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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 is the value of pi?

2. Why did Daniel decide to publicly recite as many digits in the number pi as he could to beat a record?

3. What happens to Jay in 2004?

4. Who is Daniel's landlord in his Lithuanian apartment building?

5. What is Iceland's literacy rate?

Short Essay Questions

1. Scientists are beginning to question whether Daniel's ability with language extends to other forms of language, such as sign language. What happens when he is tested for this?

2. What is Daniel's relationship with words?

3. How is Daniel's method of memorizing the digits of pi different from most other people's methods?

4. How did Daniel prepare himself for the airplane flight to California?

5. Describe Daniel's state of mind as he recited pi for an audience for more than five hours.

6. Why did Daniel spend his first weekend in Kaunas inside his new apartment?

7. Why does Daniel want to do a fundraiser for the Epilepsy Society?

8. What had Daniel learned during his year in Kaunas?

9. Why did Daniel end up walking up the steep hill of Volunteer Ave. on his commute to the Volunteer Center?

10. Why did Daniel think about creating his own private language when he was young?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Daniel is diagnosed with epilepsy as a young child. How has this affected him throughout his life? Did it have any effect on his family? Do you believe his grandfather's diagnosis was a contributing factor to his diagnosis? Do you think the epilepsy helped cause his savant abilities or vice versa?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Daniel's many obsessions. Are these obsessions the results of Asperger's or being a savant? What made others so exasperated with him? How did his parents treat these obsessions? Were they correct to do so?

Essay Topic 3

Daniel is drawn to learn more about the language of Esperanto. He also develops his own language and calls it Manti. Why do you think he makes up his own language? Will he be able to speak it with anyone else? Why has his development of Manti attracted the attention of language researchers?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 853 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample