4.

1 Information and Ideas

4.1.1 Command of Evidence – Textual
Question 1

Given that the conditions in binary star systems should make planetary formation nearly
impossible, it’s not surprising that the existence of planets in such systems has lacked _______
explanation. Roman Rafikov and Kedron Silsbee shed light on the subject when they used
modeling to determine a complex set of factors that could support planets’ development.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) a discernible

B) a straightforward

C) an inconclusive

D) an unbiased

Question 2

Many governments that regularly transfer money to individuals—to provide supplemental

incomes for senior citizens, for example—have long done so electronically, but other countries
typically have distributed physical money and have only recently developed electronic transfer
infrastructure. Researchers studied the introduction of an electronic transfer system in one such
location and found that recipients of electronic transfers consumed a different array of foods than
recipients of physical transfers of the same amount did. One potential explanation for this result
is that individuals conceive of and allocate funds in physical money differently than they conceive
of and allocate funds in electronic form.

Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly weaken the potential explanation?

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 A) Recipients of electronic transfers typically spent their funds at a slower rate than recipients of
physical transfers did.
B) Some recipients of physical transfers received small amounts of money relatively frequently,
while others received large amounts relatively infrequently.
C) Recipients of physical transfers tended to purchase food about as frequently as recipients of
electronic transfers did.
D) Nearly every recipient of an electronic transfer withdrew the entire amount in physical money
shortly after receiving the transfer.

Question 3

The Milky Way galaxy is composed of millions of stars in a relatively flat structure containing a
thin disk and a thick disk. Based on computer simulations and analysis of data on the brightness,
position, and chemical composition of about 250,000 stars in the thick disk (collected from two
telescopes, one in China and one orbiting in space), astrophysicists Maosheng Xiang and Hans-
Walter Rix claim that the thick disk of the Milky Way formed in two distinct phases rather than
a single one.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ claim?

A) There’s an age difference of about 2 billion years between certain stars in the thick disk.
B) The stars in the Milky Way tend to have very similar chemical compositions.
C) The thin disk contains about twice as many stars that can be seen from Earth as the thick disk
does.
D) The telescopes used by the researchers have detected stars of similar ages in galaxies other
than the Milky Way.

Question 4

Sense and Sensibility is an 1811 novel by Jane Austen. In the novel, Austen describes Marianne
Dashwood’s ability to persuade others of the rightness of her artistic judgments, as is evident when
Marianne visits with John Willoughby, a potential suitor: ______

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Which quotation from Sense and Sensibility most effectively illustrates the claim?

A) “Above all, when she heard him declare, that of music and dancing he was passionately
fond, she gave him such a look of approbation as secured the largest share of his discourse
to herself for the rest of his stay.”
B) “Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolized by
each—or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the
force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed.”
C) “It was only necessary to mention any favourite amusement to engage her to talk. She could
not be silent when such points were introduced, and she had neither shyness nor reserve in
their discussion.”
D) “They speedily discovered that their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual, and that
it arose from a general conformity of judgment in all that related to either. Encouraged by
this to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the subject
of books.”

Question 5

Electra is a circa 420–410 BCE play by Sophocles, translated in 1870 by R.C. Jebb. Electra, who
is in mourning for her dead father and her long-absent brother, is aware of the intensity of her grief
but believes it to be justified: ______

Which quotation from Electra most effectively illustrates the claim?

A) “O thou pure sunlight, and thou air, earth’s canopy, how often have ye heard the strains of
my lament, the wild blows dealt against this bleeding breast, when dark night fails!”
B) “I know my own passion, it escapes me not; but, seeing that the causes are so dire, will
never curb these frenzied plaints, while life is in me.”
C) “Send to me my brother; for I have no more the strength to bear up alone against the load
of grief that weighs me down.”
D) “But never will I cease from dirge and sore lament, while I look on the trembling rays of
the bright stars, or on this light of day.”

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 6

Hip-hop pedagogy is a form of teaching that’s gaining popularity across school subjects. It
involves incorporating hip-hop and rap music into lessons as well as using hip-hop elements when
teaching other subject matters. For example, Quan Neloms’s students look for college-level
vocabulary and historical events in rap songs. Researchers claim that in addition to developing
students’ social justice awareness, hip-hop pedagogy encourages student success by raising
students’ interest and engagement.

Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the underlined claim?

A) Courses that incorporate hip-hop and rap music are among the courses with the highest
enrollment and attendance rates.
B) Educators report that they enjoy teaching courses that involve hip-hop and rap music more
than teaching courses that don’t.
C) Students tend to be more enthusiastic about rap music than they are about hip-hop music.
D) Students who are highly interested in social justice issues typically don’t sign up for
courses that incorporate hip-hop and rap music.

Question 7

Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Héctor Tobar has built a multifaceted career as both a journalist and
an author of short stories and novels. In an essay about Tobar’s work, a student claims that Tobar
blends his areas of expertise by applying journalism techniques to his creation of works of fiction.

Which quotation from a literary critic best supports the student’s claim?

A) “For one novel, an imagined account of a real person’s global travels, Tobar approached
his subject like a reporter, interviewing people the man had met along the way and
researching the man’s own writings.”
B) “Tobar got his start as a volunteer for El Tecolote, a community newspaper in San
Francisco, and wrote for newspapers for years before earning a degree in creative writing
and starting to publish works of fiction.”

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 C) “Many of Tobar’s notable nonfiction articles are marked by the writer’s use of techniques
usually associated with fiction, such as complex narrative structures and the incorporation
of symbolism.”
D) “The protagonist of Tobar’s third novel is a man who wants to be a novelist and keeps
notes about interesting people he encounters so he can use them when developing
characters for his stories.”

Question 8

In the 1980s, many musicians and journalists in the English-speaking world began to draw
attention to music from around the globe—such as mbaqanga from South Africa and quan họ from
Vietnam—that can’t be easily categorized according to British or North American popular music
genres, typically referring to such music as “world music.” While some scholars have welcomed
this development for bringing diverse musical forms to prominence in countries where they’d
previously been overlooked, musicologist Su Zheng claims that the concept of world music
homogenizes highly distinct traditions by reducing them all to a single category.

Which finding about mbaqanga and quan họ, if true, would most directly support Zheng’s claim?

A) Mbaqanga is significantly more popular in the English-speaking world than quan họ is.
B) Mbaqanga and quan họ developed independently of each other and have little in common
musically.
C) Mbaqanga and quan họ are now performed by a diverse array of musicians with no direct
connections to South Africa or Vietnam.
D) Mbaqanga and quan họ are highly distinct from British and North American popular music
genres but similar to each other.

Question 9

“The Rock and the Sea” is an 1893 poem by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the poem, a rock is
portrayed as intending to confront and restrain the sea: ______

Which quotation from “The Rock and the Sea” most effectively illustrates the claim?

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 A) “I am the Rock. Black midnight falls; / The terrible breakers rise like walls; / With curling
lips and gleaming teeth / They plunge and tear at my bones beneath.”
B) “I am the Sea. The earth I sway; / Granite to me is potter’s clay; / Under the touch of my
careless waves / It rises in turrets and sinks in caves.”
C) “I am the Sea. I hold the land / As one holds an apple in his hand, / Hold it fast with
sleepless eyes, / Watching the continents sink and rise.”
D) “I am the Rock, presumptuous Sea! / I am set to encounter thee. / Angry and loud or gentle
and still, / I am set here to limit thy power, and I will!”

Question 10

In the 1970s, a roughly 60,000-year-old piece of hyena bone marked with nine notches was
discovered at a site in western France once inhabited by Neanderthals. Although many believe that
only modern humans developed systems for notating numbers, one archaeologist asserts that this
artifact may be a sign that Neanderthals also recorded numerical information. The notches on the
bone are unevenly spaced but approximately parallel, and microscopic analysis reveals that they
were made with a single stone tool; according to the archaeologist, this suggests that the notches
were all made at one time by one individual as a means of counting something.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the underlined claim?

A) Parallel lines are a common feature in modern humans’ early systems for recording
numerical information.
B) More than nine approximately parallel notches made with a different stone tool are present
on another artifact found at a site in western France.
C) It would have taken careful effort to make evenly spaced lines on bone with the stone tools
typically used by Neanderthals.
D) Decorative art discovered at another Neanderthal site in western France primarily features
patterns of unevenly spaced parallel lines.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 11

Although many transposons, DNA sequences that move within an organism’s genome through
shuffling or duplication, have become corrupted and inactive over time, those from the long
interspersed nuclear elements (LINE) family appear to remain active in the genomes of some
species. In humans, they are functionally important within the hippocampus, a brain structure that
supports complex cognitive processes. When the results of molecular analysis of two species of
octopus—an animal known for its intelligence—were announced in 2022, the confirmation of a
LINE transposon in Octopus vulgaris and Octopus bimaculoides genomes prompted researchers
to hypothesize that that transposon family is tied to a species’ capacity for advanced cognition.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ hypothesis?

A) The LINE transposon in O. vulgaris and O. bimaculoides genomes is active in an octopus

brain structure that functions similarly to the human hippocampus.
B) The human genome contains multiple transposons from the LINE family that are all
primarily active in the hippocampus.
C) A consistent number of copies of LINE transposons is present across the genomes of most
octopus species, with few known corruptions.
D) O. vulgaris and O. bimaculoides have smaller brains than humans do relative to body size,
but their genomes contain sequences from a wider variety of transposon families.

Question 12

Jan Gimsa, Robert Sleigh, and Ulrike Gimsa have hypothesized that the sail-like structure running
down the back of the dinosaur Spinosaurus aegyptiacus improved the animal’s success in
underwater pursuits of prey species capable of making quick, evasive movements. To evaluate
their hypothesis, a second team of researchers constructed two battery-powered mechanical
models of S. aegyptiacus, one with a sail and one without, and subjected the models to a series of
identical tests in a water-filled tank.

Which finding from the model tests, if true, would most strongly support Gimsa and colleagues’
hypothesis?

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 A) The model with a sail took significantly longer to travel a specified distance while
submerged than the model without a sail did.
B) The model with a sail displaced significantly more water while submerged than the model
without a sail did.
C) The model with a sail had significantly less battery power remaining after completing the
tests than the model without a sail did.
D) The model with a sail took significantly less time to complete a sharp turn while submerged
than the model without a sail did.

Question 13

“Ghosts of the Old Year” is an early 1900s poem by James Weldon Johnson. In the poem, the
speaker describes experiencing an ongoing cycle of anticipation followed by regretful reflection:

Which quotation from “Ghosts of the Old Year” most effectively illustrates the claim?

A) “The snow has ceased its fluttering flight, / The wind sunk to a whisper light, / An ominous
stillness fills the night, / A pause—a hush.”
B) “And so the years go swiftly by, / Each, coming, brings ambitions high, / And each,
departing, leaves a sigh / Linked to the past.”
C) “What does this brazen tongue declare, / That falling on the midnight air / Brings to my
heart a sense of care / Akin to fright?”
D) “It tells of many a squandered day, / Of slighted gems and treasured clay, / Of precious
stores not laid away, / Of fields unreaped.”

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 14

A researcher conducted an experiment inspired by studies suggesting that people may benefit from
feeling frightened in certain circumstances, such as when watching scary movies or visiting
haunted attractions. The researcher recruited several participants and had them walk through a
local haunted house attraction. Immediately after exiting the attraction, each participant completed
a survey about their experience. Based on the survey responses, the researcher claims that feeling
frightened in controlled situations can boost a person’s mood and confidence.

Which quotation from a participant would best illustrate the researcher’s claim?

A) “My friends kept laughing as we were walking through the haunted house.”
B) “The haunted house was scary at first, but I knew everyone was just acting, so I felt less
scared after a few minutes.”
C) “The sense of relief I felt at the end of the haunted house was similar to the feelings I have
when I finish a scary movie.”
D) “After I came out of the haunted house, I felt very accomplished and less stressed.”

Muavia Bashir Uppal

4.1.2 Command of Evidence – Quantitative

Question 1

Correlations Between Congestion Ratings and Features of the Crowd in Raters’ Immediate
Vicinity

Researcher Xiaolu Jia and colleagues monitored individuals’ velocity and the surrounding crowd
density as a group of study participants walked through a space and navigated around an obstacle.
Participants rated how congested it seemed before the obstacle, after the obstacle, and overall, and
the researchers correlated those ratings with velocity and density. (Correlations range from −1 to
1, with greater distance from 0 indicating greater strength). The researchers concluded that the
correlations with velocity are stronger than those with density.

Which choice best describes data from the table that support the researchers’ conclusion?

A) The correlation between congestion ratings before the obstacle and density is further from
0 than the correlation between overall congestion rating and velocity is.
B) The correlation between congestion ratings before the obstacle and velocity is further from
0 than the correlation between congestion overall and velocity is.
C) For each of the three ratings, the correlation with velocity is negative while the correlation
with density is positive.
D) For each of the three ratings, correlations with velocity are further from 0 than the
corresponding correlations with density are.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 2

To monitor changes to glaciers in Switzerland, the government periodically measures them for
features like total area of ice and mean ice thickness, which are then reported in the Swiss Glacier
Inventory. These measurements can be used to compare the glaciers. For example, the Gorner
glacier had ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the example?

A) a larger area than either the Fiescher glacier or the Unteraar glacier.
B) a smaller area than the Fiescher glacier but a larger area than the Unteraar glacier.
C) a smaller area than either the Fiescher glacier or the Unteraar glacier.
D) a larger area than the Fiescher glacier but a smaller area than the Unteraar glacier.

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Question 3

Effect of Paywall Introduction on Newspaper Companies’ Revenues

Digital paywalls restrict access to online content to those with a paid subscription. In an
investigation of the effect of paywalls on newspaper company revenues for print and digital
subscriptions and advertising, Doug J. Chung and colleagues compared actual outcomes (with a
paywall) to control estimates (without a paywall). The researchers concluded that introducing a
paywall is generally more beneficial for larger newspapers, which have high circulation and tend
to offer a substantial amount of unique online content.

Which choice best describes data from the table that support Chung and colleagues’ conclusion?

A) The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times had similar total revenue changes, but
the Los Angeles Times had a smaller percentage change.
B) The Los Angeles Times had a 12.5% revenue change, while the Chicago Tribune had a
19% revenue change.
C) The New York Times had a 20% revenue change, while The Denver Post had a −1%
revenue change.
D) The Denver Post had only a −1% revenue change, which was the smallest percentage
change of the selected companies.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 4

In the United States, firms often seek incentives from municipal governments to expand to those
municipalities. A team of political scientists hypothesized that municipalities are much more likely
to respond to firms and offer incentives if expansions can be announced in time to benefit local
elected officials than if they can’t. The team contacted officials in thousands of municipalities,
inquiring about incentives for a firm looking to expand and indicating that the firm would
announce its expansion on a date either just before or just after the next election.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that weaken the team’s hypothesis?

A) A large majority of the municipalities that received an inquiry mentioning plans for an
announcement before the next election didn’t respond to the inquiry.
B) The proportion of municipalities that responded to the inquiry or offered incentives didn’t
substantially differ across the announcement timing conditions.
C) Only around half the municipalities that responded to inquiries mentioning plans for an
announcement before the next election offered incentives.
D) Of the municipalities that received an inquiry mentioning plans for an announcement date
after the next election, more than 1,200 didn’t respond and only around 100 offered
incentives.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 5

Electric companies that use wind turbines rely on weather forecasts to predict the maximum
amount of power, in megawatt-hours (MWh), they can generate using wind so that they can
determine how much they’ll need to generate from other sources. When winds are stronger than
they were forecast to be, however, the predicted maximum amount of electricity wind turbines
could generate will be too low. For example, the graph shows that for the West region, the winds
were ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the example?

A) strong enough to generate about 150 thousand more MWh of electricity from wind
turbines.
B) so weak that the electricity from wind turbines was about 175 thousand MWh less than
predicted.
C) so weak that the electricity from wind turbines was about 150 thousand MWh less than
predicted.
D) strong enough to generate about 175 thousand more MWh of electricity from wind
turbines.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 6

Average Nitrate and Phosphate Concentrations in Seawater after Volcanic Eruption

After a volcanic eruption spilled lava into North Pacific Ocean waters, a dramatic increase of
diatoms (a kind of phytoplankton) near the surface occurred. Scientists assumed the diatoms were
thriving on nutrients such as phosphate from the lava, but analysis showed these nutrients weren’t
present near the surface in forms diatoms can consume. However, there was an abundance of
usable nitrate, a nutrient usually found in much deeper water and almost never found in lava.
Microbial oceanographer Sonya Dyhrman and colleagues believe that as the lava plunged nearly
300 meters below the surface it dislodged pockets of this nutrient, releasing it to float upward,
given that ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?

A) at 5–45 meters below the surface, the average concentration of phosphate was about the
same in the seawater in the lava-affected area as in the seawater outside of the lava-affected
area.
B) for both depth ranges measured, the average concentrations of nitrate were substantially
higher in the seawater in the lava-affected area than in the seawater outside of the lava-
affected area.

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 C) for both depth ranges measured in the seawater in the lava-affected area, the average
concentrations of nitrate were substantially higher than the average concentrations of
phosphate.
D) in the seawater outside of the lava-affected area, there was little change in the average
concentration of nitrate from 75–125 meters below the surface to 5–45 meters below the
surface.

Question 7

Tadpole Body Mass and Toxin Production after Three Weeks in Ponds

Ecologist Veronika Bókony and colleagues investigated within-species competition among

common toads (Bufo bufo), a species that secretes various unpleasant-tasting toxins called
bufadienolides in response to threats. The researchers tested B. bufo tadpoles’ responses to
different levels of competition by creating ponds with different tadpole population densities but a
fixed amount of food. Based on analysis of the tadpoles after three weeks, the researchers
concluded that increased competition drove bufadienolide production at the expense of growth.

Which choice uses data from the table to most effectively support the researchers’ conclusion?

A) The difference in average tadpole body mass was small between the low and medium
population density conditions and substantially larger between the low and high population
density conditions.

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 B) Tadpoles in the low and medium population density conditions had substantially lower
average bufadienolide concentrations but had greater average body masses than those in
the high population density condition.
C) Tadpoles in the high population density condition displayed a relatively modest increase
in the average amount of bufadienolide but roughly double the average bufadienolide
concentration compared to those in the low population density condition.
D) Tadpoles produced approximately the same number of different bufadienolide toxins per
individual across the population density conditions, but average tadpole body mass
decreased as population density increased.

Question 8

Investigative journalists research and report about fraud, corruption, public hazards, and more. The
graph shows the number of investigative articles published in the Albuquerque Journal newspaper
from 2010 to 2019. According to an analyst, although the number of investigative articles
published in this newspaper has varied significantly over the period shown, the number overall has
fallen since 2010.

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to justify the underlined claim?

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 A) The newspaper published approximately 1,000 investigative articles in 2010 and
approximately 500 in 2019.
B) The smallest annual number of investigative articles published in the newspaper during the
period shown is approximately 1,600 in 2013.
C) The greatest annual number of investigative articles published in the newspaper during the
period shown is approximately 1,000 in 2017.
D) The newspaper published approximately 1,000 investigative articles in 2010 and
approximately 1,600 in 2013.

