October 2009 SAT Critical Reading

<p>stix2400: the author never discusses aristocrats and women not having genius. rather, the author says that they don’t have the time to develop their artistic talent if they have it because they have other social obligations. hence why the best answer is B.</p>

<p>I am 99.5% sure that mocking biographies was not the answer.</p>

<p>:(</p>

<p>That would make me sad, SATkid. Why do you say that? I feel like people know things I don’t or smthng.</p>

<p>no billgordon-you didn’t read my phrasing of answer choice E.</p>

<p>again, “artistic genius is something that is not present in people of certain social statuses”</p>

<p>so it’s not that they don’t have genius, but that they SHARE (yes, what you were asked to identify in the question) a common social status. This status prevents them from expressing genius.</p>

<p>also @ sixstring.</p>

<p>you shouldn’t have ignored the line reference for the herb question because the line reference did NOT include the point where the author expresses his excitment as experiencing something for the first time.</p>

<p>the line reference only refered to him quoting the preconcieved notions he held about the book, things that he’d seen many times before. it was singer.</p>

<p>@ immanuel</p>

<p>I believe it wasnt mocking because the passage’s tone of voice was not filled with utter contempt for the value of the word Genius and the shortage of women artists.</p>

<p>also for the Gogol/Nikhil being surprised because when in the passage it was like “The work seemed like NO WORK AT ALL”
meaning that he expected it to be a long and arduous process but it turned out to be less demanding than it actually was, thus making the answer “surprised”</p>

<p>@stix: I’m fairly certain I remembered the question correctly. A is probably right though - I was just wondering if anyone else debated A and B and chose B as well.</p>

<p>You are also miswording the question: “Genius was not an inherent part of specific groups” is a good remembrance of the actual question. It might not be verbatim, but I remember there was ambiguity in the meaning.</p>

<p>certain groups works just fine!</p>

<p>the author was VERY clear the the social status (certain groups) of women and aristocrats was the reason they didn’t express genius.</p>

<p>next question.</p>

<p>Social status and specific groups cannot be used interchangeably. </p>

<p>That is, certain groups contained genius that was NOT cultivated and thus did not achieve greatness. It’s a very fine line - while social status was the reason for the lack of achievements, inherent flaws within each groups was certainly NOT the reason for the lack of genius.</p>

<p>For the mocking/satirizing/jeering one, it could be jeering because the author is poking fun at Giotto’s discovery, which was the FIRST thing to bring up having sheep, which other people supposedly tried to copy. But I’m not sure (mocking vs. jeering) they are similar words.</p>

<p>For the question about what would the author characterize Vesari (sp.?)'s writing about Giotto’s discovery, what was the answer? Was it “fabricated tale for entertainment” or “idealistic narrative with many stereotypical details” or “historical account proven by research”? I’m pretty sure it isn’t the last one. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>idealistic narrative.</p>

<p>im pretty sure of my women aristocrat answer.</p>

<p>the reason neither of them achieved genius was why? Because of their social status. As long as “certain groups” CAN refer to the elements of common social status held by aristocrats and women, it’s correct.</p>

<p>e-mail <a href="mailto:satquestion@info.collegeboard.org">satquestion@info.collegeboard.org</a>!! to void the question.</p>

<p>haha. nah</p>

<p>just look at how different the answers we are debating generally are (except for maybe the admiration, discovery one)</p>

<p>to say that one answer isn’t any better than the other is a little absurd.</p>

<p>i still think that the genius qualities are inherently missing from certain groups (aristocrats & women). this question was what did the connection between “aristocrats” and “women” suggest?</p>

<p>and this is what it referred to:</p>

<p>“Could it be that the little golden nugget-genius-is missing from the aristocratic makeup in the same way that it is from the feminine psyche?”</p>

<p>which explicitly states that genius is inherently missing</p>

<p>How do you guys remember these lines verbatim? Did you take pictures of the test or something?? =0</p>

<p>For the last question of the passage, I put the one about history of genius overlooking social backgrounds or something…is that wrong? I think it was choice E.</p>

<p>Oh my gosh, we are so obsessed. It’s over and we’re making a huge deal out of it. But I really want to get 740+!</p>

<p>@freak</p>

<p>Obsessed about the SAT? On CC there’s no such thing :)</p>

<p>SATkid, you are thinking of a different question than I am. There was a different question that picked out a phrase from the 3rd or 4th paragraph and asked about it’s effect.</p>

<p>Does anyone remember the sentence completion question about the lawyer/defendant and jury? Everyone seems to think it’s the defiant/reaffirmed one or whatever it was, but I put something else. I think I put choice C or something, and I think the first question started with p and the second word was confirmed.</p>

<p>do any of you remember the question for the double passage about someone living in the present ?
what was the title of the piece?
i put the one about a feast, but im not sure</p>

<p>Definitely idealistic narrative.</p>