Reading Comprehension Assessment Series
GRADE 4
INFERENCE & SYNTHESIS
Reading Across Centuries: The Mongols,
the Plague & the Chain of History
Webb's
Depth of Knowledge · Hess's Cognitive Rigor Matrix
Drawing
Conclusions · Making Predictions ·
Cross-Paragraph Synthesis · Dual-Passage Comparison
Tier
2 & Tier 3 Academic Vocabulary
· Frustration-Level Text
Student
Name: _________________________________
Date: ____________
Teacher:
_________________________________
Period / Class: ____________
SKILL REFERENCE: INFERENCE &
SYNTHESIS QUESTION CATEGORIES
This assessment requires you to read between
the lines—to think like a detective. The table below identifies the eight
inference and synthesis skills you will practice.
|
Inference Category |
Skill Tested |
DOK / CRM |
Detective Move |
|
Implied Main Idea |
Infer the unstated central
claim from evidence patterns |
DOK 2–3 / B-2–C-3 |
What is the author implying
but not saying directly? |
|
Logical Conclusion |
Draw a conclusion that must
follow from stated evidence |
DOK 2–3 / B-2–C-3 |
Given what I know, what must
be true? |
|
Prediction / Projection |
Predict what would likely
happen given the passage's logic |
DOK 3 / C-3 |
If this is true, what comes
next? |
|
Character / Author
Motivation |
Infer unstated reasons for
an action or rhetorical choice |
DOK 3 / C-3 |
Why did they do/say this
without stating why? |
|
Cross-Paragraph Connection |
Connect ideas stated in
different paragraphs to form a new insight |
DOK 3–4 / C-3–D-4 |
How do these two separate
facts relate to each other? |
|
Dual-Passage Synthesis |
Compare, contrast, or
synthesize two passages on related topics |
DOK 3–4 / C-3–D-4 |
What would Passage A say
about Passage B's claim? |
|
Authorial Assumption / Gap |
Identify what the author
assumes without arguing for, or what is missing |
DOK 4 / D-4 |
What has the author left
unsaid or taken for granted? |
|
Evaluative Synthesis |
Assess the strength of an
argument using evidence from across the text |
DOK 4 / D-4 |
Does the evidence actually
prove the claim? |
DIRECTIONS
Read both passages carefully. Annotate as you
go—underline evidence, circle clues, draw arrows between connected ideas across
passages. Every question requires inference: do not look only for sentences
that directly answer the question. The answer is always built from evidence,
but it is never stated outright. For written responses, construct your
reasoning step by step.
PASSAGE A: THE MONGOL EMPIRE — CONQUEST, TERROR & UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES
[A1] In
less than a century, the Mongol Empire expanded from a fragmented collection of
nomadic tribes on the Central Asian steppe to become the largest contiguous
land empire in human history—stretching from the Pacific coast of China to the
borders of Central Europe. Under Genghis Khan and his successors, the Mongols
conquered more territory in twenty-five years than the Roman Empire accumulated
in four hundred. The speed and scale of this conquest have no precedent in
recorded history.
[A2] The
military effectiveness of Mongol armies rested on several innovations that
their opponents consistently underestimated. Mongol cavalry could travel sixty
to eighty miles per day—several times the pace of infantry-based
armies—enabling strategic surprise on a geographic scale that defenders could
not anticipate. Mongol commanders employed sophisticated psychological warfare:
cities that surrendered immediately were spared; cities that resisted were
destroyed with such totality that survivors were often released specifically to
spread the news to neighboring populations. The calculated use of terror as a
strategic instrument reduced the cost and duration of subsequent conquests.
[A3] The
human toll of Mongol conquest was catastrophic. Historians estimate that the
Mongol campaigns reduced the global population by somewhere between 10 and 15
percent—possibly the largest percentage loss of human life in any historical
event prior to the twentieth century. The destruction of Baghdad in 1258, which
ended the Abbasid Caliphate and killed an estimated 200,000 to 800,000 people,
is considered by many historians to have permanently ended the Islamic Golden
Age of scientific and philosophical achievement.
