View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Jing-Mei says that as a child “sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient.” What did Jing-Mei’s inner prodigy tell her at this time?
(a) If I’m not on stage in a year, I’ll never get there
(b) I’m dying of boredom. When are we going to do something fun?
(c) Tell her to stop making you do this. This is taking forever
(d) If you don’t hurry up and get me out of here, I’m disappearing for good

2. Describing her mother’s reaction to her hurtful words, Jing-Mei says, “she backed out of the room, stunned, as if she were blowing away like” what?
(a) A dandelion in the autumn sunset
(b) A wisp of hair, broken and abandoned
(c) A paper sack, dull and soiled
(d) A small brown leaf, thin, brittle, lifeless

3. When the instructor of the beauty school has to cut off Jing-Mei’s hair because of the bad perm, she tells Jing-Mei’s mother that what play is very popular these days?
(a) Peter Pan
(b) Little Orphan Annie
(c) Guys and Dolls
(d) Cinderella

4. What musical term from the story means pertaining to the lowest part in harmonic music?
(a) Sonata
(b) Scale
(c) Treble
(d) Bass

5. By the time that Jing-Mei is preparing to play in the talent recital, her parents have bought her what kind of secondhand piano?
(a) A Steinway upright
(b) A Steinway grand
(c) A Wurlitzer spinet
(d) A Förster upright

6. How does Jing-Mei describe Mr. Chong’s eyes as always looking when she began piano lessons with him?
(a) Tired and sleepy
(b) Daunting and scary
(c) Sprightly and bright
(d) Dark and mysterious

7. At the talent show where Jing-Mei makes her piano debut, she describes an eleven-year-old boy who won first prize for what performance?
(a) A mime act
(b) A piano solo
(c) A comedic monologue
(d) A violin solo

8. What does Jing-Mei say she mostly did do while she was practicing her music for the talent show?
(a) Focused on the keys she was playing
(b) Listened to all the errors she made
(c) Practiced her scales and chords
(d) Daydreamed about being elsewhere

9. What does Jing-Mei kick under her feet as her mother drags her to the piano for practice after the talent show?
(a) Throw rugs
(b) The cat
(c) The piano bench
(d) The bedspread

10. What color dress does Jing-Mei wear for her piano debut at the talent show?
(a) White
(b) Yellow
(c) Blue
(d) Red

11. Where does Jing-Mei live while growing up?
(a) Oakland, California
(b) Sacramento, California
(c) San Francisco, California
(d) Los Angeles, California

12. What does Jing-Mei say she put her mother’s jewelry in after her death at the end of the story?
(a) A post office box
(b) A bank vault
(c) Special silk pouches
(d) A box made of tin

13. Who performs first at the talent show where Jing-Mei makes her piano debut?
(a) The youngest children
(b) The oldest children
(c) The adults
(d) The trombone players

14. What college does Jing-Mei say she didn’t get into, causing more disappointment for her mother?
(a) Emerson
(b) Oxford
(c) Yale
(d) Stanford

15. How does Jing-Mei say she felt every time she saw the piano in her parents’ living room at the end of the story?
(a) Angry
(b) Proud
(c) Ashamed
(d) Sad

Short Answer Questions

1. Jing-Mei describes sitting down nightly with her mother to examine stories of child prodigies when she was a child. The first of these stories is about a boy who knows all the state capitals and most of the European countries at what age?

2. What musical term from the story refers to a group of notes taken in ascending or descending order within the compass of one octave?

3. What are the names of the families from the Joy Luck Club that come up to Jing-Mei’s mother and father after Jing-Mei’s performance at the talent show?

4. When was the Chinese Exclusion Act signed into law?

5. At what time does Jing-Mei have access to Mr. Chong’s piano for her daily practice sessions when she begins studying with him?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 677 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample