[Video] Q18: Which choice provides information that is most consistent in style and content with the information about the symbolism of the tortoise?

Explanation for Question 18 From the Writing Section on the Official Sat Practice Test 8

So number 18 is asking us which choice provides information that is consistent with 2 the style and the content about the symbolism of the tortoise. 3 So let's read the sentence. It says many there, 4 while there are many regional variations of the lion dance costumes, 5 I'll make extensive use of symbols and colors. 6 The lion's head is often adorned with a Phoenix, 7 a mythical bird, or a tortoise for longevity, 8 right? So when we're looking here, 9 we see that the tortoise is for longevity. 10 And so we've actually explained the, the content of the symbol, 11 right? The content of the symbol, 12 the tortoise is a symbol of longevity. 13 But if we look at what we've done for the Phoenix, 14 we've just described what the bird is, 15 and that doesn't work because we didn't describe what a tortoise is. 16 Right? We didn't say an animal with a shell. We described the purpose of 17 the symbol, a describes the animal, 18 not the purpose of the symbol. 19 Now B says for new beginnings. So that could be the purpose of the 20 symbol, right? The symbol is meant to symbolize new beginnings. 21 So B could be right DSS from Chinese mythology. 22 This also doesn't give us the, uh, the purpose of the symbol, 23 but rather the origins of the symbol, which is not what we do when 24 we talk about the tortoise and D says for symbolic reasons, 25 um, we already know this for symbolic reasons, 26 right? Cause they told us it's a symbol. So D is just repetitive and 27 our best answer is going to be E.