PT105.S2.Q1

PrepTest 105 - Section 2 - Question 1

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French divers recently found a large cave along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████ ████████████ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██ █ ████ ██████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ████ ██████████ ████ █████

Summary: (Surprising) Phenomenon

The stimulus tells us about a recently discovered phenomenon: a cave along the coast of the Mediterranean, which is only accessible through an underwater tunnel and is completely filled with seawater, contains many large stalagmites, which form when drops of water fall onto the cave floor over a long time. Notice that while this isn't a Resolve, Reconcile, Explain-type question, we should still find this phenomenon surprising. If the cave is completely underwater and filled with water, then how can stalagmites have formed from drops of water falling onto the (dry) cave floor?

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1.

The information above most strongly ████████ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

a

The Mediterranean Sea ███ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████
Incorrect. This is the opposite of what we would expect. If we said that the Mediterranean Sea was at a lower level in the past and has since risen, that would be consistent with the cave now being underwater when it wasn't before. But if the sea was even higher before than it is now, that doesn't provide any time for this cave on the coastline to not be underwater
6%
b

The water level ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████
Correct. (B) is consistent with what we pre-phrased. There must have been a period when the water in the cave was low enough that drops of water could fall onto the cave floor and form stalagmites. Now the cave is full of water, so the water level is higher than it used to be.
87%
c

The French divers ████ ███ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████████
Incorrect. Nothing in the stimulus supports any conclusions about who discovered the tunnel first.
2%
d

There was once ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███████
Incorrect. Nothing in the stimulus suggests that there used to be another entrance to the cave. The information in the stimulus suggests a conclusion about the water level inside the cave. The number of entrances is irrelevant to this.
1%
e

Seawater in the █████████████ ███ █ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ███████████ ████ █████ ███████
Incorrect. We don't know how high a mineral concentration is necessary to form stalagmites. We just know how stalagmites are formed — by water dripping on the ground. This suggests a conclusion about the amount of water that used to be in the cave, not about how high the mineral content was.
4%

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