actual English final
The writer wants to add information to the beginning of sentence 6 (reproduced below), adjusting the capitalization as needed, to help establish the credibility of the source of the information in the sentence. Middle- and upper-class teens are choosing not to work, while lower-income teens have less access to jobs. Which of the following choices most effectively accomplishes this goal?
According to Paul Harrington, a Drexel University professor of labor markets,
The writer wants to add a new sentence at the end of the third paragraph (sentences 8-12) to show how the information in the paragraph serves as evidence for the passage's primary claim. Which of the following choices best accomplishes this goal?
According to Sun and Vazire, these results suggest that "there might be some biases that prevent people from recognizing their own agreeable behaviors or disagreeable behaviors."
The writer wants to add the following sentence to the third paragraph. Sun observed that this is understandable, since subjective feelings of unease are not necessarily apparent to others. Which of the following is the most logical place to insert this sentence in the paragraph?
Before sentence 11
In the fourth paragraph, the author cites Thomas Friedman primarily to
acknowledge that the arguments of flat-world proponents are more complex than he has previously suggested
The writer wants sentence 10 (reproduced below) to convey the reluctant appreciation of mayflies she describes in the third paragraph. Despite these nuisances, I have come to value these somewhat unsightly creatures. Which version of the underlined portion of sentence 10 most effectively accomplishes this goal?
as it is now
The writer wants sentence 10 (reproduced below) to provide a logical, vivid description of the experience of reading with an e-reader. I would read quickly, seeing page after page of disembodied text, words flashing by me on a screen—I often felt overwhelmed. Which of the following versions of sentence 10 most effectively accomplishes this goal?
as it is now
The writer wants to avoid revealing any potential bias in sentence 3 (reproduced below). Many people are excited about these new technologies, and, as civil engineering professor and infrastructure expert Shoshanna Saxe explains,they are intended to improve infrastructure by collecting data and responding automatically. Which of the following versions of the underlined portion of sentence 3 would best accomplish this goal?
as it is now
Which version of the underlined portion of sentence 7 (reproduced below) creates the most logical transition from the previous sentence? Instead, it reflects the concerns of Shelley and her contemporaries about the consequences of unchecked technological development in the Industrial Revolution, such as pollution and the loss of traditional ways of life.
as it is now
In the first sentence, the way in which the author combines clauses after the main verb "is" ("what makes an artist . . . a good work of art") indicates that he
attaches equal importance to the topics he intends to address
The author most likely chose to introduce her argument by way of a personal anecdote in order to
challenge her audience's assumptions about Wyoming residents
In the first paragraph, the speaker suggests that "the man of lettered leisure" (sentence 1) has a
choice regarding his attitude toward involvement
The writer wants to add language to the end of sentence 1 (reproduced below), adjusting the punctuation as needed, to help clarify the central concept of the essay. From Toronto, Canada, to Songdo, South Korea, cities around the world are promoting themselves as "smart cities." Which of the following choices would best accomplish this goal?
communities that use the latest digital technology, particularly computer systems that respond to input from networks of sensors, to deliver city services efficiently and improve urban life
The passage as a whole claims that the learned cynic's core failings are
cowardice and inauthenticity
In the first paragraph, the author uses the phrase "rented readers" (sentence 6) in order to
define writers' workshops in terms of their value to aspiring writers
The writer wants to avoid revealing any potential biases in sentence 5 (reproduced below). Sun and Vazire conspired on an experiment to study the latter category. Which of the following versions of the underlined portion of sentence 5 best accomplishes this goal?
designed
The writer wants to add an adjective before the word "traits" in sentence 13 (reproduced below) in order to improve the clarity of the claim. Depending on what teens do instead, these traits can be developed in other ways. Which adjective would best modify that word "traits" to reinforce the passage's perspective on soft skills?
desirable
In the context of the first paragraph, the speaker uses the word "temptation" in the first sentence to convey disapproval of the tendency to
disengage from moral responsibility
The primary purpose of sentences 4 and 5 of the second paragraph ("Among . . . actually are") in the speaker's line of reasoning is to
distinguish different types and degrees of uselessness
The writer wants to add information to the end of sentence 1 (reproduced below) to introduce the central comparison in the passage. When I decided to major in English, I bought an electronic reading device, or "e-reader." Which of the following versions of the underlined portion of sentence 1 most effectively accomplishes this goal?
e-reader," to use instead of print books in my college literature classes.
