700 MCGRAW-HILL’S SAT
6.D The althoughestablishes a contrast. Something
that makes any potentially offensive matters seem less
objectionableis, by definition, a euphemism.The first
blank should therefore be a word that contrasts with
euphemism, like straightforward. anachronism=some-
thing out of place in time; intolerant=unable to put up
with something; laudation=extreme praise; clandes-
tine=secret, hidden; candid=honest, straightforward;
euphemism=the substitution of an inoffensive term
for an offensive one; forthright=honest; coercion=
pressure on someone to act
7.C The English gentleman tried to teach his son
Greek and Latin without punishment,... rewarding
his son with cherries and biscuits(lines 5–11).
8.A In saying that marks, grades, and diplomas...
must be made reinforcing for other reasons (lines
16–19), the author is saying that such things will not
reinforce behavior by themselves but must be made
to represent something more meaningful.
9.B The passage says that how honors and medals
derive their power from prestige or esteemis what varies
between cultures and epochs(lines 20–23). When Oscar
Wilde got a “first in Mods”in 1876, he was the talk of
the town. But the contemporary student graduating
summa cum laude is less widely acclaimed (lines
33–34).
10.A The story follows the statement that how hon-
ors and medals derive their power from prestige or es-
teem is what varies between cultures and epochs.
Therefore, the story is intended to illustrate that fact.
11.C Statement I is supported by lines 37–39,
which say that certain kinds of reinforcements (like
food) are not always easily arranged.Statement II is
supported by line 43: We cannot all get prizes.The
selection does not mention anything about rewards
encouraging only superficial learning.
12.D In lines 58–60, the passage says that grades are
almost always given long after the student has stopped
behaving as a student.It then goes on to discuss how
such contingencies are weak(lines 60–61).
13.E The paragraph as a whole discusses the need
for teachers to address the issues of whether, when,
and how to punish or reward student behavior, so it
is about teacher-student interactions.
14.B Kohn and Deci are mentioned as examples of
experts who believe that reward is often just as harm-
ful as punishment, if not more so(lines 87–89).
15.D The second paragraph of Passage 2 goes on to
argue that those who are doing a task without a re-
ward continue to perform the task because they see it
as being “fun,” whereas those who do it for a reward
stop playing because they are no longer being paid to
continue. The activity’s sole value comes from the
payment they get for it, not from the enjoyment they
get from participating.16.D We are told that Deci concluded that the sub-
jects who were paid probably construed(interpreted)
the task as being manipulative(lines 105–106). In
order to draw such conclusions, the subjects would
have to make inferences about the motivations of the
experimenter.17.A The author follows that statement with it
would be a mistake to use these few experiments to gen-
eralize that all rewards are bad(lines 130–132). These
statements caution against an overly simplistic theory
about the effectiveness of rewards.18.B Deci’s opinion is that the introduction of a re-
ward system changes things for the worse. He would
see the description of the problemsmentioned in line
37 as presumptuous because they presume that the
rewards actually have a positive effect and incomplete
because they do not mention all of the problems that
he sees in reward systems.19.D Both authors agree that positive feedback is a
more effective teaching mechanism than negative feed-
back. Passage 1 mentions the need of good educators
to teach... without punishment(lines 6–7) and men-
tions the negative by-products of aversive control(con-
trol by punishment) (lines 35–36). Passage 2 mentions
that most educators and psychologists agree that reward
is always better than punishment(lines 84–85), and
since the writer goes on to criticize even reward sys-
tems, he implies that punishment is most certainly a
bad teaching technique.Section 91.C The word whoseshould refer to Alvin Ailey,
but the way the sentence is constructed, it is referring
to Alvin Ailey’s works.Answer choice (C) corrects this
error in the most concise and logical fashion.
(Chapter 15, Lesson 2: Trimming Sentences)2.B When a participle is used to indicate an action
that is completed before another action, it should be
perfect. Gettingthis far should instead be Having gotten.
(Chapter 15, Lesson 9: Tricky Tenses)