READING COMPREHENSION PRACTICE TEST
PRACTICE QUESTIONS The front page of this booklet provides practice examples to show you what the questions on the real test are like. Your test administrator or teacher will now take you through these.
Practice Example 1
The clown pulled silly faces to make the children laugh.
The word silly in this sentence means:
A: funny B: bad C: tricky D: scary E: None of these
Practice Example 2
The sentence below does not have any punctuation. Choose the option with the correct punctuation.
i am a good runner
A: i am a good runner.
B: I am a good runner
C: Im a good runner.
D: I am a good runner.
E: None of these
Practice Example 3
Emily has three dogs and two cats. They are all brown, but one of the dogs has spots. His name is Spot.
Which of the following is true?
A: Emily has three animals in total.
B: Emily has more cats than dogs.
C: One of Emily’s cats is black.
D: All of Emily’s dogs have spots.
E: None of these
When you are told to begin you will have 30 minutes to do as many questions as you can. If you don’t know the answer to a question, make a guess or come back to it later. You don’t lose marks if you get something wrong. It may be difficult to finish all the questions in the time allowed, so don’t spend too long on any one question. Try to answer as many questions as you can. If you change your mind about an answer, please erase your original answer using an eraser and colour your new answer in on the answer sheet.
Reading Comprehension
For the little boy, a lolly was tangible, whereas a promise was not.
The word tangible in this sentence means:
A: basic B: untouchable C: actual D: edible E: none of these
Question 2
Please read the following sentence.
Once Jane lifted her pen and made a start, writing the essay became easy.
If we change the start of the sentence to:
Writing the essay became easy........
What will the ending be?
A: after starting.
B: after lifting her pen.
C: once Jane lifted her pen and made a start.
D: once she lifted her pen and made a start.
E: None of these.
Question 3
The boy’s incorrigible behaviour puzzled his sister.
The word incorrigible in this sentence means:
A: appalling B: reformed C: incurable D: frustrated E: none of these
Question 4
Genealogy is fun. Just as a piece of furniture or a picture takes on much more interest if you know its history, so does an individual become more real once the ancestral elements that shaped him are known. An in-depth family history is a tapestry of all those to whom we owe our existence.
Which statement best conveys the theme of this paragraph?
A: Finding out about our ancestors is more interesting than researching the history of objects.
B: Genealogy is a study of people and their belongings in the past.
C: Genealogy is a study of family history.
D: Genealogical research can bring meaning and life to a family’s history.
E: Most genealogies are a waste of effort.
Question 5
Choose the option which will best replace the underlined words in the sentence to make it correct.
She done it to quick, so it came out looking rough.
A: done it too quickly B: did it too quick C: did it too quickly D: did it to quickly E: none of these
Read the following paragraph to answer the next two questions (Questions 6&7).
Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe and illegal. Many rear-end collisions are caused by drivers following too close to the vehicle in front of them. The rules state that a driver must keep sufficient distance from the vehicle in front in order to stop safely and avoid a collision. Drivers should allow a minimum two seconds’ gap between their vehicle and the one ahead. At sixty kilometres an hour, this equates to thirty-three metres; at a hundred it equates to fifty-five metres. More distance is needed to safely stop in rain or poor visibility.
Question 6
Tailgating another vehicle is unsafe because:
A: all rear end collisions are caused by drivers following too close to the vehicle in front.
B: it may not allow sufficient time and space to stop and avoid a collision.
C: it is against the road rules.
D: it is a reckless practice.
E: None of these.
Reading Comprehension
Question 7
‘More distance is needed to safely stop in rain or poor visibility.’ We can infer from this that:
A: people drive faster in rain and poor visibility.
B: the writer is merely calculating on the safe side.
C: braking is more hazardous in rain and poor visibility.
D: the road rules state that this must be so.
E: All of these.
Read the following paragraphs to answer the next two questions (Questions 8&9).
There is a place forty kilometres north-east of Portland, Victoria, which makes for an unusual visit. It is Lake Condah. Here are to be found remains of aboriginal settlements: the circular stone bases of several hundred huts, rock-lined water channels, and stone tools chipped from rock not normally found in the area. One of the attractions of Lake Condah long ago was its fish and the most startling evidence of aboriginal technology and engineering to be found there are the systems built to trap fish.
Water courses had been constructed by redirecting streams, building stone sides and even scraping out new channels. At strategic spots, they piled rocks across the water courses to create weirs and build funnels to channel eels and fish into conical baskets. This is an eel-fishing technique which has hardly changed to the present day. Beside some of the larger traps, there are the outlines of rectangular, stone-lined ponds, probably to hold fish and keep them fresh.
