Table of Contents

Reading and Writing ...................................................................................................... 2

Rooting mode ..........................................................................................................3
Easier mode ...........................................................................................................22
Harder mode ......................................................................................................... 38
Math ............................................................................................................................. 57
Rooting mode ........................................................................................................58
Easier mode ...........................................................................................................70
Harder mode ......................................................................................................... 82

1
 Section 1

Reading and Writing

2
 Rooting mode

Question 1

In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the first script, or writing
system, for an Indigenous language in the United States. Because it represented the
sounds of spoken Cherokee so accurately, his script was easy to learn and thus quickly
achieved ______ use: by 1830, over 90 percent of the Cherokee people could read
and write it.

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

A. widespread

B. careful

C. unintended

D. infrequent

Question 2

Like the 1945 play it reimagines—Federico García Lorca’s The House of Bernarda
Alba—Marcus Gardley’s 2014 play The House That Will Not Stand prominently
features women. In both plays, the all-female cast ______ an array of female
characters, including a strong mother and several daughters dealing with individual
struggles.

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

A. engulfs

B. encourages

C. comprises

D. provokes

3
Question 3

During a 2014 archaeological dig in Spain, Vicente Lull and his team uncovered the
skeleton of a woman from El Algar, an Early Bronze Age society, buried with
valuable objects signaling a high position of power. This finding may persuade
researchers who have argued that Bronze Age societies were ruled by men
to ______ that women may have also held leadership roles.

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

A. waive

B. concede

C. refute

D. require

Question 4

The following text is adapted from Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play The Importance of Being
Earnest.
CECILY: Have we got to part?
ALGERNON: I am afraid so. It’s a very painful parting.
CECILY: It is always painful to part from people whom one has known for a very
brief space of time. The absence of old friends one can endure with equanimity. But
even a momentary separation from anyone to whom one has just been introduced is
almost unbearable.

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

A. Regret

B. Persist

C. Tolerate

D. Encourage

4
Question 5

The following text is from the 1924 poem “Cycle” by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a
citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

There shall be new roads wending,

A new beating of the drum—
Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
Grey lives reprise their span—
But under the new sun’s being,
Completing what night began,
There’ll be the same backs bending,
The same sad feet shall drum—
When this night finds its ending
And day shall have come.....

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To consider how the repetitiveness inherent in human life can be both rewarding
and challenging

B. To question whether activities completed at one time of day are more memorable
than those completed at another time of day

C. To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly experienced emotion than sadness
is

D. To demonstrate how the experiences of individuals relate to the experiences of

their communities

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Question 6

The following text is from Charlotte Forten Grimké’s 1888 poem “At Newport.”

Oh, deep delight to watch the gladsome waves

Exultant leap upon the rugged rocks;
Ever repulsed, yet ever rushing on—
Filled with a life that will not know defeat;
To see the glorious hues of sky and sea.
The distant snowy sails, glide spirit like,
Into an unknown world, to feel the sweet
Enchantment of the sea thrill all the soul,
Clearing the clouded brain, making the heart
Leap joyous as it own bright, singing waves!

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

A. It portrays the surroundings as an imposing and intimidating scene.

B. It characterizes the sea’s waves as a relentless and enduring force.

C. It conveys the speaker’s ambivalence about the natural world.

D. It draws a contrast between the sea’s waves and the speaker’s thoughts.

6
Question 7

The following text is adapted from Aphra Behn’s 1689 novel The Lucky Mistake.
Atlante and Rinaldo are neighbors who have been secretly exchanging letters through
Charlot, Atlante’s sister.

[Atlante] gave this letter to Charlot; who immediately ran into the balcony with it,
where she still found Rinaldo in a melancholy posture, leaning his head on his hand:
She showed him the letter, but was afraid to toss it to him, for fear it might fall to the
ground; so he ran and fetched a long cane, which he cleft at one end, and held it while
she put the letter into the cleft, and stayed not to hear what he said to it. But never was
man so transported with joy, as he was at the reading of this letter; it gives him new
wounds; for to the generous, nothing obliges love so much as love.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It describes the delivery of a letter, and then portrays a character’s happiness at

reading that letter.

B. It establishes that a character is desperate to receive a letter, and then explains why
another character has not yet written that letter.

C. It presents a character’s concerns about delivering a letter, and then details the
contents of that letter.

D. It reveals the inspiration behind a character’s letter, and then emphasizes the
excitement that another character feels upon receiving that letter.

7
Question 8

The following text is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret
Garden. Mary, a young girl, recently found an overgrown hidden garden.

Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to
be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and
pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour
instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Mary hides in the garden to avoid doing her chores.

B. Mary is getting bored with pulling up so many weeds in the garden.

C. Mary is clearing out the garden to create a space to play.

D. Mary feels very satisfied when she’s taking care of the garden.

Question 9

Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even
improve health, conceptual artists Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an
apartment building in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is
chest-high on one side and knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere.
The effect is disorienting but invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu
Yamaoka reported significant health benefits.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed

by Gins and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.

B. Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the
most effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.

C. As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such
as Gins and Arakawa.

D. Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa
may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.

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Question 10

The following text is from Maggie Pogue Johnson’s 1910 poem “Poet of Our Race.”
In this poem, the speaker is addressing Paul Laurence Dunbar, a Black author.

Thou, with stroke of mighty pen,

Hast told of joy and mirth,
And read the hearts and souls of men
As cradled from their birth.

The language of the flowers,

Thou hast read them all,
And e’en the little brook
Responded to thy call.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. To praise a certain writer for being especially perceptive regarding people and
nature

B. To establish that a certain writer has read extensively about a variety of topics

C. To call attention to a certain writer’s careful and elaborately detailed writing

process

D. To recount fond memories of an afternoon spent in nature with a certain writer

Question 11

“To You” is an 1856 poem by Walt Whitman. In the poem, Whitman suggests that he
deeply understands the reader, whom he addresses directly, writing, ______

Which quotation from “To You” most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “Your true soul and body appear before me.”

