Question 155·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas
When historians prepare editions of medieval astronomical handbooks, they often classify numbers added in the margins as deviations from the works’ texts. A digital comparison found that certain marginal calculations cluster in manuscripts used at ports sharing similar latitudes, even when the manuscripts belong to unrelated copying traditions. This pattern suggests that readers independently adjusted astronomical tables for local observation. Yet manuscript sequences show that some of these adjustments were later copied into the main text; conversely, calculations previously in the main text were sometimes shifted to a margin in a later copy.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
For a Hard main-idea question, identify each stage of the passage’s reasoning before evaluating the choices. Prefer the option that synthesizes all major evidence and the resulting implication; reject choices that accurately summarize only one part, overstate what can be concluded, or introduce an unsupported motive.
Hints
Consider the entire passage
The geographic finding is important, but determine what the later manuscript sequences add to the argument.
Track changes in placement
Consider whether a calculation’s position in the margin or the main text remained stable as manuscripts were recopied.
Avoid unsupported conclusions
Be cautious of choices that claim historians can determine nothing reliably or that assign a broad motive to scribes.
Step-by-step Explanation
Interpret the geographic pattern
The calculations cluster by the latitudes of the ports where the manuscripts were used, even across unrelated copying traditions. This supports the conclusion that readers independently made some calculations for local observation.
Trace changes during recopying
Some locally produced adjustments later entered the main text, while some main-text calculations were shifted to the margins. A calculation’s location therefore could change as a handbook was recopied.
Synthesize the full argument
The main idea must account for both the local origin of some calculations and their movement during transmission. The best choice explains why treating location as a fixed sign of textual status would conceal the joint effects of local use and recopying.
Compare the competing claims
The geographic-distribution choice accurately summarizes only the first part of the passage. The other choices either claim that origins cannot be determined at all or assign scribes a motive that the passage does not establish.