PAX Verbal Practice Test 2024 [PDF] Questions and Answers

PAX Verbal Practice Test 2024 [PDF] Questions and Answers: Try our National League for Nursing Pre-Admission Exam PAX-RN NLN & PN Verbal review questions answers in PDF. Our practice test is consist of Subsection 1: Reading Comprehension, and Subsection 2: Word Knowledge.

The real NLN PAX is a multiple-choice exam with 60 questions in the Verbal section with a time limit of 45 minutes administered via computer. Candidates can register online through the NLN testing services website.

PAX Verbal Practice Test 2024

Test Name PAX Practice Test 2024
Purpose Nursing Exam Prep
Test Section Verbal
Total Questions 28
Question Type Sample multiple choice

Select the word that most correctly completes the sentence.

Q1. When the baseball game was over, the first thing Jackson did was run towards the dugout to grab his water bottle to relieve his arid throat. Arid means:

  • (A) humid
  • (B) scorched
  • (C) parched
  • (D) dusty
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: C 

Q2. Driving across the United States, the two friends became inseparable each time they arrived in a new state. They shared many good memories on that trip they would remember for the rest of their lives. Inseparable means:

  • (A) closer
  • (B) distant
  • (C) suffering
  • (D) irritable
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  A

Q3. After Kira wrote her first book, she pledged to her fans the sequel would be just as exciting as the first. Pledged to means:

  • (A) denied
  • (B) promised
  • (C) invigorated
  • (D) germinated
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  B

Q4. When I heard the wolf howl from my tent, my hands started trembling and my heart stopped . . . hopefully I would make it through this night alive! Trembling means:

  • (A) dancing
  • (B) glowing
  • (C) shaking
  • (D) throbbing
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: C 

Q5. Unlike Leo, who always played basketball in the park after school, Gabriel would consistently go to the library and study after school. Consistently means:

  • (A) infrequently
  • (B) occasionally
  • (C) hardly
  • (D) usually
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: D 

Q6. As soon as the shot rang out, the runners dashed toward the finish line. Dashed means:

  • (A) sprinted
  • (B) skipped
  • (C) rejoiced
  • (D) herded
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  A

Q7. Resolved to get an A on her paper, LaShonda began writing it two weeks before it was due. Resolved means:

  • (A) resumed
  • (B) content
  • (C) enthusiastic
  • (D) determined
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: D 

Q8. After Colby’s mom picked him up from school, they went to the bank to install a check. Install means:

  • (A) celebrate
  • (B) neutralize
  • (C) eliminate
  • (D) deposit
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: D 

Q9. The sale at the grocery store motivated my dad to buy four avocados instead of two. Motivated means:

  • (A) intimidated
  • (B) inspired
  • (C) dismayed
  • (D) berated
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  B

Q10. My mom recently started drinking fruit and vegetable smoothies in order to enhance the quality of her health. Enhance means:

  • (A) increase
  • (B) decrease
  • (C) curtail
  • (D) request
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: A 

Q11. In the middle of our vacation, we had a sojourn in a remote cabin in the woods. Believe it or not, we got snowed in and had to stay for two weeks! Sojourn means:

  • (A) soiree
  • (B) presentation
  • (C) layover
  • (D) cohort
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: C 

Q12. Cooking dinner was her favorite activity until she triggered the fire alarm by burning the casserole in the oven. Triggered means:

  • (A) activated
  • (B) offended
  • (C) unplugged
  • (D) disbanded
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  A

Q13. Much to her consternation, she had to go to the dentist’s office to get a tooth pulled, so she did some breathing exercises before she walked in. Consternation means:

  • (A) refresh
  • (B) creative
  • (C) rapture
  • (D) dread
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  D

Q14. The yellow feathers and purple markings told us that this bird was native to the southeast part of the United States. Native means:

  • (A) entertaining
  • (B) indigenous
  • (C) impudent
  • (D) monotonous
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  B

