SAT Words in Context

1. In the award-winning puzzle game Monument Valley, players navigate the silent princess Ida through a series of puzzles and optical illusions. The game is known for its ______ art design: beautiful, fantastical architecture and calming pastel colors that make the game both challenging and pretty to look at.

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

• violent

• mundane

• intricate

• distracting

2. The following text is from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.

[Jay Gatsby] was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so peculiarly American—that comes, I suppose, with the absence of lifting work in youth and, even more, with the formless grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the shape of restlessness.

As used in the text, what does the word "quality" most nearly mean?

• characteristic

• standard

• prestige

• accomplishment

3. Some foraging models predict that the distance bees travel when foraging will decline as floral density increases, but biologists Shalene Jha and Claire Kremen showed that bees' behavior is inconsistent with this prediction if flowers in dense patches are ______: bees will forage beyond patches of low species richness to acquire multiple resource types.

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

• depleted

• homogenous

• immature

• dispersed

4. Osage Nation citizen Randy Tinker-Smith produced and directed the ballet Wahzhazhe, which vividly chronicles Osage history and culture. Telling Osage stories through ballet is ______ choice because two of the foremost ballet dancers of the twentieth century were Osage: sisters Maria and Marjorie Tallchief.

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

• an unpredictable

• an arbitrary

• a determined

• a suitable

5. The following text is from Booth Tarkington's 1921 novel Alice Adams.

Mrs. Adams had always been fond of vases, she said, and every year her husband's Christmas present to her was a vase of one sort or another—whatever the clerk showed him, marked at about twelve or fourteen dollars.

As used in the text, what does the word "marked" most nearly mean?

• stained

• staged

• watched

• priced

6. The following text is adapted from Zora Neale Hurston's 1921 short story "John Redding Goes to Sea."

John wants to travel far beyond the village where he lives near his mother, Matty.[John] had on several occasions attempted to reconcile his mother to the notion, but found it a difficult task. Matty always took refuge in self-pity and tears. Her son's desires were incomprehensible to her, that was all.

As used in the text, what does the phrase "reconcile his mother to" most nearly mean?

• get his mother to accept

• get his mother to apologize for

• get his mother to match

• get his mother to reunite with

7. Mineralogical differences are detectable in samples collected from two locations on the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, but such differences may not indicate substantial compositional variations in the asteroid. Cosmochemist Kazuhide Nagashima and colleagues note that at the small scale of the samples, the distribution of minerals is unlikely to be ______.

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

• redundant

• neglected

• uniform

• ongoing

8. Visual artist Gabriela Alemán states that the bold colors of comics, pop art, and Latinx culture have always fascinated her. This passion for the rich history and colors of her Latinx community translates into the ______ artworks she produces.

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

• unknown

• reserved

• definite

• vivid

9. Economist Marco Castillo and colleagues showed that nuisance costs—the time and effort people must spend to make donations—reduce charitable giving. Charities can mitigate this effect by compensating donors for nuisance costs, but those costs, though variable, are largely ______ donation size, so charities that compensate donors will likely favor attracting a few large donors over many small donors.

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

• predictive of

• subsumed in

• independent of

• supplemental to

10. Business researcher Melanie Brucks and colleagues found that remote video conference meetings may be less conducive to brainstorming than in-person meetings are. The researchers suspect that video meeting participants are focused on staring at the speaker on the screen and don't allow their eyes or mind to wander as much, which may ultimately ______ creativity.

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

• recommend

• criticize

• construct

• impede