact lengths. In October, the first prototype failed a strength test when a weld cracked after students hung a 200-pound weight from it. "That was a rough day," said senior Riley Brooks, who led the building team. "We had put in a lot of hours. But finding the weak spot in the shop is a lot better than having a rack break on the street with someone's bike on it."

[7] The class studied the broken weld, changed the angle of the joint, and added a second support bar. The new design held more than twice the test weight. After that, the students fabricated the remaining racks in about six weeks, working on them during class and on several Saturday mornings. A local paint shop donated a weather-resistant coating in the school's colors, dark green and gold.

[8] The city paid only for the materials that the fence company did not donate, and the total came to less than half of the manufacturer's price. The money the city saved will go toward planting shade trees along Main Street next spring.

[9] For junior Mason Hale, the most valuable part of the project was not the welding itself. "I learned how to explain my ideas to adults who aren't welders," he said. "When we presented our plan at a city meeting, I was so nervous my hands were shaking. But they asked good questions, and we had answers."

[10] Business owners say the racks are already making a difference. "Bikes aren't blocking my door anymore, and customers keep asking who made the racks," said Ella Hughes, who owns a bookstore across from the library. "I tell them to go look for the little water towers."

[11] Parker hopes the project will not be the class's last. The city has already asked whether students could build benches for the new park on Elm Street. "My students proved they can do professional work," he said. "Now the whole town knows it, too."

1. According to paragraph 2, why did downtown Harlow need new bike racks? (A) The old racks broke when Main Street was repaved. (B) More people rode bikes downtown, but there were few places to park. (C) Shop owners wanted to sell bicycles on the wide new sidewalks. (D) The city planned to close Main Street to cars and trucks.
2. What does the word 'fabricated' mean in paragraph 7? (A) painted (B) tested (C) built (D) sketched
3. In paragraph 6, why does Riley Brooks say that finding the weak spot in the shop was better? (A) A failure during testing is safer than a failure after the racks are in use. (B) The class could skip the rest of the strength tests after finding one weak spot. (C) The school shop had better tools and more space than the city workers did. (D) Students would get higher grades for finding their mistakes.
4. Why did Mr. Parker want the students to treat the city like a paying client? (A) He wanted the city to pay each student for all of the hours that he or she worked. (B) He did not believe the city would keep its promises. (C) He wanted them to learn to meet real work standards. (D) He hoped to sell the extra racks to other nearby towns.
5. Which sentence best summarizes the article? (A) A city saved money on bike racks so that it could plant shade trees on Main Street. (B) Welding students built bike racks for their town, solving a real problem and learning job skills. (C) A bookstore owner complained about bicycles blocking her door until the city removed them from sidewalks. (D) Students practiced welding by cleaning and cutting scrap steel from a fence company.

Part 18 — Read the article. Then answer the questions.

Tiny Survivors: The Amazing Tardigrade

[1] If you scoop up a clump of damp moss from a crack in the sidewalk and look at it under a microscope, you may meet one of the toughest animals on Earth. It has a plump body and eight stubby legs, each ending in tiny claws, and it lumbers slowly through the thin film of water on the moss like a miniature bear. Scientists call it a tardigrade, but most people know it by its nickname: the water bear.

A Very Small Animal

[2] Most adult tardigrades are about half a millimeter long or smaller, so you need a strong magnifying lens or a microscope to see one clearly. In 1773, a German pastor named Johann Goeze first described them and called them "little water bears." A few years later, an Italian scientist gave them the name tardigrade, which means "slow stepper." Today, scientists have identified more than 1,000 species. They live almost everywhere: in moss and lichen, in soil and fallen leaves, in ponds, on mountaintops, in the deep sea, and even in Antarctica.

The Secret of Survival

[3] What makes tardigrades famous is not their size or their shape but their ability to survive conditions that would kill almost any other animal. Tardigrades need a thin layer of water around their bodies to stay active. When their home dries out, many tardigrades do something remarkable. They pull in their legs and head, curl into a dry, barrel-shaped ball called a tun, and lose almost all of the water in their bodies. Their metabolism — the chemical activity that keeps a living thing alive — slows to a tiny fraction of its normal rate. This state is called cryptobiosis, from Greek words meaning "hidden life."

[4] In the tun state, a tardigrade can wait for years. When water returns, it soaks up the water, uncurls, and within minutes to hours begins walking and eating again as if nothing had happened. Scientists believe special proteins protect the cells of dried tardigrades. These proteins may form a glass-like material that holds the cell parts in place so they do not break apart. Some of these proteins have been found only in tardigrades.

