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SLE Reading practice questions

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Question 1Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A short passage opens by describing how a city replaced its diesel buses with electric ones, then lists the reduced noise, cleaner air, and lower fuel costs that followed. Which statement best expresses the main idea of the passage?

  1. Electric buses are more expensive to purchase than diesel buses.
  2. The switch to electric buses brought several practical benefits to the city. Correct answer.
  3. Noise pollution is the most serious problem facing modern cities.
  4. Diesel fuel prices have risen sharply in recent years.

Explanation

The main idea is the central point the passage is built around: the city's switch to electric buses produced multiple benefits. The details about noise, air, and fuel costs all support that single claim rather than standing alone.

Question 2Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A text explains that honeybees communicate the location of flowers by performing a waggle dance, and that the angle and duration of the dance encode direction and distance. What is the passage mainly about?

  1. Why honeybees prefer certain flowers over others
  2. How beekeepers harvest honey safely
  3. The life cycle of the honeybee colony
  4. How honeybees use dance to share information about food sources Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage is organized around one topic: the waggle dance as a communication method. Direction and distance are described as parts of that method, which confirms the focus rather than introducing separate themes.

Question 3Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A paragraph states that many office workers report feeling more tired after a day of sitting than after a day of light activity, then notes that short walks during breaks can restore energy. Which sentence states the paragraph's main point?

  1. Office work requires long hours of concentration.
  2. Most office workers dislike their jobs.
  3. Light activity can counteract the fatigue associated with prolonged sitting. Correct answer.
  4. Standing desks are becoming popular in workplaces.

Explanation

The paragraph contrasts sitting with light activity and then presents walks as a remedy, so the central claim concerns activity countering fatigue. The first sentence sets up the problem that the second resolves.

Question 4Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A short article notes that some libraries now lend tools, musical instruments, and kitchen equipment alongside books. It argues that these "libraries of things" help residents avoid buying items they rarely use. What is the article's central claim?

  1. Musical instruments are too expensive for most people to own.
  2. Libraries should stop purchasing new books.
  3. Lending non-book items lets libraries serve residents in a new and useful way. Correct answer.
  4. Printed books are becoming less important to library users.

Explanation

The article presents expanded lending as a valuable service and supports it with the point about rarely used items. That combination of new offerings and resident benefit is the central claim.

Question 5Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage describes a study in which students who summarized readings in their own words remembered more than students who reread them. The author concludes that active processing beats passive review. What is the main idea?

  1. Summarizing in one's own words supports better retention than rereading. Correct answer.
  2. Rereading is a waste of time for every learner.
  3. Students should read fewer texts each semester.
  4. Memory declines steadily with age.

Explanation

The main idea combines the study's finding with the author's conclusion about active processing. Summarizing outperforming rereading is the claim the evidence is arranged to support.

Question 6Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A brief text explains that rooftop gardens absorb rainwater, insulate buildings, and provide habitat for birds and insects. Which option captures the overall gist?

  1. Rooftop gardens offer environmental and building-related advantages. Correct answer.
  2. Birds and insects are disappearing from urban areas.
  3. Building insulation is the only reason to install a rooftop garden.
  4. Rainwater is difficult to manage in modern cities.

Explanation

The gist is the combined effect of the listed benefits, which span environmental and building concerns. Each detail in the text serves that broader summary rather than standing as the topic itself.

Question 7Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage recounts how a small town revived its economy after a factory closed: residents opened a farmers market, converted empty buildings into studios, and attracted visitors. What is the passage mainly about?

  1. Why farmers markets are more profitable than factories
  2. How one town rebuilt its economy through local initiatives Correct answer.
  3. The decline of tourism in rural areas
  4. The reasons factories close in small towns

Explanation

The passage traces a single narrative of recovery driven by local efforts. The market, studios, and visitors are all examples of those initiatives, so the main idea is the town's economic revival.

Question 8Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A paragraph describes how a chef plans a menu: she starts with seasonal ingredients, builds dishes around them, and adjusts when supplies change. Which statement best summarizes the paragraph?

