Official ParaPro Sample Practice Test

Questions 5–6 are based on the following passage, which students are reading in small groups. The environment in which people live often determines the kind of technology they use. For instance, ancient Mesopotamia had few plants suitable for making paper. But the area had lots of high-quality clay. People used the clay to store information. Modern people store information on paper, computer disks, and CDs. Mesopotamians stored their data on clay tablets—pieces of smooth clay small enough to fit into the palm of an adult’s hand. When a clay tablet was damp, people could scratch pictures and letters into its surface using a sharpened reed. When dried in the hot sun, the clay hardened, preserving the writing and the information. The teacher wants students to understand why the Mesopotamians wrote on clay. What question could a paraprofessional ask a group of students about the passage that would best help the students understand why the Mesopotamians wrote on clay?