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College Board PSAT-READING Exam Questions
Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test - Reading (Page 4 )

Updated On: 21-Feb-2026
Page 4 of 53
PDF with 256 Questions

Friends of the theater have long decried the ____________ of the New York drama critics, whose reviews can determine the fate of a play in a single night.

  1. insensitivity
  2. provinciality
  3. intelligence
  4. power
  5. inaccuracy

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

The missing word must fit the description of the critics given in the second half of the sentence. If they "can determine the fate of a play in a single night," then clearly they have a lot of "power."



The _________ manner in which the teacher candidate addressed the school board was a key factor in his rejection; the school board members agreed that enthusiasm is an essential quality in a teacher.

  1. pretentious
  2. solicitous
  3. superficial
  4. perfunctory
  5. combative

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

Remember that a semicolon (;) often indicates that the two halves of the sentence restate or paraphrase the same idea. The second half of this sentence tells us that the members of the school board wanted "enthusiasm" in a teacher candidate. Therefore, the word that describes the candidate they rejected should mean the opposite of "enthusiastic." "Perfunctory" fits the bill.



Her ____________ writing style made it difficult to follow her thought processes--no surprise to her colleagues, who were familiar with her ____________ manner of speech.

  1. precise . . arcane
  2. laborious . . tedious
  3. trite . . flippant
  4. convoluted . . circumlocutory
  5. ambiguous . . affected

Answer(s): D

Explanation:

Since both blanks here describe something similar--the way this unnamed person communicates--the two words should be near-synonyms. And the words "difficult to follow her thought processes" make it clear that both missing words should mean "hard to understand, unnecessarily complicated



The giant squid is still ____________ marine biologists, as it has never been seen alive, making it impossible to study in its natural habitat.

  1. fascinating to
  2. enigmatic to
  3. dangerous to
  4. exploited by
  5. famous among

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

This sentence has a cause-and-effect relationship, as indicated by the word "as." If the squid "has never been seen alive," one could logically conclude that it would be "enigmatic



Advertising can increase sales of a ____________ product, but it cannot create demand for a bad one; consumers may buy a ____________ item because of advertising--but only once.

  1. good..new
  2. reliable . . costly
  3. useful . . valuable
  4. needless . . single
  5. well-made . . badly made

Answer(s): E

Explanation:

Both halves of the sentence make much the same point--that people will buy good products but not bad ones. Only the words in choice E. fit this idea.






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