Which one of the following inferences about natural disasters and relief efforts is most strongly supported by the pa...

Anita on July 12, 2018

Hi @Parker-Zopp, for A, it says that there has been an increased demand that has aggravated the issue. In the passage, we don't see evidence for that. We only know that there have been recent disasters that exemplify the issue. This is why A isn't the right answer here.

Ceci on October 8, 2018

so what is the answer and why?

Shiyi-Zhang on February 2, 2019

Why is E correct? Why is C incorrect?

Ravi on February 9, 2019

@Ceci and @Shiyi-Zhang,

Happy to help!

The question asks, "Which one of the following inferences about
natural disasters and relief efforts is most strongly supported by the
passage?"

This is an inference question that wants us to select the answer
choice that can be inferred about natural disasters and relief efforts
based on the passage.

The key portion of the text to pay attention to is lines 1 through 6
of the passage, where the author states that a number of natural
disasters in recent years has caused relief agencies, communities, and
entire nations to reevaluate how they're giving aid to the areas that
are affected by natural disasters. From this, we can definitely infer
that the responses to these natural disasters have been poor.

(E) says, "A number of wasteful relief efforts in the most recent
years provided dramatic illustrations of aid programs that were
implemented by donors and agencies with little accountability to
populations affected by disasters."

This can be inferred from the support we're given in lines 1 through 6
of the text. Additionally, the small amount of accountability
mentioned at the end of the answer choice is brought up toward the end
of the second paragraph in lines 26 through 30, where the author
states, "In some instances, tons of food have disappeared into local
markets for resale, and, with inadequate accounting procedures,
billions of dollars in aid money have gone unaccounted for."

(E) has strong textual support and is an inference we can draw out
based on the information in the passage, so it's the correct answer
choice.

@Shiyi-Zhang,

You asked why (C) is incorrect. Let's take a look.

(C) says, "Numerous relief efforts in the years prior to the most
recent provided such vast quantities of aid that most needs were met
despite evidence of inefficiency and mismanagement, and few recipient
communities questioned traditional disaster response methods."

The problem with this answer choice is that it deals with a time
period that's outside of the time period that the passage is looking
at. In lines 1-6, we're told about a number of natural disasters in
RECENT YEARS have forced relief agencies and communities to reevaluate
ways they're giving aid. However, we don't have any information about
what the aid and relief conditions were like prior to recent years
because the passage makes no mention of it. For all we know, they
could have been just as bad as the aid and relief conditions from
recent years, or they could have been as good or even better than (C)
says. We simply don't know. Therefore, when (C) says that most needs
were met and that few recipient communities questioned traditional
disaster response methods, we can't infer this because we have no
textual support to suggest that this is the case. As a result, we can
get rid of (C), as it's dealing with a time period that's not
discussed at all in the passage.

Does this help? Let us know if you have any more questions!

Christopher.leaverton@gmail.com on February 28, 2020

So on this one it looks like A and E got mixed up? Because A (the answer I selected) is the one that says "A number of wasteful relief efforts in the most recent
years provided dramatic illustrations of aid programs..." yet it was marked wrong in my analytics. Just wondering what caused that issue here/if this is a glitch I need to look out for on other diagnostics

Christopher.leaverton@gmail.com on February 28, 2020

Wait sorry never mind--it's just wrong in the "view question" on the message board not on the actual test