SAT Pastpaper with Solutions

Rome has high pedestrian traffic, but simply replicating a feature of Rome associated with walkability---e.g., its high number of street crossings-may be insufficient to induce increased walking in other cities. As urbanist Mariela Alfonzo argues, our understanding of individuals' decision-making about whether to walk is insufficiently robust: some studies emphasize the role of demographic characteristics, others the role of sidewalk width, and so on, but walking decisions are made in complex contexts in which multiple conditions and needs inform individuals' choices.

Which choice best describes the function of the references to "demographic characteristics" and "sidewalk width" in the text as a whole?

Text 1
In parts of New Zealand, the stoat is a major predator of the house mouse. Researcher G.L. Blackwell and colleagues found that when this predation pressure on house mice was temporarily reduced, their numbers significantly increased. This finding illustrates a foundational ecological principle: predators control prey population numbers.

Text 2
François Potvin and colleagues found that excluding wolves from a site in Quebec, Canada, where they typically prey on white-tailed deer had no significant effect on white-tailed deer abundance. Many other predation relief studies show an increase in prey abundance, but those studies often focus on small, rapidly reproducing prey, like birds, mice, and frogs, rather than large, slowly reproducing prey, like white-tailed deer, which could account for the difference between those results and Potvin and colleagues' results.

Based on the texts, the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about Blackwell and colleagues' findings (Text 1)?

The fossil remains of the individual known as Oase 1, discovered in Romania in 2002, can help paleoanthropologists not only _____ steps in the evolution of hominids but also illuminate the Pleistocene epoch generally, revealing important details about the time in which Oase 1 lived.

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

Cybersecurity experts often encourage users to create passwords that are fairly complicated and therefore difficult to guess. Nonetheless, research has shown that the more _____ approach to password selection seems to favor convenience over security: for example, the second most commonly used password in 2016 was the easily remembered "password."

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

Some social scientists say that while a desire for cooperation rather than conflict is key to democracy, public understanding of economics is also central to public comprehension of state politics, and if a citizenry is to function, economic issues cannot remain the domain only of experts. In short, knowledge of economics is not _____ and must not be left to economists alone.

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

J. Mason Heberling and David J. Burke relied on historical DNA (hDNA)-genomic data incidentally preserved in specimens housed in natural history collections-to investigate the evolutionary trajectory of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Although this approach offers unique benefits, such as access to genomic data from extirpated populations, it remains relatively underutilized because archival specimens are sometimes stored in ways that compromise DNA quality, a situation not easily remediable under current methodological paradigms and with extant DNA extraction and analysis technologies.

What does the text most strongly suggest about specimens from natural history collections?

The utilization of deceptive antipredator displays is well documented in the spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) and other species of the avian order Charadriiformes. An extensive literature review conducted by Léna de Framond et al. revealed that this trait has evolved across a surprisingly large phylogenetic distribution of 13 Aves orders, including Galliformes and Apodiformes. Subsequent investigation of potential selection mechanisms prompted the researchers to conclude that independent of avian order, the prevalence of the trait is mediated by environmental variations associated with the absolute latitude of brooding sites.

Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the researchers' conclusion?

The following text is from Reyna Grande's 2012 memoir The Distance Between Us. In the text, Grande is reflecting on experiences she had as a child. Abuela Evila is her grandmother, Élida is her cousin, and Mago and Carlos are her siblings.

Every few days, Abuela Evila washed Élida's hair with lemon water because, according to her, lemon juice cleans the impurities of the hair and makes it shiny and healthy. In the afternoons, she would fill up a bucket from the water tank, pick a few lemons from the tree, and squeeze the juice into the water. Mago, Carlos, and I would hide behind a pink oleander bush and watch their ritual through the narrow leaves. Abuela Evila washed Élida's hair as if she were washing an expensive silk rebozo.

Which choice best describes the main purpose of the text?

The following text is from Virginia Woolf's 1919 novel Night and Day. The narrator describes a gathering of artists and intellectuals.

One person after another rose, and, as with an ill-balanced axe, attempted to hew out his conception of art a little more clearly, and sat down with the feeling that, for some reason which he could not grasp, his strokes had gone awry. As they sat down they turned almost invariably to the person sitting next them, and rectified and continued what they had just said in public.

The text makes which point about the people at the gathering?

Scholars cite Men of Maize, the 1949 novel by Guatemalan author Miguel Ángel Asturias, as a foundational text of magical realism, the Latin American style of fiction in which antirealistic plot devices-often borrowed from the folkloric traditions of Indigenous and colonial societies in the Americas-are deployed in an otherwise realistic mode of representation typical of the modern novel. This style has exerted a decisive influence on authors around the world, including Orhan Pamuk, whose 2001 novel My Name Is Red resembles classic magical realist novels in its juxtaposition of literary realism with folklore-namely, that of Turkey.

Which quotation from a literary scholar would most directly support the claim in the underlined portion of the text?

