#1. Read the following passage and answer the question. “The discovery of high-temperature superconductors in 1986 revolutionized materials science. Unlike conventional superconductors, which require cooling to near absolute zero, these ceramic compounds exhibit zero electrical resistance at temperatures achievable with liquid nitrogen. Researchers worldwide raced to understand the mechanism behind this phenomenon, yet decades later, a complete theoretical explanation remains elusive. What is clear is that the crystal structure of these materials—layers of copper oxide separated by other elements—plays a crucial role. The practical applications, from lossless power transmission to magnetic levitation trains, continue to drive billions of dollars in research funding.” What is the primary purpose of this passage?
#2. Based on the passage above, what can be inferred about conventional superconductors?
#3. Read the following passage and answer the question. “Urban beekeeping has surged in popularity over the past decade, with rooftop hives appearing atop hotels, restaurants, and apartment buildings in cities from Paris to Tokyo. Proponents argue that city bees face fewer pesticide exposures than their rural counterparts and benefit from the diverse flowering plants found in parks and gardens. Critics counter that concentrating too many hives in a small area creates competition for limited nectar sources, potentially harming native pollinators like bumblebees and solitary bees. Recent studies from University College London suggest that while individual urban hives thrive, the cumulative effect of widespread urban beekeeping may indeed reduce wildflower visitation by native species.” Which statement best captures the central tension presented in the passage?
#4. In the urban beekeeping passage, the word ‘cumulative’ most nearly means:
#5. Read the following passage and answer the question. “In 1903, Marie Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, sharing the Physics prize with her husband Pierre and Henri Becquerel for their work on radioactivity. Eight years later, she won an unprecedented second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for isolating pure radium. Despite these achievements, the French Academy of Sciences refused her membership in 1911, and newspapers focused more on her personal life than her scientific contributions. Curie’s laboratory notebooks remain so radioactive that researchers must wear protective clothing to consult them, a testament to the physical dangers she endured in pursuit of knowledge.” The detail about Curie’s radioactive notebooks primarily serves to:
#6. Read the following passage and answer the question. “The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, carved into a mountainside on a remote Norwegian archipelago, stores duplicate samples of seeds from gene banks worldwide. Designed to withstand both natural and human-made disasters, the vault operates as an insurance policy for global agriculture. Permafrost and thick rock provide natural freezing, while a refrigeration system maintains the interior at negative eighteen degrees Celsius. As of 2025, the vault holds over 1.3 million seed samples representing more than 6,000 plant species. When civil war destroyed seed banks in Syria and the Philippines suffered typhoon damage to its collections, the Svalbard vault provided replacement samples—fulfilling its intended purpose.” What organizational pattern does this passage primarily use?
#7. Read the following passage and answer the question. “Sleep scientists have long debated why humans dream. Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams represent unconscious desires, while activation-synthesis theory suggests dreams are merely the brain’s attempt to make sense of random neural firing during REM sleep. More recently, the threat simulation theory posits that dreaming evolved as a rehearsal mechanism for dangerous situations, allowing organisms to practice responses without real-world consequences. A 2024 study published in Nature Neuroscience offered a new perspective: dreams may function as a form of ‘overnight therapy,’ helping the brain process emotional experiences by replaying them in altered contexts, thereby reducing their emotional intensity.” Which of the following best describes the structure of this passage?
#8. Based on the dreams passage, the 2024 Nature Neuroscience study differs from the threat simulation theory primarily in that it focuses on:
#9. Read the following passage and answer the question. “When the Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, proponents celebrated it as a triumph of engineering and national unity. However, the highways’ routes through urban areas disproportionately demolished Black and Latino neighborhoods, displacing hundreds of thousands of residents and severing communities that had thrived for generations. In cities like Miami, Syracuse, and Detroit, entire commercial districts were razed. Today, some municipalities are reconsidering these decisions: Rochester, New York, removed a section of its inner loop expressway and replaced it with mixed-use development, while proposals in other cities aim to cap or remove urban highways entirely.” The author’s tone toward the Interstate Highway System is best described as:
#10. Read the following poem excerpt and answer the question. “The fog does not arrive on schedule— it seeps beneath the door like doubt, filling the room with what we cannot name. We set the table anyway, place chairs for those who may not come, and call it faith.” The fog in this poem most likely symbolizes:
#11. Read the following passage and answer the question. “Microplastics—fragments smaller than five millimeters—have been found in Arctic sea ice, deep ocean trenches, mountaintop snow, and human blood. A 2025 study detected microplastics in every sample of human placental tissue examined, raising concerns about prenatal exposure. While the health effects remain under investigation, laboratory studies show that microplastics can carry toxic chemicals, trigger inflammatory responses in cells, and cross biological barriers previously thought impermeable. The plastics industry emphasizes that real-world concentrations differ from laboratory conditions, but environmental scientists argue that chronic, low-level exposure may produce effects not captured in short-term studies.” What rhetorical strategy does the opening sentence primarily employ?
