New SHSAT+2
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Scrambled Paragraphs
Directions:
Each scrambled paragraph below consists of a lead sentence and five additional
sentences that can be arranged to form a well organized and grammatically correct
paragraph. Choose the order that will form the best paragraph. Each correct paragraph is
worth two points, with no partial credit given.
Paragraph 1
Lead: Pigeons are perhaps the most visible wild animal in New York City and other
temperate urban areas.
______ Q. Another reason is that pigeon chicks, or squabs, grow remarkably fast.
______ R. It only takes about four weeks for a newly hatched squab to fledge, or grow a
full set of adult feathers and learn to fly.
______ S. Despite the prominence of adult birds, baby pigeons are very rarely observed
by humans.
______ T. Once a young bird has fledged, it takes only another five or six months until
it is ready to raise a family of its own.
______ U. One reason for this is that parents choose to nest in inaccessible corners, such
as crannies high on elevated subway lines, which are largely invisible to most
people.
SHSAT, Full Length Sample Test 2
Paragraph 2
Lead: Today, most fabrics are dyed using a variety of chemicals created by scientists in
laboratories.
______ Q. An example was saffron yellow, sometimes called “the color of chiefs”,
which was made from the tiny, pollen-bearing anthers of a particular type of
crocus.
______ R. In ancient Rome, Tyrian purple dye was worth its weight in gold and
completely purple togas could legally be worn exclusively by victorious
generals.
______ S. In the past, dyes were made with a wide variety of natural substances that
came from plants, animals, and minerals.
______ T. Obtaining some of these substances was difficult and time consuming, which
made some colors very expensive.
______ U. Even more exclusive was Tyrian purple, a brilliant reddish-purple made with
great effort and some danger from the mucus secretions of a marine snail.
Paragraph 3
Lead: Society changes faster than many people realize, and one of the best ways to
understand this is to learn about people who lived in the past.
______ Q. For one thing, Edison began working full time when he was twelve.
______ R. Today, working instead of going to school at such a young age would be
illegal as well as unusual, but at that time, it was common to become an
apprentice instead of pursuing formal education.
______ S. For example, Thomas Edison, famous for inventing electric lights, record
players, and movies, had a childhood that would be considered extraordinary
today, but was fairly usual in the 1860s and 1870s, when he was a boy.
______ T. As such, he traveled, alone, across much of the United States using Morse
code to send and receive messages using technology that was exciting and
new.
______ U. Edison followed this path, and when he was only sixteen, he completed his
apprenticeship and became an itinerant telegraph operator.
Paragraph 4
Lead: Superstitions are found most abundantly where people engage in risky or
dangerous activities, especially ones where the outcome is not fully controlled by the
individual participating.
______ Q. Instead, it is referred to as “The Scottish Play” in hope that by controlling
language, luck can also be controlled.
______ R. One good example is theater: a successful play depends on a large number of
things going well, and only a small number of them are controlled by any
given actor.
______ S. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that actors are a particularly
superstitious bunch.
______ T. Another common custom is never saying the name of Shakespeare’s play
Macbeth out loud.
______ U. Perhaps the superstition that is best known outside of theatrical circles is
wishing someone good luck by saying ‘Break a leg’.
Paragraph 5
Lead: Roberto Clemente was a famous baseball player, but his name is known even by
many people who don’t follow the sport.
______ Q. His fame was finally cemented by his tragic death in a plane crash at the age
of 38; he was bringing badly needed humanitarian aid to Nicaraguan
earthquake victims.
______ R. At a time when baseball still suffered from deeply ingrained racism,
Clemente became the first Latino player to win the Most Valuable Player
Award.
______ S. For example, he was only the eleventh man to get at least 3,000 hits in the
major leagues and he played in two world series, helping his team win each
time.
______ T. Some of his notoriety comes from his many achievements on the ball field.
______ U. However, his fame goes beyond what would be expected from his baseball
career alone.
Logical Reasoning
Questions 11-20
Directions:
For each of the following questions, select the best answer from the given
choices. Bubble in the letter corresponding to your answer on the answer sheet. Your
answer should be based only on the given information.
11. A poll was done at Fairview High School to determine the relative popularity of
five foods (peanut butter, cherries, asparagus, ice cream, and mushrooms).
