Last visit was: 04 Sep 2026, 12:38 It is currently 04 Sep 2026, 12:38
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
Back to Forum
Create Topic
   1   2 
705-805 (Hard)|   Long Passage|   Science|         
User avatar
tanishkamishra
User avatar
Joined: 11 Dec 2022
Last visit: 16 Mar 2023
Posts: 5
Given Kudos: 38
Posts: 5
Kudos: 0
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 02 Feb 2023, 01:44
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Dear experts

Request any one of you to help me with passage summary. I found it very difficult to understand the passage and connect the third paragraph with the previous ones.
User avatar
NK1976
User avatar
Joined: 25 Sep 2022
Last visit: 23 Feb 2023
Posts: 4
Own Kudos:
2
 [1]
Given Kudos: 98
Location: India
Posts: 4
Kudos: 2
 [1]
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 02 Feb 2023, 07:52
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
tanishkamishra
Dear experts

Request any one of you to help me with passage summary. I found it very difficult to understand the passage and connect the third paragraph with the previous ones.
Show more
----------------------------------
I am no Expert.. But I guess if you read the passage at your normal speed (without rushing through) you'll be able to get the summary of the passage...
Infact it's been explained by GMATNinja quite succinctly. Excerpt from the same is reproduced below:-
In the first paragraph, the author: -
Introduces a turning point in the history of biology: from a "historical explanation" to "experimental manipulation."
Says that the "historical explanation" era is important to the discussion and gives some further info.

In the second paragraph, the author:
Explains why biologists liked the historical explanation
Raises an issue with the historical explanation ("The argument that these scientists employed confuses temporal succession and causal explanation.")

In the third paragraph, the author:
Raises a difficulty with the historical explanation ("the factual record of the history of life on earth (e.g., that provided by fossils) was incomplete."
Explains the solution to this difficulty.

Overall, the author's purpose is to discuss the history of biology, and particularly how the historical explanation is important to that discussion.
I hope this helps....
User avatar
ArnauG
User avatar
Joined: 23 Dec 2022
Last visit: 14 Oct 2023
Posts: 282
Own Kudos:
46
 [1]
Given Kudos: 199
Posts: 282
Kudos: 46
 [1]
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 07 Jun 2023, 11:33
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
1. The primary purpose of the passage is (C) "discuss the importance of historical explanation in the thinking of nineteenth-century biologists." The passage explores the shift in the field of biology during the nineteenth century, where biologists became less interested in deductive historical explanation and more focused on experimental manipulation. It emphasizes the significance of historical explanation in the thinking of biologists during that period.

2. According to the information presented in the passage, the correct answer is (D) "Biologists' and historians' methods of explaining what they believed to be comparable phenomena were similar." The passage states that the biologist-as-historian and the general historian of human events dealt with comparable phenomena and assumed a common mode of explanation. This implies that biologists and historians used similar methods of explanation for phenomena they studied.

3. The best summary of the "turning point" mentioned in line 2 is (C) "The shift from interest in historical explanation to interest in experimentation." The passage highlights that during the final quarter of the nineteenth century, biologists became less interested in applying historical explanation deductively and more interested in discerning the causes of vital processes through experimental manipulation. This marks the shift in focus from historical explanation to experimentation.

4. The author implies that nineteenth-century biologists who studied embryogenesis believed that they (A) "had discovered physical evidence that supported their use of historical explanation." The passage mentions that the observation of the formation of a new cell from a preexisting cell during embryogenesis seemed to confirm a historical explanation of cell generation. This suggests that the biologists who studied embryogenesis believed they had found physical evidence supporting their use of historical explanation.