[A4] Yet
the Mongol conquests also created an unintended consequence of enormous
historical significance. By uniting vast territories under a single political
authority for the first time, the Mongols inadvertently created the conditions
for the most extensive period of Eurasian economic and cultural exchange in the
premodern world—an era historians call the Pax Mongolica, or Mongol Peace.
PASSAGE B: THE PAX MONGOLICA — CONNECTIVITY, EXCHANGE &
PANDEMIC
[B1] The
Pax Mongolica—the "Mongol Peace"—describes the period of relative
stability and interconnection that characterized the Mongol Empire at its
height, roughly from the 1250s to the 1350s. During this century, merchants,
diplomats, missionaries, scholars, and travelers moved across Eurasia with a
freedom of movement unprecedented in the premodern world. The Mongol guarantee
of safe passage along the Silk Road routes transformed what had been a
dangerous and fragmentary network of trade into a relatively reliable
transcontinental system.
[B2] Marco
Polo's famous journey from Venice to the court of Kublai Khan—the Mongol ruler
of China—between 1271 and 1295 was made possible entirely by the Pax Mongolica.
The detailed account he subsequently published introduced Europeans to the
wealth, sophistication, and cultural complexity of East Asian civilizations in
ways that no previous European text had achieved. Polo's account directly
inspired the ambitions of later explorers, including Christopher Columbus, who
carried a copy of Polo's book on his 1492 voyage.
[B3] The
Pax Mongolica also served as the primary vector by which the Black Death—the
bubonic plague that killed one-third of Europe's population in the fourteenth
century—traveled from its origin in Central Asia to the populations of the
Middle East and Europe. The same infrastructure of roads, relay stations, and
guaranteed safe passage that carried silk, spice, and scholarly manuscripts
also carried the fleas and rodents that bore the plague. The Pax Mongolica was,
simultaneously, the greatest facilitator of intercultural exchange and the
greatest facilitator of pandemic disease in premodern history.
[B4] The
Pax Mongolica collapsed with the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire in the
mid-fourteenth century. Its disappearance, combined with the devastating
population losses of the Black Death, contributed to the disruption of Silk
Road trade and helped motivate European maritime powers to seek oceanic routes
to Asia—a search that produced the Age of Exploration and permanently altered
the balance of global power. The Pax Mongolica thus connects, through a chain
of historical causation, the conquests of Genghis Khan to the European
colonization of the Americas.
SECTION A — SINGLE-PASSAGE
INFERENCE (2 pts each)
Questions 1–8: Draw conclusions, infer main
ideas, identify author motivations, and detect authorial assumptions from
within individual passages.
1. [Logical Conclusion] Passage
A states that Mongol survivors of destroyed cities "were often released
specifically to spread the news to neighboring populations." What
conclusion can you draw about the strategic function of this decision?
DOK 2 · CRM
B-2
▸ Infer why
psychological warfare reduced conquest costs.
A) The Mongols released survivors out
of mercy, demonstrating that Genghis Khan had a code of honor that forbade
killing all prisoners
B) The Mongols released survivors as
deliberate messengers of terror—calculating that word-of-mouth accounts of
total destruction would cause neighboring cities to surrender without
resistance, reducing the military cost of subsequent conquests by making the
threat credible through living testimony
C) The Mongols lacked the manpower to
guard large numbers of prisoners and released them for purely logistical
reasons
D) Survivors were released because
Mongol culture required that at least some members of a conquered population be
preserved to maintain the conquered territory's tax base
2. [Implied Main Idea] Passage
A presents data about Mongol conquest without stating a single thesis sentence.
What main idea do all four paragraphs together imply?
DOK 2 · CRM
B-2
▸ Infer the
unstated main idea of Passage A.
A) Genghis Khan was the most
militarily gifted commander in human history and deserves greater recognition
in Western historical education
B) The Mongol conquests were
simultaneously the most devastating and the most historically consequential
military campaigns in premodern history—creating unprecedented human suffering
while also, inadvertently, laying the foundations for a new era of global
interconnection
C) The destruction of Baghdad was the
most significant single event of the Mongol conquests because it permanently
ended the Islamic Golden Age
D) The Mongol Empire's rapid
expansion was primarily the result of military innovation rather than political
organization or cultural factors
3. [Authorial Assumption / Gap]
Passage A states that the destruction of Baghdad
"permanently ended the Islamic Golden Age." What assumption does this
claim make that the passage does not defend?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Identify
an unexamined assumption in Passage A.
