Practice Test D

SAT WRITING WORKBOOK

PART VI

TESTS FOR PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

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.

See Practice Test A.

Think carefully about the following passage and the assignment below.

We live in the Age of Information. Courtesy of the Internet, we seem to have immediate access to anything that anyone could ever want to know. We are inundated with so much information that we don’t have time to process it, even if we wanted to. We prefer knowing to thinking because knowing has more immediate value. It keeps us in the loop, keeps us connected to the people in our lives. Ideas are too airy, too impractical, too much work for little reward. Few talk ideas. Everyone talks information, usually personal information. Where are you going? What are you doing? Whom are you seeing? These are the day’s big questions.

Adapted from Neal Gabler, “The Elusive Big Idea,”
an opinion essay in the New York Times, August 14, 2011

Assignment: Does easy access to a virtually unlimited storehouse of facts and information tend to devalue the importance of thinking and talking about big ideas? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, 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.

End of essay.

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

Answer Sheet for
Multiple-Choice Questions

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.

(A) cook, and eating also

(B) cook and to eat

(D) cook and eat besides

(E) cook and, in addition, eat

1. Although many young painters learned to paint from Rembrandt himself, when the master died, no immediate successors have come into being.

(A) no immediate successors have come into being

(B) he had no immediate successors

(D) there was not a coming of an immediate successor

(E) there were not immediate successors

2. Newspaper editorials across the country argued brilliantly against the Supreme Court’s decision on the death penalty.

(A) Newspaper editorials across the country argued brilliantly against the Supreme Court’s decision on the death penalty

(B) Newspaper editorials across the country that brilliantly argued against the Supreme Court’s decision on the death penalty

(D) The Supreme Court’s decision on the death penalty being brilliantly opposed across the country by newspaper editorials

(E) Brilliant arguments against the Supreme Court’s decision on the death penalty that appeared in newspapers across the country

3. The country’s most important city for the arts and entertainment, tourists by the millions visit New York each year.

(A) tourists by the millions visit New York each year

(B) millions of tourists visit New York annually

(D) tourists by the millions are attracted to New York every year

(E) New York attracts millions of tourists each year

4. There is plenty of Thoreau’s practical advice about life, which every reader can benefit from in his Walden.

(A) There is plenty of Thoreau’s practical advice about life, which every reader can benefit from in his Walden.

(B) In Thoreau’s Walden, they give the reader plenty of practical and beneficial advice about life.

(D) In Walden, Thoreau offers readers plenty of practical and beneficial advice about life.

(E) Because of offering plenty of practical and beneficial advice about life in Thoreau’s Walden.

5. Nuclear waste disposal is a growing problem considering that no state permits radioactive material transported on its roads or to bury it inside its borders.

(A) considering that no state permits radioactive material transported on its roads or to bury it inside its borders

(B) considering that no state permits neither radioactive material transported on its roads or buried inside its borders

(D) because no state will permit radioactive material not only to be carried on its roads but in addition also buried inside its borders

(E) being that no state had permitted radioactive material to be carried on its roads or buried inside its borders

6. If you wish to truly understand Jefferson’s notion of “the pursuit of happiness,” the letters Jefferson wrote to his son should be read.

(A) the letters Jefferson wrote to his son should be read

(B) Jefferson’s letters to his son should be read

(D) you should read his letters to his son

(E) a person should read his letters to his son

7. Yellowstone, an extremely popular national park, has been described as the noisiest park and also the most tranquil of them.

(A) the noisiest park and also the most tranquil of them

(B) not only the noisiest park, but also more tranquil than any

(D) at once the noisiest and also the most tranquil of them

(E) the noisiest and yet the most tranquil of parks

8. Allan asked Sadie to go to the prom with him, this surprised Sadie because she thought Allan would ask Marnie.

(A) him, this surprised Sadie

(B) him, therefore Sadie was surprised

(D) him, which surprises Sadie

(E) him, that was surprising to Sadie

9. Just as the number of applications to Stanford and Yale has grown annually since 2005, so has Columbia’s applicant pool risen steadily.

(A) so has Columbia’s applicant pool risen steadily

(B) Columbia attracted applicants in steadily rising numbers

(D) and so then, for Columbia, a rising applicant pool has grown steadily

(E) and like them Columbia’s steadily rising pool of applicants

10. The city of Oakland, California, suffers from a high crime rate, while it is a very desirable place to live.

(A) suffers from a high crime rate, while it is

(B) although suffering from a high crime rate, is

(D) which suffers from a high crime rate, although it is

(E) whose rate of crime is high, makes it

11. Drivers in Washington, D.C., say that the city is at once frustrating because of its numerous traffic circles but they have designed it beautifully.

(A) but they have designed it beautifully

(B) although it is beautifully designed

(D) while being designed so beautifully

(E) and pleasing because of its beautiful design

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. The plight of immigrants, in Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, heartbreaking the suffering of the migrant workers in Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.

13. That Naomi, the and possibly hero, is during the Revolution makes the story appealing to young readers.

14. A number of the athletes were participating in the Olympics to have used steroids and other muscle-building substances performance.

