SBAC Online Practice Questions and Answers

FILL BLANK

A student is writing a report for history class about the importance of the Magna Carta. Read the draft of the report and complete the task that follows.

When we think of the most important government documents in history, we often think first of the U.S. Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. While the importance of these documents can hardly be overestimated, it is all too easy to forget that without the Magna Carta neither of them would have been possible. The Magna Carta was a landmark government document that played a key role in the development of modern democracy. The effects of this critical piece of legislation are still felt today,

The roots of the Magna Carta were tied to the reign of King John, who took control of the English throne in 1199. Almost from the moment he became king, John ruled forcefully over his people, imposing harsh laws and severely punishing anyone who dared not to follow them. He was also focused on becoming even more powerful than he already was and repeatedly declared war on France to widen his kingdom. In need of money to fund his wars, King John required his nobles to pay large fees if they chose not to fight on his behalf.

Eventually, King John's constant abuses of power became too much for the nobles to bear. In 1213, they began a rebellion against the king, and, by 1215, England was on the brink of civil war. Realizing he had no other choice, King John met with his nobles on June 15, 1215, and agreed to sign a document that placed limitations on his power and gave the nobles certain guaranteed rights. First called the Articles of the Barons, the document soon became known as the Magna Carta. Though the Magna Carta did not end the conflict between King John and the nobles, it ultimately remained in place after being revised several times.

The rights guaranteed by the Magna Carta came in time to have a significant effect on England's system of government. Most importantly, it helped to establish a fair legal system that granted everyone the right to due process of the law. It also led to the formation of a legislative body that became known as Parliament. Centuries after it was first written, the Magna Carta's influence was again felt when the United States of America was founded. The abuses of power listed in the Declaration of Independence echo the claims made against King John by his nobles. When the framers wrote the U.S. Constitution, they looked to the Magna Carta to outline the rights of citizens and design the new country's legal system.

Write a conclusion that follows logically from the information in the essay.

A.

See explanation below.

Read the story attached.

"Roughing It" by Mark Twain

My brother had just been appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory ?an office of such majesty that it concentrated in itself the duties and dignities of Treasurer, Comptroller, Secretary of State, and Acting Governor in the Governor's absence. A salary of eighteen hundred dollars a year and the title of "Mr. Secretary," gave to the great position an air of wild and imposing grandeur. I was young and ignorant, and I envied my brother. I coveted his distinction and his financial splendor, but particularly and especially the long, strange journey he was going to make, and the curious new world he was going to explore. He was going to travel! I never had been away from home, and that word "travel" had a seductive charm for me. Pretty soon he would be hundreds and hundreds of miles away on the great plains and deserts, and among the mountains of the Far West, and would see buffaloes and Indians, and prairie dogs, and antelopes, and have all kinds of adventures, and may be get hanged or scalped, and have ever such a fine time, and write home and tell us all about it, and be a hero. And he would see the gold mines and the silver mines, and maybe go about of an afternoon when his work was done, and pick up two or three pailfuls of shining slugs, and nuggets of gold and silver on the hillside. And by and by he would become very rich, and return home by sea, and be able to talk as calmly about San Francisco and the ocean, and "the isthmus" as if it was nothing of any consequence to have seen those marvels face to face.

What I suffered in contemplating his happiness, pen cannot describe. And so, when he offered me, in cold blood, the sublime position of private secretary under him, it appeared to me that the heavens and the earth passed away, and the firmament was rolled together as a scroll! I had nothing more to desire. My contentment was complete.

At the end of an hour or two I was ready for the journey. Not much packing up was necessary, because we were going in the overland stage from the Missouri frontier to Nevada, and passengers were only allowed a small quantity of baggage apiece. There was no Pacific railroad in those fine times of ten or twelve years ago ?not a single rail of it. I only proposed to stay in Nevada three months ?I had no thought of staying longer than that. I meant to see all I could that was new and strange, and then hurry home to business. I little thought that I would not see the end of that three-month pleasure excursion for six or seven uncommonly long years! I dreamed all night about Indians, deserts, and silver bars, and in due time, next day, we took shipping at the St. Louis wharf on board a steamboat bound up the Missouri River. We were six days going from St. Louis to "St. Jo." ?a trip that was so dull, and sleepy, and eventless that it has left no more impression on my memory than if its duration had been six minutes instead of that many days. No record is left in my mind, now, concerning it, but a confused jumble of savage-looking snags, which we deliberately walked over with one wheel or the other; and of reefs which we butted and butted, and then retired from and climbed over in some softer place; and of sand-bars which we roosted on occasionally, and rested, and then got out our crutches and sparred over.

