CHAPTER 2 / DIAGNOSTIC SAT 77
15.D First draw a diagram to see how the area of an
equilateral triangle is related to the lengths of the sides:
butin the sentence indicates that Ms. Linney is going
against the tradition,and does not portray her charac-
ter demurely(modestly).
bluster=brashness; forgo=abandon an inclination or
plan; coyness=shyness; bombast=pompous speech; es-
chew=abandon; impudence=impertinence, rudeness6.C Despiteimplies an ironic situation. If analysts
have tried to depict the stock market as driven by pre-
dictable principles,it would be ironic if people be-
lieved that it was not predictable at all.
invaluable=very valuable; complacent=self-satisfied;
capricious=arbitrary, whimsical; responsive=tend-
ing to respond quickly; obscure=not widely known7.C The controlis mentioned in the context of
the creation of life(line 10). This is the process of
conception.8.B The author says that this “outsourcing”...
leaves us with a profoundly hollow feeling(lines
14–18). This indicates a disdain.9.E This statement is from those who turn [their]
noses up at one who would offer us the most precious
gift in the universe,that is, the advocates of cloning
are turning up their noses at nature or God.10.A The parenthetical comment suggests that the
essential random... processes that form the basis of
natural selectionmay be only seeminglyrandom. This
suggests that these processes may be planned rather
than random.11.D The “unnatural selection”is described as in-
volving an assembly line(lines 29–31), which is a type
of mechanical procedure,and carefully designed and
tested features(line 32), which implies a selection of
characteristics.The random processes(lines 27–28)
are attributed to naturalselection.12.A The passage implies that those who know a lit-
tle bit about the history of technology(lines 55–56) would
not have such irrational fears about human cloning(line
53). Therefore you can eliminate choice (D). The fact
that these fearsare called irrationaleliminates choices
(B) and (E). Since these fears are said to abound from
all parts of the political spectrum(line 54), you can elim-
inate choice (C). The passage never mentions that the
opponents are very religious,so the answer is (A).13.C Surgery is mentioned in line 63 as something
significant(line 57) that was once denounced(line 58).14.C After quoting Mr. Rifkin, the author then goes
on to describe the illogic behind the quote.2xxx2x
x^3Notice that the height (which is also the bisector
of the “top” angle) divides the triangle into two 30°-
60 °-90°triangles, with sides as shown. The area of a
triangle is base ×height/2, which in this case is
Since the area is given as ,xmust equal 6. Substituting this into the diagram,
each smaller triangle has sides of length 6, , and 12.
Therefore the sum of the perimeters of the two tri-
angles is 36 +.
(Chapter 10, Lesson 2: Triangles)
(Chapter 10, Lesson 3: The Pythagorean Theorem)
(Chapter 10, Lesson 5: Areas and Perimeters)
16.B At 4:00 pm, there are 1,000 bacteria. Since
the population doubles every two hours, there must
have been half as many two hours ago. So at 2:00 pm
there were 500 bacteria, and at 12:00 noon there
were 250 bacteria. (Notice that the fact that there
were 100 bacteria to start is irrelevant.)
(Chapter 9, Lesson 4: Rate Problems)
Section 8
1.D If she was relieved, the tumor must not have
been dangerous.
malignant= dangerous; irreverent = disrespectful; serene
=calm; benign = harmless; mortal = capable of dying
2.C If the jargon rendered the speech decipherable
only toa few audience members, then it rendered the
speech undecipherableto the rest of the audience.
Therefore the message was obscured.
3.D If one prefers styleto performance,then the
cosmeticappeal of the car would be most important.
utilitarian=concerned with practical uses; pragmatic=
concerned with function; aesthetic=pertaining to beauty
4.A If something serves its purpose only temporar-
ily,then it is by definition provisional.
provisional=serving a temporary purpose; polemical
=relating to a controversial intellectual position;
pedantic=acting like a know-it-all
5.E A foilis a character that provides a dramatic
contrast to the personality of another character. The
12 3
63
36 3
()23
2
(^23)
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