A) The assumption is that the Islamic
Golden Age was occurring at the time of the Mongol invasion
B) The passage assumes that the
Islamic Golden Age would have continued—and perhaps recovered from—any other
historical disruption, and therefore that the Mongol destruction was uniquely
decisive; it also assumes a causal relationship between the physical destruction
of Baghdad and the end of a cultural era without examining whether the
intellectual traditions of the Golden Age survived elsewhere
C) The passage assumes that
historians universally agree that the Islamic Golden Age ended in 1258, without
acknowledging scholarly debate
D) The passage assumes that Baghdad
was the sole center of Islamic Golden Age scholarship, with no acknowledgment
of other cities
4. [Prediction / Projection]
Passage A ends by saying the Mongol conquests
"inadvertently created" the conditions for the Pax Mongolica. What
can you infer would have been LESS likely to occur in the following century
without the Mongol political unification of Eurasia?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Predict
what would have happened without the Pax Mongolica.
A) The Black Death would have been
less likely to occur at all, since plague requires warm climates to spread
B) The free movement of merchants,
missionaries, diplomats, and scholars across Eurasia described in Passage B
would have been far less possible without a single unified political authority
guaranteeing safe passage—meaning Marco Polo's journey, Columbus's inspiration,
and possibly the Age of Exploration itself would have been delayed or
redirected
C) The Islamic Golden Age would have
continued uninterrupted, since it was dependent only on internal cultural
development rather than external trade connections
D) China would have expanded westward
through military campaigns of its own, creating an alternative system of
Eurasian interconnection independent of Mongol political authority
5. [Character / Author Motivation]
Passage A compares the Mongol Empire's twenty-five years of
conquest to the Roman Empire's four hundred years of expansion. Why does the
author include this specific comparison?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Infer the
purpose behind the comparison with Rome.
A) The Roman Empire is used as the
baseline because it is the only historical empire whose exact territorial size
has been precisely calculated by archaeologists
B) The Roman comparison provides
readers with a familiar reference point that makes the Mongols' unprecedented
speed of conquest emotionally and intellectually comprehensible—without it,
"twenty-five years to conquer a continent" is an abstract claim;
against Rome's four hundred years, the same achievement becomes viscerally
astonishing
C) The comparison is meant to argue
that the Mongol Empire was morally superior to the Roman Empire because it
achieved more in less time
D) The author uses the Roman
comparison to suggest that the Mongol Empire, like Rome, eventually collapsed
due to overextension and internal political dysfunction
6. [Logical Conclusion] Passage
B describes the Pax Mongolica as simultaneously "the greatest facilitator
of intercultural exchange and the greatest facilitator of pandemic disease in
premodern history." What conclusion can you draw about the relationship
between connectivity and risk?
DOK 2 · CRM
B-2
▸ Draw a
conclusion from the dual nature of the Pax Mongolica.
A) The Pax Mongolica proves that
intercultural exchange is inherently dangerous and should be limited to prevent
the spread of disease
B) Connectivity—the infrastructure
that enables the rapid movement of goods, people, and ideas—simultaneously
enables the rapid movement of disease; the same system that creates
extraordinary benefits also creates extraordinary vulnerabilities, because a connected
world is one in which both positive and negative forces can travel farther and
faster than in a fragmented one
C) The Black Death traveled through
the Pax Mongolica by accident, and a properly designed system of trade routes
could have separated commercial exchange from disease transmission
D) The balance of benefit and harm
from the Pax Mongolica was roughly equal, making it a historically neutral
rather than historically significant phenomenon
7. [Implied Main Idea] Passage
B never states its main idea directly. What central argument do all four
paragraphs together imply?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Infer the
implied argument of Passage B.
