Reading & Writing

Text 1

Little is known about how plate tectonics—wherein slabs of Earth’s crust move over, under, away from, and against one another—began. Some researchers contend that tectonic movements began around 3 billion years ago, often noting that computer models of Earth’s mantle temperature at the time indicate that the mantle would have been sufficiently molten to enable the plates to move.

Text 2

Ultimately, any plausible claim about the inception of tectonic movement must rest on empirical evidence from the geological record. Researcher Wriju Chowdhury and his team analyzed the geochemistry of zircon crystals to gain insight into the chemical composition of the magma from which the crystals formed and, based on the data, compellingly argue that plate tectonics may have been occurring as early as 4.2 billion years ago.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to what “some researchers contend” as described in Text 1?

A. By suggesting that the temperature of Earth’s mantle 3 billion years ago was likely insufficient to allow for the level of tectonic movement predicted by computer models

B. By distinguishing between computer models of Earth’s mantle temperature that reliably predict the onset of plate tectonics and those that do not

C. By indicating that computer models of Earth’s mantle temperature are still being improved such that new models tend to be much more reliable than their predecessors

D. By asserting that a more definitive form of evidence than the computer models suggests a different timeline for the onset of plate tectonics on Earth

In 2018, scientists discovered an immense aggregation of Muusoctopus robustus (pearl octopuses) along a hydrothermal vent 3,200 meters beneath the ocean’s surface. Water temperatures at this site—named the Octopus Garden—climb as high as 11°C, much warmer than the ambient 1.6°C typical at this depth. Based on observations made over three years, scientists concluded that temperatures at the site likely confer reproductive benefits and that the site is used exclusively for reproduction—6,000 M. robustus adults, hatchlings, and eggs were observed at the garden, but no juveniles were present.

Which statement about M. robustus and the Octopus Garden is best supported by the text?

A. M. robustus leave the Octopus Garden upon reaching an intermediary stage of development.

B. The M. robustus population at the Octopus Garden remains stable despite variations in water temperature.

C. M. robustus nests in the Octopus Garden contain on average fewer but larger eggs than nests at similar ocean depths.

D. The Octopus Garden provides an ideal feeding ground for M. robustus hatchlings.

Conservationists worldwide are working to protect ecosystems from habitat destruction and biodiversity loss, and in many cases, initiatives that rely on natural features or processes can help address such challenges. In response to a rapidly dwindling population of blueback salmon, the Quinault Indian Nation (a tribe in Washington State) partnered with the conservation organization Wild Salmon Center to restore naturally occurring logjams in the Quinault River. The logjams create shady pools where the blueback salmon can rest and spawn, thus promoting blueback population recovery.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A. A partnership between the Quinault Indian Nation and Wild Salmon Center shows the importance of collaborative approaches to preserving biodiversity.

B. Nature-based approaches can be effective ways to achieve conservation goals.

C. As indicated by a recent project, logjams help the blueback salmon thrive and reproduce.

D. Scientists now realize that nature-based conservation methods offer better long-term solutions to environmental issues than methods that are not nature-based do.

Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean Sea. Indigenous people there started raising guinea pigs about 1,700 years ago. Guinea pigs had originally been domesticated much earlier in both Colombia and Peru. So were guinea pigs brought to Puerto Rico from Colombia or from Peru? Ancient Caribbean trade routes connected Puerto Rico with Colombia but not with Peru. Therefore, guinea pigs in Puerto Rico probably came from Colombia and descended from Colombian guinea pigs.

Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the underlined claim?

A. Ancient guinea pigs in Puerto Rico were genetically less similar to ancient guinea pigs in Colombia than to ancient guinea pigs in Peru.

B. Guinea pigs are common in ancient Puerto Rican art, especially in pottery.

C. Modern breeds of guinea pigs don’t look like images of guinea pigs in ancient art from Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Peru.

D. The guinea pig population of ancient Colombia was much larger than the guinea pig population of ancient Peru.

Properties of Select Rotating Radio Transcients

A student is researching rotating radio transients (RRATs), a subclass of pulsar stars characterized by short pulses of radio waves. The time between consecutive pulses of an RRAT is referred to as a period. Looking at the table, the student determines that ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the statement?

A. J0614-03 has the shortest amount of time between consecutive pulses of all the RRATs in the table.

B. J0545-03 and J0121+53 have the same amount of time between consecutive pulses.

C. J1654-2335 has the longest amount of time between consecutive pulses of all the RRATs in the table.

D. J0103+54 and J0121+53 both have more than one second of time between consecutive pulses.

In his Naturalis historia, Pliny the Elder praised Hipparchus’s star catalog, a second-century BCE list of roughly 850 different stars’ celestial positions. For centuries, scholars dreamed about locating a copy of this legendary lost ______ fantasy (partially) became reality in 2022, when researchers uncovered traces of the star catalog on a palimpsest, a reused parchment.

