ACT Past Papers with Answers

Delails in ihe second paragraph (lines 9-32) primarily haracterize Vani as: reseived bul self-assuied. severe and impolite. intelligent and apologetic.

A5 il i.s presented in ihe passage, Ihe iialicized portion "How are you ? Thal's a beauliful sari. How are ihe ,hildren I I like ihis rice" (lines 20-21) most likely indicates.. the types of pleasantries ihat Murali would prepare in his head before meeiing someone new. when they were first introduced. Lomment5 iypical of ihe kind ihai Vani would make when in public. secret (houghis thai Murali imagined Vani to be thinking.

According to the passage. one similariiy between Murali and Vani is that boih-. enjoyed eating spicy food. were born in New York City. worked at a medical clinic. Positive, she answered. Couniries away. Vani's brother crashed into Murali's brother's house. yelling: Who is this doctor who wants to marry my sisler? Who 90 is this doctor who is in love wilh my sisler. The nerve of Murali. they thought. In Love? These were not words they were used io Saying.

In ibe passage, the narrator makes clear that Vani didn't ask Murali in for coff¢¢ becausc Vani: house. assumed ihai Murali wanied to get home at a rea- sonable hour. reque?*lS.

The passage indicales that the description of Vani in lines 61-65 mosi closely reflects ihe perspeclive of: the Sri Lankan elders in New York City.

It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that. by tradilional %iandards. the Sri Lankan community would have considered Murali and Vani's direct discussion of marriage (o be: sensible. superficial. unconventional.

As it IS Used in line 79, the word observe most nearly means: sludy. express. ACT.COS 31 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Pa88age 11 repeats, "No flash. no flash." Two feet away," and 50 "Too close. too close" again and again as people from around ihe world crowd near. "What s ihe appeal of ihis painting?" l ask. 'It's beautiful., he says. "What more cao you say than thai?" SOCIAL SCIENCE: Passage A is adapted from the article 'Our Vanishing Night" by Verlyn Klinkenborg (¢2008 by National Geographic Society, Inc.). Passage B is adapted from the book The End ol Nighi.. Se8rching lor Natural Darkness in an Age ol Artiliclal Light by Paul 8ogard IQ2013 by Paul 8ogard>. You could rightly leave it al that. But I love the 55 story ihis painting te115. of a small dark iown. a few yellow-orange gaslights in house window.s. under a gianl swirling and waving blue-green sky, This is a painting of our world from before night had been pushed back to the forest and the seas. from back when 60 sleepy towns slepi wiihout slreetlights. People are too quick. I think. to imagine Ihe story of this painiing and especially ihis sky is simply thai of 'a werewolf of energy." as Joachim Pissarro, curator ai the MOMA exhibition Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night, would 85 tell me. While Van Gogh certainly had his troubles. Ihis painting looks as it does in part because it's of a lime that no longer exists. a lime when the nighi sky would have looked a lol more like this. Does Van Gogh use his imagination? Of course. bui this is an imagined sky 70 inspired by a real sky of a kind few of ihe fifiy million MOMA visitors have ever seen. Il's an imagined sky inspired by the real sky over a town much darker ihan the towns we live in today. So a painiing of a night imagined? Sure. Bul unreal,? Passage A by Verlyn Klinkenborg For most of human history, Ihe phrase "light pollu- tion" would have made no sense. Imagine walking toward London on a moonlil night around 1800. when it was Earth's mos( populous cily. Nearly a million peoplc s lived there, making do, as ihey always had, with can- dles and rushlights and iorches and lanterns. Only a few houses were lil by gas. and there would be no publi gaslighis in Ihe streeis or squares for another seven years. From a few miles away. you would have been as 10 likely to smell London as io see ils dim collective glow. Now most of humaniiy lives under intersecling dome5 of reflected. refracted light. of scattering rays from overlit cilies and suburbs, from lighi-flooded highways and faclories. Nearly all of nighitime Europe 15 18 a nebula of lighi. as is mosi of the Uniled Siaies and all of Japan. In th¢ south Ailantic the glow from a .single fishing fleet squid fishermen luring iheAr prey with melal halide lamps-can be seen from space. burn- ing brighier, in fact. than Buenos Aires or RAO de 20 Janeiro. 75 In our age, yes. Bui Van Gogh lived in a time before electric light. In a leiter from ihe summer of 1888. he described whai he'd seen while wajking a souihern French beach: In most cities the sky looks as ihough it has been emptied of siars, leaving behind a vacant haze thal mir- rors our fear of the dark. We've grown so used to this pervasive orange haze that the original glory of an unlil 25 night-dark enough for the planei Venu5 to throw shad- ows on Earth-AS wholly beyond our experience. And yet above the city's pale ceiling lies the resi of ihe uni- verse. utterly undiminished by the light we waste bright shoal of stars and planeis and galaxies. shining in 30 se¢mingly infinite darkne5S. The deep blue sky was flecked wilh clouds of a blue deeper than the fundamenlal blue of intense cobalt, and others of a clearer blue. like Ihe blue whiteness of ihe Milky Way. In the blue depth ihe siais were sparkling. greenish, yellow. white. pink. more brilliant, more sparkling gemlike than at home-even in Paris: opals you might call ihem. emeralds, lapis lazuli. rubies, sapphires. We've lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone. the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Lighi is a powerful biological 35 force. and on many species it acts as a magnet. a proLess being studied by researchers such as Tiavis Longcore and Catherine Rich. The effect is so powerful that scientisls speak of songbirds and seabird5 being "capiured" by searchlights on land or by the light from 40 gas flares on marAne oil platforms. circling and circling in ihe ihousands. It's remarkable to modern eyes, first of all. Ihal Van Gogh would reference the stars over Paris-no one has seen a sky remotely close to this over Paris for at leasi fifty years. But stars of different eolors? It's Irue. Questions 11-13 ask about Passage A.

