miniQuiz Week of 5/12/2026

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

This test, one that can very happily be studiously trained for, is one that clearly seeks to reward those of us who have chosen to work toward higher scores. For example, if you do not already know why the two commas that are used within the previous sentence are where they are, this is acquirable knowledge. Training for weeks or months, we become able to execute more smoothly on test day.

*Questions - Do you already have a name for the phrase bracketed by commas within the first sentence above? Do you already have a sense of how the comma within the last sentence above is doing what it is doing?

We can call the phrase an appositive. Using this name is not of massive import; knowing this concept inside and out, though, is something that we all want to comfortably be the case by test day.

Equally not of huge significance is calling an IDP an IDP(especially since it is our own made-up acronym.) What would be impactful to have in place is, again, the idea. Seeing the opening phrase of “Training for weeks or months” as describing the “we” that comes immediately after the comma is one of the various ideas that we are training to have at our fingertips.

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

After a few weeks of mystery, all of his neighbors in King’s Abbott began to wonder about the man they thought was named _____ celebrity would have truly delighted the incessantly inquisitive Caroline.

A) Porrott; someone whose B) Porrott, someone whose C) Porrott — someone whose D) Porrott someone whose

The correct answer is (B).

At some point, it is unlikely for all of us not to immediately notice the dash within option (C), see that there is no other dash within the blurb, and then feel confident that we can strike out this option.

It would be very good if it felt routine to also strike out option (A), as what comes after the potential semicolon is not a complete sentence.

It definitely works if you select (B) by instinct over (A). It is even better to know that we’re using the comma within (B), because the sentence ends with a description.

3. The researchers’ key insight was to use acceleration measurements not of stars and gas but of rapidly rotating neutron stars known as pulsars. Whereas the former measurements can typically be made only indirectly, calling for the Galactic assumptions, the latter ones can be made directly. The team introduced a general procedure for transforming such direct pulsar-acceleration data into a determination of the Galaxy’s mass distribution in a very small local region—within just 2 kiloparsecs of the Sun.

Based on the text, the researchers would most likely agree with which statement?

A) No assumption can be validated until years of rigorous research have been conducted. B) Within a single set of experiments, only a very small region of space can be studied effectively. C) The evolution of key insights is tied to a dedicated resolve to further scientific knowledge. D) There was a limitation tied to certain measurements that had previously been made.

The correct answer is (D).

Depending on what Path you’re currently on, it very much works to simply dislike this question. For one thing, subject matter matters, and so, if you’re not loving the subject matter here, act on that assessment. That said, let’s briefly acknowledge something about the correct answer, make a minor comment about option (B), and then, you can decide to read more/see if we want to talk more.

Within this blurb, we’re getting a cool “former” and “latter” thing. Reading that the “former”(which, in this case, we could interpret as earlier) measurements “can typically be made only indirectly”, we can think there there is a “limitation” on these earlier measurements. This is a route to clicking on (D) as our correct answer.

Let’s not make this a bigger thing than it is, but we could cite the presence of the word “only” within option (B) as leading us to think that this is an example of a wrong answer being wrong because it is a bit too strong.

If you’re wondering about why option (C) is wrong, it might be better in this case….

• i) to embrace that (D) is better, so let’s not think about why (C) is worse.
• ii) to feel great about (D) being better because we brought the power of QUOTING in to the mix.

Are we good? Shall we talk more about something?

4. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?

Dr. Sheppard regularly displayed _____ toward his sister’s remarks, often times solely nodding his head in order to pretend that he was listening.

A) a lassitude B) an animosity C) a reluctance D) an indifference

The correct answer is (D).

If you do not know what the word “lassitude” means, you can be assured that basically none of us do. If you do not know what “indifference” means, it’s a good word to add to your working vocabulary.

We could put forth that a quotable clue here is “pretend that he was listening”. This phrase gives us a clear sense that he does not really care, which pushes us to (D) as our correct answer.

Depending on what you know about the words within options (B) and (C), we could assert that you could have made a better decision.(If you did select one of these options and you want some feedback, clue us in.)

5. Two sisters are standing on an elevated platform and are about to take turns launching a projectile. The equation $h(t) = -3.2t^2 + 11.4t + 7.4$ represents this situation, where $h$ is the height of the projectile above the ground, in yards, t seconds after it is launched. According to the equation, what is the height, in yards, from which the projectile is launched?

The correct answer is 7.4.

This question can fall under the rather broad umbrella of what we call Understanding Equations(UE) questions.

Smoothly realizing that the 7.4 from the equation is our correct answer here is likely tied to two things….

• i) The interpretation of the final question as asking us for the initial/starting height.
• ii) The knowledge that, within many, many equations, the value by itself represents an initial/starting value.

So, if we can think of the moment when the “projectile is launched” as the starting/initial point we’re talking about, we’re typing in 7.4 and on our way forward.

6. The altitude within an equilateral triangle is 12. What is the perimeter of this equilateral triangle?

A) 36 B) $\nicefrac{72}{√3}$ C) $\nicefrac{144}{√3}$ D) 72√3

The correct answer is (B).

Did you immediately move past this question? It would have been a power move to do so. And, multiple thoughts could have prompted us to make this outstanding move….

• i) We do not love geometry in general, and we can sense that this question leans toward the more complex side of the spectrum.
• ii) We’ve made a strong initial assessment that we do not have a crystal clear sense of how to approach things here.

As you will very likely not be surprised to read, we intentionally put this question second to continue to bring to life that we know that questions are not in order of difficulty.

Ok, to be crystal clear now, it is very very very likely that your amazing future is in the amazing shape it will be in without reading the rest of this analysis. So head on out, read other parts of what’s within this mQ and enjoy the rest of your amazing day.

Actually, we’ll throw in one final comment, which is that, for the many of us who will simply guess on this question and move on, it would be better not to guess (A). If this is something you want to talk more about, let us know.

……

……

If you’re still reading, it pretty much kind of has to be a thing that you’re on the Path to 700+ on the Math side of things.

If you selected (D), we did intend to bait you in to that. Legitimately thinking (D) is the answer is understandable, and it would indicate that you had a sense of how this question plays with the idea of the special triangle, the 30˚-60˚-90˚.

If you drew an equilateral triangle and then dropped the altitude, you would have indeed seen 30˚-60˚-90˚ triangles. We can label the altitude we dropped as 12. Knowing things about the 30˚-60˚-90˚ triangle, some jump to then labeling some other side 12√3, and doing so is a potential incorrect route toward (D).

But, as we can see if we click on the Reference area, the longer leg within a 30˚-60˚-90˚ triangle is √3 times the shorter leg, and so, if the longer leg is 12, then the shorter leg is 12/√3. Properly labeling the shorter leg as such, we can then realize that a full side of the equilateral triangle is 24/√3, and now we are firmly on route to the correct answer of (B).

That’s all we’re saying here. Again, you can always reach out, if you think there’s more to discuss.

7. On the line with the equation $y = ax + k$, lie the points (6, 4), (-3, 10), and (15, -2). What is the value of $k - a$?

The correct answer is 8.666 or 8.667 or $\nicefrac{26}{3}$.

We are big fans of all sorts of routes to the correct answer here. Maybe, you started by determining that the slope of this line is $\nicefrac{-2}{3}$.(In determining this value, we have options!) Maybe, you started by drawing an $xy$-graph and plotting the points. We are big fans of both starting points.

Ultimately, if you arrived at the equation of the line to be $y = \nicefrac{-2}{3}x + 8$, you were set up to type in the correct final answer in one of the three ways listed above. So, before we give you the option of talking to us about a regression, let’s acknowledge two things…

• i) It would a bit sad to miss this question because you only typed in 8.66 or 8.67 or 8.7. How we input answers to non-multiple choice questions matters.
• ii) If we got you again with thinking the answer is 7 $\nicefrac{1}{3}$ or $\nicefrac{22}{3}$ or 7.333, there’s either a level of test awareness that we can sharpen or there’s better go-to-your-calculator habits we can cultivate.

Ok, now, if you’ve wondered about the regression aspect of desmos, we can talk about it.

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

disabuse

definition - to correct a misconception

more importantly….we want to acknowledge that though it

is definitely good to know that many words starting with “dis-” are negative, there are exceptions, this word being one. There is a way here to potentially come to the thought

that this word is not negative. Thoughts….

This isn’t something we’ll talk about with any degree of regularity, but if the idea of a double negative came to mind, such a thought could definitely lead us to thinking that “disabuse” is not a negative word.

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