112 questionsShowing 57–112

Information & Ideas practice questions

Central ideas, supporting detail, inference, and reading evidence from a short text or a data description. The answer must be supported by the passage rather than merely consistent with it.

Read the method first Drill this area against a clock Multi-step sets

57Central ideas and detailsStandard
Lichens are not single organisms but partnerships: a fungus supplies structure and holds moisture, while an alga or a cyanobacterium makes food by photosynthesis. Because neither partner can hold bare rock on its own, the pairing is often the first life to reach a new lava flow, and its slow chemical action begins to break the surface into soil. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- AA partnership lets lichens live where neither partner could survive alone, which is why they colonise bare rock first.
- BThe fungus contributes more to a lichen than the alga does.
- CLava flows are the only surfaces on which lichens are found.
- DSoil forms faster on lava than on other kinds of rock.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: A partnership lets lichens live where neither partner could survive alone, which is why they colonise bare rock first.
The text is built around one point: the partnership does what neither partner can. The comparison between the partners is never made, the lava flow is an example rather than the only case, and nothing is said about the speed of soil formation elsewhere.
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58InferencesStandard
The ship's log for 14 March records the crew's rations halved and the carpenter set to work on the boats. The entry for 15 March is in a different hand. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the ship's situation?
- AThe carpenter had taken over the keeping of the log.
- BConditions had worsened enough that the crew were preparing to leave the ship.
- CThe ship went down on 15 March.
- DThe crew had mutinied before 15 March.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Conditions had worsened enough that the crew were preparing to leave the ship.
Halved rations and work on the boats point the same way: supplies were short and the boats were being readied. A change of hand shows only that someone else wrote the entry, which is a long way from identifying who, or from a sinking or a mutiny the log never mentions.
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59Command of evidenceStandard
A researcher claims that a town's new cycle lane increased the amount of cycling rather than simply moving existing cyclists onto it. Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the claim?
- AThe lane carries about 400 cyclists a day.
- BCyclist numbers on the parallel road fell by roughly the number now using the lane.
- CTotal cycling trips across the town rose by 30 percent, with no fall on other routes.
- DMost people using the lane say they find it pleasant.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Total cycling trips across the town rose by 30 percent, with no fall on other routes.
The claim is about the total, so the evidence has to be about the total. A count on the lane alone cannot separate new cyclists from moved ones, the second choice is the rival explanation rather than a refutation of it, and enjoyment says nothing about numbers.
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60Data interpretationStandard
A library recorded loans in four categories over one month: fiction 1,240; biography 430; science 610; poetry 180. Which claim about the loans is supported by these figures?
- AScience loans exceeded biography and poetry loans combined.
- BPoetry loans were less than a tenth of fiction loans.
- CBiography loans were exactly twice poetry loans.
- DFiction accounted for more than half of all loans.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Fiction accounted for more than half of all loans.
The four categories total 2,460, so half is 1,230 and fiction's 1,240 is just above it. Science at 610 equals biography and poetry combined rather than exceeding them, a tenth of fiction is 124 and poetry is 180, and twice poetry is 360 rather than 430.
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61Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Rewilding a river means removing what constrains it — weirs, straightened banks, dredged channels. Left alone, a river rebuilds the meanders and gravel beds that fish spawn in. Text 2: A river straightened for two centuries no longer has the sediment supply it once had, and the gravel it needs now arrives largely from quarrying upstream. Removing the constraints is necessary. On its own it returns a river to a condition its catchment can no longer sustain. How does Text 2 respond to Text 1?
- ABy agreeing that the constraints should go while denying that their removal is enough on its own.
- BBy rejecting the claim that rivers benefit from having constraints removed.
- CBy supplying an example of a rewilding project that succeeded.
- DBy arguing that quarrying upstream should be stopped.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: By agreeing that the constraints should go while denying that their removal is enough on its own.
Text 2 calls removal "necessary" and then says it is not sufficient, which is agreement plus a limit rather than rejection. The quarrying is mentioned as the current source of gravel, not as something to end.
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62SynthesisStandard
While writing about a 1908 photograph of a market square, a student has taken these notes: - The photograph shows 40 stalls. - A council register for 1908 lists 52 licensed traders. - The photograph was taken on a Tuesday. - The market's main day was Saturday. The student wants to explain why the photograph shows fewer stalls than the register would suggest. Which choice best uses the notes to do this?
- AThe photograph shows 40 stalls, although 52 traders held licences that year.
- BTaken on a Tuesday rather than the market's main day of Saturday, the photograph shows only 40 of the 52 licensed traders.
- CIn 1908 the council licensed 52 traders for the market square.
- DThe photograph, taken on a Tuesday, shows a market square with 40 stalls.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Taken on a Tuesday rather than the market's main day of Saturday, the photograph shows only 40 of the 52 licensed traders.
Only one choice puts the day beside the shortfall, which is what turns two facts into an explanation. The first states the discrepancy without accounting for it, and the last two report one side of it.
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63InferencesChallenge
Seed banks hold seeds at -20 degrees Celsius, a temperature at which most species stay viable for decades. Around a third of the world's tree species, though, produce seeds that die if they are dried, and drying is the step that makes freezing survivable. For those species a seed bank is not an option, and conservation has to mean living collections in the ground. Which choice is most strongly supported by the text?
- AMost tree species cannot be held in seed banks.
- BFreezing harms undried seeds because cold is damaging in itself.
- CWhether a species can be banked depends on a property of its seeds rather than on the bank's equipment.
- DLiving collections cost more to maintain than seed banks do.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Whether a species can be banked depends on a property of its seeds rather than on the bank's equipment.
The obstacle described is that the seeds die on drying, which is a fact about the seeds. A third is not most, the text names drying rather than cold as the step these seeds fail, and cost is never raised.
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64Command of evidenceChallenge
An archaeologist argues that a coastal settlement was occupied all year rather than seasonally. Which finding would most strongly support that argument?
- AFish bones from species that pass through the estuary in spring.
- BA hearth holding charcoal from oak, which grows nearby.
- CPost-holes suggesting substantial timber buildings.
- DAnimal teeth whose growth layers cover every season of the year.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Animal teeth whose growth layers cover every season of the year.
Growth layers record the season an animal died in, so teeth spanning all four seasons place people there in all four. Spring fish point to one season, local charcoal to none, and a solid building can be returned to each year without being lived in continuously.
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65SynthesisStandard
While researching a lighthouse, a student has taken these notes: - The lighthouse was automated in 1989. - Before automation it was staffed by three keepers. - It now has no keepers. - Its light is still visible 26 miles out to sea. The student wants to make the point that automation changed who worked there without changing what the building does. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- AAutomated in 1989, the lighthouse lost its three keepers but still shows a light visible 26 miles out to sea.
- BThe lighthouse was automated in 1989, having been staffed by three keepers before then.
- CThe light of the lighthouse is visible 26 miles out to sea.
- DSince 1989 the lighthouse has had no keepers.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Automated in 1989, the lighthouse lost its three keepers but still shows a light visible 26 miles out to sea.
Making the point requires both halves in one sentence: the staffing that ended and the function that did not. The other choices carry one half each, and a change needs two sides to be visible.
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66Relationships between textsStandard
Text 1: The mechanical reaper, introduced in the 1840s, cut the labour needed to harvest an acre of wheat by roughly four-fifths. Text 2: Machines did not empty the countryside on their own. Where new work appeared, in dairying or market gardening, populations held; where it did not, they fell. The reaper made leaving possible, and something else made it necessary. How does Text 2 use the claim made in Text 1?
- AIt disputes the estimate of four-fifths.
- BIt accepts the labour saving and argues that it was not by itself enough to cause depopulation.
- CIt argues that dairying required more labour than wheat did.
- DIt concludes that the reaper had no effect on rural populations.
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Answer: It accepts the labour saving and argues that it was not by itself enough to cause depopulation.
Text 2 never questions the figure; it says the reaper "made leaving possible" and then looks for what made it necessary. That is a claim about sufficiency, which is compatible with the reaper mattering a great deal.
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67Central ideas and detailsStandard
The Antikythera mechanism, recovered from a shipwreck in 1901, was catalogued for decades as a corroded lump of bronze. Imaging in the 1970s revealed at least thirty interlocking gears inside, arranged to model the motions of the sun and the moon. Nothing of comparable complexity survives from the next thousand years, which tells us less about what was built than about what happened to survive. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- AThe mechanism shows that ancient astronomy was more accurate than modern astronomy.
- BImaging is the most valuable tool available to archaeology.
- COne surviving object can reveal a level of skill that the gap after it does not disprove.
- DThe mechanism was the only geared device made in the ancient world.
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Answer: One surviving object can reveal a level of skill that the gap after it does not disprove.
The last sentence is the argument: the thousand-year silence is evidence about survival, not about capability. The text never compares ancient and modern astronomy, and it says nothing was found of comparable complexity, which is not the same as saying nothing was made.
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68Data interpretationStandard
A cinema recorded attendance at four screenings of the same film: 210, 165, 240 and 185. Which claim about the screenings is supported by these figures?
- AAttendance rose at each successive screening.
- BEvery screening drew more than 200 people.
- CThe best-attended screening drew more than twice as many people as the worst-attended.
- DThe four screenings drew 800 people in total.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The four screenings drew 800 people in total.
210 + 165 + 240 + 185 = 800. Attendance fell between the first and second screenings, two of the four drew fewer than 200, and twice the smallest figure is 330, which is more than the largest.
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69SynthesisChallenge
While researching a canal restoration, a student has taken these notes: - The canal closed to traffic in 1944. - Restoration began in 1998. - 11 of the canal's 17 locks have been rebuilt. - Volunteers have given about 90,000 hours. The student wants to convey that the work is substantial but unfinished. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- ASome 90,000 volunteer hours since 1998 have rebuilt 11 of the canal's 17 locks.
- BThe canal closed to traffic in 1944, and restoration began in 1998.
- CVolunteers have given about 90,000 hours to the canal.
- DEleven of the canal's seventeen locks have been rebuilt.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Some 90,000 volunteer hours since 1998 have rebuilt 11 of the canal's 17 locks.
