📐 SAT
📝 ACT
🎓 AP Exams
About Contact Blog Privacy Policy

ACT Reading: Comparative Passages (Drill 1)

Drill 1 · Reading · Comparative Passages

0 / 5
Next drill
Drill 2
→
More Act Reading Comparative Passages drills
Drill 1 — current you are here
Drill 2 5 questions → Drill 3 5 questions → Drill 4 5 questions →

About This Drill

ACT Reading: Comparative Passages (Drill 1) is a Reading practice drill covering Comparative Passages. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.

Comparative passage drills present two short passages on a related topic written from different perspectives. Questions may ask about each passage individually, about what the authors agree or disagree on, or about how the two passages differ in focus, tone, or approach.

Passage

NATURAL SCIENCE; COMPARATIVE PASSAGES: The following passages are adapted from two articles about urban rewilding published in Environmental Science Today (©2021). PASSAGE A Urban rewilding, the practice of reintroducing native species and ecological processes into city environments, offers measurable benefits that planners can no longer afford to ignore. Cities that have removed concrete channels from rivers and replanted native vegetation along banks have documented reductions in downstream flooding, improved water filtration, and the return of bird and insect species absent for decades. Green corridors connecting parks allow animals to move, feed, and reproduce across what would otherwise be isolated fragments of habitat. These are not sentimental gestures. They are infrastructure investments that reduce long-term maintenance costs, improve air quality, and build resilience against climate disruption. The science is clear: functioning ecosystems perform services that engineered systems cannot replicate at any price. Cities that embrace rewilding are not trading development for nature; they are making their development more durable. PASSAGE B The enthusiasm for urban rewilding, while understandable, tends to outpace both the evidence and the logistics. Most rewilding success stories involve mid-sized or smaller cities with available land, cooperative landowners, and limited political resistance. Scaling these efforts to dense urban cores, where every square meter is contested, is a different problem entirely. The reintroduction of large predators, a prominent element of rewilding theory in rural contexts, is plainly impractical within city limits. And even modest interventions, like native plantings, require sustained maintenance that cash-strapped municipalities routinely underfund. Rewilding advocates sometimes conflate correlation with causation, pointing to biodiversity gains that may reflect broader regional trends rather than their specific interventions. The concept deserves further study. But treating it as a proven policy solution, ready for wide deployment, misrepresents the current state of the research.

Questions & Explanations

Question 1. The main purpose of Passage A is to:

  • A) survey the long history of rewilding efforts as they developed across several different continents, in the passage's account
  • B) argue that urban rewilding is a practical investment with demonstrated environmental and economic benefits. ✓
  • C) acknowledge the limitations of rewilding while defending its use in select cities.
  • D) compare the cost of engineered infrastructure to the cost of ecological restoration.

Explanation: B is correct. Passage A opens by listing concrete benefits of urban rewilding (flood reduction, water filtration, biodiversity) and concludes that it makes "development more durable", a clear argument for rewilding as a practical, economically sound investment. A is wrong because no historical survey across continents is presented. C is wrong because Passage A does not acknowledge limitations, that is Passage B's role. D is wrong because while cost is mentioned briefly, comparing costs in detail is not the passage's purpose.

Question 2. According to Passage B, one reason rewilding success stories may be misleading is that:

  • F) they typically involve large cities with dense populations and complex infrastructure.
  • G) biodiversity gains observed may reflect wider regional trends rather than specific rewilding projects. ✓
  • H) the species reintroduced are often not native to the regions where they are placed.
  • J) rewilding advocates rely almost entirely on anecdotal evidence rather than peer-reviewed research

Explanation: G is correct. Passage B states directly that advocates "conflate correlation with causation, pointing to biodiversity gains that may reflect broader regional trends rather than their specific interventions." F is the opposite of what the passage says; B notes that success stories involve smaller cities, not large dense ones. H is not mentioned anywhere in the passage. J is not stated; B questions causation, not the type of evidence used.

Question 3. As it is used in Passage B, the word "conflate" most nearly means:

  • A) to deliberately exaggerate for effect as described in the passage
  • B) incorrectly merge or treat as the same. ✓
  • C) deliberately misrepresent.
  • D) overlook entirely.

Explanation: B is correct. "Conflate" means to treat two distinct things as if they were the same. In context, the author accuses rewilding advocates of treating correlation (two things occurring together) as if it were causation (one thing causing another), a classic conflation error. A (exaggerate) implies distortion of scale, which is not the specific claim. C (deliberately misrepresent) adds intent that "conflate" does not carry. D (overlook) is the opposite, conflating means treating two things as one, not ignoring one of them.

Question 4. Both authors would most likely agree with which of the following statements?

  • F) Urban rewilding has been proven effective and should be adopted by all major cities.
  • G) The reintroduction of large predators is the single most important component of any rewilding effort
  • H) Urban rewilding is a concept worth taking seriously, even if questions about its application remain. ✓
  • J) Rewilding is primarily a sentimental response to urbanization rather than a scientific one.

Explanation: H is correct. Passage A is clearly pro-rewilding; Passage B says the concept "deserves further study", meaning it takes it seriously even while raising concerns. Both authors engage substantively with the topic rather than dismissing it. F is only supported by Passage A, not B. G is mentioned only in B, and as an example of an impractical extreme, neither author advocates for it. J is directly contradicted by Passage A, which calls rewilding "not sentimental."

Question 5. Compared to Passage A, Passage B is more focused on:

  • A) the environmental consequences of failing to act quickly on rewilding policy in the context of the passage
  • B) the practical obstacles and evidentiary gaps that complicate rewilding policy. ✓
  • C) the economic costs of rewilding compared to traditional infrastructure.
  • D) specific case studies of rewilding projects that produced mixed results.

Explanation: B is correct. Passage B is structured around complications: the challenge of scaling to dense cities, the impracticality of predator reintroduction, underfunded maintenance, and the correlation/causation problem. These are practical and evidentiary obstacles. A describes Passage A's concern, not B's. C is mentioned briefly in Passage A, not B. D is not present in either passage, neither offers specific case studies.