On the bluffs overlooking the lake, stone circles are all that remain of ancient dwellings. Not all of the stones were quarried locally. The huts vary in size, but all have gaps for doorways located on the lee side, away from the prevailing wind. One theory is that the stone walls were only waist to shoulder high, with the top roofed by branches and possibly packed with mud.
The site presents a picture of a semi-settled people quite different from the stereotype of nomadic hunter-gatherers of the desert.
Question 8
The word ‘stereotype’ as used in the above passage means:
A: distant culture.
B: opposite picture.
C: electronic print version.
D: standard view.
E: None of these.
Question 9
Lake Condah is seen as unusual, mainly because:
A: it is so close to a main town.
B: there are remains of buildings still to be seen.
C: it reveals a society that was at least partly settled and had building and engineering skills.
D: there is evidence that some of the building stone was imported.
E: it shows the lake dwellers were totally reliant on fish for a food source.
Question 10
The sentence below does not have any punctuation. Choose the option with the correct punctuation.
one of these days said mary youll get into trouble
A: One of these days, said Mary, you’ll get into trouble.
B: “One of these days”, said Mary “you’ll get into trouble”
C: “One of these days”, said Mary. “You’ll get into trouble.”
D: “One of these days”, said Mary, “you’ll get into trouble.”
E: “One of these days”, said Mary, “youll get into trouble.”
Reading Comprehension Practice Test Page 4
Question 11
What does this sentence suggest?
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
A: Your own possessions are always worth more to you.
B: Birds are hard to catch, so hang on to one if you catch it.
C: To have something is better than having nothing at all.
D: A trained bird is twice the value of an untrained one.
E: There is no point in being envious.
Read the following paragraphs to answer the next four questions (Questions 12 - 15).
Between us there was, as I have already said somewhere, the bond of the sea. Besides holding our hearts together through long periods of separation, it had the effect of making us tolerant of each other's yarns-and even convictions. The Lawyer-the best of old fellows-had, because of his many years and many virtues, the only cushion on deck, and was lying on the only rug. The Accountant had brought out already a box of dominoes, and was toying architecturally with the bones. Marlow sat cross-legged right aft, leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of hands outwards, resembled an idol. The Director, satisfied the anchor had good hold, made his way aft and sat down amongst us. We exchanged a few words lazily.
Afterwards there was silence on board the yacht. For some reason or other we did not begin that game of dominoes. We felt meditative, and fit for nothing but placid staring. The day was ending in a serenity of still and exquisite brilliance. The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck, was a benign immensity of unstained light; the very mist on the Essex marshes was like a gauzy and radiant fabric, hung from the wooded rises inland, and draping the low shores in diaphanous folds. Only the gloom to the west, brooding over the upper reaches, became more sombre every minute, as if angered by the approach of the sun.
And at last, in its curved and imperceptible fall, the sun sank low, and from glowing white changed to a dull red without rays and without heat, as if about to go out suddenly, stricken to death by the touch of that gloom brooding over a crowd of men.
From ‘The Heart of Darkness’, by Joseph Conrad.
Question 12
The narrator of this passage is telling his story from:
A: a wharf.
B: the deck of a yacht.
C: a high vantage point.
D: the edge of the Essex marshes.
E: None of the above.
Question 13
The mood of the men in this passage is best described as:
A: surly. B: resigned. C: contemplative. D: restless. E: ecstatic.
Question 14
From the passage, it is clear that the men:
A: do not get along.
B: show a quiet understanding.
C: cannot be bothered with one another.
D: have just had a quarrel.
E: are worn out.
Question 15
The word ‘diaphanous’, used to describe the mist, means:
A: almost transparent. B: fragile. C: suffocating. D: silent E: none of the above.
Reading Comprehension Practice Test Page 5
Read the following paragraphs to answer the next four questions (Questions 16 - 19).
Among predatory dinosaurs, few flesh-eaters were bigger, faster and nastier than the "tyrant lizard" of popular imagination, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. At least, that is what we have been led to believe.
Now research suggests that, far from being the Ferrari of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus Rex, whose ferocious reputation has fascinated generations of schoolchildren, was in fact a cumbersome creature with a usual running speed of twenty-five kilometres an hour. This is a mere snail's pace compared with modern animals such as the cheetah.
Unlike some of the predators of today's African savannah, which can change direction almost immediately, the dinosaur would have had to turn slowly or risk tumbling over. And while a human can spin forty-five degrees in a twentieth of a second, a Tyrannosaurus would have taken as much as two seconds, as it would have been hampered by its long tail. Thankfully, however, all its prey, such as triceratops, would have been afflicted with the same lack of speed and agility.
The findings were reached after researchers used computer modelling and biomechanical calculations to work out the dinosaur's speed, agility and weight. They based their calculations on measurements taken from a fossil dinosaur representative of an average Tyrannosaurus and concluded the creatures probably weighed between six and eight tonnes.
