"A fish ladder is a stair of shallow pools beside a dam. Salmon leap pool to pool to reach spawning gravel upstream. Where the pools sit too far apart, the weakest fish fall back and never pass." What is the central idea?

"Sea otters eat the urchins that graze kelp holdfasts. Where otters were hunted out, urchins multiplied and the kelp thinned to bare rock. Decades after otters returned to one stretch of coast, the kelp came back." What does the passage suggest?

"A forest unburned for eighty years carries deep litter and crowded young trees. Crews now set low fires in cool weather to take out that fuel. Where the fuel is gone, a later fire stays on the ground." Which statement does the passage support?

"Mountain snow works as a reservoir: it holds winter precipitation and lets it go slowly through spring. A warm winter that falls as rain runs off at once, filling rivers in February and leaving them low in July." What is the central idea?

"A returning honeybee walks a straight run on the comb while shaking her body, then circles back and repeats it. The run's angle against vertical matches the flower patch's angle from the sun, and its length tracks the distance." What can a reader infer?

"Before 1883 each American town kept its own noon by the sun, so clocks in neighboring cities disagreed by minutes. Railroads published timetables no set of local clocks could match, and the companies cut the country into standard zones." Central idea?

"A ship carrying no freight takes on seawater for stability and dumps it at the next port, along with whatever larvae came aboard. Ports now require crews to swap that ballast in deep ocean." Why would the deep-ocean swap work?

"A mangrove's stilt roots stand in a thicket at the waterline. Storm surge pushing through that thicket loses speed and drops much of its sediment before it reaches the shore behind." Which detail best supports the idea that mangroves shelter the shore?

"On a slope, furrows cut straight downhill give rain a channel to run in, and the topsoil goes with it. Furrows cut across the slope hold water in each row long enough for it to soak in." What is the central idea?

"Riders take the shared bikes downhill in the morning, so by ten the uphill stations are empty and the downtown racks are full. A truck spends the rest of the day carrying bikes back up." What does the passage suggest about the system?

"A layer of soil and low plants on a flat roof holds a few centimeters of rainfall and lets it go over several hours. Cities with combined sewers value that delay, since it keeps the first hour's runoff from overflowing into the river." Main value named?

"A seed bank stores duplicates of crop varieties in sealed foil packets at minus 18 degrees Celsius, which slows the seeds' chemistry so a sample can still sprout decades later. A second copy is kept at a distant site." Why keep a copy elsewhere?

"When a whale dies it sinks, and its body feeds animals in order: scavenging fish and crabs, then worms boring into the bones, then bacteria living off the fat inside them. One fall can support that sequence for decades." What is the central idea?

"Tree resin traps an insect, hardens, and is buried; over millions of years it becomes amber. Because the resin sealed the animal away from air and bacteria, fine structures such as wing hairs survive that rock fossils never keep." Best supporting detail?

"Grandpa still set two places at the table and still poured the second cup black, the way she had taken it. If anyone moved the empty chair, he put it back without a word." What does the passage suggest about him?

"The apartment did not so much face the street as flinch from it: one window painted shut, and a door that opened three inches before the chain caught." What is the effect of the word "flinch"?

"Nobody asked Dad about the job. We passed the salt and talked about the game, and Dad ate with his coat still on, as if he might have to get up and leave." What does the passage suggest about the family?

"The map was forty years old. Yusuf followed it anyway, past a gas station that was now a church and a bridge that was now a rail trail. He found the pond exactly where it had been." Which theme does the passage develop?

"Ines held the trophy the way you hold something that belongs to somebody else." What does the sentence suggest about Ines?

"The letter was polite. It thanked her for her nineteen years, wished her well in her future work, and spelled her name wrong." What is the effect of ending on the misspelling?

"Every night for a week Malik rehearsed the phone call in the shower, out loud, with the pauses in it. On Friday he dialed six digits and hung up." What does the passage suggest about Malik?

"My sister says I broke the window. I was in the yard, and the ball was in the yard, and the window faces the yard, but she was not even home that afternoon." What does the passage suggest about the narrator?

"The gym smelled of floor wax and cold rubber, and the tournament bracket was still taped to the wall with its last two lines empty. Coach turned on one bank of lights, not all of them." What does the last detail do?

"The crowd did not cheer when the runner crossed the line. It exhaled." What does the word "exhaled" mainly convey?

"Tia gave the piano away in April. In August she still crossed the living room the long way, around a space where nothing was." Which theme does the passage develop?

"Ray brought doughnuts to the meeting he had voted against, sat at the far end, and took notes nobody had asked him to take." What does the passage suggest about Ray?

Passage 1 argues that making buses free to ride raises ridership. Passage 2 agrees that ridership climbs, then reports that fares had paid for the late-night runs the agency has now cut. What do both passages accept as true?

Passage 1 reports that a town's new bypass cut downtown traffic in half. Passage 2 reports that the same bypass cut downtown sales by a third. Which statement is consistent with both passages?

Passage 1 urges readers to donate outgrown clothes so they are reused instead of thrown out. Passage 2 reports that most donated clothing is shipped abroad and then burned or dumped. Where do the two passages part?

Passage 1 calls a wolf reintroduction a success and points to willows returning along the streams. Passage 2 calls it costly and counts 200 cattle killed in ten years. What kind of difference is this?

Passage 1 wants stadium funding put to a public vote. Passage 2 wants the team's owners to pay the whole cost themselves. Which claim would both writers reject?

Passage 1 is a ferry captain's account of crossings in heavy weather. Passage 2 is a state audit of the same ferry's on-time record. Which question can only Passage 2 answer?

Passage 1 praises a widened highway for cutting the commute by twenty minutes. Passage 2 describes the two neighborhoods the new lanes split in half. What does Passage 2 supply that Passage 1 leaves out?

Passage 1 claims phone cameras have made everyone a witness. Passage 2 agrees more events are recorded, then argues a recording shows only what the person holding it pointed at. What does Passage 2 add?

(1) The county fair moved to the north fairgrounds in 1974. (2) The old site had flooded twice. (3) My cousin will not ride roller coasters. (4) The new site has never flooded. Which sentence should be deleted?

(1) The bakery raised its prices in March. (2) ___ the Saturday line got longer. (3) The owner credits a free sourdough class she began that month. Which transition best fits the blank in sentence 2?

A draft reads: (1) The gym floor was refinished in July. (2) The booster club paid for the work. What is the best way to combine sentences 1 and 2?

(1) The club wanted proof the paper drive worked. (2) Members weighed the bins each Friday for a month. (3) The principal then approved a second bin. Where does this sentence belong? "The bins held 40 pounds more than in September."

(1) Marisol set up a repair table at lunch. (2) The cafeteria serves pizza on Fridays. (3) She mends zippers and torn straps. (4) Forty students have brought her something this fall. Which sentence should be deleted?

(1) The town's new signs use symbols instead of words. (2) ___ a bent arrow marks the one-way alley. (3) Drivers who read no English can still follow them. Which transition best fits the blank in sentence 2?

A draft reads: (1) Renata trains dogs for search teams. (2) She began the work after her own dog was lost for a week. What is the best way to combine these sentences?

(1) The pond behind the school froze early this year. (2) The science club drilled a test hole every week. (3) The ice reached four inches by December 1, three weeks ahead of last year. Which sentence best concludes the draft?

(1) Tomas repaired the school's old cameras. (2) He learned the work from a manual in the library. (3) The photography club had left them in a damp closet for years. (4) Two are now used in class. Where does sentence 3 belong?

(1) The trail crew rebuilt the creek crossing in June. (2) They set six stone steps into the bank. (3) Hikers no longer wade the last twenty feet. (4) The creek is named for a family that farmed here. Which sentence should be deleted?

(1) The store's coupons doubled the number of visits in April. (2) ___ sales stayed flat. (3) Managers found that most shoppers bought only the discounted item. Which transition best fits the blank in sentence 2?

A draft reads: (1) The mural covers the north wall of the gym. (2) It was painted by twelve students over spring break. What is the best way to combine these sentences?

(1) ___ (2) Volunteers sorted 900 books in one Saturday. (3) The shelves were labeled by Sunday night. (4) The room opened to students on Monday. Which sentence best begins this draft?

(1) The city says its new crosswalk slowed traffic on Elm Street. (2) Several drivers disagree. (3) The council votes again in May. Which piece of evidence best supports sentence 1?

A draft sentence reads: "The generator ran all night, the freezer stayed cold until the power came back." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The box of spare fuses were left on the workbench." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "After the storm knocked out the traffic light officers directed cars through the intersection by hand." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "Both witnesses accounts matched the security video." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The committee published it's findings in April." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "Hoping to finish before dark, the last bolt was tightened at seven." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The company mailed the refunds to their customers in June." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The band tuned in the hallway, then walks onto the stage without a word." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The manual tells drivers to check the oil, to test the brakes, and washing the windshield." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "Nailed to the porch rail, Dana found the notice from the county." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The emergency kit contains: gauze and tape." What is the best edit?

A draft sentence reads: "The new bell schedule will effect every bus route in the district." What is the best edit?