5. The passage would be most likely to appear in (B) "A book outlining the history of biology in the nineteenth century." The passage provides an overview of the shift in the field of biology during the nineteenth century, discussing the changing interests and methods of biologists. It explores the importance of historical explanation and its relationship with experimental investigation, making it suitable for a book outlining the history of biology in that period.
User avatar
augustus021
User avatar
Joined: 19 Jan 2023
Last visit: 18 Oct 2024
Posts: 65
Own Kudos:
15
Given Kudos: 59
Location: Viet Nam
Schools: Anderson '26 (WL) Yale '26 (A) Columbia CBS'26 (WL) Fuqua '26 (WL) Kellogg '26 (M) Ross '26 (A$$$$) Judge '25 (A) Oxford Said'25 (A$)
GMAT 1: 740 Q51 V39
GPA: 3.3
WE:Project Management (Technology)
Products:
My Reviews
Schools: Anderson '26 (WL) Yale '26 (A) Columbia CBS'26 (WL) Fuqua '26 (WL) Kellogg '26 (M) Ross '26 (A$$$$) Judge '25 (A) Oxford Said'25 (A$)
GMAT 1: 740 Q51 V39
Posts: 65
Kudos: 15
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 19 Jun 2023, 18:48
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
GMATNinja

Thanks for your explanation. I do not understand the last sentence of P2, can you help explain?

1st paragraph: "Wherever it was applied, historical explanation was deemed causal explanation."
2nd paragraph:"The argument that these scientists employed confuses temporal succession and causal explanation"

I thought it mentioned historical explanation = causal explanation in 1st para, then why the example in para 2 confuses temporal succession and causal explanation?

Thanks in advanced


GMATNinja

Question 1


mSKR
Hi IanStewart GMATNinja CrackVerbalGMAT GMATRockstar BrightOutlookJenn

Quote:
1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

B. assess the influence that theories of history had on developments in the field of biology in the nineteenth century
C. discuss the importance of historical explanation in the thinking of nineteenth century biologists

We should reject B only because it is mentioned theories of history? Actually I liked B because whatever was derived by 19th century biologists depends on historical explanation .So it means historical explanation had influence in development . But assess means estimate. 1st line of 2nd passage says: partly attracted , so I took it as kind of assess. Somehow i ignored "theories" and end up in choosing B.

I rejected C because biologists were adding experiments beyond what was given in historical explanation. But I am still confused whether I consider this consideration as importance? Infact as experiments add value to the historical explanation so it should be discussion the importance of experiments /methods of 19th century.

Please share your insights once again on primary purpose question:)

Thanks!
To answer primary purpose questions, first break down the structure of the passage as a whole:

In the first paragraph, the author:
  • Introduces a turning point in the history of biology: from a "historical explanation" to "experimental manipulation."
  • Says that the "historical explanation" era is important to the discussion and gives some further info.

In the second paragraph, the author:
  • Explains why biologists liked the historical explanation
  • Raises an issue with the historical explanation ("The argument that these scientists employed confuses temporal succession and causal explanation.")

In the third paragraph, the author:
  • Raises a difficulty with the historical explanation ("the factual record of the history of life on earth (e.g., that provided by fossils) was incomplete."
  • Explains the solution to this difficulty.

Overall, the author's purpose is to discuss the history of biology, and particularly how the historical explanation is important to that discussion. Sure, he/she mentions experimental manipulation -- but only in passing.

Which answer choice best captures the author's primary purpose?
Quote:
A. compare the information about organic function made available by historical explanation with that made available by the experimental investigation of living organisms
The author does not tell us about the information gleaned from experimental instigation. So, there isn't a clean comparison between the information made available by the two different methods.

(A) is out.

Quote:
B. assess the influence that theories of history had on developments in the field of biology in the nineteenth century
The author discusses the biologists' "historical explanation" at length -- but that's not quite the same as "theories of history". "Theories of history" would be some kind of conceptual underpinning used by historians. The author doesn't go into anything like that, so (B) is out.

Quote:
C. discuss the importance of historical explanation in the thinking of nineteenth century biologists
This one looks pretty good. The author states that "it is impossible to discuss the history of biology in the nineteenth century without emphasizing that those areas of biology most in the public eye had depended on historical explanation." Then, he/she spend the rest of the passage discussing the historical explanation.

Keep (C) for now.

Quote:
D. contrast biologists' use of historical explanation during the early nineteenth century with its use during the final quarter of the nineteenth century
Nope, biologists shifted away from the historical explanation during the final quarter of the nineteenth century -- so it's a bit off to say that the author contrasts how BOTH the earlier and the more recent biologists used the historical explanation.

Eliminate (D).

