Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud in a 164-million-year-old plant fossil in...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud in a 164-million-year-old plant fossil in China. The researchers have named the new species Florigerminis jurassica. They believe that the discovery pushes the emergence of flowering plants, or angiosperms, back to the Jurassic period, which occurred between 145 million and 201 million years ago.
According to the text, how old was the fossil that Wang and colleagues discovered?
150 million years old
145 million years old
164 million years old
201 million years old
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "Xin Wang and colleagues have discovered the earliest known example of a flower bud in a 164-million-year-old plant fossil in China." |
|
| "The researchers have named the new species Florigerminis jurassica." |
|
| "They believe that the discovery pushes the emergence of flowering plants, or angiosperms, back to the Jurassic period, which occurred between 145 million and 201 million years ago." |
|
Part B: Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Researchers discovered a 164-million-year-old flower bud fossil that represents the earliest known flowering plant and pushes back the timeline for when these plants first emerged.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? A specific factual detail about the age of the fossil
What type of answer do we need? A numerical age in years
Any limiting keywords? "According to the text" means we need information explicitly stated in the passage
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The passage directly states the age of the fossil that Wang and colleagues discovered
- We need to find where this specific age is mentioned and match it exactly
- The correct answer should be 164 million years old, as that's the specific age given for the fossil itself
150 million years old
Incorrect - This number doesn't appear anywhere in the passage
145 million years old
Incorrect - This is the lower boundary of the Jurassic period range (145-201 million years ago), which could confuse students who mix up the Jurassic period timeframe with the specific age of the fossil
164 million years old
Correct - The passage explicitly states the fossil is "164-million-year-old" which directly answers what the question asks for
201 million years old
Incorrect - This is the upper boundary of the Jurassic period range (145-201 million years ago), which could confuse students who mix up the Jurassic period timeframe with the specific age of the fossil