Craft… | SAT The Reading and Writing Section

Chief Editor

Mar 17, 2024

Take all 5 MCQs in interactive quiz mode with timer and progress tracking

Many archaeologists assume that large-scale engineering projects in ancient societies required an elite class to plan and direct the necessary labor. However, recent discoveries, such as the excavation of an ancient canal near the Gulf Coast of Alabama, have complicated this picture. Using radiocarbon dating, a team of researchers concluded that the 1.39-kilometer-long canal was most likely constructed between 576 and 650 CE by an Indigenous society that was relatively free of social classes. Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

Difficulty: Medium

It describes a common view among archaeologists, then discusses a recent finding that challenges that view.

It outlines a method used in some archaeological fieldwork, then explains why an alternative method is superior to it.

It presents contradictory conclusions drawn by archaeologists, then evaluates a study that has apparently resolved that contradiction.

It identifies a gap in scientific research, then presents a strategy used by some archaeologists to remedy that gap.

In the 1960s, Sam Gilliam, a Black painter from the southern United States, became the first artist to drape painted canvases into flowing shapes. He later explored a different style, ________ quilt-like paintings inspired by the patchwork, quilting tradition of Black communities in the South. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Difficulty: Easy

predicting

refusing

hiding

creating

The author's claim about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is ________, as it fails to account for several recent archaeological discoveries. To be convincing, his argument would need to address recent finds of additional hominid fossils, such as the latest Denisovan specimens and Homo longi. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Difficulty: Hard

disorienting

tenuous

nuanced

unoriginal

Within baleen whale species, some individuals develop an accessory spleen--a seemingly functionless formation of splenic tissue outside the normal spleen. Given the formation's greater prevalence among whales known to make deeper dives, some researchers hypothesize that its role isn't ________, rather, the accessory spleen may actively support diving mechanisms. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Difficulty: Hard

replicable

predetermined

operative

latent

The province of Xoconochco was situated on the Pacific coast, hundreds of kilometers southeast of Tenochtitan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. Because Xoconochco's location within the empire was so _______, cacao and other trade goods produced there could reach the capital only after a long overland journey. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Difficulty: Hard

unobtrusive

concealed

approximate

peripheral

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