SAT Practice Writing and Language

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a US government agency whose budget is frequently many times contested.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. oftentimes

• C. repeatedly

• D. Delete the underline portion

2. Many people think of NASA’s programs as trivial. In truth, the agency has a widespread positive [2] effect on society by serving as a catalyst for innovation and scientific understanding,

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. affect on

• C. effect to

• D. affects on

3. In truth, the agency has a widespread positive effect on society by serving as a catalyst for innovation and scientific understanding, to create jobs, and showing humanity its place within the universe.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. creating jobs,

• C. for job creation,

• D. the creation of jobs,

4. But by initiating and collaborating on projects such as the Apollo Moon missions, the space shuttle program, the Hubble Space Telescope, and unmanned planetary exploration, NASA has continually challenged its scientists and engineers to do things that were previously thought impossible.

• A) NO CHANGE

• B) Telescope; and

• C) Telescope and;

• D) Telescope and,

5. All along, these NASA projects have greatly increased international cooperation. A short list of inventions elaborated by NASA includes communications satellites, invisible braces, and cordless tools.

Which choice most effectively sets up the list of examples that follows in the next sentence?

• I don't know

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. garnered national publicity for the agency.

• C. generated a steady stream of new technology.

• D. made a lot of money for the agency.

6. A short list of inventions elaborated by NASA includes communications satellites, invisible braces, and cordless tools.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. evolved

• C. developed

• D. progressed

7. A short list of inventions elaborated by NASA includes communications satellites, invisible braces, and cordless tools. All these inventions spawns new industries, and with those industries, jobs

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. spawned

• C. has spawned

• D. spawning

8. A report by the Space Foundation estimated that NASA contributed $180 billion to the economy in 2005. More than 60 percent of the contribution coming from commercial goods and services created by companies using space-related technology.

• A. NO CHANGE

• B. which came

• C. to come

• D. came

To make this paragraph most logical, sentence 1 should be placed

[1] A report by the Space Foundation estimated that NASA contributed $180 billion to the economy in 2005. [2] More than 60 percent of the contribution 8 coming from commercial goods and services created by companies using space-related technology. [3] This translates as excellent returns from an agency that received approximately 17.7 billion in tax dollars in 2014. [4] This investment by taxpayers enhances not only the national economy but also the United States’ competitiveness in the international market.

[5] Moreover, the benefits of NASA funding extend beyond the purely economic, as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson indicated in his testimony before the US Senate: “For . . . a penny on a dollar—we can transform the country from a sullen, dispirited nation, weary of economic struggle, to one where it has reclaimed its twentieth-century birthright to dream of tomorrow.”

• A. where it is now.

• B. after sentence 2.

• C. after sentence 3.

• D. after sentence 4.

10. At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence. In addition, NASA has facilities in Washington, DC, Florida, Texas, California, and other states.

Should the writer make this addition here?

• A. Yes, because it serves as a counterargument to the quotation from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

• B. Yes, because it reinforces the passage’s point about the importance of NASA’s work.

• C. No, because it undermines the passage’s claim about the economic benefits of NASA’s work.

• D. No, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus by introducing information that does not support the paragraph’s claim about the importance of NASA’s work.