The myth persists that in 1492 the Western Hemisphere was an untamed wilderness and that it was European settlers who harnessed and transformed its ecosystems. ███ ███████████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████████████ ██████████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ███
Intro topic ·Misconception that Europeans were the first to tame wilderness
In fact, Native Americans altered the forest before Europeans.
Additional Support ·Nicaraguan pine forests today grow in areas that were burned
This probably also happened in the past. Pine forests were found only where there were Native American settlements. When the settlements left, the pine forests disappeared.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
5.
With which one of the █████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████
Question Type
Author’s perspective
Implied
This Inference question asks for the statement that the author would be likely to agree with. Remember that the author’s main point is that there is substantial evidence that Native Americans routinely burned forests.
Anti-supported. Actually, the author argues that there is substantial evidence for the practice of controlled burning (rather than natural burning). The author wouldn’t think that it’s just as likely that natural fires were the cause of the conditions observed.
Unsupported. Herbaceous undergrowth is a result of the clearing brought about by burning; nothing in the passage indicates that herbaceous undergrowth has an impact on forest maturation.
1%
c
European settlers had ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ████████
Unsupported. The author is examining evidence that the Native Americans impacted the ecosystem; the author doesn’t discuss the extent of the impact that European settlers had on North and South American ecosystems.
11%
d
Certain species of ██████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████████
This is supported in P2. Controlled burning created conditions favorable to plants like berries, so without controlled burns, these plants may not have become as widespread.
Anti-supported. Actually, the author claims that the Nicaraguan pine forests were created by controlled burning; the author never indicates that these forests could have been created by natural fires.
2%
Difficulty
85% of people who answer get this correct
This is a moderately difficult question.
It is slightly harder than the average question in this passage.
CURVE
Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right
25%135
144
75%154
Analysis
Author’s perspective
Author’s perspective
Stems that ask us to find an answer the author is most likely to agree with.
Stems asking us to infer an idea implied by the claims in the passage (as opposed to identifying an idea that appears explicitly). Similar to most strongly supported questions in LR.
Critique or debate passages contain multiple points of view on a particular subject. Sometimes the author takes sides and participates in the critique or debate, other times the author merely reports the debate.
