When you “honor” a group of people, it makes sense to do so in a “ceremony.” A "ceremony" is a formal or serious event to mark the importance of something or someone.

Something that is half one thing and half of another is said to be “hybrid.” The word “unique” means being the only example of something. Someone who is “responsible” can look after themselves and can be trusted to do the right things. “Wishful” means dreaming about something you want to happen, and “competitive” means taking a game or conflict seriously.

The use of the word "classmates" after the semicolon tells you that the underlined word must mean something very similar to "classmates." The word “peers” means classmates or people who are in your group. To provide additional help, "allies" are friends or people who are on your side.

The border between two countries is also called the “frontier.” The words “border” and “frontier” both describe the place where one country ends and another begins. An “estuary” is the place where a river empties out into the ocean; “gloom” is a feeling of great sadness and lack of hope; “hardship” is some difficulty in your life, like being very hungry all the time; and an "arc" is a curved line.

The context of the second part of the sentence tells us that the underlined word must be a word that means the state of living without much money and being poor. This means the correct answer is “poverty.” “Poverty” is the opposite of “affluence.” “Affluence” means the state of living with lots of money. A “community” is a group of people who live together or near each other; and “protection” means defense against something.

Given the context of this sentence, it is clear that the principal makes welcoming remarks for the school year. She is kicking off the beginning, or the commencement, of the school year. A commencement is the beginning or start of something. 

The author of this sentence is describing the point at which a river begins up in the mountains. Another word for where something begins or the thing that produces something is its “source.” The word “summit” means top of the mountain; this may have been a confusing option for this question, but it is not the correct answer. “Terrain” means land, and this makes sense, as the root "terra" means earth or land.

The zoos want to make their animals' habitats more closely match the areas in which they would live in the wild. The word “habitat” is used to describe the home where an animal lives in the wild, so one might accurately say that “a bear’s habitat is the forest" and "habitat" is the correct answer. A “hovel” is the name of a very small and filthy house or a shack; and “mistrust” means suspicion. (The prefix "mis-" usually means not, like in the words “misunderstand,” “mistrust,” or “misplace.”) Animals in the zoo get food and toys, but adding "plants and landscape features" to an exhibit has nothing to do with toys or food.

The volume was loud, and therefore the police told them to turn off the music and not disturb the neighbors.

This sentence conveys that while Renee seemed to understand the material from math class, she actually didn't. You thus need to pick out a noun that means something like "feeling." The answer choice that best fits this requirement is "impression," which means feeling based on initial assumptions but no proof or further investigation. None of the other answer choices make sense in the blank.