GRE® Verbal Practice | Text Completion Q14

This one-blank GRE text completion question requires a word that is synonymous with clever, intelligent, brilliant for one's age, and bright. Try the question without looking at the answer explanation. If you face difficulty in arriving at the correct answer, take help from the detailed explanation provided below.

Question 14: Considering its high level of juvenile delinquency and the large number of children dropping out of schools, it is surprising to note that the small mid-western town also has one of the highest number of _______ youngsters in the country.

1. belligerent
2. peremptory
3. prolific
4. prodigal
5. precocious

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Explanatory Answer

S No.	Word	Meaning
1	belligerent	ready and willing to fight
2	peremptory	bossy and domineering
3	prolific	producing a great volume
4	prodigal	reckless
5	precocious	having great abilities

The key word in the sentence is the word “surprisingly”. The word “surprisingly” indicates that the two phenomenon are not expected to appear together (so one would be surprised if they did).

There is a high number of school dropouts and juvenile delinquents. This means that youngsters in the town are not very accomplished. But surprisingly, the town also has the highest number of bright and talented (using our own word/phrase) youngsters.

The word that fits best is precocious.

Choice E is the correct answer.