The author does not express his personal opinion anywhere in the passage, so choice c is incor-rect.. The passage does not provide any real history of sushi in the United States before
Trang 1incorrect The passage suggests that building materials have changed since 1970; these
asbestos-laden materials were used prior to
1970 before the various studies that show the
link between asbestos and lung cancer Thus, reforms in building materials have already
been made, and choice b is incorrect The
passage describes effects of asbestos on
health, but not on the home, so choice c
can-not be correct
7 c The tone of this passage is informative, serving
to instruct the reader about asbestos Choices a
and d (cautionary and admonitory) are
syn-onyms, and while the passage does show the dangers of asbestos, the general tone is not
cautionary Apathetic (choice b) means indif-ferent and idiosyncratic (choice e) means
dis-tinctive, neither of which applies
8 e The author is writing for a lay person,
mean-ing a homeowner, parent, or student Choices
a and d describe professionals, while b and c
describe people you would find in a school setting, all of whom may be interested in this information, but none of whom is the specific, targeted audience
9 c This is the only choice that makes sense in the
given context A clue to the correct answer can
be found in the prefix of the word itself—neo means new.
10 b While the blues may do all of the things listed
in the other answer choices, the primary pur-pose of the blues is to lift the spirits of the lis-tener The passage states that it is a
fundamental principle of the blues that the music have the power to overcome sadness
(lines 5–6)
11 a The repetition of raw fish in the form of a
question suggests surprise, even shock, that raw fish be included in a list of fast-food items
in the first sentence Sushi is indeed very
dif-ferent from other types of fast foods, but the repetition/question serves to register surprise,
not emphasize difference (choice b) The
author does not express his personal opinion
anywhere in the passage, so choice c is
incor-rect Most sushi is raw fish, but if the author
were defining sushi (choice d), then he
wouldn’t express it as a question The passage
does argue that sushi is much healthier than
other fast foods (choice e), but this is not
sug-gested by the repetition/question
12 e Line 9 states that sushi consumption in America
is 40% higher than it was in the late 1990s (five
years ago) While the other answers might be true, they are not described in the passage
13 b Unpalatable may be defined as not agreeable
to taste You might know the word palate as the roof of the mouth, so unpalatable most
likely has to do with the sense of taste A key
context clue is the phrase tastes have changed
(lines 2–3), suggesting that Americans have learned to like something they once would not have eaten
14 d The main idea of the passage is that sushi is a
healthy and popular fast-food alternative in America This is supported by specific statis-tics cited in the passage—a 40% increase in
sushi consumption (lines 8–9) and the over 5,000 sushi bars in supermarkets (lines 11–12).
The passage does describe a few places where
sushi is sold (choice a), but that does far less to
support the main idea than the impressive numbers The passage does not provide any
real history of sushi in the United States before
1970, so choice b is incorrect There is no
spe-cific comparison of sushi to other fast-food
options (choice c), just a general discussion of
a shift toward a healthier diet The passage
does not discuss how sushi is made, so choice e
is incorrect
Trang 215 a The fact that judicial review can override
decisions made by the legislative and execu-tive branches implies that it gives the court great authority This suggestion is reinforced
by the fact that the court’s ruling is nearly final and that it can only be overridden by a
constitutional amendment or new court rul-ing (lines 5–6), as well as the use of the word
power in the phrase through the power of judi-cial review (line 6) There is no mention of
foreign policy in the passage, ruling out
choice b The Supreme Court interprets but does not make or rewrite laws, so choices c and d are incorrect Likewise, the Supreme
Court does not make amendments, so choice
e is incorrect.
