August Digital SAT English Predictions: Practice Questions

Question 5

"Cocoa" is an example of a loanword that is, a word that originated in one language and was later adopted by another. The word came to English indirectly from cacao, the Spanish word for the plant that chocolate is made from. Spanish had borrowed it from Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Central Mexico, in which the word's original form is cacahuatl. "Puma" is also Indigenous in origin and entered English through Spanish. But in this case, the original source was Quechua, a language of South America, in which the word for the mountain lion is also puma.

The author makes which point about the Spanish language?

• A) It has served as a medium through which Indigenous languages have influenced English.
• B) Its contribution to English vocabulary roughly equals the collective contribution by Indigenous languages.
• C) It adopted Nahuatl and Quechua words in approximately equal numbers.
• D) It has borrowed words from Indigenous languages and contributed words to them.

Question 6

Historians have argued that a crucial component of the Civil Rights Movement's success in the 1960s was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Citizen Education Program (CEP), which invited promising activists from across the South to its one-week training sessions in Dorchester, Georgia. Led by experienced organizers such as Dorothy Cotton and Septima Clark, CEP attendees—more than 7,000 in all—participated in workshops on topics ranging from public speaking to legal doctrine before returning home and using their newly acquired knowledge to spearhead local civil rights initiatives.

Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?

• A) It establishes that criticism of the CEP was limited to a few individuals in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
• B) It suggests that CEP attendees held a diverse array of opinions about the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's political philosophy.
• C) It underscores the extent of the CEP's impact on the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
• D) It illustrates the CEP organizers' efforts to educate participants on a wide variety of topics.

Question 7

Asteroid 6478 Gault has experienced intermittent mass loss since at least 2013, but in contrast to some other asteroids with repeated mass-loss episodes, 6478 Gault has not lost mass at its perihelion (the closest point of its orbit to the Sun), and thus the loss is not attributable to solar energy-driven ice vaporization. And as Jane X. Luu et al. point out, the singular nature of impact ejection makes it untenable as an account of multiple loss episodes of similar duration over several years. Instead, Luu et al. are likely correct that 6478 Gault is shedding mass due to rotational instability.

Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?

• A) It describes an astronomical finding, discusses competing theories about that finding that the author regards as flawed, and then describes new evidence that supports an alternative theory.
• B) It presents a scientific observation, describes a contrast between that observation and other observations, and then explains why those other observations should not be considered credible.
• C) It introduces a natural phenomenon, refutes two potential explanations for that phenomenon, and then presents a third explanation for that phenomenon that the author regards as plausible.
• D) It discusses a physical process, evaluates possible causes of that process, and then states that a persuasive account of the process has yet to be put forward.

Question 17

In the 1960s and the 1970s, a loose-knit group of writers including Sonia Sanchez, Gwendolyn Brooks, and James Baldwin _________ monumental works of poetry and fiction exploring the Black American experience and together came to be known as the Black Arts movement.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) are publishing
• B) published
• C) will publish
• D) publish

Question 18

At 1,666 years old, RCR 1, a foxtail pine (Pinus balfouriana) located in the United States, is one of the oldest known trees in the world. With almost two millennia of climate data in its tree rings, a single tree like ________ claims dendrochronologist Valerie Trouet, can tell the history of the world.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) this:
• B) this;
• C) this
• D) this,

Question 19

In the Silurian hypothesis, astrophysicist Adam Frank and climatologist Gavin Schmidt suggest the geological record may contain evidence of prehuman advanced civilizations. This sensational hypothesis obscures the scientists' practical ________ Frank and Schmidt don't believe such a civilization existed, and their "hypothesis" is a thought experiment exploring the traces our own civilization will leave on the geological record.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) aim, however,
• B) aim, however;
• C) aim. However,
• D) aim: however,

Question 20

Included among a particular group of mid-twentieth-century artists known as the New York School, French abstract _____ was known for using energetic brushstrokes and for capturing the energy and chaos of modern life.

Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

• A) painter Louise Bourgeois
• B) painter Louise Bourgeois,
• C) painter, Louise Bourgeois
• D) painter, Louise Bourgeois,

Question 25

Working together with the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources, Dr. Lani Tsinnajinnie analyzed data about snowpack levels in the Chuska Mountains. She found that the snowpack (the amount of snow on the ground) was deepest in early March at lower elevations. At higher elevations, _________ the snowpack was deepest in mid-March.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

• A) in other words,
• B) for instance,
• C) on the other hand,
• D) in summary,

Question 26

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

• Calida Garcia Rawles is an African American painter.
• She is known for her large-scale, hyperrealistic paintings depicting African American figures in water.
• The painting Lightness of Being (24 x 30 in) depicts a young man with his arms outstretched floating on the right side of the canvas.
• Lost in the Shuffle (36 x 24 in) depicts two young men with their arms outstretched floating in the bottom left and upper right corners of the canvas.
• She paints the water with vivid blue colors, including periwinkle and cobalt.
• The mood in the paintings is placid.

Which choice most effectively uses information from the given sentences to emphasize the location of the figures in Lost in the Shuffle?

• A) While the number of figures may differ, constant among Rawles's hyperrealistic works is the placid mood that the paintings evoke.
• B) In Rawles's painting Lost in the Shuffle, two young men are depicted in the bottom left and upper right corners of the canvas.
• C) At 36 by 24 inches, Rawles's Lost in the Shuffle is even larger than the sizable 24-by-30 inch painting Lightness of Being.
• D) Rawles captures the water in paintings such as Lightness of Being and Lost in the Shuffle in vivid hues of periwinkle and cobalt.