ACCUPLACER READING EXAM
QUESTIONS WITH DETAILED
ANSWERS 2026
The contrasts the narrator draws in sentences 1 and 2 between the Players' homes and
the houses in the "landscape" and between the Players' automobiles and the "roads"
are most likely meant to suggest that the Players' homes and automobiles are -
ANSWERSmodern and alien
Based on the passage, which of the following most accurately characterizes the claim
that "there was plenty of time to smooth the thing out" (sentence 8)?
Clumping their heavy galoshes around the stage, blotting at their noses with Kleenex
and frowning at the unsteady print of their scripts, they would disarm each other at last
with peals of forgiving laughter, and they would agree, over and over, that there was
plenty of time to smooth the thing out. - ANSWERSA comforting falsehood that the
Players know to be untrue
The descriptive language in sentence 10 is mainly intended to reinforce the passage's
depiction of the Players'
Long after the time had come for what the director called "really getting this thing off the
ground; really making it happen," it remained a static, shapeless, inhumanly heavy
weight; time and time again they read the promise of failure in each other's eyes, in the
apologetic nods and smiles of their parting and the spastic haste with which they broke
for their cars and drove home to whatever older, less explicit promises of failure might
lie in wait for them there - ANSWERSpersistent mood of despair regarding the play
The narrator most strongly suggests that which of the following resulted in the
transformation described in the last paragraph
And now tonight, with twenty-four hours to go, they had somehow managed to bring it
off. Giddy in the unfamiliar feel of make-up and costumes on this first warm evening of
the year, they had forgotten to be afraid: they had let the movement of the play come
and carry them and break like a wave; and maybe it sounded corny (and what if it did?)
but they had all put their hearts into their work. Could anyone ever ask for more than
that? - ANSWERSThe break in routine occurring the day before the first performance
The main purpose of the last paragraph of Passage 1 is to offer
It's necessary, though. Te town is home to the Green Bank Telescope, the largest
steerable radio telescope in the world—and arguably our most powerful link to the
, cosmos. Scientists there listen to radio energy that has journeyed light years, unlocking
secrets about how the stars and galaxies formed. A rogue radio signal could prevent
potential discoveries, discoveries that could answer big questions about how the
universe ticks. - ANSWERSjustification
Which conclusion can reasonably be drawn about the status of the "lawnbot" issue at
the time of the writing of Passage 2?
Lawn mowers seem to have little in common with astronomy, but they are keeping
astronomers at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory up at night. A new type of
robotic lawn mower has been proposed that uses beacons to train the lawn mower to
stay within property lines. Te beacons, placed around the yard, transmit at the same
wavelength as interstellar molecules astronomers study to understand how stars form.
Humans wouldn't notice the tiny amount of energy given of by the beacons, but the
Green Bank Telescope—the size of a football stadium—is so sensitive it can detect the
energy given of by a snowfake as it melts. By simply mowing the lawn, a homeowner
runs the risk of interfering with one of our greatest tools for studying the universe. Te
manufacturer of one "lawnbot" reques - ANSWERSTe manufacturer and astronomers
have yet to resolve their conflict.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two passages? -
ANSWERSPassage 1 mainly discusses the National Radio Quiet Zone in general, while
Passage 2 mainly discusses a particular threat to the zone's integrity
Given the evidence in the passages, with which statement would the authors of both
passages most likely agree? - ANSWERSThe Green Bank Telescope can detect
extremely small amounts of energy.
In the passage, the use of "crazy," "dinosaur head," "bumpy," "straight," and "swooping"
serve mainly to emphasize the
Sometimes when they were digging up the streets you saw it down there—real dirt! And
the land had a certain curve to it at the bottom of the island, like a dinosaur head,
bumpy on the right and straight on the lef, a swooping majestic bottom. -
ANSWERSirregularity of downtown Manhattan
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the passage?
Te life of Edith Wharton is not an inspiriting ragsto-riches saga, nor is it a cautionary tale
of riches to rags—riches to riches, rather. Born Edith Newbold Jones, in January of
1862, into one of the leading families of New York, the author maintained multiple
establishments and travelled in the highest style, with a host of servants, augmenting
her several inheritances by writing best-selling fction. In the Depression year of 1936,
when two thousand dollars was a good annual income, her writing earned her a
hundred and thirty thousand, much of it from plays adapted from her works. Yet her
well-padded, auspiciously sponsored life was not an easy one. Te aristocratic social set
QUESTIONS WITH DETAILED
ANSWERS 2026
The contrasts the narrator draws in sentences 1 and 2 between the Players' homes and
the houses in the "landscape" and between the Players' automobiles and the "roads"
are most likely meant to suggest that the Players' homes and automobiles are -
ANSWERSmodern and alien
Based on the passage, which of the following most accurately characterizes the claim
that "there was plenty of time to smooth the thing out" (sentence 8)?