A) Marco Polo's journey is the single
most important legacy of the Pax Mongolica because it directly inspired
Christopher Columbus's voyage
B) The Pax Mongolica demonstrates
that a period of unprecedented historical destruction can inadvertently produce
the conditions for an era of unprecedented historical exchange—and that
historical consequences are frequently unpredictable, ironic, and far-reaching
beyond their immediate context
C) The Mongol Empire was ultimately
beneficial because the Pax Mongolica's commercial advantages outweighed the
human costs of its military conquests
D) The Black Death was the most
significant long-term consequence of the Pax Mongolica, since it killed more
people than the Mongol conquests themselves
8. [Authorial Assumption / Gap]
Both passages trace historical consequences of the Mongol
Empire across centuries—from conquest to Pax Mongolica to Black Death to Age of
Exploration to European colonization. What foundational assumption about how
history operates underlies this kind of multi-century causal chain, and is this
assumption ever explicitly examined?
DOK 4 · CRM
D-4
▸ DOK 4:
Identify the deepest assumption underlying both passages.
A) The assumption is that individual
leaders like Genghis Khan are the primary drivers of historical change; this is
examined in Passage A's analysis of Mongol military genius
B) Both passages assume that history
operates through chains of unintended causation—that major events produce
consequences their agents never foresaw, and that these consequences can extend
for centuries in directions no one planned; this assumption treats history as a
system of complex, interconnected causation rather than a series of independent
events, but neither passage ever explicitly defends or examines this model of
historical explanation as a theoretical choice
C) The assumption is that military
conquest always produces negative long-term consequences, which is examined
through the comparison of Mongol destruction with the benefits of the Pax
Mongolica
D) Both passages assume that European
civilizations were the primary beneficiaries of the Pax Mongolica, which is
examined through the Marco Polo and Columbus examples
SECTION B — CROSS-PARAGRAPH &
DUAL-PASSAGE SYNTHESIS (2 pts each)
Questions 9–14: Connect ideas across
paragraphs within and between passages. Evaluate arguments using combined
evidence.
9. [Cross-Paragraph Connection]
Passage A describes the Mongols' use of calculated terror to
accelerate conquest. Passage B describes the Pax Mongolica's infrastructure of
roads and relay stations. What inference can you draw about the relationship
between the method of conquest and the infrastructure of the peace that
followed?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Connect
terror strategy from Passage A with Pax Mongolica infrastructure from Passage
B.
A) The terror strategy and the Pax
Mongolica infrastructure are unrelated, since one concerns military operations
and the other concerns commercial development
B) The speed of conquest enabled by
terror—which rapidly subjugated large territories under unified political
authority—was the direct prerequisite for the Pax Mongolica's infrastructure:
only because the Mongols controlled an unbroken chain of territory could they
guarantee safe passage across it; the brutality of the conquest was therefore a
structural condition of the peace
C) The terror strategy undermined the
Pax Mongolica by leaving surviving populations too traumatized to participate
in trade
D) The Pax Mongolica infrastructure
was built by the conquered peoples themselves, with no direct relationship to
the military methods used to conquer them
10. [Cross-Paragraph Connection]
Passage A estimates the Mongol conquests reduced global
population by 10–15%. Passage B states the Black Death (transmitted via Pax
Mongolica infrastructure) killed one-third of Europe's population. What
inference can you draw about the cumulative demographic impact of the Mongol
Empire's existence on the medieval world?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Synthesize
the Black Death transmission with the Mongol conquest's population losses.
A) The combined demographic losses
prove the Mongol Empire was more destructive than any other force in human
history, including the World Wars of the twentieth century
B) The Mongol Empire's existence
produced a double demographic catastrophe: the conquests themselves inflicted
enormous direct population losses, and then the infrastructure of the peace
that followed provided the mechanism for a second catastrophe—the Black
Death—that killed an additional third of European populations; the same empire
that killed millions through conquest also killed millions more through the
connectivity it created
C) The two population events were
independent and cannot be causally connected because the Black Death was a
natural phenomenon unrelated to Mongol policy
D) The demographic losses from the
Black Death cancelled out the population gains that occurred during the
peaceful and prosperous Pax Mongolica period
11. [Evaluative Synthesis] Using
evidence from BOTH passages, evaluate the following claim: "The Pax
Mongolica's cultural and commercial benefits justified the human cost of the
Mongol conquests that made it possible." Is this claim well-supported,
poorly supported, or unanswerable based on the available evidence?
