Punctuation , Transistions , Inference.pdf

Question ID f1bfbed3 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: f...

Question ID f1bfbed3 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: f1bfbed3 Marta Coll and colleagues’ 2010 Mediterranean Sea biodiversity census reported approximately 17,000 species, nearly double the number reported in Carlo Bianchi and Carla Morri’s 2000 census—a difference only partly attributable to the description of new invertebrate species in the interim. Another factor is that the morphological variability of microorganisms is poorly understood compared to that of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and algae, creating uncertainty about how to evaluate microorganisms as species. Researchers’ decisions on such matters therefore can be highly consequential. Indeed, the two censuses reported similar counts of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. Coll and colleagues reported a much higher number of species than Bianchi and Morri did largely due to the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s census. B. some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morri but treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues. C. Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to the degree of morphological variation displayed within a typical species of microorganism than Coll and colleagues were. D. the absence of clarity regarding how to differentiate among species of microorganisms may have resulted in Coll and colleagues underestimating the number of microorganism species. ID: f1bfbed3 Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically completes the text’s discussion of the different counts of species in the Mediterranean Sea. The text states that Coll and colleagues reported almost double the number of species that Bianchi and Morri reported in their study ten years earlier. According to the text, this difference can only be partly attributed to new invertebrate species being described in the years between the two studies, which means there must be an additional factor that made Coll and colleagues’ count so much higher than Bianchi and Morri’s count. The text goes on to explain that factor: researchers have a relatively poor understanding of microorganisms’ morphological variability, or the differences in microorganisms’ structure and form. This poor understanding makes it hard to classify microorganisms by species and means that researchers’ decisions about classifying microorganisms can have a large effect on the overall species counts that researchers report. Additionally, the text says that the two censuses reported similar numbers of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, which means that the difference in overall species did not come from differences in those categories. Given all this information, it most logically follows that Coll and colleagues may have treated some of the differences among microorganisms as indicative of the microorganisms being different species, whereas Bianchi and Morri treated those differences as variations within species, resulting in Coll and colleagues reporting many more species than Bianchi and Morri did. Choice A is incorrect because the text explicitly addresses this issue by stating that the description of new invertebrate species in the years between the two studies can explain only part of the difference in the number of species reported by the studies. The focus of the text is on explaining the difference between Coll and colleagues’ count and Bianchi and Morri’s count that cannot be accounted for by the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s study. Choice C is incorrect because nothing in the text suggests that Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to how much the form and structure of microorganisms vary within the same species than Coll and colleagues were. If Bianchi and Morri had been less sensitive to within-species variation than Coll and colleagues were, Bianchi and Morri would likely have reported more species than Coll and colleagues did, since less sensitivity to within-species variation would lead researchers to classify as different species microorganisms that more sensitive researchers would classify as variations within the same species. The text indicates, however, that Bianchi and Morri reported far fewer species than Coll and colleagues did; since the text also excludes other explanations for this difference, it suggests that in fact Bianchi and Morri were more sensitive to within-species variation than Coll and colleagues were, leading Bianchi and Morri to report fewer overall species. Choice D is incorrect because the text is focused on explaining why Coll and colleagues reported many more species than Bianchi and Morri did, and an underestimate of the number of microorganism species by Coll and colleagues would not explain that difference—it would suggest, in fact, that the difference in the number of species should have been even larger. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID d748c3fd Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: d748c3fd In her 2021 article “Throwaway History: Towards a Historiography of Ephemera,” scholar Anne Garner discusses John Johnson (1882–1956), a devoted collector of items intended to be discarded, including bus tickets and campaign pamphlets. Johnson recognized that scholarly institutions considered his expansive collection of ephemera to be worthless—indeed, it wasn’t until 1968, after Johnson’s death, that Oxford University’s Bodleian Library acquired the collection, having grasped the items’ potential value to historians and other researchers. Hence, the example of Johnson serves to ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. demonstrate the difficulties faced by contemporary historians in conducting research at the Bodleian Library without access to ephemera. B. represent the challenge of incorporating examples of ephemera into the collections of libraries and other scholarly institutions. C. lend support to arguments by historians and other researchers who continue to assert that ephemera holds no value for scholars. D. illustrate both the relatively low scholarly regard in which ephemera was once held and the later recognition of ephemera’s possible utility. ID: d748c3fd Answer Correct Answer: D Rationale Choice D is the best answer. Johnson collected “ephemera,” or things that are meant to be thrown away. Scholars thought his collection was worthless to them, then later realized that it was potentially valuable. This suggests that scholars went from disregarding ephemera to recognizing their usefulness. Choice A is incorrect. This inference isn’t supported. The text tells us that the Bodleian Library acquired Johnson’s large collection of ephemera back in 1968, so we can assume that contemporary historians conducting research there do have access to that collection. Choice B is incorrect. This inference isn’t supported. The text tells us that “Oxford University’s Bodleian Library acquired the collection,” but it never suggests that it was a challenge to do so. Choice C is incorrect. This inference isn’t supported. The text actually suggests the opposite: the example of Johnson’s collection lends support to arguments that ephemera does hold value for scholars. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID ce4448b7 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: ce4448b7 Researchers recently found that disruptions to an enjoyable experience, like a short series of advertisements during a television show, often increase viewers’ reported enjoyment. Suspecting that disruptions to an unpleasant experience would have the opposite effect, the researchers had participants listen to construction noise for 30 minutes and anticipated that those whose listening experience was frequently interrupted with short breaks of silence would thus ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. find the disruptions more irritating as time went on. B. rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was uninterrupted. C. rate the experience of listening to construction noise as lasting for less time than it actually lasted. D. perceive the volume of the construction noise as growing softer over time. ID: ce4448b7 Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer. It most logically completes the text. The text tells us that disruptions to an enjoyable experience increase viewers’ enjoyment. It also says that researchers suspect the opposite is true for disruptions to an unpleasant experience. Thus, we can infer that the researchers expect to find that the interrupted unpleasant experience was worse for listeners than the uninterrupted unpleasant experience. Choice A is incorrect. It doesn’t logically complete the text. The text never makes any claims about how irritating the disruptions themselves are perceived to be. Rather, the text says that pleasant experiences are perceived as more enjoyable with interruptions, and that the opposite is suspected to be true of unpleasant experiences. Choice C is incorrect. It doesn’t logically complete the text. The text never makes any claims about how long any experience is perceived to be. Rather, the text says that pleasant experiences are perceived as more enjoyable with interruptions, and that the opposite is suspected to be true of unpleasant experiences. Choice D is incorrect. It doesn’t logically complete the text. The text never makes any claims about how interruptions affect the perceived volume of the unpleasant or pleasant experience. Rather, the text says that pleasant experiences are perceived as more enjoyable with interruptions, and that the opposite is suspected to be true of unpleasant experiences. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID a68fd3e7 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: a68fd3e7 Many of William Shakespeare’s tragedies address broad themes that still appeal to today’s audiences. For instance, Romeo and Juliet, which is set in the Italy of Shakespeare’s time, tackles the themes of parents versus children and love versus hate, and the play continues to be read and produced widely around the world. But understanding Shakespeare’s so-called history plays can require a knowledge of several centuries of English history. Consequently, ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. many theatergoers and readers today are likely to find Shakespeare’s history plays less engaging than the tragedies. B. some of Shakespeare’s tragedies are more relevant to today’s audiences than twentieth-century plays. C. Romeo and Juliet is the most thematically accessible of all Shakespeare’s tragedies. D. experts in English history tend to prefer Shakespeare’s history plays to his other works. ID: a68fd3e7 Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the relative appeal of different kinds of plays by Shakespeare to today’s audiences. According to the text, Shakespeare’s tragedies address broad themes that continue to appeal to today’s audiences. Indeed, the text suggests that these themes are timeless, as illustrated by the example of Romeo and Juliet, which the text states is still read and widely performed despite being set in the Italy of Shakespeare’s time. In contrast, the text indicates that audiences and readers may need to be familiar with several centuries of English history in order to understand Shakespeare’s history plays. Because many theatergoers and readers are unlikely to possess such extensive historical knowledge, it follows that they are likely to find Shakespeare’s history plays less engaging than his more accessible tragedies. Choice B is incorrect because the text never introduces a comparison between Shakespeare’s tragedies and twentieth- century plays, only between Shakespeare’s tragedies and his history plays. Since twentieth-century plays aren’t mentioned, there’s no basis in the text for the idea that some of Shakespeare’s tragedies are more relevant than twentieth-century plays to today’s audiences. Choice C is incorrect. Although the text indicates that Romeo and Juliet is thematically accessible to today’s audiences, it doesn’t suggest that Romeo and Juliet is more accessible than Shakespeare’s other tragedies. Rather, the text presents Romeo and Juliet as an example to support the idea that Shakespeare’s tragedies hold continued appeal for today’s readers and theatergoers. Choice D is incorrect. Although experts in English history would likely possess the knowledge needed to understand Shakespeare’s history plays, the text never mentions such experts or suggests that they would enjoy the history plays more than Shakespeare’s other works. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 58e9e497 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 58e9e497 In the early nineteenth century, some Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States used agricultural techniques developed by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people centuries earlier, but it seems that few of those farmers had actually seen Haudenosaunee farms firsthand. Barring the possibility of several farmers of the same era independently developing techniques that the Haudenosaunee people had already invented, these facts most strongly suggest that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. those farmers learned the techniques from other people who were more directly influenced by Haudenosaunee practices. B. the crops typically cultivated by Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States were not well suited to Haudenosaunee farming techniques. C. Haudenosaunee farming techniques were widely used in regions outside the northeastern United States. D. Euro-American farmers only began to recognize the benefits of Haudenosaunee farming techniques late in the nineteenth century. ID: 58e9e497 Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Euro-American farmers’ use of Haudenosaunee agricultural techniques. According to the text, some Euro-American farmers were using these techniques in the early nineteenth century despite few of the farmers having seen Haudenosaunee farms. One explanation for these facts might be that the farmers developed techniques on their own that already had been invented centuries earlier by the Haudenosaunee people, but the text explicitly bars, or rules out, this explanation. If Euro-American farmers didn’t learn these techniques from direct observation of Haudenosaunee practices and didn’t invent the techniques independently, then the most logical explanation is that they learned the techniques from other people who were more directly influenced by Haudenosaunee practices than the farmers themselves were. Once they learned about Haudenosaunee agricultural practices, Euro-American farmers could then apply those practices to their own farming. Choice B is incorrect because the fact that some Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States were using Haudenosaunee techniques suggests that the techniques were likely useful for the crops the farmers raised, not that the crops typically cultivated by the farmers were not well suited to Haudenosaunee farming techniques. If the farmers’ crops were ill suited to the techniques, it’s unlikely that the farmers would have used those techniques. Choice C is incorrect because the text indicates only that Haudenosaunee agricultural techniques were used by Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States, not that these techniques were widely used outside this region. Choice D is incorrect because the text states that some Euro-American farmers were using Haudenosaunee farming techniques early in the nineteenth century. This suggests that some Euro-American farmers were beginning to recognize the benefits of these techniques near the start of the century, not that such farmers only began to recognize the benefits of the techniques much later. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 3190835d Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 3190835d Some businesses believe that when employees are interrupted while doing their work, they experience a decrease in energy and productivity. However, a team led by Harshad Puranik, who studies management, has found that interruptions by colleagues can have a social component that increases employees’ sense of belonging, resulting in greater job satisfaction that benefits employees and employers. Therefore, businesses should recognize that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. the interpersonal benefits of some interruptions in the workplace may offset the perceived negative effects. B. in order to maximize productivity, employers should be willing to interrupt employees frequently throughout the day. C. most employees avoid interrupting colleagues because they don’t appreciate being interrupted themselves. D. in order to cultivate an ideal workplace environment, interruptions of work should be discouraged. ID: 3190835d Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of potential benefits of interruptions in the workplace. The text indicates that a common belief in business is that interruptions to working employees decrease energy and productivity levels. However, the text goes on to explain that a research team led by Harshad Puranik has found that there could be a social benefit to these interruptions. Since the team found that workplace interruptions can increase employees’ sense of belonging and job satisfaction, it follows that the interpersonal benefits of some interruptions can offset the perceived negative effects. Choice B is incorrect. Although the text presents research findings that suggest some workplace interruptions can have a positive effect on employee job satisfaction, no further information is presented to suggest at what frequency these interruptions are ideal. Furthermore, the text doesn’t tie workplace interruptions to increased productivity, but rather links it to social benefits such as sense of belonging. Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t address employees’ motives for choosing not to interrupt their colleagues. The text presents research findings that suggest that there are some positive interpersonal effects of workplace interruptions that can increase employee job satisfaction. Choice D is incorrect because asking businesses to discourage workplace interruptions doesn’t follow from the team’s research about the benefits of workplace interruptions, nor does the text describe an ideal work environment. Instead, the text presents research suggesting that there may be positive aspects to workplace interruptions that haven’t previously been considered. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID ac285054 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: ac285054 The domestic sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) descends from a wild plant native to South America. It also populates the Polynesian Islands, where evidence confirms that Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples were cultivating the plant centuries before seafaring first occurred over the thousands of miles of ocean separating them from South America. To explain how the sweet potato was first introduced in Polynesia, botanist Pablo Muñoz-Rodríguez and colleagues analyzed the DNA of numerous varieties of the plant, concluding that Polynesian varieties diverged from South American ones over 100,000 years ago. Given that Polynesia was peopled only in the last three thousand years, the team concluded that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. the cultivation of the sweet potato in Polynesia likely predates its cultivation in South America. B. Polynesian peoples likely acquired the sweet potato from South American peoples only within the last three thousand years. C. human activity likely played no role in the introduction of the sweet potato in Polynesia. D. Polynesian sweet potato varieties likely descend from a single South American variety that was domesticated, not wild. ID: ac285054 Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the sweet potato in Polynesia. The text indicates that the sweet potato is found in Polynesia but originated in South America, and that the sweet potato was being cultivated by Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples in Polynesia long before sea voyages between South America and Polynesia began. The text goes on to note that research by Muñoz-Rodríguez and colleagues has established that the Polynesian varieties of sweet potato split from South American varieties more than 100,000 years ago, which is thousands of years before humans settled in Polynesia. If Polynesian peoples were cultivating the sweet potato before sea voyages between Polynesia and South America began, and if Polynesian varieties of sweet potato diverged from South American varieties well before people were in Polynesia, it can reasonably be concluded that humans didn’t play a role in bringing the sweet potato to Polynesia. Choice A is incorrect. The text doesn’t provide any information about when the sweet potato began to be cultivated in South America, so there’s no support for the conclusion that cultivation began in Polynesia before it began in South America. Choice B is incorrect because the text indicates that the sweet potato was being cultivated in Polynesia long before sea journeys between Polynesia and South America began. Therefore, it wouldn’t be reasonable to conclude that Polynesian peoples acquired the sweet potato from South American peoples. Additionally, the text indicates that the Polynesian varieties of sweet potato diverged from the South American varieties thousands of years before people settled in Polynesia, which suggests that the sweet potato was already present in Polynesia when people arrived. Choice D is incorrect because the text states that the domestic sweet potato, which is found in Polynesia, descends from a wild South American plant, not from a domesticated South American plant. The only people that the text describes as cultivating the sweet potato are Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous peoples of Polynesia. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 7c1e5880 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 7c1e5880 Scholars have noted that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writings were likely influenced in part by his marriage to Zelda Fitzgerald, but many don’t recognize Zelda as a writer in her own right. Indeed, Zelda authored several works herself, such as the novel Save Me the Waltz and numerous short stories. Thus, those who primarily view Zelda as an inspiration for F. Scott’s writings ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. overlook the many other factors that motivated F. Scott to write. B. risk misrepresenting the full range of Zelda’s contributions to literature. C. may draw inaccurate conclusions about how F. Scott and Zelda viewed each other’s works. D. tend to read the works of F. Scott and Zelda in an overly autobiographical light. ID: 7c1e5880 Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Zelda Fitzgerald’s contributions to literature. The text begins by saying that many scholars view Zelda mainly in terms of her marriage to F. Scott Fitzgerald and “don’t recognize Zelda as a writer in her own right.” The text then mentions a novel and “numerous short stories” that she wrote and that such scholars tend to ignore. Therefore, those scholars who focus on Zelda only as an inspiration for F. Scott’s writings risk misrepresenting the full range of Zelda’s contributions to literature. Choice A is incorrect. Although the text does mention that Zelda Fitzgerald “likely influenced” her husband’s literary work, its focus is on Zelda’s own writing, not on her husband’s writing or factors that might have influenced it. Choice C is incorrect because the text does not discuss F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald’s opinions of each other’s works. Choice D is incorrect. Although the text does suggest that F. Scott Fitzgerald’s works were “likely influenced in part” by his marriage to Zelda, it does not discuss autobiographical interpretations of the works of either F. Scott or Zelda. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID e185a21f Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: e185a21f One theory behind human bipedalism speculates that it originated in a mostly ground-based ancestor that practiced four- legged “knuckle-walking,” like chimpanzees and gorillas do today, and eventually evolved into moving upright on two legs. But recently, researchers observed orangutans, another relative of humans, standing on two legs on tree branches and using their arms for balance while they reached for fruits. These observations may suggest that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. bipedalism evolved because it was advantageous to a tree-dwelling ancestor of humans. B. bipedalism must have evolved simultaneously with knuckle-walking and tree-climbing. C. moving between the ground and the trees would have been difficult without bipedalism. D. a knuckle-walking human ancestor could have easily moved bipedally in trees. ID: e185a21f Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the evolution of bipedalism in humans. According to the text, one potential explanation for humans walking upright on two legs is that the behavior evolved from an ancestor that mostly stayed on the ground and walked on four limbs, as modern chimpanzees and gorillas do. However, the finding that orangutans, also a relative of humans, sometimes stand on two legs in trees while using their arms to balance and reach for fruits suggests another possible explanation: perhaps a tree-dwelling ancestor of humans began moving on two legs because it offered an advantage, such as access to certain foods. Choice B is incorrect because the finding that modern orangutans (a relative of humans) sometimes stand on two legs in trees doesn’t offer any insight into when either bipedalism or tree-climbing behavior emerged in human ancestors. Additionally, the text indicates that one theory is that bipedalism evolved from a mostly ground-based ancestor that was already practicing knuckle-walking, not that bipedalism and knuckle-walking developed at the same time. Choice C is incorrect because the finding that orangutans (a relative of humans) sometimes stand on two legs in trees doesn’t offer any insight into how difficult it would’ve been to move between the ground and the trees without bipedalism; there’s no suggestion that climbing or moving in trees depends on the ability to walk on two legs rather than four, even if that ability might be helpful in certain circumstances. Choice D is incorrect because the finding that orangutans (a relative of humans) sometimes stand on two legs in trees doesn’t suggest that a knuckle-walking human ancestor could’ve easily moved on two legs in trees. Although the text indicates that bipedalism may have evolved from a human ancestor that mostly stayed on the ground and walked on four limbs, it gives no indication of how easy it would’ve been for such an ancestor to move bipedally in trees. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID db876fd5 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: db876fd5 Songbirds learn to respond to and imitate their species’ songs from an early age. With each generation, small differences are introduced that result in distinct variations—called dialects—among geographically isolated populations of the same species. A research study examined whether twelve-day-old Ficedula hypoleuca (pied flycatcher) nestlings prefer local dialects over the unfamiliar dialects of nonlocal F. hypoleuca populations: the more begging calls the nestlings made in response to a song, the stronger their preference. The researchers found that nestlings produced more begging calls in response to their own dialect than to nonlocal dialects. Since song preference plays a role in songbird mate selection, the finding suggests that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. F. hypoleuca nestlings’ preference for their own dialect likely disappears as they mature to promote socialization between different F. hypoleuca populations. B. F. hypoleuca nestlings who show an early preference for their own dialect are likely to receive more food from their caretakers than nestlings who show no preferences among any F. hypoleuca dialects. C. F. hypoleuca nestlings’ preference for their own dialect likely drives them when they mature to reproduce with other F. hypoleuca from local rather than nonlocal populations. D. F. hypoleuca nestlings show a preference for both local F. hypoleuca dialects and the songs of other local songbirds over the songs of nonlocal birds of any species. ID: db876fd5 Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer. Because “song preference plays a role in songbird mate selection,” and because F. hypoleuca nestlings display a preference for local dialects, we can infer that they will be more likely to choose mates from local populations. Choice A is incorrect. We don’t have any information suggesting that this preference disappears, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice B is incorrect. Although the passage discusses the number of begging calls made in response to various F. hypoleuca dialects, no mention is made about the amount of food received based on dialect preference. Therefore, there’s no basis for this inference. Choice D is incorrect. There’s no mention in the passage of methods of other types of local songbirds, so there’s no basis for this inference. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID f39507a3 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: f39507a3 One challenge when researching whether holding elected office changes a person’s behavior is the problem of ensuring that the experiment has an appropriate control group. To reveal the effect of holding office, researchers must compare people who hold elected office with people who do not hold office but who are otherwise similar to the office-holders. Since researchers are unable to control which politicians win elections, they therefore ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. struggle to find valid data about the behavior of politicians who do not currently hold office. B. can only conduct valid studies with people who have previously held office rather than people who presently hold office. C. should select a control group of people who differ from office holders in several significant ways. D. will find it difficult to identify a group of people who can function as an appropriate control group for their studies. ID: f39507a3 Answer Correct Answer: D Rationale Choice D is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of the challenge researchers face when studying the effects of holding elected office on a person’s behavior. The text explains that it’s hard for researchers to test for the effects that elected office has on people because finding people to serve as a control group is difficult. The text indicates that a control group needs to be made up of people who share characteristics of the group being tested but don’t have the variable being tested (in this case, holding elected office). Because researchers aren’t able to influence who wins elections, they’re also unable to determine who would serve as an appropriately similar member of a control group. Thus, it logically follows that researchers will find it difficult to identify a group of people who can function as an appropriate control group for their studies. Choice A is incorrect because the text focuses on the struggle to put together a control group for experiments; it doesn’t suggest that finding information about politicians’ behavior is difficult. Choice B is incorrect because the experiments mentioned in the text are testing the effects of holding elected office on a person’s behavior. Studying people who have already held elected office wouldn’t provide an opportunity to note any behavioral changes that the position might cause. Choice C is incorrect because the text defines people in a control group as those “who are otherwise similar to the office-holders”; selecting people who differ from the office-holders wouldn’t fit the criteria for an appropriate control group. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID f9bd4e61 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: f9bd4e61 German theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) believed that theater should elicit an intellectual rather than an emotional response from audiences, provoking them to consider social and political realities that extend beyond the characters and events depicted onstage. Brecht’s influence can be seen in English playwright Caryl Churchill’s 1979 play Cloud 9: although the play sometimes invites empathetic reactions, it primarily works to engage audiences in an interrogation of patriarchy and colonialism, which it does by placing audiences at a distance, thereby encouraging them to ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. focus on the characters’ beliefs about social and political issues as revealed by the characters’ actions. B. reflect on social and political phenomena not directly related to patriarchy and colonialism. C. recognize pertinent social and political parallels between Germany during Brecht’s time and England at the time when Churchill was writing Cloud 9. D. be dispassionate as they think critically about the social and political questions raised by the play. ID: f9bd4e61 Answer Correct Answer: D Rationale Choice D is the best answer. Churchill’s play was influenced by Brecht’s belief that theater should elicit an intellectual rather than an emotional response from audiences, making them think about social and political issues that also exist outside of the play. Therefore, it makes sense that Churchill would strive to have audiences think dispassionately (i.e., without emotion) and critically about the social and political questions raised by the play. Choice A is incorrect. The passage mentions that Churchill was influenced by Brecht’s belief that plays should provoke audience members “to consider social and political realities that extend beyond the characters and events depicted onstage,” so there’s no basis for an inference about audience members deeply engaging with characters’ beliefs and actions. Choice B is incorrect. Reflecting on things that aren’t related to patriarchy and colonialism wouldn’t “engage audiences in an interrogation of patriarchy and colonialism.” That creates a confusing contradiction. Choice C is incorrect. No mention is made of social and political issues in Germany during Brecht’s time, so there’s no basis for this inference. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 4889580c Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 4889580c Archaeologists and historians used to believe that the Maya civilization during its Classic period (roughly 250–900) lacked agricultural marketplaces. One reason for this belief was that these scholars misunderstood the ecology of the regions the Maya inhabited. Marketplaces typically emerge because different individuals or groups want to trade resources they control for resources they don’t control. Scholars seriously underestimated the ecological diversity of the Maya landscape and thus assumed that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. marketplaces likely would not have attracted many traders from outside the regions controlled by the Maya. B. farming practices would have been largely the same throughout Maya lands even if the crops people produced varied significantly. C. marketplaces would not have enabled Maya people to acquire many products different from those they already produced. D. farmers would trade agricultural products only if they had already produced enough to meet their own needs. ID: 4889580c Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of scholars’ understanding of Maya ecology and agricultural marketplaces. The text indicates that scholars used to believe that during the Classic period, the Maya civilization didn’t have agricultural marketplaces. According to the text, scholars held this view because they misunderstood the ecology of areas where the Maya lived. The text points out that people tend to create marketplaces in order to acquire resources they don’t otherwise control. Agricultural marketplaces would have allowed farmers who produced one type of crop to trade that crop for other types of crops that they didn’t produce. The text goes on to say, however, that scholars underestimated the ecological diversity of the Maya areas, meaning that scholars thought that the Maya landscape produced a smaller range of resources than it actually produced. Taken together, then, this information suggests that scholars assumed that marketplaces wouldn’t have allowed Maya people to acquire products different from the products they already produced: that is, if everyone produced the same array of crops, as scholars mistakenly believed, then there wouldn’t have been any need for marketplaces where people could trade those crops. Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t say anything about trade between the Maya and people from outside the regions controlled by the Maya. Although scholars’ mistaken belief that the Maya lands weren’t very ecologically diverse would give those scholars a reason to think that the Maya didn’t have marketplaces, it wouldn’t lead scholars to assume that traders from outside Maya lands were uninterested in acquiring resources produced by the Maya. Even if the Maya actually did produce only a small array of resources throughout their lands, there is no reason to believe from the text that people outside Maya lands also produced these same resources and thus would have no need to trade with the Maya people. Choice B is incorrect because the text indicates that scholars underestimated the ecological diversity of the Maya lands, which suggests that they mistakenly believed that the Maya produced a relatively small array of resources throughout their territory, not that the crops the Maya produced varied significantly throughout the Maya lands. Although the scholars might have assumed that a lack of ecological diversity suggests that Maya farming practices were largely the same everywhere, the text does not support that they also assumed there was a lot of variation in the crops that Maya people produced. In fact, the text states that marketplaces emerge when people want to obtain resources they don’t already control. If it were the case that scholars assumed that the crops Maya people produced varied significantly, this would have led them to conclude that Maya people likely established marketplaces so they could trade for resources they didn’t already possess, not that the Maya civilization lacked marketplaces. Choice D is incorrect because nothing in the text suggests that scholars assumed that farmers wouldn’t trade their agricultural products unless they had already met their own needs with those products. Instead, the text says that scholars thought that the Maya lands produced a smaller array of resources than they actually did, which the text suggests led scholars to assume that the Maya didn’t have any need for marketplaces. The scholars’ mistaken belief has no bearing on the issue of whether farmers met their own needs before trading their products. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 3cc2eacc Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 3cc2eacc In a study of the mechanisms underlying associative memory—or the ability to learn and remember connections between inherently unrelated things—neuroscientists Kei Igarashi, Jasmine Chavez, and others presented mice with memory tests. The team discovered that fan cells, a type of cell found in the medial temporal lobe of the brain, are necessary for the acquisition of new associative memories. They also found that fan cell activity requires dopamine, a chemical the brain produces in response to pleasure and rewards. Consequently, receiving a reward should likely help to ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. decrease an individual’s capacity to utilize dopamine. B. increase an individual’s capacity to recognize differences between unrelated things. C. increase an individual’s capacity to form associative memories. D. decrease an individual’s capacity to create fan cells. ID: 3cc2eacc Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the mechanisms underlying associative memory. The text explains that fan cells—a type of brain cell—are necessary for the acquisition of new associative memories, and that activity among these cells requires a chemical known as dopamine, which the brain produces in response to rewards. Since the brain cells that enable the formation of associative memories require dopamine in order to function, and since the brain produces dopamine in response to rewards, it can be inferred that receiving a reward should likely help to increase an individual’s capacity to form associative memories. Choice A is incorrect because the relationship between rewards and dopamine sketched by the text is that rewards result in the production of dopamine, not that they cause an individual’s capacity to utilize dopamine to decrease. Choice B is incorrect. The text suggests that receiving a reward would produce dopamine and thereby assist with associative memory formation. However, the text never suggests that associative memory involves the capacity to recognize differences between unrelated things, indicating only that associative memory involves remembering what connects those things. Choice D is incorrect because the text never discusses how fan cells are initially created and therefore provides no evidence for a conclusion about how receiving a reward would affect their creation. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 54057e3f Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 54057e3f Although military veterans make up a small proportion of the total population of the United States, they occupy a significantly higher proportion of the jobs in the civilian government. One possible explanation for this disproportionate representation is that military service familiarizes people with certain organizational structures that are also reflected in the civilian government bureaucracy, and this familiarity thus ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. makes civilian government jobs especially appealing to military veterans. B. alters the typical relationship between military service and subsequent career preferences. C. encourages nonveterans applying for civilian government jobs to consider military service instead. D. increases the number of civilian government jobs that require some amount of military experience to perform. ID: 54057e3f Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of military veterans working in civilian government jobs in the United States. The text indicates that the proportion of military veterans working in civilian government jobs is considerably higher than the proportion of military veterans in the population as a whole. The text also notes that the unusually high representation of military veterans in these jobs may be a result of the organizational structures shared by civilian government entities and the military. Hence, it’s reasonable to infer that it’s the familiarity of the structures of civilian government that makes jobs there particularly attractive to military veterans. Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t address what a typical relationship between military service and later career preferences would be, and there’s no indication that it’s atypical for veterans to work in civilian government jobs after they’ve left the military. On the contrary, the text suggests that many military veterans are drawn to such jobs. Choice C is incorrect because the text is focused on the high representation of military veterans in civilian government jobs and doesn’t address nonveterans or their possible interest in military service. Choice D is incorrect because the text conveys that military veterans may be particularly interested in civilian government jobs due to the familiarity of organizational structures that are already in place, but there’s no reason to think that this interest would mean that more civilian government jobs will start to require military experience. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID aaddd60f Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty 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? A. the information about silica concentrations collected by the spacecraft is likely more reliable than the silica information gleaned from infrared wavelengths detected from Mars’s surface. B. high silica concentrations on Mars likely formed from a different process than that which formed the crusts of other planets. C. having a clearer understanding of the composition of Mars’s crust and the processes by which it formed will provide more insight into how Earth’s crust formed. D. Mars’s crust likely formed as a result of other major geological events in addition to the cooling of a magma ocean. ID: aaddd60f Answer Correct Answer: D Rationale Choice D is the best answer. Cooling magma would create basalt, but “a planetary surface that formed in a mostly basaltic environment would be unlikely to contain large amounts of silica.” Since Mars’s crust does contain large amounts of silica, it is unlikely that Mars’s crust was formed exclusively by cooling magma. Therefore, there were likely other major geological events that created the high silica concentrations. Choice A is incorrect. Although the passage discusses these two methods of collecting data about Mars’s crust, it never compares their reliability, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice B is incorrect. The passage never mentions anything about the crusts of other planets, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice C is incorrect. The passage never mentions Earth’s crust, so there’s no basis for this inference. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 123bd312 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 123bd312 Herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs could grow more than 100 feet long and weigh up to 80 tons, and some researchers have attributed the evolution of sauropods to such massive sizes to increased plant production resulting from high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during the Mesozoic era. However, there is no evidence of significant spikes in carbon dioxide levels coinciding with relevant periods in sauropod evolution, such as when the first large sauropods appeared, when several sauropod lineages underwent further evolution toward gigantism, or when sauropods reached their maximum known sizes, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide affected different sauropod lineages differently. B. the evolution of larger body sizes in sauropods did not depend on increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. C. atmospheric carbon dioxide was higher when the largest known sauropods lived than it was when the first sauropods appeared. D. sauropods probably would not have evolved to such immense sizes if atmospheric carbon dioxide had been even slightly higher. ID: 123bd312 Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of the relationship between atmospheric carbon dioxide and sauropod body size. The text establishes that sauropods evolved to reach enormous sizes, and it notes that some scientists have asserted that the cause of this phenomenon was increased plant production that resulted from increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. The text goes on to state, however, that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels didn’t increase around the time of important periods in sauropods’ evolution of larger body sizes. If significant periods of sauropod evolution toward larger sizes occurred without increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, that suggests that the evolution of larger sizes didn’t depend on increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t describe any fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide, so there’s no evidence in the text to support the conclusion that such fluctuations had different effects on different sauropod lineages. All that the text says about atmospheric carbon dioxide levels is that there weren’t increases at particular points that correspond with key moments in sauropod evolution. Choice C is incorrect because the text indicates that there weren’t significant increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide around the time of important periods in sauropods’ evolution toward larger body sizes, not that atmospheric carbon dioxide was higher when the largest sauropods lived than when sauropods first appeared. Choice D is incorrect because the text indicates that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels didn’t increase at important periods in sauropod evolution, not that higher levels would have affected that evolution. The text provides no information about how higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide might have affected sauropods. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 08395130 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 08395130 The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is projected to maintain operation until at least 2030, but it has already revolutionized high-resolution imaging of solar-system bodies in visible and ultraviolet (UV) light wavelengths, notwithstanding that only about 6% of the bodies imaged by the HST are within the solar system. NASA researcher Cindy L. Young and colleagues assert that a new space telescope dedicated exclusively to solar-system observations would permit an extensive survey of minor solar-system bodies and long-term UV observation to discern how solar-system bodies change over time. Young and colleagues’ recommendation therefore implies that the HST ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. will likely continue to be used primarily to observe objects outside the solar system. B. will no longer be used to observe solar system objects if the telescope recommended by Young and colleagues is deployed. C. can be modified to observe the features of solar system objects that are of interest to Young and colleagues. D. lacks the sensors to observe the wavelengths of light needed to discern how solar system bodies change over time. ID: 08395130 Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer. The HST will operate until at least 2030, but it’s only observing stuff inside our solar system 6% of the time. If we could get a different telescope to observe stuff inside our solar system 100% of the time and take more extensive images of certain things, then the HST could continue to be used mainly for observing stuff outside the solar system. Choice B is incorrect. This inference is too strong to be supported by the text. Even if the new telescope is deployed, the HST might still be used as it’s being used now. Based on the text, the new telescope would just be used for more extensive and long-term imaging of solar system bodies, which doesn’t necessarily overlap with the HST. Choice C is incorrect. This inference isn’t supported. The text never mentions the possibility of modifying the HST, so there is no basis to make this inference. Rather, the researchers suggest using a different telescope to more closely observe certain objects. Choice D is incorrect. This inference is too strong to be supported. The text doesn’t give us enough info to assume that the HST lacks any particular sensors. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID cef77aa7 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty 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? A. must represent a species of whale that went extinct before there were any people in 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. D. was almost certainly created a long time after the other Nazca Lines geoglyphs were created. ID: cef77aa7 Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Johny Isla and the whalelike geoglyph. The text indicates that the German exhibit about the Nazca Lines included a photograph showing a whalelike geoglyph that Isla hadn’t known about before attending the exhibit, even though Isla “specializes in” Nazca Lines geoglyphs. Given his expertise, and his surprise at being unfamiliar with the whale glyph, the text strongly suggests that Isla believed he would have noticed the glyph if he had been to its location. Thus, the text implies that the whalelike geoglyph is likely in a location Isla had not previously been to. Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t address either the species of whale that the geoglyph is meant to represent or its relationship to the earliest humans in the area that is now Peru. Choice B is incorrect. Although the text indicates that the photograph of the whalelike geoglyph was on display at a “German exhibit,” that exhibit was specifically “about the Nazca Lines,” which the text indicates are located in Peru. Choice D is incorrect. Although the text does indicate that the glyphs were created “over a period of many centuries,” the text doesn’t address when in that period of time any particular glyphs were created. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 9c591ff7 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty 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? A. although A. mexicanus living in rivers are genetically similar to those living in caves, river fish rely on sonic communication less than cave fish do. B. although A. mexicanus is a single species at present, it could be in the process of splitting into distinct populations with different characteristics. C. although all A. mexicanus emit sounds, the fish living in rivers produce some sounds that the fish living in caves do not, and vice versa. D. although A. mexicanus from different locations can interbreed currently, river fish and cave fish are sufficiently genetically distinct that they can be considered separate species. ID: 9c591ff7 Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of A. mexicanus. According to the text, A. mexicanus, a river-dwelling fish species, has colonized caves. The fish that live in rivers and those that live in caves show no significant genetic differences and are all capable of making the same sounds. The text indicates, however, that Hyacinthe and colleagues found that sounds that the river fish use in a particular context and for a particular purpose are used in a different context and for a different purpose by the cave fish. Additionally, the sounds made by cave fish show some differences depending on the specific cave the fish inhabit. The text goes on to state that Hyacinthe and colleagues have noted that differences in how the fish use sound to communicate could eventually become so great that they prevent fish from different locations from interbreeding. In other words, the river fish might eventually only breed with other river fish (with whom they share characteristics regarding sonic communication that they do not share with cave fish), while the cave fish might only breed with other cave fish for a similar reason. In context, this observation suggests that even though the fish are a single species right now, they could be in the process of splitting into distinct populations with different characteristics. Choice A is incorrect because there is no information in the text suggesting that the river fish are less reliant on sonic communication than the cave fish are. Although the text does indicate that the river fish and cave fish are genetically similar, the text describes both groups as using sonic communication and says nothing to indicate that one group depends on that communication more than the other group does. Choice C is incorrect. The text states that all members of the species can emit the same sounds but that the function and context of sounds differ depending on whether the fish live in rivers or caves, but it does not indicate that river fish produce sounds that cave fish do not or vice versa. Choice D is incorrect because it contradicts the text. The text says that there is little genetic difference between the river fish and the cave fish, not that the river fish and cave fish are so genetically distinct that they can be considered separate species. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 55688b3c Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 55688b3c Dutch painters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often showed tables filled with large wheels of cheese or carved shards of butter. Some art historians, noting that dairy products were a major component of the Dutch diet, interpret these depictions as reflections of everyday Dutch eating habits. However, a group of researchers recently reviewed hundreds of food-related paintings and found that lemons—which could only be acquired in the Netherlands at great cost, since they had to be imported from warmer climates—feature in Dutch paintings of the period more than three times as frequently as dairy products do, thereby casting doubt on the idea that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. dairy products were a more significant component of the Dutch diet of the period than lemons were. B. food was a more popular subject among Dutch painters than it was among painters from other countries at the time. C. depictions of food in Dutch paintings of the period should be taken as realistic representations of Dutch eating habits. D. Dutch painters of the period may have depicted foods for symbolic reasons rather than to show what Dutch people typically ate. ID: 55688b3c Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer. The text tells us that lemons—an expensive imported product—feature in Dutch paintings of the period more frequently than dairy products do. Since it’s unlikely lemons were eaten more often than dairy, this fact casts doubt on the theory that these paintings realistically depicted Dutch diets. Choice A is incorrect. In fact, the text suggests the opposite: it says that dairy products were a "major component of the Dutch diet," while lemons were an expensive import item, so we can infer that lemons were eaten much more rarely than dairy products. Choice B is incorrect. The passage doesn’t mention painters from other countries, so there’s no basis to make this inference. Choice D is incorrect. In fact, the text suggests that Dutch painters do have reasons for depicting foods other than to show what Dutch people typically ate. For example, lemons in a painting could indicate wealth or prosperity. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID c95995bc Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: c95995bc Colonized by Spain in the 1600s, New Mexico is home to a dialect of Spanish that differs significantly from dialects spoken in Spain’s other former colonies in the Americas. Most notably, the New Mexican dialect retains older features of the language that other dialects lost in later centuries. But why would it have done so? New Mexico was so distant from population centers in Spain’s other colonies that it attracted few colonists after its initial colonization. Geographical isolation in turn would have limited the exposure of New Mexican colonists to changes occurring to Spanish grammar and vocabulary elsewhere in the empire. Thus, the present-day uniqueness of the New Mexican dialect suggests the extent to which ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. a language can protect itself from being influenced by other languages. B. the grammar and vocabulary of any given language change from one generation to the next. C. geographical isolation can influence how a language develops. D. speakers of one dialect of a language can understand speakers of another dialect of that language. ID: c95995bc Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it is the choice that most logically completes the text. The text mentions a dialect of Spanish spoken in New Mexico, which was colonized by Spain in the 1600s. The text then states that the New Mexican dialect differs greatly from other Spanish dialects in that it still has characteristics of an older Spanish that other dialects eventually lost. After asking why this might be, the text points out that the New Mexico colony was distant from Spain’s other colonies, making it less attractive to colonists after the initial colonization. This geographic isolation limited the colony’s exposure to other Spanish colonists who would have otherwise introduced the changes to the Spanish language that occurred in their respective colonies. It can therefore be inferred that this isolation is a reason why the New Mexican dialect still has characteristics of an older Spanish, while the Spanish dialects spoken in less isolated areas that have more interaction with speakers of other dialects would lose those characteristics over time. Thus, the most logical completion of the text is that geographical isolation can influence how a language develops. Choice A is incorrect because the text discusses different dialects of Spanish, not different languages altogether. Choice B is incorrect because the text focuses on how the New Mexican dialect has stayed the same over time in some ways, not on how it has changed from one generation to the next. Choice D is incorrect because though the text discusses how the New Mexican dialect of Spanish is different from others, it does not discuss how speakers of different dialects are able to understand each other. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 9391b7cc Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 9391b7cc If some artifacts recovered from excavations of the settlement of Kuulo Kataa, in modern Ghana, date from the thirteenth century CE, that may lend credence to claims that the settlement was founded before or around that time. There is other evidence, however, strongly supporting a fourteenth century CE founding date for Kuulo Kataa. If both the artifact dates and the fourteenth century CE founding date are correct, that would imply that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. artifacts from the fourteenth century CE are more commonly recovered than are artifacts from the thirteenth century CE. B. the artifacts originated elsewhere and eventually reached Kuulo Kataa through trade or migration. C. Kuulo Kataa was founded by people from a different region than had previously been assumed. D. excavations at Kuulo Kataa may have inadvertently damaged some artifacts dating to the fourteenth century CE. ID: 9391b7cc Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of artifacts and Kuulo Kataa’s founding date. If it were true both that Kuulo Kataa was founded in the fourteenth century CE and that artifacts found in excavations of the settlement are from the thirteenth century CE, it would be reasonable to conclude that the artifacts weren’t created in the Kuulo Kataa settlement. That would suggest, then, that the artifacts originated somewhere else and eventually reached the settlement through trading or as people migrated. Choice A is incorrect because the existence of thirteenth-century CE artifacts recovered during excavations of a settlement founded in the fourteenth century CE isn’t logically connected to artifacts from one century being more commonly recovered than artifacts from another century. Rather than suggesting anything about how frequently artifacts from different times are found, the existence of artifacts confirmed as predating the settlement’s founding suggests that those items arrived in Kuulo Kataa during or after its establishment. Choice C is incorrect because the text focuses on time periods and says nothing about which region the founders of Kuulo Kataa have been thought to come from; similarly, the text doesn’t suggest anything about where the thirteenth-century CE artifacts originated other than not from Kuulo Kataa. Therefore, it isn’t logical to conclude that the mere existence of artifacts confirmed as predating the Kuulo Kataa settlement suggests that the founders of the settlement came from a particular region other than one previously assumed. Choice D is incorrect because the existence of artifacts from the thirteenth century CE at a site dated to the fourteenth century CE doesn’t imply that fourteenth-century objects were damaged during excavations. There’s nothing in the text to suggest that any objects were damaged; rather, the existence of artifacts confirmed as predating the settlement’s founding suggests that those items were brought to Kuulo Kataa during or after its establishment. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 2a075bd1 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 2a075bd1 Indigenous cultures possess unique knowledge of the medicinal uses of plants. According to a 2021 study, 73 percent of the medicinal uses of plants native to North America are reflected in the vocabulary of a single Indigenous language. However, as more and more Indigenous people exclusively speak a globally dominant language, such as English, their ancestral languages fade from daily use. These facts lend added importance to tribal nations’ efforts to preserve their languages. By ensuring the continued use of Cherokee, Ojibwe, and the hundreds of other Indigenous languages in what is now the United States, tribal nations are also ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. increasing the number of medicinal plants represented in the vocabularies of Indigenous languages. B. transmitting terms for medicinal plants from Indigenous languages to globally dominant languages. C. preserving knowledge about the medicinal value of plants native to the tribal nations’ lands. D. ensuring that citizens of tribal nations have physical access to medicinal plants. ID: 2a075bd1 Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the relationship between Indigenous languages and knowledge of the medicinal uses of plants. The text states that Indigenous cultures possess special knowledge of the medicinal uses of plants, which is reflected in their vocabulary. The text then discusses how tribal nations are working to preserve their languages, whose daily use is declining as globally dominant languages become increasingly dominant in Indigenous communities. Given that the languages of tribal nations in what is now the United States function as repositories of knowledge about plants’ medicinal uses, it logically follows that continued use of those languages will assist with passing on knowledge about the medicinal value of plants native to the tribal nations’ lands. Choice A is incorrect because the text states that preserving Indigenous languages will increase the knowledge, not the number, of medicinal plants. Choice B is incorrect because the text is concerned with how vocabulary about the medicinal value of plants can be preserved through the continued daily use of Indigenous languages, not with how such vocabulary can be incorporated into globally dominant, non-Indigenous languages. Moreover, the text explains that the exclusive use of globally dominant languages in Indigenous communities comes at an expense to the continued daily use of those communities’ languages. Given this relationship, it is unlikely globally dominant languages would borrow Indigenous vocabulary pertaining to plants’ medicinal uses. Choice D is incorrect because the text doesn’t discuss physical access to medicinal plants, instead focusing on Indigenous knowledge and language surrounding the medicinal uses of plants. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 8fbed1cb Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 8fbed1cb When the Vinland Map, a map of the world purported to date to the mid-1400s, surfaced in 1957, some scholars believed it demonstrated that European knowledge of the eastern coast of present-day North America predated Christopher Columbus’s 1492 arrival. In 2021, a team including conservators Marie-France Lemay and Paula Zyats and materials scientist Anikó Bezur performed an extensive analysis of the map and the ink used. They found that the ink contains titanium dioxide, a compound that was first introduced in ink manufacturing in the early 1900s. Therefore, the team concluded that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. mid-1400s Europeans could not have known about the eastern coast of present-day North America. B. the Vinland Map could not have been drawn by mid-1400s mapmakers. C. mapmakers must have used titanium compounds in their ink in the 1400s. D. there isn’t enough information to determine when the ink was created. ID: 8fbed1cb Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Lemay, Zyats, and Bezur’s 2021 analysis of the Vinland Map. The text indicates that while some scholars have believed that the map was drawn in the mid-1400s, the 2021 analysis showed the presence of the compound titanium dioxide in the ink used to draw the map. The text goes on to say that titanium dioxide wasn’t used to manufacture ink until the early 1900s, which means that ink containing this compound couldn’t have been available to mapmakers in the 1400s. Since mapmakers in the mid-1400s couldn’t have used ink with titanium dioxide, it follows that the Vinland Map couldn’t have been drawn by mid-1400s mapmakers. Choice A is incorrect because the 2021 finding that the ink used to draw the Vinland Map wasn’t available until the early 1900s doesn’t imply that Europeans in the mid-1400s couldn’t have known about the eastern coast of North America. While this finding suggests that the map couldn’t have been created in the mid-1400s, it doesn’t preclude the possibility that Europeans nevertheless had knowledge—and perhaps even drew other maps that are no longer in existence or are yet to be discovered by researchers—of the eastern coast of present-day North America as early as the mid- 1400s. Choice C is incorrect because there’s nothing in the text that suggests that the 2021 discovery of the presence of titanium dioxide in the ink used to draw the Vinland Map caused Lemay, Zyats, and Bezur to question or reach a new conclusion about when mapmakers began using ink containing titanium compounds. Instead, the text indicates that titanium dioxide wasn’t used in ink before the early 1900s. This knowledge led the team to conclude that the map, which was drawn with ink containing titanium dioxide, couldn’t have been created in the mid-1400s. Choice D is incorrect because although the text doesn’t indicate that Lemay, Zyats, and Bezur established an exact date for the creation of the ink that was used to draw the Vinland Map, the text does say that titanium dioxide was introduced in ink manufacturing in the early 1900s. This fact provides enough information to determine that the ink that was used to draw the map was created no earlier than the early 1900s. This finding, in turn, led the team to conclude that the Vinland Map couldn’t have been drawn in the mid-1400s. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 5432d1de Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 5432d1de It’s common for jazz musicians and fans to refer to certain songs as having “swing,” indicating that the songs provoke a strong feeling, like the impulse to tap one’s foot or dance. The exact acoustic properties that give a song swing, however, have long been thought to be undefinable. To investigate swing, a team led by physicist Corentin Nelias delayed the downbeats and synchronized the offbeats in jazz piano solos and asked jazz musicians to compare the intensity of swing in each modified piece with the intensity of swing in the original piece. They found that participants were more than seven times likelier to characterize the modified songs as having swing than to characterize the original versions as having swing, suggesting that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. synchronized offbeats tend to give a song swing regardless of whether downbeats are delayed. B. the acoustic properties that give a song swing are not easy for jazz musicians to manipulate. C. jazz songs that feature the piano are more likely to have swing than are jazz songs that do not feature the piano. D. the timing of downbeats and offbeats may play a crucial role in giving a song swing. ID: 5432d1de Answer Correct Answer: D Rationale Choice D is the best answer. The passage tells us that participants were “more than seven times likelier to characterize the modified songs as having swing than to characterize the original versions as having swing.” Because the modified songs had been changed by altering the timing of the downbeats and offbeats, this suggests that the timing of downbeats and offbeats may play a crucial role in giving a song swing. Choice A is incorrect. Although the passage mentions that the researchers “synchronized the offbeats” in the modified songs, they also “delayed the downbeats” in those songs. Because we can’t disentangle whether it was the synchronized offbeats, the delayed downbeats, or the combination of both that increased the song’s swing, we don’t have enough information to make this inference. Choice B is incorrect. The passage doesn’t mention whether or not it’s difficult for a jazz musician to give a song swing, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice C is incorrect. The passage doesn’t compare jazz songs that feature piano to those that don’t, so there’s no basis for this inference. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 4e9afd7a Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 4e9afd7a The Indus River valley civilization flourished in South Asia from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. Many examples of the civilization’s writing system exist, but researchers haven’t yet deciphered it or identified which ancient language it represents. Nevertheless, archaeologists have found historical artifacts, such as clay figures and jewelry, that provide information about the civilization’s customs and how its communities were organized. The archaeologists’ findings therefore suggest that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. investigating an ancient civilization is easier without knowledge of the civilization’s language. B. knowing an ancient civilization’s language isn’t necessary in order to learn details about the civilization. C. archaeological research should focus on finding additional artifacts rather than deciphering ancient languages. D. examining the civilization’s historical artifacts has resolved the debate about this civilization’s language. ID: 4e9afd7a Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the Indus River valley civilization. The text establishes that archaeologists haven’t been able to interpret the Indus River valley civilization’s writing system but have nevertheless acquired information about the civilization through historical artifacts. The fact that archaeologists have been able to learn about the Indus River valley civilization’s customs and community organization from historical artifacts suggests that it isn’t necessary to understand an ancient civilization’s language to learn about the civilization. Choice A is incorrect because the text doesn’t discuss how easy it is to investigate ancient civilizations with or without knowledge of the civilization’s language; rather, it states that even though researchers have not yet deciphered the language of the Indus River valley civilization, they are still able to learn about it through historical artifacts. Choice C is incorrect because the text doesn’t make any claims as to what the focus of archaeological research should be. Rather, the text discusses how archaeologists have been able to learn about an ancient civilization through historical artifacts despite not understanding the civilization’s language. Choice D is incorrect because the text states that the civilization’s language has not yet been interpreted; it makes no mention of a debate about the language. Instead, the text suggests that examination of the historical artifacts has allowed archaeologists to learn about the civilization but has not aided thus far in deciphering its language. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 3882ddf6 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 3882ddf6 To investigate the history of plate subduction—when one of Earth’s tectonic plates slides beneath another—Sarah M. Aarons and colleagues compared ancient rocks from the Acasta Gneiss Complex in Canada to modern rocks. Using isotope analysis, the researchers found that Acasta rocks dating to about 4.02 billion years ago (bya) most strongly resemble modern rocks formed in a plume setting (an area in which hot rocks from Earth’s mantle flow upward into the crust). By contrast, they found that Acasta rocks dating to about 3.75 bya and 3.6 bya have an isotope composition that is similar to that of modern rocks formed in a subduction setting. Aarons’s team therefore concluded that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. subduction-like processes began occurring in some locations no later than 3.75 bya. B. subduction replaced mantle plume formation as the most common geological process by about 4.02 bya. C. the majority of the rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex formed through subduction. D. the rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex are of a more recent origin than scientists previously thought. ID: 3882ddf6 Answer Correct Answer: A Rationale Choice A is the best answer. Because researchers found “Acasta rocks dating to about 3.75 bya” were similar to “modern rocks formed in a subduction setting,” we can infer that subduction-like processes must have begun occurring in the Acasta Gneiss Complex by this time. Choice B is incorrect. We only know about geological processes at the Acasta Gneiss Complex, so we do not have information to make inferences about geological processes in general. Also, notice that the rocks dated to 4.02 bya were found to still be formed in a plume setting, so the transition must have happened after this time. Choice C is incorrect. There’s no mention in the passage of what proportion of the rocks within Acasta Gneiss Complex were formed through subduction, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice D is incorrect. The passage discusses various rocks in the Acasta Gneiss Complex that are dated to different periods of time, but nothing in the passage suggests that these dates are or were wrong. Question Difficulty: Medium Question ID 3f236877 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 3f236877 Ratified by more than 90 countries, the Nagoya Protocol is an international agreement ensuring that Indigenous communities are compensated when their agricultural resources and knowledge of wild plants and animals are utilized by agricultural corporations. However, the protocol has shortcomings. For example, it allows corporations to insist that their agreements with communities to conduct research on the commercial uses of the communities’ resources and knowledge remain confidential. Therefore, some Indigenous advocates express concern that the protocol may have the unintended effect of ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. diminishing the monetary reward that corporations might derive from their agreements with Indigenous communities. B. limiting the research that corporations conduct on the resources of the Indigenous communities with which they have signed agreements. C. preventing independent observers from determining whether the agreements guarantee equitable compensation for Indigenous communities. D. discouraging Indigenous communities from learning new methods for harvesting plants and animals from their corporate partners. ID: 3f236877 Answer Correct Answer: C Rationale Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the argument about an unintended effect of the Nagoya Protocol. The text explains that the Nagoya Protocol is an agreement ensuring that Indigenous communities are compensated when their agricultural resources and knowledge are used by corporations. The text then states that the protocol allows corporations to keep their agreements with Indigenous communities confidential, about which some Indigenous advocates express concern. Choice C, when inserted into the blank, gives a good justification for the advocates’ concern: such secrecy could mean that the public is unable to determine whether participating Indigenous communities were properly compensated under these agreements. Choice A is incorrect. The text suggests that because corporations can keep their agreements with Indigenous communities confidential, Indigenous communities, not corporations, might not be compensated fairly. Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t suggest that the ability of corporations to keep their agreements with Indigenous communities confidential would place limits on how much research corporations can undertake. Choice D is incorrect because the text doesn’t indicate that Indigenous communities aim to learn new harvesting methods from their corporate partners. Rather, the text suggests that corporations use the knowledge of Indigenous communities for their research. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 95dbdf51 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 95dbdf51 Laura Mulvey has theorized that in narrative film, shots issuing from a protagonist’s point of view compel viewers to identify with the character. Such identification is heightened by “invisible editing,” or editing so inconspicuous that it renders cuts between shots almost unnoticeable. Conversely, Mulvey proposes that conspicuous editing or an absence of point-of-view shots would induce a more critical stance toward a protagonist. Consider, for example, the attic scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, a conspicuously edited sequence of tens of shots, few of which correspond to the protagonist’s point of view. According to Mulvey’s logic, this scene should affect viewers by ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. obscuring their awareness of the high degree of artifice involved in constructing the montage. B. lessening their identification with the protagonist, if not alienating them from the character altogether. C. compelling them to identify with the film’s director, whose proxy is the camera, and not with the protagonist. D. diverting their attention away from the film’s content and toward its stylistic attributes. ID: 95dbdf51 Answer Correct Answer: B Rationale Choice B is the best answer. We’re told that point-of-view shots and “invisible editing” make audiences identify with a character. We’re also told that obvious editing and a lack of point-of-view shots have the opposite effect. Since the sequence in The Birds falls into this second category, it should have the effect of reducing the audience’s connection with the protagonist. Choice A is incorrect. The passage doesn’t mention viewers’ awareness of artifice (i.e., camera trickery) in films, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice C is incorrect. The passage doesn’t mention the director at all, so there’s no basis for this inference. Choice D is incorrect. The passage doesn’t discuss whether a film’s “stylistic attributes” may distract viewers from the film’s story, so there’s no basis for this inference. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID 0dba14e6 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: 0dba14e6 The increased integration of digital technologies throughout the process of book creation in the late 20th and early 21st centuries lowered the costs of book production, but those decreased costs have been most significant in the manufacturing and distribution process, which occurs after the authoring, editing, and design of the book are complete. This suggests that in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. digital technologies made it easier than it had been previously for authors to write very long works and get them published. B. customers generally expected the cost of books to decline relative to the cost of other consumer goods. C. publishers increased the variety of their offerings by printing more unique titles but also printed fewer copies of each title. D. the costs of writing, editing, and designing a book were less affected by the technologies used than were the costs of manufacturing and distributing a book. ID: 0dba14e6 Answer Correct Answer: D Rationale Choice D is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically follows from the text’s discussion of how digital technologies affected the process of book creation. The text explains that in the late 20th and early 21st centuries digital technologies lowered book production costs most significantly in manufacturing and distribution. The text goes on to point out that authoring, editing, and book design are distinct steps in the process that occur before manufacturing and distribution. Because the savings connected to digital technologies have been most significant in manufacturing and distribution, it’s reasonable to infer that those technologies had less of an effect on writing, editing, and designing books. Choice A is incorrect because the text focuses on lowered book production costs that occur after authoring has taken place; there’s no indication in the text whether digital technologies made writing and publishing lengthy books easier. Choice B is incorrect. Although it’s logical to conclude that customers would expect the cost of books to decline if production costs have declined, the text doesn’t address customer expectations for the cost of books or any other consumer goods. Choice C is incorrect because the text focuses broadly on how digital technologies have affected the cost of the publishing process; it doesn’t address the kinds of books being published or how many copies are printed. Question Difficulty: Hard Question ID a13c1c66 Assessment Test Domain Skill Difficulty SAT Reading and Writing Information and Inferences Ideas ID: a13c1c66 Many animals, including humans, must sleep, and sleep is known to have a role in everything from healing injuries to encoding information in long-term memory. But some scientists claim that, from an evolutionary standpoint, deep sleep for hours at a time leaves an animal so vulnerable that the known benefits of sleeping seem insufficient to explain why it became so widespread in the animal kingdom. These scientists therefore imply that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text? A. prolonged deep sleep is likely advantageous in ways that have yet to be discovered. B. most traits perform functions that are hard to understand from an evolutionary standpoint. C. it is more important to understand how widespread prolonged deep sleep is than to understand its function. D. many traits that provide significant benefits for an animal also likely pose risks to that animal. ID: a13c1c66 Answer Correct Answer: A Rati