Choosing Evidence Across Two Sources
A reading task gives two short Hungarian texts about school start times. Text A (a school newsletter) says: „Iskolánkban idén szeptembertől nyolc órakor kezdődik a tanítás, mert a szülők ezt kérték.” Text B (a newspaper article) says: „Egy friss felmérés szerint a kamaszok jobban teljesítenek, ha kilenckor kezdődik a tanítás.” A question asks: „Miért kezdődik nyolckor a tanítás az iskolában?” One option reads: „Mert a kutatások szerint ez a legjobb a diákoknak.”
1. Explain why the option citing research is wrong and what the correct answer is, referencing the specific texts.
Read the worked answer
The question asks specifically about the school in Text A, and Text A gives its own reason: „mert a szülők ezt kérték” - because the parents requested it. The research point belongs to Text B, a general survey about teenagers, and does not explain this school's decision. The distractor is wrong because it transplants evidence from the wrong source onto the question. The reasoning skill is source attribution: when two texts appear, the student must check which text the question targets („Iskolánkban” signals Text A) and refuse to import a plausible finding from the other. This is not recall - both statements are in front of the student; the task is to match the right evidence to the right claim.
2. A student argues that because Text B says later starts help teenagers, Text A's 8 a.m. start is 'contradicted'. Evaluate this reasoning.
Read the worked answer
The reasoning is flawed: Text A and Text B do not directly contradict. Text A reports a decision and its stated reason (parents' request); Text B reports a general research finding (later starts help teenagers). Both can be true at once - a school may start at 8:00 for parental reasons even though research favours 9:00. A genuine contradiction would require Text A to claim something like „a kutatások szerint a nyolc óra a legjobb”, which it does not. The reasoning skill is distinguishing tension from contradiction: two statements conflict only if they cannot both be true. Recognising this prevents students from over-reading texts and choosing an option that 'sounds analytical' but misrepresents the sources.
3. The question format is 'which statement is supported by BOTH texts'. Explain what a correct answer must satisfy and why the research option fails this test.
Read the worked answer
A 'supported by both' answer must be entailed by Text A and by Text B independently. The research option („a kutatások szerint ez a legjobb a diákoknak”) is supported only by Text B; Text A says nothing about research, so the option fails the both-test. A statement that would pass might be: „A tanítás kezdete fontos téma az iskolákban” - Text A discusses a start-time decision and Text B discusses start times, so both touch it. The reasoning skill is applying the logical quantifier 'both' rigorously: for each candidate, check Text A, then Text B, and reject if either lacks support. Students often accept an option because one text strongly supports it, forgetting the second check.