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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What pattern does Gladwell examine in Kentucky?

2. How is the pilot described?

3. What do farmers of the Middle Ages do in the summer in Europe?

4. What can Chinese farmers do if they produce more than the taxed amount?

5. Who are the Howards and Turners?

Short Essay Questions

1. What experiment do Dov Cohen and Richard Nisbett conduct in the 1990s?

2. What evidence is there that summer vacations may be hindering the success of many students?

3. How does understanding math relate to growing rice?

4. What does Gladwell say about early American educational theorists?

5. What is Gladwell's interpretation of Cohen and Nisbett's experiment?

6. What is the second part of the experiment and the final result?

7. Describe the plane crash of Korean Airlines Flight 801 in 1997.

8. How is a work ethic related to growing rice?

9. Where is Harlan, and who settled it?

10. What is KIPP and who are its students?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Gladwell makes a number of comparisons throughout his text. Choose one of the following to discuss:

1. Compare the way honor is seen in the southern United States to the way it seems to be viewed in the northern states. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

2. Compare the difference between the cultural legacy of the United States and Colombia. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

3. Compare the way that Oppenheimer handled criticism and problems with his behavior to the way that Langan did. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Gladwell in writing about Joe Flom cites anti-Semitism as part of the reason for Joe's success. Discuss one of the following:

1. Define anti-Semitism and give examples of it from both Outliers and other sources.

2. Do you think anti-Semitism still exists in the United States? Explain.

3. Discuss the ways in which racism influenced Malcolm Gladwell's family. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

Essay Topic 3

Hostile takeovers become more and more common and Flom and others receive more and more work. Finally, the white shoe firms come around and start to take on the work, but by this time Flom has so much more experience at it that he is able to command a large part of the business and surpass many of the established firms. Had he not been excluded for being Jewish when he first started, he would have lost the advantage, Gladwell explains.

1. Explain irony in the context of Joe Flom's success. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

2. Do you think the way the circumstances changed in the law profession might have made the white Christian lawyers decide prejudice was not in their best interest? Why or why not? Use examples from Outliers and your own life to support your answer.

3. Make up an example of how a minority in your school might be successful at an endeavor because of prejudice. Use examples from Outliers and your own life to support your answer.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,185 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample