Digital SAT Reading and Writing- Practice Questions -Set 2

Digital SAT MAth and English – full syllabus practice tests

The Reading and Writing section of the digital SAT

Information and Ideas
Craft and Structure
Expression of Ideas
Standard English Conventions

Again and again they said it, as though repetition would solidify the truth of the phrase, make it strong enough to sustain them as they disembarked. Their voices wove through the wails and murmurs in the crowd. She gently jostled forward. A man in front of her moved away, apparently having seen enough, and she slunk into his space before it could close, before anyone could notice

Question

As used in above passage, “wove” most nearly means
A. intermingled.
B. formed.
C. invented.
D. folded.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

I own this place, his posture seemed to say. Of course, just because that was the place where he’d found a photographer to take his portrait didn’t mean the whole city looked that way. She knew this; at least part of her knew this. But the image still glowed in her mind.

Question

As used in above passage, “glowed” most nearly means
A. radiated heat.
B. remained vivid.
C. provided light.
D. gained intensity.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

She feared the wind might tear her blue hat right off her head, despite the several pins she’d used to place it, and losing the hat-the finest thing she’d ever worn, with real pearls stitched on, fit for a bride, her mother had said-would be unbearable, so she reached up and gripped it with both hands. The throng around her seemed to melt away (as it surely did for everyone else: 368 Italians, all wandering their own private visions of Argentina in their minds) as her eyes roved the distant city,

Question

The phrase in parentheses in above passage (“as it . . . minds”) mainly serves to
A. emphasize the similarities between Leda’s initial impressions of Argentina and those of the other passengers.
B. convey the passengers’ growing confidence in what the future holds for them.
C. highlight that Argentina represents something unique to each passenger.
D. note that Leda feels disconnected from the other passengers despite being surrounded by them.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: C

There are other possible explanations for the null results in the study, which the authors acknowledge. It could be that a person’s use of emotion-related words taps into an aspect of emotion that also isn’t captured by self-report questionnaires- perhaps one that participants themselves aren’t consciously aware of.

Question

As used in passage above, “captured” most nearly means
A. controlled.
B. recorded.
C. conquered.
D. attracted.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

Question

According to figure above , when the change in human raters’ assessment of speakers’ emotional state was 1 , the average self-reported amount of positive emotion was approximately
A. 1.8
B. 2.5 .
C. 3.
D. 4 .

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

Question

Both above figures support which statement about participants in the study, on average?
A. They reported greater amounts of positive emotion than negative emotion.
B. They used more positive emotion words than negative emotion words.
C. They experienced little change in emotional state over the course of the day.
D. They showed a decline in the frequency of positive emotion words as human raters’ assessment of their emotional state increased.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

If the Moon sat through a hailstorm of impacts, Earth should have 70 experienced the same storm, and therefore the same rate of cratering, the researchers argue. But without knowing how old most lunar craters are, it’s unclear if the Earth and the Moon suffered impacts constantly or in short bursts.

Question

In context, the sentence in line above (“But without . . . bursts”) mainly serves to
A. identify a problem that the team would need to solve before they could proceed with their study.
B. explain why the team would not be able to draw conclusions about Earth from features on the Moon.
C. summarize the consensus understanding of lunar cratering that the team challenged.
D. acknowledge that existing lunar maps appeared to contradict the team’s hypothesis.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

If the Moon sat through a hailstorm of impacts, Earth should have 70 experienced the same storm, and therefore the same rate of cratering, the researchers argue. But without knowing how old most lunar craters are, it’s unclear if the Earth and the Moon suffered impacts constantly or in short bursts.

Question

As used in above passage, “suffered” most nearly means
A. were disadvantaged by.
B. were subjected to.
C. had resisted.
D. had deteriorated under.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

“Right away you could see the young craters popping out ; Ghent says. Older craters, by contrast, were surrounded by rocks that had been beaten down to dust over time, so they didn’t glow as brightly at night.

Question

As used in above passage, “popping out” most nearly means
A. becoming apparent.
B. expanding upward.
C. exiting forcefully.
D. moving rapidly.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

The jump in the impact rate could have been caused by a smash-up in the asteroid belt sending debris toward the inner solar system, says coauthor William Bottke, a planetary scientist at the 35 Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. In 2007, Bottke linked one such asteroid break-up to the impact that killed the dinosaurs

Ghent cautions against drawing conclusions about an exact date for that spike in impacts, noting it could have happened tens of millions of years earlier or later than estimated, or in multiple spurts. “l ,don’t want people to say, ‘Hey, the Permian-Triassic extinction happened during that time. This might have caused it.’ We don’t know that:• she says.

Question

The main purpose of the above bold paragraph is to

A. propose a future application of the team’s methods.
B. rebut a possible criticism of the team’s conclusions.
C. explain an apparent anomaly in the team’s data.
D. preclude a potential unwarranted inference from the team’s results.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

Question

According to figure above , among the youngest \(50 \%\) of lunar craters greater than 20 kilometers in diameter, the oldest that a crater could be is between

A. 200 and 300 million years old.
B. 300 and 400 million years old.
C. 400 and 500 million years old.
D. 500 and 600 million years old.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

Question

According to figure above, among Earth’s craters greater than 20 kilometers in diameter, the percentage that are younger than 550 million years old is closest to

A. \(80 \%\).
B. \(70 \%\).
C. \(60 \%\).
D. \(50 \%\).

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

Question

Taken together, the figures above best support which statement about craters greater than 20 kilometers in diameter on the Earth and the Moon?

A. The number of such craters is greater on the Earth than it is on the Moon.
B. The percentage of such craters under 100 million years old is greater on the Moon than on the Earth.
C. The Earth experienced a longer period with no change in the percentage of such craters than the Moon did.
D. The percentage of such craters that are younger than 250 million years old is greater on the Earth than on the Moon.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

Men who are rich enough and who are sufficiently free from anxiety with regard to their wealth can and do provide places of this needed recreation for themselves. They have done so from tl1e earliest periods known in the history of the world, for the great men of the Babylonians, the Persians and the Hebrews, had their rural retreats, as large and as luxurious as those of the aristocracy of Europe at present.

Question

As used in above passage , “retreats” most nearly means

A. havens.
B. withdrawals.
C. concealments.
D.evasions.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

The value of these grounds amounts to many millions of dollars and the cost of their annual maintenance is greater than that of the national schools; their only advantage to the commonwealth is obtained through the recreation they afford to their owners (except as these extend hospitality to others) and these owners with their families 30 number less than one in six thousand of the whole population.

Question

As used in passage above , “extend” most nearly means

A. offer.
B. increase.
C. protrude.
D. enlarge.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

Studies in the past few years have shown that the ability of plants to downregulate respiration in response to long-term increases in temperature is much greater than that of short-lived soil microbes. The authors suggest that the increased microbial activity observed in their study probably reflects the stimulatory effects of elevated temperatures associated with climate change.

Question

As used in paragraph above, “observed” most nearly means

A. remembered.
B. preserved.
C. attended.
D. detected.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

If Bond-Lamberty and colleagues’ findings are correct, which mechanisms could explain the markedly enhanced stimulation of the activity of soil microbes relative to plant productivity and plant respiration? Studies in the past few years have shown that the ability of plants to downregulate respiration in response to long-term increases in temperature is much greater than that of short-lived soil microbes. The authors suggest that the increased microbial activity observed in their study probably reflects the stimulatory effects of elevated temperatures associated with climate change.

Question

The above paragraph of Passage mainly serves to

A. acknowledge an important discovery that will be contextualized in the passage.
B. summarize an assumption that will be elaborated on in the passage.
C. discuss the conclusions of a study that will be analyzed in the passage.
D. emphasize a lack of consensus that will be ultimately reconciled in the passage.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

This diversity of methods might have led those researchers to come to contrasting conclusions about the relative importance of soil microbes in their studies. Moreover, Bond-Lamberty et al. used simplifying assumptions to translate hourly or daily snapshots of respiration rates into annual fluxes of CO2, but did not take into account the uncertainty in these calculations.

Question

As used in para above , “translate” most nearly means

A. convert.
B. define.
C. explain.
D. reword.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

The motive for this strange withdrawal is not explained in written records, ————– some historians have asserted that it resulted from instability in Mongol politics.

Question

A. so
B. nevertheless,
C. but
D. No word required

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

A recent study of tree ring data from Eastern and Central Europe by researchers Ulf B0ntgen and Nicola Di Cosmo present a compelling case that modest yet powerful changes in weather patterns played an essential role in this historic event.

Question

A. NO CHANGE
B. presents
C. have presented
D. are presenting

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

The Mongol army, due to its dependence on ———– and ambulatory horse cavalry, was particularly susceptible to weather conditions.

Question

A. expeditious
B. quick and mobile
C. speedy and zippy
D. super fast and nimble

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

Warm, dry weather helped the army expand, producing smooth grasslands for the horses to both charge across and graze upon. —————cold weather with a sufficient amount of precipitation could cause marshy terrain, which would make it difficult for the horses to move and would ruin any potential harvest needed to feed soldiers and horses.

Question

A. on the other hand
B. For example,
C. Be that as it may,
D. Therefore,

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

Through analysis of interior tree ring growth patterns, B0ntgen and Di Cosmo were able to study the weather patterns at the time and place of the Mongol invasion, and the researchers discovered subtle weather anomalies that —————to the army’s advance and retreat.

Question

A. corresponded

B. coordinated for

C. correlated in

D. coexisted at

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

From 1238 to 1241, which includes the year of the invasion and the years leading up to it, the region saw ————– and decreased precipitation.

Question

Which choice most accurately represents the data in the graph?
A. above-average temperatures
B. below-average temperatures
C. average temperatures
D. no changes in temperature
D. an impressive sign of her husband’s achievements in Argentina.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:A

——— , for instance, summer temperatures were about 0.5 degree above average. However, in 1242, the year of the withdrawal, this trend reversed, with precipitation increasing and temperatures dropping to as low as approximately 0.2 degree below average.

Question

Which choice provides accurate information from the graph?

A. Before 1237
B. In 1239,
C. In 1240,
D. After 1241

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

Buntgen and Di Cosmo’s use of tree ring ————-. even minor weather anomalies would have likely forced the Mongols to retreat from Hungary.

Question

A. analysis shows how
B. analysis shows, how
C. analysis, shows how:
D. analysis shows how

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

While this explanation does not disqualify the possibility of other popular———– fosters a more complete understanding of this major historical event.

Question

A. theories. It
B. theories, but it
C. theories, and it
D. theories, it

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

A recent study of tree ring data from Eastern and Central Europe by researchers Ulf B0ntgen and Nicola Di Cosmo presents a compelling case that———- yet powerful changes in weather patterns played an essential role in this historic event.

Question

A. unassertive
B. plain
C. compliant
D. modest

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: D

However, not all art is meant to last. Some pieces, in fact, gain much of their significance from the fact that they were never intended to be permanent-either because they rely on temporary features or ———————- ephemeral materials.

Question

A. because they are utilizing
B. because they utilize
C. by utilizing
D. will utilize

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

For ——————, transience is essential to their aesthetic power. Many works of temporary art, which often focus more on ideas than on traditional artistic techniques, rely on change for their effect.

Question

A. them
B. these artists,
C. these characteristics,
D. these artworks,

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

The use of organic substances to explore existential —————-, is one example of this tendency.

Question

A. concepts such as the ephemeral and cyclical nature of life
B. concepts, such as the ephemeral and cyclical nature of life
C. concepts, such as the ephemeral and cyclical nature, of life,
D. concepts such as the ephemeral and cyclical nature of life

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

For instance. conceptual artist Yoko Ono designed the exhibit Apple- a real apple displayed on a clear Plexiglas pedestal- to ———-suggest such ideas.

Question

A. aggressively
B. outrageously
C. provocatively
D. exasperatingly

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

Over the course of several weeks, the apple, which started out fresh and shiny green, gradually shriveled up before it eventually was replaced by a new apple and the process repeated itself. This new apple would likewise remain on display until it had fully decomposed.

Question

The writer is considering deleting the underlined sentence. Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
A. Kept, because it provides relevant details about Ono’s aesthetic choices in designing Apple.
B. Kept, because it clarifies the symbolic significance of the apple in Ono’s body of work.
C. Deleted, because it provides a detail about Apple’s composition that is unrelated to the paragraph’s main focus.
D. Deleted, because it unnecessarily repeats information about the exhibition of Apple that is stated earlier.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

As Ono described the work, which was first displayed in London in 1966 and was later included in a retrospective of her work at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in ——- ——- “There is the excitement of the apple decomposing, and then the decision whether or not to replace it, of just thinking of the beauty of the apple after it’s gone.”

Question

A. 2015.
B. 2015,
C. 2015;
D. 2015, saying

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:B

Like Ono, Brazilian sculptor Nele Azevedo has experimented with transient materials to achieve her aesthetic goals. Azevedo’s work Minimum Monument. which ————– in 2005, involves her traveling to cities around the world, such as Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Lima, Peru, and, aided by locals, placing hundreds of tiny human ice sculptures at historical landmarks.

Question

A. is beginning
B. begins
C. would have begun
D. began

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:D

[1] Like Ono, Brazilian sculptor Nele Azevedo has experimented with transient materials to achieve her aesthetic goals. [2] Azevedo’s work Minimum Monument which began in 2005, involves her traveling to cities around the world, such as Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Lima, Peru, and, aided by locals, placing hundreds of tiny human ice sculptures at historical landmarks. [3] They evoke the forgotten lives and history behind the cultural monuments, and, as the artist reflects, their temporary life span helps communicate this message: “in the place of the hero, the anonym; in the place of the solidity of the stone, the ephemeral process of the ice; in the place of the monument scale, the minimum scale of the perishable bodies”

Question

The writer wants to add the following sentence into this paragraph.
These ice sculptures are left to melt and are meant to contrast with the permanence of the monuments on which they are placed.
The best placement for the sentence is
A. before sentence 1.
B. after sentence 1.
C. after sentence 2.
D. after sentence 3.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

As Ono’s and Azevedo’s pieces indicate, works of art are subject to actual physical processes. Those processes can be key to their impact.

Question

Which choice most effectively combines the sentences at the underlined portion?
A. the actual physical processes that works of art undergo can be key to their impact.
B. when works of art undergo actual physical processes, those processes can be key to their impact.
C. works of art have impacts, and actual physical processes are key to them.
D. the key to their impact, for works of art, can be the actual physical processes that they undergo.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: A

In 1965 astronomer Vera Rubin took a job at the Carnegie Institution of Washing1on. There she met fellow astronomer Kent Ford, who had created a spectrograph-an instrument that separates light into a frequency spectrum-that was capable of amplifying the spectra of a galaxy’s ——– outer regions.

Question

A. dreary
B. monotonous
C. dim
D. weak

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

Up to that point, telescopes—————- the spectra of only the dense inner parts of galaxies. “Lots of people were working on the centers of galaxies, but I got curious about the outsides; Rubin said.

Question

A. can observe
B. can be observing
C. could observe
D. will be able to observe

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans:C

The telescope-mounted spectrograph gave her a chance to pursue the interest that she had in galaxies. Then. she and Ford put the tool to use in studying the outer areas of galaxies.

Question

Which choice most effectively combines the sentences at the underlined portion?
A. this interest, and she and Ford put the tool to use in studying
B. it, and she and Ford put the tool to use in studying
C. this interest that she described; using the tool, she and Ford studied
D. the interest that she had, so afterward she and Ford used it to study

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: A

For two years, they traveled between the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Arizona-Sonoran ————– the stars on the outskirts of the Andromeda galaxy 2.5 million light-years away.

Question

A. Desert. they measured
B. Desert, measuring
C. Desert. Measuring
D. Desert; and measured

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: B

In our solar system, the outer planets move more slowly than the inner planets because most of the mass of the solar system is concentrated at its center, in the Sun. Gravitational force weakens with distance, so it has less ————— the motion of an outer planet than it does on that of an Inner planet.

Question

A. effect on
B. affect on
C. affect for
D. effect for

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: A

Gravitational force weakens with distance, so it has less effect on the motion of an outer planet than it does on that of an Inner planet.————–. in galaxies, most of the visible mass is clustered in the center, so stars farther away from the center would be expected to move more slowly than stars closer to the center.

Question

A. Subsequently
B. On the other hand,
C. Likewise,
D. Nevertheless,

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: C

They observed that stars maintained stable orbits of about the same speed no matter how close ——- to the center of the galaxy.

Question

A. it was
B. it has been
C. they will be
D. they were

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: D

Rubin and Ford published their findings in 1970. Their work was initially met with skepticism but is regarded today as a landmark contribution to ——- first discovery of data that were difficult to explain without the existence of dark matter.

Question

A. astronomy; the
B. astronomy the
C. astronomy: the
D. astronomy. The

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: C

[1] “Fragrance is present in every aspect of our lives; says Rocio Arellano, a director of fragrance development at consumer product company Colgate-Palmolive. [2] From the aromas that lure us into stores to the smells that reward our housecleaning efforts, fragrances affect our perceptions and behaviors. [3] In fact, the marketing plan for Gam laundry detergent relies almost exclusively on the appeal of the product’s variety of fragrances- including such proprietary scents as ”Apple Mango Tango•- to ensure successful advertising results. [4] These scents are the creation of fragrance chemists, professionals who develop fragrances for consumer goods such as cleaning products, cosmetics, and air fresheners.

Question

The writer wants to add the following sentence to the paragraph.
Businesses know and use this to sell their products.
The best placement for the sentence is

A. before sentence 1.
B. after sentence 2.
C. after sentence 3.
D. after sentence 4.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: B

Creating a product with a pleasing smell is an arduous process that can take years. At Colgate-Palmolive, Arellano and her team — ———-fragrance houses-to formulate new scents for products in development.

Question

A. work with outside partners
B. collaborate and work with outside partners—
C. work with external partners from outside the company—
D. team up and work with external, non-Colgate-Palmolive partners—

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: A

Creating a product with a pleasing smell is an arduous process that can take years. At Colgate-Palmolive, Arellano and her team work with outside partners-fragrance houses-to formulate new scents for products in development. The fragrance ———-

Question

A. houses chemists.
B. houses’ chemists’,
C. houses’ chemists,
D. houses chemist’s,

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: C

The fragrance houses chemists. many of whom have earned a graduate degree in chemistry or a related ——————- use advanced laboratory tools such as gas chromatographers that separate and analyze fragrance components.

Question

A. field and
B. field. They
C. field,
D. field; moreover, they

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: C

The fragrances they develop can include up to 1,500 chemicals, ————–they must understand how those chemicals interact and identify satisfying combinations.

Question

A. although
B. so
C. of which
D. DELETE the underlined portion.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: B

They also rely on ————–knowledge of which scents will dissipate quickly and which will linger.

Question

A. its
B. one’s
C. our
D. their

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: D

Once the fragrance house has delivered the new fragrance, Colgate-Palmolive’s in-house chemists examine it and perform consumer testing. The chemists perform this testing in order to have the ability to make a decision regarding whether it works for the product being developed.

Question

Which choice most effectively combines the sentences at the underlined portion?
A. testing to decide
B. testing, which will thus give them the ability to decide
C. testing, so they are able to decide
D. testing to come to a decision as to

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: A

————–, designing scents that appeal to consumers is similar to crafting a symphony, as master perfumer Michael Papas explains.

Question

A. Meanwhile
B. Regardless,
C. Otherwise,
D. DELETE the underlined portion, adjusting the capitalization as needed.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: D

A composer uses musical notes to create an auditory —————-a fragrance chemist uses fragrant notes to create an olfactory symphony.

Question

A. symphony
B. symphony;
C. symphony:
D. symphony,

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans: B