ACT Production of Writing Practice Test
Transitions, adding or deleting a sentence, placement, topic sentences and conclusions. Here are 10 ACT production of writing questions, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Original passages and questions written to the enhanced ACT format (2025): four choices, 50/45/36/40 questions, Science optional. Not affiliated with ACT, Inc. Score estimates are unofficial.
Drill Passage 1
For years, our school newspaper, the Eastfield Ledger, covered pep rallies, cafeteria menus, and the occasional new teacher, it [1] had never broken a real story. That changed last spring, when a sophomore named Priya Nair noticed that every water fountain near the gym was marked out of order. She asked the principals [2] office how long the fountains had been broken, but nobody seemed to know.
For instance, [3] Priya decided to find out for herself. She requested the district's maintenance records, which are open to the public. The stack of work orders that arrived two weeks later show [4] that the fountains had been reported broken eleven times in three years and repaired only once.
Priya spent the next month checking every claim twice, verifying each one again, [5] before she wrote a word. When the facilities manager met with the athletic director to discuss her questions, he [6] admitted that the repair money had gone toward a new scoreboard. Priya quoted his admission word for word. [7] Her finished article drew on three sources: the work orders, [8] interviews with custodians, and the district budget.
The story ran on the front page in May. Within a week, the district coughed up the cash [9] to fix every fountain in the building. Holding one of the first copies off the press, the story struck Priya as [10] proof that a student paper could do more than report scores.
1.[3] Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
- A.
NO CHANGE
- B.
Likewise,
- C.
So
- D.
In other words,
Answer: C.Priya decides to investigate because nobody could answer her question, so "So" correctly signals a result. "For instance" would introduce an example, but her decision is not an example of nobody knowing. "Likewise" signals similarity and "In other words" signals a restatement, and neither relationship exists here.
- A.
Drill Passage 2
Public swimming pools in the United States began not as places to play but as places to get clean. In the late 1800s, few homes in crowded city neighborhoods had bathtubs, so reformers built public baths – plain indoor tanks of water – [1] where workers could wash for free. The rules posted at the door of each bath was [2] strict: no splashing, no games, and no more than twenty minutes in the water.
Lifeguards in tall wooden chairs watched over the crowds. [3] By the 1920s, the purpose of the pool had changed. Cities were building huge outdoor pools ringed by lawns and bleachers, some [4] held thousands of swimmers at once. Swimming had become a form of recreation rather than a chore.
After World War II, families who moved to the suburbs often built backyard pools of their [5] own, and city pools lost both swimmers and funding. As a result, [6] many of the grand pools built before the war were drained, paved over, or left to crack.
Today, some cities are restoring old pools and building new ones. For my younger brother and I [7], the pool down the street is the center of summer. It gives us a place to cool off, to learn a skill, and meeting [8] neighbors we would never otherwise know. Any child in town can swim all season with a free pass that costs nothing [9]. The reformers who built those first baths wanted cleaner workers, but they ended up giving cities something way cooler [10]: a place where strangers share the same water.
2.[3] The best placement for the underlined sentence would be:
- A.
where it is now.
- B.
after the sentence ending "had changed."
- C.
after the sentence ending "at once."
- D.
at the end of the paragraph.
Answer: C."The crowds" needs something to refer to, and the paragraph first mentions large numbers of people when it says the pools "held thousands of swimmers at once." Placing the sentence right after that mention ties the lifeguards to those crowds. At the end of the paragraph (choice D), it would separate "the crowds" from the swimmers and interrupt the paragraph's closing point about recreation.
- A.
Drill Passage 3
Inside a converted garage at the edge of town, Marisol Vega spends her mornings beside a furnace that never cools below two thousand degrees. The furnace's [1] steady roar is the first thing visitors notice.
Glassblowing looks effortless when Vega does it. She dips a long steel pipe into the molten glass, gathers a glowing blob on its tip, and blows; gently [2] into the other end. The blob swells like a bubble of honey. Turning the pipe constantly, the glass is kept centered by her [3] so that it never sags. Every step must be done quickly; glass [4] that cools unevenly will crack.
Vega learned the craft at nineteen, sweeping floors in a local studio in exchange for lessons. The owner, Tomas Reyes, let her practice with scraps of glass. [5] When Reyes retired and sold the studio to his nephew, he [6] gave Vega his favorite set of tools. The tongs, along with a wooden paddle and a pair of shears, hangs [7] above her bench today, worn smooth by forty years of use.
