SSAT practice, Grade 10

Free printable SSAT practice test for Grade 10

30 questions across every part of the test, to print and do on paper. The answers are not on the paper: enter your email and we will send the answer sheet.

Sit it online instead

Done all three free sets? The Private school pack opens unlimited SSAT tests online, with every answer and a worked solution. US$69 for six months.

See the Private school pack

Scholar Tests · Set 1

SSAT practice test, Grade 10

Name ______________________ Date ____________

Quantitative

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

  1. 1.

    How many pairs of positive whole numbers (x, y) make 6x + 3y = 375 true?

    1. A63
    2. B60
    3. C61
    4. D62
    5. E64
  2. 2.

    What is a sixth of a third of 72?

    1. A12
    2. B8
    3. C36
    4. D4
    5. E24
  3. 3.

    What is the slope of the line through (−6, −6) and (−1, −12)?

    1. A−5/6
    2. B6/5
    3. C5/6
    4. D−6/5
    5. E18/7
  4. 4.

    Look at this number pattern: 24, 33, 49, 74, 110. What number comes next?

    1. A146
    2. B124
    3. C157
    4. D159
    5. E174
  5. 5.

    In the triangle below, what is the size of the angle marked x?

    1. A61°
    2. B3°
    3. C119°
    4. D122°
    5. E241°
  6. 6.

    5% of the money in a tin is $12.75. How much money is in the tin altogether?

    1. A$1275.00
    2. B$255.00
    3. C$242.25
    4. D$0.64
    5. E$25.50
  7. 7.

    In the triangle below, what is the size of the angle marked x?

    1. A61°
    2. B63°
    3. C122°
    4. D119°
    5. E58°
  8. 8.

    If 25x = 125x − 2, what is the value of x?

    1. A6
    2. B4
    3. C5
    4. D7
    5. E2
  9. 9.

    A bag holds 2 white, 7 orange and 3 green marbles. Two marbles are taken out, one after the other, without putting the first back. What is the probability that the first is white or orange and the second is green?

    1. A3/22
    2. B3/4
    3. C3/11
    4. D9/44
    5. E3/16
  10. 10.

    Leila has x badges. Aaron has five times as many as Leila will have after Leila gets 6 more. Which expression shows how many badges Aaron has?

    1. A5(x + 6)
    2. B5x + 6
    3. C11x
    4. Dx + 30
    5. E5 + x + 6

Reading

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 10 minutes.

  1. Ice-Out

    All winter the lake kept its one opinion, a white sentence stretched from shore to shore that no one bothered to argue with. We walked on it. We drilled small doubts in it and fished them for perch, and it held. My brother and I had a winter like that: a single hard surface over everything, words we stepped around, a door we closed so gently it was almost polite. Then March, and the lake began to talk. At night it groaned like a ship's old timber; by day long seams of pewter opened and the wind leaned on them until they gave. Nobody announced it. One morning the open water was simply there, dark and moving, full of the sky, and a pair of ducks floated where we had stood. He called that afternoon about nothing, the weather, a game, a borrowed jacket. I listened to the thaw in his voice and said nothing important back, which was, I think, the important thing.

    1.

    Which choice best describes the central idea of the poem?

    1. AThe speaker warns readers about the dangers of thin ice in early spring.
    2. BThe breakup of the lake's ice mirrors a quiet easing of tension between the speaker and a brother.
    3. CA family argues about whether it is safe to walk out on a frozen lake.
    4. DThe speaker regrets spending a winter fishing instead of talking with a brother.
    5. ETwo brothers plan a fishing trip for the day the lake finally thaws.
  2. 2.

    According to the poem, what appears on the open water once the ice is gone?

    1. AA ship's old timber
    2. BA borrowed jacket
    3. CA fishing boat
    4. DA pair of ducks
    5. EA school of perch
  3. 3.

    The line "I listened to the thaw in his voice" suggests that the brother

    1. Asounded warmer and less guarded than he had during the winter
    2. Bwas calling to warn the speaker about the melting ice
    3. Chad caught a cold while standing out on the lake
    4. Dwas angry that the speaker had not called first
    5. Ewas speaking quietly because of a poor connection
  4. 4.

    As it is used in the poem, the word "gave" most nearly means

    1. Aoffered freely
    2. Bput on a show
    3. Cbroke apart
    4. Dproduced a result
    5. Ehanded over
  5. 5.

    The speaker's attitude toward the phone call in the final stanza is best described as

    1. Acoldly indifferent
    2. Bopenly resentful
    3. Cquietly grateful
    4. Danxiously impatient
    5. Edeeply disappointed

  6. The Case Against Library Fines

    For generations, the overdue fine has been as much a part of the public library as the card catalog once was. A book comes back late, and the borrower pays a few cents for each day of delay. The practice seems harmless, even fair: a small penalty to encourage people to share. Yet a growing number of libraries have abandoned fines altogether, and I believe the rest should follow.

