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In sharp contrast to the modern, confessional poetry of the 20th century, the oeuvre of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seems quaint and primly Victorian. During his lifetime, however, he was the most celebrated poet in the country. A closer look at the history of American poetry reveals that, despite his eminence, Longfellow wrote in a mold of both form and content that was already being challenged during his lifetime. But why, a century later, do the artistic works of many of his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts? One answer lies in the radical shift that began to take place in poetry in the mid19th century. Longfellow's themes and steadfast rhymes (and those of John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell) gave way gradually to confessional verse, whose subjects were more personal and rhymes were looser and less conventional. But to understand this shift, one must first understand the nature of Longfellow's work and his standing in the American literary scene of his time. Longfellow took as his subject his country's historical imagination, writing on an epic scale about Paul Revere, the Indian Hiawatha, and the pilgrim Miles Standish. He bestowed a mythic dimension on these figures, giving American readers iconic images that helped form a collective consciousness in the new country (indeed, Longfellow was a part of the first generation to be born in the United States). But Longfellow's content went beyond nationalistic pride-it was highly accessible and incredibly popular. Its accessibility is explained by his obvious themes that could be easily understood and embraced by the public. Longfellow did not challenge his readers, but appealed to their desire for stories that expounded an optimistic, sentimental, and moralistic worldview. Those themes were explored in rhyme that allowed readers to commit the poems to memory, much like songs. In 1857, The Song of Hiawatha, arguably his bestknown poem, sold 50,000 copies, an astounding number at the time. The next year, The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 25,000 copies in two months and in London sold 10,000 copies in one day. His success allowed him to give up a professorship at Harvard and focus full time on his writing. Walt Whitman, Longfellow's contemporary, wrote poetry similar to that of Longfellow-romantic and sentimental, with conventional rhyme and meter. But in the 1850s, indeed two years before The Song of Hiawatha, he wrote and published Leaves of Grass; a more radical departure from his previous work could not have been imagined. The 12 unnamed poems comprising Leaves of Grass are written in free verse-that is, without conventional rhyme and meter. Yet, like Longfellow, he was determined to explore the subject of America and his love for his country. Whitman looked to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson for inspiration. Emerson wrote "America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." Indeed, Whitman paraphrased Emerson in his preface. Whitman's groundbreaking free verse changed the trajectory of American poetry. The next generation of poets, including Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Sherwood Anderson, and William Carlos Williams, celebrated their debt to Whitman. Decades later, the influence of Whitman's work on Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes, among many others, continues his legacy. One of America's most famous Modern poets, Ezra Pound, said of Walt Whitman, "As for Whitman, I read him (in many parts) with acute pain, but when I write of certain things I find myself using his rhythms." How does this quote affect the author's contention that Pound and his generation of poets celebrated their debt to Whitman? Options: A. It repudiates it. B. It endorses it. C. It denies the contention by showing Pound's distaste for Whitman's work. D. It calls into question the author's use of the word celebrate.

This question asks you to apply new evidence to an existing argument. The new evidence is an ambivalent statement by Ezra Pound, in which he both declares his distaste for much of Whitman's work while still admiring it enough to imitate it. The author declares that Pound celebrated his debt to Whitman, which is neither repudiated nor endorsed (choices A and B) by Pound's ambivalence. Similarly, the second part of the statement (regarding imitation) does not deny the author's contention. Choice D is the correct answer because it identifies the passage's use of celebrate as too positive a word in light of Pound's "pain" in reading Whitman. The correct answer is D.

"I acknowledge Shakespeare to be the world's greatest dramatic poet, but regret that no parent could place the uncorrected book in the hands of his daughter, and therefore I have prepared the Family Shakespeare." Thus did Thomas Bowdler, a self-appointed editor trained as a physician, explain his creation of a children's edition of Shakespeare that omitted some characters completely, toned down language he considered objectionable, and euphemized such shocking situations as Ophelia's suicide-an accident in Bowdler's version. Bowdler was hardly the first to tone down the Bard. Poet laureate Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear, banishing the Fool entirely and giving the play a happy ending. His version was staged regularly from the 1680 s through the 18 th century. Thomas Bowdler was, from all the evidence, a less likely editor. He was born in 1754 near Bath, England, to a wealthy family. He studied medicine but never really practiced, preferring to exercise philanthropy and to play chess, at which he was a master. In his retirement, he decided to try his hand at editorial work. Shakespeare's dramas were his first project. He added nothing to the texts, but by cutting and paraphrasing strove to remove anything that "could give just offense to the religious and virtuous mind." The result was a 10-volume expurgated version that was criticized widely, although hardly universally. The famed British poet Algernon Swinburne remarked that "no man ever did better service to Shakespeare than the man who made it possible to put him into the hands of intelligent and imaginative children." There is some indication that Bowdler's sister Harriet did the actual editing of Shakespeare's text. She was a poet and editor in her own right, and clearly more qualified than her brother to lay hands on the Bard of Avon. She may have published the expurgated edition anonymously before allowing her brother to take over the rights. If this is so, it is unsurprising that Harriet would not have wanted her name on the book. If the original Shakespeare were truly objectionable, then it would have been doubly so for a well-bred, unmarried Englishwoman of the day. Bowdler went on to create children's versions of the Old Testament and of Edward Gibbons's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, although neither achieved either the success or ridicule of his Shakespeare. Today, of course, we know Bowdler not for his good works, but instead for the eponym derived from his good name. To bowdlerize is to censor or amend a written work, often with a connotation of prudishness. The process for which Bowdler is known is one that continues to the present day, as texts deemed too difficult for today's high schoolers are "dumbed-down," library editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have the "n-word" blacked out, and middle-school productions of popular Broadway plays have all expletives deleted. We would be hard-pressed to say that we live in a prudish era, but some of the same impulses that drove Thomas and Harriet Bowdler still exist today. The main argument of the final paragraph is that: Options: A. Bowdler did a disservice to the readers of his works. B. Bowdler's edited texts have long since vanished into history. C. We continue to bowdlerize texts to the present day. D. Today we look at Bowdler as a negative influence on writing.

The final paragraph mentions Bowdler's works other than Shakespeare and discusses the fact that we derive a verb from his name. The main idea of the paragraph, however, is that Bowdler's form of editing continues to the present day (choice C); several examples of present-day bowdlerization are given. The correct answer is C.

In sharp contrast to the modern, confessional poetry of the 20th century, the oeuvre of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seems quaint and primly Victorian. During his lifetime, however, he was the most celebrated poet in the country. A closer look at the history of American poetry reveals that, despite his eminence, Longfellow wrote in a mold of both form and content that was already being challenged during his lifetime. But why, a century later, do the artistic works of many of his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts? One answer lies in the radical shift that began to take place in poetry in the mid19th century. Longfellow's themes and steadfast rhymes (and those of John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell) gave way gradually to confessional verse, whose subjects were more personal and rhymes were looser and less conventional. But to understand this shift, one must first understand the nature of Longfellow's work and his standing in the American literary scene of his time. Longfellow took as his subject his country's historical imagination, writing on an epic scale about Paul Revere, the Indian Hiawatha, and the pilgrim Miles Standish. He bestowed a mythic dimension on these figures, giving American readers iconic images that helped form a collective consciousness in the new country (indeed, Longfellow was a part of the first generation to be born in the United States). But Longfellow's content went beyond nationalistic pride-it was highly accessible and incredibly popular. Its accessibility is explained by his obvious themes that could be easily understood and embraced by the public. Longfellow did not challenge his readers, but appealed to their desire for stories that expounded an optimistic, sentimental, and moralistic worldview. Those themes were explored in rhyme that allowed readers to commit the poems to memory, much like songs. In 1857, The Song of Hiawatha, arguably his bestknown poem, sold 50,000 copies, an astounding number at the time. The next year, The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 25,000 copies in two months and in London sold 10,000 copies in one day. His success allowed him to give up a professorship at Harvard and focus full time on his writing. Walt Whitman, Longfellow's contemporary, wrote poetry similar to that of Longfellow-romantic and sentimental, with conventional rhyme and meter. But in the 1850s, indeed two years before The Song of Hiawatha, he wrote and published Leaves of Grass; a more radical departure from his previous work could not have been imagined. The 12 unnamed poems comprising Leaves of Grass are written in free verse-that is, without conventional rhyme and meter. Yet, like Longfellow, he was determined to explore the subject of America and his love for his country. Whitman looked to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson for inspiration. Emerson wrote "America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." Indeed, Whitman paraphrased Emerson in his preface. Whitman's groundbreaking free verse changed the trajectory of American poetry. The next generation of poets, including Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Sherwood Anderson, and William Carlos Williams, celebrated their debt to Whitman. Decades later, the influence of Whitman's work on Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes, among many others, continues his legacy. According to the passage, what might be the current reputation of poets such as Whittier and Holmes? Options: A. They are considered integral writers in the history of American poetry. B. They are reviled as part of the Victorian Romantic period of American poetry. C. They are regarded as antiquated due to their conventional form and content. D. They are viewed as an influence on the Modern movement.

This question looks at cause and effect, not as directly Passage II presented in the essay, but rather as implied by the essay. Whittier and Holmes are mentioned once as contemporaries of Longfellow who also employed similar themes and rhymes. Because Longfellow's reputation is said to suffer because of these very themes and rhymes, it may be implied that the reputations of Whittier and Holmes suffer a similar fate. There is no evidence in the passage to support choice A, so it should be eliminated. Choice B is too negative; neither Longfellow nor Whittier and Holmes are said to be held in contempt or disdain. Choice D is in opposition to the ideas found in the passage. Modern poetry is influenced MCAT The correct answer is C.

\section{ Language consists of three main parts. The first is simply vocabulary, the lexicon of words available to the speaker to describe particular concepts, actions, and states. The second part is morphology, the set of rules that dictates how words and parts of words may be combined to form other words. The final part of language is syntax, the rules that combine words into phrases and sentences. It is morphology that we shall turn our attention to first. Morphology has two major subdivisions. They are derivation and inflection. Derivation refers to those rules by which new words may be formed out of preexisting words. Inflection, sometimes referred to as conjugation and declension, states how words are changed to indicate their function within a sentence. Although common mythology holds that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, many linguists would beg to differ. In fact, when it comes to inflection, the conditional, the subjunctive, the imperative, and others. Languages from outside the Indo-European family tree may be even more complex. The Bantu language of Kivunjo has roughly half a million combinations of prefixes and suffixes for a verb. English, however, has a mere four combinations. A verb such as to walk is limited to the following forms: walk, walks, walked, and walking. Although there are only four basic verb forms, the English language does have more than 13 possible inflections. It just makes do with these four forms for the various functions. English also differs significantly from many other Indo-European languages in that in English, the stem of the word can be pronounced and is in fact part of the language. In Spanish, the stem of the verb to walk is camin-, but this is not a word in the language. In order to pronounce this word, it must be conjugated and combined with a suffix. English uses the stem form of the verb for four inflections: the present tense (except for the third-person singular), the infinitive, the imperative, and the subjunctive. The verb form ending in $-s$ is used in only one case, the third-person singular. The two possible verb suffixes, -ing and $-e d$, are put to use in a variety of ways as well. The -ing ending appears in the progressive participle, the present participle, the gerund form, and the verbal adjective form. That leaves the $-e d$ form to handle the remaining inflections, including the past tense, the perfect participle, the passive participle, and some verbal adjectives. Why are there so many different inflections for verb forms that basically sound the same? Simply put, the meanings implied by the various moods are different, even if the words used are fairly similar. Compare the meaning conveyed by the simple past tense (he walked) to the meaning inherent in the perfect participle (he has walked). The central thesis of the passage is that: Options: A. English is easier to learn than many other languages. B. Each language is unique in its major forms. C. The English language uses a minimum of verb forms in its inflections. D. The English language is not as rich in meaning as other languages.

This question asks you to find the main idea. This passage discusses the basic structure of language and specifically a feature of the English language, namely its paucity of verb forms. Choice $C$ is the best summary of the passage. Choice $\mathrm{A}$ is not the main idea of the passage at all. Choice $\mathrm{B}$ is too strong. It is not stated that each and every language is unique. Choice $\mathrm{D}$ is wrong because the passage states the English language is able to convey a number of meanings even though its verb forms are limited. The correct answer is C.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} The Nobel Peace Prize has often engendered controversy. The Red Cross, yes, but Henry Kissinger? Mother Teresa, perhaps, but Yasser Arafat? Surprisingly, a loud and ongoing controversy surrounds a choice that at first look seems most benign-that of the Guatemalan freedom fighter, Rigoberta Menchú Tum. Rigoberta Menchú was born in 1959 to a poor Mayan family in Guatemala. At the time of her birth, General Ydígoras Fuentes had just seized power, following the assassination of Colonel Castillo Armas. The year she turned one, there was a failed coup by a military group, many of whom fled to the countryside and would return to lead the rebellion that would wax and wane for the next 36 years. Guatemala was divided into factions for that entire period, as military governments controlled the nation and guerilla groups controlled the countryside. At the same time, right-wing vigilantes led a campaign of torture and assassination, eliminating students and peasants they deemed to be allied with the guerillas. In the countryside where Rigoberta lived, the battles were largely over control of farmland. Rigoberta's father was taken into custody and tortured when the army believed he had assisted in the assassination of a plantation owner. Following a rout of the guerillas by the army, the guerillas regrouped and began to take their fight to the capital, beginning a long series of assassinations of government figures. Rigoberta, her father, and some of her siblings joined the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). In rapid succession, Rigoberta lost her brother, father, and mother to the army's own assassination squads. Rigoberta, though only in her early 20s, became a key figure in the resistance, traveling from village to village to educate the Mayan peasants in overcoming oppression, and leading demonstrations in Guatemala City. Soon Rigoberta was herself a target. She fled to Mexico and continued her life as an organizer, concentrating her focus on peasants' rights. She participated in the founding of the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). This period was the most violent of the entire Guatemalan civil war. Under the new president, General Efrain Ríos Montt, massacres of civilians became an everyday occurrence. The controversy is all about the book. It began when anthropologist David Stoll began independent research on the same era about which Rigoberta dictated and discovered discrepancies in her recall of events. Massacres she described were not remembered by the locals; one of her brothers died by shooting rather than by fire, dates were incorrect, and so on. Stoll's discoveries were enough to roil up conservative historians and columnists, who declared Rigoberta's book the grossest propaganda and her career, therefore, unworthy of the Nobel Prize. Not surprisingly, this brought forth charges of racism, sexism, and cultural ignorance from the other side. The Nobel Committee maintained a stiff upper lip throughout the political backand-forth and still insists that Rigoberta's prize had to do with her documented good works and not with her personal recorded history. Rigoberta's book is still widely taught, and her place in the history of Central American peasant revolutions seems assured. If David Stoll is to be believed, Rigoberta's autobiography seems to be an example of: Options: A. "truthiness," the quality of preferring facts one wishes were true to those that are true B. "epic," a narrative unified by a legendary hero who reflects the aspirations of a nation or race C. "folktale," a story of cumulative authorship from the oral tradition D. "manifesto," a credo or position paper in which the leader of a political movement sets forth tenets and beliefs

David Stoll objects to what he considers Rigoberta's misleading the public on matters of fact. That would not mean that her work was an epic (choice B) or a folktale (choice C) because those are specific genres of literature that do not fit his accusations. Nor would he call her work a manifesto (choice D) because he does not accept her as a leader. He might, however, use the trendy word truthiness to describe what he feels to be a bending of the truth. Answers and Explanations MCAT The correct answer is A.

\section{ If our knowledge of the world occurs through the weaving of narratives, as postmodernists would have us believe, then we must judge the truth of each narrative by comparing it with what we value and what we already accept as true. Any metanarrative, or overarching "big story," must be rejected because it attempts to explain away too many individual narratives. history through that metanarrative, postmodernists would argue, does not allow us to consider the contributions of other groups to the country we live in today. So constructing a metanarrative can often be exclusionary. Of course, constructing a series of smaller narratives is just as exclusionary because it frames experience in a limited way. It is easy to see this occurring if you look at any university course list today. How is it possible for American History 4111, "Imperialism and Amerindians, 1600-1840" to coexist alongside American History 4546, "American Military History and Policy"? Does English 340X, "Survey of Women's Literature," subsume or incorporate elements of English 342X, "American Indian Women Writers"? Perhaps we should pity the undergraduate student today. Lacking any overarching metanarrative to provide perspective, how can the poor student wade through the often contradictory mininarratives being thrown his or her way? There is no question that the old way was wrongheaded and elitist. Survey courses that emphasized the white male perspective were removed from the curriculum in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, and for good reason. But replacing them with a smorgasbord of mininarratives risks eliminating any sense of a big picture. Can students connect the dots to define a coherent reality, or must their reality be a series of frames with no links among them? Revising the canon was about ridding our perspective of those racist, sexist, or classist notions that insisted on a single Truth with a capital $T$. Of course there is no overriding Truth that applies to everyone. For everyone who believes that Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant reformer, there is someone who thinks he was a two-faced slaveholder. Yet, where does it leave us if everyone we know is approaching history, science, literature, or what have you from a slightly different angle? It's bad enough when partisan politics divides us into red states and blue states. How much worse is it to imagine ourselves clad in thousands upon thousands of shades of purple? The clearest sign that we are not ready to abandon our metanarratives comes in the current and ongoing clash between those who accept evolutionary theory and those who accept the Bible as the written word of God. The latter grant the Earth 6000 years of life, the former give it several million more, and never the twain shall meet. Each of these viewpoints is a metanarrative, a big story that governs people's understanding of the world. Like many metanarratives, each of these completely negates the other. So on the one hand, metanarratives don't work well because they are too exclusionary. And on the other hand, mininarratives don't work well because they are too narrow. It will be fascinating to watch the canon evolve over the next few decades and to see whether this dichotomy can ever be resolved. The main argument of the passage is that: Options: A. Metanarratives provide the best way to view the world. B. Metanarratives are usually more restrictive than mininarratives. C. Mininarratives are racist, sexist, and classist. D. Neither metanarratives nor mininarratives offer a flawless perspective.

The author finds that metanarratives are often racist, sexist, or classist; but that mininarratives are often too restrictive or exclusive to be useful. The best answer is choice D. The correct answer is D.

\section{ If our knowledge of the world occurs through the weaving of narratives, as postmodernists would have us believe, then we must judge the truth of each narrative by comparing it with what we value and what we already accept as true. Any metanarrative, or overarching "big story," must be rejected because it attempts to explain away too many individual narratives. history through that metanarrative, postmodernists would argue, does not allow us to consider the contributions of other groups to the country we live in today. So constructing a metanarrative can often be exclusionary. Of course, constructing a series of smaller narratives is just as exclusionary because it frames experience in a limited way. It is easy to see this occurring if you look at any university course list today. How is it possible for American History 4111, "Imperialism and Amerindians, 1600-1840" to coexist alongside American History 4546, "American Military History and Policy"? Does English 340X, "Survey of Women's Literature," subsume or incorporate elements of English 342X, "American Indian Women Writers"? Perhaps we should pity the undergraduate student today. Lacking any overarching metanarrative to provide perspective, how can the poor student wade through the often contradictory mininarratives being thrown his or her way? There is no question that the old way was wrongheaded and elitist. Survey courses that emphasized the white male perspective were removed from the curriculum in the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, and for good reason. But replacing them with a smorgasbord of mininarratives risks eliminating any sense of a big picture. Can students connect the dots to define a coherent reality, or must their reality be a series of frames with no links among them? Revising the canon was about ridding our perspective of those racist, sexist, or classist notions that insisted on a single Truth with a capital $T$. Of course there is no overriding Truth that applies to everyone. For everyone who believes that Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant reformer, there is someone who thinks he was a two-faced slaveholder. Yet, where does it leave us if everyone we know is approaching history, science, literature, or what have you from a slightly different angle? It's bad enough when partisan politics divides us into red states and blue states. How much worse is it to imagine ourselves clad in thousands upon thousands of shades of purple? The clearest sign that we are not ready to abandon our metanarratives comes in the current and ongoing clash between those who accept evolutionary theory and those who accept the Bible as the written word of God. The latter grant the Earth 6000 years of life, the former give it several million more, and never the twain shall meet. Each of these viewpoints is a metanarrative, a big story that governs people's understanding of the world. Like many metanarratives, each of these completely negates the other. So on the one hand, metanarratives don't work well because they are too exclusionary. And on the other hand, mininarratives don't work well because they are too narrow. It will be fascinating to watch the canon evolve over the next few decades and to see whether this dichotomy can ever be resolved. A comparison of a mininarrative to a metanarrative would be MOST similar to a comparison of: Options: A. a cropped photograph to a wide-angle photograph B. a globe to a world map C. a ranch-style house to a palace D. a single domestic turkey to a flock of wild turkeys

A mininarrative looks at the world through a limited lens. A metanarrative provides more of a big picture. The best analogy is choice A. The correct answer is A.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} Engineers and computer scientists are intrigued by the potential power of nanocomputing. Nanocomputers will use atoms and molecules to perform their functions instead of the standard integrated circuits now employed. Theorists believe that the amount of information a nanocomputer could handle is staggering. A professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has attempted to calculate the computational limits of a computer with a weight of 1 kilogram and a volume of 1 liter. According to the laws of physics, the potential amount of computational power is a function of the available energy. Basically, each atom and subatomic particle in the computer has an amount of energy attached to it. Furthermore, the energy of each particle or atom is increased by the frequency of its movement. Thus the power of a computer that uses nanotechnology is bounded by the energy available from its atoms. Specifically, the relationship between the energy of an object and its computation potential is a proportionate one. As Einstein has famously calculated, the energy of an object is equal to its mass times the speed of light squared. Thus, a theoretical computer weighing a mere kilogram has a huge amount of potential energy. To find the total computational power, the minimum amount of energy required to perform an operation is divided by the total amount of energy. of energy possessed by a 1-kilogram computer by Planck's constant yields a tremendously large number, roughly $5 \times 10^{50}$ operations per second. Using even the most conservative estimates of the computing power of the human brain, such a computer would have the computational power of five trillion trillion human civilizations. The computer would also have a memory capacity, calculated by determining the degrees of freedom allowed by the state of all the particles comprising it, of $10^{31} \mathrm{bits}$. These numbers are purely theoretical, however. Were the computer to convert all of its mass to energy, it would be the equivalent of a thermonuclear explosion. And it is unreasonable to expect human technology to ever achieve abilities even close to these limits. However, a project at the University of Oklahoma has succeeded in storing 50 bits of data per atom, albeit on only a limited number of atoms. Given that there are $10^{25}$ atoms in 1 kilogram of material, it may be possible to fit up to $10^{27}$ bits of information in the computer. And if scientists are able to exploit the many properties of atoms to store information, including the position, spin, and quantum state of all its particles, it may be possible to exceed even that number. One interesting consequence of such staggering increases in computing power is that each advance could provide the basis for further evolution. Once technology can achieve, for instance, a level of computation equal to $10^{40}$ operations per second, it can use that massive power to help bring the theoretical limit ever closer. The project at the University of Oklahoma indicates: Options: A. Current information-storing technology is still in its infancy. B. Researchers are close to achieving the predicted memory capacity. C. Scientists have learned how to use different aspects of the atom to store infor- mation. D. Work on reaching the theoretical limits of computation power is now under- way.

This question asks you to draw a conclusion. Based on the information in the passage, choice $\mathrm{A}$ is the best choice. The passage indicates that thus far, researchers have only been able to store information on a few atoms. Choice B is practically the opposite of what the passage states, whereas the information in choice $\mathrm{C}$ is suggested by the author as a way to exceed the theoretical memory limit. The work at the University of Oklahoma relates to memory capacity, not computing power, as choice D indicates. The correct answer is A.

It is perhaps too easy to think of mathematical truths as objective entities existing in the universe, simply waiting to be "discovered" by brilliant minds such as Pythagoras, Newton, and Descartes. Indeed, such a mentality may be cemented in Western minds raised in the Platonic tradition of a world of ideals that exists outside of the material world we reside in. But new research in the fields of cognitive science and developmental psychology may be challenging this long-held belief in mathematics as a truth outside of human experience, and recasting mathematics as a product of the brain, an entity that is not discovered by man but rather created by him. Such a radical paradigm shift has predictably met with stiff resistance, but the evidence in favor of a created mathematics rather than a discovered mathematics is compelling. Study after study has shown that all people possess an innate arithmetic. Babies as young as three or four days old can differentiate between groups of two and three items. And by the age of four months or so, an infant can see that one plus one is two and two minus one is one. Researchers discovered this startling fact by means of a simple experiment, following what is known as the violation of expectation model in developmental psychology. An infant was presented with a scenario in which a researcher held a puppet before the baby's eyes. Then a screen was moved in front of the puppet and another researcher placed a second puppet behind it. The screen was removed and if there were two puppets now visible, the infant registered no surprise (as measured by both the direction of the child's gaze and the duration of her stare). But if the screen was removed and only one puppet appeared, the infant registered perplexity at the situation. This experiment and others like it strongly suggest that all individuals are born with certain mathematical concepts hardwired into their brains. The ability to quickly and accurately count a small number of items, called subitizing by psychologists, is also found in animals. Researchers using experiments similar to the violation of expectation setup described previously have found an innate mathematical ability not just in primates, our closest evolutionary cousins, but in raccoons, rats, parrots, and pigeons. These findings are consistent with the belief that mathematical thinking is a function of the structures in the brain and not a product of the outside world. Anomalous cases involving brain injuries and disorders also support the idea that mathematical thinking arises from the organization of the brain. There is a documented case of a subject with a $\mathrm{PhD}$ in chemistry who suffers from acalculia, the inability to perform basic arithmetic functions. Strangely, this patient is unable to perform simple calculations such as five plus three or eight minus two, but has no problem manipulating abstract algebraic operations. This curious fact has led psychologists to conclude that the part of the brain that handles abstract algebraic operations must be different from the part of the brain that works with more concrete arithmetic functions. The central thesis of the passage is that: Options: A. Western philosophers were mistaken in their belief in mathematics as an objective truth. B. Research in cognitive science and developmental psychology indicates that some animals may have the same mathematical abilities as humans do. C. A longstanding attitude toward mathematics may need to be reexamined in light of new evidence. D. People create their own mathematical systems based on the structures in their brains.

This question requires you to find the main idea. The passage states that a longstanding view of mathematics as an objective reality is being challenged by new evidence in the fields of cognitive science and developmental psychology. This is what choice $C$ expresses. Choice $A$ is incorrect because the main idea of the passage does not concern Western philosophers. The passage does not claim that animals have the same mathematical abilities as humans do, making choice B wrong. Choice D is not supported by the passage at all. The correct answer is C.

"I acknowledge Shakespeare to be the world's greatest dramatic poet, but regret that no parent could place the uncorrected book in the hands of his daughter, and therefore I have prepared the Family Shakespeare." Thus did Thomas Bowdler, a self-appointed editor trained as a physician, explain his creation of a children's edition of Shakespeare that omitted some characters completely, toned down language he considered objectionable, and euphemized such shocking situations as Ophelia's suicide-an accident in Bowdler's version. Bowdler was hardly the first to tone down the Bard. Poet laureate Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear, banishing the Fool entirely and giving the play a happy ending. His version was staged regularly from the 1680 s through the 18 th century. Thomas Bowdler was, from all the evidence, a less likely editor. He was born in 1754 near Bath, England, to a wealthy family. He studied medicine but never really practiced, preferring to exercise philanthropy and to play chess, at which he was a master. In his retirement, he decided to try his hand at editorial work. Shakespeare's dramas were his first project. He added nothing to the texts, but by cutting and paraphrasing strove to remove anything that "could give just offense to the religious and virtuous mind." The result was a 10-volume expurgated version that was criticized widely, although hardly universally. The famed British poet Algernon Swinburne remarked that "no man ever did better service to Shakespeare than the man who made it possible to put him into the hands of intelligent and imaginative children." There is some indication that Bowdler's sister Harriet did the actual editing of Shakespeare's text. She was a poet and editor in her own right, and clearly more qualified than her brother to lay hands on the Bard of Avon. She may have published the expurgated edition anonymously before allowing her brother to take over the rights. If this is so, it is unsurprising that Harriet would not have wanted her name on the book. If the original Shakespeare were truly objectionable, then it would have been doubly so for a well-bred, unmarried Englishwoman of the day. Bowdler went on to create children's versions of the Old Testament and of Edward Gibbons's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, although neither achieved either the success or ridicule of his Shakespeare. Today, of course, we know Bowdler not for his good works, but instead for the eponym derived from his good name. To bowdlerize is to censor or amend a written work, often with a connotation of prudishness. The process for which Bowdler is known is one that continues to the present day, as texts deemed too difficult for today's high schoolers are "dumbed-down," library editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have the "n-word" blacked out, and middle-school productions of popular Broadway plays have all expletives deleted. We would be hard-pressed to say that we live in a prudish era, but some of the same impulses that drove Thomas and Harriet Bowdler still exist today. Based on the information in this passage, which of these would NOT be bowdlerization? I. translating a Japanese folktale into English II. eliminating references to witches from a fairy tale III. burning copies of The Satanic Verses Options: A. I only B. II only C. I and III only D. II and III only

Remember that the answer will NOT be an example of bowdlerization. First, you must find the definition of bowdlerization in the text: "to censor or amend a written work, often with a connotation of prudishness." Item I is not an example of this; simply translating from one language to another requires neither censorship or amendment. Item III is not an example either; although some may say that book burning is a radical form of censorship, it does not fit the definition here. Only II, which deals with the censorship of a detail in a text, fits the definition. Since I and III do not, choice $\mathrm{C}$ is the correct answer. The correct answer is C.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} In linguistics, metathesis refers to the reversal of phonemes in a word. This can come about by accident, as in the common mispronunciation "aks" for ask or the common (and correct) pronunciation of iron as "i-orn." It may come about on purpose, as in various language games. Accidental metathesis may be a process that takes place in the evolution of languages. Over time, for example, the Latin words miraculum, periculum, and parabola evolved into the Spanish words milagro, peligro, and palabra. Linguists posit that such changes usually occur when two consonants are of the same type, with similar mouth formations needed to create each one. The Reverend Archibald Spooner, an Oxford dean, was known for his unintentional transpositions and gave his name to the particular metathesis he represented: Spoonerisms. Most famous Spoonerisms once attributed to Spooner are now believed to be apocryphal, but they are nevertheless amusing; for example, his supposed advice to a substandard student: "You have deliberately tasted two worms and will leave Oxford by the next town drain." Spoonerisms are funny when the metathesis involved changes one word into another, and they seem to lend themselves particularly well to off-color jokes. Everyone is familiar with Pig Latin, in which initial consonant sounds are moved to the end of a word and followed with the syllable "ay." This is not pure metathesis, but it begins with the kind of metathesis known as backslang, in which syllables or letters in a word are reversed to produce a private code. Pig Latin may have begun as a language spoken in prisoner-of-war camps; it was certainly used in such camps during World War II and in Vietnam. In Pig Latin, the phrase "Over the river and through the woods" becomes "Overay uhthay iverray anday oughthray uhthay oodsway." In other variations of Pig Latin, it might instead be "Overway uhthay iverray andway oughthray uhthay oodsway." There are computer programs that translate from English to Pig Latin and back again, and there is even a version of the Bible written entirely in Pig Latin. For the most part, however, outside of prisoner-of-war camps, Pig Latin is a funny code used by children. French children and teenagers use a similar code. Called verlan (a reversal of l'envers, or "reversal"), it is trickier than Pig Latin because it relies much more on phonetics than on spelling. In verlan, the word café becomes féca, but the word tomber ("to fall") becomes béton. Verlan becomes even more complex in words that end in silent $e$ or which have only one syllable. While just a few words from Pig Latin have entered the vernacular (for example, amscray and ixnay), many verlan words are common lingo in France. Historically, for reasons that are not quite clear, butchers have been frequent users of metathesis, creating their own backslang to converse without being understood by patrons. In France, this is called louchébem (boucher, or "butcher," with the first consonant moved to the end and the letter $l$ placed in front). In Australia, it is known as rechtub klat. That name, of course, represents the ultimate in metathesis-the reversal of letters instead of merely syllables. Which of these might be an example of accidental metathesis? I. saying interduce instead of introduce II. saying asterix instead of asterisk III. saying cause instead of because Options: A. I only B. I and II only C. II and III only D. I, II, and III

Saying cause instead of because (III) is an example of aphaeresis, the loss of the initial part of a word. The other two examples show transpositions of phonemes that are accidental. Since I and II are correct, the answer is choice B. The correct answer is B.

Biologists use the term "living fossil" to designate a species that maintains many of the features of its ancient ancestors. These species have evidenced very little evolutionary change, indicating not that they are primitive creatures as might be popularly believed, but instead that they are exquisitely suited for their biological and ecological niches and thus have not had any selection pressures to respond to. The four most celebrated living fossils are the lungfish, the horseshoe crab, the lampshell, and the coelacanth. The horseshoe crab is the relative youngster of the group, belonging to the Jurassic period and having shown little structural changes in its 200-million-year lifespan. The lampshell, a member of the phylum Brachiopoda, is part of an even older lineage, resembling ancestors that lived nearly 400 million years ago. The oldest members of the living fossil family are the lungfish and the coelacanth, both species that are remarkably similar to their forebears that roamed the Earth almost 425 million years ago. The lungfish, of which there are six surviving species, has the same basic structure and fleshy lobe fins of its progenitor, the sarcopterygian. Of course, the lungfish has long interested biologists not just because of its connections to the distant past but because of the bridge it represents between aquatic species and land dwellers. In fact, the African and South American species of lungfish live part of their lives entirely on land, burrowing into mud and respiring through a tiny breathing hole in their earthy homes. Although the lungfish has remained evolutionarily stable for close to 250 million years, prior to that the species did experience rapid and dynamic evolutionary change. However, by the end of the Permian period, the changes ground to a halt, and the lungfish has persevered happily ever since. The singular story of the coelacanth stretches all the way from the Silurian period, some 425 million years ago, to the modern day. The coelacanths were well-known from the fossil record and dating technologies placed them in a time when plants were just beginning to encroach on the land. However, biologists thought the species went extinct long before the dinosaurs did. Imagine the surprise when in 1938 a South American trawler captured a strange-looking fish, some five feet in length and a pale blue and silver in color. By an astounding coincidence, the captain of the boat had a relationship with the curator of the East London Museum and had made a habit of sending any interesting finds along to her. Upon seeing this strange specimen, the curator contacted a leading ichthyologist, who, after examining the creature, said he "would not have been more surprised if I had seen a dinosaur walking down the street." But despite all protestations of common sense and amid allegations of forgery and fakery, upon further study, the creature was indubitably a coelacanth. Since that day, explorers have found many more members of the species and have even turned up a second species in the Indian Ocean. The passage states that describing living fossils as primitive is a misnomer because: Options: A. Living fossils are just as advanced as any other species. B. The public does not understand how evolution works. C. Living fossils continue to evolve. D. Living fossils no longer respond to natural selection.

In order to answer this question, you must choose an accurate paraphrase of the information in the passage. The first paragraph states that living fossils are not primitive. Rather they are so well-adapted to their environment that there is little need for change. Thinking that evolution necessarily represents advancement is indeed a misunderstanding, as choice B indicates. Choice A is not what the passage states as there is no comparison to other species. Choice C may be true, but it doesn't answer the question. Choice D is not stated in the passage. The correct answer is B.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} In linguistics, metathesis refers to the reversal of phonemes in a word. This can come about by accident, as in the common mispronunciation "aks" for ask or the common (and correct) pronunciation of iron as "i-orn." It may come about on purpose, as in various language games. Accidental metathesis may be a process that takes place in the evolution of languages. Over time, for example, the Latin words miraculum, periculum, and parabola evolved into the Spanish words milagro, peligro, and palabra. Linguists posit that such changes usually occur when two consonants are of the same type, with similar mouth formations needed to create each one. The Reverend Archibald Spooner, an Oxford dean, was known for his unintentional transpositions and gave his name to the particular metathesis he represented: Spoonerisms. Most famous Spoonerisms once attributed to Spooner are now believed to be apocryphal, but they are nevertheless amusing; for example, his supposed advice to a substandard student: "You have deliberately tasted two worms and will leave Oxford by the next town drain." Spoonerisms are funny when the metathesis involved changes one word into another, and they seem to lend themselves particularly well to off-color jokes. Everyone is familiar with Pig Latin, in which initial consonant sounds are moved to the end of a word and followed with the syllable "ay." This is not pure metathesis, but it begins with the kind of metathesis known as backslang, in which syllables or letters in a word are reversed to produce a private code. Pig Latin may have begun as a language spoken in prisoner-of-war camps; it was certainly used in such camps during World War II and in Vietnam. In Pig Latin, the phrase "Over the river and through the woods" becomes "Overay uhthay iverray anday oughthray uhthay oodsway." In other variations of Pig Latin, it might instead be "Overway uhthay iverray andway oughthray uhthay oodsway." There are computer programs that translate from English to Pig Latin and back again, and there is even a version of the Bible written entirely in Pig Latin. For the most part, however, outside of prisoner-of-war camps, Pig Latin is a funny code used by children. French children and teenagers use a similar code. Called verlan (a reversal of l'envers, or "reversal"), it is trickier than Pig Latin because it relies much more on phonetics than on spelling. In verlan, the word café becomes féca, but the word tomber ("to fall") becomes béton. Verlan becomes even more complex in words that end in silent $e$ or which have only one syllable. While just a few words from Pig Latin have entered the vernacular (for example, amscray and ixnay), many verlan words are common lingo in France. Historically, for reasons that are not quite clear, butchers have been frequent users of metathesis, creating their own backslang to converse without being understood by patrons. In France, this is called louchébem (boucher, or "butcher," with the first consonant moved to the end and the letter $l$ placed in front). In Australia, it is known as rechtub klat. That name, of course, represents the ultimate in metathesis-the reversal of letters instead of merely syllables. The passage implies that Pig Latin is NOT pure metathesis because it: Options: A. does not transpose phonemes B. is not accidental C. includes the addition of an extra syllable D. does not add to the language

Compare what you know about Pig Latin to what you know about metathesis. Pig Latin, like other metathesis, does transpose phonemes, so choice A is incorrect. Metathesis may be accidental or purposeful, so choice B is incorrect. There is no indication that the definition of metathesis includes the rule that such words must add to the language, so choice D does not work. Pig Latin involves more than the reversal of phonemes that marks metathesis; it also involves the addition of the "ay" syllable. The best answer is choice C. The correct answer is C.

Biologists use the term "living fossil" to designate a species that maintains many of the features of its ancient ancestors. These species have evidenced very little evolutionary change, indicating not that they are primitive creatures as might be popularly believed, but instead that they are exquisitely suited for their biological and ecological niches and thus have not had any selection pressures to respond to. The four most celebrated living fossils are the lungfish, the horseshoe crab, the lampshell, and the coelacanth. The horseshoe crab is the relative youngster of the group, belonging to the Jurassic period and having shown little structural changes in its 200-million-year lifespan. The lampshell, a member of the phylum Brachiopoda, is part of an even older lineage, resembling ancestors that lived nearly 400 million years ago. The oldest members of the living fossil family are the lungfish and the coelacanth, both species that are remarkably similar to their forebears that roamed the Earth almost 425 million years ago. The lungfish, of which there are six surviving species, has the same basic structure and fleshy lobe fins of its progenitor, the sarcopterygian. Of course, the lungfish has long interested biologists not just because of its connections to the distant past but because of the bridge it represents between aquatic species and land dwellers. In fact, the African and South American species of lungfish live part of their lives entirely on land, burrowing into mud and respiring through a tiny breathing hole in their earthy homes. Although the lungfish has remained evolutionarily stable for close to 250 million years, prior to that the species did experience rapid and dynamic evolutionary change. However, by the end of the Permian period, the changes ground to a halt, and the lungfish has persevered happily ever since. The singular story of the coelacanth stretches all the way from the Silurian period, some 425 million years ago, to the modern day. The coelacanths were well-known from the fossil record and dating technologies placed them in a time when plants were just beginning to encroach on the land. However, biologists thought the species went extinct long before the dinosaurs did. Imagine the surprise when in 1938 a South American trawler captured a strange-looking fish, some five feet in length and a pale blue and silver in color. By an astounding coincidence, the captain of the boat had a relationship with the curator of the East London Museum and had made a habit of sending any interesting finds along to her. Upon seeing this strange specimen, the curator contacted a leading ichthyologist, who, after examining the creature, said he "would not have been more surprised if I had seen a dinosaur walking down the street." But despite all protestations of common sense and amid allegations of forgery and fakery, upon further study, the creature was indubitably a coelacanth. Since that day, explorers have found many more members of the species and have even turned up a second species in the Indian Ocean. Suppose a biologist rejects the classification of coelacanths as living fossils. Which of the following pieces of evidence would be MOST helpful to the biologist's argument? Options: A. New dating technologies reveal the coelacanth species is only 300 million years old. B. A third species of coelacanth is discovered that differs from the other two known species. C. New evidence shows that the coelacanth actually belongs to the same lineage as do rays and skates. D. A new species of living fossil is discovered that is even older than the coelacanth.

To answer this question, you must apply new evidence. According to the passage, a living fossil is one that has changed very little over the eons. In order to argue that the coelacanth is not a living fossil, a biologist would need to find evidence of significant change. Showing that the coelacanth actually comes from a different line, as choice $\mathrm{C}$ does, would do so. The age of the species is not the issue, as choices A and D indicate. And finding different species, as in choice B, would not affect the status of the coelacanth as a living fossil. The correct answer is C.

The man whom Franklin Delano Roosevelt christened “The Happy Warrior" in a nominating speech would later become a thorn in Roosevelt's side. Some thought the switch in loyalties was sour grapes, but others saw Alfred E. Smith as the epitome of William Wordsworth's "happy warrior" and therefore a man who "makes his moral being his prime care"-one who never made a move without consulting his conscience. Alfred E. Smith was both a successful politician and an unsuccessful one. A fourterm governor of New York State, he seemed a sure candidate for president, and indeed he ran three times for that position, only to lose each time. He had several strikes against him. He was the Catholic son of Irish and ItalianGerman immigrants, making him anathema to nativists, the xenophobes who underwent a resurgence in the 1920s. He was from New York City, viewed even in the early twentieth century as disconnected from the national character. He was a progressive, which made conservatives of all stripes nervous. And he favored the repeal of Prohibition, a position that lost him the backing of many party leaders. Who was this unlikely candidate? Born Alfred Emanuel Smith in 1873, Smith grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father died when Smith was young, and the boy dropped out of school to take care of the family. At age 21, Smith supported a losing candidate in a local race and came to the attention of New York politicos, who took him under their wing. Nine years later, he ran successfully for the New York State Assembly, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to become Majority Leader and finally Speaker. He played a pivotal role in the revamping of New York's constitution, was elected sheriff of New York County, and then ran for governor in 1918, winning handily. Although he lost a re-election bid two years later, he surged back in 1922 and would remain in the governor's seat for six more years. His terms were marked by unparalleled improvements in labor laws and laws protecting civil liberties, for Smith's goal was to support those he saw as most in need of government's assistance. In this goal, he was allied with Franklin Roosevelt, and the two were close enough that Roosevelt nominated Smith for president in 1924. The Drys, or Prohibitionists, backed William McAdoo, a son-in-law of former President Woodrow Wilson. Smith's supporters and McAdoo's supporters were so far apart that finally a compromise candidate, John Davis, was nominated and promptly lost the general election to Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, Smith received his party's nomination on the second ballot, but along with his anti-Prohibition leanings, his religion became a major issue during the campaign, paving the way for Herbert Hoover to win the general election. Meanwhile, Smith had arranged for the nomination of his New York colleague, Franklin Roosevelt, to be governor of New York. Although Smith lost his bid, Roosevelt did not. Then came the Depression and the election of 1932. Backroom dealings ensured that Franklin Roosevelt won the nominating process, with another would-be presidential candidate in the vice-presidential spot on the ticket. Smith was left out in the cold on his third try for the presidency. Despite his former regard for Roosevelt, he began to work hard, if unsuccessfully, to defeat the New Deal. He supported two Republicans rather than Roosevelt in the 1936 and 1940 elections, and he died in 1944, a man who had never reached his desired goal, yet had inspired many of the changes for which his rival is now known. According to the passage, why did John Davis win the Democratic nomination in 1924 ? Options: A. He was not as far to the left as Smith. B. He was a Prohibitionist like McAdoo. C. He had the support of a former president. D. He was acceptable to Smith and McAdoo supporters.

Either choice A or choice B might be true, but neither is supported by a cause-and-effect relationship presented in the text. Davis was chosen as a "compromise candidate" when the delegates failed to choose between Smith and McAdoo. The correct answer is D.

The man whom Franklin Delano Roosevelt christened “The Happy Warrior" in a nominating speech would later become a thorn in Roosevelt's side. Some thought the switch in loyalties was sour grapes, but others saw Alfred E. Smith as the epitome of William Wordsworth's "happy warrior" and therefore a man who "makes his moral being his prime care"-one who never made a move without consulting his conscience. Alfred E. Smith was both a successful politician and an unsuccessful one. A fourterm governor of New York State, he seemed a sure candidate for president, and indeed he ran three times for that position, only to lose each time. He had several strikes against him. He was the Catholic son of Irish and ItalianGerman immigrants, making him anathema to nativists, the xenophobes who underwent a resurgence in the 1920s. He was from New York City, viewed even in the early twentieth century as disconnected from the national character. He was a progressive, which made conservatives of all stripes nervous. And he favored the repeal of Prohibition, a position that lost him the backing of many party leaders. Who was this unlikely candidate? Born Alfred Emanuel Smith in 1873, Smith grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father died when Smith was young, and the boy dropped out of school to take care of the family. At age 21, Smith supported a losing candidate in a local race and came to the attention of New York politicos, who took him under their wing. Nine years later, he ran successfully for the New York State Assembly, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to become Majority Leader and finally Speaker. He played a pivotal role in the revamping of New York's constitution, was elected sheriff of New York County, and then ran for governor in 1918, winning handily. Although he lost a re-election bid two years later, he surged back in 1922 and would remain in the governor's seat for six more years. His terms were marked by unparalleled improvements in labor laws and laws protecting civil liberties, for Smith's goal was to support those he saw as most in need of government's assistance. In this goal, he was allied with Franklin Roosevelt, and the two were close enough that Roosevelt nominated Smith for president in 1924. The Drys, or Prohibitionists, backed William McAdoo, a son-in-law of former President Woodrow Wilson. Smith's supporters and McAdoo's supporters were so far apart that finally a compromise candidate, John Davis, was nominated and promptly lost the general election to Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, Smith received his party's nomination on the second ballot, but along with his anti-Prohibition leanings, his religion became a major issue during the campaign, paving the way for Herbert Hoover to win the general election. Meanwhile, Smith had arranged for the nomination of his New York colleague, Franklin Roosevelt, to be governor of New York. Although Smith lost his bid, Roosevelt did not. Then came the Depression and the election of 1932. Backroom dealings ensured that Franklin Roosevelt won the nominating process, with another would-be presidential candidate in the vice-presidential spot on the ticket. Smith was left out in the cold on his third try for the presidency. Despite his former regard for Roosevelt, he began to work hard, if unsuccessfully, to defeat the New Deal. He supported two Republicans rather than Roosevelt in the 1936 and 1940 elections, and he died in 1944, a man who had never reached his desired goal, yet had inspired many of the changes for which his rival is now known. The author's claim that Smith was a successful politician is supported by: Options: A. the explanation of his sobriquet, "The Happy Warrior" B. a review of his work in the assembly and governor's office C. descriptions of his three runs for the presidency D. a list of the famous names that supported his candidacies

The author presents supporting details about Smith's many successes in the state of New York, from his work as Speaker of the Assembly to his many years as governor. Choice A does not support the claim that he was successful, and choice $C$ actually belies the claim. The list of names mentioned in choice D does not exist in the passage. The correct answer is B.

In sharp contrast to the modern, confessional poetry of the 20th century, the oeuvre of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seems quaint and primly Victorian. During his lifetime, however, he was the most celebrated poet in the country. A closer look at the history of American poetry reveals that, despite his eminence, Longfellow wrote in a mold of both form and content that was already being challenged during his lifetime. But why, a century later, do the artistic works of many of his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts? One answer lies in the radical shift that began to take place in poetry in the mid19th century. Longfellow's themes and steadfast rhymes (and those of John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell) gave way gradually to confessional verse, whose subjects were more personal and rhymes were looser and less conventional. But to understand this shift, one must first understand the nature of Longfellow's work and his standing in the American literary scene of his time. Longfellow took as his subject his country's historical imagination, writing on an epic scale about Paul Revere, the Indian Hiawatha, and the pilgrim Miles Standish. He bestowed a mythic dimension on these figures, giving American readers iconic images that helped form a collective consciousness in the new country (indeed, Longfellow was a part of the first generation to be born in the United States). But Longfellow's content went beyond nationalistic pride-it was highly accessible and incredibly popular. Its accessibility is explained by his obvious themes that could be easily understood and embraced by the public. Longfellow did not challenge his readers, but appealed to their desire for stories that expounded an optimistic, sentimental, and moralistic worldview. Those themes were explored in rhyme that allowed readers to commit the poems to memory, much like songs. In 1857, The Song of Hiawatha, arguably his bestknown poem, sold 50,000 copies, an astounding number at the time. The next year, The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 25,000 copies in two months and in London sold 10,000 copies in one day. His success allowed him to give up a professorship at Harvard and focus full time on his writing. Walt Whitman, Longfellow's contemporary, wrote poetry similar to that of Longfellow-romantic and sentimental, with conventional rhyme and meter. But in the 1850s, indeed two years before The Song of Hiawatha, he wrote and published Leaves of Grass; a more radical departure from his previous work could not have been imagined. The 12 unnamed poems comprising Leaves of Grass are written in free verse-that is, without conventional rhyme and meter. Yet, like Longfellow, he was determined to explore the subject of America and his love for his country. Whitman looked to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson for inspiration. Emerson wrote "America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." Indeed, Whitman paraphrased Emerson in his preface. Whitman's groundbreaking free verse changed the trajectory of American poetry. The next generation of poets, including Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Sherwood Anderson, and William Carlos Williams, celebrated their debt to Whitman. Decades later, the influence of Whitman's work on Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes, among many others, continues his legacy. What does the author mean by "tomb of cultural artifacts"? Options: A. a resting place for dead poets B. a kind of cemetery in which people can pay their respects to writers of the past C. a crypt where culturally significant items are stored D. a group of ideas and works of art from the past that are considered to be dead

To answer this question, you need to interpret vocabulary. Find the phrase in the passage and examine it in context. The sentence in paragraph 1 in which it is found reads, "Why do his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts?" There is a dichotomy set up between continuing to be enjoyed and studied and languishing in the tomb of cultural artifacts. Being in "the tomb of cultural artifacts" is therefore the opposite of being enjoyed and studied. Only one answer choice relates to the idea of this dichotomy; if Longfellow's work is "considered to be dead," it is surely not being enjoyed and studied. Choice D is the best answer. The correct answer is D.

