#21 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[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!

[BigDogLittleBark]

Hi there!

Is the reason why B is correct is because priority access to resources is related to higher status within a flock (from paragraph 1) and Rohwer's statement that adult Harris sparrows have a higher status than juvenile sparrows? I'm not sure if I am explaining that correctly, but I was able to cross out the other answer choices because C - E were not possible inferences based on what Rohwer discussed in his study and A was disproved later by the author. Thank you for your time and assistance!

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey Bigdoglittlebark,

First, great name.

Second, great job in seeing that the author essentially disproved the entire second paragraph. This will help you eliminate answer choice A.

E is the opposite of what we want, as that would make you have lower social status. E and A are very easy to eliminate.

D is very tempting, but the passage did not say that fighting abilities matter as much as being able to present the ability to fight, so I would leave that answer choice.

C was not mentioned in the passage from what I remembered. I would eliminate this answer choice for that reason.

Answer choice B is actually supported most in the 4th paragraph where the passage is discussing the width of the black breast plumage stripe as being linked with high status. The author then subsequently links this width to "sex, age, wing length, and body weight." Any on of these factors would have been correct answers. This is in lines 44-45 or towards the bottom of the fourth paragraph.

It seems like you got a good read on this passage, but this would be a question I would definitely have to refer back to the passage for, which obviously takes time. Reading comp is, in my opinion, the most time restrictive section, as I would like to go back to the passage to validate even more questions than I have time for, but I go back and validate as many as I can. This question would be a good one to take time on to go validate in the passage, because you can eliminate 3 of the answers relatively easily and then you're left with only 2 answer choices to validate in the passage.

I hope all this helps and I wish you all of the luck in your studies.

Best,
Ryan