TEAS 7 › Mock tests › Full Mock Test 2
All 170 questions of Full Mock Test 2 in one page: every question, the correct answer (marked ✓, bold checkbox marks are the answer key), and a full explanation. The exam itself is timed and section-locked here; this page is for study and review.
Key ideas & details, craft & structure, integration of knowledge & ideas.
Soap cleans because it is built like a bridge between water and grease. Each soap molecule has a head that bonds readily with water and a tail that bonds readily with oil and fat. When you wash your hands, the tails burrow into the grease on your skin while the heads stay in the water, and the result is a cluster, called a micelle, with the grease trapped safely inside it. Water alone cannot lift grease because oil and water repel each other, but the micelles let the water carry the oily dirt away when you rinse. Hard water complicates the job: the calcium and magnesium dissolved in it react with soap to form a sticky scum, which is why soapsuds are hard to raise in hard water and why detergents, whose molecules are less affected by those minerals, were developed. Detergents work on the same bridge principle, but their heads are engineered to resist the minerals, so modern laundry detergents still clean in water that would turn old-fashioned soap into gray curds.
Q1 Which of the following best summarizes what the passage is about?
A. Hard water makes soap work better than detergents do.
B. Soap cleans because its molecules trap water inside clusters.
C. Detergents were developed because soap is dangerous to skin.
D. Soap removes grease because its molecules bond with both water and oil, though hard water can interfere. ✓
The passage explains the bridge structure of soap molecules, how micelles trap grease, and how hard water interferes, so D states the main idea. A is the opposite of the passage, which says hard water turns soap to scum. B reverses the structure, since grease, not water, is trapped inside the micelles. C is unsupported, since detergents were developed to resist minerals, not because soap harms skin.
Sleep is not a single state but a cycle of stages that repeats several times each night. The body moves from light sleep into deeper stages in which brain waves slow, and then into rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, the stage most often associated with vivid dreaming. One complete cycle lasts roughly ninety minutes, and the proportion of time spent in REM grows with each repetition, so the longest REM periods occur in the final hours before waking. The daily rhythm of sleep and wakefulness is governed by an internal clock in the brain, which is synchronized to the outside world mainly by light. When light enters the eyes in the morning, the clock suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleepiness, and the body becomes alert. At night the same clock signals the pineal gland to release melatonin, helping the person drift toward sleep. Disruptions to this system, such as shift work or bright screens late in the evening, can push the clock out of alignment with the social day, leaving people sleepy when they need to be awake and restless when they need to rest.
Q2 According to the passage, what effect does light entering the eyes in the morning have on the body?
A. It lengthens the REM stages of the night just ended.
B. It shifts the sleep cycle to a ninety-minute rhythm.
C. It causes the clock to suppress melatonin production. ✓
D. It increases the need for an afternoon nap.
The passage states that when light enters the eyes in the morning, the clock suppresses the production of melatonin, so C is the correct detail. A confuses the morning effect with the sleep-stage cycle described earlier. B misuses the ninety-minute figure, which describes one sleep cycle, not a rhythm set by morning light. D is unsupported by the passage.
Bread rises because of a fungus small enough to ride on a dust mote. Baker's yeast, a single-celled organism, feeds on sugars in the dough, and its metabolism produces carbon dioxide gas as a waste product. The gas collects in tiny pockets held open by gluten, the elastic protein network that forms when flour and water are mixed and kneaded. As the pockets inflate, the dough expands, and when the loaf goes into the oven, the heat kills the yeast, sets the gluten, and fixes the bubbles in place, leaving the finished bread light and airy. The same fermentation that inflates the loaf also shapes its flavor, since yeast produces acids and alcohols that give bread its slightly tangy character. Temperature controls the pace of the process: a warm kitchen speeds the yeast up, while a refrigerator slows it so dramatically that bakers can hold dough for days, developing deeper flavor. Too much heat, however, kills the yeast before the dough rises, which is why beginners are told to proof their yeast in warm, not hot, water.
Q3 What is the main point the passage makes about bread?
A. Yeast dies immediately when it is mixed into bread dough.
B. Yeast produces gas that inflates dough, and temperature controls how quickly the process happens. ✓
C. Bread rises only when it is baked at very high temperatures.
D. Gluten is added to bread to give it a tangy flavor.
The passage explains how yeast ferments sugars into carbon dioxide that inflates the dough and how temperature paces the fermentation, so B is the main idea. A is wrong because the yeast works in the dough and dies only in the oven's heat. C is wrong because rising happens before baking. D confuses gluten's role, which is to hold gas pockets, with flavor production by yeast.
The first time Mara took the tiller, her grandfather said nothing for a full ten minutes. He sat in the stern with his arms crossed, letting the little sloop wander wherever the waves pushed it. Mara waited for him to grab the wooden handle the way he grabbed everything in his workshop, firmly and without apology. Instead he watched a tern circle the mast. Finally he spoke. 'The boat will tell you what it wants,' he said. 'Your job is to listen.' Mara did not believe boats could talk, but she kept her hands loose on the tiller and began to notice how the bow shuddered whenever the sail lost wind. She eased the boat up until the fabric snapped taut again. By late afternoon she could hold a course toward the channel buoy without zigzagging. Her grandfather nodded once and pointed at the horizon. 'Tomorrow we go past the point,' he said, 'and you will find out what real weather feels like.' Mara swallowed, watching the whitecaps roll in beyond the breakwater, and felt the small thrill that always came before she was asked to do something hard.
Q4 From which point of view is the passage told? pilot
A. First person, with Mara telling her own story.
B. Second person, addressing the reader directly.
C. Third person, focused closely on Mara's thoughts and feelings. ✓
D. Third person, focused closely on the grandfather's thoughts.
The narrator refers to Mara and her grandfather by name and uses 'she' and 'he,' while revealing Mara's private reactions such as her disbelief and her thrill, so the point of view is third person centered on Mara, C. A is wrong because first person would use 'I.' B is wrong because the reader is never addressed as 'you.' D is wrong because the grandfather's inner thoughts are never revealed.
The clock had stood in the hallway for three generations, and when the chime went flat, it was Rosa who noticed. Her grandmother claimed the clock had never been right since the war, but Rosa's grandfather, a watchmaker before he retired, said a clock that struck eleven at half past nine was not mysterious, only neglected. 'It wants cleaning, not patience,' he told them, and Rosa asked to help. Together they lifted the weights, laid the works on newspaper, and brushed years of dust from the brass gears. Rosa learned the names of the parts, the escape wheel, the anchor, the pendulum, and how a tiny length of wire could cost the clock a minute a week. When they hung the weights again and set the pendulum swinging, the clock ticked with a steady, confident beat, and at ten o'clock it struck ten. The old man smiled at Rosa. 'Keep it wound,' he said, 'and it will outlast us both.' Rosa wound it every Sunday after that, and the clock kept the family's time.
Q5 Which of the following actions does Rosa take after the clock is repaired?
A. She throws away the old weights.
B. She sells the recipe book from 1962.
C. She moves the clock to the attic.
D. She winds the clock every Sunday. ✓
The passage ends with Rosa winding the clock every Sunday after that, so D is the action she takes after the repair. A and C contradict the story's respect for the clock. B confuses this passage with the baker's recipe book from another story and never happens here.
Every vacant lot in our city is an argument for a community garden. Where weeds and cracked asphalt now sit idle, a garden would grow food, shade, and common ground. Supporters of development often claim that open land is wasted land, but the opposite is true: a plot that produces vegetables for fifty households is doing more work than a plot that collects litter. Gardens also cool their neighborhoods. Soil and leafy plants absorb heat instead of reflecting it, and a block of gardens can measurably lower summer temperatures, reducing the strain on air conditioners and on the people who cannot afford them. Critics object that gardens bring noise or attract pests, yet managed plots visited daily by their gardeners are tidier than the empty lots they replace. The strongest argument is the simplest one: gardening connects neighbors. People who plant side by side talk to one another, swap tools, and watch each other's children, and that ordinary contact builds the trust on which a safe street depends. We do not need another study to prove it. We need shovels.
Q6 Which conclusion about the author's position is best supported by the passage?
A. The author believes a managed garden is more useful than a lot that sits empty. ✓
B. The author believes development is the best use of any open land.
C. The author believes gardens should be studied before they are planted.
D. The author believes gardens raise the cost of keeping a street safe.
Throughout the passage the author argues that idle lots should become productive gardens, concluding that action, not study, is needed, so A is the best-supported conclusion. B is the opposite of the author's view. C is contradicted by the closing line rejecting further studies. D is unsupported, as the author claims gardens build the trust that makes streets safe.
A library is the cheapest investment a city can make in its own future, and we are underfunding ours. For the price of a single highway interchange, a library system can stay open seven days a week and serve every age group in the city. The people who use libraries are not a narrow slice of the population: toddlers come for story time, students for quiet desks and research databases, job seekers for public computers, and retirees for book clubs and company. When budget cuts shorten library hours, the first people to lose are the ones with no other options, the child whose home has no internet and the adult who must print a resume somewhere. Supporters of cutting library budgets say streaming services have made books obsolete, but a library is far more than a building full of books; it is the only public place where anyone can sit, read, learn, and connect without spending a dollar. We can afford to keep the doors open. We cannot afford to tell a child that the last free door in the neighborhood is closed.
Q7 According to the passage, which of the following is a use people make of libraries? pilot
A. Storing their bicycles between rides.
B. Testing new highway interchanges.
C. Holding garage sales on weekends.
D. Printing resumes and using public computers. ✓
The passage says job seekers come for public computers and that an adult must print a resume somewhere, so D lists uses named in the text. A, B, and C never appear in the passage and belong to other contexts, so they cannot be supported.
In the eighteenth century, smallpox was among the most feared diseases in the world, killing roughly three of every ten people it infected and scarring many of the survivors. Physicians noticed that people who had survived the disease never caught it again, and some practiced inoculation, deliberately giving a mild case to a healthy person, a risky procedure that could itself spread the disease. In 1796 a country doctor named Edward Jenner tested a safer idea. He had heard country stories that milkmaids who caught cowpox, a mild disease of cattle, seemed protected from smallpox. Jenner took fluid from a milkmaid's cowpox sore and scratched it into the arm of a young boy, who developed a mild illness and, when later exposed to smallpox, did not become sick. Jenner called the procedure vaccination, from the Latin word for cow. His method spread across Europe and beyond, replacing the riskier inoculation, and over the next two centuries vaccination drove smallpox out of every country until 1980, when the disease was declared eradicated, the first disease ever wiped out by human effort.
Q8 The author's statement that smallpox was 'the first disease ever wiped out by human effort' serves mainly to...
A. argue that all diseases can be easily eradicated.
B. suggest that scientists should stop vaccinating.
C. compare smallpox with cowpox in detail.
D. emphasize the historical importance of vaccination. ✓
Placing eradication in 1980 with the claim that it was the first disease wiped out by human effort highlights how monumental the achievement was, so D is the purpose. A overgeneralizes, since the passage describes only smallpox. B is the opposite of the passage's appreciation of vaccination. C is wrong, since cowpox appears briefly as a tool, not a comparison subject.
Bread rises because of a fungus small enough to ride on a dust mote. Baker's yeast, a single-celled organism, feeds on sugars in the dough, and its metabolism produces carbon dioxide gas as a waste product. The gas collects in tiny pockets held open by gluten, the elastic protein network that forms when flour and water are mixed and kneaded. As the pockets inflate, the dough expands, and when the loaf goes into the oven, the heat kills the yeast, sets the gluten, and fixes the bubbles in place, leaving the finished bread light and airy. The same fermentation that inflates the loaf also shapes its flavor, since yeast produces acids and alcohols that give bread its slightly tangy character. Temperature controls the pace of the process: a warm kitchen speeds the yeast up, while a refrigerator slows it so dramatically that bakers can hold dough for days, developing deeper flavor. Too much heat, however, kills the yeast before the dough rises, which is why beginners are told to proof their yeast in warm, not hot, water.
Q9 A beginner adds hot water instead of warm water to the dough. Based on the passage, what is most likely to happen? pilot
A. The yeast will die before the dough rises, leaving the bread dense. ✓
B. The dough will rise faster and make a lighter loaf.
C. The gluten will collapse and burst the gas pockets.
D. The bread will develop a stronger tangy flavor.
The passage warns that too much heat kills the yeast before the dough rises, so hot water would most likely stop the rise and produce dense bread, A. B is the opposite of the stated effect. C is unsupported, since heat is described as affecting yeast, not gluten. D is wrong because flavor develops during slow fermentation, not from killing the yeast.
The first time Mara took the tiller, her grandfather said nothing for a full ten minutes. He sat in the stern with his arms crossed, letting the little sloop wander wherever the waves pushed it. Mara waited for him to grab the wooden handle the way he grabbed everything in his workshop, firmly and without apology. Instead he watched a tern circle the mast. Finally he spoke. 'The boat will tell you what it wants,' he said. 'Your job is to listen.' Mara did not believe boats could talk, but she kept her hands loose on the tiller and began to notice how the bow shuddered whenever the sail lost wind. She eased the boat up until the fabric snapped taut again. By late afternoon she could hold a course toward the channel buoy without zigzagging. Her grandfather nodded once and pointed at the horizon. 'Tomorrow we go past the point,' he said, 'and you will find out what real weather feels like.' Mara swallowed, watching the whitecaps roll in beyond the breakwater, and felt the small thrill that always came before she was asked to do something hard.
Q10 Which of the following events from the passage happens first?
A. Mara takes the tiller for the first time. ✓
B. Her grandfather points at the horizon.
C. The sloop reaches the channel buoy.
D. The sail snaps taut after being eased up.
The passage begins with Mara taking the tiller and her grandfather saying nothing for ten minutes, so A is the first event. B happens at the end of the passage, when the grandfather points at the horizon and speaks of going past the point tomorrow. C is wrong because Mara only holds a course toward the buoy and never reaches it. D happens before the grandfather's final speech but after Mara has begun steering, so it cannot come first.
Teenagers are not lazy, and their schools are not entitled to start at seven in the morning. Adolescent bodies shift their natural sleep rhythm later, so a fourteen-year-old who falls asleep at eleven at night is not misbehaving; she is following her biology. When the first bell rings before eight, that same student has to drag herself out of bed during the deepest part of her sleep cycle, and she arrives at first period with her brain still half asleep. The evidence is consistent: districts that moved secondary school start times to eight-thirty or later reported higher attendance, fewer tardies, and better grades, with no decline in sports or after-school jobs. Critics argue that later starts complicate bus schedules and family routines, and those are real inconveniences. But a teenager's education and health should not be sacrificed to keep a bus route simple. Sleep is not a luxury that competes with algebra; it is the condition that makes algebra possible. We can coordinate buses. We cannot re-coordinate a growing brain.
