ACT Reading Practice Questions with Answers

Read the passage once, answer each question from the text, then open the explanation.

This passage and these questions were written by NextPoint in the style of the ACT. They are not from an official test.

1. Marta had kept the bakery's ledger for eleven years, and in all that time no one had asked to see it. So when the new owner, a tall man who spoke quickly and smiled rarely, asked for it on his first morning, she handed it over slowly, as if surrendering a diary. He turned the pages without comment. Columns of small, careful numbers ran down each one, and beside many of them she had penciled brief notes: rain, fewer walk-ins; school holiday, double the rolls. He stopped at a page from the winter two years earlier. “You wrote that we'd run short of flour before the storm,” he said. “Three days before.” Marta nodded. “The delivery truck's tires were bald,” she said. “I could see it coming.” He closed the ledger and, for the first time that morning, smiled.

   According to the passage, Marta predicted the flour shortage because she had noticed that:

   • A. a storm was approaching
   • B. the delivery truck's tires were worn out
   • C. customers were buying more rolls
   • D. the owner was changing suppliers
   Show answer and solution

   Answer: B. Marta says, “The delivery truck's tires were bald.” The storm is the event the shortage came before, not her reason, and rolls and suppliers are never connected to her prediction.

2. The phrase “as if surrendering a diary” suggests that Marta:

   • A. is reluctant to share something she regards as personal
   • B. has hidden a mistake in the ledger
   • C. expects the new owner to praise her
   • D. no longer wants to work at the bakery
   Show answer and solution

   Answer: A. A diary is private, so handing over the ledger “as if surrendering” one shows she sees it as personal and is slow to give it up. Nothing in the passage mentions a hidden mistake, expected praise or a wish to leave.

3. Why does the new owner smile at the end of the passage?

   • A. He realizes Marta's notes show careful, accurate judgment
   • B. He finds the ledger's numbers amusing
   • C. He is relieved that the bakery has enough flour
   • D. He plans to replace the delivery truck
   Show answer and solution

   Answer: A. He stops at the entry where Marta correctly warned of a shortage, and her explanation shows she read the situation well. The smile follows that exchange. The passage does not say the flour is plentiful or that he plans to replace the truck.

4. Which choice best states the main idea of the passage?

   • A. A new manager forces a longtime employee to defend her work.
   • B. A new owner comes to respect an employee's overlooked skill.
   • C. A bakery struggles to survive a difficult winter.
   • D. An employee hides her feelings about her job.
   Show answer and solution

   Answer: B. The passage moves from Marta's wariness to the owner's discovery of her careful records and his first smile. “Forces her to defend” is too strong, the winter is only one detail, and her feelings are not the focus.

How to review your answers

• For each miss, find the exact lines that support the right answer.
• Name how your answer failed: too extreme, out of scope, half right, reversed or right fact wrong question.
• Re-do the question in a few days without looking at the explanation.

Read more about ACT Reading strategies and how to study for the ACT.

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