ID: 833eacb3

Cucurbits, a group of plants that includes squash and melons, relied on mastodons to spread their seeds in the Ice
Age. When these animals died out, cucurbits faced extinction in turn, having lost their means of seed dispersal.
Around this time, however, the ancestors of Indigenous peoples in North America began raising cucurbits as crops,
thus ______ the plants’ survival.

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

A. verifying

B. multiplying

C. comforting

D. ensuring
 ID: 033eb360
Many ancient sculptures of people’s heads are missing their noses. This is because the nose is the most ______ part
of a sculpture of a person’s head. It is delicate and sticks out from the rest of the sculpture, making it especially easy
to break.

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

A. recognizable

B. fragile

C. common

D. sophisticated
 ID: dd5947a4
The following text is adapted from Elizabeth von Arnim’s 1922 novel The Enchanted April. Mrs. Wilkins and her friend
Rose are traveling in Italy.

“I’m going to have one of these gorgeous oranges,” said Mrs. Wilkins, staying where she was and reaching
across to a black bowl piled with them. “Rose, how can you resist them. Look—have this one. Do have this
beauty—” And she held out a big one.

As used in the text, what does the phrase “reaching across to” most nearly mean?

A. Joining with

B. Gaining on

C. Stretching toward

D. Arriving at
 ID: 5aedafd4
According to botanists, a viburnum plant experiencing insect damage may develop erineum—a discolored, felty
growth—on its leaf blades. A ______ viburnum plant, on the other hand, will have leaves with smooth surfaces and
uniformly green coloration.

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

A. struggling

B. beneficial

C. simple

D. healthy
 ID: d56cb9fe
The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“The second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.” It sounded like an
excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that Alice had not the
smallest idea how to set about it.

As used in the text, what does the word “simply” most nearly mean?

A. Faintly

B. Hastily

C. Easily

D. Foolishly
 ID: c9e16f33
The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found
There. Alice, a child, is talking to her cat.

“Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if someone was
kissing the window all over outside.”

As used in the text, what does the word “soft” most nearly mean?

A. Gentle

B. Sensitive

C. Shapeless

D. Bland
 ID: 15c42963
Shoppers can help keep money cycling within a community by making purchases at small local businesses instead
of large retailers. Some cities are ______ programs to encourage this behavior, establishing reward points and other
incentives for shopping at small businesses.

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

A. instituting

B. occupying

C. underestimating

D. encountering
 ID: 2b265404
Sueño de Familia is an exhibition of drawings, paintings, and ceramics that explores the artistic heritage of US-based
artist Yolanda González. The exhibition ______ five generations, featuring works by González’s great-grandfather,
grandmother, mother, and niece as well as González herself.

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

A. borrows

B. spans

C. judges

D. neglects
 ID: 5443dce5
The following text is from Mark Oshiro’s 2018 novel Anger Is a Gift. In the novel, Moss and his friends are on a
subway train in Northern California.

Lights from the outside world then filled the train car as it rose out of the ground and climbed the elevated
track. As long as Moss had lived in West Oakland, he’d never tired of this specific view, so he pointed toward
the windows. “Check it,” he said, and the Port of Oakland began to pass by them.
©2018 by Mark Oshiro

As used in the text, what does the word “specific” most nearly mean?

A. Imaginary

B. Energetic

C. Correct

D. Particular
 ID: a7e97043
Visual artist Gabriela Alemán states that the bold colors of comics, pop art, and Latinx culture have always
fascinated her. This passion for the rich history and colors of her Latinx community translates into the ______
artworks she produces.

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

A. vivid

B. unknown

C. definite

D. reserved
 ID: 23767ca5
Scientists previously thought that all electric eels belong to a single species, but a team of researchers led by
zoologist C. David de Santana proved this idea wrong by ______ that there are in fact three distinct species of electric
eels.

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

A. pretending

B. complaining

C. requiring

D. demonstrating
 ID: 5873ade0
Biologist Jane Edgeloe and colleagues have located what is believed to be the largest individual plant in the world in
the Shark Bay area of Australia. The plant is a type of seagrass called Posidonia australis, and it ______
approximately 200 square kilometers.

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

A. acknowledges

B. produces

C. spans

D. advances
 ID: 384fe4cf
The following text is adapted from Amy Lowell’s 1912 poem “Summer.”

It is summer, glorious, deep-toned summer, The very crown of nature’s changing year
When all her surging life is at its full. To me alone it is a time of pause,
A void and silent space between two worlds, When inspiration lags, and feeling sleeps,
Gathering strength for efforts yet to come.

As used in the text, what does the phrase “a void” most nearly mean?

A. A useless

B. An empty

C. A forgotten

D. An incomplete
 ID: 3543d765
Archaeologist Erika Karuzas works with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana to preserve
culturally significant sites. In 2015 they decided that creating a new national trail connecting many of these sites
would ______ their preservation efforts, because the US government provides some protections to national trails that
aren’t given to other areas.

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

A. inspire

B. ignore

C. promote

D. reduce
 ID: 4210a14e
The works of Chicana artist Ester Hernandez are now ______ in museums both in the United States and abroad, but
the murals she contributed to as a member of Las Mujeres Muralistas early in her artistic career were displayed in
outdoor public spaces across San Francisco.

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

A. invented

B. adjusted

C. featured

D. recommended
 ID: 546b695e
The following text is adapted from Mercedes de Acosta’s 1921 poem “Spring and You.”

Now, Love and April, and the gold of your hair, Are all mingled together
Like the blending of an exotic dream plant With the fragrant perfume of a strange, frail flower.

As used in the text, what does the word “mingled” most nearly mean?

A. Identified

B. Combined

C. Remembered

D. Celebrated
 ID: de055f54
The following text is adapted from Sui Sin Far’s 1912 short story “Mrs. Spring Fragrance.” Mr. and Mrs. Spring
Fragrance immigrated to the United States from China.

Mrs. Spring Fragrance was unaware that Mr. Spring Fragrance, tired with the day’s business, had thrown
himself down on the bamboo settee on the veranda, and that although his eyes were engaged in scanning the
pages of the Chinese World, his ears could not help receiving the words which were borne to him through the
open window.

As used in the text, what does the word “receiving” most nearly mean?

A. Denying

B. Entering

C. Carrying

D. Hearing
 ID: fc385cd1
Studying how workload affects productivity, Maryam Kouchaki and colleagues found that people who chose to do
relatively easy tasks first were less ______ compared to those who did hard tasks first. Finishing easy tasks gave
participants a sense of accomplishment, but those who tackled hard tasks first actually became more skilled and
productive workers over time.

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

A. secretive

B. efficient

C. outgoing

D. unsympathetic
 ID: cc29a943
Artist Marilyn Dingle’s intricate, coiled baskets are ______ sweetgrass and palmetto palm. Following a Gullah
technique that originated in West Africa, Dingle skillfully winds a thin palm frond around a bunch of sweetgrass with
the help of a “sewing bone” to create the basket’s signature look that no factory can reproduce.

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

A. indicated by

B. handmade from

C. represented by

D. collected with
 ID: d326f965
Charles “Teenie” Harris was a photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier from 1936 to 1975. During his career he took
over 70,000 photographs documenting everyday life in Pittsburgh’s Black communities. The Carnegie Museum of Art
maintains thousands of his photographs, carefully ______ them so that audiences can continue to view them well
into the future.

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

A. replacing

B. inventing

C. preserving

D. counting
 ID: 1807b2b6
As Mexico’s first president from an Indigenous community, Benito Juarez became one of the most ______ figures in
his country’s history: among the many significant accomplishments of his long tenure in office (1858–1872), Juarez
consolidated the authority of the national government and advanced the rights of Indigenous peoples.

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

A. unpredictable

B. important

C. secretive

D. ordinary
 ID: 7b484e2e
When marine biologist Brittany Williams played different ocean recordings to groups of oyster larvae, groups that
heard sounds of a healthy oyster reef were the most ______. They were twice as likely as other groups to show signs
of making a permanent home. This suggests that playing recordings of a healthy ocean reef may encourage oysters
to create such a reef.

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

A. responsive

B. inactive

C. liked

D. distressed
 ID: f75063a1
Nigerian American author Teju Cole’s ______ his two passions—photography and the written word—culminates in his
2017 book, Blind Spot, which evocatively combines his original photographs from his travels with his poetic prose.

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

A. indifference to

B. enthusiasm for

C. concern about

D. surprise at
 ID: e4bcc684
Bioluminescent beetles called fireflies may seem to create flashes of light randomly, but each species of firefly
actually has its own special series of repeated flashes and pauses. These unique ______ allow fireflies of the same
species to find each other.

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

A. quantities

B. decorations

C. patterns

D. agreements
 ID: b680bfe1
The following text is adapted from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1905 novel A Little Princess. Sara is a young student
at a school in London.

Sara not only could tell stories, but she adored telling them. When she sat or stood in the midst of a circle and
began to invent wonderful things, her green eyes grew big and shining, her cheeks flushed, and, without
knowing that she was doing it, she began to act and made what she told lovely or alarming by the raising or
dropping of her voice.

As used in the text, what does the word “invent” most nearly mean?

A. Mislead

B. Disguise

C. Create

D. Discover
 ID: 32816015
The following text is from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret Garden. Mary, a young girl, is outside
trying her new jump rope.

The sun was shining and a little wind was blowing—not a rough wind, but one which came in delightful little
gusts and brought a fresh scent of newly turned earth with it. She skipped round the fountain garden, and up
one walk and down another.

As used in the text, what does the word “rough” most nearly mean?

A. Harsh

B. Scratchy

C. Basic

D. Vague
 ID: fcf1ad58
A team of paleontologists has found a rich fossil deposit near Gulgong, Australia. The fossils are so well preserved
that the team has been able to ______ detailed information about the life forms that left them behind, such as color
patterns and how they interacted with other species.

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

A. occupy

B. hoard

C. reserve

D. obtain
 ID: b9ffe90f
Archaeologists studying an ancient amphitheater in Switzerland believe that it dates back to the fourth century CE.
Their discoveries of a coin made between 337 and 341 CE and era-appropriate building materials ______ evidence for
this theory.

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

A. dismiss

B. provide

C. regulate

D. refuse
 ID: 688fba00
Whether Carmen Lomas Garza is creating small paintings and illustrations or large public artworks—such as Baile, a
copper cutout of traditional Mexican dance in the San Francisco International Airport—she is ______ direct
experience, drawing from memories of her childhood in Texas or details of her current surroundings in California.

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

A. complimented by

B. uncertain about

C. unbothered by

D. inspired by
 ID: 906fc0a0
In the 1960s, Sam Gilliam, a Black painter from the southern United States, became the first artist to drape painted
canvases into flowing shapes. He later explored a different style, ______ quilt-like paintings inspired by the patchwork
quilting tradition of Black communities in the South.

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

A. predicting

B. refusing

C. hiding

D. creating
 ID: a13b5906
In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the first script, or writing system, for an Indigenous
language in the United States. Because it represented the sounds of spoken Cherokee so accurately, his script was
easy to learn and thus quickly achieved ______ use: by 1830, over 90 percent of the Cherokee people could read and
write it.

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

A. widespread

B. careful

C. unintended

D. infrequent
 ID: 85c176d5
The Appalachian Trail is a hiking path in the eastern United States. Much of the 2,000 mile trail passes through
wilderness areas. In order to ______ those areas, the United States Congress passed the National Trails System Act
in 1968, ensuring that the trail would not be sold or commercially developed.

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

A. borrow

B. postpone

C. protect

D. decorate
 ID: 699c6598
In the 1970s, video cameras became increasingly affordable for ordinary consumers and gave Ulysses Jenkins and
other artists capabilities that were previously unavailable except to television broadcasters. Jenkins recognized and
took full advantage of this ______ access to powerful technology to create groundbreaking works of video art, such
as Mass of Images (1978).

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

A. newfound

B. delicate

C. inevitable

D. habitual
 ID: 670606aa
It would be a mistake to ______ the exhibit that artist and curator Joe Baker, who is a member of the Lenape
(Delaware) people, has organized at the Brooklyn Public Library. The exhibit, which includes Lenape beadwork from
the 1850s as well as modern works that use traditional patterns, is essential viewing.

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

A. complicate

B. amplify

C. overlook

D. assemble
 ID: 00bfdbd7
The fashion resale market, in which consumers purchase secondhand clothing from stores and online sellers,
generated nearly $30 billion globally in 2019. Expecting to see continued growth, some analysts ______ that revenues
will more than double by 2028.

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

A. produced

B. denied

C. worried

D. predicted
 ID: f2779b1c
The following text is from the 1913 story “The King’s Coin” by Emily Pauline Johnson, a Kanienkahagen (Mohawk)
writer also known as Tekahionwake. Fox-Foot, a young Ojibwe man, is guiding a group of fur traders who are
traveling by canoe and suspects that they are being followed.

At supper time, Fox-Foot would allow no fire to be built, no landing to be made, no trace of their passing to be
left. They ate canned meat and marmalade, drank again of the stream and pushed on, until just at dusk they
reached the edge of a long, still lake, with shores of granite and dense fir forest.

As used in the text, what does the word “trace” most nearly mean?

A. Evidence

B. Blemish

C. Amount

D. Sketch
 ID: 973c10f3
Arturo A. Schomburg was dedicated to preserving books, art, and other materials from peoples of African descent
around the world. To get these items, Schomburg ______ friends and colleagues, whom he asked to bring back rare
and valuable objects from their international travels. Now, Schomburg’s collection is a valuable resource for scholars
of Black history and culture.

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

A. admired

B. disagreed with

C. warned

D. depended on
 ID: 6721a0e1
The printing of Virginia Woolf’s novels featured a creative ______ between Woolf and her sister Vanessa Bell: a
talented painter, Bell worked closely with Woolf to create original cover art for most of the novels.

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

A. rebellion

B. partnership

C. discovery

D. disagreement
 ID: a05e2f16
The following text is from Claude McKay’s 1922 poem “Morning Joy.” The speaker is looking out a window and
observing a wold, or large area of land.

At night the wide and level stretch of wold, Which at high noon had basked in quiet gold,
Far as the eye could see was ghostly white; Dark was the night save for the snow’s weird light.
I drew the shades far down, crept into bed; Hearing the cold wind moaning overhead
Through the sad pines, my soul, catching its pain, Went sorrowing with it across the plain.

As used in the text, what does the word “drew” most nearly mean?

A. Pulled

B. Drained

C. Inspired

D. Sketched
 ID: 60f5c0d5
Novelist Leon Forrest admired William Faulkner’s writing style. Forrest’s novel Divine Days contains a long passage
in tribute to Faulkner that is a perfect ______ of Faulkner’s style: anyone familiar with Faulkner’s writing would see the
resemblance.

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

A. forgetting

B. rejection

C. imitation

D. opinion
 ID: e07e635c
In 1877, 85% of California’s railways were already controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad. The company further
solidified its ______ in rail access to the state’s Pacific coast when it completed the Sunset Route in 1883: running
from Louisiana to Southern California, the route established the first transcontinental rail line across the southern
United States.

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

A. dominance

B. creativity

C. insignificance

D. neutrality
 ID: a443105a
Manul cats are small, shy felines. They live mostly alone in out-of-the-way parts of Asia, such as on Mount Everest.
These cats have been difficult to research because their habitats are so ______ large populations of humans.

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

A. full of

B. drawn to

C. responsible for

D. distant from
 ID: 535c4602
The following text is from Darcie Little Badger’s 2021 novel A Snake Falls to Earth. Nina is looking at old family
photographs.

Nina couldn’t stop looking at the sepia-toned photograph in an oak frame. Propped on the window ledge, it
featured a portrait of Great-Great-Grandmother Rosita as a young woman.
©2021 by Darcie Little Badger

As used in the text, what does the word “featured” most nearly mean?

A. Displayed

B. Questioned

C. Approved

D. Ignored
 ID: ce436d52
Due to their often strange images, highly experimental syntax, and opaque subject matter, many of John Ashbery’s
poems can be quite difficult to ______ and thus are the object of heated debate among scholars.

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

A. delegate

B. compose

C. interpret

D. renounce
 ID: 55e53150
The following text is from Booth Tarkington’s 1921 novel Alice Adams.

Mrs. Adams had always been fond of vases, she said, and every year her husband’s Christmas present to her
was a vase of one sort or another—whatever the clerk showed him, marked at about twelve or fourteen dollars.

As used in the text, what does the word “marked” most nearly mean?

A. Staged

B. Priced

C. Stained

D. Watched
 ID: afc3d0d1
The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist Daniella
DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of a surface mostly covered in boulders, OSIRIS-
REx successfully ______ a sample of the surface, gathering pieces of it to bring back to Earth.

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

A. attached

B. collected

C. followed

D. replaced
 ID: 52db755d
The following text is adapted from Charles Chesnutt’s 1899 story “The Wife of His Youth.” Mr. Ryder is hosting a
formal gathering where he will propose marriage to the woman he has been courting.

