SECTION I I I PRACTICE SAT 2 115

Writing a nd La nguage Test

3 5 MI N U T E S , 4 4 Q U E S T I O N S

Turn to Section 2 of your answer sheet to answer the questions i n this section.

DI RECTIONS

Each passage below is accompanied by a number of questions. For some questions, you will
consider how the passage might be revised to improve the expression of ideas. For other ques­
tions, you will consider how the passage might be edited to correct errors in sentence structure,
usage, or punctuation. A passage or a question may be accompanied by one or more graphics
(such as a table or g raph) that you will consider as you make revising and ed iti ng decisions.
Some questions will direct you to an underlined portion of a passage. Other questions will direct
you to a location in a passage or ask you to think about the passage as a whole.
After reading each passage, choose the answer to each question that most effectively improves
the quality of writing in the passage or that makes the passage conform to the conventions of
standard written English. Many questions include a "NO C HANGE" option . Choose that option
if you think the best choice is to leave the relevant portion of the passage as it is.

CONT I N U E
116 McGraw- Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests

Questions 1 - 1 1 a re based o n the following

passage.
•
A) NO CHANGE
Where Does the Vice President Live? B) its
C} they're
Although many of our nation's founders wanted D} their
to avoid anything associated with monarchism, they
recognized that one of a it's benefits was the lack of

civil struggles over succession. II Then they estab­ ..

A) NO CHANGE
B} In so doing,
lished that the executive branch would include a Vice
II President who would have no particular role except C} Nevertheless,
to take command if the President dies, resigns, or is D) Accordingly,

removed fr om office. As Vice President Gerald Ford

noted, "The vice presidency throughout our history has •
A) NO CHANGE
been an office that invites argument and defies defini-
B) President to have
tion." Ben Franklin quipped that the Vice President
C} President, thereby having
should be addressed as "Your Superfluous Excellency." D) President; who would have
Few things indicate the Vice President's undefined
position II so well as the official residence. Many •
people assume that the Vice President has quarters in A) NO CHANGE
B) as like
the White House. The II truth. being laughable if it
C) as it does
was not so pathetic. is that until 1974 the Vice President
D) better, than
had no official residence at all.

•
A) NO CHANGE
B) truth would be laughable if not so pathetic, is
C} truth, which would be laughable if it were not
so pathetic, is
D) truth, being laughable if not so pathetic, is

CO N T I N U E
SECTION I I I PRACTICE SAT 2 1 17

Before 1974, Vice Presidents lived wherever they

could find lodging. Some, especially former Senators
or Congressman, already had homes near Washington,
D.C., and some were wealthy enough to buy temporary
homes. Others actually stayed in hotels. II Finally, in
July of 1974, Congress II denigrated the house at One
Observatory Circle in Washington, D.C., as the official
A) Yes, because it reveals the difficulty of finding
residence of the Vice President.
At this point, the writer is considering adding the
following sentence.
In 1922, when Vice President Calvin
Coolidge's hotel residence caught fire, the
fire marshal did not recognize him or even
know that he lived at the hotel.
Should the author make this addition here?
housing in the 1920s.

Iii Completely renovated, Gerald Ford was the B) Yes, because it illustrates the relatively low
status that the Vice President had.
first Vice President expected to live in the beautiful 19lh_ C) No, because it interrupts the discussion about
Century home. Then the soap opera continued. the variety of housing options enjoyed by Vice
Presidents.
D) No, because it distracts from the generally
lighthearted nature of the discussion .

•
A) NO CHANGE
B) designed
C) designated
D) derogated

..
A) NO CHANGE
B) Gerald Ford was the first Vice President
expected to live in the beautiful and completely
renovated 19th century home.
C) The beautiful and completely renovated 19th
century home was expected to be lived in by
Gerald Ford as the first Vice President.
D) It was Gerald Ford who was expected to live
in the beautiful 19th century home, being
completely renovated.

