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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. During their expedition in Chapter 11, when Roy wishes for a torch light what does Rod wish for?

2. What is "Grand Opera?"

3. Which two students say goodbye to Rod, before they leave through the gate for Terra?

4. Why don't Bob and Carmen want to leave with their friends immediately following the elections in Chapter 8?

5. The title of Chapter 12 is a quote from which character?

Short Essay Questions

1. In Chapter 10, why is Caroline appointed historian for the settlement?

2. How do Rod and Caroline clash the first time they try to hunt together?

3. In Chapter 9 how does Grant use the wedding of Bob and Carmen to his advantage?

4. The first part of Chapter 11 is told from whose point of view?

5. At the end of the novel, what is Rod doing?

6. What do Grant and Rod build in an attempt to protect their camp from the stampeding animals?

7. Why are Rod and Roy slow to return from their expedition?

8. Who finally convinces Rod to return home to Earth?

9. What does Deacon Matson finally define as a stobor?

10. What two characters on Earth were married while Rod and his friends are stranded on the unknown planet?

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

Main character Rod exhibits a tendency to jump to false conclusions. List other examples of Rod's faulty logic. How does Rod's reputation for jumping to false conclusions influence the other students, when he tries to warn them about the vulnerability of their settlement?

Essay Topic 3

When Grant Cowper campaigns to become Mayor of the student settlement in Chapter 8, he states, "We have no way of knowing...when we will be rescued. It might be tomorrow...It might be our descendants a thousand years from now. But when the main body of our great race reestablishes contact with us, it is up to us, this little group here tonight, whether they find a civilized society...or flea-bitten animals without language, without arts, with the light of reason gone dim...or no survivors at all, nothing but bones picked clean." What strategies does the group devise, to maintain a sense of civilization and to preserve their collective knowledge? What are the necessary components of civilization?

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