"Substantial but unfinished" needs the effort and the fraction in the same sentence: 90,000 hours is the scale and 11 of 17 is the shortfall. The last choice carries the shortfall alone and the third the scale alone.
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70Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Every language studied closely turns out to have some way of marking that the speaker did not witness what they are reporting. Text 2: The generalisation rests on the phrase "some way of marking". English has no grammatical evidential, and the words it uses instead — apparently, reportedly, I gather — are optional in a way a grammatical marker is not. Stretch the category far enough and the claim stops being one that evidence could contradict. The objection in Text 2 is best described as
- Aa denial that English speakers ever mark the source of a report.
- Ba challenge to how broadly the key term has been defined.
- Cevidence drawn from a language Text 1 had not considered.
- Dan argument that grammatical markers are more useful than ordinary words.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: a challenge to how broadly the key term has been defined.
Text 2 quotes the phrase it is objecting to and says that widening it far enough makes the claim untestable. It explicitly grants that English has words for the job, so it is not denying the practice, and it does not rank the two devices.
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71InferencesStandard
The bakery's accounts for 1911 record flour bought in April at twice the January price, with a note in the margin reading "shortfall — see Whitby". No entry for Whitby appears anywhere else in the ledger. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the April purchase?
- AThe bakery closed later that year.
- BWhitby was the name of the bakery's owner.
- CIt was connected to a supply problem that the ledger does not otherwise explain.
- DFlour prices doubled across the country that spring.
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Answer: It was connected to a supply problem that the ledger does not otherwise explain.
A doubled price and the word "shortfall" point to supply, and the missing Whitby entry is what makes the explanation incomplete rather than absent. The ledger says nothing about closure, about who Whitby was, or about prices anywhere else.
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72Command of evidenceChallenge
A historian argues that a village's medieval market was busier than its surviving buildings would suggest. Which finding, if true, would most strongly support that argument?
- AThe village church was rebuilt in the fifteenth century.
- BA market was held on the same day in a nearby town.
- CThe village appears in a national survey compiled in 1279.
- DCoin finds from the village outnumber those from three larger neighbouring settlements combined.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Coin finds from the village outnumber those from three larger neighbouring settlements combined.
Coins are the residue of trade, and finding more of them than in larger places is evidence of activity out of proportion to size, which is exactly the claim. A rebuilt church, a rival market and an entry in a survey are all consistent with an ordinary village.
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73Central ideas and detailsStandard
For most of the twentieth century the accepted account of how birds navigate was magnetic: they were thought to read the earth's field. That explanation survives, but it has been joined by others. Birds also use the position of the setting sun, the pattern of polarised light at dusk, remembered landmarks and, in some species, smell. What looked like one mechanism is now understood as several running at once, which is why removing any single one rarely stops a bird arriving. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- ANavigation in birds relies on several mechanisms working together rather than one.
- BThe magnetic account of bird navigation has been disproved.
- CSmell is the most important of a bird's navigational senses.
- DBirds cannot navigate when the earth's magnetic field is disturbed.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Navigation in birds relies on several mechanisms working together rather than one.
The last sentence states it directly, and the resilience it describes is the evidence. The magnetic account is said to survive rather than to have failed, no sense is ranked above the others, and redundancy is the opposite of the last claim.
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74SynthesisStandard
While researching a village school, a student has taken these notes: - The school opened in 1874. - It had 96 pupils in 1900. - It has 41 pupils now. - It is the only school within nine miles. The student wants to explain why the school stays open despite falling numbers. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- AThe school opened in 1874 and had 96 pupils by 1900.
- BThough numbers have fallen from 96 to 41, it remains the only school within nine miles.
- CThe school now has 41 pupils on its roll.
- DThe school has been open for a century and a half.
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Answer: Though numbers have fallen from 96 to 41, it remains the only school within nine miles.
The explanation lies in the note the other choices leave out: distance. Falling numbers alone would be a reason to close, and it is the absence of an alternative that answers the question asked.
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75Relationships between textsStandard
Text 1: Handwriting is disappearing from schools, and with it a motor skill that research links to letter recognition in young children. Text 2: The studies here are about children first learning letters, aged four to six. Extending them to a fifteen-year-old typing an essay is a leap the evidence does not license. How does Text 2 respond to Text 1?
- ABy denying that handwriting helps letter recognition.
- BBy offering a study that Text 1 had overlooked.
- CBy accepting the finding and disputing the ages it is being applied to.
- DBy arguing that typing is the more valuable skill.
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Answer: By accepting the finding and disputing the ages it is being applied to.
Text 2 describes what the studies are about without questioning what they found, then objects to the range over which the finding is being stretched. It offers no new study and makes no comparison of the two skills.
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76Data interpretationStandard
A charity recorded donations across four quarters: 8,400 pounds, 6,200 pounds, 9,100 pounds and 12,300 pounds. Which claim about the donations is supported by these figures?
- ADonations rose in every quarter.
- BThe best quarter raised more than twice what the worst quarter raised.
- CEvery quarter raised more than 7,000 pounds.
- DThe four quarters raised 36,000 pounds in total.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The four quarters raised 36,000 pounds in total.
8,400 + 6,200 + 9,100 + 12,300 = 36,000. Donations fell between the first and second quarters, the second raised under 7,000, and twice the worst quarter is 12,400 — just above the best, which makes that claim false by 100 pounds.
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77Central ideas and detailsChallenge
The rebuilding of the bridge in 1902 is usually dated from the council minutes, which record the decision in March of that year. The masons' account book, though, shows stone being cut the previous November, and a bill for scaffolding was settled in January. The minutes record when the decision became official, not when the work began — a distinction that matters wherever committees are the only surviving source. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- AA record of a decision can postdate the work it authorises, so minutes can mislead about timing.
- BThe council minutes for 1902 were falsified.
- CThe bridge was not rebuilt in 1902 at all.
- DAccount books are more reliable than minutes in every respect.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: A record of a decision can postdate the work it authorises, so minutes can mislead about timing.
The final sentence generalises the point: the minutes are accurate about what they record and misleading about what they are used for. Nothing suggests falsification, and the rebuilding is not in doubt — only its start date.
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78SynthesisChallenge
While researching a peat bog, a student has taken these notes: - Drainage ditches were cut across the bog in the 1960s. - Blocking those ditches began in 2015. - The water table has risen by 22 cm since. - Sphagnum moss now covers 40 percent of the site, up from 5 percent. The student wants to show that one intervention produced two connected effects. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- ADitches cut in the 1960s were blocked from 2015 onwards.
- BBlocking the 1960s ditches has lifted the water table by 22 cm, and moss cover has gone from 5 to 40 percent.
- CSphagnum moss now covers 40 percent of the site.
- DThe water table has risen by 22 cm since 2015.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Blocking the 1960s ditches has lifted the water table by 22 cm, and moss cover has gone from 5 to 40 percent.
Two connected effects need the cause and both effects in one sentence, which only one choice manages. The others give the cause alone or one effect alone, and neither shape can show a connection.
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79Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Open-plan offices were sold on collaboration. The measured result was the opposite: face-to-face interaction fell by about 70 percent when two firms moved to open plan, and email rose. Text 2: Both firms moved during the same eighteen months in which the whole sector shifted to messaging. Attributing the fall to the floor plan needs a comparison group that kept its walls, and neither study had one. The objection in Text 2 is best described as
- Aa dispute about the size of the measured fall.
- Ba claim that open-plan offices do encourage collaboration.
- Ca challenge to whether the floor plan caused the change.
- Dan argument that email is a better medium than conversation.
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Answer: a challenge to whether the floor plan caused the change.
Text 2 accepts the measurement and names a rival explanation that moved at the same time, then says the study cannot separate them. It does not claim open plan works, and it takes no view on which medium is better.
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80InferencesStandard
A lighthouse keeper's journal for February 1889 records the weather twice a day without fail. The entries stop on the 14th and resume on the 22nd in the same hand, with no explanation. The relief boat's log shows it reached the rock on the 21st. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about that week?
- AThe keeper had died and been replaced.
- BThe journal pages for that week were lost.
- CThe lighthouse stood unmanned from the 14th to the 21st.
- DSomething stopped the keeper writing that week, and the entries resumed as the relief arrived.
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Answer: Something stopped the keeper writing that week, and the entries resumed as the relief arrived.
The same hand rules out a replacement, and pages torn out would not resume mid-month in sequence. What the records support is a gap in the writing that ends when help arrives — which is a smaller claim than any explanation of why.
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81Central ideas and detailsStandard
Coral reefs occupy less than a quarter of one percent of the ocean floor and support roughly a quarter of all marine species. That concentration is why bleaching events are reported as catastrophes rather than as losses proportionate to the area affected: the area is not what is being lost. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- AA reef's importance is out of all proportion to the space it occupies.
- BCoral bleaching now affects a quarter of the ocean floor.
- CMarine species are declining faster than species on land.
- DReefs cover less than one percent of the ocean floor.
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Answer: A reef's importance is out of all proportion to the space it occupies.
The text sets a tiny area against a quarter of all species and says the area is not the thing at stake. The last choice is one of the two facts rather than the point they are put together to make.
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82InferencesStandard
The 1841 census lists the household as five: a weaver, his wife and three children under ten. The 1851 census lists the same address with eleven occupants across three surnames, and the weaver is described as a lodging-house keeper. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the household?
- AThe weaver had died and the house had been sold.
- BThe house had changed from a family home into a business taking in lodgers.
- CWeaving had been prohibited in the district.
- DThe three children had all left home.
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Answer: The house had changed from a family home into a business taking in lodgers.
Three surnames at one address, eleven occupants and a new occupation for the same man point the same way. The weaver appears in the later census, so he had not died, and nothing indicates what became of the children.
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83Command of evidenceStandard
A researcher claims that a bird species is arriving earlier each spring because of warming. Which finding, if true, would most strongly support that claim?
- AThe species now arrives in March rather than April.
- BSpring temperatures in the region have risen since 1980.
- CAcross 40 sites, arrival has moved earlier in step with local spring temperature, and moved least where temperature changed least.
- DThe species has become more common in the region.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Across 40 sites, arrival has moved earlier in step with local spring temperature, and moved least where temperature changed least.
The claim links two changes, so the evidence has to link them too. The first two choices each establish one half and leave the connection unmade, and abundance is a different measure altogether.
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84Data interpretationStandard
A school recorded absences across four terms: 310, 275, 340 and 295. Which claim about the absences is supported by these figures?
- AAbsences fell in each successive term.
- BEvery term recorded more than 300 absences.
- CThe highest term was more than 25 percent above the lowest.
- DThe four terms totalled 1,220 absences.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The four terms totalled 1,220 absences.
310 + 275 + 340 + 295 = 1,220. Absences rose between the second and third terms, two terms fell below 300, and 25 percent above 275 is 343.75, which is more than the highest figure of 340.
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85Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Wikipedia's accuracy on scientific topics has repeatedly matched that of traditional encyclopaedias in blind comparisons. Text 2: Those comparisons sample the articles a researcher would think to check — established topics with many editors. The articles where errors persist are the ones nobody is watching, and by construction they are not in the sample. How does Text 2 respond to Text 1?
- ABy arguing that the comparisons are drawn from an unrepresentative part of the site.
- BBy denying that any Wikipedia article is accurate.
- CBy claiming that traditional encyclopaedias contain more errors.
- DBy proposing that more editors be recruited.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: By arguing that the comparisons are drawn from an unrepresentative part of the site.
"By construction they are not in the sample" is a claim about how the comparison was assembled, not about what it found. Text 2 grants the results and denies that they generalise.
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86SynthesisStandard
While writing about a closed footbridge, a student has taken these notes: - The bridge closed for repair in March. - The detour adds 1.2 km to the journey. - Around 400 people crossed daily before the closure. - Repairs are due to finish in October. The student wants to convey the cumulative cost of the closure to the people affected. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- AThe bridge closed in March and is due to reopen in October.
- BFor seven months, 400 crossings a day have each become 1.2 km longer.
- CThe detour adds 1.2 km to the journey.
- DAround 400 people used the bridge each day.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: For seven months, 400 crossings a day have each become 1.2 km longer.
A cumulative cost needs the three quantities multiplied together in the reader's head: how long, how many people, how much further. Each other choice supplies one of the three and leaves the total invisible.
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87InferencesChallenge
Sediment cores from the lake show a sharp layer of charcoal at a depth corresponding to about 1200 CE. Directly above it, pollen from cereal crops appears for the first time and tree pollen falls by two thirds. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the site?
- AA natural wildfire destroyed the woodland around the lake.
- BCereal farming had been practised beside the lake for centuries.
- CAround 1200 CE the woodland was cleared and the land was put to arable use.
- DThe lake dried out shortly after 1200 CE.
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Answer: Around 1200 CE the woodland was cleared and the land was put to arable use.
Burning, a collapse in tree pollen and the first appearance of cereals, in that order and at that depth, is the signature of clearance for farming. A natural fire would not be followed by crops, and cereals appearing for the first time rules out centuries of earlier farming.
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88Command of evidenceStandard
A curator argues that a portrait long attributed to a workshop was painted by the master himself. Which finding, if true, would most strongly support that argument?
- AThe panel is oak, which the workshop generally used.
- BThe sitter is known to have commissioned other works from the workshop.
- CThe frame dates from the same decade as the painting.
- DUnderdrawing beneath the paint shows the freehand corrections found in the master's signed works and absent from workshop copies.
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Answer: Underdrawing beneath the paint shows the freehand corrections found in the master's signed works and absent from workshop copies.
Only one choice distinguishes the master from the workshop, which is what the argument needs. Oak panels, a workshop commission and a contemporary frame are all equally consistent with the attribution the curator is disputing.
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89Central ideas and detailsStandard
The word "quarantine" comes from the forty days Venetian officials required arriving ships to wait during outbreaks of plague. Forty was not a medical figure. It was drawn from religious tradition, and it happened to exceed the incubation period of the disease, which nobody at the time could have known. The measure worked, and the reasoning behind it was wrong. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- AVenetian officials had a sophisticated understanding of incubation periods.
- BA measure can be effective for reasons its designers did not understand.
- CReligious tradition is a reliable guide to public health policy.
- DQuarantine periods should always last forty days.
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Answer: A measure can be effective for reasons its designers did not understand.
The last sentence states it: the measure worked and the reasoning was wrong. The text says explicitly that nobody could have known about incubation, which rules out the claim that officials understood incubation, and it draws no recommendation from the coincidence.
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90Command of evidenceStandard
A geologist argues that a boulder found on a hilltop was carried there by a glacier rather than eroded out of the hill itself. Which finding would most strongly support that argument?
- AThe boulder weighs several tonnes.
- BThe hilltop is the highest point for several miles.
- CThe boulder is a rock type found only in outcrops 90 km to the north.
- DThe boulder shows weathering consistent with long exposure.
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Answer: The boulder is a rock type found only in outcrops 90 km to the north.
A rock that cannot have come from the hill must have arrived from somewhere else, which is exactly what the argument claims. Weight, height and weathering are all equally consistent with the boulder having eroded out in place.
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91InferencesStandard
The orchestra's programme for the 1938 season lists a symphony by a composer whose name has been struck through in ink and replaced in pencil with another. The printed programme for the following week omits the first composer entirely, and no performance of the work is recorded. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the season?
- AThe first composer had written a second work that was preferred.
- BThe orchestra had run out of copies of the score.
- CThe pencil annotation was made by an audience member.
- DThe work was withdrawn after the programme was printed, and the substitution was made late.
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Answer: The work was withdrawn after the programme was printed, and the substitution was made late.
Ink struck through and pencil written over it, on a programme already printed, is a change made after printing. The later programme dropping the composer and no performance being recorded together indicate a withdrawal rather than a preference between two works.
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92Data interpretationStandard
A bookshop recorded sales in four categories over one week: fiction 186, children's 142, history 95, poetry 47. Which claim about the week is supported by these figures?
- AHistory sales were more than twice poetry sales.
- BFiction accounted for more than half of all sales.
- CEvery category sold more than 50 copies.
- DChildren's sales exceeded history and poetry sales combined.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: History sales were more than twice poetry sales.
Twice 47 is 94, and history sold 95, so the claim holds by a single copy. The four categories total 470, so fiction's 186 is under half; poetry sold 47; and history and poetry together come to 142, exactly matching children's rather than falling below it.
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93Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Cities that introduced a congestion charge saw traffic fall immediately and stay down. The measure works. Text 2: Traffic fell and stayed down in those cities, and it also fell in comparable cities that introduced nothing, over the same years in which fuel prices doubled. What needs explaining is not the fall but the difference between the two groups, and that difference is smaller than the headline. How does Text 2 respond to Text 1?
- ABy denying that traffic fell in the charging cities.
- BBy accepting the fall and disputing how much of it the charge accounts for.
- CBy arguing that congestion charges raise fuel prices.
- DBy proposing that the charge be raised.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: By accepting the fall and disputing how much of it the charge accounts for.
Text 2 opens by granting the fall and then names a comparison group that fell too. Its claim is about attribution and size, not about whether traffic dropped.
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94SynthesisStandard
While writing about a rescued cinema, a student has taken these notes: - The cinema opened in 1929 and closed in 1997. - It was bought by a community trust in 2011. - Restoration cost 2.1 million pounds. - 1,400 people hold shares in the trust. The student wants to emphasise that the rescue was collective rather than the work of one buyer. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- AThe cinema opened in 1929 and closed in 1997.
- BA community trust bought the cinema in 2011.
- CThe 2.1 million pound restoration was funded by a trust with 1,400 shareholders.
- DRestoration of the cinema cost 2.1 million pounds.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The 2.1 million pound restoration was funded by a trust with 1,400 shareholders.
Collective effort shows in the number of people set against the size of the sum. Naming the trust alone leaves it indistinguishable from a single institutional buyer.
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95InferencesChallenge
Analysis of the pigment shows a synthetic ultramarine that was not manufactured until 1828. The panel itself has been dated by tree rings to a tree felled between 1490 and 1505, and the paint layer sits directly on the original ground with no intervening varnish. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the panel?
- AThe tree-ring dating must be mistaken.
- BSynthetic ultramarine was in use before 1828.
- CThe panel was repainted in the nineteenth century over an earlier image.
- DThe painting is a nineteenth-century work on a much older panel.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The painting is a nineteenth-century work on a much older panel.
Two datings conflict only if the paint and the panel must be contemporary, and they need not be. The absence of varnish between the ground and the paint is what rules out an earlier image having been painted over: there is no earlier paint layer.
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96Command of evidenceStandard
A linguist claims that a place name predates the Norse settlement of the area rather than dating from it. Which finding would most strongly support that claim?
- AThe name contains an element with no Norse cognate but a clear parallel in the earlier local language.
- BThe name appears in a document written after the settlement.
- CThe village lies within the area of Norse settlement.
- DNearby villages have names of Norse origin.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The name contains an element with no Norse cognate but a clear parallel in the earlier local language.
Only the linguistic evidence can distinguish the two periods. A later document records the name without dating its origin, and the location and its neighbours are what the claim is arguing against.
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97Central ideas and detailsStandard
A cuckoo lays in another bird's nest, and the chick that hatches ejects the host's own eggs. The behaviour looks like a straightforward theft, and the arms race it produces is anything but: hosts have evolved eggs with signatures difficult to forge, cuckoos have evolved forgeries, and in some populations the hosts have begun rejecting their own eggs by mistake. Each side's improvement makes the other's task harder and its own errors costlier. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- ACuckoos have entirely defeated the defences of their hosts.
- BThe contest between cuckoos and hosts imposes rising costs on both sides.
- CHost birds cannot tell their own eggs from a cuckoo's.
- DCuckoo chicks are larger than the chicks they displace.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The contest between cuckoos and hosts imposes rising costs on both sides.
The last sentence states it: each improvement raises the other side's difficulty and the cost of its own mistakes. Hosts rejecting their own eggs is offered as evidence of that cost, not as an inability to tell them apart.
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98Command of evidenceStandard
A historian argues that a town's medieval wall was built for display rather than defence. Which finding would most strongly support that argument?
- AThe wall encloses the whole of the medieval town.
- BThe wall is built of stone quarried nearby.
- CThe wall is a metre thick, is pierced by wide unbarred openings, and has no ditch.
- DThe wall was completed within a decade.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The wall is a metre thick, is pierced by wide unbarred openings, and has no ditch.
Only one finding describes a structure that could not have held anyone out, which is the claim. Extent, materials and build time are all equally consistent with a defensive wall.
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99InferencesStandard
The ledger for the coaching inn records stabling for twelve horses a night through the 1830s, four a night by 1845, and none after 1847. The railway reached the town in 1844. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the inn?
- AThe inn closed in 1847.
- BThe horses had been sold to the railway company.
- CThe ledger for the later years is incomplete.
- DThe inn's stabling trade fell away as the railway took the traffic it depended on.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The inn's stabling trade fell away as the railway took the traffic it depended on.
A fall beginning the year after the railway arrived, in exactly the trade the railway replaced, supports that connection. Stabling ending is not the same as the inn closing, and the ledger continues to be kept — it records none.
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100Data interpretationStandard
A community garden recorded harvests in kilograms over four months: 62, 118, 145, 89. Which claim about the harvests is supported by these figures?
- AThe best month yielded more than twice the worst.
- BEvery month yielded more than 80 kg.
- CThe harvest rose every month.
- DThe four months yielded 400 kg in total.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The best month yielded more than twice the worst.
Twice 62 is 124, and the best month reached 145. The four months total 414 rather than 400, June's 62 falls below 80, and the last month fell from the one before it.
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101Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Making a museum's collection searchable online has widened its audience enormously. Objects that were seen by a few hundred people a year are now viewed by hundreds of thousands. Text 2: A view is not an audience. The catalogue records that an image loaded, and most of those loads last under four seconds. What has widened is reach; whether it has widened engagement is a question the same data cannot answer. How does Text 2 respond to Text 1?
- ABy denying that the images are being loaded.
- BBy arguing that the measure counts something narrower than what is being claimed.
- CBy proposing that the collection be taken offline.
- DBy showing that the physical museum was better attended than reported.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: By arguing that the measure counts something narrower than what is being claimed.
Text 2 accepts the counts and separates reach from engagement, saying the data settles the first and not the second. It disputes what the figure means, not whether it was recorded.
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102SynthesisStandard
While writing about a restored steam pump, a student has taken these notes: - The pump drained 1,200 acres of fen from 1831. - It was replaced by a diesel engine in 1941. - Volunteers restored it between 1998 and 2016. - It is now run four times a year. The student wants to convey that the pump has been preserved as a demonstration rather than returned to service. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- AThe pump drained 1,200 acres of fen from 1831 until 1941.
- BVolunteers restored the pump between 1998 and 2016.
- CRestored over eighteen years, the pump that once drained 1,200 acres now runs four times a year.
- DThe pump was replaced by a diesel engine in 1941.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Restored over eighteen years, the pump that once drained 1,200 acres now runs four times a year.
The contrast between what it used to do and how seldom it now runs is what marks it as a demonstration. Any single note leaves that contrast unmade.
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103InferencesChallenge
The parish register records 31 burials in 1665, against a ten-year average of 9. Of the 31, 24 fall between June and September. The register notes no burials at all for the first week of August, and the handwriting changes permanently after that week. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about 1665?
- AThe parish escaped the outbreak in August.
- BThe register's figures for 1665 were invented later.
- CBurials were forbidden during the first week of August.
- DThe person keeping the register was very likely among the dead, and that week went unrecorded.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The person keeping the register was very likely among the dead, and that week went unrecorded.
A gap in the record during the worst months, followed by a permanent change of hand, points to the recorder rather than to the burials stopping. A parish burying three times its normal number does not pause for a week in the middle of it.
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104Command of evidenceStandard
A researcher claims that a fish species migrates between two lakes rather than forming two separate resident populations. Which finding would most strongly support that claim?
- AChemical signatures in the ear bones of adults from one lake record water from the other.
- BThe two lakes contain fish of the same species.
- CThe lakes are connected by a stream passable in spring.
- DThe fish in both lakes reach a similar maximum size.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: Chemical signatures in the ear bones of adults from one lake record water from the other.
Ear bones lay down a record of the water a fish has lived in, so a signature from the other lake places an individual fish in both. Shared species, a passable stream and similar size are all consistent with two populations that never mix.
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105Central ideas and detailsStandard
The Antonine Wall was garrisoned for about twenty years and then abandoned; Hadrian's Wall, eighty miles south, was held for three centuries. The usual explanation is that the northern line was overextended. The archaeology complicates that: the Antonine forts were larger, better supplied and closer together. Whatever ended the occupation, it does not look like a garrison that could not hold its ground. Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- AThe Antonine Wall was abandoned because it was overextended.
- BThe physical evidence does not support the usual explanation for the abandonment.
- CHadrian's Wall was better built than the Antonine Wall.
- DThe Antonine forts were too large to supply.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The physical evidence does not support the usual explanation for the abandonment.
