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The following text is from Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1910 poem "The Earth's Entail".

No matter how we cultivate the land,

Taming the forest and the prairie free;
No matter how we irrigate the sand,
Making the desert blossom at command,
We must always leave the borders of the sea;
The immeasureable reaches
Of the windy wave-wet beaches,
The million-mile-long margin of the sea.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The speaker provides examples of an admirable way of approaching nature and then challenges that
approach.
B. The speaker describes attempts to control nature and then offers a reminder that not all nature is
controllable.
C. The speaker argues against interfering with nature and then gives evidence supporting this
interference.
D. The speaker presents an account of efforts to dominate nature and then cautions that such efforts are
only temporary.

Mathematician Claude Shannon is widely regarded as a foundational figure in information theory. His most
important paper, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication," published in 1948 when he was employed at
Bell Labs, utilized a concept called a "binary digit" (shortened to "bit") to measure the amount of information
in any signal and determine the fastest rate at which information could be transmitted while still being
reliably decipherable. Robert Gallagher, one of Shannon's colleagues, said that the bit was "[Shannon's]
discovery, and from it the whole communications revolution has sprung."

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It introduces a respected researcher, describes an aspect of his work, and suggests why the work is
historically significant.
B. It names the company where an important mathematician worked, details the mathematician's career at
the company, and provides an example of the recognition he received there.
C. It mentions a paper, offers a summary of the paper's findings, and presents a researcher's commentary
on the paper.
D. It presents a theoretical concept, illustrates how the name of the concept has changed, and shows how
the name has entered common usage.

In 1973, poet Miguel Algarín started inviting other writers who, like him, were Nuyorican—a term for New
Yorkers of Puerto Rican heritage—to gather in his apartment to present their work. The gatherings were so
well attended that Algarín soon had to rent space in a cafe to accommodate them. Thus, the Nuyorican Poets
Cafe was born. Moving to a permanent location in 1981, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its original
scope beyond the written word, hosting art exhibitions and musical performances as well. Half a century
since its inception, it continues to foster emerging Nuyorican talent.

Which choice best describes the overall purpose of the text?

A. To explain what motivated Algarín to found the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

B. To situate the Nuyorican Poets Cafe within the cultural life of New York as a whole

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C. To discuss why the Nuyorican Poets Cafe expanded its scope to include art and music
D. To provide an overview of the founding and mission of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe

The following text is from Srimati Svarna Kumari Devi's 1894 novel The Fatal Garland (translated by A.
Christina Albers in 1910). Shakti is walking near a riverbank that she visited frequently during her
childhood.

She crossed the woods she knew so well. The trees seemed to extend their branches like welcoming arms.
They greeted her as an old friend. Soon she reached the river-side.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It suggests that Shakti feels uncomfortable near the river.

B. It indicates that Shakti has lost her sense of direction in the woods.
C. It emphasizes Shakti's sense of belonging in the landscape.
D. It conveys Shakti's appreciation for her long-term friendships.

The following text is adapted from Herman Melville's 1857 novel The Confidence-Man. Humphry Davy was
a prominent British chemist and inventor.

Years ago, a grave American savant, being in London, observed at an evening party there, a certain
coxcombical fellow, as he thought, an absurd ribbon in his lapel, and full of smart [banter], whisking about to
the admiration of as many as were disposed to admire. Great was the savant's disdain; but, chancing ere long
to find himself in a corner with the jackanapes, got into conversation with him, when he was somewhat ill-
prepared for the good sense of the jackanapes, but was altogether thrown aback, upon subsequently being
[informed that he was] no less a personage than Sir Humphry Davy.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It explains why one character dislikes another.

B. It portrays the thoughts of a character who is embarrassed about his own behavior.
C. It offers a short history of how a person came to be famous.
D. It presents an account of a misunderstanding.

Horizontal gene transfer occurs when an organism of one species acquires genetic material from an organism
of another species through nonreproductive means. The genetic material can then be transferred "vertically"
in the second species—that is, through reproductive inheritance. Scientist Atma Ivancevic and her team have
hypothesized infection by invertebrate parasites as a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer between
vertebrate species: while feeding, a parasite could acquire a gene from one host, then relocate to a host from
a different vertebrate species and transfer the gene to it in turn.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It explains why parasites are less susceptible to horizontal gene transfer than their hosts are.
B. It clarifies why some genes are more likely to be transferred horizontally than others are.
C. It contrasts how horizontal gene transfer occurs among vertebrates with how it occurs among
Invertebrates.
D. It describes a means by which horizontal gene transfer might occur among vertebrates.

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Many films from the early 1900s have been lost. These losses include several films by the first wave of
Black women filmmakers. We know about these lost movies only from small pieces of evidence. For
example, an advertisement for Jennie Louise Touissant Welcome's documentary Doing Their Bit still exists.
There's a reference in a magazine to Tressie Souders's film A Woman's Error. And Maria P. Williams's The
Flames of Wrath is mentioned in a letter and a newspaper article, and one image from the movie was
discovered in the 1990s.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. The text discusses several notable individuals, then explains commonly overlooked differences
between those individuals.
B. The text describes a general situation, then illustrates that situation with specific examples.
C. The text identifies a complex problem, then presents examples of unsuccessful attempts to solve that
problem.
D. The text summarizes a debate among researchers, then gives reasons for supporting one side in that
debate.

