5/23/25
In pumping her “Wonderful Hair Grower” door-to-door, at club gatherings, and eventually through a mail-order catalog, Sarah Walker—who eventually decided to promote herself professionally under the name, Madame C.J. Walker, proved to be a marketing magician who sold her customers more than mere hair products. She offered them a lifestyle, a concept of total hygiene and beauty that in her mind would bolster their pride.
A. NO CHANGE
B. name Madame C.J. Walker—
C. name, Madame C.J. Walker
D. name Madame C.J. Walker,
Click here for the answer.
5/22/25
In 1850, Joel Houghton registered a patent for the first mechanical dishwasher in the United States. The device was made of wood and was cranked by hand while water sprayed onto the dishes, and they were both slow and unreliable. Fifteen years later, another patent was granted to L.A. Alexander. It was similar to the first but featured a hand-cranked rack system. Like Houghton’s, this contraption was neither practical nor widely accepted.
A. NO CHANGE
B. it was
C. those were
D. DELETE the underlined portion.
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5/21/25
Hedy Lamarr and her co-inventor, the composer George Anthiel, figured out how to use the mechanics of the player piano to create the earliest version of the “frequency-hopping spread-spectrum” system. A method that protects radio communications by switching frequencies in a preprogrammed pattern.
A. NO CHANGE
B. system a method that
C. system, a method that
D. system, a method
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5/20/25
In Washington, D.C., viewing the cherry blossoms is a time-honored tradition that dates back to 1912. At that time, Tokyo presented 3,020 cherry trees to the United States in an act of friendship. The Cherry Blossom Festival was launched in 1935 to commemorate the springtime occasion, and it is still celebrated today.
What is the most effective way to combine the two sentences at the underlined portion?
A. that dates back to 1912, when Tokyo presented
B. dating back to 1912, and that was a time when Tokyo presented
C. that dates back to 1912, and Tokyo then presenting
D. that had dated back to 1912, which is when Tokyo presented
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5/19/25
Raising mice in captivity has been traced back to the seventeenth century, when collectors in Japan selected for traits such as coat color or unique behaviors. Two centuries later, “fancy” mice experienced a gust in popularity in Britain and in the United States, with people keeping them for pets and breeding interesting specimens for mouse shows.
A. NO CHANGE
B. surge
C. race
D. stream
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5/18/25
The Apollo 11 mission became famous for allowing astronauts to land on the lunar surface in 1969. However, the flight of Apollo 8, which sent the first crew to orbit the moon seven months earlier, was in some ways even riskier, its success more surprising.
A. NO CHANGE
B. its’
C. they’re
D. their
Click here for the answer.
5/17/25
When scientists cracked open the Murchison meteorite, which fell in Australia in 1969, and scraped the material on the inside, they discovered that it was chock-full of carbon and organic materials. It also had an odd smell, reminiscent of the New York City subway—metallic, with musty and bitter hints.
A. NO CHANGE
B. 1969 and scraped the material on the inside they
C. 1969, scraped the material on the inside, they
D. 1969, and scraped the material on the inside—they
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5/16/25
As the United States stood on the brink of a Second World War, the push for aeronautical advancement grew ever greater, spurring an insatiable demand for mathematicians. Ushered into the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1935 to shoulder the burden of number crunching, engineers were freed from hand calculations in the decades before the digital age by dozens of women acting as human “computers.”
A. NO CHANGE
B. in the decades before the digital age, dozens of women acting as human “computers” freed engineers from hand calculations.
C. dozens of women acting as “human computers” freed engineers from hand calculations in the decades before the digital age.
D. hand calculations were freed from engineers by dozens of women acting as human “computers” in the decades before the digital age.
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5/15/25
When Paige Embry, author of Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them, learned that bees extract pollen from flowers by shaking them, she embarked on a reporting journey to document the lives of North America’s 4,000 wild native pollinators. Some secrete silk, she discovered, while others shave fuzzy plants to build plush pillows for their eggs. Still others nest in rose stems, cow patties, or snail shells.