I. Peanut butter was more popular than asparagus.
II. Cherries were less popular than exactly two foods.
III. Asparagus was more popular than ice cream.
IV. The 2nd most popular food begins with a vowel.
12. In a particular game, a letter that is repeated two times is worth +3 each time it
appears, a letter that is repeated three times is worth -1 each time it appears and a
letter that appears once is worth -2. Any letter that appears more than three times
causes the sum to be multiplied by 2 (per letter, not per appearance). How much
is the word Mississippi worth in this game?
F. 10
G. 8
H. 12
J. 2
K. 16
13. How many squares of any size are in the figure? (Assume that all shapes that
appear to be squares, are in fact squares.)
A. 9
B. 10
C. 12
D. 16
E. 14
14. Yekaterinburg, Russia is ten time zones ahead of New York City. That is, when
it is 8 am in New York, it is 6 pm that same day in Yekaterinburg. A plane takes
off in New York City at 5 pm New York time and lands in Yekaterinburg at 12
noon Yekaterinburg time. How long could the flight have been?
F. 15 hours
G. 9 hours
H. 7 hours
J. 11 hours
K. 13 hours
15. You are making seating assignments for a dinner party. There are 12 guests and
two round tables that each seat six people.
I. George and Timothy won’t sit at the same table and Timothy should not
be seated next to Elizabeth.
II. Peter should not be seated next to Elizabeth and Elizabeth should not be
seated next to Kevin.
III. George and Meg want to sit next to each other and Meg wants to sit next
to Joyce.
IV. Lucas and Amy won’t sit at the same table, and Amy wants to sit next to
George.
Which of the following must be true?
A. Elizabeth and Timothy must sit at different tables.
B. Amy can not sit next to Meg.
C. Peter must not sit next to Kevin
D. Lucas can sit at the same table as George.
E. Joyce can sit at the same table as Timothy.
18. A six-sided die has one shape on each face. What is the smallest possible
number of different shapes that may be on the die, if no adjacent sides may have
the same shape?
F. 1
G. 2
H. 3
J. 4
K. 5
19. If Christopher gets a summer job, then he will get a bike. If he gets a bike, then
he will not walk to school next year. Which statement must be true?
A. If Christopher gets a bike, then he had a summer job.
B. If Christopher walks to school next year, then he did not have a summer job.
C. If Christopher’s mom drives him to school next year, then he did not have a
summer job.
D. If Christopher gets a bike, then he will not get a summer job.
E. Christopher would rather ride a bike to school than walk.
20. If the day two days before tomorrow is a Wednesday, what day of the week was
it five days ago?
F. Monday
G. Sunday
H. Saturday
J. Thursday
K. Friday
Reading Comprehension
Questions 21-50
Directions:
Read each passage and answer the questions that follow it. Base your answer
only on the information contained in the passage. For each question, select the one best
answer from the choices provided.
dredging to enlarge the canal to its final G. bad weather was the main
dimensions: 15 feet deep and 350 feet reason that the canal took so long
wide. to build
H. people take the changes to
21. Which of the following would our environment for granted to
be the best title for this passage? the extent that we confuse man-
A. The Harlem River Canal made structures for natural ones
B. Shaping New York City J. the United States Ship Canal
C. A Canal Interferes with is the most important structure
Farming built in New York City
D. Despite Difficulties, the K. the farms destroyed to make
Harlem River Canal is Built the canal were among the most
E. Canal Finally Finished after productive in New York State
112 Years!
25. The word floundering in the 4th
22. Which factors slowed the paragraph most nearly means
construction of the canal? A. a type of fish
F. an economic recession, B. struggling
lawsuits, bad weather, and the C. confused
underlying geology D. corrupt
G. an economic recession, a E. finished
government takeover, lawsuits,
and bad weather 26. According to this passage,
H. lawsuits, poor engineering, F. as soon as building a canal
bad weather, and underlying was proposed, the idea became
geology extremely popular
J. lobbying by ships’ captains, G. digging canals is harmful to
an economic recession, and a the environment
government takeover H. humans have physically
K. lack of knowledge about how enlarged New York City
to build a canal, excessive J. building The United States
bedrock, and farming interests Ship Canal was inevitable
K. regular dredging is necessary
23. How many more years did the to maintain the canal
pre-construction work take than
the actual construction? On the one hand, ferns are
A. 4 common plants, found on every
B. 112 continent except Antarctica. To many
C. 50 people, they don’t look very interesting
D. 62 and it is easy to take them for granted.
E. 12 On the other hand, there are aspects of
their life cycle that are little-known and
24. The passage implies that quite startling to most people.
F. the government always Ferns are sometimes considered
considers shipping more “primitive” plants because the species
important than manufacturing that are alive today have many traits in
common with fossilized specimens from you. Ferns may appear quiet, even
as early as the Devonian period, roughly boring, but there is more to them than
400 million years ago. Although ferns meets the eye.
