Sat - MC Grawhill part 21 docx

Because the questions follow the order of the passage, the answer usually can be found between the line reference in the previous question and the line reference in the next question.. T

SAT Practice 5:

group members protect them The bonds among group members may make them treat the whistle-blower, not the wrongdoer, as the

50 criminal They do this especially if the

whistle-blower is a member of their in-group—one does not squeal, tell tales, or inform on one’s comrades

Social psychologists find that we easily

55 become prejudiced It takes the smallest hint

that you belong to one group and other people

to another for you to favor “your own” group The reason you belong to one group rather than another may be no more than a

prefer-60 ence for abstract artists, Paul Klee rather than

Wassily Kandinsky You need not even meet and interact with the members of your own group, but prejudice will nonetheless rear its ugly head It may be our football team, school,

65 town or nation, or the color of our skin Once

fully identified with that “we,” people become sensitive to the needs of their group and callous toward other groups Outsiders cease

to matter The stronger our identification with

70 the “we,” the blinder we become to the

humanity we share with “them.” Out of this psychology comes the nasty side of history and the human race: the world of “ethnic cleansing,” genocide, racial prejudice, and

75 global terrorism Thus, we may be born alone,

but we quickly learn to identify ourselves with

a group, leading, in some cases, to barbaric consequences

1. The primary purpose of this passage is to (A) examine a problem

(B) compare human behavior with bird behavior (C) disprove a theory

(D) suggest an alternative (E) analyze a phenomenon

The following is an excerpt from a recent book by

two science writers on the evolution of human

intelligence.

Where can freedom be found? Perhaps in a

flock of estuary birds? Flying together at high

Line speeds, thousands of birds maneuver with

precise coordination The flock flies this way

5 and then that It turns as if a wave has passed

through it These “maneuver waves” start

slowly in a few individuals but quickly spread

Unless the individual birds reacted together,

the flock would disperse, exposing isolated

10 birds to predators Sometimes it is “smart,” in

a survival sense, to give up your freedom and

fit in with a group

Once started, a wave travels through a flock

at about 70 birds a second Surprisingly, this

15 is much faster than a single bird’s reaction

time Thus, individual birds cannot have seen

their neighbors and said to themselves,

“Hey, they’ve changed direction—I’d better

copy them.” Something else besides copying is

20 synchronizing the birds Somehow they see

themselves, if only for a short time, as part of

a whole They see the wave maneuver and

time their own change of flight with it

Individuals cease to be individuals in many

25 ways—not just when flying together Humans

can react physically as a group; a wave of

legs passes down a chorus line at roughly 10

dancers every second As with birds taking off,

this is too fast for movements made in reaction

30 to neighbors A similar thing, no doubt at a

deeper level, organizes a jazz jam or a

basket-ball team This suggests that people are

good—surprisingly good—at synthesizing

their actions into a larger whole Soldiers

35 marching in step with each other are not

doing so as individuals

We all have a sense of “we” that identifies

with “our” group and favors “us” against

out-siders We have our fraternities, sororities,

40 and other old boy and girl networks We seek

out people who share the same club, school

tie, or accent Much of this activity is

harm-less, but our loyalties also have their darker

side When loyal group members are found to

45 be doing wrong—committing sexual or

physi-cal abuse, faking data, or taking bribes—other

John R Skoyles and Dorion Sagan, Up from Dragons © 2002

McGraw-Hill Reprinted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

5. On the whole, the authors’ attitude toward group behavior is one of

(A) ambivalence (B) disdain (C) admiration (D) skepticism (E) fear

6. The “psychology” mentioned in line 72 is closest

to the mindset of (A) an orchestra conductor working to perfect a performance

(B) a scientist studying the nature of cooperation (C) a football player trying to become a produc-tive member of a team

(D) an artist seeking isolation in which to work (E) an ideologue trying to inspire hatred of an enemy

2. The passage refers to the “freedom” of estuary

birds in lines 1–2 in order to emphasize the fact

that

(A) birds are more physically free than humans

(B) something is not as it appears

(C) scientists do not yet understand how birds

move in flocks

(D) the coordination of birds in flight is

distinctly different from the coordination

of human political movements

(E) birds do not appreciate the complexity of

their actions

3. By saying that soldiers do not march “as individuals”

(line 36), the authors suggest that the soldiers

(A) are compelled to march through coercion

(B) must obey the orders of their superiors

(C) react as a part of an organized whole

(D) lack leadership skills

(E) are reluctant

4. Klee and Kandinsky (lines 60–61) are mentioned

as examples of

(A) artists whose works are closely related

(B) people who do not act as individuals

(C) men whose followers may form distinct

groups

(D) those who belong to a privileged group

(E) individuals who express prejudice

Answer Key 5:

Concept Review 5

1 (1) Read each question carefully, covering up the

answer choices for now, (2) translate it into a

“stand-alone” question, if possible, (3) formulate

your own answer to the translated question, and

(4) choose the best match among the choices

2 A “stand-alone” question is one that can be

an-swered without needing to look at multiple

choices It should be phrased like an open-ended

essay question, such as “What is the tone of line

35?” rather than “The tone of line 35 is best

char-acterized as .”

3 Translating and answering the question as a

“stand-alone” question helps you to avoid the most

common “traps” in SAT Critical Reading questions

Many of the choices will sound good because they

are “true” in some sense but in fact do not answer

the question (More on this in Lesson 8.)

4 a What is the author’s attitude toward the

“oppo-sition” in line 42?

b Why has the garden become important to the

author?

c What motivates Davis, according to the last paragraph?

d What is the author trying to emphasize by men-tioning the freedom of estuary birds in lines 1–2?

e Why does the author use the term “solid” in line 16?

5 The “sandwich strategy” shows you where to look when a Critical Reading question does not contain

a line reference Because the questions follow the order of the passage, the answer usually can be found between the line reference in the previous question and the line reference in the next question

6 The phrase “in order to” indicates that the ques-tion is asking you to determine the purpose of the passage as a whole or the purpose of some part of the passage To tackle purpose questions, first

re-mind yourself of the purpose of the passage

over-all, then of the purpose of the specific paragraph,

and then of the purpose of the specific word or reference

SAT I Practice 5

1 E This passage analyzes (examines closely) the

phenomenon of group behavior, first in terms of

birds flying together, then in terms of human beings

acting as teams, and then in terms of human

group identification This passage is not focused

on a “problem” because group behavior is often

depicted as a positive thing, particularly in the

first three paragraphs, so choice (A) is incorrect

Since the passage discusses birds only in the first

couple of paragraphs, (B) must be incorrect Also,

since no alternative to a situation or refutation of

a theory is presented, (C) and (D) cannot be right

2 B The authors begin with a question: “Where

can freedom be found?” and a rhetorical answer:

“Perhaps in a flock of estuary birds?” This leads us

to believe that the author might use the example

of birds flying as an example of “freedom.”

How-ever, the paragraph (and the passage as a whole)

goes on to suggest that bird flight is not as “free”

as it seems and often typifies group behavior

3 C The example of the marching soldiers follows

the examples of the estuary birds, the chorus line,

the jazz band, and the basketball team All of these

examples reinforce the common theme of group

behavior being an organized whole

4 C The sentence says that “The reason you be-long to one group rather than another may be no more than a preference for abstract artists, Paul Klee rather than Wassily Kandinsky.” This means that those who like the art of Klee might form a distinct group from those who like Kandinsky

5 A The authors indicate the positive benefits of group behavior in the first three paragraphs, then its “darker side” in the last two paragraphs This is

an example of ambivalence, in which the authors

are not saying that group behavior is always good

or always bad

6 E According to the passage, the “psychology” mentioned in line 72 is the mind-set by which people become blind “to the humanity we share with ‘them’” (lines 70–71) and which leads to scourges such as “‘ethnic cleansing,’ genocide, racial prejudice, and global terrorism” (lines 73–75) Therefore, it is closest to the mind-set of

an ideologue trying to inspire hatred of an enemy

Lesson 6:

“Whole-Passage Attack” versus “Paragraph

Attack”

Although many students do best by reading the

whole passage before attacking the questions, some

prefer to attack the questions sooner This approach,

called the “paragraph attack,” takes advantage of the

ordering of SAT CR questions In this mode of attack,

you read the first paragraph or two, and then answer

the questions that pertain to just those paragraphs

(skipping any “big picture” questions for now) When

you reach a question that refers to a portion of the

passage that you haven’t read, go back and read the

next paragraph or two, and so on Always read and

summarize whole paragraphs at a time before going

to the questions Don’t stop in the middle of a

paragraph

Experiment with the “whole-passage attack”

and the “paragraph attack” strategies as you

practice, and decide which works better for you

Attacking Paired Passages

Every SAT contains “paired” passages—one pair of long

passages and one pair of short passages—that share a

common theme but are written by different authors

They are followed by normal CR questions and then

questions comparing or contrasting the ideas and tone

of the two passages For these passages, you’ll want to

change your attack strategy slightly

Here’s how to attack paired passages:

