PARCC Reading Practice Tests and Sample Questions

Refer to the following passage for questions 1 through 5.

In 1892, the Sierra Club was formed. In 1908, an area of coastal redwood trees north of San Francisco was established as Muir Woods National Monument. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, a walking trail from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney was dedicated in 1938. It is called the John Muir Trail.

John Muir was born in 1838 in Scotland. His family name means “moor,” which is a meadow full of flowers and animals. John loved nature from the time he was small. He also liked to climb rocky cliffs and walls.

When John was 11 years old, his family moved to the United States and settled in Wisconsin. John was good with tools and soon became an inventor. He first invented a model of a sawmill. Later, he invented an alarm clock that would cause the sleeping person to be tipped out of bed when the timer sounded.

Muir left home at an early age. He took a 1,000-mile walk south to the Gulf of Mexico in 1867and 1868. Then he sailed for San Francisco. The city was too noisy and crowded for Muir, so he headed inland for the Sierra Nevadas.

When Muir discovered the Yosemite Valley in the Sierra Nevadas, it was as if he had come home. He loved the mountains, the wildlife, and the trees. He climbed the mountains and even climbed trees during thunderstorms in order to get closer to the wind. He put forth the theory in the late 1860s that the Yosemite Valley had been formed through the action of glaciers. People ridiculed him. Not until 1930 was Muir’s theory proven correct.

Muir began to write articles about the Yosemite Valley to tell readers about its beauty. His writing also warned people that Yosemite was in danger from timber mining and sheep ranching interests. In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States. He was interested in conservation. Muir took the president through Yosemite, and Roosevelt helped get legislation passed to create Yosemite National Park in 1906.

Although Muir won many conservation battles, he lost a major one. He fought to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which people wanted to dam in order to provide water for San Francisco. In late 1913, a bill was signed to dam the valley. Muir died in 1914. Some people say losing the fight to protect the valley killed Muir.

Refer to the following passage for questions 6 through 9.

When using a metal file, always remember to bear down on the forward stroke only. On the return stroke, lift the file clear of the surface to avoid dulling the instrument’s teeth. Only when working on very soft metals is it advisable to drag the file’s teeth slightly on the return stroke. This helps clear out metal pieces from between the teeth.

It is best to bear down just hard enough to keep the file cutting at all times. Too little pressure uses only the tips of the teeth, while too much pressure can chip the teeth. Move the file in straight lines across the surface. Use a vise to grip the work so that your hands are free to hold the file. Protect your hands by equipping the file with a handle. Buy a wooden handle and install it by inserting the pointed end of the file into the handle hole.

Refer to the following passage for questions 10 through 19.

“Old woman,” grumbled the burly white man who had just heard Sojourner Truth speak, “do you think your talk about slavery does any good? I don’t care any more for your talk than I do for the bite of a flea.”

The tall, imposing black woman turned her piercing eyes on him. “Perhaps not,” she answered, “but I’ll keep you scratching.”

The little incident of the 1840s sums up all that Sojourner Truth was: utterly dedicated to spreading her message, afraid of no one, and both forceful and witty in speech.

Yet 40 years earlier, who could have suspected that a spindly slave girl growing up in a damp cellar in upstate New York would become one of the most remarkable women in American history? Her name then was Isabella Baumfree, and by the time she was 14 years old she had seen both parents die of cold and hunger. She herself had been sold several times. By 1827, when New York freed its slaves, she had married and given birth to four children.

The first hint of Isabella’s fighting spirit came soon afterwards, when her youngest son was illegally seized and sold. She marched to the courthouse and badgered officials until her son was returned to her.

In 1843, inspired by religion, she changed her name to Sojourner (meaning “one who stays briefly”) Truth and, with only pennies in her purse, set out to preach against slavery. From New England to Minnesota she trekked, gaining a reputation for her plain but powerful and moving words. Incredibly, despite being black and female (only white males were expected to be public speakers), she drew thousands to town halls, tents, and churches to hear her powerful, deep-voiced pleas on equality for blacks-and for women. Often she had to face threatening hoodlums. Once she stood before armed bullies and sang a hymn to them. Awed by her courage and her commanding presence, they sheepishly retreated.

