Text 1

Dominique Potvin and colleagues captured five Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) to test a new design for attaching tracking devices to birds. As the researchers fitted each magpie with a tracker attached by a small harness, they noticed some magpies without trackers pecking at another magpie’s tracker until it broke off. The researchers suggest that this behavior could be evidence of magpies attempting to help another magpie without benefiting themselves.

Text 2

It can be tempting to think that animals are deliberately providing help when we see them removing trackers and other equipment from one another, especially when a species is known to exhibit other cooperative behaviors. At the same time, it can be difficult to exclude the possibility that individuals are simply interested in the equipment because of its novelty, curiously pawing or pecking at it until it detaches.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the researchers’ perspective in Text 1 on the behavior of the magpies without trackers?

A) That behavior might have been due to the novelty of the magpies’ captive setting rather than to the novelty of the tracker.

B) That behavior likely indicates that the magpies were deliberately attempting to benefit themselves by obtaining the tracker.

C) That behavior may not be evidence of selflessness in Gymnorhina tibicen because not all the captured magpies demonstrated it.

D) That behavior might be adequately explained without suggesting that the magpies were attempting to assist the other magpie.

Text 1

Most animals can regenerate some parts of their bodies, such as skin. But when a three-banded panther worm is cut into three pieces, each piece grows into a new worm. Researchers are investigating this feat partly to learn more about humans’ comparatively limited abilities to regenerate, and they’re making exciting progress. An especially promising discovery is that both humans and panther worms have a gene for early growth response (EGR) linked to regeneration.

Text 2

When Mansi Srivastava and her team reported that panther worms, like humans, possess a gene for EGR, it caused excitement. However, as the team pointed out, the gene likely functions very differently in humans than it does in panther worms. Srivastava has likened EGR to a switch that activates other genes involved in regeneration in panther worms, but how this switch operates in humans remains unclear.

Based on the texts, what would the author of Text 2 most likely say about Text 1’s characterization of the discovery involving EGR?

A) It is reasonable given that Srivastava and her team have identified how EGR functions in both humans and panther worms.

B) It is overly optimistic given additional observations from Srivastava and her team.

C) It is unexpected given that Srivastava and her team’s findings were generally met with enthusiasm.

D) It is unfairly dismissive given the progress that Srivastava and her team have reported.

Text 1

In a study of the benefits of having free time, Marissa Sharif found that the reported sense of life satisfaction tended to plateau when participants had two hours of free time per day and actually began to fall when they had five hours of free time per day. After further research, Sharif concluded that this dip in life satisfaction mainly occurred when individuals spent all their free time unproductively, such as by watching TV or playing games.

Text 2

Psychologist James Maddux cautions against suggesting an ideal amount of free time. The human desire for both free time and productivity is universal, but Maddux asserts that individuals have unique needs for life satisfaction. Furthermore, he points out that there is no objective definition for what constitutes productivity; reading a book might be considered a productive activity by some, but idleness by others. Based on the texts, how would Maddux (Text 2) most likely respond to the conclusion Sharif (Text 1) reached after her further research?

Based on the texts, how would Maddux (Text 2) most likely respond to the conclusion Sharif (Text 1) reached after her further research?

A) By acknowledging that free time is more likely to enhance life satisfaction when it is spent productively than when it is spent unproductively.

B) By challenging the reasoning in Text 1, as it has not been proved that productivity commonly contributes to individuals’ life satisfaction.

C) By warning against making an overly broad assumption, as there is no clear consensus in distinguishing between productive and unproductive activities.

D) By claiming that the specific activities named in Text 1 are actually examples of productive activities rather than unproductive ones.

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

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

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

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

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

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