Franklin Yard SAT Reading & Writing Guide

How the Test is Organized

Each Reading & Writing module has 27 questions in 32 minutes. You'll complete two modules, with the second adapting to your performance on the first.

Questions appear in clusters by skill type, roughly in this order:

Note: Within each cluster, questions go from easiest to hardest. Then difficulty resets when you hit a new cluster. So a hard Words in Context question might be harder than an easy Ideas, Purpose, Structure question that comes right after it.

Time Management

1. Find an order that works for you — Some people go straight through; others prefer to knock out certain question types first. There's no objectively best order, despite what you may have heard. Practice and figure out what you're most comfortable with.

2. Skip when you're stuck, not when you're working — If you're making progress (eliminating answers, understanding the passage), keep going. If you've read it twice and have no idea, flag it and move on.

3. Don't panic after a hard question — You'll have quicker questions later that balance it out. Don't speed up to "catch up" — that causes careless errors.

4. Leave a few minutes at the end — Revisit flagged questions and double-check any you were unsure about.

Words in Context

Words in Context questions appear as a cluster at the beginning of each Reading & Writing module. They ask you to choose the most "logical and precise" word or phrase to fill in the blank.

What They Look Like

In the 1960s, Sam Gilliam, a Black painter from the southern United States, became the first artist to drape painted canvases into flowing shapes. He later explored a different style, ______ quilt-like paintings inspired by the patchwork quilting tradition of Black communities in the South.

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

A) predicting

B) refusing

C) hiding

D) creating

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the text.

Step 2: As you read, look for clues that point to the meaning of the blank. There will be several.

Step 3: Predict a word or phrase that fits based on those clues.

Step 4: Pick the answer closest to your prediction. If none match, use process of elimination.

Step 5: Plug the answer back in and re-read to confirm.

The Three Types of Words in Context Questions

Almost every WIC question falls into one of three categories. Identifying the type helps you know what to look for.

Your job: Figure out which type you're dealing with, find the relevant clue, then match.

Type 1: Synonym/Echo (Most Common)

The passage contains a word or phrase that either means the same thing as the correct answer OR directly illustrates it.

Examples of what the "echo" might look like: - A near-synonym: "rushed and hurried" → hasty - A descriptive phrase: "cutting costs wherever possible" → frugal - Characteristics that illustrate the concept: "praised by some, condemned by others" → controversial

Sometimes punctuation helps signal where the clue is:

But many questions don't have these signals. The clue might just be a word, phrase, or description elsewhere in the passage that points to the meaning.

Important: The clue is often AFTER the blank. Don't stop reading at the blank—read to the end of the sentence.

Type 2: Antonym/Contrast

When contrast words appear, the blank is the OPPOSITE of what came before.

Contrast signals:

Example:

The process was often considered ______ because of its environmental impact. But a new cleaner process has been developed.

"But" signals improvement over the old process. The old process was the opposite of good = inadequate.

The "Despite" Trap

Words like "despite" signal contrast—but students often get confused about WHICH part the blank refers to.

Despite a growing view that Mandela should have taken greater strides as president, years after his death he continues to be ______ by many worldwide.

Students see criticism in the "despite" clause and pick "criticized." But "despite" means the main clause CONTRADICTS the opening. The answer is the OPPOSITE of the criticism = lauded (praised).

Rule: The blank is in the main clause, so it contradicts the "despite" clause—it doesn't continue it.

Type 3: Intensity Shift (Rare-ish)

The answer goes in the same direction as something in the passage, but stronger or weaker.

Example:

Pennington made a "substantial impact" on society, but her place in our historical memory is perhaps more ______ than Kwolek's, who will long be remembered.

We need something WEAKER than "long remembered." The answer is tentative (uncertain, shaky).

Don't Fear Simple Answers

About half of correct answers are "simple" words: ongoing, value, important, collected, different.

"Too obvious" is NOT a reason to eliminate. The SAT tests precision, not vocabulary difficulty. If a simple word matches the context perfectly, it's probably right.

What If You Don't Know a Word in the Answer Choices?

Don't panic—this happens. Here's what to do:

1. Stick with your prediction. If you have a solid prediction based on the clues, trust it. Eliminate the answers you do know that don't match.

2. Use process of elimination. Every wrong answer you eliminate improves your odds. Even if you can only cross off two choices, you've gone from 25% to 50%.

3. An imperfect match is a wrong match. If a word is close but not quite right—eliminate it. The unknown word might be right; the imperfect one almost definitely isn't.

4. Make your best guess and move on. Don't dwell.

Practice

Question 1

Studying how workload affects productivity, Maryam Kouchaki and colleagues found that people who chose to do relatively easy tasks first were less ______ compared to those who did hard tasks first. Finishing easy tasks gave participants a sense of accomplishment, but those who tackled hard tasks first actually became more skilled and productive workers over time.

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

A) secretive

B) efficient

C) outgoing

D) unsympathetic

Before reading the solution: Cover the answers. What clues do you see? What word would YOU put in the blank?

Question 2

Scholars long thought that the initial spread of silk beyond China occurred in the second century CE, but this view has been ______ by new archaeological evidence from South Asia that reveals that the people of the Indus Civilization made use of silk at least 1,000 years earlier.

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

A) investigated

B) contradicted

C) misinterpreted

D) anticipated

Before reading the solution: What contrast signal do you see? What does it tell you about the blank?

Question 3

During the 2007–2010 financial crisis, the United States furnished billions of dollars to selected countries’ central banks via mechanisms called swap lines. Aditi Sahasrabuddhe found that countries’ policy environments seem to have been ______ swap-line decisions: the probability that banks would be granted swap lines was 0.20 in countries open to foreign-capital inflows and 0.03 in countries with policies restricting such inflows.

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

A) material to

B) predicated on

C) decoupled from

D) mediated by

Before reading the solution: What does the data after the colon tell you about how policy environments and swap-line decisions are related?

Extra Practice

Now try these on your own. For each one: 1. Cover the answer choices 2. Find the clues and predict a word 3. Then look at the choices and pick the best match

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

Farmhouse Interior, painted in the realist style by Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, depicts a peasant woman knitting at a table while a cat sits underneath. The realists' emphasis on accurately portraying the experiences of average working people was largely a rejection of the romantic style evident in many paintings by Martin Drolling, which instead ________ their subjects' beauty or heroism while hiding all imperfection.

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

A) correct

B) mock

C) undermine

D) exaggerate

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

Daniel J. Kliebenstein and colleagues ________ pots of sterilized soil with slurries of live microbes collected from soil in five sites across Colorado, including areas of sagebrush and dry pasture. Kliebenstein and team then grew mustard plants in the pots to see if the different microbial slurries affected levels of spicy glucosinolates like butenyl in the plants' seeds.

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

A) populated

B) precluded

C) sanitized

D) estimated

Extra Practice 3 (Easy)

The minor planet 9879 Mammuthus was named after the animal genus that includes woolly mammoths. But most minor planets are given only an identification number, largely due to there being over 500,000 such bodies known at present. So while the task of finding a unique name for each minor planet was ________ when few had been discovered, so many minor planets have since been discovered that the task has become nearly impossible.

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

A) substantial

B) ambiguous

C) feasible

D) insurmountable

Extra Practice 4 (Easy)

The unique subak water management system used to irrigate the rice paddy fields of the Indonesian island of Bali has a rich cultural, philosophical, and historical significance dating back to the ninth century. The many elements of subak — terraces, canals, and water temples — are ________: they are joined together into a single cohesive unit.

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

A) informal

B) optional

C) outmoded

D) interconnected

Extra Practice 5 (Easy)

In the decades after Mexico won its independence from Spain, literature became a medium through which the new nation ________ its autonomous identity, with authors like Ignacio Manuel Altamirano and Manuel Acuna helping to shape what would become a distinctly Mexican literary tradition.

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

A) evaded

B) realized

C) decried

D) overcame

Extra Practice 6 (Easy)

The National Heritage Fellowship was created to ________ exceptional folk and traditional artists in the United States. One artist who received the fellowship, the Mexican American rodeo tailor Manuel Cuevas, was chosen for his lifetime contributions to the arts.

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

A) begin

B) overshadow

C) distract

D) honor

Extra Practice 7 (Easy)

One way to ________ the importance of a scholar’s research is to track how often other scholars refer to that research. For example, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland economist Loretta J. Mester, who studies central banking, is among the world’s most frequently cited researchers in her field, indicating that her work has been quite significant.

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

A) diminish

B) increase

C) vary

D) measure

Extra Practice 8 (Easy)

The discoveries of natural satellites by Scott S. Sheppard’s team of astronomers have been ________: Carpo, which the group of researchers found orbiting Jupiter in 2003, is just one of over one hundred that they have spotted, while many astronomers have been happy to discover only one or two.

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

A) inferior

B) random

C) plentiful

D) likely

Extra Practice 9 (Easy)

For most of its length, the Pungue River has sufficiently high flow velocity to suspend sedimentary particles, but when the river reaches the calmer waters of the Indian Ocean, its channel widens and divides, reducing flow velocity and thereby ______ sedimentary particle suspension. Particles are thus deposited, eventually forming deltaic lobes.

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

A) compounding

B) obscuring

C) interrupting

D) expediting

Extra Practice 10 (Medium)

The following text is adapted from James Baldwin's 1956 novel Giovanni's Room. The narrator is riding in a taxi down a street lined with food vendors and shoppers in Paris, France.

The multitude of Paris seems to be dressed in blue every day but Sunday, when, for the most part, they put on an unbelievably festive black. Here they were now, in blue, disputing, every inch, our passage, with their wagons, handtrucks, their bursting baskets carried at an angle steeply self-confident on the back.

As used in the text, what does the word "disputing" most nearly mean?

A) Arguing about

B) Disapproving of

C) Asserting possession of

D) Providing resistance to

Extra Practice 11 (Medium)

There are many famous examples of election pollsters making inaccurate predictions in presidential elections. But neuroscientist and election pollster Sam Wang has said that these prediction failures should not lead campaigns to ________ election polling entirely. Polling is about more than just predicting the winner; throughout campaigns, it helps strategists identify where their efforts are most likely to be effective.

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

A) distort

B) supplement

C) neglect

D) enact

Extra Practice 12 (Medium)

The Egyptian plover — a bird native to Africa — has a symbiotic relationship with the Nile crocodile. While a crocodile rests on land with its mouth open for extended periods of time, the plover eats the food that is stuck in the crocodile's teeth. This ________ relationship provides a nutritious meal for the bird and removes potentially dangerous bacteria from the crocodile's mouth.

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

A) reciprocal

B) interchangeable

C) inefficient

D) unequal

Extra Practice 13 (Medium)

New and interesting research conducted by Suleiman A. Al-Sweedan and Moath Alhaj is inspired by their observation that though studies of the effect of high altitude on blood chemistry are ________, the effect on blood chemistry of living in locations below sea level, such as the California towns of Brawley and Thermal, has received comparatively little notice.

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

A) sporadic

B) equivocal

C) abundant

D) preliminary

Extra Practice 14 (Medium)

Derived from research conducted with factory workers from 1924 to 1933, the Hawthorne effect suggests that participants' awareness that they are being studied alters their behavior and influences study outcomes. Since then, several researchers have claimed to invalidate this phenomenon, positing that the Hawthorne effect cannot be ________ because attempts to detect it invariably involve faulty research methods.

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

A) inculcated

B) rectified

C) hypothesized

D) substantiated

Extra Practice 15 (Medium)

The dinosaur displays at museums such as the Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt (which has a life-sized Diplodocus longus statue among its holdings) are notable for the ________ of the research behind them — the museum staff consulted numerous sources to ensure the accuracy of the displays.

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

A) rigor

B) novelty

C) shallowness

D) obscurity

Extra Practice 16 (Medium)

During film’s early years, those who worked in the industry had a vested interest in convincing the public to embrace the new medium. As Sumiko Higashi argues, some filmmakers relied on film critics to influence the public’s ________ the world of cinema. Critics who drew similarities between film and traditional art forms, like drama, could help legitimize film as an art form.

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

A) contribution to

B) perception of

C) reproduction of

D) application to

Extra Practice 17 (Medium)

Today’s theater stages are frequently filled with props and scenery to immerse the audience in a play’s world. Because theatergoers have grown used to carefully designed sets, plays with few visual elements can surprise audiences. But simple, unadorned stages were likely ________ audiences in the very distant past: highly decorated and detailed sets were not common until the 1600s.

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

A) disliked by

B) confusing to

C) expected by

D) exciting to

Extra Practice 18 (Medium)

Gertrude Ederle, who was the first woman to swim across the English Channel, and Wanda Rutkiewicz, who was the first woman to summit K2 (the second tallest mountain in the world), are ensured lasting places in our historical memory. No matter what others may do in the future, nobody can ever ________ these women as the first to accomplish these feats.

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

A) stipulate

B) induce

C) supplant

D) engender

Extra Practice 19 (Medium)

The fact that publications by University of Minnesota economist Ellen K. McGrattan, who studies financial policy, are so frequently cited in other scholars’ work ________ the usefulness of her research for her peers—other economists clearly find her studies valuable for their own scholarship.

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

A) forestalls

B) belies

C) underscores

D) overshadows

Extra Practice 20 (Medium)

Lucian of Samosata (modern-day Turkey) was a second-century satirist who mostly published critiques of philosophers of the time. His work True History, however, is ________: featuring tropes that are hallmarks of present-day science fiction (e.g., space travel, interplanetary conflict), it is regarded by some scholars as the earliest known work in the genre.

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

A) authorized

B) applicable

C) sarcastic

D) visionary

Extra Practice 21 (Medium)

A team of archaeologists examined 150 spherically shaped limestone rocks called spheroids that date back about 1.4 million years, concluding that early hominins intentionally chipped away at rocks to form these spheroids over time. The fact that their attempt to make the stones as round as possible was ______ suggests that early hominins may have been more cognitively sophisticated than previously thought.

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

A) concerning

B) comparable

C) sympathetic

D) deliberate

Extra Practice 22 (Medium)

Whether the reign of a French monarch such as Francis Il or Louis XI was considered historically significant or, conversely, relatively ______, its trajectory was shaped by questions of legitimacy and therefore cannot be understood without a corollary understanding of the factors that allowed the monarch to assert a claim to the throne successfully.

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

A) momentous

B) inconsequential

C) benevolent

D) genuine

Extra Practice 23 (Medium)

Some social scientists say that while a desire for cooperation rather than conflict is key to democracy, public understanding of economics is also central to public comprehension of state politics, and if a citizenry is to function, economic issues cannot remain the domain only of experts. In short, knowledge of economics is not ______ and must not be left to economists alone.

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

A) unattainable

B) equitable

C) commonplace

D) superfluous

Extra Practice 24 (Medium)

Though most hoaxes perpetrated as jokes by mischievous users of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that almost anyone can freely edit, have quickly been detected and removed, a few entries that knowledgeable readers should have realized were ______, such as those for the country singer Joseph G. Williams and the television miniseries Shore Perfection, persisted on the site for many years before they were finally recognized as falsehoods and deleted.

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

A) spurious

B) scrupulous

C) palpable

D) compulsory

Extra Practice 25 (Medium)

Dervla Murphy, who cycled solo through Europe, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, undoubtedly accomplished much, but her place in our historical memory is perhaps more ______ than that of a noteworthy "first" such as Ynes Mexia, who was the first to discover the botanical genus Mexianthus, a deed for which she will always be remembered.

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

A) enduring

B) uncertain

C) deserving

D) conspicuous

Extra Practice 26 (Medium)

The Polynesian languages, a group of related languages originating on islands in the Pacific, typically have ______ array of consonant sounds. For example, the Tokelauan language of the South Pacific has eleven consonants, and ʻOlelo Hawaiʻi, the language of the Native Hawaiian people, has eight. Globally, however, the median number of consonants per language is over twenty-two.

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

A) a musical

B) an unvarying

C) an exclusive

D) a modest

Extra Practice 27 (Hard)

The invertebrates Haywardozoon pacificum and Trophontera mangani have recently been discovered inhabiting the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), an area of abyssal plain between Hawaii and Mexico where mining is permitted. The number of other invertebrates that may inhabit the CCZ is currently ______, as the area's biota is poorly sampled and the few samples that have been taken cannot be presumed to be representative.

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

A) infinitesimal

B) verifiable

C) tenuous

D) inestimable

Extra Practice 28 (Hard)

The ________ of leaf-vein architectures — the branching venation of Ginkgo biloba, the hierarchical netlike venation of Clematis reticulata, and others — likely resulted from competing selective pressures to maximize fluid transport, photosynthesis, and robustness against herbivory. The associated trade-offs may account for the range of adaptations in different lineages.

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

A) multifariousness

B) obstinacy

C) entanglement

D) culpability

Extra Practice 29 (Hard)

Described in treatises mainly published between 1768 and 1950 (such as W.D. Dunton's Dunton's Musical Shorthand), musical stenography used quickly written squiggles and dots in an attempt to preserve, in print and in real time, the ________ features of live performances — those that result from impromptu deviations of performers when fidelity to an established musical score is not mandated.

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

A) meticulous

B) inconspicuous

C) extemporaneous

D) inevitable

Extra Practice 30 (Hard)

Studying wrappers from discontinued candies, cover images from out-of-print magazines, and posters promoting concerts by long-forgotten musicians may seem like a frivolous pursuit, but ephemeral objects like these are useful as ________ cultural change, revealing shifts in norms, values, and concerns that traditional objects of historical inquiry may not.

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

A) pretexts for

B) conjectures about

C) manifestations of

D) inducements to

Extra Practice 31 (Hard)

Many of late nineteenth-century artist James McNeill Whistler's oil paintings and lithographs depict the streets of European cities. While his contemporaries' approaches to these subjects were often sentimental, Whistler's eye seemed ________. In this way, he anticipated the early twentieth-century photographs of Walker Evans, which create the illusion of being objective documentations of life.

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

A) nostalgic

B) tranquil

C) peculiar

D) dispassionate

Extra Practice 32 (Hard)

The following text is from Edward Gibbon's 1796 Memoirs of My Life and Writings. Gibbon reflects on publishing a volume of his series The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

I am at a loss how to describe the success of the work, without betraying the vanity of the writer. The first impression was exhausted in a few days; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to the demand.

As used in the text, what does the word "betraying" most nearly mean?

A) Forsaking

B) Exposing

C) Distorting

D) Exploiting

Extra Practice 33 (Hard)

In 2017, Belgium, which has strong democratic institutions, experienced an inflation rate of 2.12%, much higher than the 0.74% rate seen in Equatorial Guinea, which has relatively weak democratic institutions. Such a result is ________, however: Raj Desai et al. have shown that democratic institution strength tends to restrain inflationary pressures.

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

A) inexplicable

B) unfounded

C) facetious

D) anomalous

Extra Practice 34 (Hard)

Some robots such as Saika (developed in 1996) and Poppy (developed in 2013) are designed to resemble humans so that people will find it easier to interact with them. To that end, certain features such as bipedal locomotion can help to ________ the effect of the more unnatural aspects of a robot’s appearance, but a robot that looks too human can fall into the “uncanny valley,” meaning that its appearance unintentionally unsettles those who encounter it.

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

A) ameliorate

B) coalesce

C) augment

D) substantiate

Extra Practice 35 (Hard)

In the 2010s, the price of vintage G.I. Joe action figures rose dramatically, which had the counterintuitive effect of ________ demand: buyers who hadn’t previously wanted to purchase old action figures thronged the market, believing prices would continue to rise and the toys could be resold later at a profit.

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

A) satisfying

B) capitalizing

C) exploiting

D) eliciting

Extra Practice 36 (Hard)

One popular theory of the origin of the Moon, the "big whack," posits that a protoplanet called Theia collided with Earth, flinging debris into orbit that eventually coalesced into the Moon. Until recently, Theia was ______, but researcher Qian Yuan and colleagues now claim to have identified pieces of the protoplanet in the lowermost section of Earth's mantle.

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

A) desultory

B) notional

C) veritable

D) spurious

Extra Practice 37 (Hard)

The Roc-aux-Sorciers frieze -- a group of relief carvings of animals found in what is now France and dating from around 14,000 years ago -- is sometimes said to be emotionally powerful despite its age, but in fact the frieze is ______ precisely because of its age. It is the link of shared humanity with the artist across so many centuries that gives the Roc-aux-Sorciers frieze such resonance.

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

A) ingenious

B) pristine

C) meticulous

D) affecting

Extra Practice 38 (Hard)

The work of Tobias Gerstenberg et al. on tracking eye movements supports a theory that people engage in ______ thinking when making causal judgments: when subjects were asked to look at two colliding billiard balls and judge whether one caused or prevented the other's movement through a gate, their eyes looked at where the target ball would have gone if the ball that altered its path did not exist.

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

A) counterfactual

B) analogical

C) ambivalent

D) associative

Extra Practice 39 (Hard)

The sloping tile roofs and picturesque facade of Mission San Jose in Fremont, California, exemplify the Spanish contribution to Californian architecture, an influence that is ______ throughout the state -- architectural tourists visiting the Santa Fe Depot in San Diego, for example, can easily recognize how its style draws inspiration from the Spanish missions.

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

A) corroborated

B) palpable

C) disputed

D) understated

Extra Practice 40 (Hard)

Archaeologists have identified a plethora of beads fashioned from Titia gibbosula shells in many Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites across western North Africa, including El Mnasra Cave, Morocco. In a 2021 paper, El Mehdi Sehasseh et al. attribute these artifacts' ______ to the evolution and propagation of symbolic behavior (e.g., use of personal ornaments) in humans and the availability of T. gibbosula during the MSA.

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

A) expediency

B) fecundity

C) ubiquity

D) heterogeneity

Extra Practice 41 (Hard)

Difficulties of documenting nocturnal pollinator visits and a general focus on diurnal invertebrate pollinators, such as Volrcella bombylans, have resulted in ______ of information on nocturnal moth pollination of plants such as Rubus futicosus L. aggregate, but Max Anderson et al. have addressed this by utilizing infrared technology.

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

A) an abatement

B) an aggregation

C) a dearth

D) a dissonance

Extra Practice 42 (Hard)

Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris has the measured pace typical of slow-cinema films. Thai slow-cinema director Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) even states that his own work induces sleep in audiences. This might suggest his films are boring, but boredom does not always cause sleep: boredom creates an anxious tension in the absence of a place to fix attention, and thus induces not somnolence but ______

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

A) fortitude

B) perturbation

C) nonchalance

D) indolence

Extra Practice 43 (Hard)

The following text is from William Carlos Williams's 1925 creative nonfiction book In the American Grain. Williams is discussing how works by nineteenth-century US poet and fiction writer Edgar Allan Poe were received by American readers.

Poe must suffer by his originality. invent that which is new, even if it be made of pine from your own yard, and there's none to know what you have done. It is because there's no name. This is the cause of Poe's lack of recognition. He was American. He was the astounding, inconceivable growth of his locality.

As used in the text, what does the underlined figurative phrase most nearly mean?

A) Personal experiences that are hard for others to comprehend

B) Ideas you have never previously expressed

C) Elements of the culture in which you live

D) Inspiration you received while reading independently

General Advice for "Reading Questions"

Purpose, Structure, Ideas, Details, Cross-Text Connections, Command of Evidence, and Inference questions all share something in common: they ask you to understand what a passage says or does. The answer is essentially in the passage—it's about literal comprehension.

While the test treats these as separate categories, they share a similar approach. The strategies below apply across all of them.

What to Know

Careful Reading

The most important skill you can cultivate on the verbal section is very careful reading. You'll need to read everything more carefully than you've done for any text in your life.

Read the whole passage. Don't skim or skip ahead to the question. The answer often depends on details at the end of the passage, or on how the beginning and end connect. Read every sentence.

Understand before you answer. Don't rush to the choices. Make sure you actually understand what the passage is saying—the relationships between ideas, who's claiming what, what the evidence supports.

Don't Get Stuck on Unfamiliar Terms

Passages often contain technical vocabulary—scientific terms, historical names, specialized jargon. You don't need to understand every word to answer the question. Focus on the relationships between ideas: who claims what, what supports what, what contrasts with what. The unfamiliar terms are usually just labels for concepts the passage explains.

Process of Elimination

Don't just read the answers and wait for one to "feel right." Be systematic:

1. Read the passage carefully (twice if needed)
2. Go answer by answer with laser focus on ONE at a time
3. For each answer, decide: yes or no? And specifically why yes or no?
4. If the first answer seems wrong, keep going—check ALL four before deciding
5. Don't jump around—work through A, B, C, D in order

This discipline prevents you from latching onto a "pretty good" answer while missing the correct one.

Think Like a Prosecutor

When evaluating answer choices, think of yourself as a prosecutor trying to convict each wrong answer—not a defense attorney trying to make answers work.

For each answer choice, ask:

• "What's the evidence that this answer is guilty of being wrong?"
• "Can I point to a specific word or phrase that doesn't match the text?"
• "Is there anything in this answer I can't prove with the passage?"

If you can build a case against an answer—find even one word that's unsupported, too extreme, or twisted from the text—eliminate it. The answer you can't convict is your answer.

Answers are Not Subjective

We're used to the idea that interpretation of texts is subjective.

But SAT Reading questions can't work like that.

The test has to be 100% objective, otherwise you'll have 50,000 parents calling the SAT customer service line arguing that their kid's answers were actually right.

How does the SAT deal with this?

They write the questions so that people can't disagree on the right and wrong answers. There is only one objectively correct interpretation—and only one objectively correct answer.

The Correct Answer Must:

1. Be supported by textual evidence
2. Answer the question being posed

If an answer fails either test, it's wrong.

When You're Stuck Between Two

Stop trying to pick the "right" one.

Instead, focus on finding the flaw in each. One of them will have a weakness you can exploit.

Predicting the Answer

Before looking at the answer choices, take 10-15 seconds to form your own expectation based on what the passage says. If nothing comes to you, just move to the answers—don't force it.

Even a wrong prediction can be helpful. The act of thinking about what the answer should say before you look keeps you grounded in the passage and less likely to get pulled toward attractive-sounding wrong answers.

Some question types are much better suited for prediction than others, and it's not always clear which until you try. But the habit of pausing to think before you look at answers is valuable across the board.

Passage Patterns to Watch For

Contrast Signals

Words like "but," "however," "yet," "although," "nevertheless," and "despite" signal a shift. Understanding that shift—what changed, what's different, what's being contrasted—is often key to answering the question.

For instance, a common type of contrast: something SEEMS one way but IS actually another. The test wants you to understand both sides of this distinction and how they connect.

"Her performances appear spontaneous... however, this is due to tremendous preparation."

Causal Chains

Many passages establish causal relationships—one thing leads to another.

Shark decline → ray increase → oyster decline

Understanding these chains helps across many question types:

• What causes what?
• Are things directly related (A↑ → B↑) or inversely related (A↑ → B↓)?

Recognizing these relationships—and whether evidence supports or breaks them—is key to answering questions about claims, inferences, and main ideas.

Practice: Find the Flaws

Here's a passage with answer choices. Your job: identify what's wrong with each wrong answer before reading the explanations.

In West Africa, jalis have traditionally been keepers of information about family histories and records of important events. They have often served as teachers and advisers, too. New technologies may have changed some aspects of the role today, but jalis continue to be valued for knowing and protecting their peoples' stories.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Jalis are the primary educators in West Africa.

B) Jalis are now using technology to do much of their work.

C) Jalis believe that an understanding of a people's history benefits future generations.

D) Jalis have long performed a critical role in West African culture, and that role has continued to expand over time.

E) Jalis serve as repositories of genealogical and historical knowledge.

F) Jalis have abandoned their traditional role in favor of modern technology.

G) Traditional cultural roles in Africa have persisted despite technological change.

H) Even though there have been some changes in their role, jalis continue to preserve their communities' histories.

Stop here. If you think an answer is wrong, write down why.

Explanations

A) Jalis are the primary educators in West Africa. ✗ One word off + Extreme language. "Primary" is too strong—the text says they "have often served as teachers," not that teaching is their primary role.

B) Jalis are now using technology to do much of their work. ✗ Twists the details. The text says technology "changed some aspects of the role"—not that jalis use technology.

C) Jalis believe that an understanding of a people's history benefits future generations. ✗ Reasonable but not supported. This sounds nice, but the text never says what jalis believe.

D) Jalis have long performed a critical role in West African culture, and that role has continued to expand over time. ✗ Half right, half wrong. They have performed a critical role, but it hasn't "expanded"—it has continued despite changes.

E) Jalis serve as repositories of genealogical and historical knowledge. ✗ Not comprehensive + Doesn't answer the question. This is true, but it only describes part of the passage. It misses the main point about their enduring role despite changes. (This would be correct if the question asked: "According to the passage, what function have jalis served in West African communities?")

F) Jalis have abandoned their traditional role in favor of modern technology. ✗ Opposite/Contradiction. The passage says jalis continue to be valued—the opposite of abandoning their role.

G) Traditional cultural roles in Africa have persisted despite technological change. ✗ Too broad. The passage is specifically about jalis in West Africa, not "traditional cultural roles in Africa" generally.

H) Even though there have been some changes in their role, jalis continue to preserve their communities' histories. ✓ CORRECT. This captures the main idea—jalis preserve history, and while things have changed, they're still valued for this.

Wrong Answer Traps

Wrong answers can be wrong in subtle ways. Here they are, ordered roughly from most obviously wrong to most subtly wrong:

*Extreme Language = High Burden of Proof

Words like "always," "never," "only," "all," "none," "primary," "most important" carry a high burden of proof. If the text says a scientist "often" studies birds, an answer saying she "exclusively" studies birds is wrong—"exclusively" is a bigger claim than the text supports.

(See "Think Like a Prosecutor" above—treat extreme words as evidence to build your case against an answer.)

Purpose, Structure, Ideas, Details

Main Purpose and Main Idea

Main Purpose asks why the author wrote this ("The author wrote this in order to..."). Main Idea asks what the central point or takeaway is. They're related—and the strategies overlap.

What They Look Like

The following text is from Lucy Maud Montgomery's 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables. Anne, an eleven-year-old girl, has come to live on a farm with a woman named Marilla in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Anne reveled in the world of color about her.

"Oh, Marilla," she exclaimed one Saturday morning, coming dancing in with her arms full of gorgeous boughs, "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn't it? Look at these maple branches. Don't they give you a thrill—several thrills? I'm going to decorate my room with them."

"Messy things," said Marilla, whose aesthetic sense was not noticeably developed. "You clutter up your room entirely too much with out-of-doors stuff, Anne. Bedrooms were made to sleep in."

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To demonstrate that Anne has a newly developed appreciation of nature

B) To describe an argument that Anne and Marilla often have

C) To emphasize Marilla's disapproval of how Anne has decorated her room

D) To show that Anne and Marilla have very different personalities

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: As you read, ask: What is the author's main point? Why did they write this?

Step 3: Before looking at answers, summarize the main idea or purpose in ~10 words.

Step 4: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer.

Watch Out For: Answers that accurately describe part of the passage but miss the overall point—only covering the first paragraph, focusing on one example instead of the main argument, or capturing a supporting detail rather than the central claim. The correct answer must account for the whole passage.

Questions

Question 1: Martha Argerich

When classical pianist Martha Argerich performs, it appears as if the music is coming to her spontaneously. She's highly skilled technically, but because of how freely she plays and her willingness to take risks, she seems relaxed and natural. Her apparent ease, however, is due to a tremendous amount of preparation. Despite Argerich's experience and virtuosity, she never takes for granted that she knows a piece of music. Instead, she approaches the music as if encountering it for the first time and tries to understand it anew.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To provide details about how Argerich identifies which pieces of music she will perform

B) To assert that Argerich's performances look effortless because of how she prepares for them

C) To discuss the kinds of music Argerich feels most comfortable encountering for the first time

D) To describe the unique way that Argerich approaches music she hasn't performed before

STOP — Try this yourself first. What does "appears... however" signal? Predict the main purpose before looking at answers.

Function Questions

Function questions ask what role an underlined sentence plays in the passage—what it DOES in the context of the passage.

What They Look Like

When ancient oak planks were unearthed during subway construction in Rome, Mauro Bernabei and his team examined the growth rings in the wood to determine where these planks came from. By comparing the growth rings on the planks to records of similar rings in oaks from Europe, the team could trace the wood to the Jura region of France, hundreds of kilometers from Rome. Because timber could only have been transported from distant Jura to Rome by boat, the team's findings suggest the complexity of Roman trade routes.

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

A) It presents a conclusion about Roman trade routes based on the team's findings.

B) It questions how the team was able to conclude that the planks were used to build a boat.

C) It explains why the planks were made from oak rather than a different kind of wood.

D) It describes common methods used in Roman subway construction.

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: As you read, pay attention to what comes BEFORE and AFTER the underlined portion—function is determined by position.

Step 3: Before looking at answers, ask: "If I removed this sentence, what would the passage lose?" Name the function in your own words.

Step 4: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer.

Watch Out For: Answers that describe the function of a different part of the text, not the underlined portion.

Common Function Patterns

Questions

Question 1: Computer Animators

"How lifelike are they?" Many computer animators prioritize this question as they strive to create ever more realistic environments and lighting. Generally, while characters in computer-animated films appear highly exaggerated, environments and lighting are carefully engineered to mimic reality. But some animators, such as Pixar's Sanjay Patel, are focused on a different question. Rather than asking first whether the environments and lighting they're creating are convincingly lifelike, Patel and others are asking whether these elements reflect their films' unique stories.

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

A) It represents a concern of computer animators who are more interested in creating unique backgrounds and lighting effects than realistic ones.

B) It conveys the uncertainty among many computer animators about how to create realistic animations using current technology.

C) It illustrates a reaction that audiences typically have to the appearance of characters created by computer animators.

D) It reflects a primary goal that many computer animators have for certain components of the animations they produce.

STOP — Try this yourself first. What does the sentence after the question tell you? Is this question representing the author's view, or someone else's?

Structure Questions

Structure questions ask how the passage is ORGANIZED—the arrangement of ideas, not their content.

What They Look Like

The Vizcaya is just one of approximately three million known historical shipwrecks spread throughout the world's oceans, and their impact on sea life and underwater ecosystems is of great interest to researchers. Rachel Mugge and colleagues were particularly curious about the effects of wooden shipwrecks on seafloor microbial communities. The researchers studied two wooden shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico by placing pieces of pine and oak between zero and 200 meters away from each shipwreck to collect samples of three kinds of microbes: bacteria, archaea, and fungi. They found that across the three microbial communities, peak diversity and richness was observed on pine and oak samples placed approximately 125 meters from the shipwrecks.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It states the number of known shipwrecks, describes the historical significance of one of those shipwrecks, and then comments on the various microbes found at the shipwreck site.

B) It introduces a study of microbial communities near shipwrecks that has received significant scholarly attention, summarizes the results of that study, and then describes a research team's reaction to the study.

C) It names a famous historical shipwreck, describes the type of wood used to build that ship, and then explains how that wood type influences underwater microbial communities.

D) It notes a general scientific interest in shipwrecks' ecological effects, describes a specific study related to that interest, and then states one of the study's findings.

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: As you read, map the passage in parts. What does Part 1 do? Part 2? Part 3?

Step 3: Before looking at answers, describe the structure in your own words. (e.g., "States a claim, then gives evidence, then notes a limitation")

Step 4: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer. (All parts must match.)

Watch Out For: Structure answers are always multi-part, so the "half right, half wrong" trap is especially common. Check that every part of the answer matches the passage—one wrong piece disqualifies the whole thing.

Common Structure Patterns

Questions

Question 1: Shipwrecks

The Vizcaya is just one of approximately three million known historical shipwrecks spread throughout the world's oceans, and their impact on sea life and underwater ecosystems is of great interest to researchers. Rachel Mugge and colleagues were particularly curious about the effects of wooden shipwrecks on seafloor microbial communities. The researchers studied two wooden shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico by placing pieces of pine and oak between zero and 200 meters away from each shipwreck to collect samples of three kinds of microbes: bacteria, archaea, and fungi. They found that across the three microbial communities, peak diversity and richness was observed on pine and oak samples placed approximately 125 meters from the shipwrecks.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It states the number of known shipwrecks, describes the historical significance of one of those shipwrecks, and then comments on the various microbes found at the shipwreck site.

B) It introduces a study of microbial communities near shipwrecks that has received significant scholarly attention, summarizes the results of that study, and then describes a research team's reaction to the study.

C) It names a famous historical shipwreck, describes the type of wood used to build that ship, and then explains how that wood type influences underwater microbial communities.

D) It notes a general scientific interest in shipwrecks' ecological effects, describes a specific study related to that interest, and then states one of the study's findings.

STOP — Try this yourself first. Map the passage in parts. What does each part do? Describe the structure before looking at answers.

Details Questions

"According to the text" and "Based on the text" mean: find where the passage DIRECTLY SAYS this.

What They Look Like

Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud in a 164-million-year-old plant fossil in China. The researchers have named the new species Florigerminis jurassica. They believe that the discovery pushes the emergence of flowering plants, or angiosperms, back to the Jurassic period, which occurred between 145 million and 201 million years ago.

According to the text, how old was the fossil that Wang and colleagues discovered?

A) 150 million years old

B) 145 million years old

C) 164 million years old

D) 201 million years old

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: As you read, locate the specific information the question asks for.

Step 3: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer. (If you can't point to it in the text, eliminate it.)

Example: Question asks what material Villasana uses. Passage states: "applying colorful yarn" Answer: "Yarn" ← Direct match. You can point to it.

Questions

Question 1: Indigenous Cultural Centers

In what is now New Mexico, the Pueblo of Pojoaque operates the Poeh Cultural Center. Relying on traditional knowledge to guide the design of exhibits, this institution presents Pojoaque history and culture to the tribe's citizens. The Tohono O'odham Nation, a tribe in Arizona, employs a similar strategy in its own cultural center. Both centers contrast with museums that aren't Indigenous-led; when displaying Indigenous artifacts, such museums tend to anticipate mainly non-Indigenous audiences and rely on Euro-centric strategies for designing exhibits.

According to the text, what is one way that non-Indigenous museums typically differ from the cultural centers operated by the Pueblo of Pojoaque and the Tohono O'odham Nation?

A) The museums typically feature fewer artifacts in their exhibits.

B) The museums are often somewhat smaller in size.

C) The museums are largely aimed at non-Indigenous audiences.

D) The museums focus on tribal history as well as tribal culture.

STOP — Try this yourself first. Find the exact phrase in the passage that describes how non-Indigenous museums differ.

Extra Practice

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

Benjamin Prud’homme and colleagues have explored how convergent evolution—a phenomenon that occurs when the same trait evolves independently in two reproductively separate lineages—can result from a genetic mechanism shared by both lineages. Meanwhile, Patricia J. Wittkopp and colleagues have investigated how convergence occurs through different genetic mechanisms, but the relative prevalence of convergence through shared and different genetic processes is still poorly understood. This motivated biologists Delbert A. Green II and Cassandra G. Extavour to evaluate both types of convergence in a single study for their 2012 paper.

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

A) It provides examples of how a phenomenon was studied by scientists in the field before Green and Extavour’s study.

B) It gives a basic description of a phenomenon that is central to the discussion that follows.

C) It clarifies a concept that the author implies was unclear in the studies mentioned in the text.

D) It introduces a method of scientific analysis that is discussed in greater detail later in the text.

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

Roy McLendon’s Moonlit St. Lucie, a riverscape featuring the silhouette of a single palm tree against the backdrop of shimmering water and a brilliant moonlit sky, is typical of paintings by the Florida Highwaymen, loosely affiliated landscape artists mainly active in Fort Pierce, Florida, during the 1950s and ’60s. Some art historians suggest that Highwaymen paintings played a role in shaping popular perceptions of the state that persist today: the natural iconography that McLendon and colleagues constantly revisited—placid inland rivers, windswept palm trees—is now seen as classically Floridian.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To describe the historical circumstances in which paintings by the Florida Highwaymen experienced a resurgence in popularity

B) To explain that a particular painting by Roy McLendon has had greater influence on the broader culture of the state of Florida than is generally acknowledged

C) To contrast the public’s reaction during the 1950s and ’60s to a particular painting by Roy McLendon with more recent reactions to it

D) To present the argument that paintings by the Florida Highwaymen likely helped to create a particular widespread impression of Florida

Extra Practice 3 (Easy)

The following text is adapted from Akwaeke Emezi's 2019 novel Pet. Jam is a teenager who lives with her father, Aloe, and her mother, Bitter, who is a painter.

Bitter finished the painting in the dark morning of a day---it was well past midnight when Jam heard the studio door creak open. She stared into the velvet black of her room and listened to her mother's footsteps walking in her and Aloe's bedroom. There was a weight thrumming through the floorboards in a low song, and that was how Jam knew the painting was done. Bitter's feet were singing the news.

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

A) It describes Aloe's reaction upon seeing the painting for the first time.

B) It indicates that Jam is more interested in music than in art.

C) It adds to the idea that Bitter's footsteps reveal something to Jam.

D) It indicates that Bitter always sings when working on a painting.

Extra Practice 4 (Easy)

Founded in Long Beach, California, in 1996, the Museum of Latin American Art is dedicated to modern and contemporary art by Latin American artists and Latino artists in the United States. Since its founding, it has acquired more than 1,300 objects for its permanent collection. More recently founded US-based institutions devoted to Latino cultures include Casa de Rosado. Located in Lansing, Michigan, it focuses on the arts and cultures of Latino communities in Michigan.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To trace the founding of two institutions, including how they acquired funding to purchase artworks

B) To present information about two institutions, including each institution's area of focus

C) To trace a historical development that encouraged the founding of two institutions

D) To draw a contrast between the collection sizes of two institutions

Extra Practice 5 (Easy)

Artists in the land art movement that began in the 1960s chose to put their works in nature. For example, Michael Heizer's 1969 work Double Negative was installed outside in Nevada.

According to the text, when did the land art movement begin?

A) The 1960s

B) 2010

C) 1980

D) The 1800s

Extra Practice 6 (Easy)

Community science, which involves professional scientists collaborating with members of the public to study a topic, is often an effective and engaging way to conduct research. It can increase the amount of data researchers can collect, offer insight into the daily life of a scientist, and spark youth interest in science. This approach was essential to the success of biologist Grace Herzel and colleagues' study of how weather relates to a butterfly's flower choice, which included findings from hundreds of students and community members in northwestern Arkansas.

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

A) It provides a contrast with an idea presented in the previous sentence.

B) It establishes the limits of the conclusion presented in the sentence that follows.

C) It offers details to clarify the claim made in the previous sentence.

D) It identifies the purpose of the study described in the sentence that follows.

Extra Practice 7 (Easy)

Women like Minnie McNeal Kenny made important early contributions to the history of US cryptology, a field concerned with secure data communication and storage. Kenny worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) and received the NSA’s two highest awards. She also held administrative positions at the National Cryptologic School. In this way, Kenny and others like her helped make it possible for more women—such as Anna Lysyanskaya, who currently works in and teaches digital cryptography—to enter the field of cryptology.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Women such as Minnie McNeal Kenny and Anna Lysyanskaya have contributed to the field of cryptology.

B) Cryptology is a field that focuses primarily on securely managing data.

C) Minnie McNeal Kenny and Anna Lysyanskaya worked together on an important project in the field of cryptology.

D) Cryptology should be taught more often in schools to encourage more women to enter the field.

Extra Practice 8 (Easy)

What is a city? The answer depends on where you live! Many countries define an area as a city based on how many people live there. However, not every country uses the same numbers. Albania defines a city as an area with a population of at least 400, while Greece defines a city as having a minimum population of 10,000. Peru and other countries define cities using population and other data, such as the number of buildings in the area.

According to the text, what does Greece define as a city?

A) An area that has been settled for at least 25 years

B) An area with a population of at least 10,000

C) An area with a population density of at least 800 people per square kilometer

D) An area with its own mass transit system

Extra Practice 9 (Easy)

In the past, historians who wanted to examine Frederick Douglass's diary and other personal papers had to visit the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, to view them on microfilm (film containing scaled-down reproductions of documents). But traveling to the library often added time and costs to research projects. Now, by going to the library's website, researchers can access digitized versions of Douglass's papers without physically going anywhere.

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

A) It gives information about a famous person.

B) It explains the meaning of a word.

C) It describes a debate among historians.

D) It summarizes an unexpected finding.

Extra Practice 10 (Easy)

The following text is adapted from L.M. Montgomery's 1923 novel Emily of New Moon. Emily, a young girl who lives on a farm run by her aunt Elizabeth, wants to be a published writer someday.

One of the things they argued about was the fact that Emily, as Aunt Elizabeth discovered one day, was in the habit of using more of her egg money to buy paper than Aunt Elizabeth approved of. What did Emily do with so much paper? They had a fuss over this and eventually Aunt Elizabeth discovered that Emily was writing stories. Emily had been writing stories all winter under Aunt Elizabeth's very nose and Aunt Elizabeth had never suspected it. She had fondly supposed that Emily was writing school compositions.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Emily forgot to buy eggs when she was supposed to.

B) Aunt Elizabeth thinks Emily should spend more time at school.

C) Aunt Elizabeth is surprised to find out that Emily has been writing stories.

D) Emily is relieved to learn that Aunt Elizabeth enjoys reading Emily's stories.

Extra Practice 11 (Easy)

Paleontologist Lucas E. Fiorelli and colleagues have reported the discovery at a mine in Brazil of several egg clutches, partially preserved single eggs, and egg shells from the Late Cretaceous period. The researchers have concluded that the area was once a nesting and breeding site for titanosaurs, a group of sauropod dinosaurs. The finding is significant given the previous lack of known nesting sites in northern regions of South America, which led many paleontologists to assume that titanosaurs migrated south to lay eggs.

What does the text most strongly suggest about the site discovered by the researchers?

A) It is the earliest known example of a titanosaur nesting and breeding site.

B) It was very difficult to excavate given that it was discovered in a mine.

C) It may have been occupied by other sauropods in addition to titanosaurs.

D) It is farther north than any other nesting site discovered in South America.

Extra Practice 12 (Easy)

In Koasati, an Indigenous language from what is now the southeastern United States, misip-lin is the singular form of "to wink," whereas mis-lin is the plural form of "to wink"; similarly, lataf-kan is the singular form of "to kick something," whereas the plural form is lat-kan. These are instances of subtractive morphology, in which a base word is truncated---removing the ip and af, in these cases---to form a new, related word. This kind of subtractive morphology is pervasive in Koasati.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It describes the relationship between Koasati and several other languages, raises a question about the nature of that relationship, and then answers that question.

B) It identifies the most frequently occurring words in Koasati, explains why it is difficult to translate those words into English, then provides examples of languages other than English into which those words can be translated.

C) It presents some specific words in Koasati, describes the general linguistic phenomenon exemplified by those words, then states that this phenomenon occurs frequently in Koasati.

D) It explains the phenomenon of subtractive morphology, discusses why subtractive morphology has been controversial among scholars, then argues that an analysis of Koasati could help resolve that controversy.

Extra Practice 13 (Easy)

The Skin I'm In was Sharon G. Flake's debut novel. It was published in 1998. A debut novel is the first book that an author has published. Debut novels are especially interesting to literary critics (people whose job it is to evaluate books) and readers because these books offer a look at new voices in the literary world.

According to the text, what is someone who professionally evaluates books called?

A) A bookseller

B) An author

C) A literary critic

D) A book publisher

Extra Practice 14 (Easy)

When people think of dinosaurs with feathers, they typically think of winged dinosaurs, such as the bat-like Ambopteryx. However, many dinosaurs that didn't have wings also had feathers on their bodies. For instance, research indicates that the wingless, large Yutyrannus likely had feathers.

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

A) It indicates that the dinosaurs mentioned earlier in the text weren't the only ones that had feathers.

B) It reveals that the dinosaurs mentioned earlier in the text used their feathers for an important purpose.

C) It defines a term related to the type of dinosaur feathers mentioned earlier in the text.

D) It gives an example of a dinosaur with the characteristics mentioned earlier in the text.

Extra Practice 15 (Easy)

The following text is adapted from Eugene O'Neill's 1920 play Beyond the Horizon. Andrew and Robert Mayo are brothers who grew up on their family's farm.

ANDREW: Farming ain't your nature. There's all the difference shown in just the way us two feel about the farm. You — well, you like the home part of it, I expect; but as a place to work and grow things, you hate it. Ain't that right?

ROBERT: Yes, I suppose it is. For you it's different. You're a Mayo through and through. You're wedded to the soil. You're as much a product of it as an ear of corn is, or a tree. Father is the same. This farm is his life-work.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) It illustrates that two characters share a goal.

B) It shows how two characters solved a mystery.

C) It describes a place two characters visited on vacation.

D) It emphasizes a difference between two characters.

Extra Practice 16 (Easy)

In Hoocak, an Indigenous language from the Midwest region of what is now the United States, zi means “yellow,” whereas zizi means “yellow in spots.” This phenomenon, in which an element of a root word is repeated, sometimes with modification, within another word that is related to the root word, is called reduplication. In this case, the entire word zi gets repeated in zizi. There are many examples of this type of reduplication in Hoocak.

The text makes which point about Hoocak?

A) It is one of the only languages in the world that makes use of reduplication.

B) It is closely related to another language from the Midwest region of what is now the United States that also makes use of reduplication.

C) It contains many instances of the type of reduplication seen in the words zi and zizi.

D) It has a wide variety of reduplicated words and phrases that mean “yellow.”

Extra Practice 17 (Easy)

Winter in the Blood, the 1974 novel by Blackfeet author James Welch, is typical of Native fiction written during the 1960s and 1970s. During that period, Welch and his peers wrote realistic and deeply serious portrayals of life in tribal communities. Recently, however, younger Native writers have embraced popular genres known for being entertaining and suspenseful, such as fantasy and horror. Anishinaabe author Nathan Adler is a figure in this movement. Their 2016 novel Wrist is a work of horror fiction.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It provides an overview of Native fiction, then compares it to fiction by non-Native writers.

B) It describes one Native author's early works, then describes his more recent works.

C) It praises one Native fiction writer, then criticizes a different Native fiction writer.

D) It discusses fiction by earlier Native writers, then describes how fiction by more recent Native writers differs from the earlier fiction.

Extra Practice 18 (Medium)

Vertical gene transfer involves the transmission of genetic material from a parent to offspring; horizontal gene transfer, on the other hand, involves the exchange of genetic material between organisms not in a parent-offspring relationship. While horizontal gene transfer is common among prokaryotes—single-celled organisms such as the bacteria Carnobacterium viridans and Massilia timonae—it has rarely been observed among eukaryotes (typically multicellular organisms). However, new studies suggest that horizontal gene transfer is more common in eukaryotes than originally thought.

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

A) It implies that a common perception of horizontal gene transfer may be inaccurate.

B) It compares the frequencies with which horizontal gene transfer has been detected in two categories of organisms.

C) It argues that a particular direction of research concerning horizontal gene transfer is likely to be fruitless.

D) It indicates a distinction between horizontal gene transfer and vertical gene transfer.

Extra Practice 19 (Medium)

The following text is from Reyna Grande's 2012 memoir The Distance Between Us.

Every few days, Abuela Evila washed Élida's hair with lemon water because, according to her, lemon juice cleans the impurities of the hair and makes it shiny and healthy. In the afternoons, she would fill up a bucket from the water tank, pick a few lemons from the tree, and squeeze the juice into the water.

Mago, Carlos, and I would hide behind a pink oleander bush and watch their ritual through the narrow leaves. Abuela Evila washed Élida's hair as if she were washing an expensive silk rebozo.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

A) To give an example of a typical interaction between Grande's siblings

B) To describe a regular occurrence from Grande's childhood

C) To illustrate how Grande's relationship with Élida grew over time

D) To explain how Grande felt about a location where she spent time as a child

Extra Practice 20 (Medium)

On painter William H. Johnson's return to the United States in 1938 after a decade in Europe, his style underwent an abrupt transformation. Turning away from landscapes painted in an expressionist style—a style that often involves using fluid, distorted shapes and thick, textured brushstrokes to express the artist's subjective experience of reality—Johnson began painting portraits of Black Americans in a bold new way. Evocative of African sculpture and American and Scandinavian folk art, these portraits feature flat, deliberately oversimplified figures in a vibrant but limited color palette.

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

A) It elaborates on the previous sentence's statement about a transitional moment in Johnson's artistic career.

B) It provides information about Johnson's travels in support of a claim about his artistic influences, which is advanced in the following sentence.

C) It recounts a moment in Johnson's personal life that enabled the success of his subsequent career, which is summarized in the following sentence.

D) It presents evidence that calls into question the previous sentence's characterization of Johnson's artistic development.

Extra Practice 21 (Medium)

Modern dog breeds are largely the result of 160 years of owners crossbreeding certain dogs in order to select for particular physical appearances. Owners often say that some breeds are also more likely than others to have particular personality traits—basset hounds are affectionate; boxers are easy to train—but Kathleen Morrill and colleagues found through a combination of owner surveys and DNA sequencing of 2,000 dogs that while physical traits are predictably heritable among purebred dogs, behavior varies widely among dogs of the same breed.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Dog breeds would not exist without many years of human intervention in dogs' reproduction.

B) Research fails to confirm a commonly held belief about dog breeds and behavior.

C) The dog breeds most popular among owners have often changed over the past 160 years.

D) A study of dog breeds is notable for its usage of both opinion surveys and DNA sequencing.

Extra Practice 22 (Medium)

Many visitors to Yellowstone National Park need airlines, car rentals, hotels and restaurants during their visits. These services generate carbon emissions. Emily Wilkins and Jordan Smith found that most of the environmentally harmful emissions come from travel services to and from the park. Wilkins and Smith found that policymakers could help reduce these emissions by encouraging people to visit state or national parks closer to their homes to cut down on their travel.

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

A) It presents a harm that is unique to the location described earlier in the text.

B) It indicates that policymakers have been working on a certain problem for a long time.

C) It suggests a course of action to address the problem described earlier in the text.

D) It rephrases the question raised in the first sentence of the text.

Extra Practice 23 (Medium)

Known for the albums Sorcerer and 'Round About Midnight, jazz trumpeter Miles Davis collaborated several times with pianist Gil Evans. Their 1958 adaptation of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess bears little resemblance to the 1935 original. Davis and Evans felt no desire to please listeners expecting an exact duplication of the opera. They omitted parts, such as the aria "I Got Plenty of Nuthin'," and sometimes made only brief gestures toward Gershwin's melodies. But Davis and Evans's willingness to recompose Gershwin's work led to one of the most enduring albums in Davis's catalog.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To explain why works of art most likely to be praised by critics are those that defy tradition

B) To present reasons why one work of art should be considered superior to another

C) To describe how two artists transformed another artist's work

D) To summarize the history of a long collaboration between two artists

Extra Practice 24 (Medium)

In 2019, 20 previously unknown moons were confirmed to be orbiting Saturn. Three of the moons have prograde orbits (orbiting in the direction the planet spins), and the other 17 have retrograde orbits (orbiting in the opposite direction of the planet's spin). All but one of the 20 moons are thought to be remnants of bodies that orbited Saturn until they broke apart in collisions. Although the one exceptional moon orbits in the same direction as the planet's spin, its orbit is highly eccentric compared to the rest, which may suggest that it has a different origin than the other 19 moons.

Based on the text, which choice best describes the moon with the eccentric orbit?

A) It doesn't have a retrograde orbit, but it likely has the same origin as the moons with retrograde orbits.

B) Its orbit is so tilted with respect to the other moons' orbits that it's neither prograde nor retrograde.

C) It has a prograde orbit that is likely the result of having collided with another body orbiting Saturn.

D) It has a prograde orbit and may not be a remnant of an earlier body that orbited Saturn.

Extra Practice 25 (Medium)

Svante Pääbo and other researchers studying the history of organisms have long utilized ancient DNA—DNA recovered from ancient organic material that has been preserved under natural conditions. However, Nicolas Dussex and colleagues' 2021 study of the evolutionary trajectory of the kakapo parrot (Strigops habroptilus) instead relied on historical DNA—genomic data incidentally preserved in specimens that are housed in natural history collections—thus capitalizing on the research potential offered by a vast but hitherto relatively underutilized source of insight into the biological past.

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

A) It offers commentary on the significance of the approach that Dussex and colleagues used for their study.

B) It specifies potential applications of the approach that Dussex and colleagues used in their study.

C) It explains why the research methodology selected by Dussex and colleagues is not widely used.

D) It emphasizes the importance of Dussex and colleagues' findings about the DNA of birds.

Extra Practice 26 (Medium)

In 2023 Nobel Prize-winning physicist Giorgio Parisi published In a Flight of Starlings, a collection of essays on scientific subjects. Acclaimed author Sam Kean, who uses the form of nonfiction narrative to explore scientific discoveries, is interested in the collection less for its aesthetic merit than for its focus on "the false starts...and mistakes that beset real scientific research every day." Kean argues that all too often, scientists omit this "human stuff" from written accounts of their research and thus ultimately "fail to explain how science really gets done."

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) It outlines an area of agreement between Parisi and Kean in how they think about the work of science.

B) It describes Kean's view that nonfiction narrative is an effective way for Parisi to share his accomplishments.

C) It explores a subtle difference between Kean's and Parisi's respective objections to scientific research methods.

D) It presents Kean's claim that Parisi is too modest about his own achievements as a scientist.

Extra Practice 27 (Medium)

In a period of great prosperity during his reign, Egyptian pharaoh Amenemhat II (circa 1800 BCE) had a pyramid with a massive substructure built at Hawara. The underground complex was largely dismantled in antiquity, but accounts of its splendor remain, including one from Greek historian Herodotus, who claimed to have seen it. In his Histories (circa 425 BCE), Herodotus writes of 3,000 chambers adorned with carved figures, a dozen courts flanked by white stone pillars, and many winding passages in the complex, characterizing it as a great labyrinth and "an unending marvel."

According to the text, what information did Herodotus include in his Histories?

A) An account of the magnificence of the complex that once stood beneath the pyramid at Hawara

B) A record of how long it took for the pyramid and complex to be constructed at Hawara

C) A discussion of how building the pyramid and complex at Hawara led to a period of prosperity

D) An explanation of how Herodotus was able to arrange to see the pyramid and complex at Hawara

Extra Practice 28 (Medium)

The Heege Manuscript (HM) is a collection of booklets of once-unbound paper sheets on which Richard Heege copied various texts at his fifteenth-century home between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire in England. Most other contemporaneous personal manuscripts like the Findern Anthology (FA) consist primarily of pieces for polite society like courtly love poems and other readings favored by elites, whereas the HM has a distinctive emphasis on the popular, including entertainments like nonsense verse, and the practical, with advice about medicine.

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

A) To provide context for the text's suggestion that the HM is an outlier among collections of its time

B) To suggest that the FA is a poor point of comparison for a collection like the HM

C) To emphasize the ubiquity of hand-copied collections like the FA and the HM in medieval England

D) To illustrate how the discussion of the HM earlier in the text can improve historians' understanding of the FA

Extra Practice 29 (Medium)

The following text is from Bram Stoker’s 1911 novel The Lair of the White Worm. Adam is meeting his great-uncle Richard at a port.

The meeting so auspiciously begun proceeded well. Adam, seeing that the old man was interested in the novelty of the ship, suggested that he should stay the night on board, and that he would himself be ready to start at any hour and go anywhere that the other suggested. This affectionate willingness to fall in with his own plans quite won the old man’s heart. He warmly accepted the invitation, and at once they became not only on terms of affectionate relationship, but almost like old friends.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) It describes why Adam and his great-uncle Richard are excited for their upcoming journey on the ship.

B) It contrasts great-uncle Richard’s wary first impressions of Adam with his ultimate affection toward him.

C) It showcases how Adam’s flexibility and consideration strengthen his relationship with his great-uncle Richard.

D) It states the reasons why Adam and his great-uncle Richard decide to sleep on the ship rather than finding lodging on land.

Extra Practice 30 (Medium)

Advancements like the emergence of ceramics manufacturing in central Europe circa 28,000 BCE are overemphasized in innovation studies, contributing to the idea that technological change always brings greater complexity. Research by Nathaniel Erb-Satullo reveals an important exception: gold metallurgy flourished in the Caucasus in the Bronze Age, but a steep drop during that time (circa 1500 BCE) in objects featuring gold inlay (in which pieces of contrasting materials are inserted in a gold base) and other sophisticated goldsmithing techniques suggests that simpler processes supplanted advanced methods.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It explains that a particular interpretation of technological development has been perpetuated in an academic field and then provides a counterexample demonstrating that the interpretation isn't always accurate.

B) It summarizes the findings of several studies into the origins of a particular invention and then presents additional evidence from a more recent study that contradicts those findings.

C) It advances a claim made by researchers in one academic field about the nature of technological change and then critiques a contrasting claim presented by a researcher from a related academic field.

D) It details the near-consensus among researchers in a particular field of study regarding how technology evolves and then indicates the controversial nature of a study challenging that broadly accepted view.

Extra Practice 31 (Medium)

The following text is from Mark Haber's 2022 novel Saint Sebastian's Abyss. The narrator and Schmidt are both art critics.

When my first wife admitted to Schmidt over dinner that she didn't find art, painting in particular, especially compelling, Schmidt winced, set down his fork, and sighed dramatically; he then excused himself, explaining an appointment he'd forgotten about had suddenly and inexplicably been remembered, while making it abundantly clear there was no appointment at all.

©2022 by Mark Haber

Based on the text, what is notable about Schmidt's behavior?

A) Schmidt's departure is occasioned by the resumption of a previous disagreement with the narrator's first wife about a particular painting.

B) Schmidt conveys his feelings about one of his dining companions without explicitly stating them.

C) Schmidt's absentmindedness regarding his schedule is uncharacteristic of him.

D) Schmidt is only given to theatrical behavior when in the company of the narrator and his first wife.

Extra Practice 32 (Medium)

The following text is adapted from Anthony Trollope's 1855 novel The Warden. The narrator is describing a rectory, the residence of a clergyperson.

Let us observe the well-furnished breakfast-parlour at Plumstead Episcopi, and the comfortable air of all the belongings of the rectory. Comfortable they certainly were, but neither gorgeous nor even grand; indeed, considering the money that had been spent there, the eye and taste might have been better served; there was an air of heaviness about the rooms which might have been avoided without any sacrifice of propriety; colours might have been better chosen and lights more perfectly diffused; but perhaps in doing so the thorough clerical aspect of the whole might have been somewhat marred.

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

A) It offers a potential explanation for the furnishing choices the narrator critiques.

B) It emphasizes that the narrator finds it inappropriate for a clergyperson to have such grand furnishings.

C) It signals how the inexpensive-looking ornaments in the rectory could be enhanced.

D) It concedes that there is a lack of attention to the impression the rectory makes on people.

Extra Practice 33 (Medium)

Charles Fuller's award-winning play A Soldier's Play was produced in 1981 by the groundbreaking Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). NEC cofounder Douglas Turner Ward, who worked as an actor, director, and playwright, had met actor and producer Robert Hooks while they were performing in a 1960 touring production of Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun. Together, they envisioned a theater company that would nurture and showcase the work of Black theater professionals. Since NEC's founding in 1967, its workshops and performances have given Black playwrights, including Fuller, a forum for their compelling stories.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To describe how Ward and Hooks's creative partnership changed over time

B) To discuss the origin and importance of the NEC

C) To bring attention to a work by Charles Fuller

D) To show how the play A Raisin in the Sun influenced Ward and Hooks

Extra Practice 34 (Medium)

With its combination of country and pop influences, “Here You Come Again” is typical of Dolly Parton’s recordings in the late 1970s and first half of the 1980s. Through songs bridging these two genres, she achieved her greatest commercial successes. A decade earlier, however, Dolly had first established herself as a songwriter steeped in the traditional folk music of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she was born and raised. The influence of the ballads of this region can be heard in the word choice and subject matter of the lyrics to “Jolene,” one of her best songs from this period.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It explores Dolly’s lifelong interest in folk music, then debates whether pop music influenced “Jolene.”

B) It discusses a particular period in Dolly’s recording career, then considers the music in an earlier period of her career.

C) It enthusiastically recommends Dolly’s earliest recordings, then expresses disappointment with her later recordings.

D) It praises “Here You Come Again,” then notes how remarkably similar that song is to a song that Dolly recorded earlier in her career.

Extra Practice 35 (Medium)

Baleen whales eat up to 30 percent of their total body mass in krill (tiny shrimplike creatures) per day. So in one day, a pygmy right whale weighing 3,500 kg could eat 1,050 kg, while a bowhead whale weighing 66,000 kg could ingest a whopping 19,800 kg. Over the last century, baleen whale populations have declined, and contrary to some scientists' expectations, so have krill populations. Matthew S. Savoca and colleagues resolve this apparent discrepancy by pointing out that baleen whales cycle iron in the ocean, helping support phytoplankton populations, which, in turn, sustain krill populations.

Based on the text, what can most reasonably be concluded about pygmy right and bowhead whales?

A) As krill consumption by pygmy right whales has decreased, the krill consumption of bowhead whales has increased.

B) The bowhead whale is able to eat more krill per day than the pygmy right whale is.

C) Both pygmy right and bowhead whales can eat krill, but of the two only the pygmy right whale can also subsist on phytoplankton.

D) Populations of both pygmy right and bowhead whales have declined significantly over the last century due to decreasing levels of iron in the ocean.

Extra Practice 36 (Medium)

The following text is from Yung Wing’s 1909 memoir My Life in China and America. Yung Wing was the first person from China to graduate from a US university.

Little did I realize when in 1845 I wrote, while in the Morrison school, a composition on “An Imaginary Voyage to New York and up the Hudson,” that I was to see New York in reality. This incident leads me to the reflection that sometimes our imagination foreshadows what lies uppermost in our minds and brings possibilities within the sphere of realities.

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

A) It indicates Yung’s unwillingness to distinguish between reality and fantasy as a child.

B) It foreshadows Yung’s future difficulties in publishing his writings.

C) It describes an event in Yung’s life that exemplifies a phenomenon.

D) It illustrates the sense of adventure that Yung developed as a child.

Extra Practice 37 (Medium)

In a study by Mika R. Moran, Daniel A. Rodriguez, and colleagues, residents of Mexico City, Mexico, and Bogota, Colombia, were surveyed about parks in their cities. Of the 562 respondents from Mexico City, 77.6% indicated that they use the city's parks, and of the 1,121 respondents from Bogota, 71.9% indicated using city parks. Given that the percentage of Mexico City respondents who reported having access to other desired amenities near parks was much lower than that reported by Bogota respondents, the difference in park use can't be explained by Mexico City residents having more access to desired nonpark amenities near parks.

Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?

A) Even though the study found that parks in Bogota are more likely to be close to other amenities than parks in Mexico City are, Mexico City has more amenities overall than Bogota does.

B) Although the study found that a greater proportion of residents use parks in Mexico City than in Bogota, that difference isn't due to greater access to amenities near parks in Mexico City.

C) The study's findings suggest that an increase in the number of amenities near city parks would likely increase park use in Mexico City but not in Bogota.

D) The study's finding that a greater proportion of residents use parks in Mexico City than in Bogota is partly due to the greater prevalence of parks in Mexico City.

Extra Practice 38 (Medium)

Though John Crowley, author of Engine Summer, is perhaps not as well known as the most commercially successful American writers of the past fifty years, his work has had several influential champions, including the poet John Hollander and the literary critic Harold Bloom. According to journalist Graeme Wood, Bloom claimed to have read Crowley’s novel Little, Big at least forty-six times, and in his posthumously published afterword to a 2022 edition of the book, Bloom rhetorically asked: “How many living authors of prose romance are universally relevant? Only Crowley.”

What is the main topic of the text?

A) The similarities between the prose of John Crowley and the poetry of John Hollander

B) The characteristics of John Crowley’s work that make it universally relevant

C) The reason why the work of John Crowley is not as commercially successful as it deserves to be

D) The reception of the work of John Crowley

Extra Practice 39 (Medium)

Movies that are part of larger franchises are often criticized for being predictable. Take, for instance, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. It's true that this movie resembles earlier Marvel movies. But just because a movie has familiar elements doesn't mean it can't also be worth watching. Critics generally agree that Spider-Man: Far From Home isn't the most exciting franchise movie, but franchise movies are rarely as stale as some people claim. And some franchise movies, like Logan (2017), are wonderfully original.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) The text summarizes the plot of a franchise movie, then explains how the plot is continued in a later movie in that franchise.

B) The text explains why some people enjoyed a particular franchise movie, then considers why other people disliked it.

C) The text describes audiences' reactions to a movie that is part of a larger franchise, then presents some critics' reactions to that movie.

D) The text discusses a common criticism of franchise movies, then argues that the criticism is mostly undeserved.

Extra Practice 40 (Medium)

The following text is from Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton's 1885 novel The Squatter and the Don.

Don Mariano Alamar was silently walking up and down the front piazza of his house at the rancho; his hands listlessly clasped behind and his head slightly bent forward in deep thought. He had pushed away to one side the many arm-chairs and wicker rockers with which the piazza was furnished. He wanted a long space to walk. That his meditations were far from agreeable, could easily be seen by the compressed lips, slight frown, and sad gaze of his mild and beautiful blue eyes.

Based on the text, why does Don Mariano push aside the furniture on the piazza?

A) He feels that walking an uninterrupted path will help him think through a difficult issue.

B) He is determining which pieces of furniture to dispose of.

C) He wishes to create the impression that he has a large extended family.

D) He wants to make space so that he can engage in vigorous exercise.

Extra Practice 41 (Medium)

Chorioactis geaster, a species of mushroom that makes a distinctive hissing sound when it releases its spores, is an elusive fungus that has been observed only in Texas and Oklahoma in the US and in the Miyazaki and Nara Prefectures in Japan. Scientists aren’t entirely sure why C. geaster is distributed in this way (genetic analysis reveals that the US and Japanese strains diverged 19 million years ago), but the mushroom appears to be very selective: it is typically found on the decaying stumps and roots of only a few tree species that are abundant in these areas.

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

A) It provides an explanation for the relationship between C. geaster and its habitats.

B) It highlights the negative impact C. geaster has on the trees on which it’s found.

C) It emphasizes the uncertainty about C. geaster alluded to earlier in the text.

D) It elaborates on a characterization of C. geaster presented earlier in the text.

Extra Practice 42 (Medium)

Built in the 1970s, Raccoon Mountain is a pumped-storage hydropower facility (a "water-battery") located in the United States along the Tennessee River. When energy demand is low, excess power from the regional electric utility's nuclear plants is used to pump water (from a lower reservoir filled from the Tennessee River) up a shaft to the summit lake, where the water is stored as gravitational potential energy. When energy demand peaks, the water drains down from the summit lake, spinning turbines and generating upward of 1,700 megawatts of power — enough to power one million homes for twenty hours.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To point out the differences between two methods of energy generation

B) To explain the basics of how a specific energy technology works

C) To discuss the benefits of a new energy technology

D) To encourage regional electric utilities to build energy storage facilities

Extra Practice 43 (Medium)

In Algeria, use of solid fuel (e.g., coal, wood) as a share of total household fuel use fell by approximately three-fourths between 2000 and 2019; such shifts are often explained by appeal to the energy ladder, a model holding that fuel choice is mediated mainly by household income (specifically, high-technology fuels displace solid fuels as incomes rise). Rasmus Heltberg’s study of fuel use in Ghana shows this model to be reductive, however: household fuel use was heterogeneous, flexible, and influenced by several factors, including the stability of the local electrical grid.

Which choice best describes the function of the information about Algeria in the text as a whole?

A) It provides an example of a type of change that the text goes on to suggest is poorly suited for evaluating whether the energy ladder is a viable model.

B) It introduces a finding that the text goes on to suggest can be explained in two different ways that are equally compelling.

C) It describes a trend that the text goes on to suggest has a similar cause as a seemingly unrelated trend observed in Ghana.

D) It illustrates the kind of phenomenon that the text goes on to suggest is frequently but inadequately accounted for by the energy ladder.

Extra Practice 44 (Medium)

The establishment of urban green spaces for the abatement of fine particulate matter and other major air-pollutant concentrations is gaining public support, but urban planners must proceed with caution given subtleties in the body of evidence for the strategy's efficacy. High-level reports have attributed pollutant reductions to cities' inclusion of green spaces; however, one study found that while trees are negatively associated with air pollutants when considered on a citywide scale, at the street level, this association is minimal and at times positive. Because research tends to focus on large-scale effects in cities, decision-makers may be unaware that those outcomes are not always generalizable across spatial scales.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It outlines a problem that is of growing public concern, explains why an innovative solution to that problem is challenging to implement, and then suggests the importance of researching alternative solutions.

B) It addresses an appealing approach to a prevalent problem, illustrates that the approach is not as uniformly successful as it may seem, and then further emphasizes the importance of recognizing nuances in the research on that approach.

C) It details an initiative implemented in response to certain research findings, identifies an apparent inconsistency within those findings, and then explains how that inconsistency has typically been accounted for.

D) It establishes the growing intensity of a public concern, details the most common method of mitigating that concern, and then refers to evidence that the method is broadly ineffective.

Extra Practice 45 (Medium)

The food industry has long used thermal technologies to preserve food in large batches. Recent advancements in microwave heating were made through research in Mexico on the preservation of jalapeno peppers. Microwave heating is generally considered to be an improvement over more conventional thermal preservation methods: whereas conventional methods transfer energy from the surface of a food to its interior, microwave heating uses electromagnetic waves to generate heat within the food itself, thus reducing industrial cooking times.

Based on the text, what is one disadvantage of some conventional thermal preservation methods?

A) Their cooking times are longer than those of other methods.

B) They are only effective in heating foods that are lightweight and small in size.

C) They require more energy than other methods do.

D) They are especially vulnerable to technological breakdowns.

Extra Practice 46 (Medium)

The following text is adapted from Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 novel Three Men in a Boat.

In a boat, I have always noticed that it is the fixed idea of each member of the crew that he is doing everything. Harris's notion was, that it was he alone who had been working, and that both George and I had been imposing upon him. George, on the other hand, ridiculed the idea of Harris's having done anything more than eat and sleep, and had a cast-iron opinion that it was he — George himself — who had done all the labour worth speaking of.

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

A) It establishes Harris's feelings about the narrator's idea of how boat trips usually proceed.

B) It offers Harris's belief as a specific example of a trend the narrator has observed while boating.

C) It suggests that Harris is focused on helping the group navigate a challenge.

D) It demonstrates that Harris finds his experiences on the boat to be confusing.

Extra Practice 47 (Medium)

President Richard Nixon is most famous for his participation in the 1970s Watergate political scandal, a convoluted tale of criminality and eroded ethics involving a constellation of associates such as political operative Jeb Stuart Magruder and Nixon's secretary Rose Mary Woods. But Nixon's legacy is complex: he has been praised for his role in affirming the sovereignty of tribal nations, and he once made an attempt at reforming United States health care policy that is arguably a precursor to the Affordable Care Act, which became law during the Barack Obama administration.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Richard Nixon's reputation is primarily due to the actions of his associates.

B) Some of Richard Nixon's policies influenced the policies of later presidential administrations.

C) Jeb Stuart Magruder and Rose Mary Woods were significant figures in the presidency of Richard Nixon.

D) Richard Nixon is commonly linked with an infamous historical event, but this overshadows some of his notable achievements.

Extra Practice 48 (Medium)

The following text is from Julia Alvarez’s 2000 novel In the Name of Salome. Salome, a poet, is hosting guests in the front parlor of her family home, and Ramona is her sister. A salon is a social gathering for the exploration of intellectual ideas.

It was evening when the two men got up to leave. Tia Ana had already come into the room several times to see if these guests had departed yet. The front parlor had always been her special province, as she used it for her little school. Now, every evening, it turned into Salome’s salon, as Ramona called it, and it was never in order for its transformation back to a classroom the following morning.

Which choice best describes the function of the reference to the parlor as Tia Ana’s “special province”?

A) It reveals that Tia Ana feels as if Salome has betrayed her trust by allowing guests into a space she considers her own.

B) It indicates the joy that Tia Ana feels when she uses her classroom for varying purposes.

C) It characterizes the room as a place where Tia Ana can go to escape social pressures.

D) It introduces an idea that helps explain Tia Ana’s apparent eagerness for Salome’s guests to leave the space.

Extra Practice 49 (Medium)

A team of researchers discovered that Matabele ants can identify an infected wound in a member of the colony and then treat the infection by covering the wound with antimicrobial secretions that the ants produce. The team found that the mortality rate for Matabele ants with infected injuries was reduced by 90% with this treatment, and they are hopeful that this discovery could aid in the development of new antibiotics for human use.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It identifies an issue concerning Matabele ants and then proposes a solution to address the issue.

B) It describes unique properties of Matabele ants and then speculates on how those properties evolved.

C) It summarizes research findings on Matabele ants and then identifies an area for further research.

D) It introduces a study of Matabele ants and then explains the research methods used in the study.

Extra Practice 50 (Medium)

Dubautia carrii is among the twenty-eight species of silversword plants found only on the Hawaiian archipelago that collectively illustrate the process of adaptive radiation, or the rapid diversification of an ancestral species into different, related species. Each silversword species is physically distinct, with mature plant forms ranging from trees and shrubs to vines. However, they all descended from a common tarweed plant species, with their unique physical characteristics emerging as they adapted to the archipelago’s many specific habitats over time.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) All silverswords that grow on the Hawaiian archipelago have similar physical characteristics.

B) The Hawaiian archipelago exhibits many distinct habitats and species.

C) Most plants that grow on the Hawaiian archipelago are descendants of a single founder species.

D) Silverswords are good examples of adaptive radiation on the Hawaiian archipelago.

Extra Practice 51 (Hard)

In their study of the steering muscles regulating sclerites (minute hardened structures) in the Drosophila (fruit fly) wing hinge, Johan M. Melis et al. used machine learning to devise a convolutional neural network (CNN) model capable of predicting the pattern of wing motion produced by the maximum activity of the muscles. The CNN model's output aligned with results of prior studies by other researchers measuring muscle activity patterns directly---one of several indications, said Melis et al., that the model accurately represents important biomechanical processes underlying wing motion.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To present evidence from Melis et al.'s study in support of the efficacy of their CNN model

B) To provide an overview of how Melis et al. honed the accuracy of their CNN model

C) To account for Melis et al.'s reliance in their study on a CNN model in lieu of direct measurement

D) To compare results obtained by Melis et al. using their CNN model to prior results obtained from other researchers' models

Extra Practice 52 (Hard)

When Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o, who had previously published four novels in English, began writing in his native language, Gikuyu, in the 1970s, several fellow writers and critics cautioned that doing so might make his works inaccessible outside his own community. Some noted that Kiswahili---widely spoken in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa---would be a more practical choice. Rejecting their arguments, Ngugi went on to author dozens of acclaimed works in Gikuyu that have been translated into a total of more than thirty languages.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Although Ngugi's decision to write in Gikuyu was met with some skepticism, it didn't prevent him from achieving literary success.

B) In the 1970s, Ngugi became convinced that literature ought to be written in authors' native languages, and he proceeded to publish many works in Gikuyu.

C) Although Ngugi insisted on publishing his first works in Gikuyu, they have since been translated into many other languages.

D) The reaction to Ngugi's rejection of English illustrates that some literary experts believe that fame is most easily gained by writing in a widely understood language, such as Gikuyu.

Extra Practice 53 (Hard)

The following text is adapted from Armando Palacio Valdes's short story "The Love of Clotilde," originally published in Spanish in 1884.

It was said that in [Don Jeronimo's] youth he once wrote a play which won him nothing but hisses and free entry for life behind the scenes of the theaters. Whether resigned or not to the verdict of the public, he ceased to write plays and assumed instead the nobler role of patron to unrecognized authors and artists and to ruined managers.

Any youth from the provinces who arrived in Madrid with a drama in his pocket could take no surer road to seeing it produced than that which led to the home of Don Jeronimo. One and all, he received them with open arms, the good and the bad alike.

According to the text, what change coincided with Don Jeronimo becoming a patron of the theater?

A) He achieved public recognition for a poem he had written earlier.

B) He accepted a new job as a stage manager.

C) He stopped writing plays.

D) He moved to a town outside of Madrid.

Extra Practice 54 (Hard)

"Culture" has considerable currency among sociologists but has no fixed definition: it might include art, or laws, or one of several other concepts. Indeed, Susan Silbey has observed that "the meaning of the word 'culture'...is unstable." This uncertainty impedes formulating empirically testable claims about reality, which should be an aim of sociological research---a standard definition of culture is a worthy goal even if impossible to achieve, for the closer we come to one, the closer we come to reducing conceptual incoherence in the field.

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

A) It explains why the text's author thinks that a particular aspiration would improve the discipline of sociology.

B) It shows why the common definition of culture that includes art and laws is inadequate to serve the needs of rigorous sociological inquiries.

C) It presents what the text's author sees as an important implication of the research finding by Silbey.

D) It suggests that any appearance of empiricism in sociology is ultimately illusory, since the language of sociology has subjective elements that cannot be fully eliminated.

Extra Practice 55 (Hard)

The following text is from George Eliot's 1857 short story "The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton." The Countess Czerlaski is a newcomer to the town of Milby.

It is true, the countess was a little vain, a little ambitious, a little selfish, a little shallow and frivolous, a little given to white lies, — But who considers such slight blemishes, such moral pimples as these, disqualifications for entering into the most respectable society! Indeed, the severest ladies in Milby would have been perfectly aware that these characteristics would have created no wide distinction between the Countess Czerlaski and themselves: and since it was clear there was a wide distinction — why it must lie in the possession of some vices from which they were undeniably free.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) The residents of Milby had initially viewed the Countess Czerlaski with suspicion, but they have gradually come to see her as mostly harmless.

B) Although the Countess Czerlaski actively cultivates a sense of mystery about her, her background is less interesting than what many residents of Milby have been led to believe.

C) Although the residents of Milby are generally thought to be hospitable, the Countess Czerlaski has committed many social blunders that have caused her to be widely disliked.

D) Some residents of Milby are determined to disapprove of the Countess Czerlaski, even though the reasons for their dislike are largely groundless.

Extra Practice 56 (Hard)

The soil on Mars can make missions to explore the planet challenging, as the sand and dust are known to clog filters and lock moving parts on robotic rovers and other exploration devices. Using simulants, which are materials designed to simulate different planetary surfaces, scientists are able to study the characteristics of Mars's surface. Simulants like the Mars Mojave simulant---which was developed using lava deposits from California's Mojave Desert---help scientists evaluate how well their devices will handle the surface when operated on Mars.

Based on the text, what is one reason why simulants are valuable for scientists?

A) Simulants allow scientists to test the ability of research equipment to withstand some of the conditions it will encounter during a mission.

B) Scientists use simulants to compare the physical properties of Mars's surface to those of Earth's surface.

C) Simulants can be mixed with soil from Earth to explore how research equipment will handle extreme terrains on Earth.

D) Scientists use simulants to track how the chemical properties of planetary soils have changed over time.

Extra Practice 57 (Hard)

The following text is from William Shakespeare's circa 1611 play The Winter's Tale. Camillo has been away from his home in Sicily and serves in the court of Polixenes, the king of Bohemia. He has asked Polixenes for permission to return to Sicily.

POLIXENES: I pray thee, good Camillo, be no more
importunate. 'Tis a sickness denying thee anything,
a death to grant this.

CAMILLO: It is fifteen years since I saw my country.
Though I have for the most part been aired abroad,
I desire to lay my bones there. Besides, the penitent
king, my master, hath sent for me, to whose feeling
sorrows I might be some allay---or I o'erween [presume] to
think so---which is another spur to my departure.

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

A) It conveys Camillo's recognition that one benefit his presence may afford the king of Sicily is merely speculative.

B) It bolsters the idea that Camillo's primary motivation to return home is his concern for the king of Sicily's well-being in his absence.

C) It suggests that Camillo feels compelled to persuade Polixenes that Camillo's decision to leave the court is justified.

D) It establishes Camillo's hope that Polixenes will be comforted knowing that Camillo isn't departing at his own discretion.

Extra Practice 58 (Hard)

Studies of ocean wave breaking have predominantly focused on traveling waves (those propagating along the horizontal plane), so Mark McAllister et al. utilized a circular wave tank to produce and study spike waves, axisymmetric standing waves that can erupt vertically when traveling waves propagating in opposing directions intersect. Traveling waves break when wave steepness (height-to-length ratio) passes a critical threshold; breaking thus constrains wave height. McAllister et al. found that spike waves can exceed that constraint, as other factors than just steepness (e.g., jet stability and cavity shape) mediate spike-wave breaking.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) McAllister et al. suggest that spike waves can form when traveling waves propagating in opposing directions intersect and that spike waves tend to be higher than traveling waves.

B) The process of breaking limits the height of traveling waves, but the study by McAllister et al. suggests that spike waves can exceed those limits if their height-to-length ratio reaches a critical threshold.

C) The study by McAllister et al. suggests that when traveling waves intersect in specific ways, the resulting wave may be higher than would be expected based on the properties of traveling waves.

D) Previous studies have suggested that steepness mediates breaking in traveling waves, but the study by McAllister et al. shows that jet stability and cavity shape may also influence breaking in such waves.

Extra Practice 59 (Hard)

In an analysis of fungal thermoregulation mechanisms, Radames Cordero et al. determined that Amanita brunnescens, species from the genus Cantharellus, and other mushrooms engage in evapotranspiration to maintain temperatures below ambient temperatures. This hypothermic behavior is particularly intriguing, since it remains unclear what benefits---if any---it confers, though several have been posited. For example, the researchers speculate that relative coldness is a source of attraction for the insects that aid in the distribution of fungal spores.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It describes empirical evidence collected by researchers, suggests that the significance of that evidence is uncertain, and then advances a possible interpretation that the researchers should have considered.

B) It reports on observations made of a natural process, explains the challenges in identifying the process's benefits, and then suggests a means to overcome these challenges.

C) It introduces a broad study of a biological mechanism, narrows to focus on one detail of that study, and then indicates the most promising avenue for additional research.

D) It presents one conclusion from a study of a biological phenomenon, acknowledges an aspect of that phenomenon that has yet to be determined, and then indicates a potential explanation for that aspect.

Extra Practice 60 (Hard)

When used to examine paintings, nonvisible light, such as ultraviolet, can penetrate the painting’s visible surface and give art historians important insights into an artist’s process. For example, imaging the underlayers of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1618–20) revealed that Gentileschi originally painted her own face on the figure. Imaging can also provide insights into a painter’s choice of materials, showing, for example, whether a painter used titanium oxide pigment in a given work.

According to the text, why are the images beneath the surface of a painting valuable to art historians?

A) They can show how long a painting took to complete.

B) They can indicate whether a painting is damaged.

C) They can be used to prove which artist painted a given work.

D) They can reveal aspects of an artist’s decision-making.

Extra Practice 61 (Hard)

Driven to sell as many paintings as possible, Alfred Hair, an influential figure among the landscape artists known as the Florida Highwaymen, pioneered "fast painting," a technique (which in part involved swift applications of paint) that many Highwaymen, including Livingston Roberts, adopted. To conclude that this approach accounts for the ethereal qualities now synonymous with the Highwaymen aesthetic is tempting but inaccurate, as Hair's methods weren't universally practiced by his affiliates: George Buckner, for example, painted with greater deliberateness but achieved the same effects.

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

A) It details evidence that contradicts a claim mentioned earlier in the text about a long-standing disagreement within a group of artists.

B) It considers and rebuts an interpretation of the effect of a painting technique mentioned earlier in the text on the perception of work by a group of artists.

C) It establishes a contrast between the aesthetic qualities of works by artists who were central to a movement introduced earlier in the text and those of an artist who was more peripheral to that movement.

D) It explains how an artist mentioned earlier in the text developed a distinctive style by adapting a particular approach to painting originated by his colleagues.

Extra Practice 62 (Hard)

Although notorious for its strict formal requirements, the sonnet is nevertheless represented by such wide-ranging examples as Maggie Anderson's "Sonnet for Her Labor" and Tyehimba Jess's "Millie and Christine McCoy" — poems that differ remarkably in subject, rhythm, and structure. It may seem counterintuitive that the sonnet — ostensibly rigid and timeworn — could accommodate such variety, but poet Carl Phillips contends that the form invites experimentation: when a genre's conventions are as recognizable as those of the sonnet, the opportunity to subvert them is especially irresistible.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Although Anderson's and Jess's sonnets are both widely celebrated for their striking originality, most modern examples of the form are generally regarded as conventional.

B) As a form, the sonnet encourages a surprising amount of variety, even though certain characteristics associated with it suggest this would be unlikely.

C) That the sonnet remains as popular as it is today is unexpected, given that many of the features associated with the form have long since seemed antiquated to readers.

D) Although the sonnet is now recognized for the way it facilitates experimentation, there was a long period in its history in which very little innovation occurred.

Extra Practice 63 (Hard)

Why do rusty-spotted cats purr but jaguars roar? Researchers hypothesize that this difference between the two feline species may be partly due to a U-shaped bone in their throats called the hyoid. Rusty-spotted cats, which are much smaller than jaguars, have a rigid hyoid that rumbles when the cat’s larynx vibrates, resulting in a purr. By contrast, jaguars have a somewhat flexible hyoid, and the bone is attached to the skull with a stretchy ligament that rusty-spotted cats lack. These traits allow jaguars and most other species of big cats to produce powerful roars. The same traits may also prevent most big cats from purring.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) The text compares the habitats of two species, then explains how those habitats are changing.

B) The text presents a theory about two species, then discusses facts that weaken it.

C) The text poses a question about two species, then presents a possible answer.

D) The text describes a behavior shared by two species, then discusses other behaviors shared by them.

