Reading comp PrepTest 156 · Section 3 · Question 13

Passage

Passage A is adapted from a book review by physicist Freeman Dyson. Passage B is adapted from a response to Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Science


Passage A

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Reductionist (science can explain everything) and traditional (science is only one source of knowledge) extremes and Dyson's position (near traditional)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author’s attitude
    • List of two extremes concerning the role of science in human understanding, according to Dyson:
      • Reductionist: all knowledge can be explained by science (second sentence)
      • Traditional: science is only one source of knowledge (third sentence)
    • Comparison, according to the Dyson:
      • While skeptics of paranormal phenomena are near the reductionist extreme, Dyson is near the traditional extreme (last sentence)
    • Dyson's attitude: "extreme" (first sentence); "reductionist" (second sentence); "I am near the traditional extreme" (last sentence)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Dyson on the connection between science's limits and paranormal phenomena's existence (science hasn't proven existence, but it can plausibly exist beyond scientific investigation)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author’s attitude
    • Dyson's view:
      • Even though science hasn't been able to study extrasensory perception and telepathy — and reductionists have concluded that they do not exist — these paranormal phenomena may exist beyond the scope of scientific investigation (first through last sentences)
    • Dyson's attitude: "closely connected" (first sentence); "failed" (second sentence); "I do not accept this conclusion" (fourth sentence); "may exist" (fifth sentence); "just a hypothesis, but one that I find tenable and plausible" (last sentence)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Dyson on evidence of paranormal phenomena (abundant, anecdotal, show phenomena may be observable only under stress)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author’s attitude
    • Dyson's view:
      • There is abundant anecdotal but carefully documented evidence of people who possess paranormal abilities that suggests that paranormal phenomena are only observable under stress and strong emotion (first through fourth sentence)
    • Comparison, according to Dyson:
      • The evidence that people possess paranormal abilities is anecdotal, unlike scientific evidence that can be repeated under controlled environments — the possibility that phenomena are only observable under stress/emotion make evidence impossible to reproduce in a scientific setting (second, fifth, and last sentences)
    • Dyson's attitude: "abundant evidence" (first sentence); "carefully documented" (third sentence); "make it clear" (fourth sentence); "occur only when people are under stress and experiencing strong emotion" (fourth sentence); "This would explain" (fifth sentence); "incompatible" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Dyson on possibly "complementary" nature of science and paranormal phenomena (both valid but can't be observed simultaneously, like light's waves/particles)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author’s attitude
    • Definition of "complementary":
      • Two descriptions of nature that are both true but cannot be observed at the same time (second sentence)
    • Example of "complementary" phenomena, according to Dyson:
      • Light, which behaves as a wave in some experiments and particles in others, but never both at the same time (last sentence)
    • Dyson's view:
      • Paranormal phenomena and scientific method may be complementary (first sentence)
    • Dyson's attitude: "may be complementary" (first sentence); "cannot see both" (last sentence)

Passage B

Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Author's criticism of Dyson (anecdotal evidence doesn't rebut repeated scientific results that paranormal phenomena do not exist; "complementarity" principle doesn't apply)
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author’s attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Dyson's view is ridiculous, and he should know better than to trust anecdotal evidence over clear, repeated scientific results that show that paranormal phenomena do not exist (first through fourth sentences)
      • The principle of the "complementarity" doesn't apply to paranormal phenomena since they either exist or don't exist (and science has only shown they don't exist) (fifth through last sentences)
    • Points of intersection with passage A:
      • References all aspects of Dyson's argument, including his reductionist/traditional dichotomy, his anecdotal evidence, his hypothesis that stress is required to observe the paranormal, and the hypothesis that the paranormal and science are "complementary"
    • Author's attitude: "ridiculous plea" (first sentence); "mysteriously disappear" (first sentence); "A scientist of Dyson’s caliber should know that anecdotes do not make a science" (second sentence); "The only way" (third sentence); "rigorous scientific experiments" (fourth sentence); "results are unequivocal" (fourth sentence); "chimera" (fourth sentence); "does not apply" (sixth sentence); "demonstrated that they cannot" (seventh sentence); "does not change this scientific fact" (last sentence)

Main Points?

Passage A: Because he identifies closer to the "traditional" view concerning science's relationship to human understanding, Dyson does not believe the lack of scientific proof of paranormal phenomena is dispositive, as paranormal phenomena may exist beyond scientific investigation or be complementary with scientific inquiry.

Passage B: Dyson's argument is ridiculous, and he should know better than to rely on anecdotal evidence over clear, repeated scientific results that show that paranormal phenomena do not exist.

Meta-Structure? Overall Relationship?

Relationship - Opposing Viewpoints: This is as unambiguous an example of an Opposing Viewpoint set of passages as you'll ever see. The author of passage B explicitly addresses Dyson's argument from passage A and disagrees with pretty much every point that Dyson makes. Dyson argues that the anecdotal evidence of paranormal phenomena is compelling and might be beyond science's ability to observe (PA, P3, S1-S6). The author of passage B argues that this anecdotal evidence should hold no weight against scientific evidence (PB, P1, S2-S4). Dyson argues that science and the paranormal may be "complementary" (PA, P4, S1), but the author of passage B responds that the notion of "complementarity" doesn't apply to the paranormal (PB, P1, S5-S6). Dyson (somewhat diplomatically) attributes his willingness to believe in the paranormal as a product of his ideological association with the "traditional" view of science and knowledge (PA, P1, S3-S5). The author of passage B argues that this ideology doesn't change the scientific fact that there's no scientific proof of the paranormal (PB, P1, S9).

