In 1902, the town opened its first public [library, the building] held only three shelves of books.
Which choice should replace the part in [brackets]? Choose NO CHANGE if it’s already correct.
library; the building Both halves are complete sentences: “the town opened its first public library” and “the building held only three shelves of books.” Two complete sentences can be joined with a semicolon. A comma alone isn’t enough.
The collection of old maps [are] kept in a cool, dark room to protect the paper.
Which choice should replace the part in [brackets]? Choose NO CHANGE if it’s already correct.
is The subject is “collection,” which is singular. “Of old maps” just describes it. A singular subject needs a singular verb, so “is” is right, and it also keeps the present tense of “to protect.”
Last spring, the science museum changed [its] opening hours so that students could visit after school.
Which choice should replace the part in [brackets]? Choose NO CHANGE if it’s already correct.
NO CHANGE “Its” (no apostrophe) is the possessive form: the hours belong to the museum. The sentence is already correct, so NO CHANGE is the answer.
Walking into the greenhouse, [the warm, damp air surprised Dev].
Which choice should replace the part in [brackets]? Choose NO CHANGE if it’s already correct.
Dev was surprised by the warm, damp air “Walking into the greenhouse” describes whoever is walking, so that person has to come right after the comma. Only choice B puts Dev there. In the other choices, the air or the surprise seems to be doing the walking.
Solar panels on the school roof now produce about a third of the building’s electricity. [However,] the school’s monthly energy bills have dropped.
Which choice should replace the part in [brackets]? Choose NO CHANGE if it’s already correct.
As a result, The second sentence is a result of the first: the panels make electricity, so the school buys less and its bills drop. “As a result” shows that cause and effect.
Because several members were absent, the committee decided to [meet again later in the future] to vote on the plan.
Which choice should replace the part in [brackets]? Choose NO CHANGE if it’s already correct.
meet again later “Later” already means “in the future,” so saying both repeats the same idea. “Meet again later” says everything the sentence needs in the fewest words.
What value of x makes the equation 3(x − 4) = 2x + 5 true?
17 Distribute first: 3x − 12 = 2x + 5. Subtract 2x from both sides: x − 12 = 5. Add 12: x = 17. Check: 3(17 − 4) = 39 and 2(17) + 5 = 39.
If f(x) = 2x² − 3x + 1, what is the value of f(−2)?
15 Replace every x with −2: 2(−2)² − 3(−2) + 1. (−2)² = 4, so 2(4) = 8. −3 times −2 is +6. Then 8 + 6 + 1 = 15.
A right triangle has legs that are 9 inches and 12 inches long. How long is its hypotenuse, in inches?
15 Use the Pythagorean theorem: a² + b² = c². 9² + 12² = 81 + 144 = 225, and √225 = 15. So the hypotenuse is 15 inches.
A circle has a diameter of 10 centimeters. What is its area, in square centimeters?
25π Area = πr², and the radius is half the diameter: 10 ÷ 2 = 5. So the area is π × 5² = 25π square centimeters.
Jordan’s scores on four quizzes were 82, 90, 75 and 88. What score does Jordan need on a fifth quiz so that the mean of all five scores is exactly 85?
90 A mean of 85 over five quizzes means a total of 85 × 5 = 425. The first four add to 82 + 90 + 75 + 88 = 335. So the fifth score must be 425 − 335 = 90.
A bag holds 4 red marbles, 6 blue marbles and 5 green marbles. One marble is picked at random. What is the probability that it is NOT blue?
3/5 There are 4 + 6 + 5 = 15 marbles. The ones that aren’t blue are the 4 red and 5 green, so 9 of them. The probability is 9/15, which simplifies to 3/5.
When the city of Harlow turned three empty parking lots into community gardens, officials mostly hoped to make the neighborhood look better. Within two years, the gardens had become something else. Neighbors who had never spoken began trading seeds and lending each other tools. Local schools started bringing classes to plant vegetables. A city survey found that people living near the gardens knew more of their neighbors by name than people in other parts of Harlow. The gardens, it turned out, were growing more than food.
