ENDER'S GAME Test: Whole-Novel Reading Check (40 Questions)

Grades 6–10. 40 multiple-choice questions. 3 short-answer prompts. 1 essay. This Ender’s Game whole-novel test works for independent reading, summer reading assessment, or a final unit evaluation. Cut and paste any questions below, or download the free PDF. DOCX format and the answer key require purchase.

Looking for chapter-by-chapter reading checks instead? Visit the Ender’s Game Reading Quizzes page — five reading checks, 10 questions each, free PDF and cut-and-paste.

Ender’s Game Test: What’s Included

40 multiple-choice comprehension questions
3 short-answer prompts
1 extended response (essay)
1 bonus question

Remove the short-answer and essay pages for a multiple-choice-only version.

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Ender’s Game Test: All 40 Multiple-Choice Questions

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Why must Ender go to the doctor at the beginning of the novel?
- A. To have a brain implant removed.
- B. To undergo psychiatric testing.
- C. To receive mechanical eyes.
- D. To meet his new baby sister.
What do others call Andrew “Ender” Wiggin as an insult?
- A. Zebra Boy
- B. HAL-1000
- C. Third
- D. Offender
Which member of the Wiggin family is cruel and vicious?
- A. Valentine
- B. Peter
- C. Ender’s Mother
- D. Ender’s Father
The telling of the narrative is often interrupted by…
- A. Discussions by military agents.
- B. Daily news reports.
- C. Excerpts from Ender’s diary.
- D. Announcements from a loudspeaker.
How does Colonel Graff want Ender to feel in Battle School?
- A. Powerful
- B. Loved
- C. Uncontrollable anger
- D. Lonely
Ender hacks into the computer system at Battle School to…
- A. Change his scores.
- B. Read his personnel file and records.
- C. Pull a prank on a bully.
- D. Trick question! He fails to hack into the system.
In Ender’s society the government has strict control over…
- A. What people can think and say.
- B. Water.
- C. Life span (age 65 is the maximum).
- D. Procreation (having babies).
Ender’s favorite video game in Battle School involves…
- A. Killing aliens.
- B. Moving trapped people through underground tunnels.
- C. Sailing ancient ships on the ocean.
- D. Magical landscapes and creatures.
What does Ender think of Bonzo as a commander?
- A. He is an effective leader to be studied.
- B. He has no talent for strategy.
- C. He needs to learn to create discipline.
- D. He excels at making the soldiers love him.
What does Bonzo order Ender to do during the battles?
- A. Guard the gate.
- B. Create distractions.
- C. Stay behind and do nothing.
- D. Trick question! He gives him no orders.
What happens when a student is hit with the light gun in the battleroom?
- A. Their suit is immobilized (cannot move).
- B. The team loses; the match is over.
- C. They fall unconscious until the match is over.
- D. A machine pulls the “dead” from the battleroom.
Ender decides that ________________ is an effective battleroom technique.
- A. Leaving your weapons behind
- B. Attacking feet first
- C. Blowing up your own gate
- D. Shooting above your target
How does the school punish bullying?
- A. Bullies are demoted to a lower rank or expelled from the school.
- B. Bullies are tortured with electric shocks in front of everyone.
- C. The offender might have to do some extra chores.
- D. Trick question! The school does not punish bullying.
What issue regarding Ender concerns the staff of the Battle School?
- A. His mind game runs strange programs.
- B. He starts having problems eating and sleeping.
- C. He is unusually cruel to his launchies.
- D. He purposefully disables his own army’s flash-suits.
Ender does not answer letters from Earth because…
- A. He blames his family for his situation.
- B. He breaks down whenever he tries to write back.
- C. He does not receive any.
- D. He can no longer relate to people back on Earth.
What does Peter want Valentine to help him do?
- A. Cheat in school.
- B. Commit suicide.
- C. Get their parents to forget about Ender.
- D. Control world politics.
What does Commander Ender think of his new soldiers in Dragon Army?
- A. They are too experienced and set in their bad habits.
- B. They are inexperienced but learn quickly.
- C. They are the best soldiers from every other army.
- D. They are athletic and strong but unintelligent.
Ender loses his first battle as commander because…
- A. Major Anderson gives the other army an unfair advantage.
- B. His soldiers decide not to fight for him.
- C. He makes “every mistake in the book.”
- D. Trick question! He wins his first battle.
It is clear to the reader that the Battle School leaders…
- A. Will never change the rules of the battleroom.
- B. Will change the rules of the battleroom whenever they want.
- C. Believe that the Buggers will never win.
- D. Believe that humanity cannot win.
What is Ender’s greatest strength as a commander?
- A. Trying new things.
- B. Cheating.
- C. Organizing complicated attack formations.
- D. Befriending his soldiers.
What does Ender study to learn about battle strategy?
- A. Chess tournaments
- B. Old war videos
- C. Waves, clouds, and natural phenomena
- D. Animals (especially insects)
Which character in the novel is also known as “Demosthenes”?
- A. Valentine
- B. Colonel Graff
- C. Alai
- D. Peter
Ender almost dies when…
- A. One of his experiments launches him out in space.
- B. He tries to poison himself.
- C. He learns a forbidden government secret.
- D. A group of students decide to murder him.
Bonzo stops despising Ender when…
- A. Ender has an emotional breakdown in the command room.
- B. Ender beats him to death.
- C. Bonzo gets his own command.
- D. Bonzo defeats Dragon Army in the battleroom.
Why does Peter get angry with Valentine?
- A. She refuses to write for him anymore.
- B. Her writing gets more attention than his.
- C. She tells the school about his cheating scheme.
- D. She tells everyone at school that “Demosthenes” is actually Peter.
Where are Ender and Valentine reunited?
- A. In a busy shopping center.
- B. On a raft on a lake.
- C. In a cell in a detention center.
- D. Trick question! They are not allowed to meet.
The new technology called Ansible allows humans to…
- A. Communicate across galaxies.
- B. Travel faster than the speed of light.
- C. Reverse gravitational fields.
- D. See into possible futures.
How do humans know when the third invasion will occur?
- A. Ansible has made a prediction.
- B. The Buggers have warned Ender.
- C. Humans will be the invaders.
- D. Trick question! They have no idea when it will happen.
What is preventing the Buggers and humanity from achieving peace?
- A. The Buggers have no concept of peace.
- B. Humanity refuses to trust them.
- C. They have no way to communicate.
- D. The International Federation sabotages peace efforts.
Ender’s final teacher, Mazer Rackham, gives him his first lesson by…
- A. Beating him up.
- B. Teaching him to dance.
- C. Killing Alai.
- D. Giving a tour of a Bugger colony.
For Ender Wiggin, life at Command School is mostly about…
- A. Arguing politics.
- B. Practicing with a battle simulator.
- C. Psychological therapy.
- D. Teaching the students (and the staff).
Mazer Rackham reveals that he stopped the second invasion by…
- A. Releasing a virus (biological warfare).
- B. Killing the alien queen.
- C. Surrendering peacefully.
- D. Trick question! He did not stop the second invasion.
What causes Ender’s strange and disturbing dreams?
- A. He feels guilty for sending soldiers to die.
- B. The drugs that maximize brain speed.
- C. Having been in zero gravity for too long.
- D. The aliens are analyzing his memories.
Ender’s final exam in Command School involves…
- A. Attacking the alien home-world.
- B. Leading the alien invasion.
- C. Beating a computer that thinks like him.
- D. Beating Peter on the battle simulator.
What incredible fact does Mazer Rackham reveal to Ender?
- A. The Buggers are made-up.
- B. The Buggers already conquered Earth.
- C. The simulations were real battles.
- D. Ender is not a human being.
How does Ender prevent the world war on Earth?
- A. He threatens to attack Earth.
- B. He agrees to rule the planet.
- C. He reveals the truth about the aliens.
- D. Trick question! He is not able to prevent the war.
Ender can never return to Earth because…
- A. Humanity sees him as a monster.
- B. He would be under Peter’s control.
- C. Earth is secretly controlled by the aliens.
- D. Trick question! He does return to Earth.
Valentine tries to convince Ender to…
- A. Return to Earth and take control.
- B. Return to Earth and hide his identity.
- C. Stay on the space station to continue his work.
- D. Travel to other planets and colonize them.
What do the aliens want Ender to do?
- A. Save their species.
- B. Forgive them.
- C. Create peace for humanity.
- D. Join them.
What title does Ender adopt as an adult?
- A. “Supreme Leader”
- B. “The Dreamer of Dreams”
- C. “Speaker for the Dead”
- D. “Builder of Forbidden Worlds”

