Questions 1 and 2 are based on this passage. ??

In their zeal to narrate a single, teleological jazz tradition, early scholars studying Black music, and?most subsequent historians, understood the progress of jazz along a certain contour: birth, development, and?ideal form (usually the 1940s jazz style bebop). Most scholars in the twenty-first century still contend that jazz?is a music that is rooted in specific discernible qualities (e.g., improvisation, swing, group play) and?instrumentation (e.g., horns, piano, string bass, and drums). In this telling, the style known as ragtime is a precursor to later, more developed jazz styles. While many do see ragtime, like the blues, as a necessary?ingredient of jazz, writers rarely examine it on its own merits, much less take account of its own historical?circumstances.?

1. The primary function of the first sentence of the passage is to ?

A. present an opinion regarding early scholars studying Black music that the author will dispute?

B. identifying a perspective on Black music that may need to be reconsidered.?

C. examine a controversial view about the origins of Black music.?

D. point to the influence of early scholars studying Black music on later historians of jazz.?

E. explain why a particular view regarding Black music has recently become prevalent.?

2. The author implies which of the following about the “specific discernible qualities”??

A. They may not all be constitutive features of ragtime.?

B. They have in recent decades become less prominent in jazz.?

C. They are the result of jazz’s influence on their musical forms.?

D. They were rarely used in 1940s jazz styles.?

E. They have been overlooked by many jazz scholars.?

Questions 3 to 5 are based on this passage

This passage is adapted from material published in 2002. ?

Three core samples taken from different locations on the bed of Lake Tokotan consist mainly of organic-rich clay but also contain two sand layers at a depth indicating deposition in the seventeenth century. The coastal freshwater lake is replenished entirely by rainfall and surface seepage, and the absence of river inflow?eliminates fluvial deposition as a possible origin for the sand layers. The sand layers are thicker on the lake’s seaward side, suggesting landward transport of the sand at the time of its deposition. In these layers, the diatoms (algae with glasslike cell walls) are very rare and in a fragmented state, suggesting their deposition by strong?currents. In sum, then, the most probable explanation for the sand layers is that they were deposited either by unusually large storm surges or else by tsunamis (i.e., tidal waves). It is difficult to distinguish tsunami deposits from storm-surge deposits. But Lake Tokotan is protected by a sand barrier and connected to the sea by a shallow, narrow outlet, and the velocities of the current through this narrow entrance during a storm surge are?unlikely to be strong enough to transport sand and gravel far into the lake. It can be inferred, therefore, that ?the sand layers were deposited by tsunami waves that overtopped and caused severe erosion of the sand.?

3. The author of the passage refers to the diatoms’ fragmented state most likely in order to?

A. show that the sand layers were probably deposited by the same mechanism as the surrounding?sediments?

B. suggest the nature of the mechanism that created the sand layers?

C. acknowledge the possibility that the normal mechanism of replenishment could account for the sand?layers?

D. confirm that the sand layers were deposited in a landward rather than in a seaward direction?

E. support the assumption that the sand layers had similar causes to each other?

4. Regarding the different effects of storm surges and tsunamis, it can be inferred that the author would most likely agree with which of the following??

A. A tsunami is likely to have more effect on Lake Tokotan than a severe storm surge would, because the velocities of the current in the lake’s outlet to the sea would be greater during a tsunami.?

B. The diatoms in sand layers deposited by tsunamis will typically be more fragmented than those in sand layers deposited by strong storm surges.?

C. In the region of Lake Tokotan over a period of several centuries, the amount of coastal erosion caused by tsunamis will typically be greater than that caused by storm surges.?

D. Compared to tsunamis, storm surges vary more from one to another in the currents they generate and?change of sea level they cause.?

E. The influx of water into the lake caused by a tsunami, unlike that caused by a storm surge, need not be confined to the outlet that connects Lake Tokotan to the sea.?

5. In the context in which it appears, “eliminates” most nearly means?

A. abolishes ?

B. excludes?

C. omits?

D. reduces?

E. expels?

Question 6 is based on this passage

Ground-level ozone, a by-product of gasoline combustion, stunts tree growth in laboratory conditions. Researchers tracked the growth rate of loblolly pine trees in a large forest in the southern United States from?1990 to 1994. Over the course of those five years, ground-level ozone in the forest increased, while the rate of?circumferential trunk growth decreased. These results indicate that in nature as in the laboratory, no tree is?likely to thrive in high concentrations of ground-level ozone.?

6. Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument??

A. Measurement of circumferential tree-trunk growth were taken of both saplings and mature trees.?

B. Concentrations of ozone high up in the Earth’s atmosphere fluctuated significantly less during the period from 1990 to 1994 than during the period from 1986 to 1990.?

C. Traffic on a major interstate highway cutting through a large valley below the forest where the study was conducted increased sharply in 1990.?

D. Of the many species of trees in the forest where the study was conducted, the loblolly pine was the only species to show a reduced rate of circumferential trunk growth from 1990 to 1994.?

E. Rainfall patterns in the area where the trees were growing did not change significantly over the five-year period from 1990 to 1994.?

Questions 7 and 8 are based on this passage

Less than 50,000 years ago, most of Australia’s largest animals became extinct, including nineteen species of giant marsupials. This die-off roughly coincided with the arrival of humans. Since Australia is so vast, and the number of early settlers hunting animals would have been so low, biologists long dismissed this timing as coincidence. Recently, however, researchers analyzing ancient emu eggshells found that 45,000 years ago, emus’ diets changed from all sorts of different plants to mainly shrubs. The researchers hypothesized that Australia’s?early settlers periodically set the countryside afire—perhaps to flush our prey—a practice that would have?reduced the variety of plant life. Animals that could cope with the changed landscape survived, while those that could not died out.?

7. The researchers’ hypothesis suggests that the “nineteen species of giant marsupials”?

A. were already dying out when Australia’s first settlers arrived ?

B. formerly subsisted on emu eggs?

C. were unable to survive in a landscape altered by fire ?

D. ate mainly shrubs before the arrival of humans?

E. were hunted to extinction by Australia’s first settlers?

Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.?

8. The passage suggests that roughly 45,000 years ago, emus’ diets changed because?

A. the landscape became dominated by shrubs?

B. emus suddenly faced less competition for food from other species?

C. settlers introduced plants that crowded out existing ones?

Questions 9 and 10 are based on this passage

The emphasis on intimate conversation in political discourse originated with Saul Alinsky (1909-1972) but became American labor leader Cesar Chavez’s (1927-1993) supreme contribution to political theory and?practice. Such one-on-one organizing, like the feminist consciousness-raising groups that share its spirit, was?promoted not just as a way of discussing politics, but as a way of doing politics. Its opposite was political oratory, the great transforming speech before a gathering of listeners. This view was an enormous departure in democratic theory: the leader’s ability to inspire a crowd had long been a touchstone of popular politics, but now such speeches and speechmakers seemed suspect, even essentially undemocratic, because they were ?frequently full of bombast and because they talked at the people instead of listening to them. ?

9. In the context of the passage, the highlighted portions serves primarily to ?

A. shed light on the validity of a theory?

B. question the reasonableness of a claim?

C. identify an untenable assumption?

D. cast doubt on an outmoded idea?

E. highlight the radical nature of an approach?

Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.?

10. According to the passage, Chavez differed from earlier democratic leaders in his approach to?organizing in that Chavez ?

A. was willing to question some widely held political assumptions?

B. did not think that great speeches could achieve political ends?

C. preferred dialogue to other forms of political discourse