Correct Answer: whether Canada should offer a limited digital dollar
Passage Reference: the Bank of Canada asked Canadians whether it should create a digital dollar
Why this is correct: The blogger starts reading after the Bank of Canada asks whether it should create a digital dollar. Every speaker after that discusses how small and limited such a dollar should be.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, look at what every paragraph keeps returning to. Start with the question that made the writer begin reading.
Why the other options are wrong:
- how small bakeries can cut their card machine fees: The bakery’s card machine only stopped during a power cut. The blog post never discusses the fees that bakeries pay for it.
- why the Bank of Canada should stop printing bills: Nobody asks the Bank to stop printing bills. The digital dollar is discussed as a new way to pay, not a replacement for cash.
- whether banks should pay more interest on savings: Interest comes up only as a danger if the Bank paid it on digital dollars. The blog post is not about savings rates at ordinary banks.
Correct Answer: Wolfgang Achterberg
Passage Reference: warns that if the Bank ever paid interest on digital dollars, nervous savers could move money out of ordinary banks overnight during a scare
Why this is correct: Wolfgang Achterberg, the bank risk officer, warns about interest on digital dollars. He says it could make nervous savers move money out of ordinary banks during a scare.
Tips: Read the sentence after each speaker’s name and job, and look for a warning verb. Then check what that speaker says could happen to people’s money.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Katrina Lemay: Katrina Lemay does want a holding limit. Her reason, though, is that the digital dollar should not be a place to park savings. She does not describe savers leaving banks in a scare.
- Priscilla Bhandari: Priscilla Bhandari cares less about banks than about the trail each payment leaves, so this fear is not hers.
- Isak Forsberg: Isak Forsberg worries about who loses money when offline payments clash, not about savers leaving ordinary banks.
Correct Answer: evidence that payment records can expose private habits
Passage Reference: A fully traceable system, she warns, could reveal where people travel, which clinics they visit and which causes they give money to
Why this is correct: Bhandari says a fully traceable system could reveal where people travel, which clinics they visit and which causes they support. Evidence that payment records expose such private habits would back her position.
Tips: Find the reason behind Bhandari’s worry in the third paragraph. Then pick the choice that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a survey of shops that lost sales in a storm: Storm losses support the blogger’s wish for offline payments, which is Lemay’s concern. Bhandari talks about privacy, not lost sales.
- data showing savers leave banks when rates change: Savers leaving banks is Achterberg’s worry. Bhandari says she cares less about banks than about the payment trail.
- a report on disputes over clashing offline payments: Clashing offline payments are Forsberg’s problem. A report on them would back his call for a written rule, not Bhandari’s privacy concern.
Correct Answer: the tax agency would need a warrant to see purchases
Passage Reference: only with hard holding limits and a law saying the tax agency needs a warrant before it looks at anyone’s purchases
Why this is correct: Achterberg accepts a wallet only with two things. He wants hard holding limits and a law that makes the tax agency get a warrant before it looks at purchases. So his condition calls for a warrant before the tax agency sees what people buy.
Tips: Look for the words “only with” in Achterberg’s lines. What follows them is his condition, so match the answer to one part of it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the Bank would pay a small rate of interest on wallets: Achterberg accepts only a wallet that pays no interest, because interest is exactly what he fears.
- shops would need a licence to take digital dollars: Achterberg never mentions licences for shops. Merchant rules are Forsberg’s topic.
- holding limits would be lifted after a trial year: Achterberg insists on hard holding limits, so lifting them would go against his condition.
Correct Answer: show what a shop does when payments stop working
Passage Reference: the card machine at my bakery went dark with it
Why this is correct: The paper bags come up when the card machine went dark in the storm. The blogger had to write IOUs on them. The detail shows what the bakery had to do when normal payments stopped.
Tips: Ask why the writer put this detail in the opening story. Think about what was happening at the bakery at that moment.
Why the other options are wrong:
- suggest that paper records are safer than digital ones: The blogger writes IOUs only because there was no other choice. The blogger still wants a digital way to take payment.
- complain about the cost of the bakery’s card machine: The blog post never mentions what the card machine costs. It stopped because the power was out.
- prove that offline payments never clash: The blog post says the opposite: Forsberg explains that offline payments can clash when the network comes back.
Correct Answer: government benefit payments
Passage Reference: She wants it to handle small purchases offline and to deliver government benefit payments
Why this is correct: Lemay wants the digital dollar to handle small purchases offline and to deliver government benefit payments.
Tips: The comment names Lemay, so go back to her lines in the second paragraph. Look at the second job she wants the digital dollar to do.
Why the other options are wrong:
- loans to small businesses: Lemay says nothing about loans. She describes the digital dollar as a road for payments.
- interest on large savings: Lemay says the digital dollar should not be a new place to park your savings. She also wants a firm limit on holdings.
- rewards for shopping locally: No rewards for local shopping are mentioned by Lemay or anyone else in the blog post.
Correct Answer: remote towns
Passage Reference: He also wants low fees and a first trial in remote towns.
Why this is correct: Forsberg, who runs the payment company for small shops, wants low fees and a first trial in remote towns.
Tips: The comment calls him the head of the payment company, so find the person who runs one. Read to the end of his lines to see where he would start.
Why the other options are wrong:
- large cities: Forsberg does not choose large cities. He wants the first trial in remote towns.
- university campuses: University campuses are never mentioned in the blog post.
- federal offices: Federal offices are not suggested as a trial site. The only place Forsberg names is remote towns.
Correct Answer: an outside auditor confirms records are deleted
Passage Reference: an outside auditor confirms that old records are deleted on schedule
Why this is correct: Bhandari would back checking identity only for larger amounts on two conditions. First, small payments cannot be linked to a person. Second, an outside auditor confirms that old records are deleted on schedule.
Tips: The comment calls her the privacy adviser, so find the word “if” in her lines. She gives two conditions, and the right choice matches one of them.
Why the other options are wrong:
- every payment is linked to a real name: Bhandari wants the opposite: small payments that truly cannot be linked to a person.
- banks agree to store all the records: Bhandari wants old records deleted on schedule, not stored by banks.
- shops keep a paper copy of each sale: Paper copies come only from the blogger’s IOUs during the storm. Bhandari never asks shops for them.
Correct Answer: three days
Passage Reference: Last February an ice storm cut the power across our valley for three days
Why this is correct: The blogger says an ice storm cut the power across the valley for three days last February.
Tips: This is a detail question, so look for the storm in the opening lines. Find the words that tell you how long the power stayed off.
Why the other options are wrong:
- one afternoon: The power was out much longer than an afternoon. The blogger says it lasted three days.
- two weeks: The blog post says the power cut lasted three days, not two weeks.
- a whole month: A month is far longer than the three days the blogger describes.
Correct Answer: register for the Bank’s online consultation
Passage Reference: I have already registered for the Bank’s online consultation
Why this is correct: At the end the blogger says, “I have already registered for the Bank’s online consultation.” A reader who follows the blogger would do the same.
Tips: “Like the blogger” tells you to look at what the writer has already done. Check the last lines of the post.
Why the other options are wrong:
- write a letter to the Senate committee: The blog post never mentions a Senate committee, and Lemay speaks in no committee. The blogger never plans to write any letter.
- stop taking bank cards at the counter: The blogger wants more ways to take payment, not fewer, and never plans to refuse cards.
- open a new account at a credit union: The blog post never mentions a credit union.
