PrepTest 125 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 9

Hide analysis

Passage A.

████████ ███████ █████████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ████ █████████ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ █████████ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ███ █████ █████ █████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ███████████ █████ ████ ██ █████████ █████████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████

Facts about drilling muds · Function

Lubricate parts of oil well drills, clean drill parts, give info about what's happening during drilling.

Facts about drilling muds · What's in them

Barite is the largest ingredient in drilling muds.

████ ███ █████ ██████████ ████████ █████████ ███ █████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ █████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █ █████ ██ ████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ██████████████████ ██ ████ ██████ ████████████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████ █████████████ ████████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████████ ████████████

Facts about drilling muds · "Recipes"

Different companies have their own drilling mud "recipes." This makes it difficult to study environmental effects of drilling muds.

███████ █

Facts about drilling muds · Released during drilling phase, highly regulated and controlled

One kind of drilling mud · Water-based mud (WBM)

Used for shallow wells. Not very toxic. Dumped directly overboard.

███ ████████ ██████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██████████████ ██ ███████ █ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ █ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████ █ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ███████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████████████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ █ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████

Another kind of drilling mud · Oil-based mud (OBM)

Used for deeper wells. More mineral oil and more barite than WBM. More environmentally damaging than WBM. Only residue of OBM can be dumped overboard.

Passage Style

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

Question Type

Implied

In this Inference question, we are looking for something that can be inferred from both passages together, but not from just one of the passages individually.

Split Approach: After reading passage A, eliminate any answer choices that are fully supported by passage A. Remember, we are looking for answers that can not be inferred from one passage individually. Additionally, at this point, eliminate any answer choices that are completely unsupported by passage A.

Then, repeat with passage B. Eliminate any remaining answer choices that are either completely supported by passage B, or completely unsupported by passage B.

Sequential Approach: Approach this question using the process of elimination, eliminating any answer choices that are either completely supported by one passage, or completely unsupported by one (or both) passages.

Barite is the ███████ ██████████ ██ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ███████████████ █████████

The claim that barite is the largest ingredient of drilling muds by weight is supported by passage A.

However, neither claim about barite in answer choice (A) is supported by passage B. (A) isn’t supported by the two passages taken together, so we can eliminate (A).

19%

Although barite can ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████

The claim that barite can be safely consumed by humans is supported by passage A. The claim that barite can be harmful to marine organisms is NOT supported by passage A.

The claim that barite can be harmful to marine organisms is supported by passage B. The claim that barite can be safely consumed by humans is NOT supported by passage B.

Thus, (B) can be inferred from the two passages taken together, but not from either one individually.

63%

Offshore drilling is ████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████

Passage A doesn’t support this claim.

Passage B doesn’t support this claim either.

The use of ████████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████████

Passage A doesn’t support this claim.

Passage B doesn’t support this claim either.

11%

If offshore drilling ███ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████████

Passage A doesn’t support this claim.

Passage B doesn’t support this claim either.

PrepTest 125 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 9

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action