have well-developed vascular systems,
with xylem and phloem, they lack 27. The author’s feelings about ferns
flowers, fruit, and even seeds. They can best be described as
reproduce with spores and an unusual A. inspired
stage called the gametophyte. B. bored but knowledgeable
If you look on the underside of C. curious and interested
the fronds of many ferns, you can see D. myopic
small brown bumps called sori. If you E. fatigued but patient
tap on a frond with sori, you may see a
fine brown powder float out of them. 28. The main purpose of this
That powder is composed of spores, or passage is most likely to
the reproductive units of the fern. You F. make ferns seem like aliens
might think that spores are actually G. argue that ferns are more
seeds, but you would be wrong. If you interesting than all other plants
plant a seed, it will grow into something H. convince the reader to grow
that looks very much like the parent ferns from spores
plant. However, if you plant a spore, it J. reveal surprising information
will grow into something called a about a particular group of plants
gametophyte. K. explain that ferns evolved a
Mature ferns vary greatly in size; long time ago
some can fit easily in the palm of your
hand while others can be more than 70 29. The word sori in the third
feet tall, however no matter what the paragraph refers to
mature fern looks like, the gametophyte A. a reproductive organ of ferns
is very small. Many are only one cell B. the part of a fern that will
thick and they are generally smaller than grow into a gametophyte
a human thumb nail. Most of them are C. a small, heart-shaped leaf
shaped roughly like a Valentine’s Day D. the fern’s spores
heart. E. small, brown bumps caused
When the gametophyte is fully by disease
grown it produces both egg and sperm
cells (a single individual is both male 30. When the gametophyte is fully
and female). If an egg cell is fertilized, grown, it
it will grow into a new fern that F. is more than 70 feet tall
resembles the original plant. In this G. is usually less than an inch
way, ferns alternate generations between long
large, obvious plants that we easily H. produces eggs or sperm
recognize and tiny, inconspicuous plants J. is always heart-shaped
that few people ever notice. K. is indistinguishable from any
This alternation of generations is other fern
stranger than many of the traits that
science fiction aliens posses, and it can
be found in a park or a backyard near
The first time she broke a world swimming fast for an hour a day, lifting
record, Lynne Cox was 15 years old. weights 5 days a week, and walking
She swam across the English Channel in around 30 miles per week. She even had
9 hours and 57 minutes, breaking both special dental treatments to reduce the
the men’s and women’s world record risk of the cold water damaging her
times. Her world record for swimming teeth.
the English Channel has since been During the swim itself, Lynne
broken many times, but she has not Cox was nearly knocked unconscious by
defended it recently, probably because large blocks of ice in the water and she
she is busy attempting other, more had trouble gauging how her body was
unusual challenges. dealing with the cold because of nerve
One of Cox’s most famous damage from practice swims in similarly
swims was a political, as well as a cold water. When she finally completed
physical, challenge. In the context of the her 25 minute swim in the Antarctic
Cold War, she swam across the Bering Ocean, and climbed onto an Antarctic
Strait from an island in Alaska to an beach she was greeted by penguins. She
island in the Soviet Union. Although the had also proved that the human body is
two islands were only 2.3 miles apart capable of surviving much colder,
and many people on one island had close harsher conditions than anyone had
relatives on the other island, political thought possible.
conditions kept them strictly separated.
