NEXT-GENERATION
Writing
Sample Questions
ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board. 1
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ACCUPLACER Writing Sample Questions
The Next-Generation Writing test is a broad-spectrum computer adaptive assessment
of test-takers’ developed ability to revise and edit a range of prose texts for eective
expression of ideas and for conformity to the conventions of Standard Written English
sentence structure, usage, and punctuation. Passages on the test cover a range of
content areas (including literary nonction, careers/history/social studies, humanities,
and science), writing modes (informative/explanatory, argument, and narrative), and
complexities (relatively easy to very challenging). All passages are commissioned—that
is, written specically for the test—so that “errors” (a collective term for a wide range of
rhetorical and conventions-related problems) can more eectively be introduced into
them. Questions are multiple choice in format and appear as parts of sets built around
a common, extended passage; no discrete (stand-alone) questions are included. In
answering the questions, test-takers must determine the best revision or editing decision
in a particular case (or that no change should be made to the passage as originally
presented). Two broad knowledge and skill categories are assessed:
Expression of Ideas (development, organization, eective language use)
Standard English Conventions (sentence structure, usage, and punctuation)
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ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board. 2
Sample Questions
Read the following early dra of an essay and then
choose the best answer to the question or the best
completion of the statement.
(1) e prevalence of nectarines in US supermarkets
today is directly related to the company started
by two unrelated men who shared a last name, an
inventive bent, and a drive to succeed. (2) Moving
from Korea to the United States in 1914, Ho
“Charles” Kim founded the Kim Brothers trucking
company in California in 1921 with his friend
Harry Kim. (3) Much of the freight their trucks
carried in the early years were fruit grown in the
San Joaquin valley. (4) Kim Brothers soon expanded
to include nurseries, orchards, and fruit-packing
sheds. (5) Eventually the operation became a major
employer, providing year-round jobs for about two
hundred people and up to four hundred part-time
jobs during harvest season coming aer growing
season.
(6) Kim Brothers succeeded even in the face
of the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s
because the company produced and sold the rst
commercially viable nectarines. (7) e nectarine
is a hybrid fruit. (8) It combines peach and plum,
with the taste and texture of the former and the
smooth skin of the latter. (9) With the help of a
sta horticulturalist, Kim Brothers developed
and patented the “fuzzless peach” known as the
Sun Grand nectarine. (10) ough not the rst
nectarine—the fruit had existed in China for two
millennia; the Sun Grand was unique in being
hardy enough to ship great distances.
(11) By the 1960s, Kim Brothers included more
than ve hundred acres of farmland and grossed
more than $1 million annually. (12) Charles and
Harry Kim were eventually recognized as the rst
millionaires of Korean descent. (13)
ey were
also known for giving back to their community.
(14) Charles was also instrumental in helping to
create Los Angeles’s Koreatown (home today to
more Koreans than any place other than North and
South Korea).
1. Which is the best version of the underlined portion of
sentence 3 (reproduced below)?
Much of the freight their trucks carried in the early years
were fruit grown in the San Joaquin valley.
A. (as it is now)
B. have been
C. are
D. was
2. Which is the best decision regarding the underlined
portion of sentence 5 (reproduced below)?
Eventually the operation became a major employer,
providing year-round jobs for about two hundred people
and up to four hundred part-time jobs during harvest
season coming aer growing season.
A. Leave it as it is now
B. Revise it to “when the crops were ready to pick.”
C. Revise it to “aer the produce had ripened.”
D. DELETE it and end the sentence with a period
3. Which is the most logical placement for sentence 7
(reproduced below)?
e nectarine is a hybrid fruit.
A. Where it is now
B. Aer sentence 3
C. Aer sentence 10
D. Aer sentence 11
4. Which is the best version of the underlined portion of
sentence 10 (reproduced below)?
ough not the rst nectarine—the fruit had existed in
China for two millennia; the Sun Grand was unique in
being hardy enough to ship great distances.
A. (as it is now)
B. millennia. e
C. millennia—the
D. millennia) the
5. Sentence 13 is reproduced below.
ey were also known for giving back to their community.
e writer is considering adding the following text at
the end of the sentence.
by building churches, funding scholarships, and
establishing the Korean Association of Southern
California
Should the writer make this addition there?
A. Yes, because it elaborates on the claim made at the
beginning of the sentence.
B. Yes, because it establishes the historical period in
which Kim Brothers operated.
C. No, because it introduces details that are irrelevant
to the paragraph’s focus on nectarines.
D. No, because it fails to explain whether the
institutions that the Kims established still exist
today.
ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board. 3
7. Which choice most eectively combines sentences 5 and
(1) In the Sahara, near the border of Morocco
and Algeria, a new species of spider, Cebrennus
rechenbergi, has been found.
6 (reproduced below) at the underlined portion?
(2) ese spiders don’t
simply scurry across the sand on their many legs, like
tumbling gymnasts, they propel themselves forward
(or backward) in a series of quick ips.
A spider of this species was discovered in the Erg Chebbi.
It is a sandy desert in southeastern Morocco.
(3) ey do
this, however, only to elude predators, not to chase
prey.
A. Chebbi,
B. Chebbi—this being
(4) A human is thus unlikely ever to see these
arachnids ipping toward him or her, only away.
C. Chebbi, and the Erg Chebbi is
D. Chebbi, the Erg Chebbi being
(5) A spider of this species was discovered in the
Erg Chebbi.
8. In context, which is the best version of the underlined
(6) It is a sandy desert in southeastern
Morocco.
portion of sentence 10 (reproduced below)?
(7) A German robotics researcher who
makes yearly treks to the region to study how
desert creatures thrive in that climate caught one
of the spiders and brought it back to his caravan.
Ultimately, the spider was determined to be a member of
a previously unknown species.
(8) e next morning, he was amazed to see the
creature try to escape by ipping itself quickly
away.
A. (As it is now)
B. For example,
(9) e researcher turned the spider over
to an arachnid specialist for identication.
C. Nevertheless,
D. At the same time,
(10)Ultimately, the spider was determined to be a
member of a previously unknown species.
9. Which is the best version of the underlined portion of
sentence 13 (reproduced below)?
(11) C. rechenbergi are “huntsman spiders”—skilled
predators—found only in the Erg Chebbi. (12) ey
are nocturnal creatures; during the day, they rest
in tubes of silken thread they weave into the sand.
Agile and athletic, C. rechenbergi rear up on their back
legs and lash out when attacked—or it somersaults away,
rolling like tumbleweed.
(13) Agile and athletic, C. rechenbergi rear up on
their back legs and lash out when attacked—or it
somersaults away, rolling like tumbleweed.
A. (as it is now)
B. it will somersault
C. they somersault
(14) Few spiders propel themselves as C. rechenbergi
do, and none do so as comprehensively.
D. they were somersaulting
(15) Golden
rolling spiders of Namibia, for instance, can tumble,
10. Which sentence blurs the focus of the last paragraph
but they do so only using gravity to roll downhill.
and should therefore be deleted?
(16) C. rechenbergi, by contrast, elude predators by
rolling uphill, downhill, or on at ground. (17) eir
reproductive organs distinguish them from other
Cebrennus spiders.
A. Sentence 14
B. Sentence 15
(18) While these spiders run
only 3.3 feet per second, they can tumble at 6.6 feet
per second.
C. Sentence 16
D. Sentence 17
(19) Even if this speedy escape method
proves eective, however, it can be costly: tumbling
away too many times a day will ultimately exhaust
the spiders and lead to their demise.
6. Which is the best version of the underlined portion of
sentence 2 (reproduced below)?
ese spiders don’t simply scurry across the sand on their
many legs, like tumbling gymnasts, they propel themselves
forward (or backward) in a series of quick ips.
A. (as it is now)
B. legs like tumbling gymnasts;
C. legs; like tumbling gymnasts,
D. legs like tumbling gymnasts,
ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board.
12. Which sentence blurs the focus of the second paragraph
and should therefore be deleted?
(1) Of her poetry, Lucille Clion once said, “I write
out of what I know and understand or what I wonder
about.” (2) From her very rst volume, Good Times,
she gave tribute to the people she knew best: those
who had grown up in blue-collar neighborhoods
where children pondered whether Daddy could pay
the rent and Mama could aord to make bread but
where “good times” prevailed when they could.
A. Sentence 4
B. Sentence 5
C. Sentence 6
D. Sentence 7
13. Which is the best version of the underlined portion of
sentence 9 (reproduced below)?
(3) Family, injustice, being African American and
female were Clion’s enduring themes. (4) Clion
was born in Depew, New York, in 1936.
Her poems oen bore witness to what she called “the
(5) In her
collection Quilting, the speaker in the title poem
draws a parallel between a woman teaching her
daughter how to quilt and the transformative
powers of alchemy.
bond of live things everywhere,” a bond she evoked
through seemingly simple but precisely chosen words.
A. (as it is now)
(6) “Remember / this will keep
us warm,” she says to the girl.