  1. Menu design is mainly a matter of graphic layout.
  2. Chefs should avoid changing their menus once printed.
  3. A chef's menu planning centers on adapting to available seasonal ingredients. Correct answer.
  4. Seasonal ingredients are always cheaper than imported ones.

Explanation

The paragraph follows a process in which seasonal ingredients drive the menu and flexibility is required. Summarizing that process, rather than any single step, captures the gist.

Question 9Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage explains that coral reefs support thousands of species, protect coastlines from waves, and draw tourism income. It then notes that rising water temperatures threaten these reefs. Which sentence best states the main idea?

  1. Waves cause more damage to coastlines than any other force.
  2. Thousands of fish species live in the open ocean.
  3. Coral reefs are valuable in several ways and are endangered by warming water. Correct answer.
  4. Tourism is the most important source of income for coastal regions.

Explanation

The passage presents two linked halves: the value of reefs and the threat they face. A main-idea statement must account for both, since each part depends on the other for the passage's purpose.

Question 10Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A writer describes learning to repair bicycles: at first every task seemed impossible, but after months of practice the same tasks became routine. The writer concludes that skill grows through repeated effort. What is the passage mainly about?

  1. The history of bicycle design
  2. How persistence turns difficult tasks into routine ones Correct answer.
  3. The best tools for a repair workshop
  4. Why bicycles are cheaper to repair than cars

Explanation

The narrative moves from difficulty to mastery and ends with an explicit conclusion about repeated effort. That progression, not the bicycles themselves, is the subject.

Question 11Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage notes that remote work reduced commuting time for many employees but also blurred the boundary between work and rest. The author argues companies should help staff set clear limits. Which option best captures the main idea?

  1. Commuting is the most stressful part of a typical workday.
  2. Companies save money when staff work from home.
  3. Remote work has benefits but also costs that employers should address. Correct answer.
  4. Employees should return to office work permanently.

Explanation

The passage balances an advantage against a drawback and then recommends action. The main idea therefore includes both the mixed effects and the proposed response.

Question 12Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

An article describes how a museum digitized its collection so that people worldwide could view objects online, and notes that visits to the physical museum also increased. What is the article mainly about?

  1. Digitizing a collection widened access and also boosted in-person visits. Correct answer.
  2. Museums should stop charging admission fees.
  3. Physical museums are being replaced by digital archives.
  4. Online visitors rarely appreciate art.

Explanation

The article pairs a new digital initiative with an unexpected additional outcome. The main idea joins both results rather than focusing on only one.

Question 13Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage explains that sleep helps the brain consolidate memories: during deep sleep, the brain replays patterns formed during the day and strengthens them. What is the passage mainly about?

  1. The stages of the sleep cycle in infants
  2. Why people dream about daily events
  3. The effect of caffeine on sleep quality
  4. How sleep contributes to memory consolidation Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage is organized around a single mechanism linking sleep to memory. Replaying and strengthening patterns are steps in that mechanism, so the main idea concerns sleep's role in consolidation.

Question 14Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A text describes a neighborhood where residents painted murals on empty walls, and afterward reported feeling safer and more connected. The author suggests visible shared projects can strengthen community ties. What is the main idea?

  1. A shared public project improved residents' sense of safety and connection. Correct answer.
  2. Neighborhoods should hire professional artists.
  3. Murals are the only effective way to reduce crime.
  4. Empty walls are a common problem in cities.

Explanation

The passage reports an outcome of a shared project and generalizes from it. The main idea is that collective visible projects can build safety and connection.

Question 15Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage notes that some schools start classes later in the morning and that students in those schools arrive more alert and miss fewer days. Which statement best expresses the main idea?

  1. School buses are difficult to schedule in the morning.
  2. Attendance records should be kept more carefully.
  3. Teenagers need more homework than they currently receive.
  4. Later start times are associated with better student alertness and attendance. Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage links a scheduling change to two measured outcomes. The main idea reports that association rather than any logistical detail.

Question 16Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A writer explains that a city planted trees along busy roads and later measured lower temperatures and less air pollution on those streets. The writer concludes that urban trees provide measurable environmental gains. What is the main idea?

  1. Planting trees along roads produced measurable environmental improvements. Correct answer.
  2. Busy roads should be closed to traffic.
  3. Air pollution is caused mainly by trees.
  4. Temperature measurement is a difficult science.

