Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy · MCAT CARS Review 2022-2023

Chapter 7: Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

Chapter 7

Chapter 7. Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

Chapter 7: Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

Chapter 7

Chapter 7, Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

In This Chapter

7.1The Kaplan Passage Method

Steps of the Method

7.2Humanities Passages

Humanities Passages

Applying the Method to Humanities Passages

7.3Social Sciences Passages

Social Sciences Passages

Applying the Method to Social Sciences Passages

Concept and Strategy Summary

Introduction

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After Chapter 7, you will be able to:

Categorize MCAT passages by type and difficulty

Choose the best Distill approach based on passage features

Predict questions that are likely to be asked about a given passage

Now that we have examined how to Preview, Choose, and Read and Distill passages in the CARS section, it’s time to put these strategies into action. All of the strategies will come together in this chapter. We’ll start with a summary of the Kaplan Method for CARS Passages. Then we’ll work through the Method with examples from the two categories of passages. The chapter concludes with a Worked Example and two practice passages.

7.1 The Kaplan Passage Method

The Kaplan Passage Method is a set of passage strategies that you will apply to every passage you encounter on Test Day. It begins with a scan of the passage and a determination of the order in which the passages will be attacked. As you dive into a passage you’ll pick an approach from the three Distill options. Then, using keywords, you will read the passage and extract the most question-relevant information.

As discussed in previous chapters, there are a variety of passage topics you will encounter on the MCAT. In fact, the AAMC lists eleven different fields in the humanities and a dozen in the social sciences (as shown in Table 7.1) that most CARS passages can be classified into. Preview, Choose, and Read and Distill (PCRD for short) is designed to address the variety of passages you will see on Test Day: Previewing enables you to work the passages in an efficient manner, Choosing ensures you match your approach to the demands of the passage, and Reading and Distilling will focus your attention on the information most likely to show up in the questions.

MCAT EXPERTISE

According to the AAMC, 50 percent of the questions in the CARS section will come from the humanities, and 50 percent will come from social sciences.

Table 7.1 Humanities and Social Sciences Disciplines in the CARS Section

Humanities Social Sciences

Architecture

Anthropology

Art

Archaeology

Dance

Economics

Ethics

Education

Literature

Geography

Music

History

Philosophy

Linguistics

Popular Culture

Political Science

Religion

Population Health

Studies of Diverse Cultures*

Psychology

Theater

Sociology

Studies of Diverse Cultures Note: Studies of Diverse Cultures can be tested in both humanities and social sciences passages.

The goal of determining the passage subtype is to help you set your expectations appropriately, just as you would in the science section. For example, you would expect a science passage on rate kinetics to discuss rate laws, rate-of-formation tables, and reaction mechanisms. You would likely also anticipate that the associated questions will ask you to calculate a rate law using the tables and to consider topics like rate-limiting steps and catalysis. Similarly, you can set expectations about the trajectory of a CARS passage and predict what topics are more likely to be tested than others. In the following two sections, we will work through three different CARS passages together, breaking down our approach as we go, in order to give you a more comprehensive understanding of how to apply the Kaplan CARS Passage Method.

KEY CONCEPT

Think about trends you notice in passages that discuss similar topics or fall into similar disciplines. Applying these trends to future passages will give you insight into both their structure and the questions you will likely be asked, allowing you to become more efficient in navigating and distilling the passage and helping you predict and answer questions more rapidly and accurately.

Steps of the Method

As stated previously, this method can be applied to every CARS passage you encounter, so it is important to make a habit of automatically executing it as you begin each passage. Figure 7.1 shows the steps of the method.

PREVIEW FOR DIFFICULTY

CHOOSE YOUR APPROACH

READ AND DISTILL THE MEANING OF EACH PARAGRAPH

Figure 7.1 The Kaplan CARS Passage Method

BRIDGE

The steps of the Kaplan Method for CARS Passages are covered in greater detail in Chapters 4, 5, and 6.

Preview

The first step of the Kaplan Passage Method is to Preview the passage. As described in Chapter 4, you will look at the topic, sentence structure, writing style, length, and the first question to determine whether you want to attack the passage now or save it for later. Remember, there is a lot of variety among test takers in how they make those triage decisions and how they track those decisions on their noteboard. A topic that may be interesting to you may be kryptonite for the person sitting next to you, and as such, your preview is always going to be a very personal assessment.

Triaging and saving harder passages for the end provides two key benefits. First, it ensures that you are spending your time on the questions that you are more likely to answer correctly. It’s unwise to spend excessive amounts of time on harder passages only to run out of time while working on an easier one. Second, it allows you to build confidence and a time buffer, both of which are key for when you do finally attack the harder passages.

Choose

Once you have decided to move forward with a passage, it’s time to choose your approach to Distilling that passage. As discussed in Chapter 6, you can choose to Highlight, Outline, or Interrogate the passage. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Rely on the analysis from your Preview step to help make this decision. In fact, many students will make their decision as they preview and note their choice on their noteboard. Should you choose to save a passage for later, you can either determine the approach you want to use before moving on to the next passage, or make that call when you return to the passage. Choosing the first option removes one of the steps you will have to perform when you return to the passage; however, you should remain open to changing your decision based on the time you have left.

###### Highlighting

The Highlighting approach is the quickest method for Distilling. When using this method, you should take about 2–3 minutes to work through a passage. As you read, plan to highlight important pieces of information, major shifts, and central ideas. This approach tends to work best for passages that appear to be overly dense and confusing or otherwise time consuming during your Preview step. You will typically use this strategy on passages you save until the end, because it enables you to move through the passage quickly. It is also a good option for passages that don’t follow a clear structure, that is, those that lack distinctive transition points and breaks.

###### Outlining

The Outlining approach is best used to summarize the central ideas of each paragraph, while also noting the location of important pieces of information. You should be able to work through a passage in 3–4 minutes using this method. Your outline will be especially helpful in forming predictions for questions that test your understanding of the main ideas discussed in the passage, but you will need to return to the passage to answer questions asking about specific details. This is a useful approach for passages that appear to contain a large number of examples or details.

###### Interrogating

The Interrogating approach takes the most time but allows you to carry out a deep analysis of the passage as you read, enabling you to answer most questions with little rereading of the passage. However, at 4–6 minutes per passage, this is the most time consuming approach. In general, it is best used on passages you have triaged as Now and on shorter passages, to avoid timing becoming an issue. Passages that have complex central arguments or several distinct lines of argument are also well-suited for this approach because their questions will often ask about the logical relationships established in the passage.

Read and Distill

After deciding which approach to use, it is finally time to begin reading the passage. Note that the Read and Distill steps are grouped together because, functionally, they happen at the same time: you read with keywords, and use those keywords to guide your distillation of passage information. This is an active process of thinking and analyzing as you read. By staying engaged with the text, you help prevent a loss of focus and the need for rereading.

In Chapter 5, we discussed the importance of identifying and evaluating keywords in the passage. As you work your way through the passage, use keywords to help you identify notable shifts or key points in the text, along with author intentions and parts of arguments.

The goal of this step is to combine your knowledge of the passage types (and the questions commonly associated with them) with the most applicable passage approach in order to efficiently extract the major takeaways of each paragraph.

###### Highlighting

As you read, aim to highlight 1–3 key terms and phrases per paragraph that you think are likely to show up in the questions. Since the goal is to read quickly while still capturing the main points, your Distill step will primarily be limited to highlighting the main idea (or, in some cases, ideas) of each paragraph, and highlighting words that describe, support, or refute that idea. The keywords discussed in Chapter 5 will help guide you toward words worth highlighting, but remember that keywords typically indicate connections between ideas, rather than the content of the ideas themselves. So instead of highlighting keywords, focus on the concepts surrounding the keywords and note the progression of ideas through the passage.

