1

Novelist N. K. Jemisin declines to____the conventions of the science fiction genre in which she writes, and she has suggested that her readers appreciate her work precisely because of this willingness to thwart expectations and avoid formulaic plots and themes.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) question

B) conform to

C) react to

D) perceive

2

Ofelia Zepeda’s contributions to the field of linguistics are____: her many accomplishments include working as a linguistics professor and bilingual poet, authoring the first Tohono O’odham grammar book, and co-founding the American Indian Language Development Institute.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) universal

B) pragmatic

C) extensive

D) controversial

3

Researchers and conservationists stress that biodiversity loss due to invasive species is____. For example, people can take simple steps such as washing their footwear after travel to avoid introducing potentially invasive organisms into new environments.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) preventable

B) common

C) concerning

D) undeniable

4

The following text is adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1844 short story “Drowne’s Wooden Image.” Drowne, a young man, is carving a wooden figure to decorate the front of a ship. Day by day, the work assumed greater precision and settled its irregular and misty outline into distinct grace and beauty. The general design was now obvious to the common eye.

As used in the text, what does the word “assumed” most nearly mean?

A) Acknowledged

B) Speculated

C) Imitated

D) Acquired

5

The Cambrian explosion gets its name from the sudden appearance and rapid diversification of animal remains in the fossil record about 541 million years ago, during the Cambrian period. Some scientists argue that this____change in the fossil record might be because of a shift in many organisms to body types that were more likely to be preserved.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) catastrophic

B) elusive

C) abrupt

D) imminent

6

The following text is from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. The narrator is being driven in a carriage through a remote region at night. The baying of the wolves sounded nearer and nearer, as though they were closing round on us from every side. I grew dreadfully afraid, and the horses shared my fear. The driver, however, was not in the least disturbed; he kept turning his head to left and right, but I could not see anything through the darkness.

As used in the text, what does the word “disturbed” most nearly mean?

A) Interrupted

B) regulate

C) Offended

D) Disorganized

7

Mônica Lopes-Ferreira and others at Brazil’s Butantan Institute are studying the freshwater stingray species Potamotrygon rex to determine whether biological characteristics such as the rays’ age and sex have____effect on the toxicity of their venom—that is, to see if differences in these traits are associated with considerable variations in venom potency.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) a disconcerting

B) a substantial

C) an acceptable

D) an imperceptible

8

Some people have speculated that two helmets with attached horns discovered in Denmark in 1942 belonged to Vikings, but scholars have long been skeptical. Archaeologist Helle Vandkilde and colleagues recently provided radiocarbon dates for the helmets, and their findings____scholars’ skepticism: the helmets date to the Nordic Bronze Age, centuries before the Vikings existed.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) justify

B) anticipate

C) inspect

D) reveal

9

The Mule Bone, a 1930 play written by Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes, is perhaps the best-known of the few examples of____in literature. Most writers prefer working alone, and given that working together cost Hurston and Hughes their friendship, it is not hard to see why.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) characterization

B) interpretation

C) commercialization

D) collaboration

10

Particle physicists like Ayana Holloway Arce and Aida El-Khadra spend much of their time____what is invisible to the naked eye: using sophisticated technology, they closely examine the behavior of subatomic particles, the smallest detectable parts of matter.

Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

A) creating

B) selecting

C) inspecting

D) deciding