PRACTICE TEST 1

READING PASSAGE 1
Read the following passage and answer the questions.

The Automobile

Automobiles have been around for a long time. We have grown up with them as an integral part of
our lives. We use them every day, and never really consider a time when automobiles did not exist.
However, the automobile as we know it today, was not invented in a single day by a single inventor.
The history of the automobile reflects an evolution (= evolved) that took place worldwide. It is
estimated that over 1oo.ooo patents created the modern automobile.

Automobiles have been powered by steam, electricity and internal combustion engines. The first
steam automobile was built in 1769 by Nicolas Joseph Cugnot at the Paris Arsenal. The first electric
car was built sometime between 1832 and 1839 by Robert Anderson of Scotland. However, the
internal combustion engine, powered by gasoline, became the standard over time.

By the early 1900s gasoline cars began to outsell all other types of automobiles. The market was
growing for economical automobiles and the need for industrial production was pressing. The first
car manufacturers in the world who built entire motor vehicles for sale-not just engine inventors
who experimented with car design to test their engines-were French: Panhard & Levassor (1889)
and Peugeot (1891).

Henry Ford is credited with creating the first economical car designed for the common man. His
success is directly related to his creation of an assembly line. The assembly line reduced production
costs for cars by reducing assembly time. Ford’s famous Model T was assembled in just ninety-three
minutes.

1. What is the main idea of the passage?

(A) Automobiles evolved worldwide over a long period of time. (after ‘however’ is main idea)
(B) Industrial production was driven by market forces.
(C) Henry Ford created the first assembly line.
(D) Automobiles are an integral part of our lives.

2. What can we infer about the automobile from this passage?

(A) It is a complicated machine. (not mentioned)
(B) Man has been trying to improve it for a long time. (Paragraph 1 line 3)
(C) Future automobiles will be faster and better. (not mentioned)
(D) all of the above

3. What were the first automobile makers more interested in? = The first car manufacturers
(A) designing engines (Paragraph 3, last line)
(B) designing automobiles
(C) designing both the engine and automobile
(D) making lots of money
4. Why is Henry Ford important to the automobile industry?
(A) He made more cars than anyone else. (not mentioned)
(B) He made the most popular cars. (not mentioned)
(C) He perfected the assembly line production process. P4 line 2,3
(D) He was a better businessman than other car manufacturers. (not mentioned)

5. What can we infer about the internal combustion engine?

(A) It is better than the steam engine.
(B) It is better than the electric engine.
(C) It is easier to build than other engines.
(D) Cheap gasoline made it a more popular engine. P2,last line more popular=standard over time

6. Why did it take over 100,000 patents to create the modern automobile?
(A) The designers made many mistakes.
(B) There are many parts and inventions that make up an automobile. P1 line 3
(C) Henry Ford designed many different engines.
(D) none of the above

7. It can be inferred that the word “integral” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ____.
(A) modern
(B) expensive
(C) enjoyable
(D) necessary

8. According to the passage, Henry Ford was successful because _____. P4

(A) he produced the best quality cars
(B) he had a very good design team
(C) he made cars quickly and cheaply
(D) other car manufacturers weren't famous

9. It can be inferred that the word “pressing” in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to _____.
(A) unnecessary
(B) decreasing
(C) urgent
(D) difficult

10. The word “their” in paragraph 3 refers to ____.

(A) manufacturers
(B) vehicles
(C) inventors
(D) markets
READING PASSAGE 2
Read the following passage and answer the questions.

Surrealism
The Surrealist movement gained momentum following Dadaism, and was led by Andre Breton.
Unlike the Dadaists, however, the Surrealists did not disregard all previous forms of art. The artists
in this movement incorporated psychoanalytic theory into their art; they divided into two sub-
movements, one of which-led by Dali-researched and studied the works of Sigmund Freud, while the
other-led by Picasso-studied Carl Jung.

Dali embraced the science of painting as a way to study the psyche through subconscious images.
Artists should allow these images to reach the consciousness, and then capture them on canvas as an
opportunity to comprehend their meaning. Later on, he expanded the process to a point at which the
artist pays attention to his dreams, capturing them through art and then analyzing them. His
followers became known as the Veristic Surrealists.

Picasso took the opposite approach. He rejected the traditions of craft in favor of a "primitive"
approach, as he felt that the ingenuity of childhood was the basis of art. To him, this meant that the
less the artist is preoccupied with the techniques of his craft, the better his art will be. (Dali also
valued the "ingenuity of childhood," but for him it meant not painting as a child, but keeping an open
mind and maintaining the curiosity and excitement of the child throughout one’s life.) Followers of
Picasso’s model called themselves Automatists, and focused on the expression of emotion.

