The Great Gatsby AP Test

Time: 50 Minutes
Directions: This part consists of selections from prose works and questions on their content, form, and style.
After reading each passage, choose the best answer to each question and then place the letter of your choice in
the corresponding box on the scantron.
Questions 1-5. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
(This following passage is from chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby).
1 And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a
limit. Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, but after a
certain point I don’t care what it’s founded on. When I came back from the East
last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral
5 attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses
into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was
exempt from my reaction — Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have
an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then
there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the
10 promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register
earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with
that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the “creative
temperament.”— it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as
15 I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find
again. No — Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby,
what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my
interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.

1. The following (lines 10-11) is an example of what rhetorical device:

“…as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”

a. Personification c. Alliteration
b. Assonance d. Simile

2. The tone of this passage would best be described as…

a. Disillusioned c. Optimistic
b. Hostile d. Persuasive

3. The purpose of this passage in the chapter is most likely…

a. To identify people responsible for Gatsby’s demise
b. To describe the exception to Nick’s lack of judgment
c. To point out Gatsby’s strengths and weaknesses
d. To reveal why Nick returned home
4. Based on lines 5-6, it can be assumed that Nick will likely…
a. Never return to the East.
b. Find a way to seek revenge for Gatsby.
c. Avoid getting intimately involved in other peoples’ affairs.
d. Stop attending any kind of party or wild event.
5. When Nick calls Gatsby “gorgeous,” he is referring to what about him?
a. His “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.”
 b. His “extraordinary gift for hope.”
c. Nick’s “unaffected scorn” for him.
d. His conduct, “founded on the hard rock.”
Questions 6-9. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
(This following passage is from chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby).
1 About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the
railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a
certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where
ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take
5 the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a
transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the
powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives
out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up
with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure
10 operations from your sight. But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust
which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J.
Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their irises
are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous
15 yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of
an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then
sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his
eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the
solemn dumping ground.

6. The author employs which of the following in this passage?

I. Anaphora
II. Simile
III. Alliteration
IV. Symbolism

a. II and III Only

b. I and II Only
c. I, II, and IV Only.
d. I, II, III, and IV

7. The author utilizes diction like “grotesque,” “dimly,” and “crumbling” to...
a. Show how much Nick is dreading the trip into the city.
b. Provide commentary on the bad work conditions for railroad workers.
c. Illustrate how dismal the valley of ashes is.
d. Parallel how the Wilson’s marriage is falling apart.

8. The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckelberg most likely symbolize ________ by the end of the book.
a. Nick, the observer.
b. The eyes of an all-seeing god.
c. The decay of time.
d. The hope felt by those in the valley of ashes.
9. To say a billboard is brooding (line 18) is an example of…
 a. Personification
b. Hyperbole
c. Isocolon
d. Litotes

Questions 10-15. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
(This following passage is from chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby).
1 Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy’s running around alone, for on the following
Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby’s party. Perhaps his presence gave the
evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness — it stands out in my memory from
Gatsby’s other parties that summer. There were the same people, or at least the
5 same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored,
many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading
harshness that hadn’t been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it,
grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and
its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being
10 so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably
saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your
own powers of adjustment.

10.The author uses parallel structure in lines 4-6 to…

a. List things about Gatsby’s party.
b. Poke fun at how Gatsby relies on the same methods over and over.
c. Emphasize how this particular party was even more over the top.
d. Highlight how the party mirrored those prior in order to create contrast.

11. The author is expressing what in the final lines (10-13)?

a. Perception is based on context.
b. People need to see things through other perspectives.
c. How sad Daisy is, seeing all that she could have had.
d. Wonder is limited after one has become accustomed to something.

12. What is the tone established in lines 2-7?

a. Uncomfortable
b. Disappointed
c. Angry
d. Jealous
13. At the party described above, Tom says he wished not to be referred to as…
a. The Buchanan Heir
b. The Polo Player
c. The All-American
d. Old Sport
14. The author uses apostrophe to refer to which abstraction?
a. East Egg
b. West Egg
c. The party
 d. Tom
15. At what point is there a change in tone?
a. Line 4 (“There were…”)
b. Line 7 (“Or perhaps…”)
c. Line 11 (“It is invariably…”)
d. There is no change in tone.

Directions: This part consists of different excerpts from the novel. Match the rhetorical device to the
appropriate example from the text. Mark the corresponding letter on your scantron.

