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Lets Get Started (SAT Version)
- Thread starter F.Z.M. 7
- Start date
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
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- Points
- 273
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
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- Points
- 698
These two passages were adapted from autobiographical works. In the first, a playwright describes his first visit to a theater in the 1930's; in the second, an eighteenth-century writer describes two visits to theaters in London.
Following are sample questions about this pair of related passages. In the test, some questions will focus on Passage 1, others will focus on Passage 2, and about half of the questions following each pair of passages in your test will focus on the relationships between the passages.
Some questions require you to identify shared ideas or similarities between the two related passages.
Passage 1
I experienced a shock when I saw
a curtain go up for the first time. My
mother had taken me to see a play at
the Schubert Theater on Lenox
Line 5Avenue in Harlem in New York
City. Here were living people
talking to one another inside a large
ship whose deck actually heaved
up and down with the swells of the
Line 10sea. By this time I had been going to
the movies every Saturday afternoon
— Charlie Chaplin's little comedies,
adventure serials, Westerns. Yet
once you knew how they worked,
Line 15movies, unlike the stage, left the
mind's grasp of reality intact since
the happenings were not in the
theater where you sat. But to see the
deck of the ship in the theater
Line 20moving up and down, and people
appearing at the top of a ladder
or disappearing through a door —
where did they come from and
where did they go? Obviously into
Line 25and out of the real world of Lenox
Avenue. This was alarming.
And so I learned that there were
two kinds of reality, but that the
stage was far more real. As the
Line 30play's melodramatic story
developed, I began to feel anxious,
for there was a villain on board who
had a bomb and intended to blow
everybody up. All over the stage
Line 35people were looking for him but he
appeared, furtive and silent, only
when the searchers were facing the
other way. They looked for him
behind posts and boxes and on top
Line 40of beams, even after the audience
had seen him jump into a barrel and
pull the lid over him. People were
yelling, "He's in the barrel," but the
passengers were deaf. What
Line 45anguish! The bomb would go off
any minute, and I kept clawing at
my mother's arm, at the same time
glancing at the theater's walls to
make sure that the whole thing
Line 50was not really real. The villain was
finally caught, and we happily
walked out onto sunny Lenox
Avenue, saved again.
Passage 2
I was six years old when I saw
Line 55my first play at the Old Drury. Upon
entering the theater, the first thing I
beheld was the green curtain that
veiled a heaven to my imagination.
What breathless anticipations I
Line 60endured! I had seen something like it
in an edition of Shakespeare, an
illustration of the tent scene with
Diomede in Troilus and Cressida.
(A sight of that image can always
Line 65bring back in a measure the feeling
of that evening.) The balconies at
that time, full of well-dressed men
and women, projected over the
orchestra pit; and the pilasters*
Line 70reaching down were adorned with a
glistering substance resembling
sugar candy. The orchestra lights at
length rose. Once the bell sounded.
It was to ring out yet once again —
Line 75and, incapable of the anticipation, I
reposed my shut eyes in a sort of
resignation upon my mother's lap. It
rang the second time. The curtain
drew up — and the play was
Line 80Artaxerxes! Here was the court of
ancient Persia. I took no proper
interest in the action going on, for I
understood not its import. Instead,
all my feeling was absorbed in
Line 85vision. Gorgeous costumes, gardens,
palaces, princesses, passed before
me. It was all enchantment and a
dream.
After the intervention of six or
Line 90seven years I again entered the doors
of a theater. That old Artaxerxes
evening had never done ringing in
my fancy. I expected the same
feelings to come again with the same
Line 95occasion. But we differ from
ourselves less at sixty and sixteen,
than the latter does from six. In that
interval what had I not lost! At six I
knew nothing, understood nothing,
Line 100discriminated nothing. I felt all,
loved all, wondered all. I could not
tell how, but I had left the temple a
devotee, and was returned a
rationalist. The same things were
Line 105there materially; but the emblem, the
reference, was gone. The green
curtain was no longer a veil, drawn
between two worlds, the unfolding
of which was to bring back past
Line 110ages, but a certain quantity of green
material, which was to separate the
audience for a given time from
certain of their fellows who were to
come forward and pretend those
Line 115parts. The lights — the orchestra
lights — came up a clumsy
machinery. The first ring, and the
second ring, was now but a trick of
the prompter's bell. The actors were
Line 120men and women painted. I thought
the fault was in them; but it was in
myself, and the alteration which
those many centuries — those six
short years — had wrought in me.
* Pilasters are ornamental columns set into walls.
The authors of both passages describe
Following are sample questions about this pair of related passages. In the test, some questions will focus on Passage 1, others will focus on Passage 2, and about half of the questions following each pair of passages in your test will focus on the relationships between the passages.
Some questions require you to identify shared ideas or similarities between the two related passages.
Passage 1
I experienced a shock when I saw
a curtain go up for the first time. My
mother had taken me to see a play at
the Schubert Theater on Lenox
Line 5Avenue in Harlem in New York
City. Here were living people
talking to one another inside a large
ship whose deck actually heaved
up and down with the swells of the
Line 10sea. By this time I had been going to
the movies every Saturday afternoon
— Charlie Chaplin's little comedies,
adventure serials, Westerns. Yet
once you knew how they worked,
Line 15movies, unlike the stage, left the
mind's grasp of reality intact since
the happenings were not in the
theater where you sat. But to see the
deck of the ship in the theater
Line 20moving up and down, and people
appearing at the top of a ladder
or disappearing through a door —
where did they come from and
where did they go? Obviously into
Line 25and out of the real world of Lenox
Avenue. This was alarming.
And so I learned that there were
two kinds of reality, but that the
stage was far more real. As the
Line 30play's melodramatic story
developed, I began to feel anxious,
for there was a villain on board who
had a bomb and intended to blow
everybody up. All over the stage
Line 35people were looking for him but he
appeared, furtive and silent, only
when the searchers were facing the
other way. They looked for him
behind posts and boxes and on top
Line 40of beams, even after the audience
had seen him jump into a barrel and
pull the lid over him. People were
yelling, "He's in the barrel," but the
passengers were deaf. What
Line 45anguish! The bomb would go off
any minute, and I kept clawing at
my mother's arm, at the same time
glancing at the theater's walls to
make sure that the whole thing
Line 50was not really real. The villain was
finally caught, and we happily
walked out onto sunny Lenox
Avenue, saved again.
Passage 2
I was six years old when I saw
Line 55my first play at the Old Drury. Upon
entering the theater, the first thing I
beheld was the green curtain that
veiled a heaven to my imagination.
What breathless anticipations I
Line 60endured! I had seen something like it
in an edition of Shakespeare, an
illustration of the tent scene with
Diomede in Troilus and Cressida.
(A sight of that image can always
Line 65bring back in a measure the feeling
of that evening.) The balconies at
that time, full of well-dressed men
and women, projected over the
orchestra pit; and the pilasters*
Line 70reaching down were adorned with a
glistering substance resembling
sugar candy. The orchestra lights at
length rose. Once the bell sounded.
It was to ring out yet once again —
Line 75and, incapable of the anticipation, I
reposed my shut eyes in a sort of
resignation upon my mother's lap. It
rang the second time. The curtain
drew up — and the play was
Line 80Artaxerxes! Here was the court of
ancient Persia. I took no proper
interest in the action going on, for I
understood not its import. Instead,
all my feeling was absorbed in
Line 85vision. Gorgeous costumes, gardens,
palaces, princesses, passed before
me. It was all enchantment and a
dream.
After the intervention of six or
Line 90seven years I again entered the doors
of a theater. That old Artaxerxes
evening had never done ringing in
my fancy. I expected the same
feelings to come again with the same
Line 95occasion. But we differ from
ourselves less at sixty and sixteen,
than the latter does from six. In that
interval what had I not lost! At six I
knew nothing, understood nothing,
Line 100discriminated nothing. I felt all,
loved all, wondered all. I could not
tell how, but I had left the temple a
devotee, and was returned a
rationalist. The same things were
Line 105there materially; but the emblem, the
reference, was gone. The green
curtain was no longer a veil, drawn
between two worlds, the unfolding
of which was to bring back past
Line 110ages, but a certain quantity of green
material, which was to separate the
audience for a given time from
certain of their fellows who were to
come forward and pretend those
Line 115parts. The lights — the orchestra
lights — came up a clumsy
machinery. The first ring, and the
second ring, was now but a trick of
the prompter's bell. The actors were
Line 120men and women painted. I thought
the fault was in them; but it was in
myself, and the alteration which
those many centuries — those six
short years — had wrought in me.
* Pilasters are ornamental columns set into walls.
The authors of both passages describe
- (A) a young person's sense of wonder at first seeing a play
- (B) a young person's desire to become a playwright
- (C) the similarities between plays and other art forms
- (D) how one's perception of the theater may develop over time
- (E) the experience of reading a play and then seeing it performed
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 2,466
- Points
- 273
The better I get at Sentence Completions, the worse I get here. What an incredible inverse relationship. 
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
My math part = your sentence completionsThe better I get at Sentence Completions, the worse I get here. What an incredible inverse relationship.
Your Reading passage = my English part.
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 2,466
- Points
- 273
?
Oh shut up Gingy. I have barely practised these.
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
Yep. :*
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 2,466
- Points
- 273
Anyway, this has been fun. Gotta go everyone.
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 2,466
- Points
- 273
That play one was easy. You just need to read the first few lines of both passages to know it's A.
- Messages
- 1,247
- Reaction score
- 2,326
- Points
- 273
From the word, I think it has roots in the word "naive". So it may be a state of being naive. Which may also mean that it means to be inexperienced.
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 2,466
- Points
- 273
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
Ishan, you are sucha Genius! ^_^ *Bow*
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
Wanna start again guys?
- Messages
- 1,083
- Reaction score
- 2,466
- Points
- 273
Some other day.
- Messages
- 1,247
- Reaction score
- 2,326
- Points
- 273
What can I say, I'm a blast from the pastRight on. We have moved on since then.
Thank you!
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
Oho!What can I say, I'm a blast from the past
Thank you!
- Messages
- 8,477
- Reaction score
- 34,837
- Points
- 698
The first term of a sequence is the number n, and each
term thereafter is 5 greater than the term before. Which
of the following is the average (arithmetic mean) of the
first nine terms of this sequence?
(A) n + 20
(B) n + 180
(C) 2n
(D) 2n + 40
(E) 9n + 180
term thereafter is 5 greater than the term before. Which
of the following is the average (arithmetic mean) of the
first nine terms of this sequence?
(A) n + 20
(B) n + 180
(C) 2n
(D) 2n + 40
(E) 9n + 180