English as a Second Language (ESL) Tests

ACCUPLACER

English as

a Second

Language (ESL)

Tests

Sample Questions

2021

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MAR-1202

ESL Reading Skills

The ESL Reading Skills Test measures your ability to read passages written in English.

Specically, it assesses your comprehension of short passages of 50 or fewer words

and moderate-length passages of 51 to 90 words. Passages cover a range of contexts:

science, history/social science, arts/humanities, narratives, psychology/human relations,

and practical situations (the last typically dealing with familiar, everyday contexts).

Approximately half of this test contains straightforward comprehension questions, and

the remaining questions measure your ability to infer information not directly stated in a

passage. Specic knowledge and skills assessed on this test are:

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Literal comprehension

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Paraphrasing

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Locating information

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Vocabulary on a phrase level

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Pronoun reference

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Inference

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Main idea

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Fact versus opinion

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Cause and eect logic

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Identifying irrelevant information

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Identifying author’s point of view

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Applying author’s logic to another situation

Sample Questions

Read the information below, then choose the best answer.

Television has been introduced to almost every

country in the world, reaching a large number of

viewers on every continent. About 600 million people

saw the rst person walk on the moon, and a billion

people watched the twentieth Olympic Games.

Television has in many ways promoted understanding

and cooperation among people. It does this by

showing educational and cultural programs.

1. From this passage, a reader can most reasonably

conclude that the author believes that

A. people spend too much time watching television

B. not every country needs to have television

C. television can unify people from around the world

D. television is as important as schools

People have dierent ways of learning. Some are

better at making mental pictures of new ideas. Others

are more comfortable with writing lists of things

to memorize. Certain people can learn best when

listening to music, while others need silence

to concentrate.

2. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A. Mental pictures help many to learn.

B. Some people prefer lists to making mental pictures.

C. To learn well you need to be comfortable.

D. Dierent individuals have dierent ways of

acquiring information.

If you hold a piece of copper wire over the ame of a

wooden match, heat will be conducted by the copper

wire to your ngers, and you will be forced to drop

the wire. You will, however, still be able to hold the

match because wood is a poor conductor of heat.

3. Which of the following is implied in the passage above?

A. Copper is a good conductor of heat.

B. Wood and copper conduct heat equally.

C. Wood is an excellent conductor of heat.

D. Matches should be made of copper.

Many people own dierent pets. Dogs, cats, birds,

and sh are common household pets. Other pets

are considered to be exotic animals. ese include

snakes, lizards, and hedgehogs.

4. According to the passage, snakes are

A. uncommon pets

B. likely to be found in a household with dogs

C. found only in zoos

D. not allowed in people’s homes

Cesar Chavez was an inuential leader for

farmworkers. He fought for their rights and better

working conditions. Chavez led many strikes that

angered farm owners. Eventually he succeeded in

getting increased wages and better living situations

for farmworkers.

5. e passage indicates that Chavez changed lives by

A. helping to end the farmworkers’ strikes

B. ghting for the rights of farm owners

C. working on the farms every day

D. improving the conditions for farmworkers

When cartoonist Charles M. Schulz was a boy in

elementary school, other boys teased him for being

small and not very good at sports, and his art teacher

told him he had no talent for drawing. He had few

friends and was too shy to talk to a red-haired girl

he admired. Later in life, Schulz used his childhood

experiences in his comic strip Peanuts: the strip’s

main character, the sad and lonely Charlie Brown,

represents Schulz as a little boy. Peanuts was unique

at the time because it contained no adult characters.

Readers fell in love with Charlie Brown, and Peanuts

eventually became one of the most popular comic

strips of all time.

6. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Peanuts was the world’s most widely read

comic strip.

B. Schulz was a very famous cartoonist.

C. Schulz turned the pain of his youth into success as

an adult.

D. e comic strip Peanuts featured children as its

only characters.

Money has been used for thousands of years in nearly

every culture as a means of exchange. However,

today, the use of cash is becoming less and less

common in modern societies all over the world.

Every year, a higher percentage of purchases are

made online, and even in stores customers are now

using credit cards more oen than cash. Many people

today do all their banking on the internet rather than

going to the bank in person.

7. e author of the passage probably assumes that

A. cash will become virtually obsolete in the

near future

B. using cash will become popular again

C. paying with credit cards all the time is dangerous

D. societies that do business online will struggle

Before giving rst aid to an accident victim, you

should obtain his or her consent. Asking for consent

takes a simple question. Say to the victim, “I know

rst aid, and I can help until an ambulance arrives. Is

that okay?”

