Nineteenth-century Politics in the United States

1. [2] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is immeasurably. It is highlighted in the passage. Immeasurably means “in a manner too big to be measured.” So if Jackson enlarged the President’s powers so much that the results cannot be measured, he enlarged them “greatly.”

2    [3]    This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 1. The correct answer is choice 3 because the first sentence of the paragraph explicitly states that this was when the development of the modern presidency began. The remainder of the paragraph is devoted to explaining the significant changes in government that this development involved. The result, as stated in sentence 5, was that the nature of the presidency itself was redefined. Choice 1 is contradicted by the paragraph; Jackson did not give presidential power away, but rather he increased it. Choice 2 is not mentioned in the paragraph: it says Jackson addressed the Senate, but not that this was the beginning of regular addresses. Choice 4, which says that this was the first time the Senate opposed the President, is not stated in the passage.

3.    [2] This is a Rhetorical Purpose question. It is asking you why the author mentions “bankers and investors” in the passage. The phrase being tested is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 2. The author is using bankers and investors as examples of people that the Democrats claimed “manipulated” the banking system for their own profit. That means that they were unfairly becoming rich. Choices 1, 3, and 4 are all incorrect because, based upon the passage, they seem unlikely to be true. Therefore the author would not use them as examples.

4.    [1] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 3. Choice 1 is the correct answer. The paragraph says that Whigs believed commerce and economic development “would benefit everyone.” That means essentially the same thing as choice 1, which says that Whigs believed economic growth “would promote the advancement of society as a whole.” “Society as a whole” is another way of saying “everyone.” Choices 2 and 3 are not mentioned in the paragraph. Choice 4, about conflict between groups, is mentioned but in a different context, so it is not a belief held by Whigs.

5    [3]    This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 3. The correct answer is choice 3: the Whigs viewed government as responsible for maintaining an economy that allowed all capable citizens to benefit. This is a restatement of paragraph 3, sentence 5. The paragraph states that Whigs did not envision continuing conflict between farmers and businesspeople, so choice 1 is wrong. Whigs favored changes brought about by the market, so choice 2 is wrong. Whigs were in favor of increased emphasis on economic development, so choice 4 is incorrect.

6.    [2] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is inclination. It is highlighted in the passage. The fact that Jackson had an inclination to be a strong President means that he preferred being strong to having limited powers. In other words, his “tendency” was to favor a strong presidency, so choice 2 is the correct answer.

7.    [3] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 4. The correct answer is choice 3, which is explicitly stated in sentence 3 of the paragraph. Sentences 4 and 5 explicitly refute the other choices.

8.    [4] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is concept. It is highlighted in the passage. The passage says, “for Whigs the concept of government . . .” In other words, “the way Whigs thought about government . . .” That process of thinking represents ideas, so choice 4 is the correct answer here.

9.    [4] This is an Inference question asking for an inference that can be supported by paragraph 5. The correct answer is choice 4: variations in Whigs’ political beliefs reflected regional differences. This is supported by sentence 5 of the paragraph, which says that certain beliefs “In particular” reflected the views of northern Whigs. That suggests that Whigs in other regions of the country had beliefs that varied from this view and implies that such differences were regional. The other three choices are not mentioned in the passage in connection with “variations” in Whig beliefs, so there is no basis for inferring any of them.

10.    [2] This is a Negative Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 6. Choice 2 is the correct answer. Sentence 5 says that it was Whigs, not Democrats, who had the support of planters involved in international trade. The next sentence, sentence 6, says that in contrast, Democrats had the support of the groups mentioned in choices 1, 3, and 4 (“workers,” “entrepreneurs,” and certain other “individuals”). Therefore all of the groups described in the answer choices, except the planters of choice 2, did support the Democrats.

11. [4] This is a Sentence Simplification question. As with all of these questions, a single sentence in the passage is highlighted:

The Whigs were strongest in the towns, cities, and those rural areas that were fully integrated into the market economy, whereas Democrats dominated areas of semisubsistence farming that were more isolated and languishing economically.

