2024 SAT Standardized Test Practice Paper-Writing and Language III

1. 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.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) unpredictable
B) important
C) secretive
D) ordinary

Correct Answer: B

Answer Explanation:

Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of Juarez. In this context, “important” means marked by significant work or consequence. The text indicates that Juarez, who was the first president of Mexico from an Indigenous community, became a certain kind of figure in Mexico’s history. It then supports that claim by describing some of the “many significant accomplishments” from Juarez’s long tenure in office. This context conveys that Juarez is a significant and consequential figure in Mexico’s history.

2. 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.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) delegate
B) compose
C) interpret
D) renounce

Correct Answer: C

Answer Explanation:

Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of John Ashbery’s poems. As used in this context, “interpret” would mean decipher the meaning of. The text indicates that Ashbery’s poems have many unusual features, that it’s difficult to tell what exactly the poems’ subject matter is, and that scholars strongly disagree about the poems. This context conveys the idea that it’s difficult to interpret Ashbery’s poems.

3. 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.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) catastrophic
B) elusive
C) abrupt
D) imminent

Correct Answer: C

Answer Explanation:

Choice C is the best answer because it most logically and precisely completes the text’s discussion of the fossil record from the Cambrian period. In this context, “abrupt” means sudden. The text explains that the fossil record reflects the unexpected appearance and rapid diversification, or increase in variety, of animal remains during the Cambrian period. This context establishes that these remains’ entry into the fossil record was sudden.

4. 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.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) waive
B) concede
C) refute
D) require

Correct Answer: B

Answer Explanation:

Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the significance of the 2014 archaeological finding at El Algar. In this context, “concede” means to admit something is true after first resisting that admission. The text indicates that some researchers believe “Bronze Age societies were ruled by men.” But the Bronze Age burial of a woman at El Algar included “valuable objects signaling a high position of power,” which would raise the possibility that “women may have also held leadership roles.” Thus, the text is calling into question the notion that only men were leaders in these societies and speculating that people holding this view may reconsider their opinion.

5. 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.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) replicable
B) predetermined
C) operative
D) latent

Correct Answer: D

Answer Explanation:

Choice D is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of baleen whale accessory spleens. In this context, “latent” means dormant or functionless. The text sets up a contrast between the idea that baleen whale accessory spleens appear not to have a function and the research indicating that the accessory spleen may actually have a role in supporting the whales’ diving mechanisms. This context therefore conveys the idea that the assumption that baleen whale accessory spleens are latent may be incorrect.

6. 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.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) consistent with
B) representative of
C) overshadowed by
D) irrelevant to

Correct Answer: C

Answer Explanation:

Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the factors that influence peoples’ decisions to move to a different state. As used in this context, “overshadowed by” means to be surpassed by or caused to seem less important than other factors affecting a move. The text indicates that, according to a US tax policy expert, when people think about an interstate move, state taxes have little effect on their decisions, while employment opportunities, housing availability, and climate have a very strong effect. This context suggests that people consider these other factors to be more important than state taxes.

7. The author’s claim about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is ______, as it fails to account for several recent archaeological discoveries. To be convincing, his argument would
need to address recent finds of additional hominid fossils, such as the latest Denisovan specimens and Homo longi.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) disorienting
B) tenuous
C) nuanced
D) unoriginal

Correct Answer: B

Answer Explanation:

Choice B is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of the author’s claim about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. As used in this context, “tenuous” means lacking substance or strength. The text states that the author’s claim isn’t convincing because it doesn’t consider certain pieces of evidence—relevant recent discoveries. The context conveys the idea that the author’s claim is weak.

8. The following text is from Georgia Douglas Johnson’s 1922 poem “Benediction.” Go forth, my son, Winged by my heart’s desire! Great reaches, yet unknown, Await For your possession. I may not, if I would, Retrace the way with you, My pilgrimage is through, But life is calling you!
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
A) To express hope that a child will have the same accomplishments as his parent did
B) To suggest that raising a child involves many struggles
C) To warn a child that he will face many challenges throughout his life
D) To encourage a child to embrace the experiences life will offer

Correct Answer: D

Answer Explanation:

Choice D is the best answer because it accurately states the text’s main purpose. The poem begins with the speaker urging a child to “go forth” with her encouragement (“my heart’s desire”). The speaker goes on to suggest that new experiences (“Great reaches, yet unknown”) lie ahead for the son that “life is calling” him to seek out. Thus, the main purpose is to encourage a child to embrace the experiences available to him in his life.

9. The following text is adapted from Indian Boyhood, a 1902 memoir by Ohiyesa (Charles A. Eastman), a Santee Dakota writer. In the text, Ohiyesa recalls how the women in his tribe harvested maple syrup during his childhood. Now the women began to test the trees—moving leisurely among them, axe in hand, and striking a single quick blow, to see if the sap would appear. The trees, like people, have their
individual characters; some were ready to yield up their life-blood, while others were more reluctant. Now one of the birchen basins was set under each tree, and a hardwood chip driven deep into the cut which the axe had made. From the corners of this chip—at first drop by drop, then more freely—the sap trickled into the little dishes.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
A) It portrays the range of personality traits displayed by the women as they work.
B) It foregrounds the beneficial relationship between humans and maple trees.
C) It demonstrates how human behavior can be influenced by the natural environment.
D) It elaborates on an aspect of the maple trees that the women evaluate.

Correct Answer: D

Answer Explanation:

Choice D is the best answer because it best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text’s overall portrayal of how the women in Ohiyesa’s tribe harvested maple syrup. The text states that the women used an axe to strike the maple trees in order to find out which ones would produce sap. The underlined sentence compares the trees to people, with the sap described as the trees’ “life-blood.” Some of the trees are ready to give out their sap, while others are unwilling to do so. Using personification, the sentence provides greater detail about the aspect of the maple trees—their potential to give sap—that the women are evaluating.

10. In 2014, Amelia Quon and her team at NASA set out to build a helicopter capable of flying on Mars. Because Mars’s atmosphere is only one percent as dense as Earth’s, the air of Mars would not provide enough resistance to the rotating blades of a standard helicopter for the aircraft to stay aloft. For five years, Quon’s team tested designs in a lab that mimicked Mars’s atmospheric conditions. The craft the team ultimately designed can fly on Mars because its blades are longer and rotate faster than those of a helicopter of the same size built for Earth.
According to the text, why would a helicopter built for Earth be unable to fly on Mars?
A) Because Mars and Earth have different atmospheric conditions
B) Because the blades of helicopters built for Earth are too large to work on Mars
C) Because the gravity of Mars is much weaker than the gravity of Earth
D) Because helicopters built for Earth are too small to handle the conditions on Mars

Correct Answer: A

Answer Explanation:

Choice A is the best answer because it presents an explanation about a helicopter that is directly supported by the text. The text states that Mars’s atmosphere is much less dense than Earth’s, and as a result, the air on Mars doesn’t provide the resistance required to support the blades of a helicopter built for Earth and to keep the helicopter aloft. In other words, a helicopter built for Earth can’t fly on Mars because of the differences in the two planets’ atmospheres.

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