What's the point?
In 2007, computer scientist Luis von Ahn was working on converting printed books into a digital format. He found that some words were distorted enough that digital scanners couldn't recognize them, but most humans could easily read them. Based on that finding, von Ahn invented a simple security test to keep automated "bots" out of websites. The first version of the reCAPTCHA test asked users to type one known word and one of the many words scanners couldn't recognize. Correct answers proved the users were humans and added data to the book-digitizing project.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A)To discuss von Ahn's invention of reCAPTCHA
B)To explain how digital scanners work
C)To call attention to von Ahn's book-digitizing project
D) To indicate how popular reCAPTCHA is
Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately states the main purpose of the text. After providing a brief introduction to computer scientist Luis von Ahn and his book-digitizing work, the text focuses on how von Ahn's observation about distorted words led him to invent reCAPTCHA: a security test that both blocked automated bots and contributed data to the digitization project. The text is organized around this invention from start to finish.
Choice C is incorrect: Half Right because although the text mentions von Ahn's book-digitizing project, that information is provided as background context, not as the main focus. The digitizing project explains why von Ahn was working with distorted words, but the text ultimately centers on the invention of reCAPTCHA, making choice C a case where one detail from the passage is accurate but the framing misrepresents what the text is primarily doing.
The following text is from Ezra Pound's 1909 poem "Hymn III," based on the work of Marcantonio Flaminio.
As a fragile and lovely flower unfolds its gleaming foliage on the breast of the fostering earth, if the dew and the rain draw it forth; So doth my tender mind flourish, if it be fed with the sweet dew of the fostering spirit, Lacking this, it beginneth straightway to languish, even as a floweret born upon dry earth, if the dew and the rain tend it not.
Based on the text, in what way is the human mind like a flower?
A) It becomes increasingly vigorous with the passage of time.
B) It draws strength from changes in the weather.
C) It requires proper nourishment in order to thrive.
D) It perseveres despite challenging circumstances.
Choice C is the best answer because it presents a description of how the human mind is like a flower that is directly supported by the text. The text compares the needs of a "fragile and lovely flower" to those of the speaker's "tender mind": both need to be fed and tended to in order to flourish. The text makes clear that without that nourishment, both the flower and the mind will "begineth straightway to languish." Thus, the text supports the conclusion that the human mind, like a flower, requires proper nourishment in order to thrive.
Choice B is incorrect because, while the text does mention rain and dew, those details are part of the extended analogy comparing spiritual nourishment to water, not a statement about changes in weather affecting the mind's strength. Selecting choice B treats a figurative detail from the flower comparison as if it were a literal claim about weather's effect on the human mind, going beyond what the text actually supports. (Trap: Beyond the Text)
_______ the long-standing trend of overemphasizing teenagers and young adults in research on social media use, scholars have recently begun to expand their focus to include the fastest-growing cohort of social media users: senior citizens.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) Exacerbating
B) Redressing
C) Epitomizing
D) Precluding
Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's discussion of research into social media use. As used in this context, "redressing" means remedying or compensating for. The text identifies a long-standing problem -- researchers have overemphasized younger users -- and then notes that scholars have begun expanding their focus to include senior citizens. This context conveys the idea that researchers are working to correct, or redress, the imbalance described in the first part of the sentence.
Choice A is incorrect because "exacerbating" means making worse or aggravating, which is the opposite of what the context supports. The text presents the expansion of research to include senior citizens as a corrective measure, not as something that would intensify the problem. Selecting choice A requires ignoring the contrast the sentence sets up between the problematic trend and the scholars' new direction. (Trap: Extreme Language)
In West Africa, jalis have traditionally been keepers of information about family histories and records of important events. They have often served as teachers and advisers, too. New technologies may have changed some aspects of the role today, but jalis continue to be valued for knowing and protecting their peoples' stories.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A)Even though there have been some changes in their role, jalis continue to preserve their communities' histories.
B)Although jalis have many roles, many of them like teaching best.
C)Jalis have been entertaining the people within their communities for centuries.
