Reading And Writing Test 1 Sat Examination

When soil becomes contaminated by toxic metals, it can be removed from the ground and disposed of in a landfill. _______ contaminated soil can be detoxified via phytoremediation: plants that can withstand high concentrations of metals absorb the pollutants and store them in their shoots, which are then cut off and safely disposed of, preserving the health of the plants. 

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

* The calendar used by most of the world
   (the Gregorian calendar) has 365 days.
* Because 365 days can’t be divided evenly
   by 7 (the number of days in a week), calendar
   dates fall on a different day of the week each  year.
* The Hanke-Henry permanent calendar, developed 
   as an alternative to the Gregorian calendar,
   has 364 days.
* Because 364 can be divided evenly by 7, calendar 
   dates fall on the same day of the week each year,
   which supports more predictable scheduling.

The student wants to explain an advantage of the Hanke-Henry calendar.

Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: 

- The Atlantic Monthly magazine was first published in 1857.

- The magazine focused on politics, art, and literature.

- In 2019, historian Cathryn Halverson published the book Faraway Women and the “Atlantic Monthly.”

- Its subject is female authors whose autobiographies appeared in the magazine in the early 1900s.

- One of the authors discussed is Juanita Harrison.

- The student wants to introduce Cathryn Halverson’s book to an audience already familiar with the Atlantic Monthly.

Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: 
• The magnificent frigatebird (fregata magnificens) 
  is a species of seabird that feeds mainly on fish, 
  tuna, squid, and other small sea animals. 
• It is unusual among seabirds in that it doesn’t dive 
  into the water for prey.
• One way it acquires food is by using its hook-tipped
  bill to snatch prey from the surface of the water.
• Another way it acquires food is by taking it from 
  weaker birds by force.
• This behavior is known as kleptoparasitism. 

The student wants to emphasize a similarity between the two ways a magnificent frigatebird acquires food. 

Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

As Mexico’s first president from an Indigenous community, Benito Juarez became one of the most ______ figures in his country’s history: among the many significant accomplishments of his long tenure in office (1858–1872), Juarez consolidated the authority of the national government and advanced the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Due to their often strange images, highly experimental syntax, and opaque subject matter, many of John Ashbery’s poems can be quite difficult to ______ and thus are the object of heated debate among scholars.

The Cambrian explosion gets its name from the sudden appearance and rapid diversification of animal remains in the fossil record about 541 million years ago, during the Cambrian period. Some scientists argue that this ______ change in the fossil record might be because of a shift in many organisms to body types that were more likely to be preserved.

Within baleen whale species, some individuals develop an accessory spleen—a seemingly functionless formation of splenetic tissue outside the normal spleen. Given the formation’s greater prevalence among whales known to make deeper dives, some researchers hypothesize that its role isn’t ______; rather, the accessory spleen may actively support diving mechanisms.

During a 2014 archaeological dig in Spain, Vicente Lull and his team uncovered the skeleton of a woman from El Algar, an Early Bronze Age society, buried with valuable objects signaling a high position of power. This finding may persuade researchers who have argued that Bronze Age societies were ruled by men to ______ that women may have also held leadership roles.

According to a US tax policy expert, state taxes are ______ other factors when considering an interstate move. Even significant differences in state taxation have almost no effect on most people’s decisions, while differences in employment opportunities, housing availability, and climate are strong influences.