#6 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post below with any questions!

[ChicaRosa]

I ended up getting this question wrong because I didn't understand the wording of the correct answer choice, D, so I ended up choosing B instead.

Is B wrong because it would be an answer choice that would describe Passage A's perspective on muscle memory instead of Passage B's POV?

Does answer choice D mean that Passage A's viewpoint in the first sentence is less of a phenomena since research has brought into light how muscle memory works compared to before research was conducted?

Thanks!

[Claire Horan]

Hi ChicaRosa,

Before diving into this particular question, I want to say generally that you should not eliminate an answer choice because you do not understand its meaning. If you end up choosing between one answer choice that you don't understand, one answer choice that you are not sure about but you understand it and it doesn't seem right, I would choose the one you don't understand!

And now your questions:

"Is B wrong because it would be an answer choice that would describe Passage A's perspective on muscle memory instead of Passage B's POV?"

Yes, I suppose this is true.

"Does answer choice D mean that Passage A's viewpoint in the first sentence is less of a phenomena since research has brought into light how muscle memory works compared to before research was conducted?"

The author of Passage B would say that muscle memory is now less puzzling because, as Author B states in the first sentence, "...now scientists think they know why."

It's worth pointing out that you can figure out the answer to this question without reading the passages. You only need to read the first sentence of Passage A and check each answer choice to see whether it could possibly weigh in on whether "muscle memory is a puzzling phenomenon." Only answer choice (D) responds in any way to that characterization.

[15veries]

Hi

So pumping up and buff means muscle memory I suppose?

[Adam Tyson]

Not quite, 15. Pumping up means making muscles bigger through exercise; buff means having big muscles. Check the context clues in the passage to get those concepts.

Muscle memory, what this passage is all about, is the phenomenon of muscles returning to their buff condition faster after a lapse in a workout and then a resumption of exercise. In other words, it's the tendency of the muscles to take less time to restore themselves to a particular condition than it did to get them into that condition initially.