Overall Reading questions

1. Despite their physical attractiveness, some butterfly species are regarded as pests
because in their larval stages they are capable of causing damage to crops or trees.
Other species play a less ______ role in the ecosystem, however, because their
caterpillars consume harmful insects.

Which finding, if ture, would most strongly support the scientists’ theory?
A) Exceptional
B) Benefical
C) Significant
D) Detrimental

2. An award-winning reporter as well as the author of several books, Maria Fernandez is

considered an ______ in her field because unlike the vast majority of present-day
journalists, her work is characterized by a prose style that readers find highly distinctive,
even unique.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Anomaly
B) Innovator
C) Explorer
D) Activist

3. In the two-dimensional world of maps, sharp lines are used to demarcate where one
country ends and another begins. In reality, however, boundaries between nations are
typically much more ______, with the border regions that are characterized by multiple
languages and cultures.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Fluid
B) Precise
C) Rigid
D) Identifiable

4. In Ancient Egyptian art, human figures are presented in a rigid and ______ manner. In
contrast, animals are often very well-observed and lifelike.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Dazzling
B) Artificial
C) Impressive
D) Realistic
5. Female hyenas remain within their clan and inherit their mother’s rank. As a result,
sisters must compete with one another to obtain a ______ position in the hierarchy

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Relative
B) Dominant
C) Regular
D) Secure

6. Because music plays an essential role in facilitating social functions and is more effective
than speech at improving people’s moods, researchers are beginning to question
whether it truly is as ______ as they once believed. In fact, they believe it may have
evolved to promote societal cohesion.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Demanding
B) Prevalent
C) Frivolous
D) Important

7. All of the factors that allowed the Great Barrier Reef to ______ are changing at
unprecedented rates. Over the next several decades, marine biologists believe, it is
likely to decline below a crucial threshold from which it is impossible to recover.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Flourish
B) Diminish
C) Extend
D) Succumb

8. Although traditional historians and historical filmmakers differ in their choice of

medium, the most respected ones share a scrupulous regard for facts and the rules of
evidence that ______ their acceptability.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Deny
B) Complete
C) Dictate
D) Rely on
9. In the past, psychologists dismissed fiction as a way of understanding human emotions.
In more recent times, however, they have developed a new ______ for the insights that
stories can provide into human behavior.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Disregard
B) Explanation
C) Responsibility
D) Appreciation

10. Okakura Kakuzo is credited with the revival of Nihonga, traditional Japanese techniques,
at a time when Western-style painting was threatening to ______ it. When, in 1987, it
became clear that European methods were to be given prominence at the Tokyo
Academy of Fine Arts, he resigned his directorship and shortly after helped found the
Japanese National Arts Academy.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Supplant
B) Deny
C) Salvage
D) Challenge

11. Like many of the surgeons general before her, Jocelyn Elders became an outspoken
advocate for a variety of controversial health issues. As a result, she quickly established
a reputation for being ______

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) A pragmatist
B) A polemicist
C) A curiosity
D) An amateur

12. Chicago epitomized the remarkable ______ of urbanization during the nineteenth
century. The city expanded from several hundred residents in 1830 to nearly two million
just eighty years later.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Velocity
B) Significance
C) Mastery
D) Influence
13. Lynn Margulis’s revolutionary theory of eukaryotic cell development was initially met
with almost unanimous _____ because it built upon ideas that had largely been
discredited. In fact, her groundbreaking 1967 paper, “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells”,
was published only after being rejected by fifteen journalists.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Scorn
B) Jubilation
C) Consideration
D) Impatience

14. Proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement claimed that its simple but refined
aesthetics would _______ the new experience of industrial consumerism. Individuals
would become more rational and society more harmonious.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Contain
B) Elevate
C) Compromise
D) Enjoy

15. The whale is a remarkably ______ navigator, migrating thousands of miles each year
without a compass and always arriving in precisely the same spot.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Docile
B) Advantageous
C) Adept
D) Precocious

16. In its heyday, Constantinople was one of the largest and most influential cities in the
world. It ______ a powerful cultural pull and dominated economic lirestrainedfe
throughout the Mediterranean basin.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical or precise word or phrase?
A) Defended
B) Exerted
C) Restrained
D) Thwarted
17. Every time a car drives through a major intersection, it becomes a data point. Magnetic
coils of wire lie just beneath the pavement, registering each passing car. This starts a
cascade of information: Computers tally the number and speed of cars, shoot the data
through underground cables to a command center and finally translate it into the colors
red, yellow, and green.

As used in the text, what does “registering” mean?

A) Preparing
B) Recording
C) Inscribing
D) Transmitting

18. Until the past few years, physicists agreed that the universe is generated from a few
mathematical truths and principles of symmetry, perhaps throwing in a handful of
parameters like the mass of an electron. It seemed that we were closing in on a vision of
our universe in which everything could be calculated, predicted, and understood.

As used in the text, what does “closing in on “ mean?

A) Experimenting
B) Approaching
C) Theorizing
D) Shutting down

19. When Saburo joined the track and field team at Bukkyo High School, the sport was
enjoying a popularity it had not known before the war. At the time, few schools could
afford baseball bats or gymnastic equipment. And there was something in the simplicity
of the sport – the straight path to the goal, the dramatic finish line – that stirred the
community to yells and often tears.

As used in the text, what does “stirred” mean?

A) Forced
B) Transformed
C) Disturbed
D) Inspired

20. Neuroscientists and humanists are tackling similar questions – by joining forces, they
might vastly refine our understanding of the role that narrative plays in human
cognition, for example, or explore with empirical precision the power of literature to
represent consciousness.

As used in the text, what does “refine” most nearly mean?

A) Purify
B) Filter
C) Improve
D) Explain
21. In recent years, scientists have used powerful genome-sequence tools to investigate the
associations between genes and disease risk, with the goal of preventing illnesses
before symptoms occur. However, some researchers have cautioned against relying too
heavily on genetic factors, arguing that estimates of an individual’s chances of
developing a particular malady are more confounded by environmental factors than is
usually recognized.

As used in the text, what does “confounded” mean?

