Critical Reading Question

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Passage:</p>

<p>
[quote]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been investigating the treatment of women in a major financial services firm since a former executive alleged that she had been underpaid, excluded from outings with clients, and denied promotion because of her gender. If the commission sues the firm, it would be a rare case of the federal government's taking up the cause of a highly compensated professional in a workplace dispute.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Question:

[quote]
It can be inferred that the commission views the alleged treatment of the former executive as</p>

<p>(A) possibly representative of a general pattern
(B) clearly showing the need for legal reform
(C) indicative of declining business ethics
(D) posing a sensitive political dilemma
(E) likely to prove difficult to verify

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I'm terrible with questions that ask the reader what the author implies. I do not know exactly when I'm inserting my own conclusions and overstepping what has been stated in the text. Can you please tell me what you think is the answer and how you arrived at it? I put (B) but the answer is actually (A)...This is a difficulty 5 question (the max).</p>

2

<p>I think the reason B is wrong is because it says “clearly”, which implies that it is certain that the former executive was being mistreated. It’s not certain that she was mistreated, which is why the commision is investigating (to determin if she was in fact being mistreated). So since it’s not certain, you cannot say that legal reform is clearly needed. A is correct because it uses the word “possibly.” A is basically saying that the way the former executive was treated may indicate that other workers are being treated in the same way. </p>

<p>Hope that helps :)</p>

3

<p>The key here, I would say, is the word “since” in the first sentence. The investigation was an effect of the specific case. From the specific executive woman and her litany to the investigation of “the treatment of women.” </p>

<p>Not sure if that made sense, but it worked for me.</p>

4

<p>Sorry this is random, but where is this passage from? like which SAT prep book is this passage from?</p>

5

<p>maybe QAS…</p>