Passage Cracking the Code
Cracking the Code
(1) Computer code is part of every electronic interaction, from video games to home thermostats to vehicle GPS systems. (2) Code is a language that computers can interpret, and programmers use it to instruct computers to perform different tasks, such as finding, sorting, or calculating data. (3) People who code have to learn this language. (4) They can construct programs that will perform detailed tasks. (5) The programs can also perform complex tasks.
(6) A coding language uses letters, numbers, and symbols that are arranged in a way that makes sense to a computer. (7) The code that makes up a program tells a computer how to process information. (8) Studying a coding language involves learning the rules for combining phrases and instructions so that they are recognizable to the computer. (9) Once a person understands coding rules, the possibilities for applying them are infinite.
(10) Coding skills are becoming important in many occupational fields. (11) For example, code can be used to create programs to track, analyze, and predict changes in the stock market. (12) Code can also be designed to help doctors track and monitor a patient’s health. (13) Jobs that require coding skills are typically higher paying, offering salaries that are up to as much as $22,000 a year more than jobs that do not require coding knowledge.
(14) People have a variety of opportunities to learn how to code. (15) In some schools, young people can study computer science and coding just as they study foreign languages. (16) Computer science teachers can use websites and apps that employ games designed to help everyone understand how code works. (17) Even high school students who do not take computer science can learn coding by attending coding workshops and online classes or by watching tutorials online. (18) After studying the basics of coding, some students may become interested in learning how to create programs, such as games and apps.
(19) The late Steve Jobs, a pioneer in computer technology, once said, “Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer . . . because it teaches you how to think.” (20) Learning to code can seem challenging, but one does not need to become an expert programmer to reap the benefits of understanding this language.
Question
Which revision of sentence 10 provides the best transition to the argument in the third paragraph (sentences 10–13)?
- ALearning a coding language may be difficult, but coding skills are becoming important in many occupational fields.
- BLearning a coding language is useful because coding skills are becoming important in many occupational fields.
- CEmployers in most industries realize that coding skills are becoming important in many occupational fields.
- DEven though programming is its own unique field, coding skills are becoming important in many occupational fields.
Show the answer
Correct answer: B
The question asks for the best revision of sentence 10 to provide a transition to the third paragraph.
A. Incorrect. Some readers may choose this option because the second paragraph does discuss the complexities of coding; however, it does not discuss the difficulties of learning coding. The third paragraph demonstrates some of the complex ways coding is used in specific fields but does not illustrate how difficult learning coding may be.
B. CORRECT. This sentence provides the best revision of the transition sentence. The second paragraph ends with “the possibilities for applying them are infinite” (sentence 9), which supports the idea that people in “many occupational fields” (sentence 10) can benefit from having coding skills. The third paragraph illustrates this idea by providing specific examples of occupations that benefit from coding (stock market traders and doctors).
C. Incorrect. While it is suggested in the passage that employers in the health-care industry recognize the importance of coding skills (sentence 12), the third paragraph focuses on examples of coding within different occupations, not specific employers’ analyses of what makes coding skills important.
D. Incorrect. Some readers may choose this option because the second paragraph provides a brief definition of coding—“A coding language uses letters, numbers, and symbols that are arranged in a way that makes sense to a computer” (sentence 6)—which shows how this element of programming works, but the second paragraph does not specifically discuss what makes the field of computer programming unique. The third paragraph discusses how coding can be used in a variety of occupational fields (sentence 10).
Question analysis
In this transitions question on the passage “Cracking the Code,” students choose the revision of sentence 10 that best leads into the third paragraph’s argument about coding skills in the workplace. The task means understanding what the second paragraph explains and what the third sets out to show, then judging which connection between them is real.
- NYS standards
- 7W1d transitions in arguments
- Grade level
- Grade 7 reading and task
- Compared with grade 7
- At grade 7 Writing a sentence that links one paragraph to the next is a grade 7 writing standard. The passage is plain and its paragraphs short, so the task stays at the level of a typical grade 7 revising question.
- Estimated difficulty
- Moderate: several steps, or a close reading with one strong distractor.
