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Question

Difficulty: MediumIdentifying Main Conclusions

Rotating different types of pesticides is ultimately the most economically sound approach for long-term farm management. True, farmers prioritizing short-term savings often apply a single, highly effective pesticide year after year. However, this single-pesticide strategy inevitably leads to escalating chemical costs over time. Pests that survive an initial application pass on their resistant traits to their offspring, meaning that significantly higher and more expensive concentrations of the chemical are required in subsequent planting seasons.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?

  1. A
    Pests that survive a pesticide application transfer their chemical resistance to future generations, requiring higher concentrations later.
  2. B
    Farmers who focus on short-term savings tend to rely on a single, highly effective pesticide rather than rotating chemicals.
  3. For long-term farm management, using a variety of pesticide types makes the most financial sense.Answer
  4. D
    Using a single pesticide continuously causes chemical costs to rise over time due to the development of pest resistance.
  5. E
    The development of pesticide resistance in insect populations is the primary cause of financial failure in modern agriculture.

Answer

For long-term farm management, using a variety of pesticide types makes the most financial sense.
The correct answer perfectly captures the meaning of the argument's opening sentence. In this stimulus, the author leads with their main conclusion: that rotating pesticides is the most economically sound long-term approach. The rest of the passage is dedicated to proving this claim by explaining why the alternative (using a single pesticide) is financially detrimental in the long run. Since the first sentence is the ultimate point the author is trying to prove, it represents the main conclusion.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus to break down the argument into its component parts: premises, intermediate conclusions, background information, and the main conclusion.
Identified the first sentence as a broad claim, the second as background/concession, the third as a resulting problem (escalating costs), and the fourth as the mechanism causing the problem (resistance).
Deconstructing the argument is necessary to understand the logical relationships between the statements.
2
Determine the hierarchical relationship between the claims by asking which statements support others and which statement receives all the support but supports nothing else.
The final sentence supports the third sentence. The third sentence supports the first sentence. The first sentence supports nothing else.
The main conclusion of an argument is the ultimate point being made; it is the structural endpoint of the reasoning chain.
3
Formulate a paraphrase of the identified main conclusion and match it to the answer choices.
The main conclusion is 'Rotating different types of pesticides is ultimately the most economically sound approach for long-term farm management', which directly matches the option stating that using a variety of pesticide types makes the most financial sense.
Correct answers in main conclusion questions are often synonymous paraphrases of the exact statement found in the stimulus.

Key Concept

Identifying Main Conclusions
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Identifying Main Conclusions

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