Information Archival

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct90% picked this

   The increasing volume of information being stored and the decreasing durability of modern storage media are making it more and more difficult for

   Why this is right

   This sounds like a good summary of the first three sentences of the passage, which framed the Problem that the rest of the passage unpacked in detail. The increasing volume of information being stored ... while recent decades have seen more information recorded than any other era and the decreasing durability of modern storage media while the quantity of material being saved has increased exponentially, the durability of recording media has decreased almost as rapidly are making it more and more difficult for archivists to carry out their charge this prospects is of great concern to archivists, who are charged with preserving vital records and documents.

   Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   90%
2. B

   Too Strong1% picked this

   Modern data storage-and-retrieval techniques have enabled archivists to distinguish essential from dispensable information with greater

   Too Strong: greater than before Unsupported Causal Relationship Wrong Emphasis This sounds way too positive and uplifting. Modern techniques have enabled archivists to filter out the important stuff more efficiently than ever before? Where has this wonderful success story been hiding? This was a passage about archivists who are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They don't have a durable medium yet on which to save this stuff, and they don't have enough time to sift through the decomposing materials to filter out the good stuff.

   1%
3. C

   Wrong Emphasis1% picked this

   Many archivists have come to believe that documents and images preserved on conventional storage media are likely to endure longer than those

   While this answer says something true (because we were told that some conventional storage media like tablets / parchment / books / photographs all last longer than the 10 year lifespan of recent digital tape), this fun fact about lifespans of storage material is not the main point. The short-lived durability of modern media is one of the reasons for the Problem that is haunting archivists. It is not the Problem itself, and we want our Main Point answer to nicely distill the big problem that the passage was highlighting.

   1%
4. D

   Contradicted: capacity limitations Wrong Causal Relationship7% picked this

   Given the limitations on the capacity of modern storage media, it is increasingly important for archivists to save only those documents that

   The reason it would be increasingly important for archivists to save only the most important documents is that there's too much information and the durability of storage media is getting worse and worse. It's not because modern storage media has capacity limitations. We are actually told in the very first sentence of the 2nd paragraph that "computer technology allows stuff to be stored electronically on computer disks or tape, occupying very little space".

   7%
5. E

   Wrong Emphasis Never Stated1% picked this

   Modern electronic media enable us to record and store information so easily that much of what is stored is not considered by

   We might come to our own conclusions that the recent exponential explosion of information being recorded is mainly dominated by the dumb stuff we're all recording on our phones. But the passage never said that. And this answer doesn't convey that there's anything problematic for archivists about us recording stupid things. The answer would have to be written more like, "modern media enables us to store so much inessential information that archivists are now worried it will overwhelm the time-sensitive job they have in finding the essential information".

   1%