Explanation

The passage presents measurements and draws a conclusion from them. The main idea is the conclusion that trees yielded measurable gains, supported by the temperature and pollution data.

Question 17Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage describes a musician who practiced one difficult passage slowly for weeks before playing it at full speed. The author notes that slow practice builds accuracy that speed alone cannot. What is the passage mainly about?

  1. The history of a famous musical composition
  2. How to choose an instrument for beginners
  3. Why musicians should avoid performing in public
  4. The value of slow, deliberate practice in building accuracy Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage uses one musician's method to make a general point about practice. The contrast between slow practice and speed alone carries the central claim.

Question 18Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A text explains that food waste in households often comes from buying more than can be eaten before it spoils, and it suggests planning meals and storing food properly. What is the main idea?

  1. Proper storage makes food last forever.
  2. Grocery stores should lower their prices.
  3. Household food waste has identifiable causes and practical remedies. Correct answer.
  4. Restaurants waste more food than households do.

Explanation

The passage identifies a cause of household waste and offers solutions. The main idea combines those two elements rather than focusing on either alone.

Question 19Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage describes how a coastal village built raised walkways after repeated flooding, allowing residents to move around during high water. The author notes that the solution was inexpensive and locally built. What is the main idea?

  1. Residents should relocate away from coastlines.
  2. Raised walkways are common in every city.
  3. Flooding is unavoidable in coastal areas.
  4. A low-cost local design helped a village cope with repeated flooding. Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage presents a specific response to flooding and emphasizes its low cost and local origin. The main idea is that this practical design helped the village adapt.

Question 20Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

An essay argues that public benches, drinking fountains, and shade trees are not luxuries but basic features that make streets usable for everyone. Which statement best captures the essay's main idea?

  1. Shade trees are more important than drinking fountains.
  2. Everyday street features are essential public goods, not optional extras. Correct answer.
  3. Most people prefer to stay indoors during hot weather.
  4. Cities spend too much money on parks.

Explanation

The essay's argument is a reframing: features often treated as extras are actually basic needs. The listed items all serve that single claim.

Question 21Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage recounts a debate in which one group wanted to widen a road to reduce traffic, while another argued that wider roads attract more cars. The author concludes that the second group's reasoning deserves serious weight. What is the passage mainly about?

  1. Why public meetings are poorly attended
  2. The engineering standards used in road construction
  3. A dispute over road widening and the argument that widening may not reduce traffic Correct answer.
  4. The rising cost of automobile ownership

Explanation

The passage summarizes two positions and signals which reasoning the author finds persuasive. The main idea must include the dispute and the argument about induced traffic.

Question 22Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A text describes how a company switched to four-day workweeks and reported stable output and lower staff turnover, while acknowledging that some teams struggled to cover client hours. What is the main idea?

  1. A shorter workweek showed benefits alongside real scheduling challenges. Correct answer.
  2. Client service is unimportant to most companies.
  3. Staff turnover is impossible to measure accurately.
  4. Four-day workweeks always increase productivity.

Explanation

The passage presents both positive results and an acknowledged difficulty. A main-idea statement must hold both sides together, since the author deliberately includes the caveat.

Question 23Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage explains that early maps placed the reader's own region at the center, and that this convention reflected a worldview rather than a claim about physical geography. The author uses this to argue that maps always encode assumptions. What is the main idea?

  1. Maps reflect the assumptions of their makers, as early centering conventions show. Correct answer.
  2. Early maps were less accurate than modern ones.
  3. Physical geography is unimportant to cartographers.
  4. Modern maps have eliminated all bias.

Explanation

The example of early centering serves a broader argument about maps encoding assumptions. The main idea is the general claim, with the historical case as evidence.

Question 24Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage describes a study in which people who kept a daily journal reported clearer thinking about decisions, yet the author cautions that self-reporting may exaggerate the effect. What is the main idea?

  1. People make decisions too quickly.
  2. Journaling may help decision-making, though the evidence has limits. Correct answer.
  3. Self-reporting is always the most reliable research method.
  4. Keeping a journal is harmful to clear thinking.