The correct answer is choice 4. Choice 4 contains all of the essential information in the tested sentence, but the order in which it is presented is reversed. The highlighted sentence describes areas of Whig strength first, and then the areas where Democrats were strong. The correct answer, choice 4, describes Democrat strongholds first, and then Whig areas. No meaning has been changed, and no information has been left out.

Choice 1 is incorrect because it states that Whigs were able to attract support only in the wealthiest areas. The highlighted sentence does not say that; it says their support came from places integrated into the market, which can include areas of all economic levels.

Choice 2 is incorrect because it says that the two parties were split between rural and urban areas. However, the highlighted sentence says that Whigs were strong in rural areas that were integrated into the market economy. In other words, the split between the parties was based on the degree to which an area was integrated into the market, not whether it was urban or rural.

Choice 3 is incorrect because the highlighted sentence makes no mention of how (or if) the Whigs’ control of the market economy affected the areas dominated by the Democrats.

12. [1] This is an Insert Text question. You can see the four black squares in paragraph 2 that represent the possible answer choices here.

During Jackson’s second term, his opponents had gradually come together to form the Whig Party. ■ Whigs and Democrats held different attitudes toward the changes brought about by the market, banks, and commerce. ■ The Democrats tended to view society as a continuing conflict between “the people”—farmers, planters, and workers—and a set of greedy aristocrats. ■ This “paper money aristocracy” of bankers and investors manipulated the banking system for their own profit. Democrats claimed, and sapped the nation’s virtue by encouraging speculation and the desire for sudden, unearned wealth. ■ The Democrats wanted the rewards of the market without sacrificing the features of a simple agrarian republic. They wanted the wealth that the market offered without the competitive, changing society; the complex dealing; the dominance of urban centers; and the loss of independence that came with it.

The sentence provided, “This new party argued against the policies of Jackson and his party in a number of important areas, beginning with the economy,” is best inserted at square 1.

Square 1 is correct because the phrase “This new party” refers directly and only to the Whigs, who are first mentioned (as a recently formed party) in sentence 1 of this paragraph.

Square 2 is incorrect because the sentence before is not limited to the new Whig Party. It discusses both Whigs and Democrats.

Squares 3 and 4 are both incorrect because the sentences preceding them refer to the Democrats (the old party), not the Whigs.

13. [1] [5] [6] This is a Prose Summary question. It is completed correctly below. The correct choices are 1, 5, and 6. Choices 2, 3, and 4 are therefore incorrect.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

The political system of the United States in the mid-nineteenth century was strongly influenced by the social and economic circumstances of the time.

•    The Democratic and Whig Parties developed in response to the needs of competing economic and political constituencies.

•    A fundamental difference between Whigs and Democrats involved the importance of the market in society.

•    The role of government in the lives of the people was an important political distinction between the two parties.

Answer Choices

Correct Choices

Choice 1, “The Democratic and Whig Parties developed in response to the needs of competing economic and political constituencies,” is correct because it is a recurring theme throughout the entire passage. It is a general statement about the development of the Whigs and Democrats. Paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all provide support for this statement with examples of the nature of the competing constituencies in the United States at that time and the ways in which these two parties responded to them.

Choice 5, “A fundamental difference between Whigs and Democrats involved the importance of the market in society,” is correct because it is a general statement about the differences between the Whigs and Democrats. Paragraphs 2, 3, 4, and 6 all provide support for this statement with examples of the differences in the ways that the two parties viewed the market and society.

Choice 6, “The role of government in the lives of the people was an important political distinction between the two parties,” is correct because it is another general statement about the differences between the Whigs and Democrats. Paragraphs 2, 3, 4, and 5 all explicitly explore this distinction between Whigs and Democrats.

Incorrect Choices

Choice 2, “During Andrew Jackson’s two terms as President, he served as leader of both the Democratic and Whig Parties,” is incorrect because it contradicts the passage. Jackson was head of the Democratic Party.

Choice 3, “The Democratic Party primarily represented the interests of the market, banks, and commerce,” is incorrect because it is not true. The Whigs primarily represented these groups, as stated in paragraphs 3 and 6.

Choice 4, “In contrast to the Democrats, the Whigs favored government aid for education,” is incorrect because the passage states only that Whigs in the North were likely to favor aid to education. It is not clearly stated how other Whigs or Democrats felt on this issue.

The Expression of Emotions

1.    [2] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is despondent. It is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 2, “unhappy.” The sentence in which the highlighted word appears uses despondent as a contrast to happy. Since unhappy is the opposite of happy, it provides the fullest possible contrast and is equivalent to the contrast between Joy and sadness at the beginning of the sentence.

2.    [3] This is a Rhetorical Purpose question. It is asking you why the author mentions “Baring the teeth in a hostile way” in the passage. This phrase is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 3; baring the teeth is “an example of a facial expression whose meaning is widely understood.” The central theme of paragraph 1 of the passage is facial expressions that are universal. The author provides various examples of such expressions, and baring the teeth is mentioned as a universal sign of anger. The other choices are all mentioned in the passage, but not in conjunction with baring the teeth, so they are all incorrect.

3.    [2] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is concur. It is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 2, “agree.” Concur means “agree,” so if investigators concur about the meaning of certain facial expressions, they agree on their meaning.

4.    [3] This is a Reference question. The word being tested is them, and it is highlighted in the passage. This is a simple pronoun-referent question. The word them refers to the photographs that Paul Ekman showed to people from diverse cultures, so the correct answer is choice 3, “photographs.”

5.    [3] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 2. The correct answer is choice 3, which slates that the Fore people of New Guinea “knew very little about Western culture.” The paragraph explicitly says that the Fore had almost no contact with Western culture. None of the other three choices is mentioned in connection with the Fore, so none of them is correct.

6.    [3] This is a Sentence Simplification question. As with all of these questions, a single sentence in the passage is highlighted:

The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses.

The correct answer is choice 3. It contains all of the essential ideas in the highlighted sentence without changing the meaning. This choice says that the Fore “exhibited the same relationship of facial expression and basic emotions that is seen in Western culture when they acted out stories.” The sentence that precedes the highlighted sentence states that in a survey, the Fore agreed with Westerners on how various emotions are portrayed. Then the highlighted sentence says that in a different situation (storytelling) the Fore’s expressions were also familiar; that is, these expressions were the same as those exhibited by Westerners in this situation.

Choices 1 and 2 are incorrect because each one changes the highlighted sentence into a statement that is not true.

Choice 4 is incorrect because it says that the Fore were familiar with the facial expressions of characters in stories. The highlighted sentence says that it was the investigators who were familiar with the Fore’s expressions. This is a change in meaning, so it is incorrect.

7.    [1] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in the passage. The correct answer is choice 1: emotions that are not expressed become less intense. This is correct based on the direct quotation of Darwin in paragraph 3. In that quotation, Darwin says that emotions that are freely expressed become more intense, while “On the other hand” those that are not freely expressed are softened, meaning that they become less intense. Choices 2, 3, and 4 are all incorrect because there is nothing in the passage that indicates Darwin ever believed these things about expressing emotions. Some or all of them may actually be true, but there is nothing in this passage that supports them.

8.    [1] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in the passage. You can see that the phrase “facial-feedback hypothesis” is highlighted where it first appears in the passage in paragraph 3. The correct answer is choice 1: research supporting this hypothesis came from studying experiments of the reactions of people to cartoons. This idea is found in paragraph 4, which uses these experiments as an example of how facial feedback works.

Choice 3, the release of neurotransmitters, is mentioned in paragraph 5, but not in connection with the facial-feedback hypothesis, so it is incorrect.

Choices 2 and 4 are not explicitly mentioned at all in the passage.

9.    [1] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is rate, and it is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 1, “judge.” Rate in this context means “judge.”

10.    [4] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is relevant, and it is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 4, “applicable.” Relevant means that Ekman’s observation applies (“is applicable”) to an expression.

11. [4] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in the passage. The correct answer is choice 4: stiffening the upper lip “may either heighten or reduce emotional response.” This is stated explicitly in paragraph 6 of the passage as a possible paradox in the relationship between facial expressions and emotions.

Choice 1 is incorrect because paragraph 6 contradicts it.

Choice 2 is incorrect because the passage mentions only the fear and tension of a person trying to keep a stiff upper lip, not any fear or tension that the expression may cause in others.

Choice 3 is incorrect because there is no suggestion anywhere in the passage that stiffening the upper lip may damage lip muscles.

12. [3] This is an Insert Text question. You can see the four black squares in paragraph 2 that represent the possible answer choices here.

■ Most investigators concur that certain facial expressions suggest the same emotions in all people. ■ Moreover, people in diverse cultures recognize the emotions manifested by the facial expressions. ■ In classic research Paul Ekman took photographs of people exhibiting the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. ■ He then asked people around the world to indicate what emotions were being depicted in them. Those queried ranged from European college students to members of the Fore, a tribe that dwells in the New Guinea highlands. All groups, including the Fore, who had almost no contact with Western culture, agreed on the portrayed emotions. The Fore also displayed familiar facial expressions when asked how they would respond if they were the characters in stories that called for basic emotional responses. Ekman and his colleagues more recently obtained similar results in a study of ten cultures in which participants were permitted to report that multiple emotions were shown by facial expressions. The participants generally agreed on which two emotions were being shown and which emotion was more intense.

The sentence provided, “This universality in the recognition of emotions was demonstrated by using rather simple methods,” is best inserted at square 3.

Square 3 is correct because the inserted sentence begins with the phrase “This universality.” The universality being referred to is the fact, stated in the second sentence, that “people in diverse cultures recognize the emotions manifested by the facial expressions.”

None of the other answer choices follows a sentence that contains a universal statement. Sentence 1 mentions that “Most investigators concur,” which means that some do not. Therefore this is not a universal statement.

Squares 2 and 4 are incorrect because there is nothing in either sentence to which “This universality” could refer.

13. [2] [4] [6] This is a Prose Summary question. It is completed correctly below. The correct choices are 2, 4, and 6. Choices 1, 3, and 5 are therefore incorrect.

Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some answer choices do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.

Psychological research seems to confirm that people associate particular facial expressions with the same emotions across cultures.

•    Facial expressions and emotional states interact with each other through a variety of feedback mechanisms.

•    A person’s facial expression may reflect the person’s emotional state.

•    Facial expressions that occur as a result of an individual’s emotional state may themselves feed back information that influences the person’s emotions.

Answer Choices

Correct Choices

Choice 2, “Facial expressions and emotional states interact with each other through a variety of feedback mechanisms,’’ is correct because it is a general statement that is developed throughout the passage. Questions about the nature of this interaction and details of research on this issue are discussed in every paragraph, so it is clearly a “main idea.”

Choice 4, “A person’s facial expression may reflect the person’s emotional state,” is correct because, like choice 2, it is a major idea that the passage explores in detail. Paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 6 are devoted to discussing attempts to understand whether and how facial expressions may reflect a person’s emotional state.

Choice 6, “Facial expressions that occur as a result of an individual’s emotional state may themselves feed back information that influences the person’s emotions,” is correct because it is the main tenet of the “facial-feedback hypothesis” that is extensively discussed in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Incorrect Choices

Choice 1, “Artificially producing the Duchenne smile can cause a person to have pleasant feelings,” is incorrect because it is a minor, supporting detail mentioned in paragraph 5 as an example of a more general, and important, statement about the links between facial expressions and emotion (see choice 6, above).

