Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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Name                                                                Date                                    

Date of Birth                                                       Age                                     

Yrs.                  Mos.

General Direc+ons

This is a test to determine how well you can read orally and understand material of the kind which you will find in your textbooks. As nearly as you can judge will you read at the rate at which you would if you were asked to read aloud in class? As you read the passages, if you come to words with which you are unfamiliar, make an aOempt to pronounce them without assistance and conPnue reading.

No quesPons will be answered while you are reading the passages nor while you are answering the check quesPons. Do you understand what we are going to do? . . . If you do, let us begin with the first paragraph.

Summary of Errors

Type of Error                                          Number                                         Type of Error                                          Number

Form A

Paragraph 1

1. In the final analysis, excessively long study periods are to be avoided because of
   1. occupaPonal endeavors
   2. lack of purpose
   3. diminishing returns
   4. Predness
   5. shortened social acPviPes

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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2. This writer claims that conflicts arise from
   1. diminishing returns
   2. lack of plan
   3. uncertainty
   4. excesses
   5. personal problems

3. This passage is an argument for
   1. non-­‐indulgence in social acPviPes
   2. planned study
   3. not studying too long
   4. guarding against faPgue
   5. not holding an outside job

4. The chief point discussed in the paragraph is
   1. the results of outside work
   2. the desirability of a workable plan of study
   3. the desirability of hard work in studies
   4. the result of social acPviPes
   5. the result of faPgue

Paragraph 2

Right belief and credulity refer to habits of mind as well as to standards of evidence. “Thinking straight is essenPal to seeing straight. The evidence grows out of the a]tude far more than the a]tude results from the evidence.” Some people are so entrenched in their own convicPons that they resist the truth. It is easy for an anP-­‐vivisecPonist, for example, to discredit the values of animal dissecPon in the progress of medical research. Most people believe too much rather than too liOle. Credulity is rampant. Ours may be a scienPfic age, yet this era is the hey-­‐day of the fortune tellers.

1. The writer believes that this is an age of
   1. over belief
   2. anP-­‐vivisecPonists c . medical research
2. straight thinking
3. right belief

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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2. Which of the following statements is not to be found in the passage?
   1. This may be a scienPfic
   2. People consult fortune
   3. Thinking straight is necessary for seeing
   4. Most people believe too
   5. AnP-­‐vivisecPonists discredit animal

3. This writer is disturbed about people’s mental
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Passage does not say

Paragraph 3

We are today in the midst of those convulsions. Germany is divided and broken, slowly starving, a cancerous growth in the heart of Western Europe, a breeding place for the dark, philosophy of Nietzsche. There festers in her ruins the poison of fascism, the virus of communism. Either totalitarianism flourishes in decadence and destrucPon. In the Netherlands, the wealth of the Indies no longer builds stately mansions; scores of thousands of Dutch want to emigrate from broken Europe. Belgium is scarred by old wounds and ancient animosiPes, and France—sPll poliPcally bankrupt and ethically and intellectually confused—lies weak and torn and divided.

1. The writer of this passage is best described as being
   1. opPmisPc
   2. dubious
   3. discouraged
   4. pessimisPc
   5. excited

2. The author compares Germany to
   1. Nietzsche
   2. a poliPcal bankrupt
   3. a progressive disease
   4. a stately mansion
   5. a ruin

3. In the ruinous prospect which faces Western Europe the author finds hope for
   1. France
   2. The Netherlands
   3. Belgium
   4. Germany
   5. no country

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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Paragraph 4

The first aOack on mercanPlism developed in France in the eighteenth century. Men known as physiocrats began to argue that governments would do well to leave business alone. Deducing their ideas from the Newtonian faith in natural law, they believed that there were natural laws in economics, which were as immutable as the natural laws of astronomy. Laissez faire (let things alone)—let nature run its course—and all will be well, these men proclaimed. The physiocrats were very theorePcal in their beliefs, and living in an agricultural country, they considered agriculture to be the principle source of all wealth.