Question 9

To understand how expressions of anger in reviews of products affect readers of those reviews,
business scholar Dezhi Yin and colleagues measured study participants’ responses to three
versions of the same negative review—a control review expressing no anger, a review expressing
a high degree of anger, and a review expressing a low degree of anger. Reviewing the data, a
student concludes that the mere presence of anger in a review may not negatively affect readers’

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perceptions of the review, but a high degree of anger in a review does worsen readers’ perceptions
of the review.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the student’s conclusion?

A) On average, participants’ ratings of the helpfulness of the review were substantially higher
than were participants’ ratings of the reviewed product regardless of which type of review
participants had seen.
B) Compared with participants who saw the control review, participants who saw the low-
anger review rated the review as slightly more helpful, whereas participants who saw the
high-anger review rated the review as less helpful.
C) Participants who saw the low-anger review rated the review as slightly more helpful than
participants who saw the control review did, but participants’ attitude toward the reviewed
product was slightly worse when participants saw the low-anger review than when they
saw the no-anger review.
D) Compared with participants who saw the low-anger review, participants who saw the high-
anger review rated the review as less helpful and had a less positive attitude toward the
reviewed product.

Question 10

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To investigate the influence of certain estrogen-responsive neurons on energy expenditure,
biologist Stephanie Correa et al. treated female and male mice with either saline solution or
clozapine-N4-oxide (CNO), which activates the neurons. Monitoring the activity levels of the mice
by measuring how frequently the animals broke infrared beams crossing their enclosures, Correa
et al. found that the mice in their study showed sex-specific differences in response to neuron
activation: ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the assertion?

A) the four groups of mice differed greatly in their activity levels before treatment but showed
identical activity levels at the end of the monitoring period.
B) CNO-treated females showed a substantial increase and then decline in activity over the
monitoring period, whereas CNO-treated males showed a substantial decline in activity
followed by a steep increase.
C) saline-treated females showed substantially more activity at certain points in the
monitoring period than saline-treated males did.
D) CNO-treated females showed more activity relative to saline-treated females than CNO-
treated males showed relative to saline-treated males.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

4.1.3 Central Ideas and Details

Question 1

In a study of new technology adoption, Davit Marikyan et al. examined negative disconfirmation
(which occurs when experiences fall short of one’s expectations) to determine whether it could
lead to positive outcomes for users. The team focused on established users of “smart home”
technology, which presents inherent utilization challenges but tends to attract users with high
expectations, often leading to feelings of dissonance. The researchers found that many users
employed cognitive mechanisms to mitigate those feelings, ultimately reversing their initial
sense of disappointment.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Research suggests that users with high expectations for a new technology can feel content
with that technology even after experiencing negative disconfirmation.
B) Research suggests that most users of smart home technology will not achieve a feeling of
satisfaction given the utilization challenges of such technology.
C) Although most smart home technology is aimed at meeting or exceeding users’ high
expectations, those expectations in general remain poorly understood.
D) Although negative disconfirmation has often been studied, little is known about the
cognitive mechanisms shaping users’ reactions to it in the context of new technology
adoption.

Question 2

NASA’s Cassini probe has detected an unusual wobble in the rotation of Mimas, Saturn’s
smallest moon. Using a computer model to study Mimas’s gravitational interactions with Saturn
and tidal forces, geophysicist Alyssa Rhoden and colleagues have proposed that this wobble
could be due to a liquid ocean moving beneath the moon’s icy surface. The researchers believe
other moons should be examined to see if they too might have oceans hidden beneath their
surfaces.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

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 A) Rhoden and colleagues were the first to confirm that several of Saturn’s moons contain
hidden oceans.
B) Research has failed to identify signs that there is an ocean hidden beneath the surface of
Mimas.
C) Rhoden and colleagues created a new computer model that identifies moons with hidden
oceans without needing to analyze the moons’ rotation.
D) Research has revealed that an oddity in the rotation of Mimas could be explained by an
ocean hidden beneath its surface.

Question 3

The following text is adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s 1849 story “Landor’s Cottage.”

During a pedestrian trip last summer, through one or two of the river counties of New York, I
found myself, as the day declined, somewhat embarrassed about the road I was pursuing. The
land undulated very remarkably; and my path, for the last hour, had wound about and about so
confusedly, in its effort to keep in the valleys, that I no longer knew in what direction lay the
sweet village of B——, where I had determined to stop for the night.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) The narrator explains the difficulties he encountered on a trip and how he overcame
them.
B) The narrator describes what he saw during a long trip through a frequently visited
location.
C) The narrator recalls fond memories of a journey that he took through some beautiful river
counties.
D) The narrator remembers a trip he took and admits to getting lost.

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Question 4

The following text is adapted from María Cristina Mena’s 1914 short story “The Vine-Leaf.”

It is a saying in the capital of Mexico that Dr. Malsufrido carries more family secrets under his
hat than any archbishop. The doctor’s hat is, appropriately enough, uncommonly capacious,
rising very high, and sinking so low that it seems to be supported by his ears and eyebrows, and
it has a furry look, as if it had been brushed the wrong way, which is perhaps what happens to it
if it is ever brushed at all. When the doctor takes it off, the family secrets do not fly out like a
flock of parrots, but remain nicely bottled up beneath a dome of old and highly polished ivory.

Based on the text, how do people in the capital of Mexico most likely regard Dr. Malsufrido?

A) Few feel concerned that he will divulge their confidences.

B) Many have come to tolerate him despite his disheveled appearance.
C) Most would be unimpressed by him were it not for his professional expertise.
D) Some dislike how freely he discusses his own family.

Question 5

Artist Justin Favela explained that he wanted to reclaim the importance of the piñata as a symbol
in Latinx culture. To do so, he created numerous sculptures from strips of tissue paper, which is
similar to the material used to create piñatas. In 2017, Favela created an impressive life-size
piñata-like sculpture of the Gypsy Rose lowrider car, which was displayed at the Petersen
Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California. The Gypsy Rose lowrider was famously driven
by Jesse Valadez, an early president of the Los Angeles Imperials Car Club.

According to the text, which piece of Favela’s art was on display in the Petersen Automotive
Museum in 2017?

A) A painting of Los Angeles

B) A painting of a piñata
C) A sculpture of Jesse Valadez
D) A sculpture of a lowrider car

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Question 6

In many of his sculptures, artist Richard Hunt uses broad forms rather than extreme accuracy to
hint at specific people or ideas. In his first major work, Arachne (1956), Hunt constructed the
mythical character Arachne, a weaver who was changed into a spider, by welding bits of steel
together into something that, although vaguely human, is strange and machine-like. And his large
bronze sculpture The Light of Truth (2021) commemorates activist and journalist Ida B. Wells
using mainly flowing, curved pieces of metal that create stylized flame.

Which choice best states the text’s main idea about Hunt?

A) He often depicts the subjects of his sculptures using an unrealistic style.

B) He uses different kinds of materials depending on what kind of sculpture he plans to
create.
C) He tends to base his art on important historical figures rather than on fictional characters.
D) He has altered his approach to sculpture over time, and his works have become
increasingly abstract.

Question 7

Disco remains one of the most ridiculed popular music genres of the late twentieth century. But
as scholars have argued, the genre is far less superficial than many people believe. Take the case
of disco icon Donna Summer: she may have been associated with popular songs about love and
heartbreak (subjects hardly unique to disco, by the way), but like many Black women singers
before her, much of her music also reflects concerns about community and identity. These
concerns are present in many of the genre’s greatest songs, and they generally don’t require
much digging to reveal.

What does the text most strongly suggest about the disco genre?

A) It gave rise to a Black women’s musical tradition that has endured even though the genre
itself faded in the late twentieth century.
B) It has been unjustly ignored by most scholars despite the importance of the themes
addressed by many of the genre’s songs.

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 C) It has been unfairly dismissed for the inclusion of subject matter that is also found in
other musical genres.
D) It evolved over time from a superficial genre focused on romance to a genre focused on
more serious concerns.

Question 8

The following text is from Edith Nesbit’s 1902 novel Five Children and It. Five young siblings
have just moved with their parents from London to a house in the countryside that they call the
White House.

It was not really a pretty house at all; it was quite ordinary, and mother thought it was rather
inconvenient, and was quite annoyed at there being no shelves, to speak of, and hardly a
cupboard in the place. Father used to say that the ironwork on the roof and coping was like an
architect’s nightmare. But the house was deep in the country, with no other house in sight, and
the children had been in London for two years, without so much as once going to the seaside
even for a day by an excursion train, and so the White House seemed to them a sort of Fairy
Palace set down in an Earthly Paradise.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) The house is beautiful and well built, but the children miss their old home in London.
B) The children don’t like the house nearly as much as their parents do.
C) Each member of the family admires a different characteristic of the house.
D) Although their parents believe the house has several drawbacks, the children are
enchanted by it.

Question 9

The ice melted on a Norwegian mountain during a particularly warm summer in 2019, revealing
a 1,700-year-old sandal to a mountaineer looking for artifacts. The sandal would normally have
degraded quickly, but it was instead well preserved for centuries by the surrounding ice.
According to archaeologist Espen Finstad and his team, the sandal, like those worn by imperial

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Romans, wouldn’t have offered any protection from the cold in the mountains, so some kind of
insulation, like fabric or animal skin, would have needed to be worn on the feet with the sandal.

What does the text indicate about the discovery of the sandal?

A) The discovery revealed that the Roman Empire had more influence on Norway than
archaeologists previously assumed.
B) The sandal would have degraded if it hadn’t been removed from the ice.
C) Temperatures contributed to both protecting and revealing the sandal.
D) Archaeologists would have found the sandal eventually without help from the general
public.

