Early models of the geography of the metropolis were unicellular: that

Question

Early models of the geography of the metropolis were unicellular: that is, they assumed that the entire urban district would normally be dominated by a single central district, around which the various economic functions of the community would be focused. This central business district (CBD) is the source of so-called high-order goods and services, which can most efficiently be provided from a central location rather than from numerous widely dispersed locations. Thus, retailers of infrequently and irregularly purchased goods, such as fur coats, jewelry, and antique furniture, and specialized service outlets, such as theaters, advertising agencies, law firms, and government agencies, will generally be found in the CBD. By contrast, less costly, more frequently demanded goods, such as groceries and housewares, and low-order services, such as shoe repair and hairdressing, will be available at many small, widely scattered outlets throughout the metropolis.

Both the concentric-ring model of the metropolis, first developed in Chicago in the late nineteenth century, and the sector model, closely associated with the work of Homer Hoyt in the 1930s, make the CBD the focal point of the metropolis. The concentric-ring model assumes that the varying degrees of need for accessibility to the CBD of various kinds of economic entities will be the main determinant of their location. Thus, wholesale and manufacturing firms, which need easy accessibility to the specialized legal, financial, and governmental services provided in the CBD, will normally be located just outside the CBD itself. Residential areas will occupy the outer rings of the model, with low-income groups residing in the relatively crowded older housing close to the business zone and high-income groups occupying the outermost ring, in the more spacious, newer residential areas built up through urban expansion. Homer Hoyt’s sector model is a modified version of the concentric-ring model. Recognizing the influence of early established patterns of geographic distribution on the later growth of the city, Hoyt developed the concept of directional inertia. According to Hoyt, custom and social pressures tend to perpetuate locational patterns within the city. Thus, if a particular part of the city (say, the east side) becomes a common residential area for higher-income families, perhaps because of a particular topographical advantage such as a lake or other desirable feature, future expansion of the high-income segment of the population is likely to proceed in the same direction. In our example, as the metropolis expands, a wedge-shaped sector would develop on the east side of the city in which the higher-income residence would be clustered. Lower-income residences, along with manufacturing facilities, would be confined, therefore, to the western margins of the CBD.

Although Hoyt’s model undoubtedly represented an advance in sophistication over the simpler concentric-ring model, neither model fully accounts for the increasing importance of focal points other than the traditional CBD. Recent years have witnessed the establishment around older cities of secondary nuclei centered on suburban business districts. In other cases, particular kinds of goods, services, and manufacturing facilities have clustered in specialized centers away from the CBD, encouraging the development of particular housing patterns in the adjacent areas. A new multicellular model of metropolitan geography is needed to express these and other emerging trends of urban growth.   1 
 D 
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(A) explain the significance of Hoyt’s concept of directional inertia and its effect on patterns of urban growth
(B) emphasize the inadequacy of past attempts to explain patterns of urban geography
(C) analyze two varying theories concerning the distribution of residential areas within and around the metropolis
(D) describe two models of metropolitan geography and suggest their limitations
(E) show the importance of the central business district as a focus for urban growth

2 
 B 
2. It can be inferred from the passage that according to a unicellular urban model, law firms are commonly located near the center of a city mainly because
(A) law firms benefit from the proximity to financial and governmental services that a center city location provides
(B) the demand for legal services is too irregular to support many small law firms in the outer districts of the city
(C) law firms require accessibility to the wholesale and retail businesses that provide a major share of their clientele
(D) the high-income groups that make up the primary users of legal services demand easy access to the firms’ offices
(E) the specialized service personnel required by a law firm are often interested in residing as close as possible to the city center

3 
 B 
3. According to the concentric-ring model, in which of the following orders (from the center of the city outward) would the areas of the typical city be arranged?
(A) central business district, low-income housing, wholesale and manufacturing businesses, high-income housing
(B) central business district, wholesale and manufacturing businesses, low-income housing, high-income housing
(C) wholesale and manufacturing businesses, central business district, low-income housing, high-income housing
(D) central business district, high-income housing, wholesale and manufacturing businesses, low-income housing
(E) wholesale and manufacturing businesses, low-income housing, central business district, high-income housing

