SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

In the field of supply chain management, the spread of automation technologies has __________ the redistribution of human labor. Offloading some repetitive and simple tasks to machines has enabled workers to shift their time and energy toward more nuanced and sophisticated tasks that require human expertise.

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

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

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

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

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

From the little penguin to the North Atlantic right whale, a wide range of semiaquatic species have been found to share a common approach for saving energy when traveling long distances. To minimize both wave drag at the surface and the vertical distance to reach the surface to breathe, these air-breathing marine animals swim at depths around three times their body diameter. This finding has important implications for animal conservation efforts. For example, considering typical swim depths could help reduce the risk of boat strikes, which are a major threat to whales.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

The following text is from Mary Crow Dog's 1990 autobiography Lakota Woman, written in collaboration with Richard Erdoes.

At the center of the old Sioux society was the tiyospaye, the extended family group, the basic hunting band, which included grandparents, uncles, aunts, in-laws, and cousins. The tiyospaye was like a warm womb cradling all within it. Kids were never alone, always fussed over by not one but several mothers, watched and taught by several fathers.

What does the text most strongly suggest about the function of the tiyospaye?

Text 1

For decades, ornithologists assumed that if they saw a singing Bell's vireo—a bird species found in temperate North America—they must be observing a male. That's because birdsong has long been considered a male trait; researchers have argued that singing enables males to attract mates and claim territory.

 

 

Text 2

Recent evidence shows that a female Bell's vireo is as capable of song as a male is. In fact, Karan J. Odom and colleagues found evidence of female song in 71% of the 323 species they examined. They claim that the historical mischaracterization of birdsong as a male trait is largely the result of bias: much of the research ornithologists have carried out has been near universities in the temperate northern hemisphere, where female birdsong is less common than it is in the tropics.

 

Based on the texts, how would Odom and colleagues (Text 2) most likely respond to the view of birdsong presented in Text 1?

Text 1

Livestock farming and other human activities are significant sources of atmospheric methane (CH4), but, as Weixing Ding and colleagues have shown, so too are naturally occurring emissions, such as those from peatlands. This biogenic CH4 is challenging to monitor given natural sources' variability and spatial diffusion, but one promising approach is to use CH4 flux data from extant monitoring infrastructure as proxies for CH4 fluxes in unmonitored areas.

 

Text 2

Sparkle Malone and colleagues examined the United States' network of eddy covariance (EC) towers—the equipment used to track CH4 fluxes—to evaluate the utility of network data for quantifying biogenic CH4. Malone et al. found that EC towers are disproportionately concentrated in areas where biogenic CH4 emissions are known to be elevated, a pattern that seriously compromises the representativeness of network data.

 

Based on the texts, Malone et al. (Text 2) would most likely agree with which statement about the "approach" described in Text 1?

R. D. Lawrence et al. found that a recommender system (RS)—an algorithm that generates personalized product suggestions for online shoppers—impacted consumer behavior and increased sales, a result that was corroborated by Dokyun Lee and Kartik Hosanagar. However, Lee and Hosanagar also determined that whereas an RS had a stronger positive effect on item views for utilitarian products (e. g., dish detergents) than for hedonic products (e. g.,music albums), the RS had a stronger positive effect on likelihood of purchase for hedonic products than for utilitarian ones.

Information in the text best supports which statement about recommender systems?

In a college course on urban affairs, a student asserts that increased traffic congestion in the 1990s in the United States was present both in very large cities such as New York City, New York, and smaller areas such as Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jacksonville, Florida, and Boise, Idaho; though those smaller areas may have been less affected by traffic congestion than very large cities, this congestion also worsened in them over time.

 

Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the student's claim?

Mollusk shells are mainly composed of calcium carbonate, a chemical compound used in mortar and other construction materials. A research team led by Ariane da Silva Cardoso investigated pulverizing discarded Sururu mussel shells to create a substitute for fine aggregates (such as sand) in mortar mixtures. The team prepared mixtures with Sururu shell aggregate (SSA) replacing varying percentages of sand and then tested the mortars' compressive strength on days 7 and 28 of curing. Based on their findings, the team recommended SSA substitution in relatively small proportions to avoid compromising strength.

 

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to support the researchers' recommendation?

"Mrs. Spring Fragrance" is a 1912 short story by Sui Sin Far. In the story, Mrs. Spring Fragrance, a Chinese immigrant living in Seattle, is traveling in California. In letters to her husband and friend, she demonstrates her concern for what's happening at her home in Seattle while she is away: _____________.

Which quotation from Mrs. Spring Fragrance's letters most effectively illustrates the claim?

