View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where are the final rounds of the competition Albert spends years preparing for?
(a) Seattle.
(b) San Francisco.
(c) Fort Worth.
(d) Columbia.

2. How do many of Young-ja's friends and neighbors find out about Mo-sae's illness?
(a) He acts strangely during a choir performance at church.
(b) He leaves the stove on and starts a fire.
(c) He wanders out half-clothed in winter one day.
(d) He can not count his change at the store.

3. Where did Young-ja once share a room with her sisters?
(a) Beijing.
(b) Chicago.
(c) Busan.
(d) Seoul.

4. Who was Albert's mentor?
(a) Yegor Zorin.
(b) Gretta Windsor.
(c) Frederick Zim.
(d) Florian Harcor.

5. What does So-hyun's father threaten to do with his gift when her mother questions its cost?
(a) Eat it.
(b) Kill it.
(c) Flush it down the toilet.
(d) Burn it.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Happy think his supervisor and his mother have in common?

2. Where does So-hyun stay with her mother and brother to get away from her father in Korea sometimes?

3. Who is So-hyun's cousin that is around her own age?

4. Who does Young-ja regularly take care of?

5. What gift does So-hyun's father bring to her from Korea that puzzles her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What extremes does Albert go through to prepare for the Van Cliburn competition?

2. Why does Young-ja feel anxious about leaving Mo-sae alone with their grandson in the story "The Art of Losing"?

3. Why does Sasha contact Albert again after many years of being out of touch?

4. How does the community find out about Mo-sae's illness?

5. How do Albert's classmates remember him?

6. How does Mo-sae handle things when Young-ja does not come home for hours one day, because she is very ill?

7. What does Albert remember about Sasha from when they were students together?

8. Why does Sasha believe her daughter Alisa is special when it comes to the piano?

9. Why does So-hyun's mother not travel back to Korea for her own mother's funeral?

10. Why does So-hyun dislike her cousin Susie so much?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 647 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample