Paragraph Comprehension (PC)

The Márquez family moved to Colorado when Jack was transferred to an Air Force base there. Jack and his wife, Lisa, used vacation time to explore the national park sites. They took their children to Rocky Mountain National Park when the wildflowers were blooming. The following year, they indulged their young children’s dinosaur fascination with a trip to Dinosaur National Monument. The summer after that, the family visited Mesa Verde National Park, where they saw ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings. The next year, they took a short hike along a segment of the Pony Express National Historic Trail, which turned out to be the children’s all‑time favorite trip. Hovenweep National Monument was their destination the following spring. The Márquez family enjoyed their time spent in Colorado and felt they had taken full advantage of their time living there.

According to the passage, where did the Márquez family travel the year before visiting the Pueblo cliff dwellings?

Painting a room is not as easy as it might seem. A person may choose colors, gather supplies, and then proceed to paint, but the results will likely disappoint. Much of the work of painting happens before you open the can. If you skip these steps, the paint will not go on smoothly and adhere well, and it may go where you don’t want it. The first task is to remove furniture and objects from the room and cover what can’t be moved. Next, painting surfaces need to be cleaned, and any old, flaking paint scraped or sanded away. Remove nails, tacks, and tape from the walls, and fill holes with spackling paste. Once the walls are clean and smooth, it’s a good idea to vacuum the whole area to prevent dust from sticking to wet walls. Finally, apply painter’s tape to keep paint from bleeding past seams and borders. All these preliminary chores may seem like a lot of extra work, but the pleasure of seeing an old wall transformed will more than reward you for your meticulous efforts.

Which of the following best states the author’s main point?

A foreign language immersion program utilizes a foreign language to teach all of the subjects in a school curriculum. In other words, the foreign language is not simply a subject itself, but the language through which students learn other instructional content. The primary goal of foreign language immersion programs is to enable students to become capable speakers of the target language. Attaining a high level of proficiency in another language will offer students countless benefits, such as greater career opportunities. In addition, many foreign language immersion programs are designed to help students develop positive attitudes toward native speakers of the language and to encourage students to appreciate another culture. Immersion programs vary in how much of the general curriculum is taught in the foreign language.

The passage states that the primary goal of a foreign language immersion program is to

I shook my head and laughed as Ignacio’s finger hovered over the “Place Your Order” button for what must have been the fifth time that week. His brow was furrowed in deep concentration, as if the entire course of his life depended on this decision. My brother was always like this. He knew perfectly well that he needed a new laptop—the one he had was wildly outdated, and it was only a matter of time before it completely stopped functioning. Now that he was getting more into video editing, there was no way it could keep up with the software he wanted to use. He’d been saving up for months, and in the meantime he’d watched countless review videos, compared prices, and narrowed down his search to the perfect model. What more was there to think about? But it seemed like he always needed to do just a little more research.

Based on the passage, the view of the narrator is most likely that Ignacio

The following excerpt is from “Great Basin National Park,” a webpage published by the National Park Service (2024).

Why is moving firewood something we should think about? The answer is pretty straightforward: Movement of logs and firewood can transport tree‑killing insects, fungi spores, and diseases. Tree disease agents are small, unable to move long distances on their own, and oftentimes go unnoticed because of where they live—underneath bark and within trunks or branches. Transporting firewood to a new area can aid in the spread of these harmful insects and pathogens. Those that are non‑native are especially vicious, as native tree species often do not have natural defenses against them. You can help protect trees by buying or gathering firewood where you will burn it. Purchase only certified, heat‑treated firewood. Be sure to check your state’s firewood transportation guidelines and spread the word to others.

The author most likely wrote the passage in order to