A Guide to Reading Chronological & Technical Texts
Hello and welcome to your reading practice session. The passage you’re about to read traces the history of a technology. On your exam, you might get texts about history, science, or art that are organized chronologically. Mastering them requires a few key skills.
Here are some tips for navigating texts that describe a development over time:
- Build a Mental Timeline: As you read, look for dates, time periods, and transition words that signal sequence (e.g., “first,” “then,” “next,” “by the 1970s,” “following this”). Consciously arrange these events in order in your mind. This will help you answer questions about the timeline of development.
- Identify Key Innovations: In a story of evolution, there will be a few crucial breakthroughs. Pinpoint what these are and, most importantly, why they were important. What problem did they solve? What new possibility did they create?
- Focus on Cause and Effect: Each innovation causes a new effect. The transistor replaced the vacuum tube because it was smaller and more reliable. This led to the miniaturization of electronics. Actively look for these causal links.
- Don’t Get Bogged Down by Jargon: A technical history will have jargon. The passage will usually provide enough context for you to understand the significance of the term even if you don’t grasp the deep science. Focus on its role in the story.
- Time Yourself: Discipline is key for exam success. You should aim to read this passage and answer all 10 questions in 18-20 minutes. This practice will help you build the pace and focus needed for test day.
Today’s passage covers the evolution of modern electronics. Apply these strategies to track the story of innovation. Let’s start!
Reading Passage
Keywords & Phrases
Culmination:
What it means: The highest or final point of something, especially something you have been working towards. It’s the end result of a long process.
How it was used in the reading: The author uses this to say that today’s devices are the final product of a long history of technological development. “…the culmination of a technological evolution…”
Underpinned by:
What it means: This phrase means supported or forming the basis for something. If an argument is underpinned by certain facts, those facts are its foundation.
How it was used in the reading: This is used to say that the rapid progress in electronics is based on a few key inventions. “This rapid progression… is underpinned by a series of fundamental breakthroughs…”
Power-hungry:
What it means: This is an informal adjective used to describe a machine or device that uses a very large amount of electricity or fuel.
How it was used in the reading: The author uses this vivid term to describe one of the major disadvantages of old vacuum tubes. “…they were large, fragile, power-hungry, and prone to burning out.”
Exponentially:
What it means: An adverb describing a rate of increase that becomes more and more rapid over time. It’s not a steady, linear increase, but a dramatic, accelerating one.
How it was used in the reading: This word is used to emphasize the massive scale of improvement the transistor offered over the vacuum tube. “…but was exponentially smaller, more durable, and more energy-efficient.”
Catalyst for:
What it means: A ‘catalyst’ is a substance that causes a chemical reaction to happen faster. Metaphorically, a catalyst is an event or person that causes a great change or action.
How it was used in the reading: The author identifies the transistor as the key invention that sparked the trend of making electronics smaller. “This invention was the catalyst for the miniaturization of electronics…”
Tedious and error-prone:
What it means: ‘Tedious’ means long, slow, and dull. ‘Error-prone’ means likely to have mistakes. Together, the phrase describes a task that is boring and in which it is very easy to make mistakes.
How it was used in the reading: This phrase describes the old method of building circuits by hand, highlighting the problem that the integrated circuit solved. “…a tedious and error-prone process.”
Codified by:
What it means: To ‘codify’ something means to arrange it (like laws or rules) into a systematic code. In a broader sense, it means to express a trend or observation in a clear and systematic way.
How it was used in the reading: The author uses this to say that Gordon Moore didn’t invent the trend, but he was the one who observed it and expressed it as a clear principle or law. “This trend of exponential improvement was famously codified by Gordon Moore…”
Self-fulfilling prophecy:
What it means: This is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, due to the positive feedback between belief and behavior.
How it was used in the reading: This is used to explain the dual role of Moore’s Law: it didn’t just describe what was happening, it also motivated people to make it happen. “…became both a description of the pace of innovation and a self-fulfilling prophecy…”
Cramming more transistors onto a chip:
What it means: ‘To cram’ means to force something into a space that is too small. This phrase is a vivid, informal way of describing the process of fitting an increasing number of components into the same small area.
How it was used in the reading: This describes the primary goal of the semiconductor industry during the era of Moore’s Law. “The focus is shifting from simply cramming more transistors onto a chip to developing specialized processors…”
Trajectory:
What it means: This is the path followed by a projectile or a moving object. Metaphorically, it refers to the path of development or the direction something is heading in the future.
How it was used in the reading: The author uses this word to describe the future direction of electronics, which is moving towards interconnected ecosystems. “…a trajectory that promises to reshape our world…”
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