DOK 4 · CRM
D-4
▸ DOK 4:
Evaluate whether the Pax Mongolica's benefits outweigh its costs.
A) The claim is well-supported
because Passage B demonstrates that the Pax Mongolica produced the Age of
Exploration, which created the modern world
B) The claim is essentially
unanswerable as stated, because the evidence reveals that the Pax Mongolica's
"benefits" (intercultural exchange, Marco Polo, Columbus) and its
"costs" (conquest deaths, Baghdad's destruction, the Black Death it
transmitted) are incommensurable—there is no common unit by which to weigh
millions of deaths against centuries of commercial connectivity; the passages
demonstrate complexity, not a balance sheet, and any claim to have calculated
the net value is an unjustifiable reduction of irreducible historical tragedy
C) The claim is poorly supported
because the passages focus primarily on the negative consequences of both the
conquests and the Pax Mongolica
D) The claim is well-supported by the
causal chain connecting the Pax Mongolica to the Age of Exploration, which
demonstrably shaped global history
12. [Dual-Passage Synthesis] What
single most important inference can you draw about historical causation from
reading BOTH passages together that neither passage makes explicit?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Identify
what both passages together reveal about unintended consequences.
A) The most important inference is
that military conquest is always followed by a period of commercial exchange,
which is the universal historical pattern demonstrated by the Mongol example
B) The most important inference is
that large-scale historical events routinely produce their most significant
consequences through mechanisms that neither their authors nor their
contemporaries could have anticipated—the Mongols did not intend to create conditions
for European exploration; the Pax Mongolica did not intend to transmit plague;
and the Black Death did not intend to motivate maritime navigation. History's
most consequential chains of causation are frequently invisible to those living
through them
C) The most important inference is
that the Mongol Empire's net historical impact was positive because global
interconnection ultimately benefited more people than the conquests destroyed
D) The most important inference is
that no single empire or political system has ever had as lasting an impact on
world history as the Mongol Empire had between the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries
13. [Cross-Paragraph Connection]
Passage B states that Marco Polo's journey (1271–1295) was
"made possible entirely by the Pax Mongolica." It also states the Pax
Mongolica "collapsed with the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire in the
mid-fourteenth century." What inference can you draw about what would have
happened to overland travel between Europe and China after the 1350s?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Connect
Marco Polo's journey with the end of the Pax Mongolica.
A) Overland travel would have
remained equally safe because local rulers replaced Mongol authority with
equivalent road security systems
B) The collapse of Mongol political
unification would have ended the guaranteed safe passage that made Marco Polo's
journey possible, making similar overland journeys far more dangerous and
fragmented—which helps explain why European powers subsequently invested in
maritime exploration rather than continuing overland routes to Asia
C) Overland travel became safer after
the Mongol collapse because local rulers were less violent than the Mongols had
been
D) Marco Polo's journey would have
been possible at any time because overland Silk Road routes existed
independently of Mongol political authority
14. [Evaluative Synthesis] A
student claims: "Passages A and B together argue that the Mongol Empire
was, on balance, a positive force in world history." Evaluate this claim.
Does the combined evidence of both passages support this conclusion?
DOK 4 · CRM
D-4
▸ DOK 4:
Evaluate whether the passages together constitute a coherent historical
argument.
A) Yes—the Age of Exploration and
European contact with Asia ultimately produced the modern globalized world,
which justifies the Mongol Empire's historical role
B) No—the passages do not make a
"balance" argument at all; they trace a chain of unintended
consequences—destruction → peace → plague → exploration → colonization—without
ever claiming the net result was positive or negative. The student is importing
a moral evaluation that the passages deliberately refuse to make; the evidence
is consistent with multiple interpretations and the passages' analytical stance
is one of complexity rather than judgment
C) Yes—Passage B's focus on the
commercial and cultural benefits of the Pax Mongolica implies the authors
believe those benefits outweigh the costs described in Passage A
D) No—both passages are primarily
focused on the negative consequences of Mongol expansion and together
constitute an implicit condemnation of conquest as a historical force
SECTION C — PREDICTION &
PROJECTION (2 pts each)
Questions 15–18: Use the logic and evidence
of both passages to predict likely outcomes, policy implications, and future
developments.
