June 2007, Passage 2, Question 11
Transcript
Question 11, it can be inferred, inferred means we're dealing with inference question that the authors of the two passages would be most likely to disagree over whether. So remember, on an inference question you're looking for an answer choice that you can prove with information from the passage, even though the passage won't directly say the answer choice.
Because this is a comparative passage, we have an additional challenge. We're looking for something that we can infer definitely what the author of passage A believes and definitely what the author of passage B believes. But it does need to be different. They need to disagree about it. So if you can't tell what the guy from passage A thinks, then that's not your answer.
Can't tell what the guy from B thinks, it's not your answer. And if they agree, it's not your answer. So let's look at the answers. Answer choice A, the increase in hominid brain size necessitated earlier births. Now, that is something that the author of passage B would definitely agree with. Because the author of passage B said that they believe that increased brain size led to earlier births.
But the author of passage A never mentioned that, so we don't know what they would think about that. So we don't know whether they would disagree, it's not answer choice A. Answer choice B, fewer differences than similarities exists between the neurological processing of music and human language. Now, this is something that is almost directly, it's almost a direct quote from passage A, but it's not something that passage B talks about at all.
So it's not our answer. Go to answer choice C, brain size increased rapidly over the course of human evolution. Now this is an interesting wrong answer because we do know from passage A that brain size increased. We know that from passage B, too.
So we can infer this about both passages but it's not something they disagree over. And this passage was looking for something that they don't have in common. So onto answer choice D. D says the capacity to produce music has great adaptive value to humans. Passage A says that music had little adaptive value. Passage B says that it would have offered considerable evolutionary advantage.
So both of them have a view about this and it is a different view. They disagree, so D is our answer. Now we can glance an answer choice E just to see why it's wrong. And we can see mother infant bonding, that's something that passage B talks about, but passage A gives us no information about. So we don't know what that author would think.
So we can't say they disagree, so it's not E. The answer is answer choice D.
Read full transcriptBecause this is a comparative passage, we have an additional challenge. We're looking for something that we can infer definitely what the author of passage A believes and definitely what the author of passage B believes. But it does need to be different. They need to disagree about it. So if you can't tell what the guy from passage A thinks, then that's not your answer.
Can't tell what the guy from B thinks, it's not your answer. And if they agree, it's not your answer. So let's look at the answers. Answer choice A, the increase in hominid brain size necessitated earlier births. Now, that is something that the author of passage B would definitely agree with. Because the author of passage B said that they believe that increased brain size led to earlier births.
But the author of passage A never mentioned that, so we don't know what they would think about that. So we don't know whether they would disagree, it's not answer choice A. Answer choice B, fewer differences than similarities exists between the neurological processing of music and human language. Now, this is something that is almost directly, it's almost a direct quote from passage A, but it's not something that passage B talks about at all.
So it's not our answer. Go to answer choice C, brain size increased rapidly over the course of human evolution. Now this is an interesting wrong answer because we do know from passage A that brain size increased. We know that from passage B, too.
So we can infer this about both passages but it's not something they disagree over. And this passage was looking for something that they don't have in common. So onto answer choice D. D says the capacity to produce music has great adaptive value to humans. Passage A says that music had little adaptive value. Passage B says that it would have offered considerable evolutionary advantage.
So both of them have a view about this and it is a different view. They disagree, so D is our answer. Now we can glance an answer choice E just to see why it's wrong. And we can see mother infant bonding, that's something that passage B talks about, but passage A gives us no information about. So we don't know what that author would think.
So we can't say they disagree, so it's not E. The answer is answer choice D.
