Reading comp PrepTest 135 · Section 3 · Question 12

Passage

Questions 8-13  .        While recent decades have seen more information  . recorded than any other era, the potential for Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Social Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Problem introduced (greater potential for losing material) and examples of durable and unstable materials
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the author/archivists:
      • There's now more info recorded than ever, but it's at a greater risk of being lost than older recordings (first through third sentences)
    • Examples of durable recordings, according to the author:
      • Mesopotamian tablets, medieval parchment (still looking fresh), black-and-white photographs (fourth through last sentence)
    • Examples of unstable recordings, according to the author:
      • Acidic paper, color photos, videotapes (fourth through last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "now greater than ever" (first sentence); "great concern" (second sentence); "still look as though they were copied yesterday" (fourth sentence); "already unreadable" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Possible solution (computer storage) and an issue with that solution (becomes obsolete quickly)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Transferring documents to electronic formats would seem to offer a solution, but technology changes and can make it risky to use these formats (first and second sentences)
      • And yet, archivists are running out of time (last sentence)
    • Examples of unstable computer storage, according to the author:
      • Disks can't be read with new hard/software; digital storage tapes are only good for a decade (third and fourth sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "would seem" (first sentence); "may not now be retrievable" (third sentence); "quickly running out of time" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Another issue (the amount of deteriorating material makes choosing valuable documents to store difficult)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • New technologies might allow preservation, but archivists will still have a difficult time sorting the valuable documents worth preserving from the not valuable documents in time to preserve these documents (first, second, and last sentences)
    • Examples of valuable documents that were preserved, according to the author:
      • Homer/Virgil copied and saved due to their popularity (third sentence)
      • Great works, like those of Plato, were almost lost (fourth sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "may soon provide" (first sentence); "will have to be made quickly" (first sentence); "Ideally" (second sentence); "should be informed by an assessment of the value" (third sentence); "great work" (fourth sentence); "Undoubtedly, many important works have no survived" (fifth sentence); "danger" (last sentence); "sheer volume" (last sentence); "make it virtually impossible" (last sentence); "sort the essential from the dispensable" (last sentence)

Main Point: The high volume of information recorded, coupled with the decreased durability of recording materials, has created a problem for long-term storage that needs to be addressed before important documents are lost.

Meta-Structure?

Problem/Solution: This passage most closely fits the common Problem/Solution Meta-Structure.* The author kicks off the passage by noting a problem — information is at risk of being lost. The author offers a possible solution but then highlights a problem with this solution (speed of obsolescence) before bringing up other aspects of the problem (decisions need to be made fast). So, this passage presents a problem and a solution, even if the problem is big and the solution is imperfect.

In general, the main point of a Problem/Solution passage is the author's preferred solution or their opinion on an offered solution. Here, the only solution is considered insufficient, and the author notes that the clock is ticking as we try to find one that works, so those aspects of the problem should be noted in the main point.

Examples: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is examples. Throughout the passage, the author presents several sets of examples, so it's important to be able to quickly find them. So, it can help if we highlight or underline these examples. In Paragraph 1, the author lists examples of ancient documents that have been preserved and modern ones that are falling apart (P1, S4-S5). In Paragraph 2, the author lists storage technologies that won't solve the storage problem (P2, S3-S4). And in Paragraph 3, works that did and didn't survive over time are noted (P3, S3_S4).

Last Thoughts?

Those lists of examples took up so much space that we should expect there to be a few questions asking about them, so let's be sure to head back to the passage when they come up in the questions!

Question prompt

The passage provides the 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.

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us to infer, based on the entire passage, a statement that must be true. Such questions can be very challenging. These questions provide little indication as to the topic of the correct answer or where it’ll show up in the passage. Moreover, the correct answer probably won't restate something from the passage. Instead, the question will likely require us to draw a connection between a few different pieces of information.We’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer these questions. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answer choices. If something in an answer choice doesn't seem familiar and isn’t reflected in our notes on each paragraph, we shouldn’t check the passage to see if it was mentioned. Instead, we’ll table it and move on to the next answer choice. If something seems inconsistent with the main point, we can eliminate it. If something seems familiar, consistent with the main point, or reflected in our notes, we’ll use our notes/highlights/underlines to find the part of the passage that proves the answer choice must be true. If we can find that confirmation, we’ll select that answer choice and move on.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Information stored electronically is Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes on each paragraph?

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss "unauthorized use or theft." Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (A) and check the remaining answer choices.

    Besides, we wouldn't find any support for (A) if we re-read the entire passage. The passage is about durability and never mentions unauthorized use or theft, so this answer is unsupported.

  2. B
    Much of the information Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes on each paragraph?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss what happened to "information stored on optical computer disks." Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (B) and check the remaining answer choices.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (B) is correct, we wouldn't find any support for it. In the second paragraph, the author cites optical disks and digital tape as two examples of computer technology used for storage (P2, S3-S4), but there’s no indication that materials on one have been transferred to the other.

  3. C
    The high cost of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes on each paragraph?

    Negative. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss what happened to "the cost of new electronic data storage systems." Therefore, we can eliminate — or at least table — (C) and check the remaining answer choices.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (C) is correct, we wouldn't find any support for it. The passage notes that many archivists are wary of "ever-changing computer technology" (P2, S5), not wary of the cost. Indeed, the cost is never explicitly mentioned.

  4. D
    Media used recently to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem

    (D) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes on each paragraph?

    The main point suggests that newer storage systems tend to be less durable than older ones. Furthermore, this answer choice uses the weak, easy-to-support language ("may") that we like to see in Must Be True answer choices. Therefore, it's worth checking the passage to see if (D) is supported.

    Upon reviewing the passage, we'll see that black-and-white photos can last hundreds of years, color photos can last forty years, and videotapes can last about twenty years (P1, S5). Digital storage tape, on the other hand, is safe from deterioration for only 10 years (P2, S4). That’s a recent media used to store information electronically that’s less durable than older media, supporting this comparison. We can therefore select (D) and advance to the following question.

  5. E
    The percentage of information Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Is this consistent with the main point or reflected in our notes on each paragraph?

    No. Neither the main point nor our notes discuss the percentage of information archivists now consider essential. While our notes say that archivists need to make this decision, they never claim that archivists are now deeming a greater proportion of recorded materials as essential. Moreover, this answer choice asserts a strong, proportional relationship. Such relationships are extremely hard to support and thus unlikely to appear in the correct answer to a Must Be True question. For these reasons, we can eliminate — or at least table — (E) and check the remaining answer choices.

    If we had to review the passage to determine whether (E) is correct, we wouldn't find any support for it. The author discusses the value of information in the third paragraph, and at no point does the author say that the increase in such information is proportional to the increase in information. (And anyone with Twitter or Facebook can probably attest that most stuff written these days isn’t important!)

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 6%
  3. C 2%
  4. D Credited 65%
  5. E 25%

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