Getting permission to attempt the swim 39. According to this passage,
took Cox 11 years. The swim itself took Lynne Cox attempts her cold
two hours, and required that she be water swims in order to
immersed in turbulent, 40oF water the A. bring people together and
whole time. Despite the frigid prove that the human body is
temperatures, she wore only a bathing capable of astonishing feats
suit, a swimming cap, and goggles. This B. be considered the best
swim caught people’s imagination swimmer in the world
worldwide and may have helped thaw C. avoid having to defend her
the Cold War; the presidents of both English Channel title
nations were able to agree that she had D. show how foolish the Cold
accomplished something wonderful. War was
The swim also illustrated how close the E. earn a living, since she does
two countries really were. not have other career
Fifteen years after crossing the opportunities available to her
Bering Strait, Cox attempted her most
physically challenging swim to date. 40. While training for her Antarctic
She swam 1.2 miles from a ship in the swim, Cox did not
Antarctic Ocean to a beach on Antarctica F. swim for an hour a day
itself. The water was just about 32 oF, or G. lift weights
the temperature at which fresh water H. get special dental treatments
freezes. Preparing for this test took two J. immerse herself in ice water
years. Her training included gaining daily
weight (so that she would have more K. gain weight
body fat to provide insulation),
41. According to this passage, the of Broadway and Broome Streets in New
dangers of cold water ocean York City. In this building two
swimming include important elements of skyscrapers came
A. nerve damage together for the first time: weight-
B. shark attacks bearing metal structural elements and an
C. gaining weight elevator.
D. becoming involved in a Cold When the Haughwout Building
War was built in the 1850s it was fashionable
E. getting lost for buildings to be covered in cast iron
decoration. It is one of the most
42. The word turbulent in the 3rd spectacular examples of this style. A
paragraph most nearly means cast iron façade can be exceptionally
F. turgid beautiful and it is also relatively
G. macabre inexpensive compared to many other
H. boisterous forms of ornamentation because the
J. choppy columns, arches, and other elements
K. tortured could be cast in a factory instead of
laboriously hand-carved. Although the
43. According to the passage, one cast iron arches and columns were
difficulty that Lynne Cox did not traditionally designed to look like they
have to overcome is helped hold the buildings they were on
A. debilitating illness up, they normally served no structural
B. extreme cold purpose. In fact, their great weight
C. rough water sometimes put a strain on buildings.
D. political opposition In the case of the Haughwout
E. swimming injuries Building, this strain was particularly
acute because the building’s design
44. A suitable title for this passage called for large windows to let in as
would be much light as possible. These windows
F. Lynne Cox: An Exceptional greatly weakened the masonry walls of
Swimmer the building that would normally bear all
G. Swimming Across the Bering of the weight and therefore helped push
Straight the engineers to a creative solution that
H. Record Breaker at 15 foreshadowed the skyscraper. The
J. Swimming with Penguins solution was to reinforce the masonry
K. Swimming: More Political walls with metal structural elements.
Than You Think No, it wasn’t the same as the slender
steel skeletons that true skyscrapers
Today, the word skyscraper possess, but it was a significant step in
evokes a shimmering glass and steel that direction.
tower that is 40, 50, or even 160 stories At the time that the Haughwout
tall. However, a strong argument can be Building was constructed, technology
made that the one of the immediate was developing that allowed elevators to
ancestors of the skyscraper is only 5 operate safely. Elevators themselves
stories tall. It is called the Haughwout were nothing new- there are reports that
Building and it still stands at the corner the ancient Greek scientist Archimedes
built one in 236 B.C., but they had never 47. In comparison with Archimedes
been popular for use by humans because elevator, Elisha Graves Otis’
of the danger of falling if the elevator elevator was probably
cable broke. This changed when Elisha A. smaller and more compact
Graves Otis developed a mechanism that B. built with better workmanship
would stop an elevator car from falling if C. able to move faster
the cable broke. Even though the five D. much more complex because
story building didn’t strictly need it, the of added safety features
owner of the Haughwout Building E. more revolutionary and
wanted to have the prestige and notoriety surprising to the general public
that went with having the first passenger
elevator in the world. In this way, two 48. Cast iron decoration was often
of the most important elements of the used on buildings in the 1850s
skyscraper came together for the first because
time. F. the columns and arches
helped hold the building up
45. The passage suggests that there G. it made the buildings stronger
is a relationship between and more fire resistant
A. masonry walls and H. it was beautiful and less
Archimedes expensive than many other
B. cast iron facades and large options
windows J. more practical forms of
C. safe, reliable elevators and decoration had not been invented
tall buildings K. it was prestigious because it
D. heavily ornamented buildings was the most expensive form of
and snapping elevator cables decoration available
E. skyscrapers and buildings
under 5 stories tall 49. Which of the following best tells
what this passage is about
46. The builders of the Haughwout A. why a metal skeleton is an
Building used metal-reinforced essential characteristic of
masonry in order to skyscrapers
F. build what was then the tallest B. why elevators, particularly
building in the world safety elevators, are important to
G. be the first to build a skyscrapers
skyscraper C. how two important elements
H. build a structurally sound of skyscrapers first came together
building despite the presence of in a single building
an elevator shaft D. a description of the most
J. build a structurally sound historically important building in
building with large windows and New York City
a heavy iron facade E. the historical development of
K. be at the cutting-edge of the elevator
technology
Mathematical Achievement
Questions 51-100
Suggested Time: 75 minutes
Directions:
For each question, select the best answer. You may perform calculations
in the booklet. You may not use a calculator or scrap paper.
