Blue Book Critical Reading Questions

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1

<p>Hi, I'm studying for Critical Reading section of the Official Study Guide for SAT (aka the Blue Book), and I have some questions that I couldn't understand.</p>

<p>On pg. 843 Question 10:
( the corresponding link can be found in the following link:
<a href="http://testingpress.com/node/36"&gt;http://testingpress.com/node/36&lt;/a> )</p>

<ol>
<li>Which of the following best characterizes Alice Barber Stephens?</li>
</ol>

<p>(A) Materialist and aesthete
(B) Perfectionist and egotist
(C) Pragmatist and activist
(D) Dreamer and revolutionary
(E) Celebrity and philanthropist</p>

<p>The answer is B. The college board's explanation for the answer is:</p>

<p>Choice (C) is correct. The passage describes Stephens' "pragmatic," or practical, pursuit of her own career and her activism on behalf of other women artists.</p>

<p>Also, from SAT Crammers, the explanation is:</p>

<p>...Our strategy is to identify the main idea of the passage. The main idea shows that despite adversity, Stephens managed to avoid public scrutiny and judgement while still managing to work as a successful female artist and being politically active. So my guess is that I would describe her as being realistic...</p>

<p>However, I still don't understand. I completely understand why she's being an 'activist,' I don't get how her actions can be interpreted as being 'pragmatist."</p>

<p>Detailed explanation will be much appreciated :)</p>

2

<p>She didn’t directly fight the cultural sexism early in her career; instead, she published from home. This is a “pragmatic” solution because she stayed home, thus fulfilling society’s expectation of women and an “activist” solution because she still broke the gender line by publishing her illustrations and also because she later “petitioned” and “fought prejudice.”</p>