PSAT Writing and Language Practice Question 366
Question: 366
Modern Medicine
Robotic surgery, also known as robot-assisted surgery, is a medical technology in which an advanced robot with arms and small instruments is controlled by a surgeon. This allows the doctor to perform 21 puzzling procedures without having to make significant incisions on 22 patients' bodies. The first surgical robot was created in 1985, but the uses for surgical robots were initially limited. In 2000, the Food and Drug Administration approved the da Vinci system for general laparoscopic surgery. Now, surgical robots have changed the medical 23 industry. They allow doctors to make precise cuts, even from afar.
In the past, a surgeon would have had to make a long cut for most operations. This can result in more blood loss and longer recovery times for patients. With a surgical robot, after he or she makes a tiny cut, a physician 24 have been able to use a camera to see inside the patient. Then, the doctor can use the controls to conduct the surgery with the robot's miniature tools. Since this technology is fairly new, a study was completed in 2018 to determine how doctors are trained to use surgical robots before operating on patients. Of the 71 programs that were surveyed, 99 percent used a robotic simulator, and 25 medical programs used robots in 86 percent of their classes. Furthermore, 26 51 percent of programs used videos as part of their training.
Aside from helping surgeons to make more precise movements, robotic surgery can also allow physicians to conduct surgeries remotely. For example, although an isolated or impoverished region might not have 27 access to an effective local surgeon, if a surgical robot were available it could actually be controlled by a doctor working in another city or even another country. A 2017 study by Dr. Ryan Madder, published in EuroIntervention, showed a 95 percent overall success rate for such surgeries. 28 Surprisingly, the study showed that no patients died or had to have procedures repeated before being discharged from the hospital.
Surgical robots can help doctors to make precise movements in complex procedures. 29 For this reason, they also allow doctors to operate on patients from a distance, which saves on travel time and costs. Since patients sometimes need a surgery right away, surgical robotics is a field 30 while connecting people with life-saving technology.
Which choice most effectively combines the sentences at the underlined portion?
Correct Answer: C
Explanation:
C
Note the question! The question asks how to effectively combine the underlined sentences, so it's testing precision and concision. The phrase after industry changes in the answer choices, so determine the function of this phrase. The phrase must connect two sentences, so determine the relationship between the sentences. Sentence 1 says that surgical robots have changed the medical industry. Sentence 2 explains how they have changed the medical industry. Therefore, the underlined portion must give a clue that the information that follows explains a point from sentence 1. Eliminate (A) because the word though indicates that the information that is to follow will contrast sentence 1. Eliminate (B) because which suggests that surgical robots changing the medical industry caused doctors to be able to make precise cuts, which reverses the correct order of ideas. Keep (C) because by indicates that the information that follows will explain how surgical robots changed the medical industry. Eliminate (D) because that simply implies that the medical industry allows doctors to make precise cuts—this may be true, but it does not explain how surgical robots changed the industry. The correct answer is (C).