To "settle" for something means to become satisfied with it after your first option becomes unavailable or unattainable. Since Tania and her mom really want a dog, but decide they can't care for it, they "settle" for a cat. The other options do not adequately convey the idea of choosing your second best option.

Since the researcher disagrees with the skepticism of the scientists, she would be "optimistic" - hopeful and confident - about her experiments. None of the other answer choices make sense in the sentence's context: "indifferent" means apathetic, "doubtful" means skeptical, "expressive" means expressing emotion, and "poor" means lacking money.

Clearly, this sentence is contrasting Albert's method of working with the unmethodological approach taken by his peers. When someone works "with a method" (or "methodologically"), he or she works with a plan and procedure. The so-called scientific method has its name because it describes a procedure for arriving at scientific truths. If Albert's peers are "unmethodical," he must be "methodical." This means that he works "systematically" or according to a plan.

The speaker of this sentence is an immigrant living in America. Based on the context of this sentence you know that the correct answer must mean something like removed from the country for committing a crime. The correct answer is therefore "deported." To provide further help, "daunted" means frightened, intimidated; "exhumed" means dug up, as in dug up a corpse; "infected" means made sick; "reinstated" means brought back, allowed to rejoin something.

The speaker here is saying that the group's old plan is not working for them and as a result they need to come up with a new one. The correct answer is therefore "formulate" because that means come up with, develop. To provide further help, "inundate" means flood, overwhelm; "eradicate" means get rid of; "dominate" means take control over; "replicate" means copy.

We can infer from the subject of the sentence that we need to pick out an answer choice that means something like "stop." "Start" and "encourage" are antonyms of the word we're looking for, so neither of them can be the correct answer. While "pause" might look like a good answer, "pause" implies only a temporary stop, and it seems pretty unlikely that the vice principal would let the food fight start up again. The best answer choice is "quell," a verb that in this context means "put an end to a rebellion or other disorder, typically by the use of force."

The judge ruled that the crime could not have been "spontaneous," or unplanned and occurring in the moment. So, the correct answer must be an antonym of "spontaneous." The correct answer is therefore "premeditated" which means planned in advance. To provide further help, "contaminated" means polluted, made impure, infected; "transpired" means occurred, happened, took place; "residual" means left over, remaining; "dire" means desperate, dreadful circumstances.

The logic of this sentence indicates that we need an antonym for the description of Ronald's behavior and appearance. Since Ronald is sloppy and rude, we can guess that his brother must be orderly and polite. Now, we might think that wealthy or affluent people are always orderly and polite. This is not, however, at all necessarily the case. A rich person can be a rude slob as well. A very good description of someone who "follows all the rules" (esp. those of society and "good manners") is the word "formal." Likely, you have heard of "formal clothes." Whenever you need to be dressed for an important occasion, you have clothes that have a kind of dignity and "good manners" so as to match the etiquette of the situation.

Based on the structure of this sentence you know that the correct answer must mean something opposite to either "gorgeous" or "distinctive." "Distinctive" means different to the point of being easily noticed. So, the correct answer is "nondescript" which means unremarkable, lacking any distinguishing qualities. To provide further help, the four incorrect answer choices are all loosely synonyms of "gorgeous." They all describe something that is beautiful, especially attractive and impressive.

Despite is the correct answer, as it means in spite of. All of these answer choices are conjunctions, but only "despite" matches the context of the sentence. "Through," "but," "after," and "if" would misconstrue the meaning of the sentence.