Question 10

To dye wool, Navajo (Diné) weaver Lillie Taylor uses plants and vegetables from Arizona,
where she lives. For example, she achieved the deep reds and browns featured in her 2003 rug In
the Path of the Four Seasons by using Arizona dock roots, drying and grinding them before
mixing the powder with water to create a dye bath. To intensify the appearance of certain colors,
Taylor also sometimes mixes in clay obtained from nearby soil. Which choice best states the
main idea of the text?

A) Reds and browns are not commonly featured in most of Taylor’s rugs.

B) In the Path of the Four Seasons is widely acclaimed for its many colors and innovative
weaving techniques.

C) Taylor draws on local resources in the approach she uses to dye wool.

D) Taylor finds it difficult to locate Arizona dock root in the desert.

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4.1.4 Inferences

Question 1

Researchers Suchithra Rajendran and Maximilian Popfinger modeled varying levels of passenger
redistribution from short-haul flights (flights of 50 to 210 minutes, from takeoff to landing) to
high-speed rail trips. Planes travel faster than trains, but air travel typically requires 3 hours of
lead time for security, baggage handling, and boarding that rail travel doesn’t, so short-haul
routes take similar amounts of time by air and by rail. However, the model suggests that as rail
passenger volumes approach current capacity limits, long lead times emerge. Therefore, for rail
to remain a viable alternative to short-haul flights, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) rail systems should offer fewer long-haul routes and airlines should offer more long-haul
routes.
B) rail systems may need to schedule additional trains for these routes.
C) security, baggage handling, and boarding procedures used by airlines may need to be
implemented for rail systems.
D) passengers who travel by rail for these routes will need to accept that lead times will be
similar to those for air travel.

Question 2

Off-off-Broadway theaters emerged in the late 1950s as a rebellion against mainstream

Broadway theaters in New York, freeing artists to create productions that were more
experimental than typical Broadway shows. One such artist was playwright María Irene Fornés.
Working with off-off Broadway theaters enabled Fornés not only to direct her own plays but also
to direct them exactly as she intended them to be staged, regardless of how strange the results
might have seemed to audiences accustomed to Broadway shows. In this way, Fornés ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

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 A) would have been more famous if she had created plays that were mainstream instead of
experimental.
B) recognized that staging an off-off-Broadway play was more complicated than staging a
Broadway play.
C) wrote plays that would have been too expensive to produce if someone else had directed
the production.
D) illustrates the artistic opportunity offered by off-off Broadway theaters.

Question 3

In their book Smart Pricing, Jagmohan Raju and Z. John Zhang consider musicians’ use of the
nontraditional “pay as you wish” pricing model. This model generally offers listeners the choice
to pay more or less than a suggested price for a song or album—or even to pay nothing at all. As
the authors note, that’s the option most listeners chose for an album by the band Harvey Danger.
Only about 1% opted to pay for the album, resulting in earnings below the band’s expectations.
But the authors also discuss musician Jane Siberry, who saw significant earnings from her “pay
as you wish” online music store as a result of many listeners choosing to pay more than the
store’s suggested prices. Hence, the “pay as you wish” model may ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) hold greater financial appeal for bands than for individual musicians.
B) cause most musicians who use the model to lower the suggested prices of their songs and
albums over time.
C) prove financially successful for some musicians but disappointing for others.
D) more strongly reflect differences in certain musicians’ popularity than traditional pricing
models do.

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Question 4

Tides can deposit large quantities of dead vegetation within a salt marsh, smothering healthy
plants and leaving a salt panne—a depression devoid of plants that tends to trap standing water—
in the marsh’s interior. Ecologist Kathryn Beheshti and colleagues found that burrowing crabs
living within these pannes improve drainage by loosening the soil, leading the pannes to shrink
as marsh plants move back in. At salt marsh edges, however, crab-induced soil loosening can
promote marsh loss by accelerating erosion, suggesting that the burrowing action of crabs
______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) can be beneficial to marshes with small pannes but can be harmful to marshes with large
pannes.
B) may promote increases in marsh plants or decreases in marsh plants, depending on the
crabs’ location.
C) tends to be more heavily concentrated in areas of marsh interiors with standing water than
at marsh edges.
D) varies in intensity depending on the size of the panne relative to the size of the
surrounding marsh.

Question 5

In many cultures, a handshake can create trust between people. Engineer João Avelino and his
team are designing a robot to shake hands with a human in order to improve human-robot
interactions. The robot hand adjusts its movements and pressure to better imitate the feel of a
human hand. The researchers want the robot’s handshake to feel realistic because ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) people are less likely to interact with robots that don’t look like humans.
B) it’s easier to program a robot to perform handshakes than it is to program a robot to
perform some other types of greetings.
C) the robot in the researchers’ study may have uses other than interacting with humans.

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 D) lifelike handshakes may make people more comfortable interacting with robots.

Question 6

Biologist Natacha Bodenhausen and colleagues analyzed the naturally occurring bacterial
communities associated with leaves and roots of wild Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering
plant. The researchers found many of the same bacterial genera in both the plants’ leaves and
roots. To explain this, the researchers pointed to the general proximity of A. thaliana leaves to
the ground and noted that rain splashing off soil could bring soil-based bacteria into contact with
the leaves. Alternatively, the researchers noted that wind, which may be a source of bacteria in
the aboveground portion of plants, could also bring bacteria to the soil and roots. Either
explanation suggests that ______

A. thaliana leaves and roots are especially vulnerable to harmful bacteria.

A) bacteria carried by wind are typically less beneficial to A. thaliana than soil-based
bacteria are.
B) many bacteria in A. thaliana leaves may have been deposited by means other than rain.
C) some bacteria in A. thaliana leaves and roots may share a common source.

Question 7

“Gestures” in painting are typically thought of as bold, expressive brushstrokes. In the 1970s,
American painter Jack Whitten built a 12-foot (3.7-meter) tool he named the “developer” to
apply paint to an entire canvas in one motion, resulting in his series of “slab” paintings from that
decade. Whitten described this process as making an entire painting in “one gesture,” signaling a
clear departure from the prevalence of gestures in his work from the 1960s. Some art historians
claim this shift represents “removing gesture” from the process. Therefore, regardless of whether
using the developer constitutes a gesture, both Whitten and these art historians likely agree that
______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) any tool that a painter uses to create an artwork is capable of creating gestures.

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 B) Whitten’s work from the 1960s exhibits many more gestures than his work from the
1970s does.
C) Whitten became less interested in exploring the role of gesture in his work as his career
progressed.
D) Whitten’s work from the 1960s is much more realistic than his work from the 1970s is.

Question 8

Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories about detective Sherlock Holmes were published between 1887
and 1927. They have inspired countless successful adaptations, including comic strips, movies,
and a television series Sherlock Hound, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who is celebrated for his
animated movies. Until 2014, these stories were copyrighted. The right to adapt was only
available to those who could afford the copyright fee and gain approval from the strict copyright
holders of Doyle’s estate. Some journalists predict that the number of Sherlock Holmes
adaptations is likely to increase since the end of copyright means that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) producing adaptations will become easier and less expensive.

B) people will become more interested in detective stories than they were in the 1800s.
C) the former copyright holders of Doyle’s estate will return fees they collected.
D) Doyle’s original stories will become hard to find.

Question 9

As the name suggests, dramaturges originated in theater, where they continue to serve a variety
of functions: conducting historical research for directors, compiling character biographies for
actors, and perhaps most importantly, helping writers of plays and musicals to hone the works’
stories and characters. Performance scholar Susan Manning observes that many choreographers,
like playwrights and musical theater writers, are concerned with storytelling and
characterization. In fact, some choreographers describe the dances they create as expressions of
narrative through movement; it is therefore unsurprising that ______

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Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) some directors and actors rely too heavily on dramaturges to complete certain research
tasks.
B) choreographers developing dances with narrative elements frequently engage
dramaturges to assist in refining those elements.
C) dramaturges can have a profound impact on the artistic direction of plays and musicals.
D) dances by choreographers who incorporate narrative elements are more accessible to
audiences than dances by choreographers who do not.

Question 10

Many animals, including humans, must sleep, and sleep is known to have a role in everything
from healing injuries to encoding information in long-term memory. But some scientists claim
that, from an evolutionary standpoint, deep sleep for hours at a time leaves an animal so
vulnerable that the known benefits of sleeping seem insufficient to explain why it became so
widespread in the animal kingdom. These scientists therefore imply that Which choice most
logically completes the text?

A) it is more important to understand how widespread prolonged deep sleep is than to

understand its function.
B) prolonged deep sleep is likely advantageous in ways that have yet to be discovered.
C) many traits that provide significant benefits for an animal also likely pose risks to that
animal.
D) most traits perform functions that are hard to understand from an evolutionary
standpoint.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

 4.2 Craft and Structure
4.2.1 Words in Context

Question 1

Economist Marco Castillo and colleagues showed that nuisance costs—the time and effort people
must spend to make donations—reduce charitable giving. Charities can mitigate this effect by
compensating donors for nuisance costs, but those costs, though variable, are largely ______
donation size, so charities that compensate donors will likely favor attracting a few large donors
over many small donors.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) predictive of
B) subsumed in
C) independent of
D) supplemental to

Question 2

Biologist Jane Edgeloe and colleagues have located what is believed to be the largest individual
plant in the world in the Shark Bay area of Australia. The plant is a type of seagrass
called Posidonia australis, and it ______ approximately 200 square kilometers.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) acknowledges
B) produces
C) spans
D) advances

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Question 3

The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1837 story “Dr. Heidegger’s
Experiment.” The main character, a physician, is experimenting with rehydrating a dried flower.

At first [the rose] lay lightly on the surface of the fluid, appearing to imbibe none of its moisture.
Soon, however, a singular change began to be visible. The crushed and dried petals stirred and
assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber.

As used in the text, what does the phrase “a singular” most nearly mean?

