The Smithsonian Institution was established as the United States National Museum in 1846, and today, it's a group of 170 museums and nine research centers. The museum's first animal, plant and mineral specimens, as well as artifacts from the South Pacific Ocean, came from the United States Exploring Expedition, conducted by the U.S. Navy between 1838 and 1842.The main theme of this passage is

Paragraph (Reading) Comprehension sections in any exam wants to test whether you can understand what you've read so you can implement it or pass it on to others. To do well on Paragraph Comprehension, you need to have strong reading comprehension skills. You also have to be able to draw your own conclusions from what you've read. In the ASVAB exams, you'll have 22 minutes to answer 11 Paragraph Comprehension questions on the computerized ASVAB or 13 minutes to answer 15 questions on the paper version.  The questions on the Paragraph Comprehension tests ask you to: Find specific... Show more

Paragraph (Reading) Comprehension sections in any exam wants to test whether you can understand what you've read so you can implement it or pass it on to others. To do well on Paragraph Comprehension, you need to have strong reading comprehension skills. You also have to be able to draw your own conclusions from what you've read.

In the ASVAB exams, you'll have 22 minutes to answer 11 Paragraph Comprehension questions on the computerized ASVAB or 13 minutes to answer 15 questions on the paper version. 

The questions on the Paragraph Comprehension tests ask you to:
Find specific information: These questions ask you to find details in a passage, such as a date or a name.    
Determine the main idea: These questions want you to pull together all the information from a passage to sum it up in one main idea. Questions that say, 'A good title for this passage might be …' are just main-idea questions in disguise.    
Find a word's meaning in its native habitat: These questions ask you to figure out what a word means in the context of the passage.    
Draw conclusions: These questions ask you to draw a conclusion based on what you've read.    

Tips for answering the Paragraph Comprehension questions:
Skim the passage and read the question. Then go back to the passage to find the answer.    
Select the correct answer based on the passage rather than your personal knowledge or opinion on the subject.    
Answer choices that include the word all, none, always, never, or some other absolute are rarely correct, so think twice before you settle on one of these answers. 

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