• First, read Passage 1 with the key

ques-tions in mind, paying particular attention

to tone

• After summarizing, attack the questions

that pertain only to Passage 1

• Next, read Passage 2, again paying

atten-tion to tone Ask, “How do the perspective

and tone of this passage differ from those

of Passage 1? How are they similar?”

• Then attack the questions that pertain to

Passage 2 and the comparison questions

• Do not read the passages back-to-back

because then you will be more likely to

confuse the ideas in the passages

Attacking SAT Passages from Hell

Hopefully, if you’ve practiced the College Hill Method for attacking the SAT CR, you’ve learned that you can attack even tough reading passages about, say, an-cient Greek metaphysics But what if you’re faced with a real SAT passage from hell? What if you just can’t get through the language or concepts in a really tough SAT passage? Don’t panic Just change your mode of attack

If a particular passage seems completely incomprehensible, first see if there is another passage to attack on that section, and move on

to that one If not, just go to the questions that require little reading: the “word in context” questions and the “secondary idea” questions Usually these don’t require you to understand the “big picture,” so they are easier to attack

The Need for Speed

The SAT isn’t a speed-reading test, so don’t rush through the passages With practice in the College Hill Method, your reading will become brisker and more efficient on its own But what if you still strug-gle to finish the SAT CR sections on time? Here’s our approach:

• Step 1: Don’t panic Your efficiency will improve as you practice with the College Hill Method, and the problem may well take care of itself But what if you still struggle with time after weeks of practice?

• Step 2: Use your finger to “push” your eyes more quickly over the words Move your finger smoothly over the words, and focus your eyes right next to your finger With just a little practice, you may be amazed at how much faster you can read without

losing comprehension Practice this strategy

con-tinuously with everything you read for two weeks—

use it when you’re reading the newspaper, your

homework assignments, magazines, everything.

But what if even this doesn’t work well enough?

• Step 3: Get tested to see if you can take the SAT with extended time If you have a diagnosable learning disability that slows down your reading, you may well qualify for extra time on the SAT Talk to your guidance counselor about getting tested, and do it

at least a few months before taking the SAT

Concept Review 6:

1 Briefly describe the difference between the “whole-passage attack” and the “paragraph attack.”

2 How should your attack strategy shift when reading paired passages?

3 How should your attack strategy shift when reading an extremely difficult passage?

4 What strategies should you try if you have trouble finishing the CR sections in time?

35 passion, for fits of anger and craving for

sensual pleasures and some such things do unmistakenly produce a change in bodily condition and in some instances actually cause madness

1. The last sentence of Passage 1 (“For normal man do not exist,’ lines 19–20) suggests that (A) certain modern discoveries have hindered our understanding of our bodily senses (B) biological knowledge has grown rapidly in recent decades

(C) we must work hard to maintain the pace of technological progress

(D) recent studies of proprioception have been misleading

(E) most people do not appreciate the function

of certain physical senses

2. According to Passage 2, wrongdoing “does not seem strange” (line 27) when the wrongdoer (A) applies moral knowledge to the situation (B) is attacking a person incapable of self-defense (C) is in full control of his or her faculties of reason

(D) fails to think about what is right and wrong before committing the act

(E) is doing something that he or she believes is right

SAT Practice 6:

P ASSAGE 1

We have five senses in which we glory, senses

that constitute the sensible world for us But

Line there are other senses, equally vital, but

unrecognized and unlauded These senses,

5 unconscious, automatic, had to be discovered

What the Victorians vaguely called “muscle

sense”—the awareness of the relative position

of trunk and limbs, was only really defined,

and named “proprioception,” in the 1890s

10 And the complex mechanisms and controls by

which our bodies are properly aligned and

balanced in space have only been defined in

the 20th century and still hold many

myster-ies Perhaps it will only be in this space age,

15 with the paradoxical license and hazards of

gravity-free life, that we will truly appreciate

our inner ears, our vestibules, and all the

other obscure receptors and reflexes that

gov-ern our body orientation For normal man, in

20 normal situations, they simply do not exist.

