Passage Reading Process

Question 1

What is the key to improving your passage reading skills?

Answer 1

The key to passage reading is a process called “active reading”.

Check out Princeton University’s McGraw Center online for a more detailed approach. It’s designed for coursework, but a modified version is very good for SAT.

Question 2

What is active reading?

Answer 2

It’s reading with certain broad questions in mind, and mapping with concise sidenotes.

Active reading is a process that stresses comprehension of text instead of just drawing information. This process is taught at major universities. Search for it online.

Question 3

What are the benefits of using active reading on SAT?

Answer 3

Active reading process improves:

• comprehension
• identification of inference and tone
• efficiency in checking back for details
• prediction for answering questions
• confidence

Question 4

Is there a risk in using an active reading approach for the SAT?

Answer 4

Yes

In the short term, as you are learning how to do it, you will be slower and less efficient.

If you are trying to improve your score in less than two months and cannot devote the time to learning the process, then you should look to the advice we give on understanding the test better.

However, if you commit to the process and DO ALL your coursework reading this way, it should improve your grades and prepare you to handle the college work load, as well as raise your SAT scores.

Question 5

How does active reading teach you to approach each paragraph?

Answer 5

In active reading, you must read each paragraph to find the main idea.

Question 6

What are the four questions that guide your focus while using active reading?

Answer 6

While you read you try to answer these questions:

• What is the main point of this paragraph/passage?
• What is the purpose of this paragraph/passage?
• How are the opinions related in the reading?
• What are the new terms/words or unusual phrasings?

Question 7

How do the active reading questions become a map of notes for your reading?

Answer 7

Your mapping should include:

• brief comprehension sum-ups
• brackets for opinions
• underlines for new words/terms, and unusual word choices
• asterisks to mark where a conclusion or inference is called for
• side numbering for recognized key details

Question 8

What types of passages will you face in SAT critical reading?

Answer 8

• short passage
• long passage
• comparative passage

Comparative passages can compare one paragraph to one paragraph–or as many as four paragraphs to four.

Question 9

Should you adapt your basic approach to passage reading depending upon the type of passage?

Answer 9

Yes. Each passage type should change the emphasis of your mapping.

Short passages don’t need a sidenote mapping.
Comparative passages require recognizing and comparing opinions.
Long passages about science require looking after details.
Long passages of literature need special attention to inference and tone.

Question 10

Read the following passage about the Mississippi River. What would be a concise sidenote for this paragraph?

The mud deposit gradually extends the land–but only gradually; it has extended it not quite a third of a mile in the two hundred years which have elapsed since the river took its place in history. The belief of the scientific people is, that the mouth used to be at Baton Rouge, where the hills cease, and that the two hundred miles of land between there and the Gulf was built by the river. This gives us the age of that piece of country, without any trouble at all–one hundred and twenty thousand years. Yet it is much the youthfullest batch of country that lies around there anywhere.

Answer 10

A good sidenote would be:

“mud created land below BR”

The sidenotes help you to see the way the paragraph ideas relate together, at a glance. They also guide you at finding details if you have to search the passage to answer a question.

Question 11

Let’s read the next paragraph of the same passage. How would you sidenote this one?

The Mississippi is remarkable in still another way–its disposition to make prodigious jumps by cutting through narrow necks of land, and thus straightening and shortening itself. More than once it has shortened itself thirty miles at a single jump! These cut-offs have had curious effects: they have thrown several river towns out into the rural districts, and built up sand bars and forests in front of them. The town of Delta used to be three miles below Vicksburg: a recent cutoff has radically changed the position, and Delta is now TWO MILES ABOVE Vicksburg.

Answer 11

A good sidenote might be:

river changes its path

Question 12

How does writing immediate sidenotes help you with comprehension during passage reading?

Answer 12

Generating sidenotes maintains a high focus level.

This technique calls on you at regular intervals to “put what you read into your own words”. You can’t do that if you’re not focused. Practice this and you will get better at reading, and your score can only go up.

Question 13

Why do the sidenotes need to be short?

Answer 13

Time is limited.

The sidenotes should solidify your comprehension and hint to remind you what you read if you look back at them. Write them as short as you can, while still conveying meaning.

