Cite Multiple Pieces of Literary Evidence Practice Test

Read the passage and answer the question.

The stage curtains smelled like dust and old applause. Mateo stood in the wings, holding a cardboard crown that had been painted gold but still showed streaks of brown underneath. He was supposed to play the king in the school play.

“Remember,” Ms. Patel whispered, “slow down your lines. Let the audience hear you.”

Mateo nodded, but his eyes were on the front row. His dad sat there with his arms folded tight, as if he were bracing for bad weather. Next to him, Mateo’s little sister waved both hands, too excited to be quiet.

When the music started, Mateo stepped into the light. For a second, his mouth went dry. He could feel the crown bending slightly in his grip.

Then he saw a kid from his math class in the third row, making a face like he’d already decided the play was stupid. Mateo’s stomach dropped.

On his first line, Mateo’s voice came out thin. He heard a few giggles.

Mateo inhaled, deep enough to hurt, and lifted the crown high above his head. “I will not be a paper king,” he said, louder than the script required.

The giggles stopped. Somewhere in the dark, Ms. Patel whispered, “Yes.”

Which choice gives the strongest set of evidence to support the analysis that Mateo begins uncertain but chooses courage and confidence?

Read the passage and answer the question.

Dad said the old shed was “a perfectly good place” for the donated bikes, but it looked like a tired animal crouched behind our garage. The door stuck when I pulled it, and the air inside smelled like wet rope.

“Just stack them,” Dad said, handing me a flashlight. “We’ll sort later.”

The beam caught a row of handlebars, all tangled like elbows. In the back, a small bike leaned against the wall, its tires flat, its bell rusted into silence.

I touched the bell anyway. It didn’t ring.

“Leave that one,” Dad called. “No one wants a baby bike.”

I stared at it longer than I meant to. My little cousin Rosa had learned to ride on a bike that size. She’d fallen, cried, and then climbed back on, cheeks wet but eyes steady.

I dragged the small bike forward. Dust rose in a soft cloud. “Someone will,” I said.

Dad sighed. “You always pick the hardest project.”

I rolled the bike into the driveway and pumped the tires until the rubber rounded out again. The bell still wouldn’t ring, so I found a can of oil and worked the rust loose. When it finally chimed, the sound was thin but bright.

Dad watched from the garage door. He didn’t say anything at first. Then he said, quietly, “All right. Put it with the keepers.”

Question: Which choice identifies several pieces of evidence that best support the inference that the narrator values perseverance and second chances?