Calculations of the leg muscles suggest that the animal would have had a top speed of forty kilometres an hour, which is nothing compared to a cheetah’s one hundred kilometres an hour. It is sobering to reflect, though, that an Olympic sprinter runs at about thirty-five kilometres an hour, not sufficient to outrun a Tyrannosaurus, should Man have been around at that time!
Question 16
Being known as the ‘Ferrari of dinosaurs’ means Tyrannosaurus Rex:
A: wore shoes.
B: was a quick and agile creature.
C: was a hunting machine.
D: was the most ferocious of dinosaurs.
E: None of these.
Question 17
In turning, a Tyrannosaurus would have been hampered by:
A: its weight.
B: its bulky leg muscles.
C: its overall size.
D: its tail length.
E: All of the above.
Question 18
In calculating the size, speed and agility of Tyrannosaurus Rex, scientists used:
A: examination of fossils.
B: biomechanical calculations and computer models.
C: comparisons with modern animals.
D: A and B together.
E: B and C together.
Question 19
The overall theme of the passage is:
A: Because it was cumbersome, Tyrannosaurus Rex was lucky to survive.
B: Tyrannosaurus Rex’s speed and agility were still superior to those of other dinosaurs.
C: Tyrannosaurus Rex’s fierce reputation is now laid to rest.
D: Compared to modern predatory animals, Tyrannosaurus Rex was slow and cumbersome.
E: None of these.
Reading Comprehension Practice Test Page 6
Read the following paragraph to answer the next four questions (Questions 20 - 23).
"Anne," cried Mary, still at her window, "there is Mrs Clay, I am sure, standing under the colonnade, and a gentleman with her. I saw them turn the corner from Bath Street just now. They seemed deep in talk. Who is it? Come, and tell me. Good heavens! I recollect. It is Mr Elliot himself."
"No," cried Anne, quickly, "it cannot be Mr Elliot, I assure you. He was to leave Bath at nine this morning, and does not come back till to-morrow."
As she spoke, she felt that Captain Wentworth was looking at her, the consciousness of which vexed and embarrassed her, and made her regret that she had said so much, simple as it was.
Mary, resenting that she should be supposed not to know her own cousin, began talking very warmly about the family features, and protesting still more positively that it was Mr Elliot, calling again upon Anne to come and look for herself, but Anne did not mean to stir, and tried to be cool and unconcerned. Her distress returned, however, on perceiving smiles and intelligent glances pass between two or three of the lady visitors, as if they believed themselves quite in the secret. It was evident that the report concerning her had spread, and a short pause succeeded, which seemed to ensure that it would now spread farther.
"Do come, Anne" cried Mary, "come and look yourself. You will be too late if you do not make haste. They are parting; they are shaking hands. He is turning away. Not know Mr Elliot, indeed! You seem to have forgot all about Lyme."
To pacify Mary, and perhaps screen her own embarrassment, Anne did move quietly to the window. She was just in time to ascertain that it really was Mr Elliot, which she had never believed, before he disappeared on one side, as Mrs Clay walked quickly off on the other; and checking the surprise which she could not but feel at such an appearance of friendly conference between two persons of totally opposite interest, she calmly said, "Yes, it is Mr Elliot, certainly. He has changed his hour of going, I suppose, that is all, or I may be mistaken, I might not attend;" and walked back to her chair, recomposed, and with the comfortable hope of having acquitted herself well.
From ‘Persuasion’, by Jane Austen.
Question 20
Anne does not believe it is Mr Elliot whom Mary sees from the window because:
A: Mary does not know what Mr Elliot looks like.
B: Mr Elliot was to have left Bath earlier that day.
C: it was highly unlikely Mr Elliot would be a friend of Mrs Clay.
D: A and B together.
E: B and C together.
Question 21
Anne obviously knows Mr Elliot quite well for all the following reasons EXCEPT:
A: she has knowledge of his travel plans.
B: she shows discomfort at Mary spotting him.
C: she is sensitive to what the other ladies might know.
D: she had been speaking about Mr Elliot to others in the room.
E: Mary refers to Anne meeting Mr Elliot in Lyme.
Question 22
Anne finally goes to the window because:
A: she knows in her heart that it really is Mr Elliot.
B: she wishes to prove Mary wrong.
C: she wishes to calm Mary and cover up her own lack of composure.
D: Mary frets that Mr Elliot will disappear from view.
E: Mary is creating a fuss in front of the others in the room.
Reading Comprehension Practice
Question 23
From what occurs it can be inferred that Anne:
A: couldn’t care less about Mr Elliot.
B: had not known Mr Elliot long enough to recognise him.
C: is attracted to Mr Elliot.
D: is uncomfortable at Mr Elliot’s behaviour.
E: C and D together.