Question 14

How can sidenotes help you with strategy during certain passages?

Answer 14

Sidenotes tell you when you’re not understanding a passage too, which helps time management.

Often test takers are into the third or fourth paragraph before they realize that they don’t “get” the passage, but with active reading, you know right away, and can decide to skip the passage and do it last.

Question 15

Where should you practice passage reading process?

Answer 15

Practice mapping, marking, and sidenoting using an SAT practice book.

Practicising SAT passage reading is mostly about shaping the way you read and improving the way you mark the text. Unfortunately, although this app is designed to clarify and demonstrate the best approach, significant practice is still required in one of those dreaded books.

Question 16

How can you improve your score on SAT reading if you have time for only a few study sessions before the test?

Answer 16

Learn your strengths in areas of reading and types of questions. Then, concentrate on getting all those points.

Perfecting passage reading takes time.

Question 17

What questions should you attempt on a passage that you didn’t understand well when you read it?

Answer 17

Look for vocabulary in context and detail questions first.

Remember, when the passage reading is really top-notch tough, often the questions aren’t top-notch tough. The test has a psychological component that attacks the morale and confidence. Keep your courage. Try the questions.

Question 18

What type of question is made much easier when you are able to write effective sidenotes?

Answer 18

Sidenotes help tremendously with answering main idea questions.

They can also help to locate crucial details.

Question 19

How are recognizing tone and making inferences different than just noticing details during reading?

Answer 19

Both recognizing tone and making inferences require the reader to add meaning to what is in the passage.

This is where reading becomes a kind of mental collaboration with the writer.

Question 20

What is tone in writing?

Answer 20

Tone is the attitude that comes through the wording and phrasing about the subject or topic.

Question 21

How do you recognize the tone of a passage?

Answer 21

Tone can be seen in the author’s choice of words.

Example: Some critics have been so enamored of Tarantino’s dialogue, they fail to notice just how violent, misogynistic, and rascist his movies can be.

Tone: author thinks most critics leave Tarantino unchallenged about his themes.

Question 22

Read this passage. What unusual wording or phrasing should you underline that indicate the author’s attitude?

This passage written in the late 19th-century describes a river changing its course by erosion.

Both of these river towns have been retired to the country by that cut-off. A cut-off plays havoc with boundary lines and jurisdictions: for instance, a man is living in the State of Mississippi to-day, a cut-off occurs to-night, and to-morrow the man finds himself and his land over on the other side of the river, within the boundaries and subject to the laws of the State of Louisiana! Such a thing, happening in the upper river in the old times,could have transferred a slave from Missouri to Illinois and made a free man of him.

Answer 22

The author is being light and whimiscal about the subject.

• retired to the country
• plays havoc
• man finds himself
• transferred a slave…made a free man

Consider that the sudden changes in the river’s flow probably drowned people, and destroyed farms and businesses.

Question 23

What makes underlining the tone of a passage challenging?

Answer 23

There are many distinct tones which can be conveyed with a small number of word choices

During passage reading, a student has many things to keep in mind, so tone often escapes notice.

Question 24

What words or phrases in this section should be underlined to indicate the author’s tone?

Margaret of Navarre was writing the ‘Heptameron’ and some religious books,– the first survives, the others are forgotten, wit and indelicacy being sometimes better literature preservers than holiness.

Answer 24

These words add up to an irreverent tone?

• indelicacy
• preservers
• holiness

Question 25

What indicates the presence of an inference in passage reading?

Answer 25

A part of a sentence where the meaning is not immediately clear.

Generally, it’s a moment where you feel you should stop and think about what you read. During the test, stop and think. There’s definitely a question coming about it.

Question 26

How should you mark the passage when you find an inference?

Answer 26

Put an asterisk or a dash in the margin next to it.

Write a brief note expressing what you inferred.

Question 27

What are the portions of this passage that should be marked with an “*” to indicate an inference?

The President has the right under the Constitution to speak about public matters privately to his advisors. However, the invocation of this executive privilege by the Oval Office has increased in frequency over the past six administrations, and with every instance, public distrust has intensified. Of course, no one wants the President to be beholden to Congress or the Supreme Court, but neither does anyone want a shroud on democracy. Even a black and white issue, like this worthy principle, if handled in a fast and loose way, can turn very gray indeed.

Answer 27

• “…neither do they want a shroud on democracy.”
• “…fast and loose way, can turn…gray indeed.”

The executive privilege is being invoked more and more often as a way to hide what should be known by the people.

Question 28

Where does this passage require a sidenote “*” to indicate an inference?

For many schools, the banning of cellphones in class is merely a shell game. Teachers do not want to take the trouble to confiscate and render the contraband to an overworked administrator to be picked up by a parent as many school cellphone policies proscribe. They often have to adopt the more lenient policy: “have your cake, but don’t eat it in front of me”. Even during tests, if the classroom had eyes, it might see students texting answers to each other, or doing a little websearch, even, but sometimes ignorance is bliss on both sides of the equation.

Answer 28

• “Even during tests, if the classroom had eyes,…”

Since the classroom has many eyes, this suggests a certain degree of apathy for the kind of cheating that the cell phones facilitate.

Question 29

How should you handle words that you have difficulty decoding in a passage even when the words are familiar?

Answer 29

Underline them and get ready to answer a question about them.

This situation indicates a vocabulary question coming among the questions.

Question 30

What are the vocabulary words in this passage that you might underline?

For many schools, the banning of cellphones in class is merely a shell game. Teachers do not want to take the trouble to confiscate and render the contraband to an unwilling administrator to be picked up by a parent as many cellphone policies prescribe. They often have to adopt the more lenient policy: “have your cake, but don’t eat it in front of me.” Even during tests, if the classroom had eyes, it might see students texting answers to each other, or doing a little web search, even, but sometimes ignorance is bliss on both sides of the equation.

Answer 30

“confiscate”
“render”
“contraband”

Any of these could have a question about it.

Question 31

What are the words in this passage that require some decoding?

The President has the right under the Constitution to speak about public matters privately to his advisors. However, the invocation of this executive privilege by the Oval Office has increased in frequency over the past six administrations, and with every instance, so distrust has intensified. Of course, no one wants the President beholden to the Congress or the Supreme Court, but neither does anyone want a shroud on democracy. Even a black and white issue, like this worthy principle, if handled in a fast and loose way, can turn very gray indeed.

Answer 31

• “invocation”
• “shroud”

Try to figure out the word after you mark it, you’ll probably get a question on it, and the context might help moving on with the reading.

Question 32

How can the vocabulary in the passage reading be more challenging than in sentence correction?

Answer 32

The context clues may come from preceeding or subsequent sentences.

You may have to read a healthy chunk of the paragraph to find the clues.

Question 33

In what kind of passages will you find detail questions?

Answer 33

Detail questions can happen in any kind of passage, but most often in expository, scientific passages.

Question 34

What makes detail questions challenging on the SAT passage reading?

Answer 34

Detail questions are hard because…

• context may be boring
• terms may be foreign or complicated
• sheer number of details

Question 35

Next to which of these lines would you put numbers to indicate key details?

Madagascar’s eastern coastal region extends from north of the modest commercial harbors of Antongil Bay, and the coastline is mostly straight in a southwestern direction below it. The east coast region consists of a strip of lowlands, not much more than 50 kilometers wide, although, just south of the bay it tapers off to a set of cliffs fronting the Indian Ocean and picks up again below them. The thin band of lowlands was formed from the sedimentation of alluvial soils. To the south, along that straight coastline, an 800-kilometer long lagoon formed naturally by sand washed up in ocean currents and silt from region’s rivers. This feature of the coast, further connected by French engineers and called Canals des Pangalanes, is used for transportation and fishing.

Answer 35

Lines with:

1. “commercial harbors”
2. “Antongil Bay”
3. “50 km wide lowlands”
4. “alluvial soils”
5. “800-km lagoon”
6. “sand and silt”
7. “Canals des Pangalanes”
8. “French engineers”

Question 36

Next to which lines would you number key details?

A little inland, an intermediate zone of mostly bluffs and ravines borders an escarpment of about 500 meters in elevation, which allows access to the central highlands. The high country is between 800 to 1,800 meters in altitude, and contains rounded hills, outcroppings of massive granite, dormant volcanoes, peneplains, geotic plains and wetlands. These eroded volcanic high flatlands have been cultivated to raise rice. From Tsaratanana Massif in the north to the Ivakony Massif in the south, the central highlands reach, defined clearly by the escarpments along the east coast. They slope gently to the west coast. The largest lake, Lac Alaotra, is 40 km. long and is set within a rift valley running north to south at an elevation of 761 m. above sea level. The region around the lake is the least geological stable and tremors occur there frequently.”

Answer 36

Lines with:

1. “500 meters”
2. “rounded hills, granite, volcanoes, peneplains, geotic plains and wetlands”
3. “cultivated–rice”
4. “Tsaratanana Massif…Ivakony Massif”
5. “largest…Lac Alaotra”
6. “40 km.”
7. “761 m. above sea level”
8. “tremors”

With so many details, you can see how valuable mapping can be.

Question 37

What is the best process for answering passage reading questions?

Answer 37

The best process for answering passage reading questions…

1. Read and identify question type
2. Predict answer
3. Look for keywords among answers that match your prediction
4. Find and check carefully for disqualifier, OR
5. Eliminate incorrect answers
6. Guess if you’re down to 2

Question 38

Why is it important to carefully read and identify each question?

Answer 38

Reading and identifying questions are both important because the test questions are often very specific, may have misleading or unfamiliar phrasings, and call for particular ways to solve.

Question 39

Why is predicting the answer so crucial to a good selection process?

Answer 39

Predicting the answer can lead to a more confident and efficient selection.

Prediction also avoids the problem of “talking yourself into a wrong answer.”

Question 40

How should you use your prediction in the answering process?

Answer 40

Use it to scan for keywords in the answer choices and decide the most likely answer.

Question 41

When you find the most likely answer based on keywords in your prediction, for what must you still check?

Answer 41

A disqualifying word.

This is a kind of passage reading trap, where a really good word is near the beginning of the suggested answer, but a word that goes too far or off the point comes very near the end of it.

Some students really feel anxiety from the time limitation, and this type of trap works well on them.

Question 42

If you can’t find a convincing answer, how do you continue the process?

Answer 42

It means your prediction hasn’t helped, so try to eliminate clearly wrong answers.

You can usually get rid of two answers pretty easily.

Question 43

How do you eliminate the wrong answers when you can not quite predict the answer with any degree of confidence?

Answer 43

Eliminate by identifying the common distractor type.

Question 44

What are some of the distractors used to keep you from finding the correct answer?

Answer 44

Most common distractors:

• “Feel-good” answer
• Irrevelant
• Misread
• Misattribution
• Overreach
• Keyword trap

If you can label a distractor as one of these, you’ll be much more confident to eliminate it.

Question 45

What is the “feel-good” distractor?

Answer 45

“Feel-good” distractors are on the point generally, but make an emotionally satisfying statement for the reader, not one supported by the text.

Question 46

What is the irrelevant distractor?

Answer 46

This distractor is an answer that doesn’t come from anywhere in the passage.

It’s the easiest to eliminate, and is usually only chosen by those who don’t understand the passage or the question.

Question 47

What are misread distractors and why are they challenging to detect?

Answer 47

A misread distractor exploits a common wrong interpretation of certain wordings.

This is a rare distractor, and if you had the wrong interpretation coming from the reading, then you’re very likely to pick the wrong answer here with misplaced confidence.

Question 48

What is a misattribution distractor and where are you most likely to see it?

Answer 48

Misattribution distractors are correct information, but attributed to the wrong author’s opinions.

These are more common distractors for comparative passages or in passages that use quotations.

Question 49

What is an overreach distractor?

Answer 49

Overreach distractors are basically correct but are stated too strongly.

Where…

The critics gave them little chance to succeed.

…would be correct…

The critics gave them no chance to succeed.

…is an overreach.

Question 50

Which distractor might uses your tendency to look back and match wording against you?

Answer 50

The keyword trap distractor baits you into selecting based on matching wording.

This is most common for questions asking about inferences.

Question 51

Why should you guess when you get down to two answer choices?

Answer 51

Your odds at that point favor scoring over accumulating penalties.

Unless you eliminate the correct answer in your eagerness to get down to two possibilities. Eliminate with certainty. Better to leave an answer blank than to take a penalty for a wrong response.

Question 52

The following passage comes from the memoir of a 19th century general.

The greatest mistake made in our civil war was in the mode of recruitment and promotion. When a regiment became reduced by the necessary wear and tear of service, instead of being filled up at the bottom, and the vacancies among the officers filled from the best noncommissioned officers and men, the habit was to raise new regiments, with new colonels, captains, and men, leaving the old and experienced battalions to dwindle away into mere skeleton organizations. I believe with the volunteers this matter was left to the States exclusively, and I remember that Wisconsin kept her regiments filled with recruits, whereas other States generally filled their quotas by new regiments, and the result was that we estimated a Wisconsin regiment equal to an ordinary brigade. I believe that five hundred new men added to an old and experienced regiment were more valuable than a thousand men in the form of a new regiment, for the former by association with good, experienced captains, lieutenants, and non-commissioned officers, soon became veterans, whereas the latter were generally unavailable for a year. The German method of recruitment is simply perfect, and there is no good reason why we should not follow it substantially.

8. What can be inferred from the following passage about the regiments of Wisconsin?

A) New regiments were formed with newly commissioned officers to replace old ones.

B) They were better trained than those of other states.

C) They were mostly comprised of German Americans and used a replacement model that originated in Germany.

D) They were more slowly integrated into the general army.

E) They were prone to dissertion, because of the inexperience of their junior officers.

Answer 52

C) They were mostly comprised of German Americans and used a replacement model that originated in Germany.

A) Not an inference

B) Off the point

D) Misread

E) Overreach

Question 53

The following passage comes from the memoir of a 19th century general.

The greatest mistake made in our civil war was in the mode of recruitment and promotion. When a regiment became reduced by the necessary wear and tear of service, instead of being filled up at the bottom, and the vacancies among the officers filled from the best non-commissioned officers and men, the habit was to raise new regiments, with new colonels, captains, and men, leaving the old and experienced battalions to dwindle away into mere skeleton organizations. I believe with the volunteers this matter was left to the States exclusively, and I remember that Wisconsin kept her regiments filled with recruits, whereas other States generally filled their quotas by new regiments, and the result was that we estimated a Wisconsin regiment equal to an ordinary brigade. I believe that five hundred new men added to an old and experienced regiment were more valuable than a thousand men in the form of a new regiment, for the former by association with good, experienced captains, lieutenants, and non-commissioned officers, soon became veterans, whereas the latter were generally unavailable for a year. The German method of recruitment is simply perfect, and there is no good reason why we should not follow it substantially.

9. In the general’s opinion, what made the recruitment and promotion policy undesirable?

A) It created an ineffective fighting force.

B) It exposed a greater number of soldiers to the ravages of disease.

C) It wasted the talents of experienced officers.

D) It incurred heavier casualty rates.

E) It underutilized the veterans of existing regiments.

Answer 53

E) It underutilized the veterans of existing regiments.

A) “ineffective” is an overreach

B) “ravages of disease” is irrelevant

C) “wasted” is an overreach

D) “incurred heavier casualty rates” is logical and a solid inference, but unsupported

Question 54

Read this passage, answer the question.

In America, the once exalted art form of clowning has been relegated to the museums of film and theater. The days in which Charlie Chaplin’s depression era tramp could be among the most popular and recognizable icons in entertainment are long past. After Chaplin, Emmet Kelly and Red Skelton enjoyed wide popularity in America within the clowning arts, but no one has succeeded them. They have been replaced by comedians whose public personas don’t carry with them the stigma of clowning, pathos. The American public has been lured to live vicariously through celebrity, but who wants to imagine being a clown?

10. What is the main point of this paragraph?

A) The decline in the popularity of clowning as an art form.

B) Americans prefer comedians to clowns.

C) The distasteful factors that limit the popularity of clowning.

D) The astounding contributions of clowning to American culture.

E) The psychological connection between celebrity and audience.

Answer 54

A) The decline in the popularity of clowning as an art form.

B) Not a main point.

C) Irrelevant.

D) No details support this point.

E) Irrelevant.

Question 55

Read this passage, answer the question.

In America, the once exalted art form of clowning has been relegated to the museums of film and theater. The days in which Charlie Chaplin’s depression era tramp could be among the most popular and recognizable icons in entertainment are long past. After Chaplin, Emmet Kelly and Red Skelton enjoyed wide popularity in America within the clowning arts, but no one has succeeded them. They have been replaced by comedians whose public personas don’t carry with them the stigma of clowning, pathos. The American public has been lured to live vicariously through celebrity, but who wants to imagine being a clown?

11. What does the word “relegated” in line 2 mean?

A) delineated

B) shunted

C) exalted

D) ossified

E) placated

Answer 55

B) shunted

This word usually refers to railroads or electricity, but metaphorically is correct here.

Question 56

In America, the once exalted art form of clowning has been relegated to the museums of film and theater. The days in which Charlie Chaplin’s tramp could be among the most popular and recognizable icons in entertainment and excite admiration among critics are long past. After Chaplin, Emmet Kelly and Red Skelton enjoyed wide popularity in America within the clowning arts, but no one has succeeded them. They have been replaced by comedians whose public personas do not carry the stigma of clowning, pathos. The American public has been lured to live vicariously through celebrity, but who wants to imagine being a clown?

12. What does the author suggest as the reason why comedians have become preferrable to clowns?

A) Clowning carries a stigma inherent in all silent art forms.

B) Generally, Americans have too high an opinion of themselves to identify with clowns.

C) Clowning is too continental an artform.

D) Clowns, though delightful, have a distasteful creepiness about them.

E) Comedians are celebrities, which Americans prefer to clowns.

Answer 56

B) Generally, Americans have too high an opinion of themselves to identify with clowns.

A) Keyword trap. “All” is an overreach.

C) Not supported.

D) Feel good. Actually, feels pretty funny.

E) Keyword trap.

Question 57

The following is a passage from an early 19th century novel.

The progress of the friendship between Catherine and Isabella was quick as its beginning had been warm, and they passed so rapidly through every gradation of increasing tenderness that there was shortly no fresh proof of it to be given to their friends or themselves. They called each other by their Christian name, were always arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each other’s train for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set; and if a rainy morning deprived them of other enjoyments, they were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together.

What can be inferred about the friendship of Catherine and Isabelle?

A) Their friendship was proven by the way they stood by each other in adversity.

B) Their friendship was marked by real mutual respect.

C) Their friendship was deepened by shared experience.

D) Their friendship was shallow and untested.

E) Their friendship was a facade covering a secret rivalry.

Answer 57

D) Their friendship was shallow and untested.

Clues: “quick”, “so rapidly”, “Christian names”, “arm in arm”, “pinned…train”, “not to be divided”, “defiance of wet and dirt”

Question 58

The following is a passage from a 19th century novel.

The progress of the friendship between Catherine and Isabella was quick as its beginning had been warm, and they passed so rapidly through every gradation of increasing tenderness that there was shortly no fresh proof of it to be given to their friends or themselves. They called each other by their Christian name, were always arm in arm when they walked, pinned up each other’s train for the dance, and were not to be divided in the set; and if a rainy morning deprived them of other enjoyments, they were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together.

In context, what does the word gradation (line 4) mean?

A) coloration

B) inclination

C) level

D) score

E) foundation

Answer 58

C) level

Clues: “progress”, “increasing”

Question 59

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

The following is a passage from a 20th century short story.

There is a time in the life of every boy when he for the first time takes the backward view of life. Perhaps that is the moment when he crosses the line into manhood. The boy is walking through the street of his town. He is thinking of the future and of the figure he will cut in the world. Ambitions and regrets awake within him. Suddenly something happens; he stops under a tree and waits as for a voice calling his name. Ghosts of old things creep into his consciousness; the voices outside of himself whisper a message concerning the limitations of life. From being quite sure of himself and his future he becomes not at all sure. If he be an imaginative boy a door is torn open and for the first time he looks out upon the world, seeing, as though they marched in procession before him, the countless figures of men who before his time have come out of nothingness into the world, lived their lives and again disappeared into nothingness. The sadness of sophistication has come to the boy. With a little gasp he sees himself as merely a leaf blown by the wind through the streets of his village. He knows that in spite of all the stout talk of his fellows he must live and die in uncertainty, a thing blown by the winds, a thing destined like corn to wilt in the sun. He shivers and looks eagerly about. The eighteen years he has lived seem but a moment, a breathing space in the long march of humanity. Already he hears death calling. With all his heart he wants to come close to some other human, touch someone with his hands, be touched by the hand of another. If he prefers that the other be a woman, that is because he believes that a woman will be gentle, that she will understand. He wants, most of all, understanding.

