Budget constraints force environmental agencies to make strategic choices about pollution monitoring coverage. While advanced sensor networks can dram...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Budget constraints force environmental agencies to make strategic choices about pollution monitoring coverage. While advanced sensor networks can dramatically improve water quality outcomes, the installation costs for these systems, despite varying by location, are largely ______ the area being monitored. This cost structure explains why agencies typically prioritize monitoring smaller, high-priority zones instead of pursuing comprehensive regional coverage.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
separate from
proportional to
independent of
unrelated to
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Budget constraints force environmental agencies to make strategic choices about pollution monitoring coverage.' |
|
| 'While advanced sensor networks can dramatically improve water quality outcomes, the installation costs for these systems, despite varying by location, are largely' |
|
| 'the area being monitored.' |
|
| 'This cost structure explains why agencies typically prioritize monitoring smaller, high-priority zones instead of pursuing comprehensive regional coverage.' |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Budget constraints and the relationship between installation costs and monitored area size drive environmental agencies to focus on smaller, targeted zones rather than comprehensive regional monitoring.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes that budget limitations force strategic choices, then reveals a specific cost-area relationship that explains why agencies behave the way they do - choosing smaller monitoring zones over broader coverage.
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 need a word that describes how installation costs relate to the area being monitored
- The key clue comes from the final sentence - agencies choose smaller, high-priority zones instead of pursuing comprehensive regional coverage
- If the cost relationship explains this behavior, then larger areas must cost more (making comprehensive coverage expensive) and smaller areas must cost less (making targeted zones more budget-friendly)
- This means costs must increase with area size
- So the right answer should describe a relationship where costs increase as the monitored area increases - essentially a direct relationship between cost and area size
separate from
✗ Incorrect
- If costs were separate from area size, there would be no reason to prefer small zones over large ones
- This contradicts the explanation that follows
proportional to
✓ Correct
- This means costs increase directly with area size
- Larger areas equal higher costs, smaller areas equal lower costs
- This perfectly explains why budget-conscious agencies choose small zones over comprehensive coverage
independent of
✗ Incorrect
- If costs were independent of area size, this would not explain the behavioral pattern described
unrelated to
✗ Incorrect
- This means no connection between costs and area, which again would not explain why agencies prefer smaller zones