SAT Writing Quiz

While ancient cities are often imagined to have I been more sustainable than modern ones, the tension between urban life and the environment has deep roots. __________ the development of the ancient city of Akko six thousand years ago transformed dense coastal forests into a dry, shrubby grassland.

• However,

• Hence,

• Furthermore,

• For example,

In the eyes of the colonial British administration, Samuel Adams was an outlaw. __________ he often behaved like one: he erased his fingerprints, refused to copy his letters, and destroyed piles of his papers to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.

• Specifically,

• Indeed,

• Nevertheless,

• On the other hand,

Because the wild ancestors of modern felines never lived in social groups, cats are genetically predisposed to be independent. __________ during the domestication process, they developed the ability to form social relationships with other members of their species as well as with people.

• Moreover,

• Accordingly,

• For instance,

• Still,

Recent research suggests that short-term training in self-regulation-the ability to manage attention, emotion, and impulses, as well as to persevere in achieving __________ have long-term effects for children. A recent study found that children who participated in a single unit on self-regulation were still experiencing positive effects more than three years later.

• goals, can

• goals can

• goal-can

• goals can:

In the winter of 1885, archaeologists in Greece I I discovered a unique assembly of figures. Buried in 480 BC, they had been spared 2,500 years of vandalism. Researchers were astonished-not only because of the importance of the works, but also because of the excellent preservation of ________ original surface paint.

• their

• its

• his or her

• one's

While bees can survive in the dark, they prefer to be in the sunlight. The shaded interiors of woodlands are therefore considered a poor habitat for bees. New research shows that many types of bees are active high above the __________ suggests wild bees are just as happy in treetops as they are among the flowers at ground level.

• trees, however; a discovery that

• trees, however, a discovery that

• trees, however, a discovery, that

• trees, however, this discovery

Adult height is primarily determined by the information encoded in people's DNA. These correlations are not exact, however. Traditionally, the role of genetics in the process of growth from tiny infant to adults __________ a complex and poorly understood area of human biology.

• are

• have been

• has been

• having been

John F. Kennedy was the first U.S. president to hold televised press conferences, and he used the new medium of television to great effect. __________ his humor, charm, and wit allowed him to connect with his audiences.

• A natural in front of the camera,

• As a natural in front of the camera,

• Kennedy was a natural in front of the camera,

• Kennedy was a natural in front of the camera, and

While much of mathematics research focuses on developing proofs for conjectures, it is often impossible to check that a hypothesis is true in all cases. Mathematician Melanie Wood uses statistics to verify these hypotheses. __________ she develops probabilistic models for natural numbers and integers to see how they behave on average.

• However,

• Consequently,

• Meanwhile,

• Specifically,

Since the early nineteenth century, doomsayers have gloomily predicted that increasing populations would exhaust their food __________ shortages would result in catastrophic famines. Yet the world currently produces enough food to feed 10 billion people, and there are only seven billion of us.

• supplies in only a few decades, they claimed

• supplies, in only a few decades they claimed

• supplies. In only a few decades, they claimed,

• supplies, in only a few decades, they claimed: