The following selection has a main idea that may appear at any place within the paragraph.  Identify the main idea of the paragraph by choosing the number of the sentence. The number of each sentence comes before it. 1 Scientists have learned that the way we view exercise strongly influences our performance.  2 Research on Russian weight lifters, for example, demonstrated that if they were told the weights were heavy, they perceived an exercise to be more difficult.  3 If they were told the weights were light, then they considered the exercise easier.  4 Another example is the weight lifter who kept failing to break a record.  5 He finally succeeded after his trainer told him the weights he was lifting were not as heavy as they in fact were.

Choose the transition that best completes the sentence. Other boys like to college normal things, like baseball cards, but my little brother Dwayne collects dead bugs.  He _____ collects loose chunks of sidewalk (which he insists on calling moon rocks).

Choose the letter of the answer that best describes the relationship indicated by the italicized transition. After the magician’s assistant shuts the closet door, the magician escapes from the closet through a door in the floor. The relationship of the first part of the sentence to the second part is one of _____.

Read the item below, which includes a word or words that are a synonym of the italicized word.  Write the synonym of the italicized word in the space provided. Love is not always considered a prerequisite for marriage. In some cultures, social status or economic potential is a more important requirement.

Choose the transition that best completes the sentence. Other boys like to college normal things, like baseball cards, but my little brother Dwayne collects dead bugs.  He _____ collects loose chunks of sidewalk (which he insists on calling moon rocks).

Use the general sense of the sentence to figure out the meaning of the italicized word. It is odd how often public figures who loudly espouse “traditional family values” are later caught in some scandal concerning their own private lives.

Choose the letter of the answer that best describes the relationship indicated by the italicized transition. Emotions have a physical basis in our hormone system.  They are also grounded in our experience. The relationship of the second sentence to the first is one of _____.

Choose the transition that best completes the sentence. Abraham Lincoln grew a beard only _____ being elected to the presidency.  An eleven-year-old girl told him that with a beard he “would look a great deal better, for your face is so thin.”

Choose the letter of the best meaning for each italicized word or words. When speaking to a large audience, it is helpful to remember that people are egocentric.  They pay closest attention to messages about their own values, their own beliefs, and their own well-being.

The following selection has a main idea that may appear at any place within the paragraph.  Identify the main idea of the paragraph by choosing the number of the sentence. The number of each sentence comes before it. 1 Though natural-fiber purists may turn up their noses at it, polyester-and-cotton blend clothing has advantages over all-cotton garments.  2 For one thing, polyester, which is manufactured, costs less than cotton, which grows naturally but is expensive to process.  3 Therefore, cotton/polyester clothing is more economical than pure cotton garments.  4 Also, the polyester content of cotton-blend clothing helps the garments retain their shape after repeated washings.  5 That’s because this synthetic does not share cotton’s tendency to shrink or stretch after immersion.  6 But perhaps polyester’s most endearing quality is its “no-wrinkle policy.” 7 Unlike pure cotton, polyester blends require little or no ironing.