Practice Test Answers

Read the following excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics . The bagel data also reflect how much personal mood seems to affect honesty. Weather, for instance, is a major factor. Unseasonably pleasant weather inspires people to pay at a higher rate. Unseasonably cold weather, meanwhile, makes people cheat prolifically; so do heavy rain and wind. Worst are the holidays. The week of Christmas produces a 2 percent drop in payment rates—again, a 15 percent increase in theft, an effect on the same magnitude, in reverse, as that of 9/11. Thanksgiving is nearly as bad; the week of Valentine’s Day is also lousy, as is the week straddling April 15. There are, however, a few good holidays: the weeks that include the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Columbus Day. The difference in the two sets of holidays? The low-cheating holidays represent little more than an extra day off from work. The high-cheating holidays are fraught with miscellaneous anxieties and the high expectations of loved ones. Which of the following best summarizes the main idea of this paragraph?

Read the following excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics . In the real world, Feldman learned to settle for less than 95 percent. He came to consider a company “honest” if its payment rate was above 90 percent. He considered a rate between 80 and 90 percent “annoying but tolerable.” If a company habitually paid below 80 percent, Feldman might post a hectoring note, like this one: The cost of bagels has gone up dramatically since the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, the number of bagels that disappear without being paid for has also gone up. Don’t let that continue. I don’t imagine that you would teach your children to cheat, so why do it yourselves? The excerpt serves as which type of support for the authors’ argument?

What should a writer include in the introduction to a personal statement? Choose three correct answers.

Read the paragraph from Yasmin’s narrative. Student Work I took a long, lingering look at the tremendous beauty that surrounded me. Nature abounded as far as the eye could see, and the only sounds to be heard were the peaceful murmurs of that which existed in the wilderness. As I sat there, my tent and sleeping bag the only signs of civilization for miles, my heart swelled with relief that I had decided to take this weekend camping trip. I could feel every muscle in my body gradually relaxing with every sight, every sound, every smell within this untouched slice of tranquility. Which narrative element would most effectively increase the reader’s understanding of the tranquility Yasmin describes?

Which sentence contains a participle?

How do text features contribute to a text’s structure? Choose three correct answers.

Which can be used as the subject of a sentence?

In a personal statement, a writer uses precise details to

What should a reflection do in a narrative essay? Choose three correct answers.

Which pair of words shares the same word root?

The primary purpose of a procedural text is to

According to the graph, which of the following occupations has the highest employment level?

Based on its elements, this text teaches readers how to

Which genres are used in "The Leader in the Mirror"? Choose two correct answers.

Which statement about Pat Mora’s essay "The Leader in the Mirror" is correct?

Read this excerpt from "Choreographers of Matter, Life, and Intelligence." With Newton’s mechanics came powerful machines, and eventually the steam engine, the motive force which reshaped the world by overturning agrarian society, spawning factories and stimulating commerce. . . . What is the meaning of the underlined term?

How does Michio Kaku develop the idea of an impending scientific revolution in “Choreographers of Matter, Life, and Intelligence”?