The Other Side of the Sky Assessment

1. What does paragraph 2 from the excerpt mainly reveal about the crowd of refugees?

2. Again and again, the crowd surged toward the gate and the guards drove them back with their sticks and clubs, swinging and beating until the crowd receded. And after that, for the next few minutes, on our side of the border, people milled about and muttered and stoked their own impatience and worked up their rage, until gradually the crowd gathered strength and surged against that gate again, only to be swept back.

• 1. A. Most of the crowd does not want to cross the border.

• 1. B. There is a rhythm to the behavior of the crowd.

• 1. C. The crowd is scattered all over the desert.

• 1. D. Crowds of people usually behave like sheep.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

1. Which of the following inferences is best supported by paragraph 5?

2. On that second day, however, I learned that it was all a question of money. Someone told me about this, and then I watched closely and saw that it was true. Throughout the day, while some of the guards confronted the crowds, a few others lounged over to the side. People approached them quietly. Money changed hands, and the guards then let those people quietly through a small door to the side.

• 1. A. The border guards are too lazy to open the gate for the Afghan refugees.

• 1. B. Most of the border guards enjoy confronting the Afghani crowds.

• 1. C. The guards are lounging in the shade because it is too hot to move around.

• 1. D. The Pakistani border guards want to use their power to get money from the refugees.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

What information does this passage mainly convey about Ghulam Ali (paragraphs 7-8)?

At the end of that day we found ourselves camping near a friendly family. We struck up a conversation with them. The woman told us that her husband, Ghulam Ali, had gone to look for another way across the border. He was checking out a goat path that supposedly went over the mountains several miles northeast of the border station. If one could get to Pakistan safely by that route, he would come back for his family. “You can go with us,” the woman said.

Later that night her husband showed up. “It works,” he said. “Smugglers use that path, and they bribe the guards to leave it unguarded. Of course, we don’t want to run into any smugglers, either, but if we go late at night, we should be fine.”

• A. Ghulam Ali does not think they should take the smuggler’s path.

• B. Ghulam Ali is knowledgeable and brave.

• C. Ghulam Ali was formerly a Pakistani border guard.

• D. Ghulam Ali intends to abandon his family.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.7.1

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

1. Which statement by Ghulam Ali in paragraph 9 most strongly supports the idea that he has made a commitment to the narrator?

• 1. A. “You will need some rest before you attempt this mountain crossing.”

• 1. B. “Spend tonight here and sleep well, knowing that you will have nothing to do tomorrow except lounge around, rest, and catch your breath.”

• 1. C. “Let your only work be the gathering of your strength.”

• 1. D. “You and your mother are in my care now.”

Tags

CCSS.RL.11-12.3

CCSS.RL.6.3

CCSS.RL.7.3

CCSS.RL.8.3

CCSS.RL.9-10.3

Which of the following statements best states a central idea of paragraph 11?

We got up and performed our ablutions quickly in the darkness, with just sand because that’s allowed when you have no access to water. We said our prayers. Then Ghulam Ali began to march into the darkness with his family, and we trudged along silently behind them. After several miles the path began to climb, and my mother began to wheeze. Her asthma was pretty bad at this point, poor thing. No doubt, her anxiety made it worse, but in such circumstances how could she rid herself of anxiety? It was no use knowing that her difficulty was rooted in anxiety, just as it was no use knowing that we could have moved more quickly if we had possessed wings. Life is what it is. The path over that mountain was not actually very long, only a couple of miles. Steep as it was, we could have gotten over in little more than an hour if not for my mother. Because of her, we had to pause every few minutes, so our journey took many hours.

• A. If you can’t change your circumstances, it’s best to lower your expectations.

• B. Knowledge can always change a person’s situation.

• C. Knowing what the problem is does not mean that the problem is solved.

• D. Prayer is the most important thing a person can do in times of great struggle.

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

1. Which of the following statements most strongly supports the correct answer to Question 5?

2. Question 5: Which of the following statements best states a central idea of paragraph 11?

• 1. A. “We got up and performed our ablutions quickly in the darkness, with just sand because that’s allowed when you have no access to water.”

• 1. B. “Steep as it was, we could have gotten over in little more than an hour if not for my mother.”

• 1. C. “It was no use knowing that her difficulty was rooted in anxiety, just as it was no use knowing that we could have moved more quickly if we had possessed wings.”

• 1. D. “Because of her, we had to pause every few minutes, so our journey took many hours.”

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

1. Which of the following inferences best states a central idea of the excerpt as a whole?

• 1. A. The lowest common denominator of human behavior is found in large crowds of people.

• 1. B. Nothing can stop a person’s fate from happening.

• 1. C. It’s risky to put one’s trust in strangers.

• 1. D. You can never give up on humanity, because there are always kind people in this world.

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.2

CCSS.RI.7.2

CCSS.RI.8.2

CCSS.RL.7.2

CCSS.RL.8.2

1. Which statement from the text most strongly supports the answer to Question 7?

3. Question 7: Which of the following inferences best states a central idea of the excerpt as a whole?

   
   

• 1. A. “That’s the thing about life. You never know when and where you will encounter a spot of human decency.”

• 1. B. “In the thickening dusk we could hear the dull roar of people still trying to get past the border guards, but we receded into the desert, farther and farther back from the border gate.”

• 1. C. “I don’t know what made me so supple and strong that day, but I felt no hardship, no anxiety or fear, just concentration and intensity.”

• 1. D. “They kept saying, ‘Look at that girl. She’s missing a leg, and yet she’s going faster than you. Why can’t you keep up? Hurry now!’”

Tags

CCSS.RL.2.6

CCSS.RL.8.3

1. Which meaning of scale most closely matches its meaning as it is used in the passage below?

2. I myself hardly felt the exertion. I was walking quite well that day, quite athletically. I had that good prosthetic leg from Germany. The foot was a little worn by then, but not enough to slow me down. Thinking back, I’m puzzled, actually. How did I scale that mountain so easily? How did I climb down the other side?

• 1. A. noun | an instrument or machine for weighing

• 1. B. noun | the external body covering of a fish

• 1. C. verb | to scrape off thin layers

• 1. D. verb | to run up a steep incline

Tags

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RL.7.4

CCSS.RL.8.4

CCSS.RL.9-10.4

Which event below happened FIRST in the text?

• In spite of her prosthetic leg, the narrator went up and down the mountain like a sure-footed goat.

• The Pakistani border guards kept shoving the Afghani refugees away from the gate while both groups were yelling back and forth at each other.

  
  

• Ghulam Ali checked out a goat path that smugglers often use.

• After they started to climb the mountain, the narrator’s mother began to suffer an asthma attack.

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.3

CCSS.RI.6.3

CCSS.RI.7.3

CCSS.RI.8.3

CCSS.RI.9-10.3