Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the claim in Text 1 that tests let officers compare students 'on equal terms'?

Question

Text 1: Standardized tests offer a fair yardstick. Because every applicant answers the same questions under the same conditions, admissions officers can compare students from very different schools on equal terms.

Text 2: A single test taken on one morning reveals little about a student. Access to expensive coaching skews the scores, and a bright student who slept poorly may badly underperform.

Accepted Answer

B. By noting that unequal coaching and daily circumstances make the terms less equal than they appear. Text 2 points to 'expensive coaching' and being tired on test day as factors that distort scores, so it would challenge Text 1's 'equal terms' by showing the conditions are not truly equal (B). A contradicts Text 2's stance, and C and D raise claims Text 2 never makes.

Answer

A. By agreeing that identical questions guarantee a fair comparison — This is Text 1's position, not Text 2's; Text 2 argues that identical questions still don't produce a fair comparison because coaching and rest vary.

Answer

C. By arguing that tests should be made longer and more difficult — Text 2 questions how much a single test reveals — it never proposes changing test length or difficulty.

Answer

D. By claiming that grades are impossible to compare across schools — Text 2 says nothing about grades; the cross-school comparison problem is raised by Text 1, and Text 2's objections are about coaching and test-day conditions.

Craft and Structure practice question

Answer: B. By noting that unequal coaching and daily circumstances make the terms less equal than they appear

Why the other answers are wrong

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