OSSLT Mock Exam 3

All 35 questions in this test

Every question and its answer choices. The correct answers and explanations appear when you take the test above.

1. Students Turn Library Parking Strip Into Pollinator Garden LARKFIELD — A strip of cracked pavement beside the Larkfield Public Library is now home to more than 400 native plants, thanks to 22 Grade 10 students from Larkfield District Secondary School. The students removed the old asphalt and planted the garden over three Saturdays in May so that bees and butterflies would have a place to feed in the middle of town. The idea began in Ms. Renata Okafor's environmental science class. While studying local insects, the class learned that many pollinators struggle to find flowers in paved areas. "We kept reading about the problem, and finally someone asked, 'Why don't we just fix one small piece of it?'" said student Daniel Huang, 15. "That question turned into a plan." The town agreed to lend a small machine to lift the asphalt, and a local nursery donated soil and seedlings, including wild bergamot, purple coneflower and black-eyed Susan. The students raised the remaining $1,800 through a bake sale and a car wash. Head librarian Paul Desrosiers said the garden has already changed the look of the building. "It is the most beautiful entrance any library in this county has," he said. "Visitors stop to read the plant signs before they even come inside." The project was not always easy. Heavy rain washed away some seedlings in the first week, and the students had to replant almost a quarter of the garden. Ms. Okafor said she hopes the garden teaches students that small actions add up. The students will care for the plants through the summer. They also plan to count the bees and butterflies they see each week and share the numbers with the library. Residents can visit the garden at any time. A free guided walk will be held on Saturday, June 14, at 10 a.m., starting at the library's front doors.

   What does the lead paragraph of the Larkfield library garden report mainly tell readers?

   1. Who built the garden, where it is and why
   2. When the guided walk of the garden will be held
   3. How much money the garden project cost in total
   4. Which plants grow best in Larkfield soil

2. Which sentence keeps the verb tense consistent?

   1. She opens the door and turned on the light.
   2. She opened the door and turned on the light.
   3. She opened the door and turns on the light.
   4. She will open the door and turned on the light.

3. In a paragraph about why reading before bed helps sleep, which sentence is off topic?

   1. A regular reading habit signals the body to rest.
   2. Reading a paper book avoids bright screen light.
   3. A calm story helps the mind slow down at night.
   4. My cousin collects comic books from the 1990s.

4. (1) Then she sanded the old dresser until the chipped paint was gone. (2) Last summer, Grace decided to rescue a dresser she found at a garage sale. (3) Finally, she added new brass handles and set the dresser in her room. (4) Next, she brushed on two coats of pale green paint, letting each one dry overnight.

   Which sentence about Grace's dresser should come first because it introduces the topic?

   1. Sentence 4
   2. Sentence 3
   3. Sentence 2
   4. Sentence 1

5. Which sentence states a main idea rather than a supporting detail?

   1. Jordan's shift starts at 4 p.m. on Fridays.
   2. Maria learned to count change at her job.
   3. The store gives staff a ten percent discount.
   4. Part-time jobs teach teenagers valuable skills.

6. A paragraph argues for a school composting program. Which order of supporting points is most effective?

   1. Strongest first, then repeated in the same words
   2. From least to most convincing, ending with the strongest
   3. In the order the writer happened to think of them
   4. Alphabetical order by the first word of each point

7. The alarm on my phone went off at 5:15 a.m., and for a second I forgot why. Then I remembered: my first shift at Lindqvist's Bakery on George Street. I had applied in March, mostly because my older sister said a job would look good on my résumé, and partly because I wanted to save for a used bike. Mrs. Lindqvist met me at the back door with an apron and a smile. "The ovens are already hot," she said. "Watch first, then try." For the first hour, I washed mixing bowls and carried bags of flour from the storeroom. Each bag weighed ten kilograms, and by the fourth one my arms were shaking. At seven o'clock, she let me move a tray of butter tarts from the cooling rack to the front counter. I was so focused on not tripping that I forgot the door between the kitchen and the shop swung both ways. It hit the edge of the tray, and six tarts slid onto the floor. I stood there with my face burning. I was sure she would tell me to go home and never come back. Instead, she picked up a broom and handed me a dustpan. "Everyone drops something on the first day," she said. "I once dropped a whole wedding cake. Now you know about the door." Then she showed me how to push it open with my shoulder while keeping the tray level. After that, I started asking questions before I did things. How long should the bread cool before slicing? Which shelf do the gluten-free muffins go on? Mrs. Lindqvist never seemed annoyed. In fact, she seemed pleased, and once she said, "A question costs nothing. A mistake costs butter." By the time my shift ended at noon, I had sliced forty loaves, served my first customer and counted change without help. My feet ached, and there was flour in my hair. On the walk home, I passed the bike shop and looked at the blue bike in the window. It still cost $240, which felt like a mountain. But for the first time, I could picture myself climbing it, one early Saturday at a time.

   What does Mrs. Lindqvist mean when she tells Daniel, "A question costs nothing. A mistake costs butter"?

