A question about two texts tests how one writer would respond to another writer’s claim. Read the question to find who answers and which claim they answer, including the reason behind a prediction. Then put each text’s claim and reason in a few words so you can predict the response: reject the claim, add limits to it, or apply it to a new case. A response can sound reasonable and still fail if its reason isn’t the responding writer’s own.
Hints
- Hint 1
The question targets the council member’s reason for expecting lasting relief. Find the link between population growth and that expectation in Text 1.
- Hint 2
In Text 2, look for what drivers do after a road expands. How do those changes affect how much road space they use?
- Hint 3
Read Text 2’s final sentence alongside the council member’s reason. Does the researcher limit the pattern to a particular rate of population growth?
Step-by-step
Test the reason for lasting relief
Step 1Pin down the claim being answered
The council member links population growth has slowed to the promise that any improvements we gain should last. Who answers that claim? The question names the researcher in Text 2, so we’re testing the reason for expecting lasting relief, not whether added lanes can ever reduce traffic.
- Step 2
Follow how drivers respond to added space
What happens to driving after a highway expands? The researcher says added capacity prompts people to make trips they had previously avoided. Drivers also shift trips into peak hours and may move farther from work, so they can use more road space or compete for it at busier times. Making room for traffic can also draw more traffic onto the road.
- Step 3
Check whether slow growth is an exception
The researcher says the pattern holds even in places with little population growth. Does that include the council member’s region? Yes, because Text 1 says its growth has slowed. The council member focuses on how many people live there, while the researcher focuses on how those people travel. The same residents can change their trips without rapid population growth, so the researcher would reject the promise of lasting relief.
- Step 4
Match the cause and the time frame
The finding that congestion usually returns within a few years allows for an initial improvement, but not a lasting fix. Which response gives both that time frame and the researcher’s cause? The response saying increased driving will absorb the new capacity gives the cause, and short-lived matches how long the researcher expects any benefit to last. Choice C.