The SAT Reading Comprehension: Basic Principles

Stop. Do not read the following discussion until you have completed the question on the second passage.

The nation's health system requires a continual
supply of new blood from donors to replenish its
stockpiles. Freezing blood for long-term storage
is a delicate, expensive, and time-consuming process;
moreover, many doctors believe that the resulting
product is unreliable. When stored in a solution of
plasma and nutritive dextrose (a sugar), fresh red
blood cells can survive and remain viable for
transfusion for only six weeks.

2. The passage above suggests which of the following?

1. Additional facilities must be created to prepare and store blood for future transfusions.
2. Without special storage procedures, red blood cells cannot exist for long outside the human body.
3. The public should be reminded frequently of the need to donate blood, not merely appealed to in times of crisis.
4. The nation's stockpile of blood is dangerously low and needs an immediate infusion of donations.
5. The nation's stockpile of blood supplies is exhausted on average once every six weeks.

If you selected choice A—careful—you misread the passage and didn't consider all the choices. Nothing was said about the need for additional storage facilities. New facilities would be of little use if the blood supply were not replenished continually.

If you selected choice B—careful—you misread the choice and didn't consider all the choices. The passage says that blood cannot survive for long; the passage does not say that blood ceases to exist. Indeed, common sense tells us that blood exists for a long time (think of a blood stain), although the blood would not long remain viable for transfusions.

If you selected choice C, you used process of elimination correctly and found the answer. Congratulations, this was a deceptively difficult question, too. If blood remains viable for transfusion for a limited time, then the public must replenish blood stockpiles continually.

If you selected choice D—careful—you misread the passage. The first sentence says that the nation requires a continual supply of new blood; the passage does not say that the current supply is inadequate.

If you selected choice E—careful—you misread the passage. The passage said that blood in solution remains viable for only six weeks. The stockpile of blood would be exhausted six weeks from today only if no new blood were donated.