ARW1 MIDTERM EXAM

Student’s name: _JJDKKKD___________________

Teacher’s name: _____________________________________________________________

Course: Advanced Reading and Writing One (ARW1) Site: ______________

Textbook: NorthStar 4 - Reading & Writing (4th Edition) Unit: 1 Date: ______________

SECTION I: Reading Comprehension

(Main ideas, details, inference, reference, and word meaning)

Read the article. Then use the information to complete the activities that follow.
(4 points each / sub-total = 24 points)

Becoming a Savant

1 Savants are people who have “superhuman” mental abilities. They might be
able to remember every word of a book they just read, or quickly estimate the sum of a
complicated math problem. This rare condition is often linked with autism. People with
autism are socially disabled in terms of their interactions with others. Likewise, savants
usually have difficulty assimilating with the rest of society. They have a hard time
relating to everyone else. In a recent study, one savant said, “You’d think people would
realize that we’re anxious and uncomfortable around them.” Another savant tried to
explain his feelings by stating, “I’m not very flexible. I have my own schedule that I like
to keep to, and I don’t care what people say.”

2 Emerging evidence in the past few decades has suggested that savant-like
abilities can be related to injury to the left hemisphere of the brain. It can also be due to
lack of development of this part of the brain. The right hemisphere of the brain
compensates for this, and as a result, savants develop new mental abilities that are
different from those of ordinary people.

3 Allan Snyder is a scientist in Sydney, Australia. He is known for his expertise in

this
area. Dr. Snyder decided to study the effect of electromagnetic pulses on different areas
of the brain. He believed that he could bring out savant-like abilities in ordinary people
by sending pulses to their brains. The study is an important one. If controlled correctly,
people could certainly benefit from having these new abilities.

4 Dr. Snyder’s results were predictable, based on his theory. He found that the
pulses transformed the way the brain handled information. People were able to
recognize details that they never saw before in images and words. The longer they
received the pulses, the more details they retained. For example, a New York Times
reporter drew a cat several times while receiving pulses to his brain. He noted that each
image was more and more detailed. “I could hardly recognize them as my own
drawings, though I had watched myself render each one, in all its loving detail.”

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 Dr. Snyder’s persistence in this study has helped to give an idea of how a
savant’s brain works. It has also shown that, with the right equipment, anyone can be a
savant!

Choose the best answer.

1. What is another good title for this article?

A. “Practice Makes a Savant”

B. “The Neurobiology of Retention”
C. “Understanding the Mind of Savants”
D. “Improving Your Attention to Details”

2. What do savants have in common?

A. They have a more developed left hemisphere.

B. They can make very detailed drawings.
C. They relate to people with brain injuries.
D. They don’t feel comfortable in social interactions.

3. What is the best heading for paragraphs 3 and 4?

A. Research in brain processes

B. Savants’ brain injuries
C. Science in Australia and New York
D. Finding savants through art

4. In Dr. Snyder’s study, the pulses _________________.

A. made people want to be savants

B. helped people notice more details
C. made savants act like ordinary people
D. made savants become artists

5. In paragraph 4 in the sentence: “The longer they received the pulses, the more details they
retained.” What does “they” refer to?

A. American reporters
B. study participants
C. savants
D. brain scientists

6. What is the meaning of the word “render” in Paragraph 4?

A. identify
B. notice
C. make
D. receive

SECTION II: Skills for writing

(Identifying topic sentences and complete ideas)

Read the following paragraph and write the letters of the correct sentences in the blanks
next to the questions. (3 points each / sub-total = 21 points)

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 (A) In a self-assessment questionnaire, music lovers repeatedly rank their emotional
response to music as one of the greatest pleasures of their life. (B) The questionnaire,
distributed to twenty seven music listeners, asked respondents to rank their experience of music
on a scale of one to six. (C) Additionally, the questionnaire asked them to rank their enjoyment
of other common pleasures: eating, activities with friends, pursuing a favorite hobby, and
relaxing. (D) I like all of these things too. (E) Respondents typically ranked their love of certain
hobbies, eating, and friends with the high rank of four and five. (F) But among the most avid of
music listeners, their exaltation at listening to specific pieces of music regularly ranked at six.
(G) In short, by their own assessment, their appreciation of music was one of the most
extraordinary experiences of their life.

1. The topic sentence is _____________.

2. The following sentence of support would fit best between sentences _________ and
_________:
“One was low in exaltation and six was high in exaltation.”
3. The following sentence of support would fit best between sentences _________ and
_________:
“For many, certain physical pleasures ranked even higher, at five or six.”
4. One sentence that does not belong in this paragraph is __________.
5. The concluding sentence is sentence ___________.

SECTION III: Organizing information

To use graphic organizers to classify, and organize your ideas or thoughts

You will write a summary paragraph based on the reading in Section I of this exam.
Complete the following graphic organizer to plan your summary paragraph. Remember
to write the main idea in the circle in the center and add details in the circles connected
to the main idea. (3 points each relevant idea = 15 points)

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 SECTION IV: Writing
(Identifying and extracting main ideas from a text to write a summary)

Write a summary paragraph based on the reading text “Becoming a Savant” in Section I.
Remember your summary paragraph must have a topic sentence with a controlling idea.
(40 points)

EVALUATION CRITERIA

TOPIC AND TASK 10 points FLOW OF IDEAS 10 points

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY 8 points

ORGANIZATION 10 points
PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING 2 points

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END OF TEST

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