Practice
Test 2
#
Make time to take the practice test.
It is one of the best ways to get ready
for the PSAT/NMSQT.
After you have taken the practice test, score it
right away at collegeboard.org/psatscoring.
© 2016 The College Board. College Board and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. The
corporate “Lamp of Learning” logo is a federally registered service mark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. 5LPT01
,
,Test begins on the next page.
, 1 1
Reading Test
60 M I NU TES, 4 7 QUESTIONS
Turn to Section 1 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section.
Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading
each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or
implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or
graph).
Questions 1-9 are based on the following passage.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................
______
This passage is adapted from Mark Slouka, Brewster: A Novel.
©2013 by Mark Slouka. 30 There was no starting gun. We lined up in the
gusty wind, Falvo standing in the soggy infield in his
This was a time trial, he said—a one-mile time dress shoes holding his clipboard like a small high
trial, four laps—not a race. It was meant to give an table against his chest with his left hand and his
idea of where we stood, no more. stopwatch in his right and then he barked, “Runners
Line We’d gathered around the middle of the long side 35 . . . marks? Go!”
5 of the track, just ten or twelve of us, including three They didn’t run, they flowed—the kid in the
others who seemed new like me, jogging back and headband, the red-headed kid, and two or three
forth in the wind, loosening up. The rest had walked others in particular—with a quiet, aggressive,
over to the other side of the field. sustained power that looked like nothing but felt
Falvo took me aside. “Warmed up? How’re the 40 like murder and I was with them and then halfway
10 shoes?” through the third turn they were moving away
“Fine.” In the distance I could see kids walking smooth as water and I could hear them talking
toward the parking lot. The sun stabbed out from among themselves, and I was slowing, burning,
under the clouds, glancing off the windshields. leaning back like there was a rope around my neck.
He raised his voice over the wind. “All right, I 45 “Too fast, Mosher, too fast,” I heard Falvo yelling,
15 want you all to stay contained, stay smooth. I don’t and his ax-sharp face came out of nowhere looking
want to see anybody draining the well today—that almost frantic and then it was gone and there was
means you, Mr. McCann.” A tall, tough-looking kid just the sound of my breathing and the crunch of my
with red hair and a tight face smiled like a gunslinger. sneakers slapping the dirt. The group, still in a tight
He turned to me. “I don’t want you doing 50 cluster, wasn’t all that far ahead of me.
20 anything stupid, Mosher. Some of these boys have By the end of the second lap I heard someone far
been at it for a while. Don’t think about them, think away yelling “Stop, Mosher, that’s enough,” and then
about yourself.” at some point someone else calling “Coming
I shrugged. through—inside,” and they passed me like a single
“Pace yourself. Let them do what they do. They’ll 55 mass, all business now, and I remember staggering
25 be about thirty yards ahead after the first lap. Don’t after them, gasping, drowning, my chest, my legs, my
worry about them. Go out slow, feel your way, then throat filling with lead and looking up through a fog
bring it home as best you can. OK?” of pain just in time to see the kid with the headband,
“Sure,” I said. halfway down the backstretch, accelerating into a
“Remember, it’s a time trial. Not a race.” 60 sustained, powerful sprint.
Unauthorized copying or reuse of any part of this page is illegal. 2 CO NTI N U E
Test 2
#
Make time to take the practice test.
It is one of the best ways to get ready
for the PSAT/NMSQT.
After you have taken the practice test, score it
right away at collegeboard.org/psatscoring.
© 2016 The College Board. College Board and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board. The
corporate “Lamp of Learning” logo is a federally registered service mark of National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
PSAT/NMSQT is a registered trademark of the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation. 5LPT01
,
,Test begins on the next page.
, 1 1
Reading Test
60 M I NU TES, 4 7 QUESTIONS
Turn to Section 1 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section.
Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading
each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or
implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or
graph).
Questions 1-9 are based on the following passage.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................
______
This passage is adapted from Mark Slouka, Brewster: A Novel.
©2013 by Mark Slouka. 30 There was no starting gun. We lined up in the
gusty wind, Falvo standing in the soggy infield in his
This was a time trial, he said—a one-mile time dress shoes holding his clipboard like a small high
trial, four laps—not a race. It was meant to give an table against his chest with his left hand and his
idea of where we stood, no more. stopwatch in his right and then he barked, “Runners
Line We’d gathered around the middle of the long side 35 . . . marks? Go!”
5 of the track, just ten or twelve of us, including three They didn’t run, they flowed—the kid in the
others who seemed new like me, jogging back and headband, the red-headed kid, and two or three
forth in the wind, loosening up. The rest had walked others in particular—with a quiet, aggressive,
over to the other side of the field. sustained power that looked like nothing but felt
Falvo took me aside. “Warmed up? How’re the 40 like murder and I was with them and then halfway
10 shoes?” through the third turn they were moving away
“Fine.” In the distance I could see kids walking smooth as water and I could hear them talking
toward the parking lot. The sun stabbed out from among themselves, and I was slowing, burning,
under the clouds, glancing off the windshields. leaning back like there was a rope around my neck.
He raised his voice over the wind. “All right, I 45 “Too fast, Mosher, too fast,” I heard Falvo yelling,
15 want you all to stay contained, stay smooth. I don’t and his ax-sharp face came out of nowhere looking
want to see anybody draining the well today—that almost frantic and then it was gone and there was
means you, Mr. McCann.” A tall, tough-looking kid just the sound of my breathing and the crunch of my
with red hair and a tight face smiled like a gunslinger. sneakers slapping the dirt. The group, still in a tight
He turned to me. “I don’t want you doing 50 cluster, wasn’t all that far ahead of me.
20 anything stupid, Mosher. Some of these boys have By the end of the second lap I heard someone far
been at it for a while. Don’t think about them, think away yelling “Stop, Mosher, that’s enough,” and then
about yourself.” at some point someone else calling “Coming
I shrugged. through—inside,” and they passed me like a single
“Pace yourself. Let them do what they do. They’ll 55 mass, all business now, and I remember staggering
25 be about thirty yards ahead after the first lap. Don’t after them, gasping, drowning, my chest, my legs, my
worry about them. Go out slow, feel your way, then throat filling with lead and looking up through a fog
bring it home as best you can. OK?” of pain just in time to see the kid with the headband,
“Sure,” I said. halfway down the backstretch, accelerating into a
“Remember, it’s a time trial. Not a race.” 60 sustained, powerful sprint.
Unauthorized copying or reuse of any part of this page is illegal. 2 CO NTI N U E