"I acknowledge Shakespeare to be the world's greatest dramatic poet, but regret that no parent could place the uncorrected book in the hands of his daughter, and therefore I have prepared the Family Shakespeare." Thus did Thomas Bowdler, a self-appointed editor trained as a physician, explain his creation of a children's edition of Shakespeare that omitted some characters completely, toned down language he considered objectionable, and euphemized such shocking situations as Ophelia's suicide-an accident in Bowdler's version. Bowdler was hardly the first to tone down the Bard. Poet laureate Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear, banishing the Fool entirely and giving the play a happy ending. His version was staged regularly from the 1680 s through the 18 th century. Thomas Bowdler was, from all the evidence, a less likely editor. He was born in 1754 near Bath, England, to a wealthy family. He studied medicine but never really practiced, preferring to exercise philanthropy and to play chess, at which he was a master. In his retirement, he decided to try his hand at editorial work. Shakespeare's dramas were his first project. He added nothing to the texts, but by cutting and paraphrasing strove to remove anything that "could give just offense to the religious and virtuous mind." The result was a 10-volume expurgated version that was criticized widely, although hardly universally. The famed British poet Algernon Swinburne remarked that "no man ever did better service to Shakespeare than the man who made it possible to put him into the hands of intelligent and imaginative children." There is some indication that Bowdler's sister Harriet did the actual editing of Shakespeare's text. She was a poet and editor in her own right, and clearly more qualified than her brother to lay hands on the Bard of Avon. She may have published the expurgated edition anonymously before allowing her brother to take over the rights. If this is so, it is unsurprising that Harriet would not have wanted her name on the book. If the original Shakespeare were truly objectionable, then it would have been doubly so for a well-bred, unmarried Englishwoman of the day. Bowdler went on to create children's versions of the Old Testament and of Edward Gibbons's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, although neither achieved either the success or ridicule of his Shakespeare. Today, of course, we know Bowdler not for his good works, but instead for the eponym derived from his good name. To bowdlerize is to censor or amend a written work, often with a connotation of prudishness. The process for which Bowdler is known is one that continues to the present day, as texts deemed too difficult for today's high schoolers are "dumbed-down," library editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have the "n-word" blacked out, and middle-school productions of popular Broadway plays have all expletives deleted. We would be hard-pressed to say that we live in a prudish era, but some of the same impulses that drove Thomas and Harriet Bowdler still exist today. Given the information in the passage, if a bowdlerized version of Shakespeare were available to parents today, which of the following outcomes would MOST likely occur? Options: A. Some would ridicule it, and others would buy it. B. No one would take it or its author seriously. C. Most students would find it too difficult to read. D. It would be a dismal failure and be taken off the market.

Because the author makes the point that bowdlerization still occurs today, it is not likely that everyone would revile such a text (choice B) or see that it failed (choice D). More likely would be that it would receive some condemnation but also make some sales (choice A). Although a point is made about "dumbing down" texts for high school students (choice C), the author does not appear to support this, nor is it proof that students would not understand the bowdlerized Shakespeare. The correct answer is A.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} Engineers and computer scientists are intrigued by the potential power of nanocomputing. Nanocomputers will use atoms and molecules to perform their functions instead of the standard integrated circuits now employed. Theorists believe that the amount of information a nanocomputer could handle is staggering. A professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has attempted to calculate the computational limits of a computer with a weight of 1 kilogram and a volume of 1 liter. According to the laws of physics, the potential amount of computational power is a function of the available energy. Basically, each atom and subatomic particle in the computer has an amount of energy attached to it. Furthermore, the energy of each particle or atom is increased by the frequency of its movement. Thus the power of a computer that uses nanotechnology is bounded by the energy available from its atoms. Specifically, the relationship between the energy of an object and its computation potential is a proportionate one. As Einstein has famously calculated, the energy of an object is equal to its mass times the speed of light squared. Thus, a theoretical computer weighing a mere kilogram has a huge amount of potential energy. To find the total computational power, the minimum amount of energy required to perform an operation is divided by the total amount of energy. of energy possessed by a 1-kilogram computer by Planck's constant yields a tremendously large number, roughly $5 \times 10^{50}$ operations per second. Using even the most conservative estimates of the computing power of the human brain, such a computer would have the computational power of five trillion trillion human civilizations. The computer would also have a memory capacity, calculated by determining the degrees of freedom allowed by the state of all the particles comprising it, of $10^{31} \mathrm{bits}$. These numbers are purely theoretical, however. Were the computer to convert all of its mass to energy, it would be the equivalent of a thermonuclear explosion. And it is unreasonable to expect human technology to ever achieve abilities even close to these limits. However, a project at the University of Oklahoma has succeeded in storing 50 bits of data per atom, albeit on only a limited number of atoms. Given that there are $10^{25}$ atoms in 1 kilogram of material, it may be possible to fit up to $10^{27}$ bits of information in the computer. And if scientists are able to exploit the many properties of atoms to store information, including the position, spin, and quantum state of all its particles, it may be possible to exceed even that number. One interesting consequence of such staggering increases in computing power is that each advance could provide the basis for further evolution. Once technology can achieve, for instance, a level of computation equal to $10^{40}$ operations per second, it can use that massive power to help bring the theoretical limit ever closer. The author mentions "thermonuclear explosions" in order to: Options: A. indicate that some of the previous discussion is not practical B. warn of a potential consequence predicted by Einstein's equation C. show a design flaw in the proposed computer D. point out an absurd result of the previous discussion

This question asks you to analyze an argument. The author mentions thermonuclear explosions in the same sentence in which it is Answers and Explanations MCAT The correct answer is A.

In sharp contrast to the modern, confessional poetry of the 20th century, the oeuvre of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seems quaint and primly Victorian. During his lifetime, however, he was the most celebrated poet in the country. A closer look at the history of American poetry reveals that, despite his eminence, Longfellow wrote in a mold of both form and content that was already being challenged during his lifetime. But why, a century later, do the artistic works of many of his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts? One answer lies in the radical shift that began to take place in poetry in the mid19th century. Longfellow's themes and steadfast rhymes (and those of John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell) gave way gradually to confessional verse, whose subjects were more personal and rhymes were looser and less conventional. But to understand this shift, one must first understand the nature of Longfellow's work and his standing in the American literary scene of his time. Longfellow took as his subject his country's historical imagination, writing on an epic scale about Paul Revere, the Indian Hiawatha, and the pilgrim Miles Standish. He bestowed a mythic dimension on these figures, giving American readers iconic images that helped form a collective consciousness in the new country (indeed, Longfellow was a part of the first generation to be born in the United States). But Longfellow's content went beyond nationalistic pride-it was highly accessible and incredibly popular. Its accessibility is explained by his obvious themes that could be easily understood and embraced by the public. Longfellow did not challenge his readers, but appealed to their desire for stories that expounded an optimistic, sentimental, and moralistic worldview. Those themes were explored in rhyme that allowed readers to commit the poems to memory, much like songs. In 1857, The Song of Hiawatha, arguably his bestknown poem, sold 50,000 copies, an astounding number at the time. The next year, The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 25,000 copies in two months and in London sold 10,000 copies in one day. His success allowed him to give up a professorship at Harvard and focus full time on his writing. Walt Whitman, Longfellow's contemporary, wrote poetry similar to that of Longfellow-romantic and sentimental, with conventional rhyme and meter. But in the 1850s, indeed two years before The Song of Hiawatha, he wrote and published Leaves of Grass; a more radical departure from his previous work could not have been imagined. The 12 unnamed poems comprising Leaves of Grass are written in free verse-that is, without conventional rhyme and meter. Yet, like Longfellow, he was determined to explore the subject of America and his love for his country. Whitman looked to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson for inspiration. Emerson wrote "America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." Indeed, Whitman paraphrased Emerson in his preface. Whitman's groundbreaking free verse changed the trajectory of American poetry. The next generation of poets, including Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Sherwood Anderson, and William Carlos Williams, celebrated their debt to Whitman. Decades later, the influence of Whitman's work on Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes, among many others, continues his legacy. Sales figures for two of Longfellow's poems are cited: Options: A. to reinforce the idea that Longfellow's popularity was declining B. to compare his sales to those of his contemporaries C. because they mark a milestone in American publishing D. as evidence of his popularity at the time

This kind of question asks you to choose an accurate summary. The sales figures are cited to back up the author's assertion that Longfellow's poems were "incredibly popular" (choice D). Choice C is a tricky diversion; although the author does note that sales figures for The Song of Hiawatha were "astounding for the time," he does not state or infer that those numbers marked a milestone. The correct answer is D.

\section{ Language consists of three main parts. The first is simply vocabulary, the lexicon of words available to the speaker to describe particular concepts, actions, and states. The second part is morphology, the set of rules that dictates how words and parts of words may be combined to form other words. The final part of language is syntax, the rules that combine words into phrases and sentences. It is morphology that we shall turn our attention to first. Morphology has two major subdivisions. They are derivation and inflection. Derivation refers to those rules by which new words may be formed out of preexisting words. Inflection, sometimes referred to as conjugation and declension, states how words are changed to indicate their function within a sentence. Although common mythology holds that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, many linguists would beg to differ. In fact, when it comes to inflection, the conditional, the subjunctive, the imperative, and others. Languages from outside the Indo-European family tree may be even more complex. The Bantu language of Kivunjo has roughly half a million combinations of prefixes and suffixes for a verb. English, however, has a mere four combinations. A verb such as to walk is limited to the following forms: walk, walks, walked, and walking. Although there are only four basic verb forms, the English language does have more than 13 possible inflections. It just makes do with these four forms for the various functions. English also differs significantly from many other Indo-European languages in that in English, the stem of the word can be pronounced and is in fact part of the language. In Spanish, the stem of the verb to walk is camin-, but this is not a word in the language. In order to pronounce this word, it must be conjugated and combined with a suffix. English uses the stem form of the verb for four inflections: the present tense (except for the third-person singular), the infinitive, the imperative, and the subjunctive. The verb form ending in $-s$ is used in only one case, the third-person singular. The two possible verb suffixes, -ing and $-e d$, are put to use in a variety of ways as well. The -ing ending appears in the progressive participle, the present participle, the gerund form, and the verbal adjective form. That leaves the $-e d$ form to handle the remaining inflections, including the past tense, the perfect participle, the passive participle, and some verbal adjectives. Why are there so many different inflections for verb forms that basically sound the same? Simply put, the meanings implied by the various moods are different, even if the words used are fairly similar. Compare the meaning conveyed by the simple past tense (he walked) to the meaning inherent in the perfect participle (he has walked). The Russian language is similar to the Spanish language in that the verbs have stem forms that are not words unto themselves. From this fact, a linguist might infer that: Options: A. Russian verbs have roughly 50 forms. B. The Russian language may be of the Indo-European family. C. Russian is harder to learn than Spanish. D. The Russian language has more inflections than the English language.

This question requires you to draw conclusions. From the information in the passage, what can be concluded about the Russian language? Its lack of pronounceable stems for its verbs makes it similar to Spanish and different Answers and Explanations MCAT The correct answer is B.

It is perhaps too easy to think of mathematical truths as objective entities existing in the universe, simply waiting to be "discovered" by brilliant minds such as Pythagoras, Newton, and Descartes. Indeed, such a mentality may be cemented in Western minds raised in the Platonic tradition of a world of ideals that exists outside of the material world we reside in. But new research in the fields of cognitive science and developmental psychology may be challenging this long-held belief in mathematics as a truth outside of human experience, and recasting mathematics as a product of the brain, an entity that is not discovered by man but rather created by him. Such a radical paradigm shift has predictably met with stiff resistance, but the evidence in favor of a created mathematics rather than a discovered mathematics is compelling. Study after study has shown that all people possess an innate arithmetic. Babies as young as three or four days old can differentiate between groups of two and three items. And by the age of four months or so, an infant can see that one plus one is two and two minus one is one. Researchers discovered this startling fact by means of a simple experiment, following what is known as the violation of expectation model in developmental psychology. An infant was presented with a scenario in which a researcher held a puppet before the baby's eyes. Then a screen was moved in front of the puppet and another researcher placed a second puppet behind it. The screen was removed and if there were two puppets now visible, the infant registered no surprise (as measured by both the direction of the child's gaze and the duration of her stare). But if the screen was removed and only one puppet appeared, the infant registered perplexity at the situation. This experiment and others like it strongly suggest that all individuals are born with certain mathematical concepts hardwired into their brains. The ability to quickly and accurately count a small number of items, called subitizing by psychologists, is also found in animals. Researchers using experiments similar to the violation of expectation setup described previously have found an innate mathematical ability not just in primates, our closest evolutionary cousins, but in raccoons, rats, parrots, and pigeons. These findings are consistent with the belief that mathematical thinking is a function of the structures in the brain and not a product of the outside world. Anomalous cases involving brain injuries and disorders also support the idea that mathematical thinking arises from the organization of the brain. There is a documented case of a subject with a $\mathrm{PhD}$ in chemistry who suffers from acalculia, the inability to perform basic arithmetic functions. Strangely, this patient is unable to perform simple calculations such as five plus three or eight minus two, but has no problem manipulating abstract algebraic operations. This curious fact has led psychologists to conclude that the part of the brain that handles abstract algebraic operations must be different from the part of the brain that works with more concrete arithmetic functions. In the context of the passage, the word curious means: Options: A. marvelous B. exotic C. odd D. novel

This question involves interpreting vocabulary. The word curious appears in the final passage. In that paragraph, the author discusses "anomalous" cases and describes the situation as "strange." This makes choice C, "odd," the best choice. There is no indication that the author thinks the fact is superb or excellent ("marvelous," choice A), of foreign origin ("exotic," choice B), or new ("novel," choice D). The correct answer is C.

Biologists use the term "living fossil" to designate a species that maintains many of the features of its ancient ancestors. These species have evidenced very little evolutionary change, indicating not that they are primitive creatures as might be popularly believed, but instead that they are exquisitely suited for their biological and ecological niches and thus have not had any selection pressures to respond to. The four most celebrated living fossils are the lungfish, the horseshoe crab, the lampshell, and the coelacanth. The horseshoe crab is the relative youngster of the group, belonging to the Jurassic period and having shown little structural changes in its 200-million-year lifespan. The lampshell, a member of the phylum Brachiopoda, is part of an even older lineage, resembling ancestors that lived nearly 400 million years ago. The oldest members of the living fossil family are the lungfish and the coelacanth, both species that are remarkably similar to their forebears that roamed the Earth almost 425 million years ago. The lungfish, of which there are six surviving species, has the same basic structure and fleshy lobe fins of its progenitor, the sarcopterygian. Of course, the lungfish has long interested biologists not just because of its connections to the distant past but because of the bridge it represents between aquatic species and land dwellers. In fact, the African and South American species of lungfish live part of their lives entirely on land, burrowing into mud and respiring through a tiny breathing hole in their earthy homes. Although the lungfish has remained evolutionarily stable for close to 250 million years, prior to that the species did experience rapid and dynamic evolutionary change. However, by the end of the Permian period, the changes ground to a halt, and the lungfish has persevered happily ever since. The singular story of the coelacanth stretches all the way from the Silurian period, some 425 million years ago, to the modern day. The coelacanths were well-known from the fossil record and dating technologies placed them in a time when plants were just beginning to encroach on the land. However, biologists thought the species went extinct long before the dinosaurs did. Imagine the surprise when in 1938 a South American trawler captured a strange-looking fish, some five feet in length and a pale blue and silver in color. By an astounding coincidence, the captain of the boat had a relationship with the curator of the East London Museum and had made a habit of sending any interesting finds along to her. Upon seeing this strange specimen, the curator contacted a leading ichthyologist, who, after examining the creature, said he "would not have been more surprised if I had seen a dinosaur walking down the street." But despite all protestations of common sense and amid allegations of forgery and fakery, upon further study, the creature was indubitably a coelacanth. Since that day, explorers have found many more members of the species and have even turned up a second species in the Indian Ocean. The author probably mentions the lungfish's early evolutionary changes in order to: Options: A. clarify the term living fossil B. show that biologists are divided as to what constitutes a living fossil C. indicate that the lungfish might again experience evolutionary change D. compare the lungfish to the coelacanth

You need to analyze an argument in order to answer this question. In the context of the passage, in which the majority of the information explains that living fossils have changed very little, why would the author include a part about rapid evolutionary change? The answer is to show that a living fossil does change and evolve; however, the changes are minor or cease at some point. Choice A is the best answer. The correct answer is A.

In sharp contrast to the modern, confessional poetry of the 20th century, the oeuvre of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seems quaint and primly Victorian. During his lifetime, however, he was the most celebrated poet in the country. A closer look at the history of American poetry reveals that, despite his eminence, Longfellow wrote in a mold of both form and content that was already being challenged during his lifetime. But why, a century later, do the artistic works of many of his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts? One answer lies in the radical shift that began to take place in poetry in the mid19th century. Longfellow's themes and steadfast rhymes (and those of John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell) gave way gradually to confessional verse, whose subjects were more personal and rhymes were looser and less conventional. But to understand this shift, one must first understand the nature of Longfellow's work and his standing in the American literary scene of his time. Longfellow took as his subject his country's historical imagination, writing on an epic scale about Paul Revere, the Indian Hiawatha, and the pilgrim Miles Standish. He bestowed a mythic dimension on these figures, giving American readers iconic images that helped form a collective consciousness in the new country (indeed, Longfellow was a part of the first generation to be born in the United States). But Longfellow's content went beyond nationalistic pride-it was highly accessible and incredibly popular. Its accessibility is explained by his obvious themes that could be easily understood and embraced by the public. Longfellow did not challenge his readers, but appealed to their desire for stories that expounded an optimistic, sentimental, and moralistic worldview. Those themes were explored in rhyme that allowed readers to commit the poems to memory, much like songs. In 1857, The Song of Hiawatha, arguably his bestknown poem, sold 50,000 copies, an astounding number at the time. The next year, The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 25,000 copies in two months and in London sold 10,000 copies in one day. His success allowed him to give up a professorship at Harvard and focus full time on his writing. Walt Whitman, Longfellow's contemporary, wrote poetry similar to that of Longfellow-romantic and sentimental, with conventional rhyme and meter. But in the 1850s, indeed two years before The Song of Hiawatha, he wrote and published Leaves of Grass; a more radical departure from his previous work could not have been imagined. The 12 unnamed poems comprising Leaves of Grass are written in free verse-that is, without conventional rhyme and meter. Yet, like Longfellow, he was determined to explore the subject of America and his love for his country. Whitman looked to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson for inspiration. Emerson wrote "America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." Indeed, Whitman paraphrased Emerson in his preface. Whitman's groundbreaking free verse changed the trajectory of American poetry. The next generation of poets, including Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Sherwood Anderson, and William Carlos Williams, celebrated their debt to Whitman. Decades later, the influence of Whitman's work on Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes, among many others, continues his legacy. The main argument of the passage is that: Options: A. Whitman's free verse is superior to Longfellow's rhymes. B. Longfellow's standing as an American poet was diminished by a rejection of quaint subjects and conventional rhyme and meter that came in the wake of poets such as Whitman. C. Longfellow would be read and studied more today if he had retained his nationalistic subject matter but eschewed the sentimental tone and standard forms of his poems. D. Ralph Waldo Emerson aided in the transformation of American poetry from Victorian Romanticism to Modernism.

You are asked to find the main idea in this question. This type of question is passage based, meaning you should focus on what is actually said as opposed to what may be implied or suggested. To answer it, ask "What is the author trying to say?" Typically, at least one answer choice is not found within the passage. In this case, choices $\mathrm{C}$ and $\mathrm{D}$ can be easily eliminated for that reason-neither is stated. Another type of distracter is an answer choice that is too narrow to be the main idea of the passage. Choice A is a good example; the passage encompasses much more than a simple comparison of free verse as opposed to rhymes. You are left with choice B, which is the correct answer. The correct answer is B.

The man whom Franklin Delano Roosevelt christened “The Happy Warrior" in a nominating speech would later become a thorn in Roosevelt's side. Some thought the switch in loyalties was sour grapes, but others saw Alfred E. Smith as the epitome of William Wordsworth's "happy warrior" and therefore a man who "makes his moral being his prime care"-one who never made a move without consulting his conscience. Alfred E. Smith was both a successful politician and an unsuccessful one. A fourterm governor of New York State, he seemed a sure candidate for president, and indeed he ran three times for that position, only to lose each time. He had several strikes against him. He was the Catholic son of Irish and ItalianGerman immigrants, making him anathema to nativists, the xenophobes who underwent a resurgence in the 1920s. He was from New York City, viewed even in the early twentieth century as disconnected from the national character. He was a progressive, which made conservatives of all stripes nervous. And he favored the repeal of Prohibition, a position that lost him the backing of many party leaders. Who was this unlikely candidate? Born Alfred Emanuel Smith in 1873, Smith grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father died when Smith was young, and the boy dropped out of school to take care of the family. At age 21, Smith supported a losing candidate in a local race and came to the attention of New York politicos, who took him under their wing. Nine years later, he ran successfully for the New York State Assembly, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to become Majority Leader and finally Speaker. He played a pivotal role in the revamping of New York's constitution, was elected sheriff of New York County, and then ran for governor in 1918, winning handily. Although he lost a re-election bid two years later, he surged back in 1922 and would remain in the governor's seat for six more years. His terms were marked by unparalleled improvements in labor laws and laws protecting civil liberties, for Smith's goal was to support those he saw as most in need of government's assistance. In this goal, he was allied with Franklin Roosevelt, and the two were close enough that Roosevelt nominated Smith for president in 1924. The Drys, or Prohibitionists, backed William McAdoo, a son-in-law of former President Woodrow Wilson. Smith's supporters and McAdoo's supporters were so far apart that finally a compromise candidate, John Davis, was nominated and promptly lost the general election to Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, Smith received his party's nomination on the second ballot, but along with his anti-Prohibition leanings, his religion became a major issue during the campaign, paving the way for Herbert Hoover to win the general election. Meanwhile, Smith had arranged for the nomination of his New York colleague, Franklin Roosevelt, to be governor of New York. Although Smith lost his bid, Roosevelt did not. Then came the Depression and the election of 1932. Backroom dealings ensured that Franklin Roosevelt won the nominating process, with another would-be presidential candidate in the vice-presidential spot on the ticket. Smith was left out in the cold on his third try for the presidency. Despite his former regard for Roosevelt, he began to work hard, if unsuccessfully, to defeat the New Deal. He supported two Republicans rather than Roosevelt in the 1936 and 1940 elections, and he died in 1944, a man who had never reached his desired goal, yet had inspired many of the changes for which his rival is now known. One important argument of the final paragraph is that: Options: A. Roosevelt would have done better with Smith at his side. B. The New Deal was anathema to someone with Smith's ideals. C. Smith's background made him an improbable candidate. D. Smith deserves credit for many of Roosevelt's successes.

You are asked to find the main idea of the last paragraph. In the last paragraph, the author states that Smith "had inspired many of the changes for which his rival is now known." His rival was Roosevelt, and the implication is that Roosevelt took credit for many ideas that began with Smith. There is no indication that Roosevelt would have done better on a ticket with Smith (choice A), and Smith's background is not a topic of this paragraph (choice C). Contrary to choice B, many of Smith's ideals were those that formed the foundation of the New Deal. The correct answer is D.

Biologists use the term "living fossil" to designate a species that maintains many of the features of its ancient ancestors. These species have evidenced very little evolutionary change, indicating not that they are primitive creatures as might be popularly believed, but instead that they are exquisitely suited for their biological and ecological niches and thus have not had any selection pressures to respond to. The four most celebrated living fossils are the lungfish, the horseshoe crab, the lampshell, and the coelacanth. The horseshoe crab is the relative youngster of the group, belonging to the Jurassic period and having shown little structural changes in its 200-million-year lifespan. The lampshell, a member of the phylum Brachiopoda, is part of an even older lineage, resembling ancestors that lived nearly 400 million years ago. The oldest members of the living fossil family are the lungfish and the coelacanth, both species that are remarkably similar to their forebears that roamed the Earth almost 425 million years ago. The lungfish, of which there are six surviving species, has the same basic structure and fleshy lobe fins of its progenitor, the sarcopterygian. Of course, the lungfish has long interested biologists not just because of its connections to the distant past but because of the bridge it represents between aquatic species and land dwellers. In fact, the African and South American species of lungfish live part of their lives entirely on land, burrowing into mud and respiring through a tiny breathing hole in their earthy homes. Although the lungfish has remained evolutionarily stable for close to 250 million years, prior to that the species did experience rapid and dynamic evolutionary change. However, by the end of the Permian period, the changes ground to a halt, and the lungfish has persevered happily ever since. The singular story of the coelacanth stretches all the way from the Silurian period, some 425 million years ago, to the modern day. The coelacanths were well-known from the fossil record and dating technologies placed them in a time when plants were just beginning to encroach on the land. However, biologists thought the species went extinct long before the dinosaurs did. Imagine the surprise when in 1938 a South American trawler captured a strange-looking fish, some five feet in length and a pale blue and silver in color. By an astounding coincidence, the captain of the boat had a relationship with the curator of the East London Museum and had made a habit of sending any interesting finds along to her. Upon seeing this strange specimen, the curator contacted a leading ichthyologist, who, after examining the creature, said he "would not have been more surprised if I had seen a dinosaur walking down the street." But despite all protestations of common sense and amid allegations of forgery and fakery, upon further study, the creature was indubitably a coelacanth. Since that day, explorers have found many more members of the species and have even turned up a second species in the Indian Ocean. Based on the information in the passage, which of the following orderings, from earliest to most recent, is correct? Options: A. Jurassic, Permian, Silurian B. Permian, Silurian, Jurassic C. Silurian, Permian, Jurassic D. Silurian, Jurassic, Permian

This question asks you to solve a problem. Here, you need to use information from the passage to put the time periods in the correct order. The discussion of the horseshoe crab indicates that the Jurassic period is the most recent, some 200 million years ago. The Permian period, at which time the lungfish ceased experiencing major evolutionary changes, was about 250 million years ago. And the Silurian period, from which the coelacanth emerged, was more than 400 million years ago. That makes choice $\mathrm{C}$ the correct answer. The correct answer is C.

