SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

The Art Institute of Chicago houses nearly 300,000 works from around the world. Museum visitors looking to____________their art-viewing experience should turn to Chicago's streets, where they can find works ranging from Magdalena Abakanowicz's sculpture Agora at Grant Park to Justus Roe's mural Standing Wave on South State Street.

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

The people inhabiting the Ice Age sites now known as Shuidonggou 2 and Potočkad Cave likely began wearing clothing as a defense against the cold, but lan Gilligand et al. argue that as clothing became__________, its purpose shifted from the purely practical. Once wearing clothing turned into a widespread, familiar practice, differences in clothes could take on social and cultural significance.

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

The following text is from Anne Spencer's 1922 poem "Translation."

We trekked into a far country,

My friend and I.

Our deeper content was never spoken,

But each knew all the other said.

He told me how calm his soul was laid

By the lack of anvil and strife.

"The wooing kestrel,"I said, "mutes his mating-note

To please the harmony of this sweet silence."

 

Which choice best describes the function of the reference to "anvil and strife" in the text as a whole?

The scenario of a dwarf mongoose engaging in territorial conflict with an outgroup dwarf mongoose illustrates a major dimension of social life across animal species, from the solitary to those with complex sociality: intraspecific contact with perceived outsiders. Though one prominent hypothesis posits that sophisticated cognitive adaptations are primarily driven by the demands of various behaviors within established social groups (e. g.,cooperative response to predation), interactions with same-species outsiders arguably contribute comparably by favoring nuanced analysis (e. g., evaluation of relative physical status).

 

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

Although notorious for its strict formal requirements, the sonnet is nevertheless represented by such wide-ranging examples as Maggie Anderson's "Sonnet for Her Labor"and Tyehimba Jess's"Millie and Christine McCoy"—poems that differ remarkably in subject, rhythm, and structure. It may seem counterintuitive that the sonnet—ostensibly rigid and timeworn—could accommodate such variety, but poet Carl Phillips contends that the form invites experimentation: when a genre's conventions are as recognizable as those of the sonnet, the opportunity to subvert them is especially irresistible.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Economist Gabriel Zucman finds that 8% of worldwide household wealth is held in tax havens (territories such as Singapore with low tax rates for investors who reside outside those territories). Zucman also finds that use of tax havens differs between countries—they are rarely used by investors living in Japan, while many investors who utilize tax havens reside in Saudi Arabia or Greece. Philosopher Ingrid Robeyns disapproves of the use of tax havens as a method of tax avoidance that, though legally permissible, nonetheless helps investors to sidestep payment toward government upkeep.

Based on the text, what does Zucman's research suggest about investors residing in Japan?

In an analysis of medieval urbanization in Pisa, Greifswald, and other European settlements, researchers drew on modern urban scaling theory, which posits that population density in core urban areas increases as a city grows larger. Hypothesizing that this typical relationship would have differed in medieval settlements because of the constraining influence of strong hierarchical social structures (which are much less pronounced in modern cities) on social networking and economic integration—drivers of urban agglomeration—the team created a model that accounted for the presence of restrictive institutions. They found that the typically expected density-size relationship held for each of the 173 medieval settlements whose growth they analyzed, suggesting that________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

The following text is from a 1955 translation of Samuel Beckett's 1951 novel Molloy (translated by the author and Patrick Bowles). In the text, Molloy has arrived at the town ramparts, an elevated walkway atop the city walls.

 

And having cleared the ramparts I had to confess the sky was clearing, prior to its winding in the other shroud, night. Yes, the great cloud was ravelling, discovering here and there a pale and dying sky, and the sun, already down, was manifest in the livid tongues of fire darting towards the zenith, falling and darting again, ever more pale and languid, and doomed no sooner lit to be extinguished.

 

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

Political scientists have asserted that by providing succinct and clear information about candidates and issues, campaign advertisements should reduce the differences in political knowledge observed between groups of voters. Cognitive scientists have noted, however, that existing domain knowledge facilitates the acquisition of new information in that domain. Valentino et al. shed light on this issue by presenting control ads or ads for George W. Bush or Al Gore (candidates in the 2000 US presidential election) to participants with low or high existing political knowledge, then quizzing participants on their understanding of both candidates' positions.

 

Taken together, information in the text and graph best support which conclusion about the campaign ads used in the study by Valentino et al.?

Domestic sheep's wild ancestor, the mouflon, has a coarse outer coat and an inner coat of wool fiber that is finer in diameter and therefore much softer. In some domestic breeds, such as the Spanish Merino, the outer fiber is only marginally coarser than the inner, and the wool is soft overall. Thus, Merino wool is ideal for delicate garments worn against the skin. Meanwhile, the Navajo-Churro has been selected to retain the marked distinction between outer and inner fiber that the Merino has lost. Being coarser than Merino wool overall, Navajo-Churro wool yields a more durable yarn, which Dine (Navajo) weavers use in their celebrated rugs. Yet a comparison of the fiber characteristics of all three sheep reveals that_________.

