SAT Practice Test #4
Complete timed practice test • 120 questions • 164 minutes
Test Sections
Reading and Writing - Module 1
33 questions • 39 minutes
Question 1:The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist Daniella DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of a surface mostly covered in boulders, OSIRIS-REx successfully _______ a sample of the surface, gathering pieces of it to bring back to Earth. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Question 2:Research conducted by planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic suggests that the Moon's surface may not accurately _______ early impact events. When the Moon was still forming, its surface was softer, and asteroid or meteoroid impacts would have left less of an impression; thus, evidence of early impacts may no longer be present. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Question 3:Handedness, a preferential use of either the right or left hand, typically is easy to observe in humans. Because this trait is present but less _______ in many other animals, animal-behavior researchers often employ tasks specially designed to reveal individual animals' preferences for a certain hand or paw. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Question 4:It is by no means _______ to recognize the influence of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch on Ali Banisadr's paintings; indeed, Banisadr himself cites Bosch as an inspiration. However, some scholars have suggested that the ancient Mesopotamian poem Epic of Gilgamesh may have had a far greater impact on Banisadr's work. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell's 1912 short story "'Out There.'" An elderly shop owner is looking at a picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell. It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the-way store which subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape. "Don't belong in here," he fumed. And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.
Question 5:Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
The following text is from the 1923 poem "Black Finger" by Angelina Weld Grimké, a Black American writer. A cypress is a type of evergreen tree. I have just seen a most beautiful thing, Slim and still, Against a gold, gold sky, A straight black cypress, Sensitive, Exquisite, A black finger Pointing upwards. Why, beautiful still finger, are you black? And why are you pointing upwards?
Question 6:Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
The following text is from Walt Whitman's 1860 poem "Calamus 24." I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions; But really I am neither for nor against institutions (What indeed have I in common with them?— Or what with the destruction of them?), Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These States, inland and seaboard, And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents the water, Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument, The institution of the dear love of comrades.
Question 7:Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
Question 8:The mimosa tree evolved in East Asia, where the beetle Bruchidius terrenus preys on its seeds. In 1785, mimosa trees were introduced to North America, far from any B. terrenus. But evolutionary links between predators and their prey can persist across centuries and continents. Around 2001, B. terrenus was introduced in southeastern North America near where botanist Shu-Mei Chang and colleagues had been monitoring mimosa trees. Within a year, 93 percent of the trees had been attacked by the beetles. Which choice best describes the function of the third sentence in the overall structure of the text?
Text 1 Conventional wisdom long held that human social systems evolved in stages, beginning with hunter-gatherers forming small bands of members with roughly equal status. The shift to agriculture about 12,000 years ago sparked population growth that led to the emergence of groups with hierarchical structures: associations of clans first, then chiefdoms, and finally, bureaucratic states. Text 2 In a 2021 book, anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow maintain that humans have always been socially flexible, alternately forming systems based on hierarchy and collective ones with decentralized leadership. The authors point to evidence that as far back as 50,000 years ago some hunter-gatherers adjusted their social structures seasonally, at times dispersing in small groups but also assembling into communities that included esteemed individuals.
Question 9:Based on the texts, how would Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) most likely respond to the "conventional wisdom" presented in Text 1?
The following text is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett's 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Mary, a young girl, recently found an overgrown hidden garden. Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play.
Question 10:Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
The following text is from Ezra Pound's 1909 poem "Hymn III," based on the work of Marcantonio Flaminio. As a fragile and lovely flower unfolds its gleaming foliage on the breast of the fostering earth, if the dew and the rain draw it forth; So doth my tender mind flourish, if it be fed with the sweet dew of the fostering spirit, Lacking this, it beginneth straightway to languish, even as a floweret born upon dry earth, if the dew and the rain tend it not.
Question 11:Based on the text, in what way is the human mind like a flower?
The following text is adapted from Jack London's 1903 novel The Call of the Wild. Buck is a sled dog living with John Thornton in Yukon, Canada. Thornton alone held [Buck]. The rest of mankind was as nothing. Chance travellers might praise or pet him; but he was cold under it all, and from a too demonstrative man he would get up and walk away. When Thornton's partners, Hans and Pete, arrived on the long-expected raft, Buck refused to notice them till he learned they were close to Thornton; after that he tolerated them in a passive sort of way, accepting favors from them as though he favored them by accepting.
