SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

In their study of European rollers, lesser grey shrikes, and 92 other passerine birds in Iran, researchers used mitochondrial sequences to validate established species boundaries. When a particular data point was________, they sought corroboration with the bird's nuclear DNA markers and morphological features to ensure the exception was an accurate finding.

 

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

Software that automatically detects suspicious behavior on database systems has become so sensitive that much of the activity it detects is_________, which means that rather than replacing human experts, such software has increased the need for cybersecurity specialists to interpret the flagged activity and determine whether it is a cause for concern.

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

Hydrogen production via water electrolysis is an emerging industry whose water usage relative to that of other industrial sectors is negligible. The industry's growth is thus unlikely to_________ water scarcity globally, but it could do so in South Korea: competition from other sectors for already scarce water resources in South Korea precludes its achievement of hydrogen self-sufficiency.

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

Positive expressive writing is self-reflective writing aimed at exploring positive topics and feelings like satisfaction. Techniques of positive expressive writing include one called "three good things," which involves writing down three good things that happen each day, and "resource diary," which involves writing about internal strengths and external support systems. In a large-scale analysis, Lauren Hoult and colleagues determined that while different techniques produce varying outcomes, they all tend to have a more consistent effect on well-being and positive outlook than on physical health and stress.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

The following text is adapted from Fanny Burney's 1778 novel Evelina. The text is an excerpt from a letter by Lady Howard to Evelina's guardian, Reverend Villars, in which Lady Howard discusses an upcoming trip to London planned by her daughter Mrs. Mirvan's family.

 

It is very earnestly [the Mirvans'] wish to enlarge and enliven their party by the addition of your amiable ward, who would share, equally with her own daughter, the care and attention of Mrs. Mirvan. Do not start at this proposal; it is time that [Evelina] should see something of the world. When young people are too rigidly sequestered from it, their lively and romantic imaginations paint it to them as a paradise of which they have been beguiled; but when they are shown it properly, and in due time, they see it such as it really is, equally shared by pain and pleasure, hope and disappointment.

 

Based on the text, Lady Howard would most likely agree with which statement about Reverend Villars?

Though previous studies, including work by Varela et al. (2012), have documented that wood density correlates negatively with resistance to water stress in angiosperm taxa, Nguyen et al. (2018) observed no such associations among Mauritian woody angiosperms. Nguyen et al. noted that while several earlier studies included a variety of habitats—wet and dry forests, savannas—and thus comprised plants with a wide range of functional trait values, the Mauritian investigation was restricted to rainforest taxa occupying climatically similar habitats, resulting in constrained ranges of such values.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

Chorioactis geaster, a species of mushroom that makes a distinctive hissing sound when it releases its spores, is an elusive fungus that has been observed only in Texas and Oklahoma in the US and in the Miyazaki and Nara Prefectures in Japan. Scientists aren't entirely sure why C. geaster is distributed in this way (genetic analysis reveals that the US and Japanese strains diverged 19 million years ago), but the mushroom appears to be very selective: it is typically found on the decaying stumps and roots of only a few tree species that are abundant in these areas.

 

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

Deposits of valuable objects, called hoards, have been unearthed in many different parts of Scotland and Wales. Technological advancements in the twenty-first century have made it easier to locate hoards, but plenty of hoards were found earlier. For example,_________.

 

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

In an extensive review of existing literature, Léna de Framond and team cataloged the prevalence of broken-wing display—a defensive behavior observed in Charadrius semipalmatus (semipalmated plover) and many other species—throughout the Aves class. Documentation of the display in 285 species across 52 families suggests the behavior likely evolved independently multiple times, prompting the team to consider ecological and life-history characteristics with hypothesized associations to the behavior's emergence, including traits related to reproduction investment and future reproduction potential. Based on their review of those traits, the team concluded that _________.

 

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

A student is writing an essay on the subject of cultured meat, which is grown in a laboratory and is intended to help reduce the number of livestock harvested for food. The student wants to make the case that cultured meat production may be useful in responding to an expected widespread change in the public's behavior.

Which quotation from a publication by a researcher would most effectively support the student's claim?

Hypothesizing that lullabies, characterized by their less steady beat, are universally calming to infants, Constance M. Bainbridge and colleagues played a lullaby sung in the Selk'nam language and a non-lullaby sung in the Chuukese language to a group of infants. The team found that the infants heart rates and pupil size both decreased more during the lullaby than during the non-lullaby. Since a decrease in heart rate is associated with relaxation, the team concluded that the lullaby relaxed the infants. However, noting that reduced heart rate can also be associated with increased attention, one critic argues that instead, the lullaby simply attracted the infants' attention.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the critic's claim?

Australia's modern population of dingoes, an ancient lineage of canids, comprises two genetically distinct groups that inhabit different sides of the country (west and east). Many have attributed this divergence to the nearly 3,500-mile-long "dingo fence," a barrier installed to prevent access to livestock, that created a division of Australia into large southeast and northwest sections around 150 years ago. However, having analyzed DNA from ancient dingo specimens ranging from hundreds to thousands of years old, paleogeneticist Marina Kline and colleagues reject that common explanation.

Which finding, if true, would most directly explain why Kline and colleagues reject the common explanation presented in the text?

Although he is indebted to the European tradition of figurative painting, with its proportionality of human form and depth between foreground and background, Anishinaabe painter Daniel Ashkewe uses his formidable technique to portray—and thereby ensure the transmission of—cultural traditions predating the European colonization of the lands of his trbe. Diné/Zuni painter Marisa Tsosie, on the other hand, largely eschews the European figurative mode; instead, she assembles compositions out of abstract motifs common in textiles and other traditional arts of the Zuni Pueblo, thereby __________.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Psychologist Marisa R. Vega and colleagues presented participants with several series of images of a common household item, progressing from blurry to clear, and asked participants to identify the item as soon as they confidently could (on average, at image 12 of 15). Participants were then asked to return to each series and recall at which point they were able to identify the image; on average, they selected image 10. This phenomenon—believing that one knew more in the past than one actually did—is known as hindsight bias. When participants were asked to estimate when a peer who had not participated in the experiment would be able to identify the item, the average selection was again image 10. This finding suggests that_________.

 

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Paris Opera Ballet dancer Marie Camargo introduced a seemingly simple innovation to the ballet world of the 1730s by removing the heels from her dance shoes, creating the precursor to today's soft ballet slipper. This change was more than an aesthetic choice, ______ redesigned footwear enabled the execution of leaps and other more athletic movements that had been impossible in the traditional heeled ballet shoes.

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

If an animal can recognize itself in a reflective surface ("the mirror test"), it is considered to have self-awareness. In a recent study, scientists__________for evidence of self-awareness in snakes, species that rely primarily on olfactory rather than visual processing, adapted the test to foreground smell, modifying the scent trails of North American eastern garter snakes and African ball pythons.

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

When studying the concrete used to build ancient Roman structures, MIT researcher Admir Masic analyzed small white mineral features, otherwise known as lime clasts, embedded in the concrete. ______ analysis led Masic to determine the lime clasts, which previous researchers had dismissed as mixing errors, were evidence of an intentional "hot mixing" process that gives the concrete remarkable self-healing properties.

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

With vast petroleum reserves, Saudi Arabia is the world's leading producer of crude oil, but the country's capacity to refine what it produces is surprisingly ______ country that imports nearly all its crude oil, Saudi Arabia refines only slightly more petroleum.

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

Employing high-precision laser altimetry to map the dense canopy of the Guatemalan jungle, _________ hundreds of previously unrecorded structures, including fortified hilltop defenses, interconnected causeways, and domestic residential terraces.

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

In biology there is no single agreed-upon concept of what defines a species; ______ numerous competing species concepts are used within the field, a dilemma known as the species problem. The biological species concept, described in 1942 by Mayr, defines species in accordance with reproductive isolation, while the phylogenetic species concept, delineated by Queiroz and Donoghue in 1988, organizes species according to monophyletic groups.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Researchers' attempts to reintroduce the extinct toromiro tree to the Pacific island of Rapa Nui faced repeated failures despite the use of healthy seedlings and carefully chosen locations. ______ the researchers discovered that bacteria that the toromiro relied on to add nitrogen to the soil had also gone extinct, meaning that successful restoration would require reintroducing both the tree and its essential bacterial partners.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

Geothermal power plants utilize steam extracted from subterranean reservoirs to turn turbine generators and produce electricity. In Iceland, volcanic geology provides an exceptionally shallow geothermal resource, allowing geothermal energy to supply over 65% of the country's primary energy needs. ____________ in regions lacking active tectonic boundaries, drilling deep enough to access equivalent subterranean heat is often economically prohibitive.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

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

·Traditional Japanese yamato-e painting emphasizes flat areas of opaque color, stylized landscape forms, and native Japanese subjects.

·The suibokuga painting tradition, introduced from China during the Muromachi period (1336-1573), focuses on monochromatic black ink washes.

·Yamato-e frequently depicted scenes from classical court literature, such as The Tale of Genji.

·Suibokuga prioritized spontaneous brushwork, atmospheric mist, and Zen Buddhist spiritual themes.

·Artists of the Rinpa school later combined elements of both traditions.

 

 

The student wants to emphasize a difference between the aesthetic characteristics of yamato-e and suibokuga. 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:

·Dendrochronology uses the annual growth rings of long-lived trees to construct multi-millennial climate chronologies.

·Bristlecone pines (Pinus longaeva) in California's White Mountains can live for over 4,800 years.

·Sub-fossilized bog oaks in Ireland and Germany provide overlapping tree-ring sequences spanning over 10,000 years.

·Dendrochronological calibration revealed that raw radiocarbon (14C) dating systematically underestimated archaeological ages due to past fluctuations in atmospheric carbon-14 concentrations.

·Tree-ring calibration curves (such as IntCal20) are now indispensable for establishing accurate absolute dates in archaeology.

 

 

The student wants to explain how dendrochronology improved the precision of radiocarbon dating. 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:

·Physicist Lise Meitner was a key collaborator with chemist Otto Hahn in Berlin for over three decades.

·In 1938, forced to flee Nazi Germany due to her Jewish heritage, Meitner relocated to Stockholm, Sweden.

·In December 1938, Hahn observed unexpected barium when bombarding uranium with neutrons but could not explain the result.

·Working in Sweden with her nephew Otto Frisch, Meiter calculated the energy released and provided the first theoretical explanation for nuclear fission in 1939.

·In 1944, Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery, while Meitner's indispensable theoretical contribution was overlooked by the committee.

 

 

The student wants to contextualize Lise Meitner's theoretical breakthrough in nuclear fission. 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:

·Physicist Chien-Shiung Wu designed the "Wu experiment" in 1956 to test the law of conservation of parity in subatomic physics.

·Parity conservation postulated that physical processes should behave identically to their mirror images (spatial inversion symmetry).

·Wu aligned the nuclear spins of cobalt-60 atoms at near-absolute zero temperatures using a strong magnetic field.

·She observed that beta particles were emitted preferentially in the direction opposite to the nuclear spin.

·This directional asymmetry proved that parity is violated in weak nuclear interactions, overturning a fundamental axiom of theoretical physics.

 

 

The student wants to emphasize the scientific significance of Wu's experimental result, Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?