Tested to the Extreme

[5] Researchers have put dried tardigrades through some extreme tests. In laboratories, tuns have survived being cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible, and being heated for a short time above the boiling point of water. They have survived pressures much greater than those at the bottom of the deepest ocean. In 2007, European scientists even sent tardigrades into space on the outside of a satellite. After about ten days in the vacuum of space, the animals were brought back to Earth and given water. Some of them woke up and later laid eggs that hatched normally.

[6] Perhaps the most surprising record came from Antarctica. In 1983, researchers collected a sample of moss there and stored it in a freezer. More than thirty years later, scientists in Japan thawed the moss and found two tardigrades and an egg inside. Slowly, both animals revived. They began to crawl and eat again, and one of them went on to lay eggs of its own.

Not Quite Indestructible

[7] Because of records like these, tardigrades are sometimes described online as "indestructible." That word goes too far. Their amazing toughness mostly applies to the dried tun state, and even then, not every tardigrade survives every test. An active tardigrade, swimming in its drop of water, is a fragile creature. Studies suggest that active tardigrades can be killed by a day or so in warm water, and in their everyday lives they are eaten by other tiny animals — including other tardigrades. Their true talent is not being unbeatable. It is waiting out hard times until conditions improve.

[8] That talent makes them valuable to science. Researchers hope that understanding how tardigrade proteins protect cells could one day help people store medicines and vaccines without refrigeration. Not bad for an animal that most people have never seen.

1. Look at the picture and paragraph 1. Why is a tardigrade called a 'water bear'? (A) It has a plump body and stubby legs and moves slowly, like a bear. (B) It lives near streams where real bears catch fish. (C) It sleeps through the whole winter the way bears do. (D) It catches tiny fish in the water with its sharp claws.
2. What is the section 'The Secret of Survival' mostly about? (A) how tardigrades dry out and slow down to survive (B) how scientists first found tardigrades living in moss (C) the many different places around the world where tardigrades live (D) why tardigrades are often eaten by other tiny animals
3. What does the word 'revived' mean in paragraph 6? (A) froze solid again (B) were counted by scientists (C) grew much bigger (D) became active again
4. According to paragraph 5, what happened after the tardigrades returned from space? (A) All of them stayed in the tun state forever. (B) They went back into space for a longer trip. (C) Some of them woke up and laid eggs that hatched. (D) They grew larger than tardigrades on Earth.
5. How does the author feel about calling tardigrades 'indestructible'? (A) The author thinks it is the best word to describe them. (B) The author thinks the word exaggerates what tardigrades can do. (C) The author is unsure because they have never been tested. (D) The author thinks it fits active tardigrades better than dried tuns.
6. Why does the author include paragraph 8? (A) to explain where readers can find tardigrades (B) to describe how tardigrades are stored in freezers (C) to argue that medicines should be made from tardigrades (D) to show how studying tardigrades might help people

Part 20 — Read the story. Then answer the questions.

The Right Tool

[1] On his first morning at Lawson's Hardware, Wyatt Cole stood behind the counter in a red apron that still had fold lines from the package. The store smelled of sawdust and machine oil, and its narrow aisles seemed to go on forever: bins of nails, walls of wrenches, and drawers labeled with sizes he had never heard of. Wyatt had applied for the job because the store was close to home and it paid better than mowing lawns. Now, looking at twenty kinds of tape, he wondered what he had gotten himself into.

[2] Mr. Lawson, who had owned the store for thirty years, gave him a quick tour. "Paige will show you the register," he said. "Customers will ask you a hundred questions. Answer the ones you can."

[3] The first hour went well. Wyatt rang up paintbrushes and bags of potting soil, and he found the light bulbs without any help. Then a woman in a gardening hat set a small plastic bag on the counter. "My kitchen faucet drips all night," she said. "Someone told me I need a new washer. Is this the right one?" Inside the bag was a worn rubber ring.

[4] Wyatt had no idea. But the woman was looking at him as if he were an expert, and he did not want to seem useless on his first day. He walked her to the plumbing aisle, picked a package of washers that looked about the same size, and said confidently, "These should work."

[5] Two hours later, she was back, and she was not smiling. "They're too thick," she said. "I had the whole faucet apart on my counter, and nothing fit. I had to put the old one back in, and it's still dripping."

