SAT Critical Reading questions

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1

Hello guys,

I was studying for the SAT when I came across a difficult question. I couldn’t understand the answer.

Passage Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-SjC2QWxqXRclktUmw3clY0T3M/view
–>pg. 16 (the passage’s about Hurston. it’s on section 3)

  1. In lines 36-39 ("She...blame"), the author most directly implies that (A) the characters in Hurston's fiction were often more controversial than their real-life counterparts (B) too much should not be made of Hurston's choice of whom to write about (C) Hurston felt compelled to apologize for writing about what was most interesting to her (D) Hurston was unaware of the social impact her writing would someday have (E) Hurston's peers could not identify with her characters

I didn’t have any idea about how to tackle this question. The answer was (B). Why?

Another question (same link, but on pg. 15 - the passages are about dinosaurs):

  1. Both passages address which of the following issues? (A) The cause of dinosaur extinctions (B) The theories of a noted paleontologist (C) The food-finding behavior of an extinct species (D) The decrease in funding for dinosaur research (E) The specific anatomical characteristics of T. rex

I chose (E), because on passage 1 it mentioned “substantial information about its anatomy,” and on passage 2 it mentioned how the T. rex has calves the length of its thighs and how its forearms are so short. Why isn’t (E) right? Why is choice © right?

Much help will be greatly appreciated. :slight_smile:

2
  1. Hints: “She HAPPENED to know best…”, “neither praise nor blame”, “Hurston’s real subject […] was the universal disjunction […]”.
  2. Hints: the last sentence of the first passage and the second sentence of the second passage. The theme of a passage is usually at either the beginning or the end of the passage.
3

how do you know then correct answer is B ? Synonyms. Is the reasoning ,that because auther is a fan of Hurston and lives of black women is cause for neither praise or blame , Hurston shouldnt write aboutlives of black women , correct ?

4

your response will be appreciated. :smiley:

5

@NOTFLIPPANT Actually, no. What the paragraph implies is that Hurston writes about what she felt is most interesting to her, which happened to be “the universal disjunction”, or, in simpler terms, the conflicts of the daily life. What she wrote about was the conflict, not the lives of the black women. To her, the lives of the black women is just a convenient way to convey the conflict to the readers. Answer B is basically the MST3K mantra, telling the readers not to read too much into what kind of characters she chose to be the tool conveying her ideas.