The pair brought scientific thinking and equipment to the kitchen, challenging perceptions about what belonged in the lab and what belonged in a chef ’s kitchen. For example, an early experiment in pie baking involved injecting pies with a syringe full of liquid after baking in order to preserve the crust. Other experiments involved creating meringue (cooked whipped egg whites with sugar) in a vacuum chamber and a “reverse” baked Alaska (ice cream topped with meringue) with the hot merengue on the inside and the ice cream on the outside. Although the experiments themselves might not have been useful to the home cook, 1 they were interesting for scientists.

Since 1988, the mission of molecular gastronomy has shifted. Kurti and This originally sought to investigate “kitchen old wives’ tales,” invent new recipes, improve old ones, and make the case to the public that science was a useful part of everyday life. Even if their experiments weren’t intended to be replicated in home kitchens, they were intended to encourage home cooks to experiment. Today, molecular gastronomists seek to explore the social, artistic, and technical aspects of food preparation. Some have argued that this shift in focus, along with the fact that techniques in molecular gastronomy have so far surpassed what any home cook could do, means that molecular gastronomy has lost 1 the ability to impact homemade food.

This excerpt is adapted from Kara Flanagan, “An Introduction to Linguistics.”

Linguists may specialize in any number of elements of language. While some examine morphology, the composition of individual words, others may study syntax, the structure of entire sentences. Those who study semantics or pragmatics, on the other hand, focus on the meanings of individual words, and how they might change depending on the context. Some linguists, known as phonologists, instead turn their attention to the speech sounds which make up spoken languages. Altogether, linguists have been responsible for the preservation of thousands of endangered languages.

Which choice provides the most effective conclusion for the paragraph?

This excerpt is adapted from Kirk Powell, Studies in Sports.

In her study, L’Tainen wanted to focus primarily on those sports observers who had a strong understanding of the game, but had never seriously played it. “It’s often claimed that watching someone else perform a complex task can be as useful as practicing it ourselves,” L’Tainen wrote. “Here, I wanted to put that claim to the test.” L’Tainen assembled her group of sports fanatics from her own city, Philadelphia, through a series of online listings. Philadelphia has more than a dozen professional sports teams, including two baseball teams. Once she brought all the subjects to one place, the real fun could begin.

Which choice provides the most relevant detail?

This excerpt is adapted from Rachel Kaplan, “A Day in the Life of Lennon—McCartney”.

The Beatles are often regarded by historians, critics, and listeners as one of the best recording groups of all time. Formed in Liverpool, England in 1960, they wrote and recorded some of the most popular songs of the twentieth century and ushered in a new age of innovation within Western popular music. At the creative heart of the group were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, together comprising the songwriting partnership “Lennon—McCartney,” whose songs made up the vast majority of the Beatles’ catalog. Interestingly, even when one of the two composers worked alone, the final product bore both of their names—the result of a handshake agreement the two had made at the start of their collaboration. Accordingly, hits like “Yesterday” and “I Am the Walrus,” written independently by Paul and John, respectively, are nonetheless credited jointly to Lennon—McCartney.

Which choice provides the most relevant detail?

This excerpt is adapted from Alan Gomez, The Pollution Solution.

Photosynthesis, despite popular conception, is not unique to plants, as it is performed by many microscopic organisms. Recent experimental evidence has shown that leafy plants, usually among the most effective photosynthesizers, perform the process much less efficiently when hindered by particle pollution. In one study, experimenters measured the oxygen output from dozens of identical plants placed in artificial environments with varying air quality and found that the relationship between particle pollution and photosynthetic inhibition was exponential—as particle count was increased steadily, oxygen output fell more and more steeply. With these results in mind, many environmental scientists believe that in some of the country’s most polluted cities, leafy plants may soon be completely unable to perform the photosynthetic processes necessary to sustain human life.

Which choice most effectively introduces the information which follows in the paragraph?

This excerpt is adapted from David Brent, “The Method: Stanislavski in Practice.”

Stanislavski was described as hackneyed and vapid by some of his harshest critics. Utilizing his extensive experience as a director and a performer, he developed the first formal curriculum for aspiring actors. His exercises equipped students with techniques to embody the internal and external characteristics of real and imagined people. In other words, Stanislavski taught his students how to bring characters to life.

Which choice most effectively introduces the information which follows in the paragraph?

One of the most influential niche constructors is the earthworm, an organism found almost everywhere on the planet. 1 A scientist only concerned with evolution would predict that, in order to live on land, earthworms would have to significantly change. Earthworms didn’t change their physiology a great  amount, however, instead, they changed the soil to make it more like the ocean in order to survive. Land with earthworms is less compacted, is more nutrient rich, and better mixed than land without them – leading to monumental changes in the ecosystem.

For thousands of years, cooking was considered more of a practice than a science. Much of what chefs and food scientists alike knew about cooking came from conventional wisdom rather than carefully designed research. For individuals who considered cooking to be an art rather than a science, this seemed to be for the best; however, for physicist Nicholas Kurti and chemist Herve This, the lack on empirical knowledge around what we eat was not just an affront to science. It was a challenge. In 1988 the pair coined the term “molecular gastronomy,” which they defined as the investigation of the physical and chemical transformation that ingredients undergo during the course of cooking. They argued that if chefs understood these processes, they could produce dishes improved by the findings. 1

The Sagrada Familia has stood, incomplete, as part of the Barcelona skyline since the early phases of its construction in 1882. The project, originally intended to be a cathedral in the gothic style, was begun by the bookseller Joseph Maria Bocabella under the direction of the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. Del Villar and Bocabella imagined a basilica modeled on the Gothic revival churches Bocabella had seen on trips to Italy. However, Bocabella’s ideal basilica never came to be. In 1883 del Villar resigned from the project, and 30-year old Antoni Gaudi, a young but already well-known architect from Catalonia, took over as lead architect.

Gaudi decided to depart from del Villar’s original Gothic design in favor of a more modern design. The new design was ambitious, featuring eighteen tall spires and four different facades on different sides of the basilica. But work on the new building was slow. Decades passed, and the work was still incomplete. In 1915, Gaudi - now 63 years old - abandoned all other work in favor of dedicating himself to the completion of the monumental church, but progress on the building was still slow. When pressured to speed up work on the monumental building, Gaudi was said to have replied, “My client is not in a hurry.” By the time Gaudi died in 1926, the basilica was only somewhere between 15 and 20 percent complete. 

After Gaudi’s death, work stalled between 1936 and 1940 when Civil War broke out in Spain and again as World War II began, leaving the project years behind schedule. During the wars, Catalan anarchists destroyed part of the basilica and the models and designs Gaudi left for the builders, who were forced to reconstruct what plans they could, an arduous and time-consuming process. It took years for the project to get back on track; once it was, it was impossible to know whether additional construction would match Gaudi’s vision.

The Sagrada Familia, one of the most iconic structures in Barcelona, remains unfinished, a constant work-in-progress in the Barcelona skyline. Despite these setbacks, it is open to the public for both religious services and tourism, attracting over three million visitors a year. In fact, tourist entrance fees now pay for annual construction costs. 1