P ASSAGE 2

A person can “know” something and apply

that knowledge but also can “know” something

Line without applying that knowledge There is a

difference between doing wrong when one

25 knows but does not reflect on that knowledge

and doing wrong when one knows and

reflects Wrongdoing does not seem strange in

the former case, but it does in the latter

When a person has knowledge but does not

30 apply it, “having” has an unconventional

meaning In fact, in one sense he has

knowl-edge and in another sense he does not, as in

sleep or madness or intoxication This is the

condition of people under the influence of

First passage: Excerpted with permission of Simon and Schuster Adult Publishing Group from The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks Copyright © 1970, 1981, 1984, 1985 by Oliver Sacks.

Second passage: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics Public domain.

3. Unlike Passage 2, Passage 1 is primarily

con-cerned with

(A) the nature of bodily senses

(B) knowledge that helps us to decide between

right and wrong

(C) technological innovations in science

(D) the importance of controlling our

consciousness

(E) the biological systems involved in emotion

4. The authors of both passages would most likely agree that

(A) it is immoral to ignore knowledge gained from our senses

(B) emotions often interfere with rational thought

(C) certain kinds of ignorance are essential to human survival

(D) people are not always conscious of the infor-mation that their minds process

(E) moral knowledge is gained directly through the physical senses

Answer Key 6:

back-to-back because then you will be more likely

to confuse the ideas in the passages

3 Hopefully, the SAT “passages from hell” won’t seem so hellish with some practice with the College Hill Method But if you’ve read through a passage and its language or concepts seem incom-prehensible, just (1) move on to an easier passage,

if it’s available, or, if not, (2) attack the questions that require relatively little reading, namely, the

“word in context” questions and the “secondary idea” questions

4 First, don’t panic Most students struggle a bit with the time limit in their first few practice tests Often, with a bit of patient practice, the problem will resolve itself If it doesn’t, then practice “eye-finger” coordination, using your finger to sweep through the passage smoothly and at a quicker pace than your eyes are inclined to go Practice

this continually with everything you read for

sev-eral weeks As a last resort, talk to your guidance counselor to see if you qualify to take the SAT with extended time

Concept Review 6

1 The “whole-passage attack” involves reading the

entire passage—but with a focus on just

answer-ing the three key questions, not on absorbanswer-ing

every detail—before attacking the questions

Many students prefer this method because they

prefer to stay “in the flow” of the passage and to

absorb information in large chunks The

“para-graph attack” involves reading the introduction

and first paragraph or two and then answering the

questions that pertain only to the parts you’ve

read, skipping any “big picture” questions for

now Then go on to the next paragraph or two, and

answer those questions, and so on Remember

only to read whole paragraphs Don’t stop in the

middle of a paragraph (And be sure to go back

and answer those “big picture” questions.)

2 First read Passage 1, paying particular attention to

tone After Passage 1, attack the questions that

pertain only to Passage 1 Next, read Passage 2,

again paying attention to tone Ask, “How do the

perspective and tone of this passage differ from

those of Passage 1? How are they similar?” Then

attack the questions that pertain to Passage 2 and

the comparison questions Do not read the passages

SAT Practice 6

1 E The central idea of this passage is that “there

are other senses [that are] unrecognized and

unconscious [and] automatic” (lines 3–5) Thus,

when the final sentence states that for “normal

man they simply do not exist” (lines 19–20),

it suggests that most people do not appreciate

the functioning of certain physical senses

2 D The passage states that a wrongdoing “does

not seem strange in the former case” (lines 27–28),

which is the case in which one knows something

but does not reflect on that knowledge In the case

of a wrongdoing, this is a knowledge of right and

wrong The author is suggesting that wrongdoing

only makes sense when the wrongdoer either does

not know right from wrong or does not reflect on

that knowledge

3 A Passage 1 is primarily concerned with

“unconscious” and “automatic” bodily senses,

specifically the “awareness of the relative position

of trunk and limbs” (lines 7–8) and the “controls

by which our bodies are properly aligned and bal-anced” (lines 10–12) Passage 2 is concerned with moral knowledge but not knowledge that comes directly from the bodily senses Although Passage

1 does mention “the space age” (line 14) in pass-ing, it is certainly not primarily concerned with technological advances

4 D Both authors would clearly agree that people are not always conscious of the information their minds process Passage 1 states that there are

“senses [that are] unconscious [and] automatic” (lines 4–5), and Passage 2 states that in certain cases a person “has knowledge and [yet] in another sense he does not, as in sleep or madness or intox-ication” (lines 31–33)

Lesson 7:

Using Logic on the Questions

Straightforward logic can help enormously on the

toughest SAT CR questions For instance, if one

answer choice implies another answer choice, it

can-not be correct without both answers being correct;

therefore, it must be wrong Okay, maybe that was a

little confusing Let’s look at an example:

What is the author’s attitude toward the

“transgres-sions” mentioned in line 12?

