SAT OwlQuestion bank / Cross-Text Connections
Text 1: Psychologists have often attributed procrastination to poor time management. People delay tasks, the argument goes, because they misjudge how long tasks will take or fail to plan their schedules. From this view, training in planning and scheduling should reduce procrastination.
Text 2: Psychologist Dana Whitlock contends that procrastination is mainly a problem of managing emotions, not time. People tend to put off tasks that make them feel anxious, bored, or insecure, she argues, and delaying a task brings immediate relief from those feelings. Whitlock notes that procrastinators often know exactly how long a task will take and avoid it anyway.
Based on the texts, how would Whitlock most likely respond to the approach to reducing procrastination described in Text 1?
She would agree that training in planning is the most effective way to reduce procrastination.
She would argue that procrastinators consistently underestimate how long tasks will take.
She would claim that scheduling training raises people's anxiety and so makes procrastination worse.
She would argue that the approach targets a factor that is not the main cause of procrastination, since many procrastinators already judge task length accurately.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D
Text 1's training assumes people procrastinate because they misjudge time. Whitlock says the main cause is emotional and notes that procrastinators often know how long tasks take. She would say the training aims at the wrong cause, choice D.
Choice C sounds like an emotional argument Whitlock might make, but Text 2 never says scheduling training increases anxiety or makes procrastination worse.
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