IBEW aptitude test reading comprehension practice questions.

The IBEW aptitude test's Reading Comprehension section has 36 questions in 51 minutes: nonfiction passages, each followed by several questions with four options. Below is one full passage from our bank and all six of its questions (stated detail, vocabulary in context, inference, application, true / not supported, stated detail). The paragraphs are numbered because the questions refer to them.

01How to use this passage

• Time it. About 85 seconds a question on the real test, reading included: try the passage and all six questions in about eight and a half minutes.
• Read once, then go back. Read the passage straight through, then answer each question from the paragraph it points to. Don't answer from memory of the topic: only the passage counts.
• Check every option. Each explanation says where the proof is and why the other three fail.

02The passage

Reading passage · 5 numbered paragraphs · 360 words

Bringing Power to the Farm

1By the early 1930s, electricity had become an ordinary part of life in American cities. Roughly nine out of ten city dwellers had electric power for their lights, radios, and refrigerators. In the countryside the picture was very different. Only about one farm in ten was connected to a power line, and most rural families still lived much as their grandparents had.

2Without electricity, farm work was slow and heavy. Water had to be pumped by hand or by windmill and carried to the house and the barn. Cows were milked by hand, food was kept cool with blocks of ice, and homes were lit by kerosene lamps. Farm women spent long hours on chores such as washing clothes by hand and pressing them with irons heated on a wood stove.

3Private power companies had little interest in rural customers. Stringing wire across open country was expensive, and a mile of rural line might serve only a handful of farms, while a mile of line in a city could serve hundreds of homes. The companies concluded that the money they would collect from farm customers would never cover the cost of building the lines.

4The federal government stepped in. In May 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration, or REA, by executive order. On May 20, 1936, he signed the Rural Electrification Act, which gave the agency long-term authority to lend money for rural power lines. The REA offered low-interest loans, and because few private companies were eager to borrow, most of the money went to electric cooperatives instead. These were nonprofit utilities owned by the farmers they served. Neighbors held meetings, signed up members, and in many places helped clear the land where the poles would stand.

5Progress slowed during World War II, when copper and other materials were needed for the war effort, but it sped up again after the war ended. By the mid-1950s, more than 90 percent of American farms had electricity. Electric pumps, milking machines, and refrigerators changed both the work and the comforts of farm life. Hundreds of the cooperatives formed in those years still deliver power to rural areas today.

03The six questions

1. Stated detail · Reading

   According to the passage, about what share of farms had electricity in the early 1930s?

   1. About one in ten
   2. About one in four
   3. About half
   4. About nine in ten
   Show the answer

   A. Correct. Paragraph 1 says only about one farm in ten was connected to a power line.

   Why not the others

   B. The passage gives no one-in-four figure; paragraph 1 says about one farm in ten.

   C. Paragraph 1 says about one farm in ten, far fewer than half.

   D. Nine in ten is the share of city dwellers with power in paragraph 1, and the share of farms only by the mid-1950s (paragraph 5).

   ID IBEW-B-103 · Task IBEW-B-1 (Stated detail)

2. Vocabulary in context · Reading

   In paragraph 4, the word 'authority' most nearly means:

   1. an expert on a subject
   2. official power to act
   3. a group of leaders
   4. a supply of cash
   Show the answer

   B. Correct. In paragraph 4 the act gave the REA long-term authority to lend money, meaning the legal power to make such loans.

   Why not the others

   A. This is a common meaning of the word, but the act did not give the agency an expert; it gave it the right to lend money.

   C. The sentence is about what the agency was allowed to do, not about a group of people.

   D. The authority was to lend money, but the word itself refers to the power to do so, not to the money.

   ID IBEW-B-104 · Task IBEW-B-4 (Vocabulary in context)

3. Inference · Reading

   Based on the passage, why were cooperatives able to build power lines that private companies would not?

   1. They were allowed to charge much higher rates.
   2. Rural areas turned out to have more customers per mile than expected.
   3. The government gave them free copper wire.
   4. As nonprofits with low-interest loans, they did not need the lines to earn a profit.
   Show the answer

   D. Correct. Paragraph 3 says companies refused because revenue would not cover costs, and paragraph 4 says cooperatives were nonprofits funded by low-interest loans, so they did not need a profit.

   Why not the others

   A. The passage says nothing about cooperatives charging higher rates.

   B. Paragraph 3 says a rural mile served only a handful of farms; nothing says this changed.

   C. The passage mentions copper only as a material needed during the war (paragraph 5), not as a gift to cooperatives.

   ID IBEW-B-105 · Task IBEW-B-3 (Inference)

4. Application · Reading

   A company is deciding whether to offer internet service along a remote road. Based on the reasoning in paragraph 3, which fact would most discourage it?

   1. The road is paved and easy to reach.
   2. Most homes on the road already have telephones.
   3. Only a few homes are spread along each mile of the road.
   4. The homes are owned by farm families.
   Show the answer

   C. Correct. Paragraph 3 says companies avoided rural lines because each mile served only a handful of customers, so the income would not cover the cost; few homes per mile creates the same problem.

   Why not the others

   A. Easy access would lower costs, not discourage the company.

   B. Paragraph 3's reasoning is about cost compared with the number of customers; existing phones do not bear on that.

   D. Paragraph 3's reasoning turns on the number of customers per mile, not on who the customers are.

   ID IBEW-B-106 · Task IBEW-B-5 (Application)

5. True / NOT supported · Reading

   Which statement is NOT supported by the passage?

   1. The REA was first created by the 1936 act.
   2. World War II slowed the spread of rural power lines.
   3. Some cooperatives formed in that era still operate today.
   4. Farm families often heated irons on a stove.
   Show the answer

   A. Correct. Paragraph 4 says Roosevelt created the REA by executive order in May 1935; the 1936 act gave the existing agency long-term lending authority.

   Why not the others

   B. Supported: paragraph 5 says progress slowed during the war because copper and other materials were needed for the war effort.

   C. Supported: paragraph 5 says hundreds of those cooperatives still deliver power to rural areas.

   D. Supported: paragraph 2 says clothes were pressed with irons heated on a wood stove.

   ID IBEW-B-107 · Task IBEW-B-6 (True / NOT supported)

6. Stated detail · Reading

   According to the passage, who owned the electric cooperatives?

   1. The federal government
   2. The farmers they served
   3. Private power companies
   4. The states they were in
   Show the answer

   B. Correct. Paragraph 4 says the cooperatives were nonprofit utilities owned by the farmers they served.

   Why not the others

   A. The government lent money through the REA (paragraph 4) but did not own the cooperatives.

   C. Paragraph 4 says the money went to cooperatives because private companies were not eager to borrow; the companies did not own them.

   D. The passage never mentions state ownership of cooperatives.

   ID IBEW-B-108 · Task IBEW-B-1 (Stated detail)

04Answer key

05A strategy for each type

• Stated detail. Go back to the paragraph and find the line. Wrong options are often real details from a different paragraph.
• Main idea or purpose. Pick the option that covers every paragraph, not one detail. Too narrow and too broad are the usual traps.
• Inference. The answer must follow from what is written. If you need outside knowledge to defend it, it is wrong.
• Vocabulary in context. Put each option in place of the word and reread the sentence. The common meaning is often the trap.
• Application. State the passage's rule in a few words first, then pick the case that fits that rule.
• True / NOT supported. Mark each option true or false against the passage. For NOT questions, three options are supported.

06More practice

The IBEW aptitude test study guide covers both sections, timing and an 8-week plan.

The passage is original, written for ToolboxPrep from well-established facts, and checked against published sources. How our questions are made: our method. Found a mistake? Tell us.

ToolboxPrep is an independent study site, not affiliated with or endorsed by the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers), NECA (National Electrical Contractors Association), the Electrical Training ALLIANCE (formerly NJATC) or any JATC. Our IBEW aptitude test questions and reading passages are original practice material written to the published format of the test. They are not actual test questions, not recalled or “brain dump” questions, and not the official sample questions. IBEW, NECA and Electrical Training ALLIANCE are names and trademarks of their owners.