Civil Service Reading Comprehension Practice Test Results

Question 1
70% answer correctly

The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras. In 1996, Guatemala formally recognized 21 Mayan languages by name, and Mexico recognizes eight more.

The Mayan language family is one of the best documented and most studied in the Americas. Modern Mayan languages descend from Proto-Mayan, a language thought to have been spoken at least 5,000 years ago.


Based on this passage, which of the following statements is true:

Proto-Mayan is a modern variation of Mayan.
The Mayan language family is well documented.
Not much is known about the Mayan language family.
Mayan languages are mainly spoken in South America.
Question 2
41% answer correctly

The 1980 New York Mets season was the 19th regular season for the Mets, who played home games at Shea Stadium. Led by manager Joe Torre, the team had a 67-95 record, yielding a 5th place finish in the National League East.


In this paragraph`s context, the word `yielding` most closely means:

Complying with the requests or desires of others
Giving way under pressure
Being flexible
Being submissive or compiant
Question 3
64% answer correctly

The Vikings were seafaring north Germanic people who raided, traded, explored, and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries.

The Vikings employed wooden longships with wide, shallow-draft hulls, allowing navigation in rough seas or in shallow river waters. The ships could be landed on beaches, and their light weight enabled them to be hauled over portages. These versatile ships allowed the Vikings to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia, as far west as Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland, and as far south as Nekor.

This period of Viking expansion, known as the Viking Age, constitutes an important element of the medieval history of Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, Russia, and the rest of Europe.


According to this passage, which of the following is NOT an advantage of longships?

They could be landed on beaches.
They could navigate in both seas and rivers.
They could hold many Viking warriors.
They were light in weight.