In the last sentence of the second paragraph ("Journal writing . . . projects"), the author connects two independent clauses with the conjunction "and" primarily to
emphasize that keeping a journal has multiple benefits for writers
In the sentence toward the middle of the final paragraph ("But if Wyoming . . . choose to live here"), the author uses subordination to
emphasize that statewide changes depend on individual choices
At the end of the fourth paragraph ("And below the surface . . . scour marks"), the author strategically arranges sentences in a way that
emphasizes the mounting evidence for the complexity of the ocean's currents
The writer is considering changing the underlined portion of sentence 1 (reproduced below) so that it conveys the information in the sentence in the most precise way.
epidemic
In the first paragraph, the author supports her claim that writers should "go to writers' workshops" (sentence 1) by
explaining how workshops can help writers learn unpleasant but valuable lessons
The writer wants to combine sentences 11 and 12 (reproduced below) into a single sentence. But when the stakes are high, the risks of making biased decisions are simply too great. An example of a high-stakes situation would be when jurors are deliberating a defendant's fate. Which of the following revisions to the underlined portion of sentences 11 and 12 most effectively accomplishes this goal?
high, such as when jurors are deliberating a defendant's fate, the risks of making biased decisions are simply too great
When I was younger, I used to have the same recurring daydream in gym class. If we were playing softball, I would dream I hit the ball and sprinted to home plate because I deserve to be there, not because my classmates let me slide—like the puck that glided past the goalie and into the net. I won the game, and everything faded away as a single tear rolled down my cheek—the way athletes cry after a championship win in the movies. Me, midrun, a smile on my face, because I couldn't believe I was quickly moving. I have a milder form of cerebral palsy.1 I walk with a limp. I had given up on the idea of running after surgeries on the right side of my body left me too afraid to relearn how to run. These reveries left me waiting for a "special talent," which I assumed all disabled kids had, to make up for their disability. I'm a terrible singer, so I figured I'd find a hidden gift in a sport we played in physical education class. I never did, and I yearn for representation of people of color with disabilities in sports. So until the work that disabled black women do is recognized, I will continue to champion and celebrate the able-bodied black women. I cried when I learned that Misty Copeland would be American Ballet's2 first black female principal dancer. My weeping was not because I had dreams of being a ballet dancer—although I would twirl from the kitchen table to the fridge in my socks, convinced I could pirouette with the best of ballerinas. I was emotional because ballet, at its core, is both raw and feminine, two things that black women are often not allowed to be. Then come gymnasts Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles and Laurie Hernandez. Not only did they help secure a team gold medal, but Biles is the new Olympic all-around champion and is leaving Rio with five medals. At 24, I'm older than they are, but I feel a sense of pride when I see them swinging on uneven bars or sticking dismounts on vaults. I hold my breath with them as they await their scores and cheer when I feel they received the ones they deserved. The Olympics are the ultimate dream. Our bodies are in no way identical, and we are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Though I've been told that the way my smile spreads across my face during moments of triumph is similar to Gabby's and Simone's happy grins. They all have dealt with criticism, from some people saying Gabby isn't patriotic, to a dance instructor telling a 13-year-old Copeland she was too old to be a ballerina. I haven't had the same amount of vitriol thrown at me, but I was told by a teacher in high school that I would never make it as a successful journalist. I've had my writing abilities questioned and racist comments sent to me frequently online. Like them, I feel I have persevered. For Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's Lenny Letter,3 I wrote about one of my biggest triumphs so far, putting my hair up into a ponytail, unassisted. This might not be a medaling event at the Olympics, but it made me feel as proud and as wonderful as I imagine Misty, Laurie, Gabby and Simone feel with each of their completed goals. There is an expectation for black women in sports to be better than the best, show no emotion and maintain a level of superhuman strength. When Copeland steps out on the stage next month at the Opera de Paris to star in "The Sleeping Beauty," I hope she reminds herself of all the work she's put in to get there. Simply seeing all of these women succeed in their fields is something akin to witnessing a miracle that isn't really a miracle but rather a result of fate putting the world in the right order. Representation matters, and even as I live in a disabled body that was never lucky enough to be good at any sport, when I see these women in commercials and on TV screens, I am reminded of all of the things I can achieve with hard work and talent. These athletes prove that every black body is beautiful, even the ones that don't look like theirs. © ESPN. Reprinted courtesy of ESPN.com The author most likely chose to begin her argument by describing the "recurring daydream" (paragraphs 1-3) in order to
immediately direct attention to her mental world and perceptions
The speaker's tone in the passage is best described as
inquisitive
In the closing lines of the passage ("I love the mountains . . . the space"), the author affirms her sense of attachment to Wyoming by
offering a poetic description of Wyoming's natural beauty
The author's shift in tone between the fourth and fifth paragraphs marks a transition between
offering practical advice and advocating broader principles
The writer wants to add a sentence after sentence 11 to conclude the passage with a quotation that effectively restates and reinforces the overall argument. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
s University of Glasgow lecturer Gavin Miller argues, "Science fiction does not invite us to be prophets, but anthropologists making sense of a complex and troubling foreign culture—which we may eventually come to recognize as our own."
