Module I: Reading and Writing

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The way in which individual elements are balanced within a photographic image tends to affect how viewers perceive it: symmetry tends to give the elements equal importance, asymmetry emphasizes differences, and radial balance (organizing the elements around a central point) emphasizes the center over the periphery. What a photograph conveys is therefore largely _____ how it is balanced.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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reserved for
inhibited by
contingent on
obligated to
Stars form in cloudlike swirls of gas and dust that cannot be touched, but astrophysicist Nia Imara believes these formations need not remain completely _____ to researchers: she uses simulation data and sophisticated 3D printers to produce interactive models of these stellar nurseries.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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regrettable
explicable
intangible
repeatable
Categorical claims about the original function and significance of the Urfa Man—a statue of a human figure found in what is now Turkey and dating from around 11,000 years ago—should be treated _____ . We simply do not know enough about the people of the time to say with certainty what the statue meant to them.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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indulgently
skeptically
reverentially
individually
Often, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is given to a single person, such as Irving Langmuir in 1932. But scientists recognized with a Nobel Prize do not often conduct their work in ____ the scientific community. Instead, success in fields like chemistry is usually achieved through direct cooperation with other experts, as was the case for George Smith, who was among those awarded for “the phage display of peptides and antibodies.”
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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isolation from
deference to
collaboration with
competition with
The following text is from José Rizal’s 1891 novel The Reign of Greed (translated by Charles Derbyshire in 1912).
A lady accompanied by her husband entered at that moment and took her place in one of the two vacant boxes. She had the air of a queen and gazed disdainfully at the whole house, as if to say, “I’ve come later than all of you, you crowd of upstarts and provincials, I’ve come later than you!” There are persons who go to the theater like the contestants in a mule-race: the last one in, wins, and we know very sensible men who would ascend the scaffold rather than enter a theater before the first act.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a whole?
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It illustrates the lady’s contemptuous attitude toward the other people in the theater.
It helps explain why some people are especially perceptive of the social dynamics at theaters.
It emphasizes a character’s dedication to her career.
It conveys the urgency some theater patrons feel to be the first ones to arrive at a performance.
The following text is from Armando Palacio Valdés’s short story “The Love of Clotilde,” originally published in Spanish in 1884. In the story, Don Jerónimo is a financial supporter of artists in the theater.
Any youth from the provinces who arrived in Madrid with a drama in his pocket could take no surer road to seeing it produced than that which led to the home of Don Jerónimo. One and all, he received them with open arms, the good and the bad alike. There is no denying that, since he was rather brusque in his ways, he never spared the young authors who asked his advice and read him their productions, but criticized vigorously, even to the verge of insult.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
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It conveys Don Jerónimo’s lack of interest in continuing to support playwrights.
It explains Don Jerónimo’s view of the quality of theatrical works of the time.
It creates a contrast between the talent of a young playwright and that of Don Jerónimo.
It emphasizes the degree to which Don Jerónimo’s support is consequential for inexperienced playwrights.
A contraction of “you all,” the pronoun “y’all” has long been used as a plural version of “you” in the South and in Black communities around the US. In recent decades, most other English-speaking communities in the US have begun to use “y’all.” What explains its rise in popularity? Many varieties of English have no pronoun that specifically addresses more than one person and instead must use “you” to address both one person and more than one. But “y’all” always refers to two or more people. As a result, it conveys the speaker’s meaning more precisely than “you” can.
Which question does the text most directly attempt to answer?
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Mark for Review
How many other plural versions of the pronoun “you” are there in English, besides “y’all”?
When was the first recorded use of the pronoun “y’all” in the English language?
Is “y’all” commonly used in English-speaking regions of the world besides the US?
Why has the pronoun “y’all” become more widely used in the US?
Many people use the trademark “Kleenex” to refer generally to facial tissue rather than specifically to products made by Kimberly-Clark, the company that owns the trademark. As legal experts note, this may pose a problem for Kimberly-Clark. In the US, courts can cancel a trademark if they decide that its meaning is no longer specific to the trademark owner’s products. If “Kleenex” were judged to have become a generic term, as “cellophane” was, other companies would be free to use it to promote similar products, making it harder for Kimberly-Clark to stand out from competitors.
What does the text suggest about the term “cellophane”?
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It is the subject of great debate among legal experts.
It once referred to a specific product made by a particular company.
It has recently become surprisingly popular for unknown reasons.
It was never intended by its creator to be used as a trademark.
The SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia, has around 4,500 works of art. Digital images of hundreds of those works have been put online through the museum’s website and the Google Arts & Culture project. One of the images is of The Card Game, a painting by Jacob Lawrence. In a paper, a student claims that putting a work from the museum online increases the number of people who experience that work.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the underlined claim?
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Many people who have been to Savannah say that the SCAD Museum of Art is worth visiting.
Each year, more people access the online image of The Card Game than visit the SCAD Museum of Art in person.
The SCAD Museum of Art has several works by Jacob Lawrence.
The Card Game has been praised by some art critics.
Neighboring Species and Target Species in Various Locations
Neighboring speciesTarget speciesLocation
sticky catchflycommon cow-wheatSweden
Bermuda buttercupwhite rocketSpain
Virginia spring beautystar chickweedUnited States
In a study of interactions between plants, researchers Carolina Laura Morales and Anna Traveset gathered data about flowering plants growing alongside each other in various locations. In each case, the researchers identified one plant as a “target species” and a nearby plant as a “neighboring species.” An example of a neighboring species is the sticky catchfly, which grows alongside the common cow-wheat in _____.
Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to complete the example?
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Mark for Review
Spain
the United States
Japan
Sweden
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