Practice Test A

SAT WRITING WORKBOOK

PART VI

TESTS FOR PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

• Practice Test A

• Practice Test B

• Practice Test C

• Practice Test D

SECTION 1
ESSAY

TIME: 25 MINUTES

Directions: Plan and write an essay in response to the assigned topic. Use the essay as an opportunity to show how clearly and effectively you can express and develop ideas. Present your thoughts logically and precisely. Include specific evidence or examples to support your point of view. A plain, natural writing style is probably best. The number of words is up to you, but quantity is less important than quality.

Limit your essay to two sides of the lined paper provided. You’ll have enough space if you write on every line and avoid wide margins. Write or print legibly because handwriting that’s hard or impossible to read will decrease your score.

BE SURE TO WRITE ONLY ON THE ASSIGNED TOPIC. AN ESSAY WRITTEN ON ANOTHER TOPIC WILL BE SCORED “ZERO.”

If you finish in less than twenty-five minutes, check your work. Do not turn to another section of the test. REMEMBER, for Practice Tests A-D, since this is an e-Book, to record all answers separately.

Think carefully about the following passage and the assignment below.

Describing his vision for the world’s future, President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Congress in 1941 that “… we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression… . The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way… . The third is freedom from want… . The fourth is freedom from fear.”

All four freedoms are crucial in a free society. Yet, Roosevelt may be faulted for not adding a fifth, a sixth, or even more freedoms to the list.

Assignment: Given the opportunity to add another freedom, what would you choose? Plan and write an essay in which you explain your choice. Feel free to invent a new freedom or simply pick one that already exists in the Bill of Rights or elsewhere. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your observations, experience, studies, or reading.

Section 1

ESSAY
Time allowed: 25 minutes
Limit your essay to two pages. Do not skip lines. Write only inside the box.
The following pages for each practice test are for reference only.

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End of essay.
Do not proceed to Section 2 until the allotted time
for Section 1 has passed.

Answer Sheet for
Multiple-Choice Questions

All Answer Sheets are for reference only in e-Book.

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SECTION 2
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

TIME: 25 MINUTES

Improving Sentences

Directions: The underlined sentences and sentence parts below may contain errors in standard English, including awkward or ambiguous expression, poor word choice (diction), incorrect sentence structure, or faulty grammar, usage, and punctuation. Read each sentence carefully and identify which of the five alternative versions most effectively and correctly expresses the meaning of the underlined material. Indicate your choice by filling in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. Choice A always repeats the original. Choose A if none of the other choices improves the original sentence.

EXAMPLE		ANSWER
The campers slept more poorer on the first night than on the second

(A) more poorer

(B) less poorer

(D) more poorly

(E) more poorest

1. The captain standing on the bridge of the ship, he had never seen such a strong wind in all his years at sea.

(A) The captain standing on the bridge of the ship, he

(B) Standing on the bridge of the ship, the captain he

(D) To stand on the bridge of the ship, the captain

(E) The captain stood on the bridge of the ship, and he

2. What can beat the thrill of kicking a soccer ball past the goalie for a score and to hear applause from the crowd?

(A) of kicking a soccer ball past the goalie for a score and to hear applause from the crowd

(B) of kicking a soccer ball past the goalie for a score and to hear applause by the crowd

(D) to kick a soccer ball past the goalie scoring a goal, and to hear the crowd applaud

(E) of hearing the crowd applaud after having kicked a soccer ball past the goalie for a score

3. The film’s special effects and gripping story give audiences a thrill.

(A) give audiences a thrill

(B) thrills the people who are watching

(D) give thrills in the watching of it to the audience

(E) gives people thrills in watching it

4. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the college, honoring those alumni who had graduated fifty years ago.

(A) honoring those alumni who had graduated fifty years ago

(B) ceremonies for graduates of fifty years ago were held in honor of these alumni

(D) alumni who had graduated fifty years ago were honored

(E) graduating alumni of fifty years ago were honored

5. Professor Bromley, the first historian to reveal the story of the Mandan tribe, doing it appropriately in conjunction with the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

(A) Bromley, the first historian to reveal the story of the Mandan tribe, doing it

(B) Bromley was the first historian to reveal the story of the Mandan tribe, and who did so

(D) Bromley was the first historian to reveal the story of the Mandan tribe, telling the tale

(E) Bromley, the first historian revealing the story of the Mandan tribe, the tale was told

6. Dede and Michelle were among the players chosen for the all-county field hockey team, their performance in this having been exceptional.

