Questions 51-56 are based on the following passage.
As viewed from space, the Earth's distinguishing characteristics are its blue waters and white clouds. Enveloped by an ocean of air consisting of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, the planet is the only one in our solar system known to harbor life. Circling the Sun at an average distance of 149 million km (93 million miles), the Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the fifth largest planet in the solar system. Its rapid spin and molten nickel-iron core give rise to an extensive magnetic field which, coupled with the atmosphere, shields us from nearly all of the harmful radiation coming from the Sun and other stars. Most meteors burn up in the Earth's atmosphere before they can strike the surface. The planet's active geological processes have left no evidence of the ancient pelting it almost certainly received soon after it was formed. The Earth has a single natural satellite —— the Moon.
51. Approximately how much of the Earth's atmosphere is nitrogen?
A. One-fourth
B. One-half
C. Three-fourths
D. All of it
52. Which of the following helps to create the Earth's magnetic fields?
A. Its blue waters
B. Its nitrogen atmosphere
C. Its molten metal core
D. The Moon
53. What two factors help protect the Earth from radiation?
A. Magnetic field and atmosphere
B. Rapid spin and molten iron-nickel core
C. The Sun and the Moon
D. Blue waters and white clouds
54. Why does the Earth show almost no signs of having been hit by numerous meteors in the past?
A. Humans have built over most of the craters.
B. Most meteors fell into the ocean and not on land.
C. The Earth's magnetic field repelled most meteors.
D. The Earth's natural geologic activity has eliminated most traces.
55. The main idea of this passage is that
A. there are life-supporting characteristics on the Earth.
B. The Earth is predominantly water.
C. The Earth has no common characteristics with other planets.
D. The Earth is the only planet with a moon.
56. This selection leads one to believe that
A. The Earth never gets hit by meteors.
B. The Earth always gets hit by meteors.
C. The Earth was hit by meteors some time in the past.
D. The Earth may be bombarded by meteors in the near future.
Questions 57-62 are based on the following passage.
Since life began eons ago, thousands of creatures have come and gone. Some, such as the dinosaurs, became extinct due to naturally changing ecologic conditions. More recent threats to life forms are humans and their activities. Man has drained marshes, burned prairies, dammed and diverted rivers. Some of the more recent casualties of man's expansion have been the dodo, great auk, passenger pigeon, Irish elk, and Steller's sea cow. Sadly, we can no longer attribute the increasing decline in our wild animals and plant species to "natural" processes. Many species are dying out because of exploitation, habitat alteration or destruction, pollution, or the introduction of new species of plants and animals to an area. As mandated by Congress, protecting endangered species, and restoring them to the point where their existence is no longer jeopardized, is the primary objective of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered Species Program.
57. Which of the following is a form of man's habitat alteration?
A. Glacial encroachment
B. Hurricanes
C. Dammed rivers
D. Snowstorms
58. Which of the following has become extinct due to man's destruction?
A. African elephant
B. Irish elk
C. Giant panda
D. White Bengal
59. Which of the following would be a likely theme for the next paragraph?
A. Naturally changing ecological conditions
B. Animals that have become extinct
C. Achievements of the government Endangered Species Program
D. Programs that have destroyed natural habitats
60. The tone of this passage is
A. nationalistic.
B. pro-wildlife.
C. anti-wildlife.
D. feminist.
61. According to this passage,
A. man is the cause of some animal extinction.
B. animals often bring about their own extinction.
C. Congress can absolutely end extinction of animals.
D. a law is more important than human responsibility.
62. Which of the following is NOT a cause of increasing decline of wild animal population?
A. Exploitation
B. Pollution
C. Habitat alteration
D. Congressional law
Questions 63-68 are based on the following passage.
The "Karat" marking on jewelry tells you what proportion of gold is mixed with other metals. If 14 parts of gold are mixed with 10 parts of base metal, the combination is called 14-Karat (14K) gold. The higher the Karat rating, the higher the proportion of gold in the object. The lowest Karat gold that can be marketed in the United States is 10-Karat gold. Jewelry does not have to be marked with its Karat quality, but most of it is. If there is a Karat quality mark, next to it must be the U.S. registered trademark of the person or company that will stand behind the mark, as required by the National Gold and Silver Stamping Act.
63. If a ring is stamped 24K, it has
A. 204 parts of gold.
B. 24 parts of gold.
C. two and four-tenths parts of gold.
D. 10 parts of gold.
64. Gold which is 10 Karats in proportion
A. represents the highest grade of gold in the U.S.
B. cannot be sold in the U.S.
C. never carries a Karat quality mark.
D. represents the lowest-grade gold marketable in the U.S.
65. If gold is marked with a Karat quality mark, it must also
A. bear a national gold and silver stamp.
B. bear the registered trademark of the entity standing behind the mark.
C. bear a "made in the USA" mark.
D. bear a percentage mark.
66. If the jewelry is marked 14 parts of gold mixed with 10 parts of base metal it will always bear
A. a 14K mark.
B. a 10K mark.
C. an 18K mark.
D. a platinum mark.
67. This paragraph serves the consumer as
A. important buying information.
B. a challenge to buy more gold.
C. a debate over gold prices.
D. advice about buying silver.
68. The Stamping Act is
A. a regulation for tax.
B. rule of law.
C. a law that makes such stamping mandate.
D. an implement.
Questions 69-75 are based on the following passage.
Mr. Faugel was convinced that student nervousness had affected their scores; to reduce the anxiety of these students who had already been tested, he gave 22 of them a beta blocker before readministration of the test. Their scores improved significantly. The other 8 students (who did not receive the beta blockers) improved only slightly. Second-time test-takers nationwide had average improvements which were similar to those in Faugel's non-beta blocker group. Beta blockers are prescription drugs which have been around for 25 years. These medications, which interfere with the effects of adrenalin, have been used for heart conditions and for minor stress such as stage fright. Now they are used for test anxiety. These drugs seem to help test-takers who have low scores because of test fright, but not those who do not know the material. Since there can be side effects from these beta blockers, physicians are not ready to prescribe them routinely for all test-takers.
69. Where is the only place a person can obtain beta blockers?
A. Supermarket
B. Convenience store
C. Stationary store
D. Doctor's office
70. Why are beta blockers not prescribed regularly?
A. Students are expected to do poorly.
B. There are side effects.
C. The drugs are only 25 years old.
D. They cause test anxiety.
71. According to the passage
A. all people can take beta blockers.
B. beta blockers are widely prescribed.
C. beta blockers work only on test anxiety.
D. beta blockers work only to improve test scores if the test-taker truly knows the material.
72. "Re-administration" in this passage refers to
A. giving the test again to people without administering beta blockers.
B. giving the test again to both groups after beta blockers have been administered to one group.
C. giving the test to both groups of test-takers and then giving them beta blockers.
D. giving the beta blockers without retesting.
73. What possible use for beta blockers was NOT discussed in this passage?
A. Test anxiety
B. Pain relief
C. Minor stress
D. Heart conditions
74. Beta blockers work on some physical and emotional symptoms because they
A. fool a person into a healthier stance.
B. interfere with the effects of adrenalin.
C. produce side effects worse than the symptoms.
D. primarily change human thought processes.
75. Faugel's research showed that beta blockers given to his sample
A. increased scores less than the national average.
B. increased scores the same as the national average.
C. decreased scores.
D. increased scores much more than the national average.
Questions 76-80 are based on the following passage.
During the past three years, the staff members of the Smithsonian Institution's Family Folklore Project have interviewed hundreds of persons about their family folklore. To prepare for these interviews we drew upon our academic backgrounds in folklore and American studies, and upon our personal backgrounds as members of families. In addition, we reviewed the major instruction guides in genealogy, oral history, family history, and folklore fieldwork. Although these publications were all helpful in some way, no single book was completely adequate since family folklore combines aspects of all the above disciplines. Over time we have developed guidelines and questions that have proven successful for us; we hope that the following suggestions will be helpful to anyone who wishes to collect the folklore of his or her own family.