Surrealism was declared "dead” in 1941, giving way entirely to Abstract Expressionism, which was
also called "modernism.” However, many artists continue to create works in the manner of Veristic
Surrealism-divided further into Classical, Social, and Visionary forms, even today-only in seclusion.

11. What is the topic of the passage?

(A) the artwork of Picasso and Dali
(B) the two sub-movements of Surrealist art
(C) the death of Surrealism
(D) the differences between Surrealism and Dadaism

12. Whose theories inspired Surrealism? P1, last line

(A) Dali and Picasso
(B) Picasso and Freud
(C) Dali and Jung
(D) Freud and Jung

13. Why does the author mention "the ingenuity of childhood"?

(A) to describe a common criticism of Surrealist art
(B) to emphasize the similarities between Dali and Picasso
(C) to explain Picasso's idea of the basis for art P3, line 2 as….
(D) none of the above

14. According to the passage, what is an important difference between Dali and Picasso?
(A) Dali's art was more analytical. P2, line2,3
(B) Picasso was more interested in Jung than in Freud.
(C) Picasso had a greater interest in the subconscious.
(D) Dali was more interested in the ingenuity of childhood.
15. What did "the ingenuity of childhood" mean to Dali? P3
(A) The less the artist is preoccupied with his craft, the better his art is.
(B) Maintaining the curiosity and excitement of the child is important for an artist.
(C) The more the artist is preoccupied with his craft, the better his art is.
(D) Studying the psyche through subconscious images was the way to better art.

16. What can be inferred from the passage?

(A) Surrealist art is no longer being made.
(B) Automatic Surrealism is no longer practiced.
(C) Veristic Surrealists are among today's most famous artists.
(D) Surrealism had no lasting impact on art history.

17. The word “incorporated” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _____.

(A) found
(B) taught
(C) understood
(D) combined

18. The word “their” in paragraph 2 refers to _____.

(A) images
(B) artists
(C) dreams
(D) canvas

19. The word “preoccupied” in paragraph 3 could best be replaced by _____.

(A) concerned
(B) skilled
(C) connected
(D) suffered

20. According to the passage, Veristic Surrealism_______.

(A) is concerned with analyzing dreams P2, the last 3 lines
(B) rejects the artist's craft
(C) focuses on emotion
(D) is led by Picasso

READING PASSAGE 3
Read the following passage and answer the questions.

World War I

[A] By early 1915, all the combatants in World War I had lost the illusion that the war could be won
quickly, and began to consider harsher measures in order to gain an advantage. The British, with
their overwhelming sea power, of course had established a naval blockade of Germany early in the
war — a blockade that included even food. The Germans viewed this as a blatant attempt to starve
the German people into submission.
[B] On February 4,1915, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany declared the seas around the British Isles a
war zone. Beginning two weeks later, the announcement read, ships in the area would be sunk
without warning. In April, a British cargo vessel was torpedoed without warning by a German
submarine and sunk. The ship was sailing to America to pick up food relief for Belgium, and was
flying a white flag to signal peaceful intentions. International opinion was outraged. Worse was to
come very shortly. [C]

[D] The British liner Lusitania was one of the most impressive luxury ships ever built. When war
first broke out, the British Navy had considered putting her to use but decided it would not be
economical. They therefore allowed her to continue her transatlantic passenger cruises, on the
condition that some of her cargo space be reserved for transport of war materials from America.

On May 1,1915, she began a return cruise from New York to southern Ireland with 1,257 passengers
on board — along with 4,200 cases of rifle cartridges, 1,248 cases of artillery shells, and other
munitions. As she crossed the Atlantic, the British Navy was tracking the movements of several U-
boats operating off the coast of Ireland and moving south. They wired several warnings to Captain
Turner, who took what he thought were the necessary precautions.

The German submarine U-20 sighted the Lusitania on the horizon at 1:00 P.M. on Friday, May 7,
near Queenstown, Ireland. Its commander, Captain Schweiger, gave the order to fire; the torpedo hit
the Lusitania’s bridge, blowing a hole in the side of the ship. A second explosion followed, possibly
caused by the munitions on board, which badly damaged the bow. The Lusitania sank in 18 minutes,
killing 1,198 people, including almost 100 children.

There was massive outrage in Britain, where Schweiger was condemned as a war criminal. The
British strongly believed that the Americans should declare war on Germany, but President
Woodrow Wilson still did not want to get involved in a European dispute. He merely sent a formal
protest to Germany, and was bitterly criticized in Britain as a coward. Wilson’s restraint now seems
remarkable, since there was a wave of American anger over the sinking of the Lusitania.

