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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What object of the author's did a ninth grader in "A Boy's Big Problem" say had been through four world wars?
(a) His shirt.
(b) His pencil.
(c) His shoes.
(d) His backpack.

2. What does Mother tell the author his father had done?
(a) Lost a bet.
(b) Bad things.
(c) Gotten a new job.
(d) Gotten in a fight.

3. What method in "Two Positives" does the author say his family used to protect each other?
(a) Defensiveness.
(b) Love.
(c) Revenge.
(d) Silence.

4. Why did the author withdraw his applications to medical school programs at Johns Hopkins, Yale, Michigan State, and Wayne State?
(a) He was accepted to the University of Michigan.
(b) He decided to take a year off to get married.
(c) He realized he applied to too many programs.
(d) He received a fellowship to study abroad.

5. The author told his mother that _____ are supposed to _____.
(a) Boys/Cry.
(b) Fathers/Do as they please.
(c) Mothers and fathers/Stay together.
(d) Mothers/Obey their husbands.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did the author quit his job at Young and Rubicum Advertising?

2. What happened halfway through the author's fifth grade year?

3. The author's mother told him if he could _____, he could learn just about anything he wanted to know.

4. Why did the author and his brother give up football in "Two Positives"?

5. What frightened the author at the start of "Eight Years Old" that he says are bigger than cats?

Short Essay Questions

1. What study strategy did the author develop in his second year of medical school to help him learn the material?

2. Why didn't the author get the job he was promised in the summer of 1971?

3. Describe the author's relationship with his father, prior to his leaving the family.

4. What are the reasons the author gives in "A Serious Step" for not being ready for love?

5. What factors led to the author being a poor student at Higgins Elementary School?

6. What did the author's mother teach her sons that she learned at work?

7. How does the author take on the challenge of being student-sergeant for a rambunctious unit?

8. How did Mr. Jaeck nurture the author's gift for science?

9. What lessons does the author learn from working at Ford Motor Company?

10. What experience at college helped the author wash away some of his cockiness?

(see the answer keys)

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