1.
Posed in 1895, the Painlevé conjecture ________many mathematicians before
yielding to the efforts of Jinxin Xue, who presented a proof of it in 2014.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) indoctrinated
B) appeased
C) confounded
D) disregarded
2. Although Hawaiian literature is highly heterogeneous in many ways, it is also
characterized by considerable thematic______: scholars have drawn connections
linking works by writers such as David Kaläkaua and Kaui Hart Hemmings to the
traditional stories of the Känaka Maoli, the Native Hawaiian people.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) subtlety
B) innovation
C) sophistication
D) continuity
3. The term "agglomeration economies" refers to the economic benefits enjoyed by
firms in the same industry that _______ in a region. For example, 1 in the synthetic
fiber manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom, firms that locate near one
another can more readily take advantage of increased access to a large pool of skilled
specialists that facilitates finding suitable employees.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) dissipate
B) terminate
C) recur
D) concentrate
4. In 2016, Gabriela Gonzalez and team announced that a chirping sound captured by
Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory antennas was direct evidence of
gravitational waves, which skeptics had argued would be too faint for detection.
Detailed statistical analysis helped preclude claims of the event’s ______, confirming
the signal at a confidence level of over 99%.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) Discretion
B) Ambiguity
C) Probability
D) Inconspicuousness
Our channel
[Link]
5. In Egypt, use of solid fuel (e.g., coal, wood) as a share of total household fuel use fell
by more than 90 percent between 2000 and 2015; such shifts are typically explained
by appeal to the energy ladder, a model holding that fuel choice is mediated mainly by
household income (specifically, high-technology fuels displace solid fuels as incomes
rise). Alemu Mekonnen and Gunnar Köhlin's study of fuel use in Ethiopia shows how
reductive this model is, however: although income of course constrained fuel choice,
several circumstances, including the local availability of different fuel sources,
influenced decisions.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A) It anticipates a potential objection to the description of a model that the text provides.
B) It admits the superficial plausibility of an assumption that the text presents as lacking any
empirical support.
C) It acknowledges the role played by a factor whose importance the text suggests has been
overstated.
D) It concedes that a finding may not appear to support the main view that the text advances.
6. Beth Shapiro and other researchers studying the history of organisms have long
utilized ancient DNA-DNA recovered from ancient organic material that has been
preserved under natural conditions. However, Nicolas Dussex and colleagues' 2021
study of the evolutionary trajectory of the kākāpō parrot (Strigops habroptilus) instead
relied on historical DNA—genomic data incidentally preserved in specimens that are
housed in natural history collections—thus capitalizing on the research potential
offered by a vast but hitherto relatively underutilized source of insight into the
biological past.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
A) It compares two distinct methods of analyzing genomic data, then explains why the
second method is relatively underused.
B) It describes two different approaches used by researchers, then emphasizes how promising
one of those approaches is.
C) It summarizes previous research on a topic, then illustrates how a group of scientists used
a new method to challenge findings produced by that research.
D) It provides an overview of a technique traditionally used by scientists, then asserts that an
alternative technique is superior to it.
7. President Richard Nixon is most famous for his participation in the 1970s Watergate
political scandal, a convoluted tale of criminality and eroded ethics involving a
constellation of associates such as Chief of Staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman and Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger. But Nixon's legacy is complex: he has been praised for his
role in creating the Environmental Protection Agency, and he once made an attempt at
reforming United States health care policy that is arguably a precursor to the
Affordable Care Act, which became law during the Barack Obama administration.
Our channel
[Link]
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) It assesses a historical figure's significance by considering both his achievements and
failings.
B) It explains how a historical figure's reputation has improved significantly with the passage
of time.
C) It argues that the seeming prominence of a historical figure is largely due to the actions of
others.
D) It catalogs the most notable achievements of a historical figure.
8. The following text is adapted from George Eliot's 1857 short story "The Sad Fortunes
of the Rev. Amos Barton." The Countess Czerlaski is a newcomer to the town of
Milby.
I am by no means sure that if the good people of Milby had known the truth about the
Countess Czerlaski, they would not have been considerably disappointed to find that it was
very far from being as bad as they imagined. Nice distinctions are troublesome. It is so much
easier to make up your mind that your neighbour is good for nothing, than to enter into all the
circumstances that would oblige you to modify that opinion.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) To offer commentary on a human foible that may account for why the people of Milby
view the Countess Czerlaski as they do.
B) To elicit the reader's sympathy for both the people of Milby and the Countess Czerlaski by
elaborating on their respective points of view.
C) To speculate on the circumstances under which the unfavorable opinion of the Countess
Czerlaski that is held by the people of Milby could be improved.
D) To illustrate why the Countess Czerlaski rightly earned at least some of the disapproval
she has received from the people of Milby.
