SAT Review

One theory behind human bipedalism speculates that it originated in a mostly ground-based ancestor that practiced fourlegged “knuckle-walking,” like chimpanzees and gorillas do today, and eventually evolved into moving upright on two legs. But recently, researchers observed orangutans, another relative of humans, standing on two legs on tree branches and using their arms for balance while they reached for fruits. These observations may suggest that ______ Which choice most logically completes the text?

• bipedalism evolved because it was advantageous to a tree-dwelling ancestor of humans.

• bipedalism must have evolved simultaneously with knuckle-walking and tree-climbing

• moving between the ground and the trees would have been difficult without bipedalism.

• a knuckle-walking human ancestor could have easily moved bipedally in trees. 

“Looking Back on Girlhood” is an 1892 short story by Sarah Orne Jewett. In the story, the narrator explains that she prefers her hometown to other places she has visited: ______ Which quotation from “Looking Back on Girlhood” most effectively illustrates this claim?

• “There is always something fresh, something to be traced or discovered, something particularly to be remembered.”

• “Two large rivers join just below the village at the head of tide-water, and these, with the great inflow from the sea, make a magnificent stream, bordered by lovely green fields that slope gently to long lines of willows at the water’s edge.”

• “I have had a good deal of journeying in my life, and taken great delight in it, but I have never taken greater delight than in my rides and drives and tramps and voyages within the borders of my native town.”

• “There is never-ending pleasure in making one’s self familiar with such a region.”

In West Africa, jalis have traditionally been keepers of information about family histories and records of important events. They have often served as teachers and advisers, too. New technologies may have changed some aspects of the role today, but jalis continue to be valued for knowing and protecting their peoples’ stories. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

• Even though there have been some changes in their role, jalis continue to preserve their communities’ histories

• Although jalis have many roles, many of them like teaching best.

• Jalis have been entertaining the people within their communities for centuries.

• Technology can now do some of the things jalis used to be responsible for

Luci Tapahonso is the inaugural poet laureate of the Navajo Nation. Her book Sáanii Dahataal/The Women Are Singing—a combination of fiction and memoir, poetry and ______ serves as a testament to her versatility as a writer. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• prose;

• prose

• prose,

• prose—

Materials scientist Marie-Agathe Charpagne and her colleagues believed they could improve on the multicomponent alloy NiCoCr, an equal-proportions mixture of nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), and chromium (Cr), by replacing chromium with ruthenium ______ the alloy that resulted, NiCoRu, turned out to be an unsuitable replacement for NiCoCr. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• (Ru)

• (Ru) but

• (Ru)

• (Ru), but

African American Percy Julian was a scientist and entrepreneur whose work helped people around the world to see. Named in 1999 as one of the greatest achievements by a US chemist in the past hundred years, ______ led to the first mass-produced treatment for glaucoma. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• Julian synthesized the alkaloid physostigmine in 1935; it

• in 1935 Julian synthesized the alkaloid physostigmine, which

• Julian’s 1935 synthesis of the alkaloid physostigmine

• the alkaloid physostigmine was synthesized by Julian in 1935 and

In the early 1970s, Albert Popa took up graffiti art, spraying his work onto what was at the time an unconventional surface: concrete. ______ Albert’s son David has chosen an unusual canvas for his new art project, Fractured. In this remarkable work, the artist draws charcoal faces onto fragmented ice floes in Finland, creating the visual effect of a face slowly fracturing. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• However,

• Indeed,

• Second,

• Likewise,

Line k is defined by y = 7x+ 1/8 . Line j is perpendicular to line k in the xy-plane. What is the slope of line j

• -8

• -1/7

• 1/8

• 7

1/3 (x+6) - 1/2 (x+6) = -8. What value of x is the solution to the given equation?

y = 2x + 10y = 2x - 1. At how many points do the graphs of the given equations intersect in the xy-plane?

• Zero

• Exactly 1

• Exactly two

• Inifnitely many