Critical Reading Question:

Test Preparation
1

<p>Could someone help me with the critical reading question described below?</p>

<pre><code> Nineteenth-century women travelers
from England and the United States created
a small but impressive library of first-person
Line narratives. The recorded accounts of these
</code></pre>

<p>5 women’s adventures—mountain climbing in
Japan, outdoor bathing in Finland, monkey
watching in India, canoeing along the Nile—
helped to educate British and American readers.
The succeeding generations of women
10 travelers were impelled by essentially the
same impetus that had motivated these
pioneers, the desire for independence and
enlightenment. These were the twin forces
that crystallized in the ongoing movement for
15 equal rights. Thus, the once-lowly travel book
rather unexpectedly became an important
instrument for the emancipation of women. </p>

<li>In what way was a certain type of travel book an “instrument”? </li>
</ol>

<p>A. It conveyed an impression of beauty.
B. It revealed what would otherwise have been hidden
C. It was an agent that helped bring about a change.
D. It registered a cataclysmic change in society.
E. It was an implement wielded by an expert. </p>

<p>I picked the correct answer C, but I am not quite convinced about CB’s explanation of why choice D is the incorrect answer:</p>

<p>Choice (D) is incorrect. The passage does not claim that the existence of these books “registered,” or indicated, a great change in nineteenth-century society. The change that is discussed—“the emancipation of women” (line 17)—only took effect with “succeeding generations of women travelers” (lines 9-10) in the twentieth century.</p>

<p>What I don’t understand is why is it that the CB assumes that society in the answer phrase refers to 19th century society? Generically, couldn’t the passage have been referring to 20th century society instead? Also, doesn’t “cataclysmic” also have a violent or negative connotation to it?, but CB only mentions that it means “great”. </p>

<p>I am deeply confused. Any help would be vastly appreciated. Thanks.</p>

2

<p>The book did not register the change as in record it, but rather the but brought about the change. It did not register the cataclysmic change but rather acted as the catalyst.</p>

3

<p>I hate the CB explainations. Coming to us was a wise idea.</p>

<p>The way I see it, the book didn't make change come about. It only inspired it.</p>

<p>But if you were eliminating answers, C and D are the ones you'd be left with. ITs hard, but the more your practice, the easier it will be to get unstuck on such questions.</p>

4

<p>C is the simple answer. if it makes sense and you can find nothing wrong with it... go for it... as you can see, D got a bit tricky with the wording and stuff, they do that on purpose to throw us off. stick to the simple (if its correct, of course)</p>

5

<p>Son, would you say its ALWAYS like that or is it one of those things like for the writing "the shortests answer is usually..."?</p>

6

<p>well, obviously not always. nothing is absolute when it comes to the sats. but its something to look for. additionally, watch out for extreme words like "cataclysmic." Saying that the change was cataclysmic is a very bold statement, and it would have to be sufficiently backed up by evidence in the passage.</p>

7

<p>yea i got the same feeling when i saw "cataclysmic" because i was also debating between C and D
i thought D sounded to be a lil too extreme and also cataclysmic is related to the word catalyst which speeds up a chemical reaction by lowering the activation energy for the reaction making it easier for a successful reaction
so a "cataclysmic change" would mean a very sudden change and with reason and thought you know that travel books alone didnt emancipate women so it seems wrong
therefore C is the BEST choice because it indicates that the travel books "HELPED bring about a change"</p>