Six original questions written for this book: three from Reading and Writing and three from Math, including two typed-answer Math questions. Try each before you read the answers below. For more, take the free 49-question diagnostic or the 10-question practice sampler in the study workspace, where an AI coach can give you hints.
In a hypothetical greenhouse trial, a botanist grew two groups of basil seedlings under identical lamps. One group was watered every morning, and the other was watered only once a week. The seedlings that received daily water grew tall and leafy. In contrast, the seedlings watered once a week remained ______, with thin stems and only a few small leaves at the end of the trial.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Marisol had promised her grandmother that she would keep the window boxes blooming all summer, but by July the petunias drooped no matter how often she watered them. Every evening she knelt beside the boxes, pinching off dead blossoms and testing the soil with her fingertip. Her brother teased her for fussing over "a few flowers," yet Marisol remained ______: she refused to let a single box fail.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Planners in the fictional city of Larkport noticed that a narrow downtown street was often jammed with delivery trucks during the morning rush. Because the trucks were blocking buses and cyclists, the city decided to ______ deliveries on that street to the hours before 7:00 a.m., when traffic is light. After the change, buses on the street ran much closer to their schedules.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
3(2x − 1) = 2x + 6 What value of x is the solution to the given equation?
Type your answer (student-produced response).
The monthly price of a streaming plan increased from $16.00 to $18.00. The price increased by p%. What is the value of p?
Type your answer (student-produced response).
A right circular cone has a radius of 3 inches and a height of 10 inches. What is the volume, in cubic inches, of the cone?
The signal "In contrast" sets the weekly-watered seedlings against those that "grew tall and leafy," and the phrase after the blank restates their condition: "thin stems and only a few small leaves." The blank needs a word meaning small and underdeveloped. "Stunted," which means held back in growth, fits both clues exactly.
Why not A: The passage compares how much the seedlings grew, not how they smelled, so nothing supports describing them as fragrant.
Why not C: Color is never mentioned; the clue after the blank describes thin stems and few leaves, which concern growth rather than appearance.
Why not D: "Sturdy" means strong and solid, the opposite of seedlings with thin stems and only a few small leaves.
The colon introduces a restatement of the blank: Marisol "refused to let a single box fail." Her nightly care for the drooping flowers and her steadiness despite her brother's teasing point the same way. "Determined," meaning firmly committed to reaching a goal, matches this evidence precisely.
Why not A: "Indifferent" means not caring, which contradicts Marisol's nightly work and her refusal to let any box fail.
Why not B: Marisol checks the boxes every evening, so the text shows the opposite of forgetfulness.
Why not C: Her brother is the one who is teasing; the clue after the colon describes Marisol's persistence, not amusement.
The cause clue "Because the trucks were blocking buses and cyclists" shows that the city needed to limit the problem, and the phrase "to the hours before 7:00 a.m." describes confining deliveries to certain times. "Restrict," meaning to keep within limits, fits both clues, and the improved bus schedules confirm that the limit worked.
Why not B: The trucks were causing a problem, so the city had no reason to honor the deliveries; the clue calls for limiting them.
Why not C: Doubling the deliveries would make the morning jams worse, which conflicts with the improved bus schedules described at the end.
Why not D: The change concerns when deliveries happen, not how the trucks look; hiding the trucks would not clear the street.
Distribute to get 6x − 3 = 2x + 6. Subtract 2x and add 3 to get 4x = 9, so x = 9/4. Enter 9/4 or 2.25; both fit in the five-character space. Do not enter the mixed number 2 1/4. A common wrong answer is 7/4, which comes from distributing as 6x − 1 instead of 6x − 3.
Percent increase is the change divided by the original amount, times 100. The change is 18 − 16 = 2 dollars, and 2/16 = 0.125, so the increase is 12.5% and p = 12.5. Type 12.5 with no percent sign. Entering 0.125 gives the decimal rate, not p, and about 11.1 comes from dividing by the new price, 18, instead of the original price.
The reference sheet gives the volume of a right circular cone as V = (1/3)πr^2h. Substituting r = 3 and h = 10 gives V = (1/3)π(9)(10) = 30π cubic inches. The work here is choosing the right formula from the sheet and putting each measurement in the right place.
Why not A: This computes (1/3)π(3)(10): the radius was not squared before multiplying by the height.
Why not C: This is πr^2h, the volume of a cylinder with the same radius and height; the cone formula includes a factor of 1/3.
Why not D: This swaps the radius and the height, computing (1/3)π(10^2)(3) = 100π instead of using r = 3 and h = 10.
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