The sentence that contains the word “position” equates that word with the pronoun “it” in the beginning of the sentence. The word “it” is referring back to the phrase “this idea” from the previous sentence. The phrase “this idea” is referring back to what the historians “argue” in line 38. So the word “position” is ultimately being equated with what people “argue” in line 38, which means the correct answer is that it’s a “view.” So (D) is correct here.
Some students incorrectly choose “policy,” but a policy isn’t the same thing as an opinion or view—a policy is a standard way of handling a particular situation, not a belief. As always, it’s very critical to think about exactly what each word specifically means, so you don’t end up choosing a wrong answer just because it’s somewhat close to the text.
Page 395, Question 22
Both people say that the painting seems three-dimensional. Passage 1 mentions this in lines 22 and 23, while Barolsky mentions the creation of “depth.” So (E) is the answer.
A lot of students get this one wrong, though.
(B) is a very popular wrong answer, because students often overlook the word “unduly.” Nobody ever mentions whether the painting deserves its recognition, so that single word makes the entire answer choice wrong.
(C) is reflected in the first passage, but Barolsky never specifically mentions any influence on other artists, so (C) doesn’t work.
(D) is close to something in passage 1, but it’s not reflected in Barolsky’s remark at all.
Page 395, Question 23
When we see unattributed quotation marks in a reading question, they are almost always serving to call the meaning of the quoted word into question. So (E) is the correct answer here.
Page 395, Question 24
(A) doesn’t work because the first passage doesn’t focus on the smile, and the second passage doesn’t focus on mystery.
(B) is also totally irrelevant.
(C) is correct because the first passage mentions the original techniques that Leonardo used to create the illusion of depth, while the second passage talks about the reasons why the painting is so famous.
(D) is wrong because the first text doesn’t speculate on the life of the subject. It only briefly mentions her probable identity. The second passage doesn’t reject art history, either—in fact, the author considers himself to be “like most historians” in line 66.
(E) is wrong because, among other things, the second text doesn’t debate the artistic merits of the painting. It does quote Barolsky’s comment on Leonardo’s technique, but it never offers an opposing viewpoint on that technique, so there is no debate.
A Selection of Challenging Questions
By now you should have a pretty strong idea of the proper application of the Passage-Based Reading strategies. Remember at all times that the critical element for all questions is to find the correct answer directly on the page, in black and white, with no inference or interpretation. Remember that it will often be necessary to read very carefully and make fine distinctions among the exact meanings of particular words in order to distinguish wrong answers from right answers.
Now that we’ve gone through a section of Passage-Based Reading questions, let’s take a look at a sample of some of the more challenging questions from the College Board’s Blue Book, the Official SAT Study Guide.
These questions are some of the ones that students have asked me about the most over the years. Like all Passage-Based Reading questions, they can be answered correctly and with total certainty if we read the text and the answer choices very carefully and follow the rules of the SAT. So it’s not that these questions do anything differently from the questions that are less challenging; it’s just that they are sometimes a bit more subtle about what they’re doing.
(If you would like to see some video demonstrations of these ideas, go to www.SATprepVideos.com for a selection of demonstration videos that are free to readers of this book.)
As with other question explanations in this book, you’ll need a copy of the College Board’s Blue Book to follow along. Let’s get started—and remember, these questions are generally among the ones that other students have struggled with most, so don’t worry that every question on the test will be as challenging as these are.
I highly recommend that you follow along with these solutions as a way to continue to improve your understanding of Passage-Based Reading questions and how to answer them.
Page 403, Question 11
This is one of those questions that asks us how the author of one passage would respond to an idea from another passage. As always, we’ll answer it by looking directly in the text.