PrepTest 131 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 7

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Passage A.

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Intro topic · Climate prediction models

Concern · Impacts of slight changes in variables

Response · Brute force method

Test all possible combinations of variables using different values.

Problem · Brute force method is too intensive for individual computers

Solution · Divide calculations between mutliple connected computers

Example · Solution's (limited) success

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Intro topic · Using parallel processes to solve problems

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Example · Parallel process

Ants working together to forage for food.

Passage Style

In calling a population of ████ ███ █████████████ █ ████ ██ ████ █████████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █ ████ ██████ █████ ████

Question Type

Meaning in context (of word, phrase, or idea)

Structure

Author B presents the method used by ants to forage for food as an example of something that involves a lot of simple individual actions that, collectively, function as a complex system. In addition, before using the highlighted phrase, the author says that “a more complex picture emerges.” So by using “an intelligence, a kind of live computer,” the author suggests that the behavior of a dense ant colony is a complex system.

the behavior of ███ ██████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ █ ████████ █████████ █████

This best captures the meaning, which is that the behavior of a dense ant colony is like a complex system.

89%

the paradigm shift ██████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████████ ██ ██████ ███████

The author never suggests that the shift to parallel computing was inspired by looking at living systems. The phrase we’re asked about is a description of an ant colony; it’s not a description of how we came to the solution for complex problems.

computers are agglomerations ██ ████████ ████ ███ ██ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █ ████████████ █████

The phrase we’re asked about is a description of the behavior of a dense ant colony. It’s not meant to describe computers.

computer simulations can ████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███████████ ████ █████ ████████

The phrase we’re asked about is a description of the behavior of a dense ant colony. It’s not meant to comment on computer simulations and their accuracy.

the simple rules ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ████████ ███████████

The phrase we’re asked about is a description of the behavior of a dense ant colony. It’s not meant to comment on computer simulations.

PrepTest 131 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 7

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