Reading and Writing: 33 Questions
Reading and Writing: 33 Questions
Reading and Writing: 33 Questions
DIRECTIONS
The questions in this section address a number of important reading and writing skills. Each
question includes one or more passages, which may include a table or graph. Read each passage
and question carefully, and then choose the best answer to the question based on the passage(s).
All questions in this section are multiple-choice with four answer choices. Each question has a
single best answer.
1 3
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2 4
Nigerian American author Teju Cole’s ______ his In Nature Poem (2017), Kumeyaay poet Tommy Pico
two passions—photography and the written portrays his ______ the natural world by honoring
word—culminates in his 2017 book, Blind Spot, the centrality of nature within his tribe’s traditional
which evocatively combines his original photographs beliefs while simultaneously expressing his distaste
from his travels with his poetic prose. for being in wilderness settings himself.
Which choice completes the text with the most Which choice completes the text with the most
logical and precise word or phrase? logical and precise word or phrase?
A) indifference to A) responsiveness to
B) enthusiasm for B) ambivalence toward
C) concern about C) renunciation of
D) surprise at D) mastery over
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The following text is from the 1924 poem “Cycle” The following text is adapted from Jane Austen’s
by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a citizen of the 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The speaker, Tom, is
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. considering staging a play at home with a group of
his friends and family.
There shall be new roads wending,
A new beating of the drum— We mean nothing but a little amusement
among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and
Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
exercise our powers in something new. We want
Grey lives reprise their span—
no audience, no publicity. We may be trusted, I
But under the new sun’s being,
think, in choosing some play most perfectly
Completing what night began,
unexceptionable; and I can conceive no greater
There’ll be the same backs bending, harm or danger to any of us in conversing in the
The same sad feet shall drum— elegant written language of some respectable
When this night finds its ending author than in chattering in words of our own.
And day shall have come.....
Which choice best states the main purpose of the
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
text?
A) To offer Tom’s assurance that the play will be
A) To consider how the repetitiveness inherent inoffensive and involve only a small number of
in human life can be both rewarding and people
challenging B) To clarify that the play will not be performed in
B) To question whether activities completed at one the manner Tom had originally intended
time of day are more memorable than those C) To elaborate on the idea that the people around
completed at another time of day Tom lack the skills to successfully stage a play
C) To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly D) To assert that Tom believes the group
experienced emotion than sadness is performing the play will be able to successfully
D) To demonstrate how the experiences of promote it
individuals relate to the experiences of their
communities
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Musician Joni Mitchell, who is also a painter, Text 1
uses images she creates for her album covers to Astronomer Mark Holland and colleagues examined
emphasize ideas expressed in her music. For the four white dwarfs—small, dense remnants of past
cover of her album Turbulent Indigo (1994), Mitchell stars—in order to determine the composition of
painted a striking self-portrait that closely resembles exoplanets that used to orbit those stars. Studying
Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear wavelengths of light in the white dwarf atmospheres,
(1889). The image calls attention to the album’s title the team reported that traces of elements such as
song, in which Mitchell sings about the legacy of the lithium and sodium support the presence of
postimpressionist painter. In that song, Mitchell also exoplanets with continental crusts similar to Earth’s.
hints that she feels a strong artistic connection to
Text 2
Van Gogh—an idea that is reinforced by her imagery
Past studies of white dwarf atmospheres have
on the cover.
concluded that certain exoplanets had continental
Which choice best describes the overall structure of crusts. Geologist Keith Putirka and astronomer
the text? Siyi Xu argue that those studies unduly emphasize
atmospheric traces of lithium and other individual
A) It presents a claim about Mitchell, then gives an
elements as signifiers of the types of rock found on
example supporting that claim.
Earth. The studies don’t adequately account for
B) It discusses Van Gogh’s influence on Mitchell, different minerals made up of various ratios of those
then considers Mitchell’s influence on other elements, and the possibility of rock types not found
artists. on Earth that contain those minerals.
C) It describes a similarity between two artists, then Based on the texts, how would Putirka and Xu
notes a difference between them. (Text 2) most likely characterize the conclusion
D) It describes the songs on Turbulent Indigo, then presented in Text 1?
explains how they relate to the album’s cover.
A) As unexpected, because it was widely believed at
the time that white dwarf exoplanets lack
continental crusts
B) As premature, because researchers have only just
begun trying to determine what kinds of crusts
white dwarf exoplanets had
C) As questionable, because it rests on an
incomplete consideration of potential sources
of the elements detected in white dwarf
atmospheres
D) As puzzling, because it’s unusual to successfully
detect lithium and sodium when analyzing
wavelengths of light in white dwarf atmospheres
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Utah is home to Pando, a colony of about For many years, the only existing fossil evidence of
47,000 quaking aspen trees that all share a single root mixopterid eurypterids—an extinct family of large
system. Pando is one of the largest single organisms aquatic arthropods known as sea scorpions and
by mass on Earth, but ecologists are worried that its related to modern arachnids and horseshoe
growth is declining in part because of grazing by crabs—came from four species living on the
animals. The ecologists say that strong fences could paleocontinent of Laurussia. In a discovery that
prevent deer from eating young trees and help Pando expands our understanding of the geographical
start thriving again. distribution of mixopterids, paleontologist Bo Wang
and others have identified fossilized remains of a new
According to the text, why are ecologists worried
mixopterid species, Terropterus xiushanensis, that
about Pando?
lived over 400 million years ago on the
A) It isn’t growing at the same rate it used to. paleocontinent of Gondwana.
B) It isn’t producing young trees anymore. According to the text, why was Wang and his
C) It can’t grow into new areas because it is blocked team’s discovery of the Terropterus xiushanensis
by fences. fossil significant?
D) Its root system can’t support many more new A) The fossil constitutes the first evidence found
trees. by scientists that mixopterids lived more than
400 million years ago.
B) The fossil helps establish that mixopterids are
more closely related to modern arachnids and
horseshoe crabs than previously thought.
C) The fossil helps establish a more accurate
timeline of the evolution of mixopterids on the
paleocontinents of Laurussia and Gondwana.
D) The fossil constitutes the first evidence found by
scientists that mixopterids existed outside the
paleocontinent of Laurussia.
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The novelist Toni Morrison was the first Black “The Poet Walt Whitman” is an 1887 essay by
woman to work as an editor at the publishing José Martí, a Cuban author and political activist,
company Random House, from 1967 to 1983. A originally written in Spanish. In the essay, Martí
scholar asserts that one of Morrison’s likely aims explores the value of literature, arguing that a
during her time as an editor was to strengthen the society’s spiritual well-being depends on the
presence of Black writers on the list of Random character of its literary culture: ______
House’s published authors.
Which quotation from a translation of “The Poet
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support Walt Whitman” most effectively illustrates the claim?
the scholar’s claim?
A) “Poetry, which brings together or separates,
A) The percentage of authors published by Random which fortifies or brings anguish, which shores
House who were Black rose in the early 1970s up or demolishes souls, which gives or robs men
and stabilized throughout the decade. of faith and vigor, is more necessary to a people
B) Black authors who were interviewed in the 1980s than industry itself, for industry provides them
and 1990s were highly likely to cite Toni with a means of subsistence, while literature
Morrison’s novels as a principal influence on gives them the desire and strength for life.”
their work. B) “Every society brings to literature its own form
C) The novels written by Toni Morrison that of expression, and the history of the nations can
were published after 1983 sold significantly be told with greater truth by the stages of
more copies and received wider critical acclaim literature than by chronicles and decades.”
than the novels she wrote that were published C) “Where will a race of men go when they have
before 1983. lost the habit of thinking with faith about the
D) Works that were edited by Toni Morrison scope and meaning of their actions? The best
during her time at Random House displayed among them, those who consecrate Nature with
stylistic characteristics that distinguished them their sacred desire for the future, will lose, in a
from works that were not edited by Morrison. sordid and painful annihilation, all stimulus to
alleviate the ugliness of humanity.”
D) “Listen to the song of this hardworking and
satisfied nation; listen to Walt Whitman. The
exercise of himself exalts him to majesty,
tolerance exalts him to justice, and order to joy.”
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Average Number and Duration of Torpor Bouts Ratified by more than 90 countries, the
and Arousal Episodes for Alaska Marmots and Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement
Arctic Ground Squirrels, 2008–2011 ensuring that Indigenous communities are
Arctic ground compensated when their agricultural resources and
Feature Alaska marmots squirrels knowledge of wild plants and animals are utilized by
torpor bouts 12 10.5 agricultural corporations. However, the protocol has
duration per bout 13.81 days 16.77 days shortcomings. For example, it allows corporations to
arousal episodes 11 9.5 insist that their agreements with communities to
duration per episode 21.2 hours 14.2 hours conduct research on the commercial uses of the
communities’ resources and knowledge remain
When hibernating, Alaska marmots and Arctic confidential. Therefore, some Indigenous advocates
ground squirrels enter a state called torpor, which express concern that the protocol may have the
minimizes the energy their bodies need to function. unintended effect of ______
Often a hibernating animal will temporarily come Which choice most logically completes the text?
out of torpor (called an arousal episode) and its
metabolic rate will rise, burning more of the precious A) diminishing the monetary reward that
energy the animal needs to survive the winter. Alaska corporations might derive from their agreements
marmots hibernate in groups and therefore burn with Indigenous communities.
less energy keeping warm during these episodes B) limiting the research that corporations conduct
than they would if they were alone. A researcher on the resources of the Indigenous communities
hypothesized that because Arctic ground squirrels with which they have signed agreements.
hibernate alone, they would likely exhibit longer
C) preventing independent observers from
bouts of torpor and shorter arousal episodes than
determining whether the agreements guarantee
Alaska marmots.
equitable compensation for Indigenous
Which choice best describes data from the table that communities.
support the researcher’s hypothesis? D) discouraging Indigenous communities from
A) The Alaska marmots’ arousal episodes lasted for learning new methods for harvesting plants and
days, while the Arctic ground squirrels’ arousal animals from their corporate partners.
episodes lasted less than a day.
B) The Alaska marmots and the Arctic ground
squirrels both maintained torpor for several
consecutive days per bout, on average.
C) The Alaska marmots had shorter torpor bouts
and longer arousal episodes than the Arctic
ground squirrels did.
D) The Alaska marmots had more torpor bouts
than arousal episodes, but their arousal episodes
were much shorter than their torpor bouts.
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The domestic sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) Even though bats prefer very sweet nectar, the plants
descends from a wild plant native to South America. that attract them have evolved to produce nectar that
It also populates the Polynesian Islands, where is only moderately sweet. A recent study ______
evidence confirms that Native Hawaiians and other why: making sugar is energy-intensive, and it is more
Indigenous peoples were cultivating the plant advantageous for plants to make a large amount of
centuries before seafaring first occurred over the low-sugar nectar than a small amount of high-sugar
thousands of miles of ocean separating them from nectar.
South America. To explain how the sweet potato
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
was first introduced in Polynesia, botanist Pablo
to the conventions of Standard English?
Muñoz-Rodríguez and colleagues analyzed the DNA
of numerous varieties of the plant, concluding that A) explains
Polynesian varieties diverged from South American B) explaining
ones over 100,000 years ago. Given that Polynesia
was peopled only in the last three thousand years, the C) having explained
team concluded that ______ D) to explain
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) the cultivation of the sweet potato in Polynesia 20
likely predates its cultivation in South America. Former First Lady of the United States
B) Polynesian peoples likely acquired the sweet Eleanor Roosevelt and Indian activist and educator
potato from South American peoples only within Hansa Mehta were instrumental in drafting the
the last three thousand years. United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human
C) human activity likely played no role in the Rights, a document that ______ the basic freedoms
introduction of the sweet potato in Polynesia. to which all people are entitled.
D) Polynesian sweet potato varieties likely descend Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
from a single South American variety that was to the conventions of Standard English?
domesticated, not wild. A) have outlined
B) were outlining
18 C) outlines
Atoms in a synchrotron, a type of circular particle D) outline
accelerator, travel faster and faster until they ______
a desired energy level, at which point they are
diverted to collide with a target, smashing the atoms.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
to the conventions of Standard English?
A) will reach
B) reach
C) had reached
D) are reaching
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The life spans of rockfish vary greatly by species. For Materials scientist Marie-Agathe Charpagne and her
instance, the colorful calico rockfish (Sebastes dalli) colleagues believed they could improve on the
can survive for a little over a ______ the rougheye multicomponent alloy NiCoCr, an equal-proportions
rockfish (Sebastes aleutianus) boasts a maximum life mixture of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and chromium
span of about two centuries. (Cr), by replacing chromium with ruthenium ______
the alloy that resulted, NiCoRu, turned out to be an
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
unsuitable replacement for NiCoCr.
to the conventions of Standard English?
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
A) decade: while
to the conventions of Standard English?
B) decade. While
A) (Ru)
C) decade; while
B) (Ru) but
D) decade, while
C) (Ru),
D) (Ru), but
22
The Lion Light system, developed by Kenyan
24
inventor Richard Turere, consists of LED lights
installed around the perimeter of livestock pastures. The Progressive Era in the United States witnessed
Powered with ______ the blinking LEDs keep lions the rise of numerous Black women’s clubs, local
away at night, thus protecting the livestock without organizations that advocated for racial and gender
risking harm to the endangered lions. equality. Among the clubs’ leaders ______ Josephine
St. Pierre Ruffin, founder of the Women’s Era Club
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
of Boston.
to the conventions of Standard English?
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
A) energy collected, by solar panels, during the day
to the conventions of Standard English?
B) energy collected by solar panels during the day
A) was
C) energy collected by solar panels during the day,
B) were
D) energy, collected by solar panels during the day,
C) are
D) have been
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Based on genetic evidence, archaeologists have When external forces are applied to common glass
generally agreed that reindeer domestication began made from silicates, energy builds up around
in the eleventh century CE. However, since minuscule defects in the material, resulting in
uncovering fragments of a 2,000-year-old reindeer fractures. Recently, engineer Erkka Frankberg of
training harness in northern Siberia, ______ may Tampere University in Finland used the chemical
have begun much earlier. ______ to make a glassy solid that can withstand
higher strain than silicate glass can before fracturing.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
to the conventions of Standard English? Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
to the conventions of Standard English?
A) researcher Robert Losey has argued that
domestication A) compound, aluminum oxide
B) researcher Robert Losey’s argument is that B) compound aluminum oxide,
domestication C) compound, aluminum oxide,
C) domestication, researcher Robert Losey has D) compound aluminum oxide
argued,
D) the argument researcher Robert Losey has made
is that domestication 28
Etched into Peru’s Nazca Desert are line drawings so
large that they can only be fully seen from high
26
above. Archaeologists have known of the lines since
Hegra is an archaeological site in present-day the 1920s, when a researcher spotted some from a
Saudi Arabia and was the second largest city of the nearby foothill, and they have been studying the
Nabataean Kingdom (fourth century BCE to first markings ever since. ______ archaeologists’ efforts
century CE). Archaeologist Laila Nehmé recently are aided by drones that capture high-resolution
traveled to Hegra to study its ancient ______ into the aerial photographs of the lines.
rocky outcrops of a vast desert, these burial chambers
Which choice completes the text with the most
seem to blend seamlessly with nature.
logical transition?
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms
A) Currently,
to the conventions of Standard English?
B) In comparison,
A) tombs. Built
C) Still,
B) tombs, built
D) However,
C) tombs and built
D) tombs built
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Archaeologist Sue Brunning explains why the When designing costumes for film, American artist
seventh-century ship burial site at Sutton Hoo in Suttirat Larlarb typically custom fits the garments to
England was likely the tomb of a king. First, the gold each actor. ______ for the film Sunshine, in which
artifacts inside the ship suggest that the person astronauts must reignite a dying Sun, she designed a
buried with them was a wealthy and respected leader. golden spacesuit and had a factory reproduce it in a
______ the massive effort required to bury the ship few standard sizes; lacking a tailor-made quality, the
would likely only have been undertaken for a king. final creations reflected the ungainliness of actual
spacesuits.
Which choice completes the text with the most
logical transition? Which choice completes the text with the most
logical transition?
A) Instead,
B) Still, A) Nevertheless,
C) Specifically, B) Thus,
D) Second, C) Likewise,
D) Moreover,
30
The more diverse and wide ranging an animal’s
behaviors, the larger and more energy demanding
the animal’s brain tends to be. ______ from an
evolutionary perspective, animals that perform only
basic actions should allocate fewer resources to
growing and maintaining brain tissue. The
specialized subtypes of ants within colonies provide
an opportunity to explore this hypothesis.
Which choice completes the text with the most
logical transition?
A) Subsequently,
B) Besides,
C) Nevertheless,
D) Thus,
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While researching a topic, a student has taken the While researching a topic, a student has taken the
following notes: following notes:
• Shaun Tan is an Australian author. • The factors that affect clutch size (the number of
eggs laid at one time) have been well studied in
• In 2008, he published Tales from Outer Suburbia,
birds but not in lizards.
a book of fifteen short stories.
• A team led by Shai Meiri of Tel Aviv University
• The stories describe surreal events occurring in
investigated which factors influence lizard clutch
otherwise ordinary suburban neighborhoods.
size.
• In 2018, he published Tales from the Inner City, a
• Meiri’s team obtained clutch-size and habitat data
book of twenty-five short stories.
for over 3,900 lizard species and analyzed the data
• The stories describe surreal events occurring in with statistical models.
otherwise ordinary urban settings.
• Larger clutch size was associated with
The student wants to emphasize a similarity between environments in higher latitudes that have more
the two books by Shaun Tan. Which choice most seasonal change.
effectively uses relevant information from the notes
• Lizards in higher-latitude environments may lay
to accomplish this goal?
larger clutches to take advantage of shorter
A) Shaun Tan’s book Tales from Outer Suburbia, windows of favorable conditions.
which describes surreal events occurring in
The student wants to emphasize the aim of the
otherwise ordinary places, contains fewer short
research study. Which choice most effectively uses
stories than Tales from the Inner City does.
relevant information from the notes to accomplish
B) Tales from Outer Suburbia was published in this goal?
2008, and Tales from the Inner City was
published in 2018. A) Researchers wanted to know which factors
influence lizard egg clutch size because such
C) Unlike Tales from the Inner City, Shaun Tan’s factors have been well studied in birds but not in
book Tales from Outer Suburbia is set in lizards.
suburban neighborhoods.
B) After they obtained data for over 3,900 lizard
D) Shaun Tan’s books Tales from Outer Suburbia species, researchers determined that larger clutch
and Tales from the Inner City both describe size was associated with environments in higher
surreal events occurring in otherwise ordinary latitudes that have more seasonal change.
places.
C) We now know that lizards in higher-latitude
environments may lay larger clutches to take
advantage of shorter windows of favorable
conditions.
D) Researchers obtained clutch-size and habitat
data for over 3,900 lizard species and analyzed
the data with statistical models.
STOP
If you finish before time is called, you may check your work on this module only.
Do not turn to any other module in the test.