8. According to the passage, it is wrong to

A. use rst aid on an accident victim without

medical training

B. attempt to help an accident victim without

permission

C. help a victim before an ambulance arrives

D. call for an ambulance instead of helping the victim

Dr. Ellen Ochoa is an inventor and is also the rst

female Hispanic astronaut. Her inventions include

technology to help robots inspect equipment in space

to maintain safety and quality control on spacecra.

Before retiring, she logged more than 1,000 hours in

space across several space missions.

9. According to the passage, Dr. Ochoa is the rst

A. Hispanic person to travel into space

B. inventor to travel into space

C. woman to travel into space

D. Hispanic woman to travel into space

Dogs and cats make very dierent types of pets.

Before deciding whether to buy or adopt a dog or a

cat, prospective owners need to carefully consider

their own lifestyles and personalities. Dogs may make

more aectionate companions, but they require more

care and attention. ey must be taken out several

times a day and should not be le alone for more

than a few hours. Larger dogs require signicant

exercise to remain t and healthy. Cats are usually

more independent in nature and interact less with

their owners. Also, a cat can be le on its own all day,

or even for several days, as long as it has food and

clean water to drink.

10. From this passage a reader can conclude that

A. owning a cat requires less work than owning a dog

B. people who are away from home during the day

should not own a cat

C. people who like to play with their pets should own

a cat

D. owning a cat is more responsibility than owning

a dog

ESL Sentence Meaning

The ESL Sentence Meaning Test measures your ability to understand the meaning of sentences written in English.

Specically, it assesses your understanding of words and phrases in one- or two-sentence contexts. Sentences are

drawn from a range of contexts: science, history/social studies, arts/humanities, psychology/human relations, and

practical situations (the last typically dealing with familiar, everyday contexts). Some questions ask you to select the

appropriate word or phrase from given options to ll in a blank. Others may test your ability to understand the main idea

or a detail presented in a short text made up of one or two sentences. Specic content areas assessed on this test are:

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Particles, phrasal verbs, and prepositions

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Adverbs, adjectives, connectives, and sequences

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Basic nouns and verbs

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Common idioms

Sample Questions

Directions for questions 1–8

Choose the word or phrase that, when inserted in

the blank space, makes the sentence meaningful

and correct.

1. Shikibu Murasaki, who wrote almost a thousand years

ago, was one of the world’s __________ novelists.

A. most early

B. too early

C. more early

D. earliest

2. e Chang children __________ their parents by

making sandwiches for the whole family.

A. helped out

B. helped with

C. helps for

D. helps to

3. As demonstrated by his last album, which was released

aer his death, Ibrahim Ferrer __________ one of the

most beautiful voices in Latin music.

A. had

B. have

C. have had

D. having

4. Aer we saw the play, we had dierent opinions

__________ Vincent’s performance.

A. about

B. at

C. for

D. to

5. Having recorded many of the most beloved songs of

the 1940s, jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald __________ one

of the most prominent musical performers of her time.

A. had been

B. has been

C. was

D. will be

6. As we drove through the darkness, we saw another car

coming __________ the bend in the road.

A. through

B. under

C. over

D. around

7. Sonia is so determined and stubborn that she never

__________ until she gets exactly what she wants.

A. gives up

B. gives out

C. gave in

D. gave away

8. At only 43, John F. Kennedy was the __________

American president ever to be elected.

A. most young

B. more young

C. youngest

D. younger

Directions for questions 9–15

Read the sentence below, then choose the best answer to

the question.

9. Elena found a tomato that was much bigger than all the

others in the garden.

How did the tomato compare to the others in

the garden?

A. It was the smallest.

B. It was not very large.

C. It was larger than some.

D. It was the largest.

10. When the popular entertainer canceled her appearance,

the Latin American festival was postponed indenitely.

When will the festival likely take place?

A. Tonight

B. Tomorrow

C. Next week

D. Many weeks later

11. Jasmine is never late to meet her friends and

sometimes arrives a few minutes early.

Which best describes Jasmine?

A. Lonely

B. Punctual

C. Talkative

D. Tardy

12. Bram Stoker is best known for his classic horror novel

Dracula, which was published in 1897.

What did Bram Stoker do?

A. He was a doctor.

B. He was a merchant.

C. He was a writer.

D. He was an engineer.

13. Exhausted from her transatlantic ight, Judy could not

stay up past 9 p.m.

What did Judy do at 9 p.m.?

A. Leave work

B. Come home from the airport

C. Get on an airplane

D. Go to bed

14. Eliot sleeps late whenever he can, leaves work early,

and never does anything unless he absolutely has to.