The writer wants to expand on the advice offered at the conclusion of the passage to bring the argument to a close. Which of the following versions of the underlined portion of sentence 21 (reproduced below) most effectively accomplishes this goal? My advice to students contemplating e-readers is to realize that not all reading experiences are the same.
same; for immersive experiences, which are crucial to any serious field of study, print is the way to go.
The writer wants to change this passage so that it will be appropriate for doctors and other scientists rather than a general audience. In order to make the passage appropriate for the intended audience, which sentence is most necessary for the writer to delete?
sentence 18
In the second sentence of the passage ("Ancient . . . history"), the series of short, simple clauses and the word play on "history" convey the author's sense that the claims of flat-world proponents
sound a little too superficial to be true
In the sentence in the middle of the fourth paragraph ("Instead of . . . and eddies"), the author's arrangement of clauses emphasizes
the author's contention that the ocean is a dynamic, complex system
In the eighth sentence of the third paragraph, the author mentions "the absence of coordinated warning systems" to amplify his point about the
the hazards of inhabiting certain geographical areas
The relationship between the first and second paragraphs is best characterized as
the juxtaposition of two contrasting personality types
Hotspur represents an example of
the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder" (paragraph 2, sentence 7)
In sentence 3 (reproduced below), the writer wants to provide statistical information that helps contextualize the argument of the passage for the audience. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), the state with the highest employment rate for teens is Mississippi at 77 percent, and the lowest is North Dakota at 51 percent. Which of the following versions of the underlined portion of sentence 3 most effectively accomplishes this goal?
the number of teens working summer jobs has dropped from 60 percent to 30 percent since the 1980s
Which of the following choices accurately describes a strategic stylistic decision that the speaker makes in the first two sentences of the second paragraph ("It is not . . . nor defeat") ?
Clauses beginning with "who" are used repeatedly to emphasize engaging images of the men under discussion.
Which of the following sentences, if added after sentence 16, would provide the best concluding sentence for the passage?
Clearly there are both negative and positive aspects to coexisting with mayflies, but the long-lasting positives outweigh the temporary negatives.
Which of the following is a logical conclusion that can be derived from the final two paragraphs of the passage?
Crazy Horse displayed ferocity and courage in battle and modesty in dress and speech.
In the sixth paragraph, the author uses the story of the name His Horse Stands in Sight to illustrate which of the following?
Crazy Horse's combination of recklessness and calculating calm
Which of the following does the author represent as an effect of "congregat[ing] in places of high environmental risk" (paragraph 3, sentence 8) ?
Dangers that disproportionately affect certain communities
The writer is considering deleting sentence 9 (reproduced below) from the passage. Teenagers in my neighborhood, meanwhile, must need some extra money because I see numerous signs at the local grocery store advertising personal lawn-mowing and babysitting services. Should the writer keep or delete this sentence?
Delete it, because the anecdote about local teenagers weakens the reasoning of the argument at this point of the passage.
In his description of the United States Army's plan "to capture and herd all the Lakota onto reservations once and for all" toward the end of the fourth paragraph, the author's tone conveys which of the following?
Disapproval of the Army's dehumanizing treatment of the Lakota
In the last sentence of the fourth paragraph, the author's focus shifts from
Euro-American history to Lakota cultural memory
Which of the following changes to the underlined portion of sentence 16 (reproduced below) most effectively expresses the relationship between ideas in the sentence? The measurements are not exact, and there is a strong benefit in that people who track their sleep are apt to be more mindful of sleep in general.
Even if the measurements are not exact,
The writer wants to combine sentences 3 and 4 (reproduced below) in a way that expresses the unequal relationship between the ideas in these sentences. I discovered that print is better suited to in-depth reading. E-readers have numerous advantages. In the context of the passage as a whole, which of the following choices best achieves this goal?
Even though e-readers have numerous advantages, I discovered that print is better suited to in-depth reading.
After sentence 6, the writer wants to provide additional evidence to support the claim that mayflies are a nuisance to humans. Which of the following sentences would best achieve this purpose?
Furthermore, mayflies regularly disrupt activities held on or near the river, causing humans to constantly swat at their bodies to rid themselves of the expiring insects.
Which of the following best describes how the author represents "western American history, written by Euro-Americans" (paragraph 4, sentence 4) ?
He acknowledges it while suggesting Lakota stories offer a different perspective.
Which of the following statements best summarizes the main claim about Crazy Horse's cultural legacy that is developed in the passage?
He embodies the virtue of humility in Lakota society.
Which of the following sentences, if added after sentence 1, would effectively engage the audience to want to know what prompted the writer's change of heart regarding mayflies?
I was one of those people.
Sitting Bull's example in the fifth paragraph illustrates which feature of Lakota culture?
Warrior societies offered a path of entry into political power structures.
The writer is considering deleting the phrase "which many critics consider the first science fiction novel," in sentence 5 (reproduced below). In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), which many critics consider the first science fiction novel, the scientist Victor Frankenstein creates a new form of human life, only to find his creation hideous and regret his actions. Which of the following factors is most important for the writer to consider when deciding whether to keep or delete the phrase?
Whether the audience is likely to regard Frankenstein as a science fiction novel
The writer is considering adding the clause "devices that work optimally only for a few years before bugs in their programming introduce glitches and errors" to the end of sentence 6 (reproduced below), adjusting the punctuation as needed. Saxe and other experienced city planners worry that networked digital infrastructure would be more akin to a smartphone or computer. Should the writer add this clause to the end of sentence 6 ?
Yes, because the additional information clarifies a comparison to a more familiar technology that also breaks or becomes obsolete relatively quickly.
(1) The latest findings in social psychology suggest that self-knowledge is a more complex phenomenon than you might think. (2) Psychologists Jessie Sun and Simine Vazire at the University of California, Davis, have shown that while people offer accurate self-assessments of many individual traits, they tend to miss when they are being rude to others. (3) As it turns out, knowing what your personality is generally like is not the same as accurately discerning how you are behaving in the moment—an important distinction when it comes to treating other people considerately. (4) According to Sun and Vazire, self-knowledge can be divided into trait self-knowledge and state self-knowledge—in other words, knowledge of your own characteristics as opposed to "knowledge of how your personality fluctuates from moment to moment." (5) Sun and Vazire conspired on an experiment to study the latter category. (6) The study's experimental subjects were equipped with audio recorders that would automatically activate every 9.5 minutes during the day, recording thirty seconds of audio at each activation. (7) Participants completed self-evaluations at certain times of day according to several different personality measurements: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. (8) The self-assessments and the ratings of objective observers generally aligned. (9) But Sun and Vazire noticed some major differences among different categories of personality traits. (10) Participants often reported feeling more neurotic—anxious or worried—than the observers believed. (11) However, there were even larger discrepancies between observers' and subjects' assessments of agreeableness—a description encompassing qualities like warmth, friendliness, and tact. (12) Sun and Vazire saw these results as remarkable, given that agreeableness might be expected to be a more obvious trait. (13) Sun and Vazire argue that the study underscores the importance of state self-knowledge in ordinary interactions, since "being aware of and able to do something about your disagreeableness in the moment might be more useful than knowing that you are generally a disagreeable person." (14) These facts make it obvious that everyone should behave accordingly. The writer is considering changing the beginning of sentence 1 (reproduced below) to better introduce the topic and engage the reader's attention. The latest findings in social psychology suggest that self-knowledge is a more complex phenomenon than you might think. Which of the following versions of the underlined portion of sentence 1 best accomplishes this goal?
"Know yourself" is a well-known maxim, but the latest findings in social psychology suggest
In the first paragraph, the speaker introduces an argument that criticizes
"intellectual aloofness" (sentence 5)
(This passage is excerpted from a book published in 2002.) Lakota tradition encouraged its fighting men to publicly recount their exploits in battle. Waktoglaka (wah-kto-glah-kah) is the word for that old custom, meaning "to tell of one's victories." It seems illogical that a culture in which humility was a virtue could allow its fighting men to brag in public. There was, however, an essential requirement: Each and every action recounted had to be verified by at least one witness. That verification ensured the truth. To truthfully describe one's action in combat through the forum of ceremony was not considered bragging because the recounting—the story of the action—was a gift. It became part of the identity and the lore of the storyteller's warrior society, and it served to strengthen the entire village—not to mention that the deed recounted served as an example for young men to emulate. Most men who did the waktoglaka did not repeat the story unless asked because they realized the value of humility. While exploits in the arena of combat were the way to establish and enhance a good reputation and gain status in the community, lack of appropriate humility was a sure way to taint one's reputation and erode hard-won status. In other words, once the battle was over it was time to be humble. To traditional Lakota, humility was the one virtue that enhanced other virtues. To be generous was good, for example, as long as one did not call attention to his or her generosity. Anything good that was done or said with humility carried more impact. According to all the stories, one of the most humble of all Lakota was Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse was an Oglala Lakota. The Oglala, which means "to scatter one's own," were (and are) one of the seven Lakota groups. His is one of the most familiar names to emerge from the turbulent nineteenth century in the American West. In western American history, written by Euro-Americans, he is popularly regarded as the conqueror of both General George Crook and Lieutenant Colonel George Custer. On June 17, 1876, he led seven hundred to nine hundred Lakota and Cheyenne warriors and stopped Crook's northward advance at the Battle of the Rosebud, on the Rosebud River in what is now north central Wyoming. Eight days later, one thousand to twelve hundred Lakota and Northern Cheyenne warriors under his leadership, as well as the able leadership of