A sixth-grade English learner chats easily with classmates at lunch and in the hallway. In science class, however, she cannot explain cause-and-effect relationships in writing and has difficulty following the textbook. Which interpretation is most accurate?

She has developed basic interpersonal communication skills but not yet cognitive academic language proficiency, which typically takes several more years to develop.

Her conversational fluency shows full English proficiency, so the difficulty most likely signals a learning disability that requires immediate referral.

She is experiencing a high affective filter in social settings that is preventing her from acquiring conversational English.

According to the critical period hypothesis, she can no longer acquire academic English because she has reached early adolescence.

A sixth-grade teacher selects a novel whose Lexile measure falls in the grade 6–8 range. The book alternates among three narrators, includes several flashbacks, and relies heavily on satire. Which statement about this choice is most accurate?

Qualitative features such as structure and levels of meaning can make the text more demanding than its quantitative measure indicates, so reader and task factors must also be considered.

Because the Lexile measure falls in the grade band, the text is appropriately complex for all sixth graders.

Flashbacks and satire lower a text's Lexile measure, so the book is easier than its measure suggests.

A Lexile measure reflects the maturity of a book's themes, so it confirms that the content is suitable.

During a unit on ratios, a seventh-grade teacher wants to find out, before tomorrow's lesson, which students still reason additively about ratios so that she can form small groups. Which assessment best meets this purpose?

An exit ticket asking, "A recipe uses 3 cups of flour for every 2 cups of sugar. How much sugar is needed for 9 cups of flour? Explain your thinking," with responses sorted by strategy

The end-of-unit test scheduled for the following week

Students' scaled scores on the previous year's state mathematics assessment

The percentage of homework assignments each student has completed during the unit

An eighth-grade class includes several English learners at the intermediate proficiency level. The teacher plans a lesson in which students compare short excerpts from Federalist and Anti-Federalist writings. Which modification best supports these students while keeping the lesson's grade-level content?

Providing chunked excerpts with glossed key vocabulary, a visual comparison chart, and sentence stems such as "The Anti-Federalists feared ___ because ___"

Having the English learners color and label a picture of the Constitutional Convention instead of reading the excerpts

Having the English learners copy dictionary definitions of every unfamiliar word before reading

Excusing the English learners from the written comparison and allowing them to listen quietly during discussion

Along a coastline, geologists map a deep ocean trench just offshore, a chain of steep, explosive volcanoes about 200 km inland parallel to the coast, and earthquakes that occur at greater depths the farther inland they are. Which plate boundary best explains these features?

A convergent boundary where an oceanic plate subducts beneath a continental plate

A divergent boundary between two oceanic plates

A transform boundary where two plates slide past each other

A convergent boundary between two continental plates

Every two weeks, a teacher gives a Tier 2 student a three-minute timed passage in which roughly every seventh word is replaced by three choices, and she counts the student's correct selections. Which assessment is she using?

An informal reading inventory retelling

A developmental spelling inventory

A seventh grader is writing to the city council to request a crosswalk near the school. Which features are most important for this purpose and audience?

A formal register, a clearly stated request supported by reasons and evidence such as traffic observations, and a business-letter format

Sensory imagery, dialogue, and a surprising plot twist to hold the council's interest

Rhyme and a regular meter so that the request is memorable

Informal language and slang so that the council sees the writer as friendly

A newly elected governor of Texas disagrees with how the attorney general is handling a major lawsuit and wants to replace the attorney general. The governor discovers that this is not possible. Which feature of Texas government best explains why?

Under the plural executive, the attorney general is elected independently by voters and does not serve at the governor's pleasure

The Texas Senate appoints the attorney general to a lifetime term

The Texas Supreme Court supervises the attorney general and must approve any removal

The attorney general is appointed by the President of the United States

TExES Core Subjects 4-8 (211)

Free TExES Core Subjects 4-8 (211) Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the TExES Core Subjects 4-8 (211), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: English and Language Usage, Orallanguageandlanguageacquisition, Readingfluency, Vocabularydevelopment, Readingcomprehensionandassessment, T E Xt S, Writingconventions, Writtencomposition, Viewing,Representing,Andinquiry, Mathematics, Numbersystemsandoperations, Numbertheoryandproportionalreasoning, Patterns,Algebra,Andfunctions, Geometryandmeasurement, Probabilityandstatistics, Social Studies, Worldhistory, Unitedstateshistory, Texashistory, Geography, Governmentandcitizenship, Socialstudiesinstructionandassessment, Science, Safety,Tools,Andscientificinquiry, Matteranditsproperties, Structureandfunctionoflivingthings, Heredity,Adaptation,Andecology, Scienceinstructionandassessment.