A) A lonely
B) A disagreeable
C) An acceptable
D) An extraordinary

Question 4

The following text is adapted from Zora Neale Hurston’s 1921 short story “John Redding Goes
to Sea.” John wants to travel far beyond the village where he lives near his mother, Matty.

[John] had on several occasions attempted to reconcile his mother to the notion, but found it a
difficult task. Matty always took refuge in self-pity and tears. Her son’s desires were
incomprehensible to her, that was all.

As used in the text, what does the phrase “reconcile his mother to” most nearly mean?

A) Get his mother to accept

B) Get his mother to apologize for
C) Get his mother to match
D) Get his mother to reunite with

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Question 5

Visual artist Gabriela Alemán states that the bold colors of comics, pop art, and Latinx culture
have always fascinated her. This passion for the rich history and colors of her Latinx community
translates into the ______ artworks she produces.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) unknown
B) reserved
C) definite
D) vivid

Question 6

Osage Nation citizen Randy Tinker-Smith produced and directed the ballet Wahzhazhe, which
vividly chronicles Osage history and culture. Telling Osage stories through ballet is ______
choice because two of the foremost ballet dancers of the twentieth century were Osage: sisters
Maria and Marjorie Tallchief.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) an unpredictable
B) an arbitrary
C) a determined
D) a suitable

Question 7

Stephen Hannock’s luminous landscape paintings are appealing to viewers but have elicited little
commentary from contemporary critics, a phenomenon that may be due to the very fact that the
paintings seem so ______. Many critics focus their attention on art that is cryptic or overtly
challenging.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

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 A) innovative
B) accessible
C) profound
D) subversive

Question 8

The following text is from Booth Tarkington’s 1921 novel Alice Adams.

Mrs. Adams had always been fond of vases, she said, and every year her husband’s Christmas
present to her was a vase of one sort or another—whatever the clerk showed him, marked at
about twelve or fourteen dollars.

As used in the text, what does the word “marked” most nearly mean?

A) Stained
B) Staged
C) Watched
D) Priced

Question 9

Business researcher Melanie Brucks and colleagues found that remote video conference
meetings may be less conducive to brainstorming than in-person meetings are. The researchers
suspect that video meeting participants are focused on staring at the speaker on the screen and
don’t allow their eyes or mind to wander as much, which may ultimately ______ creativity.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) recommend
B) criticize
C) construct
D) impede

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Question 10

In recommending Bao Phi’s collection Sông I Sing, a librarian noted that pieces by the
spokenword poet don’t lose their nature when printed: the language has the same pleasant
musical quality on the page as it does when performed by Phi.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) jarring

B) scholarly

C) melodic

D) personal

Question 11

The following text is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. [Jay Gatsby] was
balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so
peculiarly American—that comes, Isuppose, with the absence of lifting work in youth and, even
more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was continually
breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness. As used in the text, what
does the word “quality” most nearly mean?

A) Characteristic

B) Standard

C) Prestige

D) Accomplishment

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Question 12

The work of molecular biophysicist Enrique M. De La Cruz is known for traditional boundaries
between academic disciplines. The university laboratory that De La Cruz runs includes
engineers, biologists, chemists, and physicists, and the research the lab produces makes use of
insights and techniques from all those fields.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) reinforcing

B) anticipating

C) epitomizing

D) transcending

Question 13

Former astronaut Ellen Ochoa says that although she doesn’t have a definite idea of when it might
happen, she _______ that humans will someday need to be able to live in other environments than
those found on Earth. This conjecture informs her interest in future research missions to the moon.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) demands

B) speculates

C) doubts

D) establishes

Question 14

Beginning in the 1950s, Navajo Nation legislator Annie Dodge Wauneka continuously worked to
promote public health; this _______ effort involved traveling throughout the vast Navajo
homeland and writing a medical dictionary for speakers of Diné bizaad, the Navajo language.

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Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) impartial

B) offhand

C) persistent

D) mandatory

Question 15

Following the principles of community-based participatory research, tribal nations and research
institutions are equal partners in health studies conducted on reservations. A collaboration between
the Crow Tribe and Montana State University _______ this model: tribal citizens worked alongside
scientists to design the methodology and continue to assist in data collection.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) circumvents

B) eclipses

C) fabricates

D) exemplifies

Muavia Bashir Uppal

4.2.2 Text Structure and Purpose

Question 1

The 1967 release of Harold Cruse’s book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual isolated him from
almost all other scholars and activists of the American Civil Rights Movement—though many of
those thinkers disagreed with each other, he nonetheless found ways to disagree with them all. He
thought that activists who believed that Black people such as himself should culturally assimilate
were naïve. But he also sharply criticized Black nationalists such as Marcus Garvey who wanted
to establish independent, self-contained Black economies and societies, even though Cruse himself
identified as a Black nationalist.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A) It indicates that Cruse’s reputation as a persistent antagonist of other scholars is

undeserved.
B) It describes a controversy that Cruse’s work caused within the Black nationalist
movement.
C) It describes a direction that Cruse felt the Civil Rights Movement ought to take.
D) It helps explain Cruse’s position with respect to the community of civil rights thinkers.

Question 2

In many agricultural environments, the banks of streams are kept forested to protect water quality,
but it’s been unclear what effects these forests may have on stream biodiversity. To investigate the
issue, biologist Xingli Giam and colleagues studied an Indonesian oil palm plantation, comparing
the species richness of forested streams with that of nonforested streams. Giam and colleagues
found that species richness was significantly higher in forested streams, a finding the researchers
attribute to the role leaf litter plays in sheltering fish from predators and providing food resources.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

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 A) It explains the differences between stream-protection strategies used in oil palm
plantations and stream-protection strategies used in other kinds of agricultural
environments.
B) It presents a study that addresses an unresolved question about the presence of forests
along streams in agricultural environments.
C) It discusses research intended to settle a debate about how agricultural yields can be
increased without negative effects on water quality.
D) It describes findings that challenge a previously held view about how fish that inhabit
streams in agricultural environments attempt to avoid predators.

Question 3

The following text is adapted from Oscar Wilde’s 1897 nonfiction work De Profundis.

People whose desire is solely for self-realisation never know where they are going. They can’t
know. In one sense of the word it is of course necessary to know oneself: that is the first
achievement of knowledge. But to recognise that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate
achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the
balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out the seven heavens star by star, there
still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined question in the text as a whole?

A) It cautions readers that the text’s directions for how to achieve self-knowledge are hard to
follow.
B) It concedes that the definition of self-knowledge advanced in the text is unpopular.
C) It reinforces the text’s skepticism about the possibility of truly achieving self-knowledge.
D) It speculates that some readers will share the doubts expressed in the text about the value
of self-knowledge.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 4

The following text is adapted from Herman Melville’s 1857 novel The Confidence-Man. Humphry
Davy was a prominent British chemist and inventor.

Years ago, a grave American savant, being in London, observed at an evening party there, a certain
coxcombical fellow, as he thought, an absurd ribbon in his lapel, and full of smart [banter],
whisking about to the admiration of as many as were disposed to admire. Great was the savant’s
disdain; but, chancing ere long to find himself in a corner with the jackanapes, got into
conversation with him, when he was somewhat ill-prepared for the good sense of the jackanapes,
but was altogether thrown aback, upon subsequently being [informed that he was] no less a
personage than Sir Humphry Davy.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) It explains why one character dislikes another.

B) It portrays the thoughts of a character who is embarrassed about his own behavior.
C) It offers a short history of how a person came to be famous.
D) It presents an account of a misunderstanding.

Question 5

Many films from the early 1900s have been lost. These losses include several films by the first
wave of Black women filmmakers. We know about these lost movies only from small pieces of
evidence. For example, an advertisement for Jennie Louise Touissant Welcome’s
documentary Doing Their Bit still exists. There’s a reference in a magazine to Tressie Souders’s
film A Woman’s Error. And Maria P. Williams’s The Flames of Wrath is mentioned in a letter and
a newspaper article, and one image from the movie was discovered in the 1990s.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) The text discusses several notable individuals, then explains commonly overlooked
differences between those individuals.
B) The text describes a general situation, then illustrates that situation with specific examples.

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 C) The text identifies a complex problem, then presents examples of unsuccessful attempts to
solve that problem.
D) The text summarizes a debate among researchers, then gives reasons for supporting one
side in that debate.

Question 6

In 1973, poet Miguel Algarín started inviting other writers who, like him, were Nuyorican—a term
for New Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage—to gather in his apartment to present their work. The
gatherings were so well attended that Algarín soon had to rent space in a cafe to accommodate
them. Thus, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born. Moving to a permanent location in 1981, the
Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its original scope beyond the written word, hosting art exhibitions
and musical performances as well. Half a century since its inception, it continues to foster
emerging Nuyorican talent.

Which choice best describes the overall purpose of the text?

A) To explain what motivated Algarín to found the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

B) To situate the Nuyorican Poets Cafe within the cultural life of New York as a whole
C) To discuss why the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its scope to include art and music
D) To provide an overview of the founding and mission of the Nuyorican Poets Café

Question 7

Works of moral philosophy, such as Plato’s Republic or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, are partly
concerned with how to live a morally good life. But philosopher Jonathan Barnes argues that works
that present a method of living such a life without also supplying a motive are inherently useful
only to those already wishing to be morally good—those with no desire for moral goodness will
not choose to follow their rules. However, some works of moral philosophy attempt to describe
what constitutes a morally good life while also proposing reasons for living one.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

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 A) It mentions two renowned works and then claims that despite their popularity it is
impossible for these works to serve the purpose their authors intended.
B) It summarizes the history of a field of thought by discussing two works and then proposes
a topic of further research for specialists in that field.
C) It describes two influential works and then explains why one is more widely read than the
other.
D) It provides a characterization about a field of thought by noting two works in it and then
details a way in which some works in that field are more comprehensive than others.

