Passage Discussion

[melmoththewanderer88]

I wanted to get some advice about how the concept of scale applies in comparative passages, and noticed this one didn't have a passage discussion, so I'll give it a go.

I have one concern which is that questions 7, 8 and even 9 are fairly "nitty gritty," and with the scale I used it wasn't apparent where to find the material. So I was wondering how ye high scorin' test takers approach those kinds of questions.

[A (P1)] Impact of purple loosestrife on native vegetation has been disastrous.
[A (P2)] Author advocates for some form of integrated control to deal with purple loosestrife problem.

[B (P1)] Author (with pointed skepticism) summarizes argument against purple loosestrife.
[B (P2)] Author identifies popular pollution ideologies as an influence on this point of view; Author notes little actual evidence to support purple loosestrife's damaging nature; Author argues economic damage lost due to declining production of purple loosestrife.

[charmayne.palomba]

Good work summarizing this passage; you definitely hit all the high points. If you're thinking about things from the perspective of a scale, I would encourage you to pare it down even further by trying to summarize each side in just a few words. Here, we can put author A on one side of the scale (PL is an environmental disaster and we better fix it) and author B on the other side (PL isn't the environmental disaster people think it is, and the real issue is an economic one). The scale is most useful at that sort of big-picture level, as it helps you understand the passages in relation to one another.

The issue of nitty-grittiness is a little different. With a question like #7, which is an identification question that wants you to identify a particular word or phrase present in both passages, I start by eliminating the stuff that I know only one author talked about. For example, I would get rid of (C) and (D) right away, because I remember Author B discussing both of those. From there, I try to think about the general topics that overlap. In this case, I know both authors discussed the kinds of species that are threatened (or purportedly threatened) by PL. Since furbearing animals (answer choice (A)) are in that basic category, that seems reasonable, and if I remembered that one passage definitely discussed it, I would scan to see if the other did. I realize that's a bit ad hoc, but unfortunately this type of question does rely on a bit of memory and the ability to scan quickly. But knowing that a general topic was discussed in both passages can be a tip-off. Correct answer: (A)

As for #8, I would again begin by looking for a question that generally deals with a topic addressed by both passages. I'll scan through thinking "I think Author A talked about when PL arrived because he gave that background information, but I'm not sure about B..." and I won't stop to check B, because that's not a good use of my time at this point. I'll keep going through the answer choices until I get to (E), and I think both discussed the broad topic of what kind of terrain (wetlands) is affected. Then I check to make sure. Knowing where to look within each passage is important, which is why a solid annotation system that allows you to say, "Right, P2 is where Author A discussed the importance of addressing the problem of PL" will help speed this process up. The takeaway here is to defer judgment and not start digging through the passages right away to see if you can find the answer to the question posed in each answer choice. Correct answer: (E)

Finally, for #9, the scale really pays off! Author A thinks PL is a big problem, and Author B is skeptical of that claim. Answer choice (B) says that pretty much verbatim. Correct answer: (B)

Hope this helps!