(A) team, their performance in this having been exceptional

(B) team; they have performed exceptionally in this

(D) team; their performance having been exceptional

(E) team, for their performance has been exceptional

7. The White House chief of staff, in addition to the First Lady, increasingly influence the administration’s policies.

(A) increasingly influence the administration’s policies

(B) are being more and more influential in the administration’s policies

(D) is becoming increasingly more influential in determining the administration’s policies

(E) increasingly influences the administration’s policies

8. Some of the trees looked on the verge of dying, or as if already they had died.

(A) as if already they had died

(B) if they had already

(D) as though they had already died

(E) like they had died already

9. Although the speakers never having reached their audience, they couldn’t express themselves plainly or in a down-to-earth manner.

(A) Although the speakers never having reached their audience, they couldn’t

(B) The speakers never reached their audience, they couldn’t

(D) The speakers never reached their audience; however, they couldn’t

(E) The speakers never reached their audience because they couldn’t

10. If we agree to purchase the house today, we would have saved $5,000.

(A) If we agree to purchase the house today

(B) Had we agreed to purchase the house today

(D) If the purchasing of the house had been agreed to today

(E) If today we will agree to purchase the house

11. Manned flights to Mars will not be planned until the far-distant future because it requires costly technology that is yet to be developed.

(A) future because it requires

(B) future because it would require

(D) future, each requires

(E) future since they are requiring

Identifying Sentence Errors

Directions: The underlined and lettered parts of each sentence below may contain an error in grammar, usage, word choice (diction), or expression (idiom). Read each sentence carefully and identify which item, if any, contains an error. Indicate your choice by filling in the corresponding space on the answer sheet. No sentence contains more than one error. Some sentences may contain no error. In that case, the correct choice will always be E (No error).

EXAMPLE

Jill went to the of the hill in a faster time her friend, Jack. .

ANSWER

12. Written by William Golding, the novel Lord of the Flies when a group of schoolboys an uninhabited island.

13. Using special lighting techniques, food stores the color of produce on shelves, attracting consumers, encouraging impulse buying, and most important, the appearance of freshness and wholesomeness.

14. While looking around the infirmary, I observed many patients happened to be suffering the same upper respiratory infection as

15. no doubt that the safe-driving campaign scheduled to begin next week postponed for another week we lack the time to plan it

16. Experts in marine life say that a closer relationship between barracudas man-eating sharks previously thought.

17. The threat students using cell phones during class without permission seems an overreaction to the problem the principal is ordinarily sensitive and level-headed.

18. Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov stand as two of America’s greatest science fiction writers, but the latter, more 500 books, is by far the prolific.

19. on the size of our national debt, one might how the most powerful nation on Earth itself into such a mess.

20. The achievements as well as the failures of the space program of contention many years as many interest groups compete a share of the federal budget.

21. lost in the mountains of Colorado for two days Dave is to take a detailed map with him he sets out for a backpacking adventure in the wilderness.

22. Many students successfully use computers vocabulary for the SATs a computer limited help in the improvement of writing skills.

23. The FBI agents chose to arrest the suspect that afternoon, arrested him at the airport before he is a flight to Atlanta.

24. it appears cold and forbidding on surface, the Caspian Sea, the inland seas, teems with aquatic life

25. The names Leno and Letterman alphabetically close together, Leno is comedian and Letterman

26. The in-class activity forming groups, discussing the questions about the book, and to a presentation of the class.

27. almost all successful candidates for public office a staff, a team of volunteers, a group of fund raisers, and, a platform that convinced the electorate to choose

28. At Burger King, the hamburgers are very they are and contain fat.

29. Although a sales tax may seem like an efficient way for cities revenues, more harmful to low-income consumers wealthy

Improving Paragraphs

Directions: The passage below is the draft of a student’s essay. Some parts of the passage need improvement. Read the passage and answer the questions that follow. The questions are about revisions that might improve all or part of the passage’s organization, development, sentence structure, or choice of words. Choose the answer that best follows the requirements of standard written English.

Questions 30–35 refer to the following passage.

[1] It is difficult to deny that modern technology has changed human behavior.

[2] The methods used by young performers trying to break into show business have been altered greatly. [3] Thousands of unknown musicians and actors, aiming to become famous, have turned to electronic means to demonstrate their talent to producers and casting directors.

