Topic Development

Passage Excerpt:

For decades, early audio recordings captured on wax cylinders remained silent, too fragile to be played by traditional styluses without being destroyed. In response, physicists developed the IRENE system, which uses non-contact optical scanning to create digital images of the grooves. The system then uses software to reconstruct the audio from these images, allowing listeners to hear long-lost voices.

Question:

Given that all the choices are true, which choice most effectively emphasizes the extreme precision of the optical scanning technology described in the passage?

Located deep inside a sandstone mountain on a remote Norwegian island, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault serves as a fail-safe backup for the world's crop biodiversity. The facility is built to withstand natural disasters and power failures, ensuring the safety of millions of seed samples. [1] Svalbard, an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, is home to more polar bears than people. In the event of a global catastrophe, scientists could retrieve these genetic samples to restore vital crops. Consequently, the vault represents a critical insurance policy for global food security.

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence from the paragraph. Should this sentence be deleted?

The following is a draft of an essay about the history of writing tools.

[1]
In the mid-sixteenth century, a massive storm in Borrowdale, England, uprooted several trees, revealing a dark, metallic substance beneath their roots. Local shepherds quickly found that this mineral, which they initially mistook for coal or lead, was excellent for marking their sheep. This substance was actually high-purity graphite, the only such deposit ever found in solid form. Although they did not yet realize it, the locals had uncovered the key ingredient for the modern pencil.

[2]
______[Blank]______. Before this discovery, writing required ink and quills, which were messy and slow, or lead rods, which left faint lines. The solid graphite from Borrowdale, however, could be easily cut into sticks and wrapped in string or wood. Suddenly, artists, merchants, and scholars had access to a portable, dry, and erasable writing tool that could keep pace with their thoughts.

Which of the following choices, if inserted in the blank, would best introduce the second paragraph by establishing its main focus?

Passage Excerpt:

In the late nineteenth century, the high-wheel bicycle, or "penny-farthing," dominated the roads, but its massive front wheel made it notoriously unstable and dangerous to ride. When the "safety bicycle" was introduced in 1885 with two wheels of equal size and a chain-driven rear wheel, [underlined portion]. Today, millions of people worldwide rely on bicycles for daily commuting and recreation.

The writer wants to complete the sentence in a way that emphasizes the transition from the safety bicycle's initial reception as a niche novelty to its rapid, widespread adoption by the general public. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

The following is an excerpt from a passage about Mesoamerican epigraphy.

[1]
__________________________________________________ For nearly a century, scholars believed that Mayan hieroglyphs were purely logographic or symbolic, representing whole ideas rather than individual sounds. This consensus was largely dominated by one prominent archaeologist, who insisted that the glyphs had no phonetic component. However, in the 1950s, a linguist proposed a radically different approach, suggesting that the writing system was actually logo-syllabic, combining word-signs and phonetic syllables.

[2]
This breakthrough came from analyzing surviving codices and comparing them to an alphabet recorded by a sixteenth-century bishop. The linguist realized that when native scribes wrote the Spanish letters, they wrote glyphs that matched the sounds of those letters. For example, the Spanish letter b is pronounced 'beh,' which corresponded to the Mayan glyph for the syllable be. By applying this phonetic key, scholars began reading actual Mayan words, paving the way for modern epigraphers to decode the majority of the surviving inscriptions.

Which choice best introduces the passage by establishing its main focus?

A writer is editing a draft of an essay about deep-sea discoveries. The writer is considering adding the following sentence to the paragraph:

"Ichthyology is the branch of zoology that is devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish, cartilaginous fish, and jawless fish."

Here is the paragraph:

In 1938, museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was invited to inspect an unusual fish caught off the coast of South Africa. She was astonished to see a five-foot-long creature with fleshy, limb-like lobed fins, unlike any modern fish she had ever encountered. Unable to identify the specimen, Courtenay-Latimer sent a description and sketch to J.L.B. Smith, a local chemistry professor and amateur ichthyologist. [Point of insertion] Smith immediately recognized the fish as a coelacanth, a species previously believed to have gone extinct 66 million years ago. The discovery of this "living fossil" sent shockwaves through the scientific community, forcing biologists to re-evaluate their understanding of vertebrate evolution.

Should the writer make this addition at the indicated [Point of insertion]?

The following is an excerpt from a passage about a major zoological discovery.