Biologists use the term "living fossil" to designate a species that maintains many of the features of its ancient ancestors. These species have evidenced very little evolutionary change, indicating not that they are primitive creatures as might be popularly believed, but instead that they are exquisitely suited for their biological and ecological niches and thus have not had any selection pressures to respond to. The four most celebrated living fossils are the lungfish, the horseshoe crab, the lampshell, and the coelacanth. The horseshoe crab is the relative youngster of the group, belonging to the Jurassic period and having shown little structural changes in its 200-million-year lifespan. The lampshell, a member of the phylum Brachiopoda, is part of an even older lineage, resembling ancestors that lived nearly 400 million years ago. The oldest members of the living fossil family are the lungfish and the coelacanth, both species that are remarkably similar to their forebears that roamed the Earth almost 425 million years ago. The lungfish, of which there are six surviving species, has the same basic structure and fleshy lobe fins of its progenitor, the sarcopterygian. Of course, the lungfish has long interested biologists not just because of its connections to the distant past but because of the bridge it represents between aquatic species and land dwellers. In fact, the African and South American species of lungfish live part of their lives entirely on land, burrowing into mud and respiring through a tiny breathing hole in their earthy homes. Although the lungfish has remained evolutionarily stable for close to 250 million years, prior to that the species did experience rapid and dynamic evolutionary change. However, by the end of the Permian period, the changes ground to a halt, and the lungfish has persevered happily ever since. The singular story of the coelacanth stretches all the way from the Silurian period, some 425 million years ago, to the modern day. The coelacanths were well-known from the fossil record and dating technologies placed them in a time when plants were just beginning to encroach on the land. However, biologists thought the species went extinct long before the dinosaurs did. Imagine the surprise when in 1938 a South American trawler captured a strange-looking fish, some five feet in length and a pale blue and silver in color. By an astounding coincidence, the captain of the boat had a relationship with the curator of the East London Museum and had made a habit of sending any interesting finds along to her. Upon seeing this strange specimen, the curator contacted a leading ichthyologist, who, after examining the creature, said he "would not have been more surprised if I had seen a dinosaur walking down the street." But despite all protestations of common sense and amid allegations of forgery and fakery, upon further study, the creature was indubitably a coelacanth. Since that day, explorers have found many more members of the species and have even turned up a second species in the Indian Ocean. The author MOST likely mentions allegations of forgery and fakery in order to: Options: A. underscore how unprecedented the discovery was B. indicate that some thought to profit from the discovery C. describe the public's reaction to the find D. dismiss the concerns of leading biologists of the time

This question tests your ability to analyze an argument. The last paragraph continually emphasizes how the discovery of the coelacanth was an amazing event. The author uses words like singular, astounding, and surprising. This corresponds to choice $\mathrm{A}$. There is no evidence for choice $\mathrm{B}$ or $\mathrm{D}$, and the paragraph does not make it clear that it was the public who reacted with the allegations as choice $\mathrm{C}$ indicates. The correct answer is A.

\section{ Language consists of three main parts. The first is simply vocabulary, the lexicon of words available to the speaker to describe particular concepts, actions, and states. The second part is morphology, the set of rules that dictates how words and parts of words may be combined to form other words. The final part of language is syntax, the rules that combine words into phrases and sentences. It is morphology that we shall turn our attention to first. Morphology has two major subdivisions. They are derivation and inflection. Derivation refers to those rules by which new words may be formed out of preexisting words. Inflection, sometimes referred to as conjugation and declension, states how words are changed to indicate their function within a sentence. Although common mythology holds that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, many linguists would beg to differ. In fact, when it comes to inflection, the conditional, the subjunctive, the imperative, and others. Languages from outside the Indo-European family tree may be even more complex. The Bantu language of Kivunjo has roughly half a million combinations of prefixes and suffixes for a verb. English, however, has a mere four combinations. A verb such as to walk is limited to the following forms: walk, walks, walked, and walking. Although there are only four basic verb forms, the English language does have more than 13 possible inflections. It just makes do with these four forms for the various functions. English also differs significantly from many other Indo-European languages in that in English, the stem of the word can be pronounced and is in fact part of the language. In Spanish, the stem of the verb to walk is camin-, but this is not a word in the language. In order to pronounce this word, it must be conjugated and combined with a suffix. English uses the stem form of the verb for four inflections: the present tense (except for the third-person singular), the infinitive, the imperative, and the subjunctive. The verb form ending in $-s$ is used in only one case, the third-person singular. The two possible verb suffixes, -ing and $-e d$, are put to use in a variety of ways as well. The -ing ending appears in the progressive participle, the present participle, the gerund form, and the verbal adjective form. That leaves the $-e d$ form to handle the remaining inflections, including the past tense, the perfect participle, the passive participle, and some verbal adjectives. Why are there so many different inflections for verb forms that basically sound the same? Simply put, the meanings implied by the various moods are different, even if the words used are fairly similar. Compare the meaning conveyed by the simple past tense (he walked) to the meaning inherent in the perfect participle (he has walked). The ideas presented in this passage would probably be MOST interesting to: Options: A. linguists B. language teachers C. psychologists D. translators

In order to answer this question, you'll need to combine information. The passage provides interesting information on language and specifically on the English language. However, it is not directed at linguists (choice A), who presumably would already know much of the information. A language teacher (choice B) would most likely find the information interesting background to a language lesson. It is not clear what psychologists would find interesting in the passage. Translators may find the information interesting, but nothing in the passage pertains specifically to translation, so choice B is a better answer. The correct answer is B.

Biologists use the term "living fossil" to designate a species that maintains many of the features of its ancient ancestors. These species have evidenced very little evolutionary change, indicating not that they are primitive creatures as might be popularly believed, but instead that they are exquisitely suited for their biological and ecological niches and thus have not had any selection pressures to respond to. The four most celebrated living fossils are the lungfish, the horseshoe crab, the lampshell, and the coelacanth. The horseshoe crab is the relative youngster of the group, belonging to the Jurassic period and having shown little structural changes in its 200-million-year lifespan. The lampshell, a member of the phylum Brachiopoda, is part of an even older lineage, resembling ancestors that lived nearly 400 million years ago. The oldest members of the living fossil family are the lungfish and the coelacanth, both species that are remarkably similar to their forebears that roamed the Earth almost 425 million years ago. The lungfish, of which there are six surviving species, has the same basic structure and fleshy lobe fins of its progenitor, the sarcopterygian. Of course, the lungfish has long interested biologists not just because of its connections to the distant past but because of the bridge it represents between aquatic species and land dwellers. In fact, the African and South American species of lungfish live part of their lives entirely on land, burrowing into mud and respiring through a tiny breathing hole in their earthy homes. Although the lungfish has remained evolutionarily stable for close to 250 million years, prior to that the species did experience rapid and dynamic evolutionary change. However, by the end of the Permian period, the changes ground to a halt, and the lungfish has persevered happily ever since. The singular story of the coelacanth stretches all the way from the Silurian period, some 425 million years ago, to the modern day. The coelacanths were well-known from the fossil record and dating technologies placed them in a time when plants were just beginning to encroach on the land. However, biologists thought the species went extinct long before the dinosaurs did. Imagine the surprise when in 1938 a South American trawler captured a strange-looking fish, some five feet in length and a pale blue and silver in color. By an astounding coincidence, the captain of the boat had a relationship with the curator of the East London Museum and had made a habit of sending any interesting finds along to her. Upon seeing this strange specimen, the curator contacted a leading ichthyologist, who, after examining the creature, said he "would not have been more surprised if I had seen a dinosaur walking down the street." But despite all protestations of common sense and amid allegations of forgery and fakery, upon further study, the creature was indubitably a coelacanth. Since that day, explorers have found many more members of the species and have even turned up a second species in the Indian Ocean. The passage suggests that the author MOST likely believes: Options: A. The modern discovery of the coelacanth was somewhat due to luck. B. The lungfish is a more interesting living fossil than the coelacanth. C. Biologists were wrong to think the coelacanth extinct. D. The coelacanth also experiences a period of rapid evolutionary change.

This question requires you to draw conclusions. The author does not state choice A explicitly, but does say that the discovery was aided by an "astounding coincidence." The passage indicates that biologists find the lungfish interesting, but that does not necessarily imply the author believes the same as choice B says. Choice $\mathrm{C}$ is not a valid conclusion based on the passage. The author indicates that the discovery of the coelacanth was a major surprise, but that doesn't mean that biologists were wrong to believe it was extinct. There is no evidence to support choice D. The correct answer is A.

\section{ Language consists of three main parts. The first is simply vocabulary, the lexicon of words available to the speaker to describe particular concepts, actions, and states. The second part is morphology, the set of rules that dictates how words and parts of words may be combined to form other words. The final part of language is syntax, the rules that combine words into phrases and sentences. It is morphology that we shall turn our attention to first. Morphology has two major subdivisions. They are derivation and inflection. Derivation refers to those rules by which new words may be formed out of preexisting words. Inflection, sometimes referred to as conjugation and declension, states how words are changed to indicate their function within a sentence. Although common mythology holds that English is one of the most difficult languages to learn, many linguists would beg to differ. In fact, when it comes to inflection, the conditional, the subjunctive, the imperative, and others. Languages from outside the Indo-European family tree may be even more complex. The Bantu language of Kivunjo has roughly half a million combinations of prefixes and suffixes for a verb. English, however, has a mere four combinations. A verb such as to walk is limited to the following forms: walk, walks, walked, and walking. Although there are only four basic verb forms, the English language does have more than 13 possible inflections. It just makes do with these four forms for the various functions. English also differs significantly from many other Indo-European languages in that in English, the stem of the word can be pronounced and is in fact part of the language. In Spanish, the stem of the verb to walk is camin-, but this is not a word in the language. In order to pronounce this word, it must be conjugated and combined with a suffix. English uses the stem form of the verb for four inflections: the present tense (except for the third-person singular), the infinitive, the imperative, and the subjunctive. The verb form ending in $-s$ is used in only one case, the third-person singular. The two possible verb suffixes, -ing and $-e d$, are put to use in a variety of ways as well. The -ing ending appears in the progressive participle, the present participle, the gerund form, and the verbal adjective form. That leaves the $-e d$ form to handle the remaining inflections, including the past tense, the perfect participle, the passive participle, and some verbal adjectives. Why are there so many different inflections for verb forms that basically sound the same? Simply put, the meanings implied by the various moods are different, even if the words used are fairly similar. Compare the meaning conveyed by the simple past tense (he walked) to the meaning inherent in the perfect participle (he has walked). The passage indicates that a native Spanish speaker may be puzzled by the verb to see in which of the following sentences? Options: A. I saw the car. B. They want to see the car. C. She sees the car. D. Seeing is believing.

This question tests your ability to make predictions. Based on the information in the passage, you need to predict which sentence may strike a Spanish speaker as odd. The passage states that in Spanish, the stem of the verb is not a word. In English, one use of the stem of the verb is in the infinitive form, as used in choice B, "to see." The past tense (choice A), the third-person singular (choice C), and the gerund form (choice D) all involve changing the stem, which is similar to the Spanish language. The correct answer is B.

The man whom Franklin Delano Roosevelt christened “The Happy Warrior" in a nominating speech would later become a thorn in Roosevelt's side. Some thought the switch in loyalties was sour grapes, but others saw Alfred E. Smith as the epitome of William Wordsworth's "happy warrior" and therefore a man who "makes his moral being his prime care"-one who never made a move without consulting his conscience. Alfred E. Smith was both a successful politician and an unsuccessful one. A fourterm governor of New York State, he seemed a sure candidate for president, and indeed he ran three times for that position, only to lose each time. He had several strikes against him. He was the Catholic son of Irish and ItalianGerman immigrants, making him anathema to nativists, the xenophobes who underwent a resurgence in the 1920s. He was from New York City, viewed even in the early twentieth century as disconnected from the national character. He was a progressive, which made conservatives of all stripes nervous. And he favored the repeal of Prohibition, a position that lost him the backing of many party leaders. Who was this unlikely candidate? Born Alfred Emanuel Smith in 1873, Smith grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father died when Smith was young, and the boy dropped out of school to take care of the family. At age 21, Smith supported a losing candidate in a local race and came to the attention of New York politicos, who took him under their wing. Nine years later, he ran successfully for the New York State Assembly, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to become Majority Leader and finally Speaker. He played a pivotal role in the revamping of New York's constitution, was elected sheriff of New York County, and then ran for governor in 1918, winning handily. Although he lost a re-election bid two years later, he surged back in 1922 and would remain in the governor's seat for six more years. His terms were marked by unparalleled improvements in labor laws and laws protecting civil liberties, for Smith's goal was to support those he saw as most in need of government's assistance. In this goal, he was allied with Franklin Roosevelt, and the two were close enough that Roosevelt nominated Smith for president in 1924. The Drys, or Prohibitionists, backed William McAdoo, a son-in-law of former President Woodrow Wilson. Smith's supporters and McAdoo's supporters were so far apart that finally a compromise candidate, John Davis, was nominated and promptly lost the general election to Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, Smith received his party's nomination on the second ballot, but along with his anti-Prohibition leanings, his religion became a major issue during the campaign, paving the way for Herbert Hoover to win the general election. Meanwhile, Smith had arranged for the nomination of his New York colleague, Franklin Roosevelt, to be governor of New York. Although Smith lost his bid, Roosevelt did not. Then came the Depression and the election of 1932. Backroom dealings ensured that Franklin Roosevelt won the nominating process, with another would-be presidential candidate in the vice-presidential spot on the ticket. Smith was left out in the cold on his third try for the presidency. Despite his former regard for Roosevelt, he began to work hard, if unsuccessfully, to defeat the New Deal. He supported two Republicans rather than Roosevelt in the 1936 and 1940 elections, and he died in 1944, a man who had never reached his desired goal, yet had inspired many of the changes for which his rival is now known. The mention of nativists shows primarily that: Options: A. Only those born in the United States are eligible for the presidency. B. Bigotry figured into politics in the early twentieth century. C. Prohibition was a critical issue for many urban voters. D. A candidate for national office must embrace religion.

The discussion of nativism shows that Smith was not a credible candidate to many because of his Catholic immigrant background. It has nothing to do with his eligibility (choice A); it has to do with the bigotry of the electorate. This is an example of interpreting vocabulary. The correct answer is B.

The man whom Franklin Delano Roosevelt christened “The Happy Warrior" in a nominating speech would later become a thorn in Roosevelt's side. Some thought the switch in loyalties was sour grapes, but others saw Alfred E. Smith as the epitome of William Wordsworth's "happy warrior" and therefore a man who "makes his moral being his prime care"-one who never made a move without consulting his conscience. Alfred E. Smith was both a successful politician and an unsuccessful one. A fourterm governor of New York State, he seemed a sure candidate for president, and indeed he ran three times for that position, only to lose each time. He had several strikes against him. He was the Catholic son of Irish and ItalianGerman immigrants, making him anathema to nativists, the xenophobes who underwent a resurgence in the 1920s. He was from New York City, viewed even in the early twentieth century as disconnected from the national character. He was a progressive, which made conservatives of all stripes nervous. And he favored the repeal of Prohibition, a position that lost him the backing of many party leaders. Who was this unlikely candidate? Born Alfred Emanuel Smith in 1873, Smith grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His father died when Smith was young, and the boy dropped out of school to take care of the family. At age 21, Smith supported a losing candidate in a local race and came to the attention of New York politicos, who took him under their wing. Nine years later, he ran successfully for the New York State Assembly, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to become Majority Leader and finally Speaker. He played a pivotal role in the revamping of New York's constitution, was elected sheriff of New York County, and then ran for governor in 1918, winning handily. Although he lost a re-election bid two years later, he surged back in 1922 and would remain in the governor's seat for six more years. His terms were marked by unparalleled improvements in labor laws and laws protecting civil liberties, for Smith's goal was to support those he saw as most in need of government's assistance. In this goal, he was allied with Franklin Roosevelt, and the two were close enough that Roosevelt nominated Smith for president in 1924. The Drys, or Prohibitionists, backed William McAdoo, a son-in-law of former President Woodrow Wilson. Smith's supporters and McAdoo's supporters were so far apart that finally a compromise candidate, John Davis, was nominated and promptly lost the general election to Calvin Coolidge. In 1928, Smith received his party's nomination on the second ballot, but along with his anti-Prohibition leanings, his religion became a major issue during the campaign, paving the way for Herbert Hoover to win the general election. Meanwhile, Smith had arranged for the nomination of his New York colleague, Franklin Roosevelt, to be governor of New York. Although Smith lost his bid, Roosevelt did not. Then came the Depression and the election of 1932. Backroom dealings ensured that Franklin Roosevelt won the nominating process, with another would-be presidential candidate in the vice-presidential spot on the ticket. Smith was left out in the cold on his third try for the presidency. Despite his former regard for Roosevelt, he began to work hard, if unsuccessfully, to defeat the New Deal. He supported two Republicans rather than Roosevelt in the 1936 and 1940 elections, and he died in 1944, a man who had never reached his desired goal, yet had inspired many of the changes for which his rival is now known. The passage suggests that Roosevelt's change of heart toward Smith was influenced by: Options: A. ethics B. spitefulness C. miscommunication D. ambition

Without knowing more about the two rivals, any one of these answers might be possible, but the only one that is supported by the text is choice D. Roosevelt's ambition led to political maneuvering that shut Smith out of the nomination. This is a cause-and-effect question. The correct answer is D.

"I acknowledge Shakespeare to be the world's greatest dramatic poet, but regret that no parent could place the uncorrected book in the hands of his daughter, and therefore I have prepared the Family Shakespeare." Thus did Thomas Bowdler, a self-appointed editor trained as a physician, explain his creation of a children's edition of Shakespeare that omitted some characters completely, toned down language he considered objectionable, and euphemized such shocking situations as Ophelia's suicide-an accident in Bowdler's version. Bowdler was hardly the first to tone down the Bard. Poet laureate Nahum Tate rewrote King Lear, banishing the Fool entirely and giving the play a happy ending. His version was staged regularly from the 1680 s through the 18 th century. Thomas Bowdler was, from all the evidence, a less likely editor. He was born in 1754 near Bath, England, to a wealthy family. He studied medicine but never really practiced, preferring to exercise philanthropy and to play chess, at which he was a master. In his retirement, he decided to try his hand at editorial work. Shakespeare's dramas were his first project. He added nothing to the texts, but by cutting and paraphrasing strove to remove anything that "could give just offense to the religious and virtuous mind." The result was a 10-volume expurgated version that was criticized widely, although hardly universally. The famed British poet Algernon Swinburne remarked that "no man ever did better service to Shakespeare than the man who made it possible to put him into the hands of intelligent and imaginative children." There is some indication that Bowdler's sister Harriet did the actual editing of Shakespeare's text. She was a poet and editor in her own right, and clearly more qualified than her brother to lay hands on the Bard of Avon. She may have published the expurgated edition anonymously before allowing her brother to take over the rights. If this is so, it is unsurprising that Harriet would not have wanted her name on the book. If the original Shakespeare were truly objectionable, then it would have been doubly so for a well-bred, unmarried Englishwoman of the day. Bowdler went on to create children's versions of the Old Testament and of Edward Gibbons's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, although neither achieved either the success or ridicule of his Shakespeare. Today, of course, we know Bowdler not for his good works, but instead for the eponym derived from his good name. To bowdlerize is to censor or amend a written work, often with a connotation of prudishness. The process for which Bowdler is known is one that continues to the present day, as texts deemed too difficult for today's high schoolers are "dumbed-down," library editions of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn have the "n-word" blacked out, and middle-school productions of popular Broadway plays have all expletives deleted. We would be hard-pressed to say that we live in a prudish era, but some of the same impulses that drove Thomas and Harriet Bowdler still exist today. The passage suggests that Bowdler was influenced by: Options: A. prudery B. erudition C. a poet laureate D. a dream

There is no mention of a dream (choice D), the poet laureate is used as an example of prior editing but not as an inspiration for Bowdler himself (choice C), and Bowdler was not a scholar, making choice B an unlikely answer. Instead, his desire was to make Shakespeare accessible to children, and in its unexpurgated state, he felt that was impossible. Choice A is the best answer. The correct answer is A.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} The Nobel Peace Prize has often engendered controversy. The Red Cross, yes, but Henry Kissinger? Mother Teresa, perhaps, but Yasser Arafat? Surprisingly, a loud and ongoing controversy surrounds a choice that at first look seems most benign-that of the Guatemalan freedom fighter, Rigoberta Menchú Tum. Rigoberta Menchú was born in 1959 to a poor Mayan family in Guatemala. At the time of her birth, General Ydígoras Fuentes had just seized power, following the assassination of Colonel Castillo Armas. The year she turned one, there was a failed coup by a military group, many of whom fled to the countryside and would return to lead the rebellion that would wax and wane for the next 36 years. Guatemala was divided into factions for that entire period, as military governments controlled the nation and guerilla groups controlled the countryside. At the same time, right-wing vigilantes led a campaign of torture and assassination, eliminating students and peasants they deemed to be allied with the guerillas. In the countryside where Rigoberta lived, the battles were largely over control of farmland. Rigoberta's father was taken into custody and tortured when the army believed he had assisted in the assassination of a plantation owner. Following a rout of the guerillas by the army, the guerillas regrouped and began to take their fight to the capital, beginning a long series of assassinations of government figures. Rigoberta, her father, and some of her siblings joined the Committee of the Peasant Union (CUC). In rapid succession, Rigoberta lost her brother, father, and mother to the army's own assassination squads. Rigoberta, though only in her early 20s, became a key figure in the resistance, traveling from village to village to educate the Mayan peasants in overcoming oppression, and leading demonstrations in Guatemala City. Soon Rigoberta was herself a target. She fled to Mexico and continued her life as an organizer, concentrating her focus on peasants' rights. She participated in the founding of the United Representation of the Guatemalan Opposition (RUOG). This period was the most violent of the entire Guatemalan civil war. Under the new president, General Efrain Ríos Montt, massacres of civilians became an everyday occurrence. The controversy is all about the book. It began when anthropologist David Stoll began independent research on the same era about which Rigoberta dictated and discovered discrepancies in her recall of events. Massacres she described were not remembered by the locals; one of her brothers died by shooting rather than by fire, dates were incorrect, and so on. Stoll's discoveries were enough to roil up conservative historians and columnists, who declared Rigoberta's book the grossest propaganda and her career, therefore, unworthy of the Nobel Prize. Not surprisingly, this brought forth charges of racism, sexism, and cultural ignorance from the other side. The Nobel Committee maintained a stiff upper lip throughout the political backand-forth and still insists that Rigoberta's prize had to do with her documented good works and not with her personal recorded history. Rigoberta's book is still widely taught, and her place in the history of Central American peasant revolutions seems assured. The author of the passage would probably support: Options: A. an inquiry that led to the removal of Rigoberta's Nobel Prize B. the removal of Rigoberta's autobiography from college curricula C. keeping Rigoberta's name in the history books as a freedom fighter D. granting the Nobel Prize exclusively to groups, not individuals

To answer this kind of question, you must compare what you know about the author's point of view with the choices given. The author, unlike some of the people in the passage, seems to have a positive view of Rigoberta, as evinced in the line, "her place in the history of Central American peasant revolutions seems assured." That means that choices A and B would be unlikely views of this author, and there is no evidence to support choice D one way or the other. The best answer is choice C. The correct answer is C.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} In linguistics, metathesis refers to the reversal of phonemes in a word. This can come about by accident, as in the common mispronunciation "aks" for ask or the common (and correct) pronunciation of iron as "i-orn." It may come about on purpose, as in various language games. Accidental metathesis may be a process that takes place in the evolution of languages. Over time, for example, the Latin words miraculum, periculum, and parabola evolved into the Spanish words milagro, peligro, and palabra. Linguists posit that such changes usually occur when two consonants are of the same type, with similar mouth formations needed to create each one. The Reverend Archibald Spooner, an Oxford dean, was known for his unintentional transpositions and gave his name to the particular metathesis he represented: Spoonerisms. Most famous Spoonerisms once attributed to Spooner are now believed to be apocryphal, but they are nevertheless amusing; for example, his supposed advice to a substandard student: "You have deliberately tasted two worms and will leave Oxford by the next town drain." Spoonerisms are funny when the metathesis involved changes one word into another, and they seem to lend themselves particularly well to off-color jokes. Everyone is familiar with Pig Latin, in which initial consonant sounds are moved to the end of a word and followed with the syllable "ay." This is not pure metathesis, but it begins with the kind of metathesis known as backslang, in which syllables or letters in a word are reversed to produce a private code. Pig Latin may have begun as a language spoken in prisoner-of-war camps; it was certainly used in such camps during World War II and in Vietnam. In Pig Latin, the phrase "Over the river and through the woods" becomes "Overay uhthay iverray anday oughthray uhthay oodsway." In other variations of Pig Latin, it might instead be "Overway uhthay iverray andway oughthray uhthay oodsway." There are computer programs that translate from English to Pig Latin and back again, and there is even a version of the Bible written entirely in Pig Latin. For the most part, however, outside of prisoner-of-war camps, Pig Latin is a funny code used by children. French children and teenagers use a similar code. Called verlan (a reversal of l'envers, or "reversal"), it is trickier than Pig Latin because it relies much more on phonetics than on spelling. In verlan, the word café becomes féca, but the word tomber ("to fall") becomes béton. Verlan becomes even more complex in words that end in silent $e$ or which have only one syllable. While just a few words from Pig Latin have entered the vernacular (for example, amscray and ixnay), many verlan words are common lingo in France. Historically, for reasons that are not quite clear, butchers have been frequent users of metathesis, creating their own backslang to converse without being understood by patrons. In France, this is called louchébem (boucher, or "butcher," with the first consonant moved to the end and the letter $l$ placed in front). In Australia, it is known as rechtub klat. That name, of course, represents the ultimate in metathesis-the reversal of letters instead of merely syllables. Based on information in the passage, which of these would be the verlan translation of critique? Options: A. euqitirc B. ticri C. tiquay D. quecriti

Verlan transposes the phonemes in syllables, often changing the spelling to match the revised word construction. Since critique is pronounced /krih-teek/, reversing those phonemes would give you a word pronounced /teek-krih/. The most likely spelling for this is shown in choice B. The correct answer is B.

