Agricultural water management systems must balance irrigation needs across diverse crop zones within large farming operations. When drought conditions...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Agricultural water management systems must balance irrigation needs across diverse crop zones within large farming operations. When drought conditions force farmers to prioritize certain fields, the uneven distribution of water resources can create significant challenges for overall farm productivity. Researchers studying precision agriculture techniques have found that concentrating irrigation in high-priority areas often leaves other sections of farmland _____ adequate moisture, reducing their yield potential.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
deprived of
enhanced by
associated with
protected from
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Agricultural water management systems must balance irrigation needs across diverse crop zones within large farming operations.' |
|
| 'When drought conditions force farmers to prioritize certain fields, the uneven distribution of water resources can create significant challenges for overall farm productivity.' |
|
| 'Researchers studying precision agriculture techniques have found that concentrating irrigation in high-priority areas often leaves other sections of farmland' |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: During droughts, concentrating irrigation on priority farm areas leaves other sections without sufficient water, reducing overall farm productivity.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes that agricultural water management requires balancing needs across different areas. It then explains how drought conditions force difficult prioritization decisions. Finally, it presents research showing that this prioritization strategy has negative consequences for non-priority areas.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Looking at our analysis, we see that concentrating irrigation in priority areas has a consequence for other farm sections
- The passage tells us this consequence reduces yield potential, which indicates something negative is happening to those areas
- The logical relationship we need is: when water goes to priority areas, the other areas experience some kind of lack or absence of adequate moisture
- So the right answer should express that the non-priority areas are lacking adequate moisture
deprived of
✓ Correct
- 'Deprived of' means lacking or being without something necessary
- Fits perfectly with the logic: priority areas get concentrated water, so other areas are left without adequate moisture
- Creates the cause-effect relationship that explains why yields are reduced
enhanced by
✗ Incorrect
- 'Enhanced by' means improved or made better
- This would suggest non-priority areas get better moisture, which contradicts the entire logic and makes no sense with reducing yield potential
associated with
✗ Incorrect
- 'Associated with' means connected to or linked with
- This does not create a meaningful relationship in this context and does not explain why yield potential would be reduced
protected from
✗ Incorrect
- 'Protected from' means shielded or guarded against
- This would mean areas are being kept away from moisture, which does not fit the context about water distribution challenges during drought