Name: 

DOB:

What is your gender? Please mark one.

☐ Male

☐ Female

Are you a U.S. citizen?

☐ Yes

☐ No

What is your race? Please mark one.

☐ White

☐ Other

☐ Other

☐ Other

DIRECTIONS:

Fill in the correct letter with a #2 pencil on the answer sheet. Do not use ink or ballpoint pens. Questions left blank will be marked incorrect. Completely fill in each circle.

Passage One

Our school board summoned an angel to bathe the town in holy cleansing fire. They were sensitive to parental concerns about the amount of sin in the public high school.

The first thing it did was turn the school library into a blackened pit. Thankfully, there was no librarian, and the students were already forbidden from using it, so no one was hurt. The janitor strung the doorway with yellow caution tape.

Next, it destroyed the computer lab, shattering all of the LCD screens with a single euphoric note. The vice principal went on the intercom and made an announcement that all computer classes were canceled for the foreseeable future.

We were pleased with its progress. We called for it to separate the wheat from the chaff and let no wicked thing prosper.

You began to leave offerings for the angel in the hole in the wall of the second floor girls’ bathroom: a ceramic turtle figurine, a Cosmic Brownie, a gel pen, Marcus Jakobowski’s algebra notes. They were always gone the next day.

1. In the sentence above where “angel” is underlined, please choose the best word to replace “angel” or mark NO CHANGE:

a. Alien

b. Demon

c. A force of nature, a train coming toward you, the inevitable, terrible, divine manifestation of judgement

d. NO CHANGE

2. In the sentence above where “sin” is underlined, please choose the best word or phrase to replace “sin” or mark NO CHANGE:

a. Transgender students

b. Critical Race Theory

c. Funding for universal education

d. NO CHANGE

3. In the sentence above where “let no wicked thing prosper” is underlined, if the word “wicked” were deleted, the essay would primarily lose:

a. Might

b. Wrath

c. Judgment

d. Mercy

4. Which of the choices best emphasizes how the angel feels about the town?

a. Like a wildfire about a forest.

b. Like a wolf about a fawn.

c. Like a Chevy Silverado about a pedestrian.

d. Like Lot’s wife when she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt.

Passage Two

The angel hung like the sword of Damocles over the football field. If anyone looked at it for too long, their eyes began to bleed. It happened to Jimmy Flynn in AP Bio, and when they sent him to the office Nurse Pam spoke to him in tongues.

The coach was upset because the football team had to move practice to the soccer field, which the soccer team wasn’t happy about either. To make matters worse, parents were starting to call and complain.

You were eating lunch in the empty band room when you heard something in the ceiling tiles above you. You prayed to the angel, because you felt the same shivering bright in its soul as in yours. In return, the beast told you its name.

1. What does the angel look like? Choose the description that fits best:

a. A flaming wheel with six wings and eyes covering its body.

b. A being with four heads and four wings held up by a single cloven foot.

c. A human-like being clothed with clouds, a rainbow on its head, its feet as pillars of fire.

d. Jimin from the boy band BTS.

2. The angel’s voice sounds like:

a. A whisper.

b. A chorus of bells.

c. The wail and rattle of a far-off train

3. Which one of these statements is most correct?

a. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

b. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

c. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation—

Passage Three

Two weeks into the new semester, the angel summoned a great heavenly host: seraphim and cherubim whose wings churned the air and glittered with rainbow light. Nurse Pam shed her skin and joined them on the fifty yard line. Classes were canceled for the day while the admin tried to get the situation under control.

When the school board arrived with a sacrificial goat, white light bathed the sky, and all of them disappeared. Later, a group of confused goats was seen trying to eat the astroturf.

The angels began to drift outwards into town. We could hear them singing their unearthly songs up and down main street. For a moment, we thought we saw you walking among them.

1. Choose the best answer.

a. The world never belonged to us.

b. Our souls were weighed in the balance and found wanting.

c. Our faces were wet with the dew of heaven. The choir grew louder, louder—Run! Don’t look back!

2. Be not afraid.

a. NO CHANGE

b. NO CHANGE

c. NO CHANGE

d. NO CHANGE

3. Short answer: Did you manage to escape? Why or why not? Use the space below to explain your reasoning.