B. called:
(7) e speaker
wonders, however, whether the skills of keeping
warm will one day be forgotten and people will lose
sight of lessons their ancestors had taught: “do the
daughters’ daughters quilt?” she asks; “do the worlds
continue spinning away from each other forever?”
C. called—
D. called,
14. Which version of the underlined portion of sentence
10 (reproduced below) provides the most eective
introduction to the last paragraph?
(8) Concerned about those who are frequently
excluded from the historical record, Clion said
that through poetry “I oer my presence for people
who have not been able to speak until they are able
to speak for themselves.”
Clion’s powerful and innovative poems have been
widely recognized and appreciated.
A. (as it is now)
(9) Her poems oen bore
witness to what she called “the bond of live things
everywhere,” a bond she evoked through seemingly
simple but precisely chosen words.
B. passion for teaching others about poetry has
C. desire to use poetry to speak for the powerless has
D. many gis as a writer and teacher have
15. In sentence 12 (reproduced below), the writer wants to
echo Bingham’s observation from sentence 11. Which
version of the underlined portion best accomplishes
that goal?
(10) Clion’s powerful and innovative poems
have been widely recognized and appreciated. (11)
Poet Remica Bingham called Clion a “master
of economy and minimalism.” (12) Of Clion’s
ambitious lines, poet Kevin Young said, “ere
is a kind of quietude in that lowercase, but also
a boldness of speech” that achieves a “powerful
intimacy.”
Of Clion’s ambitious lines, poet Kevin Young said,
“ere is a kind of quietude in that lowercase, but also a
boldness of speech” that achieves a “powerful intimacy.”
(13) One of her former students, poet
Elisabeth Whitehead, recalls fondly Clion’s college
classroom as a place of quiet where poetry was loved
and celebrated.
A. (as it is now)
B. spare
(14) A fellow student hosted dinner
for their nal class, and before everyone had le that
evening, Clion had them gather and join hands.
C. nuanced
D. vivid
(15)“en wewent around the circle,” Whitehead
recounts, “sharingan idea or a quote or passage
froma poemin our last moments together.”
11. Which is the best decision regarding the underlined
portion of sentence 3 (reproduced below)?
Family, injustice, being African American and female
were Clion’s enduring themes.
A. Leave it as it is now
B. Revise it to “and being”
C. Revise it to “and the subjects of”
D. DELETE it
4
ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board.
Answer Key
1. D
2. D
3. A
4. C
5. A
6. C
7. A
8. A
9. C
10. D
11. B
12. A
13. A
14. D
15. B
5
ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board. 6
Rationales
1. Choice D is the best answer. The singular “was” agrees with the singular subject
“much.” Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because the plural “were,” “have been,” and
“are” do not agree with the singular subject “much.”
2. Choice D is the best answer. Deleting the underlined portion results in a clear,
economical sentence. Choices A, B, and C are incorrect because “coming after
growing season,” “when the crops were ready to pick,” and “after the produce had
ripened” are unnecessarily wordy and somewhat redundant additions to the sentence
given that “harvest season” already suggests what each of these choices introduces.
3. Choice A is the best answer. Sentence 7 is most logical where it is now in the
passage, as it helps dene “nectarine” in sentence 6 and sets up the description of
the nectarine’s composition in sentence 8. Choice B is incorrect because placing
sentence 7 after sentence 3 would both interrupt the narrative of the founding and
early success of Kim Brothers and disrupt the ow between sentences 6 and 8.
Choice C is incorrect because placing sentence7 after sentence 10 would both
disrupt the ow between sentences 6 and 8 and introduce basic information about
the nectarine later in the passage than is required by the writer’s development of the
topic. Choice D is incorrect because placing sentence 7 after sentence 11 would both
disrupt the ow between sentences 6 and 8 and interrupt the narrative of the later
history of Kim Brothers.
4. Choice C is the best answer. A dash is necessary between “millennia” and “the”
to complete the separation of the parenthetical information “the fruit had existed
in China for two millennia” from the rest of the sentence. Since a dash is used after
“nectarine,” a dash must be used after “millennia” as well. Choices A and D are
incorrect because neither a comma nor a parenthesis after “millennia” matches the
dash placed after “nectarine” to set o the parenthetical information “the fruit had
existed in China for two millennia.” ChoiceB is incorrect because placing a period
after “millennia” results in a rhetorically poor sentence fragment.
5. Choice A is the best answer. The proposed addition expands in a relevant way
on the notion of the Kims “giving back to their community.” Choice B is incorrect
because while the proposed addition should be made, the reason outlined in choice
B is incorrect, as the addition does not specify the historical time period in which
Kim Brothers operated. Choice C is incorrect because the proposed addition should
be made and because the main focus of the passage at that point is not nectarines.
Choice D is incorrect because the proposed addition should be made and because
it would not be necessary at that point in the narrative to explain whether the
institutions the Kims established exist today.
6. Choice C is the best answer. A semicolon after “legs” results in two clear and
complete independent clauses and a complete, logical sentence. Choice A is
incorrect because a comma after “legs” results in a comma splice. ChoiceB is
incorrect because a semicolon after “gymnasts” illogically suggests that scurrying
across the sand on many legs is something that gymnasts would do. Choice D is
incorrect because a comma after “gymnasts” results in a comma splice and illogically
suggests that scurrying across the sand on many legs is something that gymnasts
would do.
7. Choice A is the best answer. A comma after “Chebbi” makes clear that what follows
in the sentence (“a sandy desert in southeastern Morocco”) describes Erg Chebbi.
Choice B is incorrect because a dash followed by “this being” is an awkward and
unnecessarily dramatic way to combine sentences 5 and 6. Choices C and D are
incorrect because each introduces repetition of “Erg Chebbi” into the combined
sentence.
ACCUPLACER Next-Generation Writing © 2017 The College Board. 7
8. Choice A is the best answer. “Ultimately” reasonably suggests that some time
passed between the researcher turning over the spider to an arachnid specialist for
identication (sentence 9) and the actual identication of the spider as a member
of a previously unknown species (sentence 10). ChoiceB is incorrect because “for
example” wrongly suggests that what follows in sentence 10 is an example of what
is described in sentence 9. Choice C is incorrect because “nevertheless” wrongly
suggests that what follows in sentence 10 happened in spite of what is described in
sentence 9. Choice D is incorrect because “at the same time” wrongly suggests that
what follows in sentence 10 either occurred simultaneously as what is described in
sentence 9 or that it happened in spite of what is described in sentence 9.
9. Choice C is the best answer. The plural “they” agrees with the plural noun
“C. rechenbergi,” and “somersault” appropriately maintains the present tense used
throughout the paragraph. (“C. rechenbergi” is consistently plural in number here, as
signaled most closely by “rear” earlier in sentence 13.) Choice A is incorrect because
“it” does not agree with the plural noun “C. rechenbergi.” Choice B is incorrect
because “it” does not agree with the plural noun “C. rechenbergi” and because
“will somersault” inappropriately shifts the sentence into future tense. Choice D is
incorrect because “were somersaulting” inappropriately shifts the sentence into past
progressive tense.
10. Choice D is the best answer. The main focus of the last paragraph is on
C. rechenbergi’s form of movement, making sentence 17’s reference to the spiders’
reproductive organs irrelevant at that point in the passage. ChoicesA, B, and C
are incorrect because sentences 14, 15, and 16 contribute relevant information
consistent with the main focus of the last paragraph on C. rechenbergi’s form of
movement.
11. Choice B is the best answer. Using “and being” creates eective parallelism and
claries what the writer means by “Clifton’s enduring themes”: “family,” “injustice,” and
“being African American and female.” Choices A, C, and D are incorrect because using
“being” or “and the subjects of” or deleting the underlined portion entirely results in
faulty parallelism.
12. Choice A is the best answer. Sentence 3 establishes that the focus of the second
paragraph is on “Clifton’s enduring themes.” Sentence 4, which provides basic
biographical information about Clifton, is not relevant at this point in the passage and
should therefore be deleted. Choices B, C, and D are incorrect because sentences 5,
6, and 7 are all part of the same example illustrating an “enduring theme” of Clifton’s
work and are therefore relevant to the focus of the second paragraph.
13. Choice A is the best answer. No punctuation is necessary after “called.” Choices B,
C, and D are incorrect because punctuation is not necessary after “called.”
14. Choice D is the best answer. The main focus of the last paragraph is on Clifton as
both a talented writer and teacher. Choices A and C are incorrect because each
focuses on Clifton’s poetry but not on her teaching, which is also central to the last
paragraph. Choice B is incorrect because it focuses on Clifton’s teaching but not on
her poetry, which is also central to the last paragraph.
15. Choice B is the best answer. “Spare” is closest to conveying the same meaning as
“economy and minimalism,” used in sentence 11. Choices A, C, and D are incorrect
because “ambitious,” “nuanced,” and “vivid” do not convey the same meaning as
“economy and minimalism,” used in sentence 11.