B. “Whoever you are, now I place my hand upon you, that you be my poem.”

C. “I should have made my way straight to you long ago.”

D. “Whoever you are, I fear you are walking the walks of dreams.”

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Question 12

Approximate Rates of Speech and Information Conveyed for Five Languages

Rate of speech (syllables per Rate of information conveyed (bits per

Language second) second)

Serbian 7.2 39.1

Spanish 7.7 42.0

Vietnamese 5.3 42.5

Thai 4.7 33.8

Hungarian 5.9 34.6

A group of researchers working in Europe, Asia, and Oceania conducted a study to

determine how quickly different Eurasian languages are typically spoken (in syllables
per second) and how much information they can effectively convey (in bits per
second). They found that, although languages vary widely in the speed at which they
are spoken, the amount of information languages can effectively convey tends to vary
much less. Thus, they claim that two languages with very different spoken rates can
nonetheless convey the same amount of information in a given amount of time.

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

A. Among the five languages in the table, Thai and Hungarian have the lowest rates of
speech and the lowest rates of information conveyed.

B. Vietnamese conveys information at approximately the same rate as Spanish despite

being spoken at a slower rate.

C. Among the five languages in the table, the language that is spoken the fastest is
also the language that conveys information the fastest.

D. Serbian and Spanish are spoken at approximately the same rate, but Serbian
conveys information faster than Spanish does.

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Question 13

To investigate the effect of lizard predation on spider populations, a student in a

biology class placed spiders in two enclosures, one with lizards and one without, and
tracked the number of spiders in the enclosures for 30 days. The student concluded
that the reduction in the spider population count in the enclosure with lizards by day
30 was entirely attributable to the presence of the lizards.

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

A. The spider population count was the same in both enclosures on day 1.

B. The spider population count also substantially declined by day 30 in the enclosure
without lizards.

C. The largest decline in spider population count in the enclosure with lizards
occurred from day 1 to day 10.

D. The spider population count on day 30 was lower in the enclosure with lizards than
in the enclosure without lizards.

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Question 14

Although military veterans make up a small proportion of the total population of the
United States, they occupy a significantly higher proportion of the jobs in the civilian
government. One possible explanation for this disproportionate representation is that
military service familiarizes people with certain organizational structures that are also
reflected in the civilian government bureaucracy, and this familiarity thus ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. makes civilian government jobs especially appealing to military veterans.

B. alters the typical relationship between military service and subsequent career
preferences.

C. encourages nonveterans applying for civilian government jobs to consider military

service instead.

D. increases the number of civilian government jobs that require some amount of
military experience to perform.

Question 15

The city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash following the eruption of Mount
Vesuvius in 79 CE, continues to be studied by archaeologists. Unfortunately,
as ______ attest, archaeological excavations have disrupted ash deposits at the site,
causing valuable information about the eruption to be lost.

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

A. researchers, Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn,

B. researchers, Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn

C. researchers Roberto Scandone and Christopher Kilburn

D. researchers Roberto Scandone, and Christopher Kilburn

12
Question 16

Seneca sculptor Marie Watt’s blanket art comes in a range of shapes and sizes. In
2004, Watt sewed strips of blankets together to craft a 10-by-13-inch ______ in 2014,
she arranged folded blankets into two large stacks and then cast them in bronze,
creating two curving 18-foot-tall blue-bronze pillars.

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

A. sampler later,

B. sampler;

C. sampler,

D. sampler, later,

Question 17

Gathering accurate data on water flow in the United States is challenging because of
the country’s millions of miles of ______ the volume and speed of water at any
given location can vary drastically over time.

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

A. waterways and the fact that,

B. waterways, and the fact that,

C. waterways, and, the fact that

D. waterways and the fact that

13
Question 18

In assessing the films of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, ______ have missed his
equally deep engagement with Japanese artistic traditions such as Noh theater.

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

A. many critics have focused on Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources but

B. Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources has been the focus of many critics, who

C. there are many critics who have focused on Kurosawa’s use of Western literary
sources, but they

D. the focus of many critics has been on Kurosawa’s use of Western literary sources;
they

Question 19

Joshua Hinson, director of the language revitalization program of the Chickasaw

Nation in Oklahoma, helped produce the world’s first Indigenous-language
instructional app, Chickasaw ______ Chickasaw TV, in 2010; and a Rosetta Stone
language course in Chickasaw, in 2015.

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

A. Basic; in 2009, an online television network;

B. Basic; in 2009, an online television network,

C. Basic, in 2009; an online television network,

D. Basic, in 2009, an online television network,

14
Question 20

A group of ecologists led by Axel Mithöfer at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical
Ecology in Germany examined the defensive responses of two varieties of the sweet
potato ______ TN57, which is known for its insect resistance, and TN66, which is
much more susceptible to pests.

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

A. plant.

B. plant;

C. plant

D. plant:

Question 21

When, in the 1800s, geologists first realized that much of Earth had once been
covered by great sheets of ice, some theorized that the phenomenon was cyclical,
occurring at regular intervals. Each Ice Age is so destructive, though, that it largely
erases the geological evidence of its predecessor. ______ geologists were unable to
confirm the theory of cyclical Ice Ages until the 1960s.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Hence,

B. Moreover,

C. Nevertheless,

D. Next,

15
Question 22

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

 The Seikan Tunnel is a rail tunnel in Japan.

 It connects the island of Honshu to the island of Hokkaido.
 It is roughly 33 miles long.
 The Channel Tunnel is a rail tunnel in Europe.
 It connects Folkestone, England, to Coquelles, France.
 It is about 31 miles long.

The student wants to compare the lengths of the two rail tunnels. Which choice most
effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Some of the world’s rail tunnels, including one tunnel that extends from
Folkestone, England, to Coquelles, France, are longer than 30 miles.

B. The Seikan Tunnel is roughly 33 miles long, while the slightly shorter Channel
Tunnel is about 31 miles long.

C. The Seikan Tunnel, which is roughly 33 miles long, connects the Japanese islands
of Honshu and Hokkaido.

D. Both the Seikan Tunnel, which is located in Japan, and the Channel Tunnel, which
is located in Europe, are examples of rail tunnels.

16
Question 23

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

 Ancient Native American and Australian Aboriginal cultures described the

Pleiades star cluster as having seven stars.
 It was referred to as the Seven Sisters in the mythology of ancient Greece.
 Today, the cluster appears to have only six stars.
 Two of the stars have moved so close together that they now appear as one.

The student wants to specify the reason the Pleiades’ appearance changed. Which
choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this
goal?

A. Ancient Native American and Australian Aboriginal cultures described the Pleiades,
which was referred to in Greek mythology as the Seven Sisters, as having seven stars.

B. Although once referred to as the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades appears to have only
six stars today.

C. In the time since ancient cultures described the Pleiades as having seven stars, two
of the cluster’s stars have moved so close together that they now appear as one.

D. The Pleiades has seven stars, but two are so close together that they appear to be a
single star.

17
Question 24

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

 Pinnipeds, which include seals, sea lions, and walruses, live in and around
water.
 Pinnipeds are descended not from sea animals but from four-legged,
land-dwelling carnivores.
 Canadian paleobiologist Natalia Rybczynski recently found a fossil with four
legs, webbed toes, and the skull and teeth of a seal.
 Rybczynski refers to her rare find as a “transitional fossil.”
 The fossil illustrates an early stage in the evolution of pinnipeds from their
land-dwelling ancestors.

The student wants to emphasize the fossil’s significance. Which choice most
effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Canadian paleobiologist Natalia Rybczynski’s fossil has the skull and teeth of a
seal, which, like sea lions and walruses, is a pinniped.

B. Pinnipeds are descended from four-legged, land-dwelling carnivores; a fossil that

resembles both was recently found.

C. Having four legs but the skull and teeth of a seal, the rare fossil illustrates an early
stage in the evolution of pinnipeds from their land-dwelling ancestors.

D. A “transitional fossil” was recently found by paleobiologist Natalia Rybczynski.

18
Question 25

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

 Gaspar Enriquez is an artist.

 He specializes in portraits of Mexican Americans.
 A portrait is an artistic representation of a person.
 Enriquez completed a painting of the sculptor Luis Jimenez in 2003.
 He completed a drawing of the writer Rudolfo Anaya in 2016.

The student wants to emphasize a difference between the two portraits. Which choice
most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. The portraits, or artistic representations, of Luis Jimenez and Rudolfo Anaya were
both completed by Enriquez in the early 2000s.

B. Enriquez has completed portraits of numerous Mexican Americans, including

sculptor Luis Jimenez and writer Rudolfo Anaya.

C. While both are by Enriquez, the 2003 portrait of Luis Jimenez is a painting, and the
2016 portrait of Rudolfo Anaya is a drawing.

D. Luis Jimenez was a Mexican American sculptor, and Rudolfo Anaya was a
Mexican American writer.

19
Question 26

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

 Las sergas de Esplandián was a novel popular in sixteenth-century Spain.

 The novel featured a fictional island inhabited solely by Black women and
known as California.
 That same century, Spanish explorers learned of an “island” off the west coast
of Mexico.
 They called it California after the island in the novel.
 The “island” was actually the peninsula now known as Baja California
(“Lower California”), which lies to the south of the US state of California.

The student wants to emphasize the role a misconception played in the naming of a
place. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to
accomplish this goal?

A. The novel Las sergas de Esplandián featured a fictional island known as

California.

B. To the south of the US state of California lies Baja California (“Lower California”),
originally called California after a fictional place.

C. In the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers learned of a peninsula off the west coast
of Mexico and called it California.

D. Thinking it was an island, Spanish explorers called a peninsula California after an

island in a popular novel.

20
Question 27

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

 In 1851, German American artist Emanuel Leutze painted Washington

Crossing the Delaware.
 His huge painting (149 × 255 inches) depicts the first US president crossing a
river with soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
 In 2019, Cree artist Kent Monkman painted mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat
People): Resurgence of the People.
 Monkman’s huge painting (132 × 264 inches) was inspired by Leutze’s.
 It portrays Indigenous people in a boat rescuing refugees.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between the two paintings. Which choice
most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Monkman, a Cree artist, finished his painting in 2019; Leutze, a German American
artist, completed his in 1851.

B. Although Monkman’s painting was inspired by Leutze’s, the people and actions the
two paintings portray are very different.

C. Leutze’s and Monkman’s paintings are both huge, measuring 149 × 255 inches and
132 × 264 inches, respectively.

D. Leutze’s painting depicts Revolutionary War soldiers, while Monkman’s depicts

Indigenous people and refugees.

21
 Easier mode

Question 1

As Mexico’s first president from an Indigenous community, Benito Juarez became

one of the most ______ figures in his country’s history: among the many significant
accomplishments of his long tenure in office (1858–1872), Juarez consolidated the
authority of the national government and advanced the rights of Indigenous peoples.

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

A. unpredictable

B. important

C. secretive

D. ordinary

Question 2

Nigerian American author Teju Cole’s ______ his two passions—photography and
the written word—culminates in his 2017 book, Blind Spot, which evocatively
combines his original photographs from his travels with his poetic prose.

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

A. indifference to

B. enthusiasm for

C. concern about

D. surprise at

22
Question 3

Artificially delivering biomolecules to plant cells is an important component of

protecting plants from pathogens, but it is difficult to transmit biomolecules through
the layers of the plant cell wall. Markita del Carpio Landry and her colleagues have
shown that it may be possible to ______ this problem by transmitting molecules
through carbon nanotubes, which can cross cell walls.

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

A. conceptualize

B. neglect

C. illustrate

D. overcome

Question 4

According to Potawatomi ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, the Indigenous method of

harvesting Hierochloe odorata, or sweetgrass, by snapping the plant off at the root
actually ______ wild populations: it may seem counterintuitive, she says, but this
method of removal allows new sweetgrass plants to repopulate the space, with an
overall increase in number and vigor.

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

A. selects

B. originates

C. conditions

D. replenishes

23
Question 5

Research conducted by planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic suggests that the

Moon’s surface may not accurately ______ early impact events. When the Moon
was still forming, its surface was softer, and asteroid or meteoroid impacts would
have left less of an impression; thus, evidence of early impacts may no longer be
present.

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

A. reflect

B. receive

C. evaluate

D. mimic

Question 6

Anthropologist Kristian J. Carlson and colleagues examined the fossilized clavicle

and shoulder bones of a 3.6-million-year-old early hominin known as “Little Foot.”
They found that these bones were ______ the clavicle and shoulder bones of modern
apes that are frequent climbers, such as gorillas and chimpanzees, suggesting that
Little Foot had adapted to life in the trees.

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

A. surpassed by

B. comparable to

C. independent of

D. obtained from

24
Question 7

The Cambrian explosion gets its name from the sudden appearance and rapid
diversification of animal remains in the fossil record about 541 million years ago,
during the Cambrian period. Some scientists argue that this ______ change in the
fossil record might be because of a shift in many organisms to body types that were
more likely to be preserved.

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

A. catastrophic

B. elusive

C. abrupt

D. imminent

25
Question 8

Text 1
In 2007, a team led by Alice Storey analyzed a chicken bone found in El Arenal,
Chile, dating it to 1321–1407 CE—over a century before Europeans invaded the
region, bringing their own chickens. Storey also found that the El Arenal chicken
shared a unique genetic mutation with the ancient chicken breeds of the Polynesian
Islands in the Pacific. Thus, Polynesian peoples, not later Europeans, probably first
introduced chickens to South America.

Text 2
An Australian research team weakened the case for a Polynesian origin for the El
Arenal chicken by confirming that the mutation identified by Storey has occurred in
breeds from around the world. More recently, though, a team led by Agusto
Luzuriaga-Neira found that South American chicken breeds and Polynesian breeds
share other genetic markers that European breeds lack. Thus, the preponderance of
evidence now favors a Polynesian origin.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the
underlined claim in Text 1?

A. By broadly agreeing with the claim but objecting that the timeline it presupposes
conflicts with the findings of the genetic analysis conducted by Storey’s team

B. By faulting the claim for implying that domestic animals couldn’t have been
transferred from South America to the Polynesian Islands as well

C. By critiquing the claim for being based on an assumption that before the European
invasion of South America, the chickens of Europe were genetically uniform

D. By noting that while the claim is persuasive, the findings of Luzuriaga-Neira’s

team provide stronger evidence for it than the findings of the genetic analysis
conducted by Storey do

26
Question 9

The following text is adapted from Edith Nesbit’s 1906 novel The Railway Children.
Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull [visits] to dull ladies, and sitting
dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay [visits] to her. She was almost always
there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, and help them to do their
home-lessons. Besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at
school, and read them aloud after tea, and she always made up funny pieces of poetry
for their birthdays and for other great occasions.

According to the text, what is true about Mother?

A. She wishes that more ladies would visit her.

B. Birthdays are her favorite special occasion.

C. She creates stories and poems for her children.

D. Reading to her children is her favorite activity.

Question 10

Many insects are iridescent, or have colors that appear to shimmer and change when
seen from different angles. Scientists have assumed that this feature helps to attract
mates but could also attract predators. But biologist Karin Kjernsmo and a team had
the idea that the shifting appearance of colors might actually make it harder for other
animals to see iridescent insects. To test this idea, the team put beetle forewings on
leaves along a forest path and then asked human participants to look for them. Some
of the wings were naturally iridescent. Others were painted with a nonchanging color
from the iridescent spectrum, such as purple or blue.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the team’s idea?

A. On average, participants found most of the purple wings and blue wings and far
fewer of the iridescent wings.

B. On average, participants found the iridescent wings faster than they found the
purple wings or blue wings.

C. Some participants reported that the purple wings were easier to see than the blue
wings.

D. Some participants successfully found all of the wings on the leaves.

27
Question 11

Many plants lose their leaf color when exposed to kanamycin, an antibiotic produced
by some soil microorganisms. Spelman College biologist Mentewab Ayalew and her
colleagues hypothesized that plants’ response to kanamycin exposure involves
altering their uptake of metals, such as iron and zinc. The researchers grew two
groups of seedlings of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, half of which were exposed to
kanamycin and half of which were a control group without exposure to kanamycin,
and measured the plants’ metal content five days after germination.

Which choice best describes data in the graph that support Ayalew and her colleagues’
hypothesis?

A. The control plants contained higher levels of zinc than iron, but plants exposed to
kanamycin contained higher levels of iron than zinc.

B. Both groups of plants contained more than 200 parts per million of both iron and
zinc.

C. Zinc levels were around 300 parts per million in the control plants but nearly 400
parts per million in the plants exposed to kanamycin.

D. The plants exposed to kanamycin showed lower levels of iron and zinc than the
control plants did.

28
Question 12

“When Dawn Comes to the City” is a 1922 poem by Claude McKay, who immigrated
to the United States from the island nation of Jamaica as an adult. The poem conveys
McKay’s contrasting feelings about New York City—his adopted home in the
US—and his home country: ______

Which quotation from “When Dawn Comes to the City” most effectively illustrates
the claim?

A. “A lonely newsboy hurries by, / Humming a recent ditty; / Red streaks strike
through the gray of the sky, / The dawn comes to the city [New York City].”

B. “Dark figures start for work; / I watch them sadly shuffle on, / ’Tis dawn, dawn in
New York. / But I would be on the island of the sea, / In the heart of the island of the
sea.”

C. “And the shaggy Nannie goat is calling, calling, calling / From her little trampled
corner of the long wide lea / That stretches to the waters of the hill-stream falling /
Sheer upon the flat rocks joyously!”

D. “The tired cars go grumbling by, / The moaning, groaning cars, / And the old milk
carts go rumbling by / Under the same dull stars.”

29
Question 13

Boldly mixing elements of poetry, fiction, drama, philosophy, and manifesto, Puerto
Rican writer Giannina Braschi creates cross-genre literature that explores themes such
as immigration and independence. Her works have inspired responses from
individuals across different fields and in a wide range of formats, from musical
compositions and a comic book to architecture and furniture design. In an essay, a
student asserts that the production of these diverse creations by others is reflective of
Braschi’s own approach to crafting literature.

Which quotation from a scholarly review of Braschi’s work best supports the
student’s claim?

