SAT MANUAL
READING
PRACTICE PASSAGE 1: LITERATURE
Questions 1–10 are based on the following
passage.
WRITING AND
This passage is adapted from Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome.
LANGUAGE
© 1911 by Scribner’s. The novel tells the story of a man
whose dreams have been defeated by an unexpected turn
of events.
I had the story, bit by bit, from various people,
and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it
was a different story.
Line If you know Starkfield, Massachusetts, you know
MATH
5 the post-office, and you must have seen Ethan Frome
drive up to it, drop the reins on his hollow-backed
bay and drag himself across the brick pavement, and
you must have asked who he was.
It was there that, several years ago, I saw him for
10 the first time; and the sight pulled me up sharp. Even
then he was the most striking figure in Starkfield,
though he was but the ruin of a man. It was not
so much his great height that marked him, for
the “natives” were easily singled out by their lank
15 longitude from the stockier foreign breed: it was the
careless powerful look he had, in spite of a lameness
checking each step like the jerk of a chain. There
was something bleak and unapproachable in his face,
and he was so stiffened and grizzled that I took him
20 for an old man and was surprised to hear that he was
not more than fifty-two.
“He’s looked that way ever since he had his
smash-up; and that’s twenty-four years ago come next
February,” said Harmon Gow, who had driven the
25 stage from Bettsbridge to Starkfield in pre-trolley days
and knew the chronicle of all the families on his line.
The “smash-up,” I gathered, had, besides drawing
the red gash across Ethan Frome’s forehead, so
shortened and warped his right side that it cost
30 him a visible effort to take the few steps from his
buggy to the post-office window. He used to drive in
from his farm every day at about noon, and I often
passed him in the porch or stood beside him while
we waited on the motions of the distributing hand
35 behind the grating. I noticed that, though he came
so punctually, he seldom received anything but a
copy of the Bettsbridge Eagle, which he put without a
glance into his sagging pocket. At intervals, however,
the post-master would hand him an envelope
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40 addressed to Mrs. Zeena-Frome, and usually bearing
conspicuously in the upper left-hand corner the
address of some manufacturer of patent medicine.
Everyone in Starkfield knew him and gave him
a greeting tempered to his own grave bearing; but
45 his taciturnity was respected and it was only on rare
occasions that one of the older men of the place
detained him for a word. When this happened he
would listen quietly, his blue eyes on the speaker’s
face, and answer in so low a tone that his words
50 never reached me; then he would climb stiffly into
his buggy, gather up the reins in his left hand and
drive slowly away toward his farm.
“It was a pretty bad smash-up?” I questioned
Harmon, looking after Frome’s retreating figure, and
55 thinking how gallantly his lean brown head, with
its shock of light hair, must have sat on his strong
shoulders before they were bent out of shape.
“The worst kind,” my informant assented. “More
than enough to kill most men. But the Fromes are
60 tough. Ethan’ll likely touch a hundred.”
“Good God!” I exclaimed. At the moment Ethan
Frome, after climbing to his seat, had leaned over
to assure himself of the security of a wooden box,
which he had placed in the back of the buggy, and I
65 saw his face as it probably looked when he thought
himself alone. “That man touch a hundred? He looks
as if he was dead and in hell now!”
“Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters.
Most of the smart ones get away,” said Harmon.
70 “Why didn’t he?”
“Somebody had to stay and care for the folks.
There weren’t ever anybody but Ethan. First his
father—then his mother—then his wife.”
“And then the smash-up?”
75 Harmon chuckled sardonically. “That’s so. He
had to stay then.”
“I see. And since then they’ve had to care for him?”
Harmon thoughtfully passed his tobacco to the
other cheek. “Oh, it’s always Ethan done the caring.”
80 Though Harmon Gow developed the tale as far
as his mental and moral reach permitted there were
perceptible gaps between his facts, and I sensed that
the deeper meaning of the story was in the gaps.
But one phrase nevertheless stuck in my memory:
85 “Guess he’s been in Starkfield too many winters.”
CONTINUE
 BASIC APPROACH PRACTICE

Before my own time there was up I would come 5

READING
to know what that meant. Harmon’s statement in line 79 (“Oh, it’s . . . caring”)
primarily serves to
1 A) speculate on a probable outcome.
The passage is primarily concerned with B) contradict a presumption.
A) describing life in a rural community. C) qualify a primary argument.

WRITING AND
LANGUAGE
B) comparing possible causes of a tragedy. D) justify a point of view.
C) examining an unusual figure.
D) criticizing one man’s habits.
6
Based on the passage, which of the following most
2 accurately describes Ethan Frome?
As used in line 17, “checking” most nearly means A) Rigid and reticent

MATH
A) studying. B) Rude and imposing
B) halting. C) Decrepit and ignorant
C) limping. D) Generous and friendly
D) verifying.

