#4 - SR, Must Be True, AP

[Kdup]

Can someone explain why answer choice "D" isn't correct? I thought that 24-26 shows how the author felt the law would sit with the group as a whole?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi K,

Please check that answer key again: answer choice (D) is the correct answer here. So, you are on the mark in thinking it looks good

Thanks!

[Khodi7531]

I never understand these questions really...because they're so vague I don't know how to get rid of answers. Which words "employed by the author in paragraph 2" ...first of all, would/can there be words in the answer choices that aren't in paragraph two and are removed specifically from that?

Second, "authors attitude" ? So what the author thinks. Now I chose C over D and knew exactly where draconian measure was before this question because I had circled it knowing it would be relevant. Or ask me to define it at least.

Now in context I can guess what it was but idk what the hell draconian is. Unpopular I thought was pretty straight forward and what the author thought denying it's citizens internet would be.

Some other forums said, "but that's not the attitude of the author, but is of the citizens". Which I get...but he draconian is in that same sentence where unpopular is and so hard to differentiate between these two under time. I get that him saying it's a "harsh measure" is showing his thoughts and being "unpopular" is referring to what citizens think. But I thought him being confident to say it's "extremely unpopular" would be still considered his thoughts, since he's the one who assumes that citizens would find it unpopular. If that makes sense...

This is honestly an acceptable loss to me because at this point it's just semantics. Sometimes you can see what the passage wants and other times these questions are just not even worth getting bogged down on.

[Alex Bodaken]

Khodi7531,

Thanks for the comments! I think there's a lot to unpack here But hopefully I can help a bit. I'll try and respond to your questions in order.

1.) If the question asks "which of these words employed in paragraph 2..." you can be sure that all of these words did, in fact, appear in paragraph 2. So that's not going to be a way to eliminate answers, unfortunately.

2.) Yep - author's attitude means we have to know what the author thinks. Let's come back to unpopular vs. draconian - you've got it narrowed down well there.

3.) Not sure what has been said in the other forums, but this question is asking us about what the author thinks, not about what the citizens think. It is true that he/she thinks it would be unpopular, but that's a belief about how citizens will act, not an attitude towards the measure itself. In other words, it doesn't speak to whether or not the author likes the idea of restricting Internet access - it just speaks to how he/she thinks citizens would react. Draconian, which translates to overly harsh, is a better fit because it describes how the author feels about the measure - not how the citizens feel.

4.) All that being said, I think the point you make about having to write off some questions is valid. If you are in a situation where, for example, you don't know the definition of a word in a vocab question, it makes perfect sense to skip it and focus your energy on other questions, hoping to return to it if you have time. All questions are worth the exact same (1 point) and you should be spending your time getting as many right as possible.

Hope all of this helps!
AB

[BostonLawGuy]

Just a pointer for future test takers. You don't always need to know the meaning of the word. The question asks for the opinion of the author.

Note how he asserts that "Such a draconion measure would..."

So we know that in his opinion he feels the measure is "Draconion." So if you didn't know the meaning of the word you know his opinion.

[Adam Tyson]

Exactly right, Boston! If the author had written "such a flambasticoid measure", we would know he thinks the measure is flambasticoid. Very straightforward, even if it is complete and utter nonsense! Since the question asked about the specific word being used, rather than the meaning of the word (or a synonym), the meaning isn't relevant. Just target the word itself, and you're done. Well done, Guy!