SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Chapter 31

2025.10 : A-B (analysis included)

READING 1 · 27 questions

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Japanese animator and director Hayao Miyazaki often includes fantasy elements in otherwise realistic settings in his movies, but he tends to________details and exposition about those elements. Miyazaki simply presents fantastical characters and actions with little backstory or explanation, encouraging viewers to embrace the presence of the extraordinary in everyday life.

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

AcelebrateBcombineCinventDwithhold

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

The National Heritage Fellowship was created to________exceptional folk and traditional artists in the United States. One artist who received the fellowship, the Native Hawaiian singer and ukulele player Genoa Keawe, was chosen for her lifetime contributions to the arts.

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

AbeginBdistractCovershadowDhonor

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Broods of periodical cicadas (inch-long winged insects) emerge for six weeks in late spring on a cycle of either 13 or 17 years. In 2024, the emergences of the Great Southern Brood (on a 13-year cycle) and the Northern Illinois Brood (on a 17-year cycle) coincided in the Midwest and Southeast United States, _______that happens only once every 221 years. Sixteen states were covered with a trillion cicadas.

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

Aa successionBa divisionCa convergenceDan expiration

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Östersund, Sweden, was named a City of Gastronomy by UNESCO in 2010, a title that__________ that Östersund has a unique and vibrant food culture worthy of celebration.

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

ArenouncesBcomplainsCdiscoversDdenotes

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Musician and astronomer Darsan Swaroop Bellie researches gravitational waves. These invisible waves move very quickly through space. They cannot be viewed through a telescope, but they do make sounds that can be detected with special equipment. In his musical composition Dance of the Black Holes, Bellie demonstrates what gravitational waves might sound like as two black holes merge in space. With this composition and others, Bellie hopes to make aspects of science more accessible.

According to the text, what is the subject of Bellie's research?

ASpace travelBGravitational wavesCMusic historyDOcean currents

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

The following text is from Yung Wing's 1909 memoir My Life in China and America.

We landed in New York on the 12th of April, 1847, after a passage of ninety-eight days of unprecedented fair weather. The New York of 1847 was altogether a different city from the New York of 1909. It was a city of only 250,000 or 300,000 inhabitants; now it is a metropolis rivaling London in population, wealth and commerce. The whole of Manhattan Island is turned into a city of skyscrapers, churches and palatial residences.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

ANew York City has become more developed and populated since Yung's arrival in 1847.BNew York City is more modern than London is.CThe journey to New York City was dull and isolating for Yung.DYung has experienced significant personal growth in the time since his arrival to New York City in 1847.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Beth Shapiro and other researchers studying the history of organisms have long utilized ancient DNA—DNA recovered from ancient organic material that has been preserved under natural conditions. However, Michael G. Campana and colleagues' 2017 study of the evolutionary origins of a fungal pathogen affecting bats instead relied on historical DNA—genomic data incidentally preserved in specimens that are housed in natural history collections—thus capitalizing on the research potential offered by a vast but hitherto relatively underutilized source of insight into the biological past.

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

AIt specifies potential applications of the approach that Campana and colleagues used in their study.BIt emphasizes the importance of Campana and colleagues' findings about the DNA of pathogens.CIt offers commentary on the significance of the approach that Campana and colleagues used for their study.DIt explains why the research methodology selected by Campana and colleagues is not widely used.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Curious about how people visually perceive objects in their dreams, Stephen LaBerge and team recruited lucid dreamers—people aware that they're dreaming as it's happening—for a research study. These participants were reliably able to signal when they had entered a dream state; the team then observed participants' eye movements as they slept. The smoothness with which participants' eyes tracked objects in their dreams closely matched how sighted people who are awake visually track objects around them, suggesting to the team that the brain perceives dream objects as the product of something other than pure imagination.

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

ATo illustrate an important real-world implication of LaBerge and team's main finding.BTo identify a comparable circumstance that helps justify LaBerge and team's conclusion.CTo show the unexpected result that led LaBerge and team to change the focus of their study.DTo offer key evidence that undermines LaBerge and team's initial hypothesis.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Text 1

Thomas Piketty's book Capital in the Twenty-First Century has a more rigorous structure than its sequel, Capital and Ideology. While the first book's chapters all contribute to bolstering a clear, coherent argument about income inequality, the second book's digressions on subjects such as the history of vegetarian diets in India do not just make the book tedious but also muddy its reasoning.

Text 2

Capital and Ideology has different aims than Piketty's earlier books. It should be judged not just in the context of Piketty's previous work but placed next to books like Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, in which the stated theme of the varieties of melancholy is mainly an excuse for a polymath to map his own mind. Even when sections do not explicitly support the central thesis, they link to each other in intriguing ways. None of them should be considered extraneous.

Based on the texts, the author of Text 1 would most likely agree with the author of Text 2 on which point?

