I keep missing a very specific question type

JWEdgar80

I keep missing two types of questions, "Which would the author most likely agree with" and "what is the author's attitude towards X". Other than that, I do very well on the RC section, how do you guys attack these particular questions?

Pacifico

The first type can be among the harder types of questions because more often than not the answer choices are pretty long and dense, while the second type is probably among the easier types of questions. I'll tackle the second type first since it's easier. By the time you finish a passage you should already have a sense about the author's attitude or opinion of the subject matter regardless of what form that subject appears in. These questions should be freebies because they tend to have at least two or three outlandish ACs that are way off the mark and you can eliminate immediately. Often there will be two that at first glance appear to be almost the same answer, however given a few seconds to reflect on either what the author says or how the author writes (especially if they don't directly express an opinion) then the answer should reveal itself. For such questions where the ACs are two or more words as opposed to one (e.g.- "unbridled enthusiasm" versus "skepticism") then make sure that all the adjectives in the AC fit the attitude. As an example you should be able to tell the difference between "cautious optimism", "unbridled enthusiasm", and "reluctant agreement".

As for the first type of question you asked about, these can be time sinks if the ACs are long and especially if you're a bit fuzzy on what was going on in the passage. If you're not going for a 165+ feel free to skip them and come back later but if you really want to learn to nail these questions then you should really be developing the skills and intuition noted above for the attitude type question. If you can get a feel for what the author believes (whether implicit or explicit) then you should be using that to inform your answer. There is a pretty broad range of the ACs for such questions. The easier ones will stay on the same subject matter while the harder ones will look for you to extrapolate information and possibly apply it analogously to a different situation or subject. I would check out the recent thread about questions to ask yourself during RC. These shouldn't really be things you are asking yourself come test day, but you can start that way because they should just be automatic and guiding your intuition at that point.

Sorry if this is disjointed and I couldn't give you any actual questions to look at but I'm on my phone at the moment. I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any additional questions.

JWEdgar80

Thanks for your comment, I'll look up that thread. I usually go -3/-4 in RC, but those last two types of questions burn my @$$.

amanda_kw

The best strategy for me - is when you are reading the passage - mark (underline, circle, whatever) words or phrases that indicate author opinion.

E.G. "This innovative and remarkable hypothesis" "These thick-headed critics" "This surprising but useful" etc.

They might be subtle, but once you start looking for them and marking them, you should have a much better handle once you get to these questions - and you won't have to spend the time during the question to reread the passage looking for those markers.

JWEdgar80

Thank you for your advice!

nicole.hopkins

@Pacifico said:
These questions should be freebies because they tend to have at least two or three outlandish ACs that are way off the mark and you can eliminate immediately. Often there will be two that at first glance appear to be almost the same answer, however given a few seconds to reflect on either what the author says or how the author writes (especially if they don't directly express an opinion) then the answer should reveal itself.

*Excellent* analysis here. Listen to The Dude.

@Pacifico said:
For such questions where the ACs are two or more words as opposed to one (e.g.- "unbridled enthusiasm" versus "skepticism") then make sure that all the adjectives in the AC fit the attitude.

Make sure to compare the AC's against THE PASSAGE and not just against one another (when you're left with 2 or maybe 3 contenders—ideally 2).

Consider marking instances where the author's opinion is clear or at least shines through. These are moments in which the only person "speaking" in the passage is the author—or perhaps where the author is allowing a critic to speak for him.

Then refer to all instances where you've marked "OP" or "AV" (opinion/author's view) and compare the answer choice to those instances where author's opinion was most clear. Be picky about words. Be tight with your definitions. Be critical of the precision of the words in the AC. All the words. Especially the modifiers and adjectives of magnitude ("unbridled" or "cautious") that temper or limit the extent to which an attribute applies.

@Pacifico said:
As for the first type of question you asked about, these can be time sinks if the ACs are long and especially if you're a bit fuzzy on what was going on in the passage.

Yes! They can for sure be time sinks. I'd say even if you're going for a 165+, at least skip them and come back to them once you've answered all the other questions for the passage. Just like with LG, you should be able to gain more of a concrete sense of the big picture by doing the rest of the work for that passage. Sometimes it can help to skip that question and come back to it if you have time at the end of a section. Time sinks on passages 1-3 often set us up for catastrophe on passage 4.