70 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT
3.C One who has encountered such tragedy would
be expected to look to his painting as a departurefrom
such abject(wretched) sorrow.
prudence=conservative wisdom; remorse=regret;
adulation=admiration; solace=peaceful respite;
melancholy=sadness; elation=extreme happiness
4.B Proponents of a new curriculumare people
who support the change, while conservative educators
are those who want to keep things the same.
repugnant=disgusting; innocuous=harmless; deplorable
=regrettable; reprehensible=worthy of scorn; benevolent
=kind; malicious=evil; auspicious=favorable
5.D What effect should a lack of oxygenhave on
climbers? It should be expected to weakenthem. But this
implies that the expedition leader’s plan to acclimate
them (get them used to the environment) was a failure.
illusory=like an illusion; initiated=started; mitigated
=soothed or made better; enervated=weakened; ven-
erable=worthy of honor; absolved=forgiven
6.E One who questions norms(conventions) and
mores(moral standards) is a rebelof sorts.
charlatan=a fake; surrogate=one who stands in place
of another; philanthropist=one who gives to charity;
pragmatist=one concerned with practical matters; icon-
oclast=one who destroys sacred objects or traditions
7.A If he stands in the negative camp,then he must
have a firm opinion about the issue.
ambivalent=having conflicting opinions on an issue;
unequivocally=without doubt; apathetic=lacking
concern; furtively=secretively; impartial=fair and un-
biased; adamant=stubborn; vehemently=passion-
ately; subjective=being a matter of opinion
8.C If he was dismissedby his contemporaries,
they must have thought negatively of him. The al-
thoughimplies a contrast, so modern thinkers must
now think positively of him.
pedant=a know-it-all; derivative=deriving from the
work of others; neophyte=beginner; vociferous=
loudly opinionated; radical=one with an extreme
opinion; visionary=able to envision the future; parti-
san=marked by party loyalty; conciliatory=bringing
people together; hermit=one who prefers to live alone
9.C Passage 1 focuses on the study of molecules of
which living organisms are composed.Passage 2 dis-
cusses the ways in which organisms harvest energy
through chemical processes like photosynthesis and
chemosynthesis, which are biochemical processes.
10.C The main point of the paragraph is in the first
sentence: the study of life on Earth ultimately involves
the study of molecules.The questions that follow are
therefore questions about molecules that concern those
who study life on Earth, that is, biologists.11.A Passage 2 focuses on organisms that harvest
energy in a way that is analogous to, but different
from, photosynthesis. The process of converting en-
ergy into food for the organism, then, is a relevant
topic for Passage 2.12.D Passage 2 discusses how other organisms uti-
lize the bacteria that harvest energy from sulfides,
either by consuming them or incorporating them into
their tissues. This concept is not discussed in Passage- Both passages discuss the conversion of light energy
to food energy, and bonds within molecules. Only Pas-
sage 1 discusses the structure of cells and disease,
specifically cancer.
13.C The author indicates that one should react with
proper skepticismto those reports, thereby implying
that they are probably untrue.14.B The author asks (in line 21) the reader to com-
parethe probability of being a victim of terrorism to
the list of probabilities that follow, which are much
greater, thereby implying that terrorism is not much
of a threat.15.E The personal recollection begins on line 60: I
once had a conversation... .The verifiable statistics
abound in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3. The authoritative
study is mentioned in lines 54–60. Common misconcep-
tions are mentioned multiple times, as in lines 12–13:
being killed by terrorists might seem to be a major risk.16.B The author says that this penetrating insightis
really a non sequitur,that is, something that doesn’t
follow logically. Therefore it is not a penetrating
insight at all.17.A The author says that a feeling for what quanti-
ties or time spans are appropriate in various contexts
is essential to getting the joke(lines 47–49), thereby
implying that the couple, like those who slip between
millions and billions,lack an appreciation for partic-
ular quantities.18.C In the span of approximately 20 minutesthe
doctor said three different things about the proce-
dure, so he contradicted himself frequently.19.B The passage refines the usage of the word by
saying the same organization, the same physical laws,
thereby suggesting that the author meant rules of
physicswhen he said organization.