Question

Difficulty: EasyIdentifying Directly Stated Character or Subject Traits

In her decades-long survey of ancient agricultural terraces across the Andes, archaeologist Dr. Elena Rostova recorded every artifact with an unyielding rigor that frequently exasperated her colleagues. While her peers hurried to publish preliminary findings to secure research grants, Dr. Rostova insisted on double-checking every ceramic shard against historical soil samples. She refused to authorize any excavation report until every micro-stratigraphic layer had been cataloged three separate times. Her field notebooks contained thousands of dense, meticulously indexed cross-references, leaving no room for speculation or rushed inferences. Though critics occasionally accused her of moving too slowly, her uncompromising precision ultimately ensured that her published findings remained standard references for generations of researchers.

According to the passage, Dr. Elena Rostova approached her archaeological research with which of the following directly stated traits?

  1. An unyielding rigor that demanded exhaustive verification before publishingAnswer
  2. B
    A hasty urgency driven by the desire to secure immediate research grants
  3. C
    A flexible precision that easily adapted to tight publication deadlines
  4. D
    A reliance on quick, speculative inferences when cataloging ceramic shards

Answer

Dr. Elena Rostova approached her research with an unyielding rigor that demanded exhaustive verification before publishing.
The correct answer accurately reflects the explicit detail in the first sentence of the passage, which directly states that Dr. Rostova worked with 'an unyielding rigor,' and the subsequent detail that she insisted on cataloging layers three times before publishing.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the specific mention of Dr. Rostova's character trait in the text.
The text explicitly mentions that she 'recorded every artifact with an unyielding rigor' and 'refused to authorize any excavation report until every micro-stratigraphic layer had been cataloged three separate times.'
Literal comprehension questions on the ACT Reading test require finding the directly stated details.
2
Match the explicit detail in the text to the correct option.
The option emphasizing unyielding rigor and exhaustive verification directly paraphrases the explicit statements in the text.
The correct answer accurately reflects the stated fact without distortion or confusion of details.

Key Concept

Identifying Directly Stated Character Traits
Estimated Time:45s
Rate this question