Practice Test 4 - AP English Language and Composition

20 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.

In a column about home internet access, the author argues that public Wi‑Fi hotspots help but don't replace affordable broadband. The author notes that students still struggle to upload assignments from parking lots in bad weather. The draft includes: "Hotspots are a patch, not a plan." Which sentence most effectively clarifies the author's point by improving parallel structure?
Read the following excerpt and answer the question. After last summer's drought, our city proposed a voluntary water-saving program: shorter showers, fewer lawn sprinklers, and rebates for efficient appliances. Some residents scoffed that individual steps are meaningless compared with industrial use. But civic change rarely arrives as a single heroic gesture; it arrives as maintenance. Think of the water system as a leaky boat: you can argue about who caused the hole, or you can start bailing while you patch it. Personal conservation will not solve everything, but it keeps the problem from worsening while larger policies catch up. Refusing to act because your bucket is small is a convenient way to watch the boat sink. The analogy comparing the water system to a leaky boat helps the author…
Read the student essay excerpt below, then answer the question. Nature is full of amazing animals, and people have always been interested in wildlife. Some animals live in the ocean while others live on land. Our city is debating whether to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles at municipal buildings and events, and opponents argue the policy is inconvenient. In the rest of the essay, the student supports the ban, arguing that city waste audits show bottles are a top item in event trash, refill stations are already installed, and the policy could normalize reuse. Which weakness most limits the effectiveness of the bolded introduction?
Read the following excerpt and answer the question. In a persuasive essay about student planners, a teacher writes: "A planner is the scaffolding of a busy semester. You don't live in scaffolding, but it lets you build without falling. Students who wrote deadlines down weren't 'more motivated'; they simply had fewer surprises. In my classes, missing assignments dropped after we required weekly planning checks, even though the workload stayed the same. Organization isn't personality. It's structure." The comparison is effective because it
A neighborhood association argues against replacing a small park with a parking lot, claiming that green space lowers summer temperatures and improves mental health. The writer wants to revise the bolded sentence to fix a misplaced modifier. Walking through the park on hot days, the shade from trees cools the sidewalk by several degrees. Which revision best improves clarity while preserving original meaning?
An environmental advocate urges residents to support a composting program. She acknowledges that individual actions can feel small compared with industrial pollution, but she notes that the city sends thousands of tons of food waste to landfills each year. She writes, "Treating food scraps as trash is like burning furniture to heat your house—it works for a night, but you're destroying something useful." She argues composting turns waste into soil, reduces methane, and supports local gardens. By comparing treating food scraps as trash to burning furniture to heat your house, the author…
Read the student essay excerpt below. Every year, our school assigns a "summer reading" list, and every year students find ways around it: summaries, videos, or just pretending. Teachers respond by doubling down, as if more pages will force more love of reading. But compliance is not the same thing as literacy. The problem starts with access. A list posted in May assumes everyone can buy books or get to a library easily. Some students work all summer or share a phone with siblings, and a "required" paperback becomes one more hidden fee. If the goal is reading, the school should remove barriers instead of adding them. The second issue is relevance and choice. When every student must read the same title, the message is that reading is a chore assigned from above. Choice matters because it gives students a reason to keep turning pages. A menu of options—different genres, lengths, and difficulties—would still challenge students without treating them like identical machines. Finally, the way we assess summer reading ruins it. Quizzes in the first week of school reward memorization and punish slow readers. A discussion, a creative response, or a short reflection would show real engagement. If we want readers, we have to value thinking, not just recall. Summer reading requirements should be changed. Which revision of the bolded thesis best previews the reasoning that follows?
A university is deciding whether to require a one-credit financial literacy course for all first-year students. Supporters argue that many students sign loan documents without understanding interest or repayment plans, and they cite campus survey results showing that 62% of freshmen cannot define "APR." Opponents say the curriculum is already crowded and that students can find budgeting advice online. The proposal's author responds that online advice is inconsistent and often tied to advertising. The committee recommended the course to the provost after meeting for three hours on Friday. Which revision most improves clarity of the bolded sentence?
