Practice Test 5

In the following original drama excerpt, what do the bolded details most strongly reveal about Lila’s perspective?

Afternoon. A city bus. Seats squeak. A toddler hums to themself.

TOM: You’re staring again.

LILA: I’m observing.

TOM: That man’s just reading.

LILA: He’s pretending to read.

TOM: Why would someone pretend?

LILA: So no one asks them to be a person.

TOM: You make everything sound like a trap.

LILA: Because it is.

TOM: The bus is not a trap.

LILA: It’s a moving room where everyone agrees not to touch, not to look, not to admit we’re breathing the same air.

TOM: That’s called manners.

LILA: Manners are just fear in clean clothes.

In the following original drama excerpt, what do the bolded details most strongly reveal about Ansel’s perspective?

Late night. A hospital waiting room. A vending machine glows. Rain taps the window.

NORA: You can sit.

ANSEL: If I sit, I’ll start thinking.

NORA: You’re already thinking.

ANSEL: Not the kind that matters.

NORA: What kind matters?

ANSEL: The kind that makes you responsible.

NORA: You are responsible.

ANSEL: For what? For being here?

NORA: For loving her.

ANSEL: Love doesn’t fix blood pressure.

NORA: It fixes something.

ANSEL: All my life I’ve been praised for staying calm, but calm is just panic with its hands folded.

NORA: That’s… bleak.

ANSEL: Bleak is honest. Hope is the lie we tell so the hours don’t bite.