Craft and Structure
A passage begins by describing a problem, then explains why the problem happens, and finally gives possible solutions.
What text structure is being used?
A. Compare and contrast
B. Cause, effect, and solution
C. Chronological order
D. Description
B: Cause, effect, and solution
Read the passage:
Our brains receive information from our eyes, ears, skin, and other senses. The brain combines this information to create our experience of the world.
What is the central idea?
A. The eyes are more important than the other senses.
B. The brain combines information from different senses.
C. People should trust their eyes more than their ears.
D. The human brain only uses information from the senses.
B: The brain combines information from different senses.
Choose the sentence with correct subject-verb agreement.
A. Each of the students have a notebook.
B. Each of the students has a notebook.
C. Each of the students having a notebook.
D. Each of the students were having a notebook.
B: Each of the students has a notebook.
Choose the best transition:
The experiment seemed simple. ______, its results changed how scientists understood memory.
A. However
B. For example
C. Similarly
D. In addition
A. However
A character says:
“Everyone thinks I'm quiet, but nobody bothers to ask what I'm thinking.”
What does the character's statement reveal about their point of view?
A. They believe other people understand them completely.
B. They feel that others make assumptions about them.
C. They dislike speaking to anyone.
D. They cannot communicate with other people.
B: They feel that others make assumptions about them.
A narrator describes a character as “a shadow in a crowded room.”
What does this comparison most strongly suggest?
A. The character is physically invisible.
B. The character feels unnoticed by others.
C. The character is afraid of the dark.
D. The character spends most of the day outside.
B: The character feels unnoticed by others.
A researcher discovers that people are more likely to notice information that agrees with what they already believe.
What concept does this example demonstrate?
A. Confirmation bias
B. Chronological order
C. Cause and effect
D. Physical blindness
A: Confirmation bias
Choose the punctuation that best completes the sentence:
Human memory is complicated ______ it can change each time we remember an event.
A. complicated,
B. complicated;
C. complicated:
D. complicated
B: complicated;
Choose the best transition:
The brain receives information from our senses. ______, it uses that information to create our perception of the world.
A. In contrast
B. As a result
C. Next
D. Nevertheless
C. Next
An author describes a city as:
“A beautiful playground for tourists, but a cage for the people who live there.”
What does the contrasting description reveal?
A. The author's perspective depends on who is experiencing the city.
B. The city is physically shaped like a cage.
C. Tourists dislike visiting the city.
D. The author believes cities should have playgrounds.
A. The author's perspective depends on who is experiencing the city.
Read the passage:
The article first explains how social media algorithms work. It then describes how these algorithms influence what people see. Finally, it discusses how this can affect people's opinions.
What is the purpose of organizing the information this way?
A. To move from how something works to its possible effects
B. To compare two completely different technologies
C. To tell the history of social media
D. To prove that social media is always harmful
A: To move from how something works to its possible effects
A study finds that people who receive training in recognizing unfamiliar faces become significantly more accurate at identifying those faces.
What does this evidence suggest?
A. Facial recognition cannot be improved.
B. Everyone naturally recognizes every face equally well.
C. Recognition skills can improve through experience and training.
D. Facial recognition is unrelated to experience.
C: Recognition skills can improve through experience and training
Choose the correct verb form:
To understand perception, researchers must ______ both biological and psychological factors.
A. studied
B. studying
C. study
D. studies
C: study
A student takes these notes:
Which sentence best synthesizes the notes?
A. A fake hand can be used in an interesting experiment.
B. Participants look at a rubber hand while their real hand is hidden.
C. The rubber hand illusion demonstrates the brain's ability to adapt its sense of body ownership.
D. Scientists use brushes when conducting the rubber hand experiment.
C: The rubber hand illusion demonstrates the brain's ability to adapt its sense of body ownership.
Two eyewitnesses describe the same accident differently. One remembers the car as red, while the other remembers it as blue.
Which idea does this situation best illustrate?
A. Memory and perception can be subjective.
B. Eyewitnesses always agree with one another.
C. Color cannot be perceived by humans.
D. Memory records events exactly as they happen.
A. Memory and perception can be subjective.
Text 1: Scientists argue that virtual reality can help people understand experiences different from their own.
Text 2: Although virtual reality can create empathy, experiencing a simulation is not the same as experiencing the real situation.
How would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to Text 1?
A. By completely agreeing with its conclusion
B. By arguing that virtual reality has no possible uses
C. By saying that its claim about empathy is too broad
D. By arguing that scientists should stop studying VR
C: By saying that its claim about empathy is too broad
Read the passage:
During a stressful event, people sometimes remember certain details extremely clearly while forgetting other important information. Researchers believe that strong emotions can affect which details receive the brain's attention.
Which inference is best supported?
A. Stress always improves memory.
B. Stress can influence which parts of an event people remember.
C. People cannot remember anything after a stressful event.
D. Emotional events are always remembered perfectly.
B: Stress can influence which parts of an event people remember.
Which sentence uses punctuation correctly?
A. The experiment was surprising, the researchers repeated it.
B. The experiment was surprising; the researchers repeated it.
C. The experiment was surprising the researchers repeated it.
D. The experiment was surprising: and the researchers repeated it.
B: The experiment was surprising; the researchers repeated it.
A student wants to emphasize the limits of human attention.
Their notes say:
Which sentence best accomplishes the student's purpose?
A. Participants were asked to count basketball passes.
B. A person wearing a gorilla costume walked through the scene.
C. The experiment demonstrates that focusing attention on one task can cause people to miss unexpected events.
D. The participants watched a video of people playing basketball.
C: The experiment demonstrates that focusing attention on one task can cause people to miss unexpected events.
A narrator describes an event as “obviously ridiculous” even though another character in the story considers the event completely reasonable.
What does this reveal about the narrator?
A. The narrator is completely objective.
B. The narrator's perspective influences how readers understand the event.
C. The narrator has no opinion about the event.
D. The narrator does not understand the story.
B. The narrator's perspective influences how readers understand the event.
An author describes a scientific discovery using formal language, statistics, and carefully explained research findings rather than personal stories or emotional language.
What is the most likely purpose of this style?
A. To make the reader laugh
B. To create a sense of authority and reliability
C. To make the topic seem mysterious
D. To persuade through personal experience
B: To create a sense of authority and reliability
In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, prisoners mistake shadows for reality because shadows are all they have ever known.
What larger idea does this example illustrate?
A. People should avoid learning new information.
B. What people believe to be true may be based on limited information.
C. Shadows are dangerous to humans.
D. Knowledge is impossible to obtain.
B: What people believe to be true may be based on limited information.
Which sentence contains a dangling modifier?
A. While studying the brain, the researchers discovered an interesting pattern.
B. While studying the brain, an interesting pattern was discovered by the researchers.
C. The researchers discovered an interesting pattern while studying the brain.
D. The researchers, while studying the brain, discovered an interesting pattern.
B: While studying the brain, an interesting pattern was discovered by the researchers.
Why: The sentence makes it sound as though the interesting pattern was studying the brain.
Choose the transition that best connects the ideas:
Photographs can preserve moments from the past. ______, photographs do not always provide a complete or unbiased representation of those moments.
A. For example
B. Similarly
C. However
D. Therefore
C: However
Text 1: A photograph appears to show a peaceful protest.
Text 2: The photographer explains that the photograph only captures one small section of the event and leaves out a much larger confrontation happening nearby.
What larger idea do these texts together support?
A. Photographs always provide complete information.
B. Visual evidence can be accurate while still providing an incomplete picture of reality.
C. Photographers cannot take pictures of protests.
D. Written sources are always more accurate than photographs.
B. Visual evidence can be accurate while still providing an incomplete picture of reality.