SAT Practice Test #3 (part 1: words & phrases)

In the early 1800s, the Cherokee scholar Sequoyah created the first script, or writing system, for an Indigenous language in the United States. Because it represented the sounds of spoken Cherokee so accurately, his script was easy to learn and thus quickly achieved __________ use: by 1830, over 90 percent of the Cherokee people could read and write it.

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

• widespread

• careful

• unintended

• infrequent

Tags

CCSS.L.3.2E

When Mexican-American archaeologist Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall published her 1886 research paper on sculptures found at the ancient Indigenous city of Teotihuacan in present-day Mexico, other researchers readily ________ her work as ground-breaking; this recognition stemmed from her convincing demonstration that the sculptures were much older than had previously been thought.

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

• acknowledged

• ensured

• denied

• underestimated

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.8.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

Like other r tribal nations, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is self-governing; its National Council generates laws regulating aspects of community life such as land use and healthcare, while the principal chief and cabinet officials _______ those laws by devising policies and administering services in accordance with them.

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

• implement

• presume

• improvise

• mimic

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.8.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

The artisans of the Igun Eronmwon guild in Benin City, Nigeria, typically _______ the bronze- and brass-casting techniques that have been passed down through their families since the thirteenth century, but they don't strictly observe every tradition; for example, guild members now use air-conditioning motors instead of handheld bellows to help heat their forges.

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

• experiment with

• adhere to

• improve on

• grapple with

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.8.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

In the Indigenous intercropping system known as the Three Sisters, maize, squash, and beans form an _______ web of relations: maize provides the structure on which the bean vines grow; the squash vines cover the soil, discouraging competition from weeds; and the beans aid their two “sisters” by enriching the soil with essential nitrogen.

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

• indecipherable

• ornamental

• obscure

• intricate

Tags

CCSS.RI.11-12.4

CCSS.RI.7.4

CCSS.RI.8.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

CCSS.RI.9-10.4

Some economic historians _______ that late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century households in the United States experienced an economy of scale when it came to food purchases—they assumed that large households spent less on food per person than did small households. Economist Trevon Logan showed, however, that a close look at the available data disproves this supposition.

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

• surmised

• contrived

• questioned

• regretted

Tags

CCSS.L.11-12.6

CCSS.L.9-10.6

CCSS.W.11-12.2D

CCSS.W.8.2D

CCSS.W.9-10.2D

The work of Kiowa painter T.C. Cannon derives its power in part from the tension among his _______ influences: classic European portraiture, with its realistic treatment of faces; the American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flatstyle, the intertribal painting style that rejects the effect of depth typically achieved through shading and perspective.

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

• complementary

• unknown

• disparate

• interchangeable

Tags

CCSS.L.4.5

CCSS.L.5.5

New and interesting research conducted by Suleiman A. A1-Sweedan and Moath Alhaj is inspired by their observation that though there have been many studies of the effect of high altitude on blood chemistry, there is a _______ studies of the effect on blood chemistry of living in locations below sea level, such as the California towns of Salton City and Seeley.

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

• quarrel about

• paucity of

• profusion of

• verisimilitude in

Tags

CCSS.L.1.6

CCSS.L.3.6

CCSS.L.4.6

CCSS.RL.1.4

The following text is from Sarah Orne Jewett's 1899 short story "Martha's Lady." Martha is employed by Miss Pyne as a maid.

Miss Pyne sat by the window watching, in her best dress, looking stately and calm; she seldom went out now, and it was almost time for the carriage. Martha was just coming in from the garden with the strawberries, and with more flowers in her apron. It was a bright cool evening in June, the golden robins sang in the elms, and the sun was going down behind the apple-trees at the foot of the garden. The beautiful old house stood wide open to the long-expected guest.

Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?

• To convey the worries brought about by a new guest

• To describe how the characters have changed over time

• To contrast the activity indoors with the stillness outside

• To depict the setting as the characters await a visitor's arrival

Tags

CCSS.RI. 9-10.1

CCSS.RI.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.11-12.2

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.2

In the early nineteenth century, some Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States used agricultural techniques developed by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people centuries earlier, but it seems that few of those farmers had actually seen Haudenosaunee farms firsthand. In the early nineteenth century, some Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States used agricultural techniques developed by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people centuries earlier, but it seems that few of those farmers had actually seen Haudenosaunee farms firsthand. In the early nineteenth century, some Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States used agricultural techniques developed by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people centuries earlier, but it seems that few of those farmers had actually seen Haudenosaunee farms firsthand. Barring the possibility of several farmers of the same era independently developing techniques that the Haudenosaunee people had already invented, these facts most strongly suggest that _______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• those farmers learned the techniques from other people who were more directly influenced by Haudenosaunee practices.

• the crops typically cultivated by Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States were not well suited to Haudenosaunee farming techniques

• Haudenosaunee farming techniques were widely used in regions outside the northeastern United States.

• Euro-American farmers only began to recognize the benefits of Haudenosaunee farming techniques late in the nineteenth century.

Tags

CCSS.RI.8.1

CCSS.RI.8.8

CCSS.RL.11-12.1

CCSS.RL.8.1

CCSS.RL.9-10.1