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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 new signal do Rod, Jack, and Jimmy create in Chapter 7 when they move their signal fire?

2. Why do Rod, Jack, and Jimmy alter the placement of their original signal fire in Chapter 7?

3. How does Rod travel from school to home?

4. In Chapter 5, why does Jack disagree with Rod's opinion about what planet they are on?

5. Early in Chapter 6, what does Rod accuse Jack of stealing?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Rod first encounter a student worthy of partnership?

2. What advice does Deacon Matson give Rod, regarding the final exam?

3. Why is Chapter 2 titled, "The Fifth Way?"

4. Where does Rod believe he and the other students have been abandoned?

5. What career field does Rod wish to pursue?

6. Who does Rod finally agree to partner with, before traveling through the gate to an unknown planet?

7. What shocking secret does Jimmy reveal to Rod, regarding Jack?

8. Describe the "marching hordes" seen by Rod in Emigrants' Gap.

9. How does Jack finally convince Rod that they are not on Terra?

10. Why has Rod's sister, Helen, returned home to be with the family in Chapter 2?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is Rod's dream job? Why is such a job important in his world? How do his experiences throughout "Tunnel in the Sky" prepare him for such a career? Why does he almost abandon his dreams near the end of the novel, when rescuers arrive?

Essay Topic 2

What do the cliff dwellings discovered by Rod and Roy in Chapter 11 signify? What does the beach of bones discovered by the same two characters signify? How do the two characters react to their discoveries? How do the beach of bones and they cliff dwellings amplify the sense of abandonment felt by the students on the unknown planet?

Essay Topic 3

How does Robert A. Heinlein perceive the roles and capabilities of men and women? Cite examples from the novel. In what ways does his perception seem quaint, given the fact that the novel was first published in 1955? Is Heinlein a sexist, by today's standards?

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