PrepTest 128, Section 4, Question 15
In the early 1900s, most astronomers mistakenly believed(458 more words not shown)
The passage provides the strongest(27 more words not shown)
- AThe methodology she(15 more words not shown)
- BHer interpretation of(16 more words not shown)
- CHer findings were(20 more words not shown)
- DHer interpretation of(18 more words not shown)
- EHer interpretation and(17 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The surface-versus-interior objection gives us a specific response to use. Those scientists could allow that Payne's data said something about the sun's outer surface while denying that they established the composition of the entire sun. That's more precise than simply predicting that they thought she was wrong.
Working the answers
- A
Nobody says her method was outdated. Their objection concerns what her data describe, not the age of her method.
- B
This is the eventual vindication, not the response attributed to these scientists in the 1920s.
- C
Calling her findings promising and requesting verification would be a fairly receptive response. The account instead describes scientists trying to dismiss or explain away her conclusion.
- DCorrect
Their surface objection leaves room for some basis in the data, but rejects her larger conclusion about the sun. That matches “not entirely ill founded” alongside the claim that her overall conclusions were wrong.
- E
They didn't accept her overall conclusion and then dismiss its importance. They disputed that conclusion. Nor does the author suggest that discovering the sun's composition would be scientifically insignificant.
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