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ACCUPLACER English asa SecondLanguage (ESL)TestsSample Questions2021

About College BoardCollege Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students tocollege success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, College Board was created to expandaccess to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellenceand equity in education. Each year, College Board helps more than seven million studentsprepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in collegereadiness and college success—including the SAT , the Advanced Placement Program,and BigFuture . The organization also serves the education community throughresearch and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools. For furtherinformation, visit collegeboard.org. 2021 College Board. College Board, ACCUPLACER, SAT, Advanced Placement, and the acorn logoare registered trademarks of College Board. BigFuture is a trademark owned by College Board.MAR-1202ACCUPLACEREnglish as a Second Language (ESL) Tests 2021 College Board.1

ESL Reading SkillsThe ESL Reading Skills Test measures your ability to read passages written in English.Specifically, it assesses your comprehension of short passages of 50 or fewer wordsand 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, andthe remaining questions measure your ability to infer information not directly stated in apassage. Specific knowledge and skills assessed on this test are: Literal comprehension Paraphrasing Locating information Vocabulary on a phrase level Pronoun reference Inference Main idea Fact versus opinion Cause and effect logic Identifying irrelevant information Identifying author’s point of view Applying author’s logic to another situationACCUPLACEREnglish as a Second Language (ESL) Tests 2021 College Board.2

Sample QuestionsMany people own different pets. Dogs, cats, birds,and fish are common household pets. Other petsare considered to be exotic animals. These includesnakes, lizards, and hedgehogs.Read the information below, then choose the best answer.Television has been introduced to almost everycountry in the world, reaching a large number ofviewers on every continent. About 600 million peoplesaw the first person walk on the moon, and a billionpeople watched the twentieth Olympic Games.Television has in many ways promoted understandingand cooperation among people. It does this byshowing educational and cultural programs.1.4.From this passage, a reader can most reasonablyconclude that the author believes thatA. people spend too much time watching televisionB. not every country needs to have televisionC. television can unify people from around the worldD. television is as important as schoolsCesar Chavez was an influential leader forfarmworkers. He fought for their rights and betterworking conditions. Chavez led many strikes thatangered farm owners. Eventually he succeeded ingetting increased wages and better living situationsfor farmworkers.5.People have different ways of learning. Some arebetter at making mental pictures of new ideas. Othersare more comfortable with writing lists of thingsto memorize. Certain people can learn best whenlistening to music, while others need silenceto concentrate.2.3.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.ACCUPLACEREnglish as a Second Language (ESL) TestsThe passage indicates that Chavez changed lives byA. helping to end the farmworkers’ strikesB. fighting for the rights of farm ownersC. working on the farms every dayD. improving the conditions for farmworkersWhen cartoonist Charles M. Schulz was a boy inelementary school, other boys teased him for beingsmall and not very good at sports, and his art teachertold him he had no talent for drawing. He had fewfriends and was too shy to talk to a red-haired girlhe admired. Later in life, Schulz used his childhoodexperiences in his comic strip Peanuts: the strip’smain character, the sad and lonely Charlie Brown,represents Schulz as a little boy. Peanuts was uniqueat the time because it contained no adult characters.Readers fell in love with Charlie Brown, and Peanutseventually became one of the most popular comicstrips of all time.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. Different individuals have different ways ofacquiring information.If you hold a piece of copper wire over the flame of awooden match, heat will be conducted by the copperwire to your fingers, and you will be forced to dropthe wire. You will, however, still be able to hold thematch because wood is a poor conductor of heat.According to the passage, snakes areA. uncommon petsB. likely to be found in a household with dogsC. found only in zoosD. not allowed in people’s homes6.What is the main idea of the passage?A. Peanuts was the world’s most widely readcomic strip.B. Schulz was a very famous cartoonist.C. Schulz turned the pain of his youth into success asan adult.D. The comic strip Peanuts featured children as itsonly characters. 2021 College Board.3

Money has been used for thousands of years in nearlyevery culture as a means of exchange. However,today, the use of cash is becoming less and lesscommon in modern societies all over the world.Every year, a higher percentage of purchases aremade online, and even in stores customers are nowusing credit cards more often than cash. Many peopletoday do all their banking on the internet rather thangoing to the bank in person.7.The author of the passage probably assumes thatA. cash will become virtually obsolete in thenear futureB. using cash will become popular againC. paying with credit cards all the time is dangerousD. societies that do business online will struggleBefore giving first aid to an accident victim, youshould obtain his or her consent. Asking for consenttakes a simple question. Say to the victim, “I knowfirst aid, and I can help until an ambulance arrives. Isthat okay?”8.Dogs and cats make very different types of pets.Before deciding whether to buy or adopt a dog or acat, prospective owners need to carefully considertheir own lifestyles and personalities. Dogs may makemore affectionate companions, but they require morecare and attention. They must be taken out severaltimes a day and should not be left alone for morethan a few hours. Larger dogs require significantexercise to remain fit and healthy. Cats are usuallymore independent in nature and interact less withtheir owners. Also, a cat can be left on its own all day,or even for several days, as long as it has food andclean water to drink.10. From this passage a reader can conclude thatA. owning a cat requires less work than owning a dogB. people who are away from home during the dayshould not own a catC. people who like to play with their pets should owna catD. owning a cat is more responsibility than owninga dogAccording to the passage, it is wrong toA. use first aid on an accident victim withoutmedical trainingB. attempt to help an accident victim withoutpermissionC. help a victim before an ambulance arrivesD. call for an ambulance instead of helping the victimDr. Ellen Ochoa is an inventor and is also the firstfemale Hispanic astronaut. Her inventions includetechnology to help robots inspect equipment in spaceto maintain safety and quality control on spacecraft.Before retiring, she logged more than 1,000 hours inspace across several space missions.9.According to the passage, Dr. Ochoa is the firstA. Hispanic person to travel into spaceB. inventor to travel into spaceC. woman to travel into spaceD. Hispanic woman to travel into spaceACCUPLACEREnglish as a Second Language (ESL) Tests 2021 College Board.4

ESL Sentence MeaningThe ESL Sentence Meaning Test measures your ability to understand the meaning of sentences written in English.Specifically, it assesses your understanding of words and phrases in one- or two-sentence contexts. Sentences aredrawn from a range of contexts: science, history/social studies, arts/humanities, psychology/human relations, andpractical situations (the last typically dealing with familiar, everyday contexts). Some questions ask you to select theappropriate word or phrase from given options to fill in a blank. Others may test your ability to understand the main ideaor a detail presented in a short text made up of one or two sentences. Specific content areas assessed on this test are: Particles, phrasal verbs, and prepositions Adverbs, adjectives, connectives, and sequences Basic nouns and verbs Common idiomsACCUPLACEREnglish as a Second Language (ESL) Tests 2021 College Board.5

Sample Questions7.Sonia is so determined and stubborn that she neveruntil she gets exactly what she wants.A. gives upB. gives outC. gave inD. gave away8.At only 43, John F. Kennedy was theAmerican president ever to be elected.A. most youngB. more youngC. youngestD. youngerDirections for questions 1–8Choose the word or phrase that, when inserted inthe blank space, makes the sentence meaningfuland correct.1.Shikibu Murasaki, who wrote almost a thousand yearsago, was one of the world’s novelists.A. most earlyB. too earlyC. more earlyD. earliest2.The Chang children their parents bymaking sandwiches for the whole family.A. helped outB. helped withC. helps forD. helps to3.As demonstrated by his last album, which was releasedafter his death, Ibrahim Ferrer one of themost beautiful voices in Latin music.A. hadB. haveC. have hadD. having4.After we saw the play, we had different opinionsVincent’s performance.A. aboutB. atC. forD. to5.6.Having recorded many of the most beloved songs ofthe 1940s, jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald oneof the most prominent musical performers of her time.A. had beenB. has beenC. wasD. will beAs we drove through the darkness, we saw another carcoming the bend in the road.A. throughB. underC. overD. aroundACCUPLACEREnglish as a Second Language (ESL) TestsDirections for questions 9–15Read the sentence below, then choose the best answer tothe question.9.Elena found a tomato that was much bigger than all theothers in the garden.How did the tomato compare to the others inthe 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 indefinitely.When will the festival likely take place?A. TonightB. TomorrowC. Next weekD. Many weeks later11. Jasmine is never late to meet her friends andsometimes arrives a few minutes early.Which best describes Jasmine?A. LonelyB. PunctualC. TalkativeD. Tardy12. Bram Stoker is best known for his classic horror novelDracula, 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. 2021 College Board.6