D)Technology can now do some of the things jalis used to be responsible for.
Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately states the main idea of the text. The text introduces jalis as traditional keepers of histories and records, notes that they have also served as teachers and advisers, and then acknowledges that technology has changed some aspects of their role. The final sentence, however, returns to the core point: jalis remain valued for preserving their peoples' stories. The text as a whole presents jalis' continued role as historians as the central idea, with the mention of technological change serving only to acknowledge that the role has evolved rather than disappeared.
Choice D is incorrect. Half Right because, while the text does indicate that technology has changed some aspects of the jali role, that observation is a supporting detail, not the main idea. The text does not provide any specific information about what tasks technology now performs, and the final sentence reorients the reader back to jalis' ongoing value as preservers of community history. Selecting choice D elevates a transitional detail to the status of the text's central claim.
Text 1: Conventional wisdom long held that human social systems evolved in stages, beginning with hunter-gatherers forming small bands of members with roughly equal status. The shift to agriculture about 12,000 years ago sparked population growth that led to the emergence of groups with hierarchical structures: associations of clans first, then chiefdoms, and finally, bureaucratic states.
Text 2: In a 2021 book, anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow maintain that humans have always been socially flexible, alternately forming systems based on hierarchy and collective ones with decentralized leadership. The authors point to evidence that as far back as 50,000 years ago some hunter-gatherers adjusted their social structures seasonally, at times dispersing in small groups but also assembling into communities that included esteemed individuals.
Based on the texts, how would Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) most likely respond to the "conventional wisdom" presented in Text 1?
A) By conceding the importance of hierarchical systems but asserting the greater significance of decentralized collective societies
B) By disputing the idea that developments in social structures have followed a linear progression through distinct stages
C) By acknowledging that hierarchical roles likely were not a part of social systems before the rise of agriculture
D) By challenging the assumption that groupings of hunter-gatherers were among the earliest forms of social structure
Choice B is the best answer because it most accurately represents how Graeber and Wengrow would respond to the conventional wisdom in Text 1. Text 1 presents a step-by-step progression: hunter-gatherers came first, then agriculture triggered the development of clans, chiefdoms, and finally bureaucratic states. Text 2 directly challenges this linear model by presenting evidence that social structures were not a one-way progression but rather something humans shifted among flexibly, even as far back as 50,000 years ago -- well before the rise of agriculture described in Text 1.
Choice A is incorrect because nothing in Text 2 suggests that Graeber and Wengrow rank decentralized societies as more significant than hierarchical ones. Text 2 presents both hierarchical and collective structures as part of a flexible human pattern, without privileging one over the other. Selecting choice A imposes a value judgment that is not present in Text 2. (Trap: Beyond the Text)
The following text is adapted from James Baldwin's 1956 novel Giovanni's Room. The narrator is riding in a taxi down a street lined with food vendors and shoppers in Paris, France.
The multitude of Paris seems to be dressed in blue every day but Sunday, when, for the most part, they put on an unbelievably festive black. Here they were now, in blue, disputing, every inch, our passage, with their wagons, handtrucks, their bursting baskets carried at an angle steeply self-confident on the back.
As used in the text, what does the word "disputing" most nearly mean?
A) Arguing about
B) Disapproving of
C) Asserting possession of
D) Providing resistance to
Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately reflects how "disputing" functions in this context. The narrator is in a taxi trying to make its way down a street crowded with vendors and shoppers. The word "disputing" describes what this mass of people, wagons, and baskets is doing to the taxi's progress "every inch" of the way -- not arguing or expressing an opinion, but physically obstructing it. In this context, "disputing" means providing resistance to.
Choice A is incorrect because although "disputing" can mean arguing in other contexts, the narrator does not describe the crowd as engaged in any verbal confrontation with the taxi driver. The crowd's interference with the taxi's progress is physical, not verbal -- it results from sheer numbers and the objects people are carrying, not from any deliberate quarrel. Selecting choice A imports a common definition of "disputing" that does not fit this particular context. (Trap: Beyond the Text)
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.
Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately states the main idea of the text. The text establishes that Gins and Arakawa deliberately built an impractical apartment, describes specific disorienting features, and then concludes with evidence that a resident reported health benefits after living there. Choice D captures this full arc: the building is acknowledged as impractical, but the text leaves open the possibility that it benefits residents' well-being.
Choice B is incorrect. Extreme Language because the word "most effective" goes well beyond what the text supports. The text presents Gins and Arakawa's design as one example of a potentially health-improving approach, relying on the experience of a single resident. The text makes no comparison to other methods of creating stimulating environments, let alone a claim that this approach is the most effective of all such methods.
The mimosa tree evolved in East Asia, where the beetle Bruchidius terrenus preys on its seeds. In 1785, mimosa trees were introduced to North America, far from any B. terrenus. But evolutionary links between predators and their prey can persist across centuries and continents. Around 2001, B. terrenus was introduced in southeastern North America near where botanist Shu-Mei Chang and colleagues had been monitoring mimosa trees. Within a year, 93 percent of the trees had been attacked by the beetles.
Which choice best describes the function of the third sentence ("But evolutionary links...") in the overall structure of the text?
A) It states the hypothesis that Chang and colleagues had set out to investigate using mimosa trees and B. terrenus.
B) It presents a generalization that is exemplified by the discussion of the mimosa trees and B. terrenus.
C) It offers an alternative explanation for the findings of Chang and colleagues.
D) It provides context that clarifies why the species mentioned spread to new locations.
Choice B is the best answer because it most accurately describes how the third sentence functions in the text. The first two sentences establish the historical separation of mimosa trees and B. terrenus beetles across continents. The third sentence then steps back to offer a broad principle: that predator-prey links can persist across great distances and time. The final two sentences then provide the specific example that proves this principle -- when the beetles were reintroduced to North America centuries later, they attacked mimosa trees almost immediately. The third sentence is therefore the organizing claim that makes sense of the example that follows it.
Choice A is incorrect because the text gives no indication that Chang and colleagues were testing any hypothesis about predator-prey persistence. According to the text, they were simply monitoring mimosa trees when the beetles happened to arrive in the area. Selecting choice A requires the reader to assume a research intent that is not stated anywhere in the passage. (Trap: Beyond the Text)
To demonstrate that the integrity of underground metal pipes can be assessed without unearthing the pipes, engineer Aroba Saleem and colleagues _______ the tendency of some metals' internal magnetic fields to alter under stress: the team showed that such alterations can be measured from a distance and can reveal concentrations of stress in the pipes.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) hypothesized
B) discounted
C) redefined
D) exploited
Choice D is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's discussion of the engineering team's approach to assessing underground pipes. As used in this context, "exploited" means made productive use of. The text presents the tendency of some metals' magnetic fields to change under stress as a known phenomenon that Saleem and colleagues took advantage of in order to demonstrate a new method for evaluating buried pipes. The colon after the blank signals that what follows is an explanation of how they made use of this tendency, confirming that the blank describes active use rather than investigation.
Choice A is incorrect because "hypothesized" would mean that the team was forming a tentative assumption about the tendency of metals' magnetic fields to alter under stress, as if that phenomenon were still unproven. The text, however, presents this tendency as an established fact that the researchers built upon. The passage after the colon confirms that the team was not testing whether the alteration occurs but rather showing that the alteration can be measured from a distance. Selecting choice A mischaracterizes what stage of scientific work is being described. (Trap: Beyond the Text)
The following text is from Georgia Douglas Johnson's 1922 poem "Benediction."
Go forth, my son,
Winged by my heart's desire!
Great reaches, yet unknown,
Await
For your possession.
I may not, if I would,
Retrace the way with you,
My pilgrimage is through,
But life is calling you!
