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Accuplacer Reading Full-Length Practice Test

21 total questions (5 free)

Question 1 of 5

Extract:

In 1948, Ross Lockridge's novel Raintree County led the best-seller lists and was chosen as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. The 1,060-page narrative, set in nineteenth-century Indiana, unapologetically aspired to be The Great American Novel. Sadly, it was the only book Lockridge would write. After his death that same year, the novel sank into obscurity, though a film adaptation starring Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift was released in 1957.

The author mentions the best-seller lists and the Book-of-the-Month Club primarily to emphasize Raintree County's:

Correct Answer: C

Rationale: The references to Raintree County leading the best-seller lists and being selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club are both clear indicators of its initial popularity and widespread commercial success. These facts are not used to comment on the book's lasting legacy, nor do they suggest a limited audience, and while the book may have had artistic goals, these specific details are meant to show how well it sold.

Question 2 of 5

Extract:

Athletes from Rutgers University and Princeton University participated in the first intercollegiate football game back in 1869. Players wore hats, coats, vests, and suspenders instead of helmets and pads; some Rutgers players wore scarlet-colored scarves to distinguish themselves from their opponents. Although the game more closely resembled the game of rugby, it was definitely the forerunner of American football. Rutgers, now known as the Scarlet Knights, ultimately won the game by a score of 6 'runs' to Princeton's 4 (today the score would be kept in 'points,' not runs).

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The passage states that Rutgers players wore scarlet-colored scarves during the 1869 game and that Rutgers is now known as the Scarlet Knights. From this, we can reasonably infer that the team’s modern name likely originated from that early uniform detail.

Question 3 of 5

Extract:

Centuries before ancient Roman civilization took root near the Mediterranean Sea, the Egyptians built the colossal monuments, temples, and tombs that signify the grandeur of that culture. These remarkable creations have been astonishing Egypt's visitors for over 3,000 years. Egypt also offers a store of rich experiences. Shopping in Cairo's many bazaars, visiting villages along the Nile, and diving in the Red Sea are but a few of the memorable experiences awaiting the visitor to Egypt.

The purpose of this passage is most likely to:

Correct Answer: B

Rationale: The passage begins with a brief historical reference to Egypt’s impressive ancient monuments, then shifts focus to describe the various modern experiences awaiting visitors—like shopping, visiting villages, and diving. This persuasive tone and list of appealing activities suggest that the passage is intended to encourage tourism, not just deliver facts or historical theories.

Question 4 of 5

Extract:

This passage is from a 2019 novel. The narrator is reflecting on a time when she was about ten years old. A ham (amateur) radio is a device for exchanging messages and requires a license to operate. (1) One day, my father brought home a pile of the parts needed to build a ham radio and asked if I wanted to help him put it together. (2) It took us a week, and we built it at our kitchen table, which meant that for that week we ate dinner on our laps in our living room. (3) After dinner, my father went straight to the kitchen table where he'd left a mess of wire and cables and vacuum tubes, and got to work. (4) I started by helping my mother clean up, but then I went over to him, leaning over the part of the radio he was working on to study the diagrams and assembly instructions. (5) Once the receiver was built, we took it into the garage and built a simple transmitter. (6) Then we studied for the radio license, quizzing each other on Morse code and electrical principles and radio wave characteristics every night. (7) My father already knew all of it from the war. (8) He'd been a radio operator as a soldier, and he told me how radio waves could go far, far out into space and how a few years ago two radio operators from opposite sides of the world had sent messages to each other by bouncing them off the moon. (9) After we received our radio licenses, we spent many nights sitting side by side in the garage, picking up radio stations and messages from other amateur radio operators. (10) There were so many messages floating around, waiting to be picked up: Are you lonely? (11) How are you? (12) What's the weather like there? (13) There were reports of shipwrecks, and messages from as far away as Canada, and we decoded each message as it arrived. (14) Nowadays, when communication is so instantaneous, I cannot help remembering with nostalgia how my father and I turned the knobs to the contraption we had built as the messages came in through our complicated machine of vacuum tubing and plumbing wire. (15) We recorded the taps as they came in—and I marveled that each tap traveled only a little bit slower than the speed of light. (16) Tap tap tap came the pulses of radio waves into our earphones, and I transcribed the taps as fast as I could into letters, watching them gather into words and then sentences. (17) It was the closest thing to performing magic that I could imagine: manipulating the radio waves that were all around us to talk to someone across the world.

Which choice best summarizes the passage?

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The passage describes how the narrator and her father collaborated to build a ham radio (sentences 1–5), studied for their radio licenses (sentence 6), received them (sentence 9), and spent time receiving and decoding messages together (sentences 9–17). Choice D best captures this sequence of events and central idea. The other choices are inaccurate or incomplete representations of the full passage.

Question 5 of 5

Extract:

This passage is from a 2019 novel. The narrator is reflecting on a time when she was about ten years old. A ham (amateur) radio is a device for exchanging messages and requires a license to operate. (1) One day, my father brought home a pile of the parts needed to build a ham radio and asked if I wanted to help him put it together. (2) It took us a week, and we built it at our kitchen table, which meant that for that week we ate dinner on our laps in our living room. (3) After dinner, my father went straight to the kitchen table where he'd left a mess of wire and cables and vacuum tubes, and got to work. (4) I started by helping my mother clean up, but then I went over to him, leaning over the part of the radio he was working on to study the diagrams and assembly instructions. (5) Once the receiver was built, we took it into the garage and built a simple transmitter. (6) Then we studied for the radio license, quizzing each other on Morse code and electrical principles and radio wave characteristics every night. (7) My father already knew all of it from the war. (8) He'd been a radio operator as a soldier, and he told me how radio waves could go far, far out into space and how a few years ago two radio operators from opposite sides of the world had sent messages to each other by bouncing them off the moon. (9) After we received our radio licenses, we spent many nights sitting side by side in the garage, picking up radio stations and messages from other amateur radio operators. (10) There were so many messages floating around, waiting to be picked up: Are you lonely? (11) How are you? (12) What's the weather like there? (13) There were reports of shipwrecks, and messages from as far away as Canada, and we decoded each message as it arrived. (14) Nowadays, when communication is so instantaneous, I cannot help remembering with nostalgia how my father and I turned the knobs to the contraption we had built as the messages came in through our complicated machine of vacuum tubing and plumbing wire. (15) We recorded the taps as they came in—and I marveled that each tap traveled only a little bit slower than the speed of light. (16) Tap tap tap came the pulses of radio waves into our earphones, and I transcribed the taps as fast as I could into letters, watching them gather into words and then sentences. (17) It was the closest thing to performing magic that I could imagine: manipulating the radio waves that were all around us to talk to someone across the world.

What is the main purpose of the questions in sentences 10–12?

Correct Answer: D

Rationale: The questions in sentences 10–12 are examples of real messages the narrator and her father received using their ham radio. They illustrate the human connection and global communication made possible through amateur radio, supporting the overall nostalgic tone of the passage. Choices A, B, and C do not accurately reflect the content or purpose of the questions.

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