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The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Drowne’s Wooden Image.” Drowne, a young man,
is carving a wooden figure to decorate the front of a ship.
Day by day, the work assumed greater precision, and settled its irregular and misty outline into distincter grace and beauty.
The general design was now obvious to the common eye.

As used in the text, what does the word “assumed” most nearly mean?

A. Acquired

B. Acknowledged

C. Imitated

D. Speculated
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The following text is from Yann Martel’s 2001 novel Life of Pi. The narrator’s family owned a zoo when he was a child.

It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it seemed to get
smaller as I grew older, train included.
©2001 by Yann Martel

As used in the text, what does the word “spread” most nearly mean?

A. Hidden

B. Discussed

C. Extended

D. Coated
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Charles “Teenie” Harris was a photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier from 1936 to 1975. During his career he took over
70,000 photographs documenting everyday life in Pittsburgh’s Black communities. The Carnegie Museum of Art maintains
thousands of his photographs, carefully ______ them so that audiences can continue to view them well into the future.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. replacing

B. inventing

C. preserving

D. counting
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The following text is adapted from George Eliot’s 1871–72 novel Middlemarch.

[Mr. Brooke] had travelled in his younger years, and was held in this part of the country to have contracted a too
rambling habit of mind. Mr. Brooke’s conclusions were as difficult to predict as the weather.

As used in the text, what does the word “contracted” most nearly mean?

A. Restricted

B. Described

C. Developed

D. Settled
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The work of molecular biophysicist Enrique M. De La Cruz is known for ______ traditional boundaries between academic
disciplines. The university laboratory that De La Cruz runs includes engineers, biologists, chemists, and physicists, and the
research the lab produces makes use of insights and techniques from all those fields.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A. epitomizing

B. transcending

C. anticipating

D. reinforcing
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Text 1
Growth in the use of novel nanohybrids—materials created from the conjugation of multiple distinct nanomaterials, such as
iron oxide and gold nanomaterials conjugated for use in magnetic imaging—has outpaced studies of nanohybrids’
environmental risks. Unfortunately, risk evaluations based on nanohybrids’ constituents are not reliable: conjugation may
alter constituents’ physiochemical properties such that innocuous nanomaterials form a nanohybrid that is anything but.
Text 2
The potential for enhanced toxicity of nanohybrids relative to the toxicity of constituent nanomaterials has drawn deserved
attention, but the effects of nanomaterial conjugation vary by case. For instance, it was recently shown that a nanohybrid of
silicon dioxide and zinc oxide preserved the desired optical transparency of zinc oxide nanoparticles while mitigating the
nanoparticles’ potential to damage DNA.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the assertion in the underlined portion of Text 1?

By concurring that the risk described in Text 1 should be evaluated but emphasizing that the risk is more than offset by
A. the potential benefits of nanomaterial conjugation

By arguing that the situation described in Text 1 may not be representative but conceding that the effects of
B. nanomaterial conjugation are harder to predict than researchers had expected

By denying that the circumstance described in Text 1 is likely to occur but acknowledging that many aspects of
C. nanomaterial conjugation are still poorly understood

By agreeing that the possibility described in Text 1 is a cause for concern but pointing out that nanomaterial conjugation
D. does not inevitably produce that result
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Using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Mercedes López-Morales and colleagues measured the
wavelengths of light traveling through the atmosphere of WASP-39b, an exoplanet, or planet outside our solar system.
Different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light, and the wavelength measurements showed the presence of
carbon dioxide (CO₂) in WASP-39b’s atmosphere. This finding not only offers the first decisive evidence of CO₂ in the
atmosphere of an exoplanet but also illustrates the potential for future scientific breakthroughs held by the JWST.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It discusses a method used by some researchers, then states why an alternative method is superior to it.