A) Confused
B) Influenced
C) Deceived
D) Puzzled

22. The boy was fully occupied with his own cogitations for the remainder of the ride, till we
halted before the farmhouse garden-gate. I watched to catch his impressions in his
countenance. He surveyed the carved front and low-browed lattices, the straggling
gooseberry-bushes and crooked firs, with solemn intentness, and then shook his head:
his private feelings entirely disapproved of the exterior of his new abode.

As used in the text, what does “catch” mean?

A) Acquire
B) Gather
C) Attain
D) Observe

23. As a painter, Georgia is so closely tied to the American Southwest that it is hard to
imagine her anywhere but the desert, In 1939, however, she accepted a commission to
travel to Hawaii and paint scenes for a campaign promoting pineapple juice.

As used in the text, what does “tied to” mean?

A) Held down
B) Engaged with
C) Fastened to
D) Associated with
24. Admired primarily for her exquisite calligraphy, Otagaki Resentsu (1791-1875) was
among Japan’s most celebrated artists. She was also a writer and ceracimist, often
inscribing her poems in her own calligraphy onto clay vessels – a distinctive blending of
art forms not replicated by any other artist in Japanese history. Her work was in such
great demand during in the nineteenth century that every household in Kyoto was said
to own her pottery, and today scrolls and ceramics bearing her calligraphy are sought
after by collectors.

Which choice best states the main idea of the passage?

A) Otagaki Rengetsu’s artistic creations are prized for their unique qualities.
B) Inscribed clay vessels have traditionally played an important role in Japanese art.
C) The collaboration between writers and ceramic workers produced highly distinctive
works of art in Japan
D) Many household in Kyoto once featured scrolls produced by Otagaki Rengetsu.

25. Kente, the traditional fabric of Ghana’s Asante people, has evolved into a symbol of
many meanings – political and cultural, African and American, honorary and everyday.
“What is called Kente is many things” says Doran H. Ross, director of the Fowler
Museum of Cultural History, though he notes its origin is Ghana’s strip-woven cloth. But
Ross says kente appears just as widely today in Western-style tailored clothing, and in
other ways that make the most recognizably African textile.

Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?

A) Kente can only be produced by specialized weavers.
B) Many different type of African textiles are used in modern clothing.
C) The origins of kente are somewhat controversial.
D) Kente has acquired a wide range of associations.

26. I’d love to write of the beautiful,

I’d love to write of the brave
And read the minds of others,
And note their winning ways.
I would not judge the beautiful
By the beauty of their faces
By suppositions or the like,
Or their pretended graces.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) The speaker is drawn to people who are attractive and graceful.
B) The speaker does not feel suited to the task of judging others.
C) The speaker believes that external features are a reliable indicator of internal ones.
D) The speaker is unconcerned with superficial appearances.
27. Mrs. Penniman was a tall, thin, fair, rather faded woman, with a perfectly amiable
disposition, a high standard of gentility, a taste for light literature, and a certain foolish
indirectness and obliquity of character. She had a passion for little secrets and mysteries
– a very innocent passion, for her secrets had hitherto always been as unpractical as
addled eggs. She was not absolutely veracious; but this defect was of not great
consequence, for she had never had anything to conceal.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Mrs. Penniman is a puzzling and mysterious figure.
B) Mrs. Penniman is a passionate reader of novels.
C) Mrs. Penniman is frequently difficult to get along with.
D) Mrs. Penniman is romantic and sentimental.

28. Among the thousands of species that have made their way around the world since
European exploration began in fifteenth century, knotweed is widely regarded as one of
the most intractable. Removing it completely requires extracting the land itself; if
anything is left behind, the weed can return repeatedly, regenerating from minuscule
fragments after as long as twenty years. One study found that knotweed could regrow
from a root fragment weighing just 0.3g – about as much as a pinch of salt.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) Knotweed was among the earliest plant species to be transported between
continents.
B) Knotweed can regenerate even when the land it grows on has been removed.
C) Knotweed is exceptionally difficult to eradicate permanently.
D) In comparison to other plants, knotweed takes much longer to reach its full size .

29. Dear Friend, since you have chosen to associate

My humble thoughts with England’s poet laureate,
I trust that he will bear me pleasant company,
And soon we shall far more than mere acquaintance be.
Since childhood’s days his name I have revered,
And more and more it has become to me endeared;
I blush not for the truth, I but confess,
I very wealthy feel since I his “works” possess.

Which choice best describes the main idea of the text?

A) She is impressed by her friend’s personal acquaintance with Tennyson.
B) She views Tennyson with respect and wishes to understand his work deeply.
C) She is embarrassed by her poor understanding of Tennyson’s work.
D) She believes that her own poetry is equal to Tennyson’s
30. Navajo pawn originated in the 1870s as a bartering system that was altogether different
from traditional banking. Based on relationships of mutual trust, it evolved to be a fully
integrated part of Navajo life. By the middle of the twentieth century, it had become a
highly sophisticated and complex practice, with more than 150 active trading posts.
Today it remains a pivotal aspect of Navajo society.

Which choice best states the main idea of the passage?

A) Pawn has played a significant role in modern Navajo culture.
B) During the twentieth century, pawn was gradually replaced by other banking
options.
C) Pawn is more complex than traditional banking.
D) Pawn became popular in Navajo society because it was based on personal
relationships.

31. Although publishers and critics classified Octavia Butler’s novels as science fiction – a
genre that Butler enjoyed deeply and referred to as “potentially the freest genre in
existence” – her works attracted a diverse readership, and Butler resisted being
associated exclusively with that form. Indeed, she was also the author of a number of
essays, and her book Parable of the Sower was adapted into an opera by the mother-
and-daughter team Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon. Combining African-
American spirituals, souls, rock and roll, and folk music, it debuted at The Public Theater
in New York City in 2015.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

A) A work is presented, and its effects are considered.
B) An interpretation of a novel is described, and an opposing view is introduced.
C) Examples of an author’s writing are given, and their significance is discussed.
D) A claim is made, and supporting examples are provided to illustrate it.

