Self-study
Conclusion Rapid population growth can be disastrous for a small city. ███████ █████ ██████ ██ ██ █████ ███ █████████ ████████ ███ █████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that rapid population growth can greatly harm small cities. This is because population surges can overload city services and throw off the ratio of municipal staff to residents. Furthermore, these problems usually can’t be fixed by rapid additional hiring due to budget limitations.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that city revenues don’t grow substantially when new residents move into a city. Otherwise, city budgets could be adjusted to allow for more hiring, which would mitigate the problems caused by population surges.
The author also assumes that the consequences of rapid growth can be accurately described as "disastrous."
26.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
During budget shortages, █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████ █ ████ ████████ ██ █████ █████████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ █████████
For this to help us, we would need to establish that this kind of reallocation counts as a “disastrous consequence” of budget shortages. Without that, it doesn't provide support.
b
New residents of ███ ████ █████ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████ ███ █ ████ ██████ ██ ████
This neither strengthens nor weakens the author's argument, because it doesn't have anything to do with the budgetary consequences of rapid growth. This is just a neutral fact.
c
Some large cities ███ ██████ █████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████
The author’s argument is about why small cities specifically struggle to absorb rapid population growth. Large cities aren't relevant.
d
A low unemployment ████ ██ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █ █████
This is irrelevant. We don’t care why people moved to the city in the first place, just about the effects of population growth.
e
New residents of ████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ██ █████ █ █████
This affirms the assumption that city revenues don't increase with population growth—at least, not within the first year. That strengthens the conclusion that small cities can be left in budgetary crisis.