In sharp contrast to the modern, confessional poetry of the 20th century, the oeuvre of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow seems quaint and primly Victorian. During his lifetime, however, he was the most celebrated poet in the country. A closer look at the history of American poetry reveals that, despite his eminence, Longfellow wrote in a mold of both form and content that was already being challenged during his lifetime. But why, a century later, do the artistic works of many of his contemporaries continue to be enjoyed and studied while Longfellow languishes in the tomb of cultural artifacts? One answer lies in the radical shift that began to take place in poetry in the mid19th century. Longfellow's themes and steadfast rhymes (and those of John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell) gave way gradually to confessional verse, whose subjects were more personal and rhymes were looser and less conventional. But to understand this shift, one must first understand the nature of Longfellow's work and his standing in the American literary scene of his time. Longfellow took as his subject his country's historical imagination, writing on an epic scale about Paul Revere, the Indian Hiawatha, and the pilgrim Miles Standish. He bestowed a mythic dimension on these figures, giving American readers iconic images that helped form a collective consciousness in the new country (indeed, Longfellow was a part of the first generation to be born in the United States). But Longfellow's content went beyond nationalistic pride-it was highly accessible and incredibly popular. Its accessibility is explained by his obvious themes that could be easily understood and embraced by the public. Longfellow did not challenge his readers, but appealed to their desire for stories that expounded an optimistic, sentimental, and moralistic worldview. Those themes were explored in rhyme that allowed readers to commit the poems to memory, much like songs. In 1857, The Song of Hiawatha, arguably his bestknown poem, sold 50,000 copies, an astounding number at the time. The next year, The Courtship of Miles Standish sold 25,000 copies in two months and in London sold 10,000 copies in one day. His success allowed him to give up a professorship at Harvard and focus full time on his writing. Walt Whitman, Longfellow's contemporary, wrote poetry similar to that of Longfellow-romantic and sentimental, with conventional rhyme and meter. But in the 1850s, indeed two years before The Song of Hiawatha, he wrote and published Leaves of Grass; a more radical departure from his previous work could not have been imagined. The 12 unnamed poems comprising Leaves of Grass are written in free verse-that is, without conventional rhyme and meter. Yet, like Longfellow, he was determined to explore the subject of America and his love for his country. Whitman looked to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson for inspiration. Emerson wrote "America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres." Indeed, Whitman paraphrased Emerson in his preface. Whitman's groundbreaking free verse changed the trajectory of American poetry. The next generation of poets, including Ezra Pound, Hart Crane, Sherwood Anderson, and William Carlos Williams, celebrated their debt to Whitman. Decades later, the influence of Whitman's work on Allen Ginsberg and Langston Hughes, among many others, continues his legacy. The author apparently believes that: Options: A. Poems about iconic American figures can become best-sellers. B. Whitman's poems are more popular than Longfellow's because people prefer free verse and more personal poetry. C. Ralph Waldo Emerson could be considered the father of Modern American poetry. D. Contemporary confessional poetry owes much to the work of Longfellow.

In this question, you are drawing conclusions about the author's intent, choosing the best or most likely answer. Sales figures for Longfellow's poems about iconic American figures are cited as facts and not implied to be an apparent belief of the author, making choice A incorrect. Although Emerson is revealed to be an influence on Whitman, there is nothing in the passage to suggest that he could be considered by the author to be the Father of American Poetry (in fact, he is not mentioned as being a poet), making choice $\mathrm{C}$ incorrect. The passage clearly delineates the vast differences between the work of Longfellow and confessional poetry; therefore, choice D must also be wrong. The terms the author uses to describe Whitman and his work in the last paragraph ("groundbreaking," "legacy") enforce his view that Whitman's poetry is more popular than Longfellow's (that resides in a "tomb"). The correct answer is B.

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection often caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which spreads through the blood to the bones. The infection is quite common after surgeries when soft tissues become infected and the infection moves to the adjacent bones. The long bones of children are particularly susceptible as they have excellent circulation to them during the growth period. In adults, the best circulation is to the vertebrae, and these are the bones that are most likely to develop osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is treated with various antibiotics, but some patients have chronic infections that are not eradicated by antibiotic therapy due to a unique feature of S. aureus. S. aureus can be internalized by osteoblasts where the bacteria can continue to survive in the intracellular environment. Inside the osteoblasts, bacteria can induce apoptosis, killing their host cell. Surgical debridement is often required to remove the damaged and dead bone tissue created by the infection. A major research question deals with how an S. aureus infection induces apoptosis in the host osteoblasts. In order for apoptosis to initiate in osteoblasts, the enzyme capsase-8 must be activated. This enzyme serves as a protease that cleaves critical proteins in the cell, causing cell death. Capsase-8 is only expressed under certain circumstances. In the case of osteomyelitis, the S. aureus bacteria cause the induction of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in the osteoblasts. Then TRAIL activates capsase-8, which triggers a series of events leading to apoptosis and death of osteoblasts. Which of the following potential drugs might be helpful in preventing the death of osteoblasts caused by S. aureus infection? Options: A. one that increases capsase-8 activity B. one that increases TRAIL activity C. one that is an antagonist to TRAIL D. all of the above

Death of osteoblasts due to S. aureus infection is the result of induction of apoptosis. Apoptosis is triggered by capsase-8, so increasing the activity of capsase-8 would increase the rate of apoptosis and osteoblast death. Further, capsase-8 is activated by TRAIL made by S. aureus, so increasing the TRAIL activity would also increase osteoblast death rates. A drug that is antagonistic to TRAIL would decrease capsase-8 activity and decrease the rate of apoptosis in osteoblasts. The correct answer is C.

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection often caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which spreads through the blood to the bones. The infection is quite common after surgeries when soft tissues become infected and the infection moves to the adjacent bones. The long bones of children are particularly susceptible as they have excellent circulation to them during the growth period. In adults, the best circulation is to the vertebrae, and these are the bones that are most likely to develop osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is treated with various antibiotics, but some patients have chronic infections that are not eradicated by antibiotic therapy due to a unique feature of S. aureus. S. aureus can be internalized by osteoblasts where the bacteria can continue to survive in the intracellular environment. Inside the osteoblasts, bacteria can induce apoptosis, killing their host cell. Surgical debridement is often required to remove the damaged and dead bone tissue created by the infection. A major research question deals with how an S. aureus infection induces apoptosis in the host osteoblasts. In order for apoptosis to initiate in osteoblasts, the enzyme capsase-8 must be activated. This enzyme serves as a protease that cleaves critical proteins in the cell, causing cell death. Capsase-8 is only expressed under certain circumstances. In the case of osteomyelitis, the S. aureus bacteria cause the induction of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in the osteoblasts. Then TRAIL activates capsase-8, which triggers a series of events leading to apoptosis and death of osteoblasts. Many strains of $S$. aureus that cause osteomyelitis are termed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). These strains have developed resistance to the antibiotic methicillin as well as to other antibiotics. The mechanism by which this antibiotic resistance occurs is by: Options: A. the overuse of antibiotics, which causes patients to become resistant to the antibiotics B. the overuse of antibiotics, which selects for bacteria that have mutations that allow them to survive in the presence of the antibiotics C. mutations, which occur as the bacteria are exposed to antibiotics that can serve as mutagens D. all of the above

Bacteria spontaneously mutate in order to produce diversity in the population. Some bacteria have spontaneous mutations, usually on plasmids, that allow them to survive in the presence of certain antibiotics. If the bacterial population is repeatedly exposed to that antibiotic due to overuse, it exerts selective pressure where only the resistant bacteria survive. These resistant bacteria multiply, and in the next generation a higher frequency of resistance is observed. Antibiotic resistance has nothing to do with people becoming resistant to antibiotics-it is all about the bacterial mutations. The correct answer is B.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known to infect T cells and macrophages possessing the CD4 receptor. In addition to the CD4 receptor, there are a variety of coreceptors that are also needed for certain strains of HIV to infect cells. One of these coreceptors is called CCR5 and is needed for the most common strains of HIV (called R5) to infect their host cells. The more CCR5 receptors a cell has, the greater the rate of infection for the cell. Some individuals have the delta-32 allele of CCR5 that leads to a decreased risk of HIV infection. Women are at a much higher risk for contracting HIV from a male partner than a male is for contracting HIV from a female partner. Some of the increased risk for women is dependent on sex hormones. It has been hypothesized that women have different risks of contracting HIV at different points in their reproductive cycles. For example, women may be at a greater risk of contracting HIV following ovulation during the last 2 weeks of their cycle as opposed to the first 2 weeks of their cycle prior to ovulation. The difference between risk of infection before and after ovulation relates to sex hormones produced at various points in the reproductive cycle. It seems that the estrogen that is produced prior to ovulation provides a somewhat protective, although certainly not absolute, role against HIV infection. For women who do become infected with HIV, studies have shown that women in the first 3 to 5 years after HIV infection carry lower HIV viral loads than men, perhaps due to the influence of estrogen. This suggests a major role for sex hormones in the infection and progression of HIV. Some populations with the delta-32 CCR5 mutation seem to have close to $100 \%$ protection against HIV, while other populations with the delta-32 CCR5 mutation seem to have only partial protection. What could account for this difference? Options: A. There is an environmental influence on expression of the delta-32 CCR5 phenotype. B. The delta-32 CCR5 allele exhibits incomplete dominance. Homozygotes have complete protection while heterozygotes have only partial protection. C. The expression of the delta-32 CCR5 allele can be masked by epistasis. D. Those that have only partial protection against HIV infection have been exposed to larger doses of HIV.

To answer this question, you need to rely on your knowledge of genetics. The passage states that the delta-32 CCR5 mutation is protective against HIV infection. The question indicated that there are two different phenotypes noted within the delta-32 CCR5 mutation-one that offers near 100 percent protection against HIV infection and one that offers only partial protection. The best explanation for why two phenotypes (complete protection and partial protection) are observed would be that the delta-32 allele exhibits incomplete dominance. An individual that is homozygous for the allele (meaning he or she inherited two copies of the delta-32 allele) would have full protection, while an individual who is heterozygous (meaning he or she has one normal copy of the allele and one copy of the delta-32 allele) would have an intermediate phenotype (being partial protection). This is indicated by choice B. Since the question indicates that the differences in phenotype (protection) are related to the delta32 mutation, choices A and D can be eliminated as they suppose that something other than the allele is providing protection. Choice C suggests that epistasis is involved in masking the delta-32 allele. While this might sound remotely plausible, choice B is a much more likely explanation. The correct answer is B.

A scientist suspects that the food in an ecosystem may have been contaminated with radioactive phosphates over a period of months. Which of the following substances could be examined for radioactive phosphate to test the hypothesis? Options: A. the carbohydrates produced by plants in the area B. the DNA of the organisms in the area C. the lipids produced by organisms living in the area D. all of the above

This question relies on a knowledge of the basic chemical composition of the biologically important molecules. Carbohydrates and lipids are composed of C, O, and H. However, DNA is a nucleic acid and contains phosphate groups. The correct answer is B.

At the end of the electron transport chain in aerobic cellular respiration, the final acceptor of the electrons is which will then produce a molecule Options: A. $\mathrm{CO}_{2} ; \mathrm{O}_{2}$ B. $\mathrm{NAD}^{+} ; \mathrm{NADH}$ C. $\mathrm{O}_{2} ; \mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}$ D. ADP; ATP

During the electron transport chain, oxygen serves as the terminal electron acceptor during aerobic respiration. In addition to serving as an electron acceptor, the oxygen also gathers protons from the electron transport chain, producing water in the process. The correct answer is C.

Endothelin is a vasoactive peptide involved in a variety of processes, including the control of blood flow. Endothelin is capable of binding to two different receptors. There are receptors for endothelin located on smooth muscle (ETA) and receptors for endothelin located on vascular endothelium (ETB). When endothelin binds to ETA, it initiates vasoconstriction by narrowing blood vessels. However, when endothelin binds to ETB, vasodilation occurs due to the widening of blood vessels. The activity of the ETB receptor seems to counterregulate the ETA effects and prevents excessive vasoconstriction. Drug $X$ is a selective receptor antagonist for endothelin. It is designed to bind preferentially to certain endothelin receptors. Drug $\mathrm{Y}$ is another selective receptor antagonist for endothelin. It is also designed to preferentially bind to one of the endothelin receptors. Researchers are hopeful that drugs $\mathrm{X}$ and $\mathrm{Y}$ will be of value in the treatment of conditions such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In PAH, excess endothelin is produced, which causes an increase in blood pressure within the pulmonary arteries. Normal pressure in the pulmonary arteries is expected to be about $14 \mathrm{~mm} \mathrm{Hg}$, and pressure at or above $25 \mathrm{~mm}$ Hg constitutes PAH. Both drugs have been tested in patients with PAH. There were five patients in each group. At the end of the study, the percent decrease in mean pulmonary artery pressure was measured for each patient and reported in the table. \begin{tabular}{cccc} \hline Patient & Drug X & DrugY & Placebo \\ \hline 1 & $+10 \%$ & $-10 \%$ & $+5 \%$ \\ 2 & $+3 \%$ & $-5 \%$ & $0 \%$ \\ 3 & $-5 \%$ & $+2 \%$ & $+13 \%$ \\ 4 & $+2 \%$ & $0 \%$ & $-4 \%$ \\ 5 & $0 \%$ & $-7 \%$ & $-2 \%$ \\ Average decrease & $+2 \%$ & $-4 \%$ & $+2.4 \%$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} Which endothelin receptor is drug X selectively binding to? Options: A. ETA only B. ETB only C. both ETA and ETB D. neither ETA nor ETB

The results from the drug $\mathrm{X}$ group indicate that the treatment caused an increase in mean pulmonary artery pressure. This helps us to eliminate choice $\mathrm{A}$, which suggests that drug $\mathrm{X}$ is binding to ETA. If this were the case, the drug would be bound to ETA so that endothelin could only bind to ETB. When endothelin binds to ETB, vasodilation occurs, implying a decrease in pressure. This was not seen in the drug $\mathrm{X}$ group. Choice $\mathrm{B}$ suggests that drug $\mathrm{X}$ is selectively binding to the ETB receptor. This would mean that endothelin could only bind to ETA, which does in fact cause an increase in pressure. This would be the correct choice. Answers and Explanations Passage V MCAT The correct answer is B.

Sperm count in human males is influenced by a variety of factors. One of the most important variables affecting sperm count is the number of Sertoli cells located in seminiferous tubules of the testes. The Sertoli cells' primary function is to nurture cells through the process of spermatogenesis by providing them with nutrients and an environment conducive to spermatogenesis. Each Sertoli cell has a set number of spermatozoa that it can support. Sertoli cells have an additional role in forming the blood-testis barrier that provides immune privilege for the seminiferous tubules. This forms a physical barricade that keeps the developing sperm from coming into contact with cells of the immune system. While it is not clear as to all the factors involved in determining Sertoli cell number, it is apparent that their development is most critical during the first nine months of life and prior to puberty. Events that affect the development of Sertoli cells in young males can influence fertility later in life. There may also be genetic factors involved in determining the number of Sertoli cells formed in a particular male. The following data were collected from two groups of men. The men in group 1 had a normal sperm count while the men in group 2 were seeking infertility treatment due to a low sperm count. Levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary were measured as were the testicular hormones inhibin-B and testosterone in an attempt to determine which hormones seem to be linked to reduced sperm count. \begin{tabular}{ccccc} \hline Sample Group & LH & FSH & Inhibin-B & Testosterone \\ \hline 1 & $5.3 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $5.0 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $190 \mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ & $18.0 \mathrm{nmol} / \mathrm{L}$ \\ 2 & $3.1 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $17.6 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $51 \mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ & $17.8 \mathrm{nmol} / \mathrm{L}$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} Why would it be important for the Sertoli cells to establish a blood-testis barrier and immune privilege? Options: A. to prevent the immune cells from attacking the sperm cells, which display different antigens from the other cells in the body B. to prevent the developing sperm cells from leaving the reproductive system C. to prevent blood from flowing into the testes D. to keep the developing sperm cells from entering into the epididymis before they are mature

The blood-testis barrier is described in the passage as a barricade to establish immune privilege for the testes. To answer this question, you need to think about how the sperm cells in the testes would compare to other cells in the body. Sperm cells are haploid, and all are genetically different from each other and from other cells in the body. Because they are genetically different, they should express unique surface antigens. If the cells of the immune system were to contact the sperm, they would be perceived as foreign and could be subject to immune system attack, which would destroy the sperm. For this reason, the blood-testis barrier is required to keep the sperm away from the immune cells. The remaining choices do not make good sense. Sperm cells will eventually leave the reproductive system during ejaculation. It also would not make sense to indicate that the blood flow to the testes needs to be cut off. This would prevent oxygen and nutrient flow to the area. Preventing the sperm from moving to the epididymis before they are ready does not provide an explanation for why the sperm cells need to be kept separate from the cells of the immune system. The correct answer is A.

The one principal effect not attributed to the hormone insulin is: Options: A. glycogen formation and storage B. conversion of glycogen into glucose C. carbohydrate oxidation D. inhibition of gluconeogenesis

The pancreas is the source for two hormones: insulin and glucagon. Among its principal effects, insulin stimulates glycogen formation and storage, stimulates carbohydrate oxidation, and inhibits gluconeogenesis. All of these effects are described in choices A, C, and D. The other hormone, glucagon, stimulates conversion of glycogen into glucose. So choice B is the correct answer. The correct answer is B.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is known to infect T cells and macrophages possessing the CD4 receptor. In addition to the CD4 receptor, there are a variety of coreceptors that are also needed for certain strains of HIV to infect cells. One of these coreceptors is called CCR5 and is needed for the most common strains of HIV (called R5) to infect their host cells. The more CCR5 receptors a cell has, the greater the rate of infection for the cell. Some individuals have the delta-32 allele of CCR5 that leads to a decreased risk of HIV infection. Women are at a much higher risk for contracting HIV from a male partner than a male is for contracting HIV from a female partner. Some of the increased risk for women is dependent on sex hormones. It has been hypothesized that women have different risks of contracting HIV at different points in their reproductive cycles. For example, women may be at a greater risk of contracting HIV following ovulation during the last 2 weeks of their cycle as opposed to the first 2 weeks of their cycle prior to ovulation. The difference between risk of infection before and after ovulation relates to sex hormones produced at various points in the reproductive cycle. It seems that the estrogen that is produced prior to ovulation provides a somewhat protective, although certainly not absolute, role against HIV infection. For women who do become infected with HIV, studies have shown that women in the first 3 to 5 years after HIV infection carry lower HIV viral loads than men, perhaps due to the influence of estrogen. This suggests a major role for sex hormones in the infection and progression of HIV. Drugs such as AZT and ddI are nucleoside analogs used in HIV-infected patients. Both are chemically modified versions of the nucleotides that make up DNA and RNA. These modified nucleosides interfere with normal replication and transcription. The MOST important goal of these drugs would be: Options: A. to prevent the replication of host cell DNA so that the host cell cannot function B. to prevent the transcription of host cell RNA so that no proteins can be expressed C. to prevent the viral nucleic acid from entering the host cells D. to prevent replication of the viral genome

The question explains that AZT and ddI interfere with replication and transcription. During a viral infection, the ideal situation would be to interfere with viral processes while leaving host cell processes unaffected. Choice A suggests that host cell DNA replication should be prevented in order to keep the host cell from functioning and mentions nothing about how this would affect the virus. Choice B is similar in that it does not mention how the virus would be affected. Choice $\mathrm{C}$ is not appropriate because it discusses preventing infection. If the patient is already confirmed as infected, then this choice wouldn't make sense. If a person is infected with HIV, then the viral genetic material has already entered the host cells. If replication of the viral genome can be prevented as suggested by choice $\mathrm{D}$, then the progression of the infection can be slowed. The correct answer is D.

The discovery and development of various types of anesthesia have revolutionized modern medicine, allowing many medical procedures to be performed with minimal discomfort to the patient. Local anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation in a particular area, while general anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation along with loss of consciousness. Both procaine (also known as novocaine) and lidocaine are drugs used for local anesthesia, and they have similar mechanisms of action. The drugs affect neurons in the local areas to which they are applied by preventing the opening of $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels in the neurons. Procaine and lidocaine have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, procaine has the ability to cause vasoconstriction in addition to its analgesic properties. However, lidocaine induces anesthesia faster and for a longer period of time than procaine. In addition to being used as an anesthetic, lidocaine is often used in the treatment of ventricular fibrillation, a condition where the cardiac muscle displays rapid, uncoordinated, and weak rhythms. The drug causes decreased excitability of the ventricles by blocking $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels, while the sinoatrial node in the right atrium is unaffected by the drug. Procaine has a half-life of up to $0.5$ hours in patients. When procaine is metabolized in the body, it is converted to para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) in the plasma by the enzyme pseudocholinesterase, and PABA is then excreted by the kidneys. Lidocaine is twice as potent as procaine, but lidocaine is also twice as toxic. The half-life of lidocaine in patients is typically between $1.5$ and 2 hours. Lidocaine is metabolized in the liver by two enzymes that produce the metabolites monoethylglycinexylidide and glycinexylidide. The passage states that when lidocaine is given for ventricular fibrillation the sinoatrial node is unaffected. The sinoatrial node normally functions as: Options: A. a valve in the heart B. the pacemaker of the heart C. the barricade between the right and left side of the heart that keeps oxygenated and deoxygenated blood from mixing D. a regulator of blood pressure in the heart

This question relies on your knowledge of the anatomy of the heart and the conducting system of the heart. The sinoatrial node (SA node) is a group of conducting cells located in the right atrium. Recall that the valves of the heart are atrioventricular (AV) and semilunar valves. The barricade that divides the right and left side of the heart is the septum. The SA node generates electrical signals that control cardiac muscle contractions and serves as the pacemaker for the heart. The correct answer is B.

Leukemia is a term that describes a wide variety of blood cell cancers. Most leukemia cases involve elevated leukocyte counts. In acute cases of leukemia, immature leukocytes proliferate quickly, which leads to many abnormal immature cells in the bone marrow. This inhibits the ability of the bone marrow to produce healthy new leukocytes. This form of the cancer progresses rapidly, and the cells metastasize easily as they move into the bloodstream from the bone marrow. It can be fatal within weeks or months if not treated promptly. In contrast, chronic cases of leukemia typically involve the proliferation of abnormal mature leukocytes. This form of the disease progresses more slowly, and treatment need not always be immediate. Once classified as acute or chronic, leukemia can be further subdivided into lymphocytic or myelogenous. This distinction depends on which type of leukocyte is abnormal in the patient. In lymphocytic leukemia, the lymphoid cells, such as the lymphocytes, are abnormal. In the myelogenous form, the myeloid cells, such as basophils, neutrophils, and eosinophils, are affected. Chemotherapy drugs are often used in the management of leukemia cases. There are numerous categories of these drugs, and they have varied mechanisms of action. In treatment, several drugs are used in combination because some of the drugs are cell-cycle specific while others are not. Alkylating agents are capable of disrupting the function of DNA. Tubulin-binding agents are designed to interfere with microtubule formation. Other drugs are designed to interfere with DNA polymerase, DNA repair mechanisms, or protein synthesis, or to act as purine analogs. Many of these drugs cannot enter into the brain when injected or ingested, so if the cancer has spread to this area, special methods must be used to introduce the drugs to the brain. What is the most logical explanation for why certain drugs may NOT be able to reach the brain if they have been ingested or injected? Options: A. These drugs have a chemical nature that does not allow them to cross the blood-brain barrier. B. These drugs are so toxic that they are broken down before they reach the brain. C. Most of these drugs target only cancerous cells that normally would not be in the brain. D. The drugs that have been ingested have likely been denatured by the acids in the stomach.

The blood-brain barrier is a change in the permeability of blood vessels leading to the brain. Depending on the chemical composition, some drugs can cross and some cannot. Of the choices listed, it seems that if the drugs cannot reach the brain, then they have not crossed the blood-brain barrier. While choice D might seem plausible if a drug was ingested, it would not make sense for a drug that was injected. The correct answer is A.

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection often caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which spreads through the blood to the bones. The infection is quite common after surgeries when soft tissues become infected and the infection moves to the adjacent bones. The long bones of children are particularly susceptible as they have excellent circulation to them during the growth period. In adults, the best circulation is to the vertebrae, and these are the bones that are most likely to develop osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is treated with various antibiotics, but some patients have chronic infections that are not eradicated by antibiotic therapy due to a unique feature of S. aureus. S. aureus can be internalized by osteoblasts where the bacteria can continue to survive in the intracellular environment. Inside the osteoblasts, bacteria can induce apoptosis, killing their host cell. Surgical debridement is often required to remove the damaged and dead bone tissue created by the infection. A major research question deals with how an S. aureus infection induces apoptosis in the host osteoblasts. In order for apoptosis to initiate in osteoblasts, the enzyme capsase-8 must be activated. This enzyme serves as a protease that cleaves critical proteins in the cell, causing cell death. Capsase-8 is only expressed under certain circumstances. In the case of osteomyelitis, the S. aureus bacteria cause the induction of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in the osteoblasts. Then TRAIL activates capsase-8, which triggers a series of events leading to apoptosis and death of osteoblasts. Osteoblasts are normally involved in building new bone matrix. Their activity is stimulated by the hormone made by the Options: A. calcitonin; thyroid B. parathyroid hormone; parathyroid glands C. osteotonin; bone marrow D. none of the above

Knowledge of the endocrine structures and hormones is needed to answer this question. The hormone calcitonin stimulates the storage of calcium in bone matrix. Its target is the osteoblasts that build new bone matrix. The calcitonin hormone is made by the thyroid gland. Parathyroid hormone is antagonistic to calcitonin and stimulates osteoclasts. Osteotonin is not a real hormone. The correct answer is A.

Neurons contain a high concentration of potassium ions relative to the fluids surrounding them. How could a neuron acquire even more potassium? Options: A. active transport B. osmosis C. endocytosis D. diffusion

This question is asking how to move a potassium ion (which is small) from an area that has a low concentration to an area with a relatively higher concentration. In this case we are moving against the concentration gradient. The transport type that could do this is active transport, using energy to move the ions against their concentration gradient. The correct answer is A.

Passage $\mathrm{V}$ For many years, researchers have been interested in developing edible vaccines that would provide protection against various bacterial and viral diseases. An edible vaccine is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that is created when genes from the bacteria or virus being vaccinated against are inserted into plant cells. As the plants grow, they produce proteins from the bacteria or virus that the researchers are attempting to vaccinate against. When a person eats the plant, the viral or bacteria proteins serve as antigens, which initiates a primary immune response. Some of the plants that are of interest in edible vaccine development are bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice, tobacco, and soybeans. While early research focused on growing crops that produced edible products such as bananas, the most recent research is focused on extracting material from the leaves and seeds of the plants, dehydrating it, and putting it into capsules that can be swallowed. This allows for a more predictable dosage of the vaccine and eliminates concerns that the crops containing the vaccine would be accidentally eaten by individuals who are not in need of the vaccine. The term edible vaccine has now been replaced with the term plantderived oral vaccine. The development of plant-derived oral vaccines solves many problems associated with injectable vaccines. Because plant-derived oral vaccines are grown in crops, there is no problem with storage or refrigeration that is required of most traditional vaccines. These plant-derived vaccines also require no special training to administer. Additionally, when a vaccine is taken orally, it provides mucosal immunity due to the production of IgA antibodies by the immune system-in addition to systemic immunity. Since 90 percent of diseases enter the body through a mucus membrane, a vaccine that coerces mucosal immunity is of great benefit in the prevention of many diseases. Plant-derived oral vaccines produce bacterial or viral proteins that serve as antigens in the body. Which of these events would occur first when a new antigen enters the body? Options: A. production of antibodies from plasma cells B. presentation of the antigen by a macrophage C. secretion of interleukin-2 from helper T cells D. attack of the antigen by cytotoxic $T$ cells

This question requires an understanding of the specific defenses of the immune system. The ultimate goal of the specific defenses is to allow for the production of antibodies from plasma cells and the production of cytotoxic $\mathrm{T}$ cells. However, neither of these things can occur without the activation of a helper $\mathrm{T}$ cell. In order to activate the helper $\mathrm{T}$ cell, macrophages must phagocytize foreign antigens. The fragments of these antigens will be displayed on the surface of the macrophage. This antigen presenting cell will then activate the helper $\mathrm{T}$ cell. The correct answer is B.