Vega now sells bowls and vases at craft fairs across the state. Each piece has a tiny bubble trapped near its base, a flaw she leaves on purpose. [8] The bubble, she says, reminds buyers that a person made the piece. She admits that the work is exhausting and tiring [9], but every morning she lights the furnace again, totally stoked [10] to see what the glass will become.
3.[5] The writer is considering adding the following sentence after the underlined sentence:
He warned her that she would break a hundred pieces before she made one worth keeping.
Should the writer make this addition?
- A.
Yes, because it adds a detail about Reyes's teaching that fits the paragraph's account of how Vega learned the craft.
- B.
Yes, because it explains why Vega chose glassblowing over other crafts.
- C.
No, because it contradicts the earlier claim that glassblowing looks effortless.
- D.
No, because the paragraph has already said how many pieces Vega broke.
Answer: A.The paragraph tells how Vega learned from Reyes, and his warning adds a vivid detail about that apprenticeship. The sentence should be added. It does not contradict the earlier paragraph, which says the craft looks effortless only when Vega, now an expert, does it, and the paragraph never says how many pieces she broke, so choices C and D are wrong.
- A.
Drill Passage 4
For nearly ninety years, the official weather station in the town of Merrill sat in a grassy lot behind the post office. The daily readings from its thermometer and rain gauge were [1] sent to the national weather service, which used them to track the climate of the region.
Then the town grew around it, a [2] parking lot replaced the grass, and a three-story bank went up next door. Over the years, the stations [3] nighttime readings crept slowly upward. Eventually, [4] meteorologists began to suspect that the station was measuring the town rather than the weather.
To test the idea, the weather service set up a second station in a farm field two miles outside town. Comparing the two sets of numbers, the pattern was obvious to the researchers. [5] The old station – hemmed in by pavement, brick, and parked cars, ran [6] about three degrees warmer at night than the field did. Its instruments were identical to the ones behind the post office. [7]
The meteorologist whom [8] led the study recommended moving the station to the field, but she warned that a move would break the town's long record. To keep the record whole, the weather service ran both stations side by side at the same time [9] for a full year so that old and new readings could be matched. Merrill's post office was built in 1912 and still has its original clock. [10] Today the record continues, and the station measures the weather again.
4.[4] Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
- A.
NO CHANGE
- B.
For example,
- C.
Similarly,
- D.
Otherwise,
Answer: A.The suspicion comes after years of readings creeping upward, so "Eventually" correctly marks the passage of time. "For example" would present the suspicion as an example of rising readings, and "Similarly" signals a comparison. "Otherwise" suggests an alternative that the paragraph never sets up.
- A.
Drill Passage 5
The summer I turned fifteen, my cousin Dale decided I was old enough to drive the tractor on his family's farm. Dale had been driving it since he was twelve, and he talked about it the way other people talk about riding a bike, I [1] was terrified.
The tractor was older than both of us put together. Its seat – a metal pan with holes punched in it, was [2] hot enough to burn through my jeans by noon. On the first morning, Dale and me [3] drove out to an empty hayfield where I could do no harm. He taught me the three rules his own father had taught him: keep [4] both hands on the wheel, watch the ground ahead, and always looking [5] behind you before you back up.
The first hour went badly. Behind me, the rows of raked hay finally ran straight. [6] I stalled the engine four times and dragged the rake in wobbly loops across the field. In other words, [7] by the afternoon something had clicked. I stopped fighting the wheel and let the tractor do the work.
Dale told his father that he had never seen a beginner learn so fast. [8] I pretended not to hear, but I grinned the whole way home. Now, whenever I visit, Dale hands me the key without a word, and I hop on that bad boy [9] as if I have done it all my life. I still feel a small thrill when the old engine coughs and rumbles to life [10].
5.[6] The best placement for the underlined sentence would be:
- A.
where it is now.
- B.
at the beginning of the paragraph.
- C.
after the sentence ending "across the field."
- D.
after the sentence ending "do the work."
Answer: D."Finally" signals the result of learning, so the sentence belongs after the writer stops fighting the wheel and lets the tractor do the work. Where it is now, and after the sentence about wobbly loops, it would claim straight rows during the hour that went badly. At the beginning of the paragraph, it would announce success before the struggle is described.
