ISEE Upper Verbal practice test

A notable achievement is prominent or worthy of notice.

An emphatic statement is forceful and strongly expressed, not hesitant.

Nosy and prying both describe an intrusive interest in other people’s private affairs. Sociable means friendly, observant means quick to notice things, and talkative means inclined to talk a lot; none necessarily implies invading privacy.

Confident best matches the self-assured force of assertive, whereas hostile suggests antagonism. Passive and timid are opposites.

Exemplary work is excellent enough to serve as a model for others.

Unscathed means unharmed or safe after danger or damage.

Arrogant and conceited express disapproval of an excessively high opinion of oneself. Confident and assured describe self-belief; proud can express legitimate satisfaction and does not necessarily imply arrogance.

To embellish is to decorate, adorn, or add ornamental detail.

Decorous means proper and polite; proper is the synonym. The strongest trap is vulgar, the opposite of refined behavior.

“Prudent” means showing sound judgment; “judicious” is the closest synonym.

Resolute describes admirable firmness and determination. Stubborn also implies firmness but criticizes an unreasonable refusal to change.

To encroach is to intrude or invade gradually into another area.

Expansive can mean covering a wide area or broad in scope, so extensive is the best synonym.

Unctuous and fawning describe unpleasantly excessive or insincere attempts to please. Courteous, gracious, and polite describe pleasant social behavior favorably.

Impugn means to challenge or attack the truth, validity, or integrity of something. Vindicate means to clear from blame or justify; obstruct means to hinder; provoke means to incite.

A brusque reply is abrupt and curt, often to the point of seeming rude. Patient is the opposite; careful and formal describe other manners, not curtness.

Trite means overused and lacking originality; banal is the closest synonym.

In- means not, tract means pull or draw, and -able expresses capability. Intractable describes someone difficult to manage or persuade: obstinate. Tractable has the opposite meaning.

Profligate means recklessly wasteful, so wasteful matches that negative charge. Generous treats free spending as a virtue, plentiful misses the blame, and economical is the opposite.

Ostensibly means seemingly or outwardly; genuinely is the strongest trap because it confuses appearance with truth.

A small sample cannot support a broad claim, so the scientist avoids exaggerating the results.

Matching each blank to its definition gives analyze … dismiss. The alternative “ignore … study” assigns the opposite qualities.

Taking quotations out of context compromises the quality and trustworthiness of the evidence.

The solos are sequential because they follow one another. Their movement content is cumulative because each retains all previous movements and adds another. Successive fits the timing, but the added movements make identical incorrect.

The rule blocks Malik despite the application’s strength; preclude means prevent or make impossible.

“Yet” contrasts a neighborhood-level expected scope with a citywide submission; localized … panoramic fits.

Independently removable self-contained sections make a design modular, not primitive, rigid, or wasteful.

The sentence’s register supports wry first and serious second. The pair “solemn … frivolous” is grammatically smooth but tonally wrong.

Conflicting trial results are inconclusive because they do not support a final determination.

Willingness to revise an opinion when evidence changes defines open-minded. Intransigent reverses that definition.

The print is relevant because it may connect a boot to the scene, but another person could own the same kind of boot, so it is not decisive. “Relevant … inconclusive” would say the evidence is not inconclusive—the opposite of the final clue.

Although marks a contrast: an eloquent answer can still fail to address the question, unlike inaccurate, incoherent, or irrelevant.

The cause cue “Because” shows that documentation made the history traceable rather than conjectural. “traceable … verified” fits the first blank but contradicts “rather than.”

Preventive upkeep is meant to avert disaster, so the blank needs a verb meaning to prevent or delay; forestall fits. Perpetuate means to keep going, exacerbate means to make worse, and replicate means to copy.

Lina wanted respect without familiarity, so deferential rather than presumptuous is the required tone.

Preventive measures that stop calls before they happen forestall them; precipitate would cause them.

A suspension contains undissolved solid particles dispersed in a liquid that can settle over time. Turbidity is the cloudiness caused by suspended particles.

The details define a very brief reply; laconic means using few words.

The key is intermediate … lengthy: omitting interval markers makes travelers underestimate how lengthy the final stretch is. numerous with manageable, intermediate with short, and conspicuous with brief miss or reverse that effect.

Refusing to reconsider despite counterexamples is intransigent.