Correct Answer: a parent’s view on ending the twice-yearly clock change
Passage Reference: Our province is once again debating whether to keep changing the clocks twice a year or to stay on standard time all year, and after years of grumbling I have finally picked a side
Why this is correct: The writer is a parent who explains the debate about changing the clocks twice a year. The post also says which side the writer now takes.
Tips: A “mainly about” question needs the idea that runs through the whole post. Find the debate in the first paragraph and check that later paragraphs keep returning to it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a restaurant owner’s plan to open a new patio downtown: Dana Caldwell already runs her patio restaurant, and the blog post never says she plans to open a new one downtown.
- a researcher’s new study on children’s sleep at school: Keisha Grewal writes about heart problems and mistakes at work after the spring change. She does not describe a new study on children’s sleep at school.
- a school division’s decision to change its bus routes: Gord Pelletier reports parents’ worries about dark mornings, but no division makes any decision to change bus routes.
Correct Answer: evidence that restaurant patios stay busy on bright summer evenings
Passage Reference: summer evenings are when her business earns its money
Why this is correct: Caldwell says summer evenings are when her patio restaurant earns its money, so busy patios on bright evenings would back her up.
Tips: First find Caldwell’s reason for her view. Then pick the proof that would make that exact reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- evidence that children sleep better when their mornings are lighter: Children’s sleep and lighter mornings have nothing to do with Caldwell’s business, which needs bright evenings.
- evidence that most diners prefer eating indoors during the summer: If most diners stayed indoors in summer, patio evenings would matter less, so this would weaken Caldwell’s point.
- evidence that soccer leagues play most games on weekend mornings: Games held on weekend mornings would not need evening light. So this would weaken Caldwell’s point that soccer leagues would lose playing time.
Correct Answer: Keisha Grewal
Passage Reference: the week after the spring change brings more heart problems and more mistakes at work
Why this is correct: Grewal is the only person who links the spring change to health, saying it brings more heart problems.
Tips: Check each speaker’s worry and ask what kind of harm it is. Only one worry is about people’s bodies.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Dana Caldwell: Dana Caldwell talks about her restaurant earning money on summer evenings, not about health.
- Gord Pelletier: Gord Pelletier is worried about children beside dark roads in the morning, which is road safety, not heart health.
- Kenji Yoshida: Kenji Yoshida worries about his office and home being on different times, not about health.
Correct Answer: The province would change its clocks only together with its neighbours
Passage Reference: whatever we choose should only happen if our neighbours change at the same time
Why this is correct: Yoshida’s condition is that any change happens only if the neighbouring province changes at the same time.
Tips: Read Yoshida’s condition to the end. Check what must happen at what point for his support to hold.
Why the other options are wrong:
- The province would keep changing its clocks so patios stay open later: Keeping the clock switch for patios is what Dana Caldwell wants. Yoshida does not say which clock to pick.
- Schools would start later so that buses run after sunrise: Nobody in the blog post suggests starting school later, and Yoshida talks about his work commute, not schools.
- Workers would get a day off after each spring clock change: A day off after the spring change is never proposed. Yoshida only asks that the province move with its neighbours.
Correct Answer: send the committee a written view of their own
Passage Reference: I am hoping some of you will send one in, whichever clock you prefer
Why this is correct: Near the end, the blogger says the committee is taking written submissions. The blogger hopes readers will send one in, whatever clock they prefer.
Tips: Look at the last paragraph for what the writer asks of readers. Notice the deadline mentioned there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- write to the university about its sleep research: Grewal’s research is mentioned, but readers are never asked to contact the university about it.
- ask the school to move the bus stop closer: The writer worries about the dark bus stop but never asks anyone to move it.
- join the writer’s youth soccer team this summer: The writer coaches soccer, but the post never invites readers to join the team.
Correct Answer: young children beside dark roads are hard to see
Passage Reference: Young children standing beside dark roads are harder for drivers to see
Why this is correct: Pelletier passes on the parents’ worry that young children beside dark roads are hard for drivers to see. The bus driver agrees that he is right.
Tips: The comment names Pelletier, so go back to his lines. Find what he says drivers struggle with in the morning.
Why the other options are wrong:
- school buses should leave earlier on dark winter mornings: Pelletier never suggests changing bus times. Leaving earlier would only mean more waiting in the dark.
- most parents who call him want brighter summer evenings: Pelletier says the parents who call him are worried about mornings, not evenings.
- trustees have no power over when school starts: Pelletier says nothing about what trustees can or cannot decide about school start times.
Correct Answer: standard time would cut an hour from summer evenings
Passage Reference: permanent standard time would take an hour of light from the end of every summer day
Why this is correct: The restaurant owner near the blogger’s house is Dana Caldwell. She argues that permanent standard time would take an hour of light from the end of every summer day.
Tips: The comment calls her the restaurant owner near the writer’s house. Go to her lines and find what she says would be lost.
Why the other options are wrong:
- standard time would bring more diners to her patio: Caldwell says the opposite: people don’t sit outside for dinner in the dark, so she expects fewer diners.
- standard time would force her to close on weekends: Caldwell never talks about closing on weekends. Her worry is losing light at the end of the day.
- standard time would make her staff drive home in the dark: Caldwell never mentions her staff’s drive home. She speaks only about her customers and soccer leagues.
Correct Answer: the spring change costs millions an hour of sleep
Passage Reference: millions of people lose an hour of sleep at once
Why this is correct: The researcher the blogger quotes is Keisha Grewal. She writes that millions of people lose an hour of sleep at once when the clocks jump in spring.
Tips: The comment calls her the researcher. Read her lines and find how many people are affected and what they lose.
Why the other options are wrong:
- evening light helps people fall asleep more easily: Grewal never says evening light helps sleep. She warns that an extra hour of evening light is not free.
- the spring change has little effect on most sleepers: Grewal says millions of people lose an hour of sleep at once, so the change is not a small matter for sleepers.
- children need later school start times to sleep well: School start times are never part of what Grewal writes in the blog post.
Correct Answer: give up patio light for safer mornings
Passage Reference: I would rather give up some patio light than send my daughter to a bus stop in the dark every spring after the clocks jump forward
Why this is correct: In the last paragraph, the writer would rather give up some patio light than send their daughter to a dark bus stop. That is the choice the driver now understands.
Tips: Look for “I would rather” in the last paragraph. It shows what the writer will trade and for what.
Why the other options are wrong:
- keep the clock change for the soccer season: Keeping the clock change is the side the blogger rejects, even though it would help the soccer evenings.
- drive your daughter to school every morning: The writer still waits with the daughter for the bus and never plans to drive her to school.
- move your family closer to the school: Moving the family closer to the school is never mentioned.
Correct Answer: standard time all year round
Passage Reference: My vote is permanent standard time, chosen together with our neighbours
Why this is correct: The driver will vote the same way as the blogger in a note to the committee. The blogger’s vote is permanent standard time.
Tips: The driver will vote the way the writer did. Find the sentence starting “My vote is” in the last paragraph.
Why the other options are wrong:
- changing the clocks twice a year: Changing the clocks twice a year is the system the blogger votes to end. So it is not the way the blogger voted.
- daylight saving time all year: The writer chooses standard time, not daylight saving time, as the one clock for the whole year.
- a separate clock for each town: One clock chosen together with the neighbours is the plan, not a different clock in every town.