Q11 According to the passage, what did districts that moved start times to eight-thirty or later report?
A. Higher attendance, fewer tardies, and better grades. ✓
B. More tardies but better sports performance.
C. Lower attendance but higher grades.
D. Fewer students in after-school jobs.
The passage states that districts that moved secondary start times later reported higher attendance, fewer tardies, and better grades, with no decline in sports or after-school jobs, so A is the exact list. B and C contradict the reported outcomes. D is explicitly contradicted, since the passage says there was no decline in after-school jobs.
Every vacant lot in our city is an argument for a community garden. Where weeds and cracked asphalt now sit idle, a garden would grow food, shade, and common ground. Supporters of development often claim that open land is wasted land, but the opposite is true: a plot that produces vegetables for fifty households is doing more work than a plot that collects litter. Gardens also cool their neighborhoods. Soil and leafy plants absorb heat instead of reflecting it, and a block of gardens can measurably lower summer temperatures, reducing the strain on air conditioners and on the people who cannot afford them. Critics object that gardens bring noise or attract pests, yet managed plots visited daily by their gardeners are tidier than the empty lots they replace. The strongest argument is the simplest one: gardening connects neighbors. People who plant side by side talk to one another, swap tools, and watch each other's children, and that ordinary contact builds the trust on which a safe street depends. We do not need another study to prove it. We need shovels.
Q12 According to the passage, which objection do critics of community gardens raise?
A. Gardens produce too much food for one neighborhood.
B. Gardens bring noise or attract pests. ✓
C. Gardens raise summer temperatures on the block.
D. Gardens force developers to abandon new housing.
The passage directly states that critics object that gardens bring noise or attract pests, so B is the detail in the text. A inverts the value of gardens and is never claimed. C is the opposite of the passage, which says gardens lower temperatures. D never appears, since development is mentioned only as a use of open land.
A library is the cheapest investment a city can make in its own future, and we are underfunding ours. For the price of a single highway interchange, a library system can stay open seven days a week and serve every age group in the city. The people who use libraries are not a narrow slice of the population: toddlers come for story time, students for quiet desks and research databases, job seekers for public computers, and retirees for book clubs and company. When budget cuts shorten library hours, the first people to lose are the ones with no other options, the child whose home has no internet and the adult who must print a resume somewhere. Supporters of cutting library budgets say streaming services have made books obsolete, but a library is far more than a building full of books; it is the only public place where anyone can sit, read, learn, and connect without spending a dollar. We can afford to keep the doors open. We cannot afford to tell a child that the last free door in the neighborhood is closed.
Q13 The author's main purpose in this passage is most likely to...
A. persuade readers to support keeping libraries fully funded. ✓
B. explain how libraries catalog their books.
C. describe the history of public libraries in the city.
D. compare libraries with streaming services in detail.
The passage argues that libraries are a cheap investment, that cuts hit the most vulnerable first, and that the doors should stay open, which is persuasion, A. B is wrong because no cataloging process is described. C is wrong because no history is given. D is wrong because streaming services are mentioned once to answer an objection, not compared in detail.
The first time Mara took the tiller, her grandfather said nothing for a full ten minutes. He sat in the stern with his arms crossed, letting the little sloop wander wherever the waves pushed it. Mara waited for him to grab the wooden handle the way he grabbed everything in his workshop, firmly and without apology. Instead he watched a tern circle the mast. Finally he spoke. 'The boat will tell you what it wants,' he said. 'Your job is to listen.' Mara did not believe boats could talk, but she kept her hands loose on the tiller and began to notice how the bow shuddered whenever the sail lost wind. She eased the boat up until the fabric snapped taut again. By late afternoon she could hold a course toward the channel buoy without zigzagging. Her grandfather nodded once and pointed at the horizon. 'Tomorrow we go past the point,' he said, 'and you will find out what real weather feels like.' Mara swallowed, watching the whitecaps roll in beyond the breakwater, and felt the small thrill that always came before she was asked to do something hard.
Q14 What does Mara notice when the sail loses wind?
A. The whitecaps roll in beyond the breakwater.
B. The bow shudders. ✓
C. A tern circles the mast.
D. The horizon disappears behind the waves.
The passage says Mara began to notice how the bow shuddered whenever the sail lost wind, so B is the explicitly stated detail. A and C describe other sights in the passage that occur at different moments, and D introduces an event that never happens. Only the shuddering bow is tied to the sail losing wind.
Honeybees do not simply fly in search of nectar; they tell one another where the nectar is. A forager that has found a rich patch of flowers returns to the hive and performs a movement pattern on the vertical surface of the comb called the waggle dance. The dance consists of a straight run during which the bee waggles her abdomen from side to side, followed by a looping return to the starting point, repeated again and again. The angle of the straight run relative to vertical encodes the direction of the food source measured against the position of the sun, while the duration of the waggle phase encodes distance: the longer the waggle, the farther the flowers. Hive mates follow the dancer by touch, then leave to search in the indicated direction. The dance is not an invitation to feed but a message about location, and it is performed with remarkable precision, though accuracy declines when wind or hills distort the true bearing. Young bees that have never foraged can still read the dance correctly, which suggests the signal is innate rather than learned. Because the message is symbolic rather than a simple trail, scientists describe the waggle dance as a genuine form of communication.
Q15 Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
A. Honeybees forage alone and rarely share information about food.
B. Honeybees communicate the location of food through a symbolic dance performed inside the hive. ✓
C. The waggle dance is a game that young bees learn by watching older foragers.
D. Beekeepers can use the waggle dance to predict how much honey a hive will produce.
The passage consistently explains that the waggle dance carries a coded message about direction and distance to flowers, which the author calls a genuine form of communication, so B states the main idea. A contradicts the opening claim that bees tell one another where nectar is. C is wrong because the passage says the signal is innate rather than learned. D introduces honey production, which the passage never discusses.
A library is the cheapest investment a city can make in its own future, and we are underfunding ours. For the price of a single highway interchange, a library system can stay open seven days a week and serve every age group in the city. The people who use libraries are not a narrow slice of the population: toddlers come for story time, students for quiet desks and research databases, job seekers for public computers, and retirees for book clubs and company. When budget cuts shorten library hours, the first people to lose are the ones with no other options, the child whose home has no internet and the adult who must print a resume somewhere. Supporters of cutting library budgets say streaming services have made books obsolete, but a library is far more than a building full of books; it is the only public place where anyone can sit, read, learn, and connect without spending a dollar. We can afford to keep the doors open. We cannot afford to tell a child that the last free door in the neighborhood is closed.
Q16 Which of the following conclusions about the author's views is best supported by the passage? pilot
A. The author believes books are becoming obsolete.
B. The author believes libraries should charge small fees to stay open.
C. The author believes libraries provide essential services beyond lending books. ✓
D. The author believes highway construction is more important than libraries.
The author calls the library the only public place where anyone can read and connect for free and answers the streaming objection by listing its non-book services, so C is supported. A is the opposite, since the author defends the institution. B is unsupported, since the author emphasizes free access. D is contradicted, since the author argues libraries deserve more of the city's money.
Thunderstorms begin inside a tall cloud whose top rises far above the freezing level. Inside that cloud, rising air carries water droplets upward, where they freeze into ice crystals and small hailstones. As the crystals and hailstones collide and rub against one another, they exchange electric charge: the lighter ice crystals carry positive charge to the top of the cloud, while the heavier hailstones leave negative charge concentrated near the bottom. The separation of charge builds an electric field between the cloud, the ground, and other clouds. When the field grows strong enough to overcome the resistance of the air, a jagged channel of ionized air, the lightning bolt, carries current in a series of rapid steps. The bolt heats the air around it to roughly five times the temperature of the sun's surface, and that sudden expansion of superheated air explodes outward as thunder. Because light travels almost instantly while sound crawls along at about a third of a kilometer per second, the delay between the flash and the rumble tells a listener how far away the storm is.
Q17 How does the passage organize its explanation of thunderstorms?
A. It compares thunderstorms in two different climates.
B. It follows a chain of events from cloud formation to the flash and the rumble. ✓
C. It argues that lightning is the most dangerous weather hazard.
D. It narrates one person's experience inside a storm.
The passage moves step by step from rising droplets through freezing, charge exchange, discharge, superheating, and the sound of thunder, which is a causal chain, B. A is wrong because no climates are compared. C is wrong because the passage makes no argument about danger. D is wrong because no personal experience is narrated.
Teenagers are not lazy, and their schools are not entitled to start at seven in the morning. Adolescent bodies shift their natural sleep rhythm later, so a fourteen-year-old who falls asleep at eleven at night is not misbehaving; she is following her biology. When the first bell rings before eight, that same student has to drag herself out of bed during the deepest part of her sleep cycle, and she arrives at first period with her brain still half asleep. The evidence is consistent: districts that moved secondary school start times to eight-thirty or later reported higher attendance, fewer tardies, and better grades, with no decline in sports or after-school jobs. Critics argue that later starts complicate bus schedules and family routines, and those are real inconveniences. But a teenager's education and health should not be sacrificed to keep a bus route simple. Sleep is not a luxury that competes with algebra; it is the condition that makes algebra possible. We can coordinate buses. We cannot re-coordinate a growing brain.
Q18 The author's chief purpose in writing this passage is most likely to...
A. explain the biology of the teenage brain in technical detail.
B. describe the history of school scheduling in American districts.
C. persuade readers that secondary schools should start later in the morning. ✓
D. caution readers against letting teenagers sleep through classes.
The passage argues that adolescent body clocks make early starts harmful, cites evidence of improved attendance and grades, and answers objections, which is a persuasive argument for later starts, C. A is wrong because the biology is explained simply, not technically. B is wrong because no history is given. D is the opposite of the author's position.
In a study of coastal wetland restoration, researchers selected twelve former marsh sites that had been drained for agriculture, restored eight of them by reconnecting tidal flow, and left four undisturbed as comparison plots. Over three years they sampled nitrate levels in the water leaving each site and counted breeding bird species each spring. At every sampling date, the restored plots removed nitrate at rates close to those of an intact reference marsh, while the comparison plots showed little change. Bird species richness in the restored sites climbed from an average of three to an average of fourteen species by the third spring. The authors urge caution: the sites lie in one region, the study ran for only three years, and restored wetlands can take decades to approach full function. Still, the pattern was consistent, and the team argues that modest restoration efforts can deliver measurable water-quality and habitat gains within a few years.
Q19 What is the passage primarily about?
A. An argument against reconnecting tidal flow to drained land.
B. A proposal to convert farmland into a bird sanctuary.
C. A comparison of nitrate levels in rivers and oceans.
D. A study of whether restoring drained coastal marshes improves water quality and wildlife. ✓
The passage reports a three-year comparison of restored and unrestored marsh sites, measuring nitrate removal and bird richness, which is the effect of restoration. The other options misstate the study.
Before 1840, sending a letter in Britain was expensive and chaotic. Postage was calculated by the distance the letter traveled and by the number of sheets, and the charge was usually paid by the recipient, who could refuse delivery if the price seemed too high. The Reform: Reformers such as Rowland Hill argued that distance mattered little compared with the cost of sorting and handling, and that a flat, prepaid rate would increase volume so dramatically that total revenue would rise even as the price fell. His plan became law with the introduction of the penny post, a uniform rate of one penny for any letter up to half an ounce, paid in advance by the sender through the newly invented adhesive postage stamp. The Result: Volume did indeed explode, from roughly seventy-six million letters a year to more than three hundred million within a decade. The stamp also changed the postal worker's job: clerks no longer haggled over rates and simply canceled the stamp with an ink mark. Collectors and historians alike point to the penny post as the moment mailing became a mass activity rather than a luxury of the wealthy.
Q20 According to the passage, which of the following was true of mail before 1840?
A. Every letter cost a flat rate of one penny.
B. Clerks canceled letters with an ink mark.
C. Volume reached three hundred million letters a year.
D. The recipient usually paid the charge and could refuse the letter. ✓
The passage states that before 1840 the charge was usually paid by the recipient, who could refuse delivery if the price seemed too high, so D is correct. A describes the reformed penny post, not the earlier system. B describes the era of stamps, which came after the reform. C describes the volume reached within a decade after the penny post was introduced.
Before 1840, sending a letter in Britain was expensive and chaotic. Postage was calculated by the distance the letter traveled and by the number of sheets, and the charge was usually paid by the recipient, who could refuse delivery if the price seemed too high. The Reform: Reformers such as Rowland Hill argued that distance mattered little compared with the cost of sorting and handling, and that a flat, prepaid rate would increase volume so dramatically that total revenue would rise even as the price fell. His plan became law with the introduction of the penny post, a uniform rate of one penny for any letter up to half an ounce, paid in advance by the sender through the newly invented adhesive postage stamp. The Result: Volume did indeed explode, from roughly seventy-six million letters a year to more than three hundred million within a decade. The stamp also changed the postal worker's job: clerks no longer haggled over rates and simply canceled the stamp with an ink mark. Collectors and historians alike point to the penny post as the moment mailing became a mass activity rather than a luxury of the wealthy.
Q21 According to the passage, who was Rowland Hill?
A. The clerk who haggled over postage rates before 1840.
B. The first recipient to refuse an expensive letter.
C. A reformer whose arguments led to the penny post. ✓
D. The inventor of the ink mark used to cancel stamps.
The passage identifies Rowland Hill as a reformer who argued that distance mattered little and whose plan became law as the penny post, so C is correct. A describes an unnamed clerk's role and is not Hill. B never happens in the passage. D is unsupported, since the passage does not credit anyone with inventing the cancelling mark.
The first time Mara took the tiller, her grandfather said nothing for a full ten minutes. He sat in the stern with his arms crossed, letting the little sloop wander wherever the waves pushed it. Mara waited for him to grab the wooden handle the way he grabbed everything in his workshop, firmly and without apology. Instead he watched a tern circle the mast. Finally he spoke. 'The boat will tell you what it wants,' he said. 'Your job is to listen.' Mara did not believe boats could talk, but she kept her hands loose on the tiller and began to notice how the bow shuddered whenever the sail lost wind. She eased the boat up until the fabric snapped taut again. By late afternoon she could hold a course toward the channel buoy without zigzagging. Her grandfather nodded once and pointed at the horizon. 'Tomorrow we go past the point,' he said, 'and you will find out what real weather feels like.' Mara swallowed, watching the whitecaps roll in beyond the breakwater, and felt the small thrill that always came before she was asked to do something hard.
Q22 What does the grandfather most likely mean when he tells Mara, 'The boat will tell you what it wants'?
A. Sailboats are alive and can speak to their crews in words.
B. Mara should give up sailing because she cannot control the boat.
C. The grandfather will repair the boat before the next trip.
D. A good sailor responds to the boat's behavior instead of forcing it. ✓
In context, the grandfather is teaching Mara to steer, and Mara then notices the bow shudder and eases up until the sail is taut again, which shows she learns to respond to the boat's behavior, so D captures the intended meaning. A misreads the phrase literally. B is contradicted by the grandfather's encouraging plan to go past the point tomorrow. C is unsupported, since no repairs are mentioned.
Every autumn the same drama plays out across the temperate forests, yet the chemistry behind it is rarely told. Leaves are green because they are full of chlorophyll, the pigment that captures sunlight for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll is expensive for a tree to build, so as days shorten and nights cool, deciduous trees begin to break it down and salvage its nitrogen, storing it in the trunk and roots. As the green fades, pigments that were hidden all summer become visible: carotenoids, which give carrots their orange color, and anthocyanins, which are produced fresh as the sugars in the leaf are trapped by the closing veins and react to form reds and purples. The variety of color depends on weather: warm, sunny autumn days and cool, frost-free nights favor brilliant reds, while cloudy, wet autumns produce yellower displays, because the extra light and trapped sugar drive more anthocyanin production. Eventually the leaf separates from the branch along a layer of weak cells, and the wind does the rest.
Q23 Which statement best states the passage's main idea?
A. Leaves change color because the temperature drops below freezing at night.
B. Trees stop losing leaves once their sugar is used up.
C. Autumn leaf color appears when chlorophyll breaks down and other pigments become visible or form fresh. ✓
D. Carotenoids are pigments produced only in the autumn.
The passage explains that trees break down chlorophyll, revealing carotenoids and producing anthocyanins, which creates autumn color, so C is the main idea. A is an oversimplification, since frost-free nights favor color and chlorophyll breakdown is triggered by shortening days. B is unsupported. D is wrong, since carotenoids are present all summer and merely hidden.
Sleep is not a single state but a cycle of stages that repeats several times each night. The body moves from light sleep into deeper stages in which brain waves slow, and then into rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, the stage most often associated with vivid dreaming. One complete cycle lasts roughly ninety minutes, and the proportion of time spent in REM grows with each repetition, so the longest REM periods occur in the final hours before waking. The daily rhythm of sleep and wakefulness is governed by an internal clock in the brain, which is synchronized to the outside world mainly by light. When light enters the eyes in the morning, the clock suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleepiness, and the body becomes alert. At night the same clock signals the pineal gland to release melatonin, helping the person drift toward sleep. Disruptions to this system, such as shift work or bright screens late in the evening, can push the clock out of alignment with the social day, leaving people sleepy when they need to be awake and restless when they need to rest.
Q24 Based on the passage, a person who regularly works night shifts would most likely...
A. feel sleepy during the shift and restless when trying to rest during the day. ✓
B. produce much more melatonin while working at night.
C. enter REM sleep more quickly than daytime workers.
D. keep the internal clock aligned with the social day without any trouble.
The passage says shift work can push the clock out of alignment with the social day, leaving people sleepy when they need to be awake and restless when they need to rest, which describes a night worker's experience, so A follows directly. B is unsupported, since the passage does not describe melatonin levels during night work. C is unsupported. D is contradicted by the passage, which names shift work as a disruption.
Before 1840, sending a letter in Britain was expensive and chaotic. Postage was calculated by the distance the letter traveled and by the number of sheets, and the charge was usually paid by the recipient, who could refuse delivery if the price seemed too high. The Reform: Reformers such as Rowland Hill argued that distance mattered little compared with the cost of sorting and handling, and that a flat, prepaid rate would increase volume so dramatically that total revenue would rise even as the price fell. His plan became law with the introduction of the penny post, a uniform rate of one penny for any letter up to half an ounce, paid in advance by the sender through the newly invented adhesive postage stamp. The Result: Volume did indeed explode, from roughly seventy-six million letters a year to more than three hundred million within a decade. The stamp also changed the postal worker's job: clerks no longer haggled over rates and simply canceled the stamp with an ink mark. Collectors and historians alike point to the penny post as the moment mailing became a mass activity rather than a luxury of the wealthy.
Q25 The passage reports that volume rose from about seventy-six million letters a year to more than three hundred million within a decade. What conclusion is best supported by these figures?
A. The number of postal clerks dropped sharply during the decade.
B. Most recipients continued to refuse their letters.
C. Distance remained the main factor in setting postage prices.
D. The cheaper flat rate encouraged many more people to send mail. ✓
The passage links the rise in volume to the penny post, arguing that a flat, prepaid rate would increase volume dramatically, so D is the supported conclusion. A is unsupported, since clerk numbers are never given. B is contradicted by the reform's success and is never claimed. C is contradicted, since the reform removed distance from the pricing.
Twice a year, billions of birds leave the places where they breed and fly to places where they can survive the winter, then fly home again. The ruby-throated hummingbird, which weighs less than a nickel, crosses the Gulf of Mexico in a single nonstop flight of more than eight hundred kilometers, burning fat it stored during weeks of heavy feeding. Scientists once assumed that young birds learned migration routes by following their parents, but many species migrate alone, with young birds making their first journey without any guide. Experiments with caged birds show that they know which direction to fly at migration time, and that they judge direction from the stars at night and the sun by day. Magnetic fields inside the Earth provide an additional compass that works even in clouds. Migration is not one behavior but a suite of them: fattening, restless nightly activity, and direction-finding all switch on together as days shorten. Because the trigger is day length, a change in climate that shifts the timing of food and insects can leave a bird arriving at the right season for its own clock but the wrong one for its meal.
Q26 Based on the passage, a bird that arrives at its breeding grounds at the time its own clock expects spring, but after the insects have already peaked, would most likely...
A. find extra food because competition has ended.
B. migrate south again to avoid the heat.
C. build its nest higher to escape predators.
D. struggle to feed its young because the food peak has passed. ✓
The passage says a climate shift can leave a bird arriving at the right season for its own clock but the wrong one for its meal, meaning food like insects is scarce when the young hatch, so D is the supported outcome. A is the opposite, since the peak has passed. B and C introduce behaviors never discussed in the passage.
Every autumn the same drama plays out across the temperate forests, yet the chemistry behind it is rarely told. Leaves are green because they are full of chlorophyll, the pigment that captures sunlight for photosynthesis. Chlorophyll is expensive for a tree to build, so as days shorten and nights cool, deciduous trees begin to break it down and salvage its nitrogen, storing it in the trunk and roots. As the green fades, pigments that were hidden all summer become visible: carotenoids, which give carrots their orange color, and anthocyanins, which are produced fresh as the sugars in the leaf are trapped by the closing veins and react to form reds and purples. The variety of color depends on weather: warm, sunny autumn days and cool, frost-free nights favor brilliant reds, while cloudy, wet autumns produce yellower displays, because the extra light and trapped sugar drive more anthocyanin production. Eventually the leaf separates from the branch along a layer of weak cells, and the wind does the rest.
Q27 According to the passage, what eventually separates the leaf from the branch? pilot
A. A layer of weak cells at the base of the leaf. ✓
B. The wind blowing the branch loose.
C. The weight of the trapped sugar.
D. The cold cracking the stem.
The passage says the leaf separates from the branch along a layer of weak cells, so A is the stated mechanism, while the wind merely carries the leaf away afterward. B misstates the wind's role. C and D introduce causes never mentioned in the passage.
Vaccination is one of the oldest tools of preventive medicine, and it developed through centuries of experiment. In parts of Asia, healers practiced variolation, deliberately exposing a person to material from a mild case of smallpox, with the risk that the exposure itself could cause severe disease. In 1796 the English physician Edward Jenner showed that material from cowpox, a milder relative of smallpox, conferred protection without causing the disease, and he called the procedure vaccination. A century later, Louis Pasteur extended the idea by weakening microbes in the laboratory, producing the first vaccine against rabies in 1885. The twentieth century brought vaccines against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, and, from Salk in 1955 and Sabin in the 1960s, two polio vaccines. In 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated, the first disease removed from the world by a vaccine. Most recently, messenger RNA vaccines built a flexible platform that could be redesigned in weeks, a speed that proved decisive during the 2020 pandemic response.
Q28 Which of the following lists the events in the passage in chronological order?
A. Pasteur's rabies vaccine; Jenner's cowpox work; Salk's polio vaccine.
B. Jenner's cowpox work; variolation; the 2020 pandemic response.
C. Jenner's cowpox work; Pasteur's rabies vaccine; Salk's polio vaccine. ✓
D. Salk's polio vaccine; Jenner's cowpox work; Pasteur's rabies vaccine.
The passage gives Jenner (1796), then Pasteur (1885), then the twentieth-century polio vaccines. The other orders reverse the sequence or misplace variolation.
For six summers Lena had climbed the steel stairway of the fire lookout, but this was the first time she had climbed it alone. Her father, who had staffed the tower for twenty years, had retired in the spring, and the district had given her the post on trial. 'You know the signs,' he had told her. 'Smoke that lies flat means a slow burn low in the pines. Smoke that boils straight up means it has already crowned.' On her first afternoon a thin gray ribbon appeared above the ridge line, lying flat against the sky. Lena steadied her binoculars, read the compass bearing, and wrote the location in the log with hands that would not stop trembling. The radio crackled. Dispatch asked how sure she was. She looked again, counted the landmarks twice, and gave the coordinates. The crew on the ground found the fire within twenty minutes, still small enough to flank with a hand line. When her father called that night, he listened to her story and said only, 'Flat smoke. Fast call. That is the whole job.'
Q29 According to the passage, what does smoke that boils straight up indicate?
A. A slow burn low in the pines.
B. A fire that has already crowned in the treetops. ✓
C. A fire that is safe to ignore until morning.
D. A fire started by lightning on the ridge line.
The passage, through the father's lesson, says smoke that boils straight up means the fire has already crowned, so B is the explicit detail. A describes the opposite sign, the flat-smoke burns. C never appears in the passage. D introduces lightning as a cause, which the passage never mentions.
A staff nurse taking a blood pressure reading should follow the same sequence every time. First, ask the patient to rest quietly for at least five minutes in a chair with both feet flat on the floor. Remove or roll up any tight sleeve. Place the cuff on the bare upper arm so its lower edge sits two to three centimeters above the crease of the elbow, with the bladder centered over the brachial artery. Before inflating, locate the radial pulse and inflate the cuff only to about 30 millimeters of mercury above the point where that pulse disappears. Then deflate the cuff slowly, at two to three millimeters per second. The first tapping sound you hear through the stethoscope is the systolic pressure; the point where the tapping sounds disappear is the diastolic pressure. Taking a repeat reading is common, but wait one to two minutes between attempts so the arm's circulation can recover.
Q30 According to the passage, what should a nurse do just before inflating the cuff?
A. Ask the patient to lie flat.
B. Wait one to two minutes.
C. Record the diastolic pressure.
D. Find the radial pulse. ✓
The sequence says to locate the radial pulse and inflate only to about 30 mmHg above where that pulse disappears, so finding the pulse comes first. The other actions are earlier, later, or unmentioned.
A campus without gardens is a campus that wastes its own resources. Student-run plots on unused lawns would feed the food pantry, teach planting skills that transfer to community work, and give stressed students a low-pressure reason to go outside. Opponents of the proposal will say that maintenance costs money and that every square meter of campus is already spoken for. Both objections deserve answers. A garden staffed by volunteers costs little beyond seeds and soil, and the plots proposed occupy corners that host no classes, no housing, and no events. The real question is not whether the college can afford a garden program but whether it can afford not to have one, given what the program returns in food, skills, and calm. The administration should fund a pilot plot next semester, measure the harvest and the participation, and let the results argue for a permanent program.
Q31 What is the primary purpose of this passage?
A. To inform readers how to plant a vegetable garden.
B. To persuade the administration to fund a campus garden pilot. ✓
C. To report the results of a garden program at another college.
D. To explain why campus lawns are hard to maintain.
The passage argues that objections can be answered and asks the administration to fund a pilot, which is persuasion. It does not teach gardening, report results, or discuss lawn care.
A campus without gardens is a campus that wastes its own resources. Student-run plots on unused lawns would feed the food pantry, teach planting skills that transfer to community work, and give stressed students a low-pressure reason to go outside. Opponents of the proposal will say that maintenance costs money and that every square meter of campus is already spoken for. Both objections deserve answers. A garden staffed by volunteers costs little beyond seeds and soil, and the plots proposed occupy corners that host no classes, no housing, and no events. The real question is not whether the college can afford a garden program but whether it can afford not to have one, given what the program returns in food, skills, and calm. The administration should fund a pilot plot next semester, measure the harvest and the participation, and let the results argue for a permanent program.
Q32 Based on the passage, the author would most likely support which decision by the administration?
A. Selling the proposed plots to a private developer.
B. Funding a small trial garden and measuring its results. ✓
C. Requiring all students to volunteer in a garden.
D. Rejecting the proposal until the campus is redesigned.
The author closes by asking for a pilot plot, argued with measured harvest and participation, so funding a measured trial is the natural next step. The other options contradict the argument.
Elio had baked the same four kinds of bread for thirty years, and he did not believe a stranger could do it better. So when the owner hired Marta, a young woman fresh from culinary school, Elio said nothing and pointed at the flour. For a week she measured, kneaded, and shaped beside him in silence. On the eighth morning Elio noticed that the sourdough starter had been fed at midnight instead of dawn, and the loaves came out of the oven with crusts that crackled like nothing he had produced in a decade. He examined the scoring on top, the shallow cuts that let bread expand, and saw a pattern he had never tried. 'Who showed you this?' he asked. Marta shrugged. 'I read it. Then I watched the dough.' Elio stood a long time looking at the loaves. The next day he brought her the old recipe book his own teacher had given him, stamped with the year 1962, and said, 'Read this. Then watch me.' Marta took it, and for the first time that week she smiled.
