Free printable CAASPP practice test for Grade 7

English Language Arts

Circle the letter of the best answer, or two letters where a question asks for two. No time limit.

1. What Teresa Carried

   Teresa Lombardi woke because her bed was moving.

   For one confused second, she thought her little brother, Paolo, was shaking it as a joke. Then the whole room lurched sideways, and a roar like a freight train poured through the walls of their apartment on Green Street. Plaster dust sifted down from the ceiling like flour.

   "Under the table!" Mama cried. "Both of you, now!"

   Teresa crawled across a floor that heaved beneath her knees like the deck of Papa's fishing boat. The shaking went on and on. Later, people would say it had lasted less than a minute, but Teresa never quite believed them.

   Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. The clock had fallen from its nail. Papa turned it over and read the time aloud in a strangely calm voice: twelve minutes past five. It was Wednesday, April 18, 1906, and the sun had not yet risen over San Francisco.

   Out on the street, neighbors stood in their nightclothes, calling to one another in Italian and English. The bakery chimney on the corner lay across the sidewalk in a heap of bricks. Far to the south, thin gray threads of smoke rose into the pale sky. Papa set off for the wharf to check on his boat.

   Mama was counting faces. "Where is Signora Pacelli?"

   The old widow lived alone on the top floor of the building next door. She was nearly eighty, and she was so proud that no one on Green Street had ever heard her ask for help.

   "I'll go," said Teresa, before she could think about it too long.

   Next door, at the top of the tilted stairway, the signora's door would not budge; the earthquake had squeezed its frame crooked. Teresa could hear the old woman murmuring prayers inside. She threw her shoulder against the door once, twice, and on the third try it burst open.

   Signora Pacelli was sitting on the floor among the pieces of her blue-and-white dishes, unhurt but trembling, patting the boards around her for her spectacles. Teresa found them beneath the stove, wiped them on her nightgown, and set them gently on the old woman's nose.

   The signora blinked up at her. "Ah. The little Lombardi girl," she said. "Not so little anymore."

   By noon, the threads of smoke had thickened into a brown wall that blotted out half the sky. Papa came back from the wharf with news. The earthquake had broken the city's water pipes, and firefighters were opening hydrants and getting nothing but a trickle. Soldiers had begun using dynamite to knock down buildings in the fire's path, hoping to leave the flames with nothing to eat.

   "We go west, to the park," Papa decided. "We take only what we can carry."

   Teresa ran upstairs for the one thing she had already chosen: a book of maps with gold letters on its cover, the prize she had won for the highest geography score at her school. She hugged it to her chest. Every river and mountain range in the world was inside it.

   Then, through the wall, she heard a scraping on the stairs next door. Signora Pacelli was trying to drag a wooden case down the steps by herself. Teresa knew what was inside: the accordion her late husband had played on Sunday afternoons.

   Teresa looked down at the book. Then she laid it on her bed, smoothed the cover once, and went next door.

   All afternoon the Lombardis walked west toward Golden Gate Park with thousands of other families. Trunks screeched as people dragged them over the cobblestones. Papa carried Paolo on his shoulders, Mama carried the blankets, and Teresa carried the accordion, which grew heavier with every block. Signora Pacelli walked beside her, one hand resting on the case as if to help.

   The fires burned for three days. When word came on Saturday morning that the flames were finally out, it brought other news as well: almost nothing was left of Green Street.

   That evening, among the rows of tents and the smell of supper cooking on outdoor stoves, Signora Pacelli opened the wooden case. She played slowly at first, as if the music had to remember her. Then faster. People drifted over from nearby tents, strangers from all across the city, and soon someone was clapping and Paolo was dancing in the grass.

   Teresa thought of her book of maps, gone now with everything else on Green Street. Sitting there in the lantern light, with Mama on one side and the signora on the other, she found that she did not need it to know where she was.

   1.

   Which sentence is the best objective summary of the story?

   1. ADuring the earthquake and fires, Teresa rescues an elderly neighbor and gives up her prize book to carry the neighbor's accordion to the park.
   2. BAfter the earthquake, Teresa's father helps the soldiers fight the fires with dynamite until the flames are finally put out on Saturday.
   3. CTeresa saves her prize book of maps from the fire and uses it to guide her family and Signora Pacelli safely to the park.
   4. DThe earthquake breaks the city's water pipes, so Teresa carries water up the stairs to put out a fire in Signora Pacelli's apartment.
2. 2.

   Which TWO details best support the idea that Teresa puts Signora Pacelli's needs ahead of her own belongings? Choose two answers.

   1. AThen she laid it on her bed, smoothed the cover once, and went next door.
   2. BTeresa carried the accordion, which grew heavier with every block.
   3. CThe bakery chimney on the corner lay across the sidewalk in a heap of bricks.
   4. DShe hugged it to her chest.
   5. EEvery river and mountain range in the world was inside it.
3. 3.

   The soldiers hoped "to leave the flames with nothing to eat." What does this figurative language mean?

