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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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The drill
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Question 5
Guide question 2.05
Foundation
A choir rehearses in an empty hall before its first concert there. The conductor knows that occupied seats absorb more high-frequency sound than empty seats do. During rehearsal, she therefore avoids deciding whether the balance of the highest voices needs a permanent adjustment, reasoning that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Mechanism-based inference
Correct choice: the audience's presence could change the balance heard in the hall.
People in the seats change absorption of high-frequency sound, so the balance heard during the concert may differ from the rehearsal balance.
A: Sound absorption does not establish a change in the pitches singers produce.
B: A change in absorption does not guarantee equal audibility.
D: The passage describes different acoustic conditions, not an absence of acoustic effects.
If you missed it: Connect the stated mechanism to the listener's experience.
A fictional architect's notebook praises south-facing studios for their winter light. Her design for a crowded city lot instead places the studio windows on the north side. A note beside the plan identifies the foundry across the southern street as a source of constant noise; another calls the northern courtyard quiet.
Which inference is best supported by the text?
Why this answer
Preference versus actual decision
Correct choice: The architect adapted a general design preference to conditions at this site.
The notebook establishes a south-facing preference; the plan and noise notes support an exception responsive to this location.
B: One site-specific choice does not establish indifference across all urban projects.
C: The passage supplies no such comparison of actual light levels.
D: The foundry appears in the design notes as a current noise source.
If you missed it: Use both the general preference and the site-specific obstacle.
"Nothing worth remembering," Tomas said of the seaside town where he had spent the summer. In October, his sister found a tram ticket from the town tucked inside his favorite book. When she reached for it, he took it back, smoothed its bent corner, and placed it between the same pages.
Which inference about Tomas is best supported by the text?
Why this answer
Literary inference from contrast
Correct choice: He retains an attachment to the summer despite dismissing it aloud.
Keeping the ticket and carefully returning it support an attachment that conflicts with his dismissive remark.
A: No future visit or reusable ticket is mentioned.
B: The book is not described as damaged.
C: Neither inconvenience nor its importance to his memories is established.
If you missed it: Read the preserved object as evidence, without inventing its exact meaning.
In a hypothetical greenhouse trial, all seedlings that survived a week of dry soil had developed deep roots before the trial began. Several seedlings with deep roots nevertheless died. The researchers had not varied root depth experimentally and did not identify the causes of individual deaths.
Which conclusion is best supported by the text?
Why this answer
Quantifier limits
Correct choice: Having deep roots did not ensure survival in the trial.
Several deep-rooted seedlings died, directly establishing that deep roots did not guarantee survival in this trial.
A: The observed relationship does not isolate root depth as the cause of survival.
C: The passage gives no totals from which to determine a majority.
D: The conclusion extends beyond this trial and its particular conditions.
If you missed it: Check whether an answer reverses a condition or expands its scope.
A hypothetical study finds that a thin coating slows the drying of clay vessels in moving air. In still air, coated and uncoated vessels dry at similar rates. A potter uses a ventilated drying room in winter and an enclosed, nearly windless room in summer. If other relevant conditions resemble those in the study, the coating ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Conditional prediction
Correct choice: should slow drying more noticeably in the winter room.
The study links the coating's effect to moving air, which characterizes the winter room. It does not establish a comparable effect in still air.
B: Similar drying rates in still air do not imply faster drying with the coating.
C: The observed effect depended on air movement.
D: Slower drying does not mean drying stops permanently.
If you missed it: Match the new setting to the condition in which the effect appeared.
A fictional historian finds a merchant's letter dated June 3 stating that a replacement bridge is already carrying carts. A June 20 newspaper calls its dedication that day the bridge's "opening." Neither source suggests that two different bridges were involved. The historian concludes that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Combining temporal clues
Correct choice: the bridge was in use before its formal opening ceremony.
The earlier report of actual traffic and later report of a dedication can both be accurate if practical use preceded the formal ceremony.
A: The records can be reconciled without assuming a dating error.
B: Nothing describes traffic during the intervening period.
D: Neither a postponement nor a safety problem is mentioned.
If you missed it: Seek a conclusion that allows both reliable details to remain true.
