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Test Prep CBEST Section 2: Reading Exam
California Basic Educational Skills Test - Reading (Page 2 )

Updated On: 30-Jan-2026
Page 2 of 21
PDF with 100 Questions

(1) Produced in 1959, Lorraine Hansberrys play, A Raisin in the Sun, was a quietly revolutionary work that depicted African-American life in a fresh, new, and realistic way. The play made her the youngest American, the first African-American, and the fifth woman to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play of the Year. In 1961, it was produced as a film starring Sydney Poitier and has since become a classic, providing inspiration for an entire generation of African-American writers.
(2) Hansberry was not only an artist but also a political activist and the daughter of activists. Born in Chicago in 1930, she was a member of a prominent family devoted to civil rights.Her father was a successful real-estate broker, who won an anti-segregation case before the Illinois Supreme Court in the mid-1930s, and her uncle was a Harvard professor. In her home, Hansberry was privileged to meet many influential cultural and intellectual leaders. Among them were artists and activists such as Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, and Langston Hughes.
(3) The success of A Raisin in the Sun helped gain an audience for her passionate views on social justice. It mirrors one of Hansberrys central artistic efforts, that of freeing many people from the smothering effects of stereotyping by depicting the wide array of personality types and aspirations that exist within one Southside Chicago family. A Raisin in the Sun was followed by another play, produced in 1964, The Sign in Sidney Brusteins Window. This play is about an intellectual in Greenwich Village, New York City, a man who is open-minded and generous of spirit who, as Hansberry wrote, "cares about it all. It takes too much energy not to care."
(4) Lorraine Hansberry died on the final day of the plays run on Broadway. Her early death, at the age of 34, was unfortunate, as it cut short a brilliant and promising career, one that, even in its short span, changed the face of American theater. After her death, however, her influence continued to be felt. A dramatic adaptation of her autobiography, To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, consisted of vignettes based on Hansberrys plays, poems, and other writings. It was produced Off-Broadway in 1969 and appeared in book form the following year.Her play, Les Blancs, a drama set in Africa, was produced in 1970; and A Raisin in the Sun was adapted as a musical, Raisin, and won a Tony award in 1973.
(5) Even after her death, her dramatic works have helped gain an audience for her essays and speeches on wide-ranging topics, from world peace to the evils of the mistreatment of minorities, no matter what their race, and especially for her works on the civil-rights struggle and on the effort by Africans to be free of colonial rule. She was a woman,much like the characters in her best-known play, who was determined to be free of racial, cultural, or genderbased constraints. On the basis of above passage please answer the following question.
The writer of the passage suggests that Hansberrys political beliefs had their origins in her experience as:

  1. the daughter of politically active parents.
  2. a successful playwright in New York.
  3. a resident of Southside Chicago.
  4. an intellectual in Greenwich Village.
  5. a civil rights activist.

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

The first paragraph speaks of Hansberrys being raised as the daughter of political activists. Choices b, d, and e are related to her beliefs but are not depicted as the origin of those beliefs. The passage does not say that Hansberry herself ever lived in Southside Chicago (choice).



OConnell Street is the main thoroughfare of Dublin City. Although it is not a particularly long street, Dubliners will tell the visitor proudly that it is the widest street in all of Europe. This claim usually meets with protests, especially from French tourists, claiming the Champs Elysees of Paris as Europes widest street. But the witty Dubliner will not relinquish bragging rights easily and will trump the French visitor with a fine distinction: the Champs Elysees is a boulevard; OConnell is a street. Divided by several important monuments running the length of its center, the street is named for Daniel OConnell, an Irish patriot. _________________________.OConnell stands high above the unhurried crowds of shoppers, business people, and students on a sturdy column, surrounded by four serene angels seated at each corner of the monuments base. Further up the street is the famous General Post Office that the locals affectionately call "the GPO." During the 1916 rebellion, the GPO was taken over and occupied by the Irish rebels to British rule, sparking weeks of armed combat in the citys center. To this day, the angels of OConnells monument bear the marks of the fighting: one sits reading calmly, apparently unaware of the bullet hole dimpling her upper arm; another, reaching out to stroke the ears of a huge bronze Irish wolfhound, has survived what should be a mortal wound to her heart.
On the basis of above passage please answer the following question
Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

  1. Dublin’s Famous Monuments
  2. The Irish Take Pride in Their Capital City
  3. The Widest Street in Europe
  4. Sights and History on Dublin’s O’Connell Street
  5. Tourism in Dublin

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

The title Sights and History on Dublins OConnell Street touches on all the specific subjects of the passage the sights to see on this particular street and the history connected to them. Answers a and e are too general about the place described, which is a particular street in Dublin, not the whole city. Answers b and c are too specific in that they cover only the material in the first paragraph.



