Q20

 
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Q20

by tzyc Sat Mar 23, 2013 10:47 pm

Is this question basically asking the same thing as question 14?
Main Point≒primarily concern?

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Re: Q20

by ohthatpatrick Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:05 pm

I would say they're testing roughly the same skill, which is "Can you synthesize what you read and find the important, overarching point/purpose?"

There are a number of passages like this one in which the first question is Main Point and the last question is Primary Concern/Primary Purpose.

They're both testing us on the big picture, but they normally approach things from two slightly different angles (just so the correct answers don't sound TOO similar to each other).

The other big difference between Main Point and Primary Purpose/Concern is that Main Point has to actually contain details about the topic. Primary Purpose/Concern, meanwhile, can sound incredibly generic.

The correct answer to Q20, (B), could potentially apply to a thousand different passages.

Meanwhile, the correct answer to Q14, (D), could only describe this passage.

For Q14 and Q20, when I ask myself, "where do I look in the passage to answer this question?", my answer would be the same. In this passage, the big picture ideas are found in the first paragraph.

This author, like so many others, is trying to emphasize something that has been under-appreciated, under-studied, misinterpreted, etc.

Like most big picture ideas, the normal BUT/YET/HOWEVER/RECENTLY signposts help give us clues.

The first sentence says that this topic has only recently been given nuanced treatment.

And lines 9-12 give us our Most Valuable Sentence (the best encapsulation of the big idea) ... surprise, surprise - the word however gets used there.

Let me know if you had any questions about Q20 itself.
 
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Re: Q20

by rnanswjd Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:41 am

Could you clarify why D, E cannot be answers?
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Re: Q20

by ohthatpatrick Mon Oct 05, 2015 2:44 pm

Sure, let me put up a complete explanation.

Question type: Primary Concern

Pre-Phrase:
- remind yourself of Purpose/Tone
- reacquaint yourself with any "Big Sentence" you found that sounds like the author's crystallized purpose or takeaway.

I think line 9-12 sounds like the Purpose/Main Point.
(contains two of the classic Main Point sentence words, "but/yet/however/recently")

The author is mad that scholars previously haven't given enough thought/attention to women's participation in the lead up to the French Revolution.

The author thinks the work of these recent scholars allows us to reassess women's participation.

What's the reassessment?
- different ways in which women were involved and reasons for the collapse of the women's movement

(A) The author somewhat criticizes previous scholars who DIDN'T get to the insights of these recent scholars, but that's minor P1 stuff.

(B) This sounds like our prephrased Main Purpose, line 9-12.

(C) This is narrow and somewhat refuted by lines 37-39, which says that sorting out the chronology is NOT very imporant.

(D) Does this happen at all? The studies are all about what women did leading up to and including the Revolution. I don't see any discussion of the aftermath.

(E) There isn't one specific long-held point of view we're addressing. There was a LACK of understanding about women during this time, so we're filling in the blanks, not correcting the record. The bulk of this passage is spent discussing the NEW insights revealed by the RECENT studies. (E) makes it sounds like the bulk of the passage was spent dissecting a LONG-HELD point of view. As soon as we get past P1, we're talking about NEW research.