21. Which of the following best describes the passage?

(A) An explanation of the importance of sea power in World War I
(B) A description of the greatest luxury ship in history
(C) The history of a famous incident involving a ship and a submarine
(D) An argument against the sinking of passenger ships in wartime

22. The following sentence could be added to the passage.

"Germany could not possibly deal with British naval strength on an even basis. The only way
Germany could manage a blockade of Britain was through the U-boat."
Where would the sentence best fit?
(A) [A]
(B) [B]
(C) [C]
(D) [D]

23. Why does the author mention overwhelming sea power in paragraph 1?
(A) to emphasize how effective the British blockade was
(B) to indicate that a British victory in the war was predictable
(C) to show that sea power was the most important factor in the war
(D) to emphasize that the British army was weak by comparison
24. The word “blatant” in paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to _____.
(A) useless
(B) unnecessary
(C) obvious
(D) powerful

25. It can be inferred that the sinking of the British ship in April caused outrage because ____.
(A) the ship was not a danger to the Germans
(B) it was the first British ship to be sunk by a submarine
(C) the ship should not have been flying a white flag
(D) Germany had not declared war on Britain

26. Which of the following is true, according to the passage?

(A) Britain had a very strong navy in World War I.
(B) Germany established a blockade of Britain early in the war.
(C) Before the Lusitania, U-boats had only sunk warships.
(D) A Belgian cargo ship was sunk by a German U-boat.

27. It can be inferred from the passage that ______.

(A) all British liners except the Lusitania were forced to stop carrying passengers when the war
began
(B) the British Navy had the power to stop British passenger ships from sailing
(C) before the sinking of the Lusitania, the U.S. had supported Germany in the war
(D) the U.S. was supplying munitions to both sides in the war

28. Which of the following is true, according to the passage?

(A) The U-boat fired one torpedo at the Lusitania.
(B) Captain Turn er did not know there were any U-boats in the area.
(C) Captain Schweiger was disobeying his orders when he fired on the Lusitania.
(D) Captain Turner ignored the warnings from the British Navy.

29. The word “which” in paragraph 5 refers to _____.

(A) ship
(B) explosion
(C) board
(D) munitions

30. It can be inferred that the U.S. did not declare war on Germany after the sinking of the Lusitania
because ____.
(A) the American public was angry at the British
(B) President Wilson was sympathetic to the Germans
(C) the American public did not care about events in Europe
(D) President Wilson did not think the war directly concerned the U.S.
READING PASSAGE 4
Read the following passage and answer the questions.

Six Degrees of Separation

[A] The concept of six degrees of separation states that a chain of only six acquaintances or fewer
separates every person in the world. [B] A 1990 play titled Six Degrees of Separation popularized
the term, which became even more widespread after the play was made into a film three years later.
[C] Moreover, several academic studies have attempted to prove the validity of an interconnected
world. [D]

In 1929, Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy published a short story, “Chains,” about characters
devising a game in which they try to connect themselves to any person on the planet through a
sequence of no more than five individuals, with the first being a personal acquaintance. Karinthy’s
prediction that “five degrees of separation" exist between any two people on Earth was the first
recorded proposal that one could quantify human interconnectivity.

Since Karinthy’s time, many social scientists and mathematicians have attempted to use social
network theory, which organizes data to reflect one’s relationship to another to measure the level of
global connectivity. The principles of social network theory can be applied to many fields of study.
For example, in criminology, a network of a victim and suspect’s recently dialed phone numbers,
their addresses, and their recent financial transactions may reveal otherwise indiscernible
relationships. When applied to human communication, network theory uses graphs to connect one
person to all his or her acquaintances and all those acquaintances to everyone they know until a thick
web of human contact forms.

However, even with these tools, verifying the “six degrees of separation” theory has proven
problematic. Mathematical models, which test for interconnectivity among large populations, cannot
take into account factors such as social class, as a wealthy person may be less likely to have many
acquaintances among poorer people, and vice versa. Moreover, people may have difficulty'
calculating how many individuals they have been acquainted with throughout their lives. Because
creating a web of acquaintances on an individual level is hindered by many personal circumstances,
creating one for the entire world becomes seemingly impossible. Nevertheless, in 1967, American
psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted small-world experiments to test the validity of Karinthy’s
claim. Milgram designed a procedure in which nearly 300 individuals in an American East Coast city
attempted to relay a letter to one of two specific strangers in the American Midwest by sending the
letter to an acquaintance who would then send it to another acquaintance and so on until the letter
reached the target stranger. Of the nearly 300 letters originally distributed, only 64 reached one of the
two targets. Yet the few letters that reached their destination had an average path length, or number
of people between the original sender and final recipient, of six individuals. Hence, Milgram
concluded that about six degrees of separation connect all individuals in the United States.