Explanation

The passage offers a tentative finding and immediately qualifies it. The main idea must preserve that caution, since the author explicitly limits the conclusion.

Question 25Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

A passage notes that a language with few speakers is being taught in schools using recordings of elders, and that young learners have begun using phrases at home. The author calls this a fragile but genuine revival. What is the main idea?

  1. Elders should not be recorded without payment.
  2. Recordings are a better teaching tool than textbooks in every subject.
  3. Young people no longer value their home languages.
  4. A small language is being revived through school teaching and elder recordings, though the recovery remains fragile. Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage combines a description of revival efforts with the author's cautious label of fragility. Both elements belong to the main idea, since the qualification shapes the claim.

Question 26Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "The village of Kestrel Bay once depended on a single fishing cooperative. When the cooperative closed, families left for larger cities. A decade later, a group of returning residents opened a small boat-building workshop, then a guesthouse, then a bakery. Each business drew customers who then visited the others. Today the village has more residents than it did before the cooperative closed." What is the main idea of this passage?

  1. The fishing cooperative closed because of poor management decisions.
  2. A village recovered and grew after residents built several linked small businesses. Correct answer.
  3. Young people prefer living in small villages over large cities.
  4. Boat building is a more reliable trade than fishing in coastal villages.

Explanation

The passage traces a community from decline to growth, and the growth comes from a chain of interdependent small businesses. Every detail, from the workshop to the bakery to the returning residents, supports that arc. The other options seize on one detail and inflate it into a claim the text never makes.

Question 27Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "A library noticed that its most popular books were always checked out. Instead of buying more copies, staff began lending 'experience kits': a birdwatching kit with binoculars and a field guide, a bread-baking kit with a starter culture and a pan, a sewing kit with needles and thread. Borrowing rose sharply, and many patrons who had never used the library before became regular visitors." What is the main point the passage makes about the library?

  1. Print books have become less important to most library patrons.
  2. Libraries should stop buying multiple copies of popular books.
  3. Birdwatching and baking are the most popular hobbies in the community.
  4. Offering unusual items to borrow brought in new users and raised borrowing. Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage describes a decision (lending kits instead of more copies) and its result (borrowing rose, new patrons became regulars). The main point is that broadening what can be borrowed attracted people. The hobbies mentioned are examples used to illustrate the kits, not the subject of the passage.

Question 28Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "When a neighborhood group proposed closing one block of a street to cars, critics predicted chaos. Instead, the block became a plaza with tables, planters, and a small stage. Nearby shops reported higher sales, traffic on parallel streets barely changed, and residents began holding weekly markets there. The group now plans similar closures elsewhere." Which statement best captures the passage's central point?

  1. Traffic on parallel streets increased after the block closed.
  2. Closing streets to cars is always the best way to help local shops.
  3. A street closure that critics feared turned out well and is being repeated. Correct answer.
  4. Weekly markets are more popular than permanent stores.

Explanation

The passage is built around a contrast between predictions of chaos and a successful outcome, and it ends by noting plans to repeat the experiment. That contrast and its aftermath form the main idea. The remaining options either contradict a stated fact or overgeneralize from one case.

Question 29Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "Bees are often praised for pollination, but their role as pollinators depends on a narrow window: a colony must be strong and numerous when a crop blooms. A cold spring can delay colony growth past the bloom, and a single intense heat wave can shorten bloom time. Farmers who rely on rented hives therefore track both weather and colony size, not just the number of hives they order." What is the main idea of this passage?

  1. Pollination success depends on timing between colony strength and bloom, not simply on hive numbers. Correct answer.
  2. Cold springs are more damaging to crops than heat waves.
  3. Honeybees are declining worldwide because of heat waves.
  4. Rented hives are less effective than wild pollinators.

Explanation

The passage sets up an expectation (bees pollinate) and then narrows it: what matters is whether a colony is strong exactly when the crop blooms. It closes by saying farmers monitor weather and colony size rather than hive counts alone, which restates that timing point.

Question 30Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "The first subway lines were built by private companies that competed for passengers. Because each company laid its own tracks, transfers between lines meant leaving one station and walking to another, sometimes blocks away. Riders paid twice. When the city eventually took over and unified the system, the biggest change was not new tunnels but the removal of those barriers between lines." Which statement best expresses the passage's main point?