During the Civil War she cared for homeless ex-slaves in Washington, D.C. President Lincoln invited her to the White House to bestow praise on her. Later, she petitioned Congress to help former slaves get land in the West. Even in her old age, she forced the city of Washington, D.C. to integrate its trolley cars so that black and white passengers could ride together.

Shortly before her death at the age of 86, she was asked what kept her going. “I think of the great things,” replied Sojourner.

Refer to the following passage for questions 20 through 24.

The Galapagos Islands are in the Pacific Ocean, off the western coast of South America. They are a rocky, lonely spot, but they are also one of the most unusual places in the world. One reason is that they are the home of some of the last giant tortoises left on earth.

Weighing hundreds of pounds, these tortoises, or land turtles, wander slowly around the rocks and sand of the islands. Strangely, each of these islands has its own particular kinds of tortoises. There are seven different kinds of tortoises on the eight islands, each kind being slightly different from the other.

Hundreds of years ago, thousands of tortoises wandered around these islands. However, all that changed when people started landing there. When people first arrived in 1535, their ships had no refrigerators. This meant that fresh food was always a problem for the sailors on board. The giant tortoises provided an easy solution to this problem.

Ships would anchor off the islands, and crews would row ashore and seize as many tortoises as they could. Once the animals were aboard the ship, the sailors would roll the tortoises onto their backs. The tortoises were completely helpless once on their backs, so they could only lie there until used for soups and stews. Almost 100,000 tortoises were carried off in this way.

The tortoises faced other problems, too. Soon after the first ships, settlers arrived, bringing pigs, goats, donkeys, dogs and cats. All of these animals ruined life for the tortoises. Donkeys and goats ate all the plants that the tortoises usually fed on, while the pigs, dogs and cats consumed thousands of baby tortoises each year. Within a few years, it was hard to find any tortoise eggs-or even any baby tortoises.

By the early 1900s, people began to worry that the last of the tortoises would soon die out. No one, however, seemed to care enough to do anything about the problem. More and more tortoises disappeared, even though sailors no longer needed them for food. For another 50 years, this situation continued. Finally, in the 1950s, scientists decided that something must be done.

The first part of their plan was to remove as many cats, dogs and other animals as they could from the islands. Next, they tried to make sure that more baby tortoises would be born. To do this, they started looking for wild tortoise eggs. They gathered the eggs and put them in safe containers. When the eggs hatched, the scientists raised the tortoises in special pens. Both the eggs and tortoises were numbered so that the scientists knew exactly which kinds of tortoises they had and which island they came from. Once the tortoises were old enough and big enough to take care of themselves, the scientists took them back to their islands and set them loose. This slow, hard work continues today, and, thanks to it, the number of tortoises is now increasing every year. Perhaps these wonderful animals will not disappear after all.

Refer to the following passage for questions 25 through 28.

The first person in the group starts off by naming anything that is geographical. It could be a city, state, country, river, lake, or any proper geographical term. For example, the person might say, “Boston.” The second person has 10 seconds to think of how the word ends and come up with another geographical term starting with that letter. The second participant might say, “Norway,” because the geographical term has to start with “N.” The third person would have to choose a word beginning with “Y.” If a player fails to think of a correct answer within the time limit, that player is out of the game. The last person to survive is the champion.

Refer to the following passage for questions 29 through 33.

Charles A. Lindbergh is remembered as the first person to make a nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic, in 1927. This feat, performed when Lindbergh was only 25 years old, assured him a lifetime of fame and public attention.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was more interested in flying airplanes than he was in studying. He dropped out of the University of Wisconsin after two years to earn a living performing daredevil airplane stunts at county fairs. Two years later, he joined the United States Army so that he could go to the Army Air Service flight-training school. After completing his training, he was hired to fly mail between St. Louis and Chicago.

Then came the historic flight across the Atlantic. In 1919, a New York City hotel owner offered a prize of $25,000 for the first pilot to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. Nine St. Louis business leaders helped pay for the plane Lindbergh designed especially for the flight. Lindbergh tested the plane by flying it from San Diego to New York, with an overnight stop in St. Louis. The flight took only 20 hours and 21 minutes, a transcontinental record.

Nine days later, on May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off from Long Island, New York, at 7:52 a.m. He landed in Paris on May 21 at 10:21 p.m. He had flown more than 3,600 miles in less than 34 hours. His flight made news around the world. He was given awards and parades everywhere he went. He was presented with the US Congressional Medal of Honor and the first Distinguished Flying Cross. For a long time, Lindbergh toured the world as a US goodwill ambassador. He met his future wife, Anne Morrow, in Mexico, where her father was the United States ambassador.

During the 1930s, Charles and Anne Lindbergh worked for various airline companies, charting new commercial air routes. In 1931, for a major airline, they charted a new route from the east coast of the United States to the Orient. The shortest, most efficient route was a great curve across Canada, over Alaska, and down to China and Japan. Most pilots familiar with the Arctic did not believe that such a route was possible. The Lindberghs took on the task of proving that it was. They arranged for fuel and supplies to be set out along the route. On July 29, they took off from Long Island in a specially equipped small seaplane. They flew by day and each night landed on a lake or a river and camped. Near Nome, Alaska, they had their first serious emergency. Out of daylight and nearly out of fuel, they were forced down into a small ocean inlet. In the next morning’s light, they discovered they had landed on barely three feet of water. On September 19, after two more emergency landings and numerous close calls, they landed in China with the maps for a safe airline passenger route.

Even while actively engaged as a pioneering flier, Lindbergh was also working as an engineer. In 1935, he and Dr. Alexis Carrel were given a patent for an artificial heart. During World War II in the 1940s, Lindbergh served as a civilian technical advisor in aviation. Although he was a civilian, he flew over 50 combat missions in the Pacific. In the 1950s, Lindbergh helped design the famous 747 jet airliner. In the late 1960s, he spoke widely on conservation issues. He died in August 1974, having lived through aviation history from the time of the first powered flight to the first steps on the moon and having influenced a big part of that history himself.

Refer to the following passage for questions 34 through 37.

Always read the meter dials from the right to the left. This procedure is much easier, especially if any of the dial hands are near the zero mark. If the meter has two dials, and one is smaller than the other, then it is not imperative to read the smaller dial because it only registers a small amount. Read the dial at the right first. As the dial turns clockwise, always record the figure the pointer has just passed. Read the next dial to the left and record the figure it has just passed. Continue recording the figures on the dials from right to left. When finished, mark off the number of units recorded. Dials on water and gas meters usually indicate the amount each dial records.

Refer to the following passage for questions 38 through 44.

The village of Vestmannaeyjar, in the far northern country of Iceland, is as bright and clean and up-to-date as any American or Canadian suburb. It is located on the island of Heimaey, just off the mainland. One January night in 1973, however, householders were shocked from their sleep. In some backyards, red-hot liquid was spurting from the ground. Flaming “skyrockets” shot up and over the houses. The island’s volcano, Helgafell, silent for 7,000 years, was violently erupting!

Luckily, the island’s fishing fleet was in port, and within 24 hours almost everyone was ferried to the mainland. But then the agony of the island began in earnest. As in a nightmare, fountains of burning lava spurted 300 feet high. Black, baseball-size cinders rained down. An evil-smelling, eye-burning, throat-searing cloud of smoke and gas erupted into the air, and a river of lava flowed down the mountain. The constant shriek of escaping steam was punctuated by ear-splitting explosions.

As time went on, the once pleasant village of Vestmannaeyjar took on a weird aspect. Its street lamps still burning against the long Arctic night, the town lay under a thick blanket of cinders. All that could be seen above the 10-foot black drifts were the tips of street signs. Some houses had collapsed under the weight of cinders, while others had burst into flames as the heat ignited their oil storage tanks. Lighting the whole lurid scene, fire continued to shoot from the mouth of the looming volcano.

The eruption continued for six months. Scientists and reporters arrived from around the world to observe the awesome natural event. But the town did not die that easily. In July, when the eruption ceased, the people of Heimaey Island returned to assess the chances of rebuilding their homes and lives. They found tons of ash covering the ground. The Icelanders are a tough people, however, accustomed to the strange and violent nature of their Arctic land. They dug out their homes. They even used the cinders to build new roads and airport runways. Now the new homes of Heimaey are warmed from water pipes heated by molten lava.

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