College and career words
Grade 11 Reading Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.
Read this first
Task
For Friday's literature seminar, explicate the final stanza of the assigned poem, working through it line by line so that a classmate who found it puzzling could follow every image.
Jun reads a task on a college literature syllabus. What does the task ask for?
- a detailed, line-by-line explanation of what the final stanza means
- a list of the images in the final stanza, without saying what they mean
- a judgment of how well the final stanza works as an ending
- a detailed, line-by-line explanation of the poet's life and early career
Line
The internship agreement at Fernhill Design stipulates that interns work no more than twenty hours a week during the school year.
Bo reads a line in an internship agreement. What does stipulates mean here?
- guesses about what may happen later on
- leaves it open for each intern to decide
- describes the design work that interns do
- states it as a condition that must be met
Direction
In your lab report's discussion section, elucidate why the second trial ran faster than the first, so that a reader who skipped the methods section still understands the cause.
Milo reads a direction in a college chemistry lab guide. What does elucidate ask the student to do?
- make the steps in the methods section clear by explaining them
- make the cause of the faster second trial clear by explaining it
- predict how fast a third trial of the same reaction would run
- state that the second trial ran faster than the first one did
Sentence
The bookstore sells each new hardcover for $30 after paying the publisher $18, so its margin on a hardcover is $12 before wages and other costs are paid.
Zee reads a sentence in a retail-management textbook. What does margin mean here?
- the money left after wages and other costs are paid each month
- the blank space along the edge of a printed page
- the gap between an item's selling price and its cost
- the $18 the store pays the publisher for each book
Line
The job offer from the Alder County library is contingent on a background check, so the start date will be set only after the check comes back clear.
Kira reads a line in a job offer letter. What does contingent mean here?
- about the start date of the library job
- depending on something that must happen first
- happening by chance, with no plan behind it
- certain no matter what else happens
Advice
Before you cite the 1910 travel guide in your history paper, interrogate its claims: ask who wrote it, for what reader, and what the author had reason to leave out.
Ren reads advice in a college history course guide. What does interrogate mean in this advice?
- copy the guide's most useful claims into the paper
- find out who wrote the 1910 travel guide
- question the guide's claims closely and systematically
- question the other students' papers closely and systematically
Sentence
The delivery company pays a monthly premium to its insurer, and in return the insurer covers the cost if one of its vans is damaged in a storm.
Esme reads a sentence in a business-insurance training guide. What does premium mean here?
- the cost of repairing a van after a storm
- a product of higher quality that costs more than usual
- the regular payment that keeps an insurance policy in force
- the amount the company pays before the insurer covers the rest
Sentence
Because the delivery schedule changed after the contract was signed, the bakery and the café attached a one-page addendum that sets the new delivery days.
Noah reads a sentence in a business-law handout. What is an addendum?
- a section removed from a signed document
- the new days on which the bakery delivers
- a section added to a document after it is written
- a list of topics to discuss at a meeting
Assignment
In the museum-studies practicum, appraise each donated quilt, and record a dollar figure beside your notes on its age, stitching and condition.
Ari reads an assignment for a museum-studies practicum. What does appraise ask for?
- a plan for displaying each quilt in the museum
- an expert estimate of what each quilt is worth
- notes on each quilt's age, stitching and condition
- an expert estimate of what the museum building is worth
Posting
The listing for a summer lab assistant gives the remuneration as $16 an hour, plus a transit pass for the weeks of the program.
Tala reads a summer job posting. What does remuneration mean here?
- a numbered list of the job's duties
- the pay given in return for work
- the transit pass for the weeks of the program
- money the assistant pays to join the program