The main idea of the passage is that the gardens:
brought social benefits that officials hadn’t planned for. Officials expected a nicer view, but the passage then lists other effects: neighbors talking, schools visiting, people knowing each other’s names. The last line sums it up: the gardens grew “more than food.” Choice D captures that.
Rosa had practiced the piano piece every evening for a month. On the night of the recital, she sat down at the bench, looked out at the audience and felt her hands turn cold. Then she spotted her grandfather in the front row, nodding slowly, the way he did when he listened to his favorite radio station. Rosa took a long breath, placed her fingers on the keys and began to play.
Based on the passage, the sight of her grandfather nodding most likely:
helped calm Rosa’s nerves. Before Rosa sees her grandfather, she’s nervous: her hands go cold. Right after she sees him, she takes a breath and starts playing. The order of events suggests his familiar, relaxed nodding steadied her.
The old railway bridge had carried trains for more than a century, and many people assumed it would have to be torn down. But when engineers finished their inspection, they declared the bridge sound: they found no cracks in its steel beams and no weakness in its stone supports. The city decided to turn it into a walking path.
As it is used in the passage, the word “sound” most nearly means:
structurally strong. The words right after the colon explain “sound”: no cracks and no weakness. That describes something solid and strong. So here “sound” means structurally strong.
Passage A
Researchers studying city bike-share programs found that riders used the bikes most for trips shorter than three miles. On those short trips, the bikes were often faster than buses, which had to stop every few blocks.
Passage B
A transportation planner argues that bike-share works best as a partner to buses, not a replacement for them. In her city, many riders pedal a short distance to a bus stop and take the bus the rest of the way, especially on trips longer than three miles.
Both passages suggest that bike-share bikes are most useful for:
relatively short trips. Passage A says bikes are used most for trips under three miles. Passage B says riders pedal “a short distance” and take the bus for the longer part. Both point to short trips.
A student measured how much oxygen can dissolve in fresh water at different temperatures.
Water temperature (°C) | Dissolved oxygen (mg/L)
10 | 11.3
20 | 9.1
30 | 7.6
40 | 6.4
Based on the table, the dissolved oxygen at 25°C would most likely be closest to:
8.3 mg/L 25°C is halfway between 20°C and 30°C, so the oxygen level should be about halfway between 9.1 and 7.6 mg/L. Halfway is (9.1 + 7.6) ÷ 2 ≈ 8.3 mg/L.
A student wanted to know whether the mass of a pendulum’s weight affects how long one full swing takes (the period). She used a string 1.0 meter long and released the pendulum from an angle of 10° each time. She tested weights of 50 g, 100 g and 200 g and timed 10 swings for each.
In this experiment, which variable did the student deliberately change?
The mass of the weight The student chose three different masses on purpose: 50 g, 100 g and 200 g. That makes mass the independent variable. She then measured the period to see if it changed.
A class grew bean plants with different amounts of fertilizer. Everything else was kept the same. After four weeks, they recorded the average plant height.
Fertilizer (g) | Average height (cm)
0 | 12
5 | 18
10 | 23
15 | 24
20 | 21
Which conclusion is best supported by the data?
Height increased as fertilizer increased up to 15 g, then decreased at 20 g. Heights go up from 12 cm to 24 cm as fertilizer goes from 0 g to 15 g. Then at 20 g the height drops to 21 cm. Choice A describes that rise and then fall.
Two students explain why a metal spoon feels colder than a wooden spoon when both have been sitting in the same room.
Student 1: The metal spoon is actually at a lower temperature than the wooden spoon.
Student 2: Both spoons are at the same temperature. Metal feels colder because it carries heat away from your hand faster than wood does.
A thermometer shows that both spoons are at 21°C. This result supports:
Student 2 only. The thermometer shows both spoons at the same temperature. That matches Student 2’s claim and contradicts Student 1’s claim that the metal spoon is colder.
United States · Admissions test