SAT Practice Test 3 Module 1

In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the first script, or writing system, for an Indigenous language in the United States. Because it represented the sounds of spoken Cherokee so accurately, his script was easy to learn and thus quickly achieved _______ use: by 1830, over 90 percent of the Cherokee people could read and write it. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• widespread

• careful

• unintended

• infrequent

When Mexican-American archaeologist Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall published her 1886 research paper on sculptures found at the ancient Indigenous city of Teotihuacan in present-day Mexico, other researchers readily _______ her work as ground breaking; this recognition stemmed from her convincing demonstration that the sculptures were much older than had previously been thought. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• acknowledged

• ensured

• denied

• underestimated

Like other tribal nations, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is self-governing; its National Council generates laws regulating aspects of community life such as land use and healthcare, while the principal chief and cabinet officials _______ those laws by devising policies and administering services in accordance with them. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• implement

• presume

• improvise

• mimic

In the Indigenous intercropping system known as the Three Sisters, maize, squash, and beans form an _______ web of relations: maize provides the structure on which the bean vines grow; the squash vines cover the soil, discouraging competition from weeds; and the beans aid their two “sisters” by enriching the soil with essential nitrogen. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• indecipherable

• ornamental

• obscure

• intricate

The artisans of the Igun Eronmwon guild in Benin City, Nigeria, typically _______ the bronze- and brass-casting techniques that have been passed down through their families since the thirteenth century, but they don’t strictly observe every tradition; for example, guild members now use air-conditioning motors instead of handheld bellows to help heat their forges. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• experiment with

• adhere to

• improve on

• grapple with

Some economic historians _______ that late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century households in the United States experienced an economy of scale when it came to food purchases—they assumed that large households spent less on food per person than did small households. Economist Trevon Logan showed, however, that a close look at the available data disproves this supposition. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• surmised

• contrived

• questioned

• regretted

The work of Kiowa painter T.C. Cannon derives its power in part from the tension among his _______ influences: classic European portraiture, with its realistic treatment of faces; the American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flatstyle, the intertribal painting style that rejects the effect of depth typically achieved through shading and perspective. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• complementary

• unknown

• disparate

• interchangeable

New and interesting research conducted by Suleiman A. Al-Sweedan and Moath Alhaj is inspired by their observation that though there have been many studies of the effect of high altitude on blood chemistry, there is a _______ studies of the effect on blood chemistry of living in locations below sea level, such as the California towns of Salton City and Seeley. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• quarrel about

• paucity of

• profusion of

• verisimilitude in

The following text is from Sarah Orne Jewett’s 1899 short story “Martha’s Lady.” Martha is employed by Miss Pyne as a maid. Miss Pyne sat by the window watching, in her best dress, looking stately and calm; she seldom went out now, and it was almost time for the carriage. Martha was just coming in from the garden with the strawberries, and with more flowers in her apron. It was a bright cool evening in June, the golden robins sang in the elms, and the sun was going down behind the apple-trees at the foot of the garden. The beautiful old house stood wide open to the long-expected guest. Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

• To convey the worries brought about by a new guest

• To describe how the characters have changed over time

• To contrast the activity indoors with the stillness outside

• To depict the setting as the characters await a visitor’s arrival

Astronomers are confident that the star Betelgeuse will eventually consume all the helium in its core and explode in a supernova. They are much less confident, however, about when this will happen, since that depends on internal characteristics of Betelgeuse that are largely unknown. Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance and colleagues recently investigated whether acoustic waves in the star could be used to determine internal stellar states but concluded that this method could not sufficiently reveal Betelgeuse’s internal characteristics to allow its evolutionary state to be firmly fixed. Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the overall structure of the text?

• It explains how the work of Nance and colleagues was received by others in the field.

• It presents the central finding reported by Nance and colleagues.

• It identifies the problem that Nance and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.

• It describes a serious limitation of the method used by Nance and colleagues.