SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Among saltwater fish species, there is a clear association between habitat latitude and morphological variety. While tropical species are           deep-bodied physical forms (body shapes that are laterally compressed but vertically extended), polar and temperate species are highly dispersed across the morphological spectrum.

 

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

The following text is adapted from Edith Wharton's 1911 novella Ethan Frome. The narrator has asked the woman he rents a room from about Ethan Frome, a town resident he encountered recently.

Her mind was a store-house of innocuous anecdote and any question about her acquaintances brought forth a volume of detail; but on the subject of Ethan Frome l found her unexpectedly reticent. There was no hint of disapproval in her reserve; l merely felt in her an insurmountable reluctance to speak of him.

 

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

The work of Tobias Gerstenberg et al. on tracking eye movements supports a theory that people envision          scenarios 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?

Within higher education, studying philosophy requires that students be conversant with the field's foundational texts and historical figures. By contrast, doing philosophy within or beyond the academy demands the creative, self-directed application of acquired expertise to enduring questions about the nature of existence and knowledge. While both approaches engage with influential figures, those who do philosophy treat such figures as vital interlocutors who facilitate new insights rather than as ossified authorities who, though relevant to the present, primarily represent the discipline's past.

Based on the text, which choice best describes the relationship between doing philosophy and studying philosophy?

Archaeologist Weiwei Wang and her colleagues analyzed footed grinding slabs and other food-preparation tools excavated from Óc Eo, a Southeast Asian port city that flourished between the first and sixth centuries CE. Wang and colleagues recovered microscopic remnants of turmeric and other spices from the surfaces of the tools. Turmeric is native to South Asia, more than a thousand miles west of Óc Eo, and the researchers showed that the footed grinding slabs at Óc Eo are very similar to footed grinding slabs common throughout South Asia from around 500 BCE to 300 CE. Wang and colleagues findings therefore indicate that there must have been a trade link, whether direct or indirect, between the two regions.

Which finding, if true, would directly weaken the conclusion about Wang and her colleagues' findings that is presented in the text?

The following text is from Louise Erdrich's 1986 novel The Beet Queen. Celestine takes her infant daughter with her to the butcher shop where she makes sausages.

 

Sometimes Celestine turned around and met the direct gaze of her daughter, a look so penetrating that Celestine's breath caught. She dropped the spice, the string, the knife she was using, and took the girl up in her arms, ready for her to speak as if a spell had suddenly lifted.

When the baby flexed her entire body and struggled to free herself, Celestine put her down. No matter how thorough Celestine's exhaustion, no matter how little sleep she'd had, there was a nerve of excitement running through each hour.

 

©1986 by Louise Erdrich

 

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

"To You" is an 1856 poem by Walt Whitman. In the poem, Whitman suggests that readers, whom he addresses directly, have not fully understood themselves, writing,                 

 

Which quotation from "To You" most effectively illustrates the claim?

Paul Linebarger is often recognized as an influential science fiction writer (under the pen name Cordwainer Smith), but his most significant work was a 1940s classified US Army guide exploring the role of propaganda in times of war. Citing the uniquely absorbing nature of motion pictures, he contended that US propaganda should equal popular films in its appeal, entertaining audiences while engendering views of the nation as an ally. Linebarger's work shaped the distinctive US approach to promoting national interests, one that continues to draw inspiration from elements of pop culture.

 

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

Text 1

In separate studies, Lingbo Meng 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. Meng 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

Meng 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, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the characterization of Meng and colleagues' study in Text 1?

A public health research claims that adding shaded seating areas to playgrounds encourages families to stay longer, increasing children's total active playtime. The researcher collects data from four playgrounds before and after shaded benches and tables are installed. The data show that visit lengths increased at most sites, though one playground saw only a modest change. Parents often said that relief from the sun was the main reason they stayed longer.

 

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support the claim?

The late Hemphillian (Hh) North American Land Mammal Age includes the subdivisions Hh3, 6.8 milion years ago (Ma) to 6 Ma, and Hh4, 6 Ma to 4.75 Ma. While mammalian fossils have indicated that Florida's Montbrook Fossil Site (MFS) and Palmetto Fauna of the Bone Valley Region (PFBV) date to Hh4, a more precise determination of the sites' ages has proved challenging. Stephanie R, Killingsworth et al. compared average ratios of strontium-87 to strontium-86 (87Sr/86Sr) in fossil shark teeth from MFS and PFBV-0.709000 and 0.709028, respectively-to 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the global strontium seawater curve, a record that shows how 87Sr/86Sr ratios in seawater correspond to numerical ages and that is used to date fossils and, by extension, fossil sites. The researchers concluded that            

 

