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Question: 100
Although some pet owners feel that spaying or neutering their pets is unnecessary, it actually gives pets the chance for a longer and healthier life. Pets who are spayed or neutered do not have to endure the stress of going into heat and looking for a mate. Spaying or neutering your pet also helps drop the number of unwanted pets living in shelters or on the streets.
People who are against the idea of spaying and neutering argue that the animals don’t have a say in the process and we are taking away their “rights” to reproduce. Others suggest that spaying or neutering may change their pet’s personality. Animal experts and pet care professionals have debunked both of these arguments and support spaying and neutering as one of the most responsible actions a pet owner can take.
A student is writing a persuasive speech for his speech class about the value of spaying and neutering pets. Read the attached paragraphs from the student’s draft and complete this task:
What are more concrete or specific words to replace the three underlined words/phrases in the text? Choose the best answer.
A . lessen, proponents, affect
B . stabilize, adversaries, transform C . reduce, opponents, alter
D . improve, patrons, redesign
Answer: C
Question: 101
A student is writing an informational essay about the impact of global warming on polar bears in the Arctic.
As climate change and the effects of global warming are felt worldwide, scientists have determined that polar bears in the Arctic are just one of the many species facing extinction from our rapidly warming planet. As the ocean waters warm, the main food source for the bears is disappearing. Shortages of food are literally causing these creatures to die of starvation.
Whereas bears could previously walk out onto the sea ice and wait for a seal to poke its snout through, shrinking sea ice means the bears must now walk or swim much farther than they did before to find food. These longer migrations to find food are taking their toll on the bear population.
Seals are a polar bear’s main source of protein. They are also another victim of global warming. With the sea ice melting earlier in the warmer springtime and forming later in the warmer winters, seals struggle with finding a safe place to raise their pups. As a result, their numbers are starting to drop, meaning they are also no longer a plentiful food source for the bears
Read the attached passage and then answer this question about it. Choose the transition sentence that would improve the links between the first and the second paragraph.
A . Polar bears are not the only ones having a difficult time finding food. B . There are many reasons why the polar bears are starving.
C . Polar bears are having a difficult time finding food.
D . Scientists suggest that climate change is a result of the Earth’s natural cycle of heating exacerbated by man-made causes.
Answer: A
Question: 102
What is a better way to write this sentence? “Me and Alex went to the movies last weekend and saw a great film by our favorite director Steven Spielberg.”
A . “Alex and me went to the movies last weekend and saw a great film by our favorite director: Steven Spielberg.” B . “To see a great film by our favorite director: Steven Spielberg, Alex and me went to the movies last weekend.” C . “Alex and I went to the movies last weekend and saw a great film by our favorite director, Steven Spielberg.”
D . “Steven Spielberg is mine’s and Alex’s favorite director, so we went to the movies last weekend to see a movie by him.”
Answer: C
Question: 103
Read the text attached. Workplace Diversity
The twenty-first century workplace features much greater diversity than was common even a couple of generations ago. Individuals who might once have faced employment challenges because of religious beliefs, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly join their peers in interview pools and on the job. Each may bring a new outlook and different information to the table; employees can no longer take for granted that their coworkers think the same way they do. This pushes them to question their own assumptions, expand their understanding, and appreciate alternate viewpoints. The result is more creative ideas, approaches, and solutions. Thus, diversity may also enhance corporate decision-making.
Communicating with those who differ from us may require us to make an extra effort and even change our viewpoint, but it leads to better collaboration and more favorable outcomes overall, according to David Rock, director of the Neuro-Leadership Institute in New York City, who says diverse coworkers “challenge their own and others’ thinking.”2 According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), organizational diversity now includes more than just racial, gender, and religious differences. It also encompasses different thinking styles and personality types, as well as other factors such as physical and cognitive abilities and sexual orientation, all of which influence the way people perceive the world. “Finding the right mix of individuals to work on teams, and creating the conditions in which they can excel, are key business goals for today’s leaders, given that collaboration has become a paradigm of the twenty-first century workplace,” according to an SHRM article.3
Attracting workers who are not all alike is an important first step in the process of achieving
greater diversity. However, managers cannot stop there. Their goals must also encompass inclusion, or the engagement of all employees in the corporate culture. “The far bigger challenge is how people interact with each other once they’re on the job,” says Howard J. Ross, founder and chief learning officer at Cook Ross, a consulting firm specializing in diversity. “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the containerCthe place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different.”4
Workplace diversity is not a new policy idea; its origins date back to at least the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) or before. Census figures show that women made up less than 29 percent of the civilian workforce when Congress passed Title VII of the CRA prohibiting workplace discrimination. After passage of the law, gender diversity in the workplace expanded significantly. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the percentage of
women in the labor force increased from 48 percent in 1977 to a peak of 60 percent in 1999. Over the last five years, the percentage has held relatively steady at 57 percent. Over the past forty years, the total number of women in the labor force has risen from 41 million in 1977 to 71 million in 2017.5 The BLS projects that the number of women in the U.S. labor force will reach 92 million in 2050 (an increase that far outstrips population growth).
The statistical data show a similar trend for African American, Asian American, and Hispanic workers (Figure 8.2). Just before passage of the CRA in 1964, the percentages of minorities in the official on-the-books workforce were relatively small compared with their representation in the total population. In 1966, Asians accounted for just 0.5 percent of private-sector employment, with Hispanics at 2.5 percent and African Americans at 8.2 percent. 6 However, Hispanic employment numbers have significantly increased since the CRA became law; they are expected to more than double from 15 percent in 2010 to 30 percent of the labor force in 2050. Similarly, Asian Americans are projected to increase their share from 5 to 8 percent between 2010 and 2050.
Figure 8.2
There is a distinct contrast in workforce demographics between 2010 and projected numbers for 2050. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Much more progress remains to be made, however. For example, many people think of the technology sector as the workplace of open-minded millennials. Yet Google, as one example of a large and successful company, revealed in its latest diversity statistics that its progress toward a more inclusive workforce may be steady but it is very slow. Men still account for the great majority of employees at the corporation; only about 30 percent are women, and women fill fewer than 20 percent of Google’s technical roles (Figure 8.3). The company has shown a similar lack of gender diversity in leadership roles, where women hold fewer than 25 percent of positions. Despite modest progress, an
ocean-sized gap remains to be narrowed. When it comes to ethnicity, approximately 56 percent of Google employees are white. About 35 percent are Asian, 3.5 percent are Latino, and 2.4 percent are black, and of the company’s management and leadership roles, 68 percent are held by whites.
Figure 8.3
Google is emblematic of the technology sector, and this graphic shows just how far from equality and diversity the industry remains. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Google is not alone in coming up short on diversity. Recruiting and hiring a diverse workforce has been a challenge for most major technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo (now owned by Verizon); all have reported gender and ethnic shortfalls in their workforces.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has made available 2014 data comparing the participation of women and minorities in the high-technology sector with their participation in U.S. private-sector employment overall, and the results show the technology sector still lags.8 Compared with all private-sector industries, the high-technology industry employs a larger share of whites (68.5%), Asian Americans (14%), and men (64%), and a smaller share of African Americans (7.4%), Latinos (8%), and women (36%). Whites also represent a much higher share of those in the executive category (83.3%), whereas other groups hold a significantly lower share, including African Americans (2%), Latinos (3.1%), and Asian Americans (10.6%). In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of executives are men and only 20 percent are women. This compares negatively with all other private-sector industries, in which 70 percent of executives are men and 30 percent women.
Technology companies are generally not trying to hide the problem. Many have been publicly releasing diversity statistics since 2014, and they have been vocal about their intentions to close diversity gaps. More than thirty technology companies, including Intel, Spotify, Lyft, Airbnb, and Pinterest, each signed a written pledge to increase workforce diversity and inclusion, and Google pledged to spend more than $100 million to address diversity issues.9
Diversity and inclusion are positive steps for business organizations, and despite their sometimes slow pace, the majority are moving in the right direction. Diversity strengthens the company’s internal relationships with employees and improves employee morale, as well as its external relationships with customer groups. Communication, a core value of most successful businesses, becomes more effective with a diverse workforce. Performance improves for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that acknowledging diversity and respecting differences is the ethical thing to do.
According to the attached passage, which of these statements is not true about diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
A . Workplace diversity is an idea that is new to the twenty-first century corporate world and has gained more attention since the turn of the millennium.
B . Workplace diversity can increase creativity and enhance employee morale.
C . Workplace diversity and increased inclusion can be challenging for companies to institute.
D . Workplace diversity also requires workplace inclusion, where all employees are able to access and engage in the company’s culture and feel like valuable members of the corporate “team.”
Answer: A
Question: 104
A student is writing a biography about a person she considers to be the most influential person of the twentieth century. She would like to conduct more research to find resources to include in her essay.
Which two sites are the least likely to offer her reliable, factual information she can use in her biographical essay? Site 1: The Smithsonian Institution website: www.si.edu
Site 2: The blog post of a Hollywood insider: www.insidehw.com Site 3: The Public Broadcasting Service website: www.pbs.org Site 4: The archives of the National Library: www.nlb.gov
Site 5: The top 10 most influential people list: www.people.com A . sites 1 and 5
B . sites 1 and 3
C . sites 2 and 4
D . sites 2 and 5
Answer: D
Question: 105
Read the text attached. Workplace Diversity
The twenty-first century workplace features much greater diversity than was common even a couple of generations ago. Individuals who might once have faced employment challenges because of religious beliefs, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly join their peers in interview pools and on the job. Each may bring a new outlook and different information to the table; employees can no longer take for granted that their coworkers think the same way they do. This pushes them to question their own assumptions, expand their understanding, and appreciate alternate viewpoints. The result is more creative ideas, approaches, and solutions. Thus, diversity may also enhance corporate decision-making.
Communicating with those who differ from us may require us to make an extra effort and even change our viewpoint, but it leads to better collaboration and more favorable outcomes overall, according to David Rock, director of the Neuro-Leadership Institute in New York City, who says diverse coworkers “challenge their own and others’ thinking.”2 According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), organizational diversity now includes more than just racial, gender, and religious differences. It also encompasses different thinking styles and personality types, as well as other factors such as physical and cognitive abilities and sexual orientation, all of which influence the way people perceive the world. “Finding the right mix of individuals to work on teams, and creating the
conditions in which they can excel, are key business goals for today’s leaders, given that collaboration has become a paradigm of the twenty-first century workplace,” according to an SHRM article.3
Attracting workers who are not all alike is an important first step in the process of achieving
greater diversity. However, managers cannot stop there. Their goals must also encompass inclusion, or the engagement of all employees in the corporate culture. “The far bigger challenge is how people interact with each other once they’re on the job,” says Howard J. Ross, founder and chief learning officer at Cook Ross, a consulting firm specializing in diversity. “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the containerCthe place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different.”4
Workplace diversity is not a new policy idea; its origins date back to at least the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) or before. Census figures show that women made up less than 29 percent of the civilian workforce when Congress passed Title VII of the CRA prohibiting workplace discrimination. After passage of the law, gender diversity in the workplace expanded significantly. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the percentage of women in the labor force increased from 48 percent in 1977 to a peak of 60 percent in 1999. Over the last five years, the percentage has held relatively steady at 57 percent. Over the past forty years, the total number of women in the labor force has risen from 41 million in 1977 to 71 million in 2017.5 The BLS projects that the number of women in the U.S. labor force will reach 92 million in 2050 (an increase that far outstrips population growth).
The statistical data show a similar trend for African American, Asian American, and Hispanic workers (Figure 8.2). Just before passage of the CRA in 1964, the percentages of minorities in the official on-the-books workforce were relatively small compared with their representation in the total population. In 1966, Asians accounted for just 0.5 percent of private-sector employment, with Hispanics at 2.5 percent and African Americans at 8.2 percent. 6 However, Hispanic employment numbers have significantly increased since the CRA became law; they are expected to more than double from 15 percent in 2010 to 30 percent of the labor force in 2050. Similarly, Asian Americans are projected to increase their share from 5 to 8 percent between 2010 and 2050.
