Self-study
hi! I am realizing I have trouble identifying the main conclusion in reading passages, as simple as it is. I often highlight the statement (or statements) that jumps out in the passage as conclusion statements, yet when i get to the ACs i am often stuck between something that reflects those sentences exactly or something that is more all encompassing of the passage (ie will nod to an earlier paragraph or theme). do people recommend drilling "find the main conclusion" questions for RC passages? or drilling full passages with the complete set of questions?
or if there's a particular strategy to deep reviewing these questions? that would be super helpful, thank you.
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1 comments
I think what is helpful before you get into drilling is trying to ID the main point of the passage before jumping into the answers. Think to yourself 'what is the author arguing?' Is the author for or against something? Is the author using strong or weak language (strong examples: the only, the best, unfounded, never - weak: could happen, possible, might be the case.) The main point of the passage can be found anywhere but good places to look for it is the last sentence of the first paragraph, the beginning of the second paragraph, or somewhere in the last paragraph. If you get more comfortable about IDing the main point of the passage it will help you answering other questions like what the author assumes. Honestly I would recommend reading a passage and just noticing where you see the authors voice and then write down a sentence you think is the main point and then try to match that with one of the answer choices for main point. In your practice it can be as simple as like 'the author thinks the critics are crazy' or 'critics mentions this thing is great but the author gives examples of why its bad.' It takes practice but honestly if you don't understand the main point its hard to understand all of the questions. Hope this was helpful :)