Far from being fixed on Earth, scientists now know that Australia has

Question

Aristotle RC 99 - Passage 8     
   Far from being fixed on Earth, scientists now know that Australia has wandered over the face of the planet for billions of years, sometimes lying in the northern hemisphere, sometimes in the south. For 40 million years, after finally cutting the umbilicus with Antarctica, it slowly drifted northwards, in isolation, at about half the rate at which a human hair
grows.

Now that the sheep has faltered, Australians ride more and more upon the marsupial‘s back. To a large extent, but more difficult to quantify, Australia‘s fauna and flora are being used as a unique resource. In scientific disciplines from reproductive physiology and evolutionary biology to medicine, Australia‘s native species are hailed as a unique and priceless heritage. They are providing insights into the way the world, and humans themselves, work.

Australia‘s rainforests—those ―unimportant appendages—are now widely acknowledged as being the most ancient of humanity‘s landbased ecosystems, which gave rise to most others. Botanical discoveries of worldwide importance are being made in them every year. Australian botanists have recently completed a catalog of Australian plants, in which they list 18,000 species. Their taxonomic work over recent years has resulted in a 50 percent increase in the number of species in the groups examined. Yet they estimate that about 7,000 undiscovered plant species still exist in Australia. Many surely inhabit Australian rainforests and are members of ancient and bizarre families, like the southern pine (Podocarpus species) recently found growing in a steep valley in Arnhem Land, thousands of kilometers distant from its nearest relatives.

Research on newly discovered Australian dinosaur faunas is challenging previous conceptions of what dinosaurs were like. So important are these discoveries that an Australian dinosaur recently made it onto the cover of a major international magazine. It was discovered in one of only two deposits in the world which was laid down near the South Pole during the age of dinosaurs. The chicken-sized species survived three months of darkness each year in a refrigerated world.

Scientists are finally understanding that evolution in Australia, in contrast to evolution on some other continents, is not driven solely by nature ―red in tooth and claw.‖ Here, a more gentle force—that of co adaptation—is important. This is because harsh conditions force individuals to cooperate to minimize the loss of nutrients, and to keep them cycling through the ecosystem as rapidly as possible.   1 
 B 
 1. Based on information in the passage, which of the following is NOT true? 
A. Australia has moved from one hemisphere to the other over time.
B. Most Australian plant species remain undiscovered.
C. Important information is being gathered by studying Australian plants.
D. Australian rainforests are different from other rainforests.
E. Dinosaurs had once existed in what is now Australia

2 
 A 
 2. Suppose that a previously unknown species of plant that is capable of producing medicine is found in an Australian rainforest. How would this information affect the author‘s opinion of Australian rainforests? 
A. It would support the author‘s opinion.
B. It would contradict the author‘s opinion.
C. It would neither support nor contradict the author‘s opinion.
D. It would contradict the author‘s opinion only if this species of plant cannot be found anywhere else.
E. It would weaken the argument that Australian ecosystem is unique

3 
 C 
 3. According to the passage, all of the following are considered benefits of studying Australian ecosystems EXCEPT: 
A. increasing knowledge of reproductive physiology and medicine.
B. gaining information concerning evolutionary trends.
C. furthering the understanding of the uses of hydroelectric power and solar energy.
D. providing insight into ancient ecosystems
E. providing an insight into the way humans work

4 
 C 
 4. What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage? 
A. to state that dinosaurs originated in what is now Australia
B. to criticise modern scientists for not understanding the unique importance of Australia
C. to discuss some unique ecological features of Australia
D. to assert that Australian rainforests are the oldest of them all
E. Australian flora and fauna are not found anywhere else in the world

nov79 · Accepted Answer

1. Based on information in the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A. Australia has moved from one hemisphere to the other over time.- stated in para 1.
B. Most Australian plant species remain undiscovered.- stated in para 3.
C. Important information is being gathered by studying Australian plants.- stated in para 3 (worldwide importance).
D. Australian rainforests are different from other rainforests. The correct answer. Rainforests are mentioned in para 4, but no where it is said that Australian rainforests are different form other ones. 
E. Dinosaurs had once existed in what is now Australia- stated in para 4.

nov79 · Answer

2. Suppose that a previously unknown species of plant that is capable of
producing medicine is found in an Australian rainforest. How would this
information affect the author‘s opinion of Australian rainforests?