[6] Wyatt's face burned. He started to say that the package had looked right, then stopped. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said. "I guessed. I shouldn't have." He turned to Mr. Lawson, who had been listening from the key-cutting machine. "Could you help her? I don't actually know how to match these."

[7] Mr. Lawson took the old washer, laid it on a small ruler, and checked its thickness with a gauge Wyatt had never seen before. In less than a minute, he found the correct package. He even drew the woman a quick sketch showing which way the washer should face. She thanked him, gave Wyatt a small nod, and left.

[8] Wyatt expected a lecture. Instead, Mr. Lawson said, "Do you know the most useful sentence in this store? 'I don't know, but I'll find out.' Nobody expects you to know everything in your first week. They do expect you to be honest." He pulled a small, worn notebook from his apron pocket. "I started this when I was about your age. Write down every question you can't answer. Then go find the answer before you leave for the day."

[9] Wyatt bought a notebook of his own the next morning. By the end of June, it was full: the difference between wood screws and machine screws, how to read the numbers on sandpaper, why some paint needs a primer. During his lunch break, he walked the aisles and quizzed himself. When he did not know something, he said so — and then he found out.

[10] In late July, the woman in the gardening hat came back. This time she needed to fix a leaking garden hose. Wyatt asked to see the hose, measured the end, and led her straight to the right repair kit. He even showed her how to cut away the damaged piece.

[11] "Well," she said, smiling, "somebody has been doing his homework."

[12] Wyatt grinned. It had taken him most of the summer, but he had finally found the right tool for the job: a notebook and the courage to ask.

1. How does Wyatt feel at the end of paragraph 1? (A) overwhelmed by how much he has to learn (B) proud that he already knows the store well (C) angry that the job does not pay enough (D) bored because the store has few customers
2. Why does Wyatt choose a package of washers in paragraph 4 even though he is not sure? (A) Mr. Lawson told him to answer every question alone. (B) He does not want to seem useless. (C) The customer said she was in a hurry to leave. (D) He had fixed the same kind of faucet at home.
3. What does the phrase 'Wyatt's face burned' in paragraph 6 show? (A) He had been working outside in the sun. (B) He was angry at the customer for coming back. (C) He was starting to feel sick at work. (D) He felt embarrassed about his mistake.
4. What lesson does Mr. Lawson teach Wyatt in paragraph 8? (A) Customers should learn to fix their own problems at home instead of asking. (B) It is better to admit what you do not know and then learn it. (C) A good worker never asks the manager for any help. (D) Writing notes is only useful for workers who are older.
5. Which sentence best tells what the story is mostly about? (A) A teen learns how to fix a dripping faucet in his own kitchen. (B) A store owner decides to hire a new worker to run the register all summer. (C) A customer visits a hardware store to buy a garden hose kit. (D) A teen's mistake at a new job teaches him to be honest and keep learning.

Part 22 — Read the biography. Then answer the questions.

Bessie Coleman: Wings for Everyone

[1] In 1921, a young woman from Texas returned to the United States carrying something that no African American woman had ever earned before: an international pilot's license. Her name was Bessie Coleman, and she had crossed an ocean to learn to fly because no flight school in her own country would teach her.

Growing Up in Texas

[2] Elizabeth "Bessie" Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, a small town in the northeast corner of the state. She was one of thirteen children. When she was very young, her family moved to Waxahachie, south of Dallas, where her parents worked as sharecroppers — farmers who worked land owned by someone else and paid for it with part of their crop. Bessie spent long days picking cotton, but she also loved school and walked a long way each day to a one-room schoolhouse for Black children. She was said to be especially good at math.

[3] Bessie saved her money, and at eighteen she enrolled at a college in Langston, Oklahoma. Her savings lasted only one term, and she had to return home. Still, she did not give up on a bigger life. Around 1915, she moved to Chicago to live with her brothers and found work as a manicurist in a barbershop.

A Dream Takes Off

[4] In Chicago, Bessie heard stories from soldiers who had returned from World War I in Europe. According to a story she told later, one of her brothers teased her that French women were already flying airplanes, something she would never do. As she told it, the teasing became a challenge. Bessie decided that she would become a pilot.

[5] It was not simple. At that time, flight schools in the United States refused to accept her because she was African American and because she was a woman. Bessie did not accept that answer as final. With encouragement and financial help from Robert Abbott, the publisher of an important African American newspaper called the Chicago Defender, she made a plan to study in France, where a flight school would admit her. First, she took French classes at night. Then, in late 1920, she sailed for Europe.

