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2023 PSAT NMSQT PRACTICE TEST 2 FULL
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2023 PSAT NMSQT PRACTICE TEST 2 FULL
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1 1Reading Test
6 0 M I N U T E S , 4 7 QU E ST IONS
Turn to Section 1 of your answer sheet to answer the questions in this section.
Each passage or pair of passages below is followed by a number of questions. After reading
each passage or pair, choose the best answer to each question based on what is stated or
implied in the passage or passages and in any accompanying graphics (such as a table or
graph).
Questions 1-9 are based on the following passage. ______
.......................................................................................................................................................................................................
This passage is adapted from Mark Slouka, Brewster: A Novel.
©2013 by Mark Slouka. 30 There was no starting gun. We lined up in the
gusty wind, Falvo standing in the soggy infield in his
This was a time trial, he said—a one-mile time dress shoes holding his clipboard like a small high
trial, four laps—not a race. It was meant to give an table against his chest with his left hand and his
idea of where we stood, no more. stopwatch in his right and then he barked, “Runners
Line We’d gathered around the middle of the long side 35 . . . marks? Go!”
5 of the track, just ten or twelve of us, including three They didn’t run, they flowed—the kid in the
others who seemed new like me, jogging back and headband, the red-headed kid, and two or three
forth in the wind, loosening up. The rest had walked others in particular—with a quiet, aggressive,
over to the other side of the field. sustained power that looked like nothing but felt
Falvo took me aside. “Warmed up? How’re the 40 like murder and I was with them and then halfway
10 shoes?” through the third turn they were moving away
“Fine.” In the distance I could see kids walking smooth as water and I could hear them talking
toward the parking lot. The sun stabbed out from among themselves, and I was slowing, burning,
under the clouds, glancing off the windshields. leaning back like there was a rope around my neck.
He raised his voice over the wind. “All right, I 45 “Too fast, Mosher, too fast,” I heard Falvo yelling,
15 want you all to stay contained, stay smooth. I don’t and his ax-sharp face came out of nowhere looking
want to see anybody draining the well today—that almost frantic and then it was gone and there was
means you, Mr. McCann.” A tall, tough-looking kid just the sound of my breathing and the crunch of my
with red hair and a tight face smiled like a gunslinger. sneakers slapping the dirt. The group, still in a tight
He turned to me. “I don’t want you doing 50 cluster, wasn’t all that far ahead of me.
20 anything stupid, Mosher. Some of these boys have By the end of the second lap I heard someone far
been at it for a while. Don’t think about them, think away yelling “Stop, Mosher, that’s enough,” and then
about yourself.” at some point someone else calling “Coming
I shrugged. through—inside,” and they passed me like a single
“Pace yourself. Let them do what they do. They’ll 55 mass, all business now, and I remember staggering
25 be about thirty yards ahead after the first lap. Don’t after them, gasping, drowning, my chest, my legs, my
worry about them. Go out slow, feel your way, then throat filling with lead and looking up through a fog
bring it home as best you can. OK?” of pain just in time to see the kid with the headband,
“Sure,” I said. halfway down the backstretch, accelerating into a
“Remember, it’s a time trial. Not a race.” 60 sustained, powerful sprint.
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I don’t know why. I can’t explain it. By the end of 2
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
the third lap I was barely moving, clawing at the air,
oblivious to everything except the dirt unfolding Which choice provides the best evidence for the
endlessly in front of me. “Let him go,” I heard answer to the previous question?
65 somebody say. They’d all finished by then, recovered, A) Lines 14-17 (“All right . . . McCann”)
and now stood watching as I staggered past them like B) Lines 19-22 (“He turned . . . yourself”)
something shot. “C’mon . . . ” I heard someone start
to call out uneasily, and then, “What’s his name?” C) Lines 55-60 (“I remember . . . sprint”)
A small crowd, I found out later, sensing something D) Lines 76-79 (“he caught . . . horse”)
70 going on, had gathered by the fence to the parking
lot. The last of the newcomers had passed me
long ago. 3
I remember seeing him appear in front of me like
In the context of Falvo’s instructions to the runners,
I was coming up from underwater and trying to
the main purpose of lines 24-27 (“Pace . . . OK”) is to
75 swerve but I was barely standing and I walked right
into him and he caught me as I fell, his one good arm A) provide useful general information to the group.
around my back, saying over and over, “All right, B) emphasize and elaborate on advice given earlier.
easy now, easy, you’re done, keep walking, walk it
C) introduce a philosophy applicable to sports
off,” like he was gentling a horse. I threw up on the
and life.
80 infield grass.
“What we have here,” he was saying, “is a failure D) reveal Falvo’s underlying motivation.
to communicate. Stay within yourself, I said.
Don't drain the well, I said.”
“What did I get?” I couldn’t seem to hold my head
85 up, or open my eyes—the pain kept coming in waves.
“What?”
“Time. What time did I get?”
He laughed—that bitter Falvo laugh—ha!—like
he’d just been vindicated. “He wants to know what
90 he got,” he said, like there was somebody with us.
“You want to know what you got? I’ll tell you
what you got: proof you could beat yourself
senseless—something I very much doubt you
needed.”
1
Based on the passage, which character would most
likely agree with the idea that, when trying
something new, it is best not to push one’s limits?
A) Falvo
B) McCann
C) Mosher
D) The person who said “Let him go”
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4 6
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In the context of the passage, “I shrugged” (line 23) What does the narrator say about his motivation for
and “‘Sure,’ I said” (line 28) mainly serve to show the performing as he did in the time trial?
narrator’s A) That he was determined to keep up with the
A) shyness. other runners
B) dismissiveness. B) That he wanted to prove something to himself
C) dishonesty. C) That he wished to improve on his previous time
D) hostility. D) That he was unable to provide a reason for his
behavior
5
7
Based on the passage, how did the experienced
runners respond to Falvo’s advice? Which choice provides the best evidence for the
A) They enthusiastically embraced it. answer to the previous question?
B) They acted like they hadn’t heard it. A) Lines 36-39 (“They didn’t . . . power”)
C) They generally accepted it. B) Line 61 (“I don’t . . . explain it”)
D) They only pretended to take it seriously. C) Lines 73-76 (“I remember . . . into him”)
D) Lines 91-94 (“I’ll . . . needed”)
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8 9
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Based on the passage, when Falvo says, “Don’t drain As used in line 89, “vindicated” most nearly means
the well” (line 83), he most probably means A) avenged.
A) don’t use up all of your energy. B) set free.
B) don’t get sick. C) defended against.
C) don’t try to outdo one another. D) proven right.
D) don’t quit before you’re finished.
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