© 2016 The College Board. ACCUPLACER SAMPLE QUESTIONS
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2. Unemployment was the overriding fact of life when
Franklin D. Roosevelt became president of the United States
on March 4, 1933. At the time, the government did not
systematically collect statistics of joblessness; actually it did
not start doing so until 1940. e Bureau of Labor Statistics
later estimated that 12,830,000 persons were out of work in
1933, about one-fourth of a civilian labor force of more than
51 million.
Roosevelt signed the Federal Emergency Relief Act on May
12, 1933. e president selected Harry L. Hopkins, who
headed the New York relief program, to run FERA. A gied
administrator, Hopkins quickly put the program into high
gear. He gathered a small sta in Washington and brought
the state relief organizations into the FERA system. While
the agency tried to provide all the necessities, food came
rst. City dwellers usually got an allowance for fuel, and
rent for one month was provided in case of eviction.
is passage is primarily about
A. methods of estimating unemployment rates in the
1930s
B. the eect of unemployment on United States families
C. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency
D. the creation of President Roosevelt’s FERA program
3. With varying success, many women around the world
today struggle for equal rights. Historically, women have
achieved greater equality with men during periods of social
adversity. e following factors initiated the greatest number
of improvements for women: violent revolution, world war,
and the rigors of pioneering in an undeveloped land. In all
three cases, the essential element that improved the status
of women was a shortage of men, which required women to
perform many of society’s vital tasks.
We can conclude from the information in this passage that
A. women today are highly successful in winning equal
rights
B. only pioneer women have been considered equal to
men
C. historically, women have only achieved equality
through force
D. historically, the principle of equality alone has not been
enough to secure women equal rights
4. All water molecules form six-sided structures as they freeze
and become snow crystals. e shape of a snow crystal is
determined by temperature, vapor, and wind conditions in
the upper atmosphere. A snow crystal is always symmetrical
because these conditions aect all six of its sides
simultaneously.
e purpose of the passage is to present
A. a personal observation
B. a solution to a problem
C. factual information
D. opposing scientic theories
5. In the words of omas De Quincey, “It is notorious that
the memory strengthens as you lay burdens upon it.” If,
like most people, you have trouble recalling the names of
those you have just met, try this: e next time you are
introduced, plan to remember the names. Say to yourself,
“I’ll listen carefully; I’ll repeat each person’s name to be sure
I have it, and I will remember.” You’ll discover how eective
this technique is and probably recall those names for the rest
of your life.
e passage suggests that people remember names best
when they
A. meet new people
B. are intelligent
C. decide to do so
D. are interested in people
6. Many people have owned, or have heard of, traditional
“piggy banks,” coin banks shaped like pigs. A logical theory
about how this tradition started might be that because pigs
oen symbolize greed, the object is to “fatten” one’s piggy
bank with as much money as possible.
However, while this idea makes sense, it is not the correct
origin of the term. e genesis of the piggy bank is the old
English word “pygg,” which was a common kind of clay
hundreds of years ago in England. People used pots and jars
made out of this red “pygg” clay for many dierent purposes
in their homes. Sometimes they kept their money in one of
the pots, and this was known as a pygg bank. Over the years,
because “pygg” and “pig” sounded the same, glaziers began
making novelty banks out of pottery in the shape of a pig as
a kind of joke. ese banks were given as gis and exported
to countries where people spoke other languages and where
no one had ever heard of pygg clay. e tradition caught on
all over the world, and today piggy banks come in all colors
and are made of all kinds of materials, including plastic.
is passage is mainly about how
A. people in dierent countries save their money
B. people in England made pottery centuries ago
C. a common term originated in a surprising way
D. an unusual custom got started
7. e wheel is considered one of the most important
mechanical inventions of all time. Many technologiessince
the invention of the wheel have been based on its principles,
and since the industrial revolution, the wheel has been
a basic element of nearly every machine constructed by
humankind. No one knows the exact time and place of the
invention of the wheel, but its beginnings can be seen across
many ancient civilizations.
e passage suggests that the wheel is an important
invention because it
A. is one of the world’s oldest inventions
B. forms the basis of so many later inventions
C. can be traced to many ancient cultures
D. is one the world’s most famous inventions