Standard English Conventions
With a blend of traditional design elements, such as arched Gothic ceilings, and modern ones, such as floor-to-ceiling ______blank design splits the difference between old and new, a mixture that is increasingly seen in home interiors in the US.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer
windows; transitional
windows—transitional
windows. Transitional
windows, transitional
D
Choice D is the best answer. The convention being tested is the use of punctuation within a sentence. This choice correctly uses a comma to mark the boundary between the introductory subordinate clause ("With…windows") and the main clause ("transitional design splits the difference between old and new").
Choice A is incorrect because a semicolon can’t be used in this way to separate the subordinate clause ("With…windows") from the main clause ("transitional…new"). Choice B is incorrect because a dash can’t be used in this way to separate the subordinate clause ("With…windows") from the main clause ("transitional…new"). Choice C is incorrect because it results in a rhetorically unacceptable sentence fragment beginning with "with."
Reading and Writing: Question 9
In 2018, scientists discovered an immense aggregation of Muusoctopus robustus (pearl octopuses) along a hydrothermal vent 3,200 meters beneath the ocean’s surface. Water temperatures at this site—named the Octopus Garden—climb as high as 11°C, much warmer than the ambient 1.6°C typical at this depth. Based on observations made over three years, scientists concluded that temperatures at the site likely confer reproductive benefits and that the site is used exclusively for reproduction—6,000 M. robustus adults, hatchlings, and eggs were observed at the garden, but no juveniles were present.
Which statement about M. robustus and the Octopus Garden is best supported by the text?
Answer
M. robustus leave the Octopus Garden upon reaching an intermediary stage of development.
The M. robustus population at the Octopus Garden remains stable despite variations in water temperature.
M. robustus nests in the Octopus Garden contain on average fewer but larger eggs than nests at similar ocean depths.
The Octopus Garden provides an ideal feeding ground for M. robustus hatchlings.
A
Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the M. robustus population at the Octopus Garden. The text states that the scientists concluded that the site is likely used only for reproduction because over three years they saw many adults, freshly hatched octopuses, and eggs but didn’t see any juveniles. This suggests that the M. robustus octopuses that hatch at the Octopus Garden leave the site when they reach an intermediary state of development, returning only as adults for reproductive purposes.
Choice B is incorrect because the text never discusses the stability of the M. robustus population at the site, only that the scientists observed 6,000 adults, hatchlings, and eggs there. Further, the text presents the site’s temperatures as likely beneficial. Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t provide any details about the eggs at the site and makes no mention of nests; it indicates only that eggs are present along with hatchlings and adults. Choice D is incorrect because the text makes no mention of the hatchlings feeding at the Octopus Garden, indicating only that the temperatures at the site are probably beneficial and that the site is likely used for reproduction.
In a sample, 80% of the items are faulty. There are 88 faulty items in the sample. How many total items are in the sample?
110
f(x) = (x - 44)(x - 46)
The function f is defined by the given equation. For what value of x does f(x) reach its minimum?
Answer
A. 46
B. 45
C. 44
D. -1
B
Reading and Writing: Question 20
When a given industry—water and electricity are two well-known examples—carries high infrastructural start-up costs and other barriers that discourage competition, ______blank of just one or two suppliers per municipality. Such industries are known as natural monopolies.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer
these often consist
they often consist
it often consists
this often consists
C
Choice C is the best answer. The convention being tested is pronoun-antecedent agreement. The singular pronoun "it" agrees in number with the singular antecedent "industry" and clearly indicates that the industry consists of just one or two suppliers per municipality.
Choice A is incorrect. The plural pronoun "these" neither agrees in number with the singular antecedent "industry" nor clearly indicates that the industry—not another plural noun in the sentence, such as "start-up costs" or "barriers"—consists of just one or two suppliers per municipality. Choice B is incorrect because the plural pronoun "they" doesn’t agree in number with the singular antecedent "industry." Choice D is incorrect because the singular pronoun "this" is ambiguous in this context; the resulting sentence leaves unclear what consists of just one or two suppliers per municipality.
