Q8 - Economist: Historically, sunflower seed

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Inference (most supported)

Stimulus Breakdown:
Sunflowers: we used to grow them for seed in K. Other countries make lots of money growing it. Growing it again in K would help farming. The oil from the flower can do lots of cool stuff without hurting K's fragile environment.

Answer Anticipation:
Can we combine any of these claims? It seems to all be driving at the gist of "Let's start growing sunflowers in K again!" There were nothing but positive ideas associated with that plan. We just have to watch out for answers that are phrased too strongly.

Correct Answer:
D

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Too strong = "if no flowers, farming deteriorates". Couldn't it just stay the same? Couldn't something ELSE potentially make it even better?

(B) Unsupported causal connection. We think growing sunflowers would both stabilize farming and improve the economy, without damaging the environment. But we can't invent this link between those two effects and say that "stabilize farming --> improve the economy"

(C) This says "if equal cleaning effectiveness, then same power motor". This is actually the opposite of what the author is trying to prove.

(D) Yes! What is that crop? Say it with me: S U N F L O W E R S!

(E) Too strong = "better than MOST crops" that could be grown there. All we know is that sunflowers sound like a good idea. We can't rank it in comparison to any other crop.

Takeaway/Pattern: This question was unusually gist-y. It was pretty obvious to hear this as a sales pitch for growing sunflowers in Kalotopia. The only sense in which (D) is making us synthesize information is by verifying that we knew that all the claims we read related to the crop of sunflowers.

#officialexplanation

[yoohoo081]

I just wanted to confirm if the reasons I wrote below are correct for choice D & E when identifying the right/ wrong answer. I guessed E, but after re-reading it, I see why D is the right answer,but I want to make sure that I'm viewing the reasons properly.

D (right answer): crop that was once a large production (sunflower was one of the largest production crops) would benefit famers and general economy(provide relief to farming industry and provide variety of products to both industrial and consumer at little cost to the fragile environment)

E (wrong): Sunflower seed is better (doesn't have to be limited to sunflower, the passage just indicated that sunflower was one of the largest production crops historically) ... most crops that could be grown there (again, not mentioned in the statement so cannot support)

[farhadshekib]

I just wanted to confirm if the reasons I wrote below are correct for choice D & E when identifying the right/ wrong answer. I guessed E, but after re-reading it, I see why D is the right answer,but I want to make sure that I'm viewing the reasons properly.

D (right answer): crop that was once a large production (sunflower was one of the largest production crops) would benefit famers and general economy(provide relief to farming industry and provide variety of products to both industrial and consumer at little cost to the fragile environment)

E (wrong): Sunflower seed is better (doesn't have to be limited to sunflower, the passage just indicated that sunflower was one of the largest production crops historically) ... most crops that could be grown there (again, not mentioned in the statement so cannot support)

I would argue that your reason for reject (E) is half-right and half wrong.

For (E) to be correct, it has to be limited to sunflowers, as the passage only discusses sunflowers (e.g. sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, etc.) And yes, it is too broad in scope to be correct.

We have no idea what other crops could be grown there... and how they could potentially impact their environment + economy.

[maryadkins]

Doesn't sound like you all are necessarily disagreeing on why (E) is wrong. We can only make inferences about sunflowers/sunflower seeds/sunflower oil--we are not told that sunflowers are "better" than any other crops or given any comparison terms (like "most"). We just know that sunflower/seeds have been "one of the largest" and "a major source of income," neither of which pits sunflowers against any other crop. Nicely done, both of you.

[lyy9981]

I could't convince myself that D is right.

D says "A crop that was once a large production crop in Kalotopia would, if it were grown there again, benefit..."

My reasoning is that sunflower is a only subset of the large production crops in Kalotopia. There might be other large production crops in Kalotopia. Perhaps strawberry was once a large production crop in Kalotopia too. If so, answer D is incorrect.

Can anyone please tell me what is wrong with my reasoning? Thanks.

[maryadkins]

"A crop that was once" in (D) doesn't mean necessarily ANY crop that was ever a large production crop. It means one crop. A crop. In this case, sunflowers.

We take all the statements in the stimulus of an inference question as true and then draw a baby inference from them. (D) is that kind of baby inference. (D) is just telling us that there is at least one crop that could benefit the country were it grown again (sunflowers)--which is supported.

Does that clarify?

[jamiejames]

The stim says that the growing of sunflowers was "renewed" implying that it had stopped at one point, and is now beginning again, so we can infer from that it once was produced by them, and that if it were to be grown again, it would benefit the country.

[Nina]

Why is B wrong? is it due to the wording "stabilize"? if we change "stabilize" into "relieve" would it be correct? (since we know that sunflower will provide a relief to the unstable farming industry at little cost to environment.)

