NBT AQL flashcards
NBT AQL · Build recall with a focused review session.
32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Main idea
- The central claim a passage is built to support. Test it by asking whether every paragraph contributes to it; examples and data are support, not the main idea itself.
- Inference
- A conclusion that follows necessarily from stated evidence although it is not written explicitly. If several readings fit the text equally well, the inference is not supported.
- Premise
- A reason or piece of evidence an author offers in support of a conclusion. Premises answer the question 'why should I accept this claim?'
- Conclusion indicator words
- Words such as therefore, thus, hence, so and consequently that signal the claim being argued for, as opposed to the reasons supporting it.
- Counter-argument
- An opposing view that an author acknowledges, then rebuts or concedes. Identifying it clarifies what the author's own position is reacting against.
- Hedging language
- Words such as may, likely, tends to or suggests that soften a claim. Hedged statements are weaker than absolute ones, so answers that overstate them are wrong.
- Tone
- The author's attitude to the subject, conveyed by word choice and modifiers rather than by the topic itself. Labels such as critical, neutral or ironic describe it.
- Fact versus opinion
- A fact can be verified by evidence; an opinion expresses evaluation, judgement or prediction. 'Sales fell 8%' is a fact; 'the campaign failed' is an opinion.
- Cohesive devices
- Pronouns, synonyms, conjunctions and repetition that link sentences and signal logical relations. They reveal what a phrase like 'this measure' actually refers to.
- Register
- The level of formality shaped by audience and purpose. Academic register uses formal vocabulary, avoids slang and contractions, and tends toward impersonal phrasing.
- Author's purpose
- The reason the writer produced the text: to inform, explain, persuade, describe or entertain. Purpose determines which details are central and which are decoration.
- Implicit assumption
- An unstated belief the argument requires for its conclusion to follow. If denying the assumption destroys the argument, it is a necessary assumption.
- Fallacy
- An error in reasoning in which the conclusion does not follow from the premises, such as attacking a person rather than engaging with their argument.
- Denotation and connotation
- Denotation is a word's literal dictionary meaning; connotation is the emotional association it carries. 'Cheap' and 'affordable' denote similar things but connote differently.
- Paraphrase
- Restating a source's meaning in your own words and sentence structure while keeping the sense unchanged. It is not a quotation and needs no quotation marks.
- Summarising
- Condensing a text to its key claims and reasoning while dropping examples, repetition and illustration. A good summary preserves the author's emphasis and stance.
- Percentage of a quantity
- Multiply the quantity by the percentage divided by 100. For example, 15% of 240 is 0.15 × 240 = 36.
- Percentage change
- Subtract the original value from the new value, divide by the original, then multiply by 100. Going from 40 to 50 is a 25% increase.
- Percentage points versus percent
- The arithmetic difference between two percentages. Rising from 20% to 25% is 5 percentage points, but a 25% relative increase.
- Ratio
- A comparison of two or more quantities of the same kind. Simplify by dividing all parts by their highest common factor.
- Direct proportion
- Two quantities that scale together, so doubling one doubles the other (y = kx). Used for recipes, maps and uniform rates.
- Inverse proportion
- Two quantities where one rises as the other falls, with a constant product (xy = k). More workers on a fixed job means less time.
- Unit rate
- A rate expressed per single unit, found by dividing the quantity by the number of units. 300 km in 4 hours is 75 km per hour.
- Mean
- The arithmetic average: add all the values and divide by the number of values. It is pulled strongly upward or downward by outliers.
- Median
- The middle value when data are ordered from smallest to largest; with an even count, average the two middle values.
- Mode
- The value that occurs most often in a data set. A set can have no mode, one mode, or several modes.
- Range
- The difference between the largest and smallest values in a data set. It measures spread and is very sensitive to a single extreme value.
- Simple interest
- Interest calculated only on the original principal: I = P × r × t, with r as a decimal rate per year and t in years.
- Compound interest
- Interest charged on both the principal and the accumulated interest: A = P(1 + r)^n, where n is the number of compounding periods.
- Probability
- The chance of an event, calculated as favourable outcomes divided by total equally likely outcomes. The result always lies between 0 and 1.
- Scale
- The ratio of map length to actual length expressed in the same units. On a 1:50 000 map, 1 cm represents 0.5 km.
- Rounding
- Replacing a number with a nearby value having fewer digits. Look at the first discarded digit: 5 or more rounds up, 4 or less rounds down.