On the day of tryouts, Maya traced the edge of her crumpled monologue until the paper felt soft as cloth. The auditorium door breathed out a cool draft each time it opened, carrying bursts of laughter and a teacher's gentle call for the next name. Maya's knees pressed together like magnets. She had practiced for weeks in the hallway mirror, but now the words crowded behind her teeth, jostling, unwilling to step out. A student she did not know exited the stage and shrugged. Not great, he whispered to no one and everyone. Maya's chest fluttered. She stood to leave, then noticed the custodian aligning the metal chairs into neat rows. He caught her glance and lifted one finger, not shushing, just steady. One at a time, the gesture seemed to say. One line, then the next. Maya found herself stepping forward. At the door, she unfolded the paper, smoothed it flat, and tucked it away. When the teacher called her name, she heard her own voice answer. It sounded small, but it was moving. It was enough to carry her onto the stage.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

Kai's poster gleamed with perfect graphs, each line sweeping upward like a kite in clean wind. The night before the science fair, he had stared at the stubborn numbers in his notebook—the ones that dipped and tangled. He wanted his experiment to work the way the video made it look, and when it didn't, he copied the example data to fill the empty spaces. At school, his partner Lina traced a finger over the poster. It looks amazing, she said, but her voice sounded careful, like a foot testing an icy step. A judge paused at their table. Tell me about your results. Kai's mouth felt dry. He could point at the smooth lines and read the practiced words. Instead, he looked at the wrinkled notebook in his backpack. Our poster is wrong, he said. We used sample data because we were afraid our test failed. The judge raised her eyebrows, then nodded. Failure is a kind of result, she said. Kai exhaled, the graphs suddenly heavy and ordinary. He and Lina added a new note: What we would do differently next time.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

When her aunt slid the clay bowl across the table, Zahra felt the smooth edge under her fingers and the old tug of the family story. Everyone in our house has thrown a perfect circle, Auntie said with a smile that was both kind and heavy. Zahra had tried many times to make the wheel obey her hands. The clay always thickened in the wrong places, like a cloud that refused to become a moon. She loved being in the studio, though, where the air smelled like rain and creations dried quietly on the shelves. After school that day, she sat at the wheel and pressed the pedal. The clay rose, wobbling. She stopped it with her palms, then lifted her hands away. Instead, she picked up a thin coil and began shaping a small bird, pinch by pinch, feather by feather. When Auntie returned, she paused beside the tiny figure. Not a circle, she said. Zahra's breath held. No, Auntie added, her voice warmer, but it is yours. The bird perched on Zahra's windowsill that night, small and certain as a decision.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

The bus coughed to a stop, and the aisle filled with backpacks and elbows. Jalen spotted a younger kid clutching a shoebox, the kind with a lid that never sits quite right. As the bus lurched, the box wobbled and slid. A paper diorama flapped out like a startled bird. Jalen reached, catching the cardboard cliff before it bent. Thanks, the kid breathed, eyes bright as wet pennies. Jalen scooted over, made space for the shoebox and its paper trees. At the next stop, an elderly neighbor climbed aboard, steadying herself on the pole. Without thinking, the kid stood and offered her the seat. One small kindness rolled into another, like marbles finding each other in a shallow bowl. When Jalen got off, he held the door for a parent juggling a stroller. The parent smiled, then paused to pick up a dropped hat for someone else. None of them spoke about it. The city evening went on, but it felt a little lighter, as if someone had opened a window and let a breeze travel down the block.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

Maya had practiced the same eight measures until her first finger felt like a tired pebble. The school concert was a week away, and the notes on the page still tumbled like marbles instead of lining up in a smooth stream. After another squeak, she set her violin down and stepped onto the balcony. Below, Mr. Ramos knelt in his small yard, trimming his rosebushes. He had done the same thing every evening all spring, snipping, watering, waiting. Some days it seemed like nothing changed. But last week, the first bud had opened, and tonight a flush of red and pink leaned toward the fading light. Maya breathed in and lifted her violin again. She didn't play faster; she played steadier. Each bow stroke was like a careful cut, a measured sip of water. By Friday, the notes began to find each other. At the concert, her hands still trembled, but the melody held. The applause felt warm, but even warmer was the quiet knowledge that the roses had not bloomed in a day—and neither had her song.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

On Monday, a new student stood at the edge of the cafeteria, trays clutched to his chest. The room buzzed with the usual jokes and chair-scrapes, but his eyes flicked from table to table like a trapped bird searching for a ledge. I saw the scuffed backpack, the untied shoelace, the way he pretended to study the menu board even though lunch was already on his plate. My friends were waving me over. I waved back, then slid into the seat across from the empty spot beside me. I tapped the chair. He hesitated, then sat. We didn't say much at first. I nudged my chips toward the middle. He nudged his apple back. When our table laughed at a joke, I explained the inside part so he could laugh too. By Thursday, he waved at us in the hallway. By Friday, he knew our bus numbers. The cafeteria sounded the same, but something felt different, like a quiet note added to a song you didn't know was missing.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

For weeks, Lina's robot rolled in crooked circles, its cardboard shell dented from collisions with the wall. The science fair poster leaned against her desk, mostly blank. Online, she found a video of a gleaming robot that could sort blocks by color. The comments listed lines of code. One copy-and-paste, she thought, and her robot would finally impress the judges—and maybe, finally, her older brother. She printed the code but left the paper under her mug. The next afternoon, she erased her messy notes and started over, line by line, testing after each change. The robot still bumped the table, but less. On the night of the fair, Lina's project didn't sparkle. It nudged a red block to the right cup and paused, then corrected itself and tried again. People smiled. A judge asked about the part where it paused. Lina smiled back and showed the scratched notebook she had filled herself. Walking home, her ribbon crinkled in her pocket, but the feeling she carried didn't fit there. It sat taller than any trophy.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?

The storm had marched off by afternoon, leaving the neighborhood blinking in a sudden quiet. When the lights didn't click back on, doors opened. Ms. Patel stepped outside with a box of candles. Mr. Greene dragged his grill to the sidewalk and lifted the lid like a magician about to start a show. We brought board games and a cooler of melting ice. In the dim, faces looked softer, like we had all forgotten to squint. My little brother passed flashlights down the line so kids could make puppet shapes on the fence. Someone's grandfather told a story about the first time the street flooded and how the neighbors had made a bridge with two ladders. We listened. After the sun sank, the air filled with the smell of corn and the quiet tick of crickets. When the power finally surged back, the porch bulbs blinked, but no one rushed inside. We weren't finished yet. We had built something in the dark, and for a little while, it was enough to see by.

Which statement best expresses a theme of the passage?