   1. Asking first is better than wasting supplies by guessing
   2. Butter is the most expensive item in the bakery
   3. New workers should stay quiet and just watch
   4. Workers must pay for any food that they drop on the floor

8. Every spring, maple syrup producers in Ontario, Quebec and other parts of eastern Canada watch the weather closely, because the sap of the sugar maple flows only under certain conditions. Sap moves best when nights fall below freezing and days warm up above freezing. During the cold nights, the tree draws water up from its roots; during the mild days, pressure inside the trunk pushes the sap out through any opening, including the small holes, called taps, that producers drill into the bark. This season usually lasts only four to six weeks, so producers call it the sugaring season and work long hours while it lasts. Fresh sap looks almost like water and tastes only slightly sweet, because it is mostly water with a small amount of sugar. To turn it into syrup, producers boil it in a wide, shallow pan called an evaporator until most of the water escapes as steam. The process takes a great deal of sap: about forty litres are needed to make just one litre of syrup. Many Indigenous peoples of the region were making maple sugar long before Europeans arrived, and they shared their knowledge with early settlers. Today, Canada produces most of the world's maple syrup, and Quebec alone produces the largest share.

   Based on the maple syrup paragraph, what would most likely happen in a spring when the nights never fell below freezing?

   1. The sap would not flow well, so less syrup would be made
   2. The sugaring season would last much longer than six weeks
   3. The sap would become sweeter and need less boiling to finish
   4. Producers would need to drill deeper taps into every tree

9. AMIRA: Okay, our science fair proposal is due Friday. Ideas? JONAH: Volcanoes. Baking soda, vinegar, red food colouring. Done in an afternoon. AMIRA: Jonah, three groups do volcanoes every year. Ms. Pereira said she wants a real question we can test. JONAH: Fine, fine. What's your idea, then? AMIRA: I was thinking we could test which brand of paper towel absorbs the most water. JONAH: That's... okay, I guess. Kind of like a commercial. AMIRA: Felix, you've been quiet. What do you think? FELIX: Well, I have one idea, but it might be too complicated. AMIRA: Tell us anyway. FELIX: My mom puts used coffee grounds in her garden because she says they help plants grow. My little sister asked if that's really true, and nobody knew. We could grow bean plants with different amounts of coffee grounds in the soil and measure how tall they get. JONAH: Wait, that's actually cool. We could take a picture every day and make a time-lapse video. AMIRA: And it's a real question. Felix, why did you think it was too complicated? FELIX: Beans take a few weeks to grow. The fair is in five weeks, so we'd have to start right away. AMIRA: Then we start right away. I can bring pots and soil from my aunt's greenhouse. JONAH: I'll set up the camera and make the time-lapse. And I'll do the poster. I'm good at big letters. FELIX: I can measure the plants and keep the data chart. AMIRA: Great. I'll write the proposal tonight and send it to you both to check. JONAH: Ha. And I came in here ready to do volcanoes. FELIX: There's always next year.

   How does Felix feel when Amira first asks for his science fair idea, and how do we know?

   1. Unsure, because he says it might be too complicated
   2. Bored, because he would rather build the volcano
   3. Annoyed, because Jonah keeps interrupting him
   4. Excited, because he has already planted the beans

10. The Rideau Canal, which links Ottawa and Kingston, is one of the oldest canals in North America that is still in use. It was built between 1826 and 1832, not long after the War of 1812, when British leaders worried about a possible attack from the United States. At the time, supplies travelling between Montréal and Kingston had to move along the St. Lawrence River, close to the American border. The canal offered a safer inland route. Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers led the project, and thousands of workers, many of them Irish and French-Canadian labourers, cut through forests, swamps and rock with simple tools. Their work was dangerous, and many fell ill with malaria, a disease that was common in the region's swamps at the time. Instead of digging one long channel, the builders connected existing rivers and lakes and used locks and dams to raise and lower boats along a route of about 200 kilometres. The attack that the canal was meant to defend against never came. Over time, the canal became a route for trade and, later, for pleasure boating. In 2007, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, in winter, part of the canal in Ottawa becomes a long skating path, giving one of Canada's oldest engineering projects a new purpose.

    In the paragraph about the Rideau Canal, what are the "locks" used for?

    1. Keeping boats from being stolen at night
    2. Raising and lowering boats between water levels
    3. Blocking enemy ships from entering the canal
    4. Storing supplies for the workers along the route

11. Volunteers Pull 300 Kilograms of Litter From Cedar Hollow Creek CEDAR HOLLOW — More than 80 volunteers waded into Cedar Hollow Creek on Sunday morning and removed about 300 kilograms of litter from a two-kilometre stretch of the stream. The Cedar Hollow Naturalists Club organized the cleanup to protect the brook trout that lay their eggs in the creek each fall. Volunteers wore rubber boots and gloves and worked in teams of four. Their haul included plastic bottles, a shopping cart, three bicycle tires and a rusty mailbox. "Every piece of garbage we pull out is one less thing in the way of the fish," said club president Helen Tremblay. "Brook trout need clean, cold water and loose gravel to lay their eggs." The creek has been cleaned every spring since 2019. Tremblay said the amount of litter has dropped each year, from about 500 kilograms in the first year to this year's total. She believes new signs along the trail and extra garbage cans near the bridge have made a difference. Grade 9 student Omar Haddad, 14, joined the cleanup to earn volunteer hours, but he said he plans to come back next year anyway. "I didn't expect it to be fun," he said. "Finding the mailbox was the best part of my weekend." Not everyone thinks the cleanup is enough. Brian Kowalski, who lives beside the creek, said the town should also stop salt from roads draining into the water in winter. "Picking up bottles is great, but the salt is the bigger problem," he said. The town's environment committee will discuss road salt at its meeting on May 8. All the garbage collected on Sunday was sorted, and about one-third of it was recycled. The club will hold its next cleanup on the Ashby River in September.