32. According to new research, viral DNA embedded in human genomes during ancient
infections protects human cells against certain modern-day viruses. Earlier studies have
shown that fragments of ancient viral DNA – known as endogenous retroviruses – in the
genomes of mice, chickens, cats, and sheep provide immunity against modern-day
viruses that originate outside the body by preventing them from entering host cells.
Though the new study, conducted by researchers at Cornell University, was performed
with cultured human cells in a lab, it shows that the antiviral effect of endogenous
retroviruses likely also exists for humans.

Based on the text, what is true about the study conducted by Cornell researchers?
A) It tested for the presence of viral material in a range of species.
B) It suggests that endogenous retroviruses behave differently in humans than in
animals.
C) It did not test for the presence of retroviruses in human bodies.
D) It demonstrated that fragments of ancient viral DNA can infect modern humans.
33. A family of ten children will be always called a fine family, where there are heads and
arms and legs enough for the number; but the Morlands had little other right to the
word, for they were in general very plain, and Catherine, for many years of her life, as
plain as any. She had a thin awkward figure, a sallow skin without color, dark lank hair,
and strong features – so much for her person; and not less propitious for heroism
seemed her mind.

According to text, what is true about Catherine Morland?

A) She was as unremarkable in appearance as the rest of her family.
B) She was more intelligent than her siblings.
C) She was less attractive than the other members of her family.
D) She possessed characteristics typically associated with heroism.

34. Much of what we know about the physical and mental toll of chronic stress emanates
from seminal work by Robert Sapolsky beginning in the late 1970’s. Sapolsky, a
neuroendocrinologist, was among the first to make the connection that the hormones
released during the flight-or-fight response – the ones that helped our ancestors avoid
becoming dinner – have deleterious effects when stress is severed and sustained.
Especially, insidious, chronic exposure to one of these hormones, cortisol, causes brain
changes that make it increasingly difficult to shut the stress response down.

According to passage, what is significant about sustained stress?

A) It inhibits the production of cortisol.
B) It can create a sense of excitement.
C) It becomes progressively harder to reduce.
D) It allows people to escape from dangerous situations.

35. “My Day”, the nationally syndicated newspaper column written by Eleanor Roosevel,
long outlasted her time as first lady. The sheer frequency of the column, which
ultimately ran six days a week in 90 newspapers across the United States for more than
20 years, extended Roosevelt’s influence immeasurably: it made her a continual
presence in the lives of her readers in a manner that anticipated the social-media age.

Based on the passage, what is true about “My Day”?

A) It overshadowed Eleanor Roosevelt’s accomplishments as first lady
B) It exposed a large new audience to Eleanor Roosevelt’s work
C) It was among the most widely read newspaper columns in the United States.
D) It was published more frequently than any other column of its time
36. Although the Cherokee had a different relationship with the environment than
American settlers did, they still altered the landscape around them in distinct ways.
Throughout the Tennessee River, for example, Cherokee tribe members constructed
stone weirs, rock obstructions designed to catch fish. The weirs did not halt the flow of
the river and create large, stagnant pools of water the way dams constructed by settlers
did, however. Rather, they depended on the water’s continuous motion to sweep fish
into traps – a cooperation of sorts between the built and the natural worlds.

According to text, how did weirs function differently from dams?

A) They had no effect on their surrounding environments.
B) They prevented rivers from flowing.
C) They relied on the water’s existing movement.
D) Their effects on their surrounding environments were unpredictable.

37. To interrupt people’s stereotypes of one another, researchers at Stanford Business

School developed an intervention called the daily diary technique, in which randomly
assigned people in two countries were given each other’s diary to read for a week. They
found that over time, this strategy reduced cultural distance compared to when they
read diaries written by their compatriots. Participants in the first country began to
perceive participants from the second as more ethical, whereas participants from the
second country began to view participants from the first as warmer and less rigid.

Based on text, what effect did the intervention developed by Stanford researchers
have on participants?
A) It promoted perceptions of similarity between cultures.
B) It decreased feelings of antipathy among citizens of the same country.
C) It caused them to behave in a more ethical manner.
D) It improved their satisfaction with aspects of their own culture.

38. The dew is on the grasses, dear,

The blush is on the rose,
And swift across our dial – youth,
A shifting shadow goes.
The primrose moments, lush with bliss,
Exhale and fade away,
Life may renew the Autumn time,
But nevermore the May!

According to text, in what ways is youth unlike the autumn of life?

A) It is untouched by shadows.
B) It cannot be extended.
C) It remains perpetually fresh
D) It is full of bliss.
39. Geophysicists first began to appreciate the smoldering origins of the land under the sea,
known formally as ocean crust, in the early 1960s. Sonar surveys revealed that
volcanoes from nearly continuous ridges that wind around the globe like seams on a
baseball. Later, the same scientists strove to explain what fuels these erupting mountain
ranges, called mid-ocean ridges. Basic theories suggest that because shifting tectonic
plates pull the ocean floor apart along the ridges, molten rock deep within the earth’s
interior must rise to fill the gap. This material is produced in the second layer of the
Earth’s interior – the mostly solid upper mantle – and makes its way up through the
crust. The collision of two plates can also result in a volcano.

Based on the passage, why do undersea volcanoes develop?

A) Because breaks in the ocean floor allow liquid rock from the mantle to enter.
B) Because mid-ocean ridges pull apart when the pressure beneath them increases.
C) Because tectonic plates accumulate along the ocean floor.
D) Because the Earth’s crust colliders with the mantle.

40. The room showed no traces human use, and Mrs. Spragg herself wore as complete an
air of detachment as if she had been a wax figure in a show-window. Her attire was
fashionable enough to justify such a post, and her pale soft cheeked face, with puffy
eye-lids and drooping mouth, suggested a partially-melted wax figure which had run to
double-chin.

According to text, what is true about Mrs. Spragg?

A) She feels anxious in her environment.
B) Her clothing is not suited to her position.
C) Her features are sharp and distinctive.
D) She appears aloof and disconnected from her surroundings.

41. Algernon: Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?

Lane: I didn’t think it polite to listen, sir.
Algernon: I am sorry for that, for your sake. I don’t play accurately – anyone can play
accurately – but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned,
sentiment is my forte. I keep silence for Life.

Based on the text, what is true about Algernon?

