Craft and Structure
The Appalachian Trail is a hiking path in the eastern United States. Much of the 2,000 mile trail passes through wilderness areas. In order to ______ those areas, the United States Congress passed the National Trails System Act in 1968, ensuring that the trail would not be sold or commercially developed.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a. borrow
b. postpone
c. protect
d. decorate
What is 'C. protect'?
Hip-hop pedagogy is a form of teaching that’s gaining popularity across school subjects. It involves incorporating hip-hop and rap music into lessons as well as using hip-hop elements when teaching other subject matters. For example, Quan Neloms’s students look for college-level vocabulary and historical events in rap songs. Researchers claim that in addition to developing students’ social justice awareness, hip-hop pedagogy encourages student success by raising students’ interest and engagement.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the underlined claim?
a. Students tend to be more enthusiastic about rap music than they are about hip-hop music.
b. Students who are highly interested in social justice issues typically don’t sign up for courses that incorporate hip-hop and rap music.
c. Educators report that they enjoy teaching courses that involve hip-hop and rap music more than teaching courses that don’t.
d. Courses that incorporate hip-hop and rap music are among the courses with the highest enrollment and attendance rates.
What is 'D. Courses that incorporate hip-hop and rap music are among the courses with the highest enrollment and attendance rates.'?
DAILY DOUBLE
The number of dark spots that appear on the Sun, known as sunspots, can vary greatly. For example, there were about 180 sunspots in November 2001. ______ there were only about 2 sunspots in December 2008.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
a. In other words,
b. Similarly,
c. Therefore,
d. By comparison,
What is 'D. by comparison'?
In 2000, Nora de Hoyos Comstock, herself an owner of a successful consulting firm, sought to increase Latina representation in corporate ______ founded Las Comadres para las Americas, an international community that for over two decades has served as a resource and information network for Latina business professionals.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
a. settings she
b. settings, she
c. settings and she
d. settings. She
What is 'D. settings. She'?
O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by Willa Cather. In the novel, Cather portrays Alexandra Bergson as having a deep emotional connection to her natural surroundings: ______
Which quotation from O Pioneers! most effectively illustrates the claim?
a. “She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.”
b. “Alexandra talked to the men about their crops and to the women about their poultry. She spent a whole day with one young farmer who had been away at school, and who was experimenting with a new kind of clover hay. She learned a great deal.”
c. “Alexandra drove off alone. The rattle of her wagon was lost in the howling of the wind, but her lantern, held firmly between her feet, made a moving point of light along the highway, going deeper and deeper into the dark country.”
d. “It was Alexandra who read the papers and followed the markets, and who learned by the mistakes of their neighbours. It was Alexandra who could always tell about what it had cost to fatten each steer, and who could guess the weight of a hog before it went on the scales closer than John Bergson [her father] himself.”
What is 'A. “She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future stirring.”?
The following text is adapted from Sadakichi Hartmann’s 1894 short story “Magnolia Blossoms.” The narrator is standing on the deck of a boat.
What a night it was! My soul had left its body to lose itself in the wild unrestrained beauty around me—from where it came—and only left a trembling suggestion of its existence within me. The other passengers moved around me like shadows, and again and again my eyes drank in all the glory and wealth of that night.
As used in the text, what does the word “suggestion” most nearly mean?
a. Trace
b. Opinion
c. Dispute
d. Command
What is 'A. Trace'?
DAILY DOUBLE
Bicycles were first mass-produced in the late nineteenth century throughout Europe and North America, allowing individuals remarkable freedom to travel longer distances quickly and comfortably. This freedom, coupled with the affordability of the vehicle, made the bicycle immensely popular. Individuals were able to live farther from their workplaces, easily visit neighbouring towns, and participate in new leisure and sport activities. Bicycling quickly became a popular social endeavour, with enthusiasts forming local cycling clubs to enjoy these newfound activities with others.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
a. The widespread adoption of the bicycle in the late nineteenth century provided new opportunities for people.
b. The affordability of the bicycle in the late nineteenth century made it the preferred way to travel.
c. The popularity of the bicycle in the late nineteenth century gave rise to the first cycling clubs.
d. The mass production of the bicycle in the late nineteenth century made it safer for people to use.
What is 'A. The widespread adoption of the bicycle in the late nineteenth century provided new opportunities for people.'?