Bonus Question: What false name does Peter use on the internet? _____________________________

Ender’s Game Test: Short-Answer Prompts

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Colonel Graff wants to turn Ender into the perfect commander. Describe Graff’s approach.
Science fiction writers speculate on future conditions and incredible technologies. Describe ONE speculation imagined by Orson Scott Card in Ender’s Game.
Peter is an important character even though he is absent for much of the novel. What is the importance of his role?

Ender’s Game Test: Extended Response

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The International Federation selects Andrew “Ender” Wiggin out of millions of gifted children. What combination of traits makes Ender special? Write an essay describing Ender and explain why he alone could complete the mission. Support your ideas with details from the novel.

Organizing tip: Choose several of Ender’s key traits and write a body paragraph for each.

Would a Student Who Only Watched the Movie Pass This Test?

The 2013 film follows the novel closely and covers most of the major plot points. So how would a student who watched the movie but never opened the book score on this test? The short answer: poorly — especially on the writing sections.

Here’s a rough estimate for a hypothetical student who has seen the movie many times but has never read the novel:

Multiple choice: approximately 25/40 (63%)
Short answer: approximately 7/15 (47%)
Essay: approximately 5/15 (33%)

Several multiple-choice questions have no reference point in the film at all. The writing sections require knowledge of character motivation, theme, and detail that the movie compresses or omits entirely. Students who read the novel will score noticeably higher — and the gap widens on the written portions.