Extra Practice 64 (Hard)

Mexican architect Luis Barragán's prolific career, which spanned the 1920s to the 1980s evolved through distinct phases. After traveling to the United States and Europe in the early 1930s and immersing himself in a broader architectural discourse, Barragán began incorporating principles derived from fictionalism and modernism in his work, as seen in the Pizarro Suárez, House, whose unadorned geometric forms contrast with his earlier projects in Guadalajara, such as the house in Calle Pedro Loza, which evince the aesthetics of traditional Mediterranean and Mexican styles.

Information in the text best supports which statement about the design of the house in Calle Pedro Loza?

A) It represents a transitional moment between the early and late phases of Barragán's development.

B) It reflects an approach to ornamentation and shape that Barragán later stopped using.

C) It displays the effects of Barragán's exposure to international architectural trends in the 1930s.

D) It is characteristic of the Guadalajaran architecture that influenced Barragan throughout his career.

Extra Practice 65 (Hard)

Berlin has high pedestrian traffic, but simply replicating a feature of Berlin associated with walkability — e.g., its dense concentration of services — may be insufficient to induce increased walking in other cities. As urbanist Mariela Alfonzo argues, our understanding of individuals' decision-making about whether to walk is insufficiently robust: some studies emphasize the role of average commuting distance, others the role of perceived safety, and so on, but walking decisions are made in complex contexts in which multiple conditions and needs inform individuals' choices.

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

A) It acknowledges a potential objection to the argument presented earlier in the sentence.

B) It illustrates a scholarly disagreement described earlier in the sentence.

C) It elaborates on a claim presented earlier in the sentence.

D) It summarizes the findings of studies whose methods are discussed earlier in the sentence.

Extra Practice 66 (Hard)

The following text is adapted from Matthew Arnold's 1869 nonfiction book Culture and Anarchy.

The Times [a British newspaper], replying to some foreign strictures on the dress, looks, and behaviour of the English abroad, urges that the English ideal is that everyone should be free to do and to look just as he likes. But culture indefatigably tries, not to make what each raw person may like, the rule by which he fashions himself; but to draw ever nearer to a sense of what is indeed beautiful, graceful, and becoming, and to get the raw person to like that.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) The process of determining what should be considered beautiful is likely to lead to disagreement.

B) The English are unjustly derided for their sense of taste.

C) Culture's duty is to use scientific methods to determine what is beautiful.

D) One of the functions of culture is to create a consensus about matters of good taste.

Extra Practice 67 (Hard)

Asteroid 6478 Gault has experienced intermittent mass loss since at least 2013, but in contrast to some other asteroids with repeated mass-loss episodes, 6478 Gault has not lost mass at its perihelion (the closest point of its orbit to the Sun), and thus the loss is not attributable to solar energy-driven ice vaporization. And as Jane X. Luu et al. point out, the singular nature of impact ejection makes it untenable as an account of multiple loss episodes of similar duration over several years. Instead, Luu et al. are likely correct that 6478 Gault is shedding mass due to rotational instability.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It presents a scientific observation, describes a contrast between that observation and other observations, and then explains why those other observations should not be considered credible.

B) It describes an astronomical finding, discusses competing theories about that finding that the author regards as flawed, and then describes new evidence that supports an alternative theory.

C) It discusses a physical process, evaluates possible causes of that process, and then states that a persuasive account of the process has yet to be put forward.

D) It introduces a natural phenomenon, refutes two potential explanations for that phenomenon, and then presents a third explanation that the author regards as plausible.

Cross-Text Connections

These questions give you two short passages and ask how the ideas or arguments relate to each other.

What They Look Like

Text 1 In a study of the benefits of having free time, Marissa Sharif found that the reported sense of life satisfaction tended to plateau when participants had two hours of free time per day and actually began to fall when they had five hours of free time per day. After further research, Sharif concluded that this dip in life satisfaction mainly occurred when individuals spent all their free time unproductively, such as by watching TV or playing games.

Text 2 Psychologist James Maddux cautions against suggesting an ideal amount of free time. The human desire for both free time and productivity is universal, but Maddux asserts that individuals have unique needs for life satisfaction. Furthermore, he points out that there is no objective definition for what constitutes productivity; reading a book might be considered a productive activity by some, but idleness by others.

Based on the texts, how would Maddux (Text 2) most likely respond to the conclusion Sharif (Text 1) reached after her further research?

A) By acknowledging that free time is more likely to enhance life satisfaction when it is spent productively than when it is spent unproductively

B) By challenging the reasoning in Text 1, as it has not been proved that productivity commonly contributes to individuals' life satisfaction

C) By warning against making an overly broad assumption, as there is no clear consensus in distinguishing between productive and unproductive activities

D) By claiming that the specific activities named in Text 1 are actually examples of productive activities rather than unproductive ones

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read both texts.

Step 2: As you read, identify what each author is claiming.

Step 3: Before looking at answers, use the question to focus: If it asks how they disagree, find the disagreement. If it asks how they agree, find the common ground.

Step 4: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer.

Important: Test each answer against BOTH texts. An answer might accurately describe Text 1 but misrepresent Text 2 (or vice versa).

Watch Out For: Answers that accurately describe one text but misrepresent the other. Always check your answer against both passages.

Relationship Types

Quick Reference by Question Type

Practice

Question 1: Finding Agreement

Text 1:

Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century has a more rigorous structure than its sequel, Capital and Ideology. While the first book's chapters all contribute to bolstering a clear, coherent argument about income inequality, the second book's digressions on subjects such as an analysis of Hayao Miyazaki's film The Wind Rises do not just unduly lengthen the book but also muddy its reasoning.

Text 2:

Capital and Ideology has different aims than Piketty's earlier books. It should be judged not just in the context of Piketty's previous work but placed next to books like William T. Vollmann's Rising Up and Rising Down, in which the stated theme is mainly an excuse for a polymath to map his own mind. Even when sections do not explicitly support the central thesis, they link to each other in intriguing ways. None of them should be considered extraneous.

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

A) Capital and Ideology was influenced by the writing of William T. Vollmann.

B) Capital in the Twenty-First Century is a superior book to Capital and Ideology.

C) Capital and Ideology is notably different in structure from some of Piketty's earlier work.

D) The material in Capital and Ideology on The Wind Rises is essential to the book.

STOP — Try this yourself first. Summarize each text's position. Where do they AGREE, even if they evaluate that differently?

Question 2: How Would Author 2 Respond?

Text 1:

In a study of the benefits of having free time, Marissa Sharif found that the reported sense of life satisfaction tended to plateau when participants had two hours of free time per day and actually began to fall when they had five hours of free time per day. After further research, Sharif concluded that this dip in life satisfaction mainly occurred when individuals spent all their free time unproductively, such as by watching TV or playing games.

Text 2:

Psychologist James Maddux cautions against suggesting an ideal amount of free time. The human desire for both free time and productivity is universal, but Maddux asserts that individuals have unique needs for life satisfaction. Furthermore, he points out that there is no objective definition for what constitutes productivity; reading a book might be considered a productive activity by some, but idleness by others.

Based on the texts, how would Maddux (Text 2) most likely respond to the conclusion Sharif (Text 1) reached after her further research?

A) By acknowledging that free time is more likely to enhance life satisfaction when it is spent productively than when it is spent unproductively

B) By challenging the reasoning in Text 1, as it has not been proved that productivity commonly contributes to individuals' life satisfaction

C) By warning against making an overly broad assumption, as there is no clear consensus in distinguishing between productive and unproductive activities

D) By claiming that the specific activities named in Text 1 are actually examples of productive activities rather than unproductive ones

STOP — Try this yourself first. What is Sharif's specific conclusion? What concern does Maddux raise that would challenge it?

Question 3: Finding the Disagreement

Text 1:

Ollantay is a play in Quechua, an Indigenous language in South America. The play portrays life in the Inca Empire before Spain invaded in the 1500s. Yet the oldest known text of the play is from 1770, and in many places its writing style resembles the writing style of Spanish plays from the 1700s. Thus, Ollantay was probably created in the late 1700s by someone who knew much about the Inca past.

Text 2:

Ollantay includes details of Inca society that a writer in the 1700s wouldn't have known about. Also, the play's structure matches descriptions of the structure of Inca drama from the 1500s. The obvious explanation is that Ollantay itself is an Inca work from the 1500s. It could have been performed continuously from the 1500s to the 1700s. By the time it was written down in 1770, it could have easily been influenced by later Spanish plays.

Based on the texts, what do the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 mainly disagree about?

A) What inspired a Spanish writer in the 1700s to write a play about the Inca Empire

B) Whether Ollantay is an Inca play from the 1500s or was instead created much later, in the 1700s

C) How the Inca author of Ollantay knew so much about plays from Spain

D) Why Inca plays became more popular in the 1700s than they had been when first performed in the 1500s

STOP — Try this yourself first. What is the core claim each author makes? What's the fundamental disagreement?

Extra Practice

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

Text 1

In the past, music albums were created to be played back on physical formats like records. A typical record holds only about twenty-five minutes of music on each of its shiny black sides. This forced artists and producers to think carefully about what music to include on an album and what to leave out. Today's artists don't have to worry as much about fitting their music on physical formats. For this reason, many of today's artists are making albums that are much longer than albums from decades past.

Text 2

In today's digital age, most music is created to be streamed from online services. These services remove the limitations of physical formats like records and CDs. This may be why many new albums are longer and have more songs than albums crafted for physical formats. Unfortunately, many of these longer albums suffer from a lack of focus.

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

A) Many new albums are quieter than albums generally once were.

B) Many new albums sell more copies than albums generally once sold.

C) Many new albums are longer than albums generally once were.

D) Many new albums include more artwork than albums generally once included.

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

Text 1

Despite how the Indian dish madras differs from Mauritius's gato pima, both dishes are described as a "curry." The word's history, however, is fraught. It's a term created by British and Portuguese colonizers to refer to the myriad spiced sauces with ties to the Indian subcontinent. In 1973, chef Madhur Jaffrey dismissed the term "curry" as inaccurate, and in 2021 blogger Nisha Vedi Pawar suggested that people abandon the term both for its colonial origin and for its failure to grasp the intricacies of India's cuisines.

Text 2

Growing up in India, chef Chintan Pandya didn't encounter the term "curry" often: his family didn't cook curries, but some of his neighbors did. Although the blanket use of the term is rooted in colonialism, Pandya calls some of his dishes curries. Having traveled throughout India as part of his training, he came to appreciate the country's diverse cuisines and the diverse uses of the term "curry."

Text 1 and Text 2 present points of view about which topic?

A) The history about the peoples on the Indian subcontinent

B) The use of the term "curry"

C) The difference between madras and gato pima

D) The best method for studying a region's cuisine

Extra Practice 3 (Medium)

Text 1

Scholarship today overrepresents experimentally fragmented narrative structures, such as that of Flann O'Brien's At Swim-Two-Birds, beyond the degree to which they actually influenced fiction in Britain and Ireland during the modernist period (roughly 1900–1945). Meanwhile, Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September, whose coherent, linear narrative structure recalls the fiction of previous centuries, attracts woefully little attention from scholars of modernism.

Text 2

Distant reading, or computer-assisted quantitative analysis of massive collections of digitized texts, can reveal stylistic elements that have heretofore escaped notice, despite being shared by numerous texts from the modernist period. For too long, scholars have focused on narrative fragmentation versus coherence, inhibiting inquiry into other points of stylistic correspondence among works that would enrich our understanding of the modernist canon.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement about scholarship on works from the modernist period in Britain and Ireland?

A) It must widen its focus to include aspects of modernist fiction beyond style, a productive but overrepresented area of inquiry.

B) Without a major shift in focus, the vision that it presents of fiction written in the period will continue to be unnecessarily limited.

C) Instead of engaging in unproductive debates, it should work to rehabilitate the reputations of neglected modernist works.

D) Its primary methods for analyzing fiction written in the period are growing obsolete as computer technology advances.

Extra Practice 4 (Medium)

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

Extra Practice 5 (Medium)

Text 1

An excavation in Chiquihuite Cave in central Mexico has upended the belief that approximately 13,000 years ago, a group known as the Clovis people were the first human inhabitants of North America. More than 200 crude stone tools were found embedded in a layer of earth that is up to 33,150 years old, revealing that humans occupied the cave thousands of years before the Clovis people reached the continent.

Text 2

The objects uncovered in Chiquihuite Cave are intriguing, but it is premature to characterize them as tools. The stone pieces are so roughly shaped that they may have simply fractured from rocks during natural geological activity in the cave. Moreover, their unearthing has thus far not been accompanied by discoveries of other signs of human activity or even traces of human DNA from surfaces.

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

[Note: The underlined claim is: "revealing that humans occupied the cave thousands of years before the Clovis people reached the continent."]

A) By suggesting that it draws a plausible connection between two groups of people but will need to be confirmed with further study

B) By asserting that it rests on an assumption about the stone pieces that is not sufficiently supported by available evidence

C) By acknowledging that it will most likely be proved correct when the stone pieces undergo more detailed analysis

D) By pointing out that it fails to account for evidence that the Clovis people were active on the continent as early as is commonly thought

Extra Practice 6 (Medium)

Text 1

In parts of Finland, the mink is a major predator of the common frog. Researcher Markus Ahola and colleagues found that when this predation pressure on common frogs was temporarily reduced, their numbers significantly increased. This finding illustrates a foundational ecological principle: predators control prey population numbers.

Text 2

William D. Gulsby and colleagues found that excluding coyotes from a site in the state of Georgia where they typically prey on white-tailed deer had no significant effect on white-tailed deer abundance. Many other predation relief studies show an increase in prey abundance, but those studies often focus on small, rapidly reproducing prey, like birds, frogs, and rodents, rather than large, slowly reproducing prey, like white-tailed deer, which could account for the difference between those results and Gulsby and colleagues' results.

Based on the texts, the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about the "principle" mentioned in Text 1?

A) It has been challenged by some studies, but the findings of those studies have not been widely accepted.

B) It may be true for some predators but only because those predators share certain physical characteristics.

C) It is plausible, but many of the studies that support it have methodological flaws.

D) It has some evidential support, but it should not be regarded as universally applicable.

Extra Practice 7 (Medium)

Text 1

Tool use in wild birds is rare and observed almost exclusively in foraging contexts, but male palm cockatoos create and employ tools in mating displays. Using their beaks to carve sticks and seedpods into drumstick-like percussive instruments, these birds then use the instruments they've made to repeatedly tap tree branches, creating rhythmic patterns that appear to be unique to individual birds.

Text 2

Not only are the percussive mating displays of male palm cockatoos idiosyncratic, so apparently are the tools used in them. A team of biologists compared discarded instruments made by 12 palm cockatoos and found that the tools varied in mass, length, and width significantly more than would occur through chance alone. Moreover, the team observed no evidence of imitation among the birds in the designs of their tools.

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

A) In creating and using tools for mating displays, male palm cockatoos exhibit evidence of individual preferences.

B) The tools that male palm cockatoos create and use for mating displays are also sometimes used for foraging.

C) Male palm cockatoos can create individualized percussive patterns even though their tools show little variation.

D) Although male palm cockatoos learn how to make tools through imitation, each bird eventually develops its own individual tool style.

Extra Practice 8 (Medium)

Text 1

In 2019 Belo Horizonte, Brazil, was named a City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in recognition of the city’s unique food culture. The honor is well known among residents of the city as well as tourists who visit. It’s obvious that the selection of Belo Horizonte by UNESCO has brought awareness to local recipes, cooking practices, and chefs and has provided a boost to the city’s tourism industry.

Text 2

Many people in Belo Horizonte’s restaurant industry hoped that food tourism would increase after the city was chosen as a City of Gastronomy in 2019. However, as researcher Ferang Park and colleagues argue, cities must still create effective marketing strategies to benefit fully from being named a City of Gastronomy. Without an intentional effort to promote the city’s food scene, many current and potential visitors to Belo Horizonte may not even be aware that it’s home to uniquely delicious food.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 2 most likely say in response to the underlined claim in Text 1?

A) Many people worked together to help Belo Horizonte be recognized by UNESCO, but chefs deserve the most credit for Belo Horizonte’s selection as a City of Gastronomy.

B) Belo Horizonte may have benefited from being selected by UNESCO, but tourism can likely be further increased by making more potential visitors aware of the city’s status as a City of Gastronomy.

C) The naming of Belo Horizonte as a City of Gastronomy was long overdue, given the city’s unique and delicious food.

D) The benefits of being named a City of Gastronomy extend well beyond tourism.

Extra Practice 9 (Hard)

Text 1

Studies contributing to the body of evidence that people generally enjoy socializing have routinely focused on interactions in ongoing relationships (from spouses to classmates), but psychologist Selin Salman-Engin and colleagues have demonstrated the benefit of making connections with strangers. Greater positive affect was reported by participants in their study who warmly thanked a shuttle driver than by those who didn't speak to the driver.

Text 2

Social relations research commonly draws on a model that centers an individual within three concentric circles. The innermost circle holds one's strongest ties (e.g., a treasured friend), the next holds close but less important ties (e.g., a teammate), and the outermost holds weak ties (those more distant but important enough to be counted as part of one's social network).

Based on the texts, what would Salman-Engin and colleagues (Text 1) most likely say about the discussion of the model in Text 2?

A) It underscores that most research on social interactions fails to capture a category of connection that has the capacity to contribute positively to individuals' sense of well-being.

B) It reflects an overemphasis on relationship longevity in researchers' evaluations of the relative importance of various connections in an individual's social network.

C) It explains researchers' observations that individuals typically expect interactions with familiar people to be more positive than their interactions with unfamiliar people would be.

D) It emphasizes distinctions among types of close connections that aren't adequately represented in social relations research, since most studies categorize relationships as either close or casual.

Extra Practice 10 (Hard)

Text 1

In separate studies, Marine Fernandez and colleagues and Xinhua He and colleagues examined whether plants transfer nutrients to one another using a common mycorrhizal network (CMN) --- a lattice of fungal strands in the soil. Fernandez and colleagues excluded all pathways other than the CMN by using barriers to keep the plants' root systems separate while allowing mycorrhizal strands through --- a crucial step He and colleagues' study did not take.

Text 2

Fernandez and colleagues took the necessary precaution of separating the plants' root systems (thereby excluding root-to-root transmission). However, any barrier used must allow the thread-like hyphae of a CMN to pass through, and this permeability would also allow liquids through. Thus, the researchers' experimental design cannot ensure that any nutrient transfer observed can be attributed to a CMN and not to some other pathway.

Based on the texts, which choice best describes a similarity in the points of view presented in Text 1 and Text 2?

A) Each text attempts to dispel a common misunderstanding about the likelihood of plant-to-plant nutrient transfer.

B) Each text assumes that most nutrient transfer between plants is via a CMN.

C) Each text analyzes methods for studying CMN nutrient transfer in order to propose an alternative method of study.

D) Each text critiques the methodology of a study about nutrient transfer via a CMN.

Extra Practice 11 (Hard)

Text 1

Chemically analyzing bulk rock-core samples from Australia's Mount McRae Shale, Ariel Anbar et al. found a transient but significant increase in molybdenum (Mo) at a point corresponding to roughly 2.5 billion years ago (Ga). On Earth, Mo is released mainly through oxidative weathering of minerals; Anbar et al. therefore concluded that atmospheric oxygen briefly increased 2.5 Ga, then returned to its earlier negligible level.

Text 2

Sarah Slotznick et al. reexamined the Mount McRae Shale core. Since chemically analyzing bulk samples can occlude contextual details, Slotznick et al. also employed high-resolution microscopy, which revealed volcanic debris--a known Mo host--around 2.5 Ga and microfractures in the surrounding matrix. The researchers assert that fluid could have reached the debris through the microfractures and initiated oxidative weathering long after debris deposition.

Based on the texts, Anbar et al. (Text 1) and Slotznick et al. (Text 2) would most likely disagree about the answer to which question about the portion of the Mount McRae Shale rock-core corresponding to 2.5 Ga?

A) Is the increase in Mo in that portion indicative of an increase in atmospheric oxygen dating to the same time?

B) Does the increase in Mo in that portion suggest that atmospheric oxygen levels were not negligible before 2.5 Ga?

C) Did chemically analyzing bulk samples lead to a false impression that there is an increase in Mo in that portion?

D) Is the increase in Mo in that portion attributable to oxidative weathering of the material found in that portion?

Extra Practice 12 (Hard)

Text 1 is adapted from E.M. Forster's 1910 novel Howards End. Text 2 discusses Howards End. King's Cross and St. Pancras are adjacent railway terminals in London from which trains travel to the countryside.

Text 1

To Margaret the station of King's Cross had always suggested Infinity. Its very situation—withdrawn a little behind the facile splendours of St. Pancras—implied a comment on the materialism of life. Those two great arches, colourless, indifferent, shouldering between them an unlovely clock, were fit portals for some eternal adventure, whose issue might be prosperous, but would certainly not be expressed in the ordinary language of prosperity.

Text 2

The interplay between opposing ideological positions in Howards End is broadly articulated in the novel's organization of geographic space. On the one hand, the modern metropolis of London represents capitalism's emphasis on pragmatism and the accumulation of material wealth; on the other, the English countryside, accessible via King's Cross, fosters an idealism that values tradition, authentic personal connection, and the aesthetic—what the novel calls "the infinite."

Based on the texts, the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about King's Cross, as it is depicted in Text 1?

A) As a point of connection between London and the countryside, King's Cross suggests to Margaret the possibility of acquiring the intangible abundance promised by the kinds of authentic engagements that the novel's rural spaces seem to offer.

B) Because it is situated at the beginning of Margaret's journey from the city to the country, King's Cross emblematizes the intrusion of the forces of materialism and modernity into the rural spaces that the novel associates with idealism and tradition.

C) The austerity conveyed by King's Cross's appearance mirrors Margaret's disillusionment with the prospect of having authentic connections with other people in a world that chiefly values more conventional forms of prosperity.

D) King's Cross has a relatively unassuming appearance whose sharp contrast with the more aesthetically pleasing appearance of St. Pancras suggests to Margaret the ascendancy of the pragmatic capitalistic outlook among London's inhabitants.

Extra Practice 13 (Hard)

Text 1

Hycean planets are a class of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) with oceans of liquid water --- critical to supporting life-and atmospheres rich in hydrogen. Computer models have determined that for potential hycean planets, the range of the habitable zone(HZ), the distance from a star that allows a planet to retain liquid water on its surface, begins at about 1 astronomical unit (AU). In 2021, Nikku Madhusudhan et al. identified K2-18b as a hycean candidate, noting that the planet is located right on the inner edge of the HZ

Text 2

In a 2023 paper, Shang-Min Tsai et al. claimed that the hydrogen-rich atmospheres of K2-18b and other hycean candidates admit wavelengths of light that cause elevated surface temperatures and increased water evaporation. Unlike earlier assessments, Tsai et al.'s calculations therefore placed the inner edge for these planets' HZ as far out as 3.85 AU.

Based on the texts, how would Tsai et al. (Text 2) most likely respond to Madhusudhan et al.'s research, as presented in Text 1?

A) By observing that unlike the hycean candidate Madhusudhan et al. discovered most other types of planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres are likely located within the HZ

B) By maintaining that Madhusudhan et al, relied on a model whose estimates of surface temperatures on hycean candidates are likely too high

C) By arguing that K2-18 b and other hycean candidates are unlikely to support life because these planets are located too far from the stars they orbit

D) By stating that the chemical composition of the atmosphere of the hycean candidate Madhusudhan et al, identified suggests that this planet's surface is unlikely to harbor liquid water

Extra Practice 14 (Hard)

Text 1

Toni Morrison's 1973 novel Sula, a tale of two women's lives set in small-town Ohio from the 1910s to the 1960s, has been described as historical fiction. While it's inarguable that Morrison's book takes place in the past rather than in her own time, Sula is much richer and more complicated than the mere re-creation of the past suggested by the term "historical fiction."

Text 2

Some literary critics dismiss historical fiction as a shallow genre in which writers show off their knowledge of period details rather than tell meaningful stories. But historical fiction can be used to explore profound themes and complex characters — in fact, many writers find that writing about the past gives them a creative freedom they'd lack if they wrote about the present.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim about Sula advanced by the author of Text 1?

A) By arguing that Morrison displays a thorough knowledge of historical details in Sula

B) By asserting that dissatisfaction with describing Sula as historical fiction reflects a misunderstanding of the genre

C) By conceding that the genre of historical fiction contains many works that are less sophisticated than Sula is

D) By claiming that the author of Text 1 has underestimated the richness and complexity of Sula

Command of Evidence

These questions give you a claim or an incomplete statement and ask you to pick the evidence — a quote, a finding, or a piece of data — that best supports it, weakens it, or completes it.

Support/Weaken

These questions give you a claim and ask which evidence would support or weaken it.

Text only: The answers are hypothetical findings ("Which finding, if true, would...").

Text + Data: The answers describe data from a graph/table.

What They Look Like

Text Only

The Reckoning and Resilience (2022) exhibition at Duke University's Nasher Museum of Art was the first to focus entirely on North Carolina artists since the exhibition Across County Lines four years earlier. The curators of the 2022 exhibition included painters like Juan Logan, photographers like Cornell Watson, and printmakers like Ayla Gizlice. But whereas the work by Watson would have fit the theme for Across County Lines, works by Logan and Gizlice would not have.

Which finding about the Across County Lines exhibition, if true, would most directly support the underlined claim?

A) It consisted entirely of works by photographers.

B) It was curated specifically to emphasize works that are not owned by the Nasher Museum.

C) It included a greater number of artists than Reckoning and Resilience.

D) It consisted mostly of works by printmakers.

Text + Data

Bird	Mean body mass (grams)
pied-billed grebe	409
ruddy turnstone	137
common ringed plover	60

One antipredator defense that the common sandpiper uses to protect its nest and young chicks is called "broken-wing display"; this form of deceptive defense involves an adult bird pretending to be injured and unable to fly in order to distract an approaching predator. A student predicts that bird species with mean body masses greater than 150 grams do not use deceptive defenses because larger birds tend to be more effective than smaller birds at using aggressive defenses to protect nests from predators, making deceptive defenses unnecessary.

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to weaken the student's prediction?

A) The common ringed plover uses broken-wing display, but the pied-billed grebe does not.

B) The ruddy turnstone uses broken-wing display even though it is larger than the common ringed plover.

C) The pied-billed grebe has a mean body mass of 409 grams and is known to perform broken-wing display.

D) The ruddy turnstone and the common ringed plover both have a mean body mass under 150 grams and use broken-wing display.

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1 (Text + Data only): If there's a graph or table, skim it first—read the title, labels, and key. Don't dig into the data yet.

Step 2: Read the question, then read the text. Identify the claim carefully—every word matters.

Step 3: Before looking at answers, translate the claim:

• For SUPPORT: What evidence would make this claim more likely?
• For WEAKEN: What evidence would make this claim less likely?

Step 4a: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer.

Step 4b (Text + Data only): Verify the answer is factually accurate—check it against the actual data.

The Flip Strategy

You can think of support and weaken as two sides of the same coin:

• To SUPPORT a claim: Find evidence that makes it more likely—OR find evidence that makes the inverse less likely.
• To WEAKEN a claim: Find evidence that makes it less likely—OR find evidence that makes the inverse more likely.

Sometimes it's easier to flip. If the claim is "A causes B," the inverse is "A does NOT cause B" or "Something else causes B."

Watch Out For

• Wrong direction — Double-check whether the question asks for support or weaken. Underline it.

• Irrelevant evidence — Findings that are true but don't actually address the claim.

• False statements (Text + Data only) — Answers that misread or misstate what the data shows.

Questions

Question: Store Layout (Text Only)

External shopping cues use obvious messaging—a display featuring a new product, for example—to entice consumers to make spontaneous purchases. Data scientist Sam K. Hui and colleagues found that this effect can also be achieved with a less obvious cue: rearranging a store's layout. The researchers explain that trying to find items in new locations causes shoppers to move through more of the store, exposing them to more products and increasing the likelihood that they'll buy an item they hadn't planned on purchasing.

Which response from a survey given to shoppers best supports the researchers' explanation?

A) "I needed to buy some cleaning supplies, but they weren't in their regular place. While I was looking for them, I saw this interesting notebook and decided to buy it, too."

B) "I didn't buy everything on my shopping list today. I couldn't find a couple of the items in the store, even though I looked all over for them."

C) "The store sent me a coupon for a new brand of soup, so I came here to find out what kinds of soup that brand offers. I decided to buy a few cans because I had the coupon."

D) "This store is larger than one that's closer to where I live, and it carries more products. I came here to buy some things that the other store doesn't always have."

STOP — Try this yourself first. The mechanism is: Layout change → searching → exposure to more products → unplanned purchase. Which answer shows ALL steps?

Question: Domed Nests (Text Only — Weaken)

Although most songbirds build open, cupped nests, some species build domed nests with roofs that provide much more protection. Many ecologists have assumed that domed nests would provide protection from weather conditions and thus would allow species that build them to have larger geographic ranges than species that build open nests do. To evaluate this assumption, a research team led by evolutionary biologist Iliana Medina analyzed data for over 3,000 species of songbirds.

Which finding would most directly challenge the underlined assumption?

A) Species that build open nests tend to have higher extinction rates than species that build domed nests.

B) Species that build open nests tend to be smaller in size than species that build domed nests.

C) Species that build open nests tend to use fewer materials to build their nests than species that build domed nests do.

D) Species that build open nests tend to have larger ranges than species that build domed nests.

STOP — Try this yourself first. The assumption is domed nests → larger ranges. What's the inverse? Which answer supports the inverse?

Text Only: Illustrate with Quote

These questions give you a claim and ask which quotation best illustrates it.

What They Look Like

A student is writing a paper about One Night in Miami..., a 2020 film directed by Regina King and written by Kemp Powers. Powers adapted the film's screenplay from his 2013 play, which he wrote after learning about a 1964 meeting that took place in Miami, Florida, between four prominent figures of the Civil Rights movement: Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke. The student claims that although Powers was inspired by this meeting, the film is best understood not as a precise retelling of historical events but rather as a largely imagined but informed representation of them.

Which quotation from an article about One Night in Miami... would be the most effective evidence for the student to include in support of this claim?

