Excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Reading Test

This 38-question multiple-choice reading comprehension and analysis test on a nonfiction excerpt from the autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (from the textbook HOLT McDOUGAL LITERATURE, GRADE 9 ISBN-10: 0547115784) has questions from different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy (revised). It will test students’ literal and interpretive understanding of the selection including: point of view, making inferences, vocabulary (including words from SAT/ACT exams), cause and effect, figurative language, literary devices, author’s purpose, main idea, summarization, fact and opinion, analogies, and other elements of literature. Questions are modeled after standardized tests (SAT, ACT, and state tests) to familiarize students with the structure and vocabulary of standardized test questions. Questions are spaced 1.5 lines apart for comfortable reading. The questions also encourage students to go back and re-read key parts of the selection, a crucial skill for comprehension and improving reading stamina. Teachers are encouraged to remove/add questions as they see fit for their students. Answer key included. Editable MS Word Doc. You can use this product for years and years! Feedback is always welcomed and appreciated!

*Teacher’s note: It is recommended that the reading selection’s paragraphs be numbered before copies are given to students. This helps students locate answers to questions with references to specific paragraphs of the text. This particular reading selection has approximately 7 pages (57 paragraphs) total. Summary of excerpt: Marguerite introduces and speaks of Mrs. Bertha Flowers, the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She delivers groceries to Mrs. Flowers’s home and she teaches Marguerite the importance of the human voice and lends her books. The excerpt begins with the paragraph beginning with the line: “For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church …” and concludes with paragraph beginning with the line: “Childhood’s logic never asks to be proved (all conclusions are absolute).”

**PLEASE NOTE: Due to copyright restrictions, this product does not contain the reading selection(s).

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