In the ihird paragraph of Passage A (lines 21-30). the auihor makes a contrast belween the: stars and planets ihat exisi above il. the siars. and ihe comparative dimness of the stars. appreciation that people once had for Siars and (he apathy that is pervasive tixlay.

li can reasonably b¢ inferred from Passage A rhat an animal "captured" by lighi is most nearly one thal: is irresisiibly drdwn lo artificial lighi al nighi. is confined 10 limiled dark areas at night. Questions 18-20 ask about both passages.

Compared io what Joseph appreciates about The Siarry Nixhi, the author of Passage B is more appreciative of the: slory the painling tells. lechnique used in (he painting.

The main purpose of the first paragraph of Passage (lin¢$ 42-53) 1% lo introduce the passage by- of ihe painting's popularily. conveying ihe passage author's excitemeni when he first saw The Siurn, Night. showing exampleg of people's expeclations aboui The Siarn Nighi and their reaclion5 10 it. Siarrv Nighi.

Based on Passage B. which of the following statements bes1 summarizes the passage author's poin( about Van Gogh's use of irnagination while painling The Siarry Ni8hi ? becau%e he usually painted during the daytime. because Ihe painiing's stars have colors that are unlike actual stars. painting was also inspired by the real nighi sky he observed. Van Gogh barely used his imagination at all: he tried io depict the vivid night sky exac(ly as il was.

As it is used in line 90. (he phrase remolely close lo most nearly means: exacily similar to. anyihing like. anywhere nearby. somewhat adjacent lo.

Which of ihe following statements besi captures ihe main difference in the information presenled in ihe Iwo passages. at nighi became common. wherea5 Passag¢ B cxplore.s one person's reaction to Van Gogh's The Siarry Nighr. ness to ioday's nighi. whereas Passage B compares the night skies of several Van Gogh painlings. night sky. whereas Passage B explains how people in Van Gogh's lime used lighi at night. Passage A gives an overview of ih¢ issue of light a( night. whereas Passage B examines the malter of light at nighi through a discussion of Van Gogh's The Siarry Nighr. Questions 14-17 ask aboul Passage B.

One similarity between the passages is thal, in order to make a point about light al nighi, boih authors discuss: Ihe opinions of scieniific researchers. well-known works of art.

Compared to Passage B. Passage A offers u)ore infor- maiion about the: effecls lighting up the night sky can have on animals. colorful appearance slars had prior to electric lights. inleraLlion between nalure and the imagination. places where night's original darkness remains. ACT-COJ 33 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. Pa88age 111 lens. The problem is that photographs only tell such a small part of any slory. And while they may be techni- cally correcl. nonetheless ihey deceive. Does a smile in a photograph mean thal a person is happyg Or does il 60 mean that a photographer prodded. 'look up and smile Was the fish I caughi really bigger than my uncle's. or did I cleverly. intentionally hold mine closer to the lens? Pholographs deceive in another respect. Whatever the event one wishes to pre,%erve, snapshots 65 are most commonly a break frnm ihal evenl. The moment that a photograph is taken is experienced as a momenl taking a pholograph. nol as a moment engaged in ihe acliviiy implied by the resulting image. Time taken lo make photographs is lime subtracted from the 70 experience of ihe ihing b¢ing pholographed. Whai pho- lographs mosl accurately record, ultimately. is nothing more than the act of photography. itself. HUMANITIES: Th18 passage 18 adapted from the essay "On Places. Photographs. and Memorf by Chris Engman (02012 by Chris Engman). Recenily I visiied a place that I knew intimaiely in childhood. a waierfall with cliffs on both sides and pool of cold water below. We used to jump from those cliffs despite our parenis, concerns. I loved this place, 5 and revisiting it l am amazed by all ihai I can remem- ber. Bends in Irails, sap slains on bark. crooks in branches. the intricate web of root structures. the shape of trees all are slartlingly unchanged and I remember them precisely. A small tree is in the middle of the irail. 10 1 put my hand on it for support and drops of moisture fall on my back from above. and I realize.. I have done this before. I remember the sensation precisely. Ihe sound of rustling leaves above, the freshness of the smell, the temperaiure of the droplets, the mixture of 15 apprehension and pleasure. Standing on a rock ledge getting ready to jump. I reach for a handhold so I can lean over the edge and prepare myself for what l am aboul to do. The shape of the rock where my hand touches 1¢ is known to me: I have perfonned this ritual. Places hold memories beiier than people and better than photographs. Family, or people froTn our pasl who may remind us of events in our lives and with whom wc may reminisLe. are themselves constanily changing. as is iheir version of evenis. Conversations wilh oihers 25 about shared experiences of the past can seem to aug- ment memory but quite often. more often than we prob- ably realize, Ihey operaie in the opposile way: they alier or even replace our own memories with ihose of another. Whaiever the event, onc'5 memory of il is 30 inevitably altered ihrough conversation: recalling the same event at a later dale. it becomes difficult or impos- sible to disiingui.sh an original memory from the altered version ihal emerged. To be sure, photographs can forni a record of our lives that has value. and I cherish my old snapshots as 75 much as the next person. Bul as image-maker8 and con- sumers. which all of us are ihese days. Ihere is also value to be had in a recognition of the limils of photog- raphy to the faciliiy of memory in an undersianding of what images can and cannol offer us in this regard. 80 Moreover it is precisely the deL¢iifulness of photogr41- phy a.s it pertains to memory thai gives ihe medium ils unique plaiforn) to address ihe nature of memory itself.. its malleabilily. its unreliabiliiy, its elusiveness. It seems lo me that no conversalion or phoiograph can 8S make memory so vivid or recognizable. so physically palpable. as ihe return io a place. 20

