THERE’S STILL PLENTY OF TIME TO GET READY FOR THE JANUARY 23rd TEST!

         If you are looking for the answers to the PQOTD, please keep scrolling down.

Thanks for visiting CAFE 2400!! If you’re interested in hiring a great, affordable tutor in the Atlanta area, call me, Mike Davis, at 404-863-7433, or email me at mdavis2727@gmail.com.

Why 2400? Because that is the highest score you can make on the SAT!

At CAFE 2400, we are dedicated to helping students maximize their performance on the SAT. On this site you will find a lot of great advice, links to all kinds of helpful articles, SAT practice questions, and information on how you can take advantage of our in-home private tutoring sessions (available in the Metropolitan Atlanta Area).

We also have a bookstore where you can order a variety of helpful test prep books. Click the here for more information.

If you’re not quite old enough to take the SAT, but want to get a head start, or if you’re a conscientious parent who wants to prod your child in that direction, check out CAFE 2400, Jr.

If you want to challenge yourself, do some practice questions, or even get a sense of where you stand in terms of preparedness, go here. I post new questions three or four times a week.

Click here for 2009-10 SAT dates and registration deadlines.

PQOTD 12/11/09

There is great unevenness in his later plays; there are moments of the greatest ____ in the midst of great ____.

A. lucidity – enlightenment
B. frivolity – triteness
C. insight – banality
D. obscurity – ambivalence
E. profundity – wisdom

If his later plays demonstrate “unevenness,” then what follows is going to be a pair of words to indicate that. The pair of words will have to be in some sort of opposing relationship. Here is a great example of the importance of vocabulary power because if you know the meanings of all of these words, then you also know that there’s only one choice here in which the words are so related. “Lucidity” and “enlightenment” are nearly synonymous. Same with “frivolity” and “triteness.” “Obscurity” and “ambivalence” are not exactly the same, but they both have something to do with a lack of clarity. Finally, “profundity” and “wisdom” are obviously closely related. The answer, then, must be (C).

source:  majortests.com

PQOTD 12/4/09

A radioactive chemical decays 20 percent each day. If 48 pounds of this chemical remain today, how many pounds of this chemical were present two days ago?

A. 75
B. 72
C. 70
D. 66
E. 60

We first need to go back to the day before. If 48 pounds of this chemical remain, and if that represents a 20 percent decline from the previous day, then the question we need to ask is “80 percent of what is 48?” Algebraically, we would express that as .8x= 48. Dividing 48 by .8 (or 8/10) is the same as multiplying it by 10/8; 48 x (10/8) = 60. Then we need to go back one more day. The question now is “80 percent of what is 60?” In algebraic terms, that would be .8x=60. Dividing 60 by .8 (or 8/10) is the same as multiplying it by 10/8; 60 x (10/8) = 75. The answer is (A).

source:  kaptest.com

PQOTD 11/30/09

For decades many scientists ________ that global warming posed a grave risk to the planet, but in the twenty-first century nearly all of them ________ that the threat is real.
  a) agreed…insist
  b) denied…concur
  c) argued…accede
  d) contended…acknowledge
  e) disaffirmed…reject

When you see the word “but” on a sentence completion question, you know that there is going to be a contrast between what precedes it and what comes after it. Here, it’s the second part of the question that gives us an important clue. The threat of global warming is now believed to be a real one (by many people, anyway); so before, it would not have been taken as a serious threat. The first blank must filled in by a word that has something to do with a rejection of the idea that global warming is a problem. That immediately excludes (A), (C), and (D). So is it (B) or (E)? Many now agree, or concur, that the threat is real. The answer is (B). 

source:  about.collegeapps.com

PQOTD 11/25/09

Looking up from the base of the mountain, the trail seemed more

treacherous than it really was.

(A) Looking up

(B) While looking up

(C) By looking up

(D) Viewing

(E) Viewed

As written, this sentence would suggest that the trail was looking up from the base of the mountain. Now, this could perhaps work as a metaphor in a poem, but it doesn’t work for an SAT Improving Sentences question. When a sentence begins with a dependent clause, the first word after the comma must be the subject of that clause. Here, however, the first two words of the independent clause are underlined, so we can’t make that change. Which choice will fix this problem? The only one that fixes the problem is (E). The answer is (E). 

source:  ochs.orecity.k12.or.us

PQOTD 11/19/09

A wheel has a diameter of x inches and a second wheel has a diameter of y inches. The first wheel covers a distance of d feet in 100 revolutions. How many revolutions does the second wheel make in covering d feet?

A. 100xy
B. 100y – x
C. 100x – y
D. 100y / x
E. 100x/y

A wheel with a diameter of x inches covers a distance of d feet in 100 revolutions. This can be expressed in the following equation:  d=100x. The second wheel, with a diameter of y inches, covers the same distance, i.e. 100x. So 100x = ?y. Using simple algebra, ? = 100x/y. The answer is (E).

Source:  majortests.com

PQOTD 11/06/09

Which of the following choices will most improve this sentence?  If the sentence is ok, choose (A).

To judge the Tidy City contest, we picked an uninterested party.