3 9 J. 75
51. K. 57
4 8
2
A. 55. The mean of 3 positive integers
3
is 30. What is the largest
3
B. possible number in the group?
2 A. 86
1 B. 87
C.
4 C. 88
27 D. 89
D. E. 90
32
17
E. 56. If 5x + 5y = 75, then x + y =
8
F. 35
G. 25
52. 300% of 0.4 is
H. 70
F. 0.012
J. 15
G. 0.12
K. can not be determined
H. 1.2
J. 12
57. Ghislane spends $25 on a book
K. 120
bag and then spends 40% of the
money she has left on lunch. If
53. 3(23 + 8) – (4)(5) =
she has $12 after lunch, how
A. 28
much money did she start with?
B. -1
A. $92.45
C. 220
B. $59.20
D. 22
C. $37.00
E. -17
D. $47.00
E. $45.00
54. The product of 15 and 3 is how
much less than the quotient
when 720 is divided by 6?
F. 302
G. 708
H. 115
ab A. 16
86. If a b is equal to , then
ab a B. 7
5 2 is equal to C. 0
3 D. 9
F. E. 12
4
7
G. 90. A square and an equilateral
5 triangle have equal perimeters.
7 If one side of the square is 6 cm,
H.
8 how long is one side of the
J. 15 triangle?
K. 9 F. 9 cm
G. 6 cm
87. A tank measures 5 in x 2 in x 8 H. 8 cm
in. A larger tank has dimensions J. 10 cm
of 10 in x 4 in x 16 in. The K. the answer can not be
volume of the larger tank is how determined
many times greater than the
volume of the smaller tank? 91.
A. 6 Annual Profit of Acme Widgets
B. 4 $80,000
C. 8
$70,000
D. 10
$60,000
E. 2
$50,000
Profit)
$40,000
88. At first, Terrance had four times
$30,000
as much money as Jenny. After
$20,000
Terrance spent $86 and Jenny
$10,000
made $31, they had the same
$0
amount of money. How much 1 2 3 4 5 6
92. At a summer camp, campers 95. Find the median of the odd
were given a choice between perfect squares between 1 and
archery, canoeing, and 100 (inclusive).
orienteering. The campers chose A. 49
those activities in a 2:3:2 ratio. B. 36
If 168 campers chose archery, C. 16
how many were there all D. 25
together? E. 81
F. 1176
G. 588
H. 840 96. If 3x + 4y = 2x + 6y, then the
J. 240 ratio of x to y is equal to
K. 350 F. 6:1
G. 3:4
93. Nipper caught n mice last week. H. 1:2
Hudson caught 5 fewer mice J. 2:3
than Nipper. Socks caught one- K. 4:3
third more mice than Hudson.
In terms of n, how many mice 97. If x is an integer, which of the
did Socks catch? (Each cat following must be even
caught at least one mouse.) A. x(x-2)
4n 20 B. 5x + 7
A. C. 12x - 8
3
B. n - 5 2x
D.
C. 12n - 20 x 1
D. 2n + 7 E. x – 7
E. 5n – 1.3
98. Two packages of socks and 3
94. A 25 liter container is filled with packages of shirts cost $54.50.
a mixture of 25% grape juice Three packages of socks and 2
and 75% cranberry juice. If 5 shirts cost $50.50. How much
liters of the mixture are removed does one shirt cost?
and replaced with pure grape F. $10.00
juice, how many liters of G. $12.50
cranberry juice are now in the H. $8.50
container? J. $21.00
F. 15 K. $105.00
G. 18.75
H. 10
J. 16.25
K. 12