15. the year, the park attracts visitors who come hiking in the wilderness, climbing the mountains, and catching trout and prized game fish.

16. Carolyn’s mother born and raised in Baltimore, where she high school and college, got and birth to Carolyn on October 20, 1993.

17. Mike read a novel the author, a new structure, a separate chapter character.

18. His career as a drug dealer and murder of three FBI agents that he is one of the criminals in American history.

19. the lovers row across the lake in a small boat, Catherine fears the approaching storm, but they arrive on the opposite shore she that she during the trip.

20. that this cereal not only more the other one, packed in a smaller container.

21. If you expect to be absent senior papers are due, should the paper early or, arrange for an extension.

22. The large beech trees in our yards always shed dark red leaves late the other trees are bare.

23. I can’t concur the blogger’s opinions, I am grateful expressed so eloquently.

24. Elizabeth is the strongest candidate for the job her looks, experience, and natural intelligence voters their ballots for her.

25. Roxanne, the valedictorian, the highest grade-point average in the class, her score on the SAT was far lower

26. The orchestra played throughout the wedding reception, that barely possible a conversation without shouting.

27. High school jocks who wish to should remember that the odds being successful staggering.

28. The that one is often faced between the ethical thing acting in one’s own self-interest.

29. The false alarm everyone in the condo, and the other residents because she in a building that burned down.

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] Many reasons are used to justify the cruel practice of keeping animals penned up in zoos. [2] Parents bring their kids to gawk at the caged creatures. [3] Then, thinking they are being kind to the poor creatures, they drop quarters into food dispensers and toss a few pellets to the monkeys or elephants. [4] There must be better reasons, imprisoning wild animals is simply barbaric.

[5] Some people argue that a zoo is educational by allowing visitors to see what animals look like. [6] If someone is so dumb that they don’t know what a zebra looks like, they should look it up online. [7] But humans have no right to pull animals from their natural environment and to seal their fate forever behind a set of cold metal bars. [8] Animals need to run free and live, but by putting them in zoos we are disrupting and disturbing nature.

[9] Then there is the issue of sanitary conditions for animals at the zoo. [10] When the animals have been at the zoo for a while they adopt a particular lifestyle. [11] They lounge around all day, and they’re fed at a particular time. [12] They get used to that. [13] That means that they would never again be able to be placed back in their natural environment. [14] They would never survive. [15] And if they reproduce while in captivity, they are born into an artificial lifestyle. [16] After a few generations the animals become totally different from their wild and free ancestors, and visitors to the zoo see animals hardly resembling those living in their natural habitat.

30. In context, which of the following is the best phrase to insert at the beginning of sentence 2 (reproduced below)?

Parents bring their kids to gawk at the caged creatures.

(A) In any case, one would be

(B) For one thing,

(D) That is to say,

(E) An excellent choice would be that

31. In context, which of the following revisions would most improve sentence 4 (reproduced below)?

There must be better reasons, imprisoning wild animals is simply barbaric.

(A) Begin with “I disagree because.”

(B) Change “There must” to “There’s got to.”

(D) Substitute “terribly” for “simply.”

(E) Change “imprisoning” to “to imprison.”

32. Taking sentence 5 into account, which of the following is the most effective revision of sentence 6?

(A) Reading about animals online rather than studying them firsthand.

(B) A book or a Web site can give you more information about zebras and other animals.

(D) Doesn’t everyone know what a zebra looks like, even little children?

(E) But if someone is so dumb that they don’t know what a zebra looks like, they should look it up online.

33. Which of the following reasons most accurately describes the author’s purpose in choosing the words underlined in sentence 7 (reproduced below)?

But humans have no right to pull animals from their natural environment and to seal their fate forever behind a set of cold metal bars.

(A) to inform the reader that animals in the zoo live in cages

(B) to propose a solution to the plight of animals in the zoo

(D) to appeal to the reader to weigh both sides of the issue

(E) to prove that animals don’t enjoy being in the zoo

34. Which of the following revisions of sentence 9 is the best topic sentence for the third paragraph?

(A) Captivity alters the basic nature of animals.

(B) No one favors zoos that deliberately try to change the lifestyle of animals in captivity.

(D) Living in the zoo, conditions of animals affect them permanently.

(E) Life in the zoo for animals is not a bowl of cherries.

35. Which revision most effectively combines sentences 12, 13, and 14?

(A) Because they would never be able to survive again back in their natural environment, they grow used to being fed.

(B) Having grown used to regular feedings, the animals would be unable to survive back in their native environment.

(D) They, having gotten used to being fed regularly, in their natural environment would never survive.

(E) Being unable to survive back in their natural environment, the animals have grown accustomed to regular feedings.

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. Having a mother who plays in a symphony orchestra and a father who teaches music in high school, the violin and the piano are two of the instruments that Rosie learned at an early age.

(A) the violin and the piano are two of the instruments that Rosie learned at an early age

(B) violin and piano were taught to Rosie at an early age

(D) at an early age Rosie learned to play both the violin and the piano

(E) Rosie learned the playing of both violin and piano at an early age

2. When children change from little boys and girls to young men and women, ordinarily causing them to become more self-sufficient and independent.

