#20 - Specific Reference, Parallel

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[spitzerh]

I am confused about question #20. I was stuck between B. and C., and I chose C. because it relates a new theory to a company's actions, and B. does not. Can you please help me understand why B. was the better answer choice?

Thank you for your help!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi spitzer,

Our best bet with these Parallel questions in reading comprehension (questions asking for an analogous case, or a similar situation, to something described in the passage) is to start from the passage itself and try to describe, in an abstract way, the thing we're asked to find an analogy to. Here, we need to go back and describe, in an abstract way, the situation that is sketched out in the final paragraph of the passage. What is the situation? A new theory (abiogenic theory) about the formation of something (the formation of oil and gas) led people to search for that thing (the oil and gas) in a place they had never looked before (the granite formation called the Siljan Ring).

I want an answer choice that has all those pieces, if I can find it. All the answer choices start off okay, because they all start with the "new theory." But which of those theories are about "how something is formed?" The only answer that gets to that second stage of the abstraction is answer choice B, because it's talking about the formation of black holes ("the stage at which a star collapses into a black hole"). If we continue through answer choice, the abstraction continues to "match." This theory led people to search for black holes in a place they had never looked before ("led astronomers to search for evidence of black holes in parts of the universe where they had not previously searched").

The problem with answer choice C is it's not talking about a theory relating to something's formation (rather it's talking about how something can be "reduced"), and it's not talking about looking for that thing in a new place (rather it's talking about a new product being developed to help with reducing sulfur dioxide).

I hope this helps!