PART K — MIXED PRACTICE SET (80 QUESTIONS)

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Parts A through J taught the pieces one family at a time — prefixes on their own, roots grouped by theme, suffix chains worked in isolation. An actual exam paper never does you that courtesy: a single vocabulary section will mix a one-word substitution drawn from mythology, a root-recognition item, a foreign phrase, and a Tier 3 synonym question back to back, with no label telling you which skill each item is testing. Part K exists to close that gap. It draws on every part of this guide at once, deliberately unlabelled the way a real paper would be, organised into eight short subsections so you can also use it as targeted revision if one particular skill is still shaky. Attempt each subsection in full before checking the key at the end — the point of a mixed set is to practise recognising which tool a question is asking for, not just recalling the answer once you already know which part of the guide it came from.

A rough guide to what each subsection is drilling, in case you want to jump to a specific weak spot rather than working straight through: K1 tests whether a Part D story has actually converted into a usable definition rather than just a memory of the anecdote; K2 and K3 test the root index from Part B, first passively (recognising a meaning) and then actively (assembling a whole word from parts); K4 and K5 test the Part J word list in the two directions an exam most often asks for it; K6 tests Parts E and F, the purely factual, closed-list content that resists root-based guessing and has to be recalled directly; K7 tests the Greek-versus-Latin instinct from Part G on words you have not seen classified before; and K8 circles back to Part D from the opposite direction, working from the origin story to the word rather than from the word to its meaning.

K1. One-Word Substitution — From Mythology & Origins (10 questions)

Give the single word, derived from a mythological figure, historical person, or place covered in Part D, that matches each definition below.

A person who is excessively self-admiring, so fixated on their own image that they neglect everyone else.
To torment someone by dangling a desired thing just out of their reach, repeatedly and cruelly.
Excessively harsh in the severity of one's rules or punishments, disproportionate to the offence.
A task or effort demanding almost superhuman strength or endurance.
To refuse, as an organised group, to deal with a person or organisation in protest.
A long, eventful, trial-filled journey, especially one taken on the way home.
A rival or source of retribution that seems to arrive as deserved comeuppance for one's own excess.
Extremely simple and disciplined, deliberately without comfort or luxury.
Subject to sudden, unpredictable shifts in mood or temperament.
A task that is endless and futile no matter how much effort is poured into it, because progress is always undone.

K2. Root-to-Meaning Matching (10 questions)

Match each root on the left to its correct meaning on the right. Meanings are listed in scrambled order; each is used exactly once.

Roots: (a) cred (b) tang/tact (c) cid/cis (d) lev (e) vor (f) dorm (g) ign (h) fin (i) fid (j) plic/plex

Meanings: (i) to fold (ii) light, to rise (iii) to sleep (iv) faith, trust (v) end, boundary (vi) fire (vii) to touch (viii) to eat, devour (ix) to believe (x) to kill, cut

K3. Build the Word (15 questions)

As in Part I, assemble the given prefix, root, and suffix pieces into a single English word and state its meaning. These fifteen deliberately draw on root groups Part I did not exercise heavily — colour, kinship, the elements, animals, plants, and light — so treat this as a second, harder pass at the same skill.

de- + nigr (black) + -ate = ?
con- + sanguin (blood) + -ity = ?
patri- + arch (rule) + -al = ?
sub- + terra (earth) + -nean = ?
carn- + vor (eat) + -ous = ?
e- + rad (root) + -icate = ?
dis- + semin (seed) + -ate = ?
trans- + luc (light) + -ent = ?
noct- + urn(al) = ?
equ- + estr(ian) = ?
germ- + inate = ?
ig- (in-) + nite = ?
viridi- + ty = ?
ambi- + val (worth) + -ent = ?
omni- + potent = ?

K4. Synonym Match (10 questions)

Each item gives a word from Part J's high-frequency list and four options. Choose the option that is the closest synonym.

Perfunctory — (a) thorough (b) cursory (c) generous (d) candid
Recondite — (a) accessible (b) esoteric (c) trivial (d) frank
Rapacious — (a) generous (b) avaricious (c) placid (d) reluctant
Munificent — (a) stingy (b) lavish (c) modest (d) cautious
Sanguine — (a) despondent (b) hopeful (c) indifferent (d) fearful
Deleterious — (a) beneficial (b) neutral (c) detrimental (d) trivial
Vociferous — (a) quiet (b) clamorous (c) hesitant (d) courteous
Obsequious — (a) assertive (b) sycophantic (c) reserved (d) blunt
Fastidious — (a) undemanding (b) finicky (c) careless (d) hasty
Bellicose — (a) peaceable (b) belligerent (c) timid (d) diplomatic

K5. Antonym Match (10 questions)

Each item gives a word from Part J's high-frequency list and four options. Choose the option that is the closest antonym.

