PrepTest 135 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 13

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While recent decades have seen more information recorded than any other era, the potential for losing this information is now greater than ever. ████ ████████ ██ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ █████████████ ███ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████ ███ █████████ ██████████████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ █████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███

Problem · Potential for losing recorded information is higher than ever

This is a concern for archivists, whose job is to preserve vital records forever.

Examples · Books printed on acidic paper, color photographs, videotapes

These items don't last for long, unlike some documents that were made hundreds or thousands of years ago.

Apparent solution · Computer technology

Allows archivists to save stuff electronically.

Why solution won't work · New generation of technology replaces the previous one quickly

Tech for reading CDs might not be available in the near future. Digital storage tapes might deteriorate.

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Another aspect of problem · Running out of time

(This looks like a transition. The author will explain what he means in the next paragraph.)

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Elaborate on this aspect · Archivists don't have enough time to decide what to save

Even if we could store things on computer technology for a very long time, we still have to decide what stuff to transfer onto that technology. But there's too many records in the world to identify everything that's essential to save. So some things that are essential will likely still be lost.

Passage Style

Problem-analysis

Single position

13.

The passage most strongly suggests ████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

For this Author’s Perspective question, we should keep in mind the author’s main point: the increasing volume of information being stored and the decreasing durability of modern storage media are making it more and more difficult for archivists to carry out their charge.

Future electronic information ███████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ████████████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ██████

Ant-supported. The author notes at the top of P3 that future electronic storage systems may be much more durable.

As much information ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ███ ██ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████████ █ █████ █████

Anti-supported. The author recommends that archivists should save documents based on their value, which suggests she thinks archivists can predict which information will be important. She then gives the example of Plato’s works to emphasize how failure to identify and preserve important works can result in them being lost.

The general public ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████████████ ██ ██ ███ █████████ ███████ ████████████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ███████ ████████

Unsupported. The author only discusses the views of archivists, not of the general public or of manufacturers.

Distinguishing what is ███████████ ████ ████ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ █ ███████ ███ ███████████

Unsupported. The author doesn’t suggest that sorting information was never a concern before now. What’s different now is how quickly archivists need to sort through information, because of how quickly the volume of information is increasing.

29%

Value judgments made ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████ ███ █████

Strongly supported. The author argues in P3 that one of the problems today’s archivists face is deciding what information to save and what to discard, and that this will involve making value judgments about each document. These value judgments will influence what information gets preserved for future generations to access, meaning they’ll affect how future generations view and understand the past.

54%

PrepTest 135 - Section 3 - Passage 2 - Question 13

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