16 c To maintain the “life” of the Constitution, the
court applies its broad provisions to complex new situations (lines 7–8) that arise in current
law The passage clearly contradicts choice a
by stating that the court shapes the develop-ment of law (line 6) The passage suggests that
it is difficult to amend the Constitution by
stating that the court’s ruling can only be over-come by a constitutional amendment or by a new ruling of the court (lines 5–6), but this
dif-ficulty is not something implied by the image
of the Constitution as a living document The Constitution is spoken of throughout the pas-sage as a set of laws and ideas, not a physical
document, so choice d is incorrect While the
passage states that the court maintains the Constitution as a “living” document (line 7),
the image does not imply that the court is the only entity keeping alive the principles of the
Constitution (choice e).
17 d Positively is the only word that is close in
meaning to emphatically A clue here can be
found in line 2, which says that the statement
made in line 1 was a unanimous opinion.
18 b The “we” of the passage go to school, so the
reference must be to school-aged children and cannot include his parents, ruling out choice
a In addition, the passage contrasts we with
the respectable boys and the rich ones (lines
1–2), so we are neither wealthy (choice c) nor
respected The author also compares we to the boys of other schools as a group, so we likely
refers to all the poor school children, not just
the author and his brother (choice d) Readers
may be of all ages and economic classes, so
choice e is incorrect.
19 a The author and his classmates go to school
through lanes and back streets (line 1) to avoid the students who go to school dressed in warm and respectable clothing He also states
in line 10 that they are ashamed of the way they look, implying that they are poorly
dressed, ruling out choice c Because they are
afraid the boys from the rich school will see what they are wearing, they are not likely to be
riding in a taxi cab (choice b), which would
obscure most of their attire from view (and which he couldn’t afford anyway) The boys from the Christian Brothers’ school are the
ones who will become civil servants (choice e) Bicycles (choice d) are mentioned in line 8,
but the author might ride one later as a mes-senger; he does not ride one now on his way to school
20 d The boys would get into fights if the rich boys
were to utter derogatory words or pass remarks The other choices are all possible
meanings of pass, but they do not make sense
in the context of the sentence
21 c While the quote here does show how the author’s school masters talked (choice e), it
has a more important function: to show that his school masters reinforced the class system
by telling the author and his classmates to stay
Trang 3in their place and not challenge the existing class structure The quote does not refer to
rules or punishments, so choice a does not
make sense The passage does not compare the author’s school masters with those of the
other schools, so choice b is incorrect While
the passage may demonstrate that the author
was meant for greater things (choice d), the
quote shows that his teachers believed otherwise
22 e The author “knows,” based only on the fact of
which school the boys attend, what they will
be when they grow up—the respectable boys will have the administrative jobs (lines 3–4),
while the rich boys will run the government, run the world (line 8) The author and those in
his socioeconomic class will be laborers (lines 8–10) The author emphasizes the certainty of this knowledge with the repetition of the
phrase we know and the sentence We know that (line 10) Thus, he demonstrates that
their future was already set based upon their socioeconomic standing There’s no sense of the author’s determination to go to England
(choice a) or run the world (choice b), and it
is clear that he does understand the idea of
class and rank in his society (choice d)—
though he may not accept it The passage
states that the author would fight if boys from the rich schools pass remarks (lines 10–11), but
he also states that they avoided the rich boys,
so we don’t know whether these fights were
frequent or not (choice c).
23 e The author’s primary purpose in writing this
passage is to discuss his belief that commer-cialism’s strong presence in today’s society strongly influences a person’s view of his or her personal identity A good illustration of this can be found in lines 10–13, where the author states that we use the market to declare our identity to others The passage discusses
fashion only in the context of signage and
identity, so choice a is incorrect Though the
passage refers to old symbols and names
(line 1), it does not discuss the history of
com-merce (choice b) The author does lament that
we lack the conviction that the traditional things matter (line 10), but the focus of the
passage is commercialism and identity, so
choice c is incorrect The passage does not
offer any guidance in helping readers discover
their own identities (choice d).
24 b The commercial range of options in line 2 is the
numerous products available for purchase by today’s consumer Lines 2–4 hold a clue to answering this question: The author refers to the modern practice of wearing old symbols such as a kilt as the personal choice of a par-ticular consumer The passage does not refer
to radio, television, the Internet, or other
tech-nologies, so choices a, c and e are incorrect.
Choice d, let the buyer beware, does not make
sense in the context of the passage
25 d The statement that one can tell a lot about
somebody by what he or she is wearing is directly contradicted by the claim the author
makes in lines 2–4: Seeing someone in a Har-vard or Oxford sweatshirt or a kilt or a military tie now communicates nothing at all significant about that person’s life other than the personal
choice of a particular consumer Choice a
sup-ports this statement The other choices all restate or reinforce ideas stated in the passage
Choice b supports the statement in lines 6–7,
Proclaiming our high school or university or our athletic team or our community [ ] Choice
c supports the idea that trendiness is more
important than tradition (lines 11–13), while
choice e supports the idea that the options in
the market are all equally meaningless in terms
of traditional values (lines 11–12).
Trang 426 c While the author states that religious signs are
still evocative (line 4), he does not refer to any
religious doctrine He does use a relatively
informal style (choice a), as in lines 1–2 when
he writes, Well, many of the old symbols and names are still around The passage provides
some specific examples that readers can relate
to (choice b), such as the Harvard or Oxford
sweatshirt, and it uses the collective pronoun
we to bring reader and writer together (choice
d) The author also avoids absolute statements (choice e), softening his argument with
quali-fying phrases such as seems largely to have dis-appeared (line 1) and I suspect (line 5).
27 c Nowhere in the passage does the author
spec-ulate about whether teenagers can change their exercise habits The passage does provide several statistics to support its claim that teens
do not exercise enough (choice a) and lists the long-term health risks of inactivity (choice b)
in lines 8–9 The author shows a correlation
between inactive teens and adults (choice d) in
line 6 and concludes with the benefits of
exer-cise (choice e).
28 b This is the only choice that makes sense in the
context of the sentence A context clue can be found in lines 1–2, which says, “ teens are not vigorously active ”
29 d The passage aims to promote change in teen
exercise habits by emphasizing the problems caused by lack of activity and the benefits of exercise There is no counterargument
addressed in the passage, so choice a is
incor-rect The author does not provide any
predic-tions (choice b) or praise an outcome (choice c) The passage offers facts in support of a
claim about exercise, but it does not offer a
justification for a conclusion (choice e); it is
not that argumentative of a passage
30 c The author clearly favors the single-payer
sys-tem Line 12 provides a big clue; using the
word frivolously indicates that the author feels
disdain toward the current system Lines 14–15 also show how the author feels about
the matter: All of that money could be used
instead for what it should be, Choices b, d,
and e are all certainly possibilities, but they
cannot be inferred with as much certainty as
choice c.
31 b This is the only choice that makes sense in the
given context A clue can be found in the last
clause of the sentence: leaving approxi-mately 45 million citizens uninsured and unable
to receive regular healthcare If exorbitant
healthcare premiums leave so many without insurance, it can be inferred that the word
means costly.
