Hello! I am studying for the GRE. I need more practice questions, and I need them to be as authentic as possible. I’d like you to write me some. I’m going to start with reading comprehension. To help you, I’m going to tell you about the logic and design of the questions so you can understand them more deeply and construct them more accurately. I give you permission to include other information from from your training data and the internet about the GRE in order to strengthen your response as much as possible. (in general, sometimes there will be awkward formatting here, such as line breaks in the wrong space, or multiple choice questions missing their corresponding letters. In your response, of course, put everything in clear coherent formatting)

First I will tell you the question formats.

Format 1: Multiple-Choice Questions—Select One Answer Choice

These are standard multiple-choice questions. You will be given five answer choices

and will be asked to select one. Note that the special argument-based passages will always be

“multiple choice, choose one.”

Format 2: Multiple-Choice Questions—Select One or More Answer Choices

In these questions, you will be given a question and three answer choices. You are to select all the choices that provide a correct answer to the question. In these questions, at least one of

the choices will always be correct.

Format 3: Select-in-Passage

In these questions, you will be asked to highlight the sentence in the passage that

best answers the question. The suggested approach for argument-based passages is

fundamentally different from the approach for information-based passages, so let’s

consider the two groups separately.

Now I will tell you the question types:

Type 1: Main-Point Questions

Main-point questions can be phrased as,for example,:

■ “The primary purpose of the passage is to . . .”

■ “The author’s primary purpose is to . . .”

■ “The author is primarily concerned with . . .”

■ “Which of the following would be an appropriate title for the passage?”

Type 2: Detail Questions

Detail questions can be phrased as, for example,:

■ “According to the passage . . .”

■ “Based on the passage, which of the following is true . . .”

■ “The author mentions which of the following . . .”

Type 3: Inference Questions

Inference questions can be phrased as, for example,:

■ “The passage suggests . . .”

■ “The passage implies” . . .”

■ “Which of the following can be inferred from the passage . . .”

■ “Which of the following can be concluded from the passage . . .”

Type 4: Select-in-Passage Questions

In Select-in-Passage questions, you will be asked to highlight a sentence in the

passage that corresponds to the information that the question asks for. These

questions will usually be phrased as “Select the sentence in which the author . . .”

Select the sentence in which the author introduces a theory that Tolleter’s

research rejects.

Type 5: Vocabulary Questions

Vocabulary questions are usually phrased in the following way: In the context in

which it appears, “. . .” most nearly means . . . .

Special type: Argument-Based Passages

an argument-based passage gives ONE paragraph and ONE associated

question. ETS groups these passages with other types of Reading

Comprehension passages. The task will be to identify information that most impacts the argument by strengthening it, weakening it, providing an assumption, or resolving an apparent

Discrepancy.

Now I will give you the topic categories:

The biological and physical science passage
The social sciences passage
The humanities passage. A humanities passage may be about art, music, philosophy, drama, or literature. It typically places its subject in a positive light, especially if it’s about a person who was a pioneer in his or her field,

Here are some specific examples of the biological and physical science passage:

Microbiological activity clearly affects the mechanical strength of leaves. Although it cannot be

denied that with most species the loss of mechanical strength is the result of both invertebrate

feeding and microbiological breakdown, the example of Fagus sylvatica illustrates loss without any

sign of invertebrate attack being evident. Fagus shows little sign of invertebrate attack even after

being exposed for eight months in either a lake or stream environment, but results of the rolling

fragmentation experiment show that loss of mechanical strength, even in this apparently resistant

species, is considerable.

Most species appear to exhibit a higher rate of degradation in the stream environment than in the

lake. This is perhaps most clearly shown in the case of Alnus. Examination of the type of destruction

suggests that the cause for the greater loss of material in the stream-processed leaves is a combination

of both biological and mechanical degradation. The leaves exhibit an angular fragmentation,

which is characteristic of mechanical damage, rather than the rounded holes typical of the attack by

large particle feeders or the skeletal vein pattern produced by microbial degradation and small

particle feeders. As the leaves become less strong, the fluid forces acting on the stream nylon cages

cause successively greater fragmentation.

Mechanical fragmentation, like biological breakdown, is to some extent influenced by leaf structure

and form. In some leaves with a strong midrib, the lamina breaks up, but the pieces remain

attached by means of the midrib. One type of leaf may break cleanly, whereas another tears off

and is easily destroyed after the tissues are weakened by microbial attack.

In most species, the mechanical breakdown will take the form of gradual attrition at the margins. If

the energy of the environment is sufficiently high, brittle species may be broken across the midrib,

something that rarely happens with more pliable leaves. The result of attrition is that where the

areas of the whole leaves follow a normal distribution, a bimodal distribution is produced, one peak

composed mainly of the fragmented pieces, the other of the larger remains.

To test the theory that a thin leaf has only half the chance of a thick one for entering the fossil

record, all other things being equal, Ferguson (1971) cut discs of fresh leaves from 11 species of

leaves, each with a different thickness, and rotated them with sand and water in a revolving drum.

Each run lasted 100 hours and was repeated three times, but even after this treatment, all species

showed little sign of wear. It therefore seems unlikely that leaf thickness alone, without substantial

microbial preconditioning, contributes much to the probability that a leaf will enter a depositional

environment in a recognizable form. The results of experiments with whole fresh leaves show that

they are more resistant to fragmentation than leaves exposed to microbiological attack. Unless the

leaf is exceptionally large or small, leaf size and thickness are not likely to be as critical in determining

the preservation potential of a leaf type as the rate of microbiological degradation.

1. The passage is primarily concerned with

Why leaves disintegrate

An analysis of leaf structure and composition

Comparing lakes and streams

The purpose of particle feeders

How leaves’ mechanical strength is affected by microbiological activity

2. Which of the following is mentioned as a reason for leaf degradation in streams? Consider each

of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

Mechanical damage

Biological degradation

Large particle feeders

3. The conclusion that the author reached from Ferguson’s revolving drum experiment was that

Leaf thickness is only a contributing factor to leaf fragmentation.

Leaves submerged in water degrade more rapidly than leaves deposited in mud or silt.

Leaves with a strong midrib deteriorate less than leaves without such a midrib.

Microbial attack is made worse by high temperatures.

Bimodal distribution reduces leaf attrition.

4. The tone of the passage is

Persuasive

Biased

Objective

Argumentative

Disparaging

5. Select the sentence in the fourth paragraph that explains the form of mechanical breakdown of

most species of leaves.

Skim for key words to answer this question. The first and only place mechanical breakdown is

mentioned is in the first sentence of the fourth paragraph. Correct answer: “In most species, the

mechanical breakdown will take the form of gradual attrition at the margins.”

6. Which would be an example of “energy of the environment” (fourth paragraph, second

sentence)?

Wind and rain

Sunlight

Animals that eat leaves

Lumberjacks

Fuel that may be harvested

Here are some specific examples of the social sciences passage:

Multinational corporations frequently encounter impediments in their attempts to explain to

politicians, human rights groups, and (perhaps most importantly) their consumer base why they do

business with, and even seek closer business ties to, countries whose human rights records are

considered heinous by United States standards. The CEOs propound that in the business trenches,

the issue of human rights must effectively be detached from the wider spectrum of free trade.

Discussion of the uneasy alliance between trade and human rights has trickled down from the

boardrooms of large multinational corporations to the consumer on the street who, given the wide

variety of products available to him, is eager to show support for human rights by boycotting the

products of a company he feels does not do enough to help its overseas workers. International

human rights organizations also are pressuring the multinationals to push for more humane

working conditions in other countries and to, in effect, develop a code of business conduct that

must be adhered to if the American company is to continue working with the overseas partner.

The president, in drawing up a plan for what he calls the “economic architecture of our times,”

wants economists, business leaders, and human rights groups to work together to develop a set of

principles that the foreign partners of United States corporations will voluntarily embrace. Human

rights activists, incensed at the nebulous plans for implementing such rules, charge that their

agenda is being given low priority by the State Department. The president vociferously denies their

charges, arguing that each situation is approached on its merits without prejudice, and hopes that

all the groups can work together to develop principles based on empirical research rather than

political fiat, emphasizing that the businesses with experience in the field must initiate the process

of developing such guidelines. Business leaders, while paying lip service to the concept of these

principles, fight stealthily against their formal endorsement because they fear such “voluntary”

concepts may someday be given the force of law. Few business leaders have forgotten the Sullivan

Principles, in which a set of voluntary rules regarding business conduct with South Africa (giving

benefits to workers and banning apartheid in the companies that worked with U.S. partners)

became legislation.

7. Which of the following best states the central idea of the passage?

Politicians are quixotic in their assessment of the priorities of the State Department.

Multinational corporations have little if any influence on the domestic policies of their

overseas partners.

Voluntary principles that are turned into law are unconstitutional.

Disagreement exists between the desires of human rights activists to improve the working

conditions of overseas workers and the pragmatic approach taken by the corporations.

It is inappropriate to expect foreign corporations to adhere to American standards.

8. According to the passage, the president wants the voluntary principles to be initiated by businesses

rather than by politicians or human rights activists because

Businesses have empirical experience in the field and thus know what the conditions are

and how they may/should be remedied.

Businesses make profits from the labor of the workers and thus have a moral obligation to

improve their employees’ working conditions.

Workers will not accept principles drawn up by politicians whom they distrust but may

agree to principles created by the corporations that pay them.

Foreign nations are distrustful of U.S. political intervention and are more likely to accept

suggestions from multinational corporations.

Political activist groups have concerns that are too dramatically different from those of the

corporations for the groups to be able to work together.

9. Select the sentence from the second paragraph that describes the human rights activists’

response to the president’s plan.

The passage contains only one mention of human rights activists, and it appears in the second sentence

of the second paragraph. So the correct answer is “Human rights activists, incensed at the

nebulous plans for implementing such rules, charge that their agenda is being given low priority

by the State Department.”

10. Which of the following is a reason the author mentions the boycott of a corporation’s products

by its customers? Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

To show the difficulties that arise when corporations attempt to become involved in

politics

To suggest the possibility of failure of any plan that does not account for the customer’s

perspective

To indicate the pressures that are on the multinational corporations

11. Which of the following statements about the Sullivan Principles can best be inferred from the

passage?

They had a detrimental effect on the profits of those corporations doing business with

South Africa.

They represented an improper alliance between political and business groups.

They placed the needs of the foreign workers over those of the domestic workers whose

jobs would therefore be in jeopardy.

They will be used as a model to create future voluntary business guidelines.

They will have a chilling effect on future adoption of voluntary guidelines.

Here is another example of the social science passage:

Ritzer (2009) has recently argued that the focus on either production or consumption has always

been misplaced and that all acts always involve both. That is, all acts of production and consumption

are fundamentally acts of prosumption. The assembly-line worker is always consuming all sorts

of things (parts, energy, tools) in the process of production, and conversely the consumer in, for

example, a fast food restaurant is always producing (garnishes for a sandwich, soft drinks from the

self-serve dispenser, the disposal of debris derived from the meal). This suggests a dramatic

reorientation of theorizing about the economy away from production or consumption and in the

direction of prosumption.

Prosumption is not only a historical reality, but it is becoming increasingly ubiquitous with the

emergence on the internet of Web 2.0. Web 1.0 (e.g., AOL) typically involved sites that were created

and managed by producers and used more or less passively by separable consumers. The latter

not only did not produce the websites, but usually could not alter their content in any meaningful

way. In contrast, Web 2.0 is defined by sites (e.g., Facebook, blogs) the contents of which are

produced, wholly (blogs) or in part (Facebook), by the user. While everything about some 2.0 sites

(a blog, for example) is likely produced by those who also consume them, on others (the Facebook

page) the basic structure of the site is created by the producer, while all of the content comes from

the consumer(s). Even though something of the distinction between producer and consumer

remains in the latter case, it is clear that Web 2.0 is the paradigmatic domain of the prosumer.

As the internet continues to evolve, we can expect to see more and more user-generated content

and therefore an even greater role for the prosumer.

Of course, this shift to prosumption does not mean that sociological theorists should ignore

production (the production end of the prosumption continuum) or consumption (the consumption

end of that continuum). On the production side, there is certainly no end of issues to concern the

theorist. Among others, there is David Harvey’s (2005) interest in, and critique of, neoliberalism, as

well as Hardt and Negri’s (2000) interest in the transformation of the capitalist and proletariat into

Empire and Multitude in the global age.

19. What does Ritzer argue is the difference between production and consumption?

Production is creating, and consuming is using.

Production is recent, and consumption is historical.

Production is permanent, and consumption is temporary.

They are opposite sides of the same spectrum.

They are not different.

20. According to the passage, Unlike Web 1.0, Web 2.0 is specifically

Newer and therefore better

Fueled by content produced by the user

An asset to the neo-liberal market forces

A reflection of the distinction between the producer and the consumer

Designed for heavy reliance by the consumer

21. According to the passage, the emergence of Web 2.0 is an example of

Production

Consumption

Prosumption

Neo-liberalism

Social networking

22. What is the primary purpose of the passage?

To explain the success of Web 2.0 sites such as Facebook

To describe the shift to prosumption and the accompanying emergence of Web 2.0

To portray the perspective of sociological theorists, such as Harvey, on neoliberalism

To depict the observation of sociological theorists, such as Hardt and Negri, on the transformation

of the capitalist and proletariat into Empire and Multitude

To describe the inevitable path of the prosumer

Here are some specific examples of the humanities passage:

Junzaburou Nishiwaki, a 20th-century Japanese poet, scholar, and translator, spent his career

working to introduce Japanese readers to European and American writing and to break his country

out of its literary insularity. He was interested in European culture all his life. Born to a wealthy

family in rural Niigata prefecture in 1894, Nishiwaki spent his youth aspiring to be a painter and

traveled to Tokyo in 1911 to study fused Japanese and European artistic traditions. After his father

died in 1913, Nishiwaki studied economics at Keio University, but his real love was English literature.

After graduating, he worked for several years as a reporter at the English-language Japan Times and

as a teacher at Keio University.

Nishiwaki finally received the opportunity to concentrate on English literature in 1922, when Keio

University sent him to Oxford University for three years. He spent this time reading literature in Old

and Middle English and classical Greek and Latin. He became fluent in English, French, German,

Latin, and Greek. While he was in England, Roaring Twenties modernism caught his eye, and the

works of writers such as James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot were crucially important to his

literary development. In 1925, Nishiwaki published his first book, Spectrum, a volume of poems

written in English. He explained that English offered him much more freedom of expression than

traditional Japanese poetic language.

Nishiwaki returned to Keio University in 1925 and became a professor of English literature, teaching

linguistics, Old and Middle English, and the history of English literature. He remained active in

modernist and avant-garde literary circles. In 1933 he published Ambarvalia, his first volume of

poetry written in Japanese; this collection of surrealist verse ranged far and wide through European

geography and history and included Japanese translations of Catullus, Sophocles, and Shakespeare.

Angered by the Japanese government’s fascist policies, Nishiwaki refused to write poetry during the

Second World War. He spent the war years writing a dissertation on ancient Germanic literature.

After the war, Nishiwaki resumed his poetic pursuits and in 1947 published Tabibito kaerazu, in

which he abandoned modernist language and returned to a classical Japanese poetic style but with

his own postmodernist touch, incorporating both Eastern and Western literary traditions. In 1953,

Nishiwaki published Kindai no guuwa, which critics consider his most poetically mature work. He

spent his last years producing works of such writers as D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, T. S. Eliot,

Stéphane Mallarmé, Shakespeare, and Chaucer. Nishiwaki retired from Keio University in 1962,

though he continued to teach and write poetry. Before his death in 1982, he received numerous

honors and awards; he was appointed to the Japanese Academy of Arts and Sciences, named a

Person of Cultural Merit, and nominated for the Nobel Prize by Ezra Pound. Critics today consider

Nishiwaki to have exercised more influence on younger poets than any other Japanese poet

since 1945.

12. Which one of the following most accurately states the main idea of the passage?

Nishiwaki was a Japanese poet who rebelled against the strictures of his country’s government

and protested its policies toward Europe during World War II.

Nishiwaki was a Japanese poet and literary critic who embraced European literature as a

way of rebelling against the constraints of his family and traditional Japanese culture.

Nishiwaki was a Japanese poet and professor who spent his life trying to convince young

Japanese students that European literary forms were superior to Japanese poetic styles.

Nishiwaki was a Japanese poet and linguist who throughout his life chose to write in

English rather than Japanese.

Nishiwaki was a Japanese poet and scholar who spent his life specializing in European

literature, which proved tremendously influential to his own work.

13. The author’s attitude toward Nishiwaki’s life and career can be best described as

Scholarly interest in the life and works of a significant literary figure

Mild surprise at Nishiwaki’s choosing to write poetry in a language foreign to him

Open admiration for Nishiwaki’s ability to function in several languages

Skepticism toward Nishiwaki’s motives in refusing to write poetry during the Second

World War

Envy of Nishiwaki’s success in publishing and academia

14. The primary function of the first paragraph is to

Describe Nishiwaki’s brief study of painting

Introduce Nishiwaki and his lifelong interest in European culture

Summarize Nishiwaki’s contribution to Japanese literature

Explain why a Japanese man chose to specialize in English literature

Analyze European contributions to Japanese culture at the start of the 20th century

15. Select the sentence in the third paragraph that explains why Nishiwaki stopped writing poetry

during World War II.

16. The passage is primarily concerned with

Comparing Nishiwaki’s poetry to that of other Japanese poets of the 20th century

Discussing the role of the avant-garde movement in Nishiwaki’s writing

Providing a brief biography of Nishiwaki that explains the significance of his work

Explaining why writers can benefit from studying literature from other countries

Describing the transformation in Japanese poetic style during the post-war period

17. According to the passage, which one of the following types of literature did not greatly interest

Nishiwaki? Consider each of the three choices separately and select all that apply.

Old and Middle English literature such as Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales

Classical Greek works such as Antigone

Classical Japanese literature such as The Tale of Genji

18. Select the sentence in the second paragraph that explains why Nishiwaki chose to write his first

published poems in English.

Though many sentences in the passage mention Nishiwaki’s interest in English literature, in only

one sentence does the passage provide Nishiwaki’s explanation of why he chose to write his first

published poems in English. Correct answer: “He explained that English offered him much more

freedom of expression than traditional Japanese poetic language.”

Here is a long list of practice questions. Their numbers are out of order, don’t worry about that. I want you to read this and to create me a list of 200 practice questions with the corresponding reading passages. It should reflect a mixture of the different question formats, question types, and topic categories that reflects what you see in the Sample Set. Where possible, I want you to use original, primary sources, drawn from books, blogs, journals, texts, newspapers, or any other appropriate source you can find on the internet. However, you may simulate passages where appropriate if you believe that it is an appropriate high quality passage. The main objective is that you are creating questions that resemble the format, style, language, and patterns of the sample set as much as possible.

Sample Set:

Reading Comprehension

Questions 1–3 are based on the following reading passage.

While new census data reveals that unemployment numbers are

more dire than was

previously suspected, it is not clear that the forecast for American

entrepreneurship is equally

alarming. An article in a major national newspaper suggests that the

contraction in hiring at

existing companies might result in more new companies being

founded. College graduates,

5 unable to find traditional jobs, instead opt to start their own

businesses. Where a recession

may seem an unpropitious time for such a historically risky endeavor,

with no better options,

would-be entrepreneurs have little to lose. Unfortunately, this situation

does not necessarily

impact the economy positively. Though the average number of new

businesses started per year

has been higher during the recession than it was before, the proportion

of high-value businesses

10 founded each year has declined. So even if a business manages to stay

solvent, it may not

bring significant returns. Also, because of an inevitable dearth of angel

investors and venture

capitalists, many new entrepreneurs are putting their own money on

the line. In certain ways,

the choice between accepting a traditional job and starting a business

is not unlike the choice

between renting and buying property. The latter requires a significant

initial outlay and carries

15 heavier risks, but the rewards can be equally substantial.

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) propose changes in the way the public generally interprets

census data

(B) maintain that college students should form their own companies,

especially during economic recessions

(D) evaluate the viability of low- versus high-value businesses under

various environmental conditions

(E) draw an analogy between career decisions and real estate

decisions, specifically the choice to rent or buy property

2. According to the passage, the reason that many college graduates are

choosing to launch their own companies in the present economic climate

is that

(A) they are hampered by the difficulty of finding outside investors

(B) they cannot easily find positions typically open to workers of

their experience

(D) they are forced to decide between renting and buying property

(E) forecasts of the unemployment rate are likely to become less dire

in coming years

3. It can be inferred from the passage that over the course of the recent

recession, the number of American high-value businesses founded per

year

(A) has fallen sharply

(B) has fallen moderately

(D) has risen moderately

(E) may have either fallen or risen

Question 4 is based on the following reading passage.