1. The physiocrats believed that economic forces are the result of
   1. agriculture
   2. leaving business alone
   3. natural laws
   4. theorePcal beliefs
   5. governmental regulaPons

2. The physiocrats opposed
   1. Newton
   2. mercanPlism
   3. laissez faire
   4. governments
   5. agriculture

3. The writer finds a parallel to the physiocrat’s view of economics in
   1. astronomy
   2. agriculture
   3. physics
   4. biology
   5. mercanPlism

Paragraph 5

Given adequate training the scienPst focuses his aOenPon on some parPcular problem in his chosen field. He analyzes and studies the problem carefully. He determines the relaPonship to it of known facts and principles. While he may forecast in his mind a probable result of his work, he does not let his expectaPons prejudice his method, and he is never surprised if the expectaPons be not fulfilled. He analyzes the problem into consPtuent factors, subjects each to observaPon and to experiment, and records with painstaking accuracy each discovered aspect, phenomenon, or fact. To obviate the chance of error, he repeats.

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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1. Error in experimentaPon is obviated, according to this passage by
   1. forecasPng results
2. thorough training
3. repePPon
4. analysis
5. preliminary study

2. The purpose of this writer is to
   1. warn
   2. describe
   3. persuade
   4. admonish
   5. entertain

Paragraph 6

Among the earliest cells to become differenPated in an elongaPng internode are those immediately beneath the epidermis. The cells enlarge somewhat, and later their protoplasts secrete a few addiPonal layers of wall material. Such thickening of the walls results in the formaPon of a mechanical Pssue of considerable rigidity. This Pssue doubtless funcPons in support during the early stages of development. In an elongaPng internode, at some distance inward from the surface of the stem, strands of cells are differenPated that extend verPcally, and parallel with one another through the internode. These strands, composed chiefly of elongated cells, will eventually mature into vascular bundles.

1. The process described in this passage is one of
   1. cell composiPon
   2. decay
   3. thickening
   4. funcPon
   5. development

2. Mechanical Pssue is formed by the thickening of the
   1. walls
   2. bundles
   3. meristemaPc cells
   4. strands
   5. internodes

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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Paragraph 7

One wishes to avoid exaggeraPon, but it seems safe to say that there are Pmes, and not infrequently, when the spirit of comedy makes life endurable. The tragedies of life, because they are serious, we can bear with forPtude, but they are for the most of us rare, and to some they never come. But the lesser bafflements, the grotesque inconsistencies, the irritaPng irrelevancies—these are the things that though individually they may be of no power to quell, in the aggregate are like sand in one’s shoes, a sliver under the skin, a cinder in the eye. It is comic laughter that wipes the slate clean and refreshes the soul.

1. The writer discusses
   1. forPtude
   2. laughter
   3. inconsistencies
   4. comedy
   5. tragedy

2. Tragedy is
   1. a grotesque experience
   2. a baffling experience
   3. a cumulaPve experience
   4. a common experience
   5. an infrequent experience

3. The most irritaPng factors in human experience are to be found in
   1. lack of human forPtude
   2. major tragedies
   3. lesser inconsistencies
   4. grotesque bafflements
   5. minor annoyances

4. Using one or two words, tell what the writer recommends as a method for relieving

Paragraph 8

Probably at no other Pme in the world’s history has the individual been so much occupied with himself as in the years through which we have recently been living. The mark of that self-­‐absorpPon has been deep upon our literature. The state of mind which it represents has been especially acute among men and women of intellectual pretensions, but the malady has by no means been confined to them. If it had been there would have been nothing like the market which has existed during recent years for the books of self-­‐help which have appeared in such profusion.

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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1. According to this passage the concern of many individuals today is with
   1. historical trends
   2. intellectual problems
   3. acute states of mind
   4. themselves
   5. poliPcs

2. One indicaPon that this concern is wide spread is the large sale of
   1. books on philosophy
   2. books on self-­‐help
   3. the Bible
   4. books on current history
   5. books on economic theory

3. According to this passage, never before in the history of our naPon have we been so concerned with the needs of others.
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Passage does not say

Form B

Paragraph 1

Some courses, because of either intrinsic difficulty or the length of the assigned readings, absorb so large a share of study Pme that the danger of slighPng other subjects is great unless recreaPonal acPviPes are curtailed. A student lacking the skills necessary to saPsfactory performance in a college course inevitably faces the need of expending a great amount of Pme in maintaining normal progress. Thus, inadequate training in mathemaPcs prevents acceptable work in physics and chemistry, just as ignorance of the rudiments of grammar handicaps the wriPng of creditable composiPons. By dint of hard work, fundamental skills can be acquired.

1. Accomplishment in one subject is seriously hampered according to the writer by
   1. outside work
   2. lack of related skills
   3. ignorance of physics
   4. too much recreaPon
   5. lack of normal progress

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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2. The passage is wriOen for
   1. brilliant students
   2. conscienPous students
   3. students carrying a heavy outside load
   4. slow students
   5. students weak in elementary skills

3. Lack of basic grammar handicaps, according to this writer
   1. correct speech
   2. work in physics
   3. good wriPng
   4. effecPve social relaPons
   5. accomplishment in chemistry

Paragraph 2

Most successes in prophecy are remembered, failures forgoOen. The stock answer is that the stars are never wrong, but that astrologers may be, which is admiOedly an argument to end all arguments. The richest field for the study of credulity lies in medical quackery whether it be a movie star who aOributes her perfect teeth to some parPcular brand of toothpaste, or a disPnguished foreign physician who recommends yeast for a specific ailment in such a way as to allow the adverPser to seduce the public into believing that a cure for infecPons must be a medicine for all ills.

1. According to this paragraph a good field for the study of quackery is to be found in
   1. the movies
   2. prophesy
   3. public debate
   4. astrology
   5. adverPsing

2. The passage is an argument for
   1. the taking of yeast
   2. less adverPsing
   3. less will to believe
   4. more will to believe
   5. not visiPng astrologers

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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3. The words “disPnguished foreign” refer to
   1. physicians
   2. people in general
   3. medicines
   4. infecPons
   5. astrologers

Paragraph 3

The story tells how Enmerkar, employing a “modern” diplomaPc approach, sent an “ambassador” to the Lord of AraOa and suggested surrender. The laOer, the epic conPnued, said he was the protégé of Inanna, the great Sumerian goddess of love and war, and thus diplomaPcally scorned the proposal. Enmerkar then unleashed an ingenious psychological “war of nerves” by sending threats to the Lord of AraOa and his people. He entwined the threats with favors such as supplies of food for the people. The basic characterisPcs of man’s society have remained relaPvely unchanged since three thousand years before the days of Christ, Julius Caesar, or the Roman Empire.

1. According to this passage a war of nerves is
   1. a means devised by the Romans
   2. to be found in the Pme of Christ
   3. a method originated by Enmerkar
   4. a very ancient pracPce
   5. technique developed by Hitler

2. The purpose of the writer is to
   1. show historical conPnuity
   2. warn
   3. tell a story
   4. amuse us
   5. add knowledge

3. The “Lord of AraOa” was
   1. not named
   2. a Sumerian goddess
   3. Enmerkar
   4. Inanna
   5. an ambassador

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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4. We are told that a war of nerves consists of
   1. sending ambassadors
   2. supplies of food c . making alliances
5. psychological warfare
6. combined threats and favors

5. The writer develops the conclusion drawn in the last sentence through offering
   1. the answers to certain quesPons
   2. the effect of certain causes
   3. concepts
   4. examples
   5. arguments

Paragraph 4

Economic thought in the eighteenth century was both sPmulated and transformed by the new wealth. The prevailing economic doctrines at the beginning of that era were those of the mercanPlist school, which upheld the omnipotence of the state and the subordinaPon of the individual to it. Ever since the advent of the Tudors, in economics as in poliPcs, the movement was away from the small unit, the guild and the town, and toward intensified compePPon along naPonal lines. The prosperity of a country was thought to depend upon governmental regulaPon of trade and industry. Wealth was thought of in terms of actual gold and silver.

