PT104.S2.P4.Q23 > Analytics

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In The Dynamics of Apocalypse, John Lowe attempts to solve the mystery of the collapse of the Classic Mayan civilization. ███

Phenomenon · Collapse of Classic Mayan civilization

Lowe's methodology · Uses monument construction dates to estimate when Mayan sites were abandoned

Evidence · Monument dates show that Mayan expansion stopped, followed by political troubles

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Evidence · Death rate outstripped birth rate

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Evidence · Monument construction stopped, followed by Mayan collapse

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Hypothesis · Population growth caused agricultural decline and Mayan collapse

Growth put stress on farmland while diverting labor away from farming; resulting food scarcity caused conflict

Criticism · Evidence for hypothesis may be unreliable or incomplete

Hypothetical example · of further evidence that would weaken hypothesis

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

23.

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

Question Type

Main point

In a Phenomenon-Hypothesis passage, if the author expresses an opinion about the central hypothesis, the main point should capture that opinion. Here, the central hypothesis is Lowe’s — he presents a theory for the collapse of the Mayan civilization. The author points out a flaw in this theory — it’s based on evidence that might be wrong.

In The Dynamics ██ ███████████ ████ ████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s opinion about Lowe’s hypothesis in P3.

In The Dynamics ██ ███████████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ █████ █████████ ██ ██████ █ ████████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s opinion about Lowe’s hypothesis in P3.

In The Dynamics ██ ███████████ ████ ████ ████████████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██████████ ███████ █████ █████████████

This doesn’t capture the author’s opinion about Lowe’s hypothesis in P3.

Although John Lowe's █████ ██ █████ ██ █ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████████████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ █████████████

Too strong. The author doesn’t assert that Lowe’s study does not accurately reflect the circumstances of the collapse. The author indicates in P3 that the study might not be based on accurate evidence. But the author doesn’t state that the evidence is in fact wrong.

While John Lowe's ██████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ █████ ████████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ██████████████ ███████

This best captures the main point as explained above.

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PrepTest 104 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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PrepTest 104 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 23

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