several other notable Lakota battlefield leaders, defeated Custer's Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Crazy Horse was thirty-six years old at the time, and his combat experience and leadership helped to thwart—albeit temporarily—the United States Army's grand plan of 1876 to capture and herd all the Lakota onto reservations once and for all. But we Lakota don't remember him primarily because he defeated Crook or Custer; we remember him because—in spite of his larger-than-life achievements on the field of battle—he was a humble man. Crazy Horse was born to be a warrior and a leader. He had an ability to stay calm in the midst of chaos and confusion, and to lead by example. In the Lakota society of his day the arena of combat provided opportunities for fighting men to display skill and courage. Acts of bravery on the battlefield earned them honors within their warrior societies and status in the society at large. Many men who achieved a following as combat leaders also went on to become political leaders as well, such as the Hunkpapa Lakota Sitting Bull. As a matter of fact, Crazy Horse's steadiness under fire earned him his first adult name, prior to Crazy Horse. Because he had a habit of dismounting in the midst of fighting, then kneeling beside his war horse to take deliberate aim at the enemy, he became known as His Horse Stands in Sight. Such conduct earned him more combat honors by his early twenties than most men achieved in an entire lifetime. He was known far and wide for his daring and recklessness in combat, but also for his ability to make good tactical decisions. If anyone earned the right to participate in the waktoglaka ceremony, it was he. But according to all the stories handed down about him he never did. For all of his life Crazy Horse was painfully shy and probably spoke in public only twice. Though he was entitled to wear the symbols of his many achievements on the battlefield—eagle feathers—he was known to dress plainly. If he wore any decoration at all it was usually a single feather. The passage is most likely excerpted from which of the following?
A Lakota author's account of his ancestral culture's history and values
Let the man of learning, the man of lettered leisure, beware of that queer and cheap temptation to pose to himself and to others as a cynic, as the man who has outgrown emotions and beliefs, the man to whom good and evil are as one. The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twisted pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticize work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities—all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The role is easy; there is none easier, save only the role of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance. It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride or slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop,1 or voluptuary.2 There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunder. Well for these men if they succeed; well also, though not so well, if they fail, given only that they have nobly ventured, and have put forth all their heart and strength. It is war-worn Hotspur,3 spent with hard fighting, he of the many errors and valiant end, over whose memory we love to linger, not over the memory of the young lord who "but for the vile guns would have been a valiant soldier." In the first sentence of the passage, the speaker engages the attention of the audience with which of the following types of statement?
A cautionary recommendation
The writer wants to add evidence to exemplify the main argument of the second paragraph. Which of the following pieces of evidence would best accomplish this goal?
A narrative about a city in which smart city technology designed to determine the best routes for garbage collection required costly repairs after three years
Which of the following best describes the author's exigence in the passage?
A spate of high-profile athletic achievements that she finds inspiring
The writer wants to add an anecdote to the first paragraph that orients the reader to the argument of the passage. Which of the following choices best accomplishes this goal?
A story about reading an English novel with an e-reader and then being unable to recall major elements of the plot
(1) In fact, the CDC considers lack of sleep a public health infection. (2) Lack of sleep is tied to conditions like heart disease and high blood pressure, and businesses lose billions of dollars every year due to lost productivity when workers are too exhausted to perform. (3) Given the importance of sleep and the serious impacts that come from not getting enough, everyone should be tracking their sleep patterns. (4) A good way to track sleep is with wearable fitness trackers. (5) Mostly worn around the wrist, these devices track movement, and many also detect heart rate, so they can provide excellent information about sleep patterns. (6) These devices use an accelerometer to detect movement in three directions: forward/backward, up/down, left/right. (7) Trackers that measure heart rate can also provide data about how much time asleep is spent in deep sleep as opposed to light sleep. (8) The data these devices provide are not as accurate as the data that come from a sleep lab. (9) Polysomnography—a sleep study done in a lab—measures a sleeping person's brain waves, eye and leg movements, breathing, and heart rate to get a precise measure of how much sleep the person gets, including accurate measurements of light and deep sleep. (10) Fitness trackers are not as accurate. (11) One study demonstrated that one fitness tracker overestimated sleep time by more than 60 minutes per night. (12) Most trackers also cost over $100, making them difficult to obtain for many people. (13) The potential benefits of monitoring sleep patterns using a fitness tracker, however, outweigh the negatives. (14) With the addition of heart rate monitors, trackers are becoming increasingly accurate. (15) They may never reach the accuracy of polysomnography, but they also do not require a trip to a lab. (16) The measurements are not exact, and there is a strong benefit in that people who track their sleep are apt to be more mindful of sleep in general. (17) Data from a fitness tracker can make it possible to discover patterns and learn more about what disrupts sleep and what leads to healthy sleep. (18) So don't wait; go buy one now! Which of the following sentences, if placed before sentence 1, would best introduce the topic to the audience and help set up the main argument of the passage?
According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans are not getting enough sleep.
Which observation best counters the speaker's argument about action in the passage?
Action without discretion can incur disastrous results.
In describing Crazy Horse as "painfully shy" near the beginning of the seventh paragraph, the author offers which of the following?
An attribution of an emotional quality to explain Crazy Horse's humble demeanor
Which of the following describes the purpose of the last sentence of the passage?
It connects the author's imagined scenario to his claim about the Athenians.
In the third paragraph, the last sentence ("There is no ... gold" ) does which of the following?
It emphasizes a claim about artistic eras that has previously been explained.
The author's contrast between "persistence" and "stubbornness" (paragraph 7, sentences 7-8) advances her argument in which of the following ways?
It underscores the need for writers to continually improve their craft.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined portion of sentence 7 (reproduced below). Teens with access to part-time jobs often select what they perceive as better alternatives (e.g., community service, volunteer work, unpaid internships, and academics) that have nonfinancial benefits. Should the writer keep or delete the underlined text?
Keep it, because it exemplifies what these potentially better alternatives might be.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined portion of sentence 4 (reproduced below). Throughout a couple of weeks each summer, the nymphs (juvenile mayflies), which have developed underwater for the past few months, hatch into millions of mature mayflies with non-functioning mouths. Should the writer keep or delete the underlined text?
Keep it, because it explains a term that may be unfamiliar to some readers.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined independent clause in sentence 7 (reproduced below), adjusting the punctuation as necessary. In a classic experiment, students who watched their schools compete in a football game subsequently remembered the adversary's team performing worse than their own: confirmation bias caused the students, who already believed in their own school's superiority, to interpret what they had seen as support for their preexisting beliefs. Should the writer keep or delete the underlined text?
Keep it, because it provides an example that explains how confirmation bias affects memory.
According to the fourth paragraph, the battles of June 1876 established Crazy Horse's reputation for which of the following?
Leadership skill on the battlefield
The writer is considering adding the following sentence immediately before sentence 11. Those who believe that science fiction predicts the future are simply wrongheaded. Should the writer make this addition?
No, because it creates an inappropriate shift in tone at the beginning of the passage's final paragraph.
The writer is considering adding the following sentence after sentence 13. Due to ethical considerations, Sun and Vazire did not release the audio files they collected, but they did make some transcripts available. Should the writer make this addition after sentence 13 ?
No, because it detracts from the discussion of the implications of the study's findings and thus interrupts the flow of the passage's conclusion.
The writer is considering deleting the underlined portion of sentence 10 (reproduced below) from the sentence. Participants often reported feeling more neurotic—anxious or worried—than the observers believed. Should the writer delete the underlined text?
No, because it offers information that may be helpful to the audience in understanding a potentially unfamiliar term.
The writer is considering adding the following sentence after sentence 5. Many people view teenagers as lazy, preferring to spend their summers playing video games and hanging out with friends instead of working hard to make money. Should the writer add this sentence after sentence 5 ?
No, because it portrays teenagers in a way that could undermine the writer's appeal to teenage readers.
The passive constructions "he became known" (paragraph 6, sentence 2) and "he was known" (paragraph 7, sentence 2) suggest that the author holds which of the following beliefs about Crazy Horse?
Stories by his contemporaries offer a credible record of Crazy Horse's life.
The writer wants to ensure that sentence 9 (reproduced below) develops the parallel discussions of Frankenstein and Altered Carbon in the second and third paragraphs and logically connects the other sentences in the third paragraph. Uploaded consciousness also facilitates interstellar travel in the novel. Which version of sentence 9 best accomplishes this goal?
The author does not attempt to provide a detailed scientific account of how such a transformation could happen.
At what point in his development of the passage's line of reasoning does the author arrive at his thesis?