A. NO CHANGE
B. them. She embarked
C. them, and she embarked
D. them, she embarked,
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5/14/25
In recent years, scientists have become increasingly aware that plants thrive through cooperation rather than competition. For example, oaks that are subjected to drought conditions have been shown to provide nutrition to their beneficial partners by transferring water from their tap roots up through their root systems to associated fungal networks, nourishing these beneficial partners. In fact, some researchers believe that such networks are the principal way that plants extract nutrients from the soil.
A. NO CHANGE
B. providing nourishment for these beneficial partners.
C. sustaining these beneficial partners.
D. DELETE the underlined portion (replacing the comma after networks with a period).
Click here for the answer.
5/13/25
When I was a child growing up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, crossing a big bridge meant facing unexpected challenges. The majestic Chesapeake Bay Bridge was my family’s main route off of the rural shore and towards “real cities,” where we could walk among crowds and shop in stores unlike anything we had at home. But these trips were also journeys in themselves— a chance to spot bottlenose dolphins and peregrine falcons and to see both our home and our destination from a new perspective.
Which choice best introduces the topic of the paragraph?
A. NO CHANGE
B. taking a step toward independence.
C. entering a portal to a new world.
D. returning to my roots.
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5/12/25
Although it is estimated that 10 meteorites come crashing to Earth from outer space every day, researchers only discover a few of these rocks each year. They are easiest to spot when they fall on relatively stable geographic environments, making it unnecessary for search teams to use metal detectors like the Arizona desert.
A. NO CHANGE
B. environments that make it unnecessary for search teams to use metal detectors like the Arizona desert.
C. environments like the Arizona desert, making it unnecessary for search teams to use metal detectors.
D. environments like metal detectors that make it unnecessary for search teams in the Arizona desert.
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5/11/25
In 1997, David Perry founded Indigo Ag, a company dedicated to commercializing microorganisms that help plants grow. Indigo Ag’s scientists have identified a variety of microbes that confer resistance to drought, are developing others that reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides in five important crops: corn, rice, soybeans, cotton, and wheat.
A. NO CHANGE
B. scientists identify
C. scientists, having identified
D. scientists identified
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5/10/25
In the past few years, governments have begun to see automation as the key to better urban futures. Many cities are becoming test-beds for experiments with robots in social spaces, where robots have both a practical purpose (for which they are programmed) and a symbolic role (to demonstrate good city governance). Whether through autonomous cars, automated pharmacists, service robots in local stores, or autonomous drones delivering parcels, cities are being automated at a steady pace.
Which choice provides an example that is most similar to the other example in the sentence?
A. NO CHANGE
B. (to facilitate everyday life)
C. (they come in many shapes and sizes)
D. (and are becoming ever more intelligent)
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5/9/25
Today, humans can live in space for months at a time, and some space travelers are lucky enough to visit the realm of microgravity more than once. Repeat trips into space teach astronauts not only to survive in a hostile and alien environment but also adjusting to life back on Earth.
A. NO CHANGE
B. they adjust
C. adjusted
D. to adjust
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5/8/25
The “Green Revolution”—championed by American agronomist Norman Borlaug, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work—led farmers to: increase their use of chemical fertilizers, adopt high-yielding crop varieties, and improve their irrigation practices and technologies. Today, those practices are firmly entrenched aspects of industrial agriculture.
A. NO CHANGE
B. to increase their use of chemical fertilizers;
C. to increase their use of chemical fertilizers,
D. to increase their use, of chemical fertilizers
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5/7/25
In the never-ending symphony of the sea, there’s a standout among the percussive pings of bottlenose dolphins and the plaintive calls of humpback whales. Recordings of bowhead whales show that these mammals sing intricate yet varied songs—they’re more like jazz musicians than Beethoven or Bach.
A. NO CHANGE
B. intricate, yet varied
C. intricate yet, varied
D. intricate yet varied,
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5/6/25
The largest pyramid, built for the Pharaoh Khufu around 2530 B.C. and intended in lasting an eternity, was until fairly recently the largest building on the planet. To raise it, laborers moved six-and-a-half million tons of stone—some in blocks as large as nine tons—into position using nothing but wood and rope.
A. NO CHANGE
B. on lasting
C. for lasting
D. to last
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5/5/25
Numerous factors—from changes in air temperature to the tug of nearby storms—can affect a tornado’s development. Unlike hurricanes, which can be spotted days off shore, tornadoes develop over the course of hours or minutes, which makes taking on-the-ground measurements even more challenging.
A. NO CHANGE
B. affect a tornadoes development.
C. effect a tornado’s development.
D. effect a tornadoes development.
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5/4/25
The cognitive scientist Rafael Núñez of the University of California at San Diego doesn’t buy the conventional wisdom that people have a naturally innate capacity for understanding numbers. Rather, he thinks that “number sense” is a product of culture, like writing and architecture.
A. NO CHANGE
B. a natural and innate
C. a natural, innate
D. an innate
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5/3/25
The emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD) are believed to have been the first to eat a frozen, milky confection. This early version of ice cream was made with cow, goat, or buffalo milk that was heated with flour. Camphor, an aromatic substance harvested from evergreen trees, was added to enhance the texture and flavor. Subsequently, the mixture was placed into metal tubes and lowered into an icy pool until frozen.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Nevertheless,
C. Thus,
D. Despite this,
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5/2/25
Despite the economic promises touted by supporters of the Golden Gate Bridge, the project met fierce resistance from an array of business and civic leaders. Not only would the bridge impede the shipping industry and mar the bay’s natural beauty, they argued, it wouldn’t survive a trembler like the San Francisco Earthquake that crippled the city in 1906.
A. NO CHANGE
B. it also won’t survive
C. and it also wouldn’t survive
D. but it also wouldn’t survive
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5/1/25
Before I started working on real-world robots, I wrote about their fictional and historical ancestors. That wasn’t too different from what I do now. In factories, labs, and of course science fiction, robots continue to fuel our imaginations about artificial humans and smart machines.
Which of the following would NOT be an acceptable alternative to the underlined word?
A. nourish
B. fire
C. supply
D. stimulate
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4/30/25
A beetle’s wings are rarely visible. Hidden behind armored shields on the creature’s back and unfolding in whirring sheets, whisking their clumsy owners away from danger.
A. NO CHANGE
B. back, they unfold
C. back to unfold
D. back and unfold
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4/29/25
In the first half of the twentieth century, tornadoes were said so unpredictable that in order to prevent mass hysteria, the word “tornado” was forbidden from weather forecasts. Progress on the forecasting front moved slowly until the 1970s, when the first Doppler radar allowed scientists to track a storm’s development and spot the signs of a developing twister.
A. NO CHANGE
B. considered
C. viewed
D. described
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4/28/25
The correlation between bad moods and negative judgments allows people to make informed guesses about how others are feeling by observing their actions and choices.
A. NO CHANGE
B. judgments allow
C. judgments have allowed
D. judgments, which allow
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4/27/25
The original Shinkansen, or bullet train, connects the largest Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka, is the world’s busiest high-speed rail line. Carrying 151 million passengers per year, it has transported more travelers than any other high-speed line in the world.
A. NO CHANGE
B. train connects
C. train connects:
D. train, which connects
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4/26/25
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Oregon Trail was the principle pathway for immigrants seeking land and opportunity on the American frontier. From its main departure points in Missouri, the grueling overland route stretched 2,000 miles over the Great Plains and the Continental Divide, finally ending in the fertile Willamette Valley or the gold fields of California.
A. NO CHANGE
B. principal pathway for
C. principle pathway to
D. principal pathway to
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4/25/25
A snowflake begins to form when an extremely cold water droplet freezes onto a pollen or dust particle in the sky, this creates an ice crystal. As the ice crystal falls to the ground, water vapor freezes onto the primary crystal, building new crystals—the six arms of the snowflake.
A. NO CHANGE
B. sky and create
C. sky, creating
D. sky; creating
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4/24/25
Not so long ago, astronomers didn’t know if there were planets outside our solar system or, if there were, whether it could ever be found. But starting with the 1995 discovery of a planet circling the sun-like star 51 Pegasi, there has been a revolution.
A. NO CHANGE
B. this
C. they
D. DELETE the underlined word.
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4/23/25
In recent years, robotics has found its way into our everyday lives, changing them in fundamental ways. Designers have a central role to play in this process, which they shape the interfaces between humans and machines.
A. NO CHANGE
B. process:
C. process,
D. process that
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4/22/25
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a super-lightweight insulating material that, they claim, could prove to be a superior alternative to styrofoam. The material, made from tiny wood fibers, is called nanowood.
A. NO CHANGE
B. material, that they
C. material that they
D. material and they
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4/21/25
Hummingbirds have long intrigued scientists. Their wings can beat 80 times a second, and their hearts can beat more than 1,000 times a minute. They consume nothing but nectar—a sugar- and nutrient-rich liquid produced by plants—they are capable of packing on 40 percent of their body weight in fat for migration.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Because they
C. Although they
D. Since they
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4/20/25
The Megalodon, a prehistoric ancestor of the modern shark, had a bite force of 12 to 20 tons, somewhere between six and ten times stronger than a modern Great White.
A. NO CHANGE
B. then a modern Great White.
C. than that of a modern Great White.
D. than those of a modern Great White.
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4/19/25
Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at the University of Arizona, can see the future of exoplanet research, and it’s not pretty. Imagine, he says, that astronomers use NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to scour the atmosphere of an Earth-mass world for signs of life. They might chase hints of atmospheric oxygen for years before realizing they were false positives produced by geological activity instead of living things.
As it is used in the passage, “scour” most nearly means
A. cleanse
B. consume
C. search
D. burnish
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4/18/25
With the car windows down on the first warm day of spring, the urge is unshakable. You extend your arm into the wind, tracing the city skyline in a natural motion somewhere between swimming and waving. As you move your hand, altering the flow of the air. The redirected air in turn exerts a force on your hand.
A. NO CHANGE
B. hand and alter
C. hand, you alter
D. hand to alter
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4/17/25
Although the concept of sleep-learning, also referred to as hypnopaedia, has been discredited, neuroscientists are now discovering ways to use stimuli such as sound cues during sleep to strengthen peoples’ memories.
A. NO CHANGE
B. peoples memories’.
C. people’s memories.
D. people’s memory’s.
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4/16/25
Once upon a time, it seems that Mars had oceans. However, the exact appearance of these bodies of surface water is a matter of intense debate. Most evidence points towards the deep past, some 4 billion years ago, as the age where Mars could have held marine environments. Since then, the red planet has most likely been cold and arid, with only the occasional shift of climate conditions.
A. NO CHANGE
B. in which
C. which
D. in that
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4/15/25
Baseball has a long and rich history in Japanese-American diplomacy. After the sport was introduced to Japan in the 1870s by the American educator Horace Wilson, it became an important part of Japanese popular culture. Over time, baseball has served as a unifier, bringing together the people of two nations with very different histories and cultures.
A. NO CHANGE
B. educator, Horace Wilson
C. educator, Horace Wilson,
D. educator Horace Wilson
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4/14/25
One of the most renowned architects of the twentieth century, Frank Lloyd Wright was the pioneer of the Prairie School movement and he developed the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States.
A. NO CHANGE
B. and developing
C. the developer of
D. had developed
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4/13/25
In terms of intelligence, the octopus stands far above most other animals. During one really cool study, researchers tested whether this creature is able to distinguish between different people. Two individuals interacted with an octopus, with one acting extremely friendly and another seeming cold and standoffish. Later, when the two people entered the octopus’s living area, the octopus ignored the impersonal one in favor of the friendlier guest.
A. NO CHANGE
B. awesome
C. intriguing
D. totally neat
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4/12/25
In the early days of mariachi music, players dressed informally. With increased employment opportunities and more formal presentations, however, uniforms became common. When mariachis first acquired the purchasing power to dress their groups in uniforms, the apparel they had chose most often was the charro suit, which consisted of fitted trousers, a short jacket, and an embroidered belt.
A. NO CHANGE
B. have chosen
C. chose
D. choose
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4/11/25
You can probably recall a situation, in sports or otherwise, in which you felt like you had momentum on your side: your body was in sync, your mind was focused, and you had a high level of confidence. In these moments of flow, success feels inevitable, and effortless.