Clumping their heavy galoshes around the stage, blotting at their noses with Kleenex
and frowning at the unsteady print of their scripts, they would disarm each other at last
with peals of forgiving laughter, and they would agree, over and over, that there was
plenty of time to smooth the thing out. - ANSWERSA comforting falsehood that the
Players know to be untrue
The descriptive language in sentence 10 is mainly intended to reinforce the passage's
depiction of the Players'
Long after the time had come for what the director called "really getting this thing off the
ground; really making it happen," it remained a static, shapeless, inhumanly heavy
weight; time and time again they read the promise of failure in each other's eyes, in the
apologetic nods and smiles of their parting and the spastic haste with which they broke
for their cars and drove home to whatever older, less explicit promises of failure might
lie in wait for them there - ANSWERSpersistent mood of despair regarding the play
The narrator most strongly suggests that which of the following resulted in the
transformation described in the last paragraph
And now tonight, with twenty-four hours to go, they had somehow managed to bring it
off. Giddy in the unfamiliar feel of make-up and costumes on this first warm evening of
the year, they had forgotten to be afraid: they had let the movement of the play come
and carry them and break like a wave; and maybe it sounded corny (and what if it did?)
but they had all put their hearts into their work. Could anyone ever ask for more than
that? - ANSWERSThe break in routine occurring the day before the first performance
The main purpose of the last paragraph of Passage 1 is to offer
It's necessary, though. Te town is home to the Green Bank Telescope, the largest
steerable radio telescope in the world—and arguably our most powerful link to the
, cosmos. Scientists there listen to radio energy that has journeyed light years, unlocking
secrets about how the stars and galaxies formed. A rogue radio signal could prevent
potential discoveries, discoveries that could answer big questions about how the
universe ticks. - ANSWERSjustification
Which conclusion can reasonably be drawn about the status of the "lawnbot" issue at
the time of the writing of Passage 2?
Lawn mowers seem to have little in common with astronomy, but they are keeping
astronomers at the National Radio Astronomical Observatory up at night. A new type of
robotic lawn mower has been proposed that uses beacons to train the lawn mower to
stay within property lines. Te beacons, placed around the yard, transmit at the same
wavelength as interstellar molecules astronomers study to understand how stars form.
Humans wouldn't notice the tiny amount of energy given of by the beacons, but the
Green Bank Telescope—the size of a football stadium—is so sensitive it can detect the
energy given of by a snowfake as it melts. By simply mowing the lawn, a homeowner
runs the risk of interfering with one of our greatest tools for studying the universe. Te
manufacturer of one "lawnbot" reques - ANSWERSTe manufacturer and astronomers
have yet to resolve their conflict.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the two passages? -
ANSWERSPassage 1 mainly discusses the National Radio Quiet Zone in general, while
Passage 2 mainly discusses a particular threat to the zone's integrity
Given the evidence in the passages, with which statement would the authors of both
passages most likely agree? - ANSWERSThe Green Bank Telescope can detect
extremely small amounts of energy.
In the passage, the use of "crazy," "dinosaur head," "bumpy," "straight," and "swooping"
serve mainly to emphasize the
Sometimes when they were digging up the streets you saw it down there—real dirt! And
the land had a certain curve to it at the bottom of the island, like a dinosaur head,
bumpy on the right and straight on the lef, a swooping majestic bottom. -
ANSWERSirregularity of downtown Manhattan
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the passage?
Te life of Edith Wharton is not an inspiriting ragsto-riches saga, nor is it a cautionary tale
of riches to rags—riches to riches, rather. Born Edith Newbold Jones, in January of
1862, into one of the leading families of New York, the author maintained multiple
establishments and travelled in the highest style, with a host of servants, augmenting
her several inheritances by writing best-selling fction. In the Depression year of 1936,
when two thousand dollars was a good annual income, her writing earned her a
hundred and thirty thousand, much of it from plays adapted from her works. Yet her
well-padded, auspiciously sponsored life was not an easy one. Te aristocratic social set
