#10 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[ChicaRosa]

I originally chose B under timed conditions and as I go back to the answer I understand why it's wrong since the passage mentions that the surviving daughters got equal shares of the land only if there was no surviving sons.

However, I'm struggling to understand why E is the correct answer? Is it because of ln 26-30?

Thanks again!

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, Chica,

Good question. A couple important points to note here:

1) If the question stem instructs you to extract information from the passage, the first thing you must do is to go back to the passage to find the relevant information. Do not rely on your memory of what you read.

2) Look for lead words. Rely on your knowledge of the structure of the passage to find the relevant information.

3) When you have found the relevant information, read every word. Start several lines above (about one inch, or at the beginning of the current paragraph, very end of the previous paragraph) until you have read everything that is relevant (usually down to at most an inch below the relevant area).

4) With your question task in mind, prephrase. Predict what you need the answer to say or do based on the information you have just read.

5) Compare your prephrase to the answers.

Let's do that here.

1) Extract info, great. Need to go back to passage.

2) What are we looking for? something about a widow having more land than the eldest son. Where do we talk about both widows and eldest sons. Maybe paragraph two, but wait, nothing about eldest sons there. Move on to paragraph 3. Okay there we go: "the amount of land the widow controlled could exceed that of her son or of other male heirs."

3) Go back to the beginning of the paragraph. Start reading every word to find the answer to this question.

4) Got it. Now prephrase: okay so the widows could have more land if they had both inheritances and dowers.

5) Compare this prephrase to the answer choices. Process of elimination. E is the only match.

That's your answer! Remember that the evidence will always be present in the passage. Rely on your prephrasing to give yourself a strong prediction. Do not work backwards from the answer choices on a question like this.