PPP: PSAT Practice Party

The following text is from Honoré De Balzac’s 1830 short story “The Elixir of Life.”

At the age of sixty, Belvidéro had become enamored of an angel of peace and beauty. Don Juan was the sole fruit of this late love. For fifteen years the good man had mourned the loss of his dear Juana. His many servants and his son attributed the strange habits he had contracted to this grief.

As used in the text, what does the word “contracted” most nearly mean?

• • A) Agreed

• • B) Ordered

• • C) Acquired

• • D) Withdrawn

New Zealand consists of two large islands
and over seven hundred smaller islands. ______, this view of New Zealand misses something critical, a fact that was obscured for eons until humans mapped the seafloor. The islands of New Zealand are the mountains of a submerged continent, a land-mass called Zealandia. Mostly submerged beneath the ocean approximately twenty-three million years ago, Zealandia is half the size

of Australia. New Zealand is merely the 6% of Zealandia’s landmass that is still above sea level.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• • A) Additionally,

• • B) Subsequently,

• • C) Therefore,

• • D) However,

Few developments have so greatly affected American life as the automobile. The car has had a significant effect on nearly every facet of American life, including how we work, where we live, and what we believe. Interestingly, it was the process of building cars rather than the cars themselves that first brought a sea of change to the American workplace. In 1914, a Ford plant in Highland Park, Michigan used the first electric conveyor belt, greatly increasing the efficiency of automobile manufacturing. Assembly lines for the production of automobiles were quickly adopted and became highly mechanized, providing a new model for industrial business.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• • A) The automobile has changed American life more than any other invention.

• • B) A new method for building automobiles changed American manufacturing processes.

• • C) Assembly lines have proven to be the most efficient method of producing industrial equipment.

• • D) Until the installation of the conveyor belt, the Ford plant in Highland Park, Michigan was unsuccessful.

Poet and monk Ukñā Suttantaprījā Ind wrote about life in Cambodia in the early twentieth century. In “Journey to Angkor Wat,” written in his native Khmer ______ Ind reflects on the ancient Buddhist ruins in light of the political change occurring in Cambodia at the time.

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

• A)  language,

• B)  language—

• C)  language

• D)  language)

• • A)  language,

• • B)  language—

• • C)  language

• • D)  language)

The following text is from Gustave Flaubert’s 1857 novel Madame Bovary.

Old Rouault would not have been sorry to
be rid of his daughter, who was of no use to him in the house. In his heart he excused her, thinking her too clever for farming, a call-
ing under the ban of Heaven, since one never saw a millionaire in it. Far from having made
a fortune by it, the good man was losing every year; for if he was good in bargaining, in which he enjoyed the dodges of the trade, on the other hand, agriculture properly so called, and the internal management of the farm, suited him less than most people. He did not willingly take his hands out of his pockets, and did not spare expense in all that concerned himself, liking to eat well, to have good fires, and to sleep well.

According to the passage, Old Rouault thinks that farming

• • A) is an apt career for his daughter.

• • B) contributes to a good night’s sleep.

• • C) is not a highly profitable occupation.

• • D) helps meet his basic needs.

Though vilified in media, sharks pose a relatively low danger to humans in the water, and their unique characteristics have actually inspired life-changing innovations that are used in advancing technology and medicine. For example, a shark’s skin is formed by many microscopic, overlapping teeth-like “scales” called dermal denticles that increase a shark’s speed by decreasing speed discrepancy and turbulence. Paint that mimics a shark’s skin has been shown to improve marine transportation outcomes by decreasing fuel costs. Further- more, the dermal denticles of the skin create a rough texture that discourages the attach- ment of parasites. This same principle was applied to the medical field when surfaces in hospitals and clinics were similarly modeled: it decreased the spread of bacteria and germs by preventing them from attaching to surfaces.

According to the passage, how have the features of a shark’s skin influenced innovation?

• • A) Boats that have been sprayed with paint that is modeled after shark skins have decreased fuel costs.

• • B) Whales have smooth skin that allows bar- nacles to attach themselves to the whale’s body.

• • C) Wetsuits made with a sharkskin material increase swimmers’ speed by increasing speed discrepancy.

• • D) Surfaces that have the texture like a shark’s skin increase the spread of bacteria.

Some countries still adhere to an archaic practice of daylight savings, which was introduced and spread globally during World War I as a method to increase working hours and decrease the reliance on artificial light so that fuel could be reserved for war efforts; many countries ceased participating in the daylight savings after the war ended. In the U.S., the time shift mandate was rescinded a few months after it was enacted, but World War II brought with it a reenactment of the mandatory time shift to once again decrease fuel consumption. Just as the U.S. government did previously, the law was repealed after the cessation of the war. In 1966, a year after the U.S. President sent military troops into Vietnam, the Uniform Time Act was passed to provide a permanent, national framework for seasonal time shifts.

The passage indicates that daylight savings

• A) was mandated in all countries since the sec- ond world war.

• B) is a modern practice that was first imple- mented in the United States.

• C) increased reliance on artificial light when implemented nationwide.

• D) was initially implemented to conserve fuel during times of war.

• • A) was mandated in all countries since the sec- ond world war.

• • B) is a modern practice that was first imple- mented in the United States.

• • C) increased reliance on artificial light when implemented nationwide.

• • D) was initially implemented to conserve fuel during times of war.

Reading the following passage and indicate what corrections, if any, should be made to each question’s corresponding number in the text.

(Number 1)

The North American suburb is an architectural and civic phenomenon distinct from suburban areas in any other part of the world. It was (1) a counterreaction to the need, especially keen after World War II, to “get away” from the city and all the noise, pollution, and general nastiness that went along with it. Cities were where the factories were, and the factories before modern pollution and safety standards were horrific things to behold. Of those who could (2) get out, many did. Suburban communities, however, were not (3) sufficient by themselves to support life. The people who lived in them needed to work, shop, and socialize, and most of the active part of their lives remained fixed in urban centers. (4) Paradoxically, suburbs were clustered around their parent cities, with the suburban inhabitants avoiding the city center.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. an avoidance of

• C. a response to

• D. an intensifier of

Reading the following passage and indicate what corrections, if any, should be made to each question’s corresponding number in the text.

(Number 2)

The North American suburb is an architectural and civic phenomenon distinct from suburban areas in any other part of the world. It was (1) a counterreaction to the need, especially keen after World War II, to “get away” from the city and all the noise, pollution, and general nastiness that went along with it. Cities were where the factories were, and the factories before modern pollution and safety standards were horrific things to behold. Of those who could (2) get out, many did. Suburban communities, however, were not (3) sufficient by themselves to support life. The people who lived in them needed to work, shop, and socialize, and most of the active part of their lives remained fixed in urban centers. (4) Paradoxically, suburbs were clustered around their parent cities, with the suburban inhabitants avoiding the city center.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. get out many did

• C. get out… many did

• D. get out; many did

Reading the following passage and indicate what corrections, if any, should be made to each question’s corresponding number in the text.

(Number 3)

The North American suburb is an architectural and civic phenomenon distinct from suburban areas in any other part of the world. It was (1) a counterreaction to the need, especially keen after World War II, to “get away” from the city and all the noise, pollution, and general nastiness that went along with it. Cities were where the factories were, and the factories before modern pollution and safety standards were horrific things to behold. Of those who could (2) get out, many did. Suburban communities, however, were not (3) sufficient by themselves to support life. The people who lived in them needed to work, shop, and socialize, and most of the active part of their lives remained fixed in urban centers. (4) Paradoxically, suburbs were clustered around their parent cities, with the suburban inhabitants avoiding the city center.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. self-sufficient

• C. entirely sufficient by themselves to support life.

• D. sufficiently able to adequately support life by themselves.