SAT ANSWER EXPLANATIONS
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READING AND WRITING: MODULE 1
3 SAT PRACTICE TEST #9 ANSWER EXPLANATIONS
confidence. Choice C is incorrect because the text introduces a challenge and
then elaborates on it by emphasizing that the unpredictable nature of variations in
ocean waves causes problems, which doesn’t indicate that wave power isn’t
“expensive,” or isn’t costly. If anything, technological and planning problems might
actually increase the expense of generating electricity from waves.
QUESTION 3
Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s
discussion of John Ashbery’s poems. As used in this context, “interpret” would
mean decipher the meaning of. The text indicates that Ashbery’s poems have
many unusual features, that it’s difficult to tell what exactly the poems’ subject
matter is, and that scholars strongly disagree about the poems. This context
conveys the idea that it’s difficult to interpret Ashbery’s poems.
Choice A is incorrect because “delegate” means to assign someone as a
representative of another person or to entrust something to someone else,
neither of which would make sense in context. The text is focused only on the
difficulty that readers have interpreting Ashbery’s poems due to their many
unusual features; it doesn’t suggest anything about the poems being difficult to
delegate. Choice B is incorrect because describing Ashbery’s poems as difficult
to “compose,” or put together or produce, would make sense only if the text were
about Ashbery’s experience of writing the poems. It could be true that it was
difficult for Ashbery to compose his poems, but the text doesn’t address this; it
instead discusses how readers interpret and engage with the poems. Choice D is
incorrect because describing Ashbery’s poems as being difficult to “renounce,” or
give up or refuse, wouldn’t make sense in context. The text focuses on the idea
that features of Ashbery’s poems are odd or unclear and have caused heated
scholarly debate. This context suggests that the poems are difficult to interpret,
not that the poems are difficult to renounce.
QUESTION 4
Choice C is the best answer because it most logically completes the discussion
of the artist Diego Velázquez’s influence outside Spain. As used in this context,
“confined to” means restricted to. The text says that Velázquez was the leading
artist in the Spanish court during the seventeenth century, but it also notes that
other painters around the world were influenced by his techniques and style.
Thus, Velázquez’s influence was hardly (or almost not) confined to, or restricted to,
Spain.
Choice A is incorrect because if Velázquez was a leading artist in Spain, it doesn’t
make logical sense to claim that his influence was hardly (or almost not) derived
from, or obtained from, Spain. Moreover, the other painters around the world who
employed Velázquez’s techniques would by definition be influenced by Spanish
style. Choice B is incorrect because if Velázquez was a leading artist in the court
of King Philip IV of Spain, then his influence must have been widely recognized, or
acknowledged, rather than being hardly (or almost not) recognized. Choice D is
incorrect because the text gives no indication that deliberately limiting
Velázquez’s influence outside Spain was ever considered by anyone. Thus, even if
it is true that his influence was not repressed, or restrained, it doesn’t make logical
sense to say so in this context.