Question 8

The following text is from Srimati Svarna Kumari Devi’s 1894 novel The Fatal
Garland (translated by A. Christina Albers in 1910). Shakti is walking near a riverbank that she
visited frequently during her childhood.

She crossed the woods she knew so well. The trees seemed to extend their branches like welcoming
arms. They greeted her as an old friend. Soon she reached the river-side.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A) It suggests that Shakti feels uncomfortable near the river.

B) It indicates that Shakti has lost her sense of direction in the woods.
C) It emphasizes Shakti’s sense of belonging in the landscape.
D) It conveys Shakti’s appreciation for her long-term friendships.

Question 9

Michelene Pesantubbee, a historian and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, has identified a dilemma
inherent to research on the status of women in her tribe during the 1600s and 1700s: the primary
sources from that era, travel narratives and other accounts by male European colonizers,
underestimate the degree of power conferred on Choctaw women by their traditional roles in
political, civic, and ceremonial life.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It details the shortcomings of certain historical sources, then argues that research should
avoid those sources altogether.
B) It describes a problem that arises in research on a particular topic, then sketches a
historian’s approach to addressing that problem.
C) It lists the advantages of a particular research method, then acknowledges a historian’s
criticism of that method.
D) It characterizes a particular topic as especially challenging to research, then suggests a
related topic for historians to pursue instead.

Question 10

Some studies have suggested that posture can influence cognition, but we should not overstate this
phenomenon. A case in point: In a 2014 study, Megan O’Brien and Alaa Ahmed had subjects stand
or sit while making risky simulated economic decisions. Standing is more physically unstable and
cognitively demanding than sitting; accordingly, O’Brien and Ahmed hypothesized that standing
subjects would display more risk aversion during the decision-making tasks than sitting subjects
did, since they would want to avoid further feelings of discomfort and complicated risk
evaluations. But O’Brien and Ahmed actually found no difference in the groups’ performance.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) It presents the study by O’Brien and Ahmed to critique the methods and results reported in
previous studies of the effects of posture on cognition.

B) It argues that research findings about the effects of posture on cognition are often
misunderstood, as in the case of O’Brien and Ahmed’s study.

C) It explains a significant problem in the emerging understanding of posture’s effects on cognition

and how O’Brien and Ahmed tried to solve that problem.

D) It discusses the study by O’Brien and Ahmed to illustrate why caution is needed when making
claims about the effects of posture on cognition.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

4.2.3 Cross-Text Connections

Question 1

Text 1

Despite its beautiful prose, The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman’s 1962 analysis of the start of
World War I, has certain weaknesses as a work of history. It fails to address events in Eastern
Europe just before the outbreak of hostilities, thereby giving the impression that Germany was
the war’s principal instigator.

Text 2

Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August is an engrossing if dated introduction to World War I.
Tuchman’s analysis of primary documents is laudable, but her main thesis that European powers
committed themselves to a catastrophic outcome by refusing to deviate from military plans
developed prior to the conflict is implausibly reductive.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the authors of Text 1 and Text 2 view Barbara
Tuchman’s The Guns of August?

A) The author of Text 1 believes that the scope of Tuchman’s research led her to an incorrect
interpretation, while the author of Text 2 believes that Tuchman’s central argument is
overly simplistic.
B) The author of Text 1 argues that Tuchman should have relied more on the work of other
historians, while the author of Text 2 implies that Tuchman’s most interesting claims
result from her original research.
C) The author of Text 1 asserts that the writing style of The Guns of August makes it
worthwhile to read despite any perceived deficiency in Tuchman’s research, while the
author of Text 2 focuses exclusively on the weakness of Tuchman’s interpretation of
events.
D) The author of Text 1 claims that Tuchman would agree that World War I was largely due
to events in Eastern Europe, while the author of Text 2 maintains that Tuchman would
say that Eastern European leaders were not committed to military plans in the same way
that other leaders were.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 2

Text 1

A team led by Bernardo Strassburg has found that rewilding farmland (returning the land to its
natural state) could help preserve biodiversity and offset carbon emissions. The amount of
farmland that would need to be restored, they found, is remarkably low. Rewilding a mere 15%
of the world’s current farmland would prevent 60% of expected species extinctions and help
absorb nearly 299 gigatons of carbon dioxide—a clear win in the fight against the biodiversity
and climate crises.

Text 2

While Strassburg’s team’s findings certainly offer encouraging insight into the potential benefits
of rewilding, it’s important to consider potential effects on global food supplies. The researchers
suggest that to compensate for the loss of food-producing land, remaining farmland would need
to produce even more food. Thus, policies focused on rewilding farmland must also address
strategies for higher-yield farming.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2
view Strassburg’s team’s study?

A) The author of Text 2 approaches the study’s findings with some caution, whereas the
author of Text 1 is optimistic about the reported potential environmental benefits.
B) The author of Text 2 claims that the percentage of farmland identified by Strassburg’s
team is too low for rewilding to achieve meaningful results, whereas the author of Text 1
thinks the percentage is sufficient.
C) The author of Text 2 focuses on rewilding’s effect on carbon emissions, whereas the
author of Text 1 focuses on its effect on biodiversity.
D) The author of Text 2 believes that the results described by Strassburg’s team are
achievable in the near future, whereas the author of Text 1 argues that they likely aren’t.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 3

Text 1

For decades, bluegrass musicians have debated whether their genre should exclude influences from
mainstream genres such as rock. Many insist that bluegrass is defined by its adherence to the folk
music of the US South, out of which bluegrass emerged. Such “purists,” as they are known, regard
the recordings of Bill Monroe, which established the bluegrass sound in the 1940s, as a standard
against which the genre should still be measured.

Text 2

Bluegrass isn’t simply an extension of folk traditions into the era of recorded music. In reality, Bill
Monroe created the bluegrass sound in the 1940s by combining Southern folk music with
commercial genres that had arisen only a few decades before, such as jazz and the blues. Since
bluegrass has always been a mixed genre, contemporary bluegrass musicians should not be
forbidden from incorporating into it influences from rock and other mainstream genres.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely regard the perspective of bluegrass
purists, as described in Text 1?

A) As inconsistent, since bluegrass purists themselves enjoy other musical genres

B) As unrealistic, since bluegrass purists have no way of enforcing their musical preferences
C) As shortsighted, because bluegrass could enlarge its audience by including influences from
mainstream genres
D) As illogical, because the purists overlook crucial aspects of how the bluegrass sound first
originated

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 4

Text 1

The idea that time moves in only one direction is instinctively understood, yet it puzzles physicists.
According to the second law of thermodynamics, at a macroscopic level some processes of heat
transfer are irreversible due to the production of entropy—after a transfer we cannot rewind time
and place molecules back exactly where they were before, just as we cannot unbreak dropped eggs.
But laws of physics at a microscopic or quantum level hold that those processes should be
reversible.

Text 2

In 2015, physicists Tiago Batalhão et al. performed an experiment in which they confirmed the
irreversibility of thermodynamic processes at a quantum level, producing entropy by applying a
rapidly oscillating magnetic field to a system of carbon-13 atoms in liquid chloroform. But the
experiment “does not pinpoint ... what causes [irreversibility] at the microscopic level,” coauthor
Mauro Paternostro said.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 1 most likely say about the experiment described
in Text 2?

A) It is consistent with the current understanding of physics at a microscopic level but not at
a macroscopic level.
B) It provides empirical evidence that the current understanding of an aspect of physics at a
microscopic level must be incomplete.
C) It supports a claim about an isolated system of atoms in a laboratory, but that claim should
not be extrapolated to a general claim about the universe.
D) It would suggest an interesting direction for future research were it not the case that two of
the physicists who conducted the experiment disagree on the significance of its findings.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 5

Text 1

Dance choreographer Alvin Ailey’s deep admiration for jazz music can most clearly be felt in the
rhythms and beats his works were set to. Ailey collaborated with some of the greatest jazz legends,
like Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, and perhaps his favorite, Duke Ellington. With his choice of
music, Ailey helped bring jazz to life for his audiences.

Text 2

Jazz is present throughout Ailey’s work, but it’s most visible in Ailey’s approach to choreography.
Ailey often incorporated improvisation, a signature characteristic of jazz music, in his work. When
managing his dance company, Ailey rarely forced his dancers to an exact set of specific moves.
Instead, he encouraged his dancers to let their own skills and experiences shape their performances,
as jazz musicians do.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A) Audiences were mostly unfamiliar with the jazz music in Ailey’s works.
B) Ailey’s work was strongly influenced by jazz.
C) Dancers who worked with Ailey greatly appreciated his supportive approach as a
choreographer.
D) Ailey blended multiple genres of music together when choreographing dance pieces.

Question 6

Text 1

Philosopher G.E. Moore’s most influential work entails the concept of common sense. He asserts
that there are certain beliefs that all people, including philosophers, know instinctively to be true,
whether or not they profess otherwise: among them, that they have bodies, or that they exist in a
world with other objects that have three dimensions. Moore’s careful work on common sense may
seem obvious but was in fact groundbreaking.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Text 2

External world skepticism is a philosophical stance supposing that we cannot be sure of the
existence of anything outside our own minds. During a lecture, G.E. Moore once offered a proof
refuting this stance by holding out his hands and saying, “Here is one hand, and here is another.”
Many philosophers reflexively reject this proof (Annalisa Coliva called it “an obviously annoying
failure”) but have found it a challenge to articulate exactly why the proof fails.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to proponents of the
philosophical stance outlined in Text 2?