Question 12:Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Question 13:Organic farming is a method of growing food that tries to reduce environmental harm by using natural forms of pest control and avoiding fertilizers made with synthetic materials. Organic farms are still a small fraction of the total farms in the United States, but they have been becoming more popular. According to the US Department of Agriculture, in 2016 California had between 2,600 and 2,800 organic farms and _______ Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the text?
Question 14:Biologist Valentina Gómez-Bahamón and her team have investigated two subspecies of the fork-tailed flycatcher bird that live in the same region in Colombia, but one subspecies migrates south for part of the year, and the other doesn't. The researchers found that, due to slight differences in feather shape, the feathers of migratory forked-tailed flycatcher males make a sound during flight that is higher pitched than that made by the feathers of nonmigratory males. The researchers hypothesize that fork-tailed flycatcher females are attracted to the specific sound made by the males of their own subspecies, and that over time the females' preference will drive further genetic and anatomical divergence between the subspecies. Which finding, if true, would most directly support Gómez-Bahamón and her team's hypothesis?
Question 15:Earth's atmosphere is bombarded by cosmic dust originating from several sources: short-period comets (SPCs), particles from the asteroid belt (ASTs), Halley-type comets (HTCs), and Oort cloud comets (OCCs). Some of the dust's material vaporizes in the atmosphere in a process called ablation, and the faster the particles move, the higher the rate of ablation. Astrophysicist Juan Diego Carrillo-Sánchez led a team that calculated average ablation rates for elements in the dust (such as iron and potassium) and showed that material in slower-moving SPC or AST dust has a lower rate than the same material in faster-moving HTC or OCC dust. For example, whereas the average ablation rate for iron from AST dust is 28%, the average rate for _______ Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the example?
Question 16:Art collectives, like the United States- and Vietnam-based collective The Propeller Group or Cuba's Los Carpinteros, are groups of artists who agree to work together: perhaps for stylistic reasons, or to advance certain shared political ideals, or to help mitigate the costs of supplies and studio space. Regardless of the reasons, art collectives usually involve some collaboration among the artists. Based on a recent series of interviews with various art collectives, an arts journalist claims that this can be difficult for artists who are often used to having sole control over their work. Which quotation from the interviews best illustrates the journalist's claim?
Question 17:Mycorrhizal fungi in soil benefits many plants, substantially increasing the mass of some. A student conducted an experiment to illustrate this effect. The student chose three plant species for the experiment, including two that are mycorrhizal hosts (species known to benefit from mycorrhizal fungi) and one nonmycorrhizal species (a species that doesn't benefit from and may even be harmed by mycorrhizal fungi). The student then grew several plants from each species both in soil containing mycorrhizal fungi and in soil that had been treated to kill mycorrhizal and other fungi. After several weeks, the student measured the plants' average mass and was surprised to discover that _______ Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?
Question 18:Several artworks found among the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii depict a female figure fishing with a cupid nearby. Some scholars have asserted that the figure is the goddess Venus, since she is known to have been linked with cupids in Roman culture, but University of Leicester archaeologist Carla Brain suggests that cupids may have also been associated with fishing generally. The fact that a cupid is shown near the female figure, therefore, _______ Which choice most logically completes the text?
Question 19:Literary agents estimate that more than half of all nonfiction books credited to a celebrity or other public figure are in fact written by ghostwriters, professional authors who are paid to write other _______ but whose names never appear on book covers. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 20:Like other amphibians, the wood frog (Rana sylvatica) is unable to generate its own heat, so during periods of subfreezing temperatures, it _______ by producing large amounts of glucose, a sugar that helps prevent damaging ice from forming inside its cells. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 21:After a spate of illnesses as a child, Wilma Rudolph was told she might never walk again. Defying all odds, Rudolph didn't just walk, she _______ the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she won both the 100- and 200-meter dashes and clinched first place for her team in the 4 ×100-meter relay, becoming the first US woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympics. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 22:In many of her landscape paintings from the 1970s and 1980s, Lebanese American artist Etel Adnan worked to capture the essence of California's fog-shrouded Mount Tamalpais region through abstraction, using splotches of color to represent the area's features. Interestingly, the triangle representing the mountain itself _______ among the few defined figures in her paintings. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 23:Seneca sculptor Marie Watt's blanket art comes in a range of shapes and sizes. In 2004, Watt sewed strips of blankets together to craft a 10-by-13-inch _______ in 2014, she arranged folded blankets into two large stacks and then cast them in bronze, creating two curving 18-foot-tall blue-bronze pillars. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 24:African American Percy Julian was a scientist and entrepreneur whose work helped people around the world to see. Named in 1999 as one of the greatest achievements by a US chemist in the past hundred years, _______ led to the first mass-produced treatment for glaucoma. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 25:The Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden in Norway and the Jardim Botânico of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are two of many botanical gardens around the world dedicated to growing diverse plant _______ fostering scientific research; and educating the public about plant conservation. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 26:Sociologist Alton Okinaka sits on the review board tasked with adding new sites to the Hawai'i Register of Historic Places, which includes Pi'ilanihale Heiau and the 'Ōpaeka'a Road Bridge. Okinaka doesn't make such decisions _______ all historical designations must be approved by a group of nine other experts from the fields of architecture, archaeology, history, and Hawaiian culture. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
Question 27:In 1968, US Congressman John Conyers introduced a bill to establish a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The bill didn't make it to a vote, but Conyers was determined. He teamed up with Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress, and they resubmitted the bill every session for the next fifteen years. _______ in 1983, the bill passed. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Question 28:Geoscientists have long considered Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano to be Earth's largest shield volcano by volume, measuring approximately 74,000 cubic kilometers. _______ according to a 2020 study by local geoscientist Michael Garcia, Hawaii's Pūhāhonu shield volcano is significantly larger, boasting a volume of about 148,000 cubic kilometers. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Question 29:Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a prominent classical music composer from England who toured the US three times in the early 1900s. The child of a West African father and an English mother, Coleridge-Taylor emphasized his mixed-race ancestry. For example, he referred to himself as Anglo-African. _______ he incorporated the sounds of traditional African music into his classical music compositions. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Question 30:In 2019, researcher Patricia Jurado Gonzalez and food historian Nawal Nasrallah prepared a stew from a 4,000-year-old recipe found on a Mesopotamian clay tablet. When they tasted the dish, known as pašrūtum ("unwinding"), they found that it had a mild taste and inspired a sense of calm. _______ the researchers, knowing that dishes were sometimes named after their intended effects, theorized that the dish's name, "unwinding," referred to its function: to help ancient diners relax. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Question 31:While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Chemical leavening agents cause carbon dioxide to be released within a liquid batter, making the batter rise as it bakes. • Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leavening agents. • Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. • To produce carbon dioxide, baking soda needs to be mixed with liquid and an acidic ingredient such as honey. • Baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and an acid. • To produce carbon dioxide, baking powder needs to be mixed with liquid but not with an acidic ingredient. The student wants to emphasize a difference between baking soda and baking powder. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Question 32:While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Soo Sunny Park is a Korean American artist who uses light as her primary medium of expression. • She created her work Unwoven Light in 2013. • Unwoven Light featured a chain-link fence fitted with iridescent plexiglass tiles. • When light passed through the fence, colorful prisms formed. The student wants to describe Unwoven Light to an audience unfamiliar with Soo Sunny Park. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Question 33:While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: • Cambodia's Angkor Wat was built in the 1100s to honor the Hindu god Vishnu. • It has been a Buddhist temple since the sixteenth century. • Decorrelation stretch analysis is a novel digital imaging technique that enhances the contrast between colors in a photograph. • Archaeologist Noel Hidalgo Tan applied decorrelation stretch analysis to photographs he had taken of Angkor Wat's plaster walls. • Tan's analysis revealed hundreds of images unknown to researchers. The student wants to present Tan's research to an audience unfamiliar with Angkor Wat. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Reading and Writing - Module 2
33 questions • 39 minutes
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