Читать книгу SAT For Dummies - Woods Geraldine, Geraldine Woods, Ron Woldoff - Страница 51

You wish it were distant, but it’s social. Anyway, if the passage is about social studies (history, anthropology, sociology, education, cultural studies, and so on), keep these tips in mind:

 Go for the positive. The SAT doesn’t criticize anyone with the power to sue or contact the media. So if you see a question about the author’s tone or viewpoint, look for a positive answer.

 Note the structure. The passages frequently present a claim and support it with sets of facts or quotations from experts. If you’re asked about the significance of a particular detail in a passage, the detail is probably evidence in the case that the author is making. In a history passage, chronology (order of events) may be particularly important. Sketch a short timeline if the passage seems to focus on a series of linked events.

 Identify cause and effect. History and social studies passages often explain why something happens. Search for keywords such as therefore, hence, consequently, and others that signal a reason.

 Look for opposing ideas. Experts, including historians, are into criticizing each other’s interpretations of archaeological discoveries or important events. (Maybe it’s to assert themselves, but anyway … ) Many social studies passages present two or more viewpoints, especially in the two-part passages. Look for the opposing sides, or identify the main theory and the objections to it.

Each SAT Reading test has one set of two-part passages, which are almost always Social Studies. These are two half-sized passages that take the space of one regular passage, and they are appropriately named Passage 1 and Passage 2. They sit right next to each other, and they’re followed by a few questions on the first passage, then some on the second passage, and then a few more on how the passages fit together. Here’s what you do:

1 Always read the blurb at the beginning.As with any other Reading passage, start with that blurb.

2 Answer the questions that deal solely with Passage 1.These are always the first three or four questions. Use the same approach as you would with any other passage: Start with the line-number questions, then work the detail questions, and then read the passage and answer the inference and main idea questions.

3 Answer the questions that deal solely with Passage 2.Rinse and repeat. The Passage 2 questions are always grouped after the Passage 1 questions.

4 Answer the questions that ask about how the passages fit together.The fit-together questions are always the last of the bunch. Keep an eye out for these common themes:How would the authors of both passages agree or disagree?Does one passage give an example of the point made in the other passage?What would the author of one passage say about something in the other passage?

You can try your hand at the two-part passages in the next chapter and in the practice tests that accompany this book, but for now, try out these questions on this brief history passage taken from To and Through Nebraska, by Frances I. Sims Fulton, describing settlers traveling to the West during the 19th century:

During all this time, and despite the disagreeable weather, emigrants from the cities of the Northeast to the wilderness in the West keep up the line of march, traveling in their “prairie schooners,” as the great hoop-covered wagon is called, into which, often are packed their every worldly possession, and have room to pile in a large family on top. Sometimes a sheet-iron stove is carried along at the rear of the wagon, which, when needed, they set up inside and put the pipe through a hole in the covering. Those who do not have this convenience carry wood with them and build a fire on the ground to cook by; cooking utensils are generally packed in a box at the side or front. The coverings of the wagons are of all shades and materials. When oil cloth is not used, they are often patched over the top with their oil-cloth table covers, saving them from the rain.

The details about the wagon serve to

Cover the answers. In your own words, why does the author describe the covered wagons in so much detail? Probably to give an example of how the travelers are resourceful and clever. Now cross off wrong answers:

(A) reveal the convenience of covered wagons

(B) emphasize the ingenuity of the travelers

(C) show that the travelers were ill-equipped for life on the frontier

(D) contrast life in the city with life in the wilderness

Did you cross off Choices (A), (C), and (D), leaving Choice (B) as the only possible answer? Here’s the rationale. According to the passage, the travelers pack everything they need into one wagon. Some have more than others, but those who, for example, lack stoves “carry wood with them and build a fire on the ground” (Line 7). They protect themselves from the rain with either a wagon cover or a tablecloth.

Which of the following best fits the theme of this passage?

Cover the answers. In your own words, what’s the passage mainly about? Maybe something like, “Traveling and camping in a covered wagon.” Perfect. Now cross off those wrong answers:

(A) Cooking on the frontier

(B) Chasing the gold rush

(C) Traveling in a prairie schooner

(D) Economics of the Old West

Cross off Choice (A), because even though cooking is part of it, it’s not the main idea. Cross off Choice (B) which, though it may be true, isn’t specific enough, and more importantly, doesn’t match your answer. Choice (C) gets a dot: Remember “prairie schooner” is what they called the covered wagons. Cross off Choice (D), which isn’t even mentioned in the passage. Choice (C) is left, so that’s what you go with.