Respan Dataset Explorer

Some animal-behavior studies involve observing wild animals in their natural habitat, and
some involve capturing wild animals and observing them in a laboratory. Each approach has
advantages over the other. In wild studies, researchers can more easily presume that the
animals are behaving normally, and in lab studies, researchers can more easily control factors
that might affect the results. But if, for example, the results from a wild study and a lab study
of Western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica) contradict each other, one or both of the
studies must have failed to account for some factor that was relevant to the birds’ behavior.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
a)A. When the results of a natural-habitat
study and those from a lab study of a wild
animal such as the Western scrub-jay
conflict, the study in the natural habitat is
more likely than the lab study to have
accurate results.
c)C. Wild animals such as the Western scrub-
jay can be effectively studied in their
natural habitat and in the lab, but each
approach has drawbacks that could affect
the accuracy of the findings.
b)B. Studying wild animals such as the
Western scrub-jay in both their natural
habitat and lab settings is likely to yield
conflicting results that researchers cannot
fully resolve.
d)D. Differing results between natural-
habitat and lab studies of wild animals
such as the Western scrub-jay are a strong
indication that both of the studies had
design flaws that affected the accuracy of
their results.

c)C. Wild animals such as the Western scrub-jay can be effectively studied in their natural habitat and in the lab, but each approach has drawbacks that could affect the accuracy of the findings.

The following text is from Virginia Woolf's 1919 novel Night and Day. The text describes a
gathering of aspiring young artists and intellectuals.
One person after another rose, and, as with an ill-balanced axe, attempted to hew out his
conception of art a little more clearly, and sat down with the feeling that, for some reason which he
could not grasp, his strokes had gone awry. As they sat down they turned almost invariably to the
person sitting next them, and rectified and continued what they had just said in public.
As used in the text, what does the figurative phrase "hew out" most nearly mean?
a) A. visualize
c) C. Vacate
b) B. Emulate
d) D. Define

d) D. Define

it is tempting to treat the clustering of car manufacturing firms in Detroit, Michigan, as representative
of industrial agglomeration generally, but Guilia Faggio et al. caution against ___________ this one
example: the existence of labor pools, a dominant driver of collocation in this industry, was largely
absent from the game and toy manufacturing industry.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a) A. convening with
c) C. corroborating
b) B. extrapolating from
d) D. scrutinizing

b) B. extrapolating from

Chemist Carohm Bertozzi developed bioorthogonal chemistry, which entails producing chemical
reactions inside living organisms through a relatively ___ procedure; the practice facilitates cutting-
edge research because it allows scientists to study the impacts of modified molecules without
interfering with the normal biological functioning of an organism’s cells.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a) A. Reactive
c) C. coherent
b) B. benign
d) D. injurious

b) B. benign

Meditation has been around for thousands of years, starting as a religious practice. Hindu scripture
from around 1500 B.C.E. describes meditating on the divine, and art from this time period shows
people sitting cross-legged and solitary in a garden. In China and India around the fifth century
B.C.E., other forms of meditation developed. Several religions, including Taoism, Buddhism, Islam,
and Christianity, have meditative rites. In 20th-century Europe and America, secular forms of
meditation arrived from India. Rather than focusing on spiritual growth, secular meditation
emphasizes stress reduction, relaxation, and self-improvement.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
a) A. It discusses the history of meditation as a
religious practice to illustrate how it can
impact spiritual growth.
c) C. It presents meditation as a practice that
has been historically connected to various
world religions.
b) B. It argues that religious and secular
meditation improve well-being, including the
regulation of the impacts of stress.
d) D. It describes the history of meditation, from
its religious origins to its developing non-
religious forms o

d) D. It describes the history of meditation, from its religious origins to its developing non-religious forms.

Text 1
First used to replace sugar during the shortages caused by World War I, artificial sweeteners have
since grown tremendously in popularity. Many nutritionists believe that artificial sweeteners can be
used to replace sugar in the diet of a person suffering from diabetes, a chronic condition that
prevents the body from properly regulating blood sugar levels.
Text 2
Jotham Suez and a research team conducted a study of about 400 people and found that the
subjects who consumed artificial sweeteners had higher blood sugar levels and impaired abilities to
tolerate glucose. They also found that the subjects who consumed artificial sweeteners had different
populations of bacteria in their guts compared to the subjects who did not, and they posit that
artificial sweetener use was responsible for these differences.
Based on the texts, how would Suez and the research team (Text 2) most likely describe the
view of the nutritionists presented in Text 1?
a) A. It is seriously contradicted by the research
teams findings.
c) It is not compelling as a theory regardless of
the data collected by the research team.
b) B. It probably holds true only under conditions
like those in the study
d) D. It is largely correct but requires a minor
refinement in light of the findings

a) A. It is seriously contradicted by the research team's findings.

