The 63 Percent That Did Not Prove a Ban
In a Grade 2 reading passage, a student reads about Hillcrest, a town of 18,000 people. For six months, the four supermarkets in the town centre charged five cents for each plastic bag. At the end of the trial, plastic bag use had fallen by 63 percent, paper bag sales had risen by 41 percent, and three of the four shops reported a 12 percent drop in customers during the first month. The town council then voted to extend the trial for another year and to collect data from shops outside the town centre. The student chooses the answer "The town has banned plastic bags" because 63 percent is a big number. The question actually asks what the council decided to do. He has eight minutes left and two more questions in the same section.
1. Explain why "The town has banned plastic bags" is not supported by the passage. Name the kind of wording the passage would need before that answer could be correct.
Read the worked answer
"Banned" is a conclusion the passage never makes. Three details block it:
- The action taken. The council "voted to extend the trial for another year." Extending a trial is the opposite of a permanent prohibition - the policy is still being tested.
- The size of the effect. 63 percent is a fall, not a stop. If 100 bags were used before, roughly 37 are still being used. A ban means zero bags, or a rule with a penalty attached.
- The scope. Four supermarkets, in the town centre, for six months. A town-wide ban would cover every shop, including the ones outside the centre that the council is only now starting to collect data from.
For the answer to be right, the passage would need wording such as "the council banned plastic bags," "shops are no longer allowed to give out plastic bags," or "any shop that provides plastic bags will be fined." None of these appears.
Transferable rule: match the strength of the verb in the passage to the strength of the verb in the option. "Fell," "dropped," and "extended" cannot support "banned."
2. The options for "What did the council decide to do?" include "to protect the environment" and "to see whether charging money changes shopping habits." Which is correct, and how do you eliminate the other in under 30 seconds?
Read the worked answer
Correct: "to see whether charging money changes shopping habits." The passage supports it through "trial," "collect data," and "extend ... for another year" - all language of testing and measuring.
"To protect the environment" is true in the real world and is probably why the town began, but the passage never states it. In EIKEN reading, an option that needs outside knowledge is a distractor even when it sounds admirable.
Elimination routine:
- Find the sentence that answers the question - here, the vote and the data collection.
- Ask: "Can I put my finger on the words that say this?" If not, cross it out.
- Distrust options that are more positive, more absolute, or more emotional than the text.
This is the most common Grade 2 trap: the good answer rather than the stated answer. The environment option is designed to catch readers who agree with the policy and stop thinking.
3. The student does not know the word "trial" and wants to stop reading. Give him a context strategy he can use in the exam.
Read the worked answer
Do not stop - the word is defined by its neighbours.
- "For six months" and "at the end of the trial" → a trial is a period with a start and an end.
- "extend the trial for another year" → you extend something temporary, not a permanent ban.
- "charge five cents" and "collect data" → the trial is an experiment that produces evidence.
Put together, "trial" ≈ "a test period before a final decision." That is enough to answer any question about it.
Method for unknown words:
- Cover the word and read the sentence - the grammar slot (noun after "the," object of "extend") tells you the word type.
- Look for time words, numbers, and verbs of change nearby; they carry the meaning.
- Check whether the word repeats. Repetition is a gift: the second use usually comes with a clearer context.
Only if the word sits in the question itself, and context still fails, should he guess from the options - never from the passage alone.