PrepTest 150, Section 4, Question 18
This passage is based on an article written(452 more words not shown)
The author of the passage(25 more words not shown)
- AThe results suggest(14 more words not shown)
- BThe results leave(13 more words not shown)
- CThe results prove(14 more words not shown)
- DThe results demonstrate(23 more words not shown)
- EThe results do(20 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
The study gives the author a reason to take the successful dowsers seriously. They outperformed the scientists in unfamiliar areas where surface clues couldn't reveal the fracture zones, and they even found a dry one. That supports the possibility that they detect something underground.
What we’re looking for
It still doesn't tell us exactly how they do it. Keep evidence of an ability separate from conclusive proof of its mechanism—or of its superiority to every other method.
Working the answers
- A
Losing this comparison doesn't make geologists and hydrologists of little service to any groundwater search. They could make useful predictions even if the dowsers made more accurate ones. Not the best in this study is not the same as nearly useless everywhere.
- BCorrect
The proponents suggested sensitivity to electromagnetic changes, and the reported results leave that explanation possible. Success without helpful surface clues gives the author a reason to consider another source of information. But the study doesn't directly establish that electromagnetic sensitivity caused the success. Leaves open the possibility fits that limit.
- C
The study compares selected dowsers with geologists and hydrologists in particular conditions. It doesn't compare every possible water-finding technique or conclusively establish the most dependable one. More accurate than these competitors is a narrower claim.
- D
The passage doesn't report a comparison of dowsers using their own tools with dowsers using scientific instruments. We can't conclude which tools make them most successful.
- E
Testing one type of terrain can still challenge a skeptical explanation. Here, success in arid areas without helpful surface clues directly bears on the claims that surface signs or readily available water explain the results. The study need not settle every objection to help refute some of them.
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