Studying how workload affects productivity, Maryam Kouchaki and colleagues found that people who chose to do relatively easy tasks first were less____compared to those who did hard tasks first. Finishing easy tasks gave participants a sense of accomplishment, but those who tackled hard tasks first actually became more skilled and productive workers over time.

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

A) secretive

B) unsympathetic

C) outgoing

D) efficient

The following text is adapted from Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“The second thing is to find my way into that lovely garden. I think that will be the best plan.” It sounded like an excellent plan, no doubt, and very neatly and simply arranged; the only difficulty was, that Alice had not the smallest idea how to set about it.

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

A) Easily

B) Hastily

C) Faintly

D) Foolishly

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) an acceptable

C) a substantial

D) an imperceptible

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) selecting

B) inspecting

C) creating

D) deciding

A brief book review cannot fully convey the____of Olga Tokarczuk’s novel The Books of Jacob, with its enormous cast of characters, its complicated, wandering plot, and its page numbers that count backward (beginning at 965 and ending at 1).

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

A) accuracy

B) inactivity

C) restraint

D) complexity

In 1929 the Atlantic Monthly published several articles based on newly discovered letters allegedly exchanged between President Abraham Lincoln and a woman named Ann Rutledge. Historians were unable to____the authenticity of the letters, however, and quickly dismissed them as a hoax.

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

A) interpret

B) validate

C) relate

D) accommodate

The fashion resale market, in which consumers purchase secondhand clothing from stores and online sellers, generated nearly $30 billion globally in 2019. Expecting to see continued growth, some analysts____that revenues will more than double by 2028.

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

A) produced

B) denied

C) predicted

D) worried

Nigerian American author Teju Cole’s____his two passions—photography and the written word—culminates in his 2017 book, Blind Spot, which evocatively combines his original photographs from his travels with his poetic prose.

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

A) enthusiasm for

B) indifference to

C) concern about

D) surprise at

Although the playwrights hoped that their play would be____when performed live, critics generally agreed that the production and performances had the opposite effect, wearying audiences instead of energizing them.

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

A) multifaceted

B) realistic

C) rousing

D) subtle

A musician and member of the Quechua of Peru, Renata Flores Rivera was eager to promote the Quechua language in her music, but she was____speaking it. She met this challenge by asking her grandmother, a native speaker of Quechua, to help her pronounce words in her song lyrics and also by taking classes in the language.

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

A) prepared for

B) excited about

C) skilled in

D) inexperienced with