Figure 8.2
There is a distinct contrast in workforce demographics between 2010 and projected numbers for 2050. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Much more progress remains to be made, however. For example, many people think of the technology sector as the workplace of open-minded millennials. Yet Google, as one example of a large and successful company, revealed in its latest diversity statistics that its progress toward a more inclusive workforce may be steady but it is very slow. Men still account for the great majority of employees at the corporation; only about 30 percent are women, and women fill fewer than 20 percent of Google’s technical roles (Figure 8.3). The company has shown a similar lack of gender diversity in leadership roles, where women hold fewer than 25 percent of positions. Despite modest progress, an
ocean-sized gap remains to be narrowed. When it comes to ethnicity, approximately 56 percent of Google employees are white. About 35 percent are Asian, 3.5 percent are Latino, and 2.4 percent are black, and of the company’s management and leadership roles, 68 percent are held by whites.
Figure 8.3
Google is emblematic of the technology sector, and this graphic shows just how far from equality and diversity the industry remains. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Google is not alone in coming up short on diversity. Recruiting and hiring a diverse workforce has been a challenge for most major technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo (now owned by Verizon); all have reported gender and ethnic shortfalls in their workforces.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has made available 2014 data comparing the participation of women and minorities in the high-technology sector with their participation in U.S. private-sector employment overall, and the results show the technology sector still lags.8 Compared with all private-sector industries, the high-technology industry employs a larger share of whites (68.5%), Asian Americans (14%), and men (64%), and a smaller share of African Americans (7.4%), Latinos (8%), and women (36%). Whites also represent a much higher share of those in the executive category (83.3%), whereas other groups hold a significantly lower share, including African Americans (2%), Latinos (3.1%), and Asian Americans (10.6%). In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of executives are men and only 20 percent are women. This compares negatively with all other private-sector industries, in which 70 percent of executives are men and 30 percent women.
Technology companies are generally not trying to hide the problem. Many have been publicly releasing diversity statistics since 2014, and they have been vocal about their intentions to close diversity gaps. More than thirty technology companies, including Intel, Spotify, Lyft, Airbnb, and Pinterest, each signed a written pledge to increase workforce diversity and inclusion, and Google pledged to spend more than $100 million to address diversity issues.9
Diversity and inclusion are positive steps for business organizations, and despite their sometimes slow pace, the majority are moving in the right direction. Diversity strengthens the company’s internal relationships with employees
and improves employee morale, as well as its external relationships with customer groups. Communication, a core value of most successful businesses, becomes more effective with a diverse workforce. Performance improves for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that acknowledging diversity and respecting differences is the ethical thing to do.
According to the attached passage, which of these statements is not true about diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
A . Workplace diversity is an idea that is new to the twenty-first century corporate world and has gained more attention since the turn of the millennium.
B . Workplace diversity can increase creativity and enhance employee morale.
C . Workplace diversity and increased inclusion can be challenging for companies to institute.
D . Workplace diversity also requires workplace inclusion, where all employees are able to access and engage in the company’s culture and feel like valuable members of the corporate “team.”
Answer: A
Question: 106
Read the text attached. Workplace Diversity
The twenty-first century workplace features much greater diversity than was common even a couple of generations ago. Individuals who might once have faced employment challenges because of religious beliefs, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly join their peers in interview pools and on the job. Each may bring a new outlook and different information to the table; employees can no longer take for granted that their coworkers think the same way they do. This pushes them to question their own assumptions, expand their understanding, and appreciate alternate viewpoints. The result is more creative ideas, approaches, and solutions. Thus, diversity may also enhance corporate decision-making.
