You Should Meet Katherine Johnson Review

Read the passage.

excerpt from You Should Meet: Katherine Johnson by Thea Feldman

Before she turned six, Katherine finally started school. Because she could already read, she skipped first grade. She would skip fifth grade too. In school Katherine always had her hand in the air to ask questions. Her teachers encouraged her.

Each night Katherine and her siblings did their homework seated around a big table. “After I finished mine, I’d help them with theirs!” she recalled.

Katherine grew up in a family that valued education.

Which detail from the passage best supports this inference?

• Because she could already read, she skipped first grade.

• Each night Katherine and her siblings did their homework seated around a big table.

• Before she turned six, Katherine finally started school.

• In school Katherine always had her hand in the air to ask questions.

Answer explanation

In Katherine's home, she and her siblings did their homework together each night. This detail supports the inference that Katherine grew up in a family that valued education.

Which statement is a main idea of You Should Meet Katherine Johnson?

• Katherine was hired to work on the space program mostly because she studied under W.W. Schieffelin Claytor when he was at West Virginia State College.

• Katherine’s father, who had just a sixth grade education, admired his daughter’s gift for math even if he could not fully understand it himself.

• Katherine won the respect of others at NACA/NASA by working hard, demonstrating her abilities, and pushing to be included on projects and decisions.

• • 
    

    Katherine’s receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the age of 97 was the most important accomplishment in her long and impressive career.

Which statement is a main idea of "Katherine Johnson Biography"?

• • 
    

    Though she enjoyed taking classes in other subjects, including French, Katherine’s teachers at West Virginia State College convinced her to study math.

• Katherine first worked at a NACA laboratory in Virginia that was headed by Dorothy Vaughan, a fellow West Virginian.

• Katherine moved from White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to Institute, West Virginia, to attend high school.

• Being selected as one of three African American students to integrate graduate schools in West Virginia was just one of Katherine’s many accomplishments.

Answer explanation

This is a main idea presented early in the text. It is supported by details that illustrate Katherine's intelligence and success in school. These are the reasons she was selected as one of the first African American students to integrate graduate schools in West Virginia.

Question

Which details from You Should Meet: Katherine Johnson best support the idea that Katherine won the respect of others at NACA/NASA by working hard, demonstrating her abilities, and pushing to be included on projects and decisions?

Select the two correct answers.

• Katherine was the first woman in her division to have her name included on a report.

• Katherine and other African Americans at NACA/NASA had to work and eat separately at first due to their race.

• Katherine was eventually invited to all briefing meetings.

• Katherine was hired just as the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was beginning.

Which sentences are most important to include in a summary of the events that occurred after Katherine began to work on John Glenn’s Friendship 7 mission?

Select the two correct answers.

• When an electronic computer calculated Friendship 7’s flight path, John Glenn insisted that Katherine check the machine’s calculations to be sure they were correct.

• NASA recognized Katherine’s mathematical abilities, which is why they assigned her to work on John Glenn’s mission in 1962.

• Like John Glenn, Katherine did not trust the work of the electronic computer and she spent almost two days checking its calculations.

• Only after Katherine confirmed the electronic computer’s calculations did John Glenn agree to go ahead with the mission.

Answer explanation

This is an important detail that show's Katherine's importance to the mission. It belongs in a summary of events that occurred after Katherine began working on the Friendship 7 mission.

Feature

Read the passage.

excerpt from You Should Meet: Katherine Johnson by Thea Feldman

Katherine found it very exciting to be a student at West Virginia State College. There seemed to be countless classes she wanted to take! She especially loved French and thought she wanted to graduate with a degree in French, but she still loved math, too!

Then one day she ran into Mrs. Lacey, a math teacher she knew from back home. Mrs. Lacey insisted that Katherine sign up for her class. Mrs. Lacey made Katherine realize she wanted to concentrate on her math skills and graduate with a degree in math.

 

Question

Which text structure describes how the passage is organized?

• order of importance

• problem-and-solution 

• chronological order

• compare-and-contrast

Answer explanation

The passage is organized in chronological order. It describes events that occurred during the time that Katherine was in college.

Question

Which response best explains how the authors of You Should Meet Katherine Johnson, “Katherine Johnson Biography,” and “Mathematician Katherine Johnson at Work” all view her being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015?

• All three writers view it as an honor that Katherine deserved due to her many achievements and accomplishments.

• All three writers view it as a reward that Katherine should have received long before she did.

• All three writers consider it to be the federal government’s attempt to apologize to Katherine for the unfair treatment she faced in the 1950s.

• All three writers consider it to be the most important achievement in Katherine’s life.

Answer explanation

All three authors consider Katherine being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom as an honor she deserved due to her lifetime of achievements and accomplishments.