|
Question
1. What is the Passage Type?
Question 2. What is each paragraph about?
Question 3. What is the Organization??
Question 4. What is the Big Idea?
Question 5. What is the author’s purpose?
QUESTION 1: WHAT IS THE PASSAGE TYPE?
Why Do We Care?
When you start reading the essay you are lost. Figuring out what the
passage type is will quickly give you a handle on how to start reading
and what to read for.
Passages can be categorized by subject matter and primary purpose.
You can expect about an even split of passages in four subjects:
Subject Classification
No matter what the subject, rely only on the passage for factual information.
You are not expected to have any outside knowledge with which to answer the
questions. If a question appears to ask for outside knowledge, look for the
information in the text. The answer will be there. That means you should choose
the answer best supported by the passage, not the one that appears most correct
based on your general knowledge. Use only what you have been given.
1. Humanities: literature, languages, history, art, philosophy
Expect a heavy dose of jargon in these passages. You’ll be treated to
hermeneutics, phenomenology, and other vocabulary delights. Sentences may be
unnecessarily long and complicated. But you don’t need to brush up on
your Peruvian art history. Everything you need to know will be in the passage.
2. Social science: political science, psychology, economics, sociology,
anthropology
These essays will bring up controversial points. Many of these essays may carry
heavy political bias or may be loaded with assumptions. These are often persuasive
pieces. The trick here is to see that the essays are in fact biased and persuasive
arguments. Follow the argument as best you can and be able to summarize it before
you go on to the questions. On the other hand, if you do see the essay’s
bias and happen to have a personal bias in the other direction, be careful not
to let this interfere with your comprehension of the topic.
3. Science: biology, physics, chemistry, geology, earth science.
Science essays are detail intensive and have jargon you may not understand.
It is critical you don’t get bogged down on content you don’t understand
and focus on the main points.
Don’t think that just because it is a science essay it is hard. If you
can get through the haze of intimidating jargon the test writers use to confuse
you, you will see that these questions are easier than they seem.
The scientific explanations are there mainly for two reasons:
1) To intimidate you,
2) To waste your time.
You will rarely be asked about the jargon at all.
If you do manage to get past the jargon, you will meet the second challenge
of the science argument: find the bias. Since we don’t normally assume
scientists are persuasive “idea salesmen” you may just miss that
your science passage is describing a savage conflict between two different scientific
opinions and the scientist factions behind them. In certain scientific disciplines
there may be raging debates over scientific theories (like the big bang or evolutional
theory) that linger for decades without any clear- cut resolution. The false
veneer of objectivity in some scientific literature means that you may miss
the conflict of ideas and controversy. Be careful.
800score.com Tips for Science Passages
a) Often the introductory paragraph in a science essay will just provide a background.
You can skim through this and get to the essay’s main point in the later
paragraphs.
b) If you’re short on time, skip lengthy scientific explanations. You
may not need them at all. But try to understand the point of the science. If
the author is describing the molecular biology of addition, ask yourself: why?
What is the function of the scientific discussion in the passage? Worry much
less about understanding the actual science and be concerned about why the author
(and the GMAT question writers) choose to emphasize it. What bearing does the
scientific information have on the essay?
4. Business: management, entrepreneurship, corporations
These essays may also be jargon intensive. If you are a business school candidate
you may have a background knowledge in this area. This is usually beneficial,
as it makes the passage easier to read; just remember that specific outside
knowledge will never be called upon to answer an essay question. All the answers
can be found in the essay itself.
|