Communicating with those who differ from us may require us to make an extra effort and even change our viewpoint, but it leads to better collaboration and more favorable outcomes overall, according to David Rock, director of the Neuro-Leadership Institute in New York City, who says diverse coworkers “challenge their own and others’ thinking.”2 According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), organizational diversity now includes more than just racial, gender, and religious differences. It also encompasses different thinking styles and personality types, as well as other factors such as physical and cognitive abilities and sexual orientation, all of which influence the way people perceive the world. “Finding the right mix of individuals to work on teams, and creating the conditions in which they can excel, are key business goals for today’s leaders, given that collaboration has become a paradigm of the twenty-first century workplace,” according to an SHRM article.3
Attracting workers who are not all alike is an important first step in the process of achieving
greater diversity. However, managers cannot stop there. Their goals must also encompass inclusion, or the engagement of all employees in the corporate culture. “The far bigger challenge is how people interact with each other once they’re on the job,” says Howard J. Ross, founder and chief learning officer at Cook Ross, a consulting firm specializing in diversity. “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the containerCthe place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different.”4
Workplace diversity is not a new policy idea; its origins date back to at least the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) or before. Census figures show that women made up less than 29 percent of the civilian workforce when Congress passed Title VII of the CRA prohibiting workplace discrimination. After passage of the law, gender diversity
in the workplace expanded significantly. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the percentage of women in the labor force increased from 48 percent in 1977 to a peak of 60 percent in 1999. Over the last five years, the percentage has held relatively steady at 57 percent. Over the past forty years, the total number of women in the labor force has risen from 41 million in 1977 to 71 million in 2017.5 The BLS projects that the number of women in the U.S. labor force will reach 92 million in 2050 (an increase that far outstrips population growth).
The statistical data show a similar trend for African American, Asian American, and Hispanic workers (Figure 8.2). Just before passage of the CRA in 1964, the percentages of minorities in the official on-the-books workforce were relatively small compared with their representation in the total population. In 1966, Asians accounted for just 0.5 percent of private-sector employment, with Hispanics at 2.5 percent and African Americans at 8.2 percent. 6 However, Hispanic employment numbers have significantly increased since the CRA became law; they are expected to more than double from 15 percent in 2010 to 30 percent of the labor force in 2050. Similarly, Asian Americans are projected to increase their share from 5 to 8 percent between 2010 and 2050.
Figure 8.2
There is a distinct contrast in workforce demographics between 2010 and projected numbers for 2050. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Much more progress remains to be made, however. For example, many people think of the technology sector as the workplace of open-minded millennials. Yet Google, as one example of a large and successful company, revealed in its latest diversity statistics that its progress toward a more inclusive workforce may be steady but it is very slow. Men still account for the great majority of employees at the corporation; only about 30 percent are women, and women fill fewer than 20 percent of Google’s technical roles (Figure 8.3). The company has shown a similar lack of gender diversity in leadership roles, where women hold fewer than 25 percent of positions. Despite modest progress, an
ocean-sized gap remains to be narrowed. When it comes to ethnicity, approximately 56 percent of Google employees are white. About 35 percent are Asian, 3.5 percent are Latino, and 2.4 percent are black, and of the company’s management and leadership roles, 68 percent are held by whites.
Figure 8.3
Google is emblematic of the technology sector, and this graphic shows just how far from equality and diversity the industry remains. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Google is not alone in coming up short on diversity. Recruiting and hiring a diverse workforce has been a challenge for most major technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo (now owned by Verizon); all have reported gender and ethnic shortfalls in their workforces.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has made available 2014 data comparing the participation of women and minorities in the high-technology sector with their participation in U.S. private-sector employment overall, and the results show the technology sector still lags.8 Compared with all private-sector industries, the high-technology industry employs a larger share of whites (68.5%), Asian Americans (14%), and men (64%), and a smaller share of African Americans (7.4%), Latinos (8%), and women (36%). Whites also represent a much higher share of those in the executive category (83.3%), whereas other groups hold a significantly lower share, including African Americans (2%), Latinos (3.1%), and Asian Americans (10.6%). In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of executives are men and only 20 percent are women. This compares negatively with all other private-sector industries, in which 70 percent of executives are men and 30 percent women.
Technology companies are generally not trying to hide the problem. Many have been publicly releasing diversity statistics since 2014, and they have been vocal about their intentions to close diversity gaps. More than thirty technology companies, including Intel, Spotify, Lyft, Airbnb, and Pinterest, each signed a written pledge to increase workforce diversity and inclusion, and Google pledged to spend more than $100 million to address diversity issues.9
Diversity and inclusion are positive steps for business organizations, and despite their sometimes slow pace, the majority are moving in the right direction. Diversity strengthens the company’s internal relationships with employees and improves employee morale, as well as its external relationships with customer groups. Communication, a core value of most successful businesses, becomes more effective with a diverse workforce. Performance improves for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that acknowledging diversity and respecting differences is the ethical thing to do.
According to the attached passage, which of these statements is not true about diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
A . Workplace diversity is an idea that is new to the twenty-first century corporate world and has gained more attention since the turn of the millennium.
B . Workplace diversity can increase creativity and enhance employee morale.
C . Workplace diversity and increased inclusion can be challenging for companies to institute.
D . Workplace diversity also requires workplace inclusion, where all employees are able to access and engage in the company’s culture and feel like valuable members of the corporate “team.”
Answer: A
Question: 107
A student is writing an informational essay about the impact of global warming on polar bears in the Arctic.
As climate change and the effects of global warming are felt worldwide, scientists have determined that polar bears in the Arctic are just one of the many species facing extinction from our rapidly warming planet. As the ocean waters warm, the main food source for the bears is disappearing. Shortages of food are literally causing these creatures to die of starvation.
Whereas bears could previously walk out onto the sea ice and wait for a seal to poke its snout through, shrinking sea ice means the bears must now walk or swim much farther than they did before to find food. These longer migrations to find food are taking their toll on the bear population.
Seals are a polar bear’s main source of protein. They are also another victim of global warming. With the sea ice melting earlier in the warmer springtime and forming later in the warmer winters, seals struggle with finding a safe place to raise their pups. As a result, their numbers are starting to drop, meaning they are also no longer a plentiful food source for the bears
Read the attached passage and then answer this question about it. You are asked to help a student with his conclusion for the attached essay. Which would be the best conclusion option he should use?
A . The effects of global warming and climate change are seen in a chain-reaction in nature. The melting of the ice creates a struggle for the seals as they seek a safe place to raise their young, and with fewer seals that are more difficult to find the polar bears are starving. The ecosystem is all interrelated and global warming shows us just how delicate a balance it is.
B . Polar bears find themselves in a battle with humans over their main food source. With locals killing seals for food and fur, the polar bears are finding it more and more difficult to hunt. We must enact stricter hunting regulations to save the seals, which will, in turn help to save the polar bears.
C . Before the majestic animals of the Arctic become extinct, people must work hard to drop their greenhouse gas emissions, including driving less and recycling more. Only by reversing the damaging effects of greenhouse gasses can the animals of the Artic be saved. We much step up and do our part to help save the planet.
D . Scientists are still working to understand the effects of global warming and climate change. In Australia, as climate change sparks huge and destructive wildfires, the eucalyptus trees native to the area are being destroyed. This, in turn, has a huge impact on another bear, the koala bear.
Answer: A
Question: 108
There are 125 adults and children attending a movie in a theatre. The cost for an adult to attend the movie is $5.75 and a child pays 3.50. The theatre raised $617.50 in total sales for the movie.
If a represents the number of adults and c represents the number of children that attend the movie, which of the following systems of equations can be used to find the number of adults and children that attended the movie? A . a + c = 125 5.75a + 3.50 c = 617.50
B . 5.75a + 3.50c = 125 a + c = 617.50 C . a + c = 125 3.50a + 5.75c = 617.50 D . a + c = 617.50 3.50a + 5.75c = 125
Answer: A
Question: 109
Read the text attached.
Study Suggests Today’s US Students Are Less Efficient Readers
Do today’s students perform better than their peers in 1960? Given the advances in education and technology, it would be natural to assume that the answer is a resounding “yes.” But, when it comes to reading efficiency, new research suggests that that’s not the case. The research, published by the International Literacy Association, compares the comprehension-based silent reading efficiency of US students (grades 2C12) in 2011 with data collected in 1960. A key finding was that students fall further behind as they advance through the grades, wrote Alexandra Spichtig, Ph.D., Chief Resource Officer of Reading Plus, and first author of the study. The study showed that today’s second-grade students are comparable to their peers of 50 years ago, but that by the end of high school, students’ comprehension- based silent reading rates average 19 percent slower than the rates of their 1960 peers. “What we know C and the data underscore this C is that for many students, the progression to efficient silent reading does not develop naturally. Many students need structured silent reading instruction,” explains Mark Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of Reading Plus, a web-based silent reading program for schools. Some of the benefits of implementing silent reading instruction at home or in school are: expanded vocabulary, improved comprehension, increased efficiency, enhanced reading enjoyment, [and] improved writing skills. Experts agree that without extensive silent reading practices in the classroom or at home, students will continue to struggle and literacy rates will continue to fall short or fall behind. “Effective reading instruction must integrate fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension practice tailored to meet each student’s unique needs. This study demonstrates that as long as structured silent reading practice is neglected in this country, the literacy problem is likely to continue,” Taylor adds. While researchers can’t pinpoint reasons for the decline in silent reading efficiency from that of 50 years ago, it stands to reason that those students who engage in structured silent reading practice become more efficient readers and take with them a love of books that lasts far past their high school graduation.
A student plans to use the attached text to write an argument paper about the need for increased reading instruction in school. Which three of the following sources would provide the best and most credible information she might also use?
Source 1: A chart showing the reading assessment scores of students in grades 2-12 over the past 25 years.
Source 2: A blog written by a 4th grade teacher about his experiences with student readers over his 15 year teaching career.
Source 3: A map showing the states with the lowest reading comprehension scores. Source 4: A research paper about learning disabilities in early childhood.
Source 5: A study on the impact of budget cuts on classroom instruction.
Source 6: A newspaper article about the reading demands required by employers and their disappointment in the reading skills of the next generation of employees.
A . sources 1, 2, and 6
B . sources 1, 3, and 6
C . sources 2, 5 and 6
Answer: A
Question: 110
Read the text attached. Workplace Diversity
The twenty-first century workplace features much greater diversity than was common even a couple of generations ago. Individuals who might once have faced employment challenges because of religious beliefs, ability differences, or sexual orientation now regularly join their peers in interview pools and on the job. Each may bring a new outlook and different information to the table; employees can no longer take for granted that their coworkers think the same way they do. This pushes them to question their own assumptions, expand their understanding, and appreciate alternate viewpoints. The result is more creative ideas, approaches, and solutions. Thus, diversity may also enhance corporate decision-making.
Communicating with those who differ from us may require us to make an extra effort and even change our viewpoint, but it leads to better collaboration and more favorable outcomes overall, according to David Rock, director of the Neuro-Leadership Institute in New York City, who says diverse coworkers “challenge their own and others’ thinking.”2 According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), organizational diversity now includes more than just racial, gender, and religious differences. It also encompasses different thinking styles and personality types, as well as other factors such as physical and cognitive abilities and sexual orientation, all of which influence the way people perceive the world. “Finding the right mix of individuals to work on teams, and creating the conditions in which they can excel, are key business goals for today’s leaders, given that collaboration has become a paradigm of the twenty-first century workplace,” according to an SHRM article.3
Attracting workers who are not all alike is an important first step in the process of achieving
greater diversity. However, managers cannot stop there. Their goals must also encompass inclusion, or the engagement of all employees in the corporate culture. “The far bigger challenge is how people interact with each other once they’re on the job,” says Howard J. Ross, founder and chief learning officer at Cook Ross, a consulting firm specializing in diversity. “Diversity is being invited to the party; inclusion is being asked to dance. Diversity is about the ingredients, the mix of people and perspectives. Inclusion is about the containerCthe place that allows employees to feel they belong, to feel both accepted and different.”4
Workplace diversity is not a new policy idea; its origins date back to at least the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (CRA) or before. Census figures show that women made up less than 29 percent of the civilian workforce when Congress passed Title VII of the CRA prohibiting workplace discrimination. After passage of the law, gender diversity in the workplace expanded significantly. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the percentage of women in the labor force increased from 48 percent in 1977 to a peak of 60 percent in 1999. Over the last five years, the percentage has held relatively steady at 57 percent. Over the past forty years, the total number of women in the labor force has risen from 41 million in 1977 to 71 million in 2017.5 The BLS projects that the number of women in the U.S. labor force will reach 92 million in 2050 (an increase that far outstrips population growth).