According to Mercy Amba Oduyoye in Daughters of Anowa:

African Women and Patriarchy, the

women of the Asante people of Ghana participated in war as nurses or

as providers of supplies,

but only those who had not yet reached or who were past childbearing

age did so. If such women

died in battle, they died “as individuals and not as potential sources of

human life.” As such, many

5 old women engaged in valiant acts, sometimes sacrificing their own

lives, to defend those they

had given life to.

4. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

(A) The deaths of Asante women of childbearing age were lamented

more than were the deaths of other women.

(B) Older Asante women were more courageous than younger

Asante women.

died in battle.

(D) Old women were accorded special status above other women and

men.

(E) Men could not be considered potential sources of human life.

Questions 5–7 are based on the following reading passage.

The past decade has seen a statistically significant uptick in reports

of the bacterial

strains known as “super-bugs,” so called not because of enhanced

virulence, but because of

their resistance to many antimicrobial agents. In particular, researchers

have become alarmed

about NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase), which is not a

single bacterial species, but a

5 transmittable genetic element encoding multiple resistance genes. A

resistance “cocktail” such

as NDM-1 could bestow immunity to a bevy of preexisting drugs

simultaneously, rendering the

bacterium nearly impregnable.

However, in spite of the well-documented dangers posed by

antibiotic-resistant

bacteria, many scientists argue that the human race has more to fear

from viruses. Whereas

10 bacteria reproduce asexually through binary fission, viruses lack the

necessary structures

for reproduction, and so are known as “intracellular obligate

parasites.” Virus particles called

virions must marshal the host cell’s ribosomes, enzymes, and other

cellular machinery in order

to propagate. Once various viral components have been built, they

bind together randomly

in the cellular cytoplasm. The newly finished copies of the virus break

through the cellular

15 membrane, destroying the cell in the process. Because of this, viral

infections cannot be

treated ex post facto in the same way that bacterial infections can,

since antivirals designed to

kill the virus could do critical damage to the host cell itself. In fact,

viruses can infect bacteria

(themselves complete cells), but not the other way around. For many

viruses, such as that

responsible for the common cold sore, remission rather than cure is the

goal of currently

20 available treatment.

While the insidious spread of drug-resistant bacteria fueled by

overuse of antibiotics in

agriculture is nothing to be sneezed at, bacteria lack the potential for

cataclysm that viruses

have. The prominent virologist Nathan Wolfe considers human

immunodeficiency virus (HIV),

which has resulted in the deaths of more than thirty million people and

infected twice that

25 number, “the biggest near-miss of our lifetime.” Despite being the

most lethal pandemic in

history, HIV could have caused far worse effects. It is only fortunate

happenstance that this

virus cannot be transmitted through respiratory droplets, as can the

viruses that cause modern

strains of swine flu (H1N1), avian flu (H5N1), and SARS.

5. The main purpose of the passage can be expressed most accurately by

which of the following?

(A) To contrast the manner by which bacteria and viruses infect the

human body and cause cellular damage

(B) To explain the operations by which viruses use cell machinery to

propagate

bacteria and easily transmissible pathogenic viruses

(D) To highlight the good fortune experienced by the human race, in

that the HIV pandemic has not been more lethal

(E) To compare the relative dangers of two biological threats and

judge one of them to be far more important

6. According to the passage, infections by bacteria

(A) result from asexual reproduction through binary fission

(B) can be treated ex post facto

NDM-1

(D) are rarely cured by currently available treatments, but rather only

put into remission

(E) mirror those by viruses, in that they can both do critical damage

to the host cell

7. According to the passage, intracellular obligate parasites

(A) are unable to propagate themselves on their own

(B) assemble their components randomly out of virions

(D) have become resistant to antibiotics through the overuse of these

drugs

(E) construct necessary reproductive structures out of destroyed host

cells

Questions 8–10 are based on the following reading passage.

A supernova is a brief stellar explosion so luminous that it can

briefly outshine an entire

galaxy. While the explosion itself takes less than fifteen seconds,

supernovae take weeks

or months to fade from view; during that time, a supernova can emit an

amount of energy

equivalent to the amount of energy the sun is expected to radiate over

its entire lifespan.

5 Supernovae generate enough heat to create heavy elements, such as

mercury, gold, and silver.

Although supernovae explode frequently, few of them are visible

(from Earth) to the naked eye.

In 1604 in Padua, Italy, a supernova became visible, appearing as a

star so bright that it

was visible in daylight for more than a year. Galileo, who lectured at

the university, gave several

lectures widely attended by the public. The lectures not only sought to

explain the origin of

10 the “star” (some posited that perhaps it was merely “vapour near the

earth”), but seriously

undermined the views of many philosophers that the heavens were

unchangeable. This idea

was foundational to a worldview underpinned by a central and allimportant

Earth, with

celestial bodies merely rotating around it.

8. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) give the history of supernovae

(B) describe a shift in thought as a result of a natural event

(D) corroborate the view that the Earth is not central to the universe

(E) explain how science and philosophy interrelate

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

9. Which of the following can be inferred by the passage?

Supernovae can take over a year to fade from view.

Prior to 1604, no one had ever seen a supernova.

Galileo convinced philosophers of the incorrectness of their views.

10. The author mentions which of the following as a result of the supernova

of 1604?

(A) The supernova created and dispersed the heavy elements out of

which the Earth and everything on it is made.

(B) Galileo explained the origin of the supernova.

phenomenon.

(D) Galileo’s lectures were opposed by philosophers.

(E) Those who thought the supernova was “vapour” were proved

wrong.

Question 11 is based on the following reading passage.

A Small Place is Jamaica Kincaid’s memoir of growing up in

Antigua as well as an indictment

of the Antiguan government and Britain’s colonial legacy in Antigua.

Kincaid blames colonial

rule for many of Antigua’s current problems, including drug dealing

and selling off land for

tourist properties. Kincaid’s critics question why, if the British are

responsible for the Antiguan

5 government’s corruption, the British government itself isn’t more

corrupt. Kincaid has responded

that there must have been some good people among the British, but

that they stayed home.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

11. Based on the information in the passage, with which of the following

would Kincaid be likely to agree?

A government can bring about a degree of corruption abroad that

the government itself does not suffer from at home.

Britain has caused corruption in governments other than Antigua’s

through its former colonial empire.

The British who colonized Antigua were more likely to be corrupt

than the general British population.

Questions 12–14 are based on the following reading passage.

By 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was internationally

renowned as the composer of

The Marriage of Figaro, and consequently received a commission

from the Prague Opera House

to compose another opera. The resulting product was Don Giovanni,

which tells the tale of a

criminal and seducer who nevertheless evokes sympathy from

audiences, and whose behavior

5 fluctuates from moral crisis to hilarious escapade.

While Don Giovanni is widely considered Mozart’s greatest

achievement, eighteenth century

audiences in Vienna—Mozart’s own city—were ambivalent at best.

The opera mixed traditions of

moralism with those of comedy—a practice heretofore unknown

among the composer’s

works—resulting in a production that was not well-liked by

conservative Viennese audiences.

10 Meanwhile, however, Don Giovanni was performed to much acclaim

throughout Europe.

12. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) relate the story of a somewhat likable antihero

(B) discuss how a work of art was met by diverging responses

(D) make a case for the renown of Don Giovanni

(E) emphasize the moral aspects of a musical work

13. The author mentions the mixing of “traditions of moralism with those of

comedy” (line 8) primarily in order to

(A) explain a work’s lackluster reception among a particular group of

people

(B) remind the reader of the plot of Don Giovanni

(D) argue for an innovative approach to opera

(E) undermine a previously presented assertion

14. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following is true

about the response of Viennese audiences to Don Giovanni?

(A) The audiences preferred purely moralistic works.

(B) The response was unequivocally positive.

musical styles.

(D) The play’s moral themes were offensive to Viennese audiences.

(E) They preferred operas that followed existing stylistic

conventions.

Questions 15–17 are based on the following reading passage.

In the 1960s, Northwestern University sociologist John McKnight

coined the term

redlining, the practice of denying or severely limiting service to

customers in particular

geographic areas, often determined by the racial composition of the

neighborhood. The term

came from the practice of banks outlining certain areas in red on a

map; within the red outline,

5 banks refused to invest. With no access to mortgages, residents within

the red line suffered low

property values and landlord abandonment; buildings abandoned by

landlords were then more

likely to become centers of drug dealing and other crime, thus further

lowering property values.

Redlining in mortgage lending was made illegal by the Fair

Housing Act of 1968, which

prohibited such discrimination based on race, religion, gender, familial

status, disability, or

10 ethnic origin, and by community reinvestment legislation in the

1970s. However, redlining has

sometimes continued in less explicit ways, and can also take place in

the context of constrained

access to health care, jobs, insurance, and more. Even today, some

credit card companies send

different offers to homes in different neighborhoods, and some auto

insurance companies

offer different rates based on zip code.

15 Redlining can lead to reverse redlining, which occurs when

predatory businesses specifically

target minority or low income consumers for the purpose of charging

them more than would

typically be charged for a particular service. When mainstream

retailers refuse to serve a certain

area, people in that area can fall prey to opportunistic smaller retailers

who sell

inferior goods at higher prices.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

15. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Redlining ceased with the passing of the Fair Housing Act in 1968.

Providing services based on zip code may be a form of redlining.

Access to mortgages is related to higher property values.

16. Which of the following, not mentioned in the passage, would qualify as

an example of reverse redlining as defined in the passage?

(A) A bank refuses to offer mortgages to consumers in certain

neighborhoods.

(B) Residents of low-income neighborhoods are less likely to be

hired for positions than residents of higher-income neighborhoods,

even when the applicants have the same qualifications.

neighborhoods than in others.

(D) A grocery store in a low-income neighborhood sells low-quality

produce for high prices, knowing that most residents do not have

the ability to buy elsewhere.

(E) An auto insurance company hires an African American

spokesperson in a bid to attract more African American consumers.

17. Which correctly describes a sequence of events presented in the

passage?

(A) Subprime mortgages lead to widespread defaults, which lead to

landlord abandonment.

(B) Reverse redlining leads to landlord abandonment, which leads to

the use of buildings for crime and drug dealing.

and drug dealing.

(D) Redlining leads to reverse redlining, which leads to constrained

access to health care, jobs, insurance, and more.

(E) Redlining leads to landlord abandonment, which leads to the use

of buildings for crime and drug dealing.

Question 18 is based on the following reading passage.

Premastication is the practice of a mother pre-chewing food before

feeding it, mouth-tomouth,

to her baby. While germophobic Western society eschews this

practice, it is not only

common in the developing world, but provides benefits to a

developing baby. Babies are not

born with digestive bacteria; they get some from passing through the

birth canal, but continue

5 to encounter the beneficial bacteria during breastfeeding and while

being handled, in general,

by adults. Throughout most of human history, in fact, babies have

received disease-fighting

antibodies and digestive bacteria from the mother’s saliva, transmitted

via premasticated

food. In some cultures, fathers also premasticate food for babies;

sometimes even entire family

groups will do this—a toddler at a family meal might wander from

person to person, being fed

10 by many adults.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

18. Based on the information in the passage, the author of the passage

would most likely agree that

germophobia can contribute to depriving babies of a health benefit

premasticating food for babies is done only in the developing

world

adult saliva has benefits for babies in addition to the transmission

of beneficial digestive bacteria

Questions 19–22 are based on the following reading passage.

Matisse and Picasso; Picasso and Matisse. Throughout the

twentieth century, this pairing

has been touted as the quintessential artistic rivalry. In Matisse and

Picasso, Yve-Alain Bois

follows Hubert Damisch in proposing that the interaction between

Picasso and Matisse should

be seen as a dynamic game rather than a static conflict of artistic

polarities. Bois employs the

5 metaphor of chess, arguing that the game represents the artists’

exchange as “a competitive

rivalry and a complex temporality” that can be viewed both as a linear

process and a

simultaneous structure.

But the metaphor of a competitive sport, however complex and

intellectually rich, is

misleading. The two artists were engaged not just in competition (even

friendly competition)

10 but also in friendly dialogue. The two men were more than rivals: they

were colleagues, critics,

teachers, and occasional friends. A better model, though perhaps one

with less flash, is that

of a simple conversation, with all the rich variation and shifts in

motivation and tone that are

possible.

Picasso’s Large Nude in a Red Armchair marks the extremes of the

artist’s combativeness

15 towards Matisse. The painting is a clear parody of Matisse’s earlier

Odalisque with a Tambourine.

The composition of the figures is strikingly similar: a woman lounges

in an armchair at the

center of the painting, arm raised above her head, decorative wallpaper

behind her. Both

paintings feature vivid color contrasts, with green wallpaper, vivid

reds, glaring yellows, and

rich browns. But Picasso’s painting, finished in 1929, mocks the

achievements of Matisse’s

20 earlier work. The sensuous, rich mood of Matisse’s painting has been

transformed in Picasso’s

work into something harsh and grotesque.

The other extreme of the dialogue between the two artists can be

seen in Picasso’s Woman

with Yellow Hair and Matisse’s response, The Dream. The exchange

begins with Picasso’s work,

in 1931. The painting depicts a woman asleep on her arms, resting on a

table. She is full, rich,

25 warm, and curved, her head and arms forming a graceful arabesque.

This image seems a direct

attempt to master Matisse’s style and to suggest to the older artist new

directions for his work.

While there may well be an edge of competitiveness to the painting, a

sense that Picasso was

demonstrating his ability to do Matisse’s work, it remains in large part

a helpful hint.

Matisse, nearly a decade later, continues the conversation in a

similar tone. In The Dream of

30 1940, he proposes a revision of Picasso’s work. Again, a woman lies

asleep on a table, her arm

tucked beneath her head. Matisse accepts Picasso’s basic suggestions

for his style: sinuous curves,

volumes, and shocking uses of color to express an effect. But Matisse

also modifies the earlier

work significantly. Color is no longer rigidly tied to form, as bits of

fuchsia seep outside the thick

black line marking the outline of the table and the patch of yellow on

the woman’s blouse refuses

35 to be contained by the drawn line. Matisse uses Picasso’s same palette

of red, purple, white, black,

and yellow to create this revision, editing out only the garish green, as

if to chide Picasso for the

choice. The brilliant interplay of colors in Matisse’s work is far more

sophisticated and subtle than

that offered by Picasso. “Thank you,” Matisse seems to be saying, “but

you missed a few spots.”

19. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) discuss the two best painters of an epoch

(B) evaluate a theory and endorse a revision

(D) show that Matisse’s work is more sophisticated

(E) illustrate how Picasso taught Matisse

20. The author would most likely agree with which of the following

statements?

(A) Artistic rivalries are more like Olympic competitions than

professional sports.

(B) Artistic mastery is best demonstrated by employing multiple

styles.

(D) Artistic rivalries can actually be reciprocally nourishing.

(E) Artistic rivalries generally last for decades.

21. According to the passage, which of the following describes Woman with

Yellow Hair?

(A) It was parody of a work by Matisse.

(B) Its colors were not rigidly tied to its form.

(D) It was a response to a work by Matisse.

(E) It was harsh and grotesque.

22. Which of the following, had it actually occurred during the artists’

lifetimes, would further support the author’s thesis?

(A) A joint exhibition of the two artists’ work

(B) A radio broadcast of the two artists discussing painting

(D) A play that depicted the two artists playing chess

(E) A painting of the two artists

Questions 23–27 are based on the following reading passage.

Timelines are one of the most commonplace classroom tools used

to teach history. They

present a concise chronology with dates and events listed in a linear

narrative, forming a skeletal

story of history. Despite their usefulness in allowing students to gain a

cursory knowledge of many

key moments in the past, their bare-bones, fact-centered structure is

symptomatic of the myopic

5 character of curricula that emphasize the What, When, and Who and

eclipse the significance of

Why and How.

In the United States, by far the most common brand and format of

timeline is the World

Almanac for Kids US History Timeline—a banner set of 8 horizontal

panels each with 8 events,

beginning with Columbus’s voyage in 1492 and ending with Clinton’s

election in 1993. This

10 timeline has photos accompanying it—about 5–6 per panel—next to

most of the dates, and below

each date is a 1–2 line description of an event that took place in that

year. What immediately

commands one’s attention when looking at this timeline are the dates

themselves. Bolder and

more prominently placed than anything else, they seem to be the most

important feature of the

timeline—even more so than the events’ descriptions. The way the

dates line up in perfect order

15 presents the viewer with a rigid historical narrative, complete

with a beginning and end.

To analyze any particular timeline, it is important to recognize

what the timeline expresses

implicitly. The first implicit message transmitted by the World

Almanac for Kids U.S. History

Timeline is that each event listed on the timeline’s face must hold

some kind of particular

historical significance to qualify as one of only 64 pieces of American

history presented, though

20 no event’s entry gives even a vague explanation as to why it merits

this. The second message

the timeline conveys, simply by hanging in the classroom, is that this

version of history is an

“official” one. Third, that each of these events happened totally

independently of one another.

Fourth, that, at most, only one significant event occurred in any given

year. And finally, that

American history is entirely made up of wars and minor battles,

punctuated by the occasional

25 presidential election and technological innovation. Now, certainly, one

can easily surmise that

the timeline authors are not consciously promoting these implications,

and instead assume

that the viewer will automatically acknowledge that it is not a

comprehensive history but rather

a simple summary of selected events through time. The danger of

using the timeline as

30 tool, of course, lies squarely in that assumption. a teaching

23. The author implies which of the following?

(A) Dates are not important in history.

(B) Historical events are not interconnected.

(D) A study of American history that does not include women and

minorities is incomplete.

(E) American history is best thought of as a linear continuum of

events.

24. The author’s attitude toward timelines can best be described as

(A) condescending and impertinent

(B) tolerant and bemused

(D) wary and critical

(E) negative and complacent

25. The author would most likely agree with all of the following EXCEPT:

(A) There are more than 64 important events in American history.

(B) Some students ascribe importance to prominent graphic position.

(D) Timelines have no subliminal effects.

(E) Demonstrating how events interconnect has merit.

26. According to the passage, a problem with timelines is

(A) their prominent placement in classrooms

(B) their lack of context

(D) their factual inaccuracy

(E) their inclusion of photos

27. Which of the following could be substituted for the word “myopic” (line

5) without changing the meaning of the passage?

(A) ignorant

(B) bigoted

(D) astigmatic

(E) mordant

Questions 28–33 are based on the following reading passage.

As queen of France, Marie Antoinette suffered what were likely

the harshest criticisms

ever laid against any queen or mistress in France’s long history. There

were two major factors

that combined to propagate this dark new level of acidic criticism—

one was the blooming public

sphere, and the second was the scandalous “Diamond Necklace

Affair.”

5 Literacy rose greatly over the course of the 18th century and, not

coincidentally, the annual

output of printed publications tripled by the end of Louis XV’s reign

and expanded exponentially

throughout Louis XVI’s kingship. Royal censorship had also been

greatly reduced by this time,

and a massive “black market” for books and extremely popular

underground publications

flourished during this period. Also, coffeehouse culture and print

culture collided during the

10 mid-to-late 1700s, giving Parisians open forums in which to share the

gossips and criticisms

circulating via the underground pamphlets.

Having endless numbers of pamphlets and an equally infinite

number of readers eager

to snap them up would be no good without a juicy story, however.

This, of course, was exactly

what the people received with the Diamond Necklace Affair. On

August 11th, 1784, a social

15 climber named Rohan and a prostitute named Nicole Leguay met in

the gardens of Versailles.

Nicole was a stunning look-alike of Marie Antoinette, and she was

indeed believed to be the

queen by Rohan that night. To get on Marie’s good side—a necessary

evil for anyone with social

ambitions at Versailles—Rohan was led to believe that if he procured a

fabulously bejeweled

necklace on her behalf, it would be a great favor.

20 The scam was revealed when jewelers Boehmer and Bossange

inquired directly to Marie

Antoinette over payment for the grandiose diamond necklace. They

presented her with an

invoice that she had apparently signed (though it was actually a clever

forgery). The queen was

furious and had Rohan arrested and marched off to the Bastille. Yet, in

addition to the countless

aristocrats who sued to the king on Rohan’s behalf, at one point over

10,000 people came to

25 the doors of the Bastille demanding Rohan’s release. He was

eventually acquitted, much to the

queen’s dismay.

The consequences of this affair were severe for Marie Antoinette.

The mere fact that a

common street prostitute—one who engages in underhanded,

nocturnal dealings to obtain

absurdly expensive jewelry—could be so easily mistaken by a

nobleman for the queen of

30 France was incredibly damaging to the queen’s already blackened

reputation. Furthermore,

as this hatred of the queen began to boil over, it became inevitable that

it would spill onto

the monarchy itself. Though Marie would always be the ultimate

villainess, she could never be

completely untangled from Louis and, thus, from the monarchy itself.

