Resolve a conflict | Video lesson

- [Instructor] In this question, we're asked each of the following, if true, contributes to a resolution of the apparent discrepancy described above, except. We can identify this question as a resolve question, but it presents that twist by asking us to find the exception. It is so easy to forget that we're dealing with an except question on test day, so definitely make sure to circle that word except, and characterize what we're actually looking for. In your mind, tell yourself the answer will provide information that doesn't help the situation and the passage make sense, and the four wrong choices will help resolve the discrepancy. Pause your video now if you'd like to try this question on your own. Otherwise, let's move to the explanation. Okay, let's read simulus, and as we do, I want you to just focus on describing the discrepancy in your own words. Don't think about what the answer could be just yet. The passage reads, working residents of Springfield live, on average, farther from their workplaces than do working residents of Rorchester. Thus, one would expect that the demand for public transportation would be greater in Springfield than in Rorchester. However, Springfield has only half as many bus routes as Rorchester. Just like with explain questions, our first job in resolve questions is to describe the situation that doesn't seem to make sense. You'll generally be able to find a contrast keyword that divides the statements that don't seem to work together. Here, that contrast keyword is however. What are the facts that don't seem to work together? First, we're told that Springfield residents who work generally live farther from their workplace than do Rorchester residents who work, and so we would expect that the demand for public transportation would be greater in Springfield than in Rorchester. Okay, but we also learned that in reality, Springfield, which has the workers who are farther from their workplaces, actually has only half as many bus routes as Rorchester. It can be immensely helpful to do a quick sketch of the action so that the relationships are easier to see. Springfield has the farther workers and fewer bus routes. Rorchester has the closer workers and more bus routes. Let's phrase this discrepancy as a question. Why are there half as many bus routes in Springfield when the Springfield workers live farther from work than the Rorchester workers? It's possible that you're already thinking of reasons that the situation could be, but we don't need to make a prediction for these question types. There could be so many possible explanations. The most important piece is to understand the discrepancy in a very clear way. Now we move to the choices and evaluate each one. We're gonna ask ourselves, does this choice's information provide the light bulb that we're looking for? Does it make us say, ah okay, now I understand why Springfield has only half as many bus routes as Rorchester, even though their workers live farther from work. Let's take a look. Choice A. 3/4 of the Springfield workforce is employed at the same factory outside the city limits. What's the impact of this information? Well, it helps shed light on the situation. If such a high proportion of people work in the same factory outside city limits, then they could potentially take the same bus line to the factory, which would necessitate fewer bus routes. Remember, in this question, we're eliminating choices that contribute to a resolution. Let's keep going. B, the average number of cars per household is higher in Springfield than in Rorchester. This contributes to a resolution. If Springfield households have a higher number of cars than Rorchester households do, then Springfield may just not need public transportation as much as Rorchester does, since more Springfield people can just drive to work. Choice C, Rorchester has fewer railway lines than Springfield. What does this do for us? Well, it helps resolve the discrepancy, because if Springfield has more railway lines than Rorchester, then that might explain why they have fewer bus routes than Rorchester. People could just be taking the railway instead of the bus for their public transportation to work. D reads, buses in Springfield run more frequently and on longer routes than in Rorchester. That helps resolve the situation. There are fewer routes in Springfield, but they run more frequently and on longer routes than in Rorchester, so it's very possible that Springfield buses could transport more people to farther places, even though there are fewer routes overall. We can eliminate this since it's a possible resolution. Finally, E tells us that Springfield has a larger population than Rorchester does. When we think about the impact of this, it just makes the situation even more surprising. Springfield has a larger population, and people farther from work, and fewer bus routes. This is our answer, because it does not contribute to a resolution, and in fact, it makes the discrepancy worse. To recap, for resolve questions, you're reading with the purpose of understanding the discrepancy. It's really helpful to form a question around it if you can. For example, why are there fewer bus routes in the city where people live farther from work? Then pretend that each choice is a proposed answer to that question, and pick the one that actually does answer the question and shed light on the situation. Or in this case, since we had an except question, we needed to eliminate the choices that shed light on the situation, and then select the choice that didn't resolve anything.