[4] For next to nothing, hopeful performers do auditions and send them out online. [5] In the past, it would cost many thousands of dollars to put out a sample tape or CD. [6] Members of a teenage rock band or aspiring high school actors rent a recording studio or hire a video crew, paying them hundreds of dollars per hour. [7] They don’t do their best work in a rush to save money. [8] And they would incur huge expenses to record a brief performance. [9] It is expensive to send out hundreds of CDs to agents, radio and TV stations, or any other place where someone might listen or look. [10] Most likely no one would pay attention anyway, unless many fans already followed your career.

[11] Now, however, flip cameras and other common video equipment can help budding performers get their foot into show business with three-minute audition tapes posted on YouTube, Facebook, and other Web sites. [12] Recording at their own pace, each audition won’t be ready to send out until it represents the performer’s best work.

[13] Broadway has embraced this technology. [14] Hundreds of actors, dancers, and singers show up for in-person auditions. [15] It may take weeks to screen them all. [16] With online presentations, casting directors can make decisions in seconds.

[17] Using technology is no guarantee of success. [18] Not long ago a punk rock group named Thrice-Towed Sloths posted an album on the Web. [19] Within a month over 4,000 listeners had downloaded it.

30. The sentence that best states the main idea of the essay is

(A) sentence 1

(B) sentence 3

(D) sentence 11

(E) sentence 17

31. To best connect sentence 6 to the rest of the second paragraph, which is the best word or phrase to insert after “high school actors” in sentence 6 (reprinted below)?

Members of a teenage rock band or aspiring high school actors rent a recording studio or hire a video crew, paying them hundreds of dollars per hour.

(A) can

(B) will

(D) shall

(E) decided to

32. Which is the best way to combine and revise the underlined portions of sentences 7 and 8 (reprinted below)?

They don’t do their best work in a rush to save money. And they would incur huge expenses to record a brief performance.

(A) in a rush to save money they would incur huge expenses

(B) rushing to save money, incur huge expenses

(D) and rushing to save money, huge expenses would be incurred

(E) in a rush to save money and would incur huge expenses

33. Which of the following is the best revision of the underlined portion of sentence 12 (reprinted below)?

Recording at their own pace, each audition won’t be ready to send out until it represents the performer’s best work.

(A) the audition won’t be ready to send out until the performer knows that it represents their best work

(B) performers won’t be sending out auditions unless it represents their best work

(D) performers know that their auditions won’t be ready to be sent out until they represent their best work

(E) auditions won’t be sent out by the performer until they represent their best work.

34. In the context of the essay, which of the following is the best combination of sentences 13, 14, 15, and 16 (reprinted below)?

Broadway has embraced this technology. Hundreds of actors, dancers, and singers show up for in-person auditions. It may take weeks to screen them all. With online presentations, casting directors can make decisions in seconds.

(A) Having embraced this technology, Broadway’s casting directors, who once spent weeks screening actors, dancers, and singers at in-person auditions, can now view presentations online and make decisions in seconds.

(B) Because of the speed at which online presentations can be viewed, in contrast to in-person auditions that usually attract crowds of Broadway hopefuls that may take weeks to screen, Broadway’s casting directors have embraced this technology.

(C) This technology has been embraced by Broadway because hundreds of actors, dancers, and singers show up for in-person auditions and weeks are needed to screen them all, but with online presentations decisions are made in seconds by casting directors.

(D) Decision making in seconds begins when actors, dancers, and singers by the hundreds sent presentations online to Broadway casting directors, who have embraced this technology in place of in-person auditions that take weeks to complete.

(E) Broadway’s embrace of this technology has changed their method of auditions from in-person appearances by hundreds of actors, dancers, and singers that take weeks to complete to online presentations that in seconds can be judged by casting directors.

35. In the context of the last paragraph, which sentence would be most appropriate to follow sentence 19?

(A) In spite of the group’s disagreeable name, its sound has great appeal.

(B) The group’s music, by the way, is an eclectic mix of buzz-saw drone, twangy guitar, and hardcore drumming.

(D) The experience of the Thrice-Towed Sloths, however, is a rare exception to the rule.

(E) Nowadays, other groups use the Web as their only mode of distribution.

End of Section 2.
Do not return to Section 1. Do not proceed to Section 3 until the
allotted time for Section 2 has passed.

