Practice Test B - TESTS FOR PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE - SAT WRITING WORKBOOK

SAT WRITING WORKBOOK

PART VI

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TESTS FOR PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

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Practice Test B

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 po nt 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.

See Practice Test A.

Think carefully about the following passages and the assignment below.

Passage 1

Educators recognize that academic growth is the highest priority of a school. To assure that academic growth is not impeded by participation in athletics and other activities, certain restrictions must be placed on student participation. These restrictions are intended for the students’ guidance and assistance and are meant to contribute to the achievement of the goals set by schools in carrying out their mission.

Passage 2

• There are nearly 1 million high school football players and about 550,000 basketball players. Of that number, about 250 make it to the NFL and about 50 make an NBA team.

• Less than 3 percent of college seniors will play one year in professional basketball.

• The odds of a high-school football player making it to the pros at all—let alone having a career—are about 6,000 to 1; the odds for a high school basketball player—10,000 to 1.

Adapted from a letter to students written by Cedric W. Dempsey,
President of the National Collegiate Athletic Association

Assignment: In many high schools, students who fail a certain number of academic courses are ineligible to participate in varsity athletics and other time-consuming extracurricular activities. Should eligibility to participate in school sports and activities be tied to classroom performance? Plan and write an essay that explains your point of view. Support your opinion with evidence and examples drawn from your studies, reading, observation, or experience.

Section 1

ESSAY
Time allowed: 25 minutes
Limit your essay to two pages. Do not skip lines. Write only inside the box.

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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

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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

My old Aunt Maud loves
to cook, and eating also

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(A) cook, and eating also

(B) cook and to eat

(C) cook, and to eat also

(D) cook and eat besides

(E) cook and, in addition, eat

1. All along the road in Pennsylvania, one sees wonderful old horse barns, each with its unique decorations.

(A) each with its unique decorations

(B) each having their own unique decorations

(C) and each of them have unique decorations of their own

(D) which has its own unique decorations

(E) they all have their own unique decorations

2. As a student at Tulane University, where Julie grew to love history with a passion, ultimately leading to a job as a historian at the United States Library of Congress.

(A) where Julie grew to love history with a passion, ultimately leading

(B) Julie grew to love history with a passion that ultimately led

(C) where she grew to love history with a passion, as a result leading Julie ultimately

(D) Julie’s love for history grew with a passion and it ultimately led her

(E) where Julie grew to passionately love history, ultimately leading her

3. The letter was intended for Betsy and him, but the actual recipients of the bad news were Peter and I.

(A) Betsy and him, but the actual recipients of the bad news were Peter and I

(B) Betsy and I, but the actual recipients of the bad news were Peter and I

(C) Betsy and him, but Peter and me actually received the bad news.

(D) Betsy and he, but the actual recipients of the bad news turned out to be Peter and me

(E) Betsy and I, but the bad news was actually received by Peter and I

4. Funds that are earned as tips is one of the most difficult sources of income for the Internal Revenue Service to monitor.

(A) Funds that are earned as tips is

(B) How money that gets earned as tips is

(C) Earning tips are

(D) Tips are

(E) The funds earned by tipping is

5. The fictional characters in the novel War and Peace are as similar as the friends and acquaintances that the author, Leo Tolstoy, actually had.

(A) are as similar as

(B) being similar to

(C) resembling

(D) is the same as

(E) are similar to

6. Today there is more violence than the 1950s and 1960s, when guns were more difficult to obtain.

(A) than

(B) then there was in

(C) than in

(D) than around

(E) compared to

7. While walking down Market Street, that was when Clarissa sighted her old guitar in the pawn shop window.

(A) that was when Clarissa sighted her old guitar in the pawn shop window

(B) Clarissa sighted her old guitar in the pawn shop window

(C) then the sighting of Clarissa’s old guitar took place

(D) Clarissa’s old guitar was sighted in the pawn shop window

(E) in the window of the pawn shop her old guitar was sighted by Clarissa

8. The consultant, Dr. Smart, agreed to study the school’s schedule and she would meet with students, teachers, and administrators to discuss it.

