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Identify the evidence for each answer and the specific flaw in its nearest competitor. Complete the four written drills in the lesson before this practice set.
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Question 5
Guide question 3.05
Foundation
In an original story, Lena has been offered a job in another town. A reader argues that Lena's concern is not her ability to do the work but the loss of daily contact with her brother. The story describes her preparations and her conversation with him before departure.
Which quotation from the story would best support the reader's interpretation?
Why this answer
Support a literary interpretation
Correct choice: "The work I can learn, she thought; who will listen to his stories at supper?"
B explicitly contrasts confidence about learning the work with concern about losing an everyday interaction with her brother.
A: Recording an address shows preparation, not the source of concern.
C: The brother's travel question does not establish Lena's feelings.
D: Unfamiliarity with the town could suggest a different concern.
If you missed it: Find a quotation that distinguishes the stated concern from its named alternative.
A historian studying an invented coastal town argues that its public clock served commercial coordination as well as ceremonial purposes. Although speeches praised the clock as a symbol of civic pride, the historian suggests that merchants also relied on it to coordinate transactions with people outside their own households.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the historian's suggestion?
Why this answer
Support a historical claim
Correct choice: Merchants' agreements specified deliveries at particular strikes of the public clock.
D documents merchants using the clock to coordinate delivery timing, the commercial function claimed.
A: The seal supports symbolic importance.
B: A donation does not establish how merchants used the clock.
C: Visibility enables use but does not demonstrate commercial coordination.
If you missed it: Prefer evidence of the claimed activity over evidence that merely makes it possible.
In a hypothetical food-storage study, researchers propose that a new container lid slows bread's loss of moisture. They place identical bread portions in containers differing only in lid type and store them under the same conditions for the same duration. The proposal concerns moisture retention, not changes in flavor or appearance.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the proposal?
Why this answer
Strengthen a predicted effect
Correct choice: Bread under the new lids retains a greater proportion of its initial water content.
A measures the predicted difference in moisture retention under the controlled comparison.
B: Container appearance is a different outcome.
C: Lid weight alone does not establish moisture retention.
D: Equal initial taste does not reveal moisture loss during storage.
If you missed it: Match the answer's measurement to the outcome named in the hypothesis.
In an original poem, the speaker describes ordinary household work alongside persistent private uncertainty. A critic observes that the poet repeats words at the beginnings of successive lines, creating similar sentence structures that draw attention to a contrast between physical tasks and the speaker's unresolved thoughts.
Which quotation from the poem best illustrates the pattern as the critic describes it?
Why this answer
Select a quotation illustrating a stated pattern
Correct choice: "I carry water to the room; / I carry questions I cannot set down."
C repeats "I carry" at the beginnings of successive lines. The matching structure contrasts a physical burden that can be put down with questions that remain unresolved.
A: Repeating "water" does not create the stated pattern of repeated line openings or the claimed contrast.
B: The repeated opening creates parallel structure, but both lines describe physical tasks without the contrast with unresolved thoughts.
D: The quotation contrasts physical order with mental disorder but does not use the repeated line openings described.
If you missed it: Check both the defined technique and the particular contrast it is claimed to highlight.
At an invented archaeological site, most recovered metalworking tools were found near a large central building. A researcher concludes that metalworking was concentrated there rather than distributed among homes. The interpretation assumes that the locations of recovered tools reasonably represent where people used them during the site's occupation.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the conclusion?
Why this answer
Weaken an interpretation of a sample
Correct choice: Before abandoning the site, residents collected tools from homes and deposited them at the central building.
C disconnects discovery location from use location: a later collection process could create the concentration without centralized metalworking.
A: A larger building does not establish that tools were used elsewhere.
B: Wear shows use but does not identify its location.
D: Raw-material origin does not determine where metalworking occurred.
If you missed it: Ask whether the observed distribution was created by the activity being inferred or by a later process.
In a hypothetical study, students who draw diagrams while learning a system later explain it more accurately. Researchers propose that selecting relationships for a diagram is responsible, rather than simply spending longer with the material or seeing a visual representation. A follow-up assigns equal study time and compares students who create diagrams, copy completed diagrams, or reread prose.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the proposed explanation?
Why this answer
Distinguish mechanism from general benefit
Correct choice: Students who create diagrams explain new cases more accurately than both other groups, while copying and rereading produce similar scores.
A shows an advantage for constructing a diagram that neither equal study time nor simply copying a visual representation accounts for. This supports the proposed selection process without proving that no other feature of constructing diagrams contributes.
B: An equal benefit from copying supports access to a visual representation rather than a benefit specific to selecting relationships.
