SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

The following text is adapted from Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 novel The Enchanted April. Mrs. Wilkins and her friend Rose are traveling in Italy.

 

"I'm going to have one of these gorgeous

oranges," said Mrs. Wilkins, staying where she

was and reaching across to a black bowl piled

with them. "Rose, how can you resist them.

Look—have this one. Do have this beauty—"

And she held out a big one.

 

As used in the text, what does the phrase "reaching across to" most nearly mean?

The War of 1812 has _______ place in historical memory in Britain, partly because it is overshadowed by the much larger concurrent conflict against Napoleonic France and partly because it essentially maintained the geopolitical status quo for Britain: the country neither gained nor lost significant territory or position as a result of its participation in the war.

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

The author's claim about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is _________, as it fails to account for several recent archaeological discoveries. To be convincing, his argument would need to address recent finds of additional hominid fossils, such as the latest Denisovan specimens and Homo longi.

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

On receiving good news, people's first instinct might be to immediately share it, but a recent experiment suggests that keeping it a secret can be psychologically beneficial. Study participants were randomly assigned to reflect on an experience in which they either shared good news or kept it to themselves. On average, those who kept good news secret reported feeling more energized by the experience than participants who shared did, perhaps, as the researchers suggest, because the choice to savor good news is usually a personal one and autonomous motivation is linked with feelings of vitality.

 

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

While no one doubts that politicians are influenced by a variety of incentives, it is generally agreed that they seek to support policies their constituents favor—after all, they risk losing office if they do not. Direct contact with constituents via such means as public events and emails from voters is a major source of politicians' beliefs about their constituents' views, but it is susceptible to a selection effect. There is little reason to presume that individuals with the time, resources, and strength of feeling to directly engage with their representatives are themselves broadly representative.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The following text is from Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre. Jane, the narrator, works as a governess at Thornfield Hall.

 

I went on with my day's business tranquilly; but ever and anon vague suggestions kept wandering across my brain of reasons why I should quit Thornfield; and I kept involuntarily framing advertisements and pondering conjectures about new situations: these thoughts I did not think to check; they might germinate and bear fruit if they could.

 

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Text 1

Africa's Sahara region—once a lush ecosystem—began to dry out about 8,000 years ago. A change in Earth's orbit that affected climate has been posited as a cause of desertification, but archaeologist David Wright also attributes the shift to Neolithic peoples. He cites their adoption of pastoralism as a factor in the region drying out: the pastoralists' livestock depleted vegetation, prompting the events that created the Sahara Desert.

 

 

Text 2

Research by Chris Brierley et al. challenges the idea that Neolithic peoples contributed to the Sahara's desertification. Using a climate-vegetation model, the team concluded that the end of the region's humid period occurred 500 years earlier than previously assumed. The timing suggests that Neolithic peoples didn't exacerbate aridity in the region but, in fact, may have helped delay environmental changes with practices (e.g., selective grazing) that preserved vegetation.

 

Based on the texts, how would Chris Brierley (Text 2) most likely respond to the discussion in Text 1?

A common assumption among art historians is that the invention of photography in the mid-nineteenth century displaced the painted portrait in the public consciousness. The diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature, which coincided with the rise of photography, seems to support this claim. However, photography's impact on the portrait miniature may be overstated. Although records from art exhibitions in the Netherlands from 1820 to 1892 show a decrease in the number of both full-sized and miniature portraits submitted, this trend was established before the invention of photography.

Based on the text, what can be concluded about the diminishing popularity of the portrait miniature in the nineteenth century?

Researcher Judith Hilton and her team interviewed 55 people about which factors would make them switch from using single-use plastic containers to reusable containers. The graph shows three of the factors mentioned in the interviews and the percentage of participants who mentioned them.

 

According to the graph, about what percentage of participants mentioned costs in the interviews?

In a study of urban physical expansion, Richa Mahtta et al. conducted a meta-analysis of more than 300 cities worldwide to determine whether urban land expansion (ULE) was more strongly influenced by urban population growth or by growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a measure of economic activity. Because efficient national government is necessary to provide urban services and infrastructure that attract economic investment, Mahtta et al. propose that absent other factors, the importance of GDP per capita growth to ULE would likely increase relative to the importance of population growth as governments become more efficient. If true, this suggests the possibility that _______.

 

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the statement?

In 1534 CE, King Henry VIII of England split with the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the Church of England, in part because Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Two years later, Henry VIII introduced a policy titled the Dissolution of the Monasteries that by 1540 had resulted in the closure of all Catholic monasteries in England and the confiscation of their estates. Some historians assert that the enactment of the policy was primarily motivated by perceived financial opportunities.

Which quotation from a scholarly article best supports the assertion of the historians mentioned in the text?

O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by Willa Cather. In the novel, Cather depicts Alexandra Bergson as a person who takes comfort in understanding the world around her: _________.

Which quotation from O Pioneers! most effectively illustrates the claim?

