A question about two texts tests how one author would respond to another’s underlined claim. Read the question to find who answers whom, then read the exact claim it names. Put each author’s claim and reason in a few words. Decide whether the responding author would reject it as wrong or unsupported, add limits to it, or extend it to a new case. Check the author’s own reason, because the right view can still come with an unsupported reason.
Hints
- Hint 1
Look at the strength of the underlined claim. What does it say about reforestation’s role beyond reporting that forests and jaguar numbers both increased?
- Hint 2
In Text 2, compare what she accepts at the start with the final sentence. Does accepting the rise in tree cover mean accepting the whole underlined claim?
Step-by-step
Compare the claim with the ecologist’s reasons
Step 1Pin down the exact claim
The question names the author of Text 2 as the person responding, so let’s pin down what she’s answering. What does the underlined claim add to the study’s reported changes? Forest cover grew by roughly 40 percent and jaguar numbers doubled, but the claim calls reforestation the primary reason for that rise. The question asks which cause mattered most, not whether those increases happened.
- Step 2
Find the ecologist’s view
How much of that claim does the ecologist accept? She acknowledges the gain in tree cover but says reforestation is only one of several variables that could explain the boom. The anti-poaching laws sharply reduced illegal hunting, and more deer and peccaries provided more prey. Both changes could help jaguar numbers rise, so forest growth at the same time doesn’t by itself show that it was the main cause. She would add limits to the claim about reforestation’s role, since it could help without deserving primary credit.
- Step 3
Match the reason and timing
Which response gives the ecologist’s own reason? The phrase overlooks other major factors matches the reduced hunting and greater prey supply that she names. The claim concerns a doubling over the same period, and during the same time frame fits the laws enacted in 2001 and the concurrent prey increases. The other factors and their timing give Text 2 reasons to question reforestation’s primary role. Choice D.