PT138.S1.P2.Q12 > Analytics

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The characteristic smell or taste of a plant, to insects as well as to humans, depends on its chemical composition. ███████ █████████ ██████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ██████████ ███

Intro topic · Two kinds of chemicals in plants: primary and secondary

Chemicals determine smell and taste of plants to insects and humans.

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Primary substances · Stuff required for growth and functioning; found in all plants

Secondary substances · No known role in growth/functioning; give plants distinctive tastes and smells

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Origin of secondary substances · Insects played major role

Causal mechanism 1 · Insects like some scents over others

Secondary substances result from mutations. Insects prefer some scents over others, which means the substances that produce those preferred scents are more likely to be passed on to future generations.

Causal mechanism 2 · Some substances produce stuff that helps defend against insects

Causal mechanism 3 · Some substances produce stuff that warns insects not to eat the plant

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Competition between insects and plants · Insects evolve to respond to plants' defenses

Might evolve way to detoxify plant's poison or store the poison in an unharmful way, for example. Might evolve way to identify poisonous plants.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

12.

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

Question Type

Analogy (RC)

Primary substances are required for growth and proper functioning. Secondary substances, however, play no role in growth and proper functioning. Rather, they have other effects, such as attracting pollinators or defending against predation. Secondary substances also give plants their tastes and smells. Let’s look for a set of relationships in which one feature is central to the existence of a thing, but another feature gives the thing certain superficial qualities, or enhances the survivability or effectiveness of a thing.

Electrical power for ███ █████████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ██ ████ █████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██ ███████████ ████████████

(A) describes something that’s essential for proper functioning (electrical power) and notes that generators are a backup way to provide this essential thing. But this isn’t analogous, because secondary substances aren’t a backup way to provide what primary substances provide.

Mechanical components such ██ ███████ ███ █████████████ ███ █████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██████████ ████ █ ███ ███ ███████████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ███████████ ███ ███ ███████ █████

This is the most analogous. Engines and transmissions are necessary for proper functioning of a car, just as primary substances are to plants. But other features, such as paint and taillights, give the car its superficial features (the look) as well as help protect the car (preventing rust), just as secondary substances give the plant superficial features (taste and smell) and help protect the plant (defense mechanisms).

83%

Mechanical components such ██ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██████████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ████████████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ██████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████████ ████████

(C) describes something that’s essential for proper functioning (mechanical components). But it then discusses electrical components, which are necessary to run the mechanical components. This isn’t analogous, because secondary substances aren’t necessary in order for the primary substances to work.

14%

Some type of ███████ ██████ ██ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████████

(D) discusses something necessary for the proper functioning of a train — a braking system. It then discusses two components of a braking system. But this isn’t analogous, because we want discussion of something that’s not essential to the proper functioning of a train, just as secondary substances are not essential to the proper functioning of a plant.

Specially designed word ██████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ███████████ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ████ ███ ████████ ███████████ ████ ███ ██████████

(E) discusses something necessary for the proper functioning of a word processor. But we don’t get a discussion of something that’s not necessary for computers to function as a word processor.

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PrepTest 138 - Section 1 - Passage 2 - Question 12

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