Free printable PSAT practice test for Grade 11

Reading and Writing

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

1. Desert tortoises

   The desert tortoise can survive for a year or more without drinking. It ______ water in its bladder after rare rains and draws on that supply during long dry periods.

   1.

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

   1. Awastes
   2. Bdescribes
   3. Cmeasures
   4. Dstores

2. Flying buttresses

   Builders of Gothic cathedrals wanted tall walls filled with large stained-glass windows, but thin walls with many openings could not hold up a heavy stone roof on their own. Flying buttresses, stone arms that brace the walls from outside, offered a ______ solution: they carried the roof's weight outward and down, so the walls themselves could remain slender.

   2.

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

   1. Areluctant
   2. Btemporary
   3. Cdecorative
   4. Dpractical

3. The comic gutter

   In a comic strip, the empty space between two panels is called the gutter. Nothing is drawn there, yet readers fill it in: if one panel shows a pitcher winding up and the next shows a batter running, readers imagine the swing that happened in between. Some comics scholars argue that this act of imagination is what makes the form so engaging.

   3.

   Which choice best describes the purpose of the text?

   1. ATo compare the way comics and novels portray sports
   2. BTo explain how an empty part of a comic strip invites readers to participate
   3. CTo argue that comic strips should include more detailed drawings
   4. DTo describe the history of comic strips in daily newspapers

4. Honeybee dances

   When a honeybee finds a rich patch of flowers, it flies back to the hive and performs a series of movements often called a waggle dance. The angle of the dance tells other bees which direction to fly compared with the position of the sun, and the length of each waggle tells them roughly how far away the flowers are. Bees that watch the dance can then fly straight to the food.

   4.

   Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

   1. AHoneybees prefer flowers that grow close to their hive.
   2. BHoneybees need bright sunlight before they are able to leave the hive.
   3. CHoneybees use a patterned movement to tell other bees where food is.
   4. DHoneybees compete with one another for the richest patches of flowers.

5. Meteor watch

   Meteors tend to be more common in the hours before dawn than in the evening. After midnight, an observer's side of Earth faces the direction in which the planet is moving through space, so it sweeps up more bits of dust. Members of an astronomy club counted meteors for one hour at a time through a single clear night, and their counts fit this pattern: ______

   5.

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

   1. Athe club counted more meteors at 10 p.m. than at midnight.
   2. Bthe club counted 6 meteors at 10 p.m., its lowest hourly total.
   3. Cthe club counted 23 meteors at 4 a.m. but only 6 at 10 p.m.
   4. Dthe club counted the same number of meteors every hour.

6. Seed banks

   Seed banks protect plant diversity by drying seeds and storing them at freezing temperatures, conditions under which many seeds stay alive for decades. However, the seeds of some plants, including many tropical trees, die when they lose much of their moisture. Botanists call these seeds recalcitrant. This suggests that seed banks relying only on drying and freezing ______

   6.

   Which choice most logically completes the text?

   1. Ashould store tropical seeds at warmer temperatures than other seeds.
   2. Bwill soon stop collecting seeds from plants outside the tropics.
   3. Ccannot preserve every plant species they might want to protect.
   4. Dare able to keep recalcitrant seeds alive for several decades.

7. A telescope mirror

   Large telescopes gather light with a curved mirror. Polished for months to an accuracy finer than the width of a hair, ______ ready to be installed in the new telescope.

   7.

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

   1. Athe mirror was finally
   2. Bthe technicians finally declared the mirror
   3. Cthe team announced that the mirror was finally
   4. Dthe technicians finally had the mirror

8. Early orchestras

   A typical orchestra in the early 1700s was small by modern standards, often fewer than twenty players. It was built around a few core ______ violas, cellos, and a harpsichord that filled in the harmony.

   8.

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

   1. Ainstruments violins,
   2. Binstruments: violins,
   3. Cinstruments; violins,
   4. Dinstruments. Violins,

9. Learning guitar

   Ana wanted to learn the guitar before her cousin's birthday party. First, she practiced simple chords for twenty minutes each evening. ______, she learned to switch between them smoothly while strumming. Finally, she played the whole song for her family.

   9.

   Which choice gives the most logical transition for the blank?

   1. AFor instance
   2. BInstead
   3. CAfterward
   4. DIn contrast

10. Tardigrades

    While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
    • Tardigrades are tiny animals about 0.5 millimeter long.
    • They live in moss, soil, and the ocean.
    • They can survive drying out by entering a state called a tun.
    • In this state, they can survive extreme cold and even the vacuum of space.
    • They were first described in 1773.

    10.

    The student wants to emphasize how hardy tardigrades are. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

    1. ATardigrades, first described in 1773, are tiny animals about 0.5 millimeter long.
    2. BIn a dried-out state called a tun, tardigrades can survive extreme cold and even the vacuum of space.
    3. CTardigrades live in many different places, including moss, soil, and the ocean.
    4. DA single tardigrade measures only about half a millimeter from end to end.