Master the Gre 2010 - Part 40

Choice E exaggerates the para-graph’s central idea, which is that quantitative evaluation of the importance of species entry pathways is problematic—not that it is “of little use.” In fo

7 Considered in context, the final sentence of the passage suggests which of

the following?

(A) Some animal and plant species are more harmful than others.

(B) Determining the importance of an entry pathway is inherently subjective.

(C) It is more important to detect the entry of harmful species than harmless

ones

(D) Determining entry pathways is especially important for species detected

in large numbers

(E) Quantitative analysis is of little use in determining a species’ entry

pathways

The correct answer is (B) The last sentence reveals the author’s point: By

posing this rhetorical question, the author is providing an example of how

dif-ficult it is to determine the relative importance of entry pathways—for the reason

that the analysis is somewhat subjective (not quantifiable)

Choice (A) is unsupported The passage provides no information about the

com-parative harmfulness of various species, so to assert that the final sentence

supports any such comparison makes no sense Choice (C) distorts the final

sentence, in which the author raises a question comparing the impact of a few

very harmful species with the impact of many less harmful species Choice (D)

provides an answer to the author’s question, yet the author’s rhetorical point is

that we cannot easily answer this question Choice (E) exaggerates the

para-graph’s central idea, which is that quantitative evaluation of the importance of

species entry pathways is problematic—not that it is “of little use.”

In formulating an Inference question, GRE test designers will often include a

“run-ner-up” answer choice in which the inference is somewhat more speculative than that

of the best choice Here’s a passage excerpt on a new topic, along with an inference

question that incorporates this wrong-answer ploy

Scientists have long claimed that, in order to flourish and progress, their

discipline requires freedom from ideological and geographic boundaries,

including the freedom to share new scientific knowledge with scientists

throughout the world In the twentieth century, however, increasingly close

links between science and national life undermined these ideals Although

the connection facilitated large and expensive projects, such as the particle

accelerator program, that would have been difficult to fund through private

sources, it also channeled the direction of scientific research increasingly

toward national security (military defense)

8 In the passage, the author infers that (A) expensive research projects such as the particle accelerator program

apply technology that can also be applied toward projects relating to national security

(B) scientific knowledge had become so closely linked with national security

that it could no longer be communicated to scientific colleagues without restriction

(C) without free access to new scientific knowledge, scientists in different

countries are less able to communicate with one another

(D) governments should de-emphasize scientific projects related to military

defense and emphasize instead research that can be shared freely within the international scientific community

(E) government funding of scientific research undermines the ideal of

scientific freedom to a greater extent than private funding

The correct answer is (B) The first two sentences establish that the link

between science and national life undermined scientists’ freedom to communicate with other scientists The next sentence points to the channeling of scientific research toward protecting national security as a manifestation of that link Notice the almost unavoidable inference here—that national security concerns were part of the “national life” that took precedence over scientific freedoms Choice (E) is a “runner-up” choice You can argue from the information provided

in the first paragraph that government-funded research is more likely than privately funded research to relate to matters affecting the national security (i.e., military defense) However, this inference is hardly as unavoidable as the one that choice (B) provides To compete with choice (B), the inference would need additional supporting evidence Choice (A) is unsupported The author implies no connection between the particle accelerator program and national security Choice (C) is nonsensical Ready access to new scientific knowledge would require ready communication among scientists, not the other way around Choice (D) is unsupported The author neither states nor suggests which areas of scientific research should be emphasized

Restatement Questions

In handling a restatement question, your job is to understand a specific idea the author is conveying in the passage These questions are different from simple recall questions in that you won’t find the answer explicitly in the text And it’s this feature that makes them more difficult The question itself will look something like one of the following:

“Which of the following statements about _ is most strongly supported

by the passage’s information?”

“With which of the following statements about _ would the author most likely agree?”

“Which of the following best characterizes _ as viewed by _ ?”

ALERT!

Don’t panic when you

encounter lengthy questions or

answer choices Although

more reading usually makes

for a tougher question, this is

not always the case.

Returning to our passage about species migration, here’s a brief excerpt, along with a

restatement question based on it Notice that the wrong-answer choices are designed

to confuse you by combining details from the excerpt that relate to the question, but

don’t “add up.”

The arrival of a nonindigenous plant or animal species in a new location

may be either intentional or unintentional Rates of species movement

driven by human transformations of natural environments or by human

mobility—through commerce or tourism—dwarf natural rates by

comparison While geographic distributions of species naturally expand or

contract over tens to hundreds of years, species’ ranges rarely expand

thousands of miles or across physical barriers such as oceans or mountains

9 Which of the following statements about species movement is best

supported by the passage?

(A) Species movement is affected more by habitat modifications than by

human mobility

(B) Human-driven factors affect the rate at which species move more than

they affect the long-term amount of such movements

(C) Natural expansions in the geographic distribution of species account for

less species movement than natural contractions do

(D) Natural environments created by commerce, tourism, and travel

con-tribute significantly to species movement

(E) Movement of a species within a continent depends largely upon the

geographic extent of human mobility within the continent

The correct answer is (E) This choice restates the author’s point in the first

paragraph that “rates of species movement driven by human transformation of

the natural environment and by human mobility dwarf natural rates by

comparison.” Choice (A) is the most tempting wrong-answer choice Based on the

passage, habitat modifications and human mobility can both affect species

movement, as choice (A) implies And the passage does make a comparison

involving human-driven species movement However, the comparison made in the

passage is between natural species movement and human-driven movement, not

between human modification of habitats and human mobility So choice (A)

confuses the details of the passage Choice (B) is easier to eliminate because it is

completely unsupported by the passage, which makes no attempt to compare rate

(interpreted either as frequency or speed) of species movement to total amounts

of movement (distance) Choice (C) is also easier to eliminate than choice (A) It is

completely unsupported by the passage The author makes no attempt to

compare natural expansions to natural contractions Choice (D) is the easiest to

eliminate You don’t even need to read the passage to recognize that choice (D) is

a nonsensical statement Human mobility (commerce, tourism, and travel) do not

create “natural” environments Human mobility itself, not the “natural

envi-ronment” created by it, contributes significantly to species movement

Here’s a good example of how GRE test designers might boost the difficulty level of a

restatement question As you tackle the question based on the following passage

excerpt, notice that most of the wrong-answer choices appear to respond to the

TIP

In Reading Comprehension questions, some answer choices won’t make good sense Don’t be fooled into second-guessing yourself just because you don’t

understand what a nonsensical answer choice means.

question because they describe an “ambiguous position.” What’s more, most of the answer choices contain information that the passage supports The use of these two wrong-answer ploys makes this question tougher than average:

Scientists in the post–1917 Soviet Union occupied an ambiguous position

While the government encouraged and generally supported scientific research, it simultaneously thwarted the scientific community’s ideal:

freedom from geographic and political boundaries A strong nationalistic emphasis on science led at times to the dismissal of all non-Russian scientific work as irrelevant to Soviet science A 1973 article in

Literatunaya Gazeta, a Soviet publication, insisted: “World science is based

upon national schools, so the weakening of one or another national school inevitably leads to stagnation in the development of world science.”

According to the Soviet regime, socialist science was to be consistent with, and in fact grow out of, the Marxism-Leninism political ideology

10 Based on the information in the passage, which of the following best

characterizes the “ambiguous position” in which Soviet scientists were placed during the decades that followed 1917?

(A) The Soviet government demanded that their research result in

scientific progress, although funding was insufficient to accomplish this goal

(B) They were exhorted to strive toward scientific advancements, while at

the same time the freedoms necessary to make such advancements were restricted

(C) Although they were required to direct research entirely toward military

defense, most advancements in this field were being made by non-Soviet scientists with whom the Soviet scientists were prohibited contact

(D) They were encouraged to collaborate with Soviet colleagues but were

prohibited from any discourse with scientists from other countries

(E) The Soviet government failed to identify areas of research that it

deemed most worthwhile, but punished those scientists with whose work it was not satisfied

The correct answer is (B) According to the passage, the ambiguous position of

Soviet scientists was that the Soviet government encouraged and generally sup-ported scientific research, while at the same time it imposed significant restric-tions upon its scientists

Choice (C) is the easiest one to eliminate It is wholly unsupported by the passage, which neither states nor suggests either assertion it makes—which in any case does not describe an ambiguous situation Choice (A) is also unsup-ported by the passage The author neither states nor suggests that the Soviets lacked sufficient funding Although if true, choice (A) would indicate an ambiguous position for scientists, that ambiguity is not the kind cited to in the passage Choice (E) is unsupported as well Although some Soviet scientists were indeed punished by the government, the author neither states nor implies that the government failed to identify those areas of research that it deemed most worthwhile If true, choice (E) would indicate an ambiguous position for scien-tists; but as with choice (A), the ambiguity described in choice (E) is not the sort

NOTE

If a question quotes the

passage, the quote will be

highlighted in the passage to

help you locate it.

referred to in the passage Choice (D) is the most tempting wrong-answer choice.

