Correct Answer: why a city crime app should go ahead only with careful limits
Passage Reference: We believe it should, but only if the app is slower, more careful and more private than the chat groups it hopes to replace.
Why this is correct: The editorial says the city should run an app. But the app must be slower, more careful and more private than chat groups. It ends with a list of limits.
Tips: Look at the last sentence of the first paragraph, where the writers give their view. Then see how the last paragraph turns that view into a plan.
Why the other options are wrong:
- why police should shut down every neighbourhood chat group: The writers want to replace rumour chats with a better tool. They never ask police to shut down every neighbourhood chat group.
- how one renter found a stolen bike through a group chat: No renter in the editorial finds a stolen bike through a group chat. Bikes were recovered through Hollis’s reviewed pilot.
- why council has already rejected a city crime app: Council has not rejected the crime app. It is still weighing the idea.
Correct Answer: a pilot in which reviewed posts helped owners recover stolen bikes
Passage Reference: In a pilot she ran, reviewed posts helped owners get stolen bikes back within two days.
Why this is correct: Hollis’s pilot showed that reviewed posts helped owners get stolen bikes back within two days, which supports her case.
Tips: First find the reason Hollis gives in her lines. Then pick the fact that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a survey showing that residents prefer paper block-watch meetings: A survey favouring paper block-watch meetings would not help Hollis, who wants an app. Dufresne says many renters miss those meetings.
- a study showing that live push alerts help to reduce panic: Hollis never says live push alerts reduce panic. Iwasaki warns that push alerts create panic.
- a report showing that group chats rarely spread false rumours: Hollis says unchecked group chats already spread fear, so a report that chats rarely spread false rumours would not support her.
Correct Answer: Nadia Iwasaki
Passage Reference: can point suspicion at racialized people who were simply walking by
Why this is correct: Iwasaki says instant alerts can point suspicion at racialized people who were simply walking by.
Tips: Read each speaker’s lines and ask what harm each one fears. Only one of those fears is about who gets blamed.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Amina Hollis: Amina Hollis wants a checked app. She does not raise the worry about unfair suspicion.
- Carla Dufresne: Carla Dufresne worries about shift workers and anonymous tips, not about suspicion caused by instant alerts.
- Samir Mbeki: Samir Mbeki’s concern is location data and records, not unfair suspicion from alerts.
Correct Answer: Location data would be collected only with consent and deleted soon
Passage Reference: location tracking should be something residents choose to turn on, and that incident map data must be erased on a short schedule
Why this is correct: Mbeki wants residents to choose to turn on location tracking. He also wants the data erased on a short schedule. That means consent and quick deletion.
Tips: Read Mbeki’s lines to the end and find the words that set his condition. Then match them to a choice.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Every resident would share location data with police by default: Mbeki wants residents to choose whether to turn on location tracking, so sharing it with police by default is the opposite.
- Location records would be kept on city servers for several years: Mbeki wants location data erased quickly, so keeping records on city servers for several years goes against Mbeki’s condition.
- Incident maps would show where every app user lives and travels: Mbeki warns against the city quietly building records of where residents go. So maps showing where every user lives and travels go against Mbeki’s condition.
Correct Answer: cautiously supportive
Passage Reference: That result encourages us, and we agree with her condition that a staff member must check every alert before it goes out.
Why this is correct: The writers support the app, but only with limits such as human checks, digests and short data storage. So the tone is supportive and careful.
Tips: Tone comes from how the writers state their own view. Read their “We believe” sentence and the plan in the last paragraph.
Why the other options are wrong:
- openly hostile: The tone is not openly hostile. The first paragraph says the city should run the app.
- completely neutral: The tone is not completely neutral, because the writers take a side and urge council to act.
- playfully mocking: Panic and privacy are treated seriously here, so the tone is not playfully mocking.
Correct Answer: residents already trade fear in unchecked chats
Passage Reference: People already share fear in unchecked group chats, so give them a channel that shares facts instead
Why this is correct: Hollis says people already share fear in unchecked group chats, so the city should give them a channel that shares facts.
Tips: The comment names Hollis, so go back to her quote at the council workshop. Read the first half of what she said.
Why the other options are wrong:
- police are too busy to chase bike thefts: Hollis never says police are too busy to chase bike thefts. Her pilot helped owners get their bikes back.
- most neighbours have quietly left their chats: Hollis says people already use group chats, so she does not claim most neighbours have left them.
- block-watch meetings already share reliable facts: Hollis does not praise block-watch meetings. Her point is that chats share fear and a city channel could share facts.
Correct Answer: corrections move more slowly than the rumours
Passage Reference: Corrections never travel as fast as the screenshot
Why this is correct: Iwasaki, the civil-liberties researcher, says corrections never travel as fast as the screenshot. So a correction always moves more slowly than the rumour.
Tips: The comment calls her the civil-liberties researcher. Go to her short quote and restate it in your own words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- most tips from neighbours turn out to be accurate: Iwasaki warns that tips cause panic. The first paragraph also says police answer calls about incidents that turn out to be false. So she does not say most tips are accurate.
- staff reviews would make the app too slow: Iwasaki never complains that staff reviews slow the app. She herself wants slower digests instead of live pushes.
- push alerts help police arrive much sooner: Iwasaki says push alerts turn every tip into a small panic. She never says they help police arrive sooner.
Correct Answer: night workers see the street more than most
Passage Reference: Night workers see more of the street than anyone, and nobody asks them
Why this is correct: Dufresne says night workers see more of the street than anyone, but nobody asks them.
Tips: Find Dufresne’s short quote in the third paragraph. The right choice says the same idea with different words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- renters seldom notice what happens on their block: Dufresne says the opposite: night workers, many of them renters, see more of the street than anyone.
- tenants would rather phone police than use apps: Dufresne supports an app and never says tenants would rather phone police.
- landlords ought to run the block-watch meetings: Dufresne never says landlords should run block-watch meetings. She says many renters cannot get to those meetings.
Correct Answer: tips can still be sent without a name
Passage Reference: she insists that anonymous tips remain possible, so renters in insecure housing do not have to reveal their names
Why this is correct: Dufresne insists that anonymous tips remain possible, so a tip can still be sent without a name.
Tips: Dufresne uses the word “insists”. Read what she insists on and why renters need it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- every tip carries the sender’s home address: Dufresne wants renters to stay unnamed, so she would never want every tip to carry the sender’s home address.
- renters attend block-watch meetings before posting: Dufresne says many renters work shifts and never make it to block-watch meetings, so she would not make them attend first.
- anonymous posts are deleted at once: Dufresne wants anonymous tips to stay possible, so deleting anonymous posts at once goes against her.
Correct Answer: being right matters more than being first
Passage Reference: A city service earns its place by being right
Why this is correct: In the last paragraph, the writers accept that the app will lose to the group chats on speed. They say a city service earns its place by being right. So being right matters more than being first.
Tips: The comment’s last blank matches the editorial’s final two sentences. Read them and pick the choice with the same meaning.
Why the other options are wrong:
- residents want speed above everything else: The writers accept that the app will lose on speed. They say residents return to a source that has not misled them. So speed is not what residents want above everything.
- group chats will fade once the city app starts: The last paragraph says the app will lose to the group chats on speed. So the writers do not expect the chats to fade.
- police should write every alert themselves: The writers agree with Hollis that a staff member must check every alert before it goes out. Nobody in the editorial says police should write the alerts.
