Question 6·Hard·Transitions
Many archaeologists once believed that the Bronze Age collapse ended long-distance trade in the eastern Mediterranean. A cargo recently recovered from a 3,300-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Turkey, _____, reveals a marketplace that was still remarkably interconnected.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
For SAT transition questions, always read the sentence before and after the blank, then briefly label the relationship in your own words (e.g., “contrast,” “example,” “cause/effect,” “same idea,” “summary”). Next, eliminate choices whose meanings don’t match that relationship, even if they sound smooth in the sentence. Focus on the logic between the ideas, not on the individual words or your familiarity with the transitions.
Hints
Locate the two ideas being connected
Reread the full first sentence and then the part after the blank. Ask yourself: what does the second sentence say about trade compared to the first?
Classify the relationship
Decide if the second sentence is giving an example of the first, showing a result of it, continuing a similar idea, or challenging it.
Test each transition type
Mentally replace the blank with each option and see which one correctly matches the relationship you identified, not just which one “sounds good.”
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the first sentence’s claim
The first sentence says that many archaeologists once believed that the Bronze Age collapse ended long-distance trade in the eastern Mediterranean. This sets up an old idea or assumption: trade stopped.
Understand what the second sentence adds
The second part introduces new evidence: “A cargo recently recovered from a 3,300-year-old shipwreck … reveals a marketplace that was still remarkably interconnected.” This means trade was actually still active and connected, not ended.
Decide how the ideas are related
Compare the two ideas:
- Old belief: trade ended.
- New evidence: trade was still interconnected. These are opposite ideas. The new information challenges or disagrees with the old belief, rather than giving an example of it, a result of it, or something similar to it.
Match the relationship to the correct transition
Now match that relationship to the choices:
- A) “for instance” = gives an example
- B) “as a result” = shows a consequence
- C) “similarly” = shows a similar or parallel idea
- D) “by contrast” = shows a difference between two ideas Because the second sentence contradicts the first, the transition that best fits is D) by contrast.