###### Outlining

As you read, actively predict (and adjust your prediction as you encounter new ideas) the main idea of each paragraph. When you reach the end of a paragraph, take a moment to rephrase this main idea in your own words and write it on your noteboard. By identifying and rewording the main idea of each paragraph, you are already performing some of the analysis required to answer the questions. Thus, Outlining increases the accuracy of your predictions and saves you time on the questions. Because you are writing these main ideas on your noteboard with the Outlining method, you can use the highlighting tool to emphasize Relation, Logic, and Author keywords that you’d typically ignore when using the Highlighting method, making it easier to see important relationships and author intentions in the text. Remember that a major benefit of this method is that it allows you to read without having to memorize details. Once your paragraph label is on your noteboard, you can move on to the next paragraph without being concerned about forgetting the main idea of the previous one. It is important to remember that as you outline, you don’t necessarily want to rephrase the entire paragraph. Rather, you want to select the information that answers questions like What new information was added here? and What is the most testable information in this paragraph? to include in your passage label.

###### Interrogating

As you read, actively examine the major idea presented in each paragraph to determine why and how the information was used by the author. Remember, this step goes beyond the Outlining method because instead of simply asking, What information is new?, you also want to understand the reasons for its inclusion. Use keywords to help you identify the information most likely to be tested. Also be sure to take advantage of the “Chunking” method. Don’t only work through this method sentence by sentence. Rather, group similar ideas, often linked by Continuation keywords, into a chunk, before asking yourself questions about each chunk and why it was included.

This method has the most involved Distill step, as your goal is to do the majority of the work analyzing and understanding the passage before you even get to the questions. Once you’ve done this deep analysis, though, you won’t have to spend a lot of time referring back to the passage.

In all three of the methods, the underlying goal is to help you identify the most important and testable content in each paragraph. As part of that, regardless of the method you choose to use, by the time you reach the end of the passage, you should be able to identify the reason the passage was written (the overall purpose or goal of the passage, as was discussed in the rhetoric portion of Chapter 3). If it is not clear, take a moment to consider it before jumping into the questions.

In the next section, you will get to see the Kaplan Passage Strategy applied to several examples. Use them as guides for understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

7.2 Humanities Passages

Now that we have discussed the components of the Kaplan CARS Passage Method, let’s apply it to a passage similar to the ones you will see on Test Day. As previously mentioned, the two broadest passage categories are humanities and social sciences. The next section will discuss the unique challenges of humanities passages and will demonstrate how the Kaplan Passage Method can be applied to these passage types.

Humanities Passages

Passages in the humanities tend to fall into two broad categories. The first category, which includes most of the passages from architecture, art, dance, literature, music, popular culture, and theater, can broadly be considered arts passages.

Many arts passages are characterized by the heavy use of quotations from other artists, writers, or critics, in addition to strong Author opinions and the use of descriptive language when discussing artistic examples. Often, each paragraph is structured with a claim, followed by evidentiary support. While not every Arts passage will contain these elements—literature passages, in particular, tend to have a lot of variation—the majority do, making them easy to identify and triage.

Most of the other passages in the humanities fall into the second category, which includes ethics, philosophy, religion, and studies of diverse cultures. These are broadly categorized as philosophical passages.

Philosophical passages tend to be very abstract, with an emphasis placed on logic. They focus on concepts and the relationships between them, and they often appeal to the reader’s memory or imagination, drawing on common experiences or thought experiments (asking a question with no definite answer to help you delve deeper into the nature of things).

Keep in mind that there will be plenty of humanities passages that mix characteristics of arts and philosophical passages, as well as some passages that don’t properly fit in either category. Nevertheless, this distinction is useful for setting expectations about the kind of support that a passage will use as well as the types of questions that will accompany it.

MCAT EXPERTISE

Passages with a lack of support or argumentation are likely to include Reasoning Beyond the Text questions, which bring in a new element of information and ask you to apply the information in the passage to a new scenario (Apply questions) or ask how the new information would impact the passage (Strengthen–Weaken [Beyond the Text] questions). These question types are discussed in Chapter 11.

Applying the Method to Humanities Passages

Passage 1

Now, let’s take a look at how to apply the Kaplan CARS Passage Method to a humanities passage, keeping the unique challenges of this passage type in mind.

Preview

Preview the passage below (do not read through it completely; there will be an opportunity for that later in the chapter), then read the analysis that follows to assess what you are already noticing and what other factors you could have considered.

The Monkey Kid, written and directed by Xiao-Yen Wang, is probably one of the best Chinese feature films ever made but few Americans have seen it. Released in 1995 by the Beijing-San Francisco Film Group, the film “was an Official Selection at the 1995 Cannes International Film Festival and received the Grand Prize at the 1996 Aubervilliers International Children’s Film Festival, awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 1995 Danube Film Festival, Best Foreign Film at the 1995 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the Young Jury Award at the 1996 International Women’s Film Festival at Créteil, and the Critic’s Prize at the Cinestival 97 at Marseille.”

The film is the autobiographical account of director Xiao-Yen Wang’s childhood in China during the Cultural Revolution, the great political upheaval that gripped Chinese society and politics from 1966–1976. Ms. Wang is not just a casual observer of the times. She is an accomplished writer and director who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982. That same class of directors came to be called the famed Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers and included Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and the Assassin) and Zhang Yimou (Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, Red Sorghum, The Story of Qiu Ju, and To Live). Ms. Wang has also written and directed two other films, The Blank Point (1991) and I’m Seducible (2006).

At first glance, The Monkey Kid may seem like a simple slice-of-life story about one family during the Cultural Revolution, but it is much more than that. This feature film shows just how much Maoist ideology affected everyone in China, especially mothers, fathers, and children. Every family felt the turmoil in some way. What makes this film about the Cultural Revolution different from all others is that it offers a way to understand revolutionary society from a child’s perspective.

The main character of the film is Shi-Wei. For much of the film, Shi-Wei and her sister, Shao-Qiong, are alone in the family’s apartment. Her parents live apart in two different locations in rural China as part of the campaign to have intellectuals learn from the peasants. During the film, both the father and the mother return home for short periods of time. Otherwise, Shi-Wei and Shao-Qiong must take care of themselves. They do their homework, keep the apartment tidy, shop for vegetables from street vendors, and even cook the way their parents have taught them, without any adult supervision.

The film depicts Shi-Wei as a model child. She takes on a lot of the responsibility at home while her parents are away. She also does well in school and serves as a class leader. Yet even Shi-Wei is not perfect. In one of the first scenes of the film, Shi-Wei arrives at school late because she and her friends were playing in the snow. Other students would have been punished, but Shi-Wei counts on the fact that she is a “teacher’s pet.” Shi-Wei just whispers some excuse to the teacher and all is forgiven.

The Monkey Kid is not a new film, but educators should not be afraid to use it in the classroom. It is especially helpful for illustrating the many ways in which Mao’s cult of personality dominated this era. It offers a view of the Cultural Revolution that is both compelling and entertaining. I have used the film with great success in both undergraduate and graduate classes on modern China. Students report that more than any other film about the Cultural Revolution, The Monkey Kid stays with them long after its showing in class because of the story line, the acting of the children, and the effective direction. The film always generates much discussion about class divisions, ideological education, and mass mobilization.

Adapted from Andrew, A.M., 2011. The Monkey Kid: A Personal Glimpse into the Cultural Revolution. ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal for Asian Studies in the Liberal Arts, 18(2), pp.108–111. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16995/ane.190

A quick peek at the first sentence indicates that this is likely an arts passage, since it begins by discussing a movie. The second sentence is easily identifiable as a list of the movie’s accolades. Glancing at the first sentence of the next two paragraphs further supports the idea that we will be spending the passage learning more about the movie and its origins. Looking down the passage, the sentence structure appears to be generally simple.

Since this passage appears relatively straightforward and does not contain long, complex sentences, advanced vocabulary, or highly abstract ideas, this is an excellent passage to do now, rather than later, and should rank as Easy or Medium for most readers.

Choose

None of the paragraphs are extremely long, and many appear to focus on examples and specific details. Therefore, the Outlining method is ideal for this passage, as it will allow us to boil down to the simple main idea of each paragraph in a way that will facilitate answering questions with ease. Furthermore, the language and the structure are not overly complex, so an in-depth reading is not required to determine the author’s goal.

Read and Distill

Given the simplicity of the wording and sentence structure, you should be able to create a well-structured outline while reading through the details more quickly. Expect to work quickly through the passage, labeling the key points and returning back to it as needed to revisit specific details and examples if asked about them in a question.

OUTLINING METHOD Passage Expert Thinking

Ideally, the first paragraph will let us know the general direction for the rest of the passage. What is being introduced to us here?

The author introduced a Chinese film The Monkey Kid.

Does the author have an opinion on this film?

Absolutely! The phrase “one of the best” clearly indicates the author’s high opinion of the film.

Notice also that the bulk of the paragraph is dedicated to describing why the author considers this one of the best films. But we don’t need to outline that because it’s just evidence for the conclusion we already identified.

P1: The Monkey Kid = one of the best films

The film is the autobiographical account of director Xiao-Yen Wang’s childhood in China during the Cultural Revolution, the great political upheaval that gripped Chinese society and politics from 1966–1976. Ms. Wang is not just a casual observer of the times. She is an accomplished writer and director who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy in 1982. That same class of directors came to be called the famed Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers and included Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor and the Assassin) and Zhang Yimou (Curse of the Golden Flower, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, Red Sorghum, The Story of Qiu Ju, To Live). Ms. Wang has also written and directed two other films, The Blank Point (1991) and I’m Seducible (2006).

Based on the previous paragraph, we can expect further description of the film to come next. What information are we given?

The author states that the film is an autobiography of the director. We are also told further information about the director.

Does the author express an opinion about the director?

Yes! Words like “accomplished” show that the author feels positive.

This paragraph contains a lot of details that simply support the author’s opinion and shouldn’t be included in the outline.

P2: Author: Director = accomplished

The first sentence provides us with a contrast. What is being contrasted?

The author states that the film may seem simple at first but shows how Moaist ideology affected families. In addition, it is done from a child’s perspective.

P3: Film = Maoist ideol. from child eyes

The beginning of this paragraph quickly tells us that the author is about to provide more information on what the film is about. Look out for contrasts or anything else unexpected, but otherwise don’t spend too much time on this paragraph.

P4: Main char description

The film depicts Shi-Wei as a model child. She takes on a lot of the responsibility at home while her parents are away. She also does well in school and serves as a class leader. Yet, even Shi-Wei is not perfect. In one of the first scenes of the film, Shi-Wei arrives at school late because she and her friends were playing in the snow. Other students would have been punished, but Shi-Wei counts on the fact that she is a “teacher’s pet.” Shi-Wei just whispers some excuse to the teacher and all is forgiven.

At first glance, this paragraph may seem like a continuation of the previous one. However, we do see a contrast made in the middle of it. What has changed?

The author states that even though main character is depicted as a model child, she is not perfect.

P5: Main char = model child but not perfect

Since this is the last paragraph, we expect the author to come up a with a conclusion and perhaps a reason why this film was discussed. What is the author’s conclusion?

The author is advocating for this film as a great educational tool on Maoist ideology. In addition, there is evidence provided to back up the conclusion. We do not need to outline the evidence but we can make note of it.

P6: Film = great educ tool on Maoist ideol

This passage has a lot of details about the movie and its accolades, but our outline allows us to stay focused on the big ideas while being confident that we can find those details if a question requires it. Overall, the author wrote this passage to argue that this excellent movie can be used to teach students about the Maoist era in China. Given all of the details, we should certainly expect to see some Detail questions, but the CARS section is usually more interested in your understanding of the author’s reasons for writing. Thus, we should also expect to see Function questions about particular details, such as why the author describes the main characters in such depth.

Passage 2

Now, let’s apply the Kaplan method to another humanities passage. Pay particular attention to how we might vary our approach to this passage from that of the previous passage.

Preview

Preview (don’t read) the passage below, then read the following analysis to assess what you are already noticing and what other factors you could have considered.

The poet lives by words as the musician by sounds. One or other of the threads with which both build, investigate, decipher and seek to express wonderment refers back to the order of the originary. In the beginning was what? The network of ancient cosmogonies and the imbricate lexical and semantic web of documents and sources that give shape to our concepts bear witness to the universal operative power of both sound and syllables. The word is the purest symbol of the manifestation of being, of the being that thinks himself and expresses himself or the being that is known of, and communicated by another. Expressing the person, the word is part of its dynamism. Even if by analogy, does the same claim not apply to music?

Nothing authorises us to say that Guerra Junqueiro (1850–1923) knew music or was able to read music beyond the most elementary level—even though, from a certain point he lived in a house inhabited by music. Both his daughters played piano and the youngest, Julia, excelled at the violin, to the point that, for example, in a public concert in 1898, she played the allegro from Mozart’s 3rd Quintet with Gilhermina Suggia on cello; and even if he openly, to write some poetry, sought inspiration in certain pieces by Beethoven, which reminded him of those “immortal melodic souls of great epic tales that have died….”

Guerra Junqueiro has been a unique case in Portuguese literary history. No other poet, whatever the period being analysed, attained such popularity. The effectiveness of the poetry-reader communication meant a mighty power of persuasion, able to seduce, charm, convince of its truth. This happened in a society marked by a high level of illiteracy in which music was the fundamental language and collective means of communicating feelings and meanings. Many, not knowing how to read, learned by ear and recited by rote extensive compositions of Guerra Junqueiro (such as “O Melro” from A Lágrima) or even entire books. And if knowing by heart implies an appropriation and has something of possession, it is also knowledge of the heart. It would, therefore, be useless and demeaning to ascribe his seduction to specific audiences. The work of the poet served audiences differentiated by taste, social status, culture and political persuasion.

Words, like music, are liable to various modulations; they are, or can be, singing material. Guerra Junqueiro knew it and demanded that it was so: what “doesn’t have music … is useless!” or what “doesn’t sing, doesn’t vibrate, is no good!” Based on this evaluation criterion, the verse of Junqueiro’s work is stretched, loiters, stops, dances or sets off running like giddily rolling waves. Rich rhymes, vocal strata, ostensive use of metaphor, visually and aurally expressive images, pauses that are eloquent silences, sequences, reiterative structures, synaesthetic and onomatopoeic processes, a vast range of nuances, of technical-compositional, rhetorical-stylistic, ideothematic aspects, interwoven in a harmonious, seamless music, concur both for the modulation of what is the music of Junqueiro, and for direct communication with the reader or listener, easily consigning the verses to memory.

It is not, however, about reestablishing the prestige of Guerra Junqueiro, since this task would be impossible and an improbable anachronism, so intimate is the relation between text and society in the work of the poet and so disproportionately resounding was his reception. The academic project, Revisiting/Discovering Guerra Junqueiro, is rather an attempt to rescue him from the fog of oblivion and from the cultural ambiguity in which troubled circumstances, orthodoxies and conflicting powers bound him, freezing the reading and interpretation of his work and action.

Adapted from Pereira, H. (2010). From Singing Material to Intangible Poetry: The Music of Junqueiro. Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts, 2(1), 58-60. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7559/citarj.v2i1.195

A quick look at the first sentence indicates that this is likely an arts passage, since it begins by discussing poetry and music. The second sentence contains flowery language and abstract concepts and is followed by a question. The first sentences of the next two paragraphs discuss a poet named Guerra Junqueiro. As a result, we can assume that this passage will discuss music and poetry, specifically the work of Guerra Junqueiro. The first paragraph may seem intimidating, but it also looks like it’s just an introduction to a more straightforward piece, so this passage is likely not as challenging as the first paragraph appears.

Since this passage contains advanced vocabulary and abstract ideas, this is certainly a passage that many would triage for later, likely assigning a difficulty of Hard or Medium.

Choose

This is a difficult passage to Choose an approach for, and the passage is likely to wind up being time consuming regardless of method chosen. The first paragraph is exceptionally verbose, with unnecessarily convoluted language. Subsequent paragraphs indicate that the passage is primarily focused on a single individual and his poetic work. Main ideas, for the purposes of outlining or highlighting, will be difficult to suss out and require additional time regardless of method chosen. Furthermore, the passage is filled with strongly-worded, abstract claims. This abstraction and complexity suggest that the Interrogation method will be challenging to apply to this passage, but, if done correctly, will hugely facilitate answering questions. As a further benefit, Interrogating will likely allow a reader to connect the abstractions of the first paragraph with the rest of the passage, promoting deeper understanding.

If insufficient time existed to approach this passage with Interrogating, Highlighting or Outlining could be used. Specifically, the difficulty and length of the passage point to Highlighting as a way to save time. The lack of clear focus and main idea in each paragraph mean that it may be difficult to find terms to highlight as main ideas, and may even be hard to find words to write in an outline without doing a deep passage analysis.

Read and Distill

As you read, locate sentences that discuss or elaborate on a single theme. Ask yourself why the author chose to include that information and how it contributes to the author’s overall purpose before moving to the next “chunk” of information. It’s normal to take longer to work through a passage when you use this approach as compared to the other two, but be mindful of time and don’t get lost in the minutiae. Remember, the goal is to think about the big picture, so avoid interrogating sentence by sentence. If you’re struggling to generate questions in order to interrogate passages, consider going through this example by reading the questions on the right, then trying to answer them yourself. Follow up by reading the expert response and evaluating how well you did. Interrogating is a challenging method to learn and master, so if you’re just starting out with it, focus on building one skill at a time!

MCAT EXPERTISE

If you encounter a tough passage like this on Test Day, don’t lose your cool! The majority of passages you encounter will not be this challenging. A passage like this one should be saved for later as part of your Preview step, and when you do come back to it at the end of the section, after completing other passages, you will have a clear idea of how much time you have available to devote to the passage. Remember, when in a time crunch, Highlighting is a great approach for challenging passages. If you have sufficient time, Interrogating is the best way to clearly identify all major themes and ideas in a passage and prepare yourself for the questions to come. Choose the approach that’s right for you based on the time left on the clock when you tackle difficult passages at the end of your CARS section!

INTERROGATING METHOD Passage Expert Thinking

S1–7. Why does the author build an analogy between words and music?

The author uses a lot of obtuse language here, but the first sentence makes a comparison between words and music that is reiterated with the rhetorical question at the end of the paragraph. It’s tough to pin down exactly what the author is saying, but there’s a general theme about words and music both having a “universal operative power,” a suggestion that both are means for people to express themselves and communicate with each other. Thus, the author draws this analogy between words and music in order to highlight their similarities, specifically the way that both are used for self-expression and communication.

Nothing authorizes us to say that Guerra Junqueiro (1850–1923) knew music or was able to read music beyond the most elementary level—even though, from a certain point he lived in a house inhabited by music. Both his daughters played piano and the youngest, Julia, excelled at the violin, to the point that, for example, in a public concert in 1898, she played the allegro from Mozart’s 3rd Quintet with Gilhermina Suggia on cello; and even if he openly, to write some poetry, sought inspiration in certain pieces by Beethoven, which reminded him of those “immortal melodic souls of great epic tales that have died….”

S1–2. Why does the author shift to talking about one man’s experience with music and poetry?

The first paragraph drew parallels between music and words, and now the author is describing an example of a poet who is familiar with, but untrained in, music. She also mentions specific pieces of music that inspired the poet. Thus, the author uses Junqueiro as an example to reinforce her analogy between music and language from paragraph 1. In addition, as you may recall from previewing the passage, the remaining paragraphs focus on Junqueiro, so we can see that this paragraph serves to introduce us to the main topic of the passage: Junqueiro’s musically inspired poetry.

S1–2. Why does the author emphasize Junqueiro’s popularity?

So far, there have been a lot of words in this passage, but only a few key ideas: the analogy between music and words/poetry as modes of expression, and the fact that Junqueiro’s poetry was inspired by music (despite no formal musical training). We also know from our preview that the passage primarily focuses on Junqueiro’s work. From this, it is reasonable to conclude that the author emphasizes Junqueiro’s popularity both to justify why she decided to write about him in particular and to give her claims about the connection between music and poetry more force. After all, if she spoke about some obscure poet that nobody read anymore, then her audience would be less likely to take what she has to say seriously.

S3–8. Why does the author talk about the audience of Junqueiro?

The author presents a few key facts about Junqueiro’s audience: they came from a society with limited education and literacy, they primarily communicated with music, and they learned to recite Junqueiro’s poetry by listening to it (instead of reading it). Based on these facts, we can conclude that the author is suggesting that a Junqueiro poem functions exactly like a piece of music (at least for his audience), providing more support for the analogy between words and music as forms of expression.

S1–4. Why does the author use such long strings of descriptive terms for Junqueiro’s poetry?

This paragraph begins with a few shorter sentences, but its lengthy concluding sentence spans more than half of the paragraph and contains more than a dozen commas. Rather than attempting to make sense of every single descriptor, you should focus on the general theme: most of the descriptors use language associated with music or sound (as opposed to the written word). Thus, this long list is really just evidence for the claim that Junqueiro’s poetry is musical by nature, which in turn supports the author’s contention that words and music are closely related as means of expression.

S1–2. Why is the academic project NOT about reestablishing the prestige of Junqueiro? Why is the author writing about this project?

The author focused in previous paragraphs on the appeal of Junqueiro’s work among those who primarily used music and spoken word to express themselves. However, contemporary audiences tend to inhabit different historical circumstances (e.g., they are more likely to be literate), so the author suggests that his work would not be received in the same way today. This serves to anticipate a potential criticism of the project, namely, that more literate and less musically-inclined audiences would not appreciate Junqueiro’s poetry. Rather than restoring the former popularity of his work, the project instead aims to introduce this forgotten poet to contemporary audiences (“rescue him from the fog of oblivion”) and help those audiences better interpret his work (namely, as a type of expression analogous to music, as established in previous paragraphs).

Despite difficult language and complicated sentence structure, a deep interrogation of this passage shows us that the author actually has a fairly simple goal—one we honestly might have missed had we used a less in-depth passage method. The author uses the relationship between music and words to illustrate why Junqueiro was such a popular poet in his time and to suggest that his works deserve more attention today. Based on our analysis of the passage, we might expect to see Function questions asking why the author discussed the relationship between music and words, or an Inference question asking you why the author feels that Junqueiro’s work is so important. The most challenging questions you might see with a passage of this type would ask you to expand on ideas from the passage: extending the analogy from the first paragraph or applying it to new examples.

7.3 Social Sciences Passages

Now that we have seen how the Kaplan Passage Method can be used to work through humanities passages, let’s look at how it can also be applied to social sciences. The next section will discuss the unique challenges of these passages and walk you through how the Kaplan Passage Method can be applied to a social sciences passage.

Social Sciences Passages

As in the humanities, passages in the social sciences tend to fall into two broad categories. The first category, which includes most of the passages in anthropology, education, linguistics, population health, psychology, and sociology, has a scientific form.

Many scientific passages are characterized by the presence of numbers and reference to empirical studies as evidence. The author’s opinion tends to be less obvious than in arts passages, but the presence of Author keywords can still be used to guide you to it. In some cases, a scientific passage may even look like a passage you might find in the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section, so it is especially important than you not bring any outside knowledge into your analysis of these types of passages.

MCAT EXPERTISE

While psychology and sociology can be tested in both the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills section and the Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior section, the former will not require outside knowledge. In fact, bringing in outside knowledge to answer any question in the CARS section can lead you astray, drawing you toward Out of Scope answer choices.

The remaining passages tend to fall into the second category, which includes archaeology, economics, geography, history, political science, and studies of diverse cultures. These types of passages are best categorized as historical passages. Note that these types of passages are far more variable than the clear-cut scientific passages and may even resemble humanities passages at first glance.

Historical passages tend to draw on historical events and quotations from sources alive at the time of the events discussed. They are rarely heavily opinionated, but the nature of the subject matter itself allows the author to express a strong viewpoint if he or she so desires. Passages dealing with history, economics, and political science often contain empirical studies, bringing in some elements of scientific passages, or heavy theoretical discussions, making them more like philosophical humanities passages.

Nevertheless, though some social sciences may appear to cross categorical boundaries, distinguishing them broadly as social science and more specifically as scientific or historical is useful for making judgments about what approach is best and what questions will likely be asked.

Applying the Method to Social Sciences Passages

Now, let’s take a look at how to apply the Kaplan method to a social sciences passage, keeping the unique challenges of this passage type in mind.

Preview

Preview the passage below, then read the following analysis to assess what you are already noticing and what other factors you could have considered.

The issue of climate change is undoubtedly one of the most important that humankind has faced. Yet as important as it is, it is merely one of hundreds of news items that may or may not be regularly reported in the news media. How the issue is treated in the press is a relevant inquiry to make, as research clearly indicates that an issue’s salience in the media can translate directly into relevance in people’s minds. We also know that media coverage is also linked to more than just awareness of a topic; it can also have an effect on policy debates and attitudes among audiences, for example.

We know that climate change is difficult for one person to openly observe, and specific weather events are not always directly linked to the larger issue of climate change. The ways that media stories on climate change are written or produced vary considerably and depend largely on media workers making explicit connections and reporting such through their outlets. However, the business of mediated news tends to favor certain kinds of coverage over others in the media. News producers look for specific crises, or spectacular events, often utilizing an episodic lens through which stories may be relayed to audiences. If there is no specific event, then the topic will be less likely to receive coverage. The issue of climate change may be important in the long term, but it may not receive ample coverage in the immediate short term. As a result, regardless of Al Gore’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s efforts, the salience of global climate change may be reduced for the public, who are likely dealing with more pressing issues or things that are more immediately impactful on their lives; even the shift of presidential attention to issues such as jobs and the economy over climate change highlights this situation.

The media’s attention to the problem of climate change varies considerably. One study found that coverage was events-based in France, whereas in the United States, “conflicts between scientists and politicians” received more emphasis. Coinciding with this, other studies have suggested that over the years, scientists were quoted less, and politicians more, as the topic became politicized. Another suggested that the issue of climate change was too abstract, that journalists did not have the proper background to assess the details, that there was a false sense of balance in the reports, and that scientists were not providing jargon-free language so that journalists and the public might easily understand the issue.

The topic may become relevant to news outfits when addressed in some way by government or supranational body officials, who may be dealing with incidences or policies that are linked to climate change. Besides having actual events occurring naturally in the environment, which is likely to be covered, we may see elites or organizations raising the issue and thus drawing news attention (e.g., by commissioning and issuing an environmental impact report). Research indicated that international climate summits and efforts of NGOs had a stronger impact on issue attention than weather events. This is likely also the case in the Gulf region where newspapers engage in a type of protocol journalism practicing “non-adversarial forms of journalism common in Gulf states, relying heavily on protocol news and content supplied by government and corporations,” which emphasizes the importance of covering official activities and government-driven pronouncements. At the same time, the public relations literature indicates that actors are recognizing that getting out in front of an issue allows potentially for greater control of the narrative surrounding any story. That is to say, if an official of the Gulf Cooperation Council issues a press release, they are able to address the issue, while at the same time encourage a specific kind of coverage on the subject.

While a given country may not see a need to address or take immediate action on climate change, another country may be suffering the consequences of inaction. As a result of the potential for one country’s policies to impact another, supranational organizations are becoming increasingly relevant in dealing with matters of regional and international dealings, including climate change.

Adapted from Freeman, B. C. (2016). Protecting the Gulf: Climate change coverage in GCC print media. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 3(1), 1212690. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2016.1212690

The reference to climate change and its representation in the media indicates that this is likely a social sciences passage. Since the first sentences of the next three paragraphs build on the idea of how climate change is portrayed in the media, we can further categorize this as a historical passage, perhaps political science.

Since this passage appears straightforward, with simple sentence structure and vocabulary, this would be an Easy passage for many readers.

Choose

The passage has a straightforward topic and doesn’t appear to contain significant changes in trajectory, meaning it is only of about medium difficulty. However, the length of the passage, and the fact that most of its paragraphs are long and cover multiple ideas, makes Highlighting an excellent method to use. Remember, generally Highlighting is best applied to difficult passages, but can also be a way to save time on Reading and Distilling long passages, so long as you are prepared to spend additional time answering questions!

Read and Distill

As you read, try to identify big picture topics in each paragraph. Then, use your highlighting tool to highlight one or two words that summarize those main ideas or will help you remember key points when you refer back to them. Aim to work through the passage as quickly as possible so that you have more time to come back and perform a deep analysis of part of the passage if a question specifically requires you to. If used efficiently, highlights will help you quickly locate the details needed to answer these future questions.

HIGHLIGHTING METHOD Passage Expert Thinking

The issue of climate change is undoubtedly one of the most important that humankind has faced. Yet as important as it is, it is merely one of the hundreds of news items that may or may not be regularly reported in the news media. How the issue is treated in the press is a relevant inquiry to make, as research clearly indicates that an issue’s salience in the media can translate directly into relevance in people’s minds. We also know that media coverage is also linked to more than just awareness of a topic; it can also have an effect on policy debates and attitudes among audiences, for example.

What did the first paragraph reveal about the theme and the purpose of this passage?

The passage will likely talk about climate change and its relationship with the media. More specifically, the passage will investigate how the media treats, and perhaps should treat, climate change. We can highlight “treated in the press” to capture the main idea of this paragraph.

