Free UA apprenticeship reading comprehension practice
Reading comprehension appears in many apprenticeship aptitude tests, though not every UA local tests it — check your local's notice. Most reading tests give a short passage and ask what it says, what it implies, or what a word means in context. The trap is answering from what you already know instead of what the passage actually says. This section mixes passage-and-question sets on pipe-trade topics with gap-fill passages, where you pick the word that fits.
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6 questions against a 5-minute clock. The timing is our own practice pace — UA locals set their own tests and time limits.
Backflow Drinking water in a building is meant to flow one way only: in from the main and out at the taps. If the pressure in the main drops suddenly — when a nearby hydrant is opened to fight a fire, for example — water can be drawn backward out of the building's pipes. Anything connected to those pipes can be pulled back with it. A hose left lying in a bucket of cleaning chemicals is enough to contaminate the supply. Backflow preventers are fitted to stop this. The simplest is an air gap: a space between the end of the tap and the highest point the water in the sink can reach, so that the two can never touch. According to the passage, what can cause water to be drawn backward out of a building's pipes?
Worked examples
Two more reading comprehension questions with the answer and explanation. Try each before opening the answer. For a longer set across every section, see our free UA aptitude sample questions.
Question 1. Fire sprinklers
Most automatic fire sprinklers work one head at a time. Each head is held shut by a small glass bulb filled with liquid, or by a link made of metal that melts at a set temperature. When the air around a head becomes hot enough, the bulb shatters or the link gives way, and water sprays from that head alone. Heads elsewhere in the building stay closed unless the heat reaches them too. This is why the scene in films, where every sprinkler in a building goes off at once, is rarely what happens with these systems.
Why does the passage mention films?
- To contrast a common belief with how these sprinklers usually work
- To show that sprinklers often fail
- To explain how sprinklers were invented
- To prove that every head opens at once
Show the answer
A: To contrast a common belief with how these sprinklers usually work. Films show every sprinkler going off at once; the passage says that is rarely what happens, because heads open one at a time.
Question 2. Heating with water
In a hot-water heating system, a boiler warms water that is pumped through pipes to radiators or heated floors. The water gives up its heat to the rooms and returns to the boiler to be heated again, so the same water goes round and round. Because the water is used over and over, the system is closed: no fresh water is added unless some is lost through a leak. A closed system needs room for the water to expand as it warms, and an expansion tank provides it.
What is the purpose of the expansion tank?
- To store extra fuel
- To give the water room to expand as it warms
- To add fresh water to the system
- To cool the water down
Show the answer
B: To give the water room to expand as it warms. The passage says a closed system needs room for the water to expand as it warms, and the expansion tank provides it.
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These are original practice questions written to reflect what UA locals publicly describe about their apprenticeship aptitude tests. They are not official questions, and this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the United Association, any UA local or any JATC. Formats vary by local — always check your local's notice.