Comparative Reading #4

[julie05]

Hi,

For passage set #4 in comparative reading, I'm having problems with 2 questions:

#1 - I see the answer is D, but I still feel more confident with E. I felt that the first sentence of passage B makes it seem that author doesn't think *significant* progress was made. And even though its never specifically discussed it would seem that the author of A would agree with E?

For similar reasons I had problems with #4. I see why B is right, but A looked appealing because the author discusses so much how equality has not been achieved,

Additionally I've seemed to hit a block in the comparative reading section. I feel like I've improved a lot in reading comp, but two weeks to the test I'm making mistakes and not fully understanding them, especially in comparative reading. Is there any advice or other lessons where I can zero in at this?

Thanks!!

[Nicholas Bruno]

Hi Julie,

On Question #1, E is incorrect because Passage B (like you noticed!) does not ever state that working women have continually fought for flex-time and a virtual workplace since the Depression era. In fact, Passage B does not say that working women have ever or are fighting for these options. Thus we have no idea about what the author of Passage B would say to this.

Just something to keep in mind on a Agree/Disagree question (like this one): you have to know that both of the authors would say the exact same thing. Since we do not know what B's author would say, we cannot say whether or not he/she would agree with E.

On the other hand, both passages do agree with D (first sentence in Passage B and numerous locations in Passage A).

On Question #4: the same thing applies. We do not know what Passage B would say about answer choice A because Passage B does not mention the Great Depression at all. In fact, I would tend to think (based on the first sentence of Passage B) that answer choice A would be incorrect: the author would actually AGREE with that statement (since he/she agrees some progress has been made).

Its hard to say in general what you need to do on comparative reading without seeing the questions you are getting wrong . What I would say on this particular passage is that the agree/disagree questions seem to be problematic in that you are looking at what you *think* the author might say rather than what the author did say. Just remember to not attribute thoughts to the author based on general feelings of the overall ideology that the author seems to be embracing.

Otherwise, I would just say not to let the passages "flow" into each other. I think that both of these questions you asked may have been impacted because you allowed the Great Depression to "flow" into Passage B. Passage B never mentions the Great Depression/does not have any such timeline.

Then again, you may be fine in general Just hard to say without seeing you work. I'd say to look at what you are getting wrong, ask yourself *why* you are getting that wrong (i.e. am I missing all the agree/disagree, am I missing key words regarding timing, etc.) and try to address that.

I hope that helps!

[dbpk]

hi! i was hoping someone could explain #3--I was deciding between A and C. While I agree that answer choice C is supported by the passage, the question asks about the implications of THE PHRASE "justify these practices" so I went with A which demonstrates that employers felt a need to provide justification. I'm not seeing how you could get answer choice C from the phrase "justified these practices" alone

Thank you!

[Kristina Moen]

Hey there db,

Welcome to the Forum! This question asks what is implied by the phrase "justified these practices." You are not looking for a definition of "justified," but of what the author was getting at when they wrote "justified these practices." So here you have to put it all together. Which practices? Oh, the ones just above that sentence - hiring practices. What does justify here mean? It means that it's giving an explanation for WHY they are continuing those practices. We don't know if employers feel a "need" to prove the work was "fair." Only that they are explaining their hiring practices as something more than just gender discrimination.

Remember to use the contenders/losers method. If you see an answer you like (and personally I was drawn to choice A when I first read it), keep it and move on. You might see another answer choice that is even better and then you can re-evaluate the answer choices you kept.

Hope this helps.

[mahsan]

Hi,

I'm having a hard time understanding why E is the right answer for #5 and not B. I thought B was more specific, making it a better choice.

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi mahsan,

These questions can be tricky, because often there's part of the answer choice that looks really great, but there is part of the answer choice that is unsupported. That may have happened with you and answer choice (B). I agree that one of the passages deals with recommendations for modern times. However, the first passage doesn't deal ONLY with the Depression Era. It details workplace conditions in the period after the war and up through the 1960s. It goes beyond the Depression Era, so we can't say that (B) is correct.

Answer choice (E) however gives information that is fully supported by the passages. Passage A provides a discussion of the changes in workplaces from the Depression Era to the 1960s. Passage B provides recommendations for further chage and discusses how to make the workplace more friendly for working mothers.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[g_lawyered]

Hi P.S.,
After reading Nicholas' response to Question #1 explanation I understand I missed an important point in Passage B. However, can someone explain to me why answer B is incorrect? i thought that this was the only possible correct answer. What did I miss?

Thanks in advance

[g_lawyered]

Hi P.S.,
In Comparative Passage #4 (Great Depression and Women in Workplace) Question #4, I see why answer choice B is correct. However, I don't see why answer choice C is incorrect. To answer question #4, i quickly skimmed through end paragraph 2- where it mentions employers' benefits on implementing 1 of the recommendations (flex time and virtual). Because I didn't see self-serving employment practices" in the passage and instead saw other reasons mentioned (that employers would benefit from). I inferred that the author would disagree with what answer choice C is stating. Where did I go wrong here?
Thanks in advance

[g_lawyered]

For Question #2 I thought forsure the correct answer choice was C because I thought answer choice E was too broad. I thought answer choice C was specific enough to be correct. Can someone please explain why answer choice C is incorrect?
Thanks in advance

[Robert Carroll]

GGIBA003,

Question #1: Answer choice (B) is far too broad. Both passages talk about discrimination against women in employment. There's no way to know what they would say about any underrepresented group in general.

Question #2: Answer choice (E) is the opposite of broad. It limits the discussion to a certain time period, and, note, that's exactly what the passage does. Answer choice (C) is about the current state of affairs, something which passage A does not discuss.

Question #4: "Self-serving" conduct is just conduct that serves the interest of the person or entity performing the conduct. So the conduct of employers that benefits employers (starting at line 50) is exactly self-serving.

Robert Carroll