OSSLT Practice Test 7

All 25 questions in this test

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

1. Which sentence punctuates the quoted question correctly?

   1. "Where are you going." asked Lena?
   2. "Where are you going," asked Lena?
   3. "Where are you going"? asked Lena.
   4. "Where are you going?" asked Lena.

2. 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.

   In the bakery story, Daniel says he "stood there with my face burning." What does this phrase show about him?

   1. He was angry at Mrs. Lindqvist
   2. He was overheated from the busy kitchen
   3. He felt embarrassed about his mistake
   4. He had burned himself on a hot oven

3. 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.

   Which sentence from the paragraph about the Rideau Canal best supports the idea that building it was hard work?

   1. "…cut through forests, swamps and rock with simple tools."
   2. "The canal offered a safer inland route."
   3. "In 2007, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site."
   4. "The attack that the canal was meant to defend against never came."

4. 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.

   Why does the reporter include resident Brian Kowalski's comments near the end of the Cedar Hollow Creek report?

   1. To present a different view of what the creek needs
   2. To show that residents dislike the naturalists club
   3. To explain how the volunteers sorted the garbage
   4. To prove that road salt has killed all the trout in the creek

5. 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…"

6. 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.

   Which sentence from the Cedar Hollow Creek cleanup report expresses an opinion?

   1. The creek has been cleaned every spring since 2019.
   2. Picking up bottles is great, but the salt is the bigger problem.
   3. About one-third of the garbage collected was recycled.
   4. Volunteers wore rubber boots and gloves and worked in teams of four.

7. Which sentence uses a semicolon correctly?

   1. The museum was closed; and we visited the park.
   2. The museum; was closed so we visited the park.
   3. Because the museum was closed; we visited the park.
   4. The museum was closed; we visited the park instead.

8. 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 will most likely happen at Thursday's cross-country practice?

   1. Priya will race Hannah up the big hill
   2. Coach Delaney will run the whole course with Priya
   3. Priya will run with a watch and hold back her pace
   4. Priya will sign up for the art club instead

9. 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.

   Based on the Riverbend report, what will most likely decide whether the Willow Park rink stays usable all winter?

   1. Whether the hockey coach keeps giving lessons
   2. Whether enough volunteers keep flooding the ice
   3. Whether the town agrees to pay for new boards
   4. Whether residents attend another celebration

10. 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

11. 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.

    Why does the writer of the maple syrup paragraph mention that fresh sap "tastes only slightly sweet"?

    1. To explain why producers drill taps into the bark
    2. To compare maple sap with the sap of other kinds of trees
    3. To warn readers never to drink sap straight from a tree
    4. To show why so much boiling is needed to make syrup

12. Many teenagers feel tired in the morning, and the reason is not always that they stay up late on purpose. During the teen years, the body's internal clock shifts, so many teens do not feel sleepy until later at night than they did as children. Canadian guidelines recommend that young people aged 14 to 17 get eight to ten hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, yet many get much less on school nights. Sleep is not wasted time. While a person sleeps, the brain sorts and stores what was learned during the day, and the body repairs muscles and other tissues. A teen who regularly misses sleep may find it harder to concentrate, remember information and manage feelings such as frustration. Screens can make the problem worse. The bright light from phones and tablets can signal to the brain that it is still daytime, which delays the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps the body prepare for sleep. Experts suggest a few simple habits: going to bed and waking up at about the same time every day, putting devices away an hour before bed, and keeping the bedroom cool, dark and quiet. These changes may seem small, but together they can help a tired student feel more alert in class and more energetic after school.

    In the paragraph about teen sleep, what does the phrase "the body's internal clock shifts" mean?

    1. The body stops needing as much rest as before
    2. The natural timing of sleepiness changes
    3. Teens start to wake up earlier on their own
    4. Teens lose track of the time on their phones

13. 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.

    Why does Jordan's grandmother say his second try was the best part of the evening?

    1. She wanted her video of the concert to be perfect
    2. She did not notice that the first try cracked
    3. She admired how he recovered after a mistake
    4. She thought the other band pieces were weak

14. Which word correctly completes the sentence? "The cat licked ___ paw after the long nap."

    1. its'
    2. it is
    3. its
    4. it's

15. 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 is the tone of Jonah's comment that the paper towel test is 'Kind of like a commercial'?

    1. Admiring
    2. Unimpressed
    3. Very grateful
    4. Frightened

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 story about Leah volunteering at Maple Grove Residence, why did she first sign up?

    1. She hoped to learn how to play cribbage
    2. Her teacher assigned her to Maple Grove
    3. She needed community involvement hours to graduate
    4. Her own grandfather was living at Maple Grove Residence

17. 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

18. 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 Jonah first suggest for the group's science fair project?

    1. Filming a time-lapse of the school
    2. Testing brands of paper towel
    3. Growing beans in coffee grounds
    4. Making a baking soda volcano

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.

    According to the report, why did the outdoor rink in Riverbend's Willow Park close in 2020?

    1. Warm winters made it impossible to keep ice frozen
    2. Too few children came to skate there each winter
    3. The town needed the park land for new houses
    4. Its boards rotted and no one could care for the ice

20. Many teenagers feel tired in the morning, and the reason is not always that they stay up late on purpose. During the teen years, the body's internal clock shifts, so many teens do not feel sleepy until later at night than they did as children. Canadian guidelines recommend that young people aged 14 to 17 get eight to ten hours of uninterrupted sleep each night, yet many get much less on school nights. Sleep is not wasted time. While a person sleeps, the brain sorts and stores what was learned during the day, and the body repairs muscles and other tissues. A teen who regularly misses sleep may find it harder to concentrate, remember information and manage feelings such as frustration. Screens can make the problem worse. The bright light from phones and tablets can signal to the brain that it is still daytime, which delays the release of melatonin, a hormone that helps the body prepare for sleep. Experts suggest a few simple habits: going to bed and waking up at about the same time every day, putting devices away an hour before bed, and keeping the bedroom cool, dark and quiet. These changes may seem small, but together they can help a tired student feel more alert in class and more energetic after school.

    Why does the writer include the short sentence "Sleep is not wasted time" in the paragraph about teen sleep?

    1. To explain why bright screens make sleep problems worse
    2. To argue that teens should be allowed to sleep in on school days
    3. To introduce the useful work the brain and body do during sleep
    4. To show that most teens dislike going to bed early

21. 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.

    Mr. Bellamy first holds the tablet "at arm's length as if it might bite." What does this detail suggest about him?

    1. He is nervous about using the device
    2. He is annoyed that Leah gave it to him
    3. He cannot see the screen without his glasses
    4. He finds the tablet too heavy to hold up

22. Which sentence corrects the run-on "The rink was full we skated anyway"?

    1. The rink was full, we skated anyway.
    2. The rink was full, but we skated anyway.
    3. The rink was full we, skated anyway.
    4. The rink, was full we skated anyway.

23. Which words correctly complete the sentence? "If I had known about the storm, I ___ stayed home."

    1. would has
    2. would of
    3. would have
    4. will have

24. 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

25. 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.

    A test asks: 'Did the Larkfield garden project help the community? Use details from the report.' Which response would earn the highest score?

    1. Yes. The students had fun, and the library used the money to buy new books for its shelves.
    2. Yes. It gives bees and butterflies food downtown, and visitors now stop to read the plant signs.
    3. The garden project helped the community because it was a project that helped the community.
    4. Yes, I think it helped because gardens are nice and most people in a town like Larkfield probably enjoy flowers.