In fact, the boat might almost as well have gone to St. Jo. by land, for she was walking most of the time, anyhow ?climbing over reefs and clambering over snags patiently and laboriously all day long. The captain said she was a "bully" boat, and all she wanted was more "shear" and a bigger wheel. I thought she wanted a pair of stilts, but I had the deep sagacity not to say so.

Reread this passage from the attached text. "Pretty soon he would be hundreds and hundreds of miles away on the great plains and deserts, and among the mountains of the Far West, and would see buffaloes and Indians, and prairie dogs, and antelopes, and have all kinds of adventures, and may be get hanged or scalped, and have ever such a fine time, and write home and tell us all about it, and be a hero. And he would see the gold mines and the silver mines, and maybe go about of an afternoon when his work was done, and pick up two or three pailfuls of shining slugs, and nuggets of gold and silver on the hillside." This passage best illustrates the author's use of ____.

A. oxymoron

B. imagery

C. hyperbole

D. metaphor

Read the material attached.

Source 1:

Military Supports Alternative Treatments for Treating Pain in Vets and Troops

The military has long worried that an over-reliance on prescription pain killers for the after-effects of tours of duty was putting both veterans and active-duty troops at risk of dependency, serious adverse reactions to the drugs and accidental

death. The problem was found to be greatest among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan ?particularly those with post-traumatic stress disorder ?who, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), may have been given "inappropriate prescriptions" for opioids in a misguided attempt to relieve their suffering quickly.

Now, however, change appears to be coming as the military expands its use of alternative treatments such as chiropractic care.

Dr. Robert D. Kerns, the national program director for pain management at the Department of Veterans Affairs, told the New York Times that the study "encourages" both his department, as well as the Pentagon's health system, "to build on...

existing initiatives."

If done, that would be good news to Congressional committees following up on last year's Veterans Health Administration scandal.

"We have said for a long time that sending a veteran out of the door with a bagful of pills is not a solution," Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said in investigating allegations that a Tomah, Wisconsin, Veterans Affairs hospital was prescribing "excessive

dosages of opiates."

Even as more research pours in, chiropractic care continues to gain support. A 2013 study published in the journal Spine found that 73 percent of participating active-duty military patients with low back pain receiving a combination of

chiropractic manipulative treatment and standard medical care rated their global improvement as "pain completely gone," "much better," or "moderately better."

In the same study, only 17 percent who received standard medical care alone said likewise.

Source 2:

Relief for Weekend Warriors Comes From Chiropractic Care, Not a Pill Bottle

Sports injuries can happen to anyone, and they may be more likely among amateur athletes than professionals.

Amateur athletes, whether they are weekend warriors or regular fitness buffs, can end up with an injury for a variety of reasons, from wearing the wrong shoes to an incorrect technique in a tennis or golf swing. However, amateurs and pros alike want relief when they get hurt, and anyone can become addicted to strong, opioid painkillers, according to a recent article in Outside magazine. "The reality is that all athletes are one fall, twist, or tweak away from landing their own opioid prescription," the article notes.

In the wake of a directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cut down on painkiller prescriptions, doctors and patients are seeking drug-free alternatives, and chiropractic care is one of them.

In fact, chiropractic care can provide not only short-term pain relief but long-term prevention of future pain by helping to address structural imbalances in the body that might be contributing to the problem.

Medications (including ibuprofen and other over-the-counter drugs as well as prescription drugs) can mask the pain from an injury but fail to address the cause. Doctors of chiropractic (DCs) use hands-on techniques to manipulate the joints

and soft tissues of the body to address where pain syndromes may originate. DCs receive a minimum of seven years of higher education and are skilled in the diagnosis and art of spinal manipulation.