A) He is embarrassed that Lane has overheard him playing the piano.
B) As a musician, he is more concerned with emotion than technical correctness.
C) Science appeals to him for the same reasons that music does.
D) He wishes that he could play the piano more accurately.
42. To drivers, the color red means stop, but on a map it tells traffic engineers to leap into
action. Traffic control centers like the one on the seventh floor of Boston’s City Hall – a
room cluttered with computer terminals and live video feeds of urban intersections –
represent brain of a traffic system. The city’s network of censors, cables and signals are
the nerves connected to the rest of the body. “Most people don’t think there are eyes
and ears keeping track of all this stuff,” says John Debenedictis, the center’s engineering
director. But in reality, engineers literally watch our every move, making subtle changes
that relieve and redirect traffic.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A) To describe a problem commonly faced by traffic engineers.
B) To point out some important differences between traffic control centers and human
brain.
C) To discuss the purpose of items found in traffic centers.
D) To provide examples of ways in which drivers’ actions can be monitored remotely.

43. In August 2009 a consortium of European observatories reported the discovery of

COROT – 7C, a second planet orbiting COROT-7. Using the data from both planets, they
were able to calculate that COROT-7B has an average density about the same as Earth’s.
This means it is almost certainly a rocky planet made up of silicate rocks like those in
Earth’s crust. Not that anyone would call it Earth. The planet and its star are separated
by only 1.6 million miles, 23 times less than the distance between the parboiled planet
Mercury and our Sun. Because the planet is so close to the star, it is gravitationally
locked to it in the same way the Moon is locked to Earth.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A) It emphasizes an important distinction between COROT-7B and Earth.
B) It suggests that COROT-7B could eventually come to resemble Earth.
C) It supports the hypothesis that Earth and COROT-7B may share a common origin.
D) It explains how Mercury came to occupy its position within the solar system.
44. Scientists have long known that color plays a role in warning animals about danger. Only
recently, however, have they begun to understand how wavelengths of light appear at
different depths and how various marine creatures’ eyes perceive this light and each
other – far differently than humans see them. Where waters are murky, the majority of
creatures employ nonvisual forms of communication such as smell, taste, touch and
sound. But in the clear waters of coral reefs, which make up less than 1% of the world’s
oceans, light abounds, vision predominates, and animals drape themselves in blazing
color – not only to menace potential enemies but also evade predators, hunt for prey,
and even hide in plain sight.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A) It explains how reef animals use color to hide from predators.
B) It describes an unusual form of marine communication.
C) It presents a novel theory about underwater perception.
D) It emphasizes the controversy surrounding a claim about reefs animals.

45. Throughout the dinosaurs’ time on Earth, there was an amplification of boniness and
spikiness; however, the advantage of skull frills and back plates is hardly self-evident.
The solid-domed skull of Pachycephalosaurus seems made for butting – but for butting
what? The skull would be all but useless against a predator with the size and power of
Tyrannosaurus Rex. The skulls of some Pachycephalosaurus, moreover, were flat and
thin - a bad design for contract sports – and the spikes protruding from them were
most probably blunt rather than sharp.

Which choice best states the main purpose of text?

A) To suggest that a longstanding hypothesis about dinosaurs may be incorrect.
B) To introduce a study and the validity of its findings.
C) It describes a dinosaur species in order to illustrate a puzzling trend.
D) It presents an emerging mystery and discusses an attempt to solve it.

46. In our family, the women made the ink. We stayed home. We all worked – me, GaoLing,
my aunts and girl cousins, everybody. Even the babies and Great – Granny had a job of
picking out stones from the dried millet we boiled for breakfast. We gathered each day
in the ink-making studio. According to Great-Granny, the studio began as a grain shed
that sat along the front wall of the courtyard house. Over the years, one generation of
sons added brick walls and a tile roof. Another strengthened the beams and lengthened
it by two pillars. The next tiled the floors and dug pits for storing the ingredients. Then
other descendants made a cellar for keeping the inksticks away from the heat and cold.
“And now look,” Great-Granny often bragged. “Our studio is an ink palace”.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

A) To describe the process by which a character masters a difficult task.
B) To convey a character’s role and sense of accomplishment in her family’s work.
C) To explain the influence of a distinguished relative on a character and her family.
D) Explore the effects of a character’s decision on the members of her family.
47. On what seems like a monthly basis, scientific teams announce the results of new
experiments, adding to a preponderance of evidence that we have been
underestimating animal minds, even those of us who have rated them fairly highly. New
animal behaviors and capacities are observed in the wild, often involving tool use – or at
least object manipulation – the very kinds of activity that led the distinguished zoologist
Donald R. Griffin to found the field of cognitive ethology (animal thinking) in 1978:
octopuses piling stones in front of their hideyholes, to name one recent example; or
dolphins fitting marine sponges to their beaks in order to dig for food on the seabed; or
wasps using small stones to smooth the sand around their egg chambers, concealing
them from predators.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A) To describe ways that animals hide from predators
B) To highlight the lack of complexity in animal tools as compared to human ones
C) To provide instances of novel animal behavior in the wild
D) To emphasize the limits of animal consciousness

48. Far below the mid-ocean ridge volcanoes and their countless layers of crust-forming
lava is the mantle, a 3,200-kilometer-thick layer of scorching hot rock that forms the
earth’s midsection and surrounds its metallic core. At the planet’s cool surface,
upthrusted mantle rocks and dark green, but if you could see them in their rightful
home, they would be glowing red-or even white-hot. The top of the mantle is about
1,300 degrees Celsius, and it gets about one degree hotter with each kilometer of
depth. The weight of overlying rock means the pressure also increases with depth about
1,000 atmospheres for every three kilometers.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence within the text as a
whole?
A) To convey the intense pressure that pervades the mantle.
B) To suggest that scientific understanding of mantle rocks is limited.
C) To describe a difference between mantle rocks and other types of rock.
D) To emphasize a difference between mantle rocks in different locations.

49. Edna Ponteiller could not have told why, wishing to go to the beach with Robert, she
should in the first place have declined, and in the second place have followed in
obedience to one of the two contradictory impulses which impelled her. A certain light
was beginning to dawn dimly within her. In short, Mrs, Ponteiller was beginning to
realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as
an individual to the world within and about her.

Which choice best states the primary purpose of the text?