A. “Braschi is the focus of a 2020 collection of essays in which fifteen scholars from
seven different countries delved into the linguistic and structural patterns of her
writings.”

B. “Braschi’s eagerness to push boundaries and blend genres within literature invites
us to consider how other art forms might also engage with literature.”

C. “Before settling in New York City, where she would go on to become a college
professor, Braschi studied both literature and philosophy in several cities around the
world.”

D. “In addition to her creative literary works, Braschi has produced academic pieces
analyzing writings by Miguel de Cervantes, Federico García Lorca, and other
authors.”

30
Question 14

Many mosquito repellents contain natural components that work by activating

multiple odor receptors on mosquitoes’ antennae. As the insects develop resistance,
new repellents are needed. Ke Dong and her team found that EBF, a molecular
component of a chrysanthemum-flower extract, can repel mosquitoes by activating
just one odor receptor—and this receptor, Or31, is present in all mosquito species
known to carry diseases. Therefore, the researchers suggest that in developing new
repellents, it would be most useful to ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. identify molecular components similar to EBF that target the activation of Or31
receptors.

B. investigate alternative methods for extracting EBF molecules from

chrysanthemums.

C. verify the precise locations of Or31 and other odor receptors on mosquitoes’
antennae.

D. determine the maximum number of different odor receptors that can be activated
by a single molecule.

Question 15

Volunteering, or giving time for a community service for free, is a valuable form of
civic engagement because helping in a community is also good for society as a whole.
In a survey of youths in the United States, most young people said that they believe
volunteering is a way to help people on an individual level. Meanwhile, only 6% of
the youths said that they think volunteering is a way to help fix problems in society
overall. These replies suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. many young people think they can volunteer only within their own communities.

B. volunteering may be even more helpful than many young people think it is.

C. volunteering can help society overall more than it can help individual people.

D. many young people may not know how to find ways to volunteer their time.

31
Question 16

Atoms in a synchrotron, a type of circular particle accelerator, travel faster and faster
until they ______ a desired energy level, at which point they are diverted to collide
with a target, smashing the atoms.

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

A. will reach

B. reach

C. had reached

D. are reaching

Question 17

When writing The Other Black Girl (2021), novelist Zakiya Dalila Harris drew on her
own experiences working at a publishing office. The award-winning book is Harris’s
first novel, but her writing ______ honored before. At the age of twelve, she entered
a contest to have a story published in American Girl magazine—and won.

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

A. were

B. have been

C. has been

D. are

32
Question 18

In winter, the diets of Japanese macaques, also known as snow monkeys, are
influenced more by food availability than by food preference. Although the monkeys
prefer to eat vegetation and land-dwelling invertebrates, those food sources may
become unavailable because of extensive snow and ice cover, ______ the monkeys
to hunt for marine animals in any streams that have not frozen over.

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

A. forces

B. to force

C. forcing

D. forced

Question 19

In the historical novel The Surrender Tree, Cuban American author Margarita Engle
uses poetry rather than prose ______ the true story of Cuban folk hero Rosa La
Bayamesa.

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

A. tells

B. told

C. is telling

D. to tell

33
Question 20

Former First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt and Indian activist and
educator Hansa Mehta were instrumental in drafting the United Nations’ Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, a document that ______ the basic freedoms to which
all people are entitled.

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

A. have outlined

B. were outlining

C. outlines

D. outline

Question 21

Literary agents estimate that more than half of all nonfiction books credited to a
celebrity or other public figure are in fact written by ghostwriters, professional
authors who are paid to write other ______ but whose names never appear on book
covers.

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

A. people’s stories

B. peoples story’s

C. peoples stories

D. people’s story’s

34
Question 22

Formed in 1967 to foster political and economic stability within the Asia-Pacific
region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was originally made up of five
members: Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. By the end
of the 1990s, the organization ______ its initial membership.

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

A. has doubled

B. had doubled

C. doubles

D. will double

Question 23

In the 1950s, a man named Joseph McVicker was struggling to keep his business
afloat when his sister-in-law Kay Zufall advised him to repurpose the company’s
product, a nontoxic, clay-like substance for removing soot from wallpaper, as a
modeling putty for kids. In addition, Zufall ______ selling the product under a
child-friendly name: Play-Doh.

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

A. suggested

B. suggests

C. had suggested

D. was suggesting

35
Question 24

Etched into Peru’s Nazca Desert are line drawings so large that they can only be fully
seen from high above. Archaeologists have known of the lines since the 1920s, when
a researcher spotted some from a nearby foothill, and they have been studying the
markings ever since. ______ archaeologists’ efforts are aided by drones that capture
high-resolution aerial photographs of the lines.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Currently,

B. In comparison,

C. Still,

D. However,

Question 25

Organisms have evolved a number of surprising adaptations to ensure their survival in

adverse conditions. Tadpole shrimp (Triops longicaudatus) embryos, ______ can
pause development for over ten years during extended periods of drought.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. in contrast,

B. for example,

C. meanwhile,

D. consequently,

36
Question 26

During a 2021 launch, Rocket Labs’ Electron rocket experienced an unexpected

failure: its second-stage booster shut down suddenly after ignition. ______ instead of
downplaying the incident, Rocket Labs’ CEO publicly acknowledged what happened
and apologized for the loss of the rocket’s payload, which had consisted of two
satellites.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Afterward,

B. Additionally,

C. Indeed,

D. Similarly,

Question 27

In 1933, the Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. The

amendment mandates that presidential inaugurations be held on January 20,
approximately ten weeks after the November election. ______ this amendment
requires newly elected US senators and representatives to be sworn into their
respective offices on January 3.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Instead,

B. For instance,

C. Specifically,

D. In addition,

37
 Harder mode

Question 1

In addition to being an accomplished psychologist himself, Francis Cecil Sumner was

a ______ increasing the opportunity for Black students to study psychology, helping
to found the psychology department at Howard University, a historically Black
university, in 1930.

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

A. proponent of

B. supplement to

C. beneficiary of

D. distraction for

Question 2

For her 2021 art installation Anthem, Wu Tsang joined forces with singer and
composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland to produce a piece that critics found truly ______:
they praised Tsang for creatively transforming a museum rotunda into a dynamic
exhibit by projecting filmed images of Glenn-Copeland onto a massive 84-foot
curtain and filling the space with the sounds of his and other voices singing.