She was not a mistress

who could be surreptitiously cut away or a political advisor who could

be dismissed. She was a

35 queen, and this fact had inescapable consequences.

28. The second paragraph of the passage serves to

(A) elucidate further the mechanisms by which disdain for a public

figure grew

(B) contrast two factors that spurred criticism of the queen

(D) discuss the results of a famous scandal

(E) detail reasons for Marie Antoinette’s unpopularity as well as the

consequences

29. The passage implies that a significant proportion of the French

aristocracy

(A) was jealous of the queen’s riches

(B) read coffee house pamphlets

(D) were less literate than the general populace

(E) became leaders of the Revolution

30. According to the passage, readership of books and pamphlets increased

in the late 18th century because

(A) the education of women nearly doubled the number of readers

(B) the literacy rate tripled during the reign of Louis XV

been in previous times

(D) government censorship had relaxed

(E) the number of coffee houses increased

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

31. According to the passage, Rohan

committed forgery

had social ambitions

had support from the populace

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

32. The author suggests that Marie Antoinette

caused problems for the monarchy

never met Rohan

had unlimited legal power

33. The author’s tone could best be described as

(A) arrogant and supercilious

(B) prim and meretricious

(D) sober but lascivious

(E) analytical but enthusiastic

Questions 34–37 are based on the following reading passage.

In John D’Emilio’s essay “Capitalism and Gay Identity,” D’Emilio

argues that the emergence

of industrial capitalism led to new opportunities for “free laborers” in

the United States, leading

to various beneficial changes in social conditions. The overarching

themes emerge from

D’Emilio’s argument about the effects of the onset of industrial

capitalism: the new abundance

5 of independence, and choice for “free laborers.” He implies

throughout that these—

independence and choice—are the distinct new markers of the social

conditions resultant from

this economic shift.

D’Emilio argues that capitalism empowers laborers as “free” in the

sense that they are

free to look for jobs and to negotiate contracts and terms of labor.

D’Emilio’s critics suggest

10 that he largely sidesteps the problems that confound free labor

ideology and limit the ability

of workers to openly negotiate contracts with employers and to accept

or reject the conditions

offered. The “contract negotiations” cited as a sign of freedom by

D’Emilio are often hardly

negotiations at all, but rather highly exploitative arrangements that

workers have little ability

to affect. From the first Lowell Girls all the way to the modern third

world garment workers

15 described by Enloe’s “Blue Jeans and Bankers,” it is clear that for

many—particularly women,

minorities, and immigrants—free labor has hardly been free at all.

Such critics also suggest that D’Emilio misrepresents the historical

and continued

significance of the home. The shift from a home-based to an industrial

economy—though

indeed very drastic—was hardly as absolute as D’Emilio suggests.

Indeed, from nannying, to

20 housekeeping, to even the “home-based jobs” described in “Blue

Jeans and Bankers,” labor is

still a very active part of the home even today.

In the essay “The Approaching Obsolescence of Housework: A

Working-Class Perspective,”

Davis spends a great deal of time discussing the continuation of labor

in the home in stark

contrast to the assertions of D’Emilio. Where D’Emilio argues that

industrial capitalism equated to

25 freedom from the home, Davis argues that it actually equated to

thickening the bars that caged

housewives to the home as productive and reproductive labor split

further and more distinctly

apart. Davis argues that women “were the losers in a double-sense: as

their traditional jobs were

usurped by the burgeoning factories, the entire economy moved away

from the home, leaving

many women largely bereft of significant economic roles.”

34. Which of the following statements is the best description of the

structure of the passage?

(A) A theory is described and supported by additional studies.

(B) A theory and a screed against it are provided.

(D) A theory is discussed and its author’s credentials questioned.

(E) A theory is presented and ridiculed.

35. In the second paragraph, the author mentions the Lowell Girls in order

(A) illustrate how industrial capitalism eroded women’s economic

position

(B) challenge an assertion about the importance of home-based

economies

(D) favorably contrast their position to that of Third World garment

workers

(E) support an assertion that workers’ autonomy is more myth than

reality

36. The passage suggests that Davis would be most likely to agree with

which of the following?

(A) Industrial capitalism leads to independence and choice.

(B) Minorities in particular had little freedom of choice.

(D) Home-based jobs still account for a significant percentage of the

overall economy.

(E) Domestic work should be paid.

37. Which of the following would provide the best title for the passage?

(A) Industrial Capitalism and the Oppression of Labor

(B) D’Emilio, Enloe, and Davis: A Reconciliation

(D) Women’s Sacrifices for Industrial Capitalism

(E) Industrial Capitalism and Freedom for All

Questions 38–40 are based on the following reading passage.

Henri Matisse’s The Ochre Head represents the artist’s exuberant

display of his new

mastery of a technique once peculiar to Picasso. Matisse has learned to

artfully separate

color and drawing. The painting depicts a head and shoulders, a

bouquet of red flowers in a dark

blue vase sitting upon a bench, a framed drawing of a woman’s head,

and an unframed painting

5 or drawing, also of a woman. But what is most striking about the

painting is the way Matisse has

begun to allow his colors and his forms to play freely, even while they

are coordinated. The ochre

of the head runs out past the form. Bits of blue from the bench appear

in the man’s neckline

or along his shoulder. The colors of the various frames and surfaces of

the drawing on the wall

overlap and refuse to be constrained by definite lines of form.

Although this technique is not given

10 the kind of free reign Picasso allows it in his Cubist period or in works

such as Minotaur, it is still

a stunning development for Matisse. And he seems aware of this fact.

The painting’s composition

references Picasso’s Still Life with Ancient Head from 1925, signaling

Matisse’s awareness that he is

borrowing from his younger colleague.

38. The author uses the word “peculiar” (line 2) to mean which of the

following?

(A) strange

(B) abstract

(D) unique

(E) appealing

39. The main idea of the passage is to

(A) describe an artistic work and its inspiration

(B) describe how Matisse surpassed Picasso

(D) describe a representative example of Matisse’s work

(E) describe the influence of Picasso on the art world

40. According to the passage, all of the following are true of The Ochre

Head EXCEPT:

(A) The artist avoided the constraint of coloring only between the

lines.

(B) Its arrangement is similar to that of a piece by Picasso.

(D) Its use of technique is more constrained than that of Minotaur.

(E) It depicts household objects.

Questions 41–45 are based on the following reading passage.

History textbooks in the United States are far too fact-based and

even have the ability to

make students feel as though all history is made up of “Quick-Facts”

and diagrams, not dynamic

events to be critically analyzed. Furthermore, it is often the case that

textbooks are given undue

authority in determining the curriculum; many teachers simply “teach

the book.”

5 This is particularly disturbing when considering the fact that state

committees for choosing

textbooks often treat them, in the words of Sandra Wong, “more like

encyclopedias of facts than

as cultural products that convey values and perspectives” when

deciding which ones to pick. In her

article “Evaluating the Content of Textbooks: Public Interests and

Professional Authority,” Wong

discusses how textbook committees are rarely concerned with the

actual substance of the writing

10 in the textbooks they evaluate, and are far more interested in things

like “charts, illustrations, and

introductory outlines.”

What, then, would be a better tool to use in the high school

classroom than textbooks or

timelines for creating an effective learning environment that could

reflect the dynamic nature of

historical study? Out of all the various alternatives—going to plays,

hearing speakers, listening to

15 music, using interactive online resources, elucidating connections to

students’ personal lives by

going to local history museums or having students write

autobiographical essays, etc.—the most

promising is, by far, film. Movies are a magnificent way into history

for even the most resistant

naysayer of historical study. Film is a hugely popular medium with

endless numbers of historically

based works—everything from documentaries to dramas—that not

only present facts, but

20 dramatize the human relations behind those facts.

The main critique presented against the use of historical film in the

classroom is, of course,

the existence of rampant inaccuracies and biases laced throughout

these films, not to mention

the agendas of the filmmakers themselves. However, some historians

believe that these seeming

flaws are actually part of the reason why film is an ideal teaching tool

—not only does it allow

25 students to see history come to life, and thus interact with it

dynamically, as well as make history

immediately accessible to a modern audience because of the

techniques used in filmmaking,

but it can also foster deep critical thinking skills if instructors lead

dialogues after film viewings

about the inaccuracies, the biases, and all of the things that make the

film not just a record of a

historical event, but also a reflection of the modern moment.

41. Which of the following is not cited by the passage as an alternative

method for historical study?

(A) Listening to music

(B) Attending a lecture

(D) Writing a personal statement

(E) Watching a film

42. The purpose of the passage is to

(A) support the film industry

(B) criticize government education policies

(D) propose increased use of a particular didactic tool

(E) denigrate an established philosophy

43. According to the passage, a problem with state committee textbook

selection is

(A) the lack of education of the committee members

(B) misplaced priorities

(D) valuing perspectives instead of facts

(E) personal prejudices

44. The purpose of the last paragraph is to

(A) acknowledge an insurmountable obstacle

(B) raise and undermine an objection

(D) admit a flaw in a preferred alternative

(E) advocate more interactive instruction

45. The passage implies which of the following?

(A) Students can benefit from exposure to inaccurate accounts of

history.

(B) Students today prefer music to film.

(D) Students today prefer charts to opinions.

(E) Students today should not be exposed to political agendas.

Questions 46–47 are based on the following reading passage.

From assemblages of found objects to bizarre video installations

and digital interactive

experiments, much of contemporary art has been criticized as cold,

unapproachable,

impersonal, and emotionless. One link between the immediately

appealing, expressive paintings

that are often the most popular museum attractions and the “brainy”

constructivist school of art

5 pioneered in the early twentieth century is the notion of gesture as an

expressive tool.

Mark di Suvero’s Iroquois (1983–1999) is composed of several

industrial-sized I-beams.

The materials are so heavy and large the artist used cranes and other

construction tools to

manipulate and connect the beams, all of which have been painted a

bright red-orange. The

result is an intruding work of almost architectural dimensions that one

can immediately sense is

10 terribly heavy and somewhat precarious, yet stable and balanced. As

one contemplates Iroquois,

walking in and around its structure, backing away to see it from a

distance, the linear forms

become considerably more complex than one might presume. The

tangled steel was obviously

constructed with great care, yet each piece seems to threaten the

viewer with its weight and size

jutting out away from the central nexus, daring the entire form to

topple over.

At the same time,

15 the piece seems to exude stability, balance, even serenity. Iroquois

resonates with an energy born

not of the physical quality of the sculpture, which is quite passive and

stable, but rather of the

gestural quality of the forms.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

46. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Some of the most popular museum attractions are contemporary art

installations.

Expressive paintings have been considered “brainy.”

Seemingly cold and cerebral art can nevertheless make use of

certain expressive tools.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

47. Which of the following does the author assert about Iroquois?

Paradoxically, it appears to be both stable and unstable.

It uses gesture to evoke a sense of energy.

Some interpret it as simpler than it really is.

Questions 48–51 are based on the following reading passage.

In his Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau posits that early social

contract theories establish

unjust social and political arrangements that provide only the

appearance of legitimacy and

equality.

In Rousseau’s accounting, the beginnings of the social contract lie

in the fears of the rich.

5 In a state of nature, one in which there is no government or law to

control the interactions of

people, the rich would have great difficulty protecting the property

that they possess. Thus,

the rich turn to the mechanism of the social contract to shore up the

holdings Rousseau views

as “hoarded.” The concept of a social contract is appealing to the poor,

because the poor fear

death in a state of lawlessness and thus seek protection. To obtain

assent to the contract, the

10 rich focus their rhetoric on a seeming equality of obligation by

creating rules that apply equally

to all members of society. This system, however, simply systematizes

the “theft” the rich had

perpetrated on the poor in the pre-law state of nature.

Rousseau then begins to develop his own vision of a social

contract, through which he

attempts to right these injustices. His first departure from earlier

theorists is in the formation of

15 the sovereign. Rather than members of the state surrendering their

rights to another person—

an irrational course of action tantamount to surrendering oneself into

slavery—they surrender

their right to all members of the society and thus to no one. Rousseau

refers to this sovereign as

the “general will” and it has the task of legislating for the new civil

society that is created in the

contract.

20 Unlike early social contract theories, Rousseau’s version

conceives of property rights that

allow for rights of first occupancy to justify claims, rather than rights

of the strongest. In this

system, property can be taken only if it has not been previously

occupied and only to the degree

necessary for the subsistence of those taking it, measures intended as a

check to the hoarding of

property by force enshrined in earlier contract theory.

48. Which of the following societies would Rousseau be likely to endorse?

(A) A society in which there is no government or law to control how

people interact with each other.

(B) A society in which a primary leader is elected through a fair

democratic process.

private property.

(D) A society in which the social contract has been dismantled and

replaced with rights of first occupancy.

(E) A society in which a homeless family could legally move into an

empty house they did not purchase.

49. It can be inferred from the passage that Rousseau would believe which

of the following of a society of men and women living without the

primary structures of civilization?

(A) Their wealth would inevitably be equally distributed across the

population.

(B) Those with more wealth would be at risk of losing it to those

with less.

power.

(D) The social contract would be created in order to protect and

support the poor.

(E) Property would only be taken if it had not been previously

occupied and was necessary for the subsistence of those taking it.

50. Select the sentence in the second paragraph that explains the mechanism

by which a privileged group is able to secure widespread approval for

the systematized “theft” it achieves through hoarding.

51. In the context in which it appears, “subsistence” (line 23) most nearly

means

(A) survival

(B) enrichment

(D) help

(E) opposition

Questions 52–53 are based on the following reading passage.

The African American writer and social critic James Baldwin grew

up as an outsider to both

the language and the culture of power, and yet achieved a balance

between self-expression and

the language of power. As a child in the 1930s, Baldwin felt acutely

separated from a culture of

power in which Hollywood movies portrayed an optimistic, capitalist,

white America that dealt

5 with white issues and employed white actors. In “Congo Square,”

Baldwin opens his essay with an

important idea: “A child is far too self-centered to relate to any

dilemma which does not, somehow,

relate to him.” Watching the films of the dominant culture, Baldwin

attempted to relate the

information to his own life, connecting with it however he could.

Rather than blindly accept

the storylines in the movies, when Baldwin saw a staircase in A Tale of

Two Cities, he thought,

10 “I knew about staircases.”

At the same time, Baldwin distrusted the culture of power: “The

civilized … do not intend

to change the status quo … these people are not to be taken seriously

when they speak of the

‘sanctity’ of human life, or the ‘conscience’ of the civilized world.”

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

52. It can be inferred from the passage that Baldwin would agree with

which of the following about a 1930s film that dealt only with African

American issues and employed only African American actors?

It would be significantly better than most Hollywood movies from

the 1930s.

It would suffer from the same kind of problems as the more typical

1930s Hollywood movies.

It would be less likely than most other 1930s Hollywood movies to

reinforce the predominant culture.

53. Baldwin’s quotation from “Congo Square” is used primarily in order to

illuminate what aspect of 1930s America?

(A) The culture of power that Baldwin mistrusted

(B) The fact that Hollywood movies were primarily optimistic and

centered on white culture

because its films focused only on white America

(D) The alienating effect of films of the era on black children

(E) The concept that children are incapable of deriving any

educational value from films they can’t relate to

Questions 54–56 are based on the following reading passage.

The Parthenon has long been regarded as one of the great

architectural and artistic

products of the High Classical Period. Yet, scholars have struggled to

reach a consensus

interpretation for the meaning of the Parthenon frieze. The study of

this particular sculptural

element of the Parthenon, a continuous band of sculpture that ran

round the top of the building’s

5 temple-chamber, has proven quite difficult.

Today only 423 feet of the original 524 survive, and of those, 247

feet are housed in the

British Museum in London. Another large section is now in the

Acropolis Museum in Athens, and

still other pieces reside in exhibits throughout Europe, making it a

difficult task to discuss, let

alone experience the unified whole the designers wished the audience

to witness—a key element

10 in deciphering any work of art.

Denied the opportunity to study the frieze as it existed in antiquity,

scholars are faced with

the burden of reconstructing the visual experience of the monument

before they can even begin

interpreting it. To do so, an inventory is taken of characters and figuretypes

represented on

the frieze and their arrangement. Then this inventory is compared to

historical precedents and

15 placed in its contemporary context in the hopes of using prior

examples to decipher its meaning.

Considering the various fragments of the Parthenon frieze as a whole

and comparing it to other

Greek artworks, two aspects of the arrangement immediately strike the

informed viewer.

First, it is clear that the frieze is meant to be thought of as a

continuous whole. This is

particularly interesting because it is completely unprecedented in

Greek art. Continuous friezes on

20 the faces of Greek temples generally depicted single subjects, but if

continued over all four sides

of a building, the four stretches of the frieze would generally be

thematically separate.

The second unique aspect of the Parthenon frieze has to do with

the fundamental nature

of Greek art: namely that all works of art prior to the Parthenon frieze

depicted only scenes from

myth and legend. Yet, in this relief, for the first time in the history of

Greek art, we find mortals,

25 leading some scholars to the conclusion that what is depicted is a

specific event that actually took

place at a particular time and place.

54. In the context in which it appears, the word “informed” (line 18) most

nearly means

(A) assiduous

(B) artistic

(D) erudite

(E) scientific

55. Which of the following would be the best title for the above passage?

(A) The Parthenon Frieze: An Insoluble Sculptural Mystery

(B) The Parthenon Frieze and Methods of Artistic Interpretation

(D) Mortals in Greek Art

(E) The Parthenon Frieze: Continuity of Character

56. According to the passage, each of the following is true about the

Parthenon EXCEPT:

(A) It was constructed in the High Classical Period.

(B) It has been seen as a great work of art.

(D) It is not known how it looked at the time of its construction.

(E) It contained a one-of-a-kind sculptural element.

Questions 57–58 are based on the following reading passage.

A single short story can suggest a desired response from the reader.

It is a difficult task,

though, to create a world within a single short story and then repeat

this world again in other

stories while maintaining a consistent flow of ideas. Many authors

prefer to use the same

setting, indeed, often the same characters in each story. Isabel

Allende’s Diez Cuentos’ de Eva Luna

5 comes to mind. In these stories, Allende uses the small town of Agua

Santa as the setting for the

entire collection.

Woman Hollering Creek is a collection of short stories by Sandra

Cisneros. Rather than using

the same characters or setting throughout the collection, Cisneros takes

a different approach to

relating her stories to one another. Much of the burden, in fact, is

placed on the reader, for the

10 characters change each time, as does the setting. Furthermore, while

the characters are largely

Mexican American immigrant women, each character presents a

distinct style and literary voice.

What these works have in common is more intuitive; mood,

circumstance, time, tone, and imagery

all play a role in creating the world in which the stories

take place.

57. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of

the following statements?

(A) Short story collections depend on the reader to find the common

thread that ties the stories together.

(B) Isabel Allende uses the same setting for the majority of her

fiction.

stories take place in different times and places.

(D) Intuition is a more important aspect of Sandra Cisneros’s writing

than the characters or the setting.

(E) The best short story collections feature some through line that the

reader can follow and that connects the various stories.

58. According to the passage, which of the following characterizes both

short stories by Isabel Allende and short stories by Sandra Cisneros?

(A) Similarities in tone among the stories

(B) Similarities in time among the stories

(D) Similarities in setting among the stories

(E) None of the above

Questions 59–60 are based on the following reading passage.

During the 1960s and ‘70s, scientists were concerned and puzzled

by a large gap in

the human fossil record. The “aquatic ape theory” gained prominence

as an explanation for

this gap. This theory posited that primitive humans were forced toward

a littoral lifestyle by

competition for arboreal resources. Analogies were made to seal

populations, who sleep on

5 land at night but spend most of their days in coastal waters.

Proponents pointed to various

physiological human attributes, such as bipedalism and the webbing

between human toes, as

extant adaptations.

However, the aspect of the theory that captured the public

imagination and undoubtedly

boosted its standing was the point that this hypothesis explained

human hairlessness; as with

10 dolphins, this streamlining would facilitate swimming and diving.

Proponents noted that the

remaining body hair would match the flow of water, and extreme

advocates explained the

gender difference in hair by suggesting that females much more rarely

ventured out of the

shallows and into the putatively more dangerous forests and

savannahs.

Nonetheless, despite the popular stature of the theory, the scientific

community almost

15 unanimously rejects it as mere conjecture not only because of the lack

of supporting evidence

but also because its claims do not withstand scrutiny. While

bipedalism does facilitate

swimming, it is even more of an advantage in terrestrial pursuits.

Further, biomechanical

analysis indicates that humans remain such inadequate swimmers that

they could not so

succeed. As for hairlessness, critics point out that other semi-aquatic

mammals actually have

20 dense fur and/or barrel shaped torsos for heat retention. Today, the

theory, while still

championed by a prominent writer but non-scientist, has no serious

support among

mainstream-trained paleoanthropologists.

59. The passage implies that, according to the theory, a male aquatic ape

would most likely do which of the following?

(A) Spend almost all of its time in the water

(B) Spend its nights in the water, but its days partly on land

(D) Spend its days mostly in the water, but its nights on land

(E) Spend almost all its time on land

60. The author describes a remaining proponent of the theory as a “nonscientist”

(line 21) in order to do which of the following?

(A) Cast doubt upon her objectivity

(B) Tout the superiority of common sense over academics

(D) Cast doubt upon mainstream paleoanthropologists

(E) Illustrate the sexism of mainstream scientists

Questions 61–62 are based on the following reading passage.

The Tokugawa period (1603–1867) in Japan serves as a laboratory

for organizational

behavior historians for the same reason that Iceland works for

geneticists—isolation removes

extraneous variables. The Tokugawa shoguns brought peace to a land

of warring feudal lords.

To preserve that tranquility, the Tokugawa shogunate forbade contact

with the outside world,

5 allowing only a few Dutch trading ships to dock at one restricted port.

Domestically, in pursuit

of the same goal, the social order was fixed; there were four classes—

warriors [samurai],

artisans, merchants, and farmers or peasants—and social mobility was

prohibited. The ensuing

stability and peace brought a commercial prosperity that lasted nearly

two hundred years.

However, as psychologists, social historians, and Biblical prophets

have all observed, in

10 varying ways, humans inevitably fail to anticipate unintended

consequences. In the Tokugawa

period, the fixed social hierarchy placed the samurai on top; they and

the government were

essentially supported by levies on the peasantry, as the other two

classes were demographically

and economically inconsequential. However, prosperity brought riches

to the commercial classes

and their numbers burgeoned. Eventually, their economic power

dwarfed that of their supposed

15 superiors, the samurai. Simultaneously, the increasing

impoverishment of the samurai adversely

affected the finances of the peasantry and the government. By the

early 19th century, this

imbalance between social structure and economic reality eroded the

stability of the society. This

condition, in conjunction with increasing pressure for access from

foreigners, such as Admiral

Perry in 1853, led to the collapse of the shogunate in 1867. In short,

the success of this imposed

20 order led to its undoing through consequences that were beyond

the ken of the founders.

61. The primary objective of the passage is to

(A) compare the Tokugawa period to modern Iceland

(B) demonstrate the folly of imposing a social order

(D) illustrate how a society can model a common human failing

(E) argue that commerce is more successful than militarization

62. Which of the following would provide further support for the main

reason cited for the decline of the Tokugawa period?

(A) A samurai becomes a successful merchant.

(B) A successful artisan becomes a samurai.

(D) A severe drought causes widespread famine.

(E) A military invasion by American marines occurs.

Questions 63–64 are based on the following reading passage.

The War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–14, began as a quarrel

over whether an Austrian

Habsburg or French Bourbon would succeed the childless Charles II of

Spain. The conflict

eventually embroiled most of Europe, with Austria, England, Holland,

and Prussia the major

powers opposing France, Spain, and Bavaria. For centuries afterward,

school children learned

5 of the Duke of Marlborough’s victory at Blenheim and the military

brilliance of Prinz Eugen of

Savoy, an independent territory east of France, as well as the opposing

brightness of Louis XIV

of France, known as the Sun King, who also built the famous palace at

Versailles. Today, however,

virtually all those names would elicit only blank stares.

Although this war and its personages have now vanished into

obscurity, its effects greatly

10 affected the course of European and world history. The Treaty of

Utrecht, which ended the

war in 1714, ceded the Spanish island of Gibraltar to England. The

“Rock of Gibraltar” became

an invincible British fortress that controlled the Mediterranean and

thus was of paramount

importance in both world wars. Conversely, the same treaty elevated

Prussia to a kingdom,

thus setting in motion a chain of events that led to a unified Germany

under a Prussian Kaiser

15 instead of one governed by the Austrians, arguably making the

bloodshed that consumed

the 20th century more likely.

63. The author implies that a possibly negative aspect of the Treaty of

Utrecht was

(A) awarding Gibraltar to the British

(B) reducing the Duke of Marlborough to obscurity

(D) failing to resolve the Spanish succession

(E) providing the impetus for the eventual world wars

64. Which of the following must be true, according to the passage?

(A) Not all of the important military personages were from major

powers.

(B) The battle of Blenheim was the most important engagement of

the war.

(D) France was defeated in the war.

(E) The transfer of Gibraltar was the most important result of the

war.

Questions 65–66 are based on the following reading passage.

The term “free rider” originates from the idea of someone who

rides public transportation

without paying the fare. The “free rider problem” is what results when

too many people do

this: the transit system will go bankrupt. More broadly, the free rider is

someone who uses or

enjoys the benefits of something without paying, or takes more than

his or her proper share of

5 a publicly shared good that is limited in supply. Free riders can cause

others to curtail their own

contributions, not wanting to be taken advantage of, or can result in

the excessive depletion of

the common resource.

In some cases, the free rider problem is viewed as a necessary cost

of government. When

citizens pay for national defense or environmental protection, everyone

benefits, even those who

10 evade paying taxes.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

65. Which of the following examples clearly match the definition of a free

rider problem as described in the passage?

The population of game birds in a state park declines sharply when

hunting quotas are observed by only some hunters.

A senior citizen pays less for a movie ticket than do the other

people in the theater.

A yearly school bake sale based on the honor system is suspended

when too many people take food without paying.

66. The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of

the following statements?

(A) Free riders cannot be blamed for their actions, because they are

an inevitable part of any government.

(B) Free rider problems are not worth worrying about, because they

are an inevitable part of any government.

should not be viewed as an inevitable part of government.

(D) National defense is a perfect example of why free rider problems

need to be stamped out as quickly as possible.

(E) Free riders are morally at fault and ought to be punished.

Questions 67–68 are based on the following reading passage.

In 2010, a team of biologists led by Svante Paabo announced

evidence that modern humans

interbred with Neanderthals some 60,000–100,000 years ago. These

researchers compared

the full sequence of Neanderthal DNA to that of five modern humans

from China, France,

sub-Saharan Africa, and Papua New Guinea, and looked for DNA

shared by both Neanderthals

5 and non-African modern humans, but not by sub-Saharan Africans.

Because Neanderthals and

modern humans are known to have diverged hundreds of thousands of

years before modern

humans left Africa, Paabo attributed any such common DNA to

interbreeding in Eurasia.

Paabo’s team announced that the modern humans from China, France,

and Papua New Guinea

all have the same proportion of Neanderthal DNA, and inferred that

interbreeding with

10 Neanderthals must have taken place before the ancestor population of

those Eurasians divided.

Paabo maintained that these two events, the migration of modern

humans out of Africa and the

division of the Eurasian population, mark the interval during which the

interbreeding must have

taken place, and that for roughly forty thousand years of that window,

Neanderthals and modern

humans lived near one another in the Middle East.

15 The team’s conclusions were answered with skepticism on a

number of fronts. Critics

pointed out that an earlier report reached similar conclusions based on

Neanderthal samples later

found to be contaminated with DNA from modern humans.

Paleontologists and archaeologists

charged that the conclusion was unsupported by archaeological

evidence. Further, Paabo’s team

found evidence only of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans, not of

modern human DNA in

20 Neanderthals, but critics claim that interbreeding would result in gene

flow in both directions.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

67. The passage implies that which of the following claims is true?

Modern humans and Neanderthals share a common ancestor.

Modern humans and Neanderthals interbred.

Modern humans and Neanderthals lived near one another

approximately 80,000 years ago.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

68. The passage suggests which of the following is true of Paabo’s critics?

They doubt Paabo’s integrity.

They ignore DNA evidence.

They sometimes appeal to archaeological evidence.

Questions 69–70 are based on the following reading passage.

Though an echo is a fairly simple acoustic phenomenon—a

reflection of sound waves

off some hard surface—it occurs only under very specific

circumstances. Imagine a listener

standing at the sound source. The reflecting object must be more than

11.3 meters away

from the sound source, or the echo will return too soon to be

distinguishable from the original

5 sound. A reflecting object more than about 170 meters, on the other

hand, will rarely produce

an audible echo, since sound dissipates with distance. Further, multiple

surfaces each reflecting

the same original sound to the same listener will likely not produce an

echo, but a reverberation,

a persistent sound gradually decreasing in amplitude until the listener

can no longer hear it.

Common though echoes are then, it is unsurprising that some sounds

seem to produce no echo.

10 A centuries-old tradition holds that a duck’s quack does not echo.

Scientists in the Acoustics

Department of the University of Salford set out to test and explain this

claim. They recorded a

duck, Daisy, first in an anechoic chamber filled with sound-absorbing

fiberglass wedges, then

in an echo chamber with the acoustical properties of a small cathedral.

The sound of the duck

quacking in the anechoic chamber was clearly different from the sound

of the duck quacking in

15 the echo chamber, but the researchers acknowledged that it would be

very hard to recognize an

echo in the latter recording without having very recently heard the

former. Partly this is because a

quack isn’t a single burst of sound, but fades in and out, so that the

beginning of the echo might

blend with the end of the original sound. Partly it is because a quack is

just not very loud. The

Salford researchers also speculate that most people may simply not

encounter ducks in proximity

20 to reflectors such as buildings or mountains. A further complication,

though one the researchers

leave unremarked, is that people generally hear ducks in flocks, where

one quack might be

indistinguishable from the echo of another.

69. According to the passage, all of the following make an audible echo

unlikely EXCEPT

(A) a reflecting surface too close to the original sound

(B) a reflecting surface too far from the original sound

(D) multiple listeners

(E) sound-absorbing materials

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

70. The passage suggests that which of the following would propagate

echoes?

An anechoic chamber

A cathedral

A mountain

Questions 71–72 are based on the following reading passage.

”Falsifiability” is the term coined by Karl Popper for the idea that a

hypothesis or theory

addresses the observable world only insofar as it can be found false as

the result of some

observation or physical experiment. For instance, the proposition “all

cats have fur” can easily be

proven false with the observation of a single hairless cat. The

proposition “the world will end in

5 the year 3035” is impractical to falsify, but still passes the test of

falsifiability in that there exists

the logical possibility that 3035 will come and go without the world

ending. To the contrary, it is

possible to posit that everything that happens is the will of Zeus. No

matter what experiment we

design—such as praying to Zeus to give us the answer or daring Zeus

to strike us with lightning—

we can always infer that the result is the will of Zeus. Such a

proposition, as conceived here, is not

10 falsifiable. Popper claimed that a falsifiable theory is the only kind

that can truly be scientific, or at

least useful to the scientific community.

By that logic, we can also say that no theory should be formed that

has no chance of being

true. However, seeing as that kind of theory is much less likely to be

formed, it is understandable

that Popper does not devote that much time to the criterion of

“confirmability.”

71. According to the passage, which of the following does not meet the

criteria for falsifiability?

(A) All birds are black.

(B) Earth is the only planet in the universe with intelligent life.

(D) The sun will explode in 100,000 years.

(E) No human being lives forever.

72. To which of the following is the author most likely to agree regarding

“confirmability”?

(A) It is a more important theory than falsifiability.

(B) It does not have much practical, scientific use.

(D) It is an unreasonable idea.

(E) Popper should have developed this idea along with falsifiability.

Questions 73–76 are based on the following reading passage.

A dictionary definition of the term “political” might read

something like, “of or concerned

with government, political parties, or politicians.” Such a definition is

not precisely wrong, but

rather is outdated and falls short by not accounting for what Nancy

Fraser calls “the shift from a

repressive model of domination to a hegemonic one.” If at some point

we believed governments

5 to operate exclusively through law and the threat and enforcement of

concrete punishment, such

as imprisonment, monetary penalties, etc., and called this and

everything that directly influenced

it “politics,” we have now acknowledged the role of hegemony, which

legitimizes law and

supports the exercise of power.

This is significant because, under the first definition, the only

cultural products that can be

10 said to be political must explicitly address issues of political

partisanship or governance, while

under the second definition, all cultural objects can be traced to a

certain ideology—in accordance,

negotiation, or opposition to hegemony—and therefore be political.

But we do not feel that we are discussing politics or viewing

politics all the time, even if

we are, according to our definition of “the political.” This is because

even if all subject matter is

15 (at least potentially) political, not all talk is so. When conducting her

study on political talk, Nina

Eliasoph focused not as much on what people talked about, but rather

on how exactly they talked

about things: “whether speakers ever assume that what they say

matters for someone other than

themselves, ever assume that they are speaking in front of a wider

backdrop.” She cited Hanna

Pitkin in concluding that “public-spirited conversation happens when

citizens speak in terms of

20 ‘justice’.” To use an example from the theater, then, we can say that

when a director decides to

frame her production of A Streetcar Named Desire as the story of a

woman who is losing her mind

and does not get along with her aggressive brother-in-law, she is

actively depoliticizing the story,

whereas she is actively politicizing it if she decides to frame the

narrative as one example of the

devastating effects of an old bourgeois morality, a changing economic

system, and the social

25 valuing of an abusive model of masculinity.

73. The second paragraph of the passage serves to

(A) offer an alternative to the definitions previously presented

(B) discuss a revision of the definitions previously presented

presented

(D) delineate an exception to the definitions previously presented

(E) describe the inadequacy of the definitions previously presented

74. The author cites A Streetcar Named Desire (line 21) in order to

(A) provide a counterpoint to the thesis of the passage

(B) illustrate an aspect of the subject under discussion

(D) illustrate the universality of politics

(E) illustrate a fallacy of a definition

75. According to a theory presented in the passage, a person is engaging in

public interest conversation if that person discusses which of the

following?

(A) Justice

(B) Theater

(D) Economics

(E) Politicians

76. Select a sentence from the first or second paragraph that levels an

explicit criticism.

Questions 77–78 are based on the following reading passage.

Explanationism is the idea that prediction is, in itself, insufficient

to confirm a theory. To

adequately confirm a theory, according to an explanationist, is to see

how well it describes events

and phenomena that have already been observed. Stephen Brush, a

staunch explanationist, would

say that a correct prediction does not necessarily confirm the truth of a

theory; it could be the

5 case that a theory predicts something and yet does not provide the best

explanation of it. Take,

for example, the difference in the perspectives of Copernicus and

Brahe on the solar system.

Copernicus’s model of the solar system was heliocentric, positing that

all of the planets revolved

around the sun. Brahe’s theory stated that all of the planets revolved

around the sun, except the

earth, which was immobile, and that the sun actually revolved around

the earth. Even if both

10 accurately predicted future movements of the planets, it is easy to see

how Copernicus’s theory

has less of an “ad hoc” quality—and, of course, provides a superior

explanation

of the mechanisms of the solar system. It is certainly true that a theory

can successfully predict a certain event, yet

fail to provide an adequate explanation for why it happened, or

perhaps even stumble on the

prediction more by accident than by manner of understanding the

mechanism behind the event.

15 A predictionist would argue that while a theory can provide a

perfect explanation for

something happening, a theory cannot be tested for understanding or

explaining the underlying

mechanism of a phenomenon unless it can also predict some event that

confirms that exact

mechanism at work. For instance, a physicist might study the

formation of solids and posit that

all solids will sink if they are placed in a liquid of the same element,

because the solid is denser

20 than the liquid. Given this premise, we discover that the physicist’s

prediction is true, and even

once he stages an experiment with ice and water, he will not be proven

wrong, but rather will have

discovered a unique property of solid water.

77. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Explanationism is a superior theory to predictionism.

(B) Two very different ideas can both be used to successfully

investigate scientific theories.

Brahe’s due to explanationism.

(D) One cannot posit a physical theory without predictive power or

previous observations.

(E) A predictionist and an explanationist will always diverge on

whether a scientific theory is correct.

78. Which of the following most accurately states the author’s reason for

citing the Copernicus and Brahe models of the solar system?

(A) It shows that a theory without predictive power can never be

tested and verified.

(B) It reveals that some theories can have more or less of an “ad hoc”

quality.

predictions for future events.

(D) It is used to support the idea that a more complicated model will

always fail to a simpler model.

(E) It provides an example of when a theory can correctly predict

future events but not offer the best explanation.

Questions 79–84 are based on the following reading passage.

Subatomic particles can be divided into two classes: fermions and

bosons, terms coined

by physicist Paul Dirac in honor of his peers Enrico Fermi and

Satyendra Bose. Fermions, which

include electrons, protons, and neutrons, obey the Pauli exclusion

principle, according to which

no two particles can inhabit the same fundamental state. For example,

electrons cannot circle the

5 nuclei of atoms in precisely the same orbits, loosely speaking, and

thus must occupy more and

more distant locations, like a crowd filling seats in a stadium. The

constituents of ordinary matter

are fermions; indeed, the fact that fermions are in some sense mutually

exclusive is the most

salient reason why two things composed of ordinary matter cannot be

in the same place at the

same time.

10 Conversely, bosons, which include photons (particles of light) and

the hitherto elusive Higgs

boson, do not obey the Pauli principle and in fact tend to bunch

together in exactly the same

fundamental state, as in lasers, in which each photon proceeds in

perfect lockstep with all the

others. Interestingly, the seemingly stark division between fermionic

and bosonic behavior can

be bridged. All particles possess “spin,” a characteristic vaguely

analogous to that of a spinning

15 ball; boson spins are measured in integers, such as 0 and 1, while

fermion spins are always halfintegral,

such as ½ and 1½. As a result, whenever an even number of

fermions group together, that

group of fermions, with its whole-number total spin, effectively

becomes a giant boson. Within

certain metals chilled to near absolute zero, for instance, so-called

Cooper pairs of electrons form;

these pairs flow in precise harmony and with zero resistance through

the metal, which is thus said

20 to have achieved a superconductive condition. Similarly, helium-4

atoms (composed of

2 electrons, 2 protons, and 2 neutrons) can collectively display bosonlike

activity when cooled to a superfluid

state. A swirl in a cup of superfluid helium will, amazingly, never

dissipate.

The observation that even-numbered groups of fermions can

behave like bosons raises the

corollary question of whether groups of bosons can ever exhibit

fermionic characteristics. Some

25 scientists argue for the existence of skyrmions (after the theorist Tony

Skyrme who first described

the behavior of these hypothetical fermion-like groups of bosons) in

superconductors and other

condensed-matter environments, where twists in the structure of the

medium might

permit skyrmions to form.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

79. The example of “a crowd filling seats in a stadium” (line 6) is intended

expand upon one consequence of the Pauli exclusion principle

illustrate a behavior of certain fermions

describe how electrons circle the nuclei of atoms in concentric,

evenly spaced orbits

80. The author’s primary purpose in writing this passage is to

(A) explain the mechanism by which fermions can become bosons

(B) describe the two classes of subatomic particles

(D) explain the concept of particle “spin”

(E) argue that most matter is composed of one type of particle

81. Which of the following is not mentioned as a characteristic of bosons?

(A) They can be composed of groups of fermions.

(B) They are measured in integer spin.

(D) They tend to bunch together in the same fundamental state.

(E) They lead to phenomena such as superconductors and

superfluids.

82. Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

(A) An atom composed of two protons and a neutron would be

considered a boson.

(B) Skyrmions have been discovered in superconductors and other

condensed matter environments.

exactly the same distance.

(D) A current through a superconducting wire will never dissipate.

(E) Fermions cannot behave as bosons unless they are cooled to a

temperature near absolute zero.

83. According to the passage, which of the following describes a difference

between fermions and bosons?

(A) Fermions cannot inhabit the same fundamental state, whereas

bosons bunch together in the same state.

(B) Fermions contain many more types of particles than bosons.

(D) Fermions have integral spin values, whereas Bosons have halfinteger

spin.

(E) Fermions do not obey the Pauli principle, whereas bosons do.

84. Based on the information in the passage about the Pauli exclusion

principle, to which one of the following situations would this principle

be most relevant?

(A) Fermi Energy: The maximum energy that electrons in a solid

will contain in order to avoid having identical energy levels

(B) Particle Accelerators: Devices that will accelerate charged

particles to very high speeds through the application of an external

magnetic field

then become separated but still have interdependent properties

(D) Double Slit Experiment: An experiment that revealed the particle

and wave duality of photons

(E) The Higgs Field: The field produced by the conjectured Higgs

particle that would explain why matter has mass

Questions 85–87 are based on the following reading passage.

Homo economicus, or economic human, denotes the idea of human

beings as rational,

narrowly self-interested agents who, given total information about

opportunities and possible

constraints, seek to obtain the highest possible well-being for

themselves at the least possible

cost. In the late 19th century, a host of economists built mathematical

models based on the

5 conception of real humans as Homo economicus.

Exponents of Homo economicus tend to acknowledge that total

information is not possible

in the real world; thus, breakdown in models based on the concept are

due to imperfect

information held by the self-interested economic actors. Amartya Sen

has pointed out that

Homo economicus ignores that people can and do commit to courses of

action out of morality,

10 cultural expectations, and so forth. Veblen and Keynes allege that

Homo economicus assumes far

too great an understanding of macroeconomics on the part of humans.

