SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Certain features are almost always included in the designs of mosques, like the ablution (ritual cleansing) area, which is considered to be a__________of mosque architecture. Even mosques that exhibit elements of multiple architectural styles,such as the Al-Fattah Al-Aleem Mosque, which incorporates elements from the Islamic and Fatimid styles, will also include several of these standard features.

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

__________traditional descriptions of pollination syndromes (suites of floral traits, such as nectar composition and scent bouquet, hypothesized to have independently evolved as a result of selection pressure exerted by pollinators) and recent empirical observations of floral-trait combinations have led some ecologists to express reservations about the utility of those descriptions.

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

The following text is from Lilliam Rivera's 2020 novel Never Look Back. The text describes the narrator's friend Pheus, a young musician, after finishing a performance during a church service.

 

Pheus pulls a handkerchief from his back pocket and wipes his forehead. I mime a quiet clap for him. He does a slight bow and flashes his dimples.This is where Pheus truly, shines. When Pheus is in front of an audience, it's as if he becomes another person, a more heightened version of himself.

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

Tracks is a 1988 novel by Ojibwe writer Louise Erdrich. It explores how historical events affect families on a reservation in rural North Dakota. Tracks is typical of Erdrich's work. Her writing usually focuses on portrayals of everyday life in Ojibwe communities. Yet some of her novels have fantastical plots and take place outside Ojibwe communities. For example, her 1991 novel The Crown of Columbus is essentially adventure fiction, and the thrilling events in its plot are set largely on a Caribbean island.

According to the text, what is one way that The Crown of Columbus differs from most of Erdrich's work?

The following text is adapted from Rupa Bajwa's 2004 novel The Sari Shop. Ramchand works as an assistant in a shop in Amritsar,India.

Even at ten in the morning, the bazaar was throbbing with activity. The halwai [baker] was already installed in front of the Mishthaan Sweet Shop,pressing jalebi batter into squiggly shapes that floated and simmered in the oil in a big iron cauldron. All the shops had opened for the day and, Ramchand noted guiltily, all the shop assistants were already in place, trying to sell things with fixed, attentive smiles on their shiny,bathed faces.

©2004 by Rupa Bajwa

Based on the text, what can most reasonably be inferred about Ramchand?

Vertical gene transfer involves the transmission of genetic material from a parent to offspring; horizontal gene transfer, on the other hand, involves the exchange of genetic material between organisms not in a parent-offspring relationship. While horizontal gene transfer is common among prokaryotes—single-celled organisms,such as the bacteria Brevundimonas diminuta and Lactobacillus curvatus—it has rarely been observed among eukaryotes (multicellular organisms). However, new studies suggest that horizontal gene transfer is more common in eukaryotes than originally thought.

 

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence in the text s a whole?

In a study by Mika R. Moran, Daniel A. Rodriguez, and colleagues, residents of Bogotá, Colombia, and Fortaleza, Brazil, were surveyed about parks in their cities. Of the 1,121 respondents from Bogotá, 71.9% indicated that they use the city's parks, and of the 938 respondents from Fortaleza, 35.7% indicated using city parks. Given that the percentage of Bogotá respondents who reported having access to desired nonpark amenities near parks was much lower than that reported by Fortaleza respondents, the difference in park use can't be explained by Bogotá residents having more access to desired nonpark amenities near parks.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

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. Carrying out these functions typically requires Mb to be expressed at high levels, evidenced by red heart tissue. 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?

Lin-Tai Ho and colleagues tracked fish populations in three tide pool—monitoring stations in Taiwan from 1999 to 2018. Although a total of only 36 cheekscaled frillgobies were observed at station 3, that was not the lowest count at any station:________.

 

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

Before the 1858 publication of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin developed his theory of natural selection in five notebooks. In them he first expressed one of natural selection's principles: that species produce more offspring than available resources can sustain. He also listed books he read, such as Charles Lyell's Elementsd of Geology. A fall 1838 entry in one of Darwin's notebooks mentions species' struggle for survival in a world of insufficient resources "as inference from Malthus," referring to a 1798 essay by economist Thomas Malthus asserting that population growth will outpace agricultural production. A later notebook, begun in October 1838, mentions "the grand crush of population." This suggests that_________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Psychologists Gregory Bryant, Dorsa Amir, and colleagues investigated cross-cultural perceptions of spontaneous (real) laughter and volitional (fake or forced) laughter. Study participants from 21 societies, including those in Austria and Samoa, listened to randomized recordings of 18 spontaneous laughs taken from natural conversations between pairs of women and 18 volitional laughs produced separately by 18 different women in response to an instruction to laugh. Analysis of the participants' evaluations of the laughs prompted the team to conclude that the ability to distinguish between spontaneous and volitional laughter appears to be universal across cultures.

Which potential finding from the team's study, if true, would most directly support the team's conclusion?

Water flowing around an obstruction creates vortices (swirls) that vary in size with the obstruction's size and position, and fish sense these vortices to navigate around the obstructions. Using models of three fish-head shapes-narrow (low ratio of width to length), intermediate, and wide (high ratio of width to length)—Yuzo R. Yanagisuru, Otar Akanyeti, and James C. Liao showed that as vortex size increases, pressure fluctuations at the snout increase for narrow-headed fish but remain low for wide-headed fish. A second research team has therefore hypothesized that in low visibility, a fish will be more likely to avoid an obstruction when the associated pressure fluctuations at the fish's snout are greater.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the second research team's hypothesis?

Right-handedness is overwhelmingly prevalent in humans. Among studies of laterality in nonhuman primates, Dulce D. Shafer's 1988 study of captive gorillas reported no tendency toward right-handedness, while S. G. Lutz-Maki and P. F. MacNeilage's 1991 study of captive chimpanzees did. However, the latter study included only 14 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 1991 study should therefore be treated skeptically given that________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

An emulsifier is a type of compound that serves to stabilize an emulsion—a mixture of two or more liquids that otherwise would not easily blend together, like oil and water. Though modern chemists commonly use emulsifiers like myristic acid in their formulations, emulsifiers that have been employed for millennia, such as beeswax and egg yolk,__________used to this day by chemists as well.

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

Koumanthio Zeinab Diallo, born in 1956, is a poet and novelist from Labé, Guinea. In recent years more writers from Guinea, including Diallo,_________to reach audiences beyond the African nation's borders.

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

When we arrived in Venice, Utah, we_________a large hillside geoglyph of the letter V. Later that day, our hosts remarked that such geoglyphs are quite common in the state.

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

On February 1, 2018, a Florida-based research team—Martha A. Scholl, Maoya Bassiouni, and Angel J. Torres-Sánchez—compiled climate data from several sites in Puerto Rico's Luquillo Mountains. At site CC1, the site with the highest elevation, the air temperature fluctuated slightly throughout the day, registering_________and 16°C at 5:00 p. m.

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

Was the Greek mythological figure Dionysus, god of wine and the theater, based on a real person? That was the question posed by the writer Euhemerus (fourth century BCE). Euhemerus claimed that Dionysus and the other Greek deities were based on real-life heroes or leaders, tales of whose exploits, told and retold over time,________myths—a position later known as euhemerism.

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

Among the world's largest deserts are the Syrian Desert, ranked_________and the Chalbi Desert,ranked twenty-ninth.

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

Many past Olympic Games featured demonstration sports—nonmedal events—to showcase sports related to the host country. These events included korfball, a handball sport popular in the Netherlands, and kyudo, a Japanese form of archery._________they were chosen as demonstration sports at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Tokyo, Japan, respectively.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Decentralized space, in which no points in the performance space are privileged over others, was one of the central principles of Merce Cunningham's choreographic philosophy. The approach marked a radical departure from the dance philosophies of Cunningham's mid-twentieth-century contemporaries.____________resulting in his dance pieces, like Interscape Mirage, being received not merely as experimental spectacles but as groundbreaking artworks.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

In 1929, scientists first isolated a sample of the steroid hormone progesterone, which they knew existed in animals—and, they assumed, only in animals._________researchers would find progesterone in corn plants (Zea mays), but this discovery wouldn't come until decades later.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

· Receptors in the human tongue can detect sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness, and umami.

· Umami is a rich, savory flavor.

· Umami is triggered by the compounds in a variety of foods, including ham and mushrooms.

· Participants in a research study tasted samples of ma-konbu (a type of brown seaweed) collected from Hokkaido, Japan.

· On average, they rated its umami intensity as high.

The student wants to emphasize the umami intensity of ma-konbu. 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:

· Body positions are an important part of dance.

· In Cecchetti method ballet, there is a position called third position.

· It is one of several positions for the dancer's arms.

The student wants to provide an example of a position in Cecchetti method ballet. 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:

·An isthmus is a strip of land that connects two larger pieces of land across an expanse of water.

·It is also known as a land bridge.

·The Isthmus of Suez is located in North Africa.

·It connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

·The Auckland Isthmus is located in New Zealand.

·It connects the North Island to Auckland.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between the Isthmus of Suez and the Auckland Isthmus. 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:

·India Arie is an African American singer and songwriter.

·The media outlet NPR has described her music as having an "acoustic guitar-driven groove and lyrics celebrating self-confidence."

·Her acclaimed albums feature many talented musicians.

·Ricky Quiñones played guitar on her second studio album, Voyage to India (2002).

·John Catchings played cello on her first studio album, Acoustic Soul (2001).

The student wants to emphasize a difference between Ricky Quiñones and John Catchings. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information fromthe notes to accomplish this goal?