Passage 1
Which is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 6 (reproduced below)?
Examining these life-sustaining planets, known as “potentially habitable planets,” involve extensive, targeted work.
A. (as it is now)
B. have involved
C. are involving
D. involves
D. involves
Which is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 5 (reproduced below)?
The man in charge of the 6,000 wartime scientists on the federal payroll was an electrical engineering professor and an inventor, Vannevar Bush.
A. (as it is now)
B. was, an electrical engineering professor and an inventor--
C. was, an electrical engineering professor, and an inventor,
D. was an electrical engineering professor and an inventor
A. (as it is now)
Which choice most effectively combines sentences 13 and 14 (reproduced below) at the underlined portion?
Shields inputs information about a planet’s atmospheric makeup into the model. Doing this helps her figure out what the temperature on the planet’s surface would be.
A. model, and also figures
B. model, but she figures
C. model to figure
D. model after figuring
C. model to figure
Which is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 13 (reproduced below)?
In 1950, the National Science Foundation was established with a mandate to fund basic science, it did indeed turn thousands of returning soldiers into scientists.
A. (as it is now)
B. science. It did indeed turn
C. science; indeed turning
D. science. Indeed turning
B. science. It did indeed turn
Which is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 2 (reproduced below)?
This zone refers to regions where planets have climates that are neither too hot nor too cold but are just right for sustaining life, that is, the planets are not too close or too far away from the star they orbit.
A. (as it is now)
B. life, that is
C. life—that is—
D. life; that is,
D. life; that is,
Which is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 1 (reproduced below)?
During World War II, the United States government funded scientific research on an unprecedented scale that had never been done before.
A. (as it is now)
B. a never-been-done-before, unprecedented scale.
C. an unprecedented scale.
D. a novel, new scale.
C. an unprecedented scale.
Which of the following is the most logical placement of sentence 10 (reproduced below)?
Even new telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope, cannot examine them all.
A. Where it is now
B. Before sentence 6
C. After sentence 7
D. After sentence 8
D. After sentence 8
Which sentence blurs the focus of the third paragraph (sentences 8-12) and should therefore be deleted?
A. Sentence 9
B. Sentence 10
C. Sentence 11
D. Sentence 12
C. Sentence 11
In sentence 4 (reproduced below), the writer wants to provide a quotation from Shields that elaborates on the information in sentence 3. Which of the following quotations from Shields best accomplishes this goal?
Shields explains, “You can have a planet that is the right distance from a star but that still isn’t habitable, because there are all sorts of other factors that could make it uninhabitable.”
A. (As it is now)
B. "We don't want to miss out on discovering life because it uses different chemical processes from life as we know it, or because it is not carbon-based, or because it uses something besides water to carry out molecular processes.”
C. “For example, different types of stars emit light in different ranges of the spectrum.”
D. “Well, volcanoes can make oxygen—they expel carbon dioxide, which is carbon and oxygen, and that can get broken up by sunlight. So if you detected the oxygen you might think there’s life there when there’s not.”
A. (As it is now)
After sentence 4, the writer wants to add a short, punchy transition that signals a shift to the topic of the next paragraph. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
A. Enter the business tycoons.
B. Until, that is, the war.
C. Not so today, however.
D. With, ironically, a few exceptions.
B. Until, that is, the war.