Section I — Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences
“The city did not decline because its people left. Its people left because the work that held them there had already gone — quietly, over two decades, in ways no census recorded until the streets were empty.”
The author's main point is that:
- A.Population loss was the cause of the city's economic decline.
- B.Economic change preceded and drove the population loss.
- C.Census methods should be reformed to track employment.
- D.The city's decline was inevitable and could not be prevented.
Answer: B
Reasoning trap: Directional drift — reversing the stated cause and effect.
The passage explicitly orders the events: work disappeared first, departure followed. Option A inverts that order, which is the most common error on causal passages. C picks up an incidental detail (the census) and promotes it to the main point. D adds inevitability the author never claims.
Section II — Written Communication
“We are more connected than any generation before us, and lonelier for it.”
Which response opens the strongest Task A essay?
- A.Restating the quote in different words, then agreeing with it.
- B.Defining the tension between connection and intimacy, then testing it against a concrete case.
- C.Listing statistics about social media use without interpreting them.
- D.Rejecting the quote outright as a cliché.
Answer: B
Reasoning trap: Evidence substitution — swapping analysis for illustration.
Section II rewards a controlled idea developed with evidence, not a summary or a data dump. B establishes the conceptual tension the quote depends on and then earns its position with a specific case, which is what markers read for.
Section III — Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences
An enzyme-catalysed reaction is run at three temperatures. Initial rate rises from 20 °C to 37 °C, then falls sharply at 55 °C. Substrate concentration is held constant and in excess.
The fall in rate at 55 °C is best explained by:
- A.Substrate depletion at higher temperature.
- B.A decrease in molecular collision frequency.
- C.Denaturation reducing the number of functional active sites.
- D.A change in the reaction's equilibrium constant.
Answer: C
Reasoning trap: Ignoring a stated constraint — substrate is explicitly in excess.
The stem rules out A by holding substrate in excess. Collision frequency increases with temperature, so B contradicts kinetics. Equilibrium position does not set the initial rate, so D is off-target. Only loss of functional enzyme explains a sharp drop above the optimum.