Thanks for help!

[sumukh09]

Why is B wrong? is it due to the wording "stabilize"? if we change "stabilize" into "relieve" would it be correct? (since we know that sunflower will provide a relief to the unstable farming industry at little cost to environment.)

Thanks for help!

We have no way to support the second half of B, that is "without damaging the environment"

[pss3544]

I could't convince myself that D is right.

D says "A crop that was once a large production crop in Kalotopia would, if it were grown there again, benefit..."

My reasoning is that sunflower is a only subset of the large production crops in Kalotopia. There might be other large production crops in Kalotopia. Perhaps strawberry was once a large production crop in Kalotopia too. If so, answer D is incorrect.

Can anyone please tell me what is wrong with my reasoning? Thanks.

Exactly! That was what I thought -- it is making a huge general inference! If it says "some crops that..." or "could benefit" I might have chosen D.

[mornincounselor]

I chose (B) originally but now I see at least one reason why it's wrong, it suggests stabilizing the farming industry would bring about improved economy while the prompt says:

Renewed growing of sunflowers --> stabilization AND improved economy

[mornincounselor]

I still don't like (D) here. The prompt tells us that sunflower seed was "one of the largest production crops." The implication is that it isn't the only large production crop grown in Kaloptia.

So how can we choose an anwser which could be referring to any of the large production crops--maybe sunflower seed, maybe corn or hemp or tobacco--the later of which the passage gives us no information about.

It is the best choice, but, I still don't like it.

[lissethbayona]

I was between (B) and (D) on this question too. I ended up choosing (D) but it definitely ate away at my time.

Another reason I think (B) is wrong is because it is too broad. (B) states, "Stabilizing the farming industry would improve the economy without damaging the environment." This makes it sound like stabilizing the economy BY ANY MEANS would not cause damage to the environment. However, from the stimulus we only know that renewed growing of sunflowers would stabilize the economy. Also, as previously stated, the second half of (B) is not supported by the stimulus since it states, "at LITTLE COST" which is not the same as "without damaging the environment."

On the other hand, (D) is qualified in that it states, "a crop that was once a large production crop, if it were grown again.." So we know from this that there is at least one crop of this type, which is supported by the stimulus.

I'm not 100% about my reasoning. Can anyone weigh in?

[maryadkins]

Your thinking is right on! Keep it up!

[rpak]

Could someone let me know if my thinking is correct here? I read the explanations above for why B is incorrect, but I still wasn't completely convinced, since D seems a bit vague as well ("A crop that was once a large production crop...").

Could I safely eliminate B by reasoning that "Stabilizing Kaloptopia's farming industry would improve the economy..." is too general? Stabilizing the industry could mean many things, it doesn't HAVE to be planting sunflower seeds.

Then D would be a better option, because "A crop that was once a large production crop in Kalotopia..." fits more with what the argument is focused on.

[ashkoley]

I also chose B, but now I see why it is wrong. I hope this explanation is correct or that it can help anyone struggling with why B is wrong.

The stimulus states that renewed growing of sunflowers would PROVIDE RELIEF to Kalotopia's farming industry, which is quite UNSTABLE.
It does not say that growing the sunflowers alone will STABILIZE the farming industry, only that it will provide relief. B goes too far from what the stimulus says. I definitely think this is the trickiest answer to dodge.

Also, in the stimulus, AT LITTLE COST to the environment is not the same as WITHOUT DAMAGING the environment. Nothing about damage is mentioned or implied in the stimulus.

You could arrive at D as the right answer even if you don't see why it is correct, by eliminating all the other answers which all have fatal flaws.
The reasons the others are wrong are:
A) "will deteriorate" is not supported. We don't know what will happen in the future if this hypothetical situation happens.
B) see above
C)"would be better off" is unsupported. We don't know the result of this hypothetical.
D)correct
E)"is a better crop" is not supported. The stimulus never compares it to another crop.

[JeremyL136]

For this question, I thought the answer was C (I understand now why it's wrong). But, I' not sure why D is correct. The part in the answer that states "and general economy" isn't mentioned in the stimulus at all. Are we supposed to assume that "the variety of products, both industrial and consumer" in the stimulus, is to mean "economy" in the answer choice?

[ohthatpatrick]

Yup!

If it can provide a VARIETY of products, both industrial and consumer, then it benefits the economy in a number of ways and touches on presumably the two biggest sectors: industrial and consumer.

Remember as well that this is a "most strongly supported" answer. The language of the correct answer doesn't have to be bulletproof. It just has to be a safer inference than any of the other answers.