Q15. When we caught the eels, their bodies wriggled out of our hands and back into the water. Wriggled means:

  • (A) exploded
  • (B) deteriorated
  • (C) thundered
  • (D) slithered
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  D

Q16. Even though at the restaurant my mom requested the eggplant with no cheese, she received a huge serving of parmesan on top. Serving means:

  • (A) portion
  • (B) directed
  • (C) mourning
  • (D) endorsement
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  A

Reading Comprehension

Questions 17–22 are based upon the following passage:

My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on the emperor and his court, and indeed upon the army and people in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting my liberty in a short time. I took all possible methods to cultivate this favourable disposition. The natives came, by degrees, to be less apprehensive of any danger from me. I would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance on my hand; and at last the boys and girls would venture to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair. I had now made a good progress in understanding and speaking the language.

The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence. I was diverted with none so much as that of the rope-dancers, performed upon a slender white thread, extended about two feet, and twelve inches from the groun(D) Upon which I shall desire liberty, with the reader’s patience, to enlarge a little.

This diversion is only practised by those persons who are candidates for great employments, and high favour at court. They are trained in this art from their youth, and are not always of noble birth, or liberal education. When a great office is vacant, either by death or disgrace (which often happens,) five or six of those candidates petition the emperor to entertain his majesty and the court with a dance on the rope; and whoever jumps the highest, without falling, succeeds in the office.

Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill, and to convince the emperor that they have not lost their faculty. Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope, at least an inch higher than any other lord in the whole empire. I have seen him do the summerset several times together, upon a trencher fixed on a rope which is no thicker than a common packthread in Englan(D) My friend Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, is, in my opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the treasurer; the rest of the great officers are much upon a par.

from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World

Q17. Which of the following statements best summarize the central purpose of this text?

  • (A) Gulliver details his fondness for the archaic yet interesting practices of his captors.
  • (B) Gulliver conjectures about the intentions of the aristocratic sector of society.
  • (C) Gulliver becomes acquainted with the people and practices of his new surroundings.
  • (D) Gulliver’s differences cause him to become penitent around new acquaintances.
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  C

Q18. What is the word principal referring to in the following text?

My friend Reldresal, principal secretary for private affairs, is, in my opinion, if I am not partial, the second after the treasurer; the rest of the great officers are much upon a par.

  • (A) Primary or chief
  • (B) An acolyte
  • (C) An individual who provides nurturing
  • (D) One in a subordinate position
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: A 

Q19. What can the reader infer from this passage?

I would sometimes lie down, and let five or six of them dance on my hand; and at last the boys and girls would venture to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair.

  • (A) The children tortured Gulliver.
  • (B) Gulliver traveled because he wanted to meet new people.
  • (C) Gulliver is considerably larger than the children who are playing around him.
  • (D) Gulliver has a genuine love and enthusiasm for people of all sizes.
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: C 

Q20. What is the significance of the word mind in the following passage?

The emperor had a mind one day to entertain me with several of the country shows, wherein they exceed all nations I have known, both for dexterity and magnificence.

  • (A) The ability to think
  • (B) A collective vote
  • (C) A definitive decision
  • (D) A mythological question
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  C

Q21. Which of the following assertions does not support the fact that games are a commonplace event in this culture?

  • (A) My gentlest and good behavior . . . short time.
  • (B) They are trained in this art from their youth . . . liberal education.
  • (C) Very often the chief ministers themselves are commanded to show their skill . . . not lost their faculty.
  • (D) Flimnap, the treasurer, is allowed to cut a caper on the straight rope . .. higher than any other lord in the whole empire.
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:   A

Q22. How do the roles of Flimnap and Reldresal serve as evidence of the community’s emphasis in regards to the correlation between physical strength and leadership abilities?