“Ad recall” measures how memorable an advertising campaign is. To provide advertisers with information about their ads’ memorability, a social media site regularly surveys users about whether they remember ads they had recently interacted with on the site. In a study that drew on this survey data, advertising researcher Kristen Sussman and colleagues noted that different kinds of social media interactions involve different levels of cognitive engagement: commenting on or sharing a post is more cognitively demanding than is clicking on embedded links or on a “like” button. The researchers hypothesized that interactions indicating high levels of cognitive engagement with ad content would result in relatively high levels of ad recall.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ hypothesis?
Answer
Users who interacted with an ad were much more likely to do so by clicking on the ad’s “like” button than they were to interact with the ad in any other way.
Users who interacted with an ad were significantly more likely to purchase the advertised product at the time they saw the ad than were users who saw the ad but did not interact with it.
Compared with users who clicked on links in an ad, users who commented on that same ad were significantly more likely to remember seeing the ad when surveyed two days later.
Although users who shared an ad were highly likely to remember details from the ad when surveyed two days later, those same users tended to forget those details when surveyed again a week later.
C
Choice C is the best answer because it details a finding that, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ hypothesis about ad recall. According to the text, the researchers found that commenting on an ad that appears as a social media post is more cognitively demanding for users than simply clicking on embedded links in such an ad. The researchers then hypothesized that a high level of cognitive engagement with ad content would result in a high level of ad recall, or memory of ad content. This hypothesis would be supported by the finding that users who had commented on an ad were more likely to recall its content when surveyed two days later than users who had simply clicked on links in the same ad.
Choice A is incorrect. Although the text compares one form of social media user interaction with ads—clicking on the ad’s "like" button—with other forms of interaction—commenting on the ad and sharing it through social media—it does so in order to determine which form of interaction is associated with a higher level of ad recall. The text doesn’t note whether users were more likely to click on the "like" button than they were to interact with the ad in other ways. Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t indicate that the study attempted to track whether social media users purchased the advertised product or to determine which form of interaction with ad content was more strongly associated with making a purchase. Choice D is incorrect. Finding that social media users who shared an ad forgot the content one week later would weaken, not support, the researchers’ hypothesis that cognitive engagement is associated with a high level of recall.
Math: Question 7
The ratio x to y is equivalent to the ratio 9 to 5. If the value of x is 162, what is the value of y?
90
In the xy-plane, line s passes through the point (0,0) and is parallel to the line represented by the equation y=18x + 2. If line s also passes through the point (4, d), what is the value of d ?
Answer
2
18
72
74
C
Reading and Writing: Question 16
A government body officially known as the Althing, ______blank
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer
the world’s oldest parliaments include one which first met in 930 CE, Iceland’s.
Iceland’s parliament is one of the oldest in the world, first meeting in 930 CE.
the first meeting of one of the oldest parliaments in the world, Iceland’s, was in 930 CE.
930 CE was the year when Iceland’s parliament, one of the oldest parliaments in the world, first met.
B
Choice B is the best answer. The convention being tested is subject-modifier placement. This choice makes the noun phrase "Iceland’s parliament" the subject of the sentence and places it immediately after the modifying phrase "a government body officially known as the Althing." In doing so, this choice clearly establishes that Iceland’s parliament—and not another noun in the sentence—is the government body known as the Althing.
Choice A is incorrect because it results in a dangling modifier. The placement of the noun phrase "the world’s oldest parliaments" immediately after the modifying phrase illogically suggests that the world’s oldest parliaments are a government body known as the Althing. Choice C is incorrect because it results in a dangling modifier. The placement of the noun phrase "the first meeting" immediately after the modifying phrase illogically suggests that the first meeting of Iceland’s parliament was a government body known as the Althing. Choice D is incorrect because it results in a dangling modifier. The placement of the noun phrase "930 CE" immediately after the modifying phrase illogically suggests that the year 930 CE is a government body known as the Althing.
