SAT Reading & Writing — Words in Context & Rhetorical Synthesis

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

The spacecraft OSIRIS-REx briefly made contact

with the asteroid 101955 Bennu in 2020. NASA scientist Daniella DellaGiustina reports that despite facing the unexpected obstacle of a surface mostly covered in boulders, OSIRIS-REx successfully _______ a sample of the surface, gathering pieces of it to bring back to Earth.

• attached

• collected

• followed

• replaced

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Research conducted by planetary scientist Katarina

Miljkovic suggests that the Moon’s surface may not accurately _______ early impact events. When the Moon was still forming, its surface was softer, and asteroid or meteoroid impacts would have left less of an impression; thus, evidence of early impacts may no longer be present.

• reflect

• receive

• evaluate

• mimic

Handedness, a preferential use of either the right or left hand, typically is easy to observe in humans. Because this trait is present but less _______ in many other animals, animal-behavior researchers often employ tasks specially designed to reveal individual animals' preferences for a certain hand or paw. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• recognizable

• intriguing

• significant

• useful

It is by no means _______ to recognize the influence of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch on Ali Banisadr's paintings; indeed, Banisadr himself cites Bosch as an inspiration. However, some scholars have suggested that the ancient Mesopotamian poem Epic of Gilgamesh may have had a far greater impact on Banisadr's work. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• substantial

• satisfying

• unimportant

• appropriate

In 2019, researcher Patricia Jurado Gonzalez and food historian Nawal Nasrallah prepared a stew from a 4,000-year-old recipe found on a Mesopotamian clay tablet. When they tasted the dish, known as pottage (un-'wedding'), they found that it had a mild taste and inspired a sense of calm. The researchers, knowing that dishes were sometimes named after their intended effects, theorized that the dish's name, 'unwedding,' referred to its function: to help ancient diners relax. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• Therefore

• Alternately

• Nevertheless

• Likewise

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - Chemical leavening agents cause carbon dioxide to be released in a liquid batter, making the batter rise as it bakes. - Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leavening agents. - Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. - To produce carbon dioxide, baking soda needs to be mixed with liquid and an acidic ingredient such as honey. - Baking powder is a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and an acid. - To produce carbon dioxide, baking powder needs to be mixed with liquid but not with an acidic ingredient. The student wants to emphasize a difference between baking soda and baking powder. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• To make batters rise, bakers use chemical leavening agents such as baking soda and baking powder.

• Baking soda and baking powder are chemical leavening agents that, when mixed with other ingredients, cause carbon dioxide to be released within a batter.

• Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, and honey is a type of acidic ingredient.

• To produce carbon dioxide within a liquid batter, baking soda needs to be mixed with an acidic ingredient, whereas baking powder does not.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - Soo Sunny Park is a Korean American artist who uses light as her primary medium of expression. - She created her work Unwoven Light in 2013. - Unwoven Light featured a chain-link fence fitted with iridescent plexiglass tiles. - When light passed through the fence, colorful prisms formed. The student wants to describe Unwoven Light to an audience unfamiliar with Soo Sunny Park. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• Park's 2013 installation Unwoven Light, which included a chain-link fence and iridescent tiles made from plexiglass, featured light as its primary medium of expression.

• Korean American artist Soo Sunny Park created Unwoven Light in 2013.

• The chain-link fence in Soo Sunny Park's Unwoven Light was fitted with tiles made from iridescent plexiglass.

• In Unwoven Light, a 2013 work by Korean American artist Soo Sunny Park, light formed colorful prisms as it passed through a fence Park had fitted with iridescent tiles.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes: - Cambodia's Angkor Wat was built in the 1100s to honor the Hindu god Vishnu. - It has been a Buddhist temple since the sixteenth century. - Decorrelation stretch analysis is a novel digital imaging technique that enhances the contrast between colors in a photograph. - Archaeologist Noel Hidalgo Tan applied decorrelation stretch analysis to photographs he had taken of Angkor Wat's plaster walls. - Tan's analysis revealed hundreds of images unknown to researchers. The student wants to present Tan's research to an audience unfamiliar with Angkor Wat. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• Tan photographed Angkor Wat's plaster walls and then applied decorrelation stretch analysis to the photographs.

• Decorrelation stretch analysis is a novel digital imaging technique that Tan used to enhance the contrast between colors in a photograph.

• Using a novel digital imaging technique, Tan revealed hundreds of images hidden on the walls of Angkor Wat, a Cambodian temple.

• Built to honor a Hindu god before becoming a Buddhist temple, Cambodia's Angkor Wat concealed hundreds of images on its plaster walls.

The fashion resale market, in which consumers purchase secondhand clothing from stores and online sellers, generated nearly $30 billion globally in 2019. Expecting to see continued growth, some analysts ______ that revenues will more than double by 2028. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• produced

• denied

• worried

• predicted

Artificially delivering biomolecules to plant cells is an important component of protecting plants from pathogens, but it is difficult to transmit biomolecules through the layers of the plant cell wall. Markita del Carpio Landry and her colleagues have shown that it may be possible to ______ this problem by transmitting molecules through carbon nanotubes, which can cross cell walls. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

• conceptualize

• neglect

• illustrate

• overcome