  • (A) Only children used Gulliver’s hands as a playgroun(D)
  • (B) The two men who exhibited superior abilities held prominent positions in the community.
  • (C) Only common townspeople, not leaders, walk the straight rope.
  • (D) No one could jump higher than Gulliver.
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: B 

Questions 23–28 are based upon the following passage:

Three years ago, I think there were not many bird-lovers in the United States, who believed it possible to prevent the total extinction of both egrets from our faun(A) All the known rookeries accessible to plume-hunters had been totally destroye(D) Two years ago, the secret discovery of several small, hidden colonies prompted William Dutcher, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, and Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary, to attempt the protection of those colonies. With a fund contributed for the purpose, wardens were hired and duly commissione(D) As previously stated, one of those wardens was shot dead in cold blood by a plume hunter.

The task of guarding swamp rookeries from the attacks of money-hungry desperadoes to whom the accursed plumes were worth their weight in gold, is a very chancy proceeding. There is now one warden in Florida who says that “before they get my rookery they will first have to get me.” Thus far the protective work of the Audubon Association has been successful. Now there are twenty colonies, which contain all told, about 5,000 egrets and about 120,000 herons and ibises which are guarded by the Audubon wardens.

One of the most important is on Bird Island, a mile out in Orange Lake, central Florida, and it is ably defended by Oscar E. Baynar(D) To-day, the plume hunters who do not dare to raid the guarded rookeries are trying to study out the lines of flight of the birds, to and from their feeding-grounds, and shoot them in transit. Their motto is—”Anything to beat the law, and get the plumes.” It is there that the state of Florida should take part in the war.

The success of this campaign is attested by the fact that last year a number of egrets were seen in eastern Massachusetts —for the first time in many years. And so to-day the question is, can the wardens continue to hold the plume-hunters at bay?

from Our Vanishing Wildlife, by William T. Hornaday

Q23. The author’s use of first person pronoun in the following text does NOT have which of the following effects?

Three years ago, I think there were not many bird-lovers in the United States, who believed it possible to prevent the total extinction of both egrets from our faun(A)

  • (A) The phrase I think acts as a sort of hedging, where the author’s tone is less direct and/or absolute.
  • (B) It allows the reader to more easily connect with the author.
  • (C) It encourages the reader to empathize with the egrets.
  • (D) It distances the reader from the text by overemphasizing the story.
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: D 

Q24. What purpose does the quote serve at the end of the first paragraph?

  • (A) The quote shows proof of a hunter threatening one of the wardens.
  • (B) The quote lightens the mood by illustrating the colloquial language of the region.
  • (C) The quote provides an example of a warden protecting one of the colonies.
  • (D) The quote provides much needed comic relief in the form of a joke.
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: C 

Q25. What is the meaning of the word rookeries in the following text?

To-day, the plume hunters who do not dare to raid the guarded rookeries are trying to study out the lines of flight of the birds, to and from their feeding-grounds, and shoot them in transit.

  • (A) Houses in a slum area
  • (B) A place where hunters gather to trade tools
  • (C) A place where wardens go to trade stories
  • (D) A colony of breeding birds
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: D 

Q26. What is on Bird Island?

  • (A) Hunters selling plumes
  • (B) An important bird colony
  • (C) Bird Island Battle between the hunters and the wardens
  • (D) An important egret with unique plumes
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:  B

Q27. What is the main purpose of the passage?

  • (A) To persuade the audience to act in preservation of the bird colonies
  • (B) To show the effect hunting egrets has had on the environment
  • (C) To argue that the preservation of bird colonies has had a negative impact on the environment.
  • (D) To demonstrate the success of the protective work of the Audubon Association
View Correct Answer
Answer Key: D 

Q28. Why are hunters trying to study the lines of flight of the birds?

  • (A) To study ornithology, one must know the lines of flight that birds take.
  • (B) To help wardens preserve the lives of the birds
  • (C) To have a better opportunity to hunt the birds
  • (D) To builds their homes under the lines of flight because they believe it brings good luck
View Correct Answer
Answer Key:   C