7. With what would the author most likely associate with maturity?

A) a set of physical changes

B) a need for gentle companionship

C) a psychological realization

D) a consciousness of the supernatural

E) the formation of life’s goals

Answer 59

C) a psychological realization

A) Feel good.

B) Keyword distractor. This is a result of maturity, not a direct association.

D) irrelevant

E) Feel good.

Question 60

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

This passage is taken from a 19th century work about the Mississippi river.

The Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world–four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty-five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames. No other river has so vast a drainage-basin: it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope–a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so.

15. What assertion about a river feature does the author maintain needs no exhaustive examination?

A) The size of the drainage basin

B) Its meandering course

C) Its length

D) Its military importance

E) Its number of tributaries

Answer 60

B) Its meandering course

A) This fact is examined.

C) This fact is detailed.

D) Not mentioned.

E) This fact is detailed.

Question 61

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

This passage comes from a 19th century author on the subject of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world–four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty-five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames. No other river has so vast a drainage-basin: it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope–a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so.

16. Which of the following is NOT a reason to consider the river remarkable?

A) importance to commerce

B) qualified length

C) many nations it borders

D) basin size

E) volume of water

Answer 61

C) many nations it borders

The Mississippi River doesn’t actually flow from Ireland to Turkey through England, Iberia and Central Europe.

Question 62

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

This passage comes from a 19th century author on the subject of the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways remarkable. Considering the Missouri its main branch, it is the longest river in the world–four thousand three hundred miles. It seems safe to say that it is also the crookedest river in the world, since in one part of its journey it uses up one thousand three hundred miles to cover the same ground that the crow would fly over in six hundred and seventy-five. It discharges three times as much water as the St. Lawrence, twenty-five times as much as the Rhine, and three hundred and thirty-eight times as much as the Thames. No other river has so vast a drainage-basin: it draws its water supply from twenty-eight States and Territories; from Delaware, on the Atlantic seaboard, and from all the country between that and Idaho on the Pacific slope–a spread of forty-five degrees of longitude. The Mississippi receives and carries to the Gulf water from fifty-four subordinate rivers that are navigable by steamboats, and from some hundreds that are navigable by flats and keels. The area of its drainage-basin is as great as the combined areas of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Turkey; and almost all this wide region is fertile; the Mississippi valley, proper, is exceptionally so.

18. What does “proper” mean in the context of the last sentence in the passage?

A) limited within

B) well-mannered

C) fitting to

D) decorous

E) socially adroit

Answer 62

A) limited within

Question 63

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

This passage was taken from an early twentieth century writer.

It was eleven o’clock that night when Mr. Pontellier returned from Klein’s hotel. He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative. His entrance awoke his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep when he came in. He talked to her while he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits of news and gossip that he had gathered during the day. From his trousers pockets he took a fistful of crumpled bank notes and a good deal of silver coin, which he piled on the bureau indiscriminately with keys, knife, handkerchief, and whatever else happened to be in his pockets. She was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.
He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.
Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the bonbons and peanuts for the boys. Notwithstanding he loved them very much, and went into the adjoining room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.
Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.
Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.
He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying at home to see that no harm befell them. He talked in a monotonous, insistent way.
Mrs. Pontellier sprang out of bed and went into the next room. She soon came back and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning her head down on the pillow. She said nothing, and refused to answer her husband when he questioned her. When his cigar was smoked out he went to bed, and in half a minute he was fast asleep.
Mrs. Pontellier was by that time thoroughly awake. She began to cry a little, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her peignoir. Blowing out the candle, which her husband had left burning, she slipped her bare feet into a pair of satin mules at the foot of the bed and went out on the porch, where she sat down in the wicker chair and began to rock gently to and fro.
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.

