Sponges attach to the ocean floor,

Answer choices

1. A

   Out of Scope1% picked this

   Few tubular or vase-shaped sponges lived before the late

   Out of Scope: before late Jurassic Only One Mentioned ? Only One We don't have any information about life before the late Jurassic period. Just because late Jurassic is the only "widespread tube/vase sponge" period mentioned doesn't mean it's the only "widespread tube/vase sponge" period.

   1%
2. B

   Out of Scope5% picked this

   Tubular and vase-shaped sponges were more common during the late Jurassic period than in

   Out of Scope: succeeding eras Only One Mentioned ? Only One Relative vs. Absolute Just like (A), we don't have any information about life before/after the late Jurassic period. This answer is trying to make students think, "If they said it was widespread during period X, then it must not have been widespread during periods Y and Z." Just because late Jurassic is the only "widespread tube/vase sponge" period that gets mentioned doesn't mean it's the only "widespread tube/vase sponge" period. I can say that "Cocaine was widespread in the 1970s". That doesn't mean that "cocaine was more widespread in the 1970s than in the 1980s."

   5%
3. C

   Correct88% picked this

   During the late Jurassic period there were many areas of the ocean floor where

   Why this is right

   This aligns with our main prediction. We know that tube/vase sponges were widespread during the late Jurassic period, and we know that they can't live anywhere with strong currents. So there must have been widespread "not-strong currents". That's all this answer is saying. It gives an even weaker version of what we know. We know that weaker currents were widespread, so we can definitely support that many weaker current areas existed. Why is this talking about the ocean floor? Because that where sponges live.

   Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   88%
4. D

   Out of Scope4% picked this

   All sponges that are neither tubular nor vase- shaped inhabit areas of the ocean floor where there

   Out of Scope: other sponges Only One Mentioned ? Only One Too Strong = extremely strong We don't have any information about other types of sponges. We only talked about strong currents; we don't have any information about the more-specific extremely strong currents. This answer, like (A) and (B), wants us to assume the opposite about stuff that was not mentioned. If the passage said, "children of Irish descent love their parents", these trap answers would be saying "children of non-Irish descent don't love their parents / love their parents less". We were told tube/vase sponges can't handle strong currents. That does not allow us to infer that "non-tube/vase sponges can handle strong currents".

   4%
5. E

   Too Strong: no types1% picked this

   No types of sponge live in large colonies, since sponges do not flourish in areas where much of the water has

   We can stop reading this four words in. We only received information about tube/vase sponges, other than the general claims in the first sentence that sponges are attached to the ocean floor and filter water. Although this answer makes some speculative sense (you don't want to be ingesting the waste water from a neighboring sponge that's too close to you), we can't support such an extreme universal: no type of sponge (anywhere / ever!) lives in a large colony.

   1%