1.

Vocabulary Question

● Question Prompt:

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

- As used in the text, what does the word X most nearly mean?

● How to Approach:

- The text will always contain information that leads to the right answer choice (called “context

clues)

- You must find the evidence in the passage to choose the right answer.

- “Best” = the answer choice that makes most sense (Not the right answer, but the best one)

- Remember, it is the type of big picture question. Focusing on the main idea can also be very

helpful when you cannot find clear evidence in the text.

Q1. In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the first script, or writing
system, for an Indigenous language in the United States. Because it represented the sounds of
spoken Cherokee so accurately, his script was easy to learn and thus quickly achieved _______
use: by 1830, over 90 percent of the Cherokee people could read and write it.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) widespread
B) careful
C) unintended
D) infrequent

Q2. When Mexican-American archaeologist Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall published her 1886
research paper on sculptures found at the ancient Indigenous city of Teotihuacan in present-day
Mexico, other researchers readily _______ her work as ground breaking; this recognition
stemmed from her convincing demonstration that the sculptures were much older than had
previously been thought.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) acknowledged
B) ensured
C) denied
D) underestimated

Q3.Like other tribal nations, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is self-governing; its National Council
generates laws regulating aspects of community life such as land use and healthcare, while the
principal chief and cabinet officials _______ those laws by devising policies and administering
services in accordance with them.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) implement
B) presume
C) improvise
D) mimic
Q4. In the Indigenous intercropping system known as the Three Sisters, maize, squash, and
beans form an _______ web of relations: maize provides the structure on which the bean vines
grow; the squash vines cover the soil, discouraging competition from weeds; and the beans aid
their two “sisters” by enriching the soil with essential nitrogen.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) indecipherable
B) ornamental
C) obscure
D) intricate

Q5. The artisans of the Igun Eronmwon guild in Benin City, Nigeria, typically _______ the
bronze- and brass-casting techniques that have been passed down through their families since
the thirteenth century, but they don’t strictly observe every tradition; for example, guild members
now use air-conditioning motors instead of handheld bellows to help heat their forges.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) experiment with
B) adhere to
C) improve on
D) grapple with

Q6. Some economic historians _______ that late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century
households in the United States experienced an economy of scale when it came to food
purchases—they assumed that large households spent less on food per person than did small
households. Economist Trevon Logan showed, however, that a close look at the available data
disproves this supposition.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) surmised
B) contrived
C) questioned
D) regretted
Q7. The work of Kiowa painter T.C. Cannon derives its power in part from the tension among his
_______ influences: classic European portraiture, with its realistic treatment of faces; the
American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flatstyle, the intertribal painting style that
rejects the effect of depth typically achieved through shading and perspective.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) complementary
B) unknown
C) disparate
D) interchangeable

Q8. New and interesting research conducted by Suleiman A. Al-Sweedan and Moath Alhaj is
inspired by their observation that though there have been many studies of the effect of high
altitude on blood chemistry, there is a _______ studies of the effect on blood chemistry of living
in locations below sea level, such as the California towns of Salton City and Seeley.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) quarrel about
B) paucity of
C) profusion of
D) verisimilitude in
2. Main idea / Overall structure Question

● Question Prompt:

- Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

- Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

● How to Approach:

- Main Idea (one topic + one main idea) = main point of the text = The main message the writer
wants to deliver through the text

Overall structure:
- What structure does the writer use to convey the main idea?
- Think of the overall development of the passage.
- What does the first part of the text discuss? What about the next part? How does the writer
develop the topic/idea?
Q9. Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even improve
health, conceptual artists Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an apartment building
in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is chest-high on one side and
knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere. The effect is disorienting but
invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu Yamaoka reported significant health
benefits.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed by Gins
and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.
B) Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the most
effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.
C) As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such as Gins
and Arakawa.
D) Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may
improve the well-being of the building’s residents.

Q10. Changes to vegetation cover and other human activities influence carbon and nitrogen
levels in soil, though how deep these effects extend is unclear. Hypothesizing that differences in
land use lead to differences in carbon and nitrogen levels that are not restricted to the topsoil
layer (0–30 cm deep), Chukwuebuka Okolo and colleagues sampled soils across multiple
land-use types (e.g., grazing land, cropland, forest) within each of several Ethiopian locations.
They found, though, that across land-use types, carbon and nitrogen decreased to comparably
low levels beyond depths of 30 cm.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) It describes a phenomenon that scientists do not fully understand, explains a research team’s
hypothesis about that phenomenon, and then describes a finding that led the team to refine the
hypothesis.
B) It introduces an unresolved scientific question, presents a research team’s hypothesis
pertaining to that question, and then describes an observation made by the team that conflicts
with that hypothesis.
C) It discusses a process that scientists are somewhat unclear about, introduces competing
hypotheses about that process, and then explains how a research team concluded that one of
those hypotheses is likely correct.
D) It explains a hypothesis that has been the subject of scientific debate, discusses how a
research team tested that hypothesis, and then presents data the team collected that validate
the hypothesis.
3. Purpose / Function Question

● Question Prompt:

- Which choice best states the primary purpose of the passage?

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

● How to Approach:

- Purpose questions require you to have a general understanding of what the writer is
discussing and why they are doing so?

- What is the purpose of doing so?

- Function of the underlined sentence = How does this sentence connect to the overall
passage?

- Think about the role that the underlined portion plays in the larger context (surrounding
information). Usually, the purpose of a sentence is related to the information before or after.

Q11. The following text is from Sarah Orne Jewett’s 1899 short story “Martha’s Lady.” Martha is
employed by Miss Pyne as a maid.

Miss Pyne sat by the window watching, in her

best dress, looking stately and calm; she seldom
went out now, and it was almost time for the
carriage. Martha was just coming in from the
garden with the strawberries, and with more
flowers in her apron. It was a bright cool evening
in June, the golden robins sang in the elms, and
the sun was going down behind the apple-trees
at the foot of the garden. The beautiful old house
stood wide open to the long-expected guest.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To convey the worries brought about by a new guest
B) To describe how the characters have changed over time
C) To contrast the activity indoors with the stillness outside
D) To depict the setting as the characters await a visitor’s arrival
Q12. The following text is adapted from Jean Webster’s 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs. The
narrator is a young college student writing letters detailing her weekly experiences.

[The college is] organizing the Freshman

basket-ball team and there’s just a chance that I
shall make it. I’m little of course, but terribly
quick and wiry and tough. While the others are
hopping about in the air, I can dodge under their
feet and grab the ball.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To compare basketball with other sports
B) To provide details of how to play basketball
C) To state how players will be chosen for the basketball team
D) To explain why the narrator thinks she might make the basketball team

Q13. In the late 1800s, Spanish-language newspapers flourished in cities across Texas. San
Antonio alone produced eleven newspapers in Spanish between 1890 and 1900. However, El
Paso surpassed all other cities in the state. This city produced twenty-two newspapers in
Spanish during that period. El Paso is located on the border with Mexico and has always had a
large population of Spanish speakers. It is unsurprising that this city became such a rich site for
Spanish-language journalism.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To compare Spanish-language newspapers published in Texas today with ones published
there during the late 1800s
B) To explain that Spanish-language newspapers thrived in Texas and especially in El Paso
during the late 1800s
C) To argue that Spanish-language newspapers published in El Paso influenced the ones
published in San Antonio during the late 1800s
D) To explain why Spanish-language newspapers published in Texas were so popular in Mexico
during the late 1800s
Q14. Astronomers are confident that the star Betelgeuse will eventually consume all the helium
in its core and explode in a supernova. They are much less confident, however, about when this
will happen, since that depends on internal characteristics of Betelgeuse that are largely
unknown. Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance and colleagues recently investigated whether
acoustic waves in the star could be used to determine internal stellar states but concluded that
this method could not sufficiently reveal Betelgeuse’s internal characteristics to allow its
evolutionary state to be firmly fixed.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the overall structure of
the text?
A) It explains how the work of Nance and colleagues was received by others in the field.
B) It presents the central finding reported by Nance and colleagues.
C) It identifies the problem that Nance and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.
D) It describes a serious limitation of the method used by Nance and colleagues.

Q15. Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. Mary Beth Wilhelm and other
astrobiologists search for life, or its remains, in this harsh place because the desert closely
mirrors the extreme environment on Mars. The algae and bacteria found in Atacama’s driest
regions may offer clues about Martian life. By studying how these and other microorganisms
survive such extreme conditions on Earth, Wilhelm’s team hopes to determine whether similar
life might have existed on Mars and to develop the best tools to look for evidence of it.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
A) To contrast the conditions in the Atacama Desert with those on Mars
B) To explain why many life-forms cannot survive in the Atacama Desert
C) To indicate why astrobiologists choose to conduct research in the Atacama Desert
D) To describe certain limitations to conducting scientific study in the Atacama Desert
Q16. More than 60% of journeys in Mexico City occur via public transit, but simply reproducing a
feature of the city’s transit system—e.g., its low fares—is unlikely to induce a significant
increase in another city’s transit ridership. As Erick Guerra et al. have shown, transportation
mode choice in urban areas of Mexico is the product of a complex mix of factors, including
population density, the spatial distribution of jobs, and demographic characteristics of
individuals. System features do affect ridership, of course, but there is an irreducibly contextual
dimension of transportation mode choice.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
A) It presents an objection to the argument of Guerra et al. about transportation mode choice in
urban areas of Mexico.
B) It explains why it is challenging to influence transit ridership solely by altering characteristics
of a transit system.
C) It illustrates the claim that a characteristic associated with high transit ridership in Mexico City
is not associated with high transit ridership elsewhere.
D) It substantiates the assertion that population density, the spatial distribution of jobs, and
demographic characteristics are important factors in transportation mode choice.
4. Text Completion Question

● Question Prompt:

- Which choice most logically completes the text?

