PrepTest 151, Section 2, Question 20
For pollinating certain crops such as cranberries, bumblebees(40 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AIf a honeybee(27 more words not shown)
- BThe number of(18 more words not shown)
- CThe broader an(19 more words not shown)
- DCranberries are typically(15 more words not shown)
- EThe greater the(28 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why would visiting fewer kinds of plants make a bee better at pollinating cranberries?
Picture one bee moving from cranberry plant to cranberry plant, while another moves from a cranberry plant to a daisy, then a rose, then an apple tree. That is an illustration of the difference described, not a report of any particular bee's route. The passage links the bumblebee's more concentrated visits to its greater efficiency on certain crops.
What we’re looking for
For the supported inference, I'd keep that connection and its limit: the range of species a bee visits matters to pollination efficiency for crops such as cranberries. We aren't told that this pattern is best for every plant.
Working the answers
- A
'Any one' goes beyond the stated comparison. We know the bumblebee is more efficient for certain crops, including cranberries. Other plants might benefit from a different visiting pattern. A turns a claim about some crops into a rule covering every species the bees visit.
- BCorrect
The passage explicitly offers the wider variety of species visited as part of the reason honeybees pollinate cranberries less efficiently. So the number of other species visited affects cranberry-pollination efficiency.
'Other than cranberries' isn't introducing an unrelated topic. Visiting a wider variety means the bee's activity extends to other kinds of plants, which is exactly the contrast used to explain the difference. If that variety made no difference at all, it couldn't do the explanatory work assigned to it in the passage.
- C
The broader-ranging honeybee is described as visiting a wider variety, not a smaller number, of plant species. We also aren't given a general rule that increasing a bee's travel area reduces the number of species it can visit. C both changes the described pattern and adds an unsupported restriction on what the bee can do.
- D
A bee's tendency to stay within a limited area doesn't tell us where cranberry plants typically grow. Nor are we told that honeybees are less likely ever to visit those areas. The difference described concerns how the bees spread their visits among species and areas, not the geographic distribution of cranberries.
- E
Reaching at least one plant in a crop is different from efficiently pollinating that crop. A bee could be very likely to visit a cranberry plant and then move on to other species. That doesn't tell us it will be an especially efficient cranberry pollinator. The passage supports the relevance of concentrated visits, not a general rule that a greater chance of any contact means greater efficiency. B states the connection the explanation actually supplies.
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