SAT Suite Question Bank 27 Questions of Hard Reading PDF

Question ID d0f51067 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Ideas Details ID: d0f51067...

Question ID d0f51067 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Ideas Details ID: d0f51067 Modern dog breeds are largely the result of 160 years of owners crossbreeding certain dogs in order to select for particular physical appearances. Owners often say that some breeds are also more likely than others to have particular personality traits—basset hounds are affectionate; boxers are easy to train—but Kathleen Morrill and colleagues found through a combination of owner surveys and DNA sequencing of 2,000 dogs that while physical traits are predictably heritable among purebred dogs, behavior varies widely among dogs of the same breed. Which choice best states the main idea of the text? Dog breeds would not exist without many years of human intervention in dogs’ A. reproduction. B. Research fails to confirm a commonly held belief about dog breeds and behavior. The dog breeds most popular among owners have often changed over the past 160 C. years. A study of dog breeds is notable for its usage of both opinion surveys and DNA D. sequencing. Question ID aaddd60f Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: aaddd60f Scientists studying Mars long thought the history of its crust was relatively simple. One reason for this is that geologic and climate data collected by a spacecraft showed that the crust was largely composed of basalt, likely as a result of intense volcanic activity that brought about a magma ocean, which then cooled to form the planet’s surface. A study led by Valerie Payré focused on additional information—further analysis of data collected by the spacecraft and infrared wavelengths detected from Mars’s surface—that revealed the presence of surprisingly high concentrations of silica in certain regions on Mars. Since a planetary surface that formed in a mostly basaltic environment would be unlikely to contain large amounts of silica, Payré concluded that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? the information about silica concentrations collected by the spacecraft is likely more reliable than the silica information gleaned from infrared wavelengths detected from A. Mars’s surface. high silica concentrations on Mars likely formed from a different process than that B. which formed the crusts of other planets. having a clearer understanding of the composition of Mars’s crust and the processes by C. which it formed will provide more insight into how Earth’s crust formed. Mars’s crust likely formed as a result of other major geological events in addition to the D. cooling of a magma ocean. Question ID d0fbf1ae Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Ideas Details ID: d0fbf1ae Algae living within the tissues of corals play a critical role in keeping corals, and the marine ecosystems they are part of, thriving. Some coral species appear brown in color when healthy due to the algae colonies living in their tissues. In the event of an environmental stressor, the algae can die or be expelled, causing the corals to appear white. To recover the algae, the bleached corals then begin to produce bright colors, which block intense sunlight, encouraging the light-sensitive algae to recolonize the corals. What does the text most strongly suggest about corals that produce bright colors? A. These corals have likely been subjected to stressful environmental conditions. These corals are likely more vulnerable to exposure from intense sunlight than white B. corals are. These corals have likely recovered from an environmental event without the assistance C. of algae colonies. D. These corals are more likely to survive without algae colonies than brown corals are. Question ID cef77aa7 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: cef77aa7 Geoglyphs are large-scale designs of lines or shapes created in a natural landscape. The Nazca Lines were created in the Nazca Desert in Peru by several Indigenous civilizations over a period of many centuries. Peruvian archaeologist Johny Isla specializes in these geoglyphs. At a German exhibit about the Nazca Lines, he saw an old photograph of a large geoglyph of a whalelike figure and was surprised that he didn’t recognize it. Isla returned to Peru and used a drone to search a wide area, looking for the figure from the air. This approach suggests that Isla thought that if he hadn’t already seen it, the whalelike geoglyph ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? must represent a species of whale that went extinct before there were any people in A. Peru. B. is actually located in Germany, not Peru, and isn’t part of the Nazca Lines at all. C. is probably in a location Isla hadn’t ever come across while on the ground. was almost certainly created a long time after the other Nazca Lines geoglyphs were D. created. Question ID 14189fbb Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Central Ideas and Ideas Details ID: 14189fbb Having written the impassioned call to arms “Letter to the Spanish Americans” in 1791, Peruvian intellectual Juan Pablo Viscardo y Guzmán is often considered a forerunner for the independence movements in Latin America. But Viscardo’s role in history would have remained insignificant were it not for Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda, who was handed the unpublished letter after Viscardo’s death. Miranda not only helped circulate the letter, but his edits and footnotes to the text position Miranda as a central figure in the text’s creation. Which choice best states the main idea of the text? The original authorship of “Letter to the Spanish Americans” is disputed by A. contemporary historians. The majority