TEXAS SUCCESS INITIATIVE ASSESSMENT 2.0 English Language Arts and Reading © 2020 College Board.
2
Sample Questions
Directions for questions 1–15
Read the passage(s) below and then choose the best
answer to each question. Answer the question on the
basis of what is stated or implied in the passage(s).
In this passage from a novel, two young women visit
a bookshop in the ctional town of Brahmpur, India.
(1) e Imperial Book Depot was one of the
two best bookshops in town, and was located on
Nabiganj, the fashionable street that was the last
bulwark of modernity before the labyrinthine
alleys and ancient, cluttered neighbourhoods of
Old Brahmpur. (2) ough it was a couple of miles
away from the university proper it had a greater
following among students and teachers than the
University and Allied Bookshop, which was just a
few minutes away from campus. (3) e Imperial
Book Depot was run by two brothers, Yashwant
and Balwant, both almost illiterate in English,
but both (despite their prosperous roundness) so
energetic and entrepreneurial that it apparently
made no dierence. (4) ey had the best stock
in town, and were extremely helpful to their
customers. (5) If a book was not available in the
shop, they asked the customer himself to write
down its name on the appropriate order form.
(6) Twice a week an impoverished university
student was paid to sort new arrivals onto the
designated shelves. (7) And since the bookshop
prided itself on its academic as well as general
stock, the proprietors unashamedly collared
university teachers who wandered in to browse,
sat them down with a cup of tea and a couple of
publishers’ lists, and made them tick o titles
that they thought the bookshop should consider
ordering. (8) ese teachers were happy to ensure
that books they needed for their courses would
be readily available to their students. (9) Many of
them resented the University and Allied Bookshop
for its entrenched, lethargic, unresponsive and
high-handed ways.
(10) Aer classes, Lata and Malati, both dressed
casually in their usual salwaar-kameez
1
, went to
Nabiganj to wander around and have a cup of
coee at the Blue Danube coee house. (11) is
activity, known to university students as “ganjing,”
they could aord to indulge in about once a week.
(12) As they passed the Imperial Book Depot, they
were drawn magnetically in. (13) Each wandered
o to her favourite shelves and subjects. (14) Malati
headed straight for the novels, Lata went for
poetry. (15) On the way, however, she paused
by the science shelves, not because she understood
much science, but, rather, because she did not.
(16) Whenever she opened a scientic book and
saw whole paragraphs of incomprehensible words
and symbols, she felt a sense of wonder at the great
territories of learning that lay beyond her—the
sum of so many noble and purposive attempts
to make objective sense of the world. (17) She
enjoyed the feeling; it suited her serious moods;
and this aernoon she was feeling serious.
¹A salwaar-kameez is a traditional Indian garment.
Adapted from Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy.
©1993 by Vikram Seth.
1. e rst paragraph (sentences 1–5) suggests which of
the following about the relationship between university
students and teachers and the Imperial Book Depot?
A. University people avoid Yashwant and Balwant
because the two do not speak English well.
B. Students will soon start buying their books from a
newer and more modern bookshop.
C. Both students and teachers prefer the Imperial
Book Depot to the bookshop closer to campus.
D. Teachers dislike using complicated handwritten
forms to order books for their classes.
2. In the second paragraph (sentences 6–9), the narrator
indicates which of the following about Imperial Book
Depot business practices?
A. e sta acquire only those books that are most in
demand.
B. e clerks prefer to help people nd nonacademic
books and magazines.
C. e owners employ students and rely on teachers
for information.
D. Sta members are generally lazy and take too many
breaks for tea.
3. As used in sentence 8, “readily” most nearly means
A. easily
B. gladly
C. willingly
D. voluntarily
4. e third paragraph (sentences 10–17) suggests that
Lata regards science as
A. a topic that is less engaging than ction
B. an interest that is not worth pursuing
C. a simple but appealing eld of study
D. an unfamiliar but intriguing subject