Clara and Mr. Tiffany

Reading Test Overview

• The test has a time limit of 65 minutes with 52 questions
• This section tests reading comprehension skills using passages and question answering

Clara and Mr. Tiffany

• The narrator seeks employment with her former employer, Louis Comfort Tiffany
• Tiffany needs assistance with a Byzantine chapel for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, set to occur the following year
• Tiffany anticipates widespread recognition at the exposition
• Tiffany shows the narrator watercolors of two round windows to be set off by a dozen scenic side windows
• Tiffany describes an eight-foot mosaic behind the altar, featuring peacocks, grapevines, and a crown of thorns transformed into a jeweled headdress
• The peacocks display emerald green and sapphire blue necks, with vermilion, Spanish ocher, and Florida gold tail feathers as well as mandarin yellow and peridot jewels
• The narrator expresses admiration for Tiffany's originality in using peacocks in a chapel, which Tiffany defends with knowledge of Byzantine symbolism of eternal life
• Tiffany presents more drawings: a marble-and-mosaic altar with mosaic columns, and a baptismal font of opaque leaded glass and mosaic
• The narrator suggests a way in which lampshades could be improved

City Size and Economic Performance

• Two studies indicate rapidly urbanizing areas of the developing world may experience negative effects from larger cities
• Researches examined the connection between economic development, measured by GDP per capita, and metro-area in size for 114 countries from 1960 to 2010
• The research controlled for population size, land area, education, and openness
• City sizes in the developing world grew faster and larger then developed over the past half-century
• Between 1960 and 2010, the median city in high-income countries grew from 500,000 to 650,000 people
• Between 1960 and 2010, cities in the developing world nearly quadrupled, from 220,000 to 845,000
• In 1960, 12 of the top 20 countries with the largest average city size were high-income countries, but 14 of the top 20 were in the developing world by 2010
• Advanced nations experience 0.7% economic growth for every additional 100,000 in population among its large cities over 5 years
• Developing nations experience 2.3% decrease in economic growth with the same parameters
• Developing nations see the most economic benefit from having a larger proportion of their urban population living in cities of 500,000 people or less
• Greater economic impact happens in larger countries, as metros with over 10 million inhabitants produce economic benefit only if the total urban population is above 28.5M
• Bigger, more developed countries are more prone to knowledge based industries
• "Megacities" fail to spur sufficient growth in urbanizing worlds as urbanization occurs in poorest places unlike developed countries
• Globalization severed historical connection between agriculture, cities and local industries
• Raw materials are now easily from other parts of the world
• Growing cities and growth has now become tenacious producing "urbanization without growth."

Human Brain Evolution

• Passage one details Human brains are much larger than other apes, but specific genetic factors remain obscure
• Human genomes split from chimps, which have brains roughly a third of human size; the human genome has undergone ~15 million changes
• 6 years ago, scientists in David Haussler's lab discovered a gene called NOTCH2NL, a relative of NOTCH2 as essential to earlier brain development
• NOTCH2 controls vital decisions regarding timing and amount of neurons
• Scientists believed there to be a location in chromosome 1 near a region linked to abnormal brain size associated with NOTCH2NL
• Deleting a hunk of the region reduces size, while duplicating increases brain size
• The team mapped NOTCH2NL's precise location in the genome.
• In version 38 of the genome, NOTCH2NL was located in the crucial region, including three versions
• Over 3mil years, NOTCH2NL repeatedly copied and pasted to the genome
• The team discovered genes existing only in humans and recent ancestors, as well as Neanderthals and Denisovans, and not in chimpanzees, gorillas, or orangutans
• The timing of these genes' emergence matches ancestral cranial enlargements; these genes played a role in beefing more brain size
• Passage two details the brains of modern humans more than 3x larger than our closest relatives (chimpanzees and bonobos)
• Scientists disagree on the how and when of this dramatic increase, but new analysis of 94 hominin fossils indicates increased brain size consistently occurred over 3 million years
• Royal Society B research shows the trend caused by the evolution of larger brains in populations. As well as the introduction of new, larger-brained species, and extinction of smaller-brained ones
• Brain size contributed to cultural complexity, language, as well as tool making
• Comparing skull volumes of 94 fossil specimens showed Australopithecus had brain sizes like chimpanzees, and have increased dramatically since
• Comparing skull volumes of 94 fossil specimens found at 13 different species showed unambiguous human ancestors from 3.2 million years ago
• The researchers saw more brain size the group level gradually increased over 3 million years
• Du likens the new roster of bigger, strong players to a football coach - to recruit and cut players

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Rights

• Focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' rights is viewed as taking away from addressing Indigenous disadvantage
• Poorer standards of health, lack of housing access, lower education attainment, higher unemployment, and cultural differences are all factors tied to the Indigenous
• Action of taking the law gives Indigenous people equal services, protections and standards
• Government placed emphasis on "record levels of expenditure" annually on Indigenous issues
• Emphasis on 'practical measures' and government policy for Indigenous people is considered flawed and leaves them as passive recipients
• The challenge now is to redefine these Issues as human rights
• Government must aim at the ability of best practice policy development and accountability
• Leaders have signed a Statement of Intent to work collectively on targeting needs, participation, determinants, respect, and realization of ambitions.
• Template for a shift toward indiginous health issues

Asteroids and Meteorites

• Differentiated asteroids consist of different materials: iron core, rocky mantle, volcanic crust
• Primitive asteroids remain unchanged since formation
• Iron meteorites come from the cores of melted asteroids, but the corresponding rocky material is rare, so “missing mantle problem" long standing baffle scientists
• Iron core asteroids are first to get bombarded while rocky asteroids are last, the result, rocky fragments in space for iron to come around.
• Strength gives iron to survive, and rocky won't last
• Over time and space, everything must find the right parameters.
• Vest a differentiated asteroid of more then 300 miles is rare
• Collisional erosion doesn't tell the whole story
• Primitive asteroids aren't stronger than the mantle rocks from differentiated asteroids
• Bottke theorized parent bodies of asteroids are closer in proximity to heat and planet
• After multiple disrupted collisions, Both iron and some fragments found place in asteroid belts
• Asteroid belt today is the last mixture of the parts and pieces left behind

Writing and Language Test Overview

• The test has a time limit of 35 minutes with 44 questions
• This section covers the writing style, language of composition and grammar of english language

A narrator seeks employment with Louis Comfort Tiffany to assist with a Byzantine chapel for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Tiffany shows watercolors of windows and describes an eight-foot mosaic behind the altar. The mosaic features peacocks with emerald green and sapphire blue necks, vermilion, and jeweled headdress.