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

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12 Practice Tests for the SAT
Practice Test Eight Answers and Explanations
15. B
Difficulty: Medium
The question Why the incessant diving? serves to lead the
reader into a discussion of the turtles' diving behavior. The
author is using the device of asking a question and then
answering it in order to introduce a new topic for discussion,
(B). Although the turtles' diving may be an area requiring
further research, the author does not pose the question to
make this point. Nor is he making a statement about the
limitations of the time-depth recorder; you already know
from the previous paragraph what the instrument can and
cannot do. There is no suggestion here that the turtles were
behaving in a novel way. How would the researchers know
if the behavior were novel or not? This was the first time they
ever monitored the turtles. Finally, (E) is far too broad to be
the right answer-watch out for this common kind of wrong
answer type.
16. c
Difficulty: High
Read the lines surrounding the cited lines. The deep
scattering layer migrates to the surface at night to feed on
phytoplankton, then gradually retreats from daylight. . . . A
leatherback's dives seem to follow the movements of the
deep scattering layer. The reason turtles make shallower
dives as dusk approaches is that their food source is getting
closer to the surface, (C). Clearly turtles can locate their
prey at night, so (A) is out. Choice (B) can be eliminated
because turtles feed on jellyfish, not phytoplankton. Choices
(D) and (E) may seem to be reasonable choices, but they
don't work in the context of the passage.
17. E
Difficulty: Medium
You can answer this question without reading all of the
final paragraph. The author says that they have not been
able to directly observe leatherbacks feeding, but we have
collected some additional circumstantial evidence. It stands
to reason, then, that the additional evidence will support
what the author has been claiming in the previous two
paragraphs, that female leatherbacks find most of their
food in the deep scattering layer, (E). Choices (A), (B), and
(D) have little to do with the information in the passage.
Choice (C) may have been distracting because the author
does mention that female leatherbacks come ashore
repeatedly during each nesting season, but this is not the
circumstantial evidence the author uses, nor is it what the
author is trying to prove.
18. E
Difficulty: Medium
The correct answer to this Big Picture question should
jump right out at you now that you've done the other
questions and reread quite a bit of the passage in the
process. The author doesn't say much about leatherbacks'
nesting patterns or about misconceptions concerning the
leatherbacks' feeding activity, (B). His description of the
time-depth recorder is a detail, not his primary objective.
Choice (D) is wrong because the author never encourages
others to study leatherbacks. Instead, he is offer[ing] his
own findings about the behavior of leatherbacks, (E). A
shortcut to answering this question would have been to
take a look at the verbs in the answer choices first. Does
the author dispute or encourage anything in the passage?
No, so these two choices could have been eliminated right
away, leaving you with only three to examine more closely.
Questions 19-24
With this fiction passage, you really needed to read the
introduction (something you should always do, in any case).
If you didn't, you wouldn't have had any idea what caused
the extremely uncomfortable situation to arise between
Marc and his friends, and you'd be confused throughout
the passage because the author never specifically mentions
what has upset Camilla and Karen. The first paragraph
centers on Camilla's reaction to Marc's bragging and
Marc's realization that he has offended her once again.
In the second paragraph, the author airs Marc's opinion
on Camilla's tendency to overreact. She gets emotional
when it isn't warranted, from Marc's point of view, as a
consequence of her intelligence and the fact that she cares
strongly about certain things. Marc's attention and thoughts
turn to Karen in the third paragraph when he sees that he
has offended her also, even though they've been friends
for a long time. The final paragraph depicts Marc's initial,
awkward attempts to smooth the situation over.