Schools across urban, suburban, and rural districts have reported substantial improvements in standardized test scores and mathematical confidence aft...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Schools across urban, suburban, and rural districts have reported substantial improvements in standardized test scores and mathematical confidence after implementing the Khan Academy's personalized learning system. This adaptive learning platform adjusts difficulty levels based on individual student performance, allowing students to engage with interactive exercises, receive immediate feedback, and progress through customized learning pathways. Over 15 million active learners globally now use this system, leading educational researchers to recognize such platforms as transformative tools in addressing the achievement gap in mathematics education.
Which choice best describes the function of the underlined portion in the text as a whole?
It illustrates the global accessibility of digital learning resources in modern education.
It explains how personalized learning systems adapt to individual student needs.
It highlights the substantial reach that reinforces claims about the platform's transformative impact.
It establishes that traditional teaching methods are becoming obsolete in mathematics education.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Schools across urban, suburban, and rural districts have reported substantial improvements in standardized test scores and mathematical confidence after implementing the Khan Academy's personalized learning system." |
|
| "This adaptive learning platform adjusts difficulty levels based on individual student performance, allowing students to engage with interactive exercises, receive immediate feedback, and progress through customized learning pathways." |
|
| "Over 15 million active learners globally now use this system," |
|
| "leading educational researchers to recognize such platforms as transformative tools in addressing the achievement gap in mathematics education." |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Khan Academy's personalized learning system is making a significant positive impact on mathematics education worldwide.
Argument Flow: The passage builds credibility by starting with concrete results from schools, explaining how the system works, demonstrating its massive scale, and concluding with expert recognition of its transformative potential in education.
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 underlined portion comes after explaining how Khan Academy works, and before the conclusion about researchers recognizing it as transformative
- The "15 million active learners globally" is a concrete number that shows massive adoption
- This provides powerful evidence of scale that makes the "transformative" claim more credible
- The huge number of users worldwide supports the argument that this platform is genuinely impactful
It illustrates the global accessibility of digital learning resources in modern education.
✗ Incorrect
- This focuses on general digital learning accessibility, but the passage is specifically about Khan Academy's impact, not broad accessibility
It explains how personalized learning systems adapt to individual student needs.
✗ Incorrect
- The statistic doesn't explain how systems adapt; the technical explanation comes in the previous sentence
It highlights the substantial reach that reinforces claims about the platform's transformative impact.
✓ Correct
- The 15 million users represents "substantial reach" that "reinforces claims about the platform's transformative impact"
- This massive scale serves as evidence supporting the transformative claims
It establishes that traditional teaching methods are becoming obsolete in mathematics education.
✗ Incorrect
- The passage never discusses traditional teaching methods becoming obsolete