PERT Practice Test
This free PERT practice test has 15 questions written by the StudyPDF team in the style of Florida's Postsecondary Education Readiness Test. Five cover reading, five cover writing and five cover the algebra on the math test. Answer all 15, then check your score and read the explanation for every question.
Read the passage: The pier lights at Harlan Cove stay on until the last fishing boat is in. On Tuesday, Dena stood at the end of the dock for an hour after sunset, her coffee going cold, watching the dark water. When a small green light finally rounded the point, she let out a long breath, picked up the cup and walked back toward her car. Which inference is best supported by the passage?
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All 15 questions at a glance
Prefer to read before you play? Every question in the sampler is listed below. Answers and explanations stay collapsed until you open them.
1. Read the passage: The pier lights at Harlan Cove stay on until the last fishing boat is in. On Tuesday, Dena stood at the end of the dock for an hour after sunset, her coffee going cold, watching the dark water. When a small green light finally rounded the point, she let out a long breath, picked up the cup and walked back toward her car. Which inference is best supported by the passage?
- A. Dena works as an inspector for the pier.
- B. Dena dislikes being outside after dark.
- C. Dena was waiting anxiously for a particular boat to return.
- D. The pier lights went out before the boat arrived.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Dena was waiting anxiously for a particular boat to return.
She waits an hour in the dark, and she breathes out and leaves only once the green light appears, so she was worried about a boat and relieved when it came in. Nothing in the passage gives her a job, and the lights are said to stay on until the last boat is in.
2. Read the sentence: The mayor's reply was evasive; she answered each question with another question and never mentioned the budget. As used in the sentence, evasive most nearly means
- A. avoiding a direct answer
- B. completely honest
- C. full of detailed numbers
- D. angry and loud
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. avoiding a direct answer
The words after the semicolon explain the word: she answered questions with questions and skipped the budget, which is dodging. Put your choice back into the sentence to test it. A reply that was honest or full of numbers would not fit the details that follow.
3. Read the passage: Many people believe that bats are blind. In fact, every species of bat can see, and some see quite well in dim light. The myth probably comes from echolocation, the way many bats use sound to find insects in complete darkness. Bats simply use their ears and their eyes together. What is the author's main purpose in writing this passage?
- A. To persuade readers to build bat houses
- B. To entertain readers with a story about one bat
- C. To explain how scientists study echolocation
- D. To correct a common misunderstanding
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. To correct a common misunderstanding
The passage opens with a false belief, says what is true instead and explains where the belief came from, which is what correcting a misunderstanding looks like. It asks readers to do nothing, tells no story and says nothing about how scientists run their studies.
4. Read the statements about a city's bus service. Which statements are facts, meaning they can be checked, whether or not they turn out to be true? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. The city raised bus fares in January.
- B. Ridership fell 12 percent in the three months after the increase.
- C. The fare increase was an unfair burden on working families.
- D. Buses are a better way to travel than driving.
- E. The council made the right choice by delaying the vote.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The city raised bus fares in January., B. Ridership fell 12 percent in the three months after the increase.
A fact is something you could confirm from a record, like the date of a fare increase or a ridership count. The other three are judgments: unfair, better and right depend on what a person values. A fact can still be wrong, so ask whether a statement can be checked, not whether you agree with it.
5. Read the passage: The new stadium was supposed to be a triumph. Instead, the roof leaks, the seats are too narrow for most adults, and the parking lot floods whenever it drizzles. The city spent three years and a fortune on a building that, so far, mainly shelters pigeons. Which word best describes the tone of the passage?
- A. admiring
- B. mocking
- C. puzzled
- D. neutral
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. mocking
The writer lists failures and then ends on a joke at the city's expense, that the building mostly shelters pigeons. That is a critical, mocking tone. An admiring or neutral tone would not pile up complaints, and the writer is not asking a question, so puzzled does not fit.
6. Which sentence is written correctly?
- A. Walking to the lab, the rain soaked Priya's notes.
- B. Walking to the lab, Priya's notes were soaked by the rain.
- C. Walking to the lab, Priya felt the rain soak her notes.
- D. The rain soaked Priya's notes, walking to the lab.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Walking to the lab, Priya felt the rain soak her notes.
An opening phrase like walking to the lab has to be followed by the person who is walking. In the correct choice that person is Priya. In the others the phrase seems to describe the rain or the notes, which cannot walk, and the last choice leaves the phrase dangling at the end.
7. Complete the sentence so the verb tenses stay consistent.
When the storm hit last night, the neighbors _____ their cars into the garage, and the power _____ out soon after.
Options for blank 1: move, moved, have moved, will move
Options for blank 2: goes, went, has gone, going
Show answer and explanation
Answer: moved, went
Last night puts the whole sentence in the past, so both verbs need the simple past: moved and went. Shifting into the present or the future partway through a sentence is one of the shifts the PERT writing test asks you to catch.
8. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence: The new position requires working independently, meeting deadlines and ____ with customers.
- A. to communicate
- B. communication skills
- C. communicate
- D. communicating
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. communicating
Items in a list should have the same form. Working and meeting end in -ing, so the third item should too: communicating. To communicate, communicate and communication skills each break the pattern.
9. Choose the word that best completes the sentence: Of the two applicants, Rosa is the ____ qualified.
- A. most
- B. more
- C. mostly
- D. very
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. more
Compare two people with the comparative, more, and save the superlative, most, for three or more. Mostly is an adverb meaning mainly, and very does not compare anything. The phrase of the two is the clue to look for.
10. Which of these sentences use the correct word? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. The weather will affect how many people attend the festival.
- B. Their going to announce the winner at noon.
- C. The dog wagged its tail when we came home.
- D. Please put the boxes over their by the door.
- E. The new policy had a strong effect on sales.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The weather will affect how many people attend the festival., C. The dog wagged its tail when we came home., E. The new policy had a strong effect on sales.
Affect is the verb and effect is the noun, so the first and last are right, and its without an apostrophe is the possessive. The second sentence needs they're, short for they are, and the fourth needs there, meaning in that place. Say the sentence with the full words to test it.
11. Solve for x: 4(x + 2) - 3 = 2x + 11
- A. x = 3
- B. x = -3
- C. x = 4
- D. x = 8
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. x = 3
Distribute the 4 to get 4x + 8 - 3 = 2x + 11, which simplifies to 4x + 5 = 2x + 11. Subtract 2x and 5 from both sides to get 2x = 6, so x = 3. Check by putting 3 back in: 4(3 + 2) - 3 is 17, and 2(3) + 11 is also 17.
12. Evaluate the expressions when a = 3 and b = -2.
The value of 4a - b^2 is _____, and the value of a^2 b is _____.
Options for blank 1: 8, 16, -4, 20
Options for blank 2: 18, -18, -6, 36
Show answer and explanation
Answer: 8, -18
The exponent applies to b alone before anything is subtracted: b^2 is (-2)^2 = 4, so 4a - b^2 is 12 - 4 = 8. For the second, a^2 is 9 and 9 times -2 is -18. Treating b^2 as -4 gives 16, and dropping the negative sign on b in the second one gives 18.
13. Which ordered pair is the solution of both y = 2x - 1 and x + y = 8?
- A. (2, 6)
- B. (5, 3)
- C. (3, 5)
- D. (7, 1)
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. (3, 5)
Substitute 2x - 1 for y in the second equation: x + 2x - 1 = 8, so 3x = 9 and x = 3, and then y = 2(3) - 1 = 5. All four pairs add up to 8, so they satisfy the second equation, but only (3, 5) also fits the first.
14. Which values of x make the equation x^2 - x - 12 = 0 true? Select all that apply.
Select all that apply.
- A. -4
- B. -3
- C. 3
- D. 4
- E. 12
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. -3, D. 4
Factor the left side into (x - 4)(x + 3). Each factor can be zero, so x = 4 or x = -3. Check -4 and 3 and you get 8 and -6 instead of 0, which is what happens when the signs in the factors are swapped.
15. Complete the product.
(2x + 3)(x - 5) = 2x^2 _____ 15
Options for blank 1: - 7x -, + 7x -, - 13x -, - 7x +
Show answer and explanation
Answer: - 7x -
Multiply every term by every term: 2x times x is 2x^2, 2x times -5 is -10x, 3 times x is 3x and 3 times -5 is -15. The two x terms combine to -7x, so the answer is 2x^2 - 7x - 15. Treating the 3x as -3x leads to the wrong total, 13x.
What the PERT is and who has to take it
The Postsecondary Education Readiness Test, or PERT, is Florida's college placement test. Florida College System schools use it to decide which courses a new student starts in, for example Freshman Composition (ENC 1101), Intermediate Algebra (MAT 1033) or College Algebra (MAC 1105). It is not a pass or fail test, and it does not count toward a grade. A low score can mean starting in a preparation course first, not that you are turned away.
There are three separate tests: mathematics, reading and writing. Each one is computer adaptive, so the questions get harder or easier depending on your earlier answers, and each one is untimed. The Florida Department of Education describes 25 scored questions per test, with 5 more that are tried out and do not count, and you cannot tell which is which. You cannot go back and change an answer after you move on, and you get your scores right after you submit. The math test gives you an on-screen calculator on some questions, not a handheld one, so confirm with your testing center what you may bring.
Not everyone has to take it. Under Florida law, a student who entered 9th grade in a Florida public school in the 2003-04 school year or later and earned a Florida standard high school diploma, or who is on active duty in the military, does not have to take a placement test. Students from out-of-state or private high schools, homeschooled students and students with a GED usually do, and colleges may accept other measures such as SAT or ACT scores instead. The state lists a college-level standard of 106 in reading, 103 in writing and 114 in math on its placement page, but those numbers are set by rule and have changed before, so check them with the testing center at your college before you rely on them.
How to use this sampler
The 15 questions follow the PERT's published skill list in miniature. Questions 1 to 5 are reading: an inference, a word in context, the author's purpose, separating facts from opinions and tone. Questions 6 to 10 are writing: modifiers, verb tense, parallel structure, comparatives and commonly confused words. Questions 11 to 15 are algebra: solving an equation, evaluating an expression, a pair of simultaneous equations, factoring and multiplying polynomials.
The select all that apply and fill in the blank formats are practice formats that make you check every option instead of stopping at the first one that looks right. On the real test you answer one question at a time and cannot return to it, so practice the same habit: read the whole question, commit to an answer and move on. Do the math on paper first, then check the choices.
Then read every explanation, including for the questions you got right. If the two verb tense and modifier questions both went wrong, that is a grammar habit to fix before the writing test, not two separate misses. If the algebra questions were slow, redo them by hand until the steps feel automatic.
An honest note: the StudyPDF team wrote every question here to the skill list the state publishes. None of them are real PERT items, none come from the official student study guide or any test developer's question bank, and StudyPDF is not affiliated with the Florida Department of Education, McCann Associates or any Florida college. The official study guide, which includes sample questions with answer keys, is free on the Department of Education's PERT page.
How to build more practice tests from your own materials
Fifteen questions can show you whether reading, writing or algebra needs the most work. They cannot get you ready on their own, especially when your testing center or your first course focuses on one subject more than the others.
StudyPDF works from your material instead. Upload your prep book, your class notes or the worksheets from your adviser or your high school. Then press New material, pick a practice test, choose those files as the sources and set how long it should be. You get a test written from those exact pages, and every explanation cites where the answer comes from.
Bo is the tutor for the rest. Ask him why an answer is right and he explains it from your own pages, with a hint first if you want one.
You do not have to upload anything to start. Name a topic instead, for example factoring trinomials or pronoun agreement, and you get practice questions on it. Starting is free.
Written by the StudyPDF team. Last updated 2026-08-19.