Since the time of their publication, Milgram’s experiments have received much criticism. Some
critics point out that not all individuals can connect to one another because isolated populations, such
as reclusive indigenous peoples, have from little to no contact with the rest of the world. Others
point out that only a fraction of the original letters reached their destination, which resulted in many
unknown path lengths.

Many network theorists and psychologists suggest that the development of the Internet has greatly
increased interconnectivity amongst people who are separated by geographical and social factors.
Communication technologies such as cellular phones and email have made it easy to contact
someone on the other side of the planet. In 2003, Columbia University recruited about 24.000
volunteers and instructed them to try to send an email to one of 18 people in 13 different countries by
passing the message to an acquaintance and asking that acquaintance to do the same, and so on. Only
a fraction of the emails made it to one of the 18 target individuals, but the nearly 400 emails that
were successful arrived in approximately four steps. Ultimately, the Columbia email experiment
possessed many of the same flaws as Milgram’s experiment, but the experiment revealed that the
communication made possible by the Internet has increased the “small-world phenomenon.”

Although the rise of the World Wide Web has improved communication potential around the
world, human interconnectivity remains constrained by social, political, and geographical
barriers. Thus, the theory that “six degrees of separation” exist between all individuals is still subject
to speculation.

31. The following sentence could be added to Paragraph 1.

Both works focus on the idea that unseen ties connect all people, often in unexpected ways.
Where would the sentence best fit?
(A) [A]
(B) [B]
(C) [C]
(D) [D]

32. In Paragraph 2, what does the author say about Frigyes Karinthy?
(A) He invented a game in which participants try to contact distant acquaintances.
(B) He wrote a story proposing that all people on Earth are closely connected.
(C) He was inspired to write a short story based on the play Six Degrees of Separation.
(D) He proved that five links separate every individual on the planet in his story “Chains.”

33. The word “indiscernible" in Paragraph 3 means _____.

(A) imperceptible
(B) insignificant
(C) impressive
(D) infallible

34. In Paragraph 4, what does the author say about mathematical models that are used in network
theory?
(A) They are the most reliable method for calculating interconnectivity.
(B) Stanley Milgram used them in his 1967 social network experiment.
(C) Societal factors limit their accuracy when calculating human connections.
(D) They are no lunger used in social networking experiments.

35. The word “it” in Paragraph 4 refers to ____.

(A) procedure
(B) the letter
(C) an acquaintance
(D) target stranger
36. What can be inferred from the information in Paragraphs 3 and 4?
(A) In criminology, network theory has replaced field-detective work because it is more reliable.
(B) Models of human interconnectivity likely vary because of subjective factors, such as the
definition of “acquaintance.”
(C) Social network theory only generates accurate results when everyone in a network knows one
another.
(D) Mathematical models have provided the most effective methods for calculating human
interconnectivity.

37. What can be inferred about the information in Paragraph 5?

(A) The average path length of the letters may have increased if every letter had reached its
destination.
(B) Reclusive indigenous peoples made up a small portion of Milgram’s 300 letter-senders,
generating criticism.
(C) Most criticisms of Milgram’s experiment came from supporters of Karinthy’s “five degrees of
separation.”
(D) Critics believe that so few letters made it to the recipients because Milgram removed letters with
a path length greater than six degrees.

38. Why does the author mention "Columbia University" in Paragraph 6?

(A) To criticize the establishment for copying Milgram’s experimental procedure
(B) To show that a reputable research institute also was interested in the theory
(C) To explain why the experiment required so many volunteers
(D) To justify the use of emails as opposed to letters in the 2003 experiment

39. According to Paragraph 6, each of the following statements about the Columbia University study
is true EXCEPT:
(A) Volunteers each tried to start a chain of emails to reach a particular set of strangers.
(B) Despite its successes, the experiment faced the same criticisms as earlier procedures.
(C) The experiment was designed to test the hypothesis across international borders.
(D) In 400 cases, emails successfully came back to the original volunteers who first sent them.

40. Which of the following best paraphrases the highlighted section in Paragraph 7?
(A) Issues such as political differences will always prevent complete human interconnectivity.
(B) Technologies must overcome many obstacles to ensure that all humans are linked to one another.
(C) The growth of the Internet has strengthened human affiliation worldwide, but physical and
cultural obstacles still limit connectivity.
(D) The Internet will soon overcome civic and topographical restrictions and connect all individuals
to one another.