Genetically modified (GM) foods contain DNA from more than one source. The goal of creating GM foods is to modify the organisms to express new and useful traits. A few examples involve engineering crops to be resistant to bacterial or viral infections, to be resistant to herbicides, to ripen more slowly, to survive extreme temperature changes, to contain vaccines, or to create crops that are more nutritious. One GM food that has received media attention over the years is golden rice. This GM product was first introduced in 2000 and was engineered to provide carotene that is a precursor to vitamin $\mathrm{A}$. The carotene in the rice provides the golden color. Vitamin A deficiency is a major problem in underdeveloped parts of the world, killing more than one million people a year, most of whom are children. This vitamin is critical for the development and maintenance of epithelial tissues, for vision, and for growth. Rice plants normally produce carotene in the inedible parts of the plant. To be able to access and use the carotene, it was necessary to engineer the rice to produce it in the edible grains. In order to achieve this goal, two genes from daffodil plants, psy and $l y c$, and a bacterial gene called $c r t 1$ were added to the rice genome. These genes engineered a pathway that produces lycopene, which is eventually converted to carotene. Each of these genes was placed under the control of a grain-specific promoter so that the products were produced in the rice grains. While golden rice was produced to provide carotene, which the human body can convert into the essential vitamin A, the rice provided much less carotene than was anticipated. Golden rice 2, a modified version released in 2005, contains a much larger amount of carotene and, as such, is a better source of the vitamin. Field tests were conducted in 2009, and human consumption trials were completed in 2012. However, neither version has been grown in large-scale quantities at this time. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be produced in a variety of ways. In the case of golden rice, genes from the daffodil plant and bacteria were added to the rice genome. Which of the following would be necessary to remove the genes from these other organisms so that they could be added to rice? Options: A. reverse transcriptase B. a viral vector C. restriction enzymes D. polymerase chain reaction

Restriction enzymes are known to cut DNA at specific recognition sequences and are valuable tools for excising genes to be transferred from one source to another. Reverse transcriptase is used to copy RNA to DNA. Viral vectors can carry DNA of interest into other cells, but they are not used to remove genes from an organism. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to produce multiple copies of a target DNA sequence. The correct answer is C.

The discovery and development of various types of anesthesia have revolutionized modern medicine, allowing many medical procedures to be performed with minimal discomfort to the patient. Local anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation in a particular area, while general anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation along with loss of consciousness. Both procaine (also known as novocaine) and lidocaine are drugs used for local anesthesia, and they have similar mechanisms of action. The drugs affect neurons in the local areas to which they are applied by preventing the opening of $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels in the neurons. Procaine and lidocaine have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, procaine has the ability to cause vasoconstriction in addition to its analgesic properties. However, lidocaine induces anesthesia faster and for a longer period of time than procaine. In addition to being used as an anesthetic, lidocaine is often used in the treatment of ventricular fibrillation, a condition where the cardiac muscle displays rapid, uncoordinated, and weak rhythms. The drug causes decreased excitability of the ventricles by blocking $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels, while the sinoatrial node in the right atrium is unaffected by the drug. Procaine has a half-life of up to $0.5$ hours in patients. When procaine is metabolized in the body, it is converted to para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) in the plasma by the enzyme pseudocholinesterase, and PABA is then excreted by the kidneys. Lidocaine is twice as potent as procaine, but lidocaine is also twice as toxic. The half-life of lidocaine in patients is typically between $1.5$ and 2 hours. Lidocaine is metabolized in the liver by two enzymes that produce the metabolites monoethylglycinexylidide and glycinexylidide. What benefits would come from using an anesthetic such as novocaine, which causes vasoconstriction in addition to analgesic effects, during a surgical procedure? Options: A. to keep blood pressure low B. to prevent infection C. to minimize bleeding during the procedure D. to prevent inflammation following the surgery

Vasoconstriction means that vessel diameter narrows, restricting blood flow to the area. The question introduces the idea of using novocaine during surgery. Since the drug causes vasoconstriction, this would actually increase blood pressure, eliminating choice A. The best choice is C. Bleeding is likely to occur during surgery, so vasoconstriction should slow the blood flow, which results in less blood loss. The correct answer is C.

An endocrinologist has been studying an enzyme that she suspects is the rate-limiting step in the conversion of cholesterol to estrogen. It is reported in the literature that female mice with a mutation in the gene coding for this enzyme reach sexual maturity earlier than mice without the mutation. Controlled experiments are completed using breeding pairs of wild-type mice and the mutant strain of mice. The plasma estrogen concentration is measured in female offspring at 3 weeks of age, prior to sexual maturity, which typically occurs by 6 weeks of age. The results, in estrogen $\mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ of plasma, are seen in the following table. \begin{tabular}{ccc} line Trial & Wild Type* & Mutant Strain* \\ line 1 & $2.3$ & $8.5$ \\ 2 & $8.1$ & $4.5$ \\ 3 & $4.4$ & $16.2$ \\ 4 & $7.6$ & $5.5$ \\ 5 & $3.2$ & $3.8$ \\ 6 & $8.2$ & $12.5$ \\ 7 & $5.5$ & $10.7$ \\ 8 & $6.3$ & $8.6$ \\ \hline \end{tabular}. The rate-limiting step in a metabolic pathway: Options: A. A. requires the lowest activation energy B. B. is the fastest step in a metabolic pathway C. C. is always the last reaction in the pathway D. D. is the slowest step in a metabolic pathway

Rate-limiting steps generally require the highest activation energies and are the slowest steps in a metabolic pathway. The correct answer is D.

The discovery and development of various types of anesthesia have revolutionized modern medicine, allowing many medical procedures to be performed with minimal discomfort to the patient. Local anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation in a particular area, while general anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation along with loss of consciousness. Both procaine (also known as novocaine) and lidocaine are drugs used for local anesthesia, and they have similar mechanisms of action. The drugs affect neurons in the local areas to which they are applied by preventing the opening of $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels in the neurons. Procaine and lidocaine have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, procaine has the ability to cause vasoconstriction in addition to its analgesic properties. However, lidocaine induces anesthesia faster and for a longer period of time than procaine. In addition to being used as an anesthetic, lidocaine is often used in the treatment of ventricular fibrillation, a condition where the cardiac muscle displays rapid, uncoordinated, and weak rhythms. The drug causes decreased excitability of the ventricles by blocking $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels, while the sinoatrial node in the right atrium is unaffected by the drug. Procaine has a half-life of up to $0.5$ hours in patients. When procaine is metabolized in the body, it is converted to para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) in the plasma by the enzyme pseudocholinesterase, and PABA is then excreted by the kidneys. Lidocaine is twice as potent as procaine, but lidocaine is also twice as toxic. The half-life of lidocaine in patients is typically between $1.5$ and 2 hours. Lidocaine is metabolized in the liver by two enzymes that produce the metabolites monoethylglycinexylidide and glycinexylidide. Which type of neuron would be affected by lidocaine? Options: A. motor neurons B. interneurons C. sensory neurons D. glial cells

The passage indicates that lidocaine is an analgesic (prevents pain) by blocking $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gates channels in neurons. Since glial cells are not neurons, choice D can immediately be eliminated. In order to prevent pain from being processed, the messages must be prevented from entering the central nervous system where interneurons are located. Therefore, sensory neurons must be blocked. If these are blocked, the interneurons do not receive the pain messages and motor neurons will not act on them. The correct answer is C.

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection often caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which spreads through the blood to the bones. The infection is quite common after surgeries when soft tissues become infected and the infection moves to the adjacent bones. The long bones of children are particularly susceptible as they have excellent circulation to them during the growth period. In adults, the best circulation is to the vertebrae, and these are the bones that are most likely to develop osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is treated with various antibiotics, but some patients have chronic infections that are not eradicated by antibiotic therapy due to a unique feature of S. aureus. S. aureus can be internalized by osteoblasts where the bacteria can continue to survive in the intracellular environment. Inside the osteoblasts, bacteria can induce apoptosis, killing their host cell. Surgical debridement is often required to remove the damaged and dead bone tissue created by the infection. A major research question deals with how an S. aureus infection induces apoptosis in the host osteoblasts. In order for apoptosis to initiate in osteoblasts, the enzyme capsase-8 must be activated. This enzyme serves as a protease that cleaves critical proteins in the cell, causing cell death. Capsase-8 is only expressed under certain circumstances. In the case of osteomyelitis, the S. aureus bacteria cause the induction of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in the osteoblasts. Then TRAIL activates capsase-8, which triggers a series of events leading to apoptosis and death of osteoblasts. The strains of $S$. aureus associated with osteomyelitis have a variety of cell adhesion molecules called adhesins that help them to attach to and be internalized by osteoblasts. These molecules are likely found in which of the following bacterial structures? Options: A. the nucleoid B. the ribosomes C. the capsule D. spores

This question relies on your knowledge of bacterial cell structures and functions. The nucleoid is the region of the cell where the one circular loop of chromosomal DNA is located. The ribosomes are responsible for protein synthesis. Bacteria can convert themselves to spores when environmental conditions are poor, allowing them to survive for extended periods of time in harsh conditions. The capsule is a sticky layer surrounding the cell that helps in the attachment of the cell to a surface. It is likely that the adhesins are located here. The correct answer is C.

The process of quorum sensing is observed in a variety of species. It involves a system of communication between organisms that is dependent on population density. Bacteria are notorious for using quorum sensing (QS) via the secretion of secreted signaling molecules, called autoinducers (AI), to coordinate their gene expression once a threshold density of population is reached. Not only can bacteria communicate via QS within their species, but they can also cross-talk through QS between different species. In order to participate in quorum sensing, bacteria require a way to produce an autoinducer and a way to respond to autoinducers via binding to specific receptors. One example of how bacteria use quorum sensing to their advantage is to regulate the gene expression of virulence factors. During infection, if a small number of bacteria were to express their virulence factors, this would largely have no impact on the host. Instead, bacteria wait until a quorum is reached in terms of population size, indicating that the population is large enough to express virulence factors. These virulence factors relate to such abilities as escaping the immune response, invasion, and spreading within the host. We know that we are facing a current healthcare crisis related to the loss of effectiveness of many traditional types of antibiotics based on bacterial resistance. This provides a major impetus for identifying novel ways to target bacterial pathogens that avoid the use of antibiotics. Several chemical compounds and molecules have been identified as facilitators of quorum sensing inhibition. Typically, these factors can serve as signal-targeting enzymes or small-molecule inhibitors of signal synthases and receptors. Quorum sensing is used frequently within populations of bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa that form biofilms within their host. Once a quorum is reached, expression of the genes required for biofilm formation occurs. From the bacterial perspective, what direct advantage does the formation of biofilms provide? Options: A. It provides a strong attachment to surfaces of the host. B. It enhances virulence expression of the organisms involved in the biofilm. C. It provides increased resistance to antibiotics. D. It enhances the secretions of toxins.

The advantage of biofilm formation is that it provides a direct and strong attachment to its host. Biofilms are notoriously difficult to eradicate, and the bacteria within them are provided protection against many variables, sometimes including antibiotics. The correct answer is A.

The discovery and development of various types of anesthesia have revolutionized modern medicine, allowing many medical procedures to be performed with minimal discomfort to the patient. Local anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation in a particular area, while general anesthesia is used to induce loss of sensation along with loss of consciousness. Both procaine (also known as novocaine) and lidocaine are drugs used for local anesthesia, and they have similar mechanisms of action. The drugs affect neurons in the local areas to which they are applied by preventing the opening of $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels in the neurons. Procaine and lidocaine have their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, procaine has the ability to cause vasoconstriction in addition to its analgesic properties. However, lidocaine induces anesthesia faster and for a longer period of time than procaine. In addition to being used as an anesthetic, lidocaine is often used in the treatment of ventricular fibrillation, a condition where the cardiac muscle displays rapid, uncoordinated, and weak rhythms. The drug causes decreased excitability of the ventricles by blocking $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels, while the sinoatrial node in the right atrium is unaffected by the drug. Procaine has a half-life of up to $0.5$ hours in patients. When procaine is metabolized in the body, it is converted to para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) in the plasma by the enzyme pseudocholinesterase, and PABA is then excreted by the kidneys. Lidocaine is twice as potent as procaine, but lidocaine is also twice as toxic. The half-life of lidocaine in patients is typically between $1.5$ and 2 hours. Lidocaine is metabolized in the liver by two enzymes that produce the metabolites monoethylglycinexylidide and glycinexylidide. A neuron under the influence of an anesthetic such as lidocaine would MOST likely: Options: A. display decreased neurotransmitter release at the synapse B. show increased enzymatic degradation of neurotransmitters in the synapse C. show increased reuptake of neurotransmitters in the synapse D. display a more negative charge outside the neuron as compared to inside the neuron

Since lidocaine blocks $\mathrm{Na}^{+}$gated channels, we have already established that it prevents the initiation of action potentials in the affected neurons. Normally, as action potentials propagate, they eventually cause the release of neurotransmitters into the synapse. Since action potentials are impaired in lidocaine-treated neurons, we should expect that there will be fewer neurotransmitters released into the synapse. The correct answer is A.

During pulmonary gas exchange, oxygen and carbon dioxide always move: Options: A. into the alveoli B. into the blood C. from high to low concentration D. out of the blood

Pulmonary gas exchange is always based on simple diffusion. Diffusion allows for the movement of a substance from an area of high concentration of the substance to an area of low concentration of the substance. Depending on the concentrations, oxygen and carbon dioxide will move in variable directions. Choices $\mathrm{A}, \mathrm{B}$, and $\mathrm{D}$ indicate that the movement of gases always occurs in a fixed direction, which is incorrect. The correct answer is C.

An endocrinologist has been studying an enzyme that she suspects is the rate-limiting step in the conversion of cholesterol to estrogen. It is reported in the literature that female mice with a mutation in the gene coding for this enzyme reach sexual maturity earlier than mice without the mutation. Controlled experiments are completed using breeding pairs of wild-type mice and the mutant strain of mice. The plasma estrogen concentration is measured in female offspring at 3 weeks of age, prior to sexual maturity, which typically occurs by 6 weeks of age. The results, in estrogen $\mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ of plasma, are seen in the following table. \begin{tabular}{ccc} line Trial & Wild Type* & Mutant Strain* \\ line 1 & $2.3$ & $8.5$ \\ 2 & $8.1$ & $4.5$ \\ 3 & $4.4$ & $16.2$ \\ 4 & $7.6$ & $5.5$ \\ 5 & $3.2$ & $3.8$ \\ 6 & $8.2$ & $12.5$ \\ 7 & $5.5$ & $10.7$ \\ 8 & $6.3$ & $8.6$ \\ \hline \end{tabular}. What conclusion can be made based on the data? Options: A. A. The presence of the wild-type enzyme increases estrogen concentration. B. B. The presence of the wild-type enzyme increases cholesterol concentration. C. C. The presence of the mutant enzyme increases estrogen concentration. D. D. The presence of the mutant enzyme increases cholesterol concentration.

The data report estrogen concentration. From reviewing the data, it can be seen that the mutant strain generally has a higher estrogen concentration than the wild-type strain. The correct answer is C.

Passage $\mathrm{V}$ For many years, researchers have been interested in developing edible vaccines that would provide protection against various bacterial and viral diseases. An edible vaccine is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that is created when genes from the bacteria or virus being vaccinated against are inserted into plant cells. As the plants grow, they produce proteins from the bacteria or virus that the researchers are attempting to vaccinate against. When a person eats the plant, the viral or bacteria proteins serve as antigens, which initiates a primary immune response. Some of the plants that are of interest in edible vaccine development are bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice, tobacco, and soybeans. While early research focused on growing crops that produced edible products such as bananas, the most recent research is focused on extracting material from the leaves and seeds of the plants, dehydrating it, and putting it into capsules that can be swallowed. This allows for a more predictable dosage of the vaccine and eliminates concerns that the crops containing the vaccine would be accidentally eaten by individuals who are not in need of the vaccine. The term edible vaccine has now been replaced with the term plantderived oral vaccine. The development of plant-derived oral vaccines solves many problems associated with injectable vaccines. Because plant-derived oral vaccines are grown in crops, there is no problem with storage or refrigeration that is required of most traditional vaccines. These plant-derived vaccines also require no special training to administer. Additionally, when a vaccine is taken orally, it provides mucosal immunity due to the production of IgA antibodies by the immune system-in addition to systemic immunity. Since 90 percent of diseases enter the body through a mucus membrane, a vaccine that coerces mucosal immunity is of great benefit in the prevention of many diseases. When a vaccine is given orally, it must pass through the digestive system before being absorbed into the bloodstream, whereas injected vaccines enter the bloodstream directly. What problems might vaccine developers be concerned about with a plant-derived oral vaccine that has to pass through the digestive tract? Options: A. There would be concern that the vaccine would not work quickly enough if it had to travel through the digestive tract. B. There would be concern that stomach acidity might damage the bacterial or viral proteins that were expressed by the plant cells of the vaccine. C. There would be concern that the vaccine might elicit an inflammatory response in the digestive tract. D. all of the above

All vaccines take time to work (often weeks before full immunity occurs), so waiting for an oral vaccine to pass through the digestive tract (which takes no more than a few hours) is not of major concern. This eliminates choice A. Choice $\mathrm{C}$ suggests that inflammation in the digestive tract might be a problem. Since the inflammatory response is expected as one of the nonspecific immune defenses, it is not of major concern. Since two choices have been eliminated, choice D is no longer an option. This leaves choice B as the correct response. Since the plant has been engineered to express proteins unique to the virus or bacterium being vaccinated against, it is possible that these proteins might be damaged in the stomach. Recall that the function of the stomach is to digest proteins by using the enzyme pepsin. The correct answer is B.

With which theoretical paradigm is the German political philosopher Karl Marx MOST associated? Options: A. conflict theory B. functionalism C. symbolic interactionism D. avoidance theory

Conflict theory states that society is fundamentally in conflict when there is an uneven distribution of resources, and that power struggles between groups of people create divisiveness across gender, race, and socioeconomic status. The correct answer is A.

Passage $\mathrm{V}$ For many years, researchers have been interested in developing edible vaccines that would provide protection against various bacterial and viral diseases. An edible vaccine is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that is created when genes from the bacteria or virus being vaccinated against are inserted into plant cells. As the plants grow, they produce proteins from the bacteria or virus that the researchers are attempting to vaccinate against. When a person eats the plant, the viral or bacteria proteins serve as antigens, which initiates a primary immune response. Some of the plants that are of interest in edible vaccine development are bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice, tobacco, and soybeans. While early research focused on growing crops that produced edible products such as bananas, the most recent research is focused on extracting material from the leaves and seeds of the plants, dehydrating it, and putting it into capsules that can be swallowed. This allows for a more predictable dosage of the vaccine and eliminates concerns that the crops containing the vaccine would be accidentally eaten by individuals who are not in need of the vaccine. The term edible vaccine has now been replaced with the term plantderived oral vaccine. The development of plant-derived oral vaccines solves many problems associated with injectable vaccines. Because plant-derived oral vaccines are grown in crops, there is no problem with storage or refrigeration that is required of most traditional vaccines. These plant-derived vaccines also require no special training to administer. Additionally, when a vaccine is taken orally, it provides mucosal immunity due to the production of IgA antibodies by the immune system-in addition to systemic immunity. Since 90 percent of diseases enter the body through a mucus membrane, a vaccine that coerces mucosal immunity is of great benefit in the prevention of many diseases. Suppose that an individual has been given a plant-derived oral vaccine against a specific virus. How could you determine whether the vaccine was effective? Options: A. Test for the presence of interleukins in the blood of the patient. B. Test for the presence of interferons in the blood of the patient. C. Test to determine whether the complement system in the blood had been activated. D. Test for the presence of antibodies to the viral antigen.

This question relies on knowledge of the immune response. Interleukins are cytokines that are secreted during the process of clonal selection in primary immune responses. Since they are not specific toward any one particular antigen, choice A can be eliminated. Interferons are produced as nonspecific defenses against viral infections. Virally infected cells secrete interferons that are detected by neighboring cells. Secretion of interferons gives neighboring cells the chance to increase their immune defenses so that they do not become infected by the virus. Since interferons are nonspecific, their presence would not indicate immunity against a specific virus, which eliminates choice B. The components of the complement system circulate in the plasma and are activated by bacteria that may enter the blood. Activation of the complement system ultimately lyses and kills the bacterial cell. Since the question is asking about a virus, choice C can be eliminated because it deals with bacteria. This leaves choice $\mathrm{D}$ as the correct response. The detection of antibodies against the viral antigen would indicate that specific defenses were initiated and that plasma cells were activated to secrete antibodies against the viral antigen that was presented by the vaccine. The correct answer is D.

The major constituent of blood plasma is: Options: A. protein B. $\mathrm{NaCl}$ C. water D. cholesterol

Blood is a fluid made up of liquid plasma (55\%), the primary component of which is water, and floating cells (45\%). The plasma is richly endowed with dissolved proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. The correct answer is C.

Passage $\mathrm{V}$ For many years, researchers have been interested in developing edible vaccines that would provide protection against various bacterial and viral diseases. An edible vaccine is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that is created when genes from the bacteria or virus being vaccinated against are inserted into plant cells. As the plants grow, they produce proteins from the bacteria or virus that the researchers are attempting to vaccinate against. When a person eats the plant, the viral or bacteria proteins serve as antigens, which initiates a primary immune response. Some of the plants that are of interest in edible vaccine development are bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice, tobacco, and soybeans. While early research focused on growing crops that produced edible products such as bananas, the most recent research is focused on extracting material from the leaves and seeds of the plants, dehydrating it, and putting it into capsules that can be swallowed. This allows for a more predictable dosage of the vaccine and eliminates concerns that the crops containing the vaccine would be accidentally eaten by individuals who are not in need of the vaccine. The term edible vaccine has now been replaced with the term plantderived oral vaccine. The development of plant-derived oral vaccines solves many problems associated with injectable vaccines. Because plant-derived oral vaccines are grown in crops, there is no problem with storage or refrigeration that is required of most traditional vaccines. These plant-derived vaccines also require no special training to administer. Additionally, when a vaccine is taken orally, it provides mucosal immunity due to the production of IgA antibodies by the immune system-in addition to systemic immunity. Since 90 percent of diseases enter the body through a mucus membrane, a vaccine that coerces mucosal immunity is of great benefit in the prevention of many diseases. In order to engineer a plant-derived oral vaccine, genes from the microbe to be vaccinated against must be placed into the plant genome. Which of the following choices would be the most reasonable way to achieve this goal? Options: A. Perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify copies of the bacterial or viral genes and then insert the copies into the plant cells by transduction. B. Insert the bacterial or viral genes of interest into a plasmid, which can serve as a vector to transfer the gene to the plant cell. C. Clone the genes into a bacterial cell and allow it to conjugate with a plant cell. D. Use DNA hybridization to allow the genes of interest from the bacterial or viral genome to hybridize with the plant DNA.

While polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to amplify copies of target DNA, it would not help to get the viral or bacterial genes of interest into plant cells. This eliminates choice A. Choice $C$ suggests that the genes could be cloned into a bacterial cell and transferred to a plant cell by conjugation. Conjugation is unique to certain species of bacteria and occasionally is seen in fungi, but it does not happen in plants. So choice $C$ is eliminated. Choice D suggests that the genes of interest should be hybridized to the DNA of the plant. Since hybridization occurs between complementary base pairs, this would suggest that the DNA sequence of the gene of interest and the plant would have to be the same, which is not the case. This leaves choice B as the best option. Bacterial or viral genes can be spliced into plasmids. The plasmids serve as vectors to deliver the gene of interest to a variety of cell types, including plants. The correct answer is B.

Sperm count in human males is influenced by a variety of factors. One of the most important variables affecting sperm count is the number of Sertoli cells located in seminiferous tubules of the testes. The Sertoli cells' primary function is to nurture cells through the process of spermatogenesis by providing them with nutrients and an environment conducive to spermatogenesis. Each Sertoli cell has a set number of spermatozoa that it can support. Sertoli cells have an additional role in forming the blood-testis barrier that provides immune privilege for the seminiferous tubules. This forms a physical barricade that keeps the developing sperm from coming into contact with cells of the immune system. While it is not clear as to all the factors involved in determining Sertoli cell number, it is apparent that their development is most critical during the first nine months of life and prior to puberty. Events that affect the development of Sertoli cells in young males can influence fertility later in life. There may also be genetic factors involved in determining the number of Sertoli cells formed in a particular male. The following data were collected from two groups of men. The men in group 1 had a normal sperm count while the men in group 2 were seeking infertility treatment due to a low sperm count. Levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary were measured as were the testicular hormones inhibin-B and testosterone in an attempt to determine which hormones seem to be linked to reduced sperm count. \begin{tabular}{ccccc} \hline Sample Group & LH & FSH & Inhibin-B & Testosterone \\ \hline 1 & $5.3 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $5.0 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $190 \mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ & $18.0 \mathrm{nmol} / \mathrm{L}$ \\ 2 & $3.1 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $17.6 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $51 \mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ & $17.8 \mathrm{nmol} / \mathrm{L}$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} The hormones FSH and LH are also involved in oogenesis in women. When LH surges in the ovarian cycle, what event will result? Options: A. endometrium proliferation B. ovulation C. menstruation D. corpus luteum degradation

This question relies on your knowledge of the female reproductive cycle. In women, as FSH levels climb, follicles are stimulated to grow. These follicles produce estrogen, which exerts positive feedback on LH, whose levels begin to climb. When LH levels peak on the 14 th day of the cycle, the follicle ruptures, releasing the egg from the ovary and leaving the corpus luteum behind in the ovary. After ovulation, the corpus luteum secretes both estrogen and progesterone to inhibit GnRH. When GnRH is inhibited, FSH and LH will also be inhibited. Choice B correctly indicates that the LH surge causes ovulation. The correct answer is B.

