Writing and Language Test
35 MINUTES, 44 QUESTIONS

Directions: Each passage below is accompanied by a number of questions. For some questions, you will consider how the passage might be revised to improve the expression of ideas. For other questions, you will consider how the passage might be edited to correct errors in sentence structure, usage, or punctuation. A passage or a question may be accompanied by one or more graphics (such as a table or graph) that you will consider as you make revising and editing decisions. Some questions will direct you to an underlined portion of a passage. Other questions will direct you to a location in a passage or ask you to think about the passage as a whole. After reading each passage, choose the answer to each question that most effectively improves the quality of writing in the passage or that makes the passage conform to the conventions of standard written English. Many questions include a “NO CHANGE” option. Choose that option if you think the best choice is to leave the relevant portion of the passage as it is.

Question 1 is based on the following passage.

1. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence.

Fossils provide paleontologists with a convenient
way of estimating the age of the rock in which
the fossils are found.

Should the writer make this addition here?

Questions 2 – 4 are based on the following passage.

2. 

3. The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

4.

Questions 5 – 8 are based on the following passage.

5.

6.

7. To make this paragraph most logical, sentence 2 should be placed

8.

Questions 9 – 11 are based on the following passage.

9.

10. Which choice most effectively combines the underlined sentences?

11.

Questions 12 – 15 are based on the following passage.

12.

13. Which choice most effectively combines the underlined sentences?

14.

15.

Questions 16 – 19 are based on the following passage

16. The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

17.

18.

19. Which choice adds the most relevant supporting information to the paragraph?

Questions 20 – 22 are based on the following passage 

20.

21.

22.

Questions 23 – 25 are based on the following passage

23.

24. Which choice most effectively combines the underlined sentences?

25.

Questions 26-29 are based on the following passage.

26.

27. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence.

Crowdfunding tends to attract contributors from
a wide variety of professional fields.

Should the writer make this addition here?

28.

29.

Questions 30 – 32 are based on the following passage

30.

31.

32. To make this paragraph most logical, sentence 2 should be placed

Question 33 asks about the following graphic

33. Which choice offers an accurate interpretation of the
data in the graphs?

Questions 34 – 37 are based on the following passage

34. For the sake of the logic and cohesion of the
paragraph, sentence 3 should be

35.

36.

37.

Questions 38 and 39 are based off the following passage.

38. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence.

In 1954, Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly
produced episodes of the CBS television show
See It Now that contributed to the end of
US senator Joseph McCarthy’s anticommunist
“witch hunts.”

Should the writer make this addition here?

39.

Questions 40 – 42 are based off the following passage.

40. Which choice most effectively suggests that the “end of investigative journalism” is a real possibility but one that can be prevented?

41. Which choice most effectively sets up the examples in the following sentences?

42.

Questions 43 and 44 are based off the following passage

43.

44.