Free printable Iowa practice test for Grade 7

Reading

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 13 minutes.

1. Two Texts About Mount St. Helens

   Text 1: The Eruption of Mount St. Helens

   Mount St. Helens is a volcano in the Cascade Range of Washington State. In the spring of 1980, after more than a century of quiet, it began to rumble. Small earthquakes shook the mountain, and its north side began to bulge outward as melted rock, called magma, pushed up inside it.

   At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, an earthquake struck beneath the volcano. The bulging north side broke loose and slid away in the largest landslide ever recorded. With that weight of rock suddenly gone, the gas and magma inside burst out sideways in a powerful blast that flattened forests across more than 200 square miles. A column of ash rose miles into the sky, and winds carried the ash east across many states.

   The eruption lowered the mountain's summit by about 1,300 feet, leaving a huge crater open to the north. Fifty-seven people died.

   Text 2: A Ranger's Talk

   "Good morning, everyone, and welcome. I'm Ranger Lena Ortiz. When people first saw this valley after the 1980 eruption, many of them believed nothing would ever live here again, because the ground was buried under gray ash. But life returned much sooner than anyone expected.

   "Some animals survived underground. Pocket gophers were safe in their burrows during the blast, and when they tunneled back to the surface, they mixed the ash with the rich old soil below, which gave seeds a better place to sprout.

   "Plants arrived, too. Fireweed seeds drifted in on the wind. Prairie lupine, a plant with purple flowers, was one of the first to grow on the bare ground, and it added nutrients that helped other plants follow. Look around today, and you'll see wildflowers, young trees, and elk grazing where there was once only ash."

   1.

   According to Text 1, how did the eruption change the shape of the mountain?

   1. AIts crater filled up with new forest.
   2. BIt split into two separate peaks.
   3. CIts summit grew about 200 feet higher than before.
   4. DIts summit ended up about 1,300 feet lower.
2. 2.

   According to Text 2, how did pocket gophers help plants return?

   1. AThey carried fireweed seeds in their fur.
   2. BTheir digging mixed the ash with the rich soil below it.
   3. CThey warned the elk to leave before the blast.
   4. DThey ate the ash so plants could reach the soil.

3. The Empty Chair

   CHARACTERS: LEILA and DANTE, sixth graders and best friends; ISABEL, a sixth grader who is new to the school

   (The cafeteria at Lakeview Middle School. LEILA and DANTE sit at a small table. The third chair holds DANTE's backpack. Across the room, ISABEL eats alone, bent over a sketchbook.)

   LEILA: Isabel has been eating by herself every single day this week. I think we should ask her to come sit with us.

   DANTE: (unwrapping his sandwich) We don't even know her, Leila.

   LEILA: That's kind of the whole point of asking somebody to lunch.

   DANTE: It'll be awkward. What would we even talk about? She'll be quiet, we'll be quiet, and lunch will turn into thirty minutes of everybody chewing and staring at the ceiling.

   LEILA: You were new in fourth grade, remember? Who asked you to sit with them on your very first day?

   DANTE: (looking down at his tray) You did.

   LEILA: And was it awkward?

   DANTE: Maybe for about a day. (He shrugs.) Anyway, it doesn't matter, because there's no room at this table.

   (LEILA stares at the backpack on the third chair, then back at DANTE.)

   DANTE: That's... technically my backpack's seat.

   LEILA: Since when does your backpack need a seat of its own?

   (Across the room, ISABEL turns a page. Her sketchbook shows a large drawing of a wolf in a silver space helmet, the hero of the comic book DANTE reads every single day.)

   DANTE: (sitting up) Wait, is that Nova Wolf? Nobody draws Nova Wolf. Nobody at this entire school has even heard of Nova Wolf except me.

   LEILA: Apparently somebody has.

   (DANTE grabs his backpack off the chair, drops it on the floor, and stands up.)

   LEILA: Where are you going?

   DANTE: I'm going to ask her whether she's read issue twelve, because the ending was unbelievable. (He stops and turns back.) And I'm going to ask her to sit with us. Obviously.

   LEILA: (smiling and sliding the empty chair out) Obviously.

   3.

   Which stage direction is most important to the turn in the plot?