A) To highlight Edna’s tendency to behave in contradictory ways
B) To present a situation in which Edna must make a momentous decision
C) To describe Edna’s newfound insight into her interior and exterior existence
D) To convey Edna’s sense of duty toward her family
50. In order to better understand people’s receptiveness to opposing viewpoints, public
policy scholars Julia Minson of Harvard University and Frances Chen of the University of
British Columbia reviewed dozens of studies spanning 1984 to 2021. Among their
findings was the fact that the people who feel strongly about an issue can be receptive
to others’ views without altering their own opinions. As the researchers point out, two
thoughtful people might examine each other’s ideas seriously and, recognizing that it is
possible for reasonable people to hold either perspective respectfully agree to disagree.

Which choice best states the function of the underlined sentence within the text as a
whole?
A) It highlights a potential outcome of a strong disagreement.
B) It describes a process by which people’s opinions can evolve.
C) It emphasizes the importance of considering multiple perspectives.
D) It discusses a strategy that permits opposing parties to reconcile their differences.

51. To be a female artist in the nineteenth century was challenging enough, but to be a
female sculptor was nearly unthinkable. Not only were sculptors expected to have a
familiarity with the human form that no woman in that age could acquire, but they had
to work with heavy materials, such as blocks of marble weighing many hundreds of
pounds. Nevertheless, a few intrepid American women wound their way to Italy and
learned to sculpt.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined sentence in the text as a
whole?
A) It discusses some of the expenses involved in becoming an artist.
B) It emphasizes the antagonism between women and the nineteenth-century artistic
establishment.
C) It explains the virtual impossibility of becoming a female sculptor in the nineteenth
century.
D) It describes some of the physical limitations placed on nineteenth-century women.
52. Poet of the serene and thoughtful lay!
In youth’s fair dawn, when the soul, still untried,
Longs for life’s conflict, and seeks restlessly
Food for its cravings in the stirring songs,
The thrilling strains of more impassioned bards;
Or, eager for fresh joys, culls with delight
The flowers that bloom in fancy’s fairy realm -
We may not prize the mild and steadfast ray
That streams from thy pure soul in tranquil song

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A) To criticize the human tendency toward conflict
B) To describe the power of music to express emotions
C) To highlight the consequences of uncontrolled restlessness
D) To convey the soul’s youthful desire for excitement.

53. One of the most persistent and problematic biases in science involves motivated
reasoning – that is, the tendency to interpret observations to fit preconceived notions.
According to Professor Brian Nosek, a specialist in human biases and co-founder of the
Center for open Science at the University of Virginia, psychologists have demonstrated
that “most of our reasoning is in fact rationalization.” In other words, people begin by
making decisions about what to think or do, and their “explanation” later serves as a
means to justify what they believed or how they intended to act in the first place.

Which choice best states the primary purpose of the text?

A) To describe a phenomenon detrimental to the reliability of scientific findings
B) To suggest that true objectivity in science cannot be attained
C) To emphasize the inaccuracy of many scientific conclusions
D) To call attention to the dangers of motivated reasoning
54. In recent years, many companies have shifted from a model in which workers are placed
in individual cubicles to one based on open-office plans, with the goal of fostering
employee interaction and collaboration. Studies suggest, however, that such strategies
may backfire, increasing job dissatisfaction and leaving workers no more likely to work
together than before. Researchers at Harvard Business School theorize that employees’
tendency to avoid one another in open offices may be attributable to the “fourth wall” –
the imaginary curtain that prevents actors from being distracted by the audience and
preserves the imaginary world of a play. To preserve a sense of psychological autonomy,
employees in open offices establish their own fourth walls, which their colleagues
quickly come to respect.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a
whole?
A) To describe a drawback of open offices
B) To present an explanation for an unintended phenomenon
C) To emphasize the importance of collaboration in the workplace
D) To compare office work to theatrical work.

55. Up close, regal angelfish flash eye-popping bands of yellow, violet, and white. But recent
studies show that as regals swim against a coral reef’s visually complex background,
their constrasting lines merge in a predator’s brain allowing them to evade capture.
According to marine biologist Gil Rosenthal, as a reef fish retreats, distance and motion
can make it difficult for predators to perceive fine details and distinguish closely spaced
outlines of contrasting colors. From far away, _______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) The bright colors of the fish can easily be perceived, even when the water is clouded
by sediment.
B) Marine predators must rely on the visual aspects of their prey.
C) Spots and stripes blur together, allowing even stationary fish to merge into the
background.
D) The fish appear as a single mass rather than a group individual creatures.

56. Some people naturally exhibit a low response to training – an inability to reap the full
physiological benefits of aerobic exercise. A study led by Sarah Lessard at Joslin Diabetes
Center found that participants with a low response had high levels of blood sugar – a
condition known as hyperglycemia. While this condition is often associated with
diabetes, it is common in non-diabetics as well. Lessard and her colleagues predicted
that if people with hyperglycemia received a drug designed to lower blood sugar levels,
they would therefore ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) Be more likely to incorporate exercise into their daily routine.
B) Lower their risk of developing diabetes.
C) Demonstrate an improved physiological response to aerobic training.
D) Experience less severe spikes in blood sugar after consuming certain foods.
57. Fully one-third of the human brain is devoted to processing visual information; in
contrast, only five percent involves smell. As a result, modern neuroscience has focused
most intensely on deciphering sight, with olfaction often treated as a bonus sense. That
is reflected in the paucity of language to describe it, a situation that poses a problem for
scientific investigation. There are countless adjectives to describe what things look – and
sound – like, but humans’ vocabulary for olfactory perception is fragmentary and highly
inconsistent. Therefore, _______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) Olfactory researchers are seeking higher levels of funding to study how people
process odors.
B) People often cannot explain how things smell to them in a way that is
comprehensible to researchers.
C) People must be able to process visual and olfactory information simultaneously in
the daily lives.
D) People should focus on sensations rather than words when they encounter new
scents.

58. Physicists have yet to figure out what exactly happens at the singularity of a black hole:
matter is crushed, but what becomes of it then? The event horizon, by hiding the
singularity, isolates this gap in our knowledge. All kinds of processes unknown to science
may occur at the singularity, yet they have no effect on the outside the world.
Astronomers plotting the orbits of planets and stars can safely ignore the uncertainties
introduced by singularities and _______

Which choice logically completes the text?

