A question about a student's notes tests whether you can use facts to make the comparison the student asks for. Read the goal first, then name the two technologies and the kind of advantage it asks you to highlight. Check facts against the goal: do they show the kind of advantage the student asks for? Cross out sentences that miss that job, even if they're true, then check the remaining facts against the notes. Related facts don't help unless they support that comparison.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the goal and identify the two technologies it asks you to compare. Which words narrow the kind of advantage the report needs?
- Hint 2
Look through the notes for the environmental effects of each technology. How could those effects help you make the comparison the student asks for?
Step-by-step
Match the comparison to the goal
Step 1Name the required benefit and comparison
Start with the goal's an environmental advantage, which asks for a benefit to the environment rather than a general fact about generating electricity. What is floating solar being compared with? The phrase floating solar panels instead of installing underwater turbines names the two technologies. The sentence needs to show a benefit of choosing floating solar over underwater turbines, rather than discuss either one alone.
- Step 2
Set aside sentences that miss the goal
Which sentences show a benefit of adopting floating solar instead of installing underwater turbines? The farmland sentence compares solar panels with land-based options, so it uses the wrong technology for this goal. The sentence about high capacity factors brings in offshore wind farms, which also aren't the underwater turbines the student wants to compare with floating solar. And the sentence about studying local ecosystems gives advice about turbine installation without explaining what floating solar offers.
- Step 3
Check the environmental effects in the notes
What do the notes support about the two technologies' effects on the environment? Reservoir panels can reduce water lost to evaporation, while underwater turbines can disrupt marine life migration. Saving reservoir water is a benefit, and disrupting migration is a risk of installing underwater turbines. The sentence about water loss from reservoirs connects that water-saving benefit with the turbine risk, which gives an environmental reason to choose floating solar over underwater turbines. Choice B.