View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Candy's family think was strange about her new church in "A Serious Step"?

2. In "ROTC Triumph," why does the author say he looked forward to Sunday nights?

3. What object of the author's did a ninth grader in "A Boy's Big Problem" say had been through four world wars?

4. What group at Wilson Junior High asked the author how to solve problems?

5. What does the author say he felt "constant temptation" to do at his new school?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the author put an end to the capping, in "A Boy's Big Problem"?

2. How did new glasses help the author in school?

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

4. How did being poor impact the author in "A Boy's Big Problem"?

5. In "Two Positives," why did the author say he stopped hopping trains?

6. Why was the author impressed in the ROTC by a student named Sharper?

7. How was the author's family life after his father left?

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

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

10. What was the author's father like intellectually?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why does the author feel that some rules can be broken? What rules does he break in his career? How does breaking rules make him more successful than if he he only followed guidelines set by others?

Essay Topic 2

Reflect on the author's "Think Big" acrostic answer to success. Is it a realistic approach to success? Why or why not? How might schools, communities, or cultures be different if everyone followed each idea?

Essay Topic 3

How does the author change when he transfers to a predominately Black school in the eighth grade? How are his peers similar to his old classmates at Wilson Junior High? How are they different?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 866 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample