PSAT-READING Exam dumps PDF | Exam-Dumps.net (Page: 4)

QUESTION: 16

Like Truman, who was never considered a major national figure until Roosevelt's death made him president, Ford attained national prominence only after ____________ thrust him into the presidency.

personal ambition
outside circumstances
popular acclaim
political intrigue
public demand

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

Obviously, the structure of this sentence is similarity. We want a phrase to fit in the blank that will match the description of how both Truman and Ford attained prominence. You don't need to know history; just realize that Ford's case must have resembled Truman's, in which pure accident (or "outside circumstances") made him president.

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QUESTION: 17

Thus far, predictions that global ____________ would lead to mass starvation have proven false; however, in the years to come, population ____________ may yet prove to be one of the world's greatest problems.

pollution . . expansion
overcrowding . . growth
poverty . . density
deforestation . . control
warfare . . stabilization

Answer(s): B

Explanation:

The word "however" tells you that the two halves of the sentence contrast with one another. The first half says that "predictions" of "mass starvation have proven false"; the second half says that, in the future, (something) "may yet prove to be one of the world's greatest problems." Thus, the contrast involves the idea that a problem which doesn't exist now may come to exist in the future; the same problem is being discussed in the both parts of the sentence. Choice (B), then, makes sense because "global overcrowding" and "population growth" describe the same problem.

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QUESTION: 18

Amelia Earhart's hope of being the first woman to fly around the globe was ____________ when she disappeared in the middle of her ____________ journey.

thwarted . . ill-fated
realized . . triumphant
fulfilled . . historic
controversial . . hazardous
postponed . . famous

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

If she disappeared during the journey, then clearly her hope of flying around the globe was "thwarted," choice A. "Ill-fated" is the logical word to use to describe a trip that ends this way (worse than losing your luggage).

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QUESTION: 19

The idea of "children's literature" ____________ in the late eighteenth century, when educators first decided that children needed special ____________ of their own.

emerged . . books
changed . . reading
grew . . treatment
developed . . training
receded . . teaching

Answer(s): A

Explanation:

If it wasn't until the late eighteenth century that educators decided children needed books of their own, then that must have been when the idea of children's literature "emerged," choice (A).

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QUESTION: 20

In some of the poorest neighborhoods of New York City, community gardens are springing up as ____________ the filth and desolation of their urban surroundings.

an affirmation of
a validation of
a reaction to
an amplification of
a celebration of

Answer(s): C

Explanation:

C). Only "reaction" makes sense as a description of the relationship between a garden and surroundings that are full of "filth and desolation."

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College Board PSAT-READING Exam (page: 4) College Board Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test - Reading Updated on: 31-Mar-2026

QUESTION: 16

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QUESTION: 17

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QUESTION: 18

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QUESTION: 19

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QUESTION: 20

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College Board PSAT-READING Exam (page: 4)
College Board Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test - Reading
Updated on: 31-Mar-2026