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

A. restrained

B. inventive

C. inexplicable

D. mystifying

38
Question 3

Scholarly discussions of gender in Shakespeare’s comedies often celebrate the

rebellion of the playwright’s characters against the rigid expectations ______ by
Elizabethan society. Most of the comedies end in marriage, with characters returning
to their socially dictated gender roles after previously defying them, but there are
some notable exceptions.

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

A. interjected

B. committed

C. illustrated

D. prescribed

Question 4

The work of Kiowa painter T.C. Cannon derives its power in part from the tension
among his ______ influences: classic European portraiture, with its realistic treatment
of faces; the American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flatstyle, the
intertribal painting style that rejects the effect of depth typically achieved through
shading and perspective.

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

A. complementary

B. unknown

C. disparate

D. interchangeable

39
Question 5

Text 1
Conventional wisdom long held that human social systems evolved in stages,
beginning with hunter-gatherers forming small bands of members with roughly equal
status. The shift to agriculture about 12,000 years ago sparked population growth that
led to the emergence of groups with hierarchical structures: associations of clans first,
then chiefdoms, and finally, bureaucratic states.

Text 2
In a 2021 book, anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow
maintain that humans have always been socially flexible, alternately forming systems
based on hierarchy and collective ones with decentralized leadership. The authors
point to evidence that as far back as 50,000 years ago some hunter-gatherers adjusted
their social structures seasonally, at times dispersing in small groups but also
assembling into communities that included esteemed individuals.

Based on the texts, how would Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) most likely respond to
the “conventional wisdom” presented in Text 1?

A. By conceding the importance of hierarchical systems but asserting the greater

significance of decentralized collective societies

B. By disputing the idea that developments in social structures have followed a linear
progression through distinct stages

C. By acknowledging that hierarchical roles likely weren’t a part of social systems

before the rise of agriculture

D. By challenging the assumption that groupings of hunter-gatherers were among the

earliest forms of social structure

40
Question 6

In 1934 physicist Eugene Wigner posited the existence of a crystal consisting entirely
of electrons in a honeycomb-like structure. The so-called Wigner crystal remained
largely conjecture, however, until Feng Wang and colleagues announced in 2021 that
they had captured an image of one. The researchers trapped electrons between two
semiconductors and then cooled the apparatus, causing the electrons to settle into a
crystalline structure. By inserting an ultrathin sheet of graphene above the crystal, the
researchers obtained an impression—the first visual confirmation of the Wigner
crystal.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. Researchers have obtained the most definitive evidence to date of the existence of
the Wigner crystal.

B. Researchers have identified an innovative new method for working with unusual
crystalline structures.

C. Graphene is the most important of the components required to capture an image of

a Wigner crystal.

D. It’s difficult to acquire an image of a Wigner crystal because of the crystal’s

honeycomb structure.

41
Question 7

For many years, the only existing fossil evidence of mixopterid eurypterids—an
extinct family of large aquatic arthropods known as sea scorpions and related to
modern arachnids and horseshoe crabs—came from four species living on the
paleocontinent of Laurussia. In a discovery that expands our understanding of the
geographical distribution of mixopterids, paleontologist Bo Wang and others have
identified fossilized remains of a new mixopterid species, Terropterus xiushanensis,
that lived over 400 million years ago on the paleocontinent of Gondwana.

According to the text, why was Wang and his team’s discovery of the Terropterus
xiushanensis fossil significant?

A. The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids lived
more than 400 million years ago.

B. The fossil helps establish that mixopterids are more closely related to modern
arachnids and horseshoe crabs than previously thought.

C. The fossil helps establish a more accurate timeline of the evolution of mixopterids
on the paleocontinents of Laurussia and Gondwana.

D. The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by scientists that mixopterids existed
outside the paleocontinent of Laurussia.

42
Question 8

The following text is adapted from Edith Nesbit’s 1906 novel The Railway
Children.
Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull [visits] to dull ladies, and sitting
dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay [visits] to her. She was almost always
there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, and help them to do their
home-lessons. Besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at
school, and read them aloud after tea, and she always made up funny pieces of poetry
for their birthdays and for other great occasions.

According to the text, what is true about Mother?

A. She wishes that more ladies would visit her.

B. Birthdays are her favorite special occasion.

C. She creates stories and poems for her children.

D. Reading to her children is her favorite activity.

Question 9

“The Young Girl” is a 1920 short story by Katherine Mansfield. In the story, the
narrator takes an unnamed seventeen-year-old girl and her younger brother out for a
meal. In describing the teenager, Mansfield frequently contrasts the character’s
pleasant appearance with her unpleasant attitude, as when Mansfield writes of the
teenager, ______

Which quotation from “The Young Girl” most effectively illustrates the claim?

A. “I heard her murmur, ‘I can’t bear flowers on a table.’ They had evidently been
giving her intense pain, for she positively closed her eyes as I moved them away.”

B. “While we waited she took out a little, gold powder-box with a mirror in the lid,
shook the poor little puff as though she loathed it, and dabbed her lovely nose.”

C. “I saw, after that, she couldn’t stand this place a moment longer, and, indeed, she
jumped up and turned away while I went through the vulgar act of paying for the tea.”

D. “She didn’t even take her gloves off. She lowered her eyes and drummed on the
table. When a faint violin sounded she winced and bit her lip again. Silence.”

43
Question 10

The largest tyrannosaurids—the family of carnivorous dinosaurs that

includes Tarbosaurus, Albertosaurus, and, most famously, Tyrannosaurus rex—are
thought to have had the strongest bites of any land animals in Earth’s history.
Determining the bite force of extinct animals can be difficult, however, and
paleontologists Paul Barrett and Emily Rayfield have suggested that an estimate of
dinosaur bite force may be significantly influenced by the methodology used in
generating that estimate.

Which choice best describes data from the table that support Barrett and Rayfield’s
suggestion?

