From passage: "The explanation is straightforwardly geographic, rather than a cultural or historical quirk unrelated to geography" and "The explanation is biogeographic: the Australian continent has no domesticable native animal species" The passage uses these examples to show geographic factors directly controlling human development -> Inuit developed fur clothes because of Arctic climate (had to) -> Aboriginal Australians stayed hunter-gatherers because continent lacked domesticable species (couldn't farm) -> both show environment forcing certain outcomes.

Students often get confused between options 1 and 2 because both mention environmental influence. Here's how to eliminate: 🟢 Option 1 -> correct -> captures the dictating power of physical circumstances -> matches passage's emphasis on geographic determinism (environment forces specific behaviors) 🟠 Option 2 -> partial-truth -> mentions environmental influence correctly but focuses on divergent paths rather than the controlling power of geography -> misses the deterministic aspect 🔴 Option 3 -> scope-error -> talks about being "self-sufficient and adaptive despite isolation" -> passage shows they developed because of geography, not despite it 🔴 Option 4 -> context-shift -> emphasizes human resourcefulness -> passage emphasizes geographic control, not human creativity in adapting Key distinction: Option 1 shows geography as the boss telling humans what to do -> Option 2 just shows different results from different places (weaker connection to the passage's main point about geographic determinism).

CAT (VARC) PYQs

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