32 c Clearly, the author thinks that universal
health-care is attainable He or she provides plenty of examples that show why it is a better system than the existing one
33 e This is the only method the author does not
use to support his or her viewpoint
34 c The author of this passage is clearly proposing
and advocating the single-payer system as a solution to the existing crisis Although the author does introduce the single-payer system
(choice a) and does compare the U.S health-care system to Canada’s (choice b), neither of
these serve as the primary purpose of the
pas-sage Choice d doesn’t apply either—the
author is not directing the passage toward
physicians; and e, too, is incorrect, as it is not
the author’s primary intent
35 c Even though the concept of PHI in nature
may seem unusual or unique at first, it is actu-ally a very common and predictable occur-rence, and the passage specifically states that
the Fibonacci spiral is seen in everything from seashells to galaxies (line 6) The author also
provides many examples of PHI, and just the example of plants shows how prevalent PHI is
Trang 5in the universe Choice a directly contradicts this fact, and choice d contradicts the fact that PHI is a natural occurrence Choices b and e
may be true, but they are not supported by the
passage Note: Be careful not to get caught up
in trying to do the math in a passage like this
If you find yourself confused by the content of
a passage, take a quick look at the questions
This should let you know whether or not you need to figure out whatever sentences are stumping you
36 e The passage lists many examples to explain
PHI—mathematical expressions of the Fibonacci sequence and spiral, as well as examples of the sequence and spiral in nature
The passage defines PHI and the Fibonacci
sequence (choice a), but even these definitions
are primarily through example The passage
does not compare arguments (choice b) or contrast opposing views (choice c), and
because the passage cites many specific
examples, choice d, generalized statement, is
incorrect
37 a The description of the winding paths, shifting
landscape and sections that spill into one another support the assertion that the park lacks a center It is described in a
matter-of-fact manner, so choice b is incorrect The
description focuses on the park, not on any
arguments about the park, so c is incorrect.
The passage does not specify the size of the park, and the description emphasizes its
wind-ing, decentered nature, so choice d is
incor-rect The description may suggest how well the
author knows the park (choice e), but that is
not the main purpose of the description
38 e Lines 8–9 state that Olmsted wanted to create
a democratic playground, so he designed the
park to have many centers that would allow interaction among the various members of soci-ety (line 7) The passage does not make any
statements about the nature of the city as a
whole, ruling out choice a Choice b may be
true, and author’s respect for Olmsted is implied throughout the passage, but the focus
of the passage is Olmsted’s purpose in his
design, not Olmsted’s brilliance Choices c and
d may also be true, but the author doesn’t
make any statements about how other parks should be designed, and the fact that Central Park is used by many people for many
differ-ent purposes is the result of Olmsted’s design.
39 b Line 4 states that the park’s design was
innova-tive, suggesting it was very different from other park designs and thus ruling out choices
a and d There is no reference to how the park was received by New Yorkers, so choice c is incorrect Choice e is directly contradicted by
the last sentence, which states that Olmsted’s ideal of a “commonplace civilization” could be realized.
40 d If students cannot determine the meaning of a
democratic playground, a clue can be found in
the last clause of the sentence: the multi-plicity of its uses and users.
N o w Yo u K n o w
Now you’ve tried your hand at some practice ques-tions in each of the three kinds of critical reading questions You’ve read strategies and started to absorb them You’ve already learned some new vocabulary
Go back and assess your performance on each
of the three sections Why did you miss the questions you missed? Are there strategies that would help you
if you practiced them? Were there many words you didn’t know?
Whatever your weaknesses are, it’s much better
to learn about them now and spend the time between now and the SAT turning them into strengths than it
is to pretend they don’t exist It can be hard to focus on
Trang 6your weaknesses But if you focus on the task of doing well on the SAT, your effort will repay you many times over You will go to the kind of school you want and enjoy the kind of career you want, and it will have all started with the relatively few hours you devoted to preparing for a standardized test What are you wait-ing for?
One last consideration about the Critical Reading section of the SAT is the effect of good time manage-ment during the exam The basic rule is one minute per question, but some questions will take less time, and others will take more Don’t hold yourself to a strict schedule, but you shouldn’t spend too much time on any one question Remember, if you can elim-inate one or more answers on a tough question, you
should make a guess, and if you have time left at the end of the section, you can go back and reconsider your answers
If one type of question in a section is easier for you than another type, go ahead and do those questions first Remember, you get the same point for an easy cor-rect answer as you do for a difficult corcor-rect answer So answer the easy questions and save the hard ones for last These time management strategies are not only effective on the Critical Reading section of the SAT, but can also be useful for the Math and Writing sections Doing practice questions under timed conditions will help you prepare more thoroughly for the time limits you will face on test day
Good luck!