The first four sentences of the third paragraph ("Not yet . . . even setbacks")
Numerous books and articles published in recent years argue, explicitly as well as implicitly, that the human world today is so mobile, so interconnected, and so integrative that it is, in one prominent and much-repeated assessment, "flat." Ancient and durable obstacles are no more, interaction is global, free trade rules the globe, migration is ubiquitous,1 and the flow of ideas (and money and jobs) is so pervasive that geography, in the perspective of more than one observer, "is history." The notion that place continues to play a key role in shaping humanity's still-variegated mosaic is seen as obsolete, even offensive and deterministic. Choice, not constraint, is the mantra2 of the new flat-world proponents. Join the "forces of flattening" and you will enjoy the benefits. Don't, and you will fall off the edge. The option is yours. But is it? From the vantage point of a high-floor room in the Shanghai Hyatt, the Mumbai Oberoi, or the Dubai Hilton,3 or from a business-class window seat on Singapore Airlines, the world seems flat indeed. Millions of world-flatteners move every day from hotel lobby to airport limo to first-class lounge, laptop in hand, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring as they travel, adjusting the air conditioning as they go. They are changing the world, these modern nomads, and they are, in many ways, improving it—depending of course on one's definition of progress. But are they invariably agents of access and integration? Are they lowering the barriers to participation or raising the stakes against it? Have their influence and impact overpowered the imperatives of place, so that their very mobility symbolizes a confirmed irrelevance of location? Not yet. The Earth, physically as well as culturally, still is very rough terrain, and in crucial ways its regional compartments continue to trap billions in circumstances that spell disadvantage. The power of place and the fate of people are linked by many strands ranging from physical area and natural environment to durable culture and local tradition. This book, therefore, views a world in which progress toward convergence is countered by stagnation, even setbacks. Various constituencies of the comparatively prosperous global core are walling off their affluent realms from intrusion by poorer globals, hardening a division between core and periphery that exacerbates contrasts and stokes conflicts. The near-global diffusion of various forms of English as a first or second language is promoting a cultural convergence, but the radicalization of religions has the opposite effect. The distribution of health and well-being shows troubling signs of inequity and reversal. Because people continue to congregate in places of high environmental risk, especially in the crowded periphery, hundreds of millions find themselves in continuing jeopardy (as the 2004 tsunami,4 in the absence of coordinated warning systems, tragically confirmed). Inevitably, places of costly historic and current conflict take their toll as the "international community" stands by without effective intervention, another form of jeopardy that afflicts the destinies of millions. And males and females in the same locales have widely varying experiences, their destinies diverging in sometimes agonizing ways. Even in the world's cities, where the "rising tide lifts all boats" promise of globalization should be especially evident, power creates a high-relief topography of privilege and privation. Nor is the world's divisive political stockade5 likely to be flattened anytime soon. Even as states try to join in unions and associations, their provinces and regions nurture nationalisms working the other way. The power of place still holds the vast majority of us in its thrall. Of course, the question is not whether the world is flat. Thomas Friedman, who coined the phrase, concedes that he realizes "that the world is not flat. Don't worry, I know . . . I have engaged in literary license in titling [my] book to draw attention . . . ." It is the process of "flattening" on which Friedman wants to focus through his provocative title, "the single most important trend in the world today," that is at issue. And in certain respects the global playing field is leveling, but in other ways the reverse appears to be true. Notions of a flat world raise expectations of growing access and increasing opportunity that are mantras of globalization but are all too often at variance with reality. Powerful forces, natural as well as human, slow the flattening process in a contest that will determine the future of the planet. Which of the following best describes the author's exigence in the passage?
The uncritical acceptance of an opinion that he finds problematic
Which of the following best describes the author's exigence in the passage?
The uncritical acceptance of an opinion that he finds problematic
In the passage, the author makes which of the following assumptions about his audience?
They are familiar with mainstream rhetoric about globalization.
Which of the following characteristics does the author anticipate may be true of some members of the audience?
They are more familiar with Euro-American accounts of Crazy Horse than with Lakota accounts.
Based on her discussion of the publication process (paragraph 4, sentences 1-11), the author most likely believes which of the following about her audience?
They have limited familiarity with publication and need a variety of advice.
Which of the following words should be placed at the beginning of sentence 16 (reproduced below) in order to demonstrate a connection to the previous sentence? Mayflies impact the economies of humans who live near healthy rivers and lakes—both tourists and locals spend money to enjoy activities in and near the water.
