Core Academic Skills Assessment Reading 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A passage argues that standardized testing improves educational outcomes and cites only studies funded by testing companies. What weakness does this argument have?
- It uses too many statistics
- The sources may be biased due to a financial conflict of interest (Correct answer)
- The argument is too complex for readers
- The author failed to define standardized testing
Correct answer: The sources may be biased due to a financial conflict of interest
Studies funded by companies with a financial stake in the outcome may be biased, weakening the argument's credibility.
Question 2: Which sentence uses the word 'affect' correctly?
- The medication had little affect on her symptoms.
- The storm will affect flight schedules. (Correct answer)
- The policy's affect was widely debated.
- Scientists studied the affect of pollution on fish.
Correct answer: The storm will affect flight schedules.
'Affect' is typically used as a verb meaning to influence; 'effect' is typically the noun.
Question 3: An article states: 'Studies suggest that reading fiction may improve empathy.' The word 'may' indicates that the claim is:
- An established fact
- A tentative or uncertain finding (Correct answer)
- A false statement
- An opinion with no research basis
Correct answer: A tentative or uncertain finding
The modal verb 'may' signals possibility and uncertainty rather than certainty.
Question 4: Read this passage: 'After decades of decline, the wolf population rebounded following reintroduction efforts. Elk herds, previously overgrazing meadows, began to migrate more. Vegetation recovered, stabilizing riverbanks.' What organizational pattern does this passage use?
- Compare and contrast
- Cause and effect (Correct answer)
- Order of importance
- Problem and solution
Correct answer: Cause and effect
Each sentence describes an effect triggered by the previous cause, forming a cause-and-effect chain.
Question 5: An author writes a restaurant review and says: 'The pasta was so salty it could preserve a mummy.' This is an example of:
- Understatement
- Hyperbole (Correct answer)
- Allegory
- Irony
Correct answer: Hyperbole
Exaggerating the saltiness to an extreme degree for effect is hyperbole.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes the difference between a fact and an opinion?
- Facts are written by experts; opinions are written by non-experts
- Facts can be verified objectively; opinions express personal beliefs or judgments (Correct answer)
- Facts appear in textbooks; opinions appear in newspapers
- Facts are always long; opinions are always short
Correct answer: Facts can be verified objectively; opinions express personal beliefs or judgments
Facts are objectively verifiable claims, while opinions express personal beliefs that cannot be proven true or false.
Question 7: A test passage ends with: 'Given the evidence above, the benefits of urban green spaces clearly outweigh the costs.' What is the function of this sentence?
- To introduce a new argument
- To provide supporting evidence
- To summarize and state the author's conclusion (Correct answer)
- To raise a counterargument
Correct answer: To summarize and state the author's conclusion
The phrase 'given the evidence above' signals a wrap-up, and the sentence states the author's final conclusion.
Core Academic Skills Assessment Reading 4
A passage argues that standardized testing improves educational outcomes and cites only studies funded by testing companies.
What weakness does this argument have?