    A test asks: 'Are the Cedar Hollow Creek cleanups making a difference? Support your answer with the report.' Which response would earn the highest score?

    1. Yes. The trout are much bigger now, and the town banned road salt last winter.
    2. No, because people will always throw garbage into every creek and river in Canada no matter what anyone tries to do about it.
    3. Yes. Litter dropped from about 500 kg in the first year to about 300 kg, and Tremblay credits the new signs and garbage cans.
    4. Yes, the cleanups are making a difference because they make a difference to the creek.

12. I signed up to volunteer at Maple Grove Residence because it was close to my house and I needed my forty community involvement hours to graduate. Honestly, I expected to spend my Tuesdays folding towels. Instead, the activity coordinator, Mr. Asante, handed me a tablet and a list of names. "Leah, some of our residents want to video-call their families," he said. "They need a patient teacher." My first student was Mr. Bellamy, who was eighty-seven and had worked as an engineer for the railway. His granddaughter, Hannah, had moved to Vancouver for university, and he had not seen her face in almost a year. When I gave him the tablet, he held it at arm's length as if it might bite. The first Tuesday did not go well. He pressed the screen too hard, then too lightly. He called Hannah three times by accident and hung up on her twice. By the end of the hour, he pushed the tablet back to me and said, "Some things are not meant for old dogs." I almost agreed with him. But on the bus home, I thought about how I had learned to ride a bike. My dad had not explained everything at once; he had shown me one small thing at a time. The next week, I wrote three steps on an index card in large letters: 1. Tap the green circle. 2. Find Hannah's name. 3. Wait and smile. Mr. Bellamy studied the card the way he probably once studied train schedules. He followed each step slowly. On the second ring, Hannah's face filled the screen. "Grandpa!" she shouted, so loudly that a nurse looked in to check on us. Mr. Bellamy did not say anything for a moment. Then he laughed and told Hannah she needed a haircut. I finished my forty hours by March, but I kept going on Tuesdays. Now Mr. Bellamy calls Hannah on his own, and he has started teaching me something in return: how to play cribbage. I lose almost every game. He says I need a card with three steps.

    In the Maple Grove story, what gave Leah the idea of writing steps on an index card?

    1. Advice from Mr. Asante, the activity coordinator
    2. Instructions that came in the box with the tablet
    3. Watching Mr. Bellamy read old train schedules
    4. Remembering how her dad taught her to ride a bike

13. Which closing sentence best ends an essay arguing that schools should offer cooking classes?

    1. Cooking classes would give every student a skill they will use for life.
    2. There are also many other subjects that students take at school.
    3. My aunt once burned toast on her first morning in her new kitchen.
    4. Some people like pizza, while others would rather order sushi.

14. Every spring, maple syrup producers in Ontario, Quebec and other parts of eastern Canada watch the weather closely, because the sap of the sugar maple flows only under certain conditions. Sap moves best when nights fall below freezing and days warm up above freezing. During the cold nights, the tree draws water up from its roots; during the mild days, pressure inside the trunk pushes the sap out through any opening, including the small holes, called taps, that producers drill into the bark. This season usually lasts only four to six weeks, so producers call it the sugaring season and work long hours while it lasts. Fresh sap looks almost like water and tastes only slightly sweet, because it is mostly water with a small amount of sugar. To turn it into syrup, producers boil it in a wide, shallow pan called an evaporator until most of the water escapes as steam. The process takes a great deal of sap: about forty litres are needed to make just one litre of syrup. Many Indigenous peoples of the region were making maple sugar long before Europeans arrived, and they shared their knowledge with early settlers. Today, Canada produces most of the world's maple syrup, and Quebec alone produces the largest share.

    What is the main idea of the paragraph about how maple syrup is made?

    1. Sugar maples need very cold winters in order to grow tall
    2. Indigenous peoples shared their knowledge of maple sugar with settlers
    3. Making maple syrup depends on spring weather and long boiling
    4. Quebec produces the largest share of the world's maple syrup

15. Most smartphones and tablets use a type of touchscreen called a capacitive screen, and it works because the human body can conduct electricity. Just beneath the glass is a very thin, see-through layer arranged in a grid of tiny lines. A small electrical charge is spread evenly across this grid. When a fingertip touches the glass, it changes the charge at that exact point. The phone's processor measures where the change happened and treats it as a tap, a swipe or a pinch. Because the screen can detect more than one point at once, a user can zoom in on a photo by spreading two fingers apart. This design also explains a common winter problem in Canada. Ordinary wool or leather gloves do not conduct electricity well, so the screen cannot sense the finger inside them, and the phone seems to ignore the user. To solve this, some companies make gloves with special threads in the fingertips that carry the charge through the fabric. A plastic pen will not work on these screens either, unless its tip is made of a conductive material. In short, a capacitive screen does not respond to pressure at all; it responds to the electrical properties of whatever touches it.