Text 1
Most geologists believe the continents formed as material bubbled up from the Earth's core. In the
presence of water, buoyant granite formed on the underside of the bubbles and become the base
upon which a continent would glow. This theory remains unproven, however, because the motion of
the continents and the interactions along their edges destroy the geological record, thus making it
impossible to study.
Text 2
Tim Johnson and colleagues argue that the original continents were seeded by meteorites. The
collision of the meteorites with the hot surface of the Earth caused fragments of the crust to cool and
become buoyant patches to which additional material would adhere, forming continents. To support
their view, they cite the composition of crystals taken from the oldest known segment of the Earth's
crust, which shows that the crystals formed close to the surface of the Earth.
Based on the texts, how would Johnson and colleagues (Text 2) most likely describe the view
of the geologists presented in Text 1?
a) A. It is largely correct but requires a minor
refinement in light of the results obtained by
Johnson and colleagues.
c) C. It is more likely to be accepted in
conjunction with the data provided by Johnson
and colleagues.
b) B. It is not compelling as a theory regardless
of the data collected by Johnson and
colleagues.
d) D. It may seem plausible but is not supported
by the findings of Johnson and colleagues.

d) D. It may seem plausible but is not supported by the findings of Johnson and colleagues.

Astronomers typically have difficulty detecting newly-forming planets because the young planets are
obscured by large amounts of dust and debris. Astronomer Feng Long, however, has recently
discovered a new potential method for identifying young planets. Using extensive data from
computer models, Long reports that precisely positioned clusters of material buildup— 120 degrees
apart—may signal the presence of a new planet.
Which choice best states the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
a) A. It provides the cause of a problem for
which a possible solution is presented in the
sentences that follow.
c) C. It suggests an alternative solution for a
problem that differs from the potential solution
that is presented in the sentences that follow.
b) B. It establishes a contrast 'with the problem
that is mentioned earlier in the sentence
d) D. It elaborates on a potential solution for a
problem that is mentioned earlier in the
sentence.

a) A. It provides the cause of a problem for which a possible solution is presented in the sentences that follow.

A now-famous occurrence at the roulette wheel at a casino in Monte Carlo in 1913 has become
emblematic of the so-called gambler’s fallacy. A roulette wheel has an equal number of red and
black spaces, and players can bet on the color on which a ball will land when the wheel is spun. On
the night of the incident, the wheel landed on black a surprising 26 times in a row. Bettors lost huge
sums of money, based on their mistaken assumption that the wheel was much more likely to break
the streak and land on red next. This flawed conception of probability, which fails to consider each
independent spin as a discrete event, is the heart of the gambler's fallacy.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
a) A. In some situations, the probability of any
individual event is not influenced by the
probability of the events that preceded it.
c) C. The gambler's fallacy is difficult to avoid
since it is human nature to assume that a
random event that has occurred many times
is less likely to occur the next time.
b) B. A roulette wheel landing on black 26 times
is just as likely as it landing on red 26 times,
assuming the wheel has an equal number of
red and black spaces.
d) D. An event at a Monte Carlo casino is a well-
known example of the mistaken
understanding of probability called the
gambler's fallacy.

d) D. An event at a Monte Carlo casino is a well-known example of the mistaken understanding of probability called the gambler's fallacy.

The programs of the New Deal constituted a collection of measures intended to curb the economic
hardships U.S. citizens faced as a result of the Great Depression. For instance, the Public Works
Administration provided jobs in an effort to combat high unemployment. Likewise, the Agricultural
Adjustment Act sought to raise incomes for impoverished farmers by inflating prices on agricultural
commodities.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
a) A. The goal of the New Deal programs was to
address economic difficulties.
c) C. The Agricultural Adjustment Act was a
controversial part of the New Deal.
b) B. The Public Works Administration
significantly increased employment.
d) D. The Great Depression led to the New
Deal.

a) A. The goal of the New Deal programs was to address economic difficulties.