16Hit1600
Information and IdeasHardInference from uneven drawing skill

Information and Ideas practice question

The margins of the medieval manuscript are crowded with animals. The creatures of Europe — deer, boar, wolves — are drawn with confident accuracy, while the elephant and the crocodile look nothing like the real animals. This suggests that the artist ____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

  1. A. had seen the European animals but knew the exotic ones only from descriptions.Correct
  2. B. was more skilled at drawing large animals than small ones.
  3. C. had travelled to Africa and observed the animals there.
  4. D. deliberately made the exotic animals look absurd.

Answer: A. had seen the European animals but knew the exotic ones only from descriptions.

Accurate where the animals were local, inaccurate where they were far away: the simplest explanation is firsthand knowledge of one group and secondhand knowledge of the other.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. was more skilled at drawing large animals than small ones.
Size doesn't sort the two groups — boar are smaller than elephants but drawn well, deer larger than crocodiles' heads and also drawn well.
C. had travelled to Africa and observed the animals there.
An artist who had seen elephants and crocodiles would presumably draw them better, not worse.
D. deliberately made the exotic animals look absurd.
The text gives no sign of intent; it contrasts accuracy with inaccuracy.

More Information and Ideas questions

Not affiliated with the College Board. SAT is a trademark of the College Board.