Full, Detailed Explanation

1. What the Main Point Must Capture

For MAIN POINT questions, your correct answer must:

✔️ Capture the author’s overall purpose

✔️ Capture the author’s endorsed hypothesis

✔️ Be strongly supported by the passage

✔️ NOT merely mention facts, side issues, or partial points

For this passage:

Author’s goal:

To explain that medieval stained-glass windows are thicker at the bottom NOT because glass flows, but because old manufacturing methods created uneven panes.

This is the central phenomenon the author resolves.

Keep this locked in before evaluating answer choices.

2. Why the Wrong Answer Choices Are Wrong (Detailed)

(A)

"Zanotto's research has proven… viscous flow would take longer than the age of the universe."

❌ Why it’s wrong:

• TRUE, but only a supporting detail.

• It’s used only to debunk the myth, not to establish the actual explanation.

• Does NOT state the author’s own hypothesis.

This would be like saying the main point of a crime novel is “the suspect is innocent,” ignoring who the real culprit is.

(B)

"Window-glass production has progressed…"

❌ Why it's wrong:

• This is pure background from Paragraph 4.

• The author does NOT write this passage to describe the history of glassmaking.

• It ignores the phenomenon at the heart of the passage — the thickness difference.

It’s a detail, not the point.

(C)

"Scientists have developed ways of precisely calculating slow rates of flow…"

❌ Why it's wrong:

• This is an invented storyline. The passage never claims scientists were motivated by the myth or that calculations are “precise.”

• Does NOT relate to medieval window thickness.

• Totally misses the author’s actual aim.

Irrelevant + unsupported = automatic elimination.

(D)

"Flow contributes to noticeable differences…"

❌ Why it's wrong:

• DIRECTLY contradicts the author.

• The author spends half the passage proving flow played no role.

• Also adds an unsupported claim (“several factors”).

Opposite answers NEVER win in Main Point questions.

3. Why the Correct Answer Wins

(E) ✔️ Correct Answer

"Contrary to a commonly held belief, noticeable differences in thickness… are not due to flowing… but result from old glassworking techniques."

✔️ Why it's correct:

• Captures myth → debunking → true explanation (This mirrors the passage structure exactly.)

• Precisely states the author’s endorsed hypothesis.

• Includes both required pieces:

  • What people wrongly believe

  • What actually explains the phenomenon

This is the only answer that reflects the passage’s entire purpose.

4. Ultra-Condensed Main Point (Memory Version)

Medieval windows are thicker at the bottom not because glass flows, but because pre-modern glassmaking produced uneven panes.

This is the sentence you should be able to say in under 3 seconds on test day.

5. Main Point Cheat Sheet (Phen-Hypo Edition)

Use this for ANY Phenomenon–Hypothesis passage.

Step 1 — Identify the phenomenon

✔️ What needs explanation?

Step 2 — Identify competing hypotheses

✔️ Popular/existing explanations ✔️ Author’s new explanation

Step 3 — Look for author endorsement

✔️ Which hypothesis gets support, evidence, or detail? ✔️ The author’s endorsed explanation = MAIN POINT

Step 4 — Predict the Main Point

✔️ “The phenomenon is best explained by X.” ✔️ NEVER only describe the myth or the debunking. ✔️ MUST include the author’s final explanation.

Step 5 — Kill wrong answers

❌ Pure background ❌ Opposite of author’s view ❌ Only a detail ❌ Only debunking without the real explanation ❌ Overclaims or inventions

Correct answer almost always looks like:

➡️ “Contrary to a common belief, the true explanation is ____.”

interested

Why did I eliminate the right answer?

I didn't pay attention too much to all the answers

Why did I choose this wrong answer?

• i choose A because I read about how stealing thunder can make it old news

• I also choose B for the samr reason I did for A because it make the client more credible

What can I do better next time to get this right?

• I guess I can be better at examining and making better low res summaries

Additional notes:

12/14- blind review

5/14- intial

kind of proud that I got 2:05

I keep having them switched I dont know if that wrong for ex

1. /peer review not occur ---> /research brough to peer review

   research brought to peer rview ---> peer review not occur

is this correct

@j.y would this be answered good way for the last question

At least 59 percent of households maintained a lower indoor temperature than they had been accustomed to maintain on very cold days.

1. indoor temperature vs cold day

2. Which household maintained temperature than they were accustomed to?

3. indoor temperature

im down

me too

I might be wrong so bear with me

1. Disney is the strongest because it has premises that point to Walt giving goats to Mickey

1. The tiger is the second strongest because it implies that tigers are mammals therefore its not suitable

2. The Trash bin argument gives us alot of premises but it doesn't give us definitive evidence MR. fat Cat is the guilty part as the only evidence is him "self-satisfied, licking his paw to clean his face the way he does after having eaten." showing that he could've eaten before or that maybe someone else ate the fish or knocked the bin over

Let me know your thoughts

I'm down

Hi there Im interested my score is 141