It has been more than twenty-five years since the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) last sent a craft to land on the moon. The Lunar Prospector took off in January of 1998, in the first moon shot since astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972. This time, the moon-traveler is only a low-cost robot, who will spend a year on the surface of the moon, collecting minerals and ice. Unlike the moon shots of the 1960s and 1970s, Lunar Prospector does not carry a camera, so the American public will not get to see new pictures of the moons surface. ______________________________. Scientists are anxious for the results of one exploration in particular that done by the neutron spectrometer. Using this instrument, Prospector will examine the moons poles, searching for signs of water ice. There has long been speculation that frozen water from comets may have accumulated in craters at one of the moons poles and may still be there, as this pole is permanently shielded from the sun. The neutron spectrometer seeks out the hydrogen atoms in water and can detect the presence of as little as one cup of water in a cubic yard of soil.
On the basis of above passage please answer the following question
Which of the following kinds of publications would most likely contain this passage?

  1. an astrophysics text book
  2. a history text book
  3. a collection of personal essays
  4. a general circulation magazine
  5. an internal NASA memo

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

This passage is written in a style directed to a general audience; therefore, choices a, b, and e are not correct, as they are aimed toward specialized audiences.
Nor is this passage in the style of a personal essay (choice c), which would contain impressions and conclusions. The articles in general circulation magazines are aimed toward wide audiences, as is this passage.



It has been more than twenty-five years since the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) last sent a craft to land on the moon. The Lunar Prospector took off in January of 1998, in the first moon shot since astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972. This time, the moon-traveler is only a low-cost robot, who will spend a year on the surface of the moon, collecting minerals and ice. Unlike the moon shots of the 1960s and 1970s, Lunar Prospector does not carry a camera, so the American public will not get to see new pictures of the moons surface. ______________________________. Scientists are anxious for the results of one exploration in particular that done by the neutron spectrometer. Using this instrument, Prospector will examine the moons poles, searching for signs of water ice. There has long been speculation that frozen water from comets may have accumulated in craters at one of the moons poles and may still be there, as this pole is permanently shielded from the sun. The neutron spectrometer seeks out the hydrogen atoms in water and can detect the presence of as little as one cup of water in a cubic yard of soil.
On the basis of above passage please answer the following question
Which of the following is the best meaning of the word "speculation" as it is used in the second paragraph of the passage?

  1. a theory
  2. an investment
  3. a vision
  4. an image
  5. a process

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

Either a or b are possible definitions of speculation, however, the passage suggests that in this case the author is referring to a theory choice a. The other choices are vaguely similar, but are not accurate, based on the passage as a whole.



It has been more than twenty-five years since the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) last sent a craft to land on the moon. The Lunar Prospector took off in January of 1998, in the first moon shot since astronauts last walked on the moon in 1972. This time, the moon-traveler is only a low-cost robot, who will spend a year on the surface of the moon, collecting minerals and ice. Unlike the moon shots of the 1960s and 1970s, Lunar Prospector does not carry a camera, so the American public will not get to see new pictures of the moons surface. __________________________. Scientists are anxious for the results of one exploration in particular that done by the neutron spectrometer. Using this instrument, Prospector will examine the moons poles, searching for signs of water ice. There has long been speculation that frozen water from comets may have accumulated in craters at one of the moons poles and may still be there, as this pole is permanently shielded from the sun. The neutron spectrometer seeks out the hydrogen atoms in water and can detect the presence of as little as one cup of water in a cubic yard of soil.
On the basis of above passage please answer the following question
Which sentence, if inserted into the blank line in the second paragraph, would be most consistent with the writers purpose and intended audience?

  1. You won’t, therefore, be able to see if the surface of the moon has changed much in thirty years.
  2. Instead, Prospector carries instruments that will map the make-up of the entire surface of the moon.
  3. I don’t believe that new pictures would prove very interesting, anyway.
  4. However, the topography of the lunar terrain retains a mundane familiarity that is not consistent with the nature of NASAsraison detreand will contribute little to advancements visa vis missions such as Sojourner.
  5. Entertainment of the public does not justify the enormous cost of space exploration.

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

Choice b best reflects the writing style of the passage, which is for a general audience. Choices a and c are too informal; choice d uses jargon and choice e seems to talk down to the audience.



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