Neighborly Competition

Question

L. Hernandez

Jennifer and Noah were next-door neighbors. They had many things in common, but they also had their differences. When the time came to participate in the school fundraiser, Jennifer was very excited, but Noah only frowned.

“What’s the matter?” Jennifer asked.

“I’m not good at selling anything,” Noah replied. “Nobody is going to want to buy candy bars from me.”

“Don’t worry,” Jennifer said. “Just do what I do. I draw pictures and tape them to the wrappers. That’s why people buy my candy bars.”

Noah frowned again. “I can’t draw,” he said.

“Don’t worry,” Jennifer replied. “I will help you.”

Jennifer showed Noah how to draw pictures of dogs, houses, and horses. On Monday, two people bought candy bars from Noah.

“See?” Jennifer asked. “You’re doing great!

Noah frowned. “You still sold more than I did.”
Jennifer smiled. “You will get better with time,” she said. “You just need to work a little harder and reach more people.”

Jennifer and Noah worked on their drawings all afternoon. On Tuesday, Noah tried really hard to sell his candy bars. He took them to school and sold them at lunch. He even visited his mother’s office and sold some to the ladies there. At the end of the day, he had sold one more candy bar than Jennifer.

“You did it!” Jennifer said. “At this rate, you are going to win the biggest prize of all!”

Noah frowned. “I don’t think so, Jennifer. I’m too exhausted from all this work.”
Question
The bar graph best supports the information in —
Responses
A paragraph 5paragraph 5
B paragraph 4paragraph 4
C paragraph 11paragraph 11
D paragraph 10paragraph 10

Answer 1

To determine which paragraph the bar graph best supports, let's summarize the relevant information in each paragraph:

• Paragraph 4 discusses Noah's initial struggles with selling candy bars and his realization that he sold fewer than Jennifer.
• Paragraph 5 mentions Jennifer encouraging Noah and asserting that he will get better with practice.
• Paragraph 10 highlights Noah's success on Tuesday, where he sells more than Jennifer for the first time.
• Paragraph 11 shows Noah's feelings of exhaustion despite his success.

Since a bar graph typically represents quantitative data, such as sales numbers, it would be most relevant to the paragraph that discusses Noah's sales compared to Jennifer's.

Given this context, the best choice would be (C) paragraph 11, which discusses Noah's success in terms of sales and how he sold more than Jennifer, aligning with what a bar graph would illustrate.