ASVAB Paragraph Comprehension Practice Test 419486 Results

Your Results Global Average
Questions 5 5
Correct 0 3.26
Score 0% 65%

Review

1
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
denying
hopeful
confident
skeptical

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".

2
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?
67% Answer Correctly
Old folk songs that have been passed down among generations of speakers of the language.
The same text written in two different dialects 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.

3
Six years ago, lawyer-banker-scholar Charles Morris wrote a prophetic book - 'Two-Trillion-Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High-Rollers and the Great Credit Crunch' - that foresaw the 2008 Great Recession before it clobbered America and the world. Now Morris has reversed course and sees good times ahead. His forthcoming book, 'Comeback,' predicts that surging U.S. energy independence will bring a buoyant rise in American manufacturing and jobs.
This passage implies that you should pay attention to Charles Morris because:
73% Answer Correctly
His predictions have come true once already.
His first book was a best seller.
He's a published author.
The U.S. is becoming more energy independent.

Solution
This passage implies that because Charles Morris foresaw the 2008 Great Recession that his opinions about future economic events are credible and should be paid attention to.

4
The Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the United States government. The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance; helping people outside the United States to understand American culture; and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries.
Which of the following activities would not fit the stated goals of the Peace Corps?
78% Answer Correctly
Setting up a computer network for an elementary school in Taiwan.
Organizing a foreign exchange program for an American high school.
Organizing a protest against unfair labor laws in Bangladesh.
Teaching English to local business owners in Croatia.

Solution
Engaging in local politics does not fit the stated mission of the Peace Corps.

5
In 2011, the Ohio Turnpike raised its limit to 70 and recorded its lowest traffic fatality rate ever that year. The higher speed limit attracts travelers to use the safer, limited-access, divided highways of the interstates from more traditional roads. That makes both types of roads safer.
Why does increasing the speed limit on interstates make traditional roads safer?
63% Answer Correctly
Only the safest drivers still choose to drive traditional roads because they don't want to drive as fast.
More travelers choose to use interstates which reduces the number of cars on traditional roads.
After this change there are more police patrolling traditional roads.
Drivers attracted by the high speed limits of the interstates are reckless and getting them off the traditional roads makes those roads safer.

Solution
More travelers using safer interstates increases their safety and reduces traffic on traditional roads. This reduction of travelers on traditional roads make those road safer because there are fewer vehicles on them. None of the other answers relate to the information given in the paragraph.