A) Apply the standard laws of physics with confidence.
B) Focus on gaining a deeper understanding of black holes.
C) Attempt to peer behind the event horizon.
D) Uncover phenomena not currently known to sicence.

59. Most grocery stores spray produce with water on a regular basis in order to ensure that
they maintain a wholesome, fresh-picked appearance. However, according to Martin
Lindstorm, author of Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and
Persuade Us to Buy, not only does this liquid lack any practical purpose, but it actually
has deleterious effect: ______

Which choice logically completes the text?

A) Shoppers are unlikely to purchase fruits and vegetables that appear dry and
withered.
B) Moisture causes picked vegetables to spoil more quickly than they otherwise would.
C) Certain vegetables lose some of their nutrients when they are boiled.
D) Produce must be watered at predictable intervals in order to appeal to consumers.
60. Although it is widely assumed that cognitive bias clouds our assessment of the people
around us, their research and that of others, a group of researchers at the Santa Fe
Institute has found that people’s estimations of what their friends and family believe are
often largely correct. That’s because as highly social creatures, we have become very
good at sizing up those around us – what researchers call “social sensing.” It is therefore
possible _______

Which choice logically completes the text?

A) To gather highly accurate information about trends by asking about individuals
about their social circles rather than their own beliefs.
B) To determine people’s views on a variety of topics by analyzing the ways in which
they interact with others.
C) To discover what people truly believe about an issue by asking them to reflect on
their personal biases.
D) To develop an algorithm that reliably predicts people’s preferences about a wide
range of items.

61. One of the most startling discoveries of the early 21st century was that Indo-European
languages seem not to have been spread by Anatolian farmers living in what is now
Turkey, as was commonly thought, but rather by a people called the Yamnaya, horse-
herding nomads who lived on the Eurasian steppes more than 5,000 years ago. A host of
linguistic evidence suggesting this possibility was first compiled persuasively by
archeologist David Anthony in 2007; DNA evidence later provided he was on target,
showing that _______

Which choice logically completes the text?

A) Members of tribes from the steppes arrived in Germany sometime between 2500
and 2000 BCE.
B) The Yamnaya we a genetic blend of three separate Eurasian populations.
C) Around 5,000 years ago, the Yamnaya’s genes began to appear throughout Europe
and Asia.
D) The Yamnayans were linguistically unique in comparison to other groups from the
same period.
62. When Isaac Newton published the Principia in 1687, his laws of motion solved
numerous problems in physics; however, they also introduced a new conundrum, which
was not fully grasped until centuries after Newton and which still poses a problem for
cosmologists today. Essentially, Newton’s laws work about twice as well as they are
intended: they describe the everyday world that people move through, but they also
account perfectly well for a world in which people walk backwards, clocks tick from
evening to morning, and _______

Which choice logically completes the text?

A) Objects interact unpredictably with one another.
B) Planets that are in motion remain in motion.
C) Particles of different weights move at varying speeds.
D) Apples rise from the ground to the branches of a tree.

63. Exactly how Mars was formed approximately 4.5 billion years ago is a mystery, although
there are several theories. One idea is that the planet was created via a titanic collision
of rocks in space, spawning an all-encompassing magma ocean. When it cooled, a crust
with high levels of basalt was formed. Another possibility is that parts of the first crust
on Mars had a different origin, one that would primarily show large concentrations of
silica. Planetary geochemist Valerie Payre and her partners analyzed data for the
planet’s southern hemisphere, the planet’s oldest region. They discovered nine
locations rich in feldspar, a mineral associated with lava flows that are higher in silica
than basalt. This finding led them to conclude that _______

Which choice logically completes the text?

A) Portions of Mars’ surface were never covered by a crust
B) The magma ocean formed from rocks colliding in space was not all-encompassing.
C) The southern hemisphere of Mars contained more silica than was previously
believed.
D) The first crust on Mars did not develop until long after the planet was formed.

64. “Slow Through the Dark” is an early 1900s poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the poem,
the speaker urges the listener not to lose hope, even in difficult circumstances.

Which quotation from “Slow Through the Dark” most effectively illustrates the claim?
A) “Slow moves the pageant of a climbing race; / Their footsteps drag far, far below the
height”
B) “No strange, swift-spung exception we; we trace/ A devious way thro’dim, uncertain
light, - .”
C) “Heed not the darkness round you, dull and deep; / The clouds grow thickest when
the summit’s nigh.”
D) “Who stoppeth here to spend a while in sleep/ Or curseth that the storm obscures
the sky?”
65. Marketers assume that the more choices they offer, the more likely customers will be
able to find just the right thing. They assume, for instance, that offering 50 styles of
jeans instead of two increases the chances that shoppers will come across a pair they
like. Nevertheless, research now shows that there can be too much choice; when there
is, consumers are less likely to buy anything at all, and if they do buy, they are less
satisfied with their selection.

Which finding, If true, would most strongly support the conclusions of the research
described in the underlined section?
A) People faced with choosing among a large number of options experience physical
symptoms associated with feeling overwhelmed.
B) Consumers given a choice of 10 jams in a taste test were more likely to make a
purchase than consumers who were offered only five
C) Shoppers who purchased food from multiple stores spent more on groceries than
shoppers who purchased all their food from a single store.
D) Some companies have increased the number of products they offer in order to
appeal to a wider range of consumer preferences.

66. Dinosaurs, with the exception of the ancestors of birds, disappeared during a mass
extinction 65 million years ago when an asteroid struck the Earth. Because a high
metabolic rate has generally been suggested as one of the key advantages as to
surviving mass extinctions, some genetic paleontologists have proposed that birds
survived while non-avian dinosaurs did not because of the birds’ increased metabolic
capacity.

Which finding, if true, would undermine the genetic paleontologists’ proposal?

