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DSAT R&W Practice Question-Information and Ideas-Inferences – Hard

DSAT R&W Practice Question-Information and Ideas-Inferences - Hard

DSAT R&W Practice Question-Information and Ideas-Inferences – Hard

DSAT R&W Practice Question-Information and Ideas-Inferences – Hard is part of Expression of Ideas  : This section evaluates students’ ability to identify main ideas in a passage and the ability to make inferences  about what the text implies, not just stating the obvious facts. Interpreting, evaluating, and combining different pieces of information from multiple sources is tested

Weightage : 26%

Subtopic: Information and ideas

DSAT R&W – Exam Style Practice Questions – All Topics

Question Hard

Text
The many editions of James Joyce’s 1922 novel Ulysses are not textually identical, and scholars debate which versions reflect Joyce’s authorial intent. One no longer widely read edition is the 1984 “critical and synoptic edition” edited by Hans Walter Gabler, which followed French and German editorial theories rather than editorial traditions of the United States and United Kingdom and which was later found to have introduced errors due to Gabler’s choice to consult facsimile manuscripts rather than using only originals. However, few Joyce scholars worldwide had expertise in such textual issues, and most of those who did worked on the edition with Gabler. So, it is unsurprising that initial scholarly reviews of the 1984 edition were mostly ______.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) positive, since Ulysses is a novel in English and the 1984 edition would therefore be more widely reviewed in United States and United Kingdom publications than in French and German publications.

B) negative, since any scholar with expertise in editorial theories of the United States and United Kingdom as well as French and German editorial theories most likely worked with Gabler on the 1984 edition and would therefore not review it.

C) negative, since those Joyce scholars with the necessary expertise to write a review of the 1984 edition would be aware that facsimile manuscripts cannot be produced with a high enough fidelity to the original to ensure that relying on them will not introduce editorial errors.

D) positive, since scholars who reviewed the 1984 edition were unaffiliated with its production and were mostly either Joyce specialists who were largely unfamiliar with editorial theories and practices or specialists in such theories and practices who were insufficiently familiar with Joyce.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: D

The text establishes that:

  1. The Gabler edition had methodological flaws (used facsimiles, followed non-Anglo editorial theories)
  2. Few scholars had relevant expertise
  3. Most experts worked on the edition and thus wouldn’t review it

Why D is correct:
It logically concludes that reviews were positive because:

  • Joyce specialists lacked editorial expertise to spot problems
  • Editorial specialists lacked Joyce expertise to evaluate properly
  • The actual experts were conflicted (having worked on the edition)
Question Hard

Text
Optimal foraging theory (OFT) holds that animals’ foraging behaviors reflect cost-benefit trade-offs that vary by species and with dynamic ecological circumstances. One such circumstance is lunar intensity, which Rodrigo A. Vasquez found to be negatively associated with foraging by olive grass mice but Patricia C. Wright found to be positively associated with foraging by three-striped night monkeys. This discrepancy is explicable in terms of OFT: the monkeys’ greater reliance on vision means that higher lunar intensity benefits them more than it benefits the mice.

Information in the text best supports which statement about three-striped night monkeys?

A) If increased lunar intensity creates any disadvantages for the monkeys, those disadvantages are more than compensated for by the advantages that the monkeys gain.

B) If increased lunar intensity imposed the same costs on the monkeys that it imposes on olive grass mice, there would be no association between lunar intensity and the monkeys’ foraging.

C) If the monkeys’ foraging behavior under increased lunar intensity actually reflects a cost-benefit trade-off, their behavior should be more similar to that of olive grass mice than it is.

D) If the advantages that the monkeys gain from increased lunar intensity explain the change in their foraging behavior, those advantages are likely shared by some other species that are not heavily reliant on vision.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: A

The text supports this because:

  1. OFT frames behavior as net benefit calculations (“cost-benefit trade-offs”)
  2. Monkeys forage more under high lunar intensity despite potential costs
  3. Visual advantage outweighs other factors (“benefits them more”)

Why A is correct:
It captures the text’s emphasis on net positive outcomes in the monkeys’ cost-benefit analysis.

Question Hard

Text
Data collected by the Mars rover Curiosity at the Gale Crater’s Murray Formation are suggestive of hydrological deposition of sediment in the distant past. To characterize the nature of the depositional environment, Frances Rivera-Hernández et al. analyzed the grain size of Murray Formation sediment, finding that although there are intervals of coarse grains, most of the sediment consists of fine grains that show signs of cracking due to episodic desiccation. Rivera-Hernández et al. concluded that the coarse grains are sandstone, which tends to be deposited by flowing water, whereas the fine grains are mudstone, which is slowly deposited by settling out of suspension in low-flow water, leading the researchers to posit that ______.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) a lake existed at the Murray Formation for a prolonged period, though the lake occasionally experienced drying and there were periods in which one or more streams were present.

B) one or more streams existed at the Murray Formation for an extended period until being replaced by a lake that persisted for only a brief period before permanently drying.

C) a stream-fed lake was present at the Murray Formation for an extended period, and although the streams experienced occasional drying, the lake did not.

D) although the area of the Murray Formation experienced a prolonged period of dryness that prevented a lake from forming, water flowing from a distant source was present.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: A

The text’s evidence supports Option A because:

  • Mudstone (fine grains) indicates prolonged lake conditions with slow deposition
  • Desiccation cracks show occasional drying of the lake
  • Sandstone (coarse grains) suggests intermittent stream activity

Other options contradict the evidence: B reverses the timeline, C denies lake drying, and D ignores the mudstone evidence of a persistent lake.

Question Hard

Text
Text 1: One challenge faced by researchers studying global urbanization is that countries may define urban settlements differently. Many countries define urban settlements based on the number of people living in them. However, countries do not all use the same number; for example, Iceland uses a minimum population of 200, while Benin uses 10,000. Other countries use a combination of population and other factors. This variation makes it difficult for researchers to compare aspects of urbanization in different countries.

Text 2: Recently, a group of six international organizations developed global definitions of common types of settlements. The group developed a new measure called the “degree of urbanization.” This new measure establishes global criteria used to define three types of settlements (cities, towns, and rural areas) and allows researchers to better understand global urbanization rates.

Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the problem presented in Text 1?

A) By noting that a possible solution to the problem is available

B) By supplying additional ways in which urbanization research is difficult

C) By suggesting that researchers focus on topics besides urbanization

D) By recommending that a specific institution should further investigate the problem

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: A

The author of Text 2 addresses the problem of varying definitions of urban settlements by proposing a new measure, the “degree of urbanization,” which provides a standardized global criterion. This suggests the author would likely respond by noting that a possible solution to the problem presented in Text 1 is available.

Question Hard

Text
Text 1: Scholarship today overrepresents experimentally fragmented narrative structures, such as that of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, beyond the degree to which they actually influenced fiction in Britain and Ireland during the modernist period (roughly 1900-1945). Meanwhile, Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April, whose coherent, linear narrative structure recalls the fiction of previous centuries, attracts woefully little attention from scholars of modernism.

Text 2: Distant reading, or computer-assisted quantitative analysis of massive collections of digitized texts, can reveal stylistic elements that have heretofore escaped notice, despite being shared by numerous texts from the modernist period. For too long, scholars have focused on narrative fragmentation versus coherence, inhibiting inquiry into other points of stylistic correspondence among works that would enrich our understanding of the modernist canon.

Based on the texts, both the author of Text 1 and the author of Text 2 would most likely agree with which statement about scholarship on works from the modernist period in Britain and Ireland?

A) Without a major shift in focus, the vision that it presents of fiction written in the period will continue to be unnecessarily limited.

B) Instead of engaging in unproductive debates, it should work to rehabilitate the reputations of neglected modernist works.

C) Its primary methods for analyzing fiction written in the period are growing obsolete as computer technology advances.

D) It must widen its focus to include aspects of modernist fiction beyond style, a productive but overrepresented site of inquiry.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: A

Both authors suggest that current scholarship is overly focused on certain aspects (e.g., fragmented narratives or style), neglecting other elements like coherent narratives or broader stylistic correspondence. This implies a need for a shift in focus to avoid a limited understanding of modernist fiction, making option A the most likely point of agreement.

Question Hard

Text
Chelsea Wood et al. tracked temperature-driven changes in the abundance of Lecithaster sp. (a complex life cycle parasite, or CLP, that requires three host species throughout its life cycle), Oceanobdella pallida (a directly transmitted parasite, which requires only one host species), and 83 other parasite taxa found on eight fish species. CLPs are transmitted when an infected host is ingested by an individual of another species, typically shielding CLPs from the external environment, whereas directly transmitted parasites are exposed to external conditions during transmission. However, Wood et al. found that three-host CLP abundance decreased as sea temperatures rose, whereas directly transmitted parasite abundance was largely stable, suggesting that _____.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) as the number of host species involved in a parasite’s transmission increases, the parasite is better protected against rising temperatures.

B) CLPs primarily transmitted by ingestion were less dependent on host species adversely affected by warming temperatures than were CLPs that use other transmission strategies.

