miniQUIZ Week of 3/24/2026

1. One way to organically commit things to memory is to physically(whether this be by hand or by keyboard) copy things. Accordingly, for this week’s mQ, type out what’s below.

It is very possible to become an absolute master of punctuation, knowing, for instance, why commas are where they are. We train to understand what a single semicolon does, as well as what two semicolons within the same sentence are doing. A correctly used colon becomes something that we can spot with comfort, and we wonder if the test writers will choose to get more clever with their use of dashes.

*Bonus - Can you articulate what two semicolons would be doing within a sentence.

2. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

In 1999, a great many people, some of whom were likely influenced by various reports that had been conveyed via various _____ were highly concerned about what would happen at the end of the year, one that technically marked the end of a millennium.

A) media: B) media; C) media D) media,

The correct answer is (D).

The primary concept getting tested is our friend the appositive. This appositive starts with the word “some” and ends with the word “media”.

An absolutely locked reason to not select (A) is that what’s before the colon is not a complete sentence. This would certainly also bar a reason to not select the semicolon within (B).

As a mini-bonus, the comma after “In 1999” is there because a comma is used when a sentence start with a timeframe.

3. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?

The train arrived fifteen minutes early and was devoid of any staff to ask questions to. _____ many waiting passengers were leery of embarking onto the carriages.

A) In so doing, B) Despite this, C) Accordingly, D) Instead,

The correct answer is (C).

If it is not already the case, it would potentially be impactful to categorize the transition “Accordingly” as a cause & effect transition. Here, the cause is that the train arrived “early and was devoid of any staff”. The effect is that the waiting passengers were concerned(“leery”) of getting on the train.

To arrive at (C) as our answer, we certainly do not have to know about what we call the TQ Knockout, but knowing about it is a way to preemptively have eliminated options (B) and (D).

And, if you want to know a bit about the oddball transition “In so doing”, give the link a click.

4. In the current climate of concern over disinformation and the so-called ‘post-truth era,’ psychological warfare has returned to discussions of national and international politics. Yet questions concerning psychological warfare — when, where, and how it came about — are poorly understood.

Which finding, if true, would most directly support the author’s assertion?

A) Given the long history of psychological warfare, it is well established that it can be waged on a variety of fronts. B) When asked about ways in which the psyche can be manipulated could manifest, many people are unable to even provide the slightest conjecture. C) On both a national and international scale, the politics of psychological warfare can be remediated. D) Though it may not be well understood how mind games can be played out on different stages, advances can be said to have been made over the past few decades.

The correct answer is (B).

It is not necessary to categorize this question, but we consider it a support/weaken question.

To confidently address this question, we are likely compelled to be able to assert that the assertion is that “questions concerning psychological warfare…are poorly understood”. With the assertion firmly in mind, here’s a rundown we could give for these answer options….

• i)
  Option (A) is a rather classic opposite wrong answer.
• ii)
  Even if we did not fully understand what option (B) is saying, we could really like the phrase “unable to even provide”.
• iii)
  If you were tempted in to selecting (C), read about what we call a matches the blurb wrong answer.
• iv)
  We could consider (D) another opposite wrong answer. We could also consider it a part right, part wrong wrong answer.

Bonus - Do you see the appositive within the last sentence of the blurb?

5. A rectangle with a length of 30 and a width of 19 has the same perimeter as square A. What is the area of square A?

The correct answer is 600.25.

If you’re not already in the habit of drawing things out, it’s likely something that you really want to get into.

With our rectangle drawn out (and nicely labeled), we can add up 30 and 19 and 30 and 19 to arrive at a perimeter of 98. Knowing that this is also the perimeter of our square, we can divide 98 by 4 and determine that the side length is 24.5.

As the question is asking for the area, we multiply $24.5 \times 24.5$ and arrive at our correct answer of 600.25.

6. Which expression is equivalent to $(4x2 - 2x)(x - 5)^2$?

A) $16x^6 + 324x^4 + 100x^2$ B) $4x^4 - 42x^3 + 120x^2 - 50x$ C) $4x^4 - 38x^3 - 80x^2 + 50x$ D) $4x^4 - 2x^3 + 100x^2 - 50x$

The correct answer is (B).

As is regularly the case with so many Math questions, we have options here. That said, let’s explore the Sub Numbers(SN) route.

Seeing the word “equivalent” within the question, we could think to employ our friend SN. Let’s say that we decided to sub in 3 for x. Doing so, and certainly using our calculators, we get a value of 120 for the original expression.

Plugging in 3 for x within option (A), we get a rather large number that is not the 120 we are seeking to match. Plugging in 3 for x within option (B), we do indeed get 120.

If you choose to check the remaining two options, this is not a bad thing. That said, if we consciously did not sub in 0 or 1(or numbers that are already part of the question), which is how we could have arrived at choosing to sub in 3 for x, we can feel quite good that which option first matches what we are looking for, we’re good.

7. Given the function $h(x)$, describe any of the transformations indicated by $2h(x + 2)^2 + 2$.

The two principal things you want to have at your fingertips are….

• i)
  The “+ 2” at the end/outside of the parentheses indicates a vertical shift of UP 2.
• ii)
  The “+2” inside the parentheses indicates a horizontal shift of LEFT 2.

If either idea is not locked yet, give our discussion on graphical shifts a read.

As a rather nerdy bonus, we threw in the lead 2. This is a bonus because there is no currently officially published question that is testing us on this idea. But, if it sounds familiar that it would indicate that the resulting graph is more narrow, cool.

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the nsivwotw(not-so-important-vocab-word-of-the-week)

concordance

def - agreement or consistency

more importantly….we could see the Spanish or Italian word con, which means with, at the start of this word. So, ifthings are in concordance, they agree/go along with each other.

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