English (ELA)FreePrintable

The Hunger Games Test

A free english (ela) worksheet ready for your classroom. Open in Kuraplan to grab the print-ready PDF, customize it for your students, or generate a fresh version in seconds.

Download now

Name:Date:

The Hunger Games Test

Read the original passage below, then answer each question using details from the passage. For the final response, support your ideas with evidence.

The Signal in the Smoke

In the city of Veyra, every spring the Council held the Trial: a televised contest in which twelve teenagers had to cross a stretch of wild land and reach an old signal tower. The Council claimed the contest taught courage. Most people knew it also reminded the districts who held power. Mara had entered the Trial in place of her younger brother, Tomas. She was quick with a bow and knew how to find water, but she had never wanted an audience. On the first morning, she spotted another contestant, Iven, limping beside a creek. The rules allowed contestants to help one another, but anyone who fell behind could be removed from the contest. Mara could have continued alone. Instead, she used a strip of cloth to bind Iven’s ankle and showed him how to follow the creek toward the tower. “You’ll lose time,” he warned. “Maybe,” Mara said, “but I won’t leave you here.” That night, Mara noticed a small metal disk caught in a tree branch. It was stamped with the Council’s sunburst symbol, but its edge had been scratched into a bird shape. She remembered an old story: people in the districts once used bird marks to signal safe paths. The disk was a clue—and proof that someone beyond the contest had left help. At dawn, the loudspeakers announced a sudden rule change: contestants were forbidden to travel together. Mara looked at Iven, then at the disk. If they separated, they might both be easier for the Council to control. She held up the bird-marked disk where the cameras could see it. Iven understood. Together, they walked toward the tower, not hiding the clue but letting every district see it. The Council’s announcer called their choice disobedience. In the districts, people called it something else: a signal. By the time Mara and Iven reached the tower, other contestants had begun following the creek together. The Trial was still on the screens, but its meaning had changed.

Understand the Passage

Answer each question. Use the passage to support your thinking.

1.Why does Mara enter the Trial?

She wants to become a Council announcer.
She takes her younger brother’s place.
She is trying to find the signal tower for the Council.
She hopes to win a prize for her district.

2.What does the Council say the Trial teaches, and what does the passage suggest is another purpose of the contest?

3.Which detail best shows that Mara is compassionate, even when helping someone may cost her?

She knows how to find water.
She notices the cameras.
She binds Iven’s ankle and shows him the way to the tower.
She remembers a story about bird marks.

4.In the passage, what does “removed from the contest” most nearly mean? Explain how you worked it out from the context.

5.Put these events in the order they happen by writing 1, 2, and 3 beside them: Mara finds the bird-marked disk; the loudspeakers announce a rule change; Mara helps Iven at the creek.

6.What might the bird mark on the disk mean? Give one clue from the passage that supports your answer.

7.True or false: After the Council forbids contestants from travelling together, Mara and Iven hide the disk and separate.

TrueFalse

8.Explain how Mara and Iven’s choice changes the meaning of the Trial by the end of the passage. Use at least two details from the text.

9.The Council calls Mara and Iven’s choice “disobedience,” while people in the districts call it “a signal.” Why do the two groups describe the same action differently? What does this suggest about power and resistance?