The student put in a ________ of effort and consequently got a low score on the exam.
(a) concurrence
(b) modicum
(c) multiplicity
(d) plethora
(e) redundancy
If the student got a low score as a result of his effort, we can safely assume that his effort was not very substantial. We’re looking for a word that has to do with a small amount. The only word that works here is “modicum.” Look up all these words and you’ll see how much easier sentence completions are when you have a strong vocabulary. The answer is (B).
source: collegeapps.about.com
6 pints of a 20 percent solution of alcohol in water are mixed with 4 pints of a 10 percent alcohol in water solution. The percentage alcohol in the new solution is
A. 16
B. 15
C. 14
D. 13
E. 12
If a 6 pint solution is 20% alcohol, then how much alcohol does it contain? Simple: 6 X .20, which equals 1.2 pints. Furthermore, if a 4 pint solution is 10% alcohol, then it will contain .4 pint of alcohol. Mix them together and what do we have? We have a 10 pint solution, 1.6 pints of which will be alcohol. 1.6 is 16% of 10. The answer is (A).
source: majortests.com
The mayor is usually a ________ when speaking to local business owners, but on rare occasion she abandons the flattery and speaks her true opinions.
(a) disparager
(b) sycophant
(c) pedant
(d) novice
(e) sophist
On rare occasion the mayor abandons flattery and speaks her mind. The norm for her then is to be a flatterer, or a suck-up. So usually she is a sycophant. By the way, if you don’t know any of these words, then I hope you’re seeing yet again how crucial vocabulary power is to success on the SAT. This is true for both the Reading and the Writing sections. The answer is (B).
source: collegeapps.about.com
A machine puts c caps on bottles in m minutes. How many hours will it take to put caps on b bottles?
A. 60bm/c
B. bm/60c
C. bc/60m
D. 60b/cm
E. b/60cm
Here is a good example of a question that is made easier by substituting values for the variables. Let’s say the machine puts on 10 caps (so c=10) every minute (so m=1). What would the equivalent of that be in hours? If it puts on 10 caps per minute, then it will put on 10 X 60 caps per hour. Putting that back into the original variable form, the number of caps per minute is c/m; the number per hour is (c x 60)/m, or 60c/m. Now the question is how many hours it will take to put caps on b bottles. The rate per hour is 60c/m. We need to divide the total number of bottles (b) by the rate (60c/m).
With that we get b/(60c/m). Remember that when you have a fraction in which the denominator contains a fraction, you can multiply the numerator by the reciprocal of the denominator. For example, 1 divided by 2/3 is the same thing as 1 multiplied by 3/2. Here, b divided by 60c/m is the same as b multiplied by m/60c, or bm/60c. The answer is (B).
source: majortests.com
Which choice represents the best improvement to the underlined part of the sentence? If the sentence is fine as it is, choose (A).
Mary was bored at the beginning of the movie, having shown great interest once the story picked up momentum.
A. having shown great interest once the story picked
B. but showing great interest once the story picked
C. and she showed great interest once the story picked
D. but she showed great interest once the story picked
E. however she is showing great interest once the story picked
The phrase after the comma does not work in its current form. “Having shown” is wrong here. The way it’s worded here, it makes it sound like her boredom was the result of her great interest in the story once it picked up. This makes no sense. Which choice will fix this? Well, we know (A) is already out. (B) doesn’t help anything. Read it and you’ll see! (C) would not work because we’re looking for a contrasting conjunction; “and” doesn’t logically flow here. (E), if chosen, would create a comma splice. (D) is the only choice that works here. The answer is (D).
| Grace has 16 jellybeans in her pocket. She has 8 red ones, 4 green ones, and 4 blue ones. What is the minimum number of jellybeans she must take out of her pocket to ensure that she has one of each color? |
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(a) 4 |
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(b) 8 |
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(c) 12 |
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(d) 13 |
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(e) 16 |
Let’s say that Grace takes out eight red jellybeans in a row and then four green ones in a row. The only thing left would be four blue ones. If she takes one of those out, then she definitely will have at least one jellybean of each color. Now could she get all three colors out before that? Of course. However, the question is asking for the minimum number of jellybeans that must be taken out to ensure that there will be one of each color. Adding these up, we get 8 + 4 + 1, which is 13. The answer is (D).
source: testprepreview.com
| Among the reasons for the decline of New England agriculture in the last three decades were the high cost of land, the pressure of housing and commercial development, and basing a marketing and distribution system on importing produce from Florida and California. |
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a) A. basing a marketing and distribution system on importing produce from Florida and California |
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b) B. basing a marketing and distribution system on the imported produce of Florida and California |
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c) C. basing a system of marketing and distribution on the import of produce from Florida and California |
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d) D. a marketing and distribution system based on importing produce from Florida and California |
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e) E. a marketing and distribution system importing produce from Florida and California as its base |
This is yet another question on the Writing section which tests your understanding of grammatical parallelism. When you have a series of items, each element within the series has to be in the same grammatical form. The first element here is “the high cost of land,” the second is “the pressure of housing,” and the third is “basing a . . .California.” The first two begin basic nouns while the third begins with a gerund (basing). We can automatically rule out (A), (B), and (C) as options because of this. Of the two remaining choices, it is clear that (D) is the better choice. The answer is (D).
source: testprep.about.com
