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

12 Practice Tests for the SAT
Practice Test Nine Answers and Explanations 829
I
Questions 1 0- 1 5
This is a not-too-difficult social science passage that only
has a few big ideas. If you felt confused at any point, it
would have been worthwhile to check the questions.
They clarify things and are fairly straightforward. Your first
reading should have given you these ideas: Paragraph 1
says that people have less free time now than they used
to, because people are choosing to work overtime to be
able to afford expensive leisure-time activities. Paragraph
2 says that although people have less free time during the
week, on weekends they feel compelled to participate in
strenuous, skill-testing activities. Paragraph 3 explains that
this is because technology has removed craft from most
professions, so people try to prove their competency by
mastering demanding leisure activities.
10. c
Difficulty: Medium
Go back and read a few lines around the quoted line to
see the context in which skiing and sailing are mentioned.
The author's point is that if you want to go skiing or sailing
in your free time, unless you are rich, you'll have to spend
some of that free time working to be able to afford those
expensive pastimes. That makes (C) correct. The point is
not that expensive sports are inaccessible for the average
person, (A), but that they require a sacrifice of time.
The author is not commenting on the cost of sports like
skiing and sailing, (D), or whether they are unnecessarily
expensive, (B). Choice (E) is out because the author is not
giving out advice about what type of recreation to choose.
11. B
Difficulty: Medium
Don't overinterpret the passage with a question like this
one-the answer is fairly straightforward. For example,
(C), (D), and (E) give way too much information for what
is found in the text. The author simply says that either
because advertising is very effective, or because people
just want to own stuff, they choose to work more hours.
So the effectiveness of advertising is one possible reason
why people spend so much on recreation, (B). Choice (A)
sounds much too extreme-the author never condemns the
average consumer for anything.
12. B
Difficulty: Low
After reading a line or two around the word indulgences, it
should be clear that the author uses that word to refer to
items like elaborate running shoes and monogrammed
worm-up suits. These clearly are not (E), favors. There's
nothing in the context to support the idea that they are (A),
rewords; they certainly are not expenses, (D); and while
(C), whims, comes close, (B), luxuries, is the better answer.
13. D
Difficulty: Medium
The author's point in lines 39-46 is that until recently,
many leisure activities could only be pursued once a year.
The example of taking swimwear out of mothballs illustrates
this point ironically-people swam so infrequently, they had
to put their swimwear in long-term storage, (D). Choice
(A) is wrong because the author expresses no particular
opinion about annual vacations today. Household chores,
(B), is a distortion of the idea of digging equipment out and
dusting it off. Choice (C) is out because despair is too strong
a word-watch out for these kinds of wrong choices-and
because taking out swimwear hardly fits the description of a
traditional custom. Finally, there was no lock of enthusiasm
for swimming in the past-it was just enjoyed in a different
way than it is now, (E).
14. A
Difficulty: High
The casual attitude is described at the end of paragraph 2.
It is the emphasis on having a good time during recreation,
rather than focusing on technique. Choices (C) and (D)
jump out as wrong because they're never discussed. Choice
(E) is also off-base; people never had a resistance toward
buying sports equipment. You can scan paragraph 1 to be
sure, but there was never a restriction on working overtime,
so (B) is out. That leaves (A), which may not seem like a
very precise answer, but by process of elimination it has to
be correct. Remember not to argue with what you're givenchoose
the best answer, and move on.