SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Though Vasily Grossman's novel Stalingrad is not as beloved as his later work Life and Fate, some critics commend it despite its mangling by Soviet censors: Luke Harding in The Guardian called it "one of the great novels of the twentieth century." Several draft versions have been_________, and translators consulted those drafts when working on what they hoped would be a definitive English edition.

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

Writer Lydia Davis observed that while_________literary forms, such as the novel, are recognizable as such even as they evolve, there are pathbreaking "intergeneric" forms that might, for example, use elements of both fiction and essays to create something unclassifable. The late-period pieces of James Tate arguably fit in this category, since they straddle the line between prose and poetry.

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

Analysis of preserved plants cataloged in the United States Virtual Herbarium indicates that rising temperatures correlate with earlier leaf production, but such specimens represent only brief moments in plants' overall development. __________this research with studies involving live plants would enable a fuller understanding of how these observed changes affect plant fitness.

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

When a landscape with native megafaunal (large-bodied) mammalian herbivores experiences a substantial decline in those populations, it loses a functional component of plant ecology. Introducing non-native proxy species has been beneficial in some such cases, but the reasonable concern persists that ecosystems may be negatively affected by species that didn't coevolve with local vegetation. Scholarly analysis of findings from 221 studies revealed no evidence that nativeness mediates the ecological effects of megafauna, however, determining instead that other traits, such as diet selectivity, are more germane.

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

One challenge faced by researchers studying global urbanization is that different countries have different definitions of what constitutes an urban settlement. Many countries define urban settlements based on the number of people living in them. However, countries do not all use the same number to define an urban settlement; for example, Iceland uses a minimum population of 200, while Mali uses 30,000. Other countries use a combination of population and other factors, like the number of buildings in the area. This variation makes it difficult for researchers to compare aspects of urbanization in different countries.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

In their study of fossils of the extinct arthropod Mollisonia symmetrica, Javier Ortega-Hernández, Rudy Lerosey-Aubril, and team reported some obvious indications of M.symmetrica's nervous system—for example, nerves extending into the animal's body parts. Most intriguingly, they also saw signs of what might be a synganglion, a brain-like nerve mass, in the animal's head. This is an exciting possibility; without evidence of a synganglion, we can't tell exactly how M. symmetrica relates to mosquitoes, slipper lobsters, and other arthropods.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Online surveys are a common tool researchers use to collect information. These surveys are usually designed for use on personal computers (PCs), but more people are using smartphones to complete them than they are PCs. This shift in device usage may change how participants interact with online surveys. When researchers Jean Philippe Décieux and Philipp E. Sischka investigated, they found that PC users were more likely to multitask while taking surveys than smartphone users were, but PC users were also more likely to complete the surveys.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Quality assessments of concrete typically focus almost exclusively on compressive strength as a measure of durability, overlooking other potentially relevant factors. Lisa Ptacek et al. therefore investigated the potential of gas permeability (vulnerability to incursion by gases), which is caused in part by excessive porosity, as a durability indicator. Their measurements and observations revealed that quality of conditions during the concrete curing phase negatively correlates with gas permeability and that high gas permeability values are associated with increased deterioration as concrete surfaces age.

Information in the text best supports which statement about Ptacek et al.'s findings?

Myoglobin (Mb) is a protein that primarily aids in oxygen storage and diffusion across the mitochondrial membrane in cardiac muscle cells; these are necessary functions in aerobic organisms, including teleost fish. The table shows the average Mb levels and their standard deviations (indicating how dispersed the Mb levels of individual fish are in relation to the average) of three teleost fish species, as calculated by Daniel J. Macqueen et al. Based on the data, the researchers concluded that for some teleost species, oxygen storage and diffusion may occur with negligible assistance from Mb.

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to support Macqueen et al.'s conclusion?

A student is collecting data about countries with volcanoes that have been active in the time since 1800 and in the time since 1960. The student records that Nicaragua has ____________.

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

The 1980 production of A Lesson from Aloes was the first Broadway show for which Susan Hilferty was credited as a costume designer. Hilferty was among the Broadway costume designers interviewed by Sara Jablon-Roberts and Eulanda A. Sanders for their study of historical accuracy in costume design. They argue that aesthetics often outweigh fidelity to the past among designers for shows with historical settings. In a paper for a theater class, a student claims that the costume design for a modern production of the musical Our Town (set in the early 1900s) exemplifies this tendency.

Which quotation from the costume designer for the modern production of Our Town would most effectively support the student's claim?

