Elimination, Guessing, and Productive Review — Topic practice
12 exercises · 12 automatically checked · Untimed
Instructions and review guidance
12 questions · Shuffled order · Progress saved locally when available
Apply the chapter's decision routine and identify the specific flaw in the nearest competitor. Complete the four written drills in the lesson before this practice set. Question numbers follow the shuffled order; Guide question labels match the lesson references.
Guide question labels stay the same when the order changes. Check answers when you are ready to review.
Saved on this browser and device; clearing browser data removes progress.
The drill
Your practice is saved on this device.
Question 5
Guide question 5.05
Foundation
Historian Amira Bell studied the surviving account books of a single nineteenth-century town bookstore. The books show that manuals on gardening outsold travel narratives during one decade. Bell cautions that the records exclude books borrowed from neighbors, bought elsewhere, or inherited. She nevertheless argues that the records reveal one important route by which townspeople obtained practical information.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Why this answer
Separate an observation from a population claim | Review lesson 5.1
Correct choice: One bookstore's records provide useful but incomplete evidence about how townspeople obtained practical information.
B captures both Bell's positive conclusion and her limitation: the account books illuminate one route of access but omit several others. The sales comparison is evidence for that discussion, not a survey of everything townspeople read.
A: The records compare two categories sold at one store during one decade; they do not establish reading habits across all categories or townspeople.
C: Bell notes an omission, but the text does not compare the usefulness of account books with records of borrowing.
D: The text does not describe a change over time in purchasing versus inheritance, nor identify the categories inherited.
If you missed it: Keep the source of the evidence attached to your summary: one store, one decade, sales.
Strategy in use: Reject A for its expanded claim; do not merely label it 'too extreme' without specifying the change.
Ecologist Jonah Vale proposes that, among urban garden plots containing the same total number of flowering plants, plots with more plant species support a greater variety of insect species. Vale distinguishes insect-species variety from insect abundance: a plot can contain many individual insects but few insect species. He plans to compare plots observed for equal periods during the same week.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support Vale's proposal?
Why this answer
Keep two kinds of variety distinct | Review lesson 5.1
Correct choice: Plots with eighty plants drawn from eight plant species contained more insect species than plots with eighty plants drawn from four plant species.
D holds the total number of plants at eighty, changes the number of plant species from four to eight, and reports the predicted change in insect-species variety. All three parts match the proposed relationship. C is close but substitutes insect abundance for insect-species variety.
A: It changes total plant number as well as plant-species variety and reports individual insects rather than insect species.
B: It holds plant-species variety constant and instead compares insect abundance with insect-species variety; that does not test the proposed plant-variety difference.
C: It controls plant number and changes plant-species variety, but its outcome is the number of individual insects, which Vale explicitly distinguishes from species variety.
If you missed it: Write the hypothesis as input, controlled condition, and measured outcome before judging evidence.
Strategy in use: The deciding words are 'individual insects' versus 'insect species,' not whether a choice contains the same numbers as the hypothesis.
A paper mill first used a seven-pointed-star watermark in 1740. Its records confirm that no paper bearing that design was manufactured earlier. An unsigned manuscript is written on paper with this watermark. The manuscript copies a poem known to have circulated before 1720, and the handwriting alone cannot establish when the copy was made. Paper from the mill was sometimes stored for decades before use.
Which inference about the unsigned manuscript is most strongly supported by the text?
Why this answer
Date the object actually examined | Review lesson 5.1
Correct choice: The physical copy could not have been written before 1740, although it may have been written considerably later.
The manuscript cannot have been written on this paper before the paper existed, so the watermark supplies an earliest possible date of 1740. Storage means the paper could have been used later. The age of the copied poem is a different question from the age of this physical copy.
B: The passage says the poem circulated before 1720; the watermark dates the paper used for this copy, not the poem's composition.
C: The text does not establish normal same-year use and explicitly allows storage for decades, so it cannot identify 1740 as the probable writing year.
D: The passage provides a date restriction for paper bearing this watermark, not a rule that all later copies must have it.
If you missed it: Attach every date to its object: composition, paper manufacture, or writing of a particular copy.
Strategy in use: A is narrower because the evidence supports a lower date boundary, not an exact date or a rule about all other copies.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
1. Retroreflective material returns much of the light striking it toward the source of that light.
2. Many ordinary surfaces instead scatter incoming light in a variety of directions.
3. A bicycle reflector can use retroreflective material to return headlight beams toward a driver, helping make the bicycle visible at night.
4. The reflector requires no battery and does not produce its own light.
5. In laboratory tests, researchers measured returned light with a detector positioned close to the illuminating lamp.
The student wants to explain what retroreflective material does and why it is useful on a bicycle at night. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Why this answer
Compare a definition with its use | Review lesson 5.2
Correct choice: Retroreflective material returns much incoming light toward its source, helping a bicycle reflector send headlight beams back toward a driver at night.
C gives the defining behavior, returning incoming light toward its source, and connects it to a bicycle reflector returning headlight beams toward a driver. A defines the material but never supplies the requested bicycle use; B gives the use without explaining the material's optical behavior.
