MODULE 1

1. Lan Cao describes her novel Monkey Bridge as (A) poetic.. artistic D (Jan
autobiographical "in mood rather than fact," claiming it depicts (B) common.. romanticized 2010
______, not, ______ truth. (C) intimate.. personal S8Q1)
(D) emotional.. literal
(E) objective.. actual

2. Because Alejandra and Raina have never allowed their (A) conditional D (Jan
differences of opinion to come between them, their friendship (B) exciting 2010
remains ______ (C) distant S8Q2)
(D) steadfast

3. In a grievous example of ______ behavior, the consultants (A) incompetent

repeatedly managed to dupe the team of scientists by (B) contentious
presenting fabricated data. (C) expansive
(D) abstruse
(E) fraudulent

4. Elephants have a sense of smell that is remarkably ______: (A) tacit

they can reportedly smell water up to several miles away. (B) acute
(C) aromatic
(D) sonorous
(E) ubiquitous

5. Some environmentalists fear that the practices contributing to (A) established.., mitigate
global warming are so in industrialized nations that there are no (B) latent.. exacerbate
simple ways to ------- their effects. (C) negligible.. alleviate
(D) ephemeral.. palliate
(E) pervasive.. enhance
6. The testimony of the witness, meant to ______ the defense of (A) appease
the man accused of theft, actually strengthened the case of his (B) deprecate
accusers. (C) enlighten
(D) initiate
(E) bolster

7. Geller, Huchra, and de Lapparent had mapped the nearby As used in the text, what does “grand” most likely D (PSAT
universe, taking several months to carefully measure the mean? 101619
distance to 1,000 galaxies, some as near as 30 million light- A. luxurious Q42)
years away, others as far as 650 million. De Lapparent had fed B. tasteful
the distance and positions of those galaxies into a computer C. gallant
program that printed out a two-dimensional representation of D. imposing
their three-dimensional distribution in the universe. On the
printout was this slice of the northern sky, sprinkled with 1,000
distant galaxies, and smack in the middle, says Geller, was this
remarkable stickman figure. The distribution of galaxies looked
like a child's drawing of a somewhat bowlegged person. It's a
whimsical name for a grand figure: the stickman extended 500
million light-years across the universe.

8. The following text is from Ohiyesa's 1902 story Indian Boyhood. What does Hakadah's grandmother’s way of B (Adv
The boy named Hakadah recalled his childhood with his rearing a child emphasize? Lit - 3.2 -
grandmother in India. A) the importance of good health. Q8)
B) the development of survival skills.
"Hakadah, listen to Shechoka (the robin) calling his mate. He C) the interdependence of the natural world.
says he has just found something good to eat." Or "Listen to D) the admirable lifestyle of a warrior.
Oopchanska (the thrush); he is singing for his little wife. He will
sing his best."
In my infancy it was my grandmother's custom to put me to
sleep, as she said, with the birds, and to waken me with them,
until it became a habit. She did this with an object in view. An
Indian must always rise early. In the first place, as a hunter, he
finds his game best at daybreak. Secondly, other tribes, when
 on the war-path, usually make their attack very early in the
morning.

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10. There was a general consensus in the family that I was "going Which contrast does the narrator emphasize in B (PSAT
to come to a bad end." By then the first woman doctor had the text? 161019
graduated in Chile, and others had entered the university. That A) the benefits of a life of wealth and privilege and Q4)
gave Nívea the idea that I could do the same, if only to defy the the rewards of determination and hard work.
family and society in general, but it was obvious that I didn't B) her earnest attitude and Severo del Valle's
have the least aptitude for studying. Then Severo del Valle playful tone.
appeared with the camera and set it in my lap. It was a beautiful C) the family's overwhelming preoccupation with
Kodak, precious in the details of every screw, elegant, smooth, materialism and her focus on art and beauty.
perfect, made for the hands of an artist. I still use it, it never D) her attempts to assert her own independence
fails. No girl my age had a toy like that. I picked it up with and the grandmother's authoritarian control over
reverence and sat looking at it without any idea how to use the family.
it."Let's see if you can photograph the dark shadows in your
nightmares," Severo del Valle said as a joke, never suspecting
that that would be my one objective for months, and that in the
task of deciphering that nightmare I would end up in love with
the world. My grandmother took me to the Plaza de Armas, to
the studio of Don Juan Ribero, the best photographer in
Santiago, a curt man as dry as stale bread on the outside, but
generous and sentimental inside.

