Correct Answer: how fast the city should add more garden plots
Passage Reference: started debating how quickly to open new plots on city land
Why this is correct: The blogger went to the parks committee because it was debating how quickly to open new plots on city land. Every speaker in the blog post gives a view on that question.
Tips: The blogger gets the same email every spring. Ask which choice names the issue that email story leads into.
Why the other options are wrong:
- whether the city should sell its vacant lots: Nobody suggests selling city land. The debate is about turning it into garden plots.
- how to start a garden on an apartment balcony: Balcony pots are only background. The post gives no advice on balcony gardening.
- why grocery prices rose so sharply this year: Molnar says plots can lower grocery bills, but the blog post never explains why prices went up.
Correct Answer: Petra Galloway
Passage Reference: She also doubts that a long wait-list proves every applicant would really tend a plot.
Why this is correct: Petra Galloway doubts that a long wait-list proves every applicant would really look after a plot.
Tips: Go person by person and look for talk about the list itself. Keep the one who questions what that list really shows.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Bashir Molnar: Bashir Molnar wants many new plots quickly. He does not question whether applicants would care for them.
- Hiroshi Turcotte: Hiroshi Turcotte talks about class trips and soil tests, not about whether applicants would tend their plots.
- Rhea Duguay: Rhea Duguay complains about how the lottery is run, not about whether people on the list would garden.
Correct Answer: proof that working people miss the weekday draws
Passage Reference: the draws happen on weekday mornings, when most working people cannot attend
Why this is correct: Duguay says the lottery is unfair because the draws happen on weekday mornings, when most working people cannot attend. Proof that working people miss the draws would back her up.
Tips: Find Duguay’s reason in her own lines. Say it simply, then pick the fact that would back it up.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a report of weeds spreading from empty plots: Weeds in empty plots would support Galloway’s warning about abandoned beds, not Duguay’s point about the lottery.
- a survey linking gardeners to busier evening parks: A survey about evening park use supports Molnar’s safety argument. It says nothing about who can attend the draws.
- a study showing plots rarely lower food bills: Such a study would weaken Molnar’s point about grocery bills, and it says nothing about who can attend the lottery draws.
Correct Answer: soil near old industrial sites would be tested before planting
Passage Reference: he wants the soil tested before anything is planted near the old rail yards and factory sites
Why this is correct: Turcotte supports more plots only if the soil is tested before anything is planted near the old rail yards and factory sites.
Tips: Turcotte backs Molnar, with one request attached. Find that request in his lines and compare the choices with it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the gardens would close to all visitors: Turcotte wants classes to visit the gardens, so he would not want them closed to visitors.
- every new plot would open by next spring: Turcotte asks for soil testing first, which does not fit opening every plot by next spring.
- gardeners would pay extra to test their own soil: Turcotte wants the soil tested, but he never says gardeners should pay for the tests themselves.
Correct Answer: impatient but ready to accept it
Passage Reference: twenty plots a year sounds painfully slow to someone who has waited this long ... I can live with the slower plan
Why this is correct: Look at the last paragraph. The writer says twenty plots a year sounds painfully slow, which is impatient. But then the writer says “I can live with the slower plan” if online sign-up is added.
Tips: Find the blogger’s own comments on Galloway’s plan. Read them word by word and pick the choice that matches their meaning.
Why the other options are wrong:
- angry enough to fight it at council: The writer is frustrated but never plans to fight the plan. The post ends by accepting it.
- fully convinced from the very start: At first the writer calls the plan painfully slow, so the support is not there from the start.
- uninterested because the blogger has a yard: The writer has no yard, grows tomatoes on an apartment balcony and cares a great deal about the plan.
Correct Answer: convert unused boulevard strips in one summer
Passage Reference: He wants the unused boulevard strips along two avenues converted within a single summer
Why this is correct: Molnar wants the unused boulevard strips along two avenues converted within a single summer.
Tips: The comment names Molnar, so go to his lines. Find his plan and match it to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- build a greenhouse beside every school: Molnar never mentions greenhouses. He wants boulevard strips turned into plots.
- sell its empty lots to private growers: Molnar wants more public plots, not a sale of city land.
- move the gardens onto school rooftops: Rooftops are never mentioned. Molnar’s plan uses boulevard strips.
Correct Answer: twenty plots a year
Passage Reference: Her plan is to release twenty plots a year
Why this is correct: Galloway, who runs parks operations, plans to release twenty plots a year.
Tips: The comment calls her the parks lead. Find the person who runs parks operations and read what she would do instead.
Why the other options are wrong:
- fifty plots this spring: Galloway warns against rushing, and her number is twenty a year, not fifty this spring.
- one plot per school: Schools come up only in Turcotte’s point about field trips. Galloway’s plan is twenty plots a year.
- a plot for every tower: Galloway never links plots to apartment towers. She plans twenty plots a year.
Correct Answer: teachers already bring classes on garden trips
Passage Reference: teachers already bring their classes to the existing gardens on field trips
Why this is correct: Turcotte told the committee that teachers already bring their classes to the existing gardens on field trips.
Tips: The comment names Turcotte, so go to his lines. Match what he told the committee to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- most gardeners are retired teachers: Turcotte talks about teachers bringing classes to visit, not about who the gardeners are.
- children may not enter the plots: Turcotte says classes visit the gardens on field trips, so children clearly do go there.
- gardens raise nearby house prices: House prices are never mentioned in the blog post.
Correct Answer: online sign-up with first chance for homes without yards
Passage Reference: She wants people to sign up online, and she would give first chance to households that have no yard of their own
Why this is correct: Duguay wants people to sign up online, and she would give first chance to households that have no yard of their own.
Tips: Duguay is named in the comment. Read her lines, find the change she asks for, and test each choice against it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a waiting list sorted by street address: Duguay never mentions street addresses. She wants online sign-up with first chance for people without yards.
- a higher fee for households with yards: Duguay asks for first chance at plots, not for a higher fee. The only fee mentioned is Molnar’s tool shed fee.
- plots shared between two families each: Sharing plots is never suggested by anyone in the blog post.
Correct Answer: grows tomatoes in pots on a balcony
Passage Reference: every summer I grow small, sad tomatoes in pots on my apartment balcony
Why this is correct: In the first paragraph, the writer grows small tomatoes in pots on an apartment balcony every summer while waiting for a plot.
Tips: Find where the blogger mentions their own number. Read that part of the story and match what the blogger does.
Why the other options are wrong:
- shares a plot with a neighbour: The writer has no plot at all and is still on the wait-list.
- sells vegetables at a weekend market: The tomatoes are small and sad, and selling them is never mentioned.
- teaches gardening at a local school: Teaching is linked to Turcotte’s school groups, not to the blogger.