    In the paragraph about touchscreens, what does "conduct" mean in "the human body can conduct electricity"?

    1. Lead an orchestra
    2. Store it for later use
    3. Let it pass through
    4. Behave in a certain way

16. I signed up to volunteer at Maple Grove Residence because it was close to my house and I needed my forty community involvement hours to graduate. Honestly, I expected to spend my Tuesdays folding towels. Instead, the activity coordinator, Mr. Asante, handed me a tablet and a list of names. "Leah, some of our residents want to video-call their families," he said. "They need a patient teacher." My first student was Mr. Bellamy, who was eighty-seven and had worked as an engineer for the railway. His granddaughter, Hannah, had moved to Vancouver for university, and he had not seen her face in almost a year. When I gave him the tablet, he held it at arm's length as if it might bite. The first Tuesday did not go well. He pressed the screen too hard, then too lightly. He called Hannah three times by accident and hung up on her twice. By the end of the hour, he pushed the tablet back to me and said, "Some things are not meant for old dogs." I almost agreed with him. But on the bus home, I thought about how I had learned to ride a bike. My dad had not explained everything at once; he had shown me one small thing at a time. The next week, I wrote three steps on an index card in large letters: 1. Tap the green circle. 2. Find Hannah's name. 3. Wait and smile. Mr. Bellamy studied the card the way he probably once studied train schedules. He followed each step slowly. On the second ring, Hannah's face filled the screen. "Grandpa!" she shouted, so loudly that a nurse looked in to check on us. Mr. Bellamy did not say anything for a moment. Then he laughed and told Hannah she needed a haircut. I finished my forty hours by March, but I kept going on Tuesdays. Now Mr. Bellamy calls Hannah on his own, and he has started teaching me something in return: how to play cribbage. I lose almost every game. He says I need a card with three steps.

    In the Maple Grove story, what did Mr. Bellamy do after his granddaughter's face appeared on the screen?

    1. He asked the nurse who looked in to take a photo of them
    2. He laughed and told her she needed a haircut
    3. He handed the tablet straight back to Leah
    4. He hung up on her by accident once again

17. Which sentence uses parallel structure?

    1. On weekends I like hiking, to read and cooking.
    2. On weekends I like hiking, reading and to cook.
    3. On weekends I like to hike, reading and to cook.
    4. On weekends I like hiking, reading and cooking.

18. When Mei's mother got a new job at the hospital in Sudbury, Mei was halfway through Grade 9. She had lived in the same Toronto apartment her whole life. She knew which bus driver waved at kids, which corner store sold the best dumplings and which friends would save her a seat at lunch. Now all of that fit into fourteen cardboard boxes. The first week at her new school felt like being underwater. Sounds reached her slowly, and she could not find the surface. She ate lunch in the library and spent the evenings texting her friends back home. They sent photos of things she was missing: a birthday party, a snowy soccer game in the park, a new bubble tea shop. Each photo made her feel farther away. On Saturday, a girl from the house next door knocked, holding two pairs of skates. "I'm Ruby," she said. "My dad floods the backyard every winter. Want to try it?" Mei almost said no. She had skated only once, on a school trip, and had spent most of that afternoon holding on to the boards. But her mother gave her a look that said, "Go," so she pulled on her coat. The backyard rink was small and bumpy, with a string of lights hanging from the fence. Mei fell four times in the first ten minutes. The fifth time, she landed so hard that she slid right into a snowbank, and instead of feeling embarrassed, she started to laugh. Ruby laughed too, and then Ruby's little brother came outside and laughed loudest of all. By the end of the afternoon, Mei could glide from one end of the rink to the other without grabbing anything. Ruby's dad brought out mugs of hot chocolate, and they sat on the back steps while the sky turned orange behind the trees. That night, Mei still texted her Toronto friends. But this time she sent a photo of her own: a crooked rink, a string of lights and two pairs of skates by the door. Under it she typed, "Guess what I learned today." Sudbury did not feel like home yet. But for the first time, it felt like a place where home might grow.

    On Ruby's backyard rink, what happened just before Mei started to laugh?