Questions 18-20 are based on the following data. The generalized events in DNA replication can be depicted by the following flowchart: Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand $\rightarrow$ Unwinding $\rightarrow$ Destabilization and relief of pressure $\rightarrow$ Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks Between which two steps would the enzyme DNA polymerase be used? Options: A. Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand B. Nicking of a strand $\rightarrow$ Unwinding C. Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation D. Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks

Chain growth in DNA replication is initiated by a primase and is extended by a DNA polymerase. Thus the enzyme acting between Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation is DNA polymerase. The correct answer is C.

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection often caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which spreads through the blood to the bones. The infection is quite common after surgeries when soft tissues become infected and the infection moves to the adjacent bones. The long bones of children are particularly susceptible as they have excellent circulation to them during the growth period. In adults, the best circulation is to the vertebrae, and these are the bones that are most likely to develop osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is treated with various antibiotics, but some patients have chronic infections that are not eradicated by antibiotic therapy due to a unique feature of S. aureus. S. aureus can be internalized by osteoblasts where the bacteria can continue to survive in the intracellular environment. Inside the osteoblasts, bacteria can induce apoptosis, killing their host cell. Surgical debridement is often required to remove the damaged and dead bone tissue created by the infection. A major research question deals with how an S. aureus infection induces apoptosis in the host osteoblasts. In order for apoptosis to initiate in osteoblasts, the enzyme capsase-8 must be activated. This enzyme serves as a protease that cleaves critical proteins in the cell, causing cell death. Capsase-8 is only expressed under certain circumstances. In the case of osteomyelitis, the S. aureus bacteria cause the induction of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in the osteoblasts. Then TRAIL activates capsase-8, which triggers a series of events leading to apoptosis and death of osteoblasts. Osteomyelitis begins when S. aureus enters the bloodstream and moves to the bones. Under normal conditions, the nonspecific immune defense that would be activated as bacteria enter the blood would be: Options: A. antibody production by plasma cells B. cytotoxic T-cell activation C. the complement system D. interleukin secretion

Complement proteins circulate in the blood in an inactive form. When bacteria enter the blood, the complement proteins are activated, which causes a cascade of reactions that ultimately cause lysis and death of the bacteria. Antibody production or cytotoxic T-cell activation could certainly be stimulated by bacteria in the blood, but the question stipulated that this must be a nonspecific defense and these defenses are specific. Interleukins are cytokines secreted by immune cells, and they would not directly be able to defend against bacteria in the bloodstream. The correct answer is C.

Which of the following explanations could account for the fact that dominant alleles that cause fatal disorders are less common than recessive alleles that cause fatal disorders? Options: A. Every person carrying a single fatal dominant allele dies, whereas most individuals who carry a single recessive lethal allele live and reproduce. B. Recessive fatal alleles must cause sterility. C. Dominant alleles that cause fatal disorders are more serious than recessive lethal disorders. D. Dominant alleles are generally less common than recessive alleles.

This question relies on a knowledge of dominant and recessive patterns of inheritance. Dominant alleles are expressed, even in the heterozygous individual. In this case, our example is a dominant allele that causes a fatal condition. Since every individual carrying a single allele of this type would likely not survive, we would expect the frequency of the allele to decrease over time. In contrast, disorders that follow recessive patterns of inheritance require two copies of the allele for expression. Those who are heterozygous do not express the disorder and thus would survive. The correct answer is A.

The hormone responsible for maintaining control of water balance in the human body is: Options: A. antidiuretic hormone B. luteinizing hormone C. adrenocorticotropic hormone D. growth hormone

This problem can be solved through knowledge of each of the various hormones given in the four options. Antidiuretic hormone maintains control of water balance in the human body by stimulating increased water reabsorption by the kidneys. Luteinizing hormone stimulates secretion of sex hormones by ovaries and testes. Adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulates the adrenal glands. Growth hormone regulates a wide variety of activities involved in growth and metabolism. The correct answer is A.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} A student performed qualitative tests on a series of unknown chemicals in order to identify them. The unknowns included $\mathrm{NaCl}, \mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$, sugar $\left(\mathrm{C}_{12} \mathrm{H}_{22} \mathrm{O}_{11}\right), \mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$, $\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$, cornstarch, and chalk $\left(\mathrm{CaCO}_{3}\right)$. These are all household chemicals. $\mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$ is Epsom salts, $\mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$ is baking soda, and $\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$ is photographic fixer. The student was asked to identify six unknowns: A, B, C, D, E, and F. The qualitative tests were based on the following: $>$ Solubility in water: starch is insoluble, as well as one of the other compounds. The rest are soluble in water. $>$ Chalk produces a gas when treated with acid. $>$ Starch turns blue when treated with iodine. $>\mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$ produces a milky precipitate when treated with aqueous ammonia. $>\mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$ turns pink when treated with phenolphthalein. $>\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$ decolorizes iodine solution. $>\mathrm{NaCl}$ conducts electricity in solution. $>$ Sugar does not conduct electricity in solution. The student prepared a flowchart that would aid in doing the experiments in a systematic manner and allow efficient identification of the unknowns. \section{Experiment} The experiments were conducted in the following order. The solubility of each chemical in water was tested first. From those results, the insoluble unknowns were tested next. The unknowns that were soluble in water were tested as aqueous solutions, rather than tested for conductivity. \section{Results} \begin{tabular}{ccccccl} \hline Unknown & Solub & Conductivity & Acid & Phenolphthalein & $\mathbf{N H}_{\mathbf{3}}$ & $\mathbf{I}_{\mathbf{2}}$ \\ \hline A & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ B & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ C & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ $\mathrm{D}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}_{\mathrm{BLUE}}$ \\ E & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ F & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}_{\text {COLORLESS }}$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} From these results the student was able to identify all six unknowns. The milky precipitate formed when $\mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$ reacts with aqueous ammonia solution is $\mathrm{Mg}(\mathrm{OH})_{2}$. Enough magnesium sulfate is used to saturate a solution that, when tested with a $\mathrm{pH}$ indicator strip, has a resulting $\mathrm{pH}$ of 10 . What is the approximate $K_{\mathrm{sp}}$ of magnesium hydroxide? Options: A. $10^{-12}$ B. $10^{-8}$ C. $10^{-4}$ D. $10^{-3}$

If the $\mathrm{pH}=10$, then the $\mathrm{pOH}$ is 4 because $\mathrm{pH}+\mathrm{pOH}=14$. Given the $\mathrm{pOH}=4$, the $\left[\mathrm{OH}^{-}\right]$is $1 \times 10^{-4} \mathrm{M}$. When the $K_{\mathrm{sp}}$ expression is written for magnesium hydroxide, we get $K_{\mathrm{sp}}=\left[\mathrm{Mg}^{2+}\right]\left[\mathrm{OH}^{-}\right]^{2}$. This then becomes $K_{\mathrm{sp}}=[x][x]^{2}=[x]^{3} .\left[1 \times 10^{-4} \mathrm{M}\right]^{3}=1 \times 10^{-12}$. This is close to the actual value of $1.6 \times 10^{-12}$. The correct answer is A.

Endothelin is a vasoactive peptide involved in a variety of processes, including the control of blood flow. Endothelin is capable of binding to two different receptors. There are receptors for endothelin located on smooth muscle (ETA) and receptors for endothelin located on vascular endothelium (ETB). When endothelin binds to ETA, it initiates vasoconstriction by narrowing blood vessels. However, when endothelin binds to ETB, vasodilation occurs due to the widening of blood vessels. The activity of the ETB receptor seems to counterregulate the ETA effects and prevents excessive vasoconstriction. Drug $X$ is a selective receptor antagonist for endothelin. It is designed to bind preferentially to certain endothelin receptors. Drug $\mathrm{Y}$ is another selective receptor antagonist for endothelin. It is also designed to preferentially bind to one of the endothelin receptors. Researchers are hopeful that drugs $\mathrm{X}$ and $\mathrm{Y}$ will be of value in the treatment of conditions such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In PAH, excess endothelin is produced, which causes an increase in blood pressure within the pulmonary arteries. Normal pressure in the pulmonary arteries is expected to be about $14 \mathrm{~mm} \mathrm{Hg}$, and pressure at or above $25 \mathrm{~mm}$ Hg constitutes PAH. Both drugs have been tested in patients with PAH. There were five patients in each group. At the end of the study, the percent decrease in mean pulmonary artery pressure was measured for each patient and reported in the table. \begin{tabular}{cccc} \hline Patient & Drug X & DrugY & Placebo \\ \hline 1 & $+10 \%$ & $-10 \%$ & $+5 \%$ \\ 2 & $+3 \%$ & $-5 \%$ & $0 \%$ \\ 3 & $-5 \%$ & $+2 \%$ & $+13 \%$ \\ 4 & $+2 \%$ & $0 \%$ & $-4 \%$ \\ 5 & $0 \%$ & $-7 \%$ & $-2 \%$ \\ Average decrease & $+2 \%$ & $-4 \%$ & $+2.4 \%$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} Suppose a patient suffers from chronic systolic and diastolic hypertension due to an inherited defect in an endothelin receptor. How would the kidneys attempt to alleviate the hypertension? Options: A. by decreasing water absorption in the nephrons B. by decreasing urine output thus increasing blood volume C. by increasing the amount of aldosterone secreted from the adrenal glands D. by increasing the amount of antidiuretic hormone secreted from the pituitary gland

This question expects you to be able to consider how the kidneys are involved in regulating blood volume and blood pressure. Water that is reabsorbed in the nephrons returns to the bloodstream to increase plasma volume, which in turn increases blood pressure as the volume of blood increases. When the nephrons absorb more water to increase blood volume, the urine volume decreases. The two hormones aldosterone and antidiuretic hormone help increase the amount of water reabsorbed by nephrons, which in turn decreases urine volume. In order to reduce blood pressure, the kidneys can decrease the amount of water reabsorbed by the nephrons. The less water reabsorbed means there will be less blood volume and less blood pressure. This would ultimately increase urine volume. The question asks how the kidneys might try to reduce hypertension. This would mean that we want less water reabsorbed into the blood, which would decrease blood volume and blood pressure. To do this, urine volume would have to increase. The correct answer is A.

Sperm count in human males is influenced by a variety of factors. One of the most important variables affecting sperm count is the number of Sertoli cells located in seminiferous tubules of the testes. The Sertoli cells' primary function is to nurture cells through the process of spermatogenesis by providing them with nutrients and an environment conducive to spermatogenesis. Each Sertoli cell has a set number of spermatozoa that it can support. Sertoli cells have an additional role in forming the blood-testis barrier that provides immune privilege for the seminiferous tubules. This forms a physical barricade that keeps the developing sperm from coming into contact with cells of the immune system. While it is not clear as to all the factors involved in determining Sertoli cell number, it is apparent that their development is most critical during the first nine months of life and prior to puberty. Events that affect the development of Sertoli cells in young males can influence fertility later in life. There may also be genetic factors involved in determining the number of Sertoli cells formed in a particular male. The following data were collected from two groups of men. The men in group 1 had a normal sperm count while the men in group 2 were seeking infertility treatment due to a low sperm count. Levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) from the pituitary were measured as were the testicular hormones inhibin-B and testosterone in an attempt to determine which hormones seem to be linked to reduced sperm count. \begin{tabular}{ccccc} \hline Sample Group & LH & FSH & Inhibin-B & Testosterone \\ \hline 1 & $5.3 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $5.0 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $190 \mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ & $18.0 \mathrm{nmol} / \mathrm{L}$ \\ 2 & $3.1 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $17.6 \mathrm{IU} / \mathrm{L}$ & $51 \mathrm{pg} / \mathrm{mL}$ & $17.8 \mathrm{nmol} / \mathrm{L}$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} Fully differentiated Sertoli cells lose the ability to proliferate to produce more Sertoli cells. This would mean that they cannot perform: Options: A. mitosis B. meiosis C. apoptosis D. binary fission

This question relies on your knowledge of cell division. Mitosis is the process by which differentiated cells produce identical daughter cells. The correct answer is A.

The DNA doubles and chromosomes replicate during which phase of the cell cycle? Options: A. $\mathrm{G} 1$ B. metaphase C. $\mathrm{S}$ D. G2

The majority of the cell cycle is spent in interphase, which consists of three stages: G1, S, and G2. In the G1 stage of interphase, the cell organelles are doubled, and materials required for DNA synthesis are accumulated for the onset of cell division. The $\mathrm{S}$ stage of interphase is the stage of the cell cycle where the amount of DNA doubles with the replication of chromosomes. In the G2 stage of interphase, which follows the synthesis of DNA, proteins required for the next cell division are synthesized. Metaphase is the stage in mitosis characterized by the precise lineup of the chromosomes along the equatorial plane. The correct answer is C.

A geneticist allows a cell to replicate in the presence of radioactive nucleotides. Which of the following would occur? Options: A. The DNA in one of the daughter cells would be radioactive but not in the other daughter cell. B. The mRNA made by the daughter cells would be radioactive. C. The DNA in each of the daughter cells would be radioactive. D. The DNA would not be radioactive in either of the daughter cells. MCAT

This question relies on your knowledge of semiconservative DNA replication where a single double helix is separated in order for both strands of the double helix to serve as templates for the production of new strands. The correct answer is C.

Leukemia is a term that describes a wide variety of blood cell cancers. Most leukemia cases involve elevated leukocyte counts. In acute cases of leukemia, immature leukocytes proliferate quickly, which leads to many abnormal immature cells in the bone marrow. This inhibits the ability of the bone marrow to produce healthy new leukocytes. This form of the cancer progresses rapidly, and the cells metastasize easily as they move into the bloodstream from the bone marrow. It can be fatal within weeks or months if not treated promptly. In contrast, chronic cases of leukemia typically involve the proliferation of abnormal mature leukocytes. This form of the disease progresses more slowly, and treatment need not always be immediate. Once classified as acute or chronic, leukemia can be further subdivided into lymphocytic or myelogenous. This distinction depends on which type of leukocyte is abnormal in the patient. In lymphocytic leukemia, the lymphoid cells, such as the lymphocytes, are abnormal. In the myelogenous form, the myeloid cells, such as basophils, neutrophils, and eosinophils, are affected. Chemotherapy drugs are often used in the management of leukemia cases. There are numerous categories of these drugs, and they have varied mechanisms of action. In treatment, several drugs are used in combination because some of the drugs are cell-cycle specific while others are not. Alkylating agents are capable of disrupting the function of DNA. Tubulin-binding agents are designed to interfere with microtubule formation. Other drugs are designed to interfere with DNA polymerase, DNA repair mechanisms, or protein synthesis, or to act as purine analogs. Many of these drugs cannot enter into the brain when injected or ingested, so if the cancer has spread to this area, special methods must be used to introduce the drugs to the brain. A variety of risk factors exist for leukemia. Some of these factors include exposure to radiation, certain viral infections, and inherited tendencies. What do all of these factors have in common? Options: A. All involve problems with protein translation in the cells. B. All can cause an increase in the production of cellular growth factors that enhance cell proliferation. C. All cause changes to the DNA that can lead to the production of altered proteins that can influence the development of cancer. D. All cause problems with transcription in the cells.

Of the items listed in the question, the thing they all have in common is that they are mutagens or involve some genetic change. These mutations to the DNA can lead to the production of altered proteins that can be associated with cancer. While some cancers are associated with changes in cellular growth factors, this would not be the case for all cancers. The translation of proteins is directly from the mRNA, which is derived from the DNA in transcription. There would have to be a change in the DNA for the translation of proteins to be affected. The correct answer is C.

\section{ In October 2012, Felix Baumgartner attempted a world-record sky-diving jump from just over 128,000 ft (39,014 m) above the Earth's surface. He was fitted with a customized, pressurized spacesuit that brought his total weight to $260 \mathrm{lbs}$ ( $1156 \mathrm{~N}$ ). The spacesuit was designed to collect and transmit important monitoring, communications, and tracking information throughout the jump. Baumgartner then ascended to the jumping altitude housed within a pressurized capsule of weight 2900 lbs ( $12900 \mathrm{~N})$ attached to a $30 \times 10^{6}$ cubic feet $\left(8.5 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{~L}\right)$ helium-filled weather balloon. The weather balloon with the attached capsule ascended at a rate of $1000 \mathrm{ft} / \mathrm{min}(5.1 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s})$, reaching the jumping altitude in approximately two hours. Once the capsule reached the jumping altitude, the door to the capsule was opened and Baumgartner stepped out and fell forward, beginning his free-fall descent. He continued falling until he reached a maximum speed of $834 \mathrm{mph}(373 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s})$, which exceeded the speed of sound. This speed was Baumgartner's terminal velocity-the velocity attained in which he was no longer being accelerated downward due to gravity. Once he reached this speed, Baumgartner deployed his parachute and glided safely to Earth's surface.The distance traversed by Mr. Baumgartner before he reached maximum velocity was approximately: Options: A. $4800 \mathrm{~m}$ B. $5480 \mathrm{~m}$ C. $6350 \mathrm{~m}$ D. $7100 \mathrm{~m}$

The initial velocity $\left(v_{i}\right)$ of Felix Baumgartner in the vertical direction is 0 , his final velocity $\left(v_{f}\right)$ is $373 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$, and the acceleration due to gravity is $9.8 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}^{2}$ (although in reality it is probably slightly lower because of the significantly large jumping altitude). The equation of motion that can be used to determine the distance traversed by Baumgartner is: The correct answer is D.

Genetically modified (GM) foods contain DNA from more than one source. The goal of creating GM foods is to modify the organisms to express new and useful traits. A few examples involve engineering crops to be resistant to bacterial or viral infections, to be resistant to herbicides, to ripen more slowly, to survive extreme temperature changes, to contain vaccines, or to create crops that are more nutritious. One GM food that has received media attention over the years is golden rice. This GM product was first introduced in 2000 and was engineered to provide carotene that is a precursor to vitamin $\mathrm{A}$. The carotene in the rice provides the golden color. Vitamin A deficiency is a major problem in underdeveloped parts of the world, killing more than one million people a year, most of whom are children. This vitamin is critical for the development and maintenance of epithelial tissues, for vision, and for growth. Rice plants normally produce carotene in the inedible parts of the plant. To be able to access and use the carotene, it was necessary to engineer the rice to produce it in the edible grains. In order to achieve this goal, two genes from daffodil plants, psy and $l y c$, and a bacterial gene called $c r t 1$ were added to the rice genome. These genes engineered a pathway that produces lycopene, which is eventually converted to carotene. Each of these genes was placed under the control of a grain-specific promoter so that the products were produced in the rice grains. While golden rice was produced to provide carotene, which the human body can convert into the essential vitamin A, the rice provided much less carotene than was anticipated. Golden rice 2, a modified version released in 2005, contains a much larger amount of carotene and, as such, is a better source of the vitamin. Field tests were conducted in 2009, and human consumption trials were completed in 2012. However, neither version has been grown in large-scale quantities at this time. The engineering of golden rice to have several exogenous genes that can be induced under the control of a single promoter would MOST resemble: Options: A. an operon system B. hybridized DNA C. a vector D. Okazaki fragments

A series of several genes under the control of a single promoter is most similar to the inducible operon system in bacteria. Okazaki fragments are produced during semiconservative replication on the lagging strand of DNA. Strands of DNA that are hybridized are complementary to each other. A vector is used to carry DNA from one source into another. The correct answer is A.

Venous blood coming from the head area in humans returns to the heart through which major vessel? Options: A. superior vena cava B. aorta C. hepatic portal vein D. carotid artery

The superior vena cava is the vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the upper half of the body to the heart into its right atrium. The aorta is the largest and longest of the arteries of the human body that transports oxygenated blood directly from the left ventricle to all other organs and tissues in the body. The hepatic portal vein is the major vein that transports blood from the digestive organs into the liver. The carotid artery is one of two types of arteries (the other being vertebral) that feed blood from the heart and into the head/ brain area. Answers and Explanations No passage MCAT The correct answer is A.

The kidneys are responsible for filtering certain components of blood and producing urine from them. In an adult, the kidneys are typically capable of processing about 1 to $1.5$ liters of water per hour depending on the individual and conditions within the body. In a condition known as water intoxication, a person ingests more water (usually 3 or more liters in a single sitting) in a shorter period of time than the kidneys can process. In a child, the amount of water required to induce water intoxication is much less. Of the options listed, what would be the best treatment for someone suffering from water intoxication? Options: A. administering a saline solution that is more concentrated than the cells B. administering an isotonic solution C. administering a solution low in solute concentration D. performing dialysis to remove excess water from the plasma

In this case, administering a solution that is hypertonic to the cells would help. A hypertonic extracellular solution would draw water out of the swollen cells to counteract the effects of water intoxication. An isotonic solution would not help. A solution low in solute concentration would be high in water relative to the cells making the solution hypotonic, which would cause more water to enter the cells. A saline solution would be high in solutes and hypertonic to the cells. The correct answer is A.

\section{ In October 2012, Felix Baumgartner attempted a world-record sky-diving jump from just over 128,000 ft (39,014 m) above the Earth's surface. He was fitted with a customized, pressurized spacesuit that brought his total weight to $260 \mathrm{lbs}$ ( $1156 \mathrm{~N}$ ). The spacesuit was designed to collect and transmit important monitoring, communications, and tracking information throughout the jump. Baumgartner then ascended to the jumping altitude housed within a pressurized capsule of weight 2900 lbs ( $12900 \mathrm{~N})$ attached to a $30 \times 10^{6}$ cubic feet $\left(8.5 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{~L}\right)$ helium-filled weather balloon. The weather balloon with the attached capsule ascended at a rate of $1000 \mathrm{ft} / \mathrm{min}(5.1 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s})$, reaching the jumping altitude in approximately two hours. Once the capsule reached the jumping altitude, the door to the capsule was opened and Baumgartner stepped out and fell forward, beginning his free-fall descent. He continued falling until he reached a maximum speed of $834 \mathrm{mph}(373 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s})$, which exceeded the speed of sound. This speed was Baumgartner's terminal velocity-the velocity attained in which he was no longer being accelerated downward due to gravity. Once he reached this speed, Baumgartner deployed his parachute and glided safely to Earth's surface.The drag force, $F$ drag, can be expressed in terms of the terminal velocity, $v t$, as $F$ drag $=C v_{t}^{2}$, where $C$ is a drag constant. The value of the drag constant for Mr. Baumgartner is: Options: A. $0.008 \mathrm{~kg} / \mathrm{m}$ B. $0.680 \mathrm{~kg} / \mathrm{m}$ C. $1.320 \mathrm{~kg} / \mathrm{m}$ D. $5.640 \mathrm{~kg} / \mathrm{m}$

When an object in free fall reaches terminal velocity, it is in equilibrium. In other words, the drag force acting upward becomes equal in magnitude yet opposite in direction to the object's weight, or: The correct answer is A.

Iodine-131, a radioisotope typically employed in the diagnosis of thyroid disorders, has a mass number, $A$, of 131 and an atomic number, $Z$, of 53 . The number of neutrons, $N$, of iodine-131 is: Options: A. 131 B. 78 C. 53 D. 25

The number of neutrons is the mass number $A$ minus the atomic number $Z$. Thus, the number of neutrons of iodine-131 is $N=A-Z=$ $131-53=78$ The correct answer is B.

Osteomyelitis is a bone infection often caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which spreads through the blood to the bones. The infection is quite common after surgeries when soft tissues become infected and the infection moves to the adjacent bones. The long bones of children are particularly susceptible as they have excellent circulation to them during the growth period. In adults, the best circulation is to the vertebrae, and these are the bones that are most likely to develop osteomyelitis. Osteomyelitis is treated with various antibiotics, but some patients have chronic infections that are not eradicated by antibiotic therapy due to a unique feature of S. aureus. S. aureus can be internalized by osteoblasts where the bacteria can continue to survive in the intracellular environment. Inside the osteoblasts, bacteria can induce apoptosis, killing their host cell. Surgical debridement is often required to remove the damaged and dead bone tissue created by the infection. A major research question deals with how an S. aureus infection induces apoptosis in the host osteoblasts. In order for apoptosis to initiate in osteoblasts, the enzyme capsase-8 must be activated. This enzyme serves as a protease that cleaves critical proteins in the cell, causing cell death. Capsase-8 is only expressed under certain circumstances. In the case of osteomyelitis, the S. aureus bacteria cause the induction of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in the osteoblasts. Then TRAIL activates capsase-8, which triggers a series of events leading to apoptosis and death of osteoblasts. Osteoblasts are unusual in that they actively engulf $S$. aureus, which survives in the osteoblast and eventually triggers apoptosis. In engulfing the bacteria, the osteoblasts resemble the normal activities of which type of leukocyte? Options: A. basophils B. lymphocytes C. eosinophils D. macrophages

The leukocytes that engulf microbes such as bacteria are macrophages. This process is termed phagocytosis. Basophils secrete histamine, which is involved in the initiation of the inflammatory response. Lymphocytes are involved in specific immune system defenses. Eosinophils are involved in the defense response to antigens from unique sources such as parasites. The correct answer is D.

