Admission Tests GRE General Test Sample Questions:

1. Not only do the brains of people with great memories appear anatomically_________those of control subjects, but in terms of general cognitive ability, great memorizers appear to be well within the normal range.

A) superior to
B) independent of
C) younger than
D) indistinguishable from
E) incomparable to

2. Discussions of the collapse of the lowland Maya are not new. However, it might be better to say that Maya civilization as a whole did not collapse, although many zones did experience profound change. Because societies are not bounded, unitary entities. collapses are rarely total, and continuity is a normal pan of collapse At the end of the Classic period [200 900 C.E.]. the institution of divine kingship and many of the well-known markers of elite culture such as carved stelae [slabs erected for funerals or commemorative purposes] and hieroglyphic polychromes [multicolored artistic pottery) ended, but Maya civilization continued in modified form with many important features intact (e.g.. literacy, war. art. the production of fine ceramics). In some cases large buildings were constructed in the Postclassic period [900-1512 C.E.], but the transition to the Early Postclassic [900-1200 CXj era is distinctive for a decrease in elite goods and contexts. The variability in artifact changes during the Terminal Classic [800-900 C.E.] and into the Postclassic. even within artifact classes (e.g.. fine versus unslipped ceramics), suggests weaker centralized control than during the Classic period. Site abandonments in the Terminal Classic indicate the collapse of the functional ability of Maya states, but sites that survived show that Maya civilization continued albeit without divine kingship and much of the spectacle around it.
The passage suggests which of the following about Maya living after the Terminal Classic in "sites that survived"?

A) They no longer created caned stelae.
B) They stopped erecting large buildings.
C) Their customs were identical to those of their ancestors.
D) They did not use written language.
E) Their pottery was totally utilitarian in nature.

3. Scholars generally estimate subscribers to Freedom s Journal (1827-1829), the United States" first African American newspaper, at around 800. based on subscriptions to the Rights of AIL an African American newspaper founded in 1829 as a successor to Freedom s Journal by a former editor of that newspaper. But Gross argues that many more than 800 readers probably subscribed to Freedom s Journal because many of its subscribers, dissatisfied with the direction ultimately taken by the paper, refused to subscribe to the Rights of All. In any case, the figure of 800 subscribers would make the circulation of Freedom s Journal close to that of other weekly papers of the time Its number of readers, however, would have been much larger: copies were often shared. and African American organizations subscribed to Freedom s Journal, providing nonsubscribers access to the paper African American organizations' subscriptions to Freedom s Journal are mentioned in the passage primarily in order to.

A) illustrate why the readership numbers for Freedom s Journal should be distinguished from the subscription numbers
B) identify the primary subscribers to both Freedom s Journal and The Rights of All
C) cite a factor that casts doubt on most scholars assumptions about the number of subscribers to Freedom
$ Journal
D) dispute Gross's claim about the probable number of readers of Freedom S Journal
E) help account for a possible difference between the number of subscribers to Freedom s Journal and to The Rights of All.

4. The story lines of silent dramas may often have been_________. yet within those basic narrative outlines, the true artists among silent-film actors could express emotional shadings that have no analogue in spoken

A) rudimentary
B) language.
C) elemental
D) conventional
E) confusing
F) incredible
G) implausible

5. As decorated a nmntr as Shalane Flanagan is. perliaps her greater accomplishment lies in_________the rising talent around her: all of her training partners-11 women in total-have qualified for the Olympics.

A) maintaining
B) nurturing
C) fostering
D) publicizing
E) cherishing
F) identifying

Solutions: