Read the following passage.
A. James Naismith was born in 1861 in Ramsay Township, near Almonte in what is now Ontario. His parents died in 1870, and he and his sister and brother were raised by their uncle on a farm north of Almonte. In 1882 he enrolled at McGill College in Montreal. There he competed in rugby-football, soccer and gymnastics, and he graduated in 1887 among the top ten students in his class. He then studied at the Presbyterian College of Montreal and was licensed to preach in 1890.
B. Late in 1891 Naismith was studying at the YMCA Training School in Springfield. Dr. Luther Gulick, the head of physical education, asked him to create an indoor game for a rowdy class during the long New England winter. Naismith's answer needed very little equipment: a soccer ball and two peach baskets. The first game was played in December 1891, and 18 players took part, five of them Canadians. His 13 rules for the new game were published in 1892, and the game soon spread.
C. In 1895 Naismith became director of physical education at a large YMCA in Denver, and at the same time he studied medicine. He graduated as a doctor in April 1898. That fall he joined the University of Kansas as chapel director, coach and head of physical education. He saw sport as a way to build bodies and character, so he did not put much weight on winning, and he never yelled during games. In 1915 he became a chaplain in the Kansas National Guard, and during the First World War he organized sports for American soldiers in France.
D. In 1936, when he was in his seventies, Naismith travelled to the Olympic Games in Berlin, the first Games to award a gold medal in basketball. He watched the United States beat Canada 19 to 8 in that contest. While in Europe he was also named honorary president of the international basketball federation, though the role was largely symbolic. He retired in 1937 and died in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1939. Today his original rules, bought at auction in 2010 for $4.3 million, are on display at the University of Kansas.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: C
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph C: he graduated as a doctor in April 1898, and then, 'that fall', he joined the University of Kansas. So he was already a qualified doctor when the Kansas job began.
Passage Reference: He graduated as a doctor in April 1898.
Tips: Kansas appears in more than one place. Follow the dates and ask which step came first, the degree or the new job.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph covers his studies at McGill and the Presbyterian College in Montreal. Medicine and Kansas do not come up.
- B: In paragraph B, we are in Springfield at the first basketball game, years before he trained in medicine in Denver.
- D: Paragraph D names the University of Kansas, but only as the place where his rules are shown today. It does not place his medical career.
- E: Paragraph C puts the two events in order: the medical degree in April 1898, then Kansas that fall.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: The first game was played in December 1891, and 18 players took part, five of them Canadians.
Why this is correct: In paragraph B, we learn when the first game was played and that 18 players took part. No score is given, and nothing is said about how many points were made. So the passage leaves this out.
Tips: A number in the passage is not always the number you need. The only score given is from Berlin in 1936.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about his childhood near Almonte and his years in Montreal, well before any basketball game was played.
- B: The second paragraph describes the first game and counts the players, but the final score is missing.
- C: His work in Denver and Kansas fills paragraph C. It mentions coaching, not the result of the first game.
- D: Paragraph D gives a score, 19 to 8, but that is the 1936 Olympic contest, not the first game in Springfield.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: He saw sport as a way to build bodies and character, so he did not put much weight on winning, and he never yelled during games.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph C says he saw sport as a way to build bodies and character. So he did not put much weight on winning. That shows character was more important to him than a win.
Tips: Look for the paragraph where he is a coach, then find the words 'character' and 'winning' together.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: In paragraph A, he competed in sports at McGill, but nothing is said about his ideas as a coach.
- B: The second paragraph explains why the game was invented for a class, not what he believed about winning.
- D: Paragraph D mentions a win by the United States at the Olympics, which he watched. It is not about his coaching views.
- E: Paragraph C says he saw sport as a way to build character and did not put much weight on winning.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Dr. Luther Gulick, the head of physical education, asked him to create an indoor game for a rowdy class during the long New England winter.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: Dr. Luther Gulick asked him to create an indoor game for a rowdy class. This was during the long New England winter. 'Indoor' means inside, and winter is the cold months.
Tips: Find who asked him to invent a game. Check that the same sentence says where and in what season it would be played.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The sports he played as a student in Montreal are listed in paragraph A, but nobody asks him to invent anything there.
- C: In paragraph C, he is a head of physical education himself in Kansas. There is no request for a new game.
- D: The fourth paragraph is about the Olympics, his last years and his rules today, not about how the game began.
- E: Dr. Luther Gulick's request for an indoor winter game is reported in paragraph B.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: Today his original rules, bought at auction in 2010 for $4.3 million, are on display at the University of Kansas.
Why this is correct: At the end of paragraph D, his original rules are on display at the University of Kansas today. 'On display' means people can go and see them there.
Tips: His rules come up twice. The word 'today' tells you which mention says where they are now.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A names McGill College, but it is about his studies there, not about any rules on show.
- B: His 13 rules were published in 1892, as paragraph B tells us. But it does not say where the original copy is now.
- C: The third paragraph mentions the University of Kansas as his workplace from 1898, not as the place where his rules are shown.
- E: Where the original rules can be seen today, at the University of Kansas, is the last point of paragraph D.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: His parents died in 1870, and he and his sister and brother were raised by their uncle on a farm north of Almonte.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph A: his parents died in 1870, and he and his sister and brother were raised by their uncle. An uncle is a relative, so he grew up in a relative's care.
Tips: 'A relative' is a general word. Look for a family member in the paragraph about his childhood.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: The second paragraph is about his time in Springfield and the peach baskets. His family is not mentioned.
- C: Paragraph C describes his jobs in Denver, Kansas and France, with nothing about his parents.
- D: In paragraph D, we read about the end of his own life in 1939. It says nothing about the deaths of his parents when he was a child.
- E: An uncle raising him after his parents died in 1870 is part of paragraph A.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: There he competed in rugby-football, soccer and gymnastics, and he graduated in 1887 among the top ten students in his class.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, he competed in rugby-football, soccer and gymnastics at McGill College. These are three different sports, and he played them while he was a student there.
Tips: Soccer is named in two paragraphs. Ask in which one he is a student who plays it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: A soccer ball appears in paragraph B, but only as equipment for his new game, not a sport he played at college.
- C: Paragraph C says he studied medicine in Denver, but it does not say he played any sports while studying.
- D: The fourth paragraph has him watching basketball in Berlin as an older man, not playing sports as a student.
- E: Rugby-football, soccer and gymnastics at McGill are all listed in paragraph A.
Correct Answer: D
Passage Reference: In 1936, when he was in his seventies, Naismith travelled to the Olympic Games in Berlin, the first Games to award a gold medal in basketball.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D: in 1936, when he was in his seventies, he travelled to the Olympic Games in Berlin. There he watched the United States beat Canada in basketball. In his seventies is late in life.
Tips: He goes to Europe in two paragraphs. The word 'Olympic' and his age point to the right one.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A is about his early years and studies, long before the Olympics he saw in his seventies.
- B: In paragraph B, the game spreads after 1892, but the Olympics are not mentioned.
- C: The third paragraph describes him organizing sports for soldiers in France. That is a different trip from the one to the Olympics.
- E: His trip to the 1936 Games in Berlin is in paragraph D.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Naismith's answer needed very little equipment: a soccer ball and two peach baskets.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B says the new game needed very little equipment: a soccer ball and two peach baskets. A soccer ball belongs to another sport, and this was the equipment for the first game.
Tips: Find when basketball was first played. Check which ball was used, and whether it belonged to another sport.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says he played soccer at McGill, but it says nothing about the ball used in basketball.
- C: His medical degree and his coaching in Kansas fill paragraph C, not the first game's equipment.
- D: In paragraph D, you read about Olympic basketball in 1936 and the rules on display today. No ball is mentioned.
- E: Paragraph B names the soccer ball among the few things the first game needed.
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