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
The student wants to present the Quanhucun study and its conclusions. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
a. As part of a 2013 study of cat domestication, a chemical analysis was conducted on cat bone fragments found in Quanhucun, China.
b. A 2013 analysis of cat bone fragments found in Quanhucun, China, suggests that cats there may have been domesticated 5,300 years ago.
c. In 2013, archaeologists studied what cats in Quanhucun, China, had eaten more than 5,000 years ago.
d. Cat bone fragments estimated to be 5,300 years old were found in Quanhucun, China, in 2013.
What is 'B. A 2013 analysis of cat bone fragments found in Quanhucun, China, suggests that cats there may have been domesticated 5,300 years ago.'?
British scientists James Watson and Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize in part for their 1953 paper announcing the double helix structure of DNA, but it is misleading to say that Watson and Crick discovered the double helix. ______ findings were based on a famous X-ray image of DNA fibers, “Photo 51,” developed by X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin and her graduate student Raymond Gosling.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
a. They’re
b. It’s
c. Their
d. Its
What is 'C. their'?
In Nature Poem (2017), Kumeyaay poet Tommy Pico portrays his ______ the natural world by honouring the centrality of nature within his tribe’s traditional beliefs while simultaneously expressing his distaste for being in wilderness settings himself.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a. responsiveness to
b. ambivalence toward
c. renunciation of
d. mastery over
What is 'B. ambivalence toward'?
DAILY DOUBLE
In the Indigenous intercropping system known as the Three Sisters, maize, squash, and beans form an ______ web of relations: maize provides the structure on which the bean vines grow; the squash vines cover the soil, discouraging competition from weeds; and the beans aid their two “sisters” by enriching the soil with essential nitrogen.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a. indecipherable
b. ornamental
c. obscure
d. intricate
What is 'D. intricate'?
Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even improve health, conceptual artists Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an apartment building in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is chest-high on one side and knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere. The effect is disorienting but invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu Yamaoka reported significant health benefits.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
a. Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed by Gins and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.
b. Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the most effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.
c. As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such as Gins and Arakawa.
d. Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.
What is 'D. Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents. '?
The chemical trimethylamine N-oxide not only gives fish their fishy smell but also protects them from crushing hydrostatic pressure in deep waters. Trimethylamine N-oxide strengthens the bonds between water molecules in a fish’s body. ______ these water molecules maintain their linked structure at extreme depths, thus preventing pressure-related damage.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
a. Nevertheless,
b. As a result,
c. However,
d. For instance,
What is 'B. as a result'?
The Progressive Era in the United States witnessed the rise of numerous Black women’s clubs, local organizations that advocated for racial and gender equality. Among the clubs’ leaders ______ Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, founder of the Women’s Era Club of Boston.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
a. was
b. were
c. are
d. have been
What is 'A. was'?
DAILY DOUBLE
Using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Mercedes López-Morales and colleagues measured the wavelengths of light traveling through the atmosphere of WASP-39b, an exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system. Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light, and the wavelength measurements showed the presence of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in WASP-39b’s atmosphere. This finding not only offers the first decisive evidence of CO₂ in the atmosphere of an exoplanet but also illustrates the potential for future scientific breakthroughs held by the JWST.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
a. It discusses a method used by some researchers, then states why an alternative method is superior to it.
b. It describes how researchers made a scientific discovery, then explains the importance of that discovery.
c. It outlines the steps taken in a scientific study, then presents a hypothesis based on that study.
d. It examines how a group of scientists reached a conclusion, then shows how other scientists have challenged that conclusion.
What is 'B. It describes how researchers made a scientific discovery, then explains the importance of that discovery.'?
The field of study called affective neuroscience seeks instinctive, physiological causes for feelings such as pleasure or displeasure. Because these sensations are linked to a chemical component (for example, the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain when one receives or expects a reward), they can be said to have a partly physiological basis. These processes have been described in mammals, but Jingnan Huang and his colleagues have recently observed that some behaviors of honeybees (such as foraging) are also motivated by a dopamine-based signaling process.
What choice best describes the main purpose of the text?
a. It describes an experimental method of measuring the strength of physiological responses in humans.
b. It illustrates processes by which certain insects can express how they are feeling.
c. It summarizes a finding suggesting that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects resemble mechanisms in mammalian brains.
d. It presents research showing that certain insects and mammals behave similarly when there is a possibility of a reward for their actions.