A: The definition is accurate, but the choice does not explain why that behavior is useful on a bicycle at night.
B: It states a useful effect and the lack of a battery, but it does not explain what the retroreflective material does with incoming light.
D: It describes the laboratory measurement, not the material's function on a bicycle at night.
If you missed it: For a definition-and-use goal, require both the behavior and its specific application.
Strategy in use: C wins through complete goal fulfillment, not because an unfamiliar technical word signals the correct answer.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
1. A disused canal once carried freight between the port of Lanton and the inland town of Mire.
2. An engineering team examined the possibility of laying a railway along the canal's existing route.
3. The team also examined an entirely new railway route through nearby hills.
4. The reused route would require moving about 40,000 cubic meters of earth.
5. The new route would require moving about 80,000 cubic meters of earth, according to the same team's estimates.
The student wants to emphasize an advantage of reusing the canal route instead of building an entirely new railway route. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Why this answer
Select the comparison the goal requires | Review lesson 5.2
Correct choice: Reusing the canal route would require about half as much earthmoving as building the proposed new route through the hills.
A explicitly compares the required earthmoving: 40,000 cubic meters for the reused route versus 80,000 for the new one. B and C supply accurate background but no advantage. D gives only the new route's estimate, leaving the requested comparison unstated.
B: It describes the route's former purpose and endpoints without identifying an advantage over constructing the alternative.
C: It says a comparison occurred but does not report a favorable result for reuse.
D: It reports only one estimate; without the reuse estimate or an explicit comparison, it does not establish the requested advantage.
If you missed it: When the goal names an advantage over an alternative, look for the relevant comparison rather than an isolated fact.
Strategy in use: Do not import claims about money or construction speed: the notes directly support a difference in earthmoving, not every possible benefit.
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
1. A community workshop enrolled 120 volunteers to practice identifying common trees.
2. Ninety of those volunteers completed confidence surveys both immediately before and immediately after the workshop.
3. Before the workshop, 60 of those 90 respondents reported feeling confident about identifying common trees; afterward, 66 did.
4. No comparison group was surveyed over the same period without attending the workshop.
5. The organizers concluded that the surveys alone could not establish whether the workshop caused the reported increase in confidence.
The student wants to summarize the change in surveyed volunteers' reported confidence while acknowledging why the surveys cannot establish the workshop's effect. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Why this answer
Satisfy a result-and-limitation goal | Review lesson 5.2
Correct choice: Among the 90 volunteers surveyed twice, the number reporting confidence rose from 60 to 66, but the absence of a comparison group prevents attributing that increase to the workshop.
D reports the before-and-after change for the same 90 respondents and preserves the specified causal limitation. A gives the change without the limitation. B gives the limitation without the change. C sounds qualified but gives only the after count and a response-count limitation, not the required change and explanation of why causation is unestablished.
A: It accurately reports the increase but omits why the surveys do not establish that the workshop caused it.
B: It identifies the absence of a comparison group but never reports what changed in the volunteers' confidence.
C: It reports the follow-up count and incomplete survey participation, but not the before-to-after change or the notes' reason for withholding a causal conclusion.
If you missed it: Test every part of a compound goal; a qualifying word such as although does not guarantee the right limitation.
Strategy in use: The decisive difference is not 'has a caution' versus 'has no caution.' D includes the requested result and the relevant causal caution.
Botanist Hana Lim keeps detailed records of a greenhouse's irrigation system. A set of diagrams showing the positions of the pipes, valves, and moisture sensors ______ how water moves through the greenhouse during a typical watering cycle.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The subject is the singular 'set'; 'of diagrams' and the longer phrase beginning 'showing' describe that set. B supplies a singular finite verb. If you initially chose A because 'diagrams' or 'sensors' looked like the subject, identifying 'set' gives a specific reason to change to B.
A: Indicate is a plural present-tense form here, but its subject is the singular set.
C: Have indicated also uses a plural auxiliary with the singular subject set.
D: Are indicating uses the plural auxiliary are, again disagreeing with set.
If you missed it: Reduce the sentence to its subject and finite verb before checking the intervening descriptions.
Strategy in use: A change is justified by the subject 'set,' not by a general preference for the option ending in s.
The researchers initially described the pigments as stable because samples left in darkness barely changed. Their later analysis, which compared those samples with ones exposed to intense ______ a different pattern: the exposed samples faded considerably.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
The main subject is 'Their later analysis,' and its main verb must be 'revealed.' The relative clause beginning 'which compared' interrupts that subject-verb connection and needs a closing comma after 'light.' C supplies both. An initial A may sound smooth, but 'revealing' would leave the main clause without a finite verb; that is the specific reason to change.
A: Revealing is a participle here. Compared belongs to the relative clause, so the main subject analysis would have no finite verb.
B: The semicolon cannot separate this main subject plus its unfinished relative-clause punctuation from the predicate revealed.
D: It supplies the main verb but fails to close the nonessential relative clause with a comma, even though that clause opened with one.