A. It would support the author‘s opinion.
B. It would contradict the author‘s opinion.
C. It would neither support nor contradict the author‘s opinion.
D. It would contradict the author‘s opinion only if this species of plant
cannot be found anywhere else.
E. It would weaken the argument that Australian ecosystem is unique

IMO A.
In the authors opinion the Australian rainforests are the base of many important findings, have in them many different species of plants - amny of them are not yet discovered. In general the author is telling us that the Australian rainforests are important.
In the question it is stated that a new species of plant os found, and from this plant a new medicine could be made from it. This statement will only strengthen the author's opinion.

nov79 · Answer

3. According to the passage, all of the following are considered benefits of
studying Australian ecosystems EXCEPT:

A. increasing knowledge of reproductive physiology and medicine. - The correct answer, never mentioned in the text.
B. gaining information concerning evolutionary trends.- stated in para 5.
C. furthering the understanding of the uses of hydroelectric power and
solar energy. stated in para 2.
D. providing insight into ancient ecosystems - para 3.
E. providing an insight into the way humans work- stated in para 2.

nov79 · Answer

4. What is the main purpose of the author in writing the passage?

A. to state that dinosaurs originated in what is now Australia
B. to criticise modern scientists for not understanding the unique importance
of Australia
C. to discuss some unique ecological features of Australia
D. to assert that Australian rainforests are the oldest of them all
E. Australian flora and fauna are not found anywhere else in the world

IMO C. In the first paragraph the author states tells us general information about Australia, in the last one the author states that scientists are finally understanding some facts about Australia (this understanding is supported in the middle 3 paragraphs). The point of this passage is the uniqueness of Australia. This point is supported only by answer C.

nikhilsrl · Answer

Hey I posted the same passage here after you, sorry about that.

I have doubts about qn 1 here. I felt that A is a valid answer for this.

Choice A mentions that Australia has moved from one hemisphere to another. Now this is not mentioned in the passage. The passage says "after finally cutting the umbilicus with Antarctica, it slowly drifted
northwards". So the passage only says Australia moved north not that it moved from one hemisphere to another.

d3thknell · Answer

i think u missed the first line "Far from being fixed on Earth, scientists now know that Australia has
wandered over the face of the planet for billions of years, sometimes
lying in the northern hemisphere, sometimes in the south."

the answer is B because passage mentions "botanists have recently completed a catalog of Australian plants, in
which  they list 18,000 species . Their taxonomic work over recent years
has resulted in a 50 percent increase in the number of species in the
groups examined. Yet they estimate that a bout 7,000 undiscovered
plant species still exist  in Australia."

although 7000 is a big number, but 18000 species have already been discovered.so most of the species have been discovered.

in 3rd question A can be ruled out because "In scientific disciplines from reproductive physiology and
evolutionary biology to medicine, Australia‘s native species are hailed as
a unique and priceless heritage. "
also there is no mention about solar energy and hydroelectric power.

windofchange · Answer

FYI:
1 B 03:57
2 B 01:48
3 C 02:02
4 C 01:04

total time: ~ 9 mins

3:57 includes time for reading the passage; i spent about 2 mins to read the whole passage.

