Reading comp PrepTest 147 · Section 3 · Question 1

Passage

Questions 1-6  .       In the last half-century, firefighters in  . North America have developed a powerful system for  . fighting Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage SummaryTopic: Science

Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Two different approaches are outlined
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Goal - Properly deal with forest fires
    • Firefighters - Fight them all with modern technology
    • Scientists - Doing too much firefighting can be worse than not doing any since occasional fires stop them from getting out of control
    • Example - Ancient ponderosa forests
    • General rule - Fires naturally happen every 5-25 years
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • A problem is explored; a recommendation is made
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Problem - Too much firefighting has left forests (even ponderosa) open to total devastation, killing wildlife and trees, and eroding topsoil
    • Requirement/recommendation - Switch to managing fires instead of eliminating them
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • How to implement recommendation
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Fire factors - topography (fixed); weather (unpredictable); fuel
    • Should focus on fuel - most promising is selective harvesting (small trees) and prescribed fires (light fires and also let some natural ones burn under control)
Main Point:
Despite the current fire management technique of stopping all fires, a new technique of harvesting small trees and allowing certain fires to burn (or lighting them) will be better at keeping forest fires under control.

Key Lines:
Lines 1-3 - The firefighter approach is listed
Lines 3-6 - The other approach is suggested
Lines 20-23 - The problem with the first approach is described
Lines 31-35 - The alternative approach is stated
Lines 41-45 - The "most promising" approach is stated

Meta-Structure:
Problem/Solution or Goal/Approach - These two structures are strongly related, as most goals are meant to address a problem (or potential problem). Here, the problem is out of control forest fires, and the goal is to manage forests in a way that prevents them. The firefighter/current approach is to aggressively fight all fires. However, the "most promising" approach is to selectively harvest timber to cut off fuel while allowing for controlled burns.

Last Thoughts:
There are a lot of little details in this passage that should have been noted. For example, the first paragraph has a list of benefits of allowing for regular fires, while the last paragraph has a list of factors in fire behavior. Knowing where to look for these details will probably be key for a few questions, so we should at least have tagged what the lists were of!

Question prompt

The primary purpose of 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

Science

Answer choices

  1. A
    claim that ideological dogma Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 1-3) While the Author does note that firefighting has developed in a certain way over the past half-century, there's no indication that there's any "dogma" that's preventing them from switching to a new approach.
  2. B
    compare the actual effects Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 41-45) The passage does bring up two policies. However, the recommended policy's effects are more speculative than actual. Additionally, this answer fails to state that the Author advocates for one of the policies over the other. It's tempting but ultimately wrong for these reasons.
  3. C
    contend that a recently Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Incorrect. (Lines 31-35) The Author speaks of the new policy as if it's something that needs to be adopted, not something that has already been adopted. It also doesn't discuss an increase in funding.
  4. D
    recommend a fundamental policy Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D matches the stem
    Correct. Question Type:
    Main Point

    Strategy Overview:
    Reiterate the main point and then generalize from it to get the purpose of writing this passage

    Answer Anticipation/Relevant Lines:
    All passages have the same primary purpose—to justify the main point. As such, we should start these questions by reiterating the main point that we came up with after reading the passage, and then abstract from it to get the purpose.

    Here, the Author introduces a problem in the first paragraph—forest fires, and how to control them. There's a current technique—fight all wildfires using modern technologies (Lines 1-3). However, forests naturally catch fire and they've developed with this as an important part of their life cycle (Lines 6-9). So instead, the "most promising method" (Line 44) of controlling forest fires is to harvest trees to lower the amount of available fuel while allowing for smaller fires (or even lighting them) to simulate this natural cycle (Lines 41-45).

    So the passage argues for a new approach to achieving a goal over an old approach. Let's find an answer reflecting that.

    Answer Explanation:
    (Lines 41-45) The Author ultimately concludes that a "new kind of wildlife management" is necessary because of a list of negative outcomes (Lines 23-27) of the current policy of fighting all fires. Allowing for controlled burns is a fundamentally different policy than fighting all fires, so this is the correct answer.

    Key Takeaway:
    Primary Purpose questions are just a fancy version of a Main Point question, where the answer is going to abstractly reflect the point being made. Start as you would with any Main Point question by reiterating the main point you already worked on after reading the passage, then abstract away from it.
  5. E
    argue that two seemingly Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited
    Incorrect. There's only one goal—effectively fight forest fires.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 1%
  4. D Credited 84%
  5. E 6%

Deeper help

Ask follow-ups on any step

Optional AI tutor mode will let you interrogate assumptions, compare answers, and drill weak patterns without leaving the page.

Human-written explanations stay primary; AI is an add-on when you want it.

Discussion

  • Why B? 1 reply

    Started by farnoushsalimian

  • answer choice 1 reply

    Started by Madelyn-Luskey

  • Explanation needed 1 reply

    Started by Tester

View all discussions Start a discussion