Stephen Hannock’s luminous landscape paintings are appealing to viewers but have elicited little commentary from contemporary critics, a phenomenon that may be due to the very fact that the paintings seem so____. Many critics focus their attention on art that is cryptic or overtly challenging.  Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

A) innovative

B) subversive

C) profound

D) accessible

Some scientists have suggested that mammals in the Mesozoic era were not a very____group, but paleontologist Zhe-Xi Luo’s research suggests that early mammals living in the shadow of dinosaurs weren’t all ground-dwelling insectivores. Fossils of various plant-eating mammals have been found in China, including species like Vilevolodon diplomylos, which Luo says could glide like a flying squirrel.

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

A) diverse

B) obscure

C) predatory

D) localized

Bicycle sharing systems allow users to rent a bicycle at one location within a city and return it to any other designated location in that city, which can cause serious problems of bicycle supply and user demand within the city’s system. Tohru Ikeguchi uses open-source data and statistical modeling to identify when a high number of users making one-way trips is likely to leave some locations within the system____bicycles and other areas with insufficient supply.

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

A) susceptible to

B) contingent on

C) saturated with

D) depleted of

"Investigating whether shared false visual memories—specific but inaccurate and widely held recollections of images such as product logos—are caused by people’s previous____incorrect renditions of the images, researchers Deepasri Prasad and Wilma Bainbridge found that, in fact, such memories are often not explained by familiarity with erroneous versions of the images.

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

A) compliance with

B) exposure to

C) criteria for

D) forfeiture of

The author’s claim about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens is____, as it fails to account for several recent archaeological discoveries. To be convincing, his argument would need to address recent finds of additional hominid fossils, such as the latest Denisovan specimens and Homo longi.

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

A) disorienting

B) unoriginal

C) nuanced

D) tenuous

While scholars believe many Mesoamerican cities influenced each other, direct evidence of such influence is difficult to ascertain. However, recent excavations in a sector of Tikal (Guatemala) unearthed a citadel that shows____Teotihuacán (Mexico) architecture—including a near replica of a famed Teotihuacán temple—providing tangible evidence of outside influence in portions of Tikal.

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

A) refinements of

B) commonalities with

C) precursors of

D) animosities toward

Whether the reign of a French monarch such as Hugh Capet or Henry I was historically consequential or relatively uneventful, its trajectory was shaped by questions of legitimacy and therefore cannot be understood without a corollary understanding of the factors that allowed the monarch to____his right to hold the throne.

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

A) disengage

B) annotate

C) buttress

D) reciprocate

In addition to being an accomplished psychologist himself, Francis Cecil Sumner was a____increasing the opportunity for Black students to study psychology, helping to found the psychology department at Howard University, a historically Black university, in 1930.

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

A) proponent of

B) supplement to

C) beneficiary of

D) distraction for

While most animals are incapable of passing somatic mutations—genetic alterations that arise in an organism’s nonreproductive cells—on to their offspring, elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) presents an intriguing____: in a 2022 study, researchers found that elkhorn coral produced offspring that inherited somatic mutations from a parent.

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

A) hypothesis

B) affinity

C) anomaly

D) corroboration

Interruptions in the supply chain for microchips used in personal electronics have challenged an economist’s assertion that retailers can expect robust growth in sales of those devices in the coming months. The delays are unlikely to____her projection entirely but will almost certainly extend its time frame.

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

A) dispute

B) withdraw

C) underscore

D) invalidate