The model of _______, he displayed impeccable manners and excellent taste.

It is very rare to see green turtles off the coast of California; ________, during the summer they can be found among the rocks.
Which of the following words BEST completes the sentence above?

However.

The two parts of the sentence are meant to contrast with each other, and only "however" expresses contrast. The sentence should read "It is very rare to see green turtles off the coast of California; however, during the summer they can be found among the rocks.".

Much work was needed to determine the distances between the atoms, the angles between the chemical bonds, and other _______ features.

Structural.

“Structural” means physical. If one were to insert this term into the text, the sentence would read, “Much work was needed to determine the distances between the atoms, the angles between the chemical bonds, and other structural features.” The missing term must be related to the distances and angles mentioned in the sentence. These features are “structural,” or physical, characteristics.

Since the homecoming king and queen candidates had only a minute for speeches and their peers wanted to hear something meaningful, the student government advisor warned candidates that they had better keep their speeches _______ or face the wrath of an alienated crowd that finds the speeches irrelevant.

Germane.

Your key clues are the fact that the students “wanted to hear something meaningful” and that the worst situation would be to have an alienated crowd. How do you alienate a crowd? Say something meaningless that is irrelevant. The speech better not be long, especially sophisticated or wordy. The speech should be to the point and relevant, or germane. Although the speech may be some of these other qualities, the text supports the choice "germane" the most. This is one of the questions where you may just need to know what the right answer is and what the definition of “germane” is, but the process of elimination will help and the test providers sometimes will have questions where exact definitions are your lifesaver.

Known for his loquacious speech style, Robert typically delivered _______ speeches that often used five words for concepts that could be expressed in two words.

Verbose.

Because the speech style is loquacious and the speeches use “five words for concepts that could be expressed in two words” the speeches are definitely wordy. That is what these clues are meant to tell you. No expression about the tone is provided so choices B, C, and A can be eliminated and choice A is an ambiguous term in this situation. Robert could have easily been a boring speaker but for all we know he could have also been an exciting one. Choice A is ambiguous because when one says a speech is lengthy, it could possibly just mean it was a long speech--not necessarily an excessively long speech (and therefore a wordy, or verbose, speech). It's a tough call and a fine line to draw but some questions on the SAT are just like that.

Since the ladder was rusty and _______, lending itself to an accident, everyone urged Danny to resist his natural _______ that encouraged him to recklessly climb that ladder anyway.

Precarious...audacity.

If the ladder is rusty and can lead to an accident, it probably is not safe. Rather it is a safety hazard and could be precarious, dangerous, and vulnerable. Yet Danny is naturally a bold and adventurous boy because he is ready to climb the ladder anyway. Therefore, he must resist his own audacity, or boldness, not his courage or cowardice. “Audacity” is the best fit here.

Change this sentence from PASSIVE to ACTIVE voice:
“Over the course of the year, many mistakes were made by our crew.”

We made many mistakes over the course of the year.

Passive voice uses the object of an action as the subject. We made many mistakes in active voice because it uses the perpetrator of the action as the subject. Though the Many mistakes answer has changed some of the sentence structure, it does not use the acting person or entity as the subject. The Though mistakes were made option is an example of using both passive and active voice in a single sentence, rather than changing a passive sentence to an active sentence. This answer choice also adds previously unstated information, for which the question does not call. The If mistakes were made option combines passive and active voice in addition to changing the original sentence’s meaning.

Knowledgeable dog owners recommend obtaining a purebred dog from a _______ breeder, one who is _______ and respected by customers and breeders alike.

Reputable . . . admired.

The comma following the word breeder is a clue that the words that follow will define or explain what kind of breeder is recommended. Only the choice "Reputable . . . Admired " provides two words that can define or explain each other. A reputable breeder is one who is admired and respected.

Which pronoun CORRECTLY completes the sentence below?
________ believes that going to a party the night before your certification exam is a bad idea.

Everybody.

The singular indefinite pronoun "everybody" agrees with the singular verb "believes" and makes sense in this context.

Determine whether the underlined portion of the sentence below is correct or whether it needs to be revised.
Sports are a significant part of life for people all across the world, as was demonstrated in 2006 when billions of people came together to be involved with the World Cup either through playing, watching or thru advertising.

World Cup either through playing, watching or advertising.

This sentence tests your knowledge of capitalization and awareness of parallelism. The original sentence is incorrect because choice A destroys the parallelism (i.e. thru advertising instead of simply “advertising”) and uses the informal spelling of through (i.e. “thru”). By ending with “for it” the author is also implying that one may “play for it” and “watch for it,” and although one may play for the World Cup through a grammar stretch, one cannot possibly “watch for it” and do the same thing as one who simply “watches it.” Choice World Cup either through playing, watching or advertising uses the appropriate capitalization (because the World Cup is a major sports event it is a proper noun that must be capitalized) and maintains strict parallelism in the concluding list of ways to be involved.

Determine whether the underlined portion of the sentence below is correct or whether it needs to be revised.
Lockers in schools are often dilapidated, making student’s valuables susceptible to theft.

Making students’ valuables susceptible to theft.

This sentence is wrong because of a possession error. Not just one student possesses lockers and many valuables. The sentence refers to “lockers in schools,” and your typical student doesn’t just have a ton of lockers to choose from! Because multiple entities (i.e. people) possess the valuables referred to, the clause needs to become “making students’ valuables susceptible to theft.”. Only choice making students’ valuables susceptible to theft corrects the possession error and makes a fitting descriptive clause.

Correct the underlined part in the following sentence:
A growing technology trend is to merge multiple devices with complimentary functions such as a phone, music player and the scheduling features of a planner.

A planner.

The sentence is incorrect because it does not follow parallelism. A list that begins by naming devices (i.e. phone, music player) must continue and finish in that way. Although it is informative to include the details about a planner's features, it should be accompanied by the features of a phone and a music player if that is the way the sentence is being written. Therefore, choices A, B, and C are incorrect. Choice B and C even add “and” again making the sentence read “...music player and and...” which is clearly wrong! Be careful; the test wants to catch you off guard.

Which sentence makes the BEST topic sentence?

Many zoos are working to provide natural, more authentic housing for animals.

This sentence introduces a topic (housing for animals in zoos) that could be explored in a passage. Choices A and C would work best as supporting details. Choice D belongs at the end of a passage because it contains references to previously discussed details.

The historian noted irony in the fact that developments considered _______ by people of that era are now viewed as having been _______.

Improbable . . inevitable

Something that is “improbable” is unlikely to occur, and something that is “inevitable” is unavoidable and will definitely occur. If one were to insert these terms into the text, the sentence would read “The historian noted irony in the fact that developments considered improbable by people of that era are now viewed as having been inevitable.” “Irony” refers to a contrast between what is expected and what actually occurs. It is logical for the historian to perceive “irony” in the fact that what was once considered unlikely to occur is now seen as having been unavoidable.

Which revision should be made to this sentence?
"Most students at Hudson University enjoy their Chemistry class."

Change Chemistry to chemistry.

Since "Chemistry class" is not a proper name, it should not be capitalized.

Which of the following words is spelled CORRECTLY?