Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

Question

Perfect pitch — the ability to name a musical note without any reference note — was long assumed to be inborn. Yet it turns out to be far more common among speakers of tonal languages such as Mandarin, in which pitch changes a word's meaning, and among musicians who began training before the age of six. The ability seems to require not just the right genes but an early window and the right input during it.

Accepted Answer

A. Perfect pitch appears to depend on early experience as well as on innate factors.. The text opens with the old assumption (inborn), presents evidence tied to early experience, and concludes that the ability needs 'not just the right genes but an early window and the right input'. The idea is that experience matters alongside nature.

Answer

B. Perfect pitch is entirely determined by a person's genes. — This is the assumption the text sets out to complicate, not its conclusion.

Answer

C. All speakers of Mandarin have perfect pitch. — The text says perfect pitch is 'more common' among Mandarin speakers, not universal.

Answer

D. Musical training after the age of six is useless. — The text says early training makes perfect pitch more likely; it says nothing about later training being useless for anything.

Information and Ideas practice question

Answer: A. Perfect pitch appears to depend on early experience as well as on innate factors.

Why the other answers are wrong

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