Seventh Grade quiz
By Gary Soto
A boy fakes his way through French class on the first day of seventh grade -- and then has to make the lie true
19 questions · about 20 minutes
Questions and answers
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Question 1. Which literary genres best describe “Seventh Grade”?
- Correct answer: Realistic Fiction & Coming-of-Age
- Fantasy & Adventure
- Historical Fiction & War
- Mystery & Detective Fiction
- Science Fiction & Dystopian
Realistic Fiction & Coming-of-Age fits exactly. Nothing impossible happens, and one embarrassing school day nudges Victor a small but real step toward growing up.
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Question 2. Where and when does “Seventh Grade” take place?
- Los Angeles, California, during the last week before summer vacation
- Correct answer: Fresno, California, on the very first day of the new school year
- A small town in Texas, on the afternoon of the first school dance
- Sacramento, California, in the middle of the spring semester
The whole story unfolds in one day on a small, triangle-shaped school campus in Fresno. Victor dreams of France because it is cool there, “not like Fresno, where summer days reached 110 degrees in the shade.”
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Question 3. Which elective does Victor list on his computer card?
- Correct answer: French
- Spanish
- Metal shop
- Woodworking
Victor lists French as his one elective, telling himself he might travel to France someday. The real reason is that Teresa is taking it too.
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Question 4. What is Victor's real reason for choosing French?
- His parents insisted that he study a third language this year
- He needs an easy elective to pull up his overall grade average
- Correct answer: He hopes to share a class with Teresa, the girl he has a crush on
- His friend Michael Torres talked him into signing up alongside him
Victor tells himself he might travel to France someday, but the sentence that follows gives him away: Teresa is taking French, and “with any luck they would be in the same class.”
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Question 5. Where did Michael Torres get the idea for his new scowl?
- From a movie star he watched on television during the summer
- From older cousins who taught him the look while picking grapes
- From a photograph of a boxer hanging on the wall of the school gym
- Correct answer: From the male models in a GQ magazine his brother had borrowed
Michael read a GQ magazine his older brother borrowed from the Book Mobile and noticed the models all wore the same look. He practices it on Victor: “He scowled and let his upper lip quiver.”
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Question 6. What does "Simile" mean in this story?
- A plain statement of fact that makes no comparison at all
- Correct answer: A comparison of two unlike things using the word like or as
- A word that imitates the actual sound that it describes
- Giving human feelings to an animal or a non-human object
Soto's similes are homely and funny. Picking grapes was “like living in Siberia, except hot and more boring,” and math “was confusing, like the inside of a watch.”
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Question 7. What does Soto mean by saying picking grapes was “like living in Siberia, except hot and more boring”?
- The vineyards were unusually cold that particular summer in Fresno
- The boys traveled to a distant place they had never seen before
- Correct answer: The work was miserable, endless, and numbingly dull for the boys
- The season ended quickly and left the boys plenty of free time
The joke is that Siberia would be an improvement. Victor and Michael endure the heat and boredom only because the money buys their new fall clothes.
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Question 8. In English class, what does Victor answer when Mr. Lucas asks for an example of a person?
- Correct answer: Teresa, which makes some of the girls in the class giggle at him
- Michael, which makes his friend scowl at him from across the room
- Mr. Belton, which makes the whole class laugh at the principal's name
- Himself, which makes Mr. Lucas ask him to try the question again
Victor says “Teresa” automatically. The girls giggle because they already know he has a crush on her, and he blushes for the second time that morning.
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Question 9. How hot do Fresno summer days get, according to Victor?
- 85 degrees in the shade
- Correct answer: 110 degrees in the shade
- 95 degrees in the shade
- 125 degrees in the shade
France appeals to Victor because it is cool there, “not like Fresno, where summer days reached 110 degrees in the shade.”
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Question 10. What happens after Victor raises his hand when Mr. Bueller asks if anyone knows French?
- He answers correctly and the teacher praises him in front of the class
- Correct answer: He panics and invents nonsense sounds that only resemble real French
- He admits right away that he does not speak a single word of French
- He asks Teresa to answer the question for him instead of trying himself
Cornered in front of everyone, Victor tries to bluff his way out with sounds that merely resemble French: “La me vave me con le grandma,” and then “Frenchie oh wewe gee in September.”
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Question 11. Why does Mr. Bueller choose not to tell Teresa that Victor was faking?
- He never actually realized that Victor's French was pure nonsense
- He is afraid the principal will blame him for embarrassing a student
- He wants Victor to confess the truth to Teresa on his own later that week
- Correct answer: He remembers his own college pretense of being rich in borrowed cars
As Victor pleads with his eyes, the story slips into Mr. Bueller's memory of dating a girlfriend in borrowed cars, letting her think he was rich until his money ran out. Having faked it himself, he shuffles his papers, smiles, and says nothing.
