Read across disciplines: passage pair 8

Read across disciplines: passage pair 8: original cases with explanations after your first response.

Paper packet. Every task here also exists on screen, where it is checked automatically; answers written on paper are not assessed by Nydus. When you are back at a device, enter your answers there.

1. What you will learn

Choose a method from the question's conditions before opening feedback. Work without notes first, then explain which restriction or evidence determined your answer. These are original instructional questions, not an adaptive test or a predictor of an official score.

2. Practice

Read the shared passage and answer every question. Each question is graded separately; select-all questions require the exact set.

A public agency began publishing average response times after introducing a new scheduling system. The average fell, apparently showing improvement. Inspection of the distribution revealed that routine cases became much faster while the longest waits grew longer. Whether the change counts as success depends partly on the service objective. If the aim is to reduce the total time spent waiting, the average is relevant. If the aim includes protecting people from exceptionally long delays, the upper end of the distribution also matters. One summary cannot answer both questions completely.

Which statement best expresses the passage's main point?

Evaluating a service change requires summaries suited to its objectives, because a lower average can conceal longer extreme waits.
The scheduling system made every case faster.
Average response time has no legitimate use.
The longest waits determine total waiting time by themselves.
The agency reported that the average increased.

Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?

Two services with equal average waits could differ in the frequency or severity of extreme delays.
Every routine case experienced the longest delay.
The new system necessarily reduced inequality in waits.
The passage proves total waiting time increased.
Service objectives cannot influence evaluation.

Select all statements supported by the passage.

Routine cases became faster.
The longest waits grew longer.
The average response time fell.

3. Practice

Read the shared passage and answer every question. Each question is graded separately; select-all questions require the exact set.

Archaeologists found identical decorative patterns on vessels at two distant settlements. The resemblance could indicate trade in finished vessels, but it could also reflect traveling artisans or imitation of a shared style. Chemical analysis showed that the clay in most vessels matched deposits near the settlement where each was found. This weakens a simple account in which all decorated vessels were shipped from one production center. It does not establish that the settlements had no contact: styles, techniques, and people can travel even when the clay does not.

Which statement best expresses the passage's main point?

Local clay evidence limits a proposed trade mechanism without ruling out cultural contact.
Identical decoration proves every vessel came from one workshop.
Chemical analysis establishes that the settlements were isolated.
Artisans cannot move between settlements.
The analysis found identical clay sources for all vessels.

Which conclusion is best supported by the passage?

Movement of decorative knowledge is compatible with production using local materials.
Every vessel was made by the same artisan.
No finished vessel could ever have been traded.
The decorative patterns arose independently with certainty.
The settlements had no clay deposits.

Select all statements supported by the passage.

Several mechanisms could explain the shared pattern.
Most vessels used clay matching local deposits.
The evidence excludes all contact between the settlements.

4. What you can do now

Classify each error as interpretation, method, execution or response format. Revisit the relevant worked lesson, then retry after a study gap. A remembered item is review, not fresh assessment evidence.