   1. AThey wanted to smother the flames by piling dirt and sand on top of every burning building.
   2. BThey wanted to destroy whatever the fire could burn so it could not spread.
   3. CThey wanted to stop families from cooking indoors after the earthquake.
   4. DThey wanted to keep the city's food supply safe from the spreading fire.
4. 4.

   What does Signora Pacelli most likely mean when she says Teresa is "Not so little anymore"?

   1. ATeresa has just shown the courage of someone much older.
   2. BTeresa should have knocked instead of breaking the door.
   3. CTeresa has grown too tall to fit on the stairway.
   4. DTeresa looks blurry because the signora has lost her spectacles.

5. Read this aloud to your child.

   A Safer Crossing on Elm Street

   To the Editor:

   Every school morning, more than 300 students cross Elm Street at Fifth Avenue to reach Lincoln Middle School, and the only thing protecting us is a set of faded white stripes painted on the pavement. I am asking the city to add flashing warning lights and a crossing guard at that corner before someone gets hurt.

   The most serious problem is that drivers do not stop. Elm Street is wide and straight, and many drivers treat it like a highway, even though the speed limit near the school is 20 miles per hour. Last Tuesday, my dad and I stood at the corner from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and counted the cars that drove through the crosswalk while someone was waiting at it or crossing, and in that single hour there were 14. Last spring, a sixth grader had to jump back onto the curb when a delivery van sped through the crosswalk without slowing down.

   Lincoln is also the oldest middle school in the county, and our marching band won first place at the county fair this summer. A school like ours deserves a street that looks as good as we do.

   Some people will say that warning lights and a crossing guard cost too much. But a flashing light costs far less than a trip to the emergency room, and no one can put a price on a student's safety.

   Please do not wait for a serious accident before making this dangerous corner safe.

   Sincerely,
   Hana Sato, seventh grade, Lincoln Middle School

   5.

   How does the speaker respond to people who say lights and a guard cost too much?

   1. AShe agrees that the city should wait another year.
   2. BShe says that the school band will pay for the lights.
   3. CShe says the county fair should raise the money.
   4. DShe argues that a light costs far less than an injury would.

6. Read this aloud to your child.

   Why Your Ears Pop

   You are on a plane as it begins to descend for landing, or in a car winding up a mountain road, when suddenly your ears feel stuffed with cotton. Sounds go muffled. Then you swallow, and with a small pop, everything becomes clear again. What just happened inside your head?

   The answer has to do with air pressure, because the air around us is constantly pressing on everything it touches, including your body. At sea level, that pressure is fairly high, because a tall column of air is pressing down from above. At higher elevations, there is less air above you, so the pressure decreases.

   Inside each ear, just behind the eardrum, is a small, air-filled space called the middle ear. The eardrum is a thin sheet of skin stretched like the top of a drum. Normally, the air pressure in the middle ear matches the pressure outside, so the eardrum sits flat and vibrates freely when sound waves strike it.

   When the outside pressure changes quickly, however, the pressure in the middle ear cannot keep up. On the way up a mountain, the outside pressure drops, and the air trapped in your middle ear pushes the eardrum outward. On the way down, the outside pressure rises and pushes the eardrum inward. Either way, a stretched eardrum can't vibrate well, so sounds seem dull, and your ears may even hurt.

   The fix is a narrow passage called the Eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear to the back of the throat. It usually stays closed, but swallowing, yawning or chewing opens it briefly. Air rushes in or out until the pressure on both sides of the eardrum is equal again, and the eardrum snaps back into place. That snap is the pop you hear. It also explains why flying with a cold can be so uncomfortable: a cold can swell the Eustachian tubes shut, trapping the pressure inside.

   6.

   According to the talk, what causes the pop a person hears?

   1. AThe middle ear fills with water during a flight.
   2. BThe eardrum snaps back into place once the pressure on both sides is equal.
   3. CThe Eustachian tube breaks open at high altitude.
   4. DAir bursts out of the ear canal whenever a person yawns.
7. 7.

   Lack of sleep can ______ how well you do on a test.

   Which word best completes the sentence?

   1. Ainfect
   2. Baffect
   3. Ceffect
   4. Dafect
8. 8.

   In which sentence should the words in bold be set off with commas?

   1. AThe class that collects the most cans will win a pizza party.
   2. BThe National Air and Space Museum which is part of the Smithsonian is free to visit.
   3. CPlants that get plenty of sunlight usually grow faster than plants kept in the dark.
   4. DThe dog that lives next door barks every time the mail carrier walks by.
9. 9.

   Which sentence is written correctly?

   1. AOpening the oven door, a wave of heat hit Dad's face.
   2. BWhile Priya weeded the garden all morning, her back began to ache.
   3. CNia discovered a letter from her great-grandfather in the attic written during the Great Depression.
   4. DPaddling down the Mississippi River, a bald eagle caught Hannah's eye.
10. 10.

    Kenji is writing an argument about whether video game competitions should count as a school sport.

    Which sentence would be the strongest claim for the argument?

    1. ASome high schools have video game clubs.
    2. BThis essay is about video games and sports.
    3. CVideo games are a popular topic these days.
    4. DVideo game competitions should not count as a school sport, because they do not build physical fitness the way other sports do.