PT108.S2.Q9

SECTION 1 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8

PASSAGE 2
Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16

PASSAGE 3
Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21

PASSAGE 4
Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26

SECTION 2 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24

SECTION 3 · lr

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15 Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20 Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26

SECTION 4 · rc

PASSAGE 1
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7

PASSAGE 2
Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Question 12 Question 13 Question 14 Question 15

PASSAGE 3
Question 16 Question 17 Question 18 Question 19 Question 20

PASSAGE 4
Question 21 Question 22 Question 23 Question 24 Question 25 Question 26 Question 27

PrepTest 108 - Section 2 - Question 9

Question

Explanation

Analytics

Show analysis

Very powerful volcanic eruptions send large amounts of ash high into the atmosphere, blocking sunlight and causing abnormally cold temperatures for a year or more after the eruption. ██ ██ ████ █████ ███ █ ████████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ███████ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ ████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ ██████████

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that if a change in climate in China in 45 B.C. was caused by volcanic ash, then ash from Mount Etna must have spread over vast distances. This is because Mount Etna in Sicily erupted a year prior to the climate irregularities in China, but the two locations are thousands of miles apart.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that if any volcano caused the change of climate in China, then that volcano was Mount Etna; in other words, that there were no other powerful eruptions closer to China at that time. The author also assumes that the changes must have come directly from ash spreading to China, rather than the impact being indirect.

Analysis by AlexandraNash

Show answer

In evaluating the support given ███ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █████████ ███████

modern monitoring equipment ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████

Whether or not modern equipment can precisely track volcanic ash, that doesn't tell us anything more about an eruption in 44 B.C. This is simply irrelevant.

the abnormal weather ██ █████ ██████ ███ █ ████ ████ ██ ██████

We know powerful volcanoes can cause effects that last a year or longer, but that doesn’t mean those effects have to last a year or longer. This wouldn't tell us anything useful.

temperatures in Sicily ████ ██████████ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███████

Knowing the answer to this wouldn’t affect the author’s conclusion, which is if any volcano caused the phenomena in China, it was Mount Etna. The conditions in Sicily are irrelevant.

there were any ████████ █████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██ █████ ██████ ████████

If the answer is yes, then that's an alternate explanation: other volcanoes, rather than Mount Etna, caused the changes. If the answer is no, then the conclusion is strengthened. Knowing this would certainly be important.

Alternate explanation

subsequent eruptions of █████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ██ ████

We’re not interested in subsequent eruptions. Knowing the answer wouldn’t tell us whether Etna was the only volcano that could have caused the phenomena in China, so it's not useful.

Difficulty

Question

85% of people who answer get this correct

This is a moderately difficult question.

CURVE

Score of students with a 50% chance of getting this right

25% 129

143

75% 156

Analysis

Question Stem Tags

Evaluate

Stimulus Tags

Causal reasoning

Phenomenon-hypothesis (LR)

Answer Popularity

Popularity Avg. score

160

163

159

85%

167

Alternate explanation

121

Question history

You don't have any history with this question.. yet!