Unofficial practice for MTEL Middle School Humanities (76): literature and language, communication, history, geography and government, 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 15, 2026.
A flyer for a bike-lane plan opens: "As a paramedic for twenty years, I have answered these crashes." Which classical appeal does the opening make?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0002
A long narrative poem follows a hero's adventures and accomplishments through years of war and travel. In the terms of the Massachusetts framework's glossary, what is this work?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
A magazine article prints one striking sentence from its own text in large type beside the column. In the terms of the framework's glossary, what is this an example of?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0002
A passage tells how a town's wells were running dry, then describes the reservoir the town built and how it ended the shortage. Which text structure organizes the passage?MTEL Middle School Humanities (76) test objectives, objective 0002: text structures
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Subarea I: Literature and language, continued
A play puts a sensational plot ahead of detailed characterization, with flat characters and highly sentimental dialogue. Which type of drama is this?Wikipedia, "Melodrama", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
A poem keeps no regular meter and no rhyme scheme, and its lines follow the rhythm of natural speech. Which form is it?Wikipedia, "Free verse", lead, and "Blank verse", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
A student new to English chats easily at lunch within months but still struggles with textbook language. In Jim Cummins's terms, which has the student yet to develop?Wikipedia, "Cognitive academic language proficiency", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0003
How many morphemes make up the word "preheated"?Wikipedia, "Morpheme", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0003
In Stephen Krashen's input hypothesis, learners progress when they understand language slightly beyond their current level. What did Krashen call that level of input?Wikipedia, "Input hypothesis", Overview. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0003
"The kettle scolded us from the stove until someone got up." Which literary device does the sentence use?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
Langston Hughes, a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, published his first book of poems, The Weary Blues, in 1926. Of which kind of poetry was he an early innovator?Wikipedia, "Langston Hughes", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
The Newbery Medal is awarded each year by the Association for Library Service to Children. What does it honor?American Library Association, Association for Library Service to Children: John Newbery Medal. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
Readers of a mystery learn in chapter one who hid the letter, while the detective hunts for it until the last page. Which device creates the suspense?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0001
"Slender" and "scrawny" can describe the same thin runner, yet the first flatters and the second does not. Which term names what sets the two words apart?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0003
Which sentence belongs in an objective summary of an article about school start times?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary and grade 8 Reading Standards for Informational Text, standard 2. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0002
Subarea II: Expressive and receptive communication 9
A speaker argues for a longer lunch period and cites the price of new gym lockers. A listener applying grade 8 Speaking and Listening Standard 3 would mark the locker price as what?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, grade 8 Speaking and Listening Standards, standard 3. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0006
A student restates a paragraph from a history website in her own words and names no source. By Purdue OWL's guidance, what is wrong?Purdue Online Writing Lab, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0005
An essay for a later school day adds: "Some coaches say practice would end too late; holding practice in the morning answers that worry." What has the writer added?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary, Text types and purposes. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0004
Grade 8 Writing Standard 3 of the Massachusetts framework names narrative techniques for developing experiences, events and characters. Which list gives them?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, grade 8 Writing Standards, standard 3. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0004
Grade 8 Writing Standard 8 asks students to gather information from multiple print and digital sources. What does it ask them to assess about each source?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, grade 8 Writing Standards, standard 8. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0005
In a seminar a student asks: "Maya said the law helped farmers and Leo said it hurt cities. Can both be true?" Which skill of grade 8 Speaking and Listening Standard 1 does the question show?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, grade 8 Speaking and Listening Standards, standard 1. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0006
"The river rose overnight, the bridge was closed by dawn." Which revision repairs the comma splice?The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Fragments and Run-ons. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0004
Which research question is focused enough for a short research project?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, grade 8 Writing Standards, standard 7. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0005
With a draft finished, a student fixes misspellings, a missing comma and one awkward phrase, and changes nothing else. In the framework's glossary, which component of writing is this?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2017 English Language Arts and Literacy Curriculum Framework, Glossary. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0004
Subarea III: History 12
At the close of the first women's rights convention, held at Seneca Falls, New York, in July 1848, 68 women and 32 men signed which document?National Park Service, Women's Rights National Historical Park: The First Women's Rights Convention. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0009
Congress passed a law in 1882 that barred Chinese laborers from entering the country for ten years. How does the National Archives place that law in the history of immigration?National Archives, Milestone Documents: Chinese Exclusion Act (1882). Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0009
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. Which state's ratification on March 1, 1781, brought them into force?National Archives, Milestone Documents: Articles of Confederation (1777). Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0008
The Dawes Act of 1887 emphasized severalty. What did that mean for Native Americans on reservations?National Archives, Milestone Documents: Dawes Act (1887). Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0009
Farming let far larger populations live in settled communities. What was one cost of the Neolithic move to agriculture?Wikipedia, "Neolithic Revolution", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0007
The Inca stored numbers by tying knots in the cords of a quipu. In what kind of number system were the knots tied?Wikipedia, "Quipu", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0007
The Kingdom of Aksum, a trading power in the Horn of Africa, took a state religion under King Ezana in the mid-fourth century. Which religion?Wikipedia, "Kingdom of Aksum", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0007
Metacom, called King Philip by English settlers, led a war against the New England colonies that began in 1675. Of which people was he sachem?Wikipedia, "King Philip's War". Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0008
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. What did it do in the rest of the Louisiana Territory?National Archives, Milestone Documents: Missouri Compromise (1820). Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0008
The Qin unified China in 221 BC and applied their reforms across the empire. What did those reforms standardize?Wikipedia, "Qin dynasty", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0007
The Stono Rebellion of 1739 was the largest slave revolt of the Southern colonial era. In which colony did it begin, and where were the rebels heading?Wikipedia, "Stono Rebellion", lead and summary box. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0008
The United Farm Workers formed in 1966 from the merger of two organizations. Larry Itliong led one, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee. Who led the other, the National Farm Workers Association?Wikipedia, "United Farm Workers", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0009
Subarea IV: Geography, government and civic life 12
A monsoon was once simply a wind that reverses with the seasons. The word now also covers seasonal changes in circulation and rainfall tied to the yearly north and south movement of which belt?Wikipedia, "Monsoon", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0010
After a class investigates a local zoning question, students write letters to the editor and speak at a public meeting. Which of the framework's seven practice standards does this carry out?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2018 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, Standards for History and Social Science Practice, standard 7. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0012
The Aswan High Dam, built across the Nile between 1960 and 1970, controls the river's yearly flood. What had that flood done for farmland along the Nile?Wikipedia, "Aswan Dam", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0010
By Practice Standard 3 of the Massachusetts history and social science framework, which of these is a primary source for a unit on the 1930s?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2018 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, Standards for History and Social Science Practice, standard 3. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0012
By the eighth century Muslims were traveling to the Ghana Empire of West Africa. Which routes, worked by Berber traders who had met Islam in the cities of North Africa, brought them there?Wikipedia, "Trans-Saharan trade", Medieval history. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0010
By the Massachusetts history and social science framework, what marks an open town meeting?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2018 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, grade 3 Content Standards, Topic 1. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0011
Delegates met behind shuttered windows in Philadelphia in May 1787. By the National Archives, what had the convention assembled to do?National Archives, Milestone Documents: Articles of Confederation (1777). Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0011
Guiding Principle 4 of the Massachusetts framework says that the work of historical investigation is never static. What reason does it give?Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2018 History and Social Science Curriculum Framework, Guiding Principle 4. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0012
How does an op-ed differ from a newspaper's editorial?Wikipedia, "Op-ed", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0011
How many members sit in the two houses of the Massachusetts General Court?Wikipedia, "Massachusetts General Court", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0011
Mapp v. Ohio (1961) carried the Fourth Amendment's exclusionary rule into state courts. Into which amendment's Due Process Clause did the Supreme Court incorporate that protection?Wikipedia, "Mapp v. Ohio", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0011
Which region is the transition zone between the Sahara to its north and the more humid savannas to its south, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea?Wikipedia, "Sahel", lead. Written to MTEL Middle School Humanities (76), objective 0010
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test objectives of MTEL Middle School Humanities, field 76, 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_76.htm and https://www.mtel.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/MA076_TestPage.html, read 2026-10-15): 100 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-response assignments in 4 hours; multiple-choice subareas I Literature and Language (25% of the score, objectives 0001 to 0003), II Expressive and Receptive Communication (15%, objectives 0004 to 0006), III History (20%, objectives 0007 to 0009) and IV Geography, Government, and Civic Life (20%, objectives 0010 to 0012), and two open-response subareas of 10% each. This bank holds 15, 9, 12 and 12. Every fact was read on 2026-10-15 in the public page named under its question: the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks for English language arts and literacy (2017) and for history and social science (2018), the National Archives milestone documents, the National Park Service, the American Library Association, Purdue OWL, the UNC Writing Center and Wikipedia articles. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This MTEL Middle School Humanities practice test asks 48 questions of our own, English and history together. 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
Subareas and weights
By the test objectives: literature and language, 25% of the score; expressive and receptive communication, 15%; history, 20%; geography, government and civic life, 20%. This bank holds 15, 9, 12 and 12, and each explanation names its objective.
The clock
With an online proctor, the MTEL site gives 2 hours 30 minutes for the 100 multiple-choice questions. Exam mode keeps that pace: 48 questions in 72 minutes.
What the real test adds
Two open-response assignments carry the other 20%: a written analysis of a literary text and one of primary and secondary historical sources. They are not practiced here.
With an online proctor, the multiple-choice section closes at the optional 15-minute break, and there is no going back to it.
Questions and answers
Is this the MTEL Humanities 50 practice test?
It follows the test given today. The MTEL tests list names it Middle School Humanities (76). An older guide for field 50 is still on the MTEL site, but the list offers only field 76, whose objectives these questions were written to.
Is there an MTEL Middle School Humanities study guide?
The MTEL site's test information guide for field 76 holds the test objectives, sample questions, a practice test and a study outline chart. The questions on this page are our own, each naming its objective and its source.
How many questions are on the MTEL Middle School Humanities test?
100 multiple-choice questions and 2 open-response assignments, in 4 hours of testing time. The MTEL site adds that a test may include questions that do not count toward the score.
What is the passing score for MTEL Middle School Humanities?
The MTEL site gives a qualifying score of 240. It also counts the two written assignments, so the number right on this page is not a prediction.
What does the MTEL Middle School Humanities test cover?
Twelve multiple-choice objectives: literature, informational texts, language acquisition and reading, writing, research, speaking and listening, world history, United States history before 1825 and since, geography, government and civic life, and the teaching of history.