A) By pointing out that Moore would assert that external world skepticism is at odds with
other beliefs those proponents must unavoidably hold
B) By arguing that if it is valid to assert that some facts are true based on instinct, it is also
valid to assert that some proofs are inadequate based on instinct
C) By agreeing with those proponents that Moore’s treatment of positions that contradict his
own is fundamentally unserious
D) By suggesting that an instinctive distaste for Moore’s position is preventing external world
skeptics from constructing a sufficiently rigorous refutation of Moore

Question 7

Text 1

Today the starchy root cassava is found in many dishes across West Africa, but its rise to popularity
was slow. Portuguese traders brought cassava from Brazil to the West African coast in the 1500s.
But at this time, people living in the capitals further inland had little contact with coastal
communities. Thus, cassava remained relatively unknown to most of the region’s inhabitants until
the 1800s.

Text 2

Cassava’s slow adoption into the diet of West Africans is mainly due to the nature of the crop
itself. If not cooked properly, cassava can be toxic. Knowledge of how to properly prepare cassava
needed to spread before the food could grow in popularity. The arrival of formerly enslaved people

Muavia Bashir Uppal

from Brazil in the 1800s, who brought their knowledge of cassava and its preparation with them,
thus directly fueled the spread of this crop.

Based on the texts, the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with
which statement?

A) The climate of the West African coast in the 1500s prevented cassava’s spread in the
region.
B) Several of the most commonly grown crops in West Africa are originally from Brazil.
C) The most commonly used methods to cook cassava today date to the 1500s.
D) Cassava did not become a significant crop in West Africa until long after it was first
introduced.

Question 8

Text 1

Because literacy in Nahuatl script, the writing system of the Aztec Empire, was lost after Spain
invaded central Mexico in the 1500s, it is unclear exactly how meaning was encoded in the script’s
symbols. Although many scholars had assumed that the symbols signified entire words, linguist
Alfonso Lacadena theorized in 2008 that they signified units of language smaller than words:
individual syllables.

Text 2

The growing consensus among scholars of Nahuatl script is that many of its symbols could signify
either words or syllables, depending on syntax and content at any given site within a text. For
example, the symbol signifying the word huipil (blouse) in some contexts could signify the
syllable “pil” in others, as in the place name “Chipiltepec.” Thus, for the Aztecs, reading required
a determination of how such symbols functioned each time they appeared in a text.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely characterize Lacadena’s theory, as
described in Text 1?

A) By praising the theory for recognizing that the script’s symbols could represent entire
words

Muavia Bashir Uppal

 B) By arguing that the theory is overly influenced by the work of earlier scholars
C) By approving of the theory’s emphasis on how the script changed over time
D) By cautioning that the theory overlooks certain important aspects of how the script
functioned

Question 9

Text 1

What factors influence the abundance of species in a given ecological community? Some
theorists have argued that historical diversity is a major driver of how diverse an ecological
community eventually becomes: differences in community diversity across otherwise similar
habitats, in this view, are strongly affected by the number of species living in those habitats at
earlier times.

Text 2

In 2010, a group of researchers including biologist Carla Cáceres created artificial pools in a
New York forest. They stocked some pools with a diverse mix of zooplankton species and others
with a single zooplankton species and allowed the pool communities to develop naturally
thereafter. Over the course of four years, Cáceres and colleagues periodically measured the
species diversity of the pools, finding—contrary to their expectations—that by the end of the
study there was little to no difference in the pools’ species diversity.

Based on the texts, how would Cáceres and colleagues (Text 2) most likely describe the view of
the theorists presented in Text 1?

A) It is largely correct, but it requires a minor refinement in light of the research team’s results.

B) It is not compelling as a theory regardless of any experimental data collected by the research
team.

C) It may seem plausible, but it is not supported by the research team’s findings.

D) It probably holds true only in conditions like those in the research team’s study.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 10

Text 1

A team led by Bernardo Strassburg has found that rewilding farmland (returning the land to its
natural state) could help preserve biodiversity and offset carbon emissions. The amount of
farmland that would need to be restored, they found, is remarkably low. Rewilding a mere 15%
of the world’s current farmland would prevent 60% of expected species extinctions and help
absorb nearly 299 gigatons of carbon dioxide—a clear win in the fight against the biodiversity
and climate crises.

Text 2

While Strassburg’s team’s findings certainly offer encouraging insight into the potential benefits
of rewilding, it’s important to consider potential effects on global food supplies. The researchers
suggest that to compensate for the loss of food-producing land, remaining farmland would need
to produce even more food. Thus, policies focused on rewilding farmland must also address
strategies for higher-yield farming.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2
view Strassburg’s team’s study?

A) The author of Text 2 approaches the study’s findings with some caution, whereas the
author of Text 1 is optimistic about the reported potential environmental benefits.
B) The author of Text 2 claims that the percentage of farmland identified by Strassburg’s
team is too low for rewilding to achieve meaningful results, whereas the author of Text 1
thinks the percentage is sufficient.
C) The author of Text 2 focuses on rewilding’s effect on carbon emissions, whereas the
author of Text 1 focuses on its effect on biodiversity.
D) The author of Text 2 believes that the results described by Strassburg’s team are
achievable in the near future, whereas the author of Text 1 argues that they likely aren’t.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

 4.3 Expression of Ideas
4.3.1 Transitions

Question 1

A 2017 study of sign language learners tested the role of iconicity—the similarity of a sign to the
thing it represents—in language acquisition. The study found that the greater the iconicity of a
sign, the more likely it was to have been learned. ______ the correlation between acquisition and
iconicity was lower than that between acquisition and another factor studied: sign frequency.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) In fact,
B) In other words,
C) Granted,
D) As a result,

Question 2

Iraqi artist Nazik Al-Malaika, celebrated as the first Arabic poet to write in free verse, didn’t
reject traditional forms entirely; her poem “Elegy for a Woman of No Importance” consists of
two ten-line stanzas and a standard number of syllables. Even in this superficially traditional
work, Al-Malaika was breaking new ground by memorializing an anonymous woman rather than
a famous man. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) in fact,
B) though,
C) therefore,
D) moreover,

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 3

“O2 Arena,” an award-winning science fiction story by Nigerian author Oghenechovwe Donald
Ekpeki, takes place in an alternate version of Nigeria where breathable air is a rare commodity
that is owned and sold by companies. ______ people must purchase it with currency called O2
credits.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Nevertheless,
B) In any case,
C) As a result,
D) Earlier,

Question 4

Before the 1847 introduction of the US postage stamp, the cost of postage was usually paid by
the recipient of a letter rather than the sender, and recipients were not always able or willing to
pay promptly. ______ collecting this fee could be slow and arduous, and heaps of unpaid-for,
undeliverable mail piled up in post offices.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Regardless,
B) On the contrary,
C) Consequently,
D) For example,

Question 5

In a heated debate in biogeography, the field is divided between dispersalists and vicariancists.
______ there are those who argue that dispersal is the most crucial determining factor in a
species’ distribution, and those who insist that vicariance (separation due to geographic barriers)
is. Biogeographer Isabel Sanmartín counts herself among neither.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Furthermore,
B) By contrast,
C) Similarly,
D) That is,

Question 6

It has long been thought that humans first crossed a land bridge into the Americas approximately
13,000 years ago. ______ based on radiocarbon dating of samples uncovered in Mexico, a
research team recently suggested that humans may have arrived more than 30,000 years ago—
much earlier than previously thought.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) As a result,
B) Similarly,
C) However,
D) In conclusion,

Question 7

For years, biologists have experimented with using grime-eating bacteria rather than harsh
chemicals to clean artworks, and results have been impressive overall. ______ these bacterial
strains—which can metabolize centuries’ worth of oil, glue, dirt, and other surface impurities
without creating harmful byproducts—have proven more effective than traditional chemical
cleaning methods.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Additionally,
B) In many cases,
C) As a result,
D) However,

Question 8

When one looks at the dark craggy vistas in Hitoshi Fugo’s evocative photo series, one’s mind
might wander off to the cratered surfaces of faraway planets. ______ it’s the series’ title, Flying
Frying Pan, that brings one back to Earth, reminding the viewer that each photo is actually a
close-up view of a familiar household object: a frying pan.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Alternatively,
B) Consequently,
C) Ultimately,
D) Additionally,

Question 9

Researchers believe that pieces of hull found off Oregon’s coast are from a Spanish cargo ship
that was lost in 1697. Stories passed down among the area’s Confederated Tribes of Siletz
Indians support this belief. ______ Siletz stories describe how blocks of beeswax, an item the
ship had been carrying, began washing ashore after the ship was lost.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) For this reason,

B) For example,
C) However,
D) Likewise,

Muavia Bashir Uppal

4.3.2 Rhetorical Synthesis

Question 1

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• In 1978, Sámi activists staged protests to block the construction of a dam on the Alta
River in Norway.

• The dam would disrupt Sámi fishing and reindeer herding.

• The dam was ultimately built, but the Alta conflict had a lasting impact.

• It brought international attention to the issue of Sámi rights.

• It led to a set of 2005 legal protections establishing Sámi rights to lands, waters, and
resources.

A) The student wants to make and support a generalization about the Alta conflict. Which
choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
B) Sámi rights to lands, waters, and resources received international attention and legal
protections as a result of the Alta conflict.
C) During the Alta conflict, Sámi activists staged protests to block the construction of a dam
on the Alta River in Norway that would disrupt local fishing and reindeer herding.
D) Although the dam that the Sámi activists had protested was ultimately built, the Alta
conflict had a lasting impact.
E) The Alta conflict had a lasting impact, resulting in international attention and legal
protections for Sámi rights to lands, waters, and resources.

Question 2

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• In 1897, African American inventor Andrew Beard invented an automatic coupler.

• It improved on the existing design of train car couplers.

• It made the job of connecting train cars safer.

