Logical reasoning PrepTest 113 · Section 4 · Question 5

Question prompt

After 1950, in response Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: D

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Argument or Facts

Facts

Valid or Flawed

NA

Question Type

Paradox Questions

Stimulus Summary

After 1950 - Record food demand growth led to increased fertilizer use
By 1985 - Productivity of farmland nearly doubled
After 1985 - Farmers have wanted to increase farmland productivity, but fertilizer use is down

Answer Anticipation

As with all Paradox questions, we want to clearly state the paradox before we start to anticipate answers that will resolve it. And as with all questions that feature a timeline, we want to make sure that we understand what happened when, and what changed in different time periods.
Here, the paradox derives from the decreased use of fertilizer. The last time that farmers wanted to produce more food, they “sharply increased” their use of fertilizer. This time, however, they’ve decreased their fertilizer use. Why the change in approach?
We know that the goals in both time periods are the same - increase farm productivity. However, the approach is different (different amounts of fertilizer use), so we need to know what changed between the times that’s calling for a different strategy. Maybe something better than fertilizer was developed, or a major downside of fertilizer use was discovered. Maybe a cheaper option has been developed. Any answer bringing up a change between the post-1950 period and the post-1985 period that explains the shift away from fertilizer use will work to explain the discrepancy.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Since 1985 the rate Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    This answer explains why productivity needs to increase per unit of farmland (since the increase in the amount of farmland isn’t keeping pace), but not why farmers have moved away from using fertilizer to achieve that goal.
  2. B
    Several varieties of crop Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    If anything, this makes the paradox worse - if the popular crop plants of today are just as responsive to fertilizer as the ones from the earlier time period, why aren’t farmers using more fertilizer?
  3. C
    Between 1950 and 1985 Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    If the success was not limited to a single crop, that would suggest that farmers would want to continue to use the same strategy - thus making the shift less understandable.
  4. D
    After fertilizer has been Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    This answer explains what changed from 1950 to 1985. If farmers had been using fertilizer that whole time, then this answer explains that adding more soil wouldn’t do much. So when they wanted to increase productivity further, it makes sense that they didn’t turn to fertilizer. This answer explains the discrepancy by highlighting a change over time, so it’s the correct answer.
  5. E
    Between 1975 and 1980 Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    This answer doesn’t match up with the timeline, which has the decreased reliance on fertilizer starting in 1985.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 3%
  4. D Credited 83%
  5. E 5%

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