- Thinking it demands
- Depth of knowledge 2, skills and concepts · mainly evaluate
- What makes it hard
- How sentences fit together moderate
- A very close wrong answer moderate
- Evidence
- Answered from several paragraphs or stanzas
- Reading level
- Passage: about grade 10, 357 words; question and choices: about grade 13, 81 words.
- Students, last 30 days
- Not enough answers yet to show (it takes 10).
Why it is hard, traps and wrong answers (shows the answer)
Why it is hard
Every version keeps the original sentence 10 as its ending, so the decision rests on a few opening words and the relationship they announce. A concession about difficulty is a familiar essay move, and sentence 20 does say coding “can seem challenging,” but neither paragraph 2 nor paragraph 3 weighs difficulty at all. Naming the actual connection first, that coding is worth learning because so many jobs now use it, makes each opening quick to test.
How sentences fit together moderate Working it out
The new opening has to reach back to sentence 9, where knowing coding rules makes the possibilities “infinite,” and forward to the stock-market and patient-monitoring examples of sentences 11 and 12. (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
A very close wrong answer moderate Choosing the answer
The concession version matches the key word for word except in its middle, “may be difficult, but” in place of “is useful because,” so only the link each one claims sets them apart. (Embretson & Wetzel, 1987; Gorin & Embretson, 2006; Ascalon et al., 2007)
Strategy: Since all four versions end the same way, focus on their opening words, and ask which opening looks back to the second paragraph and ahead to the third.
Traps
- Wrong transition: A connecting word or phrase that signals the wrong relationship, such as contrast where the idea continues.
- Off the point: Adds or keeps something that does not support the paragraph's or the passage's focus, or an introduction or conclusion that misses the main point.
The wrong answers, classified
A Wrong transition (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Carries sentence 20’s “can seem challenging” back to sentence 10 and sets difficulty against importance with “but,” though the two paragraphs it joins never mention difficulty, so the contrast links nothing.
C Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Sees that paragraph 3 is about jobs and opens with what employers in “most industries” realize, a viewpoint the passage never develops, leaving no link back to paragraph 2’s coding rules.
D Off the point (Halliday & Hasan, 1976)
Reads paragraph 2’s account of letters, numbers and symbols as proof that programming is “its own unique field,” an idea the passage never takes up, and builds a contrast on it.
Working it out, step by step
Figure out what the question asks
This asks for the best transition. A transition is a bridge that links one part of a piece of writing to the next. Sentence 10 opens the third paragraph. So a good opening looks back at paragraph 2 and points ahead to paragraph 3. Here is a made-up example. After a paragraph on planting seeds, the next one might open: Planting with care pays off, because healthy plants give more food.
Sum up paragraph 2
Paragraph 2 explains what a coding language is. Learning one means learning its rules. The paragraph ends with sentence 9: “Once a person understands coding rules, the possibilities for applying them are infinite.” Infinite means without end. So paragraph 2 is about learning the language and how much you can do with it.
Sum up paragraph 3
Paragraph 3 shows coding at work. Code can track the stock market (sentence 11). It can help doctors watch a patient’s health (sentence 12). Jobs that need coding usually pay more (sentence 13). “Occupational fields” means kinds of jobs. So paragraph 3 shows why learning to code pays off.
Check each choice
All four choices end the same way. So compare how they begin.
- A does not fit. Its opening, “may be difficult, but,” sets up a contrast about how hard coding is. Neither paragraph talks about that.
- B fits. “Learning a coding language” looks back at paragraph 2. “Is useful because” leads into the jobs in paragraph 3.
- C does not fit. The passage never says what employers in “most industries” realize. C also has no link back to learning the language in paragraph 2.
- D does not fit. The passage never calls programming “its own unique field,” so that contrast connects to nothing.
Choose the answer
Watch out: A begins with the same words as B. Admitting that something is hard can sound like a smart move. Sentence 20 even says “Learning to code can seem challenging.” But that comes at the very end, not in paragraphs 2 or 3. So the answer is B.
Why this answer and not the closest wrong one
A is the closest wrong answer. It matches B except in the middle: “may be difficult, but” in place of “is useful because.” A sets difficulty against importance, yet neither paragraph is about difficulty. B gives a reason instead. Learning the language from paragraph 2 is useful, and the jobs in paragraph 3 show why.
More questions like this
The original DOE question
The passage “Cracking the Code” as printed (page 40)
