Official Explanation
1. In the passage, the author is primarily interested in
Step 1: Identify the question.
The language primarily interested in signals that this is a Primary Purpose question.
Step 2: Find the support.
Ideally, you will have determined the main idea during your readthrough of the passage; if you need to refresh your memory, return to your map.
Step 3: Predict an answer.
A study indicates that physical or geographic barriers may be what help diverse areas to maintain peace.
Step 4: Eliminate and find a match.
(A) The passage discusses a new theory, not an existing one that was then altered.
(B) The passage does talk about an area that has experienced conflict historically, but there is not a debate about the specific cause of a specific conflict.
(C) CORRECT. The first paragraph asks a question, What could explain this unusual stability? and introduces a theory that seeks to answer that question.
(D) The rejected political boundaries theory might be considered a second method, but it can’t be said that one is preferable to the other. Rather, the political boundaries theory was introduced as a potential alternative when no physical boundaries exist.
(E) The passage does not indicate that the geographic boundaries theory is established; in fact, it describes the study as new.
Answer: C
2. According to the passage, which the following is true about physical boundaries between populations within the same country?
Step 1: Identify the question.
According to the passage indicates that this is a Specific Detail question.
Step 2: Find the support.
Support can be found in the first and second paragraphs:
The study suggests that these physical or geographical barriers allow for partial autonomy among disparate groups within a single country and thus foster peace.
Throughout the regions separated by these types of boundaries, a quiet reign of peace has persisted for nearly two centuries.
Step 3: Predict an answer.
The passage indicates that physical barriers help keep the peace.
Step 4: Eliminate and find a match.
(A) The passage discusses only one other possible method (political boundaries) for fostering peace. It does not indicate that physical boundaries are the only available method.
(B) CORRECT. This matches the language from the passage.
(C) Be careful not to bring in outside knowledge! The passage only mentions natural barriers as examples of physical boundaries. You do not know whether man-made landscape elements would work in the same way as natural elements (such as cliffs), or in fact whether the author would consider man-made features physical boundaries at all. (This is not to say that the author is excluding manmade features; you simply do not know how man-made features are treated.)
(D) The passage says the opposite: They are more effective than political boundaries in maintaining peace.
(E) This choice is a trap for someone who is rushing or getting tired and not reading carefully. Barriers sound like they may need to be overcome, but the passage does not discuss this; rather, the barriers are seen as a positive.
Answer: B
3. The author of the passage discusses the history of the canton Jura in order to
Step 1: Identify the question.
The language in order to indicates that this is a Specific Purpose, or Why, question. Remember to read a bit before you try to figure out why the author introduced the topic of Jura.
Step 2: Find the support.
Support can be found at the end of the second paragraph:
Where such boundaries do not exist, however, politically or linguistically mixed cantons are more prevalent and violence is more common. One such canton, Jura, has both a history of conflict and a porous mountain range that does not fully separate linguistic groups.
Step 3: Predict an answer.
Jura doesn’t have physical boundaries, and it has experienced lots of conflict. This supports the theory that physical boundaries help keep the peace.
Note: The third paragraph has some more detail about Jura, but you may be able to understand the main idea after the first example. If the information in the second paragraph isn’t enough to narrow down to one answer, then return to the third paragraph.
Step 4: Eliminate and find a match.
(A) The example supports the theory but does not prove it true definitively.
(B) Although it is likely true that peace is difficult to sustain everywhere, this is not why the author introduces the example. Rather, the author is further supporting the physical barrier theory.
(C) The passage does not indicate any effective solutions; in fact, the final example given at the end of the third paragraph is dismissed as unlikely to be effective.
(D) CORRECT. Jura is used specifically as an example to support the physical barrier theory.
(E) Jura has had lots of conflict, not reduced conflict. The political barrier theory is unlikely to be effective, according to the passage.
Answer: D
4. Which of the following is true of the study of topographical boundaries discussed in the passage?
Step 1: Identify the question.
What is true of something discussed in the passage? This language signals a Specific Detail question. Topographical is mentioned in the first and second paragraphs.
Step 2: Find the support.
Support can be found in the first and second paragraphs:
A new study examines well-defined topographical and political boundaries separating groups and draws some surprising conclusions.
The study considered the effect of physical separations, such as those caused by lakes and mountain ranges, determining the scale of these boundaries via an edge detection algorithm that calculates topographical heights. Where a sharp contrast in height, such as a cliff, also continued for a significant distance, the researchers designated a physical boundary between groups.
Step 3: Predict an answer.
The study used an algorithm to calculate height differences. They also considered the length of the boundary. If the barrier had some defined combination of length and height differences, it was called a physical barrier.
Step 4: Eliminate and find a match.
(A) CORRECT. This matches the language of the passage.
(B) The passage does not indicate who conducted the study.
(C) The only examples mentioned are natural (e.g., cliffs), but that does not mean that man-made barriers were actually excluded from or ignored by the research. It’s possible that they were included but just not mentioned in the passage.
(D) The study claimed only that physical boundaries could help maintain peace, not that such boundaries are necessary to maintain peace.
(E) Though the passage does mention using both height and length when designating something a barrier, it does not actually indicate which types of barriers the study considered most effective.
Answer: A
5. It can be inferred from the passage that Switzerland’s political boundaries
Step 1: Identify the question.
The language inferred indicates that this is an Inference question. The first and third paragraphs discuss Switzerland’s political boundaries.
Step 2: Find the support.
Support can be found in the first and third paragraphs:
In Switzerland, landscape elements tend to separate linguistic groups while political cantons, which are similar to states or provinces, tend to separate religious groups.
Jura was formed in 1979…The new canton created an autonomous political region for the French-speaking Catholic population…Because of remaining linguistic differences, conflict in the region continued. A proposal to combine the French speaking Protestant areas with the French-speaking Catholic areas is currently being considered, despite little evidence that any boundaries except physical ones effectively temper violence.
Step 3: Predict an answer.
Political cantons are typically separated by religion. The separation in Jura didn’t actually fix things, though, and they’re thinking about combining based on language instead, even though trying to set political boundaries hasn’t been shown to be effective.
Step 4: Eliminate and find a match.
(A) The passage suggests that geographical boundaries are responsible for maintaining the peace, not political boundaries.
(B) The passage discusses political boundaries as separate from geographical boundaries.
(C) The passage doesn’t provide any specific information about Italian-speaking areas.
(D) CORRECT. As noted in the third paragraph, the boundaries were changed at least once, in 1979 with the creation of Jura, and the Swiss are considering another proposal to change them again.
(E) The passage indicates that political boundaries don’t seem to work, no matter what they’re based on.
Answer: D
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11 Jan 2021, 09:00
45%
(medium)
37%
(03:09) wrong 
