PrepTest 105 - Section 3 - Passage 1 - Question 6

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Until recently, many biologists believed that invertebrate "schools" were actually transient assemblages, brought together by wind, currents, waves, or common food sources. █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████████████ ██████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ████ ███

Biologists' old perspective · "Schools" of invertebrates are are not really schools

Example: groups of jelly fish are not cohesive social units that are evenly spaced from each other and face the same way. (Seems like we get a definition of "schools" here.)

New perspective · Some invertebrates do form schools

Example: krill (a type of invertebrate crustacean) sometimes group together in schools.

Support for new perspective · Groups of invertebrates can position themselves in a way that meets the definition of "school"

The way each member swims is consistent relative to other members, and they don't swim directly above or below a neighbor. (This sounds similar to the "evenly spaced" requirement.)

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Researchers' assumption · Researchers assume schooling has benefits

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Concession · Schooling seems like it'd make animals more visible and attractive to predators

Benefits of schooling · Reduces chance of being eaten

School is harder to find, can scare away predators, and an individual member is more likely to get away, since there are a lot of other school members to eat.

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Additional benefits · Active defense mechanisms

These are more active defenses, whereas the last paragraph described passive benefits. Schools have different approaches based on the size of predators and whether they are attacking.

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Another benefit · Helps with finding food

When one member finds food, other members can follow.

Cost of schooling · Schools can get too big

Too many members may hurt ability to get food and mates. If school's too big, some members will join another school.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

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Question Type

Implied

Cannibalism is discussed at the very end — “adults may start to feed on the young” as a “school’s numbers rise.” What would an individual crustacean do if it encounters a large school where cannibalism is occurring? The passage suggests the animal might “join another school.”

try to stay ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ████

This is mentioned as a behavior that some “mysids” engage in when there is intense competition within a school for food. But this isn’t connected to cannibalism, which is presented as a separate behavior resulting when food is “locally scarce.” It’s not clear that the mysid example involves what results when food is “locally scarce.”

10%

be more likely ██ ██ █████ ██ ██ ████ █████ █████

If anything, this is anti-supported, because the only reference to cannibalism involves adults eating young. An animals that’s fully grown might be less likely to be eaten.

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Supported.

83%

try to follow ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ██████ █████████

Moving to the back to escape predators isn’t mentioned as a potential behavior of an animal faced with a large school that practices cannibalism.

try to confuse ██████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████████ █████████

Complex swimming maneuvers aren’t mentioned as a potential behavior of an animal faced with a large school that practices cannibalism.

PrepTest 105 - Section 3 - Passage 1 - Question 6

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