    1. Ruby's little brother came outside
    2. She slid into a snowbank
    3. She glided across the whole rink
    4. Ruby's dad brought out hot chocolate

19. Teen Volunteers Bring Back Riverbend's Outdoor Rink RIVERBEND — For the first time in six winters, children are skating on the outdoor rink in Willow Park. On Saturday afternoon, about 150 residents gathered at the park to celebrate the rink's reopening, which was made possible by a group of teenagers who spent much of December rebuilding and flooding it. The rink closed in 2020 after its wooden boards rotted and the town could not find volunteers to look after the ice. Last fall, Grade 11 student Leah Martineau, 16, started an online sign-up sheet asking for help. Within two weeks, 31 people had joined, most of them high school students. "My dad taught me to skate on this rink when I was four," Martineau said. "It felt wrong that kids in my neighbourhood were growing up without it." The volunteers replaced the rotten boards with lumber donated by a local building supply store. They also made a schedule so that two people flood the ice every night when the temperature drops below minus 5 degrees Celsius. Flooding is cold, slow work. Volunteers drag a heavy hose back and forth across the ice in the dark, often after 10 p.m., to lay down a thin, even layer of water. Town recreation manager Gordon Pike said the town will pay for the water and the lights this season. "The young people did the hard part," he said. "The least we can do is keep the lights on." At Saturday's celebration, a local hockey coach gave free lessons to beginners, and volunteers handed out hot chocolate. The rink is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., weather permitting. Martineau said the team still needs more volunteers, especially adults who can flood the ice on weeknights. Anyone who wants to help can sign up at the front desk of the Riverbend Community Centre.

    A Riverbend parent wants to help flood the Willow Park rink on weeknights. According to the report, what should the parent do?

    1. Bring a garden hose to the park on Saturday
    2. Email the local hockey coach about a shift
    3. Call the town recreation manager's office
    4. Sign up at the community centre's front desk

20. Every spring, maple syrup producers in Ontario, Quebec and other parts of eastern Canada watch the weather closely, because the sap of the sugar maple flows only under certain conditions. Sap moves best when nights fall below freezing and days warm up above freezing. During the cold nights, the tree draws water up from its roots; during the mild days, pressure inside the trunk pushes the sap out through any opening, including the small holes, called taps, that producers drill into the bark. This season usually lasts only four to six weeks, so producers call it the sugaring season and work long hours while it lasts. Fresh sap looks almost like water and tastes only slightly sweet, because it is mostly water with a small amount of sugar. To turn it into syrup, producers boil it in a wide, shallow pan called an evaporator until most of the water escapes as steam. The process takes a great deal of sap: about forty litres are needed to make just one litre of syrup. Many Indigenous peoples of the region were making maple sugar long before Europeans arrived, and they shared their knowledge with early settlers. Today, Canada produces most of the world's maple syrup, and Quebec alone produces the largest share.

    According to the maple syrup paragraph, about how much sap is needed to make one litre of syrup?

    1. About four litres
    2. About six litres
    3. About fourteen litres
    4. About forty litres

21. Which sentence uses commas correctly in a list?

    1. We packed sandwiches, apples, juice and napkins.
    2. We packed, sandwiches apples juice and napkins.
    3. We packed sandwiches apples, juice, and, napkins.
    4. We packed sandwiches, apples juice, and napkins,.

22. Which detail best supports the main idea "Our town's new skate park has been a success"?

    1. Skateboards were invented in California.
    2. Some skaters wear helmets with stickers on them.
    3. The park is next to a gas station on Main Street.
    4. More than 300 people used the park in its first week.

23. North Ashby Library Opens Shelves Full of Tools NORTH ASHBY — Residents of North Ashby can now borrow a drill, a ladder or a pressure washer as easily as they borrow a novel. The North Ashby Public Library opened its new tool-lending collection on Tuesday, offering more than 120 tools free of charge to anyone with a library card. The collection fills a former storage room at the back of the library. Its shelves hold power drills, garden tools, a sewing machine, camping stoves and even a set of snowshoes. Most items can be borrowed for one week. Library director Simone Achterberg said the idea came from a survey the library ran last winter. More than 60 per cent of the residents who answered said they had bought a tool they used only once or twice. "A family should not have to spend $200 on a tile cutter for one bathroom project," Achterberg said. "Sharing makes much more sense." About two-thirds of the tools were donated by residents. The rest were bought with a $9,000 community grant. Retired carpenter Walter Bianchi, 71, checks every returned tool and sharpens the blades each Friday. "I spent 40 years taking care of tools," Bianchi said. "Now I get to help my neighbours use them safely." The first borrower on Tuesday was Grade 12 student Ava Lindqvist, who took out a hedge trimmer so she can earn money doing yard work this summer. "I couldn't afford to buy one," she said. "Now I can start my business this weekend." Borrowers must be at least 18 or have a parent or guardian sign their card. A short safety video is required before anyone takes out a power tool. The library will accept more tool donations in good working condition until the end of June. A full list of available tools is posted on the library's website.

    A North Ashby resident has an unused ladder in good condition. According to the tool library report, what could the resident do with it?

    1. Donate it to the library before the end of June
    2. Bring it to Walter Bianchi to be sharpened
    3. Trade it at the front desk for a library card
    4. Sell it to the library using the grant money

