MSTEP ELA Practice

Read the sentence and the directions that follow.

Chemical changes in the ocean waters have affected the production of seashells used by hermit crabs.

Which sentence from the paragraph best shows this idea?

• One reason for the seashell shortage is that ocean water is not as clean as it once was.

• This has caused chemical changes to sea water.

• Some sea animals, like snails, are affected by these changes.

• Now there are fewer snails making shells.

• People visiting the beach often take shells home as souvenirs.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RI.4.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

Read the paragraph and the directions that follow.

During a lifetime, one hermit crab will inhabit many different seashells. As a hermit crab grows, the crab leaves its home, upgrading to a larger shell. In recent years, however, many hermit crabs have had trouble finding their perfect homes. What is the problem? There are not enough shells to go around!

Which statement best describes the main idea of the paragraph?

• Moving around is common for hermit crabs.

• Hermit crabs are larger today than they used to be.

• Hermit crabs are displeased with the remaining seashells in the ocean.

• As hermit crabs grow, fewer seashells are available for them to use as homes.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.4.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

The author uses a word that means “fake” in the text. Which sentence has a word that means “fake”?

• These artificial shells have two important purposes.

• People who own hermit crabs can give them to their pets.

• That keeps real seashells in the ocean, rather than in home aquariums.

• The Project Shelter shells are also placed in the wild for hermit crabs to find.

• Lucky hermit crabs can move into these new dream homes and leave those plastic cups behind.

Tags

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RI.5.4

CCSS.RI.6.4

CCSS.RL.5.4

CCSS.RL.6.4

The question has two parts. First, answer part A. Then, answer part B.

Part A: Read the paragraph from the text and the directions that follow.

One reason for the seashell shortage is that ocean water is not as clean as it once was. This has caused chemical changes to sea water. Some sea animals, like snails, are affected by these changes. Now there are fewer snails making shells. People visiting the beach often take shells home as souvenirs. This is another problem. Other people even take shells for their own pet hermit crabs! They do not realize that hermit crabs in the wild need those shells too.

Which statement best describes what the information in the paragraph shows about the author’s point of view?

• The author believes that people visiting beaches can cause harm without knowing it.

• The author believes that there have been a lot of changes in the quality of water in the ocean.

• The author believes that snail production needs to increase to provide more homes for hermit crabs.

• The author believes that people visiting beaches often don’t think about how taking seashells home with them adds to the shortage of seashells for hermit crabs.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.6

CCSS.RI.6.9

CCSS.RL.4.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

Part B: Which sentence from the text best supports your answer in part A.

Choose one option.

• One reason for the seashell shortage is that ocean water is not as clean as it once was.

• This has caused chemical changes to sea water.

• Now there are fewer snails making shells.

• People visiting the beach often take shells home as souvenirs.

• They do not realize that hermit crabs in the wild need those shells too.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RI.4.2

What is the best reason the author chose to end the text with a summary?

• to highlight the hermit crab’s ability to adapt to the environment

• to show how people can benefit both hermit crabs and the ocean

• to help the reader understand why the hermit crab changes homes

• to inform the reader about the damage humans have done to the ocean

Tags

CCSS.RI.3.5

CCSS.RI.4.5

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

Read the sentence from the text.

Hermit crabs are nature’s recyclers.

What does the use of the word recyclers suggest about the author’s point of view?

• It reminds readers how important it is to clean up ocean beaches.

• It shows readers how to take care of litter when they are at the beach.

• It shows how skilled sea creatures are at using what is available to them.

• It shows how clean nature is on its own and suggests readers do the same.

Tags

CCSS.RI.6.6

CCSS.RI.6.9

CCSS.RL.4.6

CCSS.RL.5.6

CCSS.RL.6.6

A student is writing a report about dolphins for a science assignment. The student needs to revise the draft of the report to eliminate ideas that do not support the main idea.

Main idea: Dolphins are mammals that have adapted to live in the ocean.

Choose two sentences that do not support the main idea and so should be removed.

• All mammals, including dolphins, share certain features.

• Like all mammals, dolphins produce milk for their young, are warmblooded, and have hair.

• Young amphibians have gills.

• The blowhole on a dolphin’s head acts as a “nose” making it easy for the dolphin to get air.

• Cold-blooded animals cannot control their body temperature.

Tags

CCSS.RI.5.2

CCSS.RI.6.2

CCSS.RL.5.1

CCSS.RL.5.2

CCSS.RL.6.2

A student is writing an opinion letter to her teacher about snacks in her classroom. Read a draft of the letter and complete the task that follows.

Dear Mrs. Johnson, I am writing to make a suggestion that you allow us students to keep healthy snacks in our desks to eat whenever we want. During class we are often hungry, and it distracts us from our work. If we could have a snack whenever we wanted one instead of just at snack time, I think we would be able to concentrate better on our assignments. In addition, healthy snacks are good brain food. Therefore, they would help us finish our work on time and get better grades. I know you might say that the room would be too messy with all of the snacking going on, but I bet that students would agree to clean up after themselves if they could have snacks when they wanted them.

Sincerely, Tina Young

Which sentence is the best closing statement for this student’s letter?

• Please allow us to bring snacks that are easy to clean up and keep in our desks until snack time.

• Please think about requiring students to bring only healthy snacks to school for snack time so that they will get better grades.

• Please consider my request to keep healthy snacks that are easy to clean up in our desks so that we can have them when we are hungry and focus on our work.

• Please ask all of the students if they would like to bring something healthy for snack time every day so that they can focus on their work.

Annie is writing a story for her class. Read the draft of the story and complete the task that follows.

After hiking for two hours, I longed to get back to the awesome nature center at the trailhead. The dusty hiking trail was taking its toll as my body was beginning to bother me. The moist air of this summer day was leaving me breathless, and the pecking of the woodpeckers was on my last nerve. To add to my problems, I was having trouble avoiding the dangerous vines on the edge of the trail that the park ranger had warned us to avoid.

The writer wants to replace the underlined words to make her meaning more exact. Which two sets of words would make her word choices better?

• feel better, ugly

• ache, poisonous

• shake, suspicious

• throb, toxic

• feel strange, drooping

Tags

CCSS.RI.4.5

CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5