8th Grade ELA – Pre-test Assessment 5

Part A

What does the phrase anecdotal observations mean as it is used in paragraph 2?

A. A method of recording an event using special processes.
B. A perspective on a subject area that reveals its inner significance.
C. A description of an event that lacks seriousness and seeks to entertain through humor.
D. A report that is somewhat unreliable because it is based on a personal account.

Part B

Which sentence from paragraph 1 provides the best evidence for the answer to Part A?

A. “Elephants, both African and Asian,have long been considered empathetic animals.”
B. “But it’s one thing to witness something that looks like consolation, and another to prove that this is what elephants are doing.”
C. “Now, scientists have shown that Asian elephants do indeed get distressed when they see others in trouble, and they reach out to console them-just as we do when we see someone suffering.”
D. “Elephants, thus, join a short list of other animals,including great apes, canines,and some birds, that scientists have shown to reassure others.”

Part A

Which statement best expresses the central idea in the article?

A. Science plays an important role in educating people about elephants, which may help protect elephants in the wild.
B. Science has provided new support for long-held beliefs that elephants possess advanced social characteristics.
C. Researchers believe that many gestures made by elephants are similar to human hugs.
D. Researchers have used creative methods to design successful studies of elephants.

Part B

Which quotation best expresses the central idea in the answer to Part A?

A. “Instead, the park’s Mahouts,or keepers, organized them into six groups which they then guided through a daily routine-bathing and feeding them in the morning, and tethering them at night.” (paragraph 3)
B. “‘What is unclear is whether this reassurance primarily benefits the distressed animal, or the responders’. . . .” (paragraph 9)
C. “. . . the findings are ‘intriguing because they parallel what has been observed in captive and wild non-human primates, further underlining the complex cognitive abilities of elephants.”‘ (paragraph 10)
D. “Some think the work may aid conservation efforts.” (paragraph 11)

Part A

What is the purpose of paragraph 2 of the passage?

A. To give a broad overview of the scientific study before describing the study in greater detail.
B. To introduce the perspective of an expert whose opinion differs from that of the other scientists described in the article.
C. To suggest that some aspects of elephant behavior are more important to study than others, even though that has only recently been recognized.
D. To establish that some elephant behaviors have proved difficult to study, in order to reinforce the importance of the study described in the article.

Part B

Which sentence from the passage provides the best support for the answer to Part A?

A. “Elephants, thus, join a short list of other animals,including great apes, canines,and some birds, that scientists have shown to reassure others.” (paragraph 1)
B. “Joshua Plotnik, a behavioral ecologist at Mahidol University, Kanchanaburi,in Thailand, and Frans de Waal, a primatologist at Emory University in Atlanta, got around this problem by comparing Asian elephants’ behaviors during times of stress to periods when little upset them.” (paragraph 3)
C. “Most of the elephants, aside from mother-juvenile pairs, were unrelated and did not live in family groups as wild elephants do.” (paragraph 3)
D. “Other researchers have previously shown that when upset, an elephant flares its ears and erects its tail;it may also trumpet or roar,or make a low rumble to show its distress.” (paragraph 4)

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