CO NTI N U E
118
II Next. before Ford could move into the residence.
President Richard Nixon resigned and left the presi-
dency to him. Then. Nelson Rockefeller was chosen by
Ford as the next Vice President. However, Rockefeller
already owned a residence in Washington, D.C., so he
used the house only for official entertaining. After
waiting 198 years for an official domicile, the office of
Vice President Im would have to wait yet another three
years before establishing One Observatory Circle as a
functioning residence. Walter Mondale, who became
vice-president in 1977, was the first to claim the house
as a true home.
The United States Navy still officially owns One
Observatory Circle and is m in charge both of main-
tenance and staff. In fact, to this day, many people refer
to the official residence of the Vice President as "The
Admiral's House."
McGraw-Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests
•
Which choice most logically and effectively com­
bines the two sentences?
A) Before being able to move into the residence,
President Richard Nixon resigned and left
the presidency to Ford, who chose Nelson
Rockefeller as the next Vice President.
B) Before Ford could move into the residence,
President Richard Nixon resigned and left the
presidency to Ford, who then chose Nelson
Rockefeller as the next Vice President.
C) But President Richard Nixon resigned and left
the presidency to Ford before he could move
into the residence, choosing Nelson Rockefeller
as the next Vice President.
D) When President Richard Nixon resigned and
left the presidency to Ford, it was before he
could move into the residence, and he chose
Nelson Rockefeller as the next Vice President.
1111
A) NO CHANGE
B) yet would have to be waiting
C) yet had to be waiting
D) had to be waiting yet
•
A) NO CHANGE
B) both in charge of maintenance and staff
C) in charge of both maintenance and of staff
D) in charge of both maintenance and staff
CO N T I N U E
SECTION I I I PRACTICE SAT 2
Questions 1 2-22 a re based on the following
passage.
" Truth Will Out"
Having been a personal recruiter for over sixteen
years, m myjob can basically be defined as getting
other people jobs. I have to screen applicants and check
backgrounds and references, but that's just the begin­
ning. I also have to search for both applicants and
opportunities, and then try to find the most suitable
matches. Next, I must get to know my client intimately,
and this step generally gives me the best opportunity
IEJ of determining a successful match. To accomplish
this, I must establish transparency in our relationship.
At this point, I'm sometimes not sure if I'm so much
a recruiter as a detective or a psychological profiler,
m a professional who is often called in to analyze the
behavior patterns of criminals.
My first piece of advice to all ID applicants.
no-my urgent plea: sounds ridiculously banal: be
yourself. 1l3 Extenuate your uniqueness, but be
honest. You want a job that's a good match for you,
not for your imaginary friend. Don't force yourself into
a job with a culture that doesn't fit your personality.
1 19
A) NO CHANGE
B) I can basically define my job as
C) the definition of my job can basically be
D) I can basically define my job as:
A) NO CHANGE
B) of making a determination of
C) to determine
D) to make a determination of
The writer is considering deleting this phrase and
ending the sentence with a period. Should the writer
do this?
A) Yes, because the reference to criminality
detracts from the point of the paragraph.
B) Yes, because the role of a psychological profiler
has already been established.
C) No, because this definition provides
information that is used in the next paragraph.
D) No, because clarifying job descriptions is an
important task of a personal recruiter.
Ill
A) NO CHANGE
B) applicants: no, my urgent plea-sounds
C) applicants-no, my urgent plea-sounds
D) applicants: no, my urgent plea, sounds
Ill
A) NO CHANGE
B) Effectuate
C) Attenuate
D) Accentuate
CONTINUE
1 20 McGraw-Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests

If you are really a person who "marches to a different •

drummer," m you need a kindred spirit as a boss. If Which choice best connects this sentence with the
rest of the paragraph?
not, you'll find yourself with a manager who will turn
A) NO CHANGE
and run when you reveal your true self-and simul­
B) you might consider dressing more
taneously m oust you out the door in the opposite professionally for your interview.
C) learn how to exaggerate your uniqueness to
direction.
make a strong impression.
BJ Additionally, if you find that place where you D) stay away from discussions about personal
likes and dislikes, and keep things
can be yourself and do your job your own way, as long
professional.
as the job gets done well, then you will find the key
to professional satisfaction. When we do what comes
1111
naturally to us, we excel. Which choice best maintains the logic and clarity of
the sentence?
A) NO CHANGE
B) throw
C) banish
D) urge

Ill
A) NO CHANGE
B) However,
C) Furthermore,
D) Simultaneously,

C O N T I N UE
SECTION I I I PRACTICE SAT 2
12
I also have a strong corollary to my first doctrine:
don't think you can hide an uncomfortable truth
forever! I often must work hard to l!?iJ gloss over all of
the information I need from a candidate in order to
make sure that he or she is right for the job. But get-
ting a candidate to share relevant but uncomfortable
facts is not easy. Before I recommend someone with
an otherwise stellar resume for a position, I need to fill
in the blanks. For example, why is there is a two year
gap in employment? Why did a relocation to another
city never happen as expected? m A candidate should
reveal any such relevant secrets before it becomes too
late to smooth them out. l!J Take it from me: surprises
like these on a background or credit check will guaran­
tee that an offer of employment will be rescinded.
121
Which choice best maintains the logical and stylis­
tic coherence of the paragraph?
A) NO CHANGE
B) ferret out
C) rifle through
D) speculate about
•
At this point, the writer is considering adding the
following sentence.
Does a driving record include anything
embarrassing, such as a DWI conviction?
Should the writer make this addition?
A) Yes, because it gives a specific example of the
effects of withholding information from an
employer.
B) Yes, because it indicates a particularly serious
detail that could be relevant to an employer.
C) No, because it detracts from the paragraph's
focus on creating a "stellar resume."
D) No, because it does not indicate a concern that
would be embarrassing to most people.
Which choice best provides a relevant concluding
thought to the paragraph?
A) NO CHANGE
B) The job of a personal recruiter entails much
more than finding positions and applicants.
C) Many jobs and many applicants are not all they
might appear to be at first glance.
D) Potential employees should be very wary of job
descriptions that seem to good to be true.
CO N T I N U E
1 22
Questions 23-33 a re based on the following
passage a n d supplementa ry material.
Don't Play Chicken with Your Health
Many people today want to avoid disease and help
the environment by living "organically" and eating
"unprocessed" foods. These goals are fine in theory, but
not always m feasible or possible to achieve.
Almost every day, stories in the media fJI would
seem to feature a new expose about product mislabel-
ing or corrupt marketing in the organic foods supply
world. m Distrust in this food supply is growing. An
increasing number of people. especially urbanites with-
out access to farmers' markets. are choosing to become
their own food suppl i ers. Although urban vegetable
gardens have been popular for a very long time, this
McGraw-Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests
m
A) NO CHANGE
B) possible to feasibly achieve
C) feasible or possible to achieve
D) feasible to achieve
Ill
A) NO CHANGE
B) seem
C) seems
D) have seemed
··� - --
Which choice most effectively combines the two
sentences?
A) As distrust in the food supply grows, an
increasing number of people, especially
urbanites without access to farmers' markets,
are choosing to become their own food
suppliers.
B) An increasing number of people, especially
urbanites without access to farmers' markets,
have growing distrust in the food supply, but
they're choosing to become their own food
suppliers.
C) An increasing number of people, especially
urbanites, are choosing to become their own
food suppliers because of growing distrust
in the food supply and not having access to
farmers' markets.
D) As distrust is growing in the food supply,
especially in urbanites without access to
farmers' markets, an increasing number of
people are choosing to become their own food
suppliers.
CO N T I N U E
SECTION I I / PRACTICE SAT 2 1 23

new desire for natural products miJ unconsumed by

hormone additives, dangerous chemicals, or A) NO CHANGE
B) unrestrained
m pesticides has created a new trend in "natural
C) untainted
living": backyard or rooftop chicken-keeping. Many
D) deprived
urban hen farmers have recently undertaken to change
municipal livestock m restrictions. so this is where
..
the situation gets interesting. Back in the 1800s, many A) NO CHANGE
American cities banned urban livestock, primarily for B) pesticides, has
C) pesticides have
health reasons. Because of the recent growth of the
D) pesticides, have
natural foods movement, m we should return our
focus to the sanitation of urban farming.

A) NO CHANGE
B) restrictions, this
C) restrictions; and this
D) restrictions, and this

Which choice most effectively sets up the paragraph

that follows?
A) NO CHANGE
B) we must examine the conditions of these early
farms to understand why these bans were
enacted.
C) we can't be sure whether such laws now need
to be strengthened or abandoned.
D) we must not impose excessive restrictions on
such a demonstrably healthful practice.

CONTI N U E
1 24 McGraw-Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests

Our eagerness for "fresher" food should not over­

ride our concerns about potential health risks. If not At this point, the author wants to include informa­
tion that underscores the particularly insidious
correctly managed, urban agriculture can be unhy- nature of Salmonella. Which choice best accom­
gienic. Salmonella, a bacterium that lives in the intes- plishes this goal?
A) NO CHANGE
tines of poultry, can be a major issue.
Im But Salmonella is only one of manypoten­ B) The treatment for Salmonella
typically includes
antibiotics and intravenous hydration.
tially dangerous germs lurking in urban farms. The C) Salmonella affects nearly 40,000 people per
year in the United States, although most
Salmonella bacteria can contaminate anything the recover without treatment.
infected birds touch, and then transfer to the hands, D) Although Salmonella
usually doesn't make
birds sick, it can cause serious illness in
shoes, or clothing of those m who handle the birds or humans, to whom it is passed with amazing
ease.
even if theyjust work or play around the birds' habitats.
Although backyard poultry is no more likely to be con­
taminated with Salmonella than commercial poultry Ill
A) NO CHANGE
is, it does put more vulnerable citizens at risk, because
B) who play, work, or even just handle the birds
there are so few safeguards between the birds and the C) who handle the birds, or even just work or play
public. D) handling the birds, or even if they just play or
work
A surprising number of urban citizens are in
favor of allowing the ownership of chickens within city
limits. In a 2013 government survey, m over two- At this point, the writer wants to provide accurate
thirds of those urban citizens surveyed from around and relevant information from the table. Which
choice best accomplishes this goal?
the country said that they were at least somewhat in
A) NO CHANGE
agreement with the statement "I would be in favor of B) slightly less than two-thirds
a law in my community that allows for the ownership C) slightly more than half
D) well over one-third
of chickens." It seems likely, then, that more cities will
start to ratify more open urban farming laws.

CO N T I N U E
SECTION II I PRACTICE SAT 2 1 25

This could be a good thing, as long as proper sanitary

Ill
regulations are also m found. Farming is not a game A) NO CHANGE

or a hobby, and rooftop hens are not pets. The urban B) appropriated
C) bequeathed
farmer must be even more vigilant than the commer-
D) adopted
cial farmer when it comes to hygiene, because the risks

are even greater.

Percent Responses to the Statement,

"I am in favor of a law in my community that allows for the ownership of chickens"
in Select American Cities (2013)
Denver Los Angeles Miami New York All Cities
Strongly Agree 26.l 17.5 14.6 13.9 16.9
Agree 23.8 14. l 12.6 15.4 15.7
Slightly Agree 12.6 1 1.4 9.1 12.6 1 1 .8
Slightly Disagree 5.7 8.4 5.5 7.9 7.6
Disagree ) 10.6 12.4 14.2 15.9 13.6
Strongly Disagree 21.2 36.2 44.0 34.3 34.4
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services