9. The following text is adapted from Guy de Maupassant’s 1884 short story “A
Recollection,” from the collection Guy de Maupassant Short Stories (translated by
Albert M.C. McMaster et al in 1903). The narrator is taking a boat down the Seine
river from Paris, France, to the surrounding countryside.
I took up a position in the bows [front of the boat], standing up and looking at the quays, the
trees, the houses and the bridges disappearing behind us. And suddenly I perceived the great
viaduct of Point du Jour which blocked the river. It was the end of Paris, the beginning of the
country, and behind the double row of arches the Seine, suddenly spreading out as though it
had regained space and liberty, became all at once the peaceful river which flows through the
plains, alongside the wooded hills, amid the meadows, along the edge of the forests.
Our channel
[Link]
Based on the text, which choice best expresses the narrator’s characterization of the Seine?
A) As the journey progressed from Paris to the countryside, the waters of the Seine gradually
cleared.
B) The waters of the Seine are more confined and rough in Paris than they are in the
countryside.
C) Though the Seine is calm during most of the journey, the arches of the Point du Jour
created a small area of heavy current.
D) The Seine is beautiful but not as beautiful as Paris.
10. Tax Penalties Assessed on Private Foundations That Filed Form 4720, by Reason,
2003-2005
While US public charities, like Habitat for Humanity International, must file Form 990 yearly
with the IRS, private foundations, such as Lilly Endowment Inc., must file a different form,
990-PF. In addition, foundations that engage in certain prohibited activities must also file
Form 4720 and pay a penalty tax on the money involved. Private foundations are prohibited
from holding excess interests in a business enterprise, "self-dealing" (conducting activities
Our channel
[Link]
that benefit foundation insiders), making taxable expenditures such as grants to noncharitable
entities, and failing to cross a required threshold in making charitable distributions from
income. Out of the organizations that filed Form 990-PF in the years 2003–2005, ______
The data in the graph best support which conclusion about organizations that filed Form 4720
in 2005?
A) those that filed Form 4720 in 2005 because they engaged in self-dealing collectively paid
a larger percentage of the total penalty assessed that year than those that filed Form 990 but
also filed Form 4720 for the same reason.
B) those that filed Form 4720 because they had excess holdings in a business enterprise paid,
on average, a larger penalty than those that filed Form 4720 because they engaged in self-
dealing.
C) those that filed Form 4720 because they engaged in self-dealing paid an increasing
percentage of the total penalty each year from 2003 to 2005.
D) those that filed Form 4720 in 2003 because they failed to meet the minimum charitable
distribution requirement collectively paid a larger percentage of the total penalty assessed that
year than those that filed Form 4720 in 2005 for the same reason.
11. Psychologists Gregory Bryant, Dorsa Amir, and colleagues investigated cross-cultural
perceptions of spontaneous (real) laughter and volitional (fake or forced) laughter.
Study participants from 21 societies, including those in Austria and Turkey, listened
to randomized recordings of 18 spontaneous laughs taken from natural conversations
between pairs of women and 18 volitional laughs produced separately by 18 different
women in response to an experimenter’s instruction to laugh. Analysis of the
participants’ evaluations of the laughs prompted the team to conclude that the ability
to distinguish between spontaneous and volitional laughter appears to be universal
across cultures.
Which quotation from a psychologist not involved in the team’s study would most directly
weaken the team’s conclusion?
A) “When an individual chooses to produce volitional laughter in a natural social context, the
laughter often shares certain acoustic qualities, such as pitch and fluctuation of intensity, with
spontaneous laughter.”
B) “Although the team considered the average size of communities in each society in the
study, that demographic factor was found to have no effect on listeners’ identifications of
laughter as spontaneous or volitional.”
C) “Judgments of spontaneous laughter are often associated with acoustic features such as
greater intensity variability and higher pitch.”
D) “Recent studies in communications have shown that certain acoustic features of
spontaneous laughter, such as pitch and intensity, are consistent both within and across
societies.”
Our channel
[Link]
12.
Esther Sanyé-Mengual, Kathrin Specht, and their team surveyed three groups of people in
Bologna, Italy—leaders of urban agriculture projects, stakeholders in urban agriculture (e.g.,
food researchers and urban farming associations), and the general public—to compare their
views about the extent to which urban agriculture contributes to 25 social or ecological
services that the team identified. The researchers used these ratings to rank the services for
each group, with a ranking of 1 indicating that a group perceives that urban agriculture
benefits that service the most. Using only the rankings shown in the table, a city planner in
Bologna who is promoting a new urban agriculture project concludes that advertisements
aimed at the general public should emphasize the project’s benefit to the provision of
medicinal plants.
Which choice best describes data in the table that support the city planner’s conclusion?
A) The prevention of soil erosion was ranked higher for the general public than was the
provision of medicinal plants.
B) The provision of medicinal plants was ranked higher for the general public than were the
other four services.
C) The provision of medicinal plants was ranked higher for stakeholders than it was for the
general public.
D) The enhancement of pollination was ranked lower for the general public than it was for
project leaders.
Our channel
[Link]
13. Poetry in Classical Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire, relies on diffrasismo,
or a parallel noun construction that conventionally operates as a single metaphor. For
example, the common diffrasismo in cuauhtli in ocelotl (literally, “the eagle, the
jaguar”) signifies “warrior.” The device’s function is both formal—providing
structure to lines of verse—and ritual: semantic relations among the two nouns and
the concept they signify can be tenuous, as in the previous example, such
that diffrasismos are often only intelligible according to the conceptual associations
observed in Aztec ceremonial culture.
Which statement about the diffrasismo in cuauhtli in ocelotl is most strongly supported by
the text?
A) Its frequency in Classical Nahuatl poetry confirms its intelligibility to the Aztec
audience.
B) Its unintelligibility may cause its formal function within a line of verse to go
unnoticed by present-day readers.
C) Its apparent obscurity can be resolved when considered in the proper cultural
context.
D) Its metaphorical significance derives from the semantic equivalence of the two
nouns constituting the diffrasismo.
14. In November of 1989, Argentina liberalized its stock market, meaning that it began
allowing foreign individuals and businesses to invest money in Argentinian
companies. This was part of a wave of stock market liberalizations from the mid-
1980s through the mid-1990s—Bangladesh in 1991, Nigeria in 1995, and so on. In an
analysis of economic data from 1976 to 1993, Ross Levine and Sara Zervos found
that liberalization did not lead to enduring increases in investment in companies
countries that liberalized. Peter Blair Henry, however, found that, on average,
investment in cornpanies in liberalized countries increased significantly in the three
years following liberalization. Taken together, these results suggest that____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) economists' expectations about the effect of liberalization on investment were
largely correct.
B) companies typically do not benefit from liberalization until at least three years
after liberalization occurs.
C) investment growth is likely to be more consistent in countries that liberalize than in
countries that do not.
D) liberalization may provide a boost to investment that fades over time.
15. Data collected by the Mars rover Curiosity at the Gale Crater's Murray Formation are
suggestive of hydrological deposition of sediment in the distant past. To characterize
the nature of the depositional environment, Frances Rivera-Hernåndez et al. analyzed
the grain size of Murray Formation sediment, finding that although there are intervals of
coarse grains, most of the sediment consists of fine grains that show signs of cracking
due to episodic desiccation. Rivera-Hernåndez et al. concluded that the coarse grains
are sandstone, which tends to be deposited by flowing water, whereas the fine grains
are mudstone, which is slowly deposited by settling out of suspension in low-flow water,
leading the researchers to posit that______
Our channel
[Link]
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) although the area of the Murray Formation experienced a prolonged period of
dryness that prevented a lake from forming, water flowing from a distant source was
present.
B) a lake existed at the Murray Formation for a prolonged period, though the lake
occasionally experienced drying and there were periods in which one or more
streams were present.
C) one or more streams existed at the Murray Formation for an extended period until
being replaced by a lake that persisted for only a brief period before permanently
drying.
D) a stream-fed lake was present at the Murray Formation for an extended period,
and although the streams experienced occasional drying, the lake did not.
16. Recent pollen analyses of the Aran Islands have led some researchers to propose that
the now treeless islands were once wooded. This hypothesis ______ that certain trees,
such as P. sylvestris, survived without interruption or human intervention throughout
the Holocene cannot stand, researchers Michael O’Connell and Karen Molloy
counter, unless other explanations can first be ruled out.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A) suggesting
B) suggests
C) suggested
D) has suggested
17. English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne's ______ much admired
during his lifetime (1572-1631) and in the decades that followed, had, at the time of
their enthusiastic rediscovery by the early twentieth-century modernists, been
essentially gathering dust for the intervening 250 years.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A) works, were
B) works had been
C) works,
D) works were
18. English poet and Shakespeare contemporary John Donne's ______ much admired
during his lifetime (1572-1631) and in the decades that followed, had, at the time of
their enthusiastic rediscovery by the early twentieth-century modernists, been
essentially gathering dust for the intervening 250 years.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard
English?
