Text 1

A team led by Bernardo Strassburg has found that rewilding farmland (returning the land to its natural state) could help preserve biodiversity and offset carbon emissions. The amount of farmland that would need to be restored, they found, is remarkably low. Rewilding a mere 15% of the world’s current farmland would prevent 60% of expected species extinctions and help absorb nearly 299 gigatons of carbon dioxide—a clear win in the fight against the biodiversity and climate crises.

Text 2

While Strassburg’s team’s findings certainly offer encouraging insight into the potential benefits of rewilding, it’s important to consider potential effects on global food supplies. The researchers suggest that to compensate for the loss of foodproducing land, remaining farmland would need to produce even more food. Thus, policies focused on rewilding farmland must also address strategies for higher-yield farming.

Which choice best describes a difference in how the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 view Strassburg’s team’s study?

A) The author of Text 2 claims that the percentage of farmland identified by Strassburg’s team is too low for rewilding to achieve meaningful results, whereas the author of Text 1 thinks the percentage is sufficient.

B) The author of Text 2 believes that the results described by Strassburg’s team are achievable in the near future, whereas the author of Text 1 argues that they likely aren’t.

C) The author of Text 2 focuses on rewilding’s effect on carbon emissions, whereas the author of Text 1 focuses on its effect on biodiversity.

D) The author of Text 2 approaches the study’s findings with some caution, whereas the author of Text 1 is optimistic about the reported potential environmental benefits.

Text 1

For decades, bluegrass musicians have debated whether their genre should exclude influences from mainstream genres such as rock. Many insist that bluegrass is defined by its adherence to the folk music of the US South, out of which bluegrass emerged. Such “purists,” as they are known, regard the recordings of Bill Monroe, which established the bluegrass sound in the 1940s, as a standard against which the genre should still be measured.

Text 2

Bluegrass isn’t simply an extension of folk traditions into the era of recorded music. In reality, Bill Monroe created the bluegrass sound in the 1940s by combining Southern folk music with commercial genres that had arisen only a few decades before, such as jazz and the blues. Since bluegrass has always been a mixed genre, contemporary bluegrass musicians should not be forbidden from incorporating into it influences from rock and other mainstream genres.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely regard the perspective of bluegrass purists, as described in Text 1?

A)As illogical, because the purists overlook crucial aspects of how the bluegrass sound first originated.

B) As inconsistent, since bluegrass purists themselves enjoy other musical genres.

C) As unrealistic, since bluegrass purists have no way of enforcing their musical preferences.

D) As shortsighted, because bluegrass could enlarge its audience by including influences from mainstream genres.

Text 1

Italian painters in the 1500s rarely depicted themselves in their work. Even more rare were self-portrait paintings that portrayed the artist as a painter. At the time, painting was not yet respected as a profession, so painters mostly chose to emphasize other qualities in their self-portraits, like their intellect or social status. In the city of Bologna, the first artist to depict themself painting was a man named Annibale Carracci. A painting of his from around 1585 shows Carracci in front of an easel holding a palette.

Text 2

In their self-portraits, Bolognese artists typically avoided referring to the act of painting until the mid-1600s. However, Lavinia Fontana’s 1577 painting, Self-Portrait at the Keyboard, stands out as the earliest example of such a work by an artist from Bologna. Although the artist is depicted playing music, in the background, one can spot a painting easel by a window.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the underlined claim in Text 1?

A) Carracci and Fontana were among the most well-respected painters in Bologna at the time.

B) The depiction of Fontana in Self-Portrait at the Keyboard was intended to underscore the artist’s creativity.

C) Self-Portrait at the Keyboard was painted earlier than Carracci’s painting and also refers to the artist’s craft.

D) Fontana likely inspired the reference to an easel and palette in Carracci’s painting.

Text 1

Although food writing is one of the most widely read genres in the United States, literary scholars have long neglected it. And within this genre, cookbooks attract the least scholarly attention of all, regardless of how well written they may be. This is especially true of works dedicated to regional US cuisines, whose complexity and historical significance are often overlooked.

Text 2

With her 1976 cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking, Edna Lewis popularized the refined Southern cooking she had grown up with in Freetown, an all-Black community in Virginia. She also set a new standard for cookbook writing: the recipes and memoir passages interspersing them are written in prose more elegant than that of most novels. Yet despite its inarguable value as a piece of writing, Lewis’s masterpiece has received almost no attention from literary scholars.

Based on the two texts, how would the author of Text 1 most likely regard the situation presented in the underlined sentence in Text 2?

A) As typical, because scholars are dismissive of literary works that achieve popularity with the general public.

B) As unsurprising, because scholars tend to overlook the literary value of food writing in general and of regional cookbooks in particular.

C) As justifiable, because Lewis incorporated memoir into The Taste of Country Cooking, thus undermining its status as a cookbook.

D) As inevitable, because The Taste of Country Cooking was marketed to readers of food writing and not to readers of other genres.

Text 1

The live music festival business is growing in event size and genre variety. With so many consumer options, organizers are finding ways to cement festival attendance as a special experience worth sharing. This phenomenon is linked to the growing “experiential economy,” where many find it gratifying to purchase lived experiences. To ensure a profitable event, venues need to consider the overall consumer experience, not just the band lineup.

Text 2

Music festival appearances are becoming a more important part of musicians’ careers. One factor in this shift is the rising use of streaming services that allow access to huge numbers of songs for a monthly fee, subsequently reducing sales of full-length albums. With this shift in consumer behavior, musicians are increasingly dependent on revenue from live performances.

Based on the texts, both authors would most likely agree with which statement?

A) Consumers are more interested in paying subscription fees to stream music than in attending music festivals in person.

B) Consumers’ growing interest in purchasing experiences is mostly confined to the music industry.

C) The rising consumer demand for live music festivals also generates higher demand for music streaming platforms.

D) Changing consumer behaviors are leading to changes in music-related businesses.

Text 1

Digital art, the use of digital technology to create or display images, isn’t really art at all. It doesn’t require as much skill as creating physical art. “Painting” with a tablet and stylus is much easier than using paint and a brush: the technology is doing most of the work.

Text 2

The painting programs used to create digital art involve more than just pressing a few buttons. In addition to knowing the fundamentals of art, digital artists need to be familiar with sophisticated software. Many artists will start by drawing an image on paper before transforming the piece to a digital format, where they can apply a variety of colors and techniques that would otherwise require many different traditional tools.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claims of the author of Text 1?

A) By arguing that a piece of art created digitally can still be displayed traditionally.

B) By insisting that digital art requires artistic abilities and skill even if it employs less traditional tools.

C) By explaining that it’s actually much harder to use a tablet and stylus to create art than to use paint and a brush.

D) By admitting that most digital artists don’t think fundamental drawing skills are important.

Text 1

Polar bears sustain themselves primarily by hunting seals on the Arctic sea ice, but rising ocean temperatures are causing the ice to diminish, raising concerns about polar bear population declines as these large predators’ seal-hunting habitats continue to shrink. A 2020 study examining polar bear populations across the Arctic concluded that populations affected by sea-ice loss are at great risk of extinction by the end of the twenty-first century.

Text 2

Monitoring carried out by researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute shows that the polar bear population on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard remains stable and well nourished despite rapidly declining sea ice in recent years. The researchers attribute this population’s resilience in part to a shift in feeding strategies: in addition to hunting seals, the Svalbard polar bears have begun relying on a diet of reindeer meat and birds’ eggs.

Based on the texts, how would the researchers in Text 2 most likely respond to the conclusion presented in the underlined portion of Text 1?

A) By asserting that it overlooks polar bear populations that have not yet been affected by loss of seal-hunting habitats.

B) By suggesting that it is likely incorrect about the rates at which warming ocean temperatures have caused sea ice to melt in the Arctic.

C) By noting that it neglects the possibility of some polar bear populations adapting to changes in their environment

D) By arguing that it fails to account for polar bears’ reliance on a single seal-hunting strategy

Text 1

Stage lighting theorist Adolphe Appia was perhaps the first to argue that light must be considered alongside all the various elements of a stage to create a single, unified performance. Researcher Kelly Bremner, however, has noted that Appia lacked technical expertise in the use of light in the theater. As a result of Appia’s inexperience, Bremner argues, Appia’s theory of light called for lighting practices that weren’t possible until after the advent of electricity around 1881.

Text 2

Adolphe Appia was not an amateur in the practice of lighting. Instead, it is precisely his exposure to lighting techniques at the time that contributed to his theory on the importance of light. When working as an apprentice for a lighting specialist in his youth, Appia observed the use of portable lighting devices that could be operated by hand. This experience developed his understanding of what was possible in the coordination of elements on the stage.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim about Appia’s level of technical expertise made by Bremner in Text 1?

A) Appia likely gained a level of technical expertise during his time as an apprentice.

B) Many lighting technicians dismissed Appia’s ideas about light on the stage.

C) Theater practitioners who worked with Appia greatly admired his work.

D) Appia was unfamiliar with the use of music and sound in theater.

Text 1

Many studies in psychology have shown that people seek out information even when they know in advance that they have no immediate use for it and that they won’t directly benefit from it. Such findings support the consensus view among researchers of curiosity: namely, that curiosity is not instrumental but instead represents a drive to acquire information for its own sake.

Text 2

While acknowledging that acquiring information is a powerful motivator, Rachit Dubey and colleagues ran an experiment to test whether emphasizing the usefulness of scientific information could increase curiosity about it. They found that when research involving rats and fruit flies was presented as having medical applications for humans, participants expressed greater interest in learning about it than when the research was not presented as useful.

Based on the texts, how would Dubey and colleagues (Text 2) most likely respond to the consensus view discussed in Text 1?

A) By pointing out that it is challenging to determine when information-seeking serves no goal beyond acquiring information.

B) By conceding that people may seek out information that serves no immediate purpose only because they think they can use it later.

C) By suggesting that curiosity may not be exclusively motivated by the desire to merely acquire information.

D) By disputing the idea that curiosity can help explain apparently purposeless information-seeking behaviors.

Text 1

Microbes are tiny organisms in the soil, water, and air all around us. They thrive even in very harsh conditions. That’s why Noah Fierer and colleagues were surprised when soil samples they collected from an extremely cold, dry area in Antarctica didn’t seem to contain any life. The finding doesn’t prove that there are no microbes in that area, but the team says it does suggest that the environment severely restricts microbes’ survival.

Text 2

Microbes are found in virtually every environment on Earth. So it’s unlikely they would be completely absent from Fierer’s team’s study site, no matter how extreme the environment is. There were probably so few organisms in the samples that current technology couldn’t detect them. But since a spoonful of typical soil elsewhere might contain billions of microbes, the presence of so few in the Antarctic soil samples would show how challenging the conditions are.

Based on the texts, Fierer’s team and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about microbes?

A) Most microbes are better able to survive in environments with extremely dry conditions than in environments with harsh temperatures.

B) A much higher number of microbes would probably be found if another sample of soil were taken from the Antarctic study site.

C) Microbes are likely difficult to detect in the soil at the Antarctic study site because they tend to be smaller than microbes found in typical soil elsewhere.

D) Most microbes are probably unable to withstand the soil conditions at the Antarctic study site.