Question 177·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas

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Historians often interpret the sharp rise in patents after patent-assistance offices opened in several nineteenth-century manufacturing towns as evidence that the offices generated new invention. Ines Ruiz compared patent files with factory maintenance logs. The largest patent increases occurred in trades whose logs had already recorded numerous unpatented machine modifications, and output per worker in those trades had begun increasing before the offices opened. Afterward, however, modifications first recorded at one factory began appearing in other firms' logs, and patent applications increasingly combined changes that had previously appeared separately in different factories. Letters from office clerks mention both helping workers prepare applications and distributing technical circulars among local firms.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

For a main-idea question involving evidence from different periods, determine what each period establishes and then select the choice that accurately synthesizes both. Reject choices that turn one plausible effect into the sole explanation or make causal claims that the passage does not support.

Hints

Hint 1
Separate the timeline
Identify what the logs and productivity data show about technical activity before the offices opened.
Hint 2
Examine both office functions
Consider how preparing applications and distributing technical circulars could have different effects.
Hint 3
Avoid an either-or interpretation
Look for a choice that accounts for both the patent records and the evidence of changes spreading among firms.

Step-by-step

Step 1
Interpret the evidence from before the offices opened
Factory logs recorded many unpatented modifications before the offices opened, and productivity had already begun increasing. Therefore, the later rise in patents cannot straightforwardly represent the beginning of inventive activity.
Step 2
Interpret the evidence from after the offices opened
After the offices opened, modifications spread among firms and patent applications combined changes previously found in separate factories. The clerks' letters provide a possible mechanism: the offices distributed technical circulars as well as assisting with applications.
Step 3
Synthesize both roles of the offices
The evidence suggests that the offices made preexisting inventive work more visible in patent records while also affecting the circulation and recombination of technical ideas. The main idea must account for both effects without treating the offices as either purely inventive or purely administrative.

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SAT Reading: Information and IdeasIntermediateCoreHow to find the main idea of a passage

Question 177·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas

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