    Begin with what a public library is for. It exists to give everyone, regardless of income, access to books, information and a quiet place to learn. Fines work directly against that purpose. For a family with money to spare, a few dollars owed is a minor irritation. For a family without it, the same amount can mean a blocked card, and a blocked card can mean a child who stops borrowing at the very age when reading habits form. Librarians in many cities have noticed that accounts blocked for unpaid fines tend to be concentrated in the neighborhoods that most need the library. A policy that pushes away the people a library was built to serve is not harmless, however small each fine may be.

    Consider, too, what fines actually accomplish. Their defenders claim that the threat of a penalty is what brings books back. But libraries that have eliminated fines have generally reported that most materials are still returned. Some found that former patrons, who had stayed away for years out of embarrassment over an old debt, came back once the debt was forgiven. The money collected, meanwhile, usually makes up only a small share of a library's budget, and some of it is consumed by the staff time spent tracking and collecting it.

    The strongest objection deserves a fair hearing. Without some consequence, critics say, a minority of borrowers will simply keep what they take, and the shelves will slowly empty at the expense of everyone else. This concern is reasonable, but it argues for a different tool, not for fines. A library can still require a borrower to pay for an item that is truly lost, and it can pause borrowing until a long-overdue item comes back. These measures protect the collection without charging people for being a few days late, which is the offense fines most often punish. Reminders by text message and email, now cheap and nearly universal, do more to prompt returns than a charge most people never notice until it has grown.

    A library fine is a small thing, and that is precisely the problem: its benefits are small, while its costs fall on the patrons least able to bear them. Libraries pride themselves on being open to all. Ending late fines is one simple way to make that promise true.

    6.

    Which choice best states the author's central claim?

    1. APublic libraries should be funded mainly by the fines that they collect.
    2. BPublic libraries should stop charging overdue fines because the fines do more harm than good.
    3. CPublic libraries should replace most of their printed books with digital materials.
    4. DPublic libraries should stop lending to any patron who has ever lost an item.
    5. EPublic libraries should raise their fines so that borrowers return books on time.
  7. 7.

    According to the author, what happened at some libraries that eliminated fines?

    1. AThe libraries' budgets shrank by more than half.
    2. BMost borrowers stopped returning materials on time.
    3. CLibrarians began charging much higher replacement fees.
    4. DFormer patrons who had avoided the library over old debts came back.
    5. EText message reminders were no longer needed.
  8. 8.

    The author suggests that a blocked card is especially harmful to a child because

    1. Achildren's books are more expensive to replace
    2. Bchildhood is when lasting reading habits are formed
    3. Cchildren are not allowed to pay fines themselves
    4. Dchildren rarely use libraries after they turn twelve
    5. Echildren are more likely than adults to lose books
  9. 9.

    As it is used in the passage, the word "charge" most nearly means

    1. Acommand
    2. Battack
    3. Caccusation
    4. Dfee
    5. Eresponsibility
  10. 10.

    How does the fourth paragraph function in the passage?

    1. AIt admits that the author's argument fails for borrowers who lose books.
    2. BIt describes how the practice of charging overdue fines first began.
    3. CIt offers new figures showing that fines raise large sums of money.
    4. DIt shifts the focus from public libraries to school libraries.
    5. EIt presents an opposing view and answers it by proposing other ways to protect the collection.

Verbal

Circle the letter of the best answer. About 5 minutes.

  1. 1.

    Amateur is to professional as novice is to

    1. Abeginner
    2. Brookie
    3. Ctrainee
    4. Dexpert
    5. Estudent
  2. 2.

    PLACATE

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Adecorate
    2. Bprovoke
    3. Cmeasure
    4. Dborrow
    5. Esoothe
  3. 3.

    VENERATE

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Aventilate
    2. Babandon
    3. Cscorn
    4. Drevere
    5. Eimitate
  4. 4.

    AMELIORATE

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Aworsen
    2. Bannounce
    3. Cborrow
    4. Dimprove
    5. Emeasure
  5. 5.

    Frugal is to spend as taciturn is to

    1. Alisten
    2. Bshout
    3. Cagree
    4. Dsilent
    5. Espeak
  6. 6.

    Benevolent is to kindness as avaricious is to

    1. Aanger
    2. Bmoney
    3. Cwealth
    4. Dgenerosity
    5. Egreed
  7. 7.

    EQUIVOCAL

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Aequal
    2. Banxious
    3. Cdefinite
    4. Dgenerous
    5. Eambiguous
  8. 8.

    CAPRICIOUS

    Which word means most nearly the same as the word in capital letters?

    1. Asteady
    2. Bwealthy
    3. Cgreedy
    4. Dplayful
    5. Eunpredictable
  9. 9.

    Quench is to thirst as satisfy is to

    1. Astarve
    2. Bfeast
    3. Chunger
    4. Ddinner
    5. Edrink
  10. 10.

    Hermit is to solitude as socialite is to

    1. Aparty
    2. Brest
    3. Ccompany
    4. Dprivacy
    5. Esilence

Written by Scholar Tests in the style of the published SSAT question types. Not a real SSAT test, and a practice score is not a real score.