24. Which word correctly completes the sentence? "The bakery sells ___ bread every morning."

    1. freshest
    2. freshly
    3. fresh
    4. freshness

25. AMIRA: Okay, our science fair proposal is due Friday. Ideas? JONAH: Volcanoes. Baking soda, vinegar, red food colouring. Done in an afternoon. AMIRA: Jonah, three groups do volcanoes every year. Ms. Pereira said she wants a real question we can test. JONAH: Fine, fine. What's your idea, then? AMIRA: I was thinking we could test which brand of paper towel absorbs the most water. JONAH: That's... okay, I guess. Kind of like a commercial. AMIRA: Felix, you've been quiet. What do you think? FELIX: Well, I have one idea, but it might be too complicated. AMIRA: Tell us anyway. FELIX: My mom puts used coffee grounds in her garden because she says they help plants grow. My little sister asked if that's really true, and nobody knew. We could grow bean plants with different amounts of coffee grounds in the soil and measure how tall they get. JONAH: Wait, that's actually cool. We could take a picture every day and make a time-lapse video. AMIRA: And it's a real question. Felix, why did you think it was too complicated? FELIX: Beans take a few weeks to grow. The fair is in five weeks, so we'd have to start right away. AMIRA: Then we start right away. I can bring pots and soil from my aunt's greenhouse. JONAH: I'll set up the camera and make the time-lapse. And I'll do the poster. I'm good at big letters. FELIX: I can measure the plants and keep the data chart. AMIRA: Great. I'll write the proposal tonight and send it to you both to check. JONAH: Ha. And I came in here ready to do volcanoes. FELIX: There's always next year.

    What does the science fair conversation suggest about how Amira, Jonah and Felix work together?

    1. Amira makes every decision without asking
    2. Each of them plans to do a separate project
    3. Jonah and Felix argue until Amira gives up
    4. They listen to each other and share the tasks

26. Which is the best way to combine: "The storm knocked out the power. We played board games by candlelight."

    1. Knocking out the power, we played board games by candlelight in the storm.
    2. The storm knocked out the power and, we played board games by candlelight.
    3. The storm knocked out the power, we played board games by candlelight.
    4. When the storm knocked out the power, we played board games by candlelight.

27. The OSSLT opinion essay receives two separate scores. What are they?

    1. Creativity and use of humour
    2. Overall length and rare vocabulary
    3. Topic development and conventions
    4. Handwriting and spelling accuracy

28. MAYA: Theo, close the door. Nana's birthday is in two weeks, and we still don't have a plan. THEO: I have a plan. We rent the community hall, invite everyone she knows and hire a DJ. Eighty is a big deal. MAYA: Everyone she knows? That's half of Port Alder. THEO: Exactly. Go big or go home. MAYA: Remember her seventy-fifth? Uncle Dev threw that loud party at the restaurant, and she left early with a headache. She told me later she hardly talked to anyone. THEO: Oh. I forgot about that. I thought she was just tired. MAYA: She said the best part of the whole day was the quiet drive home. THEO: Okay, so no DJ. But it still has to feel special. What does she actually love? MAYA: Her garden. Her old photo albums. Pancakes. And she always says she misses the Sunday breakfasts we used to have before everyone got so busy. THEO: Wait. What if we do a Sunday breakfast? Just family, at her house. We could make her blueberry pancakes, and I could scan the old photos and make a slideshow on her TV. MAYA: Theo, that's actually perfect. You're really good with the scanner. THEO: Don't sound so surprised. MAYA: Sorry! But how do we get into her house without her knowing? THEO: Mom has a key. Mom could take her to the garden centre at nine, and we set everything up while they're gone. MAYA: And when she walks back in, the whole family is sitting at the table. I can already picture her face. THEO: Just promise me one thing. MAYA: What? THEO: Don't tell Uncle Dev until the night before. He can't keep a secret for five minutes. MAYA: (laughing) Deal. You'd better start on those photos tonight. THEO: I'll get the albums from the basement right after dinner.

    At the start of the conversation about Nana's eightieth birthday, what kind of celebration does Theo want?

    1. A dinner with Uncle Dev at a restaurant
    2. A large party with many guests and a DJ
    3. A quiet breakfast with family at her house
    4. A walk with Nana to the garden centre

29. COACH DELANEY: Priya, do you have a minute? You got off the bus before I could talk to you. PRIYA: I didn't really want to talk. I finished forty-second out of fifty. That's embarrassing. COACH DELANEY: Forty-second at regionals, in your first season, on the hilliest course in the league. PRIYA: Last month I was eighteenth. I'm getting worse, not better. Maybe I should just quit and join the art club. At least I'm good at drawing. COACH DELANEY: You could do both, you know. But first, tell me what happened at the two-kilometre mark. PRIYA: I went out way too fast. I wanted to keep up with Hannah. By the big hill, my legs felt like cement. COACH DELANEY: So the problem wasn't your fitness. It was your pacing. That's one of the easiest things in running to fix. PRIYA: Really? It felt like the hardest. COACH DELANEY: Every runner I've ever coached has made that mistake at least once. I made it myself in university, in front of my whole family. PRIYA: You did? COACH DELANEY: I finished second-last. My mother still brings it up at Thanksgiving dinner. PRIYA: (smiling) Okay, that makes me feel a little better. COACH DELANEY: Here's my offer. At Thursday's practice, run with a watch. I'll give you a target time for each kilometre, and you're not allowed to go faster than it, even if you feel great. PRIYA: Not allowed to go faster? That sounds backwards. COACH DELANEY: Try it once. If it doesn't help, we'll talk about the art club then. Deal? PRIYA: Deal. Can I borrow one of the team watches? Mine is broken. COACH DELANEY: I'll leave one in your locker before Thursday.