Q33 At the beginning of the passage, Elio's response to Marta shows that he is...
A. eager to learn new baking techniques from her.
B. afraid that the owner will fire him.
C. doubtful that a newcomer can bake as well as he does. ✓
D. amused by the idea of culinary school.
Elio has baked the same four kinds of bread for thirty years and does not believe a stranger can do it better, and he responds by pointing at the flour without a word, so his attitude is doubt about the newcomer, C. A is contradicted by his silence. B is unsupported, since no threat of firing appears. D is contradicted, since nothing suggests amusement.
Before 1840, sending a letter in Britain was expensive and chaotic. Postage was calculated by the distance the letter traveled and by the number of sheets, and the charge was usually paid by the recipient, who could refuse delivery if the price seemed too high. The Reform: Reformers such as Rowland Hill argued that distance mattered little compared with the cost of sorting and handling, and that a flat, prepaid rate would increase volume so dramatically that total revenue would rise even as the price fell. His plan became law with the introduction of the penny post, a uniform rate of one penny for any letter up to half an ounce, paid in advance by the sender through the newly invented adhesive postage stamp. The Result: Volume did indeed explode, from roughly seventy-six million letters a year to more than three hundred million within a decade. The stamp also changed the postal worker's job: clerks no longer haggled over rates and simply canceled the stamp with an ink mark. Collectors and historians alike point to the penny post as the moment mailing became a mass activity rather than a luxury of the wealthy.
Q34 Which best describes the author's purpose in this passage?
A. To argue that modern postage prices are too high.
B. To inform readers about a historical change in how mail was priced and sent. ✓
C. To entertain readers with a fictional story about a postal clerk.
D. To instruct readers on how to address and mail a letter today.
The passage reports facts about the penny post, its causes, and its results without urging any action, so the purpose is to inform readers about postal history, B. A is wrong because no argument about modern prices appears. C is wrong because the account is factual, not fictional. D is wrong because no instructions for mailing are given.
A staff nurse taking a blood pressure reading should follow the same sequence every time. First, ask the patient to rest quietly for at least five minutes in a chair with both feet flat on the floor. Remove or roll up any tight sleeve. Place the cuff on the bare upper arm so its lower edge sits two to three centimeters above the crease of the elbow, with the bladder centered over the brachial artery. Before inflating, locate the radial pulse and inflate the cuff only to about 30 millimeters of mercury above the point where that pulse disappears. Then deflate the cuff slowly, at two to three millimeters per second. The first tapping sound you hear through the stethoscope is the systolic pressure; the point where the tapping sounds disappear is the diastolic pressure. Taking a repeat reading is common, but wait one to two minutes between attempts so the arm's circulation can recover.
Q35 In the procedure described, the diastolic pressure is the point at which
A. the cuff is fully inflated.
B. the first tapping sound is heard.
C. the tapping sounds disappear. ✓
D. the radial pulse disappears.
The passage defines diastolic pressure as the point where the tapping sounds disappear. The first tapping sound is systolic, and the other events are cuff and pulse checks, not pressures.
For six summers Lena had climbed the steel stairway of the fire lookout, but this was the first time she had climbed it alone. Her father, who had staffed the tower for twenty years, had retired in the spring, and the district had given her the post on trial. 'You know the signs,' he had told her. 'Smoke that lies flat means a slow burn low in the pines. Smoke that boils straight up means it has already crowned.' On her first afternoon a thin gray ribbon appeared above the ridge line, lying flat against the sky. Lena steadied her binoculars, read the compass bearing, and wrote the location in the log with hands that would not stop trembling. The radio crackled. Dispatch asked how sure she was. She looked again, counted the landmarks twice, and gave the coordinates. The crew on the ground found the fire within twenty minutes, still small enough to flank with a hand line. When her father called that night, he listened to her story and said only, 'Flat smoke. Fast call. That is the whole job.'
Q36 What does the father's comment, 'Flat smoke. Fast call. That is the whole job.' most likely mean?
A. Lena read the smoke correctly and acted quickly. ✓
B. The crew should have reached the fire faster.
C. Lena should quit the lookout post and find other work.
D. Flat smoke is always a sign of a large, dangerous fire.
The father taught Lena that flat smoke means a slow burn low in the pines, and she identified it and radioed coordinates promptly, so his comment praises exactly the skill she showed, A. B inverts the praise into criticism. C is unsupported and contradicts the approving tone. D misstates the lesson, since flat smoke signals a slow, low burn, not a large danger.
A library is the cheapest investment a city can make in its own future, and we are underfunding ours. For the price of a single highway interchange, a library system can stay open seven days a week and serve every age group in the city. The people who use libraries are not a narrow slice of the population: toddlers come for story time, students for quiet desks and research databases, job seekers for public computers, and retirees for book clubs and company. When budget cuts shorten library hours, the first people to lose are the ones with no other options, the child whose home has no internet and the adult who must print a resume somewhere. Supporters of cutting library budgets say streaming services have made books obsolete, but a library is far more than a building full of books; it is the only public place where anyone can sit, read, learn, and connect without spending a dollar. We can afford to keep the doors open. We cannot afford to tell a child that the last free door in the neighborhood is closed.
Q37 Which group of people does the author say is hurt first when library hours are cut? pilot
A. Retirees looking for company and book clubs.
B. Students preparing for summer reading.
C. Children without home internet and adults who need to print a resume. ✓
D. Tourists visiting the city's landmarks.
The passage says the first people to lose when hours are cut are the ones with no other options, naming the child whose home has no internet and the adult who must print a resume somewhere, so C is the supported group. A and B are library users but are not singled out as first to lose. D never appears.
The owl was the size of a coffee cup, a fledgling that had tumbled from a nest in the old cottonwood and lay shivering in the grass, one wing bent at an angle no bird should manage. Theo's father, a wildlife rescuer, examined it with careful hands and pronounced it lucky: no broken bones, only a torn flight feather. 'We cannot keep it,' he said. 'Our job is to make it strong enough to refuse us.' For three weeks they fed the owlet scraps of chicken and watched it grow fierce. It learned to grip a branch, then to hop, then to fly short bursts across the yard. The night before the release, Theo sat in the dark and watched the owl preen its new feather. 'What if it comes back?' he asked. His father shrugged. 'Then we have a very spoiled owl.' In the morning they carried the crate to the cottonwood. The owl blinked at the open door, took a long look at the yard, and lifted off through the branches without once looking back. Theo stood watching until the gray shape vanished into the trees, and he felt proud of a thing he had only helped let go.
Q38 The author's description of the owl 'the size of a coffee cup' most likely serves to...
A. show that the owl was too small to survive care.
B. emphasize how tiny and vulnerable the fledgling was. ✓
C. argue that young owls make good pets.
D. suggest that the family drank coffee by the nest.
Comparing the fledgling to a coffee cup makes its small size vivid and underscores its helplessness when found injured in the grass, so B is the purpose. A is contradicted by the successful recovery. C is contradicted by the father's rule against keeping it. D misreads the comparison literally, since no coffee drinking is mentioned.
Covering most of the planet, the ocean is never still. Surface currents, driven mainly by the wind, move warm water along predictable paths, but beneath them runs a slower, grander circulation powered by differences in temperature and saltiness. In the polar seas, surface water grows cold and dense, and as sea ice forms it leaves extra salt behind, making the water heavier still. That heavy water sinks and spreads along the ocean floor toward the equator, while warmer water flows north to replace it. This conveyor-like system connects all of the ocean basins: a drop of water can take a thousand years to complete the loop, carrying heat, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen with it. The circulation also shapes climate. The warm surface flow that reaches the North Atlantic releases heat to the air, keeping western European winters milder than the latitude alone would suggest. Scientists monitor the current with instrument buoys because melting ice and heavier rainfall could add fresh water to the North Atlantic, and too much fresh water would make the surface layer less dense, slowing the sinking that drives the whole system.
Q39 According to the passage, what makes polar surface water heavy enough to sink?
A. Cold temperatures and extra salt left behind as sea ice forms. ✓
B. Nutrients released by melting ice.
C. Dissolved oxygen carried by storms.
D. Warm water flowing in from the equator.
The passage says polar surface water grows cold and dense, and as sea ice forms it leaves extra salt behind, making the water heavier still, so A is the stated cause. B mentions nutrients but never links them to sinking. C is not part of the explanation. D describes the flow that replaces the sinking water, not the cause of the sinking.
Honeybees do not simply fly in search of nectar; they tell one another where the nectar is. A forager that has found a rich patch of flowers returns to the hive and performs a movement pattern on the vertical surface of the comb called the waggle dance. The dance consists of a straight run during which the bee waggles her abdomen from side to side, followed by a looping return to the starting point, repeated again and again. The angle of the straight run relative to vertical encodes the direction of the food source measured against the position of the sun, while the duration of the waggle phase encodes distance: the longer the waggle, the farther the flowers. Hive mates follow the dancer by touch, then leave to search in the indicated direction. The dance is not an invitation to feed but a message about location, and it is performed with remarkable precision, though accuracy declines when wind or hills distort the true bearing. Young bees that have never foraged can still read the dance correctly, which suggests the signal is innate rather than learned. Because the message is symbolic rather than a simple trail, scientists describe the waggle dance as a genuine form of communication.
Q40 The author's primary purpose in writing this passage is most likely to...
A. persuade readers to protect honeybee habitats from pesticides.
B. describe the daily life of a single foraging bee.
C. compare honeybees with other insect pollinators.
D. explain how honeybees share information about food sources. ✓
The passage is a factual explanation of how the waggle dance communicates direction and distance, so the purpose is to explain how bees share food information, D. A is wrong because the passage makes no persuasive argument about pesticides or habitat protection. B is wrong because no single bee's day is narrated. C is wrong because no other pollinators are mentioned.
Vaccination is one of the oldest tools of preventive medicine, and it developed through centuries of experiment. In parts of Asia, healers practiced variolation, deliberately exposing a person to material from a mild case of smallpox, with the risk that the exposure itself could cause severe disease. In 1796 the English physician Edward Jenner showed that material from cowpox, a milder relative of smallpox, conferred protection without causing the disease, and he called the procedure vaccination. A century later, Louis Pasteur extended the idea by weakening microbes in the laboratory, producing the first vaccine against rabies in 1885. The twentieth century brought vaccines against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, and, from Salk in 1955 and Sabin in the 1960s, two polio vaccines. In 1980 the World Health Organization declared smallpox eradicated, the first disease removed from the world by a vaccine. Most recently, messenger RNA vaccines built a flexible platform that could be redesigned in weeks, a speed that proved decisive during the 2020 pandemic response.
Q41 The author's attitude toward the history of vaccination is best described as
A. dismissive.
B. skeptical.
C. appreciative. ✓
D. alarmed.
The passage describes one advance after another as successful and decisive, a consistently appreciative tone. There is no criticism, doubt, or alarm in the word choice.
A staff nurse taking a blood pressure reading should follow the same sequence every time. First, ask the patient to rest quietly for at least five minutes in a chair with both feet flat on the floor. Remove or roll up any tight sleeve. Place the cuff on the bare upper arm so its lower edge sits two to three centimeters above the crease of the elbow, with the bladder centered over the brachial artery. Before inflating, locate the radial pulse and inflate the cuff only to about 30 millimeters of mercury above the point where that pulse disappears. Then deflate the cuff slowly, at two to three millimeters per second. The first tapping sound you hear through the stethoscope is the systolic pressure; the point where the tapping sounds disappear is the diastolic pressure. Taking a repeat reading is common, but wait one to two minutes between attempts so the arm's circulation can recover.
Q42 According to the passage, the cuff should be placed
A. over the crease of the elbow.
B. on the bare upper arm above the elbow. ✓
C. over the radial artery at the wrist.
D. on top of a rolled-up shirtsleeve.
The passage directs the cuff to the bare upper arm, two to three centimeters above the elbow crease, with the bladder over the brachial artery. Tight sleeves are removed, and the wrist is not used.
Covering most of the planet, the ocean is never still. Surface currents, driven mainly by the wind, move warm water along predictable paths, but beneath them runs a slower, grander circulation powered by differences in temperature and saltiness. In the polar seas, surface water grows cold and dense, and as sea ice forms it leaves extra salt behind, making the water heavier still. That heavy water sinks and spreads along the ocean floor toward the equator, while warmer water flows north to replace it. This conveyor-like system connects all of the ocean basins: a drop of water can take a thousand years to complete the loop, carrying heat, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen with it. The circulation also shapes climate. The warm surface flow that reaches the North Atlantic releases heat to the air, keeping western European winters milder than the latitude alone would suggest. Scientists monitor the current with instrument buoys because melting ice and heavier rainfall could add fresh water to the North Atlantic, and too much fresh water would make the surface layer less dense, slowing the sinking that drives the whole system.
Q43 Which phrase best describes how the passage is organized?
A. As a debate between scientists who disagree about ocean currents.
B. As a set of instructions for measuring ocean temperature.
C. As a narrative about a sailor crossing the Atlantic.
D. As an explanation of a cause and its effects on climate and sea ice. ✓
The passage explains how cold, salty water sinks to drive the circulation, then traces the effects of that circulation on climate and the risk posed by melting ice, which is a cause-and-effect explanation, D. A is wrong because no disagreement is presented. B is wrong because no measuring instructions appear. C is wrong because no sailor or voyage is narrated.
Sleep is not a single state but a cycle of stages that repeats several times each night. The body moves from light sleep into deeper stages in which brain waves slow, and then into rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep, the stage most often associated with vivid dreaming. One complete cycle lasts roughly ninety minutes, and the proportion of time spent in REM grows with each repetition, so the longest REM periods occur in the final hours before waking. The daily rhythm of sleep and wakefulness is governed by an internal clock in the brain, which is synchronized to the outside world mainly by light. When light enters the eyes in the morning, the clock suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleepiness, and the body becomes alert. At night the same clock signals the pineal gland to release melatonin, helping the person drift toward sleep. Disruptions to this system, such as shift work or bright screens late in the evening, can push the clock out of alignment with the social day, leaving people sleepy when they need to be awake and restless when they need to rest.
Q44 Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
A. People should sleep at least nine hours every night to stay healthy.
B. REM sleep happens only in the first hour after falling asleep.
C. Melatonin is a hormone that keeps people awake during the day.
D. Sleep unfolds in repeating stages that are regulated by an internal clock sensitive to light. ✓
The passage explains the repeating cycle of sleep stages and then describes the internal clock and its response to light, so D best captures the whole. A states a nightly quota that the passage never gives. B reverses the passage, which says the longest REM periods come in the final hours. C reverses the passage, which says melatonin promotes sleepiness at night.
Nearly every tissue in the body runs on a daily schedule, and the clock that sets the schedule sits deep in the brain. The suprachiasmatic nucleus, a cluster of about twenty thousand neurons, receives light signals from the eyes, and those signals keep the body's internal time close to the rising and setting of the sun. In dim conditions the pineal gland releases melatonin, the hormone that eases the body into sleep. The system is not fixed, however. During adolescence the internal clock shifts later, a phase delay that makes genuinely early bedtimes difficult for teenagers even when they want them. A wave of research on later school start times found that moving the first bell later improved attendance and mood in adolescents whose schedules had been out of step with their internal clocks. The practical lesson is that a habit described as laziness may actually be a biological schedule that conflicts with an early alarm clock.
Q45 According to the passage, the difficulty many teenagers have falling asleep early is most directly due to
A. a biological shift in the internal clock during adolescence. ✓
B. greater sensitivity to melatonin in teenagers.
C. later school start times nationwide.
D. a lack of light exposure in the evening.
The passage attributes difficult early bedtimes in teens to the adolescent phase delay of the internal clock. The other options name consequences or unmentioned causes.
Numbers & algebra, measurement & data. On-screen calculator available.
Q1 18 is what percent of 60?
A. 0.3%
B. 30% ✓
C. 33.3%
D. 3%
Divide the part by the whole and multiply by 100: 18 / 60 = 0.30, so 18 is 30% of 60. The 3% option misplaced the decimal one place, the 0.3% option moved it two places, and the 33.3% option confused 18/60 with one-third.
Q2 A tablet contains 1.25 mg of an active ingredient. How many micrograms is that? (1 mg = 1,000 mcg)
A. 125
B. 12.5
C. 0.00125
D. 1250 ✓
Multiply milligrams by 1,000: 1.25 x 1,000 = 1,250 mcg. The 125 option divided by 10, the 12.5 option divided by 100, and the 0.00125 option converted in the wrong direction entirely.
Q3 A course grade is made up of 60% exam and 40% lab work. A student scored 75 on the exam and 90 on the lab work. What is the student's course grade?
A. 81 ✓
B. 75
C. 84
D. 82.5
Multiply each score by its weight: 0.60 x 75 = 45 and 0.40 x 90 = 36, then add to get 81. The 82.5 option took a simple average of 75 and 90, the 84 option swapped the weights, and the 75 option used only the exam score and ignored the lab work.
Q4 A fair spinner has 4 equal sections numbered 1 to 4 and is spun twice. What is the probability that the two numbers add to at least 6?
A. 3/16
B. 5/8
C. 13/16
D. 3/8 ✓
Of the 16 equally likely outcomes, 6 have a sum of 6 or more: (2,4), (3,3), (3,4), (4,2), (4,3), and (4,4), so the probability is 6/16 = 3/8. The 3/16 option counted only sums equal to exactly 6, the 5/8 option counted sums of at least 5, and the 13/16 option subtracted the exactly-6 probability from 1.
Q5 A number is tripled, then 9 is subtracted, and the result is 27. What is the number? pilot
A. 12 ✓
B. 9
C. 18
D. 6
Work backward from the result: 27 + 9 = 36, then divide by 3 to undo the tripling: 36 / 3 = 12. The 6 option performed the operations in the forward order sign-by-sign, the 18 option added 9 back but forgot to divide by 3, and the 9 option divided 27 by 3 without adding 9 back.
Q6 A 250 mL bag contains a 4% solution. How many mL of the active drug does the bag hold? pilot
A. 4
B. 10 ✓
C. 12.5
D. 62.5
4% of 250 mL = 0.04 x 250 = 10 mL. 12.5 treats 4% as a fraction of a quarter; 4 confuses the percent with the amount; 62.5 divides instead of multiplies.
Q7 A clinic's weekly patient totals were 45, 52, 47, 56, and 50. What was the mean number of patients seen per week? pilot
A. 49
B. 52
C. 51
D. 50 ✓
Add the five weekly totals (45 + 52 + 47 + 56 + 50 = 250) and divide by 5 to get a mean of 50. The 49 and 51 options come from small addition slips on the total, and the 52 option is one of the data values rather than the average.
Q8 A cylindrical storage tank has a radius of 2 m and a height of 5 m. Using 3.14 for pi, what is the volume of the tank?
A. 62.8 ✓
B. 20
C. 31.4
D. 125.6
Cylinder volume is pi x radius squared x height: 3.14 x 2 x 2 x 5 = 62.8 cubic m. The 31.4 option used pi x radius x height, dropping one factor of the radius, the 125.6 option used the diameter in place of the height, and the 20 option computed radius squared times height without pi.
Q9 Which list shows the decimals 0.42, 0.405, and 0.5 arranged from smallest to largest?
A. 0.5, 0.42, 0.405
B. 0.405, 0.42, 0.5 ✓
C. 0.42, 0.405, 0.5
D. 0.42, 0.5, 0.405
Compare tenths first: 0.405 and 0.42 both start with 4 tenths, and 0.405 is smaller because its hundredths digit is 0 versus 2, so the order is 0.405, 0.42, 0.5. The other lists either assumed 0.42 is smaller than 0.405 or reversed the correct order.
Q10 A triangular banner has a base of 12 cm and a height of 7 cm. What is its area?
A. 19
B. 21
C. 42 ✓
D. 84
Area of a triangle is one-half base times height: 0.5 x 12 x 7 = 42 sq cm. The 84 option forgot to halve the product, the 21 option halved it twice, and the 19 option added the base and height instead of multiplying them.
Q11 Evaluate the expression: 4 x 3 + 12 / 4.
A. 3
B. 12
C. 15 ✓
D. 6
Multiplication and division come first: 4 x 3 = 12 and 12 / 4 = 3, then 12 + 3 = 15. The 6 option worked strictly left to right, the 12 option reported only the product, and the 3 option reported only the quotient.
Q12 For every 3 boxes of gloves a supply room orders, it receives 2 boxes of masks. If 24 boxes of masks arrive, how many boxes of gloves were ordered?
A. 16
B. 24
C. 18
D. 36 ✓
The ratio of gloves to masks is 3:2, so order gloves = 24 x 3/2 = 36 boxes. The 16 option applied the ratio backward (24 x 2/3), the 18 option used 3/4 of 24, and the 24 option assumed a one-to-one ratio.
Q13 A total of 3.6 L of solution is divided equally among 8 tubes. How many liters go into each tube?
A. 0.045
B. 4.5
C. 0.45 ✓
D. 0.9
Divide the total by the number of tubes: 3.6 / 8 = 0.45 L per tube. The 4.5 option misplaced the decimal a full place to the right, the 0.045 option moved it the wrong way, and the 0.9 option divided by 4 tubes instead of 8.
Q14 A pharmacy filled 28 prescriptions in a day, and 3/7 of them were refills. How many refills were filled?
A. 21
B. 16
C. 12 ✓
D. 4
Multiply the total by the fraction: 28 x 3/7 = 12 refills. The 16 option computed the 4/7 that were new prescriptions instead, the 21 option used 3/4 of the total, and the 4 option divided 28 by 7 without multiplying by the numerator.
Q15 A rectangular therapy room is 4.5 m by 3 m. What is its perimeter?
A. 7.5
B. 13.5
C. 27
D. 15 ✓
Perimeter is twice the sum of length and width: 2 x (4.5 + 3) = 2 x 7.5 = 15 m. The 13.5 option computed the area (4.5 x 3) instead, the 7.5 option added the sides once without doubling, and the 27 option doubled the area value.
Q16 Five temperatures are recorded in degrees C: 22.5, 19.0, 24.5, 21.0, and 20.5. What is the range of the temperatures?
A. 3.5
B. 4.0
C. 21.5
D. 5.5 ✓
Range is the largest minus the smallest: 24.5 - 19.0 = 5.5 degrees. The 21.5 option is the mean of the five temperatures, the 4.0 option subtracted 20.5 from 24.5, and the 3.5 option subtracted 19.0 from 22.5.
Q17 Of 40 patients on a ward, 3/5 completed a satisfaction survey, and 1/4 of those preferred morning appointments. How many patients preferred morning appointments?
A. 6 ✓
B. 12
C. 16
D. 10
First find 3/5 of 40, which is 24 patients, then take 1/4 of 24 to get 6. The 10 option applied the 1/4 to all 40 patients instead of to the 24 survey completers, the 12 option used 3/10 of 40, and the 16 option used 2/5 of 40.
Q18 Solve for x: 0.25x = 1.75.
A. 4.375
B. 1.5
C. 0.7
D. 7 ✓
Divide both sides by 0.25: 1.75 / 0.25 = 7. The 0.7 option misplaced the decimal in the answer, the 4.375 option multiplied 1.75 by 2.5 instead of dividing by 0.25, and the 1.5 option subtracted 0.25 from 1.75.
Q19 A drip adds 15 mL to the bag every 10 minutes. Which equation gives volume V in mL after t whole 10-minute intervals?
A. V = 10t + 15
B. V = 15t ✓
C. V = 15t + 10
D. V = t/15
Each interval adds a constant 15 mL, so V = 15 x t. 10t + 15 swaps the rate and the interval, t/15 inverts the rate, and 15t + 10 adds a constant the data does not have.
Q20 A shift starts at 9:15 AM and ends at 5:30 PM on the same day. How long is the shift?
A. 8 hours 15 minutes ✓
B. 8 hours 5 minutes
C. 7 hours 45 minutes
D. 8 hours 45 minutes
From 9:15 AM to 5:15 PM is 8 hours, plus the remaining 15 minutes to 5:30 PM, for 8 hours 15 minutes. The 8 hours 45 minutes option counted to 6:00 PM, the 7 hours 45 minutes option counted only to 5:00 PM, and the 8 hours 5 minutes option misread the start time as 9:25 AM.
Q21 A number is increased by 20% and the result is 42. What was the original number?
A. 33.6
B. 50.4
C. 22
D. 35 ✓
The result equals 120% of the original, so divide 42 by 1.20 to get 35. The 50.4 option multiplied 42 by 1.2, the 33.6 option subtracted 20% of 42 instead, and the 22 option subtracted 20 from 42 as if 20 were a count.
Q22 A clinic's daily patient visits were: Monday 10, Tuesday 14, Wednesday 6, Thursday 20, and Friday 10. What percent of the week's visits happened on Thursday?
A. 25%
B. 20%
C. 33.3% ✓
D. 30%
The week's total is 10 + 14 + 6 + 20 + 10 = 60 visits, and Thursday's 20 visits are 20 / 60 = 0.333, or 33.3%. The 20% option used the Thursday count as a percent directly, the 25% option used 15 of 60, and the 30% option used 18 of 60.
Q23 Solve for x: 7x + 2 = 5x + 16.
A. 7 ✓
B. 14
C. 16
D. 3.5
Subtract 5x from both sides to get 2x + 2 = 16, subtract 2 to get 2x = 14, then divide by 2: x = 7. The 14 option stopped at the value of 2x, the 3.5 option divided 14 by 4 instead of 2, and the 16 option used the constant from the right side alone.
Q24 A production table shows: 0 hours produces 0 units, 2 hours produce 16 units, 4 hours produce 32 units, and 6 hours produce 48 units. At this steady rate, how many units are produced in 5 hours?
A. 36
B. 40 ✓
C. 32
D. 44
The rate is 16 units per 2 hours, or 8 units per hour, so 5 hours produce 5 x 8 = 40 units. The 32 option read the 4-hour row without interpolating, the 44 option overestimated the 5-hour point, and the 36 option underestimated it.
Q25 A tablet weighs 0.5 g. How many milligrams is this? (1 g = 1,000 mg)
A. 5000
B. 500 ✓
C. 50
D. 5
Multiply grams by 1,000 to convert to milligrams: 0.5 x 1,000 = 500 mg. The 5 option multiplied by 10 instead of 1,000, the 50 option multiplied by 100, and the 5,000 option multiplied by 10,000, each a one- or two-place decimal error.
Q26 A department's budget rose from $1.2 million to $1.5 million over a year. What was the percent increase?
A. 2.5%
B. 30%
C. 25% ✓
D. 20%
Percent change uses the original value as the base: the change is 0.3 million, and 0.3 / 1.2 = 0.25, or 25%. The 20% option divided the change by the new value of 1.5 million, the 30% option used a $1.0 million base, and the 2.5% option misplaced the decimal point.
Q27 Convert the fraction 7/8 to a decimal.
A. 1.14
B. 0.78
C. 0.87
D. 0.875 ✓
Divide the numerator by the denominator: 7 divided by 8 equals 0.875. The 0.78 option writes the digits side by side, 0.87 truncates 0.875 at two places instead of rounding, and 1.14 inverts the fraction by dividing 8 by 7.
Q28 A supplement packet contains 1,800 mg of powder. How many grams is that? (1 g = 1,000 mg)
A. 18
B. 1.8 ✓
C. 180
D. 0.18
Divide milligrams by 1,000 to convert to grams: 1,800 / 1,000 = 1.8 g. The 180 option divided by 10, the 18 option divided by 100, and the 0.18 option divided by 10,000, each a decimal-place error in the conversion.
Q29 Convert 0.065 to a percent.
A. 6.5% ✓
B. 0.65%
C. 65%
D. 0.065%
A percent is parts per hundred: 0.065 = 6.5/100, so 0.065 = 6.5%. 65% moves the decimal the wrong direction; 0.65% and 0.065% shift it too far.
Q30 A class of 20 students averaged 80 on a quiz. Five new students join and average 95 on the same quiz. What is the new class average?
A. 90
B. 87.5
C. 84
D. 83 ✓
The original 20 students contributed 20 x 80 = 1,600 points and the 5 new students contributed 5 x 95 = 475, so the new average is (1,600 + 475) / 25 = 83. The 87.5 option averaged the two group means without weighting, the 84 option treated the new group as averaging 100, and the 90 option used only the new students' mean.
Q31 A number divided by 5 and then increased by 8 equals 12. What is the number? pilot
A. 100
B. 20 ✓
C. 4
D. 60
Work backward: 12 - 8 = 4 is the quotient, and the original number is 4 x 5 = 20. The 4 option answered the quotient without multiplying by 5, the 100 option added 8 to 12 before multiplying by 5, and the 60 option multiplied 12 by 5 and ignored the rest.
Q32 Carpet costs $3.50 per square foot. A room is 12 ft by 14 ft. What does it cost to carpet the floor of the room?
A. 630
B. 546
C. 588 ✓
D. 182
Find the floor area, 12 x 14 = 168 sq ft, then multiply by the price: 168 x 3.50 = $588. The 182 option multiplied the perimeter, 52 ft, by the price, the 630 option used a 15 ft width, and the 546 option used a 13 ft length.
Q33 A phone plan charges $30 per month plus $0.10 per minute of calls. What is the monthly bill for 340 minutes of calls?
A. 30.10
B. 70
C. 64 ✓
D. 34
The per-minute charge is 0.10 x 340 = $34, and the total is $34 + $30 = $64. The 34 option reported only the minute charge and left out the monthly fee, the 30.10 option added just 10 cents for the minutes, and the 70 option used 400 minutes instead of 340.
Q34 An account earns 2.5% simple interest in one year on a balance of $4,800. How much interest is earned?
A. 480
B. 12
C. 1200
D. 120 ✓
Multiply the balance by 0.025: $4,800 x 0.025 = $120. The 12 option misplaced the decimal one place, the 1,200 option misplaced it two places, and the 480 option used 10% instead of 2.5%.
Q35 A floor-plan drawing uses a scale of 1 cm = 4 m. A corridor measures 2.75 cm on the drawing. How long is the actual corridor?
A. 6.75
B. 5.5
C. 1.4
D. 11 ✓
Multiply the drawing length by the scale factor: 2.75 cm x 4 m per cm = 11 m. The 6.75 option added the numbers instead of multiplying, the 5.5 option incorrectly used a 2-cm-equals-4-m scale, and the 1.4 option divided 4 by 2.75, reversing the ratio.
Q36 A survey of 120 patients asked for one appointment preference: 45 chose morning, 35 chose evening, and 40 chose flexible. What fraction of patients chose evening?
A. 1/3
B. 7/24 ✓
C. 17/24
D. 3/8
Evening patients are 35 of 120, and 35/120 reduces by 5 to 7/24. The 3/8 option is the fraction that chose morning (45/120), the 1/3 option is the flexible group (40/120), and the 17/24 option combined morning and flexible patients.
Q37 A jar holds 5 red, 4 blue, and 6 green marbles. One marble is drawn at random. What is the probability that it is blue?
A. 4/15 ✓
B. 11/15
C. 5/15
D. 4/11
There are 15 marbles total and 4 blue ones, so the probability is 4/15. The 11/15 option is the complement, the chance of drawing a marble that is NOT blue, the 4/11 option divided blue marbles by only the red and green marbles, and the 5/15 option is the probability of red instead.
Q38 Evaluate the expression: 5 + 3 x (10 - 6)^2 / 4.
A. 17 ✓
B. 32
C. 48
D. 23
Work inside the parentheses first: 10 - 6 = 4, then square it to get 16, then 3 x 16 = 48, then 48 / 4 = 12, and finally 5 + 12 = 17. The 23 option ignored the square and the division, the 32 option added 5 and 3 before multiplying, and the 48 option stopped at the product 3 x 16.
Anatomy & physiology, biology, chemistry, scientific reasoning.
Q1 Which combination of design elements is strongest for establishing that a treatment causes an observed effect?
A. Comparing the treatment group with published national averages
B. Observing a large group that chose the treatment on its own
C. Random assignment to treatment and control groups with all other conditions kept identical ✓
D. Testing the treatment on one highly motivated volunteer
Random assignment spreads unknown differences evenly between groups, and identical conditions leave the treatment as the only difference, which supports causation. Self-selected groups, historical comparisons, and single subjects leave confounding factors uncontrolled, so the randomized controlled design is strongest.
Q2 In a data set containing a few extreme outliers, why might a researcher prefer the median over the mean as a summary?
A. The median is resistant to extreme values that would pull the mean away from the typical case ✓
B. The median is always larger than the mean
C. The mean cannot be computed from ranked data
D. The median ignores every value except the middle one
The median depends on the position of values rather than their magnitude, so extreme outliers barely move it, while the mean is dragged toward them. The median is not always larger, a mean can be computed from any numeric data, and the median still reflects the ordered values, so resistance to outliers is the reason.
Q3 A 0.10 M solution of hydrochloric acid dissociates completely. What is the pH of this solution?
A. 5
B. 7
C. 1 ✓
D. 13
For a strong acid that dissociates fully, the hydrogen ion concentration equals 0.10 M, and pH is the negative log of that concentration, giving 1. The value 7 confuses the acid with neutrality, 13 describes a strong base, and 5 misplaces the decimal, so pH 1 is correct.
Q4 Which hormone, released by the pancreas, lowers blood glucose by promoting glucose uptake into cells?
A. Glucagon
B. Insulin ✓
C. Cortisol
D. Thyroxine
Insulin lowers blood glucose by stimulating cellular uptake and storage. Glucagon and cortisol raise glucose, and thyroxine regulates metabolic rate rather than glucose uptake directly.
Q5 At standard laboratory temperature, a solution with a pH of 7 is classified as
A. Neutral ✓
B. Weakly basic
C. Strongly basic
D. Strongly acidic
On the pH scale, 7 is neutral, with equal hydrogen and hydroxide activity, as in pure water. Values below 7 are acidic and values above 7 are basic, so labeling pH 7 as acidic or basic misplaces it on the scale.
Q6 Which part of a neuron receives incoming signals and conducts them toward the cell body?
A. Axon
B. Axon terminals
C. Myelin sheath
D. Dendrites ✓
Dendrites are the branched extensions that receive signals from other neurons and carry them toward the cell body. The axon conducts impulses away from the cell body, axon terminals release transmitter onto the next cell, and myelin only insulates the axon, so dendrites match the receiving role.
Q7 Water molecules attract one another through hydrogen bonds because
A. oxygen pulls the shared electrons closer, giving the molecule partial charges and making it polar ✓
B. each hydrogen carries a full positive charge that attracts neighboring oxygens
C. electrons are transferred completely from hydrogen to oxygen, forming ions
D. hydrogen and oxygen share electrons equally, so the molecule is nonpolar
Oxygen is more electronegative than hydrogen, so it draws the shared electrons closer and leaves partial negative and positive poles that attract other molecules. Complete electron transfer would form ions, full positive charges overstate the polarity, and equal sharing would make water nonpolar, so the partial-charge description is correct.
Q8 Which stage of cellular respiration yields the most ATP per glucose molecule?
A. Glycolysis
B. Pyruvate oxidation
C. Citric acid cycle
D. Oxidative phosphorylation ✓
Oxidative phosphorylation drives the electron transport chain and chemiosmosis, producing roughly 30 of the ~32 net ATP from a glucose molecule. The earlier stages produce two ATP or a few, far less per glucose.
Q9 Which structure normally sets the pace of the heartbeat by generating spontaneous electrical impulses?
A. Purkinje fibers
B. Sinoatrial node ✓
C. Atrioventricular node
D. Vagus nerve
The sinoatrial node in the right atrium fires first in every cardiac cycle, so it sets the heart rate. The atrioventricular node, Purkinje fibers, and vagus nerve conduct, delay, or adjust the signal after it has already been started, so none of them initiates the normal rhythm.
Q10 Which component of the blood is essential for clot formation and stopping bleeding?
A. Red blood cells
B. Platelets (thrombocytes) ✓
C. Plasma
D. White blood cells
Platelets stick to injured vessel walls, aggregate, and help form the fibrin clot that seals a wound. Red blood cells transport oxygen, white blood cells defend against infection, and plasma alone cannot aggregate into a plug, so platelets are the formed elements responsible for clotting.
Q11 Which neurotransmitter is released at the neuromuscular junction to trigger skeletal muscle contraction?
A. Acetylcholine ✓
B. Dopamine
C. GABA
D. Serotonin
Motor neurons release acetylcholine at the neuromuscular junction, where it binds receptors on the muscle fiber and triggers contraction. Dopamine and serotonin are modulatory transmitters in the brain, and GABA is an inhibitory transmitter in the central nervous system, so acetylcholine is the junction chemical.
Q12 Which activity belongs in the analysis stage of a scientific investigation?
A. Writing the research question
B. Recruiting participants
C. Selecting the equipment
D. Graphing the collected data ✓
After data are collected, graphing and summarizing them is analysis. The research question, equipment, and participants belong to the planning and execution stages that come earlier.
Q13 Which layer of the heart wall is the thick muscular layer that does the pumping?
A. Pericardium
B. Myocardium ✓
C. Endocardium
D. Epicardium
The myocardium is the layer of cardiac muscle whose contractions drive blood through the heart and vessels. The endocardium lines the inner chambers, the epicardium covers the outer surface, and the pericardium is the sac surrounding the heart, so the myocardium is the pumping muscle.
Q14 A study reports a correlation of 0.9 between hours of study and exam scores. Which interpretation is most defensible? pilot
A. There is essentially no relationship between the two variables
B. More study causes lower exam scores
C. Studying definitely causes higher exam scores
D. There is a strong positive association, but the study does not prove studying causes higher scores ✓
A correlation near 1.0 indicates a strong positive linear relationship, but observational data cannot rule out other influences such as motivation or prior knowledge, so causation is not established. The other choices either overstate causation or misread the direction and the strength of the association.
Q15 During photosynthesis, plants take in which gas from the air to build glucose?
A. Hydrogen
B. Carbon dioxide ✓
C. Nitrogen
D. Oxygen
Plants fix carbon dioxide from the air in the Calvin cycle to build glucose. Oxygen is released as a byproduct of the light reactions, nitrogen is not fixed by photosynthesis, and hydrogen gas is not taken up by leaves, so carbon dioxide is the gas consumed.
Q16 In which organelle does photosynthesis capture light energy and build glucose in plant cells?
A. Chloroplast ✓
B. Ribosome
C. Mitochondrion
D. Vacuole
Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll and carry out the light reactions and the Calvin cycle that build glucose. Mitochondria perform cellular respiration, vacuoles store water and solutes, and ribosomes synthesize proteins, so chloroplasts are the organelles where photosynthesis happens.
Q17 Which buffer system is the most important for stabilizing the pH of the blood?
A. Bicarbonate-carbonic acid system ✓
B. Phosphate system
C. Protein buffer system
D. Ammonia buffer system
The bicarbonate-carbonic acid pair is the dominant extracellular buffer of blood, reacting with both excess acid and excess base. The others help in cells, urine, or plasma but are secondary for blood pH.
Q18 How many grams of sodium chloride (NaCl) are present in 0.50 moles? (Molar mass of NaCl = 58.4 g/mol) pilot
A. 116.9 g
B. 58.4 g
C. 29.2 g ✓
D. 14.6 g
Multiplying 0.50 moles by the molar mass of 58.4 g/mol gives 29.2 g. The 58.4 g value is a full mole, 14.6 g is a quarter mole, and 116.9 g is two moles, so only 29.2 g matches half a mole of the salt.
Q19 Which part of the brain is primarily responsible for coordinating voluntary movements and maintaining balance and posture?
A. Medulla oblongata
B. Hypothalamus
C. Cerebrum
D. Cerebellum ✓
The cerebellum fine-tunes movement, balance, and posture by comparing intended motion with actual motion. The cerebrum handles conscious thought and planning, the medulla controls automatic functions such as breathing, and the hypothalamus manages homeostasis, so cerebellum best matches the coordination role.
Q20 A balance repeatedly reads 0.10 g for an object whose true mass is 0.15 g. The measurements are
A. precise but not accurate ✓
B. both accurate and precise
C. accurate but not precise
D. neither precise nor accurate
The readings cluster tightly together, showing precision, but they consistently miss the true value by the same amount, showing poor accuracy. Because the values agree with each other but not with the reference mass, only the precise-but-not-accurate description fits.
Q21 What is the molar mass of sulfuric acid (H2SO4)? (H = 1.0 g/mol, S = 32.1 g/mol, O = 16.0 g/mol)
A. 49.0 g/mol
B. 98.1 g/mol ✓
C. 114.1 g/mol
D. 82.1 g/mol
Two hydrogens (2.0), one sulfur (32.1), and four oxygens (64.0) add to 98.1 g/mol. The 49.0 value is half the total, 82.1 omits one oxygen, and 114.1 adds an extra oxygen, so 98.1 g/mol is the correct molar mass of sulfuric acid.
Q22 Which process produces four genetically distinct haploid cells from one diploid cell? pilot
A. Mitosis
B. Meiosis ✓
C. Binary fission
D. Budding
Meiosis performs two divisions with one DNA replication, producing four haploid cells that differ genetically. Mitosis yields two identical diploid cells, and the other options are asexual processes.
Q23 Lymph nodes function mainly to pilot
A. produce red blood cells.
B. filter lymph and support immune responses. ✓
C. secrete digestive enzymes.
D. store calcium.
Lymph nodes filter lymph and house lymphocytes that mount immune responses. Red cell production is primarily marrow, digestive enzymes come from glands, and calcium storage is bone.
Q24 Which statement best describes a scientific theory?
A. A personal opinion that has not been examined
B. A specific prediction of what will happen in a trial
C. A broad, well-supported explanation that organizes many observations and has survived repeated testing ✓
D. A single untested guess about one experiment
A scientific theory is a comprehensive explanation supported by a large body of evidence, such as cell theory or germ theory. A guess, a specific prediction, or an unexamined opinion describes a hypothesis or speculation, not a theory, so the well-supported explanation is correct.
Q25 During which stage of meiosis do homologous chromosomes separate from each other, reducing the chromosome number by half? pilot
A. Anaphase II
B. Prophase II
C. Metaphase I
D. Anaphase I ✓
In anaphase I the homologous pairs are pulled apart, so each daughter cell receives one member of each pair and the chromosome number is halved. Anaphase II separates sister chromatids instead, prophase II follows the first division, and metaphase I aligns the pairs, so the halving occurs at anaphase I.
Q26 Which part of the digestive tract is the major site where digested nutrients are absorbed into the blood?
A. Large intestine
B. Stomach
C. Small intestine ✓
D. Esophagus
The small intestine's enormous surface area, created by villi and microvilli, absorbs most digested nutrients into the blood. The stomach mainly digests protein and absorbs very little, the large intestine absorbs mostly water, and the esophagus only transports food, so the small intestine is the absorption site.
