The passage says the moment 'arrived secondhand, like a jacket someone else had already worn in.' What does…
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.
The passage says the moment 'arrived secondhand, like a jacket someone else had already worn in.' What does this comparison suggest?
- Amira was wearing a band uniform that had belonged to Ronnie.
- The moment felt comfortable and familiar, so Amira was calm when it came.
- Having imagined the moment so many times, Amira found the real one used up and less thrilling than she expected.Correct answer
- The music folder Mr. Ferreira gave her had been someone else's.
Why “Having imagined the moment so many times, Amira found the real one used up and less thrilling than she expected.” is correct
This tests figurative language, specifically a simile whose two halves have to be connected. The sentence begins by saying she had imagined the moment so often, and a secondhand jacket is one that has already been shaped by someone else's wearing, so the comparison says her imagination had used the moment up before it happened. A useful prompt for a student is: what has already been done to a secondhand jacket, and who had already done the equivalent to this moment?
Why the other answers are wrong
- Amira was wearing a band uniform that had belonged to Ronnie. — The jacket is a comparison, not clothing anyone is actually wearing; uniforms are never mentioned.
- The moment felt comfortable and familiar, so Amira was calm when it came. — A worn-in jacket is comfortable, which makes this tempting, but the very next sentence says her hands shook so badly that the opening bars came out thin. Amira was anything but calm, so the comparison cannot mean the moment felt easy.
- The music folder Mr. Ferreira gave her had been someone else's. — The folder really did come from Ronnie, which makes this the most tempting wrong answer, but the simile is attached to 'the moment', not to the folder.
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.