Reading Assessment (Post Assessment)

The KnowMeQ Reading Assessment is to be completed in one sitting. Although it was designed to be finished in 30 minutes, there is no set time limit. It is recommended you have a pencil, paper and eraser for any rough work, and you may use a (dictionary, thesaurus, calculator) as you wish.

Answer all questions as best you can. If you leave a question blank, you may go back to finish it.

The Reading Assessment includes a self-assessment, which must be completed first. Information from the self-assessment will be compared to your overall performance on the Reading Assessment.

Questions 1 - 2 are the Self-Assessment. Question 3 - 17 are the Reading Assessment.

The final question of this assessment will ask you to enter your Amazon Mechanical Turk Worker ID. This will be used to verify completion of the work assignment so please ensure that your Mechanical Turk Worker ID is entered correctly. If you do not enter your Mechanical Turk Worker ID correctly you will not be compensated for completing the assessment.

Question Title

* 1. How would you rate your ability to understand the information when you read the following?

	High ability	Medium ability	Low ability
a casual text such as an email, a birthday card, a bulletin, or a blog post	a casual text such as an email, a birthday card, a bulletin, or a blog post High ability	a casual text such as an email, a birthday card, a bulletin, or a blog post Medium ability	a casual text such as an email, a birthday card, a bulletin, or a blog post Low ability
a short informational text such as a newspaper report or newsletter, or a work memo	a short informational text such as a newspaper report or newsletter, or a work memo High ability	a short informational text such as a newspaper report or newsletter, or a work memo Medium ability	a short informational text such as a newspaper report or newsletter, or a work memo Low ability
a longer or more complicated document such as an employment contract, a lease, a rule book, or a policy manual	a longer or more complicated document such as an employment contract, a lease, a rule book, or a policy manual High ability	a longer or more complicated document such as an employment contract, a lease, a rule book, or a policy manual Medium ability	a longer or more complicated document such as an employment contract, a lease, a rule book, or a policy manual Low ability
a form such as a credit card or job application or a registration form	a form such as a credit card or job application or a registration form High ability	a form such as a credit card or job application or a registration form Medium ability	a form such as a credit card or job application or a registration form Low ability
a label such as a drug label for dosage and when to take it, or a product label for nutrition content on a can of food	a label such as a drug label for dosage and when to take it, or a product label for nutrition content on a can of food High ability	a label such as a drug label for dosage and when to take it, or a product label for nutrition content on a can of food Medium ability	a label such as a drug label for dosage and when to take it, or a product label for nutrition content on a can of food Low ability
a graphic text such as a map, a schedule, a graph, or a table	a graphic text such as a map, a schedule, a graph, or a table High ability	a graphic text such as a map, a schedule, a graph, or a table Medium ability	a graphic text such as a map, a schedule, a graph, or a table Low ability
written directions for finding your way to a destination	written directions for finding your way to a destination High ability	written directions for finding your way to a destination Medium ability	written directions for finding your way to a destination Low ability
basic instructions such as a recipe or the steps to assemble a product	basic instructions such as a recipe or the steps to assemble a product High ability	basic instructions such as a recipe or the steps to assemble a product Medium ability	basic instructions such as a recipe or the steps to assemble a product Low ability
a “how to” manual that explains how to install an appliance such as setting up a printer, or how to operate a tool or machine such as a cell phone or a sewing machine	a “how to” manual that explains how to install an appliance such as setting up a printer, or how to operate a tool or machine such as a cell phone or a sewing machine High ability	a “how to” manual that explains how to install an appliance such as setting up a printer, or how to operate a tool or machine such as a cell phone or a sewing machine Medium ability	a “how to” manual that explains how to install an appliance such as setting up a printer, or how to operate a tool or machine such as a cell phone or a sewing machine Low ability
a magazine article, a short story or novel that you have chosen to read for pleasure	a magazine article, a short story or novel that you have chosen to read for pleasure High ability	a magazine article, a short story or novel that you have chosen to read for pleasure Medium ability	a magazine article, a short story or novel that you have chosen to read for pleasure Low ability

Question Title

* 2. Think about your reading experiences. Then rate how often you use the reading strategies listed below.