Using This Ender’s Game Test in Your Classroom

Independent Reading Assessment

Ender’s Game works well as an independent reading assignment at the middle and high school level. Card’s novel moves fast, and most students who start it finish it. The whole-novel test gives students a clear target and gives you a clean, scorable accountability measure without sustained in-class reading time.

Summer Reading Assessment

Ender’s Game appears on summer reading lists across the country. Students can read it without a teacher’s guidance. The test provides a first-day assessment that tells you quickly who read and who didn’t — and the writing prompts give strong readers a way to demonstrate real engagement.

Final Unit Assessment

Teach Ender’s Game as a whole-class novel and use this test as the final evaluation. Remove the short-answer and essay pages for a faster multiple-choice-only version. Keep them for a more complete picture of comprehension and thinking.

Extra Credit

Students who read Ender’s Game for extra credit and sit for this test earn something real. The multiple-choice section scores in minutes, and the writing questions reward students who genuinely engaged with the novel.

Get the Full Ender’s Game Reading Test

The free PDF and cut-and-paste questions above include all 40 multiple-choice questions, the bonus question, all three short-answer prompts, and the essay. The purchased version adds DOCX format for easy editing and a complete answer key.

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Ender’s Game Multiple Choice Test

Ender’s Game Test PDF contents

This test includes writing prompts if you want them. You can shorten the test to multiple choice only by omitting the later pages.

40 multiple choice questions
3 short answer prompts
1 essay response prompt
Answer key included

Ender’s Game Multiple Choice Test files

Print view (PDF and DOCX)
List view (PDF and DOCX)
Answer key (PDF)

Note: DOCX files can be modified in Google Docs or Microsoft Word.

Download Ender’s Game Test PDF

How would someone score if they only watched the movie?

Unfortunately, the movie follows the book closely and includes most of the major details. (In fact, the movie suffers from including too many details without sufficient development.) However, it would be nearly impossible someone to do well on the Ender’s Game Test PDF without reading the original.

Let’s imagine that an individual watched the movie 100 times without ever opening the book. How would they score? It depends on how you weight the writing questions.

Scoring for the hypothetical movie-watcher:

Multiple choice section: 25/40 = 63%
Short answer section: 7/15 = 47%
Essay question: 5/15 = 33%

Even if the test taker knew every frame and line of the movie (unlikely), they would still score poorly on the Ender’s Game multiple choice test. Many of the test questions have no point of reference in the movie.

Ender’s Game multiple choice questions samples

1) Why must Ender go to the doctor at the beginning of the novel?

To have a brain implant removed.
To undergo psychiatric testing.
To receive mechanical eyes.
To meet his new baby sister.

2) What do others call Andrew “Ender” Wiggin as an insult?

Zebra Boy
HAL-1000
Third
Offender

3) Which member of the Wiggin family is cruel and vicious?

Valentine
Peter
Ender’s Mother
Ender’s Father

4) The telling of the narrative (story) is often interrupted by…

Discussions by military agents.
Daily news reports.
Excerpts from Ender’s diary.
Announcements from a loudspeaker.

5) How does Colonel Graff want Ender to feel in Battle School?

Powerful
Loved
Uncontrollable anger
Lonely

6) Ender hacks into the computer system at Battle School to…

Change his scores.
Read his personnel file and records.
Pull a prank on a bully.
Trick question! He fails to hack into the system.

7) In Ender’s society the government has strict control over…

What people can think and say.
Water.
Life span (age 65 is the maximum).
Procreation (having babies).

8) Ender’s favorite video game in Battle School involves…

Killing aliens.
Moving trapped people through underground tunnels.
Sailing ancient ships on the ocean.
Magical landscapes and creatures.

9) What does Ender think of Bonzo as a commander?

He is an effective leader to be studied.
He has no talent for strategy.
He needs to learn to create discipline.
He excels at making the soldiers love him.

10) What does Bonzo order Ender to do during the battles?

Guard the gate.
Create distractions.
Stay behind and do nothing.
Trick question! He gives him no orders.

11) What happens when a student is hit with the light gun in the battleroom?

Their suit is immobilized (cannot move).
The team loses; the match is over.
They fall unconscious until the match is over.
A machine pulls the “dead” from the battleroom.

12) Ender decides that ________________ is an effective battleroom technique.

Leaving your weapons behind
Attacking feet first
Blowing up your own gate
Shooting above your target

13) How does the school punish bullying?

Bullies are demoted to a lower rank or expelled from the school.
Bullies are tortured with electric shocks in front of everyone.
The offender might have to do some extra chores.
Trick question! The school does not punish bullying.

Thanks for checking out Ender’s Game Test PDF!

If you download this resource, you can edit test items or print as-is.

An Ender’s Game multiple choice test is an easy way to motivate a reader and check comprehension. Getting young people to read is essential, but it need not be difficult. If you have found this resource helpful, view the other TeachNovels reading tests.

M. Towle

M. Towle is a veteran Language Arts and Social Studies teacher with fourteen years of classroom experience in urban schools in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. M. Towle holds an M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies and is the founder of TeachNovels.com.

teachnovels.com/about-m-towle/

ENDER’S GAME Test: Whole-Novel Reading Check