The following text is from the 1923 poem “Black Finger” by Angelina Weld Grimké, a Black American writer. A cypress is a type of evergreen tree. I have just seen a most beautiful thing, Slim and still,  Against a gold, gold sky,  A straight black cypress, Sensitive, Exquisite, A black finger Pointing upwards. Why, beautiful still finger, are you black? And why are you pointing upwards?

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) The speaker describes a distinctive sight in nature, then ponders what meaning to attribute to that sight.

B) The speaker presents an outdoor scene, then considers a human behavior occurring within that scene.

C) The speaker assesses a natural phenomenon, then questions the accuracy of her assessment.

D) The speaker examines her surroundings, then speculates about their influence on her emotional state.

The following text is adapted from Charles Dickens’s 1854 novel Hard Times. Coketown is a fictional town in England.[Coketown] contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another, inhabited by people equally like one another, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the same pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same as yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the next.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A)To explain the limited work opportunities available to the town’s residents.

B) To emphasize the uniformity of both the town and the people who live there.

C) To reveal how the predictability of the town makes it easy for people lose track of time.

D) To argue that the simplicity of life in the town makes it a pleasant place to live.

The following text is adapted from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s 1902 novel The Sport of the Gods. Joe and some of his family members have recently moved to New York City. [Joe] was wild with enthusiasm and with a desire to be a part of all that the metropolis meant. In the evening he saw the young fellows passing by dressed in their spruce clothes, and he wondered with a sort of envy where they could be going. Back home there had been no place much worth going to, except church and one or two people’s houses.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) It compares a character’s thoughts about an event at two different times of day.

B) It explains why a character has traveled to a city.

C) It presents a character feeling regret over leaving home.

D) It illustrates a character’s reaction to a new environment.

Musician Joni Mitchell, who is also a painter, uses images she creates for her album covers to emphasize ideas expressed in her music. For the cover of her album Turbulent Indigo (1994), Mitchell painted a striking self-portrait that closely resembles Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889). The image calls attention to the album’s title song, in which Mitchell sings about the legacy of the postimpressionist painter. In that song, Mitchell also hints that she feels a strong artistic connection to Van Gogh—an idea that is reinforced by her imagery on the cover.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A)It presents a claim about Mitchell, then gives an example supporting that claim.

B) It discusses Van Gogh’s influence on Mitchell, then considers Mitchell’s influence on other artists.

C) It describes a similarity between two artists, then notes a difference between them.

D) It describes the songs on Turbulent Indigo, then explains how they relate to the album’s cover.

The following text is from the 1924 poem “Cycle” by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. There shall be new roads wending, A new beating of the drum— Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing, Grey lives reprise their span— But under the new sun’s being, Completing what night began, There’ll be the same backs bending, The same sad feet shall drum— When this night finds its ending And day shall have come…​..

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To question whether activities completed at one time of day are more memorable than those completed at another time of day.

B) To consider how the repetitiveness inherent in human life can be both rewarding and challenging.

C) To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly experienced emotion than sadness is.

D) To demonstrate how the experiences of individuals relate to the experiences of their communities.

For his 1986 album Keyboard Fantasies, Beverly Glenn-Copeland wrote songs grounded in traditional soul and folk music,then accompanied them with futuristic synthesizer arrangements featuring ambient sounds and complex rhythms. The result was so strange, so unprecedented, that the album attracted little attention when first released. In recent years,however, a younger generation of musicians has embraced the stylistic experimentation of Keyboard Fantasies. Alternative R&B musicians Blood Orange and Moses Sumney, among other contemporary recording artists, cite the album as an influence.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A)It urges contemporary musicians to adopt the unique sound of Keyboard Fantasies.

B) It responds to criticism of Keyboard Fantasies by some younger musicians.

C) It offers examples of younger musicians whose work has been impacted by Keyboard Fantasies.

D) It contrasts Keyboard Fantasies with the recordings of two younger musicians.

The following text is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s 1910 poem “The Earth’s Entail.” No matter how we cultivate the land, Taming the forest and the prairie free; No matter how we irrigate the sand, Making the desert blossom at command, We must always leave the borders of the sea; The immeasureable reaches Of the windy wave-wet beaches, The million-mile-long margin of the sea.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) The speaker provides examples of an admirable way of approaching nature and then challenges that approach.

B) The speaker argues against interfering with nature and then gives evidence supporting this interference.

C) The speaker presents an account of efforts to dominate nature and then cautions that such efforts are only temporary.

D) The speaker describes attempts to control nature and then offers a reminder that not all nature is controllable.

The following text is adapted from Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto’s 1925 memoir A Daughter of the Samurai. As a young woman, Sugimoto moved from feudal Japan to the United States. The standards of my own and my adopted country differed so widely in some ways, and my love for both lands was so sincere, that sometimes I had an odd feeling of standing upon a cloud in space, and gazing with measuring eyes upon two separate worlds. At first I was continually trying to explain, by Japanese standards, all the queer things that came every day before my surprised eyes; for no one seemed to know the origin or significance of even the most familiar customs, nor why they existed and were followed.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

A) To establish the narrator’s hope of forming connections with new companions by sharing customs she learned as a child.

B) To reveal the narrator’s recognition that she is hesitant to ask questions about certain aspects of a culture she is newly encountering.

C) To convey the narrator’s experience of observing and making sense of differences between two cultures she embraces.

D) To emphasize the narrator’s wonder at discovering that the physical distance between two countries is greater than she had expected.

In the Here and Now Storybook (1921), educator Lucy Sprague Mitchell advanced the then controversial idea that books for very young children should imitate how they use language, since toddlers, who cannot yet grasp narrative or abstract ideas, seek reassurance in verbal repetition and naming. The most enduring example of this idea is Margaret Wise Brown’s 1947 picture book Goodnight Moon, in which a young rabbit names the objects in his room as he drifts off to sleep. Scholars note that the book’s emphasis on repetition, rhythm, and nonsense rhyme speaks directly to Mitchell’s influence.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) The text outlines a debate between two authors of children’s literature and then traces how that debate shaped theories on early childhood education.

B) The text summarizes an argument about how children’s literature should be evaluated and then discusses a contrasting view on that subject.

C) The text presents a philosophy about what material is most suitable for children’s literature and then describes a book influenced by that philosophy.

D) The text lists the literary characteristics that are common to many classics of children’s literature and then indicates the narrative subjects that are most appropriate for young children.

The following text is from Charlotte Forten Grimké’s 1888 poem “At Newport.” Oh, deep delight to watch the gladsome waves Exultant leap upon the rugged rocks; Ever repulsed, yet ever rushing on— Filled with a life that will not know defeat; To see the glorious hues of sky and sea. The distant snowy sails, glide spirit like, Into an unknown world, to feel the sweet Enchantment of the sea thrill all the soul, Clearing the clouded brain, making the heart Leap joyous as it own bright, singing waves!

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A)It characterizes the sea’s waves as a relentless and enduring force.

B) It portrays the surroundings as an imposing and intimidating scene.

C) It conveys the speaker’s ambivalence about the natural world.

D) It draws a contrast between the sea’s waves and the speaker’s thoughts.