Tversky puts forth that

investors are not rational: they are unconcerned by small chances of

large losses, but quite riskaverse

regarding small losses. Bruno Frey points out that humans are

often intrinsically motivated,

and that such motivation explains heroism, craftsmanship, and other

drives that do not fit neatly

15 into the model of a narrowly focused gain-seeker. Critics of the

psychoanalytic tradition point out,

somewhat obviously, that humans are frequently conflicted, lazy, and

inconsistent.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

85. Which of the following phenomena would exemplify Bruno Frey’s

critique of Homo economicus?

A woodworker spends months on the delicate inlay of a door,

knowing that his many hours of hard work will inevitably result in

a higher price when he comes to sell the piece.

A television journalist often travels to dangerous countries all over

the world because he is contractually obligated to do so, and his

ratings are higher the more dangerous his exploits appear to be.

An economist dedicates her career to illustrating a fundamental

flaw in a particular theory, though she knows there will be no

tangible reward for her efforts.

86. Which of the following best describes the main idea of the passage?

(A) Homo economicus is a useful, if theoretical, actor to use in the

formation of mathematical models.

(B) Homo economicus is a fundamentally flawed and thus

theoretically useless construction, for a host of reasons.

understand its function in economic theory.

(D) Homo economicus is a problematic construction, because it

simplifies human motivations and is overly optimistic about human

understanding.

(E) Homo economicus fell out of favor with most economists in the

20th century due to its many incorrect assumptions about humanity.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

87. Which of the following is a complaint leveled against the theory of

Homo economicus posited by certain economists in the late 19th

century?

It assumes that the average person knows a lot more about the

general workings of the economy than he or she actually does.

It assumes that humans experience a proportional and linear

emotional response to all risks and rewards.

It assumes that the primary impetus behind human decision making

is not predicated on ethics or cultural mores.

Questions 89–90 are based on the following reading passage.

While critics contend that the views expounded on in Against

Method are tantamount to

scientific anarchism, its author Paul Feyerabend maintains that his

views stem not from a desire

to promote scientific chaos so much as from a recognition that many of

the fundamental tenets

of science—rationality, empiricism, and objectivity, for example—are

as seriously flawed as the

5 “subjective” paths to truth that scientists are quick to repudiate.

Feyerabend goes further by

arguing that many methods that are now condemned in the scientific

community played a critical

role in historical moments of scientific progress. The fact that these

methods helped science

advance in the past indicates that scientists should think twice before

they condemn them.

Much of Against Method is a case study of the events surrounding

Galileo’s single-handed

10 rejection of the geocentric cosmological model in favor of the updated

heliocentric model.

Feyerabend goes to lengths to point out that what ultimately allowed

Galileo to succeed in

convincing the Western world that the earth revolved around the sun

(and not the other way

around) was the use of methods most modern scientists would deem

highly suspect. For example,

in attempting to explain why the rotation of the earth did not cause a

rock dropped from a

15 tower to follow a curved, rather than a straight, path, Galileo relied on

several as-yet unproven

hypotheses about the laws of motion, essentially begging the question

for his own position.

Additionally, his published works display a rhetorical style that reads

more like propaganda

than like scholarly work. By showing that these methods were critical

to a crucial scientific

advancement, Feyerabend casts doubt on whether these “unscientific”

practices really deserve the

20 criticism they so often garner.

88. Replacement of the word “repudiate” (line 5) with which of the

following words would result in the LEAST change in meaning in the

passage?

(A) overrule

(B) embrace

(D) decry

(E) debate

89. The passage implies that Feyerabend makes use of a case study

primarily in order to

(A) demonstrate that since a canonical example of scientific progress

itself made use of practices now deemed unscientific, scientists

ought to revise their account of what is and is not acceptable

scientific practice

(B) show that Galileo, in his attempt to prove that a rock dropped

from a tower followed a straight, not a curved, path, was guilty of

many of the same errors in reasoning that make science

controversial today

itself as a field that is open to “subjective,” as well as “objective,”

paths to truth, it needs to adopt some of the techniques that were

prevalent in Galileo’s time

(D) back up the claim that tautological reasoning is acceptable only

when used in the service of supporting hypotheses that have yet to

be proven

(E) demonstrate that any endeavor in the philosophy of science that

uses examples from history to support its claims is ultimately

doomed to failure

Questions 90–94 are based on the following reading passage.

In traditional theater forms, the roles of performer and audience are

completely separate,

so that performance space can be said to encompass an actors’ sphere

and a spectators’ sphere.

Even when performers move out into the audience or when there is

scripted audience interaction,

spectators do not become performers. Finally, while stories may open

up the imagination or excite

5 audiences, according to Augusto Boal, they discourage political action

by providing catharsis.

The passive spectator follows the play’s emotional arc and, once the

action concludes, finds the

issue closed. Boal reminds us that our theater etiquette creates a kind

of culture of apathy where

individuals do not act communally, despite shared space, and remain

distanced from art.

Workshop theater, such as Boal’s Image Theatre and Forum

Theatre, is a response to

10 that. In the workshop form, performance space is created for a select

group of people, but the

performers’ sphere and the audience’s sphere are collapsed: everyone

is at once theater maker

and witness. In Image Theatre, participants will come up with a theme

or issue and arrange

themselves into a tableau that depicts what that issue looks like in

society today, versus what

the ideal situation would be. They then try to transition from the

current image to the ideal image

15 in a way that seems plausible to all the participants. Forum Theatre,

on the other hand, creates

a narrative skit depicting a certain problem. After the actors have gone

through the action of

the play once, a facilitator, known as the joker (like the one in a pack

of cards), encourages those

who have watched the story to watch it again and to stop it at any time

to take the place of

the protagonist. The aim is to find a solution to the problem, realizing

along the way all of the

20 obstacles involved. In Forum Theatre, just as in Image Theatre, there

is not always a solution. The

main goal of this form, then, is to engage in the action, to reflect, and

to understand particular

issues as being part of a larger picture, thus using art to re-cast what

seem like private troubles in

a public, political light.

The main reason Boal developed these workshop styles was to

grant audiences agency so

25 that they may create ways to free themselves of oppression. Because

he found theater audiences

to be locked into a passive role—just like he found the oppressed

coerced into a subservient role

in relation to their oppressors—he created the “spect-actor,” or

someone who simultaneously

witnesses and creates theater.

90. The second paragraph of the passage serves to

(A) elaborate on the topic of the first paragraph

(B) provide a rationale for an artistic endeavor

(D) explain the theater’s lack of appeal

(E) evaluate two contrasting styles of theater

91. The author uses the word “agency” (line 25) to mean

(A) profit

(B) organization

(D) power

(E) hegemony

92. Which of the following would Boal consider a “spect-actor”?

(A) A person who engages in political action

(B) An audience member who finds catharsis in a play

(D) Any actor

(E) A participant in an Image workshop

93. According to Boal, all of the following are disadvantages of traditional

theater forms EXCEPT:

(A) Such productions prevent the actors from going into the

audience.

(B) Such productions provide catharsis.

(D) Such productions obstruct political change.

(E) Such productions distance the audience from the art.

94. All of the following would be characteristic of a Forum workshop

EXCEPT:

(A) Productions begin with a narrative script.

(B) Different people often play the protagonist.

(D) Participants arrange themselves into a tableau.

(E) Performances are guided by a mediator.

Questions 95–97 are based on the following reading passage.

Stars create energy through the process of fusion. When a star

explodes—a phenomenon

called a supernova—so much energy is released that heavy metals such

as iron and gold are

formed, seeding surrounding hydrogen clouds. Newer stars therefore

contain more heavy

elements in their atmospheres. Heavy elements form the materials that

make up our planet

5 (and even human bodies). It is believed that for a system of planets

such as our solar system to form

around a star during cloud contraction, the presence of these heavy

elements in the cloud is a

necessity.

A molecular cloud can become unstable and collapse by the force

of gravity, overcoming

outward thermal pressure of the constituent gases. At a given

temperature and density, two

10 critical measures of size, Jeans mass and Jeans length, can be

calculated. If the size of the cloud

exceeds either of these critical values, gravity will ultimately win, and

the probability of eventual

cloud contraction is high.

However, some outside influence is still evidently required for a

theoretically unstable cloud

to initiate collapse. The natural rotation of a galaxy can slowly alter the

structure of a cloud, for

15 instance. Surrounding supernovae can generate shockwaves powerful

enough to affect the debris

in other clouds, forcing the debris inward and possibly causing

contraction to begin. One theory

states that density waves propagating through spiral structures can also

sufficiently stimulate

clouds to cause contraction.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

95. The author of the passage suggests that cloud contraction may begin in

which of the following ways?

Through the process of fusion

Explosions of stars within a close enough proximity, generating

shockwaves that prompt contraction in nearby clouds

Debris forced outwards from a cloud

96. Which of the following inferences about our solar system is best

supported by the passage?

(A) Life in the solar system depends on energy from the sun.

(B) When the system reaches a particular size, it can become

unstable and begin to collapse.

(D) It is believed to have been formed from materials “seeded” into

hydrogen clouds.

(E) It produced so much energy when it was formed that heavy

elements were generated.

97. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following inhibits

interstellar cloud collapse?

(A) Supernova explosions

(B) Galactic rotation

(D) Gravitational force

(E) Density waves

Question 98 is based on the following reading passage.

The Norton-Polk-Mathis House in San Antonio displays an

integrated design well-suited

to the primary purpose of the building: to impress. This is evidenced

by the fact that the

building was designed with the street it faces in mind. Only the South

façade is architecturally

interesting or involved—the sides of the building are flat, featureless,

and uninteresting. The

5 house was designed not only as a living area, but also as a structure to

be seen from the street.

The building reflects typical Renaissance ideals of order and weight,

and, while it is asymmetrical,

it is well balanced and stable. The choice of materials also reflects the

“re-discovery” of antiquity

prevalent in the Italian Renaissance. The white stone lends an elegant

simplicity to the building

yet it radiates an air of strength and mass reminiscent of the Parthenon

or the Athenian

10 temples—especially when juxtaposed with the other, seemingly

fragile brick and wood homes of

the neighborhood.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

98. Which of the following can be inferred about the Norton-Polk-Mathis

House?

It was built during the Italian Renaissance.

Its primary purpose was utilitarian in nature.

It appears stronger than other nearby homes.

Questions 99–100 are based on the following reading passage.

After 22 years of observations in Shark Bay, Australia, behavioral

biologist Janet Mann and

her colleagues have discovered that certain bottlenose dolphins, known

as spongers, form social

networks, showing the first hints of culture among non-human

animals. Spongers are dolphins

that wear marine basket sponges on their beaks as hunting tools, using

them to root around

5 on deep sandy bottoms and find fish concealed below the sand.

Sponging is a complex hunting

technique passed on from mother to offspring. A sponger must know

where the sponges grow,

how to pick the right sponge, how to remove the sponge intact from

the ocean floor, and how and

where to properly hunt.

Spongers typically live solitary lives, but over 22 years of

observation, a pattern emerged.

10 The 28 female spongers formed cliques with other female spongers

that were not necessarily

genetically related to them. This behavior differs from other animal

behavior where circumstances,

such as genetics or food sources, dictate the formation of groups. The

fact that these spongers

chose to associate based upon similar, socially learned behaviors

makes their cliques a cultural

first among animals.

99. Which of the following expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Sponging is a complex behavior used by some dolphins as a

hunting technique.

(B) Any study of animal behavior must take place over an extended

period of time in order for patterns to emerge.

networks.

(D) Studying how animals form groups is important to our

understanding of nature.

(E) Only humans can form social networks.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

100. Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

Groups formed by genetic bonds or food supplies do not qualify as

social networks.

All spongers of Shark Bay, Australia, form social networks.

Spongers can only be found in Shark Bay, Australia.

Questions 101–102 are based on the following reading passage.

For years, the idea that blind people can hear better than sighted

people was considered

something of an old canard. However, functional brain imaging now

has allowed us to look inside

the brains of blind people who possess what can only be termed

cerebral superpowers—

the ability to understand speech at up to 25 syllables per second, a

speed that sounds like “noise”

5 to sighted people (a typical sighted person understands closer to 10

syllables per second). As

it turns out, a brain region called V1, situated at the back of the

skulland which normally only

responds to light has actually been rewired in the brains of blind

people—and now processes

auditory information. This is truly a stunning example of the brain’s

plasticity, a topic of cardinal

importance in designing educational experiences and 10 materials to

best engage the brains of

students.

Of course, in discussing the brain’s amazing plasticity, modern

thinkers take for granted

something that would have been shocking to thinkers from Aristotle

(who posited a holistic, noncorporeal

mind in De Anima in the 4th century, BC) through Descartes

(who argued, in the 17th

century, for mind-body dualism)—the idea that the mind is physically

located in the brain and that

15 our intellect, personality, and selfhood are attributable to physical

processes in the brain and can

be altered by brain injuries.

101. According to the passage, the belief that blind people can hear better

than sighted people

(A) is untrue

(B) was not a matter of contention, but was then shown to be true

(D) is put forth by the scientific community, but this evidence is

contested by many

(E) was, for years, thought by many to be false, and then was shown

to be true

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

102. According to the passage, Aristotle would NOT have thought that

the mind is separate from the body

the mind exists in parts or modules, rather than as one entity

blind people can hear better than sighted people

Questions 103–104 are based on the following reading passage.

The atrocities committed during the Second World War by the

National Socialists are well

known and have been meticulously documented by historians. Far less

known, however, are the

mass deportations that took place almost two years after the conclusion

of the war, this time

orchestrated by the Allied governments. In the years after 1945, over

12 million German-speaking

5 citizens of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland were

dispossessed, packed into trains,

and left to fend for themselves in a newly defeated and impoverished

Germany. What allowed

for this mass exile—the largest forced migration in history—was the

confluence of political

motivations on the part of the key players. The expelling countries of

Eastern and Central Europe

were especially keen on punishing Germans for the horrors of the war

—though, of course, their

10 own German-speaking populations were hardly responsible for

Germany’s actions—and on

increasing the ethnic homogeneity within their borders. The Allied

powers, too, had something to

gain. The Soviet Union, intent on capitalizing politically on

Germany’s defeat, aimed to irrevocably

undermine relations between Germany and Poland, especially by

ceding German territory to

Poland and emptying it of its inhabitants. Britain, weary from the war,

hoped the resulting mass

15 suffering would reinforce the completeness of Germany’s defeat. And

the United States, in turn,

was attempting to cozy up to the nations of Eastern and Central

Europe in the hopes of keeping

them away from Soviet influence.

The result of the deportations, however, was the death of at least

500,000 people and

Germany’s acquisition of a homeless population far greater than that of

any other industrialized

20 country. The death toll was not far worse, furthermore, only because

the Soviets’ ambition to

cripple Germany was unsuccessful. Following the war, Germany

underwent what is known as its

“economic miracle,” which made it possible to house, feed, and

employ the mass of exiles. That

this episode is practically excised from the history books in some

countries, however, is surely

corroboration of the platitude that history is written by the victors.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

103. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Some events that occurred during World War II do not appear in

history books.

The Allied powers included the Soviet Union, Britain, the United

States, and Poland.

The Allied powers were not entirely unified on political matters.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

104. Which of the following, if true, would weaken the claim that the Allied

powers had something to gain from the deportations?

The United States believed that the Eastern and Central European

powers hoped to create more multicultural, ethnically mixed

societies.

The Soviet Union wanted to profit from post-war trade between

Germany and Poland.

Britain, weary of the killing during the war, pledged itself to

preventing suffering.

Questions 105–107 are based on the following reading passage.

Quantum mechanics is a relatively new field of physics that was

developed in the early

1900s. Although we classically think of a particle as a fixed object,

quantum mechanics describes

particles as waves using properties such as position and energy. The

quantum mechanical wave

describes the probability that the particle’s properties take on certain

values. Take, for example,

5 the analogy of rolling a six-sided die. For each roll there is a one-insix

chance that any single

number will result. After rolling, however, only one single number

will be observed. If the die

is rolled enough times, one can deduce that the die has six sides and

that each side is equally

likely. However, one can never be completely sure, because rolling

dice is probabilistic in nature.

Quantum mechanics states that the same is true of the position (and

other properties) of a

10 particle. A particle trapped in a closed box has some finite probability

of being at any location

within the box. Open the box once and you’ll find the particle at only

one location. Open the

box enough times and you’ll see all the particle locations and the

frequency at which they are

achieved. From this, one can deduce the original properties of the

quantum mechanical wave, just

as one could deduce the properties of the die.

15 The counterintuitive properties of quantum mechanics, that the

attributes of a particle

cannot be known in advance of measurement, initially provoked many

strong philosophical

debates and interpretations regarding the field. In fact, Einstein was

deeply troubled by the idea

of nature being probabilistic and commented famously that, “God does

not play dice with the

universe.” Over the last 70 years, however, irrefutable evidence has

abounded that verifies the

20 truth of the theory of quantum mechanics.

105. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Particles are not fixed objects but rather exist in the form of

waves.

(B) Controversial theories are often found to be correct.

of particles.

(D) Many questions still exist about the nature of particles and

quantum mechanics.

(E) Experiments can be designed to test the quantum mechanical

nature of particles.

106. Based on the information in the passage, which of the following would

best explain Einstein’s motivation for stating that “God does not play

dice with the universe”?

(A) Einstein did not believe that particles should be governed by

probability as in a game of dice.

(B) Einstein believed that God should control the fate of the

universe.

grounds that it violated causality.

(D) Einstein’s religious beliefs did not allow him to fully understand

the theory of quantum mechanics.

(E) Einstein believed that God created the universe such that

particles would be modeled probabilistically as in quantum

mechanics.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

107. Which of the following can be properly inferred based on the

information in the passage?

The location of a particle within a closed box cannot be known for

certain without observing the particle.

Properties such as position and energy of a particle can never be

measured.

Particles can be properly described as quantum mechanical waves.

Questions 108–112 are based on the following reading passage.

Invisible theater and guerrilla theater are two forms of street

theater with similar origins but

very different approaches. Both forms take place exclusively in public

places, but invisible theater

conceals its performative nature whereas guerrilla theater flaunts it.

While invisible theater creates

a performance space unbeknownst to its audience, guerrilla theater

actively seeks the attention of

5 an audience by explicitly imposing a performance space onto a public

place.

Starting in the early 1970s, Augusto Boal and fellow actors have

staged scenes regarding

social issues in public or semi-public places (e.g., restaurants), crafting

their dialog and action to

get a verbal reaction from bystanders. Because performers and nonperformers

remain distinct,

invisible theater returns somewhat to the model set up by traditional

theater. However, there are

10 a few key differences. The performance space is created in public

places without the awareness of

non-performers. For non-performers, being beyond the performative

space allows them to avoid

the etiquette of theatergoing and removes that “lens” that unavoidably

emerges when we feel we

are viewing art or performance. If people do not suspect that they are

viewing art, however, they are

free to engage with the action and concepts of an unfolding drama as if

these actions and

15 concepts were real.

Boal has documented various successful instances of invisible

theater in which nonperformers

actively listen, participate in public-spirited discussion, and

even take unplanned

public-minded action in response to the dialogue and events set up by

invisible theater

performers. Because onlookers think they are witnessing real life

events, because the performers

20 are bold in their statements, because the scripted characters are very

vocal about what they

are doing and experiencing, invisible theater is able to instigate

political conversation within an

everyday context; it successfully creates public forums out of thin air.

Guerrilla theater creates surprise performances in public but is

driven by the forceful

imposition of “traditional” (if we can call anything about guerrilla

theater “traditional”) theater. One

25 example includes two professors of Galway’s University College who

dressed in their robes and

went out to the street, questioning pedestrians and awarding diplomas

to the ones least able to

provide good answers, as a way to protest their university’s decision to

grant Ronald Reagan an

honorary doctorate in law.

A large part of the goal of guerrilla theater is to get publicized, its

message echoed over and

30 over in our ever-expanding network of technology-interface mass

media. Guerrilla theater knows

it may antagonize its direct audience—it often hopes to, because

conflict is more likely to be

broadcast, and the goal of guerrilla theater is to get people talking

publicly.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

108. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

When people are unaware that they are viewing a performance,

they tend to act more naturally.

Invisible theater is best described as improvisational.

One measure of the success of a theatrical performance can be the

actions taken by the audience once the performance is over.

109. The main point of the passage could best be described as

(A) a discussion of two different but aligned artistic currents

(B) an examination of which of two art forms is more effective at

prompting political action

(D) a presentation of two theatrical concepts that conceal their

performative nature

(E) an overview of artistic life in public places

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

110. Which of the following is true of both invisible theater and guerrilla

theater?

Both have a goal of encouraging discourse.

Both impose performance space onto public location.

Both antagonize their audience.

111. The passage implies that the Galway professors believed which of the

following?

(A) Guerrilla theater was superior to invisible theater.

(B) Protesting an honor could result in the revocation of the award.

standard of the university.

(D) Handing out diplomas was a legal activity.

(E) Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy had deleterious effects.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

112. Which of the following, if true, would undermine the principle of

invisible theater?

When people knowingly view art, their heightened attention

increases their perception and involvement.

Audience members watch a performance and later report to others

what happened, still not knowing that the event was a theater piece.

A lively debate about public issues is brought to a halt by the

imposition of scripted characters inserting theatrical dialogue.

Questions 113–117 are based on the following reading passage.

Cells employ many strategies to avoid genetic mutation. From the

high fidelity of DNAsynthesizing

enzymes to the pro-death signaling that accompanies

mutagenic stimuli such as

UV radiation, cellular mechanisms that stymie genetic changes are

ubiquitous throughout the

natural world. These mechanisms are critical because widespread

genomic changes would wreak

5 physiological havoc; indeed, malfunctions in molecular players that

safeguard against mutagenesis,

such as the protein p53, have been implicated in diseases such as

cancer.

Yet despite the criticality of preventing and eliminating DNA

mutations to avoid deleterious

changes in cells, in specific contexts many organisms have also

adapted beneficial mechanisms to

induce genetic changes.

10 One such instance is observed in vertebrate immune systems:

white blood cells such as

T cells recognize invading pathogens through receptors on their

surfaces. In order to recognize

a wide variety of pathogens, these cells must generate a large

repertoire of receptors. Relying

only on a genetically encoded repertoire would be disadvantageously

limiting—analogous to

having only a few dozen language phrases with which to respond to

the nearly infinite potential

15 combinations of words in a conversation. Instead, the repertoire is

generated by a process

of genetic recombination, in which T cells “cut-and-paste” the DNA

encoding their microberecognizing

receptors. Many of these genetic rearrangements produce

cells bearing non-functional

proteins; such unproductive cells are eliminated through senescence.

Nevertheless, this seemingly

haphazard process of programmed genetic mutation is crucial to

generating immunological

20 diversity, as individuals with defects in this pathway exhibit clinical

immunodeficiency. How this

process is regulated by T cells to prevent harmful mutations remains

the subject of ongoing

research.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

113. Which of the following is true of genetic changes in cells?

They can cause serious problems to body systems.

They can provide benefits to the immune system.

Some genetic mutation is regulated by T cells.

114. The phrase “seemingly haphazard” (line 19) is meant to indicate that

(A) the process of programmed genetic mutation deserves further

study

(B) the production by T cells of “unproductive cells” is wasteful

(D) T cells are essential to proper immune system functioning

(E) programmed genetic mutation can be dangerous to an organism

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

115. Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph of the

passage?

Pro-death signaling is a mechanism that hinders genetic changes.

Cellular mechanisms that safeguard against mutagenesis are very

common.

Protein p53 may play a role in preventing cancer from forming.

116. The analogy regarding “a few dozen language phrases …

conversation” (lines 14–15) is meant to elucidate

(A) why genetic recombination is important to T cell functioning

(B) the need for numerous means of fighting cancer and other

diseases caused by cell mutation

encoded repertoire

(D) how language use is like “cutting and pasting”

(E) the mechanism by which mutagenesis can compromise

physiological functioning

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

117. In the analogy in the third paragraph, the “nearly infinite potential

combinations of words in a conversation” represent

pathogens

receptors

T cells

Questions 118–119 are based on the following reading passage.

Martin Haberman pulls no punches in his scathing critique of the

insensitive and unjust

treatment received by children in poverty in the public school system.

He focuses the brunt of

his criticism on teachers who have been insufficiently trained for the

realities of the modern

school environment and whose prejudices, lack of deep content

knowledge, and excessive focus

5 on order and discipline profoundly limit their effectiveness. Haberman

writes, “the principles

and theories we call child and adolescent development were all

developed to explain the middleclass

experience,” and that everyone else in public schools, including

non-white, immigrant, or

non-English-speaking children, are considered somehow anomalies,

thus leading to the absurd

situation in which a teacher completes teacher training and is put in

front of a class of students

10 she considers to be made entirely of “exceptions.”

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

118. According to Haberman, a teacher’s effectiveness can be compromised

insufficient attention to order and discipline

insufficient knowledge of the material being taught

personal bias

119. In the last line of the passage, the word “exceptions” is in quotes to

make the point that

(A) the idea of “exceptions” is crucial to effective education

(B) the quote is taken verbatim from a teacher

the reverse

(D) certain teachers inappropriately consider “non-white, immigrant,

or non-English-speaking children” to be other than the norm

(E) teachers versed in the principles and theories of child and

adolescent development are actually the norm

Questions 120–121 are based on the following reading passage.

Naturalism, arising in the 19th century as a literary response to

Darwin’s account of

evolution, focused on describing everyday reality but differed from

realism in its attempts

to provide a “scientific” foundation for its depictions of characters,

stressing the influence of

environment and heredity upon the individual psyche. Émile Zola, in

particular, saw his craft as an

5 extension of the scientific method into the domain of art. The 19th

century, perhaps in opposition

to naturalism, saw the rise of the Decadent movement, embracing

artifice over nature in writing,

championed by Zola’s erstwhile protégé, Joris-Karl Huysmans. The

protagonist of his masterpiece,

Á rebours (literally, Against the Grain, but more commonly translated

as Against Nature), removes

himself from society—viewing it as the product of a nature long

surpassed by human ingenuity—

10 and surrounds himself exclusively with art, perfume, literature, and

technology.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

120. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about

perfume?

Some followers of the Decadent movement considered it to be an

example of human artifice.

Some followers of the Decadent movement considered it to be

superior to natural entities.

Some followers of the Decadent movement enjoyed surrounding

themselves with it.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

121. Which of the following, if true, would undermine the claim that the

Decadent movement was opposed to naturalism?

Decadent authors intended to use literature as a vehicle for the

scientific method.

Decadent authors focused on the effects of environment on shaping

character.

Decadent authors elaborated on the way inherited traits influenced

human behavior.

Questions 122–123 are based on the following reading passage.

For many years, biological scientists have sought to decipher

cellular function by quantifying

the degrees of protein and mRNA expression within populations of

their cells of interest.

Classically, these measurements required combining many cells into a

single sample and rupturing

their membranes, thus exposing pooled quantities of the target

molecule for detection. One

5 limitation of these techniques is the reliance on average

measurements: it is impossible to

distinguish a uniform population of cells expressing intermediate

quantities of a molecule from

a population composed of separate low and high expressers. The

distinction has proven to be

important, particularly in the context of drug targeting of cancer cells;

prescribing a dose to hit the

“average” cell may completely miss the more aggressive “one

percent.”

10 The advent of single-cell measurement technology such as flow

cytometry and RNA FISH

has made it possible to capture not only a population’s average levels

of a molecule, but also

the distribution of the molecule’s expression within the population. As

a result, researchers are

increasingly investigating the sources and significance of variability

within populations that were

previously assumed to be identical.

122. According to the passage, the limitation of combining many cells into

one sample and then rupturing their membranes in order to detect a

target molecule is that

(A) variability exists within cell populations

(B) some cells in the sample may contaminate others

certain molecule

(D) the rupture of cell membranes is implicated in the formation of

cancer

(E) it is preferable to capture a population’s average levels of a

molecule

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

123. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding

flow cytometry and RNA FISH?

Both technologies allow researchers to quantify properties of

individual cells.

Using these technologies, it is impossible to distinguish a uniform

population of cells expressing intermediate quantities of a

molecule.

Both technologies allow researchers to measure variability of

molecule expression within cell populations.

Questions 124–125 are based on the following reading passage.

The Portuguese began to enter Angola in the 16th century, and

over the next three hundred

years slowly pushed into the interior of the sizable nation located in

Southern Africa, finally

achieving complete occupation by the 1920s. Following Angolan

independence in 1975, and

despite a bloody civil war that lasted until 2002, the Angolan economy

has grown at a double-

5 digit pace since the 1990s, due largely to expansive mineral and

petroleum reserves. Conversely,

Portugal is now broke and in debt, its economy shrinking by full

percentage points every year.

In a grand stroke of irony, Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos

Coelho in 2011 suggested to

Angola’s President Jose Eduardo dos Santos that “We should take

advantage of this moment …

to strengthen our bilateral relations.” President dos Santos replied,

“We are aware of Portugal’s

10 difficulties and we are open and available to help.” This “help” will

likely come in the form of

Angola’s investment in Portuguese industries that the International

Monetary Fund has ordered be

privatized as a condition of a 78 billion dollar bailout. Already, the

country that once mined Angola

for slaves and raw material is now virtually helpless as Angola

purchases Lisbon’s prime real

estate, using much of it to build luxury resorts where Angolan officials

go for holidays.

15 Despite the stunning reversal of fortune, Angola is not without

its difficulties. Corruption is

rampant, and Angola has one of the highest levels of income

inequality in the world—in the capital

city of Luanda, hamburgers go for 50 dollars and designer jeans cost

twice what they do in London

or New York, while two-thirds of the population lives on less than 2

dollars a day.

124. Which of the following is not stated as a component of Portugal and

Angola’s historical relationship?

(A) Portuguese traders sold Angolan slaves.

(B) Raw material was taken from Angola by the Portuguese.

(D) The Portuguese increasingly dominated Angola over a period of

several hundred years.

(E) Angola achieved independence from Portugal in the 20th

century.

125. The “grand stroke of irony” (line 7) is best described as

(A) two countries dedicated to strengthening bilateral relations share

economic problems

(B) a former colonial possession is now being called upon to assist

its former possessor

(D) the cost of living in Luanda is very high, and yet most people are

poor

(E) the Portuguese economy was once thriving and is now dwindling

Questions 126–128 are based on the following reading passage.

For as long as humans have been philosophizing about the mind,

virtually every thinker has

conceived of the mind as a unitary entity. In fact, such a view was

crucial to both Aristotle’s and

Descartes’s view that the mind (or the soul) survived death. Surely the

self cannot be subdivided;

surely one cannot have half a mind?

5 Indeed, the final evidence that one can, in fact, have “half a mind”

came in the 1960s, from

the famous studies for which Roger Sperry was awarded the Nobel

Prize in 1981 for his discoveries

about the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres.

Working with epileptics who had

been treated via the cutting of the corpus callosum, or division

between the two hemispheres,

Sperry was able to observe “odd behavior” in these patients—each

half of the brain could gain

10 new information, but one hemisphere was entirely unaware of what

the other had learned or

experienced.

Restak, in The Modular Brain, posits that the brain is not centrally

organized (some prior

theories of mind had actually posed the existence of a “director” in the

brain, begging the question

of who directs the director’s brain) but, alternatively, that different

parts of the brain control

15 different abilities, and that those “modules” can operate

independently. As we can easily see

from patients with brain damage, there is no “unified mind and

personality”—part of ourselves,

centered in different parts of the brain, can change or be obliterated

entirely as a result of

physical changes to the brain. Consider the case of Phineas Gage, a

rail worker who, in 1848, while

attempting to compress explosive powder with a tamping rod, literally

blew a hole in the front of

20 his brain. While Gage was ultimately able to function fairly normally,

his personality was markedly

changed; he became boorish and irresponsible. Gage’s case was well

documented, allowing

modern reconstructions to show that his injury affected areas of the

brain that we now know to

be related to moral sensibilities and their expression. That is, Phineas

Gage literally lost one (or

more) of the modules in his modular brain system.

126. The case of Phineas Gage is presented as evidence that

(A) the modular brain system has a central “director”

(B) people who lose parts of the brain are usually able to function

normally

(D) splitting the corpus callosum can result in marked changes in

personality

(E) aspects of personality can be physically located within the brain

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

127. In lines 13–14, the phrase “begging the question of who directs the

director’s brain” is meant to emphasize that

the problem of a “director” in the brain is recursive

whether there is such a “director” of the brain is an open question

Restak has both asked and answered a question about the brain’s

organization

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

128. Which of the following can be inferred about thinkers who conceive of

the mind as a unitary entity?

They believe that the mind survives death.

Their views are incompatible with modular brain theory.

They are unaware that certain aspects of personality are known to

be controlled by certain areas of the brain.

Questions 129–131 are based on the following reading passage.

Most mental health disorders and cases of drug abuse tend to

diminish a person’s ability to

recognize other people’s feelings. A recent study in Norway suggests,

however, that these effects

can be bolstered by a nasal spray puff of the brain hormone oxytocin,

which is known to increase

feelings of calm and social bonding. Although oxytocin is already

prescribed for certain disorders

5 that affect social function, such as autism, these treatments are often

tried in isolated cases,

leaving the overall effects of the drug without evaluation.

The Norwegian experiment focused on 40 students, each of whom

was given either a control

dose of salt water or the drug oxytocin. After the nasal dose, the

students were shown faces of

happy, angry, or neutral expressions, some of which were subtler than

others. The researchers

10 found that after a nasal spray dose of oxytocin, the students’

awareness of the expressions was

intensified. Further, the experiment showed that the oxytocin had the

greatest effect on those

who were least able to evaluate emotions properly when given the

control.

Although the results of this study seem promising, Leknes, the lead

scientist in the

investigation, cautions that the hormone would not be a “cure-all” for

mental illness or drug

15 addiction. Rather, he suggests, the hormone might help some

individuals better interpret the

social cues from the world around them.

129. The author of the passage would most likely agree with which of the

following statements about the brain hormone oxytocin?

(A) Its overall effects require further evaluation.

(B) In the future, it will be used to cure mental illness and drug

addiction.

cues.

(D) Its effects on the brain are unknown.

(E) It is more effective when dosed via nasal spray than orally.

130. The passage lends the most support to which of the following

conclusions about the nasal spray study of oxytocin?

(A) The results of the study are inconclusive because a sample set of

40 students is not substantial.

(B) The nasal spray of oxytocin increased feelings of calm and social

bonding for the students.

to them when given only the control dose of salt water.

(D) The students who might need oxytocin most are the ones who

appear most responsive to the hormone.

(E) The subtler the expression, the more difficult it was for the

students to identify.

131. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage regarding the

Norwegian study on oxytocin?

(A) The study showed that oxytocin made students more able to

distinguish faces from one another.

(B) Leknes was the lead scientist in the investigation.

ability to recognize facial expressions.

(D) Students who participated in the study were shown happy, angry,

or neutral expressions.

(E) Oxytocin had the greatest effect on students who were least able

to evaluate emotions properly when given the control dose.

Questions 132–134 are based on the following reading passage.

The cosmic microwave background is a uniform 2.7 Kelvin

radiation that permeates the

entire universe. Although it was postulated almost 50 years before,

Penzias and Wilson discovered

the cosmic microwave background accidentally in the 1970s. Working

at Bell Labs, these two

scientists were using a radio telescope to observe distant stars. They

found, however, that no

5 matter where they pointed their telescope they observed an

approximately 3 Kelvin background

signal. After convincing themselves that this signal was real and not

some artifact of their

instrument, they consulted with a team at Princeton University that

had been searching for the

cosmic microwave background. The Princeton team confirmed what

Penzias and Wilson had found.

Apparently, Penzias and Wilson had accidentally stumbled upon the

oldest observable relic of the

10 early universe.

Why does the cosmic microwave background exist and permeate

all of space? Just an instant

after the Big Bang, all matter in the universe was so energetic, or hot,

that it existed as free

particles known as “quarks.” In the fractions of a second following, the

universe expanded and

cooled until the quarks lost enough energy to form electrons, protons,

and neutrons, the building

15 blocks of ordinary matter. Photons, the smallest particles of light, also

filled the universe and were

so energetic that they “bounced” off electrons, keeping the electrons

and protons from forming

atoms. After approximately 400,000 more years, the photons lost

enough energy that atoms could

form readily. Without any lone electrons off of which photons could

“bounce,” the photons began

streaming unimpeded all through the universe, mostly unchanged but

for one exception. Due to

20 the further expansion and cooling of the universe, these photons have

cooled to just 2.7 degrees

above absolute zero. It was these same photons that Penzias and

Wilson observed approximately

13.6 billion years later here on Earth.

132. Which of the following most accurately expresses the author’s intent in

writing the passage?

(A) To describe the discovery and reason for the cosmic microwave

background

(B) To explain how science discoveries can be made accidentally

observable relic of the universe

(D) To defend the work of Penzias and Wilson

(E) To support the theory of the Big Bang using the cosmic

microwave background

133. According to the passage, which of the following events occurred first

after the Big Bang?

(A) The universe expanded and cooled until atoms formed.

(B) Photons streamed unimpeded through space.

(D) The cosmic microwave background cooled to 2.7 Kelvin.

(E) Atomic nuclei, composed of protons and neutrons, formed.

134. According to the passage, with which of the following would the

author most likely agree regarding the discovery of Penzias and Wilson?

(A) It was not as important as the signal for which they were

originally searching.

(B) The telescope belonging to Penzias and Wilson was more

sensitive than that of the Princeton team.

microwave background if it had been more than 3 Kelvin in

temperature.

(D) Penzias and Wilson did not initially understand the implications

of their results.

(E) Penzias and Wilson did not believe that their signal was real

when they took their discovery to the Princeton team.

Questions 135–136 are based on the following reading passage.

American composer and conductor John Philip Sousa viewed the

increasing popularity of the

phonograph with deep dismay. He suggested that it would “reduce the

expression of music to a

mathematical system of megaphones, wheels, cogs, disks, cylinders,

and all manner of revolving

things, which are as like real art as the marble statue of Eve is like her

beautiful, living, breathing

5 daughters.” Such “mechanical” music was not sincere, according to

Sousa: “The nightingale’s song

is delightful because the nightingale herself gives it forth. The boy

with a penny whistle and glass

of water may give an excellent imitation, but let him persist, he is sent

to bed as a nuisance.”

Sousa further decried a “decline in domestic music,” noting the

decline of musical instrument

purchases and predicting that when music comes so easily out of a

phonograph, mothers will

10 not bother to sing lullabies to their babies. He opined that when music

is so readily playable,

musical and vocal instruction as a normal part of education will fall

out of fashion, the “tide of

amateurism” receding, and music will become the province of

machines and professional singers

only. “What of the national throat?” asked Sousa. “Will it not weaken?

What of the national chest?

Will it not shrink?”

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

135. Which of the following, if they occurred, would contradict Sousa’s

arguments?

A private school that once demanded two semesters of vocal

instruction as a requirement for graduation now offers the same

classes as electives.

A young boy in an isolated rural area during the Great Depression

hears a professional bluegrass band for the first time on a

phonograph, and it inspires him to ask his grandfather to teach him

to play the family banjo.

A modern recording artist comments that, because of her terrible

stage fright, her live performances are less genuine than the

recordings she is able to produce when she feels comfortable in the

studio.

136. In the context in which it appears, “national chest” (line 15) most

nearly refers to

(A) the performances of professional singers

(B) the U.S. Treasury

(D) the vocal abilities of amateur American singers

(E) musical instruments found in American homes

Questions 137–138 are based on the following reading passage.

In thermodynamics, an idealized blackbody is an object that

reflects zero incident

electromagnetic radiation, absorbing all such radiation instead and

consequently warming up. The

blackbody emits just as much energy per unit time as it absorbs; the

electromagnetic spectrum

of the emitted energy, however, is completely determined by the

temperature of the blackbody

5 and by no other properties thereof, such as material composition or

structure. In contrast,

reflected radiation undergoes no fundamental change in its original

spectral characteristics,

other than a possible Doppler shift created by the motion of the

reflector relative to an observer.

Researchers have recently discovered that a microscopic “forest” of

vertically aligned single-wall

carbon nanotubes of varying heights applied to a surface has extremely

low reflectance across a

10 wide range of wavelengths of visible light, the closest scientists have

come thus far to creating a

perfectly dark material.

137. Which sentence in the passage states the variables that define the

electromagnetic spectrum of a blackbody?

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

138. Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

An object that reflects incident electromagnetic radiation is not an

idealized blackbody.

Reflected radiation always exactly matches the spectral

characteristics of the original incident radiation.

A microscopic “forest” of vertically aligned single-wall carbon

nanotubes of varying heights applied to a surface will absorb all

incident electromagnetic radiation.

Questions 139–141 are based on the following reading passage.

For many years, most physicists supported one of two

cosmological theories: the steadystate

universe, and the Big Bang. The theory of the steady-state

universe states that the universe

has always existed exactly as we observe it at present, whereas the Big

Bang theory postulates

that the universe was conceived from a singularity in space-time that

has expanded into the

5 current universe. The validity of either theory was not tested until

1929, when Edwin Hubble

famously discovered what is now known as Hubble’s Law.

Hubble’s experiment is now a famous benchmark in modern

physics. Hubble, using the

Mount Wilson Observatory, observed a class of stars known as

Cephied variables, luminous

stars that blink and flicker with a rate that depends on their distance

from the observer. Using

10 this relation and over years of observation, Hubble calculated the

distance to many of these

variable stars. Milton Humason, a fellow astronomer, helped Hubble

to calculate the stars’ relative

velocities to Earth. When Hubble combined the two data sets he found

an interesting relationship:

all the stars appeared to be moving away from us! In fact, the speed at

which they were moving

increased with an increasing distance from Earth.

15 Hubble realized, from this small set of data, that the earth was a

part of the expanding

universe. As the universe expands outward in all directions, any

observer from a fixed vantage

point will look out and see everything running away from them. The

further away any two points

are, the more the expansion affects them, and the faster they appear to

be moving away from

each other. Hubble’s result was the first experimental proof that we do

not live in a steady-state

20 universe, but rather a dynamic and expanding one.

139. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

(A) Edwin Hubble discovered Hubble’s Law, a benchmark in

modern physics.

(B) Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding, disproving the

theory of the steady-state universe.

the universe.

(D) All objects in space are receding from each other because of the

expansion of the universe.

(E) Modern physics would not have progressed without Hubble’s

discovery of the expanding universe.

140. Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage regarding

Hubble’s experiment in which he deduced Hubble’s Law?

(A) It used years of data on Cepheid variable stars.

(B) Hubble accumulated data using the Mount Wilson Observatory

and help from a fellow astronomer.

away from Earth.

(D) Hubble deduced the distance to Cepheid variable stars based on

the rate at which they blinked and flickered.

(E) Hubble deduced the velocity of Earth to find the stars’ absolute

velocities.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

141. Which of the following can be properly inferred from the passage?

The steady-state universe theory does not allow for an expanding

universe.

The closer any two points in the universe are, the less expansion

affects them, and the slower they appear to be moving apart.

After Hubble’s discovery of the expanding universe, the Big Bang

was the only cosmological theory that could be valid.

Questions 142–144 are based on the following reading passage.

Homer’s The Odyssey is an epic poem that put a popular oral myth

into writing for the

first time. The Histories is an attempt by its author Herodotus to

provide an unbiased account

of historical conflicts in the Hellenistic world. These two works share

two important motifs: the

interference of the gods in the events of the mortal world, and the

concept of a predetermined

5 and unavoidable destiny. One might assume that these two themes are

one and the same—a

predetermined fate set forth by the gods. However, Homer’s and

Herodotus’s gods are presented

as acting in a political fashion—each one acting within certain

boundaries to accomplish his or

her own agenda. As such, the wills of the gods do not coincide to

allow for the formulation of a

cohesive “master plan.” Instead of destiny created by the gods, Homer

and Herodotus present fate

10 as something beyond the gods—a driving force under which the

actions of gods and mortals lead

to the realization of destiny. In The Odyssey and The Histories, the

idea of gods with limited power

leads to a conception of fate wherein the gods act not as the creators of

destiny, but as agents of

its fulfillment.

142. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the

assumption rejected by the argument of the passage?

(A) The gods pursue their agendas by conferring with other gods to

ensure that their agendas serve a common goal.

(B) The agendas of gods and mortals frequently coincide with the

demands of fate.

agendas of the gods, as well as about the nature and severity of

their conflicts.

(D) Destiny would be fulfilled regardless of what activities gods and

mortals engaged in.

(E) In both Homer and Herodotus, gods and mortals frequently

examine their motives and goals and are capable of making their

own decisions about what to do.

143. The author most likely uses the term “unbiased” (line 2) to convey

which of the following ideas?

(A) The historical conflicts are presented in a way that precludes

religious explanation.

(B) The historical conflicts are presented in a way that does not favor

any particular party to the conflicts.

ethnic, social, religious, or geographical group.

(D) The historical conflicts are explained entirely by reference to the

actions of the people and states involved in them.

(E) The histories are written in such a way as to challenge the

sensibilities of their readers.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

144. Which of the following can be inferred about the gods in The Odyssey

and The Histories?

There are limits to what the gods can accomplish.

The gods, like human beings, pursue their own interests.

The gods do not control the final outcomes of their actions.

Questions 145–147 are based on the following reading passage.

The goal of a sunscreen chemical is simple—to prevent harmful

UVB (and in some cases

UVA) radiation from penetrating the skin. There are two main ways in

which this goal can be

accomplished—by reflecting (physically blocking) ultraviolet light or

by absorbing UV light.

Sunscreen chemicals are therefore put into two groups based on which

method they employ;

5 they are classified as either physical blockers or chemical absorbers.

Physical blockers, the most

common of which is titanium dioxide, scatter all radiation in the UVB

and UVA range. Titanium

dioxide reflects light waves in the 290–770 nm range. However, the

vast majority of commercial

sunscreens are chemical absorbers.

Chemical absorbing sunscreens work on the principle of photoexcitation

of electrons. They

10 absorb photons of light of specific wavelengths and use the energy to

promote electrons between

energy levels. When the electrons later return to the ground energy

state, they emit light at longer

wavelengths (lower energies). Chemical species that exhibit this

behavior are called chromophores.

The specific wavelength absorbed by a given chromophore is

determined by the discrete

quantal amounts of energy that are required to excite electrons

between the energy levels or its

15 molecules. Since the primary objective of an absorbing sunscreen is to

absorb UVB light (290–320

nm), the best sunscreens are those that absorb most heavily in this

range. The chromophores that

most readily fit this requirement are those with

conjugated pi-bonding systems.

145. Which of the following best summarizes the distinction between

physical blockers and chemical absorbers?

(A) Physical blockers darken their target light waves while chemical

absorbers lighten them.

(B) Physical blockers convert their target light waves into radiation

while chemical absorbers convert them into a different kind of

radiation.

chemical absorbers convert them into light with a longer

wavelength.

(D) Physical blockers scatter their target light waves while chemical

absorbers convert them into radiation.

(E) Physical blockers prevent light waves from reaching the skin

while chemical absorbers absorb them into the skin.

146. Based on the passage, which of the following can be inferred about the

chromophores referred to in the final sentence of the passage?

(A) If exposed to light with wavelengths of approximately 300 nm,

they will scatter the radiation.

(B) If exposed to light with wavelengths in the 290–320 nm range,

they will lower the energy level of some of their constituent

electrons.

absorb the photons and emit them as light of longer wavelengths.

(D) If exposed to light with wavelengths of approximately 300 nm,

some electrons in their component molecules will switch to higher

energy levels.

(E) If exposed to light waves in the 290–320 nm range, they will

promote the discrete quantal amounts of energy that are required to

excite electrons between energy levels.

147. Select the sentence in the second paragraph that explains the physical

feature on the basis of which one could select a chromophore for a

sunscreen that would protect against UVA radiation.

Questions 148–150 are based on the following reading passage.

The story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has its foundation in

Arthurian legend as

formulated and passed down by the pagan oral tradition. In its written

form, however, the tale

bears the marks of Christian influence—it contains numerous

scriptural and doctrinal references

to Christianity. Since the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is

unknown, it is difficult to

5 determine with any certainty the extent to which he was responsible

for the incorporation of

Christianity into the legend. For all we know, the story may have been

“Christianized” in its oral

form long before the poet set it into writing. The poet himself supports

this possibility by writing

in the opening lines that he will tell “anew” the tale “as I heard it in

hall.” If this is the case (and

even if it is not), it is distinctly possible that the heroes of the

Arthurian tradition represent in

10 the written form a pagan interpretation of Christian ideals, rather than

an externally imposed

Christianization of pagan codes of behavior.

While it could certainly be argued that the poet portrays Sir

Gawain as a good Christian hero

in an attempt to infuse the story with Christian values, the critical tone

of the narrative seems to

suggest a different conclusion—that by critically editorializing the

paganized form of Christianity

15 embodied by Sir Gawain, the poet is trying to correct what he sees to

be the flaws of that form.

From the perspective of this conclusion it is clear that the poet only

“Christianizes” the traditional

legend to the extent that he criticizes the pagan interpretation of

Christianity that is inherent in the

behavior of its heroes.

Those who would argue that the poet intends to portray Sir Gawain

as the perfect Christian

20 hero would point to the descriptions of his chivalric qualities. The

poet does indeed describe

Gawain’s Christian virtues generously; he even makes a special aside

early in the second fit to

describe the significance of the pentangle embossed on Gawain’s

shield, and to explain “why the

pentangle is proper to that peerless prince.” The author then delves

into a lengthy enumeration of

Gawain’s Christian virtues. What is more, the fact that he uses the

pentangle—a pagan symbol—to

25 do so would seem to suggest that the author does indeed intend to add

a Christian interpretation

to the pagan legend he is retelling. Viewed in its larger context,

however, this passage takes on a

different significance. In further examination of the poet’s descriptions

of Sir Gawain, it becomes

apparent that the knight’s seemingly perfect Christian behavior is

superficial. A contrast can

be observed between his “Christian” words and actions and his

decidedly un-Christian motives.

30 One theory is that, by emphasizing this contrast, the poet intends to

denounce the pagan

“misunderstanding” of the Christian message.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

148. Which of the following can be inferred about the pagan and Christian

origins of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight?

As an orally-handed-down tale, it was pagan, but as a written tale,

it was Christian.

Sir Gawain was a knight in King Arthur’s court.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains both Christian and

pagan elements, although it is not clear that either perspective is

dominant.

149. Which of the following can be inferred from the author’s interpretation

of the Christian aspects of the poem, presented in the third paragraph?

(A) Pagans and Christians differ in their interpretations of the

Christian symbolism in the story.

(B) A pagan cannot have motives that are acceptable from a

Christian perspective.

(D) Christianity was absent in Arthurian stories before such stories

were written down.

(E) Being a good Christian involves having both the right actions

and the right motives.

150. Which of the following, if true, would most undermine the “theory”

mentioned in the final sentence of the passage?

(A) Sir Gawain is portrayed as disingenuous in his exercise of

“Christian virtues.”

(B) Another character in the story is also associated with pagan

symbols and is praised straightforwardly for her Christian virtues.

(D) Another character in the story is associated with pagan symbols

but is portrayed as having no Christian virtues whatsoever.

(E) A group of people in the story are portrayed as “barbarians” who

are neither pagan nor Christian.

Questions 151–152 are based on the following reading passage.

Various tales in Herodotus’s The Histories display a circular means

of the realization of fate.

In one story involving the birth of Cyrus and his rise to power in Asia,

Herodotus tells us that the

Median king Astyages was having disturbing dreams about his

daughter Mandane. We are told

that his first dream, in which Mandane’s urine flooded all of Asia, was

interpreted ominously by

5 the Magi. As a consequence, when the time came to marry Mandane

off, Astyages made what

turned out to be a fatal mistake. While there were plenty of wealthy

and powerful Medes eligible

for marriage, “his fear of the dream made him refuse to marry her to

any of them; instead, he

gave her to a Persian called Cambyses, whom he found to be of noble

lineage and peaceful

behavior, although he regarded him as the social inferior by far of a

Mede of the middle rank.”

10 Essentially, Astyages altered what would be a normal treatment of the

marriage in order to marry

his daughter to someone less threatening. This attempt to avoid the

prophesy of the first dream

backfired however, and when Mandane became pregnant, Astyages

had another foreboding

dream. This second dream was interpreted to mean that Mandane’s son

would rule in Astyages’s

place. Herodotus tells us that “[the prophecy of the second dream] was

what Astyages was

15 guarding against” when he again took action, telling his advisor

Harpagus to kill the baby. This plan

backfired as well since Harpagus refused to kill the baby, leading to a

complicated chain of events

whereby the child—later to be named Cyrus—survived and returned

to conquer his grandfather’s

kingdom. In this story, Astyages’s downfall is depicted as resulting

directly from two major

mistakes—marrying Mandane to Cambyses and telling Harpagus to

kill their offspring. These

20 mistakes in turn are shown to be motivated by fear of the prophesies

of his downfall. Had not

some divine force planted the dreams in his head, he would not have

taken the steps necessary to fulfill

those prophesies. Through this circular path, destiny is unavoidably

realized.

Consider each of the answer choices separately and indicate all that apply.

151. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage about

Astyages’s view of the Median socio-political structure?

As a result of his first dream, Astyages believed the threat his

daughter posed to him could be through her husband.

Astyages believed that it is always best to observe the

recommendations of the Magi.

Astyages believed that a Persian noble was less of a threat to his

position than a Median noble.

152. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly undermine the

claim that Astyages’s downfall proceeded from two major mistakes?

(A) Mandane’s son would have conquered his grandfather’s kingdom

regardless of who his father was.

(B) Astyages’s first dream was in fact a warning against allowing his

daughter to marry.

he knew the prophecy.

(D) Mandane’s husband would have deposed Astyages if he had

known why his son was killed.

(E) Astyages’s dreams were better interpreted as advising him not to

do anything out of the ordinary.

Questions 153–155 are based on the following reading passage.

Nineteenth century painter Albert Bierstadt’s view of his artistic

skill as a vehicle for selfpromotion

was evident in his choices of style and subject matter. From

the debut of his career

with the exhibition of Lake Lucerne (1856), he developed a fixed style

that was most easily

recognizable for its size—the largest of the 636 paintings on display at

the exhibition, it was over

5 three meters wide. This, coupled with the artist’s ability to represent

the optimistic feeling in

America during the westward expansion, is what led to Bierstadt’s

explosive growth in popularity

during the 1860s. Bierstadt deliberately appealed to those rich patrons

—railroad tycoons and

financiers—whose nearest substitute to making the arduous journey

out West was to purchase a

hyperbolized replica of a Western vista.

10 But trends following the Civil War produced a drastic shift away

from the adventurous

optimism of the pre-war era and toward a more subdued appreciation

for the details of American

life. In this new social context, the paintings now seemed too

decadent, too gaudy, for the new

philosophy taking root in the country following the horrors of war. As

one commentator in 1866

put it, Bierstadt’s work “may impose upon the senses, but does not

affect the heart.” In a sense,

15 then, that same American pride upon which Bierstadt had capitalized

to advance his success was

now, in its fickleness, the source of his downfall.

153. According to the passage, the new philosophy taking root in America

after the Civil War would be best described as

(A) justifiable pessimism

(B) somber realism

(D) prideful idealism

(E) stubborn dogmatism

154. The passage quotes the commentator (lines 14–15) primarily in order

(A) challenge a prevailing thesis

(B) point out an erroneous assertion

(D) highlight a controversy

(E) offer evidence supporting a claim

155. All of the following are mentioned as contributors to Bierstadt’s

success EXCEPT

(A) the dimensions of his paintings

(B) his ability to convey auspicious feelings

(D) catering to the preferences of the wealthy

(E) portrayals of exaggerated landscapes

Questions 1 to 2 refer to the following passage.

When Tocqueville came to America in 1831, he expressed a

sentiment that is echoed in the works of Bloom and Kennedy: that

American democracy, by encouraging dissent, can lead to its own

undoing. But in contrast to the pessimism that dominates Bloom’s

and Kennedy’s thinking, Tocqueville’s analysis went a step further.

While acknowledging the seeming inevitability of dissent among

the citizenry, he also recognized that beneath this frustration there

lay a fundamental belief that democratic politics would ultimately

amend the situations that aroused complaint. As Tocqueville noted, at

any given point in time democracy can appear chaotic, shallow, and

contradictory. But, he noted, it was never stagnant. For Tocqueville,

democracy’s tendency to encourage and accommodate discontent

was its greatest virtue. Because it is self-correcting, a properly run

democratic system would ultimately benefit from any discontent

because the system is designed to rectify the problem.

1. The author mentions Tocqueville’s belief that democracy “was never

stagnant” (line 11) to

A highlight Tocqueville’s belief in the self-correcting nature of

democracy

B introduce a difference between Tocqueville’s thinking and that of

Bloom and Kennedy

C explain why Tocqueville believes citizens of democratic nations are

often upset

D suggest ways to eliminate the frustration of the citizens of

democratic nations

E imply that many of the concerns of democratic citizens are baseless

2. It can be inferred from the passage that Tocqueville agrees with Bloom

and Kennedy about which of the following?

A Democracy is the ideal form of government.

B Discontent is inherent in any democracy.

C Democracy can only function when its citizens express concern over

important issues.

D Democracy’s greatest virtue is its adaptability.

E If not properly run, democracy can undermine itself.

Questions 3 to 5 refer to the following passage:

One of the key necessities for understanding an organism’s

evolutionary history is the identification of the habitats in which

the organism’s ancestors thrived. Biologists have developed such

techniques as radiocarbon dating and biochronology to date fossils and

thereby arrive at an approximate range for an organism’s existence. But

knowing that an organism existed during a certain time period says

little about the environment that the organism inhabited. Since the

earth periodically goes through heating and cooling periods, biologists

cannot simply assume that a region’s current climate is the same as it

was for, say, a lemur that inhabited that region six million years ago.

To get past this quandary, biologists study the fossils of

foraminifera, which are microscopic organisms suspended in the

waters of the world’s oceans. Foraminifera consume two types of

oxygen isotope: oxygen-16 and oxygen-18. Oxygen-16 is lighter

than oxygen-18, and as global temperatures rise, more oxygen-16

than oxygen-18 evaporates. By studying the fossils of foraminifera,

researchers are able to identify the concentrations of these two isotopes

at a given time. Researchers can then use the different ratios of the

two isotopes during different time periods to make highly educated

inferences about the global climate during a specific time period.

3. In the context in which it appears, “quandary” (line 11) most nearly

means

A investigation

B dilemma

C conjecture

D approximation

E surprise

4. The passage is primarily concerned with

A introducing a problem and explaining a technique for addressing it

B highlighting the different ways that two types of chemicals can be

used

C evaluating the usefulness of a scientific strategy

D introducing a scientific finding and discussing its implications

E explaining a difficulty faced by scientists

For this question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

5. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A During a heating period, the ratio of oxygen-16 to oxygen-18 in the

ocean decreases.

B Foraminifera can be useful in identifying the age of various fossils.

C Radioactive dating and biochronology use similar mechanisms to

draw their conclusions.

Questions 6 to 9 refer to the following passage:

A detailed look into the past 13,000 years of human history reveals an

important trend. The ascent of European civilization and its conquest

of other cultures is not a result of some sort of inborn superiority on

the part of the European conquerors. Rather, this cultural “success” is

attributable to the confluence of favorable environmental conditions

and fortuitous cultural events. Or so argues Diamond, in his wellreceived

analysis of the Western world’s rise to dominance.

Diamond provides a wealth of data to support his point. Citing

variables as varied as the mineral composition of a local region,

fluctuations in weather, and access to docile animals, he argues that

the development and evolution of any civilization is contingent on

external variables. Since these variables are inherently uncontrollable,

the civilizations for which these factors were aligned favorably were the

ones that were most likely to thrive. Though Diamond’s use of detailed

evidence is refreshing, and his ability to use such disparate information

to draw broad conclusions is creative, it is the sweeping nature of his

conclusions that makes his argument problematic. The very act of

making inferences about local environments thousands of years ago is

fraught with the potential for error, but Diamond gives little weight to

these concerns. Indeed, by placing excessive emphasis on this data, he

paints a simplistic portrait of the past 13,000 years of human history

that only passingly acknowledges the roles of the individual human

actors and their cultures. Paradoxically, in rightfully trying to debunk

myths about Eurasian supremacy, Diamond marginalizes the cultures

that he is attempting to defend.

6. The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

A highlighting the importance of certain cultural trends

B introducing and evaluating a theory about why civilizations thrive

C explaining the role of data in making predictions

D discussing the factors that shape the evolution of a civilization

E analyzing the critical reception of a recent theory

7. The author most likely mentions “the mineral composition of a local

region, fluctuations in weather, and access to docile animals” (lines 9–10)

in order to

A provide examples that Diamond uses to support his theory

B suggest that Diamond’s theory is simplistic

C analyze the logical cohesiveness of Diamond’s theory

D highlight the factors relevant to a civilization’s ascent

E rebut Diamond’s central thesis

8. In the context in which it appears, “fraught” (line 19) most nearly means

A defined

B regarded

C determined

D rife

E coincided

9. Select the sentence in the passage in which the author introduces a

position that Diamond’s book challenges.

Questions 10 to 11 refer to the following passage:

Lucian Freud famously remarked that anything he might say about

his art is as relevant to the art as the noise a tennis player emits when

hitting a ball. Freud presented this analogy as a way of capturing his

belief about the relationship between artist and art: It is the art that

lends significance to the artist, and not the other way around. Such a

view, while unorthodox for any epoch, was especially so for the time

period in which Freud created his major works. In the 20th-century,

the lines between art and consumer culture became blurred, and selfpromotion

became de rigueur for most major artists of the period.