SECTION 3
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS

TIME: 10 MINUTES

Improving Sentences

1. After the book was published, the author has been criticized for plagiarizing passages from other books.

(A) author has been criticized for plagiarizing

(B) author was criticized for plagiarizing

(D) author would have been criticized for plagiarizing

(E) author, being criticized for plagiarizing

2. The new nuclear desalinization plant, being built on the river bank, and is costing far more than expected.

(A) plant, being built on the river bank, and is costing far more than expected

(B) plant is costing far more than expected, it is being built on the river bank

(D) plant is costing far more than expected being built on the river bank

(E) plant to be built on the river bank and to cost far more than expected

3. At five years old, my father took me to get a haircut for the very first time.

(A) At five years old, my father took me to get a haircut for the very first time

(B) At five years old, my father took me to get my first haircut

(D) When I was five, my father took me for my first haircut

(E) At age five I was taken by my father to get my first haircut, something I had never had before

4. Less than a month following Lance Armstrong’s victory in the Tour de France bicycle race, doctors diagnosed his cancer.

(A) doctors diagnosed his cancer

(B) when doctors diagnosed his cancer

(D) when cancer was diagnosed for him by doctors

(E) he had cancer diagnosed by his doctors

5. Claude Monet studied the light and color of the French countryside, and these are the impressions that he incorporated in many of his paintings.

(A) these are the impressions that he incorporated

(B) the incorporation of these impressions were

(D) his incorporation of these impressions

(E) incorporated his impressions

6. In this article it characterizes Collins as being brilliant, ruthless, and likely to resign soon.

(A) In this article it characterizes Collins as being brilliant, ruthless, and likely to resign soon

(B) Collins, characterized in this article as being brilliant, ruthless, and likely to resign soon

(D) This article, which characterizes Collins as brilliant and ruthless, says that he is likely to resign soon

(E) This article, in which Collins is characterized as being brilliant, ruthless and likely to resign soon

7. Therefore, I admire any organization that speaks up for democratic principles, even when they are for selfish aims.

(A) even when they are for selfish aims

(B) even if its motive is selfish

(D) whether or not it is for their own selfish aims

(E) even whether or not their motive is for their own selfish aims

8. The book is filled with color photographs that offer vivid reminders to both veterans and civilians of the horrors of the war in Iraq.

(A) photographs that offer vivid reminders to both veterans and

(B) photographs, which offers vivid reminders to both veterans and

(D) photographs; it offers vivid reminders to both veterans as well as

(E) photographs; this offers vivid reminders both to veterans and

9. One of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Maxwell Perkins, an editor at Scribners, helping Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Thomas Wolfe break into print.

(A) Maxwell Perkins, an editor at Scribners, helping

(B) Maxwell Perkins who worked as an editor and helped

(D) Maxwell Perkins, an editor at Scribners, helped

(E) the editor, Maxwell Perkins, helped at Scribners

10. Still being bought for its appearance and charm, teddy bears rank among the most popular toys ever invented.

(A) Still being bought for its

(B) Still having been bought for its

(D) Because they were bought for their

(E) Consistently bought for their

11. Twenty years ago Peterson took a job with the federal Bureau of Land Management, and he has been responsible for maintaining public lands ever since.

(A) and he has been responsible for maintaining public lands ever since

(B) since then his responsibility has been maintaining public lands

(D) he has been responsible for maintaining public lands since then

(E) and since then is responsible for maintaining public lands

12. Flowing through sand, rocks, and silt, variations in the speed of underground water are many.

(A) variations in the speed of underground water are many

(B) underground water travels at various speeds

(D) underground water speeds vary

(E) running underground water vary in speed

13. They not only spoke enthusiastically about the new fertilizer but also praised the farmers who tried it.

(A) They not only spoke enthusiastically about the new fertilizer but also praised

(B) They not only spoke enthusiastically about the new fertilizer but also praising

(D) They spoke enthusiastically not only about new fertilizer but also praising

(E) They spoke both enthusiastically about the new fertilizer, but they also praised

14. In his zeal to make a realistic movie, the director studied the language of the street gang, and the dialogue was made to sound authentic.

(A) gang, and the dialogue was made to sound authentic

(B) gang and making the dialogue sound authentic

(D) gang, with the result being that the dialogue is authentic-sounding

(E) gang in where the dialogue sounds authentic

End of Section 3.
Do not return to Sections 1 or 2.

END OF WRITING TEST.