(A) and she would meet with students, teachers, and administrators to discuss it

(B) and meeting with students, teachers, and administrators for discussing it

(C) in holding discussions at meetings with students, teachers, and administrators about it

(D) meeting for discussing about it with students, teachers, and administrators

(E) by discussing it with students, teachers, and administrators

9. Because dinosaurs were the hugest creatures ever to roam the Earth is the reason why they are fascinating to us.

(A) Because dinosaurs were the hugest creatures ever to roam the Earth is the reason why

(B) Because dinosaurs were the hugest creatures ever to roam the Earth,

(C) Dinosaurs were the hugest creatures that ever roamed the Earth and is the reason why

(D) As a result of dinosaurs, the hugest creatures ever to roam the Earth,

(E) Dinosaurs are the hugest creatures ever to roam the Earth,

10. Reciting poems, one of the earliest forms of entertainment, it increased in complexity as well as sophistication as time went on.

(A) entertainment, it increased in complexity as well as sophistication

(B) entertainment, they increased in both complexity and sophistication

(C) entertainment which both increased in complexity as well as sophistication

(D) entertainment, and they increased in their complexity as well as growing more sophisticated

(E) entertainment, increased in complexity and sophistication

11. Thomas Wolfe, the early 20th-century American writer often confused with the contemporary novelist Tom Wolfe, grew up in Asheville, North Carolina.

(A) writer often confused with the contemporary novelist Tom Wolfe, grew up in Asheville, North Carolina

(B) writer, having grown up in Asheville, North Carolina, is often mistaken with the contemporary novelist Tom Wolfe

(C) writer, grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, but is often confused with the contemporary novelist Tom Wolfe

(D) writer has often been confused with Tom Wolfe, the contemporary novelist, growing up in Asheville, North Carolina

(E) writer, while growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, was often confused with the contemporary novelist Tom Wolfe

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

ANSWER

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12. images Baker tells stories images before he entered high school, when he images deliver newspapers to the huge estates and mansions images the riverfront. images

13. images the two Hemingway novels I have read, I like A Farewell to Arms images not only because of its structure but also images of images fascinating story. images

14. Telemarketers are finding images success making sales images they images customers in the morning images late in the day. images

15. Child psychologists images young children images are pushed images activities prematurely images the pain of failure and frustration. images

16. images Martin Luther King’s birthday images January 15, images on the third Monday of January, images of the date. images

17. Work in specialized fields images bacteriology, public health, and physics images at least a bachelor’s degree, and for a career in management or research, a master’s degree images a doctorate images required. images

18. The governor images reductions in the sales tax images consumers can benefit from images they go to the store. images

19. If Daniel Radcliffe images alive images the heyday of Hollywood’s debonair leading actors, he probably would have been considered images and boyish images as a big star. images

20. images after Elvis died images that he was seen roaming the land, driving his car, showing up images at rock-n-roll concerts, and images his countless fans very excited. images

21. images the disappointment of the crowd, images the president nor images of his aides images able to attend the ceremony. images

22. Melissa was taught early in life images feelings, she should images wear a smile, try to be cheerful and upbeat, and never say anything about images images

23. As a freshman becomes images the routines and demands of college life, images may images the rigors of high school images good preparation. images

24. The collective thoughts, reflections, memories, and opinions images the seniors in the pages of the images magazine images the diversity and uniqueness that images Brookdale High School. images

25. Many teachers advocate images the way young children learn images images that images will be more successful in the long run. images

26. images how images passengers are screened images a determined terrorist will inevitably find a way to board images airplane. images

27. images the start of the hockey season, the coach images to my images to explain images he cut me from the varsity. images

28. When Annie images to buy an affordable automobile, she decided to look images a car images that her friends were driving. images

29. The award-winning Sound of Music images by more moviegoers images film images the history of the movies. images

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] Much of Russia lies under a cover of snow and ice for most of the year. [2] Permafrost covers the tundra. [3] Ports in northern Russia are not navigable for most of the year because they are frozen in. [4] In the south, the Black Sea gives Russia access to warm water ports. [5] The reason that the Black Sea is important is because it gives them the ability to export timber, furs, coal, oil, and other raw materials that are traded for food and manufactured goods. [6] The Black Sea will continue to help their economic growth.

