Digital SAT August 2024, Section 1, Module 2 4. The work of Tobias Gerstenberg et al.

on tracking
eye movements supports a theory that people engage
1. The fossil remains of the individual known as LH 4, in _______ thinking when making causal judgments:
discovered in Tanzania in 1974, can help when subjects were asked to look at two colliding
paleoanthropologists not only identify steps in the billiard balls and judge whether one caused or
evolution of hominids but also _______ the Pliocene prevented the other’s movement through a gate, their
epoch generally, revealing important details about the eyes looked at where the target ball would have gone
time in which LH 4 lived. if the ball that altered its path did not exist.
Which choice completes the text with the most Which choice completes the text with the most
logical and precise word or phrase? logical and precise word or phrase?
A. substitute A. counterfactual

B. imitate B. analogical

C. illuminate C. ambivalent

D. design D. associative

5. The following text is from Sarojini Naidu’s 1896

2. Before the Mariner 2 mission completed a
poem “Alabaster.
successful flyby of Venus in 1962, astronomers’
ideas about the planet were little more than _______. Like this alabaster box whose art
Venus’s atmosphere is so thick that Earth-based Is frail as a cassia-flower, is my heart,
observations had yielded very little information
Carven with delicate dreams and wrought
about the planet.
With many a subtle and exquisite thought.
Which choice completes the text with the most
logical and precise word or phrase? Which choice best describes the function of the two
underlined portions in the text as a whole?
A. conclusions
A. They indicate potential reactions, one hoped for
B. summations and one feared, to a decision the speaker considers
C. conjectures throughout the text.
D. exemplifications B. They provide examples, one literal and one
figurative, of a change that the speaker describes
throughout the text.
3. The following text is adapted from Virginia
Woolf’s 1919 novel Night and Day. Katharine is the C. They describe the subjects, one physical and one
granddaughter of a celebrated poet. abstract, of a comparison that extends throughout the text.

[Katharine’s] descent from [a celebrated poet] was D. They symbolize two viewpoints, one cautious and
one impulsive, that are contrasted throughout the text.
no surprise to her, but matter for satisfaction, until,
as the years wore on, certain drawbacks made
themselves very manifest. Perhaps it is a little 6. Like all species of baleen whales, the humpback
depressing to inherit not lands but an example of whale feeds on tiny creatures known as krill by
filtering water through bristlelike keratin structures
intellectual virtue; perhaps the conclusiveness of a
called baleen plates. In this way, baleen whales can
great ancestor is a little discouraging to those who
run the risk of comparison with him. eat up to 30 percent of their total mass per day. And
while no one would call the humpback whale
As used in the text, what does the word “manifest” small—it can have a mass as high as 30,000 kg—it
most nearly mean? is one of the smaller baleen whales and is much
A. Anticipated như mọi sinh vật khác của cá heo smaller than the northern right whale, which can
weigh a whopping 80,000 kg and consume as much
B. Particular as 24,000 kg of krill per day.
C. Complex Which choice best describes the overall structure of
D. Evident the text?
A. It describes a characteristic shared by all baleen Text 2
whales and then illustrates a difference between the
State and federal natural resources agencies are
humpback whale and the northern right whale that
increasingly incorporating traditional ecological
is relevant to that characteristic.
knowledge from tribal groups in the agencies’ plans
B. It discusses a unique feature of the humpback to address threats to natural resources due to
whale and how the lack of that feature in the increasing temperatures. This approach has helped
northern right whale explains differences in the two build positive relationships between tribal groups
species’ behavior. and these agencies and furthermore tends to lead to
C. It draws a distinction between the sizes of the better conservation outcomes.
humpback whale and the northern right whale and Based on the texts, both authors would most likely
then presents a feature that they have in common. agree with which statement?
D. It details a relationship between humpback and A. Natural resources conservation projects are likely
northern right whales and krill and then discusses to benefit from collaboration between tribal and
an unexpected consequence of a change in baleen government groups.
whale populations.
B. A collaborative approach to conservation is likely
to help reduce the predicted temperature increases in
7. In what is now Washington state, the Tulalip the Great Lakes region.
Tribes operate the Hibulb Cultural Center. Relying
on traditional knowledge to guide the design of C. In the Great Lakes region, it is more important to
exhibits, this institution presents Tulalip history and focus conservation efforts on the firefly than it is to
culture to the tribes’ citizens. The Choctaw Nation, a focus on the black bear.
tribe in Oklahoma, employs a similar strategy in its D. In the Great Lakes region, conservation efforts
own cultural center. Both centers contrast with focused on the firefly are likely to be more effective
museums that aren’t Indigenous-led; when than those focused on the black bear.
displaying Indigenous artifacts, such museums tend
to anticipate mainly non-Indigenous audiences and
9. The following text is adapted from Guy de
rely on Eurocentric strategies for designing exhibits.
Maupassant’s 1881 short story “A Recollection,”
Which choice best describes the function of the from the collection Guy de Maupassant Short Stories
underlined portion in the text as a whole? (translated by Albert M.C. McMaster et al. in 1903).
A. It elaborates on a claim made earlier in the sentence. The narrator is taking a boat down the Seine river
from Paris, France, to the surrounding countryside.
B. It addresses a potential criticism of a claim made
earlier in the sentence. I took up a position in the bows [front of the boat],
standing up and looking at the quays, the trees, the
C. It defines a term used earlier in the sentence. houses and the bridges disappearing behind us. And
D. It acknowledges an exception to the general suddenly I perceived the great viaduct of Point du
principle proposed earlier in the sentence. Jour which blocked the river. It was the end of Paris,
the beginning of the country, and behind the double
row of arches the Seine, suddenly spreading out as
8. though it had regained space and liberty, became all
Text 1 at once the peaceful river which flows through the
plains, alongside the wooded hills, amid the
A conservation group representing 11 tribal nations
meadows, along the edge of the forests.
in the Great Lakes region reported to various state
and federal natural resources agencies operating in Based on the text, which choice best expresses the
the region that the firefly (waawaatesi in the Ojibwe narrator’s characterization of the Seine?
language) will likely fare significantly worse than
A. As the journey progressed from Paris to the
the black bear (makwa in Ojibwe) due to rising
countryside, the waters of the Seine gradually
temperatures over the next 50 years. This
cleared.
collaborative approach has helped build trust
between government and tribal groups, which will B. The Seine is similar to Paris in that it is beautiful
likely improve the quality of any joint conservation and slow to change.
projects.
C. The waters of the Seine are more confined and serial that, over its 12 episodes, kept its audience
rough in Paris than they are in the countryside. interested with the suspense and drama that are
typical of the northern adventure genre. The
D. The current under the arches of the Point du
student, however, claims that ultimately audiences
Jour contrasts starkly with the otherwise calm flow
of the time preferred resolution and closure over
of the Seine throughout the journey.
ongoing tension.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support
10. Water flowing around an obstruction creates
the student’s claim?
vortices (patterns of swirls) of varying size; by
detecting the vortices, fish can determine the size A. The 12th episode of Clancy of the Mounted was
and position of the obstruction. Testing by Yuzo R. the most expensive episode of the series to produce.
Yanagisuru, Otar Akanyeti, and James C. Liao using B. The 12th episode of Clancy of the Mounted was
models of three head shapes—narrow (low ratio of viewed by more people than was any previous
width to length), intermediate, and wide (high ratio episode in the series.
of width to length)—showed that for large vortices,
C. Modern critics generally regard the first episode
fish with intermediate heads would be better able
as the best installment of Clancy of the Mounted.
than wide-headed fish to distinguish between
vortices and general turbulence in the water. A D. Audiences of the time considered Clancy of the
second research team has therefore hypothesized that Mounted to belong to a genre other than the northern
in low-visibility conditions, intermediate-headed fish adventure genre.
will be more likely than wide-headed fish to detect
obstructions that create large vortices. 12. The Reckoning and Resilience (2022) exhibition
Which finding, if true, would most directly support at Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art in
the second research team’s hypothesis? Durham, North Carolina, is dedicated to the work of
thirty North Carolina artists, including Juan Logan,
A. A study using obstructions that created large Cornell Watson, and Stephen Hayes. Although the
vortices in low-visibility conditions found that the Nasher Museum has focused exhibitions entirely on
intermediate-headed black sea bass (Centropristis North Carolina artists before, as it did previously in
striates) bumped into the obstructions just as often the photography exhibition Across County Lines, the
as the wide-headed Synodontis macropunctata did. breadth of disciplines in Reckoning and Resilience
sets it apart.
B. A study using obstructions that created large
vortices in low-visibility conditions found that the Which finding, if true, would most directly support
wide-headed Synodontis macropunctata bumped the underlined claim?
into obstructions more often than the intermediate-
A. Reckoning and Resilience and Across County
headed black sea bass (Centropristis striates) did.
Lines were curated to emphasize works that are not
C. A study using obstructions that created large owned by the Nasher Museum.
vortices in low-visibility conditions found that some
specimens of the intermediate-headed black sea bass B. The Nasher Museum has a world-class collection
of contemporary art that includes many paintings
(Centropristis striates) bumped into the obstructions
and sculptures from artists both inside and outside
more often than other specimens of the same fish did.
North Carolina.
D. A study using obstructions that created large
C. Logan is a painter, Watson is a photographer, and
vortices in low-visibility conditions found that the
Hayes is a sculptor.
Synodontis macropunctata, which has a relatively
wide head, bumped into more than half of the D. Watson is a North Carolina photographer, as were
obstructions. all of the artists featured in Across County Lines.

11. A film studies student is researching early 20th- 13. Rafael Núñez and colleagues studied how
century film serials, which consisted of individual members of the Yupno, an Indigenous group in
episodes of a single long story that were shown Papua New Guinea, conceptualize time. The
weekly in theaters. Clancy of the Mounted is a 1933 researchers recorded Yupno speakers explaining
certain temporal words and phrases, such as kalip si B. the proportion of younger speakers who use a
ngan, a past-oriented expression that translates to “a Spanish dialect specific to New York City is higher in
long time ago,” and coded each speaker’s manual neighborhoods where many languages are spoken
gestures. Previous research has found a tendency in than in neighborhoods where Spanish and English
many cultures to make temporal distinctions using predominate.
spatial concepts and gestures, particularly along
C. both the number of languages spoken in New York
egocentric axes (i.e., relative to the orientation of the
City and the number of dialects of each of those
speaker): for instance, English speakers often refer
languages will increase over time.
to the front/back axis to describe events in time. In
an anthropology paper, a student claims that the D. Spanish used by younger speakers in New York
tendency toward ego-based conceptualizations of City tends to have more words borrowed from other
time is universal. nonmajority languages than borrowed from English.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken
the student’s claim? 15. Arthurian legends (tales related to the character
of King Arthur) derive from many sources, such as
A. Some Yupno grammatical structures used when
Preiddeu Annwfn, composed around 900, and Erec
talking about time are also used in English.
and Enide from around 1170. One of the most
B. When Yupno speakers who are outdoors use significant sources, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s
gestures to refer to the future, they point uphill from History of the Kings of Britain, was written in Latin
their current location regardless of which way they in the 1130s; some material from it was later adapted
are facing. by the Norman poet Wace into the Roman de Brut in
C. A Yupno speaker points in opposite directions 1155. But while no source before 1155 includes
when indicating a past event versus a future event. references to the famous Round Table at which
Arthur’s knights assembled, both the Roman de Brut
D. Although Yupno speakers and English speakers and Sir Thomas Malory’s 15th-century compilation
both use gestures to indicate orientation in time, of Arthurian legends, Le Morte d’Arthur, do. It can
Yupno speakers tend to use fewer gestures overall therefore be inferred that _______
when speaking than English speakers do.
Which choice most logically completes the text?

14. Over 600 languages are spoken in New York A. Malory did not use Preiddeu Annwfn as a source
City in addition to English—one can find Acehnese for information he presented about the Round Table.
spoken in the neighborhood of Astoria, for example, B. Geoffrey of Monmouth was unaware of stories of
or Hindi in Gramercy Park. English is the most the Round Table when composing his History,
common, with 65% of New Yorkers speaking it at though historians know that works containing such
home; Spanish is second, at 20%. A linguist stories were available to him.
hypothesizes that a Spanish dialect—a variation C. Le Morte d’Arthur is more historically accurate
differing from the parent language in some of its than History, because Erec and Enide had not been
vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar—has written when Geoffrey of Monmouth was writing his
developed in New York City, partly due to its work.
linguistic interaction with English. Previous research D. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s accounts of Arthurian
shows that younger speakers of nonmajority legends in his History are more similar overall in
languages are more likely to borrow words from the content to the accounts in Erec and Enide than they
majority language of a region than are older are to the accounts in Roman de Brut.
speakers. If the linguist’s hypothesis is correct, it is
therefore likely to be the case that _______
16. An analysis by Alain Elayi and colleagues of
Which choice most logically completes the text? coins minted in Sidon in the fifth and fourth centuries
BCE reveals a change in their composition over time:
A. younger speakers of Spanish in New York City
would be more likely to use a dialect specific to New while a coin from circa 450 BCE contains about 98%
York City than older speakers living in the same silver and 1% copper, a coin from 367 BCE (the end
neighborhood would be. of Ba’alšillem II’s reign) contains 74.2% silver and
24.7% copper, giving it a relatively yellowish
appearance that traders would have noticed. Because
coins with a silver content below 80% were widely Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
considered unsuitable for trade, Elayi et al. speculate to the conventions of Standard English?
that a crisis in confidence in the currency occurred in A. studies
Sidon around 367 BCE, which was likely relieved—
despite Sidon’s persistent oppressive financial B. has studied
obligations—as a result of Ba’alšillem II’s successor C. study
Abd’aštart I’s decision to _______
D. is studying
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. keep the amount of silver in Sidonian coins 19. Integrating insights from economics and
consistent with that in coins minted in 367 BCE but psychology, researchers in the field of behavioral
decrease their weight. economics explore a variety of topics. Olga
B. proclaim that the percentage of silver in coins Shurchkov of Wellesley College studies worker
suitable for trade would be raised to a threshold _______ other researchers investigate areas such as
higher than 80%. market behavior and consumer behavior.
C. fund the mining of some copper deposits that Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
were not available to Ba’alšillem II. to the conventions of Standard English?
D. begin minting heavier coins with a proportion of A. productivity for instance;
silver to copper similar to that in coins minted in 367 B. productivity, for instance;
BCE.
C. productivity; for instance,

17. Today, the Michelin Guide is widely known as the D. productivity, for instance,
arbiter of fine dining, but when it was created in 1900,
it was little more than a marketing gimmick; brothers 20. Jeffery Renard Allen’s short essay on “backwall,”
Andre and Edouard Michelin sought to increase a word referring to the cliff at the head of a glacier-
profits for their tire company by encouraging their carved valley, is included in the collection Home
customers to drive across France, visiting the guide’s Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape. The
recommended hotels and restaurants along the way. book wasn’t written solely by _______ other authors,
Nevertheless, the guide soon grew in scope and such as Carolyn Servid and Barry Lopez, also
_______ its modest French eateries were replaced contributed essays.
with some of the most esteemed restaurants from
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
around the world, including Makimura in Tokyo and
to the conventions of Standard English?
DiverXO in Madrid.
A. Allen; however,
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
to the conventions of Standard English? B. Allen, however;
A. influence and C. Allen. However,
B. influence, and D. Allen, however,
C. influence,
21. Recent pollen analyses of the Aran Islands have
D. influence
led some researchers to propose that the now treeless
islands were once wooded. This hypothesis _______
18. Interest in mechanotransduction, the mechanism that certain trees, such as P. sylvestris, survived
by which cells sense and convert mechanical stimuli without interruption or human intervention
into biochemical signals, is expanding because of throughout the Holocene cannot stand, researchers
innovative work by biomedical scientists—many of Michael O’Connell and Karen Molloy counter,
whom, like neuroscience and biophysics expert Elba unless other explanations can first be ruled out.
Serrano, _______ this mechanism to better
Which choice completes the text with the most
understand how the body’s neurological and
logical transition?
biomechanical systems interact.
A. suggested
B. has suggested • The bat-eared fox has seventy-two chromosomes.
C. suggesting • The Bengal fox has sixty chromosomes.
D. suggests The student wants to specify how many
chromosomes the bat-eared fox has. Which choice
most effectively uses relevant information from the
22. With his room-sized installation Unicorn/My
notes to accomplish this goal?
Private Sky, Norwegian artist Børre Sæethre
succeeds in creating a whimsical yet perplexing A. The bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) and the
experience. _______ when visitors set foot inside Bengal fox (Vulpes bengalensis) both have
the fantastically blue room and encounter the life- chromosomes, but the bat-eared fox has more than
sized stuffed unicorn preening at the far end of it, the Bengal fox does.
they are both dazzled and confused—as if stepping B. The Bengal fox, a species of fox, has sixty
into a strange and enchanting new world. structures called chromosomes.
Which choice completes the text with the most C. The bat-eared fox’s chromosomes contain genes,
logical transition?
which are critical to determining an organism’s
A. Indeed, physical traits.
B. Second, D. The bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) has
seventy-two chromosomes.
C. Nevertheless,
D. Instead,
25.
• At London and New York Fashion Weeks,
23. Mountain climbing routes that incorporate metal
fashion designers debut new clothing
rungs and cables are known as via ferratas, from the
collections.
Italian phrase for “iron path.” As climbing these
routes has shifted from a mode of travel to a sporting • Color consultants create trend reports on the
activity, modern via ferratas are rarely designed to popular colors at a given Fashion Week.
simply reach a summit. _______ new routes favor • A report on 2018 London Fashion Week noted
recreation over utility, aiming to provide a the popularity of a light green-yellow shade
challenging climb or showcase dramatic scenery. that was cool in tone and soft in intensity.
Which choice completes the text with the most • A report on 2019 New York Fashion Week
logical transition? noted the popularity of a deep brown shade
A. Nonetheless, that was warm in tone and rich in intensity.
B. On the other hand, Which choice most effectively uses information from
the given sentences to describe a color that was
C. More often,
popular at 2019 New York Fashion Week?
D. Additionally,
A. Shades of light green-yellow and deep brown have
both been featured in Fashion Week reports prepared
24. While researching a topic, a student has taken by color consultants.
the following notes:
B. The shade favored by designers at 2019 New York
• Chromosomes are cellular structures that contain Fashion Week was a departure from the cool, soft
genes. shade of light green-yellow that had proved popular
• Genes carry critical instructions for determining at 2018 London Fashion Week.
an organism’s physical traits. C. Each Fashion Week, color consultants compile
• Members of the same species typically have the reports on the colors that have been popular among
same number of chromosomes. designers.

