GRE For Dummies with Online Practice, 9th Edition

Chapter 21

Practice Exam 3: Answers and Explanations

After taking Practice Exam 3 in Chapter 20, use this chapter to check your answers and see how you did. Carefully review the explanations, because doing so can help you understand why you missed the questions you did and also give you a better understanding of the thought processes that helped you select the correct answers. If you’re in a hurry, flip to the end of the chapter for an abbreviated answer key.

Analytical Writing Sections

Give your essays to someone to read and evaluate for you. Refer that helpful person to Chapters 14 and 15 for scoring guidelines.

Section 1: Verbal Reasoning

1. B. Anachronistic is a reference to something that couldn’t have existed in the time it’s referenced, like Brutus and Cassius’s discussion of a mechanical clock. Archaic (outdated) also refers to time, but it doesn’t work as well as anachronism in this context. Ancient refers to something really old, which the reference itself may be, but otherwise doesn’t fit. Ambiguous refers to something that isn’t clear, but the reference is perfectly clear. And euphemistic refers to a mild form of an expression that may be offensive or not politically correct.
2. A. Veracity means truth, or accuracy, which is an essential quality of any story a journalist may report. Plausibility doesn’t mean the story is true, only that it’s believable. None of the remaining choices (tenacity, meaning persistence, originality, and righteousness) work here.
3. C, E.