   1. ALeila smiles and slides the empty chair out at the very end of the scene.
   2. BIsabel turns to a drawing of the hero of Dante's favorite comic.
   3. CDante shrugs just before he says that there is no room.
   4. DDante looks down at his tray when Leila asks him a question.
4. 4.

   What does Dante's quiet answer, "You did," reveal?

   1. ALeila once welcomed him when he was new, which weakens his argument.
   2. BDante is still upset that Leila ignored him when he was new in fourth grade.
   3. CDante thinks Isabel already has plenty of friends.
   4. DDante has never been new at a school before.

5. The Kitchen Clock

   Above the stove, my grandpa's clock still hangs, its face gone yellow and its numbers thin, and every hour, before it clinks and clangs, it wheezes like a train that's pulling in. It runs eight minutes slow, and always will; it made us miss the school bus twice in May. My brother says to buy a new one. Still, I climb up on a chair each Saturday to turn the brass key, just as Grandpa showed: twelve turns, no more, then listen for the click, the way he did until his fingers slowed. Some mornings I can hear him in the tick. It isn't time I'm keeping when I wind; it's eight slow minutes Grandpa left behind.

   5.

   In a Shakespearean sonnet, the closing couplet often brings a turn, or shift in thought. How does the couplet change this poem?

   1. AIt reveals that the speaker winds the clock to hold on to Grandpa, not to tell time.
   2. BIt reveals that the speaker has finally agreed with the brother to buy a brand-new clock.
   3. CIt shows that the brother has come to love the clock.
   4. DIt describes the sound of the clock's chime for the first time.
6. 6.

   What does the simile "it wheezes like a train that's pulling in" suggest about the clock?

   1. AIt is loud enough to be heard at the train station.
   2. BIt is about to fall off the kitchen wall.
   3. CIts chime starts with a tired, rattling sound, like an old engine slowing down.
   4. DIt is shaped like the front of a train engine.
7. 7.

   In the line "My brother says to buy a new one. Still," what does the word "Still" mean?

   1. Ain a hurry
   2. Bonce again
   3. Ceven so
   4. Dwithout moving

8. From Bill to Law

   Every federal law in the United States begins as an idea. The idea might come from a member of Congress, from the President, or from an ordinary citizen who writes to a representative, but only a member of Congress can formally propose a new law. Once an idea is written up and proposed, it is called a bill. Congress has two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and a bill must make it through both.

   The Path of a Bill

   1. A member of the House or the Senate introduces the bill in his or her own chamber. The bill receives a number, such as H.R. 1 in the House or S. 1 in the Senate.

   2. The bill is sent to a committee, a smaller group of members who focus on one subject, such as farming or education. The committee studies the bill, may hold hearings where experts speak, and can change its wording. Most bills never get past this step.

   3. If the committee approves the bill, the full chamber debates it and votes. If a majority votes yes, the bill passes that chamber.

   4. The bill then moves to the other chamber, where steps 2 and 3 happen all over again.

   5. Both chambers must pass exactly the same version of the bill. If the second chamber has made changes, the two chambers must settle their differences, often in a committee with members from both, and then each chamber votes again on the final version.

   6. The bill goes to the President. If the President signs it, it becomes law. The President can also veto, or reject, the bill and send it back to Congress with the reasons for the veto.

   7. Congress can still turn a vetoed bill into law. If two-thirds of the members voting in both the House and the Senate vote to override the veto, the bill becomes law without the President's signature.

   8.

   What must happen right before a bill goes to the President?

   1. ABoth chambers pass exactly the same version of it.
   2. BA committee in the first chamber holds hearings on it.
   3. CThe bill is given a number such as H.R. 1.
   4. DThe President sends it back with reasons.
9. 9.

   How do the numbered steps help readers?

   1. AThey rank bills from the most to the least important.
   2. BThey show the order in which a bill moves toward becoming law.
   3. CThey count how many laws Congress passes each year.
   4. DThey list the names of all the members who serve on each committee.
10. 10.

    In the passage, what does "override" mean in "vote to override the veto"?

    1. Acancel or overrule
    2. Bwrite it over again
    3. Csign quickly
    4. Dargue about