Reading and Writing: Question 12
The Uto-Aztecan language family is divided into a northern branch, which includes the Shoshone language of present-day Idaho and Utah, and a southern one, whose best-known representative is Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire in Mexico. Lexical similarities across the family, including of botanical terms, confirm descent from a single language spoken millennia ago, and the family’s geographical distribution suggests an origin in what is now the US Southwest. However, vocabulary pertaining to maize isn’t shared between northern and southern branches, despite the crop’s universal cultivation among Uto-Aztecan tribes. Given archaeological evidence that maize originated in Mexico and diffused northward into what became the US Southwest, some linguists reason that ______blank
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Answer
northern Uto-Aztecan tribes likely obtained the crop directly from a southern Uto-Aztecan tribe rather than from a non-Uto-Aztecan tribe.
variation in maize-related vocabulary within each branch of the Uto-Aztecan family likely reflects regionally specific methods for cultivating the crop.
southern Uto-Aztecan tribes likely acquired maize at roughly the same time as northern Uto-Aztecan tribes did, though from different sources.
the family’s division into northern and southern branches likely preceded the acquisition of the crop by the Uto-Aztecan tribes.
D
Choice D is the best answer because it most logically completes the discussion of Uto-Aztecan languages. The text explains that the northern and southern branches of the Uto-Aztecan language family descended from a single language (believed to have originated in what is now the US Southwest), resulting in similarities across the family’s languages; however, the branches don’t have similar vocabulary for maize, even though maize has been cultivated by all Uto-Aztecan tribes. The text also indicates that maize originated in Mexico and spread northward into what is now the US Southwest—the area where the Uto-Aztecan language family originated. It follows, then, that the language family had already divided into northern and southern branches before maize reached that area; if maize had been present before the division occurred, the family’s origin language would have had terminology for it that likely would have been reflected in the branches, meaning they would have had similar vocabulary for maize. If maize arrived after the division occurred, however, the tribes in the two regions likely would have developed vocabulary pertaining to maize separately, at the times when they acquired the crop.
Choice A is incorrect because the text focuses on vocabulary pertaining to maize in the branches of the Uto-Aztecan language family, and referring only to how some Uto-Aztecan tribes obtained maize wouldn’t directly address the role of language. Moreover, if northern Uto-Aztecan tribes had acquired maize from a southern Uto-Aztecan tribe, it’s reasonable to assume that the northern tribes might have also picked up southern Uto-Aztecan terminology for maize in that exchange. Choice B is incorrect because the text discusses the fact that the northern and southern branches of the Uto-Aztecan language family don’t have shared vocabulary pertaining to maize, not the idea that there are variations in such vocabulary within each branch—that is, the text focuses on differences between the two branches, not on differences between languages within a branch. Choice C is incorrect because the text focuses on vocabulary pertaining to maize in the branches of the Uto-Aztecan language family, and referring only to the timing and source of maize acquisition wouldn’t directly address the role of language. Furthermore, the text implies that southern Uto-Aztecan tribes probably acquired maize before the northern tribes did, given the evidence that maize originated in Mexico—the location of the best-known representative of the southern branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family—before spreading to the north.
The speed of a vehicle is increasing at a rate of 7.3 meters per second squared. What is this rate, in miles per minute squared, rounded to the nearest tenth? ( 1 mile = 1,609 meters.)
A. 0.3
B. 16.3
C. 195.8
D. 220.4
(2/5)x + (7/5)y = 2/7
gx + ky = 5/2
In the given system of equations, g and k are constants. The system has infinitely many solutions. What is the value of g/k?
2/7 or 0.2857
Reading and Writing: Question 20
Chondrites are stony meteorites that are undifferentiated—that is, their contents have not melted and separated into distinct layers. They are hardly ______blank many chondrites experience aqueous alteration as a result of exposure to fluids, as well as fracturing, veining, and localized melting due to collisions with other objects.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Answer
pristine, though
pristine, though;
pristine; though
pristine, though,
B
Choice B is the best answer. The convention being tested is the use of punctuation within a sentence. This choice correctly uses a comma to separate the supplementary adverb "though" from the preceding main clause ("They are hardly pristine") and uses a semicolon to join the two main clauses ("They…though" and "many…objects"). Further, placing the semicolon after "though" indicates that the information in the preceding main clause (chondrites are far from pristine) is contrary to what might be assumed from the information in the previous sentence (chondrites have been generally unaltered by their environment).