Which best describes Eliot?

A. Boring

B. Lazy

C. Selsh

D. Tired

15. Juanita rushed to her dance class and burst through the

door in the nick of time.

When Juanita got to her dance class, she was

A. very early

B. very late

C. nearly late

D. a little late

ESL Language Use

The ESL Language Use Test measures your ability to identify and apply learned

conventions of standard written English. Questions on the test are presented in two

formats: lling in the blank with a word or phrase and choosing a sentence that best

combines two separate sentences. Specic grammatical conventions assessed are:

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Nouns, pronouns, and pronoun case structure

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Sentence structure, including prepositions, parallelism, and sentence

fragments/run-ons

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Subject-verb agreement

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Adjectives/adverbs, including modiers and comparatives



Verbs, including verb tenses and regular and irregular verb forms



Subordination/coordination

Sample Questions

Directions for questions 1–10

Each sentence has a blank space. Choose the word or

phrase that makes a grammatically correct sentence.

1. __________ washing his sweater, Jacob hung it up to dry.

A. Aer

B. Before

C. By

D. Until

2. Dr. O’Hara is certain that someday, people will

__________ to Mars.

A. travel

B. travels

C. traveling

D. traveled

3. Water __________ at a temperature of zero degrees

Celsius.

A. having frozen

B. freezing

C. freeze

D. freezes

4. __________ you get a new haircut?

A. Have

B. Does

C. Are

D. Did

5. Jacques Cousteau will be remembered for his

inventions and for __________ to marine science.

A. dedication

B. his dedication

C. being dedicated

D. his being dedicated

6. e children, who were tired of traveling, kept asking,

“When __________ we get to the hotel?”

A. have

B. will

C. did

D. are

7. Galileo is most famous __________ that Earth revolves

around the Sun, rather than the other way around.

A. for having discovered

B. for discovery

C. his discovery

D. in discovering

8. Some people have diculty understanding one another

because they __________ dierently.

A. communicate

B. communicated

C. have communicated

D. communicates

9. __________ you can speak more than one language,

you have the opportunity to make more new friends.

A. So

B. Before

C. When

D. ough

10. Light __________ faster than sound, which is why you

see lightning before you hear thunder.

A. traveling

B. travels

C. having traveled

D. will travel

Directions for questions 11–15

Read the two sentences below and choose the best way of

combining them.

11. Lisa plays the piano. Her sister Kelly plays the

piano too.

A. Lisa and her sister Kelly plays the piano.

B. Both Lisa and her sister Kelly play the piano.

C. Lisa plays the piano, and Kelly plays the piano.

D. Lisa and Kelly too play the piano.

12. Kazuko took her dog for a walk. ey went to the park.

A. Kazuko, going to the park, took her dog for a walk.

B. Kazuko took her dog for a walk to the park.

C. Kazuko took her dog for a walk because they went

to the park.

D. Kazuko and her dog went to the park, where she

and the dog walked.

13. We knew it might get chilly at the football game. We

brought along some extra blankets.

A. We knew it might get chilly at the football game

when we brought along some extra blankets.

B. Bringing along some extra blankets, we knew it

might get chilly at the football game.

C. We brought along some extra blankets because we

knew it might get chilly at the football game.

D. It got chilly at the football game, and we brought

along some extra blankets.

14. Juan loves to play baseball. His friend Miguel enjoys

baseball too.

A. Both Juan and his friend Miguel enjoy

playing baseball.

B. Juan and his friend Miguel enjoys playing baseball.

C. Juan enjoys playing baseball and his friend

Miguel too.

D. Juan loves baseball and Miguel too enjoys baseball.

15. Wolves travel in packs. ey are rarely spotted alone.

A. Wolves are rarely spotted alone if they travel

in packs.

B. Because they travel in packs, wolves are rarely

spotted alone.

C. Aer traveling in packs, wolves are rarely

spotted alone.

D. Wolves are rarely spotted alone, although they

travel in packs.

Answer Key

ESL READING SKILLS

1. C

2. D

3. A

4. A

5. D

6. C

7. A

8. B

9. D

10. A

ESL SENTENCE MEANING

1. D

2. A

3. A

4. A

5. C

6. D

7. A

8. C

9. D

10. D

11. B

12. C

13. D

14. B

15. C

ESL LANGUAGE USE

1. A

2. A

3. D

4. D

5. B

6. B

7. A

8. A

9. C

10. B

11. B

12. B

13. C

14. A

15. B