Top Law Schools

In practicing RC sections, I have noticed myself going back and forth on questions that ask the author's attitude/tone. I'm frustrated by the fact that I don't have an intuitive sense of this kind of nuance. Some of the answer choices that give me great pause are, "detached indifference", "implicit acceptance", and "tacit endorsement". PT48, S3, Q12 is an excellent example of this.

I don't have a systematic method of choosing among these three answer choices. I usually go back to the passage, scan the material over, and I'm still ambivalent as to what the author's attitude is. What should be my mindset? Should I begin to read passages and actively hunt down the author's attitude?

Note: I'm not talking about the author's "position" on issues, it's the subtlety of "attitude" that I'm having trouble grasping (or reading between the lines).

i have the same problem with RC, either authors attitude or one word that would describe the author's tone in the passage. Usually I can narrow it down to 2 answers almost straight away, and see which one has more 'weight' and the difference could be very slight. basically rely on the author's wording, i think most times the introduction should be enough and skim the rest of the passage for support of that attitude, if you are luck the conclusion will be able to reinforce of eliminate between 2 choices (assuming the conclusion is included and not just random paragraph that the LSAC ended on)

I'm usually good at these types of questions (for the most part) First, I try to look for if I can get a feel for how the author feels in general. Does he have a general positive, negative, or neutral tone towards what's being discussed. Usually, things dealing with ethnic groups can be expected go in a positive direction as far as the author's tone. Second, I try to look for language that is really extreme on the authors part. Most of the time you really won't even have to notice it that hard, extreme langue should pop out at you most of the time. From there it's just a matter of figuring out whether it's the author's position or is the author just telling you something about another person's position. There are some passages that you simply don't/can't get a good feel for in terms of the authors tone. In that case look for an answer that stays away from extreme language or a very opinionated statement. The correct answer on these will be very bland often moderate answer.im still sorta early in full timed test taking preptest (coming up on my 12 full one), so I haven't seen many of the bland moderate answers on tone questions, but for the couple I have seen bland/moderate answers appeared on more fact based passages, and there really was not a direction that the author seemed to go in.

Hope this helps guys. If anyone wants to correct/add anything to what I said you're more than welcomed. Just given my experience with these questions so far.

How are you doing on Primary Purpose and Main Idea Questions?