Information and IdeasEasyCompleting a simple inference about desert plants
Information and Ideas practice question
Rain may not fall in the Sonoran Desert for months. The cactus species that thrive there have thick stems that store water, and their leaves have shrunk over evolutionary time into thin spines, which lose far less moisture to the air than flat leaves would. These traits suggest that desert plants succeed by evolving ways to ____
Which choice most logically completes the text?
- A. store water and lose as little of it as possible.Correct
- B. attract as many insects as possible.
- C. grow taller than neighboring plants.
- D. produce larger leaves each year.
Answer: A. store water and lose as little of it as possible.
Both examples — thick water-storing stems and leaves reduced to spines that cut water loss — point to coping with scarce water.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. attract as many insects as possible.
- Insects are never mentioned; both adaptations concern water.
- C. grow taller than neighboring plants.
- Height is never mentioned in the text.
- D. produce larger leaves each year.
- The text says cacti reduced their leaves to spines, the opposite of growing larger leaves.
More Information and Ideas questions
- Easy
Based on the text, what is one benefit the silver ant gains from its hairs? - Easy
Based on the text, what can most reasonably be inferred about the increase in the number of bee species at the… - Easy
Which choice most effectively uses data from the text to complete the students' statement? - Easy
Based on the text, which statement about Mira is true? - Easy
According to the text, what did Asawa do after she learned the looping technique used by the artisans in Toluc… - Easy
Based on the text, what can most reasonably be inferred about the males' response to the recorded wingbeats?
Not affiliated with the College Board. SAT is a trademark of the College Board.