Sentence Completions

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Most able-bodied people would struggle with climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro (only 50% of the people who attempt to climb the 19,541 ft tall mountain make it to the top). For double-amputee Spencer West, the climb was especially challenging. After 7 days of hiking, West made it to the top using only his hands. In addition to being the first person to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro on his hands, West also raised almost $500,000 that he plans to donate to charity. You can read more about his incredible climb here. 

6/30 > Sentence Completions

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted into the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

You should always remember to make a prediction before you look at the answer choices. All of the information that you need to choose the correct answer is given in the sentence. By reading carefully and making a prediction, you can avoid falling for trap wrong answers. 4 out of the 5 answers are wrong so looking at the wrong answers first only makes you more likely to select one of the wrong answers. 

Currently rising temperatures in the Arctic and Antarctic are _________ of a still warmer world that could result from an excess of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the burning of oil, gas, and coal.

As always, look for clues in the sentence to help you predict a word for the blank. You know that "Currently rising temperatures . . .  are ___________ of a still warmer world . . .   ." Currently rising temperatures clearly point to a warmer world so you could predict that the word in the blank would be something like "Currently rising temperatures  . . .  are indicators of a still warmer world . . .   ." Now, take a look at the answers and see which one matches your prediction.

(A) polarities

(B) harbingers

(C) vestiges

(D) counterexamples

(E) aftereffects

Only (B) matches your prediction. (E) and (C) could have been tempting if you hadn't made a prediction . (A) and (D) just don't work in the sentence as it is.

The correct answer choice is (B).

Words tested in this SC:

polarity: the property of having poles or being polar, opposite or contrasting principles or tendencies

harbinger: a person or thing that foreshadows the coming of someone or something

vestige: a track, footstep, something that remains

counterexample: an exception to a proposed general rule

aftereffect: an effect which is not immediately manifested

On sat.collegeboard.org 46% of the responses were correct.

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