Read two passages · Answer questions · Build EOG skills
Read both passages carefully. Passage A is a literary story; Passage B is an informational text. Think about how each author's purpose and point of view shape what is written.
FOCUS: Author's Purpose · Point of View · Text StructureMaya pressed her face against the curved porthole of the research submarine and held her breath. Below her, the ocean floor shimmered in the beam of their searchlight—a world that no sunlight had ever touched.
"There," Dr. Chen whispered, pointing to a pale, luminous shape drifting through the darkness. "A giant squid. Alive." Maya's heart hammered in her chest. Scientists had found parts of these creatures washed up on beaches, had even captured blurry video of one. But none had ever observed one up close, in its own world, living and moving.
The squid hung in the water like a ghost from another age. Its ten arms trailed in slow, graceful spirals. One enormous eye—bigger than a dinner plate—swiveled toward the submarine's light. Maya realized, with a chill that had nothing to do with the cold water outside, that the creature was looking back at them.
"We're not exploring it," she murmured to Dr. Chen. "It's exploring us."
Dr. Chen smiled, never taking her eyes off the screen. "Welcome to the deep ocean, Maya. Down here, we're the visitors."
For three silent minutes, they watched each other—girl and squid, scientist and mystery—separated by inches of steel and miles of ocean history. Then, as smoothly as smoke dissolving in wind, the squid drifted backward and disappeared into the dark.
Maya exhaled slowly. The submarine felt very small. The ocean felt very old.
Earth's oceans cover more than 70 percent of the planet's surface, yet scientists estimate that more than 80 percent of the ocean remains unexplored. The deep ocean—particularly the zone between 200 and 1,000 meters known as the "twilight zone"—contains ecosystems that researchers are only beginning to understand.
Ocean exploration faces unique challenges. The pressure at great depths can crush ordinary vessels. Temperatures near the seafloor drop close to freezing. Sunlight, which drives most ecosystems on land and in shallow water, simply cannot reach these depths. Specially designed submersibles, remote-operated vehicles (ROVs), and pressure-resistant cameras are required.
Despite these obstacles, deep-sea exploration has produced remarkable discoveries. Scientists have identified more than 2,000 new species in the past decade alone. Creatures such as the giant squid, the anglerfish, and the barreleye fish have evolved extraordinary adaptations for surviving in complete darkness under crushing pressure.
Modern deep-sea research benefits from advances in technology. High-definition cameras mounted on ROVs allow scientists to observe creatures without disturbing their environment. Sonar mapping has revealed underwater mountain ranges taller than the Himalayas. Researchers have even discovered hydrothermal vents—openings in the seafloor that release superheated water—which support entire ecosystems without any sunlight at all.
Scientists argue that understanding the deep ocean is crucial. These ecosystems absorb carbon dioxide, regulate Earth's climate, and may hold clues to the origins of life itself. Yet funding for ocean exploration remains far lower than funding for space exploration, even though the ocean floor is, in many ways, more mysterious than the surface of Mars.
Read both passages carefully. Passage A is a first-person account from a historical figure's perspective; Passage B is an informational article about the same event. Notice how the two accounts are similar and different.
FOCUS: Compare Two Accounts · Author's Purpose · Text EvidenceI had not slept well. The wind at Kitty Hawk had been howling all night, and I knew that Wilbur and Orville were awake too, listening to it, measuring it in their minds the way they measured everything—carefully, quietly, without fanfare.
At breakfast, no one spoke much. It was December 17, 1903, and the air tasted like salt and possibility. My brothers had been building toward this morning for years. Two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, people said, with their heads full of impossible dreams. I had read every letter, sewn fabric for their gliders, and argued with them at the kitchen table late into many nights. I knew these were not impossible dreams. I knew these were plans.
I was not there on the beach, of course. A woman's presence at such an event was not considered proper in those days. But Orville telephoned as soon as it was over. "We did it, Katharine," he said. His voice was very steady, the way it always was when he was trying not to cry. "Twelve seconds. One hundred and twenty feet. We flew."
Twelve seconds. It seems so little, does it not? And yet I stood in our kitchen, holding the telephone receiver, and I understood that those twelve seconds had cracked the world open like an egg. Nothing would ever be the same again. The sky, which had belonged only to birds and clouds and stars since the beginning of time, now belonged to us too.
I wept. I am not ashamed of that.
On the morning of December 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., Orville Wright became the first person in history to fly a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft under controlled conditions. The flight lasted 12 seconds and covered approximately 120 feet on the windswept dunes near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
Wilbur and Orville Wright were self-taught engineers and owners of a bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Unlike many of their competitors, who focused only on achieving lift, the Wright brothers understood that controlled flight required solving three problems simultaneously: lift, propulsion, and steering. They spent three years testing gliders at Kitty Hawk before adding an engine.
Their aircraft, called the Flyer, used a 12-horsepower engine that the brothers designed and built themselves. The plane weighed 605 pounds and used a system of wing-warping to allow the pilot to control the aircraft's rolling motion—a solution the brothers developed by observing the way birds adjust their wings in flight.
That morning, the brothers made four flights in total. The final flight, piloted by Wilbur, covered 852 feet and lasted 59 seconds. A strong gust of wind damaged the Flyer shortly afterward, ending further attempts for the day.
Historians note that the Wright brothers' success came from their systematic, scientific approach. They kept careful records of every test, built a wind tunnel to measure lift, and refused to rush. Their sister Katherine Wright, who had supported their work financially and emotionally for years, was among the first people they notified of their success. Despite her crucial role, Katherine Wright is rarely mentioned in early accounts of the brothers' achievement.