    What is the tone of Priya's reply 'Not allowed to go faster? That sounds backwards' in the cross-country dialogue?

    1. Sad and hopeless
    2. Angry and rude
    3. Doubtful but curious
    4. Proud and very boastful

30. Jordan had played trumpet in the Lakeview Secondary band for two years, always in the third row, always blending in. So when Ms. Moreau announced that the spring concert would include a short solo, he did not expect her to look at him. "Jordan," she said, "I think you're ready." Everyone turned around. His stomach dropped. The solo was only sixteen bars long, but it ended on a high G that Jordan could hit about half the time. For three weeks, he practised in the garage after supper so he would not bother his family. He recorded himself on his phone and listened back, wincing at every cracked note. His older cousin Dev, who played in a jazz group in Toronto, gave him advice over a video call. "Stop thinking about the high note," Dev said. "Think about the phrase before it. If the path is smooth, the top takes care of itself." On the night of the concert, the school gym was full. Jordan could see his grandmother in the second row, holding up her phone to record. When his solo began, his hands were damp, but the first notes came out clear and warm. He reached the last phrase, took a breath and aimed for the high G. It cracked. It was not a small crack, either, but a sound like a goose with a cold. A few students in the audience giggled. For one terrible second, Jordan wanted to put down his trumpet and walk off the stage. Instead, he remembered something Ms. Moreau said at every rehearsal: "The music keeps going, so you keep going." He lowered the trumpet, caught his breath and played the final phrase one more time. This time, the high G rang out across the gym, steady and bright. After the concert, Jordan expected people to talk about the crack. Some did. But more of them talked about the second try. His grandmother said it was the best part of the whole evening, because "anyone can play a note, but not everyone can come back for it." That night, Jordan added a new recording to his phone. It was not perfect. He listened to it three times anyway.

    Which statement best expresses the theme of the story about Jordan's spring concert solo?

    1. How you respond to a mistake matters more than the mistake
    2. Family members are always the kindest audience at concerts
    3. Practising alone is always better than practising with others
    4. Musicians should avoid solos that contain difficult notes

31. LUCIA: Good morning, welcome to Spoke and Pedal. How can I help? MR. BOATENG: I bought this bike here on Saturday, and the back brake already squeals every time I stop. I'm leaving on a three-day cycling trip on Friday. I can't ride it like this. LUCIA: I'm sorry about that. Let me take a look. Okay, I see the problem. The brake pads are a little crooked, so they're rubbing at an angle. MR. BOATENG: So it was put together badly. I paid $900 for this bike. LUCIA: That's a fair question. New brake pads often need a small adjustment after the first few rides, while everything settles. It's covered by your free tune-up, so there's no charge. MR. BOATENG: How long will it take? I can't leave it here for a week. LUCIA: About fifteen minutes. You're welcome to wait, or you can grab a coffee next door. MR. BOATENG: I'll wait. Fifteen minutes is better than I expected. LUCIA: While I'm at it, I'll check the tire pressure and oil the chain. Since you're going on a long trip, do you have a repair kit? MR. BOATENG: A repair kit? I hadn't even thought about that. LUCIA: A spare tube and a small pump can save your whole day if you get a flat tire. When I'm done, I'll show you how to use them. It only takes a minute to learn. MR. BOATENG: That would be great. And I'm sorry I came in so grumpy. I was worried my trip was ruined. LUCIA: No problem at all. Let's make sure it isn't. MR. BOATENG: You know what? I'll take the spare tube and the pump. And maybe one of those bells, too.

    What does Mr. Boateng want when he first walks into the Spoke and Pedal bike shop?

    1. To buy a bell and a repair kit for his trip
    2. To get his squealing brake fixed before Friday
    3. To return his new bike and get his $900 back
    4. To sign up for a three-day cycling trip

32. Every spring, maple syrup producers in Ontario, Quebec and other parts of eastern Canada watch the weather closely, because the sap of the sugar maple flows only under certain conditions. Sap moves best when nights fall below freezing and days warm up above freezing. During the cold nights, the tree draws water up from its roots; during the mild days, pressure inside the trunk pushes the sap out through any opening, including the small holes, called taps, that producers drill into the bark. This season usually lasts only four to six weeks, so producers call it the sugaring season and work long hours while it lasts. Fresh sap looks almost like water and tastes only slightly sweet, because it is mostly water with a small amount of sugar. To turn it into syrup, producers boil it in a wide, shallow pan called an evaporator until most of the water escapes as steam. The process takes a great deal of sap: about forty litres are needed to make just one litre of syrup. Many Indigenous peoples of the region were making maple sugar long before Europeans arrived, and they shared their knowledge with early settlers. Today, Canada produces most of the world's maple syrup, and Quebec alone produces the largest share.

    Which sentence from the maple syrup paragraph best supports the idea that the sugaring season is short?

