<p>This is a general question however I am using the BB as an example for what I am talking about..</p>
<p>okay so i am doing the practice in the beginning of the blue book on page 57 (for those of you who have the second edition) it is under the passage based reading sample questions</p>
<p>My question is on number 1 which is the first question to the small paragraph on Art forgery.</p>
<ol>
<li>The primary purpose of the passage is to
a) describe the motivations of art forgers
b) indicate the artistic merit of particular forgeries
c) discuss the challenges facing art forgers
d) catalogue the skills of a successful art forger
e) illustrate the publics ignorance about art forgery</li>
</ol>
<p>i picked choice D but the answer was really choice C
Now, these were the two i was tied between, however was unsure how to eliminate one or the other.
My question is, for these types of questions that ask for primary purpose and have the answer choices starting with things like: describe, indicate, discuss, catalogue, illustrate, are those first words enough info to eliminate some choices?
For example, i chose catalogue. When they say catalogue do they mean literal listing of, in this case, the skills of a successful art forger?
I remember at some point someone told me that i can just look at these first verbs in these types of questions and ask my self is the primary purpose to
a) describe something? Possibly
b) indicate something? possibly
c) discuss something? possibly
d) catalogue something? No
e) illustrate? maybe</p>
<p>sometimes my issue is that i think to much into things when they really mean for u to take the word literally. is that the case with these types of questions?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>In this particular question, the first words of each answer choice are synonymous. “Describe,” “indicate,” “discuss,” “catalogue,” and “illustrate” all have the same contextual meaning. What you should be comparing in this question are the third words of each choice (e.g. motivations, artistic merit, etc.). </p>
<p>Most of the time, when answer choices offer different words to say the same thing, they mean the same thing. The main discrepancy between the answer choices in this question is in the third words. Whereas the words “describe,” “indicate,” etc. mean almost the same thing, there is far bigger difference between the words “motivations,” “artistic merit,” etc. </p>
<p>I don’t think College Board would test you on vague differences between very similar words like “describe” and “discuss”. So you should realize that you will most likely have to eliminate wrong answers based on the third word, which are completely different for each answer choice. For example, if the passage doesn’t talk about motivations or the public at all, you can immediately eliminate answers A and E. Then you just eliminate more choices until you get down to one.</p>
<p>Let’s try to put the passage in simpler terms:</p>
<p>Art forgery is both daring and self-effacing. For it to be successful, a copy must look original. Without an original, there would be nothing to mimic. Forgers must be skillful enough to fool people who are experienced in uncovering such phony replicas.</p>
<p>Really, there is nothing specific being mentioned about the skills necessary of art forgers. The passage is primarily focused on the difficulty of art forgery and option (C) most closely reflects this.</p>
<p>@teteatete</p>
<p>If you read the actual post, you would realize he doesn’t need an answer explanation as the CB site already provides that. He was inquiring about the possible differences between words like “describe” and “indicate” that could potentially validate or invalidate certain answer choices.</p>