Q27 A researcher states: If the new fertilizer raises soil nitrogen, then treated plots will show greener grass in four weeks. That statement is best classified as a
A. hypothesis.
B. conclusion.
C. control.
D. prediction. ✓
The statement is a specific, testable expectation stated as if-then, which is a prediction derived from a hypothesis. The hypothesis is the broader explanation; the conclusion comes after testing; a control is a comparison group.
Q28 Which heart valve is located between the right atrium and the right ventricle?
A. Bicuspid (mitral) valve
B. Aortic valve
C. Tricuspid valve ✓
D. Pulmonary valve
The tricuspid valve guards the opening between the right atrium and the right ventricle. The bicuspid valve sits between the left atrium and left ventricle, the aortic valve exits the left ventricle, and the pulmonary valve guards the pulmonary trunk, so the tricuspid is the right-sided valve.
Q29 In an experiment testing how light affects seedling growth, every group is kept at the same temperature, watering, and soil. These matched conditions are the
A. controlled variables ✓
B. experimental errors
C. independent variables
D. dependent variables
Controlled variables are held constant across all groups so that only the independent variable differs. The independent variable is the light being changed on purpose, the dependent variable is the measured growth, and matched conditions are not errors, so controlled variables is the correct label.
Q30 In the central dogma of molecular biology, the flow of information runs from
A. protein to RNA to DNA.
B. DNA to RNA to protein. ✓
C. RNA to DNA to RNA.
D. protein to DNA directly.
Transcription copies DNA into mRNA, and translation turns mRNA into protein, so the canonical direction is DNA to RNA to protein. The other orders reverse or shortcut that direction.
Q31 Which muscular tube carries swallowed food from the pharynx down to the stomach?
A. Trachea
B. Larynx
C. Esophagus ✓
D. Duodenum
The esophagus is the muscular tube connecting the pharynx to the stomach, moving food onward by peristalsis. The trachea and larynx are airway structures, and the duodenum is the first segment of the small intestine, so none of those transports food from the throat to the stomach.
Q32 Which subatomic particle determines the atomic number and therefore the identity of an element?
A. Electron
B. Neutron
C. Proton ✓
D. Photon
The number of protons defines the element, and changing that number changes the element entirely. Neutrons change mass but not identity, electrons can be gained or lost without changing the element, and photons are particles of light, so protons alone set the atomic number.
Q33 Which bone cell, a former osteoblast now embedded in the bone matrix, helps maintain the tissue and sense mechanical stress?
A. Osteoblast
B. Osteoclast
C. Osteocyte ✓
D. Chondrocyte
Osteocytes are mature bone cells trapped in the matrix they secreted; they maintain bone and detect mechanical strain. Osteoblasts build new bone on the surface, osteoclasts resorb bone, and chondrocytes produce cartilage, so osteocyte is the correct mature embedded cell.
Q34 Which organ releases digestive enzymes and bicarbonate into the duodenum to break down nutrients and neutralize stomach acid?
A. Gallbladder
B. Pancreas ✓
C. Liver
D. Appendix
The pancreas secretes enzymes that digest carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, plus bicarbonate that neutralizes acidic chyme entering the duodenum. The liver makes bile, the gallbladder stores bile, and the appendix has no digestive function, so the pancreas is the enzyme-and-bicarbonate source.
Q35 A researcher reports a very large standard deviation in reaction times collected from a group of participants. This statistic indicates that
A. the mean reaction time is definitely incorrect
B. the individual reaction times are widely spread around the mean ✓
C. every reaction time is identical
D. the experiment must have been run in error
Standard deviation measures how much individual values scatter around the mean, so a large value means wide spread among participants. It does not by itself make the mean incorrect, identical values would give a tiny deviation, and spread alone does not prove an experimental error.
Q36 Which cells are primarily responsible for breaking down bone tissue during bone remodeling?
A. Osteoblasts
B. Osteocytes
C. Chondrocytes
D. Osteoclasts ✓
Osteoclasts resorb bone by dissolving mineral and digesting matrix. Osteoblasts build bone, osteocytes are mature bone cells that monitor strain, and chondrocytes make cartilage.
Q37 Which molecule serves as the final electron acceptor in the electron transport chain during aerobic respiration?
A. Carbon dioxide
B. Glucose
C. Oxygen ✓
D. Water
Oxygen accepts electrons at the end of the electron transport chain and combines with protons to form water, allowing ATP production to continue. Carbon dioxide is released by the Krebs cycle, glucose is the fuel being oxidized, and water is the product of the reaction, so oxygen is the final acceptor.
Q38 During which phase of mitosis do sister chromatids separate and move toward opposite poles of the cell? pilot
A. Telophase
B. Anaphase ✓
C. Prophase
D. Metaphase
In anaphase the centromeres split and sister chromatids are pulled to opposite ends by spindle fibers. Prophase condenses the chromosomes, metaphase aligns them at the equator, and telophase rebuilds the nuclear envelopes, so chromatid separation occurs only in anaphase.
Q39 During ventricular systole, the atrioventricular valves close primarily to
A. speed up conduction through the atrioventricular node.
B. prevent backflow of blood into the atria. ✓
C. allow blood to fill the coronary arteries.
D. reduce pressure inside the ventricles.
Ventricular contraction raises ventricular pressure above atrial pressure, so the closed AV valves stop blood from flowing backward into the atria. They do not speed conduction, fill coronary arteries, or lower pressure.
Q40 Which feature distinguishes a eukaryotic cell from a prokaryotic cell?
A. Ribosomes
B. A plasma membrane
C. A membrane-bound nucleus ✓
D. Cytoplasm
Eukaryotes keep their DNA in a membrane-bound nucleus; prokaryotes have no nucleus. Ribosomes, plasma membranes, and cytoplasm are present in both cell types.
Q41 During skeletal muscle contraction, the calcium ions that trigger the sliding of filaments are released from which structure?
A. Golgi apparatus
B. Neuromuscular junction
C. Sarcolemma
D. Sarcoplasmic reticulum ✓
The sarcoplasmic reticulum is a specialized calcium-storing membrane network inside the muscle fiber that floods the cytoplasm with calcium when stimulated. The sarcolemma is the muscle cell membrane, the Golgi apparatus packages proteins, and the neuromuscular junction is where the nerve meets the fiber, so the calcium comes from the sarcoplasmic reticulum.
Q42 An atom of carbon-14 has an atomic number of 6. How many neutrons does it contain?
A. 6
B. 20
C. 14
D. 8 ✓
The mass number of 14 equals protons plus neutrons, so subtracting the 6 protons leaves 8 neutrons. The value 6 is the proton count, 14 is the mass number itself, and 20 adds protons and neutrons instead of subtracting, so 8 is the correct number of neutrons.
Q43 In an experiment testing the effect of water temperature on seed germination, which item is the control variable?
A. The temperature of the water
B. The number of seeds that germinate
C. The type of seed used ✓
D. The amount of light during germination
A control variable is held constant across groups, and using the same seed type keeps the test fair. Temperature is the manipulated variable, germination count is the measured outcome, and light must be controlled but the seed type is the natural answer among the choices.
Q44 What is the molar mass of carbon dioxide (CO2)? (C = 12.0 g/mol, O = 16.0 g/mol)
A. 22.0 g/mol
B. 28.0 g/mol
C. 44.0 g/mol ✓
D. 48.0 g/mol
One carbon atom (12.0) plus two oxygen atoms (2 x 16.0 = 32.0) gives 44.0 g/mol. 22.0 halves the total, 28.0 counts only one oxygen, and 48.0 uses three oxygens.
Q45 Gas exchange between alveolar air and pulmonary capillaries depends mainly on
A. active transport of oxygen across the respiratory membrane.
B. equal partial pressures of oxygen on both sides of the membrane.
C. contraction of smooth muscle in the alveolar walls.
D. differences in partial pressure driving diffusion of each gas. ✓
Each gas diffuses down its own partial-pressure gradient, oxygen into blood and carbon dioxide out. Nothing is actively transported in gas exchange, equal pressures would stop diffusion, and alveoli have no significant smooth muscle.
Q46 What is the molar mass of water (H2O)? (H = 1.0 g/mol, O = 16.0 g/mol)
A. 16.0 g/mol
B. 18.0 g/mol ✓
C. 17.0 g/mol
D. 20.0 g/mol
Two hydrogen atoms (2.0) plus one oxygen atom (16.0) total 18.0 g/mol. The 17.0 value undercounts one hydrogen, 16.0 equals oxygen alone, and 20.0 adds too much, so 18.0 g/mol is the correct molar mass of water.
Q47 Which process splits one molecule of glucose into two molecules of pyruvate in the cytoplasm, producing a small amount of ATP?
A. Krebs cycle
B. Glycolysis ✓
C. Electron transport chain
D. Beta oxidation
Glycolysis is the cytosolic pathway that converts glucose into two pyruvate molecules with a net gain of two ATP. The Krebs cycle and electron transport chain occur in the mitochondria and process pyruvate's products, while beta oxidation breaks down fatty acids, so glycolysis fits this description.
Q48 What is the molar mass of methane (CH4)? (C = 12.0 g/mol, H = 1.0 g/mol)
A. 20.0 g/mol
B. 16.0 g/mol ✓
C. 18.0 g/mol
D. 13.0 g/mol
One carbon atom (12.0) plus four hydrogen atoms (4.0) totals 16.0 g/mol. The 13.0 value adds only one hydrogen, 18.0 is the molar mass of water, and 20.0 overcounts the hydrogens, so 16.0 g/mol is the correct molar mass of methane.
Q49 Which lung volume is the amount of air that remains in the lungs even after the most forceful possible expiration?
A. Residual volume ✓
B. Tidal volume
C. Inspiratory reserve volume
D. Vital capacity
Residual volume is the air left after a maximal forced breath out, and it keeps the alveoli from collapsing. Tidal volume is a normal resting breath, vital capacity is the total breathable volume, and inspiratory reserve is the extra air inhaled beyond normal, so residual volume fits the description.
Q50 Which characteristic is required for a statement to qualify as a scientific hypothesis?
A. It must never be revised
B. It must be testable through observation or experiment ✓
C. It must agree with popular opinion
D. It must already be proven true
A hypothesis must generate testable predictions that can be supported or refuted by evidence. Being proven true is the goal of testing and cannot be known in advance, and popular opinion or inflexibility have no place in science, so testability is the defining feature.
Conventions of standard English, knowledge of language, vocabulary acquisition.
Q1 Which option correctly punctuates the appositive in this sentence? "The concert the last show of the season sold out quickly."
A. The concert, the last show of the season sold out quickly.
B. The concert, the last show of the season, sold out quickly. ✓
C. The concert the last show of the season, sold out quickly.
D. The concert the last, show of the season sold out quickly.
An appositive, such as the last show of the season, renames the noun beside it and must be framed by commas on both sides. Option B does this. Option A marks only the opening comma, option C marks only the closing comma, and option D splits the appositive itself, breaking the phrase apart.
Q2 What does the suffix -able do to the word break in breakable?
A. It forms a noun naming a person who breaks things.
B. It forms a noun naming the act of breaking.
C. It forms a verb meaning to break repeatedly.
D. It forms an adjective meaning able to be broken. ✓
The suffix -able turns verbs into adjectives that mean capable of being acted on, so breakable means able to be broken. A person who breaks things takes -er, the act of breaking takes a noun suffix like -ing or -tion, and a verb meaning to break repeatedly would take a different ending, so the other options name the wrong jobs.
Q3 The prefix auto- means self. Which word's meaning depends on that prefix?
A. autobiography ✓
B. zoology
C. nutrition
D. portable
The prefix auto- means self, and an autobiography is the story of a person's own life, written by that person, so it is built on that prefix. Zoology names the study of animals, nutrition comes from a root meaning to nourish, and portable from a root meaning to carry, so the distractors do not carry the self meaning.
Q4 Which sentence uses the colon correctly? pilot
A. The bakery case held three things my grandmother loved: lemon bars, almond horns, and walnut bread. ✓
B. My grandmother loved: lemon bars, almond horns, and walnut bread.
C. The bakery case held: lemon bars, almond horns, and the walnut bread my grandmother loved.
D. Three things my grandmother loved were: lemon bars, almond horns, and walnut bread.
A colon must follow a complete independent clause, and then it may introduce a list. Only the lemon-bars sentence puts a full clause (the bakery case held three things my grandmother loved) before the colon. The other three set the colon after an incomplete phrase such as loved, held, or were, leaving the clause unable to stand alone.
Q5 Which option avoids an unclear pronoun reference? "When the courier met the driver, he handed over the manifest."
A. When the courier met the driver, they handed over the manifest.
B. When the courier met the driver, it handed over the manifest.
C. When the courier met the driver, the courier handed over the manifest. ✓
D. When the courier met the driver, her handed over the manifest.
A pronoun needs an unmistakable antecedent. In option C the subject is named twice, so the reader knows exactly who acted. Option A's they does not state which person handed over the manifest, option B uses it for a person, and option D uses the object form her as the subject of the verb.
Q6 Which sentence shows a correct plural possessive?
A. The two hospitals' policies differed on visiting hours. ✓
B. The two hospital's policies differed on visiting hours.
C. The two hospitals policies differed on visiting hours.
D. The two hospital' policies differed on visiting hours.
For a plural noun that already ends in s, possession is shown by adding only an apostrophe after the s, so hospitals' is correct in option A. Option B uses the singular possessive for a two-hospital subject, option C drops the apostrophe entirely, and option D places the apostrophe inside the singular form.
Q7 Which word is a noun formed by adding the suffix -ment to a verb?
A. enjoyable
B. enjoying
C. enjoyment ✓
D. enjoyer
The suffix -ment turns verbs into nouns that name a state or result, so enjoy becomes enjoyment. Enjoyable is an adjective formed with -able, enjoying is a present participle or gerund made with -ing, and enjoyer is a noun built with -er to name the person who enjoys.
Q8 Which sentence compares like terms in a logical way?
A. The salary in Springfield is higher than Riverside.
B. The salary in Springfield, unlike Riverside, is higher.
C. The salary in Springfield is higher than that in Riverside. ✓
D. The salary in Springfield is higher, unlike Riverside.
Comparisons must match like terms, so a salary must be compared with a salary. Option C compares the salary with that, meaning the salary, in Riverside. Option A compares a salary to a city, and options B and D set the salary against the city Riverside instead of against its salaries.
Q9 Choose the sentence in which the subject and verb agree correctly.
