Grade 6 FAST Reading practice

Read the complete passage before selecting an answer. Ask which words support the choice, and compare them with the explanation.

These original questions target selected grade-level skills. They are independent practice and do not predict an official FAST score.

The Bell That Would Not Ring [1] When the old station became a museum, Sam volunteered to restore its brass bell. He imagined a crowd falling silent before the first clear note. The museum director handed him a cloth and a folder of maintenance records. “Begin with what we know,” she said. [2] Sam polished the bell until the window appeared in its curved surface. But the clapper barely moved. His friend Leena suggested replacing the worn hinge. Sam hesitated. The records described repairs made by station workers decades earlier; even the crooked hinge seemed to belong to the bell's history. [3] They found two photographs. In one, a worker stood beside the original hinge. In the other, taken years later, the hinge had already been replaced. Sam had been treating every part as though it had arrived at the station on the same day. The photographs told a more complicated story. [4] With the director's permission, they fitted a new hinge and kept the old one in a labeled drawer. The first sound was uneven, more cough than song. Leena adjusted the connection while Sam held the bell steady. The next note filled the room. It was not as grand as Sam had imagined, but it lasted long enough for both of them to stop moving. [5] For the opening, Sam wrote a display label describing each repair they could document. He left a blank where the records were uncertain. When a visitor asked why he had not supplied a likely date, Sam said a guessed date might look like a known one once it was printed. [6] The bell rang several times that afternoon. Between visitors, Sam opened the drawer and looked at the old hinge. Keeping it had not prevented the repair; repairing the bell had not required throwing away its past. On the label, he added directions to the drawer so someone else could examine the evidence.

How do the photographs influence the development of the plot?

1. They persuade Leena to abandon the restoration.
2. They reveal the exact date of every repair.
3. They challenge Sam's assumption and make a careful repair possible.
4. They establish that the bell was never used at the station.

Intended benchmark: ELA.6.R.1.1. A single example does not establish mastery or complete benchmark coverage.

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