- When medical students mention their patients on social media, they may violate patient confidentiality.
- Terry Kind led a study to determine how many medical schools have student policies that mention social media use.
- Kind and her team reviewed 132 medical school websites, examining publicly available student policies.
- Only thirteen medical schools had guidelines that explicitly mention social media, and only five defined what constitutes acceptable social media use.
Q. The student wants to emphasize the study’s methodology. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
(a) The student policies of 132 medical schools can be found online, according to research by Terry Kind.
(b) To find out how many medical schools have guidelines about student social media use, Terry Kind and her team examined the student policies of 132 medical schools.
(c) Out of 132 medical schools, only thirteen had student policies that mentioned social media, and only five specified what use was acceptable.
(d) Terry Kind and her team wanted to know how many medical schools have student social media policies in place about protecting patient confidentiality.
Ans: (b)
- Choice B is the best answer. The sentence effectively emphasizes Kind’s methodology: examining the student policies of 132 medical schools for guidelines about student social media use.
- Choice A is incorrect. The sentence specifies how many medical schools’ student policies are available online; it doesn’t emphasize the study’s methodology.
- Choice C is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes the study’s results, not the study’s methodology.
- Choice D is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes the aim of the study, not the study’s methodology.
Q54: Passage
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- The Gullah are a group of African Americans who have lived in parts of the southeastern United States since the 18th century.
- Gullah culture is influenced by West African and Central African traditions.
- Louise Miller Cohen is a Gullah historian, storyteller, and preservationist.
- She founded the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, in 2003.
- Vermelle Rodrigues is a Gullah historian, artist, and preservationist.
- She founded the Gullah Museum of Georgetown, South Carolina, in 2003.
Q. The student wants to emphasize the duration and purpose of Cohen’s and Rodrigues’s work. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
(a) At the Gullah Museums in Hilton Head Island and Georgetown, South Carolina, visitors can learn more about the Gullah people who have lived in the region for centuries.
(b) Louise Miller Cohen and Vermelle Rodrigues have worked to preserve the culture of the Gullah people, who have lived in the United States since the 18th century.
(c) Since 2003, Louise Miller Cohen and Vermelle Rodrigues have worked to preserve Gullah culture through their museums.
(d) Influenced by the traditions of West and Central Africa, Gullah culture developed in parts of the southeastern United States in the 18th century.
Ans: (c)
- Choice C is the best answer. The sentence emphasizes both the duration (the length of time) and the purpose of Cohen’s and Rodrigues’s work by noting that the women have been working since 2003 to preserve Gullah culture.
- Choice A is incorrect. While the sentence emphasizes what visitors to Cohen’s and Rodrigues’s museums can learn, it doesn’t mention the duration or purpose of the women’s work.
- Choice B is incorrect. While the sentence emphasizes the purpose of Cohen’s and Rodrigues’s work, it doesn’t mention the duration of that work (the length of time the women have been working to preserve Gullah culture).
- Choice D is incorrect. While the sentence emphasizes where and when Gullah culture developed, it doesn’t mention the duration or purpose of Cohen’s and Rodrigues’s work.
Q55: Passage
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- In North America, woodlands have expanded into areas that were once grasslands.
- Thomas Rogers and F. Leland Russell of Wichita State University investigated whether woodland expansion is related to changes in climate.
- Rogers and Russell analyzed core samples from oak trees on a site that was not wooded in the past and indexed the age of the trees with historical climate data to see if tree populations and climate were correlated.
- Tree population growth was associated with dry intervals.
- Droughts may have played a role in woodland expansion.
Q. The student wants to emphasize the aim of the research study. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
(a) Thomas Rogers and F. Leland Russell, researchers at Wichita State University, wanted to know if woodland expansion is related to changes in climate.
(b) Thanks to the work done by Thomas Rogers and F. Leland Russell, we now know that droughts may have played a role in woodland expansion.
(c) Wichita State University researchers have determined that tree population growth was associated with dry intervals.
(d) Thomas Rogers and F. Leland Russell analyzed core samples from oak trees on a site that was not wooded in the past, indexing the age of the trees with historical climate data.
Ans: (a)
- Choice A is the best answer. The sentence effectively emphasizes the aim, or goal, of the research study (in other words, what the researchers hoped to learn from the study): Rogers and Russell wanted to know if woodland expansion is related to changes in climate.
- Choice B is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes the researchers’ findings; it doesn’t emphasize the aim of the study.
