All practice questions

The conservator examined the ancient medieval manuscript under ultraviolet light; she discovered hidden layers of text that had been scraped away centuries ago.

Which choice represents the most effective punctuation for the underlined portion of the sentence?

In the winter of 1903, Mary Anderson was riding a streetcar in New York City when she noticed the driver struggling to see through the falling sleet. To clear the windshield, the driver had to open the window, reach outside, and wipe the glass by hand, which let freezing air and wet snow into the vehicle. Upon returning home to Alabama, Anderson designed a swinging arm with a rubber blade that could be operated by a lever from inside the cab. Patented in 1903, her device became the first functional windshield wiper.

The writer wants to conclude the paragraph with a sentence that emphasizes the lasting impact of Anderson's invention. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

The following passage is an excerpt from a science article about deep-sea marine biology.

Deep-ocean hydrothermal vents support thriving ecosystems in some of the most hostile environments on Earth. Organisms living near these vents—such as the giant tube worm, which lacks a mouth and digestive tract, rely on symbiotic bacteria for survival. These bacteria convert toxic chemicals from the vents into usable energy.

Which choice is the best replacement for the underlined portion of the sentence?

The Echo of the Wolf

[1] In 1995, after a seventy-year absence, gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. The decision was highly controversial, sparking intense debates between conservationists and local ranchers. Ranchers feared that the predators would devastate livestock populations, while biologists argued that the absence of a keystone predator had severely damaged the park's ecosystem.

[2] In the decades following the wolves' return, biologists witnessed a phenomenon known as a trophic cascade. Without wolves to hunt them, the park's elk population had ballooned, overgrazing young willow, aspen, and cottonwood trees along stream banks. With wolves back on the landscape, elk behavior changed; they spent less time lingering in open valleys where they were vulnerable. Consequently, the vegetation began to recover.

[3] This resurgence of flora triggered a chain reaction. Rebounding trees stabilized riverbanks, reducing erosion and cooling the water, which benefited fish. Beavers returned to build dams, creating wetlands that supported insects, birds, and amphibians. The wolf reintroduction proved that the health of an ecosystem depends on the intricate connections among all its inhabitants.

Statement: Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay explaining how the reintroduction of a predator species can trigger a series of environmental changes that benefit other wildlife. This essay successfully achieves that goal.

Because the regional agricultural board wanted to protect local crops from the unpredictable, destructive, insect pests, they recommended a combination of biological controls and crop rotation.

Which of the following choices best punctuates the underlined portion of the sentence?

A writer is editing a draft of a scientific essay about forest ecosystems.

[1] Beneath the forest floor, a complex network of fungal threads known as mycorrhizae connects the roots of individual trees, allowing them to share resources.
[2] Larger, older "hub trees" occupy central nodes in this network, distributing excess sugars to younger seedlings that would otherwise struggle to survive.
[3] Recent experiments show that trees can even use these fungal pathways to transmit warning signals about insect attacks to nearby vegetation.
[4] Fungi benefit from this relationship as well, absorbing carbon produced by the trees through photosynthesis.

The writer wants to add a sentence after Sentence 3 that provides specific, concrete details to support the claim that trees use the network to transmit warning signals. Which of the following sentences would best achieve this goal?

Tatiana Proskouriakoff, an illustrator-turned-archaeologist, revolutionized the field of Mayan decipherment in the mid-twentieth century. For decades, prevailing scholarly consensus held that Mayan hieroglyphs represented exclusively astronomical calculations and abstract religious concepts, completely detached from historical events. However, while analyzing carved stone monuments called stelae at the ancient city of Piedras Negras, Proskouriakoff identified recurring patterns of dates that corresponded to the average lifespans of human beings. She hypothesized that these monuments did not depict nameless gods, but rather documented the actual biographies of Mayan rulers.

The writer wants to conclude the passage by emphasizing how Proskouriakoff’s discovery permanently transformed the understanding of Mayan history. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

The following passage is an essay about Sequoyah and the development of the Cherokee writing system.

