Correct Answer: a debate over bringing green bins to apartments
Passage Reference: the regional public works committee was debating green bins for apartments
Why this is correct: The blogger goes to a committee meeting where people argue about bringing green bins to apartment buildings. Each later paragraph reports one side of that debate.
Tips: Read the end of the first paragraph for why the writer went to the meeting. Then check what every speaker after that is arguing about.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a new rule that bans food scraps from landfills: No rule banning food scraps from landfills is mentioned. The meeting is only a debate about apartment bins.
- a plan to close garbage rooms in mid-rise buildings: Nobody plans to close garbage rooms. Speakers only talk about how garbage rooms smell.
- a dispute between tenants and landlords over rent: Rent is never discussed. The only tenant leader, Salazar, speaks about smells and green bins.
Correct Answer: figures on how much apartment food reaches landfill
Passage Reference: spoke first and said apartments are now the biggest gap in the program
Why this is correct: Ouellet says apartments are the biggest gap and that burying food makes methane. Figures on how much apartment food goes to landfill would show that gap, so they support her case.
Tips: First find Ouellet’s reason for her plan. Then pick the proof that would back that reason.
Why the other options are wrong:
- proof that summer pickup can safely be cut back: Cutting summer pickup has nothing to do with Ouellet’s point about landfill, and Marchetti actually wants more summer pickup.
- a survey showing tenants want private garbage bins: Private garbage bins for tenants are never part of Ouellet’s case, which is about diverting food from landfill.
- reports that raccoons avoid buildings with open bins: Raccoons come up only in Marchetti’s warning, and he says bins bring raccoons in, not that raccoons avoid them.
Correct Answer: Dave Marchetti
Passage Reference: If you add buildings without adding summer trucks, the complaint line will ring all day
Why this is correct: Marchetti says that without extra summer trucks, the complaint line will ring all day. He is the one who predicts many summer complaints.
Tips: Read each speaker’s lines and look for a prediction that starts with “If”. Then check what that speaker says will follow.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Delphine Ouellet: Ouellet talks about landfill methane and bulk buying. Ouellet makes no prediction about summer complaints.
- Noreen Salazar: Salazar describes smells that already happen overnight. Salazar agrees with Marchetti but does not make the prediction herself.
- Kamal Adjei: Adjei wants complaint numbers posted online. Adjei asks for data but does not predict that complaints will pour in.
Correct Answer: residents would see weekly odour complaint counts online
Passage Reference: Councillor Kamal Adjei asked staff to post weekly odour complaint numbers for each block online
Why this is correct: Adjei asks staff to post weekly odour complaint numbers for each block online. If Adjei’s request is met, residents would be able to see those numbers every week.
Tips: Adjei “asked staff to post” something. Read what it is, how often, and where it goes.
Why the other options are wrong:
- crews would stop collecting from blocks with complaints: Adjei wants crews to change their routes quickly, not to stop collecting from blocks with complaints.
- tenants would vote on where the new bins are placed: A tenant vote on bin placement is never mentioned by Adjei or anyone else.
- the region would hire staff to answer complaint calls: Adjei never asks for new staff. Adjei only wants complaint numbers posted online so crews can change their routes.
Correct Answer: a worse smell in the garbage room in summer
Passage Reference: What worries me is the smell. I have stood in our garbage room in August
Why this is correct: Look at the last paragraph: “What worries me is the smell.” The writer has stood in the garbage room in August and does not want the kids walking past something worse.
Tips: Look for the word “worries” in the last paragraph. The sentences after it tell you what the writer fears.
Why the other options are wrong:
- higher monthly fees for tenants in the building: Fees for tenants are never mentioned. The only cost in the post is Ouellet’s cost per building, and she says it would stay low.
- neighbours who will not bother sorting scraps: The writer does not worry that neighbours will skip sorting. The worry named in the last paragraph is the smell.
- losing parking spaces to new bin storage: Parking spaces are never mentioned. The bins would sit in the garbage room, not in a parking area.
Correct Answer: your building has no organics pickup at all
Passage Reference: Our building has no organics pickup at all.
Why this is correct: Early in the blog post, the blogger says their building has no organics pickup at all, unlike the sister’s house. The commenter repeats this fact back to the blogger.
Tips: The blank starts with “You mention that”, so it is a fact about the writer’s own life. Check the first paragraph.
Why the other options are wrong:
- your building’s scraps are picked up once a month: The first paragraph says the building has no organics pickup at all. So its scraps are not picked up even once a month.
- your sister’s house has no green bin either: The sister does have a green bin: in the blog post, she tips her scraps into one at the curb.
- your building shares one green bin with the houses nearby: The blog post never says the building shares a bin with nearby houses. It has no organics pickup at all.
Correct Answer: the rooms smell when bags sit open overnight
Passage Reference: Salazar said the rooms already smell when people leave open bags overnight.
Why this is correct: Salazar said the rooms already smell when people leave open bags overnight. The commenter calls this point important and wishes it had been made at a tenant meeting in their old building.
Tips: The comment names Salazar, so go to her lines in the third paragraph. Find what she says already goes wrong there.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the rooms smell because pickups come too late: Salazar does talk about smell, but she blames open bags left overnight, not late pickups.
- the bins are too heavy for older tenants: Salazar never mentions heavy bins or older tenants. Salazar’s complaint is about smell.
- the green bin lids are too hard to open: Salazar never complains that lids are hard to open. Salazar actually wants lids to come with the bins.
Correct Answer: buying in bulk would keep each building’s cost low
Passage Reference: She also argued that buying bins and liners in bulk would keep the cost per building low.
Why this is correct: Ouellet argued that buying bins and liners in bulk would keep the cost per building low. The commenter doubts this cost claim and wants to see real figures first.
Tips: The comment says the claim is about money. Go back to Ouellet’s lines and find what she says about the price of bins and liners.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the province would pay for every new bin: The province is never mentioned. Ouellet says the region keeps costs low by buying in bulk, not that someone else pays.
- tenants should pay for their own bin liners: Ouellet does not ask tenants to pay for liners. Ouellet says the region would buy liners in bulk.
- the landfill tax would cover the new bins: No landfill tax is mentioned anywhere. Ouellet’s cost point is about buying in bulk.
Correct Answer: apartments should get green bins this year
Passage Reference: I want the bins, and I want them this year.
Why this is correct: In the last paragraph the blogger says “I want the bins, and I want them this year.” The commenter agrees that apartments should get the bins this year.
Tips: The commenter agrees with one thing the writer is sure of. The last paragraph starts with it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- the region should wait until next year: The writer does not want to wait. The post says the writer wants the bins this year.
- the committee should hold a tenant vote first: A tenant vote is never requested. The writer simply wants the bins this year.
- houses should give up curb pickup first: Houses are never asked to give up anything. The sister’s curb green bin is only mentioned as a contrast.
Correct Answer: put locking lids and summer pickups in writing
Passage Reference: He wants weekly summer pickup and locking lids written into the plan first.
Why this is correct: Marchetti wants weekly summer pickup and locking lids written into the plan first. The commenter says these conditions are not optional. So the request to the committee is to put them in writing before any bins arrive.
Tips: The commenter calls the supervisor’s conditions not optional. Find what he wants written into the plan first.
Why the other options are wrong:
- cancel the plan for apartment green bins: The commenter does not want to cancel the plan. The commenter agrees that apartments should get green bins this year.
- put complaint hotlines and fines in writing: Nobody asks for hotlines or fines. The conditions the commenter means are Marchetti’s lids and summer pickup.
- leave odour problems to each landlord: Landlords are never mentioned. The commenter asks the committee, which writes the plan, to act.
