This flexible-use quiz is designed for reading comprehension assessment and activity needs in classroom, home-schooling and other settings. Questions connect to the text’s plot, characters, and themes — and align with the content and chapter organization in the rest of this study guide. Use quizzes as pre-reading hooks, reading checks, discussion starters, entrance/exit “tickets,” small group activities, writing activities, and lessons on finding evidence and support in a text.

Depth of Knowledge Levels: Questions require respondents to demonstrate ability to: 

1. Recall and Understand Content (e.g., who, what, where, when) 
2. Apply and Analyze Ideas (e.g., how and why)

1. Cady’s claim that she “like[s] a twist of meaning” (4) is significant for all but which of the following reasons?

A) It is an example of foreshadowing.

B) It helps distinguish Cady from the rest of her family.

C) It relates to the theme of discovering the truth.

D) It implies Cady is a dishonest narrator.

2. How do the Sinclairs generally respond to their losses and disappointments?

A) with anger

B) with grief

C) with denial

D) with strength

3. Who are the “Liars”?

A) Cady, Mirren, Johnny, and Gat

B) Penny, Bess, and Carrie

C) the littles

D) Harris and Tipper

4. Cady’s accident during summer fifteen leaves her with which of the following conditions?

A) impaired vision

B) migraines

C) joint pain

D) extensive scarring

5. What does Cady’s grandfather do when he catches her and Gat kissing in the attic?

A) He yells at them.

B) He pretends not to have noticed.

C) He subtly warns Gat off.

D) He says he is happy for them.

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

6. What is the name of the Sinclair family’s private island?

7. How does Gat come to spend his summers with the Sinclairs? 

8. The fairy tale Cadence tells about a man asking his daughters to describe their love for him alludes to which of the following?

A) King Lear

B) Othello

C) The Winter’s Tale

D) The Tempest

9. Cady’s decision to give away her possessions is in part a response to which of the following?

A) her grandmother’s death

B) her time in Europe

C) her family’s materialism

D) her parents’ divorce

10. The fact that the Sinclair family can trace its origins back to the Mayflower implies which of the following?

A) that the Sinclairs helped build America

B) that the Sinclairs’ flaws are also America’s flaws

C) that the Sinclairs’ fortunes have dwindled

D) that the Sinclairs have a lot of accumulated wisdom

11. What does Taft tell Cady about Cuddledown?

A) that it’s falling into the sea

B) that it’s built on buried treasure

C) that it’s been renovated

D) that it’s haunted

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

12. Why won’t Cady’s mother help her remember what happened during summer fifteen? 

13. How does “New Clairmont” compare to its predecessor?

A) It is larger and more luxurious.

B) It is sparer and less personal.

C) It is more traditional and less flashy.

D) It is smaller and more cluttered.

14. Where are Mirren, Johnny, and Gat staying for the summer?

A) off island

B) Cuddledown

C) New Clairmont

D) the boathouse

15. Which character does Cady see wandering the island at night?

A) Carrie

B) Granddad

C) Bess

D) Johnny

16. Why does Cady’s motto, “Always do what you are afraid to do,” upset Mirren?

A) She thinks it’s insincere.

B) She thinks it’s impossible.

C) She thinks it’s dangerous.

D) She thinks it’s self-centered.

17. The fairy tale Cady tells about the mouse and the princess reflects which of the following tensions?

A) Harris’s power over the family versus his declining health

B) Cady’s need to heal versus her fear of the truth

C) the Sinclairs’ extreme wealth versus their supposed progressivism

D) Cady’s love for Gat versus her status as a Sinclair

18. What does Gat say in response to Cady’s casual talk of drug use and death?

A) that she is lucky and shouldn’t waste her life

B) that she ought to seek help from someone

C) that she’s exaggerating her illness

D) that she shouldn’t talk openly about such things

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

19. What does Cady remember her mother and aunts arguing about during summer fifteen?

20. What present does Gat leave for Cady near the new tire swing?

21. Which of the following best describes how Cady initially feels when she remembers burning down Clairmont?

A) contented

B) ashamed

C) frightened

D) exhilarated

22. During summer fifteen, how did Penny, Carrie, and Bess’s treatment of their children change?

A) They ignored their children as they fought over their inheritances.

B) They used their children as pawns as they fought over their inheritances.

C) They ingratiated themselves with one another’s children as they fought over their inheritances.

D) Their treatment of their children did not change during summer fifteen.

23. Why did Carrie ask Gat to stop going to meals at Clairmont?

A) to avoid angering Harris with his presence

B) to protect him from Harris’s racism

C) to keep Johnny company while he was grounded

D) to upset Cady and Penny

24. Cady and the other Liars primarily viewed burning down Clairmont as which of the following?

A) vengeance

B) justice

C) purification

D) sacrifice

25. What does Cady remember about her hospitalization after speaking to Gat about the golden retrievers?

A) that she was suffering from hypothermia

B) that she was on a ventilator

C) that she had a black eye

D) that her hands and feet were burned

For each of the following questions, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

26. What “favor” did Harris Sinclair ask Johnny for in exchange for not emptying his college savings account?

27. What happened to Fatima and Prince Philip, Harris’s golden retrievers?

28. In the official version of events, what caused the fire at Clairmont?

A) arson by one of the family’s employees

B) a power surge during a lightning storm

C) an overturned can of motorboat oil

D) a malfunctioning burner on a gas stove

29. After Cady remembers the fire, how does her attitude towards her mother change?

A) She becomes more relaxed with her.

B) She becomes more worried about her.

C) She becomes more resentful towards her.

D) She becomes more grateful for her.

30. Where do Gat, Mirren, and Johnny go after saying their goodbyes to Cady?

A) They swim out to sea.

B) They fade into the air.

C) They take a boat to the mainland.

D) They vanish into Cuddledown’s walls.

31. The closing lines of the novel imply Cady newly recognizes which of the following?

A) the harms of wealth

B) the value of life

C) the elusiveness of truth

D) the power of forgiveness

For the following question, write a one-sentence response based on details in the story.

32. How was Cady able to escape the fire where Johnny, Mirren, and Gat weren’t?