PSAT-Test – Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test: Math, Reading

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Showing 16–18 of 20 questions

Question 16 (Reading)

Adapted from “Humming-Birds: As Illustrating the Luxuriance of Tropical Nature” in Tropical Nature, and Other Essays by Alfred Russel Wallace (1878)

The food of hummingbirds has been a matter of much controversy. All the early writers down to Buffon believed that they lived solely on the nectar of flowers, but since that time, every close observer of their habits maintains that they feed largely, and in some cases wholly, on insects. Azara observed them on the La Plata in winter taking insects out of the webs of spiders at a time and place where there were no flowers. Bullock, in Mexico, declares that he saw them catch small butterflies, and that he found many kinds of insects in their stomachs. Waterton made a similar statement. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of specimens have since been dissected by collecting naturalists, and in almost every instance their stomachs have been found full of insects, sometimes, but not generally, mixed with a proportion of honey. Many of them in fact may be seen catching gnats and other small insects just like fly-catchers, sitting on a dead twig over water, darting off for a time in the air, and then returning to the twig. Others come out just at dusk, and remain on the wing, now stationary, now darting about with the greatest rapidity, imitating in a limited space the evolutions of the goatsuckers, and evidently for the same end and purpose. Mr. Gosse also remarks, “All the hummingbirds have more or less the habit, when in flight, of pausing in the air and throwing the body and tail into rapid and odd contortions. This is most observable in the Polytmus, from the effect that such motions have on the long feathers of the tail. That the object of these quick turns is the capture of insects, I am sure, having watched one thus engaged pretty close to me.”

Based on what is said in the passage, the author most likely believes that __________.

Select an option, then click Submit answer.

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hummingbirds eat a mixture of flower nectar and insects, but mostly flower nectar
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hummingbirds eat a mixture of flower nectar and insects, but mostly insects
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hummingbirds eat only flower nectar
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None of the other answers
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hummingbirds eat neither flower nectar nor insects

Reference / correct answer:

hummingbirds eat a mixture of flower nectar and insects, but mostly insects

This is a tricky question because in the passage, the author never directly states his opinion about what hummingbirds eat; readers have to infer it based on the evidence he presents. The author begins the passage by stating that while old scientists used to think hummingbirds ate only flower nectar, modern writers think that they eat “largely, and in some cases wholly,” on insects. He then presents evidence suggesting that hummingbirds eat insects, and in discussing the contents of hummingbirds’ stomachs, says that scientists sometimes find both insects and honey. For the rest of the paragraph, he provides evidence suggesting that hummingbirds eat insects.

What can we infer from this? Well, we can tell that it’s not likely that the author thinks hummingbirds eat only flower nectar, because he provides evidence supporting the idea that they eat insects. This means that we can also discard the answer choice “hummingbirds eat neither flower nectar nor insects.” It’s quite reasonable to think that the author thinks that “hummingbirds eat a mixture of flower nectar and insects” because he mentions that sometimes honey is found along with insects in hummingbirds’ stomachs. So, we need to figure out whether he probably believes that they eat mostly insects or mostly flower nectar. Let’s look at how the author phrases his description of the contents of hummingbirds’ stomachs: “in almost every instance their stomachs have been found full of insects, sometimes, but not generally, mixed with a proportion of honey.” So, if “in almost every instance” the hummingbird stomachs examined were “full of insects,” but

“sometimes, but not generally” honey was also found, the correct answer must be “hummingbirds eat a mixture of flower nectar and insects, but mostly insects.”

Question 17 (Reading)

(1) On my nineteenth birthday, I began my trip to Mali, West Africa. (2) Some 24 hours later I arrived in Bamako, the capital of Mali. (3) The sun had set and the night was starless. (4) One of the officials from the literacy program I was working was there to meet me. (5) After the melee in the baggage claim, we proceeded to his car. (6) Actually, it was a truck. (7) I was soon to learn that most people in Mali that had automobiles actually had trucks or SUVs. (8) Apparently, there not just a convenience but a necessity when you live on the edge of the Sahara. (9) I threw my bags into the bed of the truck, and hopped in to the back of the cab. (10) Riding to my welcome dinner, I stared out the windows of the truck and took in the city. (11) It was truly a foreign land to me, and I knew that I was an alien there. (12) “What am I doing here?” I thought.

(13) It is hard to believe but seven months later I returned to the same airport along the same road that I had traveled on that first night in Bamako, and my perspective on the things that I saw had completely changed. (14) The landscape that had once seemed so desolate and lifeless now was the homeland of people that I had come to love. (15) When I looked back at the capital, Bamako, fast receding on the horizon, I did not see a city foreboding and wild in its foreignness. (16) I saw the city which held so many dear friends. (17) I saw teadrinking sessions going late into the night.

(18) I saw the hospitality and open-heartedness of the people of Mali. (19) The second time, everything looked completely different, and I knew that it was I who had changed and not it.

If you were to combine sentences 16 – 18 (reproduced below) into one sentence, which of the following would be the best choice? I saw the city which held so many dear friends. I saw teadrinking sessions going late into the night. I saw the hospitality and open-heartedness of the people of Mali.

Select an option, then click Submit answer.

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I saw the city which held so many dear friends; I saw tea-drinking sessions going late into the night; I saw the hospitality and openheartedness of the people of Mali.
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I saw the city which held so many dear friends, drinking tea into late in the night, and the hospitality and open-heartedness of the people of Mali.
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I saw the city which held so many dear friends, I saw tea-drinking sessions going late into the night, I saw the hospitality and openheartedness of the people of Mali.
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I saw the city which held so many dear friends, tea-drinking sessions going late into the night, the hospitality and open-heartedness of the people of Mali.
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I saw the city which held so many dear friends: tea-drinking sessions going late into the night, the hospitality and open-heartedness of the people of Mali.

Question 18 (Math)

ABCD is a parallelogram. BD = 5. The angles of triangle ABD are all equal. What is the perimeter of the parallelogram?

Select an option, then click Submit answer.

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15
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20
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15√3
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10√3
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11√2

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