The following text is from Alice Wong’s 2022 memoir Year of the Tiger: An
Activist’s Life. Wong has just described her tendency to procrastinate when
she has a writing deadline.
In the middle of these distractions, a vibe will emerge, a point I want to
make, a phrase, a hook, a title for a story, an image. A connection or
epiphany can happen while watching or reading something brilliant. By doing
“nothing” and daydreaming, I am actually composing, even if words don’t
immediately materialize.
©2022 by Alice Wong
1 Based on the text, what does Wong most likely mean when she states that
she is “composing”?
A She is engaging in an important part of her writing process.
B She is deceiving herself about her true feelings about a subject.
C She is gathering sources of information to use in her writing.
D She is being soothed by immersing herself in creative works by other
people.
The metal displayed in the structure of House in Kamiaraya by Kazuto Nishi
Architects and the metal hardware in UE House by GENETO are
representative aspects of a juxtaposition common in contemporary Japanese
architecture: the _______ of sleek, contemporary elements and traditional
organic materials in a single design is a trend with both aesthetic and highly
practical purposes.
2 Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or
phrase?
A designation
B analysis
C diffusion
D synthesis
Studying advertisements for defunct amusement parks, menus from
nineteenth-century restaurants, and handbills promoting long-forgotten
political candidates may seem like a frivolous pursuit, but ephemeral objects
like these are useful as _______ cultural change, revealing shifts in norms,
values, and concerns that traditional objects of historical inquiry may not.
3 Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or
phrase?
A indices of
B alternatives to
C conjectures about
D pretexts for
The following text is from a 1955 translation of Samuel Beckett’s 1951 novel
Molloy (translated by the author and Patrick Bowles). In the text, Molloy has
arrived at the town ramparts, an elevated walkway atop the city walls.
“And having cleared the ramparts I had to confess the sky was clearing, prior
to its winding in the other shroud, night. Yes, the great cloud was ravelling,
discovering here and there a pale and dying sky, and the sun, already down,
was manifest in the livid tongues of fire darting towards the zenith, falling
and darting again, ever more pale and languid, and doomed no sooner lit to
be extinguished.”
4 As used in the text, what does the word “manifest” most nearly mean?
A Situated
B Perceptible
C Realized
D Dwindling
The Silence of Dean Maitland is one of twenty-five works from the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries reissued in 2020 in a project professing to give
overdue credit to authors by replacing nonfemale pseudonyms with the
authors’ given female names (crediting Mary Tuttiet rather than Maxwell
Gray, in this case). Olivia Rutigliano and other scholars cite a lack of nuance
and erasure of intention in the implication that pseudonymous identities
were invariably necessary due to social roles, appropriately contending that
what may have been a constraint for some was an elective exercise in self-
fashioning for others.
5 Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A A literary project is briefly described, the stance taken by Rutigliano and
others in response to that project is introduced, and then support for that
stance is expressed.
B Details about a reissue of The Silence of Dean Maitland are given, a
question about the authorship of that work is raised, and then the
circumstances of the work’s original publication are considered.
C The Silence of Dean Maitland is cited as a prominent work from a literary
movement, a study of the movement’s defining features is mentioned, and
then one of the study’s insights is presented.
D An assertion about a literary project is reported, the team of scholars that
advanced the assertion is identified, and then the reasoning behind the
assertion is summarized.
The Reckoning and Resilience (2022) exhibition at Duke University’s Nasher
Museum of Art in Durham, North Carolina, was curated to feature the work of
thirty North Carolina artists. The included artists represent a wide variety of
artistic disciplines, from painters such as William Paul Thomas to the mixed-
media artist Johannes Barfield. In its inclusion of many borrowed works, the
exhibition is atypical for the Nasher Museum, which tends to curate its
exhibitions around the permanent collection of contemporary art that it
owns.
6 Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A It discusses the wide range of disciplines represented in an art exhibition,
then explains why curators included works in those disciplines.
B It provides an overview of an art exhibition, then explains what makes the
exhibition unusual for the institution that organized it.
C It explains how an art exhibition differs from many other exhibitions, then
analyzes the significance of that difference.
D It presents the unusual goals curators had for an art exhibition, then
evaluates whether the curators achieved those goals.
