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Universities want to know that you can perform well in class. One of the many ways these institutions will determine your skillset is by examining your latest SAT score. Created by the College Board, the SAT is a standardized test designed to showcase your abilities to universities across the country. If you are seeking to pursue higher education, you understand the importance of performing well on this examination. Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools are here to help you with all of your test preparation needs. The Question of the Day for SAT Critical Reading is just one of the beneficial study tools in this set that can be utilized to prepare for a testing session. Varsity Tutors also offers resources like a free SAT prep book to help with your self-paced study, or you may want to consider an SAT Critical Reading tutor.
The Question of the Day is a daily test review; every day, you will be presented with a randomly selected question similar to what is expected to be found on the official examination. These questions test your current skills and may even impart new information to you. Whether you need top SAT tutors in New York, SAT tutors in Chicago, or SAT tutors in Los Angeles, working with a pro may take your studies to the next level. For the Critical Reading portion of the SAT, the questions focus on the two main components in this area: reading comprehension and sentence completion. Reading comprehension accounts for the largest part of the Critical Reading segment. Through your answers, you can determine how well you understand the information that has been presented to you. Sentence completion tests your vocabulary knowledge. Each question gives you one or two blanks that need to be filled in with the correct word. The Question of the Day focuses on both areas to ensure that you receive practice to successfully complete this entire portion of the SAT.
By utilizing the Question of the Day, you will receive access to information regarding your performance. No matter how you answer, each question is followed up with an explanation about the correct option. From this page, you can also track your own personal progress and review previous questions you have answered. This will allow you to determine where your strengths and weaknesses lie, which will help you plan your studies to correlate with your needs. You will also have the ability to compare yourself to other students that have also answered the Question of the Day. The platform will show you the percentage of those who answered correctly, the average amount of time taken to provide an answer, and place you within a percentile. It is recommended that you participate on a regular basis; the more questions you answer, the more in-depth information you will be presented with.
As previously stated, the Question of the Day is only one of several study tools designed for your study use. In addition to the SAT Critical Reading Question of the Day and SAT Critical Reading tutoring, you may also want to consider taking some of our SAT Critical Reading practice tests. The entire set of Varsity Tutors’ Learning Tools is rounded out with flashcards, Learn by Concept, full-length practice tests that match the make-up of the actual SAT, and practice tests that focus in on specific topics. Each tool offers something different, therefore allowing you to build confidence and gain the correct knowledge needed for the SAT Critical Reading. By combining one or more of these tools, you have the ability to create a tailored study system to prepare you for test day.
Question of the Day: SAT Critical Reading
Adapted from "Recent Views as to Direct Action of Light on the Colors of Flowers and Fruits" in Tropical Nature, and Other Essays by Alfred Russel Wallace (1878)
The theory that the brilliant colors of flowers and fruits is due to the direct action of light has been supported by a recent writer by examples taken from the arctic instead of from the tropical flora. In the arctic regions, vegetation is excessively rapid during the short summer, and this is held to be due to the continuous action of light throughout the long summer days. "The further we advance towards the north, the more the leaves of plants increase in size as if to absorb a greater proportion of the solar rays. M. Grisebach says that during a journey in Norway he observed that the majority of deciduous trees had already, at the 60th degree of latitude, larger leaves than in Germany, while M. Ch. Martins has made a similar observation as regards the leguminous plants cultivated in Lapland.” The same writer goes on to say that all the seeds of cultivated plants acquire a deeper color the further north they are grown, white haricots becoming brown or black, and white wheat becoming brown, while the green color of all vegetation becomes more intense. The flowers also are similarly changed: those which are white or yellow in central Europe becoming red or orange in Norway. This is what occurs in the Alpine flora, and the cause is said to be the same in both—the greater intensity of the sunlight. In the one the light is more persistent, in the other more intense because it traverses a less thickness of atmosphere.
Admitting the facts as above stated to be in themselves correct, they do not by any means establish the theory founded on them; and it is curious that Grisebach, who has been quoted by this writer for the fact of the increased size of the foliage, gives a totally different explanation of the more vivid colors of Arctic flowers. He says, “We see flowers become larger and more richly colored in proportion as, by the increasing length of winter, insects become rarer, and their cooperation in the act of fecundation is exposed to more uncertain chances.” (Vegetation du Globe, col. i. p. 61—French translation.) This is the theory here adopted to explain the colors of Alpine plants, and we believe there are many facts that will show it to be the preferable one. The statement that the white and yellow flowers of temperate Europe become red or golden in the Arctic regions must we think be incorrect. By roughly tabulating the colors of the plants given by Sir Joseph Hooker as permanently Arctic, we find among fifty species with more or less conspicuous flowers, twenty-five white, twelve yellow, eight purple or blue, three lilac, and two red or pink; showing a very similar proportion of white and yellow flowers to what obtains further south.
What role does the underlined sentence play in the passage as a whole?
It demonstrates that the "recent writer" quoted in the first paragraph is unreliable.
It provides a counterargument opposing the theory of the "recent writer" quoted in the first paragraph.
It offers an opinion as to the validity of the theory of the "recent writer" quoted in the first paragraph.
It provides evidence that the phenomenon being discussed exists, but does not support one theory more than the other.
It provides evidence that supports the theory of the writer quoted in the first paragraph, but casts doubt on other theories.
You can use the SAT Critical Reading Question of the Day to get into the habit of thinking about SAT Critical Reading content on a daily basis when studying for the SAT. Varsity Tutors' SAT Critical Reading Questions of the Day are drawn from each topic and question type covered on the Critical Reading section of the SAT.
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