ASVAB Paragraph Comprehension Practice Test 414827 Results

Your Results Global Average
Questions 5 5
Correct 0 3.03
Score 0% 61%

Review

1
In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor, as opposed to the method of internal reconstruction, which analyzes the internal development of a single language over time.
Which of the following would be the most useful for someone using the comparative method in linguistics when studying a particular language?
66% Answer Correctly
The same text written in two different dialects of the language.
Old folk songs that have been passed down among generations of speakers of the language.
Two editions of the same text written one-hundred years apart.
An ancient text written in the language.

Solution
The wrong answers all provide insight into how a single language has changed over time while the text written in two different dialects offers an opportunity to compare languages that share a common ancestor.

2
On Monday, after a long quarter-century, West Virginians said goodbye to their state's 6 percent food tax. Now to see what, if any, business we've been missing. In 1989, retailers warned that sales in West Virginia would go down if legislators imposed a 6 percent tax on food. "Whatever they put on would be passed on to the consumer," Charles Forth, who owned supermarkets in both West Virginia and Ohio, told the newspaper in February 1989. "Six percent is $6 on $100. That will make a difference when people are already hurting and trying to make ends meet." It's a lot easier to drive customers away than to win them back, a fact legislators should bear in mind when it comes to taxation.
The author is _______________ that eliminating the 6 percent food tax will bring customers back to West Virginia stores.
45% Answer Correctly
confident
skeptical
denying
hopeful

Solution
The author cites a local retailer who predicted that sales in West Virginia would go down if the food tax was implemented and, although no facts are given to indicate that sales did in fact go down, the tone of the paragraph implies that the perception is that they have. The author is skeptical that eliminating the food tax will bring customers back claiming "It's a lot easier to drive customers away than to win them back".

3
The Marion County Board of Supervisors has appointed a newly established Workforce Investment Board (WIB) , which will implement the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. WIB’s mandate is to provide key policy decisions affecting the local workforce development system, and to identify and certify the areas within Marion County where WorkSource Texas Centers are located to be designated as Workforce Investment Areas.
According to this passage:
51% Answer Correctly
County Board of Supervisors passed the Workforce Investment Act.
WIB is chiefly responsible for providing decisions related to policy.
The Workforce Investment Act will put into practice the Workforce Investment Board.
WorkSource Texas Centers are unique to areas within Marion County.

Solution
The passage states that the WIB is mandated to "provide key policy decisions".

4
Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and gas). Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms (reducing or increasing the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions.
What does the word "state" most closely mean in the context of this paragraph?
73% Answer Correctly
condition
form
territory
category

Solution
Although each of these words are synonyms for "state", form is the most appropriate given the context of this paragraph.

5
"Democracy's real test lies in its respect for minority opinions." - Ellery Sedgwick
Showing respect for a minority opinion _______________ democracy.
67% Answer Correctly
validates
challenges
invalidates
undermines

Solution
If democracy's test is whether or not it respects minority opinions then showing respect for a minority opinion is positive and validates democracy. Each of the other answers paints showing respect for minority opinion negatively.