[6] Flight training in those days was demanding and risky. The planes were made of wood, wire, and cloth, and pilots sat in open seats, exposed to the wind. Bessie trained for about seven months. On June 15, 1921, she received her license from an international aviation organization based in France. She was the first African American woman, and the first person of African American and Native American descent, to earn an international pilot's license.

Queen Bess

[7] Back in the United States, Coleman discovered that there were few jobs for pilots, especially for a Black woman. Passenger airlines barely existed yet. The most practical way for a pilot to earn a living was to perform in air shows, so she returned to Europe for advanced training in stunt flying. In 1922, she flew in her first American air show, in New York. Crowds watched her perform loops, figure eights, and steep dives. Newspapers called her "Queen Bess" and "Brave Bessie."

[8] Coleman used her fame to stand up for fairness. According to accounts of her life, when she was invited to perform in Waxahachie, she learned that the organizers planned separate entrances for Black and white spectators. She refused to fly unless everyone could enter through the same gate, and the organizers agreed. She also gave talks at schools and churches, encouraging young African Americans to learn about flying.

[9] Her greatest goal was to open a flight school for African Americans so that others would not face the same closed doors she had faced. She was giving lectures and saving money to make that dream possible. Sadly, she died in an airplane accident in Florida in 1926, when she was only thirty-four, before she could open the school.

A Lasting Legacy

[10] Bessie Coleman's dream did not end with her. In 1929, an engineer and pilot named William J. Powell opened the Bessie Coleman Aero Club in Los Angeles to train Black pilots. For many years, African American pilots flew over her grave in Chicago each year to honor her. In 1995, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp with her picture. Today, schools, streets, and scholarships carry her name, and she is remembered as a pioneer who proved that courage and persistence can open doors that others try to keep shut.

1. According to paragraph 2, where was Bessie Coleman born? (A) in Atlanta, Texas (B) in Waxahachie, Texas (C) in Langston, Oklahoma (D) in Chicago, Illinois
2. Which phrase helps the reader understand the word 'sharecroppers' in paragraph 2? (A) a small town in the northeast corner of the state (B) farmers who worked land owned by someone else (C) walked a long way each day to school (D) one of thirteen children in the family
3. Why did Bessie Coleman go to France to learn to fly? (A) Flight schools in the United States would not accept her. (B) French airplanes were faster than American airplanes. (C) Her brothers were still soldiers in France. (D) The Chicago Defender had a flight school in Paris.
4. Which of these events happened FIRST? (A) Coleman flew in an air show in New York. (B) Coleman received her pilot's license. (C) Coleman performed in Waxahachie. (D) Coleman took French classes at night.
5. What does paragraph 8 show about Bessie Coleman? (A) She wanted to perform only for crowds in her home state. (B) She was afraid to fly in front of very large crowds. (C) She liked giving talks more than she liked flying. (D) She used her fame to fight unfair treatment.
6. What does the phrase 'closed doors' mean in paragraph 9? (A) chances that were kept from people (B) buildings that were locked for the night (C) flight schools that had no airplanes left (D) safety rules for pilots in air shows
7. Which sentence best summarizes the biography? (A) Bessie Coleman picked cotton in Texas before she moved to the city of Chicago. (B) Bessie Coleman traveled to France so that she could learn the French language. (C) Bessie Coleman opened a flight school in Los Angeles that trained many Black pilots in the 1920s. (D) Bessie Coleman overcame unfair barriers to become a pilot and inspired others to fly.

Part 23 — Read the story. Then answer the questions.

The Last Game of HORSE

[1] For three weeks, boxes had been multiplying in the hallway outside Luke's room. First came one for books, then one for clothes, then a plastic bin labeled KITCHEN that held a single frying pan, a rice cooker, and six boxes of macaroni. Ava stepped over them every morning on her way to the bathroom and tried not to look inside.

[2] Her brother was leaving on Saturday for a university in Lubbock, six hours away. Everyone in the family kept saying how exciting it was. Mom had framed his graduation photo. Dad had bought him new tires for his old car. Ava, who was fifteen, said it was great, too. Then she went into her room and shut the door.

[3] It was not that she and Luke were especially close. He teased her about her music, ate the last of the cereal, and took forty-minute showers. But he was also the one who explained her physics homework at eleven o'clock at night without making her feel stupid. And every Friday evening for as long as she could remember, the two of them had played HORSE in the driveway, taking turns copying each other's shots until one of them missed five times.

[4] On Friday, the last evening before he left, Luke knocked on her door. "Driveway," he said, holding up the scuffed orange basketball.

[5] "I'm busy," Ava said, although she was only staring at her phone.

[6] "You're scared you'll lose," he said.

[7] She was not scared of losing. She was scared that if she went outside and played the last game, it would really be the last game. But she followed him anyway.

[8] The air was still warm, and the streetlight had just flickered on. Luke made a bank shot from the left side. Ava made it, too. He tried a hook shot and missed; she made a long shot from the edge of the lawn that he could not match. They played for almost an hour, laughing at their own wild shots, and for a while Ava forgot about the boxes.

[9] Then Luke took a shot from the crack in the concrete where they always stood for free throws, and he missed on purpose. Ava could tell. The ball bounced off the rim and rolled into the grass. "That's E," he said. "You win."

[10] "You missed that on purpose."

[11] "Maybe." He picked up the ball and handed it to her. "Keep it. Teach Dad how to play. He's terrible, but he'll try." Then he pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "And here. Things you'll need to know."

[12] The list was written in his messy handwriting. How to restart the internet router when it freezes. Which neighbor to call if the car battery dies. Where he hid the good flashlight. At the bottom he had written: You were always better at free throws. Don't tell anyone I said so.

[13] Ava felt a lump in her throat. She wanted to say something clever, but all she managed was, "Call me after your first chemistry class."

[14] "Deal," said Luke.

[15] He left early the next morning. The hallway looked strangely empty without the boxes. That evening, Ava stood in the driveway with the orange ball, feeling the quiet. Then she went inside and found her father reading on the couch.

[16] "Dad," she said, "do you know how to play HORSE?"

[17] He looked up, surprised, and then smiled. "No," he said, "but I'll try."

1. According to paragraph 2, where is Luke going? (A) to a new job in another state (B) to a basketball camp for the summer (C) to a university six hours away (D) to live with a friend in Dallas
2. Why does Ava go into her room and shut the door in paragraph 2? (A) She is angry that Luke got new tires and she did not. (B) She wants to finish her physics homework. (C) She does not like the graduation photo that Mom framed. (D) She is upset that Luke is leaving but does not want to show it.
3. What does the phrase 'a lump in her throat' mean in paragraph 13? (A) a tight feeling that comes when someone is about to cry (B) a pain from shouting too much during the game (C) a small piece of food that gets stuck and is hard to swallow (D) a feeling of anger that makes someone yell
4. Why does Luke give Ava the basketball? (A) He wants her to keep their Friday tradition going. (B) He has no room for it in his car. (C) He thinks the old ball is too worn to use. (D) He wants her to join the school basketball team.
5. Which sentence best tells what the story is mostly about? (A) A brother and sister argue about who is better at shooting free throws. (B) A family packs boxes of books and clothes and drives a college student to his new school. (C) A girl who dreads her brother's departure finds a way to keep their bond alive. (D) A father learns to play basketball after his son gets a new job.

Part 10

1. By the time the bus finally arrived, the students ________ in the rain for almost an hour. Which word or phrase correctly completes the sentence? (A) had been waiting (B) have been waiting (C) are waiting (D) will be waiting

Part 11

1. Neither the coach nor the players ________ happy with the umpire's final call. Which word or phrase correctly completes the sentence? (A) was (B) is (C) were (D) being

Part 12

1. My cousin works at a bakery, so she is used to wake up at four o'clock in the morning. The underlined word or phrase is not correct. Which answer should replace it? (A) woke (B) waking (C) wakes (D) waked

Part 13

1. After the long rehearsal, the actors congratulated themself on a great performance. The underlined word or phrase is not correct. Which answer should replace it? (A) theirselves (B) ourselves (C) himself (D) themselves

Part 14

1. If Carter had studied harder last month, he would passed the chemistry exam easily.

Part 15

Each of the students brought there own laptop and two sharp pencil to the science lab.

Part 17 — Writing: Describe the Picture

• where the students are and what kind of event this is
• what the students at two or more tables are doing
• which club you would join and why

Part 19 — Writing: Make a Choice

• tell which choice you would make
• give at least two reasons for your choice
• explain why you did not choose the other one

Part 21 — Writing: A Time Someone Taught You

• who the person was and what skill he or she taught you
• how you learned the skill, step by step
• why the skill is still useful to you today