WRITING SAMPLE (25 minutes)

Directions: Read the following topic carefully. Take a few minutes to think about the topic and organize your thoughts before you begin writing. Use the scratch paper and pen provided. Be sure that your handwriting is legible and that you stay within the lines and margins.

Sample Topic: It is better to be safe than sorry.
Assignment: Do you agree or disagree with the topic statement?
Support your position with one or two specific examples from personal experience, the experience of others, current events, history, or literature.

READING COMPREHENSION (40minutes, 40 multiple-choice questions, 6-7 passages)
Directions: Read the passage carefully and then answer the questions (1-3) about it. For each question, decide on the basis of the passage which one of the choices best answers the question.

We had had a consuming desire to see a pony rider, but somehow or other all that passed us streaked by in the night, and so we heard only a whiz and a hail, and the swift phantom was gone.

But now the driver exclaims, "Here he comes!" Every neck is stretched and every eye strained.

Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears against the sky. Soon it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, sweeping nearer and nearer, and the flutter of hoofs comes faintly to the ear. Another instant a whoop and hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of the rider's hand, but no reply, and man and horse burst past our excited faces and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm!

1. At the driver's call, the people became more

2. The people waiting to see the pony rider were most probably

3. The land where the people were watching was

QUANTITATIVE ( two sections, 30 minutes each, 50 questions total)
Directions: Following each problem in this section, there are five suggested answers. Work each problem in your head or in the space provided (there will be space for scratchwork in your test booklet). Then look at the five suggested answers and decide which is best.

4. According to the graph, who owns the most CD's?

5. If 5 + 9 + __ = 6 + 8 + 1, then __ =

6. If 3/4 of a number is 48, then 1/4 of the same number is

7. What is the perimeter of an equilateral triangle if one side of the triangle has the same length as the side of a square with an area of 25?

8. It costs n dollars to manufacture 1 dozen stuffed animals. At the same rate, how many dollars will it cost to manufacture 30 stuffed animals?

9. 2 1/4 % =

10. Which of the following is NOT equal to a whole number?

11. 8 x 3 x 7 x 2 is equal to the product of 24 and

12. The number of people now employed by a certain company is 240, which is 3/5 the number employed five years ago. How many more employees did it have then than it has now?

13. A recipe for salad dressing calls for a ratio of 3 tablespoons of olive oil for 1 tablespoon of vinegar, but Melanie used 3 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 of olive oil. How many more tablespoons must she add in order to have the correct proportion?

14. In the figure, if x/2 = 30, then y =

15. If Kristina sees y movies, Elliott sees five times as many movies as Kristina, and Cheryl sees 2 fewer movies than Kristina, how many movies did the three children see altogether?

VERBAL (30 minutes, 60 questions)
Directions: Each of the following questions (16-20) consists of one word followed by five words or phrases. You are to select the one word or phrase whose meaning is closest to the word in capital letters.

16. FLING:

17. ROUTINE:

18. PROLOGUE:

19. MANIPULATE:

20. ADROIT:

Directions: The following questions (21-25) ask you to find relationships between words. For each question, select the answer choice that best completes the meaning of the sentence.

21. Sapling is to tree as cub is to

22. Frame is to building as

23. Meandering is to river as

24. Clear is to printing as articulate is to

25. Tactful is to diplomat as