Information and IdeasHardIdentify main idea when a prediction is overturned
Information and Ideas practice question
Faced with chronic gaps in overnight coverage, Merrivale Hospital replaced its centrally assigned nursing rota with a system in which nurses choose their own shifts, taking turns in rotating order of seniority, subject to one rule: each unit's minimum staffing must be met before any nurse may claim a second daytime shift. Administrators expected the change to widen the overnight gaps, since nights had always been the least requested assignment. Instead, unfilled overnight shifts fell by 41 percent in the first year, even though the hospital hired no additional nurses. Nurses interviewed by the hospital's own reviewers credited the system's predictability: knowing their schedules eight weeks in advance, many found occasional night work manageable.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- A. Merrivale's administrators accurately anticipated how self-scheduling would affect overnight coverage.
- B. Merrivale narrowed its overnight staffing gaps by giving nurses more control over their schedules rather than by adding staff.Correct
- C. Nurses at Merrivale have come to prefer overnight shifts to daytime shifts.
- D. Seniority-based scheduling is what guarantees that each unit meets its minimum staffing level.
Answer: B. Merrivale narrowed its overnight staffing gaps by giving nurses more control over their schedules rather than by adding staff.
The passage's arc is a problem (overnight gaps), a solution (nurse-chosen shifts), and an outcome (a 41 percent drop with no new hires), which choice B captures. A reverses the text: administrators expected the gaps to widen, and the result was the opposite of their prediction. C inflates 'many found occasional night work manageable' into an active preference for nights over days, which the text does not claim. D distorts a subordinate detail: the minimum-staffing rule is a constraint attached to daytime shift selection, not a consequence of seniority ordering, and it is not the passage's point.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Merrivale's administrators accurately anticipated how self-scheduling would affect overnight coverage.
- The text says administrators expected the overnight gaps to *widen*; the gaps fell 41 percent instead, so their prediction was wrong, and that reversal is the point of the passage.
- C. Nurses at Merrivale have come to prefer overnight shifts to daytime shifts.
- The text says many nurses found occasional night work 'manageable,' which is a long way from preferring nights to days — no preference for overnight shifts is claimed.
- D. Seniority-based scheduling is what guarantees that each unit meets its minimum staffing level.
- The minimum-staffing rule is a condition a nurse must satisfy before claiming a second daytime shift, not something the seniority ordering guarantees — and it's a supporting detail, not the main idea.
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