C: The creation advantage concerns label memory, while the relevant explanation scores do not differ.
D: A relationship with prior knowledge does not establish why creating diagrams would improve explanation.
If you missed it: Find the comparison that separates the proposed mechanism from each named alternative.
A historian argues that an invented town's published festival accounts exaggerated elite participation relative to the participation of ordinary residents. The accounts name wealthy sponsors repeatedly but mention few other residents. The historian interprets this imbalance as a feature of how the accounts represented the festival, rather than evidence that ordinary residents rarely participated.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the historian's interpretation?
Why this answer
Evaluate a claim about selective representation
Correct choice: Independent attendance lists show ordinary residents joining many activities that published accounts describe as involving almost entirely elite residents.
D supplies independent participation evidence that conflicts with the published imbalance, supporting selective representation rather than actual nonparticipation.
A: The imbalance may suggest selective coverage, but population proportions do not establish who participated in the festival.
B: Different funding contributions do not establish a distorted portrayal of participation.
C: Unequal coverage fits selective emphasis, but D more directly tests the portrayal against independent records of who participated.
If you missed it: Distinguish evidence of biased attention from evidence that the resulting representation misstates participation.
In an original play, Arun, a retired builder, advises his daughter on constructing a footbridge. A critic argues that Arun accepts her authority over the project while remaining actively invested in its success. The scene includes several exchanges about plans, tools, and responsibility.
Which quotation would best support the critic's interpretation?
Why this answer
Support a complex dramatic interpretation
Correct choice: "The span is your decision. [He opens her drawing.] Show me where you need the supports checked."
B assigns the decision to the daughter while offering practical help within her plan. Both deference and continued involvement are present.
A: It allows a choice but depicts withdrawal rather than active investment.
C: It shows investment while taking control of the decision.
D: Praise is followed by action that bypasses the daughter's authority.
If you missed it: Check whether the action supports the spoken concession or quietly reverses it.
A hypothetical district replaces written absence notices with telephone calls, and student attendance rises. Officials attribute the increase primarily to families understanding the calls more easily. During the same period, free transport begins in some neighborhoods. A study compares families who previously understood the written notices equally well and whose children had similar attendance records.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the officials' explanation?
Why this answer
Weaken a causal explanation with a comparison
Correct choice: Attendance improves with free transport under either notice type, but changes little without transport even when calls replace written notices.
A links improvement to transport availability rather than notice type, including little improvement where calls change without transport. That pattern directly challenges the proposed primary cause.
B: Better comprehension and improvement among call recipients, including those without transport, support rather than weaken the officials' explanation.
C: Travel difficulties make transport a plausible influence, but do not establish whether it explains the observed improvement.
D: This supports an added transport benefit, but does not establish that calls were not the primary cause; A separates the interventions more directly.
If you missed it: Prefer a finding that separates candidate causes over one that merely notes their overlap.
In a hypothetical conservation study, a researcher claims that placing temporary shade above seedlings improves their survival during drought but provides little survival benefit when rainfall is adequate. The explanation is that shade reduces damaging water loss when water is scarce. Matched shaded and unshaded plots are monitored under both rainfall conditions.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the researcher's claim about when shade improves survival?
Why this answer
Respect the scope of a claim
Correct choice: Shade substantially increases survival during drought, while survival is nearly equal in shaded and unshaded plots with adequate rainfall.
C supports both the drought benefit and the claimed limit under adequate rainfall, using the relevant shade comparisons within each condition.
A: Leaf temperature is not survival, and the finding does not establish the conditional benefit.
B: A rainfall difference does not isolate the effect of shade.
D: Some survival without shade does not test whether shade improves survival rates.
If you missed it: For a conditional claim, check the treatment comparison separately in each condition.
A hypothetical wildlife survey records more birds after volunteers begin using a more sensitive microphone. The survey director claims that the local bird population has grown. Another researcher suspects that the equipment change explains the increase in records because it detects calls that the old microphone missed, even if the number of birds remains stable.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the other researcher's explanation?
Why this answer
Separate detection from the phenomenon measured
Correct choice: Simultaneous recordings produce more detections with the new microphone, while independent visual counts remain stable across the original and later survey periods.
B demonstrates an equipment effect under simultaneous conditions and adds an independent measure inconsistent with population growth across the periods.
A: The changed species mix fits improved detection but could also reflect a changed population; it does not separate the explanations.
C: Greater recorded range supports a detection difference, but across different periods it does not establish that equipment explains the overall increase rather than population change.
D: This permits an equipment contribution but also supports real population growth. B more clearly supports increased detection without growth.
