Digital PSAT Reading and Writing Practie Test 25

1

The most common application cited by such scholars is that of long-distance communication. __________ no scientific studies on the subject have been published, many witnesses claim that the lower audible frequencies emitted by the bullroarer can travel impressive distances, with listeners clearly discerning its sound from up to two miles away.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

2

The incubation of blues music began with the first arrival of West African slaves in America. Through the Revolution and the emergence of the United States, to the abolition of slavery and onward, the blues continued to evolve and proliferate, taking on new forms, instrumentations, and significance. _______ today the blues may seem as American as apple pie, we mustn't forget the creative debt that this most American of musical genres owes to its West African ancestors.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

3

Medieval alchemists made minor contributions to the creation of the periodic table through their tedious observation of the known elements' physical and chemical properties. ______ inquisitive minds made gradual progress toward understanding matter in its elemental form throughout the millennia, it was not until the 17th century that the discoveries which laid the table's foundation truly accelerated.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

4

In the scholarly debate of gender and class in Renaissance Italy, the writings of historian Samuel K. Cohn, Jr., maintain that Italian women-especially those of the lower classes-experienced a palpable decline in status from the late 14th century until the Counter-Reformation visitations of the 1570s. Cohn's essays are distinct from his contemporaries in that they bespeak a darker and rarely mentioned side of the Renaissance. __________ the broadly encompassing scope of his essays is an attempt to investigate populations as a whole, rather than focusing solely on elites, which, according to Cohn, "has been, with few exceptions, the tendency of women's Renaissance history since the 1970s."

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

5

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

■ Professionals in both law enforcement and forensics need a way to study human body decomposition prior to taking on specific cases.

■ To allow people to learn about the decomposition of the human body, a "body farm" can be a great help.

■ People can donate their bodies to a body farm upon death, where their bodies may be exposed to different conditions so that learning can take place as to how a human body will decompose under different circumstances.

■ FBI agents and other law enforcement professionals may study at a body farm to be better able to work with human remains and gather evidence used to catch criminals.

The student wants to suggest a way that typical readers might contribute to body decomposition research. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

6

Will's parents knew he was a very smart child. He mastered concepts in school much more quickly than other students. However, his grades did not reflect his intelligence. His _____________ nature was his downfall as he never completed his homework assignments on time. Perfect test scores were not enough to compensate for missing assignments.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

7

There are a number of more indirect, ecologically-oriented ways in which the microbiome confers protection to its host. Abundant colonization of our bodies by benign microorganisms, for example, inhibits the overgrowth of more dangerous ones through the sheer depletion of microbial nutrients. This notion of ecological balance has been of particular interest to scientists studying the microbiome, as it hinges upon both the variable diversity of species that colonize an individual as well as factors that affect the dynamism of a micro biotic population.

As used in the text, the word hinges most closely means

8

The following text is from Jane Austen's 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The novel's protagonist, Fanny Price, returns home after many years of living with her wealthy relatives at Mansfield Park.

Her disappointment in her mother was greater: there she had hoped much, and found almost nothing. Every flattering scheme of being of consequence to her soon fell to the ground. Mrs. Price was not unkind; but, instead of gaining on her affection and confidence, and becoming more and more dear, her daughter never met with greater kindness from her than on the first day of her arrival. The instinct of nature was soon satisfied, and Mrs. Price's attachment had no other source. Her heart and her time were already quite full; she had neither leisure nor affection to bestow on Fanny. Her daughters never had been much to her. She was fond of her sons, especially of William, but Betsey was the first of her girls whom she had ever much regarded.

As used in the text, the phrase instinct of nature most nearly means

9

The first great breakthrough in cooking had to be the division of fires into their component functions. That is, a campfire used to produce light or to heat a large area is not typically the ideal fire for cooking. Once a fire ring was designated specifically for the preparation of food, the earliest earthen stoves almost certainly began to evolve shortly afterward and would have significantly increased the degree to which primitive cooks could distribute heat evenly. Discovered in the Ukraine, the oldest known stoves appear to date from about 30,000 years ago and were used primarily to bake mammoth meat.

The underlined sentence serves to clarify what phrase in the text?

10

Much like our own cells, a significant portion of bacteria play crucial roles in our metabolic and immunological processes. Oxalobacter formigenes, which colonizes the colon, is a primary source of the enzyme oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase, which allows us to safely eliminate dietary oxalate. Without this enzyme, calcium oxalate salts tend to accumulate in the kidney tubules, and eventually precipitate as renal stones. Other colonic bacteria catalyze the reduction of bilirubin into urobilinogen: a reaction critical to our digestion of fats, and absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Interestingly, many bacteria within our gastrointestinal tracts also directly synthesize several vitamins in excess of their own metabolic needs, and, as a result, represent an important source of both vitamin B12, which is necessary for the production of new red blood cells, and vitamin K, which is a cofactor in the synthesis of several blood clotting factors.

What is the primary purpose of the text as a whole?