A) The metabolisms of non-avian dinosaurs may have decreased over time.
B) Because some non-avian dinosaurs moved quickly, they likely had high metabolic
rates.
C) Birds have some of the highest metabolism rates of any creatures on Earth.
D) Many dinosaurs with very high metabolic rates went extinct 65 million years ago.
67. As a person sleeps, the motor cortex – the part of the brain that controls movements –
replays skills that it learned during the day. In a recent experiment run by the BrainGate
consortium, researchers observed that the pattern of firing neurons sped up during
sleep, echoing findings from previous animal studies. The scientists were also interested
to note that replay took place not during REM sleep, which is when people normally
dream, but during deep, slow-wave sleep, which occurs in the first three or four hours
of the night. They theorize that replay during this period helps the brain consolidate
new information, moving it from short-term to long-term memory.

Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the scientists’ theory?
A) Athletes who slept for at least seven hours before a game competed at a higher
level than ones who slept for less time.
B) People whose neuron firings increased in speed during REM sleep retained new
information over a longer period of time than people whose neurons fired more
quickly early in their sleep cycle.
C) Students who slept for only a few hours before an exam showed no difference in
performance when compared to students who slept for a full night.
D) Dancers who slept for several hours shortly after learning a new routine knew it
better two weeks later than a group that stayed awake.

68. “Gerarda” is an 1895 poem by Eloise Bibb. In the poem, Bibb emphasizes the contrast
between the way in which objects are depicted in Gerarda’s paintings and their true
appearance, writing ______

Which quotation from “Gerarda” effectively illustrates the claim?

A) But in her spiritual world she leaves Her mind, her thoughts, her soul, her brain,
B) Her paintings hang upon the wall, The power of genius stamps them all;
C) Now to-day o’er canvas bent, She strives to place these visions sent.
D) And thus her pictures plainly show, Not nature’s self but ideal glow.

69. “Frederick Douglass” is an 1895 poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. In the poem, Dunbar
praises Douglass for his honesty and refusal to be intimidated, writing ______

Which quotation from “Frederick Douglass” effectively illustrates the claim?

A) No miser in the good he held was he,-
His kindness followed his horizon’s rim
B) A hush is over all the teeming lists,
And there is pause, a breath-space in the strife;
C) And he was no soft-tongued apologist;
He spoke straightforward, fearlessly uncowed;
D) He was her champion thro’ direful years,
And held her weal and all other ends above.
70. “Left-digit” bias, in which people focus on the first digit of a number and ignore the last,
is well-documented phenomenon that explains why prices tend to end in “9”. According
to a recent study by researchers in California and Sweden, it also influences journalists’
coverage of unemployment rates. Even when jobless levels and the amount of change in
unemployment rates are similar in two regions, crossing a round number informs
repoters’ assessment of the story’s newsworthiness – even when both figures fall within
the same margin of error

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ finding?
A) The bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a report of unemployment rates by state,
rounding its statistics to the nearest decimal place.
B) The mention of high unemployment figures in a newspaper caused consumer
spending to drop by almost 2.5% in one city.
C) A city newspaper ran several stories about joblessness when the unemployment
rate reached 5% but quickly stopped coverage of the issue.
D) A newspaper published significantly fewer stories about local unemployment when
the jobless rate was 3.9% than when it rose to 4.1%

71. One argument that is commonly cited to support the idea that birds lack a sense of
smell is that some birds’ olfactory bulbs are relatively small. As a result, many scientists
concluded that these creatures gave up smell in favor of improved eyesight. This notion
became so pervasive that it once was repeated to avian expert Danielle Whittaker as
fact by a prominent neurobiologist.

Which finding, if true, would most undermine the neurobiologist’s statement?

A) An analysis of avian genomes revealed the presence of proteins that bind to odors
and relay a signal to the brain.
B) The number of olfactory neurons is much smaller in birds than in most other
animals.
C) The odors that birds depend on for food and social relationships are quickly
dispersed in wind.
D) Birds sometimes overlook strongly scented prey in favor of animals that are more
visually striking.
72. Middlemarch is an 1871 novel by George Elliot. In the story, a young woman named
Dorothea Brooke becomes engaged to a scholar named Mr. Casaubon. In describing
Dorothea’s motives for marriage, Elliot emphasizes her belief that she and Mr.
Causabon have a great deal in common.

Which quotation from Middlemarch effectively illustrates the claim?

A) Dorothea by this time had looked deep into the ungauged reservoir of Mr.
Casaubon’s mind, seeing reflected there in vague labyrinthine extension every
quality she herself brought;
B) If it had really occurred to Mr. Casaubon to think of Miss Broke as a suitable wife for
him, the reasons that might induce her to accept him were already planted in her
mind.
C) His notes already made a formidable range of volumes, but the crowning task would
be to condense these voluminous still-accumulating results and bring them to fit a
little shelf.
D) But in this case Mr. Casaubon’s confidence was not likely to be falsified, for
Dorothea heard and retained what he said with the eager interest of a fresh young
nature to which every variety in experience is an epoch.

73. Text 1
Our food now travels an average of 1,500 miles before ending up on plates. This
globalization of the food supply has serious consequences for the environment, our
health, our communities, and our tastebuds. Much of the food grown in the
breadbasket surrounding us must be shipped across the country to distribution centers
before it makes its way back to our supermarket shelves. Because uncounted costs of
this long-distance journey (air pollution and global warming, the ecological costs of
large-scale monoculture, the loss of family farms and local community dollars) are not
paid for at the checkout counter, many of us do not think about them at all.

Text 2
Just how much carbon dioxide is emitted by transporting food from farm to fork? Pierre
Desrochers and Hiroko Shimizu cite a comprehensive study done by the United
Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) which reported
that 82 percent of food miles were generated within the U.K. Consumer shopping trips
accounted for 48 percent and trucking for 31 percent of British food miles. Air freight
amounted to less than 1 percent of food miles. In total, food transportation accounted
for only 1.8 percent of Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Based on texts, how would Desrochers and Shimizu (Text 2) most likely describe the
view presented in Text 1?
A) It is strongly supported by data compiled by DEFRA.
B) It overstates the effects of transporting food on the environment.
C) It appears justified by preliminary findings but has not yet definitively proven.
D) It is highly implausible because most consumers do not consider the source of their
food.
74. New research suggests that coffee could have a positive effect on cardiovascular health.
Although caffeine is coffee’s most well-known constituent, the beverage contains more
than 100 biologically active components. In a study led by Jiyoung Kim, researchers at
Seoul National University concluded that non-caffeinated compounds likely play a role
in the positive relationship between coffee consumption and health.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researchers’ conclusion?
A) Whereas regular coffee contains from 70-140 mg of caffeine per cup, decaf contains
approximately 0-7mg
B) Decaffeinated coffee causes cells to produce NQ01, an enzyme that has
neuroprotective benefits.
C) Extracts from caffeinated coffee have been shown to aid weight loss more than a
placebo.
D) People who drink several cups of coffee every day are less vulnerable to certain
diseases.