It’s a better choice than either choice (A) or (E) because the passage supports it,

at least implicitly What’s more, if true, choice (D) would present an ambiguous

position for Soviet scientists However, as with choices (A) and (E), the ambiguity

that choice (D) describes doesn’t reflect the nature of the ambiguity referred to in

the passage’s first sentence

Purpose-of-Detail Questions

This type of question is actually a specific-type of inference question that asks you to

infer the author’s purpose in mentioning a specific idea Look for a question stem like

one of these:

‘‘The author’s discussion of is most probably intended to illustrate ”

“The author mentions to ”

As with inference questions, purpose-of-detail questions will sometimes include a

runner-up answer choice Here’s the Soviet science excerpt again This time it’s

followed by a typical purpose-of-detail question

Scientists in the post–1917 Soviet Union occupied an ambiguous position

While the government encouraged and generally supported scientific

research, it simultaneously thwarted the scientific community’s ideal:

freedom from geographic and political boundaries A strong nationalistic

emphasis on science led at times to the dismissal of all non-Russian

scientific work as irrelevant to Soviet science A 1973 article in

Literatunaya Gazeta, a Soviet publication, insisted: “World science is based

upon national schools, so the weakening of one or another national school

inevitably leads to stagnation in the development of world science.”

According to the Soviet regime, socialist science was to be consistent with,

and in fact grow out of, the Marxism-Leninism political ideology

11 In the context of the passage, the quote from Literatunaya Gazeta is most

likely intended to

(A) illustrate the general sentiment among members of the international

scientific community during the time period

(B) support the point that only those notions about science that conformed to

the Marxist-Leninist ideal were sanctioned by the Soviet government

(C) show the disparity of views within the Soviet intellectual community

regarding the proper role of science

(D) underscore the Soviet emphasis on the notion of a national science

(E) support the author’s assertion that the Marxist-Leninist impact on Soviet

scientific freedom continued through the decade of the 1970s

The correct answer is (D) This passage is concerned exclusively with pointing

out evidence of the Soviet emphasis on a national science; given the content of the

excerpt from Literatunaya Gazeta, you can reasonably infer that the author is

quoting this article as one such piece of evidence

Choice (A) is easy to rule out because it distorts the nature of the quoted article

and runs contrary to the passage The article illustrates the official Soviet

TIP

When handling Inference and purpose-of-detail questions, keep in mind the difference between a reasonable inference—which no rational person could dispute based

on the passage’s information—and mere speculation, which requires additional information to be true or valid.

position and possibly the sentiment among some members of the Soviet intel-lectual or scientific community However, the article does not necessarily reflect the views of scientists from other countries Choice (C) is not likely to be the author’s purpose in quoting the article, because the author does not discuss disagreement and debate among Soviet intellectuals Choice (E) is tempting because it might be true and because it is supported by the information in the passage But the author gives no indication of when the article was written or published; thus, the article itself lends no support to choice (E) Choice (B) is the runner-up choice that helps make this question tougher to answer correctly than

it might otherwise be The quoted article does indeed reflect the Marxist-Leninist ideal (at least as interpreted and promulgated by the government) and may in fact have been published only because it was sanctioned by the Soviet gov-ernment However, since this conclusion would require speculation, and because the quoted excerpt does not mention government approval or disapproval of certain scientific notions, choice (B) does not express the author’s purpose in quoting the article

Method and Structure Questions

These questions focus on how the author goes about making or organizing his or her points, rather than on the points themselves A method or structure question might ask you to determine the author’s overall approach in the passage, or it might ask about how a specific point is made or about the structure or function of a particular paragraph The answer choices are usually stated very generally, and you have to connect the wording of the choices with what’s going on in the passage

These questions take many different forms Here are some examples of what the question stem might look like:

“Which of the following best describes the method of argumentation used in the passage?”

“In the second paragraph, the author proceeds by ”

‘‘How does the second paragraph function in relation to the first para-graph?”

“Which of the following most accurately describes the organization of the second paragraph?”

