The Official Merit-Based Immigration Test Study Guide

“It is time to begin moving towards a merit-based immigration system.”

—President Donald Trump, 2018 State of the Union Address

The following is an excerpt from The Official Merit-Based Immigration Test (MBIT^®) Study Guide (College Board, 2018).

VERBAL ABILITY SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Analogy

North Korea : Christian defectors :: Mexico : _____

Choose the word or phrase that best completes the analogy.

○ children

○ workers

○ students

○ MS-13 horrible people

 

Text Completion

Many of these _____ took advantage of glaring loopholes in our laws.

Choose the word or phrase that best completes the sentence.

○ billionaires

○ corporations

○ administration members

○ gang members

 

 

Sentence Equivalence

We have ended the war on _____ coal.

Select two.

□ metallurgical

□ industrial

□ bituminous

□ radioactive

□ beautiful

□ clean

 

Inference

I call on the Congress to empower every Cabinet Secretary with the authority to reward good workers, and to remove Federal employees who undermine the public trust or fail the American people.

In the lines above, the speaker suggests shrinking which of the following departments?

○ Education

○ Labor

○ Housing and Urban Development

○ All of the above

 

Critical Reasoning

We know that weakness is the surest path to conflict and unmatched power is the surest means to our true and great defense. For this reason, I am asking Congress to end the dangerous defense sequester and fully fund our great military. As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal.

Which of the following would best strengthen the speaker’s argument?

○ Examples of nuclear weapons preventing war

○ Recommendations from military officials

○ Evidence of the deteriorating quality of the country’s nuclear weapons

○ More nukes

 

Multiple Answers

Here tonight is Preston Sharp, a 12-year-old boy from Redding, California, who noticed that veterans’ graves were not marked with flags on Veterans Day. He decided to change that and started a movement that has now placed 40,000 flags at the graves of our great heroes. Young patriots like Preston teach all of us about our civic duty as Americans.

This paragraph foreshadows which of the following conclusions?

Select two.

□ Black lives matter

□ Blue lives matter

□ All lives matter

 

Vocab in Context

The people dreamed this country. The people built this country. And it’s the people who are making America great again.

In context, the word people most nearly means:

○ immigrants

○ citizens

○ Americans

○ white people

 

QUANTITATIVE ABILITY SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Numeric Entry

If 1 of you can bring in virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives, how many distant relatives can 2 of you bring in?

Enter your answer in the space below.

 

Quantitative Comparison

Quantity A: a smaller percent of a smaller income for 10 years

Quantity B: a larger percent of a larger income indefinitely

○ Quantity A is bigger

○ Quantity B is bigger

○ The two quantities are equal

○ The relationship cannot be determined until 2027

 

Data Interpretation

Using a graph and a line of best fit (not pictured), estimate when all automotive jobs will have returned to the US, where the action is.

○ Many years

○ Decades

○ Soon

○ Very soon

 

Algebra

If a nation of builders can build 1 Empire State Building in x years, then, in terms of x, how many years does it take just to get a minor permit approved for the building of a simple road?

○ 2x

○ 5x

○ 8x

○ 10x

 

Real World Math

Your neighbor wants to build a wall along a 2,000-mile edge of his property to prevent the loss of many innocent lives. If the wall is 35 feet high and costs $190 per square foot, approximately how much will your neighbor have to pay, in billions, to build the wall?

○ 70

○ 15

○ 12

○ 0

 

ESSAY SAMPLE PROMPT

Currently, the country’s visa lottery program randomly hands out green cards without any regard for the safety of American people.

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the policy and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which continuing the policy would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position. Or just bring up terrorists again.

 

 

Eric Jett is a writer, designer, and teacher from Charleston, WV. He is a founding editor of Full Stop.