What's on the HiSET: Language Arts

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HiSET Language Arts: Reading


The HiSET® Reading Test assesses your ability to understand and analyze written passages. You will read a passage and then answer several questions about it. You will have 65 minutes to answer approximately 40 questions. All Reading questions will be multiple choice.
Forty percent of the Reading Test will cover informational content. Questions in this portion target skills such as:

  • Identifying an author’s main point
  • Describing the structure of a passage
  • Analyzing an author’s argument
  • Restating or applying ideas from the passage
  • Understanding words in the context of an informational passage

Sixty percent of the Reading Test will cover literary content. Questions in this portion target skills such as:

  • Understanding plot, character, and theme
  • Describing the structure of a story and how it is used to develop a theme
  • Making inferences about characters and the author’s attitude toward them
  • Understanding words and figurative language in the context of a fictional passage

HiSET Language Arts: Writing


The HiSET Writing Test assesses your language skills in two different ways. You will have 120 minutes to complete the Writing Test.
Expect to spend around 75 minutes answering approximately 51 multiple-choice items that assess language skills. These questions will target skills such as:

  • Constructing sentences
  • Using grammar correctly
  • Using words correctly
  • Organizing ideas into paragraphs
  • Connecting ideas

You will have around 45 minutes to write one essay in response to a pair of passages. You will read the passages and then write an essay that argues for a position on the issue discussed. Your essay will be scored on how well it:

  • Supports its conclusion with valid reasoning and relevant evidence
  • Develops ideas in a clear and logical manner
  • Demonstrates control over writing mechanics and expression

If you are taking the paper version of the HiSET exam, you will write your essay on paper. If you are testing on a computer, you will type your essay into a box on the screen.
 


Question 1
Which of the following is the main point of the passage below?
The minimum wage is the lowest salary that a company can legally pay its employees. The federal minimum wage is the lowest allowed in the nation, but many states have set minimum wages higher than the national number. 
Several states have taken the sensible step of automatically raising their minimum wage to adjust for inflation and consumer price increases. This policy ensures that low-paid workers are paid a stable, livable income over the long term. Raising the federal minimum wage, however, requires direct action by lawmakers. As a result, over the past 40 years, the federal minimum wage has not kept pace with the rate of inflation. Nowadays, full-time minimum-wage workers earn so little money that many have fallen below the poverty line. In the case of the minimum wage, the federal government should follow the lead of the states. Congress needs to establish automatic wage increases triggered by increases in inflation and changes to the consumer price index. That is the only way to ensure sustainable earnings for hardworking citizens.
A. States’ minimum wages differ from the federal minimum wage.
B. The federal government should automatically raise the minimum wage to match price increases.
C. The federal minimum wage ensures a comfortable living for people earning it.
D. State minimum wages are the result of political games played with people’s livelihoods.


B. The federal government should automatically raise the minimum wage to match price increases. The author states that “[s]everal states have taken the sensible step of automatically raising their minimum wage to adjust for inflation and consumer price increases.” Later she also states that “the federal government should follow the lead of the states.” Thus, the author is recommending that the federal government should adjust the minimum wage for price increases. The rest of the passage serves to support this recommendation.


Question 2
Read the passage below. Which of the following is an example of faulty reasoning that weakens the writer’s argument?
The giant squid is the world’s longest cephalopod. Based on measurements of over 100 full specimens (including adult and adolescent individuals) recovered from the stomachs of sperm whales and other predators, scientists have determined that the giant squid can reach a length of 13 meters.
Some have argued that the honor of longest cephalopod should instead go to the colossal squid, a distant relative of the giant squid, but this belief is incorrect. It is true that the colossal squid may outweigh its giant cousin. However, of the few specimens of the colossal squid (all of them juveniles) described in the scientific literature, the longest measured ten meters. Therefore, the giant squid wins the length contest.
No other cephalopod is even close in length to either of these animals. For example, the giant Pacific octopus, the world’s longest octopus species, has a maximum arm span of only about six meters. The giant squid’s status as the world’s longest cephalopod remains uncontested.
A. The longest known colossal squid is ten meters long, so there is no colossal squid longer than the longest giant squid.
B. The giant Pacific octopus is the world’s longest species of octopus, but it is not as long as the giant squid.
C. Many specimens of the giant squid have been measured.
D. Because sperm whales prey on giant squid, they must also prey on colossal squid.


A. The longest known colossal squid is ten meters long, so there is no colossal squid longer than the longest giant squid. According to paragraph 2, there are very few samples of colossal squid, and all of them have been juveniles. It is improper to draw a conclusion about the entire colossal squid species on the basis of such limited evidence.


Question 3
Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence.
If you are the last one to leave, turn off all lights, _______________ coffee makers.
A. and computers, and the
B. computers, and check the
C. computers, and checking the
D. computers, and


D. computers, and The original sentence combined single words and clauses in the same series. Choice (D) corrects the error by turning the last item in the list from a clause to a noun phrase (lights, computers, and coffee makers).


Question 4
Which of the following is the best revision for sentence 4 below?
(1) The children could not believe their good fortune. (2) The snow had fallen steadily all night, and now it lay in huge piles around the house and blockaded the driveway. (3) “No school!” they shouted. (4) Their parents were less agitated and looked at each other across the breakfast table with anxious expressions, wondering which of them would have to stay at home with the children.
A. (No change)
B. Change “agitated” to “excited”
C. Change “anxious” to “tormented”
D. Change “stay” to “reside”


B. Change “agitated” to “excited.” The word needs to describe the happy enthusiasm of the children, in contrast to their parents, and excited works well; agitated has a negative connotation. The parents are worried, not tormented (in severe physical or mental pain), so anxious is correct. To reside refers to living somewhere, and the parents already live at home with their children, so stay is correct.


 

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