SAT Reading & Writing: Hard Command of Evidence (Drill 19)

Question 1. Which finding, if true, would most support the geologist's dating method?

• A) Lichens of this kind are widespread throughout the whole surrounding region and grow on a great many of its exposed rock surfaces, boulders, and old stone walls.
• B) Boulders that face away from the harshest weather tend to carry more lichen cover overall than exposed ones.
• C) The lichens grow slowly enough that their year-to-year change is hard to see with the naked eye.
• D) On stone walls and markers whose construction dates are recorded, the largest lichens matched the sizes the method predicts for surfaces of those known ages. ✓

Explanation: Choice D is the best answer because the method assumes lichen size tracks elapsed time, so the strongest test checks its predictions against surfaces of known age. The largest lichens on dated walls and markers matching the sizes the method predicts shows it gets right the cases that can be checked, which supports trusting it where the date is unknown. Choice A is wrong because the lichens being widespread means there is usually one to measure but does not show that size reliably tracks time. Choice B is wrong because more lichen cover on sheltered boulders concerns total cover and exposure, not whether the largest lichen dates the surface. Choice C is wrong because slow, hard-to-see growth fits the method's picture but does not test whether the largest lichen matches a surface's known age.

Question 2. Which choice best describes data from the graph that support the researchers' conclusion?

• A) The older listeners reached their single highest detection threshold, about sixty-two decibels, at the loudest background noise level shown at the right of the graph.
• B) As background noise rose, the older group's detection threshold climbed far more steeply than the younger group's, though both began near the same level. ✓
• C) At the quietest background level shown, the two groups had nearly the same detection threshold of about ten to twelve decibels.
• D) The younger group's detection threshold stayed at or below about twenty-five decibels across every background level on the graph.

Explanation: Choice B is the best answer because the conclusion is that louder backgrounds burden older listeners far more, which is a claim about the two slopes from a shared start. The graph shows both groups near ten to twelve decibels in quiet, after which the older group's threshold climbs steeply toward sixty-two while the younger group's rises only to about twenty-five, exactly the steeper climb described. Choice A is wrong because the older group's peak threshold names where one line ends but says nothing about the rate at which either group's threshold climbs. Choice C is wrong because matching thresholds in quiet only confirm the two groups start level; that starting point alone reveals no difference in how added noise affects them. Choice D is wrong because tracking the younger group below twenty-five follows a single line and never sets its climb against the older group's.

Question 3. Which quotation from "The Country of the Pointed Firs" most effectively completes the statement?

• A) "Perhaps it was the simple fact of acquaintance with that neighborhood which made it so attaching, and gave such interest to the rocky shore and dark woods . . ." ✓
• B) "There was something about the coast town of Dunnet which made it seem more attractive than other maritime villages of eastern Maine."
• C) "These houses made the most of their seaward view, and there was a gayety and determined floweriness in their bits of garden ground."
• D) "On the brink of the hill stood a little white schoolhouse, much wind-blown and weather-beaten, which was a landmark to seagoing folk; from its door there was a most beautiful view of sea and shore."

Explanation: Choice A is the best answer because the claim is that the narrator credits the town's pull to her own prior acquaintance with it rather than to any grand feature. The keyed line says exactly that, naming the simple fact of acquaintance with the neighborhood as what made it so attaching and lent interest to the shore and woods. Choice B is wrong because this line states that the town is more attractive than others but does not give the reason, which is the point the claim turns on. Choice C is wrong because the houses and their seaward gardens describe the town's look, not why acquaintance makes it draw the narrator. Choice D is wrong because the weather-beaten schoolhouse is one landmark in view and does not name the source of the town's pull.

Question 4. Which choice most effectively uses data from the table to identify the cave the cavers should flag?

• A) Cave X has the longest mapped passage of the four, at six point eight kilometers.
• B) Cave W shows strong airflow of two point six meters per second at its known entrance.
• C) Cave Z has both the shortest mapped passage and very nearly the weakest airflow at its known entrance of any of the four caves that were surveyed.
• D) Cave Y pairs a long five-point-five-kilometer passage with strong airflow of two point four meters per second, high on both signs. ✓

Explanation: Choice D is the best answer because the cavers' test requires a cave to be high on both signs at once, long passage and strong airflow, not just one. Cave Y pairs five point five kilometers of passage with airflow of two point four meters per second, placing it near the top of both columns, while each rival leads on one sign and lags on the other. Choice A is wrong because Cave X does have the longest passage, but its airflow of zero point three meters per second is nearly the weakest, so it is strong on only one sign. Choice B is wrong because Cave W does show strong airflow, yet its passage of one point two kilometers is among the shortest, again leaving it strong on only one sign. Choice C is wrong because Cave Z being short on passage and weak on airflow makes it the weakest prospect, the opposite of the cave to flag.

Question 5. Which finding, if true, would most help distinguish between the two explanations?

• A) In a blind test, people who smelled that one compound by itself identified it as the flower's scent, while the blend with that compound removed was not identified that way. ✓
• B) The flower releases more of its scent compounds in the warmth of the afternoon than in the cool of the morning.
• C) The scent given off by this particular flower is a complex blend that contains well more than a dozen distinct and separate volatile compounds in all when it is carefully measured.
• D) Several other flowers in the same family give off blends that share some of the same compounds.

Explanation: Choice A is the best answer because the two explanations split on whether one compound or the whole blend carries the scent, so the deciding test isolates that compound and also removes it. People recognizing the lone compound as the flower while failing to recognize the blend without it shows that single compound carries the characteristic smell, just as the first chemist claimed. Choice B is wrong because more scent released in the afternoon concerns how much is given off, not whether one compound or the blend defines the smell. Choice C is wrong because the blend holding a dozen compounds sets up the question but does not test which of them carries the scent. Choice D is wrong because other flowers sharing some compounds compares species rather than showing whether one compound makes this flower's scent.