A. The study by Meers used body-mass scaling and produced the lowest estimated
maximum bite force, while the study by Cost et al. used muscular and skeletal
modeling and produced the highest estimated maximum.

B. In their study, Gignac and Erickson used tooth-bone interaction analysis to produce
an estimated bite force range with a minimum of 8,000 newtons and a maximum of
34,000 newtons.

C. The bite force estimates produced by Bates and Falkingham and by Cost et al. were
similar to each other, while the estimates produced by Meers and by Gignac and
Erickson each differed substantially from any other estimate.

D. The estimated maximum bite force produced by Cost et al. exceeded the estimated
maximum produced by Bates and Falkingham, even though both groups of
researchers used the same method to generate their estimates.

44
Question 11

When digging for clams, their primary food, sea otters damage the roots of eelgrass
plants growing on the seafloor. Near Vancouver Island in Canada, the otter population
is large and well established, yet the eelgrass meadows are healthier than those found
elsewhere off Canada’s coast. To explain this, conservation scientist Erin Foster and
colleagues compared the Vancouver Island meadows to meadows where otters are
absent or were reintroduced only recently. Finding that the Vancouver Island
meadows have a more diverse gene pool than the others do, Foster hypothesized that
damage to eelgrass roots increases the plant’s rate of sexual reproduction; this, in turn,
boosts genetic diversity, which benefits the meadow’s health overall.

Which finding, if true, would most directly undermine Foster’s hypothesis?

A. At some sites in the study, eelgrass meadows are found near otter populations that
are small and have only recently been reintroduced.

B. At several sites not included in the study, there are large, well-established sea otter
populations but no eelgrass meadows.

C. At several sites not included in the study, eelgrass meadows’ health correlates
negatively with the length of residence and size of otter populations.

D. At some sites in the study, the health of plants unrelated to eelgrass correlates
negatively with the length of residence and size of otter populations.

45
Question 12

In the mountains of Brazil, Barbacenia tomentosa and Barbacenia macrantha—two

plants in the Velloziaceae family—establish themselves on soilless, nutrient-poor
patches of quartzite rock. Plant ecologists Anna Abrahão and Patricia de Britto Costa
used microscopic analysis to determine that the roots of B. tomentosa and B.
macrantha, which grow directly into the quartzite, have clusters of fine hairs near the
root tip; further analysis indicated that these hairs secrete both malic and citric acids.
The researchers hypothesize that the plants depend on dissolving underlying rock with
these acids, as the process not only creates channels for continued growth but also
releases phosphates that provide the vital nutrient phosphorus.

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

A. Other species in the Velloziaceae family are found in terrains with more soil but
have root structures similar to those of B. tomentosa and B. macrantha.

B. Though B. tomentosa and B. macrantha both secrete citric and malic acids, each
species produces the acids in different proportions.

C. The roots of B. tomentosa and B. macrantha carve new entry points into rocks even
when cracks in the surface are readily available.

D. B. tomentosa and B. macrantha thrive even when transferred to the surfaces of

rocks that do not contain phosphates.

46
Question 13

Ancestral Puebloans, the civilization from which present-day Pueblo tribes descended,
emerged as early as 1500 B.C.E. in an area of what is now the southwestern United
States and dispersed suddenly in the late 1200s C.E., abandoning established villages
with systems for farming crops and turkeys. Recent analysis comparing turkey
remains at Mesa Verde, one such village in southern Colorado, to samples from
modern turkey populations in the Rio Grande Valley of north central New Mexico
determined that the latter birds descended in part from turkeys cultivated at Mesa
Verde, with shared genetic markers appearing only after 1280. Thus, researchers
concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. conditions of the terrains in the Rio Grande Valley and Mesa Verde had greater
similarities in the past than they do today.

B. some Ancestral Puebloans migrated to the Rio Grande Valley in the late 1200s and
carried farming practices with them.

C. Indigenous peoples living in the Rio Grande Valley primarily planted crops and did
not cultivate turkeys before 1280.

D. the Ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde likely adopted the farming practices of
Indigenous peoples living in other regions.

47
Question 14

Ratified by more than 90 countries, the Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement

ensuring that Indigenous communities are compensated when their agricultural
resources and knowledge of wild plants and animals are utilized by agricultural
corporations. However, the protocol has shortcomings. For example, it allows
corporations to insist that their agreements with communities to conduct research on
the commercial uses of the communities’ resources and knowledge remain
confidential. Therefore, some Indigenous advocates express concern that the protocol
may have the unintended effect of ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. diminishing the monetary reward that corporations might derive from their
agreements with Indigenous communities.

B. limiting the research that corporations conduct on the resources of the Indigenous
communities with which they have signed agreements.

C. preventing independent observers from determining whether the agreements

guarantee equitable compensation for Indigenous communities.

D. discouraging Indigenous communities from learning new methods for harvesting

plants and animals from their corporate partners.

48
Question 15

The domestic sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) descends from a wild plant native to
South America. It also populates the Polynesian Islands, where evidence confirms that
Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples were cultivating the plant centuries
before seafaring first occurred over the thousands of miles of ocean separating them
from South America. To explain how the sweet potato was first introduced in
Polynesia, botanist Pablo Muñoz-Rodríguez and colleagues analyzed the DNA of
numerous varieties of the plant, concluding that Polynesian varieties diverged from
South American ones over 100,000 years ago. Given that Polynesia was peopled only
in the last three thousand years, the team concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. the cultivation of the sweet potato in Polynesia likely predates its cultivation in
South America.

B. Polynesian peoples likely acquired the sweet potato from South American peoples
only within the last three thousand years.

C. human activity likely played no role in the introduction of the sweet potato in
Polynesia.

D. Polynesian sweet potato varieties likely descend from a single South American
variety that was domesticated, not wild.

Question 16

In Death Valley National Park’s Racetrack Playa, a flat, dry lakebed, are 162
rocks—some weighing less than a pound but others almost 700 pounds—that move
periodically from place to place, seemingly of their own volition. Racetrack-like trails
in the ______ mysterious migration.

