Module I: Reading and Writing

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The following text is adapted from Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows. The Mole is dazed after briefly meeting a stranger while traveling with a friend.
[The] Mole stood still a moment, held in thought. As one wakened suddenly from a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it, and can re-capture nothing but a dim sense of the beauty of it, the beauty! Till that, too, fades away in its turn.
As used in the text, what does the word “suddenly” most nearly mean?
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Abruptly
Repeatedly
Voluntarily
Tenderly
Over the past decade, the coastal city’s fishing industry has faced numerous environmental challenges, including rising ocean temperatures and decreasing fish populations. As a result, the city’s economy, once largely dependent on fishing, has been steadily _______.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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diminishing
expanding
fluctuating
correlating
From sculptures like Miró's Chicago by Joan Miró, found at Brunswick Plaza, to street art like Justus Roe's mural South Shore on South Exchange Avenue, Chicago offers an array of works to _____ the tastes of art lovers.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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supplant
mitigate
venerate
satiate
Writer Lydia Davis observed that while traditional literary forms, such as the novel, are recognizable as such even as they evolve, there are rarer “intergeneric” forms that might, for example, use elements of both fiction and essays to create something _____. The late-period pieces of James Tate arguably fit this description, since they straddle the line between prose and poetry.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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orthodox
unequivocal
recurrent
unclassifiable
Alfred Nobel intended for the Nobel Prize to be an award honoring those who have contributed “the greatest benefit to mankind.” Indeed, the work of Richard Laurence Millington Synge represented a significant _____ the field of chemistry, and in 1952 he was among those awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “their invention of partition chromatography.”
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
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exposure to
advancement in
dependence on
controversy in
The following text is adapted from Adib Khorram’s 2018 novel Darius the Great Is Not Okay. Darius, a teenager from the United States, is visiting his grandparents, Babou and Mamou, in Iran. They are preparing for a holiday celebration.
I felt like a tourist.
But Babou fussed with my cap a little more, even though Mamou had already gotten it settled. He looked me in the eye from time to time, like he was looking for something, and thought maybe—just maybe—I had it in me after all.
Babou hummed to himself as he smoothed out my shoulder seams and rested his hands on them.
“I am glad you are here to see this, Darioush-jan.” Maybe I wasn’t such a tourist.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
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To emphasize that Darius has been looking forward to an event
To demonstrate that Darius and Babou would prefer not to travel
To show that Babou affects the way Darius thinks of himself
To suggest that Babou and Mamou will visit Darius in the United States soon
The following text is adapted from Lady Gregory's 1904 play Spreading the News. Mrs. Tarpey, Bartley, and Mrs. Fallon have been buying and selling goods at the local fair.
MRS. TARPEY: Good morrow, Bartley Fallon; good morrow, Mrs. Fallon. Well, Bartley, you'll find no cause for complaining to-day; they are all saying it was a good fair.
BARTLEY: (Raising his voice.) It was not a good fair. Mrs. Tarpey. It was a scattered sort of a fair. If we didn't expect more, we got less. That's the way with me always; whatever I have to sell goes down and whatever I have to buy goes up. If there's ever any misfortune coming to this world, it's on myself it pitches, like a flock of crows on seed potatoes.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
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It presents a vivid image to emphasize a claim that Bartley makes.
It describes an event that Bartley observed at the fair.
It expresses doubt about the truth of a claim that Bartley made.
It indicates the degree to which Mrs. Tarpey doubts a certain event will occur.
The 2017 novella Mapping the Interior confirmed that Stephen Graham Jones is one of the most talented writers of horror fiction today. By featuring main characters who are Blackfeet, like Jones himself, the novella also helped to ensure that Indigenous people have a place within the horror genre. But Jones is hardly the only Indigenous voice in horror. Métis author Cherie Dimaline has also written in the genre. Her acclaimed 2019 novel Empire of Wild is set in a Métis community in southern Canada.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence?
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It challenges the widely held view that Stephen Graham Jones based Mapping the Interior on events in his own life.
It asks why so many readers who don't enjoy the horror genre have purchased Mapping the Interior.
It highlights the significance of the portrayal of Indigenous people in Mapping the Interior.
It predicts that non-Indigenous authors will include more Indigenous characters in their work.
The following text is from Frances E. W. Harper's 1892 novel Iola Leroy. The text describes Robert Johnson, who has recently joined the US Army.
He was daring, without being rash; prompt, but not thoughtless; firm, without being harsh. Kind and devoted to the company he drilled, he soon won the respect of his superior officers and the love of his comrades.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
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Mark for Review
Robert has put great effort into getting the attention of his superior officers.
Robert is well suited to his role in the military.
Robert is content with his life despite having made some mistakes.
Robert does whatever his comrades need done even if his superiors don't order him to do so.
Researchers César A. Hidalgo, Elisa Castañer, and Andres Sevtsuk created a computer model to predict the mix of gyms, beauty salons, and other businesses found in a given neighborhood. How we define a neighborhood and its boundaries is subjective, so the team used a clustering algorithm to locate dense groupings of amenities that represent human-identified neighborhoods like Boston’s Central Square. The predictive model, which incorporates this algorithm, is sure to be invaluable in determining the optimal mix of a city’s amenities.
According to the text, why did the team employ a clustering algorithm?
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Mark for Review
The algorithm provided insight into how customers are made aware of new gyms and beauty salons.
The algorithm gave them an objective way to identify neighborhoods.
The algorithm could be used to evaluate the reasons for a business’s closing.
The algorithm could predict which types of businesses would be successful in a given neighborhood.
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