Honestly, I am not good at RC and am still struggling to increase the accuracy as well as reading speed. Technically, we should spend about 1-2 mins to read the passage, around 1 min to answer the main idea questions, and about 2 mins to answer specific details/inference questions.

windofchange · Answer

I am applying the GMAT Pil RC method and some advice of a 720 test taker here: name-of-the-game-do-not-giveup-112609.html

Actually, I don't feel comfortable when applying my strategy to this passage. I personally feel that it is not GMAT-like, because paragraphs are not tightly connected... besides, in almost all real GMAT RC passages, the first paragraph often clearly mentions the main point of the author, and the rest of the passage gives supporting ideas to the main point. However, I don't see that relation here and it takes time for me to find the passage structure.

just my 2 cents.

fluke · Answer

vivgmat · Answer

Could you please report your timing and strategy for attempting this passage.

fluke · Answer

I didn't keep track of the timing. Guess between 8-9 mins. Strategy: Read the entire passage twice quickly. Noted some points from each paragraph. Ignored few statements from 2nd paragraph that I didn't understand "Now that the sheep has faltered, Australians ride more and more upon the marsupial‘s back". Most of my time was spent in reading and making notes; say 6 mins. Fortunately, I found the questions easy compared to the passage. I didn't have to revisit. Still wondering how many of them are correct but the answers made complete sense in my own head. Isn't that always the case?

Ideal timing for reading and answering all questions in this passage should be 6-7 minutes. Will keep track of the timing in my next RC. I usually spend 13-15 minutes on LSAT RC's, yet manage to get couple of answers wrong. Got to find a way out.

vivgmat · Answer

Wow..that's incredible!! What strategy you are employing?

My "nick"..lol...basically at first I was strategyless then I tried few strategies(including the very famous Rhyme's strategy on this forum) and picked up the one that's benefitting me the most. 
My strategy is simple, I read every para and paraphrase. Also, marking the details with references to line numbers just to create a map of what is where, I'm bad at remembering everything at once in the mind so it is helpful.

I would want to break my timings between 7 and 8 minutes. Could you please put some light on what you are doing?

MacFauz · Answer

The best way to approach this question is by POE.

"To a large extent, but more difficult to quantify, Australia‘s fauna and flora are being used as a unique resource. In scientific disciplines from reproductive physiology and evolutionary biology to medicine, Australia‘s native species are hailed as a unique and priceless heritage."

This sentence is the basis for the rejection of option D as an answer to question 1.

alman888 · Answer

I think d3thknell covered questions 1 and 3 pretty well. The thing I've found with these "Not true" or "Except" questions is to use POE religiously; I now mark down ABCDE on my paper and cross the incorrect answer choices. It's not foolproof, but I know that I'm not going to remember every single detail in the passage and I want to make sure all bases are covered as much as possible.

Heavens help me if there's a question that goes "...all statements can be inferred from the passage except...". That would be my idea of hell!

Heavens help me if there's a question that goes "...all statements can be inferred from the passage except...". That would be my idea of hell!

Masterscorp · Answer

I also think that question 1 is a low-quality question.

It is given that researchers  estimate  that 7000 species are yet to be discovered. The actual number could be way higher and hence answer isn't necessarily true.

Regarding answer D:

Yes, it is said that Australia's flora and fauna is unique. However, it isn't explicitly mentioned that the rainforests differ from those of other countries. It is kinda implied but in my opinion if you talk about something this broad you can't infer that everything is unique.

Anyways, I think question 1 is flawed and everyone should move on to other passages and questions.

GAURAV1113 · Answer

Hi,
I could answer all questions correctly but could not understand meaning of one sentence.
""Now that the sheep has faltered, Australians ride more and more upon the marsupial‘s back."
I know it's unimportant if we could get the gist of paragraph but still would like to understand it.
Can some one please help.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using  GMAT Club Forum mobile app

nileshsingh997 · Answer

It is clearly stated in the 3rd para that around 7000 species remain undiscovered, so how can the answer be B for the first question?

VeritasPrepBrian · Answer

Well, that's 7000 undiscovered species but they do say that they've discovered (or at least listed) 18000. In order for "most" to be undiscovered (choice B) you'd need more than 18000 estimated to be undiscovered.

kittle · Answer

Can someone let me know the meaning of this sentence- "Now that the sheep has faltered, Australians ride more and more upon the marsupial‘s back"

Please.
Kittle.

Far from being fixed on Earth, scientists now know that Australia has

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GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Far from being fixed on Earth, scientists now know that Australia has

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615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

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