MCAT verbal test (10)

VERBAL REASONING TEST 5 TRANSCRIPT Passage I Questions 1-7 Topic and Scope: Volcanic activity can make an ancient ecosystem appear to have developed in a much drier regional climate th

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ANSWER KEY:

“Test 5 Transcript”

VERBAL REASONING TEST 5 TRANSCRIPT

Passage I (Questions 1-7)

Topic and Scope: Volcanic activity can make an ancient ecosystem appear to have developed in a much drier

regional climate than actually existed

Paragraph Structure: ¶1 uses a modern-climate example to introduce the idea of mock aridity, while ¶2 suggests

that mock aridity may alter our view of past ecosystems ¶3 explains in detail how volcanism causes mock aridity

¶s 4 and 5 discuss two particular paleoclimates whose climates may have been wetter than they appeared This new evidence means that the global climate may have stayed warm and wet for a longer time than scientists previously thought

¶6 explains how the idea of mock aridity can be tested using ocean marine sediment records

Questions:

1 (A)

I is definitely not an assumption Potts makes; the whole point of using marine records is to avoid the local effects of terrestrial volcanism III is wrong because the passage never talks about the ocean changing temperature

II, however, is an assumption that Potts makes The marine sediment record is supposed to be accurate because it was never touched by volcanism, but it wouldn’t be accurate if it had been disturbed by something else

2 (B)

Harris and Van Couvering would agree with this because their results agree more with the computer models than with the fossils

(A) Be careful It’s not that the ecosystems were more successful than fossils indicate—the ecosystems were continually disrupted It’s that the climate was wetter than fossils indicated

(C) This has to be wrong because we have fossils from volcanic regions, according to the passage

(D) There is no basis for this in the passage

3 (C)

The information in the stem has nothing to do with the passage; it’s a distortion of the image conjured in the first ¶ of

what the current Pacific Northwest climate will look like to someone a million years in the future

4 (A)

Climax communities accurately reflect the regional climate, so fossils from climax communities should be an accurate gauge of the climate, unlike the fossils from volcanically-disrupted communities

(B) Due to mock aridity, this would be true even if East Africa had a wetter climate than previously suspected

(C) This would support rather than challenge the idea that East Africa may have been wetter than expected, since volcanism would have made the climate look drier

(D) This too would support rather than challenge the idea

5 (B)

The author compares the barren environment in a volcanic region to the barren environment in a desert

(A) If ancient volcanic regions could be deemed savannah environments, there must have been volcanic activity

(C) is wrong; see (B) above

(D) The author says that biological communities develop but never reach climatic climax, which means they are persistently mowed down by volcanism This does not challenge Harris’s claim

6 (D)

If global temperatures did not drop until after the Miocene, this would support Harris’s idea that the Miocene environment was actually warm and wet and that the Miocene savannah environments in the fossil record are an effect of volcanism Thus, (D) is correct and (B) is wrong

(A)’s claim is never made in the passage

(C)’s claim is unaffected by the information in the stem

7 (B)

We have no way of knowing whether or not there was volcanic activity in the Pacific Rim 38 million years ago, so the

most Harris and Van Couvering could assert is that the record may not be accurate

(A) and (D) There may not have been any volcanoes back then in the Pacific Rim, which eliminates these choices (C) is much too extreme; the fossil record is only inaccurate, as far as we know, in regions that had volcanic activity

Passage II (Questions 8-13)

Topic and Scope: The author argues that the original transformative feminist commitment to caring has been lost in

the equal-opportunity feminist drive to adapt to the realities of the masculine marketplace

Paragraph Structure: ¶s 1 and 2 explain the transformative feminist vision, which is based on a commitment to

caring

¶3 asserts that corporate America and the media have corrupted and masculinized feminism by defining liberation in marketplace terms The result of this corruption, we find out in ¶s 4, 5 and 6, is equal-opportunity feminism, which favors adaptation to the marketplace over transformation of it

In ¶7 and ¶8, the author says that the marketplace was just too seductive a trap for feminists, some of whom have become successful but are now too caught up in their own success These women may still be concerned about political and social issues (¶9), but they are afraid that they’ll jeopardize what they have gained if they work for change

Questions:

8 (A)

By “the victims of aggression identify with their aggressors,” the author means that the feminists, the victims, began to identify with and accept the ideals of their aggressors, corporate America and the media

9 (B)

The author does not agree with the equal-opportunity-feminist tenet that women should place competition above caring; to the author, caring is the true feminist ideal

(A) This does not really counter the equal-opportunity feminist’s argument

(C) is wrong because it assumes the author would agree that the basic goal of feminism should be to help women compete with men

(D) runs counter to the author’s philosophy

10 (B)

The author criticizes the successful women (according to “traditional American ideals”) who won’t work for change because they are too caught up in being personally successful, so attainment of personal success is not the highest ideal to her

(A) is a tricky wrong choice Not all feminists have lost touch with their roots, just the equal-opportunity feminists (C) This is too extreme to be correct

(D) The author never mentions any other societal spheres besides the marketplace

11 (A)

According to the author, some successful women are afraid to work for change for fear of jeopardizing their success (A) reflects this idea

(B) There is no evidence to support this in the passage

(C) and (D) both contradict information in the passage

12 (C)

The author makes this claim but offers no specific evidence or examples to support it The claim is consistent with the reasoning of the passage, however

13 (A)

This choice is consistent with all of the information in the passage regarding equal-opportunity feminists

(B) According to the passage, some equal-opportunity feminists at least say that caring is important, though they may not do anything about it

(C) This is a former belief of the transformative feminists

(D) This claim is never made

Passage III (Questions 14-18)

Topic and Scope: Mass movements; specifically, the focus of mass movements

Paragraph Structure: ¶s 1 and 2 assert that mass movements discredit both the past and present in order to get their

members to make sacrifices to achieve an idealized future

¶s 3-6 simply build on this basic theme by providing more details about how mass movements operate and about what they think

The Big Picture: Don’t let flowery, indirect language throw you The point here is rather straightforward: mass movements focus on the future at the expense of the past and present All the rest is detail that you can look up if questions demand it

Questions:

14 (A)

That mass movements look to the future at the expense of the present is discussed throughout the passage Statement I, therefore, is supported Statements II and III, however, aren’t supported by evidence or explanation The passage never discusses the leadership of mass movements (statement II) or the relative success of religious and nationalist mass movements (statement III)

15 (C)

In ¶6, the author remarks that religious, social, and nationalist mass movements all reject the present in favor of an idealized future, even if they have different reasons for rejecting the present and looking toward the future Thus, they are all similar in this general respect

(A) Mass movements assert that the future will be better than the present; there’s nothing in the passage to indicate that the author would endorse this position

(B) is beyond the scope of the passage There’s no discussion of the actual achievements or failures of mass movements

(D) To the contrary The author contends that mass movements invariably denounce the past in no uncertain terms

16 (B)

The phrase “the campaign against the appetites” appears in the context of a discussion of mass movement attempts to get members to eschew the comforts of the present in order to put all of their energies into molding a “glorious future.” In other words, this phrase refers to mass movement efforts to steer members away from pleasures and comforts

(A) To the contrary Mass movements are all about political involvement

(C) Mass movements don’t disavow miracles Anyway, this choice focuses on a detail from the wrong ¶—¶4

(D) is beyond the scope of the passage Mass movement attitudes about governments aren’t mentioned in the passage

17 (B)

The author contends that mass movements have their sights set on the future Thus, a mass movement that was out to reform the present political system would contradict his claim

(A) and (C) are logically eliminated by (B)

(D) No, this information would contradict the author’s claim

18 (D)

The basic idea of the passage is that mass movements want to build a “glorious future” that is fundamentally different from the present Hence, they surely believe that it’s necessary to destroy the present Statement I is true Statements II and

III, on the other hand, aren’t true According to the author, mass movements denounce the past; they don’t glorify it And

mass movements, according to ¶s 1-3, certainly do ask members to sacrifice themselves

Passage IV (Questions 19-24)

Topic and Scope: By trying to expand into Poland, NATO is jeopardizing its relationship with Russia because (1)

Russians believe NATO is breaking a WWII promise and (2) Russians don’t want to lose influence over the countries surrounding them

Paragraph Structure: In ¶1, the author uses an analogy to make his point that NATO is trying to expand at a time

when it is confused about its identity He goes on to point out that NATO officially says it’s expanding for security reasons but the real goal would be to contain the Russians (¶2) The Russians, for their part, are ticked off about NATO expansion but are trying to apply diplomatic pressure (¶3)

¶s 4 and 5 go into detail about why the Russians are unhappy about NATO expansion In ¶6, the author explains that most Russian politicians want to maintain a sphere of influence in former Soviet regions

Questions:

19 (C)

In the author’s analogy, NATO is the couple in a crumbling marriage who is trying to have a baby—that is, expand by absorbing an Eastern European country The baby is the Eastern European country in the analogy

20 (D)

(A), (B) and (C) are all actions that the author would support at least to some degree, but what he really would want more than anything is for NATO to reconsider expanding into Eastern Europe (D)

21 (B)

The “clear though implicit” promise, as discussed in the last question, was that the West wouldn’t go into Eastern Europe

(A) was never a promise made to Russia

(C) is wrong because it was the promise Russia made

(D) was certainly not a promise the West would have made

22 (D)