What is 'C. It summarizes a finding suggesting that some mechanisms in the brains of certain insects resemble mechanisms in mammalian brains.'?
Sense and Sensibility is an 1811 novel by Jane Austen. In the novel, Austen describes Marianne Dashwood’s ability to persuade others of the rightness of her artistic judgments, as is evident when Marianne visits with John Willoughby, a potential suitor: ______
Which quotation from Sense and Sensibility most effectively illustrates the claim?
a. “Above all, when she heard him declare, that of music and dancing he was passionately fond, she gave him such a look of approbation as secured the largest share of his discourse to herself for the rest of his stay.”
b. “Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolized by each—or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed.”
c. “It was only necessary to mention any favourite amusement to engage her to talk. She could not be silent when such points were introduced, and she had neither shyness nor reserve in their discussion.”
d. “They speedily discovered that their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual, and that it arose from a general conformity of judgment in all that related to either. Encouraged by this to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the subject of books.”
What is 'B. "Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolized by each—or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed.” '?
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
The student wants to make and support a generalization about the orbits of comets. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish these goals?
a. Astronomers estimate that the number of comets orbiting the Sun is in the billions; the comets’ orbits may change over time.
b. Like Uranus, Jupiter, and Mars, billions of comets orbit the Sun.
c. One example of a comet is 81P/Wild, whose orbit around the Sun once lay between Uranus’s and Jupiter’s orbits but is now positioned between those of Jupiter and Mars.
d. A comet’s orbit around the Sun may change over time: the orbit of comet 81P/Wild once lay between the orbits of Uranus and Jupiter but is now positioned between those of Jupiter and Mars.
What is 'D. A comet’s orbit around the Sun may change over time: the orbit of comet 81P/Wild once lay between the orbits of Uranus and Jupiter but is now positioned between those of Jupiter and Mars.'?
In 2015, a team led by materials scientists Anirudha Sumant and Diana Berman succeeded in reducing the coefficient of friction (COF) between two surfaces to the lowest possible level—superlubricity. A nearly frictionless (and, as its name suggests, extremely slippery) state, ______
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
a. when their COF drops below 0.01, two surfaces reach superlubricity.
b. two surfaces, when their COF drops below 0.01, reach superlubricity.
c. reaching superlubricity occurs when two surfaces’ COF drops below 0.01.
d. superlubricity is reached when two surfaces’ COF drops below 0.01.
What is 'D. superlubricity is reached when two surfaces’ COF drops below 0.01.'?
DAILY DOUBLE
The most recent iteration of the immersive theater experience Sleep No More, which premiered in New York City in 2011, transforms its performance space—a five-story warehouse—into a 1930s-era hotel. Audience members, who wander through the labyrinthine venue at their own pace and follow the actors as they play out simultaneous, interweaving narrative loops, confront the impossibility of experiencing the production in its entirety. The play’s refusal of narrative coherence thus hinges on the sense of spatial fragmentation that the venue’s immense and intricate layout generates.
What does the text most strongly suggest about Sleep No More’s use of its performance space?
a. The choice of a New York City venue likely enabled the play’s creators to experiment with the use of theatrical space in a way that venues from earlier productions could not.
b. Audience members likely find the experience of the play disappointing because they generally cannot make their way through the entire venue.
c. The production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.
d. Audience members who navigate the space according to a recommended itinerary will likely have a better grasp of the play’s narrative than audience members who depart from that itinerary.
What is 'C. The production’s dependence on a particular performance environment would likely make it difficult to reproduce exactly in a different theatrical space.'?
Text 1
Despite its beautiful prose, The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman’s 1962 analysis of the start of World War I, has certain weaknesses as a work of history. It fails to address events in Eastern Europe just before the outbreak of hostilities, thereby giving the impression that Germany was the war’s principal instigator. Had Tuchman consulted secondary works available to her by scholars such as Luigi Albertini, she would not have neglected the influence of events in Eastern Europe on Germany’s actions.
Text 2
Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August is an engrossing if dated introduction to World War I. Tuchman’s analysis of primary documents is laudable, but her main thesis that European powers committed themselves to a catastrophic outcome by refusing to deviate from military plans developed prior to the conflict is implausibly reductive.
