SAT Sample

Multiple Choice

In 1899, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius developed an equation to answer a long-standing question: why do chemical reactions speed up at higher temperatures? The Arrhenius equation, named for its creator, ______ an important concept in modern chemistry.

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

• remains

• remain

• have remained

• are remaining

Multiple Choice

Winding through the ice atop Norway’s Jotunheim Mountains is the Lendbreen pass, an ancient route that was used by hunters, farmers, traders, and travelers in the Middle Ages before eventually falling into disuse. Recently, archeologists have ______ knives, horseshoes, wool tunics, and thousands of other artifacts from the icy pass.

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

• unearthed—

• unearthed:

• unearthed,

• unearthed

Multiple Choice

The ancient city of Petra, located in modern-day Jordan, is best known for its rock-cut tomb façades, monuments carved into the landscape’s rose-colored sandstone. ______, it is recognized for its complex water management system, which included dams, cisterns, and water conduits to collect and store rainwater for the city’s inhabitants.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• Unfortunately,

• Additionally,

• Earlier,

• Thus,

Multiple Choice

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

• Novelist Willa Cather grew up in Nebraska and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

• Some of Cather’s best-known novels are set in Nebraska.

• Two such novels are O Pioneers! (1913) and My Ántonia (1918).

• Cather’s novels describe the experiences of immigrants who settled in the Great Plains.

The student wants to identify the setting of Cather’s novel My Ántonia. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• Cather attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and set some of her novels in Nebraska

• Cather, author of My Ántonia, described the experiences of immigrants in her novels.

• • Among Cather’s best-known novels are O Pioneers! (1913) and My Ántonia (1918).

  
  

• My Ántonia is set in Nebraska, where Cather grew up.

Multiple Choice

Soursop is a popular fruit in Brazil, where it is eaten fresh or used in drinks and desserts. The fruit is high in antioxidants and vitamin C, which are known to have a variety of health benefits. ______ soursop is often recommended by doctors in Brazil to patients concerned about their health.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• Thus,

• Instead,

• Furthermore,

• For instance,

Multiple Choice

In 2000, Nora de Hoyos Comstock, herself an owner of a successful consulting firm, sought to increase Latina representation in corporate ______ founded Las Comadres para las Americas, an international community that for over two decades has served as a resource and information network for Latina business professionals.

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

• settings she

• settings. She

• settings, she

• settings and she

Multiple Choice

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

• The Azores is a group of islands about 870 miles off the coast of Portugal.

• Historians have long believed that in the fifteenth century Portuguese mariners were the first humans to populate the Azores.

• A 2015 study coauthored by Sofia Gabriel and Maria da Luz Mathias found that Vikings from Scandinavia may have populated the Azores as early as the ninth century.

• The researchers found a genetic connection between house mice in the Azores and house mice in Scandinavia.

• House mice may have traveled from Scandinavia to the Azores on Viking ships.

The student wants to specify who may have first populated the Azores, according to the 2015 study. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• In their 2015 study, the researchers found a genetic connection between house mice in the Azores and those in Scandinavia.

• Historians have long believed that the first humans to populate the Azores, a group of islands about 870 miles off the coast of Portugal, arrived in the fifteenth century.

• According to a 2015 study, the first humans to populate the Azores may have been Vikings from Scandinavia, not mariners from Portugal as previously believed.

• Portuguese mariners may not have been the first humans to populate the Azores.

Multiple Choice

Occupying a significant part of modern-day Nigeria, the Kingdom of Benin was one of the major powers in West Africa between the thirteenth and nineteenth centuries. It ______ ruled by Oba Ewuare I from 1440 to 1473.

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

• will be

• is

• was

• has been

Multiple Choice

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

• Angora wool is a type of fiber that is harvested from rabbits.

• It is known for its long, silky, and soft fibers.

• Angora is often blended with other types of wool to produce warmer and softer clothing.

• China is the world's largest producer of angora wool.

• Angora does not contain lanolin, a natural oil found in sheep's wool that can cause allergic reactions.

The student wants to emphasize the unique advantages of angora wool. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• Angora wool is a type of fiber commonly produced in China and often blended with other types of wool.

• Angora is known for its long, silky, and soft fibers and for being less allergenic than sheep's wool.

• Angora is different from other types of wool because it comes from rabbits rather than sheep.

• China produces most of the world’s angora wool, which is a type of fiber that is often used in clothing.

Multiple Choice

The Newcomen ______ one of the world’s first functional steam engines—used steam to create a vacuum that utilized atmospheric pressure to force a piston downward, moving in cycles of about twelve pumps per minute.

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

• engine

• engine—

• engine,

• engine;

Multiple Choice

According to Naomi Nakayama of the University of Edinburgh, the reason seeds from a dying dandelion appear to float in the air while ______ is that their porous plumes enhance drag, allowing the seeds to stay airborne long enough for the wind to disperse them throughout the surrounding area.

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

• falling,

• falling:

• falling;

• falling

Multiple Choice

An element's atomic number is ______ the number of protons in its nucleus, the number electrons in its uncharged state, and approximately half of its atomic mass.

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

• equal to:

• equal to;

• equal to,

• equal to

Multiple Choice

When he returned from the Galapagos islands in 1835, Charles Darwin brought back a young tortoise named ______ would live over 170 years before passing away at the Australia Zoo in 2006.

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

• Harriet, she

• Harriet; who

• Harriet she

• Harriet; she

Multiple Choice

Amerigo Vespucci is the namesake of both North and South America, nevertheless,_ many people do not know his discovery overturned Christopher Columbus’s claim that Brazil and the West Indies formed the eastern outskirts of Asia.

• NO CHANGE

• America; nevertheless,

• America nevertheless

• America, nevertheless—

Multiple Choice

Know your "baguas" and eliminate clutter: these are the basics,_ of Feng Shui home design.

• NO CHANGE

• basics

• basics;

• basics—

Multiple Choice

Malayan tapirs are solitary: herbivorous, and crepuscular.

• NO CHANGE

• solitary,

• solitary

• solitary;