Self-study
The waters surrounding Shooter's Island have long been a dumping ground for ruined ships and boats, and the wreckage there has caused these waters to be exceptionally still. ██ █████████████ █████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ███ ████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ █████ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██████ █████████ ██████ █████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes the abnormally still waters surrounding Shooter’s Island act like a nursery for juvenile waterbirds. Why? Because those waters have roughly as many total waterbirds as waters around nearby islands, but many more juvenile waterbirds.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes there’s a higher proportion of juvenile waterbirds around Shooter’s Island because the still waters act as a nursery, and not for some other reason. This means assuming adult waterbirds prefer to raise their young in still waters, perhaps because still waters offer some benefit to the development of juvenile waterbirds.
6.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███████████
a
The ruined ships ███ █████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████████
This is irrelevant. It doesn’t say the ruined ships and boats make life any easier for juvenile waterbirds.
b
The number of ████████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████████ ████████████ ██████████ ███ █████
This establishes that Shooter’s Island is surrounded by an unusually large proportion of juvenile waterbirds throughout the year, but it doesn’t favor the author’s hypothesis. It gives no reason to identify still waters as the cause of that juvenile presence.
c
Waterbirds use still ██████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████████
This makes concrete the author’s assumption that adult waterbirds prefer to raise their young in still waters. It’s a reason to single out still waters as the cause of the juvenile waterbird presence around Shooter’s Island.
Plausibility
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.
d
The waters around ███ ███████ ███████████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ █████████ ███████
This offers detail, but doesn’t favor the author’s hypothesis. It doesn’t say juvenile waterbirds prefer still waters to rough waters—it just confirms that the waters around Shooter’s Island are, in fact, exceptionally still.
Irrelevant corroboration
Irrelevant corroboration
Answers that provide additional support for a claim that the argument doesn't need more support for.
e
Waterbirds are typically ████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ████
This weakens the argument. Since waterbirds in general are no more abundant around Shooter’s Island, it suggests waters around Shooter’s Island are probably not a nursery for them.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).