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A)To express hope that a child will have the same accomplishments as his parent did
B)To suggest that raising a child involves many struggles
C)To warn a child that he will face many challenges throughout his life
D)To encourage a child to embrace the experiences life will offer
Choice D is the best answer because it most accurately states the main purpose of the text. The speaker urges the son to "go forth," describes "great reaches, yet unknown" that await him, and closes with the enthusiastic declaration that "life is calling you!" The poem's entire movement is forward-looking and encouraging, presenting the son's future experiences as something to embrace rather than to fear.
Choice A is incorrect. Beyond the Text because the text never suggests that the speaker wants the child to replicate the speaker's own accomplishments. The "great reaches, yet unknown" that await the son are described as new and uncharted, which directly contradicts the idea that the speaker is pointing toward her own past achievements as a model. This choice imports a meaning that the poem does not support.
Art collectives, like the United States- and Vietnam-based collective The Propeller Group or Cuba's Los Carpinteros, are groups of artists who agree to work together: perhaps for stylistic reasons, or to advance certain shared political ideals, or to help mitigate the costs of supplies and studio space. Regardless of the reasons, art collectives usually involve some collaboration among the artists. Based on a recent series of interviews with various art collectives, an arts journalist claims that this can be difficult for artists who are often used to having sole control over their work.
Which quotation from the interviews best illustrates the journalist's claim?
A) "The first collective I joined included many amazingly talented artists, and we enjoyed each other's company, but because we had a hard time sharing credit and responsibility for our work, the collective didn't last."
B) "We work together, but that doesn't mean that individual projects are equally the work of all of us. Many of our projects are primarily the responsibility of whoever originally proposed the work to the group."
C) "Having worked as a member of a collective for several years, it's sometimes hard to recall what it was like to work alone without the collective's support. But that support encourages my individual expression rather than limits it."
D) "Sometimes an artist from outside the collective will choose to collaborate with us on a project, but all of those projects fit within the larger themes of the work the collective does on its own."
Choice A is the best answer because it directly illustrates the journalist's claim that collaboration can be difficult for artists accustomed to having sole control over their work. The speaker in this quotation describes how the collective failed precisely because artists struggled to share credit and responsibility -- which is a concrete example of the difficulty of giving up individual control. The quotation even acknowledges that the experience was otherwise enjoyable, which makes the point about control being the specific sticking point all the more pointed.
Choice C is incorrect because, while it mentions working alone as a contrast, the speaker ultimately describes the collective experience in positive terms, saying it "encourages my individual expression rather than limits it." This directly contradicts the journalist's claim that collaboration is difficult for artists used to having sole control. Only the first half of the quotation seems relevant to the claim; the second half resolves the tension in a way that undermines it entirely. (Trap: Half Right)
While recent scholarship has undermined claims that the works of twelfth-century Islamic philosopher Ibn Rushd were _______ other Muslim philosophers of his time, it is indisputable that his location in the Muslim-ruled area of what is now Spain meant that his works were primarily available thousands of miles west of the era's center of Islamic thought.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) controversial among
B) antagonistic toward
C) imitated by
D) inconsequential to
Choice D is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's discussion of Ibn Rushd's influence on his contemporaries. As used in this context, "inconsequential to" means not significant to or without impact on. The text presents a tension: Ibn Rushd was located far from the center of Islamic thought, which might suggest his works had little influence on other Muslim philosophers, yet recent scholarship has undermined that conclusion. The blank must capture the claim that scholarship has pushed back against -- namely, that his works were without consequence to his contemporaries.
Choice A is incorrect because the issue the text raises is about the availability and impact of Ibn Rushd's works on other Muslim philosophers, not about whether those works sparked debate among them. "Controversial among" addresses reception in terms of disagreement rather than in terms of relevance or reach, and nothing in the text suggests that his contemporaries disputed the content of his work. Selecting choice A answers a question the text is not asking. (Trap: Beyond the Text)
The following text is from Maggie Pogue Johnson's 1910 poem "Poet of Our Race." In this poem, the speaker is addressing Paul Laurence Dunbar, a Black author.
Thou, with stroke of mighty pen,
Hast told of joy and mirth,
And read the hearts and souls of men
As cradled from their birth.
