Test Yourself: Reading, Age 9

The following multiple-choice questions were included in the 2008 long-term trend reading assessment at age 9. In a multiple choice question, one or more introductory sentences are followed by a list of response options that include the correct answer and several incorrect alternatives.

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the questions below, then click submit at the bottom of the page.

See the full text for question 1.

Question 1: According to the article, which of the following pairs of activities did frontier women perform?

	A.	Making tools and plowing fields
	B.	Sewing clothes and trapping animals
	C.	Ironing clothes and hunting for food
	D.	Cleaning house and trading with Native Americans

See the full text for question 2.

Question 2: What should a two-month old kitten be fed?

See the full text for question 3.

Question 3:  What do you find out at the end of the poem?

	A.	The child is bringing home a snake.
	B.	The child gave away a snake.
	C.	The child doesn’t really want a dog.
	D.	The child already has a dog.

 Click here to submit your responses.

READING PASSAGES

Question 1 full text

Frontier Women

Like the early colonial women settlers of the backwoods, frontier women made everything their families needed. Most began work at daybreak and did not rest until late evening. They cooked, spun cloth, made clothing, raised children, and tried to keep their dirt homes clean. They cleared and plowed fields, tended and harvested crops, milked the cows, raised hogs, rode and trained horses, and did just about every chore on the farm.

The women not only worked, they also made most of their own tools. To make pitchforks, they attached handles to deer antlers. Many of the women learned to use a knife well enough to carve spoons, forks, and bowls out of animal bones. They fashioned cups and containers out of vegetable gourds and animal horns.

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Question 2 full text

How to Serve Meow-Wow Dinner

One 8-ounce cup per average-sized cat is the recommended daily amount.

Twice-a-day feeding is the general rule for most cats, so allow 1/2 cup for each meal.

Remember that some cats just naturally like to nibble often instead of having a full meal at one time. In this case, serve each cat a cupful of Meow-Wow Dinner once a day, allowing the cat to eat as much and as often as desired.

Until kittens are three months old, feed them Meow-Wow Dinner wet about three or four times a day. Let them eat all they want.

Sometimes cats lose their appetites and do not eat for a day or two. If lack of appetite continues, it may be wise to consult a veterinarian.

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Question 3 full text

Mother Doesn’t Want a Dog

Mother doesn’t want a dog.
Mother says they smell.
And never sit when you say sit.
Or even when you yell.
And when you come home late at night
And there is ice and snow.
You have to go back out because
The dumb dog has to go.

Mother doesn’t want a dog.
Mother says they shed.
And always let the strangers in
And bark at friends instead,
And do disgraceful things on rugs,
And track mud on the floor.
And flop upon your bed at night
and snore their doggy snore.

Mother doesn’t want a dog.
She’s making a mistake.
Because, more than a dog, I think
She will not want this snake.

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