Fossil bones of the huge herbivorous dinosaurs known as sauropods were first discovered and studied between 1840 and 1880, providing evidence for the gargantuan dimensions of the adults. The shape of sauropod teeth suggested what they ate. But aside from trackways, or series of fossilized footprints — which established that sauropods at least occasionally lived in herds — fossils incorporating direct evidence of other behavior, such as reproductive behavior, have been almost nonexistent. Because no modern land animals even approach sauropod size, scientists have also lacked a living analogue to use as a guide to possible sauropod behavior. Until the recent discovery of fossilized sauropod nesting grounds, scientists were thus uncertain whether sauropods laid eggs or gave birth to live young.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
9. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding the evidence provided by sauropod teeth?
A. The teeth allow inferences to be made about sauropod social behavior.
B. The shape of the teeth indicates that sauropods were herbivorous.
C. The teeth have no resemblance to those of any modern land animal.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
10. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage regarding the recently discovered fossilized sauropod nesting grounds?
A. They are among the few fossils incorporating direct evidence of sauropod behavior.
B. They confirm the evidence provided by trackways about sauropod behavior.
C. They have forced a reevaluation of theories regarding the nature of sauropod herd behavior.
Some researchers contend that sleep plays no role in the consolidation of declarative memory (i.e., memory involving factual information). These researchers note that people with impairments in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep continue to lead normal lives, and they argue that if sleep were crucial for memory, then these individuals would have apparent memory deficits. Yet the same researchers acknowledge that the cognitive capacities of these individuals have never been systematically examined, nor have they been the subject of studies of tasks on which performance reportedly depends on sleep. Even if such studies were done, they could only clarify our understanding of the role of REM sleep, not sleep in general.
These researchers also claim that improvements of memory overnight can be explained by the mere passage of time, rather than attributed to sleep. But recent studies of memory performance after sleep — including one demonstrating that sleep stabilizes declarative memories from future interference caused by mental activity during wakefulness — make this claim unsustainable. Certainly there are memoryconsolidation processes that occur across periods of wakefulness, some of which neither depend on nor are enhanced by sleep. But when sleep is compared with wakefulness, and performance is better after sleep, then some benefit of sleep for memory must be acknowledged.
11. The primary purpose of the passage is to
A. present the evidence that supports a particular claim regarding REM sleep and memory
B. describe how various factors contribute to the effect of sleep on memory
C. argue against a particular position regarding sleep’s role in memory
D. summarize the most prevalent theory regarding sleep and memory
E. defend the importance of the consolidation of declarative memory
12. According to the author of the passage, which of the following generalizations about memory and sleep is true?
A. There are some memory-consolidation processes that have nothing to do with sleep.
B. Sleep is more important to the consolidation of declarative memory than to the consolidation of other types of memory.
C. REM sleep is more important to memory consolidation than is non-REM sleep.
D. There are significant variations in the amount of sleep that people require for the successful consolidation of memory.
E. It is likely that memory is more thoroughly consolidated during wakefulness than during sleep.
13. Which of the following best describes the function of the sentence in lines 14– 16 (“Certainly . . . sleep”)?
A. It provides the reasoning behind a claim about the role of sleep in memory consolidation.
B. It explains why a previous claim about sleep and memory is unsustainable.
C. It demonstrates why wakefulness is central to the process of declarative memory consolidation.
D. It emphasizes the limited role sleep plays in the process of declarative memory consolidation.
E. It concedes that the consolidation of declarative memory does not depend entirely on one factor.
14. The importance of the study mentioned in lines 12–14 is that it
A. reveals the mechanism by which declarative memory is stabilized during sleep B. identifies a specific function that sleep plays in the memory-consolidation process
C. demonstrates that some kinds of mental activity can interfere with memory consolidation
D. suggests that sleep and wakefulness are both important to memory consolidation
E. explains how the passage of time contributes to memory consolidation
Astronomers found a large body orbiting close to the star Upsilon Andromedae. The standard theory of planet formation holds that no planet that large could be formed so close to a star, leading to the suggestion that the body is a companion star. A subsequent discovery puts that suggestion in doubt: two other large bodies were found orbiting close to Upsilon Andromedae, and the standard theory of companion stars allows for at most one companion star.
20. Which of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the status of the orbiting body without casting doubt on the two standard theories mentioned?
A. The smaller a planet orbiting a star is, and the farther away it is from the star, the less likely it is to be discovered.
B. If a planet’s orbit is disturbed, the planet can be drawn by gravity toward the star it is orbiting.
C. The largest of the bodies orbiting Upsilon Andromedae is the farthest away from the star, and the smallest is the nearest.
D. It is likely that there are many stars, in addition to Upsilon Andromedae and the Sun, that are orbited by more than one smaller body.
E. In most cases of companion stars, the smaller companion is much fainter than the larger star.
In Gilavia, the number of reported workplace injuries has declined 16 percent in the last five years. However, perhaps part of the decline results from injuries going unreported: many employers have introduced safety-incentive programs, such as prize drawings for which only employees who have a perfect work-safety record are eligible. Since a workplace injury would disqualify an employee from such programs, some employees might be concealing injury, when it is feasible to do so. 21. Which of the following, if true in Gilavia, most strongly supports the proposed explanation?
A. In the last five years, there has been no decline in the number of workplace injuries leading to immediate admission to a hospital emergency room.
B. Employers generally have to pay financial compensation to employees who suffer work-related injuries.
C. Many injuries that happen on the job are injuries that would be impossible to conceal and yet would not be severe enough to require any change to either the employee’s work schedule or the employee’s job responsibilities.
D. A continuing shift in employment patterns has led to a decline in the percentage of the workforce that is employed in the dangerous occupations in which workplace injuries are likely.
E. Employers who have instituted safety-incentive programs do not in general have a lower proportion of reported workplace injuries among their employees than do employers without such programs.
The attribution of early-nineteenth-century English fiction is notoriously problematic. Fewer than half of new novels published in Britain between 1800 and 1829 had the author’s true name printed on the title page. Most of these titles have subsequently been attributed, either through the author’s own acknowledgment of a previously anonymous or pseudonymous work, or through bibliographical research. One important tool available to researchers is the list of earlier works “by the author” often found on title pages. But such lists are as likely to create new confusion as they are to solve old problems. Title pages were generally prepared last in the publication process, often without full authorial assent, and in the lastminute rush to press, mistakes were frequently made.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
22. The passage suggests that which of the following factors contributes to the “notoriously problematic” (line 1) nature of authorial attribution in earlynineteenth-century English fiction?
A. The unwillingness of any writers to acknowledge their authorship of works that were originally published anonymously or pseudonymously
B. The possibility that the title page of a work may attribute works written by other authors to the author of that work
C. The possibility that the author’s name printed on a title page is fictitious
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
23. The passage suggests that which of the following is frequently true of the title pages of early-nineteenth-century English novels?
A. The title page was prepared for printing in a hurried manner.
B. Material on the title page was included without the author’s knowledge or approval.
C. Information on the title page was deliberately falsified to make the novel more marketable
The more definitions a given noun has, the more valuable is each one. Multiple definitions, each subtly different from all the others, convey multiple shades of meaning. They expand the uses of the word; language is enriched, thought is widened, and interpretations increase or dilate to fill the potentialities of association. The very impossibility of absoluteness in the definition of certain nouns adds to the levels of connotation they may reach. The inner life of a writer often says more than most readers can know; the mind of a reader can discover truths that go beyond the intent or perhaps even the comprehension of the writer. And all of it finds expression because a word can mean many things.
24. In the context in which it appears, “shades” (line 2) most nearly means
A. reminders
B. nuances
C. obscurities
D. coverings
E. degrees
25. The passage suggests that a writer’s use of nouns that have multiple definitions can have which of the following effects on the relationship between writer and reader?
A. It can encourage the reader to consider how the writer’s life might have influenced the work.
B. It can cause the reader to become frustrated with the writer’s failure to distinguish between subtle shades of meaning.
C. It can allow the reader to discern in a work certain meanings that the writer did not foresee.
D. It allows the writer to provide the reader with clues beyond the word itself in order to avoid ambiguity.
E. It allows the writer to present unfamiliar ideas to the reader more efficiently.
Until recently, many anthropologists assumed that the environment of what is now the southwestern United States shaped the social history and culture of the region’s indigenous peoples. Building on this assumption, archaeologists asserted that adverse environmental conditions and droughts were responsible for the disappearances and migrations of southwestern populations from many sites they once inhabited.
However, such deterministic arguments fail to acknowledge that local environmental variability in the Southwest makes generalizing about that environment difficult. To examine the relationship between environmental variation and sociocultural change in the Western Pueblo region of central Arizona, which indigenous tribes have occupied continuously for at least 800 years, a research team recently reconstructed the climatic, vegetational, and erosional cycles of past centuries. The researchers found it impossible to provide a single, generally applicable characterization of environmental conditions for the region. Rather, they found that local areas experienced different patterns of rainfall, wind, and erosion, and that such conditions had prevailed in the Southwest for the last 1,400 years. Rainfall, for example, varied within and between local valley systems, so that even adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields.
The researchers characterized episodes of variation in southwestern environments by frequency: low-frequency environmental processes occur in cycles longer than one human generation, which generally is considered to last about 25 years, and high-frequency processes have shorter cycles. The researchers pointed out that low-frequency processes, such as fluctuations in stream flow and groundwater levels, would not usually be apparent to human populations. In contrast, high-frequency fluctuations such as seasonal temperature variations are observable and somewhat predictable, so that groups could have adapted their behaviors accordingly. When the researchers compared sequences of sociocultural change in the Western Pueblo region with episodes of low- and high-frequency environmental variation, however, they found no simple correlation between environmental process and sociocultural change or persistence.
Although early Pueblo peoples did protect themselves against environmental risk and uncertainty, they responded variously on different occasions to similar patterns of high-frequency climatic and environmental change. The researchers identified seven major adaptive responses, including increased mobility, relocation of permanent settlements, changes in subsistence foods, and reliance on trade with other groups. These findings suggest that groups’ adaptive choices depended on cultural and social as well as environmental factors and were flexible strategies rather than uncomplicated reactions to environmental change. Environmental conditions mattered, but they were rarely, if ever, sufficient to account for sociocultural persistence and change. Group size and composition, culture, contact with other groups, and individual choices and actions were — barring catastrophes such as floods or earthquakes — more significant for a population’s survival than were climate and environment.
9. The passage is primarily concerned with
A. explaining why certain research findings have created controversy
B. pointing out the flaws in a research methodology and suggesting a different approach
C. presenting evidence to challenge an explanation and offering an alternative explanation
D. elucidating the means by which certain groups have adapted to their environment
E. defending a long-held interpretation by presenting new research findings
10. Which of the following findings would most strongly support the assertion made by the archaeologists mentioned in line 3?
A. A population remained in a certain region at least a century after erosion wore away much of the topsoil that sustained grass for their grazing animals.
B. The range of a certain group’s agricultural activity increased over a century of gradual decrease in annual rainfall.
C. As winters grew increasingly mild in a certain region, the nomadic residents of the region continued to move between their summer and winter encampments.
D. An agricultural population began to trade for supplies of a grain instead of producing the grain in its own fields as it had in the past.
E. A half century of drought and falling groundwater levels caused a certain population to abandon their settlements along a riverbank.
11. The fact that “adjacent agricultural fields can produce significantly different yields” (lines 16–17) is offered as evidence of the
A. unpredictability of the climate and environment of the southwestern
United States
B. difficulty of producing a consistent food supply for a large population in the
Western Pueblo region
C. lack of water and land suitable for cultivation in central Arizona
D. local climatic variation in the environment of the southwestern United
States
E. high-frequency environmental processes at work in the southwestern
United States
12. It can be inferred from the passage that which of the following activities is NOT an example of a population responding to high-frequency environmental processes?
A. Developing watertight jars in which to collect and store water during the rainy season
B. Building multistory dwellings in low-lying areas to avoid the flash flooding that occurs each summer
C. Moving a village because groundwater levels have changed over the last generation
D. Trading with other groups for furs from which to make winter clothes
E. Moving one’s herds of grazing animals each year between summer and winter pastures
Arctic sea ice comes in two varieties. Seasonal ice forms in winter and then melts in summer, while perennial ice persists year-round. To the untrained eye, all sea ice looks similar, but by licking it, one can estimate how long a particular piece has been floating round. When ice begins to form in seawater, it forces out salt, which has no place in the crystal structure. As the ice gets thicker, the rejected salt collects in tiny pockets of brine too highly concentrated to freeze. A piece of firstyear ice will taste salty. Eventually, if the ice survives, these pockets of brine drain out through fine, veinlike channels, and the ice becomes fresher; multiyear ice can even be melted and drunk.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
13. The passage mentions which of the following as being a characteristic of seasonal ice?
A. It is similar in appearance to perennial ice.
B. It is typically filled with fine, veinlike channels.
C. It tastes saltier than perennial ice.
14. In the context in which it appears, “fine” (line 7) most nearly means
A. acceptable
B. elegant
C. precise
D. pure
E. small
Historians credit repeated locust invasions in the nineteenth century with reshaping United States agriculture west of the Mississippi River. Admonished by government entomologists, farmers began to diversify. Wheat had come to nearly monopolize the region, but it was particularly vulnerable to the locusts. In 1873, just before the locusts’ most withering offensive, nearly two-thirds of Minnesota farmland was producing wheat; by the invasions’ last year, that fraction had dropped to less than one-sixth. Farmers learned that peas and beans were far less vulnerable to the insects, and corn was a more robust grain than wheat. In addition to planting alternative crops, many farmers turned to dairy and beef production. Although pastures were often damaged by the locusts, these lands were almost always left in better shape than the crops were.
For the following question, consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.
19. According to the passage, before the recommendations by the government entomologists, which of the following was true about farming west of the Mississippi River?
A. Farmers focused primarily on growing wheat.
B. Peas and beans had not yet been planted in the region.
C. A relatively small portion of farmland was devoted to crops other than wheat.
20. In the context in which it appears, “robust” (line 8) most nearly means
A. crude
B. demanding
C. productive
D. vigorous
E. rich