Passage $\mathrm{V}$ For many years, researchers have been interested in developing edible vaccines that would provide protection against various bacterial and viral diseases. An edible vaccine is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that is created when genes from the bacteria or virus being vaccinated against are inserted into plant cells. As the plants grow, they produce proteins from the bacteria or virus that the researchers are attempting to vaccinate against. When a person eats the plant, the viral or bacteria proteins serve as antigens, which initiates a primary immune response. Some of the plants that are of interest in edible vaccine development are bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice, tobacco, and soybeans. While early research focused on growing crops that produced edible products such as bananas, the most recent research is focused on extracting material from the leaves and seeds of the plants, dehydrating it, and putting it into capsules that can be swallowed. This allows for a more predictable dosage of the vaccine and eliminates concerns that the crops containing the vaccine would be accidentally eaten by individuals who are not in need of the vaccine. The term edible vaccine has now been replaced with the term plantderived oral vaccine. The development of plant-derived oral vaccines solves many problems associated with injectable vaccines. Because plant-derived oral vaccines are grown in crops, there is no problem with storage or refrigeration that is required of most traditional vaccines. These plant-derived vaccines also require no special training to administer. Additionally, when a vaccine is taken orally, it provides mucosal immunity due to the production of IgA antibodies by the immune system-in addition to systemic immunity. Since 90 percent of diseases enter the body through a mucus membrane, a vaccine that coerces mucosal immunity is of great benefit in the prevention of many diseases. A traditional vaccine that is administered either intramuscularly or subcutaneously would be expected to cause the formation of which type of antibodies initially following administration? Options: A. $\operatorname{IgE}$ B. IgG C. IgM D. IgA

IgM antibodies are produced first in response to exposure to a new antigen. Later, IgG antibodies will be produced. The correct answer is C.

A certain type of cell makes antibodies that are secreted from the cell. It is possible to track the path of these as they leave the cell by labeling them with radioactive isotopes. Which of the following might be the path of antibodies from where they are made to the cell membrane? Options: A. Golgi complex to lysosomes to cell membrane B. rough endoplasmic reticulum to Golgi complex to cell membrane C. nucleus to Golgi complex to cell membrane D. smooth endoplasmic reticulum to lysosomes to cell membrane

Antibodies are proteins that are secreted from the cell. Proteins would be produced and labeled by the rough endoplasmic reticulum. From there, they would be sorted by the Golgi complex and finally directed to the cell membrane for secretion. The correct answer is B.

Passage $\mathrm{V}$ For many years, researchers have been interested in developing edible vaccines that would provide protection against various bacterial and viral diseases. An edible vaccine is a genetically modified organism (GMO) that is created when genes from the bacteria or virus being vaccinated against are inserted into plant cells. As the plants grow, they produce proteins from the bacteria or virus that the researchers are attempting to vaccinate against. When a person eats the plant, the viral or bacteria proteins serve as antigens, which initiates a primary immune response. Some of the plants that are of interest in edible vaccine development are bananas, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, rice, tobacco, and soybeans. While early research focused on growing crops that produced edible products such as bananas, the most recent research is focused on extracting material from the leaves and seeds of the plants, dehydrating it, and putting it into capsules that can be swallowed. This allows for a more predictable dosage of the vaccine and eliminates concerns that the crops containing the vaccine would be accidentally eaten by individuals who are not in need of the vaccine. The term edible vaccine has now been replaced with the term plantderived oral vaccine. The development of plant-derived oral vaccines solves many problems associated with injectable vaccines. Because plant-derived oral vaccines are grown in crops, there is no problem with storage or refrigeration that is required of most traditional vaccines. These plant-derived vaccines also require no special training to administer. Additionally, when a vaccine is taken orally, it provides mucosal immunity due to the production of IgA antibodies by the immune system-in addition to systemic immunity. Since 90 percent of diseases enter the body through a mucus membrane, a vaccine that coerces mucosal immunity is of great benefit in the prevention of many diseases. The goal of any type of vaccination is to induce active immunity without people getting ill from the disease that they are being vaccinated against. In order to have long-term effectiveness, the vaccine must cause the development of which type of cells in the immune system? Options: A. cytotoxic T cells B. helper T cells C. plasma cells D. memory cells

Once activated, most cells in the immune system do not live long. Activated cytotoxic T cells and plasma cells are inactivated once the antigen that they have been designed to fight has been eliminated. The basis of long-term immune system protection is the development of memory T and memory B cells (choice D). These memory cells are produced upon primary exposure to a specific antigen and have the ability to survive for years within the body. Should the same antigen return, memory cells quickly proliferate into cytotoxic T cells and plasma cells to fight the antigen. The correct answer is D.

Leukemia is a term that describes a wide variety of blood cell cancers. Most leukemia cases involve elevated leukocyte counts. In acute cases of leukemia, immature leukocytes proliferate quickly, which leads to many abnormal immature cells in the bone marrow. This inhibits the ability of the bone marrow to produce healthy new leukocytes. This form of the cancer progresses rapidly, and the cells metastasize easily as they move into the bloodstream from the bone marrow. It can be fatal within weeks or months if not treated promptly. In contrast, chronic cases of leukemia typically involve the proliferation of abnormal mature leukocytes. This form of the disease progresses more slowly, and treatment need not always be immediate. Once classified as acute or chronic, leukemia can be further subdivided into lymphocytic or myelogenous. This distinction depends on which type of leukocyte is abnormal in the patient. In lymphocytic leukemia, the lymphoid cells, such as the lymphocytes, are abnormal. In the myelogenous form, the myeloid cells, such as basophils, neutrophils, and eosinophils, are affected. Chemotherapy drugs are often used in the management of leukemia cases. There are numerous categories of these drugs, and they have varied mechanisms of action. In treatment, several drugs are used in combination because some of the drugs are cell-cycle specific while others are not. Alkylating agents are capable of disrupting the function of DNA. Tubulin-binding agents are designed to interfere with microtubule formation. Other drugs are designed to interfere with DNA polymerase, DNA repair mechanisms, or protein synthesis, or to act as purine analogs. Many of these drugs cannot enter into the brain when injected or ingested, so if the cancer has spread to this area, special methods must be used to introduce the drugs to the brain. What would be the BEST explanation as to why people with chronic forms of leukemia can live longer untreated than those with acute cases of leukemia? Options: A. Chronic cases involve types of leukocytes that have less important functions in the body. B. Chronic cases of leukemia involve abnormal cell division of mature cells, so there are still some immature cells that can proliferate into normal mature cells. C. The immune system is less likely to recognize and destroy abnormal immature leukocytes than it would be to recognize and destroy abnormal mature leukocytes. D. all of the above

The passage explains that in acute cases of leukemia, Passage I immature leukocytes are involved. This implies that these immature cells are abnormal and may not proliferate into normal mature leukocytes. The passage also indicates that in chronic cases of leukemia, mature leukocytes are affected so that it is possible that some unaffected immature cells may proliferate into functional mature cells. If there are some functional leukocytes, the person would be likely to survive longer without treatment. The correct answer is B.

The process of quorum sensing is observed in a variety of species. It involves a system of communication between organisms that is dependent on population density. Bacteria are notorious for using quorum sensing (QS) via the secretion of secreted signaling molecules, called autoinducers (AI), to coordinate their gene expression once a threshold density of population is reached. Not only can bacteria communicate via QS within their species, but they can also cross-talk through QS between different species. In order to participate in quorum sensing, bacteria require a way to produce an autoinducer and a way to respond to autoinducers via binding to specific receptors. One example of how bacteria use quorum sensing to their advantage is to regulate the gene expression of virulence factors. During infection, if a small number of bacteria were to express their virulence factors, this would largely have no impact on the host. Instead, bacteria wait until a quorum is reached in terms of population size, indicating that the population is large enough to express virulence factors. These virulence factors relate to such abilities as escaping the immune response, invasion, and spreading within the host. We know that we are facing a current healthcare crisis related to the loss of effectiveness of many traditional types of antibiotics based on bacterial resistance. This provides a major impetus for identifying novel ways to target bacterial pathogens that avoid the use of antibiotics. Several chemical compounds and molecules have been identified as facilitators of quorum sensing inhibition. Typically, these factors can serve as signal-targeting enzymes or small-molecule inhibitors of signal synthases and receptors. Targets of traditional antibiotics include all of the following EXCEPT: Options: A. ribosomes B. metabolic processes C. the cell wall D. the nucleus

Antibiotics must target structures that are unique to prokaryotic cells. Of the choices listed, the nucleus is a structure lacking in prokaryotic cells and therefore could not serve as a target for antibiotics. The correct answer is D.

The process of quorum sensing is observed in a variety of species. It involves a system of communication between organisms that is dependent on population density. Bacteria are notorious for using quorum sensing (QS) via the secretion of secreted signaling molecules, called autoinducers (AI), to coordinate their gene expression once a threshold density of population is reached. Not only can bacteria communicate via QS within their species, but they can also cross-talk through QS between different species. In order to participate in quorum sensing, bacteria require a way to produce an autoinducer and a way to respond to autoinducers via binding to specific receptors. One example of how bacteria use quorum sensing to their advantage is to regulate the gene expression of virulence factors. During infection, if a small number of bacteria were to express their virulence factors, this would largely have no impact on the host. Instead, bacteria wait until a quorum is reached in terms of population size, indicating that the population is large enough to express virulence factors. These virulence factors relate to such abilities as escaping the immune response, invasion, and spreading within the host. We know that we are facing a current healthcare crisis related to the loss of effectiveness of many traditional types of antibiotics based on bacterial resistance. This provides a major impetus for identifying novel ways to target bacterial pathogens that avoid the use of antibiotics. Several chemical compounds and molecules have been identified as facilitators of quorum sensing inhibition. Typically, these factors can serve as signal-targeting enzymes or small-molecule inhibitors of signal synthases and receptors. N-Acyl homoserine lactones (N-AHLs) are one type of autoinducer produced by certain species of bacteria. Different types of bacteria can produce N-AHLs with unique molecular structures by making minor changes to the core structure of the molecule. Given the structure of the molecule, what would be the MOST likely way they could do this? Options: A. by altering the $\mathrm{R}$ group side chains B. by altering fatty acid chains C. by glycosylating the core structure D. by methylating the core structure

This question relies on your knowledge of the structure of organic molecules. The N-AHLs in this question should be recognized as some derivative of an amino acid. Given that information, the most likely way to alter them would be by altering their R group side chains. The correct answer is A.

Genetically modified (GM) foods contain DNA from more than one source. The goal of creating GM foods is to modify the organisms to express new and useful traits. A few examples involve engineering crops to be resistant to bacterial or viral infections, to be resistant to herbicides, to ripen more slowly, to survive extreme temperature changes, to contain vaccines, or to create crops that are more nutritious. One GM food that has received media attention over the years is golden rice. This GM product was first introduced in 2000 and was engineered to provide carotene that is a precursor to vitamin $\mathrm{A}$. The carotene in the rice provides the golden color. Vitamin A deficiency is a major problem in underdeveloped parts of the world, killing more than one million people a year, most of whom are children. This vitamin is critical for the development and maintenance of epithelial tissues, for vision, and for growth. Rice plants normally produce carotene in the inedible parts of the plant. To be able to access and use the carotene, it was necessary to engineer the rice to produce it in the edible grains. In order to achieve this goal, two genes from daffodil plants, psy and $l y c$, and a bacterial gene called $c r t 1$ were added to the rice genome. These genes engineered a pathway that produces lycopene, which is eventually converted to carotene. Each of these genes was placed under the control of a grain-specific promoter so that the products were produced in the rice grains. While golden rice was produced to provide carotene, which the human body can convert into the essential vitamin A, the rice provided much less carotene than was anticipated. Golden rice 2, a modified version released in 2005, contains a much larger amount of carotene and, as such, is a better source of the vitamin. Field tests were conducted in 2009, and human consumption trials were completed in 2012. However, neither version has been grown in large-scale quantities at this time. Genetically modified organisms, typically plants, are being developed as a means of administering vaccines. If these transgenic plants are to be successful as vaccines, they will need to: Options: A. stimulate inflammation in the recipient B. express antigens to stimulate adaptive defenses in the recipient C. contain antibodies to the organism being vaccinated against D. contain memory cells against the organism being vaccinated against

Vaccines are designed to work by stimulating the primary immune response of the recipient. This requires the immune system to recognize an antigen and to mount a specific immune response. Ultimately, this leads to the production of memory cells that can survive for long periods of time. When the system is challenged by the actual antigen, different types of memory cells can quickly proliferate into plasma cells and cytotoxic $\mathrm{T}$ cells in order to destroy the antigen. The correct answer is B.

According to the bystander effect, which is MOST likely to be true in an emergency? Options: A. the greater the number of people present, the slower the response because of increased diffusion of responsibility B. the greater the number of people present, the slower the response because of decreased diffusion of responsibility C. the greater the number of people present, the faster the response because of increased diffusion of responsibility D. the greater the number of people present, the faster the response because of decreased diffusion of responsibility

The bystander effect is characterized by slowness in response due to diffusion of responsibility. The more people who are present, the less an individual is likely to feel responsible to respond to the emergency because of the collective presence of other individuals. The correct answer is A.

Which of the following statements BEST explains why your body prefers to perform aerobic respiration as opposed to anaerobic respiration? Options: A. Anaerobic respiration does not allow for NADH to be recycled to NAD+. B. Aerobic respiration requires less of an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) investment than anaerobic respiration does. C. Aerobic respiration produces far more ATP than anaerobic respiration. D. Aerobic respiration is easier for cells to perform than anaerobic respiration.

The primary difference between aerobic and anaerobic No Passage cellular respiration is the amount of ATP generated. Anaerobic respiration generates far less ATP per glucose molecule than does aerobic respiration. The correct answer is C.

Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells generally have which of the following structures in common? Options: A. a membrane-bound nucleus B. a cell wall made of cellulose C. ribosomes D. linear chromosomes made of DNA

Prokaryotic cells lack membrane-bound organelles including a nucleus. Their DNA is circular and does not exist as linear chromosomes. Prokaryotic cells can have a cell wall, but it is typically made of peptidoglycan. The only item on this list that is common between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells is that they both contain ribosomes needed for protein synthesis within the cell. The correct answer is C.

When two solutions that differ in solute concentration are placed on either side of a semipermeable membrane and osmosis is allowed to occur, which of the following will be observed? Options: A. Water will move from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration. B. The solute will move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. C. There will be no net movement of water. D. Water will move from an area of high solute concentration to an area of low solute concentration.

Osmosis is a specialized form of diffusion, or passive transport. During osmosis, water always moves from the side of the membrane that has more water to the side of the membrane that has less water. The only thing that moves by osmosis is water. This means that choice B can be eliminated because solutes are not moving by osmosis. If there is a concentration difference across the membrane, there will be water movement, which eliminates choice $\mathrm{C}$. When osmosis occurs, water moves from the side of the membrane that has more water to the side that has less water. This means that the side of the membrane with more water has less solute (and is therefore less concentrated) than the side of the membrane with less water and more solute (being more concentrated). Based on the choices provided, choice A is the most appropriate. The correct answer is A.

Questions 18-20 are based on the following data. The generalized events in DNA replication can be depicted by the following flowchart: Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand $\rightarrow$ Unwinding $\rightarrow$ Destabilization and relief of pressure $\rightarrow$ Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks Between which two steps would the enzyme DNA ligase be used? Options: A. Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand B. Nicking of a strand $\rightarrow$ Unwinding C. Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation D. Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks

Abutting segments of unjoined DNA can be annealed by ligases. Thus the enzyme acting between Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks is $D N A$ ligase. The correct answer is D.

The kidneys are responsible for filtering certain components of blood and producing urine from them. In an adult, the kidneys are typically capable of processing about 1 to $1.5$ liters of water per hour depending on the individual and conditions within the body. In a condition known as water intoxication, a person ingests more water (usually 3 or more liters in a single sitting) in a shorter period of time than the kidneys can process. In a child, the amount of water required to induce water intoxication is much less. The regulation of water and sodium levels in the nephrons is adjusted in two regions of the kidneys where water and sodium can be reabsorbed from the nephron and returned to circulation. Those regions are the: Options: A. proximal convoluted tubule and distal convoluted tubule B. the loop of Henle and the distal convoluted tubule C. the distal convoluted tubule and the collecting duct D. the proximal convoluted tubule and the loop of Henle

In the proximal convoluted tubule, the primary events are the reabsorption of nutrients and water. There are two regions in the nephron where large amounts of sodium and water are reabsorbed. In the loop of Henle, the countercurrent multiplier system is used, which leads to the reabsorption of salts (sodium and chloride) and water. In the distal convoluted tubule, the hormone aldosterone influences the reabsorption of salts and water followed by osmosis. The correct answer is B.

\section{ In October 2012, Felix Baumgartner attempted a world-record sky-diving jump from just over 128,000 ft (39,014 m) above the Earth's surface. He was fitted with a customized, pressurized spacesuit that brought his total weight to $260 \mathrm{lbs}$ ( $1156 \mathrm{~N}$ ). The spacesuit was designed to collect and transmit important monitoring, communications, and tracking information throughout the jump. Baumgartner then ascended to the jumping altitude housed within a pressurized capsule of weight 2900 lbs ( $12900 \mathrm{~N})$ attached to a $30 \times 10^{6}$ cubic feet $\left(8.5 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{~L}\right)$ helium-filled weather balloon. The weather balloon with the attached capsule ascended at a rate of $1000 \mathrm{ft} / \mathrm{min}(5.1 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s})$, reaching the jumping altitude in approximately two hours. Once the capsule reached the jumping altitude, the door to the capsule was opened and Baumgartner stepped out and fell forward, beginning his free-fall descent. He continued falling until he reached a maximum speed of $834 \mathrm{mph}(373 \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s})$, which exceeded the speed of sound. This speed was Baumgartner's terminal velocity-the velocity attained in which he was no longer being accelerated downward due to gravity. Once he reached this speed, Baumgartner deployed his parachute and glided safely to Earth's surface.Assuming the density of helium is $0.1785 \mathrm{~g} / \mathrm{cm}^{3}$, the weight of the helium used to inflate the balloon was: Options: A. $1.5 \times 10^{8} \mathrm{~N}$ B. $1.5 \times 10^{7} \mathrm{~N}$ C. $1.5 \times 10^{6} \mathrm{~N}$ D. $1.5 \times 10^{5} \mathrm{~N}$

Using the relationship The correct answer is C.

Genetically modified (GM) foods contain DNA from more than one source. The goal of creating GM foods is to modify the organisms to express new and useful traits. A few examples involve engineering crops to be resistant to bacterial or viral infections, to be resistant to herbicides, to ripen more slowly, to survive extreme temperature changes, to contain vaccines, or to create crops that are more nutritious. One GM food that has received media attention over the years is golden rice. This GM product was first introduced in 2000 and was engineered to provide carotene that is a precursor to vitamin $\mathrm{A}$. The carotene in the rice provides the golden color. Vitamin A deficiency is a major problem in underdeveloped parts of the world, killing more than one million people a year, most of whom are children. This vitamin is critical for the development and maintenance of epithelial tissues, for vision, and for growth. Rice plants normally produce carotene in the inedible parts of the plant. To be able to access and use the carotene, it was necessary to engineer the rice to produce it in the edible grains. In order to achieve this goal, two genes from daffodil plants, psy and $l y c$, and a bacterial gene called $c r t 1$ were added to the rice genome. These genes engineered a pathway that produces lycopene, which is eventually converted to carotene. Each of these genes was placed under the control of a grain-specific promoter so that the products were produced in the rice grains. While golden rice was produced to provide carotene, which the human body can convert into the essential vitamin A, the rice provided much less carotene than was anticipated. Golden rice 2, a modified version released in 2005, contains a much larger amount of carotene and, as such, is a better source of the vitamin. Field tests were conducted in 2009, and human consumption trials were completed in 2012. However, neither version has been grown in large-scale quantities at this time. When preparing GM organisms, it can be easier to get a eukaryotic cell to express bacterial genes than it is to get a bacterial cell to express eukaryotic genes. What might be the MOST reasonable explanation for this? Options: A. Bacteria are more simplistic organisms, and it is more difficult to get them to express complex eukaryotic genes. B. The ribosomes of bacteria are different from eukaryotic ribosomes, and they have difficulty translating eukaryotic mRNA. C. Eukaryotic genes contain introns that must be spliced out prior to translation in order to make a functional protein. Bacteria lack the ability to perform RNA splicing. D. Bacterial cells recognize eukaryotic DNA as foreign and use nucleases to destroy it before it can be expressed.

Bacterial ribosomes are in fact different from eukaryotic ribosomes. However, the genetic code is universal so there should be no problem translating the proteins. When eukaryotic DNA is introduced to bacterial cells, it is contained in a vector such as a plasmid that is a normal component of many bacterial cells. We know that eukaryotic genes contain introns and prokaryotic genes do not. If a eukaryotic gene is placed in a prokaryotic cell, the introns cannot be removed and the mRNA produced will contain introns. When translated, the intended protein will not be produced. The correct answer is C.

Questions 18-20 are based on the following data. The generalized events in DNA replication can be depicted by the following flowchart: Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand $\rightarrow$ Unwinding $\rightarrow$ Destabilization and relief of pressure $\rightarrow$ Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks Between which two steps would the enzyme topoisomerase be used? Options: A. Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand B. Nicking of a strand $\rightarrow$ Unwinding C. Initiation $\rightarrow$ Elongation D. Elongation $\rightarrow$ Closing of nicks

Topoisomerases are enzymes that cut one of the DNA strands so that it can begin to unwind and serve to relieve pressure in the coil caused by its unwinding. Thus the enzyme acting between Double helix $\rightarrow$ Nicking of a strand is topoisomerase. The correct answer is A.

\section{Passage $\mathrm{V}$} A student performed qualitative tests on a series of unknown chemicals in order to identify them. The unknowns included $\mathrm{NaCl}, \mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$, sugar $\left(\mathrm{C}_{12} \mathrm{H}_{22} \mathrm{O}_{11}\right), \mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$, $\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$, cornstarch, and chalk $\left(\mathrm{CaCO}_{3}\right)$. These are all household chemicals. $\mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$ is Epsom salts, $\mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$ is baking soda, and $\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$ is photographic fixer. The student was asked to identify six unknowns: A, B, C, D, E, and F. The qualitative tests were based on the following: $>$ Solubility in water: starch is insoluble, as well as one of the other compounds. The rest are soluble in water. $>$ Chalk produces a gas when treated with acid. $>$ Starch turns blue when treated with iodine. $>\mathrm{MgSO}_{4}$ produces a milky precipitate when treated with aqueous ammonia. $>\mathrm{NaHCO}_{3}$ turns pink when treated with phenolphthalein. $>\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$ decolorizes iodine solution. $>\mathrm{NaCl}$ conducts electricity in solution. $>$ Sugar does not conduct electricity in solution. The student prepared a flowchart that would aid in doing the experiments in a systematic manner and allow efficient identification of the unknowns. \section{Experiment} The experiments were conducted in the following order. The solubility of each chemical in water was tested first. From those results, the insoluble unknowns were tested next. The unknowns that were soluble in water were tested as aqueous solutions, rather than tested for conductivity. \section{Results} \begin{tabular}{ccccccl} \hline Unknown & Solub & Conductivity & Acid & Phenolphthalein & $\mathbf{N H}_{\mathbf{3}}$ & $\mathbf{I}_{\mathbf{2}}$ \\ \hline A & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ B & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ C & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ $\mathrm{D}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}_{\mathrm{BLUE}}$ \\ E & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ \\ F & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{Y}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{N}$ & $\mathrm{Y}_{\text {COLORLESS }}$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} From these results the student was able to identify all six unknowns. Unknown A was determined to be: Options: A. $\mathrm{CaCO}_{3}$ B. $\mathrm{NaCl}$ C. $\mathrm{Na}_{2} \mathrm{~S}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3}$ D. starch

Unknown A is soluble in water and has negative results for all of the tests except for conductivity, so it must be $\mathrm{NaCl}$. The correct answer is B.

Endothelin is a vasoactive peptide involved in a variety of processes, including the control of blood flow. Endothelin is capable of binding to two different receptors. There are receptors for endothelin located on smooth muscle (ETA) and receptors for endothelin located on vascular endothelium (ETB). When endothelin binds to ETA, it initiates vasoconstriction by narrowing blood vessels. However, when endothelin binds to ETB, vasodilation occurs due to the widening of blood vessels. The activity of the ETB receptor seems to counterregulate the ETA effects and prevents excessive vasoconstriction. Drug $X$ is a selective receptor antagonist for endothelin. It is designed to bind preferentially to certain endothelin receptors. Drug $\mathrm{Y}$ is another selective receptor antagonist for endothelin. It is also designed to preferentially bind to one of the endothelin receptors. Researchers are hopeful that drugs $\mathrm{X}$ and $\mathrm{Y}$ will be of value in the treatment of conditions such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In PAH, excess endothelin is produced, which causes an increase in blood pressure within the pulmonary arteries. Normal pressure in the pulmonary arteries is expected to be about $14 \mathrm{~mm} \mathrm{Hg}$, and pressure at or above $25 \mathrm{~mm}$ Hg constitutes PAH. Both drugs have been tested in patients with PAH. There were five patients in each group. At the end of the study, the percent decrease in mean pulmonary artery pressure was measured for each patient and reported in the table. \begin{tabular}{cccc} \hline Patient & Drug X & DrugY & Placebo \\ \hline 1 & $+10 \%$ & $-10 \%$ & $+5 \%$ \\ 2 & $+3 \%$ & $-5 \%$ & $0 \%$ \\ 3 & $-5 \%$ & $+2 \%$ & $+13 \%$ \\ 4 & $+2 \%$ & $0 \%$ & $-4 \%$ \\ 5 & $0 \%$ & $-7 \%$ & $-2 \%$ \\ Average decrease & $+2 \%$ & $-4 \%$ & $+2.4 \%$ \\ \hline \end{tabular} If a patient has PAH, the heart can become overly stressed which can ultimately lead to heart failure. Which area of the heart is MOST likely to initially be affected by an increased blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries? Options: A. the right and left atria B. the right and left ventricles C. the right ventricle D. the left ventricle

To answer this question, you must be familiar with the anatomy of the heart. The right side of the heart is the pulmonary circuit while the left side is the systemic circuit. Deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium of the heart via the superior and inferior vena cava. Blood from the right atrium passes through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle and then leaves the heart through the pulmonary semilunar valve. Blood is carried via the pulmonary arteries to the lungs where gas exchange occurs. After gas exchange occurs, oxygenated blood returns to the heart via pulmonary veins to enter the left atrium. From there blood passes through the bicuspid valve into the left ventricle. Blood leaves the left side of the heart by passing through the aortic valve into the aorta. If there was a pressure increase in the pulmonary arteries, the right ventricle of the heart would be most likely affected as it is the last chamber that blood is located in before it moves toward the lungs in the pulmonary arteries. The correct answer is C.