Civil Service Reading Comprehension Practice Test Results

Question 1
53% answer correctly

Water polo, or Water ball, is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores the most goals.

Game play involves swimming, treading water (using a sort of kicking motion known as `eggbeater kick`), players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing the ball into a net defended by a goalie. `Man-up` (or `power play`) situations occur frequently.

Water polo, therefore, has strong similarities to the land-based game of team handball.


Which of the following is NOT a similarity between water polo and team handball?

Power play situations occur frequently.
Both sports feature the `eggbeater kick`.
Goals are scored by throwing the ball into a net defended by a goalie.
Both sports feature passing.
Question 2
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:

Not much is known about the Mayan language family.
The Mayan language family is well documented.
Mayan languages are mainly spoken in South America.
Proto-Mayan is a modern variation of Mayan.
Question 3
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:

Being flexible
Being submissive or compiant
Complying with the requests or desires of others
Giving way under pressure