ASVAB Paragraph Comprehension Practice Test 131939 Results

	Your Results	Global Average
Questions	5	5
Correct	0	3.02
Score	0%	60%

Review

In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor, as opposed to the method of internal reconstruction, which analyzes the internal development of a single language over time.

Which of the following would be the most useful for someone using the comparative method in linguistics when studying a particular language?

66% Answer Correctly

	An ancient text written in the language.
	The same text written in two different dialects of the language.
	Two editions of the same text written one-hundred years apart.
	Old folk songs that have been passed down among generations of speakers of the language.

Solution

The wrong answers all provide insight into how a single language has changed over time while the text written in two different dialects offers an opportunity to compare languages that share a common ancestor.

In 2011, the Ohio Turnpike raised its limit to 70 and recorded its lowest traffic fatality rate ever that year. The higher speed limit attracts travelers to use the safer, limited-access, divided highways of the interstates from more traditional roads. That makes both types of roads safer.

Why does increasing the speed limit on interstates make traditional roads safer?

63% Answer Correctly

	After this change there are more police patrolling traditional roads.
	Drivers attracted by the high speed limits of the interstates are reckless and getting them off the traditional roads makes those roads safer.
	More travelers choose to use interstates which reduces the number of cars on traditional roads.
	Only the safest drivers still choose to drive traditional roads because they don't want to drive as fast.

Solution

More travelers using safer interstates increases their safety and reduces traffic on traditional roads. This reduction of travelers on traditional roads make those road safer because there are fewer vehicles on them. None of the other answers relate to the information given in the paragraph.

A perennial stream or perennial river is a stream or river (channel) that has continuous flow in parts of its stream bed all year round during years of normal rainfall. "Perennial" streams are contrasted with "intermittent" streams which normally cease flowing for weeks or months each year, and with "ephemeral" channels that flow only for hours or days following rainfall.

Which of the following is the correct order of stream type from the least amount of time flowing to the most amount of time flowing over the course of a year?

58% Answer Correctly

	perennial, ephemeral, intermittent
	ephemeral, perennial, intermittent
	perennial, intermittent, ephemeral
	ephemeral, intermittent, perennial

Solution

Ephemeral streams flow for hours or days, intermittent streams flow for weeks or months, and perennial streams flow continuously throughout the year.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." - Emma Lazarus, inscription for the Statue of Liberty

In the context of this paragraph the word "teeming" means:

69% Answer Correctly

	overflowing
	alone
	homeless
	foreign

Solution

In this quotation, "teeming" is closest in meaning to overflowing.

Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution.

Based on this passage, which of the following statements is false?

47% Answer Correctly

	Endemism requires an organism be unique to a defined geographic location.
	An organism that is indigenous to Australia can be found in India.
	An organism that is endemic cannot have a cosmopolitan distribution.
	An organism that is endemic to Australia can be found in India.

Solution

You don't necessarily need to know the definitions of the words in a paragraph to figure out the correct answer. Just go through the answers one by one and logically compare the answer to the the paragraph and eliminate the answers that aren't supported by the facts.