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is an 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In the story, the narrator expresses mixed feelings about her surroundings:_______.

Which quotation from "The Yellow Wallpaper" most effectively illustrates the claim?

Rafael Núñez and colleagues studied how members of the Yupno, an Indigenous group in Papua New Guinea, conceptualize time in both spoken language and gestures. The researchers recorded Yupno speakers explaining certain temporal words and phrases, such as kalip bishap, a past-oriented expression that translates to "past times," and coded each speaker's manual gestures. Previous research has found a tendency in many cultures to make temporal distinctions along imagined linear axes: for instance, Spanish speakers often refer to the left/right axis to describe events in time. Some researchers believe this tendency is universal, but Núñez and colleagues claim this is not the case.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support Núñez and colleagues' claim?

The Younger Dryas was a period of extreme cooling from 11,700 to 12,900 years ago in the Northern Hemisphere. Some scientists argue that a comet fragment hitting Earth brought about the cooling. Others disagree, partly because there is no known crater from such an impact that dates to the beginning of the period. In 2015, a team led by Kurt Kjær detected a 19-mile-wide crater beneath a glacier in Greenland. The scientists who believe an impact caused the Younger Dryas claim that this discovery supports their view. However, Kjær's team hasn't yet been able to determine the age of the crater. Therefore, the team suggests that _______.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Lê Lương Minh became the thirteenth secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in January 2013, making _______ the first time the organization would appoint a Vietnamese leader.

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

In 1929, Edwin Herbert Land invented a polarizing filter that was featured in a number of products, from sunglasses to 3D movies. A decade later, Land_______ his technology to invent the world's first instant camera, the Polaroid Land camera.

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

An online content creator who uses copyrighted songs without permission risks being demonetized (prohibited from including paid advertisements in content). The best way to avoid demonetization is to choose music from the public domain. Using one of these noncopyrighted songs _______ a creator won't lose advertising revenue.

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

What makes the theremin a unique musical instrument? You play it without touching it. When you place your _______ the pitch will shift as your hands move through the air.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

In the music video for the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel, the singer lists 118 political and cultural references. Such iconic references, cited in rapid and frenetic procession by the musician, who is seated impassively at a dinner table, _______ key moments and personalities of the twentieth century.

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

On a chilly spring morning in a Virginia park, as sunlight crested the treetops, Kathrin Swoboda raised her Nikon D500 camera and captured an image that would win the Grand Prize in the 2019 Audubon Photography Awards: a red-winged blackbird, exhaling what appeared to be rings of smoke. ________the "smoke" was actually the blackbird's breath hitting the cold morning air as the bird sang.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Celebrated Tewa potter Maria Martinez (1887–1980) made her signature all-black ceramic vessels using a heating technique called reduction firing. This technique involves smothering the flame surrounding the clay vessel. _______ the vessel takes on a shiny, black hue.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Historians agree that the jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton was exaggerating when he claimed to have invented jazz music. No one can deny, _______ that Morton's innovative compositions and remarkable improvisational skills helped shape jazz as a genre during its early years.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

According to Duverger's law, countries with single-ballot majoritarian elections for single-member districts tend to polarize into two-party systems, wherein dueling political parties consistently dominate the political system. _______ countries with proportional-representation electoral systems tend to support multi-partyism, under which power gets distributed among many political parties.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

· Ukiyo-e woodblock prints were a popular artistic form in Japan from the 1600s through the 1800s.

· Ukiyo-e prints were produced by teams of artisans that included artists, wood-carvers, printers, and publishers.

· Sosaku-hanga was a popular Japanese printmaking movement that emerged in the early 1900s.

· Sosaku-hanga prioritized individual artistic expression.

· An artist working in this style typically handled all aspects of print creation, from drawing to wood carving to printing.

The student wants to contrast ukiyo-e and sosaku-hanga production methods. 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:

· Sodium is a chemical element.

· 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.

· Sodium's emission spectrum includes the 589.5 nanometer (nm) wavelength of light.

· Wavelengths of 570-590 nm make up the yellow portion of the visible spectrum.

The student wants to indicate one of the wavelengths of light in sodium's emission spectrum. 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:

· Chapantongo is a municipality in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico.

· It had a population of 12,967 in 2020.

· Chapulhuacan is a municipality in Hidalgo.

· It had a population of 22,903 in 2020.

· Municipalities are governmental regions responsible for providing many public services to their residents.

· Hidalgo is divided into 84 municipalities.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between Chapantongo and Chapulhuacan. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?