[7] The English Channel has served as a barrier between Great Britain and the rest of Europe. [8] It has prevented attacks on Great Britain for hundreds of years. [9] Except for the Norman invasion more than 900 years ago. [10] This allowed the nation to develop economically and remain politically stable. [11] The isolation of Great Britain allowed the industrial revolution to begin in England.

[12] Much of Egypt is covered by desert. [13] The desert is irrigated by the Nile River. [14] It is longer than any river in the world. [15] The land along the river has historically been the site of farms and other settlements. [16] For centuries, the river had deposited rich particles of soil for growing crops along its banks. [17] Since building the Aswan High Dam in 1968, the farmers downstream from the dam have been using artificial fertilizer. [18] The banks of the Nile and the river’s delta are among the most productive farming areas in the world. [19] Therefore, Egypt’s people depend on the Nile.

[20] Russia, Great Britain, and Egypt are only three countries that have been shaped and developed by bodies of water.

30. Which is the best revision of the underlined segment of sentence 5 (reproduced below)?

The reason that the Black Sea is important is because it gives them the ability to export timber, furs, coal, oil, and other raw materials that are traded for food and manufactured goods.

(A) that it enables Russia to export

(B) its ability to allow exports of

(C) the ability of Russia to export

(D) because of exporting opportunities of

(E) for Russian exports of

31. In the context of the second paragraph, which is the best revision of sentences 8 and 9 (reproduced below)?

It has prevented attacks on Great Britain for hundreds of years. Except for the Norman invasion more than 900 years ago.

(A) The English channel has prevented Great Britain’s being attacked for hundreds of years; except for the Norman invasion of 1066.

(B) It has prevented attacks, except for the Norman invasion in 1066, on Great Britain for hundreds of years.

(C) Except for not preventing the Norman invasion more than 900 years ago, the English Channel has prevented attacks on Great Britain for hundreds of years.

(D) It has prevented attacking Great Britain for 900 years, except the Normans.

(E) For hundreds of years it has prevented attacks on Great Britain, except for the Norman invasion of 1066.

32. Which is the best way to combine sentences 12, 13, and 14 (reproduced below)?

Much of Egypt is covered by desert. The desert is irrigated by the Nile River. It is longer than any river in the world.

(A) The Nile, the longest river in the world, irrigates the desert that covers much of Egypt.

(B) Egypt, which is covered by desert, is irrigated by the Nile, which is longer than any river in the world.

(C) The desert, which covers much of Egypt is irrigated by the Nile, which is longer than any river in the world.

(D) The longest river in the world, the Nile River, irrigates the Egyptian desert, which means that the river irrigates most of the country.

(E) Much of the desert covering much of Egypt lies alongside the Nile, the longest river in the world, and much of it is irrigated by it.

33. To improve the coherence of paragraph 3, which of the following sentences would be best to delete?

(A) Sentence 15

(B) Sentence 16

(C) Sentence 17

(D) Sentence 18

(E) Sentence 19

34. Which of the following sentences is most in need of further support and development?

(A) Sentence 1

(B) Sentence 2

(C) Sentence 5

(D) Sentence 11

(E) Sentence 14

35. Considering the essay as a whole, which one of the following least accurately describes the function of sentence 20?

(A) It summarizes the essay’s main idea.

(B) It serves to unify the essay.

(C) It proves the validity of the essay’s main idea.

(D) It defines the purpose of the essay.

(E) It gives the essay a sense of completion.

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

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.

1. The president of the company grew up in poverty, he gradually turned his life around.

(A) company grew up in poverty, he gradually

(B) company, having his growing up in poverty, gradually

(C) company grew up in poverty, but he gradually

(D) company, having grown up poor, but he gradually

(E) company, poverty stricken while he grew up, he gradually

2. The strength and appearance of denim fabric account for its popularity among campers, hikers, and other outdoor enthusiasts.