- A.
Drill Passage 1
For years, our school newspaper, the Eastfield Ledger, covered pep rallies, cafeteria menus, and the occasional new teacher, it [1] had never broken a real story. That changed last spring, when a sophomore named Priya Nair noticed that every water fountain near the gym was marked out of order. She asked the principals [2] office how long the fountains had been broken, but nobody seemed to know.
For instance, [3] Priya decided to find out for herself. She requested the district's maintenance records, which are open to the public. The stack of work orders that arrived two weeks later show [4] that the fountains had been reported broken eleven times in three years and repaired only once.
Priya spent the next month checking every claim twice, verifying each one again, [5] before she wrote a word. When the facilities manager met with the athletic director to discuss her questions, he [6] admitted that the repair money had gone toward a new scoreboard. Priya quoted his admission word for word. [7] Her finished article drew on three sources: the work orders, [8] interviews with custodians, and the district budget.
The story ran on the front page in May. Within a week, the district coughed up the cash [9] to fix every fountain in the building. Holding one of the first copies off the press, the story struck Priya as [10] proof that a student paper could do more than report scores.
6.[7] The writer is considering adding the following sentence after the underlined sentence:
The new scoreboard can show instant replays and player statistics.
Should the writer make this addition?
- A.
Yes, because it explains why the district chose to buy the scoreboard.
- B.
Yes, because it shows that the repair money was well spent.
- C.
No, because it contradicts the manager's admission about the repair money.
- D.
No, because it adds a detail about the scoreboard that distracts from the account of Priya's reporting.
Answer: D.The paragraph describes how carefully Priya reported her story, and the scoreboard's features have nothing to do with that. The sentence should not be added because it pulls attention away from her reporting. It does not contradict the manager, so choice C gives a false reason, and choices A and B claim purposes the sentence does not serve.
- A.
Drill Passage 2
Public swimming pools in the United States began not as places to play but as places to get clean. In the late 1800s, few homes in crowded city neighborhoods had bathtubs, so reformers built public baths – plain indoor tanks of water – [1] where workers could wash for free. The rules posted at the door of each bath was [2] strict: no splashing, no games, and no more than twenty minutes in the water.
Lifeguards in tall wooden chairs watched over the crowds. [3] By the 1920s, the purpose of the pool had changed. Cities were building huge outdoor pools ringed by lawns and bleachers, some [4] held thousands of swimmers at once. Swimming had become a form of recreation rather than a chore.
After World War II, families who moved to the suburbs often built backyard pools of their [5] own, and city pools lost both swimmers and funding. As a result, [6] many of the grand pools built before the war were drained, paved over, or left to crack.
Today, some cities are restoring old pools and building new ones. For my younger brother and I [7], the pool down the street is the center of summer. It gives us a place to cool off, to learn a skill, and meeting [8] neighbors we would never otherwise know. Any child in town can swim all season with a free pass that costs nothing [9]. The reformers who built those first baths wanted cleaner workers, but they ended up giving cities something way cooler [10]: a place where strangers share the same water.
7.[6] Which choice is best for the underlined portion?
- A.
NO CHANGE
- B.
Similarly,
- C.
Nevertheless,
- D.
In contrast,
Answer: A.City pools lost swimmers and money, and the closing of many pools followed from that loss. "As a result" correctly signals cause and effect. "Nevertheless" and "In contrast" signal an opposite outcome, which does not fit, and "Similarly" implies a comparison the sentence does not make.
- A.
Drill Passage 3
Inside a converted garage at the edge of town, Marisol Vega spends her mornings beside a furnace that never cools below two thousand degrees. The furnace's [1] steady roar is the first thing visitors notice.
Glassblowing looks effortless when Vega does it. She dips a long steel pipe into the molten glass, gathers a glowing blob on its tip, and blows; gently [2] into the other end. The blob swells like a bubble of honey. Turning the pipe constantly, the glass is kept centered by her [3] so that it never sags. Every step must be done quickly; glass [4] that cools unevenly will crack.
