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AP English Language and Composition Unit 4: Synthesis and Multiple Sources

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Unit 4: Synthesis and Multiple Sources

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Question 1

Based on Sources C and D, which question is NOT directly answered by either source?

A.Whether melatonin is suppressed by screen light.B.How school-day phone bans affect classroom behavior.C.Whether teen sleep duration is affected by screen time.D.Whether home enforcement of phone restrictions is reliable.

Question 2

Based on Sources A and B, which point do BOTH sources implicitly accept?

A.Maple Avenue has a real pedestrian-safety problem.B.Protected turn signals will reduce business revenue.C.Pedestrian traffic should be discouraged on Maple Avenue.D.Business loss in the area is unrelated to traffic.

Question 3

Based on Sources C and D, an essayist arguing for school-day phone bans would MOST effectively cite which combination?

A.Source C's

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-minute sleep loss finding + Source D's argument about enforceability.B.Only Source D.C.Only Source C.D.Source D's enforcement claim + Source C's mention of melatonin.

Question 4

Source E (excerpt from an economics blog).

Critics of remote work often point to data showing that fewer informal mentoring conversations happen in distributed teams. They're right that this is happening. They're wrong to conclude that the right response is to mandate office presence. Mandating attendance forces people to be PRESENT but does nothing to ensure they will MENTOR. Most companies that have ordered employees back find that the people in the office do the same work they did at home, just less comfortably. If the goal is mentorship, the lever is incentives for senior employees to mentor — not seating charts.

Source F (excerpt from a HR manager's industry article).

In our internal review, we found that face-to-face encounters in shared spaces accounted for a disproportionate share of all informal feedback our junior employees received. While not all in-person time leads to mentoring, almost no remote time produced equivalent moments. We don't deny that mandates fail to FORCE mentoring; we argue that they create the conditions in which mentoring can OCCUR, conditions which remote work simply does not.

Which choice best summarizes the disagreement between Sources E and F?

A.Whether in-person presence is sufficient for mentoring.B.Whether in-person presence is necessary, even if not sufficient, for mentoring to occur reliably.C.Whether remote work increases productivity.D.Whether mentoring matters at all.

Question 5

Based on Sources E and F, an essay arguing for hybrid (not fully remote, not fully in-person) policies would BEST cite:

A.Source E's incentive lever + Source F's claim about presence creating conditions for mentoring.B.Source E alone, since hybrid is mostly remote.C.Source F alone, since hybrid is mostly in-person.D.Neither source supports a hybrid position.

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Question 6

Which additional source, if added to A and B, would MOST help an essay writer adjudicate between safety and economic concerns?

A.A traffic engineer's report on the actual delay caused by protected turn signals at similar corridors.B.A list of all businesses currently operating on Maple Avenue.C.Historical photos of Maple Avenue.D.Census data about pedestrian commute patterns city-wide.

Question 7

Based on Sources E and F, which finding would MOST resolve the disagreement?

A.Data showing that fully-remote teams with structured mentoring programs produce as much mentoring as in-person teams.B.Data showing remote workers are happier.C.Data on commute times.D.Survey data showing managers prefer in-person.

Question 8

Source A (excerpt from a city planning department report).

The Maple Avenue corridor has seen a $42%$ increase in pedestrian fatalities over the past five years, almost entirely concentrated at intersections without dedicated turn signals. Vehicle traffic volume has remained essentially flat. The planning department recommends that all five major intersections on the corridor be retrofitted with protected left-turn signals within twenty-four months.

Source B (excerpt from a letter to the editor from a Maple Avenue business owner).

I've owned the bookstore at Maple and Third for nineteen years. I am not opposed to safety improvements. But the proposal to retrofit five intersections with protected left-turns is going to slow east-west traffic so badly that customers who used to drop in on their commute will simply stop coming. The neighborhood lost two restaurants last year and a hardware store the year before that. We do not need another reason for shoppers to choose somewhere else.

Based on Sources A and B, what is the central DISAGREEMENT between them?

A.Whether pedestrian fatalities have increased.B.Whether the proposed safety retrofit's economic side effects on local businesses are acceptable.C.Whether the businesses on Maple Avenue are profitable.D.Whether vehicle traffic volume has risen.

Question 9

Based on Sources C and D, which counterargument would be HARDEST to defend using these sources alone?

A.That schools should ban phones during the school day.B.That at-home phone restrictions are highly effective if enforced consistently.C.That screen time near bedtime reduces adolescent sleep.D.That parents face enforcement challenges at home.

Question 10

Source C (excerpt from a researcher's testimony on screen time and adolescent sleep).

Across the studies we have reviewed, adolescents who report using screens within an hour of bedtime sleep on average $34$ minutes less per night than peers who do not. This difference is large by sleep-research standards. Two mechanisms appear most likely: (a) the light from devices delays the body's natural release of melatonin, and (b) the content itself is arousing in a way that books and television are not.

Source D (excerpt from an op-ed by a high-school principal).

The push to ban student smartphones at home is well-meaning but largely unrealistic. Even families that succeed in removing devices from the bedroom often find their children migrate to a sibling's phone or sneak the device back at $2 AM$ . We've found that schools have a tool families don't: we can ban phones during the school day, and we can use sleep-friendly assignment policies. Rather than spending political capital on a home-life intervention parents cannot consistently enforce, we should focus the conversation on school-day policies, which are within our actual control.

Which choice best describes the relationship between Sources C and D?

A.Source C documents a problem; Source D argues about which response is most feasible.B.Source C and Source D disagree about whether screen time affects sleep.C.Source C and Source D both argue against smartphone bans.D.Source C and Source D both argue for stricter parenting.

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Question 11

Across all six sources (A–F), what common feature do the disagreements share?

A.Both parties dispute the underlying facts.B.The disagreements are mostly about which response a shared problem warrants, not about the problem itself.C.Both parties propose the same solution.D.All disagreements involve money.

Question 12

An essay writer wants to use both Sources A and B to argue that 'safety improvements should be implemented but designed with business impact in mind.' Which combination of evidence from the sources best supports this synthesis?

A.Source A's fatality data + Source B's account of business losses.B.Source A's fatality data + Source B's nineteen years at the bookstore.C.Source A's recommendation alone.D.Source B's argument alone.

AP English Language and Composition Unit 4: Synthesis and Multiple Sources — Free with Answer Explanations | Test Practice Hub