SAT^® Practice Test

SAT practice questions with answers and explanations:

1. Which literary device is used in the following sentence from the last paragraph of the passage?

   Darkness swallowed us.
   Tonight, after more days and trials than we can count, we finished building a strange thing, from the remains of the Unmentionable Times, a box of glass, devised to give forth the power of the sky of greater strength than we had ever achieved before. And when we put our wires to this box, when we closed the current—the wire glowed! It came to life, it turned red, and a circle of light lay on the stone before us.
   
   We stood, and we held our head in our hands. We could not conceive of that which we had created. We had touched no flint, made no fire. Yet here was light, light that came from nowhere, light from the heart of metal.
   
   We blew out the candle. Darkness swallowed us. There was nothing left around us, nothing save night and a thin thread of flame in it, as a crack in the wall of a prison. We stretched our hands to the wire, and we saw our fingers in the red glow. We could not see our body nor feel it, and in that moment nothing existed save our two hands over a wire glowing in a black abyss.

   Excerpt from Anthem by Ayn Rand

   • Metaphor
   • Synecdoche
   • Flashback
   • Personification — Correct answer
   Explanation: The sentence uses personification, whereby darkness is given a human quality (being able to swallow). There is no comparison being made, making metaphor, Choice A, incorrect. Synecdoche, which is a device that uses a part to represent a whole or vice versa, is not present, making Choice B incorrect. The sentence has no interjected scenes from a previous point in the narrative, making Choice C incorrect.
2. Based on these two texts, which of the following goals is always important when creating a painting?

   Text 1

   The problem with modern painting is a lack of technical expertise. Modern work can be wonderfully inventive and expressive, but it still doesn't compare with classic masters like da Vinci. This isn't just prejudice! Compared to the old, new paintings don't depict the same level of anatomical realism. The artists just haven't put in the work.
   
   

   Text 2

   Each painter ought to ask themselves, “What's the point of painting?” Should art be made for a purpose, with a message? Or, is the highest value of art simply to reproduce nature? If so, well, photography's always going to be a better artist than a painter.
   • Message
   • Creativity — Correct answer
   • Realism
   • Subject
   Explanation: Choice B is correct because both texts recognize that creative expression is important when making a painting. Choice A is incorrect because Text 1 does not place importance on a painting's message. Choice C is incorrect because Text 2 does not value a painting's fidelity to real life. Choice D is incorrect because neither text discusses the subject matter of a painting.
3. A traveler takes an hour to drive to a museum, spends three hours and 30 minutes there, and takes half an hour to drive home. What percentage of their time was spent driving?
   • 15%
   • 30% — Correct answer
   • 40%
   • 60%
   Explanation: The total trip time is \(1+3.5+0.5=5\) hours. The total time driving is \(1+0.5=1.5\) hours. So, the fraction of time spent driving is \(\frac{1.5}{5}\), or \(\frac{3}{10}\). To convert this to a percentage, multiply the top and bottom by 10 to make the denominator 100.

   \(\frac{3}{10}\times \frac{10}{10}=\frac{30}{100}\)

   Since the denominator is 100, the numerator is the percentage: 30%.
4. A truck is carrying three cylindrical barrels. Each barrel has a diameter of 2 feet and a height of 3 feet. What is the total volume of the three barrels in cubic feet?
   • 15\(\pi\)
   • 12\(\pi\)
   • 9\(\pi\) — Correct answer
   • 3\(\pi\)
   Explanation: The formula for the volume of a cylinder is \(\pi r^2 h\), where \(r\) is the radius and \(h\) is the height. The diameter is twice the radius, so these barrels have a radius of 1 foot. That means each barrel has a volume of:

   \(\pi×(1 ft)^2\times 3 \text{ ft}=3\pi \text{ ft}^3\)

   Since there are three of them, the total is:

   \(3\times 3\pi \text{ ft}^3=9\pi \text{ ft}^3\)

5. Suppose the function \(y=\frac{1}{8} x^3+2x-21\) approximates the population of a given city between the years 1900 and 2000, with \(x\) representing the year (where 1900 is \(x=0\)) and \(y\) representing the population (in thousands). Which of the following domains are relevant for the scenario?
   • \((-∞,∞)\)
   • \([1900, 2000]\)
   • \([0, 100]\) — Correct answer
   • \([0, 0]\)
   Explanation: The domain consists of all possible inputs, or \(x\)-values. The scenario states that the function approximates the population between the years 1900 and 2000. It also states that \(x=0\) represents the year 1900, with \(x\) representing the year (where 1900 is \(x=0\)) and \(y\) representing the population (in thousands). Therefore, the year 2000 would be represented by \(x=100\). Only inputs between 0 and 100 are relevant in this case.