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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why did the Tammet family need to bargain hunt in charity shops and do their own home repairs?

2. When Daniel's mother was growing up, what did she consider herself to be?

3. What health issue did Daniel's grandfather have?

4. A game Daniel played with his siblings involved collecting books. What did they do with books?

5. What error did Daniel make out of nervousness at taking the public bus home from secondary school the first day?

Short Essay Questions

1. In what ways does Asperger's syndrome, the kind of autism Daniel has, affect his life?

2. Why was Daniel able to score so well on weekly vocabulary or spelling tests?

3. When going home from secondary school on the first day, why did Daniel take the bus going in the wrong direction?

4. How did Daniel's mother cope when his father entered a psychiatric hospital?

5. Daniel had issues with brushing his teeth. What was his problem and how did he solve it?

6. What role did epilepsy play in Daniel's being an autistic savant?

7. From when he was two-years-old, Daniel began to bang his head repeatedly against walls. Why might he have done this and what did his parents do to stop him?

8. Why did some of the children in primary school call Daniel a crybaby?

9. Other boys teased and bullied Daniel. What eventually made them stop?

10. Why do you think Kevin, Daniel's father, tells his wife who is pregnant with Daniel, "Whatever happens, we'll love him."

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Daniel is diagnosed with epilepsy as a young child. How has this affected him throughout his life? Did it have any effect on his family? Do you believe his grandfather's diagnosis was a contributing factor to his diagnosis? Do you think the epilepsy helped cause his savant abilities or vice versa?

Essay Topic 2

Why does Daniel find languages so fascinating? What aspects of languages are difficult for him? How does his facility with language help him in other areas of life?

Essay Topic 3

Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Daniel (as well as many others) is fascinated with pi. It is an infinite, irrational number. Daniel spends a chapter in the book explaining pi and his relationship with it. Why do you think this fascinates him? Does he see pi in the same way that he experiences other numbers and words? Why, besides raising money for epilepsy research, does Daniel learn pi to some many decimal places at all?

(see the answer keys)

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