The passage as a whole can besi be described as.. a summary of a childhood incident followed by refleclions on how the memory of ihal incident has changed. a de.scripiion of an experience followed by consid- eration of a lopic raised by that experience. an account of the author's lifelong interest in a hobby. an explanation of why ihe author's opinions on a lopic have changed. Photographs acl on us in a similar fashion. Whal- 35 ever their apparent precision or correciness. pho- iographs inaccurately refleci experience from the start. They convert the three dimensions of space into Iwo and eliminale the ihird spatial dimension and time. Also saLrificed are smell. touch. sound, and ¢oniext. In a 40 word. a photograph 15 an abstraction of experience. Yet we take them compulsively. We fill scrapbooks and hard drives with family outings, vacations, ballgames- Scolty in front of Niagara Falls. Dad and Grandma smiling in front of the famous restaurant-in ihe hope 45 of freezing time. making experience tangible for future refercnce. preserving memory. I do it. 100. But it is well to realize thai phoiographs do noi preserve memory. they replace memory. Just as photographs are an abslraction of experience, they are even more so an SO abstraction of memory-a dangerously compelling abstraction. Memories are fragile and impressionable. They cannot hold up against the seemingl), irrefutable factuality of a phoiograph. It isn't ihai what is in a pho- iograph is false: a photograph's version of events did 55 happen. what is in a picture did indeed pass before the

The author's tone when recouniing his vi51t to the warerfall can best be described as: reverent.

The main idea of the second paragraph (lines 21k33) is that: over time, some memories fade one's memories. reminisLing with other people helps preserve one's memories. nonfamily members.

When ihe author states "Whai pholographs most accu- rately record, ultimately, is noihing more ihan ihe acl of phoiography, ilseif. (lines 70-72). he most nearly means thal: the quality of a photograph reflects the skill of the photographer. when viewing a photograph, people forget that ihe pholographer is an unseen parlicipanl in ihe scene. momen(s. activity and posing for the photographer.

It can mosi reasonably be inferred that immediately after the events described in the first paragraph, the author: sils on ihe rock ledge. takes a pholograph of ihe scene.

The infonnation belween ihe dashes in lines 43-44 pri- marily serves to: and meaningful pictures. exemplify the kind of commonplacc pictures that people tske. ing momenls in our lives. had pictures of.

The phrase 'seemingly irrefulable factualily" (lines 52-53) mainly serves lo emphasize lha¢ photographs: convey an impre55ion of objeLtive truth. record details that can't be proven. imply a slory beyond what they actually depict.

