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PT155.S1.Q5

SECTION 1 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

SECTION 2 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26

SECTION 3 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7

PASSAGE 2
Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15

PASSAGE 3
Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22

PASSAGE 4
Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

SECTION 4 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25

PrepTest 155 - Section 1 - Question 5

Question

Explanation

Analytics

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Of the dinosaurs of the birdlike group called ornithomimids, the later ones had toothless beaks and weak jaw muscles. █ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ████████████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ███ █████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ █ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ███████████████ █████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The paleontologists hypothesize that G. bullatus fed by filtering food from water and mud. They support this by noting that a fossil of G. bullatus had a comblike plate in its beak, similar to those found in ducks and geese today, which use them to strain food from water and mud.

Notable Assumptions

The paleontologists assume that G. bullatus could feed by filtering food from water and mud, and that factors like a very dry climate or a different diet didn't interfere with this. They also assume that the comblike plate had no other potential purpose that would better explain its presence, and that G. bullatus and modern ducks and geese are relevantly similar in enough ways to make the paleontologists’ hypothesis likely.

Analysis by EleanorRoberts

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Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████████████████ ███████████

Some dinosaurs with █████████ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ██ ████ █████ █████

This fails to address the paleontologists’ key claim that G. bullatus’s comblike plate is evidence that it fed by filtering food from water and mud, nor does it help to make this hypothesis more likely.

Toothless beaks and ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ █████ █████ ████ ██████████████

Like (A), this ignores the paleontologists’ primary argument, which is about the comblike plate, not the toothless beaks and weak jaw muscles. Also, we already know that G. bullatus was an ornithomimid with a toothless beak and weak jaw muscles, so (B) is irrelevant.

Except for the ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████

This weakens the paleontologists’ hypothesis by suggesting that G. bullatus and modern ducks and geese are not physically similar apart from their comblike plates.

Most G. bullatus ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ █████████████

This strengthens the argument by affirming one of the paleontologists’ key assumptions. If G. bullatus fed by filtering food from water and mud, they must have lived near water and mud, so their fossils would likely be found there too.

Plausibility

Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.

Paleontologists have not █████ ████████ ████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ████████ ███████

We already know that G. bullatus did have comblike plates, and the argument is concerned with whether they also fed by filtering food from water and mud. Whether any other dinosaurs had comblike plates is not relevant to the argument.

Difficulty

Question

93% of people who answer get this correct

This is a low-difficulty question.

CURVE

Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right

25% 120

131

75% 142

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Strengthen

Stems that ask us to provide an additional piece of information that, if true, would strengthen the argument in the stimulus.

Stimulus Tags

Analogy

Stimuli that feature arguments by analogy, where the success or failure of that analogy informs the answer choices.

Causal reasoning

Stimuli that feature the logic of causation (e.g. phenomenon-hypothesis, causal chain, experiments).

Phenomenon-hypothesis (LR)

Stimuli that describe a state of affairs (phenomenon), then offer a conclusion as to what has caused that state of affairs (hypothesis). A sub-type of causal reasoning.

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

150

154

156

93%

161

Plausibility

154

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