    1. "This season usually lasts only four to six weeks…"
    2. "The process takes a great deal of sap…"
    3. "Every spring, maple syrup producers … watch the weather closely…"
    4. "Fresh sap looks almost like water…"

33. North Ashby Library Opens Shelves Full of Tools NORTH ASHBY — Residents of North Ashby can now borrow a drill, a ladder or a pressure washer as easily as they borrow a novel. The North Ashby Public Library opened its new tool-lending collection on Tuesday, offering more than 120 tools free of charge to anyone with a library card. The collection fills a former storage room at the back of the library. Its shelves hold power drills, garden tools, a sewing machine, camping stoves and even a set of snowshoes. Most items can be borrowed for one week. Library director Simone Achterberg said the idea came from a survey the library ran last winter. More than 60 per cent of the residents who answered said they had bought a tool they used only once or twice. "A family should not have to spend $200 on a tile cutter for one bathroom project," Achterberg said. "Sharing makes much more sense." About two-thirds of the tools were donated by residents. The rest were bought with a $9,000 community grant. Retired carpenter Walter Bianchi, 71, checks every returned tool and sharpens the blades each Friday. "I spent 40 years taking care of tools," Bianchi said. "Now I get to help my neighbours use them safely." The first borrower on Tuesday was Grade 12 student Ava Lindqvist, who took out a hedge trimmer so she can earn money doing yard work this summer. "I couldn't afford to buy one," she said. "Now I can start my business this weekend." Borrowers must be at least 18 or have a parent or guardian sign their card. A short safety video is required before anyone takes out a power tool. The library will accept more tool donations in good working condition until the end of June. A full list of available tools is posted on the library's website.

    What does the headline of the North Ashby library report suggest about the library's new collection?

    1. The library now lends tools as well as books
    2. The library needs tools to repair its old shelves
    3. The library has been turned into a hardware store
    4. The library will soon remove its shelves of books

34. I signed up to volunteer at Maple Grove Residence because it was close to my house and I needed my forty community involvement hours to graduate. Honestly, I expected to spend my Tuesdays folding towels. Instead, the activity coordinator, Mr. Asante, handed me a tablet and a list of names. "Leah, some of our residents want to video-call their families," he said. "They need a patient teacher." My first student was Mr. Bellamy, who was eighty-seven and had worked as an engineer for the railway. His granddaughter, Hannah, had moved to Vancouver for university, and he had not seen her face in almost a year. When I gave him the tablet, he held it at arm's length as if it might bite. The first Tuesday did not go well. He pressed the screen too hard, then too lightly. He called Hannah three times by accident and hung up on her twice. By the end of the hour, he pushed the tablet back to me and said, "Some things are not meant for old dogs." I almost agreed with him. But on the bus home, I thought about how I had learned to ride a bike. My dad had not explained everything at once; he had shown me one small thing at a time. The next week, I wrote three steps on an index card in large letters: 1. Tap the green circle. 2. Find Hannah's name. 3. Wait and smile. Mr. Bellamy studied the card the way he probably once studied train schedules. He followed each step slowly. On the second ring, Hannah's face filled the screen. "Grandpa!" she shouted, so loudly that a nurse looked in to check on us. Mr. Bellamy did not say anything for a moment. Then he laughed and told Hannah she needed a haircut. I finished my forty hours by March, but I kept going on Tuesdays. Now Mr. Bellamy calls Hannah on his own, and he has started teaching me something in return: how to play cribbage. I lose almost every game. He says I need a card with three steps.

    What could a reader learn from Leah's index card that would help when teaching someone a new skill?

    1. Written notes always work better than practice
    2. Breaking a task into small steps makes it easier
    3. Older people prefer to learn new things alone
    4. Explaining everything at once saves a lot of time

35. COACH DELANEY: Priya, do you have a minute? You got off the bus before I could talk to you. PRIYA: I didn't really want to talk. I finished forty-second out of fifty. That's embarrassing. COACH DELANEY: Forty-second at regionals, in your first season, on the hilliest course in the league. PRIYA: Last month I was eighteenth. I'm getting worse, not better. Maybe I should just quit and join the art club. At least I'm good at drawing. COACH DELANEY: You could do both, you know. But first, tell me what happened at the two-kilometre mark. PRIYA: I went out way too fast. I wanted to keep up with Hannah. By the big hill, my legs felt like cement. COACH DELANEY: So the problem wasn't your fitness. It was your pacing. That's one of the easiest things in running to fix. PRIYA: Really? It felt like the hardest. COACH DELANEY: Every runner I've ever coached has made that mistake at least once. I made it myself in university, in front of my whole family. PRIYA: You did? COACH DELANEY: I finished second-last. My mother still brings it up at Thanksgiving dinner. PRIYA: (smiling) Okay, that makes me feel a little better. COACH DELANEY: Here's my offer. At Thursday's practice, run with a watch. I'll give you a target time for each kilometre, and you're not allowed to go faster than it, even if you feel great. PRIYA: Not allowed to go faster? That sounds backwards. COACH DELANEY: Try it once. If it doesn't help, we'll talk about the art club then. Deal? PRIYA: Deal. Can I borrow one of the team watches? Mine is broken. COACH DELANEY: I'll leave one in your locker before Thursday.

    At the beginning of the cross-country dialogue with her coach, what is Priya thinking of doing?

    1. Asking Hannah to train with her daily
    2. Racing in a university running league
    3. Switching to a flatter course next year
    4. Quitting the team to join the art club