#6 - Global Reference, Main Point

[Administrator]

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[Michaeltinti22]

I'm really stuck on this one for some reason. The passage is talking about multiple interview procedures, briefly explaining how each works before laying out how the first two are lacking in some aspect as opposed to the final one. Essentially, it's comparing these three procedures to a few standards it is looking for, in which only one satisfies all three. I chose answer A because of this. I didn't love any of these answer choices, but I found this the least scary. Although E was my second choice, I felt like E focused way too much on eye-closure. Although it mentions that it doesn't sacrifice practicality and reliability, there's very little in that AC that indicates the passage talked about anything other than eye-closure, despite it only being talked about in the final paragraph. What about my approach is off?

[Adam Tyson]

Answer A falls a bit short here, Michaeltinti22, in that it fails to address anything brought up in the final paragraph. An ideal Main Point answer will be like a summary of all the key information in the passage, hitting all the high notes without getting too sidetracked into the details. In this case, the author introduces instructed eye-closure as a possible solution to the problems presented in the earlier paragraphs with cognitive interviews and hypnosis. That's a key point! We have a possible solution to this problem!

Ultimately, that's what this passage is really about - there is a need, there are two approaches that have been commonly used and which both have problems, and there is a possible solution available. Answer A Tells us only about the need, and not about the solution. Answer E, however, wraps it all up for us, and that greater degree of completeness and inclusiveness makes it a better choice for our Main Point.

This, by the way, is a fairly common structure for many RC passages - a problem is presented and a solution is suggested. The main point in these passages usually focuses on the solution rather than on the problem, as it is the solution that the author really wants to talk about, and the discussion of the problem is just the background that gets us there.

Keep your eyes peeled for more passages with that problem/solution structure, as you're sure to see it again!

[Dk31]

But in line 58 it says "eye closure by itself appears to improve...", wouldn't that mean we dont know that it improves witness recall for sure? And in (E) it says that instructed eye closure improves witness recall... sounds like for sure, but the passage never said that?

[Adam Tyson]

Don't get too narrowly focused on one detail here, Dk31. This isn't a Must Be True question, but a Main Point question, so we aren't so much concerned with whether the author has absolutely proven their case. What we need to focus on is the big picture that the author is trying to convey. Here, that whole last paragraph is about listing all the benefits of instructed eye closure, as compared to the problems with cognitive interviews and hypnosis, and this was preceded by the author first describing what an ideal method would look like and saying that research suggests that such a method does exist. So the author is pretty clearly trying to make an argument that instructed eye closure is that ideal method, and that is the main point.

What was your prephrase here? What did you think was the main point of the passage? Was there another answer that was a closer fit to your prediction? That's what we need to consider in selecting our answer, rather than focusing on whether the answer is perfect or whether the author has proven their case or not.