8th Grade Language Arts Practice Exam A

Read the excerpt: "The wind howled through the empty streets, carrying whispers of forgotten stories." Which literary device is most prominently featured?

• Personification

• Metaphor

• Simile

• Alliteration

Which statement best describes how to determine a theme in a literary text?

• Look only at the main character's actions

• Analyze how key ideas develop throughout the text

• Count how many times certain words appear

• Focus solely on the story's ending

When comparing two texts about the Civil Rights Movement, what should you primarily focus on?

• The length of each text

• The publication dates

• The authors' perspectives and evidence

• The number of paragraphs

What makes textual evidence "strong" when supporting an analysis?

• The length of the quote

• Its location in the text

• Whether it's dialogue

• Its direct relevance to the claim

In analyzing an author's word choice, which aspect is most important to consider?

• The number of syllables used

• The impact on tone and meaning

• The spelling difficulty

• The words' origins

What is the primary purpose of comparing different mediums of the same story?

• To evaluate creative choices and effectiveness

• To determine which version is longer

• To count the number of characters

• To identify spelling differences

When analyzing conflicting information in two texts, what should you evaluate first?

• The authors' credentials

• The publication dates

• The reliability of evidence

• The text length

Which statement best describes how dialogue advances a plot?

• It makes the text longer

• It always creates conflict

• It reveals character motivation

• It only provides background information

How does an author's perspective affect the presentation of information?

• It has no effect on the text

• It influences word choice and evidence selection

• It only affects the title

• It determines text length

What is the most effective way to analyze the development of a central idea?

• Count paragraphs

• Look at punctuation

• Track supporting details throughout the text

• Only read the introduction