(A) dismissiveness

(B) vehement opposition

(C) ambivalence

(D) disapproval

(E) resignation

Even if you didn’t read the passage, you should

know that the answer couldn’t possibly be (B) Why?

Because (B) implies (D) If someone is vehemently

opposed to something, he or she sure as heck

disap-proves of it too, right? So, if (B) were right, (D) would

have to be right, too But there can’t be two right

answers! So (B) is out

Okay, we kind of cheated there, in order to

illus-trate a concept (just like those physics problems that

ignore friction even though it’s always there) In fact,

questions that can be solved without reading the

pas-sage almost never appear on the SAT (although

crack-the-test folks want you to believe it’s chock full of

them) But logical thinking is still extremely helpful

It’s just that on the real test, you have to pair it with a

solid understanding of the passage

Meet Logic’s Best Bud, Common Sense

Logic shows you what must be true, given a set

of assumptions Common sense shows you

what is probably true, given a set of

assump-tions Using basic principles of common sense

pays off on the Critical Reading questions

Let’s go back to the question above Your common

sense tells you that writers write about things they care

about And even if they’re only writing on assignment

and don’t really care about the subject, they at least

have to pretend that they care about the subject So

de-cent writers almost never write with a dismissive tone

toward their subjects So choice (A) dismissiveness is

probably not the right answer But don’t be too

hasty—it’s remotely possible that the author is really

saying, “These transgressions are what other people

focus on, but they really don’t matter.” Just check the

passage quickly to see if this is the case—but chances

are, anyone who writes about transgressions isn’t in-different about them

So logical elimination, with quick passage checks, can help a lot So now you’re left with choices (C)

am-bivalence, (D) disapproval, and (E) resignation The

answer is (C) if the author thinks the transgressions

are both good and bad (remember ambivalent means

“having conflicting feelings,” not “unclear and

vague”—that’s ambiguous), (D) if he criticizes it

con-sistently, and (E) if he thinks they’re bad, but he can’t

do anything about them

What Can You Do in 500 Words?

Can you “delineate (describe precisely) the history of

European political reform” in 500 words? I sure can’t, and neither can anyone who writes SAT passages But someone sure can “suggest a few political reforms” in

500 words So, when answering purpose questions, use common sense to eliminate unreasonable or petty purposes

Which of the following best expresses the purpose of the passage as a whole?

(A) to describe the relationship between literature

and history (too big a task—eliminate) (B) to belittle modern literary critics (possible, but

that seems petty—eliminate)

(C) to refute a misconception (very possible and

worthwhile—keep)

(D) to delineate a new mode of literary analysis (too

big a task—eliminate)

(E) to suggest several remedies for a problem (very

possible and worthwhile—keep)

When answering general purpose questions, use your common sense when thinking about the scope of a 500-word essay It can’t be trivial

or petty, but it also can’t do too much

Concept Review 7:

1 If the answer to a CR question is either “extremely enthusiastic” or “positive,” which must be the correct answer and why?

2 Why is it nearly impossible for an author’s attitude on a topic to be “indifferent?”

Using only logic and common sense, make your best guess on the following questions:

3 The first paragraph implies that art is primarily the product of

(A) desire for wealth

(B) anxiety

(C) exact imitation

(D) reason

(E) intuition

4 With which of the following statements would the author most likely agree?

(A) Voters always choose incapable political candidates

(B) Voters should be more educated about candidates

(C) Political candidates rarely campaign

effectively

(D) Politicans do not represent their

constituents well

(E) Voters are not interested in critical political issues

5 Which of the following best expresses the purpose of this passage?

(A) to dissuade students from studying political science

(B) to describe the evolution of ethics in American history

(C) to attack the credibility of politicians

(D) to refute a misconception

(E) to prescribe a solution to a problem