PT156.S1.P4.Q24 > Analytics

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Discovered in 1993, the site known as Ukhaa Tolgod, in the Gobi desert of Mongolia, is one of the world's best sources of fossils from the Late Cretaceous period, which ended about 65 million years ago. ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ████████ ██████████ ████ ████ █ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███████████████ ████ ██████████ ███

Phenomenon · Well preserved fossils

How did they form?

Hypothesis · Sandstorm buried the animals

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Hypothesis wrong · New evidence calls sandstorm hypothesis into question

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Details of Phenomenon · Three different types of sandstone at the site

1st Type · Well-defined structure

Consistent with sandstorm hypothesis...

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2nd Type · Tilt and layering

Also consistent with sandstorm hypothesis...

3rd Type · No layering; contains large pebbles

Inconsistent with sandstorm hypothesis because the pebbles are too large to have been windblown. This is the type that contains all of the vertebrate skeletal fossils.

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Alternate Hypothesis · Sand avalanche caused fossils

Avalanche trapped animals in its path, resulting in the pristine quality of the remains.

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Phenomenon · Avalanche / sandslides

What caused them?

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Hypothesis · Unclear; clay played a role

Unclear but likely clay and rain played a role.

Evidence · Modern sand dunes

Implications of hypothesis · Sandslide hypothesis suggests area was not sterile desert

Passage Style

Critique or debate

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

24.

The observations reported in the ██████████████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ █ ████████ ████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████

Question Type

Analogy (RC)

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

Structure

In this part of the passage, the author explores the potential that animals were killed and preserved by sandslides. One causal mechanism for sandslides would be a buildup of clay coupled with heavy rains. The author brings up observations of modern sand dunes as evidence of what might have been true in the past. Modern sand dunes can accumulate clay only if there is vegetation. The author believes this observation suggests in the past, if there was a buildup of clay, there was likely also vegetation.

Let’s look for an answer that involves observations in one context (modern times) used to support a belief about another context (the past). It’s not clear whether we need to be specific about starting with modern times and inferring something about the past. But this could be a distinguishing factor between some answers.

In order to ████████ █████ ███ █ ███████ ███████████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████ ███ ████████ █ █████████ ███████ ███████ ████████████ ██████ █ ███████ ████ ██ ████████

This is most analogous. Just as the historian watches craftspeople today making pottery to speculate about the making of similar pottery in the past, the author used observations of modern sand dunes to speculate about the features of sand dunes in the past.

68%

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This doesn’t involve observing something in one context in order to support a belief about the thing in a different context. Asking working-age people about their employment status is directly relevant to the rate of unemployment. There’s no need to analogize from one context to another. It also doesn’t involve studying the present to infer something about the past.

A historian considers ████ ███████ ████████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ███ ████████████ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██ █ ████████

This doesn’t involve observing something in one context in order to support a belief about the thing in a different context. It involves reading what people wrote to speculate about what they thought. But (C) doesn’t involve a shift to a different context. For example, it doesn’t say that the historian uses what she learns from the ancient manuscripts to speculate about what a different group of people must have thought. It also doesn’t involve studying the present to infer something about the past.

11%

As part of ██ ██████ ██ ███████ █ █████████ ███ ██████████ ███ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████ ███████

This involves studying the past to develop a theory about the future. But the passage involved studying the present to speculate about the past.

11%

An archaeologist examines ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ███████ ████████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ████ ████ ████████████ ██████ ████ ███████

This doesn’t involve observing something in one context in order to support a belief about the thing in a different context. It also doesn’t involve studying the present to infer something about the past. Rather, it involves studying the past to reveal something about the past.

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PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 24

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PrepTest 156 - Section 1 - Passage 4 - Question 24

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