For decades, educational experts have maintained that vocabulary acquisition is most successful when students encounter words across diverse contextua...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
For decades, educational experts have maintained that vocabulary acquisition is most successful when students encounter words across diverse contextual situations, as opposed to rote memorization techniques. Nevertheless, Dr. Sarah Chen and her colleagues proposed that this dispersed methodology could potentially impair long-term retention, as learners struggle to establish robust mental connections. In order to examine this hypothesis, they instructed two cohorts of middle school pupils in new vocabulary terms. The first cohort encountered words through diverse contextual applications spanning multiple academic disciplines. The second cohort mastered identical words via intensive, concentrated learning sessions confined to a single academic domain.
Which discovery, if accurate, would provide the strongest evidence for Dr. Chen's theoretical position?
Pupils in each cohort demonstrated substantial progress between initial and final assessment results.
Pupils who acquired words via concentrated sessions achieved superior performance on memory assessments compared to those who learned through diverse contextual approaches.
Several pupils in the diverse contexts cohort indicated greater satisfaction with the cross-curricular methodology than conventional techniques.
Pupils in the concentrated sessions cohort finished their vocabulary tasks more rapidly than the alternative group.
Looking at this Command of Evidence question, I need to understand Dr. Chen's hypothesis and determine what evidence would best support her position.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "For decades, educational experts have maintained that vocabulary acquisition is most successful when students encounter words across diverse contextual situations, as opposed to rote memorization techniques." |
|
| "Nevertheless, Dr. Sarah Chen and her colleagues proposed that this dispersed methodology could potentially impair long-term retention, as learners struggle to establish robust mental connections." |
|
| "In order to examine this hypothesis, they instructed two cohorts of middle school pupils in new vocabulary terms." |
|
| "The first cohort encountered words through diverse contextual applications spanning multiple academic disciplines." |
|
| "The second cohort mastered identical words via intensive, concentrated learning sessions confined to a single academic domain." |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Dr. Chen challenges conventional wisdom about vocabulary learning by hypothesizing that concentrated learning sessions might be more effective than diverse contextual approaches for long-term retention.
Argument Flow: The passage establishes the traditional expert consensus favoring diverse contexts for vocabulary learning, then introduces Dr. Chen's opposing hypothesis that this approach might actually harm retention. To test this, she designed an experiment comparing the traditional diverse approach against concentrated learning sessions within a single domain.
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
- Dr. Chen's position is that diverse contextual learning actually impairs long-term retention compared to concentrated learning sessions
- The strongest evidence would show that students who learned through concentrated sessions (Group 2) performed better on measures of retention or memory than students who learned through diverse contexts (Group 1)
- The key elements the correct answer must have:
- Shows concentrated learning group outperformed diverse context group
- Focuses specifically on retention/memory (since that's Chen's concern)
- Directly compares the two experimental conditions
- The right answer should demonstrate that concentrated learning sessions produced superior retention outcomes compared to diverse contextual learning
Pupils in each cohort demonstrated substantial progress between initial and final assessment results.
✗ Incorrect
- Shows both groups improved, but doesn't compare them against each other
- Chen's hypothesis isn't about whether learning occurs, but about which method produces better retention
- This result would be consistent with either approach being superior
Pupils who acquired words via concentrated sessions achieved superior performance on memory assessments compared to those who learned through diverse contextual approaches.
✓ Correct
- Directly compares the two groups on memory assessments - exactly what Chen's hypothesis predicts
- Shows concentrated sessions group outperformed diverse contexts group on retention measures
- This perfectly matches our prethinking: evidence that concentrated learning produces better memory outcomes than diverse contextual learning
Several pupils in the diverse contexts cohort indicated greater satisfaction with the cross-curricular methodology than conventional techniques.
✗ Incorrect
- Focuses on student satisfaction rather than learning effectiveness or retention
- Chen's hypothesis is about memory and retention, not student preferences
- What trap this represents: Students might think satisfaction correlates with effectiveness, but Chen's concern is specifically about cognitive retention, not enjoyment
Pupils in the concentrated sessions cohort finished their vocabulary tasks more rapidly than the alternative group.
✗ Incorrect
- Shows speed of task completion, not retention or memory quality
- Finishing faster doesn't indicate better long-term retention
- Chen's hypothesis specifically addresses memory connections, not learning efficiency