In addition, according to Dr. Sherry McAllister of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress, most insurance and health plans cover chiropractic care.

In comparing the two sources in the attachment, which of these is not a valid comparison?

A. Source 1 uses emotional appeals of discussing the pain experienced by veterans and active-duty military members to make its point, while source 2 uses more factual statements and statistics to appeal to the audience's rational side.

B. Both sources explain the benefits of chiropractic care for a specific group of people.

C. Source 1 uses more credible and widely recognized references to support the claim, including the JAMA, a director with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and a Congressional Representative, while source 2 references Outside magazine and doctor from the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.

D. Source 2 suggests that chiropractic care can alleviate the need for both prescription and over-the-counter medication by addressing the underlying causes of pain and not just masking the symptoms of pain, while source 1 concentrates on the movement away from prescription medication through the use of chiropractic care.

Which one of these sentences uses correct punctuation?

A. Cats; though they are fickle creatures, are still one of the most beloved pets, comforting, yet short-tempered, playful, yet aloof, they run the household and don't let their humans forget it.

B. Cats, though they are fickle creatures, are still one of the most beloved pets; comforting, yet short-tempered; playful, yet aloof, they run the household and don't let their humans forget it.

C. Cats, though they are fickle creatures; are still one of the most beloved pets: comforting, yet short-tempered, playful, yet aloof; they run the household and don't let their humans forget it.

D. Cats though they are fickle creatures, are still one of the most beloved pets; comforting, yet short-tempered, playful, yet aloof, they run the household and don't let their humans forget it.

Which of these is equivalent to y = x2 + 8x - 3?

A. Option A

B. Option B

C. Option C

D. Option D

A. Option

B. Option

C. Option

D. Option

Which of these is not an example of a conic section?

A. x2 = 4y

B. They are all conic sections

C. y - 2x2 = 1

D. x2 + y2 = 25

A. Option A

B. Option B

C. Option C

D. Option D

Read the text and answer the question.

Blue Crabs Provide Evidence of Oil Tainting Gulf Food

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf's vast food web – and

could affect it for years to come.

"It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water," said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans.

"Something likely will eat those oiled larvae . . . and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on."

Tiny creatures might take in such low amounts of oil that they could survive, Thomas said. But those at the top of the chain, such as dolphins and tuna, could get fatal "megadoses."

Marine biologists routinely gather shellfish for study. Since the spill began, many of the crab larvae collected have had the distinctive orange oil droplets, said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast

Research Laboratory.

"In my 42 years of studying crabs I've never seen this," Perry said.

She wouldn't estimate how much of the crab larvae are contaminated overall, but said about 40 percent of the area they are known to inhabit has been affected by oil from the spill.

While fish can metabolize dispersant and oil, crabs may accumulate the hydrocarbons, which could harm their ability to reproduce, Perry said in an earlier interview with Science magazine.

She told the magazine there are two encouraging signs for the wild larvae – they are alive when collected and may lose oil droplets when they molt.

Tulane University researchers are investigating whether the splotches also contain toxic chemical dispersants that were spread to break up the oil but have reached no conclusions, biologist Caz Taylor said.

If large numbers of blue crab larvae are tainted, their population is virtually certain to take a hit over the next year and perhaps longer, scientists say. The spawning season occurs between April and October, but the peak months are in July

and August.

How large the die-off would be is unclear, Perry said. An estimated 207 million gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf since an April 20 drilling rig explosion triggered the spill, and thousands of gallons of dispersant chemicals have been

dumped.

Scientists will be focusing on crabs because they're a "keystone species" that play a crucial role in the food web as both predator and prey, Perry said.

Richard Condrey, a Louisiana State University oceanographer, said the crabs are "a living repository of information on the health of the environment."

Named for the light-blue tint of their claws, the crabs have thick shells and 10 legs, allowing them to swim and scuttle across bottomlands. As adults, they live in the Gulf's bays and estuaries amid marshes that offer protection and abundant

food, including snails, tiny shellfish, plants and even smaller crabs. In turn, they provide sustenance for a variety of wildlife, from redfish to raccoons and whooping cranes.

Adults could be harmed by direct contact with oil and from eating polluted food. But scientists are particularly worried about the vulnerable larvae.

That's because females don't lay their eggs in sheltered places, but in areas where estuaries meet the open sea. Condrey discovered several years ago that some even deposit offspring on shoals miles offshore in the Gulf.

The larvae grow as they drift with the currents back toward the estuaries for a month or longer. Many are eaten by predators and only a handful of the 3 million or so eggs from a single female live to adulthood.

But their survival could drop even lower if the larvae run into oil and dispersants.

"Crabs are very abundant. I don't think we're looking at extinction or anything close to it," said Taylor, one of the researchers who discovered the orange spots.

Still, crabs and other estuary-dependent species such as shrimp and red snapper could feel the effects of remnants of the spill for years, Perry said.

"There could be some mortality, but how much is impossible to say at this point," said Vince Guillory, biologist manager with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Perry, Taylor and Condrey will be among scientists monitoring crabs for negative effects such as population drop-offs and damage to reproductive capabilities and growth rates.

Crabs are big business in the region. In Louisiana alone, some 33 million pounds are harvested annually, generating nearly $300 million in economic activity, Guillory said.

Blue crabs are harvested year-round, but summer and early fall are peak months for harvesting, Guillory said.

Prices for live blue crab generally have gone up, partly because of the Louisiana catch scaling back due to fishing closures, said Steve Hedlund, editor of SeafoodSource.com, a website that covers the global seafood industry.

Fishers who can make a six-figure income off crabs in a good year now are now idled – and worried about the future.

"If they'd let us go out and fish today, we'd probably catch crabs," said Glen Despaux, 37, who sets his traps in Louisiana's Barataria Bay. "But what's going to happen next year, if this water is polluted and it's killing the eggs and the larvae? I

think it's going to be a long-term problem."

Excerpt from "Blue Crabs Provide Evidence of Oil Tainting Gulf Food Web" by John Flesher. Copyright © 2010 by The Associated Press. Reprinted by permission of The Associated Press.

The following question is divided into two parts. First, answer part A. Then, answer part B.

Part A

Read this section from the text and the directions that follow.

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf's vast food web – and

could affect it for years to come.

“It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water”, said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans. “Something likely will eat those oiled larvae…

and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on.”

What is the central idea of the section?

A. Other organisms in the Gulf waters feed on the larvae of blue crabs.

B. Most of the spilled oil that contaminated the Gulf waters recently has been cleaned up.

C. Scientists recently discovered oil droplets on blue crab larvae in waters along the Gulf coast

D. Scientists fear long-term negative effects on Gulf coast organisms from contaminated blue crab larvae.

Read the text and answer the question.

Blue Crabs Provide Evidence of Oil Tainting Gulf Food

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf's vast food web – and

could affect it for years to come.

"It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water," said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans.

"Something likely will eat those oiled larvae . . . and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on."

Tiny creatures might take in such low amounts of oil that they could survive, Thomas said. But those at the top of the chain, such as dolphins and tuna, could get fatal "megadoses."

Marine biologists routinely gather shellfish for study. Since the spill began, many of the crab larvae collected have had the distinctive orange oil droplets, said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast

Research Laboratory.

"In my 42 years of studying crabs I've never seen this," Perry said.

She wouldn't estimate how much of the crab larvae are contaminated overall, but said about 40 percent of the area they are known to inhabit has been affected by oil from the spill.

While fish can metabolize dispersant and oil, crabs may accumulate the hydrocarbons, which could harm their ability to reproduce, Perry said in an earlier interview with Science magazine.

She told the magazine there are two encouraging signs for the wild larvae – they are alive when collected and may lose oil droplets when they molt.

Tulane University researchers are investigating whether the splotches also contain toxic chemical dispersants that were spread to break up the oil but have reached no conclusions, biologist Caz Taylor said.

If large numbers of blue crab larvae are tainted, their population is virtually certain to take a hit over the next year and perhaps longer, scientists say. The spawning season occurs between April and October, but the peak months are in July

and August.

