I’m having trouble understanding the solution to this question 
“It was designed that the mode of gaining influence and of exercising power [of men and women] should be altogether different and peculiar…”
Question 15: "Peculiar most nearly means?
The official explanation is:
Choice C is the best answer. When describing how men and women can influence society, Beecher says the ways they can do so “should be altogether different and peculiar” (lines 11-12). In the context of the “altogether different” ways men and women can influence society, the word “peculiar” implies being unique or distinctive.
Choices A, B, and D are incorrect because in the context of the “altogether different” ways men and women can influence society, the word “peculiar” suggests something unique or distinctive, not something unusual and odd (choice A), unexpected (choice B), or rare (choice D).
I find it hard to accept the answer is C. Since the sentence already has the word “different”, if peculiar were to mean distinctive than the word “peculiar” in the original sentence would be redundant. Seeing that both adjectives were used, peculiar must have had a different meaning than “different”!
Can any CCers help me out here? What’s the right way to do these questions anyway, substitute the answer choice into the original sentence?
I am a test prep tutor, and I had the exact same thought about that question initially. However, most of my students got the right answer. Remember that you have to go with the author’s statement. She said that, and if you think about what else she wrote, she wasn’t talking about surprising things. If she said something redundant, it isn’t College Board’s fault. You basically over-thought it, and you forgot that the quote in question was the actual statement made by the author.
Redundancy is an issue to be aware of in the grammar section. However the reading section is made up of previously published writing. An author may choose to use redundancy to make a point. Your job is not to judge that piece of writing but to try to understand the author’s meaning.
I’m also a test prep tutor and I agree with the previous posters. I’ll also answer your final question directly. On these types of questions, I strongly advise my students to ignore the common or typical definitions of the given word (in this case, “peculiar”) and instead rely on replacing each of the suggested alternative words into the sentence and see which alternative would result in a sentence that is most consistent with the author’s overall intent and message.
Especially when dealing with older writing, some of the original words may used in ways that are far different from the common usages of those words. If you spend time thinking about synonyms for those words, you distract yourself. Just focus on what fits.
In this case, any of the other choices – odd, unexpected and rare – don’t make sense when thinking about ways in which men and women can influence society. If one of those words were used, a reader would likely think, “Huh???” On the other hand, to say that men and women can contribute in unique and distinctive ways makes complete sense in the context of Beecher’s message. The fact that it might be repetitive is a very minor problem in comparison to an alternative that is strange or inconsistent or confusing.
Hope that helps.
By the way … great job thinking this through carefully! If you keep up this level of review, your scores will surely increase!