The statistical data show a similar trend for African American, Asian American, and Hispanic workers (Figure 8.2). Just before passage of the CRA in 1964, the percentages of minorities in the official on-the-books workforce were relatively small compared with their representation in the total population. In 1966, Asians accounted for just 0.5 percent of private-sector employment, with Hispanics at 2.5 percent and African Americans at 8.2 percent. 6 However, Hispanic employment numbers have significantly increased since the CRA became law; they are expected to more than double from 15 percent in 2010 to 30 percent of the labor force in 2050. Similarly, Asian Americans are projected to
Figure 8.2
There is a distinct contrast in workforce demographics between 2010 and projected numbers for 2050. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Much more progress remains to be made, however. For example, many people think of the technology sector as the workplace of open-minded millennials. Yet Google, as one example of a large and successful company, revealed in its latest diversity statistics that its progress toward a more inclusive workforce may be steady but it is very slow. Men still account for the great majority of employees at the corporation; only about 30 percent are women, and women fill fewer than 20 percent of Google’s technical roles (Figure 8.3). The company has shown a similar lack of gender diversity in leadership roles, where women hold fewer than 25 percent of positions. Despite modest progress, an
ocean-sized gap remains to be narrowed. When it comes to ethnicity, approximately 56 percent of Google employees are white. About 35 percent are Asian, 3.5 percent are Latino, and 2.4 percent are black, and of the company’s management and leadership roles, 68 percent are held by whites.
Figure 8.3
Google is emblematic of the technology sector, and this graphic shows just how far from equality and diversity the industry remains. (credit: attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)
Google is not alone in coming up short on diversity. Recruiting and hiring a diverse workforce has been a challenge for most major technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo (now owned by Verizon); all have reported gender and ethnic shortfalls in their workforces.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has made available 2014 data comparing the participation of women and minorities in the high-technology sector with their participation in U.S. private-sector employment overall, and the results show the technology sector still lags.8 Compared with all private-sector industries, the high-technology industry employs a larger share of whites (68.5%), Asian Americans (14%), and men (64%), and a smaller share of African Americans (7.4%), Latinos (8%), and women (36%). Whites also represent a much higher share of those in the executive category (83.3%), whereas other groups hold a significantly lower share, including African Americans (2%), Latinos (3.1%), and Asian Americans (10.6%). In addition, and perhaps not surprisingly, 80 percent of executives are men and only 20 percent are women. This compares negatively with all other private-sector industries, in which 70 percent of executives are men and 30 percent women.
Technology companies are generally not trying to hide the problem. Many have been publicly releasing diversity statistics since 2014, and they have been vocal about their intentions to close diversity gaps. More than thirty technology companies, including Intel, Spotify, Lyft, Airbnb, and Pinterest, each signed a written pledge to increase workforce diversity and inclusion, and Google pledged to spend more than $100 million to address diversity issues.9
Diversity and inclusion are positive steps for business organizations, and despite their sometimes slow pace, the majority are moving in the right direction. Diversity strengthens the company’s internal relationships with employees and improves employee morale, as well as its external relationships with customer groups. Communication, a core value of most successful businesses, becomes more effective with a diverse workforce. Performance improves for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that acknowledging diversity and respecting differences is the ethical thing to do.
According to the attached passage, which of these statements is not true about diversity and inclusion in the workplace?
A . Workplace diversity is an idea that is new to the twenty-first century corporate world and has gained more attention since the turn of the millennium.
B . Workplace diversity can increase creativity and enhance employee morale.
C . Workplace diversity and increased inclusion can be challenging for companies to institute.
D . Workplace diversity also requires workplace inclusion, where all employees are able to access and engage in the company’s culture and feel like valuable members of the corporate “team.”
Answer: A
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