There are passages where I get confused with the main idea. Consider a sample passage in which the author introduces an idea/process. In the next paragraph the author says more about the process, discusses the merits and demerits. The last paragraph says something about whether further research is needed or X should adopt this policy. The answer choices usually have
- author advocates/encourages/discourages the process/idea.
- outline the process.
My accuracy is around 50% for these types of questions. Any thoughts/ideas as to what I should be on the lookout for to get to the right answer choice.
If you need an example, please do let me know and I'll post the sample questions in the MGMAT Test forum.
thanks.
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- RonPurewal
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look at the way the passage is presented and try to get an idea of its purpose. a couple of the things you've mentioned here are dead giveaways:
- if the author says 'further research is needed', then the author is clearly not advocating the process. most likely, the author is simply outlining the sum total of current research on the process (whatever 'the process' may be). possibly, the author is advocating restraint in the use of 'the process' because further research is needed (i.e., not enough is currently known to advocate the process confidently). remember that the author is not going to be reckless: the passage is not going to advocate a process with insufficient or contradictory research.
- if the author says 'X should adopt this policy' (your words), then it should be clear that that statement forms the thesis of the passage. (if the author makes a persuasive statement like that, you can be sure it's not an afterthought.)
if nothing jumps out at you as a principal purpose the first time you read through, take another look at the most important parts of the passage: the first paragraph and the last few lines. most gmat passages, while boring, are rhetorically effective - meaning that they usually deliver their point succinctly and in 'normal' places (like the aforementioned beginning or end of the passage). therefore, you should be able to find the thrust of the passage by looking in those places. (it is vanishingly rare for a passage to bury its main thesis in the middle, as doing so would not only be unconventional but also obscure the point for the average reader.)
feel free to post questions if you like (not from banned sources, of course!). this will entail a fair amount of typing on your part if you're transcribing anything from printed materials, but it's worth it, right? :)
- if the author says 'further research is needed', then the author is clearly not advocating the process. most likely, the author is simply outlining the sum total of current research on the process (whatever 'the process' may be). possibly, the author is advocating restraint in the use of 'the process' because further research is needed (i.e., not enough is currently known to advocate the process confidently). remember that the author is not going to be reckless: the passage is not going to advocate a process with insufficient or contradictory research.
- if the author says 'X should adopt this policy' (your words), then it should be clear that that statement forms the thesis of the passage. (if the author makes a persuasive statement like that, you can be sure it's not an afterthought.)
if nothing jumps out at you as a principal purpose the first time you read through, take another look at the most important parts of the passage: the first paragraph and the last few lines. most gmat passages, while boring, are rhetorically effective - meaning that they usually deliver their point succinctly and in 'normal' places (like the aforementioned beginning or end of the passage). therefore, you should be able to find the thrust of the passage by looking in those places. (it is vanishingly rare for a passage to bury its main thesis in the middle, as doing so would not only be unconventional but also obscure the point for the average reader.)
feel free to post questions if you like (not from banned sources, of course!). this will entail a fair amount of typing on your part if you're transcribing anything from printed materials, but it's worth it, right? :)
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Ron:
Thanks a lot. Even though I've done the RC section of the OG, I never looked at the main idea from
this perspective. I guess I never read the explanations carefully. And as far as typing in the questions--
your explanations definitely make it more than 'worth it' (i'm the same guy who posted the questions
regarding the CRs for democracies and SCs for noun phrases).
thanks again.
Thanks a lot. Even though I've done the RC section of the OG, I never looked at the main idea from
this perspective. I guess I never read the explanations carefully. And as far as typing in the questions--
your explanations definitely make it more than 'worth it' (i'm the same guy who posted the questions
regarding the CRs for democracies and SCs for noun phrases).
thanks again.
- Guest
RPurewal Wrote:l
feel free to post questions if you like (not from banned sources, of course!). this will entail a fair amount of typing on your part if you're transcribing anything from printed materials, but it's worth it, right? :)
Ron:
This question is from MGMAT CAT Exam. Do let me know if you'd prefer this question under the MGMAT Test Forum and I'll do so.
RC Passage:
The golden toad of Costa Rica, whose beauty and rarity inspired an unusual degree of human interest from a public generally unconcerned about amphibians, may have been driven to extinction by human activity nevertheless. In the United States, a public relations campaign featuring the toad raised money to purchase and protect the toad’s habitat in Costa Rica, establishing the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in 1972. Although this action seemed to secure the toad's future, it is now apparent that setting aside habitat was not enough to save this beautiful creature. The toad's demise in the late 1980s was a harbinger of further species extinction in Costa Rica. Since that time, another twenty of the fifty species of frogs and toads known to once inhabit a 30 square kilometer area near Monteverde have disappeared.