(A) ordinarily causing them to become

(B) and ordinarily causing them to become

(D) and as a result they ordinarily become

(E) causing them to become ordinarily

3. Susan does not have absolute free will because what she does would have to be determined by the culture and the environment.

(A) free will because what she does would have to be determined

(B) free will because what she does is determined

(D) free will, and the reason is that her actions being determined

(E) free will, her actions are determined

4. The students’ final Social Studies exam has been stolen from the teacher’s desk; this situation forcing them to take a make-up test on Saturday.

(A) desk; this situation forcing them to take a make-up

(B) desk, which was the reason for their taking a make-up

(D) desk, a situation that will force the class to take a make-up

(E) desk, with it they are forced to take a make-up

5. Waste products from cutting lumber, such as wood chips and sawdust, are some of the ingredients of waferboard panels used in residential construction.

(A) Waste products from cutting lumber, such as wood chips and sawdust, are some of the ingredients

(B) Waste products from cutting lumber, such as wood chips and sawdust, is some of the ingredients

(D) Lumber-cutting waste products, which include wood chips and sawdust, making them the ingredients

(E) Lumber-cutting waste products that includes not only wood chips but sawdust is an ingredient of

6. If you compare the number of NY Yankee pennants with the Boston Red Sox, you’ll see that the Yankees are traditional winners.

(A) If you compare the number of NY Yankee pennants with the Boston Red Sox, you’ll see that the Yankees

(B) Comparing the number of NY Yankee pennants and the Boston Red Sox, you’ll see that the Yankees

(D) Making a comparison between the number of NY Yankee pennants with the Boston Red Sox pennants show that the Yankees

(E) A comparison of the number of NY Yankee pennants and Boston Red Sox pennants shows that the Yankees

7. Today’s newspaper says that mathematics is far more popular among Japanese high school students than among American students.

(A) than among American students

(B) than students in America

(D) than mathematics is among high school students in America

(E) than its popularity among American students

8. In the nineteenth century, immigrants entered the United States with few limitations and restrictions, but they have multiplied since then.

(A) restrictions, but they have multiplied since then

(B) restrictions, but they have now multiplied

(D) restrictions, which, since then, have multiplied

(E) restrictions, since multiplied

9. In Moscow, famous composers, artists, and writers are buried in a special cemetery, and they only must be Russian.

(A) famous composers, artists, and writers are buried in a special cemetery, and they only must be Russian

(B) there had been buried in a special cemetery famous composers, artists, and writers who have been only Russian

(D) a special cemetery for burying only famous Russian composers, artists, and writers

(E) famous Russian composers, artists, and writers are buried in a special cemetery

10. The Boston Tea Party was a minor historical event with which the colonists either intended to challenge or abolish the king’s unfair tax on imports.

(A) event with which the colonists either intended to challenge or abolish

(B) event, about which either the colonists intended to challenge or to abolish

(D) event, the use of which was either a challenge or it abolished

(E) event that the colonists used to challenge or abolish

11. Should a college application essay be required, one ought to set aside a large block of time and avoid writing it at the last minute.

(A) Should a college application essay be required

(B) Should you need to write a college application essay

(D) In any event that one needs to write a college application essay

(E) If a college application essay is necessary for anyone to write

12. The atmosphere in the classroom changed when the snow started to fall outside and the teacher could not get them to pay attention to the lesson after that.

(A) outside and the teacher could not get them to pay attention to the lesson after that

(B) outside, the teacher was unable to bring the class’s attention back to the lesson after that

(D) outside, causing them to lose attention to the lesson, despite the teacher’s effort

(E) outside, in spite of the teacher’s effort was unable to get them to pay attention to the lesson after that

13. Of the four seasons in New England, Granny most loves the autumn, of which she finds the mild days and cool nights especially appealing.

(A) autumn, of which she finds the mild days and cool nights especially appealing

(B) autumn; she finds the mild days and cool nights especially appealing

(D) autumn; the appeal of the mild days and cool nights especially

(E) autumn, especially appealing to Granny are the mild days and cool nights

14. Many countries punish citizens who speak out against the government, keeping the U.N. Commission on Human Rights very busy, mostly using torture and imprisonment.

(A) Many countries punish citizens who speak out against the government, keeping the U.N. Commission on Human Rights very busy, mostly using torture and imprisonment

(B) Many countries, punishing citizens mostly using torture and imprisonment for speaking out against the government, keep the U.N. Commission on Human Rights very busy

(C) In many countries punishing citizens who speak out against the government, U.N. Commission on Human Rights is kept very busy, mostly using torture and imprisonment

(D) Using torture and imprisonment, many countries punish citizens who speak out against the government, a situation that keeps the U.N. Commission on Human Rights very busy

(E) Punishing citizens who speak out against the government using torture and imprisonment in many countries, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is kept very busy

End of Section 3.

Do not return to Sections 1 or 2.

END OF WRITING TEST.