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

A. work, that

B. work that

C. work. That

D. work and that

Guard cells are specialized cells that are part of a plant’s pores. These cells help regulate the amount of carbon dioxide a plant takes in. ______ they help regulate a plant’s water loss.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

A. Additionally,

B. Previously,

C. In conclusion,

D. Instead,

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Bike-share programs provide bicycles for shared use.

• In docked bike sharing, riders rent a bike and return it to designated docking stations.

• Docked programs are orderly and offer consistency to riders but require significant space and money to implement.

• In dockless bike sharing, riders locate a bike and leave it wherever they choose.

• Dockless programs are relatively simple and inexpensive to implement and offer flexibility to riders.

• Dockless programs can be disorganized.

The student wants to compare some disadvantages of docked and dockless bike-share programs. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. Dockless programs can be disorganized; docked programs, on the other hand, offer order and consistency.

B. Worth noting is that while dockless programs are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement, they are less flexible than docked programs.

C. Docked programs are more resource-intensive than dockless programs, but they avoid some of the latter’s organizational challenges.

D. Though dockless programs offer flexibility, docked bike-share programs provide bicycles for shared use.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Black residents of Richmond, Virginia, had few formal options for banking and other financial services. To ______ this situation, Maggie Lena Walker chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in 1903. The bank went on to provide home loans and savings opportunities to thousands of Black families over the following decades. 

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

A. prolong

B. rectify

C. retain

D. highlight

Diadromous fish migrate between freshwater and marine biomes during their life cycle. The migration’s obligate nature is why diadromous fish can be ______ those that are merely euryhaline (able to tolerate high salinity): the euryhaline blackchin tilapia can survive high salinity, but its life cycle does not involve relocation to a different biome, as does that of the diadromous wild salmon.

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

A. demarcated from

B. reconstituted as

C. conflated with

D. derived from

One popular theory of the origin of the Moon, the “big whack,” posits that a protoplanet called Theia collided with Earth, flinging debris into orbit that eventually coalesced into the Moon. Until recently, Theia was ______, but researcher Qian Yuan and colleagues now claim to have identified pieces of the protoplanet in the lowermost section of Earth’s mantle.

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

A. desultory

B. spurious

C. veritable

D. notional

The following text is from Thomas Mann’s 1924 novel The Magic Mountain, translated by John E. Woods in 1995.

The story of Hans Castorp that we intend to tell here—not for his sake (for the reader will come to know him as a perfectly ordinary, if engaging young man), but for the sake of the story itself, which seems to us to be very much worth telling (although in Hans Castorp’s favor it should be noted that it is his story, and that not every story happens to everybody)—is a story that took place long ago, and is, so to speak, covered with the patina of history and must necessarily be told with verbs whose tense is that of the deepest past.

What does the text most strongly suggest about the story of Hans Castorp?

A. Though it is true that stories of even the most uninteresting people are themselves interesting because all people are unique, the reason this story is interesting is nonetheless difficult to understand because of the passage of time.

B. Even though it is a story of a person of no particular importance, its age and the manner in which it therefore must be told are both indicators that the story itself is important.

C. Like all stories about the lives of inconsequential people, this story must necessarily be related in a particular way if the reason the story is consequential is to be made evident to the audience.

D. It is a remarkable story that happened to an unremarkable person, though one could plausibly argue that because the story is valuable, some of its value accrues to the person at its center.

Early Earth is thought to have been characterized by a stagnant lid tectonic regime, in which the upper lithosphere (the outer rocky layer) was essentially immobile and there was no interaction between the lithosphere and the underlying mantle. Researchers investigated the timing of the transition from a stagnant lid regime to a tectonic plate regime, in which the lithosphere is fractured into dynamic plates that in turn allow lithospheric and mantle material to mix. Examining chemical data from lithospheric and mantle-derived rocks ranging from 285 million to 3.8 billion years old, the researchers dated the transition to 3.2 billion years ago. 

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ conclusion?

A. Among rocks known to be older than 3.2 billion years, significantly more are mantle derived than lithospheric, but the opposite is true for the rocks younger than 3.2 billion years.

B. Mantle-derived rocks older than 3.2 billion years show significantly more compositional diversity than lithospheric rocks older than 3.2 billion years do.

C. There is a positive correlation between the age of lithospheric rocks and their chemical similarity to mantle-derived rocks, and that correlation increases significantly in strength at around 3.2 billion years old.

D. Mantle-derived rocks younger than 3.2 billion years contain some material that is not found in older mantle-derived rocks but is found in older and contemporaneous lithospheric rocks.

Almost all works of fiction contain references to the progression of time, including the time of day when events in a story take place. In a 2020 study, Allen Kim, Charuta Pethe, and Steven Skiena claim that an observable pattern in such references reflects a shift in human behavior prompted by the spread of electric lighting in the late nineteenth century. The researchers drew this conclusion from an analysis of more than 50,000 novels spanning many centuries and cultures, using software to recognize and tally both specific time references—that is, clock phrases, such as 7 a.m. or 2:30 p.m.—and implied ones, such as mentions of meals typically associated with a particular time of day.

Which finding from the study, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ conclusion?

A. Novels published after the year 1800 include the clock phrase 10 a.m. less often than novels published before the year 1800 do.

B. Novels published after 1880 contain significantly more references to activities occurring after 10 p.m. than do novels from earlier periods.

C. Among novels published in the nineteenth century, implied time references become steadily more common than clock phrases as publication dates approach 1900.

D. The time references of noon (12 p.m.) and midnight (12 a.m.) are used with roughly the same frequency in the novels.

Percentage of ULE Attributed to Population Growth and GDP per Capita Growth in Two World Regions

In a study of urban physical expansion, Richa Mahtta et al. conducted a meta-analysis of more than 300 cities worldwide to determine whether urban land expansion (ULE) was more strongly influenced by urban population growth or by growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a measure of economic activity. Because efficient national government is necessary to provide urban services and infrastructure that attract economic investment, Mahtta et al. propose that absent other factors, the importance of GDP per capita growth to ULE would likely increase relative to the importance of population growth as governments become more efficient. If true, this suggests the possibility that ______

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the statement?

A. national governments of countries in Region 1 experienced declines in efficiency in the period from 2000 to 2014, relative to the period from 1970 to 2000.

B. countries in Region 1 experienced a slower rate of economic growth in the period from 2000 to 2014 than countries in Region 2 did, despite increasing national government efficiency in Region 1.

C. national governments of most countries in Region 2 became more efficient in the period from 2000 to 2014 than they had been in the period from 1970 to 2000, but those of several countries in this region did not.

D. national governments of countries in Region 1 and in Region 2 generally became more efficient in the period from 2000 to 2014 than they had been in the period from 1970 to 2000, but at different rates.

A student is researching the Chinese government’s 1992 shift to a market economy that emphasizes trade liberalization. One means of trade liberalization involves expanding from ordinary imports into an emphasis on processing imports, which have two types: processing with assembly (in which a firm obtains raw materials from a foreign trading partner without payment and sells the final goods to that partner, charging for assembly) and processing with inputs (in which a firm expends capital to buy raw materials from a trading partner, processes them into final goods, and sells those goods to whichever trading partner it chooses). The student asserts that while initial efforts at trade liberalization were shaped by Chinese firms’ limited capital, this situation resolved during the 2000s.

Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the student’s assertion?

A. Processing imports with inputs were greater than both ordinary imports and processing imports with assembly in 2006.

B. From 2000 to 2006, processing imports with inputs rose much more sharply than processing imports with assembly did.

C. From 2000 to 2006, neither processing imports with inputs nor processing imports with assembly were greater than ordinary imports.

D. Processing imports with assembly were greater in 2006 than processing imports with inputs in 2000.

The Uto-Aztecan language family is divided into a northern branch, which includes the Shoshone language of present-day Idaho and Utah, and a southern one, whose best-known representative is Nahuatl, the language of the Aztec Empire in Mexico. Lexical similarities across the family, including of botanical terms, confirm descent from a single language spoken millennia ago, and the family’s geographical distribution suggests an origin in what is now the US Southwest. However, vocabulary pertaining to maize isn’t shared between northern and southern branches, despite the crop’s universal cultivation among Uto-Aztecan tribes. Given archaeological evidence that maize originated in Mexico and diffused northward into what became the US Southwest, some linguists reason that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. northern Uto-Aztecan tribes likely obtained the crop directly from a southern Uto-Aztecan tribe rather than from a non-Uto-Aztecan tribe.

B. variation in maize-related vocabulary within each branch of the Uto-Aztecan family likely reflects regionally specific methods for cultivating the crop.

C. southern Uto-Aztecan tribes likely acquired maize at roughly the same time as northern Uto-Aztecan tribes did, though from different sources.

D. the family’s division into northern and southern branches likely preceded the acquisition of the crop by the Uto-Aztecan tribes.

For its 1974 work Instant Mural, the Chicano art collective Asco taped members Patssi Valdez and Humberto Sandoval to an outdoor wall in East Los Angeles. The work is manifestly a commentary on constraint, but many critics focus on Valdez and the social constraints women faced at the time, which is understandable but leaves the presence of Valdez’s male collaborator Sandoval unexplained. We should instead consider that in 1974, the art establishment’s recognition of Chicano artists was (and had long been) restricted to sociohistorical muralists, leaving nonmuralist Chicano artists—like Asco’s members—struggling to even exhibit their work; attending to this context opens an interpretation that accounts for all the evidence, allowing us to conclude that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. while Valdez’s presence in Instant Mural represents the social constraints placed on women at the time, Sandoval’s presence represents Chicano muralists’ frustration at their lack of recognition by the art establishment.