15. [Prediction / Projection]
Based on both passages, what might have been the most
significant difference in European history if the Pax Mongolica had never
existed?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Predict
the Age of Exploration's trajectory without the Pax Mongolica.
A) Europe would have remained
entirely isolated from Asian civilizations because no overland or maritime
connections were possible without Mongol political unification
B) Without the Pax Mongolica, Marco
Polo's journey would not have occurred; Columbus, who carried Polo's book,
might not have been inspired by detailed accounts of Asian wealth; the Age of
Exploration might have been significantly delayed or redirected—with cascading
effects on global history from colonization to the transatlantic slave trade to
the formation of the modern nation-state system
C) The Black Death would not have
spread to Europe, leaving European populations healthier and more
prosperous—eliminating the motivation to seek new maritime trade routes
D) The Mongol conquests would have
been less severe without the Pax Mongolica to justify them as ultimately
beneficial to humanity
16. [Prediction / Projection]
Based on both passages, which lesson about global
interconnection would a thoughtful contemporary policymaker most reasonably
draw?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Predict
the most likely lesson a contemporary policymaker would draw.
A) Policymakers should avoid building
global trade networks because the Pax Mongolica demonstrates that such networks
inevitably transmit pandemic disease
B) Policymakers should recognize that
global connectivity systems—trade routes, supply chains, digital
networks—simultaneously accelerate both beneficial exchange and harmful
transmission, and therefore require robust systems of risk management alongside
their development, rather than assuming that connection is inherently and only
beneficial
C) Policymakers should study the
Mongol military model to understand how rapid territorial expansion can create
conditions for economic prosperity
D) Policymakers should focus on
isolating their nations from global networks in order to prevent the spread of
future pandemics
17. [Prediction / Projection]
A third passage would be needed to complete the historical
picture implied by both passages. What topic would be most essential for it to
address?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Predict
what a third passage would need to address.
A) A detailed account of the specific
military battles through which Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes before
beginning his conquests
B) The perspectives and experiences
of the peoples conquered by the Mongols—Central Asians, Chinese, Persians,
Eastern Europeans—whose experiences are entirely absent from both passages,
which discuss the Mongol Empire exclusively from a bird's-eye historical
perspective that omits the lived experience of those most directly affected
C) A scientific explanation of how
the bubonic plague bacteria spread from rodents to fleas to humans along the
Silk Road
D) A detailed account of Marco Polo's
experiences in China that goes beyond the brief summary provided in Passage B
18. [Prediction / Projection]
Passage B states that the Pax Mongolica's collapse
"helped motivate European maritime powers to seek oceanic routes to
Asia." Based on this and the evidence in Passage A about what the Pax
Mongolica provided, what specific conditions would European merchants have
faced after the collapse that made oceanic routes attractive?
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
▸ Predict
the effect of the Pax Mongolica's collapse on global trade.
A) European merchants would have lost
access to Asian goods entirely because the collapse of Mongol authority meant
Asian civilizations closed their borders to all foreign trade
B) Without the Mongol guarantee of
safe passage, overland routes would have become fragmented, dangerous, and
controlled by multiple competing local powers—each capable of imposing tolls,
confiscating goods, or denying passage—making the predictable costs of oceanic
navigation preferable to the unpredictable dangers of the overland alternative
C) European merchants would simply
have waited for a new political power to unify Central Asia and restore
overland trade routes before investing in maritime exploration
D) The collapse of the Pax Mongolica
had no direct effect on European maritime exploration, which was motivated
primarily by technological advances in ship design rather than by overland
trade difficulties
SECTION D — SHORT ANSWER (10 pts each)
DOK 3–4
| CRM C-3 / D-4 |
Complete sentences and evidence from BOTH passages required.