Freud’s tendency to deflect attention is not, as some commentators

have stated, wholly a by-product of a desire to prevent encroachments

into his personal life. Rather, it is predominantly a function of his

deep-seated belief that if one’s art is given a place of prominence,

the careful critic will be able to discern the thought processes and

motivations of the artist.

10. Which of the following situations is most in line with Freud’s belief about

“the relationship between artist and art” (line 4)?

A A sculptor who refuses to be interviewed because she values her

anonymity.

B A potter who refers to her creations when asked personal questions.

C A muralist who uses scenes from her own life in her creations.

D A composer who acknowledges others’ influences on her

compositions.

E A novelist who writes novels that take place several centuries ago.

For this question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

11. The information in the passage supports which of the following as reasons

for Freud’s rejection of self-promoting techniques?

A A desire to maintain his privacy

B A desire to rebel against what was considered conventional behavior of

20th-century artists

C The belief that the art held more significance than the artist who

created it

Question 12 refers to the following passage:

Gorland is considering a law that will allow the advertising of

prescription medications. Critics of the practice worry that people who

see these advertisements will seek out inappropriate prescriptions and

thereby endanger their health. However, advertisers believe that since

doctors ultimately decide whether to prescribe a given medication to a

patient, these concerns are unfounded.

12. In responding to the critics’ concerns, which of the following is an

assumption that the advertisers must make?

A The majority of people seeking medical care have seen

advertisements for prescriptions.

B The advertisements for prescription medications are designed to

deceive consumers.

C People seeking health care often attempt to diagnose themselves

before seeing a doctor.

D Doctors will not be swayed by patients seeking inappropriate

prescriptions.

E Not all doctor visits are for the purpose of obtaining medication.

Question 13 refers to the following passage:

Business has always been a popular major for students at four-year

universities. However, over the past 20 years, the percentage of students

at four-year universities who major in business has decreased from 35%

to 23%. Clearly, fewer students are majoring in business now than they

did 20 years ago.

13. Which of the following, if true, most weakens the conclusion?

A Many students who consider majoring in business end up majoring

in related disciplines.

B When surveyed, most students state that they major in business

because it is lucrative.

C The percentage of students majoring in disciplines related to business

has decreased over the past 20 years.

D Fewer employers seek students with business degrees now than was

the case 20 years ago.

E The number of students enrolled at four-year universities has

increased over the past 20 years.

Question 14 refers to the following passage:

Executives at company X are wrong to conclude that the company will

see an increase in profits over the next several years. Though it is true

that the company’s profits increased each of the past five years, many

competitors have entered the market during this time period. The

competitors have used these past few years to develop products that

will directly compete with company X’s products during the next

several years.

14. In the preceding argument, the two portions in boldface play which of the

following roles?

A The first provides a consideration that argues against the main

conclusion of the argument; the second is that conclusion.

B The first provides evidence for the main conclusion of the argument;

the second supports an intermediate conclusion in the argument.

C The first provides a consideration that argues against the main

conclusion of the argument; the second provides evidence that

supports the argument’s main conclusion.

D The first provides an intermediate conclusion in the argument;

the second provides evidence that supports the argument’s main

conclusion.

E The first provides an intermediate conclusion in the argument; the

second provides evidence against that intermediate conclusion.

Question 15 refers to the following passage:

Analyst: Sepoma, a major furniture manufacturer, had a large

decline in sales revenue last year. However, this report is unexpected.

Furniture retailers have stated that although overall sales of furniture

decreased last year, sales of Sepoma furniture actually increased.

15. Which of the following, if true, best explains the unexpected situation

above?

A Much of Sepoma’s revenue comes from making parts for other

furniture manufacturers.

B Last year, Sepoma spent more on advertising than it usually does.

C Sepoma’s decline in revenue was less than the average decline in

revenue for its major competitors.

D When revenues are weak, Sepoma is reluctant to find ways to cut

costs.

E In a survey, potential buyers of furniture indicated that they thought

Sepoma furniture was superior to that of most other brands on the

market.

Questions 1 and 2 are based on the passage below.

Recent advances in organ transplant methods have included a resurgence in interest in

xenotransplantation—any procedure in which the transplant materials are taken from

a non-human source—due to its potential to eliminate any issues related to scarcity in

the availability of human organs for transplant. Scientific interest in using organic

material from non-human sources to improve health, and even stave off death, is

certainly not new. Anecdotal evidence of humans’ attempts to transplant limbs from

animals in order to achieve superhuman feats, both successful and unsuccessful, has

existed since ancient times and is deeply woven into Greek mythology. The early 19th

century included more forays into the potential for non-human primate organs to be

used for human transplantation, though from a scientific perspective, the record of

success left much to be desired. Work in this field has not been without its critics, as

animal welfare groups have spoken about the concerns of genetically modifying

animals for the sole purpose of organ harvesting and the long-term consequences of

ignoring the ethical implications for much of the xenotransplantation timeline.

Whether society ultimately decides the potential benefits to humans in need of organ

transplants outweigh the possible exploitation of thousands of animals remains to be

seen.

1. In the passage above, what roles do the highlighted sentences serve?

The first sentence is the main idea, and the second sentence restates the main

idea.

The first sentence makes the central argument of the passage, and the second

sentence provides a supporting example.

The first sentence is an example, and the second sentence is the author’s

conclusion.

The first sentence is an explanation, and the second sentence is an analysis of

that explanation.

The first sentence introduces the topic, and the second sentence presents a

criticism.

2. According to the passage, all of the following statements are true EXCEPT:

Xenotransplantation mitigates many of the risks associated with human organ

transplant.

The scientific interest in xenotransplantation is not new.

The record of success for primate organs transplanted into humans is not

extensive.

Greek mythology contains stories of combining human and animal physical

characteristics.

The ethical questions surrounding xenotransplantation are, as of yet,

unanswered.

Questions 3–5 are based on the passage below.

Although it is an imperfect model for describing a complex market, the theory of

supply and demand is a reasonably accurate method of explaining, describing, and

predicting how the quantity and price of goods fluctuate within a market. Economists

define supply as the amount of a particular good that producers are willing to sell at a

certain price. For example, a manufacturer might be willing to sell 7,000 sprockets if

each one sells for $0.45 but would be willing to sell substantially more sprockets,

perhaps 12,000, for a higher price of $0.82. Conversely, demand represents the

quantity of a given item that consumers will purchase at a set price; in the most

efficient market, all buyers pay the lowest price available, and all sellers charge the

highest price they are able. The intersection of these occurrences is graphically

represented in supply and demand curves that show the prices at which a product

becomes too expensive or too readily available.

3. Which of the following best expresses the purpose of the passage?

Explaining why buyers in a given market tend to seek the lowest price on

available goods

Offering a dissenting perspective on an obsolete economic model

Persuading readers that the model of supply and demand is the best method for

understanding market forces

Providing an explanation of the two primary elements of an economic model

and how they intersect

Analyzing the fluctuation of supply and demand within a market

Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.

4. If the producer of sprockets nearly doubles its prices as described in the passage, it

follows that

buyers in the market will be likely to purchase more of the sprockets being sold

the price of sprockets will continue to increase

buyers in the market will be likely to purchase fewer of the sprockets being sold

5. Select the sentence in the passage that illustrates an abstract concept presented by the

author.

For each of Questions 7 to 12, select one answer choice unless otherwise instructed. Questions 7 through 10 are based on the following reading passage. In 1798, economist Thomas Robert Malthus stated in his “Essay on the Principle of Population” that “population increases in a geometric ratio, while the means of subsistence increases in an arithmetic ratio.” However, Malthus’s dire prediction of a precipitous decline in the world’s population has not come to pass. The miscalculations in what has come to be known as the Malthus Doctrine are partly due to Malthus’s inability to foresee the innovations that allowed vast increases in worldwide wheat production. In the late nineteenth century, the invention of the tractor staved off a Malthusian disaster. While the first tractors were not particularly powerful, the replacement of animals by machinery meant that land that had been devoted to hay and oats could now be reclaimed for growth of crops for human consumption. Nevertheless, the Malthusian limit might still have been reached if crop yield had not been increased. A natural way to increase crop yield is to supply the soil with additional nitrogen. In 1909, chemist Fritz Haber succeeded in combining nitrogen and hydrogen to make ammonia, the white powder version of which, when added to the soil, improves wheat production. Haber nitrogen, however, was not widely used until later in the twentieth century, largely due to farmers’ resistance to spreading an unnatural substance on their crops. Haber’s invention had a further drawback: If applied in incorrect quantities, the wheat crop would grow taller and thicker, eventually toppling over and rotting. Interestingly, in the late twentieth century the discovery of genetic engineering, which provides a means of increasing rice and maize production, met with equal resistance, this time from the environmental movement. Even without direct genetic engineering, it is likely that science will discover new methods to improve agricultural production. 7 of 20 According to the passage, which of the following is true about Haber nitrogen? A Haber nitrogen is more effective at increasing the yield of wheat crops than that of maize or oat crops. B Undesired effects can result from the application of surplus quantities of Haber nitrogen. C Haber nitrogen was the first non-naturally occurring substance to be applied to crops as fertilizer. D Haber nitrogen may not be effective if applied at an improper time in wheat’s growth cycle. E Farmers were quick to adopt Haber nitrogen because it made their crops grow taller and thicker. 8 of 20 The passage implies all of the following EXCEPT A World food production has kept pace with world population growth. B Technological innovation is one factor that allowed for an increase in crop production. C Farmers are not the only group that has opposed artificial efforts to increase crop yield. D The Malthusian limit might well have been reached if new methods to increase crop production had not been found. E A Malthusian disaster would have been ensured if it were not for the invention of genetic engineering.

9 of 20 Which of the following, if true, would best represent Malthus’ contention in the first paragraph? A By 2040 the world’s population increases marginally, and food production keeps pace with demand. B By 2040 the world’s population decreases marginally, and food production outstrips demand. C By 2040 the world’s population remains unchanged, and food production declines slightly. D By 2040 the world’s population has significantly increased, and food production has increased slightly. E By 2040 the world’s population has significantly decreased, and food production has decreased slightly. 10 of 20 Which of the following most nearly means the word precipitous, as used in context? A anticipated B deliberate C gradual D risky E sharp Questions 11 through 12 are based on the following reading passage. The dearth of natural resources on the Australian continent is a problem with which government officials there have long struggled. As long distance travel has become less of an obstacle, the tourism industry has become ever more important to the national economy. Tourism represents more than 10 percent of national export earnings annually, and in less developed regions such as the Western Territory, the percentage is much higher. Unfortunately, this otherwise rosy prospect has one significant cloud on the horizon. In recent years, there has been a move towards returning some of the land to the Aboriginal people. As Western society and culture have flourished on Australian soil, tribal people have been forced ever farther inland in an attempt to maintain their traditional ways of living, a desire that the government has striven to respect. One of the central beliefs of the Aboriginal religion is that certain natural formations have spiritual significance and must be treated accordingly. Strict guidelines determine who may visit these sites and at what times. Unfortunately, many of these sites are the very natural wonders tourists flock to see. If non-Aboriginal people are forbidden to visit these natural wonders, many may choose not to vacation in a region that sorely needs the income generated by tourism. The Australian government has dealt with this dilemma thus far by trying to support both sides. The Aboriginal council is still trying to put an end to such use of certain sites, however, and it remains to be seen whether respect for tradition or economic desires will ultimately triumph. 11 of 20 Which of the following most closely matches the meaning of the highlighted phrase in the context of the passage? A A colorful sunset is marred by a dark storm cloud. B A generally promising future has a potential problem. C The view is beautiful but partially blocked. D The future of the Aboriginal people is doubtful. E Although the situation looks good, in reality it is hopeless. 12 of 20 Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply. According to the passage, which of the following is a cause of the current dispute between the Aboriginal people and the Australian government? A Economic hardships in certain regions of the country B Increasing dominance by European norms and lifestyles C Limited natural resources in most of Australia

For each of Questions 17 to 20, select one answer choice unless otherwise instructed. Questions 17 through 18 are based on the following reading passage. One of the most curious structures in cellular biology is the telomere, a length of repeated bases located at the end of every chromosome that, unlike the rest of the DNA strand, carries no useful genetic information. While the telomere seems on the surface to be nothing more than a useless afterthought of DNA, a closer look proves that it is not only important, but also crucial to the functioning of any organism. Indeed, without this mundane structure, every cell division would be a step into senescence, and the onset of old age would begin at birth. Scientists have found that during cell division not every base of the DNA strand can be replicated, and many, especially those near the end, are lost. If, instead of telomeres, our chromosomes stored valuable genetic information at the end of the DNA strand, then cell division would cause our cells to lose the ability to code for certain information. In fact, many ailments associated with normal old age begin only after the telomere buffer has been exhausted through years of cell division. 17 of 20 Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply. Which of the following can reasonably be inferred based on the passage? A An individual who aged faster than the average person may have had a shorter telomere buffer than the average person. B Scientists once believed that telomeres served no useful purpose. C If DNA degradation were absent, then telomeres would be less important to human health. 18 of 20 The passage suggests that if telomere buffers did not exist A problems associated with aging would begin earlier in life B people would age so rapidly that almost no one would live past childhood C cellular senescence would probably be prevented by DNA bases D chromosomes would lose the ability to store genetic codes E DNA strands would contain only useful genetic information

Questions 19 through 20 are based on the following reading passage. Music education in America emerged in the early eighteenth century out of a desire to ensure that church goers could sing the weekly hymns in tune. In 1721, John Tufts, a minister, penned the first textbook for musical education entitled An Introduction to the Singing of Psalm Tunes. Tufts’s pedagogical technique relied primarily on rote learning, omitting the reading of music until a student’s singing abilities had improved. In the same year that Tufts’s publication emerged, Reverend Thomas Walter published The Grounds and Rules of Music Explained, which, while also focusing on preparing students to sing religious music, took a note-based approach by teaching students the rudiments of note reading from the onset. The “note versus rote” controversy in music education continued well into the mid-nineteenth century. With no curriculum to guide them, singing school teachers focused on either the rote or note method with little consistency. 19 of 20 The author discusses Walter’s pedagogical technique in order to A suggest that rote learning is superior to note learning B present a contrast with Tufts’s educational technique C argue that rote learning improves a student’s singing ability D show the origin of Tufts’s educational techniques E show that rote learning was inconsistently practiced 20 of 20 Select the sentence in the passage that best describes the endurance of the tension between pedagogical techniques.

For each of Questions 7 to 11, select one answer choice unless otherwise instructed. Questions 7 through 8 are based on the following reading passage. Neurobiologists have never questioned that axon malfunction plays a role in neurological disorders, but the nature of the relationship has been a matter of speculation. George Bartzokis’s neurological research at UCLA suggests that many previously poorly understood disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease may be explained by examining the role of the chemical compound myelin. Myelin is produced by oligodendrocyte cells as a protective sheathing for axons within the nervous system. As humans mature and their neurochemistries grow more complex, oligodendrocyte cells produce increasing amounts of myelin to protect the byzantine circuitry inside our nervous systems. An apt comparison may be to the plastic insulation around copper wires. Bereft of myelin, certain areas of the brain may be left vulnerable to short circuiting, resulting in such disorders as ADHD, schizophrenia, and autism. 7 of 20 Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements regarding the role of myelin? A The levels of myelin in the brain can contribute to the neurological health of individuals. B Increasing the levels of myelin in the brain can reverse the effects of neurological damage. C The levels of myelin in the brain are not fixed throughout the lifetime of an individual. 8 of 20 In the context in which it appears, byzantine most nearly means A devious B intricate C mature D beautiful E electronic 9 of 20 The cost of operating many small college administrative offices is significantly reduced when the college replaces its heavily compensated administrative assistants with part-time work-study students whose earnings are partially subsidized by the government. Therefore, large universities should follow suit, as they will see greater financial benefits than do small colleges. In the above argument, it is assumed that A replacing administrative assistants with workstudy students is more cost-effective for small colleges than for large universities B large universities usually depend upon small colleges for development of money-saving strategies C the financial gains realized by large universities would not be as great were they to use non-work-study students in place of the administrative assistants D work-study students at large universities could feasibly fulfill a similar or greater proportion of administrative assistant jobs than what they could at small colleges E the smaller the college or university, the easier it is for that college or university to control costs

Questions 10 through 11 are based on the following reading passage. The nineteenth century marked a revolutionary change in the way wealth was perceived in England. As landed wealth gave way to monied wealth, investments became increasingly speculative. A popular investment vehicle was the threepercent consol which took its name from the fact that it paid three pounds on a hundred-pound investment. The drawback to the consol was that once issued, there was no easy way for the government to buy back the debt. To address the problem, the British government instituted a sinking fund, using tax revenue to buy back the bonds in the open market. The fact that the consol had no fixed maturity date ensured that any change in interest rate was fully reflected in the capital value of the bond. The often wild fluctuation of interest rates ensured the consol’s popularity with speculative traders. 10 of 20 Which of the following best describes the relationship of the first paragraph of the passage to the passage as a whole? A It provides a generalization that is later supported in the passage. B It provides an antithesis to the author’s main argument. C It briefly compares two different investment strategies. D It explains an investment vehicle that is later examined in greater detail. E It provides a historical framework by which the nature of the nineteenth-century investor can more easily be understood. 11 of 20 In the second paragraph, select the sentence that describes a solution to a problem. For questions 12 through 15, select the two answer choices that, when used to complete the sentence, fit the meaning of the sentence as a whole and produce completed sentences that are alike in meaning.

For each of Questions 16 to 20, select one answer choice unless otherwise instructed. Questions 16 through 18 are based on the following reading passage. Often the most influential developments initially appear to be of minor significance. Consider the development of the basic stirrup for example. Without stirrups, horse and rider are, in terms of force, separate entities; lances can be used from horseback, but only by throwing or stabbing, and mounted warriors gain only height and mobility. In medieval times, a lance couched under the rider’s arm, unifying the force of rider and weapon, would throw its wielder backwards off the horse at impact. Stirrups unify lance, rider, and horse into a force capable of unprecedented violence. This development left unusually clear archaeological markers: With lethality assured, lances evolved barbs meant to slow progress after impact, lest the weight of body pull rider from horse. The change presaged the dominance of mounted combat, and increasingly expensive equipment destroyed the venerable ideal of freeman warriors. New technology demanded military aristocracy, and chivalric culture bore its marks for a millennium. 16 of 20 The primary purpose of the passage is to A discuss the influence of a recent archaeological discovery B explore the societal significance of a technological innovation C assess the state of research in a given field D lament the destruction of certain social ideals E explicate the physics of combat artillery

17 of 20 It can be inferred from the passage that the author believes which of the following about innovations in military technology? A Their study merits additional research. B They had more lasting influence than did those of the ancient world. C Most of them had equally far-reaching repercussions. D Prior to their application, the military value of horses was considered insignificant. E Many of them are archaeologically ambiguous. 18 of 20 Select the sentence in the passage in which the author cites the physical effects of a technological innovation being discussed as an example of a previous generalization. Questions 19 through 20 are based on the following reading passage. Few mathematical constructs seem as conceptually simple as that of randomness. According to the traditional definition, a number is random if it is chosen purely as the result of a probabilistic mechanism such as the roll of a fair die. In their groundbreaking work regarding complexity and the limitations of formal systems, mathematicians Gregory Chaitin and A.N. Kolmogorov force us to consider this last claim more closely. Consider two possible outcomes of throwing a fair die three times: first, 1, 6, and 2; second 3, 3, and 3. Now let us construct two three-member sets based on the results. Though the first set— {1,6,2}—intuitively seems more random than the second—{3,3,3}, they are each as likely to occur, and thus according to the accepted definition, must be considered equally random. This unwelcome result prompts Chaitin and Kolmogorov to suggest the need for a new standard of randomness, one that relies on the internal coherence of the set as opposed to its origin. 19 of 20 Which of the following best describes the organization of the passage as whole? A A concept is introduced; a traditional definition is put forward; a thought experiment is described; a new definition is proposed; the traditional definition is amended as a result. B A concept is introduced; a traditional definition is supported by authorities; a thought experiment is described; the implications of the experiment are discussed. C A concept is introduced; a traditional definition is considered and rejected; a thought experiment is described; a new definition is proposed. D A concept is introduced; a traditional definition is called into question; a thought experiment is described; the implications of the experiment are discussed. E A concept is introduced; authorities are called in to reevaluate a definition; a thought experiment is described; the implications of the experiment are considered and rejected. 20 of 20 Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply. Which of the following is an inference made in the passage above? A The results of the same probabilistic mechanism will each be as likely as the other to occur. B According to the traditional definition of randomness, two numbers should be considered equally random if they result from the same probabilistic mechanism. C Different probabilistic mechanisms are likely to result in similar outcomes.

Jeff Colonel Teacher

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