SAT Reading & Writing · Text Structure and Purpose
A widely cited economic model predicted that a particular trade policy would reduce domestic manufacturing employment within two years of…
A widely cited economic model predicted that a particular trade policy would reduce domestic manufacturing employment within two years of implementation. Five years after the policy took effect, manufacturing employment in the affected industries had, in fact, grown modestly, though economists disagree about whether other factors unrelated to the policy were primarily responsible for that growth.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
Answer and explanation
Answer: D: To present an outcome that diverged from a prediction, while noting that the reason for the divergence remains unsettled
The passage's structure moves from prediction, to an outcome that didn't match it, to an explicit acknowledgment that the explanation for the mismatch is disputed. D captures all three parts of that structure. A overstates the finding into a sweeping dismissal the passage never makes, since one wrong prediction doesn't render a model worthless in every respect. C generalizes far beyond this single case to a universal claim about trade policy. B mischaracterizes ongoing academic disagreement as something the passage criticizes, when it simply reports the disagreement as an open question.
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