The language of the flowers,
Thou hast read them all,
And e'en the little brook
Responded to thy call.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A)To praise a certain writer for being especially perceptive regarding people and nature
B)To establish that a certain writer has read extensively about a variety of topics
C)To call attention to a certain writer's careful and elaborately detailed writing process
D)To recount fond memories of an afternoon spent in nature with a certain writer
Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately states the main purpose of the text. In the first half of the poem, the speaker praises Dunbar's ability to understand people, saying he has "read the hearts and souls of men." In the second half, the speaker extends that perceptiveness to the natural world, saying he has read "the language of the flowers" and that even a brook "responded to thy call." The poem's purpose is therefore to praise Dunbar for a deep and wide-ranging perceptiveness.
Choice B is incorrect. Beyond the Text because the speaker uses the word "read" in a figurative sense throughout the poem -- Dunbar "read the hearts and souls of men" and "the language of the flowers" -- to convey his ability to perceive and understand people and nature, not to suggest that he has literally read books or studied a variety of topics. Choice B takes the poem's figurative language and treats it as a literal statement about Dunbar's reading habits, importing a meaning the text does not support.
Compiled in the late 1500s largely through the efforts of Indigenous scribes, Cantares Mexicanos is the most important collection of poetry in Classical Nahuatl, the principal language of the Aztec Empire. The poems portray Aztec society before the occupation of the empire by the army of Spain, and marginal notes in Cantares Mexicanos indicate that much of the collection's content predates the initial invasion. Nonetheless, some of the poems contain inarguable references to beliefs and customs common in Spain during this era. Thus, some scholars have concluded that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) while its content largely predates the invasion, Cantares Mexicanos also contains additions made after the invasion.
B) although those who compiled Cantares Mexicanos were fluent in Nahuatl, they had limited knowledge of the Spanish language.
C) before the invasion by Spain, the poets of the Aztec Empire borrowed from the literary traditions of other societies.
D) the references to beliefs and customs in Spain should be attributed to a coincidental resemblance between the societies of Spain and the Aztec Empire.
Choice A is the best answer because it is the only conclusion that follows logically from all of the evidence the text presents. The text establishes two seemingly contradictory facts: the marginal notes suggest that most of the content predates the Spanish invasion, yet some poems contain undeniable references to Spanish beliefs and customs. The word "nonetheless" signals that these two facts are in tension. The only conclusion that resolves this tension without dismissing either piece of evidence is that the collection largely predates the invasion but also contains some additions made afterward.
Choice B is incorrect because it directly contradicts the evidence in the text. The text states that Cantares Mexicanos was compiled "largely through the efforts of Indigenous scribes" -- people writing in Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire. It would make no sense to conclude that these scribes had limited knowledge of Spanish, and more importantly, such a conclusion would not explain why inarguable references to Spanish beliefs and customs appear in the poems. This choice addresses a half-relevant idea -- the scribes' linguistic background -- while failing to account for the central problem the text raises. (Trap: Half Right)
Claims about the original significance of Minoan bull-leaping rituals -- depicted in paintings and sculptures from the second millennium BCE -- are difficult to successfully _______. We know so little about the people archaeologists call the Minoans that assertions about what bull-leaping meant to them will almost inevitably rely on significant speculation and guesswork.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) imagine
B) summarize
C) defend
D) adjust
Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text's discussion of claims about Minoan bull-leaping rituals. As used in this context, "defend" means to justify or make a convincing case for. The text explains that because so little is known about the Minoans, any assertion about the significance of bull-leaping will rest heavily on speculation. This context conveys the idea that such claims are difficult to support with sufficient evidence -- in other words, difficult to defend.
Choice B is incorrect because "summarize" means to give a brief account of the main points of something, which is an entirely different task from the one the text describes. The problem the text identifies is not that Minoan rituals are too complex to condense but that there is not enough evidence to support claims about what those rituals meant. A claim about cultural significance could be summarized in a sentence regardless of whether it rests on guesswork -- the difficulty the text describes is one of justification, not brevity. (Trap: Half Right)