Last Updated on March 1, 2025
CLT Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 1. Prepare for the CLT Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 1 on Literature with timed questions, detailed answer explanations, and strategies to boost critical thinking and reading comprehension. Ace your exam
CLT Verbal Reasoning Practice Test 1
Literature
This passage is adapted from Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Seal” in The Jungle Book, first published in 1894.
Kotick swam back to Novastoshnah. There he found that no one sympathized with him in his little attempt to discover a quiet place for the seals. They told him that men had always driven the holluschickie—it was part of the day’s work—and that if he did not like to see ugly things he should not have gone to the killing grounds. But none of the other seals had seen the killing, and that made the difference between him and his friends. Besides, Kotick was a white seal.
“What you must do,” said old Sea Catch, after he had heard his son’s adventures, “is to grow up and be a big seal like your father, and have a nursery on the beach, and then they will leave you alone. In another five years you ought to be able to fight for yourself.”
Even gentle Matkah, his mother, said: “You will never be able to stop the killing. Go and play in the sea, Kotick.” And Kotick went off with a very heavy little heart.
That autumn he left the beach alone. He was going to find a quiet island with good firm beaches for seals to live on, where men could not get at them. So he explored and explored by himself from the North to the South Pacific, swimming as much as three hundred miles in a day and a night. But he never found an island that he could fancy.
Kotick spent five seasons exploring, with a four months’ rest each year at Novastoshnah, when the holluschickie used to make fun of him and his imaginary islands.
One day Kotick found an old, old seal who was dying, and Kotick caught fish for him and told him all his sorrows. “Now,” said Kotick, “I am going back to Novastoshnah, and if I am driven to the killing-pens with the holluschickie I shall not care.”
The old seal said, “Try once more. I am the last of the Lost Rookery of Masafuera, and in the days when men killed us by the hundred thousand there was a story on the beaches that some day a white seal would come out of the North and lead the seal people to a quiet place. I am old, and I shall never live to see that day, but others will. Try once more.”
This passage has been excerpted and adapted from the original, including minor punctuation changes, spelling changes, and other modifications that have not substantially changed content or intent.
1. The passage is primarily from the perspective of
A) a young white seal.
B) an old, dying seal.
C) a young seafaring man.
D) a magical old creature.
2. Which of the following best describes Kotick’s main mission in the passage?
A) To find the white seal
B) To return home after his long adventures
C) To find a place where seals can live safely
D) To fulfill the prophecy of the white seal
3. Matkah’s attitude toward the killing is one of
A) despair.
B) resignation.
C) confusion.
D) welcoming.
4. Which lines in the passage best support the answer to the previous question?
A) Paragraph 1, Sentence 2 (“There he . . . seals”)
B) Paragraph 2, Sentence 2 (“In another . . . yourself”)
C) Paragraph 3, Sentence 1 (“Even gentle . . . killing”)
D) Paragraph 3, Sentence 2 (“Go and . . . Kotick”)
5. In Paragraph 4, Sentence 4, the phrase “he could fancy” most closely means
A) he felt met his requirements.
B) he believed was suitably decorative.
C) he thought had good weather.
D) he enjoyed spending time on.
6. How many months did Kotick spend resting at Novastoshnah each year?
A) Three
B) Four
C) Five
D) Six
7. The old seal tells Kotick that he (the old seal) will never live to see which day?
A) The day the Lost Rookery of Masafuera would follow a fabled white seal to Novastoshnah
B) The day men would kill the seals by the hundred thousand
C) The day all seals are to be driven to the killingpens with the holluschickie
D) The day a white seal would come out of the North and lead the seal people to a quiet place
8. Which of the following best describes the order of events in the passage?
A) Kotick swims back to Novastoshnah; Kotick searches for an island where seals can live without men disturbing them; Kotick meets an old seal with cryptic warning; Kotick decides to continue on his mission.
B) Kotick discusses the plight of the seals with his parents; Kotick ventures out into the sea; Kotick meets an old seal with a cryptic warning; Kotick swims back to Novastoshnah.
C) Kotick swims back to Novastoshnah; Kotick receives advice from his parents on the killing of the seals; Kotick searches for an island where seals can live without men disturbing them; Kotick meets an old seal who provides him with encouragement.
D) Kotick discusses the plight of the seals with his parents; Kotick ventures out into the sea and has many adventures; Kotick meets an old seal who provides him with encouragement; Kotick swims back to Novastoshnah.
9. Sea Catch : father ::
A) Matkah : mother
B) Kotick : mother
C) Novastoshnah : son
D) Masafuera : son
10. old seal : Lost Rookery of Masafuera ::
A) holluschickie : heart
B) autumn : seasons
C) white seal : Kotick
D) nursery : beach