Self-study
P1
The Internet makes possible the instantaneous transmission and retrieval of digital text. ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████████ ███
Other's Prediction ·
Internet will replace physical books
Author's Prediction ·
Physical books will not be replaced; instead will be printed on demand at point of sale
This could also be the author's main point. Will read rest of passage with this hypothesis in mind.
P2
█████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ █ ████ ██████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ███████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████████ ████████ █████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██ ██████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ █████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ █████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ███
Prediction ·
Reduces costs
Printing on demand means no need for physical inventory which also reduces shipping and display costs.
Prediction ·
Will challenge traditional publishing
Because of superior economics and convenience for customers.
P3
█████████ ███ ███████████ ██
Prediction ·
Authors (of the books) will have larger profit share
This would be a consequence of eliminating the costs mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Prediction ·
Traditional publishing houses will miss this opportunity
Start up digital publishing firms will capture this opportunity. Traditional publishing will have to adjust.
Generalization ·
This pattern is common when a new economic model displaces an old on
Passage Style
Single position
1.
Which one of the following ██████████ ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
a
The shift from ███████████ ██ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ █ ████ █████████ ████████ ██████
The author doesn’t comment on the shift from one economic model to a “more efficient economic model.” Rather, he comments on the transition from a departing economic model and its successor. In any case, the main point isn’t about how the shift to digital publishing exemplifies something else; the main point is about digital publishing.
b
Digital publishing is ██████ ██ ███ ███ █████ ███████████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████ ███ ███████████
The author never suggests that any social factors are currently hindering the acceptance of digital publishing.
c
Digital publishing will ██ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ███████
The author never suggests that there will be lots of movement by authors among different publishing houses. Although this is a possibility, the author indicates that traditional publishers might increase royalty payments in order to avoid such movement.
d
Although digital books ███ ███ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████
The author never suggests that digital books can “now be displayed on computers and handheld electronic devices.” In addition, the author never comments on consumer preference.
e
Digital publishing will █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██████ ███████████ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ █ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████████
This is the best answer. Although it may seem too narrow compared to the ideal main point answer, there’s no better answer. All other answers assert something unsupported. (E) captures the point of P3.