B. It describes how researchers made a scientific discovery, then explains the importance of that discovery.

C. It outlines the steps taken in a scientific study, then presents a hypothesis based on that study.

It examines how a group of scientists reached a conclusion, then shows how other scientists have challenged that
D. conclusion.
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Researchers have found a nearly 164,000-year-old molar from a member of the archaic human species known as
Denisovans in a cave in Laos, suggesting that Denisovans lived in a wider range of environments than indicated by earlier
evidence. Before the discovery, Denisovans were thought to have lived only at high altitudes in relatively cold climates in
what are now Russia and China, but the discovery of the tooth in Laos suggests that they may have lived at low altitudes in
relatively warm climates in Southeast Asia as well.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It dismisses as untrue the research presented in the previous sentence.

B. It defines a term used in the description that follows in the rest of the sentence.

C. It emphasizes the main goal of the research introduced in the previous sentence.

D. It provides context that clarifies the significance of the information that follows in the rest of the sentence.
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The following text is adapted from Herman Melville’s 1857 novel The Confidence-Man. Humphry Davy was a prominent
British chemist and inventor.

Years ago, a grave American savant, being in London, observed at an evening party there, a certain coxcombical fellow,
as he thought, an absurd ribbon in his lapel, and full of smart [banter], whisking about to the admiration of as many as
were disposed to admire. Great was the savant’s disdain; but, chancing ere long to find himself in a corner with the
jackanapes, got into conversation with him, when he was somewhat ill-prepared for the good sense of the jackanapes,
but was altogether thrown aback, upon subsequently being [informed that he was] no less a personage than Sir
Humphry Davy.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It portrays the thoughts of a character who is embarrassed about his own behavior.

B. It presents an account of a misunderstanding.

C. It offers a short history of how a person came to be famous.

D. It explains why one character dislikes another.

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Historians Tiya Miles and Roy E. Finkenbine have both documented the assistance Indigenous peoples gave to Black
freedom seekers leaving the South before the US Civil War. Much of the historical evidence of this help comes from
Indigenous oral traditions and from autobiographies written by the freedom seekers. One such narrative is Jermain Loguen’s
autobiography, which tells about how Neshnabé (Potawatomi) villagers offered him food, lodging, and directions during his
1835 journey from Tennessee to Canada.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence?

A. It provides an example of an autobiography that describes help given by an Indigenous people to a Black freedom seeker.

It shows why Loguen decided to write in great detail about his experiences traveling from Tennessee to Canada in his
B. autobiography.

It argues that autobiographies are particularly important sources of information about geography in the United States
C. before the Civil War.

It suggests that most historians believe that Neshnabé villagers were more successful in assisting freedom seekers than
D. other people were.
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In 1973, poet Miguel Algarín started inviting other writers who, like him, were Nuyorican—a term for New Yorkers of Puerto
Rican heritage—to gather in his apartment to present their work. The gatherings were so well attended that Algarín soon had
to rent space in a cafe to accommodate them. Thus, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe was born. Moving to a permanent location in
1981, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its original scope beyond the written word, hosting art exhibitions and musical
performances as well. Half a century since its inception, it continues to foster emerging Nuyorican talent.

Which choice best describes the overall purpose of the text?

A. To explain what motivated Algarín to found the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

B. To situate the Nuyorican Poets Cafe within the cultural life of New York as a whole

C. To discuss why the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its scope to include art and music

D. To provide an overview of the founding and mission of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
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The following text is adapted from Edith Nesbit’s 1906 novel The Railway Children.
Mother did not spend all her time in paying dull [visits] to dull ladies, and sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay
[visits] to her. She was almost always there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, and help them to do their
home-lessons. Besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after tea,
and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for other great occasions.

According to the text, what is true about Mother?

A. She wishes that more ladies would visit her.

B. Birthdays are her favorite special occasion.

C. She creates stories and poems for her children.

D. Reading to her children is her favorite activity.

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3f
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.

limiting the research that corporations conduct on the resources of the Indigenous communities with which they have
B. signed agreements.

preventing independent observers from determining whether the agreements guarantee equitable compensation for
C. Indigenous communities.

discouraging Indigenous communities from learning new methods for harvesting plants and animals from their
D. corporate partners.
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In 1534 CE, King Henry VIII of England split with the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the Church of England, in
part because Pope Clement VII refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Two years later, Henry VIII introduced a
policy titled the Dissolution of the Monasteries that by 1540 had resulted in the closure of all Catholic monasteries in
England and the confiscation of their estates. Some historians assert that the enactment of the policy was primarily
motivated by perceived financial opportunities.

Which quotation from a scholarly article best supports the assertion of the historians mentioned in the text?

“At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, about 2 percent of the adult male population of England were monks;
A. by 1690, the proportion of the adult male population who were monks was less than 1 percent.”

“A contemporary description of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Michael Sherbrook’s Falle of the Religious Howses,
recounts witness testimony that monks were allowed to keep the contents of their cells and that the monastery timber
B. was purchased by local yeomen.”

“In 1535, the year before enacting the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry commissioned a survey of the value of
church holdings in England—the work, performed by sheriffs, bishops, and magistrates, began that January and was
C. swiftly completed by the summer.”

“The October 1536 revolt known as the Pilgrimage of Grace had several economic motives: high food prices due to a
poor harvest the prior year; the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which closed reliable sources of food and shelter for
D. many; and rents and taxes throughout Northern England that were not merely high but predatory.”
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“To You” is an 1856 poem by Walt Whitman. In the poem, Whitman suggests that readers, whom he addresses directly, have
not fully understood themselves, writing, ______

Which quotation from “To You” most effectively illustrates the claim?

“You have not known what you are, you have slumber’d upon yourself / all your life, / Your eyelids have been the same as
A. closed most of the time.”

B. “These immense meadows, these interminable rivers, you are immense / and interminable as they.”

“I should have made my way straight to you long ago, / I should have blabb’d nothing but you, I should have chanted
C. nothing / but you.”

D. “I will leave all and come and make the hymns of you, / None has understood you, but I understand you.”
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O Pioneers! is a 1913 novel by Willa Cather. In the novel, Cather depicts Alexandra Bergson as a person who takes comfort in
understanding the world around her: ______

Which quotation from O Pioneers! most effectively illustrates the claim?

“She looked fixedly up the bleak street as if she were gathering her strength to face something, as if she were trying with
A. all her might to grasp a situation which, no matter how painful, must be met and dealt with somehow.“

“She had never known before how much the country meant to her. The chirping of the insects down in the long grass had
been like the sweetest music. She had felt as if her heart were hiding down there, somewhere, with the quail and the
plover and all the little wild things that crooned or buzzed in the sun. Under the long shaggy ridges, she felt the future
B. stirring.“

“Alexandra drove off alone. The rattle of her wagon was lost in the howling of the wind, but her lantern, held firmly
C. between her feet, made a moving point of light along the highway, going deeper and deeper into the dark country.”

“Alexandra drew her shawl closer about her and stood leaning against the frame of the mill, looking at the stars which
glittered so keenly through the frosty autumn air. She always loved to watch them, to think of their vastness and distance,
and of their ordered march. It fortified her to reflect upon the great operations of nature, and when she thought of the law
D. that lay behind them, she felt a sense of personal security.”
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The following text is adapted from Christina Rossetti’s 1881 poem “Monna Innominata 2.”
I wish I could remember that first day, First hour, first moment of your meeting me, If bright or dim the season, it might be
Summer or Winter for [all] I can say; So unrecorded did it slip away, So blind was I to see and to foresee,
So dull to mark the budding of my tree That would not blossom yet for many a May.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. The speaker celebrates how the passage of time has strengthened a relationship that once seemed unimportant.

Because the speaker did not anticipate how important a relationship would become, she cannot recall how the
B. relationship began, which she regrets.

As the anniversary of the beginning of an important relationship approaches, the speaker feels conflicted about how best
C. to commemorate it.

After years of neglecting a once valuable relationship, the speaker worries it may be too late for her to salvage the
D. relationship.
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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.

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Despite being cheap, versatile, and easy to produce, ______ they are made from nonrenewable petroleum, and most do not
biodegrade in landfills.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. there are two problems associated with commercial plastics:

B. two problems are associated with commercial plastics:

C. commercial plastics’ two associated problems are that

D. commercial plastics have two associated problems:

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333
While one requires oxygen and one does ______ and anaerobic respiration are both forms of cellular respiration—that is, they
are processes by which cells break down glucose to use as energy.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. not aerobic

B. not. Aerobic

C. not, aerobic

D. not; aerobic
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Rabinal Achí is a precolonial Maya dance drama performed annually in Rabinal, a town in the Guatemalan highlands. Based
on events that occurred when Rabinal was a city-state ruled by a king, ______ had once been an ally of the king but was later
captured while leading an invading force against him.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. Rabinal Achí tells the story of K’iche’ Achí, a military leader who

B. K’iche’ Achí, the military leader in the story of Rabinal Achí,

C. the military leader whose story is told in Rabinal Achí, K’iche’ Achí,

D. there was a military leader, K’iche’ Achí, who in Rabinal Achí

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Professional American football player Fred Cox invented one of the world’s most popular toys. In the 1970s, he came up with
the idea for the Nerf football, which ______ of the harder and heavier regulation football.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. were a smaller, foam version

B. are smaller, foam versions

C. were smaller, foam versions

D. is a smaller, foam version

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Beatrix Potter is perhaps best known for writing and illustrating children’s books such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902), but
she also dedicated herself to mycology, the study of ______ more than 350 paintings of the fungal species she observed in
nature and submitting her research on spore germination to the Linnean Society of London.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

A. fungi; producing

B. fungi. Producing

C. fungi producing

D. fungi, producing
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For years, biologists have experimented with using grime-eating bacteria rather than harsh chemicals to clean artworks, and
results have been impressive overall. ______ these bacterial strains—which can metabolize centuries’ worth of oil, glue, dirt,
and other surface impurities without creating harmful byproducts—have proven more effective than traditional chemical
cleaning methods.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. However,

B. In many cases,

C. As a result,

D. Additionally,
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In 1815, while in exile in Jamaica, Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar penned a letter praising England’s republican
government and expressing hope that Latin American nations seeking independence from Spain might achieve something
similar. The letter was addressed to a local merchant, Henry Cullen; ______ though, Bolívar’s goal was to persuade political
leaders from England and Europe to support his cause.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. additionally,

B. ultimately,

C. accordingly,

D. consequently,
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In a heated debate in biogeography, the field is divided between dispersalists and vicariancists. ______ there are those who
argue that dispersal is the most crucial determining factor in a species’ distribution, and those who insist that vicariance
(separation due to geographic barriers) is. Biogeographer Isabel Sanmartín counts herself among neither.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Furthermore,

B. By contrast,

C. Similarly,

D. That is,
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While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
As engineered structures, many bird nests are uniquely flexible yet cohesive.
A research team led by Yashraj Bhosale wanted to better understand the mechanics behind these structural
properties.
Bhosale’s team used laboratory models that simulated the arrangement of flexible sticks into nest-like structures.
The researchers analyzed the points where sticks touched one another.
When pressure was applied to the model nests, the number of contact points between the sticks increased, making
the structures stiffer.

The student wants to present the primary aim of the research study. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information
from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Bhosale’s team wanted to better understand the mechanics behind bird nests’ uniquely flexible yet cohesive structural
A. properties.

The researchers used laboratory models that simulated the arrangement of flexible sticks and analyzed the points where
B. sticks touched one another.

After analyzing the points where sticks touched, the researchers found that the structures became stiffer when pressure
C. was applied.

D. As analyzed by Bhosale’s team, bird nests are uniquely flexible yet cohesive engineered structures.