ACapital and Ideology is notably different in structure from some of Piketty's earlier work.BThe material in Capital and Ideology on vegetarian diets in India is essential to the book.CCapital in the Twenty-First Century is a superior book to Capital and ldeology.DCapital and Ideology was influenced by the writing of Robert Burton.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

The Late Devonian mass extinction happened approximately 365 million years ago, when about 75 percent of species (including many species of corals) died off. Researchers have proposed the effects of global cooling as one mechanism that may have brought on this mass extinction. But mass extinctions, while abrupt in geological terms, unfold over thousands or millions of years: it's likely that multiple factors drove widespread species loss.

Based on the text, the author would most likely agree with which statement about the Late Devonian mass extinction?

AIt occurred over a long period of time and probably had multiple causes.BIt likely involved the extinction of more species than is typically believed.CIt is hard to detect in Earth's fossil or geological records.DIt was discovered only recently and is poorly understood.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge is an 1838 historical account by Elleanor Eldridge and Frances Harriet Whipple Green. In the book, the authors assert that all people naturally have an emotional attachment to where they live, writing,_________.

Which quotation from Memoirs of Elleanor Eldridge most effectively illustrates the claim?

A"Let us, dear reader, remember the punishment of idle curiosity, as taught in the true and affecting history [named] 'Blue Beard;' and, striving to be content with the facts in the case, seek not to lift the veil, which the sensibility of true love, and feminine delicacy, have alike conspired to draw."B"Home is home, to the lowly as well as the great; and no rank, or color, destroys its sacred character, its power over the mind, and the affections."C"There is often a kind of [deceptive] light, playing around such [famous] names, calculated to dazzle and mislead, by their false lustre, until the eye can no longer receive the pure light of Truth, or the mind appreciate real excellence, or intrinsic worth."D"Blessed are the slumbers of the innocent! They are kindlier than balm, and they refresh and gladden the spirit of childhood, like ministerings from a better world."

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

One antipredator defense that the masked lapwing uses to protect its nest and young chicks is called "broken-wing display"; this form of deceptive defense involves an adult bird pretending to be injured and unable to fly in order to distract an approaching predator. Broken-wing display has been documented in 285 bird species from 13 different avian orders. A student predicts that bird species with mean body masses greater than 150 grams do not use deceptive defenses because larger birds tend to be more effective than smaller birds at using aggressive defenses to protect nests from predators, making deceptive defenses unnecessary.

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table that weaken the student's prediction?

AThe swamp palm bulbul uses broken-wing display, but the blue-winged teal does not.BThe ruddy turnstone uses broken-wing display even though it is larger than the swamp palm bulbul.CThe ruddy turnstone and the swamp palm bulbul both have a mean body mass under 150 grams and use broken-wing display.DThe blue-winged teal has a mean body mass of 398 grams and is known to perform broken-wing display.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

A team of public transportation experts in Detroit is creating a new streetcar stop for the Woodward Avenue Streetcar system that will service a neighborhood in which a stop does not currently exist. To decide where to place the stop, the team is using a survey from ten years ago that asked how far neighborhood residents would be willing to walk to a streetcar stop. The team also looked at studies showing that people's willingness to walk to public transit is influenced by factors like weather and the presence of paved sidewalks and available crosswalks. A researcher has argued that the survey does not accurately reflect the feelings of today's residents of this neighborhood.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher's claim?

AThe number of sidewalks and crosswalks in the neighborhood that the streetcar stop will service has increased substantially in the last ten years.BResidents of Detroit are much less likely to use public transit on rainy days than on clear days.CThere has been a sharp increase in the last ten years in cyclists who use the roads in the neighborhood that the streetcar stop will service.DCurrent users of the Woodward Avenue Streetcar are satisfied with the number of stops along the line.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Antonia Olivia Dolan and colleagues conducted a study of participants' preferred listening volume, in decibels (dB), for various audio recordings, including heavy metal music, acoustic folk music, and nature sounds. The team found that participants listened to recordings they liked most at higher volumes (greater dB) than recordings they liked less and that musicians tended to listen at higher volumes than nonmusicians did. For example, if the favorite recording of both a participating musician and a participating nonmusician was Metallica's "Sad but True" and the musician played it at 85.5dB, it was therefore likely that________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Athe musician and nonmusician would both play other music by Metallica at approximately 85.5dB.Bthe musician would not play music in the heavy metal genre at less than 85.5dB.Cthe nonmusician would play "Sad but True" at greater than 85.5dB.Dthe nonmusician would play "Sad but True" at less than 85.5dB.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Right-handedness is overwhelmingly prevalent in humans. Among studies of laterality in nonhuman primates, Jane Goodall's 1963 study of wild chimpanzees reported no tendency toward right-handedness, while Margaret E. Redshaw's 1993 study of captive gorillas did. However, the latter study included only 2 individuals, and a meta-analysis of primate-laterality studies demonstrated that a minimum sample size of 176 individuals is required to be confident that a finding of population-level handedness is not mere statistical noise. The claim of right-handedness in the 1993 study should therefore be treated skeptically given that________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Athe sample size on which the claim is based is far below the threshold identified in the meta-analysis.Bthe apparent difference between the two studies' results may be partly attributable to the 1963 study using a different standard to determine handedness than the 1993 study did.Cthe study that did not find right-handedness in chimpanzees was also based on an insufficient population size.Dright-handedness does not occur frequently enough among gorillas to reliably appear in a sample of only 2 individuals.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Doha, the capital of Qatar, has a population of 1,450,000, which accounts for 92 percent of the country's total population. Having proportionally large populations__________common for national capitals.

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

AisBwereCareDhave been

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Polymers used in industrial applications are weakened by environmental stress, mechanical fatigue, and unexpected damage. However, new types of polymers have been engineered to repair__________aided by embedded microcapsules, such materials begin to self-heal.

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

Athemselves, upon fracture,Bthemselves—upon fracture—Cthemselves. Upon fracture,Dthemselves upon fracture,

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) is one of many sports organizations that collect and analyze data on player performance. Coaches in the IWBF_________these data to help them develop game strategies that have a high probability of success.

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

Ais usingBhas usedCuseDuses

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Lily Everett and Mary Foote were among the 300 artists who exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show, a groundbreaking New York City art exhibition that introduced modernism to American audiences. Marcel Duchamp's abstract cubist aesthetic received the most skepticism from critics, as________represented a radical departure from the more realistic painting style that was popular at the time.

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

AtheseBitCweDthey

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Florida resident Frederick Hill, one of the nearly two thousand African Americans elected to public office during the decade that followed the Civil War,_________his term as a member of the state senate in 1871.

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

AbeganBto beginCbeginningDhaving begun

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

"What stories like this do for us is make the world just a smidge bigger,"writes Stephen Graham Jones in the foreword to Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology. For Jones, dark fiction does more than entertain readers:________horror tropes to challenge familiar ways of knowing, blurring the "borders of the real."

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

Aone usesBit usesCthey usesDwe use

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

In Amarna, Egypt, archaeologist Anna Hodgkinson unearthed bits of glass near lower-status dwellings, which she believes may refute the long-held notion that the material was enjoyed exclusively by Ancient Egyptian royalty. ________archaeologist Thilo Rehren states flatly that glass doesn't appear to have been "a closely controlled royal commodity," concurring, based on his own research, that the material was more common than once surmised.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

AAs such,BLikewise,CNonetheless,DConsequently,

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

Many past Olympic Games featured demonstration sports—nonmedal events—to showcase sports related to the host country. These events included icestocksport, a throwing sport popular in Austria, and canne de combat, a French combat sport.__________they were chosen as demonstration sports at the Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, and Paris, France, respectively.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

AFittingly,BNevertheless,CAdditionally,DBy contrast,

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

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

· Kumiko is a Japanese woodworking technique in which thin strips of wood are interlaced to create latticed panels that incorporate intricate patterns.

· These wooden strips are fit together without the use of nails or other fasteners.

· Many of the geometric patterns used in kumiko designs are inspired by elements from nature.

· The overlapping hexagons of the kikko pattern resemble a tortoise's shell.

· The curved fan shapes of the seigaiha pattern resemble ocean waves.

The student wants to make and support a claim about the inspiration for kumiko patterns. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

AThe tortoiseshell-like overlapping hexagons of the kikko pattern are inspired by wooden strips from nature.BOften resembling elements from nature, kumiko patterns are formed by fitting thin strips of wood together without the use of nails.CThe kumiko woodworking technique is used to create latticed panels with geometric designs, like overlapping hexagons, out of thin strips of wood.DLike the seigaiha pattern's curved fan shapes, which resemble ocean waves, many of the geometric patterns used in kumiko designs are inspired by elements from nature.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

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

· The willow oak is a species of deciduous tree.

· Its scientific name is Quercus phellos.

· It is native to the Southeastern ecoregion of the US.

The student wants to indicate which ecoregion the willow oak is native to. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

ADeciduous trees are native to several ecoregions of the US.BThe willow oak's scientific name is Quercus phellos.CThe willow oak (Quercus phellos) is a species of deciduous tree.DThe willow oak is native to the Southeastern ecoregion of the US.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

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

· The large tree finch is a species of bird.

· It has an average weight of 19 grams.

· It can be found on the Galapagos Island of Santa Fe.

· The Galapagos Islands are a group of islands that have many different species of birds.

The student wants to specify the average weight of the large tree finch. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

AMany species of birds can be found in the Galapagos Islands, including the large tree finch.BThe large tree finch has an average weight of 19 grams.CThe Galapagos Islands, which include the island of Santa Fe, contain many different species of birds.DThe large tree finch can be found on the Galapagos Island of Santa Fe.

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Chapter 31 · 2025.10 : A-B (analysis included) · READING 1

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

· Snow hydrologist Julie Koeberle helps maintain automated snow measurement stations throughout the western United States.

· They are called SNOTEL sites.

· There are around 90 sites throughout Wyoming.

· There is one at Bear Trap Meadow.

The student wants to emphasize the number of SNOTEL sites in Wyoming. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

AIn Wyoming alone, there are around 90 SNOTEL sites located throughout the state.BSNOTEL sites collect snow measurement data throughout the state of Wyoming.COne particular SNOTEL site is located at Bear Trap Meadow in Wyoming.DSnow hydrologist Julie Koeberle helps maintain SNOTEL sites, such as the one at Bear Trap Meadow, Wyoming.

READING 1 · 27 questions

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