16. What was the wife’s state of mind when her husband first returned from the Hotel?

A) annoyed at her husband’s inconsiderate behavior

B) discouragingly inattentive to his concerns

C) alarmed at her son’s high fever

D) groggy to the point of insensibility

E) affronted by his accusing her of ignoring their child’s fever

Answer 63

D) groggy to the point of insensibility

A) Feel Good.

B) Misread.

C) Misread.

E) Misread of question.

Question 64

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

This passage was taken from an early twentieth century writer.

It was eleven o’clock that night when Mr. Pontellier returned from Klein’s hotel. He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative. His entrance awoke his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep when he came in. He talked to her while he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits of news and gossip that he had gathered during the day. From his trousers pockets he took a fistful of crumpled bank notes and a good deal of silver coin, which he piled on the bureau indiscriminately with keys, knife, handkerchief, and whatever else happened to be in his pockets. She was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.
He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.
Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the bonbons and peanuts for the boys. Notwithstanding he loved them very much, and went into the adjoining room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.
Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.
Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.
He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying at home to see that no harm befell them. He talked in a monotonous, insistent way.
Mrs. Pontellier sprang out of bed and went into the next room. She soon came back and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning her head down on the pillow. She said nothing, and refused to answer her husband when he questioned her. When his cigar was smoked out he went to bed, and in half a minute he was fast asleep.
Mrs. Pontellier was by that time thoroughly awake. She began to cry a little, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her peignoir. Blowing out the candle, which her husband had left burning, she slipped her bare feet into a pair of satin mules at the foot of the bed and went out on the porch, where she sat down in the wicker chair and began to rock gently to and fro.
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.

How did Mrs. Pontellier respond to the “monotonous, insistent” reprimand?

A) energetic defiance

B) lethargic acquiesance

C) reflexive compliance

D) instinctive anxiety

E) acerbic protestation

Answer 64

C) reflexive compliance

A) “defiance” is a disqualifier

B) “lethargic” is an opposite

D) Not supported

E) both words disqualify

Question 65

(This card is intended for tablet or laptop users.)

This passage is taken from a 19th century work of fiction.

It was eleven o’clock that night when Mr. Pontellier returned from Klein’s hotel. He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative. His entrance awoke his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep when he came in. He talked to her while he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits of news and gossip that he had gathered during the day. From his trousers pockets he took a fistful of crumpled bank notes and a good deal of silver coin, which he piled on the bureau indiscriminately with keys, knife, handkerchief, and whatever else happened to be in his pockets. She was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.
He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, evinced so little interest in things which concerned him, and valued so little his conversation.
Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the bonbons and peanuts for the boys. Notwithstanding he loved them very much, and went into the adjoining room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.
Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit a cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.
Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had ailed him all day. Mr. Pontellier was too well acquainted with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was consuming at that moment in the next room.
He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother’s place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his brokerage business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying at home to see that no harm befell them. He talked in a monotonous, insistent way.
Mrs. Pontellier sprang out of bed and went into the next room. She soon came back and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning her head down on the pillow. She said nothing, and refused to answer her husband when he questioned her. When his cigar was smoked out he went to bed, and in half a minute he was fast asleep.
Mrs. Pontellier was by that time thoroughly awake. She began to cry a little, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her peignoir. Blowing out the candle, which her husband had left burning, she slipped her bare feet into a pair of satin mules at the foot of the bed and went out on the porch, where she sat down in the wicker chair and began to rock gently to and fro.
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. A single faint light gleamed out from the hallway of the house. There was no sound abroad except the hooting of an old owl in the top of a water-oak, and the everlasting voice of the sea, that was not uplifted at that soft hour. It broke like a mournful lullaby upon the night.

14. What does the author imply about the nature of Mr. Pontellier’s feelings for his wife?

A) They were noble in the way he cherished her above all in his life.

B) They were selfish in considering her only an object of passion.

C) They were disappointed at her inattention to the well-being of their children.

D) They were livid at her lack of interest in him.

E) They were self-deceptive and ultimately narcissistic.

Answer 65

E) They were self-deceptive and narcissistic.

Remember, to imply is convey a meaning indirectly.