Thus,
Take classes and go to writers' workshops. Writing is communication. You need other people to let you know whether you're communicating what you think you are and whether you're doing it in ways that are not only accessible and entertaining, but as compelling as you can make them. In other words, you need to know that you're telling a good story. You want to be the writer who keeps readers up late at night, not the one who drives them off to watch television. Workshops and classes are rented readers—rented audiences—for your work. Learn from the comments, questions, and suggestions of both the teacher and the class. These relative strangers are more likely to tell you the truth about your work than are your friends and family who may not want to hurt or offend you. One tiresome truth they might tell you, for instance, is that you need to take a grammar class. If they say this, listen. Take the class. Vocabulary and grammar are your primary tools. They're most effectively used, even most effectively abused, by people who understand them. No computer program, no friend or employee can take the place of a sound knowledge of your tools. Write. Write every day. Write whether you feel like writing or not. Choose a time of day. Perhaps you can get up an hour earlier, stay up an hour later, give up an hour of recreation, or even give up your lunch hour. If you can't think of anything in your chosen genre, keep a journal. You should be keeping one anyway. Journal writing helps you to be more observant of your world, and a journal is a good place to store story ideas for later projects. Revise your writing until it's as good as you can make it. All the reading, the writing, and the classes should help you do this. Check your writing, your research (never neglect your research), and the physical appearance of your manuscript. Let nothing substandard slip through. If you notice something that needs fixing, fix it, no excuses. There will be plenty that's wrong that you won't catch. Don't make the mistake of ignoring flaws that are obvious to you. The moment you find yourself saying, "This doesn't matter. It's good enough." Stop. Go back. Fix the flaw. Make a habit of doing your best. Submit your work for publication. First research the markets that interest you. Seek out and study the books or magazines of publishers to whom you want to sell. Then submit your work. If the idea of doing this scares you, fine. Go ahead and be afraid. But send your work out anyway. If it's rejected, send it out again, and again. Rejections are painful, but inevitable. They're every writer's rite of passage. Don't give up on a piece of work that you can't sell. You may be able to sell it later to new publications or to new editors of old publications. At worst, you should be able to learn from your rejected work. You may even be able to use all or part of it in a new work. One way or another, writers can use, or at least learn from, everything. Here are some potential impediments for you to forget about: First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice. Forget talent. If you have it, fine. Use it. If you don't have it, it doesn't matter. As habit is more dependable than inspiration, continued learning is more dependable than talent. Never let pride or laziness prevent you from learning, improving your work, changing its direction when necessary. Persistence is essential to any writer—the persistence to finish your work, to keep writing in spite of rejection, to keep reading, studying, submitting work for sale. But stubbornness, the refusal to change unproductive behavior or to revise unsalable work can be lethal to your writing hopes. Finally, don't worry about imagination. You have all the imagination you need, and all the reading, journal writing, and learning you will be doing will stimulate it. Play with your ideas. Have fun with them. Don't worry about being silly or outrageous or wrong. So much of writing is fun. It's first letting your interests and your imagination take you anywhere at all. Once you're able to do that, you'll have more ideas than you can use. Octavia E. Butler, "Furor Scribendi" from BloodChild and Other Stories. Copyright ©1996, 2005 by Octavia E. Butler. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Seven Stories Press, www.sevenstories.com. Which of the following best describes the author's purpose in the passage?
To convince aspiring writers of the importance of hard work
(1) Since its emergence as a genre, science fiction literature has shown readers visions of the future. (2) These fictional scenarios have sometimes become reality. (3) As a result, some readers and critics see forecasting technological and social developments as science fiction's essential goal. (4) However, science fiction's purpose lies not in predicting the future but in providing perspective on the present. (5) In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), which many critics consider the first science fiction novel, the scientist Victor Frankenstein creates a new form of human life, only to find his creation hideous and regret his actions. (6) Although Shelley's novel is sometimes invoked when biological research takes an ethically controversial turn, the novel itself does not try to anticipate the real scientific or technological developments that followed it. (7) Instead, it reflects the concerns of Shelley and her contemporaries about the consequences of unchecked technological development in the Industrial Revolution, such as pollution and the loss of traditional ways of life. (8) Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon (2002), which depicts a world in which wealthy elites extend their lives indefinitely by uploading their consciousness into new bodies, expresses anxieties about modern society in a similar way. (9) Uploaded consciousness also facilitates interstellar travel in the novel. (10) Rather, the futuristic plot allows Morgan to articulate contemporary concerns about social inequality and its relationship to access to technology. (11) Ultimately, the real role of science fiction is to hold a distorted mirror up to contemporary life, exposing what is familiar to a critical eye. The writer wants to illustrate the point made in sentence 2 (reproduced below) by adding historical evidence to the end of the sentence, adjusting the punctuation as needed. These fictional scenarios have sometimes become reality. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
the works of H. G. Wells, for instance, depicted voyages to the Moon and to the bottom of the ocean long before these achievements were realized
In the fifth sentence of the second paragraph ("Perhaps . . . lunch hour"), the author strategically arranges clauses in a way that
underlines the variety of opportunities for those who are dedicated to improving their craft
The writer wants to use subordination to illustrate an imbalance between the ideas in sentence 16 (reproduced below). Therein lies the crucial distinction: because subtitles demand constant attention, dubbing allows for shorter attention spans and multitasking while viewing. Which version of the underlined text best accomplishes this purpose?
whereas
