SAT Reading & Writing · Cross-Text Connections
**Text 1** Forest ecologists studying fire-adapted ecosystems have found that regular, carefully controlled low-intensity burns reduce the…
**Text 1**
Forest ecologists studying fire-adapted ecosystems have found that regular, carefully controlled low-intensity burns reduce the buildup of dry brush and dead wood that would otherwise fuel a larger, more destructive wildfire. Land managers who have adopted prescribed burning programs report fewer catastrophic fire events in treated areas.
**Text 2**
Fire behavior researchers note that under conditions of extreme drought combined with high winds, fires can spread rapidly and severely regardless of prior fuel treatment, since the intensity of these conditions can overwhelm the protective effect that reduced fuel loads normally provide.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to a claim that prescribed burning eliminates the risk of catastrophic wildfire?
Forest ecologists studying fire-adapted ecosystems have found that regular, carefully controlled low-intensity burns reduce the buildup of dry brush and dead wood that would otherwise fuel a larger, more destructive wildfire. Land managers who have adopted prescribed burning programs report fewer catastrophic fire events in treated areas.
**Text 2**
Fire behavior researchers note that under conditions of extreme drought combined with high winds, fires can spread rapidly and severely regardless of prior fuel treatment, since the intensity of these conditions can overwhelm the protective effect that reduced fuel loads normally provide.
Based on the texts, how would the author of Text 2 most likely respond to a claim that prescribed burning eliminates the risk of catastrophic wildfire?
Answer and explanation
Answer: D: By agreeing that fuel treatment reduces fire risk under most conditions, while cautioning that extreme weather can overwhelm that protective effect.
Text 2 doesn't reject the value of fuel treatment; it specifies a condition, extreme drought and wind, under which that value can be overwhelmed. D captures this qualified agreement precisely. A ignores the caution Text 2 actually raises. C misstates Text 2 into a total rejection it never makes. B invents a claim about causing fires that appears nowhere in either text.
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