Unofficial practice for MTEL English (61): literature, language and reading, then rhetoric, composition and research, each answer sourced.
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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or Pearson. Bank checked October 9, 2026.
A ninth grader of typical intelligence reads slowly, struggles to sound out unfamiliar words and spells poorly. Which language-based learning disability does this profile suggest?Wikipedia, "Dyslexia", lead (read 2026-10-09)
A novel tells its whole story through letters that two sisters send each other, with a few diary entries between them. Which term names this form?Wikipedia, "Epistolary novel", lead (read 2026-10-09)
A report states: "The town library lent 41,000 books last year, up from 35,000. Its roof leaks, and repairs are priced at $90,000. The trustees ask voters to fund the repair in May." Which sentence is an objective summary of the report?MTEL English (61) test objectives (read 2026-10-09); the answer rests on the text printed in the question
A student writes that a character is "thrifty"; a classmate suggests "stingy" instead. What chiefly separates the two words?American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, "thrifty" and "stingy" (read 2026-10-09)
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Subarea I: Reading and language, continued
An editorial argues: "The city should add bike lanes on Main Street. Traffic counts show 600 cyclists use it daily. Two cyclists were hit there last year. Besides, everyone knows drivers hate cyclists." Which statement in it is an assertion offered with no evidence?MTEL English (61) test objectives (read 2026-10-09); the answer rests on the text printed in the question
Beowulf is written in Old English verse. How are the two halves of each line linked?Wikipedia, "Beowulf", lead and the section on form and metre (read 2026-10-09)
Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel Things Fall Apart follows Okonkwo, a leader of an Igbo clan. What does Okonkwo oppose?Wikipedia, "Things Fall Apart", lead (read 2026-10-09)
In Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" a duke draws a curtain to show a guest the portrait of his late wife, and every word of the poem is his. Which form does the poem exemplify?Wikipedia, "My Last Duchess", lead, synopsis and form (read 2026-10-09)
In Stephen Krashen's input hypothesis, which kind of language input moves a learner forward?Wikipedia, "Input hypothesis", the input hypothesis (read 2026-10-09)
In the Epic of Gilgamesh, from ancient Mesopotamia, what does the king of Uruk set out to find after the death of his friend Enkidu?Wikipedia, "Epic of Gilgamesh", lead (read 2026-10-09)
Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston wrote during an African-American cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. Where was the movement centered?Wikipedia, "Harlem Renaissance", lead (read 2026-10-09)
Lincoln opened the Gettysburg Address in 1863 with "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation." To which document does the count of years point?Wikipedia, "Gettysburg Address", lead (read 2026-10-09)
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, follows the Buendía family through seven generations in the town of Macondo. With which literary style is the novel identified?Wikipedia, "One Hundred Years of Solitude", lead and plot (read 2026-10-09)
Paradise Lost begins: "Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit / Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste / Brought death into the World, and all our woe." The lines keep a steady iambic pentameter and do not rhyme. What is this form called?Academy of American Poets, Glossary of Poetic Terms: Blank Verse; the lines as printed in Paradise Lost, Project Gutenberg ebook 26 (read 2026-10-09)
Phillis Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London in 1773. What place does the book give her in American literature?Wikipedia, "Phillis Wheatley", lead (read 2026-10-09)
Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 opens: "That time of year thou mayst in me behold / When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang / Upon those boughs which shake against the cold." What does the time of year stand for?Wikipedia, "Sonnet 73", lead, for the reading; the lines as printed in Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook 1041 (read 2026-10-09)
"The spelunker, a person who explores caves for sport, checked her headlamp twice." Which kind of clue lets a reader work out the meaning of spelunker?MTEL English (61) test objectives (read 2026-10-09); the answer rests on the text printed in the question
Which belief is at the core of Transcendentalism, the New England movement of Emerson and Thoreau?Wikipedia, "Transcendentalism", lead (read 2026-10-09)
Which book of poems that William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge first issued in 1798 is usually taken as the start of the English Romantic movement?Wikipedia, "Lyrical Ballads", lead (read 2026-10-09)
Which event put speakers of an Old French dialect at the top of England's political and church hierarchies, and so opened the Middle English period?Wikipedia, "Middle English", lead and history (read 2026-10-09)
Subarea II: Rhetoric and composition 20
A group preparing a panel presentation keeps talking in circles and has missed its first checkpoint. Which step does the Massachusetts speaking and listening standard for grades 11 and 12 name for this situation?Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy (2017), Speaking and Listening Standard 1 for grades 11–12 (read 2026-10-09)
A narrative draft says, "The market was busy and loud." Which revision replaces the telling with precise sensory detail?MTEL English (61) test objectives (read 2026-10-09); the answer rests on the text printed in the question
A science report says, "The stuff got hot and then changed." Which revision uses exact wording and the vocabulary of its field?MTEL English (61) test objectives (read 2026-10-09); the answer rests on the text printed in the question
A speaker urging a hospital levy begins, "I have been a nurse on these wards for twenty years." Which of the classical appeals is she using?Wikipedia, "Modes of persuasion", lead (read 2026-10-09)
A story opens with a woman locking her shop for the last time. The next scene shows the day she opened it, thirty years earlier. Which narrative technique is the writer using?Wikipedia, "Flashback (narrative)", lead (read 2026-10-09)
A student argues that her school should start at 8:30 instead of 7:30. Which sentence develops a counterclaim fairly and then answers it?Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy (2017), Writing Standard 1 for grades 11–12 (read 2026-10-09)
A student is writing an explanatory piece on how a bill becomes a law, for readers new to the subject. Which organizational structure fits the task best?MTEL English (61) test objectives (read 2026-10-09); the answer rests on the text printed in the question
A student restates a paragraph from a journal article entirely in her own words and gives no citation, reasoning that she quoted nothing. Is a citation needed?Purdue Online Writing Lab, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing (read 2026-10-09)
A student starts a research project with the question "How has technology changed things?" Which revision gives the inquiry a workable scope?Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy (2017), Writing Standard 7 for grades 11–12 (read 2026-10-09)
A student's argument for a later school start ends with a paragraph that raises a new subtopic for the first time: the cost of bus contracts. What should the student do with it?The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Conclusions; Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy (2017), Writing Standard 1e for grades 11–12 (read 2026-10-09)
After a first draft, one student rereads to ask whether the thesis still holds and whether the paragraphs come in the best order. Another only fixes commas and spelling. Which statement describes the two tasks?The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Revising Drafts (read 2026-10-09)
An essay will take a position on the vending machines in a district's schools. Which sentence gives it a precise, arguable claim?The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Thesis Statements (read 2026-10-09)
Classical rhetoric names five canons: invention, arrangement, style, memory and delivery. A speaker rehearsing her gestures, tone and pace is working on which canon?Wikipedia, "Rhetoric", the five canons (read 2026-10-09)
"The coach asked the players to arrive early, that they should stretch, and for a full effort." Which revision gives the sentence parallel structure?Purdue Online Writing Lab, Parallel Structure (read 2026-10-09)
"Having graded the last essay, the red pen went back in the drawer." What is the error in this sentence?Purdue Online Writing Lab, Dangling Modifiers and How to Correct Them (read 2026-10-09)
In a seminar on a novel, which response best propels the discussion in the way the Massachusetts standard for grades 11 and 12 describes?Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy (2017), Speaking and Listening Standard 1 for grades 11–12 (read 2026-10-09)
In MLA style, a sentence quotes page 42 of a book by an author named Okafor, and the sentence does not name her. Which in-text citation is correct?Purdue Online Writing Lab, MLA In-Text Citations: The Basics (read 2026-10-09)
"Maya counted the coins again. Eleven dollars. She wondered whether Mr. Ortiz, humming behind the counter, had noticed." The narrator reports the thoughts of Maya alone. Which point of view is this?Wikipedia, "Narration", point of view (read 2026-10-09)
"Our team started winning right after the school repainted the gym, so the new paint made us win." Which flaw in reasoning does the argument show?The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fallacies (read 2026-10-09)
"The reservoir fell to 40% of capacity. ____, the town limited lawn watering to two days a week." Which transition shows that the second sentence is a result of the first?The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Transitions (read 2026-10-09)
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test objectives of MTEL English, field 61, as the test information guide prints them on the Massachusetts Tests for Educator Licensure website (https://www.mtel.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/MA_SG_OBJ_61.htm and https://www.mtel.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/MA061_TestPage.html, read 2026-10-09): 100 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-response items in 4 hours; multiple-choice subareas I Reading and Language (48 to 50 questions, 40% of the score, objectives 0001 to 0007) and II Rhetoric and Composition (48 to 50, 40%, objectives 0008 to 0013), and the open-response subarea, 20%. This bank holds 20 questions for each multiple-choice subarea. Every fact was read on 2026-10-09 in the public page named under its question: Wikipedia articles on the works, writers and terms, the Academy of American Poets glossary, Project Gutenberg for the quoted lines of Shakespeare and Milton, the American Heritage Dictionary, the Purdue Online Writing Lab, the Writing Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the 2017 Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for English Language Arts and Literacy. Six questions rest on a short text printed in the question itself. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site. Quoted lines of verse are in the public domain.
How it works
This MTEL English practice test asks 40 questions of our own on English (61): half reading and language, half rhetoric and composition. It is unofficial and not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education or Pearson.
Read the full guide
Two subareas, equal weight
By the test objectives, Reading and Language and Rhetoric and Composition each bring 48 to 50 questions and 40% of the score. This bank holds 20 for each.
What the questions draw on
Literature questions quote public-domain lines or name a work, from Beowulf to Things Fall Apart. Writing questions follow the Purdue Online Writing Lab, the UNC Writing Center and the Massachusetts English language arts framework, each named under its question.
Timed like the real section
Online-proctored candidates get 2 hours 30 minutes for the 100 multiple-choice questions. Exam mode keeps that pace: 40 questions in 60 minutes.
The two open-response items, a written analysis of a text and one of an argument, are not practiced here.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the MTEL English test?
English (61) has 100 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-response assignments in 4 hours of testing time. Some questions may not count toward the score, the MTEL site says.
What is a passing score on the MTEL English test?
A qualifying score of 240, by the MTEL site. The two multiple-choice subareas make up 80% of it and the written analyses 20%, so a count of right answers here is not a score.
What is on the MTEL English test?
Subarea I covers literary genres, American, British and world literature, informational texts, the English language and reading instruction. Subarea II covers rhetoric, argument, informative and narrative writing, research, and speaking and listening. A third subarea is two written analyses.
Can I take the MTEL English test at home?
Yes. The MTEL site lists English (61) as a computer-based and online-proctored test, with online appointments during one-week testing windows each month. Test centers give it by appointment year-round.