ISEE Reading Practice Test 88 Middle and Upper Levels

Line (1) It is easy to lose patience with science today. The questions
Line (2) are pressing: How dangerous is dioxin? What about low-level
Line (3) radiation? When will that monstrous earthquake strike
Line (4) California? And why can't we predict weather better? But the
Line (5) evidence is often described as "inconclusive," forcing scientists
Line (6) to base their points of view almost as much on intuition as on
Line (7) science.
Line (8) When historians and philosophers of science listen to these
Line (9) questions, some conclude that science may be incapable of
Line (10) solving all these problems any time soon. Many questions seem
Line (11) to defy the scientific method, an approach that works best when
Line (12) it examines straightforward relationships: If something is done
Line (13) to variable A, what happens to variable B? Such procedures
Line (14) can, of course, be very difficult in their own ways, but for
Line (15) experiments, they are effective.
Line (16) With the aid of Newton's laws of gravitational attraction, for
Line (17) instance, ground controllers can predict the path of a planetary
Line (18) probe—or satellite—with incredible accuracy. They do this
Line (19) by calculating the gravitational tugs from each of the passing
Line (20) planets until the probe speeds beyond the edge of the solar
Line (21) system. A much more difficult task is to calculate what happens
Line (22) when two or three such tugs pull on the probe at the same time.
Line (23) The unknowns can grow into riddles that are impossible to
Line (24) solve. Because of the turbulent and changing state of the Earth's
Line (25) atmosphere, for instance, scientists have struggled for centuries
Line (26) to predict the weather with precision.
Line (27) This spectrum of questions—from simple problems to
Line (28) those impossibly complex—has resulted in nicknames for
Line (29) various fields of study. "Hard" sciences, such as astronomy and
Line (30) chemistry, are said to yield precise answers, whereas
Line (31) "soft" sciences, such as sociology and economics, admit a great degree
Line (32) of uncertainty.

1. Which of the following best tells what this passage is about?

• A. How the large variety of factors some scientists deal with makes absolute scientific accuracy impossible
• B. How Newton solved the problem of accuracy and science
• C. How "hard" science is more important than "soft" science
• D. Why science now uses less and less conclusive evidence

2. According to the passage, it can be inferred that the scientific method would work best in which of the following situations?

• A. Predicting public reactions to a set of policy decisions
• B. Identifying the factors that will predict a California earthquake
• C. Predicting the amount of corn that an acre will yield when a particular type of fertilizer is used
• D. Calculating how much a cubic centimeter of water will weigh when cooled under controlled conditions

3. The author suggests that accurately predicting the path of a planetary probe is more difficult than

• A. forecasting the weather
• B. determining when an earthquake will occur
• C. predicting economic behavior
• D. determining the gravitational influence of one planet

4. According to the passage, "hard" science can be distinguished from "soft" science by which of the following characteristics?

• A. Finding precise answers to its questions
• B. Identifying important questions that need answers
• C. Making significant contributions to human welfare
• D. Creating debates about unresolved issues

5. The author implies that when confronted with complex questions, scientists base their opinions

• A. on theoretical foundations
• B. more on intuition than on science
• C. on science and intuition, in varying degrees
• D. on experimental procedures