In a hypothetical experiment, participants randomly assigned to read a short poem aloud later recalled more of its exact wording than participants assigned to read it silently. The groups performed similarly when choosing accurate paraphrases of the poem. Both groups had the same study time. The researchers therefore infer that, under the tested conditions, reading aloud ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Distinguishing a mechanism from a general benefit
Correct choice: improved exact recall without a demonstrated benefit on the paraphrase task.
The randomized comparison supports an effect on exact recall. Similar paraphrase performance provides no demonstrated advantage on the tested meaning task, which is narrower than proving no effect on understanding of any kind.
A: A deeper-understanding mechanism is not established and is not supported by the paraphrase comparison.
C: No subgroup defined by initial understanding is reported.
D: Similar scores on one meaning task do not establish that underlying understanding was unchanged in every respect.
If you missed it: Separate the task showing an improvement from the task showing no demonstrated advantage, then check any proposed mechanism.
Excavators in a fictional study find many stone food-processing tools but few wooden ones at a wetland settlement. Tests show that the site's alternating wet and dry conditions rapidly destroy the kinds of wood residents could obtain, whereas stone survives well. Impressions in hardened clay also preserve the shapes of several wooden implements. Taken together, these findings suggest that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Interpreting evidence affected by preservation
Correct choice: surviving objects may underrepresent the role of wooden implements.
Poor wood preservation explains why surviving objects may give an incomplete picture; the impressions independently establish wooden implements' presence. Their original frequency remains unknown.
A: Evidence of underrepresentation does not establish that wooden implements equaled or outnumbered stone tools.
B: Different preservation rates undermine treating recovered proportions as original usage proportions.
C: The impressions establish the presence of wooden implements, not their frequency of use.
If you missed it: Combine survival bias with positive evidence, while leaving original proportions unresolved.
I learned the river from a map, its single blue, obedient line. Today it took the lower path and left my careful boots behind. I fold the map along its crease and wait to see which reeds will bend.
Which inference about the speaker is best supported by the poem?
Why this answer
Literary inference from change within a passage
Correct choice: The speaker is shifting from confidence in a representation toward attention to direct signs.
The "obedient" mapped line contrasts with the river's unexpected path. Watching bending reeds suggests a turn toward observation after the map proved incomplete as guidance.
A: The speaker revises an approach; the poem does not direct blame at the map's maker.
C: Recognizing the map's limits does not establish rejection of meaningful maps altogether.
D: Waiting for the reeds to bend suggests observing what happens next, without a stated expectation of return.
If you missed it: Track the movement from the opening image to the speaker's final action.
In a hypothetical study, beginners and experienced musicians practiced an unfamiliar rhythm for equal periods. Beginners improved more from their own initial accuracy levels, but the experienced musicians remained more accurate on the final test. The researchers caution that the amount of improvement alone would give an incomplete account of the groups' performance because ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Comparison levels versus changes
Correct choice: a greater improvement can coexist with a lower final level of accuracy.
Beginners gained more, while experienced musicians still finished higher. Improvement and final performance answer different questions; neither alone substitutes for the other.
B: The observed gains do not establish what additional practice would produce.
C: A smaller gain does not identify a group's eventual limit; the experienced group currently finished higher.
D: Accuracy gains do not directly measure understanding; this also ignores the final-performance comparison.
If you missed it: Write separate comparisons for change and final level.
A hypothetical transit pilot made bus travel free on one route. Ridership rose on that route while remaining stable on a comparison route. During the same period, however, a major employer moved beside a stop on the free route, and surveys did not ask passengers whether they were traveling to that employer. The observed increase therefore ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Causal inference with competing explanations
Correct choice: is consistent with a fare effect but does not isolate it from the relocation's possible effect.
The timing and comparison are consistent with a fare effect. Yet the employer's relocation affected the same route, so this design cannot distinguish their contributions to the increase.
A: The passage does not estimate either factor's contribution.
B: The pattern remains relevant evidence; a competing explanation limits its conclusiveness.
C: A stable comparison route does not remove a second change unique to the free route.
If you missed it: Check whether the comparison group controls the specific competing change.
"I have forgotten the language," my aunt told the visitor. Then he mispronounced the name of her childhood street. She corrected him instantly, giving the first syllable a softness I had never heard in her ordinary speech. For the rest of the evening she answered in English, but whenever he named a place, she listened with unusual stillness.
Which inference is best supported by the text?
Why this answer
Separating speaker and observer perspectives
Correct choice: The aunt retains knowledge and associations her claim of forgetfulness understates.
The immediate correction demonstrates retained knowledge, and her attention to place names suggests continuing significance. Neither establishes full fluency or deliberate deception.
A: Correcting one name does not demonstrate conversational fluency, and the narrator claims no such knowledge.
B: Her language choice does not establish personal dislike.
D: The visitor's intent is not described; calling the aunt dishonest also exceeds the evidence.
If you missed it: Use the observed correction without inflating it into fluency or a precise motive.
In a fictional investigation, a dated workshop inventory lists a mechanical water clock in 1420. The clock's design resembles one depicted in an undated manuscript from the same region. The manuscript's paper was manufactured sometime between 1380 and 1440, but paper could be stored for decades before use. The investigators conclude that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Separating a discovery from an origin claim
Correct choice: the clock is documented by 1420, but the manuscript cannot securely push that date earlier.
The dated inventory anchors the clock's existence. The paper's manufacture range, possible storage, and undated writing leave the manuscript's relation to 1420 unresolved.
A: The paper could have been manufactured or used after 1420, and the manuscript need not record invention.
B: Paper could remain unused after manufacture, so a 1440 upper bound on manufacture does not bound writing.
C: 1380 is a possible manufacture date, not an established writing date or a date for the clock's design.
If you missed it: Date each piece of evidence separately before ordering the events.
In a hypothetical experiment, readers saw either a familiar or an unfamiliar typeface. Familiar-typeface readers finished faster, but the groups achieved similar comprehension scores. All readers had unlimited time. The researchers note that a timed task could produce a different comprehension pattern because, under a strict limit, ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Inferring what a failed difference leaves possible
Correct choice: the slower reading associated with an unfamiliar typeface could leave less time to process the full passage.
Unlimited time may allow slower readers to finish and reach similar scores. A strict limit could make the demonstrated speed difference consequential for processing the full passage; it does not guarantee a score difference.
A: Slower reading does not itself establish greater attention to meaning or a comprehension benefit.
C: The text does not connect faster reading with skipping details; this adds an untested mechanism.
D: Comparable comprehension with unlimited time does not eliminate a speed difference's consequences under a limit.
If you missed it: Ask whether the original condition allowed one group to compensate for a measured disadvantage.
In a hypothetical classroom study, students using a diagram solved more problems about a water system than students using prose descriptions alone. When both groups later received a new system described only in prose, their performance was similar. The researchers had not included a later test with diagrams. These results suggest that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Why this answer
Distinguishing task success from knowledge transfer
Correct choice: the initial diagram advantage was not accompanied by a demonstrated advantage on the tested transfer task.
The diagram group initially performed better, but the later prose-only task showed no group advantage. Neither the mechanism of the initial difference nor performance on a later diagram-assisted task was established.
A: Similar later performance does not establish stronger knowledge in the prose-only group or a compensating process.
B: This is a possible explanation, but the study did not separate easier inspection from learning principles.
D: No later test with diagrams was given, so restoration of the advantage remains untested.
If you missed it: Preserve the exact transfer task instead of generalizing to all future learning.
For years, Mara had urged her father to replace the orchard's crooked gate. When the carpenter finally hung a straight one, she praised the smooth latch and helped carry the scraps away. That evening she retrieved the old crosspiece from the pile and set it above her workbench. She did not return it to the orchard, though twice she brushed the weathered wood with her palm.
Which inference about Mara is best supported by the text?
Why this answer
Integrating contrasting literary details
Correct choice: She welcomes the practical improvement while retaining affection for what was replaced.
Her praise and help support acceptance of the improvement. Keeping and touching the crosspiece support attachment to the old gate. Both responses can coexist without implying a plan to reverse the change.
B: Keeping a memento does not establish a revised judgment about practical usefulness; she praises the improvement.
C: She keeps and touches the wood, but the text gives no project of comparing workmanship.
D: Private attachment does not establish a wish to undo the replacement; she does not return the crosspiece.
If you missed it: Choose an interpretation that accounts for both acceptance and attachment.