Choice 3, “People commonly believe that they can control their facial expressions so that their true emotions remain hidden,” is incorrect because while it may be true, the passage does not make this claim.

Choice 5, “Ekman argued that the ability to accurately recognize the emotional content of facial expressions was valuable for human beings,” is incorrect because according to the passage, Ekman did not make this argument; Charles Darwin did. Ekman’s research was directed toward determining the universality of certain facial expressions, not the “value” of people’s ability to recognize those expressions.

Geology and Landscape

1.    [4] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 1. The correct answer is choice 4. Sentence 1 of the paragraph explicitly states that Earth’s landscape changes relatively rapidly compared with Earth’s overall age. Choice 1, on the frequency of landscape changes, is contradicted by the paragraph. Choice 2, that landscape changes occur only at special times, is also contradicted by the paragraph. Choice 3, the frequency of landscape changes, is not mentioned.

2.    [2] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is relatively, and it is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 2. The sentence in which relatively appears is comparing Earth’s time scale with the human time scale, so “comparatively” is the correct answer.

3    [2]  This is a Sentence Simplification question. As with all of these questions, a single sentence in the passage is highlighted:

Hills and mountains are often regarded as the epitome of permanence, successfully resisting the destructive forces of nature, but in fact they tend to be relatively shortlived in geological terms.

The correct answer is choice 2. That choice contains all of the essential information in the highlighted sentence. It omits the information in the second clause of the highlighted sentence (“successfully resisting the destructive forces of nature”) because that information is not essential to the meaning.

Choices 1, 3, and 4 are all incorrect because they change the meaning of the highlighted sentence. Choice 1 adds information on the age of a mountain that is not mentioned in the highlighted sentence.

Choice 3 introduces information about how long mountains resist forces of nature in absolute terms; the highlighted sentence says that the resistance is relatively short in geological terms, which is an entirely different meaning.

Choice 4 compares mountains with other landforms. The highlighted sentence does not make any such comparison.

4. [2] This is an Inference question asking for an inference that can be supported by paragraph 2. The correct answer is choice 2: the Himalayas are higher than the Caledonian mountains. The paragraph states that younger mountains arc generally higher than older mountains. It also states that the Himalayas arc much younger than the Caledonians. Since the Himalayas are the younger range and younger mountain ranges are higher than older ranges, we can infer that the younger Himalayas are higher than the older Caledonians.

Choices 1 and 4 are incorrect because they explicitly contradict the passage. The height of the Himalayas is an indication of their age, and the Himalayas are about the same height that the Caledonians were 400 million years ago.

Choice 3 is incorrect because there is nothing in the paragraph about “uniform height.”

5.    [3] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is relics, and it is highlighted in the passage. Choice 3 is the correct answer. The relics of the Caledonian range are what is left of them. Remains means “what is left of something,” so it is the correct answer.

6.    [3] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 3. The correct answer is choice 3: mountains are formed by crustal plates hitting each other. The paragraph states that mountains are formed in three ways: by crustal plates hitting each other, by earthquakes, and by volcanoes. Choices 1, 2, and 4 are not among these causes of mountain formation; they are therefore incorrect.

7.    [1] This is a Rhetorical Purpose question. It asks why the author mentions “Carbon dioxide” in the passage. This term is highlighted in the passage. The correct answer is choice 1: carbon dioxide is mentioned to explain the origin of a chemical that can erode rocks. The author is describing a particular cause of erosion, and the starting point of that process is carbon dioxide.

8.    [2] This is a Vocabulary question. The word being tested is seeps, and it is highlighted in the passage. Choice 2, “flows slowly,” is the correct answer. The sentence is describing the way in which rain moves underground from Earth’s surface. It cannot do this by drying (choice 1), freezing (choice 3), or warming (choice 4).