#12. In the microplastics passage, the plastics industry’s response functions primarily as:
#13. Read the following passage and answer the question. “The concept of ‘digital minimalism,’ popularized by computer scientist Cal Newport, advocates for a philosophy of technology use in which one focuses online time on a small number of carefully selected activities that support personal values, while happily missing out on everything else. Unlike complete digital detoxes, which Newport considers unsustainable, digital minimalism encourages intentional engagement rather than abstinence. Practitioners often begin with a thirty-day reset period during which they eliminate optional technologies, then selectively reintroduce only those that pass a strict cost-benefit analysis.” According to the passage, digital minimalism differs from a digital detox in that it:
#14. Read the following passage and answer the question. “Indigenous fire management practices, sometimes called ‘cultural burning,’ have gained renewed attention as catastrophic wildfires intensify across the American West. For thousands of years, tribes such as the Karuk, Yurok, and Miwok used controlled, low-intensity burns to clear underbrush, promote new plant growth, and maintain habitat for game animals. Colonial suppression of these practices led to fuel accumulation in forests, ironically increasing the severity of uncontrolled fires. California’s state government has recently begun collaborating with tribal practitioners, recognizing that their knowledge offers solutions that modern fire management alone has failed to provide.” The passage implies that colonial fire suppression policies were:
#15. Read the following paired passages and answer the question. Passage 1: “Remote work has democratized employment, allowing talented individuals in rural areas and developing nations to compete for positions previously available only to those living in expensive urban centers. Companies benefit from access to a global talent pool and reduced overhead costs.” Passage 2: “The remote work revolution has eroded workplace culture and made it nearly impossible for junior employees to learn through the informal mentorship that occurs naturally in shared physical spaces. The loss of spontaneous collaboration—hallway conversations, whiteboard sessions, lunch meetings—cannot be replicated by scheduled video calls.” Which statement best characterizes the relationship between these two passages?
#16. Read the following passage and answer the question. “Forensic genealogy—the use of consumer DNA databases to identify criminal suspects through their relatives—has solved hundreds of cold cases since 2018, including the capture of the Golden State Killer. Law enforcement uploads crime scene DNA to public genealogy platforms and traces family trees until they identify potential suspects. Civil liberties organizations have raised alarms: when one person submits DNA to a genealogy service, they effectively consent on behalf of every biological relative, none of whom agreed to participate in a law enforcement database. The technique also disproportionately identifies individuals of European descent, since those populations are overrepresented in consumer DNA databases.” The passage presents forensic genealogy as:
#17. In the forensic genealogy passage, the phrase ‘they effectively consent on behalf of every biological relative’ highlights which ethical concern?
#18. Select the sentence that is punctuated correctly.
#19. Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence. Neither the CEO nor the board members _______ willing to approve the merger without additional due diligence.
#20. Identify the sentence that contains a dangling modifier.
#21. Which revision best improves the clarity of this sentence? Original: ‘The company implemented the policy that was approved by the committee that oversees regulatory compliance that affects international operations.’
#22. Choose the sentence that uses the semicolon correctly.
#23. Read the paragraph and choose the best transition to fill the blank. ‘Coral reefs support approximately 25% of all marine species despite covering less than 1% of the ocean floor. _______, the economic value of reef ecosystems—through fishing, tourism, and coastal protection—exceeds $375 billion annually.’
#24. Which sentence demonstrates correct parallel structure?