75. Scientists have long known that self-pollination can inhibit plants’ ability to adapt to
environmental changes, but until recently they did not know exactly how or how quickly
the changes occurred. A group of researchers at Washington State University set up a
controlled greenhouse experiment in which a group of monkeyflower plants were
isolated from the bumblebees that normally pollinate them. Initially, the plants
produced few seeds, but as they adapted to self-pollination process, their seed
production increased dramatically. In addition, their flowers changed shape to facilitate
the transfer of pollen. However, scientists expected that the plants would eventually
become more vulnerable to shifts in their environment.

Which finding, If true, would most directly support scientists’ expectation?

A) Some flowers also received pollen from nearby flowering plants, a process that is
known as geitonogamy.
B) The plants’ genetic variation decreased by 24% over nine generations, making them
more susceptible to a variety of pathogens.
C) None of the plants contained the types of genetic defects that are typically found in
the wild.
D) By eliminating the transfer of pollen grains, the plants were able to reduce the
amount of pollen wasted by 60%.
76. It was only when Alma Thomas turned away from figurative art and toward abstraction
that she rose to acclaim as an artist. When the solidity of her line gave way to broken,
vibrant colors, the beauty she had long seen emerged.

Which choice, if true, would most effectively support the writer’s claim?
A) Her painting Starry Night and The Astronauts includes a small kaleidoscope of red,
orange, and yellow that suggests the spaceship Apollo 10
B) Thomas was fascinated by the natural world, incorporating everything from the
flowers in her garden to the stars in the night sky into her paintings.
C) Her Still Life with Vases and Flowers (1964) which contains realistic images, feels
labored, whereas Lunar Surface (1970) glows with rich splashes of purple and blue.
D) Although Thomas’s own works focused on nature, she believed that art could also
evoke the energy of airplanes, cars, skyscrapers, and electric signals.

77. Text 1
In recent years, there has been an explosion of scientific research revealing precisely
how positive feelings are beneficial. We know that they motivate people to pursue
important goals and overcome obstacles, offer protective benefits against the effects of
stress, improve our social connectedness, and even ward off illness. The science of
happiness has spawned a small industry of motivational speakers and research
enterprises. Clearly, happiness is popular.

Text 2
Happiness, it turns out, has a cost when experienced too intensely. For instance, we
often are told that happiness can open up our minds to foster more creative thinking
and help us tackle problems or puzzles. This is the case when we experience moderate
levels of happiness. But according to Mark Alan Davis’s 2008 analysis of the relationship
between mood and creativity, when people experience intense and perhaps
overwhelming amounts of happiness, they no longer experience the same creativity
boost. What’s more, psychologist Barbara Fredrickson has found that too much positive
emotion – and too little negative emotion – makes people inflexible in the face of new
challenges.

Based on texts, what would Mark Alan Davis most likely respond to what “we know”
in the Text 1?
A) By emphasizing the connection between creativity and negative emotions.
B) By acknowledging the benefits of positivity in moderation but cautioning against it in
excess.
C) By questioning the motives of the participants in the happiness industry.
D) By challenging the connection between positive feelings and personal fulfillment.
78. Text 1
Until recently, the concrete psychological effects of fiction on individuals and society
were largely a matter of speculation. However, research in psychology is beginning to
provide answers about how fiction can expand our moral imaginations. For instance, a
series of studies conducted by Keith Oatley, Maja Djikic, and Raymon Mar found that
fiction measurably improves people’s ability to guess others’ mental states by looking at
only their eyes. They interpreted this finding as evidence for the idea that fiction allows
people to connect with something larger than themselves.

Text 2
An empirical approach to the question of whether fiction improves empathy was taken
by David Kidd and Emanuele Castano, who conducted 5 experiments in which
participants read fictional excerpts and then responded to images of facial expressions.
The results showed that the participants had improved their theory of mind (ToM), or
the ability to infer the thoughts and emotions of others. As Kidd points out, however,
highly developed ToM does not always translate into more ethical behavior: the ability
to manipulate someone, for example, also requires a heightened understanding of other
people’s emotions.

Based on texts, how would Kidd and Castano most likely respond to Oatley, Djikic, and
Mar in Text 1?
A) By acknowledging the importance of connecting with others
B) By conceding that fiction can enable people to transcend their everyday lives
C) By pointing out that empathy can have negative as well as positive effects
D) By emphasizing that individuals with high ToM may sometimes prefer non-fiction
79. Text 1
On May 21, 2019, midsize black holes were detected for the first time when the U.S –
based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) and its European
counterpart Virgo captured a tremor from a pair of black holes merging deep in space.
Priyamvada Natarajan, an astrophysicist who has long worked on black-hole growth
models, believes that black holes this size are born in nuclear star clusters, dense
collections of stars found near galactic centers. These holes sweep through the cluster,
adding gas and dust, until they settle at a single location and cease to expand

Text 2
Imre Bartos and other researchers working on “hierarchial merger” models, in which
black holes grow by eating one another, focus on one major data point in the
LIGO/Virgo findings. The angular momentum, or “spin,” of a black hole ranges from 0 to
1. When two black holes of similar size combine, the resulting black hole usually has a
spin around 0.7. Significantly, the two black holes involved in the merger recorded by
LIGO and Virgo had 0.69 and 0.73 respectively, suggesting that they both might have
formed in previous mergers.

Based on texts, what would Imre Bartos most likely say about Priyamvada Natarajan’s
belief in Text 1?
A) It underestimates midsize black hole’s spin.
B) It misstates the time when the merger occurred.
C) It relies too heavily on data from LIGO/VIGO.
D) It overlooks the significance a crucial statistics.