SAT Mock Test 5
Complete both sections to finish the test.
Reading Passage:
This passage is about the discovery of penicillin. In 1928, bacteriologist Alexander Fleming made a serendipitous discovery. He returned from a holiday to find that a mold had contaminated one of his Petri dishes of Staphylococcus bacteria. He noticed that the bacteria in the area immediately surrounding the mold had been destroyed. Fleming identified the mold as Penicillium notatum and concluded that it produced a substance that killed the bacteria. He named this substance penicillin. While Fleming recognized its potential, he was unable to isolate and purify it in large quantities.
Question 1: The word "serendipitous" in the first sentence most nearly means:
Question 2: Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase? Her argument, while eloquent, was not ______, as it was based on faulty assumptions and lacked empirical evidence.