I can be found in ¶2, II is an appropriate inference based on the fact that Western diplomats privately say Russians are paranoid to fear the loss of Ukraine to NATO, and III is true based on the fact that there is “Western criticism” of Russia’s plans to maintain its sphere of influence (last sentence)

23 (B)

Both NATO and Russia, according to the passage, justify attempting to maintain and expand their sphere of influence

by saying they need it for greater security

(A) is never mentioned in the passage and defies common sense

(C) Refusing to admit defeat is never mentioned in the passage

(D) NATO certainly isn’t engaging in careful planning or diplomatic negotiation

24 (A)

The Russians “point to the Monroe Doctrine and the French sphere of influence in Africa” to justify their actions; in other words, “You did it, so it’s all right for us to do it.” (A) paraphrases this idea

Passage V (Questions 25-30)

Topic and Scope: Merchandising of political candidates is undermining democracy because it exploits the

electorate’s irrationality and vulnerability to persuasion

Paragraph Structure:

¶1: The author argues that increasing population and technology have undermined democracy as the power has come

to be held by politicians and not by the people ¶2: Although people are capable of making rational decisions in an election, they don’t get a chance because candidates are marketed like supermarket items ¶3 and 4: The author details how

a political campaign is constructed in order to take advantage of the public’s psychological weaknesses

Questions:

25 (A)

According to the first ¶, an increase in population has resulted in an increase in officials’ power

26 (B)

In the first ¶, the author says in a democracy that elected officials are supposed to be the servants of the people, not the ones with power

(A) The author would agree; in fact, he argues for this

(C) Psychology and the social sciences are being used to manipulate the masses, according to the author

(D) As far as we know from the passage, propaganda is very effective at exploiting voters’ weaknesses

27 (C)

(B) and (D) are both irrelevant, so they can be eliminated, leaving you with (A) and (C) (A) is wrong because it’s possible that Americans won’t bother to watch political debates but still care about candidates’ political principles and/or know about them from the candidates’ campaigns (C) is correct because if Americans vote for candidates without knowing about their specific plans or principles regarding foreign policy, then (1) it wasn’t part of the selling of the candidate to tell Americans about this and (2) Americans didn’t care enough to demand to know the candidates’ foreign policy proposals

28 (A)

Why would such an accusation work? Because people are afraid of crime If one candidate runs a commercial that attacks his opponent’s stance on crime, the commercial is playing on the public’s fears

(B) This claim is never made, and besides, the opponent could indeed be soft on crime

(C) Such a commercial does not appeal to the strengths of the voters

(D) This claim is never made

29 (D)

This choice is supported by the entire final paragraph

(A) contradicts the author’s belief that the public can respond to rational appeal

(B) The author would never come out in favor of the merchandising method

(C) This choice has no basis in the passage

30 (D)

Notice in ¶3 that a lot of the work on a political campaign is already done before a candidate is selected

(A) This contradicts the whole idea behind merchandising, that surface matters most

(B) If everybody had unique fears and desires, merchandisers wouldn’t be able to play on the collective fears and desires of the people as they do

(C) The author never claims that anyone can be molded into a political candidate

Passage VI (Questions 31-36)

Topic and Scope: Messages; specifically, the relative effectiveness of one- and two-sided messages

Paragraph Structure: ¶s 1 and 2 introduce the basic issue: which is more effective in persuading an audience, a one-

or a two-sided message? ¶s 3 and 4 explain that there’s no clear answer to this question It really depends on two variables: the audience’s knowledge of the subject of the message and its views on that subject

¶5 contends that two-sided messages are more effective when dealing with knowledgeable audiences, while one-sided messages are more effective when dealing with uninformed audiences ¶6 veers off the general topic a bit, to explain how advertisers have applied information about the effectiveness of messages to their efforts Finally, ¶7 points out that one-sided messages are more effective with audiences that are predisposed to accept the communicator’s position, while two-sided messages are more effective with audiences that are undecided about the communicator’s position

The Big Picture: When a passage presents a number of relationships, be sure that you can discriminate among them The questions will probably test to see that you can

Questions:

31 (C)

¶5 says that well-informed people are more likely to be persuaded by two-sided arguments Since the congressional

“foreign policy experts” are definitely well-informed, the President should make a two-sided argument that addresses both the potential benefits and the potential costs of troop deployment

(A) and (B) One-sided arguments would not be effective in front of such an audience, particularly if they focus on potential costs

(D) is beyond the scope of the passage There’s no discussion of emotions versus facts

Strategy Point: If you don’t remember the nature of a particular relationship brought up in the passage, go back and reread the relevant piece(s) of text Don’t rely on your memory

32 (B)