The 1967 release of Harold Cruse's book The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual isolated him from almost all
other scholars and activists of the American Civil Rights Movement—though many of those thinkers
disagreed with each other, he nonetheless found ways to disagree with them all. He thought that activists who
believed that Black people such as himself should culturally assimilate were naïve. But he also sharply
criticized Black nationalists such as Marcus Garvey who wanted to establish independent, self-contained
Black economies and societies, even though Cruse himself identified as a Black nationalist.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?

A. It indicates that Cruse's reputation as a persistent antagonist of other scholars is undeserved.

B. It describes a controversy that Cruse's work caused within the Black nationalist movement.
C. It describes a direction that Cruse felt the Civil Rights Movement ought to take.
D. It helps explain Cruse's position with respect to the community of civil rights thinkers.

Michelene Pesantubbee, a historian and citizen of the Choctaw Nation, has identified a dilemma inherent to
research on the status of women in her tribe during the 1600s and 1700s: the primary sources from that era,
travel narratives and other accounts by male European colonizers, underestimate the degree of power
conferred on Choctaw women by their traditional roles in political, civic, and ceremonial life. Pesantubbee
argues that the Choctaw oral tradition and findings from archaeological sites in the tribe's homeland
supplement the written record by providing crucial insights into those roles.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It details the shortcomings of certain historical sources, then argues that research should avoid those
sources altogether.
B. It describes a problem that arises in research on a particular topic, then sketches a historian's approach
to addressing that problem.
C. It lists the advantages of a particular research method, then acknowledges a historian's criticism of that
method.
D. It characterizes a particular topic as especially challenging to research, then suggests a related topic for
historians to pursue instead.

10

In many agricultural environments, the banks of streams are kept forested to protect water quality, but it's
been unclear what effects these forests may have on stream biodiversity. To investigate the issue, biologist
Xingli Giam and colleagues studied an Indonesian oil palm plantation, comparing the species richness of
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forested streams with that of nonforested streams. Giam and colleagues found that species richness was
significantly higher in forested streams, a finding the researchers attribute to the role leaf litter plays in
sheltering fish from predators and providing food resources.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A. It explains the differences between stream-protection strategies used in oil palm plantations and
stream-protection strategies used in other kinds of agricultural environments.
B. It presents a study that addresses an unresolved question about the presence of forests along streams in
agricultural environments.
C. It discusses research intended to settle a debate about how agricultural yields can be increased without
negative effects on water quality.
D. It describes findings that challenge a previously held view about how fish that inhabit streams in
agricultural environments attempt to avoid predators.

11

Works of moral philosophy, such as Plato's Republic or Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, are partly concerned
with how to live a morally good life. But philosopher Jonathan Barnes argues that works that present a
method of living such a life without also supplying a motive are inherently useful only to those already
wishing to be morally good—those with no desire for moral goodness will not choose to follow their rules.
However, some works of moral philosophy attempt to describe what constitutes a morally good life while
also proposing reasons for living one.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A. It mentions two renowned works and then claims that despite their popularity it is impossible for these
works to serve the purpose their authors intended.
B. It summarizes the history of a field of thought by discussing two works and then proposes a topic of
further research for specialists in that field.
C. It describes two influential works and then explains why one is more widely read than the other.
D. It provides a characterization about a field of thought by noting two works in it and then details a way
in which some works in that field are more comprehensive than others.

12

The following text is adapted from Oscar Wilde's 1897 nonfiction work De Profundis.

People whose desire is solely for self-realisation never know where they are going. They can't know. In one
sense of the word it is of course necessary to know oneself: that is the first achievement of knowledge. But to
recognise that the soul of a man is unknowable, is the ultimate achievement of wisdom. The final mystery is
oneself. When one has weighed the sun in the balance, and measured the steps of the moon, and mapped out
the seven heavens star by star, there still remains oneself. Who can calculate the orbit of his own soul?

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined question in the text as a whole?

A. It cautions readers that the text's directions for how to achieve self-knowledge are hard to follow.
B. It concedes that the definition of self-knowledge advanced in the text is unpopular.
C. It reinforces the text's skepticism about the possibility of truly achieving self-knowledge.
D. It speculates that some readers will share the doubts expressed in the text about the value of self-
knowledge.

13

Researchers have found a nearly 164,000-year-old molar from a member of the archaic human species
known as Denisovans in a cave in Laos, suggesting that Denisovans lived in a wider range of environments
than indicated by earlier evidence. Before the discovery, Denisovans were thought to have lived only at high

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altitudes in relatively cold climates in what are now Russia and China, but the discovery of the tooth in Laos
suggests that they may have lived at low altitudes in relatively warm climates in Southeast Asia as well.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

A. It defines a term used in the description that follows in the rest of the sentence.
B. It emphasizes the main goal of the research introduced in the previous sentence.
C. It provides context that clarifies the significance of the information that follows in the rest of the
sentence.
D. It dismisses as untrue the research presented in the previous sentence.

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