Advanced Reading Session 1 2

SAT Advanced
Reading
Session 1 & 2
2
1 1
Text 1 1
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The first three years of life appear to be a Which best expresses the relationship
crucial starting point—a period particularly between Text 2 and Text 1?
sensitive to the protective mechanisms of A) Text 2 urges particular changes as a
Line parental and family support. For millennia, result of the findings described in Text 1.
5 parents have recognized the newborn’s basic B) Text 2 offers a personal anecdote that
need for safety, nourishment, warmth, and casts doubt upon the beliefs espoused in
nurturing. Now science has added stunning
Text 1.
revelations about human development from
birth to age three, confirming that parents and C) Text 2 questions an assumption
10 other adult caregivers play a critical role in underlying the ideas expressed in Text 1.
influencing a child’s development. No other D) Text 2 provides a scientific explanation
period of human life is as suited to learning as for the examples cited in Text 1.
are a child’s first three years. Babies raised by
caring, attentive adults in safe, predictable
15 environments are better learners than those
raised with less attention in less secure settings.
Text 2
Much early childhood literature suggests 2

that the first three years of life are the critical
years for brain development. Yet new findings Both authors would most likely agree with
20 in neuroscience suggest that the brain retains which of the following statements?
its ability to reorganize itself in response to A) The brain becomes increasingly inflexible
experience or injury throughout life: after the as a person grows older.
loss of sensory input from an amputated limb, B) Adults can bounce back from injuries as
for example, adults are able to learn new motor readily as children can.
25 skills effectively. It may be useful to question
the simplistic view that the brain becomes C) Children raised by attentive parents are
unbendable and increasingly difficult to modify generally good learners.
beyond the first few years of life. If so, we D) It is widely acknowledged that the first
should also be wary of claims that parents have three years are important to a child’s
30 only a single, biologically delimited, once-in-a- development.
lifetime opportunity to help their children
build better brains.
3
Unauthorized copying or reuse of any part of this page is illegal. CO NTI N U E
1 1
This excerpt from a novel by a Chinese 3
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American author is about a Chinese American For June, a significant aspect of what
woman named June. During a family dinner happened at the dinner party is that
party attended by some of June’s Chinese
American friends, Waverly, a tax attorney, A) her mother had taken great pains to make
discusses an advertisement that June wrote for Waverly feel welcome
her. B) her mother had criticized her for arguing
with Waverly
Waverly laughed in a lighthearted way. “I
mean, really, June.” And then she started in a C) her mother had sided against her in front
deep television-announcer voice: “Three of family and friends
Line benefits, three needs, three reasons to buy ... D) Waverly had angered June’s mother
5 Satisfaction guaranteed . . . .”
She said this in such a funny way that
everybody thought it was a good joke and
laughed. And then, to make matters worse, I
heard my mother saying to Waverly: “True,
10 one can’t teach style. June is not sophisticated
like you. She must have been born this way.”
I was surprised at myself, how humiliated I
felt. I had been outsmarted by Waverly once
again, and now betrayed by my own mother.
Caroline Yip and Marcella Ahn had a 4

history. They had both lived in Cambridge,
What is the primary significance of the two
Massachusetts, in their twenties, and for
similar “jacket photos” mentioned in the text?
Line several years they had been the best of friends
5 —inseparable, really. But then their first books A) They served as a way for critics to link
had come out at the same time, Marcella’s two newly published poets.
from a major New York publisher, Caroline’s B) They provided an opportunity for two
from a small, albeit respected press. Both had poets to announce their friendship.
very similar jacket photos, the two women
C) They revealed the animosity that had
10 looking solemn and precious, hair flowing in
always existed between the two poets.
full regalia. An unfortunate coincidence.
Critics couldn’t resist reviewing them D) They reflected the casualness and
together, mocking the pair, even then, as “The informality of the language used in the
Hair Poets,” “The Braids of the East,” and poems.
15 “The New Asian Poe-tresses.”
4
1 1
I had noticed with amazement and delight 5
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that something was happening between Sandro Which choice best states the main purpose
and me. It was not at all a friendship born from of the text?
Line affinity; on the contrary, the difference in our
5 origins made us rich in "'exchangeable goods," A) To create a distinct impression of
like two merchants who meet after coming Sandro's appearance in the reader's mind.
from remote and mutually unknown regions. B) To explain to the reader why the author
Nor was it the normal momentous intimacy of and Sandro were different.
twenty-year-olds: with Sandro I never reached C) To describe Sandro and the nature of his
10 this point. I soon realized that he was generous, relationship with the author.
subtle, tenacious, and brave, even with a touch D) To convince readers that Sandro had the
of insolence, but he had an elusive, untamed nature of a cat.
quality. Although we were at the age when one
always had the need, instinct, and immodesty
15 of inflicting on one another everything that
swarms in one's head and elsewhere, nothing
had gotten through Sandro’s shell of reserve,
nothing of his inner world, which nevertheless
one felt was dense and fertile — nothing save a
20 few occasional, dramatically truncated hints.
He had the nature of a cat with whom one can
live for decades without ever being permitted to
penetrate its sacred pelt.
5
Main Idea
6
1 1
Bilingualism and frequent travel between 6
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Puerto Rico and the mainland United States What is the main idea of the text?
make any attempt to categorize Puerto Rican
Line writers by geography or language problematic. A) a denunciation of certain critics of Puerto
5 Yet literary studies of these writers rarely cross Rican literature
the border between island and mainland or B) a warning about the inadequacies of
between literary texts written in Spanish and certain English-language journals
those written in English. As a result, Puerto C) a rejection of a widespread practice as
Rican literature straddles the academic divide inappropriate
10 between Spanish departments and English
departments as well as Spanish-language D) an attempt to reconcile two controversial
journals and English-language journals. These viewpoints
separations eclipse the shared heritage of
contemporary Puerto Rican writers.
Anyone watching the autumn sky knows 7

that migrating birds fly in a V formation, but
What is the main idea of the text?
scientists have long debated why. A new study
Line of ibises finds that these big-winged birds A) Different types of hierarchies exist in
5 carefully position their wingtips and sync their each flock.
flapping, presumably to catch the preceding B) Mistakes can happen when long-winged
bird’s updraft—and save energy during flight. birds create a V formation.
Scientists do not know how the birds find that
C) Future research will help scientists to
aerodynamic sweet spot, but they suspect that
better understand V formations.
10 the animals align themselves either by sight or
by sensing air currents through their feathers. D) Long-winged birds watch the lead bird
Alternatively, they may move around until closely to keep a V formation intact.
they find the location with the least resistance.
In future studies, the researchers will switch to
15 more common birds, such as pigeons or geese.
They plan to investigate how the animals
decide who sets the course and the pace, and
whether a mistake made by the leader can
ripple through the rest of the flock to cause
20 traffic jams.
7
1 1
Mr. Peters’ hair was turning gray and his 8
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scalp showed through on top. He had lost What is the main idea of the text?
weight also; he no longer filled out his clothes
Line the way he used to. His color was poor, and A) Mr. Peters neglects to spend any time with
5 the flower had disappeared from his his family.
buttonhole. Apparently he himself was not B) Mr. Peters behaves as if he is a younger
aware that there had been any change. He version of himself.
straightened his tie self-consciously and when
C) Mr. Peters is very conscious of symbols of
the waitress handed him a menu, he gestured
wealth and power.
10 with it so that the two women at the next table
would notice the diamond ring on the fourth D) Mr. Peters is preoccupied with the
finger of his right hand. Both of these things, knowledge that he is growing old.
and also the fact that his hands showed signs
of the manicurist, one can blame on the young
15 man who had his picture taken with a derby
hat on the back of his head, and also sitting
with a girl in the curve of the moon. The
young man had never for one second deserted
Mr. Peters. He was always there, tugging at
20 Mr. Peters’ elbow, making him do things that
were not becoming in a man of forty-five.
If, in the distant future, archaeologists find no 9

