PrepTest 141, Section 1, Question 1
Charles Darwin objected to all attempts to reduce(440 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AEvidence from two(18 more words not shown)
- BAccording to strict(17 more words not shown)
- CNew evidence demonstrates(11 more words not shown)
- DStrict constructionist followers(12 more words not shown)
- EEvidence from the(20 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already predicted the main point: the strict constructionists go too far when they say natural selection explains everything. Genetics supplies changes with no reproductive advantage, and paleontology supplies a survival outcome involving luck. We want some version of that criticism and its support.
What we’re looking for
Don't settle for a choice just because it mentions evolution or natural selection. Those are the subject. What matters is what the author has argued about them.
Working the answers
- ACorrect
The two areas are population genetics and paleontology. Their evidence undermines the claim that natural selection is the only driving force behind evolution. This puts the examples underneath the central criticism, just as our prediction did.
- B
This reverses the role of the evidence. The author uses new findings to challenge the strict constructionists, not to support their explanation of most extinctions.
- C
The neutral changes are a problem for the claim that selection explains everything. C instead credits selection with producing both adaptive and nonadaptive changes. It turns the counterexample into support for the theory being challenged.
- D
That's the strict constructionists' position. Merely stating the view under attack leaves out the author's entire response to it.
- E
The author doesn't try to disprove natural selection or deny that reproductive advantages matter. The objection is to treating selection as the whole explanation. E also leaves out the separate evidence about mass extinction.
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