7 Trap Answers on the GRE Reading Comprehension
There are a few types of answer choices that can be eliminated immediately, without even considering if they are locally right or not. The answer choices for the questions in Reading Comprehension have a few rules, and those answer choices that don’t follow them can be ruled out immediately, using the Process of Elimination method. You can do this easily, if you know where to spot the mistake. Here’s a brief guide on how to spot answer choices that can be ruled out right away as incorrect.
If you readily jump to conclusions when you come across the first choice that looks “good”, there is a great chance you might get the question wrong, because there could be other choices that are far better. But since you haven’t read them yet, you don’t know it. So, the best way to handle such questions, is to narrow down answer choices using the process of elimination until you get the best choice.
Read More:
If you really try and follow the process of elimination, you will easy find out that finding out the right answer is actually really easy. One of the reasons why most students find it difficult to separate the wrong answers from the right ones, is because they do not follow the process of elimination. To illustrate further, take a look at an example of what the given choices for a question might look like:
- If you misread the passage, this looks right
- Maybe right — close call with some subtle difference most students miss
- Correct answer!
- The opposite of the correct answer
- Something completely off topic, but it sounds impressive
So, if you really take a closer look, there is only one right answer, and the remaining are pretentiously close to being right. Below are the trap answer choices that you should eliminate immediately, no matter how appropriate, correct or logical they sound. We have also included examples for each of the answer types, so you will have a clear cut understanding of how such answers would look like, on the real GRE.
There is only one right answer, and the remaining are pretentiously close to being right.
 |
| 7 Trap Answers on GRE Reading Comprehension |
1. Answer choices that use extreme or categorical words such as “only, all, always, every, never and exclusively”
The GRE, being an international exam, tries to be as neutral as possible, and never does it include such extreme sounding statements, words, or phrases. You should never consider answer options containing such words as right, because the Reading Comprehension passage itself is neutral, and never tries to be too extreme, be it positive or negative.
Consider a reading comprehension passage where the author talks about viral fever that spread through East Africa. Example answer choices that are most definitely wrong, are shown below:
According to the author, all women in East Africa suffer from the viral fever
According to the author, only women in East Africa suffer from the viral fever
According to the author, women in East Africa will never suffer from the viral fever
According to the author, women in East Africa have always suffered from the viral fever
2. Answer choices that make use of information that doesn’t appear in the text
Also known as out of context answers. These answer choices, while logically correct, do not use information from the passage, and hence can be considered as out of context. Most students make a huge mistake here, by linking the logic given in the answer option, to common sense. Remember, you should never use common sense on reading comprehension passages. General knowledge usually doesn’t apply here, because it is the author’s opinion that really counts. So, leave out the answer options that are beyond the scope of the passage, no matter how right they are.
Consider a reading comprehension passage where the author talks about viral fever that spread through East Africa. Example answer choices that are most definitely wrong, are shown below:
According to the author, women in West Africa suffer from the viral fever due to heredity. (West Africa is completely out of scope)
According to the author, women in East Africa suffer from the viral fever because they are generally weaker than men. (Common sense, hence out of scope)
3. Answer choices in which facts are distorted
If an answer option has any of the facts distorted or slightly changed, then such an answer option can never be right. Only those options that have the exact facts to back them up, should be considered as right.
Consider a reading comprehension passage where the author talks about viral fever that spread through East Africa due to poor medical facilities. Example answer choices that are most definitely wrong, are shown below:
According to the author, women in East Africa suffered from the viral fever last year, because of the civil war. (distorted statement)
4. Answer choices that ask you to make judgments
Any answer choice that asks you to affirm that one method/approach/thought is “better, or more successful, or more efficient” than another, can be considered wrong without second consideration. Passages on the GRE never ask the reader to judge anything, and the judgment will have already been made by the author. Hence, any answer option that needs your judgment, is wrong.
Consider a reading comprehension passage where the author talks about viral fever that spread through East Africa. Example answer choices that are most definitely wrong, are shown below:
Women in East Africa are more easily prone to suffer from the viral fever than men. (asks you to make a comparison/judgment without sufficient proof)
5. Answer choices that include outrageous, illogical, unscientific, or politically incorrect statements
No passage on the GRE includes controversial, or outrageous statements. Like we discussed already, reading comprehension passages are as neutral as they can be. The GRE is strictly against any sort of discrimination (religious, racial, gender, etc.) and its passages never try to offend any particular set of people. So, such answer options will never be true.
Consider a reading comprehension passage where the author talks about viral fever that spread through East Africa. Example answer choices that are most definitely wrong, are shown below:
According to the author, women in East Africa suffer from the viral fever because they are allowed to socialize. (outrageous statement)
It is the duty of a woman to sit at home and take care of the household. (Politically incorrect, gender discrimination.)
According to the author, women in East Africa suffer from the viral fever because they are usually prone to diseases. (illogical)
6. Answer choices that are true, but assume something that is not mentioned in the passage
Sometimes, the situations mentioned in the answer option might sound true, but if you take a closer look, a small assumption will be made, which invalidates the entire option. The test takers purposefully do this to test your logical reasoning skills. So, you need to remember that if some assumption has been made which is not mentioned anywhere in the passage, then that answer option can be considered wrong.
Consider a reading comprehension passage where the author talks about viral fever that spread through East Africa. Example answer choices that are most definitely wrong, are shown below:
Pregnant women in East Africa are prone to the viral fever, because they probably don’t exercise much. (an assumption has been made)
7. Answer choices that cannot be backed by solid proof from within the passage
No matter how convincing an answer option might seem, you should never treat it as true, as long as it doesn’t have a solid evidence or proof that supports the assertion. The proof can be anything from a statistic to an example, but it should be mentioned within the passage. Otherwise, you should treat such an answer as invalid.
0 comments :
Post a Comment