SAT Reading & Writing · Cross-Text Connections
**Text 1** Orthopedic surgeons have long reasoned that arthroscopic surgery to wash out or trim damaged cartilage in an arthritic knee…
**Text 1**
Orthopedic surgeons have long reasoned that arthroscopic surgery to wash out or trim damaged cartilage in an arthritic knee should relieve pain, since removing damaged tissue and debris seems likely to reduce irritation within the joint.
**Text 2**
Researchers conducting sham-controlled trials, in which some patients received a fake surgical procedure without actual tissue removal, found little meaningful difference in pain relief between patients who received the real arthroscopic procedure and those who received the sham procedure, for many cases of degenerative knee disease.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the reasoning presented in Text 1?
Orthopedic surgeons have long reasoned that arthroscopic surgery to wash out or trim damaged cartilage in an arthritic knee should relieve pain, since removing damaged tissue and debris seems likely to reduce irritation within the joint.
**Text 2**
Researchers conducting sham-controlled trials, in which some patients received a fake surgical procedure without actual tissue removal, found little meaningful difference in pain relief between patients who received the real arthroscopic procedure and those who received the sham procedure, for many cases of degenerative knee disease.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to the reasoning presented in Text 1?
Answer and explanation
Answer: A: By agreeing that the mechanical rationale is intuitive, while noting that controlled testing failed to confirm it produces a meaningfully better outcome than a fake procedure for many patients.
Text 2 doesn't dispute that the mechanical logic in Text 1 sounds reasonable; it reports that testing against a placebo failed to confirm a meaningful real-world benefit beyond that placebo effect. A captures this precisely: acknowledging the intuitive appeal while noting it didn't hold up under controlled comparison. B overstates Text 2 into a blanket prohibition it doesn't state. C invents an anatomical error that Text 2 never claims. D reverses the finding, which describes similar outcomes between the two groups, not sham surgery being superior.
More Cross-Text Connections questions
- Question 10**Text 1** Excavators at the Shanidar Cave site in Iraq found dense clusters of ancient pollen…
- Question 11**Text 1** An architecture critic praises a newly restored cathedral facade for faithfully…
- Question 12**Text 1** A restaurant critic praises a new restaurant for its creative menu, noting that several…
- Question 37**Text 1** Forest ecologists studying fire-adapted ecosystems have found that regular, carefully…
- Question 38**Text 1** A philosopher argues that translated poetry inevitably loses something essential from…
- Question 39**Text 1** A city council member argues that the new bike lanes have made downtown streets safer…
Learn the method behind questions like this one
The SAT Reading & Writing course teaches each tested skill through lessons, step-by-step solutions to sample problems, the complete study guide and full-length practice tests.