View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Chapter 9, the new mayor requisitions the rocks that were to be used for a protective wall, to build what instead?

2. In Chapter 13, when Rod refuses to resume his duties as city manager, who is appointed?

3. In Chapter 12 why are many students, including Grant, less than enthusiastic about moving to the caves Rod and Roy have discovered?

4. Under Grant's leadership, who is appointed as the historian of the group?

5. Which member of the settlement is an aspiring medical student?

Short Essay Questions

1. During a square dance in Chapter 14, what do almost all of the students say they would do if rescuers come?

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

3. Why, according to Caroline, is Carmen unable to relocate to a new place?

4. A strange migration of what creatures threatens the students' settlement?

5. What happens to Grant during the dopey joes' aggressive period?

6. What demands does Rod make of Grant in Chapter 10, before agreeing to serve as his city manager?

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

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

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

10. What do Rod and Roy discover, as far downstream as they can go?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does Robert A. Heinlein explain the technology involved in Ramsbotham Gates? How did the personality of the inventor, Dr. Jesse Evelyn Ramsbotham, as described in Chapter 2, lead to the invention of tunnel travel? How did the invention of tunnel travel transform the world of "Tunnel in the Sky?"

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

Near the end of the novel when officials from Terra arrive to rescue the students, why is Rod the only one who wishes to stay on the new planet? Why are the other students so anxious to leave, even though many had previously stated that they would never want to return home? What irresistible attractions draw them home, that could never be replicated in Cowpertown?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 722 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample