Reading 1
But champions like Mullen insist that they don’t possess any extraordinary proclivity for memorization. To hone their memories to competitive levels, they train every day for years — and they say that, with the same training, anyone can learn to remember anything.
What is the best meaning of the word "proclivity" as used in this paragraph?
A. interest
B. athletic skill
C. natural ability
D. accomplishment
C. natural ability
In the 13th canto of “Purgatorio” in Dante’s Divine Comedy, the 14th-century Italian poet describes the ultimate punishment of people who in life had fallen prey to envy, one of the seven deadly sins. He shows them perched precariously on the edge of a cliff. Because envy started with what they saw, their eyes are wired shut. To avoid falling, they must support themselves upon one another, something they never did in life. This is a pretty grim punishment — not surprising, perhaps, given that envy is the only sin that is forbidden by not just one of the Ten Commandments in the Catholic tradition, but two.
Which detail conveys how envious people were punished in Dante's Divine Comedy?
A. "one of the seven deadly sins"
B. "perched precariously on the edge of a cliff"
C. "their eyes are wired shut"
D. "This is a pretty grim punishment"
C. "their eyes are wired shut"
To swim, to jog, and spinning are my aunt’s favorite ways of maintaining her health.
A. To swim, to jog, and spinning
B. To swim, to jog, and spin
C. Swimming, jogging, and to spin
D. Swimming, jogging, and spinning
D. Swimming, jogging, and spinning
My essay must be ___________ words long.
A. 300
B. 400
C. 500
D. 600
C. 500
Without looking it up, give me the full name (first and last) of one character in The Great Gatsby.
Any of these will work:
Jay Gatsby
Nick Carraway
Jordan Baker
Daisy Buchanan
Tom Buchanan
Myrtle Wilson
George Wilson
In the early 1900s, the United States was at war — over pie. On one side were the traditionalists, who saw pie as “an article of necessity in every household as much as the bed and cook stove,” according to a Chicago Daily Tribune report in 1899. On the other side were the food reformers, who wanted to break this unhealthy and corrupting habit. “Pie really is an American evil,” Kate Masterson wrote in the New York Times in 1902. It is an “unmoral food,” she warned, offering advice for spotting pie eaters: They have “sallow complexions” and “lusterless or unnaturally bright eyes” and, of course, they “are all dyspeptic.” “No great man,” she wrote, “was ever fond of pie.”
What is the main idea of this paragraph?
A. In the United States today, pie is a controversial food, with nutrition experts recommending that we limit our consumption of the dessert.
B. The ingredients in pie are linked to many health conditions and therefore should be avoided.
C. Whether or not you enjoy eating pie is reliant on where you are from in the United States.
D. In early twentieth century America, there was a fierce debate over the consumption of pie.
D. In early twentieth century America, there was a fierce debate over the consumption of pie.
This sort of built-in adaptability, Dr. Lipson argued, would become more important as we became more reliant on machines. Robots were being used for surgical procedures, food manufacturing and transportation; the applications for machines seemed pretty much endless, and any error in their functioning, as they became more integrated with our lives, could spell disaster. “We’re literally going to surrender our life to a robot,” he said. “You want these machines to be resilient.”
In this paragraph, the word "resilient" shows that the engineers want to build robots that are--
A. able to recover quickly
B. able to replace doctors
C. able to develop their own ethics
D. able to be emotionally vulnerable
A. able to recover quickly
Returning to his old job, everything there looked the same as John remembered.
A. Returning to his old job,
B. As he was returning to his old job,
C. When he returned to his old job,
D. To have returned to his old job,
C. When he returned to his old job,
My essay will have three body paragraphs as well as ___________________________________________.
Explain what theme is in a novel or short story.
The long reign of Elizabeth, who became known as the "Virgin Queen" for her reluctance to endanger her authority through marriage, coincided with the flowering of the English Renaissance, associated with such renowned authors as William Shakespeare. By her death in 1603, England had become a major world power in every respect, and Queen Elizabeth I passed into history as one of England's greatest monarchs.
The writer believes Queen Elizabeth I did not marry because
A. she did not want to diminish her power.
B. she did not fall in love.
C. there were no suitable matches.
D. she was preoccupied with the English Renaissance.
A. she did not want to diminish her power.
I was alarmed by the noise looking through the window to see who was outside.
A. I was alarmed by the noise looking
B. The noise alarmed me, looking
C. I was alarmed by the noise, looked
D. Alarmed by the noise, I looked
D. Alarmed by the noise, I looked
All of my examples will develop one specific __________, also known as my thesis.
Without looking it up, which three characters are dead by the end of The Great Gatsby (name all three for points)?
Myrtle Wilson, George Wilson, and Jay Gatsby
Scientists have found a new function of the nuclear membrane, the envelope that encases and protects DNA in the nucleus of a cell—it fixes potentially fatal breaks in DNA strands. Previously, the nuclear membrane was thought to be mostly just a protective bubble around the nuclear material, with pores acting as channels to transport molecules in and out. But a recent study has documented how broken strands of a portion of DNA known as heterochromatin are dragged to the nuclear membrane for repair. The reason why we don't experience thousands of cancers every day in our body is because we have incredibly efficient molecular mechanisms that repair the frequent damages occurring in our DNA.
The main idea of the passage is
A. to present the findings from new research.
B. to refute old notions of the structure of DNA.
C. to describe how heterochromatin functions.
D. to explain how our bodies destroy pre-cancerous cells.
A. to present the findings from new research.
Scientists have found evidence that acid rain was a major cause of the largest extinction on Earth 250 million years ago.
A. Scientists have found evidence that acid rain was a major cause of the largest extinction
B. The largest extinction, caused by acid rain, was found by scientists to have happened
C. Scientists have been finding evidence that acid rain is being a major cause of the largest extinction
D. The largest extinction, which was found by scientists happening, could have been a major cause
A. Scientists have found evidence that acid rain was a major cause of the largest extinction
If I use a lot of __________________________, the computer will know that my essay has good organization and structure.
transition words
In November 2007—after the sale of nearly 1.4 million iPhones—Time magazine named the sleek, 4.8-ounce device, originally available in a 4GB, $499 model and an 8GB, $599 model, its invention of the year. The iPhone went on sale in parts of Europe in late 2007 and in parts of Asia in 2008. In July 2008, Apple launched its online App Store, enabling people to download software applications that let them use their iPhones for games, social networking, travel planning and an ever growing laundry list of other activities. Apple went on to release updated models of the iPhone, including the 4S, which debuted in October 2011 and featured Siri, a new voice-activated digital assistant.
We can conclude from the information in the passage that
A. each generation of the iPhone has been better than the last.
B. Siri was released after the App Store was launched.
C. the App Store is older than the iPhone.
D. the iPhone is more popular in Europe than in Asia.
B. Siri was released after the App Store was launched.
Rushing to the scene, the frightened cat was stuck high in the tree and had to be pulled down by the firemen.
A. the frightened cat was stuck high in the tree and had to be pulled down by the firemen.
B. the cat that was frightened and stuck high in the tree was pulled down by the firemen.
C. the firemen had to pull down the frightened cat that was stuck high in the tree.
D. the firemen pulled down the frightened cat and were stuck high in the tree.
C. the firemen had to pull down the frightened cat that was stuck high in the tree.
Under no circumstances will I write an essay that does not ___________________________________.
address the prompt or develop a claim