Reading comp PrepTest 135 · Section 3 · Question 8

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

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

Credited answer: A

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

Question Type

Social Science

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point as we summarized it after reading through the passage, then find the answer that best matches it

Answer Anticipation

As discussed in the Meta-Structure section above, this passage utilizes a Problem/Solution Meta-Structure. In such a Meta-Structure, the main point is generally the author's preferred solution or opinion on an offered solution.Here, the problem is that there's more information being recorded than ever, but the means we have to store that information is less durable than ever (P1, S1-S3). One solution is provided — archiving materials using computer technology (P2, S1), but the author doesn't think this is sufficient because technology becomes obsolete and is itself not too durable (P2, S2, S4). This failure to find an acceptable solution is itself a problem because valuable materials are degrading as we speak (P3, S1), and the backlog means archivists will have to quickly make decisions on what to save — a task that's "virtually impossible" (P3, S6).Putting this all together, we said the main point of the passage is: "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."Let's look for an answer choice that matches those ideas.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The increasing volume of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) Does this match the ideas in our anticipated main point?

    Yes, for the most part! This accurately reflects the problem articulated in our anticipation — there's a lot of information, and archivists have to preserve some of the valuable stuff. It also accurately reflects the author's opinion on the solution — "modern storage media" isn't very durable, which makes it "more and more difficult" for archivists to do their job. This answer reflects the problem and the intractability of it, so it's a good match for our anticipation.

    That said, this answer choice leaves out one part of our anticipation — that archivists must decide which documents are valuable "before important documents are lost." The part about the problem making it "more and more difficult" for archivists to do their job arguably reflects that part of the passage. Still, we would wait until we read the rest of the answers to pick it since it doesn't explicitly mention that part. Once we eliminate the remaining answer choices, we can select (A) more confidently.

  2. B
    Modern data storage–and–retrieval techniques Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) Does this match the ideas in our anticipated main point?

    Nope. This doesn't reflect the author's less-than-rosy attitude toward the solution. The author argues that computer storage techniques will not fully solve the problem (P2, S1-S2) and notes that even if appropriate ones are developed, archivists will still need to work to determine what information to save (P3, S1), suggesting that these techniques won't help with this problem.

  3. C
    Many archivists have come Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) Does this match the ideas in our anticipated main point?

    Not quite. This answer choice doesn't frame the passage as a Problem/Solution passage. It's not just that conventional storage media is more durable than electronic storage media — it's that modern storage media's lack of durability means we might lose important documents. Instead, this answer choice makes it seem like this is a Reporting a Viewpoint passage ("archivists have come to believe") that doesn't frame the central topic as a particular problem. Finally — if we really want to split hairs — this answer choice mischaracterizes what types of storage media are unstable. It's not just the "electronic storage media" — color photos and acidic paper are also cited as nondurable storage media (P1, S4-S5).

  4. D
    Given the limitations on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Does this match the ideas in our anticipated main point?

    Not quite. While the author does argue that archivists will need to determine which documents are valuable and thus worth saving, this answer choice mischaracterizes the problem. Modern storage media doesn't have a problem with "capacity" (the author says electronic storage occupies "very little space" on discs or tapes, P2, S1). Instead, modern storage media isn't durable — there's no guarantee that electronic storage will preserve information for very long (P2, S2). Moreover, this answer fails to address another aspect of the problem — that there's a backlog, making it "virtually impossible" for them to sort the essential from the dispensable (P3, S6). As such, it's not a comprehensive view of the main point.

  5. E
    Modern electronic media enable Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Does this match the ideas in our anticipated main point?

    Nope. Like (B), this doesn't match the author's less-than-optimistic attitude toward the solution. The author argues that computer technology "seem[s]" to offer a solution to the problem of archiving the volumes of recorded info "but" that, in reality, it has problems that prevent it from being a viable solution (P2, S1-S2). This answer treats electronic media as a solution to the problem — a solution so good that it actually creates a new problem!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A Credited 90%
  2. B 1%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 6%
  5. E 2%

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Discussion

  • Why not A? 1 reply

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