Subscription pricing
It is well known that many species adapt to their environment, but it is usually assumed that only the most highly evolved species alter their environment in ways that aid their own survival. ████████ ████ ██████████████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ████████ █ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ █████████ ██ ████████ █████ █████████ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████ ███████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ██████ ███ ████ ████████ ███ █████████
Summarize Argument: Counter-Position
After mentioning the well-known fact that many species adapt to their environment, the author points out a common assumption people make related to this fact: that the only species that modify their own environment to aid their survival are the most highly evolved ones. The author asserts that, contrary to this assumption, this characteristic is actually common. The rest of the stimulus offers a detailed example of certain species of plankton as support for the author's claim.
Describe Method of Reasoning
The author's goal is to counter a view that is often assumed: that only the most highly evolved species can modify their own environments to benefit their survival. This author claims that such behavior is "quite common" — i.e., not limited to the most highly evolved species — and gives one specific example, certain species of plankton, as support for her claim and against the initial view.
It's important to be very clear on the distincitve aspects of the author's strategy: countering/responding to a view, and using one specific example. For a Method of Reasoning question like this one, where the answer choices use very general language, it can be tempting to always try to map on each of the "parts" of every answer choice to the stimulus to see if they match. Sometimes it's faster to see that an answer choice is just saying something completely different than the structure we've analyzed for — countering a common view, with a specific example as support — and not spend time looking for what's not there.
12.
Which one of the following ██████████ █████████ ███ █████████████ ████████ █████████
a
A general principle ██ ████ ██ ███████ █ █████ ████ █████ █ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ██████
b
An explanation of ███ █ █████████████ ██████████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ██████
c
A generalization about ███ ██████████ █████ █████ █ ███████ ███████ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████
d
A counterexample to █ ████████ █████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ████████ ██ ██████████
e
A detailed example ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ████████