A. The basket of ripe peaches sit on the counter.
B. A row of tulips border the walkway.
C. The stack of old journals takes up half the closet. ✓
D. The pile of laundry need folding this morning.
The true subject, not the noun inside a prepositional phrase, controls the verb. In option C the subject is the singular noun stack, so the singular verb takes is correct. Option A matches sit with basket, option B matches border with row, and option D matches need with pile; all three give singular subjects plural verbs.
Q10 Which option corrects the comma splice in this sentence? "The walls were freshly painted, the smell lingered for days."
A. The walls were freshly painted the smell lingered for days.
B. The walls, were freshly painted the smell lingered for days.
C. The walls were freshly painted, so, the smell lingered for days.
D. The walls were freshly painted; the smell lingered for days. ✓
A comma splice joins two independent clauses with only a comma, and the semicolon in option D repairs it by joining the two clauses cleanly. Option A fuses the sentences with no punctuation, option B inserts a comma between the subject and its verb, and option C adds a stray comma after the conjunction so.
Q11 Which sentence places the apostrophe correctly in a contraction?
A. The report doesnt address the staffing shortage.
B. The report does'nt address the staffing shortage.
C. The report doesn't address the staffing shortage. ✓
D. The report doe'snt address the staffing shortage.
In a contraction the apostrophe marks exactly where letters were removed, so does not becomes doesn't. Option C places it correctly. Option A drops the apostrophe entirely, option B pushes it after the verb, and option D inserts it inside the first syllable, and all three misplace the mark.
Q12 Choose the sentence in which every homophone is used correctly.
A. Their going to meet us at the entrance, so do not be late.
B. They're planning to leave the keys over there by their mailbox. ✓
C. Your going to need a ladder to reach the attic shelf.
D. The movers set the crates over their by the garage door.
They're stands for they are, there points to a place, and their shows possession. The mailbox sentence uses all three correctly. The ladder sentence needs you're, the crates sentence needs there, and the entrance sentence needs they're.
Q13 Which choice is a complete sentence rather than a fragment?
A. The generator hummed quietly in the basement. ✓
B. The intern who finished charting and left the office.
C. After the storm passed through the night.
D. To improve the response time of the whole unit.
Option A has a subject and a predicate and can stand alone, so it is a complete sentence. Option B leaves the subject intern without a main verb, option C starts with after and never delivers a main clause, and option D is an infinitive phrase with no subject or finite verb.
Q14 Select the sentence with correct capitalization.
A. my family spent the holiday visiting the Grand Canyon.
B. My family spent the holiday visiting the Grand Canyon. ✓
C. My family spent the holiday visiting the grand canyon.
D. My family spent the holiday Visiting the Grand Canyon.
Capitalize the first word of a sentence, proper nouns, and the names of specific places. Option B capitalizes the sentence opener and the proper noun Grand Canyon, while leaving the generic word holiday lowercase. Option A fails to capitalize the first word, option C lowercases the proper noun, and option D capitalizes the verb Visiting for no reason.
Q15 The prefix inter- means between or among. Which word's meaning depends on that prefix?
A. intrastate
B. interstate ✓
C. reintroduce
D. unify
The prefix inter- means between, and interstate describes movement or connection between states. Intrastate is the near-twin built on intra-, which means within and reverses the meaning, reintroduce uses re-, meaning again, and unify uses uni-, meaning one, so the other options rest on different prefixes.
Q16 A student is drafting a report for the school board. Which choice best replaces the casual phrase a whole lot of in this sentence? The new lighting would save the district a whole lot of money each year.
A. a bunch of
B. a considerable amount of ✓
C. tons of
D. loads of
Formal prose swaps casual quantity phrases for precise wording. A considerable amount of suits a report to the school board. Tons of, loads of, and a bunch of are all casual intensifiers that stay just as vague as the phrase they would replace.
Q17 Read the sentence. "After weeks of frugal shopping, Priya had saved enough for the trip." What does frugal mean in this sentence? pilot
A. careful with money ✓
B. wasteful and extravagant
C. hesitant to travel
D. very wealthy
The outcome in the sentence, that Priya saved enough for the trip, is the context clue: spending behavior that produces savings must be careful with money, which is what frugal means. Wasteful and extravagant is the opposite of that behavior, and hesitant to travel and very wealthy are ideas the sentence never supports.
Q18 Combine these two sentences: "The scanner broke. The team printed the pages by hand." Which option combines them best?
A. The scanner broke, the team printed the pages by hand.
B. The scanner broke because the team printed the pages by hand.
C. The scanner broke and the team printing the pages by hand.
D. Because the scanner broke, the team printed the pages by hand. ✓
The best combination subordinates the cause with because, making the reason for the hand printing clear. Option D puts the cause first and the main clause after the comma. Option A splices two independent clauses, option B reverses the logic by blaming the scanner on the printing, and option C leaves a broken verb form.
Q19 Which transition word best completes this sentence? "The lab results looked promising; ___, the team repeated the test to be certain."
A. likewise
B. therefore
C. however ✓
D. furthermore
The second clause qualifies the first: the team repeated the test despite the promising results, so the contrast marker however fits. Likewise signals similarity, therefore signals a result, and furthermore signals addition, and none of those captures the cautious turn in the sentence.
Q20 The root phono- means sound. Which word's meaning best reflects that root? pilot
A. pharmacy
B. photograph
C. symphony ✓
D. philosophy
The root phono- means sound, and a symphony is a piece of music in which many instruments sound together, combining sym, meaning together, with phon, meaning sound. Pharmacy builds on the Greek root for drug, photograph on photo, which means light, and philosophy on phil, meaning love, and soph, meaning wisdom.
Q21 Which sentence uses apostrophes correctly?
A. The three dog's barked until the mail carrier left the porch.
B. The childrens' coats hung on the rack by the door.
C. Both neighbors' fences were damaged in the windstorm. ✓
D. The two teacher's lounge will be repainted during spring break.
For plural nouns that already end in s, the apostrophe goes after the s, which is what the neighbors' sentence shows. The lounge sentence names two teachers and needs teachers', the dog sentence needs the plain plural dogs with no apostrophe, and the coats sentence needs children's because children is an irregular plural that does not end in s.
Q22 Which word best completes the sentence with a positive shade of meaning? Grandma Rosa was so ___ that she saved jars, reused foil, and still gave generously to the food drive.
A. frugal ✓
B. stingy
C. miserly
D. cheap
The sentence praises both the saving and the giving, so the blank needs a kind word for careful spending. Frugal carries exactly that warm shade. Stingy, miserly, and cheap all imply an unwillingness to spend or share, which clashes with the gifts to the food drive.
Q23 Which sentence avoids the double negative?
A. The technician could not find none of the spare cables.
B. The office has no spare cables left. ✓
C. The office hasn't got no spare cables left.
D. There aren't no spare cables in the cabinet.
Two negatives in one clause cancel each other and confuse the meaning. Option B uses the single negative no, so the statement is clear. Option A pairs not with none, option C pairs hasn't with no, and option D pairs aren't with no, and each of those double negatives sends the meaning in two directions at once.
Q24 Which option is a complete sentence?
A. The printer jammed again during the morning rush. ✓
B. Because the elevator was out of service.
C. Although the rain had finally stopped.
D. Running late for the eight o'clock briefing.
A complete sentence needs at least one independent clause with a subject and a predicate that can stand alone. Option A has both, so it is complete. Options B and C begin with subordinating conjunctions and never supply the main clause they promise, and option D is a participial phrase with no finite verb and no subject of its own.
Q25 The root mal- means bad or wrong. Which word's meaning depends on that root?
A. memory
B. melody
C. manual
D. malfunction ✓
The root mal- means bad or wrong, and a malfunction is a failure to work properly, so it is the word built on that root. Memory builds on the root for mindful or remembering, melody on the Greek word for song, and manual on the root for hand, so the distractors carry different meanings.
Q26 Which sentence keeps the items in its list parallel?
A. The grant proposal requires a budget, a timeline, and explaining the staffing plan.
B. The grant proposal requires a budget, a timeline, and a staffing plan. ✓
C. The grant proposal requires a budget, a timeline, and to explain the staffing plan.
D. The grant proposal requires budgeting, a timeline, and a staffing plan.
Items in a series that play the same role must share the same grammatical form. Option B keeps all three items as nouns, so the list is parallel. Option A switches the third item to a gerund, option C switches it to an infinitive, and option D starts with the gerund budgeting before returning to plain nouns.
Q27 Which sentence places the modifier "covered in chocolate sauce" correctly?
A. The waiter served dessert to the couple that was covered in chocolate sauce.
B. Covered in chocolate sauce, the waiter served dessert to the couple.
C. The waiter, covered in chocolate sauce, served dessert to the couple.
D. The waiter served the dessert, covered in chocolate sauce, to the couple. ✓
A modifier belongs next to the word it describes, so covered in chocolate sauce must touch the dessert. Option D places it directly after dessert. Option A leaves the clause dangling after couple, suggesting the diners were sauced, and options B and C attach the phrase to the waiter instead of the food.
Q28 Read the paragraph. The animal shelter schedules dog walks in two shifts so that every dog gets outside twice a day. Volunteers log each dog's appetite and energy on a shared chart. A nearby clinic donates a monthly checkup for every kennel. Which sentence works best as the paragraph's topic sentence?
A. Volunteers must complete a training session before their first shift.
B. Cats are usually easier to house than dogs.
C. Running the shelter well takes steady routines and many helping hands. ✓
D. Dog adoption fees went down by twenty dollars this year.
A topic sentence must cover every detail that follows. The steady-routines sentence spans the walking shifts, the chart notes, and the clinic visits that the details supply. The fees sentence and the training sentence each match only one detail, and the cats sentence compares animals the paragraph never mentions.
Q29 Which sentence uses the apostrophe correctly in a contraction?
A. Do'nt forget to label the samples.
B. The lab isnt open on Sundays.
C. The lab isn't open on Sundays. ✓
D. The lab is'nt open on Sundays.
In a contraction the apostrophe stands exactly where letters were removed, so is not becomes isn't. Option C places the apostrophe correctly. Option A writes do'nt instead of don't and puts the apostrophe in the wrong spot, option B drops it entirely, and option D tucks it after the verb instead of where the o was removed.
Q30 Which sentence keeps a consistent verb tense?
A. Rosa completed the shift, clocks out, and headed for the bus stop.
B. When the alarm sounded, the crew will gather at the assembly point.
C. The train arrives at six, so we left the office early.
D. The committee reviewed the bids, weighed the costs, and chose a contractor. ✓
Verbs inside one sentence should stay in the same time frame. The reviewed, weighed, and chose sentence keeps all three verbs in the past tense. The Rosa sentence drifts from past to present with clocks out, the alarm sentence drifts from sounded to will gather, and the train sentence drifts from arrives to left.
Q31 Which word best completes the sentence with the right connotation? "The supervisor ___ the intern's suggestion, calling it impractical during the staff meeting."
A. applauded
B. dismissed ✓
C. embraced
D. entertained
The context, calling it impractical, shows the supervisor rejecting the suggestion, so dismissed fits. Applauded and embraced are positive in meaning, which contradicts the rejection, and entertained means to consider seriously, which runs against the outright judgment expressed in the sentence.
Q32 Choose the pronoun that correctly completes the sentence: The scholarship was divided between Marcus and ___.
A. I
B. myself
C. mine
D. me ✓
A pronoun that follows a preposition takes the object form, so between Marcus and me is correct. I works only as a subject, myself is a reflexive form that needs an earlier I to reflect back on, and mine is possessive and cannot serve as the object of between.
Q33 Which sentence uses its or it's correctly?
A. The program saves it's data to the network drive.
B. The program saves its data to the network drive. ✓
C. Its important to back up the files each night.
D. The network drive lost it's connection twice today.
Its without an apostrophe is the possessive pronoun, while it's always means it is. The data belongs to the program, so its is correct in option B. Options A and D use the contraction where a possessive is needed, and option C uses the possessive where it is, meaning it's, is meant.
Q34 Read the sentence. When the manager met with the assistant after the audit, she said the numbers needed a second look. Which revision makes it clear who said the numbers needed a second look?
A. When the manager met with the assistant after the audit, the manager said the numbers needed a second look. ✓
B. When the manager met with the assistant after the audit, they said the numbers needed a second look.
C. When the manager met with her after the audit, she said the numbers needed a second look.
D. After the audit, the manager met with the assistant, and it was said that the numbers needed a second look.
A pronoun with two possible nouns in front of it is unclear. Replacing she with the manager removes the doubt, which the repeated-noun version does. The they version keeps the same two-way reading, the her-and-she version adds more unclear pronouns, and the it-was-said version hides the speaker behind a vague phrase.
Q35 Which option correctly punctuates this sentence? "Because the power went out the evening shift worked by flashlight."
A. Because the power went out, the evening shift worked by flashlight. ✓
B. Because, the power went out the evening shift worked by flashlight.
C. Because the power went out the evening, shift worked by flashlight.
D. Because the power went out; the evening shift worked by flashlight.
An introductory dependent clause must be set off from the main clause with a comma, so option A is correct. Option B splits the subordinating conjunction from its own clause, option C separates the subject from its verb phrase, and option D uses a semicolon between a dependent clause and an independent clause, which is never allowed because a semicolon must join two independent clauses.
Q36 Which revision removes wordiness from this sentence? "Due to the fact that the supply room was locked, we could not access the gauze." pilot
A. In the event that the supply room was locked, we could not access the gauze.
B. Because the supply room was locked, we could not access the gauze. ✓
C. On account of the fact of the supply room being locked, we could not access the gauze.
D. The supply room was locked, we could not access the gauze.
The phrase due to the fact that is a wordy stand-in for the single conjunction because. Option B makes the substitution and cuts four words without changing the meaning. Option A merely trades one inflated opener for another, option C adds even more filler, and option D drops the connector and creates a comma splice.
Q37 A draft of a recipe reads: Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. ___ soak the rice in cold water for thirty minutes. Drain it well before it goes into the pot. Which transition best fits the blank?
A. Instead
B. Meanwhile
C. Otherwise
D. Then ✓
The sentences give steps in sequence, so the blank calls for a sequence word, and then fits. Meanwhile would run the soaking at the same time as the rinsing, instead would claim the soaking replaces the rinsing, and otherwise would introduce a warning about skipping a step rather than the next step itself.
Last verified: 29 September 2026. Structure, timing and scoring facts are sourced from ATI's published exam materials and help center.