19. [Cross-Passage Inference — Analysis] Passage A describes the Mongol use
of terror as a "strategic instrument" that "reduced the cost and
duration of subsequent conquests." Passage B describes the Pax Mongolica
as inadvertently transmitting the Black Death across Eurasia. Drawing on BOTH
passages, construct a specific inference about the concept of "unintended
consequences" in history—specifically, how the Mongols' most deliberate
strategies produced their most unintended effects. Your inference must go
beyond summarizing either passage. (DOK 3 | CRM C-3)
DOK 3 · CRM
C-3
20. [Evaluative Synthesis] Both
passages present the Mongol Empire as a historical force that simultaneously
destroyed and created. Passage A: the conquests destroyed populations and
civilizations. Passage B: the Pax Mongolica created intercultural exchange and
accidentally transmitted plague. Based on the evidence in BOTH passages,
construct an argument about whether historical forces that are simultaneously
destructive and creative should be evaluated primarily by their immediate
effects or by their long-term consequences. Defend your position with specific
evidence from both passages. (DOK 4 | CRM D-4)
DOK 4 · CRM
D-4
SECTION E — EXTENDED SYNTHESIS
ESSAY (20 pts)
DOK Level 4
| CRM D-4 |
Minimum 10 sentences. Draw on BOTH passages. Construct original
inferences—do not simply summarize.
21. [Full Synthesis — Extended Response] Full Synthesis: Passages A and B
together trace a chain of historical causation spanning three centuries—from
Mongol conquest to Pax Mongolica to Black Death to Age of Exploration. In a
well-organized extended response using evidence from BOTH passages: (1)
construct a single unified inference about what this causal chain reveals about
the relationship between violence and connectivity in history; (2) identify the
single detail—from either passage—that you consider the most historically
important, and defend your choice with a logical argument about why it is the
pivotal point in the causal chain; (3) evaluate whether the two passages
together constitute an argument that the Mongol Empire's net historical legacy
was positive, negative, or impossible to categorize morally—and defend your
evaluation; and (4) construct your own original inference about what the Mongol
example reveals about the predictability of historical consequences—an
inference that neither passage states but that both passages' evidence
supports.
DOK 4 · CRM
D-4
SECTION F — DETECTIVE JOURNAL (4 pts each)
DOK 2–3
| CRM B-2 / C-3 | The
detective journal trains the habit of inference. For each prompt, write 2–4
sentences explaining your reasoning. Show your "clues → conclusion"
thinking.
Clue File
1: Passage A states that the Mongols'
terror strategy made it so cities that heard about total destruction often
surrendered without fighting. What can you infer about the psychological
experience of living in a city that chose to surrender rather than resist? What
would such a city's residents fear most?
Clue File
2: Passage B states that Marco Polo's
book inspired Columbus. What inference can you draw about the relationship
between written accounts of exploration and the motivation for future
exploration? What does this suggest about the importance of documentation in
history?
Clue File
3: Both passages describe
connectivity—the Pax Mongolica's road network—as simultaneously beneficial and
dangerous. What inference can you draw about the nature of any large-scale
connectivity system (ancient or modern) from this historical example?
ASSESSMENT SCORING GUIDE
|
Section |
Possible |
Earned |
DOK |
CRM Cell |
|
Sec A: Single-Passage
Inference MC (×8) |
16 |
___ |
2–4 |
B-2 / C-3 / D-4 |
|
Sec B: Cross-Paragraph
Synthesis MC (×6) |
12 |
___ |
3–4 |
C-3 / D-4 |
|
Sec C: Dual-Passage
Synthesis MC (×6) |
12 |
___ |
3–4 |
C-3 / D-4 |
|
Sec D: Short Answer (×2) |
20 |
___ |
3–4 |
C-3 / D-4 |
|
Sec E: Extended Synthesis
Essay |
20 |
___ |
4 |
D-4 |
|
Sec F: Prediction &
Projection (×4) |
8 |
___ |
3 |
C-3 |
|
Sec G: Detective Journal
(open) |
12 |
___ |
2–3 |
B-2 / C-3 |
|
TOTAL |
100 |
___ |
— |
— |
Grade 3
— Ocean Plastics / The Plastisphere
Section A — Single-Passage
Inference MC (Q1–8):
Q1: B
Q2: B
Q3: B
Q4: B
Q5: B
Q6: B
Q7: B
Q8: B
Section B — Cross-Paragraph
& Dual-Passage Synthesis MC (Q9–14):
Q9: B
Q10: B
Q11: B
Q12: B
Q13: B
Q14: B
Section C — Prediction &
Projection MC (Q15–18):
Q15: B
Q16: B
Q17: B
Q18: B
Sections D, E,
F, G: Apply DOK/CRM open-response rubric below.