[1]
In the early nineteenth century, Sequoyah, a Cherokee silversmith who spoke no English, became convinced that the security and independence of his people depended on their mastering the "talking leaves"—the written language used by white settlers. While many of his contemporaries regarded these texts with skepticism or awe, viewing literacy as either a threat or a form of magic, Sequoyah recognized it as a practical tool of self-determination. He set out to create a written form of Cherokee, believing it would allow his nation to navigate the pressures of colonial expansion without losing their cultural identity.

[2]
His initial efforts were met with ridicule. Sequoyah spent years attempting to design a logographic system, creating a distinct character for every individual word. This approach proved unsustainable; the sheer volume of symbols was impossible for a reader to memorize. Recognizing the limits of this methodology, he began listening to spoken Cherokee with a new ear, isolating the recurring sound units that formed words. He identified eighty-five distinct syllables, pairing each with a character—some borrowed from English spelling books and Greek texts, though modified to represent entirely unrelated Cherokee sounds.

[3]
The resulting syllabary, completed in 1821, transformed Cherokee society almost overnight. Because the system was based on phonetics rather than complex spelling rules, Cherokee speakers could learn to read and write in a matter of days. The Cherokee National Council adopted the system, and soon, a bilingual newspaper, the *Cherokee Phoenix*, was circulating throughout the nation. Through the power of their new written language, the Cherokee drafted a constitution, codified their legal system, and recorded history on their own terms, establishing a literate infrastructure that served as a powerful defense against forced assimilation.

Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay demonstrating how the creation of a written language was essential to the legal recognition of Native American land rights by colonial governments. Would this essay accomplish this goal?

Dorothy Hodgkin, a pioneer in X-ray crystallography, determined the structures of important biochemical substances. Her most famous breakthrough—the structure of penicillin, was resolved in 1945 after years of meticulous analysis.

Which of the following options is the best alternative to the underlined portion of the sentence?

In 1957, engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two plastic shower curtains together, creating a sheet of trapped air bubbles. They initially attempted to market this textured material as a fashionable wallpaper, but the product did not sell. Next, they pitched it as insulation for greenhouses, which also proved unsuccessful. [1] Greenhouses are typically constructed of glass or plastic to allow sunlight to heat the plants inside. Finally, in 1960, IBM began using the material—now trademarked as Bubble Wrap—to protect its new computers during shipping, establishing its success as packaging material.

The writer is considering deleting Sentence 1 from the passage. Should this sentence be deleted?

In 1931, Harry Beck, a temporary draftsman for the London Underground, proposed a radical new design for the transit system's map. Previously, maps of the network had adhered to geographic reality, plotting stations according to their actual physical locations above ground. This approach resulted in cluttered diagrams where central stations were squeezed into an unreadable knot, while peripheral stations lay far apart on the margins. Beck realized that passengers riding in windowless train cars did not need to know the physical distances above ground. Instead, he recognized that they only needed to know how to navigate the connections between stations. Beck's layout was based on electrical diagrams, which he drew in his spare time.

The writer wants to replace the underlined portion with a sentence that introduces Beck's design solution and emphasizes how it resolved the legibility issues of the previous maps. Which choice most effectively accomplishes this goal?

The following passage is an essay about Maya decipherment.

[1]
For centuries, the intricate carvings on Maya stelae—large stone slabs erected in ancient Mesoamerican cities—were regarded as purely mystical and astronomical symbols. Early scholars believed the Maya were a peaceful people preoccupied almost exclusively with time, calendar calculations, and the stars. The glyphs, they argued, did not record actual human history or the details of earthly rulers. This view dominated the field of Maya archaeology, leaving the historical realities of this civilization obscured.

[2]
Tatiana Proskouriakoff, a Russian-born American architect, would single-handedly overturn this paradigm. In the 1930s, Proskouriakoff was hired as an illustrator for archaeological excavations at Piedras Negras in Guatemala. Possessing an artist's eye and an architect's spatial precision, she produced vivid, historically accurate reconstructions of ancient Maya cities. Her drawings brought the ruins to life, but it was her close, systematic observation of the monuments themselves that led to her most profound breakthrough.

[3]
Analyzing a series of stelae at Piedras Negras, Proskouriakoff noticed a curious pattern. The stelae were erected in distinct chronological clusters, and each group spanned a timeframe no longer than a typical human lifespan—about sixty years. Moreover, the first stela in each group always depicted a figure seated in a niche, accompanied by a specific glyph indicating accession. Proskouriakoff hypothesized that this scene represented the inauguration of a new ruler, and that the accompanying dates marked significant events in that ruler's life. By mapping these patterns, she demonstrated that the glyphs recorded the births, accessions, and military victories of historical individuals. The stelae were not celestial almanacs; they were royal biographies.

Suppose the writer's goal had been to write an essay explaining how a major archaeological paradigm was overturned by a researcher's close observation of historical monuments. Would this essay accomplish that goal?

Although the dance troupe performed several complex routines, the dancers' choreographer worried about its reception among the traditional judges.

Which of the following choices represents the correct punctuation for the underlined portion of the sentence?

In the early eighteenth century, navigating the open seas remained a perilous endeavor. While sailors could easily determine their latitude by measuring the angle of the sun or stars relative to the horizon, determining longitude was an unresolved challenge. Without an accurate way to calculate east-west position, ships frequently drifted off course, leading to disastrous shipwrecks. The British Parliament, desperate for a solution, passed the Longitude Act of $1714$, offering a massive cash prize to anyone who could develop a method to determine longitude within half a degree. Most prominent scientists of the era believed the answer lay in the stars, advocating for complex astronomical calculations that required clear night skies. [1]

John Harrison, a self-taught English clockmaker, rejected this celestial approach. Instead, he proposed a mechanical solution: a highly precise clock called a marine chronometer that could keep accurate time at sea despite the motion of the ship and changes in temperature.

Which choice, placed at [1], best concludes the first paragraph and transitions to the second paragraph?

During their study of the nocturnal hunting habits of barn owls, researchers identified the birds' primary anatomical advantage; their asymmetric ear placement.

Which of the following is the best replacement for the underlined portion of the sentence?

[1] For decades, scholars believed that Mayan hieroglyphs recorded only astronomical data and calendar dates, reflecting a peaceful society obsessed with time. [2] In the 1950s, however, art historian Tatiana Proskouriakoff began analyzing stelae—carved stone slabs—at the ancient city of Piedras Negras. [3] She noticed that the dates on a series of stelae fell within the span of a normal human lifetime. [4] Proskouriakoff hypothesized that the glyphs actually recorded the historical lives of Mayan rulers, including their births, accessions to the throne, and military victories. [5] Mayan architecture also featured steep limestone pyramids that served as temples and tombs. [6] Her breakthrough revolutionized Mayan studies, shifting the academic consensus from viewing the Maya as abstract mystics to recognizing them as historical record-keepers.

The writer is considering deleting Sentence 5 from the paragraph. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?

Read the sentence below about a scientific expedition. Which single punctuation mark must be placed in the blank to correctly separate the items in this complex list?

Passage Excerpt:

In the heart of the city, volunteers transformed a vacant lot into a vibrant community garden. This year, the garden produced [blank].

Which choice most directly emphasizes the diversity of the crops grown in the garden?

Astronomers studying the remote galaxy cluster observed a massive distortion in the surrounding space. The gravitational lens, which acts like a giant magnifying glass in space, allowed them to view stars from the early universe. This discovery could help researchers map the distribution of dark matter across the cosmos.

Which of the following is the best punctuation for the underlined portion of the passage?

Paragraph 1

Completed in 2012, the Tokyo Skytree stands as one of the tallest structures in the world, rising 634 meters above a city prone to frequent earthquakes. To prevent the tower from collapsing during seismic activity, engineers turned to traditional Japanese architecture for inspiration. Specifically, they analyzed the design of ancient five-story pagodas, which have withstood centuries of tremors. Pagodas feature a central pillar, known as a *shinbashira*, that is structurally independent of the surrounding stories. During an earthquake, the pillar and the outer frame sway out of phase with one another, effectively canceling out much of the seismic energy.

Paragraph 2

The Skytree incorporates a modern version of this system: a massive central concrete column that is connected to the outer steel truss only by fluid dampers. When seismic waves strike, the outer frame sways while the central column resists the motion, absorbing the energy through the dampers. Under extreme conditions, this system can reduce the overall movement of the tower by up to 50 percent. ___________

The writer wants to conclude the passage by emphasizing how the combination of ancient design and modern technology ensures the safety of the Skytree. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?