SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Bing Xie and her team have discovered that plains zebras make at least four types of vocalizations: "snorts," "soft snorts," "squeals," and "quagga quagga" calls. The researchers used machine-learning algorithms to__________ recorded vocalizations according to type, finding that snorts vary across individual zebras, while squeals are more uniform across zebra populations.

 

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

The following text is adapted from the 1895 poem "Ojistoh" by Emily Pauline Johnson, a Kanienkahagen

(Mohawk) writer also known as Tekahionwake.

 

I am Ojistoh, I am she, the wife

Of him whose name breathes bravery and life

And courage to the tribe who calls him chief.

I am Ojistoh, his white star, and he

Is land, and lake, and sky—and soul to me.

 

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

The following text is adapted from Henry James's 1881 novel The Portrait of a Lady.

Everything Osmond did was pose—pose so subtly considered that if one were not on the lookout one

mistook it for impulse. Ralph had never met a man who lived so much in the land of consideration. His

tastes, his studies, his accomplishments, his collections, were all for a purpose.

 

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

The following text is from Robert Lowell's 1964 poem "For the Union Dead." The South Boston Aquarium closed permanently in 1954.

The old South Boston Aquarium stands

in a Sahara of snow now. Its broken windows are boarded.

The bronze weathervane cod has lost half its scales.

The airy tanks are dry.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Modern dog breeds are largely the result of 160 years of owners crossbreeding certain dogs in order to select for particular physical appearances. Owners often say that some breeds are also more likely than others to have particular personality traits—basset hounds are affectionate; boxers are easy to train—but Kathleen Morrill and colleagues found through a combination of owner surveys and DNA sequencing of 2,000 dogs that while physical traits are predictably heritable among purebred dogs, behavior varies widely among dogs of the same breed.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Movies based on well-known books are often commercial successes: when the two widely read novels The Joy Luck Club and Sense and Sensibility were turned into motion pictures, people flocked to theaters to see them. Investigating whether adapting a book into a movie also affects the original book's popularity, researchers collected statistics from online platforms for The Monuments Men and two other books that have been adapted for the screen. They found that the movies' release dates coincided with increased interest in the books.

 

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

Linguist John McWhorter asserts that translation apps for smartphones and computers are—despite generally failing to convey many nuances—increasingly obviating the need to learn new languages. Advances in language processing technology have greatly boosted the utility of these apps for perfunctory tasks, like inquiring about an item on a menu, and passing interactions; be that as it may, richer communication (e. g., in business dealings or meaningful personal exchanges) often hinges on conversational patterns and gradations of meaning.

What does the text most directly suggest about translation apps?

Wenhao Xu and colleagues demonstrated that applying a low direct current electrical field to graphite (a conductor) and an acrylamide (AAm) gel can increase how strongly materials adhere to each other. At some voltages, adhesion strength—as measured in kilopascals (kPa) of stress needed to pull the materials apart—was high (more than 30 kPa). But the mere application of a direct current electrical field with positive voltage is not sufficient to cause increased adhesion, as evidenced by the fact that______.

 

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

Working in Ghana, Emmanuel Hanyabui and colleagues compared the impact on pineapple growth of different combinations of soil additives, including NPK fertilizer (an inorganic fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium), organic compost, and biochar (a carbon-rich material produced from organic waste matter). Based on data in the table, pineapple farmers with no access to inorganic soil additives would likely increase the weight and size of their fruits by the greatest amount by using_______.

 

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

Since the nation's earliest days, both houses of the United States Congress have counted many military veterans among their elected officials, including Hiram L. Fong (who served in the US Army Air Force) and Ralph Harold Metcalfe Sr. (who served in the US Army). A research institute gathered historical data about congressional members who have reported past military experience and determined that__________.

 

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

Peter Pan is a 1911 novel by J. M. Barrie. In the fantasy novel, Peter is a young boy who can fly. He brings Wendy, John, and Michael to Neverland, the mythical island where he lives. The narrator suggests that activity on the island stops when Peter is away and starts again when he is about to return:__________.

Which quotation from Peter Pan best supports the claim?

German theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) believed that theater should elicit an intellectual rather than an emotional response from audiences, provoking them to consider social and political realities that extend beyond the characters and events depicted onstage. Brecht's influence can be seen in English playwright Caryl Churchill's 1979 play Cloud 9: although the play sometimes invites empathetic reactions, it primarily works to engage audiences in an interrogation of patriarchy and colonialism, which it does by placing audiences at a distance, thereby encouraging them to_________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

All stainless steel contains varying amounts of iron, carbon, and corrosion-inhibiting chromium. However, ferritic stainless steel, often used for induction cookers, contains a higher percentage of chromium (at least 10.5%) than does austenitic stainless steel and a higher concentration of iron, which is responsible for its magnetic properties. Unlike ferritic stainless steel, austenitic stainless steel has a face-centered cubic crystalline structure resulting from the addition of nickel to the alloy. Austenitic stainless steel has two subtypes: the 200 series, often used for home water tanks, and the 300 series, which has more nickel than the 200 series and is often used for storage containers or sinks. Thus, stainless steel used to manufacture___________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A model created by biologist Luis Valente predicts that the rate of speciation—the rate at which new species form—on an isolated island located approximately 5,000 kilometers from the nearest mainland ______ triple the rate of speciation on an island only 500 kilometers from the mainland.

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

The city of Seoul, South Korea, is home to an office of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). However, you won't see Interpol agents chasing international criminals in Seoul. Interpol can help with investigations, but only South Korean authorities __________ permitted to make arrests there.

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

Brigadier General Virgilio Cordero was a soldier in the United States 65th Infantry Regiment, a Puerto Rico—based regiment of the US Army. In 2016, the United States Congress honored Cordero and the other servicepeople of the 65th infantry Regiment with one of its highest _________ Congressional Gold Medal.

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

Bertie Marshall, a key figure in the history of steel band music in Trinidad and Tobago, made several innovations to the steel_________wheels so the instrument could be easily transported during Carnival, a cover to protect the pans from the sun, and amplification so the sound of the pans could be better heard over large crowds and other instrumentation.

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

Kiesler and Wife is an oil painting by Will Barnet, an American artist. Barnet created _________ in 1965.

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

While some biologists cite the general lineage species concept (Queiroz 1998), others adhere to the biological species concept (Coyne and Orr 2004), with at least fourteen other concepts used across the field. Such lack of consensus, however, isn't necessarily cause for alarm. Scholars supporting a pluralist approach—in place of a single, monistic concept—to defining a species_________that a diversity of species concepts fits their equally diverse applications throughout the discipline.

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

Resins play several important roles in maintaining the health of conifers and many other kinds of trees. ________ resins quickly seal wounds, which helps prevent harmful insects and fungi from entering trees. These sticky substances also help trees retain water that is needed for them to survive.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Women who worked part-time made up 26 percent of all female wage and salary workers in 2011._________13 percent of men in wage and salary jobs worked part-time.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

If we consider that civilization involves the whole process of human achievement, it must admit of a great variety of qualities and degrees of development;__________it appears to be a relative term applied to the variation of human life.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

· The human tongue contains taste receptors for a rich, savory flavor called umami.

· Umami is triggered by the compounds in a variety of foods, including tuna and blue cheese.

· Participants in a study tasted a sample of sea palm, a type of brown seaweed.

· They rated its umami intensity as moderate.

· The participants tasted a sample of bull kelp, another type of brown seaweed.

· They rated its umami intensity as high.

The student wants to emphasize a difference between the two seaweeds. 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:

· Usually, a country's capital is also its largest city by population.

· The capital of Kazakhstan is Nur-Sultan.

· Its largest city by population is Almaty.

· The capital of New Zealand is Wellington.

· Its largest city by population is Auckland.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between Almaty and Auckland. 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 waved albatross is a species of bird found in the Galápagos Islands.

· It has an average weight of 3,800 grams.

· The vegetarian finch is a species of bird found in the Galápagos Islands.

· It has an average weight of 34 grams.

The student wants to emphasize a difference between the two bird species. 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:

· Bert terHart is a Canadian sailor.

· Seaburban is a sailboat.

· terHart sailed Seaburban on a nonstop, 266-day journey around the world.

· Jesse Martin is an Australian sailor.

· Lionheart is a sailboat.

· Martin sailed Lionheart on a nonstop, 328-day journey around the world.

The student wants to compare the durations of the two sailors' journeys. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?