A. NO CHANGE
B. you had a high confidence level.
C. your high confidence level.
D. your level of confidence was high.
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4/10/25
Despite decades of research, the sun remains an enigma. Every 11 years or so its activity spikes, creating flares and coronal mass ejections—the plasma-spewing eruptions that shower Earth with charged particles and beautiful auroral displays. Then, however, the so-called solar maximum fades toward solar minimum, and the sun’s surface grows eerie quiet.
A. NO CHANGE
B. eerily quiet.
C. eerie quietly.
D. eerily quietly.
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4/9/25
According to research, people are generally biased toward believing that information is true. (After all, most things that we read or hear are true.) In fact, there’s some evidence that we initially process all statements as true and that cognitive effort is required to mentally mark some of them as false.
In the last sentence, the word “mark” most nearly means
A. distort
B. label
C. transmit
D. inscribe
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4/8/25
It has taken a while for scientists to piece together the riddle of just when and where cats first became domesticated. In many cases, this type of question can be easily answered by the archaeological record, but in this instance the matter is complicated by the fact that wild cats and domesticated cats have remarkably similar skeletons.
All of the following placements for the underlined word would be acceptable EXCEPT
A. where it is now.
B. after the word can.
C. after the word answered.
D. after the word the.
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4/7/25
Knowing that an employee demonstrates high levels of conscientiousness won’t tell you whether his or her work will be careful or sloppy if you inspect it at a particular moment. But if a large company hires hundreds of employees which are all conscientious, this strategy will likely pay off with a small but consistent average increase in careful work.
A. NO CHANGE
B. who
C. whom
D. DELETE the underlined word.
Click here for the answer.
4/6/25
Growing hardy and plentiful on short, stout bushes, the prairie cherry’s ornamental blooms and glossy leaves produce a deep-red fruit that is less sweet than the traditional cherry, and can be eaten straight from the tree.
A. NO CHANGE
B. cherry, and can be eaten straight,
C. cherry and can be eaten straight
D. cherry and can be eaten straight,
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4/5/25
During the early days of space travel, astronauts squeezed most of their meals out of tubes. A sugary, orange-flavored drink, sold commercially as Tang, was considered a tasty treat. Food was fuel, and little more. Meals are stored in locker trays held by a net so they won’t float away. In fact astronauts can dine on a variety of freeze-dried meals using regular forks and spoons. And, for a few years, crews in the International Space Station (ISS) have been able to savor a taste of food that’s actually fresh.
Which of the following provides the best transition between the previous sentence and the sentence that follows?
A. NO CHANGE.
B. Salt and pepper are available, but only in liquid form.
C. Today, eating in space has become much less of a chore.
D. Being in space can put a damper on an astronaut’s appetite.
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4/4/25
Fraudulent images have been around for as long as photography itself, but Photoshop ushered image doctoring into the digital age. Now, artificial intelligence is poised to take photographic fakery to a new level of sophistication thanks to artificial neural networks who’s algorithms can analyze millions of pictures of real people and places and use them to create convincing fictional ones.
A. NO CHANGE
B. who’s algorithms’
C. whose algorithm’s
D. whose algorithms
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4/3/25
The human eye may seem capable of taking in a lot of information, but in reality it can focus on only a thumbnail-sized area of vision—the brain fills in the rest. Furthermore, peripheral vision provides less details than central vision does, conveying images at a much lower resolution.
A. NO CHANGE
B. less details then
C. fewer details than
D. fewer details as
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4/2/25
When trying to learn new material, you might assume that the more work you put in, the better you will perform. Yet taking the occasional down time – to do literally nothing – may be exactly what you need. Dimming the lights, sitting back, and enjoying a few moments of quality contemplation will help one retain the information much more effectively.
A. NO CHANGE
B. us
C. you
D. them
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4/1/25
Kagome baskets are characterized by a symmetrical pattern of interlaced triangles. A pattern that has preoccupied physicists for decades.
A. NO CHANGE
B. triangles, it is a pattern
C. triangles—a pattern
D. triangles; a pattern
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