SAT OwlQuestion bank / Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Radiocarbon dating estimates the age of once-living material by measuring how much carbon-14 it contains.
• It can be used on material up to about 50,000 years old.
• Dendrochronology dates wood by matching its pattern of tree rings to a master sequence.
• Dendrochronology can identify the exact year in which a tree ring formed.
• Radiocarbon dates usually come with a margin of error of decades or more.
The student wants to emphasize an advantage of dendrochronology over radiocarbon dating. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Radiocarbon dating can be used on material up to about 50,000 years old, while dendrochronology dates wood by matching its pattern of tree rings to a master sequence.
Dendrochronology dates wood by matching its pattern of tree rings to a master sequence.
Unlike radiocarbon dating, which usually yields dates with a margin of error of decades or more, dendrochronology can pinpoint the exact year a tree ring formed.
Both radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology can be used to estimate the age of materials from the past.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
An advantage of one method over another needs a comparison that favors the first method. Choice C contrasts radiocarbon dating's margin of error of decades or more with dendrochronology's exact year.
Choice A compares the two methods, but the only advantage it mentions belongs to radiocarbon dating (its long range).
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. This points to radiocarbon dating's range and describes dendrochronology's method, but it never shows an advantage of dendrochronology.
- B. This explains how dendrochronology works without comparing it with radiocarbon dating.
- D. This presents a similarity between the methods rather than an advantage of one.
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