Official GRE Verbal Text Completion Chapter - Easy set - Question 6

GRE Verbal Problem Solving
1

We have yet to (i) __ the assessment of Canada’s biodiversity. Most of the vertebrates have been assessed, but our challenge will be the assessment of invertebrates and plants. This task is (ii) __ not only because of the high number of species, but also because of the diversity, each species requiring a different approach.

Blank (i):
A. initiate
B. complete
C. limit

Blank (ii):
D. repetitious
E. trivial
F. daunting

i tried using the connotation and semantics approach but could not make it , can you explain how to tackle this ?

2

Can you write down your 5 steps for each blank so we can assess your strategy?

3
  1. blank 1 in sentence 1 , i could not find any connotation , but the 1st idea is both the 1st 2 sentences , so i took a sematic guess
    “most have been assessed” means it is almost done so → complete
  2. 2nd blank is contrast due to “but” , here after but the sentence feels neutral so i went with semantic
  3. so many species means this should a length task and closest i though was repitious

the answer is : complete and daunting (Which makes sense but i am not able to come here using the method)

can you let me know how you would do this ?

4

  1. blank 1 in sentence 1 , i could not find any connotation , but the 1st idea is both the 1st 2 sentences , so i took a sematic guess
    “most have been assessed” means it is almost done so → complete

  2. 2nd blank is contrast due to “but” , here after but the sentence feels neutral so i went with semantic

  3. so many species means this should a length task and closest i though was repitious

the answer is : complete and daunting (Which makes sense but i am not able to come here using the method)

can you let me know how you would do this ?

5

You’re not really doing the 5 steps though? Step 1 is to say what the blank is describing, and you didn’t do that.

2025-09-04 at 16.18.41@2x
2025-09-04 at 16.18.41@2x1094×922 58.4 KB

For Blank 1:

  1. The blank describes something we haven’t yet done to the assessment of canada’s biodiversity
  2. The blank’s idea is being supported by the “.”
  3. Since the other side says “most of the vertebrates have been assessed” it shows that its not finished yet - So I would guess “finish”
  4. We can pick “complete” here, since it conveys the idea that the study is not yet finished
  5. Elimination: initiate (contradiction, since it says vertebrates have been assessed), limit (no evidence that we are trying to restrain the assessment in someway)

Now, try it for Blank 2:

6

For Blank 2:

  1. blank is describing a task that is doing something regarding the number of species as well as diversity → referring to the biodiversity of Canada
  2. contrast due to the “but”
  3. after the but it is talking about the huge number of species and approached required (which is neutral) so the blank must be negative
  4. i am picking “hard” or “time taking” as both can said about the nature of such a tedious task
  5. elimination - as the blank has to be negative repetitious get cancelled and trivial is contradicting - so answer is daunting

is this a correct analysis ?

7

Perfect, good work!