Informat… | SAT The Reading and Writing Section

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Mar 23, 2024

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In the 1980s, many musicians and journalists in the English-speaking world began to draw attention to music from around the globe--such as mbaqanga from South Africa and quan hg from Vietnam--that can't be easily categorized according to British or North American popular music genres, typically referring to such music as "world music." While some scholars have welcomed this development for bringing diverse musical forms to prominence in countries where they'd previously been overlooked, musicologist Su Zheng claims that the concept of world music homogenizes highly distinct traditions by reducing them all to a single category. Which finding about mbaqanga and quan hg, if true, would most directly support Zheng's claim?

Difficulty: Hard

Mbaqanga and quan hg developed independently of each other and have little in common musically.

Mbaqanga is significantly more popular in the English-speaking world than quan hg is.

Mbaqanga and quan hg are now performed by a diverse array of musicians with no direct connections to South Africa or Vietnam.

Mbaqanga and quan hg are highly distinct from British and North American popular music genres but similar to each other.

One challenge when researching whether holding elected office changes a person's behavior is the problem of ensuring that the experiment has an appropriate control group. To reveal the effect of holding office, researchers must compare people who hold elected office with people who do not hold office but who are otherwise similar to the office-holders. Since researchers are unable to control which politicians win elections, they therefore ________Which choice most logically completes the text?

Difficulty: Hard

struggle to find valid data about the behavior of politicians who do not currently hold office.

can only conduct valid studies with people who have previously held office rather than people who presently hold office.

should select a control group of people who differ from office holders in several significant ways.

will find it difficult to identify a group of people who can function as an appropriate control group for their studies.

Philadelphia's Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, founded by Jeri Lynne Johnson, performs classical music, from well-known compositions by Beethoven to contemporary works by Jessie Montgomery. For the orchestra's iConduct! program, Johnson invites community members to learn some basic elements of conducting and then experience conducting the Black Pearl orchestra themselves. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Difficulty: Medium

The Black Pearl orchestra performs music from all over the world but mostly performs music composed by Philadelphia.

Johnson founded the Black Pearl orchestra to perform classical music by contemporary artist Jessie Montgomery.

The Black Pearl orchestra gives community members the chance to both listen to and participate in classical music performance.

Johnson has community members conduct an orchestra to demonstrate how difficult the task is.

One aspect of in-person shopping that online shopping can't replicate is the opportunity to touch a product before buying it. Does this difference matter? In an experiment, researchers asked one group of participants to touch a mug and a toy, while another group was prohibited from touching the two items. The participants were then asked how much money they'd pay for the items. People who got to touch the items were willing to pay much more money for them than were people who weren't allowed to touch the items. This finding suggests that _______Which choice most logically completes the text?

Difficulty: Easy

people who mainly shop online probably spend more money every month than people who mainly shop in person do.

in-person shopping may make products seem more valuable than they seem if only viewed online.

retailers with in-person and online stores should charge the same price for a given product in both places.

online retailers may be able to raise the prices they charge for products that are only available online.

Sense and Sensibility is an 1811 novel by Jane Austen. In the novel, Austen describes Marianne Dashwood's ability to persuade others of the rightness of her artistic judgments, as is evident when Marianne visits with John Willoughby, a potential suitor: ________Which quotation from Sense and Sensibility most effectively illustrates the claim?

Difficulty: Medium

"Above all, when she heard him declare, that of music and dancing he was passionately fond, she gave him such a look of approach as secured the largest share of his discourse to herself for the rest of his stay."

"Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolized by each--or if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed."

"It was only necessary to mention any favourite amusement to engage her to talk. She could not be silent when such points were introduced, and she had neither shyness nor reserve in their discussion."

"They speedily discovered that their enjoyment of dancing and music was mutual, and that it arose from a general conformity of judgment in all that related to either. Encouraged by this to a further examination of his opinions, she proceeded to question him on the subject of books."

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