SAT OwlQuestion bank / Text Structure and Purpose
Sports fans often credit home-field advantage to the energy of cheering crowds. When many professional soccer leagues played matches in empty stadiums in 2020, researchers saw a chance to test that idea. Analyzing thousands of matches, one team found that home teams still won more often than visiting teams, but the gap narrowed considerably, and referees showed fewer yellow cards to visiting players than usual. The researchers concluded that crowds may affect results partly by influencing referees.
Which choice best describes the overall structure of the text?
It presents a common explanation, describes circumstances that allowed researchers to test it, and reports what they found.
It presents a common belief and then offers evidence showing that the belief is entirely mistaken.
It compares two explanations for home-field advantage and concludes that neither is supported.
It describes a hypothesis that researchers proposed and then explains why the hypothesis could not be tested.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
The text opens with a familiar explanation (crowds create home-field advantage), then describes the 2020 empty-stadium matches as a chance to test it, and ends with the findings and conclusion. Choice A matches that order.
Choice B goes too far: home teams still won more often and the researchers still think crowds matter, so the belief is refined, not shown to be entirely mistaken.
Why the other choices are wrong
- B. The text does not show the belief is entirely mistaken. Home teams still won more often, and the researchers concluded that crowds may still affect results by influencing referees.
- C. The text does not compare two explanations or conclude that neither is supported. It focuses on one explanation involving crowds and reports findings that refine rather than reject it.
- D. The hypothesis was successfully tested using matches played in empty stadiums in 2020. The text reports the results of this test rather than explaining why it could not be done.
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