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SAT Reading & Writing Practice Set (5 Questions)

SAT Practice Test · English

SAT Reading & Writing Practice Set (5 Questions)

Question 1

Marine biologist Dr. Ana Reyes has spent two decades studying coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. Early in her career, she assumed that reefs damaged by bleaching events would recover slowly but steadily. Her recent surveys, however, show a more precarious picture: reefs that appear to be recovering can collapse after a single warm season, because the heat-tolerant algae that colonize them are easily displaced by faster-growing seaweed. Reyes cautions that apparent recovery should not be mistaken for resilience, and she urges conservation agencies to monitor reefs for several years before declaring them restored. Her findings have prompted debate over how success in reef restoration should be measured and over how much funding should be devoted to long-term observation rather than immediate intervention.
As used in the text, what does the word "precarious" most nearly mean?
A. unstable
B. predictable
C. encouraging
D. unremarkable

Question 2

When urban planners in the mid-twentieth century designed highways to cross American cities, they often routed them through neighborhoods where land was cheapest and residents had the least political influence. Historians have since documented how these projects displaced thousands of families and severed commercial districts from the customers who sustained them. In recent years, some cities have begun to reconsider this legacy. Rather than simply demolishing aging highways, planners in several cities have proposed capping sections of them with parks, or replacing them with street-level boulevards that reconnect neighborhoods. Supporters argue that such projects can repair some of the physical damage while restoring access to jobs and services, though critics point to the enormous cost and the risk that new amenities will raise rents and push out the very residents the projects are meant to help.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A. Mid-century planners chose highway routes mainly because land in certain neighborhoods was inexpensive.
B. Cities have responded to the harm done by highways by demolishing every aging highway in their downtown areas.
C. Efforts to replace highways with parks and boulevards are too expensive to benefit any residents.
D. Highway construction harmed many urban neighborhoods, and although cities are now pursuing projects to reconnect them, those efforts face cost and displacement concerns.

Question 3

The Great Barrier Reef, stretching more than 2,000 kilometers along Australia's northeastern coast, is the largest living structure on Earth. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ thousands of individual reefs and hundreds of islands, each supporting a distinct community of marine organisms.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A. The reef comprises
B. Which comprises
C. Being comprised from
D. Comprising of

Question 4

Many people assume that bees are the only important pollinators of crops. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ studies of farmland in several regions have found that flies, beetles, and moths together deliver a substantial share of pollination for crops such as mangoes and cacao.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
A. Meanwhile,
B. Similarly,
C. Therefore,
D. However,

Question 5

While researching the history of the printing press, a student has taken the following notes: • Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable metal type in Europe around 1450. • Before the press, a scribe might need months to copy a single book by hand. • By 1500, presses in Europe had produced an estimated 20 million volumes. • Printed books were cheaper than manuscripts, which widened the reading public. • Movable type had been used in China centuries before Gutenberg's invention.
The student wants to emphasize how the printing press changed the speed and scale of book production. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
A. Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable metal type in Europe around 1450.
B. Printed books were cheaper than manuscripts, which widened the reading public.
C. Movable type had been used in China centuries before Gutenberg's invention, though it spread differently.
D. Whereas a scribe might need months to copy one book by hand, presses in Europe had produced an estimated 20 million volumes by 1500.