• The bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis) and the D. At 2019 New York Fashion Week, many designer
Bengal fox (Vulpes bengalensis) are species of collections featured a warm, rich shade of deep
foxes. brown.
26. While researching a topic, a student has taken • Minerals with smaller numbers are softer than
the following notes: minerals with larger numbers and cannot leave
visible scratches on them.
• The fifth Solvay Conference on Physics was held
in 1927. • The mineral calcite has a Mohs scale number
of 3.
• It brought together twenty-nine of the era’s
preeminent scientists to discuss the emerging • The mineral apatite has a Mohs scale number
field of quantum theory. of 5.
• The conference famously featured a debate • The mineral corundum has a Mohs scale number
between physicists Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. of 9.
• Bohr proposed that subatomic entities like The student wants to make a generalization about
electrons had only probable realities until they minerals. Which choice most effectively uses
were observed. relevant information from the notes to accomplish
this goal?
• Einstein argued that subatomic entities like
electrons had a reality independent of observation. A. Based on their Mohs scale numbers, corundum
(9) is harder than apatite (5), and apatite is harder
• Bohr’s position, later called the Copenhagen
than calcite (3).
interpretation, remains the most widely accepted
theory of quantum mechanics. B. Corundum can leave visible scratches on calcite,
which is why corundum has a higher number than
The student wants to place Einstein’s argument within
calcite on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
its historical context. Which choice most effectively
uses relevant information from the notes to C. Any mineral with a Mohs number of 9, like
accomplish this goal? corundum, can scratch a mineral with a Mohs
number of 5, like apatite.
A. During the dawn of quantum theory, Einstein
maintained the independent reality of some subatomic D. The Mohs scale can be used to order calcite,
entities, although Bohr’s opposing interpretation corundum, and apatite by their ability to scratch
would become the widely accepted view. other minerals.
B. In 1927, Einstein and Bohr engaged in a famous
debate; Bohr’s argument, later called the Copenhagen
interpretation, would remain popular decades after.
C. The attendees of the 1927 Solvay Conference were
among the preeminent scientists of their era, including
Einstein, who opposed Bohr’s proposal.
D. At the 1927 Solvay Conference on Physics,
Einstein disagreed with Bohr’s argument that
subatomic entities like electrons had a reality
independent of observation.

27. While researching a topic, a student has taken

the following notes:
• The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a ten-
point scale that orders minerals by hardness
based on their ability to scratch other minerals.
• Minerals with larger numbers are harder than
minerals with smaller numbers and can leave
visible scratches on them.