Question 45·Hard·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has compiled the following notes:
• Shinrin-yoku, or “forest bathing,” is a Japanese practice in which people stroll slowly through wooded areas while consciously attending to the sights, sounds, and smells around them.
• In controlled studies, participants who engaged in forest bathing showed markedly lower cortisol (stress-hormone) levels afterward than those who took urban walks of the same duration.
• The forest-bathing participants also recorded slower heart rates and reduced blood pressure compared with the urban walkers.
• Scientists suggest that phytoncides—airborne chemicals emitted by trees—may contribute to these physiological changes.
The student wants to highlight the health benefits of forest bathing specifically in comparison to urban walking. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions that ask you to write one sentence from notes, first underline the exact goal words in the prompt (for example, "health benefits," "specifically in comparison to urban walking"). Then scan the notes to find which bullets directly support that goal—often the ones giving concrete results or contrasts. Next, test each choice: eliminate any that introduce ideas not in the notes, that leave out the key part of the task (like the comparison), or that focus on background, methods, or causes instead of the requested point. Choose the option that most directly and completely fulfills the stated purpose using only information from the notes.
Hints
Focus on the key instruction in the question
Underline the phrase "health benefits of forest bathing specifically in comparison to urban walking." Your answer must both show health benefits and make a direct comparison.
Find the most relevant notes
Look back at the bullets and identify which ones talk about measured health outcomes and how those outcomes differ between forest-bathing participants and urban walkers.
Eliminate choices that miss either health outcomes or comparison
Cross out any option that only explains what forest bathing is, how the studies were done, or why it might work, but does not clearly state how the health results compare to those of urban walkers.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the writing task
The question says the student wants to highlight the health benefits of forest bathing specifically in comparison to urban walking.
So the best sentence must do two things at once:
- Emphasize measurable health benefits (like changes in stress or heart health).
- Directly compare those benefits to the effects of walking in an urban/city environment.
Identify which notes are most relevant
Look back at the bullet points and ask: Which ones give measured health outcomes and a comparison between forest and urban walks?
- Note 2: Forest-bathing participants had lower cortisol levels than those who took urban walks of the same duration.
- Note 3: Forest-bathing participants had slower heart rates and reduced blood pressure compared with urban walkers.
Those two notes together give us both specific health measures and a direct forest vs. urban comparison, which matches the task perfectly.
Check each answer choice against the goal
Now test each option against the goal of highlighting health benefits in comparison to urban walking:
- Some choices talk about why forest bathing might work (like chemicals from trees) but don’t state the actual comparative results.
- Some describe what people do during forest bathing (focusing on natural sights and sounds) but not the measured health outcomes.
- Some mention what researchers recorded (data collection methods) without stating the findings or making the forest vs. urban comparison clear.
Only one option both (1) names the specific health measures from the notes (cortisol, heart rate, blood pressure) and (2) explicitly states that these measures are better than in equally long city walks.
Select the sentence that matches the notes and purpose
Choice D says: "Forest bathing, a practice of walking mindfully through the woods, lowers cortisol levels, heart rates, and blood pressure more than an equally long walk in a city." This directly uses the key health outcomes from notes 2 and 3 and clearly compares forest bathing to an urban walk of the same duration, so D is the correct answer.