Question 25·Easy·Central Ideas and Details
Growing up in a desert town, Aisha Karim rarely saw trees, yet she became fascinated by forests after reading about them. During college she joined a research team studying the effect of light on seed germination. While most of her colleagues focused on tropical plants, Karim chose to investigate seeds from arctic birch trees. She reasoned that understanding how these seeds sprout under limited sunlight could help foresters restore damaged northern woodlands.
According to the passage, why did Karim study seeds from arctic birch trees rather than tropical plants?
For questions that ask "According to the passage, why...", go straight to the sentence that describes the action and look for words like "because," "so that," or "she reasoned that," which signal the reason. Paraphrase that sentence in simple language without looking at the choices first, then pick the answer that matches your paraphrase in meaning (not just in wording). Eliminate any option that introduces new information, changes key details, or talks about something the passage never mentions.
Hints
Find the reason in the text
Look for the sentence that starts by contrasting what Karim did with what her colleagues did. The reason for her choice comes immediately after that contrast.
Focus on the phrase after "she reasoned that"
Pay special attention to the clause beginning with "she reasoned that"; this part explains her motivation for choosing arctic birch seeds.
Paraphrase before choosing
Before looking at the answer choices, try to restate in your own words why studying those seeds could be useful, then choose the option that best matches your restatement.
Step-by-step Explanation
Locate where her choice is explained
Look for the part of the passage that explains why Karim chose arctic birch seeds instead of tropical plants. This kind of question is usually answered in the sentence that describes her decision or reasoning.
Here, that sentence is: "While most of her colleagues focused on tropical plants, Karim chose to investigate seeds from arctic birch trees. She reasoned that understanding how these seeds sprout under limited sunlight could help foresters restore damaged northern woodlands."
Paraphrase the key sentence
Focus on the second sentence: "She reasoned that understanding how these seeds sprout under limited sunlight could help foresters restore damaged northern woodlands."
Put this into your own words: Karim thinks that if she learns how arctic birch seeds start to grow when there is not much sunlight, that knowledge could be useful to people who are trying to fix or bring back forests in northern areas.
Match the paraphrase to an answer choice
Now compare your paraphrase to each answer choice:
- The passage does not say the seeds can grow with no sunlight, only with limited sunlight.
- It does not say she could not get tropical seeds.
- It does not say she wanted to prove anything about tropical plants.
Only one choice correctly matches the idea that her research was meant to help foresters restore or rebuild northern forests. That choice is the correct answer: She wanted to help foresters rebuild northern forests.