Reading comp PrepTest 135 · Section 3 · Question 27

Passage

Questions 20-27  .        As part of an international effort to address  . environmental problems resulting from agricultural  . overproduction, Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Environmental problems from overproduction in Europe (depleted nutrients, fertilization encourages problem weeds) and some solutions (replace topsoil, end production, accelerated restoration)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationships, according to the author:
      • Overproduction causes the depletion of nutrients, among other environmental problems (first and second sentences)
      • Overfertilization causes the growth of problem weeds, which make it difficult for native plants to establish themselves (third sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • The quickest solution is removing and replacing the topsoil, but that is impractical on a large scale (fourth sentence)
      • Most people believe that doing nothing will allow the soil to restore itself, but the Netherlands study is trying to accelerate this natural rehab (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "environmental problems" (first sentence); "will be difficult" (second sentence); "problem weeds" (third sentence); "impractical" (fourth sentence); "generally believed" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Netherlands study described (plots planted with native grasses/herbs have fewer thistles)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the study:
      • One the control plots planted with nothing or corn, thistles became dominant; on the plots planted with native grasses/herbs, thistles were forced out (first through last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Conclusion from additional stage of the Netherlands study (spreading beneficial microorganisms and native herbs/grasses restores soil more quickly)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to the study:
      • Researchers spread untouched soil (which has beneficial microorganisms) into the plots and found the plots with native herbs/grasses and the soil fared better than plots with just native herbs/grasses, but not as well as unfarmed soil (first and second sentences)
    • Researchers' view:
      • Farmed soil has harmful organisms and no good ones, so we can accelerate soil's restoration by returning beneficial microorganisms (which fight the harmful organisms) and native herbs/grasses (third through last sentences)
    • Examples of beneficial organisms, according to the author:
      • Nematodes, mycorrhiza (first and third sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "beneficial microorganisms" (first sentence); "preliminary results" (fourth sentence); "hinges on" (fourth sentence)

Main Point: Studies by researchers in the Netherlands have shown that the natural restoration of ecological health can be accelerated by sowing beneficial microorganisms into the soil while planting a wide variety of native seeds.

Meta-Structure?

Problem/Solution: This passage is an interesting variation on the Problem/Solution Meta-Structure. It introduces a problem — the environmental problems associated with agricultural overproduction — and it explores a spectrum of solutions. These vary from the non-workable (removing and replacing all of the topsoil) to the slow (do nothing and let nature run its course) to the speculative one promoted by the study from the Netherlands.

In general, the main point of a Problem/Solution passage will be the author's preferred solution or, absent that, their opinion on the main solution. In this case, the author doesn't really express their preference for or even their opinion on any of the solutions. Therefore, the main point will simply summarize the solution that the passage dedicates the most space to — the speculative solution from the Netherlands studies. We'll need to make sure the main point mentions that any conclusions drawn from the study are held by those researchers, not the author. Those conclusions are summarized in the last sentence of the passage, which we used to construct our anticipated main point.

Last Thoughts?

Each paragraph involves a lot of detail and will require a lot of checking in the questions. In Paragraph 1, that's the list of contributing factors to the problem and the different solutions noted. In Paragraph 2, there are the differences between the four types of plots and their results. In Paragraph 3, that's micro...mycro...mycorrhiza? It's the difficult details around the harmful microorganisms, especially since the paragraph also talks about beneficial microorganisms. Let's be sure to rely heavily on the passage to help us on the detail-oriented questions.

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

Science

Strategy Overview

Review the relevant part of the passage and notes, if necessary, to anticipate key features of the process by which the spread of thistles can be curtailed

Answer Anticipation

These Application/Analogous Situation questions closely resemble Parallel Reasoning questions in Logical Reasoning. We want to find the answer choice that is structurally similar to the element we're asked to analogize. The correct answer won't have the same subject matter as the passage; instead, it will feature similar characteristics or themes as the element from the passage. Therefore, we should start by reviewing the key features of the element we're asked to parallel.In this case, we're asked to find a situation that parallels the process used to slow the spread of thistles. The first step in this question is to identify how to slow the spread of thistles, as defined in the last paragraph. However, we’ve hit our first hurdle — Paragraph 3 doesn’t mention thistles! But we can see (using CTRL/Command + F if necessary) that thistles are mentioned in Paragraphs 1 (P1, S4) and 2 (P2, S4). In Paragraph 1, it’s a part of the problem — the overfarmed plots of land, when left untouched, end up getting covered in thistles (P1, S4). In Paragraph 2, it says largely the same thing (P2, S4). So, thistles are part of the problem that the entire passage — including the study by researchers in the Netherlands — is designed to address.So what process is described in Paragraph 3 to address this problem? That shows up right at the end, where restoring biodiversity is discussed (P3, S5). And that makes sense — after all, if a plot of land has thistles proliferating and becoming dominant, then there’s no biodiversity. There are only thistles. So, the process to slow the spread of thistles involves adding in beneficial microorganisms and a wide variety of native plant seeds (P3, S6). Those beneficial microorganisms "strengthen" plant roots against disease organisms, allowing the wide variety of native plant seeds to grow (P3, S4).So let’s find an answer where someone or a group (the researchers) similarly "adds" something (good microorganisms) that strengthens the desired elements (native plants) in order to allow them to thrive, pushing out a competitor (thistles). This anticipation may sound rather broad, but we want our anticipation to be very general for these questions. This will help us assess the elements or themes of the answer choices independent of their subject matter.

Answer choices

  1. A
    A newspaper works to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) Does this describe a situation where someone or a group adds something that strengthens the desired elements, allowing the desired elements to thrive while pushing out a competitor?

    Not quite. The newspaper is the acting group here, so they’re analogous to the researchers. Party A, which is being prevented from winning a majority of seats, matches up with the thistles. The party's supporters here, in the original situation, would be analogous to something that was supporting the thistles in growing, but no such element exists in the passage. They grew because other plants were being suppressed by the bad microorganisms, not because they were being boosted by "supporters." Maybe the fertilizer was supporting the growth of the thistles, but the fertilizer was used to get the crops to grow, too, so it doesn’t make sense to say they’re analogous! This answer thus falls apart.

  2. B
    A newspaper works to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B matches the stem

    (B) Does this describe a situation where someone or a group adds something that strengthens the desired elements, allowing the desired elements to thrive while pushing out a competitor?

    Yes! The newspaper is the acting group here, so they’re analogous to the researchers. Party A, which is being prevented from winning a majority of seats, matches up with the thistles. The published editorials are analogous to the beneficial microorganisms, in that both are defending what is desired (the candidates from other parties, which are analogous to the native plants). And that makes the broadcast journalists analogous to the bad microorganisms, which are attacking the plants and are countered by the good microorganisms. Each element in this answer matches up with an element in the passage, so this is the correct answer. We can justifiably select it and wrap up this passage.

  3. C
    A newspaper works to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this describe a situation where someone or a group adds something that strengthens the desired elements, allowing the desired elements to thrive while pushing out a competitor?

    No. The newspaper is the acting group here, so they’re analogous to the researchers. Party A, which is being prevented from winning a majority of seats, matches up with the thistles. But, just as in (A), there’s nothing in the stimulus that matches up with supporters of Party A. The party’s supporters here, in the original situation, would be analogous to something that was supporting the thistles in growing, but no such element exists. They grew because other plants were being suppressed by the bad microorganisms, not because they were being boosted by "supporters." Maybe the fertilizer was supporting the growth of the thistles, but the fertilizer was used to get the crops to grow, too, so it doesn’t make sense to say they’re analogous! This answer thus falls apart.

  4. D
    A newspaper works to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this describe a situation where someone or a group adds something that strengthens the desired elements, allowing the desired elements to thrive while pushing out a competitor?

    Negative. The newspaper is the acting group here, so they’re analogous to the researchers. Party A, which is being prevented from winning a majority of seats, matches up with the thistles. But this is yet another answer choice that has supporters of Party A. And as we said before, the party’s supporters here, in the original situation, would be analogous to something that was supporting the thistles in growing, but no such element exists. They grew because other plants were being suppressed by the bad microorganisms, not because they were being boosted by "supporters." Maybe the fertilizer was supporting the growth of the thistles, but the fertilizer was used to get the crops to grow, too, so it doesn’t make sense to say they’re analogous! This answer thus falls apart.

  5. E
    A newspaper works to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this describe a situation where someone or a group adds something that strengthens the desired elements, allowing the desired elements to thrive while pushing out a competitor?

    No. The newspaper is the acting group here, so they’re analogous to the researchers. Party A, which is being prevented from winning a majority of seats, matches up with the thistles. However, there’s nothing in the passage that suggests something is creating "antagonism" between two factions of thistles. That would require two sub-groups of thistles, and there’s no indication that’s the case.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 16%
  2. B Credited 45%
  3. C 15%
  4. D 14%
  5. E 10%

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