Choice A is incorrect because placing the comma after "pristine" and using "though" as a subordinating conjunction illogically indicates that the information in the next main clause (many chondrites have experienced damage) is contrary to the information in the previous clause (chondrites are far from pristine). Choice C is incorrect because placing the semicolon after "pristine" illogically indicates that the information in the next main clause (many chondrites have experienced damage) is contrary to the information in the previous clause (chondrites are far from pristine). Choice D is incorrect because it results in a comma splice. Without a conjunction following it, the comma after "though" can’t be used in this way to join two main clauses.
Reading and Writing: Question 9
Almost all works of fiction contain references to the progression of time, including the time of day when events in a story take place. In a 2020 study, Allen Kim, Charuta Pethe, and Steven Skiena claim that an observable pattern in such references reflects a shift in human behavior prompted by the spread of electric lighting in the late nineteenth century. The researchers drew this conclusion from an analysis of more than 50,000 novels spanning many centuries and cultures, using software to recognize and tally both specific time references—that is, clock phrases, such as 7 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.—and implied ones, such as mentions of meals typically associated with a particular time of day.
Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ conclusion?
Answer
Novels published after the year 1800 include the clock phrase 10 a.m. less often than novels published before the year 1800 do.
Novels published after 1880 contain significantly more references to activities occurring after 10 p.m. than do novels from earlier periods.
Among novels published in the nineteenth century, implied time references become steadily more common than clock phrases as publication dates approach 1900.
The time references of noon (12 p.m.) and midnight (12 a.m.) are used with roughly the same frequency in the novels.
B
Choice B is the best answer because it presents a finding that, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ conclusion that an observable pattern in time references in novels reflects a shift in human behavior prompted by the spread of electric lighting in the late nineteenth century. If novels published after 1880 contain significantly more references to activities occurring after 10 p.m. than novels from earlier periods do, this would suggest a change in human behavior and daily routines enabled by the availability of electric lighting. Before electric lighting—which provided illumination more easily than other available forms of light—many activities ceased after nightfall, so references to late-night activities would be less common in earlier novels. An increase in such references after 1880 would align with the researchers’ conclusion, reflecting an increase in late-night activities made possible by electric lighting.
Choice A is incorrect because a decrease in references to 10 a.m. after the year 1800 would not support the researchers’ conclusion involving a shift in human behavior prompted by the spread of electric lighting toward the end of the 1800s. The time of 10 a.m. is in the morning and, in most places, characterized by daylight, so a change in references to that time would not be clearly linked to the impact of electric lighting. Choice C is incorrect because while an increase in implied time references relative to clock phrases in nineteenth-century novels could suggest a change in writing style or conventions, it does not directly support the conclusion involving a shift in human behavior prompted by the spread of electric lighting. The text indicates that the researchers’ conclusion is based on the content of the time references themselves, not the phrasing used. Choice D is incorrect. If references to noon and midnight are used with roughly the same frequency in all the novels analyzed by the researchers, this would reflect a lack of change in human behavior with regard to time and therefore would not support the researchers’ conclusion involving a shift in human behavior that occurred in response to the spread of electric lighting.
A scientist studying the life cycle of dragonflies counted the number of dragonflies in a certain habitat each day for 46 days. On February 15, there were 99 dragonflies in the habitat. The percent increase in the number of dragonflies in the habitat from January 1 to February 15 was 12.50% . How many dragonflies were in the habitat on January 1?
A. 88
B. 87
C. 12
D. 8
A
y + k = x + 26
y - k = x^2 - 5x
In the given system of equations, k is a constant. The system has exactly one distinct real solution. What is the value of k?
17.5 or 35/2