How large the die-off would be is unclear, Perry said. An estimated 207 million gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf since an April 20 drilling rig explosion triggered the spill, and thousands of gallons of dispersant chemicals have been

dumped.

Scientists will be focusing on crabs because they're a "keystone species" that play a crucial role in the food web as both predator and prey, Perry said.

Richard Condrey, a Louisiana State University oceanographer, said the crabs are "a living repository of information on the health of the environment."

Named for the light-blue tint of their claws, the crabs have thick shells and 10 legs, allowing them to swim and scuttle across bottomlands. As adults, they live in the Gulf's bays and estuaries amid marshes that offer protection and abundant

food, including snails, tiny shellfish, plants and even smaller crabs. In turn, they provide sustenance for a variety of wildlife, from redfish to raccoons and whooping cranes.

Adults could be harmed by direct contact with oil and from eating polluted food. But scientists are particularly worried about the vulnerable larvae.

That's because females don't lay their eggs in sheltered places, but in areas where estuaries meet the open sea. Condrey discovered several years ago that some even deposit offspring on shoals miles offshore in the Gulf.

The larvae grow as they drift with the currents back toward the estuaries for a month or longer. Many are eaten by predators and only a handful of the 3 million or so eggs from a single female live to adulthood.

But their survival could drop even lower if the larvae run into oil and dispersants.

"Crabs are very abundant. I don't think we're looking at extinction or anything close to it," said Taylor, one of the researchers who discovered the orange spots.

Still, crabs and other estuary-dependent species such as shrimp and red snapper could feel the effects of remnants of the spill for years, Perry said.

"There could be some mortality, but how much is impossible to say at this point," said Vince Guillory, biologist manager with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Perry, Taylor and Condrey will be among scientists monitoring crabs for negative effects such as population drop-offs and damage to reproductive capabilities and growth rates.

Crabs are big business in the region. In Louisiana alone, some 33 million pounds are harvested annually, generating nearly $300 million in economic activity, Guillory said.

Blue crabs are harvested year-round, but summer and early fall are peak months for harvesting, Guillory said.

Prices for live blue crab generally have gone up, partly because of the Louisiana catch scaling back due to fishing closures, said Steve Hedlund, editor of SeafoodSource.com, a website that covers the global seafood industry.

Fishers who can make a six-figure income off crabs in a good year now are now idled – and worried about the future.

"If they'd let us go out and fish today, we'd probably catch crabs," said Glen Despaux, 37, who sets his traps in Louisiana's Barataria Bay. "But what's going to happen next year, if this water is polluted and it's killing the eggs and the larvae? I

think it's going to be a long-term problem."

Excerpt from "Blue Crabs Provide Evidence of Oil Tainting Gulf Food Web" by John Flesher. Copyright © 2010 by The Associated Press. Reprinted by permission of The Associated Press.

The following question is divided into two parts. First, answer part A. Then, answer part B.

Part B

Which sentence from the text best expresses the same central idea you choose in part A?

Note:

Part A

Q: Read this section from the text and the directions that follow.

Weeks ago, before engineers pumped in mud and cement to plug the gusher, scientists began finding specks of oil in crab larvae plucked from waters across the Gulf coast.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water. But the crab larvae discovery was an ominous sign that crude had already infiltrated the Gulf's vast food web – and could affect it for years to come.

“It would suggest the oil has reached a position where it can start moving up the food chain instead of just hanging in the water”, said Bob Thomas, a biologist at Loyola University in New Orleans. “Something likely will eat those oiled larvae… and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on.”

What is the central idea of the section?

A:

Scientists fear long-term negative effects on Gulf coast organisms from contaminated blue crab larvae.

A.

The government said last week that three-quarters of the spilled oil has been removed or naturally dissipated from the water.

B.

"Something likely will eat those oiled larvae...and then that animal will be eaten by something bigger and so on."

C.

She told the magazine there are two encouraging signs for the wild larvae ?they are alive when collected and may lose oil droplets when they molt.

D.

Adults could be harmed by direct contact with oil and from eating polluted food. But scientists are particularly worried about the vulnerable larvae.

E.

"But what's going to happen next year, if this water is polluted and it's killing the eggs and larvae? I think it's going to be a long-term problem."