IMAT 2013 Q18 [ Conclusion | Literacy]

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The low level of literacy among science undergraduates is an issue across all universities. One of the biggest problems is that pupils in school spend more time perfecting their SMS text messaging and emailing skills than they do writing grammatically correct pieces of literature. It is important to get across to undergraduates that good writing matters. Employers take on scientists believing they can communicate their findings fluently and accurately. We need to deliver science graduates with these skills.

Which one of the following best expresses the main conclusion of the above argument?

A. Education is failing those who leave with poor writing skills.
B. Students must be helped to recognise the importance of good literacy skills.
C. Many science graduates are unable to write in a grammatically correct way.
D. Employment often depends on good ability in literacy.
E. Students do not concentrate properly in lessons in school.

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Key Steps

  1. Read the question (do this for every question!)
  2. Read the passage
  3. In your own words, make a conclusion for the passage. What is the author’s main idea?
  4. Find a sentence in the text that matches the conclusion you made, and underline it.
    Keep an eye out for giveaway words and phrases
  5. Find an answer that matches the underlined sentence.

Briefly going over the passage, the argument is based on issues and problems these students with low literacy levels will have. We know that it is a widespread problem and it will have consequences because employers are not taking on scientists unless they can communicate their findings effectively. The conclusion is stated directly in the text when the author says: “It is important to get across to undergraduates that good writing matters…We need to deliver science graduates with these skills”. Let’s go over the answer options”

A Education is failing those who leave with poor writing skills:

This is not stated in the text and we have no clue what the education system’s effect is on writing skills because it only says the problems are caused by students texting and sending emails outside of class (without proper grammar use). This type of exam question wants a more direct conclusion, so this answer choice should be a red flag as it is not even mentioned in the text. Therefore A is incorrect.

B Students must be helped to recognise the importance of good literacy skills:

This is another way to phrase what we have already found in the text: “It is important to get across to undergraduates that good writing matters”. This is the conclusion because it solves the initial problem introduced and allows the author to offer a suggestion to fix it. The problem is that students have poor literacy skills and they are suffering the consequences. The solution concluded by the author is that they need help to recognize the importance of good literacy skills. Therefore B is correct.

C Many science graduates are unable to write in a grammatically correct way:

This is more a fact. This information is given to us so we know what the problem is, but this statement has no supporting evidence and should be taken as a given. It is used to help prove the need to educate undergraduates on the importance of good writing. Therefore C is not the conclusion, but rather an introduction/supporting piece of evidence.

D Employment often depends on good ability in literacy:

This option seems more like an assumption. If this was not the case, then maybe it would not be an issue if these students are not strong with literacy. This is not the conclusion because it is a piece of information the author leads us to. This is not the author’s opinion but rather a fact in their eyes. Therefore D is incorrect.

E Students do not concentrate properly in lessons in school:

This is not a relevant option and there is no mention of anything related to concentration or reasons inside school causing their poor literacy. The author states that this mass lack of literacy is arising from the messaging students do outside of class. Concentration is not an issue mentioned, the problem is what happens on their own time. As a result, E is incorrect.