SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

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

· Modularity of mind is the notion that the mind is at least partly composed of innate neural structures (modules) that perform fast, necessary tasks.

· 1983: cognitive scientist Jerry A. Fodor hypothesized that low-level cognitive systems (e.g., perception, language) are modular.

· In Fodorian modularity, high-level systems (e.g., reasoning) are not modular.

· 2003: cognitive scientist Peter Carruthers proposed the massive modularity hypothesis (MMH).

· MMH expands modularity to include all cognitive systems.

The student wants to compare Fodor's hypothesis with Carruthers's. 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:

· Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) is a form of additive manufacturing that utilizes light to rapidly cure liquid resin into high-quality, 3D objects.

· Step 1: Ultraviolet (UV) light images are projected up into a pool of liquid resin. where the object's first layer takes shape.

· Step 2: The partially cured resin object is raised, leaving a thin space (a"dead zone") beneath it for oxygen and liquid resin to flow through.

· Step 3: The UV light passes through the dead zone---maintaining the flow of resin---and partially cures additional layers of the object.

· Step 4: When the resin object is complete, it is baked in an oven to complete the curing.

The student wants to describe how DLS cures 3D objects. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Although 39P/Oterma and 83982 Crantor are both classified as centaur objects---outer solar system bodies in unstable orbits---they exhibit striking differences in___________object 39P/Oterma is considered an active centaur, showing sporadic comet-like activity (such as clouds of dust and gas on its surface), 83982 Crantor, showing no such activity, is considered dormant.

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

Mitochondrial genomes reproduce asexually, which should over time result in an accumulation of harmful mutations and a decline in mitochondrial functionality. However, nuclear genes are hypothesized to coevolve with the rate of mitochondrial decline, eliminating mutational erosion. Such a compensatory measure__________the organelle's decline, unlike enzyme-stabilizing accessory proteins, offers an evolutionary explanation of mitochondrial reproduction.

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

In the list "Things That Make One's Heart Beat Faster" from Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book, the author delights in a cloudy mirror, rain on a window, and scented robes. So shrewd an observer is Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting to Empress Teishi, that her book's musings on tenth century Japanese courtly life_________readers a thousand years later.

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

To notice subtle variations in the progression of the still life painting genre in Europe, first consider Tomás Hiepes's "Still Life with Birds and Hares" from 1643;_________compare it to Adolphe-Felix Cals's "Still Life with Vegetables, Partridge, and a Jug" from 1858.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

As an anti-federalist, Pennsylvania politician and writer Samuel Bryan objected to the US Constitution's provisions for a powerful centralized government and opposed the document's ratification;_________essays he published in the Philadelphia Independent Gazetteer in October 1787 under the pseudonym "Centinel" disparaged the arguments of the federalists, who supported the Constitution's adoption.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Cy Twombly, a US painter and sculptor, created many large-scale abstract works, such as his 10-painting series Fifty Days at Iliam. In these works, Twombly's artistic style is exemplified by his use of graffiti-like___________often incorporate words or phrases from poetry and mythology.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of standard English?

The 2020 documentary Without a Whisper---Konnon: Kwe was directed by Katsitsionni Fox. It explores how Indigenous Haudenosaunee culture shaped the woman suffrage movement in the early nineteenth_________how the personal and political authority Haudenosaunee women had in their communities influenced the first suffragists in the US.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

The Proto-Atlantic-Congo language, common ancestor of 1,453 African languages with similar linguistic properties,_________like all protolanguages, hypothetical; there's no direct evidence these ancestral languages actually existed.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Many studies have found a positive association between levels of dissolved organic carbon and mercury in bodies of fresh water undisturbed by human activity. But Stéphane Guédron, Delphine Tisserand, and colleagues did not find this correlation in an examination of freshwater bodies impacted by wastewater, leading some scientists to hypothesize that the association could be particular to undisturbed waters. However, Ida Tjerngren and colleagues carried out a study on freshwater bodies disturbed by urban development that showed similar results to the studies on undisturbed waters, suggesting that_________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Consumers increasingly expect that goods they purchase online will be delivered rapidly, even as soon as the day of purchase. Although efficiencies in long-distance transport of parcels have greatly improved delivery times, last-mile logistics (the final step in delivery to consumers) present a bottleneck for delivery companies. Time pressure resulting from consumer expectations is not the only challenge; other obstacles, such as complex and inefficient delivery routes, persist. While innovations to mitigate these challenges have been emerging---the use of autonomous delivery robots, for instance---success has been constrained due to the additional complications that arise (e.g., robots travel relatively slowly since they must navigate many ground-level obstacles). Consequently,__________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

The ratio of methane to other atmospheric constituents---represented by a measure called the methane mole fraction---influences a variety of meteorological phenomena, notably precipitation and humidity. For Titan, Saturn's largest moon, the observational data that exist are too sparse and discrepant to fully constrain the range of the methane mole fraction at various atmospheric levels. Juan Lora and colleagues point out that outputs of the IPSL atmospheric model of Titan, which track closely to observations in some respects, reflect how the model's developers responded to this challenge: by prescribing a uniform methane mole fraction for the lowest level of the atmosphere. It is therefore important to note that_________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) capitalize on the ability of some species of bacteria to metabolize metal, liberating electrons. The bacteria form a dense biofilm on the surface of an electron-collecting anode, but moving the electrons from the bacterial cytoplasm to an external electrode requires that the electrons pass through a series of inefficient oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions. Accordingly, MFC power output rarely exceeds a density of 0.30 milliwatts per square centimeter (mW/cm²). In an experiment, researchers added silver nanoparticles to carbon paper covering the anode in an MFC. The resulting power density was 0.66 mW/cm². Since metals such as silver exhibit high electrical conductivity,the researchers hypothesized that________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Adelaide, Australia, has installed engineered structures along 53% of its shoreline to protect infrastructure from wave erosion and other hazards, a practice known as shoreline hardening. To evaluate the responses of waterbirds to two types of hardening structures---riprap and bulkheads---Diann Prosser et al. surveyed waterbird communities consisting of the brown pelican, the red knot, and 62 other species at different sites in the Chesapeake Bay on the US East Coast. Utilizing the Index of Waterbird Community Integrity (IWCI), on which a high score corresponds to high community integrity, the researchers found that bulkheads are more strongly negatively correlated with waterbird community integrity than is riprap.

Which finding, if true, would most directly illustrate the researchers' finding?

Some scientists have suggested that as ocean temperatures rise, many fish and corals found in the shallow zone (less than 30 meters below the surface) could take refuge in the cooler, darker mesophotic zone (30 to 150 meters below the surface). However, it isn't clear that all such species will be able to tolerate mesophotic conditions. In 2018, Luiz Rocha and colleagues studied stony corals in the two zones in Caribbean and Indo-Pacific waters. Based on the depths at which those corals are now found, the species that seems least suited to a full migration to the mesophotic zone is_______.

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

A student is writing a research paper on the global rise of the home video game industry during the 1970s and 1980s. The student is surprised by differences in the number of units sold by some systems compared to those sold by others. Most remarkably, the___________.
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?

Piezoelectric harvesters convert kinetic energy (resonance) to eletrical energy, precluding the need for external eletrical sources. The vibration of a spacecraft, for example, can provide sufficient energy to power many of its sensors piezoelectrically. A newly designed piezoelectric harvester incorporating a highly conductive carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) electrode has been shown to provide steady energy loads during resonance, an absolute prerequisite for wireless communication devices to be powered piezoelectrically.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the text's claim about wireless communication devices?

Text 1

Hycean planets are a class of exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) with oceans of liquid water---critical to supporting life---and atmospheres rich in hydrogen. Computer models have determined that for potential hycean planets, the range of the habitable zone (HZ), the distance from a star that allows a planet to retain liquid water on its surface, begins at about 1 astronomical unit (AU). In 2021, Nikku Madhusudhan et al. identified K2-18b as a hycean candidate, noting that the planet is located right on the inner edge of the HZ.

Text 2

In a 2023 paper, Shang-Min Tsal et al. claimed that the hydrogen-rich atmospheres of K2-18b and other hycean candidates admit wavelengths of light that cause elevated surface temperatures and increased water evaporation. Unlike earlier assessments, Tsal et al.'s calculations therefore placed the inner edge for these planets' HZ as far out as85 AU.

Based on the texts, how would Tsal et al. (Text 2) most likely respond to Madhusudhan et al.'s research, as presented in Text 1?

Mexican architect Luis Barragán's prolific career, which spanned the 1920s to the 1980s, evolved through distinct phases. After traveling to the United States and Europe in the early 1930s and immersing himself in a broader architectural discourse, Barragán began incorporating principles derived from functionalism and modernism in his work, as seen in the houses in Avenida Parque Mexico, whose unadorned geometric forms contrast with his earlier projects in Guadalajara, such as the house in Calle Liceo, which evince the aesthetics of traditional Mediterranean and Mexican styles.

Information in the text best supports which statement about the design of the house in calle Liceo?

The Lartington is just one of approximately three million known historical shipwrecks spread throughout the world's oceans, and their impact on sea life and underwater ecosystems is of great interest to researchers. Rachel Mugge and colleagues were particularly curious about the effects of wooden shipwrecks on seafloor microbial communities. The researchers studied two wooden shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico by placing pieces of pine and oak between zero and 200 meters away from each shipwreck to collect samples of three kinds of microbes: bacteria, archaea, and fungi. They found that across the three microbial communities, peak diversity and richness was observed on pine and oak samples placed approximately 125 meters from the shipwrecks.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

The following text is adapted from Mathew Arnold's 1869 nonfiction book Culture and Anarchy.

The Times [a British newspaper], replying to some foreign strictures on the dress, looks, and behaviour of the English abroad, urges that the English ideal is that every one should be free to do and to look just as he likes. But culture indefatigably tries, not to make what each raw person may like, the rule by which he fashions himself, but to draw ever nearer to a sense of what is indeed beautiful, graceful, and becoming, and to get the raw person to like that.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

During the 2007-2010 financial crisis, the United States furnished billions of dollars to selected countries' central banks via mechanisms called swap lines. Aditi Sahasrabuddhe found that countries' policy environments seem to have been___________swap-line decisions: the probability that banks would be granted swap lines was 0.20 in countries open to foreign-capital inflows and 0.03 in countries with policies restricting such inflows.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Literary scholars often encourage those studying authors and their literary movements to understand how certain qualities of an author's writings were perceived by his or her immediate audience. While most would not consider the works of Miguel de Unamuno to be especially controversial today, one should consider whether there are aspects of his work that may have been seen as_________to some readers of his time.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Despite stated claims of global relevance, much major research on income inequality performed in the 2010s suffered from a myopic focus on a few countries in North America and Western Europe, partly due to limited data availability. Researchers would later___________this shortcoming after gaining new access to administrative records located in nations in Asia, such as India, and Eastern Europe, such as Hungary.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction is a crowdsourced project started in 2001 by lexicographer Jesse Sheidlower to record terms that originated in science fiction. Volunteers share digitized excerpts from personal collections of sci-fi magazines not typically preserved in libraries---____________that allow the earliest uses of phrases such as "warp speed" (1952) to be identified and added to the dictionary.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?