	Often	Sometimes	Rarely or never
Before I read I think about possible content based on the title or headline	Before I read I think about possible content based on the title or headline Often	Before I read I think about possible content based on the title or headline Sometimes	Before I read I think about possible content based on the title or headline Rarely or never
Before I read I skim over the whole text to get a general idea of what it’s about	Before I read I skim over the whole text to get a general idea of what it’s about Often	Before I read I skim over the whole text to get a general idea of what it’s about Sometimes	Before I read I skim over the whole text to get a general idea of what it’s about Rarely or never
Before I read I think about what I already know about the topic	Before I read I think about what I already know about the topic Often	Before I read I think about what I already know about the topic Sometimes	Before I read I think about what I already know about the topic Rarely or never
While I read, I mentally ask myself questions such as - what does the writer mean? Does this make sense? Do I agree with the writer’s viewpoint?	While I read, I mentally ask myself questions such as - what does the writer mean? Does this make sense? Do I agree with the writer’s viewpoint? Often	While I read, I mentally ask myself questions such as - what does the writer mean? Does this make sense? Do I agree with the writer’s viewpoint? Sometimes	While I read, I mentally ask myself questions such as - what does the writer mean? Does this make sense? Do I agree with the writer’s viewpoint? Rarely or never
While I read, I imagine the people, places, and events that the text is describing	While I read, I imagine the people, places, and events that the text is describing Often	While I read, I imagine the people, places, and events that the text is describing Sometimes	While I read, I imagine the people, places, and events that the text is describing Rarely or never
While I read, I reread confusing parts or look up the meaning of words I don’t know	While I read, I reread confusing parts or look up the meaning of words I don’t know Often	While I read, I reread confusing parts or look up the meaning of words I don’t know Sometimes	While I read, I reread confusing parts or look up the meaning of words I don’t know Rarely or never
While I read, I connect various details in the text so I get the full picture and so I can form my own opinions and conclusions	While I read, I connect various details in the text so I get the full picture and so I can form my own opinions and conclusions Often	While I read, I connect various details in the text so I get the full picture and so I can form my own opinions and conclusions Sometimes	While I read, I connect various details in the text so I get the full picture and so I can form my own opinions and conclusions Rarely or never
While I read, I connect the information in the text to situations and people in my own life	While I read, I connect the information in the text to situations and people in my own life Often	While I read, I connect the information in the text to situations and people in my own life Sometimes	While I read, I connect the information in the text to situations and people in my own life Rarely or never
While I read, I make predictions about what might happen next or about how other people might react to this text	While I read, I make predictions about what might happen next or about how other people might react to this text Often	While I read, I make predictions about what might happen next or about how other people might react to this text Sometimes	While I read, I make predictions about what might happen next or about how other people might react to this text Rarely or never
After I read, I summarize the main ideas of what I just read	After I read, I summarize the main ideas of what I just read Often	After I read, I summarize the main ideas of what I just read Sometimes	After I read, I summarize the main ideas of what I just read Rarely or never
After I read, I think about what I read by asking myself, • what did I understand and what was confusing? • what is the purpose of this text?	After I read, I think about what I read by asking myself, • what did I understand and what was confusing? • what is the purpose of this text? Often	After I read, I think about what I read by asking myself, • what did I understand and what was confusing? • what is the purpose of this text? Sometimes	After I read, I think about what I read by asking myself, • what did I understand and what was confusing? • what is the purpose of this text? Rarely or never
After I read, I think about how I feel about what I have read by asking myself, • did I enjoy reading this, and why or why not? • do I agree with the writer’s point of view, and why or why not? • was this writer effective in expressing ideas to me?	After I read, I think about how I feel about what I have read by asking myself, • did I enjoy reading this, and why or why not? • do I agree with the writer’s point of view, and why or why not? • was this writer effective in expressing ideas to me? Often	After I read, I think about how I feel about what I have read by asking myself, • did I enjoy reading this, and why or why not? • do I agree with the writer’s point of view, and why or why not? • was this writer effective in expressing ideas to me? Sometimes	After I read, I think about how I feel about what I have read by asking myself, • did I enjoy reading this, and why or why not? • do I agree with the writer’s point of view, and why or why not? • was this writer effective in expressing ideas to me? Rarely or never

Searching Three Decades Later

The following summarizes the article: Calgary man searching for group that helped him emigrate to Canada three decades ago, The Canadian Press, Sharif Hassan, Published Jan 31, 2023

Please read this summary and use it to answer questions 3 -7

1. Ivo Ceko was a young policeman guarding a hotel in a small Bosnian town when he met a group of Canadians and Americans in 1994. His English wasn’t very good, and they couldn’t speak Croatian, but they managed to exchange some sentences.