#25. Select the correct word to complete the sentence. The researcher’s findings had a profound _______ on public health policy, leading to stricter regulations on industrial emissions.
#26. Which sentence correctly uses an apostrophe?
#27. Read the following draft paragraph and identify the sentence that should be removed to improve coherence. (1) The James Webb Space Telescope has transformed our understanding of the early universe. (2) Its infrared sensors can detect light from galaxies that formed just 300 million years after the Big Bang. (3) The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and orbits Earth at an altitude of 340 miles. (4) These observations have challenged existing models of galaxy formation, suggesting that massive galaxies developed far earlier than previously theorized.
#28. Choose the option that correctly completes the sentence. The data _______ that renewable energy adoption rates have accelerated significantly since 2020, with solar installations alone increasing by 40%.
#29. Which revision eliminates the redundancy in this sentence? Original: ‘In my personal opinion, I believe that the final outcome of the experiment will ultimately result in a new discovery.’
#30. Read the passage and select the best revision for the underlined portion. ‘The city council voted to allocate $2.5 million toward the renovation of the historic downtown theater. [UNDERLINED: Being that the theater] had served as a cultural landmark for over a century, residents overwhelmingly supported the investment.’
#31. A car’s value depreciates by 18% each year. If the car was purchased for $32,000, what is its approximate value after 3 years?
#32. A recipe calls for 2¾ cups of flour to make 18 cookies. How many cups of flour are needed to make 54 cookies?
#33. An investor puts $5,000 into an account earning 4.5% annual interest compounded quarterly. What is the value of the investment after 2 years? (Round to the nearest dollar.)
#34. A store offers a 25% discount on all items. After the discount, a 7% sales tax is applied. If a jacket originally costs $84, what is the final price?
#35. A water tank is being filled at a rate of 3.5 gallons per minute. If the tank currently holds 28 gallons and has a capacity of 150 gallons, how many minutes will it take to fill the tank completely?
#36. Solve for x: 5(2x – 3) – 4(x + 2) = 3x + 7
#37. What is the equation of the line that passes through the points (2, -1) and (6, 7)?
#38. Which expression is equivalent to (3x²y³)² · (2xy²)?
#39. A gym charges a one-time enrollment fee of $75 plus $40 per month. A competing gym charges no enrollment fee but $55 per month. After how many months will the total cost be the same at both gyms?
#40. Solve the system of equations: 3x + 2y = 16 x – y = 2
#41. A cylindrical water tower has a radius of 8 feet and a height of 30 feet. What is the approximate volume of the water tower? (Use π ≈ 3.14)
#42. In triangle ABC, angle A = 55° and angle B = 70°. What is the measure of the exterior angle at vertex C?
#43. A rectangular garden measuring 12 meters by 8 meters is surrounded by a uniform walkway that is 1.5 meters wide. What is the total area of the walkway alone?
#44. Two similar triangles have corresponding sides in the ratio 3:5. If the area of the smaller triangle is 27 square centimeters, what is the area of the larger triangle?
#45. A ladder 15 feet long leans against a wall. If the base of the ladder is 9 feet from the wall, how high up the wall does the ladder reach?
#46. A bag contains 5 red marbles, 8 blue marbles, and 7 green marbles. If two marbles are drawn without replacement, what is the probability that both are blue?
#47. The test scores for a class of 9 students are: 62, 71, 74, 78, 82, 85, 88, 91, 95. What is the interquartile range (IQR)?
#48. A survey of 400 voters found that 55% support a proposed policy with a margin of error of ±4%. Which statement is the most accurate interpretation?
#49. A student’s grades are weighted as follows: Tests 50%, Homework 20%, Projects 20%, Participation 10%. If a student scores 88 on tests, 95 on homework, 80 on projects, and 90 on participation, what is the weighted average?
#50. In a standard normal distribution, approximately what percentage of data falls within two standard deviations of the mean?
#51. ESSAY PROMPT: Many schools and employers have adopted artificial intelligence tools to evaluate written work, screen job applications, and make decisions that were traditionally handled by humans. Some argue that AI decision-making is more efficient and objective, while others contend that it lacks the nuance and empathy of human judgment. Write an essay in which you take a position on whether AI should play a significant role in evaluating people’s work and potential. Support your position with specific reasons and examples.