In a school board meeting op-ed, the author argues that later start times improve student learning without reducing rigor. The author cites district attendance logs showing tardiness dropped 18% after a pilot schedule change and notes that teachers reported fewer first-period disruptions. Consider the following sentence from the draft: "Because teenagers' sleep cycles shift later, starting school at 7:20 a.m. it forces many students to learn while exhausted." Which revision best improves clarity while preserving original meaning?
A student's paragraph claims that community gardens should be funded because they increase neighborhood food security. As written, the evidence does not fully support the claim. Paragraph excerpt: Community gardens deserve more city funding because they make neighborhoods food-secure. A 2020 city report notes that a new community garden in one neighborhood produced 600 pounds of vegetables in its first growing season. This proves the neighborhood is now food-secure. Why does the evidence fail to fully support the claim as written?
Read the student's draft paragraph and answer the question. In my school district, the board is debating whether to ban smartphones during the school day. Students argue that phones help them coordinate rides, check grades, and stay safe; teachers argue that notifications derail attention and that policing phone use wastes class time. Last semester, my history teacher tried a "phones in backpacks" rule and said discussions improved, but other teachers admitted they gave up enforcing rules because constant reminders turned them into "security guards." Meanwhile, the principal reported that hallway conflicts sometimes start when students record each other, but the counseling office also noted that some anxious students use phones to text a parent during panic episodes. The district wants one policy for all schools, even though the elementary, middle, and high schools have different needs. Overall, phones are a big issue in schools today. If the board wants a rule that is fair and enforceable, it should focus less on punishing students and more on creating predictable routines: clear times when phones must be away, specific exceptions for health plans, and consistent consequences that don't require teachers to argue in the middle of instruction. Which revision of the bolded thesis statement would make the argument more defensible?
Read the following nonfiction passage and answer the question. A community college is considering replacing many in-person advising appointments with an AI chatbot. Administrators note that the chatbot can answer routine questions 24/7 and reduce wait times. Students do not drop out because they cannot find the "add class" button. They drop out because the form is confusing, because the deadline is sudden, because the job schedule changes, because the financial aid email arrives in a language that feels like a warning. Give them a chatbot, and you may save minutes; give them a person, and you may save a semester. Efficiency matters. So does belonging. The sentence structure in the bolded line contributes to the argument by…
Read the following student-written argumentative passage and answer the question. The city is proposing a curfew for anyone under 18: no one would be allowed in public parks or downtown after 9 p.m. on school nights. I support the curfew because "good kids are home by 9 anyway." If teenagers are out late, they're probably causing trouble, and the police shouldn't have to guess who is responsible. A curfew makes expectations clear and keeps neighborhoods quiet. Opponents argue that the rule would punish responsible teens who work late shifts or attend evening activities. But that's a small price to pay for safety. If a teen has a job, their employer can schedule them earlier. And if they have practice or rehearsals, they can do those on weekends. The city has to think about the majority, not exceptions. Adults deserve to feel comfortable walking downtown at night without groups of teenagers hanging around. The curfew would reduce vandalism and send a message that our city takes order seriously. Revision: Which change would best align the argument with an intended audience that includes civil liberties advocates and families of teens who work or have evening responsibilities?