B. the main subject of Instant Mural is female Chicano artists’ experience of being doubly constrained by gender-role expectations and the marginalization of certain types of art.

C. Instant Mural is a reflection on the constraining aesthetic expectations placed on Chicano artists in general rather than on the social constraints placed on women specifically.

D. Instant Mural is best understood not as a critique of the social constraints placed on women but rather as a critique of sociohistorical muralists’ depictions of Chicano culture.

An analysis by Alain Elayi and colleagues of coins minted in Sidon in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE reveals a change in their composition over time: while a coin from circa 450 BCE contains about 98% silver and 1% copper, a coin from 367 BCE (the end of Ba’alšillem II’s reign) contains 74.2% silver and 24.7% copper, giving it a relatively yellowish appearance that traders would have noticed. Because coins with a silver content below 80% were widely considered unsuitable for trade, Elayi et al. speculate that a crisis in confidence in the currency occurred in Sidon around 367 BCE, which was likely relieved—despite Sidon’s persistent oppressive financial obligations—as a result of Ba’alšillem II’s successor Abd’aštart I’s decision to ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A. proclaim that the percentage of silver in coins suitable for trade would be raised to a threshold higher than 80%.

B. keep the amount of silver in Sidonian coins consistent with that in coins minted in 367 BCE but decrease their weight.

C. begin minting heavier coins with a proportion of silver to copper similar to that in coins minted in 367 BCE.

D. fund the mining of some copper deposits that were not available to Ba’alšillem II.

Recently unearthed Neronian tools in France dating to 54,000 years ago and attributed to Homo sapiens may provide evidence that interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans occurred 10,000 years earlier than was previously ______ finding that, if true, would overturn current theories about H. sapiens migration during the Upper Paleolithic.

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

A. supposed; a

B. supposed. A

C. supposed a

D. supposed, a

Chondrites are stony meteorites that are undifferentiated—that is, their contents have not melted and separated into distinct layers. They are hardly ______ many chondrites experience aqueous alteration as a result of exposure to fluids, as well as fracturing, veining, and localized melting due to collisions with other objects.

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

A. pristine, though

B. pristine, though;

C. pristine; though

D. pristine, though,

That the geographic center of North America lay in the state of North Dakota was conceded by all ______ establishing its precise coordinates proved more divisive.

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

A. involved:

B. involved,

C. involved

D. involved;

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Researchers in a 2021 study wanted to determine the rate at which 17 languages conveyed both information and syllables.

• They calculated the bits of information conveyed per second (the IR, or information rate).

• The IR was found to be approximately consistent across the 17 languages (an average of 39 bits per second).

• They calculated the number of syllables spoken per second (the SR, or syllable rate).

• Spanish had the second-fastest SR (7.7 syllables per second).

• Vietnamese had the sixteenth-fastest SR (5.3 syllables per second).

The student wants to present an overview of the study’s findings. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. The 2021 study determined the information rate (IR) of 17 languages in bits of information conveyed per second.

B. Researchers found that information was conveyed more quickly in Spanish, at 7.7 syllables per second, than in Vietnamese, at 5.3 syllables per second.

C. Vietnamese had the sixteenth-fastest syllable rate, lower than that of Spanish, which had the second-fastest; however, Spanish had the lower information rate of the two.

D. Though some of the languages differed in number of syllables spoken per second, all 17 conveyed information at roughly the same rate.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• The fifth Solvay Conference on Physics was held in 1927.

• It brought together twenty-nine of the era’s preeminent scientists to discuss the emerging field of quantum theory.

• The conference famously featured a debate between physicists Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr.

• Bohr proposed that subatomic entities like electrons had only probable realities until they were observed.

• Einstein argued that subatomic entities like electrons had a reality independent of observation.

• Bohr’s position, later called the Copenhagen interpretation, remains the most widely accepted theory of quantum mechanics. 

The student wants to place Einstein’s argument within its historical context. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

A. During the dawn of quantum theory, Einstein maintained the independent reality of some subatomic entities, although Bohr’s opposing interpretation would become the widely accepted view.

B. At the 1927 Solvay Conference on Physics, Einstein disagreed with Bohr’s argument that subatomic entities like electrons had a reality independent of observation.

C. The attendees of the 1927 Solvay Conference were among the preeminent scientists of their era, including Einstein, who opposed Bohr’s proposal.

D. In 1927, Einstein and Bohr engaged in a famous debate; Bohr’s argument, later called the Copenhagen interpretation, would remain popular decades after.