Self-study
P1
The okapi, a forest mammal of central Africa, has presented zoologists with a number of difficult questions since they first learned of its existence in 1900. ███
Intro topic ·
Okapi raises lots of questions
Question 1 ·
How to classify Okapi?
Size and stripes are like horse family.
Answer ·
Belongs to giraffe family
Belongs to giraffe because of skin-covered horns, two-lobed canine, and long tongue.
P2
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Question 2 ·
Size of Okapi population?
Answer ·
Not as rare as previously thought, but concentrated in limited area
They live only in a chain of forestland surrounded by savanna in northeastern central Africa.
P3
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Reasons for apparent rarity ·
Good camouflage, don't travel in groups or in open areas
They stay inside the forest.
Reason for staying inside forest ·
Eat only leaves
They never eat one plant much more than others. So they walk around the forest eating various leaves, and don't congregate in groups in the forest.
P4
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Question 3 ·
Why remain only in forest when they eat plants that are found between forest and savanna?
Possible Answers ·
Defense against predators or outcompeted by other animals in other areas
Question 4 ·
Why aren't they in other nearby forests?
Possible answer ·
Live in area that used to be the only forest
Zoologists think Okapis respect the boundaries of what used to be the only forest, even after forest expanded.
Passage Style
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
Single position
1.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Main point
The author presents several questions that have been raised about okapis and provides answers or potential answers. This isn’t a passage that presents one central question, so the main point shouldn’t just involve the answer to one question. Rather, the main point should capture the various questions raised and answered in the passage.
a
Information gathered by █████ ██ ██████████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████
(A) captures only part of P2. But it doesn’t capture the additional questions and answers raised in P3 and P4.
b
Because of their ████████ ███████████████ ███ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████ █████████ ██████████ ████ ████ █████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████
This relates only to the question about the size of the okapi population at the beginning of P2. But it doesn’t capture the fact that we have answers to that question, nor does it capture the additional questions raised in P3 and P4.
c
Research concerning okapis ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ █████ █████████ █████████ █████ ██████████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ███████
This best captures the main point. Research has answered some questions (such as how to classify the okapi and the size of its population), but has also raised other questions (such as why they remain in a limited forested area and why they aren’t found in other forest areas).
d
A new way ██ ████████ ██████ █████ ██████████████ ███████ ███████ ████ █████ ████████ ████████ ██ ████████ █ ██████ ██ █████ ███████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██████████ ██████████████
Too narrow. This doesn’t capture the other questions about okapis discussed in the passage. Also, although the tracking collars helped reveal information about okapi numbers and habits, it’s not clear that the collars revealed that part of the reason okapis appear scarce is their coloration. That would seem to be only a hypothesis offered by the author or zoologists. The role of coloration in apparent scarcity is not a fact that can be revealed by tracking collared okapis.
e
Despite new research █████████ █████ █████████ ███ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ██████ █████ █████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██████ ███████████
Not supported, because we don’t know that questions that have puzzled zoologists since okapis were discovered are “mostly” unanswered. We have answers to how to classify okapis and the size of the okapi population. Although some other questions may be unanswered, we don’t know that “most” of them are unanswered.