Question 158·Medium·Words in Context
The young scientist found that her mentor's explanations sometimes ______ the complexity of the research, offering simple metaphors that made the data accessible even to laypeople.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
For SAT Words in Context questions, always read the entire sentence and especially the part after commas or dashes, because that section often explains or contrasts with the blank. First, decide in your own words what kind of meaning the blank needs (for example, “hides the complexity” vs. “increases the complexity”), then quickly test each option by substituting it into the sentence and eliminating any that clash with that pre-decided meaning or with the sentence’s tone. Avoid picking words just because they sound sophisticated or positive; they must precisely match the context.
Hints
Look carefully at the second half of the sentence
Reread the part after the comma: how do the simple metaphors affect how people see the research?
Think about the direction of the effect
Do the mentor’s explanations make the research seem more complicated, less complicated, or just more praised or developed?
Test each option in the blank
Mentally plug each word into the sentence and ask, "Does this match the idea that simple metaphors made complex data easy for non-experts to understand?" Cross out any that clearly clash with that idea.
Step-by-step Explanation
Use the context after the comma
Focus on the clause after the comma: "offering simple metaphors that made the data accessible even to laypeople." This tells you that the mentor’s explanations make very complex research easier to understand for non-experts.
Decide what the blank must mean
If complex research is explained with simple metaphors, then the explanations do not fully show how complex the research really is. Instead, they make the research seem simpler or different from its true level of complexity. So the missing word should mean something like "contradicted" or "gave a false impression of" the complexity.
Check each answer choice’s basic meaning
Go through the options:
- magnified: made something appear larger or more important.
- belied: gave a false impression of; contradicted.
- cultivated: developed or improved something carefully over time.
- celebrated: praised or honored something. Now you want the one that matches the idea from Step 2.
Match the best choice to the sentence meaning
Only "belied" fits the idea that the simple, accessible explanations did not show the true complexity of the research and instead gave a misleadingly simple impression. The other words describe increasing, developing, or praising complexity, which does not match the description of making the data accessible to laypeople. So the correct answer is B) belied.