Grade 4
— Mongol Empire / Pax Mongolica
Section A — Single-Passage
Inference MC (Q1–8):
Q1: B
Q2: B
Q3: B
Q4: B
Q5: B
Q6: B
Q7: B
Q8: B
Section B — Cross-Paragraph
& Dual-Passage Synthesis MC (Q9–14):
Q9: B
Q10: B
Q11: B
Q12: B
Q13: B
Q14: B
Section C — Prediction &
Projection MC (Q15–18):
Q15: B
Q16: B
Q17: B
Q18: B
Sections D, E,
F, G: Apply DOK/CRM open-response rubric below.
Grade 5
— Social Conditions of Science / HeLa Cells
Section A — Single-Passage
Inference MC (Q1–8):
Q1: B
Q2: B
Q3: B
Q4: B
Q5: B
Q6: B
Q7: B
Q8: B
Section B — Cross-Paragraph
& Dual-Passage Synthesis MC (Q9–14):
Q9: B
Q10: B
Q11: B
Q12: B
Q13: B
Q14: B
Section C — Prediction &
Projection MC (Q15–18):
Q15: B
Q16: B
Q17: B
Q18: B
Sections D, E,
F, G: Apply DOK/CRM open-response rubric below.
Grade 6
— Architecture of Tragedy / Antigone
Section A — Single-Passage
Inference MC (Q1–8):
Q1: B
Q2: B
Q3: B
Q4: B
Q5: B
Q6: B
Q7: B
Q8: B
Section B — Cross-Paragraph
& Dual-Passage Synthesis MC (Q9–14):
Q9: B
Q10: B
Q11: B
Q12: B
Q13: B
Q14: B
Section C — Prediction &
Projection MC (Q15–18):
Q15: B
Q16: B
Q17: B
Q18: B
Sections D, E,
F, G: Apply DOK/CRM open-response rubric below.
Grade 7
— Sovereignty & R2P / Syria Trilemma
Section A — Single-Passage
Inference MC (Q1–8):
Q1: B
Q2: B
Q3: B
Q4: B
Q5: B
Q6: B
Q7: B
Q8: B
Section B — Cross-Paragraph
& Dual-Passage Synthesis MC (Q9–14):
Q9: B
Q10: B
Q11: B
Q12: B
Q13: B
Q14: B
Section C — Prediction &
Projection MC (Q15–18):
Q15: B
Q16: B
Q17: B
Q18: B
Sections D, E,
F, G: Apply DOK/CRM open-response rubric below.
Grade 8
— Economic Paradigms / 2008 Crisis
Section A — Single-Passage
Inference MC (Q1–8):
Q1: B
Q2: B
Q3: B
Q4: B
Q5: B
Q6: B
Q7: B
Q8: B
Section B — Cross-Paragraph
& Dual-Passage Synthesis MC (Q9–14):
Q9: B
Q10: B
Q11: B
Q12: B
Q13: B
Q14: B
Section C — Prediction &
Projection MC (Q15–18):
Q15: B
Q16: B
Q17: B
Q18: B
Sections D, E,
F, G: Apply DOK/CRM open-response rubric below.
DOK / CRM Inference &
Synthesis Rubric
|
Score |
DOK |
Inference Quality |
Evidence Use |
Synthesis & Register |
|
18–20 |
4 |
Original insight; goes
beyond both passages; identifies unstated implications |
Cites specific evidence from
both passages; no unsupported claims |
Tier 3 vocabulary; formal
register; cross-passage synthesis |
|
14–17 |
3 |
Strong inference; connects
passages; mostly beyond summary |
Mostly accurate citations;
strong use of at least one passage |
Tier 2; generally formal;
partial cross-passage work |
|
9–13 |
2 |
Some inference; partially
beyond summary; may conflate with stated content |
General references; may
paraphrase rather than cite |
Mixed register; one passage
only or surface synthesis |
|
0–8 |
1 |
Restates passage content; no
genuine inference |
Vague or absent evidence |
Informal language; no
cross-passage engagement |
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