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

Last-mile delivery refers to the final step in delivering packages to customers and this final step can be very difficult. Delivery companies are contending with the increasing popularity of next-day delivery and with the increasing volume of parcels to be delivered, resulting in a growing bottleneck of packages in the last-mile delivery stage. These companies have been experimenting with innovative solutions in last-mile delivery, including self-service lockers (containers where consumers can pick up their parcels using a unique code). Unfortunately, many of these innovations create new obstacles (e.g.. convenient placement of self-service lockers is challenging) and are not ready for full-scale implementation. As a result, delivery companies will likely           

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Across brown bears—omnivores with high dietary plasticity—there is wide variety in dietary mix, which may reflect genetics, local resource availability, or social learning (cubs stay with their mothers for two years or more). Evaluating these possibilities, Anne Hertel et al. analyzed 30 years of data on trophic position (indicative of dietary mix) for female brown bears. After separation, daughters, who tended to settle near their mothers, occupied the same trophic positions as their mothers for two years, but the correlation disappeared by year five. Trophic correlation with unrelated individuals in similar habitats was modest, while habitat-independent correlation with nonmaternal relatives (e.g., cousins) was no different than with unrelated individuals. These findings suggest that ______.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

The Kaiparowits Formation is a fossil-rich layer of sedimentary rock in the Grand Staircase, a colossal sequence of rock layers stretching from Utah's Bryce Canyon to Arizona's Grand Canyon. The sandstones and mudstones of the Kaiparowits Formation were deposited ________the Late Cretaceous, preserving many species from that time.

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

The panel of judges reviewed more than one hundred short films, but several members disagreed about whether            should receive the festival's top award, a ten-minute documentary shot entirely on a crowded subway platform. The film impressed some judges with its innovative cinematography and genuine emotion

 

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

Curious about how people respond to unfamiliar music, the psychology professor distributed headphones in the student center and asked volunteers to describe        after hearing a short, improvised performance on an instrument they had never seen. Participants varied in age and Musical experience,and many stayed to discuss their reactions with the professor.

 

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

A row of charging stations for electric bicycles, along with the racks of loaner helmets nearby,          a visible reminder that the campus is trying to reduce short car trips. The stations were part of a sustainability program that included educational signs and community workshops about alternative transportation.

 

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

The parks of Los Angeles, California, seem to be making people happier. in a 2022 study, researchers studying connections between the physical location in which a social media post was created and          contents analyzed geotagged social media posts from Los Angeles. They found that posts from the city's parks contained more words associated with happiness than other posts did.

 

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

In a 1993 study by Vales and Peek, the researchers used microhistological fecal analysis to determine the ratio of three plant subtypes (graminoids, forbs, and browse) within the diets of North American ungulates. The researchers did not perform this analysis on all such ungulates,_________ they focused exclusively on elk in Wyoming.

 

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

The city once considered demolishing the old train depot, calling it an eyesore.           , residents successfully argued that preserving and renovating the building could anchor a lively public plaza.

 

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

The new teen center offers free tutoring and weekend workshops aimed at job skills.            a small recording studio lets young musicians experiment with their own songs and develop their talents.

 

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

The science club proposed installing a weather station to record temperature.            the gardening club volunteered to use the data to choose plants for the courtyard.

 

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

 

·Microserfs (1995) is an epistolary novel by Canadian author Douglas Coupland.

·Epistolary novels are novels written primarily as a series of fictional documents.

·These documents can be letters, journal entries, newspaper clippings,and more.

·Microserfs consists primarily of journal entries.

·The journal entries are written by a man employed by a technology company.

 

The student wants to define the term "epistolary novel." 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:

 

·Community fridges place donated food in outdoor refrigerators.

·Residents can take items without filling out forms.

·Local restaurants sometimes contribute unsold prepared meals

·Volunteers clean and restock the fridges daily.

·Signs encourage people to take only what they need.

 

The student wants to emphasize the main goal of community-fridge projects. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this aoal?

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

 

·Sheet music contains many notations that instruct the musician on how to perform the piece.

·The notation pp stands for pianissimo.

·It means the piece should be performed at a very quiet volume.

·The notation mfstands for mezzo forte.

·It means the piece should be performed at a moderately loud volume.

 

The student wants to explain what pp stands for in sheet music. 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:

 

·When the electrons of a chemical element change energy states, certain wavelengths of light are released.

·This unique collection of wavelengths is known as the emission spectrum of the element.

·Titanium's emission spectrum includes the 430.5 nanometer (nm) wavelength.

·Krypton's emission spectrum includes the 583.2 nm wavelength.

·The violet portion of the visible spectrum is made up of light with wavelengths of 380-450 nm.

 

The student wants to identify an emission spectrum that includes a wavelength in the violet portion of the visible spectrum. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?