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Lesson Example Discussion Quiz: Class Homework

Example

Title: Cross-Text Connections

Grade: 1400-a Lesson: S3-L1

Explanation: Let us discuss an example of an SAT Reading comprehension question.

Examples:

Short Passage:

Text 1

In 2007, a team led by Alice Storey analyzed a chicken bone found in El Arenal, Chile, dating it to 1321–1407 CE-over acentury before Europeans invaded the region, bringing their own chickens. Storey also found that the El Arenal chickenshared a unique genetic mutation with the ancient chicken breeds of the Polynesian Islands in the Pacifi c. Thus, Polynesianpeoples, not later Europeans, probably fi rst introduced chickens to South America.

Text 2

An Australian research team weakened the case for a Polynesian origin for the El Arenal chicken by confi rming that themutation identifi ed by Storey has occurred in breeds from around the world. More recently, though, a team led by AgustoLuzuriaga-Neira found that South American chicken breeds and Polynesian breeds share other genetic markers thatEuropean breeds lack. Thus, the preponderance of evidence now favors a Polynesian origin.

Question:

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

A) By broadly agreeing with the claim but objecting that the timeline it presupposes confl icts with the fi ndings of the geneticanalysis conducted by Storey’s team. B) By faulting the claim for implying that domestic animals couldn’t have been transferred from South America to thePolynesian Islands as well.

C) By critiquing the claim for being based on an assumption that before the European invasion of South America, thechickens of Europe were genetically uniform.

D) By noting that while the claim is persuasive, the fi ndings of Luzuriaga-Neira’s team provide stronger evidence for it thanthe fi ndings of the genetic analysis conducted by Storey do.

Answer:

D) By noting that while the claim is persuasive, the fi ndings of Luzuriaga-Neira’s team provide stronger evidence for it thanthe fi ndings of the genetic analysis conducted by Storey do.

Tip :

Choice D is the best answer because it accurately describes how the author of Text 2 would most likely respond to theunderlined claim in Text 1. Text 1 indicates that Storey found a genetic mutation in South American chickens from before theEuropean invasion and in Polynesian chickens, which implies that chickens were fi rst brought to South America byPolynesian people. Text 2 explains that the genetic mutation Storey found is in chickens from all over the world, thusundercutting the mutation as evidence of a Polynesian origin. However, Text 2 goes on to say “[m]ore recently” Luzuriaga-Neira and colleagues found multiple genetic markers shared by South American and Polynesian chickens but “that Europeanbreeds lack,” which strongly suggests a Polynesian origin for the South American chickens. This indicates that the author ofText 2 believes Luzuriaga-Neira’s evidence for a Polynesian origin is compelling while Storey’s evidence has beenundermined. Thus, the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with the underlined statement and believes Luzuriaga-Neiraand colleagues’ evidence for the statement is stronger than Storey’s evidence is.