SAT Reading & Writing · Cross-Text Connections
**Text 1** Economists studying a particular industry have found that companies adopting a new automation technology reported significant…
**Text 1**
Economists studying a particular industry have found that companies adopting a new automation technology reported significant short-term productivity gains in the first two years after implementation.
**Text 2**
Labor researchers examining the same companies over a longer period found that many of these productivity gains diminished by the fifth year, as workers reported increased fatigue from managing the new systems and some initial efficiencies proved difficult to sustain.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the findings in Text 1 and Text 2?
Economists studying a particular industry have found that companies adopting a new automation technology reported significant short-term productivity gains in the first two years after implementation.
**Text 2**
Labor researchers examining the same companies over a longer period found that many of these productivity gains diminished by the fifth year, as workers reported increased fatigue from managing the new systems and some initial efficiencies proved difficult to sustain.
Which choice best describes the relationship between the findings in Text 1 and Text 2?
Answer and explanation
Answer: B: Text 1's short-term finding and Text 2's longer-term finding may both be accurate, describing different phases of the same technology's adoption over time.
Text 2 doesn't dispute the initial productivity gains reported in Text 1; it extends the timeline and reports what happened later, a diminishing of those gains. B captures this as two compatible snapshots of the same adoption process at different points in time. A overstates Text 2 into a denial of any benefit, which contradicts its own description of initial gains before decline. C misreads two clearly connected studies of the same companies. D directly contradicts Text 2's finding of diminishing, not increasing, gains.
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.