GED Practice Quiz

Directions:

When you are finished, go to the Web Links or choose a different activity or chapter from the menu on the left.

Question 1 refers to the following excerpt.

WHAT ADVICE DOES THE AUTHOR GIVE?
       However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode.

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

1		Which of the following summarizes the author’s advice?
			A)	Strive to improve your standard of living.
			B)	Help people who are poor.
			C)	Recognize the value of your life.
			D)	Try to live as your neighbors do.
			E)	Don’t find fault with other people.

Question 2 refers to the following excerpt.

HOW DOES THIS CIVIL WAR NURSE SPEND HER DAYS?
       Up at six, dress by gaslight, run through my ward and throw up the windows, though the men grumble and shiver; but the air is bad enough to breed a pestilence; and as no notice is taken of our frequent appeals for better ventilation, I must do what I can. Poke up the fire, add blankets, joke, coax, and command; but continue to open doors and windows as if life depended on it.

Louisa May Alcott, Journal Kept at Hospital, 1862

2		What does the author reveal about conditions in the hospital?
			A)	The U.S. government monitored them carefully.
			B)	They were improving gradually.
			C)	They were overcrowded.
			D)	They endangered patients and staff.
			E)	The hospital was fresh and pleasant.

Question 3 refers to the following excerpt.

HOW DOES THE AUTHOR REMIND PEOPLE THAT THEY OFTEN TAKE THEIR VISION FOR GRANTED?
       How much easier, how much more satisfying it is for you who can see to grasp quickly the essential qualities of another person by watching the subtleties of expression, the quiver of a muscle, the flutter of a hand. But does it ever occur to you to use your sight to see into the inner nature of a friend? Do not most of you seeing people grasp only casually the outward features of a familiar face and let it go at that?

Helen Keller, Three Days to See, 1933

3		What is the purpose of the two questions at the end of the paragraph?
			A)	to elicit information about how people see
			B)	to instruct people about the nature of sight
			C)	to obtain information about visual handicaps
			D)	to make the seeing reader think about the power of sight
			E)	to plead for more research into the causes of blindness

Questions 4 through 6 refer to the following excerpt.

HOW DOES IT MAKE A SLAVE FEEL NOT TO KNOW THE DATE OF HIS OR HER BIRTH?
       I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland. I have no accurate knowledge of my age, never having seen an authentic record containing it. By far the larger part of the slaves know as little of their ages as horses know of theirs, and it is the wish of most masters within my knowledge to keep their slaves thus ignorant. I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than planting-time, harvest-time, cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood. The white children could tell their ages. I could not tell why I ought to be deprived of the same privilege. I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it. He deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit. The nearest estimate I can give makes me now between twenty-seven and twenty-eight years of age. I come to this, from hearing my master say, some time during 1835, I was about seventeen years old.

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845

4		Which of the following can you infer from the excerpt?
			A)	The writer is a plantation owner.
			B)	The writer was born on January 12, 1835
			C)	The writer is white.
			D)	The writer is 17 years old.
			E)	The writer is a slave.
5		What does the writer say was a source of unhappiness to him as a child?
			A)	living in a large city
			B)	not knowing his age like the white children did
			C)	having to work on a farm
			D)	working long hours when other children did not have to do so
			E)	living in poverty
6		What does the excerpt imply about the way masters viewed their slaves?
			A)	They wanted them to learn to read and write.
			B)	They didn’t think their slaves’ lives were important.
			C)	The masters tried to keep slave families together.
			D)	Masters wanted to free their slaves.
			E)	They kept careful records about their slaves.

Questions 7 and 8 refer to the following document.

WHO IS ENTITLED TO FMLA BENEFITS?

THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division administers and enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for all private, state, and local government employees, and some federal employees. Most Federal and certain congressional employees are also covered by the law and are subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or the Congress.

EMPLOYER COVERAGE
FMLA applies to all:

• public agencies, including state, local and federal employers, local education agencies (schools), and
• private-sector employers who employed 50 or more employees in 20 or more workweeks in the current or preceding calendar year and who are engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce—including joint employers and successors of covered employers.

EMPLOYEE ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for FMLA benefits, an employee must:

1. work for a covered employer;
2. have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months;
3. have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months; and
4. work at a location in the United States or in any territory or possession of the United States where at least 50 employees are employed by the employer within 75 miles.

LEAVE ENTITLEMENT
A covered employer must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 workweeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons:

• for the birth and care of the newborn child of the employee;
• for placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care; to care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or
• to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition.

Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour Division

7		What is the primary purpose of this document?
			A)	to explain how to file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division
			B)	to tell employees how to provide 30-day notice for the need to take FMLA leave
			C)	to define the grounds on which an employee may bring a civil action suit against an employer
			D)	to detail the provisions of employer coverage; employee eligibility for the law’s benefits; and employees entitlement to leave
			E)	to compare medical benefits offered under different insurance plans
8		Which of the following covered employees would NOT be entitled to a FMLA leave?
			A)	an employee who adopts a child
			B)	an employee who cares for a seriously ill aunt
			C)	an employee who cares for her newborn baby
			D)	an employee who is unable to work because of a serious illness
			E)	an employee who cares for a seriously ill spouse

Questions 9 and 10 refer to the following excerpt.

WHY DOES THE LIFE OF AN ACTOR SEEM APPEALING?
       From earliest childhood we all find pleasure and escape in any game of "let’s pretend." This experience has also been a part of almost every individual’s adult life as he has sought the opportunity of getting out of himself, being someone else, living in his imagination, and experiencing emotions and situations often removed from his everyday existence.

       To those on the sidelines, the life of an actor is apt to seem to be a round of interesting experiences, public acclaim, applause, curtain calls, easy living, and personal freedom. Actors are always in a position of prominence. They possess a beauty, a charm, and a personality not often found in the mundane lives of the general public. It is little wonder that the actor’s life looks fascinating from afar. The truth, however, is not so simple, for the profession is far from an easy one. It involves hard work and serious vocal, physical, and mental training. It demands personal sacrifices, for the theatre is a jealous master. It requires a natural talent and necessitates long hours of study and intense concentration, great imagination, persistence, determination, and, above all, discipline.

Edward A. Wright, Understanding Today’s Theater, 2e, 1972

9		What is the topic of the excerpt?
			A)	games of early childhood
			B)	the life of an actor
			C)	the ways an audience shows its appreciation
			D)	different kinds of easy professions
			E)	sacrifices made for the theater
10		Which of the following sentences best states the main idea of the excerpt?
			A)	Everyone likes to pretend and imagine.
			B)	The life of an actor is glamorous.
			C)	Acting is more demanding than it appears.
			D)	A good actor needs talent.
			E)	Acting in a theater is more fun than acting for films.