11. Over the long term, the price of oil has held remarkably steady. Which choice best describes the function of the A (PSAT
Ten-mile oil costs less than 69-feet oil did, and about the same underlined part in the text as a whole? 101916
as one-mile oil did two decades ago. It is easy enough to thank Q15)
human ingenuity for the relatively steady price of a finite and A. It supports a claim.
dwindling resource and leave it at that. But there is a second B. It completes a comparison.
part to this story: it is energy itself that begets more energy. C. It sketches a narrative.
Electrically powered robots pursue new supplies of oil at the D. It suggests a paradox.
bottom of the ocean. Electricity purifies and dopes the silicon
that becomes the photovoltaic cell that generates more
electricity. Lasers enrich uranium that generates more electricity
 that powers more lasers. Power pursues the energy that
produces the power.

12. Professor Bhesh Bhandari and PhD student Mr Binh Ho, from According to the text, what problem did ethylene D (PSAT
UQ’s School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, have developed pose for Bhandari and Ho's project? Oct 28
a technology that will dramatically improve the safety, efficiency A) Obtaining the equipment for spraying ethylene 2015
and effort involved in controlled ripening of fruit. Since the is costly. Q23)
1930s, bananas always had to make a stopover between the B) Determining the amount of gas to apply is
ship and the supermarket-namely at a ripening room, a massive complicated.
warehouse where they are not only allowed to finally turn C) Creating humid conditions for spraying gas is
yellow, but are gassed with ethylene to quicken the process. But difficult.
gassing fruits inside moving trucks is problematic-ethylene is D) Using combustible gas in a moving truck is
combustible and can't safely be used in large volumes. So the dangerous.
scientists developed a way to store ethylene in a powder form.
The new invention encapsulates ethylene into modified
cyclodextrin, a compound made up of sugar molecules bound
together in a ring-essentially a form of starch. Cyclodextrin has
cavities in its crystalline structure which can entrap the ethylene
molecules. When a bag or box of the powder is opened in a
truck full of produce, the cyclodextrin's crystalline structure
breaks down because of the humidity in the air-and begins to
slowly release ethylene over time.
 In the graph, the four bars showing the lowest call B (PSAT
rates primarily support which Remage-Healey's 101619
conclusion? Q28)
A) bottlenose dolphins mimic boatwhistle sounds
to improve foraging.
B) male toadfish inhibit their boatwhistle sounds
for self-protection.
C) dolphin foraging behavior has a direct effect on
toadfish reproduction.
D) male toadfish vocalize less after playback than
they do during playback.

13.
Luke Remage-Healey and his colleagues examined the role of
sound suppression in the antipredator repertoire of the Gulf
toadfish, a major food staple of adult bottlenose dolphins. Prior
work had shown that dolphins orient toward the "boatwhistle"
sound produced by male toadfish during breeding season to
better orient toward their prey. The researchers captured
toadfish during the breeding season, and they kept individual
males in tanks until the breeding season ended. The males
soon began to emit boatwhistle sounds, presumably to attract
females. At that point, toadfish males were exposed to one of
three sounds - the pops associated with dolphin foraging, the
 high-frequency whistles produced during dolphin social
communication, and, as a control, the "snapping" sounds made
by snapping shrimp. All sounds were broadcast using
underwater speakers, and the activity of toadfish was recorded
for the five minutes before sounds were emitted, the five
minutes during which the experimental sounds were broadcast,
and the five minutes after the sounds were played. Remage-
Healey found clear evidence of antipredator responses when
the toadfish heard pop sounds. No differences were found in
call rate between males before exposure to the experimental
sounds. Males exposed to pop sounds, however, reduced their
call rates by 50 percent. In addition, males exposed to the pop
sounds maintained their reduced calling rate for the five minutes
following exposure to pops-that is, they eavesdropped on their
predators and reduced their activity in a way that made capture
by a dolphin less likely.

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19. As chosen to be a public announcer, the candidate is asked to A) these D (PSAT

record hundreds of words or short phrases that will be B) them 101619
electronically strung together as needed to form the transit C) this Q19)
announcements that so many people hear every day. In some D) those
cases standard announcements, such as ______ warning
passengers to stay away from the platform edge, are recorded
in a single, long take.
20. Sponges compete with other ______ to occupy space on a reef. A) organisms, including other sponges, A (PSAT
One strategy sponges use to compete is the production of B) organisms including other sponges; 101619
chemical compounds that deter the growth of nearby C) organisms, including other sponges Q24)
competitors. D) organisms: including other sponges,

21. The term "artisan" has justifiably been adopted by food A. indiscriminately, B (PSAT
producers who create their foods in small batches, have an B. indiscriminately, as 101619
intimate knowledge of their ingredients, and use techniques that C. indiscriminately. While Q36)
have been handed down for generations. However, because D. indiscriminately, in which
there is no official definition of artisan food, a number of
corporations have begun to exploit the term's prestige by using
the term ______ one national restaurant chain did in 2011,
when it promoted its mass-market "Artisan Pizza."

22. By broadening the scope of what the public accepted as art, the
Modern Art Movement laid the groundwork for the twentieth
century's Conceptual Art Movement. Conceptual artists shifted
the focus even further, from visual effects to ideas. They
rejected the notion that a piece of art must be beautiful or
demonstrate artistic skill-proclaiming, ______
A) rather, that it should be considered art as long C
as it expresses, an artistic concept. (Ivyglob
B) rather: that it should be considered art as long al
as it expresses, an artistic concept. T1Q36)
C) rather, that it should be considered art as long
as it expresses an artistic concept.
D) rather, that it should, be considered art as long
as it expresses an artistic concept.

23. Alexander Hamilton knew the United States needed to have
strong businesses and industries, which could not form without
a strong national economy. The country was deep in debt from
the war and needed additional revenue to initiate national
projects. Although taxes were ______ argued for their
necessity. Without money, how could the government
accomplish anything?
A) unpopular - British Taxes having been a major D
cause of the Revolutionary War, Hamilton (Ivyglob
B) unpopular, British taxes having been a major al
cause of the Revolutionary War Hamilton T1Q29)
C) unpopular British Taxes having been a major
cause of the Revolutionary War, Hamilton
D) unpopular - British taxes having been a major
cause of the Revolutionary War - Hamilton

24. Comets are balls of dust and ice composed of leftover materials A) length are C
 that did not become planets during the formation of our solar B) length, are (Ivyglob
system. These tails can exceed 150 million kilometers in C) length and are al T1
______ visible from Earth. Because tails are caused by solar D) length, further are Q15)
winds, they always point away from the sun.

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MODULE 2

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8. The following text is from Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Which choice best describes the primary D
Mirth. purpose of the underlined part in the text? (Ivyglo
It was a Monday in early September, and he [Selden] was returning bal
to his work from a hurried dip into the country; but what was Miss A) It establishes that Miss Bart no longer lives T2Q7)
Bart doing in town at that season? If she had appeared to be in town.
catching a train, he might have inferred that he had found her in the B) It demonstrates that Miss Bart owns many
act of transition between one and another of the country-houses houses in Newport.
which fought over her after the close of the Newport season; but her C) It proves that Selden thinks Miss Bart is
aimless air perplexed him. She stood apart from the crowd, letting it untrustworthy.
drift by her to the platform or the street, and wearing an air of D) It explains why Selden is surprised to see
hesitation which might, as he surmised, be the mask of a very Miss Bart.
definite purpose. It struck him at once that she was waiting for
someone, but he hardly knew why the idea arrested him. There was
nothing new about Lily Bart, yet he could never see her without a
faint movement of interest: it was characteristic of her that she
always roused speculation, that her simplest acts seemed the result
of far-reaching intentions.

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