A) "When Powers learned of the meeting, he initially planned to write a much longer work about its four famous participants rather than focusing on the meeting itself."

B) "One Night in Miami... received numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Powers for Best Adapted Screenplay."

C) "Powers has described One Night in Miami... as the story of four friends encouraging and supporting one another while engaged in a crucial political debate about how best to achieve equality for Black people in the United States."

D) "Powers could find only the most superficial historical details about the meeting, so he read extensively about the four individuals and their thinking at the time in an effort to portray what might have happened between them."

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: Identify ALL parts of the claim. Multi-part claims are common—underline each component.

Step 3: Before looking at answers, ask: "What would a quote need to SHOW to illustrate this claim?"

Step 4: Use process of elimination. The correct quote must address ALL parts of the claim.

Watch Out For

• Partial match — Quotes that address only ONE part of a multi-part claim. If the claim has two components, the quote must cover both.

Question: Oscar Wilde

An Ideal Husband is an 1895 play by Oscar Wilde. In the play, which is a satire, Wilde suggests that a character named Lady Gertrude Chiltern is perceived as both extremely virtuous and unforgiving, as is evident when another character says ______

Which quotation from An Ideal Husband most effectively illustrates the claim?

A) "Lady Chiltern is a woman of the very highest principles, I am glad to say. I am a little too old now, myself, to trouble about setting a good example, but I always admire people who do."

B) "Do you know, [Lady Chiltern], I don't mind your talking morality a bit. Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike."

C) "[Lady Chiltern] does not know what weakness or temptation is. I am of clay like other men. She stands apart as good women do—pitiless in her perfection—cold and stern and without mercy."

D) "Lady Chiltern, you are a sensible woman, the most sensible woman in London, the most sensible woman I know."

STOP — Try this yourself first. The claim has TWO parts. Which answer addresses BOTH?

Text + Data: Lookup & Complete

These questions give you a table or graph and ask which data best completes a statement.

What They Look Like

E-book Sales as a Percentage of Total Unit Sales in All Book Formats for a Large US Trade Publisher, by Genre, 2006, 2011, 2016

Genre	2006	2011	2016
science fiction and fantasy	0.6	27.7	36.7
cookbooks	0	2.9	10.5
travel guides	0	5.5	24.6
romance	0.3	40.6	56.2

E-books became an increasingly popular means of reading in the United States in the 2000s and 2010s, though that popularity was concentrated in titles that, like those in most fiction genres, are meant to be read straight through from beginning to end. For books in nonfiction genres that do not tell stories and require the reader to flip back and forth through a volume, e-books were significantly less commercially successful. This can be seen by comparing ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to illustrate the claim?

A) the percentage of 2016 cookbook sales that were e-books with the percentage of 2016 science fiction and fantasy sales that were e-books.

B) the percentage of 2006 romance sales that were e-books with the percentage of 2016 romance sales that were e-books.

C) the percentage of 2006 romance sales that were e-books with the 2006 science fiction and fantasy sales that were e-books.

D) the percentage of 2011 travel guide sales that were e-books with the percentage of 2016 travel guide sales that were e-books.

What to Know

The General Approach

Step 1: Skim the graph or table first. Read the title, labels, units, and key—just enough to know what it contains.

Step 2: Read the text carefully. It tells you what data to look for. Identify the claim or statement being set up.

Step 3: Before looking at answers, ask: "What specific data would complete this statement logically?"

Step 4: Use process of elimination. Verify the data in your answer is factually accurate.

Watch Out For

• False statements — Answers that misread or misstate the data. Always verify against the table/graph.

• True but irrelevant — Data that's accurate but doesn't fit the specific point being made.

Question: Leave Time Study (Text + Data)

The Data:

(Higher scores = greater attentiveness)

To investigate potential cognitive benefits of taking leave from work, researchers studied Australian university staff members who took no leave, took 2–4 days of leave, or took 1–5 weeks of leave. After analyzing the results, the researchers concluded that longer leave times might not confer a greater cognitive benefit than shorter leave times do.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the researchers' conclusion?

A) In the second test administration, participants who took 2-4 days of leave had higher scores than participants who took no leave, and participants who took no leave had higher scores than those who took 1-5 weeks.

B) In the first test administration, participants who took no leave had approximately the same scores as participants who took 1-5 weeks of leave.

C) In both the second and third test administrations, participants who took 2-4 days of leave had higher average attentiveness scores than did participants who took 1-5 weeks of leave.

D) In the second test administration, participants who took 2-4 days of leave had higher attentiveness scores than participants who took no leave.

STOP — Try this yourself first. The conclusion is about "longer vs. shorter leave"—NOT about "leave vs. no leave." What comparison matters?

Question: Cougar Population Density (Text + Data)

The Data:

Studies of the population density of cougars (Puma concolor) have yielded a range of results, which may in part reflect differences in the effectiveness of the methods that researchers have used in their studies. If, for example, the use of helicopter surveying tends to lead to overestimates of cougar population density, that may explain why the study by ______

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

A) Juan I. Zanón-Martinez et al. required a study area of 1,179 square kilometers, while the study by David M. Choate et al. required a study area of 1,225 square kilometers.

B) David M. Choate et al. reported a maximum density of 10.24 individuals per 100 square kilometers, higher than that reported by several other studies.

C) Randy D. Johnson reported a maximum density of only 2.78 individuals per 100 square kilometers, lower than that reported by several other studies.

D) Gregory A. Davidson et al. reported a maximum density of 5.50 individuals per 100 square kilometers, while the study by Juan I. Zanón-Martinez et al., which used regular camera trapping, reported a lower maximum density.

STOP — Try this yourself first. The passage sets up a specific hypothesis: helicopter surveying → overestimates. Which answer completes this example?

Extra Practice

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

Deposits of valuable objects, or hoards, have been unearthed in many different parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Some of these hoards were discovered before 2000; for example, ______

Examples of Hoards Found in Ireland and Northern Ireland

Hoard name	Date of contents	Year of discovery	Description
Carrick-on-Suir Hoard	17th century CE	2013	gold coins
Ardagh Hoard	10th century CE	1868	silver and bronze pieces
Balline Hoard	4th century CE	1940	silver pieces

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

A) the Ardagh Hoard was discovered in 1868, and the Balline Hoard was discovered in 1940.

B) the Ardagh Hoard was one of several hoards discovered in the 1800s.

C) the Balline Hoard and the Carrick-on-Suir Hoard were both discovered in the 2000s.

D) the Carrick-on-Suir Hoard was discovered in 1940, and the Balline Hoard was discovered in 2013.

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

Most bird species that are capable of flight weigh less than a kilogram (kg), which is not surprising considering the burden that extra body weight puts on a flying animal. But not all flying birds are so light, as we can see most clearly in the example of the ________

Bird Species by Average Mass

Common name	Average mass (kg)	Capable of flight?
Lesser rhea	19.6	No
Dalmatian pelican	11.5	Yes
Andean condor	11.3	Yes
Northern cassowary	44.0	No

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

A) northern cassowary, which has an average mass of 44.0 kg.

B) Andean condor, which has an average mass below 10 kg.

C) northern cassowary, which has a higher average mass than the lesser rhea.

D) Dalmatian pelican, which has an average mass of 11.5 kg.

Extra Practice 3 (Easy)

A study of commercial airline routes that carried the greatest number of passengers in 2017 and 2018 shows that, in general, domestic routes (routes within a single country) carried many more passengers than international routes. However, a few international routes were so popular that they carried more travelers than some of the most highly traveled domestic routes, as can be seen when comparing the ________

Highly Traveled Commercial Airline Routes in 2017-18

Location 1	Location 2	Distance of route (kilometers)	2018 passengers	2017 passengers	Domestic or international
Jakarta	Singapore	896	4,812,342	4,810,602	international
Hong Kong	Manila	1,145	3,008,842	2,907,228	international
Da Nang	Ho Chi Minh City	617	3,256,718	3,210,368	domestic
Jeju	Seoul-Gimpo	449	14,107,414	13,460,306	domestic

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

A) number of passengers who traveled between Jakarta and Singapore in 2017 with the number who traveled that same route in 2018.

B) number of passengers who traveled between Jeju and Seoul-Gimpo in 2017 with the number who traveled between Hong Kong and Manila during that same year.

C) number of passengers who traveled between Jakarta and Singapore in 2018 with the number who traveled between Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City during that same year.

D) distance between Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City with the distance between Jakarta and Singapore.

Extra Practice 4 (Easy)

Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge is an 1838 historical account by Elleanor Eldridge and Frances Harriet Whipple Green. In the book, the authors assert that all people naturally have an emotional attachment to where they live, writing, ______

Which quotation from Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge most effectively illustrates the claim?

A) "This little book is published for the express purpose of giving a helping hand to suffering and persecuted merit."

B) "To give some idea of the high esteem in which the subject of the following narrative is held, and the strong interest her misfortunes have excited, a few, from the great number of recommendations in her possession, are selected."

C) "Blessed are the slumbers of the innocent! They are kindlier than balm, and they refresh and gladden the spirit of childhood, like ministerings from a better world."

D) "Home is home, to the lowly as well as the great, and no rank, or color, destroys its sacred character, its power over the mind, and the affections."

Extra Practice 5 (Easy)

A student is researching the trends in the topics submitted to a national science fair for high school students. The graph shows the number of submissions by topic that were made each year. Based on the data in the graph, the student claims that there were more medicine and health research topics submitted in 2019 than in any other year.

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

A) In 2016, the number of cellular and molecular biology topic submissions was the same as the number of animal science topic submissions.

B) In 2019, there were more physics and space science topic submissions than there were medicine and health topic submissions.

C) The lowest number of animal science topic submissions in a year was approximately 95 in 2016.

D) The highest number of medicine and health topic submissions during the period shown is approximately 285 in 2019.

Extra Practice 6 (Easy)

Volcanoes in Ecuador

Name of volcano	Year of last eruption	Volcano type
Wolf	2022 CE	shield
Imbabura	5550 BCE	compound
Chacana	1773 CE	caldera
Tungurahua	2016 CE	stratovolcano

A student is researching volcanoes in Ecuador. The student claims that Ecuador is home to several different types of volcanoes.

Which choice best describes information from the table that supports the student’s claim?

A) Wolf is a shield volcano, Tungurahua is a stratovolcano, Imbabura is a compound volcano, and Chacana is a caldera volcano.

B) Wolf, Tungurahua, and Imbabura are all stratovolcanoes, whereas Chacana is the only caldera volcano.

C) Wolf, Tungurahua, Imbabura, and Chacana each most recently erupted in different years.

D) Wolf and Tungurahua are both shield volcanoes, whereas Imbabura and Chacana are both compound volcanoes.

Extra Practice 7 (Medium)

Sharks that occupy the top of their marine food chain, such as the dusky shark, help maintain a balance in the populations of species at lower trophic levels. Ecology professor Charles Peterson led a team that hypothesized that an overfishing-caused decline in dusky sharks in the Atlantic Ocean led to an increase in cownose rays (a shark prey species) and that growing cownose ray populations caused a depletion of eastern oysters (a ray prey species).

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the team's hypothesis?

A) Dusky sharks primarily prey on cownose rays, while cownose rays primarily prey on eastern oysters.

B) Cownose rays have expanded into ecological niches previously occupied by dusky sharks.

C) Consumption of eastern oysters by cownose rays substantially increased before the decline in dusky shark abundance began.

D) Cownose rays have increased in regional abundance as dusky sharks have decreased in regional abundance.

Extra Practice 8 (Medium)

Researchers investigated how enjoyment of a story is affected when it has been spoiled (when the reader has foreknowledge of an important plot development). As part of the study, participants rated their enjoyment of one story that was spoiled before they read it and one story that was unspoiled. For each story, participants who had been given a spoiler reported greater enjoyment than did those who hadn't received a spoiler. But the degree of this difference varied across the stories, as is best illustrated by the enjoyment ratings for ______

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

A) "Blitzed" and "Plumbing."

B) "Owl Creek Bridge" and "A Chess Problem."

C) "Blitzed" and "A Chess Problem."

D) "The Calm" and "Plumbing."

Extra Practice 9 (Medium)

A student in Hawaii is interested in pursuing a career in technology and decides to do some research on local trends. The student notices that the number of jobs in computer services in 2010 was ______

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

A) higher than the number of jobs in technical consulting services, and in 2019 was about the same as the number of jobs in engineering services.

B) about the same as the number of jobs in engineering services, and in 2019 was about the same as the number of jobs in technical consulting services.

C) lower than the number of jobs in engineering services, but in 2019 was higher than the number of jobs in engineering services.

D) about the same as the number of jobs in technical consulting services, but in 2019 was lower than the number of jobs in technical consulting services.

Extra Practice 10 (Medium)

Esther Sanye-Mengual, Kathrin Specht, and their team surveyed three groups of people in Bologna, Italy--leaders of urban agriculture projects, stakeholders in urban agriculture (e.g., food researchers and urban farming associations), and the general public--to compare their views about the extent to which urban agriculture contributes to 25 social or ecological services that the team identified. The researchers used these ratings to rank the services for each group, with a ranking of 1 indicating that a group perceives that urban agriculture benefits that service the most. Using only the rankings shown in the table, a city planner in Bologna who is promoting a new urban agriculture project concludes that advertisements aimed at stakeholders should emphasize the project's benefit to the enhancement of pollination.

Ranking of Environmental and Sociocultural Benefits of Urban Agriculture (scale of 1 to 25; 1 = highest)

Social or ecological service	Project leaders	Stakeholders	General public
provision of food	4	15	8
contribution to political fulfillment	21	23	24
provision of medicinal plants	22	21	5
enhancement of pollination	1	7	12
increase in global biodiversity	5	8	17

Which choice best describes data in the table that support the city planner's conclusion?

A) The enhancement of pollination was ranked higher for the general public than it was for stakeholders.

B) The contribution to political fulfillment was ranked higher for stakeholders than was the enhancement of pollination.

C) The enhancement of pollination was ranked higher for stakeholders than were the other four services.

D) The increase in global biodiversity was ranked lower for stakeholders than it was for project leaders.

Extra Practice 11 (Medium)

Elisabeth Potzelsberger and colleagues gathered data on 23 non-native tree species grown in Europe. They analyzed reports from Denmark, Finland, and Belgium about the number of these species grown by the timber industries in those countries. The researchers concluded that none of these countries' timber industries grow all 23 species.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that support Potzelsberger and colleagues' conclusion?

A) There are species other than those reported by Belgium that are important to its timber industry, but they're native to the country.

B) Some of the species that Finland reported are not among the 23 tree species that Potzelsberger and colleagues were evaluating.

C) Denmark, Finland, and Belgium each reported at least 4 of the 23 species.

D) Denmark, which reported more of the 23 species than either Finland or Belgium did, reported fewer than 15 of the species.

Extra Practice 12 (Medium)

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by Edith Wharton set in New York City in the 1870s. In the novel, Newland Archer attends an opera. Newland compares his intellect favorably to that of other men of New York City society who are in the audience: ______

Which quotation from The Age of Innocence best illustrates the claim?

A) "It surprised [Newland] that life should be going on in the old way when his own reactions to it had so completely changed."

B) "Singly [the men around Newland] betrayed their inferiority; but grouped together they represented 'New York,' and the habit of masculine solidarity made him accept their doctrine on all the issues called moral."

C) "But, in the first place, New York was a metropolis, and perfectly aware that in metropolises it was 'not the thing' to arrive early at the opera."

D) "Newland Archer felt himself distinctly the superior of these chosen specimens of old New York gentility; he had probably read more, thought more, and even seen a good deal more of the world, than any other man of the number."

Extra Practice 13 (Medium)

A student is writing a research paper on the history of irrigation in the southwestern United States, situating the development of Lake Sabrina (a man-made body of water created in Inyo County, California, in 1908) in a larger historical context. The student claims that some modern-day irrigation methods used in southwestern states, such as California, Arizona, and New Mexico, have a lineage that long predates the completion of Lake Sabrina.

Which quotation from a historian best supports the student's claim?

A) "Sprinkler irrigation systems, which were developed in the late 20th century, are a convenient technique of irrigating that makes use of machinery in order to spray water in all directions. Many areas of the Southwestern United States are currently irrigated by this method."

B) "In the decades following the Second World War, irrigation of arid areas for agriculture increased to such a degree that it now accounts for roughly 70% of the world's water usage."

C) "The irrigation system developed by the Hohokam people in what is now central Arizona in the 7th century CE was simple but made use of hydraulic engineering design principles that are still utilized by today's engineers."

D) "The importance of the development of irrigation infrastructure in the American Southwest today cannot be overstated, since it is the most common means of conveying water for food production."

Extra Practice 14 (Medium)

Average Hours Worked per Person per Year in 1950 and 2017

Country	1950	2017	Change in hours	Percent change in hours
Brazil	2,042	1,709	−333	−16%
Germany	2,427	1,354	−1,074	−44%
Colombia	2,323	1,998	−325	−14%
Portugal	2,399	1,863	−536	−22%

Calculations may be inexact due to rounding.

A student in an economics course is examining the decline since 1950 in average hours worked per person per year in various nations due to both increased productivity and the adoption of policies that limit working hours. The first task in this investigation is to determine how the decline in Portugal compares to that in other countries. The student finds that ______

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

A) though the percent decrease in hours worked in Portugal was greater than that in Germany and Colombia, it was less than that in Brazil.

B) though the percent decrease in hours worked in Portugal was less than that in Germany, it was greater than that in Brazil and Colombia.

C) while the number of hours worked rose in Portugal from 1950 to 2017, it declined in Germany, Brazil, and Colombia.

D) the decline in number of hours worked was greater in Portugal than it was in Germany, Brazil, or Colombia.

Extra Practice 15 (Medium)

The bird species Hylophilus ochraceiceps (the tawny-crowned greenlet) shares some territory in French Guiana with Thamnomanes caesius (the cinereous antshrike), which emits a loud alarm call when it detects predators. Biologist Ari Martinez and colleagues recorded T. caesius alarm calls and played them in the vicinity of wild H. ochraceiceps. Finding that the birds often froze in place or scattered into vegetation upon hearing the calls, they concluded that H. ochraceiceps associates T. caesius alarm calls with danger.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Martinez and colleagues' conclusion?

A) When Martinez and colleagues played control sounds of random noise in the vicinity of H. ochraceiceps, the birds displayed no reaction.

B) Other bird species than H. ochraceiceps also showed a tendency to freeze in place or scatter into vegetation when Martinez and colleagues played T. caesius alarm calls.

C) Martinez and colleagues played alarm calls from different T. caesius individuals and observed no significant variation in the responses of H. ochraceiceps.

D) In some instances, H. ochraceiceps froze in place or scattered into vegetation when Martinez and colleagues approached but before they began playing sounds.

Extra Practice 16 (Medium)

Terrestrial plants typically carry a negative electrical charge, while hummingbirds and other pollinators tend to accumulate a positive charge. A team of researchers therefore hypothesized that electrostatic attraction (mutual attraction between objects with opposite charges) might enhance pollen transmission between plants and their pollinator species. The team's experiments showed that the maximum positive charge of foraging honeybees is sufficiently high to facilitate electrostatic pollen transfer, a finding that suggests that ______

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

A) houseflies should demonstrate the opposite tendency.

B) Anna's hummingbirds should also demonstrate this capacity.

C) the minimum positive charge necessary for a pollinator to induce electrostatic attraction must be greater than 100 pC.

D) Anna's hummingbirds and houseflies, having greater maximum charges than foraging honeybees have, should not demonstrate this capacity.

Extra Practice 17 (Medium)

Some researchers posit that species on the South Pacific island of Grande Terre are the surviving members of clades that inhabited other islands in the region before the complete emergence of Grande Terre 37 million years ago. In a 2012 study, however, Hervé Sauquet et al, found that the crown age (the age of the most recent common ancestor of all living and extinct species in the clade) of the clade of southern beeches on Grande Terre is 16.4 million years; Sauquet et al, further found that the crown age of the clade of southern beeches in the South Pacific generally is also approximately 16.4 million years.

As presented in the text, the findings of Sauquet et al, best support which statement?

A) The southern beeches found on Grande Terre are members of a clade that likely originated outside the South Pacific.

B) The most recent common ancestor of the southern beeches found on Grande Terre lived at least 37 million years ago.

C) The southern beeches found on Grande Terre are not members of a clade that existed before the island completely emerged.

D) The ancestors of most species found on Grande Terre arrived on the island earlier than did the most recent common ancestor of the island's southern beeches.

Extra Practice 18 (Medium)

Callie W. Babbitt, Hema Madaka, and colleagues assembled a database of materials used in consumer electronics by studying products in the lab and by gathering data from similar product studies. The team gave each of these studies a rating for level of detail (with a higher rating for reported data with more detail) and for level of traceability (with a higher rating for clearer descriptions of procedures). Based on these ratings, a second research team concluded that a study by Greg L. Kozak and Gregory A. Keoleian provided more specificity in its data than a study by Oguchi Masahiro and colleagues did.

Which finding, if true, would most directly challenge the second research team's conclusion?

A) The study by Kozak and Keoleian had a lower detail rating than the study by Oguchi and colleagues did.

B) The study by Kozak and Keoleian had a lower traceability rating than the study by Oguchi and colleagues did.

C) The study by Kozak and Keoleian had a high detail rating and a high traceability rating.

D) The study by Oguchi and colleagues had a low detail rating and a low traceability rating

Extra Practice 19 (Medium)

To understand the extent of deforestation in the Chorotega region of Costa Rica, Juan Pablo Arroyo Mora and colleagues used historical aerial photography and remote sensing data to track changes in the total number of forest patches in areas of different land use capability classes (categories that indicate possible uses of forest land). Due to the Chorotega region's accessibility, various types of forested areas were converted to cattle pasture as rising international meat prices drove a cattle ranching boom in the 1960s and 1970s: this conversion is evident in the ______

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

A) High number of patches in class VII and class VI in 1986.

B) difference between the number of patches in class VII and in class V in 2000.

C) increase in the number of patches for all classes from 1979 to 2000.

D) decrease in the number of patches for all classes from 1960 to 1979.

Extra Practice 20 (Hard)

Percent Change in Average Global Market Prices by Commodity in Two Agricultural Trade-Reform Scenarios

Commodity	Percent change in TFA scenario	Percent change in tariff-removal scenario
Fruits and vegetables	-1.50	+0.04
Processed foods	-1.76	-1.00
Rice	-0.37	+1.36
Wheat	-1.35	+0.45

Ratified in 2017 by two-thirds of World Trade Organization member nations, the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) is a trade-reform measure that aims to reduce redundant customs procedures and other costly aspects of international trade. In a 2021 report, economist Jayson Beckman modeled global market prices of several agricultural commodities under both the TFA and an alternative trade-reform scenario: removal of agricultural tariffs (taxes on imports that generally increase prices on imported goods). After reviewing data from the report, a student concludes that overall, consumers of the commodities listed in the table would likely benefit more from the TFA than they would from tariff removal.

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the student's claim?

A) Under the tariff-removal scenario, the average prices of processed foods, wheat, and fruits and vegetables would decrease by more than 1%, while the average price of rice would decrease by less than 1%.

B) Under the tariff-removal scenario, the average price of processed foods would increase, but the average prices of wheat and rice would decrease.

C) Under the TFA scenario, the average prices of all four commodities would decrease, whereas under the tariff-removal scenario, only the average price of processed foods would decrease.

D) Under the TFA scenario, the average price of rice would decrease by a smaller amount than any of the other three commodities' prices would, whereas its average price would increase under the tariff-removal scenario.

Extra Practice 21 (Hard)

Scholars cite Men of Maize as foundational to magical realism, which juxtaposes "antirealistic plot devices—often borrowed from folkloric traditions" with "otherwise realistic" representation. This influenced Pamuk, whose My Name Is Red "resembles classic magical realist novels in its juxtaposition of literary realism with folklore."

Which quotation from a literary critic best supports the underlined claim?

A) "My Name Is Red clearly shows the influence of Latin American magical realism and Turkish folklore traditions."

B) "The realistic plot of My Name Is Red is repeatedly and productively disrupted by imagery and situations borrowed from Turkish folklore."

C) "My Name Is Red is indebted to the antirealistic elements found in Turkish folklore, much as Latin American magical realism drew from indigenous traditions."

D) "My Name Is Red alternates between realistic and antirealistic narrative modes, with Turkish folklore appearing throughout."

Extra Practice 22 (Hard)

Alessandro Nai et al. presented study participants with vignettes about fictive political candidates, portraying them as embodying a personality trait widely considered admirable (e.g., agreeableness) or one considered ignoble (e.g., cynicism). A survey recorded participants' ratings of the candidates' likability and showed that across participants, ignoble-trait candidates were less likable than admirable-trait candidates. However, when the researchers factored in the participants' own personality trait scores, on a scale of 1 (least ignoble) to 7 (most ignoble), they concluded that this relative ranking of candidates persisted except among the participants with high ignobility scores.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the researchers' conclusion?

A) Overall, participants rated admirable-trait candidates as quite likable, and that rating was not significantly affected by the participants' ignobility scores.

B) Participants with an ignobility score of 5 or less rated admirable-trait candidates as more likable than ignoble-trait candidates, whereas participants with an ignobility score of 6 or more rated ignoble-trait candidates as equally likable as or even more likable than admirable-trait candidates.

C) Unlike participants with an ignobility score of 6, participants with an ignobility score either greater or less than 6 gave admirable-trait candidates and ignoble-trait candidates different likability ratings.

D) There was a strong positive correlation between participants' ignobility scores and admirable-trait candidates' likability ratings, but there was no correlation between participants' ignobility scores and ignoble-trait candidates' likability ratings.

Extra Practice 23 (Hard)

To measure whether countries in free trade agreements (FTAs)--agreements among nations to reduce tariffs, duties, and other trade barriers--experience changes in total agricultural exports, economist Kayode Ajewole and colleagues calculated average export growth rates for several countries over the five years before and the five years after entering an FTA with the United States. The graph shows the results for three countries in the study. Consulting the graph, a student claims that joining an FTA increases the rate of growth of a country's total agricultural exports.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that weaken the student's claim?

A) Over the five years after El Salvador joined CAFTA-DR, agricultural exports from El Salvador grew at a rate of about 21.8 percent, which is higher than the rate over the five years before El Salvador joined the agreement.

B) Although agricultural exports from Nicaragua grew over the five years after Nicaragua joined CAFTA-DR, their growth rate was even higher in the five years before CAFTA-DR.

C) Although agricultural exports from Mexico decreased over the five years before NAFTA, a reversal in this trend was observed over the five years after Mexico joined NAFTA.

D) All the countries shown had positive growth in agricultural exports over the five years after joining their respective FTAs, but their rates of export growth varied.

Extra Practice 24 (Hard)

Creeping dogwood (Cornus canadensis) plants are native to Alaska, where harsh conditions have historically impeded potential invasive species. As the boreal climate has warmed in recent decades, however, common knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare) plants have established themselves in Alaska. It has been suggested that warming-induced delays in the onset of subfreezing temperatures in autumn can benefit invasives more than native species; to evaluate this possibility, biologists Christa Mulder and Katie Spellman tracked C. canadensis and P. aviculare, along with other native and invasive species, over several years, concluding that invasives are advantaged by delays in subfreezing temperature onset in Alaska.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Mulder and Spellman's conclusion?

A) Although C. canadensis and P. aviculare both tended to produce leaves later into autumn in years with late subfreezing temperature onset, the extension was much greater for P. aviculare than for C. canadensis.

B) Although C. canadensis and P. aviculare both tended to produce more leaves overall in years with late subfreezing temperature onset than they did in years with historically typical temperature patterns, the years with late subfreezing temperature onset also had early growing season onset in spring.

C) Although C. canadensis and P. aviculare tended to stop producing leaves at about the same time in years with historically typical temperature patterns, P. aviculare stopped producing leaves sooner than C. canadensis did in years with late subfreezing temperature onset.

D) Although significant interannual variations in subfreezing temperature onset were observed during the study, neither P. aviculare nor C. canadensis showed any significant interannual variation in the cessation of leaf production.

Extra Practice 25 (Hard)

Although Eastern North Pacific (ENP) gray whales generally migrate between their wintering waters along the coast of Mexico and their foraging waters in the Arctic, a subset of this population--known as the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG)--forages along the coastlines of Northern California (USA) and British Columbia (Canada) instead. Interestingly, individuals in this subset reach smaller maximum sizes than other ENP whales do, despite having similar pre-maximum growth rates. Researchers hypothesize that this difference may be an adaptation to distinct resource opportunities in the PCFG foraging range.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers' claim regarding the size of PCFG whales?

A) When present along the coasts of Northern California and British Columbia, PCFG whales tend to forage in rocky kelp beds at shallow depths inaccessible to whales as large as those in the ENP main group.

B) The average body size of PCFG whales observed along the coasts of Northern California and British Columbia has remained relatively steady in recent decades, while the average body size of ENP whales in the main group has slightly decreased.

C) When foraging along the coasts of Northern California and British Columbia, PCFG whales are in closer proximity to major ports and urban populations than ENP whales in the main group are when foraging in Arctic waters.

D) Certain crustacean prey species available along the coasts of Northern California and British Columbia where PCFG whales tend to forage are not available in the Arctic waters where ENP whales in the main group forage.

Extra Practice 26 (Hard)

Paleontologist Amane Tajika and colleagues analyzed the shells of two marine mollusks called nautilids that were harvested from New Caledonia. The researchers found that samples from shell sections that formed before hatching, including sample F07, formed in 20–22°C water, whereas samples from sections that formed after hatching, including M13, formed in 13–15°C water. These findings are consistent with the temperatures Fijian nautilids encounter during their corresponding stages of development. Because water temperature varies with depth, a biology student hypothesized that the New Caledonian nautilids lay their eggs at approximately the same depth as Fijian nautilids do.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the student's hypothesis?

A) Fijian nautilids generally live at lower depths than New Caledonian nautilids do, though Fijian nautilids migrate to the typical depth of New Caledonian nautilids to lay their eggs.

B) Once a nautilid hatches, it is a very mobile animal, so the temperature values reported by Tajika and colleagues for the adult nautilids are averages over a potentially large range of depths.

