P. S. A. Fucking. T.

Based on the College Board’s “Practice Test,” the compilers of this exam are:

A. Insipid
B. Tiresome
C. Irksome
D. Cruel

As we’re spending the afternoon reviewing the PSAT with our daughter, I’m recalling a storm of high school anxieties. Separately, we read and answer questions to the same passages and then compare results. I’d like to tout how brilliant we are (Maria, Aleda, and I are doing "aiight"); but beyond “correct” or “incorrect” is this: Holy shit, these readings are unbearably boring! And based on the construction of the questions, if you choose the incorrect answer for #23, the follow-up, #24, is bound to be wrong too.

The answer is____.