C) any advantages that the transmission strategy used by three-host CLPs may have conferred did not completely offset the negative effects of other temperature-driven factors on CLP abundance.

D) directly transmitted parasites identified in the study were more likely to use transmission strategies that shield them from warming temperatures than were three-host CLPs.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: C

The text indicates that three-host CLP abundance decreased with rising sea temperatures, while directly transmitted parasite abundance remained stable. This suggests that the complex transmission strategy of CLPs did not fully protect them from temperature-driven declines, implying that any potential advantages were outweighed by other negative factors. Option C best captures this logical conclusion.

Question Hard

Text
In 1900, in collaboration with Cherokee cultural historian Will West Long, ethnographer James Mooney assembled a collection of traditional oral stories related to him by Cherokee elders. Based on their content, Mooney categorized them into various genres: historical traditions, tales of animals, and so on. Noting that some stories feature detailed descriptions of geographic locations in the Cherokee homeland, Mooney demarcated those as a genre he referred to as “wonder stories.” While Long and Mooney’s collaboration proved valuable as an act of cultural preservation, it is important to bear in mind that Cherokee people are not known to have applied genre divisions to their stories before Mooney’s work. There is, therefore, ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) some reason to think that other traditional stories that the Cherokee elders did not share with Mooney would not have met Mooney’s criterion for classifying them as “wonder stories” despite including geographical information.

B) no evidence for Mooney’s conclusion that the Cherokee elders who related the stories believed that the geographic details included in some stories were accurate descriptions of the Cherokee homeland.

C) considerable uncertainty about whether Mooney’s classifications of the stories shared by the Cherokee elders were influenced by Long’s views about which features of a story are most indicative of the genre to which the story belongs.

D) no reason to believe that the Cherokee elders who provided the stories would have agreed with Mooney that the inclusion of geographical specificity in some stories marked those stories as different in kind from other stories.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: D

The text emphasizes that genre classifications were Mooney’s innovation, not a traditional Cherokee practice. Option D logically completes this thought by stating there’s no reason to think the Cherokee elders would have agreed with Mooney’s genre distinctions based on geographic details. The other options introduce unsupported ideas: A speculates about unshared stories, B questions the elders’ belief in geographic accuracy (not mentioned), and C raises uncertainty about Long’s influence (not discussed).

Question Hard

Text
Exclusively inhabiting tropical countries such as the Republic of the Congo, wild chimpanzees lack adaptations to seasonal variations in ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiance from sunlight; since UVB exposure enables vertebrates to synthesize vitamin D, Sophie Moitue and colleagues studied zoo chimpanzees in Germany and other mid-latitude countries to see how vitamin D levels are affected by the seasonal variations in UVB irradiance that occur in those locations. They found that chimpanzees’ vitamin D levels were significantly lower in spring than in summer and appeared unaffected by oral supplementation of vitamin D administered by zookeepers. Moitue and colleagues point out, however, that supplementation was rare, highly varied, and poorly tracked, and therefore ______.

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) vitamin D levels in zoo chimpanzees in Germany and other mid-latitude countries may be higher during spring than Moitue and colleagues’ data appear to indicate.

B) differences in vitamin D supplementation likely explain more of the difference in vitamin D levels across zoo chimpanzees in Germany and other mid-latitude countries than seasonal differences in UVB irradiation do.

C) the effect of supplemental vitamin D on zoo chimpanzees in Germany and other mid-latitude countries can more clearly be observed in summer than in spring.

D) the possibility that zoo chimpanzees in Germany and other mid-latitude countries would benefit from supplemental vitamin D during spring cannot be excluded.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: D

The text establishes that: (1) chimpanzees show lower vitamin D levels in spring, (2) supplementation appeared ineffective but was poorly administered, and (3) researchers note the supplementation data was unreliable. The most logical conclusion is that despite the messy data, spring supplementation might still help (Option D). Option A contradicts the findings, Option B overstates the supplement’s role despite the poor tracking, and Option C makes an unsupported seasonal comparison about supplement effects.

Question Hard

Text
Marta Coll and colleagues’ 2010 Mediterranean Sea biodiversity census reported approximately 17,000 species, nearly double the number reported in Carlo Bianchi and Carla Morri’s 2000 census—a difference only partly attributable to the description of new invertebrate species in the interim. Another factor is that the morphological variability of microorganisms is poorly understood compared to that of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and algae, creating uncertainty about how to evaluate microorganisms as species. Researchers’ decisions on such matters therefore can be highly consequential. Indeed, the two censuses reported similar counts of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, suggesting that ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?