16. “Conduct may be founded on the 20. “‘He’s so dumb he doesn’t know
hard rock or the wet marshes…” he’s alive’”
17. “…this fifth guest’s shrill metallic A. Invective Language
urgency out of mind.” B. Apostrophe
18. “…men and girls came and went like C. Juxtaposition
moths among the whisperings…” D. Alliteration
19. “…a corps of caterers came down E. Simile
with several hundred feet of canvas…”

21. “…to eat with ferocious delicacy”

22. "I'm paralyzed with happiness."
23. "Boom of the bass drum.."
24. "I was a guide, a pathfinder, an
original settler"
25. “There is no confusion like the
confusion of a simple mind.”
A. Hyperbole
B. Maxim
C. Oxymoron
D. Asyndeton
E. Onomatopoeia
Directions: This part consists of multiple choice questions about the events of the novel. Read the question
carefully and mark the corresponding letter on your scantron.
26. What does Nick reveal in the first chapter that makes him a reliable narrator?
a. He comes from a wealthy family in Chicago.
b. He does not judge people because they haven’t had the same advantages.
c. He is older and wiser than the other characters.
d. He is very interested in other people’s stories and seeks them out.
27. How is the affair between Tom and Myrtle revealed?
a. She shows up at Tom’s house.
b. He introduced her to Jordan.
c. She calls Tom during dinner.
d. He brings Myrtle to the speakeasy for lunch.
28. What is the Valley of Ashes?
a. A desolate farm where crops no longer grow.
b. A ghetto-like area of New York City
c. A highway with factories on either side.
d. A railroad stop between the Eggs and New York City.
29. What surprises Owl Eyes about the books in Gatsby’s library?
a. That they are real.
b. That they are all fairy tales.
c. That the pages are blank.
d. That they are all inexpensive.
30. What item does Gatsby show Nick in the car to prove he went to Oxford?
a. A medal.
b. A diploma.
c. A letter from a classmate.
d. A photograph.
31. What does Meyer Wolfsheim do for a living?
a. Dentist.
b. Gambler.
c. Baseball Commissioner.
d. Speakeasy Owner.
32. What does Gatsby knock over at Nick’s tea party?
a. Flowers
b. The tea set
c. A clock
d. A chair
33. Who is Dan Cody?
a. A wealthy man that mentored Gatsby.
b. A questionable gambler Nick meets.
c. The “boarder” that lives in Gatsby’s house.
d. A former All-American athlete.
34. How does Tom act at Gatsby’s party?
a. He gets into a physical altercation with Gatsby.
b. He refuses to let Daisy leave his side.
c. He criticizes everything about the party.
d. He is embarrassed when Myrtle shows up.
35. What information does Tom get from Wilson when he stops for gas on the way to the city?
a. He and Myrtle are moving away.
b. Myrtle has taken ill with a terrible disease.
 c. Myrtle no longer wishes to see him.
d. He will no longer let Myrtle out of the house.
36. What does Gatsby desperately need Daisy to say at the hotel?
a. That she loves him.
b. That she never loved Tom.
c. That she wants to end her marriage.
d. That her child is not Tom’s.
37. Who is driving the yellow car when Myrtle is hit?
a. Gatsby
b. Tom
c. Nick
d. Daisy
38. What is Gatsby doing when approached by Wilson?
a. Waiting for Daisy’s call in his study.
b. Standing on the dock looking at the green light.
c. Swimming in his pool.
d. Wiping clean the yellow car.
39. Why does Wolfsheim say he cannot attend Gatsby’s funeral?
a. He claims it is too risky for him to be involved.
b. He says he never liked Gatsby to begin with.
c. He says it will be too difficult for him.
d. He claims he will be out of town.
40. How did Nick react when he saw Tom years later?
a. He embraced him like an old friend, showing that he’d forgiven him.
b. He asked about Daisy and mentioned Gatsby’s death.
c. He reluctantly acknowledged him but made his feelings clear.
d. He ignored him completely.
 The Great Gatsby AP Test
Time: 50 Minutes
Directions: This part consists of selections from prose works and questions on their content, form, and style.
After reading each passage, choose the best answer to each question and then place the letter of your choice in
the corresponding box on the scantron.
Questions 1-5. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
(This following passage is from chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby).
1 And, after boasting this way of my tolerance, I come to the admission that it has a
limit. Conduct may be founded on the hard rock or the wet marshes, but after a
certain point I don’t care what it’s founded on. When I came back from the East
last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and at a sort of moral
5 attention forever; I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses
into the human heart. Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was
exempt from my reaction — Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have
an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then
there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the
10 promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register
earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with
that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the “creative
temperament.”— it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as
15 I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find
again. No — Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby,
what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my
interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.

