Drawing Text-Based Conclusions Practice Test

Researchers on an Arctic research vessel dispute why a plankton bloom arrived 3 weeks early. Dr. Iqbal argues warming is the primary driver: sea-surface temperature logs show a $+1.4^{\circ}\mathrm{C}$ anomaly, and satellite color indices suggest earlier chlorophyll peaks across 600 km. Biologist Chen counters that a new shipping lane may be fertilizing waters: nitrate samples near the lane average 18% higher than control sites, and black-carbon particles appear in ice cores dated to the last 2 seasons. The captain, wary of blame, notes that storms were unusually calm, reducing mixing, and that the ship’s own wake could “stir” nutrients in transects. A graduate student, Mara, points out that the strongest bloom occurred not nearest the lane but where meltwater formed a low-salinity lens; she also admits the team’s control sites were sampled 2 days later because of a medical evacuation. In the lab, Chen’s incubations show plankton growth accelerates when both temperature and nitrate rise, while Iqbal emphasizes that temperature alone still increases growth, just less dramatically. Based on the passage, what conclusion can be drawn about the bloom’s early timing?

A novelist on a book tour is criticized for writing in the voice of a refugee teenager. In interviews, she claims fiction’s purpose is “radical empathy,” and she donates part of profits to resettlement charities. A refugee-led writers’ collective responds that her scenes borrow recognizable details from oral-history workshops without attribution; they argue that even sympathetic portrayals can become “extractive” when the author’s platform eclipses lived experience. A publisher defends the book’s “universal themes,” yet marketing materials highlight the author’s “courage” more than the communities depicted. A librarian notes that the novel has prompted students to ask informed questions, but she also observes that teachers now assign it instead of memoirs written by refugees, because it feels “safer” for classroom discussion. The author privately emails a friend that she fears being “canceled,” though she declines an invitation to share royalties with the collective, calling it “a precedent.” Which statement best captures the underlying message of the passage?