(A.)  picked an uninterested party.
(B.)  picked an interested party!
(C.)  picked a disinterested party.
(D.)  are in the process of picking an uninterested party.
(E.)  picked an disinterested party.

 

This question has one purpose:  to see if you know the difference between “uninterested” and “disinterested.” If I am uninterested in something, I am apathetic toward it.  On the other hand, if I am disinterested in something, it means that I am impartial. If I took someone to court, I would want a disinterested judge to hear the case—a judge who was not playing favorites. The judge for the Tidy City contest needs to be disinterested. An uninterested judge would just choose anything without any kind of deliberation. A disinterested judge would consider all of the entries fairly and equally, and only make a decision after careful deliberation. That said, we know we can eliminate (A) and (D). What about (B)? (B) would be ok on its own; but we want a choice that improves the sentence. (B) doesn’t really improve it. The fact that a judge is interested in participating does not guarantee his/her impartiality. That leaves (C) and (E). (E) is wrong because it says “an disinterested party.” I don’t need to explain why that’s wrong, do I?  The answer is (C).

source: testprepreview.com

PQOTD 11/5/09

Sarah needs to make a cake and some cookies. The cake requires 3/8 cup of sugar and the cookies require 3/5 cup of sugar. Sarah has 15/16 cups of sugar. Does she have enough sugar, or how much more does she need?

A. She has enough sugar.
B. She needs 1/8 of a cup of sugar.
C. She needs 3/80 of a cup of sugar.
D. She needs 4/19 of a cup of sugar.
E. She needs 1/9 of a cup of sugar.

Sarah has 15/16 of a cup of sugar. She needs 3/8 of a cup plus 3/5 of a cup in order to bake the cookies and the cake. First we need to add 3/8 and 3/5. The least common denominator is 40. This makes the amount of sugar needed 15/40 plus 24/40, or 39/40 of a cup of sugar. Is 39/40 greater than or less than 15/16? The easiest thing to do here is find the least common denominator of 16 and 40. That would be 80. 15/16 becomes 75/80, which is the amount of sugar she has. 39/40 becomes 78/80, which is the amount she needs. 78/80 minus 75/80 gives us 3/80. The answer is (C).

source:  testprepreview.com

 

PQOTD 10/30/09

She found that fame was both ________ and ________; not only was it difficult to get her book published, but when she did, members of the media quickly lost interest in it.

(a) destructive…counterproductive
(b) evanescent…gratifying
(c) tedious…deleterious
(d) elusive…ephemeral
(e) fulfilling…subtle

The first blank will be filled by a word that has something to do with fame being hard to achieve. The second blank will have something to do with the idea that fame is fleeting. If your vocabulary is strong, you should have no trouble choosing (D). The answer is (D).

source:  collegeapps.about.com

PQOTD 10/29/09

 

pqotd

In circle O, central angle AOB measures 72 degrees. The radius of the circle is r. The perimeter of sector AOB consists of line segments AO and BO and arc AB. Which expression gives the perimeter of sector AOB in terms of r?

(A)  (π + 10) · r / 5
(B)  (π + 8 ) · r / 4
(C)  (π + 6) · r / 3
(D)  (π + 2) · r / 5
(E)  (2π + 10) · r / 5
If the radius of the circle is r, then the circumference is 2πr. The angle AOB measures 72 degrees, which is 1/5 of the total degrees in a circle. Therefore, the measure of arc AB is 2πr/5. The perimeter of the whole section, then, would be 2πr/5, the length of the arc, plus 2r, the combined length of the two sides of the sector.  (2πr/5) + 2r works out to be (2πr + 10r)/5, or  (2π + 10) x r/5.  The answer is (E).

PQOTD 10/23/09

The questions below are based on the following passage:

That well-imagined nightmare in which a bloodthirsty Tyrannosaurus rex is chasing the family car down a lonely road in the red-rock desert as the children scream and the gas gauge hovers on empty and the dinosaur gnashes at the rear bumper is just that: a bad dream. T. rex was a slowpoke. The most feared and revered of the dinosaurs did not have the leg strength to run very fast, if at all, according to a computer model developed by two experts in the mechanical movements of living creatures.

7.     The model suggests the Cretaceous landscape was filled with large, lumbering creatures that any human with a fast car or bike or maybe even a quick sprint could outpace. The research brings the discipline of biomechanics to the long and at times contentious debate over just how fast the largest of the largest creatures ever to roam Earth could run. “Large animals need a larger fraction of their body mass as leg muscles in order to do the same things that smaller animals can do, but there is a limit to how large that fraction can be,” said John Hutchinson, co-author of the paper and a postdoctoral research fellow in the Biomechanical Engineering Division at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

15.     At 13,228 pounds (6,000 kilograms), T. rex was over that limit, he said. So, too, were some of T. rex’s potential prey, such as Edmontosaurus (large duckbill) and Triceratops (horned dinosaur). Consequently, Hutchinson and his colleague Mariano Garcia, a mechanical engineer in Ithaca, New York, concluded that the large dinosaurs must have lumbered around at a much slower pace than suggested by some paleontologists and depicted in popular movies. A classic scene in the movie Jurassic Park, for example, shows T. rex chasing a car that’s traveling about 45 miles (72 kilometers) an hour. According to Hutchinson and Garcia’s model, that’s impossible. Eighty-six percent of T. rex’s body mass would have to be leg muscle for the behemoth dinosaur to run that fast. No creatures can have most of their body weight in their legs. It doesn’t leave enough room for a skeleton, muscles, and other body parts.

