A notes question asking for a comparison tests whether you can use the right facts to meet the student's goal. Read the student's goal first, then spell out what the goal asks for: both subjects, what the goal compares, and whether it wants a difference or a similarity. For a comparison of time, find each subject's date and check which date belongs to which subject. A true fact can still miss the goal if it compares something else.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the student's goal and look for what you're being asked to compare. What does when tell you to look for in the notes?
- Hint 2
Find the date in each of the first two notes, then match each date to its museum.
Step-by-step
Compare the starting dates
Step 1Identify what to compare
The goal asks us to compare when the two museums began operating, so when points us to their starting dates. What should the sentence cover? It needs a starting date for each museum, so we can see how SAAM's starting time compares with NMAAHC's.
- Step 2
Set aside sentences that miss the goal
Which sentences give us that time comparison? Smithsonian museums located in Washington, DC tells us where they are and which institution they belong to, not when they began. The sentence beginning NMAAHC opened in 2016 leaves out SAAM, so it can't compare both museums' starting times.
- Step 3
Check each museum's date
The notes give 1829 as SAAM's founding year and 2016 as NMAAHC's opening year. Does each date stay with the right museum? The version saying opened in 1829 as well gives NMAAHC the wrong date. The sentence with much later gives both correct dates and shows how the museums differ in when they began. Choice B.