1. The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1837 story “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment.
” The main character, a
physician, is experimenting with rehydrating a dried flower.
At first [the rose] lay lightly on the surface of the fluid, appearing to imbibe none of its moisture. Soon, however, a
singular change began to be visible. The crushed and dried petals stirred and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson,
as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber.
As used in the text, what does the phrase “a singular” most nearly mean?
A. A lonely
B. A disagreeable
C. An acceptable
D. An extraordinary
2. During a 2014 archaeological dig in Spain, Vicente Lull and his team uncovered the skeleton of a woman from El Algar, an
Early Bronze Age society, buried with valuable objects signaling a high position of power. This finding may persuade
researchers who have argued that Bronze Age societies were ruled by men to that women may have also held leadership
roles.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. waive
B. concede
C. refute
D. require
3. The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Drowne’s Wooden Image.” Drowne, a young
man, is carving a wooden figure to decorate the front of a ship.
Day by day, the work assumed greater precision, and settled its irregular and misty outline into distincter grace and beauty.
The general design was now obvious to the common eye.
As used in the text, what does the word “assumed” most nearly mean?
A. Acquired
B. Acknowledged
C. Imitated
D. Speculated
4. Although science fiction was dominated mostly by white male authors when Octavia Butler, a Black woman, began
writing, she did not view the genre as : Butler broke into the field with the publication of several short stories and
her 1976 novel Patternmaster, and she later became the first science fiction writer to win a prestigious MacArthur
Fellowship.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. legitimate
B. impenetrable
C. compelling
D. indecipherable
5. The work of molecular biophysicist Enrique M. De La Cruz is known for traditional boundaries between academic
disciplines. The university laboratory that De La Cruz runs includes engineers, biologists, chemists, and physicists, and
the research the lab produces makes use of insights and techniques from all those fields.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. epitomizing
B. transcending
C. anticipating
D. reinforcing
6. In Nature Poem (2017), Kumeyaay poet Tommy Pico portrays his the natural world by honoring the centrality of nature
within his tribe’s traditional beliefs while simultaneously expressing his distaste for being in wilderness settings himself.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A. responsiveness to
B. ambivalence toward
C. renunciation of
D. mastery over
7. The following text is from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.
[Jay Gatsby] was balancing himself on the dashboard of his car with that resourcefulness of movement that is so
peculiarly American—that comes, I suppose, with the absence of lifting work in youth and, even more, with the formless
grace of our nervous, sporadic games. This quality was continually breaking through his punctilious manner in the
shape of restlessness.
As used in the text, what does the word “quality” most nearly mean?
A. Standard
B. Prestige
C. Characteristic
D. Accomplishment