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 • In 1938, African American inventor Frederick Jones invented a mobile refrigeration
system.

• It improved on the existing design of food transport trucks.

• It enabled trucks to carry perishable foods farther.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between Beard’s invention and Jones’s invention.
Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Jones’s mobile refrigeration system, which he invented in 1938, made it possible for food
B) In 1897, Beard invented an automatic coupler, which made the job of connecting train
cars safer.
C) Beard’s automatic coupler and Jones’s mobile refrigeration system both improved on
existing designs.
D) Beard’s invention made the job of connecting train cars safer, whereas Jones’s invention
enabled food transport trucks to carry perishables farther.

Question 3

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Muckrakers were journalists who sought to expose corruption in US institutions during

the Progressive Era (1897–1920).

• Ida Tarbell was a muckraker who investigated the Standard Oil Company.

• She interviewed Standard Oil Company executives, oil industry workers, and public
officials.

• She examined thousands of pages of the company’s internal communications, including

letters and financial records.

• Her book The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904) exposed the company’s unfair
business practices.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

The student wants to emphasize the thoroughness of Ida Tarbell’s investigation of the Standard
Oil Company. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to
accomplish this goal?

A) Ida Tarbell not only interviewed Standard Oil executives, oil industry workers, and public
officials but also examined thousands of pages of the company’s internal
communications.
B) As part of her investigation of the Standard Oil Company, muckraker Ida Tarbell
conducted interviews.
C) Published in 1904, muckraker Ida Tarbell’s book The History of the Standard Oil
Company exposed the company’s unfair business practices.
D) Ida Tarbell, who investigated the Standard Oil Company, was a muckraker (a journalist
who sought to expose corruption in US institutions during the Progressive Era, 1897–
1920).

Question 4

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• A thermal inversion is a phenomenon where a layer of atmosphere is warmer than the

layer beneath it.

• In 2022, a team of researchers studied the presence of thermal inversions in twenty-five

gas giants.

• Gas giants are planets largely composed of helium and hydrogen.

• The team found that gas giants featuring a thermal inversion were also likely to contain
heat-absorbing metals.

• One explanation for this relationship is that these metals may reside in a planet’s upper
atmosphere, where their absorbed heat causes an increase in temperature.

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The student wants to present the study’s findings to an audience already familiar with thermal
inversions. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to
accomplish this goal?

A) Gas giants were likely to contain heat-absorbing metals when they featured a layer of
atmosphere warmer than the layer beneath it, researchers found; this phenomenon is
known as a thermal inversion.
B) The team studied thermal inversions in twenty-five gas giants, which are largely
composed of helium and hydrogen.
C) Researchers found that gas giants featuring a thermal inversion were likely to contain
heat-absorbing metals, which may reside in the planets’ upper atmospheres.
D) Heat-absorbing metals may reside in a planet’s upper atmosphere.

Question 5

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• The painter Frida Kahlo is one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

• She was born in Coyoacán, Mexico, in 1907.

• She is best known for her vivid and richly symbolic self-portraits.

• The Two Fridas (1939) features two versions of Kahlo sitting together.

• One version wears a European-style dress and the other a traditional Tehuana dress.

The student wants to introduce Kahlo to an audience unfamiliar with the artist. Which choice
most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) The 1939 painting The Two Fridas is one example of a self-portrait by Frida Kahlo.
B) One painting by Frida Kahlo features two versions of herself, with one version wearing a
European-style dress and the other a traditional Tehuana dress.
C) Known for being vivid and richly symbolic, Frida Kahlo’s self-portraits include The Two
Fridas (1939).

Muavia Bashir Uppal

 D) One of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo
is best known for her self-portraits, which are vivid and richly symbolic.

Question 6

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Platinum is a rare and expensive metal.

• It is used as a catalyst for chemical reactions.

• Platinum catalysts typically require a large amount of platinum to be effective.

• Researcher Jianbo Tang and his colleagues created a platinum catalyst that combines
platinum with liquid gallium.

• Their catalyst was highly effective and required only trace amounts of platinum
(0.0001% of the atoms in the mixture).

The student wants to explain an advantage of the new platinum catalyst developed by Jianbo
Tang and his colleagues. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes
to accomplish this goal?

A) Like other platinum catalysts, the new platinum catalyst requires a particular amount of
the metal to be effective.
B) Platinum is a rare and expensive metal that is used as a catalyst for chemical reactions;
however, platinum catalysts typically require a large amount of platinum to be effective.
C) While still highly effective, the new platinum catalyst requires far less of the rare and
expensive metal than do other platinum catalysts.
D) Researcher Jianbo Tang and his colleagues created a platinum catalyst that combines
platinum, a rare and expensive metal, with liquid gallium.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 7

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• In 1971, experimental musician Pauline Oliveros created Sonic Meditations.

• Sonic Meditations is not music but rather a series of sound-based exercises called
meditations.

• Each meditation consists of instructions for participants to make, imagine, listen to, or
remember sounds.

• The instructions for Meditation V state, “walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet
become ears.”

• Those for Meditation XVIII state, “listen to a sound until you no longer recognize it.”

The student wants to provide an explanation and an example of Oliveros’s Sonic Meditations.
Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Sonic Meditations is not music but rather a series of sound-based meditations that consist
of instructions; Meditation XVIII, for instance, instructs participants to “listen to a sound
until you no longer recognize it.”
B) While both meditations consist of instructions, Meditation XVIII instructs participants to
“listen,” whereas Meditation V instructs participants to “walk.”
C) In 1971, Oliveros created Sonic Meditations, a series of meditations that consist of
instructions for participants to make, imagine, listen to, or remember sounds.
D) “Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears” is one example of the
instructions found in Oliveros’s Sonic Meditations.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

 4.4 Standard English Conventions
4.4.1 Form, Structure and Sense
Question 1

Ten of William Shakespeare’s plays are classified as histories. Although each one of these plays,
which include Henry V and Richard III, ______ on a single historical figure (specifically, an
English king), some, such as Henry VI Part One and Henry VI Part Two, feature different
episodes from the same monarch’s life.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) focuses
B) focus
C) are focused
D) were focused

Question 2

In 1990, California native and researcher Ellen Ochoa left her position as chief of the Intelligent
Systems Technology Branch at a NASA research center ______ the space agency’s astronaut
training program.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) to join
B) is joining
C) joined
D) joins

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Question 3

After winning the 1860 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln appointed Edward Bates, Salmon
P. Chase, and William H. Seward to his cabinet. Lincoln’s decision was surprising, since each of
these men had run against him, but historians have praised it, noting that Lincoln ______ his
rivals’ diverse talents to strengthen his administration.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) will leverage
B) is leveraging
C) has leveraged
D) leveraged

Question 4

When they were first discovered in Australia in 1798, duck-billed, beaver-tailed platypuses so
defied categorization that one scientist assigned them the name Ornithorhynchus paradoxus:
“paradoxical bird-snout.” The animal, which lays eggs but also nurses ______ young with milk,
has since been classified as belonging to the monotremes group.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) it’s
B) their
C) they’re
D) its

Question 5

Wanda Diaz-Merced, an astrophysicist who is blind, has developed software that can translate
astrophysical data into sound. Such tools ______ astrophysicists to detect subtle patterns in
data—patterns that may not be evident in graphs and other visual formats.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Muavia Bashir Uppal

 A) has enabled
B) enable
C) is enabling
D) enables

Question 6

Classical composer Florence Price’s 1927 move to Chicago marked a turning point in her career.
It was there that Price premiered her First Symphony—a piece that was praised for blending
traditional Romantic motifs with aspects of Black folk music—and ______ supportive
relationships with other Black artists.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) developing
B) developed
C) having developed
D) to develop

Question 7

In 1994, almost 200 years after the death of Wang Zhenyi, the International Astronomical
______ the contributions of the barrier-breaking 18th-century astronomer and author of “Dispute
of the Procession of the Equinoxes,” naming a crater on Venus after her.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) Union, finally acknowledging

B) Union, having finally acknowledged
C) Union would finally acknowledge
D) Union to finally acknowledge

Muavia Bashir Uppal

4.4.2 Boundaries

Question 1

In discussing Mary Shelley’s 1818 epistolary novel Frankenstein, literary theorist Gayatri Spivak
directs the reader’s attention to the character of Margaret Saville. As Spivak points out, Saville is
not the protagonist of Shelley’s ______ as the recipient of the letters that frame the book’s
narrative, she’s the “occasion” of it.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) novel
B) novel,
C) novel; rather,
D) novel, rather,

Question 2

Emperor Ashoka ruled the Maurya Empire in South Asia from roughly 270 to 232 BCE. He is
known for enforcing a moral code called the Law of Piety, which established the sanctity of
animal ______ the just treatment of the elderly, and the abolition of the slave trade.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) life;
B) life:
C) life
D) life,

Question 3

In 1959, marine biologist Dr. Albert Jones founded the Underwater Adventure Seekers, a scuba
diving ______ that is the oldest club for Black divers in the United States and that has helped
thousands of diving enthusiasts become certified in the field.

Muavia Bashir Uppal

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) club
B) club, and
C) club—
D) club,

Question 4

The field of geological oceanography owes much to American ______ Marie Tharp, a pioneering
oceanographic cartographer whose detailed topographical maps of the ocean floor and its
multiple rift valleys helped garner acceptance for the theories of plate tectonics and continental
drift.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A) geologist
B) geologist:
C) geologist;
D) geologist,

Question 5

According to Naomi Nakayama of the University of Edinburgh, the reason seeds from a dying
dandelion appear to float in the air while is that their porous plumes enhance drag, allowing the
seeds to stay airborne long enough for the wind to disperse them throughout the surrounding
area. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?

A) falling,
B) falling:
C) falling;
D) falling

Muavia Bashir Uppal