SAT Practice - Explanations about Answers

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1

I don’t know if there is a general thread for this, but I have some questions about the answers to problems on some practice tests.

First, Official SAT Practice Test #1, question #41 (reading). Can anyone explain their thought process in how they got the correct answer (B)? Why is it not A or perhaps even D (though I wouldn’t have picked that one)?

My original thought was that all the places are the possibilities of what could happen, but the word “enjoyable” eliminated D for me as that wasn’t implied anywhere. Then I thought since women used to always stay in their private homes, all these places and occasions would be new and unfamiliar to them and would emphasize how this challenge facing them is unlike any other. I can kind of see how B would work as it is a variety of different places everywhere, but I still think A is better?

41
The range of places and occasions listed in
lines 72-76 (“Let us… funerals”) mainly serves to
emphasize how
A) novel the challenge faced by women is.
B) pervasive the need for critical reflection is.
C) complex the political and social issues of the
day are.
D) enjoyable the career possibilities for women are.

Let us think in offices; in omnibuses; while
we are standing in the crowd watching Coronations
and Lord Mayor’s Shows; let us think . . . in the
gallery of the House of Commons; in the Law Courts;
let us think at baptisms and marriages and funerals.

Second, Official SAT Practice Test #2, question #42 (reading). Can anyone explain their thought process for why it’s D, and C is the wrong answer?

42
The sixth paragraph (lines 67-78) is primarily
concerned with establishing a contrast between
A) men and women.
B) the spiritual world and the material world.
C) bad men and good men.
D) men and masculine traits.

In speaking of the masculine element, I do not
wish to be understood to say that all men are hard,
selfish, and brutal, for many of the most beautiful
spirits the world has known have been clothed with
manhood; but I refer to those characteristics, though
often marked in woman, that distinguish what is
called the stronger sex. For example, the love of
acquisition and conquest, the very pioneers of
civilization, when expended on the earth, the sea, the
elements, the riches and forces of nature, are powers
of destruction when used to subjugate one man to
another or to sacrifice nations to ambition.

Any help would be appreciated if possible! :slight_smile:

2

Your reasoning is excessively inferential. While it’s quite possible (A) is true–those places might be “new and unfamiliar to them”–the right answer must be true and “might be true” isn’t good enough. The lines make it explicit that women must “think” in many, many places; since “think” matches “critical reflection” and if something happens in lots of places it’s “pervasive,” (C) is the best answer. It may also be worth noting that (A) says “the challenge” is novel and your reasoning focuses on the places being novel, which is quite a stretch and one I wouldn’t make unless I’d conclusively ruled out all other choices.

She’s drawing a distinction between “the masculine element” and “all men.” She’s saying that though she believes “the masculine element” has those traits (“hard, selfish, and brutal”), she is aware that not “all men” are that way. The key is the first two lines.

Hope this helps!

3

Another point to make about your first question is what I sometimes tell my students as an aid in dealing with RC questions: “Keep your eye on the ball.” The ‘ball’ is the subject (usually, but not necessarily, the grammatical subject) of the main idea of the section with which the question deals. The ball should be the same as the subject of the answer choices. It should be the same idea, not necessarily the same word. Starting in line 70 the reader is enjoined to ‘think’. The passage, at that point is about thinking. It lists places where one must think. Now look at the answer choices. The subject of A. is ‘challenge’ , B. ‘reflection’, C. ‘issues’ and D. ‘possibilities’. Of those four choices, which comes closest to the word ‘think’?

If you find more than one answer choice with the same subject idea as the passage, look at the predicate idea. Which answer choice comes closest? A warning: When you have two answer choices with the same subject idea, be very careful about choosing the one with the same subject word. A common wrong answer choice will lure you with a familiar word used in an inaccurate answer choice. The correct answer will often use a synonym (as in ‘reflect’ for ‘think’).

This approach can help to simplify a complex or abstract question that you aren’t quite sure you understand.

4

In question 41, you can see the statement,“It falls on us to keep on thinking” and then a semi colon before explaining the range of places where thinking is to be done. All the statements after the semi colon explain the statement before the semi colon. In other words the clue to the answer is “It falls on us to keep thinking” (line 70-72). Thus the answer is B
For question 42 (Official practice test 2), the sixth paragraph makes reference to the masculine element(line 67 so you know it has to be a character or trait. Another clue is in this line “but I refer to those characteristics”(line 71). The sixth paragraph doesn’t primarily make distinction between good or bad men bcs the author makes mention of this claim just to clarify people from making a generalization that “that all men are hard,selfish, and brutal” That’s why C is wrong and D is correct.