Based on the texts, which statement would the authors of both texts most likely agree with?

Question

Text 1
Until last year the Fairlane Chess Club seeded its tournaments by seniority. The new rating system is a plain improvement. Every member starts at 1200; beating a higher-rated opponent earns more points than beating a lower-rated one, and losing to a weaker player costs more. After a few dozen games, a member's number tracks that member's results closely, and no one can complain that the pairings were decided by favoritism.

Text 2
A rating is a statement about a player's record against a particular set of opponents. At Fairlane, the Tuesday juniors play almost exclusively one another, as do the Thursday veterans; the two groups meet perhaps twice a season. Points circulate within each pool, so a junior rated 1500 and a veteran rated 1500 may be nothing alike. The numbers are internally consistent and, across the groups, close to meaningless.

Accepted Answer

A. A player's rating is shaped by the strength of the opponents that player actually faces.. Text 1 states that points gained or lost depend on the opponent's rating; Text 2 defines a rating as a record "against a particular set of opponents." Both therefore accept A. B is Text 1's implicit confidence applied where Text 2 flatly denies it — cross-pool comparison is exactly what Text 2 calls meaningless. C assumes that a critic of the rating system must endorse the old seniority system, which Text 2 never mentions. D stitches together Text 1's "few dozen games" and Text 2's "close to meaningless" into a claim neither author makes.

Answer

B. Fairlane's ratings offer a reliable way to compare a Tuesday junior with a Thursday veteran. — Cross-pool comparison is precisely what Text 2 calls 'close to meaningless,' noting a 1500 junior and a 1500 veteran 'may be nothing alike.' For an agreement question, both authors must accept the statement.

Answer

C. Seeding tournaments by seniority was fairer than seeding them by rating. — Text 2 criticizes the rating system's cross-group comparisons but never mentions seniority seeding at all — a critic of the new system isn't automatically a defender of the old one.

Answer

D. A rating stops carrying useful information once a player has completed a few dozen games. — You combined Text 1's 'few dozen games' with Text 2's 'close to meaningless,' but Text 1 says a few dozen games make the rating track results *closely*, and Text 2's complaint is about comparing across pools, not about ratings expiring.

Craft and Structure practice question

Answer: A. A player's rating is shaped by the strength of the opponents that player actually faces.

Why the other answers are wrong

More Craft and Structure questions