- It can reasonably be inferred that the low turnover among mill workers in 1884 most likely reflected:
Answer: economic dependence on the company that limited workers' ability to leave
Descendants later described the scrip system "as a form of quiet bondage that kept them tied to the company" (lines 13-15), suggesting workers stayed not from contentment but from economic entrapment—reinforced by store prices rising nine percent while paper wages stayed flat. Choice A is contradicted by this later testimony of bondage rather than satisfaction. Choice C is unsupported; the newspapers simply ignored labor conditions, with no mention of a loyalty campaign. Choice D reverses the relationship: nominal wages stayed the same while prices rose, meaning real wages fell rather than increased.
- The passage most strongly suggests that the recovery of willow stands after wolves were reintroduced resulted mainly from:
Answer: a change in elk feeding behavior rather than a large drop in elk population.
The passage explains that "elk numbers fell only modestly" but that herds "no longer stayed in one place long enough for the shoots to be grazed to the ground," attributing the recovery to "where and how long the elk chose to feed" rather than to fewer elk. Choice B is directly contradicted by "fell only modestly." Choice C is never mentioned; access to streams is not discussed. Choice D misattributes the cause—wolves altered elk behavior, not the biological growth rate of the willows themselves.
- In "After weeks of drought, the farmers welcomed the thin rain as a reprieve, not a rescue," reprieve most nearly means:
Answer: a brief relief from hardship
The rain is thin and welcomed, but it is 'not a rescue,' so it brings only short-term relief. 'A complete end to the trouble' is tempting, but the contrast with rescue rules out a full solution.
- In "Theo glanced at the empty driveway, then slid the third plate back into the cupboard," what can most reasonably be inferred?
Answer: Theo no longer expects a third person to come.
The driveway is empty and Theo puts the extra plate away, so he has stopped expecting a third diner. 'Still waiting' is tempting, but putting the plate back shows he has given up. He is not still hoping.
- It can most reasonably be inferred that Voss's admirers regard the long gray stage of her paintings as:
Answer: necessary groundwork that gives meaning to the final stroke of color rather than an artistic statement in itself.
The passage says admirers treat the gray stage the way "an audience waits for a soloist's cadenza, aware that everything before it was necessary but that nothing before it was the point"—the gray months matter only because they lead to the final stroke. Choice B reverses this relationship, since the gray stage is explicitly not "the point." Choice C is directly rejected by the text ("It is tempting to read this as a gesture of minimalism, but..."). Choice D adds a motive—building anticipation—never stated in the passage.
- The inclusion of the sister's letters at the novel's end most strongly suggests that readers are meant to:
Answer: recognize the narrator's self-flattering language as concealment of deception rather than an accurate account.
The sister's letters "align, detail for detail, with what actually happened, contradicting the narrator's account at nearly every turn," revealing the narrator's terms like "adjustments" and "corrections" as euphemisms masking real inaccuracies. Choice B is unsupported, since the letters are shown to align with actual events, establishing them as reliable, not equally suspect. Choice C is contradicted; calling deliberate inaccuracies "corrections to an imperfect record" implies awareness, not ignorance. Choice D reflects a generous outside reading the passage never asks for—it emphasizes contradiction, not sympathy.
- The passage most strongly suggests that eliminating the parking fees:
Answer: converted previously illegal parking into permitted parking rather than reducing residents' overall car use.
The passage states residents who "had previously parked illegally" simply "applied for the free permits in droves, while continuing to drive exactly as they always had," showing the policy legalized existing behavior rather than changing it. Choice B is contradicted since ridership "had barely moved," meaning congestion was not eased. Choice C directly contradicts the stated stagnant ridership. Choice D is never mentioned; only a budget effect is described, not a policy reversal.
- Which best describes the tone of "The committee, in its wisdom, scheduled the fire drill for the hour of final exams"?
Answer: dry, ironic criticism
'In its wisdom' is sarcastic, because scheduling a drill during exams is unwise. That makes the tone dry, ironic criticism. The writer disapproves but stays understated, so 'openly furious' overstates the emotion.
- Based on the passage, it can most reasonably be inferred that the decline in the garment district's population during the 1930s was primarily driven by:
Answer: residents' preference for improved housing conditions available in newer parts of the city
Former residents cited moving "to newer apartment blocks farther from downtown, citing better plumbing and more space for children" (lines 8-9), and the passage explicitly notes "few interviewees...mentioned leaving because of a lack of work" (lines 9-10). Choice A is directly contradicted by this statement. Choice C is contradicted, since "rents...fell to their lowest point in a decade" (lines 4-5). Choice D is contradicted, since business license applications actually "rose sharply" (line 2) rather than closing.
- It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that Odell:
Answer: has quietly expected and prepared for Denny's attendance despite saying it was optional.
Though Odell says Denny "doesn't have to come," he immediately supplies detailed bus timing "as if reciting a schedule he had memorized months ago," revealing he had already planned for Denny's attendance. Choice B is contradicted by his readiness with transportation details, which would be pointless if he wanted Denny to stay away. Choice C is undermined by the memorized schedule, which shows confidence rather than uncertainty. Choice D is directly contradicted by the specific, pre-prepared bus information Odell offers.
- An essay praising a river then says: "Yet the same river that fed the town's fields had, twice in one decade, swallowed its main street." This sentence mainly serves to:
Answer: show that the river was harmful as well as helpful
'Yet' turns from praise to the flood damage, so the sentence shows the river's harmful side alongside its benefits. It describes the damage but never argues for moving the town.
- It can most reasonably be inferred that Grandmother Iris associated the whole, unchipped sugar bowl with:
Answer: a degree of trust or closeness she reserved only for family.
