SAT #15 Reading (Question 15 & 16)

Question

Based on the passage, how would the author most likely characterize many attempts to improve traffic?

Answer 1

Answer Choices C and C are the correct answers because Lines 29-38 say, “If, in a misguided effort to do something of environmental value, municipalities take steps that make long-distance car commuting faster or more convenient — by adding lanes, building bypasses, employing traffic-control measures that make it possible for existing roads to accommodate more cars with fewer delays, replacing tollbooths with radio-based systems that don’t require drivers even to slow down — we actually make the sprawl problem worse [...].” These lines most clearly tell us how “the author most likely characterizes many attempts to improve traffic,” and tell us that the author thinks that municipalities may want to benefit the environment, but are “misguided” and can actually make the sprawl problem and negative environmental impacts worse. This most closely match Answer Choice C for Question 15, which says that these attempts “are well intentioned but ultimately lead to environmental harm.” For Question 16, Answer Choice A is incorrect because it explains what a new transit system has to be combined with but not what the author thinks about attempts to improve traffic. Answer Choice B is incorrect because it only comments on the tolerance for commuting, not about attempts to eliminate traffic. Answer Choice D is incorrect because it less directly mentions different attempts to eliminate traffic and their effect, and only talks about the broad consequences of “moving drivers out of cars and into other forms of transportation.” For Question 15, Answer Choice A is incorrect because it makes too strong and negative a claim, and because the author does think that certain interventions can be effective. Answer Choice B is incorrect because, while the author does mention people’s tolerance for long commutes, he doesn’t make the case that certain interventions overestimate this tolerance, but, if anything, that they underestimate it. Answer Choice D is incorrect because the author believes that interventions will only work if they make driving less convenient and enjoyable, not “more economical and productive.”

How to solve this? Question 15 asks, “Based on the passage, how would the author most likely characterize many attempts to improve traffic?” Because this is a Paired Question, to solve this we should begin by going through the answer choices for Question 16, looking for any texts that tell us what the author thinks about “attempts to improve traffic.”

For Question 16, Answer Choice A say [...].