  1. Private companies built better subway tunnels than cities do.
  2. New tunnels were the most important improvement in the subway system.
  3. The most significant gain from unification was easier transfers, not new construction. Correct answer.
  4. Walking between stations was popular with early riders.

Explanation

The passage contrasts the fragmented private system with unification and explicitly says the biggest change was removing barriers between lines rather than digging tunnels. The main idea therefore concerns transfers and coordination, not construction.

Question 31Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "A hospital replaced its paper charts with tablets. Nurses initially spent extra minutes logging in and searching menus, and some quietly kept paper notes. Six months later, after the interface was redesigned around the order in which nurses actually work, charting time fell below the old paper baseline. The hospital's director argues that the lesson is not that tablets are better, but that technology must follow the workflow it enters." What is the passage mainly arguing?

  1. Paper charts are ultimately more efficient than digital records.
  2. New technology succeeds when it is shaped around existing work practices. Correct answer.
  3. Tablets are unsuitable for use in hospitals.
  4. Nurses resist change more strongly than other hospital staff.

Explanation

The passage narrates an initial failure, a redesign based on how nurses actually work, and a later success, then quotes the director drawing the general lesson. That lesson, that technology must fit the workflow, is the main point.

Question 32Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "Historians long described the spread of a new grain crop as a story of superior farming. Recent work tells a different story: the crop spread fastest along trade routes where merchants already moved salt and cloth, and it was often grown first by farmers who had little choice, because it tolerated poor soil. Its success, in other words, followed networks and constraints rather than simple superiority." What is the main idea?

  1. The new crop was inferior to the grains it replaced.
  2. The crop's spread is better explained by trade networks and poor-soil conditions than by its superiority. Correct answer.
  3. Historians agree that the crop spread because of superior farming methods.
  4. Merchants were the primary farmers of the new crop.

Explanation

The passage explicitly contrasts an older explanation (superior farming) with a newer one (trade routes and constrained farmers on poor soil) and summarizes it as networks and constraints rather than superiority. The main idea is that revised explanation.

Question 33Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "A city's noise ordinance limited construction to daytime hours. Residents near a new rail line welcomed the rule, but contractors pointed out that some work, such as pouring certain concrete, must be continuous once started. The city then added a permit process allowing night work only when a project could show that stopping would cause structural harm, with advance notice to neighbors." What is the passage mainly about?

  1. Residents near rail lines are the loudest critics of construction.
  2. Concrete work should be banned near homes.
  3. Contractors usually ignore city noise ordinances.
  4. A city adjusted a noise rule to allow limited exceptions with safeguards. Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage describes a rule, a genuine conflict raised by contractors, and a compromise that permits exceptions under conditions and with notice. The main idea is that the city modified its rule rather than abandoning or rigidly enforcing it.

Question 34Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "Many people assume that a longer report is a more thorough one. But length often reflects caution rather than depth: writers add qualifications to avoid blame, repeat background that readers already know, and bury the finding in the middle. A short memo that states the finding, the evidence, and the recommended action can be harder to write and easier to act on." Which statement best states the main idea?

  1. Background information has no place in a report.
  2. Length is a poor measure of thoroughness, and concise memos can serve readers better. Correct answer.
  3. Writers should avoid qualifications in all professional writing.
  4. Short documents are always more accurate than long ones.

Explanation

The passage contrasts the assumption that longer means more thorough with the reasons length often grows, then praises a concise memo that states finding, evidence, and action. The main idea is that length misleads as a measure of quality.

Question 35Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "A team studying urban birds expected that parks with more trees would host more species. The counts partly matched, but the strongest predictor turned out to be whether a park connected to other green space. Isolated parks with many trees held fewer species than modest parks linked by corridors. The team concluded that for birds, connection matters as much as size." What is the main finding the passage reports?

  1. Connected green space predicted bird species richness better than tree count alone. Correct answer.
  2. Large parks always contain more bird species than small parks.
  3. Tree count is irrelevant to the number of bird species in a park.
  4. Urban birds prefer corridors to parks.

Explanation

The passage reports that tree counts partly matched expectations but that connectivity was the strongest predictor, and it ends with the team's conclusion that connection matters as much as size. That is the central finding.

Question 36Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "Every year a town held a festival that drew visitors from far away. When the organizing committee proposed moving it from summer to spring, vendors objected that summer crowds were reliable. The committee pointed to three summers of extreme heat, a rising number of heat-related incidents, and falling attendance among older visitors. Attendance in the first spring festival exceeded the previous summer record." What is the passage mainly about?

  1. A festival's move to a cooler season was justified by safety and attendance data and proved successful. Correct answer.
  2. Summer festivals are no longer viable anywhere.
  3. Older visitors are the largest group attending festivals.
  4. Vendors usually oppose any change to festival schedules.

Explanation

The passage presents a proposed change, the objection to it, the evidence the committee used (heat, incidents, older visitors' attendance), and the result. The main idea is that the move was evidence-based and worked.

Question 37Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "Advocates of open data argue that publishing government datasets lets citizens and researchers find problems officials miss. Critics reply that raw data without context is easily misread and that publishing costs fall on agencies with limited budgets. Both sides, however, agree that the decisive question is not whether to publish but how to publish: with documentation, standards, and support for users." What is the main point of the passage?

  1. Open data should not be published because it is easily misread.
  2. Agencies lack the budget to publish any government data.
  3. Researchers find more problems than officials do.
  4. The debate over open data has shifted toward how to publish it well. Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage presents two sides of a debate and then identifies their shared conclusion: the real question is how to publish, with documentation, standards, and support. The main idea is that convergence, not either side's original position.

Question 38Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "A widely cited study found that students who took notes by hand remembered more than those who typed. Later replications found the gap shrank or vanished when typists were instructed not to transcribe lectures word for word. The original authors acknowledged the boundary condition. The episode illustrates how a memorable headline can outlive the narrower finding it came from." Which statement best captures the passage's main point?

  1. A striking research finding can spread more widely than the limited conditions under which it holds. Correct answer.
  2. The original study was deliberately falsified by its authors.
  3. Typing notes should be banned in lecture halls.
  4. Handwritten notes are clearly superior to typed notes for all students.

Explanation

The passage traces a headline finding, later replications that narrowed it, and the authors' acknowledgment, then draws a general lesson about memorable headlines outliving narrow findings. That lesson is the main idea.

Question 39Main Idea and Gist Comprehension

Read the passage: "For decades, engineers treated bridge maintenance as a schedule: inspect every span at fixed intervals and repair what fails. A newer approach ranks spans by traffic, age, and the consequences of failure, then inspects the riskiest more often. Critics call this a way to defer work on quiet bridges. Supporters answer that fixed schedules spread attention evenly but not wisely, and that even attention is not the same as adequate attention." What is the passage mainly about?

  1. The claim that quiet bridges never need repair.
  2. The failure of fixed-interval inspection schedules.
  3. A shift from fixed-interval to risk-based bridge inspection and the dispute it has caused. Correct answer.
  4. The cost of inspecting every bridge at fixed intervals.

Explanation

The passage describes an older schedule-based practice, a newer risk-based one, and the objection and reply each side makes. Its main idea is the shift and the disagreement surrounding it, not a verdict on costs or a claim that schedules failed outright.

Question 40Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage states that the treaty was signed in the city of Ghent in December 1814, but that news of the agreement did not reach New Orleans until February 1815. According to the passage, when did the news reach New Orleans?

  1. December 1814
  2. February 1815 Correct answer.
  3. New Orleans
  4. Ghent

Explanation

The passage gives two separate dates: the signing in December 1814 and the arrival of the news in February 1815. The question asks specifically about the arrival of the news, so the correct date is February 1815.

Question 41Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage notes that the expedition carried 84 members, of whom only 12 were trained soldiers; the rest were laborers, guides, and a small mapping team. According to the passage, how many members of the expedition were trained soldiers?

  1. 72
  2. 24
  3. 12 Correct answer.
  4. 84

Explanation

The passage directly states that only 12 of the 84 members were trained soldiers. The remaining members belonged to other roles, so the number of soldiers is 12.

