PrepTest 137, Section 4, Question 15
Any good garden compost may appropriately be used(49 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- ACompost that is(9 more words not shown)
- BIf compost is(25 more words not shown)
- CIf compost is(16 more words not shown)
- DIn the best(8 more words not shown)
- ECompost that is(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Which of these descriptions can we actually connect? Good compost can appropriately be used for drainage and fertility. The best compost has 40 to 60 percent organic matter and is dark brown. Those aren't complete definitions: we haven't been told that anything with the right percentage and color automatically qualifies as good or best.
What we’re looking for
Then we get a clear disqualifier. Compost with a strong ammonia smell should not be used for drainage and fertility because its organic matter hasn't decomposed enough. That cannot be good compost: the first sentence says good compost is appropriate for those uses, and this compost isn't. That's the connection I'd take into the answers for this most-supported question. We know the smell disqualifies compost; we don't have a complete checklist guaranteeing good compost.
Working the answers
- A
Eighty percent falls outside the range given for the best compost. That doesn't tell us how thoroughly the organic matter has decomposed. Percentage of organic matter and degree of decomposition are different measurements, and the passage doesn't link them in the way A requires.
- B
Falling below 40 percent and lacking the dark brown color would rule out being the best compost. It wouldn't establish that using it actively makes the soil worse. Something can fall short of the best without damaging drainage or fertility.
- C
Fifty percent is within the best compost's range, and sufficient decomposition avoids the problem associated with the ammonia smell. But the passage doesn't give those two features as a guarantee of good compost. There might be other requirements. Meeting some favorable conditions isn't enough when no complete test for goodness has been supplied.
- D
Sufficiently decomposed doesn't mean completely decomposed. Enough decomposition for the compost to be suitable could be less than total decomposition. The passage never requires every bit of organic matter to have fully decomposed, even in the best compost.
- ECorrect
The strong ammonia smell means this compost should not be used for drainage and fertility. Since good compost may appropriately be used for those purposes, this cannot be good compost. Its dark brown color doesn't rescue it: one feature associated with the best compost cannot cancel a condition that disqualifies appropriate use.
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