A) works, were
B) works had been
Our channel
[Link]
C) works,
D) works were
19. Writing in hieroglyphs, ancient Egyptians recorded measurements using units such as
the sa, a unit of ______ and the khar, a unit of volume. The sa, for instance, is written
as a hieroglyph that looks like a duck or goose.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) area; the shesep; a unit of length;
B) area the shesep, a unit of length
C) area; the shesep, a unit of length;
D) area, the shesep; a unit of length,
20. Award-winning travel writer Linda Watanabe McFerrin considers the background
research she conducts on destinations featured in her travel books to be its own
reward. ______ McFerrin admits to finding the research phase of her work just as
fascinating and engaging as exploring a location in person.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) By contrast,
B) Likewise,
C) Besides,
D) In fact,
21. During the 1924 New York ticker-tape parade for US Olympic champions, the
ribbonlike swirls descending on the scene were paper spools from machines used to
transmit stock prices. Of course, the original ticker tape had long since been retired by
the 2019 parade for the US women's national soccer team,_______ shredded standard
paper enriched the celebration.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) In other words,
B) With this in mind,
C) In addition,
D) Then
22. Built at a scale of 1:110, the Eiffel Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan, is one of many
replicas of the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. ___ towers like the Metallic
Tower of Fourviere in Lyon, France, though not exact replicas, pay homage to the
Eiffel’s iconic spire-like design.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) On the contrary,
B) Consequently,
Our channel
[Link]
C)
Invariably,
D) Moreover,
23. Theater industry veteran Robert Tang admits that his ambitions weren't very lofty
when he created the Asian American Theater Revue, a website that documents
information about Asian American theaters like Second Generation Productions in
New York City, New York: "Everyone had a site, so I had to have one, too." ______
his site has become an essential resource for industry professionals looking to learn
more about Asian American plays, playwrights, theater festivals, and more.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) Nevertheless,
B) Therefore,
C) Furthermore,
D) Next,
24. Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock is excited about the potential of the new James
Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Unlike its predecessor the Hubble Telescope, the
JWST is optimized for infrared wavelength. When light from distant galaxies is
infrared, ______ the JWST can provide sharp images that reveal much more
information about those galaxies than the Hubble could.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A) consequently,
B) admittedly,
C) actually,
D) in addition,
25. While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
Malapportionment is the over- or underrepresentation (relative to population size) of electoral
districts in a governing body.
It is a common feature of representative governments.
There are 169 seats in Norway’s supreme legislature (the Storting).
Seats are distributed by a formula that awards 1 point per resident and 1.8 points per unit of
land.
Less populated rural districts with large tracts of land receive a disproportionate number of
seats compared to smaller but more populated urban districts.
The student wants to refute a claim that malapportionment in the Storting favors small urban
districts. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to
accomplish this goal?
Our channel
[Link]
A) A common feature of representative governments, malapportionment occurs when
electoral districts are over- or underrepresented.
B) Less populated rural districts are disproportionally underrepresented in the Storting,
creating an unfair advantage for smaller but more populated urban districts.
C) It’s untrue that malapportionment in the 169-seat Storting favors small urban districts;
rather, the formula for distributing seats overrepresents more populated districts.
D) Awarding more points per unit of land than points per resident, the formula for
distributing Storting seats overrepresents less populated rural districts with large tracts of
land.
26. While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Uranus has twenty-seven moons, including Oberon and Miranda.
• Oberon completes an orbit of Uranus in 13.46 Carth days on average.
Miranda completes an orbit Of Uranus in 1.41 Earth days on average.
• German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) described the
orbits of planets as elliptical in shape rather than circular.
Kepler published three laws of planetary motion to describe the orbits of planets
around the Sun.
• Keplers laws also apply to the elliptical orbits of natural satellites (e.g„ moons).
The student wants to contrast the orbits of the two moons. Which choice most effectively
uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) Miranda completes its orbit of Uranus many times faster than Oberon does.
B) Kepler's three laws of planetary motion describe the orbits of planets and natural
satellites, including those of Oberon and Miranda.
C) Oberon's orbit of Uranus is elliptical in shape and takes, on average, 13.46 Earth days,
while Miranda's orbit of Uranus is circular in shape and takes, on average, 1.41 Earth days.
D) Uranus's moons, specifically Oberon and Miranda, orbit their planet in the same way the
planets orbit the Sun.
27. While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
A U-shaped curve in a river channel is called a meander.
A meander forms when water erodes sediment from one side of the riverbank and
redeposits that sediment on the opposite side.
Meanders will gradually change shape and migrate downstream over time.
A river with high sinuosity has many meanders, and a river with low sinuosity has
few.
The Willapa River in the United States has high sinuosity.
The student wants to define the term "high-sinuosity river." Which choice most
effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A) A high-sinuosity river is one that has many meanders, or U-shaped curves.
B) A high-sinuosity river has U-shaped curves called meanders that will
gradually change shape and shift downstream.
C) High sinuosity is caused by the erosion and redepositing of sediment in a
riverbank over time.
Our channel
[Link]
D) Over time, the many meanders in the high-sinuosity Willapa River will change shape and
migrate downstream.
Our channel
[Link]