● How to Approach:

- The right answer choice will always align with the main idea given in the text.

- Do not assume you need to guess or imagine to fill the blank.

- Focus only on the main idea of the passage and ensure it aligns with the blank.

Q17. 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.
Q18. 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.

Q19. A team of biologists led by Jae-Hoon Jung, Antonio D. Barbosa, and Stephanie Hutin
investigated the mechanism that allows Arabidopsis thaliana (thale cress) plants to accelerate
flowering at high temperatures. They replaced the protein ELF3 in the plants with a similar
protein found in another species (stiff brome) that, unlike A. thaliana, displays no acceleration in
flowering with increased temperature. A comparison of unmodified A. thaliana plants with the
altered plants showed no difference in flowering at 22° Celsius, but at 27° Celsius, the
unmodified plants exhibited accelerated flowering while the altered ones did not, which suggests
that _______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) temperature-sensitive accelerated flowering is unique to A. thaliana.
B) A. thaliana increases ELF3 production as temperatures rise.
C) ELF3 enables A. thaliana to respond to increased temperatures.
D) temperatures of at least 22° Celsius are required for A. thaliana to flower.
Q20. The Younger Dryas was a period of extreme cooling from 11,700 to 12,900 years ago in
the Northern Hemisphere. Some scientists argue that a comet fragment hitting Earth brought
about the cooling. Others disagree, partly because there is no known crater from such an
impact that dates to the beginning of the period. In 2015, a team led by Kurt Kjær detected a
19-mile-wide crater beneath a glacier in Greenland. The scientists who believe an impact
caused the Younger Dryas claim that this discovery supports their view. However, Kjær’s team
hasn’t yet been able to determine the age of the crater. Therefore, the team suggests that
_______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) it can’t be concluded that the impact that made the crater was connected to the beginning of
the Younger Dryas.
B) it can’t be determined whether a comet fragment could make a crater as large as 19 miles
wide.
C) scientists have ignored the possibility that something other than a comet fragment could
have made the crater.
D) the scientists who believe an impact caused the Younger Dryas have made incorrect
assumptions about when the period began.

Q21. In 2016 biological anthropologist Heather F. Smith and her team investigated the evolution
of the appendix, an intestinal organ that is present in some mammals, including humans, but is
generally thought to have no function. Studying 533 mammal species, the team found that the
appendix has emerged independently across multiple lineages in separate instances and,
significantly, hasn’t disappeared after emerging in specific lineages. Moreover, the team
determined that species with the organ tend to have higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue,
which supports immune responses, in the cecum, the organ the appendix is attached to.
Therefore, the team hypothesized that the appendix likely _______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) was once present in many non mammal species but has since disappeared from those
lineages.
B) has been preserved in certain mammal species because it benefits their immune systems.
C) will emerge in a greater number of mammal species because it may serve a necessary
function in the immune system.
D) produced higher concentrations of lymphoid tissue in mammals in the past than it does
currently.
Q22. Some ethicists hold that the moral goodness of an individual’s actions depends solely on
whether the actions themselves are good, irrespective of the context in which they are carried
out. Philosopher L. Sebastian Purcell has shown that surviving works of Aztec (Nahua)
philosophy express a very different view. Purcell reveals that these works posit an ethical
system in which an individual’s actions are judged in light of how well they accord with the
individual’s role in society and how well they contribute to the community. To the extent that
these works are representative of Aztec thought, Purcell’s analysis suggests that _______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) the Aztecs would have disputed the idea that the morality of an individual’s actions can be
assessed by appealing to standards of behavior that are independent of the individual’s social
circumstances.
B) the Aztecs would not have accepted the notion that the morality of an individual’s actions can
be fairly evaluated by people who do not live in the same society as that individual.
C) actions by members of Aztec society who contributed a great deal to their community could
be judged as morally good even if those actions were inconsistent with behaviors the Aztecs
regarded as good in all contexts.
D) similar actions performed by people in different social roles in Aztec society would have been
regarded as morally equivalent unless those actions led to different outcomes for the
community.