Question 42Explicit Detail and Factual Information

In a passage about the novelist, it says she wrote her first published story while working night shifts at a hospital and that she destroyed three earlier manuscripts. Which detail does the passage give about her early writing?

  1. She won an award for her first story.
  2. She destroyed three earlier manuscripts. Correct answer.
  3. She published under a pen name.
  4. She wrote her first story in college.

Explanation

The passage explicitly mentions that she destroyed three earlier manuscripts before her first published story. The other details are not stated anywhere in the passage.

Question 43Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage describes the migration of monarch butterflies, stating that individual butterflies travel up to 3,000 miles and that the journey takes several generations to complete. According to the passage, how is the full migration completed?

  1. By several generations over the course of the journey Correct answer.
  2. By a single butterfly over one season
  3. By butterflies that remain in one location
  4. By butterflies traveling only 300 miles

Explanation

The passage states that the journey takes several generations to complete, meaning no single butterfly makes the entire trip. The 3,000-mile figure applies to individual butterflies, but the full migration spans generations.

Question 44Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage reports that the bridge was closed for repairs in March, reopened briefly in June, and closed again in August after inspectors found cracked supports. According to the passage, why was the bridge closed in August?

  1. A scheduled reopening ceremony
  2. Routine seasonal maintenance
  3. Cracked supports found by inspectors Correct answer.
  4. A lack of funding for repairs

Explanation

The passage links the August closure directly to inspectors finding cracked supports. The March closure was for repairs, but the August closure has its own stated cause.

Question 45Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage about a desert plant states that it stores water in thick leaves and opens its pores only at night to reduce evaporation. According to the passage, when does the plant open its pores?

  1. At dawn
  2. At night Correct answer.
  3. Only after rain
  4. At midday

Explanation

The passage explicitly says the plant opens its pores only at night. The stated purpose is to reduce evaporation during the heat of the day.

Question 46Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage states that the library's rare-book collection is housed in a climate-controlled room kept at 18 degrees Celsius and 45 percent humidity. According to the passage, what humidity level is maintained in the room?

  1. 80 percent
  2. 45 percent Correct answer.
  3. 18 percent
  4. 54 percent

Explanation

The passage gives two figures for the room: 18 degrees Celsius for temperature and 45 percent for humidity. The humidity figure is therefore 45 percent.

Question 47Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage explains that the company's founder began by repairing radios in a garage and later expanded into manufacturing. According to the passage, what was the founder's first business activity?

  1. Manufacturing radios
  2. Repairing radios in a garage Correct answer.
  3. Selling household appliances
  4. Operating a retail store

Explanation

The passage states that the founder began by repairing radios in a garage and only later expanded into manufacturing. The first activity is therefore radio repair.

Question 48Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage describes a study in which participants who slept fewer than six hours recalled 20 percent fewer words than those who slept seven to eight hours. According to the passage, which group recalled more words?

  1. Participants who slept seven to eight hours Correct answer.
  2. Participants who slept fewer than six hours
  3. Participants who napped during the day
  4. Participants who slept more than nine hours

Explanation

The passage states that the short-sleep group recalled 20 percent fewer words, which means the seven-to-eight-hour group recalled more. The comparison is made only between those two groups.

Question 49Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage states that the museum's new wing was funded by a donation of 12 million dollars, half of which came from a single anonymous donor. According to the passage, how much did the anonymous donor give?

  1. 24 million dollars
  2. 12 million dollars
  3. 6 million dollars Correct answer.
  4. 3 million dollars

Explanation

The passage says the total donation was 12 million dollars and that half came from one anonymous donor. Half of 12 million is 6 million dollars.

Question 50Explicit Detail and Factual Information

A passage notes that the festival was moved from the first weekend of May to the third weekend because of a scheduling conflict with a national holiday. According to the passage, what caused the change in date?

  1. Poor weather forecasts
  2. Construction in the festival venue
  3. A shortage of volunteers
  4. A conflict with a national holiday Correct answer.

Explanation

The passage names a scheduling conflict with a national holiday as the reason for the move. The original date was the first weekend of May and the new date the third weekend.