Follow the directions to respond to prompts and questions on this assessment. You will need access to the reading to effectively respond to some prompts.
Pasted responses on long answer prompts will receive will receive no credit.
You will have 45 minutes to complete the test.
You will have 2 opportunities to take this test.
Question 1
1.
Question 2
2.
Question 3
3.
Question 4
4.
Question 5
5.
Question 6
6.
Required
1
Required
2
Question 8
8.
Question 9
9.
Question 10
10.
Question 11
11.
Question 12
12.
How effectively does the author handle evidence and the opinions of survival experts in answering her own question, Is Survival Selfish? Cite evidence from the selection to support your response.
Which sentence best states the author’s position or main claim of his argument?
In moments of mortal danger, more people freeze than run, a response that goes against our survival instincts.
In extreme crises, people either hold it together or fall apart, and there is no telling who the heroes will be until danger strikes.
Heroes are admired when they risk or sacrifice their own lives to save others, but their actions go against accepted survival protocols, which prioritize personal safety.
People who demonstrate the virtue of selfishness by putting their own lives before the lives of others in an emergency are often criticized publicly and in the press.
Read this sentence from paragraph 2 of the selection.
The “women and children first” protocol of the Titanic may not be as strong a social structure as it was a century ago.
Which word is a synonym for protocol as the author uses it in this sentence?
structure
rule
law
falsehood
In paragraph 3, the author states that every survival situation is different. If this is true, it
follows that —
each survivor is heroic in their own way
it is impossible to generalize about survivors
only a few survivors are selfish and uncivilized
it is impossible to be smart and unselfish
Why does the author include her personal experience about the Grand Central Station incident in paragraphs 4–5?
To prove she’s an expert during survival situations
To explain why she become interested in the topic of survival
To highlight the difference between those who survive and those who don’t
To introduce the idea that sometimes people’s instincts are not about survival
According to the author, why do survivors often experience feelings of guilt?
They believe they should have done more to help others during the event.
They are reminded of when they didn’t help others at other times of their lives.
They are disturbed by the harsh criticisms from others who survived.
They feel that the techniques others used to survive were unethical.
Which two phrases best explain the author's reasons for including the rhetorical questions in paragraph 11?
To make the point that some people act selflessly in emergencies
To engage readers by asking them to imagine specific survival situations
To engage readers by asking them to imagine specific survival situations
To propose that it is possible to predict how people will respond in emergencies
To encourage readers to attempt to rescue others whenever emergencies arise
Question 7a
7a.
Question 7b
7b.
In paragraph 14, the phrase a thousand cues is —
a hasty generalization, intended to convey that people do not know what they will do in a crisis
an overstatement, intended to convey that how people react depends on which signals, out of the many they receive, they respond to
an overstatement, intended to convey that survivors are able to respond to many signals
at once
a hasty generalization, intended to convey that survivors are rarely aware of the choices, whether selfish or selfless, they make in a crisis
Which quotation from the selection is a statement of fact, and not an expression
of opinion?
She got out of the plane and survived. Very few others in the plane, which was soon consumed by fire, did. (paragraph 7)
If she’d tried, she probably would have perished with them.(paragraph 8)
But Yates was criticized by some for his survival decision, even though the alternative would have almost certainly led to both of their deaths. (paragraph 10)
If survival is an instinct, it seems to me that there must be something equally instinctive that drives us, sometimes, to run into danger instead of away from it. (paragraph 12)
“Is Survival Selfish?” describes different kinds of human response to mortal danger and their outcomes. Place each behavior in the outcome that results from each behavior.
Public acclaim
Survival
Self-sacrifice
Self-preservation
Which of these sentences requires a comma to distinguish and divide an independent clause from a dependent clause?
Yates cut the rope tying him to his friend because there was nothing else to be done.
Carly put a first aid kit in her car in case of an emergency.
Even though we have a survival instinct we sometimes face danger to save others.
People left the train station when they heard an explosion.
This question has two parts. First, answer Part A. Then, answer Part B.
Part A
How does the author support the claim that the “fight or flight” instinct kicks in during
survival situations?
By analyzing the brain’s response during dangerous situations
By showing how humans flee when their survival is in jeopardy
By describing how humans and animals respond when they are in peril
By presenting examples of animals fighting back when they are attacked
Part B
Which two sentences best support the answer to Part A?
Perhaps it comes down to the ancient “fight or flight” impulse. (paragraph 13)
Animals confronted with danger will choose to attack it, or run from it, and it’s hard to say which one they’ll choose, or when. (paragraph 13)
Some people might run away from danger one day, and toward it the next. (paragraph 14)
Some people might run away from danger one day, and toward it the next. (paragraph 14)
There can also be a fine line between smart and selfish. (paragraph 15)