Reading comp PrepTest 132 · Section 1 · Question 16

Passage

Questions 15-21 Passage A  .        Because dental caries (decay) is strongly linked to  . consumption of the sticky, carbohydrate-rich Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Factors in decay; connection; what it can show
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Connection - Dental caries (decay) and sticky carbs
    • Show - When humans went from hunting to agriculture
    • Factors in decay (don’t try to memorize)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Research and examples of connection
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Conclusion - Carbs are linked to caries
    • Leigh - Sioux (meat, no caries) and Zuni (carbs/agriculture, caries)
    • Others confirm

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Exceptions (examples)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Exceptions - Nonagricultural groups who had caries - at more cariogenic carbs
    • Examples - Western North America (stone-ground acorns); Hopi (pinyon nuts and tubers)

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ban Chiang skeletons found - 2000 year period from hunter to agriculture

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • A trend is noted and explained
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Trend - More agriculture = declining health (including caries)
    • Why? More sticky carbs
    • Why? Less tooth wear (fiber/grit) that removes fissures in carb diet
    • (Exception - Too much wear causes caries)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Expectation in example from Paragraph 1
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Ban Chiang - Ate carbs throughout 2000 year period
    • Expectation - Carbs should have led to caries

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • A paradox is introduced; potential resolutions noted
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Paradox - More frequent caries in early group despite increasing agriculture
    • Ruled out explanation - Changes in tooth wear (no changes seen)
    • Potential explanation - Diet remained varied and switched to less bad carbs

Main Points:

Passage A - While there are some exceptions, a shift to agriculture and consumption of “sticky” carbs increases the frequency of dental caries in a population.

Passage B - Remains found at Ban Chiang present a paradoxical case where increased reliance on agriculture resulted in fewer dental caries - contrary to expectations - which may be explained by their overall diet and switch from certain carbs to others.

Key Lines?

Passage A:

  • Lines 1-3 - A relationship is established
  • Lines 3-5 Using one thing as a proxy for another is discussed
  • Line 6 - A list of factors is introduced
  • Line 12 - A list of examples/research is started
  • Lines 23-25 - An exception is noted
  • Line 25 - More examples are started

Passage B:

  • Lines 39-41 - A relationship is established
  • Lines 42-44 - Two potential explanations are established
  • Line 57 - A paradox is previewed (“should theoretically”)
  • Lines 58-60 - The paradox is stated
  • Lines 61-62 - One explanation from earlier is ruled out
  • Lines 63-69 - Potential explanations are presented

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?

Generalization/Example (Passage A) - Passage A presents several generalizations that it follows up with examples. This happens in both Paragraphs 2 and 3.

Exception (Passage A) - After discussing a general rule throughout the first two paragraphs, the Author shifts to discussing a class of exceptions to that rule.

Overarching Example (Passage B) - Unlike Passage A, Passage B focuses on a single example - that of the skeletal remains found in Ban Chiang.

Paradox/Resolution (Passage B) - Passage B introduces a paradox (“Yet”). According to expectations, as the Ban Chiang population relied more on agriculture, they should have seen more caries. Evidence says that the frequency of caries went down. The passage then rules out one explanation before presenting alternatives as possibilities (“more likely that”).

The two passages both deal with the same topic - the relationship between an increased reliance on agriculture and the frequency of dental caries/tooth decay. And both are largely aligned in that they treat it as a general rule that more agriculture results in more tooth decay (Lines 11-12; Lines 39-41). And neither concludes that this is wrong - instead, they both present exceptions. In the case of Passage A, the Author explicitly mentions exceptions (Paragraph 3). In Passage B, the Author explores an exceptional case (Line 57; Lines 58-60) and presents potential reasons that this case doesn’t conform to the norm (varied diet; switch to less cariogenic carbs).

Last Thoughts?

These passages have a lot of overlap between them, so we should expect more questions about similarities than differences.

Question prompt

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: B

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

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Pick one of the passages to read through first, identifying relevant details, then comparing it to the other

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us about the populations discussed in the last paragraph of Passage A and the population discussed throughout Passage B, so let’s start by looking at Passage A since the relevant information is contained in one paragraph.In that last paragraph, the Author notes that the populations were nonagricultural (line 24), had relatively high caries rates (Lines 24-25), and some ate highly processed flour (Line 27) while others at highly cariogenic plants (Lines 29-31).So let’s tackle these one at a time. Were the Ban Chiang humans nonagricultural? Nope - their diet included “some cultivated” plants throughout the period studied, so there’s one difference. Did they have a relatively high caries rate? We don’t know - we learn that the caries frequency was slightly greater in the Early Group compared to the Late Group, but we don’t know whether those rates were high, low, or a mix - so no guaranteed difference here. Did they eat highly processed flour? It’s not mentioned, so we can’t say for sure. Did they eat highly cariogenic plants? Yes, early on (Lines 67-68).So the key difference appears to be that the groups from Passage A were nonagricultural, while the group from Passage B was always eating some cultivated foods and increasingly relied on agriculture as time went on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    While the Ban Chiang Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 29-31) Passage A notes that the Hopi ate “several species with high cariogenic potential,” so this answer is wrong in saying that they did not. The first part is also wrong, in that it establishes, at most, one highly cariogenic food eaten by the Ban Chiang inhabitants (yams, with rice being “less cariogenic” and thus potentially not highly cariogenic).

  2. B
    While the Ban Chiang Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) (Lines 51-53; Line 24) Passage B notes that the diet of inhabitants of Ban Chiang “included some cultivated” plants throughout the time period in question, so the first half of this answer checks out. And the populations in Passage A’s last paragraph were “nonagricultural,” supporting the second half. The examples go even further in supporting this answer, with the first one involving “gathered acorns” and the second involving “wild plants.” This answer is therefore correct

  3. C
    While the Ban Chiang Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 51-55) Passage B notes that the inhabitants of Ban Chiang had a “varied” diet that included “animal foods.” It doesn’t break down the proportion of these animal foods versus the plant foods, so even though it says that they “became increasingly dependent” on agriculture, there’s no indication that agriculture (and carbs, specifically) made up 50+% of their diet.

  4. D
    While the Ban Chiang Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 61-63; Lines 28-29) Passage B compares the tooth wear between the Early and Late Groups at Ban Chiang, but that doesn’t speak to the absolute level of tooth wear. And Passage A talks only about caries rate, not tooth wear.

  5. E
    While the Ban Chiang Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Line 27) Populations in western North America ate “highly processed” stone-ground flour, so the second half of this answer is contradicted by the passage.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 8%
  2. B Credited 62%
  3. C 20%
  4. D 8%
  5. E 3%

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