Why does the guide tell students who move away for college to update their address?
Read a Short Informational Passage · ELPAC Grades 11–12 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A brief factual text — a notice, a label, a set of instructions — followed by questions.
Read the guide. Then answer the question.
Registering to Vote Before You Turn Eighteen
In California you may pre-register to vote at sixteen. Pre-registration is not a vote. It holds your information until your eighteenth birthday, when the registration becomes active and a ballot is mailed to the address on file.
To pre-register you need a California driver's license or state identification number, or the last four digits of your Social Security number. If you have neither, you may still submit the form and confirm your identity later.
Your registration follows the address you give, not the school you attend. Students who move away for college should update the address, because a ballot mailed to an old address will not be forwarded.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why does the guide tell students who move away for college to update their address?
- A ballot sent to an old address will not be forwarded.Correct answer
- A registration expires when a student leaves the county.
- A student must vote in the county where they attend school.
- Pre-registration has to be renewed at eighteen.
Why “A ballot sent to an old address will not be forwarded.” is correct
This asks for a stated reason, signaled in the text by the word 'because'. The guide says the address should be updated because a ballot mailed to an old address will not be forwarded, so the obstacle is the mail rather than the rules. Point the student to the conjunction: in short informational text the reason is usually attached to the instruction rather than given its own sentence.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A registration expires when a student leaves the county. — The guide never says a registration expires or lapses when someone moves.
- A student must vote in the county where they attend school. — The guide says the reverse, that registration follows the address a person gives, not the school they attend.
- Pre-registration has to be renewed at eighteen. — The registration becomes active automatically at eighteen, so nothing has to be renewed.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 11–12, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 11–12. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
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