PSAT Practice Test #2_Mod 2_(12-22)

#12

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• A) As a dog, Karenin possesses a sense of time that involves a strong preference for predictability and an aversion to disruption.

• B) After he’s moved to a new home, Karenin’s negative response to changes has become more pronounced.

• C) Similar to Tomas and Tereza, Karenin comprehends time as circular rather than as a straightforward progression.

• D) As is the case for other dogs, Karenin’s sense of time seems to accelerate depending on the objects and places that surround him.

#13

A 2015 survey of incorporated and unincorporated self-employment rates in four occupational fields showed that the highest incorporated self-employment rate occurred among people working in ______.

• sales and related occupations.

• installation, maintenance, and repair occupations.

• construction and resource extraction occupations.

• management, business, and financial services occupations.

#14

There Is Confusion is a 1924 novel by Jessie Redmon Fauset. In the novel, the narrator portrays the character Joanna as someone who admires ambition in other people to the exclusion of all other qualities: Which quotation from There Is Confusion most effectively illustrates the claim?

• A) "Joanna was mightily interested in people who had a 'purpose' in life. Otherwise not at all."

• B) "Indeed from the very beginning Joanna showed her preference for her father."

• C) "Joanna was like her father not only so far as ambition was concerned but also in her willingness to work."

• D) "She had a good sense of logic, a strong power of concentration, and a remarkably retentive and visualizing memory."

#15

Which choice most effectively uses data from the graph to complete the text?

• the students tended to value the concert tickets more highly than did the more age-diverse group recruited online, but when considering what they could afford to pay, the students tended to choose a lower price than did the other group.

• in all three messaging conditions, the group of participants recruited online tended to choose lower prices than did the students, but both groups tended to choose prices closest to the actual cost of the tickets when prompted to consider the tickets’ value.

• the students tended to value the concert tickets more highly than did the more age-diverse group recruited online, but both groups tended to choose a higher price when considering the value of the tickets than when considering what they could afford or wanted to pay.

• within each group of participants, there was wide variation in the value that individuals assigned to the concert tickets, but the students tended to assign a higher value to the tickets than did the more age-diverse group recruited online.

#16

Which statement, if true, would most strongly support the claim made by Bergner and colleagues about the cause of ‘Oumuamua’s acceleration?

• Existing proposed models of outgassing from ‘Oumuamua include the direct conversion of nitrogen or carbon monoxide from a solid to a gaseous state without becoming liquid, but these models have theoretical or observational inconsistencies.

• ‘Oumuamua’s trajectory is inconsistent with a nongravitational acceleration that would be caused by the release of hydrogen gas resulting from the processing of water ice (H2O), but the interstellar object’s observable properties can be explained if it has a significant component of molecular hydrogen ice (H2).

• Since nongravitational accelerations of interstellar objects are several orders of magnitude weaker than gravitational accelerations, deviation from behavior that could be fully attributed to gravitational pull has been detected on a limited number of objects similar to ‘Oumuamua.

• Exposure to interstellar cosmic radiation can result in the formation of embedded pockets of hydrogen gas in water ice; moreover, when traveling through the solar system, ‘Oumuamua experienced warming sufficient to alter its icy structure and allow for outgassing.

#17

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A) artists of all ages benefit more from technical training than from creative guidance.

• B) many arts organizations recognize the importance of providing opportunities for young artists to learn from experienced mentors.

• C) most established artists could become even better artists by serving as mentors.

• D) finding a mentor is more important for musicians than it is for painters, writers, and other types of artists.

#18

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• sunflower sea stars are willing to hunt sea urchins, but if given a choice, they will prey on other more nutritious marine animals instead.

• sunflower sea stars are reluctant to feed on both nutritionally poor and nutritionally rich sea urchins and are therefore unlikely to thrive in kelp forests.

• sunflower sea stars are less likely to consume sea urchins in barrens than other species of sea stars are, putting sunflower sea stars at a high risk of extinction.

• sunflower sea stars do not always avoid foraging on nutritionally poor sea urchins, making sunflower sea star population recovery a potentially important tool for controlling urchin barrens.

#19

What is the correct pronunciation of Kiribati? In the Gilbertese language spoken by residents of the island nation, the letter combination -ti makes the -s sound; as a result, the country’s name _______ pronounced “Kiribas.” Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• are

• have been

• are being

• is

#20

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

• are standing

• have been standing

• stands

• were standing

#21

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

• Stars. An

• Stars, while an

• Stars an

• Stars, an