C) The water temperature at a given depth tends to be lower in waters near New Caledonia than it is at that depth in waters near Fiji.

D) There are few locations near Fiji with water temperatures of 13–15°C that are suitable for nautilid eggs.

Extra Practice 27 (Hard)

Neuroscientist Kiyohito Iigaya and colleagues developed a computational model to predict how much a person will enjoy a particular work of art on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much). They then recruited participants to use the same scale to rate several sets of paintings in various styles and calculated the correlation between the ratings predicted by the model and those reported by the participants. Assuming participant P3 gave equal ratings to the abstract and cubist paintings, the data in the graph indicate the model predicted that ______

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

A) P3 would derive more aesthetic pleasure from cubist paintings than from abstract paintings.

B) P3's rating for abstract and cubist paintings would equal one another.

C) P3 would derive less aesthetic pleasure from cubist paintings than from abstract paintings.

D) P3's ratings for abstract and cubist paintings would differ from one another.

Extra Practice 28 (Hard)

Some metals contain tungsten carbide nanoparticles (WC-NPs), which can leach into waterways and soils via wastewater. In a 2018 study, Mikael T. Ekvall and colleagues found that WC-NPs can accumulate in the bodies of water lice (Asellus aquaticus). While bioaccumulation of manufactured nanoparticles may be inherently worrisome, it has been hypothesized that WC-NP bioaccumulation in invertebrates like A. aquaticus could serve a valuable proxy role, obviating the need for manufacturers to conduct costly and intrusive sampling of vertebrate species --- such as Perez's frogs (Pelophylax perezi), commonly used in regulatory compliance testing --- for nanoparticle bioaccumulation, as environmental protection laws currently require.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the hypothesis presented in the text?

A) Compared with P. perezi, A. aquaticus can accumulate detectable WC-NP concentrations with significantly fewer negative effects.

B) The rate of WC-Np uptake in A. aquaticus differs from the rate of WC-Np uptake in P. perezi in a way that is not yet well understood by researchers.

C) A. aquaticus has been shown to accumulate several other types of manufactured nanoparticles in addition to WC NPs, whereas P. perezi has been shown to accumulate only WC-NPs.

D) When A. aquaticus and P. perezi are exposed to similar levels of WC-NPs, concentrations of WC-NPs in animals of both species show little variation from individual to individual.

Extra Practice 29 (Hard)

Value, Cost, and Seigniorage of US Coins by Denomination, 2023

Denomination	Total value of Units Produced (in millions of dollars)	Gross cost (in millions of dollars)	Seigniorage (in millions of dollars)	Seigniorage per $1 issued (dollars)
One-cent	41.4	127.4	-86.0	-2.08
Five-cent	70.8	163.4	-92.6	-1.31
Ten-cent	266.6	141.1	125.5	0.47
Quarter-dollar	568.4	264.4	304.0	0.53

Issuing a one-dollar coin yields positive seigniorage --- the profit generated when the face value of a coin exceeds the unit cost of producing it-for Singapore's government, which in turn can be used to fund such services as transportation. Some countries, such as the Netherlands, have ceased manufacturing certain coins because their production created negative seigniorage. In an economics class discussing the data in the table, one student argues that in 2023, the one-cent coin was the least financially sensible for the US to produce while another student argues that the five-cent coin was.

Based on the information in the text and the table, the two students most likely disagree about the answer to which question?

A) When evaluating the financial implications of issuing a coin, which is more important, the total seigniorage from issuing that coin or the seigniorage per dollar when issuing that coin?

B) If issuing a given coin results in negative seigniorage per dollar issued, can that be changed to positive seigniorage per dollar issued by reducing the cost of issuing the coin?

C) If issuing a given coin results in positive seigniorage per dollar but not as much positive seigniorage per dollar as issuing a different coin does, does it make financial sense to continue issuing the first coin?

D) When determining whether it makes financial sense to issue a given coin, which is more important, the total value of the units of that coin produced or the gross cost of issuing that coin?

Extra Practice 30 (Hard)

Chesapeake Bay seagrass meadows constitute crucial habitats for many aquatic species. Historically, eelgrass has been predominant, but widgeon grass is proving better suited to recent increases in sea temperature, tolerating heat better and growing faster than eelgrass does. Although the increase in widgeon grass has been associated with a substantial increase in total seagrass coverage in the bay, researchers caution that the latter change does not necessarily make the seagrass ecosystem as a whole more resilient to environmental shocks.

Which statement, if true, would account for data shown in the graph and would illustrate the point made by the researchers?

A) In early 2019, unusually heavy rains washed excessive nutrients into the bay, leading to algal blooms that prevented sunlight from reaching many seagrass species.

B) In early 2018, a fungal infection that affects widgeon grass and eelgrass but does not affect other types of seagrass spread through the bay.

C) Between 2012 and 2017, the total area covered by widgeon grass and the total area covered by all types of seagrass increased as water temperatures in the bay increased.

D) Water temperatures in the bay increased slowly from 2012 to 2018, but in early 2019 there was an unprecedentedly large increase in temperatures, which reached levels that can be tolerated by few seagrass species other than widgeon grass.

Extra Practice 31 (Hard)

Describing adverbs “as damaging to a writer,” novelist Graham Greene is one of several authors and literary critics who have recommended minimizing the use of adverbs, especially those ending in -ly (e.g., “soberly”), in works of fiction. To investigate the prevalence of -ly adverbs in novels, author and statistician Ben Blatt used natural language processing—machine learning technology that reads and interprets text—to calculate the rates at which these words occur in the novels of Ernest Hemingway, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Blatt concluded that in Hemingway’s oeuvre, there is a negative correlation between -ly adverb proliferation and perceived literary merit.

Which finding, if true, would most directly illustrate the pattern Blatt identified?

A) Whereas Hemingway’s acclaimed novel The Sun Also Rises has one of the lowest -ly adverb rates among Hemingway’s works, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel The Great Gatsby has the lowest -ly adverb rate among Fitzgerald’s novels.

B) Whereas Hemingway used on average 80 -ly adverbs per 10,000 words in the 10 novels of Hemingway’s that Blatt investigated, Toni Morrison, winner of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Literature, used on average 76 -ly adverbs per 10,000 words in her novels.

C) In his celebrated novel A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway used 67 -ly adverbs per 10,000 words, whereas 67% of celebrated authors’ novels that have fewer than 50 -ly adverbs per 10,000 words have been classified as great by critics.

D) In The Sun Also Rises, which is widely recognized as a literary masterpiece, Hemingway used 63 -ly adverbs per 10,000 words, whereas in his less-acclaimed novel True at First Light, Hemingway used 102 -ly adverbs per 10,000 words.

Extra Practice 32 (Hard)

Soil thawing in Alaska has been accelerating as a result of climate changes, potentially enabling increased carbon dioxide (CO₂) absorption through greater productivity of arctic bramble (Rubus arcticus) plants and other vegetation, but also potentially enabling increased CO₂ output through greater heterotrophic respiration (CO₂ generated by the activity of soil microorganisms). Hydrologist Yonghong Yi and her colleagues developed a model incorporating numerous inputs --- years of soil temperature and snow cover data among them --- to evaluate the effects of climate changes on the CO₂ balance in Alaska, concluding that net CO₂ is likely to increase if seasonal snow cover arrives earlier relative to the onset of soil surface freezing.

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

A) The effect of soil temperature on the growth of vegetation and on the rate of heterotrophic respiration is stronger during the period of seasonal snow cover than during the period without snow cover.

B) Relatively early snow cover reduces the amount of soil moisture available for the growth of plant species such as R. arcticus and lowers the rate of heterotrophic respiration.

C) Seasonal snow cover tends to persist longer in areas of relatively low vegetation growth and high heterotrophic respiration than in areas of relatively high vegetation growth and low heterotrophic respiration.

D) The soil insulation provided by snow cover enables heterotrophic respiration to continue during a period in which plant species such as R. arcticus are typically not growing.

Extra Practice 33 (Hard)

Rafael Núñez and colleagues studied how members of the Yupno, an Indigenous group in Papua New Guinea, conceptualize time in both spoken language and gestures. The researchers recorded Yupno speakers explaining certain temporal words and phrases, such as omo-ropmo bilak, a past-oriented expression that translates to “a couple of years ago,” and coded each speaker’s manual gestures. Previous research has found a tendency in many cultures to make temporal distinctions along imagined linear axes: for instance, English speakers often refer to the front/back axis to describe events in time. Some researchers believe this tendency is universal, but Núñez and colleagues claim this is not the case.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Núñez and colleagues’ claim?

A) Yupno speakers typically use their left hand to make temporal gestures regardless of whether the gestures are past oriented or future oriented.

B) Some Yupno grammatical structures used when talking about time are also used in English.

C) Yupno speakers were observed making temporal gestures both indoors and outdoors, though with greater frequency when indoors.

D) Future-oriented gestures used by Yupno speakers do not, on average, point in the opposite linear direction of past-oriented gestures.

Inference

These questions ask you to "logically complete the text." You'll recognize them by the prompt: "Which choice most logically completes the text?"

This is the ONLY question type with this prompt—so identification is easy.

What They Look Like

Geoglyphs are large-scale designs of lines or shapes created in a natural landscape. The Nazca Lines were created in the Nazca Desert in Peru by several Indigenous civilizations over a period of many centuries. Peruvian archaeologist Johny Isla specializes in these geoglyphs. At a German exhibit about the Nazca Lines, he saw an old photograph of a large geoglyph of a whalelike figure and was surprised that he didn't recognize it. Isla returned to Peru and used a drone to search a wide area, looking for the figure from the air. This approach suggests that Isla thought that if he hadn't already seen it, the whalelike geoglyph ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) must represent a species of whale that went extinct before there were any people in Peru.

B) is actually located in Germany, not Peru, and isn't part of the Nazca Lines at all.

C) is probably in a location Isla hadn't ever come across while on the ground.

D) was almost certainly created a long time after the other Nazca Lines geoglyphs were created.

What to Know

Key Insight

These are called "Inference" questions, but don't let the name mislead you. You're not making big logical leaps or reading between the lines.

The correct answer is the smallest logical step from the evidence.

Think of it this way: the SAT can't ask you to guess or speculate—they need one defensible answer. So the "inference" is really just a conclusion that can be safely deduced from what the passage states. If you find yourself thinking "well, this COULD be true..." you're probably going too far.

Stay rooted in the text. The answer that feels almost obvious—boringly close to what the passage says—is usually right.

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: As you read, turn the text into a series of bullet points in your head: - Point A - Point B - Point C...

Step 3: Before looking at answers, ask: "Therefore, what?" (sometimes you will be able to predict an answer)

Step 4: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer.

Watch Out For:

• Out of scope — Introduces ideas not in the passage.

• Reverse direction — Flips causation or movement.

• Overconclude — Goes further than the evidence supports.

Remember, the correct answer is the smallest logical step from the evidence.

Common Patterns

While every Inference question is unique, certain patterns show up repeatedly:

Practice

Question: Vinland Map

When the Vinland Map, a map of the world purported to date to the mid-1400s, surfaced in 1957, some scholars believed it demonstrated that European knowledge of the eastern coast of present-day North America predated Christopher Columbus's 1492 arrival. In 2021, a team including conservators Marie-France Lemay and Paula Zyats and materials scientist Anikó Bezur performed an extensive analysis of the map and the ink used. They found that the ink contains titanium dioxide, a compound that was first introduced in ink manufacturing in the early 1900s. Therefore, the team concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

STOP — Try this yourself first. The map claims to be from the mid-1400s. The ink wasn't available until the 1900s. What must be true?

Question: Stock Market Liberalization

In June of 1987, South Korea liberalized its stock market... Ross Levine and Sara Zervos found that liberalization did not lead to enduring increases in investment... Peter Blair Henry, however, found that, on average, investment in companies in liberalized countries increased significantly in the three years following liberalization. Taken together, these results suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) investment growth is likely to be more consistent in countries that liberalize than in countries that do not.

B) companies typically do not benefit from liberalization until at least three years after liberalization occurs.

C) liberalization may provide a boost to investment that fades over time.

D) economists' expectations about the effect of liberalization on investment were largely correct.

STOP — Try this yourself first. Map each finding. What's the ONE explanation that accounts for BOTH?

Question: Venusian Whistler Waves

Whistler waves are low-frequency plasma waves that on Earth are typically generated by lightning. Numerous recordings of whistler waves on Venus have led many scientists to suggest that the planet's atmosphere is host to extensive amounts of lightning, and, in fact, Venusian whistler waves have similar energy signatures to those of whistler waves generated by lightning on Earth. The majority of Venusian whistler wave data come from two spacecraft missions—the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (PVO) and the Venus Express (VEX)—which have included few observations of other phenomena consistent with lightning occurrences (such as flashes of light), leading other scientists to suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) there are geophysical characteristics of Venus not shared with Earth that promote the generation of whistler waves.

B) the purported Venusian whistler waves must actually be some other type of atmospheric activity than whistler waves.

C) Venusian lightning has properties that make it unlikely to generate whistler waves.

D) similarities in the energy signatures of Venusian and Earth whistler waves may reflect imprecisions in the PVO and VEX data.

STOP — Try this yourself first. What do some scientists believe? What makes other scientists skeptical?

Extra Practice

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

In dialects of English spoken in Scotland, the "r" sound is strongly emphasized when it appears at the end of syllables (as in "car") or before other consonant sounds (as in "bird"). English dialects of the Upland South, a region stretching from Oklahoma to western Virginia, place similar emphasis on "r" at the ends of syllables and before other consonant sounds. Historical records show that the Upland South was colonized largely by people whose ancestors came from Scotland. Thus, linguists have concluded that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) the English dialects spoken in the Upland South acquired their emphasis on the "r" sound from dialects spoken in Scotland.

B) emphasis on the "r" sound will eventually spread from English dialects spoken in the Upland South to dialects spoken elsewhere.

C) the English dialects spoken in Scotland were influenced by dialects spoken in the Upland South.

D) people from Scotland abandoned their emphasis on the "r" sound after relocating to the Upland South.

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

In 2016 biological anthropologist Heather F. Smith and her team investigated the evolution of the appendix, an intestinal organ that is present in some mammals, including humans, but is generally thought to have no function. Studying 533 mammal species, the team found that the appendix has emerged independently across multiple lineages in separate instances and, significantly, hasn't disappeared after emerging in specific lineages. Moreover, the team determined that species with the organ tend to have higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue, which supports immune responses, in the cecum, the organ the appendix is attached to. Therefore, the team hypothesized that the appendix likely ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) was once present in many nonmammal species but has since disappeared from those lineages.

B) has been preserved in certain mammal species because it benefits their immune systems.

C) will emerge in a greater number of mammal species because it may serve a necessary function in the immune system.

D) produced higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue in mammals in the past than it does currently.

Extra Practice 3 (Easy)

Blue holes—large marine sinkholes, like Watling's Blue Hole near San Salvador Island—can be hundreds of meters deep and are sometimes part of widespread subterranean networks of passageways. In 2021, researchers conducted the first formal study of the Taam Ja' Blue Hole (TJBH), located in a bay of fresh water and salt water on Mexico's coast, and reported a maximum depth of 274 meters. Reyes-Mendoza and colleagues later reinvestigated the depth of the TJBH, determining that it exceeded 400 meters; additionally, they detected variations in characteristics across water layers. Layers more than 400 meters deep began to show density and salinity conditions akin to those of the nearby Caribbean Sea. Reyes-Mendoza and colleagues therefore suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) there may be tunnels and caves that connect the TJBH and the waters of the Caribbean deep underground.

B) in the TJBH, there are greater differences between water layers less than 275 meters deep than there are between water layers greater than 400 meters deep.

C) researchers should reevaluate existing measurements of the depths of Watling's Blue Hole and other blue holes where the conditions in very deep waters are similar to those of waters in open seas.

D) the apparent relationship between depth and salinity level in the TJBH is the inverse of that found in the Caribbean Sea.

Extra Practice 4 (Easy)

Neuroscientist Artin Arshamian and his team sought to determine what affects a person's perception of an odor as pleasant: is it culture, personal taste, or aspects of human anatomy? The team assessed odor preferences in ten groups of people with different modes of living (urban, agricultural, and hunter-gatherer) including the Maniq people from a small community in Thailand and urban dwellers from a large city in Mexico. The team observed that across cultures, people generally rated odors about the same: ethyl butyrate, which smells like peaches, was typically rated more pleasant than mushroom alcohol, which smells like fungus. The team's study thus undermined the idea that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) a person who perceives certain odors as pleasant will likely perceive the odors as roughly equal in pleasantness.

B) culture significantly influences whether a person perceives an odor as pleasant or unpleasant.

C) people agree in their perception of odors as pleasant or unpleasant regardless of where they live.

D) personal taste has little influence on whether odors are perceived as pleasant or unpleasant.

Extra Practice 5 (Medium)

Some businesses believe that when employees are interrupted while doing their work, they experience a decrease in energy and productivity. However, a team led by Harshad Puranik, who studies management, has found that interruptions by colleagues can have a social component that increases employees' sense of belonging, resulting in greater job satisfaction that benefits employees and employers. Therefore, businesses should recognize that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) the interpersonal benefits of some interruptions in the workplace may offset the perceived negative effects.

B) in order to maximize productivity, employers should be willing to interrupt employees frequently throughout the day.

C) most employees avoid interrupting colleagues because they don't appreciate being interrupted themselves.

D) in order to cultivate an ideal workplace environment, interruptions of work should be discouraged.

Extra Practice 6 (Medium)

Aerogels are highly porous foams consisting mainly of tiny air pockets within a solidified gel. These lightweight materials are often applied to spacecraft and other equipment required to withstand extreme conditions, as they provide excellent insulation despite typically being brittle and eventually fracturing due to degradation from repeated exposure to high heat. Now, Xiangfeng Duan of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues have developed an aerogel with uniquely flexible properties. Unlike earlier aerogels, Duan's team's material contracts rather than expands when heated and fully recovers after compressing to just 5% of its original volume, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) the aerogel's remarkable flexibility results from its higher proportion of air pockets to solidified gel as compared to other aerogels.

B) the aerogel's overall strength is greater than that of other insulators but its ability to withstand exposure to intense heat is lower.

C) the aerogel will be more effective as an insulator for uses that involve gradual temperature shifts than for those that involve rapid heat increases.

D) the aerogel will be less prone to the structural weakness that ultimately causes most other aerogels to break down with use.

Extra Practice 7 (Medium)

In Switzerland, the white fuzzy mountain flowers known as edelweiss are widely treated as a symbol of strength and courage. Although edelweiss can thrive in extreme conditions, they aren't notably tougher or harder to reach than other mountain flowers growing in the Swiss Alps. Historian Tobias Scheidegger has shown that the popular view of the flowers originated in the mid-1800s when mountain climbing became popular in Switzerland. Mountain climbers spread the idea that the flowers grew only in steep, icy terrains that were dangerous to climb to. Scheidegger says that these claims were self-interested. He suggests that mountain climbers presented edelweiss in this way in order to ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) share their observations about the unusual characteristics of edelweiss with scientists.

B) encourage more flower enthusiasts to explore the Swiss Alps.

C) make themselves appear brave and strong for being able to climb to difficult places where edelweiss supposedly grew.

D) prove that edelweiss were more common in the Swiss Alps than in other mountain regions in Europe.

Extra Practice 8 (Medium)

Northeastern Kansas's Jefferson County is among the most rural counties in the United States: the US Census Bureau classified it as 98.8% rural in 2010. Researchers studying populations of counties like Jefferson often struggle to recruit and retain participants. Melissa Valerio and colleagues tested whether a method called snowball sampling could improve recruitment and retention. Working in two rural counties, the researchers identified a small number of people who had the characteristics desired for a proposed study and asked them to recruit additional participants from their social networks. Valerio and colleagues found that participants recruited via snowball sampling showed a much higher retention rate than did people recruited by strangers, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) being recruited to participate in a study by someone with whom one is socially connected may impart a feeling of obligation to persist with participation in the study.

B) people with relatively small social networks are inherently less likely to be recruited to participate in a study via snowball sampling than are people with relatively large social networks.

C) snowball sampling is more likely to improve retention rates among rural participants than among nonrural participants.

D) social networks can become large enough that two people can share a network but nevertheless regard each other as strangers.

Extra Practice 9 (Medium)

Right-handedness is overwhelmingly prevalent in humans. Among studies of laterality in nonhuman primates, Dulce D. Shafer's 1988 study of captive gorillas reported no tendency toward right-handedness, while S.G. Lutz-Maki and P.F. MacNeilage's 1991 study of captive chimpanzees did. However, the latter study included only 14 individuals, and a meta-analysis of primate-laterality studies demonstrated that a minimum sample size of 176 individuals is required to be confident that a finding of population-level handedness is not mere statistical noise. The claim of right-handedness in the 1991 study should therefore be treated skeptically given that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) right-handedness does not occur frequently enough among chimpanzees to reliably appear in a sample of only 14 individuals.

B) the apparent difference between the two studies' results may be partly attributable to the 1988 study using a different standard to determine handedness than the 1991 study did.

C) the study that did not find right-handedness in gorillas was also based on an insufficient population size.

D) the sample size on which the claim is based is far below the threshold identified in the meta-analysis.

Extra Practice 10 (Medium)

The single origin hypothesis of iron metallurgy posits that the craft originated in Anatolia (West Asia) circa 2200-2000 BCE before diffusing to other parts of the world, including Africa. Some proponents of the hypothesis argue that iron production technologies first arrived in North Africa through Carthage, where the earliest evidence of ironworking dates to approximately 800-600 BCE, before these technologies spread to sub-Saharan Africa over the following centuries. However, excavation of multiple sites on the Adamawa plateau in Central Africa conducted by Etienne Zangato and Augustin Holl uncovered evidence of iron workshops that may have been in operation as late as 900-750 BCE in Gbabari and as early as 2300-1900 BCE in Oboui and Gbatoro. These findings suggest that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) iron production may have originated in Anatolia much earlier than the available evidence currently indicates.

B) iron production technologies were likely transmitted from Anatolia to Central Africa via an alternate route than the one suggested by some proponents of the single origin hypothesis.

C) iron production technologies found in Gbabari likely derived directly from technologies transmitted from Anatolia, but those found in Oboui and Gbatoro did not.

D) iron production may have developed independently and relatively simultaneously in Anatolia and parts of Central Africa.

Extra Practice 11 (Medium)

Many studies have found a positive association between levels of dissolved organic carbon and mercury in bodies of fresh water in North America. But Perri Porvari and Matti Verta did not find this correlation in a study conducted in Finland, leading some scientists to hypothesize that the association is particular to North America. However, several other studies conducted outside North America, such as one by Yao Luo and colleagues in China, showed similar results to the North American studies, while few have produced results similar to those of Porvari and Verta's study, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) levels of dissolved organic carbon and mercury in bodies of fresh water are both much higher in Finland than elsewhere.

B) the hypothesis that the positive association is particular to North America is correct.

C) dissolved organic carbon and mercury levels do typically rise and fall together in fresh water.

D) there were circumstances unique to Luo and colleagues' study that impeded accurate measurements of mercury levels.

Extra Practice 12 (Medium)

The Bronze Age in Britain lasted from around 2500 BCE to approximately 700 BCE. Collections of metal items (called hoards) from all periods of the Bronze Age have been found in Britain, including the Arreton Down hoard of artifacts from the 17th century BCE, unearthed around 1735, and the much later Hollingbourne hoard of artifacts from the 10th century BCE, unearthed around 2003. Sometime in the Middle Bronze Age (approximately from the 14th century BCE to the 10th century BCE), metalsmiths in Britain began to develop swords for the first time. This fact helps explain why, whereas evidence of sword production was found in ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) both the Arreton Down hoard and the Hollingbourne hoard, only the latter included evidence of more refined sword production.

B) hoards discovered before 2003, no such evidence was found in hoards that were discovered later.

C) the Arreton Down hoard, no intact swords were found among the items in the hoard.

D) the Hollingbourne hoard, no such evidence was found in the Arreton Down hoard.

Extra Practice 13 (Hard)

Before the 1858 publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin developed his theory of natural selection in five notebooks. In them he first expressed one of natural selection's principles: that species produce more offspring than available resources can sustain. He also listed books he read, such as Charles Lyell's Elements of Geology. A fall 1838 entry in one of Darwin's notebooks mentions species' struggle for survival in a world of insufficient resources "as inference from Malthus," referring to a 1798 essay by economist Thomas Malthus asserting that population growth will outpace agricultural production. A later notebook, begun in October 1838, mentions "the grand crush of population." This suggests that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) though some of Darwin's notebook entries relating to his theory of natural selection date from 1838, others must have been written as late as 1858.

B) in early fall 1838, Darwin realized that Malthus's ideas regarding human populations derived from observations of animal behavior in nature.

C) sometime in or before October 1838, Darwin determined that a postulate rooted in economics might also be applicable to biology.

D) a key concept in Darwin's theory of natural selection had been previously articulated in the same terms by economists sometime between 1798 and 1838.

Extra Practice 14 (Hard)

From November 2002 to March 2003, oil prices rose 28%, creating what economists term an oil shock. Although oil shocks have occurred multiple times since 1945, a broadly applicable description of how oil shocks affect economies at the national level has proved elusive, a problem typically attributed to the fact that oil shocks' effects are substantially conditioned on country-specific characteristics (oil import-export ratios, most importantly). Recently, however, Gbadebo Oladosu et al. showed that economists' estimates of national economies' responsiveness to oil shocks are highly heterogeneous even within a given country and time frame — ranging by more than a factor of five in the case of China during a recent oil shock, for instance — suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) methodological discrepancies in studies of oil shocks may have contributed to economists' inability to provide a generalized model of oil shocks' effects on national economies.

B) controlling for variations in countries' oil import-export ratios may have obscured inconsistencies in economists' findings about the effects of oil shocks at national levels.

C) economists' conventional measures of national economic activity may be insufficiently sensitive to the effects of oil shocks.

D) differences in oil import-export ratios from one country to another may account for more of the differences in the effects of oil shocks on those countries' economies than economists previously believed.

Extra Practice 15 (Hard)

Chelsea Wood et al. tracked temperature-driven changes in the abundance of Opechona sp. (a complex life cycle parasite, or CLP, that requires three host species throughout its lifecycle), Anthocotyle merlucci (a directly transmitted parasite, which requires only one host species), and 83 other parasite taxa found on eight fish species. CLPs are transmitted when an infected host is ingested by an individual of another species, typically shielding CLPs from the external environment, whereas directly transmitted parasites are exposed to external conditions during transmission. However, Wood et al. found that three-host CLP abundance decreased as sea temperatures rose, whereas directly transmitted parasite abundance was largely stable, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) as the number of host species involved in a parasite's transmission increases, the parasite is better protected against rising temperatures.

B) any advantages that the transmission strategy used by three-host CLPs may have conferred did not completely offset the negative effects of other temperature-driven factors on CLP abundance.

C) CLPs primarily transmitted by ingestion were less dependent on host species adversely affected by warming temperatures than were CLPs that use other transmission strategies.

D) directly transmitted parasites identified in the study were more likely to use transmission strategies that shield them from warming temperatures than were three-host CLPs.

Extra Practice 16 (Hard)

The subscription economy has rapidly expanded to include a wide range of products — from books to cloud storage — in part because consumers appreciate the convenience of automatic payments. But as a study by Ben Klopack and team shows, consumers are typically inattentive to automatic payments and remain subscribed to services long after their value has worn off. The study also found that subscribers were much more likely to discontinue a service when they had to make an active renewal decision (for example, when they need to update payment information to remain subscribed) than at other times. The researchers therefore concluded that a regulation requiring all subscribers to complete payments manually would likely ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) deter attentive consumers from subscribing in the first place but would have little effect on whether inattentive consumers decide to subscribe.

B) decrease subscribers' valuation of the subscription services at a faster rate than if no such regulation were implemented.

C) enable dissatisfied subscribers to save more money than they would without such a regulation in place but at the expense of a feature that may have induced them to subscribe initially.

D) result in reduced average subscription durations, but the overall experience of the longest-subscribing consumers would improve.

Extra Practice 17 (Hard)

Exclusively inhabiting tropical countries such as Senegal, wild chimpanzees lack adaptations to seasonal variations in ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiance from sunlight; since UVB exposure enables vertebrates to synthesize vitamin D, Sophie Moittie and colleagues studied zoo chimpanzees in Italy and other mid-latitude countries to see how vitamin D levels are affected by the seasonal variations in UVB irradiance that occur in those locations. They found that chimpanzees' vitamin D levels were significantly lower in winter than in summer and appeared unaffected by oral supplementation of vitamin D administered by zookeepers. Moittie and colleagues point out, however, that supplementation was rare, highly varied, and poorly tracked, and therefore they caution against concluding that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) vitamin D levels among zoo chimpanzees in Italy and other mid-latitude countries likely show different seasonal patterns than do vitamin D levels among wild chimpanzees in Senegal and other tropical countries.

B) the lack of an observed effect of supplemental vitamin D on zoo chimpanzees in Italy and other mid-latitude countries may reflect shortcomings in the data rather than actual ineffectiveness.

C) providing zoo chimpanzees in Italy and other mid-latitude countries with supplemental vitamin D has no promise as a strategy for offsetting winter reductions in their vitamin D levels.

D) winter reductions in UVB irradiance in Italy and other mid-latitude countries can contribute to variations in zoo chimpanzees' vitamin D levels.

Extra Practice 18 (Hard)

In an analysis of medieval urbanization in Pisa, Greifswald, and other European settlements, researchers drew on modern urban scaling theory, which posits that population density in core urban areas increases as a city grows larger. Hypothesizing that this typical relationship would have differed in medieval settlements because of the constraining influence of strong hierarchical social structures (which are much less pronounced in modern cities) on social networking and economic integration—drivers of urban agglomeration—the team created a model that accounted for the presence of restrictive institutions. They found that the typically expected density-size relationship held for each of the 173 medieval settlements whose growth they analyzed, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) although there tends to be a positive relationship between population size and development of core urban areas for both medieval settlements and modern cities, social institutions likely limited the rate at which population density increased in medieval settlements.

B) despite a change in the role of social structures over time, there is likely a notable consistency between medieval settlements and modern cities in underlying elements of the social and economic interactions among individuals that shape the development of core urban areas.

C) the social and economic dynamics that affect urban agglomeration were likely much different in medieval settlements than in modern cities, despite the similarity across time in population density patterns.

D) the constraining influence of hierarchical medieval institutions likely had a significant effect on individuals in some social groupings but little to no effect on members of other social groupings.

Extra Practice 19 (Hard)

Probabilistic models generate predictions based on outcomes of analogous past events, but even as these models project likely outcomes, they implicitly acknowledge that lower-frequency events may occur instead. Because they accommodate multiple potential outcomes, such models may seem incompatible with causal determinism — the view that particular outcomes are inevitable given certain preconditions. But complete foreknowledge of relevant conditions is generally unavailable, suggesting that a state of uncertainty ultimately prevails in which outcomes can be predicted but not definitively foretold.

What does the text most strongly imply about the relationship between probabilistic models and causal determinism?

A) The predictive use of probabilistic models can be reconciled with acceptance of causal determinism because causal determinism does not necessarily entail the existence of absolute certainty.

B) The predictive use of probabilistic models represents a rejection of causal determinism because such models associate a single event with multiple potential outcomes.

C) Probabilistic models reflect the influence of causal determinism because their predictions of future outcomes are informed by concrete information about past events.

D) Probabilistic models can be understood as compatible with causal determinism only when their predictions of future events overwhelmingly favor one potential outcome.

Extra Practice 20 (Hard)

In 1900, in collaboration with Cherokee cultural historian Will West Long, white ethnographer James Mooney assembled a collection of traditional oral stories related to him by Cherokee elders. Based on their content, Mooney categorized them into various genres: historical traditions, tales of animals, and so on. Noting that some stories feature detailed descriptions of geographic locations in the Cherokee homeland, Mooney demarcated those as a genre he referred to as "wonder stories." While Long and Mooney's collaboration proved valuable as an act of cultural preservation, it is important to bear in mind that Cherokee people are not known to have applied genre divisions to their stories before Mooney's work. There is, therefore, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) some reason to think that other traditional stories that the Cherokee elders did not share with Mooney would not have met Mooney's criterion for classifying them as "wonder stories" despite including geographical information.

B) no evidence for Mooney's conclusion that the Cherokee elders who recounted the stories believed that the geographic details included in some stories were accurate descriptions of the Cherokee homeland.

C) considerable uncertainty about whether Mooney's classifications of the stories shared by the Cherokee elders were influenced by Long's views about which features of a story are most indicative of the genre to which the story belongs.

D) no reason to believe that the Cherokee elders who provided the stories would have agreed with Mooney that the inclusion of geographical specificity in some stories marked those stories as different in kind from other stories.

Extra Practice 21 (Hard)

Studying animals in a laboratory allows variables to be systematically controlled, but removing animals from their wild habitats can affect their behavior and biology in unforeseen ways. Given this, biologists Rebecca M. Calisi-Rodríguez and George E. Bentley examined research on tucos and white-throated sparrows to see whether results from studies in the wild were consistent with the results of studies in the laboratory. Therefore, data showing that tucos tend to be most active during the daytime in the wild would be irrelevant to Calisi-Rodríguez and Bentley's investigation if ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) this behavior pattern has not been studied in the lab.

B) white-throated sparrows have low levels of corticosterone hormones outside of the breeding season in the wild.

C) they are more likely to become active at night in the lab.

D) such data have been collected for white-throated sparrows in laboratory settings but not in the wild.

Extra Practice 22 (Hard)

Consumers increasingly expect that goods they purchase online will be delivered rapidly, even as soon as the day of purchase. Although efficiencies in long-distance transport of parcels have greatly improved delivery times, last-mile logistics (the final step in deliver to consumers) present a bottleneck for delivery companies. Time pressure resulting from consumer expectations is not the only challenge: other obstacles, such as the increasing congestion of roadways, persist. While innovations to mitigate these challenges have been emerging --- the use of aerial drones, for instance --- success has been constrained due to the additional complications that arise (e.g., a lack of suitable drone landing sites in residential areas). Consequently, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) in the near term, delivery companies are unlikely to overcome the impediments associated with last-mile logistics

B) innovations in last-mile logistics seem poised to increase consumers' expectations for rapid delivery

C) delivery companies should invest more funds in proven long-distance transport technologies than in untested last-mile solutions

D) the use of aerial drones may enable delivery companies to meet consumers' expectations now but likely is not viable as a permanent solution.

Extra Practice 23 (Hard)

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) capitalize on the ability of some species of bacteria to metabolize metal, liberating electrons. The bacteria form a dense biofilm on the surface of an electron-collecting anode, but moving the electrons from the bacterial cytoplasm to an external electrode requires that the electrons pass through a series of inefficient oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions. Accordingly, MFC power output rarely exceeds a density of 0.30 milliwatts per square centimeter (mW/cm2). In an experiment, researchers added silver nanoparticles to carbon paper covering the anode in an MFC. The resulting power density was 0.66 mW/cm2. Since metals such as silver exhibit high electrical conductivity, the researchers hypothesized that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) silver nanoparticles may increase the metabolic processes of the bacteria, thereby increasing the number of free electrons available to transfer to the electrode.

B) as the density of the biofilm increases, the series of redox reactions may accelerate independent of the presence of the silver nanoparticles,

C) electrons may be conducted directly to the electrode before the silver nanoparticles catalyze the redox reactions.

D) silver nanoparticles may allow electrons to bypass the series of redox reactions and transfer directly to the electrode

Extra Practice 24 (Hard)

The Virgin Group's introduction of the Virgin Atlantic airline in 1984 is an instance of brand extension --- the company leveraged its brand recognition as a music retailer to enter a new product category. To investigate how market share affects consumers' likelihood of purchasing brand extensions, Allcia Grasby et al identified 30 extended brand pairs (e.g., the same brand of vacuum cleaner and microwave) in household purchasing data; for each pair, Grasby et al, calculated the branded products' market share and calculated the increase in probability of a brand in one category being purchased if the same brand was purchased in the other category. A broad inverse relationship between the two values emerged, which can most reasonably be attributed to the fact that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) the purchase probability of a brand is affected by the purchase probability of the particular product category to which it belongs, and thus brands in categories that are rarely purchased tend to have low purchase probabilities regardless of market share.

B) as a brand's market share increases, the number of competing brands in the same product category tends to decrease, and thus the rate of increase in market share tends to accelerate as a brand's market share grows.

C) brands with high market share have high purchase probability regardless of whether the other product in the pair is purchased and thus have less potential to increase in purchase probability than brands with low market share do.

D) consumers tend to be less familiar with brands with low market share than brands with high market share and thus may purchase both products in a pair with low market share without recognizing that the products are the same brand.

Extra Practice 25 (Hard)

The compositional strategy of Untitled, a 1955 work by Cherokee artist Edna Massey, is far more closely aligned with Abstract Expressionism --- a mid-twentieth-century school of painting dominated by European American artists-than with traditionally abstract forms of indigenous art, such as beadwork. Few viewers would infer from the stylistic attributes of Untitled that Massey was Indigenous. In this respect, the work typifies Indigenous painters' forays into abstraction during the period. In contrast, the contemporary Caddo artist Chad "Nish" Earles assembles abstract compositions out of motifs common in the traditional ceramics and graphic art of his tribe. Thus in Earles's work, abstraction has the effect of ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) rendering Indigenous identity more legible than it is in Untitled.

B) asserting the indigenous origins of motifs associated with Abstract Expressionism.

C) challenging the dominance of European American artists within Abstract Expressionism.

D) reconciling Indigenous and European American influences that coexist uneasily in Untitled.

Extra Practice 26 (Hard)

Archaeologists assume that when a major demographic shift interrupts the intergenerational transmission of expertise, this manifests in the archaeological record in the form of simultaneous reductions in the complexity of multiple specialized crafting traditions. Inventories of excavation sites from the Alazani River valley and nearby areas dating from 4000 to 500 BCE show a steep drop occurring around 1500 BCE in the number of objects featuring gold filigree, an advanced technique in which fine threads of gold are arranged in intricate patterns. The inventories also indicate that advanced copper-alloy metallurgy and most other specialized crafting traditions continued to flourish during this period, a finding suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) disruptions around 1500 BCE in the utilization of gold filigree likely occurred in the context of demographic continuity among peoples of the Alazani River valley.

B) a sudden simultaneous decline in artifacts from multiple specialized crafting traditions is less likely than previously assumed to indicate that the transmission of expertise was disrupted by demographic changes.

C) peoples in the Alazani River valley continued to uphold multiple specialized crafting traditions, including goldsmithing and copper-alloy metallurgy, even as demographic shifts occurred.

D) cross-cultural transmission between distinct demographic groups in the Alazani River valley likely explains the expansion of copper-alloy metallurgy beginning around 1500 BCE.

Extra Practice 27 (Hard)

Arthurian legends (tales related to the character of King Arthur) derive from many sources, such as Annales Cambriae, composed around 970, and Perceval, the Story of the Grail around 1181. One of the most significant sources, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, was written in Latin in the 1130s; some material from it was later adapted by the Norman poet Wace into the Roman de Brut in 1155. But while no source before 1155 includes references to the famous Round Table at which Arthur’s knights assembled, both the Roman de Brut and Sir Thomas Malory’s 13th century compilation of Arthurian legends, Le Morte d’Arthur, do. It can therefore be inferred that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) Geoffrey of Monmouth was unaware of stories of the Round Table when composing his History, though historians know that works containing such stories were available to him.

B) Le Morte d’Arthur is more historically accurate than History, because Perceval, the Story of the Grail had not been written when Geoffrey of Monmouth was writing his work.

C) Malory did not use Annales Cambriae as a source for information he presented about the Round Table.

D) Geoffrey of Monmouth’s accounts of Arthurian legends in his History are more similar overall in content to the accounts in Perceval, the Story of the Grail than they are to the accounts in Roman de Brut.

Transitions

Transitions questions ask you to pick the word or phrase that best expresses the relationship between two sentences or ideas. You'll recognize them by the prompt: "Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?"

What They Look Like

In 1885, Chinese-born California resident Mary Tape became a hero of the Asian American civil rights movement. In January of that year, she won an antidiscrimination case in the California Supreme Court. ______ in April, she wrote an open letter criticizing her local board of education for discrimination. Both actions are remembered today as historic stands against racism.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Later,

B) For instance,

C) In other words,

D) Rather,

What to Know

Key Insight

You don't need to memorize individual transition words. You need to identify the RELATIONSHIP between the sentences.

The SAT doesn't care whether you pick "also" or "in addition"—those mean the same thing. What matters is recognizing that you need an addition word rather than a contrast word. Get the category right, and the answer becomes obvious.

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question, then read the text.

Step 2: As you read, compare the sentence that the blank is in with the sentence before it—what's the relationship?

Step 3: Before looking at answers, predict the type of transition needed (contrast, cause-effect, continuation, example, etc.).

Step 4: Pick the answer that matches your predicted category. Plug it back in and re-read to confirm.

Transition Categories

Category Identification

For each transition word below, identify which category it belongs to: Same Direction, Left Turn, Cause/Effect, Example, Confirmation, or Other. If it doesn't fit neatly into one of these categories, describe what kind of relationship it suggests.

Practice

Question 1: Same Direction

Mexico’s Alondra de la Parra took over as conductor for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in 2017. ______ Colombia’s Lina Gonzalez-Granados did the same for the Los Angeles Opera in 2022.

A) in addition,

B) lastly,

C) granted,

D) for instance,

STOP — Try this yourself first. Two conductors doing the same thing. What kind of relationship is this?

Question 2: Left Turn

At two weeks old, wolves can smell but cannot yet see or hear. Domesticated dogs, ______ can see, hear, and smell by the end of two weeks.

A) in other words,

B) for instance,

C) by contrast,

D) accordingly,

STOP — Try this yourself first. Wolves CAN'T see/hear at two weeks. Dogs CAN. Same or opposite?

Question 3: Other (Time Sequence)

In January of that year, she won an antidiscrimination case in the California Supreme Court. ______ in April, she wrote an open letter criticizing her local board of education.

A) Later,

B) For instance,

C) In other words,

D) Rather,

STOP — Try this yourself first. January → April. What kind of relationship is this?

Question 4: Confirmation (Indeed/In Fact)

With her installation The Interstitium, Laleh Mehran succeeded in creating a space that felt both "familiar and distant." ______ with a video screen at the far end of the coal slag-encrusted room, her installation was reminiscent of a typical movie theater—albeit one found in a subterranean coal mine.

A) Next,

B) Nevertheless,

C) Indeed,

D) Instead,

STOP — Try this yourself first. The first sentence makes a claim. Does the second sentence contradict it, add a new point in the same direction, or provide evidence that proves the claim?

Extra Practice

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

Laetitia Ky's hair is her art. Inspired by hairstyles from various African tribes, the Ivorian artist uses wire and thread to sculpt her hair into all kinds of shapes. ______ she once made her hair into the shape of the continent of Africa—including the island of Madagascar!

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Soon,

B) Elsewhere,

C) For example,

D) However,

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

Phytoplankton play a crucial role in the ocean's uptake of carbon from the atmosphere. When alive, these tiny marine organisms absorb atmospheric carbon via photosynthesis. ______ after they die, the phytoplankton sink to the seafloor, where the carbon in their cells gets stored in sediment, preventing it from cycling back into the atmosphere.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Specifically,

B) By contrast,

C) Nevertheless,

D) Then,

Extra Practice 3 (Easy)

In 1949, Frank Zamboni developed an ice rink resurfacing machine. As Zamboni’s machine moved along the rink’s surface, it first scraped off the top layer of ice. ______ it sprayed water into the deep grooves left behind by customers’ skates. Lastly, it smoothed over the newly formed ice.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) For example,

B) Next,

C) Similarly,

D) In contrast,

Extra Practice 4 (Easy)

The eruption of Rusty Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is caused by a sequence of events. First, water seeps down through narrow channels in the bedrock. ______ magma heats the water and turns it into steam. Finally, that steam builds up enough pressure in the narrow channels to force the water above it to burst out of the ground.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Similarly,

B) On the contrary,

C) First of all,

D) Next,

Extra Practice 5 (Easy)

In most deer species, males grow antlers, and females don't. ______ reindeer are different. They are the only deer species in which the females grow antlers, too.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Similarly,

B) Next,

C) However,

D) Thus,

Extra Practice 6 (Easy)

In Spain, citizens must be at least 18 years old to vote in their country's elections. ______ citizens in Ecuador need only be 16 years old to cast their vote.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) For example,

B) Firstly,

C) Therefore,

D) By comparison,

Extra Practice 7 (Easy)

Generally, sleek vehicles are more aerodynamic than bulkier ones. For example, the streamlined nose of the T‑38 Talon jet helps it glide through wind with relative ease. ______ a boxy semitruck encounters more wind resistance, making it less aerodynamic.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) As a result,

B) Specifically,

C) In conclusion,

D) On the other hand,

Extra Practice 8 (Easy)

Scientists were able to isolate a relatively pure sample of neon in 1898, the same year they first discovered the element’s existence. ______

the isolation process took longer for erbium, which was isolated in its pure form 91 years after scientists first discovered it.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) For instance,

B) By contrast,

C) Thus,

D) Similarly,

Extra Practice 9 (Easy)

As anthropologist Cristina Grasseni explains, with the rise in demand for artisanal cheeses claiming to be typical of specific Italian regions, such as Grana Padano cheese from Lombardy, came the need to guarantee the veracity of such claims to consumers. ______ the European Union established DOP status, a label certifying that the cheese was made according to the region’s local traditions.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Nevertheless,

B) For this reason,

C) In other words,

D) By contrast,

Extra Practice 10 (Easy)

Scientists studying asteroid deflection have focused on secondary objects such as S/2018 (2018 EB), a moonlet orbiting the near-Earth asteroid 2018 EB. In 2022 NASA intentionally crashed a probe into just such an object, the moonlet Dimorphos. ______ Dimorphos’s orbital period around the near-Earth asteroid Didymos was permanently altered.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) In addition,

B) Specifically,

C) Consequently,

D) In comparison,

Extra Practice 11 (Easy)

In a 2005 study by Meilado et al., the researchers determined the ratio of three different plant subtypes within the diet of sheep: graminoids, forbs, and browse. ______ the researchers determined the relative quantities of the plants the animal consumed.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) By contrast,

B) Next,

C) In addition,

D) That is,

Extra Practice 12 (Easy)

Scientists long debated the origins of chondrules, tiny glass beads that formed in meteors billions of years ago. For decades, different theories were proposed, from lightning strikes to powerful rock collisions, but none had sufficient evidentiary support. ______ scientists found strong evidence that chondrules were formed by shock waves in nearby nebulae.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) For example,

B) Finally,

C) Similarly,

D) Therefore,

Extra Practice 13 (Easy)

With their distinctive cone shapes and steeply sloping sides, the volcanoes Maunganui (New Zealand) and Fisher (Alaska) may look similar from afar. Prasanendu Moitra and other volcanologists ______ can tell by how each was formed that Maunganui is a cinder cone volcano, while Fisher is a composite volcano.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) for example,

B) in addition,

C) though,

D) therefore,

Extra Practice 14 (Medium)

In Amarna, Egypt, archaeologist Anna Hodgkinson unearthed bits of glass near lower status dwellings, which she believes may refute the long held notion that the material was enjoyed exclusively by Ancient Egyptian royalty. ______ archaeologist Thilo Rehren states flatly that glass doesn’t appear to have been “a closely controlled royal commodity,” concurring, based on his own research, that the material was more common than once surmised.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Likewise,

B) Nonetheless,

C) As such,

D) Consequently,

Extra Practice 15 (Medium)

Originally coined by economist Joan Robinson to refer to markets with multiple sellers of a product but only one buyer, the term "monopsony" can also refer to markets where demand for labor is limited. In a product monopsony, the single buyer can force sellers to lower their prices. ______ in a labor monopsony, employers can force workers to accept lower wages.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Earlier,

B) Instead,

C) Similarly,

D) In particular,

Extra Practice 16 (Medium)

In studying whether jellyfish sleep, researchers Michael Abrams, Claire Bedbrook, and Ravi Nath attempted to answer three questions. ______ is there a period each day when the pulse rates of jellyfish decline? Second, do jellyfish respond more slowly to stimuli during that period? Finally, if prevented from sleeping, are jellyfish adversely affected?

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) As a result,

B) First,

C) Additionally,

D) However,

Extra Practice 17 (Medium)

Imagine a magazine that a reader has thrown away. This magazine is post-consumer waste, as it became waste after reaching the consumer. ________ the paper scraps left over from printing the magazine are pre-consumer waste, as they became waste before reaching the consumer.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) For example,

B) As a result,

C) By contrast,

D) Specifically,

Extra Practice 18 (Medium)

While studying joro spiders, a large species originally from East Asia, University of Georgia researchers wondered if the spiders' rapid spread throughout the southeastern US was a result of aggressive behavior. ______ they discovered that joro spiders are gentle giants who react to even minor disturbances by "freezing" in place for an hour or more.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) In other words,

B) Therefore,

C) For example,

D) Instead,

Extra Practice 19 (Medium)

The traditional process of Turkish paper marbling (ebru) generally proceeds like this: First, the artisan fills a shallow tray with a water bath solution. Next, the artisan adds inks or paints to the solution, which can then be manipulated into intricate designs. ______ the artisan slips paper in and out of the liquid, transferring the design onto the paper.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Nevertheless,

B) Therefore,

C) Actually,

D) Finally,

Extra Practice 20 (Medium)

In a hypothetical family tree, it is common for a parent in the first generation to exhibit a given trait, such as dimples, and for none of that parent’s children (second generation) to inherit it. ______ the grandchildren (third generation) could inherit dimples or another such trait from the grandparent.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Nonetheless,

B) Specifically,

C) Besides,

D) In addition,

Extra Practice 21 (Medium)

In 2015, geologist Peter Rogerson calculated that the geographic center of Georgia was a point 17.7 miles southeast of the municipality of Macon. Rogerson's calculation was more accurate than the one from 1920 by the US Geological Survey. ______ this earlier calculation was made using far more rudimentary equipment---only cardboard and string.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Of course,

B) Ultimately,

C) Likewise,

D) To that end,

Extra Practice 22 (Medium)

When ordering the branches of the Yukon River system by Hack's method, one begins with the riverway's lowest point, the Yukon River. ______ when using Strahler's method, one begins at the top of the river system, with the Dulbi River and other tributaries fed by the riverway's source, Alaska's Llewellyn Glacier.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Specifically,

B) In other words,

C) Indeed,

D) Alternatively,

Extra Practice 23 (Medium)

As an anti-federalist, New Jersey landowner and politician John Stevens Jr. objected to the US Constitution's provisions for a powerful centralized government and opposed the document's ratification; ______ essays he published in the New York Daily Advertiser in November 1787 under the pseudonym "Americanus" disparaged the arguments of the federalists, who supported the Constitution's adoption.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) nevertheless,

B) fittingly,

C) by comparison,

D) in other words,

Extra Practice 24 (Hard)

DeWitt Clinton employed the pseudonym "Atticus" — a reference to an ancient Roman figure — in political essays he wrote in 1795, a choice that accomplished far more than simply concealing his authorship. ______ it wasn't an arbitrary pen name but rather a complex rhetorical strategy through which Clinton aligned his political views with the venerated republican ideals of the ancient world, thereby bolstering the authority of his writing.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Indeed,

B) However,

C) In addition,

D) Conversely,

Extra Practice 25 (Hard)

A 1990 study of schooling fish observed the fish mimicking the behavior of school-mates rapidly swimming away from a predator. This is an example of an information cascade that benefits the collective. ______ the animal world is at times susceptible to the spread of misinformation, often with unfavorable results: a 2010 study of semipalmated sandpipers concluded that fleeing in response to flock-mates' false alarms caused the birds to abandon safe nesting grounds unnecessarily.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) In other words,

B) Conversely,

C) Indeed,

D) Consequently,

Extra Practice 26 (Hard)

The geologic principle of cross-cutting relationships states that an intrusion is younger than the rocks through which it cuts. ______ geophysicists analyzing a given rock formation can ascertain that an igneous intrusion that bisects a layer of 358.9-million-year-old Tournaisian rock but not the 303.7-million-year-old Gzhelian rock above it is younger than the former but older than the latter.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Accordingly,

B) Moreover,

C) To this end,

D) That being said,

Extra Practice 27 (Hard)

In economics, sugar is considered a soft commodity, while copper and crude oil are considered hard commodities. The categorical distinction between soft and hard commodities lies not in the products’ strength or durability but in their origin: the former type is grown or farmed, while the latter is mined or drilled. ______ pine lumber is as much a soft commodity as sugar, despite its decidedly sturdier composition.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Though it is grown from the earth,

B) In a notable exception to this rule,

C) By this definition,

D) Summarizing this principle,

Extra Practice 28 (Hard)

A staunch supporter of women’s voting rights, Wilhelmina Kekelaokalaninui Widemann Dowsett sought to coordinate the efforts of suffragists in her native Hawaiʻi. ______ in 1912, she founded the National Women’s Equal Suffrage Association of Hawaiʻi, an organization that lobbied for women’s voting rights in the US territory.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Alternatively,

B) Conversely,

C) In other words,

D) To that end,

Extra Practice 29 (Hard)

Though Middle English was widely spoken in fourteenth-century England, the English language was rarely employed in literature until poet Geoffrey Chaucer helped pioneer its literary use. ______ his manuscripts contain the first documented uses of over 2,000 English words---like the word "digestion" in his 1395 poem "The Squire's Tale"---which led a contemporary to dub him "the first finder of our fair language."

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) That being said,

B) Indeed,

C) Besides,

D) However,

Extra Practice 30 (Hard)

The prime meridian, the global indicator of zero degrees longitude established in 1884, was originally determined using astronomically derived coordinates. ______ as decades passed, new calculations would reveal increasingly precise coordinates, yet the prime meridian remained unchanged; it wasn't until the 1980s that, spurred by improved geodetic data, the prime meridian was officially moved---roughly one hundred meters east.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Granted,

B) Again and again,

C) Specifically,

D) To that end,

Extra Practice 31 (Hard)

Long thought to be sessile (immobile), adult Chelonibia testudinaria, barnacles that adhere to sea turtle shells, have been observed to shift slightly in position over time—a phenomenon that has been attributed to the barnacles' passive displacement by water currents. ______ a research team found that adult C. testudinaria moved toward the heads of their sea turtle hosts and thus against the prevailing water flow, behavior consistent with self-initiated locomotion.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Confirming this hypothesis,

B) Drawing a similar conclusion,

C) Undermining this explanation,

D) Contrary to this phenomenon,

Extra Practice 32 (Hard)

The title of "Of Moderation," an essay by French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, suggests a straightforward topic. However, Montaigne's expansive, curious mind meant that he never limited himself to one subject. ______ the essay is not just a discussion of moderation but a broad exploration of Montaigne's entire worldview.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A) Additionally,

B) That said,

C) Lastly,

D) Predictably,

Rhetorical Synthesis

These questions give you bullet-point notes and ask you to use them to accomplish a specific goal. You'll recognize them by the format: a set of notes followed by a prompt that describes what the answer should do.

These always appear at the very end of each Reading & Writing module.

What They Look Like

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

• J.R.R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit features two maps.

• The novel opens with a reproduction of the map that the characters use on their quest.

• This map introduces readers to the fictional world they are about to enter.

• The novel closes with a map depicting every stop on the characters' journey.

• That map allows readers to reconstruct the story they have just read.

The student wants to contrast the purposes of the two maps in The Hobbit. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) The Hobbit's opening map introduces readers to the fictional world they are about to enter, while the closing map allows them to reconstruct the story they have just read.

B) The Hobbit, a novel published by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1937, features a reproduction of a map that the characters use on their quest, as well as a map that appears at the end of the novel.

C) The Hobbit's two maps, one opening and one closing the novel, each serve a purpose for readers.

D) In 1937, author J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit, a novel featuring both an opening and a closing map.

What to Know

Key Insight

The goal tells you EXACTLY what the answer must do. Every word matters.

The difference between "emphasize a similarity" and "emphasize the size" completely changes which answer is correct. Read the goal carefully—underline the action word and the specific focus.

Most students lose points here not because they can't find information in the notes, but because they don't precisely match what the goal requires.

The General Approach

Step 1: Read the question—specifically the GOAL. Skip the notes for now.

Step 2: Break the goal into parts. What are you being asked to do?

Step 3: Use process of elimination until you're down to one answer. (If stuck, now read the notes to fact-check.)

Watch Out For:

• Only hitting one requirement. If the goal says "present X to an audience unfamiliar with Y," the answer must both present X AND explain Y.
• Answering for the wrong audience. "Unfamiliar" audiences need explanations; "familiar" audiences don't. Read the audience part carefully.
• Confusing generalization with example. Specific names = example. Category language ("researchers typically") = generalization.
• What instead of how/why. "Describe the aim" ≠ "present the findings" ≠ "describe the method." Match the exact action word in the goal.

Practice

Question 1: Emphasize a Difference

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

• Baking soda and baking powder are both chemical leavening agents used in baking.

• Both cause carbon dioxide to be released within a batter when mixed with other ingredients.

• Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate and must be combined with an acidic ingredient to produce carbon dioxide.

• Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate plus an acidic ingredient.

• Baking powder does not need to be combined with an additional acidic ingredient to produce carbon dioxide.

The student wants to emphasize a difference between baking soda and baking powder. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) To make batters rise, bakers use chemical leavening agents such as baking soda and baking powder.

B) Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leavening agents that, when mixed with other ingredients, cause carbon dioxide to be released within a batter.

C) Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, and honey is a type of acidic ingredient.

D) To produce carbon dioxide within a liquid batter, baking soda needs to be mixed with an acidic ingredient, whereas baking powder does not.

STOP — Try this yourself first. The goal is to emphasize a DIFFERENCE. What would that require in an answer?

Question 2: Unfamiliar Audience

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

• The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a group of six Native nations in the northeastern United States.

• The Great Law of Peace is a set of principles that has guided the Haudenosaunee Confederacy for centuries.

• The influence theory holds that the Great Law of Peace influenced the US Constitution.

• Historian Bruce Johansen supports this theory.

• Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson both studied the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The student wants to present the influence theory to an audience unfamiliar with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Historian Bruce Johansen believes that the Great Law of Peace was very influential.

B) The influence theory is supported by the fact that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson both studied the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

C) The influence theory holds that the principles of the Great Law of Peace, a centuries-old agreement binding six Native nations in the northeastern US, influenced the US Constitution.

D) Native people, including the members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, influenced the founding of the US in many different ways.

STOP — Try this yourself first. The audience is UNFAMILIAR. What information would they need?

Question 3: Emphasize a Similarity

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

• The magnificent frigatebird is a large seabird.

• It has two ways of acquiring food.

• In one method, it uses its hook-tipped bill to snatch prey from the water's surface.

• In the other method, called kleptoparasitism, it takes food from other birds by force.

• Neither method requires the frigatebird to dive into the water.

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

A) A magnificent frigatebird never dives into the water, instead using its hook-tipped bill to snatch prey from the surface.

B) Neither of a magnificent frigatebird's two ways of acquiring food requires the bird to dive into the water.

C) Of the magnificent frigatebird's two ways of acquiring food, only one is known as kleptoparasitism.

D) In addition to snatching prey from the water with its hook-tipped bill, a magnificent frigatebird takes food from other birds by force.

STOP — Try this yourself first. The goal is to emphasize a SIMILARITY. What would that require?

Extra Practice

Extra Practice 1 (Easy)

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

• The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is a research library in New York City.
• It was named for Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.
• It was founded in 1925.

The student wants to indicate the year the Schomburg Center was founded. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) The Schomburg Center was founded in 1925.

B) The Schomburg Center was named for Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.

C) The Schomburg Center is located in New York City.

D) The Schomburg Center is a research library.

Extra Practice 2 (Easy)

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

• Charles Bertram Johnson (1880-1958) was an African American poet.
• Johnson also worked as an educator and minister.
• "Old Things" is a poem by Johnson.
• It was published in the March 1923 issue of The Crisis.
• The Crisis is an influential Black literary magazine.

The student wants to provide an example of a poem by Johnson. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Johnson was an African American poet, educator, and minister.

B) Johnson published poetry in a literary magazine called The Crisis.

C) One example of a poem by Johnson is "Old Things" (1923).

D) The Crisis is an influential Black literary magazine that has published poetry.

Extra Practice 3 (Easy)

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

• Komodo dragons are the largest lizards in the world.
• They live on four islands in Komodo National Park, Indonesia.
• The park has a total of twenty-nine islands.

The student wants to emphasize how many islands in Komodo National Park have Komodo dragons living on them. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizards, live on islands in Komodo National Park, Indonesia.

B) The largest lizards in the world are found in Komodo National Park.

C) Only four of the twenty-nine islands in Komodo National Park have Komodo dragons living on them.

D) There are twenty-nine islands in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park.

Extra Practice 4 (Easy)

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

• The false killer whale is a mammal species.
• It was believed to be extinct until a living false killer whale was identified in Denmark in 1861.
• The Banggai crow is a bird species.
• It was believed to be extinct until a living Banggai crow was identified in Indonesia in 2007.
• They are considered Lazarus species.
• "Lazarus species" is a term for living species of organisms that were once believed to be extinct.

The student wants to specify when the false killer whale was identified. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Identified in Indonesia, a living Banggai crow was found in 2007.

B) An example of a Lazarus species was found in 2007.

C) Previously believed to be extinct, a living false killer whale was identified in Denmark.

D) A living false killer whale, once believed to be extinct, was identified in 1861.

Extra Practice 5 (Easy)

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

• John Carver was one of the 41 signatories of the Mayflower Compact.
• The Mayflower Compact was a legal agreement among the pilgrims that immigrated to Plymouth Colony.
• It was created in 1620 to establish a common government.
• It states that the pilgrims who signed it wanted to “plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia” under King James.
• Carver became the first governor of Plymouth Colony.

The student wants to specify the reason the Mayflower Compact was created. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Stating that its signatories wanted to “plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia,” the Mayflower Compact was a legal agreement among the pilgrims that immigrated to Plymouth Colony.

B) Created in 1620, the Mayflower Compact states that the pilgrims wanted to “plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia.”

C) The Mayflower Compact was created to establish a common government among the pilgrims that immigrated to Plymouth Colony.

D) The Mayflower Compact had 41 signatories, including John Carver, the first governor of Plymouth Colony.

Extra Practice 6 (Easy)

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

• Planetary scientists classify asteroids based on their composition.
• C-type asteroids are composed primarily of carbon.
• They account for roughly 75 percent of known asteroids.
• S-type asteroids are primarily made up of silicate minerals.
• They account for roughly 17 percent of known asteroids.

The student wants to emphasize a difference between C-type and S-type asteroids. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Planetary scientists classify asteroids into types, two of which are the C-type and the S-type.

B) Planetary scientists consider an asteroid’s composition (such as whether the asteroid is composed mainly of silicate minerals or carbon) when classifying it.

C) Roughly 17 percent of known asteroids are classified as S-type asteroids; another percentage is classified as C-type asteroids.

D) C-type asteroids are mainly composed of carbon, whereas S-type asteroids are primarily made up of silicate minerals.

Extra Practice 7 (Easy)

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

• The Carnegie Prize is an international art competition administered by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Painter Anselm Kiefer of Germany won a Carnegie Prize gold medal in 1985.
• Kiefer’s winning artwork was a painting entitled Midgard.
• Sculptor Jean Arp of Germany won a Carnegie Prize gold medal in 1964.
• Arp’s winning artwork was a sculpture entitled Sculpture Classique.

The student wants to contrast the two artworks. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Kiefer’s Midgard is a painting, while Arp’s Sculpture Classique is a sculpture.

B) Kiefer won a Carnegie Prize gold medal in 1985 for the painting Midgard.

C) Carnegie Prize gold medals have been awarded to both painters and sculptors.

D) Both Midgard and Sculpture Classique are Carnegie Prize gold medal-winning artworks.

Extra Practice 8 (Easy)

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

• Thailand's annual Songkran Water Festival is held each April.
• It marks Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year.
• People splash and spray each other for fun at the festival's community-wide water fights.
• In Bangkok, thousands gather along Silom Road for the city's largest water fight.
• In Chiang Mai, thousands gather at a historical monument called the Tha Phae Gate for the city's largest water fight.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity in how people in Bangkok and Chiang Mai celebrate Songkran. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) People in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai celebrate Songkran, but they don't do so in exactly the same way.

B) Each April, people in Thailand celebrate Songkran, the traditional Thai New Year.

C) The largest water fight in Bangkok takes place along a city street, whereas the largest water fight in Chiang Mai takes place at a historical monument.

D) In both Bangkok and Chiang Mai, thousands gather to celebrate Songkran with water fights.

Extra Practice 9 (Easy)

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

• In 2017, a research team led by Mary Caswell Stoddard determined the average lengths of eggs produced by various bird species.
• Acrocephalus scirpaceus is a species of bird in the order Passeriformes.
• Acrocephalus scirpaceus eggs had an average length of 1.80 cm.
• Alcedo atthis is a species of bird in the order Coraciiformes.
• Alcedo atthis eggs had an average length of 2.19 cm.

Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to emphasize a difference between the eggs of the two species?

A) A 2017 study compared the lengths of eggs produced by an array of different bird species, such as Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Alcedo atthis.

B) The bird species Acrocephalus scirpaceus, which belongs to the order Passeriformes, and Alcedo atthis, of the order Coraciiformes, were included in a 2017 study that compared the average lengths of their eggs.

C) Mary Caswell Stoddard led a research study that determined the average lengths of eggs, including those of Acrocephalus scirpaceus birds (1.80 cm) and Alcedo atthis birds (2.19 cm).

D) A 2017 study found that Acrocephalus scirpaceus eggs had an average length of 1.80 cm, whereas Alcedo atthis eggs were longer, with an average length of 2.19 cm.

Extra Practice 10 (Easy)

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

• In a 2012 study, Dybzinski and Tilman tested the effect of plant litter on seedling emergence in a grassland setting.
• Plant litter includes dead leaves and other plant material.
• The test site was a flooded grassland in the United States.
• It was in a temperate midlatitude climate.
• The researchers found that in these environmental conditions the presence of plant litter had a negative effect on seedling emergence.

Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to specify the test site's climate?

A) Dybzinski and Tilman tested the effect of dead leaves and other plant material on seedling emergence in the United States.

B) In a 2012 study, Dybzinski and Tilman found that the presence of plant litter had a negative effect on seedling emergence.

C) Dybzinski and Tilman's study was conducted in a temperate midlatitude climate.

D) A test was conducted in the United States to study the effect of plant litter on seedling emergence in a given climate.

Extra Practice 11 (Easy)

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

• A U-shaped curve in a river channel is called a meander.
• A meander forms when water erodes sediment from one side of the riverbank and redeposits that sediment on the opposite side.
• Meanders will gradually change shape and migrate downstream over time.
• A river with high sinuosity has many meanders, and a river with low sinuosity has few.
• The Willapa River in the United States has high sinuosity.

The student wants to define the term "high-sinuosity river." Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) A high-sinuosity river is one that has many meanders, or U-shaped curves.

B) A high-sinuosity river has U-shaped curves called meanders that will gradually change shape and shift downstream.

C) High sinuosity is caused by the erosion and redepositing of sediment in a riverbank over time.

D) Over time, the many meanders in the high-sinuosity Willapa River will change shape and migrate downstream.

Extra Practice 12 (Easy)

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

• Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who produced more than two thousand drawings and paintings.
• Most of his works were completed in New York City in the 1980s.
• His work Untitled (Pollo Frito) was completed in 1982.
• The work is composed of acrylic, oil, and enamel on canvas and measures 60 inches by 120.5 inches.
• Untitled (Pollo Frito) was purchased by a private collection for $25.7 million in a 2018 auction.

Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to emphasize the scope of Basquiat's work?

A) Untitled (Pollo Frito) is just one of more than two thousand drawings and paintings completed by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

B) Though artist Jean-Michel Basquiat completed most of his two thousand-plus drawings in the 1980s, his work Untitled (Pollo Frito) is composed of acrylic, oil, and enamel on canvas.

C) Decades after artist Jean-Michel Basquiat completed his 1982 work Untitled (Pollo Frito), a private collection purchased it for $25.7 million.

D) At a 2018 auction, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (Pollo Frito), composed of acrylic, oil, and enamel on canvas, sold for $25.7 million.

Extra Practice 13 (Easy)

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

• Usually, a country's capital is also its largest city by population.
• The capital of the Philippines is Manila.
• Its largest city by population is Quezon City.
• The capital of Liechtenstein is Vaduz.
• Its largest city by population is Schaan.

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

A) In both the Philippines and Liechtenstein, the capital is not the country's most populous city.

B) While the most populous city in the Philippines is Quezon city, the most populous city in Liechtenstein is Schaan.

C) The most populous city in the Philippines is Quezon City, but the country's capital is Manila.

D) The capital of the Philippines is Manila; the capital of Liechtenstein is Vaduz.

Extra Practice 14 (Medium)

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

• In the 1930s, the Imperial Sugar Cane Institute in India sought to limit the country's dependence on imported sugarcane.
• The institute enlisted botanist Janaki Ammal to breed a local variety of sugarcane.
• She crossbred the imported sugarcane species Saccharum officinarum with grasses native to India.
• She succeeded in creating sugarcane hybrids well suited to India's climate.

The student wants to emphasize Janaki Ammal's achievement. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) By crossbreeding the imported sugarcane species Saccharum officinarum with grasses native to India, Ammal succeeded in creating sugarcane hybrids well suited to India's climate.

B) In the 1930s, the Imperial Sugar Cane Institute, which enlisted Ammal, sought to limit dependence on imported sugarcane.

C) Ammal was enlisted by the Imperial Sugar Cane Institute at a time when a local variety of sugarcane needed to be produced.

D) As part of efforts to breed a local variety of sugarcane, an imported sugarcane species called Saccharum officinarum was crossbred with grasses native to India.

Extra Practice 15 (Medium)

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

• In music theory, the term "key" refers to the set of musical notes that forms the foundation of a piece of music.
• In Ideas Toward an Aesthetic of Music (1806), German poet and composer Christian Schubart describes the moods of various musical keys.
• He describes the key of C minor as expressing "longing."
• In Regles de Composition (1682), French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier undertakes the same task.
• He describes the key of C minor as "obscure and sad."
• "Don't Speak" by No Doubt (1996) is a song written in C minor.

The student wants to compare how Schubart and Charpentier describe the mood of C minor. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Schubart and Charpentier each undertook the task of describing the mood of various keys, including C minor.

B) Schubart describes the mood of C minor as expressing "longing," while Charpentier describes it as "obscure and sad."

C) The song "Don't Speak" by No Doubt is written in the key of C minor, the mood of which has been described as expressing "longing."

D) The key of C minor is one of various keys whose mood has been described by multiple music theorists.

Extra Practice 16 (Medium)

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

• Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the city of Timbuktu was part of the Songhai Empire.
• Timbuktu was a center of trade and scholarship in the Sahara desert.
• The city was known for its hundreds of thousands of written manuscripts on both secular and religious subjects.
• The manuscripts survive today in dozens of private libraries across the city.
• The Pearls Leading to Accepted Guidance is one of these manuscripts.

The student wants to introduce The Pearls Leading to Accepted Guidance to an audience unfamiliar with the Timbuktu manuscripts' history. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the city of Timbuktu was home to The Pearls Leading to Accepted Guidance, a manuscript that discusses trade centers across the Sahara desert.

B) In the city of Timbuktu, dozens of private libraries house manuscripts, such as The Pearls Leading to Accepted Guidance, that discuss both secular and religious subjects.

C) The Pearls Leading to Accepted Guidance is a manuscript housed in a private library in Timbuktu.

D) Among Timbuktu's vast collection of secular and religious manuscripts dating back to the Songhai Empire is The Pearls Leading to Accepted Guidance.

Extra Practice 17 (Medium)

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

• In 1965, Yale University historians claimed that a world map called the Vinland Map was drawn in the fifteenth century.
• Since that time, the map's age has been the subject of debate.
• In 2021, researchers conducted a study to analyze the elemental composition of the map's ink.
• Their analysis revealed that the ink contains a titanium compound not used in inks until the 1920s.
• The researchers concluded that the map was drawn in the twentieth century.

The student wants to present the study and its findings. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Given the debate about the Vinland Map's age, researchers in 2021 conducted a study to analyze the elemental composition of the map's ink.

B) A 2021 study of the Vinland Map's ink revealed that it contains a titanium compound not used in inks until the 1920s, indicating that the map was drawn in the twentieth century.

C) The Vinland Map, believed by some to have been drawn in the fifteenth century, was the focus of a 2021 study.

D) Aware that a certain titanium compound was not used in inks until the 1920s, researchers in 2021 studied the elemental composition of the Vinland Map's ink.

Extra Practice 18 (Medium)

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

• Cities tend to have a wide range of flowering vegetation in parks, yards, and gardens.
• This vegetation provides a varied diet for honeybees, strengthening bees’ immune systems.
• On average, 62.5 percent of bees in an urban area will survive a harsh winter.
• Rural areas are often dominated by monoculture crops such as corn or wheat.
• On average, only 40 percent of honeybees in a rural area will survive a harsh winter.

The student wants to make and support a generalization about honeybees. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Cities tend to have a wider range of flowering vegetation than do rural areas, which are often dominated by monoculture crops.

B) In urban areas, over 60 percent of honeybees, on average, will survive a harsh winter, whereas in rural areas, only 40 percent will.

C) The strength of honeybees’ immune systems depends on what the bees eat, and a varied diet is more available to bees in an urban area than to those in a rural area.

D) Honeybees are more likely to thrive in cities than in rural areas because the varied diet available in urban areas strengthens the bees’ immune systems.

Extra Practice 19 (Medium)

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

• Pointillism is a painting technique in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.
• Betty Acquah is an artist from Ghana who uses pointillism in her work.
• “By extending dabs of color in the subject matter into the background and vice-versa, an illusion of movement is created,” she says about pointillism.
• Her work often portrays Ghanaian women, whom she sees as the “unsung heroines of the Ghanaian Republic.”
• Her pointillist painting “Exquisite” (2016) features five dancing women twirling their skirts.

The student wants to provide a quotation from Acquah that explains why she used pointillism in “Exquisite.” Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) In painting “Exquisite,” Acquah applied pointillism to create what she called an “illusion of movement” within the painting’s five dancing women and their twirling skirts.

B) Pointillism, the technique used in Acquah’s “Exquisite,” involves the application of small, distinct dots of color.

C) In “Exquisite,” Acquah uses a technique that she says involves “extending dabs of color in the subject matter into the background and vice-versa.”

D) “Exquisite” portrays Acquah’s fellow Ghanaian women as she sees them: the “unsung heroes of the Ghanaian Republic.”

Extra Practice 20 (Medium)

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

• Some animals have evolved to physically resemble another animal, plant, or object.
• This is known as mimicry.
• Crab spiders mimic the appearance of flowers.
• This helps crab spiders ambush their prey.
• Katydids mimic the appearance of leaves.
• This helps katydids hide from their predators.

The student wants to emphasize a difference in how katydids and crab spiders use mimicry. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Katydids mimic the appearance of flowers, and crab spiders mimic that of leaves.

B) Katydids and crab spiders are two examples of animals that use mimicry.

C) Unlike crab spiders, which use mimicry to ambush prey, katydids use mimicry to hide from predators.

D) Animals that use mimicry have evolved to resemble another animal, plant, or object.

Extra Practice 21 (Medium)

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

• Here I Have Returned is a sculpture by Egyptian American artist Sherin Guirguis.
• It is a large, curved strip of wood inspired by the shape of a sistrum.
• A sistrum is a curved musical instrument played by ancient Egyptian priestesses in ceremonies.
• Guirguis says that the sculpture symbolizes “women who have lifted and supported Egyptian society and culture.”
• Overall, Guirguis wants her works to “engage audiences in a dialogue about power, agency, and social transformation.”

The student wants to use a quotation from Guirguis to explain what the sculpture represents. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Guirguis, whose works include a sculpture that is a large, curved strip of wood, has explained that she wants her work to create a dialogue with audiences.

B) Inspired by the sistrum played by Egyptian priestesses, Here I Have Returned symbolizes “women who have lifted and supported Egyptian society and culture,” according to Guirguis.

C) According to Guirguis, the curved strip of wood used in Here I Have Returned was inspired by the sistrum, a musical instrument played by ancient Egyptian priestesses in ceremonies.

D) Guirguis, the sculptor of Here I Have Returned, wants her works to “engage audiences in a dialogue about power, agency, and social transformation.”

Extra Practice 22 (Medium)

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

• Crown shyness is a phenomenon in which the tops (crowns) of neighboring trees grow close together but don't overlap.
• To explain how this happens, Australian forester M.R. Jacobs proposes the mutual abrasion theory.
• According to Jacobs's theory, when trees brush against one another, branches break off.
• Malaysian scholar Francis S.P. Ng posits the mutual shade avoidance theory.
• According to Ng's theory, when tree branches detect shade from nearby trees' branches, they stop growing.

The student wants to compare the causes of crown shyness proposed in the two theories. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Ng posits the mutual shade avoidance theory, whereas Jacobs proposes an alternative theory.

B) Both Jacobs and Ng have proposed theories to explain what causes crown shyness.

C) While Jacobs proposes that crown shyness is caused by neighboring tree branches brushing against one another, Ng posits that it occurs when branches detect shade from nearby trees' branches.

D) Jacobs's mutual abrasion theory proposes that when neighboring tree branches brush against one another, branches break off, resulting in a phenomenon in which the tops of trees grow close together but don't overlap.

Extra Practice 23 (Medium)

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.
• Minerals with smaller numbers are softer than minerals with larger numbers and cannot leave visible scratches on them.
• The mineral fluorite has a Mohs scale number of 4.
• The mineral quartz has a Mohs scale number of 7.
• The mineral corundum has a Mohs scale number of 9.

The student wants to compare the hardness of the three minerals. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Based on their Mohs scale numbers, corundum (9) is harder than quartz (7), and quartz is harder than fluorite (4).

B) The Mohs scale of mineral hardness can be used to order quartz, fluorite, and corundum by their ability to scratch other minerals.

C) A mineral with a Mohs number of 9, like corundum, is harder than one with a Mohs number of 7, like quartz.

D) Corundum can leave visible scratches on fluorite, which is why corundum has a higher number than fluorite on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.

Extra Practice 24 (Hard)

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

• Waiting is a 1987 black-and-white linocut print by Kuwaiti artist Thuraya Al-Baqsami.
• It depicts a tranquil, everyday scene (a woman in a headscarf gazing out a window).
• ¡Sera toda nuestra! ("It will all be ours!") is a 1977 color linocut print by Mexican American artist Carlos Cortez.
• It features a scene with an explicitly political point of view (a group of laborers preparing to go on strike).
• Lino cutting is an inexpensive printmaking technique in which an image is carved onto linoleum tile, covered in ink or paint, and stamped onto paper.

The student wants to make a generalization about linocut prints. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Linocuts can depict a range of scenes, from the explicitly political to the tranquil and everyday.

B) Cortez's linocut features a group of laborers preparing to go on strike, while Al-Baqsami's depicts a woman in a headscarf gazing out a window.

C) Cortez made ¡Sera toda nuestra! ("It will all be ours!") in 1977, while Al-Baqsami made Waiting in 1987.

D) Al-Baqsami's Waiting is a black-and-white linocut print, while Cortez's ¡Sera toda nuestra! is a color linocut print.

Extra Practice 25 (Hard)

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

• A commodity chain is the series of links connecting the production and purchase of a commodity on the world market.
• Chinese American anthropologist Anna Tsing studies the contemporary commodity chain of matsutake mushrooms.
• At one end of the matsutake chain are mushroom pickers in Oregon.
• At the other end are wealthy consumers who buy the costly matsutake in Japan.
• According to Tsing, “Japanese traders began importing matsutake in the 1980s, when the scarcity of matsutake in Japan first became clear.”

The student wants to provide an overview of the matsutake commodity chain. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) The contemporary matsutake commodity chain has its origins in the 1980s when, according to Tsing, “the scarcity of matsutake in Japan first became clear.”

B) Commodity chains include the linked production and purchase of commodities, such as the matsutake mushroom, on the world market.

C) Decades after the Japanese import of matsutake began, a commodity chain now links matsutake pickers in Oregon with wealthy consumers of the costly mushrooms in Japan.

D) Wealthy consumers who buy the costly mushrooms in Japan are at one end of the matsutake commodity chain.

Extra Practice 26 (Hard)

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

• Linguistic typologists classify and compare languages according to their structural features.
• One such structure is word order, or the way subjects (S), verbs (V), and objects (O) are typically arranged in a sentence.
• English employs an SVO word order (e.g., Cows eat grass).
• Bengali employs an SOV word order (e.g., Cows grass eat).
• Filipino employs a VSO word order (e.g., Eat cows grass).
• 87% of the world's languages are classified as either SVO or SOV.

The student wants to make a generalization about how word order is employed across languages. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Linguistic typologists analyze and compare how word order is employed across languages.

B) The majority of languages place the subject of a sentence before the verb and object.

C) The way in which subjects, verbs, and objects are typically arranged in a sentence is also called word order.

D) Word order is one of the structural features by which linguistic typologists classify and compare the world's languages.

Extra Practice 27 (Hard)

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

• A sestina is a thirty-nine-line poetic form.
• Each line of the poem ends with one of six end words, which alternate according to a set pattern.
• “Forage Sestina” is a sestina by Marilyn Hacker.
• Its end words are words, structure, wire, beam, wall, and room.
• “Towards Autumn” is a sestina by Marilyn Hacker.
• Its end words are daughter, friend, bread, mother, lover, and myself.

The student wants to use one of the poems to illustrate the sestina form. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) Hacker employs the sestina, a poetic form with thirty-nine lines and six end words, in both “Forage Sestina” and “Towards Autumn.”

B) As a sestina, “Towards Autumn” contains thirty-nine lines and six end words — in this case, daughter, friend, bread, mother, lover, and myself — that alternate in a set pattern.

C) The thirty-nine-line sestina form uses the words daughter, friend, bread, mother, lover, and myself, which are found in the poem “Forage Sestina.”

D) Hacker has used the sestina form multiple times, as in “Towards Autumn,” which contains these six words: words, structure, wire, beam, wall, and room.

Extra Practice 28 (Hard)

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

• Producing the nutrient-rich cyanobacterium L. maxima at industrial scale requires high-quality samples of L. maxima DNA.
• Yirlis Yadeth Pineda-Rodriguez and a team of researchers at the University of Cordoba, Colombia, evaluated the quantity and purity of L. maxima DNA extracted using three different DNA extraction kits.
• CTAB 2X (kit 1) had a DNA yield of 2,134 nanograms per microliter (ng/uL) and a purity ratio of 2.2.
• Pbact (kit 2) had a DNA yield of 157 ng/uL and a purity ratio of 1.6.
• Pplant (kit 3) had a DNA yield of 12.5 ng/uL and a purity ratio of 1.5.
• According to the researchers, Pbact was the most effective because it was the only one with both a sufficiently high yield and a purity rate close to the ideal of 1.8.

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

A) Compared to CTAB 2X, which had a DNA yield of 2,134 ng/uL, both Pbact and Pplant had insufficient yields; Pplant, in particular, was ineffective due to its low yield.

B) Due to their insufficient yield or purity, CTAB 2X and Pplant were deemed by the researchers to be less effective than Pbact.

C) With the ideal purity ratio being 1.8, CTAB 2X and Pbact were equal in purity, according to the researchers.

D) CTAB 2X and Pplant both had a DNA yield above 10 and a purity ratio above 1.4.

Extra Practice 29 (Hard)

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

• Auteur theory is a view of filmmaking that positions the director as the primary author of a film.
• This now dominant theory was coined by film critic Andrew Sarris.
• In a 1963 rebuttal, film critic Pauline Kael argued that film authorship should be shared among screenwriters, directors, and others involved in the filmmaking process.
• In a 2006 book, film critic David Kipen proposed "schreiber theory."
• Schreiber theory repositions the screenwriter as the primary author of a film.

The student wants to compare Kipen's theory of film authorship with Sarris's. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) In repositioning the screenwriter (not the director) as the primary author of a film, schreiber theory presents an alternative to the dominant auteur theory.

B) Film critics Andrew Sarris and David Kipen hold the view that film authorship should be shared among those involved in the filmmaking process.

C) In a 1963 rebuttal to Sarris's theory that a director is the primary author of a film, Kael proposed that screenwriters should instead be given sole authorship.

D) Kipen's theory of film authorship contrasts with that of Kael, who famously argued against Sarris's auteur theory in 1963.

Extra Practice 30 (Hard)

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

• The fifth Solvay Conference on Physics was held in 1927.
• It brought together twenty-nine of the era's preeminent scientists to discuss the emerging field of quantum theory.
• The conference famously featured a debate between physicists Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr.
• Bohr proposed that subatomic entities like electrons had only probable realities until they were observed.
• Einstein argued that subatomic entities like electrons had a reality independent of observation.
• Bohr's position, later called the Copenhagen interpretation, remains the most widely accepted theory of quantum mechanics.

The student wants to place Einstein's argument within its historical context. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) During the dawn of quantum theory, Einstein maintained the independent reality of some subatomic entities, although Bohr's opposing interpretation would become the widely accepted view.

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.

Extra Practice 31 (Hard)

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

• Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) is a form of additive manufacturing that utilizes light to rapidly cure liquid resin into high-quality, 3D objects.
• Step 1: Ultraviolet (UV) light images are projected up into a pool of liquid resin, where the object's first layer takes shape.
• Step 2: The partially cured resin object is raised, leaving a thin space (a "dead zone") beneath it for oxygen and liquid resin to flow through.
• Step 3: The UV light passes through the dead zone --- maintaining the flow of resin --- and partially cures additional layers of the object
• Step 4: When the resin object is complete, it is baked in an oven to complete the curing.

The student wants to describe how DLS cures 3D objects. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) DLS cures 3D objects by passing through a "dead zone," adding layers to the object, then curing the object in an oven.

B) In DLS, UV light is projected into layers of liquid resin until the resin solidifies and passes through a "dead zone," wherein the curing is completed.

C) In DLS, UV light images are projected into a liquid resin pool to cure a 3D object layer by layer, once solidified, the object is baked in an oven.

D) DLS is a form of additive manufacturing that creates a "dead zone" in which UV light solidifies layer by layer before being baked in an oven, creating a high-quality, 3D object.

Extra Practice 32 (Hard)

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

• The ratio of the total mass of an element to the combined mass of all elements in a given environment is called the mass fraction.
• The mass fraction of chromium (Cr) on Earth is 4,700 parts per million (ppm).
• This indicates that the relative abundance of chromium on Earth is 0.47%.
• The ratio of the total number of atoms of an element to the total number of all atoms in a given environment is called the mole fraction.
• The mole fraction of chromium on Earth is 2,300,000 parts per billion (ppb).
• This indicates that the relative abundance of chromium on Earth is 0.23%.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between mass fraction and mole fraction. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A) On Earth, the mass fraction of chromium is 4,700 ppm, or 0.47%, and the mole fraction is 2,300,000 ppb, or 0.23%.

B) While mass fraction is a measure of relative mass and mole fraction is a measure of relative atom count, both indicate the relative abundance of elements on Earth.

C) Both mass and mole fraction express the relative abundance of chromium on Earth as a ratio of the total mass of chromium to the combined mass of all atoms

D) The mass fraction of chromium indicates its relative mass: in addition. The element's mole fraction indicates the relative number of chromium atoms

Habits for Success

Based on the analysis of thousands of official SAT questions, these are the thinking patterns that consistently lead to correct answers.

Top 5 Habits for Success

1. Predict Before You Look

Form an answer in your head BEFORE looking at the choices. This prevents attractive wrong answers from pulling you off track. Even a rough prediction ("something negative" or "a contrast word") helps you stay anchored.

2. Eliminate with Reasons

Don't go with gut feelings. For each answer you eliminate, identify the specific reason it's wrong. "This says 'all' but the passage says 'some'" is a reason. "This doesn't feel right" is not.

3. Check All Parts

Verify that your answer matches ALL parts of what the question asks. Many wrong answers are "half right" — they get one part correct but miss another. If any part is wrong, the whole answer is wrong.

4. Use Signal Words

Pay attention to words like "but," "however," "thus," "for example," and "despite." These tell you the structure of the passage — whether ideas agree, contrast, or build on each other. Missing a signal word can flip the meaning entirely.

5. Verify Against the Text

Before committing to an answer, find where in the passage it's supported. If you can't point to specific words that back it up, you might be adding information that isn't there.

Top 5 Habits to Avoid

1. Word Matching

Picking an answer just because it uses words from the passage. "It mentions the same terms, so it must be right." Wrong. The answer has to actually answer the question, not just be related to the topic.

2. Picking What Sounds Smart

Gravitating toward sophisticated vocabulary or complex phrasing. Words like "belies," "emblematic," or "underscores" sound impressive but are often wrong. Simple, precise answers beat fancy vague ones.

3. Speed Reading

Skimming too quickly and missing key words — qualifiers like "some" vs "all," contrast words like "however" or "although," hedging language like "may" or "suggests." One missed word can flip the meaning entirely.

4. Stopping at "Good Enough"

Picking the first answer that seems reasonable without checking the others. The SAT loves putting a "pretty good" answer before the "exactly right" answer. Always check all four choices.

5. Panic Rushing

Speeding up after a hard question to "make up time." This spikes anxiety and causes careless errors on questions you would have gotten right. Take a breath. The quick questions will balance it out.

Franklin Yard SAT Reading & Writing Guide