If you missed it: Temporarily remove the relative clause and read the remaining main clause aloud in your mind.
Strategy in use: Verify the replacement after rejecting A: C must both supply a finite verb and close the inserted clause.
The recording team knew that open windows had allowed street noise into an earlier session. Members therefore expected a second session, recorded with every window closed, to contain substantially less traffic noise. ______ the traffic was just as audible in the second recording as in the first.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
Why this answer
Use a stated expectation to justify a switch | Review lesson 5.3
Correct choice: Nevertheless,
A marks the result as contrary to the team's explicitly stated expectation: closing the windows was expected to reduce traffic noise, yet it did not. If you initially chose C by loosely treating the final sentence as 'the result,' the actual direction of the prediction gives a reason to change. A logical result marker must match the reasoning, not merely precede an observed outcome.
B: The equally audible traffic is not an example confirming the expectation of less noise; it contradicts that expectation.
C: Accordingly would present equal noise as following from the expectation, which instead predicted a reduction.
D: The final sentence does not restate the expectation; it reports a result inconsistent with it.
If you missed it: Write the expected outcome and observed outcome in a few words, then compare their direction.
Strategy in use: Do not change A merely because C is also a familiar result-related word; the passage specifies which result was expected.
A student has 35 seconds left in the current module. The question menu shows that Question 26 has no selected answer. The student has already read it, ruled out two choices for clear reasons, and slightly favors one of the remaining choices. Question 11 is flagged because a specific subject-verb agreement check should take about 10 seconds. All other questions have selected answers. A longer flagged passage would require a fresh read that the student estimates would exceed the remaining time.
Which plan best follows a complete-answer, targeted-review approach under these constraints?
Why this answer
Close a blank before optional review | Review lesson 5.4
Correct choice: Select the better-supported remaining answer for Question 26, then perform the brief agreement check if time allows and verify the selections.
D closes the known blank immediately, then uses the remaining time for a defined check while protecting the final selections. The stronger provisional choice is appropriate even though certainty is unavailable. A review flag on Question 11 calls for checking, not automatically changing, its answer.
A: The fresh read is expected to exceed the available time and leaves a known blank unresolved.
B: It leaves a readily selectable provisional answer blank and makes the return depend on complete certainty about a different question.
C: It closes the blank but treats a flag as proof that the selected answer is wrong, without examining the actual agreement.
If you missed it: Use the question menu to distinguish an unanswered item from an answered item marked for review.
Strategy in use: The priority here follows the known blank, short actionable check, and 35-second limit; it is not a command to review every grammar item first.
During a timed practice module, a student crosses out a reading answer solely because it contains the word all. At review, the student notices that the passage explicitly reports a result for all seven sites examined. The crossed-out answer says that all seven sites showed that result and that the same mechanism caused it at every site. The student has not checked the claim about the mechanism. Every question has a selected answer, and enough time remains for one focused comparison with the passage.
Which next action is best justified?
Why this answer
Undo an invalid elimination without overcorrecting | Review lesson 5.4
Correct choice: Reconsider the crossed-out answer, check its causal claim as well as its group of seven sites, and compare its full support with the current selection.
The original elimination rule was invalid: all can correctly describe the seven examined sites. But that discovery does not establish the answer's separate causal claim. B corrects the reasoning process without making an unverified replacement, using the available time for exactly the disputed comparison.
A: Length does not establish whether the causal claim is supported; the student needs to inspect the claim, not substitute another unreliable shortcut.
C: Matching the scope of all validates only the first claim. The common-mechanism claim remains unchecked and could make the whole answer wrong.
D: First-pass elimination is reversible, especially when its stated reason has been shown to be defective.
If you missed it: When an elimination fails, restore the choice to consideration; do not promote it automatically to the answer.
Strategy in use: This is a decision scenario, not an SAT passage question. Its key follows the explicitly unchecked second claim and the time available for one focused comparison.
With 18 seconds remaining in the current module, a student discovers that two questions have no selected answers. The student cannot complete a meaningful read of either in that time and has no usable evidence favoring any choice on either item. All other questions are answered. The student notices that the letter D appears less often than the other letters among the answers selected so far.
Which action is best supported?
Why this answer
Finish without pattern-based guessing | Review lesson 5.4
Correct choice: Select an available answer for each blank promptly and confirm that both selections registered, without treating the earlier letter pattern as evidence.
C ensures that both items have selected responses when no useful content-based distinction is available. There is no penalty for guessing, and the distribution of previously selected letters does not establish either answer. Confirmation matters because an intended choice is not a registered selection.
A: It assumes a deduction for guessing and gives up both opportunities to answer correctly.
B: The earlier selections do not provide evidence for these answers, and counting consumes the few seconds available to register responses.
D: The scenario says there is insufficient time for a meaningful read of either item; spending everything on one cannot complete that read and deliberately leaves the other opportunity unused.
If you missed it: Practice a final selection check so that a last-second choice is actually recorded.
Strategy in use: This advice follows the absence of usable evidence and the very short remaining time; earlier in the module, meaningful reading should guide the answer.