- Choice C is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes the results of the study; it doesn’t emphasize the aim.
- Choice D is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes the methodology of the study; it doesn’t emphasize the aim.
Q56: Passage
The following text is from the 1924 poem “Cycle” by D’Arcy McNickle, who was a citizen of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
There shall be new roads wending,
A new beating of the drum—
Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
Grey lives reprise their span—
But under the new sun’s being,
Completing what night began,
There’ll be the same backs bending,
The same sad feet shall drum—
When this night finds its ending
And day shall have come.....
Q. Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
(a) To consider how the repetitiveness inherent in human life can be both rewarding and challenging
(b) To question whether activities completed at one time of day are more memorable than those completed at another time of day
(c) To refute the idea that joy is a more commonly experienced emotion than sadness is
(d) To demonstrate how the experiences of individuals relate to the experiences of their communities
Ans: (a)
- Choice A is the best answer because it accurately states the main purpose of the text. The text begins by discussing the promise of the future, with positive references to renewal such as “new roads,” “new beating of the drum,” and “fresh seeing.” But with the “new sun,” the text continues, there will still be “the same backs bending” and “the same sad feet” drumming, indicating that these difficulties will follow people into this new day. The poem thus considers both the rewards and challenges associated with the repetitiveness of human life.
- Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t say anything about how memorable activities are, let alone compare the memorability of activities completed at different times of the day.
- Choice C is incorrect. Although the text contrasts hope with difficulty, it does not compare the relative frequency of joyful feelings with that of sad feelings.
- Choice D is incorrect because the text makes no distinction between the experiences of individuals and the experiences of their communities.
Q57: Passage
The following text is adapted from Jane Austen’s 1814 novel Mansfield Park. The speaker, Tom, is considering staging a play at home with a group of his friends and family.
We mean nothing but a little amusement among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and exercise our powers in something new. We want no audience, no publicity. We may be trusted, I think, in choosing some play most perfectly unexceptionable; and I can conceive no greater harm or danger to any of us in conversing in the elegant written language of some respectable author than in chattering in words of our own.
Q. Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
(a) To offer Tom’s assurance that the play will be inoffensive and involve only a small number of people
(b) To clarify that the play will not be performed in the manner Tom had originally intended
(c) To elaborate on the idea that the people around Tom lack the skills to successfully stage a play
(d) To assert that Tom believes the group performing the play will be able to successfully promote it
Ans: (a)
- Choice A is the best answer because it most accurately portrays the main purpose of the text. At the beginning of the text, Tom asserts that he and the other people staging the play are doing so only for “a little amusement among ourselves” and aren’t interested in attracting an audience or any attention with the production. Then, Tom promises that the play they chose is modest and appropriate, and he further reasons that using the well-written prose of “some respectable author” is better than using their own words. Overall, the main purpose of the text is to convey Tom’s promise that the play will be inoffensive and involve only a few people.
- Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t indicate that Tom had earlier intentions for the play’s performance or that anything has changed since the group first decided to stage a play. Instead, the text focuses on how harmless the entire endeavor will be.
- Choice C is incorrect. Although Tom mentions that using the words of a “respectable author” will be better than using their own words, he never addresses the idea that the people around him generally aren’t skilled enough to stage a play.
- Choice D is incorrect because in the text Tom specifically says that they “want no audience, no publicity,” which indicates that they don’t plan on promoting the play at all.
Q58: Passage
Musician Joni Mitchell, who is also a painter, uses images she creates for her album covers to emphasize ideas expressed in her music. For the cover of her album Turbulent Indigo (1994), Mitchell painted a striking self-portrait that closely resembles Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear (1889). The image calls attention to the album’s title song, in which Mitchell sings about the legacy of the postimpressionist painter. In that song, Mitchell also hints that she feels a strong artistic connection to Van Gogh—an idea that is reinforced by her imagery on the cover.
Q. Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
(a) It presents a claim about Mitchell, then gives an example supporting that claim.
(b) It discusses Van Gogh’s influence on Mitchell, then considers Mitchell’s influence on other artists.
(c) It describes a similarity between two artists, then notes a difference between them.
(d) It describes the songs on Turbulent Indigo, then explains how they relate to the album’s cover.
Ans: (a)
- Choice A is the best answer because it accurately describes the organization of the elements within the text. The text begins with the claim that Joni Mitchell’s album covers use images she creates in order to emphasize ideas embedded in her albums. It then goes on to provide an example of how Mitchell’s self-portrait on the cover of Turbulent Indigo resembles a painting by Van Gogh, which the text indicates helps emphasize the strong connection Mitchell feels toward Van Gogh, a connection that is also expressed in the album’s title song.
