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

12 Practice Tests for the SAT
744 Practice Test Eight Answers and Explanations
11. c
Difficulty: Medium
The author uses the example of the difficulty of walking
and talking with his Arab friend to highlight the difference
in position of the bodies of people in conversation from
culture to culture. In other words, the author is demonstrat[ing]
that Arabs respond differently from Americans
to spatial relationships, (C). The incident with his Arab
friend was not a breakthrough in his research, (A), but one
of his earliest discoveries. Choice (B) is out because the
author and his friend are certainly communicating with each
other; the friend is merely having difficulty doing so while
walking alongside the author. Although it took the author a
little while to understand his friend's behavior, he does not
mention this to emphasize that it is difficult to learn foreign
customs, (0)-the scope of (D) is far too broad (a typical
wrong answer type). Finally, (E) can be eliminated because
the author never mentions American cities in the passage.
12. E
Difficulty: High
The work you do in answering one question may help you
answer another. If you had reread the second paragraph in
order to answer the last question, you should have been
able to pick out the correct answer here. The author's
Arab friend was unable to walk and talk at the same time
because, as the author learns, to view another person
peripherally is regarded as impolite. He doesn't wish to
seem rude, (E). Perhaps the most tempting wrong choice
is (C); it's wrong because the fact that the author's friend
follows his own customs and not Western customs does
not necessarily mean that he is not familiar with Western
customs. There is no evidence for (A), (B), and (D) in the
second paragraph or anywhere else in the passage.
13. B
Difficulty: Medium
Beware of the obvious choice, apprehended, which is the
most common use of the word arrested. Arrested has a
completely different meaning as it is used in the passage. From
the context of the passage, it is clear that the Arab is stopping,
or delaying, the progress of the two of them walking together
by insisting on facing the author while they talk.
14. E
Difficulty: Medium
The example of intervening when two men fight is
presented in the third paragraph, where the previous
question also came from. Since the author is discussing the
Arabs' emphasis on public participation in this paragraph
as a whole, (E) should have jumped right out. Choices (A),
(B), (C), and (D) are all reasonable-sounding answers that
don't reflect the context of the passage, which just goes to
show that you should always go back to check the context
before picking an answer.
15. D
Difficulty: Medium
The Arab attitude toward government policy is that when a
government does not intervene when trouble is brewing,
this is the same thing as taking sides. The answer to this
question lies in the next sentence: it is normal for Arabs
to see the actions of other governments this way because
they don't understand the cultural mold of their own
thoughts. Choice (D) is the best paraphrase of this idea. The
author does not make the judgment that not taking sides
is an effective strategy, (A), or that the Arab approach is
simplistic, (C). Choice (B) has things backwards: the author
is talking about how Arabs misunderstand the actions of
Western governments, not the other way around. Finally,
(E) is out because it is too broad and sweeping (remember
that wrong answer type?); the author isn't making any global
statement about Middle Eastern politics.
16. D
Difficulty: Low
You don't have to go very far in paragraph 4 to realize that
the word space keeps appearing again and again. This is
indeed what the author is talking about here: the use of
space inside Arab homes and how different it is from what
you find in American homes. If you had a good grasp of
the Big Picture, perhaps you didn't even need to reread the
paragraph, for you would know that the use of space inside
of the Arab home was its general topic. All of the other
choices are things that the author never mentions at all.