of the most eloquently stated arguments in “Letter to the Spanish B. Americans” were written by Miranda. Miranda played a crucial role in influencing the content and distribution of “Letter to the C. Spanish Americans.” “Letter to the Spanish Americans” persuaded many people in Latin America to pursue D. national independence. Question ID 9c591ff7 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 9c591ff7 Some Astyanax mexicanus, a river-dwelling fish found in northeast Mexico, have colonized caves in the region. Although there is little genetic difference between river and cave A. mexicanus and all members of the species can emit the same sounds, biologist Carole Hyacinthe and colleagues found that the context and significance of those sounds vary by location—e.g., the click that river-dwelling A. mexicanus use to signal aggression is used by cave dwellers when foraging—and the acoustic properties of cave fish sounds show some cave-specific variations as well. Hyacinthe and colleagues note that differences in sonic communication could accumulate to the point of inhibiting interbreeding among fish from different locations, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? although A. mexicanus living in rivers are genetically similar to those living in caves, river A. fish rely on sonic communication less than cave fish do. although A. mexicanus is a single species at present, it could be in the process of B. splitting into distinct populations with different characteristics. although all A. mexicanus emit sounds, the fish living in rivers produce some sounds C. that the fish living in caves do not, and vice versa. although A. mexicanus from different locations can interbreed currently, river fish and cave fish are sufficiently genetically distinct that they can be considered separate D. species. Question ID 156ff681 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: 156ff681 Many governments that regularly transfer money to individuals—to provide supplemental incomes for senior citizens, for example—have long done so electronically, but other countries typically have distributed physical money and have only recently developed electronic transfer infrastructure. Researchers studied the introduction of an electronic transfer system in one such location and found that recipients of electronic transfers consumed a different array of foods than recipients of physical transfers of the same amount did. One potential explanation for this result is that individuals conceive of and allocate funds in physical money differently than they conceive of and allocate funds in electronic form. Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly weaken the potential explanation? Recipients of electronic transfers typically spent their funds at a slower rate than A. recipients of physical transfers did. Nearly every recipient of an electronic transfer withdrew the entire amount in physical B. money shortly after receiving the transfer. Recipients of physical transfers tended to purchase food about as frequently as C. recipients of electronic transfers did. Some recipients of physical transfers received small amounts of money relatively D. frequently, while others received large amounts relatively infrequently. Question ID e946a32e Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: e946a32e Boldly mixing elements of poetry, fiction, drama, philosophy, and manifesto, Puerto Rican writer Giannina Braschi creates cross-genre literature that explores themes such as immigration and independence. Her works have inspired responses from individuals across different fields and in a wide range of formats, from musical compositions and a comic book to architecture and furniture design. In an essay, a student asserts that the production of these diverse creations by others is reflective of Braschi’s own approach to crafting literature. Which quotation from a scholarly review of Braschi’s work best supports the student’s claim? “Braschi is the focus of a 2020 collection of essays in which fifteen scholars from seven A. different countries delved into the linguistic and structural patterns of her writings.” “Braschi’s eagerness to push boundaries and blend genres within literature invites us to B. consider how other art forms might also engage with literature.” “Before settling in New York City, where she would go on to become a college professor, C. Braschi studied both literature and philosophy in several cities around the world.” “In addition to her creative literary works, Braschi has produced academic pieces D. analyzing writings by Miguel de Cervantes, Federico García Lorca, and other authors.” Question ID f2250478 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: f2250478 Among social animals that care for their young, such as chickens, macaque monkeys, and humans, newborns appear to show an innate attraction to faces and face-like stimuli. Elisabetta Versace and her colleagues used an image of three black dots arranged in the shape of eyes and a nose or mouth to test whether this trait also occurs in Testudo tortoises, which live alone and do not engage in parental care. They found that tortoise hatchlings showed a significant preference for the image, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? face-like stimuli are likely perceived as harmless by newborns of social species that practice parental care but as threatening by newborns of solitary species without A. parental care. researchers should not assume that an innate attraction to face-like stimuli is B. necessarily an adaptation related to social interaction or parental care. researchers can assume that the attraction to face-like stimuli that is seen in social C. species that practice parental care is learned rather than innate. newly hatched Testudo tortoises show a stronger preference for face-like stimuli than D. adult Testudo tortoises do. Question ID 6e0e0de1 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 6e0e0de1 Aerogels are highly porous foams consisting mainly of tiny air pockets within a solidified gel. These lightweight materials are often applied to spacecraft and other equipment required to withstand extreme conditions, as they provide excellent insulation despite typically being brittle and eventually fracturing due to degradation from repeated exposure to high heat. Now, Xiangfeng Duan of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues have developed an aerogel with uniquely flexible properties. Unlike earlier aerogels, Duan’s team’s material contracts rather than expands when heated and fully recovers after compressing to just 5% of its original volume, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? the aerogel’s remarkable flexibility results from its higher proportion of air pockets to A. solidified gel as compared to other aerogels. the aerogel’s overall strength is greater than that of other insulators but its ability to B. withstand exposure to intense heat is lower. the aerogel will be more effective as an insulator for uses that involve gradual C. temperature shifts than for those that involve rapid heat increases. the aerogel will be less prone to the structural weakness that ultimately causes most D. other aerogels to break down with use. Question ID 16a4a83b Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: 16a4a83b An Ideal Husband is an 1895 play by Oscar Wilde. In the play, which is a satire, Wilde suggests that a character named Lady Gertrude Chiltern is perceived as both extremely virtuous and unforgiving, as is evident when another character says ______ Which quotation from An Ideal Husband most effectively illustrates the claim? “Lady Chiltern is a woman of the very highest principles, I am glad to say. I am a little too old now, myself, to trouble about setting a good example, but I always admire people A. who do.” “Do you know, [Lady Chiltern], I don’t mind your talking morality a bit. Morality is simply B. the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.” “[Lady Chiltern] does not know what weakness or temptation is. I am of clay like other men. She stands apart as good women do—pitiless in her perfection—cold and stern C. and without mercy.” “Lady Chiltern, you are a sensible woman, the most sensible woman in London, the most D. sensible woman I know.” Question ID b2e54b50 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: b2e54b50 Correlations Between Congestion Ratings and Features of the Crowd in Raters’ Immediate Vicinity Crowd feature Before obstacle After obstacle Overall Density 0.8592 0.7308 0.7447 Velocity −0.9357 −0.9518 −0.8587 Researcher Xiaolu Jia and colleagues monitored individuals’ velocity and the surrounding crowd density as a group of study participants walked through a space and navigated around an obstacle. Participants rated how congested it seemed before the obstacle, after the obstacle, and overall, and the researchers correlated those ratings with velocity and density. (Correlations range from −1 to 1, with greater distance from 0 indicating greater strength). The researchers concluded that the correlations with velocity are stronger than those with density. Which choice best describes data from the table that support the researchers’ conclusion? The correlation between congestion ratings before the obstacle and density is further A. from 0 than the correlation between overall congestion rating and velocity is. The correlation between congestion ratings before the obstacle and velocity is further B. from 0 than the correlation between congestion overall and velocity is. For each of the three ratings, the correlation with velocity is negative while the C. correlation with density is positive.  For each of the three ratings, correlations with velocity are further from 0 than the D. corresponding correlations with density are. Question ID 014b3394 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: 014b3394 Average Number and Duration of Torpor Bouts and Arousal Episodes for Alaska Marmots and Arctic Ground Squirrels, 2008–2011 Feature Alaska marmots Arctic ground squirrels torpor bouts 12 10.5 duration per bout 13.81 days 16.77 days arousal episodes 11 9.5 duration per episode 21.2 hours 14.2 hours When hibernating, Alaska marmots and Arctic ground squirrels enter a state called torpor, which minimizes the energy their bodies need to function. Often a hibernating animal will temporarily come out of torpor (called an arousal episode) and its metabolic rate will rise, burning more of the precious energy the animal needs to survive the winter. Alaska marmots hibernate in groups and therefore burn less energy keeping warm during these episodes than they would if they were alone. A researcher hypothesized that because Arctic ground squirrels hibernate alone, they would likely exhibit longer bouts of torpor and shorter arousal episodes than Alaska marmots. Which choice best describes data from the table that support the researcher’s hypothesis? The Alaska marmots’ arousal episodes lasted for days, while the Arctic ground squirrels’ A. arousal episodes lasted less than a day.  