A) Coll and colleagues reported a much higher number of species than Bianchi and Morri did largely due to the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s census.

B) some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morri but treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.

C) Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to the degree of morphological variation displayed within a typical species of microorganism than Coll and colleagues were.

D) the absence of clarity regarding how to differentiate among species of microorganisms may have resulted in Coll and colleagues underestimating the number of microorganism species.

▶️ Answer/Explanation
Solution

Ans: B

Correct Answer: B
Rationale
Choice B is the best answer because it presents the conclusion that most logically completes the text’s discussion of the different counts of species in the Mediterranean Sea. The text states that Coll and colleagues reported almost double the number of species that Bianchi and Morri reported in their study ten years earlier. According to the text, this difference can only be partly attributed to new invertebrate species being described in the years between the two studies, which means there must be an additional factor that made Coll and colleagues’ count so much higher than Bianchi and Morri’s count. The text goes on to explain that factor: researchers have a relatively poor understanding of microorganisms’ morphological variability, or the differences in microorganisms’ structure and form. This poor understanding makes it hard to classify microorganisms by species and means that researchers’ decisions about classifying microorganisms can have a large effect on the overall species counts that researchers report. Additionally, the text says that the two censuses reported similar numbers of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, which means that the difference in overall species did not come from differences in those categories. Given all this information, it most logically follows that Coll and colleagues may have treated some of the differences among microorganisms as indicative of the microorganisms being different species, whereas Bianchi and Morri treated those differences as variations within species, resulting in Coll and colleagues reporting many more species than Bianchi and Morri did.

Choice A is incorrect because the text explicitly addresses this issue by stating that the description of new invertebrate species in the years between the two studies can explain only part of the difference in the number of species reported by the studies. The focus of the text is on explaining the difference between Coll and colleagues’ count and Bianchi and Morri’s count that cannot be accounted for by the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s study. Choice C is incorrect because nothing in the text suggests that Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to how much the form and structure of microorganisms vary within the same species than Coll and colleagues were. If Bianchi and Morri had been less sensitive to within-species variation than Coll and colleagues were, Bianchi and Morri would likely have reported more species than Coll and colleagues did, since less sensitivity to within-species variation would lead researchers to classify as different species microorganisms that more sensitive researchers would classify as variations within the same species. The text indicates, however, that Bianchi and Morri reported far fewer species than Coll and colleagues did; since the text also excludes other explanations for this difference, it suggests that in fact Bianchi and Morri were more sensitive to within-species variation than Coll and colleagues were, leading Bianchi and Morri to report fewer overall species. Choice D is incorrect because the text is focused on explaining why Coll and colleagues reported many more species than Bianchi and Morri did, and an underestimate of the number of microorganism species by Coll and colleagues would not explain that difference—it would suggest, in fact, that the difference in the number of species should have been even larger

Question

Researchers recently found that disruptions to an enjoyable experience, like a short series of advertisements during a television show, often increase viewers’ reported enjoyment. Suspecting that disruptions to an unpleasant experience would have the opposite effect, the researchers had participants listen to construction noise for 30 minutes and anticipated that those whose listening experience was frequently interrupted with short breaks of silence would thus ______

Which choice most logically completes the text?
A. find the disruptions more irritating as time went on.
B. rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was uninterrupted.
C. rate the experience of listening to construction noise as lasting for less time than it actually lasted.
D. perceive the volume of the construction noise as growing softer over time.

▶️Answer/Explanation

Ans. B

Correct Answer: B
Rationale
Choice B is the best answer. It most logically completes the text. The text tells us that disruptions to an enjoyable experience increase viewers’ enjoyment. It also says that researchers suspect the opposite is true for disruptions to an unpleasant experience. Thus, we can infer that the researchers expect to find that the interrupted unpleasant experience was worse for listeners than the uninterrupted unpleasant experience.

Choice A is incorrect. It doesn’t logically complete the text. The text never makes any claims about how irritating the disruptions themselves are perceived to be. Rather, the text says that pleasant experiences are perceived as more enjoyable with interruptions, and that the opposite is suspected to be true of unpleasant experiences. Choice C is incorrect. It doesn’t logically complete the text. The text never makes any claims about how long any experience is perceived to be. Rather, the text says that pleasant experiences are perceived as more enjoyable with interruptions, and that the opposite is suspected to be true of unpleasant experiences. Choice D is incorrect. It doesn’t logically complete the text. The text never makes any claims about how interruptions affect the perceived volume of the unpleasant or pleasant experience. Rather, the text says that pleasant experiences are perceived as more enjoyable with interruptions, and that the opposite is suspected to be true of unpleasant experiences.

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