Text 1
In separate studies, Marine Fernandez and colleagues and Xinhua He and
colleagues examined whether plants transfer nutrients to one another using
a common mycorrhizal network (CMN)—a lattice of fungal strands in the soil.
Fernandez and colleagues excluded all pathways other than the CMN by
using barriers to keep the plants’ root systems separate while allowing
mycorrhizal strands through—a crucial step He and colleagues’ study did not
take.
Text 2
Fernandez and colleagues took the necessary precaution of separating the
plants’ root systems (thereby excluding root-to-root transmission). However,
any barrier used must allow the thread-like hyphae of a CMN to pass through,
and this permeability would also allow liquids through. Thus, the researchers’
experimental design cannot ensure that any nutrient transfer observed can
be attributed to a CMN and not to some other pathway.
7 Based on the texts, which choice best describes a similarity in the points of
view presented in Text 1 and Text 2?
A Each text attempts to dispel a common misunderstanding about the
likelihood of plant-to-plant nutrient transfer.
B Each text assumes that most nutrient transfer between plants is via a
CMN.
C Each text analyzes methods for studying CMN nutrient transfer in order to
propose an alternative method of study.
D Each text critiques the methodology of a study about nutrient transfer via
a CMN.
Text 1
For decades, ornithologists assumed that if they saw a singing Cassin’s finch
—a bird species found in temperate North America—they must be observing
a male trying to attract a mate or claim territory. As Peter J. B. Slater and
Nigel I. Mann have emphasized, however, a similar assumption can’t be
made about birds in the tropics, where females sing as often as males do.
Slater and Mann call for more research on this discrepancy between tropical
and temperate female birdsong.
Text 2
Recent evidence shows that a female Cassin’s finch is as capable of song as
a male is. In fact, female birdsong is more common among temperate
species than currently assumed, claim Evangeline Rose and colleagues.
These female songbirds sing less frequently than males do, and in duller
tones, making it “easy for researchers to miss the quiet and hidden females
and focus on the loud and colorful males,” says Rose.
8 Which choice best describes a difference between the authors’ points of
view in Text 1 and Text 2?
A The author of Text 2 thinks that among tropical species, females sing less
frequently than males do, whereas the author of Text 1 thinks that females
sing as frequently as males do.
B The author of Text 2 would likely disagree with the author of Text 1 about
whether it can be assumed that females of temperate species don’t sing.
C The author of Text 2 believes that female birdsong is much more common
among tropical species than the author of Text 1 believes.
D The author of Text 2 would likely reject the claim by the author of Text 1
that among tropical birds, females sing as frequently as males do.
The following text is from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1830 short story “Sir
William Phips.”
The knowledge, communicated by the historian and biographer, is analogous
to that which we acquire of a country by the map,—minute, perhaps, and
accurate, and available for all necessary purposes, but cold and naked, and
wholly destitute of the mimic charm produced by landscape painting. These
defects are partly remediable, and even without an absolute violation of
literal truth, although by methods rightfully interdicted to professors of
biographical exactness.
9 Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A Historians’ fidelity to the truth often results in work that is less engaging
than it could be.
B Works of pure fiction can reveal more about the world than works that are
strictly factual.
C Historians do not agree among themselves about the best methods of
recording history.
D Paintings may be more beautiful than maps, but maps are more useful
than paintings.
Although notorious for its strict formal requirements, the sonnet is
nevertheless represented by such wide-ranging examples as Nate Marshall’s
“African american literature” and Tyehimba Jess’s “Millie and Christine
McCoy”—poems that differ remarkably in subject, rhythm, and structure. It
may seem counterintuitive that the sonnet—ostensibly rigid and timeworn—
could accommodate such variety, but poet Carl Phillips contends that the
form invites experimentation: when a genre’s conventions are as
recognizable as those of the sonnet, the opportunity to subvert them is
especially irresistible.
10 Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A. Although Marshall’s and Jess’s sonnets are both widely celebrated for their
striking originality, most modern examples of the form are generally
regarded as conventional.
B. Although the sonnet is now recognized for the way it facilitates
experimentation, there was a long period in its history in which very little
innovation occurred.
C. As a form, the sonnet encourages a surprising amount of variety, even
though certain characteristics associated with it suggest this would be
unlikely.
D. That the sonnet remains as popular as it is today is unexpected, given
that many of the features associated with the form have long since seemed
antiquated to readers.
11.
A student is writing a research paper on the history of irrigation in the United
States, situating the development of the Rowena Reservoir (created in Los
Angeles County, California, in 1901) in a larger historical context. The
student claims that California’s climate renders irrigation an essential
component of agriculture in some parts of the state but not in others.
Which quotation from a study of California agriculture best supports the
student’s claim?
A. “The usefulness of irrigation infrastructure in California today cannot be
overstated, since it is the most common means of conveying water for
agricultural purposes.”
B. “Sprinkler irrigation systems are a contemporary way of irrigating that
requires machinery to spray water in all directions. These are currently used
throughout the United States and are especially prevalent in California.”
C. “The irrigation system developed by the Hohokam people in the 7th
century CE in what is now Arizona was simple, but this system applied
hydraulic engineering design features that are in use today throughout
California.”
D. Natural humidity, which renders irrigation unnecessary or reduces its
importance in the northern reaches of California, gradually decreases toward
the sun-scorched but nonetheless fertile valleys of the southern part of the
state.
12.
Subsequent to simulating an attack to elicit defense responses in three
caterpillar species, ecologists placed a treatment group of those individuals
in an enclosure where they were exposed to slight, harmless ambient electric
field shifts like those created by common predatory wasps in flight. When
exposed to the treatment, cinnabar moth caterpillars and scarce vapourer
moth caterpillars remained coiled in a defensive position for an average of
71 seconds and 87 seconds, respectively, whereas European peacock
butterfly caterpillars continued to flail defensively for 20 seconds. Meanwhile,
in a control group, all individuals (from all three species) resumed neutral
behavior in less than one-tenth of a second after the simulated attack. These
results suggest that _______.
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. some species of caterpillars are able to detect potential threats via
changes in ambient electric fields.
B. in some caterpillar species, the type and duration of defensive responses
to electric field shifts varies based on the size of the shifts.
C. European peacock butterfly caterpillars are more sensitive to changes in
ambient electric fields than are cinnabar moth caterpillars or scarce vapourer
caterpillars.
D. caterpillar species with the sensory acuity to detect small changes in
ambient electric fields may also be able to cause shifts in those fields.
13.
To detect information about water flow, fish have sensors running from the
snout tip down the sides of the head. Yuzo R. Yanagitsuru, Otar Akanyeti, and
James C. Liao conducted tests to find where the difference in pressure is
greatest between two adjacent sensors because, according to the
researchers, as these pressure differences increase, so does the amount of
information available to the fish. Using the ratio of head width to length, they
found that the greatest pressure difference is closer to the snout for narrower
heads (lower ratio of width to length) and farther from the snout for wider
heads (higher ratio of width to length). Based on this finding, a second team
of researchers has hypothesized that the sensors where information is
greatest are likely more sensitive than the rest.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the second research
team’s hypothesis?
A. The longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) has a much narrower head than
the devil catfish (Bagarius bagarius), and the most sensitive sensors of the
longnose gar are closer to the snout than are those of the devil catfish.
B. The longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) has a much narrower head than
the devil catfish (Bagarius bagarius), and the most sensitive sensors for both
are very close to their snouts.
C. The longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) has a much narrower head than
the devil catfish (Bagarius bagarius), and while the sensors nearest the snout
for the longnose gar are more sensitive than the others, for the devil catfish
all sensors are equally sensitive.
D. The longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) has a much narrower head than
the devil catfish (Bagarius bagarius), and the most sensitive sensors for the
devil catfish are closer to the snout than are those for the longnose gar.
14.
The advent of online streaming has led many music listeners to drift away
from ownership of music (through downloads or through physical media such
as compact discs) in favor of the streaming services YouTube Music and
AccuRadio, among others. Luis Aguiar studied the effect of the 2011
implementation of a restriction on the free version of the French streaming
service Deezer: its unlimited usage was reduced to five hours a month, while
the paid premium version’s usage remained unlimited. Aguiar found that
listeners who used the free service visited licensed online music sellers (e.g.,
the iTunes store) and sites that make unlicensed music available to download
about 2% less after the restriction was implemented, suggesting that _______.
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. the implementation of the restriction reduced the overall number of users
of the streaming service.
B. restrictions on the amount of music that can be streamed may actually
suppress users’ interest in owning music.
C. most users of the free streaming service were probably encouraged by the
restriction to move to a paid version of the service with unlimited, ad-free
listening.
D. consumers are unlikely to purchase physical copies of music that is readily
available through streaming.
15.
Belonging to neither the minimalist nor the abstract art movements but
heavily influencing both, Constantin Brâncuși spent his sculpting career
returning to the same few themes—a kiss, a sleeping head, and a bird in
flight—each rendered in pristine, simple, almost abstract forms. Perhaps the
most famous example is Bird in Space (1941), a tall, slender bronze sculpture
that arcs upward in a manner suggestive of flight but that otherwise lacks
any identifiable characteristics of a bird. Despite the seeming simplicity of
his works, the exacting standards to which Brâncuși held his work meant that
he produced relatively few pieces over his career. There is thus something of
a disparity between _______.
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. the themes Brâncuși explored and the themes favored by artists he
inspired.
B. Brâncuși’s importance to the history of art and his total artistic output.
C. the nature of much of Brâncuși’s work and the abstraction of Bird in
Space.
D. Brâncuși’s relatively limited productivity and the diversity of his
sculptures.
16.
Political scientists have asserted that by providing succinct and clear
information about candidates and issues, campaign advertisements should
reduce the differences in political knowledge observed between groups of
voters. Cognitive scientists have noted, however, that existing domain
knowledge facilitates the acquisition of new information in that domain.
Valentino et al. shed light on this issue by presenting control ads or ads for
George W. Bush or Al Gore (candidates in the 2000 US presidential election)
to participants with low or high existing political knowledge, then quizzing
participants on their understanding of both candidates’ positions.
Taken together, information in the text and graph best support which
conclusion about campaign ads used in the study by Valentino et al.?
A. They appear to have benefited high-knowledge participants more than
they benefited low-knowledge participants, which lends more support to the
view advanced by political scientists than to the view advanced by cognitive
scientists.
B. They appear to have had an effect contrary to the effect that political
scientists expect campaign ads to have, possibly due to the phenomenon
that cognitive scientists have identified.
C. They appear to have worsened the problem that political scientists claim
that campaign ads should alleviate, possibly because the phenomenon
identified by cognitive scientists appears not to have occurred.
D. They appear to have had the result that political scientists predict that
campaign ads will have, but only for high-knowledge participants, which is
what cognitive scientists would expect.
17.
Deposits of valuable objects, called hoards, have been unearthed in many
different parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Technological advancements
in the twenty-first century have made it easier to locate hoards, but plenty of
hoards were found earlier. For example, _______.
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the
statement?
A. The Balline Hoard was found in 1868.
B. The Ardagh Hoard, Balline Hoard, and Carrick-on-Suir Hoard have all been
found since 1868.
C. The Ardagh Hoard and Balline Hoard were both found before 2000.
D. Balline Hoard and Carrick-on-Suir Hoard were both discovered in the
1900s.
18.
Occurring in the constellation Coma Berenices, 38 million light-years from
Earth, SN 1940B was a _______ explosion of a massive star, which blasts large
amounts of radiation, heavy elements, and debris into space—that was first
detected by American astronomer Josef Johnson.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of
Standard English?
A. supernova, the
B. supernova. The
C. supernova—the
D. supernova: the
19.
Taking a deconstructionist approach to analyzing Ji-li Jiang’s novel Red Scarf
Girl would lead a critic to focus on the linguistic structures inherent in the
novel. On the other hand, a cultural studies analysis _______ on the
intersection of literature and popular culture might yield a radically different
interpretation of Jiang’s novel.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of
Standard English?
A. would focus
B. would be focusing
C. focusing
D. focuses
20.
While the ancient Celts—Iron Age peoples who inhabited parts of western
and central Europe—weren’t a single unified group, their art often featured
common elements. These included intricate patterns of interlocking spiral
lines, which often held symbolic _______ of birds, horses, and other animals;
and inlaid enamel accents.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of
Standard English?
A. significance. Depictions
B. Significance: depictions
C. significance; depictions
D. significance, depictions
21.
The vertical position of the Sun in the sky at a particular time of day varies
throughout the year: due to Earth’s axial tilt, it appears higher in the summer
and lower in the winter. Axial tilt is not the only factor that affects the Sun’s
______ as the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit causes its position to vary
horizontally as well, resulting in a figure-eight shape called an analemma (if
the Sun’s position is recorded at the same time of day throughout the year).
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of
Standard English?
A. position, though,
B. position; though,
C. position though
D. position, though;
22.
Scientists have long known that cyclones can contribute to the formation of
polynyas, large patches of unfrozen water that sporadically form amid vast
sheets of sea ice. A recent study found evidence that these polynyas may be
______ but also by vapor streams, which travel through the atmosphere from
the tropics toward the North and South Poles.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of
Standard English?
A. caused not only by cyclones—
B. caused—not only by cyclones—
C. caused, not only by cyclones,
D. caused not only by cyclones
23.
At the Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, a single specimen of
the planktonic marine organism B. pumilio is preserved as the reference
organism for the species. The specimen is a holotype, meaning it was the
basis of the first formal scientific description of B. pumilio. ___ the reference
organism for the planktonic G. inflata, preserved at the Natural History
Museum in London, is a neotype, meaning it acts as a reference organism
but is not the exact specimen originally described.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. By contrast,
B. Moreover,
C. Admittedly,
D. For instance,
24.
At the Marie Hitchcock Puppet Theater in San Diego, California, audiences sit
down to enjoy a live puppet show. ___ they will experience puppetry in its
highest form. The theater’s professional puppeteers are experts in any
number of the dozens of puppetry styles, from bunraku puppetry to
marionette puppetry.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. To that end,
B. However,
C. Conversely,
D. There,
25.
Every US state has an associated state soil, which is typically selected by a
group of experts, then passed through the state legislature to receive its
official designation. For example, Oklahoma’s Port Silt Loam soil was formally
designated in 1987, and Maine’s Chesuncook soil in 1999. ___ years pass
between a soil’s selection and official designation, as the legislative process
can be notoriously slow.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. In many cases,
B. Similarly,
C. Indeed,
D. Therefore,
26.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
The Leidenfrost effect occurs when liquid touches a solid surface
significantly hotter than the liquid’s boiling point, forming a vapor layer
that insulates the liquid before eventually collapsing.
Scientists long hypothesized that the temperatures at which
Leidenfrost vapor forms and collapses vary depending on molecular
variations in surfaces and liquids.
A 2023 study confirmed that the vapor’s formation temperature varies
depending on molecular variations in surfaces and liquids.
The study also found that the vapor’s collapse temperature was
“nearly independent of material and fluid properties, contrary to
previous theories.”
The vapor’s collapse temperature remained consistent (around 140°C).
The student wants to refute a scientific assumption about the Leidenfrost
effect. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the
notes to accomplish this goal?
A. Contrary to the hypothesis that vapor layer formation temperature is
dictated by molecular variation, a 2023 study confirmed that the
temperature at which the vapor layer forms depends on the surface and
liquid used.
B. Though the vapor layer created by the Leidenfrost effect can be formed at
a range of temperatures, the temperature at which the layer collapses varies
depending on material and fluid properties.
C. Countering previous hypotheses, a recent study found that Leidenfrost
vapor’s collapse temperature does not vary depending on material and fluid
properties.
D. Scientists had hypothesized that the formation temperature of Leidenfrost
vapor depends on variations in surfaces and liquids used, but a 2023 study
confirmed that the collapse temperature remains consistent.
27.
Vexillology is the study of flags.
The flags of many countries include symbols like animals, plants, or
landforms.
These symbols often represent an aspect of the region’s history,
culture, or landscape.
The flag of El Salvador includes a palm branch.
The flag of Zambia includes an eagle.
Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to
emphasize a difference between the two flags?
A. Vexillologists study flags, like those of El Salvador and Zambia.
B. Many countries feature symbols on their flags, such as animals, plants, or
landforms, and the study of these designs is known as vexillology.
C. Countries like El Salvador and Zambia use symbols on their flags;
examples include plants and animals.
D. El Salvador includes a plant on its flag, whereas Zambia’s flag includes an
animal.
