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Flashcards: Recognizing the Main Idea in Narrative Social Science Passages
Adapted from The Man who Spoiled Napoleon’s Destiny by Rev. W. H. Fitchett, LL.D. (1899)
From March 18 to May 20, 1799—for more than sixty days and nights, that is—a little, half-forgotten, and more than half-ruined Syrian town was the scene of one of the fiercest and most dramatic sieges recorded in military history. And rarely has there been a struggle so apparently one-sided.
A handful of British sailors and Turkish irregulars were holding Acre, a town without regular defenses, against Napoleon, the most brilliant military genius of his generation, with an army of 10,000 war-hardened veterans, the "Army of Italy"—soldiers who had dared the snows of the Alps and conquered Italy, and to whom victory was a familiar experience. In their ranks military daring had reached, perhaps, its very highest point. And yet the sailors inside that ring of crumbling wall won! At Acre Napoleon experienced his first defeat; and, years after, at St. Helena, he said of Sir Sidney Smith, the gallant sailor who baffled him, "That man made me miss my destiny." It is a curious fact that one Englishman thwarted Napoleon's career in the East, and another ended his career in the West, and it may be doubted which of the two Napoleon hated most—Wellington, who finally overthrew him at Waterloo, or Sidney Smith, who, to use Napoleon's own words, made him "miss his destiny," and exchange the empire of the East for a lonely pinnacle of rock in the Atlantic.
Who does Napoleon believe “robbed him of his destiny”?
Sir Sidney Smith
Wellington
The French Government
The weather
God
All SSAT Middle Level Reading Resources
Our SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension Flashcards each contain one question that might appear on the Middle Level Reading Comprehension section of the SSAT. You can use them to get a comprehensive overview of each topic covered by the SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension section one problem at a time, or to do problem drills that focus on particular problem types or content areas found on the SSAT Middle Level Reading Comprehension section.
Is your child taking the SSAT test soon? Make sure to encourage him or her to study for the Reading section of the test. Even if your child reads well, they need to get used to the format of this section of the test and work up their reading speed. The SSAT Middle Level Reading test will contain 40 questions that your child will have to answer in 40 minutes. The questions will assess their comprehension of several literary passages. They will have to ready quickly to make sure they have enough time as possible to concentrate on the questions.
To make preparing for this important section of the SSAT easier, Varsity Tutors' Learning Tools offers many SSAT Middle Level Reading study help activities, including free flashcards online. The flashcards offer a great way for your child to squeeze in a little test preparation when they don't have time to take a practice test or a full diagnostic test. Learning Tools Flashcards for SSAT Middle Level Reading can be accessed from any computer, tablet, or smartphone. That means that your child can study them when on-the-go between extracurricular activities, while riding to and from school, or any time they have a little unexpected downtime during their day.
The SSAT Middle Level Reading study flashcards were produced in a format similar to the reading question format on the SSAT. Each flashcard contains a passage your child must read, and then asks a question based on the passage.
The types of passages on the flashcards include literary fiction, poetry, science, social science, humanities, and several other types of passages that they may encounter on the SSAT. The questions they must answer after reading the passages include determining tone and purpose, making inferences, determining authorial attitude, determine the meaning of words based on context, and many more types of questions they may later encounter on the SSAT.
When helping your child with their SSAT Middle Level Reading review, you may also want to take advantage of the flashcards maker. This Learning Tool provides blank flashcard templates that can be filled out with additional literary passages and multiple-choice questions based on them. If your child is an avid reader, then find out what book they are currently reading for fun and what chapter they are on in it. Then, enter passages from the next chapter they haven't read yet and questions based on them. This can help them look forward to studying, because it allows them to read their favorite book as they learn!
An additional way you can use the flashcards creator is to simply pull the ready-made cards that your child needs to study most into a new, customized deck. Once you create a new deck of flashcards using either method, you can then save it, and your child can access it from their computer, tablet, or smartphone any time they want to study it until test day.
The SSAT Middle Level Reading test can be challenging, so encourage your child to study as much as
they can until test day. Practice reading passages and answering questions based on them can help your child improve their reading and comprehension skills.
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