The passage states that "only family, and only after the chipped bowl had been emptied and refilled, were allowed to touch" the whole bowl, showing it was reserved as a mark of closeness rather than fragility, superstition, or grief. Choice B is contradicted, since family did use the whole bowl. Choice C is never stated—no fear of breakage by guests appears in the text. Choice D introduces an unsupported backstory the passage never mentions.
- "Even the town's oldest fisherman, who had seen forty winters on the bay, had never watched the ice crack so early." This sentence mainly serves to:
Answer: stress how unusual the early thaw was
Citing a man with forty winters of experience who had never seen this emphasizes how unusual the thaw is. His experience is there only to measure the event, not to praise his skill at reading ice.
- It can most reasonably be inferred that Rosalind's repeated delay in mailing the letter suggests that she:
Answer: was uncertain about whether she truly wanted to send the letter at all
Rosalind repeatedly noticed the letter, mentally rewrote parts of it, and twice reached for her coat only to decide "the errand could wait until tomorrow" (lines 9-12), showing ambivalence rather than simple forgetfulness. Choice A is contradicted by her constant awareness of the letter's presence. Choice C is unsupported; her sister only asks out of curiosity, with no indication Rosalind was awaiting permission. Choice D is contradicted by "though never on paper" (line 10), which shows she revised the letter only in her mind, not in fact.
- The passage most strongly suggests that Marisol's failure to return the chair to its original position indicates that she:
Answer: has grown more at home in the apartment than she originally intended to.
Marisol initially treated the chair "the way you return a borrowed coat," intending temporariness, but eight months later she "had stopped noticing that she had ever meant to put it back"—showing she has settled in more than she planned, without any statement about permanent residence. Choice B overreaches; comfort is implied, not a decision about permanence. Choice C is contradicted, since she chose to reposition the chair toward light and never restored it. Choice D is contradicted by her having stopped thinking of the arrangement as temporary or borrowed.
- It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that during its dormant period, the lungfish's body:
Answer: continues generating a substance that would be lethal to the animal without specialized cellular protection
The passage states that the lungfish "allows urea... to accumulate in its tissues at concentrations that would poison most vertebrates" (lines 7-9) and that it survives because "proteins that bind loosely to urea molecules" prevent them from disrupting other proteins (lines 11-13). Since urea keeps accumulating even while the animal is sealed inside its cocoon, its metabolism must still be producing this waste product; only the added protective proteins keep it from being lethal. This is never stated outright but is forced by combining the two details. Choice B is wrong because the passage explicitly says urea accumulates rather than never forming, meaning metabolism has not dropped to zero. Choice C misassigns the protective function: the passage attributes urea tolerance to tissue proteins, not to the mucus cocoon, which only seals moisture in. Choice D wrongly treats the heart-rate drop as the mechanism for urea tolerance, but the passage presents the slowed heart rate and the urea-binding proteins as two separate adaptations, not one causing the other.
- The passage most strongly suggests that the mycorrhizal fungi in this study:
Answer: provided seedlings with a drought-survival benefit that went beyond simply improving nutrient or water access.
The passage notes that seedlings survived drought at over twice the rate of sterile-soil seedlings "even though both groups received identical amounts of water," leading researchers to conclude the fungi were "buffering the young trees against stress that water alone could not explain"—a benefit beyond nutrient or water delivery. Choice B is unsupported; both growth and survival roughly doubled, with no comparison establishing one effect as greater. Choice C is contradicted by the identical water amounts stated. Choice D is contradicted, since researchers "expected some advantage" and were surprised only by its size, not its absence.
- It can most reasonably be inferred that the sculptor's private notebooks indicate that she:
Answer: considered the identities and settings behind each work meaningful even though she withheld them from the public
The detailed notebooks "describing the models who sat for each cast, their postures, and the light in the room" (lines 10-11) show she valued these specifics deeply, even while withholding titles from viewers so a name would not "tell the viewer where to stop looking" (line 8). Choice B is unsupported—nothing suggests she planned to publish the private notebooks. Choice C misreads the content of the notebooks, which describe models and settings, not critics. Choice D contradicts her stated philosophy, since she deliberately avoided giving the public context, implying she believed they could interpret the work without it.
- It can reasonably be inferred that the smaller litters among high-elevation marmots resulted primarily from:
Answer: the extended hibernation period, which delayed breeding and reduced fat reserves for reproduction
The passage traces a chain: high-elevation marmots hibernate nearly three additional weeks (lines 6-7), emerge with lower fat reserves despite comparable pre-hibernation weight (lines 8-9), delay mating (lines 10-11), and thus have a shorter growing season for pups (lines 13-14)—all pointing to hibernation length as the driver. Choice A is explicitly contradicted by "despite having access to similar amounts of food" (lines 3-4). Choice C is unsupported; the passage never mentions genetics. Choice D is unsupported; no competition between colonies is described.
- It can most reasonably be inferred from the passage that the private cubicles most likely failed to increase overall output because:
Answer: any gains in individual concentration were offset by a decline in the informal collaboration that had supported joint projects
Employees reported greater comfort, yet cross-department projects dropped by nearly a third (lines 7-9) as informal contact declined (lines 10-12), while output never rose despite managers' hope that privacy would "boost individual concentration and output" (lines 13-14)—implying the collaboration loss offset any concentration gain. Choice A is contradicted, since employees reported feeling "more comfortable" (line 3). Choice C is contradicted by the explicit statement that managers expected the change to boost output. Choice D is contradicted, since metrics were collected "during the first six months" (lines 4-5), immediately after the switch.