Here is an adaptation of established fiction genres to Southern contexts. Mark Twain derived his episodic narrative structures and roguish heroes from the picaresque novel, and William Faulkner realized the decadent aristocrat, the imperiled heroine, and other character types of the Gothic novel as rural Southerners who were more contingent, more caught in the net of societal relations and history than the fantastical figures of the Gothic had been. Some of the region's poets, such as James Dickey, have shown even greater dexterity by adapting these sources in an altogether different literary form.

 

Which statement, if true, would most directly support the underlined sentence?

A 2025 study performed by Simon Townsend and colleagues presents evidence that bonobos, close relatives of chimpanzees, are capable of a rudimentary compositionality in communication—that is, they can organize sounds they make such that the order carries meaning in addition to the sounds themselves. After reviewing bonobo calls recorded in forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Townsend's team claimed that bonobos sometimes paired calls in specific orders and that the contexts of such pairs indicate they were deliberate communications rather than products of chance. The team based their claim on mathematical analysis of bonobo call sequences.

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

A soil's microbial community (the microbial taxa present in their relative abundances) is known to affect plants' cyclical processes. Corrine Walsh and colleagues hypothesized that microbial communities could also affect plants' flavor chemistry, including volatiles and secondary metabolites like glucosinolates. Recognizing that soil moisture varies by location in the wild and could influence plants' chemistry, Walsh et al. introduced distinct microbial communities to individually potted mustard plants (Brassica juncea) growing in a controlled environment, then measured the plants' glucosinolates, like butenyl and allyl (the most prominent), that create the spicy and bitter flavors in mustard. This method thus enabled the researchers to _____________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

In British gothic fiction of the eighteenth century, gone are the rational narratives that dominated earlier literary movements of the Enlightenment period. In ____________ place are stories rife with the supernatural and psychological intensity that appealed to readers seeking escape from the Age of Reason.

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

When Indhu Rubasingham was announced as the National Theatre's new artistic director in late 2023, theater leadership across the UK __________ increasingly corporate in structure, with a growing number of venues experimenting with models that would place executives in leadership, eliminating the artistic director position entirely.

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

Featured among the more than 120 photographs in the 2021 exhibition The New Woman Behind the Camera, Olga Mate's ___________ "Fisherman's Dock" offers a glimpse back in time to 1930.

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

In English metrical poetry, disyllabic words that consist of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, like "eclipsed," are called iambs, whereas disyllabic words in which the unstressed syllable follows the stressed one (such as _________ are classified as trochees.

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

With an average summer temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit, Odessa is one European ___________ many travelers recommend, especially from June to September.

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

Portuguese researcher Isabel C. F. R. Ferreira found that termite mushrooms contain gallic acid, an antioxidant that combats free radicals, which are molecules that can damage healthy cells in organisms. Ferreira hopes to harness mushroom antioxidants ____________ an array of conditions in animals and plants alike.

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

Researchers have long been aware that pistol shrimp use a specialized claw to create bubbles that stun their prey, but understanding of the phenomenon has been limited by researchers' inability to accurately measure the tiny, rapid movements of the shrimp. ___________ scientists have turned to computer simulations to re-create the claw's closing motion, allowing them to track the pressure, speed, and density of water throughout the bubble formation.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

In Color Charts: A History (2024), anthropologist Anne Varichon uses vivid prose to describe various systems and tools that have been used over the past few centuries for categorizing colors. __________ Varichon's book features many high-quality images of these color presentation tools from fanlike arrangements of hued fabric swatches to clusters of dyed feathers.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Some famous novels originally had titles very different from those they're known by today. ___________ while Ford Madox Ford was writing his classic novel about two couples living in Europe, he called it The Saddest Story—a title he had abandoned in favor of The Good Soldier by the time of the book's publication in 1915.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

By 1936, Spanish Romani dancer Carmen Amaya was known all over Spain for her powerful style of flamenco dancing. However, in July of that year, the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War made it difficult for her to perform in her home country. ____________ Amaya left Spain to perform abroad, dancing for audiences across North and South America.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

· Kepler's first law of planetary motion states that the orbit of a planet around the Sun is an ellipse.

· The law also states that, in an elliptical orbit, the object being orbited is one of the ellipse's foci.

· Kepler's laws of planetary motion also apply to natural satellites (e. g., moons).

· Umbriel is a moon of Uranus that orbits the planet in 4.144 Earth days on average.

· Umbriel's orbit is elliptical.

The student wants to provide an explanation and example of Kepler's first law of planetary motion. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A student has taken the following notes:

· A team of researchers led by Guanning Pang discovered that inactive volcanoes in the Cascade Range have large underground magma chambers 3 to 9 miles below their surface.

· Some of these volcanoes have been dormant for thousands of years.

· Researchers detected magma by tracking earthquake waves that slowed down when passing through chambers of magma consisting of 3% to 32% melted rock.

· Magma chambers need over 35% liquid rock to potentially erupt.

A student wants to undermine a scientific assumption about magma chambers. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?