Question 54·Hard·Transitions
To make its small satellite affordable, a student engineering team replaced several steel components with carbon-fiber composites, reducing the spacecraft's mass by nearly 40 percent. ______ the launch provider reduced the mission fee by almost $1 million because pricing is strongly tied to payload weight.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For transition questions, first read the sentence (or pair of sentences) without looking at the answer choices and decide the logical relationship at the blank: cause-and-effect, contrast, example, sequence, or time. Then, look at each option and label what kind of relationship it usually signals. Eliminate any option whose function does not match the relationship you identified, and avoid picking a transition just because it “sounds good” without clearly fitting the logic.
Hints
Check what the second part is doing
Look at the clause after the blank: is it giving a new, unrelated detail, an example, a contrast, or something that happens because of the first clause?
Compare the direction of the ideas
Do the two parts of the sentence go in the same direction (they support each other), or is the second part surprising or opposite in some way compared with the first?
Use process of elimination on transition types
Ask what each choice usually does: does it introduce an example, show something happening at the same time, or signal contrast? Eliminate any that don’t fit the relationship you found between the two parts of the sentence.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the situation in the sentence
Read the whole sentence without the blank: the team made the satellite lighter by replacing steel with carbon-fiber composites, and then the launch provider lowered the mission fee because weight affects price. The second part happens because of the first part.
Identify the relationship between the two parts
Ask: Is the second clause giving an example of the first, describing something happening at the same time, contradicting it, or showing a consequence? Here, the launch fee going down is a consequence of the satellite’s mass being reduced.
Match the relationship to the type of transition
Eliminate transitions that do not show a consequence. A phrase that introduces an example does not fit, because the second clause is not an illustration but a direct outcome. A word that means “at the same time” does not fit either, because timing is not the focus. A word that shows contrast also does not fit because the two parts agree with each other instead of opposing each other.
Choose the transition that shows cause and effect
The only option that clearly signals that the second event (fee reduction) happened because of the first event (mass reduction) is “As a result,”, so that is the correct answer.