PARCC - Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Reading Comprehension 6

Question 1

A passage states: 'The river had carved the valley over millennia, patient and indifferent to the towns that rose and fell along its banks.' What literary device is primarily used here?

Accepted Answer

Personification, by attributing patience and indifference to the river

Answer

Personification assigns human qualities—patience and indifference—to a non-human subject, the river. No direct comparison using 'like' or 'as' is made, ruling out simile, and the time reference is literal geology, not exaggeration.

Question 2

A character says, 'I have climbed every mountain worth climbing,' yet the story later reveals she has never left her hometown. This detail most likely serves to:

Accepted Answer

Create irony by contrasting her claim with her actual experience

Answer

When a character's stated claim is directly contradicted by known facts in the story, the effect is dramatic irony. The contrast between her boast and her limited travel invites the reader to question her reliability and self-perception.

Question 3

Which sentence from a passage would BEST serve as evidence that a character is experiencing internal conflict?

Accepted Answer

Part of her longed to stay; another part whispered that leaving was survival.

Answer

Internal conflict is a struggle within a character's own mind or emotions. Option C explicitly shows two opposing desires competing inside the character. The other options describe external actions or setting without revealing inner turmoil.

Question 4

A passage describes a scientist who 'published findings no journal would touch, convinced the data would outlast the doubt.' What can the reader most reasonably infer about this scientist?

Accepted Answer

She believed her work had long-term value even if it was currently rejected

Answer

The phrase 'convinced the data would outlast the doubt' signals that she trusted the enduring merit of her findings despite present rejection. Nothing in the passage suggests she doubted herself or planned to change careers.

Question 5

A story's final paragraph returns to the same image described in its opening paragraph—a cracked window overlooking an empty street. This technique most likely functions to:

Accepted Answer

Create a circular structure that reinforces the story's central idea

Answer

Returning to an opening image at a story's close is a hallmark of circular or frame structure. Rather than introducing new conflict or being merely descriptive, such repetition invites the reader to compare beginning and end, deepening the thematic meaning.

PARCC Practice Test

PARCC Practice Test

PARCC - Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers Reading Comprehension 6