Vega learned the craft at nineteen, sweeping floors in a local studio in exchange for lessons. The owner, Tomas Reyes, let her practice with scraps of glass. [5] When Reyes retired and sold the studio to his nephew, he [6] gave Vega his favorite set of tools. The tongs, along with a wooden paddle and a pair of shears, hangs [7] above her bench today, worn smooth by forty years of use.
Vega now sells bowls and vases at craft fairs across the state. Each piece has a tiny bubble trapped near its base, a flaw she leaves on purpose. [8] The bubble, she says, reminds buyers that a person made the piece. She admits that the work is exhausting and tiring [9], but every morning she lights the furnace again, totally stoked [10] to see what the glass will become.
8.[8] The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
- A.
Kept, because it explains how Vega traps a bubble inside the glass.
- B.
Kept, because it introduces the bubble that the next sentence explains.
- C.
Deleted, because it contradicts the claim that Vega's pieces sell well.
- D.
Deleted, because it shifts the paragraph's focus away from craft fairs.
Answer: B.The next sentence begins "The bubble, she says," which only makes sense if the bubble has already been introduced. The underlined sentence should be kept because it sets up that explanation. Choice A is wrong because the sentence never explains how the bubble is made.
- A.
Drill Passage 4
For nearly ninety years, the official weather station in the town of Merrill sat in a grassy lot behind the post office. The daily readings from its thermometer and rain gauge were [1] sent to the national weather service, which used them to track the climate of the region.
Then the town grew around it, a [2] parking lot replaced the grass, and a three-story bank went up next door. Over the years, the stations [3] nighttime readings crept slowly upward. Eventually, [4] meteorologists began to suspect that the station was measuring the town rather than the weather.
To test the idea, the weather service set up a second station in a farm field two miles outside town. Comparing the two sets of numbers, the pattern was obvious to the researchers. [5] The old station – hemmed in by pavement, brick, and parked cars, ran [6] about three degrees warmer at night than the field did. Its instruments were identical to the ones behind the post office. [7]
The meteorologist whom [8] led the study recommended moving the station to the field, but she warned that a move would break the town's long record. To keep the record whole, the weather service ran both stations side by side at the same time [9] for a full year so that old and new readings could be matched. Merrill's post office was built in 1912 and still has its original clock. [10] Today the record continues, and the station measures the weather again.
9.[7] The best placement for the underlined sentence would be:
- A.
where it is now.
- B.
at the beginning of the paragraph.
- C.
after the sentence ending "outside town."
- D.
after the sentence ending "obvious to the researchers."
Answer: C."Its instruments" must refer to the second station, and the point that its instruments matched the old ones explains why the comparison was fair. That belongs right after the sentence that introduces the second station in the farm field. Where it is now, "Its" seems to refer to the old station, which would compare the station with itself.
- A.
Drill Passage 4
For nearly ninety years, the official weather station in the town of Merrill sat in a grassy lot behind the post office. The daily readings from its thermometer and rain gauge were [1] sent to the national weather service, which used them to track the climate of the region.
Then the town grew around it, a [2] parking lot replaced the grass, and a three-story bank went up next door. Over the years, the stations [3] nighttime readings crept slowly upward. Eventually, [4] meteorologists began to suspect that the station was measuring the town rather than the weather.
To test the idea, the weather service set up a second station in a farm field two miles outside town. Comparing the two sets of numbers, the pattern was obvious to the researchers. [5] The old station – hemmed in by pavement, brick, and parked cars, ran [6] about three degrees warmer at night than the field did. Its instruments were identical to the ones behind the post office. [7]
The meteorologist whom [8] led the study recommended moving the station to the field, but she warned that a move would break the town's long record. To keep the record whole, the weather service ran both stations side by side at the same time [9] for a full year so that old and new readings could be matched. Merrill's post office was built in 1912 and still has its original clock. [10] Today the record continues, and the station measures the weather again.
10.[10] The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
- A.
Kept, because it gives the history of the building where the station first stood.
- B.
Kept, because it explains why the station had to be moved.
- C.
Deleted, because it adds a detail about the post office that has nothing to do with keeping the weather record whole.
- D.
Deleted, because it repeats information given in the first paragraph.
Answer: C.The paragraph explains how the town kept its weather record unbroken, and the age of the post office and its clock have nothing to do with that. The sentence should be deleted. Choice D gives the wrong reason, because the first paragraph never mentions when the post office was built.
- A.
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