Last Thoughts?

Since these passages are explicitly in conversation with one another, expect many questions that ask us what Dyson might think of a statement in passage B or what the author of passage B might think about one of Dyson's statements.

Question prompt

It can be inferred Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Strategy Overview

Review the main point, use notes or highlighted/underlined text in the passage to recall each author's attitude, and find the answer that one author would agree with and the other would disagree with

Answer Anticipation

This question asks us to select the answer choice that the author of passage B would be more likely to agree with. So, this question asks the authors' views but doesn't provide any insight into the topic of the correct answer or where the supporting information might show up in the passage. This means the correct answer is likely to relate back to the authors' main points. As such, we'll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passages to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main points from each passage. We can also review any notes about the authors' attitudes or any text we highlighted because it expresses the author's opinion. After doing that, we can head to the answer choices. For those answer choices that conform to passage B's main points or are reflected in our notes for passage B, we'll use our notes and the passage to see if the author of passage B would agree with that statement. Then, we can use our notes and the passage to ensure that the author of passage A would disagree with the answer choice. If the author of passage B agrees and the author of passage A disagrees with an answer choice, it is correct. However, if one author is completely neutral on an answer choice or we can't infer one author's opinion, it is incorrect. Therefore, we should table or eliminate any answer choice we encounter that is irrelevant or incidental to both authors' main points.

Answer choices

  1. A
    There may be real Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    Is this consistent with passage B's main point or reflected in the notes for passage B?

    Nope. In the main point for passage B, the author asserts that it's "ridiculous" to believe in paranormal phenomena that have never been discovered by scientific research. So, the author of passage B would probably disagree with this statement. Indeed, the author of passage A would be far more likely to embrace this statement than the author of passage B. We can cross (A) off.

  2. B
    There are numerous reports Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    Is this consistent with passage B's main point or reflected in the notes for passage B?

    The main point for passage B references "anecdotal evidence" of paranormal phenomena, which suggests that there are reports of people who apparently demonstrate paranormal abilities. So, the author of passage B may not put much stock into these reports, but they're willing to concede they exist. But that brings us to the second question ...

    Is this inconsistent with passage A's main point or contradicted by the notes for passage A?

    Nope. The notes for passage A's third paragraph say there is "abundant" anecdotal evidence of paranormal phenomena. So, the author of passage A would also agree with this statement.

    Since both authors would agree with (B), we need to cross it off.

  3. C
    Light behaves as a Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    Is this consistent with passage B's main point or reflected in the notes for passage B?

    Nope. Neither the main point nor our notes for passage B reference the behavior of light in experiments. Indeed, when answering the sixth question of this passage, we realized that the "dual nature of light" wasn't mentioned in passage B at all. So, we don't know whether the author of passage B would agree with this statement. Plus, we know from our notes on passage A's fourth paragraph that the author of passage A would agree with this statement. For these reasons, we need to eliminate (C).

  4. D
    Scientific investigation has provided Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    Is this consistent with passage B's main point or reflected in the notes for passage B?

    Yes. The main point for passage B is that "clear, repeated scientific results ... show that paranormal phenomena do not exist." So, the author of passage B would definitely agree that there is no scientific evidence of extrasensory perception or telepathy. But that brings us to the second question ...

    Is this inconsistent with passage A's main point or contradicted by the notes for passage A?

    Not quite. The notes for passage A's third paragraph refer to "anecdotal" evidence of paranormal phenomena. That doesn't mean that this evidence is scientific in nature. Moreover, passage A's main point says there is a "lack of scientific proof of paranormal phenomena." These suggest that the author of passage A would also agree with this statement. Indeed, the author says that evidence of paranormal phenomena is "anecdotal rather than scientific" (PA, P3, S2) and that "paranormal phenomena are not observable in well-controlled scientific experiments" (PA, P3, S5).

    Since both authors would agree with (D), we need to eliminate it.

  5. E
    The same general methods Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    Is this consistent with passage B's main point or reflected in the notes for passage B?

    We can infer that the author of passage B probably has this belief. Passage B's main point places great emphasis on scientific evidence. As we discussed in the previous question, the author of passage B assumes that since paranormal phenomena haven't been proven by science, they do not exist. This suggests that the author of passage B holds the reductionist position described in passage A. And, according to our notes for passage A, that position holds that "science can explain everything." So, the author of passage B would argue that scientific methods should be used to study both physics and all human behavior. And that brings us to the second question ...

    Is this inconsistent with passage A's main point or contradicted by the notes for passage A?

    Yes! In our notes for the first paragraph, we wrote that the author of Dyson has a "near traditional" view on the relationship between science and human understanding, which means he believes "science is only one source of knowledge." So, Dyson probably would disagree that the methods used to study physics should be used to study "all human behavior." Especially when Dyson is open to the possibility that some humans may have paranormal powers, which cannot be studied by science.

    Since the author of passage A probably agrees and Dyson probably disagrees with this answer choice, we can select (E) and wrap up this passage.

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 2%
  3. C 2%
  4. D 58%
  5. E Credited 33%

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

No threads yet—be the first to ask a question or share an approach.

View all discussions Start a discussion