As exemplified by Yi songs about the natural environment and Tlingit songs about wildlife encounters, ecological information can be transmitted in Indigenous songs, and in some instances is maintained only in this way. Kwaxsistalla Wathl'thla, a song keeper for the Kwakwaka'wakw people in Canada, collaborated with ethnobiologist Dana Lepofsky et al., sharing songs referencing terraced intertidal clam gardens the people implemented in the past to foster healthy development of a dietary staple. Drawing on archaeological evidence as well, Lepofsky et al. determined that the prevalence of the practice described in the songs corresponded with growth in clam size and abundance despite increased harvesting pressure-a finding that demonstrates that _____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

Sony's introduction of the PlayStation console in 1994 is an instance of brand extension---the company leveraged its brand recognition as a television and radio manufacturer to enter a product category where it had not previously competed. To determine if perceived category similarity predicts consumers' likelihood of purchasing brand extensions, Alicia Grasby et al. identified 30 extended-brand pairs (e.g., the same brand of hiking shoes and sleeping bag) in 52 weeks of purchases by approximately 60,000 households; for each pair, Grasby et al. had consumers rate the similarity of the product categories and calculated the change in probability of a brand in one category being purchased if the same brand was purchased in the other category.

Which finding, if true, would provide evidence that the possibility Grasby et al. investigated does occur?

Interested in how differences in the color of dogs' irises affect human responses to dogs, Akitsugu Konno et al. showed close-up images of dogs' faces to human participants and asked them to rate the dogs' traits and their own attitudes toward the dogs. Konno et al. suggest that differences in iris color led participants to view some dogs as more vulnerable and in need of protection than others and that this phenomenon could help explain the association the researchers observed between iris color and participants' inclinations to interact with or keep dogs, as illustrated by the finding that_________

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

Fatoumata Keita is a novelist from Baguinéda, Mali, who has earned international acclaim in recent years. Writers of other literary forms, such as poetry and drama, are less likely to be recognized beyond their nations' borders, but many are still well _____ Fama Diagne Sène, for example, is a celebrated playwright from Senegal.

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

The length of bird eggs varies widely across species, and an ecological _____ compared the lengths of eggs produced by different bird species found Haliastur indus eggs to be longer, on average, than Calidris alpina eggs.

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

Many works of the Greek mathematician Archimedes (3rd century BCE), including his text on optics, Catoptrica, have been lost to time. Antiquarians_____________to read one of Archimedes's extant works — not one known only through references to it by other authors, that is—might instead procure a copy of his Psammites, a treatise on mathematics and astronomy.

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

When Fiji joined Interpol---the International Criminal Police _____ in 1971, the Fiji National Police Intelligence Bureau gained access to the combined resources of law enforcement agencies from around the globe.

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

The Suzuki method is an approach to music instruction _____ to teach music in the same natural way children learn language, emphasizes playing instruments from a very young age. In Suzuki cello instruction, students begin their musical education with simple classical pieces like Robert Schumann's "The Two Grenadiers."

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

During the 1924 New York ticker-tape parade for US Olympic champions, the ribbonlike swirls descending on the scene were paper spools from "tickers," telegraph machines used to transmit stock prices. Of course, the original ticker tape had long since been retired by the 2019 parade for the US women's national soccer team. _____ shredded standard paper enriched the celebration.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) tracks comparative price list data for its thirty-eight member countries. According to this data, in July 2021, a "basket" of goods and services priced at 100 US dollars (USD) in the United States would have cost 55 USD in fellow OECD member _____

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

Neuroscientist Kiyohito Iigaya and colleagues developed a computational model to predict how much a person will enjoy a particular work of art on a scale from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much). They then recruited participants to use the same scale to rate several sets of paintings in various styles and calculated the correlation between the ratings predicted by the model and those reported by the participants. Assuming participant P1 gave equal ratings to the impressionist and color-field paintings, the data in the graph suggest that the model predicted that_______

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

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

• A river's stream length is the length of a line that follows along the river path.

• A river's valley length is the length of a straight line drawn from the beginning of the river to the end.

• The river's curviness, or sinuosity, is the ratio of the river's stream length to its valley length.

• Low-sinuosity rivers have a stream length 1-1.5 times longer than their valley length, and high-sinuosity rivers have a stream length5 or more times longer than their valley length.

• The Embarras River in Canada has high sinuosity.

• The Luni River in India has low sinuosity.

The student wants to compare the curviness of the two rivers. 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:

• Merle Oberon (1911-1979) was an actress born in Mumbai (then known as Bombay), India.

• She was of Indian, Maori, and Irish heritage.

• She was the first Indian-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award.

• Early in her career, she played many nameless, uncredited roles, such as her role in Service for Ladies (1932).

• Later, she played many named, credited roles, such as Katherine Beckmann in Of Love and Desire (1963).

The student wants to emphasize the order in which the two films were released. 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:

• Grimanesa Amoros is a Peruvian American artist well known for her LED light sculptures.

• Her sculpture Watch Your Step is made of smooth multicolored LED domes.

• It occupies 335 cubic feet of space.

• Her sculpture Golden Connection is made of entangled blue and white LED tubes.

• It occupies 100,000 cubic feet of space.

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between Watch Your Step and Golden Connection. 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:

• Generally, an object will heat up when twisted.

• The twisting of an object is known as torsion.

• A 2019 study led by Zunfeng Liu and Ray Baughman tested the torsional heating of various fibers.

• When a 3-millimeter-thick sample of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) fiber was twisted, its average surface temperature increased by .

• When a 4-millimeter-thick sample of styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS) rubber fiber was twisted, its average surface temperature increased by  .

The student wants to contrast the two samples. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?