Reading And Writing Test 1 Sat Examination

Handedness, a preferential use of either the right or left hand, typically is easy to observe in humans. Because this trait is present but less _______ in many other animals, animal-behavior researchers often employ tasks specially designed to reveal individual animals’ preferences for a certain hand or paw. 
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

It is by no means _______ to recognize the influence of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch on Ali Banisadr’s paintings; indeed, Banisadr  himself cites Bosch as an inspiration. However, some scholars have suggested that the ancient Mesopotamian poem Epic of Gilgamesh may have had a far greater impact on Banisadr’s work. 
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Research conducted by planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic suggests that the Moon's surface may not accurately___________ early impact events. When the Moon was still forming, its surface was softer, and asteroid or meteoroid impacts would have left less of an impression; thus, evidence of early impacts may no longer be present.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist Daniella DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of a surface mostly covered in boulders, OSIRIS-REx successfully _______ a sample of the surface, gathering pieces of it to bring back to Earth. 
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The following text is adapted from Susan Glaspell’s 1912 short story “‘Out There.’” An elderly shop owner is looking at a picture that he recently acquired and hopes to sell. 

It did seem that the picture failed to fit in with the rest of the shop. A persuasive young fellow who claimed he was closing out his stock let the old man have it for what he called a song. It was only a little out-of-the-way store which  subsisted chiefly on the framing of pictures. The old man looked around at his views of the city, his pictures of cats and dogs, his flaming bits of landscape. “Don’t belong in here,” he fumed. And yet the old man was secretly proud of his acquisition. There was a hidden dignity in his scowling as he shuffled about pondering the least ridiculous place for the picture.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text? 

The following text is from the 1923 poem “Black Finger” by Angelina Weld Grimké, a Black American writer. A cypress is a type of  evergreen tree. 

I have just seen a most beautiful thing, 
Slim and still,
Against a gold, gold sky,
A straight black cypress,
Sensitive,
Exquisite,
A black finger
Pointing upwards.
Why, beautiful still finger, are you black?
And why are you pointing upwards?
Which choice best describes the overall structure of
the text?

The following text is from Walt Whitman’s 1860 poem “Calamus 24.” 

I HEAR it is charged against me that I seek to destroy institutions; But really I am neither for nor against institutions (What indeed have I in common with them?— Or what with the destruction of them?), Only I will establish in the Mannahatta [Manhattan] and in every city of These States, inland and seaboard, And in the fields and woods, and above every keel [ship] little or large, that dents the water, Without edifices, or rules, or trustees, or any argument, The institution of the dear love of comrades. 

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

The mimosa tree evolved in East Asia, where the beetle Bruchidius terrenus preys on its seeds. In 1785, mimosa trees were introduced to North America, far from any B. terrenus. But evolutionary links between predators and their prey can persist across centuries and continents. Around 2001, B. terrenus was introduced in southeastern North America near where botanist Shu-Mei Chang and colleagues  had been monitoring mimosa trees. Within a year, 93 percent of the trees had been attacked by the beetles.

Which choice best describes the function of the third sentence in the overall structure of the text?

Text 1

Conventional wisdom long held that human social systems evolved in stages, beginning with hunter-gatherers forming small bands of members with roughly equal status. The shift to agriculture about 12,000 years ago sparked population growth that led to the emergence of groups with hierarchical structures: associations of clans first, then chiefdoms, and finally, bureaucratic states.

Text 2

In a 2021 book, anthropologist David Graeber and archaeologist David Wengrow maintain that humans have always been socially flexible, alternately forming systems based on hierarchy and collective ones with decentralized leadership. The authors point to evidence that as far back as 50,000 years ago some hunter-gatherers adjusted their social structures seasonally, at times dispersing in small groups but also assembling into communities that included esteemed individuals. Based on the texts, how would Graeber and Wengrow (Text 2) most likely respond to the “conventional wisdom” presented in Text 1? 

The following text is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Mary, a young girl, recently found an overgrown hidden garden.

Mary was an odd, determined little person, and now she had something interesting to be determined about, she was very much absorbed, indeed. She worked and dug and pulled up weeds steadily, only becoming more pleased with her work every hour instead of tiring of it. It seemed to her like a fascinating sort of play.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?