SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Several scholars of children's literature recently             to discuss the work of Sharon Bell Mathis, author of such lauded books as Ray Charles. Once together, they talked about her style, influences, and themes.

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

Whereas researchers long thought the Congo rainforest constrained the initial expansion of Bantu-speaking peoples (which today include the Kuria in Tanzania and the Shona in Zimbabwe) across subequatorial Africa, recent studies indicate that early Bantu communities managed to           the rainforest, a feat facilitated by drier conditions that opened up viable corridors through the vegetation.

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

The extensive use of the costly pigment ultramarine in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer-creator of masterpieces such as Woman with a Lute (ca.1662-1663)—was likely            as much by the pigment's chemical durability as by its exclusiveness and vivid blue hue: relative to indigo and other blue pigments employed by Vermeer and his contemporaries, ultramarine is less susceptible to degradation.

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

Harold Newton's Yellow Day, a wetland landscape with palm trees and lush greenery set against the pastel yellows and pinks of the sky and water, is typical of paintings by the mid-twentieth-century landscape artists now known as the Florida Highwaymen. Even though Florida was rapidly being developed at that time, tourists in particular held the idea that its distinctive tropical and coastal environments represented a pristine natural world, untouched by modernity. As with many Highwaymen paintings, the appeal of Yellow Day derived from its ability to capture this sentiment.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Mushrooms, including Coprinellus micaceus and species from the genus Cantharellus, are known to use the process of evapotranspiration to maintain internal temperatures below ambient temperatures. This hypothermic behavior is enhanced by the many thin gills (lamellae) on the fungi's caps, with substantial surface area contributing to capacity for evaporation. Examining fungal thermoregulation mechanisms, Radames Cordéro et al. determined that molds and yeasts also engage in evaporative cooling to facilitate hypothermia and suggest that, lacking features analogous to lamellae, these unicellular fungi aggregate into colonies to derive the benefit of greater surface area.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

The Cygne 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. Leila Hamdan and colleagues were particulaly 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?

Editor Jared Shurin's 2023 anthology The Big Book of Cyberpunk contains 108 stories, an enormous number. The anthology has a vast chronological scope, including both James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Girl Who Was Plugged in" (1973) and Lavanya Lakshminarayan's "Etudes" (2020). In his introduction, Shurin defines cyberpunk as a subgenre of speculative fiction concerning "the influence of technology on the scale, the pace, or the pattern of human affairs," however, many critics have previously argued that cyberpunk is a literary movement that is not just idea driven but that has distinctive aesthetic components as well.

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

Joseph A. Walker's award-winning play The River Niger was produced in 1972 by the groundbreaking Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). NEC cofounder Robert Hooks, an actor, producer, and activist, had met actor and playwright Douglas Turner Ward 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 Walker, a forum for their compelling stories.

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

The synthesis of novel superheavy elements, such as nihonium (Nh), has led theorists to consider the feasibility of synthesizing all possible chemical compounds. In 2022, Guilermo Restrepo calculated the historical rates at which newly discovered compounds have entered the scientific literature, expanding the "chemical space." Using a conservative estimate of the number of viable compounds and assuming a doubling of the historical pace of discovery, Restrepo found that under these hypothetical conditions, all potential compounds could be synthesized and documented by 2050.

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

A marine biologist is researching four stony coral species in Caribbean and Indo-Pacific waters, focusing on sightings of these species in the shallow zone (less than 30 meters below the surface) and the mesophotic zone (30 to 150 meters below the surface). Consulting the table, she notes that the smallest maximum depth is located in

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

Installing a new high-speed rail (HSR) hub in an area has the potential to boost residential development nearby, though the amount and type of development vary considerably by location. This potential is greatest when HSR hubs are established in areas far away from city centers, as these locations tend to have more available land for redevelopment into residential areas

Which statement is best supported by information from the text and table?

While conducting an interview for her book Latina Authors and Their Muses, editor Mayra Calvani asked Margo Candela, author of the young adult novel The Brenda Diaries, what__________ Candela's response was The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

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

Fulfilling their myriad duties with grace and goodwill,            in 2019.

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

In Puerto Rico, it's not unusual for a city or town to be known by a nickname that corresponds to one of its notable features, like landscape,            or chief exports. For example, the Puerto Rican municipality of Corozal has also been called "the Cradle of Volleyball," a nickname that alludes to what the area is well known for: being a longtime volleyball powerhouse.

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

Many places in the United States share a name with a foreign city or country. When founding the city of Warsaw, Indiana, residents decided to name                after the Polish city of Warsaw.

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

New Mexico governor               the first woman to serve in that role in the state's history—took office on January 1, 2011.

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

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist who produced more than two thousand             His work Self-Portrait was completed in 1981 and sold at auction in 2016 for $4.7 million.

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

At the Ruskin School of Acting in Santa Monica, California, students can learn the world-famous Meisner technique.            by acting teacher Sanford Meisner, this technique trains actors to react naturally to the other performers in a scene.

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

As volcanologists like Tamsin Mather are apt to make clear, not all volcanoes are the same. Agua de Pau in the Azores islands, for example, is a stratovolcano, a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava and
tephra. Methana in Greece,                   is a lava dome, a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Generally, sleek vehicles are more aerodynamic than bulkier ones. The streamlined nose of the F-104 Starfighter jet,             helps it glide through wind with relative ease, while a boxy pickup truck encounters more wind resistance, making it less aerodynamic.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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 Kanuti River and other tributaries fed by the riverway's source, Alaska's Llewellyn Glacier.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

From mountains to monuments, deserts to rainforests, and isolated islands to teeming cities, the sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List are chosen because they hold cultural or natural value that the organization wishes to preserve for future generations.             in 2008, UNESCO recognized the importance of France's Lagoons of New Caledonia, making up one of the largest reef systems in the world, by adding them to the list as a natural heritage site.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Formerly known as the Indiana Territory, Indiana was granted statehood by a vote of the US Congress on December 11, 1816, making Indiana the 19th US state. By comparison, as one of the nation's original thirteen colonies, Connecticut became a state when it ratified the US Constitution on January 9, 1788.             New York attained statehood by ratifying the Constitution, becoming the 11th US state on July 26, 1788.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

·Köichirö Nishikawa is a Japanese particle physicist.

·Particle physicists study subatomic particles.

·Neutrinos are some of the least understood subatomic particles.

·Neutrinos were first discovered in the mid-twentieth century.

·Nishikawa is known for his research on neutrino oscillations.

The student wants to provide an example of a particle physicist whose research focuses on neutrinos. 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:

·The Carnegie Prize is an international art competition.

·It is administered by the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

·One Carnegie Prize gold medal winner is Cecilia Beaux of the US.

·Beaux's painting Mother and Daughter was honored in 1899.

The student wants to indicate the name of the artist who created the prize-winning painting Mother and Daughter. 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 crambers 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.

·These findings challenge the scientific theory that magma chambers only exist right before eruptions.

·The discovery could improve volcano monitoring and eruption prediction methods.

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?