“In the first paragraph, the author uses which of the following techniques?” When you see a method or structure question, first let the question guide you to the appropriate area of the passage Your notes or outline might provide enough infor-mation for you to determine how the author makes his or her points If not, reread that section carefully, focusing on what the author is laying out; don’t get bogged down

in details Again, these questions concern how the author organizes and presents his

or her points, not what those points are

Here’s the second paragraph of a two-paragraph passage about Francis Bacon, a sixteenth-century philosopher of science As a whole, the passage explores the link between his thinking and the modern-day scientific establishment Read the para-graph, then answer the method question based on it

No one questions the immense benefits already conferred by science’s

efficient methodology However, because individual scientists must now

choose between improving standards of living and obtaining financial

support for their research, there is cause for concern In light of current

circumstances, we must ask certain questions about science that Francis

Bacon, from a sixteenth-century perspective, could not possibly have put to

himself

12 Which of the following best describes the method of argumentation used in

the second paragraph?

(A) An assertion is made and is backed up by evidence.

(B) A viewpoint is expressed and an opposing viewpoint is stated and

coun-tered

(C) An admission is offered and is followed by a warning and

recommen-dation

(D) Contradictory claims are presented and then reconciled.

(E) A problem is outlined and a solution is proposed and defended.

The correct answer is (C) The notion that no one questions the benefits of

science does qualify as an admission in the context of the paragraph; that is, the

author admits that science has given humankind enormous benefits The author

then voices concern over the current state of the scientific enterprise Note how

the contrast signal word “however” signifies that a change will come after the

author admits that science has conferred immense benefits Indeed, what comes

next is, as choice (C) puts it, a warning that there is cause for concern A

recommendation appears in the final sentence, highlighted by the words “we

must ask certain questions.” Every element in choice (C) is present and accounted

for, so choice (C) aptly describes the technique used in the paragraph

Choice (A) indicates that the paragraph begins with an assertion, and we can

surely accept that: the assertion that no one questions the benefits of science But

this is not backed up by evidence The contrast signal word “however” tells us

that some kind of change is coming, but does not provide evidence for the

statement in the first sentence In fact, the paragraph goes in a different

direction Choice (B) doesn’t reflect what’s happening in the paragraph This

answer choice claims that the final paragraph begins with a viewpoint, which it

does But an opposing viewpoint doesn’t follow Instead, the author expresses

concern about the way science is now conducted Choice (D) is incorrect because

the passage contains no contradictory claims The author admits that science has

given humankind enormous benefits, but then voices concern over the current

state of the scientific enterprise These aren’t contradictory, and nothing in the

paragraph reconciles them, so choice (D) can’t be the best choice As for choice (E),

it’s fair to say that a problem is outlined (The problem is that securing financial

support for scientific work might get in the way of scientists improving standards

of living.) But the author doesn’t propose a solution Instead, he or she

recom-mends only that serious questions be asked about the problem Besides, the

passage ends before any kind of defense of the author’s recommendation is

offered

Application Questions

These questions require you to apply the author’s ideas to new situations They usually involve relatively broad inferences You might be asked to interpret how the author’s ideas might apply to other situations or how they might be affected by them To do this, you need to make logical connections between the author’s stated ideas and other ideas not explicitly discussed in the passage Or you might be asked to assess the author’s likely attitude (agreement or disagreement) toward some new situation, based on the information in the passage

Application questions often add or refer to new information, so there’s no predictable, set question stem to look for, but the stem might look something like one of these three:

“If it were determined that _, what effect would this fact have on the author’s assessment of _ as presented in the passage?”

“Which of the following new discoveries, if it were to occur, would most strongly support the author’s theory about _?”

“Which of the following is most analogous to the situation of _ described in the passage?”

In dealing with application questions:

• Be on the lookout for wrong-answer choices that require you to make an inference not supported by the passage

• Eliminate answer choices that run contrary to or contradict the author’s main idea or position

• Eliminate answer choices that distort the passage’s ideas

Here’s another brief excerpt from a passage about Francis Bacon, along with an application question based on the excerpt

Francis Bacon contributed to the scientific enterprise a prophetic understanding of how science would one day be put to use in the service of technology and how this symbiotic relationship between the two would radically impact both man and his surroundings As inseparable as they are today, it is hard to imagine science and technology as inhabiting separate domains

13 As discussed in the passage, the relationship between science and

technology is best illustrated by which of the following scenarios?