Scholars have noted that F. Scott Fitzgerald's writings were likely influenced in part by his marriage to Zelda Fitzgerald, but many don't recognize Zelda as a writer in her own right. Indeed, Zelda authored several works herself, such as the novel Save Me the Waltz and numerous short stories. Thus, those who primarily view Zelda as an inspiration for F. Scott's writings __________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

In their book Smart Pricing, Jagmohan Raju and Z. John Zhang consider musicians' use of the nontraditional "pay as you wish" pricing model. This model generally offers listeners the choice to pay more or less than a suggested price for a song or album—or even to pay nothing at all. As the authors note, that's the option most listeners chose for an album by the band Harvey Danger. Only about 1% opted to pay for the album, resulting in earnings below the band's expectations. But the authors also discuss musician Jane Siberry, who saw significant earnings from her "pay as you wish" online music store as a result of many listeners choosing to pay more than the store's suggested prices. Hence, the "pay as you wish" model may _________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Songbirds learn to respond to and imitate their species' songs from an early age. With each generation, small differences are introduced that result in distinct variations—called dialects—among geographically isolated populations of the same species. A research study examined whether twelve-day-old Ficedula hypoleuca (pied flycatcher) nestlings prefer local dialects over the unfamiliar dialects of nonlocal F. hypoleuca populations: the more begging calls the nestlings made in response to a song, the stronger their preference. The researchers found that nestlings produced more begging calls in response to their own dialect than to nonlocal dialects. Since song preference plays a role in songbird mate selection, the finding suggests that _________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A bias toward studying diversity at a local rather than a continental scale was one of the many shortcomings researcher Sonia Llorente-Culebras and her team _________ analyzing nearly 400 biodiversity studies from around the globe.

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

Native to the Yangtze River in China, the Chinese river dolphin is one of many species to have recently gone extinct in what some are calling "the sixth great mass extinction" in Earth's history. Far from being caused by humans, though, the five prior such events—the Ordovician-Silurian (440 million years ago, or mya), the Devonian (365 mya), the Permian-Triassic (250 mya), the Triassic-Jurassic (201 mya), and the Cretaceous-Tertiary _________all predate us.

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

In the seventeenth century,market-savvy British greenhouses scrambled to cultivate_________the small group of wealthy consumers who could afford to import them from the Caribbean, the fruits had become a status symbol.

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

In 1453, English King Henry VI became unfit to rule after falling gravely ill. As a result, Parliament appointed Richard, Third Duke of York, who had a strong claim to the English throne, to rule as Lord Protector. Upon recovering two years later, _________ forcing an angered Richard from the royal court and precipitating a series of battles later known as the Wars of the Roses.

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

In 2009, the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles hosted a special exhibition, Sueños/Yume, showcasing the works of local sculptor Dora de Larios. As suggested by the show's title (sueños and yume mean "dreams" in Spanish and Japanese, respectively), de Larios's art reflects a mix of cultural influences. _________ her work is grounded in the artistic traditions of both Mexico and Japan.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

In 2018, Kurt Luther and Vikram Mohanty created the web-based tool Civil War Photo Sleuth (CWPS). A user uploading an unknown Civil War soldier's photograph to CWPS first tags the photo with all known information. ___________ CWPS's facial-recognition software analyzes twenty-seven different physical features and looks for matches to tagged images already in the database.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Geoscientists have long considered Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano to be Earth's largest shield volcano by volume, measuring approximately 74,000 cubic kilometers. ________according to a 2020 study by local geoscientist Michael Garcia, Hawaii's Pūhāhonu shield volcano is significantly larger, boasting a volume of about 148,000 cubic kilometers.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

In her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah, Rita Dove interweaves the titular characters' personal stories with broader historical narratives. She places Thomas's journey from the American South to the Midwest in the early 1900s within the larger context of the Great Migration. _________ Dove sets events from Beulah's personal life against the backdrop of the US Civil Rights Movement.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

· Organisms release cellular material into their environment by shedding substances such as hair or skin.

· The DNA in these substances is known as environmental DNA, or eDNA.

· Researchers collect and analyze eDNA to detect the presence of species that are difficult to observe.

· Geneticist Sara Oyler-McCance's research team analyzed eDNA in water samples from the Florida Everglades to detect invasive constrictor snake species in the area.

· The study determined a 91% probability of detecting Burmese python eDNA in a given location.

The student wants to present the study to an audience already familiar with environmental DNA. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

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

· Platinum is a rare and expensive metal.

· It is used as a catalyst for chemical reactions.

· Platinum catalysts typically require a large amount of platinum to be effective.

· Researcher Jianbo Tang and his colleagues created a platinum catalyst that combines platinum with liquid gallium.

· Their catalyst was highly effective and required only trace amounts of platinum (0.0001% of the atoms in the mixture).

The student wants to explain an advantage of the new platinum catalyst developed by Jianbo Tang and his colleagues. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

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

· Allan Houser was a Chiricahua Warm Springs Apache sculptor, illustrator, and painter.

· Many of his sculptures featured Native American figures.

· He depicted this subject matter using abstract, modernist forms, developing a distinctive style that influenced many other artists.

· His well-known sculpture Sacred Rain Arrow was pictured on the State of Oklahoma license plate.

The student wants to describe the distinctive style of Houser's sculptures. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?