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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 firms are run by Christian men who live in the suburbs?

2. What do the pilots instruments indicate?

3. Why does Joe Flom have trouble getting a job after college?

4. What did the early American educational theorists claim about long hours of school?

5. What is not unique in Harlan?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Suren Ratwatte say about a Colombian airliner that crashes in New York?

2. How does Harlan gain notoriety in its early days?

3. What is KIPP and who are its students?

4. Why is Flom willing to work proxy wars?

5. Explain the term "Power Distance Index" and who coins the term.

6. How does PDI explain the crash of the Colombian airliner?

7. Who is Joe Flom?

8. What is the third lesson of Joe Flom?

9. What does Gladwell think is the cause of families feuding?

10. How do Korean Airlines change their bad record of crashes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The suggestion Gladwell takes from these numbers is that while efforts are being made to reduce class size and improve school facilities, the facts point to a simpler solution for children who are falling behind in school. They need more of it.

This is part of the philosophy behind the KIPP Academy. Students are at school until 5 o'clock in the evening. They attend class on Saturdays, and go for an extra three weeks in the summer. They spend on average fifty percent more time in class than students in the regular schools.

1. Discuss, in depth, why educators believe smaller class size would help students. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

2. Explain why you would or would not be willing to attend KIPP. Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

3. Do you think education is the most important part of a child's life or do you think it is secondary to other areas? Why or why not? Use examples from Outliers to support your answer.

Essay Topic 2

Outliers belongs to the non-fiction genre. Discuss the following:

1. Define the literary term "genre" and give several examples of three other genres in addition to the non-fiction genre.

2. Discuss two reasons why it might be useful to label a text by genre and two reasons it might be disadvantageous to label a text by genre.

3. What do you think is the difference between a non-fiction and a novel?

Essay Topic 3

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.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,267 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample