Question 1
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: Modernity appears to be particularly ____ mistaken ideas, perhaps because in breaking free from the chains of convention, the result is that we are very likely to be ____ unexamined hypothesis and unprepared actions.
A. immune to…accepting of
B. contrary to…reliant on
C. disposed of…susceptible to
D. insensitive to…liberated from
E. fraught with…susceptible to
Answer: E
Why?
If you go through the sentence and try to fill in the blanks yourself, you might put words like "filled with" and "using", demonstrating that modernity breaks away from the past (convention), and thus, develops its own faulty ideas. The answer choice that closest fits the words we chose is answer E.
Question 2
The best antonym for GARRULOUS:
A. reticent
B. absurd
C. loquacious
D. gregarious
E. unfriendly
Answer: A
Why?
Garrulous means talkative. Loquacious is a synonym (Greek loqui – speak). Absurd doesn't fit at all. Gregarious means friendly, which is definitely not the opposite of talkative. Although you could assume that a person who is unfriendly, answer E, would be the opposite of someone gregarious, that's not necessarily true; someone might not talk because they're just shy or have a cold or something else. So that means you'd have to go with reticent, which means uncommunicative or reserved.
Question 3
Solve this analogy – MAVERICK : GROUP
A. parent : child
B. oil : water
C. illumination : interest
D. neophyte : manager
E. fish : school
Answer: B
Why?
To solve an analogy, form a sentence with the given words. Here, you could say, "A maverick goes against the group." The only word set that could fit that sentence is answer B: Oil goes against water.
Question 4
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: The Chinese educational system has undergone positive ____ since the death of Mao Zedong and the political ____ of his ruthless associates.
A. restructuring…willingness
B. epiphanies…crest
C. relinquishments…trappings
D. misgivings…fall
E. change…demise
Answer: E
Why?
The first blank has to be a positive word, and the second must be negative, because positive things can only happen if ruthless people are out of commission, right? So, that rules out C and D – the first words are decidedly negative. Since the last word has to be negative, that cuts out choice A and B. The leaves only E.
Question 5
Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word choices: Historically, rock music was peculiarly American, but ____, its ablest practitioners and ____ live elsewhere.
A. startlingly…dissenters
B. now…developers
C. increasingly… innovators
D. progressively…insurrectionists
E. justifiably…abettors
Answer: C
Why?
The best method here is to logically work it out. Choices A and C do not make sense because the word "live" would have to be past tense. B makes a bold assumption – the best practitioners and developers of rock music live outside the U.S.? Beware of absolutes. In choice C, "increasingly" isn't as absolute a word as "now", so that works. Choice D's last word doesn't fit with practitioners, and it must because of the word "and".
Question 6
Solve this analogy: GUN: HARM
A. boat : ride
B. disease : treat
C. detachment : understand
D. joke: amuse
E. skyscraper : raze
Answer: D
Why?
Again, form a sentence with the given words to understand the analogy. A gun can harm someone. If you substitute all the answer choices, the only one that fits is D: A joke can amuse someone.
Question 7
The best antonym for INDEFATIGABLE:
A. dogged
B. irresolute
C. foolish
D. pellucid
E. inexhaustible
Answer: B
Why?
If you look at the given word, "fatigue" is right in there. If you know that the prefix in- negates what's behind it, than you understand that indefatigable means "not fatigued; tireless; unceasing; resolute." Answer A is a synonym. C and D don't make sense. E is a distracter (in case you caught on to the fatigue part, but not the negation of the prefix), so that leaves B.
QQuestion 8
The best antonym for LUBRICIOUS:
A. slippery
B. vicious
C. lewd
D. noble
E. tidy
Answer: D
Why?
Lubricious means sneaky, underhanded, or "slippery", hence the "lub-" root. The opposite in meaning is noble. The others are all distracters.
Question 9
Solve this analogy: PRESCIENT : INSIGHT
A. erudite : wisdom
B. impartial : friendship
C. discomfited : evaluation
D. frivolous : quality
E. generous : indigence
Answer: A
Why?
Make a sentence to figure out how the words relate to each other: A prescient person has insight. Which of the other choices fits? A is the only one: An erudite person has wisdom. Erudite means "well-learned; well-read; knowledgeable"
Question 10
Solve this analogy: SOPORIFIC : SLEEP
A. destructive : fatigue
B. incognito : foreboding
C. droll : amusement
D. antagonistic : agony
E. delicious : hunger
Answer: C
Why?
Here, the sentence you'd make to figure this analogy out is: Something soporific causes sleep. The last three choices are tempting, so why is C correct? Something antagonistic does not cause agony. It causes annoyance. Agony is too extreme of a word. Likewise, when you put E into the sentence, "Something delicious causes hunger" it sounds good, but it isn't necessarily a causal relationship like that between soporific and sleep. Therefore, C is the only one correct. Droll means "amusing" by the way.
