<p>Saying that a stab in the dark = hopeless is not jumping to conclusions. It's a common cliched saying that pretty much means "I'm taking a chance when there isn't any hope; praying that I'll get lucky and hit it". The projects are hopeless; the scientists are pretty much taking a chance and hoping they'll get it. Besides, the question said "On line whatever-that-line-was, 'stab in the dark means'". It didn't ask you to take the entire paragraph. It asked you specifically about that single line and what the one line told you, and that line said that the SETI projects were stabs in the dark. That's all you had to work off of for that question.</p>
<p>God now iam leaning towards scee</p>
<p>Ok, first of all, I agree with you the project is probably hopeless in real life.</p>
<p>But based on this passage I really don't think that was the answer.</p>
<p>Yes, maybe your supposed to just base it off that line, but the line is part of the passage as a whole, and contributes to the effect of the whole passage. So if it was hopeless, the tone of the passage should have been one-sided, but I think you all agree it was, in fact, not. </p>
<p>Furthermore, as the passage continued, the author focused on a guy who said the project was pointless, but then on a physcis professor that said the project was not pointless, and that finding a signal is not that unlikely.</p>
<p>Telling the readers that the project was hopeless just does not make any sense, especially in that part of the passage. It would be like throwing the piece of writing right off the road, making it totally lopsided and incoherent with the rest of the passage.</p>
<p>The author qualifies everything in the passage, pretty much, to make it neutral. If anything, it was towards SETI, because of the positvely toned last paragraph.</p>
<p>btw</p>
<p>theres a questin i liked to know</p>
<p>on the grammar section number 31 (about the girl who said that her lfie was changed because she was with her bro blah blah)</p>
<p>it asked what did the first 3 sentences mean</p>
<p>PS: to tm. the author said maybe when we are all doomed on this little planet and looknig for an alternative we will put notice into this project. i think by saying that he meant only when we are doomed will be try to make something out of this hopeless experiment</p>
<p>i definently agree with tm. Besides, having "hopeless" as a correct answer definently does not fit what ETS has done in the past with neutrality and the like.</p>
<p>first... the answer is without a doubt vast...IT IS NOT HOPELESS (period.)</p>
<p>vehemently...i remember not having trouble with what ur talking abt...the answer was something to the effect of: "an introduction to lead to the girl's experiences..." did u put that</p>
<p>yea, thats right</p>
<p>im having trouble with one of the math section problems with the pattern
1,0,-1,... and it asked to find the 9th term or something? does anyone remember this one? i think i put -1, but i cant remember</p>
<p>"PS: to tm. the author said maybe when we are all doomed on this little planet and looknig for an alternative we will put notice into this project. i think by saying that he meant only when we are doomed will be try to make something out of this hopeless experiment"</p>
<p>nice one! i dont know dude, I'm sticking with my asnwer. What does it matter in the scheme of life anyways :) !</p>
<p>Forget SETI; this debate is hopeless. I'm sure I'm right; you, apparantly, are sure you're right. There's nothing to do but wait for scores. </p>
<p>For the grammar one, I put that she was setting up a context for the topic discussed in the rest of the essay. </p>
<p>On the writing section, there was a Q that talked about pesticides: something like "gardeners will use pesticides more if they're shown to improve crops". What'd you guys get? None of the choices, for some reason, looked right to me.</p>
<p>it was -1</p>
<p>it went like 1,0,-1,0,-1,0,-1,0,-1.</p>
<p>-1 is the last number (9).</p>
<p>guys...if anything the narrarator was pro-SETI...which means that she would NEVER think its hopeless.</p>
<p>tm...when u said thats right, were u referring to what i said:</p>
<p>"vehement...i remember not having trouble with what ur talking abt...the answer was something to the effect of: "an introduction to lead to the girl's experiences..." did u put that"</p>
<p>yes i put that for the grammar. it didn't really sound right but elimination does wonders.
thanks albert</p>
<p>and tm, you made some compelling points. </p>
<p>this should be the scee vs tm debate. >.></p>
<p>haha i guess we won't die in 2 week so lets see. either way, this is a very hard question and by the discussion we have had, i assume everyone did really well on this.</p>
<p>yea that gardner one was lame. i cant remember what i put tho</p>
<p>bout the gardner one i think one looked weird but was ok. it was c or d i think. it worked but haha what a bad sentence</p>
<p>yea, i said right to your answer of it "being an introduction" or whatever let's-make-this-answer-barely-right answer the ETS created.</p>
<p>the passages on the SAT are seriously the most boring pieces of crap i have ever read</p>
<p>i put A for the gardner one, i think its the one you mentioned</p>
<p>we really should talk about the western one. it seemed to be hardest of the readings.</p>
<p>funny no one remembers anything bout the baby readings</p>
<p>matt, that one was c or d i thought.</p>
<p>actually, i kinda enjoyed these the most out of all I've read lol.</p>
<p>They were different, and weren't trite, we didn't get one of those culture passages that say the same thing everytime.</p>