PrepTest 156, Section 3, Question 6
Passage A is adapted from a book review(497 more words not shown)
Passage A(12 more words not shown)
Passage B(493 more words not shown)
Both passages are concerned with(7 more words not shown)
- ADoes experiencing apparent(5 more words not shown)
- BIs it possible(4 more words not shown)
- CDo anecdotes have(5 more words not shown)
- DIs the principle(6 more words not shown)
- EAre there kinds(10 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
We've already identified the shared issue: could paranormal phenomena exist despite unsuccessful scientific tests? Dyson says that possibility remains open. B says the scientific results settle the matter against it.
What we’re looking for
Science's role in knowledge is important background, but the answer needs the specific question both writers are trying to resolve.
Working the answers
- A
This reverses the suggested relationship. A says stress might be a condition under which paranormal events occur, not an effect of experiencing them. Neither writer investigates whether apparent paranormal experiences cause stress.
- BCorrect
A explicitly says paranormal phenomena “may exist,” while B says psychic power is a “chimera.” These are opposing answers to the same question about possibility.
- C
B says anecdotes cannot establish real phenomena without tests. That doesn't mean anecdotes have no place in inquiry; they might supply a claim to investigate. Their role is part of the argument, not the central shared question.
- D
Complementarity is one tool Dyson uses and B rejects applying here. A does not independently defend a general rule about all uses of complementarity outside physics.
- E
A begins with broad views about knowledge. B focuses on the paranormal, not a survey of every kind of knowledge that science has or hasn't explained. This answer makes their shared inquiry too broad.
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