- Choice B is incorrect because there are no references in the text to artists other than Joni Mitchell and Van Gogh.
- Choice C is incorrect because there is nothing in the text that calls attention to any similarities or differences between Joni Mitchell and Van Gogh. Instead, it mentions that Mitchell feels a strong “artistic connection” to Van Gogh.
- Choice D is incorrect because the text discusses the cover before referring to any songs, and it only references one song from the album, not all the songs.
Q59: Passage
Text 1 Astronomer Mark Holland and colleagues examined four white dwarfs—small, dense remnants of past stars—in order to determine the composition of exoplanets that used to orbit those stars. Studying wavelengths of light in the white dwarf atmospheres, the team reported that traces of elements such as lithium and sodium support the presence of exoplanets with continental crusts similar to Earth’s.
Text 2 Past studies of white dwarf atmospheres have concluded that certain exoplanets had continental crusts. Geologist Keith Putirka and astronomer Siyi Xu argue that those studies unduly emphasize atmospheric traces of lithium and other individual elements as signifiers of the types of rock found on Earth. The studies don’t adequately account for different minerals made up of various ratios of those elements, and the possibility of rock types not found on Earth that contain those minerals.
Q. Based on the texts, how would Putirka and Xu (Text 2) most likely characterize the conclusion presented in Text 1?
(a) As unexpected, because it was widely believed at the time that white dwarf exoplanets lack continental crusts
(b) As premature, because researchers have only just begun trying to determine what kinds of crusts white dwarf exoplanets had
(c) As questionable, because it rests on an incomplete consideration of potential sources of the elements detected in white dwarf atmospheres
(d) As puzzling, because it’s unusual to successfully detect lithium and sodium when analyzing wavelengths of light in white dwarf atmospheres
Ans: (c)
- Choice C is the best answer because it reflects how Putirka and Xu (Text 2) would likely characterize the conclusion presented in Text 1. Text 1 discusses a study by Mark Holland and colleagues in which they detected traces of lithium and sodium in the atmospheres of four white dwarf stars. The team claims that this supports the idea that exoplanets with continental crusts like Earth’s once orbited these stars. Text 2 introduces Putirka and Xu, who indicate that sodium and lithium are present in several different minerals and that some of those minerals might exist in types of rock that are not found on Earth. Therefore, Putirka and Xu would likely describe the conclusion in Text 1 as questionable because it does not consider that lithium and sodium are also found in rocks that are not like Earth’s continental crust.
- Choice A is incorrect because the texts do not indicate how widely held any of the viewpoints described are.
- Choice B is incorrect because neither text discusses how new this area of study is.
- Choice D is incorrect because neither text discusses how likely lithium and sodium are to be detected by analyzing wavelengths of light.
Q60: Passage
Utah is home to Pando, a colony of about 47,000 quaking aspen trees that all share a single root system. Pando is one of the largest single organisms by mass on Earth, but ecologists are worried that its growth is declining in part because of grazing by animals. The ecologists say that strong fences could prevent deer from eating young trees and help Pando start thriving again.
Q. According to the text, why are ecologists worried about Pando?
(a) It isn’t growing at the same rate it used to.
(b) It isn’t producing young trees anymore.
(c) It can’t grow into new areas because it is blocked by fences.
(d) Its root system can’t support many more new trees.
Ans: (a)
- Choice A is the best answer because it presents an explanation that is directly stated in the text for why ecologists are worried about Pando. The text states that Pando is a colony of about 47,000 quaking aspen trees that represents one of the largest organisms on Earth. According to the text, ecologists are worried that Pando’s growth is declining, partly because animals are feeding on the trees. In other words, the ecologists are worried that Pando isn’t growing at the same rate it used to.
- Choice B is incorrect. Rather than indicating that Pando isn’t producing young trees anymore, the text reveals that Pando is indeed producing young trees, stating that those trees can be protected from grazing deer by strong fences.
- Choice C is incorrect because the text states that fences can be used to prevent deer from eating Pando’s young trees, not that Pando itself can’t grow in new areas because it’s blocked by fences.
- Choice D is incorrect because the text offers no evidence that Pando’s root system is incapable of supporting new trees or is otherwise a cause of worry for ecologists.