4 
 E 
4. According to the passage, the sector model differs from the concentric-ring model primarily in that it
(A) stresses the role of topographic features in determining patterns of urban development
(B) emphasizes the continuing expansion of the city as an influence on urban development
(C) recognizes the importance of focal points of urban growth other than the traditional central business district
(D) assumes that the need for access to the central business district is the main determinant of urban developmental patterns
(E) takes into account the influence of certain social factors on urban geographical patterns

5 
 A 
5. The passage states that both the concentric-ring model and the sector model 
(A) inadequately represent the forms of urban development emerging in today’s cities
(B) need to be considerably refined to be of real use to students of urban growth
(C) have been superseded by more recently developed models of urban growth
(D) represent older cities more accurately than they do newly founded metropolitan areas
(E) fail to explain the rapid outward growth of cities that has occurred in recent years

6 
 C 
6. According to the passage, an updated model of urban geography would indicate the
(A) phenomenal growth in population and area of suburban residential districts beyond the limits of the city itself
(B) recent decline in the influence of business and industry over the geographical patterns of urban growth
(C) growing importance of urban business and service centers located away from the central business district
(D) clustering of business facilities in recently built areas, while older districts are turned into residential areas
(E) gradual displacement of older urban centers by new, more highly specialized cities in geographically dispersed locations

7 
 E 
7. All of the following are examples of the emerging trends of urban growth described in the last paragraph of the passage EXCEPT
(A) the construction in a suburban community of a large shopping mall where many of the local residents do most of their buying
(B) the opening of an industrial park on the outskirts of a declining older city 
(C) the construction of hospital-medical school complex near a highway fifteen miles from a downtown business district
(D) the building of a residential development near a suburban tool factory to house the factory workers and their families
(E) the creation of a luxury housing development in a rural setting thirty miles from the center of a city

8 
 D 
8. Which of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph of the passage?
(A) It summarizes the information presented in the first three paragraphs and draws some conclusions.
(B) It outlines a new model, applies it to recent phenomena, and argues in favor of its adoption.
(C) It introduces no evidence in support of an existing model. 
(D) It evaluates two models in the light of recent evidence and advocates the development of a third model.
(E) It compares one model unfavorably with another and develops the comparison by citing examples.

thanhtam0102 · Accepted Answer

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to
(C) analyze two varying theories concerning the distribution of residential areas within and around the metropolis
(D) describe two models of metropolitan geography and suggest their limitations
I think choice A, B and E can be removed quite easily. Choice C is out since "two varying theories", the second theory is not different from the first one, but modified the first one.
P1 introduced the first theory, P2 told mainly about theory 2 and P3 discussed about their limitations and proposed a new theory. Choice D cover nearly all of these information.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that according to a unicellular urban model, law firms are commonly located near the center of a city mainly because
(B) the demand for legal services is too irregular to support many small law firms in the outer districts of the city
"Retailers of infrequently and irregularly purchased goods, such as fur coats, jewelry, and antique furniture, and specialized service outlets, such as theaters, advertising agencies, law firms, and government agencies, will generally be found in the CBD."

3. According to the concentric-ring model, in which of the following orders (from the center of the city outward) would the areas of the typical city be arranged?
(B) central business district, wholesale and manufacturing businesses, low-income housing, high-income housing
"wholesale and manufacturing firms, which need easy accessibility to the specialized legal, financial, and governmental services provided in the CBD, will normally be located  just  outside the CBD itself. Residential areas will occupy the outer rings of the model, with low-income groups residing in the relatively crowded older housing close to the business zone and high-income groups occupying the outermost ring"

4. According to the passage, the sector model differs from the concentric-ring model primarily in that it
(A) stresses the role of topographic features in determining patterns of urban development
(E) takes into account the influence of certain social factors on urban geographical patterns

The passage mentioned that "According to Hoyt, custom and social pressures tend to perpetuate locational patterns within the city." Two facts that are different from the first theory.
Choice A is incorrect since it just showed detailed information of the two factors, a part of the dissimilar of two theories.

5. The passage states that both the concentric-ring model and the sector model 
(A) inadequately represent the forms of urban development emerging in today’s cities
"neither model fully accounts for the increasing importance of focal points other than the traditional CBD"

6. According to the passage, an updated model of urban geography would indicate the
(C) growing importance of urban business and service centers located away from the central business district
" Recent years have witnessed he establishment around older cities of secondary nuclei centered on suburban business districts."

7. All of the following are examples of the emerging trends of urban growth described in the last paragraph of the passage EXCEPT
(E) the creation of a luxury housing development in a rural setting thirty miles from the center of a city
"luxury housing development" has already appeared in outer of the city as mentioned in the first theory, it is not a new information or a changed happened in the emerging trends of urban growth.

8. Which of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph of the passage?
(D) It evaluates two models in the light of recent evidence and advocates the development of a third model.
As information mentioned in the first question.

alman888 · Answer

I got all questions correct in a bit over 11 minutes. I spent a disproportionate amount of time - definitely more than 2 minutes - on question 7 because it was so vague and POE wasn't working for me. Whenever I see "except" in the question stem, I now whip out POE so I don't rely on memory and (try to) cover all the answer choices.

My thought process is as follows: the relevant sections describes two categories of urban growth that, broadly, are (1) suburban business districts in older cities, and (2) specialised districts with surrounding residential areas. Now it's simply to go through each answer choice and decipher what is described:

A: shopping mall where local residents do most of their buying - category 2
B: industrial park in older city - category 1
C: hospital-medical school complex - hmmm...this sounds (and is) specialised - category 2
D: residential development near a tool factory - category 2 (if in doubt, read the third sentence of the last paragraph because it refers to manufacturing facilities)
E: luxury housing in rural area - no suburban business district nor specialised centre - bingo!

Juz2play provides a far simpler explanation but I'm merely going through what I was sort of thinking. I think having a broad interpretation of the descriptions of urban growth trends serves you better than trying to find key words because, with the latter strategy, you're going to miss the big picture, so to speak. I hope that helps someone.

Still, this is a good passage!

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 1 
 
To figure out the author's primary purpose, first think through the purpose of each paragraph:

Paragraph 1: the author  describes a similarity between early models of urban geography.  These models were "unicellular," meaning they emphasized a single central business district (CBD).
 
 Paragraph 2: the author  details two of these early models:  the concentric-ring model and Homer Hoyt's sector model. These had some key differences, but both focused on a single CBD.
 
 Paragraph 3: the author  critiques the early models . They are limited by their focus on the CBD. A better, "multicellular" model, would include other specialized centers "away fom the CBD."

Overall, then, the author's purpose is to discuss two early models of urban geography and critique those models.

Which answer choice captures this purpose? Starting with (E):
 
The author actually  criticizes  the early models for focusing  too much  on the CBD. So, his/her purpose definitely is not to show how important the CBD is.

(E) is out.

And here's (D):
 
Yup, this fits beautifully with the purpose we outlined above! So (D) is the correct answer to question 1.

I hope that helps!

saumya12 · Answer

The way I solved question 7 was, by focusing on the last para, which clearly mentions that the emerging trend is "the increasing importance of focal points other than the traditional CBD".

(A) the construction in a suburban community of a large shopping mall where many of the local residents do most of their buying:  Clearly a new "focal point" is emerging in a suburban community

(B) the opening of an industrial park on the outskirts of a declining older city:  Conforms with this sentence in the last para: manufacturing facilities have clustered in specialized centers away from the CBD .

(C) the construction of hospital-medical school complex near a highway fifteen miles from a downtown business district:  Clearly a new "focal point" is emerging in a suburban community

(D) the building of a residential development near a suburban tool factory to house the factory workers and their families:  Again, a new focal point away from CBD .

(E) the creation of a luxury housing development in a rural setting thirty miles from the center of a city:  This is not an "emerging" trend, but something that has been a part of the CBD model, as suggested by the following lines in the passage: high-income groups occupying the outermost ring, in the more spacious, newer residential areas .

Hence, only E does not represent any "emerging trend".

jawele · Answer

If anybody wonders about Q2, here's my two cents.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that according to a unicellular urban model, law firms are commonly located near the center of a city mainly because
(A) law firms benefit from the proximity to financial and governmental services that a center city location provides
(B) the demand for legal services is too irregular to support many small law firms in the outer districts of the city
(C) law firms require accessibility to the wholesale and retail businesses that provide a major share of their clientele
(D) the high-income groups that make up the primary users of legal services demand easy access to the firms’ offices
(E) the specialized service personnel required by a law firm are often interested in residing as close as possible to the city center

It is fairly easy to eliminate A, D, and C as they are far from what's mentioned in the passage. Between B and C, B is better.

<...> This central business district (CBD) is the source of so-called high-order goods and services, which can most efficiently be provided from a central location rather than from numerous widely dispersed locations. Thus, retailers of infrequently and irregularly purchased goods, such as fur coats, jewelry, and antique furniture, and specialized service outlets, such as theaters, advertising agencies, law firms, and government agencies, will generally be found in the CBD. <...>

Both the concentric-ring model of the metropolis <...> Thus, wholesale and manufacturing firms, which need easy accessibility to the specialized legal, financial, and governmental services provided in the CBD, will normally be located just outside the CBD itself. <...>

As evident in the above, it is clear that C is incorrect because the relationship is the other way around. B is supported by the very idea of efficiency.

If anybody has a better explanation, please share it.

Thanks

tejaswym95 · Answer

Hello experts can you please explain the POE for each option in question 6?
TIA
 GMATNinja   daagh

rishab0507 · Answer

If i can help. 
Updated model of urban geography mean that centres of industry would not be limited to CBD or residential areas would not be clustered at one position or population growth will not be in certain sector and would not be defined in lower and upper class. 
Now lets see which option fits in this.

6. According to the passage, an updated model of urban geography would indicate the
(A) phenomenal growth in population and area of suburban residential districts beyond the limits of the city itself : this can be option in concentric model . Popltn. growth outside city doesn't show urban model dev.
(B) recent decline in the influence of business and industry over the geographical patterns of urban growth : decline of business would not impact any model . Out of scope. 
(C) growing importance of urban business and service centers located away from the central business district : This is in line with our above thinking, As normally business centers located in CBD are of prime importance . If now centers outside of city become more popular it means development is shaping away from CBD and urbanization in different pockets is happening . Correct option

(D) clustering of business facilities in recently built areas, while older districts are turned into residential areas : This means just shift of activity, not really any new thing. While older district already has residential areas so it would just be clustering. Incorrect

(E) gradual displacement of older urban centers by new, more highly specialized cities in geographically dispersed locations : Again this is refurbishing model not a urban model of diversification. Incorrect.

Hope it helps.

Kudos if you like it !!

mSKR · Answer

Hi  AndrewN   GMATNinja

Please share your thoughts on Q2. I am confused among B, C and D.

For C: I reject because wholesale and retail businesses need law services? But The relationship should be mutual as in business Win-win situation , So I liked C
for D: Central has high end business, so o, fcourse firms want to support their key clients by providing easy access to them. Hence I liked D
For B:I Didn't like B because small firms are not mentioned. infrequently and irregularly purchased goods are in the centers. We don't know about other parts of city other than central part.

Kindly suggest.

Thanks!

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  mSKR . I have been hesitant to answer some of your questions lately, and before I get to this one, I would like to tell you why. First, I keep telling you to practice or review only official questions for Verbal, and 1000 Series questions, although sometimes labeled as such, prove to be of dubious origin at times, or prove to be incorrect or outdated, not similar to what you would find on the test in its current state. Second, you keep asking about RC questions, my least preferred topic to discuss. When the two considerations come up at the same time, I find myself not wanting to devote too much time or effort to responding. (If I believe in what I advise you to practice/review, then why would I keep rewarding you for going against that advice?) Please keep these thoughts in mind before tagging me on an unofficial RC question (or at least unconfirmed as such).

That said, the part of the passage we are concerned with to answer the second question is the first paragraph, particularly the lines sandwiched in the middle:

This central business district (CBD) is the source of so-called high-order goods and services, which can most efficiently be provided from a central location rather than from numerous widely dispersed locations. Thus, retailers of infrequently and irregularly purchased goods, such as fur coats, jewelry, and antique furniture, and specialized service outlets, such as theaters, advertising agencies,  law firms , and government agencies, will generally be found in the CBD.

The last line of the paragraph adds information about small businesses in general:

By contrast, less costly, more frequently demanded goods, such as groceries and housewares, and low-order services, such as shoe repair and hairdressing, will be available at many  small, widely scattered outlets  throughout the metropolis.

When we put the two pieces of information together, we get  irregular  demand and a reason for  law firms  to be centrally located as opposed to being smaller and  widely scattered... throughout the metropolis . Thus, (B) looks like a reasonable answer.

Choice (C) makes it sound as if law firms are seeking out clients in  wholesale and retail businesses , but those businesses just happen to be located in the CBD for a similar reason as law firms are:  efficiency .

Choice (D) is too extreme, telling us what, apparently,  the primary users of legal services  demand  . We get no insight into the mindset of the clientele. The  demand  of the passage is more a reference to a supply-and-demand economic process.

I hope this helps you in your studies. I will say this one last time: stick to official—confirmed—material, the later the better. If you have somehow managed to exhaust all the OG RC questions from the past five years, then do them again and spend more time seeking to disqualify the wrong answers. Such review will help you much more than solving 100 new RC questions from older tests or third-party sources.

- Andrew

Vatsal7794 · Answer

Hi Experts

GMATNinja  @VeritasKarishma  EducationAisle   ChrisLele   mikemcgarry   AjiteshArun   egmat   sayantanc2k   RonPurewal   DmitryFarber   MagooshExpert   avigutman   EMPOWERgmatVerbal   MartyTargetTestPrep   ExpertsGlobal5   IanStewart 
other experts  AnthonyRitz

Can someone please explain question 7 , how the answer is E

According to last Para - Markets are moving away from the CBD and in option E it's mention that housing development moves 30 miles away from the centre of the city. So how the ans is E

I marked Ans as C because in this option it's talking about Downtown and not about CBD.

Can someone please explain
Thanks

egmat · Answer

Hey  Vatsal7794 ,

Happy to help.

The last paragraph talks about the need for a new "multicellular model" of metropolitan geography. "Multicellular" here means multi-nuclear. And multi-nuclear means  having more than one  focal point  .

In the highlighted portions above, you'll see that a focal point is defined as  goods, services, and manufacturing facilities clustered in specialized centers away from the CBD . It is around such new focal points that housing societies develop to house the people who work at or trade with the establishments in that focal point.

Now, let's read the question stem carefully :  
 All of the following are  examples  of the emerging trends of urban growth described in the last paragraph of the passage  EXCEPT ...

Pre-thinking : 
We're looking to identify among the choices the one that's  not an example of such a new focal point  developed away from the CBD.

Answer Choice Analysis and Process of Elimination : 
 
   the construction in a suburban community of a large shopping mall where many of the local residents do most of their buying 
 Suburban means away from the CBD. And "a large shopping mall where many of the local (nearby) residents do most of their buying" fits the definition of a new focal point.   Eliminate  .  
 
   the opening of an industrial park on the outskirts of a declining older city 
 Outskirts means away from the CBD. And "an industrial park" fits the definition of a focal point. The phrase "declining older city" is a bit of a distractor, but even this has been mentioned in the last paragraph. The fact that the CBD lies in an older city suggests that a new housing society is likely to develop around this new focal point.   Eliminate  . 
 
   the construction of hospital-medical school complex near a highway fifteen miles from a downtown business district 
 "Fifteen miles from a downtown business district" means away from the CBD.  "Downtown business district" is just another expression for "the central part or main business and commercial area of a town or city" . And, "hospital-medical school complex" fits the definition of a focal point. The students, teachers, and staff of the medical school and the patients of the hospital would constitute a significant percentage of the population local to this new focal point.   Eliminate  . 
 
   the building of a residential development near a suburban tool factory to house the factory workers and their families 
 "Suburban tool factory" fits the definition of a new focal point, just like each of the examples above.   Eliminate  .  
 
   the creation of a luxury housing development in a rural setting thirty miles from the center of a city 
 Although this choice mentions a "luxury housing development in a rural setting away from the center of a city",  it says nothing about a new focal point . It is likely that the people who will reside here will commute daily to the center of that city (the CBD). These people will probably live here to get away from the hustle bustle of the CBD, especially since they can afford to travel this far daily. For this choice to have been a valid example, it must have mentioned a new focal point. Since that's missing, we can safely   select choice E  .

I hope this answers your question satisfactorily. Feel free to revert for further clarification, if required.

Happy Learning!

Abhishek

RonPurewal · Answer

I'll try to provide a summary answer for each question.

Let's start in the usual way for RC: go through the passage to create short, high-level summary notes. 
One major purpose of the resulting outline is to help us predict the answers to big-picture (whole-passage) questions, so, we don't want to include anything that's too finely detailed to reasonably factor into one of the whole-passage questions.

¶1: 
Old models of city: "Unicellular"
• CBD in middle: High order goods/svcs
• Cheaper basic goods/svcs: Outside CBD

¶2: 
Two versions of the unicellular model
—Concentric rings: Whsle/mfg just outside CBD, homes further out
—Sectors: E/S/N/W "sides" homogeneous

¶3: 
Metro areas with multiple 'cells'/centers
—New models needed

Question 1 is a big-picture question:

The short outline of notes above will help us answer this one. Let's go through the answer choices and check them against the outline—keeping in mind that the correct answer  should cover MOST  (but not necessarily all)  the notes, and EVERYTHING IN IT MUST BE SUPPORTED BY THE TEXT .

This concept is used only in the 'sectors' model, which takes up just a fraction of ¶2. It's relevant to far too little of the text to represent a 'primary' idea or purpose.

Only in ¶3—the very short final paragraph—do we encounter the idea that the unicellular models are not good enough alone, and need to be supplemented with multicellular models.
Most of the passage is dedicated to explaining the unicellular models in depth, without yet discussing how they're ultimately too simplistic.

Residential areas are just one of many different types of entities whose locations are discussed with respect to each of the 2 models in ¶2. In other words, this is one specific set of details, not any sort of general summary.

This one works.

• The entirety of ¶2—which constitutes the bulk of the passage by itself—is spent explaining the two unicellular models in detail, after a brief but necessary introduction to the notion of a unicellular metro area is given as ¶1.
• ¶3 then explains that unicellular models are too simplistic to model metro areas with more than one CBD-type center, and that more complex models are thus needed. This is a limitation on the usefulness of models such as those in ¶1-2.

Winner!

Growth is a detail that is explicitly mentioned only once (in the middle of ¶2). Furthermore, growth is discussed in terms of the farther-flung parts of a metro area that radiate outward from the CBD—i.e., in terms of everything  BUT  the CBD itself.

RonPurewal · Answer

Like other questions containing "INFER"/"IMPLY"/"SUGGEST", this one calls for an answer that, while rigorously encompassed within the relevant ideas from the passage text, will  NOT directly repeat a single fact  from the text. Instead, we'll either have to make a connection between specifics from two different sentences, or else we'll have to take one sentence and perform some sort of logical transformation on it (producing an equivalent, but not identical, phrasing).

The relevant facts here are
• whatever the passage says about law firms
AND/OR
• whatever the passage says in general about entities located in the CBD.

The only thing the passage says about  law firms  is that they are...
...  specialized service outlets  .

About  everything in the CBD , the passage says that those entities...
 ... can most efficiently be provided from a central location rather than from numerous widely dispersed locations

Let's look for an answer choice that 'shuffles' and restates these ideas.

The passage does not say this about entities located in the CBD. (In fact, this choice misappropriates a detail given in ¶2 about a different set of entities—namely, about those located just  outside  the CBD.)

"Services" comes from  this part .

This part is effectively a restatement of the "more efficiently provided..." fact  about all CBD business entities. 
(This part is somewhat problematic in that it's a stronger statement than what's actually given in the passage: "less efficient" doesn't necessarily add up all the way to "not supportable due to inefficiency". The present-day GMAT wouldn't play fast and loose like this, but the Paper Tests—which are 25 or more years old—are not as carefully held to rigorous standards. Still, the other four answers are just flat-out WRONG, so there's no question that this one is the correct answer.)

Winner  here (albeit an imperfect one by current GMAT standards).

This does not reflect the content of either of the two color-coded statements above. It's not supported.

You can also rule out this choice by pure everyday common sense: The business of law firms obviously does not focus on buying or selling retail goods, so this answer can't possibly reflect anything that actually happens in the real world.

The relevant facts (color-coded above) contain nothing about high-income groups or the locations that are convenient for them.

The question is about where law firms' offices are located. It has nothing to do with where the lawyers  live .

RonPurewal · Answer

"ACCORDING TO..." means that we're going to  use stated facts from the text DIRECTLY . The different answer choices put the same entities in five different orders from the center outward, so, one of them should accurately reflect the actual order described in the text and the other four should contradict it.

The concentric-ring model is in the first part of ¶2.

The CENTRAL business district is, of course, at the center. As plain as this is (the entire first paragraph is spent explaining what's there!), there are nonetheless two choices that don't put the CBD at the center! Bye, C and E.

Next would be JUST OUTSIDE the CBD. That's described here:
 Thus, wholesale and manufacturing firms, which need easy accessibility to the specialized legal, financial, and governmental services provided in the CBD, will normally be located just outside the CBD itself

Only choice B has these businesses as the next immediate ring outside the CBD.  We're done; it's B.  (In REVIEWING this problem, it's a worthwhile exercise to verify the rest of the information in choice B. Under actual test pacing, though, we should pick B right now and immediately move on to the next problem.)

RonPurewal · Answer

"ACCORDING TO..." tells us that the correct answer should  reproduce something that the passage says directly .

The concentric-ring model and the sectors model occupy the first and second halves, respectively, of ¶2. The most likely place for an explicit statement of the DIFFERENCE(S) between them, therefore, is at the transition point between the two—so, about midway through ¶2.

Here's the transition from the concentric-rings model into the sectors model:
 Homer Hoyt’s sector model is a modified version of the concentric-ring model. Recognizing the influence of early established patterns of geographic distribution on the later growth of the city, Hoyt developed the concept of directional inertia. According to Hoyt, custom and social pressures tend to perpetuate locational patterns within the city

The correct answer, therefore, should restate one of the 3 specifics that we find here:
•  recognizes the influence of early established patterns of geographic distribution 
•  uses the idea of "directional inertia"  (NOTE: this is less likely to form the correct answer than the other two; the GMAT generally recycles  ideas , NOT jargon, in these types of problems).
•  models the effects of customs and social pressures on city geography

Let's look for these in the choices.

This is not one of the specifics above.

This is not one of the specifics above. (This part is misappropriated from ¶3, which identifies it as something that neither of the two models in ¶2 is able to represent adequately.)

This is not one of the specifics above.

This is the third and last of the three specifics above.  Winner.

RonPurewal · Answer

"The passage STATES that..." is another prompt that calls for a  restatement of something that the passage says explicitly .

We need something that these two models HAVE IN COMMON.

Both models are built around the concept of the CBD presented in ¶1. You might think, therefore, that the specific details of the CBD model in ¶1 could be used in a correct answer here.
...Nope. The problem with trying to use specs from ¶1 is that the two named models haven't been presented yet (that happens in ¶2)—so, nothing in ¶1 is EXPLICITLY STATED AS a common element of the two named models, as required by the problem statement.

¶2 is dedicated to the  uniquely distinguishing  features of each of the two models—in other words, to exactly those elements that the two models DON'T have in common. So we're not going to find our correct answer in ¶2, either.

The correct answer MUST, therefore, be  one of the common shortcomings/deficiencies of both models, as presented in ¶3. 
So, let's march through the choices and check them against ¶3 to see which one faithfully restates something that's stated about the two named models.

¶3 tells us how neither of the two named models can encompass metro-area geographies that have more than one CBD-type 'focus' / commercial 'center'. The closing sentence makes it absolutely clear that this isn't something that can be fixed just by tweaking the two named models, either—we're going to need an entirely new type of model:
 a new multicellular model of metropolitan geography is needed to express these and other emerging trends of urban growth.

In other words, neither of the two named models from ¶2 can be adapted to these "emerging" trends from "recent years" (i.e., CURRENT-DAY trends).  This choice is thus supported completely.

As discussed under choice A, ¶3 specifically tells us that it WON'T be good enough just to 'refine' either of the two existing unicellular models—we're going to have to throw those out and make a new model altogether.

There's also no justification for narrowing the models' utility to  students , or for any other more specialized group.

¶3 says that this will NEED to happen, but that no such model yet exists ("a new model ... is needed"). This answer choice erroneously states that the required new model has already been (recently) developed, directly contradicting what the passage says.

No "newly founded metro areas" are discussed. The newer, more complex types of urbanization in ¶3—the ones that require a brand-new model to represent them adequately—are forming  AROUND OLDER CITIES , as we're told about halfway through the paragraph.

"Outward growth" is not mentioned anywhere in ¶3. The new, more complex, multi-focal patterns of urbanization involve clustering around "suburban business districts" "around older cities"—which are pre-existing, not new-growth areas.

(The only mention of growth in the passage is about the "urban expansion" modeled by the concentric-rings model, in which new residential areas for more affluent people were built increasingly far away from the center city.)

RonPurewal · Answer

Once again we have an "ACCORDING TO..." question, which calls for a  restatement of what the passage already says explicitly .

Having just done problem #5, we know that the requirements for a new/updated model are laid out in ¶3. Let's go collect them.

There are two types of phenomena that the existing (unicellular) named models can't adequately represent, as told in ¶3:

• secondary nuclei centered on suburban business districts, around older cities
• specialized centers away from the CBD, with particular housing patterns nearby

The correct answer will just say one of these two things again—maybe in largely similar words, maybe in different words.
To the choices we go.

This is not one of the two items above.

This is the second bullet point above.  Winner!

This is not one of the two items above.

RonPurewal · Answer

Conveniently, these trends are precisely the two bullet points that were potential correct answers to the previous problem (#6). Those are:
 • secondary nuclei centered on suburban business districts, around older cities
• specialized centers away from the CBD, with particular housing patterns nearby

This is a negative-space question (phrased with "EXCEPT"), so we want the one answer that DOESN'T adequately satisfy the prompt.
In other words,
• 4 choices will be specific examples of one of the two bullet points above;
• 1 choice won't be an example of either.
We want the 1 choice that's not an example of either bullet point.

To the choices:

This is an example of a  suburban business district —the first bullet point above.

This is an example of a  specialized center away from the CBD —the second bullet point above.

This is another example of a  specialized center away from the CBD —the second bullet point above.

This is an example of a  specialized center away from the CBD, with related patterns of housing nearby —the entire second bullet point above.

A RURAL setting is neither of the two bullet points above, so  this is the answer we want .

RonPurewal · Answer

Let's return to the outline we made under problem #1 and pull out the notes on ¶3, which should be well suited to forming a prediction of the answer here.

Those notes:

¶3: 
Metro areas with multiple 'cells'/centers
—New models needed

The first of these is just specs right now. It's not the specs so much as their  significance in context  that's important here, so let's quickly contextualize that first piece:

¶3: 
Metro areas with multiple 'cells'/centers   = neither of the models in ¶2 can do this  
—New models needed

There's our organization. ¶3 describes more recent phenomena that's beyond the capabilities of either model, and, on that basis, declares that a newer, more complex model is needed to represent those phenomena.

To the choices!

Nope. ("The first three ¶s" is especially weird, given that there are only two preceding ¶s. Oh well, LOL)

Nope. The new model is needed, but doesn't exist yet.

You can't summarize a paragraph or passage by saying what it DOESN'T do. (There are billions of things this paragraph doesn't do! Also, this answer choice could just as well describe a blank screen with no words at all... How silly.)

This is  what's predicted above .

There's just one difference: this choice uses the more general phrasing "evaluates two models" (potentially covering any possible pair/set of value judgments, anywhere from all-positive to all-critical) for the part explaining why neither model is good enough.
This type of substitution, in which a specific fact is replaced with broader, categorical language for a whole range of possibilities including that specific fact, is VERY common on this exam; please train yourself to identify it.

Nope. Both existing models are losers in ¶3; we don't have one winner and one loser as this choice implies.

Early models of the geography of the metropolis were unicellular: that

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Early models of the geography of the metropolis were unicellular: that

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