trace of evidence of our civilization apart from a
What is the main idea of the text?
library of 20th century novels, they might be
Line able to figure out something surprising about A) The economic well-being of a society is
5 recent history: the boom times and recessions of reflected in the vocabulary used in
our economic system. A study by a team of published books.
British researchers found a strong correlation B) The publishing industry is
between a book’s “literary misery index” (the disproportionately affected by
frequency of words such as “anger,” “disgust,” unemployment levels and rising costs.
10 “fear,” and “sadness”) and the economic misery
C) Writers of literature are primarily
index (a measure of unemployment and
influenced by events that occurred in their
inflation) of either the U.S. or Britain for the ten
early childhood.
years that preceded its publication. To check
whether the correlation between literary and D) Literary misery is more noticeable in US
15 economic misery in the English canon was a literature than in the literatures of other
coincidence, the researchers also performed the countries.
same 60 analysis on a catalogue of some 650,000
German books. When compared to German
economic conditions, they found the same
20 trend.
8
1 1
The lists of ready-made literature which 10
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America inherits by the mighty inheritance of What is the main idea of the text?
the English language - all the rich repertoire of
Line poems, plays, classics, translations - have made A) Americans are unfortunately resistant to
5 magnificent preparations for that other plainly the idea of creating a literature that is
signified literature to be our own. Yet, a nation new and original.
can never take the issues of the needs of other B) The variety of styles in American
nations for nothing. America collapses quick as literature makes it superior to that of
lightning at the repeated, admonishing, stern Europe.
10 words, Where are any mental expressions from C) The creation of original American
you, beyond what you have copied or stolen? literature is both needed and overdue.
Will you but tag after other nations? You are
D) American literature will eventually
young, have the perfectest of dialects, a free
influence the literary development of
press, a free government, the world forwarding
other nations.
15 its best to be with you. As justice has been
strictly done to you, from this hour do strict
justice to yourself. Call for new great masters to
comprehend new arts, new perfections, new
wants. Submit to the most robust bard till he
20 remedy your barrenness. Then you will not
need to adopt the heirs of others; you will have
true heirs, begotten of yourself, blooded with
your own blood.
9
1 1
Some of the larger cities on the East Coast 11
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tended to gain population, albeit in small What is the main idea of the text?
increments. Those in the Midwest, including
Line Chicago, tended to lose substantial numbers. A) The 2010 census demonstrated a sizeable
5 But when it comes to measuring demographic growth in the number of middle-class
inversion, a phenomenon that describes the families moving into inner cities.
rearrangement of living patterns throughout a B) The 2010 census is not a reliable
metropolitan area, raw census numbers are an instrument for measuring population
ineffective blunt instrument. A closer look at trends in American cities.
10 the results shows that the most powerful C) Population growth and demographic
demographic events of the past decade were the inversion are distinct phenomena, and
movement of African Americans out of central demographic inversion is evident in
cities and the settlement of immigrant groups many American cities.
in suburbs. Not many young professionals
D) Population growth in American cities has
15 moved to new downtown condos in the
been increasing since roughly 2000, while
recession years because few such residences
suburban populations have decreased.
were being built. But there is no reason to
believe that the demographic trends prevailing
prior to the construction bust will not resume
20 once that bust is over. It is important to
remember that demographic inversion is not a
proxy for population growth; it can occur in
cities that are growing, those whose numbers
are flat, and even in those undergoing a modest
decline in size.
10
Main Purpose
11
1 1
Some critics believe that the frequent use of 12
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repetition in Native American ceremonial Which choice best states the main purpose of
texts was a result of their oral nature and the text?
Line helped make the works easy to remember.
5 Native American scholar Paula Gunn Allen A) To refute a claim
argues that this factor must be peripheral, B) To describe a process
however, because people in societies without C) To advocate a practice
writing traditionally have had more finely
D) To reveal a problem
developed memories than do people who use
10 writing. Native American children learned
early to remember complicated instructions
and long stories by heart. For to a person who
couldn’t run to a bookshelf to look up
information, reliance on memory became very
15 important in everyday life. Such a highly
developed everyday memory is not likely to
fail on ceremonial occasions.
To speak of a colony of ants or other social 13

insects as more than just a tight aggregation of
Which choice best states the main purpose of
individuals is to speak of a superorganism, and
the text?
Line therefore to invite a detailed comparison
5 between the society and a conventional A) To offer a reevaluation of an old research
organism. The idea —the dream—of the finding
superorganism was popular in the early part of B) To challenge the value of a biological
the twentieth century. In William Morton model
Wheeler’s celebrated 1911 essay, “The Ant
C) To discuss an application of a scientific
10 Colony as an Organism,” he stated that the
term
animal colony is really an organism and not
merely the analog of one. It behaves as a unit. D) To evaluate the work of a prominent
It possesses distinctive properties of size, figure
behavior, and organization that are
15 transmitted from colony to colony and from
one generation to the next.
12
1 1
Rumi had brought back a bunch of 14
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impressivelooking postage stamps from the Which choice best states the main purpose of
India trip, salvaged from old letters in the text?
Line different relatives’ houses, which she
5 produced to start them off. She had a full A) To enumerate the interests of an
spectrum of colors, ranging from the standard individual
one-rupee indigo print to a shockingly B) To present the advantages of a hobby
beautiful special edition of a tiger growling in C) To describe the evolution of a shared
the sun. That one was quite rare, according to pastime
10 Christopher’s book, and grew to be a prized
D) To illustrate the appeal of a particular
possession, set in sticky plastic hooks on its
object
own page. Her small but intriguing collection
led to weekly meetings at which the boys
pooled and swapped from the bags of mail-
15 rder stamps they had bought with their pocket
money.
The following study is concerned with 15

