#7 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[lathlee]

Hi. what would be the critical indicators for the readers to distinguish between contender A and B to zoom down to A as the correct answer

[Adam Tyson]

B is actually the correct answer to that question, lathlee. We can eliminate answer A because it talks about directing economic efforts rather than measuring them. This passage is about how to measure economic success (or more accurately, how NOT to measure it - through GNP), not how to point it in one direction or another.

[lathlee]

hi. thank you so much for this. i am just making it sure, the answer for 7. is b," Point out the weaknesses in one standard for measuring a nation's welfare."
right. cuz the answer sheet said A is the answer. a) delineate a new method of directing domestic economic efforts.

[Stephanie Oswalt]

hi. thank you so much for this. i am just making it sure, the answer for 7. is b," Point out the weaknesses in one standard for measuring a nation's welfare."
right. cuz the answer sheet said A is the answer. a) delineate a new method of directing domestic economic efforts.

Hi Lathlee,

Yes, the correct answer is indeed "(B) point out the weaknesses in one standard for measuring a nation’s welfare".

Thanks!

[deck1134]

Hello Powerscore Staff,

I am writing to ask about answer choice A vs. B. I choose A (oops) because I thought that the last paragraph does delineate a new method of directing domestic economic efforts, namely by stating that "domestic economic efforts are better directed away from attempting to raise per capita GNP and instead toward ensuring that the conditions measured by human indicators are salutary." Is this not a word-for-word answer to the question of which A is a paraphrase?

I'm concerned because I typically miss one question per reading comp passage, and am not sure how to improve. I legitimately thought that this was the right answer, as it is word-for-word in the passage.

[deck1134]

Hi PowerScore Staff,

Sorry to double post.

To clarify, I think that my main confusion comes from MP questions generally. I have worked a ton of passages, but cannot seem to find a balance between ascertaining what is "too general" or "too specific" for Main Point questions generally in Reading Comprehension. For instance, in most reading comp MP questions, it seems like many incorrect answers are "true" based on the contents of the passage, but fail to capture the full breadth of the passage (too narrow). Another incorrect answer might be too broad, and speak in platitudes when the Author makes an argument, creating an answer is also then wrong.

Am I wrong to have thought, on an initial reading of the question, that B was perhaps too narrow, because it does not necessarily state the author's argument (that human indicators provide sounder measures of a nation's progress)? A seemed too specific, B too general.

I would very much appreciate advice on this question, and on the process outlined above more generally. Is there a way to get a feel for the right answer? Right now it feels impossible.

[Adam Tyson]

Hey there deck, thanks for the question and additional clarification. No worries about double posting, this was helpful stuff that lets us understand your thought process a little better!

I like to think of Main Point questions as being concise summaries of the passage. I use this guideline in coming up with mine: if someone asked me what the passage was about, and I wanted to give them a complete answer that would satisfy them such that they might be able to decide whether they would also want to read the passage, without going into any extraneous detail, what would I say? I want to give them a broad idea of the content and subject matter and viewpoint of the author, but not get lost in the weeds.

Reading this passage and thinking about that guideline, my answer to that person asking me what it was about would be something like "it was about how GNP isn't really the best way to measure the economic health of a nation because it leaves out all sorts of important human factors that really ought to be considered."

Now this Purpose/Function question is pretty closely related to Main Point, but differs in this way: while Main Point answer the question "what was it about?", purpose questions ask "why did the author write it?" If the main point is that GNP is not the best way, then the purpose is probably something like "to show that GNP is not the best way". The purpose was not to delineate a new, better way, because that would mean spelling out the new system, explaining how it would be done, etc. While such a delineation might follow this passage, it wasn't the purpose of this passage as written. Instead, the purpose here was just to tell us that GNP isn't the best way, and why.

Think about that approach of "what would I say if asked" for Main Point questions, and then relate that Main Point to any Purpose question you might encounter. I hope that helps you clarify your process!