As il is used in lin¢ 82. the word naiure m05t nearly means: iemperament. essence. scenery. environmenl. ACT403 35 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE. of sugars. "We want lo make something as close to a leaf as possible,. Lewis says. meaning devices ihal work as simply. albeil producing a different chemical 55 ouipui. The arlificial leaf Lewis is designing requires Iwo principal elements: a collectOT ihal converls 501ar energy (phoions) inlo electrical energy (electrons) and an elcclrolyzer thai use% ihe electron energy io split waleT inlo oxygen and hydrogen. A catalysi a chcmi- 60 cal or metal is added to help achieve the splilting. Existing photovoltaic cells already create eleLtricity from sunlighi, and elecirolyzers are used in various commercial processes. so the trick is marrying the two into cheap, efficient solar films. Pa88age IV NATURAL SCIENCE: This passage 1$ adapted from the article "Reinventlng the Leaf by Anlonio Regalado (V201 O by Sci8n- tlfic Amerlcan. a divlsion ol Nature America. Inc.). Nathan S. Lewis has been giving a lecture on the energy crisis thal is both terrifying and exhilarating. To avoid Poientially debiliiating global warming. the chemist says civilization must be able io generate more 5 than 10 irillion watts of clean. carbon-free energy by 2050. That level is three times ihe U.S.'s average energy demand of 3.2 trillion watts. Before Lewis's crowds get loo depresscd. he lells them there is one source of salvation: the sun pours 10 more energy onio the earth every hour than humankind uses in a year. But to be saved, humankind needs a radical breakthrough in solar-fuel tcchnology.. anificial leaves thal will capiure solar rays and churn oul cherni- cal fuel on the spot. much as planls do. We can burn ihe 15 fuel, as we do oil or natural gas. to power cars. create heat or generate electricity, and we can store ihe fuel for use when the sun is down. Bulky protoiypes have been developed jusl lo demonslraie how the marriage would work. Engineers at a J4panese aulornaker. for example. have built a box thai stands taller than a refrigeraior and is covered wilh pholovoltaic cells. An eleotrolyzer, inside. use+• (he 70 501ar electricity to break water molecules. The box releases the resulting oxygen to the ambient air and compresses and slore5 the remaining hydrogen. which the auiomaker would like lo use to reLharge fuel-cell cars. 75 Lewis's lab is one of several that are crafting pro- totype leaves, noi much larger ihan computer chips, 20 designed to produce hydrogen fuel from water. rather than the glucose fuel that naiural leaves create. Unlike fossil fuels. hydrogen burns clean. Other researchers are working on competing ideas for capturing the sun's energy, such as algae thai has been genetically aliered 25 to pump out biofuels. or on new biological organisms engineered (o excrete oil. All these approaches are intended io turn sunlight into chemical energy that can be stored, shipped and easily consumed. Lewis argues. however, that the man-made leaf Opiion is the most 30 likely to scale up to the industrial levels needed io power civilization. In principle. the scheme could solve global warm- ing: only sunlighi and waier are needed io create energy. Ihe by-product is oxygen, and the exhausi from burning the hydrogen later in a fuel cell is water. The problem is ihal commercial solar cells conlain expen- 80 sive silicon cry8ials. And electrolyzers are packed with platinum. to date the best malerial for Latalyzing the waler-splitling reaction, but il costs $1.500 an ounce. Lewis calculates thal to meet global energy demand. fulure solar-fuel devices would have to COSt 85 less than Sl per square fool of sun-collecting surface and be able to convert 10 percent of ihat lighi energy inio chemical fuel. Fundamentally new. massively scal- able iechnology such as films or carpets made from inexpensive materials are needed. Although a few lab proloiypes have produced small amounts of direcl solar fuel or elecirofuel. as the chemicals are sometimes called-the lechnology 35 has io be improved so ihe fuel can be manufactured on a massive scale. very inexpensively. To power ihe U.S.. Lewis estimales the country would need io manufacture (hin. flexible solar-fuel films, instead of discrele chip- like devices. that roll off high-speed produclion lines 40 the way newsprint does. The films would have to be as cheap as wall-to-wall carpeiing and eventually cover an area the size of South Carolina.

The main function of ihe seventh and eighth para- graphs (lines 65-82) is to: suggesl that solar lechnology has advanced but slill faces problems that prevent it from being a viable power source on a large scale. introduce the information that under specific labo- ralory conditions electrolyzers can be used to release energy from waler molecules. establish that ihe Uniled States and Japan are col- laborating on research on new energy sources. in the race to develop new sources of energy. Far from being a wild dream, direct solar-fuel lechnology has been advancing in fits and staris ever 45 since Presideni Jimmy Carter's push for alternalive energy .sources during the 1970$ oil Shocks. Now, wilh a new energy and climate crunch looming, solar fuel is suddenly gaining altenlion. In phoiosynihesis, green leaves use the energy in 50 sunlighi io rearrange the chemical bonds of waler and carbon dioxide. producing and storing fuel in the fonn AGTQ13 36 GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE.

As it is used in line 25. Ihe phrase pump oul most nearly means.. remove. siphon.

The passage states thai the two principal elemenls of Lewis's artificial leaf iechnology are: a fuel cell and ambient air. solar electricity and a caialyst. a collecior and an elecirolyzer.