We know that climate change is difficult for one person to openly observe, and specific weather events are not always directly linked to the larger issue of climate change. The ways that media stories on climate change are written or produced vary considerably and depend largely on media workers making explicit connections and reporting it through their outlets. However, the business of mediated news tends to favor certain kinds of coverage over others in the media. News producers look for specific crises, or spectacular events, often utilizing an episodic lens through which stories may be relayed to audiences. If there is no specific event, then the topic will be less likely to receive coverage. The issue of climate change may be important in the long term, but it may not receive ample coverage in the immediate short term. As a result, regardless of Al Gore’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s efforts, the salience of global climate change may be reduced for the public, who are likely dealing with more pressing issues or things that are more immediately impactful on their lives; even the shift of presidential attention to issues such as jobs and the economy over climate change highlights this situation.

How can we use highlighting to tackle long paragraphs? What types of detail should we focus on?

We need our highlighting to break down this long paragraph. The first part of the paragraph seems to focus on how reports on climate change are heavily dependent on the media producing it. We can highlight “depend” to remind us of this, and to draw attention to the sentence surrounding it. We would not want to highlight the full phrase as it is wordy and would lower the efficiency of the highlight. The next idea is about how the media has a bias for immediate, singular events rather than focusing on the big picture. We should highlight “look for specific crises” to represent this idea. The last important idea is how this short-term focus lowers the salience of climate change significantly for the public. Here, we can highlight “reduced for the public” rather than “salience of global climate change” because the former better captures the action of the idea. The key is that the salience is reduced, and simply highlighting the word “salience” will not convey that information as well as “reduced for the public.”

In a paragraph with a lot of details and examples, what should we highlight?

Since we know highlighting every detail will result in over-highlighting, which is not very productive, we need to focus on the main theme of these details. The first line already captures the “variability” aspect, so we won’t highlight terms like “many factors.” It seems that this is due to the “conflicts between scientists and politicians,” which can be quickly summarized by the word “politicized.”

Another long paragraph with a lot of detail and examples. How do we use good highlighting to quickly digest this paragraph?

This paragraph introduces new actors in the climate change conversation: government and supranational bodies. We need to highlight a phrase that shows how this new idea elaborates on previous ones. Since the paragraph seems to focus on how governments and other groups can create additional media attention on the topic of climate change, we can highlight “organizations raising the issue.” The next part introduced the Gulf region’s journalism habits, which certainly stands apart from the rest of the passage. However, the general message is the same: government actions impact media activity on climate change and therefore awareness. We can also highlight “protocol journalism” to capture the idea that the key nature of the Gulf states’ media is more government driven. Finally, the end of the paragraph introduces a new idea—that specific actors can not only increase media exposure but also “control the narrative” about the action as well.

While a given country may not see a need to address or take immediate action on climate change, another country may be suffering the consequences of inaction. As a result of the potentials for one country’s policies to impact another, supranational organizations are becoming increasingly relevant in dealing with matters of regional and international dealings, including climate change.

What does this last paragraph have to conclude? What is the final message?

This paragraph shows how one country’s actions can impact others. So, we can highlight “supranational organizations” to capture the idea that institutions that go beyond nation states (what “supranational” really means) will be necessary to adequately address climate change.

The goal of the Highlighting method is to make it easy to locate the key points of the passage, while not becoming distracted by superfluous details, examples, and digressions. In this case, our highlighting allows us to easily identify the author’s main points, the structure of the passage, and key details. If a question requires it, we should feel confident that we could quickly locate where in the passage to research an answer. As a final step before moving on to the questions, always stop to consider the overall goal of the author in writing his or her passage. In this case, the author uses the passage to discuss media attention to climate change and how that attention can be manipulated by various actors.

Conclusion

And so our discussion of how to approach passages draws to a close. The skills we’ve covered—understanding rhetorical elements, using keywords, reading critically, using the Kaplan Method for CARS Passages, analyzing argumentation and logic, recognizing varieties of passages, and anticipating questions—will serve you well not only on the MCAT but also in medical school and as a physician.

When you read a CARS passage, you use keywords to guide your reading and determine how information is put together. You then draw inferences and set expectations for where the author is likely to go with a given argument in order to anticipate the questions you’ll be asked. Similarly, in medicine, you will listen actively to your patients, assessing whether various aspects of their chief complaint and background information are likely to help guide you to a diagnosis. By forming predictions about their diagnosis as you take their history, you can then set expectations for some of the other signs and symptoms the patient may exhibit, which then informs your physical exam. You can also anticipate the questions the patient will ask you—What does this mean for me? Do I have to take medication for this? Does this put me at risk for anything else?—and answer them in advance, to paint as comprehensive a picture as possible. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills section gets its name because it tests your ability not to comprehend dance theory, musicology, archaeology, or linguistics, but to understand how to analyze and reason through complex information.

Passages are only a part of the picture, though. While we need to read the passage to gain information, the real points come from the questions. In the next four chapters, we will shift our focus to these questions, starting with the Kaplan Method for CARS Questions and then focusing on the three major question type categories, as identified by the AAMC: Foundations of Comprehension, Reasoning Within the Text, and Reasoning Beyond the Text.

GO ONLINE

You’ve reviewed the strategy, now test your knowledge and critical thinking skills by completing a test-like passage set in your online resources!

Concept and Strategy Summary

The Kaplan Passage Method

PREVIEW FOR DIFFICULTY

Look for the big picture

Assess the relative difficulty

Decide to read now or later

CHOOSE YOUR APPROACH

Highlighting: Best for high-difficulty passages or if low on time

Outlining: Gives a moderate understanding of the passage and allows for more time to work on the questions

Interrogating: Gives a strong understanding of passage but allows for less time to work on the questions

READ AND DISTILL THE MEANING OF EACH PARAGRAPH

Recognize keywords to identify the most important and testable content in each paragraph

Use your approach from the choose step to extract your major takeaways from each paragraph:

Highlighting—highlight 1–3 key terms and phrases per paragraph you can use to quickly locate information later

Outlining—create a brief label for each paragraph that summarizes the main idea of that paragraph

how the author is using the information to build an argument

Interrogating—thoroughly examine each major idea presented in the paragraph and determine why and

Identify the reason the passage was written before moving into the questions

Figure 7.2 The Kaplan Method for Passages in CARS

Humanities Passages

Humanities passages include topics from architecture, art, dance, ethics, literature, music, philosophy, popular culture, religion, studies of diverse cultures, and theater. Many passages in the humanities can be considered arts passages or philosophical passages.

Arts passages tend to include strong opinions, quotations, and descriptive language to illustrate examples.

Philosophical passages tend to be abstract and heavy on logic, focusing heavily on concepts and relations between them; they often appeal to the reader’s memory or imagination.

Social Sciences Passages

Social sciences passages include topics from anthropology, archaeology, economics, education, geography, history, linguistics, political science, population health, psychology, sociology, and studies of diverse cultures. Many passages in the social sciences can be considered scientific passages or historical passages.

Scientific passages tend to include empirical studies and more subtle author opinions. Remember not to use any outside knowledge when working through these passages in the CARS section.

Historical passages tend to draw on historical events and quotations from sources alive at the time; they may include empirical studies or theoretical evidence, which can make them similar to the other passage varieties.

Worked Example

Use the following Worked Example, in tandem with the following practice passages, to internalize and apply the strategies described in this chapter. The Worked Example matches the specifications and style of a typical MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS) passage.

Take a few moments to quickly glance over the passage in order to Preview and Choose your approach. The Outlining approach is a strong method for use with this passage. There are only two arguments to keep track of, and both are clearly laid out in terms of paragraph structure. In addition, paragraph length, sentence, and language complexity make it possible to create a short outline and still capture the main idea of the passage. As with all passages, any approach could be chosen and work for this passage, so, remember to practice all approaches as you start your CARS prep in order to determine which work best for you and in what situations!