25.     “An animal cannot be made 100 percent out of leg muscle,” said Hutchinson. “In fact, muscle of any kind normally is about one half of an animal’s mass, and supportive leg muscle is usually only 5 to 20 percent of an animal’s mass.”

___________________________________________________________________________________

1. The passage is concerned with the theme that

(a) Movies are correct in portraying that large dinosaurs are very fast
(b) The general perception of large animals or dinosaurs being fast is incorrect
(c) T Rex was the fastest dinosaur that roamed the earth
(d) Jurrassic park was made by a paleontologist
(e) A large dinosaur had more than 50% of its body mass as leg muscle

2. In line 9 the words “Contentious” means

(a) Disputative
(b) Callous
(c) Conclusive
(d) Incorrect
(e) Misleading

3. On the subject of leg muscle the passage says that

(a) An animal can be made of 100% leg muscle
(b) Eighty Six percent of a T Rex’s body mass is leg muscle
(c) 5 to 20% of an animal’s mass is usually the leg muscle
(d) The larger the animal the smaller the leg muscle component of body mass
(e) The smaller the animal the larger the leg muscle component of body mass

 

  1. The author makes no reference at all to the movies; he only refers to nightmares. We can rule (A) out for that reason alone. Also, the article says just the opposite—that large dinosaurs were actually very slow.  (C) is wrong also, for pretty much the same reason. Nowhere does the article mention that Jurassic Park was made by a paleontologist, so (D) is out. (E) is never stated in the article. Clearly, (B) is the right choice—the whole point of the article is to clear up misconceptions about the speed of large dinosaurs. The answer is (B).
  2. “Contentious” is used here to describe “debate.” A debate involves a dispute over a particular issue. Debate can potentially be callous, conclusive, incorrect, or misleading; however, disputative makes more sense than any of these. Remember, here you’re looking for the BEST response, not just any response that might work. The answer is (A).
  3. Just read the last sentence! The answer is right there—no explanation needed! The answer is (C).

source:  sat-question-bank.cracksat.com

 

PQOTD 10/16/09

Identify the error, if any, in the sentence below.

To this day, Jane Goodall’s data on (A) primate behavior tells (B) us a lot about (C) the similarities between (D) monkeys and humans. No Error (E)
 

This is one that the vast majority of test takers will probably miss. In spoken English, we often use the word “data” as if it were singular. However, “data” is actually the plural form of “datum.” In SAT world, this sentence is incorrect, even though no one would correct you if you were to say it this way! In order for this to be correct, “tells” has to be changed to “tell.” The answer is (B).

source:  talk.collegeconfidential.com

PQOTD 10/15/09

The parliamentary session degenerated into ____ with politicians hurling ____ at each other and refusing to come to order.

A. mayhem – banter
B. disarray – pleasantries
C. tranquillity – invectives
D. chaos – aphorisms
E. anarchy – insults

First of all, we can eliminate (C), since it would make no sense for something to “degenerate into tranquillity.” The other four options could work though. We need to go to the second set of words to figure out the answer. We know the politicians are hurling something negative at each other; “hurl” is always used in this sense. You would not talk about “hurling a compliment” at someone. “Banter” is lighthearted in nature, so we can also rule out (A). “Pleasantries” will obviously not work; (B) is out. “Aphorisms” are short, pithy statements (the kind that Benjamin Franklin was famous for). That won’t work. We are left with (E). The answer is (E).

 source:  majortests.com

PQOTD 10/9/09

230 + 230 + 230 + 230 =

A. 8120
B. 830
C. 232
D. 230
E. 226

The expression above could be rewritten as:  4 x 230

4 can also be written as  22.

What is 22 x 230?

You should remember this basic rule:  ( x m ) ( x n ) = x( m + n )

So the answer is 232. The answer is (C).

source:  majortests.com

PQOTD 10/8/09

Which of the following choices best improves the underlined portion of the sentence below? If the sentence is ok as is, choose (A).

Considered to be his greatest work, the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky penned the novel “Crime and Punishment” that influenced subsequent writers like Franz Kafka and Ernest Hemingway.

A. the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky penned the novel “Crime and Punishment” that

B. the novel “Crime and Punishment”, written by Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky,

C. the novel “Crime and Punishment”, being written by the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky,

D. the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, upon writing the novel “Crime and Punishment”,

E. Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment”

This sentence begins with a dependent clause, the subject of which is the novel “Crime and Punishment.” When you begin a sentence with such a clause, the subject of that clause must come immediately after the comma. Knowing this rule allows us to rule out choices (A), (D), and (E). That leaves (B) and (C). In (C), the word “being” is unnecessary, and needs to be omitted. The answer is (B).

source:  examdude.com