[A] younger and less cautious man would long since have spoken. But he had made up his mind, and had only
to determine the time when he would ask her to be his wife. He decided to give a ball in her honor, and at some
time during the evening of the ball to offer her his heart and hand.

As used in the text, what does the word “determine” most nearly mean?

A. Choose

B. Influence

C. Demonstrate

D. Measure
 ID: c4b1ca8b
For painter Jacob Lawrence, being ______ was an important part of the artistic process. Because he paid close
attention to all the details of his Harlem neighborhood, Lawrence’s artwork captured nuances in the beauty and
vitality of the Black experience during the Harlem Renaissance and the Great Migration.

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

A. skeptical

B. observant

C. critical

D. confident
 ID: bed303b9
Dance choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar aims to give people the opportunity to be ______ her creative process.
For example, live performances of her dance HairStories, which debuted in 2001, featured videos of people across
the United States talking about their hair and audience members sharing pictures of their interesting hairstyles.

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

A. nervous about

B. completed by

C. delayed by

D. involved in
 ID: 5f6c6854
Physicist Joseph Weber performed ______ work in gravitational wave research in the 1960s and 1970s, conducting
key experiments that scientists later used as the basis for their own investigations that led to the first verified
detection of a gravitational wave in 2015.

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

A. foundational

B. supplementary

C. repetitive

D. ineffective
 ID: a47f5b24
A musician and member of the Quechua of Peru, Renata Flores Rivera was eager to promote the Quechua language
in her music, but she was ______ speaking it. She met this challenge by asking her grandmother, a native speaker of
Quechua, to help her pronounce words in her song lyrics and also by taking classes in the language.

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

A. prepared for

B. inexperienced with

C. skilled in

D. excited about
 ID: 8221b9e0
Urban planning expert Francisco Lara-Valencia and colleagues have argued that managing environmental matters
along the US-Mexico border ______ coordination between the two countries’ governments. Since ecosystems extend
across the border, actions taken on one side can have environmental effects on the other side, making international
cooperation essential.

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

A. requires

B. praises

C. reports

D. advises
 ID: fa9319f0
Ronyoung Kim creatively captures the Korean American immigrant experience in her novel Clay Walls by writing
about a family from three ______ perspectives. The first section of the novel is from the mother Haesu’s perspective,
the second is from the father Chun’s perspective, and the last is from the daughter Faye’s perspective.

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

A. distinct

B. required

C. unintended

D. unknown
 ID: 1abf42c6
The following text is from Nella Larsen’s 1928 novel Quicksand.

The trees in their spring beauty sent through her restive mind a sharp thrill of pleasure. Seductive, charming,
and beckoning as cities were, they had not this easy unhuman loveliness.

As used in the text, what does the word “beckoning” most nearly mean?

A. Demanding

B. Signaling

C. Inviting

D. Shifting
 ID: 50e2cbb3
US traffic signals didn’t always contain the familiar three lights (red, yellow, and green). Traffic lights only ______ red
and green lights until the three-light traffic signal was developed in the 1920s.

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

A. avoided

B. featured

C. appreciated

D. disregarded
 ID: 32897050
Sumerian civilization (which lasted from around 3300 to 2000 BCE) ______ many concepts that persist into present-
day civilizations: for example, the first description of the seven-day week appears in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh.

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

A. transformed

B. introduced

C. inherited

D. overlooked
 ID: 8f9ba3f1
A brief book review cannot fully convey the ______ of Olga Tokarczuk’s novel The Books of Jacob, with its enormous
cast of characters, its complicated, wandering plot, and its page numbers that count backward (beginning at 965
and ending at 1).

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

A. accuracy

B. inactivity

C. complexity

D. restraint
 ID: 4fd9ca5d
As an architect in Los Angeles in the 1950s, Helen Liu Fong became known for avoiding ______ designs in her
buildings. Instead of using standard shapes and colors, she typically explored innovative forms and daring hues.

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

A. creative

B. bold

C. traditional

D. understandable
 ID: c6fb83ae
The following text is from Yann Martel’s 2001 novel Life of Pi. The narrator’s family owned a zoo when he was a
child.

It was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it seemed to
get smaller as I grew older, train included.
©2001 by Yann Martel

As used in the text, what does the word “spread” most nearly mean?

A. Hidden

B. Discussed

C. Extended

D. Coated