If you missed it: Ask whether a larger recorded count reflects more objects or a better chance of detecting them.
In a hypothetical experiment, a reminder emphasizing a project's personal importance increases volunteers' completion rates more than a neutral reminder that repeats the deadline. Researchers argue that the extra benefit occurs mainly because the importance reminder makes the project easier to remember. A follow-up uses the same two reminders and measures recall of both the project and its deadline before measuring completion.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the proposed memory explanation?
Why this answer
Weaken a proposed mechanism without denying an effect
Correct choice: The reminders produce equally accurate recall of the project and deadline, but the importance reminder produces substantially higher completion.
D preserves the extra completion benefit while removing a measured recall difference. This weakens improved memory as the main explanation for that extra benefit.
A: A shared reminder benefit is compatible with memory helping both groups.
B: Improved recall of the purpose could support a memory-related explanation even without better deadline recall.
C: Joint improvement relative to no reminder does not explain the importance reminder's additional benefit over the neutral reminder. It does not separate the two explanations.
If you missed it: A mechanism can be weakened even when the treatment still improves the outcome.
In an original story, a pianist named Celia returns to a piece she once performed competitively. A critic argues that Celia has stopped treating every imperfection as a failure without becoming indifferent to how the music sounds. The story describes several possible moments in her renewed practice.
Which quotation would best support the critic's interpretation?
Why this answer
Support a bounded literary interpretation
Correct choice: "She let the slipped note pass, then played the phrase again to hear whether its ending could sound less hurried."
D shows tolerance of an error alongside careful attention to musical expression. It supports changed standards without implying carelessness.
A: Careful correction establishes continued care, but does not show that she has become more accepting of imperfection.
B: Ignoring the sound supports indifference, which the interpretation excludes.
C: Listening and postponing establish neither acceptance of her own errors nor how she treats them during practice.
If you missed it: Treat the qualification after 'without' as an essential part of the interpretation.
A scholar argues that the short chapters in an invented novelist's late books chiefly reflect a deliberate effort to create rapid pacing. An editor proposes a different explanation: the books first appeared in a magazine that imposed strict space limits on installments. Both agree that the chapters are shorter than those in the novelist's earlier books.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the editor's explanation over the scholar's?
Why this answer
Support one causal explanation over a competing one
Correct choice: Drafts contain longer chapters, and the novelist's letters describe splitting them to match the magazine's space limits while leaving the narrative wording intact.
B links the chapter divisions to the publication constraint through both draft changes and the novelist's stated reason. It directly addresses why the chapters became short.
A: This connects a publication constraint with a pacing effect, but does not directly establish why the novelist made these chapter divisions.
C: A pacing effect does not establish that pacing was the chief reason for the divisions.
D: A prior preference supports a possible artistic explanation, but does not show why the novelist made these particular revisions.
If you missed it: Distinguish a feature's effect on readers from the reason it was introduced.
In a hypothetical experiment, fish approach a striped panel more often than a plain one. Researchers propose that the attraction depends on the direction of stripe movement, not simply on the presence of moving stripes. They can display the same stripe pattern at the same speed while reversing its direction; panel brightness and location are held constant.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the proposed explanation?
Why this answer
Identify the most diagnostic test of a hypothesis
Correct choice: When researchers reverse only movement direction, fish approach left-moving stripes more frequently than right-moving stripes presented at the same brightness and speed.
C demonstrates different attraction when direction changes while the relevant pattern and speed remain constant, isolating the claimed variable.
A: This supports an effect of movement generally, not direction specifically.
B: A response to stripe width does not isolate movement direction.
D: Detecting both directions establishes perceptual ability, not different attraction.
If you missed it: Identify the variable the claim distinguishes from the broader effect already observed.
A reader argues that an original poem presents preserving a family memory as compatible with changing an inherited custom. The poem's speaker is preparing a shared meal and recalling a grandmother who once directed the same preparations. The interpretation concerns the relationship between remembrance and altered practice, not a rejection of family ties.
Which quotation would best support the reader's interpretation?
Why this answer
Support a nuanced poetic claim
Correct choice: "I tell her story as we stir, / while every cook now helps decide the flavors she once chose alone."
Telling the grandmother's story preserves memory, while sharing authority over seasoning changes her former custom. The acts occur together rather than canceling one another.
B: This treats change as a threat to remembrance, the opposite relationship.
C: The unchanged chair shows preservation without an altered custom.
D: Avoiding both the old dishes and discussion of the grandmother does not support remembrance alongside change.
If you missed it: Check the relationship between the two ideas, not just whether an option mentions both topics.