26. The following (lines 10-11) is an example of what rhetorical device:

“…as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”

a. Personification c. Alliteration
b. Assonance d. Simile

27.The tone of this passage would best be described as…

a. Disillusioned c. Optimistic
b. Hostile d. Persuasive

28. The purpose of this passage in the chapter is most likely…

a. To identify people responsible for Gatsby’s demise
b. To describe the exception to Nick’s lack of judgment
c. To point out Gatsby’s strengths and weaknesses
d. To reveal why Nick returned home
29. Based on lines 5-6, it can be assumed that Nick will likely…
a. Never return to the East.
b. Find a way to seek revenge for Gatsby.
c. Avoid getting intimately involved in other peoples’ affairs.
d. Stop attending any kind of party or wild event.
30. When Nick calls Gatsby “gorgeous,” he is referring to what about him?
a. His “heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.”
 b. His “extraordinary gift for hope.”
c. Nick’s “unaffected scorn” for him.
d. His conduct, “founded on the hard rock.”
Questions 6-9. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
(This following passage is from chapter 2 of The Great Gatsby).
1 About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the
railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a
certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes — a fantastic farm where
ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take
5 the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a
transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the
powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives
out a ghastly creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up
with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure
10 operations from your sight. But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust
which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T. J.
Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic — their irises
are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous
15 yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose. Evidently some wild wag of
an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then
sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot them and moved away. But his
eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days, under sun and rain, brood on over the
solemn dumping ground.

31. The author employs which of the following in this passage?

I. Anaphora
II. Simile
III. Alliteration
IV. Symbolism

e. II and III Only

f. I and II Only
g. I, II, and IV Only.
h. I, II, III, and IV

32. The author utilizes diction like “grotesque,” “dimly,” and “crumbling” to...
e. Show how much Nick is dreading the trip into the city.
f. Provide commentary on the bad work conditions for railroad workers.
g. Illustrate how dismal the valley of ashes is.
h. Parallel how the Wilson’s marriage is falling apart.

33. The Eyes of Dr. T. J. Eckelberg most likely symbolize ________ by the end of the book.
e. Nick, the observer.
f. The eyes of an all-seeing god.
g. The decay of time.
h. The hope felt by those in the valley of ashes.
34. To say a billboard is brooding (line 18) is an example of…
 e. Personification
f. Hyperbole
g. Isocolon
h. Litotes

Questions 10-15. Read the following passage carefully before you choose your answers.
(This following passage is from chapter 6 of The Great Gatsby).
1 Tom was evidently perturbed at Daisy’s running around alone, for on the following
Saturday night he came with her to Gatsby’s party. Perhaps his presence gave the
evening its peculiar quality of oppressiveness — it stands out in my memory from
Gatsby’s other parties that summer. There were the same people, or at least the
5 same sort of people, the same profusion of champagne, the same many-colored,
many-keyed commotion, but I felt an unpleasantness in the air, a pervading
harshness that hadn’t been there before. Or perhaps I had merely grown used to it,
grown to accept West Egg as a world complete in itself, with its own standards and
its own great figures, second to nothing because it had no consciousness of being
10 so, and now I was looking at it again, through Daisy’s eyes. It is invariably
saddening to look through new eyes at things upon which you have expended your
own powers of adjustment.

35. The author uses parallel structure in lines 4-6 to…

e. List things about Gatsby’s party.
f. Poke fun at how Gatsby relies on the same methods over and over.
g. Emphasize how this particular party was even more over the top.
h. Highlight how the party mirrored those prior in order to create contrast.

36. The author is expressing what in the final lines (10-13)?

e. Perception is based on context.
f. People need to see things through other perspectives.
g. How sad Daisy is, seeing all that she could have had.
h. Wonder is limited after one has become accustomed to something.