76. What would be the topic of the paragraph that would follow this one?
A. How to gather family folklore
B. History of the Smithsonian Institution
C. A description of genealogy
D. Useful books on family folklore
77. What can be inferred about the researchers who conducted the interviews?
A. They were mathematicians and physicists.
B. They were historians and sociologists.
C. They had children.
D. They wrote books.
78. The purpose of this passage is to
A. motivate
B. berate
C. instruct
D. cajole
79. The assumption of this passage is that
A. anyone can successfully interview people about their family folklore without prior training.
B. American history is inherent in the family folklore of Americans.
C. American history and folklore of Americans have no connections.
D. no guidelines are needed in the interviews.
80. According to the passage, which kind of instructional guide was NOT consulted as a source?
A. Clinical sociology
B. Genealogy guides
C. Oral history
D. Folklore fieldwork
Questions 81-86 are based on the following passage.
Every summer, Jean Piaget retreats to his cabin in the Alps, where he spends most of his days analyzing the mass of research data generated over the past year at his Center for Genetic Epistemology. During long walks along the mountain trails, he mulls over the latest experimental results, and in the cool mountain evenings, he formulates his conclusions. With the approach of fall, he will descend from the mountain, manuscript for a book and several journal articles in hand. This time-honored procedure of careful observation followed by seclusion for thought and synthesis, has enabled him to become the most prolific, if not the most famous psychologist of the century.
Piaget has only been widely known in this country since the 1960s, when his works were translated from their original French. But he has been recognized as an expert in the field of cognitive development in Europe since the 1930s. In fact, Piaget's publishing career can be traced to the year 1906, when as a child of ten, he published his careful notes on the habits of an albino sparrow he observed near his home in Switzerland. After his precocious debut as an ornithologist, he took an after-school job at the local natural history museum, soon becoming an expert on mollusks. At the age of sixteen he was recommended for a curator's position at the natural history museum in Geneva, but declined in favor of continuing his education.
He studied natural science at the University of Neuchatel, obtaining his doctorate at the age of twenty-one. His readings in philosophy stimulated an intense interest in epistemology - the study of humans acquire knowledge. Convinced that cognitive development had a genetic basis, Piaget decided that the best way to approach epistemology would be through its behavioral and biological components. Psychology appeared to be the discipline that best incorporated this approach.
81. According to the passage, Piaget went to the mountains every summer to
A. collect data for his research.
B. avoid the city heat and enjoy the cool weather.
C. live in his cabin where he could analyze the data he collected there.
D. analyze his research data he had collected before.
82. The data Piaget was analyzing in his cabin in the Alps was mostly concerning
A. his findings of the wild life in the mountains.
B. his experiments on the plants and wild life in the mountains.
C. his past experiments on how human beings obtain their knowledge.
D. his working experience at his Center.
83. Which of the following statements is true?
A. When the weather became cool, he went down the mountain and started writing books and articles.
B. When the weather was hot, he went up the mountain and began writing.
C. When the weather was cool, he took long walks on the mountain trails.
D. He liked to walk in the cool evening, thinking about his experiments.
84. According to the passage, Piaget must have published
A. several articles on his observation of sparrows.
B. a few books and articles on the data he had collected.
C. a variety of books and articles on his experiments.
D. a great many books and articles on his observations and research.
85. Piaget's main academic interest was in
A. how human beings learn through observations.
B. the genetic and cognitive basis for humans' cognitive development.
C. analyzing research data through scientific method.
D. behaviorists' views on acquiring knowledge.
86. Piaget can be best regarded as a psychologist who
A. emphasizes the mental processes.
B. stresses the importance of the biological basis.
C. places more emphasis on the behavioral components.
D. sees observations as being more important than others.