Western cities from the Middle Ages up to the
twentieth century, in terms of who did what,
the text?
Line why, where, and when. It aims to start with the
5 functions that have drawn people to cities, and A) To criticize a study
to work outward from them to the spaces and B) To explain an approach
buildings that grew up to cater to them.
C) To depict an era
Savoring cities in ignorance or drinking them
in visually is not enough; I want to find out D) To defend a decision
10 not just who designed the buildings and when
they were built but why they were built.
13
1 1
Ridiculing television, and warning about its 16
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inherent evils, is nothing new. It has been that Which choice best states the main purpose of
way since the medium was invented, and the text?
Line television hasn’t exactly been lavished with
5 respect as the decades have passed. I suspect, A) To criticize the way television distorts the
though, that a lot of the fear and loathing truth.
directed at television comes out of a time- B) To place contemporary criticism of
honored, reflexive overreaction to the television in a historical context.
dominant medium of the moment. For the C) To directly compare television and drama
10 past several decades, television has been as art forms.
blamed for corrupting our youth and exciting
D) To explain why television, radio, and
our adults, distorting reality, and basically
drama appeal to the masses.
being a big, perhaps dangerous, waste of time.
Before TV, radio and film were accused of the
15 same things. And long before that—in fact,
some 2,500 years earlier— philosophers were
arguing that poetry and drama should be
excluded from any ideal city on much the
same grounds.
Anyone who has read Edward Snow’s 17

highly personal and poetic Study of Vermeer is
unlikely to be able to meet the gaze of the
the text?
Line young woman in The Girl with the Pearl
5 Earring without feeling something of the A) To indicate how critics have tended to see
confusion and complicity he so eloquently Vermeer’s work in the past.
describes. “To meet this young girl’s gaze is to B) To demonstrate the modern qualities of
be implicated in its urgency,” Snow writes. “It Vermeer’s The Girl with the Pearl Earring.
is me at whom she gazes, with real, unguarded
10 human emotions, and with an intensity that C) To highlight the significance of Snow’s
demands something just as real and human in Study of Vermeer.
return.” Snow describes the girl’s gaze as a D) To discuss Snow’s response to a painting
stew of unresolved contradictions, which only by Vermeer.
leaves the captivated viewer all the more guilty
15 and confused. Surprise, bewilderment,
yearning, acceptance, understanding—in
sequence, or all at once—her glance seems to
convey all of these. “Suddenly, the most
personal responses, drawn from the most
20 private, well-protected regions of the self, are
required.”
14
Word-in-context
15
1 1
Virginia grabbed her cello and was halfway 18
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down the hall when she realized she’d Which choice completes the text with the
forgotten to leave her books behind. She most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line decided against turning back and continued
5 to the basement, where the five- ill-four A) pressure
pandemonium was breaking loose. Clayton B) crowd
was stuffing his books into his locker. C) power
“Hey, Clayton, how’s it going?”
D) critical condition
As if it were routine, he took her books and
10 wedged them in next to his. They started
toward the orchestra hall. Virginia cast a
surreptitious glance upward; five minutes to
four or not, Clayton was not rushing. His
long, gangling frame seemed to be held
15 together by molasses; he moved deliberately,
negotiating the ______ while humming a
tricky passage from Schumann, sailing above
the mob.
The hallmark of life is this: a struggle among 19

an immense variety of organism weighing next Which choice completes the text with the
to nothing for a vanishingly small amount of most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line energy. Life operates on less than percent of
5 the Sun’s energy reaching Earth’s surface, that A) devalued
portion fixed by the photosynthesis of green B) disregarded
plants. That energy is then sharply ______ as it C) discredited
passes through the food webs from one
organism to the next: very roughly 10 percent D) reduced
10 passes to the caterpillars and other herbivores
that eat the plants and bacteria, 10 percent of
that to the spiders and other low-level
carnivores that eat the herbivores, 10 percent
of the residue to the warblers and other
15 middle-level carnivores that eat the low-level
carnivores, and so on upward to the top
carnivores which are consumed by no one
except parasites and scavengers.
16
1 1
I have some difficulty in describing why I 20
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traveled to West Africa and what I was doing Which choice completes the text with the
there, since the journey that became so most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line complicated and took me to so many
5 unexpected places seemed—in the beginning A) spacious
to be so simple and so clearly defined. I went B) general
to Africa to find the roots of the blues. It had C) progressive
always been obvious that the blues sprang
D) obvious
from a complex background, with much of it
10 developing from the music of the long period
of African slavery in the United States and
with some of its harmonic forms and
instrumental styles derived out of a ______
European context.
Miss Dove’s rules were as fixed as the signs 21

of the zodiac. And they were known. Miss Which choice completes the text with the
Dove ______ them at the beginning of each most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line school year, stating them as calmly and
5 dispassionately as if she were describing the A) directed
atmospheric effects of the Gulf Stream. The B) demonstrated
penalties for infractions of the rules were also C) listed
known. If a student’s posture was incorrect, he
D) practiced
had to go and sit for a while upon a stool
10 without a backrest. If a page in his notebook
was untidy, he had to copy it over. If he
emitted an uncovered cough, he was expected
to rise immediately and fling open a window,
no matter how cold the weather, so that a blast
15 of fresh air could protect his fellows from the
contamination of his germs.
17
1 1
People object to the demands of those 22
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whom they choose to call the strong-minded, Which choice completes the text with the
because they say “the right of suffrage will most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line make the women masculine.” That is just the
5 difficulty in which we are involved today. A) superior
Though disfranchised, we have few women in B) excellent
the ______ sense; we have simply so many C) genuine
reflections, varieties, and dilutions of the
D) rarest
masculine gender. The strong, natural
10 characteristics of womanhood are repressed
and ignored in dependence, for so long as man
feeds woman she will try to please the giver
and adapt herself to his condition.
The purpose of all institutions must be the 23

happiness of the greatest number. Everything Which choice completes the text with the
that leads us farther from this purpose is in most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line error; everything that brings us closer is truth.
5 If the exclusion from public employments A) average
decreed against women leads to a greater sum B) shared
of mutual happiness for the two sexes, then
C) coarse
this becomes a law that all Societies have been
compelled to acknowledge and sanction. Any D) similar
10 other ambition would be a reversal of our
primary destinies; and it will never be in
women’s interest to change the assignment
they have received. It seems to us
incontestable that our ______ happiness,
15 above all that of women, requires that they
never aspire to the exercise of political rights
and functions.
18
1 1
Contending for the rights of woman, my 24
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main argument is built on this simple Which choice completes the text with the
principle, that if she be not prepared by most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line education to become the companion of man,
5 she will stop the progress of knowledge and A) motive
virtue; for truth must be common to all, or it B) sanity
will be inefficacious with respect to its C) intellect
influence on general practice. And how can
D) explanation
woman be expected to co-operate unless she
10 know why she ought to be virtuous? unless
freedom strengthen her ______ till she
comprehend her duty, and see in what manner
it is connected with her real good?
Many of the proteins that our cells crank 25

out naturally make for good medicine. Our
Which choice completes the text with the
bodies’ own enzymes, hormones, clotting
most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line factors, and antibodies are commonly used to
5 treat cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, A) knowledgeable
and more. The trouble is that it’s difficult and B) professional
expensive to make these compounds on an
C) capable
industrial scale, and as a result, patients can
face shortages of the medicines they need. D) trained
10 Dairy animals, on the other hand, are ______
protein producers, their udders swollen with
milk. So the creation of the first transgenic
animals—first mice, then other species—in the
1980s gave scientists an idea: What if they put
15 the gene for a human antibody or enzyme into
a cow, goat, or sheep?
19
1 1
“And at present you think her not 26
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wonderful as far as life goes?” Which choice completes the text with the
“Well, I must say I’ve only seen her at most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line Tunbridge Wells, where she was not
5 wonderful, and at Florence. She wasn’t A) definition
wonderful in Florence either, but I kept on B) plausibility
expecting that she would be.” C) consensus
“In what way?”
D) impression
Conversation had become agreeable to
10 them, and they were pacing up and down the
terrace.
“I could as easily tell you what tune she’ll
play next. There was simply the ______ that
she found wings and meant to use them. I can
15 show you a beautiful picture in my diary. Miss
Honeychurch as a kite, Miss Bartlett holding
the string. Picture number two: the string
breaks.”
The power of role-playing video games 27

resides in the ways in which they meld Which choice completes the text with the
learning and identity. A player’s taking on the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line identity of a character in a game constitutes a
5 ______ of identification with the virtual A) structure
character’s world, story, and perspectives. The B) pattern
player projects his or her own hopes, values, C) type
and fears onto the character that he or she is
cocreating with the video game’s designers. D) custom
10 Doing so allows the player to imagine a new
identity bom at the intersection of the player's
real-world identities and the identity of the
character. This new identity speaks to, and
possibly transforms, the player’s values.
20
1 1
As the chimps moved closer, catching sight 28
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of us on the ground, their excitement didn’t Which choice completes the text with the
lessen—but it changed. Suddenly they looked most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line surprised and perplexed. We could see
5 ourselves ______ weirdly on their A) enrolling
consciousness. They showed neither fear nor B) aligning
menace; they were curious. They settled onto C) storing up
limbs just above our heads and lingered there,
D) being recorded
gawking and chattering. One female chimp
10 held an infant whose large ears stuck far out
from its head, glowing amber like a pair of
huge dried apricots whenever they caught
backlighting from a shaft of sunlight. I gaped
at the little fellow. His face was tranquil, his
15 eyes widened by innocent wonder. He and his
mother gaped calmly back.
The initial exhibition of quilts by the 29

women of Gee’s Bend exploded into the world
Which choice completes the text with the
of modern art with great fanfare, _______
most logical and precise word or phrase?
Line critics who generally dismiss cloth art. The
5 quilts are made by descendants of slaves, who A) infuriating
live in the small rural community in Alabama B) amusing
called Gee’s Bend, once the site of cotton
C) swaying
plantations. These women spend their spare
time splicing scraps of old cloth to make D) astonishing
10 robust objects of refined, abstract designs. The
best of them, unusually minimalist and spare,
are so gorgeous that it is hard to know how to
begin to account for them. But then, good art
can never be fully accounted for, just
15 described.
21
Function
22
1 1
I have some difficulty in describing why I 30
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traveled to West Africa and what I was doing Which choice best describes the function of
there, since the journey that became so the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line complicated and took me to so many unexpected
5 places seemed—in the beginning— to be so A) It indicates a significant turning point in
simple and so clearly defined. In the beginning I the author’s research.
planned simply to record the tribal singers of B) It suggests that the author’s initial
West Africa known as griots, since it was these hypothesis lacked validity.
musicians who seemed to come closest to what C) It reveals the author’s ability to adapt to a
10 we know as a blues singer. I didn’t know, new environment.
however, how much the simple trip I had begun
would change direction once I’d come to Africa, D) It highlights the importance of the author’s
almost as if it took on a life and a will of its own. I thorough preparation.
began to feel like someone who had bought a set
15 of boxes that fit inside each other in a wooden
nest. When I opened one there was another
inside it, and inside that one was still another. I
found so many boxes inside each other that the
simple project I had begun with became a series
20 of new perceptions, each of which was contained
within the perception—the box—that I’d just
opened.
Miss Dove’s rules were as fixed as the signs of 31

the zodiac. She rehearsed them at the beginning
Which choice best describes the function of
of each school year, stating them as calmly and
the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line dispassionately as if she were describing the
5 atmospheric effects of the Gulf Stream. If a A) To highlight that the infraction was not a
student’s posture was incorrect, he had to go and serious one.
sit for a while upon a stool without a backrest. If
B) To emphasize that a spoken reproach was
he emitted an uncovered cough, he was expected
unnecessary.
to rise immediately and fling open a window, no
10 matter how cold the weather, so that a blast of C) To stress that the student openly
fresh air could protect his fellows from the acknowledged wrongdoing.
contamination of his germs. And if he felt obliged D) To assert that even a single offence
to disturb the class routine by leaving the room brought punishment.
for a drink of water, he did so to an
15 accompaniment of dead silence. Miss Dove
would look at him—that was all— following his
departure and greeting his return with her
perfectly expressionless gaze, and the whole class
would sit idle and motionless until he was back in
20 the fold again. It was easier—even if one had
eaten salt fish for breakfast—to remain and
suffer.
23
1 1
To visualize the tenuousness of life, imagine 32
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
yourself on a journey upward from the center Which choice best describes the function of
of Earth, taken at the pace of a leisurely walk. the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line For the first twelve weeks you travel through
5 furnace-hot rock and magma devoid of life. A) To show the consequences of a single
Three minutes to the surface, five hundred action.
meters to go, you encounter the first organism, B) To suggest the brief life spans of many
bacteria feeding on nutrients that have filtered species.
into the deep water-bearing strata of the rock. C) To illustrate the space occupied by most
10 You breach the surface and for ten seconds life.
glimpse a dazzling burst of life, tens of D) To demonstrate the invulnerability of life
thousands of species of microorganisms, on Earth.
plants, and animals within horizontal line of
sight. Half a minute later almost all are gone.
15 Two hours later only the faintest traces remain,
consisting largely of people in airliners who are
filled in turn with bacteria.
To visualize the tenuousness of life, imagine 33

yourself on a journey upward from the center Which choice best describes the function of
of Earth, taken at the pace of a leisurely walk. the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line For the first twelve weeks you travel through
5 furnace-hot rock and magma devoid of life. A) To clarify that natural biorhythms are
Three minutes to the surface, five hundred routinely disrupted.
meters to go, you encounter the first organism, B) To illustrate that life on Earth is mostly
bacteria feeding on nutrients that have filtered limited to the surface.
into the deep water-bearing strata of the rock.
C) To explain that humans are the most
10 You breach the surface and for ten seconds
mobile species.
glimpse a dazzling burst of life, tens of
thousands of species of microorganisms, D) To reveal that intelligence affects the
plants, and animals within horizontal line of survival of a species.
sight. Half a minute later almost all are gone.
15 Two hours later only the faintest traces remain,
consisting largely of people in airliners who are
filled in turn with bacteria.
24
CO NTI N U E
1 1
I’m watching Sesame Street with my 34
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
daughter. Today Grover has transported us to Which choice best describes the function of
Alaska, where a local lass is suiting up to face the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line the Arctic chill, with the help of her mother,
5 who sews fur pelts together to fashion a coat to A) To illustrate the glamour of urban
repel the subzero temperatures. The child environments.
rushes out into the crisp fresh air to meet other B) To suggest some concerns the narrator
children, laughing sweetly. It looks so may have.
wholesome, so simple, so uncomplicated. No C) To establish a contrast between past and
10 fancy schools to get into, no apartments to present lifestyles.
compare. It looked pleasant there, out in the D) To challenge the stereotyped view of a
bleak but weirdly alluring to slate of glistening region.
frost punctuated only by playful tykes toting
their homemade lunches to school in swinging
15 buckets.
Black holes are the most efficient engines of 35

destruction known to humanity. Their intense Which choice best describes the function of
gravity is a one-way ticket to oblivion, and the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line material spiraling into them can heat up to
5 millions of degrees and glow brightly. Yet, they A) It summarizes the points made in the
are not all-powerful. Even supermassive black first five lines of the passage.
holes are minuscule by cosmic standards. They B) It provides support for the argument
typically account for less than one percent of asserted in the preceding statement.
their galaxy’s mass. Accordingly, astronomers
C) It introduces a new view of information
10 long assumed that supermassive holes, let alone
presented earlier in the passage.
their smaller cousins, would have little effect
beyond their immediate neighborhoods. So it D) It challenges recent scientific findings.
has come as a surprise over the past decade that
black hole activity is closely intertwined with
15 star formation occurring farther out in the
galaxy.
25
1 1
For better or worse, listening to an audio 36
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
book almost always feels like a shared Which choice best describes the function of
experience. I feel myself not merely a passive the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line audience but engaged in a kind of exchange,
5 Readers are not reading to me; we are reading A) It implies that some audio-book readers
together. I have a sense of continuous back- have surprisingly poor speaking skills.
nd-forth commentary, where I bounce my B) It asserts that listening to audio books is
ideas off the readers’ ideas, or what I perceive enjoyable regardless of the reader’s
as their ideas from their intonations, mistakes, speaking ability.
10 involuntary grunts, and sighs. This is precisely C) It argues that a speaker’s vocal inflections
what alarms the sighted reader who thinks of can obscure the intended meaning of the
reading as a private and intensely personal act, audio book's author.
a solo flight with no copilot to look over your D) It suggests that unconscious expressions
shoulder, make snide comments, or gush often betray one’s true opinions.
15 about the view.
In many accounts of the American West, 37

the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803-1806)
mistakenly marks the beginning of recorded
Line history, with the captains’ journals constituting
5 a baseline of information about the region. The A) To stress the enormous size of the
earlier history of the West is frequently seen as American West.
an unimportant backstory. Although the Lewis B) To question the literary value of the
and Clark expedition was a momentous event, writings by Lewis and Clark.
it was only a subplot in a historical drama of
C) To trivialize the accomplishments of the
10 time, place, and people that had been playing
Lewis and Clark expedition.
for thousands of years. The “new lands” that
Lewis and Clark explored were in fact very old: D) To place the Lewis and Clark expedition
the explorers did not bring the West into into a broad context.
United States history; they brought the United
15 States into the history of the West.
26
CO NTI N U E
1 1
Sometimes the meaning of old phrases is 38
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
self-evident, as with to move like greased Which choice best describes the function of
lightning and a close shave. But quite often we the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
Line are left with language that seems to have
5 sprung out of the blue and does not appear to A) To cite a well-known fact.
signify anything in particular—even steven, fit B) To invalidate a theory.
as a fiddle, or to paint the town red. C) To make a veiled accusation.
Explanations are frequently posited but are too
D) To note a puzzling incident.
often unpersuasive. One popular dictionary,
10 for example, suggests that to be joshing might
be connected to the humorist Josh Billings, but
in fact the term was current as early as 1845.
Josh Billings was unknown outside his
neighborhood until 1860.
When we came home, Aunt Sylvie would 39

certainly be home, too, enjoying the evening,
for so she described her habit of sitting in the
Line dark. Evening was her special time of day. She
5 gave the word three syllables, and indeed I A) To capture a distinctive regional dialect.
think she liked it so well for its tendency to B) To highlight a double meaning of a word.
smooth, to soften. She seemed to dislike the
C) To underscore a particular
disequilibrium of counterpoising a roomful of
misconception.
light against a worldful of darkness. Sylvie in a
10 house was more or less like a mermaid in a D) To give evidence of a contrary
ship’s cabin. She preferred it sunk in the very personality.
element it was meant to exclude.
27
Comprehension
28
1 1
The following passage is adapted from a novel set in 40
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
the early twentieth century. Mr. Beebe, a clergyman, is
speaking with Cecil Vyse about a mutual acquaintance, For Mr. Beebe, "Picture number
Lucy Honeychurch. Miss Honeychurch has recently two" (underlined) represents
returned from a journey with her older cousin and
chaperone, Miss Bartlett. A) a misleading occurrence.
B) an unlikely development.
C) an anticipated outcome.
“Lucy Honeychurch has no faults,” said
Cecil, with grave sincerity. D) an avoidable difficulty.
“I quite agree. At present she has none.”
Line “And at present you think her not wonderful
5 as far as life goes?”
“Well, I must say I’ve only seen her at
Tunbridge Wells, where she was not
wonderful, but I kept on expecting that she
would be.”
10 “In what way?”
“I could as easily tell you what tune she’ll
play next. There was simply the sense that she
found wings and meant to use them. I can
show you a beautiful picture in my diary. Miss
15 Honeychurch as a kite, Miss Bartlett holding
the string. Picture number two: the string
breaks.”
The sketch was in his diary, but it had been
made afterwards, when he viewed things
20 artistically. At the time he had given
surreptitious tugs to the string himself.
“But the string never broke?”
“No. I mightn’t have seen Miss
Honeychurch rise, but I should certainly have
heard Miss Bartlett fall.”
29
1 1
From the start Cirque du Soleil was hardly 41
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
a conventional circus. It had outrageous Why does the author consider Cirque du
costumes, original music, and clever Soleil a success?
Line performers - but no animals. Despite the
5 dearth of beasts, it was a rousing success. A) It provided a new source of
Those initial decisions were brilliant, since entertainment for parents.
they essentially redefined the genre. By not B) It was an outlet for the designers' creative
featuring animal, Cirque eliminated one of impulses.
the most costly and controversial parts of any C) It made a number of shrewd financial
10 circus. And by shifting the focus from an decisions.
event geared to kids to one designed for
D) It rescued an obsolete genre from near
adults, Cirque pulled in an audience the
oblivion.
traditional circus had never seen:
adulttheatergoers accustomed to paying
15 steeper ticket prices.
The phenomenon of simultaneous 42

discovery—what science historians call Which of the following, if true, would best
“multiples”—turns out to be extremely serve to challenge Ogburn and Thomas’ belief
Line common. One of the first comprehensive lists that the discovery of calculus is an example of
5 of multiples was put together in 1922 by the “phenomenon” mentioned in the first
William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas; they sentence?
found 148 major scientific discoveries that fit
the multiples pattern. Working independently, A) Uncovering the existence of a journal that
both Newton and Leibniz discovered calculus. Newton kept while working with calculus.
10 Three mathematicians “invented” decimal B) Learning that scientists other than
fractions. For Ogburn and Thomas, the sheer Newton and Leibniz had also made
number of multiples could mean only one substantial progress on calculus.
thing: scientific discoveries must, in some C) Finding a previously unknown letter
sense, be inevitable. They must be in the air, between Newton and Leibniz discussing
15 products of the intellectual climate of a specific calculus that predated its commonly
time and place. assumed discovery.
D) Discovering a series of communications
from Leibniz to a mathematical society
that discussed a presentation of his work.
30
1 1
Black holes are the most efficient engines of 43
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
destruction known to humanity. Their intense Which of the following most resembles the
gravity is a one-way ticket to oblivion, and relationship between black hole activity and
Line material spiraling into them can heat up to star formation as described in the passage?
5 millions of degrees and glow brightly. Yet,
they are not all-powerful. Even supermassive A) A volcanic eruption on one continent
black holes are minuscule by cosmic results in higher rainfall totals on another
standards. They typically account for less than continent.
one percent of their galaxy’s mass. B) Industrial emissions in one region lead to
10 Accordingly, astronomers long assumed that an increase in airborne pollutants in
supermassive holes, let alone their smaller adjacent regions.
cousins, would have little effect beyond their C) Decreased oil production in one country
immediate neighborhoods. So it has come as a results in higher gas prices in oil-
surprise over the past decade that black hole dependent countries.
15 activity is closely intertwined with star
D) Overfishing in a gulf leads to an increase
formation occurring farther out in the galaxy.
in the population of smaller aquatic
organisms.
In the summer of 1911, the explorer Hiram 44

Bingham III bushwhacked his way to a high The mystery discussed in the second last
ridge in the Andes of Peru and beheld a sentence is most analogous to that
Line dreamscape out of the past. There, set against encountered in which of the following
5 looming peaks cloaked in snow and wreathed situations?
in clouds, was Machu Picchu, the famous "lost
city" of the Incas. This expression, popularized A) Being unable to locate the source of
by Bingham, served as a magical elixir for materials used to construct an ancient
rundown imaginations. The words evoked the palace.
10 romanticism of exploration and archaeology B) Being unable to reconcile archaeological
at the time. But finding Machu Picchu was evience with mythical descriptions of an
easier than solving the mystery of its place in ancient city.
the rich and powerful Inca empire. The
C) Being unable to explain how ancient
imposing architecture attested to the skill and
peoples constructed imposing
15 audacity of the Incas. But who had lived at this
monuments using only primitive
isolated site and for what purpose?
technology.
D) Being unable to understand the religious
function of a chamber found inside an
ancient temple.
31
1 1
Some critics believe that the frequent use of 45
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
repetition in Native American ceremonial In context, what does the final sentence
texts was a result of their oral nature and say about Native American ceremonial
Line helped make the works easy to remember. texts ?
5 Native American scholar Paula Gunn Allen
argues that this factor must be peripheral, A) Understanding them requires a highly
however, because people in societies without developed memory.
writing traditionally have had more finely B) They are not always oral in nature, nor
developed memories than do people who use are they always repetitive.
10 writing. Native American children learned C) They are important in the everyday lives
early to remember complicated instructions of many Native Americans.
and long stories by heart. For to a person who
couldn’t run to a bookshelf to look up D) Their use of repetition cannot be
information, reliance on memory became very explained as an aid to memorization.
15 important in everyday life. Such a highly
developed everyday memory is not likely to
fail on ceremonial occasions.
Many professional musicians receive 46

conservatory training in order to become well- Which generalization about jazz training is
grounded in formal theory and instrumental most directly supported by the passage?
Line technique: however, when we approach jazz
5 we are entering quite a different sphere of A) Its value is difficult to assess.
training. Here it is more meaningful to speak B) Its focus on formal technique is excessive.
of apprenticeship, ordeals, initiation
C) It is a demanding process.
ceremonies, and rebirth. For after the jazz
musician has learned the fundamentals of an D) It has been the source of much
10 instrument and the standard techniques of controversy.
jazz, such as intonations and traditional styles,
the musician must then find his or her soul.
All this through achieving that subtle
identification between the instrument and the
15 musician's deepest drives, which will allow for
the expression of each artist's distinctive voice.
32
1 1
The following study is concerned with 47
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Western cities from the Middle Ages up to Which of the following would most likely be
the twentieth century, in terms of who did found at the beginning of this study?
Line what, why, where, and when. It aims to start
5 with the functions that have drawn people to A) A statistical analysis of crime rates in
cities, and to work outward from them to the several ancient Western cities
spaces and buildings that grew up to cater to B) A discussion of the role of central
them. Savoring cities in ignorance or marketplaces in the early Middle Ages
drinking them in visually is not enough; I C) A series of portraits of famous people
10 want to find out not just who designed the who have chosen city life
buildings and when they were built but why
D) An essay on ancient archaeological sites
they were built.
worth visiting today
As with so many endeavors, nature writing 48

has become increasingly specialized. There has The author would most likely characterize
been a generally healthy movement from the Walden as
Line anthropocentric to the biocentric, from
5 human focused to world focused, a movement A) dry and boring.
that Thoreau anticipated late in his life with B) long and exhausting to read.
his more scientific writing. This movement
C) more about literature than people.
has led to some fine objective writing, but it
has also led to many dull pages, exhaustive D) fundamentally human centered.
10 and, occasionally, exhausting works. The
problem is that readers are human beings and
therefore naturally interested in the human.
The driving youthful question that enlivened
Thoreau’s Walden—How to live?—has been
15 all but forgotten.
33
1 1
During the late nineteenth century in the 49
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
United States, many people thought it Which of the following best characterizes
improper for a woman to be a professional Alice Barber Stephens ?
Line artist. Alice Barber Stephens got around this
5 prejudice: she succeeded as a book and A) Perfectionist and egotist
magazine illustrator by creating art and B) Pragmatist and activist
conducting business with publishers and C) Dreamer and revolutionary
authors from home. She sold engravings to
D) Celebrity and philanthropist
national magazines and illustrated the books
10 of many novelists, including Louisa May
Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne. As a young
woman, Stephens studied at the Pennsylvania
School of the Fine Arts, a member of the first
class to admit women. She petitioned for nude
15 drawing classes for women, later instituting
such a class at an art school for women. She
also founded an organization that fought
prejudice against women artists.
Apes raised by humans seem to pretend 50

more frequently than do apes in the wild. Russon’s hypothesis would be most fully
Animal handlers see behaviors they interpret tested by which possible research project?
Line as pretending practically every day. But Anne
5 Russon, a psychologist, says she has found A) Examining data from observations of
only about 20 recorded cases of possible pretending behavior in apes other than
pretending in free-ranging orangutans, culled orangutans
from thousands of hours of observation. One B) Expanding ongoing observations of
possible reason, she noted in an e-mail orangutans to include pretending
10 interview from her field station in Borneo, is behavior
that researchers have not been looking for
C) Comparing specific pretending
such behavior. But many researchers believe
behaviors in free-ranging and
that interaction with humans—and the
domesticated orangutans
encouragement to pretend that comes with it
15 may play a major role in why domesticated D) Reviewing existing data on free-ranging
apes playact more. orangutans to determine the earliest
record of pretending behavior
34
Inference
35
1 1
The Equal Employment Opportunity 51
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Commission has been investigating the The passage implies that the federal
treatment of women in a major financial government traditionally intervenes in
Line services firm since a former executive alleged workplace disputes that
5 that she had been underpaid, excluded from
outings with clients, and denied promotion A) cannot be resolved in the judicial system
because of her gender. If the commission sues B) involve employees at the lower end of the
the firm, it would be a rare case of the federal pay scale
government’s taking up the cause of a highly C) are beyond the authority of state
10 compensated professional in a workplace governing bodies
dispute.
D) are not likely to result in further lawsuits
The Equal Employment Opportunity 52

Commission has been investigating the
It can be inferred that the commission views
treatment of women in a major financial
the alleged treatment of the former executive
Line services firm since a former executive alleged
as
5 that she had been underpaid, excluded from
outings with clients, and denied promotion A) possibly representative of a general
because of her gender. If the commission sues pattern
the firm, it would be a rare case of the federal
B) clearly showing the need for legal reform
government’s taking up the cause of a highly
10 compensated professional in a workplace C) indicative of declining business ethics
dispute. D) likely to prove difficult to verify
36
1 1
The following passage is adapted from a novel set in 53
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
the early twentieth century. Mr. Beebe, a clergyman, is
speaking with Cecil Vyse about a mutual acquaintance,
The question at the end of the passage suggests
Lucy Honeychurch. Miss Honeychurch has recently that Cecil fears that Mr. Beebe will
returned from a journey with her older cousin and
chaperone, Miss Bartlett. A) detect the lack of originality in his thinking
B) consider him to be vain
"I can show you a beautiful picture in my C) tell Lucy of his inappropriate remark
diary. Miss Honeychurch as a kite, Miss D) distrust him as a confidant
Bartlett holding the string. Picture number
Line two: the string breaks,” said Me. Beebe.
5 The sketch was in his diary, but it had been
made afterwards, when he viewed things
artistically. At the time he had given
surreptitious tugs to the string himself.
“But the string never broke?”
10 “No. I mightn’t have seen Miss
Honeychurch rise, but I should certainly have
heard Miss Bartlett fall.”
“It has broken now,” said Cecil in low,
vibrating tones.
15 Immediately he realized that of all the
conceited, ludicrous, contemptible ways of
announcing an engagement this was the worst. He
cursed his love of metaphor; had he
suggested that he was a star and that Lucy was
20 soaring up to reach him?
By the standards of the day, feminism was very 54

powerful in New York City at the end of the Second
It can be inferred from the passage that
World War in 1945—the phrase “male chauvinist”
Prohibition had the effect of
Line had already been used there. New York women
5 were famously independent, and famously “smart.” A) curbing rights previously afforded to women
Taverns still sometimes declined to serve them, it
was true, but even that resilient prejudice had been B) creating new businesses popular among
weakened by the pressures of Prohibition, and it women
was many long years since the actress Lily Langtry, C) making tavern service to women more
10 refused ale and a mutton chop at Keen’s chophouse, common
had taken the management to court, and won. D) inspiring laws that prohibited discrimination
Innumerable women’s organizations sustained this
liberty, bolstered the sense of feminine power,
provided cultural uplift, offered professional
15 support, or fulfilled charitable leanings.
37
1 1
From the earliest times, the complications 55
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
inherent in deciphering the movements of The passage indicates that ancient
planets in the night sky must have seemed a astronomers were baffled because
Line curse to baffled astronomers. In the long run,
5 though, they proved a blessing to the A) they lacked the mathematical
development of cosmology, the study of the sophistication needed to calculate
physical universe. Had the celestial motions astronomical distances
been simple, it might have been possible to B) they did not properly distinguish between
explain them solely in terms of the simple, astronomy and cosmology
10 poetic tales that had characterized the early C) their theories of planetary movements
cosmologies. Instead, these motions proved to were more complicated than the
be so intricate and subtle that astronomers movements themselves
could not predict them accurately without
D) they could not reliably predict observable
eventually coming to terms with the physical
celestial phenomena
15 reality of how and where the Sun, Moon, and
planets actually move in real, three-
dimensional space.
Most advertising researchers who work for 56

and advise businesses assume that consistent,
The passage implies that advertisers
long-term advertising campaigns are an
frequently attempt to gain consumers' interest
effective way to project a solid, enduring image
Line by using
5 and to maintain an ongoing relationship
between consumers and the company's A) novelty
products; however, there is little published B) persistence
research on the effectiveness of such a strategy.
C) shock
This is partly because most advertising studies,
10 in an attempt to control for "background D) humor
knowledge," focus on new ads or fictitious
brands. Also, while the proverbial wisdom
may be to use a consistent, long-term
campaign, businesses rarely do so. More
15 commonplace is the switching of campaigns to
gain consumers' interest.
38
1 1
I had sold out. I hadn’t played square with 57
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
my myth of The Young Woman as Artist. This The narrator indicates that accepting a real
myth had specified a certain order of events, a job has
Line certain progression in the development of Self,
5 and by accepting a real job I had betrayed that A) caused her to betray her mentor
order. I had snatched my security before I’d B) squelched her desire to paint
made a real try for my dream. It was no good C) helped her find her artistic style
soothing myself with chronological particulars
D) provided her with financial stability
of Georgia O’Keeffe (one of my models). True,
10 she’d had her first onewoman show at age
twenty-nine—which gave me six more years.
But she had found her style and had become
an established painter by the mere age of
thirty-eight.
During the late nineteenth century in the 58

United States, many people thought it
In the first two sentences of the passage, the
improper for a woman to be a professional
author suggests which of the following?
Line artist. Alice Barber Stephens got around this
5 prejudice: she succeeded as a book and A) In late nineteenth-century America,
magazine illustrator by creating art and established artists were exclusively male.
conducting business with publishers and
B) It was harder for women artists to work
authors from home. She sold engravings to
alone than in the studio of an established
national magazines and illustrated the books
artist.
10 of many novelists, including Louisa May
Alcott and Nathaniel Hawthorne. As a young C) Stephens found a way to pursue her
woman, Stephens studied at the Pennsylvania professional goals and maintain social
School of the Fine Arts, a member of the first respectability.
class to admit women. She petitioned for nude D) Stephens demonstrated little regard for
15 drawing classes for women, later instituting the opinions of mainstream society.
such a class at an art school for women. She
also founded an organization that fought
prejudice against women artists.
39
1 1
The first stage of Europe’s conquest of 59
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
northeastern North America was “the traders The passage suggests that contact between
phase.” Casual contacts and exchanges with Native Americans and Europeans ultimately
Line visiting explorers and fishermen began on a
5 basis that was not unfamiliar to the Native A) decreased Native American reliance on
Americans. Metal, glass, or cloth items were the fur trade
exchanged for furs in a setting that was B) distorted relationships among Native
unprecedented only in the strangeness of the Americans
visitors and their wares. But as casual C) led to Native American economic
10 exchanges became systematic, the Native independence
Americans began altering their subsistence
D) increased competition among European
and residential patterns to obtain more furs.
traders
As a result, they grew dependent on their
European trading partners while frequently
15 entering into competition with one another.
In the end, the principles of reciprocity and
equality were substantially undermined by the
ethics and imperatives of the traders.
40
Infographic
41
1 1
60
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Do the data in the table support the scientists’
proposed pairing of bases in DNA?
A) Yes, because for each given organism, the
percentage of adenine is closest to the
percentage of thymine, and the
percentage of guanine is closest to the
percentage of cytosine.
B) Yes, because for each given organism, the
percentage of guanine, and the
percentage of cytosine is closest to the
percentage of thymine.
C) No, because for each given organism, the
percentage of thymine, and the
percentage of guanine is closest to the
percentage of cytosine.
D) No, because for each given organism, the
The chemical formula of deoxyribonucleic percentage of adenine is closest to the
acid (DNA) is now well established. The percentage of guanine, and the
molecule is a very long chain, the backbone of percentage of cytosine is closest to the
which consists of a regular alternation of sugar percentage of thymine.
Line
5 and phosphate groups. To each sugar is
attached a nitrogenous base, which can be of
four different types. Two of the possible bases
adenine and guanine—are purines, and the
other two—thymine and cytosine—are
10 pyrimidines. The bases are joined together in
pairs, a single base from one chain being
hydrogen-bonded to a single base from the
other. Scientists believe that the bases will be
present almost entirely in their most probable
15 forms. If this is true, the conditions for
forming hydrogen bonds are more restrictive,
and the only pairs of bases possible are:
adenine with thymine, and guanine with
cytosine. Adenine, for example, can occur on
20 either chain; but when it does, its partner on
the other chain must always be thymine.
42
1 1
61
...............................................................................................................................................................
Some of the largest ocean waves in the

world are nearly impossible to see. Unlike How does the graph support the author’s
other large waves, these rollers, called internal point that internal waves affect ocean water
Line waves, do not ride the ocean surface. Instead, dynamics?
5 they move underwater, undetectable without
the use of satellite imagery or sophisticated A) It demonstrates that wave movement
monitoring equipment. Despite their hidden forces warmer water down to depths that
nature, internal waves are fundamental parts typically are colder.
of ocean water dynamics, transferring heat to B) It reveals the degree to which an internal
10 the ocean depths and bringing up cold water wave affects the density of deep layers of
from below. And they can reach staggering cold water.
heights—some as tall as skyscrapers. C) It illustrates the change in surface
temperature that takes place during an
isolated series of deep waves.
D) It shows that multiple waves rising near
the surface of the ocean disrupt the flow
of normal tides.
43
1 1
62
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
The author of the passage would most likely
consider the information in the chart to be
A) excellent evidence for the arguments
made in the passage.
B) possibly accurate but too crude to be
truly informative.
C) compelling but lacking in historical
information.
D) representative of a perspective with
which the author disagrees.
We are not witnessing the abandonment of

the suburbs, or a movement of millions of
people back to the city all at once. The 2010
Line census certainly did not turn up evidence of a
5 middle-class stampede to the nation’s cities.
The news was mixed: Some of the larger cities
on the East Coast tended to gain population,
albeit in small increments. Those in the
Midwest, including Chicago, tended to lose
10 substantial numbers. The cities that showed
gains in overall population during the entire
decade tended to be in the South and
Southwest. But when it comes to measuring
demographic inversion (a phenomenon that
15 describes the rearrangement of living patterns
throughout a metropolitan area) raw census
numbers are an ineffective blunt instrument.
44
1 1
63
.............................................................................................................................................................................
MIT business scholars Erik Brynjolfsson

believes that technology boosts productivity Which additional information, if presented in
and makes societies wealthier, but he thinks the figure above, would be most useful in
Line that it can also have a dark side: technological evaluating Brynjolfsson's assertion?
5 progress is eliminating the need for many
types of jobs and leaving the typical worker A) The median income of employees as it
worse off than before. Brynjolfsson asserts compares across all three countries in a
that median income is failing to rise even as single year
the gross domestic product soars. “It’s the B) The number of people employed in
10 great paradox of our era,” he says. factories from 1960 to 2011
“Productivity is at record levels, innovation C) The types of organizations at which
has never been faster, and yet at the same output of employed persons was
time, we have a falling median income and we measured
have fewer jobs.
D) The kinds of manufacturing tasks most
frequently taken over by machines
45
1 1
Nearly a half-century ago, Peter Higgs was 64

.................................................................................................................................................................
trying to understand the origin of a basic Based on the graph, the author’s depiction of
physical feature: mass. While I wasn’t around Higgs’s theory in the mid-1980s is most
Line to witness the initial rejection of Higgs’s analogous to which hypothetical situation?
5 proposal in 1964, I can attest that by the
mid-1980s, the assessment had changed. The A) The muon neutrino was widely disputed
physics community had, for the most part, until being confirmed in the early 1960s.
fully bought into the idea put forth by B) Few physicists in 2012 doubted the reality
Higgs. In fact, in a graduate course I took of the tau neutrino.
10 that covered what’s known as the C) No physicists prior to 1960 considered
Standard Model of Particle Physics (the the possibility of the W or Z boson.
quantum equations physicists have assembled
D) Most physicists in 1940 believed in the
to describe the particles of matter and the
existence of the electron neutrino.
dominant forces by which they influence each
15 other), the professor presented the Higgs
theory with such certainty that for a long
while I had no idea it had yet to be
established experimentally.
46
1 1
65
...............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Based on the description of Wegner’s
experiment, what is the most likely
explanation for the findings for the largest
single group of participants represented in the
graph?
A) Those participants focused on
remembering the folder locations.
B) Those participants attempted to
remember the statements and the folder
locations.
C) Those participants did not attempt to
remember any specific pieces of
information.
D) There is not enough information to
determine the cause of the results for
those participants.
Harvard professor of psychology Daniel
Wegner’s recent research proves that websites
—and the Internet—are changing much more
Line than technology itself. They are changing the
5 way our memories function. His latest study
shows that when people have access to search
engines, they remember fewer facts and less
information because they know they can rely
on “search” as a readily available shortcut.
10 Working with researchers Betsy Sparrow of
Columbia University and Jenny Liu of the
University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wegner
conducted four experiments to demonstrate
the phenomenon, using various forms of
15 memory recall to test reliance on computers.
In one such experiment, participants typed
into a computer statements they were told
would be saved in specific folders. Next, they
were asked to recall the statements. Finally,
20 they were given cues to the wording and
asked to name the folders where the
statements were stored. The participants
proved better able to recall the folder
locations than the statements themselves.
47

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