Urban sprawl creates significant transportation challenges in growing metropolitan areas. Traffic congestion increases commute times, air pollution, a...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
Urban sprawl creates significant transportation challenges in growing metropolitan areas. Traffic congestion increases commute times, air pollution, and infrastructure costs. Marcus Chen, an urban planner, has developed innovative solutions to address these problems. Chen designs transit-oriented developments that concentrate housing and commercial spaces around public transportation hubs. This approach reduces car dependency and creates more sustainable urban environments. Chen's success in Portland has inspired similar projects in other cities.
Which choice best describes the text's overall structure?
It describes competing theories about urban development and their outcomes.
It identifies a problem and explains one professional's approach to solving it.
It compares transportation systems in different cities over several decades.
It presents an argument and mentions a planner who disagrees with that argument.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Urban sprawl creates significant transportation challenges in growing metropolitan areas.' |
|
| 'Traffic congestion increases commute times, air pollution, and infrastructure costs.' |
|
| 'Marcus Chen, an urban planner, has developed innovative solutions to address these problems.' |
|
| 'Chen designs transit-oriented developments that concentrate housing and commercial spaces around public transportation hubs.' |
|
| 'This approach reduces car dependency and creates more sustainable urban environments.' |
|
| 'Chen's success in Portland has inspired similar projects in other cities.' |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Visual Structure Map:
- PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Urban sprawl challenges
- PROBLEM ELABORATION: Specific negative effects
- SOLUTION PROVIDER: Marcus Chen introduced
- SOLUTION DESCRIPTION: Transit-oriented development method
- SOLUTION BENEFITS: Reduced car dependency
- BROADER SUCCESS: Portland to other cities
Main Point: Urban sprawl creates transportation problems, but urban planner Marcus Chen has developed an effective solution that's now being adopted in multiple cities.
Argument Flow: The passage starts by establishing urban sprawl as a serious problem with multiple negative consequences. It then shifts to focus on Marcus Chen, who has created a specific solution that addresses these problems. Finally, it demonstrates the solution's effectiveness.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? The question asks 'Which choice best describes the text's overall structure?' We need to identify how the entire passage is organized and flows, looking for the structural pattern that governs the whole text.
What type of answer do we need? We need to identify how the entire passage is organized and flows, looking for the structural pattern that governs the whole text.
Any limiting keywords? None specified.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- Based on our structure map, the passage follows a clear problem-to-solution pattern
- It begins by identifying urban sprawl as a problem and explaining why it's problematic
- Then it shifts to focus on one person (Marcus Chen) who has created a solution to these problems
- The rest explains what his solution is and shows evidence that it works
- The right answer should recognize this problem-to-solution structure, specifically mentioning that the passage identifies challenges and then explains how one professional addresses them
It describes competing theories about urban development and their outcomes.
- This suggests the passage discusses multiple competing theories and compares their results
- The passage only presents one approach (Chen's), not competing theories
- There's no comparison of different theoretical outcomes
It identifies a problem and explains one professional's approach to solving it.
- This perfectly matches our structure analysis: problem identification (urban sprawl challenges) followed by solution explanation (Chen's approach)
- The 'one professional's approach' accurately describes how the passage focuses specifically on Marcus Chen's method
- This captures the problem-to-solution flow we mapped out
It compares transportation systems in different cities over several decades.
- This suggests a comparison of transportation systems across different cities over time
- The passage only briefly mentions Portland and other cities at the end, without comparing their systems
- There's no historical timeline comparing decades of development
It presents an argument and mentions a planner who disagrees with that argument.
- This suggests the passage presents an argument and then introduces someone who disagrees
- Chen doesn't disagree with anything—he's presented as someone solving the problems, not arguing against them
- Students might confuse 'presenting a solution' with 'presenting disagreement,' but Chen is working with the problem identification, not against it