QUESTION: 33

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.

pretentious
solicitous
superficial
perfunctory
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.

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QUESTION: 34

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

precise . . arcane
laborious . . tedious
trite . . flippant
convoluted . . circumlocutory
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

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QUESTION: 35

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

fascinating to
enigmatic to
dangerous to
exploited by
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

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QUESTION: 36

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.

good . . new
reliable . . costly
useful . . valuable
needless . . single
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 .fit this idea.

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Free SAT Section 1: Critical Reading Exam Braindumps

QUESTION: 33

Explanation:

QUESTION: 34

Explanation:

QUESTION: 35

Explanation:

QUESTION: 36

Explanation: