Low Level ISEE Reading Practice Test 78

1 Charlotte Perkins Gilman lived from
2 1860 to 1935. She lived during a time when
3 most women in America and Europe had
4 few educational opportunities. For most of
5 Gilman's life, women could not even vote.
6 Gilman had many ideas for how to improve
7 women's lives.
8 Because she grew up in a family that
9 was not wealthy, Gilman read a lot in order
10 to educate herself. When she was eighteen,
11 however, she attended the Rhode Island
12 School of Design. She worked her way
13 through school by tutoring and teaching.
14 Gilman eventually began publishing
15 books, articles, poems, and even a monthly
16 magazine of her own. She also lectured
17 to large groups. Much of her writing and
18 speaking focused on allowing women to
19 use their natural talents and intelligence by
20 giving them access to education and jobs
21 that paid well. By offering lots of different
22 ideas and ways to change society, Gilman
23 helped women gain the right to live full,
24 productive lives.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

• A. convince the reader that women are able to work and study outside the home
• B. describe how one woman focused on helping to improve others' lives
• C. prove that people who are not wealthy can still gain access to education
• D. show that everyone needs to find a way to help others

2. According to the passage, during Gilman's life women did not have

• A. any ideas about how to change things
• B. any way to publish their writing
• C. a way to travel between America and Europe
• D. many options for school and work

3. It can be inferred from lines 8–10 that Gilman

• A. did not like to read by herself
• B. planned to become a writer and speaker when she was young
• C. preferred to spend time alone
• D. was not able to attend school very often as a child

4. The main point of the third paragraph (lines 14–24) is that

• A. Gilman enjoyed writing and speaking to large groups
• B. Gilman worked to spread ideas about how women could live fuller lives
• C. it was very easy to publish your own magazine at the turn of the century
• D. most women did not have access to education and well-paying jobs

5. Based on the information in the passage, you could most likely expect one of Gilman's books to be titled

• A. Europe: A History
• B. Growing Up Rich
• C. Why Women Don't Need to Vote
• D. Women and Economics