<p>So I've been practicing in the BB and came across a passage in the CR section (not the practice tests). For those who have it, page 92 numbers 18 and 21. I chose the wrong answer for both - was torn between 2 answers on each question.</p>
<p>To those who don't have the book: the first of the 2 questions is a very general one, asking about what the passage talks about. Mainly, the passage describes plants in different environments and how they adapt to differences in sunlight and heat.
Question: The passage primarily focuses on which of the following characteristics of plants?
A- Their ability to grow equally well in all environments
E- Their ability to balance heat intake and output</p>
<p>As for the 2nd question (Easier to answer for those without the book):
Q: The author suggests that the "sticklike shape of desert plants" (lines 41-42) can be attributed to the:
A- inability of the plants to radiate heat to the air around them
E- extreme heat and aridity of the habitat</p>
<p>Lines 41 through 46 read: "The sticklike shape of desert plants represents one of the solutions to this problem ["danger of overheating" - as written in previous lines] - the shape exposes the smallest possible surface to incoming solar radiation and provides the largest possible surface from which the plant can radiate heat."</p>
<p>I got both wrong. What would you have chosen? And can someone explain why they're wrong? I didn't get that. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
<h1>18:</h1>
<p>The question asked which plant characteristic the passage PRIMARILY focused on. That means you have to get the main idea, the aspect of plants that the passage thoroughly discussed. Although broadly speaking it * was * about the plants’ ability to grow in different environments, specifically the desert and the Arctic tundra, and this assertion was supported by various details (“Arctic plants are close to the ground”, “sticklike shape of desert plants”, etc), this wasn’t the focus. If you noticed, from paragraph 2 to paragraph 5, the author spoke about plant adaptations in terms of their ability to regulate their heat intake and output to be able to survive. </p>
<p>In line 10-14: … plants as mechanisms that must balance their heat budgets … if it did not lose as much heat as it gained, then eventually it would die…”</p>
<p>Paragraph 3 and 4: They talk about how Arctic plants grow close to the ground so they would not be brutally whipped by the cold winds, and about how desert plants in contrast grow tall and thin so that they would have enough surface area from which the plant can radiate the heat. </p>
<p>In short, the passage is about plant adaptations in terms of balancing heat. </p>
<h1>21</h1>
<p>The author states that the sticklike shape of desert plants is due to the constant danger of overheating. That means this specific shape is for the desert plants to be able to “…provide the largest possible surface from which the plant can radiate heat” (lines 44-46), thus able to survive the desert heat. So that obviously rules out choice (A); instead of saying the shape is due to the “extreme heat of the habitat” (which prompted desert plants to adapt to their arid surroundings), choice A states that the shape was due to the “inability of the plants to radiate heat”, which is the opposite.</p>