OUTLINING METHOD Passage Expert Thinking

In Prisoners of Men’s Dreams, published in 1992, Suzanne Gordon argues that American feminism has lost sight of its original goal of transforming the world into a kinder, gentler place. Gordon deplores the sort of feminism that has triumphed instead: a cold, ruthless, “equal-opportunity” feminism, which aims for women’s entrance into the masculine public world and their achievement by male standards of excellence.

As with most passages, the first paragraph is where the author will give us at least a hint of the main idea. What is being introduced here?

The author mentions Suzanne Gordon, which we can abbreviate as S.G., and her argument on how American feminism has changed from kind and gentle to cold and ruthless.

Are there indications of opinions here?

Yes. The words used to describe S.G.’s position clearly indicate that she favors the “kind” form of feminism over the “cold” form. However, it’s not yet clear whether the author endorses S.G.’s view.

P1: S.G.: Amer femin change = bad, kind → ruthless

The heart of the book consists of excerpts from a hundred interviews with career women, who do a lot of complaining about fatigue and disillusion. Gordon’s subjects comprise an unsurprising lot, given her presupposition of modern feminism’s focus on successful women as products of overcoming male-centric and male-infused social and business structures. At the end, Gordon calls for a National Care Agenda that would make “caregiving” rather than competition the ultimate American value.

Based on the previous paragraph, what are we expecting to logically follow?

Since we were introduced to a conclusion without any support, we would expect some evidence for that conclusion to come next. And this is exactly what this paragraph contains.

Is there any change in S.G.’s point of view or any indication of the author’s opinion?

No. S.G. continues to emphasize the “caregiving” or kind idea of feminism, and the author’s opinion remains unclear.

P2: Support for S.G.’s femin, Nat Care Agenda

Suzanne Gordon is obviously an intelligent, sympathetic, and well-meaning person, but Prisoners of Men’s Dreams is a good example of the kind of sentimental, unlearned effusion that has become a staple of contemporary feminism and that most men rightly ignore. And who could blame them? Rallying for the propulsion of women in the public and private spheres through carefully played attempts at the pity point are bound to be met with stolid expression and silenced ears.

The last two paragraphs discussed S.G.’s conclusion and the supporting evidence for it, but we still have not seen where the author stands on the issue. What is the author’s opinion on the issue and what can help us determine this?

The author starts out the paragraph with a positive tone toward S.G. However, the Contrast keyword “but” precedes a change in tone: the author harshly criticizes S.G.’s idea of feminism.

Does the author provide any evidence to reinforce this point of view?

The sentence following the question provides an answer to it, a justification for why S.G.’s feminism should be ignored. The language is dense, but the author suggests some kind of problem with appealing to “pity.” However, this is a detail we don’t need to include in our outline.

P3: Auth: S.G. = well-meaning but unlearned

Like so many American feminists, Gordon is completely out of her depth as a social analyst. Awkward, unintegrated quotes from Adam Smith and Woodrow Wilson are waved around to disguise her lack of familiarity with economics, history, and political science. Gordon’s quote appropriations smack of the same short-sighted social phenomena that lead to “Keep Calm and Carry On” paraphernalia being plastered on the walls with complete disregard of manifest intent of the message.

The first sentence of this paragraph continues along the same line that the previous one did. This means that we are expecting more support for the author’s stance unless we see a Contrast keyword. Does the author change the stance at any point?

No. The entire paragraph is dedicated to explaining why S.G. is a poor social analyst.

P4: Auth: S.G. = bad social analyst

We are presented with the usual three-handkerchief, tear-jerker scenario about Big, Bad, Ugly America—that corrupt, empty, greedy society that all those wonderful, warm, benevolent people around the world look at with disgust. This point of view is the essence of chic these days among know-nothing feminists and the preening pseudoleftists who crowd our university faculties.

This paragraph is a further continuation of supporting the author’s stance. How can we label it in a concise form?

P5: Auth: America = bad is a pop view now

Well, let me tell you: as a child of Italian immigrants, I happen to think that America is the most open, dynamic, creative nation on God’s green earth. As a scholar, I also know that it is capitalist America that produced the modern, independent woman. Never in history have women had more freedom of choice in regard to dress, behavior, career, and sexual orientation.

In the first sentence, we see a colon (:), which indicates that we have an example coming up and a continuation of the discussion. We only need to be on the lookout for a Contrast keyword if there is one. Does the author shift direction here?

No, the author continues to refute a view that she ascribes to S.G. by arguing for American capitalism.

P6: Auth: America = best for women now

And yet, Gordon’s insistence on defining women as nurturant and compassionate drove me up the wall. My entire rebellion as a child in the Fifties was against this unctuous, preachy stuff coming from teachers, nuns, and Girl Scout leaders. This drivel was not the path to supporting and empowering this woman.

In this paragraph, we actually see the author showing strong emotion, which is uncommon in MCAT passages. Even though we see a Contrast keyword in the first line, it is there to signify the difference between S.G.’s and the author’s opinions, which is not new info.

P7: Auth = upset with S.G.’s feminism

This “transformative feminism” is just as repressive and reactionary as the “patriarchy” it claims to attack. Minerva save us from the cloying syrup of coercive compassion! What feminism does not need, it seems to me, is an endless recycling of Doris Day Fifties clichés about noble womanhood.

In the last paragraph, we see further strong opinion from the author. Did that opinion change compared to previous paragraphs?

No, it did not.

P8: Auth: S.G.’s “transform fem” = bad

Here’s a sample outline for this passage:

P1. S.G.: Amer femin change = bad, kind → ruthless

P2. Support for S.G.’s femin, Nat Care Agenda

P3. Auth: S.G. = well-meaning but unlearned

P4. Auth: S.G. = bad social analyst

P5. Auth: America = bad is a pop view now

P6. Auth: America = best for women now

P7. Auth = upset with S.G.’s feminism

P8. Auth: S.G.’s “transform fem” = bad

Practice Questions

Passage 1 (Questions 1–5)

In recent years, extensive media attention has been given to enormous damages awarded in the US civil litigation tort system. In 1996, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages from McDonald’s after sustaining third-degree burns from spilled coffee. The system awarded Michael Gore nearly $4 million in 1994 after BMW sold him a car that had been repainted and sold as new.

Awards such as these spurred businesses, insurance companies, and lobbyists to claim an “explosion” of legal liability. In response, many legislators called for tort system reform that included limiting the amount of damages, controlling legal fees, and redefining the concept of “fault” administered by the judges. Jury verdicts that appear, on superficial inquiry, to be blatantly excessive seem to challenge our system of compensation. Some claim that juries find negligence in order to provide compensation for victims who have large medical bills and lost wages, at the expense of “deep pocket” defendants.

In his seminal article in the Maryland Law Journal, “Real World Torts: An Antidote to Anecdote,” Marc Galanter examines the issue. As the title suggests, in order to investigate the tort system, Galanter used empirical data to examine whether, on the whole, these “anecdotes” truly represented how the system compensates injured parties.

Galanter found that all tort claims form a dispute pyramid charting the progress from an injury to a jury verdict. Injuries form the broad base of the pyramid. On the next level, approximately 8 percent of injuries become grievances (events for which an injury was noticed). Of these grievances, 85 percent become claims (where the injured brings the problem to the alleged wrongdoer), and 23.5 percent of claims become disputes (having failed to reach an informal agreement). Next, 58 percent of plaintiffs with claims contact a lawyer, and 32.8 percent of these result in a court filing. Of all court filings, only 7 percent result in a verdict, and only 34.7 percent of these are decided in favor of the plaintiff. This means that an injured person gets a jury verdict in his favor only 0.007 percent of the time.