1. According to this passage one would be correct if he argued that
   1. poliPcal philosophy is constant
   2. trade and industry have always been free
   3. there was no shiq from small units
   4. governmental regulaPon is not an innovaPon
   5. economic thought is not subjected to the influence of events

2. A word not used in the paragraph is
   1. regulaPon
   2. subordinaPon
   3. omnipotence
   4. democracy
   5. intensified

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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Paragraph 5

In his search for facts and principles, it is the aim of the scienPst to proceed in a purposeful, orderly, and logical manner. He must first be adequately prepared to proceed. The modern chemist, physicist, or biologist must serve an arduous apprenPceship in his parPcular branch of science. So early is this specializaPon begun that too oqen no broad basis is laid and no really adequate foundaPon is afforded for a lifePme of effecPve ciPzenship or even of scienPfic research. Many a biologist, for example, has been balked of high aOainment through inadequate training in chemistry or in physics.

1. This writer states that the sciences are
   1. purposeful
   2. logical
   3. interrelated
   4. inadequate
   5. orderly

2. Faults are found by the writer in the demands of
   1. research
   2. arduousness
   3. specializaPon
   4. logic
   5. chemistry

3. The reader may infer from the passage that somePmes scienPfic training
   1. builds effecPve ciPzens
   2. teaches respect for facts
   3. defeats its own ends
   4. leads to research
   5. teaches orderly procedure

Paragraph 6

Some readily observable evidences of growth are increase in the size and number of organs. A gardener, thinking in terms of some parPcular crop, measures growth chiefly by the development of the parPcular part or parts of the plant yielding the products in which he is interested. A forester measures growth primarily in respect to the height and diameter of his trees. A student of botany may be concerned with the grosser evidences and measurements of growth; but for a broad grasp of the growth concept it is essenPal also to consider the variety of growth phenomena, the manner in which growth proceeds, the detailed mechanism of growth processes, the environmental factors.

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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1. Which of the following is not menPoned in the passage?
   1. gardeners
   2. organs
   3. students
   4. biologists
   5. foresters

2. The theme of the passage is developed by
   1. scienPfic analysis
   2. comparison
   3. showing cause and effect
   4. deducPon
   5. eliminaPon

3. A gardener is interested chiefly in
   1. measures
   2. phenomena
   3. environmental factors
   4. products
   5. mechanisms

Paragraph 7

Greatness in prose will always be on a lower level than greatness in poetry. We have seen that what poetry can achieve by the magic of emoPve language, imagery, rhythm, and the other devices of communicaPon, prose must aOain by the more pedestrian means of cumulaPve detail, and by exposiPon, example, illustraPon, and the other devices of rhetoric and logic. Prose can never hope to speak so inPmately to the imaginaPon of the reader, though in its more impassioned passages it may break over into the domain of poetry. Yet, in its secret of greatness, prose is never essenPally different from poetry.

1. According to this paragraph
   1. prose is essenPally different from poetry
   2. prose does not have as much appeal as poetry
   3. prose has as much appeal as poetry
   4. prose has a greater appeal than poetry
   5. no comparison can be made between prose and poetry

2. According to this passage great poetry is essenPally different from great
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Passage does not say

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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Paragraph 8

To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough

You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of liOle leaves opening sPckily.

I know what I know.

The sun is hot on my neck as I observe The spikes of the crocus.

The smell of the earth is good.

It is apparent that there is no death. But what does that signify?

Life in itself is nothing

An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs. It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, April

Comes like an idiot, babbling, and strewing flowers.

1. The writer is best characterized as being
   1. sorrowful
   2. disillusioned
   3. angry
   4. opPmisPc
   5. doubPng

2. The season aOempts to quiet the writer with its
   1. opening leaves
   2. redness
   3. sunshine
   4. babbling
   5. beauty

3. The month is compared to
   1. an idiot
   2. an empty cup
   3. the earth smell
   4. crocus spikes
   5. uncarpeted stairs

Oral Reading Test for College Freshmen—Forms A and B

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4. The line “it is apparent that there is no death” refers most exactly to
   1. the warm sun
   2. the growing flowers
   3. life’s empPness
   4. the red leaves
   5. the recurrent seasons

5. The theme of the poem is that the writer does not intend to allow the month to make her feel that life is
   1. Yes
   2. No
   3. Passage does not say