The Alaska marmots and the Arctic ground squirrels both maintained torpor for several B. consecutive days per bout, on average. The Alaska marmots had shorter torpor bouts and longer arousal episodes than the C. Arctic ground squirrels did. The Alaska marmots had more torpor bouts than arousal episodes, but their arousal D. episodes were much shorter than their torpor bouts. Question ID f27559d4 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: f27559d4 Volunteering, or giving time for a community service for free, is a valuable form of civic engagement because helping in a community is also good for society as a whole. In a survey of youths in the United States, most young people said that they believe volunteering is a way to help people on an individual level. Meanwhile, only 6% of the youths said that they think volunteering is a way to help fix problems in society overall. These replies suggest that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. many young people think they can volunteer only within their own communities. B. volunteering may be even more helpful than many young people think it is. C. volunteering can help society overall more than it can help individual people. D. many young people may not know how to find ways to volunteer their time. Question ID d1539546 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: d1539546 Tides can deposit large quantities of dead vegetation within a salt marsh, smothering healthy plants and leaving a salt panne—a depression devoid of plants that tends to trap standing water—in the marsh’s interior. Ecologist Kathryn Beheshti and colleagues found that burrowing crabs living within these pannes improve drainage by loosening the soil, leading the pannes to shrink as marsh plants move back in. At salt marsh edges, however, crab-induced soil loosening can promote marsh loss by accelerating erosion, suggesting that the burrowing action of crabs ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? can be beneficial to marshes with small pannes but can be harmful to marshes with A. large pannes. may promote increases in marsh plants or decreases in marsh plants, depending on the B. crabs’ location. tends to be more heavily concentrated in areas of marsh interiors with standing water C. than at marsh edges. varies in intensity depending on the size of the panne relative to the size of the D. surrounding marsh. Question ID df9c5a1d Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: df9c5a1d Juvenile Plants Found Growing on Bare Ground and in Patches of Vegetation for Five Species Bare Patches of Percent found in patches Species ground vegetation Total of vegetation T. moroderi 9 13 22 59.1% T. libanitis 83 120 203 59.1% H. syriacim 95 106 201 52.7% H. 218 321 539 59.6% squamatum H. stoechas 11 12 23 52.2% Alicia Montesinos-Navarro, Isabelle Storer, and Rocío Perez-Barrales recently examined several plots within a diverse plant community in southeast Spain. The researchers calculated that if individual plants were randomly distributed on this particular landscape, only about 15% would be with other plants in patches of vegetation. They counted the number of juvenile plants of five species growing in patches of vegetation and the number growing alone on bare ground and compared those numbers to what would be expected if the plants were randomly distributed. Based on these results, they claim that plants of these species that grow in close proximity to other plants gain an advantage at an early developmental stage. Which choice best describes data from the table that support the researchers’ claim?  For all five species, less than 75% of juvenile plants were growing in patches of A. vegetation. The species with the greatest number of juvenile plants growing in patches of B. vegetation was H. stoechas. For T. libanitis and T. moroderi, the percentage of juvenile plants growing in patches of C. vegetation was less than what would be expected if plants were randomly distributed. For each species, the percentage of juvenile plants growing in patches of vegetation was substantially higher than what would be expected if plants were randomly D. distributed. Question ID 6bc0ba75 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Purpose ID: 6bc0ba75 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? It states the hypothesis that Chang and colleagues had set out to investigate using A. mimosa trees and B. terrenus. It presents a generalization that is exemplified by the discussion of the mimosa trees B. and B. terrenus. C. It provides context that clarifies why the species mentioned spread to new locations. D. It offers an alternative explanation for the findings of Chang and colleagues. Question ID 00221c00 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Transitions ID: 00221c00 In 1815, while in exile in Jamaica, Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar penned a letter praising England’s republican government and expressing hope that Latin American nations seeking independence from Spain might achieve something similar. The letter was addressed to a local merchant, Henry Cullen; ______ though, Bolívar’s goal was to persuade political leaders from England and Europe to support his cause. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition? A. additionally, B. ultimately, C. accordingly, D. consequently, Question ID 16631d34 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Expression of Ideas Rhetorical Synthesis ID: 16631d34 While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: The Million Song Dataset (MSD) includes main audio features and descriptive tags for popular songs. Audio features include acoustic traits such as loudness and pitch intervals. Many algorithms use these audio features to predict a new song’s popularity. These algorithms may fail to accurately identify main audio features of a song with varying acoustic traits. Algorithms based on descriptive tags that describe fixed traits such as genre are more reliable predictors of song popularity. The student wants to explain a disadvantage of relying on audio features to predict a song’s popularity. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal? Many popularity-predicting algorithms are based on a song’s audio features, such as A. loudness and pitch intervals. Algorithms based on audio features may misidentify the main features of a song with varying acoustic traits, making such algorithms less reliable predictors of popularity B. than those based on fixed traits. Audio features describe acoustic traits such as pitch intervals, which may vary within a song, whereas descriptive tags describe fixed traits such as genre, which are reliable C. predictors of popularity. The MSD’s descriptive tags are reliable predictors of a song’s popularity, as the traits D. they describe are fixed. Question ID aa5897b8 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Purpose ID: aa5897b8 In Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park, an almost imperceptible smile from potential suitor Henry Crawford causes the protagonist Fanny Price to blush; her embarrassment grows when she suspects that he is aware of it. This moment—in which Fanny not only infers Henry’s mental state through his gestures, but also infers that he is drawing inferences about her mental state—illustrates what literary scholar George Butte calls “deep intersubjectivity,” a technique for representing interactions between consciousnesses through which Austen’s novels derive much of their social and psychological drama. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole? It states a claim about Austen’s skill at representing psychological complexity that is A. reinforced by an example presented in the following sentence. It advances an interpretation of an Austen protagonist who is contrasted with B. protagonists from other Austen novels cited in the following sentence. It describes a recurring theme in Austen’s novels that is the focus of a literary scholar’s C. analysis summarized in the following sentence. It provides a synopsis of an interaction in an Austen novel that illustrates a literary D. concept discussed in the following sentence. Question ID 98364791 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Words in Context ID: 98364791 In studying the use of external stimuli to reduce the itching sensation caused by an allergic histamine response, Louise Ward and colleagues found that while harmless applications of vibration or warming can provide a temporary distraction, such ______ stimuli actually offer less relief than a stimulus that seems less benign, like a mild electric shock. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase? A. deceptive B. innocuous C. novel D. impractical Question ID cae97f58 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: cae97f58 Mosses can struggle in harsh desert conditions because these plants require enough sunlight for photosynthesis but not so much that they risk drying out. Researchers Jenna Ekwealor and Kirsten M. Fisher found several species of Syntrichia caninervis, a type of desert moss, growing under quartz crystals in California’s Mojave Desert. To evaluate whether these semitransparent rocks benefited the moss, the researchers compared the shoot tissue, a measure of plant growth, of S. caninervis when growing on the soil surface versus when the moss was growing under the quartz rocks. They found that the shoot tissue was 62% longer for moss growing under the quartz as compared to moss on the soil surface, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? S. caninervis is one of the few types of moss that can survive under semitransparent A. rocks. quartz crystals do not transmit the necessary sunlight for photosynthesis in S. B. caninervis. S. caninervis growing under quartz crystals experience lower light intensity and are thus C. able to retain more moisture. quartz crystals are capable of supporting S. caninervis growth if the crystals are not too D. thin. Question ID 8391a002 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Information and Command of Ideas Evidence ID: 8391a002 Black beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are a nutritionally dense food, but they are difficult to digest in part because of their high levels of soluble fiber and compounds like raffinose. They also contain antinutrients like tannins and trypsin inhibitors, which interfere with the body’s ability to extract nutrients from foods. In a research article, Marisela Granito and Glenda Álvarez from Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela claim that inducing fermentation of black beans using lactic acid bacteria improves the digestibility of the beans and makes them more nutritious. Which finding from Granito and Álvarez’s research, if true, would most directly support their claim? When cooked, fermented beans contained significantly more trypsin inhibitors and A. tannins but significantly less soluble fiber and raffinose than nonfermented beans. Fermented beans contained significantly less soluble fiber and raffinose than nonfermented beans, and when cooked, the fermented beans also displayed a B. significant reduction in trypsin inhibitors and tannins. When the fermented beans were analyzed, they were found to contain two microorganisms, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, that are theorized to C. increase the amount of nitrogen absorbed by the gut after eating beans. Both fermented and nonfermented black beans contained significantly fewer trypsin D. inhibitors and tannins after being cooked at high pressure. Question ID ca50de52 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Text Structure and Purpose ID: ca50de52 “How lifelike are they?” Many computer animators prioritize this question as they strive to create ever more realistic environments and lighting. Generally, while characters in computer-animated films appear highly exaggerated, environments and lighting are carefully engineered to mimic reality. But some animators, such as Pixar’s Sanjay Patel, are focused on a different question. Rather than asking first whether the environments and lighting they’re creating are convincingly lifelike, Patel and others are asking whether these elements reflect their films’ unique stories. Which choice best describes the function of the underlined question in the text as a whole? It reflects a primary goal that many computer animators have for certain components of A. the animations they produce. It represents a concern of computer animators who are more interested in creating B. unique backgrounds and lighting effects than realistic ones. It conveys the uncertainty among many computer animators about how to create C. realistic animations using current technology. It illustrates a reaction that audiences typically have to the appearance of characters D. created by computer animators. Question ID d72b325e Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-text Connections ID: d72b325e Text 1 What factors influence the abundance of species in a given ecological community? Some theorists have argued that historical diversity is a major driver of how diverse an ecological community eventually becomes: differences in community diversity across otherwise similar habitats, in this view, are strongly affected by the number of species living in those habitats at earlier times. Text 2 In 2010, a group of researchers including biologist Carla Cáceres created artificial pools in a New York forest. They stocked some pools with a diverse mix of zooplankton species and others with a single zooplankton species and allowed the pool communities to develop naturally thereafter. Over the course of four years, Cáceres and colleagues periodically measured the species diversity of the pools, finding—contrary to their expectations—that by the end of the study there was little to no difference in the pools’ species diversity. Based on the texts, how would Cáceres and colleagues (Text 2) most likely describe the view of the theorists presented in Text 1? It is largely correct, but it requires a minor refinement in light of the research team’s A. results. It is not compelling as a theory regardless of any experimental data collected by the B. research team. C. It may seem plausible, but it is not supported by the research team’s findings. D. It probably holds true only in conditions like those in the research team’s study. Question ID f7c02e89 Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Connections ID: f7c02e89 Text 1 Films and television shows commonly include a long list of credits naming the people involved in a production. Credit sequences may not be exciting, but they generally ensure that everyone’s contributions are duly acknowledged. Because they are highly standardized, film and television credits are also valuable to anyone researching the careers of pioneering cast and crew members who have worked in the mediums. Text 2 Video game scholars face a major challenge in the industry’s failure to consistently credit the artists, designers, and other contributors involved in making video games. Without a reliable record of which people worked on which games, questions about the medium’s development can be difficult to answer, and the accomplishments of all but its best-known innovators can be difficult to trace. Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely respond to the discussion in Text 2? By recommending that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 consider employing the A. methods regularly used by film and television researchers By pointing out that credits have a different intended purpose in film and television than B. in the medium addressed by the scholars mentioned in Text 2 By suggesting that the scholars mentioned in Text 2 rely more heavily on credits as a C. source of information than film and television researchers do By observing that a widespread practice in film and television largely prevents the kind D. of problem faced by the scholars mentioned in Text 2 Question ID f3c45b4f Assessment Test Domain Skill SAT Reading and Writing Craft and Structure Cross-Text Connections ID: f3c45b4f Text 1 Fossils of the hominin Australopithecus africanus have been found in the Sterkfontein Caves of South Africa, but assigning an age to the fossils is challenging because of the unreliability of dating methods in this context. The geology of Sterkfontein has caused soil layers from different periods to mix, impeding stratigraphic dating, and dates cannot be reliably imputed from those of nearby animal bones since the bones may have been relocated by flooding. Text 2 Archaeologists used new cosmogenic nuclide dating techniques to reevaluate the ages of A. africanus fossils found in the Sterkfontein Caves. This technique involves analyzing the cosmogenic nucleotides in the breccia—the matrix of rock fragments immediately surrounding the fossils. The researchers assert that this approach avoids the potential for misdating associated with assigning ages based on Sterkfontein’s soil layers or animal bones. Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined portion in Text 1? They would emphasize the fact that the A. africanus fossils found in the Sterkfontein A. Caves may have been corrupted in some way over the years. They would contend that if analyses of surrounding layers and bones in the Sterkfontein B. Caves were combined, then the dating of the fossils there would be more accurate. They would argue that their techniques are better suited than other methods to the C. unique challenges posed by the Sterkfontein Caves.  They would claim that cosmogenic nuclide dating is reliable in the context of the D. Sterkfontein Caves because it is applied to the fossils directly.