Massachusetts English Proficiency Assessment Practice Test Reading/Writing [Grade Span 7–8] Student Name School Name District Name [MCAS logo] How to Answer Multiple-Choice Questions • Read all parts of each question. • Read each of the four answer choices (A, B, C, D). • Choose the best answer to each question. • Mark your answer to each question in the space provided on your Practice Test Answer Sheet at the end of this test. How to Answer Short-Answer Questions • Read all parts of each question and follow directions. • Write your answer in the space provided on your Practice Test Answer Sheet at the end of this test. • Check your answer to make sure your answer is clear and complete. How to Answer Sentence-Writing Questions • Read all parts of each question and follow directions. • Write your answer in the space provided on your Practice Test Answer Sheet at the end of this test. • Use correct spelling and grammar. How to Answer Writing-Prompt Questions • Read all parts of each question. • Write your answer in the space provided on your Practice Test Answer Sheet at the end of this test. • Be sure your answer includes details and examples that support your topic. • Use correct spelling and grammar. Reading DIRECTIONS This session contains four multiple-choice questions and two short-answer questions. The test administrator will read the first multiple-choice question to you. Mark your answers to these questions in the spaces provided on page 9 of your Practice Test Answer Sheet at the end of this test. 1. Look at the picture below. [A picture of someone looking.] © MM Productions/Corbis Which word goes with the picture? A. ice B. rise C. eyes D. buys 2. The prefix im- helps the reader to know that impolite means A. not polite. B. very polite. C. in a polite way. D. to be polite again. 3. Read the paragraph below about skunks. Then answer the question that follows. Skunks are small animals that live mostly in North and South America. Most skunks have black and white fur. Skunks sleep during the daytime and hunt at night. They have a good sense of smell, but they cannot see very well. Skunks defend themselves by spraying a stinky liquid from under their tails. They can spray this liquid 7 to 15 feet. The stinky smell scares away other animals. [A skunk] © Digital Zoo/Corbis How do skunks defend themselves? Write one detail from the paragraph to support your answer. Mae Jemison is the first African American woman to become an astronaut. Read the passage and then answer the questions that follow. Mae Jemison by Laurie Lanzen Harris 1 MAE JEMISON WAS BORN October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. Her parents are Charlie and Dorothy Jemison. Mae’s dad is a maintenance supervisor and her mom is a teacher. Mae has a sister, Ada, and a brother, Charles. 2 MAE JEMISON GREW UP in Chicago, where her family moved when she was four. Growing up, she had lots of friends and activities. She liked dance and sports and also loved to read and draw. 3 EARLY INTEREST IN SPACE: Jemison always knew she wanted to be an astronaut. She remembers watching the early space missions on TV. She knew she’d be a part of it. 4 “It was something I knew I wanted to do,” she says. “I read lots of books about space. I don’t remember the time I said, ‘I want to be an astronaut.’ It’s just always been there.” 5 “When I was about five or six years old, I used to look at the stars with my uncle. He would tell me they were just like the sun except they were millions of miles away. That was why they were so small. I have always been interested in astronomy and what goes on in the world. So I guess you could say I’ve been interested in space travel ever since I can remember.” 6 MAE JEMISON WENT TO SCHOOL at the public schools in Chicago. The name of her grade school was Alexander Dumas Elementary School. She says she wasn’t a straight-A student, although she did very well. “Maybe the reason I didn’t get straight As was that I did stuff because I enjoyed it.” 7 Jemison went on to high school at Morgan Park High. She did very well in math and science. She also enjoyed dancing and cheerleading. Jemison graduated a year early, at age 16, and went on to college. 8 Jemison attended Stanford University in California. She studied both engineering and African studies and graduated in 1977. Then, she went to medical school at Cornell University, getting her degree in 1981. As a medical student, she traveled to Kenya^1 and Thailand^2 and provided medical care to people there. 9 MAE JEMISON’S FIRST JOBS: After her travels, Jemison knew she wanted to help out in poor countries. She joined the Peace Corps in 1983. That is a group that sends U.S. citizens to countries around the world to help out in many ways. Peace Corps volunteers use their skills to help people grow food, build homes, or fight disease. Jemison worked as a doctor in the African countries of Liberia (lie-BEER-ee-ah) and Sierra Leone (see-ER-uh lee-OHN) as a Peace Corps member. 10 BECOMING AN ASTRONAUT: After two years in the Peace Corps, Jemison came back to the U.S. and began to work as a doctor. She was working in Los Angeles when she decided to apply to NASA—the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA plans all the U.S. space missions and hires astronauts. 11 Jemison knew it might be tough to get into the space program. She was one of 2,000 people who applied to be an astronaut. Still, she wanted to fulfill her childhood dream. 12 In June 1987, she finally got the call she had been waiting for. She had been chosen to be an astronaut! She studied many different things to get ready to be an astronaut. She learned how to fly an airplane. She also used her training in medicine and engineering to understand how the body responds to space travel. As a scientist, she prepared for experiments in space. 13 BLAST OFF: It was five years before Jemison actually went into space. On September 12, 1992, Jemison and a crew of six blasted off. She spent eight days orbiting the Earth. While in space she studied motion sickness and took part in an experiment hatching frog eggs. These little tadpoles became the first creatures to develop in space. 14 After her space flight, Jemison became famous all over the world. She was the first black woman ever to be an astronaut. [Astronaut Mae Jemison] ^1 Kenya — a country in Africa ^2 Thailand — a country in Asia “Mae Jemison” by Laurie Lanzen Harris, from Biography for Beginners: World Explorers. Copyright © 2003 by Laurie Lanzen Harris. Reprinted by permission of the author. Photograph © Time Life Pictures/Stringer/Getty Images, Inc. 4. What is the author’s most likely purpose for writing the passage? A. to inform readers about Mae Jemison’s life B. to describe to readers Mae Jemison’s work in space C. to explain to readers how to become an astronaut D. to convince readers that an astronaut has an important job 5. Which section of the passage has information about when Jemison first knew she wanted to be an astronaut? A. MAE JEMISON GREW UP B. EARLY INTEREST IN SPACE C. MAE JEMISON WENT TO SCHOOL D. BECOMING AN ASTRONAUT Write your answer to short-answer question 6 in the space provided on page 9 of your Practice Test Answer Sheet. 6. Based on the passage, explain how Mae Jemison’s education helped prepare her to become an astronaut. Support your answer with information from the passage. Writing DIRECTIONS This session contains one multiple-choice question, one short-answer question, one sentence-writing question, and one writing-prompt question. The test administrator will read the first question to you. Write your answers to these questions in the spaces provided on pages 10 and 11 of your Practice Test Answer Sheet at the end of this test. 1. Look at the picture below. [A toothbrush] © Lawrence Manning/Corbis Write a word for the object in the picture. 2. Write three complete sentences telling about an activity you enjoy. 3. Choose the word that correctly completes the sentence. I wash all the _____ every night. A. dish B. dishs C. dishes D. dishies Write your answer to writing-prompt question 4 in the space provided on page 11 of your Practice Test Answer Sheet. 4. Think of a time that someone needed your help. Why did this person need your help? How did you help him or her? Write a composition in which you tell about a time someone needed your help. Practice Test Answer Sheet READING 1. \A\B\C\D 2. \A\B\C\D 3. 4. \A\B\C\D 5. \A\B\C\D 6. WRITING 1. 2. 3. \A\B\C\D 4. Page 5 of 5 Page 5 of 5