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

A. playas sediment mark the rock’s

B. playa’s sediment mark the rocks

C. playa’s sediment mark the rocks’

D. playas’ sediment mark the rocks’

49
Question 17

Nigerian author Buchi Emecheta’s celebrated literary oeuvre includes The Joys of
Motherhood, a novel about the changing roles of women in 1950s ______ a television
play about the private struggles of a newlywed couple in Nigeria; and Head Above
Water, her autobiography.

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

A. Lagos, A Kind of Marriage,

B. Lagos; A Kind of Marriage,

C. Lagos, A Kind of Marriage:

D. Lagos; A Kind of Marriage

Question 18

In 2016, engineer Vanessa Galvez oversaw the installation of 164 bioswales,

vegetated channels designed to absorb and divert stormwater, along the streets of
Queens, New York. By reducing the runoff flowing into city sewers, ______

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

A. the mitigation of both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby
waterways has been achieved by bioswales.

B. the bioswales have mitigated both street flooding and the resulting pollution of
nearby waterways.

C. the bioswales’ mitigation of both street flooding and the resulting pollution of
nearby waterways has been achieved.

D. both street flooding and the resulting pollution of nearby waterways have been
mitigated by bioswales.

50
Question 19

From afar, African American fiber artist Bisa Butler’s portraits look like paintings,
their depictions of human faces, bodies, and clothing so intricate that it seems only a
fine brush could have rendered them. When viewed up close, however, the portraits
reveal themselves to be ______ stitching barely visible among the thousands of pieces
of printed, microcut fabric.

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

A. quilts, and the

B. quilts, the

C. quilts; the

D. quilts. The

Question 20

Compared to that of alumina glass, ______ silica glass atoms are so far apart that they
are unable to re-form bonds after being separated.

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

A. silica glass is at a significant disadvantage due to its more dispersed atomic

arrangement:

B. silica glass has a more dispersed atomic arrangement, resulting in a significant

disadvantage:

C. a significant disadvantage of silica glass is that its atomic arrangement is more

dispersed:

D. silica glass’s atomic arrangement is more dispersed, resulting in a significant

disadvantage:

51
Question 21

In the historical novel The Surrender Tree, Cuban American author Margarita Engle
uses poetry rather than prose ______ the true story of Cuban folk hero Rosa La
Bayamesa.

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

A. tells

B. told

C. is telling

D. to tell

Question 22

Sociologist Alton Okinaka sits on the review board tasked with adding new sites to
the Hawai‘i Register of Historic Places, which includes Pi‘ilanihale Heiau and the
‘Ōpaeka‘a Road Bridge. Okinaka doesn’t make such decisions ______ all historical
designations must be approved by a group of nine other experts from the fields of
architecture, archaeology, history, and Hawaiian culture.

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

A. single-handedly, however;

B. single-handedly; however,

C. single-handedly, however,

D. single-handedly however

52
Question 23

When Chinese director Chloé Zhao accepted the Oscar in 2021 for her
film Nomadland, she made Academy Award history. ______ only one other woman,
Kathryn Bigelow of the United States, had been named best director at the Oscars,
making Zhao the second woman and the first Asian woman to win the award.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. As a result,

B. Previously,

C. However,

D. Likewise,

Question 24

Researchers Helena Mihaljević-Brandt, Lucía Santamaría, and Marco Tullney report

that while mathematicians may have traditionally worked alone, evidence points to a
shift in the opposite direction. ______ mathematicians are choosing to collaborate
with their peers—a trend illustrated by a rise in the number of mathematics
publications credited to multiple authors.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Similarly,

B. For this reason,

C. Furthermore,

D. Increasingly,

53
Question 25

When soil becomes contaminated by toxic metals, it can be removed from the ground
and disposed of in a landfill. ______ contaminated soil can be detoxified via
phytoremediation: plants that can withstand high concentrations of metals absorb the
pollutants and store them in their shoots, which are then cut off and safely disposed of,
preserving the health of the plants.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Alternatively,

B. Specifically,

C. For example,

D. As a result,

54
Question 26

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

 In the late 1890s, over 14,000 unique varieties of apples were grown in the
US.
 The rise of industrial agriculture in the mid-1900s narrowed the range of
commercially grown crops.
 Thousands of apple varieties considered less suitable for commercial growth
were lost.
 Today, only 15 apple varieties dominate the market, making up 90% of apples
purchased in the US.
 The Lost Apple Project, based in Washington State, attempts to find and grow
lost apple varieties.

The student wants to emphasize the decline in unique apple varieties in the US and
specify why this decline occurred. Which choice most effectively uses relevant
information from the notes to accomplish these goals?

A. The Lost Apple Project is dedicated to finding some of the apple varieties lost
following a shift in agricultural practices in the mid-1900s.

B. While over 14,000 apple varieties were grown in the US in the late 1890s, only 15
unique varieties make up most of the apples sold today.

C. Since the rise of industrial agriculture, US farmers have mainly grown the same
few unique apple varieties, resulting in the loss of thousands of varieties less suitable
for commercial growth.

D. As industrial agriculture rose to prominence in the mid-1900s, the number of crops

selected for cultivation decreased dramatically.

55
Question 27

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

 The Atlantic Monthly magazine was first published in 1857.

 The magazine focused on politics, art, and literature.
 In 2019, historian Cathryn Halverson published the book Faraway Women
and the “Atlantic Monthly.”
 Its subject is female authors whose autobiographies appeared in the magazine
in the early 1900s.
 One of the authors discussed is Juanita Harrison.

The student wants to introduce Cathryn Halverson’s book to an audience already

familiar with the Atlantic Monthly. Which choice most effectively uses relevant
information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Cathryn Halverson’s Faraway Women and the “Atlantic Monthly” discusses

female authors whose autobiographies appeared in the magazine in the early 1900s.

B. A magazine called the Atlantic Monthly, referred to in Cathryn Halverson’s book

title, was first published in 1857.

C. Faraway Women and the “Atlantic Monthly” features contributors to the Atlantic
Monthly, first published in 1857 as a magazine focusing on politics, art, and literature.

D. An author discussed by Cathryn Halverson is Juanita Harrison, whose

autobiography appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in the early 1900s.

56
Section 2

Math

57
Rooting mode

58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
Easier mode

70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
Harder mode

82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91