(A) account for its popularity

(B) accounts for its popularity

(C) account for their popularity

(D) explains why it is popular

(E) are the reasons for their popularity

3. In his speech, the candidate made a comment of spending sleepless nights worrying over the large number of people without health insurance.

(A) made a comment of spending

(B) commented on the spending of his

(C) gave a comment that he spent

(D) commented on his spending

(E) made a comment stating about spending

4. As the sales of hybrid cars continue to rise, automakers asserting that it is working on the improvement of mileage by spending profits on research and development.

(A) asserting that it is working on the improvement of mileage by

(B) asserting that work on improving mileage by

(C) assert that they will improve mileage and

(D) asserts that improving mileage by

(E) assert that they will improve mileage by

5. During Andy’s freshman year in college, his academic advisor suggested that he consider majoring in music, English, creative writing, or studying medicine.

(A) or studying medicine

(B) or working in the field of medicine

(C) or a medical field

(D) or a profession in medicine

(E) and to think about attending medical school

6. The game warden believes that bow-hunting is safer than a rifle.

(A) bow-hunting is safer than a rifle

(B) hunting with a bow is safer than hunting with a rifle

(C) bows is more safe than rifles in hunting

(D) bow-hunting is more safe than hunting with a rifle

(E) a bow in hunting is safer than a rifle in hunting

7. Convinced that her all-night study sessions on Thursdays enabled her to pass math tests on Friday, Susan is shocked to learn that last week she got an F.

(A) Susan is shocked to learn that last week she got an F

(B) Susan was shocked to learn that she got an F last week

(C) shock is what Susan had when learning that last week she got an F

(D) it is a shock for Susan to learn that last week she receives an F

(E) last week’s F shocked Susan

8. When someone works as a ranger in a national park, you will be employed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, a branch of the federal government.

(A) you will be employed by

(B) it is being employed by

(C) you would be an employee of

(D) he or she is employed by

(E) the employment is being by

9. Having ordered a cup of black coffee at the Starbucks counter, the fumes smelled pleasing to Howard.

(A) the fumes smelled pleasing to Howard

(B) the fumes’ smell pleased Howard

(C) smells from the fumes pleased Howard

(D) Howard smelled the fumes pleasingly

(E) Howard was pleased by the smell of the fumes

10. When Charlotte arrived at school on Tuesday morning, her friend Thalia told her that her first period class had been cancelled.

(A) Thalia told her that her first period class had been cancelled

(B) from Thalia she learned that her first period class had been cancelled

(C) Charlotte was told by Thalia that her first period class had been cancelled

(D) Thalia said that Charlotte’s first period class had been cancelled

(E) hearing from Thalia about the cancellation of her first period class

11. When you plan a plane trip, you choose a flight, make a reservation, and then that reservation entitles you to a seat on the aircraft.

(A) make a reservation, and then that reservation entitles you to a seat

(B) and make a reservation that entitles you to a seat

(C) and make a reservation, then you are entitled to a seat

(D) and make a reservation, then entitling you to a seat

(E) and make a reservation, you are entitled to a seat then

12. Better military equipment, such as stronger bullet-proof vests, has been valuable so that it helps soldiers feel more secure when they go into battle.

(A) valuable so that it helps

(B) valuable because it helps

(C) valuable, even though it will help

(D) valuable in order that they help

(E) valuable for it to help

13. A teacher’s job is to set a good example for children as well as teaching them the material they need to know.

(A) as well as teaching them

(B) as well as to teach them

(C) and they also teach them

(D) and as well, teach them also

(E) also teaching them

14. This book shows readers not only what might happen if they try to deal with the problem by themselves but it’s all right to seek help.

(A) but it’s all right to seek help

(B) but explains that help is all right to seek

(C) explaining that it’s all right to seek help

(D) and also explains that it’s all right to seek help

(E) but also explains that it’s all right to seek help

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

END OF WRITING TEST.