9.    [2] This is a Reference question. The word being tested is them, and it is highlighted in the passage. Choice 2, “masses of ice,” is the correct answer. This is a simple pronoun-referent question. The word them refers to the glaciers that are carrying eroded rock. Notice that in this case, a whole series of words separates the pronoun from its referent.

10.    [4] This is a Factual Information question asking for specific information that can be found in paragraph 6. The correct answer is choice 4, “Sand.” Sentences 3 and 4 of that paragraph describe erosion in dry areas. Sand is carried by wind and bombards rock; this bombardment breaks down the rock, and, as a result, more sand is created. Thus sand is both the cause and the result of erosion, so choice 4 is correct. Glacial activity (choice 1) and tree roots (choice 3) are both mentioned only as causes of erosion. Rock debris (choice 2) is mentioned only as a result of erosion.

11. [1] This is an Insert Text question. You can see the four black squares in paragraph 6 that represent the possible answer choices here.

Under very cold conditions, rocks can be shattered by ice and frost. Glaciers may form in permanently cold areas, and these slowly moving masses of ice cut out valleys, carrying with them huge quantities of eroded rock debris. ■ In dry areas the wind is the principal agent of erosion. ■ It carries fine particles of sand, which bombard exposed rock surfaces, thereby wearing them into yet more sand. ■ Even living things contribute to the formation of landscapes. ■ Tree roots force their way into cracks in rocks and, in so doing, speed their splitting. In contrast, the roots of grasses and other small plants may help to hold loose soil fragments together, thereby helping to prevent erosion by the wind.

The sentence provided, “Under different climatic conditions, another type of destructive force contributes to erosion,” is best inserted at square 1.

Square 1 is correct because the inserted sentence is a transitional sentence, moving the discussion away from one set of climatic conditions (cold) to another set of climatic conditions (dryness). It is at square 1 that the transition between topics takes place.

Squares 2, 3, and 4 all precede sentences that provide details of dry climatic conditions. No transition is taking place at any of those places, so the inserted sentence is not needed.

12. [1] [3] [5] [6] [7] This is a Fill in a Table question. It is completed correctly below. The correct choices for the “Constructive Processes” column are 1, 5, and 6. Choices 3 and 7 are the correct choices for the “Destructive Processes” column. Choices 2 and 4 should not be used in either column.

Directions: Three of the answer choices below are used in the passage to illustrate constructive processes, and two are used to illustrate destructive processes. Complete the table by matching appropriate answer choices to the processes they are used to illustrate. This question is worth 3 points.

Constructive Processes	Destructive Processes I
• Collision of Earth’s crustal plates	• Wind-driven sand
• Earthquakes	• Weather processes
• Volcanic activity

Answer Choices

1.	Collision of Earth’s crustal plates	5.	Earthquakes
2.	Separation of continents	6.	Volcanic activity
3.	Wind-driven sand	7.	Weather processes
4.	Formation of grass roots in soil

Correct Choices

Choice 1: “Collision of Earth’s crustal plates” (Constructive Pi’ocess) belongs in this column because it is mentioned in the passage as one of the constructive processes by which mountains are formed.

Choice 3: “Wind-driven sand” (Destructive Process) belongs in this column because it is mentioned in the passage as one of the destructive forces that wear away the land.

Choice 5: “Earthquakes” (Constructive Process) belongs in this column because it is mentioned in the passage as one of the constructive forces by which mountains are formed.

Choice 6: “Volcanic activity” (Constructive Process) belongs in this column because it is mentioned in the passage as one of the constructive forces by which mountains are formed.

Choice 7: “Weather processes” (Destructive Process) belongs in this column because it is mentioned in the passage as one of the destructive forces that wear away the land.

Incorrect Choices

Choice 2: “Separation of continents” does not belong in the table because it is not mentioned in the passage as either a constructive or destructive process.

Choice 4: “Formation of grass roots in soil” does not belong in the table because it is not mentioned in the passage as either a constructive or destructive process.