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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. Who are the Dursleys?

2. What prop is used in the sorting ceremony?

3. How does Hermione keep Harry and Ron from getting in trouble in Chapter 10?

4. What do Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville find when they go inside a room to hide from Filch in Chapter 9?

5. What is the name of the wizarding community's newspaper?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens one night after the Dursleys have been in bed for quite some time?

2. What is Harry's first day of classes like at Hogwarts?

3. How does Hagrid supply breakfast in Chapter 5, and what does he say that he and Harry must do after eating?

4. Where are Dudley and Harry going to be attending school?

5. What unusual way does Harry catch the snitch in his first Quidditch match?

6. Why is Dumbledore at the Dursley home at the beginning of the book?

7. What is odd about the wand Harry ends up buying at Ollivander's Wand Shop?

8. How is Harry's initial experience in potions class?

9. Why do Ron and Harry have a stilted conversation initially on the train?

10. What happens when Mr. Dursley breaks under the stress of all the letters piling up?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Identify the protagonists of the story and why you believe they are such. Identify the antagonists of the story and why you believe they are such. Which three secondary characters have the greatest impact on the plot? Which, if any, characters are not essential to the story? Explain.

Essay Topic 2

Trace and analyze the theme of life and death in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Which characters struggle with this issue? Why? Which characters seem to want immortality? Which characters are dead and how do they affect the other characters and the plot?

Essay Topic 3

What is foreshadowing? Identify three instances of foreshadowing in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and what they foreshadow. How does foreshadowing contribute to a book's suspense? Are there any incidences that you thought foreshadows a future event, but it does not do so?

(see the answer keys)

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