Quote:
E. evaluate the way in which the concept of heredity altered the use of historical explanation by nineteenth-century biologists
Heredity is mentioned near the end of the passage. However, it is only included as a small detail in a much broader discussion of biologists' historical explanation. So, the bit about heredity isn't the author's primary purpose for writing the passage as a whole.

Eliminate (E). (C) is the correct answer to question 1.
Show more
User avatar
GMATNinja
User avatar
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Last visit: 03 Sep 2026
Posts: 7,399
Own Kudos:
71,565
 [1]
Given Kudos: 2,182
Status: GMAT/GRE/LSAT tutors
Location: United States (CO)
GMAT 1: 780 Q51 V46
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Products:
GMAT Club Tests
Expert
Expert reply
GMAT 2: 800 Q51 V51
GRE 1: Q170 V170
GRE 2: Q170 V170
Posts: 7,399
Kudos: 71,565
 [1]
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 21 Jul 2023, 06:52
1
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
augustus021
GMATNinja

Thanks for your explanation. I do not understand the last sentence of P2, can you help explain?

1st paragraph: "Wherever it was applied, historical explanation was deemed causal explanation."

2nd paragraph:"The argument that these scientists employed confuses temporal succession and causal explanation"

I thought it mentioned historical explanation = causal explanation in 1st para, then why the example in para 2 confuses temporal succession and causal explanation?

Thanks in advanced

GMATNinja
Show more

There are a couple of details in the 1st paragraph that merit some attention.

First, the author doesn't say that historical explanation = causal explanation. He/she says that "historical explanation was deemed causal explanation." In other words, people treated historical explanations as causal -- but does the author think that this holds up?

Not really. Earlier in that paragraph, he/she says that "biologists became less interested in applying an ideal of historical explanation deductively to organic function and more interested in discerning the causes of vital processes through experimental manipulation."

Here, the author implies that experimental biology can be used to find causal relationships. This is contrasted to historical explanations. So, when the author later says that "historical explanation was deemed causal explanation," we know that he/she does not agree with the people making that assessment.

So, overall, the author remains a bit skeptical of historical explanations until the end, when an issue with those explanations is resolved.

I hope that helps!
User avatar
Usernamevisible
User avatar
Joined: 09 Jun 2022
Last visit: 04 Sep 2026
Posts: 480
Own Kudos:
110
Given Kudos: 1,282
Products:
GMAT Club Tests
Posts: 480
Kudos: 110
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 01 May 2026, 22:26
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
I have a doubt in Question 2 :

I eliminated option D because the passage later indicates that nineteenth-century biologists recognized a problem with historical explanation and attempted to resolve it. Specifically, the passage states that their solution???the concept of heredity???was introduced to address gaps.

Based on this, I interpreted that biologists were not simply using the same method as historians but were trying to move beyond it by refining or improving it. Since heredity was used to fill explanatory gaps, it seemed that biologists were attempting to enhance the explanatory framework rather than just apply the same approach.

Therefore, I concluded that their methods were no longer similar to those of historians, and I selected option C
User avatar
guddo
User avatar
Joined: 25 May 2021
Last visit: 03 Sep 2026
Posts: 1,827
Own Kudos:
14,368
 [2]
Given Kudos: 32
Posts: 1,827
Kudos: 14,368
 [2]
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 02 May 2026, 01:00
2
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Usernamevisible
I have a doubt in Question 2 :

I eliminated option D because the passage later indicates that nineteenth-century biologists recognized a problem with historical explanation and attempted to resolve it. Specifically, the passage states that their solution???the concept of heredity???was introduced to address gaps.

Based on this, I interpreted that biologists were not simply using the same method as historians but were trying to move beyond it by refining or improving it. Since heredity was used to fill explanatory gaps, it seemed that biologists were attempting to enhance the explanatory framework rather than just apply the same approach.

Therefore, I concluded that their methods were no longer similar to those of historians, and I selected option C
Show more
Your elimination of D is not valid.

The key point is this: trying to solve a problem within a method is not the same as changing the method.

