I’m still unsure why the answer is A “Students of award winning…”. I also took note of the sentence in the passage “In fact, the testimony…can be learned”, but what I focused on here was the science laureates’ testimonies regarding polymathy. I thought the sentence structure emphasized how testimonies (to be detailed later) suggested polymathy is a skill that can be learned, and did not make the connection that the key focus was how laureates had laureate students and that this indicated skill learning. (I picked D.)
Perhaps if we reason that “we don’t know if pattern recognition is a learned trait” (to rule out D), we can similarly reason “we don’t know if students of award winners are already polymaths, perhaps polymaths gravitate toward polymaths, increasing the likelihood that laureates have laureate students” (which would challenge A).
I seem to get stuck on RC questions like this, and am not sure how to calibrate my reasoning process.
Your process of elimination up until answers A and D is pretty well done
To decide between A and D,
I would rule D out because it speaks about how people exhibit their creative polymathy through learned tools, but never speaks to how they acquire it.
For A. The sentence from which the option is gotten from speaks clearly and directly about why the author believes that creative polymathy can be learned “students of previous laureates…suggests that creative polymathy is a skill that can be learned”
Regarding proof to support A: to me, the sentence speaks clearly and directly about “the testimony…suggests”. I know the testimonies came from laureates who were students of previous laureates, but the sentence structure doesn’t emphasize this. Am I reading this incorrectly?
On a second read, I’m seeing “testimony” used in a different way. It could directly refer to “science laureates who were students of previous laureates”. So previous laureates having student laureates is a “testament” to something. This isn’t the easiest connection to make though.
Your answer for D is similar to the solution. I think I understand it now: the phrasing for D suggests that “pattern recognition” is a “learned tool”, but the passage does not contain evidence to support this connection. This would be enough to rule out D and leave A in somewhat better standing.
