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Sat Document 3
Sat Document 3
Sat Document 3
Writing
Practice Test 2
1 1
In 2015, a team led by materials scientists 1
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Anirudha Sumant and Diana Berman Which choice completes the text so that it
succeeded in reducing the coefficient of conforms to the conventions of Standard
friction (COF) between two surfaces to the English?
lowest possible level—superlubricity. A nearly
frictionless (and, as its name suggests, A) when their COF drops below 0.01, two
extremely slippery) state, ________ surfaces reach superlubricity.
B) two surfaces, when their COF drops
below 0.01, reach superlubricity.
C) reaching superlubricity occurs when two
surfaces’ COF drops below 0.01.
D) superlubricity is reached when two
surfaces’ COF drops below 0.01.
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century by Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari Which choice completes the text so that it
have been celebrated as some of the finest in conforms to the conventions of Standard
the world. In close collaboration with English?
musicians, Stradivari introduced changes to the
shape of a traditional violin, flattening some of A) those
the instrument’s curves and making ________ B) one
lighter overall. C) them
D) it
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approved by Congress in 1956, represented a Which choice completes the text so that it
major investment in the infrastructure of conforms to the conventions of Standard
overburdened national ________ it prioritized English?
physical improvements to the parks’ roads,
utilities, employee housing, and visitor facilities A) parks and
while also establishing educational B) parks
programming for the public.
C) parks;
D) parks,
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Perlmann developed a method for measuring Which choice completes the text so that it
the concentration of different proteins in a conforms to the conventions of Standard
biological sample. Their ________ ELISA English?
(enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), is used
to detect and measure proteins that indicate the A) method (called
presence of certain diseases. B) method—called
C) method, called
D) method called
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Columbian Native American city of Cahokia, Which choice completes the text so that it
located across the Mississippi River from conforms to the conventions of Standard
modern-day St. Louis, Missouri, had as many as English?
20,000 inhabitants in the year 1150 ________
it one of the largest cities in North America at A) CE making
the time. B) CE. Making
C) CE, making
D) CE; making
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drama performed annually in Rabinal, a town Which choice completes the text so that it
in the Guatemalan highlands. Based on events conforms to the conventions of Standard
that occurred when Rabinal was a city-state English?
ruled by a king, ________ had once been an
ally of the king but was later captured while A) Rabinal Achí tells the story of K’iche’
leading an invading force against him. Achí, a military leader who
B) K’iche’ Achí, the military leader in the
story of Rabinal Achí,
C) the military leader whose story is told in
Rabinal Achí, K’iche’ Achí,
D) there was a military leader, K’iche’ Achí,
who in Rabinal Achí
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Flying Cloud entered San Francisco ________ Which choice completes the text so that it
left New York Harbor under the guidance of conforms to the conventions of Standard
Captain Josiah Perkins Creesy and his wife, English?
navigator Eleanor Creesy, a mere 89 days and 8
hours earlier, the celebrated ship set a record A) Bay and having
that would stand for 135 years. B) Bay. Having
C) Bay, having
D) Bay having
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Morris Chester braved the front lines as a war Which choice completes the text so that it
correspondent for the Philadelphia Press. conforms to the conventions of Standard
Amplifying the voices and experiences of Black English?
soldiers ______ of particular importance to
Chester, who later became an activist and A) were
lawyer during the postwar Reconstruction B) have been
period.
C) are
D) was
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increasing the tensile strength—measured in Which choice completes the text so that it
gigapascals, or GPa—of silkworm ______ conforms to the conventions of Standard
dissolving and reweaving the silk in a solution English?
of iron metal ions, zinc, and sugar, Zhi
increased the amount of force required to A) silk, by
stretch it from approximately 0.5 GPa to 2 GPa. B) silk by
C) silk and by
D) silk. By
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species present in twenty-seven New York Which choice completes the text so that it
apple orchards over a ten-year period. ______ conforms to the conventions of Standard
found that when wild growth near an orchard English?
was cleared, the number of different bee
species visiting the orchard decreased. A) Entomologist Heather Grab:
B) Entomologist, Heather Grab,
C) Entomologist Heather Grab
D) Entomologist Heather Grab,
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Tranströmer, which present nature- and Which choice completes the text so that it
dream-influenced images in crisp, spare conforms to the conventions of Standard
language, have earned the Swedish poet praise English?
from leading contemporary ______ them
Nigerian American essayist and novelist Teju A) writers. Among
Cole, who has written that Tranströmer’s works B) writers among
“contain a luminous simplicity.”
C) writers; among
D) writers, among
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World Black and African Festival of Arts and Which choice completes the text so that it
______ or FESTAC ‘77, as the event was more conforms to the conventions of Standard
commonly known—became the largest pan- English?
African event on record. FESTAC drew people
from around the world to Lagos, Nigeria, for a A) Culture:
monthlong celebration of Black and African B) Culture—
art, scholarship, and activism.
C) Culture,
D) Culture
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Australia in 1798, duck-billed, beaver-tailed Which choice completes the text so that it
platypuses so defied categorization that one conforms to the conventions of Standard
scientist assigned them the name English?
Ornithorhynchus paradoxus: “paradoxical
bird-snout.” The animal, which lays eggs but A) they’re
also nurses ______ young with milk, has since B) their
been classified as belonging to the monotremes
C) its
group.
D) it’s
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Romanowicz have proposed that the magma Which choice completes the text with the
fueling Iceland’s more than 30 active volcano most logical transition?
systems emerges from deep within Earth. The
great depths involved—nearly 3,000 km—mark A) indeed,
Iceland’s volcanoes as extreme outliers; ______ B) nevertheless,
many of Earth’s volcanoes are fed by shallow C) in addition,
pockets of magma found less than 15 km below
the surface. D) consequently,
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and power lines, John Ashbery’s 2004 poem Which choice completes the text with the
“Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse” may most logical transition?
seem barren terrain for critical analysis.
______ cultural critic Lauren Berlant finds A) Likewise,
fertile ground in just its first two stanzas, B) Nonetheless,
devoting most of a book chapter to
C) In turn,
deciphering the “weight of the default space”
Ashbery creates in this poem. D) That is,
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much during his forty-year reign. He Which choice completes the text with the
conquered all of Mesopotamia and built most logical transition?
Babylon into one of the most powerful cities of
the ancient world. Today, ______ he is mainly A) therefore,
remembered for a code of laws inscribed on a B) likewise,
seven-foot-tall block of stone: the Code of
Hammurabi. C) however,
D) for instance,
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Cajal observed that brain fibers have distinct Which choice completes the text with the
boundaries with clear end points, a finding most logical transition?
that went against earlier assumptions about
the brain. ______ scientists had assumed that A) However,
the brain was a continuous web of fused fibers, B) Previously,
not a vast network of distinct, individual cells.
C) As a result,
D) Likewise,
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varied his focus and tone depending on the Which choice completes the text with the
genre in which he was writing. In his poetry, most logical transition?
he used heartfelt language to evoke the beauty
and peacefulness of his natural surroundings; A) that is,
in his journalism, ______ he employed humor B) granted,
and satire to comment on political issues
C) similarly,
affecting his Muskogee Creek community.
D) by contrast,
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Landscape, US geographer Carl Sauer Which choice completes the text with the
challenged prevailing views about how natural most logical transition?
landscapes influence human cultures. ______
Sauer argued that instead of being shaped A) Similarly,
entirely by their natural surroundings, cultures B) Finally,
play an active role in their own development
C) Therefore,
by virtue of their interactions with the
environment. D) Specifically,
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Robinson to refer to markets with multiple Which choice completes the text with the
sellers of a product but only one buyer, the most logical transition?
term “monopsony” can also refer to markets
where demand for labor is limited. In a A) Earlier,
product monopsony, the single buyer can force B) Instead,
sellers to lower their prices. ______ in a labor
C) Similarly,
monopsony, employers can force workers to
accept lower wages. D) In particular,
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in 1849 dreamed of finding gold nuggets in Which choice completes the text with the
streambeds, the state’s richest deposits were most logical transition?
buried deeply in rock, beyond the reach of
individual prospectors. ______ by 1852, many A) Furthermore,
had given up their fortune-hunting dreams B) Still,
and gone to work for one of the large
C) Consequently,
companies capable of managing California’s
complex mining operations. D) Next,
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into recycling bins under the mistaken belief Which choice completes the text with the
that those items can be recycled—ultimately most logical transition?
does more harm than good. Nonrecyclable
items, such as greasy pizza boxes, can A) Fittingly,
contaminate recyclable materials, rendering B) On the contrary,
entire batches unusable. ______ nonrecyclable
C) Moreover,
products can damage recycling plants’
machinery. D) Nevertheless,
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Robinson to refer to markets with multiple Which choice completes the text with the
sellers of a product but only one buyer, the most logical transition?
term “monopsony” can also refer to markets
where demand for labor is limited. In a A) Earlier,
product monopsony, the single buyer can force B) Instead,
sellers to lower their prices. ______ in a labor
C) Similarly,
monopsony, employers can force workers to
accept lower wages. D) In particular,
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While researching a topic, a student has taken While researching a topic, a student has taken
the following notes: the following notes:
• Gravitational waves are powerful ripples that • Architect Julian Abele studied Gregorian
originate in deep space and eventually pass and neo-Gothic architecture in Europe.
through Earth. • Abele worked for an architecture firm that
• The Laser Interferometer Gravitational was hired in 1924 to design buildings for
Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a physics study Duke University’s new campus.
that began in 2002. • Most of the buildings on Duke’s campus
• LIGO’s goal is to detect and analyze were designed in the Gregorian or neo-
gravitational waves. Gothic architectural styles.
• LIGO uses a pair of massive gravitational • At the time, Abele was not formally credited
wave detectors called interferometers that are with designing the buildings.
thousands of miles apart. • Based on the buildings’ architectural styles,
• In 2015, for the first time in history, LIGO historians believe Abele designed most of the
researchers detected a gravitational wave campus buildings.
passing through Earth.
The student wants to specify why historians
The student wants to present LIGO’s aim and believe Abele designed most of Duke’s campus
methodology. Which choice most effectively buildings. Which choice most effectively uses
uses relevant information from the relevant information from the notes to
notes to accomplish this goal? accomplish this goal?
A) In 2015, LIGO’s massive interferometers A) Given that most of the buildings on Duke’s
detected a powerful ripple that originated in campus feature architectural styles that
deep space and eventually passed through Abele had studied in Europe, historians
Earth. believe Abele is the one who designed
them.
B) Though the physics study LIGO began in
2002, its massive interferometers didn’t B) Though Abele wasn’t formally credited at
detect a gravitational wave until 2015. the time, historians believe he designed
most of the buildings on Duke’s campus.
C) To achieve its aims, LIGO uses a pair of
massive interferometers that are thousands C) Most of Duke’s campus buildings, which
of miles apart. were designed by a firm Abele worked for,
were designed in the Gregorian and neo-
D) A physics study designed to detect and
Gothic architectural styles.
analyze gravitational waves, LIGO uses a
pair of massive interferometers that are D) Abele, an architect who studied Gregorian
thousands of miles apart. and neo-Gothic architecture in Europe, is
believed to have designed most of the
buildings on Duke’s campus.
49 50
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While researching a topic, a student has taken While researching a topic, a student has taken
the following notes: the following notes:
• In 2018 researchers Adwait Deshpande, • The popular wood-wide web theory posits
Shreejata Gupta, and Anindya Sinha were that trees can communicate and exchange
observing wild macaques in India’s Bandipur resources with one another via common
National Park. mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) of fungi.
• They saw macaques calling out to and • Ecologist Dr. Suzanne Simard first
gesturing at humans who were eating or suggested this theory in 1997.
carrying food.
• She described trees as “super-cooperators.”
• They designed a study to find out if the
• In the 2022 study “The Decay of the Wood-
macaques were intentionally communicating
Wide Web?,” mycologist Dr. Justine Karst
to try to persuade the humans to share their
and colleagues evaluated dozens of CMN
food.
studies.
• In the study trials, macaques frequently called
• They write that CMNs “have captured the
out to and gestured at humans holding food.
interest of broad audiences. We are
• In the study trials, macaques called out to and concerned, however, that recent claims
gestured at empty-handed humans less about CMNs in forests are disconnected
frequently. from evidence.”
The student wants to present the study’s The student wants to use a quotation to
results. Which choice most effectively uses emphasize a potential problem with the wood-
relevant information from the notes to wide web theory. Which choice most
accomplish this goal? effectively uses relevant information from the
notes to accomplish this goal?
A) Macaques in the study called out to and
gestured more frequently at humans A) Describing trees as “super-cooperators,”
holding food than at empty-handed Simard first suggested that trees can
humans. exchange resources with one another in
B) In 2018, researchers who had observed 1997.
macaques in India’s Bandipur National B) In “The Decay of the Wood-Wide Web?,”
Park calling out to and gesturing at Karst and colleagues note that common
humans designed a study. mycorrhizal networks “have captured the
C) The researchers hoped to find out if the interest of broad audiences.”
macaques were intentionally C) After evaluating dozens of CMN studies,
communicating to try to persuade humans Karst and colleagues expressed concern that
to share their food. recent claims about common mycorrhizal
D) The researchers studied how macaques networks are “disconnected from evidence.”
behaved around both humans holding D) Despite the concerns expressed in the 2022
food and empty-handed humans. study “The Decay of the Wood-Wide
Web?,” the wood-wide web theory remains
popular.
51 52
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While researching a topic, a student has taken While researching a topic, a student has taken
the following notes: the following notes:
• Stars form in a galaxy when gravity causes a • Nissologists are scientists who study islands.
massive cloud of dust and gas to collapse.
• Some nissologists define an island as any
• A galaxy in a phase of rapid star formation piece of land surrounded by water.
is called a starburst galaxy.
• Using that definition, they determined that
• Quenching is a process in which a galaxy Sweden has 221,000 islands.
loses star-forming gas.
• Other nissologists define an island as being
• A galaxy that no longer forms stars is called 1 kilometer square, a certain distance from
a quenched galaxy. the mainland, and having at least 50
• A quenched galaxy has entered the permanent residents.
poststarburst phase. • Using that definition, they determined that
Sweden has 24 islands.
The student wants to explain what a
quenched galaxy is. Which choice most The student wants to make and support a
effectively uses relevant information from the generalization about nissologists’ definition of
notes to accomplish this goal? an island. Which choice most effectively uses
relevant information from the notes to
A) Before quenching, a starburst galaxy will accomplish these goals?
form stars at a rapid rate.
B) When it becomes quenched, a starburst A) The definition of an island as any piece of
galaxy enters the poststarburst phase. land surrounded by water is supported by
some nissologists, scientists who study
C) Having entered the poststarburst phase, a islands.
quenched galaxy is one that no longer
forms stars. B) Multiple counts of Sweden’s islands have
been based on different definitions of an
D) A starburst galaxy will lose star-forming island.
gas and eventually become quenched.
C) Based on a recent count, Sweden has a
relatively small number of islands with at
least 50 permanent residents.
D) Nissologists’ different definitions can result
in huge disparities in counts of islands, as
the example of Sweden shows.
53 54
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While researching a topic, a student has taken While researching a topic, a student has taken
the following notes: the following notes:
• In 1851, German American artist Emanuel • A commodity chain is the series of links
Leutze painted Washington Crossing the connecting the production and purchase of
Delaware. a commodity on the world market.
• His huge painting (149 × 255 inches) depicts • Chinese American anthropologist Anna
the first US president crossing a river with Tsing studies the contemporary commodity
soldiers in the Revolutionary War. chain of matsutake mushrooms.
• In 2019, Cree artist Kent Monkman painted • At one end of the matsutake chain are
mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People): mushroom pickers in Oregon.
Resurgence of the People.
• At the other end are wealthy consumers
• Monkman’s huge painting (132 × 264 who buy the costly matsutake in Japan.
inches) was inspired by Leutze’s.
• According to Tsing, “Japanese traders began
• It portrays Indigenous people in a boat importing matsutake in the 1980s, when the
rescuing refugees. scarcity of matsutake in Japan first became
clear.”
The student wants to emphasize a similarity
between the two paintings. Which choice The student wants to provide an overview of
most effectively uses relevant information the matsutake commodity chain. Which
from the notes to accomplish this goal? choice most effectively uses relevant
information from the notes to accomplish
A) Monkman, a Cree artist, finished his this goal?
painting in 2019; Leutze, a German
American artist, completed his in 1851. A) The contemporary matsutake commodity
B) Although Monkman’s painting was chain has its origins in the 1980s when,
inspired by Leutze’s, the people and according to Tsing, “the scarcity of
actions the two paintings portray are very matsutake in Japan first became clear.”
different. B) Commodity chains include the linked
C) Leutze’s and Monkman’s paintings are production and purchase of commodities,
both huge, measuring 149 × 255 inches such as the matsutake mushroom, on the
and 132 × 264 inches, respectively. world market.
D) Leutze’s painting depicts Revolutionary C) Decades after the Japanese import of
War soldiers, while Monkman’s depicts matsutake began, a commodity chain now
Indigenous people and refugees. links matsutake pickers in Oregon with
wealthy consumers of the costly
mushrooms in Japan.
D) Wealthy consumers who buy the costly
mushrooms in Japan are at one end of the
matsutake commodity chain.
55 56
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While researching a topic, a student has taken While researching a topic, a student has taken
the following notes: the following notes:
• In 2020, theater students at Radford and • Claude McKay (1889–1948) was a Jamaican
Virginia Tech chose an interactive, online American writer.
format to present a play about woman • Songs of Jamaica (1912) and Constab
suffrage activists. Ballads (1912) are two acclaimed poetry
• Their “Women and the Vote” website collections that McKay published while
featured an interactive digital drawing of a living in Jamaica.
Victorian-style house. • McKay moved to Harlem in New York City
• Audiences were asked to focus on a room of in 1914.
their choice and select from that room an • He is best known as a poet and novelist of
artifact related to the suffrage movement.
the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and
• One click took them to video clips, songs, cultural movement of the 1920s and 1930s.
artwork, and texts associated with the
• His most famous works include the poetry
artifact.
collection Harlem Shadows (1922) and the
• The play was popular with audiences because novel Home to Harlem (1928).
the format allowed them to control the
experience. The student wants to emphasize Claude
McKay’s accomplishments before moving to
The student wants to explain an advantage of Harlem. Which choice most effectively uses
the “Women and the Vote” format. Which relevant information from the notes to
choice most effectively uses relevant accomplish this goal?
information from the notes to accomplish this
goal? A) Jamaican American writer Claude McKay is
the author of works such as Songs of
A) “Women and the Vote” featured a drawing Jamaica (1912), Constab Ballads (1912),
of a Victorian-style house with several Harlem Shadows (1922), and Home to
rooms, each containing suffrage artifacts. Harlem (1928).
B) To access video clips, songs, artwork, and B) Although he is best known as a Harlem
texts, audiences had to first click on an Renaissance writer, Claude McKay had
artifact. published two acclaimed poetry collections
C) The “Women and the Vote” format in 1912 while living in Jamaica: Songs of
appealed to audiences because it allowed Jamaica and Constab Ballads.
them to control the experience. C) In 1914, Claude McKay moved to Harlem,
D) Using an interactive format, theater where he would become known as a poet
students at Radford and Virginia Tech and novelist of the Harlem Renaissance (a
created “Women and the Vote,” a play literary and cultural movement of the 1920s
about woman suffrage activists. and 1930s).
D) Before moving to Harlem, Claude McKay—
author of the poetry collection Harlem
Shadows (1922) and the novel Home to
Harlem (1928)—lived in Jamaica.