For example, medical malpractice results in approximately 100,000 deaths a year. At the tip of Galanter’s pyramid, only 21 of the 100,000 deaths will result in a verdict. Finally, only 7 people will receive damage awards from a jury.

Galanter concludes that the system is hardly unbalanced in favor of plaintiffs. The proposed tort reform would actually increase insurance company profitability and reduce payments to the most seriously injured tort victims. Punitive damage awards are extremely rare, only applied in the most egregious cases, and always subject to judicial review. The awards discourage businesses from releasing harmful products into the stream of commerce.

Moreover, according to Galanter, court filings in the law division of the circuit court of Cook County have actually declined during the period from 1980 to 1994. His observations are consistent with a 1999 study by the National Center for State Courts, which found that tort filings have decreased by 9 percent since 1986. By looking at existing empirical data instead of isolated, inflammatory cases, legislators will be able to do a better job of deciding if the system is in need of reform and, if so, what type of reform is appropriate.

The author primarily mentions Liebeck’s award (paragraph 1) in order to:

give an example to support his overall claim.

give an example of a verdict that is blatantly excessive.

give an example of a verdict that has caused legislators to call for tort reform.

introduce evidence for a conclusion made later in the passage.

Which of the following situations would be most analogous to the situation faced by a potential tort plaintiff, based on the information in paragraph 4?

A young basketball prospect trying to make it to the NBA

A group of children picking sides for a baseball game

A young, qualified woman looking for a job

An injured woman trying to reach an emergency room

Based on the information in the passage, the author believes that Galanter’s pyramid:

is applicable to medical claims.

should compel legislators to change their views.

is biased against “deep pocket” companies.

I only

II only

I and II only

I, II, and III

Which of the following, if true, would most WEAKEN the conclusion implied in paragraph 4?

Galanter’s article was published in 1995.

A study showed that filings for divorce followed a much different pattern.

Galanter’s study dealt with only product liability cases.

Most doctors carry medical malpractice insurance.

Based on the information in the passage, the author would argue for all of the following EXCEPT:

juries should not be so compassionate toward victims at the expense of wealthy businesses.

legislators should examine all data.

the media spotlight does not necessarily clarify problems.

courts might award damages as a way to ensure that businesses practice in the public’s best interest.

Answers follows on next page.

Practice Answers

Passage 1 (Questions 1–5) Sample Highlighting P1. “litigation tort system”; P2. “call for tort system reform”; P3. “truly represent”; P4. “dispute pyramid” and “only 7 percent”; P5. “Medical malpractice”; P6. “damage awards”; P7. “declined” and “empirical data.”

Sample Outlining P1. Introduction to tort system; examples of extreme damages awarded

P2. Insurance/lobbyists: tort awards too excessive

P3. Galanter examines empirical evidence

P4. Galanter pyramid findings: tiny amount of successful tort claims

P5. Malpractice ex: 7 of 100,000 win damages

P6. Galanter: system not in favor of plaintiffs; awards = good: keeps businesses in line

P7. Overall, tort filings declining without legislation, Auth: legislators should use empirical data

1. C

This Function question directs us back to Paragraph 1 which mentions extreme examples the tort system awards. Even without rereading, predict that Liebeck must be one of those very high monetary awards that caused lobbyists to be so aggressive in fighting against the tort system in general and call for reform. This matches (C). (A) is not possible simply because the author does not overtly make any claims. The author is largely neutral and simply sets the facts in front of us to make our own decisions. (B) distorts the author’s mention of “jury verdicts that appear, on superficial inquiry, to be blatantly excessive”—the use of the phrase on superficial inquiry implies that the author may not agree that these damages actually are excessive. Finally, (D) is vague enough that it could sound plausible, but there is no later argument or conclusion that requires Liebeck’s award specifically. Generally, there isn’t any conclusion about coffee, McDonald’s, burns, or the elderly, that would depend on this example either.

2. A

The best description of “the situation faced by a potential tort plaintiff” in paragraph 4 is as follows: Galanter’s pyramid findings demonstrated that only a tiny number of tort claims actually result in decisions in favor of the plaintiff. The main point is that there must be a tiny number of success stories from a much larger pool of individuals. This matches (A). In each of the other cases, close to 100 percent success would be expected (or at least a much higher percentage than the number of young basketball prospects who make it to the NBA).

3. C

The combination of Based on the information in the passage and Roman numerals in the question stem tells us that this is a Scattered Detail question. In paragraphs 4 and 5, the author brings in the medical example to illustrate the extremely low rate of success that actually is seen in tort cases. This is not a blatant endorsement of Galanter, but coincides with Galanter’s pyramid findings. Statement I is exactly the example that is being used, so eliminate (B). Statement II is true because it is the recommended course of action given at the end of the passage, which is primarily supported by Galanter’s pyramid argument. With (A) eliminated, we can investigate Statement III. This claim is actually made by lobbyists and insurance companies in paragraph 2—and is part of the larger claim that Galanter ultimately refutes. Thus, Statement III is untrue, making (C) the correct answer.

4. C

This is a Strengthen–Weaken (Beyond the Text) question, so let’s start by determining the conclusion implied by paragraph 4. The main point of Galanter’s argument stems from the assumption that analyzing all of the empirical data will give the fullest picture and not allow anecdotal bias. If it were possible that the data Galanter used was false or incomplete for some reason, this would seriously weaken his argument overall. (C) reflects that prediction; if Galanter’s study was only specific to product liability, then it can’t be generalized to other similar cases or other tort suits. (A) reflects on the dates given in the passage— Galanter’s study seems to investigate data until 1994. As long as Galanter’s study was published after this point, there is no negative effect on his argument, eliminating this answer. The pattern of divorce cases, as described in (B), has no effect on the argument because there is no reason to believe that divorce would (or wouldn’t) follow the same patterns as tort cases. Finally, whether or not physicians have malpractice insurance does not appear to be related to the number of cases brought to court or decided in favor of the plaintiff, so (D) would also have no effect on Galanter’s argument.

5. A

We are asked for arguments the author would make based on the … passage; with the word EXCEPT included, this must be a Scattered Inference question. While the author does not overtly state an opinion, it can be inferred that the author sides overall with Galanter’s thesis. With that as a general prediction, we can eliminate any answer choice that fits with Galanter (and, by extension, the author)—and the one answer that does not fit is correct. This means that (A) is immediately correct. The author would not openly support being more lax to wealthy businesses at the potential detriment to victims. This position is exactly Opposite Galanter’s, making it the correct answer. The other claims are all made in the passage: (B) is supported by the claim “By looking at existing empirical data,… legislators will be able to do a better job of deciding if the system is in need of reform.” (C) is supported by the “extensive media attention” described in paragraph 1. (D) is supported in paragraph 6, where the author states that “awards discourage businesses from releasing harmful products into the stream of commerce.”

📖 Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

Chapter 7. Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

Chapter 7, Applying the Kaplan Passage Strategy

In This Chapter

Introduction

7.1 The Kaplan Passage Method

Steps of the Method

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7.2 Humanities Passages

Humanities Passages

Applying the Method to Humanities Passages

Passage 1

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Passage 2

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7.3 Social Sciences Passages

Social Sciences Passages

Applying the Method to Social Sciences Passages

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Conclusion

Concept and Strategy Summary

The Kaplan Passage Method

Humanities Passages

Social Sciences Passages

Worked Example

Practice Questions

Practice Answers