CONTINUE
1 26 McGraw-Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests

Questions 3 4-44 a re based on the fol lowing

passage.
Ill, _ __

Guernica
Already the world's most influential artist,
m Pablo Picasso's painting, "Guernica," earned him
a reputation as a political critic as well. Picasso created
his mural for the Spanish pavilion of the 1937 Paris
Exposici6n Internacional. The theme of the Exposici6n
was modern technology, and Picasso used that theme
to condemn the evils of modern weaponry. m He
A) NO CHANGE
B) "Guernica," a painting by Pablo Picasso,
earned him a reputation as a political critic as
well.
C) Pablo Picasso, who earned a reputation as a
political critic as well by painting "Guernica."
D) Pablo Picasso earned a reputation as a political
critic as well by painting "Guernica."
A) NO CHANGE
B) His subject was

made his subject out of the Nazi and Italian bombing C) The subject he made was
D) His subject was of
of Guernica, an ancient civilian town in Basque, Spain.
The Axis powers believed that this rural town would be
•
a perfect target to test new techniques of aerial bomb-
A) NO CHANGE
ing. During the attack of about three hours, bombers B) had destroyed
Im destroyed the town and then flew low over neigh- C) were destroying
D) would destroy
boring fields, machine-gunning townspeople who were
running to safety. m Thus implementing the Nazi
strategy of terror bombing, deliberately targeting civil-
..
A) NO CHANGE
ians in order to break their will to resist.
B) This implemented
C) This tactic implemented
D) Thus implementing the tactic for

CO N T I N U E
SECTION II I PRACTICE SAT 2 1 27

News reports and photographs of the atrocities 1!11

quickly reached Paris, where they motivated Picasso A) NO CHANGE
to create his masterpiece. II!J He began painting B) He had begun painting
C) His painting began
just six days after the bombing, Picasso completed
D) Beginning his painting
his huge mural, l l1/2 feet tall by 25Vz feet long, in only
S weeks.
m In "Guernica." Picasso intended to depict. in Which choice most effectively sets up the informa­
vivid detail. the inhumanity and suffering tion that follows?
A) NO CHANGE
of war. Instead, he used graphic shapes and symbolic
B) Picasso did not intend "Guernica" to be a
figures to m make the sense of agony caused by the historically accurate depiction of the attack.
brutality and violence of the event. Today, C) Picasso's raw emotional energy came through
in the faces of his subjects.
most m critic's studying the painting agree that D) Picasso used "Guernica" to showcase the new
Picasso's distorted images are at least as poignant techniques of Cubist painting.

as the horrible photographs of the event.

IDI
A) NO CHANGE
B) explain
C) balance
D) evoke

•
A) NO CHANGE
B) critics study
C) critics studying
D) critic's study of

CONTI N U E
1 28 McGraw-Hill Education: 6 SAT Practice Tests

12
Figures are ll'J squished together: a screaming mother •
holding a dead child, a disembodied arm holding a Which choice best maintains the tone and style of
the passage?
lamp, an open-eyed corpse, a screaming bull with a
A) NO CHANGE
strangely human face, an impaled horse. B) mushed
The multi-perspective vision of Cubism allowed C) crushed

Picasso to dissect figures and backgrounds and re- D) scrunched

integrate them to create new, more intense images. He

believed that Cubism allowed him to see new relation-
ships among time, space, and energy, m like Einstein
with Relativity. In his own way, Picasso created a
modern visual language, a language that m few of his
contemporaries were able to successfully emulate .
Ill
A) NO CHANGE
B) in much the same way as Relativity allowed
Einstein similar insights
C) like Relativity and what it did for Einstein
D) like what Relativity did for Einstein

•
Which choice provides the most suitable conclusion
for the passage as a whole?
A) NO CHANGE
B) can portray subtle beauty as well as the horrors
of war.
C) provides new ways of portraying images of
animals, people, and events.
D) continues to influence the way that
contemporary artists see the world.

STOP
If you finish before time is called, you may check your work on this section on ly.
Do not turn to any other section of the test.