College Readiness Reading Flashcards
7 cards from real TSIA2 practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 College Readiness Reading flashcards as text
A literary passage describes a character who smiles warmly while thinking about revenge. This technique—showing a contrast between outward behavior and inner thought—is called:
Answer: Dramatic irony
Dramatic irony occurs when the reader (or narrator) knows something about a character's inner state that conflicts with what others observe.
A passage uses this sentence: 'Her voice was a thunderstorm—unpredictable, overwhelming, impossible to ignore.' Which literary device is used?
Answer: Metaphor, because it equates her voice directly to a thunderstorm
A metaphor directly equates two unlike things without using 'like' or 'as'; the dashes introduce elaboration of the comparison.
When summarizing a passage, a student should:
Answer: Restate main ideas in their own words without adding new information
A summary restates the author's main ideas in different words without inserting the reader's opinions or new material.
An author opens an essay: 'Every morning, 800,000 students in Texas ride buses that are older than their teachers.' What rhetorical strategy does this opening use?
Answer: Appeal to emotion using a vivid, concrete statistic
The specific, relatable image of students on aging buses creates an emotional reaction while using a concrete number for impact.
Which revision best improves the clarity of this sentence: 'The report that the committee submitted which was reviewed by the board that oversees policy was rejected'?
Answer: The report submitted by the committee was reviewed and rejected by the policy board
The first revision eliminates nested clauses and presents the action in a clear, direct sequence.
A student reads a persuasive essay and notices the author never mentions any counterarguments. This weakens the essay because:
Answer: Ignoring counterarguments suggests the author cannot defend their position against challenges
Addressing counterarguments strengthens credibility; omitting them suggests the author is avoiding challenges they cannot refute.
A passage about the civil rights movement uses both first-person accounts from participants and statistics on voter suppression. The author's purpose in combining these sources is most likely to:
Answer: Provide both emotional resonance and factual credibility
Combining personal accounts (emotional impact) with statistics (objective evidence) strengthens an argument by appealing to both heart and mind.