Reading: Inference or Literal Detail in an Urban Library Text
Marta is practising the reading section under exam timing. She has 6 minutes left for the final item and 90 seconds to check. The passage says: 'The city's new library is open until 10 p.m., but the busiest hour is still 4 p.m., when school groups arrive. Staff say the later closing has not reduced daytime noise; it has simply moved quiet study to the evening. The library's director calls the change a success, though she admits that adult users who work late now compete for seats with teenagers who stay after school.' The question asks: 'What does the director's comment suggest about the later closing?' Options: A) It has solved the noise problem. B) It has benefited some users but created a new pressure. C) It has made the library less popular with adults. D) It has moved all school groups to the evening. Marta is torn between B and C. Her notes say 'director = success' and 'adults compete'. She has 40 seconds to decide.
1. Which option should Marta choose, and how should she use the text to eliminate the closest distractor?
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Choose B. The director's comment is double-edged: 'calls the change a success' supports benefit, while 'admits that adult users ... now compete for seats with teenagers' shows a new pressure. That matches 'benefited some users but created a new pressure.' C is the closest distractor because it also mentions adults, but 'compete for seats' does not mean the library has become less popular with adults; it means late-working adults face more competition. To eliminate C, Marta should check whether the text says adults use it less or simply have to compete. It says the latter. A is contradicted by 'has not reduced daytime noise', and D overgeneralises 'school groups' into 'all school groups' moved to evening. Inference questions reward the safest paraphrase, not the most dramatic reading. With 40 seconds left, she should not change to C unless she can quote a line that says adults are using it less.
2. What should Marta do in her remaining check time, and what should she avoid doing?
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She should anchor B to two phrases: 'success' and 'compete for seats'. Then she should mark the line numbers or underline those phrases so the answer is defensible. She should also test C negatively: the text would need something like 'adults have stopped coming' or 'adult membership has fallen', but it does not say that. She should avoid rereading the whole passage, because with 40 seconds left that risks running out of time. She should avoid changing an answer just because C sounds more formal or more dramatic. A good final check is to ask: 'Which option can I prove with words from the text without adding an assumption?' B passes that test; C requires an assumption about popularity.