The unexplained, relatively sudden disappearance of amphibians in Costa Rica is not a unique story. Populations of frogs, toads, and salamanders have declined or disappeared the world over. Scientists hypothesize that the more subtle effects of human activities on the world's ecosystems, such as the build-up of pollutants, the decrease in atmospheric ozone, and changing weather patterns due to global warming, are beginning to take their toll. Perhaps amphibians - whose permeable skin makes them sensitive to environmental changes - are the "canary in the coal mine," giving us early notification of the deterioration of our environment. If amphibians are the biological harbingers of environmental problems, humans would be wise to heed their warning.
The primary purpose of the passage is to
a) discuss the mysterious disappearance of Costa Rica’s golden toad.
b) explain why human activity is undoubtedly to blame for the global decline of amphibious populations.
c) convince humans that they must minimize the global output of pollutants.
d) describe the recent global decline of amphibious populations and hypothesize about its causes.
e) urge humans to pay careful attention to important environmental changes.
OA is d). I got this one right on the exam, but I guess that was a stroke of good luck :-)
My logic:
(e) is very close to what the author says in the last line. But the conclusion in the last line is conditional. The hypothesis (human activities are taking their toll) needs to be further validated.
Hence d) is preferred which summarizes the main portions of the first 2 paragraphs. Does this make sense?
- RonPurewal
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well, your selection of choice d may have been a stroke of good luck, but choice e is most certainly incorrect.
as you go through these types of questions, don't forget that you're looking for the main idea. i know you know that already - after all, it's the principal question type you're talking about - but keep it in mind. here's another 'common-sense principle' that will sound really obvious when i say it, but which it's easy to lose perspective on during the exam:
the majority of the passage will be directly related to the main idea.
in other words, don't focus too much on small bits of text. the passage you've copied, for instance, spends 80-90% of its length discussing the disappearance of amphibian populations, and doesn't get around to salient advice for humans until the tail end. it's tempting to seize upon that advice (= the substance of choice e) as some sort of 'main idea' - after all, it's a zinger that would definitely stick in your head if you'd heard this stuff as a speech - but it isn't, because the vast majority of the passage has nothing to do with it. notice, then, that the main reason choice e is wrong has nothing to do with its being 'conditional' or insufficiently justified; rather, the reason is more fundamental - the statement made in choice e is irrelevant to the majority of the passage.
similarly, choice a is wrong, because the golden toad is the subject of just the first part of the first paragraph. after that, the passage begins to generalize, and you never hear a word about the golden toad again.
you have summarized the reason choice d is correct nicely: it summarizes a clear majority of the passage. that's what you want.
--
you could always try the following:
if you're asked for the main idea of a passage, try to give that main idea in your own words, BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THE ANSWER CHOICES. this can really help you out: if you did it for this passage, for instance, you'd almost certainly come up with something like 'this passage is about the disappearance of amphibians & its consequences.' while not verbatim, of course, that would be equivalent in substance and meaning only to choice d.
hth.
as you go through these types of questions, don't forget that you're looking for the main idea. i know you know that already - after all, it's the principal question type you're talking about - but keep it in mind. here's another 'common-sense principle' that will sound really obvious when i say it, but which it's easy to lose perspective on during the exam:
the majority of the passage will be directly related to the main idea.
in other words, don't focus too much on small bits of text. the passage you've copied, for instance, spends 80-90% of its length discussing the disappearance of amphibian populations, and doesn't get around to salient advice for humans until the tail end. it's tempting to seize upon that advice (= the substance of choice e) as some sort of 'main idea' - after all, it's a zinger that would definitely stick in your head if you'd heard this stuff as a speech - but it isn't, because the vast majority of the passage has nothing to do with it. notice, then, that the main reason choice e is wrong has nothing to do with its being 'conditional' or insufficiently justified; rather, the reason is more fundamental - the statement made in choice e is irrelevant to the majority of the passage.
similarly, choice a is wrong, because the golden toad is the subject of just the first part of the first paragraph. after that, the passage begins to generalize, and you never hear a word about the golden toad again.
you have summarized the reason choice d is correct nicely: it summarizes a clear majority of the passage. that's what you want.
--
you could always try the following:
if you're asked for the main idea of a passage, try to give that main idea in your own words, BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THE ANSWER CHOICES. this can really help you out: if you did it for this passage, for instance, you'd almost certainly come up with something like 'this passage is about the disappearance of amphibians & its consequences.' while not verbatim, of course, that would be equivalent in substance and meaning only to choice d.
hth.
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