12.Practice.Tests.for.the.SAT_2015-2016_1128p

12 Practice Tests for the SAT /
Practice Test Eleven Answers and Explanations 1001
In (A), sympathy fits well, and reserved conveys the
sense that the author feels the conditions were necessary.
Choice (B) is an opposite; the author is sympathetic, not
disinterested. Choice (C) is an opposite; again, the author is
sympathetic, not contemptuous. Choice (D) is out of scope;
the author doesn't seem at all confused, so befuddlement
doesn't fit. Choice (E) is extreme; the author might be
appreciative of the workers, but unreserved is too extreme
and doesn't fit the mixed feelings of your prediction.
8. B
Difficulty: Medium
Treat a challenging Vocab-in-Context like a Sentence
Completion problem.
In the sentence in question, the author says that European
boardinghouses were even worse than their American
counterparts. So even if you've never seen the word base
used in this way, you know that it must be negative since
it applies to the European boardinghouse owners. Look
for a negative word that could describe ethics, and keep in
mind other meanings for the word base, like the base of a
mountain.
In (A), in this context, this word indicates that something
is highly moral, the opposite of what you're looking for. In
(B), immoral ethics sounds good. Choice (C) is a tempting
meaning, but absent doesn't seem to match any of the other,
more familiar meanings of base. Choice (D) is tempting,
but it's the actions that were harmful, not the ethics that
motivated the actions. Choice (E) matches one meaning of
base, but it doesn't fit in the context.
9. A
Difficulty: Medium
According to Passage I tells you that this will ask about a
specific detail. Don't try to answer from memory.
This detail appears in the second paragraph. Check out lines
1 6-1 8: Primarily to assure families that their daughters
would not be corrupted by factory life.
Choice (A) is a good match. Choice (B) is distortion; the
passage discusses factory life, not city life. Choice (C) is a
misused detail; the boardinghouses spread-rather than
prevented-disease. Choice (D) is out of scope; the social
activities of the workers are never discussed. Choice (E)
is distortion; this was indeed an effect, as shown in the
second sentence of the second paragraph, but it's not the
reason that factory owners instituted the policy.
10. B
Difficulty: Low
The correct answer in a Vocab-in-Context question won't
just work in a particular sentence-it will also make the
sentence work in the entire passage.
Since the economists advanced an idea, advanced must be
something that you can do with an idea. The final paragraph
presents this idea, and the author seems to regard the
idea as reasonable, so look for something that says the
economists stated the idea.
Choice (A) is the typical meaning of advanced-but it
doesn't fit here. When you read (B) back, it makes perfect
sense. In (C), the word makes sense in the sentence,
but then the sentence doesn't work with the rest of the
paragraph. The author wouldn't talk about a group denying
an idea that hasn't even been stated yet. In (D), can you
progress an idea? That doesn't make much sense. Choice
(E), like (C), sounds okay in the sentence, but that sentence
then doesn't make sense in the paragraph as a whole.
11. E
Difficulty: High
For Reasoning questions, summarize the author's argument
in your own words before looking at the answer choices.
The author thinks that factory owners had no choice
because they would have lost money and gone out of
business if they had instituted better working conditions.
Look for an answer choice that would weaken this
argument.
Choice (A) is out of scope-tempting, but no. Conditions
in France don't necessarily have anything to do with
conditions in America. Maybe it's easier to run a factory in
France for some reason that just doesn't apply in America.
Choice (B) is out of scope; maybe this Bennington system
is even crueler to workers. We don't know anything about
the Bennington system, so this doesn't weaken the
argument. Choice (C) is an opposite; this doesn't weaken
the argument-it strengthens it. It just proves that it would
have been a poor business strategy to improve working
conditions. Choice (D) is out of scope; maybe 20th-century
factories had technologies or other advantages not available
to 1 9th-century factories. Since the situations are not the
same, the improved 20th-century conditions don't weaken
the argument that poor conditions were necessary in the
19th century. Choice (E) fits. If factory owners had a way
to improve conditions without lowering profits, then this