Grammar & Punctuation
Reading
Math
Random Facts about Mrs. Jones-Norton!
100
To alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated.
Which choice best maintains the sentence pattern already established in the paragraph?
A. NO CHANGE
B. Coordinating stoplight timing can help alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.
C. Stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.
D. In a congested downtown area, stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams.
C. Stoplight timing is coordinated to alleviate rush hour traffic jams in a congested downtown area.
Choice C is the best answer because it most closely maintains the sentence pattern established by the two preceding sentences, which begin with a noun and passive verb phrase (“A subway system is expanded,” “A bike-sharing program is adopted”).
100
This passage is adapted from Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, originally published in 1911. Mattie Silver is Ethan’s household employee.
Mattie Silver had lived under Ethan’s roof for a year, and from early morning till they met at supper he had frequent chances of seeing her; but no moments in her company were comparable to those when, her arm in his, and her light step flying to keep time with his long stride, they walked back through the night to the farm.
In the context of the passage, the author’s use of the phrase “her light step flying to keep time with his long stride” (line 3) is primarily meant to convey the idea that
A. Ethan and Mattie share a powerful enthusiasm.
B. Mattie strives to match the speed at which Ethan works.
C. Mattie and Ethan playfully compete with each other.
D. Ethan walks at a pace that frustrates Mattie.
A. Ethan and Mattie share a powerful enthusiasm.
100
A typical image taken of the surface of Mars by a camera is 11.2 gigabits in size. A tracking station on Earth can receive data from the spacecraft at a data rate of 3 megabits per second for a maximum of 11 hours each day. If 1 gigabit equals 1,024 megabits, what is the maximum number of typical images that the tracking station could receive from the camera each day?
A. 3
B. 10
C. 56
D. 144
B. 10
Choice B is correct. The tracking station can receive 118,800 megabits each day
which is about 116 gigabits each day 
If each image is 11.2 gigabits, then the number of images that can be received each day is 
Since the question asks for the maximum number of typical images, rounding the answer down to 10 is appropriate because the tracking station will not receive a completed 11th image in one day.
100
The state that Mrs. Jones-Norton went to college.
What is Ohio?
200
planner’s job
A. NO CHANGE
B. planner’s job
C. planners job,
D. planners job
B. planner’s job
Choice B is the best answer because it correctly uses an apostrophe to indicate the possessive and doesn’t introduce any unnecessary punctuation.
200
The coming decades will likely see more intense clustering of jobs, innovation, and productivity in a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions. Some regions could end up bloated beyond the capacity of their infrastructure, while others struggle, their promise stymied by inadequate human or other resources.
As used in line 38, “intense” most nearly means
A. emotional.
B. concentrated.
C. brilliant.
D. determined.
B. concentrated
Choice B is the best answer because the context makes clear that the clustering of jobs, innovation, and productivity will be more concentrated in, or more densely packed into, “a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions” (line 39).
200
If 
where 
and 
what is 
in terms of 
A
B
C
D
A
Choice A is correct. Multiplying both sides of the equation by the denominators of the rational expressions in the equation gives 
The student should then divide both sides by 2 to isolate the variable, yielding the equation 
200
The number of colleges that Mrs. Jones applied to
What is 8?
300
Next, representatives from the local public health department might provide input in designing a network of trails and sidewalks to encourage people to walk more. According to the American Heart Association, walking provides numerous benefits related to health and well-being. Members of the Chamber of Commerce might share suggestions about designing transportation and parking facilities to support local businesses.
The writer is considering deleting the italicized sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
A. Kept, because it provides supporting evidence about the benefits of walking.
B. Kept, because it provides an additional example of a community stakeholder with whom transportation planners work.
C. Deleted, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus on the community stakeholders with whom transportation planners work.
D. Deleted, because it doesn’t provide specific examples of what the numerous benefits of walking are.
C. Deleted, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus on the community stakeholders with whom transportation planners work.
Choice C is the best answer because it identifies the best reason the underlined sentence should not be kept. At this point in the passage and paragraph, a general statement about the benefits of walking only serves to interrupt the discussion of the community stakeholders with whom transportation planners work.
300
Today, I am an inquisitor. An hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now. My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.
The main rhetorical effect of the series of three phrases beginning in line 3 (“the diminution, the subversion, the destruction”) is to
A. convey with increasing intensity the seriousness of the threat Jordan sees to the Constitution.
B. clarify that Jordan believes the Constitution was first weakened, then sabotaged, then broken.
C. indicate that Jordan thinks the Constitution is prone to failure in three distinct ways.
D. propose a three-part agenda for rescuing the Constitution from the current crisis.
A. convey with increasing intensity the seriousness of the threat Jordan sees to the Constitution.
Choice A is the best answer because the quoted phrases — building from “diminution” to “subversion” to “destruction” — suggest the increasing seriousness of the threat Jordan sees to the Constitution.