7
3 Which choice provides the best evidence for the
As revealed in the third paragraph (lines 9–21), answer to the previous question?
the narrator’s attitude toward Frome is best A) Lines 4–12 (“If you . . . man”)
characterized as B) Lines 35–52 (“I noticed . . . farm”)
A) startled and intrigued. C) Lines 61–69 (“Good god . . . Harmon”)
B) dismayed and disapproving. D) Lines 71–79 (“Somebody had . . . caring”)
C) bewildered and fearful.
D) saddened and protective.
8
The passage suggests which of the following about
4 Harmon Gow?
As used in line 56, “shock” most nearly means A) He is originally from Bettsbridge.
A) surprise. B) He does not stay in Starkfield for the winters.
B) lack. C) He knows more about Ethan’s story than he
feels it is his place to say.
C) clash.
D) He works at the Post Office in Starkfield.
D) mass.

CONTINUE

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 SAT MANUAL

9 10
READING

Which choice provides the best evidence for the Which of the following can best be inferred from
answer to the previous question? the narrator’s mention of Ethan’s face in line 65?
A) Lines 22–26 (“He’s looked . . . line”) A) The narrator believes that Ethan would be angry
B) Lines 53–60 (“It was . . . hundred”) if he knew anyone was watching him.

C) Lines 68–69 (“Guess he’s . . . Harmon”) B) The narrator feels guilty for spying on Ethan.
WRITING AND

C) The narrator presumes that Ethan wears a

LANGUAGE

D) Lines 80–85 (“Though Harmon . . . winters”)

different face in public than in private.
D) The narrator believes that Ethan is older than
Harmon Gow thinks he is.
MATH

CONTINUE
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PRACTICE PASSAGE 2: SOCIAL STUDIES
Questions 11–21 are based on the following
passage.
This passage is adapted from The Monuments Men: Allied
Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in
History by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Copyright
© 2009 by Robert M. Edsel. Reprinted with the permission
of Center Street, a division of Hachette Book Group USA
Inc. The passage describes the setting of a salt mine in the
Austrian Alps.
From there, the road begins a climb so steep that
the Pötschen Pass seems a mild slope by comparison.
Along the road runs a clear, crashing alpine stream,
Line and beyond are the immense and breathtaking
5 mountains. They are limestone deposits, formed
in the depths of an ancient sea, and even on the
sunniest day they are pale gray beneath their caps of
snow. A bleak stone building, perched precariously
above a thousand-foot precipice, marks the
10 beginning of the end. Beyond is only a low irregular
building and a wall of rock, the steep side of the
Sandling Mountain. Bored into the mountain is a
small tunnel, the main entrance to an ancient salt
mine. Local legend holds that salt had been mined
15 here for three thousand years—before the founding
of Rome, at the height of the ancient Egyptian
empire. Local written records, however, only date
back to the 1100s.
In those days, at the turn of the first millennium,
20 salt was one of the foundations of civilization.
Without it, food couldn’t be preserved or transported,
so whole societies survived because of salt. Roman
legionnaires were sometimes paid in salt (the basis
of the English word “salary”), and merchants trod
25 the salt roads in large caravans, linking the Western
world of Europe with the Eastern world of Asia
and Arabia. In Tibet, Marco Polo noticed that salt
was pressed into wafers, imprinted with the image
of the Grand Khan, and used as money. Timbuktu,
30 the great lost civilization of Africa, valued salt as
highly as gold. The early Germans, whose Visigoth
ancestors sacked Rome and threw civilization into
darkness, were economically dependent on their salt
mines, and especially the taxes for their salt trading
35 routes. The city of Munich, an early base of power
for the Nazi Party, was founded in 1158 so the ruler
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BASIC APPROACH PRACTICE
READING
of Bavaria could more easily collect a tax on the salt
being transported from the city of Salzburg (German
for “Salt Castle”).
WRITING AND
LANGUAGE
40 And throughout the centuries, as cities and
empires rose and fell, the Steinberg mine in the
Sandling Mountain of Austria, just above the
village and lake known as Altaussee, continued to
produce salt. The salt was not mined with picks
45 and shovels, but dissolved by the flow of water
through special pipes and sluices. The water came
from the mountain above, especially during the
MATH
spring snowmelt, and descended by gravitational
force through the mine. There it was inundated
50 with rock salt, then sent down the mountain to Bad
Ischl, more than seventeen miles away, where the
brine was evaporated to form pure crystal salt. It
was left to 125 miners to maintain the pipes and
sluices, shore up the catacombs against the pressure
55 of the mountain, and make sure the vast labyrinth
of rooms and tunnels didn’t merge together and
destabilize the entire structure.
Since the 1300s, this job had been performed
by members of a small group of families, all living
60 in the hills near the mine. Over the centuries
humans grew larger, but the miners stayed the same
size, until they eventually seemed dwarfed by the
demands of the mine and their time underground
(diet and inbreeding were more likely causes). Even
65 in the early twentieth century, this small isolated
community spoke a dialect last popular in the
Middle Ages. They explored their tunnels with
acetylene torches, and wore the white linen suits and
peaked caps of medieval miners.
70 But in the winter of 1943-1944, the salt mine at
Altaussee was assaulted by the modern world. First
came the tracked vehicles necessary for maneuvering
over the roads in the winter, when the five meters of
snow were almost level with the treetops. They were
75 followed by supply jeeps, and eventually a seemingly
endless line of Nazi officers descended on the mine
as guards. Workers arrived, expanding catacombs
and building wooden floors, walls, and ceilings in
dozens of salt chambers. Giant wooden racks were
80 assembled in workrooms deep within the mountain
and hammered into position, in some places three
stories high. Experts and clerks moved in; a shop
CONTINUE
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 SAT MANUAL

was built deep inside the mine where technicians 15

READING

could work and even live for days at a time. And it The author most likely includes the description
85 was all done for art. of the importance of salt through history in the
second paragraph in order to
11 A) share some interesting but ultimately irrelevant
facts.
Which of the following best expresses the main idea
B) suggest that the Nazi party would not exist
WRITING AND

of the passage?
LANGUAGE

without the salt tax.

A) The salt mines in Altaussee have a long and
varied history. C) track the fluctuating value of salt in many cultures.
B) Salt has been an essential component of D) provide historical context for the output of the
civilization since the Roman Empire. Steinberg mine.
C) Mining techniques in Altaussee were not
modernized until the Nazis arrived. 16
MATH

D) The presence of the salt mines made Germany
into a modern world power.
12
The passage indicates that Sandling Mountain is
A) a salt mine first established by Egyptians.
B) a milder slope than Pötschen Pass.
C) the remnant of an ancient sea bed.
D) a bleak and boring place.
The passage most strongly suggests which of the
following about the Steinberg Mine?
A) It was owned by the same family for many
centuries until the Nazis came.
B) It used a unique system to mine salt with water
instead of picks and shovels.
C) It was inaccessible during the winter before the
Nazis brought their tracked vehicles.
D) It was mostly unaffected by political and social
upheaval through the ages.

17
13
Which choice provides the best evidence for the
The author uses the word “precariously” (line 8) in answer to the previous question?
order to
A) Lines 40–44 (“And throughout . . . salt”)
A) suggest that the stone building is in danger of
B) Lines 44–46 (“The salt . . . sluices”)
falling down the cliff.
C) Lines 58–60 (“Since the, . . . mine”)
B) indicate the rugged and remote terrain around
the salt mine. D) Lines 71–74 (“First came . . . treetops”)
C) imply that the buildings associated with the salt
mine were poorly constructed. 18
D) indicate that the people who built the stone
As used in line 54, “shore up” most nearly means
building were skilled mountaineers.
A) disembark.
B) catch.
14 C) strengthen.
As used in line 16, “height” most nearly means D) build.
A) pinnacle.
B) epitome.
C) elevation.
D) stature.
CONTINUE
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 BASIC APPROACH PRACTICE

19 21

The author of the passage most likely mentions the
“acetylene torches” (line 68) and “white linen suits
and peaked caps” (lines 68–69) in order to
A) show how eager the miners were to modernize
the mines.
B) provide a contrast with later developments in
READING
In the context of the passage, the author’s use of the
phrase “And it was all done for art” (lines 84–85) is
primarily meant to convey the idea that
A) the Nazis carved sculptures into the salt mines
in Altaussee.
B) modern mining techniques were seen by the

WRITING AND
LANGUAGE
the mines. Nazis as an art form.
C) prove that the miners of Altaussee were unique C) the Nazis took over the salt mines for a purpose
among all other salt miners. other than mining.
D) provide imagery to create a clear idea of the D) the salt mines were turned into a mining
miners. museum by the Nazis.

MATH
20
Which choice provides the best evidence for the
answer to the previous question?
A) Lines 64–67 (“Even in . . . Ages”)
B) Lines 70–71 (“But in . . . world”)
C) Lines 74–77 (“They were . . . guards”)
D) Lines 79–82 (“Giant wooden . . . high”)

CONTINUE

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