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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where was Adam’s photo with Bob Dole displayed?
(a) On the Russell high school website.
(b) On his high school’s message board.
(c) On the front page of the local paper.
(d) In Bob Dole’s campaign literature.

2. Where did Darren have a job?
(a) A grocery store.
(b) An auto repair shop.
(c) An Army surplus store.
(d) A junkyard.

3. When were Jonathan and his first wife married?
(a) 1991.
(b) 1954.
(c) 1938.
(d) 1969.

4. When does the narrator say Jonathan married his first wife?
(a) When they finished their doctorates.
(b) When they got unexpectedly pregnant.
(c) When they both graduated high school.
(d) After they had each lost a parent.

5. Where was Sima’s family from?
(a) Los Alamos.
(b) Los Angeles.
(c) India.
(d) Iran.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Jane say was the first person to get her see the knowledge she might have been hiding from herself?

2. What does Ziegler find he can understand, once he take the pill?

3. What did Jonathan’s therapist see in Jonathan’s fascination with the Ziegler story?

4. How does Jonathan see his dissertation research putting him in Ziegler’s position?

5. How does the narrator say Darren sees life?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator describe the importance of the spread beyond debate?

2. What is the spread and why is it controversial?

3. How does Jonathan explain his success at the Foundation?

4. What happens in the Herman Hesse story Jonathan talks about?

5. What was Jonathan studying for his dissertation?

6. How does the narrative tone change when Bob Dole enters the high school where the debate is taking place?

7. What did Jonathan find captivating about the Duccio Madonna and Child painting in the Met?

8. What is the setting for the opening of The Topeka School?

9. How does the narrator characterize Adam’s role in the debate team?

10. What is the setting for the first full chapter, after the brief prologue?

(see the answer keys)

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