PT 58 Sept 09 Section 2 RC 1 and 4 Forum

[msuz]

Q1, Why is the answer B and not C? There seems to be many obstacles discussed about studying textiles, and the answer for 5 talks about coping with difficulties for the function of the passage as a whole, and the answer for 7 talks about the function of the 1st P being to describe a problem for which methods are used to resolve are later described.

Q4, I have no idea where they got D.

[benito]

I think I might be missing something about your question because I'm not sure what the relevance of questions 5 and 7 are to # 1, but the answer is not C because it is too narrow to be called the "main idea" of the passage. Yes the passage does discuss obstacles to research of women's production but it does so in the context of explaining how the development of new methods of textile study, in part to overcome those obstacles, have allowed researchers to uncover new info about ancient textiles and their creators. That is the main point of the passage and thats what answer B says.

On #4 the passage starts by defining traditional sources as "archaeological remains and surviving texts." Answer choice D refers to a modern re-creation of a loom used to try and understand ancient weaving techniques.....a re-creation is neither a surviving text nor an example of archaeological remains. So by the authors definition of traditional sources it is excluded and therefore the correct answer choice.

[msuz]

I think I might be missing something about your question because I'm not sure what the relevance of questions 5 and 7 are to # 1, but the answer is not C because it is too narrow to be called the "main idea" of the passage. Yes the passage does discuss obstacles to research of women's production but it does so in the context of explaining how the development of new methods of textile study, in part to overcome those obstacles, have allowed researchers to uncover new info about ancient textiles and their creators. That is the main point of the passage and thats what answer B says.

I noted 5 and 7 because the answers of those talk about coping with problems/obstacles, and in Q1 answer C is the only one that mentions them. Since Q5s question was "The passage as a whole functions primarily as" and Q7s question was "Which one most accurately describes the function of the 1st paragraph," I figured overcoming those obstacles was a main point of the passage. However, the point you make about scope makes sense, and I can see why answer B is correct for Q1.

On #4 the passage starts by defining traditional sources as "archaeological remains and surviving texts." Answer choice D refers to a modern re-creation of a loom used to try and understand ancient weaving techniques.....a re-creation is neither a surviving text nor an example of archaeological remains. So by the authors definition of traditional sources it is excluded and therefore the correct answer choice.

I still don't understand this answer. When he mentions "traditional sources," but "means to exclude one of the following," doesn't the author intend to exclude a peace of evidence that is traditionally used as a source of evidence? If so, where in the passage does he implicitly mention re-creations of looms being used as traditional sources of evidence?

Thanks for the response, RC is my worst section! I'm at the library right now doing RC drills.

[benito]

I think your misinterpreting the question. All its doing is checking if you know what the author means by the term "traditional sources." So you can re-read the question as: which one of the following cannot be classified as a traditional source according to the definition provided by the author. A re-created loom clearly falls outside of that definition. So the correct answer choice for this question does not have to be explicitly mentioned later in the passage, all it has to do is not be an "archaeological remain or surviving texts"......the answers other than D are all either archaeological remains or surviving texts.

[msuz]

I think your misinterpreting the question. All its doing is checking if you know what the author means by the term "traditional sources." So you can re-read the question as: which one of the following cannot be classified as a traditional source according to the definition provided by the author. A re-created loom clearly falls outside of that definition. So the correct answer choice for this question does not have to be explicitly mentioned later in the passage, all it has to do is not be an "archaeological remain or surviving texts"......the answers other than D are all either archaeological remains or surviving texts.

wow, I feel dumb. That makes complete sense when you rephrased the question. I think ive been studying for too long lol.

[benito]

oh I've made much worse mistakes, but thats what this test can do to you....try and let your brain rest some before the real deal, good luck