300
The recommended daily calcium intake for a 20-year-old is 1,000 milligrams (mg). One cup of milk contains 299 mg of calcium and one cup of juice contains 261 mg of calcium. Which of the following inequalities represents the possible number of cups of milk m and cups of juice j a 20-year-old could drink in a day to meet or exceed the recommended daily calcium intake from these drinks alone?
A
B
C
D
A
Choice A is correct. Multiplying the number of cups of milk by the amount of calcium each cup contains and multiplying the number of cups of juice by the amount of calcium each cup contains gives the total amount of calcium from each source. The student must then find the sum of these two numbers to find the total amount of calcium. Because the question asks for the calcium from these two sources to meet or exceed the recommended daily intake, the sum of these two products must be greater than or equal to 1,000.
300
This was the college major Mrs. Jones originally started off with before changing to Education.
What is Creative Writing?
400
The name Kingman was selected for its two parts, “king” and “man”;
A. NO CHANGE
B. parts: “king” and “man,”
C. parts “king” and “man”;
D. parts; “king” and “man”
B. parts: “king” and “man,”
Choice B is the best answer because the colon after “parts” effectively signals that what follows in the sentence further defines what the “two parts” of Kingman’s name are and because the comma after “man” properly indicates that “‘king’ and ‘man’” and “Cantonese for ‘scenery’ and ‘composition’” are nonrestrictive appositives.
400
In 1894, British psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan published what’s called Morgan’s canon, the principle that suggestions of humanlike mental processes behind an animal’s behavior should be rejected if a simpler explanation will do. “We somehow want to prove they are as ‘smart’ as people,”zoologist Sara Shettleworth says. We want a bird that masters a vexing problem to be employing human-style insight.
Select an Answer
Within Passage 1, the main purpose of the first two paragraphs (lines 1–7) is to
A. offer historical background in order to question the uniqueness of two researchers’ findings.
B. offer interpretive context in order to frame the discussion of an experiment and its results.
C. introduce a scientific principle in order to show how an experiment’s outcomes validated that principle.
D. present seemingly contradictory stances in order to show how they can be reconciled empirically.
B. offer interpretive context in order to frame the discussion of an experiment and its results.
Choice B is the best answer. Passage 1 opens with an explanation of Morgan’s canon and continues with a discussion of people’s expectations regarding animal intelligence. Taken together, the first two paragraphs indicate that despite cautions to the contrary, people still tend to look for humanlike levels of intelligence in many animals, including birds.
400
Based on the system of equations above, what is the value of the product xy?
A
B
C
D
C
Choice C is correct. There are several solution methods possible, but all involve persevering in solving for the two variables and calculating the product. For example, combining like terms in the first equation yields 
and then multiplying that by 2 gives 
When this transformed equation is added to the second given equation, the y-terms are eliminated, leaving an equation in just one variable: 
or 
Substituting 2 for x in the second equation (one could use either to solve) yields 
which gives 
Finally, the product xy is 
400
Mrs. Jones-Norton's first job in college helped pay for her tuition (hint-- she walked backwards a lot).
What is a tour guide?
500
Which choice most effectively combines the sentences at the italicized portion?
During his career, Kingman exhibited his work 21 internationally. He garnered much acclaim.
A. internationally, and Kingman also garnered
B. internationally; from exhibiting, he garnered
C. internationally but garnered
D. internationally, garnering
D. internationally, garnering
Choice D is the best answer because it combines the sentences logically and efficiently, with the original second sentence becoming a participial phrase describing Kingman.
500
This passage is adapted from Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome, originally published in 1911. Mattie Silver is Ethan’s household employee.
And there were other sensations, less definable but more exquisite, which drew them together with a shock of silent joy: the cold red of sunset behind winter hills, the flight of cloud-flocks over slopes of golden stubble, or the intensely blue shadows of hemlocks on sunlit snow.
The author includes the descriptions of the sunset, the clouds, and the hemlock shadows (lines 30–31) primarily to
A. suggest the peacefulness of the natural world.
B. emphasize the acuteness of two characters’ sensations.
C. foreshadow the declining fortunes of two characters.
D. offer a sense of how fleeting time can be.
B. emphasize the acuteness of two characters’ sensations.
Choice B is the best answer. In the context of the second paragraph (lines 14–34), which focuses on the connection Ethan and Mattie establish through their shared interest in and sensitivity to nature, the descriptions primarily serve to emphasize the acuteness, or intensity, of the characters’ sensations. According to the passage, Ethan and Mattie do not merely appreciate nature or see it as pretty or calm; rather, they experience a powerful “shock of silent joy” when in the presence of natural beauty.
500
If 
what is the value of 
24
A student may find the solution to this problem by noticing the structure of the given equation and seeing that multiplying both sides of the equation 
by 6 to clear fractions from the equation yields 
500
This former student of Mrs. Jones-Norton's is now an NFL quarterback (hint-- Browns, Packers)
Who is DeShone Kizer?