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Information in Other Forms is a free printable Grade 5 English worksheet on taking meaning from visual and quantitative material, aligned to Common Core standard SL.5.2. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions, 24 of them with different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 17 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. 24 of these 25 sets ask different questions — this skill does not have 25 questions to give. The rest reorder them, so no two pupils have the same paper in front of them.

Information in Other Forms

SL.5.2

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Can You Do Two Things at Once?

People say they multitask. Mostly they do not. The brain can run two tasks together only if at least one is automatic. Walking and talking works because walking is automatic for an adult. Reading and listening to speech does not, because both need the same language system. What feels like multitasking is usually rapid switching. Each switch costs time — a fraction of a second to disengage and re-engage — and the costs add up. In experiments, people doing two tasks alternately take substantially longer in total than doing them one after the other, and make more errors. They also do not notice. Switching feels efficient because you are busy the whole time. The practical conclusion is unpopular but consistent: for anything demanding, doing one thing at a time is faster.

  1. 1. What would a diagram for this text need to show?
  2. 2. Explain the relationship between switching and the errors people make.
  3. 3. How would a bar chart help a reader of this text?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Why the Rails Are That Far Apart

Standard gauge is 4 feet 8½ inches. It is a strange number, and the reason is historical rather than engineering. Early railways were built by people who had built tramways for collieries, and those had used the wheel spacing of the carts already in use. Nobody chose it; it was inherited. Isambard Kingdom Brunel did choose. He built the Great Western at 7 feet ¼ inch, and by most measures it was better: faster, steadier, and able to carry more. He lost anyway. By the 1840s, more of the network was already standard gauge, and a train cannot run on a track it does not fit. Parliament settled it in 1846. Between 1846 and 1892 the Great Western converted its entire route. The final conversion took a single weekend and about four thousand men. The best design does not always win. The one that connects to everything else does.

  1. 1. What would an illustration of the final conversion need to convey?
  2. 2. How would a diagram of the two gauges help?
  3. 3. Explain the relationship between the size of the network and Brunel's defeat.

LessonPrint · SL.5.2 · Set 17 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Information in Other Forms

Set 17. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Two tasks alternating with a gap at each switch, against the same two done in sequence. 2. Each switch costs time to disengage and re-engage, and alternating tasks produces both longer times and more errors. 3. It could show total time for alternating tasks against doing them one after another.
  2. 2.1. Four thousand men moving one rail inwards along an entire route in a weekend. 2. It would show the difference between 4 feet 8½ inches and 7 feet ¼ inch, which numbers alone do not convey. 3. More track was already standard gauge, and since a train cannot run on a track it does not fit, the bigger network won.

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to SL.5.2 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.