37.What is the tone established in lines 2-7?

e. Uncomfortable
f. Disappointed
g. Angry
h. Jealous
38. At the party described above, Tom says he wished not to be referred to as…
e. The Buchanan Heir
f. The Polo Player
g. The All-American
h. Old Sport
39. The author uses apostrophe to refer to which abstraction?
e. East Egg
f. West Egg
g. The party
 h. Tom
40. At what point is there a change in tone?
e. Line 4 (“There were…”)
f. Line 7 (“Or perhaps…”)
g. Line 11 (“It is invariably…”)
h. There is no change in tone.

Directions: This part consists of different excerpts from the novel. Match the rhetorical device to the
appropriate example from the text. Mark the corresponding letter on your scantron.

41. “Conduct may be founded on the 45. “‘He’s so dumb he doesn’t know
hard rock or the wet marshes…” he’s alive’”
42. “…this fifth guest’s shrill F. Invective Language
metallic urgency out of mind.” G. Apostrophe
43. “…men and girls came and H. Juxtaposition
went like moths among the whisperings…” I. Alliteration
44. “…a corps of caterers came J. Simile
down with several hundred feet of
canvas…”

46. “…to eat with ferocious 50. “There is no confusion like the
delicacy” confusion of a simple mind.”
47. "I'm paralyzed with happiness." F. Hyperbole
48. "Boom of the bass drum.." G. Maxim
49. "I was a guide, a pathfinder, an H. Oxymoron
original settler" I. Asyndeton
J. Onomatopoeia

Directions: This part consists of multiple choice questions about the events of the novel. Read the question
carefully and mark the corresponding letter on your scantron.
41. What does Nick reveal in the first chapter that makes him a reliable narrator?
a. He comes from a wealthy family in Chicago.
b. He does not judge people because they haven’t had the same advantages.
c. He is older and wiser than the other characters.
d. He is very interested in other people’s stories and seeks them out.
42. How is the affair between Tom and Myrtle revealed?
a. She shows up at Tom’s house.
b. He introduced her to Jordan.
c. She calls Tom during dinner.
d. He brings Myrtle to the speakeasy for lunch.
43. What is the Valley of Ashes?
a. A desolate farm where crops no longer grow.
b. A ghetto-like area of New York City
c. A highway with factories on either side.
d. A railroad stop between the Eggs and New York City.
44. What surprises Owl Eyes about the books in Gatsby’s library?
a. That they are real.
 b. That they are all fairy tales.
c. That the pages are blank.
d. That they are all inexpensive.
45. What item does Gatsby show Nick in the car to prove he went to Oxford?
a. A medal.
b. A diploma.
c. A letter from a classmate.
d. A photograph.
46. What does Meyer Wolfsheim do for a living?
a. Dentist.
b. Gambler.
c. Baseball Commissioner.
d. Speakeasy Owner.
47. What does Gatsby knock over at Nick’s tea party?
a. Flowers
b. The tea set
c. A clock
d. A chair
48. Who is Dan Cody?
a. A wealthy man that mentored Gatsby.
b. A questionable gambler Nick meets.
c. The “boarder” that lives in Gatsby’s house.
d. A former All-American athlete.
49. How does Tom act at Gatsby’s party?
a. He gets into a physical altercation with Gatsby.
b. He refuses to let Daisy leave his side.
c. He criticizes everything about the party.
d. He is embarrassed when Myrtle shows up.
50. What information does Tom get from Wilson when he stops for gas on the way to the city?
a. He and Myrtle are moving away.
b. Myrtle has taken ill with a terrible disease.
c. Myrtle no longer wishes to see him.
d. He will no longer let Myrtle out of the house.
51. What does Gatsby desperately need Daisy to say at the hotel?
a. That she loves him.
b. That she never loved Tom.
c. That she wants to end her marriage.
d. That her child is not Tom’s.
52. Who is driving the yellow car when Myrtle is hit?
a. Gatsby
b. Tom
c. Nick
d. Daisy
53. What is Gatsby doing when approached by Wilson?
a. Waiting for Daisy’s call in his study.
b. Standing on the dock looking at the green light.
c. Swimming in his pool.
d. Wiping clean the yellow car.
54. Why does Wolfsheim say he cannot attend Gatsby’s funeral?
a. He claims it is too risky for him to be involved.
b. He says he never liked Gatsby to begin with.
c. He says it will be too difficult for him.
 d. He claims he will be out of town.
55. How did Nick react when he saw Tom years later?
a. He embraced him like an old friend, showing that he’d forgiven him.
b. He asked about Daisy and mentioned Gatsby’s death.
c. He reluctantly acknowledged him but made his feelings clear.
d. He ignored him completely.