Why does Amira get the solo?
Read a Literary Passage · ELPAC Grades 6–8 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A short story or scene, with questions about characters, events and what words mean in context.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
Second Chair
For two years Amira had been the second trumpet in the Lincoln Middle School jazz band, which meant she learned every solo and played none of them. She practiced them anyway, in the garage, with the door pulled halfway down so the neighbors would only get half the noise.
On the Thursday before the spring concert, Ronnie Vasquez broke his wrist skateboarding, and Mr. Ferreira handed Amira the solo folder without any ceremony at all. “Bar forty-one,” he said. “It's yours.”
She had imagined the moment so often that the real thing arrived secondhand, like a jacket someone else had already worn in. At the first rehearsal her hands shook so badly that the opening four bars came out thin and apologetic. The band played on. Mr. Ferreira did not stop them, and somehow that was worse than being stopped.
That night she did not practice the solo at all. She practiced the two bars before it, the ordinary measures where the trumpet only holds a single note under the saxophones, until she could play them without thinking about what came next.
On Saturday the stage lights turned the auditorium into a warm wall of dark. Amira found the single note under the saxophones and held it. When bar forty-one arrived she was already inside the music, and she walked through the door without noticing she had opened it.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why does Amira get the solo?
- Ronnie Vasquez broke his wrist a few days before the concert.Correct answer
- Mr. Ferreira heard her practicing in the garage.
- She asked Mr. Ferreira for it after waiting two years.
- She played the part better than Ronnie did at rehearsal.
Why “Ronnie Vasquez broke his wrist a few days before the concert.” is correct
This is a cause-and-effect question on a plainly stated event, and it gives students an early foothold in the passage. The second paragraph puts the injury and the handover in a single sentence: Ronnie breaks his wrist, and Mr. Ferreira hands Amira the folder. The distractors are all outcomes a reader might want for her, which is why the question is worth asking — it checks that a student reads what happened rather than what would be satisfying.
Why the other answers are wrong
- Mr. Ferreira heard her practicing in the garage. — The garage practice shows her dedication, but the passage never says anyone heard it; she pulls the door down so the neighbors will not.
- She asked Mr. Ferreira for it after waiting two years. — She never asks. The passage stresses how little ceremony there was, and the folder simply arrives.
- She played the part better than Ronnie did at rehearsal. — Ronnie and Amira never compete. He is injured before the concert, and her one rehearsal goes badly.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 6–8, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 6–8. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
This is an independent study resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the California Department of Education or the official ELPAC program. All questions here are original practice material written to match the published task formats.