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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. In what month did Francisco return home from college to find his father gone?

2. For how many credits did Francisco register during his first semester of sophomore year?

3. In what location on campus did Francisco often take long walks?

4. Through which person did Francisco meet his friend Emily during his sophomore year of college?

5. How old was Francisco's mother Joaquina when she married Francisco's father?

Short Essay Questions

1. What news did Jimenez receive about his father's situation in Mexico during the second half of Jimenez's sophomore year of college?

2. What event caused Jimenez and Laura to have to spend more time together after they strike up an acquaintance?

3. What similarities did Emily and Jimenez find within their childhood experiences at school?

4. For what specific reason did Jimenez feel grateful to have known Rafael Hernandez?

5. What major obstacle did Jimenez face upon returning to the University of Santa Clara to begin his sophomore year and how did he overcome it?

6. What motivation drove Jimenez to try to teach himself how to pick cotton at the age of six?

7. How does Jimenez characterize the emotions he felt upon returning to the University of Santa Clara to begin his sophomore year?

8. What instruction did Father O'Neill give to Jimenez about his body language one day during a walk?

9. What major secret of his own did Jimenez reveal to Laura in the chapter entitled "A Secret Revealed"?

10. Who was Emily and how did Jimenez make her acquaintance?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Examine Jimenez’s use of characterization methods to portray real people. What effect do these characterization methods have on the work's inherent themes and messages?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Jimenez's purpose for juxtaposing at least two different locations in a particular way within the text of Reaching Out.

Essay Topic 3

How is the theme of injustice portrayed within Reaching Out? Examine Jimenez's treatment of and messages regarding injustice throughout the work.

(see the answer keys)

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