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Question 12. What does "Third-Person Limited Point of View" mean in this story?
- A narrator who is a character in the story, telling it as I and me
- A narrator who reports only what could be seen and heard from outside
- Correct answer: A narrator outside the story who reveals one character's private thoughts
- A narrator who knows the thoughts of every character in the story equally
The narrator stands outside Victor but reports his private mind: his vow about Teresa, his mortification after the noun question, his silent begging in French class. Everyone else stays on the outside.
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Question 13. Besides Victor, whose thoughts does the narrator briefly enter?
- Teresa's, in a memory of their catechism classes at Saint Theresa's
- Michael's, in a memory of reading the GQ magazine over the summer
- Correct answer: Mr. Bueller's, in a memory of dating a girlfriend in borrowed cars
- Mr. Lucas's, in a memory of his own first year teaching English
For one paragraph the story leaves Victor entirely and enters Mr. Bueller's college memory. It is the only shift in the whole story, and it explains the teacher's silence to readers, though never to Victor.
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Question 14. What does "Situational Irony" mean in this story?
- Correct answer: When what actually happens is the opposite of what was expected
- When a character says the opposite of what he really means
- When the reader knows something a character in the story does not
- When an early detail quietly hints at what will happen later on
Victor's fake French should have destroyed his chances with Teresa. Instead it wins her admiration, her request for help, and a real reason to learn the language.
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Question 15. What does Soto mean when Victor's rosebushes of shame become bouquets of love?
- Victor plans to bring Teresa flowers to apologize for lying to her
- Correct answer: Victor's burning embarrassment turns into happiness about Teresa
- Victor's face finally cools off after the long walk to metal shop
- Victor decides he no longer cares what Teresa thinks about him
In French class, “Great rosebushes of red bloomed on Victor's cheeks” as he humiliated himself. The same image returns transformed once Teresa asks for his help: “The rosebushes of shame on his face became bouquets of love.”
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Question 16. How many French textbooks does Victor check out from the public library?
- One
- Two
- Correct answer: Three
- Five
After metal shop and biology, Victor makes a long sprint to the public library and checks out three French textbooks, turning his bluff into an actual plan.
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Question 17. What does Victor's trip to the library at the end of the story show about him?
- That he has decided to drop French and switch into Spanish instead
- That he plans to tell Teresa the truth as soon as he sees her again
- That he is looking for a way to avoid Teresa for the rest of the year
- Correct answer: That he intends to earn the reputation he accidentally lied his way into
Victor cannot bluff through a whole year of tutoring, so he goes and gets the books. The lie becomes a promise he means to keep, and the story closes on the line “He was going to like seventh grade.”
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Question 18. Which statement best expresses a central theme of “Seventh Grade”?
- Lying to impress someone always ends in public humiliation and regret
- Friendship will always matter more than romance does in seventh grade
- Correct answer: Growing up means turning who you pretended to be into who you become
- School is a place where students learn nothing of any lasting value
Both boys borrow a pose, and Victor's collapses in the worst possible room. But instead of punishing him, the story hands him a second chance he then has to earn at the library.
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Question 19. Which of these events actually happened in the story?
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Victor already speaks both Spanish and English before the school year starts.
Happened
Soto establishes it in the opening paragraph, which is part of why French seems like a reasonable third language to try.
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Michael Torres copied his new scowl from the male models in a GQ magazine.
Happened
His older brother had borrowed the magazine from the Book Mobile, and Michael noticed the models all wore the same look.
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Victor answers Teresa’s “Hi, Victor” at the homeroom door with “Yeah, that’s me.”
Happened
He had planned something clever, blurts that out instead, and immediately wishes he had said anything nicer.
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Math is Victor's strongest and favorite subject of the school day.
Didn't happen
Math is his weakest subject. He sits in the back by the window hoping not to be called on, and the problems scare him.
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Mr. Lucas, the English teacher, is described as a portly man.
Happened
He waddles down the aisle asking the class what a noun is, and he is the one character who says Victor's full name.
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Victor finds Teresa at lunch sitting with a girlfriend under a plum tree.
Happened
He pretends to study his math book while scanning the bag lunch area, then moves to a table near her once he spots her.
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Mr. Bueller announces to the class that Victor does not really know French.
Didn't happen
He understands that the boy does not know French, turns away, and simply goes back to the words on the blackboard.
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Teresa asks Victor if he will help her with her French.
Happened
She tells him she did not know he knew French and that it was good, then asks for help as they leave the classroom together.
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Victor confesses the truth to Teresa before they part in the hallway.
Didn't happen
He keeps up the pretense instead, mumbling that he picked up a few things from movies and books and stuff like that.
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Victor ends the day by checking out three French textbooks from the public library.
Happened
After metal shop and biology he makes a long sprint to the library, and the story's last line says he was going to like seventh grade.
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Play it live with your class.
Put the code on the screen and students join on whatever they have.