PrepTest 107, Section 2, Question 23
Until about 1970, anyone who wanted to write(430 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(11 more words not shown)
- AThe preparations necessary(25 more words not shown)
- BA problem is(30 more words not shown)
- CAn example suggesting(28 more words not shown)
- DA deficiency is(27 more words not shown)
- EThe resources necessary(33 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
First paragraph only. The explanations involving difficult handwriting and historians' interests come later, so leave those out of our map.
What we’re looking for
My rough description would be: we lack a certain kind of research, and the writer explains why the familiar sources don't give us what we need. Now match that to the choices, checking the whole paragraph rather than stopping before its final sentence.
Working the answers
- A
The opening identifies missing research, not preparations for conducting it. The reasons for the shortage appear in paragraph 2, outside the scope of this question.
- B
The examples identify questions we can't answer, but they aren't evaluated to decide which question would be most useful. The final move is about the kind of research required.
- C
There isn't a specific case or study illustrating current conditions. Nor does paragraph 1 end by predicting the discipline's future.
- DCorrect
The deficiency is the shortage of research using actual court records. The writer explains what the familiar sources leave unknown, then identifies the remedy: only numerical analyses across many cases would allow even a guess at the answers (paragraph 1). That last sentence adds the step our rough map missed. “Only” supports “sole possible means”; it doesn't promise that the research would answer everything perfectly.
- E
The opening doesn't present resources necessary for the task. It identifies a gap in scholarship. The paragraph then discusses the limited sources scholars have used, not inherent limitations of the court records needed to remedy that gap.
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