Free printable PSAT practice test for Grade 10

Reading and Writing

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 12 minutes.

1. Roman harbor walls

   Some harbor walls built by ancient Roman engineers have stood in seawater for nearly two thousand years. Researchers studying the material found that it contains volcanic ash, which reacts with seawater to form new minerals that ______ the concrete over time rather than weakening it.

   1.

   Which choice gives the most logical and precise word or phrase for the blank?

   1. Aconceal
   2. Bstrengthen
   3. Cdissolve
   4. Dilluminate

2. The window seat

   For weeks the twins had argued over who would get the bedroom with the window seat. In the end, they reached a ______: Lia would take the room, and Nico would choose the paint color for both rooms.

   2.

   Which choice gives the most logical and precise word or phrase for the blank?

   1. Averdict
   2. Bcompromise
   3. Cstalemate
   4. Drivalry

3. The Erie Canal

   When the Erie Canal opened in 1825, it connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and, through it, to the port of New York. Shipping costs between Buffalo and New York City fell sharply. Towns along the canal's route, such as Rochester and Syracuse, grew from villages into busy cities within a few decades.

   3.

   Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

   1. AIt describes how shipping costs were calculated before 1825.
   2. BIt explains why the canal was built along that particular route.
   3. CIt gives an example of the canal's effect on the region it passed through.
   4. DIt introduces a criticism of the canal's high construction cost.

4. Phases of the Moon

   The Moon makes no light of its own. Instead, it reflects light from the Sun, and at any moment half of the Moon is lit. As the Moon travels around Earth over about a month, we see different amounts of that sunlit half. When the lit side faces us, we see a full moon. When it faces away, we see almost nothing, and we call it a new moon.

   4.

   Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

   1. AA full moon happens when the Moon is closest to the Sun.
   2. BEarth's shadow covers a different part of the Moon on most nights of each month.
   3. CThe Moon produces less light during some parts of the month.
   4. DThe Moon's phases depend on how much of its sunlit side faces Earth.

5. Otters and kelp

   Sea urchins graze on kelp, the large seaweed that forms underwater forests, and sea otters eat sea urchins. A team of marine ecologists hypothesized that otters protect kelp forests by keeping urchin numbers down. They counted urchins and kelp plants in survey plots along coasts with and without otters. The results are consistent with the hypothesis: ______

   5.

   Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the statement?

   1. Aplots without otters held more urchins than kelp plants on average.
   2. Bplots with otters had more urchins and more kelp than plots without otters.
   3. Cplots with otters had fewer urchins and less kelp than plots without otters.
   4. Dplots with otters had fewer urchins and more kelp than plots without otters.

6. Pollen in lake mud

   Each year, pollen from surrounding plants settles to the bottom of a lake and is buried in a thin layer of mud. By drilling out a column of these layers, scientists can see which plants grew nearby at different times. In one lake, the older layers are dominated by tree pollen, but a later layer shows tree pollen dropping sharply while grass pollen rises. This change suggests that, at that time, ______

   6.

   Which choice most logically completes the text?

   1. Athe lake itself dried up for several years.
   2. Bthe land around the lake became more open.
   3. Cgrasses began to grow on the lake bottom.
   4. Dtrees around the lake grew taller than before.

7. Nesting terns

   About three hundred common terns nest on the small island each spring. Volunteers walk the beach every morning to count the ______ nests and record how many eggs each one holds.

   7.

   Which choice completes the text so that it follows the conventions of Standard English?

   1. Abirds
   2. Bbirds's
   3. Cbird's
   4. Dbirds'

8. Sea urchins

   Low tide leaves pockets of seawater trapped among the rocks along the shore. Among the rocks at the edge of one such pool ______ a cluster of purple sea urchins, their spines waving slowly in the current.

   8.

   Which choice completes the text so that it follows the conventions of Standard English?

   1. Ahave sat
   2. Bsits
   3. Csit
   4. Dare sitting

9. Arctic terns

   Each year, the Arctic tern flies from its breeding grounds in the Arctic to waters near Antarctica and back, a round trip that can be longer than 40,000 miles. ______, because it lives through summer at both ends of the world, the tern sees more daylight than any other animal.

   9.

   Which choice gives the most logical transition for the blank?

   1. AInstead
   2. BFor example
   3. CMoreover
   4. DHowever

10. Monarch migration

    While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
    • Monarch butterflies in eastern North America migrate south each fall.
    • Many travel more than 2,000 miles.
    • They spend the winter in fir forests in the mountains of central Mexico.
    • No single butterfly makes the full round trip.
    • The great-grandchildren of the fall migrants return north the next spring.

    10.

    The student wants to emphasize how far monarchs travel. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

    1. AThe great-grandchildren of fall migrants return north the following spring.
    2. BNo single monarch butterfly makes the full round trip between the north and Mexico.
    3. CMany monarchs travel more than 2,000 miles to reach their winter home in Mexico.
    4. DMonarchs spend the winter in fir forests in the mountains of central Mexico.