Quiz Hacker Daily Drill #27
This FREE drill will help you hone your skills on SAT Writing and ACT English Relevance Questions. Make sure to review the strategies before diving into the question!
The below drill is designed to help you increase your skill with Relevance Questions, which appear frequently on ACT English and SAT Writing. Before doing the exercise, take a few minutes to review the strategies for this question type.
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Drill
Consider the following paragraph:
Scientists around the world have been studying the effects of climate change on polar bears, one of the Earth’s most iconic species. Dr. James Peterson, a leading researcher in this field, has dedicated his career to understanding how melting ice in the Arctic impacts these bears. He has found that as the ice melts, polar bears are forced to travel greater distances to find food, expending more energy in the process. His extensive fieldwork includes tracking the movement of individual bears using GPS technology and analyzing changes in their body condition over time. — 1 — Peterson's recent work also involves the study of the bears' diet, including shifts from seals to more accessible bird eggs due to diminishing ice cover. This shift in diet represents a substantial change in the feeding ecology of polar bears.
At this point, the writer is considering adding the following sentence:
Polar bears have distinctive white fur, which serves as camouflage in the snowy and icy environment of their Arctic habitat.
Should the writer make this addition here?
A) Yes, because it provides a physical description of polar bears consistent with the passage’s focus on the snowy conditions of their habitat.
B) Yes, because it further explains why Peterson has chosen to study polar bears rather than other arctic animals.
C) No, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus on the impact of climate change on arctic polar bears.
D) No, because it fails to account for the fact that not all polar bears utilize white fur for camouflage.
Answer Explanations
This is a Relevance Question drill. To get the most out of the answer explanations, you should first familiarize yourself with the strategies and tactics for this question type.
A) Yes, because it provides a physical description of polar bears consistent with the passage’s focus on the snowy conditions of their habitat.
This answer choice suggests that the added sentence would be sufficiently relevant because it provides a physical description of polar bears related to the snowy conditions of their habitat. However, since the paragraph's focus is on the impact of climate change on arctic polar bears, adding a sentence about the bears' fur and its function as camouflage is a tangent—it does not directly relate to or support the paragraph’s main idea. (Remember: When in doubt, leave it out.) Therefore, this answer choice is incorrect.
B) Yes, because it further explains why Peterson has chosen to study polar bears rather than other arctic animals.
This answer choice indicates that the proposed addition of the sentence about polar bears’ fur would provide insight into why Peterson chose to study polar bears over other arctic animals. However, the added sentence does not discuss a comparison between polar bears and other arctic animals in relation to Peterson’s choice to study polar bears. Neither can such a connection be deduced using an Allowable Inference. Thus, this answer choice is incorrect.
C) No, because it blurs the paragraph’s focus on the impact of climate change on arctic polar bears.
This answer choice indicates that adding the sentence would divert the reader's attention from the paragraph's primary focus, which is the impact of climate change on arctic polar bears. The proposed addition, about the polar bears' fur and its function as camouflage, does not directly relate to this main idea. While some test takers might feel that this addition is sufficiently relevant, especially since the paragraph’s last sentence discusses polar bears’ diet, it is important to recognize that the discussion of diet is directly tied back to the effect of climate change on the polar bears.
Remember: when in doubt about the relevance of a proposed addition, it is generally better to leave it out. Based on this reasoning, this answer choice is correct.
D) No, because it fails to account for the fact that not all polar bears utilize white fur for camouflage.
This answer choice criticizes the proposed addition for not addressing the possibility that some polar bears may not use their white fur for camouflage. However, this isn't necessary for maintaining the paragraph’s focus on the impact of climate change on polar bears. In fact, such a discussion would be tangential.
Remember: the proposed addition does not need to cover every potential exception to qualify as relevant; it must simply be directly related to an idea in the paragraph (without being redundant). Therefore, this answer choice is incorrect.
Key Takeaways
Relevance to Main Idea:
Ensure that any proposed addition to a paragraph directly relates to and/or supports an idea explicitly expressed in the paragraph. If a proposed addition is only tangentially related, it risks diverting the reader's attention from the paragraph’s primary focus.
Overthinking Potentially Related Issues:
A proposed addition need not cover every plausible exception or potential detail. The key issue is relevance. Stay focused on whether the proposed addition aligns tightly with the overall focus or argument of the paragraph, without being redundant.
“When In Doubt, Leave It Out” Tactic:
If you are unsure about the relevance of a proposed addition, it is generally safer to leave it out. An addition should clearly and directly contribute to the paragraph's main idea or argument.
Need more practice? To do more Relevance Question drills, click here.
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To explore Relevance Questions on official exams, visit the Self Prep section. You'll find a Question Type Inventory (QTI) for the tests in the Official ACT Prep Guide and the Official SAT Study Guide.