 

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

Belonging to neither the minimalist nor the abstract art movements but heavily influencing both, Constantin Brâncuşi spent his sculpting career returning to the same few themes—a kiss, a sleeping head, and a bird in flight—each rendered in pristine, simple, almost abstract forms. Perhaps the most famous example is Bird in Space (1941), a tall, slender bronze sculpture that arcs upward in a manner suggestive of flight but that otherwise lacks any identifiable characteristics of a bird. Despite the seeming simplicity of his works, the exacting standards to which Brâncuşi held his work meant that he produced relatively few pieces over his career. There is thus something of a disparity between_________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Subsequent to simulating an attack to elicit defense responses in three caterpillar species, ecologists placed a treatment group of those individuals in an enclosure where they were exposed to slight, harmless ambient electric field shifts like those created by common predatory wasps in flight. When exposed to the treatment, cinnabar moth caterpillars and scarce vapourer moth caterpillars remained coiled in a defensive position for an average of 71 seconds and 87 seconds, respectively, whereas European peacock butterfly caterpillars continued to flail defensively for 20 seconds. Meanwhile, in a control group, all individuals (from all three species) resumed neutral behavior in less than one-tenth of a second after the simulated attack. These results suggest that________.

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Text 1

For decades, ornithologists assumed that if they saw a singing Cassin's finch—a bird species found in temperate North America—they must be observing a male trying to attract a mate or claim territory. As Peter J. B. Slater and Nigel I. Mann have emphasized, however, a similar assumption can't be made about birds in the tropics, where females sing as often as males do. Slater and Mann call for more research on this discrepancy between tropical and temperate female birdsong.

Text 2

Recent evidence shows that a female Cassin's finch is as capable of song as a male is. In fact, female birdsong is more common among temperate species than currently assumed, claim Evangeline Rose and colleagues. These female songbirds sing less frequently than males do, and in duller tones, making it "easy for researchers to miss the quiet and hidden females and focus on the loud and colorful males," says Rose.

Which choice best describes a difference in what the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 believe about female birdsong?

Occurring in the constellation Coma Berenices, 38 million light-years from Earth, SN 1940B was a__________explosion of a massive star, which blasts large amounts of radiation, heavy elements, and debris into space—that was first detected by American astronomer Josef Johnson.

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

Taking a deconstructionist approach toanalyzing Ji-li Jiang's novel Red Scarf Girl would lead a critic to focus on the linguistic structures inherent in the novel. On the other hand, a cultural studies analysis___________on the intersection of literature and popular culture might yield a radically different interpretation of Jiang's novel.

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

The vertical position of the Sun in the sky at a particular time of day varies throughout the year: due to Earth's axial tilt, it appears higher in the summer and lower in the winter. Axial tilt is not the only factor that affects the Sun's___________as the eccentricity of Earth's orbit causes its position to vary horizontally as well, resulting in a figure-eight shape called an analemma (if the Sun's position is recorded at the same time of day throughout the year).

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

While the ancient Celts—Iron Age peoples who inhabited parts of western and central Europe—weren't a single unified group, their art often featured common elements. These included intricate patterns of interlocking spiral lines, which often held symbolic___________of birds, horses, and other animals; and inlaid enamel accents.

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

Scientists have long known that cyclones can contribute to the formation of polynyas, large patches of unfrozen water that sporadically form amid vast sheets of sea ice. A recent study found evidence that these polynyas may be_________but also by vapor streams, which travel through the atmosphere from the tropics toward the North and South Poles.

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

Conceiving of a communal gathering space in the style of European town centers,__________recalled those he saw in his native Vienna.

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

Among the small magazines animating Boston's vibrant literary scene in the early twentieth century was__________by William Stanley Braithwaite and featuring poetry by John Gould Fletcher, Louis Untermeyer, and Richard Aldington; essays by Amy Lowell and Jeanette Marks; and reviews of recent books, this magazine publicized the work of influential avant-garde writers and artists of the day.

 

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

Released in 1987, the Acorn ARM2 microchip contained a single CPU,or core,to execute commands. As processing speeds of single-core chips increased over time,so too did the heat the chips generated._______a"power wall" in which more heat was produced than could be efficiently dissipated led developers to invent the dual-core chip in the early 2000s.

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

In contrast to first-past-the-post electoral processes, the proportional representation system by which Bolivia's Chamber of Senators is elected begins with citizens casting their votes not for specific candidates but for political parties.__________once the votes have been tabulated,each party is awarded a number of seats proportional to the number of votes it received.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Voxel modeling and kitbashing approaches to three-dimensional digital modeling for video games yield graphics that accurately represent the relative sizes and proportions of real-world objects, but since these graphics are rendered from perfect geometric shapes, they tend to lack organic realism. _________these 3D elements may display unnaturally precise angles and curves as compared to their real-world counterparts.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Srivijaya, a Buddhist sea power based in Sumatra in Indonesia that reached the height of its influence around 800 CE, is classified as a thalassocracy. Thalassocracies are generally considered distinct from tellurocracies, or land-based powers. __________the British Empire (1600s-1900s CE) notably extended its hegemony across both land and sea.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

· The Leidenfrost effect occurs when liquid touches a solid surface significantly hotter than the liquid's boiling point, forming a vapor layer that insulates the liquid before eventually collapsing.

· Scientists long hypothesized that the temperatures at which Leidenfrost vapor forms and collapses vary depending on molecular variations in surfaces and liquids.

· A 2023 study confirmed that the vapor's formation temperature varies depending on molecular variations in surfaces and liquids.

· The study also found that the vapor's collapse temperature was "nearly independent of material and fluid properties, contrary to previous theories."

· The vapor's collapse temperature remained consistent (around 140°C).

The student wants to refute a scientific assumption about the Leidenfrost effect. 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:

· Claude McKay (1890-1948) was a Jamaican American poet.

· McKay also worked as a novelist and journalist.

· "Labor's Day" is a poem by McKay.

· It was published in the September 1919 issue of The Messenger.

· The Messenger was an influential Black literary magazine.

The student wants to provide an example of a poem by McKay. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?