Praxis Core Reading Practice Test: Inferences and Conclusions
- Inferences and Conclusions
- 10 questions
- 13 minutes
Ten questions that ask what a passage suggests but does not state outright. Tip: a good inference needs no extra facts; if an option depends on something the passage never mentions, rule it out.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
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Question 1
Marisol checked the forecast twice before loading the canoe onto her car. By the time she reached the lake, the sky over the western hills had turned a deep gray, and the wind was pushing small whitecaps across the water. She stood on the dock for several minutes. Then she carried the paddles back to her car.
It can most reasonably be inferred that Marisol
Correct answer: C
The gray sky and whitecaps describe rough weather, and she puts the paddles away after watching the water. She clearly had the paddles and found the dock.
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Question 2
Marisol checked the forecast twice before loading the canoe onto her car. By the time she reached the lake, the sky over the western hills had turned a deep gray, and the wind was pushing small whitecaps across the water. She stood on the dock for several minutes. Then she carried the paddles back to her car.
The detail that Marisol "checked the forecast twice" suggests that she
Correct answer: A
People recheck a forecast when they are unsure about it, which fits the stormy scene she finds. Nothing in the passage mentions a long trip or a borrowed canoe.
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Question 3
Under the museum's new policy, visitors may photograph most paintings, but flash photography is still forbidden in every gallery. A sign at the entrance to the east wing adds that no photographs of any kind may be taken there, because several works in that wing are on loan from private collectors.
Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?
Correct answer: D
The east wing bans all photos because its works are on loan from private collectors, which suggests the lenders set conditions. Value is never mentioned, and several east wing works belong to private collectors, so the museum does not own them all.
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Question 4
Under the museum's new policy, visitors may photograph most paintings, but flash photography is still forbidden in every gallery. A sign at the entrance to the east wing adds that no photographs of any kind may be taken there, because several works in that wing are on loan from private collectors.
A visitor who follows all the rules described in the passage could
Correct answer: B
Outside the east wing, photos are allowed as long as no flash is used. Flash is banned everywhere, and the east wing allows "no photographs of any kind."
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Question 5
Dr. Okafor's report on the town's water supply ran to forty pages. The council members who had demanded it spent almost the entire meeting discussing a single paragraph on page 37, the one that gave the cost of replacing the old pipes.
The author suggests that the council members were mainly interested in
Correct answer: D
Of forty pages, the members talked almost only about the paragraph on cost. The length of the report is mentioned only to show how narrow their focus was.
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Question 6
The first edition of the field guide sold slowly. Then a popular nature program featured the book's illustrator, and within a month the publisher ordered a second printing.
Which inference is most reasonable?
Correct answer: A
A publisher orders a second printing when copies are selling, and the timing points to the TV appearance. The first edition sold slowly, so it did not sell out before release.
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Question 7
When the Harlow Bakery moved its deliveries from evenings to 5 a.m., the owner expected complaints from the stores it supplied. Instead, complaints fell by half. Store managers explained that bread arriving early in the morning could be on the shelves before the first shoppers came in, while bread delivered the evening before had often been stacked in back rooms overnight.
Based on the passage, the drop in complaints was most likely caused by
Correct answer: C
Managers say early bread reached the shelves before shoppers, while evening bread sat in back rooms overnight. Prices and drivers' preferences are never mentioned.
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Question 8
When the Harlow Bakery moved its deliveries from evenings to 5 a.m., the owner expected complaints from the stores it supplied. Instead, complaints fell by half. Store managers explained that bread arriving early in the morning could be on the shelves before the first shoppers came in, while bread delivered the evening before had often been stacked in back rooms overnight.
Which statement about the old evening deliveries is supported by the passage?
Correct answer: B
The last sentence says evening bread "had often been stacked in back rooms overnight." Delivery costs and closing times are not discussed.
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Question 9
Jonah read the job posting again: "Applicants must be comfortable speaking to groups of fifty or more." He closed his laptop and opened a book on public speaking that he had bought a year earlier but never read.
It can be inferred that Jonah
Correct answer: D
Right after reading the speaking requirement, he turns to a book on public speaking, which suggests he wants to build that skill. If he already spoke to large groups often, he would have less reason to study.
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Question 10
In soil layers from the time an ancient village was lived in, scientists found large amounts of wheat and barley pollen. Deeper soil layers, which formed before the village existed, contained no pollen from these crops.
Which conclusion do these findings best support?
Correct answer: C
Pollen appears in the village-era layers but not in the older ones, so the crops arrived around the time of settlement. The pollen in the old village layers survived, so the last option is contradicted.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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