Read the following excerpt from a workplace memo advocating for remote-work flexibility: "Productivity is not a chair. It is a habit. We measure outcomes, not hours; progress, not presence; trust, not surveillance. The office can be useful, but it cannot be the only proof that work happened. If we want employees who solve problems, we should stop solving the same problem—commuting—for them." The author's use of We measure outcomes, not hours; progress, not presence; trust, not surveillance. syntax serves to…
Read the following excerpt from a nonfiction argument: Every election cycle, candidates promise to "fix misinformation" by deleting posts and suspending accounts. Some removal is necessary—fraud and harassment are not speech worth preserving—but a strategy built only on takedowns misunderstands how falsehood travels. Misinformation is less like a single weed you can yank and more like dandelion seeds in the wind: if you ignore the soil, the seeds land again, and the field looks the same by next week. The long-term solution is slower and less dramatic: media literacy in schools, transparent corrections, and platform designs that reduce virality for unverified claims. If we treat the problem as ecological rather than criminal, we can respond without pretending we can erase human error. The comparison to dandelion seeds in the wind helps the author…
Read the following excerpt from a nonfiction argument: In my senior year, our district adopted software that flags "at-risk" students based on clicks in the learning platform: time spent on assignments, late logins, and how often a student replays a video. Administrators call it objective, but the program treats a student's internet speed like a personality trait. A single mother sharing one laptop with three children generates "risk" the way a storm generates puddles: not because the ground is lazy, but because conditions overflow. When the district uses these scores to decide who gets tutoring, it confuses need with blame. Data can guide support, but only if we ask what the numbers can't see. By comparing algorithmic "risk" flags to a storm generates puddles, the author primarily serves to…
Read the following embedded passage and answer the question. A workplace analyst argues that remote work can increase productivity when paired with clear expectations. She describes a customer-support team that shifted to remote work three days a week and adopted standardized response templates. After two months, average first-response time to customer tickets fell from 3.8 hours to 2.1 hours, while customer satisfaction scores rose from 4.2 to 4.5 (out of 5). The analyst notes that managers also reported fewer "status meetings," but insisted on daily written check-ins. Some executives claim the improvement must be temporary, yet the analyst points out that the metrics improved after the new routines stabilized. The evidence supports the author's claim by… average first-response time to customer tickets fell from 3.8 hours to 2.1 hours
Read the following excerpt from an environmental editorial and answer the question. "Some critics dismiss composting as performative, a tiny gesture against a massive climate problem. But household waste is not 'tiny' when you add it up: our city sends roughly 220 tons of food scraps to the landfill each week. Starting a compost program is like fixing a leaky faucet. One drip seems insignificant—until you check the water bill after a month. Composting won't replace policy reforms, but it stops a steady, preventable loss and builds habits that make larger changes politically possible." Which explanation best accounts for the effectiveness of the comparison?
Read the passage below, then answer the question. Our cafeteria recently replaced most of the plastic utensils with compostable ones, and the change set off a surprisingly intense argument. Some students complained that the new forks bend too easily and that the whole thing is "performative." A few teachers praised the school for "saving the planet." The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. It's easy to mock small environmental changes because they don't solve climate change. But schools are one of the few places where habits are formed at scale. If thousands of students use fewer single-use plastics each day, that does reduce waste. More importantly, it makes sustainability visible and normal, not just something people talk about in documentaries. However, switching utensils can't be the end of the conversation. If the compostable forks end up in the regular trash because the school doesn't have clear bins and pickup systems, then the change is mostly symbolic. The school should pair any "green" product swap with infrastructure: labeled bins, student education, and a contract that ensures compost actually gets processed. Otherwise, students learn the wrong lesson—that environmentalism is about buying a different product, not changing systems. This is why I don't think the utensil debate is trivial. It's a test of whether the school wants real sustainability or just good PR. Small choices can matter, but only when they're connected to a plan. Which thesis statement would best complete the passage?
Read the following excerpt from a technology ethics op-ed and answer the question. The company insists its facial-recognition tool is "bias-aware," a phrase that sounds reassuring until you notice how carefully it avoids the word "biased." In public demonstrations, executives showcase curated successes: the camera finds consenting employees under perfect lighting, and the audience applauds the machine for doing what humans can already do. When critics ask about error rates, the response is a slideshow of "commitments" and "ongoing conversations," as if discrimination were a scheduling conflict. The firm's press kit calls the product "trustworthy," yet the evidence arrives in the form of testimonials, not audits. This is not transparency; it is marketing that has borrowed the vocabulary of morality. The phrase "borrowed the vocabulary of morality" contributes to the tone by…

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