Question 1 · English and Language Usage
A sixth-grade English learner chats easily with classmates at lunch and in the hallway. In science class, however, she cannot explain cause-and-effect relationships in writing and has difficulty following the textbook. Which interpretation is most accurate?
- A.Her conversational fluency shows full English proficiency, so the difficulty most likely signals a learning disability that requires immediate referral.
- B.She has developed basic interpersonal communication skills but not yet cognitive academic language proficiency, which typically takes several more years to develop.
- C.She is experiencing a high affective filter in social settings that is preventing her from acquiring conversational English.
- D.According to the critical period hypothesis, she can no longer acquire academic English because she has reached early adolescence.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. She has developed basic interpersonal communication skills but not yet cognitive academic language proficiency, which typically takes several more years to develop.
Cummins distinguished BICS (social language, about 1–3 years) from CALP (academic language, about 5–7 years). A student who converses easily but struggles with academic reading and writing fits this gap exactly. Referral based only on this pattern confuses normal second-language development with a disability; her social ease shows a low, not high, affective filter in social settings; and the critical period hypothesis describes efficiency of acquisition, not an inability to learn after puberty.
Question 2 · Readingcomprehensionandassessment
A sixth-grade teacher selects a novel whose Lexile measure falls in the grade 6–8 range. The book alternates among three narrators, includes several flashbacks, and relies heavily on satire. Which statement about this choice is most accurate?
- A.Because the Lexile measure falls in the grade band, the text is appropriately complex for all sixth graders.
- B.Flashbacks and satire lower a text's Lexile measure, so the book is easier than its measure suggests.
- C.A Lexile measure reflects the maturity of a book's themes, so it confirms that the content is suitable.
- D.Qualitative features such as structure and levels of meaning can make the text more demanding than its quantitative measure indicates, so reader and task factors must also be considered.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Qualitative features such as structure and levels of meaning can make the text more demanding than its quantitative measure indicates, so reader and task factors must also be considered.
Text complexity has quantitative, qualitative, and reader-and-task dimensions. Lexile measures are based on word frequency and sentence length and cannot capture multiple narrators, nonlinear structure, or satire, which raise complexity. A measure in the grade band therefore does not guarantee appropriateness, these features do not change the Lexile calculation, and Lexile measures do not assess thematic maturity.
Question 3 · Mathematics
A store buys a jacket for $55.00 and marks it up 40%. During a sale, the store takes 25% off the marked price, and then 8.25% sales tax is added. What does a customer pay for the jacket?
- A.$57.75
- B.$62.51
- C.$63.25
- D.$68.47
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. $62.51
Successive percent changes multiply. Marked price: 55 × 1.40 = $77.00. Sale price: 77 × 0.75 = $57.75. With tax: 57.75 × 1.0825 ≈ $62.51. The value $57.75 omits the tax. The value $63.25 comes from netting the percents (40% − 25% = 15%) and omitting tax, and $68.47 applies tax to that incorrect $63.25; percent changes apply to different bases, so they cannot be added or subtracted.
Question 4 · Mathematics
During a unit on ratios, a seventh-grade teacher wants to find out, before tomorrow's lesson, which students still reason additively about ratios so that she can form small groups. Which assessment best meets this purpose?
- A.An exit ticket asking, "A recipe uses 3 cups of flour for every 2 cups of sugar. How much sugar is needed for 9 cups of flour? Explain your thinking," with responses sorted by strategy
- B.The end-of-unit test scheduled for the following week
- C.Students' scaled scores on the previous year's state mathematics assessment
- D.The percentage of homework assignments each student has completed during the unit
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. An exit ticket asking, "A recipe uses 3 cups of flour for every 2 cups of sugar. How much sugar is needed for 9 cups of flour? Explain your thinking," with responses sorted by strategy
A quick formative task gives same-day evidence. Because an additive thinker adds 6 to both terms and answers 8 cups, while a multiplicative thinker scales by 3 and answers 6 cups, the explanation reveals the reasoning behind each answer. The unit test is summative and comes too late to guide tomorrow's grouping. Last year's scaled scores do not measure this specific concept. Homework completion measures effort, not understanding.
Question 5 · Socialstudiesinstructionandassessment
An eighth-grade class includes several English learners at the intermediate proficiency level. The teacher plans a lesson in which students compare short excerpts from Federalist and Anti-Federalist writings. Which modification best supports these students while keeping the lesson's grade-level content?
- A.Having the English learners color and label a picture of the Constitutional Convention instead of reading the excerpts
- B.Having the English learners copy dictionary definitions of every unfamiliar word before reading
- C.Providing chunked excerpts with glossed key vocabulary, a visual comparison chart, and sentence stems such as "The Anti-Federalists feared ___ because ___"
- D.Excusing the English learners from the written comparison and allowing them to listen quietly during discussion
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Providing chunked excerpts with glossed key vocabulary, a visual comparison chart, and sentence stems such as "The Anti-Federalists feared ___ because ___"
Linguistic supports such as chunking, previewing key vocabulary, graphic organizers, and sentence stems make the grade-level texts and task accessible without lowering the cognitive demand, consistent with the English Language Proficiency Standards. A coloring activity replaces the content with a low-level task, copying definitions of every word is inefficient and does not build comprehension, and excusing students from writing denies them practice with academic language.
Question 6 · Heredity,Adaptation,Andecology
Along a coastline, geologists map a deep ocean trench just offshore, a chain of steep, explosive volcanoes about 200 km inland parallel to the coast, and earthquakes that occur at greater depths the farther inland they are. Which plate boundary best explains these features?
- A.A divergent boundary between two oceanic plates
- B.A convergent boundary where an oceanic plate subducts beneath a continental plate
- C.A transform boundary where two plates slide past each other
- D.A convergent boundary between two continental plates
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A convergent boundary where an oceanic plate subducts beneath a continental plate
A trench, an inland volcanic arc, and earthquakes that deepen along the sinking slab are the signature of subduction, in which the denser oceanic plate sinks beneath the continental plate and melts, feeding volcanoes. Divergent boundaries form ridges and rifts, transform boundaries produce shallow earthquakes without volcano chains, and continent–continent collisions build folded mountains such as the Himalayas without trenches or subduction volcanoes.
Question 7 · Readingcomprehensionandassessment
Every two weeks, a teacher gives a Tier 2 student a three-minute timed passage in which roughly every seventh word is replaced by three choices, and she counts the student's correct selections. Which assessment is she using?
- A.A running record
- B.A maze task
- C.An informal reading inventory retelling
- D.A developmental spelling inventory
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. A maze task
A maze is a timed curriculum-based measure in which about every seventh word is replaced by three choices, used to monitor reading comprehension growth. A running record codes oral reading errors, an IRI retelling scores recall after reading, and a spelling inventory samples students' spellings to determine a developmental stage.
Question 8 · Writtencomposition
A seventh grader is writing to the city council to request a crosswalk near the school. Which features are most important for this purpose and audience?
- A.Sensory imagery, dialogue, and a surprising plot twist to hold the council's interest
- B.Rhyme and a regular meter so that the request is memorable
- C.Informal language and slang so that the council sees the writer as friendly
- D.A formal register, a clearly stated request supported by reasons and evidence such as traffic observations, and a business-letter format
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. A formal register, a clearly stated request supported by reasons and evidence such as traffic observations, and a business-letter format
This is practical and argumentative writing for an adult, official audience, so it requires formal register, a clear claim, relevant evidence, and the conventions of a business letter. Narrative elements and poetic devices do not suit the purpose, and informal language is inappropriate for the audience.
Question 9 · Probabilityandstatistics
The two-way table shows band membership and sports participation for 120 seventh graders. In band 18 27 45 Not in band 42 33 75 Total 60 60 120 A seventh grader is chosen at random. What is the probability that the student is in band or plays a sport?
- A.3/20
- B.23/40
- C.29/40
- D.7/8
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. 29/40
The events are not mutually exclusive, so P(band or sport) = P(band) + P(sport) − P(both) = 45/120 + 60/120 − 18/120 = 87/120 = 29/40. (Equivalently, 1 − 33/120 for the students who are in neither.) The value 7/8 = 105/120 counts the 18 students in both groups twice. The value 23/40 = 69/120 counts only students in exactly one group, and 3/20 = 18/120 is the probability of both.
Question 10 · Governmentandcitizenship
A newly elected governor of Texas disagrees with how the attorney general is handling a major lawsuit and wants to replace the attorney general. The governor discovers that this is not possible. Which feature of Texas government best explains why?
- A.The Texas Senate appoints the attorney general to a lifetime term
- B.The Texas Supreme Court supervises the attorney general and must approve any removal
- C.The attorney general is appointed by the President of the United States
- D.Under the plural executive, the attorney general is elected independently by voters and does not serve at the governor's pleasure
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Under the plural executive, the attorney general is elected independently by voters and does not serve at the governor's pleasure
The Texas Constitution of 1876 divides executive power among several officials, including the lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner, and agriculture commissioner, who are elected statewide and answer to voters rather than to the governor. This plural executive is a major reason the Texas governor is considered constitutionally weak. The attorney general is not appointed by the Senate, the Texas Supreme Court, or the President, and does not serve a lifetime term.

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