Hi experts GMATNinja egmat and others

I have question about this question

From what I understand in the passage, should be option (C) rather than (B)?

I think it should be (C) because the word "realize that .... = misinterpret sth and then just know that it is what they think" meaning that what Archaeologist had noticed previously is the significant evidence.

Question 4

The word "realized" doesn't necessarily mean that something was misinterpreted.

For example, I could discover that food is disappearing from my fridge. Later, I could realize that a stranger had been living in my attic for years and sneaking out at night to eat some of my beloved snacks.

There is no misinterpretation in the above example -- there's just a baffling situation, and then a realization about why that situation is happening. For the "realization" to correct a previous misinterpretation, there would need to be a previous interpretation. That previous interpretation just isn't there.

Similarly, the passage just tells us about a certain fact: "sixteenth-century Native American sites were strewn with iron bolts and metal pins." There is no interpretation offered to explain this situation.

Then, in lines 11-16, the author tells us about the archeologists' interpretation of the situation: "Only later, upon reading Nicolas Denys’s 1672 account of seventeenth-century European settlements in North America, did archaeologists realize that sixteenth-century European fishing crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their ships for furs."

Because there's no misinterpretation of the significance of the iron bolts/metal pins, (C) is out for question 4.

(B) is a much better fit: how did archeologists find out that Europeans fishing crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their ships? By reading Nicolas Denys’s 1672 account of seventeenth-century European settlements in North America.

Lines 11-16 reveal how archeologists arrived at their interpretation of the iron bolts/metal pins, so (B) is the answer to question 4.

I hope that helps!
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So, 1524-50=1474, which is as early as the 1480s. No issue here, but the question is: did we use the word may in the highlighted part for the use of the word perhaps in the passage?
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GMATNinja
Hello Sir, I am bit confused with the calculation here!
So, if we think about 50 yrs (the highest one, not assuming 30 yrs), then the calculation result would be 1484, which is under 1480s. But, the correct choice A uses the word(s) as early, which could mean before 1480 (but our calculation result is 1484). The calculation does not make sense here to me. Am I missing anything? Could you clarify it, please?
Thank you very much.
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TheUltimateWinner
"As early as" is used to describe the earliest date or time we currently know to be possible. So if something takes 3-5 business days to arrive and I order on a Tuesday, we'd say the order may arrive "as early as Friday." This is the earliest date we're aware of for it to arrive, although we don't know for sure that it won't come sooner, and we certainly aren't saying it must come Friday or earlier.

In the case at hand, we have evidence that trade may have occurred in 1848. Since that's in the 1840's, we can say that this trade may have begun as early as the 1840's. This in no way implies anything about dates before 1848, although it doesn't write them off.
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Sajjad1994 What is the optimal time that one should take to attempt such RCs? Many thanks
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This is a short passage with a medium difficulty level so 3 minutes to read the passage and 12 minutes for 9 questions would be fine. These are 15 minutes in total.

Good Luck

Sea route was found in 1492, how can trade be established in 1480s? Question No. 5

point1：

Another early chronicler noted in 1524 that
Native Americans living along the coast of what is now
(25)
New England had become selective about European
trade goods: they accepted only knives, fishhooks,
and sharp metal. By the time Cartier sailed the Saint
Lawrence River ten years later, Native Americans had
traded with Europeans for more than thirty years,
(30)
perhaps half a century.

it indicates, the trade was going on for last 30 years( 1524-30 to 50 years = ~ 1494 - 1474)

point2:
The first to record
such trade—the captain of a Portuguese vessel
sailing from Newfoundland in 1501—


record doesn't mean it start at that time. trade must have been going before the first record. From this statement, we can't find when was it started in actual.
people of 1520s have an idea of when the trade was started.
Same as: we know about internet for last 25 years.
it maybe possible that first book was launched much later.

I found this tough.
What are the chances that 9 questions come from a single passage?

You will not get 9 questions from a passage. 2-4 is more like it. I understand that it can be challenging if you get a tough passage, but normally you would want more questions from a given passage because you would have invested time in reading and understanding it. So to maximise your ROI on that time, you would want more questions.
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Understood. Thanks KarishmaB

Only later, upon reading Nicolas Denys’s 1672 account of seventeenth-century European settlements in North America, did archaeologists realize that sixteenth-century European fishing crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their ships for furs.

Can someone explain to me the meaning of the above sentence?

As per my understanding, It is raising a question that archaeologists understood about fishing crew trade after reading Nicolas account or before reading it.

And it is still not 100% confirmed that European fishing crews had dismantled and exchanged parts of their ships for furs.

GMATNinja
KarishmaB
DmitryFarber
daagh

This is not raising a question. It is a statement.
There is subject verb inversion here which happens commonly when we use negative adverbs such as only, hardly etc in the beginning of the sentence. Subject verb inversion does happen in questions and that is what confused you I assume.

Only later, upon reading ND's account ..., did archaeologists realize X

means

Only later archaeologists realized X upon reading ND's account.
i.e. they did not realise X at first. When they read ND's account, they realised it.

Another example of inversion:
Hardly had I woken up when my sister started yelling.

It means I had just woken up when my sister started yelling.
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Thanks a lot, KarishmaB.

Really means a lot. Please let me know if I can be of any favor to you.