[1]
In December 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was working in South Africa. While inspecting the catch of a local fishing trawler, a strange, blue-finned fish caught her eye. It possessed unusual, fleshy lobed fins that resembled limbs—a primitive anatomical feature. This specimen was later identified as a coelacanth, a prehistoric fish thought to have gone extinct 66 million years ago. Its discovery revolutionized modern paleontology by proving that ancient lineages could survive virtually unchanged in the deep ocean.

Which choice most effectively introduces the topic of the passage and establishes its central focus?

In 1945, self-taught engineer Percy Spencer was testing a magnetron—a vacuum tube that generates microwave radiation—for a radar system at the Raytheon Corporation. Standing in front of the active device, Spencer was startled to find that a chocolate bar in his pocket had completely melted. Intrigued, he placed corn kernels near the tube, only to watch them pop and scatter across the lab. [1] Realizing that low-density electromagnetic energy could cook food faster than conventional ovens, Spencer immediately began designing a metal box to concentrate the waves, paving the way for the modern microwave oven.

The writer is considering adding the following sentence at Point [1]:
'Popcorn had been a popular snack for thousands of years, dating back to ancient indigenous cultures in the Americas.'

Should the writer make this addition?

Passage Excerpt:

For years, scientists believed the ocean floor was a flat, featureless plain. In the 1950s, geologist Marie Tharp began analyzing echo-sounder profiles of the Atlantic Ocean, meticulously plotting depth measurements by hand. Her work revealed a massive, continuous underwater mountain range, now known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which provided crucial evidence for the theory of continental drift. Although her male colleagues initially dismissed her findings as 'girl talk,' Tharp persisted in her research, [underlined portion].

The writer wants to add a phrase in the underlined portion that emphasizes the painstaking and time-consuming nature of Tharp's mapping process. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

[1]
_____________________________. For decades, the vast wetlands were viewed as nothing more than a useless, disease-ridden swamp that hindered progress. Under the banner of development, developers and politicians sought to drain the land to build farms and cities. This widespread perception persisted until Marjory Stoneman Douglas published her seminal book, *The Everglades: River of Grass*, in 1947. Her writing completely redefined the region not as a stagnant marsh, but as a dynamic, free-flowing river crucial to Florida's ecological survival.

[2]
Douglas’s advocacy went far beyond the page. She founded the Friends of the Everglades, mobilizing citizens to fight against destructive projects such as a proposed jetport in the middle of the wetlands. Her efforts helped secure the preservation of the unique habitat, which is home to rare species like the Florida panther and the West Indian manatee. Today, her work remains a foundational pillar of modern wetland conservation.

The writer wants to begin the passage with a sentence that introduces the main topic and sets up the discussion of how public perception of the Everglades shifted. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?

Passage Excerpt:
Before the invention of radar, Britain’s coastlines were guarded by acoustic mirrors: massive, curved concrete structures designed to reflect and concentrate sound waves. Operators sat in front of these dishes with stethoscopes, listening intently for the distant drone of enemy aircraft engines. [1]

Which choice most effectively emphasizes the acoustic mirrors' scale and visual dominance on the landscape?

In 1856, eighteen-year-old chemist William Henry Perkin accidentally created mauveine, the world’s first synthetic aniline dye, while attempting to synthesize a treatment for malaria. Recognizing the commercial potential of the vibrant purple substance, Perkin quickly patented his process and established a factory to mass-produce the dye. Indigo, another highly valued natural dye, was later successfully synthesized by German chemist Adolf von Baeyer in 1883. Perkin’s inexpensive synthetic dye revolutionized the fashion industry, making the color purple—previously reserved only for royalty—widely accessible to the general public.

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence from the passage. Should the writer make this deletion?

The following is an excerpt from a draft of an essay about New York City's postal history.

In the late 1890s, New York City struggled to manage its rapidly growing volume of mail, as horse-drawn wagons routinely became gridlocked in congested streets. To resolve this crisis, the post office installed a network of underground pneumatic tubes that propelled mail canisters beneath the city streets at speeds of up to thirty miles per hour. At its peak, this subterranean network moved millions of letters daily across Manhattan and Brooklyn.

[1] ___________________________________________________________________. In 1918, the federal government suspended funding for the pneumatic system in order to prioritize the war effort. Following the war, the postal service chose to invest in automobile trucks, which could carry larger volumes over greater distances, and by 1953, the last of the city's pneumatic mail tubes were permanently shut down.

Which choice most effectively introduces the second paragraph by establishing its main focus?

For decades, the scientific community believed the ocean floor was a flat, featureless plain. In the 1950s, geologist Marie Tharp sought to prove otherwise by meticulously plotting sonar data collected from research vessels. Working at her desk at Columbia University, Tharp transformed raw numbers into detailed draft maps, revealing a massive, continuous underwater mountain range known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. [1] Her colleague, Bruce Heezen, initially dismissed her discovery, but Tharp’s persistence eventually revolutionized the field of plate tectonics.

The writer is considering adding the following sentence at Point [1]:

'Sonar technology had originally been developed during World War I to detect enemy submarines.'

Should the writer make this addition?

Passage Excerpt:

In 1938, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, a South African museum curator, was inspecting the catch of a local fishing trawler when she noticed an unusual blue fin. Under a heavy pile of sharks, she found a five-foot-long fish with shimmering blue scales and limb-like fins. [Underlined Portion] then contacted J.L.B. Smith, a local chemistry professor and amateur ichthyologist, to help identify it.

Which choice most effectively emphasizes the immediate, hands-on efforts Courtenay-Latimer made to save the specimen from deteriorating before it could be identified?

Passage Excerpt:

In 1696, Henry Winstanley began constructing the first Eddystone Lighthouse on a notorious reef off the coast of Plymouth, England. The lighthouse was a wooden structure, highly ornate and adorned with carvings and a grand drawing room. [1] Winstanley was so confident in his design that he famously wished to be inside the lighthouse during "the greatest storm that ever was."

Which choice most effectively emphasizes the extreme vulnerability of the lighthouse's design and location to the harsh elements of the sea?

[1] In 132 CE, Chinese inventor Zhang Heng introduced the world's first seismoscope, a device designed to detect earthquakes from hundreds of miles away. [2] The vessel was cast in bronze and resembled a large urn, adorned with eight dragons pointing downwards. [3] Each dragon held a bronze ball in its mouth, positioned directly above a bronze toad with an open mouth waiting at the base. [4] When an earthquake occurred, a pendulum mechanism inside the urn would swing and release the ball from the dragon corresponding to the direction of the earthquake's epicenter. [5] Zhang Heng was also a talented astronomer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the calculation of $\pi$. [6] When the ball fell into the toad's mouth, it produced a loud clang, alerting the imperial court to both the occurrence of a tremor and its direction.

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

[1]
_____________________________. Benton MacKaye, a regional planner and forester, first proposed the trail in his 1921 article, 'An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning.' He envisioned a continuous wilderness path that would serve as a refuge from the growing urbanization and industrialization of East Coast cities. MacKaye believed that city dwellers needed a place to escape the hectic pace of modern life, find spiritual renewal, and engage in outdoor recreation.

[2]
Over the next few decades, volunteers and outdoor clubs worked tirelessly to turn MacKaye's vision into a reality. They cleared paths, built shelters, and blazed trees with the trail's signature white markers. Today, the Appalachian Trail stretches over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine, attracting millions of hikers who seek to test their endurance against the rugged terrain.

Which choice most effectively introduces the main subject of the passage and establishes the focus of the first paragraph?

Passage Excerpt:

In the early 1900s, the construction of the Panama Canal required excavating millions of tons of earth through the Culebra Cut. Landslides were a constant hazard, repeatedly burying equipment and undoing months of progress. [1]

The writer wants to add a sentence at point [1] that emphasizes the immense scale of the excavation effort and the primary technology used to accomplish it. Which choice best fulfills this goal?

The following is an excerpt from a draft of an essay about a pioneering scientific discovery.

[1] _____________________________. At the time, leprosy was a highly feared disease with no known cure, and patients in Hawaii were forcibly exiled to an isolated peninsula on the island of Molokai. The prevailing treatment, a natural oil, was thick and sticky, making it difficult to inject or absorb effectively. Alice Ball, a young chemist, successfully developed a process to isolate the active compounds from the oil. This breakthrough created the first effective, water-soluble treatment, allowing hundreds of exiled patients to return home to their families.

Which choice, if placed at [1], most effectively introduces the paragraph by establishing its main focus?