1. PASSAGE 2:

With Union troops in the South and an increasing number of federal officials, most of whom were loyal Republicans, the latter sought to build up a strong Southern wing of their party. Many Freedmen’s Bureau officials were interested not only in the welfare of the freedman but in the growth of the Republican party as well. Moreover, missionary

(5) groups and teachers from the North, who saw in the Republican party an instrument by which the South could be saved from barbarism, supported it enthusiastically. It would be incorrect, however, to conclude that these groups were primarily political in their motives or activities. But the special agency that recruited Republicans, primarily among blacks, was the Union League.

(10) The Union League of America was organized in the North during the war. It did an effective job in rallying support for the war wherever there was much opposition. Later it branched out into the South to protect the fruits of Northern victory. As a protective and benevolent society, il welcomed black members and catechized them on political activity. As the Freedmen’s Bureau and other Northern agencies grew in the South, the

(15) The Union League became powerful, attracting a large number of blacks. With the establishment of Radical Reconstruction, the league became the spearhead for Southern Republicanism. Since black males were the most numerous enfranchised group in many areas, the league depended on them for the bulk of Republican strength. Black women also played a role in “getting out the vote” and in shaping political decisions in their

(20) communities. In October 1867 a reporter for the New York Times noted the presence of black women in the audience at local Republican and state constitutional conventions. He and other observers were impressed that , in contrast to white women who were quiet spectators at political meetings, black women shouted from the balconies, forcing their voices into the debates. As Elsa Barkley Brown has pointed out: “African-

(25) American women in Virginia, Mississippi, South Carolina and elsewhere understood themselves to have a vital stake in African-American men’s franchise”. The fact that only men could exercise the franchise did not at all mean that women were not Involved . By the fall of 1867 chapters of the league were all over the South. South Carolina

(30) alone had eighty-eight, and it was said that almost every black in the state was enrolled. Ritual, secrecy, night meetings, and an avowed devotion to freedom and equal rights made the league especially attractive to blacks. At elections they looked to their chapters for guidance of voting. If they had any doubt about the straight Republican ticket, the league had only to remind them that this was the party of

(35) Abraham Lincoln and of deliverance. A vote for Democrats, they said, was a vote for the return of slavery. During most of Reconstruction, the Union League and such smaller organizations as the Lincoln Brotherhood and the Red Strings delivered the black vote to the Republican party in national as well as state and local elections.

In line 13, “catechized them” most nearly means

2. In line 27, “exercise the franchise” most nearly means

3. The Union League of America depended on black males to strengthen the Republican Party in the South during the Radical Reconstruction period because

4. The passage states that all of the following wanted to build up the Republican party in the South EXCEPT

5. According to the information in the passage, all of the following are true about the Union League of America EXCEPT

6. PASSAGE 3

The periodical cicadas, most notably Magicicada septendecim, have the longest life cycle of any insect. Their unique life cycle begins underground, where the nymphs patiently suck the juice from the roots of trees. Then, after 17 years of waiting, the adult cicadas emerge from the ground, swarm in vast numbers, and temporarily swamp

(5) the landscape. Within a few weeks they mate, lay their eggs, and die. The question that puzzled biologists was, Why is the cicada’s life cycle so long? And is there any significance to the life cycle being a prime number of years? Another species, Magicicada tredecim, swarms every 13 years, implying that life cycles lasting a prime number of years offer some evolutionary advantage.

(10) One theory suggests that the cicada has a parasite that also goes through a lengthy life cycle and that the cicada is trying to avoid. If the parasite has a life cycle of, say, 2 years then the cicada wants to avoid a life cycle that is divisible by 2, otherwise the parasite and the cicada will regularly coincide. Similarly, if the parasite has a life cycle of 3 years then the cicada wants to avoid a life cycle that is divisible by 3, otherwise the

(15) parasite and the cicada will once again regularly coincide. Ultimately, to avoid meeting its parasite, the cicadas’ best strategy is to have a long life cycle lasting a prime number of years. Because nothing will divide into 17, Magicicada septendecim will rarely meet its parasite. If the parasite has a 2-year life cycle they will meet only every 34 years, and if it has a longer life cycle, say 16 years, then they will meet only every 272 (16 x

(20) 17) years. In order to fight back, the parasite has only two life cycles that will increase the frequency of coincidences— the annual cycle and the same 17-year cycle as the cicada. However, the parasite is unlikely to survive reappearing 17 years in a row, because for the first 16 appearances there will be no cicadas for it to parasitize. On the other land,

(25) in order to reach the 17-year life cycle, the generations of parasites would first have to evolve through the 16-year life cycle. This would mean at some stage of evolution the parasite and cicada would not coincide for 272 years! In either case the cicada’s long prime life cycle protects it. This might explain why the alleged parasite has never been found! In the race to

(30) keep up with the cicada, the parasite probably kept extending its life cycle until it hit the 16-year hurdle. Then it failed to coincide for 272 years, by which time the lack of coinciding with cicadas had driven it to extinction. The result is a cicada with a 17-year
life cycle, which it no longer needs because its parasite no longer exists.

Scientists theorize that cicadas have a 17-year life cycle because

7. Magicicada tredecim probably has a 13-year life cycle rather than a 17-year one because

8. According to the theory described in the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?

9. Which of the following most accurately describes the explanation given in the passage for the fact that Magicicada septendecim has a 17-year life cycle?

10. If an organism is discovered that parasitizes Magicicada septendecim it would

11. PASSAGE 4:

A single flower he sent me, since we met. All tenderly his messenger he chose;
Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet-One perfect rose.
I knew the language of the floweret; “My fragile leaves,” it said, “his heart
enclose.” Love long has taken for his amulet.

(5) One perfect rose Why is it no one ever sent me yet? One perfect limousine, do you suppose? Ah no, it’s always just my luck to get. One perfect rose.

What is the tone of the first two stanzas?

12. Which word changes the meaning of the poem?

13. The first two lines of stanza two use which of the following literary devices?

14. The best meaning for “scented” is

15. What event is being described in the poem?

16. PASSAGE 5

Thomas, Chess, and Checkers stayed quiet for a long time. After a while, Chess and Checkers started to sing a Flathead song of mourning. For a wake, for a wake. Samuel was still alive, but Thomas sang along without hesitation. That mourning song was B-7 on every reservation jukebox.

(5) After the song, Thomas stood and walked away from the table where his father lay flat as a paper plate. He walked outside and cried. Not because he needed to be alone; not because he was afraid to cry in front of women. He just wanted his tears to be individual, not tribal. Those tribal tears collected and fermented in huge BIA [Bureau of Indian Affairs] barrels. Then the BIA poured those tears into beer and Pepsi cans and

(10) distributed them back onto the reservation. Thomas wanted his tears to be selfish and
Fresh. “Hello,” be said to the night sky. He wanted to say the first word of a prayer or a joke. A prayer or a joke often sound alike on the reservation .”Help,” he said to the ground. He knew the words to a million songs: Indian,

(15) European, African, Mexican, Asian. He sang “Stairway to Heaven” in four different languages but never knew where that staircase stood. He sang the same Indian songs continually but never sang them correctly. He wanted to make his guitar sound like a waterfall, like a spear striking salmon, but his guitar only sounded like a guitar. He wanted the songs, the stories, to save everybody.

Thomas: Chess, and Checkers are

17. In line 2, a wake means

18. The fact that Thomas, Chess, and Checkers sing a song of mourning while Samuel is still alive suggests that

19. Thomas wants his tears to be “selfish and fresh” (lines 10-11) because

20. The sentence “Then the BIA poured those tears into beer and Pepsi cans and distributed them back onto the reservation” (lines 9-10) is an example of

21. In line 14, Thomas asks for help because

22. PASSAGE 6

An excerpt from a Dead Sea Scroll describing Abraham’s sojourn in Egypt and the beauty of Sarah, his wife, was recently made public for the first time. The 2,000-year- old scroll, badly preserved and extremely brittle, is the last of seven scrolls found in 1947 in the caves of the Judean desert south of Jericho. Scholars say that this scroll

(5) enlarges on the hitherto known Biblical tales of Lamech, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. This document of Hebrew University yielded decipherable contents only after months of exposure to controlled humidity. The centuries had compressed the leather scroll into a brittle, glued-together mass. After it had been rendered flexible, the scroll was folded into pages. Four complete pages, each with 34 lines of writing, resulted.

(10) Besides this, scholars had for their studies large sections of the decipherable writing on five other pages, and readable lines and words on additional pages. Scholars were delighted, for they had almost despaired of recovering the scroll as a readable document . The work of giving new life to the desiccated parchment and of unrolling it was done by an old German expert on ancient materials, under the supervision of two

(15) Israeli scholars.

The word sojourn means

23. Decipherable as used in the second paragraph means

24. The scroll

25. The scroll

26. The writing on the scroll

27. Passage 7

Thousands of species of birds exist today, and nearly every species has its own
special courtship procedures and “identification checks”. Identification checks are
important, because if birds of different species mate, any offspring will usually be
sterile or badly adapted to their surroundings.

(5) Plumage often plays a key role in both identification and courtship. In breeding
season, male birds often acquire distinctive plumage which they use to attract females
who will, in turn, only respond to males with the correct markings. In some species, the females are more brightly colored, and the courtship roles are reversed. Distinctive behavioral changes can also be important aspects of courtship and breeding activity.

(10) Aggressiveness between males, and sometimes between females, is quite common. Some birds, like whooping cranes and trumpeter swans, perform wonderfully elaborate courtship dances in which both sexes are enthusiastic participants. Bird sounds are often a very central part of identification and courtship behavior between individuals in a given species. When a female migrates in the spring to her

(15) breeding region, she often encounters numerous birds of different species. By its
singing, the male of a species both identifies itself and communicates to females of that
species that it is in breeding condition. This information allows a female to predict a
male’s response to her approach. Later, after mating has taken place, the note patterns
a particular male’s song enables a nesting female to continue to identify her own partner.

The author implies that a bird engages in identification and courtship procedures mainly in
order to

28. According to the passage, a feature of the male song bird is its ability to attract a female of its own species. To intimidate rival males. To communicate its identity to its mate

29. The author uses the whooping crane as an example of a bird that

30. According to the passage, matings between birds of different species.

31. Passage 9

Live thy Life,
Young and old,
Like yon oak,
Bright in spring,

(5) Living gold;
Summer-rich.
Then and then,
Autumn-changed,
Soberer-hued,

(10) Gold again.
Al his leaves,
Fall’n at length,
Look, he stands,
Trunk and bough,

(15) Naked strength.

“The Oak” by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

In this poem, the seasons represent different

32. With which of the following statements about life would the speaker be most likely to agree?

33. During which season is the oak referred to as “Living gold”?

34. What does “Gold again” in line 10 signify?

35. The “he” mentioned in line 13 refers to