The passage says nineteenth-century biologists and historians assumed a common mode of explanation, namely historical explanation. Later, the passage says biologists faced a special problem because the record of life was incomplete, so they tried to preserve that same historical method by using heredity to fill the gaps. That is still the same basic explanatory approach, not a move beyond it.

So:
D is supported because both groups used similar historical explanation.
C is wrong because the passage never says biologists thought they had refined historians’ method. It only says they applied the same kind of method to biological phenomena.
avatar
dhairya18
avatar
Joined: 25 Nov 2025
Last visit: 04 Sep 2026
Posts: 91
Own Kudos:
4
Given Kudos: 126
Location: India
Schools: ISB '27 HEC Sept '27
GPA: 7.34
Schools: ISB '27 HEC Sept '27
Posts: 91
Kudos: 4
The final quarter of the nineteenth century marked a turning point in 22 Aug 2026, 03:46
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
LINE BY LINE EXPLANATION

PARAGRAPH 1: Visual Continuity & The Logical Fallacy

Sentence 1: "Nineteenth-century biologists found a historical explanation of organic function attractive partly because their observation of the formation of a new cell from a preexisting cell seemed to confirm a historical explanation of cell generation."
Breakdown: 19th-century scientists liked using history/time-sequences to explain how living bodies work. Why? Because watching a new cell form directly out of an older cell gave them what looked like clear visual proof that past events explain present biology.

Sentence 2: "The same direct observation of continuous stages of development was also possible when they examined the complex sequence of events of embryogenesis."
Breakdown: They saw the same continuous, step-by-step process when watching embryos grow from a single cell into a complex organism.

Sentence 3: "In both cases, the observer received a concrete impression that the daughter cell was brought into being, or caused, by the prior cell."
Breakdown: Looking through the microscope gave scientists a strong, vivid visual sense that the earlier cell directly created or caused the later cell.

Sentence 4: "The argument that these scientists employed confuses temporal succession and causal explanation, of course, but such confusion is the heart of most historical explanation."
Breakdown: [Author's Critique] The author points out a major logical flaw: just because Event B happens after Event A (temporal succession) does not automatically mean Event A caused Event B (causal explanation). However, the author notes that this exact logical error is central to how historical explanations usually work.

PARAGRAPH 2: The Fossil Record Gap & The "Heredity" Solution

Sentence 1: "Not surprisingly, the evolutionary biologists of the nineteenth century encountered a particularly troublesome problem in their attempts to document historical explanation convincingly: the factual record of the history of life on earth (e.g., that provided by fossils) was incomplete."
Breakdown: When these biologists tried to apply this historical step-by-step logic to the history of life on Earth, they ran into a wall: the fossil record had massive missing gaps.

Sentence 2: "The temporal continuity of living forms was convincing, but was an assumption that was difficult to uphold when one compared species or organisms forming any two stages of the evolutionary record."
Breakdown: Believing that life evolved smoothly across time sounded reasonable, but scientists couldn't actually prove it when comparing fossils from different eras because the intermediate species were missing.

Sentence 3: "Nineteenth-century biologists recognized this problem and attempted to resolve it."
Breakdown: 19th-century scientists were aware of these missing links and set out to find a theoretical way to bridge the gaps.

Sentence 4: "Their solution today appears to be only verbal, but was then regarded as eminently causal."
Breakdown: [Author's Critique] The fix they came up with was seen back then as a solid physical cause, but today's scholars realize it was really just a clever word trick (a "verbal solution") to hide the missing evidence.

Sentence 5: "The fact of evolution demanded some connection between all reproducing individuals and the species that they compose, as well as between living species and their extinct ancestors."
Breakdown: For evolutionary theory to hold together, there had to be some physical bridge linking living parents to offspring, species to species, and living animals to dead ancestors.

Sentence 6: "Their solution, the concept of heredity, seemed to fill in an admittedly deficient historical record and seemed to complete the argument for a historical explanation of evolutionary events."
Breakdown: They coined/used the concept of "heredity" to act as that invisible glue. By inserting "heredity" into the missing gaps, they felt they had successfully saved their historical explanation of evolution.
   1   2 
Moderators:
GMATNinja
GMAT Club Verbal Expert
7399 posts
BhardwajS
Verbal Forum Moderator
46 posts