The text sets the standard explanation against three findings that cut against it and then declines to replace it. Saying an explanation does not fit is not the same as saying what did happen, and the passage is careful not to.
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106Command of evidenceStandard
A researcher claims that a pottery style spread by trade rather than by migration. Which finding would most strongly support that claim?
- AThe style appears at sites across a wide area within one century.
- BThe style is found alongside imported metalwork.
- CThe clay in the pots is local to each site, while the decoration is uniform across all of them.
- DThe pots are of consistently high quality.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The clay in the pots is local to each site, while the decoration is uniform across all of them.
Local clay means the pots were made where they were found, so what travelled was the idea rather than the potters or the pots. Rapid spread, imported goods and quality are all equally consistent with people moving.
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107InferencesStandard
The manor accounts list payments to a glazier in 1487, 1488 and 1489, and then nothing for eleven years. In 1500 the entry reads "for the great window, new". The building has one window that is stylistically later than the rest. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the building?
- AThe glazier died in 1489.
- BThe house was uninhabited between 1489 and 1500.
- CThe accounts for the missing years were destroyed.
- DThe repeated early payments were maintenance, and the 1500 payment was for the window that still looks later.
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Answer: The repeated early payments were maintenance, and the 1500 payment was for the window that still looks later.
Three payments in three years followed by a gap fits ongoing upkeep; a single payment described as "new" for a "great window", together with one window that looks later, fits a replacement. The accounts continue through the gap, so they were not lost.
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108Data interpretationStandard
A cycle-hire scheme recorded journeys in four quarters: 41,000, 68,000, 72,000 and 39,000. Which claim about the year is supported by these figures?
- AThe four quarters carried 220,000 journeys in total.
- BJourneys rose in every quarter.
- CThe busiest quarter carried more than twice the journeys of the quietest.
- DEvery quarter carried more than 40,000 journeys.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The four quarters carried 220,000 journeys in total.
41,000 + 68,000 + 72,000 + 39,000 = 220,000. Journeys fell in the fourth quarter, the quietest carried 39,000 and twice that is 78,000 — more than the busiest — and the fourth quarter fell below 40,000.
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109Relationships between textsChallenge
Text 1: Digitising a newspaper archive makes it searchable, and searchable archives get used. Citations of the paper have risen tenfold since the scans went online. Text 2: Citations rose because searching is easy, and what is easy to search is what gets cited. The years that were digitised first are cited most, and they are not the years historians previously thought most important. How does Text 2 respond to Text 1?
- ABy disputing that citations rose.
- BBy arguing that the rise reflects what is easy to find rather than what is worth finding.
- CBy claiming that digitisation should not have been undertaken.
- DBy showing that the scans are inaccurate.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: By arguing that the rise reflects what is easy to find rather than what is worth finding.
Text 2 accepts the tenfold rise and observes that it tracks the digitisation order rather than historical importance. It makes no recommendation against digitising and raises no question about scan quality.
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110SynthesisStandard
While writing about a bird hide, a student has taken these notes: - The hide was built by volunteers in 1997. - It overlooks a lagoon created by gravel extraction. - 63 species have been recorded from it. - The lagoon was a working quarry until 1989. The student wants to convey that the site's value is recent and accidental. Which choice best accomplishes this goal?
- AVolunteers built the hide in 1997.
- BSixty-three species have been recorded from the hide.
- CA gravel quarry worked until 1989 is now a lagoon from which 63 species have been recorded.
- DThe hide overlooks a lagoon created by gravel extraction.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: A gravel quarry worked until 1989 is now a lagoon from which 63 species have been recorded.
"Recent and accidental" needs the industrial past and the wildlife present in one sentence: nobody dug the quarry to make a lagoon. Any single note gives one half and leaves the point unmade.
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111InferencesChallenge
A glacier's terminal moraine sits 4 km down-valley from its present snout. Lichen on the moraine boulders indicates roughly 180 years of exposure, and the species growing there is one that colonises only after the ice has gone. Which choice most logically completes the reasoning about the glacier?
- AThe glacier has advanced 4 km in the past 180 years.
- BThe lichen was carried to the moraine by wind.
- CThe moraine was formed by a river rather than by ice.
- DThe glacier stood 4 km further down the valley about 180 years ago and has retreated since.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The glacier stood 4 km further down the valley about 180 years ago and has retreated since.
A terminal moraine marks the furthest extent of the ice, and lichen that only grows on exposed rock dates the moment the ice left it. The two together place the snout 4 km further down 180 years ago, which is a retreat rather than an advance.
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112Command of evidenceStandard
A historian argues that a village school taught girls as well as boys in the 1840s, when the surviving register lists only surnames and initials. Which finding would most strongly support the argument?
- AThe 1841 census gives full names for the households, and matching them to the register's initials yields girls.
- BThe school building had two entrances.
- CA nearby village school of the period admitted girls.
- DThe schoolmistress was a woman.
Show the answer and explanationHide the explanation
Answer: The 1841 census gives full names for the households, and matching them to the register's initials yields girls.
Only one finding turns the initials into named individuals, which is what the argument needs. Two entrances, a neighbouring school's practice and the teacher's sex are all consistent with a boys-only register.
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