Question 165·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Expression of Ideas

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While researching buzz pollination, a student has taken the following notes:

In an earlier experiment, researchers applied lower- and higher-frequency vibrations to flowers while holding displacement amplitude—the distance the flowers moved—constant.
The higher-frequency vibrations released more pollen, so the researchers attributed the difference in pollen release to frequency.
However, when displacement amplitude is constant, a higher-frequency vibration has greater peak acceleration, a measure of vibration intensity.
In a follow-up study, Asha Malik’s team applied vibrations at several frequencies while holding peak acceleration constant.
Malik’s team found no significant differences in pollen release among the frequencies tested.
The team cautioned that its results do not rule out effects of frequency under all natural conditions.

The student wants to explain how Malik’s follow-up study qualifies the earlier experiment’s interpretation while respecting the scope of the follow-up study’s findings. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

For rhetorical synthesis questions, first translate the student’s goal into specific requirements. Here, the response must connect the two studies, accurately distinguish their controlled variables, explain how the later result qualifies the earlier interpretation, and avoid exceeding the stated scope. Check each option against all of these requirements rather than choosing one that merely summarizes the follow-up study.

Hints

Hint 1
Compare the controlled variables
Determine which feature of the vibrations the earlier researchers held constant and which feature Malik’s team held constant.
Hint 2
Trace the possible alternative explanation
Consider what else changed when the earlier researchers increased frequency, even though the flowers moved the same distance.
Hint 3
Check the scope
Eliminate choices that turn a limited experimental finding into a universal conclusion about natural conditions.

Step-by-step

Step 1
Identify the earlier interpretation
The earlier researchers held displacement amplitude constant, observed greater pollen release at higher frequencies, and attributed that result to frequency.
Step 2
Examine the follow-up study’s control
At constant displacement amplitude, the frequencies differed in peak acceleration, or vibration intensity. Malik’s team instead held peak acceleration constant and found similar pollen release across the tested frequencies.
Step 3
Choose the appropriately qualified synthesis
The best choice explains that unequal vibration intensity may have caused the earlier pattern. Using “may have” appropriately qualifies the earlier interpretation without making the unsupported claim that frequency has no effect in any natural setting.

Question 165·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Expression of Ideas

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