(A) A biologist writes an article documenting a new strain of influenza

that is subsequently published and taught in medical schools around

the world

(B) A breakthrough in the field of psychology enables psychoanalysts to

diagnose patients with greater accuracy

(C) An engineering firm hires a public relations agency to advertise the

benefits of a labor-saving mechanical device

(D) A physics discovery leads to the development of a machine that helps

researchers view previously uncharted areas of the ocean floor

(E) The development of a new software application helps research scientists

isolate genes that are responsible for certain diseases

The correct answer is (D) If you’re not sure what “symbiotic” means, you can

figure it out by the context We’re told that science is used to help develop

technology, and that science contributes to technology, but technology also

con-tributes to science So we need to find the choice that illustrates the same sort of

link Choice (D) fits the bill: A science discovery in one area (physics) leads to the

invention of a technology (a machine) that helps scientists in another field

(oceanography) make new discoveries The interplay between science and

tech-nology in this example is a good application of the author’s description of

“sym-biotic relationship.”

Nether choice (A) nor (B) account for technology; they involve only science Since

there’s nothing in either choice about the interplay between science and

tech-nology, neither is as good a choice as (D) As for choice (C), if there’s a symbiotic

relationship at work at all in choice (C), it’s between technology (a new

mechanical device) and marketing There’s nothing about science here, so this

choice doesn’t illustrate the interplay between science and technology Choice (E)

is the runner-up choice It illustrates how science (genetic research) can benefit

from technology (a computer application) But it does not illustrate the reverse

relationship: how technology can also benefit from science So choice (E) does not

illustrate the symbiotic relationship the author describes as completely as

choice (D)

Vocabulary-in-Context Questions

This question type is designed to assess your vocabulary and your ability to

under-stand how a word is intended to be used in the context of a sentence or series of

sentences A vocabulary-in-context question stem is easy to spot; it looks something

like this (except with a particular word in quotes):

“As it is used in the passage, the word most nearly means ”

In dealing with vocabulary-in-context questions:

• You can probably eliminate at least one answer choice that’s not even close to the

word’s meaning (assuming you have at least a general sense of what the word

means)

NOTE

On the computer-based GRE, any quoted word or phrase in

a question stem will be highlighted in the passage—so you can easily locate it there.

• Watch out for wrong-answer choices that indicate another acceptable or a “close-enough” meaning of the word, but one that doesn’t make as much sense in context

as the best answer

• If you don’t know what the word means out of context, read around it, then try each answer choice as a substitute for the word The one that makes the most sense is probably your best bet

Let’s take a look at an example based on the following excerpt from a passage about a naval warship built by the Union during the American Civil War

The U.S.S Monitor was designed by John Ericson, who had already made substantial contributions to marine engineering The Monitor looked like

no other ship afloat With a wooden hull covered with iron plating, the ship had a flat deck with perpendicular sides that went below the waterline and protected the propeller and other important machinery Even more

innovative, the ship had a round, revolving turret that carried two large guns

14 As it is used in the passage, the word “innovative” most nearly means (A) dangerous

(B) unusual (C) revolutionary (D) clever

(E) devious

The correct answer is (C) The word innovative means “new and unique in an

inventive way.” If you already know this definition, the correct answer should be obvious If you’re not sure, examine the context The answer choice that’s easiest

to eliminate is choice (E) The word devious (sly or crafty) has nothing possibly to

do with the physical features of a ship Choice (A) is a bit trickier, but although

the revolving turret and guns might be dangerous (to their targets or even to

their operators), the phrase “even more innovative” tells you that what preceded this sentence also describes something innovative, and there’s nothing intrinsi-cally dangerous or devious about the shape of the ship as described in that sentence To the contrary, the sentence implies that the features described helped make the ship safe

So how do you choose among choices (B), (C), and (D)? First, consider choice (D):

The author seems concerned here with how the Monitor was different from any other ship ever built, not with how clever its features (or its designer) were So

choice (D) doesn’t make much sense in context, even though something inno-vative is usually thought to be clever as well As for the two remaining choices (B) and (C), as used in the passage, “innovative” refers to the design choices, made by

John Ericson, that made the Monitor a remarkably new type of vessel—not just

unusual So choice (C) seems a better choice than (B).

NOTE

The GRE measures vocabulary

more directly, via Sentence

Completion, Analogies, and

Antonyms So expect one

vocabulary-in-context

question—at most—on

your exam.