Art instructors have noticed that many students produce their most creative work when they eliminate rigid planning from their process,...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Art instructors have noticed that many students produce their most creative work when they eliminate rigid planning from their process, _______ a surge of innovative ideas. This natural creative breakthrough often yields more original results than carefully structured compositions.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
preventing
triggering
limiting
organizing
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Art instructors have noticed that many students produce their most creative work when they eliminate rigid planning from their process," |
|
| "_______ a surge of innovative ideas." |
|
| "This natural creative breakthrough often yields more original results than carefully structured compositions." |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Art students often produce more creative work when they abandon rigid planning in favor of a more natural, spontaneous process.
Argument Flow: The passage presents an observation from art instructors about student creativity, describes how eliminating planning connects to innovative ideas (with a missing logical connector), and supports this with an explanation of how natural breakthroughs outperform structured approaches.
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
- The right answer should show that eliminating rigid planning causes or brings about innovative ideas
- The word must create a positive causal relationship between eliminating planning and generating ideas
preventing
✗ Incorrect
- "Preventing" would mean eliminating planning stops innovative ideas, which contradicts the positive tone
triggering
✓ Correct
- "Triggering" means to cause or initiate something
- Perfect causal relationship: eliminating planning causes/starts a surge of ideas
limiting
✗ Incorrect
- "Limiting" would mean eliminating planning restricts innovative ideas, contradicting the passage's claim about producing "most creative work"
organizing
✗ Incorrect
- "Organizing" doesn't create a logical relationship and would contradict the contrast between natural creativity and structured approaches