Which one of the following best expresses the main ideas of the passage?
AdcoMay 24, 2020
Why not E?
The passage does talk about safety, presumably the safety of the workers (as opposed to natural disaster). Yet, the bulk of the passage speaks in detail about the challenge of processing liquid and gas crude. E seems to be a more expanded answer to A given that 80% of the passage examines the gas/liquid dilemma in processing. If some of A is included in all of E, why not E?
Not trying to challenge the question, but trying to unravel my thinking.
Also, the safety of the platform workers is mentioned more as a setup to the passage than a detail listing of worker safety, i.e. I could bring in lightening strikes, earthquakes, and hurricanes as risk to worker safety, but do not, because they are unrelated risks. Thus, worker safety is a set up - a contextual clue that supplements but does not add to the main point: the challenges of designing a pump that can separate liquid and gaseous crude into more logistical treatment and make platform rigs unnecessary.
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I had a similar line of thinking & would like to know why E is incorrect.
Courtney-McClellandJanuary 24, 2021
I would also like to know why A is correct over E, since E seemed like a more specific version of A.
MRWESTADAMSMarch 23, 2021
Goose egg on the explanation huh...
LaurenLuvzNuggzMay 26, 2021
I had the same thoughts and thought E was the correct choice, because the language in A specifically referenced oil companies, instead of researchers.
AuroraDecember 2, 2021
I was also confused about the oil companies versus researchers distinction.
jakennedyJanuary 19, 2022
Hi all,
Great questions. This is not an easy main point question by any means.
The main point question type process starts before you even read the question. Make sure you are asking the right questions before the read-through.
We want to prioritize the author’s opinions if present. You should try to identify them, or even highlight them, in every single passage that you read. In the broadest sense, there are two kinds of RC passages:
1 Descriptive 2 Argumentative
You should ask yourself whether the author is trying to argue for something or whether the passage is more descriptive in nature. When the author is arguing for something, that is likely the main point. The rest of the passage is just meant to support that, even if it is not addressed regularly throughout the passage. This could mean that your main point answer choice could come from just one portion of the passage.
If the argument is more descriptive, ask yourself what they are trying to tell you. In this case, the argument seems to be somewhat descriptive. In my opinion, they are trying to tell us:
1 Researchers are redesigning pumps because they are risky for workers involved 2 A description of that research
Also recall that we need two things to be true of our main point answer choice:
1 Must be factually accurate 2 Must be the main point
Let’s first examine answer choice E.
E. Researchers are seeking ways to separate liquids from gases in crude in order to enable safer processing.
The latter half of the first paragraph talks about how the ratio of liquid to gas causes problems with the pumps. Paragraph two says, " Of the two pumps being redesigned, the positive-displacement pump is promising because it is immune to sudden shifts in the proportion of liquid to gas in the crude mixture” (lines 30-33). Then, "because the swirl of its impeller separates gas out from the oil that normally accompanies it, significant reductions in head can occur as it operates" (lines 44-47). This seem to suggest that, contrary to answer choice E, we do not want to separate gas from oil.
Answer choice E, then, is not factually accurate and thus is not the main point.
Looking to answer choice A, lines 5-8 and 9-13 state,"because processing crude (unprocessed oil or gas) on a platform rather than at facilities onshore exposes workers to the risks” … "researchers are attempting to diminish the need for human labor on platforms and even to eliminate platforms altogether by redesigning two kinds of pumps to handle crude.” This proves that answer choice A is factually accurate. This is also telling us the reason behind all of the research that follows, so it makes sense as the main point.
Please let me know if you have any further questions!