Which choice best describes a difference in how the authors of Text 1 and Text 2 view Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August?
a. The author of Text 1 argues that Tuchman should have relied more on the work of other historians, while the author of Text 2 implies that Tuchman’s most interesting claims result from her original research.
b. The author of Text 1 believes that the scope of Tuchman’s research led her to an incorrect interpretation, while the author of Text 2 believes that Tuchman’s central argument is overly simplistic.
c. The author of Text 1 asserts that the writing style of The Guns of August makes it worthwhile to read despite any perceived deficiency in Tuchman’s research, while the author of Text 2 focuses exclusively on the weakness of Tuchman’s interpretation of events.
d. The author of Text 1 claims that Tuchman would agree that World War I was largely due to events in Eastern Europe, while the author of Text 2 maintains that Tuchman would say that Eastern European leaders were not committed to military plans in the same way that other leaders were.
What is 'B. The author of Text 1 believes that the scope of Tuchman’s research led her to an incorrect interpretation, while the author of Text 2 believes that Tuchman’s central argument is overly simplistic.'?
Political scientists who favor the traditional view of voter behavior claim that voting in an election does not change a voter’s attitude toward the candidates in that election. Focusing on each US presidential election from 1976 to 1996, Ebonya Washington and Sendhil Mullainathan tested this claim by distinguishing between subjects who had just become old enough to vote (around half of whom actually voted) and otherwise similar subjects who were slightly too young to vote (and thus none of whom voted). Washington and Mullainathan compared the attitudes of the groups of subjects toward the winning candidate two years after each election.
Which finding from Washington and Mullainathan’s study, if true, would most directly weaken the claim made by people who favor the traditional view of voter behavior?
a. Subjects’ attitudes toward the winning candidate two years after a given election were strongly predicted by subjects’ general political orientation, regardless of whether subjects were old enough to vote at the time of the election.
b. Subjects who were not old enough to vote in a given election held significantly more positive attitudes towards the winning candidate two years later than they held at the time of the election.
c. Subjects who voted in a given election held significantly more polarized attitudes toward the winning candidate two years later than did subjects who were not old enough to vote in that election.
d. Two years after a given election, subjects who voted and subjects who were not old enough to vote were significantly more likely to express negative attitudes than positive attitudes toward the winning candidate in that election.
What is 'C. Subjects who voted in a given election held significantly more polarized attitudes toward the winning candidate two years later than did subjects who were not old enough to vote in that election.'?
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
The student wants to make and support a generalization about nissologists’ definition of an island. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish these goals?
a. The definition of an island as any piece of land surrounded by water is supported by some nissologists, scientists who study islands.
b. Multiple counts of Sweden’s islands have been based on different definitions of an island.
c. Based on a recent count, Sweden has a relatively small number of islands with at least 50 permanent residents.
d. Nissologists’ different definitions can result in huge disparities in counts of islands, as the example of Sweden shows.
What is 'D. Nissologists’ different definitions can result in huge disparities in counts of islands, as the example of Sweden shows.'?
DAILY DOUBLE
Despite being cheap, versatile, and easy to produce, ______ they are made from nonrenewable petroleum, and most do not biodegrade in landfills.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
a. there are two problems associated with commercial plastics:
b. two problems are associated with commercial plastics:
c. commercial plastics’ two associated problems are that
d. commercial plastics have two associated problems:
What is 'D. commercial plastics have two associated problems:'?
The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1889 satirical novel Sylvie and Bruno. A crowd has gathered outside a room belonging to the Warden, an official who reports to the Lord Chancellor.
One man, who was more excited than the rest, flung his hat high into the air, and shouted (as well as I could make out) “Who roar for the Sub-Warden?” Everybody roared, but whether it was for the Sub-Warden, or not, did not clearly appear: some were shouting “Bread!” and some “Taxes!”, but no one seemed to know what it was they really wanted.
All this I saw from the open window of the Warden’s breakfast-saloon, looking across the shoulder of the Lord Chancellor.
“What can it all mean?” he kept repeating to himself. “I never heard such shouting before—and at this time of the morning, too! And with such unanimity!”
Based on the text, how does the Lord Chancellor respond to the crowd?
a. He asks about the meaning of the crowd’s shouting, even though he claims to know what the crowd wants.
b. He indicates a desire to speak to the crowd, even though the crowd has asked to speak to the Sub-Warden.
c. He expresses sympathy for the crowd’s demands, even though the crowd’s shouting annoys him.
d. He describes the crowd as being united, even though the crowd clearly appears otherwise.
What is 'D. He describes the crowd as being united, even though the crowd clearly appears otherwise.'