Antonyms:

PALATABLE:
(A) culinary
(B) garnish
(C) noxious
(D) unflavored
(E) bland

Analogies:

IMPREGNABLE : ASSAULT ::
(A) invincible : control
(B) independent : conquest
(C) inimitable : modification
(D) immutable : alteration
(E) intractable : destruction

Sentence Completion:

The remarkable fact that many inventions had their birth as toys suggests that people philosophize more freely when they know that their ---- leads to no ---- results.
(A) cogitation … trivial
(B) persistence … satisfactory
(C) speculation … weighty
(D) creativity … measurable
(E) conjecture … inconsequential

Reading comprehension:

With the ascendance of Toni Morrison’s literary star, it has become commonplace for critics to deracialize her by saying that Morrison is not just a “Black woman writer,” that she has moved beyond the limiting confines of race and gender to larger “universal” issues. Yet Morrison, a Nobel laureate with six highly acclaimed novels, bristles at having to choose between being a writer or a Black woman writer, and willingly accepts critical classification as the latter.

To call her simply a writer denies the key roles that Morrison’s African-American roots and her Black female perspective have played in her work. For instance, many of Morrison’s characters treat their dreams as “real,” are nonplussed by visitations from dead ancestors, and generally experience intimate connections with beings whose existence isn’t empirically verifiable. While critics might see Morrison’s use of the supernatural as purely a literary device, Morrison herself explains, “That’s simply the way the world was for me and the Black people I knew.”

Just as her work has given voice to this little-remarked facet of African-American culture, it has affirmed the unique vantage point of the Black woman. “I really feel the range of emotion and perception I have had access to as a Black person and a female person are greater than that of people who are neither,” says Morrison. “My world did not shrink because I was a Black female writer. It just got bigger.”

1. The author of the passage is chiefly concerned with
(A) explaining Morrison’s own viewpoint on the role of her race and gender in her novels.
(B) assessing the significance of the Black female perspective in the modern American novel.
(C) acknowledging Morrison’s success in giving voice to unknown aspects of the African-American experience.
(D) presenting a counter-argument to critics who seek to “deracialize” Morrison.
(E) explaining why being a writer and being a Black female writer are distinct critical classifications.

2. Morrison’s use of the supernatural in her novels is mentioned by the author in order to explain
(A) why some critics categorize her as a “writer” but not a “Black woman writer.”
(B) the distinction between drawing from one’s personal experience and using a literary device.
(C) the enormous critical acclaim Morrison’s novels have received.
(D) one way in which Morrison’s novels are rooted in her experience as an African-American woman.
(E) one of the universal themes that is woven throughout Morrison’s novels.

Math Multiple-Choice:

Which of the following is a common factor of both x² – 4x – 5 and x² – 6x – 7?
(A) x – 5
(B) x – 7
(C) x – 1
(D) x + 5
(E) x + 1

Quantitative Comparison:

xy = 21
x < 3

Analytical Writing assessment:

Present your perspective on the issue below, using relevant reasons and/or examples to support your views.

“Schools should be responsible only for teaching academic skills and not for teaching ethical and social values.”

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