2. A woman in the group said that she was travelling home to Canada and asked if she could bring him anything back. Ceko jokingly responded, “Get me a passport.”

3. “‘Really, you want to get out from here?” ‘ he remembered her asking. “I say, ‘who wouldn’t?’ It was a desperate situation.”

4. Three weeks later, Ceko received a brown envelope. Inside were blank Canadian immigration forms and a pair of socks. He filled out the paperwork and applied for a visa.

5. The news of the forms traveled fast across Novi Travnik where everyone knew everyone. Soon, friends showed up, asking if they could make photocopies.

6.    Ceko doesn’t know how many people emigrated to Canada using the photocopies, but he is sure that a few — including one of his friends — did. Ceko arrived in Canada in March 1997.

7.    Ceko spent the next 26 years in Calgary, raising two children and starting a flooring business. Now his children live on their own and his business closed during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

8. “I always have (finding them) on my mind, but I didn’t have the time. Now I have time,” he said. “I just want to find them and say thank you and, you know, hug them and maybe have a drink with them.”

9.    Ceko doesn’t remember much about the five or six people, except that they were in their twenties and had a guitar. He thinks they might have Croatian roots because they were visiting Croatia to see how things were going in their newly founded ancestral country. (Croatia had announced its independence in 1991, launching a brutal civil war within the former Yugoslavia in the years after.)

10.   Perhaps they were employees of charities delivering aid to the desperate population back then. Members of the United Nations peacekeeping forces were in the town and at the hotel, but Ceko doesn’t think they were part of any military unit.

11. Ceko shared his story on a Croatian-Canadian Facebook page. So far, no leads, but Ceko hopes he will get lucky enough to meet the people who changed his life. “I am going to tell them the happy story…They probably forget about that, but I didn’t.”

Question Title

* 3. What is the most likely reason Ceko spoke “jokingly” (paragraph 2)?

He didn’t think his request could be fulfilled.

He thought the Canadian was joking with him.

He didn’t know English well enough to understand the question.

He was afraid he would get into trouble with Croatian authorities.

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* 4. How did Ceko obtain the immigration forms?

He photocopied his friend’s copies.

A Canadian woman sent them to him.

A friend in Calgary mailed them to him.

He applied to the Canadian immigration office.

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* 5. According to Ceko, why are conditions right for him to undertake his search?

He has more free time available.

His English language skills are much better.

His children can help him with the Internet.

He has found more information about the group.

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* 6. Based on details in this selection, was Ceko wise to post on a Croatian-Canadian Facebook page?

Yes, because social media is popular in Croatia.

No, because Croatians in Europe are not likely to see the page.

Yes, because without names, Ceko needs the other people’s knowledge.

No, because the group members are older than Ceko and probably don’t use Facebook.

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* 7. Which statement best expresses the overall theme of this selection?

Forget the past - look to the future.

Life is full of challenges for new Canadians.

Small acts of kindness can have big impact.

Many successful Canadians have come from other countries.

A top meat-eater at the bottom of the sea

The following summarizes the article: There’s a hungry Arctic predator with a lot of arms that eats dead polar bears, The Canadian Press, By Brieanna Charlebois, Jan 28 2023

Please read this summary and use it to answer questions 8 - 12.

1. We think of polar bears as the top Arctic carnivore but according to a 2022 study, Ursus maritimus has a rival - the voracious seastar, better known as the starfish.

2. Remi Amiraux from the University of Manitoba is the study’s co-author and researcher. He said sea floor, or benthic organisms such as the seastar, are not commonly studied because they are often assumed to be lower on the food chain.

3. But researchers found that the ocean floor includes organisms across the whole range of the food chain. Seastars within the Pterasteridae family sat at the top. The study dubbed them "the benthic equivalent to polar bears."

4. "It’s a shift in our view of how the coastal Arctic marine food web works," Amiraux said. Invertebrates (creatures without backbones) living in sediment on the Arctic Sea floor did not just consist of plant-eating herbivores.

5. "You have a whole food web, including primary predators, herbivores and many carnivores. So, it's way more complex than what we thought."

6. Pterasteridae seastars thrive on a diet of marine mammal carcasses that settle onto the ocean floor. While polar bears do not consume starfish, "the opposite is quite true. When a polar bear dies, it can be eaten by the carnivore seastar,” Amiraux said.

7. The researchers examined 1580 samples from wildlife around Nunavut's Southampton Island in Hudson Bay. This region has been identified as an area of interest to be designated as a Marine Protected Area by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

8. The researchers had two goals: to understand how the ecosystem functions and help governing bodies protect and conserve marine life in the area.

9. Amiraux said that though the study focused on an area in the Arctic, starfish are found worldwide, so it is likely that "there is the same structure or the same food web everywhere on the sea floor."

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* 8. Where did Remi Amiraux work?

University of Manitoba

Marine Protection Agency

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Nunavut Conservation Authority

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* 9. What do seastars eat?

Arctic fish

Dead mammals

Underwater plants

Other invertebrates

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* 10. Which paragraph suggests that the researchers achieved their goal of understanding “how the ecosystem functions”?

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 5

Paragraph 7

Paragraph 9

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* 11. What is enclosed by the parentheses in paragraph 4?

A translation

An explanation

A scientific term

An unimportant aside

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* 12. What does this selection show about scientific research?

Researchers in Canada are underfunded.

New findings can challenge established beliefs.

Researchers already know a lot about Arctic animals.

Canadian researchers have international reputations.

Please use the information in the following image to answer questions 13 - 17.

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* 13. According to this selection, which age group shopped online the most in 2020?

Age 15-24

Age 25-44

Age 45-64

Age 65 and over

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* 14. What is the purpose of the images in the section called “What did Canadians buy online in 2020”?

To encourage online shopping

To show logos of online companies

To show examples of the categories

To make that section look interesting

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* 15. What was the most common problem experienced by Canadian online shoppers?

Delivery holdups

Poor quality products

Website freezing and crashes

Restricted shipping to Canada

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* 16. How is information in the top left section of this selection organized?

As a comparison

As a sequence of events

As a problem and solution

As an opinion and support

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* 17. What is the overall main idea that the data in this selection expresses?

Most Canadian adults were active online shoppers in 2020.

Canadians need increased awareness of the risks of online shopping.

The pandemic of 2020 had little impact on Canadian shopping habits.

Many Canadians spend too much money on online goods and services.

Reading Assessment (Post Assessment)

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* 1. How would you rate your ability to understand the information when you read the following?

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* 2. Think about your reading experiences. Then rate how often you use the reading strategies listed below.

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* 3. What is the most likely reason Ceko spoke “jokingly” (paragraph 2)?

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* 4. How did Ceko obtain the immigration forms?

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* 5. According to Ceko, why are conditions right for him to undertake his search?

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* 6. Based on details in this selection, was Ceko wise to post on a Croatian-Canadian Facebook page?

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* 7. Which statement best expresses the overall theme of this selection?

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* 8. Where did Remi Amiraux work?

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* 9. What do seastars eat?

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* 10. Which paragraph suggests that the researchers achieved their goal of understanding “how the ecosystem functions”?

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* 11. What is enclosed by the parentheses in paragraph 4?

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* 12. What does this selection show about scientific research?

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* 13. According to this selection, which age group shopped online the most in 2020?

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* 14. What is the purpose of the images in the section called “What did Canadians buy online in 2020”?

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* 15. What was the most common problem experienced by Canadian online shoppers?

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* 16. How is information in the top left section of this selection organized?

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* 17. What is the overall main idea that the data in this selection expresses?

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* 18. Please enter your Amazon Mechanical Turk Worker ID. (Ensure this ID is correct in order to receive payment for completing this work assignment).