# Core questions

The level most of the test sits at, where at least one distractor is genuinely tempting.

11 question(s), with answers and distractor explanations.

### The connection between the two findings was ____; a single contradictory result would have dissolved it.

*core · science*

0. tenuous  **← answer**
1. robust
2. reciprocal
3. empirical

**Why it fits:** The second clause says one contradiction would destroy the connection, so the connection must be weak and barely holding.

**Why the others fail:**
- *robust* — "Robust" means strong enough to survive challenge — the opposite of what the second clause describes.
- *reciprocal* — "Reciprocal" describes a two-way relationship, which says nothing about how fragile it is.
- *empirical* — "Empirical" means based on observation. It might be true of the finding, but it does not describe fragility.

### The policy was ____ designed to reduce congestion, though its authors privately conceded it would do little.

*core · social-science*

0. ostensibly  **← answer**
1. demonstrably
2. inadvertently
3. comprehensively

**Why it fits:** "Though its authors privately conceded" sets up a contrast between the stated purpose and the real one, which is exactly what "ostensibly" marks.

**Why the others fail:**
- *demonstrably* — "Demonstrably" claims the effect was proven — the sentence says the opposite.
- *inadvertently* — "Inadvertently" means by accident, but the policy was deliberately designed.
- *comprehensively* — "Comprehensively" describes how thoroughly something was done, not the gap between claim and reality.

### Early accounts treated the migration as a single event; more recent scholarship offers a ____ picture of several overlapping movements.

*core · humanities*

0. nuanced  **← answer**
1. cursory
2. derivative
3. polemical

**Why it fits:** The contrast is between one simple event and several overlapping ones, so the newer picture is more finely distinguished.

**Why the others fail:**
- *cursory* — "Cursory" means hasty and shallow, which would make the newer account simpler, not more detailed.
- *derivative* — "Derivative" means copied from earlier work — the sentence presents the new scholarship as an advance.
- *polemical* — "Polemical" means aggressively argumentative, which the sentence gives no evidence for.

### The committee insisted the cut-off was principled, but it could not explain why the threshold fell at that figure rather than any other, which made it look ____.

*core · social-science*

0. arbitrary  **← answer**
1. stringent
2. provisional
3. unanimous

**Why it fits:** Being unable to justify why the number is that number and not another is precisely what makes a choice arbitrary.

**Why the others fail:**
- *stringent* — "Stringent" means strict. A threshold can be strict and still be well justified, so it does not follow from the sentence.
- *provisional* — "Provisional" means temporary. The sentence is about justification, not duration.
- *unanimous* — "Unanimous" describes agreement among people, not the basis for a number.

### The newly dated sediment layers ____ the accepted timeline, pushing the settlement back by two centuries.

*core · humanities*

0. undermine  **← answer**
1. reinforce
2. reiterate
3. delineate

**Why it fits:** Moving the date by two centuries contradicts the accepted timeline, weakening the case for it.

**Why the others fail:**
- *reinforce* — "Reinforce" would mean the new dates supported the old timeline, but they change it substantially.
- *reiterate* — "Reiterate" means to repeat, which new contradicting evidence does not do.
- *delineate* — "Delineate" means to describe precisely. The layers do more than describe — they overturn.

### The memoir is unusually ____ about the author’s own missteps, naming decisions most writers would quietly omit.

*core · literature*

0. candid  **← answer**
1. evasive
2. laudatory
3. derivative

**Why it fits:** Naming your own mistakes when others would hide them is frankness about oneself.

**Why the others fail:**
- *evasive* — "Evasive" means avoiding the subject, which is the behaviour the sentence contrasts against.
- *laudatory* — "Laudatory" means full of praise, but the subject here is the author’s own errors.
- *derivative* — "Derivative" means unoriginal, which is unrelated to honesty.

### Funding for the second phase is ____ on the pilot meeting its enrolment target.

*core · social-science*

0. contingent  **← answer**
1. incidental
2. tantamount
3. impervious

**Why it fits:** The funding depends on a condition being met, which is what "contingent on" states.

**Why the others fail:**
- *incidental* — "Incidental" means minor or occurring by chance, the opposite of a governing condition.
- *tantamount* — "Tantamount" means equivalent to, which does not fit a dependency.
- *impervious* — "Impervious" means unaffected by, which reverses the relationship.

### Even the study’s critics ____ that its sample was larger than any collected before.

*core · social-science*

0. concede  **← answer**
1. contend
2. contest
3. construe

**Why it fits:** "Even the critics" signals that they are admitting something that does not help their case.

**Why the others fail:**
- *contend* — "Contend" means to argue for, but critics arguing for the study’s strength would not need "even".
- *contest* — "Contest" means to dispute, which contradicts the "even the critics" framing.
- *construe* — "Construe" means to interpret, which does not capture the admission.

### Her ____ question exposed the assumption the whole argument had been resting on.

*core · humanities*

0. incisive  **← answer**
1. rambling
2. tentative
3. rhetorical

**Why it fits:** A question that cuts straight to a hidden assumption is sharp and penetrating.

**Why the others fail:**
- *rambling* — "Rambling" means unfocused, which could not expose a precise assumption.
- *tentative* — "Tentative" means hesitant, at odds with decisively exposing something.
- *rhetorical* — "Rhetorical" means asked for effect without expecting an answer — but this question did real work.

### The technique is not wrong, merely ____: faster methods have replaced it entirely in modern labs.

*core · science*

0. obsolete  **← answer**
1. erroneous
2. nascent
3. contentious

**Why it fits:** "Not wrong, merely —" plus "replaced entirely" points to something superseded rather than mistaken.

**Why the others fail:**
- *erroneous* — "Erroneous" means wrong, which the sentence explicitly rules out.
- *nascent* — "Nascent" means just emerging, the opposite of superseded.
- *contentious* — "Contentious" means disputed, but nothing suggests disagreement.

### One reading was ____ — nearly triple the others — so the team checked the instrument before accepting it.

*core · science*

0. anomalous  **← answer**
1. representative
2. negligible
3. consistent

**Why it fits:** A value that departs sharply from the rest is an anomaly, which is why they suspected the instrument.

**Why the others fail:**
- *representative* — "Representative" would mean typical of the set, but this reading is nearly triple the others.
- *negligible* — "Negligible" means too small to matter, whereas this one is unusually large.
- *consistent* — "Consistent" means in agreement with the others, which it plainly is not.

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