Lecture Notes forVerbal ReasoningLesson 6Handling the Questions According to Kaplan

Handling QuestionsRemember the four categories of questions.

Comprehension.Global, details, deduction.

Inferences, assumptions, and definitions-in-context.

Evaluation.Function of statement or structure of passage.

Structure and function.

Application.Ideas in passage applied to new information.

Hypotheticals, analogies, general statements, and author identity.

Incorporation.New information applied to arguments in the passage.

Effect (supposition) and solutions.

Order of frequency.Deduction, evaluation, application, incorporation, detail, and global.

Handling Questions

Watch for paraphrased assumption questions.

What idea is implicit (not explicitly stated) in the author’s argument?

Skills necessary for analyzing VR questions.

Paraphrase to discover standard question type.

Research passage using your keyword map.Does this waste time?

Predict an answer.

Eliminate “pathological” wrong answer choices.

Handling QuestionsWrong answer pathologies—get to know these along with ExamKracker “distractor” answer choices.

Wrong answer choices are comprised of several types:Opposite.

States the opposite of what the question calls for or what’s offered in the passage.

Outside the scope.Deals with material beyond the passage or the author’s concern.

Keep in mind a topic is broader than the scope which is broader than a thesis or controlling idea.

Distortion.Relates to a point in the passage, but confuses some aspects of it.

Distortions are usually extreme or exaggerated or unqualified statements.

Faulty use of detail.Focuses on detail from the wrong part of the passage.

Takes relevant detail out of context.

Most common FUD is a direct quote from the wrong part of the passage.

Handling Questions

Wrong answer pathologies (cont’d.).Eliminate wrong answer choices to help your chances of finding the correct answer.

Do this when you can’t predict the answer outright.

Handling Questions

Answer choice elimination strategies.If you must guess, answer the other questions for the passage first.

ExamKrackers suggests to not skip around to answer questions.

If two answers are close, one is probably right, but which one?

IF two answers are opposite of each other, one is probably right, but which one?

For “least/except/not” questions, if the content of one answer seems different from the other three, it’s probably right.

Extreme statements are most likely wrong.

Handling Questions

Think like a test maker.Question type is often dictated by the passage.

Only a certain number of questions for any passage.

Practice identifying the kinds of information that will appear in those questions.

The author’s purpose, expressed and implied opinions, and supporting evidence.

Work to eventually “see” the questions you expect as you read the passage.