Ephemeral — (a) transient (b) fleeting (c) perpetual (d) sudden
Loquacious — (a) garrulous (b) verbose (c) reticent (d) voluble
Impartial — (a) unbiased (b) neutral (c) biased (d) fair
Nefarious — (a) wicked (b) villainous (c) virtuous (d) criminal
Obdurate — (a) intransigent (b) compliant (c) stubborn (d) rigid
Frugal — (a) thrifty (b) economical (c) extravagant (d) sparing
Fecund — (a) prolific (b) fertile (c) barren (d) abundant
Cordial — (a) affable (b) warm (c) hostile (d) friendly
Diligent — (a) assiduous (b) negligent (c) careful (d) thorough
Ebullient — (a) exuberant (b) enthusiastic (c) despondent (d) buoyant

K6. Fill in the Blank — Foreign Phrases & Specialised Terms (10 questions)

Choose the option that best completes each sentence, drawing on Parts E and F.

The interim committee was purely _______, dissolved the moment the flood relief work was finished. (a) de jure (b) ad hoc (c) bona fide (d) pro bono
Long before the treaty was signed, the border had already become a _______ — controlled in practice by the occupying force, whatever the maps said. (a) fait accompli (b) status quo (c) tabula rasa (d) non sequitur
The new hire's résumé was a work of fiction; not one of his claimed qualifications turned out to be _______. (a) bona fide (b) ex gratia (c) laissez-faire (d) verbatim
Investigators noticed the same _______ across three unrelated burglaries and concluded a single culprit was responsible. (a) raison d'être (b) modus operandi (c) rendezvous (d) faux pas
A person who studies the causes of disease, as distinct from one who studies the skin, is technically an expert in _______ rather than dermatology. (a) etiology (b) etymology (c) ornithology (d) numismatics
A collection of vultures feeding on a carcass is correctly called a _______, distinct from the term used when they are simply circling overhead. (a) murder (b) wake (c) kettle (d) parliament
The finance minister's fear of public speaking would technically be classified as _______. (a) claustrophobia (b) glossophobia (c) xenophobia (d) agoraphobia
Compulsive, uncontrollable lying, distinct from ordinary dishonesty, is clinically closer to _______ than to simple deceit. (a) kleptomania (b) dipsomania (c) mythomania (d) monomania
The retiring director was given _______ to redesign the entire department without needing sign-off from the board. (a) carte blanche (b) cul-de-sac (c) déjà vu (d) esprit de corps
Although the settlement was informal, both sides treated it as _______ binding, even without a signed contract. (a) de facto (b) de jure (c) sine qua non (d) prima facie

K7. Greek or Latin? Family Recognition (5 questions)

Using the spelling signatures from Part G, decide whether each word's core root is more likely of Greek or Latin origin, and briefly say which spelling clue gave it away.

Xenophobia
Audible
Photosynthesis
Transmit
Chronology

K8. Mythology & Origin Matching (10 questions)

Match each word on the left to the brief origin clue on the right. Origin clues are scrambled and each is used exactly once.

Words: (a) Panic (b) Cynical (c) Laconic (d) Boycott (e) Silhouette (f) Nicotine (g) Titanic (h) Echo (i) Chaos (j) Hygiene

Origin clues: (i) named after a nymph cursed to only repeat others' final words (ii) named after a French finance minister known for austerity and paper cutouts (iii) named after the goddess of health and cleanliness (iv) named after a goat-legged woodland god said to cause sudden, groundless dread (v) traced to an austere ancient philosophical school, possibly linked to the Greek word for dog (vi) named after a nineteenth-century Irish land agent shunned by an entire community (vii) named after a diplomat who introduced tobacco to a European court (viii) describes the formless void that existed before the ordered universe (ix) named after a famously terse-speaking region of ancient Greece (x) refers to the enormous, overthrown generation of deities that preceded the Olympian gods

Part K — Answer Key with Explanations

K1. One-Word Substitution — From Mythology & Origins

Narcissistic — from the youth who fell in love with his own reflection and wasted away beside it.
Tantalize — from the king punished with food and water perpetually withdrawn just as he reached for them.
Draconian — from the Athenian lawgiver whose code punished even minor offences with death.
Herculean — from the strongman assigned a set of nearly impossible labours as penance.
Boycott — from the land agent whom an entire tenant community organised itself to shun.
Odyssey — from the epic recounting a king's decade-long, disaster-strewn voyage home.
Nemesis — from the goddess charged with delivering retribution for excessive pride or fortune.
Spartan — from the city-state whose way of life was built around discipline and the rejection of comfort.
Mercurial — from the swift, restless messenger god associated with sudden shifts of direction.
Sisyphean — from the king condemned to push a boulder uphill forever, only for it to roll back down each time.

K2. Root-to-Meaning Matching

(a) cred → (ix) to believe. (b) tang/tact → (vii) to touch. (c) cid/cis → (x) to kill, cut. (d) lev → (ii) light, to rise. (e) vor → (viii) to eat, devour. (f) dorm → (iii) to sleep. (g) ign → (vi) fire. (h) fin → (v) end, boundary. (i) fid → (iv) faith, trust. (j) plic/plex → (i) to fold.

K3. Build the Word

Denigrate — to make black, i.e. to attack someone's reputation, to belittle.
Consanguinity — the state of sharing blood/ancestry with someone; blood relationship.
Patriarchal — relating to rule or headship by the father or eldest male.
Subterranean — existing or occurring below the surface of the earth.
Carnivorous — feeding on the flesh of other animals.
Eradicate — to remove completely, literally "to pull out by the root."
Disseminate — to spread information or ideas widely, literally "to scatter seed."
Translucent — allowing light to pass through partially, semi-transparent.
Nocturnal — active at night, relating to the night.
Equestrian — relating to horses or horse-riding.
Germinate — (of a seed) to begin to sprout and grow.
Ignite — to set on fire, to spark into flame.
Viridity — greenness, freshness (literally, the quality of being green).
Ambivalent — having mixed or contradictory feelings, "worth/strength pulling both ways."
Omnipotent — having unlimited power, all-powerful.

K4. Synonym Match

(b) cursory — perfunctory means done with minimal effort, as a routine, which is exactly what cursory describes.
(b) esoteric — recondite means obscure and known to few, the same territory esoteric covers.
(b) avaricious — rapacious describes excessive greed, matching avaricious.
(b) lavish — munificent means very generous, matching lavish.
(b) hopeful — sanguine means cheerfully confident about the future, matching hopeful.
(c) detrimental — deleterious means harmful, matching detrimental.
(b) clamorous — vociferous means loud and forceful in expression, matching clamorous.
(b) sycophantic — obsequious means excessively eager to please, matching sycophantic.
(b) finicky — fastidious means excessively particular about details, matching finicky.
(b) belligerent — bellicose means eager to go to war, matching belligerent.

K5. Antonym Match

(c) perpetual — ephemeral means short-lived; perpetual, meaning never-ending, is its opposite.
(c) reticent — loquacious means very talkative; reticent, reluctant to speak, is its opposite.
(c) biased — impartial means not favouring a side; biased is the direct opposite.
(c) virtuous — nefarious means wicked; virtuous is the opposite.
(b) compliant — obdurate means stubbornly unyielding; compliant, willing to go along, is its opposite.
(c) extravagant — frugal means economical; extravagant, wasteful with money, is its opposite.
(c) barren — fecund means fertile and productive; barren is the opposite.
(c) hostile — cordial means warm and friendly; hostile is the opposite.
(b) negligent — diligent means showing careful, persistent effort; negligent, careless, is the opposite.
(c) despondent — ebullient means overflowing with enthusiasm; despondent, dejected, is the opposite.

K6. Fill in the Blank

(b) ad hoc — the committee existed only for that one specific purpose.
(a) fait accompli — the border was already a settled, irreversible fact by the time of the treaty.
(a) bona fide — none of his claimed qualifications were genuine.
(b) modus operandi — investigators recognised the same characteristic method of working.
(a) etiology — the study of the causes of disease, distinct from dermatology (the skin) or ornithology (birds).
(b) wake — a group of vultures feeding is a "wake"; circling overhead, they are a "kettle."
(b) glossophobia — fear of public speaking, built from the root for "tongue/speech."
(c) mythomania — compulsive lying or exaggeration, distinct from kleptomania (stealing) or dipsomania (alcohol).
(a) carte blanche — complete freedom to act without needing further approval.
(a) de facto — binding in practice, even without official/legal (de jure) documentation.

K7. Greek or Latin? Family Recognition

Greek — the ph spelling for the "f" sound and the -phobia ending are classic Greek signatures.
Latin — aud is a recognisable Latin verb-stem, and the word could plausibly sit in French/Spanish with minor spelling changes.
Greek — the connecting -o- joining two full concept-roots (photo + synthesis) is a hallmark of Greek compounding.
Latin — the trans- prefix attached to the verb-stem mit (to send) is a typical Latin prefix-plus-root pairing.
Greek — ch pronounced as "k" and the -ology-family ending both point to Greek.

K8. Mythology & Origin Matching

(a) Panic → (iv). (b) Cynical → (v). (c) Laconic → (ix). (d) Boycott → (vi). (e) Silhouette → (ii). (f) Nicotine → (vii). (g) Titanic → (x). (h) Echo → (i). (i) Chaos → (viii). (j) Hygiene → (iii).

Scoring Yourself Honestly

There is no official cutoff for "passing" an 80-question set like this one, but a rough benchmark is worth having so the exercise gives you actual feedback rather than a vague sense of how it went. If you score below 50 on a first honest attempt (no peeking, no re-reading the section just before answering), the right response is not to reread Part K itself — it's to go back to whichever of Parts A through J the missed questions came from and re-run that section's retrieval drills before attempting Part K again. A score in the 50s or 60s usually means the word-part reasoning is solid but the closed-list, purely factual content (Part F's tables, Part E's phrases) needs another dedicated pass, since those are the items no amount of prefix-root-suffix logic can rescue you on. A score above 70 means the guide has done essentially everything it can for you at the recognition level, and what remains is pure exposure — reading widely, noticing these words in real editorials and passages, and letting the recognition harden into fluency the way only repeated real-world encounters can produce.

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